#like for instance they flirt with each other but my S/I is the true romantic focus

[historyhermann]

Yuri Is My Job! Spoiler-Filled Review

Yuri Is My Job!, also known as Schwestern in Liebe! or Watashi no Yuri wa Oshigoto Desu!, is a yuri comedic anime based on an ongoing manga by Miman. 12 volumes of the manga have been printed, 11 of which have been translated into English. Passione and Studio Lings produced this series. It is directed by Hijiri Sanpei.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the thirty-seventh article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on Jun. 28, 2023.

The plot of this series is in line with many yuri manga: a high school girl named Hime Shiraki (voiced by Yui Ogura) cares about her outward image as a sweet and helpful person. In actuality, she is very self-centered. One day, she trips and accidentally injures the manager of Cafe Liebe, Mai Koshiba (voiced by Yukari Tamura). She is guilted into covering shifts at the cafe to keep her image alive. As such, Hime works at an establishment where waitresses pretend they are students at an all-girls boarding school. Each has their own persona. She is drawn to another waitress, Mitsuki Yano (voiced by Sumire Uesaka) who gives her devotion and love. In private, Yano seems to hate her, hence the title of the anime, "yuri is my job!"

The fakery that the waitresses exemplify is shown though characters like Sumika Chibana (voiced by Makoto Koichi). She is calm and collected as a waitress but a gyaru outside work. Kanoko Mamiya (voiced by Minami Tanaka) contrasts this. A shy girl, she is Hime's good friend and knows Hime's true personality. She occasionally helps Hime during their work in the cafe. This fakery is also depicted through Hime, Mai, and Yano, each in a different way.

Show director Hijiri Sanpei is known, in part, as assistant director, storyboarder, and unit director of Citrus, a problematic anime due to sexual assault, non-consensual conduct, and toxicity between the two female protagonists. Apart from a few scenes, and some fan service of Yano, this does not translate over into Yuri Is My Job! In fact, the series has more allusions to other anime. For instance, the first episode alludes to Maria Watches Over Us. The latter series is said to be sweet, witty, unique, difficult, romantic, and have strong characters.

Yuri Is My Job! has similarities in terms of appealing animation, drama, and emotional scenes. The homoerotic themes are also treated respectfully, especially when paired with self-acceptance and self-discovery. Another series that Yuri Is My Job! may be referencing is a classic 2006 anime, Strawberry Panic! It is in the Class S genre, which focuses on romantic or close relationships between girls. While Strawberry Panic! is a romantic yuri based on illustrated short stories, and set at an all-girls school, Yuri Is My Job! takes place primarily at a cafe inside a high school.

The first episode pulls in the viewer, with a poppy and bubbly opening sequence, providing viewers with a sense of the characters. As noted earlier, yuri themes are there from the get-go, in terms of Hime's attraction to Yano, and an in-canon book entitled A Maiden's Heart, which resembles the plot of Maria Watches Over Us. This includes an older "sister" (Yano) putting a cross, on a necklace, around the neck of their younger "sister" (Hime). Adding to the confusion, Sumika appears to flirt with Yano.

At first, Hime appears to be a "gold-digger" only out for herself. As the story goes on, she becomes a more sympathetic character. This is clear from the close friendship between Kanoko and Hime. The latter even results in Kanoko working at the cafe after she follows Hime there. It is easy to be drawn to Hime's side when Yano is harsh against her, especially since Yano can see through Hime's cuteness facade.

Kanoko's character seems unhelpful, possessive, and annoying in earlier episodes. However, her character grows over the course of Yuri Is My Job!. For one, she supports Hime unconditionally. She even wonders why Hime cares about Yano. Kanoko's character might be lampooning the oft-trope, especially in yuri anime (and elsewhere), of the "deranged" cuckoo lesbian who has unrequited love for another woman. She may even be a yandere character.

I liked how the backstory of Hime and Yano provided insights into both characters. From that, it is easy to see both of their perspectives and how each of them could see the other as a "traitor". This all comes to a head when it is revealed, in the fourth episode, that Yano at the cafe is the same as the one she met when she was a young schoolgirl, when they played piano together. Over time, they get over their differences and clear up their misunderstanding.

Fundamentally, Yuri is My Job! has one theme throughout: miscommunication. Characters have different ways of seeing the world. Yano is coded as autistic. Hime is driven by being approved by everyone, thanks to her facade of being "cute". All the while, there is commentary about the yuri and class-s genres, with this series exploring expectations built into existing social interactions.

The 5th and 6th episodes of Yuri is My Job! focus on Yano and Hime being drawn to each other. They also criticize ship wars among yuri fans. In the sixth episode, some "fans" claim that Yano forced Hime to be her "sister". As rumors continue swirling, some even see Yano as a villain. Hime and Yano end up embracing one another in a very emotional scene, leading everyone to believe they are on better terms. In the process, Hime begins catching feelings for Yano. All of this reminds me of a song in The Proud Family about beating rumors, although only tangentially.

Sumika has an even more prominent role, after she learns, at the end of the sixth episode, that Kanoko is obsessed with Hime. As would be expected, Kanoko becomes suspicious of Sumika. She declares that no one will get in her way, even deeming Sumika "dangerous". While they begin to connect, this smashes apart when Sumika states that Kanoko must drop Hime or the cafe will fall apart.

Sumika's statement, cheered on by those who dislike Kanoko, seems harsh. However, it is rooted within interesting in-canon history. First of all, the person Sumika loved, Nene, was taken away by then-waitress Youko Gotou (voiced by Shizuka Itō), who she deems a seductress. Sumika is right to warn Kanoko that if she is too possessive, then Hime will dislike her. Even so, she is still interfering in their lives, almost as bad as the meddler in the 2015 comedy-drama film of the same name. Sumika's thought that romance will destroy the whole cafe is naive. For one, she is totally oblivious to Yano's feelings for Hime.

It is clear, by the eighth episode, of Yuri is My Job!, that Sumika is playing the long game. For instance, she agrees to Kanoko's request to become her sister, in the cafe. She doesn't realize, until later, that Kanoko is possessive of Hime because she is afraid of losing her. Kanoko is socially introverted, unlike Hime, and relies on her to ensure she can navigate social interactions. This is abundantly clear by the 10th episode.

In the apt flashback, in the ninth episode, Hime protects Kanoko from classroom bullies, the students that she deems "good kids". Hime comforted her after classmates were nasty to her, and defended her in class. Is it any shock that Kanoko fell for Hime, her "special person", then and there? Furthermore, Kanoko states she is the only person who knows the "true" Hime, without the facade. Her statement is incorrect, as Yano also knows the "true" Hime.

Apart from the plotlines involving Kanoko's relationship to Hime, one of the best storylines in this anime is the Blume election. The person awarded the most votes is crowned Blume-Sama. This reminds me of the elections for the student council in Maria Watches Over Us and the Etoile election in Strawberry Panic! Like the rest of the series, jealousy and emotions run high, as does blushing. The competition between the waitresses is fierce. It is later revealed that Sumika got the most votes, with Mitsuki in second, Hime in third, and Kanoko in fourth.

The final episodes of Yuri is My Job! wrap up many loose ends. Sumika reveals to Kanoko how Nene fell in love with Youko. All the while, her belief that Kanoko will "destroy" the cafe quickly dissipates. Although Kanoko's plan for the Blume election fails, Sumika's beliefs are fundamentally challenged by Nene. She says that Sumika comes from a place of compassion, but that she shouldn't dictate the love of others. This statement stands against people who position themselves as meddlers. Due to her conversation with Nene, Sumika rethinks how she should approach Kanoko.

By the 11th episode, Kanoko's actions, which might have seemed toxic or obsessive, make more sense. Sumika learns why Kanoko is drawn to Hime. She tells Kanoko that she is hiding too much of herself after she reveals that she will never confess to Hime. This conversation indicates the character development of Kanoko since she reveals all of this to Sumika, a person who understands her concerns. She even cries on her shoulder. Following the announcement that Sumika has been elected the Blume der Liebe, Kanoko even becomes the "sister". This appears surprising, at first. However, considering their mutual support for one another, it makes sense.

The 11th episode of Yuri is My Job! begins, in earnest, the romantic feelings between Sumika and Kanoko. Obviously both characters had feelings, to some extent, before that episode. Even so, it wasn't until that episode that they began their "sister"/Schwestern relationship. This sisterhood is even embraced by Hime. She is glad to hear that Kanoko has another friend, causing Kanoko to blush. This connection is reinforced by the fact that Kanoko and Sumika know something about the other that no one else knows. In the case of Kanoko, she had not said aloud that she loved Hime, until she told Sumika exactly that.

I haven't read the manga, but I have the implication, from the 11th episode, that Hime might be asexual. Kanoko specifically states that Hime has no interest in romance. She adds that Hime never genuinely loves anyone. In fact, she also calls herself Hime's only real friend. If Kanoko's read is correct, it would mean that Hime is possible grey ace. Also known as grey asexuality, it refers to people who are "flexible in their sexual preferences".

Grey asexuality can roughly fall into three categories: those who are sex-repulsed, sex-neutral, or sex-positive. It encompasses a broad spectrum of identities, including demisexuality, and other terms, like semisexual. Grey ace individuals might be rarely attracted to others, only romantically attracted on rare occasions, or be sexually attracted only to certain individuals.

To take this a step further, grey ace people may have any possible romantic orientation. The latter refers to romantic attractions someone has toward other people. A person's romantic identity is not necessarily connected to their sexual desires (i.e. sexual orientation). This can manifest in asexuality, bisexuality, pansexuality, gay identity, lesbian identity, heterosexuality, or any of the other sexual orientations out there.

This nuance is not, necessarily, depicted in this series. Even so, Hime appears to be asexual-coded. I'm not sure about the manga, but it might be the same, from the panels I've read. She is not alone in this. Seiji Maki in Bloom Into You has been described as an aromantic asexual. The same is said about Shōko Tanimoto in The Case Files of Jeweler Richard. In Western animation, Andy Billups in Star Trek: Lower Decks is a coded asexual character.

Other characters have been confirmed as asexual outside of their respective series. The latter includes Lilith Clawthorne in the recently ended The Owl House, SpongeBob SquarePants in the series of the same name, Peridot in Steven Universe, Alastor in Hazbin Hotel, Percival "Percy" King in Epithet Erased, and Perry the Platypus in Phineas and Ferb. Additionally, there are three asexual characters in Bojack Horseman: Todd Chavez, Yolanda Buenaventura, and Maude. Many others appear in other media, such as film, literature, live-action series, video games, comics, podcasts, and elsewhere.

