#it's also super subject to opinion since what i think is cool might not be cool to someone else

[alonelystargazer]

I started reading kagurabachi a couple of weeks ago and now I'm fully caught up with it and my general opinion so far is that it's actually pretty good!

the plot is perhaps a bit formulaic but still quite interesting (maybe I'm biased bc I love revenge stories) and it moves fairly quickly without leaving too much info behind, plus the action is so dynamic but easy to follow, and there are some legit super cool panels

SPOILER REVIEW BELOW

just a few of my favorite panels

(as you might be able to tell I love seeing the fishes teehee)

Quick summary of the plot: the MC is a young guy named Chihiro Rokuhira who's out for revenge after his father Kunishige, one of Japan's most famous swordsmiths, was killed 3 years before, and those same people, a group of evil sorcerers known as the ?, stole all 6 of his father's enchanted swords, but chihiro has a 7th special sword that his father kept secret from everyone but him.

Edit: this might be important for some people so I'll add that Chihiro is 18, since we saw him with his dad as a 14 going on 15 year old and the story fast forwards to more than 3 years later in the first chapter, which would make him 18

He's joined by his father's best friend, a sorcerer named Shiba who becomes his mentor and informant about the shady business going on in Tokyo, Azami who's another sorcerer and friend of his father's and Shiba, a little girl named Char who comes from a family that has the ability to regenerate their body parts and is being hunted for it, a young woman named Hinao who's a weapons dealer, and later on another young man named Hakuri who comes from a different sorcerer family but defected bc he's the only one who doesn't know sorcery (and was abused).

Personality wise, Chihiro is the more level-headed, serious, and reserved type but shows great care and sympathy for those who need help, for ex. when he helps out char from being hunted and experimented on, and when he traded his beloved sword for Hakuri. His father had a huge impact on his philosophy about life and weapons.

He does want revenge for his father's death, but his greatest motivation however is to prevent anyone from tarnishing his father's legacy which are his enchanted swords, bc kunishige made sure to let Chihiro know that his swords are weapons first and foremost, and when put in the wrong hands are destructive and lethal.

The power system is fairly simple, based in sorcery, which for Chihiro is channeled through his enchanted sword called Enten from which 3 different goldfish, each having their own ability, appear (and the goldfish are the same ones his father had before he died: a black goldfish, a red one, and a spotted one).

The enchanted swords that Kunishige made come from a rock (?) called datenseki, which we don't know much about yet.

And about the first antagonist we meet, Sojo. He's a weapons dealer in the black market and does other criminal activities. He also has one of the 6 enchanted swords that was stolen, this one called Cloud Gouger. To me, this fight is reminiscent to Yuji vs Mahito in the Shibuya arc of Jujutsu Kaisen, in the sense that Chihiro has to accept that despite what he personally believes about his father and his swords, Sojo also can have his own contradictory beliefs bc it's the person who wields the sword that gets to determine it's fate. Chapter 12: Tea I believe is pivotal in Chihiro's development and is one of the best chapters so far. I like the metaphor with Sojo offering Chihiro dango, which he refuses at the beginning (he says he doesn't like sweets) and by the end eats it, even if doesn't like it, because it reflects his acceptance with Sojo's philosophy about the blades.

The only thing I think might not to be everyone's taste is the art style, but if course art is subjective, although it does suffer a bit from same face syndrome at times.

But I think the art is unique with its use of shading and perspective, and there are some really cool character designs, plus something that stands out to me is that the fight choreography is made to be a spectacle.

As a long time shipper, I feel like I should address the shipping dynamics that I've seen, which there aren't too many yet, but I still wanna talk about. So the main ship I've seen is between Chihiro and Hakuri, which these panels I think are fueling the fire for it and I can totally see it and wanna see more from their budding friendship. What's the ship name btw? hakuhiro?

Besides that, I've also seen Shiba/Kunishige, and Sojo/Kunishige but that's definitely a one sided admiration on Sojo's part.

One criticism I've found is that there's a character named Daruma who is after Chihiro and Char and is originally depicted in a way, which to me, looks to be black characteristics, like the hair and facial features, but after Shiba convinced him to leave his life of crime behind, his look changes. For example, his hair becomes straight, so what's up with that? Now to be fair, since the manga is in grayscale, we don't know what his skin color is but he has no shading to skin which in my experience of reading manga means that a character is light skin.

Other than that, there's nothing else I can find fault in, so give it a read (there's 25 chapters so far!)

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Thoughts on TOTK Ganon's appearance?

A lot of them!! Some would say: too many!!! Too much!! So much so that I was almost starting to turn this ask into a TotK early review, so I'll simplify my answer a little.

I have not finished the game yet, but I have seen the memories and a good chunk of it, but my opinion is therefore incomplete and subject to lapses in judgement/hasty positions. Also, my opinion on this is kind of a buzzkill and I already made people depressed and bummed out by explaining it, so I'm putting it under the cut to avoid hurting the good time of people who might not want to think about this/might disagree on this description alone (and I understand, since it's an opinion that also depresses me!!! I wanted to like everything!! I wanted to be blown away!!).

I think this Ganondorf is like OoT Ganondorf redux, but with even more problems than OoT Ganondorf, somehow??? which is honestly a flex at this point.

(I love OoT Ganondorf to be clear, but the flaws are pretty undeniable and you have to navigate through a lot of bullshit to get to the good parts)

Between the green skin that lacks any proper justification in the context of the game (I say this because I always hear "oooo but it's because he's a demon/undead" and uhhhh no, it's not because of that apparently), the fact that he's half naked but we're never ever meant to conceive him as a human person in any way but merely as a constant physical threat... Like I'm certain the famous Ganondorf Designer did their utmost to give him justice and there is an obvious attention to details in his design, and I'm not blaming them or anyone in particular for the Nintendo treatment --but it does add up to something quite uncomfortable in his characterization regardless. Even the fact that his face rigging is extremely flimsy and makes his emoting feels super strange bugs me (I heavily suspect it's because it's way less soft anime and structurally very different from any other face in the game, especially around the jaw, and so they had to do a custom rig and had to work around its limitations --it's all speculation, and I am always here for Unsettling Ganondorf Faces, but it kinda felt accidental and not intentional like in WW or TP). He's at once a lot and really not much. I find his characterization beyond barebones. Even Twilight Princess Ganondorf had more to him than this (like the man was fascinating in comparaison, show me a guy claiming to be chosen by the goddesses while sitting on a throne next to the decapitated statues of said goddesses any fucking day over what we got here)

I like the mechanical aspects he introduces; the gloom is cool, the hands that grab you are amazing, the bosses are such cool callbacks --and he's just causing messes and putting parasites in things!!! You go girl. I do love that he's having his little puppet Zelda run around causing hijinxes, that's very fun of him and my favorite part of his character in this game so far, tho I don't know if that even counts as him --and I'm not 100% sure what that even says about anyone?

But here's the thing: nobody (beyond * arguably * Rauru) seems to be allowed to have a character arc in this game, so it's hard to come up with anything to say since he's the sole cause of conflict while being almost completely motivation-less. I don't think anyone is written particularly competently honestly; it just shows more with him because a Ganondorf who's not well written reverts back to Ganondorf at his most generic expression of a baddie imaginable, with a side-serving of, quite frankly, really questionable orientalist themes that I see little excuse for being handled the way they were in the year of our lord 2023. Like I'm kinda shocked not to see more people calling the racism for what it is, because it's... pretty blatant. But that goes beyond Ganondorf and that's the whole game, and I said I would try to keep my scope limited, but!!! I will screech about imperialism eventually!!!

The other aspect of that discussion, which is inevitable, is how much does TotK erase everything that came before? I'm sure there are some amazing Zelda theorists out there who will find a way to reconcile all of this, but for now, I get the sense that Nintendo wanted to get away from their messy timelines (fair) and reinvoke some of the old songs for a new audience, and in doing so scrubbing the slate clean. My problem is not so much that they wanted to do this (even if I think BotW's solution was, strangely, much cleaner and more respectful of their own history), but what they introduced instead: and, in Ganondorf's case, he's kind of reduced to a parody of himself --one that is so unbelievably unsympathetic and impossible to relate to and also responsible of his own oppression and also not oppressed since he attacked first!! and also oppressive?? (I made A Sound when I heard the line about Rauru talking about "the last free gerudo village falling" bitch!! free according to whom??????)

Removing a lot of the Goddesses/Triforce thing (so far, maybe it will come up) also does this conflict zero favors in my opinion, as it makes everything and everyone's actions much less fated and an expression of self-determination/resilience over their predestination, and much more uhh political in a bad way, while still borrowing the aesthetics of divinity to justify its own mind-numbing moral simplicity.

I don't know. Maybe the third act reveal will really surprise me and make me reconsider my position, but it would take a lot to scrub off all the dedicated efforts made to flatten Ganondorf to his lowest possible denominator (him and his people honestly my follow-up to the gerudo post will probably be Oops! All Salt) for the sake of the most brazenly imperialistic and feudalist Hyrule to date and its really weird and uncomfortable reimagined origin story.

So uhhh, Thoughts Bad! I guess thoughts bad. :(

(Matt Mercer did a great job with what little he was given tho, and so did every voice actor)

[buckys-metal-arm]

What do you think Bucky's pronouns are? What about Natasha's and Steve's? Anyone else? I sometimes think Natasha would use they/she and Bucky might be hesitant to use any other than he/him because he's never thought about it before, but I also think he'd be affirmed by a they.

I'll be honest, I didn't think I had super strong opinions on this but then I started writing this out lmao

So my quick disclaimer here is whenever I write Bucky I write him as a Cis Bisexual man. I've never thought much about his gender identity honestly, but I choose to think that he was into girls but also had feelings for Steve and that takes more importance to me personally (the self indulgent self-insert OC I paired him with is Nonbinary though ((and I'm NB myself)) so it's not like he doesn't know anything about it, just his Bisexuality is what's come up so far in what I've written) but tbh if someone referred to him as "they" I don't think he would correct them. I've also seen a lot of fics where when Bucky is in Winter Soldier mode he thinks of himself as "it", which I do think is really interesting but not something he actively chose. That's not to say it/It's pronouns aren't valid, they ABSOLUTELY are, but in this case I think it would stem more from HYDRA beating into him that he's an object or a machine and not a person rather than any preference on Bucky's part. I do think there's an argument to be made though for Bucky actively choosing to refer to himself using he/it or even he/it/they in his head for those 2 years before CW where he's on the run since he's not really the Winter Soldier and not really Bucky but a super secret third thing that's in between the two.

