#if you timeskipped years between the series

[tigergendermoved]

I kind of wish warrior cats ended after arc 1 and it was remembered as a classic children's series that got cut short and had a small but nicely filtered fandom in the year 2023. I would miss very specifically Leafpool and Squirrelflight and the dozens of amazing MAPs based on the later arcs but at this rate I think we need to just stop

[hoippu]

Chronological ZoLu Fanfic Masterlist [improved]

Guide for people who want to avoid anime spoilers

you can check out the google doc for more updates on this list (There is a total of 53 fanfics on the google doc so far)

Hey Lover! by clouddq

-takes place when zoro is recruited -soulmates AU (pre-timeskip)

I’ll Take This Piece of You by lucerile

-One Piece Live Action -Pre-arlong park but post baratie -(pre-timeskip)

Definitely, Spontaneously by croissantmusain

-One Piece Live Action and regular one piece anime/manga -no spoilers -pre-timeskip

last year i abstained by Augment

-part 1 of a series -(pre-timeskip i think) -No major spoilers

this year i devour by Augment

-part 2 or companion fic of last year i abstained -(pre-timeskip i think) -No major spoilers

I Don’t Talk (I Kiss Things) by lostmagician

-One Piece Live Action -I guess there aren’t any major spoilers -(pre-timeskip)

to fail you would be to fail myself by yinyu_ink

-One Piece Live Action -(pre-timeskip) -takes place after Arlong Park

Found in the Crack of your Palm by The_Furthest_City_Light

-(pre-timeskip) -takes place from the beginning until somewhere after alabasta

catching butterflies by aquietdin

-(pre-timeskip) Takes place sometime between Skypiea arc but before Long Island arc. -You should also watch the G-8 filler arc because I think it’s referenced, but it’s okay cuz it is honestly the best and only filler arc worth watching. (G-8 is right after skypiea)

Gold-Tinted Days by needchocolatenow

-indefinite time period but brook’s there. there’s no spoilers

Ode to an ocean by novks (thychesters)

-(pre-timeskip) -Takes place right before water 7.

Chimes by drcalvin

-(pre-timeskip) Contains spoilers from Water 7/ Post-Enies Lobby.  -Takes place shortly after marineford I think. Maybe wait until the timeskip begins before reading this one just in case.

Unable Are the Loved to Die by BasicallyACat

-(pre-timeskip) post Enies Lobby up until sabaody -part 1 of a series

a Losing Game by Angelgotchi

-right after water 7 probs pre-thriller bark -(pre-timeskip)

greed by species_baby

-(pre-timeskip) Thriller Bark

Feelings, what a mess! by drcalvin

(post-timeskip) Very early into the timeskip. I’d say you can read when they’re on the way to fishman island.

Let me carry your scars by arkhamsjason

-DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK UNLESS YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH MARINEFORD BECAUSE TAGS CONTAIN SPOILERS -(post-timeskip) at some point after return to sabaody arc

Heliotrope by LostInClouds

-(post-timeskip) -As long as you reach the timeskip and have made it more or less to when they are sailing to Fishman Island, you should be fine.

The Things we do for Love by LostInClouds

-(post-timeskip) - It’s recommended that you reach the timeskip for this one too and probably before fishman island is also good enough

Feed your plants a little sunlight by swordsmans

(post-timeskip) indefinite time period tho i think Inspired by this comic

Of First Mates and Duty by Whatev3rs

-(post-timeskip) takes place at an indefinite point in the timeskip after return to sabaody arc. -kind of part 1 of another fic

Look at this! by nuftda

-(pre-timeskip and post-timeskip) takes place from the beginning up until some indefinite point in the early timeskip

‘Til You by Whatev3rs

-Post-timeskip -no real spoilers -it’s KIND OF a continuation of Of First Mates and Duty by Whatev3rs

Kizuna by YokoHogawa

-(post-timeskip) after fishman island

His Captain, Captivating by jirachi

-a sequel to Unable Are the Loved to Die -(post-timeskip) takes place up until the end of dressrosa i think

The Five Times Luffy Kissed Zoro, and the One Time Zoro Kissed Luffy by EclecticIsMyMiddleName

-This one takes place throughout the story up until the end of Wano arc. -It’s preferable that you’re fully caught up because it’s so good you might wanna binge it.  -see google doc if you want a more detailed description of where each chapter takes place in case u cant wait that long

To the ends of the earth (I'll follow you, worship you, love you) by lunarblossoms

-(post-timeskip) occurs when luffy awakens gear 5

Carnelian and Gold by kermit_coded

-Post timeskip  -No major spoilers

I Do the Dumbest Things for You by it_is_i_a_simple_nerd

-(post-timeskip) -Takes place somewhere between wano and egghead

Loyal Till Death Do Us Part by StygianHeart

-(post-timeskip) -takes place after wano and does have some spoilers at the beginning -it takes place in a fictional arc n stuff so its cool

I'm gonna make another masterlist later for the AU fics or maybe add them to this list but you can still find them in the google doc

[scarletwinterxx]

naps and baby kicks - dad mark lee scenario

i know i just wrote about dad mark lee but i saw the baby pictures and i just envisioned this moment. Just imagine this is what little Minjung looks like🥺 like look at him🥺🥺🥺🥺 if he's my kid, i wouldn't be able to say no to him too😭

timeskip to before Minjee was born, Minjung is 5 here (about to be 6) you can read the other parts here:

part1: day with dad mark lee

part2: another day with dad mark lee

part3: a day with the lee's

part4: (prologue) i don't know how to make eggs

part5: glitter pens and goodnight kisses with the Lee's

part6: first love and kisses

part7: naps and baby kicks

part8: then there was three

part9: just like you

if you have a request or scenario you want me to do, just send me a message I'll see what I can do😊💌

For my other works you can check them out here, and for my other story series’ you can check them out here.

All works are copyrighted ©scarletwinterxx 2023 . Do not repost, re-write without the permission of author.

(pics not mine, credits to rightful owner)

Mark is busy slicing the watermelon in the kitchen while you take a nap on the living room couch. Quietly humming some random song, he loves days like this. When he can stay at home and be with his family.

Especially now that another Little Lee is on the way.

You've reached that point in your pregnancy where you're constantly tired, you feel bad about not being as active to take care and play with your son, Minjung, but he really is the best boy. He's been very understanding, he always makes sure you're okay. Just like how his dada taught him.

"Mom, are you awake?" you hear a tiny voice whisper, you can't help but smile and open your eyes. You weren't really sleeping. Just resting your feet and back.

"Yes, love. What is it?" you ask him

"You need water, mama? snacks?" he asks you

Chuckling at your cute son, you shake your head. Instead you pat the vacant spot next to you, Minjung carefully lays next to you.

"I miss hanging out with you, sorry mommy can't run and play outside with you" you tell him

"It's okay, mommy. Daddy says it's because you're growing little sissy right now so we need to take care of you and her"

You smile upon hearing your son's words. Only 5 but already he's wise beyond his years. One thing doesn't change though is his cute face looking more and more like his father's everyday.

Speaking of, Mark walked back to the living room to see his two favorite people on the couch having a small talk. He can hear the conversation between you and Minjung, quietly listening behind.

"You'll tell mama if you need anything okay? Once baby sister is here, it might seem like we're taking care of her a lot but we love you just as much"

"It's okay, mommy. I love you too"

You can't help it, he's just too cute. You squish your little boy's cheeks, hugging him as close as you can. Savoring these last moments of Minjung being an only child.

With the next one on the way, you've been worried about Minjung and how he'll react once the baby is here. But you know your son, he's smart and always kind. The moment you told him he's about to have a sibling, he's been very excited.

"Got room for one more?" Mark decides to finally interrupt, wanting to be a part of this special moment.

"Of course, come here" you open your arm, hugging both of your boys.

"Oh did you feel that?" you ask, making the two boys move away from you

"What?! You okay?" Mark worriedly asks, immediately getting off the couch and crouching on the floor instead. Gently pulling Minjung with him.

"She kicked, here" you take Mark and Minjung's hand and put it where you felt the kick. A few seconds later you felt it again

"Oh, is that little sissy?" Minjung asks you with an excited look on his face

"Yea, she's excited to meet you too"

"Does it hurt, mommy? When she kicks?"

"Sometimes, only when she kicks me here by the ribs but it's okay. She doesn't mean it. She's just trying to move around and stretch a bit" you explain to the little boy, Mark listening to the two of you while his hand draws circles on your tummy. Waiting for his little girl to kick again.

It's the second time but moments like this still amazes him. He can still remember the first time he felt Minjung kick in your tummy like it was yesterday, now the three of you are here feeling the baby girl's kicks. He hasn't met her yet but the amount of love Mark has for his daughter is already beyond this universe.

You, Minjung and this little baby girl is his whole world.

A few weeks later, it's time for Minjung to meet his new little sister

"Okay when we get there, we need to use inside voice okay? We wash our hands first" Mark tells his son, looking down at him.

The two boys make their way to the hospital where you're currently resting. Mark holding Minjung's hand while he holds a bouquet of flowers in the other.

"Okay you knock" he tells him, Minjung knocking gently on the door

"Come in" you say from the other side of the door, Mark opening the door. Immediately you see your baby boy, it's only been two days but it felt like forever since you last saw him.

"Hi, baby. I missed you" you tell him, already feeling the tears build up. Mark chuckles at you, while you roll your eyes at him. Mark helps Minjung wash his hands before the little boy walks over to you.

"Hi mommy, we got you flowers" he says, showing you the flowers

"Thank you, baby. I love them. Can mama have a hug?" you wait for Mark to help Minjung up the bed

"Careful with mom okay, gentle" Mark reminds him, you just smile at the two. Immediately you hug your little boy, compared to little newborn currently in the crib Minjung seems so big.

The thought enough to put tears in your eyes

"I was gone for two days, and you're already a big brother. Mommy missed you so much, buddy" you tell him, peppering kisses all over his face making the boy laugh.

"I missed you too, mommy. Is baby sissy okay?"

"Yea, she's here. You want to meet her?" you ask him, the little boy nodding excitedly.

"Okay, why don't you sit here while I get her?" Mark helps Minjung down from the bed, pointing at the little couch. Mark gets baby girl from her crib before walking towards where Minjung was seating.

Meanwhile you get your phone out to capture the moment.

"Minjung, meet your little sister Minjee" Mark tells his little boy, showing him the little bundle of joy wrapped in the pink blanket. Minjung looked a bit unsure at first, looking at his dad first.