More than anything, Yuri Is My Job! parodies yuri tropes and the Class S genre. The characters perform an idealized girlhood, playing on tropes of affection and intimacy for an eager audience. This is capped off by a strongly ambitious and tricky female protagonist. Unlike other protagonists, she isn't likable in a traditional way.

In the series finale, the characters wear summer uniforms, with the change of seasons. After Yano's uniform is shown to be "too sexy", Hime is embarrassed to tell her the truth, while people are drawn to her breasts. This may be parodying fan service throughout anime, especially yuri anime. Hilariously, the other waitresses suggest Yano wear a cover to solve her "problem". In the cafe, Hime defends Yano, stating she is not being lewd, but mature. She even does tasks for her, to protect her from the prying eyes of patrons. Later, to the expected blushing of Yano, Hime admits that she is jealous of Yano's body, and says that she shouldn't be ashamed of anything. Unsurprisingly, she subsequently chastises Hime for saying something she "doesn't mean", confusing Hime even more.

A growing "sisterly" relationship between Kanoko and Sumika is alluded to in the series finale of Yuri Is My Job!. At one point, Kanoko blushes when Sumika describes the beauty of Kanoko when talking about the tea they recommend for customers. Later, Sumika even encourages Hime to call the Kanoko cute, resulting her in blushing yet again. There is predictable fan service. For instance, Yano brings Hime to her chest, and buries Hime's face in Yano's breasts to keep her quiet. She does this throughout the series. Predictably, this makes Hime fall even more in love with her.

One of the better parts of the episode is how Hime doesn't get her recommendation for tea correct, unlike the other workers. As a result, she leans on Yano. She teases Yano about it, even asking at one point "you must really love me, right, Onee-Sama?". Although Yano denies that she loves Hime romantically, this is clearly a lie. She is blushing while she says she "doesn't" love her.

The Yuri Is My Job! series finale ends happily. Hime notes that employees in the cafe (her and the other protagonists) behave elegantly, like characters from a shojo manga. After that, Yano plays the piano alongside Hime. Understandably, Hime gets the last word, welcoming people to the cafe, standing alongside everyone else.

One of the strengths of this series is the voice talent. Yui Ogura and Minami Tanaka, who voice Hime and Kanoko respectfully, are talented voice actresses. Ogara prominently voiced Kokoro in The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated!, Selena Burke in My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Sanae Tsukimoto in Teasing Master Takagi-san, Sumika Izumino in Yurikuma Arashi, and Kokona Aoba in Encouragement of Climb.

Tanaka voiced Nako Sunao in Hitori Bocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu, Ran-Ran Oneechan in Dropkick on My Devil!, Shalsha in I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, and Himeno Toyokawa in Let's Make a Mug Too, among others.

Sumuire Uesaka, Makoto Koichi, and Yukari Tamura, who voice Yano, Sumika, and Mai, are known for their variety of voice roles. For Uesaka, this includes characters in Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions, Girls und Panzer, Luck & Logic, Boarding School Juliet, Carole & Tuesday, Lapis Re:Lights, and Spy Classroom.

Koichi has voiced characters in Hakumei and Mikochi, Märchen Mädchen, and My Roommate Is a Cat. Tamura provided her voice for characters in R.O.D the TV, Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl, Ouran High School Host Club, and Kin-iro Mosaic. It truly shows the voice range of Tamura, that she can voice a cafe manager in this series, a golf star in Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story (Mizuho Himekawa) and a lustful protagonist of B Gata H Kei (Tetsuki Yamada).

Asami Seto and Shizuka Neto, who voice Nene and Youko, are well-known for their roles in Wandering Son, Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid, Macross Delta, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, and Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure. Seto is also recognized for voicing Fena Houtman in Fena: Pirate Princess and Aoi Amawashi in Birdie Wing. The latter finished its run on June 24th.

Otherwise, Neto previously voiced Rei Hasekura in Maria Watches Over Us. This makes her voice selection apt, considering Yuri Is My Job! lampoons that series. She voiced Nadie in the yurish El Cazador de la Bruja, Misa Grandwood in Bodacious Space Pirates, Bellows in Gargantia, Minami Toba in Laid-Back Camp, Yoriko Kichijouji in Oshi no Ko, and many characters in other series.

The show's crew is as talented. Apart from aforementioned work of show director Hijiri Sanpei on Citrus, he also worked on Hinako Note, the ever-controversial Interspecies Reviewers, and the adventure fantasy romance Spice and Wolf. Chief episode director Takahiro Majiima, worked on Citrus and Interspecies Reviewers as well, along with other series like BanG Dream!, Princess Principal, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and Your Lie in April.

As for the character designer, Taisuke Iwasaki, he has worked the gamut in the animation industry, from series such as Fairy Tail, Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl, and No. 6, to movies like Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie and Your Name. Show script writer Naoki Hayashi, worked on all 12 episodes of Citrus, along with the last six episodes of Flip Flappers.

Last but not least, is Yuri Is My Job! music composer Megumi Oohashi. She ensured that amazing openings, like the one in this series by Ogura, and the ending by Ogura and Uesaka, are present, making the series that much more enjoyable. Oohashi is known for music in Blue Dragon, Gundam series, and Yumeiro Pâtissière SP Professional, and work on Petite Princess Yucie.

It is unlikely there will be a second season. Four of the last anime series produced by the studio, from 2020 to present, apart from Higurashi: When They Cry – Gou, only had one season. One (Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World) did have two OVAs.

Of the eight series produced before 2020 by the studio, only two had a second cour: Haitai Nanafa and Z/X Code reunion. A possible second season could focus on the growing romantic feelings between Yano and Hime, Kanoko and Sumika, or pairs between any other characters. There are many manga volumes that could be adapted I hope that this series gets a continuation, either in an OVA or a second season, as I'd love to see these characters again in something apart from the manga.

Yuri Is My Job! is currently airing on Crunchyroll and is available for purchase on Prime Video.

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[anoddopal]

Sometimes I want to interact with more folks but I worry that one of my ships falls under most DNI criteria so I frequently isolate in this community.

[vynsvision]

Lots of Artem ssr card thoughts that evolves from analysis as to why i didn't like Artem (cough Atmospherics cough) to wait damn I enjoy most of his cards! (I am in fact Pro-Artem by the end of this, even if he is the last of my bias.)

As much as I dislike Artem's SSR card Atmospherics, his other ones Wandering Heart, Unusual Love, and Sunshine After the Rain have. Struck me. /pos

Maybe Artem is... good.

I know it can be annoying, to a degree, for MC and Artem to be oblivious or just very careful of boundaries. But considering the relationship dynamic is literally an authority imbalance (to a degree), i really appreciate that they are careful of each other. Also, Artem's gentleness to MC when, for instance, they accidentally walked in on him changing in Wandering Heart, he forgives them and reassures them that there's nothing to be embarrassed about.

Its just really gentle and cautious, but soft and genuine. There's no intentional flirting to accidentally be read into. They are work partners, and they have that superior/subordinate relationship that they have to be aware of. Artem is also. The LAST of the four boys to abuse that. Not that any of them would (cough Marius wouldn't care about it TO A DEGREE cough) but its just really special to me that they chose this personality and these characteristics for Artem to handle it professionally.

Maybe thats part of why I hate Atmospherics so much. It was hyped up so much and then he's very drunk and being... physically... possessive? It made me uncomfortable and disappointed that there was no warning. Sure, a kabedon (spelling?) moment is nice but when its consensual. MC was not able to leave the apartment as he was sure they wouldn't be safe if they left. But I didnt feel safe around drunk!Artem. Its not sexy. His possessive and protectiveness would have been better in a different situation. The art is nice, but ultimately the card is driving by a story and standards that make me uncomfortable.

Before I read Atmospherics, I read Entwined Fate. I think that honestly may have been the card to put him in second place in my bias originally. I really like how sweet and cute that card is, the clear "strings" connecting MC and Artem, but also as on brand, the pair are oblivious or refusing to believe that the other may be romantically interested in them. Its really cute, and I love the art.

I've been catching up on reading SSR and SR cards that I haven't yet read (so I can make a rating post about them :) ), and have generally seen lots of pro-Artem stuff, so I once again gave him a shot in Unusual Love.

That is protectiveness I can get behind. Maybe because there's a real threat, maybe because its fake-dating-to-haha-jk-...unless? or maybe because he really just does want to show MC that he cares about them by gifting them the earrings- and then, in true Artem fashion, saying he AND Celestine are gifting the earrings. Its really just. So sweet. Also I love being spoiled.

Sunshine After the Rain will probably be my sucker spot for a little bit- the concept of being stuck in a hotel castle on an island... my favorite movie of all time being The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982) isn't for nothing. That and the sweet moments of when he calls them as they're trying to have him rest (its vacation, dammit!) and then when he ties a string frOM HIS OWN SWEATER to each other's wrists to be able to pull if they feel nervous- still respecting privacy while reassuring that he's there for them. Gonna sob, gonna cry. For personal reasons, that's the sweetest thing someone's ever done for me at night to make me feel safe while I'm asleep but did it before I was asleep... anyway.

I don't personally care for Dreamful Melodies as I think I read it just for the illustrations and the s-chips? So I dont remember enjoying that story.

I have not yet Por Una Cabeza, but I have heard lots of good things about it. If he pulls a Vyn and teaches MC a dance, I will be quite pleased.

OH AND UUUUH FORGOT ABOUT Loving Memories !!! That card is SO cute. Its a little bland, maybe, as neither of them are very frightened by the haunted house, but the art is so freakin' sweet and its basically a fluff fic come to life. God bless. Love that card. HES SO SOFT AND CUTE IN THAT ONE.

Conclusion: damn maybe Artem is good.

[lilyeholland]

Before It’s Too Late.

[Reggie Peters x Reader] PART ONE - PART TWO 

Summary: Y/N is Reggie’s complicated love interest from the 90′s and is trying to figure out where she stands with Reggie before him and his band make it big by playing at the Orpheum. *only semi based off of Stranger by Jeremy Shada -GO STREAM MAD LOVE!!!*

Word Count: 1.1k

Warnings: Maybe like 1 swear word, and like anticipated angst???

A/N: It’s been a looooooonnngg time since I’ve written fanfic - I used to write for Tom Holland, Peter Parker and Harrison Osterfield lol but I think those days are way behind me. I miss writing so much, I decided to try it out with my new obsession; Julie and the Phantoms. Please like, reblog, and share with friends if you like it!!! 