And some quick drive by ones:

Most of the rest of the Avengers I could see being he/theys and she/theys respectively, or just not caring about pronouns

Steve is the Token Cis Avenger™️ in my mind I can't explain it but he just gives off that vibe imo. He's not het though.

like tbh I don't think Thor cares what pronouns you use for him (1500 years is way too long to be cis). I think Valkyrie is in a similar camp, but prefers She/They.

Yelena strikes me as someone who would be cool with She/They, same with most of the women on the Thunderbolts lineup tbh

I feel like Kate would be She/Her, but if someone used "they" for her she wouldn't stop them y'know?

I don't have many thoughts on the Eternals in general, but Sprite is a She/They nonbinary I will not take criticism on this subject. Tbh I think most of them are He and She/Theys for the same reasoning as Thor, but I think some of them are like what I said for Bucky where like they won't correct you if you use 'they'. Ikaris is their Token CisHet™️

I love the headcanon that Holland!Peter is a transman, and I could see him and MJ being He/They She/They solidarity

The entire lineup of X-Men '97 is made up of He/Theys and She/Theys except for Morph who is canonically(!!) They/them. Jean Grey and Scott are their Token CisHets™️ and are good sports about it. You cannot look at Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, and Storm's designs specifically and tell me they're cis. Not possible.

Shuri gives She/They energy imo

Carol is a She/They lesbian, is dating Valkyrie, and her marriage to the prince on Aladna is a Lavender Marriage. Fight me.

Stephen is the Token CisHet Avenger™️

Loki and Sylvie both use all pronouns, but prefer he/they/xe and she/xe respectively

The Alien superheroes like Nebula, Gamora, Groot, etc. I feel probably have like semi-complicated relationship with human gender so I feel like they probably don't put to much thought into pronouns

These are my sort of knee jerk reaction responses!

[officialgleamstar]

:3 Any class (and subclass) headcanons/ideas/theories for Lark? Vaguely related, I can't stop thinking about the fact the he just whistled up a fucking portal last episode?????

i have always assumed lark was a ranger, which is one reason why i was so flabbergasted by grant being the kiddads' ranger. i still think he should be a ranger, a horizon walker ranger specifically, even if it would be dumb and unbalanced for them to have two rangers. literally it makes the most sense. lark is the most ranger guy ever. however, i already made a full post about ranger subclasses for grant, including the reasoning for horizon walker that also applies to lark (namely what you said - WHISTLING TO SUMMON A PORTAL? HORIZON WALKER TYPE SHIT.) SO i will delve into some different ideas instead

if he's not a ranger, then i would guess that he is a fighter, battle master subclass, or a rogue, assassin subclass, with likelihood (in my opinion!) being in that order. thats the tldr. heres the long version LOL:

fighter - fighters are known for being able to wield a wide array of weapons, which makes sense for lark, since he is such a doomsday prepper. he would want to be able to use any weapon he got his hands on. also, indomitable fits lark really well in my opinion. if we wanna talk gear, i'd probably give him chainmail (flavored as bullet-proof vest), two martial weapons (two daggers), a light crossbow and 20 bolts (flavored as a pistol and ammo), and the pack i'm not sure on. i dont think im gonna do gear on every single class but its just part of being a fighter to me to consider that-- subclass wise, we have a few options, listed in order of most to least likely (subjective.)

battle master - the most likely one to me, though now that sparrow seems to be set up as more of the leader than lark, that might change (though i do think that maybe sparrow just takes the head in talking since he's more. uh. sociable than everyone else rn LOL). given how much enemies monologue in dndads, 'know your enemy' would be a super useful skill, and i think if he was spec'd out similar to gerard from neverafter (mostly in the ability to grant other players extra attacks), this would make a lot of sense for him.

champion - listing this because on a meta-level, its extremely easy to play, which makes it an easy pick for anthony. however, i dont think it fits him character-wise because lark would never heal himself LMAO though, to be fair, i dont think the kiddads will ever level up that high

arcane archer - not the best subclass, but very cool to me, and fitting for how all of the kiddads are gun-heavy. banishing arrow would be super useful and fit the general theme of planes and dimensions.

eldritch knight - not as likely, but i think it would be sooo so cool for lark, especially if the eldritch part came from his connection to the doodler. ohhh the drama of gaining power from the eldritch being you swore to eradicate… plus, we get LARK CASTING MAGIC, even if its not as powerful as anything his family can do! so cool!!! this subclass isnt as good for range, but i could see anthony allowing war magic to apply to ranged weapons rather than just blades for the cool factor.

samurai - in general, this subclass is not lark. however, i wanted to mention it because i think their 18th level ability 'strength before death' specifically is very lark. basically, if you get knocked down to zero HP, you can use a reaction to get an entire turn and then you go into death saves. theoretically, you could use this to heal, but its lark - he absolutely would use it to go down swinging.

rogue - other people have made this point for me, but rogues are good for guns if you flavor hand crossbows as such. i actually dont really like rogue for lark, but i dont have a reason why LOL it just doesnt really? do it for me. however, i agree that its likely to fit due to what we know about lark, so i will play my own personal devil's advocate here. i think it makes sense for lark to be the sneaky attacker while the others draw most of the attention, especially since it seems like there would be three magic users (terry jr, nicky, and sparrow) in the group. magic can be used sneakily, but im sure nicky and sparrow at least would lean towards showiness, lol. plus, i think it would be really interesting to flavor 'slippery mind' as like, lark growing a resistance to the doodler after so many years under its influence! once again, subclasses are listed most likely to least likely.

assassin - this works from both an in-character and a meta standpoint, and from what i've seen, this is what people mean when they say lark should be a rogue. its an easy subclass to play, so its good for an NPC. character-wise, with lark's extreme paranoia, it makes sense that lark would spend time studying how to most efficiently kill people. he doesn't want to risk anyone in a drawn-out fight, he's not grant. he just wants things dead as fast as possible.

scout - am i just saying this one is likely being its the ranger-flavored rogue subclass? maybe. but like liSTEN LARK SHOULD BE A RANGER HE IS LITERALLY A RANGER HE IS-

phantom - not very likely, but SEVERELY COOL from a character standpoint. walk with me here. phantom is a rogue subclass where you talk to the dead, but imagine that reflavored as lark being able to talk to like, eldritch beings, even beyond the doodler? or like, maybe the spirits of those killed and used by the doodler? holy SHIT!! it would be COOL.

unfortunately none of this has an explanation on lark whistling a portal Which Is Why He Is A Horiz- [shot] im guessing he has a magical item tho!!!

[shining-gem34]

||Letting my phone take a break to cool down and charge up. I think I'll continue more tomorrow but overall!!! It's been pretty fun going back to the Luofu. :DDD

HSR Spoilers

So far, I very much enjoy seeing the trio again and their dynamics since belebog. Oh boy, that was like over a year ago when our journey first started with March 7th and Dan Heng before we joined the Astral Express. ;w;

Entering the Luofu again during the busiest event, the Wardance Ceremony, is very welcoming since we get to reunite with old friends and meeting new ones. I do very much admire Yunli and Yanqing dynamic as being rivals, especially with their personalities and beliefs clashing greatly.

Can I say I very much love Grandpa Huaiyan and Dad Jing Yuan tired voice calling the kids name?

AlsoAlsoAlso two of the generals coming to the Luofu to ascertain Jing Yuan after the Abrosial Arbor event. I am very curious to how it will end up for JY.

FEIXIAO ENTRANCE INTERRUPTING THE KIDS FIGHT AAAA. What a Queen.

I do like the Feixiao-Jiaoqiu-Moze dynamic. It definitely highlights how comfortable they are around each other to voice their complaints. Also Moze breaking the mood by asking what's for dinner. HALPP.

Also meeting Lingsha for the first time and finding out she's also born on the Luofu. I don't have a clear judgement on her yet since she feels so...mysterious, especially with her beef with alot of things in the Luofu governments. ALSO LINGSHA VOUCHING FOR FEIXIAO TO GET HER CHECKED OUT BY BAILU AAAA.

I do love Lingsha strongarming Stokk to agreeing to an inspection. Like I legit forgot about this dude until I heard his voice and went: Ah yes, this karen-dude. I remember you barking like a dog. I legit enjoy making him squirm again. >:))))

When I did see Sushang in the Alchemy commission, I was hoping she talk to Dan Heng a bit too considering they did travel together briefly. :(((( But maybe later on they can get a chance to talk.

Also it was super funny how Huaiyan and Jing Yuan basically had the kids team up to be a mentor to March 7th and take her in as their apprentice. LOLOLOL. AND THE WAY DAN HENG AND THE TRAILBLAZER LOOKED AT HER WHEN THEY ASKED WHO WILL BE THE APPRENTICE. They just yeeted her right there without saying a word.

I do admire Yunli straightforward and simple personality. I might be a little peeved how she commented about Yanqing concerns whether or not he can be a good teacher or not. I did see it as Yunli taunting/motivating Yanqing to push himself, especially since they're rivals and working together. Not only that!!! They're kids!!! They say what's on their mind and are very impulsive!

I'm just a bit high-strung cause it's one thing to learn from the master. It's a totally different thing to teach the subject and make sure the student understands what is you're trying to teach them. It's not an easy job for sure!!! And I wouldn't want to be put in the role of a teacher/leader, because what makes sense for me won't make sense for them. So you have to try to work around that and find a way to help them understand the lessons!

So I understand Yanqing concerns whether or not he's good enough to be capable of teaching someone until Jing Yuan gives him another perspective on the topic and push him to at least try. ;w; Not only that, but's a change of pace for Yanqing too.

March 7th is super adorable in her new outfit, and her besties are cheering her on!!! AAAAA.

I also can't wait for Feixiao to join the generals cause not only it's interrogation time for Jing Yuan, but we get to see her thoughts/opinions on him.

