#it was just such a wonderful conclusion for a character that unfortunately didn’t get that in canon

[gabriellaeva2005]

I really cannot express how much this piece of work means to me! As corny as it sounds I really found this story at the perfect point in my life, I initially started reading the impulse 1995 comics when I was 14 and I ended up falling upon this story when I was 17 I just immediately fell in love! The concept was so creative and fit into the pre-existing plot line perfectly! All the new characters are so enjoyable to read, Nathaniel and Jude have such a wonderful and also sad dynamic, as a twin my self every scene with them just really hit me in the heart! Six especially in the first several chapters was so comically annoying and clearly insecure, in a way that I think a lot of us can relate to, one way or another especially when we got to here is internal monologue, I’ve always been a sucker for the asshole character with an air of insouciance and superiority, who by the end of the story, just ends up being a pretty all right guy! And Five oh my god five! I love this guy so much! he’s just so genuine and someone who clearly cares deeply, and him being technically the physically oldest in the room, but also being the one with the least amount of experience is a very literal take on an experience I think a lot of people have felt, myself included, And I think we all know I’m a Three apologist, his whole story is just so devastating and haunting, part of me is always rooting for him, whilst also being terrified for what he might do to the other characters, there is so much complexity with his relationships with the other characters, such as five and four, every time theirs a seen with three and four the writing always makes me feel so on edge and is really able to puts me in three’s shoes! And god! The way three and five interact is so sweet and sad there relationship is just too much! The last chapter absolutely destroyed me!! And Bart and Thad are so perfectly characterized it truly just feels like a natural progression of their characters, the way they both are just really struggling to deal with the inevitability of change hit me so hard, like I said I started reading the impulse comics when I was 14 so these characters have such a place in my heart, so now being able to read about them going through these struggles, when I was also experiencing a lot of change, is such a comfort to me, it was like in a way these characters got older with me, and you know it’s always nice to see some of your childhood characters going through the same stuff as you, currently being a slightly terrified 18 year old, it was great to be able to read about two other slightly terrified 18 year olds, anyways I wanted to post some of my sketches from the past few weeks, and don’t worry there are definitely more to come cause I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop drawing these guys!

@cryptocism you really sent me on a journey, thank you for that!💖💖

[peppertoastuniverse]

pep reads: gojo satoru – long fics (pt.2)

Part 1 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★｡･:*:･ﾟ ☆ The Theory of Relativity by LuckyGh0st [AO3] [status: ongoing ◦ 11/13 chapters ] #gojo just loves you so much in this one You've lived your life without purpose. It's always been simplicity - sugar, flour, butter, mix, sugar, flour, butter, mix, simplicity, stability.

Everything changes when you find a man, bloody and beaten half to death, laying discarded in the snow.

or, Gojo Satoru is transported into a world where he doesn't exist, where you stand to change the course of everything with nothing but a kind smile and a generous hand.

☆ beyond the unending night by @stellamancer [AO3/tumblr: long one shot] [status: completed ] #the intensity of this fic omg

it is october 31, 2018— halloween in shibuya.

and you are trapped.

(you are unfortunate enough to be trapped in shibuya on october 31, 2018 in more ways in one. after many trials and many errors, you come to the conclusion the only way out is seeking out the man named satoru gojo.)

☆ you are not a god (just the man i love) by haveuseenthis [AO3 ] [status: completed ◦ 2/2 chapters] [slowburn] [tw!ptsd] [friends to lovers] #SUPER SOFT SATORU

they said gojo satoru was a god. unreachable. faraway. meant to be alone. but you knew better.

☆symptoms and causes by @lostfracturess [AO3/tumblr] [status: on going ◦ collection of fics 13/?] [professor gojo x med student reader] [smut!] #pep is OBSESSED wit this AU he's arrogant, self-centered, and he's your professor. renowned for his brilliance in neurosurgery and infamous for his allure. too bad you have to work with him on this research team. now you're stuck with dr. satoru gojo, delving into the complexities of both the brain and the heart—and of how far you'd go for a love that could destroy not only him but you as well.

☆out of the shadows by @extralively [AO3/tumblr] [status: completed ◦ 50/50 chapters + extras! ] [slow burn] [eventual smut!] [original female character] #pep's fav OC character #the CHEMISTRY?

No one had expected Gojo Satoru to form a friendship with the unknown girl that joined school in the same year he did. Not even Gojo Satoru, or Yura herself, especially considering he’d been an asshole to her the first time they met. A complicated friendship was born, one that would last years to come no matter how many headaches the white haired menace would give her – he was like gum in your hair, she mused, too much work to cut it out so why even bother trying?

☆ gods, monsters, monkeys by yuzudrops [AO3: ] [status: completed ◦ 23/23 chapters + extras!] [SUPER slowburn] [eventual smut!] [original female character] [student gojo!teacher reader (but they get together like 10 YEARS after)] [angst] #pep binged this so hard #complex/strong oc

“I thought it’d be you, if I’m being honest.” “It’d be me who what?” “Who’d go mad. Who’d go on a killing spree. Who’d just wake up one day and decide none of us are worth anything.” “Damn, sensei. Didn’t think you thought so little of yourself.” Didn’t think you thought so little of me simmers beneath. She wonders how Gojou, of all people, knows which lines can’t be crossed when his entire Cursed Technique is full of asymptotes.

A grossly under-qualified graduate of Jujutsu High is hired to teach a class of Special Grades. They learn there is more to power than strength. It doesn't end well.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ

bonus! satosugu!

☆ to feel is to love by cj_ackerman [AO3: 10/10 chapters] [status: completed] [satoru x suguru] [tw!ptsd] [college!AU] #this was so so so cute #soft sugu x soft toru

In another universe, instead of his eyes being the most powerful asset, Satoru is blind. Because of this, he’s mostly alone, unable to be the star child his high-ranking parents wanted him to be.

It’s Suguru Geto that makes him believe he deserves to be loved, and that he is seen. Suguru learns that to feel, is to love.

[filmmarvel]

Sex Education Season 4 Review

Unfortunately it wasn’t as good as the others. It’s less that it was bad or that I didn’t enjoy it, and more that it sort of failed in its duties as a finale. I really liked the finale, it wasn’t until I finished it that I was left like… that’s it?

Starting with the Pros: I’m glad they had the sense to end it here. This season has gotten hated on pretty hard so far, which makes sense, but isn’t quite deserved. Even though it wasn’t as good as it COULD’VE been, it was still good! In particular, Aimee, Eric, and Adam had wonderful and satisfying arcs which I found quite compelling and felt like a lovely send off to each of their characters. Maeve’s ending, despite being a point of controversy, was fitting. She had a difficult but moving season, and her destiny was always to be a writer. As disappointing as it is that she doesn’t end up with Otis, I thought the writers justified it quite well. It would’ve simply felt wrong for her to stay back in Moordale just for Otis. She was always going to get out.

This brings me to the Cons. I have to say, my biggest disappointment with this season has to be Otis himself. Being the lead character, I really wish they would’ve chosen a more personal storyline with more depth to it to send off his character. Instead, they had him acting like a child the whole season. He’s the primary character and yet he has the least interesting, least sympathetic, least moving storyline. It was all about his relationships with Maeve, Ruby, and Eric, and his competition with O. Nothing really about him. They didn’t give enough closure as to how his future looks- he’s no longer the school sex therapist, which is disappointing. He agreed to think about working with O, but that’s all, and that isn’t the most satisfying conclusion. They left him in a very nondescript place. Additionally, many former cast members weren’t in this season. As a result, I felt that there were a number of missed opportunities. My other big complaint is, predictably, the change in setting and new cast of characters. I really didn’t love the new school. I don’t think I need to elaborate on that too much, it was just kind of over the top in a way that felt misplaced and unrealistic. As for the new characters, most of them weren’t bad, they were just unnecessary. The one character I did have an issue with was O, who was a rather grating presence. Which I don’t think was something all that good for a finale. I didn’t find her character at all interesting or sympathetic. She was really annoying, and didn’t grow on me at all over the course of the season.

To sum things up, I wish the writers had just focused on the characters they had already. The new characters weren’t as interesting (naturally), and I thought the season could’ve benefitted from more of a personal journey for the characters we already know and love- such as Otis, Jackson, Ruby, or Viv. When a show ends, I always really like to have some closure on where each of the characters are headed in the future, such as new passions, future relationships, careers, etc. While again, they did a lovely job with this with a few characters, there were a lot of characters who just left me unsatisfied (namely the aforementioned 4). I enjoyed the ending, but it left me feeling like a lot of precious time was wasted with new characters and misplaced storylines. It didn’t feel as though the writers quite understood how important this season was, and failed to treat certain characters with the care they deserved.

[wjehfshs]

Ok... captain price secretly having daughter!nurse!reader gets kidnapped by the enemy and the COD characters finding out reader is price daughter after reader is treating their wounds

(lets face it price is a dad that will never let you join the military) anyway hope your doing OK

Your blog is really cool

Stop thank you sm :(

Warnings: Price being an overprotective dad, mentions of violence, swearing, reader gets kidnapped.

Price is definitely the squad dad.

Headcanons:

Price views everyone in the squad as his children but considering your his biological daughter he not so secretly gives you special treatment

The others don’t mind though, they love you and see you as their little sister

Since Gaz is the closest out of the squad to Price he is naturally the closest to you

You call everyone your brother but Gaz is definitely the one you spend the most time with

Before Price was deployed you had a degree as a nurse but could never find a job.

After hearing he would be deployed your heart ached so under the condition that you never go anywhere dangerous and never do anything dangerous, you could be applied and come along. (I have no idea how the army or anything works so if it doesn’t work like this let’s pretend it does)

Whenever someone came back hurt but not bad enough to go to the hospital or home, they would immediately go to you.

You where always so kind to them even when they did something stupid that ended in them getting hurt.

They knew how hard you worked so they always had sure you where taken care of.

The best parts of whatever was served that night was always served to you first.

You always got first picks.

Even if you said you didn’t want to because they needed food considering they’re in the army and training and running all day everyday, they still insisted you went first.

Soap was always the brother to cheer you up, gave the best hugs and always made sure you where happy.

Ghost was the overprotective brother, always making sure you where safe, he would literally take a nuke for you.

Gaz was like your best friend, you could always have fun with him, I mean not to say you didn’t have fun with the others but you and Gaz where like glue.

Graves was the brother you always argued with, you loved him but you always found yourself bickering with him.

Rudy was the kind of brother to throw you over his shoulder but affectionately, even though you didn’t fight he would always teach you how to defend yourself.

Alejandro always cooked for you when he could, he always made you dishes from his childhood that he loved.

When you where kidnapped

The Barracks had been stormed by the enemy, they managed to defend most of them off but unfortunately they managed to catch you.

Afterwards everyone was stressed out of their minds.

Price was pacing back and fourth in the Barracks almost shitting himself.

No one dared to say anything in fear he would yell at them out of stress.

Price ordered everyone get off their ass immediately and go to the enemy’s station.

As soon they got there Price didn’t even bother to be sneaky.

He was LIVID, the thought of them doing anything to you made his heart break and his head hurt.

He was bashing doors down and killing peoples with his bare hands.

To the honest the others where kind of scared of him but just as pissed

When he finally found you he spent no time waiting to shoot the people who grabbed you.

He freed you thankfully finding you where unharmed.

When he got you in his grasp he never let go.

It felt like there was a vice hugging you.

“Oh my beautiful daughter, my beautiful wonderful daughter. You’re safe” he was rambling on with tears in his eyes and you sobbed.

He didn’t let go of you until you got back to the Barracks.

When you got back everyone else held you just as tight just to confirm internally you where safe.