As far as high school relationships go, your relationship with Reggie was as complicated and confusing as they get. He’s a natural flirt - a charmer, and a performer - so it never really surprised you that you never became official and exclusive, although it definitely that way at times. For instance, Reg would invite you to band practice just to watch them rehearse, telling the boys to “play their very best because Y/N’s coming and I don’t want her to think we suck”. And during said practice, he’d go extra hard with extra hair flips and bass riffs, the occasional wink making it across the room to you. 

And of course, you can’t forget that one time Reggie turned into a true cliché Romeo-type, throwing rocks at your window at 2am, begging you to sneak down with him and go somewhere. 

“Reginald Peters!” you whisper-shouted at him from your window on the top floor of your house. “Are you crazy?”

“Maybe a little bit,” he chuckled at his own comment. “Get dressed, I wanna take you somewhere.” He smirked at you and held his bottom lip between his teeth for a few moments as he watched you from your driveway. 

“Oh, you’re definitely insane,” you said softly as you rolled your eyes, earning another small laugh from Reggie. You stepped out of the window frame and back into your room to grab a pair of pants and a coat. “I’ll be down in a second.” You said before shutting your window and slowly, steadily creeping down the stairs of your house and through your front door. 

Reggie had waited patiently for you, tapping his foot and humming tunes of his own songs. His eyes lit up as soon as he met yours face to face at the same level. The first thing he did was hold out his hand for you to grab - how could you NOT be exclusive when he looked at you like that? 

He began to run down the street towards his dad’s parked pick-up truck (smart boy for not parking in front of your house). “Where are we going?” you asked as he helped you into the vehicle. No reply, just a sly little smirk and then you were off. 

You made it to your final destination where Reggie made you cover your eyes to surprise. “Keep your eyes closed!” he warned you as he parked the car again and got out to let you out on the passenger’s side.

“Reg, I know we’re at the beach. I can hear the waves.” You opened your eyes to find him beside you, looking up with puppy eyes. 

“Dang it,” the excited gleam left his eyes, but the puppy-effect remained. “You still don’t know what we’re doing!” It’s like his ears perked up as he said this. This boy really is comparable to a dog. 

It wasn’t like he had this big romantic gesture planned out, he just brought a beach blanket and a guitar. It turned out you didn’t really need the guitar, just the blanket to lay under the two of you as you looked up at the clear sky and star-gazed. As the early morning grew later, you had moved closer and closer to him, eventually resting your head on his chest and soaking up the syncopated breaths and heart beats of his. The warm fuzzy feeling that had already taken its place in your chest spread to your whole body as he kissed the top of your head and whispered, “thank you for coming here with me.”

“Of course,” you whispered back to him, being grateful that he couldn’t see your embarrassingly rosy cheeks. 

He took a deep breath before sitting up. “Did I tell you we’re playing the Orpheum in a couple weeks?” He was totally playing it cool, leaning back into his hands and staring off into the sea. 

“No!” you exclaimed and sat up on your knees even taller than him. “Reggie! That’s amazing! You’re literally gonna be legit rockstars!” You almost melted into a puddle at the way he smiled at you while you say this. 

“Right?! That’s exactly what I said!” he matched your energy with his excitement.

“Oh man, the Orpheum...!” you repeated, “I so wish I could come.”

“I’ll try and work something out,” he licked his lips, “I really want you to be there.”

It’s almost like his voice cracked while saying that last part, but you couldn’t be entirely sure. 

“I wanna be there, too.” Both of your voices had gotten quieter and your gaze had traveled down each other’s faces a couple inches to find each other’s lips. 

You leaned into each other fast, but slowed down as soon as you felt his breath on you. Sinking his behind your ear, he nudged your nose with his, signaling that he was ready to kiss when you were. Only centimeters away, a shout from the distance knocked you both to your feet. 

“Hey, you kids!! What are you doing out this late?! The beach is closed!! Go home!!” The figure the voice came from starting moving closer towards you. 

“Oh shit,” Reggie said under his breath through a laugh. “Go, go, go, go!” he grabbed the blanket and started dragging you by your hand towards his car. Moments of belly-aching laughter passed by before you knew the night was over.

Needless to say, even after moments like that, you and Reggie had never had “the talk” about where you stand with each other. After psychoanalyzing and overthinking the situation, you had come up with the conclusion that Reggie was just afraid of commitment. Growing up with parents who rushed into marriage just because they had gotten pregnant, he had become terribly afraid of moving too fast with someone ending up unhappy and fighting like they were. He didn’t want to end up like his parents, which is why he remained his same flirty, flamboyant self at school and with his friends. 

You had formulated a plan to tell him how you really felt about him - showing up to the show at the Orpheum early to meet him at the backstage doors, hand him a letter and a quick, yet meaningful kiss on the cheek and tell him you’ll be in there cheering him on the loudest. However, that plan kind of fell through as you found out getting tickets to an exclusive Hollywood concert hall was incredibly difficult and expensive. 

You didn’t give up, though. You and Reggie always found a way to each other no matter how hard the path was. To no surprise, you were able to say the things you wanted to say to him before it was too late...

LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT A PART TWO!!!!!

[algernoninwonderland]

Miraculous, intertextuality and why referencing other works all the time isn’t necessarily a great idea

TL;DR: Miraculous loves itself some pop culture references, they’re in the show all the time for you to enjoy, especially if you’re a big nerd.

Only, making a list of references and trying to replicate what other works did before yours doesn’t make your show good by association, and when it comes to Miraculous, these references seldom do these original works justice. Instead, it makes comparing these other works with Miraculous really easy, and the comparison is rarely flattering.

Miraculous would be a much better show if it tried to be its own thing, a few scenes are just that and they are great. It’d be a wonderful show were they not so few and far between.

Miraculous is made by nerds, as is the case with most cartoons. The show itself lets you know that right away. It’s a pastiche of magical girl anime and Silver Age comics, it uses a lot of their visual languages, and references its other inspirations a lot, for instance:

The name of its fictional locations, (Françoise Dupont is a regular kid with a masked detective alter ego named Fantomette, Marinette’s address is a reference to a French illustrator who often drew a talking ladybird)

The way its characters look (Master Fu is both Mr Miyagi from the Karate Kid and Muten Roshi from Dragon Ball, when akumatised, Mme Couffaine becomes basically Captain Harlock and her houseboat becomes the Arcadia) 

Sometimes entire scenes are references to other works (Aurore’s akumatisation is straight out of Utena’s Dark Rose Saga, “Gorizilla” has a King Kong pastiche). 

You could fill an entire Wiki with all the references in Miraculous if you wanted to. If you paid me well, I’d do it myself.

Wearing your inspirations on your sleeves is a double-edged sword, really.

On the one hand, you showcase the things that inspired your creative process, a way to say, “hey, that show/film/book exists within a landscape, it’s the heir to such and such work”. You acknowledge that you owe a lot to your predecessors, you acknowledge that there’s no such thing as a 100% original thing. That’s a great act of humility. 

And intertextuality conveys meaning, too! Let’s take a very mainstream example. When you notice that ha! The pod-racing scene in Phantom Menace comes from the 1959 movie Ben-Hur for instance, you get the sense that you understand the cinematic masterpiece that is Episode 1 a bit more. It tells you that your movie about space wizards owes a lot to other genres, and that it transposes these genres to another setting, space! “It’s Ben-Hur, in that that slave kid is pod-racing for his freedom, but I gave it my own spin,” George Lucas tells you. “Look, the funny Gungan stepped into that space cow’s poop! Haha, sure hope I’ll sell lots of toys and buy myself some death sticks!”

You feel really smart when you get a reference, too! “Hey, that’s a Dezaki effect right there!” “Wow, is that a robot from Castle in the Sky in Age of Ultron?” Likewise, if you don’t recognise the work being referred to, you might get curious about it! References send back to other things and your knowledge of these things and when you get it, it feels nice. Lots of people discovered Utena thanks to Steven Universe and that’s really cool, and these references add to the meaning of the cartoon! Folks who casually got into RWBY but didn’t know Soul Eater and Cowboy Bebop heard about those shows and many others while discussing RWBY and I’m sure lots of them got into anime thanks to RWBY!

On the other hand, by being so open about your sources of inspiration, you expose yourself to criticism, especially in the case of your work being compared with what inspired it: it might be seen as derivative, or even worse, unable to do these previous pieces of media justice by only retaining and replicating their most superficial elements without a great understanding of what made them work, gratuitous fanservice for nerds.

And I’m not quite sure where Miraculous stands. Oftentimes, it feels more like a Spider-Man/Kamen Rider crossover with bits of outdated shoujo manga and superficial wuxia sprinkled in there than a show at least trying to be its own thing.

And the problem is, Sailor Moon is better at being Sailor Moon than Miraculous could ever be, as it uses its visual language better, and it has a tiny thing called “the main character having a group of friends who aren’t props and a plot you can follow” that is the very reason why people liked the manga and anime in the first place. Miraculous only retains the very superficial aspects of the manga/anime and of the genre. Marinette still trips over a cat in the opening. Because that’s how it happens in Sailor Moon. Her characterisation as a civilian screams “Usagi Tsukino but more stressed out”.

Spider-Man is better at splash pages than Miraculous because ML’s CGI is pretty meh when it’s not in motion, these weird filter effects don’t look great, that only works when you’re Into the Spiderverse and have comic-book aesthetics. Queen Wasp has a whole sequence that is just that scene in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 only this time Queen Bee sabotaged a metro on purpose to stop it. It’s not an awful scene, it carries its point across rather well (Chloé is a selfish nerd who thinks she can be like these comic book characters but truly isn’t fit to be a hero) but the original did it better, it was more impressive, there was more tension to that original scene, some really interesting camera and foley work that made you feel the weight of that train. It didn’t feel cheap the way that scene in “Queen Wasp” did.

Utena’s Black Rose Saga explores the psyche of some of its secondary characters the audience is already familiar with, with problems we could already identify within them. It offers an examination of the storyworld from another point of view, and helps build it further. There’s always a proper buildup before these characters have a mental breakdown in an moody elevator with a butterfly pinned on the wall that turns back into a chrysalis, because the characters are going through a kind of regression that makes them easier to manipulate and turn into “villains” while acting out their true desires in a twisted way. “Stormy Weather” has most of that, an elevator with dramatic lighting, a butterfly and a mental breakdown, but the character is all new to us so it’s just not that impactful. Often, that one secondary character who’ll get transformed has had spoken lines, yes, but that’s only minutes before they get akumatised.

“Kinda the same but a bit worse and missing some of the key aspects of what made the original thing so good” isn’t much of a tribute, is it?