ALSOALSOALSO FEIXIAO AND YUKONG MEETING. I figured it be Yukong when Feixiao said she'll meet an old friend but holy crap it was actually Yukong. The fanarts of them together do make sense too now. It was nice to see them relax and catch up as old friends, BUTTTT BUTTT BUTTT

Feixiao bringing updates about Tingyuan case, and I AM PRETTY SURE IT IS TINGYUAN. Because Yukong is still looking for any traces of Tingyuan since Phantylia used her as a disguise. ;w; They found her ship, but not the body yet and...Ruan Mei??? Ruan Mei??? RUAN MEI???

Ruan Mei I hope whatever you did to Tingyun it was more good than bad.

I pretty much stopped after getting March 7th new path. ;w; now big question...any recommended builds for her?? I saw a few people already have her built and ready to go.

I don't know how much more I have left for this quest. I haven't seen the Shackling Prison yet so I know I still have some ways to go.

[sulemania]

Since this reply came kind of out of nowhere, I can only assume it was about my throwaway comment on Roadhog’s design in Overwatch.

Firstly, cartoonish stereotypes have of course never been offensive to anyone.

Secondly, these things are subjective by their nature. You might not find them phobically charged, but yours isn’t the only opinion on the matter.

This is the only fat representation in the game, and it is a violent, brutish criminal with cartoonish proportions. I’d say he’s actually pretty cool, but since he’s the only fat character in the game, the devs aren’t giving fat characters the same variety that other body types are offered. As such, players can see him as “This is what the devs think fat people are like”. Across unfortunately many games, the only fat characters are brutes with bad personal hygiene. Also with hook weapons on chains, for some reason.

Thirdly, is that reply really the kind of thing you say to people? Come on, now. What I said is like a super basic opinion about Roadhog’s design that’s been talked about since the game first came out. Surely you’ve got other things to worry about.

[charliesons]

Leviathan Bday Collab 2023! Coffee Shop prompt.

genre: fluff pairing: leviathan and gender neutral mc ---------------------- Every shift worked with Leviathan was an interesting one, he was genuinely pretty funny and it was easy to make small talk with him in order to pass the time, but something that MC would never be able to get used to was the comments that he makes when he takes people's orders. If something wasn't interesting or on theme with the coffee shop, he would make a slightly 'rude' remark that would send the customer into some sort of emotional frenzy. MC could never understand how his opinion on a drink could do that to someone, but they also wouldn't complain about it when it happened. A free show is a free show, afterall.  "Levi, this is like the 5th time you've referred to someone's order as "super normie," what does that even mean?" MC commented, laughing as quietly as they could, not wanting to disturb their customers "and they've all looked really offended every time!" It was amusing to see how worked up people could get over a cup of coffee. Afterall, it was just a drink that could, if you're lucky, give you a boost of energy to go about your day. Surely there was no genuine reason to take offense to some silly word. Leviathan grinned, "Their orders are just so basic and extremely boring! They need to spice them up a bit, everyone gets pretty much the same thing everytime, it's so lame," he shook his head. "If you ordered what they do I'd say the same thing to you, too. So bland. You'd think that people would order something more creative since this is obviously a themed coffee shop!" It was obvious that he had very strong feelings regarding the subject. MC shook their head, a smile on their face as they watched the boy before them, "And what exactly is a normie order? I've got to avoid your judgemental gaze. Can't have people thinking I'm bland and boring." The situation was actually really funny to them, but Leviathan seemed slightly serious and took a moment to consider what his answer would be, there was no telling what was going on in that head of his. Hearing his complaints regarding what people ordered was not something they had expected to encounter while working with him, but another conversation with Leviathan would always be a win in their book.     "Well, obviously something bland or having nothing to do with the coffee shop's theme," he paused, he appeared to be rethinking his answer, "I guess everyone is entitled to their own preferences, but this is a themed coffee shop and it is so boring when people come in and order the same plain drinks over and over again without changing them up at all, surely they can just add some type of twist to what they order. Even some fruit or pieces of candy would be so much better. I'm so tired of hearing people ask for lemondes or white mocha lattes. Why not get something cool or create your own combos?" he sighed, he had a hand placed on his hip and the other raised in the air as if he was shrugging. MC nodded along, grinning at him. "I guess that's reasonable, it's not very fun making the same raspberry lemonade every day, and I do enjoy making the more complicated drinks when I get the chance, but, we can't really complain about what the customers order, after all they are paying for their orders, if we complain too much they might just stop showing up completely, and that would just suck." They took a moment to think over everything Levi had said before speaking again, "Maybe start recommending people drinks? I'm sure they'd be more inclined to order something different if you put in the effort to let them know that there were some pretty good combinations that they could be ordering instead." There was a beat of silence as Leviathan thought, and, after careful consideration, he nodded. "Yeah, I guess that could work, but if they decide to still order something boring I'm going to start complaining," he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, "man, who knew working in a coffee shop would be so stressful? This job sucks, I just want to go back home and play my games, anything would be better than this place." The look on his face told MC that he only really half meant what he was saying. He did really like the job he had, he found it a bit fun, really. Nothing could beat the embarrassed expression of someone who had just gotten called boring. "Oh, come on Levi, this job isn't that bad, don't you like working with me?" They were grinning, the smile on Leviathan's face was the brightest thing in the room, sweeter than any order anyone could ever come up with.

[aptericia]

claude for the ask game!

First impression:

hey he seems cool! I like archers and he also has a sense of humor unlike everyone else lol

Impression now:

✨💛🦌🏹👑✨💛🦌🏹👑CLAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEEE ✨💛🦌🏹👑✨💛🦌🏹👑

Favorite moment:

uhhh yeah it’s probably the cutscene at the end of VW where the boss is like “cowards! face me one at a time!” and Claude is like “lmao do you even know how people work. We’re social creatures and we’re going to team up to beat you, deal with it 😁” I also liked whichever Byleth support it was that he was talking about his lack of faith (it’s been a while since I played VW)

Idea for a story:

Not really sure… I think he should get to interact with Rhea some more though! given his supports with Byleth and Flayn and general interest in the Serios mythology I think it could be really interesting! (disclaimer: I haven’t played Hopes or FEH, maybe they touch on their relationship a little more)

Unpopular opinion:

I, uh, have some opinions on how his being mixed-race is treated by the game and the fandom… but again, I’ve only played Three Houses and I haven’t done a lot of research on the topic, so I don’t really feel confident sharing them.

Favorite relationship:

Hilda Hilda Hilda Hilda Hilda Hilda Hilda Hilda Hilda! I particularly like how they both care a lot about their appearance and work to keep up specific facades, but also see through the other and actually have a lot of mutual trust and respect.

Favorite headcanon:

Claude likes to flirt with people purely to mess with them, and although he quickly realized it didn’t work on Byleth, what he did NOT realize is that they adopted that into their understanding of “oh, this is how social interactions work” and have now started flirting with him and other people completely on accident. Now he’s flustered and thinks Byleth is in love with him.

Another one is that he’s super interested in other cultures and constantly bugs people like Dedue and Petra about theirs without realizing it might be a sensitive subject…

[astrosye]

➻ astrosye

MATCHUP FOR kavehtham ♡

I want you to meet . . .

RIDDLE ROSEHEARTS ! ♡

Perhaps it isn't the best match of all time.. And I'm supposed to be the BEST matchmaker of all.. But I see this working out! You are definitely a breath of fresh air to him, he certainly is pleased by your attitude. He hasn't met much people like you, so you're special to him! He feels drawn to your carefree, and laid back personality. He loves that you're so accepting, forgiving, and patient.. He might even form a calmer mind from you, maybe.. He'd stop to give Ace another chance for breaking the 23th rule this day! As for when you're feeling unmotivated, he always helps you out! No matter the occasion, he always finds the time to help you. Ace plotting to start a fight again? He's busy helping you, someone else just stop him. He's interested in your studies. He's glad that you've found something you're passionate about, and he takes a genuine interest in them. It's not like he's gonna study everything about it since he has other studies, but he would like to. I think he would especially want to see you work! Your little dates are pretty much just tea parties and stargazing. He isn't as knowledgeable in stargazing, and doesn't know most of the constellations.. But he's trying his hardest so give him that! At least the both of you can enjoy the beautiful scenery of heartslabyul, and hopefully not many stars get covered by the trees. You stated you liked true crime, but he isn't exactly comfortable with that. He likes being knowledgeable on the tragic events that happened, but he feels off about it. He would love to watch informational documentaries with you though, he's happy that you too like that! You also stated that you prefer relationships at a slow pace, lucky for you that Riddle makes the relationship start of slow. He isn't very affectionate but he does love you, but he has to take things slow first.

MINORI HANASATO ! ♡

She thinks you're really interesting! Platonic or not, she loves you a lot!! To her, you're super cool, and she wants to be you a little! She's always excited to hang out with you since you both mostly stargaze, and she loves the beautiful scenery. Though whenever you do something other than stargazing, you both would probably go to a cute cafe! She loves cute little cafes, so she would always drag you there whenever she gets the chance. She's sort of fast with the relationship, but always slows down if you can't catch up with her! She thinks that being with you is like.. An eternal picnic, with all of her favorite foods, and all of whom she loves surrounding her and talking. She thinks that you're super pleasant to be around. even with your dry-ish humor, she loves you a bunch! And like Riddle, whenever you're feeling unmotivated, she (tries) to help you out! She's going for every chance she gets to help you out, even if she's not as knowledgeable about the subject. She also loves what you study! She's interested in it, and wants to know more. She wants to know what you think about that certain subject, and your opinions on it. She also wants to see you in work, like Riddle! She doesn't exactly get some stuff, but she's trying to know more about what you like! Oh! And you should know, she is TERRIFIED of true crime documentaries.. She doesn't exactly like them much, but she'd watch them for you and then end up clinging to you. She likes to be with you though, but please don't show her this horrifying stuff..

disclaimer ⇶ the art is not mine! I just edited it, so credits to the actual artist;

note to kavehtham ;; hi🥺 *kinaldag* /jj BUT UHM U'RE SO COOL AND I LOVE YOUR INTERESTS BECAUSE WE HAVE THE SAME INTERESTS EXCEPT ENGINEERING STUFF HUHU THANK YOU FOR REQUESTING POH

[darkmasterofcupcakes]

DHMIS Review: TV Episode 2, Death

As I said in the review for “Jobs”, most of this review is going to be underneath a read more break, simply because of how much I’m going to have to say for this episode. The shorts reviews are already on the long side, and these TV episodes are even longer so the reviews will be even longer by default.