The next month everyone watched you like a hawk.

In conclusion you have the best dad ever and the team is the best family you could ever ask for.

[adiluv-moved]

❥ COMPOSER / BLOODY QUEEN + COOKING HCS. ˚⊹꒷

🕊️୧・꒰word count꒱ total—1605, frederick—816, mary—789.

🌸୧・꒰warnings꒱ possibly ooc ꒰mary꒱, not heavily edited.

🐇୧・꒰adi moment꒱ request here! i ended up adding mary to this request, since i thought it would be interesting to have a character that could cook with one that can't. ꒰i also just love mary ♡꒱ hope you enjoy! ꒰˶ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ˶꒱˖⁺‧₊˚

જ⁀➴ frederick kreibrug, the composer. ˚⊹꒷

꒰🎹꒱・Frederick can only be described as a natural perfectionist, and this trait isn’t something that so easily disappears whenever he enters the kitchen. After all, he’s lived his entire life with expectations being piled onto him by both his fans and his family—and while he may no longer have any affiliation with them, such high external pressures do eventually tend to seep in. Regardless of what the subject matter may be, if he doesn’t do something to the very height of his abilities, then what’s the point of doing it at all?

꒰🎹꒱・As such, he’s the type of chef to use a recipe and follow it to. The. Tea. His amazing memory tends to become extra useful in remembering the steps, his muscle memory even allowing him to get near perfect measurements every single time. Similarly to memorizing your favorite music pieces, I do also think he’d be quick to memorize any dishes you mention your enjoyment of. He also does his best to avoid using any unnecessary cookware, as he’s never been a big fan of having to wash everything afterwards. At least within the manor he’s not always the one that has to clean the dishes after meals, though the survivors that do can appreciate his efficiency.

꒰🎹꒱・He’s most experienced with savory dishes, mostly due to his attempts to recreate the food he’d eat before being disowned by his family. They’d been quite insistent on the importance of eating well, believing that one couldn’t perform their best if they did so on an empty stomach—a sentiment that Frederick continues to carry despite their estrangement. He will pile extra food onto your plate if you have a match coming up, especially so if he knows that the hunter is one that you tend to struggle kiting against. There have been times where other survivors have attempted to tease the both of you for this… though the silent look that he gives them tends to ruin the mood.

꒰🎹꒱・Even if he doesn’t have the time or energy to make something for you, he’ll still be sure to ask whether or not you’ve eaten properly before you head over to the waiting room. He’s quite menacing with it, too, even though you know he means well—and he’ll absolutely nag you if you respond in the negative. Did you lose the match? Oh, how unfortunate… Perhaps you got too distracted by the sound of your stomach rumbling at some point? Next time, you should make sure to eat properly before running around. Did you win the match? Well, congratulations! But you didn’t eat too well beforehand, no? You must be starving. Go sit down, he’ll quickly prepare something.

꒰🎹꒱・Depending on your personal threshold for spices and seasoning, you may or may not find Frederick’s food to be in need of a little extra flavor. He’ll be slightly surprised if you end up bringing this critique to him, not really seeing much of an issue with it himself. He’d probably assume that he messed up on the recipe somewhere along the way, so it’ll take a bit for you to convince him that while he does follow things with extreme precision… there are also times when breaking away from the recipe can help. Although it takes him a bit to fully accept that conclusion, he’ll still allow you to add additional seasonings to his food—and deeply appreciate it once he realizes how much better it is.

꒰🎹꒱・Regardless of how much more he enjoys your additions, I don’t see Frederick as having a particularly high spice tolerance—though his poker face works wonders in hiding that. In most cases, so long as it’s not extremely spicy, he can manage to maintain his composure until the meal is over and he can chug as much water as his heart desires. However, when that method fails him he’ll become red in the face ꒰which he still tries to keep straight꒱ and awkwardly fidget within his seat. Offering to go and get him some water will result in him looking at you like you’re an angel.

꒰🎹꒱・He’s a big fan of cooking with you, despite the extra mess and time that it’ll take. Granted, it does take him some time to get him to loosen up entirely—perfectionist tendencies shining through when you first start—but the activity does come to grow on him by the time your food is ready. I don’t see him as the type to be too goofy with it, though he’ll humor you most of the time. He’ll often ask if you’d like to make something with him when his brain gets too fried from compositions, and there have been many times where you’ve had to guard your creations from the other survivors. It’s fun, to him, and you might even find him drifting away from the recipes of his childhood over time. No need to remember them, in his eyes.

જ⁀➴ mary antoinette, the bloody queen. ˚⊹꒷

꒰🪞꒱・Mary, on the other hand, has absolutely no idea how to cook—though this isn’t exactly something that you could blame her for. Having been regarded as a member of the nobility for the entirety of her life, eventually even rising up to the title of queen—she’s never had much of a reason to bother herself with learning. Especially so considering that she had personal chefs to do the job both more efficiently and skillfully than she could ever dream of. 

꒰🪞꒱・This inability of hers to fend for herself in the kitchen isn’t something that changes when she enters the manor, either, considering that she’s one of the undead residents. Make no mistake here, she could eat if she desired to—in fact, she actively enjoys swooping in and stealing the food of living hunters—but she faces zero consequences if she decides not to. With that in mind, stepping foot into the kitchen isn’t exactly something that she does often. If I’ll be honest, most of the hunters would be totally fine with keeping her out of the room as a whole, too.

꒰🪞꒱・Not only is Mary very vocal about her displeasure of being forced into something so ‘unbefitting’ for her status, but all the more concerningly—has nearly burnt down the kitchen during each and every one of her attempts to make something. It’s gotten to the point where even Joseph—who’s not the greatest cook himself—jokes that asking Mary to cook something is the same as setting off a ticking time-bomb within the kitchen… though the downright nasty glares that she sends over in his direction are quick to shut him up. You can’t help but find it a little funny, but I wouldn’t recommend saying that to her face. 

꒰🪞꒱・While I do think she’d initially be less than welcoming to the idea of finally learning how to cook, she’d probably also give in if you ask her enough. She’ll insist that the only reason behind her agreement was due to how ‘annoying’ your repetitive begging and whining was, but she simply just hates to see the sad look on your face whenever she denies your requests—a truth that the both of you are well aware of. Do be warned, however, the task of showing her how to cook is far from easy, and you’ll have to stay by her side throughout the entire process. She’s clueless, but at the same time refuses to ask for help when she needs it. She’d probably be the type of person who believes that turning the oven to the highest temperature will cook the food faster—and you’re honestly lucky that the manor possesses no microwaves, because she’d absolutely put metal inside of one.

꒰🪞꒱・Another product of her upbringing, Mary has exceedingly high standards when it comes to food, with you being only partially spared from her high expectations. She will, however, gush over anything that she manages to make, believing it to be incredible despite any criticism she receives. Once again, her status as one of the undead hunters does protect her from issues such as food poisoning, leading her to eat all of her creations with a straight face… all while you’re physically convulsing from how terrible the taste is. She initially becomes offended by your reaction, but calms down slightly once you remind her that your stomach is far more sensitive than hers.

꒰🪞꒱・Despite how prideful she is, she’d feel utterly horrible if you became sick from eating one of her meals, and the entire thing would lead her to wanting to give up on cooking as a whole. I already see her as the type of person that becomes frustrated whenever she’s not immediately good at something, and seeing her significant other getting sick because of her certainly doesn’t do much to help. Although, assuming that you do convince her to continue cooking once you recover, I do think that the entire experience would get her to open up to suggestions. She’d hate to see you suffering within the infirmary for something avoidable, after all.

꒰🪞꒱・Considering her sweet tooth, I think that Mary would likely be more invested in baking than in cooking, even if it’s the harder of the two. ꒰Though she certainly isn’t helped by the fact that her favored pastries are more on the luxurious side.꒱ While it would require quite a bit of time—which you have an abundance of within the manor, anyway—she’d probably really only learn how to make some more basic dishes. Of course, it’s still amazing progress considering her starting point, so I don’t think she’d mind all that much. Be sure to deliver a few compliments of your own, too. She enjoys seeing you smile, especially when she’s the reason behind it.

i have a taglist, which you can sign up for here!

[microsuedemouse]

Blood Wedding is so. [heavy sigh.] The case is perfectly fine, but the b-plot with Cully’s wedding… :/

I don’t know if there’s anything floating around out there from the writers or anything that might help explain it, but. Cully and Simon’s relationship is so rushed in general. Their wedding is only six episodes (and, admittedly, a hiatus between seasons) after they meet! Those two episodes aired 17 months apart, and Simon doesn’t even appear in most of the eps in between. It honestly feels like they were suddenly hurrying to get Cully married so that she as a character could have some kind of… conclusion, or closure, to her character before she eventually leaves the show. (And we’ll not address right now what a lazy/lame/honestly sexist idea it is to use marriage as the ‘completion’ of a female character’s arc. That’s beside my point right now.)

Cully fades in and out of the show, I’ll admit, and maybe the showrunners had reason to believe that Laura Howard wasn’t going to be available much after this… but this is such a disservice to her character. In the past she’s always been strong-willed, independent, and unafraid to pursue what she wants. At times when she’s more present in the show, she’s a pretty engaging character.

This whole episode Cully and Simon are facing issues with the wedding and their feelings about it. Things keep going wrong, and both of their careers are getting in the way of their honeymoon plans; Simon fucks up and Cully is left wondering if she’s making the right choice. Now, if Simon was a character we’d had time to get to know and really care about - if we’d been given any chance to really get invested in Cully’s relationship with him - then yeah, of course we’d be rooting for them to work it out. We would want them to make up and for the wedding (and marriage!) to go well, and we’d feel something about the stakes! But because we barely know him, or really anything about their relationship, the episode winds up… kind of feeling like it’s pointing to them calling off the wedding. Or at least postponing it.

And then the wedding happens anyway, and Cully is married to honestly her least compelling love interest in the whole series, whom we will never see again. You can damn near forget it ever happened at all. She and Simon decide to prioritise their wedding, and then their careers, and then their honeymoon. Which like… I guess I appreciate that at least they didn’t have her turn down her upcoming role in favour of the relationship, but still. After the degree of uncertainty and anxiety throughout the episode, the conclusion of ‘oh, we love each other, so actually it’s gonna be fine’ doesn’t have a whole lot of weight. (Especially when that love has, from a viewer’s perspective, been told far more than shown.)

It’s just. Like. Cully is a character we’ve known and loved for over a decade at this point. And we want the best for her. And Simon is just… so lacklustre.

This show has always prioritised episode-by-episode plot first and foremost, and - unfortunately - long-term character arcs barely at all. It’s not a surprise that Cully’s marriage is a one-episode b-plot with minimal satisfaction and no real lasting impact. But it is a bummer.

The best thing about this episode is the Gavin cameo.

[squarebracketsmileyface]

Hi we are a little drunk right now and we want to be annoying. Sorry in advance.

We wonder if Alex and Jay would have ended up together or even like…. less toxic in S,IL if Jay hadn’t coerced Alex that one time on the couch. Like we find ourself blaming Alex a lot until we remember Oh yeah! Jay did That. And it’s kind of sad you know? But also interesting because we see a lot of media where in BDSM dynamics it’s assumed the Dom is the abuser. So it’s nice to see it from every angle. But also Jay why did you do that???? Like he said he didn’t want to and now you’re miserable forever because you guys can’t talk about your feelings. I am beating them both up. I love your work. Does this make sense? I am intoxicated. Yeah. 👍

Hi to you too :]

Honestly, I've thought about this so much since I started writing If It Ain't Broken because their fucked up relationship and dynamic are so interesting to think about. Honestly, I don't think that if you took away that one time on the couch it would change things, because unfortunately, it's not the only time it's happened, it's just the only time I've actually written. Jay genuinely thinks he's in the right/that he's helping Alex there, like, he thinks that Alex will feel better if he's just a bit rough with him to get his frustrations out, so even if he didn't do it that one time in chapter 2 of If It Aint Broken, hed have done it another time.