In an earlier post, I stated that Animaestro was basically “I have watched a lot of animated shows and I know how to mimic them, the episode”. It told us nothing about animation as a medium except that it’s cool sometimes and that you get to imitate other people who are much better at the things they do than you are. 

It’s not a clever metacommentary, it’s just “me likey moving pictures”. Good for you, I guess… Did you really need an entire episode to make that point?

And then you’ve got all the bad outdated shoujo tropes with characters falling on top of each other, aggressive flirting (harassment, really) from Adrien portrayed as really sweet and romantic because it’s just like in the shoujo manga (which one?) you see… And that’s just not great, is it?

Miraculous is a much better cartoon when it doesn’t try (and fail) to emulate other shows and movies and comic books and manga. The only thing it tells us about these works is that That Guy and co really like them and that copy-pasting them is the best way they’ve found to show their love. Imitation and flattery and all of that I guess.

“Look, it’s like in that scene in the anime! Did you like the anime? It sure was a good anime, and if our show makes you think about it, then it’s also good, right?”

No, you guys, I’m sorry but no. If making references was all it took to be good, then gaming webcomics would be regarded as masterpieces. 

Very often, the show seems interested in being anything but itself. And it’s a shame, because there are lots of ideas the show kind of brings up but never quite touches. Marinette is interested in fashion design? That’s great, show us more of that! Make it an important part of her character, and by the same occasion, make her creations look not-laughable. Miraculous could be the first cartoon to explore what it’s like to be a biracial kid with a Chinese parent in France (would that work with a crew of almost strictly middle-aged white men is another question to which the answer is a resounding “no”). The show is set in Paris? Cool, how about exploring the city outside of its landmarks every tourist and their mom already knows?

Inexplicably, in the middle of an episode when you expect it the least, you get brilliant bits of directing that aren’t references to other works. Alya becoming Rena Rouge and her first steps as a superhero? Brilliant, really immersive, loved it, not a reference. The sad car scene in Puppeteer 2? It’s really really good, not a reference either. All the unexplored lore? It seemed really promising and having more of it would help us understand things a bit more!

People don’t just like your show because it reminds them of another show. Why watch it if you can watch that original work in the first place?

Trying to make a superficial mashup of all things you think are great in other works is not the way to do these works justice, nor is it the way to make your show interesting, let alone good. 

[princess-of-riviaa]

Vices chapter 1: First Time

Request: a ransom hc where reader and him watch porn together😳

Pairing: Ransom Drysdale x Reader

Chapter summary: Ransom dares you to watch porn with him. Things get heated very quickly, and you’re unable to hold back your feelings for him any longer.

Series Summary: A friendship with Ransom Drysdale is one thing; a relationship with him is another. Is your love for each other strong enough to keep you together? Or will nothing be able to keep you from ending in tragedy?

Author’s Note: I listened to the Knives Out playlist while writing this fic, and most of the songs aren’t my style of music, but the Thrombey Family Theme song is so dark and creepy and the piano version is so beautiful. I recommend giving it a listen. Very much Ransom’s aesthetic. Also, I know the gif below isn’t Ransom but I figured we could all use a gif of Chris Evans being a lil sexy freak.

Warning(s): voyeurism, denied orgasms, edging

Word Count: 3.5k

You were such a smartass. That wasn’t your worst vice, though. Your vice was not knowing when to shut your stupid mouth, which always made you end up in the worst situations.

Like now, for instance. You should have told Ransom no, that you’d never watched porn before, and left it at that. But of course you hadn’t--no, you’d had to add that you couldn’t see the point of it. And of course he’d snapped back with his own asshole remark--that you’d become more aroused after watching it than anything else could make you. And of course it ended with him daring you to watch porn with him and you claiming it would have no affect on you.

That was how you two ended up on the couch in his living room while porn played on his plasma TV. The man in the film pounded into the woman doggy-style. His hand clenched around the woman’s throat and she moaned in the most wretched ways every time he thrusted into her. Watching them together wasn’t what made you horny, though. What got to you was thinking about Ransom doing all of those things to you.

You and Ransom weren’t together. He didn’t date, and you didn’t do casual hook ups. You were pretty sure you were Ransom’s only female friend that he hadn’t seen naked before. The closest he’d ever come was seeing you in a bikini and you were determined to keep it that way. But just because there was nothing romantic between you didn’t mean there wasn’t heat. Ransom was ridiculously attractive--a fact you’d always been painfully aware of--and the thought of being with him crossed your mind more than you’d care to admit. You knew you weren’t the only one. Ransom flirted with you pretty much everyday. You would have played it off as Ransom just being Ransom, but you sometimes caught him watching you when he thought you weren’t paying attention, and you felt his eyes linger on... certain places a little longer than a friend would. But he refused to be the first to break, and so did you. So you two remained friends and ignored your obvious attraction to each other. You ignored the heat between you. Even when it was so intense sometimes that you felt like you couldn’t breathe.

Right now... right now you definitely couldn’t breathe. Both of you watched the film, the air tense between you, and you forced yourself to be quiet as you felt his thigh rub against yours. Your hands were folded over your lap; you hadn’t known what else to do with your hands when Ransom took a very close seat beside you.

The couple in the film switched positions. The woman straddled the man, her hands resting on his stomach as she rode him. Her eyes were shut in bliss as she brought on her own pleasure. You couldn’t stop yourself from thinking what it would be like to move on top of Ransom like that, for it to be Ransom’s cock inside of you making you moan like that. The woman moved her hips so fast your eyes could barely keep up with her movements. She screamed and her entire body shook as she came. You imagined Ransom pleasuring you so much that you came like that, so intensely that your entire body writhed on top of him.

You gasped audibly, the shaky sound clear and loud in the thick silence. You froze. There was no doubt that Ransom had heard that. Your body burned under his gaze. Partially out of embarrassment, partially out of... No. No, you were just blushing because of embarrassment. There was no other reason.

“Told you you’d enjoy yourself.” The smirk was clear in his voice.

You didn’t dare let yourself look at him. You’d lose all control if you did. Instead, you forced yourself to clear your throat and said as casually as possible, “They’re actors. They’re probably exaggerating everything.”

“No shit,” he replied, clearing his throat. “The point isn’t for them to enjoy it, it’s for you to.”

You resisted the urge to roll your eyes. Ransom’s asshole side didn’t seem to have an off switch. You didn’t know what you hated more--that he was such a jerk, or that that made you want him even more.

You returned your attention to the screen. The couple was spooning now, the man entering the woman from behind. The position was much more intimate than the last two, and for a second you could envision yourself tangled up with Ransom--

The man shoved his fingers inside the woman’s mouth. She closed her eyes as she sucked on them. Before you could stop yourself, your eyes flicked to Ransom’s hands resting on his thighs. You swallowed, imagining what his fingers tasted like--

His hand moved to your thigh. He did nothing other than rest it there, but his touch burned through your leggings and seeped into your skin underneath. Flames licked up your entire body and you gasped. You tried to clear your throat to cover up the sounds you were making, but Ransom began to circle his thumb on the inside of your thigh, just above your knee, and you thought you were going to combust. How could such a simple touch have such an effect on you? Your thighs clenched under his touch, wanting to press together, but he didn’t let you move.

“Just from barely touching you, huh?” he said, watching your face as you struggled to control your features.

He didn’t need to explain himself. The effect he had on you was obvious.

“Shut up,” you muttered before closing your eyes and letting yourself bask in the tingling sensations crawling up and down your legs and how intensely your thigh was burning under his touch.

His thumb continued to move in circles on your leg, though now he drew them out, touching more of you, slowly creeping towards your heat. You let out a breath and cursed. He laughed at how wound up he was making you. The sound of his cocky laugh drove you mad. You wanted to tease him just as badly. And luckily, you knew his weak spot.

You moved before he could blink of think to spew another narcissistic remark. A second later you were straddling his lap, your faces inches apart. You froze for a second to look in his eyes. Was this really happening? His blue eyes were dark as they blinked at you. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything your fingers were running through his hair. Your mouth brushed across his earlobe, not enough to be considered a kiss, but enough to make his body shudder beneath you. You left a trail of ghost-kisses down his neck until you reached the hollow of his throat. You kissed him hard there. He moaned loudly and you felt the vibrations of his voice against your mouth. His sounds were so fucking sexy. You grew even wetter, and by now you knew you were completely dripping.

He gripped your back, his hands digging into your hips and pressing you harder against him--against all of him. The feeling of his hard length against your heat, even if there was still layers of clothes between you, made you breathless.

“Porn doesn’t have an affect on you, huh?” He asked, recalling your stupid words that had gotten you two in this situation in the first place. His hands continued pressing you against him. Your hips moved easily under his touch; you didn’t have the strength to keep from grinding against his erection.

You continued kissing his neck, basking in the soft sounds he released from the back of his throat under your touch. “It’s not the porn that’s having an affect on me.” The words had been intended to put him in his place, to prove that your initial thought had been right, that porn actually didn’t have an affect on you, but it just made your face burn even brighter. It hadn’t sounded like that in your head. What had you been thinking? You hadn’t been thinking--not past the feeling of Ransom’s hands on you, his length pressing into the spot where you needed him the most. His touch made you unable to think at all.

You felt the vibrations in his throat as he chuckled. “I know, baby.” I know the affect I have on you, he didn’t have to say.

You wanted to argue back, to defend yourself, but hearing him call you baby made you lose your grasp on the rest of your willpower. You brought your mouth to his and kissed him. It was hard and fast; you knew he would push you away as soon as his brain caught up with his body and he realized what you were doing. Ransom didn’t kiss. According to him, it was too personal. Too intimate. He didn’t do feelings past the physical.

With his hands on your hips, he pushed you until you fell back onto the couch. He fell with you. His body adjusted over yours until he was hovering over you, your kiss having broken. You both knew what was going to happen. You wanted it too badly to stop now.

He moved to tug down your leggings but you held his face between your hands and forced him to look at you. You knew he could see the fear in your eyes. You knew that was what made him pause, his hand retracting from your pants. He wasn’t about to fuck you if you didn’t want it.

“This isn’t a regular hook up,” you said, willing the words to be true. As much as you hated the jackass side to Ransom, he was your friend. You wanted be able to handle it if he fucked you and tossed you like he did with every other girl. You weren’t about to lose a friend just because you were horny and he was hot.

His eyes were serious as he said, “This isn’t a regular hook up.” There was no doubt in his voice. If he was playing you to get what he wanted... well, if that were the case, he was a much better liar than you thought.