To begin the review proper, I love how the “couch gag” has the Duck actually acknowledge what I guess was a fairly common mistake in the fandom about what kind of bird he was? I say “I guess” because I actually joined the fandom a little later than I think a lot of other people did - I think I discovered the series very shortly after the sixth short aired, for reference - so by the time I was looking at fanworks, everyone was correctly calling him a duck. 

Pretty sure this is the fastest that any of the episodes, from the shorts or the TV show, actually gets to the main subject of what the Students are going to be learning about? I mean, it takes maybe 5 seconds after the end of the theme song for Duck to just super casually announce that he’s dead. I feel like the second fastest we get to the lesson is the very first short, and that still at least felt like it took much longer for the song, and by extension, the lesson to start. 

I’ve watched this episode at least like four times by now, and I literally only just noticed what the name of the newspaper is. “Opinoin”. Which feels like a joke with two punchlines, since there’s the obvious one of the word “Opinion” being spelled wrong. But also the more subtle joke about how a newspaper, something you’d expect to give you news in a way that’s at least mostly objective....is literally named after opinions, something that is subjective by default. 

Gotta love how lightly all three of the guys take the news that Duck has apparently died. They treat it less like him being dead, and more like he just found out he got some really cool present or something, with Red Guy being jealous of him and both Duck and Yellow teasing Red over his jealousy. I guess maybe the lack of understanding makes some sense, considering the whole point of the episode is supposed to be that they learn about death....Even though, if you ask me, they don’t really learn that much about the actual subject.

Anyone else wonder if at least part of why Duck is the one who “dies” in this episode is because he’s the one of the trio who died permanently in the shorts? Or, at least, the one who’s actual death seemed to be confirmed and wasn’t undone by the start of the next episode? I mean, they all went through a lot of horrible experiences, but the Duck is the only one who was ever actually killed during the events of the webseries.

Did anyone else notice that Red Guy actually quietly asks “Is that an egg?” when the heart rolls away to form the Coffin? Just the fact that he not only apparently doesn’t realize what a heart is, but actually wonders if the Yellow Guy (the one that’s usually seen as the “dumb” one) was the one who correctly identified it is kind of funny to me.

The whole scene with Red Guy actually having a conversation with his ID card to find out if he’s dead is honestly really fun. I love how the Card just assumes they’re going to have a little mini-lesson about identity, only for Red Guy to just cut them off and ask if he’s dead. Then you have the little bits of dialogue from the Card as Red Guy shuts them away again, which as of the end of the first season don’t seem to be foreshadowing, but if we get another season....Also, did they include a little puppet of the orange from the first short, with the face and everything? If so, that’s a cute little reference.

“We Gotta Get Things Ready” might be my favorite song, at least from the TV series. My favorite part is where Red and Yellow apparently just forget what their doing and turn it into a cooking show....which I know I’m not the only one who didn’t even question it until they actually acknowledged the mix up? However, at this point I think I’ve listened more to that parody that changes the last word of every verse to “margarine”. Because that is just art. 

I’d actually kind of love to see this whole thing explored more at some point, either officially in the show if we get more seasons, or just by the fandom? Because until this point, we never really got a sense of the dynamics between the three main characters besides them all living together and implicitly being friends. But throughout this episode, we explicitly get Duck thinking of Red Guy as his best friend (to the point where he actually gets annoyed at Yellow Guy for offering to speak at the funeral because he wants his “best friend” to do it), while Red is not only shocked that he’s Duck’s “best friend”, but at least at this point almost seems to be dismissive of him in a lot of ways. While Yellow Guy not only wants to speak about Duck during the funeral, but is the most openly upset about him being gone.

I love how between the painting in the first short and his trumpet playing here, it seems to be implied Yellow Guy is actually pretty skilled when it comes to creative things? Especially music, since, as Red Guy points out, his little solo, for as short as it was, was really nice.

I never really realized it until now, but with how the Duck’s bill is...could the Coffin even actually close? I guess it’s just one of those things where how big/deep the Coffin is depends on what needs to be happening at any moment. Not like the Teachers (or the show) have ever strictly followed any sort of real-life logic, after all. I mean, this episodes starts with someone not realizing they died until they read it in the newspaper.

Not sure which makes me more confused - the scene with the Mourners or the scene with Yellow Guy and the Lamp. Maybe the Lamp scene because of a combination of it just being so weird to hear the Lamp talk so...calmly. Plus it kind of just feels like a very short fever dream, with the random thing about the Lamp’s idea of what happens after death, and then him just peacing out and that whole thing never being mentioned again.

I almost forget that when Stain is first “made” he really does come across almost like a baby? Like, he can’t really talk all that well and I feel like the way he can’t really seem to control how his form looks for a bit makes him come across as really young? Of course, the fact that he’s so young and innocent makes what happens to him in the end even worse...

Also, apparently Yellow Guy is...racist? I don’t know how else to describe it, but he seems disgusted by Stain just because he’s claymation, even before learning Red Guy is going to make him Duck’s replacement. But, I do find it interesting that, between him admonishing Yellow Guy for hurting Stain’s feelings and him actually showing concern when Brendon hurts his hand in the last episode, Red Guy actually is showing a decent amount of compassion? Not a lot of emotion, but compassion. Or at least concern.

You gotta honestly feel bad for the Coffin. Guy is not only just trying to do his job (though he doesn’t do it all that well, considering I don’t think he ever actually teaches about death outside of vaguely showing what happens at a funeral), but he got stuck with probably the worst of the three main guys to have to spend what was supposed to be eternity with - the one who is kind of narcissistic, seems to need a lot of attention, and bites for what seems to be no reason.

I don’t know what’s better about the Grolton and Hovris part - the fact that Grolton is so excited about 40 pounds, the fact that the celebration involves boiling water, or the fact that the episode apparently just stopped right there.

....Really could have done without the pee. It’s almost made worse by the fact that it almost comes across like Duck is doing it on purpose, but I think I’d tolerate it more if it was just like...an audio bit and we didn’t see anything?

I find it interesting that Yellow Guy seems to attached to Duck when even in the song, all of his memories involve Duck kind of being a jerk to him? Yelling at him to get off his bed, laughing at him when he needed help with a medical issue, calling him weak...I will say, Yellow Guy has a very nice singing voice in the Memories song.

Kind of ironic that the Teacher who teaches about death is the first one to actually die by the end of their focus episode. 

I honestly feel kind of bad for Stain? Guy was basically just born and was so excited to just live and have adventures, and maybe eventually become a banker or something considering one of his core values was finances. But then the two people who he considered family honestly treated him kind of horribly? Yellow Guy resented him from the start because he was still upset about Duck being gone, and while Red Guy started being more welcoming, it didn’t take long before he just decided to make Stain into Duck, instead of just letting the poor guy be himself. And that went horribly right, since when the original Duck comes back, I can only assume that Stain adopted his mannerisms so much that he kills the original either to avoid having to “share” the attention of the others (or the audience), or simply out of a “you or me” mentality where he assumed Duck would have killed him if he didn’t do it first.

This episode gets a 3.5/5, though it honestly would be higher if they just didn’t do the pee joke. Really hated that bit. 

[throughalleternity]

What things do people who write fics with transmasc/masc genderfluid people get wrong the most? And what are the most common mistakes? And how Do you try to avoid them in your own writing?

This is a complicated thing! I'm only going to get into it a little here, partly since I don't even know what's most common, since I think it varies a lot depending on the fandom, fic platform, ship, etc. But I think often times when someone is writing a subjective experience, the idea of right vs wrong isn't the most useful. There are infinite ways to be transmasc/masc genderfluid, so I usually wouldn't want to say an experience is written wrong. Fic is also a space for fantasy and for unrealistic writing, so I give some flexibility for that.

However, there's some incorrect biology that I note, especially when it's written as a statement of fact or generalization in an otherwise realistic fic - T as 100% effective birth control is one of the ones I worry about most. This can be mitigated by good fact-checking from credible, trans supportive sources (resource lists from non-profits are good, and be careful with medical articles because some stuff is still inaccurate/misleading but it's mostly decent). You could also remove the statement of fact or rephrase it so it's no longer stated as such. I rarely present anything as fact or universal experience in my writing, even from a character's POV.

Also, I think people can stumble into writing stereotypes that come off as transphobic or uneducated, like taking a character who is canonically masculine but making them excessively feminine or soft/emotional when writing them as trans, which is exacerbated when paired with a cis masc character that retains their masculinity. I might squint at that, and it might not be my preferred fic, but without knowing any more, I wouldn't call it 'wrong'.

Some opinions in the text can also rub me the wrong way, like rude/judgey comments about a trans character's body, especially about changes from T or surgery. (Though sometimes this is a kink thing, and that's a different scenario.)

Then there are some fandom trends that happen that can be annoying to notice. Like I noted above, there are instances where a character who is headcanoned as trans seems to be excessively feminized, or exclusively a bottom, and then that becomes the dominant portrayal in a fandom. That might just be because there are trans writers who want to write that, and I'm not saying that's bad! But if someone in that fandom wanted my advice, I think it would be really cool to write a different portrayal, so that we see more headcanons that speak to different people, and reflect the diversity of trans experiences.

So, my general advice, because this is hard to answer in such a way that covers all fandoms:

do some research and read about actual trans people's lives if you're unfamiliar (firsthand accounts are usually the best!). This is great for getting ideas

be especially mindful if you're writing transmasc characters in an extra soft or feminine way, or you're pointing out their bodies - you want to still acknowledge and be respectful of their gender and not deny them masculinity if you're doing that, instead of writing them more femininely because of unconscious biases

the flipside - be mindful if you write them as super aggressive after starting T, check biases again (and just in general) and how it comes off in writing

don't be afraid to write something that is different from existing headcanons in the fandom (I get the impression that there still isn't too much T4T, trans man/cis woman, transmasc as tops, post-bottom surgery characters... all things that would be great to see more of!)

don't be afraid to write a disclaimer or provide more info in the author notes if you think it will help your audience be more informed. There's only so much you can put in a fic (but also don't treat that as an excuse to be lazy with your writing)

seek out a sensitivity reader if you're unsure, and bonus points if they're familiar with the fandom trends regarding trans headcanons. The more specific you can be with your questions and existing ideas, the better, since fic is so diverse (oneshots, longfics, different genres, different tones, etc)(my dm's are open for that too!)