He really thinks he's doing the right thing, fully, wholeheartedly, genuinely believes it. If you could get him to understand that what he'd done had hurt Alex (which, I admit, would be hard because he doesn't like hurting Alex, he can accept that he does it when he's angry and loses control, but the idea that he could hurt Alex even when trying to help him would be awful) he'd be horrified.

Anyway, their relationship, even just as a friendship was always rocky. Like, honestly they probably shouldn't even be friends in S,IL, they fight and hurt each other and say nasty things and Jay manipulates Alex even when they're just friends. So even without the FWB stuff, their relationship would still probably be pretty toxic, just in different ways. I don't think it'd go as far in its toxicity as it actually ends up going (with Alex saying you know what fuck you and moving away, which I'm making the main catalyst for being Alex needing to get away from the toxic relationship, and the secondary reason be the whole Operator thing)

So without that one time on the couch? No, they'd still be that toxic, Jay would still out Alex to their friends, the manipulation and coercion would still happen other times, they'd still fight and scream at each other and say nasty things.

God I love thinking about this lol. Just, angst is so fun to write. So are unreliable narrators, I'm so glad you find yourself blaming Alex, honestly, because that's how I wrote it to be, you're meant to blame Alex, even if you now have a lot more of the information and know that actually he and Jay were in the wrong and doing unpleasant shit to each other. Hell, Jay's probably kinda worse than this point. But like, yeah, especially if you're reading the fics in the order they come out in, your first impression of Jay is him in S,IL itself, and it's hearing about his and Alex's relationship from his POV, and he doesn't think he's in the wrong for the actual things he's in the wrong for.

Like, your first impression of these characters is massively biased towards Alex being to blame for everything.

Honestly I kinda wonder how different the opinions/conclusions people would form if the first time they read S,IL they read it in chronological order, so with If It Ain't Broken first. Like, would that give them an entirely different perspective of the story, if they didn't first get introduced to Jay and Alex's messed up relationship through the incredibly warped lens that is Jay?

Some government should give me science funding to stick a bunch of people who've never even heard of S,IL before in two rooms and force them to read it either in the chronological order or in the upload order, so that I can ask them about the story and find out how different or similar their conclusions about the characters and their relationships are.

[demonskiss]

I wonder how each of your characters would react if their darling tried to escape/avoid them.

avoidance

cw: violence, threats (not to reader), gaslighting, rumor spreading, noncon touching, threats of noncon

written by a minor, dni if uncomfortable

emory doesn’t take well to you ignoring them. to them, it’s a sign of disrespect and it simply won’t do to have their dear little pet ignore their master after all. how will you fare when you have to live with the fact that for one hour you ignore them, they’ll coo to the held victim with their mellow voice every single threat they have planned for them. you’ll watch how the victim’s eyes turn to terror as they come to the conclusion that it’s your fault, how because of your selfish actions that they’ll have their fingers mangled for the world to see. your precious heart can’t handle knowing the fact the lives of other unfortunate captives are in your hands. won’t you make it easier for them and make their lives come to as peaceful of an end the surgeon will make it be? shh, don’t cry, you’ve just been bad, and bad lambs need discipline.

“my little lamb, you’re making the patient cry. you’re even more crueler than i could’ve ever thought you were… how utterly charming.”

blythe does not handle it well. they cling to you, pleading for you to stop avoiding them! they’ve done nothing wrong after all, he’s tried doing everything correctly, there’s no reason for you to avoid him, right? unless, someone else is making you avoid him! this can’t do at all, you’re perfectly innocent, you can do no wrong. they go out of their way to search the entire campus for someone to pin the blame onto, threatening them passive-aggressively with the ever so lovely smile they have, and if they get defensive, he’ll simply just remove them from the picture! don’t worry, dear heaven! there’s no one to stop you from communicating with him now…. so you should stop leaving him alone, for the sake of the people around you.

“it’s that classmate you were hanging out with right? he’s the one who wants you to stop hanging out with me, right? there’s no need to defend him…. i already know.”

violetta is hysterical, initially being so angry to where she just outright blames you rather than the people around you. isn’t she so lovely, why could you have stopped hanging out with her?! but once her rage soothes, she begins to think about the possibilities of having enemies. some upperclassmen artists don’t like her because of the popularity she’s gained around the school, maybe that’s it! she uses her popularity to spread rumors around the school, something small, something minor. but when it eventually spreads and expands, it’ll reach your ears, forcing you to return back to her, who always had time to be with you.

“my muse! where have you been all this time, abandoning me? oh… you’ve found out a friend of yours was exposed to be a horrible person? it’s okay, i’ll always stay by your side!”

ambrose takes things into his own hands, unlike the others, he has more than enough time to beg for your attention, in more ways than one. his favorite is to leave sickening messages of his obsession towards you, each more nauseating to read. but if that doesn’t work, he’s more than happy to make you acknowledge him. his ghostly form allows him to touch your body past your clothing, ghosting his chilly fingers along your thighs, leaving kisses on your neck and making unwanted mumbles about how hard he’ll fuck you if you continue to ignore him, and it’s hard to ignore when you’re so horny, mind drowning in the frost of his advances. and if you continue to ignore him after that little incident? let’s just say, a little bit of possession is on his bucket list, just for you, dear eternity!

“stop ignoring me… you know how clingy i am. give me attention, or i’ll make sure you can’t walk for the next week.”

i didn’t do the escaping part because!! it would’ve gotten VERY violent very quickly for some of them and it would’ve gotten very long!! it does make a very great thought!! i think about it when i go to bed……. >:)

[twistedminutia]

Twst Talk: How Natural is Unnatural Hair?

Like a lot of anime and cartoons, many of the characters in Twisted Wonderland have fantastical hair (and eye) colors that seem to be natural to them, despite being completely unnatural hair colors here. Which made me wonder: how common is it to have strange hair colors in the world of Twisted Wonderland?

Some basic guidelines before we start: first, I will be doing two groups of comparison, one human and one nonhuman. We don’t have merfolk or beastmen or Fae in our world, so there’s no telling what kind of hair color is natural for them, and it didn’t seem fair to include them with other humans without a baseline looking at just humans. For the purposes of this writing, Sebek will be classified as a Fae (I’m sure he’d be thrilled).

Second, hair dye and presumably even magical methods of changing hair color exist in Twisted Wonderland. I am going to assume that everyone’s hair color is their natural hair color unless there is canon material (in or out of game) that states otherwise or I have a good reason to suspect their hair color is not natural.

Third, in the interest of getting as big of a sample size as possible, I’m going to be including all named characters with sprites that have been introduced so far, including in the JP server, so there will be spoilers for JP server events and chapter 7. Theoretically, I guess I could include the background characters as well, but I am not interested in trying to categorize all of them. If someone else wants to do that and add to my results, feel free.

Fourth, there are going to be some exclusions. First on the list: Idia and Ortho. Their hair color is explicitly stated to be part of a curse, which means that it’s magically caused. Since this list is supposed to be about what hair colors occur naturally in Twisted Wonderland, they’re out. Second: Marja (Epel’s grandmother) and professor Trein. Both of them have had their hair turn white and gray, respectively, with age. Since we don’t know what their original hair color was, I’m making the executive decision not to include them in the count. I’ll also exclude the Faerie Queen and assorted elemental fairies and Eliza, since their hair seems to be more like element or vapor based than actual hair. Everybody else is fair game. Let’s get into it!

The Humans

We’ll be listing all humans with unnatural hair colors first, along with their hair color, then the natural ones, then the conclusion and percentages.

Unnatural hair colors: Deuce (blue), Trey (green), Riddle (yes, red is technically a natural hair color, but what we refer to as red is usually more of an orange color, like Cater or Ace’s hair; I’m going to consider Riddle’s blood red hair as unnatural), Kalim (yes, white is also technically natural, but it’s pretty rare for someone his age and there’s no indication that his hair color is unusual that I’ve seen so I’ll count it), Epel (lavender), Mama Spade (seemingly mixed blue and blonde), Rollo (white/gray). Total: 7

Natural hair colors: Cater (ginger), Ace (ginger), Jamil (brown), Rook (blond), Vil (OKAY YES HE HAS PURPLE IN HIS HAIR but we never see any other character who has ombré hair like that, even in other two-color characters, so I’m going to make an executive decision and list him as blond), Silver (yes, silver hair is not natural, but we learn in Ch 7 that his silver hair is caused by magic and his natural hair color is blond, so he will be listed as a blond here), Coach Vargas (black), Crewel (black; he canonically dyes the white part of his hair), Sam (black), Najma (brown), Neige (black). Total: 11

So that makes 18 total human characters with 7 having unnatural hair colors and 10 having natural ones. It’s unfortunate that the characters I had to exclude were all human, since this is kind of a small sample size. But, with 7/18 characters having unnatural hair colors, the total percentage of weird hair is about 39%. So, a bit below half. Unnatural colors would seem to be less common than natural colors, then, at least in humans, but not really rare. Let’s see how that stacks up with the nonhumans!

The Nonhumans

Unnatural hair colors: Jack (I debated on him being considered natural or unnatural, since he’s a wolf-boy and white hair is technically a natural color for a wolf, but to keep things consistent, we’ll go with hair colors that are unnatural for humans, so we’ll count his white hair as unnatural), Jade (turquoise), Floyd (turquoise), Azul (white), Sebek (green), Baul (green), Snick (this one’s on the edge, but it looks more red to me, so I’m giving it to the unnaturals), Dominic (silver), Grum (magenta), Shelpie (green), Timmy (blue), Toby (purple? I think?), Chenya (purple), Cheka (red/yellow), Kifaji (blue), Gidel (kinda reddish-purple, I think?) Total: 16

Naturals: Leona (brown), Ruggie (blond), Lilia (black; according to an interview with Yana, he dyes the pink part of his hair), Malleus (black), Crowley (black), Malenoa (Malleus’ mother, black), Hop (blond), Fellow (orange) Total: 8

Wow, pretty much a complete reversal! That’s a total of 24 nonhuman characters with 16 having unnatural hair and 8 having natural hair. Literally over twice as many have unnatural hair! Even if we remove the seven dwarves, who you could argue are slightly skewing the total, we still have 9 people with unnatural hair and 6 with natural. That makes 68% of the characters here with unnatural hair! As for specific species proportions, Fae have 8/13 or 61% unnatural hair, beastmen have 5/7 or 71% unnatural hair, and merfolk have 3/3 or 100% with unnatural hair (and this makes me realize we literally haven’t met any merfolk outside the main cast. Huh. Makes sense, I guess, if they all live underwater and have to attend a boot camp to learn to live on land.)

Interesting comments: this means that nonhumans as a group outnumber the humans, though only by 6, and no single group of nonhumans outnumbers humans. Fae have the most characters shown in game as nonhumans (not even counting the faeries from the gala and camping events!) thought the seven dwarves skew this a bit. There are more recurring characters who are human, though- of the humans, 14 of the 18 characters are part of the main cast whereas only 10 of the 24 nonhuman characters are recurring. The dwarves might be skewing this again, though.

Final Totals

If we combine all characters, human and nonhuman, that makes 42 total characters. Of those 42, 24 have unnatural hair colors and 19 have natural, meaning that, overall, 57% of characters have unnatural hair. That makes a majority! Unnatural hair colors are actually more common is Twisted Wonderland, just based on the sample size we have.