But in your heart you trusted him, so you dropped your hands to your sides and let him take your pants off. He was slow as he did it, watching your face for any sign that you wanted him to stop. But you didn’t. Your body ached for him, more than ever before. He took his time to pull down your underwear, and then your shirt, and then your bra. Your arms instantly wrapped around your breasts, your legs crossing to hide your most intimate parts, but he pulled your arms away with a frown.

“You’re body’s perfect,” he told you. “Don’t ever cover it up. Not for anyone.”

Before you could think to say anything, his mouth was on your skin. He kissed the hollow of your throat and you sighed. His lips felt so good on your skin; it was a wonder you’d resisted him this long. He left a trail of kisses down to your chest before teasing your breasts. He kneaded the left one in his hands, squeezing with just the right amount of pressure, and your back arched underneath him. Ransom teased the right one with his mouth, kissing everywhere except your nipple.

“Ransom...” you gasped, your tone pleading.

But instead of giving you what you wanted, he just moved onto your other breast. He kneaded your right breast as he teased the other one. The pressure he applied was blissful but--not enough. Nowhere near enough to satisfy you. He was playing with you, a vicious cat entertaining itself with a ball of yarn.

He moved his mouth lower. Two gentle kisses were left on each of your hips before he moved to your thighs, skipping over your core completely. You released a whine of protest. That only made him chuckle darkly. He knew exactly what he was doing to you and was enjoying every second of it.

Ransom kissed every inch of your thighs, giving special attention to the inside of your legs in the area just around your core. You were dripping for him and he hadn’t even touched your pussy yet. Just when you thought he was finally, finally going to put his mouth where you needed him the most, he crawled back on top of you and went back to your breasts.

You opened your mouth to complain, to tell him that you needed his mouth somewhere else, but his mouth clamped down on your right nipple and began sucking and swirling his tongue--

Your eyes rolled back into the back of your head and you released a cry that would’ve made pornstars blush. Pleasure rolled through your body. Only then did you realize just how close you’d been to coming, and now your stomach knotted as pressure built up between your legs.

Ransom continued to suck on your right nipple. He brought his hand up to your other breast and pinched your left nipple, applying the same amount of pressure as his mouth. You writhed underneath him as your hands tugged on his hair, silently begging him not to stop.

“Ransom--I’m gonna cum...” you gasped, feeling pleasure continue to roll through your body.

Just as you were about to let go, Ransom pulled back. Your mind was already fogged over in bliss, so it took you a second to realize what was happening. He wasn’t going to let you cum.

You growled in frustration. “You sonofabitch.”

Ransom just smirked down at you. “I’m not gonna give you what you want until you beg for it.”

You glared at him. Still keeping eye contact, you brought your hand to your core and began touching yourself. If he wasn’t going to give you release, you could find it yourself.

He just tsked at you before grabbing both of your hands and holding them above your head. He took off his sweater and while you were momentarily distracted, taking in the sculpted muscles of his chest and abdomen, he tied your wrists together with the sleeves. You fought against it but whatever knot he tied was too tight for you to get out of.

“I’m the only one who gets to make you cum,” he said.

You whined. A second later your noise of complaint turned into a blissful sigh as he reached between your thighs. He ran his finger between your folds. Your pussy would loud as he moved your wetness around his fingers. His thumb circled your clit slowly--too slowly. He wasn’t going to stop teasing you anytime soon.

“Ransom...” you cried out.

“Tell me what you want, baby,” he whispered, his voice dripping with lust. “Tell me what you want me to do to you.”

Hearing him call you baby made your walls clench. You closed your eyes as pleasure continued to roll through your body. This man was going to be the death of you.

His thumb continued moving against your clit as he pressed a finger inside of you. He curled his finger, teasing your walls. You let out a whorish moan as your hips bucked up, desperate for him to move faster and harder inside of you. He knew just what you needed. His finger moved faster, curling up in a ‘come hither’ motion. At the same time, his thumb circled your clit achingly fast.

“Fuck!” You cried out, your walls clenching around his finger--

He pulled his hand back. Your pleasure peaked--and stopped. You let out an involuntarily whimper, knowing you couldn’t take much more of this torture.

“I can make you feel so good, baby,” he promised. “But you have to beg for me.”

“Please!” you whimpered, your body desperate and aching enough for you to toss your pride aside. “Please, Ransom.”

He breathed into your mouth, “Tell me what you want.”

You fought against the knot of his sweater. It still didn’t work. You were at his mercy. “I want you to fuck me. Please fuck me.”

He smiled against your lips. “Now, was that so hard?” He pulled back and rose to his feet, but before you could complain you opened your eyes to watch him take off his pants and underwear.

When you were sixteen, you’d accidentally walked in on Ransom masturbating in his room. Your body had frozen at the sight--you’d never seen a dick before, let alone seen a guy jerk himself off--and your eyes had been glued to Ransom’s body long enough to catch a good sight of his dick. Back then, the sight of it had freaked you out a bit. But now...

Now, as you took in the red and swollen tip already dripping with precum, you wanted it buried deep inside of you. Your hands fought against your restraints, aching to touch him. He dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a condom packet. He ripped it open and rolled the condom onto his length.

“Ransom...” you whined.

He climbed back on top of you and spread your legs. “It’s okay, baby. I’m gonna make you feel so good.” He lined himself up at your entrance and moved his cock between your folds, soaking himself in your wetness.

You whimpered. You couldn’t handle his teasing anymore.

He entered you a second later. You were tight around him, so he moved slow as you adjusted to his girth. He finally bottomed out inside of you and you wrapped your legs around his waist, moaning as his cock reached even deeper inside of you.

“Fuck, baby,” he sighed, resting his head against your neck. “You feel like fucking heaven around my cock.”

His words turned you on even more. You moaned as your walls clenched around him.

He lifted his head to look in the eyes. “You gotta relax or this isn’t going to last nearly long enough.”

You closed your eyes and concentrated on relaxing against him. The knot in your stomach was so tight--your pleasure already so close to peaking--that it was a struggle. But after a minute or so, your pussy finally loosened enough around him for him to move.

Ransom began moving in and out of you at a teasingly slow pace. You bucked your hips against him, desperate for him to move faster. He increased his pace but not enough to satisfy you.

“Ransom...” you begged. Would he ever stop teasing you?

Before you could blink his hand was around your throat, squeezing the sides. You didn’t realize that was something you wanted until his touch made you gasp, pleasure rippling through your body.

“I know what you need, baby,” he promised, his eyes on your face as he fucked into you.

You didn’t have time to warn him this time before your pleasure became too much. His grip on your throat tightened as your walls tightened around him and you threw your head back, screaming as you orgasmed. Ransom fucked you through your high. Even once you came down from your blissed-out state he didn’t stop. He only fucked you harder.

“Shit, you’re so fucking sexy when you cum,” he muttered.

You moaned and fought against the restraints in vain. He wasn’t going to stop fucking you until he was satisfied, too. Your body was already overstimulated. Your mind was fogged over, your pleasure keeping you from thinking clearly.

He released your throat and moved his hands to grip your hips. He increased his pace and thrusted into you hard. You moaned every time he entered you. His cock twitched inside of you and you knew he was close to coming. Your own walls tightened around him again, already preparing for orgasm number two. His pace increased even more and your eyes couldn’t keep up with him as he moved in and out of you. The knot in your stomach tightened and you closed your eyes as pleasure rippled through you. Ransom came inside of you with a curse. For a second you wished he wasn’t wearing a condom so you could feel his seed inside of you, coating your walls in his warmth. He thrusted two, three more times inside of you before you came too, clenching tightly around his cock.

He buried his head in your neck again, both of you struggling to catch your breath. Though you’d never admit it to his face, Ransom was a sex god. You weren’t going to ever get enough of him.

After a couple minutes, he lifted his head and looked back at you, a smirk on his face. “Ready for round two?”

...

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[magos-dominus]

FFVII: REMAKE Exists to Mock Your Pain

This is a post about Aerith Gainsborough.

If you are wondering, this is not a post about shipping.  It is also very long. 

I do talk about the love triangle from a narrative construction and game design standpoint, though. If that interests you, go ahead. If not, scroll on.

+++ Open Spoilers for FFVII (1997) and FFVII: REMAKE +++

So, my reading of FFVII’s infamous Love Triangle has always been that, in the text, there, uh…

Isn't one.

Not really.

The structure of the entire narrative and the trajectory of Cloud's and Tifa's character arcs are built around the two of them baring their vulnerabilities at each other in a rare moment of acceptance, connection, and understanding. You might argue that we never see them physically intimate, here them say those three little words, or even engage in a few PDAs, that the nature of their relationship isn’t clear.

But to be honest?

Who cares that we don’t?

Something we can learn from Good Omens is that, if two characters have to kiss or fuck or say ‘I love you’ to convince you that they’re head over heels for each other, the story is either poorly written or you don’t really understand the meaning of the word.

I have a higher opinion of this game than that, and I want to have a high opinion of you, gentle reader.

The Lifestream Sequence is the emotional climax of the game’s narrative. The rest is simply clean up and denouement. However, that fact does beg the question: "What then, is the narrative purpose of Aerith's attraction to Cloud?"

To start, it's not a connection to Zack Fair, given that in the OG he's more plot device than person. So, what is it then?

I'd argue, that through a combination of incident and design, the Triangle exists at the crux of two competing narrative threads, held in tension by the fact that, as an audience, we share our perspective with the POV character, Cloud in this instance, and the plot works through him to us, most of the time. These two narrative threads are:

Establishing and foreshadowing Cloud's romantic feelings for Tifa as present and important to him and his character.

Getting the audience, not Cloud, to fall in love with Aerith Gainsborough.

If you’ll allow me to put my Doylist hat on for a moment, I have some trivia for you.

As an interesting hiccup of human psychology, the wad of soggy bacon that is your brain is incapable of distinguishing, on an emotional level, between real people and fictional ones. This is why you can start to feel like, after watching the same streamer or listening to the same podcast for long enough, you might start to feel like the hosts are your friends, even if you logically know that isn't true. It is the fundamental psychological reason fiction can resonate with us, despite us knowing it’s, fundamentally, an entertaining lie. Video games, as an interactive medium, can dig into this phenomenon like no other form of storytelling. With Aerith, you might have spent 20 to 30 hours with her by the time you get to the Forgotten Capital. You’ve laughed and fought and maybe cried with her across two continents and a trio of plot arcs. She’s a person the audience has, via Cloud, shared a whirlwind, globe-spanning adventure.

The reason that its her death, out of all the other fictional deaths we’ve experienced, out of all the deaths within FFVII itself, that hurts the most, is because that, by the time she leaves the Temple of the Ancients on her own, she doesn’t just feel like Cloud’s friend.