[fulgursmediaanalysisdrama]

As I haven't played the witcher games and know essentially nothing about them I can only suspect why so many of it's fans turned out to be edgelords, bigots and machos.

But like instead of talking about how much emphasize there has been on making characters sexy, appealing to the male gaze. (Feedback I've also gotten from guys, in the form that they mostly care about the looks of the characters ingame. First criticism about the witcher show one of my roommates gave. He said and I quote "to me that isn't Yennerfer anymore. She's like not sexy" like I'm not joking) or anything along those lines

Thing is

Geralt is not actually a very flexible character, his growth over the books is slow and steady to no existent. He simply realized he has to care in targeted fashion, care about big issues instead of solving single squabbles again and again. Being a dad does do you that you wanna care about your child, cool

It's not a lot but he doesn't need much, there are other things I omitted, the things around Geralt in conjunction with his opinions carry a lot. Because his values didn't change, he just started applying them in more useful way honestly. (Not to say he didn't change ok)

So what I feel like is the biggest issue is that Geralt is the main character, the player character in the games. It's no good because Geralt is super passive everywhere he goes. Just reacting to what happens either because he doesn't know or because he's subjected to forces more powerful than himself.

This him being powerless is also like shown in any sexual encounter, he doesn't initiate them usually, he doesn't enjoy them in the form you'd expect. Because Geralt gets objectified, fetishized and while horny and generally willing to comply he isn't like happy about it. Never sets any boundaries that man and instead accepted his fate that everyone wants him for a quick bang with zero child risk (and because he's a so so exotic witcher)

But in the games playing him gives the impression that Geralt has influence, has power, he is the one fate works around not ciri. Like you get what I mean right. It forces us to see him as active because we are active, enabling Geralt to be a male power fantasy and then together with all the other crap it kind of strips everything of it's larger meaning. I mean Witcher is antifascist and Fascists love it somehow, I don't know if that die to the games or their cognitive dissonance allowing to misinterpret even the most on the nose stuf but yeah.

And now I don't know how you'd make witcher games that don't encounter this issue since Geralt is functionally our main pov character but also I'm not a game designer. (And I don't have any need to experience this story in game form. Like just don't think it's fit for that)

The medium should be chosen to fit the story, not because it's the medium you want to use.

Fitting a story to a medium can be good as well, but like at that point you might just write a book again because that has less limitations than games or movies since they engage the readers creativity and imagination.

[missusruin]

Hi! Sorry if you've already been asked this before but, do you have any advice for creating unique looking characters? Mine always tend to look kind of boring, I struggle with coming up with ways to make them look cool. I really admire how awesome all of your characters look and inspire to be able to make cool designs like you :)

I sat down to answer this but then ended up overthinking it and now I don’t know how to answer without 10 pages of me rambling otl. Like there’s so many facets to design; technical drawing skills, shape language, communicating story/personality/etc, breaking down styles you like to figure out ‘why’ you like them, learning to love a wide variety of traits/features, absorbing media that has a wide variety of characters, identifying and expanding your general interests, saving and studying images, etc etc.

The tldr is kinda just “i make characters I personally think are cool”. I like a lot of stuff and I’m very cognizant of the things I like. But also I realize “idk, if your oc looks boring to you, add stuff you think is cool” or “if your ocs have the same face, draw a different face” is kinda an obtuse reply lol.

Anyway I save images that give me ideas so I can go back to them for reference/study. It’s what I’ve always done, and I was actually super surprised to learn that not every artist does this? I think it’s hard to design anything if you don’t have a good library of things to pull inspiration from. Like the biggest tldr for any design questions I get can probably just be:

And these are just my main ‘general’ insp categories.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What would happen if you were sent back and ended up in the orphanage with Tom Riddle—and say you also had magic?

Oh boy.

Well, there's a lot to question here. Judging by the... spirit of this ask, I presume I'm... pretty much reincarnated. I'm in the orphanage, I'm much younger than I am now and a child, I'm pre-Hogwarts age, and I retain my current knowledge.

For the purpose of this ask I suppose I also retain my current mental faculties. Despite being in the body of an eight-year-old, I'm not The Carnivorous Muffin at eight.

Welp, there's a lot to consider here.

First, I probably don't realize I'm in Harry Potter for quite some time and instead assume I've been reincarnated to some parallel universe. It's the 1930's, I'm in England in the depression, WWI has occurred and the vast majority of major historical events I know about seem to have happened in the right order, and this Earth is eerily similar to the Earth I left behind.

Strange that I appear to remember everything of my past life with my adult mental abilities, but alright universe, I guess that's how we're going to play this.

What I do know is that I'm dirt poor, presumably still a woman which does not bode well for my career prospects, and if I want any prospects in life period I'm going to have to fight tooth and nail for it. It'd be great if I got adopted to help with this, and might be nice to have people in my life who love me, but there's a lot of orphans in the world and a lot of orphans who are much less weird than I am.

The orphanage is the orphanage and not great, Mrs. Cole is overworked, the orphanage is chronically understaffed, and the kids are running wild beating the shit out of each other.

Being a girl, I probably don't have to worry about getting the shit kicked out of me quite as much, but I still probably try to keep my head down and don't aggravate the particularly beefy looking orphans.

Yes, there's some very angry gremlin named Tom Riddle around who will shove you down the stairs in retribution, but that's just a weird coincidence. And then supernatural shit starts happening. Billy's rabbit hangs itself, people get injuries when Tom is nowhere near them, and I start wondering if this is really the Tom Riddle.

I'm in Wool's Orphanage, my matron is Mrs. Cole, Tom Riddle is running around lighting things on fire. It's possible, though it could all be a strange coincidence.

Now, how things go from here depends on how controlled my own magic is. Since accidental magic typically does manifest at least once or twice, it probably does manifest for me for.. something. If Tom Riddle's there to witness it then...

Well, I imagine he's very offended. Here he was, special, different, better than everyone else, and then some girl in the orphanage (who dares to get very good grades on her assignments in school) has it too.

And I just stand there, smiling, going "Tee hee".

He probably confronts me to prove that he's better at it than I am, and he probably is unless the universe hates both him and me, but having someone else with the Shining around probably prompts him to take me as his protégé (in part so he can show off and in part because he's genuinely excited to be able to share this super cool talent).

I am now apprentice to eight-year-old Tom Riddle. Whoop de doo.

Well, I don't remember this part of Harry Potter, so now I'm probably confused as to where I am again. Regardless, I try to advise Tom on how to tone it down and not, say, traumatize Amy and Dennis for life and antagonize all the other orphans forever. He probably doesn't take me seriously. What do I know, I can't even light that patch of grass on fire?

Hanging around Tom Riddle gets me a reputation to, given the difference in genders, probably a fairly nasty one at that. When Dumbledore arrives he's undoubtedly told hot gossip about how eleven-year-old Tom and I have had sex in a ritual to summon Satan. Dumbledore takes this seriously.

Dumbledore probably meets us both at the same time and it's a disaster. I tried my best to prep Tom without revealing I'm a prophet, Tom first doesn't believe there might not be others, then doesn't believe they would be antagonist/anything but amazed by how awesome he is.

Well, Dumbledore lights his wardrobe on fire while I sit there. Dying inside. Dumbledore probably also does something to me too, to teach me some kind of lesson about something.

I imagine he temporarily disfigures me/makes me appear very ugly, then sticks a mirror to the wall, that way I realize that looks aren’t everything/being a whore is wrong. Tom, still traumatized over the wardrobe, is no help and my magic’s probably not controlled enough to do a thing about it.

I spend a day looking like a pig, Tom and I are given just enough money to buy new wands and second hand/barely functioning everything else and given the world’s worst directions to Diagon Alley. Thanks, Albus.

Well, months pass, we get our wands, Tom gets excited for Hogwarts and I... start seriously considering the future. WWII is coming, the Blitz is coming, Tom and I live in east London and must be able to evacuate during the bombing of London (which went on well past the Blitz to the end of the war). I also start considering my future in the wizarding world. Do I now actually have career prospects?

Probably not because I’m muggle born and a woman. My best bet is doing very well in useful subjects and finding employment with the goblins, I can’t imagine they have the same hang ups as the wizarding world.

Tom wants to go to Slytherin, of course, I tell him this is a bad idea. “Gee Tom,” I say, “Not sure how I know this but I have this feeling that Slytherin is filled with people who loathe our very existence and will shank us. Why don’t we pick Ravenclaw or Gryffindor instead?”

No one shanks Tom Riddle! Tom says. Tom is still eleven and while he admits that sometimes I may, in retrospect, have been right about certain things that doesn’t mean he wants to go to the house known for hard work. That’s code word for everyone there being a moron and having no other redeeming features than tenacity. As for the other two, Ravenclaws sound like smug, elitist, nerds and Gryffindors like dumb jocks.

Better to be known for ambition, cunning, and actually being competent.

Well, there’s no talking him out of this one, and goddamn it we’re all each other has.

I’m the closest thing Tom Riddle has ever had to a friend in all these years and in the orphanage the only one who could hold a decent conversation with him. And while it’s not my moral obligation to keep Tom from becoming a domestic terrorist, and there’s no guarantee I even can, dumping him for one of the other houses and drifting apart won’t help.

Not to mention that, after all these years, I’m undoubtedly lonely, I’m in this foreign land, and he’s now the closest thing to a friend I have.

Looks like I’m going to Slytherin, YOOOOOLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOO! I shout as a battle cry as tears run down my face. I may have to convince the hat to put me in Slytherin, but like all human beings I am a mixture of many qualities. I’m not cunning in the least, mind games exhaust me unutterably, but I’m full of ambition. 

This confirms every bad opinion Dumbledore had regarding me and Tom.

For the next several months, Tom probably beats the shit out of dormmates who steal his things/harass him. He beats up mine too because feminism (TM) means that he should treat all people equally when guilty of the same crime. I... am not sure I can win that fight so I just resign myself to having to adopt some of Tom’s tactics to make sure I’m not shoved in lockers, have tampons thrown at me, or pig’s blood dumped on me at the prom.

Once again, everyone thinks Tom Riddle and I are dating. I don’t even know if they’re wrong at this point.