Couple other fun stats: for exclusively the main cast, 10 out of the 24 (42%) characters have unnatural hair, so side characters bulk out a lot of the unnatural hair havers. Speaking of side characters, their total is 13 out of 18 (72%) characters with unnatural hair. The seven dwarves seem to be the biggest skew in terms of unnatural hair, so if we remove them from the original total, we have 18 out of 35 (51%) of characters with unnatural hair, which may be a slightly more representative sample.

Conclusion

Based exclusively on this data, we can say that having unnaturally colored hair is actually more common in Twisted Wonderland than having naturally colored hair. Humans have the lowest likelihood of having unnatural hair, and merfolk have the highest.

Of course, this is an extremely small sample size, so this data may not be generalizable to the entire population of Twisted Wonderland. The sample also has a lot of mages in it, so we also don’t know if having magic may affect your hair color or something. Regardless, this was an interesting attempt to study hair color in Twisted Wonderland.

As always, I appreciate comments. Let me know if the math is wrong or if I’ve missed any characters. Or if you would classify anyone differently! I know Vil’s positioning might be controversial… and let me know if you want to see anything else analyzed too. Thank you, and good night.

[lizardaggro]

student 21's villain academia, pt 1

so. not twst bully!au part 4. it's not canceled don't worry; i'm just having a couple health issues at the moment and this one was closer to being done. i've literally been working on it for 5 days, so... it was time.

this one is a bit slow to get started, as in it still hasn't kicked into action yet, but by part 3 or so you'll see my vision. this is an x gn!reader, so anyone can read it, and no, aizawa is NOT one of the love interests. i'd rather die than ship him with a student. i have no idea if this au has been done before; you don't have all the information yet so don't jump to conclusions about me copying so-and-so. this idea has been rattling around in my brain for like a year so i'm super excited to finally get it out! genre: gn!reader, fluff, found family, romance coming eventually, canon-typical angst trigger warnings: reader has a panic attack word count: 2004

You didn’t really consider yourself one of those ‘crazy anime fans.’ No, you were more subdued in your interests. You didn’t own hundreds of dollars’ worth of merchandise, nor did you insist on watching the latest episodes right when they aired. And above all, you would never try to force your passion onto others.

Lately you’d been really into a rather popular action anime by the name of Boku no Hero Academia, or My Hero Academia in English. It wasn’t perfect, but something about the characters just sucked you in. They were just kids, only fifteen years old, and suddenly they were faced with enemies backed by a villain even the strongest hero struggled against. Thus, you couldn’t help but feel little ashamed of yourself as you fell asleep to the ending song of the latest episode.

When you woke up, it was very abrupt. You were certain you’d been asleep on your couch, but suddenly you were standing in the middle of a busy street. Not wanting to be stuck there when the light turned green, you hurried to the other side. Was this a lucid dream? You’d never had one of those before, but there wasn’t another plausible explanation.

Taking in your surroundings, all the signs definitely weren’t in English, but somehow you could understand them. Was that Japanese? Huh, all that anime must be rubbing off on your subconscious. You caught sight of a TV inside an electronics store displaying the news. You didn’t know where you were supposed to be, so maybe that could give you a clue.

“Hinata here, reporting in from Musutafu News,” a young woman announced, “just this morning, up and coming villain Bakugou Katsuki wreaked havoc on a suburban neighborhood, completely destroying 8 homes. Can you believe he’s only 15?! Goodness, what has society come to? Fortunately, there were no casualties, but our experts believe it’s only a matter of time. And now, for the weather forecast…”

You tuned out the rest, in a complete state of shock. Bakugou is a villain? What sort of dream is this? Sure, he’s loud and violent and tells people to die on the regular, but he’s not a criminal! Is this some sort of joke? Is your subconscious playing some kind of trick on you? There’s some sort of nagging feeling in the back of your mind, like you should know something about this situation, but you just can’t recall.

You decide to keep walking, instead of staring blankly at the television like an idiot. Maybe you’ll find someone or something that can explain what’s going on. With luck, it’ll be one of the main characters. If you’re really unfortunate, you’ll find someone from the League. But who knows, maybe they’re the good guys here.

After about 10 minutes, it hits you. This is one of those alternate universe thingies! Your cousin, who’s far more invested in the fandom than you are, was trying to explain them to you at a family gathering, but you were only half listening. Now that was a mistake. Even worse, she seemed convinced that some people actually got transported into the worlds of anime! No wonder you weren’t paying attention. Clearly she had a screw or two loose. Yeah, there was simply no way something like that had happened to you. This was a dream, plain and simple.

But then the building right next to you caught fire. You were sure there was nothing before, but there was a fire and it was very, very big and very, very hot. Suddenly this all felt too terribly real. Was it a villain attack? Oh no, you were doomed. You were going to die- you’d only just gotten here and you were already going to die-

“It’s going to be okay,” you heard a gruff voice say.  It was probably Japanese, but you could understand it all the same. “Take deep breaths, one at a time. The heroes are already here, they’re apprehending the villain right now,” you heard him say softly. You did your best to follow his advice. In, pause, out, pause. In, pause, out, pause. After a while, it wasn’t so hot, and you could turn to look at the person who had calmed you down. You weren’t one to judge, but he looked like he needed some help- holy cow that’s Aizawa!!

Okay, you were not expecting that. Sure, you were hoping you’d run into a friendly canon character, but you didn’t think it’d happen that easily! You knew you needed to say something though, or this would be painfully awkward. “I, um,” you spluttered, “I’m a huge fan, Eraserhead. Can I get an autograph?”

“A fan, really? I don’t have too many of those.” He looked pleased, but also a bit confused. That was to be expected, considering he’s an underground hero. “Sure, do you have any paper on you?”

Ah. That was a bit of a problem. You searched your pockets, turning up absolutely nothing, not even your phone. “Nope. Nothing. Guess I won’t be getting that autograph, huh?” You were disappointed, of course, but it wasn’t the end of the world. As messed up as this world seemed to be, you were probably better off not meeting any more canon characters unless they were saving your life. This was just a lucky chance.

“Ah, well, that’s too bad. Hey, kid, you don’t seem like you’re from around here. Are you lost?” Aizawa asked. You did a double take, wondering if it was really that obvious. Kid, though? How old were you?

“Um, yeah, I’m pretty lost, I think. I’m not really from around here,” you vaguely expressed. Even you weren’t sure where here was. You were beginning to fear that this might just be your new reality, but naturally you couldn’t just accept that out of the blue. A large part of you was holding out hope that this was just a crazy dream. Because if Bakugou was a villain in this world, then what did that mean for the rest of the characters?

“You think? Did you hit your head or something? I can take you to the hospital to get it looked at,” he offered. You were pretty sure a concussion was the least of your worries, but sticking with Aizawa seemed safer than being alone in a strange place, at least. He did appear a little suspicious of your condition, but you were only telling the truth. You had no idea what was going on either.

“That might be a good idea. Thank you,” you agreed with a nod. While the doctor wasn’t likely to find any brain damage, you could at least see if you had the quirk factor gene thing or not. The odds were next to zero, but if this was a dream, you might just turn out to be super overpowered!

Yeah, right. Even if you did suddenly find yourself being up to par with some of the main characters, there wasn’t much you could do with it. Public quirk usage was illegal, and it’s not like you’d end up in a hero school with zero documents to prove you actually existed.

You and Aizawa walked in silence, presumably to the nearest hospital. You really hoped he wasn’t also a villain in this world. But if he was, then why would he have helped to calm you down? So, you were probably safe. For now, at least. You couldn’t cling to him forever.

When you reached the hospital, Aizawa took you to the emergency room. You didn’t think you were that much of an emergency, but you couldn’t provide much of a counterargument without revealing too much. What were you supposed to say, anyway? “Oh, hey, by the way, you’re just a character from an anime I watched back home, except for some reason the timeline got really messed up and now Bakugou’s a villain?” As if! He’d think you were crazy!

So instead, you went along with it as you were brought back almost immediately. You weren’t sure if it was because they thought you had a head injury, or because you were with a pro hero. Either way, it wasn’t fair to the other people waiting, those who actually needed help. But again, there was nothing you could do.

Several annoying and probably unnecessary tests later, a doctor came back to your room to speak with you. “Well,” she began, sitting down on a stool, “I have good news and bad news. The good news is that all the tests came back normal. The bad news is, well, none of our staff could find any information on you. Are you sure your name is in our system correctly?”

You knew this would happen, unless the universe magically decided to cover for you. “Yes, they’re correct. I just, I don’t really remember anything else. I know that and some basic information but that’s about it. I don’t even know where I come from, just that it’s not here,” you told her, trying to be as calm as possible. You’d had plenty of time to think about what to do while you were waiting on the results, and you figured amnesia was the best option.

It was true, in a sense, that you didn’t know where you came from. You were beginning to be convinced that this was reality, but you didn’t know how. Was this some sort of parallel universe? You didn’t know how all that physics stuff worked, but that sounded the most likely.

The good news about the timeline being messed up was that you didn’t have to worry about your presence messing things up. You were basically free to do whatever you wanted. You were, however, severely limited by the fact that according to the government, you weren’t a real person.

The doctor and Aizawa shared a look. “Well, I’m going to step out and have a chat with the doctor here about what to do next,” Aizawa said in a tone that didn’t betray anything. That made you nervous. Were you in trouble because you’d said you were his fan? Were you going to be interrogated, or worse, sent off to Tartarus, never to see the light of day again?

No, you’d be fine. Everything would be fine. You just had to focus on your breathing, and try not to think about everything that could go wrong. From what you knew about him, Aizawa wouldn’t turn on you so quickly. You hadn’t done anything wrong.

After a surprisingly brief amount of time, Aizawa re-entered the room alone. The doctor must’ve left to go see other patients. “Hey kid, it sounds like you’ve been through a lot. So until we figure out what to do with you, you’re welcome to crash at my place. I’m guessing you don’t have any school to attend?”

“I don’t know, Mr. Aizawa,” you mumbled. What else were you supposed to say, anyway? Who knows, maybe you could go for a career in acting after all this was over. You’d have plenty of practice by then, that’s for sure. You felt guilty for lying to him, of course, but what choice did you have?

“I figured as much. I’ll talk to the principal at the school I teach at and see if we can’t get you enrolled when the new school year starts two weeks from now,” he supplied. You tried not to let your surprise show on your face. You were going to go to UA?! Nezu would still have to agree, but this was beginning to sound like a classic main character development. You didn’t want this hero academia; especially not when everything could be messed up!

“In the meantime, I’m sure you must be exhausted. Come on, let’s go home,” Aizawa said. Home. That was a nice sentiment. Here you were, in a new world all by yourself, unsure of what was the same and what had changed. But at least you had a place to rest your head.

taglist: @bluesherricokes

[adamwatchesmovies]

Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1993)

While the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise had three solid-to-pretty-good first entries, it rapidly devolved into garbage after that - without ever turning into "so bad they're good" trainwrecks or silly fun in the same way the Friday the 13th films did. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare is the much-needed breath of fresh air the series needed. Writer/director Wes Craven thinks outside the box with this one. It's so innovative that if you kinda liked or didn’t mind the likes of Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, I’m not sure you’ll even like it.

Heather Langenkamp (playing a fictionalized version of herself), famous for playing Nancy Thompson in A Nightmare on Elm Street, is approached by Wes Craven (playing himself) and New Line Cinema to return to the series despite it ending definitively with Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. Plagued by strange nightmares her husband, Chase (David Newsom), assures her are caused by the frequent California earthquakes, disturbed by the unusual behavior of her son, Dylan (Mike Hughes), and worried she’s already losing her mind, she’s hesitant to accept the offer.