Its over just when she feels like she’s become yours.

Not content to simply to explore the grieving process of its own characters, FFVII reaches out to take something from you, and have you grieve with them.

A recurring and oft-pointed-out design decision is the empty space left by Aerith after she dies. Holes in group formations, gaps in menus, etc. Places where she used to be. A reminder of the loss, or more optimistically, a commentary on how she’s still with the party in spirit.

I would argue that it might just as easily be you in that space. AVALANCHE is a rag-tag group of misfits bound together by their grief, and when you leave the Forgotten Capital, you’ve been blooded. You’re trauma-bonded to the group now, and you’re all there, shoulder-to-shoulder to do right by your fallen friend.

It’s a gimmick that appears on the ludic level as well. Cloud’s various panic attacks, out-of-body experiences, and struggles for control are experienced by the audience through the mechanics. Sephiroth manipulates Cloud by disrupting, blocking, and limiting your connection to him. he isn’t just denying Cloud agency, he’s reaching out through the fourth wall to deny you your own.

To personally victimize you.

Once you leave the Forgotten Capital, the dialogue choices vanish. You are no longer Cloud’s co-pilot. The trauma and grief has severed that connection you had with him. You can’t do anything to help or guide him anymore. He’s on his own and you, along with Tifa, have to watch him slip out of your grasp and into the hands of an enemy all three of you are powerless to fight.

Final Fantasy VII isn’t a video game.

Final Fantasy VII is an elaborate mouse trap masquerading as a late-90′s JRPG, and Aerith Gainsborough, part-time human, full-time hello kitty monster truck, is an insidiously crafted piece of fine Swiss Gouda. It is designed, from script to visuals to music, to fill your heart to bursting and then run it over with a sixteen-wheeler; then leave you reeling for long enough that you don’t hear the tell-tale crunch of rubber-on-asphalt as it backs up over your pulped torso for good measure.

Which brings us to REMAKE. Namely, why did they cut a lot of scenes from the OG’s script that heavily featured Aerith flirting with Cloud? Or suggested there might be something there, between them, to the audience? It’s for the same reason that Sephiroth no longer has his trademark slow-burn rise to the center of the stage.

Those plot points no longer served their narrative purpose.

REMAKE is, functionally, a pseudo-sequel. A retelling that exists in conversation with a past version of itself, and is constructed with the assumption that the audience is, at least passingly, familiar with its legacy. 

Sephiroth doesn’t get a mysterious build-up because everyone already knows who he is and what he’s about, he and Aerith are familiar with at least a broad-strokes version of the script because the audience already knows it by heart, Cloud gets headache flashbacks of scenes from the OG when we see something we know will be picked up down the line, and Aerith isn’t pushed as hard as a love interest to the audience because we’re already attached to her at the hip.

Aerith seemingly knows about her fate, and while the game leans heavily on suggesting Tifa and Cloud’s shared romantic feelings, even moreso than the original did in this segment, it still holds space for Cloud to pursue Aerith, should you choose. However, she all but talks past him and directly to the audience in her Chapter 14 Resolution scene, warning us away and signposting an oncoming tragedy so that we might brace for it when the time comes and spare us any unnecessary pain.

Her character development gets fast tracked too, through knowledge granted from the Arbiters, she grows quickly towards her late-disk-one identity as the Last Ancient. She gets a piece of the closure with Zack she might get at the Gold Saucer on her date with Cloud, a chance to say goodbye to the last bit of her normal life before she was able to fully embrace the fact that it was gone. She even gets the closing speech this time, last words usually reserved for the protagonist.

But that’s what she is at the end of REMAKE, isn’t it? The only one on the same playing field as Sephiroth and the only one who might be on the same page as the audience. Equal parts the Aerith that just left Midgar and the Aerith that we saw leave for the Forgotten Capital back in 1997, on a mission to protect her friends from the danger that lay on the path she knew she had to walk. 

All of us now get to walk that path on more time.

Maybe this time we’ll get to walk it with her. Maybe this time we’ll get that happy ending. Hell, maybe Zack makes it out fine too and we get that heartfelt reunion our hearts bled for when finished Crisis Core. Maybe yours is still bleeding.

Maybe, maybe, maybe.

The Arbiters subplot exists to taunt us with these possibilities, to roll back our grief from acceptance to bargaining to denial, if we ever reached those stages to begin with. I can almost see our girl getting to go home this time, safe and happy and surrounded by her newfound misfit family, free of the crippling loneliness that’s haunted her entire life.

But to be honest?

All I can see is a better mouse trap.

[otonymous]

Lucien and The Lure of Forbidden Fruit (MLQC Character Analysis)

Hello dear readers!

I’m sure that everyone knows by now that Lucien is my favourite MLQC boy (even after the events of chapter 13), and I’d like to take this opportunity to explain why.  Needless to say, this analysis will be lengthy and include lots of spoilers (for certain Lucien-related dates and the main story, up to and including chapter 14), so the rest will be posted after the break!  

Please keep in mind that I know next to nothing about what’s happened in the story beyond the new chapters released in the English server, so apologies if my theories prove incorrect to those who know better 😆

In response to the lovely Anon, on a superficial level, Lucien is exactly my type: tall, dark and handsome, and a genius to boot.  I love my men intelligent with a side of suave, someone who isn’t afraid of wearing his feelings on his sleeve — and this sexy professor delivers.  But I swear my reasons for loving Lucien extend beyond this paragraph 😂 Please do me the favour of reading on!

@blueanimewriting, I see Lucien’s character as being quite complex, and labels such as “yandere” alone are not enough to encapsulate him as a whole.  Let us consider what we know of Lucien (in the English server) so far.

Lucien, aka Ares, is a high-ranking agent of the Black Swan Collective (BSC) — a super shady secret society with equally shady ambitions for the world, whose plans seem to hinge on MC’s cooperation.  In Chapter 13, it is revealed that Lucien’s kindness and attentiveness to the MC was all part of his plan to lure her into a trap on behalf of the BSC.  On the surface, everything about this screams betrayal.  But is it really?  More on this later.

Going back to @blueanimewriting’s question, a yandere is typically seen as a character with a sweet exterior who is capable of engaging in extremely violent and deranged behaviour when it comes to anything/anyone who challenges their relationship with the love interest.  In my understanding of this archetype, the aggressive behaviour typically doesn’t reveal itself until love has been established, in that either the yandere realizes they are in love or are already in a relationship. 

As we’ve seen in Chapter 13, Lucien is already highly respected and feared within the BSC, where he is known especially for his ruthlessness. The man won’t hesitate to dispatch Black Swan minions with little more than a flick of his hand, teleporting them to god knows where (we just know that the thought alone is enough to make them shake — remember Josie after her little illusory arson trick in Chap 13-1?). The man even smiled when his eye got split open as punishment for dragging his feet on his mission and not capturing MC.  There is little doubt that Lucien is no stranger to violence, whether he’s the source of it, or at its mercy - a fact that most definitely precedes his relationship with MC.

The professor’s villainous behaviour does not come as a result of him falling in love, as is typical with a yandere.  He is a man tasked with a goal, and his actions must be interpreted through that lens.  Did he stalk MC by moving in right next door?  Absolutely.  Was it out of love?  Probably not from the outset; he likely needed to monitor her as part of his mission.  Did Lucien ever direct violent behaviour towards other potential suitors for MC’s affections?  I don’t recall him ever behaving aggressively towards Victor, Gavin, or Kiro.  Lucien’s deception and manipulation seems to stem solely from his mission, not from love.

Is Lucien innately evil, simply “born to be bad” so to speak?  It’s hard to be certain at this point with the information we have.  What we DO know is that the boy grew up without both parents at a young age, and may have been deprived of the opportunity to learn about proper human interaction — love, in particular.  Hence, Lucien learns about affection by watching old Hollywood films in the cinema until the early morning hours, and reads books on how to be a good boyfriend.  He asks MC to teach him how to love in his New Light Date.  Perhaps it was just a bit of shameless flirting.  Or perhaps, he was being completely sincere.

Of the sincerity of his affection for MC, however, there can be no doubt.  Scattered throughout various dates and the story itself, we find instances of Lucien fighting his growing feelings for her.  In his Aquarium Date, he admits that he has become too involved with the girl, despite knowing he should have kept his distance.  In his Midnight Date, we witness Lucien ordering himself not to think of MC whilst clutching his chest in pain, the moment clearly illustrating that love had “taken root in his heart.”  We also catch a glimpse of the professor’s true feelings in his aptly named True Love Date, in which Lucien tries his hardest to avoid MC (likely to prevent himself from falling even more in love with her), and fails spectacularly, displaying some extremely jealous behaviour when he mistakenly thinks she has feelings for someone else.

And while I could be wrong (depending on Ares’ ultimate agenda), the strongest evidence of Lucien’s love for MC would be the fact that he dragged his feet for so long on his mission, and still let her go in the end.  If he was a total villain through and through, would it have been likely that MC would’ve escaped simply by saying that Lucien owed her a thank-you gift?  I think not.  Her ass would’ve been teleported back to BSC headquarters so fast.

So, we get to the crux of the matter, the reason why MC’s romance with Lucien/Ares will prove to be one of, if not the most, heart-wrenching ones in the game.  Their relationship is star-crossed: Romeo and Juliet, Evolver-style.  Lucien knows full well he was not to fall in love with her but couldn’t help himself and did it anyway.  MC obviously had feelings for Lucien, and even in the face of his betrayal, still initially refused to accept it (“...you are not Lucien.  He would never harm me.  Ares and Lucien have nothing to do with each other!”).  

The very image of the blood-red Lycoris blooming in MC’s dream at the beginning of Chapter 9 can be interpreted as referencing this ill-fated romance: when the flower blooms, the leaves have already fallen, and when the leaves grow, the flower has already wilted — the two can never be together.  In the same vein, Lucien and MC are desperately in love with each other, but are standing on very different sides of a war that is gradually brewing.  This is the stuff of angst-filled romantic dreams, for everyone knows forbidden fruit is the sweetest.  It is also one of my favourite romantic tropes.

Yes, Lucien manipulated MC’s feelings in order to advance his own goals.  But the professor never anticipated that he would fall victim to his own feelings for her.  And that was the moment when his world was no longer black and white, cut and dried.  He let his emotions get in the way of his mission, and was sorely punished for it.  But perhaps his greatest punishment came when he had to watch his own confession of betrayal crush MC’s heart (let us not forget that look of sorrow that flashed in his eyes during Chapter 13’s showdown).

Yes, Lucien hurt us.  But in doing so, he also hurt himself.