Well, being in class with eleven year olds who seem to have had little to no prior education, Tom and I are undoubtedly blazing through class. I imagine I’m bored out of my mind (the Hogwarts curriculum sounds unbelievably boring) and Tom is... well, probably devouring the library but probably also bored. I decide to try and see if I can find some real history texts on this world (there are probably none, the wizarding world seems to only have two historians and both... have a different approach to history than current modern thought as I know it) and discover what magic even is. That shit is fascinating: wingardium leviosa is not.

Dumbledore likely gives neither me nor Tom points in class, I think the house cup is stupid, so I really don’t care. I have no interest in playing quidditch, neither does Tom, so that doesn’t happen.

The second world war starts up, Tom, me, and the muggle borns are the only ones who give a flying fuck. I work harder on figuring out how to get lodging during the Blitz/the bombing of London. Unfortunately, Mrs. Cole hates me too for being the Bride of Satan, so that’s a no go. Third year, 1939, I probably write her in earnest anyway telling her to PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, send Tom and I instructions for the summer/where the orphans are staying/how they’ve been dispersed to the countryside. As a back up plan, I try desperately to shmooze shopkeepers in Hogsmeade during every Hogsmeade weekend to get myself and Tom part time jobs and lodging over the summer. As a back up back up plan, I spend my time badgering Tom to become very good at survivalist wandless magic and if the Lord has pity on me gain some ability in it myself.

Hopefully, either Mrs. Cole or one of the Hogsmeade shop owners take pity on us. If not, then Tom and I are going extreme camping. Given Mrs. Cole (and the brain damage brought on by Dumbledore erasing memories left and right) and the likelihood of Hogsmeade shop owners just not getting it, Tom and I probably go extreme camping.

(Tom, meanwhile, asks Dippet and Dumbledore if we can stay in Hogwarts over the summer. He’s told no exceptions. London’s being bombed, you say? No exceptions. Toodles. Tom is never the same.)

Me, Tom Riddle, a tent we made ourselves, several rabbits we had to catch and skin ourselves, and the pitiful fire that we can keep going through pure will alone because if we try to use real people spells then we’ll get arrested. It has the benefit of making Tom feel very manly and impressive, catching his own food, but both of us are well aware that this sucks.

But hey, we aren’t dead.

Well, I’m sure Tom doesn’t appreciate that and this is where I imagine he seriously starts talking about violent revolution. I imagine much of my time is spent discussing the merits of not violently overthrowing our ant overlords. I imagine a thirteen-year-old Tom isn’t impressed by my pacifism, but he’s not married to Voldemort yet (probably).

Then I imagine the horcrux thing comes up and... Well, I will argue hard against it. Humans die, it is a truth of the universe, and simply something we have to accept. Horcruxes are not a measure against that, they can be destroyed, given infinite time they will be, and the sacrifice they require is too high: human life as well as the very essence of who you are.

What is a soul? I’m not sure, we never really learn in HP canon, but whatever it is, it is in some way the essence of yourself. If you take half of it and throw it somewhere else, you will cease to be you, someone or something else is walking around in your body while the other half of you exists in endless agony.

If you must chase immortality, create a philosopher’s stone (as I darkly wonder why it was that couldn’t be replicated and what Flamel had to do to make it in the first place). On second thought, maybe we should search for the Holy Grail.

Whether I can talk Tom out of this or not is... unclear. I’m going to say that I can, in part because I imagine he’ll want to show the chamber off to me, tell me when he realizes he’s Heir of Slytherin, and in doing so I can prevent the basilisk incident from occurring. Without that, there’s no dead Myrtle, which means no first victim. That summer, when he goes to the Gaunts, I’ll go with him and convince him that it’s not worth it. He can just turn around and leave these people alone, I hopefully can talk him down. Which means no second victim.

I start writing Flamel to see if Tom or I can get an apprenticeship (Dumbledore probably beats us to the chase and poisons him against us, but it’s worth a shot).

Then, should all go well, I can convince Tom to find employment with the goblins rather than shady antique dealers on the bad side of town. Hopefully, I can convince him to never become Voldemort, and instead we travel the world together looking for the origins of magic or something.

Dumbledore goes around taking people’s memories of us in preparation for when Tom becomes a dark lord and I his lady of the night darkness.

TL;DR Apparently my life would become an SI/Tom Riddle fic. So, thanks anon.

[fairyoftbz]

it's never too late... | b. jacob

🏀 pairing: crush! basketball player! jacob x fem!reader 🏀 genre: high school!au, fluff, (sort of) strangers/acquaintances-to-lovers 🏀 word count: 5.2k 🏀 tw: very cliché 😳 and it goes kinda fast lmaoo 🏀 a/n: lisa I'm sorry I took this long to do your request, but I hope you'll like it nonetheless!! ALSO: to my fellow Americans, here football = soccer!! 🏀 requested: yes! thank you lisa!! @skrtbabe

╰☆☆☆☆╮

You had waited for this time since the beginning of your academic journey there. Graduating from high school was two months away, and it felt just as exciting as weird.

It felt like you had started your first year last week, but the amount of work and time spent in those dull buildings makes you feel like you’ve been there for at least five years.

It was exhausting to attend classes and see the same people every single day of the year, with repetitive subjects, annoying or cool teachers depending on your luck and everything that followed. The homework, the assignments, the small -or not so small- fights between classes or groups of people, you were praying that university wouldn’t sound like that.

However, at the same time, you were almost starting to feel nostalgic for this time. The last years where you could remain a bit silly before entering the adult world, being in your last teen years with people that you appreciated and met there. You chose to do this before letting them go and live your own lives, memories that will disappear if you don’t cherish them enough.

So, with Soyeon, your best friend, you decided to enjoy the time that you had left to do things together while still studying and revising for the exams, which was sometimes not easy to do. Yes, you shared classes, but personal and private activities sometimes came in the way and prevented you from hanging out.

“It’s life after all,” she said one night over the phone as you shared your opinion on this topic, “it’s good that we can be together almost 24/7, but sometimes, things don’t allow us to be together. It might be for the best, we never know,” she said, trying to be positive no matter the situation she was in, but you knew her well. As much as she wants to appear strong, you had found her many times crying on her own. But it was her personality, and no matter how hard you tried to change her, what's bred in the bone comes out in the flesh.

Soyeon wasn’t your only friend, you were getting along well with most of your girl classmates, as well as the boys that weren’t suffocating under the number of pick-me-girls that were populating your school and your class.

Sadly for you, you’ve been eyeing the most popular (and prettiest) boy in your whole school since you crossed gaze with him at the very beginning of your first year there. Jacob, your crush, was also the star basketball player of your school, and constantly surrounded and attracting cheerleaders or rich, random, good-looking girls, which had a knack for getting on your nerves. He was always spending time together with his pals and teammates, but other people as well. Everyone wanted to be his friend because you know, he had a promising career ahead of him, so it was always nice to be friends with a potential future celebrity.

As defeated as you were, there was still a small voice in your head telling you to do something before he left to go back to his home country, South Korea, where he had a career already planned and traced out.

You were confused as it was almost impossible for you to get a chance with him since you were not one of those girls and you simply couldn’t compete against them, but Soyeon and her boyfriend Sunwoo were always there to praise you and reassure you about your potential chances of dating him. Never convinced by your friends’ words, you had tried many times to get him out of your head and focus on someone else, but it never worked. Everything came back to him. He was unique and oh so nice, everything reminded you of him, and it was sickening at this point.

“He won't get out of my head, it’s getting on my nerves,” you shared your thoughts to your best friend as you braced your head in your hands, slapping your cheeks as if it were going to change anything and help you throw Jacob out of your brain.

“Why do I keep this stupid boy in my head when I know I don’t stand a single chance against those girls,” you slapped your cheeks harder and whined as Soyeon’s hand landed on your wrist.

“Y/N, stop your nonsense. You are perfect, you don’t need to change anything for him!”

“It’s easier said than done, you pulled the football star player!” you exclaimed, and she rolled her eyes, shifting closer to whisper.

“He pulled me because he knew that I am pretty, and that wouldn’t change a single thing for him. If he’s not happy with who I am, he can leave,” she shrugs, signalling you to do the same if you dated Jacob.

Sunwoo was also among the popular boys, but your friend remained the same, not even trying to fit in with the popular girls. She claimed that Sunwoo fell in love with her for her true self, so she didn’t see the point of changing to please other people. And you wished you had her confidence and her strength, admiring her for not changing anything about herself to please others.

Back to the present.

You felt stuck, desperately in love with an unapproachable boy who was too popular and way out of your league to be lucky to have his eyes sparing you any sort of attention. Even if he was a sweet young man, he was always surrounded by popular people, who were trying to hook up or use him for his school fame and sharp features.

One day, while studying with your best friend at the library, Sunwoo and one of his friends, Hyunjae, the football captain, burst into the library and come not so quietly to your table.

“For the love of God, can you both be quiet for once?” Soyeon whispered-yelled but her voice got toned down by Sunwoo vividly pressing his lips on hers, an arm wrapping around her shoulders. Hyunjae laughed but quickly gagged as they didn’t stop the kiss as quickly as the captain wished.

“Gosh, please, get a room,” he mumbled before hugging you, your knee resting against his as his arms pressed you against his chest.

Your friendship with Hyunjae felt more like siblings, he was genuinely nice and caring with you, making sure that you were okay and that you had enough of everything before allowing you to go home. Despite all the teasing and a few rumours going around school, you were not dating and didn’t have any romantic feelings for each other. He simply checked that you had an older brother figure since you were the first-born child, and it felt relieving.

The thing you did not know was that Jacob and a few of his basketball teammates, Juyeon, Eric and Younghoon, were a few tables away from yours, your back facing them, the future star looking at you and Hyunjae from the corner of his eyes. He nodded at his friend at your table, who gave him a wink as an answer, Jacob’s eyes burning holes into your back as Hyunjae was close to you. Too close to you for the basketball player not to feel something churn in his stomach.

Two long, manicured fingers snapped in front of his eyes to get him out of his reverie, lazily looking at the girl that sat across from him, who he was supposed to get help from.

“Jacob please, pay attention to meeeeee,” she whined and pouted, giving him puppy eyes that he couldn’t give a single fuck about, too busy in his mind to hear what she had to say.