"You can hold her, here she loves holding your finger like this. Gently okay?" Mark lets Minjung hold out one finger so little Minjee can hold it. You wipe the few tears that escaped, smiling at your family

"Hello, Minjee. I'm Minjung, your brother" he says happily. shaking his finger like they're shaking hands for the first time. Mark smiles at his son, kissing the top of his head before looking at his daughter.

"You're going to be the best of friends, you have to teach her how to color and play the piano and how to ride a bike. It's going to be so much fun" Mark tells him, "Would that be okay?"

"Mhm, we can play. I'll share my toys with her" Minjung answers

"Thanks buddy, that's very nice of you" Mark tells him, putting Minjee on his right arm so he can hug Minjung with the other one.

"I love the both of you very very much, more than anything. We take care of her like we take care of mommy, okay?"

"Okay"

"That's my boy" Mark mumbles, hugging Minjung tighter. Looking over at you to see you wiping more tears away.

"Guys, I love this moment but you're making me cry so much" you joke, Mark laughs before gently standing up to walk over to you. He passes Minjee over to you before he kisses you on the head.

"Good job, mom of two"

"Oh shut up, you did this to me" you joke, "Hey, as long as you're willing to. I can do it all over again. I love our babies very much, I don't mind having a few more" he tells you, you know what he means by that. At the end of the day it's your body that goes through a lot.

But looking down at the bundle of joy in your arms and your little man, you know you'd do it over and over again.

"Can we do it until one looks like me?"

"Dude, what are you talking about? She kinda looks like you"

You shoot him a deadpanned look, it's too soon to tell but even know you can see your daughter takes after her dad much like her older brother. As for Minjung, well one look at him and you'd know he's Mark's son.

"Kinda? She looks just like Minjung when he was born. She'll probably look like you too. I don't hate it though, more mini Mark's" you smile at your husband

"Better luck next time, baby"

[reverie-starlight]

{the video call incident ~ MSBY manager!reader}

{sakusa x GN!reader}

aka: you and sakusa are trying to keep your relationship under wraps from the rest of the team and break the news slowly. key word trying. gone wrong.

warnings: none, really, just humor/bantering/insults, fluff. also sakusa is sweet towards you. idc if you think he’s mean, I just think he’s so soft with his partner. miya twins and reader have been friends since before the timeskip but it’s only briefly mentioned. ONE suggestive line by Hinata... mildly suggestive at the very end.

notes: I ADORE this piece, it might be one of my favourite fics of mine. I kinda wanna do an MSBY manager series with the different guys... anyone interested? Also- every time I was mean to Atsumu in this fic I felt actual pain. I love him too much.

there is... a LOT of dialogue in this fic. just so you know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Kiyoomi, stop,” you laughed as you pushed you boyfriend back slightly. 

He had an early practice the next morning (technically as his team manager you did, too) but he was currently standing in the front hall of your apartment, arms wrapped around you and pressing kisses to your face. 

“No,” he said in between kisses, smiling slightly, “why should I?”

You didn’t have a good enough reason to give him and he knew that. He continued his actions and you sighed.

“Kiyoomi, you and I both know that I’d be more than happy to let you spend the night, but if we show up tomorrow in the same car for the second time this month, the guys are going to get suspicious.”

Sakusa sighed. “I know, I just want to appreciate you a little longer. I feel bad for keeping my distance at practice today. Meian is probably onto us and I wanted to redirect his focus.”

You smiled at him. “I’m sure he’s already figured it out. Better him than the trouble trio.”

He hummed in agreement.

The two of you had been keeping your relationship a secret for the past eight months. You’d been the MSBY manager for a couple years now, starting around the same time Sakusa was recruited, and at the end of the last season, after a big game, he had finally asked you out. (“Adrenaline and high off of a win,” he had reasoned when you questioned why he chose that moment.)

The only reason it was kept a secret was because some of the team members were rather… excitable.

Namely Atsumu, Bokuto and Hinata.

You loved the team you managed, and you loved their personalities. Really, you did.

Despite that love, you might as well be those three’s babysitter.

Add your boyfriend to the mix and things got even more chaotic. However, you did love to see how he interacted with them. Something about it is what drew you to him in the first place. (Your friends had made it clear that your type was apparently slightly mean tall guys who turn to mush behind closed doors. You hadn’t agreed until you met Sakusa.)

That aside, telling the team would result in chaos. The trio would accuse you of betrayal, they’d stare at you both during any small interactions and it would ultimately disrupt the team’s dynamic.

So you both decided to keep it a secret until the end of the current season so they could digest the news easier and have everything be mostly normal by time the next game season rolled around.

You tried one more time to push him off and he sighed. He gave you three more quick pecks and unwrapped his arms from around your waist.

“Fine, I’ll go,” he said, reaching for his coat.

You were about to help him into it when he suddenly patted his pockets in a panic. “I left my phone in the living room, can I go get it?”

You nodded and he moved back into the main part of the apartment just as your phone started ringing. You rolled your eyes when you realized who it was. You swiped the accept call button and groaned when he popped up on the screen with messy towel dried hair and a hyper look on his face. Oh brother.

“What, Atsumu?” You really didn’t want to pick up at that moment, but you knew that if you ignored it he’d either keep calling non-stop or be all pouty about it at practice tomorrow.

Neither option was favourable.

“Y/n! ‘m bored. Ya gotta keep me company.” 

You frowned. “You couldn’t call Bokuto or Hinata? Or Sakusa?”

“Neither of ‘em picked up when I called. And omi-omi doesn’t pick up unless he already knows why I’d be callin’ so I didn’t bother.”

“Well I’m really sorry, Atsumu, but you caught me at a bad time, I’m busy right now,” you tried to sound sympathetic but it came off as rushed.

He was still your friend and you didn’t like ignoring him, but he really did catch you at the worst time.

Sakusa came back into the front hall looking like he was about to say something but stopped when he saw you were on the phone.

“But Y/nnnnn!” He rolled his eyes and let out an involuntary scoff when he heard Atsumu’s voice.

He clapped a hand over his mouth and looked at you with wide eyes.

You hoped the man on the screen hadn’t heard that but even if he hadn’t, the panicked look on your face and the way your eyes flicked to something behind your phone definitely tipped him off.

A wide smirk took over his face when you looked back at your phone and you started shaking your head.

“Do ya have a boy over, Y/n? Is that what this is?”

“Shut up, no I don’t.” you started but you were cut off.

“OH SHIT YOU DO! SHOW ‘IS FACE, WHO IS HE? WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US? WHO’VE YA BEEN-“

You ended the call.

Sakusa slowly took his hand away from his mouth and looked at you. It was silent for a good three seconds before he said “That’s on me.”

“It’s fine, he doesn’t know who it was.”

“Do you think you can keep him from telling anyone?”

Both of your phones started buzzing at the same time. 

“Too late,” you said in unison.

Suddenly a video call from the group chat came through. “Shit,”

“Okay, Kiyoomi, I think it’s best that you go now, if you join the call from your place it’ll be less suspicious.”

He nodded. “Good idea,” he rushed to get his coat and shoes on and kissed you once before heading out. “I love you and I’m sorry if this goes badly.”

You returned his affection and locked the door before joining the group call. Hinata was there, too.

“Atsumu. I swear to god, you didn’t need to turn this into a whole thing. Hi Hinata.”

The orange haired boy beamed at you and waved. “Hi Y/n! How are you?” 

“Shoyo! Our dear manager has A BOY OVER.”

“Oh, are you dating someone, Y/n?” 

“I’m n-”

“WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE FREAKIN’ OUT OVER THIS?”

You rolled your eyes once again. “Because, Miya, not everyone is as invested in my personal life as you are.”

He gasped at the use of his last name and was about to throw something back at you when Bokuto joined the call on his evening jog. Just great. If Atsumu successfully managed to rile him up, Hinata would surely follow soon after. You needed to do damage control. 

Quickly exiting the screen of the call, you texted your boyfriend.

I need you to knock Atsumu down a peg, please join the call. 

Oh, my pleasure.

As you were texting him, you heard Bokuto and Hinata rambling on about tomorrow’s practice. The setter looked mildly annoyed that no one was paying attention to him anymore. 

“Bokkun!! Listen to me for a minute!! Y/n has a-”

At long last, Sakusa joined the call from what looked like the inside of the grocery store five minutes from his house.

“Omi! What’re you doing here? You never join our video calls unless Y/n makes you- wait where the hell are ya?”

“It was a misclick, don’t get too excited, Miya. And you interrupted my grocery shopping, if you must know.”

“Well don’t leave! You’re gonna wan’ to hear this.”

Sakusa sighed. “I’m sure I won’t.”

You had to bite back a smile at the faux bored look on his face.

“OKAY, Bokkun, Omi-Omi, Y/N HAS A BOY OVER. AND THEY WON’T TELL US WHO.”

Sakusa blinked. “Miya, why do you care so much about our manager’s personal life? Is your own that boring? Are you so unsatisfied that you have to live vicariously through other people’s? Just watch reality TV if that’s the case, I’m sure Y/n would appreciate it as well.”

You let a small laugh out at the sight of your setter looking like he was just slapped across the face.

“LISTEN ‘ERE, SAKUSA-”

Your boyfriend promptly kicked him out of the call, looking rather pleased with himself.

Bokuto on the other hand...

“WOAHH, Y/N WHO IS IT? TELL US! YOU CAN TRUST US!”

Aaaand now Hinata wanted in on the action. “YEAH, YOU CAN TELL US Y/N!”

Atsumu rejoined the call not a second later. “WHY’D YA KICK ME OUT? Y’know what? Fine. I’m adding someone else to the call.”

You gasped when a familiar contact picture popped up on the screen and the connceting dots appeared. 

“Oh for the love of- Your brother, Atsumu, really?? Don’t drag him into this.”

The other (and in your opinion at this particular moment- the better) Miya twin finally picked up. “Uh. Hi? Whaddaya need, 'tusmu?”

“SAMU, Y/n has a boy over.”

“Okay, and?” You’ll give him credit for at least trying to look uninterested.

“They come into your restaurant sometimes don’t they? Have they ever brought a guy with them?”

“Atsumu, please just drop it-” but your pleas fell on deaf ears. 

Osamu shook his head and you almost, almost thought you were in the clear until...

“They only brought Sakusa in one time last month... and Suna did mention that he saw them together when you were all in Tokyo for some matches.”

Both of the Miya twins were dead to you. You silently took back everything you said about Samu being the better one. Years of friendship down the drain. 

You thought he’d have your back on this one but you forgot that, at heart, Osamu is just as much of a little shit as his twin. 

“Osamu!” You shouted, betrayed. 