Released three years after the “final” chapter, this one must’ve left audiences wondering if they'd stepped into the right movie. Most of this story plays out like a psychological drama rather than a slasher film. There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding Heather and her state of mind until the last act (actually, it could’ve stood to have been even more ambiguous but we’ll get to that). When we see Freddy Krueger (once again played by Robert England), he doesn’t crack jokes the way we’ve grown accustomed to him doing and his design is radically different. More effective? No, but there’s no mistaking this sinister character for the one we ridiculed previously.

It’s a much more cerebral and self-aware story than we’re accustomed to - horror or otherwise. Many shots are direct callbacks to the most iconic scenes of the 1984 original. Numerous actors play themselves and comment on the effect the films have had on their careers, psyche or lives. It makes the actors who don’t play themselves but have been previously featured in the series stand out. Lin Shaye played a teacher in the original movie. Surely Heather should recognize her but she doesn’t. As the plot progresses and Heather becomes more unhinged, the lines between reality and fiction become increasingly blurry. It’s superbly executed.

While the reveal that Freddy Krueger wants to leave the fictional world and enter our world may not surprise everyone, I didn’t see it coming 100%. It’s another layer of self-awareness that makes your head spin. In the movies, Freddy “wasn’t real”. He had no physical form but his actions were tangible. The process is happening again but on a wholly different level. While this requires some retconning/reimagining of the character, this choice could not have worked with any other movie slasher or a newly-invented one. For better or worse, everyone knows who you’re talking about when you say “Freddy”. He is just as well-known as Santa Claus. I'll remind you that the postal office confirmed Santa exists, so…

The film’s conclusion is, unfortunately, where Wes Craven’s New Nightmare is at its weakest. The ‘90s special effects generally haven’t aged well and they’re poured on heavily during the overly-lengthy final act. It devolves into standard Elm Street stuff, which is too bad. Everything preceding it is so fresh, so new.

Unless you’re counting 2010's A Nightmare on Elm Street or Freddy vs. Jason (which ignores this film), Wes Craven’s New Nightmare is the final story in the series and it’d be hard to come up with a better way to cap things off. This seventh installment brings it all back to the beginning and plays with many great ideas, the kind uniquely applicable to this series. The performances are strong, the filmmaking gives you a lot to think about and it's memorable. (On Blu-ray, December 13, 2019)

[cartoonfuel]

Cookie Dough Ice Cream — Chapter 1

First Post (includes actual writing lol) — Multifandom x Reader/Reverse Harem

BEFORE YOU READ: I have some explaining to do. 🥴

So my buddy @lou-struck and I created harems for each made up of anime characters from literally aaaaalllll over the board (at random!). For my Ouran High School Host Club fans out there: You may get a kick outta this!

@lou-struck’s harem includes:

Tooru Oikawa - Haikyuu!! (Playing the Perfect/Princely One)

Edward Elric - Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Tsundere)

Shoto Todoroki - My Hero Academia (Strong Silent Type)

Ayato Sakamaki - Diabolik Lovers…unfortunately (Badass)

Armin Arlert - Attack on Titan (Best Friend)

Denki Kaminari - My Hero Academia (Pervert)

Zenitsu Agatsuma - Demon Slayer (Comedian/Comedic Relief)

Kusuo Saiki - The Disastrous Life of Saiki K (Enemy…I’d be terrified if I were @lou-struck)

Pretty loaded roster, amiright? >:D

Please note that this is purely FOR FUN and nowhere near as detailed as my typical projects. But…it definitely has a lot of personality! 🫠

** Written in active voice second person POV (I usually do not write using active voice).

And uhh…college au was literally the only way to make this work lol

If all that makes sense…then let’s begin Chapter One. Enjoy!

~~~~~

Cookie Dough Ice Cream — Chapter 1

Word Count: 1K

TW: None

- One - Two -

~~~~~

Every Tuesday after class, you and your best friend Armin go to get ice cream together at the local Baskin-Robbins. You catch up, talk about your week, complain about the people in your social circle. Sure, it’s a little bit toxic, but it’s harmless for the most part.

“The guy won’t leave me alone,” you explain to Armin after shoving a spoonful of cookie dough ice cream into your mouth. “I don’t know what to do anymore!”

Armin sighs. “You have to stop leading him on.”

“But I swear I’m not!”

“You have to tell him to his face that’s he’s not welcome—no tiptoeing around it.”

“Are you actually Armin in there? Or did a ghost possess you?”

“I’m being serious! This guy’s trouble and you know it and now I’m starting to get concerned.”

You collapse face-first onto the table and sigh. “I know…” You pause. “I mean, he’s just a creep more than anything.”

“A strong attractive creep that everyone seems to like despite the weird aura he gives off.” Armin crosses his arms. “I still can’t get over the time he sniffed the back of your neck.”

“Can we not talk about that please?” You try to hide your blush though fail miserably. Suddenly, your eyes go big. “You think he’s a vampire?!”

“Ayato Sakamaki is not a vampire,” Armin replies, clearly used to the silly conclusions you would often jump to.

“A girl can dream, can’t she?”

“You girls always fantasize about that stuff. I don’t get it.”

“Eh, we may think we like that stuff but it’s probably pretty scary in real life.”

“Speaking from experience, are you?”

“Definitely not, and thank god for that.”

All of a sudden, Armin’s eyes widen for just a moment, peaking your interest. You hesitate to glance over your shoulder and determine what it was that distracted your friend.

“Don’t look now,” he says quietly. “Your boyfriend is here.”

You knew exactly what he meant by that. “Oh? You mean the delusional college volleyball player who misunderstands the undeniable fact that I am not his girlfriend?”

Out of nowhere, a powerful hand clamps down on your shoulder and startles you. “Look who it is! Good to see you! Seems like Baskin-Robbins is the place to be, eh?”

“Unfortunately,” you growl, turning and glaring at the man standing above you.

“Yikes! What’s with the nasty scowl?”

“You’re interrupting my ice cream date, Oikawa.”

Tooru Oikawa. He’s not the worst scum bag on the planet, but definitely one you didn’t want to get involved with. The way girls would drool all over him always bothered you. However, part of you wondered what was actually going on inside that fat head of his as you never shot down the possibility of his arrogant attitude simply being a front.

“Oh, well my sincerest apologies!” He leaned towards you, now resting his hands on the back of your seat. “It won’t happen again, honest! Because next time, it’ll be our own little outing.” The hairs on your arms stood up. “Can’t interrupt a date you’re already on, can you?”

You roll your eyes. “If that’s your way of asking me out—for the sixth time this month—it’s a bit aggressive, don’t you think?”

“Aggressive is the only way I play, honey!” Armin started chuckling. Oikawa turned to look at him. “What’s so funny?”

“Aggressive?” Armin replied. “More like desperate. But I’ll be nice and assume you meant you play aggressively on the court and not in the dating world.”

Oikawa gave you some room to breathe, pulling up a chair next to you and your best friend. “Listen, I could have any girl I want. HOWEVER! I realize how special your friend is.”

Armin shrugged. “Well, you’re not wrong. She is pretty damn special. Which is exactly why you aren’t good enough for her. Don’t you have some lame sport to go play?”

Now it was your turn to notice some idiot wandering into the ice cream shop. This time, it was your mortal enemy: Kusuo Saiki. Realizing he was here, you immediately stood up and got your things together.

“Whoa, everything okay?” Oikawa asked you.

“Nope!” You said in a hurry. “Gotta go. Armin, I’ll fill you in later.”

However, in order to leave the Baskin-Robbins, you’d have to pass by Saiki, currently standing in line for his ice cream. You desperately hoped being fast alone would be enough for him to ignore you.

“Oh,” Saiki said as soon as he saw you. “Just my luck. Thought I’d get to catch a break for once and be able to enjoy Baskin-Robbins’ new coffee jelly flavored ice cream in peace.”

You started to panic. “And you will! I was just on my way out.”

The scariest part was, you knew Kusuo Saiki was a psychic. You were one of the few people who did, and the day you found out his secret was hands down the worst day of his life—and you’re sure he’s had a lot of worst days! That day is probably why he has such a strong distaste towards you. You’re afraid in the future he might internally explode from all the turmoil he deals with on a daily basis and possibly take it out on you.

“Stop acting so terrified, I’m not going to hurt you,” Saiki snapped.

“You could,” you chuckled anxiously. “Really, I was leaving, so I’ll see you around! You don’t need to worry about seeing this ugly mass of bones and muscle! Bye!”