She had volunteered to help him study History, but she wasn’t any better, probably worse than he was. It was already the third time Juyeon corrected her basic knowledge without being an expert himself, not even caring about the death glares she kept sending him. It only made him smirk as he knew it irked her dearly yet amused the rest of the table a lot.

They all sighed as she finally took the hint and left their table, Jacob bitterly chuckling as Hyunjae rolled his eyes when she walked past your table, his demeanour making you laugh.

╰☆╮

“Bro, do you think I should ask Y/N for help? Isn’t that a bit… lame?” Jacob sat on one of the soccer balls, hands joined and panting as Sunwoo practised his dribbling skills before shooting the ball in the cages, aiming for the up-right corner. He trotted to his friend and collapsed on the grass next to him, the last rays of sunshine offering his skin a wonderful, honey glow. He ruffled his hair after plopping down, checking his phone for any message before answering.

“If you need help, you shouldn’t be afraid to ask her. I mean, she’s super smart in every subject, but she’s just the boss in History. Her presentations are always golden, and she explains things a lot better than some of the teachers.”

“I got Smith as a teacher,” the basketball player grimaced, his left hand holding his right wrist as his gaze wandered in the grass.

“We’ve got Antal, and I can tell you that she’s always mad when Y/N does a presentation because they honestly just sound better than her lessons,” Sunwoo chuckled as Jacob pondered his friend’s words, the gears of his mind working at full speed.

How is he going to be able to approach you and get to talk to you?

╰☆╮

“Bestie, no. I swear I saw that in the other book,” you said as you found yourself back in the library the following week, bending over the table to grab the book your best friend was resting hers on. You started flipping some pages when a loud, masculine chortle followed by some whispers of annoyance drawing your attention.

“Hi, babe! Hi Hyunj- Oh hi Jacob!” your neck almost snapped as you abruptly lifted your head up at the mention of your crush’s name, a small, embarrassed smile making its way on your mouth. You were a bit sad that your brother best friend was not here with Sunwoo, but you weren’t going to complain to have your crush instead.

“Can I sit here?” the basketball player asked in a soft voice while pointing at the empty spot next to you, making you quickly nod and gather your stuff to make him some space.

You resumed searching for the precious paragraph you were searching for your project as if it were nothing, trying to ignore your stammering heart in your chest and the couple eating each other's mouths. The only thing you hoped was that Jacob couldn’t hear the loud, irregular beats in your ribcage because it would give in your attraction to him.

“Hum, Y/N?” the voice next to you made you flinch, surprised that he knew your name and that he said it aloud.

“Y-Yes?” you said, cursing in your head as you stuttered.

“I heard that you were the Ace when it came to History,” Jacob started, and you couldn’t look at him in the eyes, fire spreading in your chest up to your face.

“I can’t really say that I’m the Ace, but I really love that subject, so yeah I have some… knowledge,” words tripped over your tongue, and your best friend pulled away from Sunwoo and scoffed.

“Some knowledge? Are you kidding?” she said, Sunwoo placing a hand on her mouth as she was louder than intended. She removed his palm and furrowed her brows at him, before turning her head back at you with the same angry expression.

“She knows so fucking much that Antal hates her because she feels humiliated compared to Y/N. So let me tell you one thing, Cobbie, if you need help, you’ve come to the right person. Y/N is just a living encyclopaedia,” your best friend proudly smirked as you glowered at her, Sunwoo chuckling at his girlfriend’s behaviour before immediately stopping.

“Wait, did you call him Cobbie? How come you call him like that when I get nothing other than babe or baby?” Sunwoo argued while pouting, and your best friend sighed, ruffling his hair before pressing her lips against his one more time, making you slightly grimace as envy flooded your veins.

You sighed and dared to look at Jacob, who was reading the beginning of your essay written on your computer, leaving Sunwoo and your best friend bicker like the cute couple they were.

“Do you have this project too?” you asked, and he shook his head, eyes remaining glued on the computer screen.

“It’s so interesting what you wrote, I like your way of writing and explaining stuff,” he offered a small smile as he looked at you, clearing his throat. For someone that was super popular and constantly surrounded by friends or people at parties, he behaved and sounded quite like an introvert.

“W-Well, thank you,” you said with a smile and turned your head to the side for a second, taking a deep breath before looking back at him, opening a new tab on your computer after he gestured to you that he was done reading.

“What do you need help with?”

╰☆╮

You were astonished at how quick-minded Jacob was. Behind his fit, muscular appearance and obsession with basketball, he had the soul of a thinker and grasped the knowledge of historical concepts quite easily and rapidly. He just wasn’t good with the way Smith was teaching, the method not suiting him.

“You retain things well for someone who hates History,” you joked, and he shyly smiled, scratching his neck. His smile looked gorgeous, and you were pleasantly surprised at how much of a genuine person he was.

“Well, History is not my cup of tea, but it might be a bit more thanks to you,” he said, and you tried to stifle a smile, thankful that your best friend was no longer sitting across from you because she wouldn’t have let you two live.

“It’s nothing. You can come back to me if you need help, I really don’t mind. I actually like explaining things,” you said, and he nodded, clicking your pen close before placing it in your pouch.

“Thank you, really. Sunwoo was actually the one that told me about you, so I have to thank him as well,” you stood up and slowly started to pack your stuff, shutting down your computer with a smile.

“I’m glad he did so, I just hope it was positive,” you giggled, and he quickly joined you, twirling his pen in between his fingers as he cleared his throat.

“You know, it’s Sunwoo. It can only be nice and positive,” you genuinely smiled at him and fall in silence, throwing glances at each other from time to time as the conversation was slowly starting to die down.

“And... How’s basketball going by the way? Is everything going well?” you asked, and his heart skipped a beat at your question as it took him off guard.

“I-It’s going pretty well, I’m excited to finish high school to be able to focus on basketball. I’m gonna have to take some of my last finals in South Korea because the season and the training start pretty early in Summer so…” his voice trailed as his eyes widened, a hand slapping his mouth as you both stood up.

“What?” you quizzed, confused by his sudden change of behaviour.

“I… was meant to keep this a secret,” his voice trailed, the end of his sentence falling in a whisper as he started panicking. “Can we pretend you didn’t hear what I said?” he asked as you placed your bag strap on your shoulder, taking your sweater before pushing the chair against the table.

“Said what?” you replied with a smile, and Jacob sighed in relief, somehow feeling like his secret was safe with you, even if you’ve talked to him for the first time at the beginning of the afternoon.

╰☆╮

The rest of the month rolled off smoothly, yet the stress and the revisions became more intense as the days went by. You didn’t hear anything back from Jacob, but you’ve caught him staring at you a few times, offering him an awkward wave and a smile as not to get noticed by some of his “fan girls”, as they called themselves.

You still had a whole month left before finals, and you felt blessed as summer decided to start a bit earlier this year. It was only the beginning of May, but you were already able to wear shorts and dresses. It felt good to see the blue sky and being surrounded by the warmth of the sun hitting your exposed skin after the cold, lonely winter and spring you’ve just got out of. Everything looked prettier and warmer, and it did nothing but make you happier and brighter, despite the stress of the finals piling up on your shoulders.

So, to get rid of this pressure, you decided to leave town with Hyunjae and let him drive to one of the lakes that surrounded your town, knowing that the beach and parks would get crowded in no time. It was a place that you used to go to with your parents when you were still a child, memories that you shared with your friend coming back flooding in your mind.

Hyunjae and his family tagged along to give you some company and take care of you as your parents were busy looking after your newborn twin sisters, Hyunjae and his younger brother acting like elder siblings to you.

After driving for a few dozens of minutes, you settled your stuff in the shade, right under a weeping willow that offered you freshness throughout the entire day. Your best friend napped almost the entire time you were there, hand lingering on his abs while the other plucked out some grass until he dozed off, trying to store as many hours of rest as possible before finals. By his side was you, reading a book and enjoying the chilly water to cool down from the hot temperatures of early Summer, playfully nudging the young man next to you each time he was starting to snore.

It’s near the middle of the afternoon that you heard another car pulling up near the lake, a bunch of excited teenagers coming out of a van. You didn’t pay much attention to them, only sighing as your peace was about to get ruined, their screams when they jumped in the water woke your best friend up.

He abruptly sat up next to you and rubbed his eyes, some sleeping marks lingering on his face, making you giggle. Being the short-sighted idiot that he was, he squinted to try and recognise some people, but he didn’t have to.

A young woman screamed and started jumping up and down, waving her arms above her head in your direction, hearing her scream something towards you.

You looked at each other with Hyunjae, confusion painted on your faces, hearing your phone buzz in your small bag hidden by your folded clothes.

“Hello?” you said as Hyunjae’s phone started vibrating too, picking up the call as well.

“Y/N, it’s us! We’re on the opposite side of the lake! Come and join us!” you heard your best friend yell in your ear, hearing her as well through Hyunjae’s phone, who picked up a call from her boyfriend.

“Okay, we’re coming!” you excitingly said as you hung up, waving at your best friend from your spot as you started packing your stuff to get back in the car and meet up with your friends.

Your best friend excitingly jumped in your arms as soon as you got out of the car,

“Tt’s crazy how we’re so connected! Did you also think that the beach would be crowded?” she asked, and you nodded with a smile, happy to see her this joyful to see you.

The inseparable duo was here, as well as Younghoon, Jacob, Eric, Juyeon and Sangyeon, the striker of the football team. They all engulfed you in a tight hug, Jacob staying in the background the entire time.

“Hi Jacob!” you brightly said and wrapped your arms around his neck, hugging him close. “Hi Y/N,” his answer vibrated in his chest and had repercussions in yours, sending your heart flying in your ribcage.

You looked so good being this carefree, it was thankfully a sight that he managed to imprint in his mind despite the shortness of the moment. Being surrounded by all your friends felt so good that you forgot to be awkward and worry about the stupidest things, and Jacob adored seeing you this natural and smiling in the company of your friends. He was a bit sad that he wasn’t fully the reason for your smile though, but he still managed to enjoy the rest of the day with you and your mutual friends, whether you were on the ground or in the water.