He shrugged. “Sorry, Y/n.”

Atsumu glared at the screen. “As if it’d be Omi-Omi. We’d definitely know if it was him. Y/n, it wouldn’t have come to this point if ya had just told us who’s with you right now.”

You rolled your eyes. “I’m home alone right now, genius, he’s long gone. And it isn’t any of your business!”

At that moment everything you’d been working so hard to keep a secret crumbled before your eyes. 

Bokuto suddenly had a look of realization wash over his face. 

Shit.

“Wait, if that’s the case, then could it be Omi after all? I ran into him while he was walking in the opposite direction of Y/n’s apartment building when I passed by on my jog ten minutes ago.” He said it totally innocently, as if you having Sakusa over wasn’t as big as Atsumu was making it out to be.

The call went silent for a solid minute before Atsumu started speaking. 

“Bokkun, what did you sa-”

Oops, there goes Atsumu again.

“I sai-”

Oh no, Bokuto too.

You and Sakusa stared at the screen in shock, waiting to see Hinata’s reaction.

Osamu just smirked and waved goodbye before signing off himself. 

Hinata just smiled at the two of you. “Congratulations! I’m really happy for you guys... do you congratulate friends when you find out they’re sleeping together?”

Hinata, your sweet sunshine friend was successful in unfreezing the both of you. “It’s not like that, Hinata-”

“Not normally, no.”

You glared at Sakusa (who was now back in his apartment without a mask) but he just smirked at you. “Kiyoomi.” 

“Alright, I’m sorry.”

“Anyway,” you tried again. “Hinata, we’re dating. We have been for a while.”

“Oh! That definitely calls for celebration then!” 

You smiled slightly before the banished returned to the call. 

“’kay, ya really need to stop doin’ that.” Atsumu said immediately. 

“Why was I kicked out, Y/n? You’re not mad at me are you?”

“No, Bokuto, of course not.” 

“Stop ignorin’ me!”

“Miya, stop being a pest.”

“Guys!! They’re dating! I was right.” 

You froze again. “Hinata... what did you say?”

“...nothing.” 

“Don’t make me kick you out of this call.”

“Fine! I knew you guys were dating. It was kind of obvious.”

“What do you mean obvious, Hinata?” Sakusa asked. 

You shared a glance with him through the screen in confusion. You were both so sure you were hiding it well. Actually... you knew you were hiding it well, considering Atsumu and Bokuto didn’t catch on until now.

“Well, one day a few months ago I may have caught you two making out behind the gym. At that point I thought it was just that kind of relationship and figured it wasn’t my business. But then a few weeks ago, after Sakusa and Atsumu had gotten into an argument at practice, he called Komori-”

“Ah, Shoyo, let’s not-”

“You have my cousin’s number?” Sakusa hissed.

“He does!” 

“Bokkun, seriously, stop-”

“I’m not letting this go, Miya.”

“Hinata, please continue.”

“And Atsumu asked about his relationship status because he wanted blackmail or something. Then Komori said that his lips were sealed, he promised Sakusa he wouldn’t say anything to anyone. I put two and two together, Bokuto thought he was just being a good cousin and let it go, and Atsumu assumed Sakusa was just embarrassed about being single. After that I kinda noticed that you two seemed closer and assumed everyone else on the team knew too. I tried to ask Atsumu about it but he was dead set on not believing you’d date-in his words- ‘an ass like omi-omi’”

You stared at Hinata with wide eyes. “You knew for that long... and managed not to let it slip?”

He shrugged. “It wasn’t hard. I was focused on practice most of the time anyway, so it honestly just slipped my mind.”

Maybe you didn’t give Hinata enough credit. 

“Atsumu, you owe me a meat bun now since I was right!”

Or maybe you were justified with your initial feeling. 

“You bet on us being together?!”

It was going to be a long night. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BONUS:

After explaining everything to the trouble trio about why you didn’t tell them, you were left on call with Sakusa.

“Well... that was certainly something.” He said.

“Mmhmm,” You looked at him. “Kiyoomi...”

He offered you a soft grin. “I’m already putting my shoes on. I’ll be there soon. Now you have no excuses for not letting me stay the night.”

You giggled and rested your chin on your palm. “I guess not. It’s a shame, really, you’re getting to be so clingy lately. Ever heard of the term personal space?”

“Oh please,” he scoffed. “says the one who literally will not let go of me unless I physically detach you from my body most days.”

“You guys are disgustingly sweet.”

“What are you still doing here, Atsumu?! I thought you left?”

“I snuck back in.”

“Well leave.”

“Sure. But I’m telling everyone how soft you are for our manager tomorrow morning.”

Sakusa raised an eyebrow. “You really think anyone will believe you without proof?”

The last thing you heard before Sakusa blew you a kiss was Atsumu groaning as he was kicked from the call one last time upon realizing he in fact does not have proof.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BONUS 2:

You woke up the next morning completely intertwined with Sakusa. 

“My love, wake up. We’re going to be late.”

You groaned and snuggled into his side more, shivering slightly when he traced lines on the skin of your back. He laughed and pried you off of him. 

“Mm no, five more minutes.” 

“Come on, Y/n/n, if we’re late you know we’ll never hear the end of it. We don’t have the luxury of secrecy anymore. Besides,” he poked you in the stomach and leaned in closer to you. “you’re the one who insisted on staying up late last night. I tried to tell you that this would happen, but you were just so needy-”

“Okay, okay, I’m up,” you cut him off, then mumbled under your breath “but I didn’t hear you complaining much.”

You shrieked when two arms wrapped around your waist and you were pulled against his chest. “I’m sorry did you say something, my dear?”

It didn’t matter if you were late or not in the end, because when you entered the gym, you were greeted with a round of applause and some whistles. And your boyfriend was weighed down by the endless teasing about his messed up hair and marks on his chest in the changing room. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[theoneiroveil]

Did you wake up on October 1st, 2016 to a very strange channel in your subscription box on Youtube?

Well if not, here is a little bit that channel.

Soursalt is a series that began in 2016 with roughly 600 people waking up subscribed to it without knowing. That's a very real thing that happened, which is a great selling point of the story.

Over the next few days these weirdly edited potato-quality home videos get uploaded and nobody has any idea what's going on. Some descriptions keep changing, some are pieces of conversations, etc. People are immediately hooked because what the fuck is going on? Then Madman Re starts getting mentioned, is it a place, a God, Freddy Krueger, who knows. More cryptic and weird dream videos get uploaded and then suddenly there's a break. This is the end of the prologue of the story.

Suddenly, we started getting rapid fire uploads a few months later of these two idiots making a really shitty ghost hunter parody knock off sketch. This is basically meant to be like a needle in the haystack for viewers. There are moments in these videos that are completely filler and just dumb comedy or filler -- b u t there are teases that something is up sprinkled within these videos. You'll have one of them mention the path looks different (implying they scouted it out before hand), or they'll hear or see something the camera just straight up doesn't see of pick up. This continues on until it's obviously getting dark, but we don't see their journey home. Instead, a few days later, we're treated to another sketch. This time shit gets fucky.

The two do the Ghost Guy routine on a haunted road by the woods, but as the move past the housed area towards the side of the park, their patience with each other starts running thin, they start hearing strange things, and feeling off. After taking a break off the road in a nearby Gazebo, they find a mysterious grave site and a stuffed monkey. Here, we learn out of character that they were filming at locations posted on a strange forum ; the same one implied to have launched the Soursalt spread.

After getting covered in some shit, blood and rot the characters introduce the audience to the Madman of Re as Aidan "Ghost Guy" Calloway touches the Window of a spooky run down bus and a ghastly hand touches his back -- all separated thematically by … a Window.

And this is where Soursalt takes you, into the Window; a terrifying physical nightmare space that seperates the viewer from their body and traps them in their own mind, a mind that can be easily manipulated by the Madman of Re.

BUT WAIT

This is only the end's beginning.

Timeskip -- Seven Years Later:

The story returns with Eulacram on the eve of the Spread's seven year anniversary following Aidan as he struggles to live with the trauma of his past and present following the events he experienced in Soursalt. It's at this point where the shattering of Aidan's mind takes literal form and we're presented with various versions of him through a system that he calls the Crucible Channel.

Meanwhile, another entity has pursued the same goal as Madman Re and sought out those that were victims of various Spreads to put together what it calls the Eulacram Tribute, a tournament of survival that allows those touched by the Oneiroveil (the dream realm the Window is in) to compete for an evolution of their flesh. Aidan and the other Spread victims are unknowingly pulled into a shared dream where it seems reality is once again being manipulated as their lives are being toyed with. However, Aidan's access to the Crucible Channel may be prove useful in saving him and the other victims from this new nightmare.

Eulacram is designed both as an Epilogue to Soursalt and its own series. While Soursalt is to be seen as a more found-footage style story, Eulacram utilizes the idea posed by the prologue that the entity can create videos with dreams, to showcase a cinematic-like view of events within the story. Some episodes can transition between hand-held, cinematic handheld, and cinematic third person, to allow for a unique approach on telling the story.

New viewers of the series can pick up with Act 1 or Act 2 Eulacram (on 10/1/23) without having fully watched Soursalt or Eulacram's prologue ; which will allow for an easier transition into the new content while everything you need to know will be given to you through the story. Viewers of the past content, and even those part of the first 600 subscribers will get the full experience though, as they will have seen the journey of some of these characters from the beginning, understanding the trauma that led them to becoming who they are today.

Soursalt // Eulacram is unlike any other web series you have seen, or dreamed. It's dark, gritty, there's a talking lizard, it's sharp and brutal at times ; but comedic, light hearted and emotional at others. The characters feel real, their pain feels real. If you're looking for web series horror that breaks the mould, takes risks, and isn't afraid to pop out an eye or two… or three… or ---

Then on October 1st, 2023, you should wake up to a very strange channel in your subscription box on Youtube.

This is that channel.

[two-white-butterflies]

coaxed you into paradise - c. 24

Description: The life of Saera Targaryen told in four acts. She was her father's forgotten daughter, cast aside as she looked nothing like her mother. Her younger days were spent beside her uncle. Years following her marriage with Ser Harwin Strong, she catches him in an affair with her older sister. She returns to seek solace in the arms of her uncle, that she's loved all her life.

(Coaxed You Into Paradise and High Infidelity Rewrite.)

masterlist for this series

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Dance

(Six Years Timeskip) 

“Larys remains firm on having you supplanted as Daegon’s regent,” he explained, entering the room with a letter on his hand. She scoffs - continuing to rock her second son, Daelon, to sleep. Larys was an idiot who tried to scheme behind her back - but she had eyes everywhere. There were rumors about Saera - that she burnt her husband to death. “It does not matter, no one believes him.” she dismisses, earning a groan from her husband. 