And with that, you darted out of the shop, leaving Saiki to silently pray that you never discover the true reason as to why he passionately hates your guts so much.

~~~~~

Alright! So that showcases SOME of the fandoms I’m familiar with at least. Bro, I’m scared for MY harem…pretty sure that consisted of Light Yagami (yikes already), Mikey from Tokyo Revengers, Kyo (Fruits Basket), Katsuki Bakugou…yeah, I’m dead.

Anyway, thanks for reading! This was a fun concept to carry out and I look forward to updating it sometime soon.

Oh! And I’ll add this to my welcome post, but it is worth noting I actually am a volleyball coach/player. So any Haikyuu I write…I try to make fairly accurate! ☺️ Again, thanks for reading and see ya later!

[morievna]

BSD ch 106 – my wild theory about Aya’s dad identity

Hello~~

Another short chapter^^’

The most important is that Akutagawa is back T_T it is clearly hinted that he is partially conscious – probably he cannot disobey main orders (like capturing Bram), but some details are up to him and he probably didn’t kill Aya per his promise to Atsushi. Imo it nicely set up next stage – with Bram as bait for ADA, we just have to wait for most likely Atsushi (though Kyouka or Yosano would be nice too) to show up to fight his vampire boyfriend xD and ofc find a way to grant back free will to all vampires.

That ‘refused to consume me’ gave me pause… I wonder if core of vampirism can be taken over by drinking Bram’s blood or something like that.

As for oil at elevator, which caused fire – wow Asagiri really wanted to raise the stakes and keep us on the edge xD My guess is that maybe it is byproduct of Dazai tampering elevator earlier – like some auto-destruction mode for elevator… but frankly possibilities are endless when it comes to Dazai’s plans so it is better to wait and see xD still it was touching that Dazai’s first instinct was to save Sigma by getting him underwater awwww

So let’s go to the main topic and time to wear tin foil hat XD

I must admit that when I first read spoiler summary I was surprised that we got more of Aya’s flashbacks. I don’t want it to be taken wrong way – it is really nice that she got to be more fleshed out and have more detailed backstory (not much of bsd female characters can relate), but still… it kinda puzzled me that we were shown again how much awful person is her father – which feels a bit redundant. Ofc calling out sexism is important - I am not diminishing that. Just I am simply wondering that maybe Asagiri is treating it as build-up for something else.

In addition, it is a bit sus to how Aya’s dad is shown compared to her mother and sister - like he is more hidden visually.

It makes me wonder if Aya’s dad identity is supposed to be mystery and that he will make appearance at some point. Also, it is worth noting that Aya was at airport at his request (ch 92).

So who could he be? His hairstyle and age would fit with certain person:

Yes, nobody else than Tachihara’s brother xD

First off – I know it is very rough and rather unbelievable theory with no real proof. Still somehow it stuck in my mind so I decided to write it down here. It is not that I think is 100% true, but weirdly enough it would fit within story.

Especially there are some mysteries when it comes to Tachihara’s brother:

Tachihara’s brother knew real purpose of Mori and government’s action at Tokoyami island, which were classified information. He was regular soldier, who shouldn’t have access to it. Unless somebody with access could tell him – like Fukuchi

We are specifically told that Fukuchi wanted to go to Tokoyami island because of his missing disciple. Frankly, this information has little value from story perspective unless such disciple is somebody we know.

Yosano claimed that she is totally sure that he died – in most of the stories it means that person is alive XD Nonetheless, Yosano’s arc lacks sorta proper conclusion – reunion with Tachihara’s brother would have nice ring to it imo

Summing all up, my guess is that Fukuchi helped Tachihara’s brother (I hope he will get name finally xD) escape and presented some dead body double in the latter’s stead. Then he provided the latter some fake identity so he could live freely without fear of government wanting to dispose him for knowing classified information.

But even if he possibly lived, he would be broken person with PTSD – who would need therapy first before raising up kids (but therapy is not really option in bsd unfortunately). Still he and Aya would be nice parallel to orphanage headmaster and Atsushi. By this I mean – headmaster used bad methods to try make Atsushi to grow up to be good person – and it could be that Aya’s dad is the same.

At the heart Aya and young Yosano are very similar – both are determined, kind and idealistic girls, which simply want to help and save others (whether by being Ally of Justice or healing). After witnessing how Yosano was traumatized and exploited by government, he would try to prevent his daughter to go through the same and wanting “simple proper woman’s life” for her without dangers. But again just like orphanage headmaster – using wrong methods, which made Aya feel like failure.

Finally, Asagiri loves grey characters – I could see the story going in that direction. But it is not like I am 100% certain and it could easily be the case that I reading too much into everything xD Still it would be interesting if manga goes that way so we will see~~

Thank you for reading and have a nice day <3

[behindthesefangirleyes]

Spoiler-Free Review - The Tutor

So I went to see the film with a friend tonight. To set the scene, we were the only ones in the theater. Which was good because we sure were reacting to certain moments obnoxiously LOL. Without giving too much away, I’ll try to review specific qualities of the film.

This is all my opinion. I am not an authority on what makes a good film, and I realize that.

Plot (3/10) - This was honestly the worst part for me. There were many times when things were unclear (i.e.: how did [character] get to this point, why did [character] have such an over-the-top reaction so soon over something so insignificant, why are these extra characters necessary, what is [character]’s current motivation). Which is unfortunate since they had the makings for a solid story. But it was - again, in my opinion - not well-executed. Some of it was due to pacing. Some of it felt like they bit off too much and threw in everything but the kitchen sink (if you’ll forgive the mixed metaphors). It seemed as though there were “twists & turns” for the sake of having them or some type of shock value, but they didn’t land as super shocking. Then when the climactic “twist” happened, it felt super abrupt and contrived. So I understand why Garrett was reluctant to sign on until he read it a few times (personally, I think he should’ve trusted his gut). I also understand what they mean when they said you’re there wondering who’s the actual villain (not at all once you know the conclusion, but as far as the plot goes because it’s just all over the place). There were also lots of moments where they sprinkled in “character history” and it was like, alright you’ve laid the “groundwork”, but maybe you a) should have incorporated the offscreen character rather than this other person or b) just not mentioned it at all. Also, by the end it seemed unclear how any of this was possible. It’s hard to explain without giving away spoilers, but basically nothing is as it seems and as a result, it’s unclear how a 17-year-old would pull it off, even with the help that he did have. All that said, there’s a moment that offered decent foreshadowing that wasn’t too on-the-nose. I still picked up on it as likely being relevant for later. I just couldn’t have guessed how it would be relevant until it happened.

Pacing (4/10) - This sort of improved as the film continued. In the beginning, things were slow. It was like, “Alright, there is a build-up here, but for how long?” This kind of goes hand-in-hand with the plot issues since there were times when I was like, this feels super rushed but of course it does because we’re all over the place with the story. The ending was also not it for me. It simply sort of ... flatlined, I guess is the best way to describe it. It was almost like when you conclude a presentation in school and go, “So ... yeah.”

Acting (7/10) - This was the best part of the film for me. By no means was it a show-stopping performance by any of the leading/supporting actors, but they definitely sold certain emotions. Unsurprisingly, Noah’s best work was with the scenes that required more subtle acting (i.e.: scared looks, teary eyes). I have always found those types of moments more compelling with him than the big reactionary moments (i.e. the preview they showed where he is banging his legs). That’s not to say he didn’t do those moments well to a degree, but the problem for me with them was that the context/pacing was so abrupt that it distracted from his performance. Like I said to my friend, it’s not good if you watch a thriller and see a high-impact moment & all you can do is laugh. One thing that I did enjoy was seeing him tap into certain other qualities that we haven’t seen him utilize before. Like when in the preview Jackson asks Ethan about how he feels knowing his son will be a bastard. Or in the tutor’s quarters preview when he goes from emotional to calm and detached smiling. He was pretty good when it came to turning it on and off like that. It was the same with Garrett. His great acting moment came at the end right at the descent of the climax. Again, it was more of a tight shot that focused on his emotions. As for Victoria, she was fine but it was a pretty forgettable performance. That’s not her fault, as I see it. The role was supporting and didn’t really lend itself to any big moment.

Directing (5/10) - The directing didn’t speak much to me. What went well was perhaps in part due to directing, but I would not doubt was mostly the actors’ own abilities shining through. Where I felt the director could’ve improved was making certain emotional scenes less outrageous. It almost felt like the train temporarily went off the tracks and I get it, it’s a thriller. You’re tapping into a certain amount of twisted emotions and exaggerating them, but it sort of came off as ham-fisted. They could have reigned it in a little more to make the scenes less comical or cringeworthy.

Overall, I would give the film 2 out of 5 stars. The two stars were hard earned by the actors for giving what they could with not a lot to work with for material.

[helenadurazzo]

The Secrets of Slytherin

Here is my rewrite of ‘In the Shadow of the Study’ for those of you who don’t know, I am not a fan of where they took Sebastian’s character, especially in some of the later quests so I am working on making a believable rewrite of this and other side quests that pertain to him and other characters. I will make polls to decide which quests I will rewrite so look out for those.

Trigger Warning: Mentions of Torture and Death

Despite its dark and murky interior, Phineas always thought that the Slytherin common room, and in extension, the dormitory for the snakes as a whole, felt like home and certainly not in a bad way, although he assumed others may come to the opposite conclusion. The room was always lit by lamps that admitted green lights and the water that bordered the common room where one would occasionally spot a fascinating underwater creature if luck was benevolent to them.

Tapestries decorated the walls depicting the stories of medieval magic of the past, it all fascinated him. Who were the figures depicted? He may never know but one could always wonder. Perhaps Professor Binns had already covered the adventures of these wizards and witches of the past, if he had, Phineas figured he must have fallen asleep during the dull class. He was not quite sure what some of his peers like Marie and Amit, saw in the ghost’s class, but guessed that an innate fascination with magical history certainly helped keep their attention.

He walked into his dormitory to observe Ominis and Sebastian in some sort of argument, he did not think much of it and figured it would be best to just quietly walk by to his bed and let it pass. After all, it hadn’t been their first disagreement and they always managed to work it out in the end.

“Finn,” Sebastian suddenly called out before the black haired Slytherin could make it past the two of them, “Help me out here.”

“What is it now?” Phineas tiredly queried as he walked, sitting down on his bed.

Ominis responded instead rather quickly, “He believes that learning more about the dark arts and about Salazar Slytherin is a beneficial idea to our studies.”

“We can’t avoid dark magic forever.” Sebastian argued, “Especially with those gangs full of nothing but trouble wandering about. The more we know about dark magic and Salazar Slytherin, the safer and more prepared we will be.”

Phineas nodded and turned to Sebastian, “and what exactly is your plan to get more information? Sneaking into the restricted section again? You were caught be Peeves last time we tried that.”

“I have another idea.” Sebastian proposed. “There is a rumor that Slytherin’s Scriptorium is within this castle’s very corridors, I believe there are untold secrets there that could benefit us all. However, only a Gaunt would know about its possible location, and Ominis stubbornly refuses to tell me.”

“It is better left untouched.” Ominis hissed at Sebastian like a ferocious viper. “Dark magic only corrupts the soul.”

“So you do know where it is.” Phineas realized, “You’ve been there before?”

“No! Of course I haven’t been there!” Ominis snapped, calming down a little bit later as he talked more somberly, “I only know about it because of my favorite aunt, Noctua, she thought like I do and didn’t agree with partaking in dark magic, even believing there was more to Salazar Slytherin than worshipping pure blood status.” He explained cautiously, “she learned about the so called ‘scriptorium’ and thought it would hold the answers she desired, she got quite far in her search according to the letters she sent my father, even found the secret entrance. However, the letters stopped coming one day and unfortunately I’m sure the worst happened, no one else tried to enter and I don’t think we should risk it.”

“I understand your caution.” Phineas agreed, “however aren’t you curious about what’s inside or what happened to your aunt? This could provide some long awaited answers.”

“Exactly what I am saying!” Sebastian commented although Phineas only looked at him with a glare to stop talking before he ruined their chances of getting near any of these hidden secrets.

“Aunt Noctua went down this path with good intentions and lost her life.” Ominis explained after moments of seemingly long and almost eerie silence before he repeated, “I don’t want the same to happen again, no one deserves such a fate.”

“But history doesn’t have to repeat itself.” Phineas gently asserted, “I’ve spent enough time around Marie and her history books to know that much. You said your aunt thought like you, this could honor her memory.”

“You can get your answers about your aunt and Slytherin, I can get my answers for my sister, and Phineas can learn about magic from the times of the Hogwarts founders.” Sebastian concluded, “Everyone wins.”

“Plus, your aunt pursued this alone.” Phineas assumed based on the story he had heard, “You’ll have me and Sebastian by your side.”

Phineas watched as Ominis contemplated for seemingly forever. However, he eventually gave in, “You’ve convinced me.” He confessed as he stood up, with his wand in hand to guide his way, “Now come on, before I change my mind.”

~~~~~~

The journey was certainly more confusing that Phineas could have expected, and the numbers of dials and locks that had to be solved with only gates with mysterious symbols as references to their answers were only the start. To put it as simply as he could, it was practically a labyrinth.

The most peculiar of the challenges was a door decorate with snakes with emeralds for eyes that glowed eerily as if it was a menacing glare. Luckily for Phineas and Sebastian, Ominis was able to determine that he was required to use parselmouth to open the door, something he did so reluctantly. Even though Ominis explained that it was a talent of many dark wizards, Phineas had to admit to himself that the ability to talk to snakes was certainly a fascinating one.

However, the door they stood in front of now looked like it would be much harder to unlock and would take more than a few mere words in a rare language that allowed one to speak to snakes. Unlike the previous door, this one was decorated with the faces of tortured victims, the sight made Phineas’ stomach flip, and the skeleton not to far from the door, covered with spider webs, certainly didn’t ease him. Nor did the words of the torture curse etched into the cold stone floor which glowed red like blood.

“Dead end.” Ominis remarked.

“Don’t give up so quickly.” Sebastian reminded him strangely optimistically as he walked over and picked up a dusty journal that sat near the skeleton.

“What’s that?” Phineas asked.

“Some journal, looks like it’s from Noctua Gaunt.” Sebastian deciphered as he flipped carefully along the pages.

“What does it say?” Ominis cautiously spoke, taking a few steps closer even though he couldn’t read it himself.

Sebastian flipped through the journal and stopped, Phineas assumed it was about where the accounts about the scriptorium began, he then proceeded to read the writings of Noctua, “I must prove my point. We do not to use the dark arts as my family instructs. When I reach the scriptorium, I will find evidence that there’s more to Salazar Slytherin than we realize. I have written to my brother. He now knows how I accessed the corridor’s entrance and that there’s no straight path to reach the scriptorium. It’s a maze with many challenges to solve. I hope that my brother will follow my lead and we can study our ancestor’s legacy together.” Sebastian then turned his head to read the next page, seemingly written at a different time judging by its contents. “I failed the dial, and it struck my face as if it were a real serpent. But I must find a way forward for my family’s sake. We should not require children to conform to old traditions. This scriptorium must have proof that there’s more to our legacy than meets the eye.”