Sangyeon, Younghoon and Juyeon copied Hyunjae and joined him in a restoring nap, while Eric, Sunwoo, Jacob, Soyeon and you played different games in the water, improvising a volleyball match with an imaginary net and the ball Sunwoo took with him as the volleyball, but it did the job. It was just a bit hurtful for the liberos since it wasn’t as soft and bouncy as a volleyball, but the joy of the moment allowed any type of pain to become bearable.

The evening eventually started to settle in, and you all got out of the water, drying yourselves before deciding to spend a part of the night here. You helped Sangyeon build a bonfire in the safe area by bringing some different branches, the eldest placing them correctly before lighting them with his pocket lighter.

“Hyung! I didn’t know you were a boy-scout,” Sunwoo exclaimed and made everyone laughed as you all were sliding some marshmallows on a stick, Sangyeon smiling with modesty at everyone.

“Ya, don’t say this,” Sangyeon mumbled, and you smile, rubbing his upper back as he sat down next to you, thanking him when you handed him over his marshmallow stick.

“Oh no! Mine burnt,” Soyeon pouted when she retrieved her snack from the flames, and her boyfriend was quick to give her his sweets, Eric cooing at the gesture of affection.

“Give it to me, I like them burnt,” he mumbled as he bit in the fluffy texture, immediately regretting it as it was boiling. His girlfriend handed him water as he stood up, bouncing up and down to try and reduce what felt like flames in his mouth.

“Oh my, thanks babe,” he muttered with his mouth stuffed when he gulped down everything with a pained expression on his face. Eric’s eyes filled with boredom locked into yours and you both chuckled, your friend shaking his head.

“When is it gonna be my turn,” he huffed and Sunwoo hit him playfully in the back as you all laughed around the bonfire, relating to your friend.

“When you’ll stop being obsessed with football and mango juice,” Eric grunted and folded his arms over his chest as Sangyeon called him out, making you coo and playfully run to him, holding him against you as he fake-cried on your chest while everyone was laughing at him.

Except for Jacob, who only offered a weak smile, but you didn’t catch it, too busy having fun and being light-hearted with your friends.

After your stomachs were filled with sweets and soda, Sunwoo pulled out his guitar and strummed a soft melody until some became heavy-eyed or fell asleep against the other, his girlfriend succumbing to his musical talents first. Jacob looked exhausted as well but forced his eyes open, finding him even hotter with hooded eyelids and his hair slightly curling with the humidity of the air and the lake water.

When it was time to go home, Hyunjae, as well as Younghoon, Sunwoo, Soyeon and Eric decided to jump into Hyunjae’s car to go to the beach, feeling the urge and the thrill of going skinny-dipping. On the other hand, you and the rest of the boys were too exhausted and modest to do this, only wanting to go home and get some good rest.

Just like they had arrived, Sangyeon was behind the wheel while the rest was either next to him or in the back seat. And you didn’t know how it happened, but you got stuck between the window and Jacob, who was struggling to keep his eyes open.

“You good?” you asked, and he turned his head towards you before offering you a tired yet sweet smile, moving his head up and down.

“I'm just exhausted, tonight was simply amazing,” he mumbled, and you expressed your agreement by a happy hum and a nod, bringing your attention to your eldest friend.

“Are you sure you’re awake enough to drive?” you enquired on the current situation and Sangyeon looks at you through the inner rear-view mirror, eyes forming two crescent moons as he smiled.

“I just jumped in the water, I’m nothing but awake,” he clapped in his hands to motivate himself and started the engine, your best friend’s car already gone.

Jacob rested his head against the headrest and closed his eyes, his head rolling to the side each time Sangyeon took a turn. You settled yourself on the window and let the vibrations of the car lull you to sleep, the small talk that Sangyeon and Juyeon were having in the front seats acted like a background noise, which helped you dozing off.

However, when the car pulled up in front of your house, they didn’t expect you to have your head resting against Jacob’s shoulder, his hand on your knee. The two men smiled at each other before Sangyeon got out of the vehicle, drawing the door open. As he was about to carry you to your doorstep, Jacob’s arm was quick to wrap itself around your waist, keeping you close to him.

You woke up confused, blinking a few times as you saw the striker standing next to you with a wide smile on his face. He removed a limb around your body, and you felt someone groan under your right shoulder, noticing in dread that you snuggled up to Jacob for some warmth in your sleep.

“You gotta go before the beast wakes up,” Sangyeon joked and winked as he helped you get out of the car, closing the door behind you. It opened again a few seconds later, Jacob looking just as confused as you were.

“Come on, lovebirds, we don’t have the night.”

“Lovebirds?” Jacob and you asked in unison, the basketball player rubbing his eye with the back of his hand. He jumped out of the van and gestured to Sangyeon to get back in.

“You can go, I live just around the corner,” he drowsily said as he vaguely gestured behind him.

“You sure? Your house is on my way back home, I can drop you off,” Sangyeon suggested but he refused, offering a handshake to the striker before letting him go.

Being more awake now, you waved at your friends driving away before turning to your crush, who looked even more adorable as he was super sleepy and just woke up.

“Are you sure you’re gonna be okay? You look really tired,” you asked, voice still laced with sleep yet sounding caring, which made Jacob’s heartbeat fasten. He nodded and weakly smiled, taking a step closer to you. His attitude was a bolt from the blue as he wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you to him, nuzzling his face in your neck.

“You felt so warm during the ride, it’s almost like I could get used to this,” he tiredly said with a smile, gently pulling away to stare at you, his fingers leaving your back to come and slide a wild piece of hair behind your ear. Your whole body stiffened at his words as he stared at you in the eyes, noticing a small, washed-out smirk plastered on his face.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit... late to start something with someone? I mean, we have finals and then y-you’re le-leaving for South Korea and-” you started stammering as his thumb gently stroked your cheek, loving watching you lose your composure at his display of affection.

“It’s never too late when you love someone,” he whispered, feeling his warm breath tickling your lips in such a delicious manner that you have to resist the urge to move forward and press your lips against his.

His words punched the air out of your lungs, leaving you breathless as he kissed your cheek, mouth slowly moving to the side until it reached your lips. The kiss was soft yet a bit on the rougher side as if he wanted you to understand every feeling he had for you. Instinctively, your arms wrapped around his shoulders, and you kissed him harder, deeper, his hands on your lower back pulling you flush against him.

You had dreamt, wondered about what it was like kissing Jacob, but it never felt as good as you were experiencing it now. Fireworks and butterflies were erupting in your stomach, leaving you dizzy with love and passion as one of his hands came and cupped your cheek, the pad of his thumb gently caressing the skin.

Once you pulled away for oxygen, you held onto his shoulders for your dear life and he chuckled, his mouth slowly travelling down to your neck.

“I-I think my… my- oh my god, my parents will worry,” you gently pushed him away and he stared at you with a smile before diving in to capture your lips in another soft kiss.

“I'm only letting you go if you're free tomorrow. Let's put that off to tomorrow, shall we?” he asked, and your eyes widened at his suggestion.

“We can go back to the lake if you want, but only if we’re alone,” he said, his hand caressing your cheek while the other was busy stroking your upper back up and down.

“I want to enjoy this with you and you only,” he added, mumbling against your mouth and this time, you’re the one pulling him for a kiss.

“Come and pick me up at 10, then,” you said as you pulled away.

“I’ll be there, I promise,” he answered and started walking towards your house, closing the front gate behind you, waving at him with a smile.

He sent you a flying kiss with a smile and you waved at him one last time before closing the main door of your house behind you, both sighing with a huge smile and warmth painted on your faces.

You peeled the clothes off your skin and went straight to the bathroom to take a shower, shaking your head left to right while chuckling as you recalled what just happened in your last month of high school.

Nothing was making sense, you didn’t know how you got there, but you were happy.

And that’s what mattered the most.

[riversofmars]

Opinions and spoilers below!!!

Okay, I've finished, here we go: Thankfully I enjoyed Stranded 4 so much more than Stranded 3... Overall, I thought it was a good conclusion to the series. They pulled all the strands back together and that was lovely.

4.1: Very good! Finally Helen back in a main role! Thoroughly enjoyed the Curator in this and that story about the Doctor's childhood? Outstanding!

4.2: I loved this from the bottom of my heart! The Eight/Liv/Helen dynamic is what the run has been all about and to have those lovely moments was everything!! Honestly, I think this will come to be one of my favourite episodes of Stranded. And if this is going to be the last box set of all of them together, this episode will give me comfort. Referring back to everything that happened since Dark Eyes... I loved that, honestly. And the implications as well that there were many more adventures we never saw with all those little snippets of memories!!

4.3: I thoroughly enjoyed that as well, there were a lot of good moments. The whole thing about Liv being in love with Tania and Helen sounding offended and walking off.... Surely that can't be interpreted a different way????? I'm sorry but.... and also the mention of Albie just had my heart aching!! And the story itself was just such a cool concept with the keys and everything. Really enjoyed this conclusion to the overarching storyline.

4.4: ....... I will say I found this a bit slow. It was a nice idea and well written, obviously, it was good. But with it being John Dorney, I would have expected more. Maybe it was the subject matter and the lack of a driving plot... Dunno.

But the most important thing? How do I feel about the ending?? I love the fact that they left it open in the way that there is time for Liv to carry on travelling with Helen and Eight. So they might carry the story on, thank HOLY FUCK for that. I hope they will carry on...

How do I feel about Liv staying with Tania? Very disappointed and not because I don't like them as a ship. I genuinely don't think that would be Liv's happy ending. I'm sorry but I don't. She will never see Tula again. She will never be able to work properly - she doesn't exist in that time zone, how is she going to do anything other than play housewife? It's not her time, she has no-one apart from Tania and is that really enough? In my personal opinion her relationship with Tania is just not that strong? They keep secrets. They don't communicate properly. They very different people. She genuinely didn't sound sure when she said about loving her? I just- No. Sorry. Not happy with that and I knew it was gonna happen, the moment she said her goodbye so quickly, with little doubt. I knew the TARDIS would return and drop her off. And I cried angry tears because it was so predictable and disappointing.

BUT! We don't know what happened to Liv in the meantime. ANYTHING could have happened. My personal comfort canon will be that this is an alternate Liv and she's gonna be in two places. Because she will also be with Helen forever in my head. That's that. Am I mad. Yes. Is this better than I had expected? Yes.

I'm super grateful everyone is alive and the story CAN continue with my favourite TARDIS team.