She was quick to underestimate the firefly, but Daemon knew that Larys’ treachery ran cold and deep. “Mysaria tells me that he is Alicent’s closest confidant.” he reasoned, a prompt sigh escaped her mouth. 

She was under the impression that there would be freedom after her marriage to Daemon - but after Harwin’s death, chaos followed. “I do not wish to return to the Capital. We’re fine here, Daemon.” she sighed. He takes a callous stop towards her, pressing a soft kiss on the top of her head - he looks down on his son, smiling. 

“There are vipers upon your father’s throne - prowling and sucking the blood off our dynasty. Alyssa tells me that our tapestries of Valyria have been replaced with those of the Seven Gods.” Daemon elaborates, wanting to return home and make a massacre of the Hightowers. “I know - we must defend our home.” she groaned, biting the inner corner of her lips. 

“We’ll return to Kingslanding.” she breathed - longing for the embrace of her daughter. 

—

She could hardly recognize the red keep. Its walls held pictures of the Seven Gods - bloody symbols that reminded her of Maegor’s war with the faith. “Muña,” Alyssa smiled - running to embrace her mother. 

Saera’s daughter has grown into a beautiful lady - with silver curls and dark violet eyes. “Alyssa,” she smiled - pressing a kiss on her cheek. “I saw the carriages from my room, then our sigil.” she beamed, glancing at Viserra and Daelon who were wrapped around the arms of their father. 

“Is this them?” she laughed, running to carry Daelon. “He looks like your mother,” Daemon notes, adjusting Viserra on his hips. Alyssa nods, staring at her little brother’s face. “He has the same nose,” she added, her brother steps down from his horse. “Alyssa,” he greets - eyes searching for Helaena in the crowd. 

She wasn’t there. 

“Daegon,” his sister smiles, leading them towards the warmth of the castle. 

—

Daemon shoves the curtains of his brother’s bed away from his face, his eyes ever softly peeking on the body laying down. His brother was writing in pain and agony - a mere shadow of his old self. “Kepa,” Saera beckoned, sitting on the bed. There wasn’t a great love between them, for he favored Rhaenyra the most - but for Viserys’ grandchildren, he adored all of them equally. 

“Alicent?” he asked weakly, eyes narrowing to see the figure in front of him better. His eyes were milky, his face showed signs of sickness. “Tis’ Saera, kepa.” she corrects with a soft voice - and he hums. The cause of his headaches. “Ahh, I see.” he hums, staring at his brother’s face - who hasn’t aged a day since marrying his daughter. 

“Brother,” he greets - a shadow of a smile on his face. Viserys looks at the children in front of him. “And who are they?” he smiled, showing his teeth that were half black. “Viserra and Daelon. She is five, and Daelon is a year old.” she introduced, placing a hand on her daughter’s head - showing her father that they were strong - and of true Targaryen blood. “We named her after you, brother.” Daemon added, hoping that Viserys was sane enough to appreciate it. Saera looks behind her - motioning for her oldest son to come closer. 

“This is Daegon, kepa - he is Lord of Harrenhal now.” Saera nods, combing through her son’s thick hair. A chuckle escapes the king’s mouth - “No longer the little boy that used to sit on my lap,” he continues chuckling until his body bucks due to the pain that he was feeling. 

A hurtful groan escapes his mouth, one of the maesters attempts to take a step closer. “Give me my tea,” he demanded - a servant hands him a goblet of white watery liquid. Before Daemon could stop him, he was already guzzling down the substance, emptying it - and not sparing a drop. 

Saera and Daemon share a confused glance. Daemon takes it from his brother’s hand, bringing the goblet closer to his nose - smelling the contents. “Milk of poppy,” he whispers - watching as his brother falls into unconsciousness. 

—

Alicent lowered her eyes under questioning. She began to curse the day that they arrived, for their line was hard to fool and not easily sent away - unlike Rhaenyra. 

“He was not like that when we left him.” Saera’s lips thinned, Alicent began to scowl. The Princess has been gone for six years, change was far due. 

“His health has declined, and on the advice of the maesters-” 

“The same maesters who have kept him addled on milk of poppy, so you and your father could warm my brother’s throne.” Daemon interrupts, sitting coolly on the gothic chair. He stares at his nails, finding them more interesting than the sight in front of him. “If you think it unnecessary, then you should see him without it. He’s always in pain - the poppy allows him to drowse into comfortable sleep.” she reasons, Daemon rolls his eyes. 

It was clear where the Hightower’s loyalty was, not to the realm or House Targaryen but to their own. “You cannot convince me that your decisions are for the realm, when Alyssa tells me that you plan on giving Driftmark to Lord Vaemond - stripping Prince Lucerys of his titles as heir - and by extension, my sister’s claim to the throne.” Saera accused. 

A bitter chuckle escapes the Queen’s mouth. “My decisions are for our family, my princess. Who is it that has taken care of your daughter during your absence? None but me.” she reasoned, pretending that she was given a tedious task. “Alyssa has done well on her own, not because of your guidance.” Daemon clears his throat, beginning to stand up and walk towards the ladies. 

Alicent’s eyes widened - realizing that she wasn’t getting away from what she’s done. “As a matter of face, I proposed an engagement for Princess Alyssa years ago to the King.” she brought up - the couple raises their eyebrows. “A marriage between her and my son, the king tells me that he would provide them a castle if the marriage pulls through.” she endorsed. 

Daemon clenches his fists at the thought of his little girl married off without a choice. “You may leave, Alicent.” he enunciates her name, showing her that there was no respect for traitors that attempt to commit treason. 

next chapter>>

taglist: @watercolorskyy @sweetybuzz25 @newtsniffles @loveandlewis-reads @lovecleastrange @julkaamazing @schniiipsel @mirandastuckinthe80s @areaderinlove @i-yam-awesome @ladystardvsts @gracielikegrapes @sweethoneyblossom1 @issybee0611 @tato0od @delaynew @thisbihreadstoomuch @plutoscosmoss @immyowndefender @marvelescvpe @batmans-love @luanasrta @tesha-i-guess @valeridarkness

[astarions-musings]

Have another story idea that's floating around in my head rent-free

So, I want to try writing a series of short stories (like the microfiction that we used to write as teenagers) about a system full of 'monstrous' headmates. Having them go from 'imaginary friends' in the body's childhood years, to headmates trying to keep the body alive without fully understanding how they're interacting with each other, to holding down a desk job and living a comfortably mundane life together as an adult.

I want to write a story that acknowledges the hard times, and just how tough it can be to navigate them, while celebrating the happy ending that comes from mutual support and the little pleasures in life. I want it to start with this system repressing unwanted or uncomfortable feelings (after being abused as a kid for expressing unwelcome feelings), then discovering all of those feelings they bottled away as children came in people-sized containers, and that you can't bottle away feelings without locking away the people experiencing those feelings. And it becomes a story about welcoming and embracing everyone in your inner life (as well as giving people space if they want to be left alone), and all of those old survival roles becoming less and less relevant as people build happy and safe lives for themselves.

I want to present this story through timeskips, jumping several years ahead after each scene, both for maximum contrast between each stage of this system's life and also to have fun with implying how the after-effects of each scene have led to a major life transition. Have this all build up to the kind of pleasant mundanity that isn't shown enough in plural fiction - something like the shoggoth headmate (who used to be so feared and demonised) struggling with a shopping list, because they're honestly not used to fronting outside of the house, but one of their friends in the system has a date tonight and they're being a good wingman by handling the meal prep for them.

Have a story that shows how bad it can get, but that it doesn't have to stay that way. That no matter how bad things are for your system, or how bad things once were, you too can enjoy a happy life of mundane pleasures and tender moments. You too can melt into a cuddle pile with your headmates as you're drifting to sleep, even if those headmates come in unusual shapes and sizes. The protectors can rest, the caregivers can be nurtured themselves, the anonymous shadows skulking in the dark place in your system can toast s'mores around the campfire and enjoy the company of their system without having to compromise their anonymity. You can just be, and enjoy life, and look forward to a happy future that has room for all your scars and fangs and extra limbs. Where the dark times in the story aren't included for the sake of tragedy, but to show that you too can enjoy a happy future, no matter how tough your backstory was.

I dunno - I just think we need more stories like that in the world. And it's my way of being the change I want to see, or the representation I wish I had as a child <3

[makethosenarratorsfight]

UNRELIABLE NARRATORS; SIDE A

Lemony Snicket Propaganda:

(I would like to preface this by saying that Lemony Snicket is the author's pen name, not a real person, and he exists as a character in-universe as well as being the one in-universe who writes the books!) I'd say he's unreliable because he spent time collecting information about the Baudelaire kids and then... wrote books about it. He has no idea what any of their dialogue actually was, what they were thinking, or even the whole plot, he's just doing research into the incidents and then filling in the gaps to make it a story. What ACTUALLY happened to the Baudelaires? Nobody really knows for sure

While the Baudelaire siblings are in potentially life threatening danger, he will randomly start talking about his own life and just leave the siblings hanging. For example, once Count Olaf was threatening to kill Violet, and then Lemony randomly began talking about how he met the love of his life at a costume party. This man CANNOT stay on topic. Usually when a new character is introduced, Lemony tells us right at the start that they’re either going to die or that the Baudelaire siblings will never see them again. Foreshadowing is not subtle in these books. CONSTANTLY emphasizes how miserable he feels while writing these books. At one point he admits that he had to put his pencil down and go cry for a while because of how sad it made him. Once he filled an entire page with nothing but the word “ever” to emphasize how dangerous it is to put forks in electrical outlets. He also repeated a paragraph about deja vu later on in the book to give the reader deja vu.

Kuruto Ryuki Propaganda:

Okay this is HUGE spoilers for the game like HUGE HUGE spoilers so beware. Like, the whole game will be ruined for you kind of spoilers. He is one of 2 (technically 3 (again, spoilers)) narrators in the game. Not only are certain important events left out if his side of the narration, but also (again huge spoilers) events are not told in the correct order. Each day in the game alternates between things that happen before the timeskip, and things that happen after the 6 year timeskip. (The other narrator(s) also have this same thing but I’m submitting Ryuki specifically) playing the game in the order it’s presented to you and playing the game with the events in chronological order are practically 2 different experiences

Ryuki is an extremely mentally ill man, whose issues are front and center as the player's first point of view character. The main twist of the game relies upon exactly his unreliability as a narrator, given that what we assumed was a series of linear events were actually scenes plucked from the past and the present, six years from what we had originally been led to assume was current time, and the only reason we hadn't realized it before is because his mental issues make him slip into a delusional state in which he believes himself to be in the past, or rather, that the past is the present.