If you’re still reading at this point, 1) thank you for sticking around as I prance atop my soapbox, and 2) if you’re still not convinced, consider this: would Elex really make you fall in love with a main character only to make you hate him to pieces?  Who in their right minds would blow tons of cold, hard cash on those gorgeous Lucien karmas, such as…

…if he didn’t have a way of ultimately redeeming himself in the end, however far away that is?  I am a firm believer that Lucien/Ares will have a redemption arc, and that it will be absolutely fantastic when it happens. 💕

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Thanks for reading!  Check out more of my work here! 📚

[babysackville]

Saturday 6th November 1824

8

2 ½

Breakfast at 9 20/60 from 9 ¾ to 10 ¾ (3/4 hour translating the Italian and the other ¼ turning into French) about a page of Jacopo Ortis – Mrs Heath then came to call on me and staid ¾ hour – she talked to me unreservedly of herself – she seems amiable and good tempered and I really like her. She spoke of her great affliction in losing her husband the ruin of all her fair prospects, and the envy she could not help feeling of the prosperity, she had left home because instead of rejoicing at her sisters happiness who was just returned from India. She could not bear to see it, it made her miserable and she sought to hide herself among strangers, she knew what virtue was and nobody admired it more but she could not help these bad envious passions. She spoke with a degree of candor and simplicity that pleased. I told her I had never met with anyone so candid, many were like her but would not own it, there was a proverb, misery likes companions and it was true of all the world – 

Just before Mrs Heath went Mrs Barlow came and sat with me till 3 20/60 all the while Mme Galvani was here who came at 1 40/60 and staid till 3 ¼ - I changed her this morning to oblige Young de Boyve spent all the time in conversation – said I had translated too little and would shew it another time - Mme Galvani had expressly for me gained permission for me to visit the Catacombs – nobody allowed to see them now but I might go with the inspector general of the public works – asked for Mrs Barlow to go – that she would accomplish - saying Mrs Barlow was my Castor and I her Pollux – She would get me [abs] billets tickets to see the Fusco paintings at the Pantheon (Ste.Genervieve) the column in our Place Vendȏme, &c &c. I like Mme Galvani

She may have been galante, Mrs Barlow told me she had made out from her conversation she had had three amants [lovers] but I care not for this, she is an Italian – flirting and lovemaking to Mrs Barlow but nothing particular save that she said she was not fond of kissing, never let her friends do it, it was not like her to let me do so. Wondered why she did, could not quite excuse herself I said it was all my fault but she knew not the pleasure it gave me to kiss her, it could do no harm and was kind of her to indulge me. I liked not the thing in general nor liked seeing ladies kiss each other but I myself had different feelings and only did it when I felt them interested. She certainly resists me less and less I put my arms round her waist and she said nothing but stood quietly, my thigh touching hers all its length – 

Mrs Barlow went to her daughter who arrived from school at 3 20/60 at 3 40/60 we went out – bought gloves in the rue de la parix, took the round of the Tuileries gardens and came in at 4 40/60 – Looked at the books M.Cologue lent me the other day – Cuvier’s Mammalia, Temminck’s birds, and another work on birds – Sat down to dinner at 5 40/60 – Sat all the eveing close to Mrs Barlow (near the fire and latterly apart from all the rest) talking only to her – M.Le Viconte de Nappe (mad as the winds to all appearances, singing and playing a thousand pranks – he had been in confinement and M. Dacier and M. de Billevue came – they played at secretaire all sitting round the table and before that they party has assembled round the table and Miss Harvey read aloud to them – still I sat talking to Mrs Barlow – 

At first mere badinage then somehow or other told her the Blackstone Edge business with Pi [Mariana] last September, said I had promised to forget it but could not. Pi [Mariana] had mentioned it to and consulted one of her friends who said Pi [Mariana] was wrong but I took it too seriously. I asked what Mrs B [Barlow] thought, she said she could tell me better if she knew whether Mrs L [Lawton] had given me the rings, and why should I tell her first one thing then another what could it signify whether she did or not fearing to make a mystery of it. I said Pi [Mariana] did give them, said they were binding so far as this (Mrs Barlow had before desired me to look at them) if Pi [Mariana] was a widow our living together would be judicious and convenient to all parties and in a foolish moment as one often does, we had so agreed but it was mere friendship, and if I met with anything beyond this of course it was a different thing and was at liberty to take, but it would seem necessary to give some explanation and to tell Pi [Mariana] the nature of the circumstance, which might be awkward and disagreeable. 

Mrs Barlow said and seemed to think and feel yes but said it would never pass farther but Mrs Barlow said she thought Pi [Mariana] liked me, ah said I significantly, if she liked me as well as you do I should (but she acted properly she was married and it would not be right now -) be satisfied and perhaps, she answered she likes you better, no no said the circumstance I have just told you [Blackstone Edge] is proof against that. Yes, said Mrs Barlow, if there had been love in it she would not have consulted a third person but she added she would suit you best for many things, I am too old for you and she will have a good fortune to add to yours, what will she have. Oh, said I, perhaps a thousand a year but she must have five hundred and I never like to think of the most and therefore only calculate on the latter sum. This led me to ask what will be your income should your daughter marry, said she, that depends upon myself and I have not calculated them, said I, would it be three hundred a year or tell me what is your income now, I would answer you any question you asked me here. We were interrupted but I do not think she liked or meant to give me a direct answer. 

She had said in the morning she thought Pi [Mariana] liked me, I declared not and said besides that I had no inclination I always went on as I had begun I had begun with friendship to Pi [Mariana] and should end with it. I was too much accustomed to her, the charm the witchery of something dearer was destroyed forever, but I have begun differently with Mrs Barlow and be my fate what it may, I must end with her too as I have begun. I asked if she understood me, she said yes. I had before told her I preferred the society of married ladies, single old ladies who had not been married had not so much tact, one could take more liberties with them, their conversation was more lax &c. We agreed, said I spoke from one or two instances, hinted Anne Belcombe and Miss V [Vallance] but almost wholly at the former. I had begun by disliking but her assiduity had worn this off, she used to come to my room, had staid till three in the morning and I should have been tired if I could not have amused myself. I said ladies sometimes made curious presents, said no more but hinted at the hair of their privy parts. 

Told her when she asked me I should be thirty two the third of April next – she said tonight after I had told her the Blackstone Edge business she had often told me, before Mrs Mackenzie she was, I had been in love she was sure I could love deeply she knew it from the distinction made tho only in joke but perhaps after this (told her it happened last September), did I not like Pi [Mariana] well now as before – said I thought she, Mrs Barlow, would not have done so in such a case she thought perhaps, but said she, you know I am very romantic, too much so yet I would not part with it – In coming away with Mrs Barlow, Madame de Boyve wished me goodnight saying she had not seen a great deal of me I gravely said I was sorry I had seen nothing at all of her she asked me to go with them to the Oratoire tomorrow and then to call on Madame Galvani. I said I was sorry I had promised to accompany Mrs Barlow and Miss de Sans and M. Dacier to M Denons at two and could not – she seemed disappointed and is deadly jealous I will make up to her a little on Monday – Mrs Barlow certainly enjoys the attention I pay herself – Came upstairs at 11 10/60 – parted with Mrs Barlow at her room door – very fine day –from 11 55/60 to 1 ½ writing all this journal of today – Fahrenheit 58 at 1 1/2 p.m E… O.. –

[Left Margin:  ✓ - Social Call]

Fun Fact:  Secretaire - is apparently a French parlor game ‘in which players try to communicate in sentences reduced to their initial letters.’

(Diary reference: SH7MLE80072 & SH7MLE80073)

[unwoundvisions]

Cayla - 1974

A   :   AFFECTION.   how do you show affection?

i’m sadly very obvious about it for the most part. however, i usually keep my hands to my self because i don’t want to make people uncomfortable. but if i know they don’t mind, i will hug and holds hands with just about anyone. but i also buy people things. it’s not a real good way of showing affection but i really do love buying gifts for people. 

B   :   BOUQUET.   do you like flowers? which ones are your favourite?

i do but i really need to learn more. my only favorites are roses, tulips and daises. but i really do like any flower i comes across. 

C   :   CHOCOLATE.   do you like chocolate? which one is your favourite?

i do but i don’t really have a favorite. i suppose i do know that i hate dark bitter chocolate. i’m fine with just about any others.

D   :   DATE.   what is your ideal date? where / who with / etc?

 i’m really not picky when it comes to dates. at all. i just want to spend time with them so i really don’t care what we’re doing. truly, i’m happy doing anything with tony. even watching him play with those cars of his and i usually hate that sort of thing.

E   :   EMBRACE.   do you like hugs? what are your hugs like?

i  have a mixed relationship with hugging. i love hugging my friends or close family but that’s about it. then when it comes to my family, i usually don’t like them hugging me. i have no clue why, i love them dearly, i just don’t expect them to do it often which is maybe why i don’t like it when they initiate it. but i really don’t mind getting hugged by close friends. i’ll hug them all the time as long as i know they don’t mind.

F   :   FLIRT.   are you good at flirting? how do you flirt?

i’m not really sure. i get told i’m flirting a lot when i’m just being friendly with people. maybe i am extra friendly with the people i find attractive but that’s about it.  

G   :   GIFT.   are you good at gift - giving or do you struggle to get it right?

 honestly? i’m pretty good at it as long as i know something they like. if i don’t, usually try to figure out what they do like and hope i can find something good for them. 

H   :   HEART.   are you quick or slow to give your heart away?

i am extremely slow. i’ll instantly give my heart to friends but with relationships i’m very hesitant. 

I    :   I LOVE YOU.   do you find ‘i love you’ easy or hard to say?

it depends on who i’m around. with my family, i say it all the time. we say it before leaving the house, hanging up the phone, ect. with friends, i always tell them i love them because i genuinely want them to know. but if its someone i may like...i don’t i’ll say it around them for a long time but i’ll think it like crazy. 

J   :   JEALOUSY.   do you get jealous in a relationship?

i like to think i’m not a jealous person. but whenever i see women hang around tony i may get a tiny bit jealous...or a lot. he’d probably say a lot. 

K   :   KISS.   are you a good kisser? why / why not?

i’ve never heard any complaints. i’d say i was good at it but i’ve never exactly had a long discussion about it with someone.

L   :   LOVE.   who do you love?

tony but i’m going to keep that to myself for a while just to be safe.

M   :   MOONLIGHT.   do you like going outdoors?

i do but i don’t like the outdoors alone which is weird. i always want someone with me to share the amazing view with..