“The writing certainly sounds like Aunt Noctua.” Ominis smiled, “Is there anything about this door?”

“Let me look.” Sebastian said as he flipped through the pages again, yet his content facial expression turned to a more darker one, “Here is something…” he said prior to reading the contents of the entry out loud. “I’ve lost hope, I’m locked in. I heard a scream and saw the tortured faces. The only way forward is with an unforgivable curse. Even if I wanted to cast it, I have no one upon whom to do so. Salazar Slytherin created a malicious challenge indeed. In my last correspondence to my brother, I’d invited him here. Now, if he looks for me alone, I’ll have led him to his death. Despite our differences, I wish him no ill. I wish we had parted on better terms…”

“This is where she died…” Ominis breathed speechlessly before angrily turned and spitting in Sebastian’s face as he yelled, “and it is where we will die. I shouldn’t have listened to you!”

“Ominis…” Sebastian spoke in what seemed to be an attempt at a comforting tone. “I’m truly sorry about your aunt, but I think we know what we need to do to get pass this door, do you think-“

“I will have no part in it.” Ominis folded his arms. “This won’t work anyway.” He insisted, “Unforgivable curses won’t work unless you really mean it. I never can forgive myself for that and it’s for that reason I have no family left. You two will have to sort this on your own, I’d prefer to die here, than cast it, because if you do, you will regret it. Forever.” He finished before storming off, although he couldn’t go far

“You should have known that wouldn’t work.” Phineas quietly scolded him, hoping to not upset his other friend more, “You know just as well as I if not more so that Ominis despises dark magic, and the unforgivable curses even more.”

“I know, I know.” Sebastian raised his hands as if it would help him ward off guilty accusations. “I just figured he would have the common sense to cast a damned spell that ensures our survival. He has completely accepted the idea of dying here, it’s ridiculous. However, if he won’t cast it, then one of us will.”

“I hope you recall that I don’t know the curse and I doubt Ominis is fond on the idea of teaching us.” Phineas reminded him, crossing his arms as her thought.

“I think I can figure it out.” Sebastian hesitantly spoke, “and I feel like I can certainly manage so we don’t have to following in the footsteps of Noctua Gaunt. I think I can cast it if I have to.”

“Very well, cast it on me.” Phineas accepted.

“Are you sure?” Sebastian asked.

“You see anyone else here other than Ominis?” Phineas pointed out, “You have no choice, and I am not letting you do it to him, he doesn’t deserve it, I can handle the pain.”

“I don’t want to hurt either of you though.” Sebastian confessed.

“You are going to have to act like you do.” Phineas bluntly informed him, “You heard Ominis, the curse will only work if you really mean it.”

Sebastian only sighed, “I shan’t forget this.” He then stepped back and pointed his wand at Phineas as firmly as he could, “Are you ready.”

Phineas took a deep breath and looked at his friend as fearlessly as he could muster, this was for Ominis, he thought, for Sebastian, for their freedom, “I am ready.”

Sebastian muttered some words to himself yet none were audible to Phineas until he cried out firmly and forcefully, “CRUCIO!”

The pain was excruciating and caused Phineas’ thoughts to be drowned out by the sound of his screams, although even he couldn’t seem to hear them as his mind only seemed to focus on the burning and piercing through his body. It was as constant as a roaring river, yet, it wore off, much sooner than he expected, and his blurry eyes saw Sebastian with a look of concern on his face as he helped Phineas stand up, although he certainly did almost stumble over a few times.

“Are you alright?!” Ominis cried out as he hurried over to the two of them, his footsteps seemingly matching the door as it revealed the infamous scriptorium.

“I-I’ll survive.” Phineas stuttered, “Let’s just go, before we are trapped again.”

“If you say so…” Sebastian sighed as the three of them entered the darkly lit room, with him using lumos to see the contents, and Phineas slowly followed his lead, while his left hand still lingered over his side from one of the many places where the pain pierced him like one thousand and one freshly sharped knives.

“We made it…” Ominis breathed out, feeling confident with the area he walked around in, “Slytherin’s Scriptorium… I can’t believe we are actually here.”

“I’ll look around.” Sebastian said as he turned to Phineas as he motioned to some stairs, “You should sit down.”

“I told you, I’ll be alright.” Phineas assured him as he looked around the room, filled with artifacts that hadn’t been touched for centuries, however an old book that was opened on a desk seemed to stand out from everything else. “What’s this…”

“Let me see.” Sebastian spoke as he walked over to where the book laid and read the contents it was opened up to carefully and intensively, “looks like a spellbook of some kind” He observed. “This is incredible! A Hogwarts founder’s spellbook! It’s an honor even to look at it.” He said as he gently picked it up as if it was a glass vase with delicate flowers. “Perhaps it’ll have the cure I have been searching for.”

“For your sake I hope it does.” Phineas agreed, “Anne certainly deserves better.”

“Try telling my uncle that.” Sebastian added, “He is stubbornly refusing to do anything, it’s absurd!”

“Are you taking the spellbook?” Ominis asked.

“Absolutely, and read it cover to cover, just like any other book.” Sebastian confirmed with a smile. “Having professors as parents ingrained that habit in me early on.”

“You mind if I read it after you?” Phineas asked.

“Not at all.” Sebastian accepted, “I’ll happily accept a second set of eyes to gaze upon this artifact’s contents, now let’s continue exploring.”

“I say we get out of here.” Ominis objected, “We are lucky to still be breathing as it is, shouldn’t press our luck, we must swear never to do this again.”

“Alright.” Sebastian gave in rather quickly than usual, “I owe you, both of you.” He then turned to Phineas in particular, “I am truly sorry for casting that curse, I don’t want to cause pain like that for you ever again.”

“It’s alright.” Phineas brushed it off.

“I hope you two learned your lesson.” Ominis remarked.

“I suppose we have.” Sebastian apologized, “I am sorry about your aunt Ominis, truly if you can believe that.”

“Well… I guess I should be grateful as much as I wish you two wouldn’t pull me into things like this.” Ominis admitted, “At least I know what happened to her.”

Sebastian placed his hand on Ominis’ shoulder, “You are welcome, I should have listened to you sooner. Now let’s get out of here, once and for all.”

[theemptybloggercometh]

Soldiers in Petticoats

Fandom: Doctor Who

Characters: 14 and Rose  

Context: Set about six months after The Giggle 

Summary: The Doctor takes Rose to Manchester, 1905 to see the beginning of the suffragettes.

Triggers: Police brutality, misogyny, a brief reference to racism and transphobia

Word Count: 3565

Rose Nobel is in trouble. Well, maybe not trouble exactly, but she has been asked to say behind at the end of the history lesson.

Although she had done well in history at primary school and in Year 7, she only became really interested in it when, in Year 8, her class did a unit about Pompeii. Rose particularly finds seeing and if possible touching things from the past endlessly fascinating. Since the Doctor has been living with them, Rose has been able to be even more hands-on as he’s been taking her back in time to witness the events she is studying as well as telling her about his past journeys. This isn’t without its problems though as Rose is currently finding out.

“I wanted to talk to you about your recent essay about the Montgomery bus boycott” Miss Reed is saying

Rose, sat on the other side of the desk with her coat over her lap, starts to wonder what was wrong about the essay; was it that her conclusion was not supported, was it that she had relied too much on secondary sources? 

“As I’ve remarked before” continues Miss Reed “the level of detail you include in your work, particularly in the last few months, had been impressive. Your description of what Rosa Parks had been doing in the days preceding being asked to give up her seat was…” and here she stops trying to find the right word “…particularly illuminating to say the least. Where did you find that information from?”

Rose shuffles in her seat as she tries to work out her teacher’s tone; was Miss Reed affecting casualness hiding an accusation?  “Um…I’ve read so much…” she trails of and remains quiet for a few seconds, but the silence quickly becomes too much “I’m really sorry, miss; I really can’t remember. Maybe I can go away and find out?”

Miss Reed tilts her head and looks Rose directly in the eye. Rose wants to hold the teachers gaze but blinks and looks away.

“Hmm. I would avoid these types of paragraphs if I was you. When it comes to the exam, the person marking it might think it a bit too much ‘creative writing’ if you get my drift”

“Oh yeah sure” Rose agrees, glad for all those parent’s evenings where teachers had said something along these lines

“I mean, someone might read this essay and think that you actually meet her” 

Rose chuckles “As if that were possible”      

It’s now late afternoon and Rose is in her bedroom doing research for her Votes for Women assignment. As she’s typing out of a particularly interesting quote, there’s a knock at the door.

“Yeah?” she calls out

“Only me” says the Doctor opening the door “Just wondering what you’re up to?”

“Coursework” Rose says as she leans sideways at her desk to let the Doctor see her laptop 

“Ah the Pankhurst’s” he says, now directly behind her “I meet them, you know; Emmeline in particular was quite cheeky”

Rose laughs as she turns around to face him “I better be careful not put that in my assignment; Miss Reed wanted to know where I got all those things you told me about Rosa Parks”

The Doctor puts a hand through his hair “Ah”

“Yeah, I don’t think she really brought my story about not remembering where I got it from. I should have done what I did in my Treaty of Versailles essay and stuck with the general mood of the time instead”

“So…erm…I guess this means you won’t want to go on any more trips then?”

“Unfortunately, it does”

They look into each other’s eyes and then the Doctor’s face breaks into a huge grin. He runs out of her bedroom and down the stairs to the hallway only stopping when he realises Rose isn’t with him. Once he walks back to the doorframe, he looks down at his Converse and says “I forgot about the rule, didn’t I”

The rule was that, after the initial trip to Mars, Donna allowed only Rose to travel in the TARDIS if it educational. After a few trips, Rose had asked the Doctor to take her to the future but he had too much respect for Donna to lie to her. A lot of respect and well, if truth be told, a little bit of fear especially after Donna had told him in no uncertain terms what she would do to him if her daughter even got the slightest scratch on her.

“Yeah, you did” says Rose. She reaches across the desk to get her mobile and calls her mum.  As she’s waiting for the call to connect, she sees the Doctor out of the corner of her eye, with his hands in his pockets swaying one way then the other.

Eventually Donna picks up, the sound of office hum in the background “Hey Rose; anything the matter?”

“No, everything’s fine” replies Rose “You still at work?”

“Yeah and I might be a while; Kate asked me to look into something that Cleo was talking about for tomorrow’s meeting but it’s proving to be really complex. Anyway, what’s up?”

“I was wondering if I could go for a trip in the TARDIS for my Votes for Women coursework”

“Have you done all your homework?”

“Yeah; I’ve moved onto doing further reading now”

“And all of your chores?”

“Loading the dishwasher was the first thing I did after getting back home”   

“Then I can’t see why not. Just make sure your back in time for tea, you know how your gran doesn’t like to be waste food”

“Oh, ha ha, mum; you’re so funny”

There is a moment of silence when the time rotor comes to a stop as Rose looks over to the Doctor with anticipation.

“So, where have we landed?” she asks finally

The Doctor, who had been leaning on the console, now stands up straight and throws his arm towards the door “Out there, if I’ve got it right, is Manchester, Peter Street to be exact, October 13th, 1905”

“1905?” repeats Rose “that’s the beginning of the suffragette’s, right?”