Frequently has hallucinations of the world glitching out, often causing him to lose long periods of time and obscuring what really happens from the player. These get worse over time, causing a key suspect to be unrecognizable, and the return of a supposedly dead character to look fake. The game's twist involves seemingly linear events actually happening out of order--his warped sense of time contributes to hiding this. Events he thinks happened yesterday may have been years ago.

Don't want to be too spoiler-y but he can't tell what time period he is in sometimes, making the audience think he is in one time period, when in actuality he is in another one. Either way his narration makes the narrative like 10x more confusing.

[physalian]

Timeskips (A Deceptively Tricky Trope)

Anyone remember when we all went to the theaters to see Endgame and the trailers actually fooled us into thinking all the action happened immediately after Infinity War? Then 15 minutes into the movie, the Thanos we grew to love/hate dies and the bomb drops: “Five…Years…Later”

It’s a shame that the movie didn’t properly explore the worldly consequences of losing half the population in favor of a Marvel victory lap through all its greatest hits. That our heroes could do absolutely nothing for five whole years, opening on a shot of a cold and dark cityscape — that was the best use and execution of a timeskip I’ve seen in recent memory, even if the rest of the movie didn’t follow through with it.

Timeskips are an effective way to age up characters or age past the end of an era of peace, or the healing after a tragedy (or the lifeless aftermath of one). Usually, your established heroes do their heroic thing, and anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months to a couple years pass before the story picks back up again. Some may have died along the way, the political climate has changed, couples have had children, or babies have grown into their own characters, relationships have grown, begun, or fallen apart.

These damnable plot devices are a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the author gets to skip sometimes decades of meandering plot and development to tell almost an entirely new story in the same universe, sometimes not even with the same characters who are now too old, too dead, or retired.

However, timeskips can also cause some massive confusion, missed opportunities, and fandom wars over whether or not the jaded and grizzled and depressed heroes we see on screen are, in fact, a realistic evolution from the last time we saw them (looking at you, Star Wars).

Sometimes, they’re used in a single episode, thrusting a present character into the depressing dystopian future so they can prevent whatever causes said future before disaster strikes (Teen Titans "How Long Is Forever?"), and all returns to normal by the time the credits roll. Sometimes, the author really wanted the drama and angst of a pregnancy, then got stuck with a baby that needs constant attention from its parents who can no longer go do Plot Things until the baby can take care of themselves (The Originals).

Sometimes it’s the jump between two eras of a series, where our heroes have had a couple years of practice and now we can make the tone a little darker and the action a little more visceral. Or, it’s expected of a multi-book saga that regularly jumps a year ahead with each edition, leading up to the big prophecy (Percy Jackson, Harry Potter).

The Fundamentals of a Good Timeskip

As requested by Anonymous!

Telltale signs of a dubious skip:

Audience is expected to care more about an undeveloped newcomer than the pre-existing cast, because the current cast does without explanation

Audience is “told” to accept Catastrophic Event without being “shown” how and why it happened

Characters die, break-up, disappear, marry, change teams, or change entire personalities for ~drama~ and no other reason

The Book You Never Wrote was way more interesting than the future you brought us to

The new plot depends on Events Unwritten, but never shows or explains Events Unwritten

Timeskip only exists because the author is unable to make the leaps in logic themselves and hopes you won’t notice

The legacy of past heroes is trashed completely for More Story

Signs of a successful skip:

Characters we know and love are still themselves, just a little older and wiser

Characters that do change do so logically, within reason, and could have been extrapolated from the last publication

Radical changes and the new hellscape you threw your heroes into is given ample screen time to show “How tf we got here”

The new world doesn’t disregard or ignore the legacy and victory of past heroes

Absolutely nothing of import or unexpected happened in the interim, except time

Anyone who dies off-screen won the story by dying of old age, or some other respectful avenue (popular with aging mentors and old masters, usually when their actor also passes)

Whether your timeskip succeeds or fails depends entirely on, in my humble opinion, how much story you skip and sacrifice to make the jump, and how radical the changes are from the past to the future. And, to what degree the skip serves as a means to an end or the centerpiece of the new story.

Meaning that since you leave weeks, months, years, or decades unwritten, how interesting was the Book You Never Wrote, and how badly would audiences need to read it to understand the jump from A to B?

If I’m writing a ten-year skip and half my heroes have died, half have ended wonderful relationships, two kids have been born, a known hero has become a villain, and an entire city’s been destroyed… that is a *very* interesting story I wish I had the opportunity to read, because it sounds like every character I fell in love with is about to become unrecognizable and very frustrating to follow now that I don’t understand why they make the choices they do — *if* I’m never shown evidence to support the leaps in logic.

If I’m writing a ten-year skip and all that happens in the interim is a minor child character is now a tween with a pretty average life, or my super-powered heroes have had only mediocre rogues to battle, or a character who began in the mail room is now a middle manager at their boring job, then, yeah, we can skip all that jazz and get to the good stuff. This is usually the setup for your “next generation” skip for any genre.

Good timeskips also depend on how readily the characters accept and acknowledge the changes that have happened off-page, and how much the future story now depends on the information the audience never received. If your plot and your characters constantly reference and argue over the Book You Never Wrote, your audience won’t be pleased to not have read said book.

I’m going to use specific media here because the nature of a timeskip concerns entire plots and my usual vague examples don’t suffice. How you write and implement one is entirely up to you and each of these have their staunch defenders, I just don’t like them and I’m here to explain why. Hopefully if you’ve seen at least one of them, you can use them as a shining example of what (or what not) to do in your own work.

The fandoms in question:

The 100

Star Wars

Percy Jackson

Last Airbender/Legend of Korra

How to Train Your Dragon

The Little Mermaid

—

The 100

The timeskips in question are between seasons 2 and 3, and between seasons 4 and 5. The first timeskip is a couple months between seasons 2 and 3. After a huge conflict (and easily the best season of the show by a country mile), shifting alliances, enemy-of-my-enemy, the best couple-that-never-was, the season ends with protagonist Clark unable to let herself enjoy the spoils of war because of the crimes she committed to make it happen. She leaves behind all her friends to go be a hermit, including deuteragonist Bellamy, who is Not Happy about this decision.

The problem: In between seasons, Clark hasn’t changed much, but Bellamy sure has. He gets a girlfriend, develops an entire relationship, only for this girl to get fridged within the first 50 minutes or so of season 3. He takes her death super hard and, with Clark not there, spirals into a bit of a blind-faith fascist turning on all his friends and becoming nigh unrecognizable. Without seeing the growing relationship with the fodder girlfriend, without seeing how hard life has been for him without Clarke, all his choices, all his beliefs, all his pontificating sound completely foreign and out of character and he does not recover until it’s almost too late. As he’s the deuteragonist of the show, you can only take yelling at your TV for all his stupid and OOC decisions for so long, when it could have been done so much better.

The second damning timeskip is five whole years between seasons 4 and 5. Bellamy develops another unseen romance up in space, his sister becomes a bloodthirsty underground queen, and Clark devotes her entire life to raising a little girl she finds.

The problem: Clark cares a lot more about protecting the little girl than anything else, a choice audiences can’t empathize with because we’re still siding with the characters we’ve watched grow and suffer for four seasons, making Clarke an incredibly frustrating character to watch.

Five-year timeskips are fine. I think I’m in the minority in hating this decision by the writers. However, when your characters’ motivations change so radically without you being able to follow that development, making their new choices seem incredibly inconsistent with who they’re supposed to be, the disconnect is super strong. We’re being told at this point to care about these strangers over the existing cast without ever having been shown why.

Star Wars

Timeskip in question: Return of the Jedi to The Force Awakens. Enough time for Rey to look like a 20-something and, I believe, the exact same gap between the movies in the real world. The argument over Luke’s character has been beaten to death by now. We end Return of the Jedi with the promise of a galaxy in peace after decades of civil war between the Rebels and the Empire and the ultimate sacrifice from Anakin.

The problem: We open Force Awakens like the war never ended. There’s still stormtroopers, there’s still the Empire (though, now it’s called the First Order), there’s still Rebels rebelling. The happily ever after one would expect between Han and Leia is shattered because their kid went Dark Side. Their kid went Dark Side because… well, one side, the other side, and the unrevealed truth.

It’s less “Luke would never make these choices” and more “How do you expect audiences to believe Luke made these choices without seeing the pain and trauma inflicted on him to end up like this”. The casual fan only watches the episodic films. Luke ended one movie as a semi-optimistic war hero. He began the very next film jaded and traumatized enough to debate, and nearly go through with, murdering his nephew because of what he *might* do someday.

That anyone expected that to go over well was deluding themselves, but everyone knows these movies are a mess.

There’s also the disappointment in realizing all that Anakin lived and died for fell apart in less than 30 years. Who are these people calling themselves the First Order? Where did they get the funds, the resources, the platform to become as big a threat as they are? How did the Rebels fail so spectacularly at building a functioning government? How do they not have the funds, platform, and resources to buy better ships and equipment? How did no one realize they were hollowing out an entire planet to build another Death Star?

The Sequel Trilogy lost audiences when it refused to provide any explanations at all for *why* these changes happened. The movies don’t care about *how* Ben became Kylo, they just need you to accept that it happened. They don’t care *how* the First Order rose, just don’t look too closely or it all falls apart.

The skip between Empire Strikes Back to Return of the Jedi is also a bit sketchy, because Luke has done all his Jedi training off-screen and can just pull abilities out of nowhere, but the plot of Return of the Jedi doesn’t depend on having seen Luke grow.

Percy Jackson

I feel bad putting this here because it’s not nearly as egregious as the previous two, but because the original series was so good, these choices are that much more baffling. The timeskips in question: Sea of Monsters (2) to Titan’s Curse (3) and Last Olympian (5) to Lost Hero (6).

The books focus on a singular week or two per year, so Percy can age from 12 to 16 in time for the Great Prophecy by the end of the series. This series is filled with timeskips and unseen content, but the jump between books 2 and 3 is the most jarring. I just did a retrospective for both of them so if you happened to read that, I’m repeating myself a little.

The problem: At the end of SoM there is a huge shakeup in the realm of who will actually be the chosen one — a discarded chess piece has been revived and brought back onto the board. In the missing months, Percy has built an entire friendship and rapport with his would-be rival, and so many reunions were left unwritten between Thalia and the friends she left behind. It’s the depth of the missing content that really feels like they forgot to print a chapter in either book, particularly when she’s so important to the story.

Percy references quite a few times how good friends he and Thalia have become. Fantastic, on what page might I read that development, when the author spent quite a bit of time building up the presumption that you two would hate each other?

The other timeskip is the complete opposite. Last Olympian to Lost Hero is, I believe, only a month. Once again, we have a presumed happy ending and ultimate sacrifice completely torched for the sake of More Story. The original five-book saga culminates with the tragic death of a villain we’d watched for five whole books. His argument was the thesis of the first series.

The problem: As with Star Wars, everything that character died for is rendered mostly moot. There is evidence that his death meant something, in the positive changes seen in the lives of those that survived him, but he died preventing armageddon… and a month later Bigger Badder armageddon is on the rise.

I almost wish the timeskip here had been longer. A couple years, at the expense of aging up the heroes to their twenties. His legacy on the story is virtually nonexistent. When you look back at the horrible tragedy that was this kid’s life, all it amounted to, everything he fought for, everything he believed in and died for and lost friends for… bought only a month of peace.

The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra

Obviously, the timeskip in question is between these two series, about, what, sixty years? Last Airbender ends with, once again, the world at peace, ish, with lots of cleaning up to do, reparations to make, and governments to reshape. In the gap between series, almost everyone we knew has passed away, or aged out of being useful to the plot. Aang, of course, had to die so Korra could be born.

In the first season, because I’m reasonably confident all they planned was one season, the 60 year interim sees a lot of radical changes. Fan favorites die, the old ways are lost, the status quo is nothing like it used to be. So how do they get away with it?

Firstly, the show doesn’t begin with the main villains having already conquered Republic City and trashing everything the heroes fought for. The entire season is a crawl, then a plunge, toward disaster. They let you enjoy the fruits of the old characters’ labor, see the world that they built, before the new threat attempts to burn it down.

Secondly, because almost the entire original cast is dead or absent, there are no relationships sorely missing context, and there’s no *subversive* twists to what the audience could extrapolate from the ending of the old show.

LoK did make some radical changes to the world, but, crucially, it didn’t change the surviving core characters — we still have a known point of reference through which to view all the other changes. Katara is still Katara, she’s just older. Zuko is still Zuko, he’s just older. Katara didn’t become a persnickety, bitter bat and Zuko didn’t launch the Fire Nation Invasion II and return to his angsty ponytail-era.

It also helps that Korra is, like us, an outsider to this strange new world, a perfect vector through which the audience can ask questions and get answers on how, why, and when everything changed. LoK, unlike Star Wars, cared and thought about the *how* and the *why*.

If you’re going to write a story about the next generation without compromising the legacy of the old guard, Legend of Korra is a solid example of how to do it convincingly, respectfully, and entertainingly, even if it did drop the ball on some characters *cough*Sokka and Suki*cough*

How to Train your Dragon

But an even better example? How to Train Your Dragon to How to Train your Dragon 2. It’s been five years, a massive risk for your children’s animated fantasy series, but it’s also been almost five years of real-world time. Those who were Hiccup’s age when the first movie premiered are still Hiccup’s age when they head back to theaters. Not to mention the optional Netflix shows to help fill in the gaps.

Once again, there’s no *subversive* choices made with the relationships. Hiccup is still with Astrid and they’ve grown out of their awkward teenage phase. Their personalities haven’t radically changed either, only matured, the main group of heroes have had time to foster deeper bonds.

There’s no surprise children, no important characters who got killed off screen, and the changes to their homeland seem reasonable and logical given the time frame. A place that once feared dragons is now dedicated entirely to their preservation and conservation.

This is a timeskip that took advantage of every benefit of skipping time. The audience can very easily fill in the missing years with their imagination, because the jump from A to B makes perfect sense.

Frozen and Frozen II relied on the same mechanic of the audience growing with the characters with that one musical number. I’m not a fan of the execution of either of these movies, see this post about Frozen’s convolutions, but the execution of the skip itself is well done. All that’s happened in the interim is Elsa getting a little more comfortable being a person, and time has passed.

The Little Mermaid

The gap between Little Mermaid and Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea double-skips. First, it skips ahead to Ariel and Eric having an infant Melody, then about twelve years later to Melody being a tween and the new protagonist of the story.

Why it works: Melody is remarkably like her mother and rides the line between endearing and annoying very well and the plot depends on the skip happening at all – twelve years removed from the ocean and Melody has no idea her mother was a mermaid. Ariel and Eric (and Flounder) have grown to become wizened and worrisome parents and absolutely nothing remarkable happened unseen between the credits of the first movie and the second skip in the second movie. They get twelve years of peace, respecting the first movie’s legacy, and it’s through the actions of characters we see on screen that start jeopardizing everything.

—

Another feature I didn’t touch on earlier is that, by virtue of being a musical, the opening song to the Little Mermaid sequel efficiently catches audiences up on all the necessary exposition, all the old familiar faces, and where everyone is now in about 4 minutes. Frozen II does the same.

The Percy Jackson books also give a “previously on Percy Jackson” exposition speedrun at the start of books 2-5 and notes any important details that occurred in the missing months (save the glaring omissions detailed above).

If your time skip is just a plot device to get from A to Y, a well-handled exposition speedrun to catch everyone up won’t offend anyone, so long as you do it tastefully. If your skip is the centerpiece of the plot and the “how did we get here” is the big mystery, jarring your audience with the unexpected future on the opening pages is the point.

Do your best to avoid awkwardly having your characters state “X years have passed,” in dialogue because it’s always obvious and you can do better. Have somebody reference their upcoming birthday so audiences can do the math, or an anniversary. “X years have passed” cracks the immersion, as your characters don’t know or care that a time skip has occurred.

Or, if you’ve written a narrating style that talks directly to the audience, the narrator can just say “X months ago we did Y in the last book, reader, you remember how fun that was?” 

—

TL;DR, terrible timeskips happen, in my opinion, when the writers are disinterested with the interim and want to get to the good stuff without providing a logical jump to get there. Or, they happen when the time the story skips to jeopardizes where it came from without explanation. Whether that’s undermining the legacy of the original hero, ruining relationships and killing fan favorites for *subversion points* and *drama*, or creating a world so far removed from what audiences expected that they’re left confused watching their heroes make baffling decisions based on development they’re promised did happen, but is never shown. It’s one thing if you take your wide-eyed hero and toss him into a bleak future where everyone’s shocked by his pessimistic outlook, it’s completely different tossing your hero into a bleak future and none of his friends seem to care.

[garbage--account]

Since some of y'all are fantasizing about having a OG season 4 instead of Go, i will tell you how it would be :

Closer in substance to Honoosuto than the main serie

Each episode would look like a filler

Few months timeskips between each episode because there is 10 years seperating S3 and Go

Charadesigns constently changing because they literally grew up since last chapter, until achieving their final forms from Go...

As well as their fashions because trends, interests, activities and priorities shifting

EXPERIMENTAL AND CHEAP ANIMATION

Mfs could be besties in one episode and not talking anymore the next one because they'd argue off-screen and since they are not seeing each others as often than before to begin with, they'd not reconcile properly

Endou x Natsumi making sense

Endou trying college because his mom told him so

Endou would miss hard times he had in the previous seasons because it made his everyday life interesting, even exciting, while now that everything is working out and calm, he'd feel nothing happens. And he could not cope with just sakka and friends because his teammates are also setting up for life (studies, jobs, busy days, etc.) and have less time to go sakka with their fave captain.

Ironically, most of his friends (especially those with tragic backtories, wouldn't miss those days for anything and seems happier now. Sure, they miss being able to see Endou and sakka everyday, but they aspire at a well deserved serenity now for their future.

At the end of the season, Endou would accept this and let himself mature and looking for setting up things for his adulthood.

The season would not be happy-go-lucky not depressing/dramatic/stressful overall, but rather contemplative and chill (even tho we cannot make a IE season without wackyness). The characters would be getting used by normalcy as the épisodes passes. Behind the apparent fun they are having, it's tinted with self-questionning and more mature themes because they are avare they are getting older.

In short : S4 would not be as epic and shonen-spirited than the rest of the license. People grew out of their trauma, others grew out of their innocence, they are aware they have nothing else to prove, they are already accomplished soccer players. They now have to become accomplish adults. It wouldn't be as exciting to watch.

Remember :

Delulu is not the solulu

[add1ctedt0you]

I read your zhanchengxian post and I feel the same. So Ive got a question: do you know of any fic with timeskip zhancheng where canon is substantially changed by it? I'd love to read one is why I'm asking

Hi! I am happy to know someone agrees with me! Anyway, I've not read a fic like that, sorry, but I've this habit of saving for later fics and never read them, so I've got some recs, even though I've never read these fics.

Fic (I've never read but seems zhancheng timeskip ~ canon divergent):

time waits for no one by adasinon

“Ah, Er-gege,” Wei Ying forces yet another laugh, it is breathless and helpless, and painful as always. “So inappropriate. What would Jiang Cheng say?”

Lan Zhan doesn’t recoil, or laugh. He really has changed.

“You didn’t tell us you’re injured,” Lan Zhan gently moves his arm around, dotes on Wei Ying like he cares for him the way Wei Ying wishes him to. He’s convincing, for sure, and Wei Ying tries not to pretend his delusions are coming true.

(Years ago, Wei Ying went to Lanling on his own, and died during the ambush. He returns to a changed world, where the loves of his life have seemingly been doing better without him.)

((Established Zhancheng, but we all know where this is going))

Fics set during Sunshot campaign:

Wonder of all Walkers by CoolTapes

Lan Wangji and Jiang Wanyin search for Wei Wuxian, rescue a dog, and fall in love.

Let Me Hear The Sound Your Heart Makes by Nantai

In a universe where you can hear any music your soulmate makes (be it singing or playing an instrument or just humming under your breath) Jiāng Chéng often hears his soulmates play together, but he doesn't dare join in. Because he knows Wèi Wúxiàn can't be his soulmate and Jiāng Chéng certainly won't come between him and Lán Wàngjī.

This changes when Wèi Wúxiàn goes missing during the Sunshot Campaign.

moored by fluffysocks

Lan Wangji comes over and they kiss. Lan Wangji comes over and they have tea.

Lan Wangji comes over and they talk.

It turns out that the available study materials are contradictory and unenlightening.