“Yep”

And with that the Doctor runs down the platform to the doors, grabbing his coat off the railing as he goes. Rose takes a more leisurely stroll, mainly because she’s now wearing a lovely dark green Edwardian skirt paired with a matching jacket over petticoats and a white bodice. As she was looking at her reflection in the TARDIS wardrobe, Rose thought that she could be an extra in Mary Poppins in this outfit. That her mind went to Mary Poppins isn’t surprising considering it was one of her favourite movies as a kid. She loved singing along to the songs; indeed, Sister Suffragette always made her feel something she couldn’t describe, like it hit differently or something. 

“Ready?” asks a grinning Doctor when Rose reaches him 

She nods and the Doctor opens the door onto the bustling street. Rose doesn’t see as much as smell Peter Street because as soon as she steps onto the cobbles the smell of burning coal is unescapable. This reminds her of that first trip; even though she had meet aliens and the seen how the TARDIS is bigger on the inside, it was the acid like smell of Mars– totally different from anything she had ever smelt – that finally convinced her that she had indeed travelled in space.

By now the Doctor is locking the TARDIS and once he’s pocketed the key, the time travellers start to walk down the street. They soon pass the Great Northern Warehouse and the Doctor’s seized by a boyish excitement as he starts to explain how the warehouse transfers good to and from canal barges by hydraulic power. But Rose is only half listening; instead, she’s thinking about the people she’s walking amongst. She’s thinking about how for them this will be just a normal day and not a historical turning point. She’s thinking about how her history is still their future. She’s thinking about how it’s weird having that knowledge of what’s coming, not just today but in the years to come…

They soon get to their destination: the Free Trade Hall. Beside the first sandstone arch is a sandwich board stating that Mr Edward Grey MP and Mr Winston Churchill MP, both of the Liberal Party, are to speak at the meeting happening today at midday.

The Doctor consults his watch “Better hurry on in; it’s ten past already”

Rose bits her lip “Hope it hasn’t already happened”

“I think there would be more commotion if it had”

They duck under the arch and make the short walk along the arcade to the open glass doors where they’re meet by the doorman.

“We’re not too late?” asks the Doctor “Mr…?”       

“It’s Webster, sir, Keith Webster” he replies in a thick Manchurian accent “and no, you’re not, standing room only though”

“We’re totally fine with that; aren’t we Rose?”

“Absolutely” she says “not going to miss this” 

“Best bet then is to go to gallery” Mr Webster says pointing towards a carpeted staircase at the other end of the lobby

The Doctor and Rose make their way up to the next level and then open a door to the gallery, which curves round the three sides of the cavernous hall facing the stage. They start to squeeze through the crowd of people who haven’t managed to get seats. A few of the men say “make way for the lady” and “have my spot miss” but more move for the Doctor and then immediately block Rose’s path and just stare at her. After what seems like an age they reach the front of the crowd. And still there are three more rows of people, however these folks have the luxury of being seated.

Rose then starts to look around for the elfish face of Christabel Pankhurst and the round face of Annie Kenney but doesn’t have to look far as they are sat in the first row on the left-hand side of the gallery. She then looks up at the Doctor who gives her a meaningful nod. 

Now that she has found the suffragettes – not even a word yet Rose thinks – she can relax enough to take in her surroundings. She loves the wood panelling, possibly oak or sycamore, of the walls and how these rise up to create a curved roof. Then her eyes track downwards to the stage upon which stands Edward Grey and Winston Churchill who, even though he’s younger than the Churchill Rose is more familiar with, is still unmistakeable. It’s weird though, she thinks, it’s like he’s somehow not yet done

“Free trade is the only way to ensure that England can afford the reform, socially and militarily, that she so desperately needs” Churchill is saying “but if this reform does not happen England will continue to lose her place as a great power. Why, I ask you, did men like you” and here he gestures out to his audience “let her down in the Second Boer War?”

Upon hearing this, a few of the men in the audience start to jeer.

Churchill though continues unperturbed “no, the great men of Manchester did not let her down; it was Mr Balfour, Mr Chamberlain and the whole Conservative Party who let her down, who have neglected the real needs of Englishman for far too long” 

The audience breaks out into applause, releasing the tension that had building up within the hall.

Rose continues to steal glances towards Pankhurst and Kenney. It might only be because she knows what will happen but she notices Kenney fiddling with a pleat of her dress and Pankhurst sitting a little to rigidly in her chair. Rose wonders if their hearts, like her own, are pounding in their chests with anticipation.

And then, after what seems like forever, finally, it happens.  

“The Liberal Policy” Grey is saying “is that peace and quietness are assured among the four Western Powers of Europe. To complete this foundation, we wish to –”

“If you are elected, will you do your best to make Women’s Suffrage a government measure?” a calm, powerful voice interjects

Rose’s head, like everyone else in the hall, turns to where Pankhurst is leaning over the gallery railing and staring directly at Grey.

“If the lady can wait until later for questions” he says with barely a glance towards her “Now as I was saying, we wish to remove the old traditions of enmity, and ensure that –”

This time the working-class voice of Kenney, who likewise is standing up, shouts “Will a Liberal government give women the vote?"

“Ladies, please” he chides “All in good time”

Rose smiles at how annoyed he is starting to get. But her happiness is drowned out by anger when she turns back to look at Kenney and Pankhurst and sees several men pointing at the women and laughing.

“Sit down” one of the men tells them

“And shut up” says another     

Reluctantly they eventually sit back down…but not for long as Grey has hardly got another word out when Kenney gets a cloth banner out of her carpet bag and leans it over the railing. Rose knows already what is written on it but seeing the bold letters that spell out ‘Votes for Women’ takes her breath away.

Pankhurst, now standing on her chair, again shouts “Will you do your best to make Women’s Suffrage a government measure?”

They continue to heckle whilst more and more men join in with telling them to shut up. Mixed in with this din are some voices urging the rest of the audience to let the women speak. Rose hears all this and at the same time notices some of the women looking acutely embarrassed but others looking on in admiration.

Four policemen have been hovering beside the suffragettes for a few minutes as if they’re not exactly sure of what to do. One, who is conspicuous by his red hair, goes to restrain Kenney and then quickly withdraws his hand just before it makes contact with her shoulder.   

The booming voice of Churchill cuts through the noise “If a member of the local constabulary can escort these women out we would all be very grateful”

This seems to give the policemen the permission, and perhaps the courage, to intervene. The officer who appears to be in charge now pulls himself up to his full six feet.

“This behaviour isn’t very ladylike, now is it?” he says as he approaches Pankhurst

She steps off the chair onto the floor and without hesitating, spits in his face. The whole hall, it seems, takes a collective sudden intake of breath and while Rose notices this, it’s faint compared to how much she notices the policeman’s fists clench tightly shut. He breaths out very slowly and deliberately before he grabs Pankhurst by the arm and starts to drag her down the length of the gallery.

“Unhand me, sir” Pankhurst shouts to no avail

Rose nearly yells something herself, but at the last moment, and with not a little difficulty, stops herself.

The red-haired officer again goes to seize Kenney’s shoulder but she connects with a well-aimed kick to his leg. One of the other officers goes behind her and manages to get a firm grip on her shoulder, enough to make her wince. Seeing this, Rose, despite herself, closes her eyes and turns away towards the Doctor.

“You okay?” he asks

Rose takes a deep breath and nods “I think so”

The audience, some of whom are applauding, make way like the Red Sea so that the officers can push the women out of the hall. Rose and the Doctor use this to work their way through the crowd until they get to the gallery doors just before the last policeman goes through to the staircase. A number of audience members follow him – obviously to go and see a better show – and then, once they trail off, the Doctor and Rose also go down to the lobby.

“What’s all the commotion?” asks a stunned Mr Webster

“History” Rose says under her breath as she and the Doctor walk to the hall’s threshold and continue to watch events unfold

By now the policemen are depositing Pankhurst and Kenney on the other side of the arches.

“Go home!” orders the officer as he lets go off Pankhurst. He then says to the crowd that has gathered around the hall which now includes people who had been walking along Peter Street “Nothing to see here, please go about your business”

While the policemen walk back to the hall, Kenney and Pankhurst are looking into each other’s eyes. Rose imagines these looks are saying things like ‘this isn’t how it was supposed to go’ and ‘we need to do something more drastic’.

“If it wasn’t bad enough that women are not only denied the franchise” says Pankhurst, projecting her voice “We’re also denied the ability to even question the men elect on our behalf”

The officers come to a halt just before they reach the Doctor and Rose. The one in charge then marches back to the women, his face betraying his frustration.    

“My sister in arms is quite correct” agrees Kenney “It is a perfectly well-established fact that men in every political meeting ask questions and moreover demand answers of the speakers, why is it –”

“I ask that you behave as ladies should and not create any further disturbance” bellows the officer, drowning out the rest of Kenney’s sentence

The crowd murmurs: it seems to Rose that the crowd is split equally between people who would like to hear more from the suffragettes, people who want them to be silenced and people who don’t care either way, they just like a good bit of entertainment.

“We will continue to make disturbance until we have our voice heard” Pankhurst shouts

“If you persist you will leave me no choice but to arrest you”

Pankhurst then surveys the crowd. As she is doing so, Rose swears that for the briefest of moments, she looks directly at her. Then the suffragette takes a step towards the policeman and again spits in his face. As quick as a flash he gets out a pair of handcuffs but looks surprised when she calmly rolls up her sleeves and presents her wrists to him and he’s even more hesitant as he cuffs her almost as if he’s expecting this to be a trick. Indeed, he’s so focused on Pankhurst he forgets about Kenney who makes sure he pays for this lapse by swiftly kicking his shin and almost making him stumble.      

“Arrest her” he says to the red-haired officer “for breaching the Kings peace and assaulting a police officer in the execution of his lawful duty”

Kenney likewise makes no attempt to resist arrest but the policeman nevertheless roughly applies the handcuffs. Every sinew of Rose’s body is telling her to go over there and do something but she instead grips the doorframe as if to tether herself to the spot and then feels the Doctor comforting hand on her shoulder.

The crowd – some no doubt having a feeling of being robbed of a better ending – begins to disperse and soon the clattering of hoofs on the pavement sounds the arrival of the police van. 

As the Doctor is pushing buttons and flicking switches on the console, he’s thinking about how Rose hasn’t said a lot since they left the Free Trade Hall. But then it’s not as if he’s had much opportunity to ask her what’s on her mind as she’s spent most of the return journey in the inner section of the TARDIS.

Eventually Rose emerges onto the walkway that looms above the console room. As she makes her way down, she’s says “It was really difficult, you know”

“Hmm” replies the Doctor looking up from the console, noticing as he does so that she has changed back into her school uniform

“Not to interfere. Seeing them be manhandled like that and to just stand by and let it happen was so very difficult. Something like that was needed to reinvigorate the campaign, but when I think of the sacrifices made not just by Pankhurst and Kenny but of all the suffragettes…”

Suddenly a ringing coming from the console. The Doctor quickly pulls up a lever but not quickly enough.

“Hold–” he starts   

Rose thinks this is what it must be like to stand on the epicentre of an earthquake as she is thrown forwards and backwards. She loses her footing and thinks that she is going to be collide with the console but at the last moment manages to steady herself as the TARDIS finally lands.

“You okay?” the Doctor asks as he goes to check on her

“Yeah I’m good. Very smooth landing, Doctor”

“Now, stop that, I got enough of that from your mother” he says as he playfully wags his finger as they begin to walk away from the console

Rose laughs and then opens the door. She walks through the garden and sees, through the patio doors, her mum and gran sat at the dinner table. Smiling, she goes to join them and is soon discussing what she witnessed both thirty minutes and one hundred and nineteen years ago.