Fics I've read and enjoyed, that portray an interesting zhancheng dynamic during wwx's death (they don't reach canon, being set during the timeskip, but they set the mood actually)

mirror-bright scale by sugar_shoal

It's a serie! Dragon!LWJ AU, that follows canon events. At the moment there are only two fics about snippets of zhancheng moments, but it's not completed! First fic:

The Care and Keeping of Dragon Pearls by sugar_shoal

Lan Zhan's mother wore Qingheng-jun’s pearl around her neck, as big as Lan Zhan’s small fist; he stared up at it. Tints of gold shimmered in its surface, the same gold as Lan Zhan’s father’s eyes, his father’s qi. But despite the warm colors it still appeared cold to him, fastened around her neck with a chain. He touched his own smaller, paler pearl that rested in the hollow of his throat.

Lan Wangji always watches Jiang Wanyin with rapt attention. So he sees the moment of startled joy when Wanyin opens the small silver-inlaid box and realizes what it contains, the warmth that brightens his eyes. He sees when that brightness dims.

* * *

Jiang Wanyin closes the box and holds it back out to him. “Wangji,” he says, “I can’t take this from you.”

Beyond the Autumn Waters by omphalos

Two days after the first siege of the Burial Mounds, Jiang Cheng returns there to hunt for Suibian. What he finds is something completely different, but he takes it home all the same.

A found family and friendship AU that branches from canon shortly after Wei Wuxian’s death and covers the period until just before his return.

(this last one is not jgy friendly- and it's not tagged-, I don't know if it's a deal-breaker or not, but be mindful!)

[telomeke-bbs]

The Our Skyy 2 Bad Buddy trailer has premiered, and quite honestly they're not giving us much to go on (so don't set too much store by it). What I gather:

Archi and Engine rivalry is very much a thing still – both faculties have to put on a play, but the auditorium is only available for one. So Ajahn Pichai makes them compete to see who gets it ("The faculty that's more prepared gets the auditorium."). Sweeping the exterior grounds with large brooms and construction drawings with truss frames are somehow involved.

Pat and Pran seem to be aware of each other's feelings but their relationship is beset by rivalry, so it looks like the episodes are set as predicted during the timeskip after the Beachside Bet of BBS Ep.6 [4/4] and their sophomore year of BBS Ep.7, in the early part of their "rivalry as courtship" era. But you never know! 🤷‍♂️

A lot of backstage shenanigans between Pat and Pran, and the red backdrop is everywhere.

Their friend groups don't seem aware that the two have embarked on something romantic (i.e., they seem to be seeing only rivalry and competition), which fits placing this in the timeskip.

Wai seems much less like a troublemaker here though.

Pat's hair looks even more hideous than in the earlier Our Skyy 2 trailer. Not easy to make Ohm look bad, but they're managing somehow.

Ohm lost weight after Bad Buddy and looked much leaner in the series he did post-BBS. Strangely he looks bigger in this trailer, almost Pat-sized again (maybe it's the hair and faculty jacket). Nanon looks much the same.

They've changed the filming location for their university, so the ambience is different.

Ink and Pa are in it! And Ink is feeding Pa with shrimp (again). It looks like another hotpot in someone's dorm.

But Pat calls himself "Nong Pat" and asks to be fed shrimp by Pran in front of Ink and Pa. What gives?

Pat and Pran bunk over in that same dorm room (it's not Tinidee), with a tent and Christmas lights – it looks like a planned romantic getaway, but one they're forced to hold indoors away from public view maybe. Their energy there is tender, softer and more vulnerable. And mutual.

They're also seen in a lift for the company Hightem Construction, not LogTech, but they're wearing "Visitor" tags all the same.

Pran wears The Watch, and his PP hobo bag puts in an appearance too.

There are cheek kisses but nothing on the scale of The Rooftop Kiss.

Pat and Pran do some sort of deal behind the scenes, in front of their laptops, sealed with a fistbump.

As noted before by @miscellar and @dribs-and-drabbles (see these links here and here 😍) you CAN'T trust a trailer by Director Aof, so we have six days to find out how much of the above holds true and how much of it turns out to be wool pulled over our eyes. 😂

Waiting on tenterhooks all the same! 😍 And counting down to 31 May 2023... 💖

 ‌

[innerchorus]

Hello! I just got into arslan senki and I stumbled upon your wonderful blog! Since I’m very new to the series, I can’t figure out where exactly the (2013) manga is in relation to the novels. I don’t want to get spoiled so I was hoping you could tell me!

Hello hello! It's always so lovely to hear from other fans of the series! I totally get wanting to avoid spoilers, especially with Arakawa's manga adaptation being in its final stages.

As of now (Chapter 125) we are part way through Book 7, Chapter 4, part iv. The scene with Tahamenay and Arslan feels as though it's concluded, albeit slightly differently to the novels, but the confrontation between Andragoras and Hilmes still isn't over. There may be a little more Arslan content covering a plot point from that novel chapter, or it may be that this has been altered in the manga, but I can't say for sure until the next chapter comes out.

For reference, Book 7 has five chapters in total and is the last book of the first half of the novel series. After this, there is a three year timeskip, but given the changes that Arakawa has been making and the fact that the manga was referred to as approaching its 'final decisive battle' not so long ago, it seems pretty certain that the manga will not cover the novels beyond Book 7, but will feature a modified ending to tie up any loose ends.

I hope that answers your question! And welcome to the fandom, by the way! If you feel like sharing I'd love to hear your thoughts on the story so far, favourite characters, ships (if that's your thing), etc.

(For anyone who is avoiding spoilers, let me just add that I do use the tag #arslan senki novel spoilers on any posts that contain them, and I believe so do most others? However, sometimes discussion in the comments of other posts may touch on novel spoilers so please tread carefully.)

[mydisasteracademia]

What are your thoughts about the pacing of the series, because I personally think that everything has been rushed to absolute hell.

The only real timeskip we get is the 10-11 months at the very beginning when Izuku is working on improving his physical condition to receive OFA.

After that, it's like all of the major events are spaced at like days or weeks apart, and I just don't like it. You're telling me all of these major events happened in their FIRST YEAR at UA alone? Yeah, I'm not buying it at all.

I really don't get it either, to be honest.

The beginning was a little weird to me, considering we're going from middle to high school very quickly with very little in between the time skips to get us settled in. And once Izuku gets into Yuuei, it's just one plot point after the next, after the next, after the next - it's exhausting to read through. I have to admit, I'm a manga reader through and through, and I'll defend reading the original all day every day, but sometimes I wish we had more filler or at least more chill arcs in between whatever the next calamity is going to be.

I continue to refuse to believe that ALL OF THIS happened within the first year at Yuuei. Besides being the single worst year in the school's history for staff and students alike, there's just too much at play here that needs to go down. They should've broken it down into the cast's entire three years at Yuuei to make it more believable. Give AFO more time to get Shigaraki ready, give Shigaraki more time to perfect his control and his techniques, give the League more time to become a more feared villain group - and give the kids more time to BREATHE. They're literally kids, they shouldn't have to deal with all of this in their first year alone. Can you imagine how AWESOME it would be if we had to see third-year Izuku going toe-to-toe with Shigaraki? How awesome it would be if we got to see them all matured, having trained themselves up, and going all out in a civil war against the villains' side. But we won't get that, because - and this is my opinion - everyone is too impatient to get the ball rolling. I don't think Horikoshi and the team want to wait until 1-A's third year for a climactic battle of ideals. And that's honestly kind of disappointing.

It's too much even for the audience. Many times in the manga I had to stop reading for a while because I needed time to process what the hell just happened before diving into the next problem at hand.

I don't know. You've got a good point in that the pacing is off, even for a shonen manga. I know it's taboo to even suggest, but I really do wish there was more manga filler to at the very least give readers time to process each arc. I know that's probably what the manga breaks are for, but I jumped into the manga after MHA started airing as an anime. It's too much.

[roosinii]

I always forget that the Kane Siblings are stupidly young. I’m no authority on Egyptian Mythology, so I don’t know how accurate the books are and how much has been… creativity reinterpreted, so I won’t make any comments on that. Therefore, my biggest gripe with this series is the age of Carter and Sadie. Add two or three years to both of them and you remove my biggest problem with this trilogy. Hell, if you want to keep them younger, do it in The Red Pyramid. Then make the timeskip between The Red Pyramid and The Throne Of Fire a couple of years. Slide these books’ positions on the timeline like those sliding switches on soundboards!

Everyone else can stay the same age though. Except maybe Zia, keep her and Carter’s ages roughly analogous to avoid issues. In fact, make her older than him! By a year or two, or somewhere in the middle Foreshadowing Unless It Isn’t. Also, as a side note, keep her shabti around for longer, let her and Carter and Sadie develop much more of a relationship so that we can overturn it all later for more angst!

Sadie should be at least fourteen going on fifteen in the Throne Of Fire, if not fifteen going on sixteen. This would make Carter approximately sixteen/seventeen and a half, and remove the whole “Anubis and also Walt fancy a twelve going on thirteen year old” bit, which I think is an unfortunate consequence of Rick consistently forgetting how old his characters are when the plot doesn’t demand he reference it and/or having written himself into a corner age-wise and not managing to write himself out of it. This has the advantage of not needing to alter much of their dialogue, because the Kane Siblings already talk like they’re much older than they are. (It also brings to life some more fascinating character flaws. A twelve->thirteen year old wanting to stick to their birthday plans in spite of the potential end of the world is understandable, a fourteen/fifteen->fifteen/sixteen year old insisting the same is less excusable. Show us more of the flaws that align Sadie to Isis)

This does however mean that we need to muddle around all the other pantheons’ timelines to keep things in sync. We cannot lose the scene where Percy looks at Sadie and thinks about how she looks like a hypothetical kid of his and Annabeth’s, because that’s too adorable and they deserve to tease him about it a bit. Maybe they meet partway between The Red Pyramid and The Throne Of Fire?

I shall reblog this with more thoughts in the morning.

[trashlie]

it's good to see you around again, I missed reading your long ILY posts, hope you're doing better too :) if you ever share your thoughts on the latest couple of episodes (including fp) here, I'd be super excited to read them! I'm really curious how you think the timeline is gonna go from here - especially relating to Shin-Ae and Nolan since it feels like they are the last pieces that need to fall into place so everything is ready for the post-timeskip story to go down. like you, I was so sure Nol and Shin-Ae were going to have some kind of reconciliation before he goes to jail but WELP rip 3 day extension. Poor guy though, Yui showing up in his hospital room must have been extremely triggering, it made sense that he did everything to get outta there ASAP. It's worrying me that this series of negative interactions (Kousuke, Alyssa, Yui) could've undone everything positive Shin-Ae Dieter Soushi Nana did, and now therapy during jail time could either have a positive or negative effect, so Nol is a Schroedinger's cat for now.... At least some things got cleared up and Shin-Ae is now starting to understand the root of the problem (= Yui) (and it actually really makes sense that she had to figure it out herself instead of Nol telling her - the boy obviously isn't ready to talk) so we made some progress.... But istg with this upcoming separation arc 2.0 it feels so much like we're gonna be back at ground zero after the first time skip. Fingers crossed they reconcile in whatever way before the big time skip though. we need a somewhat positive conclusion to this arc before season 1 ends, because if not then what was all this build up for, and why now? What about the realizations? the "convince me"? What about "if you won't let me have you"? If their reconciliation is only going to happen after multiple years of "conflict" between them that would be so cruel....

AND SHIN-AE STILL HASN'T GOTTEN HER BANDANA BACK and now he's stealing her lines too SDGDADSF;SDF

Waaaahhhhh thank you, friend!!! As you can probably tell, I'm still trying to get myself back here fully and figure out how to balance everything, which has always been a struggle ;~; I really may resort to telling my friends to ignore me and yell at me until I get certain posts written up so I'll stop procrastinating because there are SO MANY THINGS I WANT TO WRITE ABOUT EPISODES I WANT TO RECAP AND TALK ABOUT!!!! BUT THE ORGANIZING MYSELF!!!! IS THE PART THAT'S SO DIFFICULT!!!!!!!!

One of the great things about the ILY discord server is that we have this very constant, active conversation going on at all times so it's SO easy to be very present and active, but I also find that it means it's more difficult for me to regulate myself, or I'll have that feeling that I JUST talked about something and so when I try to write about it over here, it feels like a hollow echo and I know that's just because I was just having the conversation so that's just something I need to work on dealing with lol

But I want to answer this before we move so far away from when you asked this!!!!! As expected, there are FP spoilers ahead for eps 246 through 249!!!!!

I!!!! DO NOT KNOW!!!!!!! LMAO Like. GOD. I feel like quimchee has thrown us curveball after curveball and when we sit down and think about how long this period of December 21 and the post December 21 arc has been, how much the story has weaved around?! There are so many things that have occurred that I NEVER expected and, like you, it's just everything I thought has clearly gone out the window. Part of it, I think, is the result of quimchee having to change the arrangement of her story, and god I would love to pick her brain about the things that changed, since Nol's injury was supposed to happen at the formal itself, we never would have had this extended period of hospital time, and it seems like everything about Nol and Shinae coming to realization with their feelings would have played out in a wholly different way than what we ended up getting, so on some level I think this is partly that quimchee, too, is sort of throwing herself cureveballs in that there are things she knows needs to happen and she isn't sure where or how to fit the other elements in? But that's just my guess.

On the one hand, I do feel very "WHAT WAS THE EXTENSION FOR IF NOT FOR RECONCILIATION?!" but beyond Stalkyoo, we have gotten a LOT of good stuff out of this period of time. We see Kousuke facing his cognitive dissonance for, perhaps, the first time, and the revelation that Yui has been drugging him (and likely for a long time, given the way Hansuke describe the dosage Kousuke had and that it merely knocked him out), and more than that, making those connections between Nol and Yui and tea, and wanting to face him. I'm STILL proud of him for wanting to go back and see Nol again, even after he couldn't face him, even after Hansuke found him on the floor of a public bathroom hugging a toilet from the remorse and guilt and perhaps shame of the realization of the ways he has hurt people - has hurt Nol! - who didn't deserve it. We have seen that Rand and Yujing are, in fact, working on something behind the scenes, that Rand is facing Yui as a real adversary now, not just someone who has been resigned to endure her for so many years now, but to actually fight against her. The entirety of Nol's birthday celebration could not have happened the way it did had he not been in the hospital, since he would have had to turn himself in, and while maybe the original plan was that they celebrated his birthday with Minhyuk's coming home party, I'm.... not sure if that would have been the case?

But at at any rate, I do acknowledge that despite the fact that it feels like Nol might be back at square one, that he and Shinae are back where they started in 151, such significant events HAVE taken place that I think will still affect the narrative future of ILY. I still feel strongly that part of Nol's trajectory is coming to terms with the fact that he does, indeed, belong here. That he isn't someone who wasn't meant to be, that he doesn't belong here. He belongs, and he deserves love. He is someone, not nothing. I still think one of his greater arcs will involve coming to embrace this, and while the negative events - Kousuke, Alyssa, Yui - feel like they could be setting him back, he is now equipped with knowledge and feelings he wasn't before. It can't hurt him the same. In fact, I think part of why his confrontation with Alyssa went the way it did was because he had had this experience with Shinae, Dieter, and Soushi, it illuminated everything that was so wrong with his relationship with Alyssa, how neither of them really know each other. It's that sense of foiling that allows him to put his foot down and say enough is enough. Even before it was revealed that Alyssa had come with Yui, it was clear that Nol was over the visit. Don't get me wrong - I understand why he couldn't see that Alyssa clearly was not well, that she was uncomfortable, that she had come to him with no one else to go to, much as he'd gone to Kousuke in the past when he lost his mom, and I also understand why he did the same thing Kousuke did and turned her away. But the point I'm getting at is, it feels like there was a shift. That birthday celebration illuminated something for Nol.

So it's kind of like, while it feels like this might have undone the progress Nol made, it can't undone the revelations he's had, and in that same way, it cannot cast shadow on his enlightenment. He is not the same Nol he was a week ago. Too much has changed, he's become aware of too much, and as such, he is going to respond differently to what comes his way, and while he may continue to try what he had originally intended, I think the difference is that he's now been made aware of things that impact the choices he makes.

But largely I don't really know what I expect just yet. I think it's very pointed that the lawyer reminded Shinae that she has his phone number; I don't think that would be called out if it wasn't going to be important in some way, but in terms of how are we going from here to there? Unsure lol. I think there HAS to be a resolution of some kind, whether it's a reconciliation or not, because Shinae is on this momentum swing that isn't going to stop until she crashes into something or she comes into a force of nature that stops her. Nothing, no one, has been able to reach her or get through to her, and I know it's just because of how much she's hurting, but she's lashing out at people and hurting THEM like a street cat swiping at people trying to help her. She's so terrified of losing Nol, especially now that he came back, especially now that she gave him the option to leave and he didn't and it rekindled that hope she gave him an opening to leave when it would have been easier and he didn't which just made it worse, because so much more was at stake. She can't stop fighting she can't stop trying because she cannot bear what it means to lose him for real this time, not when she finally had him back, not when that realization has come to her even if she won't admit it. She needs him, so what's going to make her give up?

Something has to transpire, whether it's a reconciliation or Nol pushing her away and really shattering her heart or something awful like that, to bring her to a halt, because I can't imagine how we would move into our mini time skip to spring/graduation with Shinae like this, right? So I think there must be some kind of resolution. My foolish, hopeless self wants so badly to hope for reconciliation but esp after 249 I am SO torn. I have two thoughts.

a. they reconcile. She can reach him, and convince him, and even though he is so afraid, he is also someone who folds in front of her, he struggles to resist her. He told her to convince him and boy she can convince him and even though he tells himself he isn't sure if these feelings are real because what if it's just because she's NICE to him I think hearing her confess her feelings would tell him how he feels and give him the answer.

b. But the alternative feels like a parallel to Nessa and Rand, because Nessa, too, was hurt over and over by someone who kept getting her hopes up and getting hurt by him. Shinae gave Nol the opportunity to leave and he didn't, he stayed and doing so sparked her hope, made her feel things, they shared these tender, intimate moments together and forced that realization to come to mind, but for him to push her away again, for her safety, to make choices on her behalf even though she's told him she hates that and she doesn't want him to. Imagine her pulling a Nessa and calling him scum lfkjajkfkjfjkfaj ;A;!!!!! Imagine her so angry and hurt and resentful and saying awful things she doesn't mean and GOD I feel like it can go only one of these ways because what ELSE is going to stop her in her tracks?!

And I really want a reconciliation because parting like this sets them up for SO. MUCH. STRIFE. Because we know one way or another Shinae is going to end up taking Yui's offer and if Nol leaves on these terms, he would end up thinking she's following in Alyssa's footsteps doing so, not understanding WHY she's doing, not understanding that this is Shinae's only way of protecting herself, learning to speak Yui's language and play her game.

and idk I know I'm a hopeful optimist reading a webtoon that proves to me over and over that I cannot be a hopeful optimist but LMAO GOD I WANT SHINAE TO CONVINCE THAT DUMBO

I've said it before that convincing him doesn't mean they have to get into a relationship. Just. Reconcile. She's so afraid of LOSING HIM, thinking that once he slips away he's out of her grasp, her sight, for good, that she will lose the best thing that happened to her and I WANT THAT RECONCILATION. I want her to convince him, for both their sakes. So that he knows he has someone he can go back to. So that she knows he's not just throwing her away. So that she doesn't have to fear losing something so precious and important.

Am I foolish and hopeful for hoping for that outcome? Maybe, but it won't stop me LMAO because as delicious and angsty as Shinae and Nol following in Ressa's footsteps with Nol hurting her again and leaving her so hurt and angry is, I want to see them on that same page. I want to see Shinae convince him - convince him why he is so important to her, and that his feelings are real. That's the thing, right, like.... you can tell yourself that your feelings aren't real, but if the person you like confesses to you, your heart will inevitably betray you and respond to the confession. Nol fears for Shinae's safety but important puzzle pieces are falling into place. She has figured what he fears the most - and if she thinks hard enough she'll realize how she can use that to her "advantage", in that Rand has told her Yui will never let her go, that it doesn't matter if Nol leaves or not. It goes back to my oft repeated sentiment of them needing to be on the same page, to be a team, because his absence will not protect her. And between what Rand told her, plus her anecdotes about Kousuke's birthday and how Yui treated her even before the formal, and what Yujing told Nol about Kousuke being drugged by Yui, maybe, just MAYBE that conclusion that wasn't only him all along will finally hit him. I know he can't change over night, that he has so many deeply ingrained fears that won't be easily assuaged, but I have to hope that a confession from Shinae can convince him that the alternative is worse. Convince him to fight along side her ;A;

I go back and forth on this thought but I think this is strongly what I feel right now. That reconciliation could still be around the corner, even if it's just an admission and a promise to not push her away. Shinae is tired of people acting on her behalf, tired of not getting a say, and especially in something that involves her heart, her feelings?

Go fight girl and maybe bite him if that's what it takes ;A;

STEALING HER BANDANA. HER LINES. HERT HEART. THIS MAN DESERVES TO BE LOCKED AWAY

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