N   :   NAUGHTY.   what are you like in bed?

oh lord. i’d say i was pretty good but i don’t want to brag about it. i will say that 9 times out of 10 that i usually am on the dominate side of things. i usually get anxious if i feel like i’m not in control of the situation. but...when i really trust the person, i am very interested in being submissive...but also dominate, it really depends on the mood.

O   :   ODE.   do you have a way with words?

i’ll say yes because i make people think i’m super friendly all the time without really meaning to. even when i don’t want to be talking to people, i get told that i seem very confident and sure when i’m 100% not.  

P   :   PARTNER.   what do you look for in a partner? looks / personality?

communication, trust, someone with similar interests and maybe someone who could make me laugh every now and then. looks aren’t important. personality really isn’t important either as long as their not a dickhead. i suppose i really just want someone i can trust. someone i know completely backwards and forwards. i want them to know me that way to. i want us both to feel completely comfortable around each other and never afraid to talk about stuff. i guess i’m just saying i want to have partner who’s also my best friend.

Q   :   QUESTION.   would you ask the big question or expect your partner to?

i wouldn’t mind doing it at all but i probably never will out of fear of rejection which is ridiculous.

R   :   ROMANCE.   are you a romantic or a cynic?

i can really both sometimes.

S   :   SWEETHEART.   did you have a childhood sweetheart?

nope.

T   :   TRUE LOVE.   do you believe in true love?

not really. i don’t think love at first sight is a thing. i do not think there was someone put on this earth just for one person. i think it’s really just pure luck and who you actually fall for. could end badly. could end great. they could even become your true love but i don’t think there’s a reason to be searching the earth for your true love. you’ll fall for whoever you fall for and as long as your happy that’s all that matters.

U   :   UNREQUITED.   have you had your heart broken?

yeah not fun.

V   :   VALENTINE.   how do you feel about valentine’s day?

it’s bullshit. granted, i’ve never been with anyone on valentines day but i’ve never really cared for it. i like all the decorations and food but that’s about it. i just don’t like the idea of having a day set aside where the goal is to shower your partner with love. that should be done all time. however, i wouldn’t mind if someone really wanted to do all the valentine’s day stuff with me. 

W  :   WEDDING.   would you get married? why / why not?

i never seek it out but i suppose i would if i ever find someone i love and trust them enough.

X   :   XOXO.   do you use / like pet names?

yes! all the pet names. well, not all of them. some of them are awful. but i like the traditional ones. big fan of sweetheart, baby, babe, darling, honey, love. they can call me that as much as they want but i’d prefer if they didn’t like publicly announce to the world that i’m there ‘baby’ or something like that ( *cough* i’ll also accept baby girl from tony and tony alone in very private instances *cough*). i’ll also probably call them baby, babe, honey, ect.

Y   :   YOURS.   do you get protective easily?

yes. badly. i’m not crazy about it but if i feel like someone is mistreating my friends or family...i have a hard time keeping my opinions to myself.

Z   :   ZZZ.   how many people have you slept with?

i’ve never really kept count.

[avenger-concerto]

Operation Knight Song (RFSS2018)

Heya @invaderpig I’m your Secret Santa for 2018. I want to extend my deepest apologies for posting this so late. The Holidays got hectic as hell for me back in December along with other priorities coupled with post-Holiday slump. I managed to finish this ficlet though. I had a blast working on this one. I’ve never done Doug x Frey in any fan RF4 work so I hope I captured their dynamic finely.

Wishing you a late Happy Holidays and a Happy new Year! Once more, I would like to thank @runefactorysecretsanta for hosting this event. This is my third time in a row participating and I love how it brings the RF community together. 

Title: Operation Knight Song

Genre(s): Slice of life, romance, fluff, comedy, some drama

Pairings / ships: Doug x Frey and Margaret / Meg x Forte

Rating: T (13 and up) - mild profanity, some innuendos / suggestive jokes but nothing extreme.

Summary: During the Night of Holies in Selphia, Doug and Frey help Forte confess to the love of her life in a group outing.

Word count: 3813 words.

It was the snowy and star-lit evening of Winter the 24th in the independent town of Selphia. More specifically, it was the eve which preceded Christmas day: the Night of Holies.

Usually, it was tradition for the natives of Norad and by extension Selphia to celebrate the evening in peaceful solace and tranquility. In addition, it was known as a night perfect for romantic rendezvous and evening dates. It was all the more true for the Night of Holies this particular year.

Within the grand halls of Selphia Castle, the princess and her first man hurriedly prepared for what the former codenamed as “Operation Knight Song”.

“Doug, we’re going to be late. C’mon you’re taking too long! They might have arrived at the plaza already…”

“Hold on, dear. Ngh, this jacket’s too huge! I have no idea what size Volkanon picked out but it’s taking me longer than usual to…”

“Ok, less complaining, more moving or we’re gonna be late. We don’t want to keep them waiting, right?”

“Wait dear, I’m finished!!”

In a frenzied but enthusiastic rush, Princess Frey’s husband: Doug, descended from the 2nd floor of their living area with a pair of black pants, brown snowboots and a crimson colored jacket. Despite his previous complaints, it turns out the jacket was just about the right size as shown through his satisfied grin.

“Well, how do I look?” the red-head dwarf asked between gasping breaths.

“You look fantastic!” Frey chirped with a smiled as she clapped her hands together. “What do you think of mine now? Dolce and Clorica helped pick this out for me the other day. We had it custom tailored and ordered from Norad’s capital.”

Doug took another look at his wife’s snow-friendly attire which consisted of a beautiful black coat accompanied by an emerald coloured Wooly fur snow cap with both pieces complimented by an illustrious snow white scarf. For the evening, Frey had also undid her twin-tails, letting her long and beautiful emerald hair down.

“Stunning, I dunno what else to say.” Doug widened his eyes while his lips formed what could easily be described as a dreamy yet flustered smile.

“Hoooooh? Flirting this early on in the Night of Holies?” Frey snickered as she motion towards her husband, clinging onto his arm playfully. “I guess you are desperate for a spot within Santa’s Naughty List.”

“Gahhh, cut it out!” Doug yelped, his objections contradicting his now reddened cheeks. “N-not that I mind but not this early either, h-haha…”

“This blockhead,” Frey whimsically thought, “Wonder how we’re gonna have kids at this rate?”

Doug spoke, “So uh, what about Ventuswill?”

“She’s fast asleep.” she informed her husband, “I had Clorica and Vishnal prepare her a cup of hot milk and a serving of pancakes. Venti wanted to go to bed early so she wouldn’t wake up late and miss the Christmas festivities.”

“Alright! Now that’s all settled…Let’s head out then, shall we?” Doug smiled coolly, extending his hand out.

Frey giggled slightly as she took her husband by the hand. “Of course. As the high princess of Selphia, Operation Knight Song will not fail!”

For the sake of some yuletide context in this given Night of Holies and by extension “Operation Knight Song”, it is commonly well known in Selphia that there were two individuals who helped push the princess together with the hotheaded dwarf shopkeep of the general store. The honour went to none other than Margaret or by her nickname: Meg, the gentle elf musician of Porcoline’s Kitchen and Forte, the dashing and valiant head knight of the town.

Meg acted as a wingwoman of sorts to her close friend Frey and it was Forte who was always there to convince Doug to get his act together when it mattered the most. They’ve both remained strong family friends to Selphia’s royal couple ever since.

Of course, there is much more to this story and Frey herself knew it very well. Throughout this all Meg and Forte remained close friends. Relegating the overall feeling to “friendship” was a massive underestimation, so to speak. In reality…

“Forte, Meg! We’re here!” Frey excitingly called out as she and her husband approached the two figures waiting outside on the snowy centre of Selphia plaza.

“Good evening you two!” Margaret waved her hand and approached the couple, giving Frey an affectionate hug afterwards. “Ohmigosh, you both look so adorable!”

“Awwwww, thank you!” Frey squeed in delight. “You’re looking stylish too Meg. Same goes to you, Forte!”

“N-no, I’m not in need for any compliment whatsoever…” the blonde and tall knight mumbled. “I just put on a new cape that Kiel bought me. If anything, Meg looks so much better.”

Margaret wore her usual outfit but this time adorned with an azure mantle cloak, a kind of fashion that was common in the Nation of Elves as well as a checkered scarf which Forte had given her as a birthday present earlier in the year.

Forte had her usual armour equipped with additional protection from the winter evening including the aforementioned new cape which her younger brother had given her as a present. Outing or not, a knight had to remain prepared for anything. Whether it would be against monsters, immediate threats…or confessing to the love of her life.

“Great, then we’re all gearing to go.” Frey raised her fist into the air. “Onward to the observatory!”

“Hey, be careful or you’re going to trip!” Doug called out as his energetic spouse went on ahead. “Honestly, some things never change…”

“You seem rather excited yourself.” Forte commented with a half-smile on her face. “Not as enthusiastic as Frey but still.”

“Yeah, yeah yeah…So, you’re ready for this?” the dwarf gazed at the knight whose cheeks became flushed with pink not soon after. “I mean, you can do it any other time of the year but if you want to leave a lasting impression, it’s now or never.”

“Um, I know that!” Forte answered with a determined voice.

“What do you know exactly, Forte?” Meg curiously tapped her on the shoulders, resulting in a brief but alarmed shriek.

“M-MEG?! UHHH NOTHING!! WE WERE TALKING ABOUT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Just about how we should enjoy the Night of Holies b-because it only comes once a year. Yeah, it’s like that.”

“Well, best we get a move on. The snow might stop at any moment and I want to bask in this blissful scenery as much as possible. I saw Frey rush past your house already.” Meg stated while pointing to the western-most exit of the plaza.

“R-right…” Forte nodded as she followed Margaret down the steps leading to the town’s western residential district.

Doug was left alone in his thoughts for the time being. “Man, I know Frey wants to thank them for everything they’ve done for both of us but…this is something out of a romcom novel that Granny Blossom keeps inside her old shelves.”

Frey’s eccentrically named plan, “Operation Knight Song” had one and only one singular goal: successfully get Forte to ask Meg out. This wasn’t anything platonic or familial either.

Another piece of information that was common to most of the town’s inner circle was that Forte being madly in love for Selphia’s star musician, Margaret.

As a knight, romance or intimacy was not within her scope of immediate prioritization. Those never crossed her mind as much as it did for the other girls in town especially during their seasonal sleep over gatherings.

Yet Margaret came into Forte’s life and ever since then her existence alone did just about everything to question the knight’s supposed heterosexuality.

There are numerous reasons as to how the elven musician had stolen the knight’s heart but even then she couldn’t list all of them properly without breaking down into an awkward, stuttering and anxious mess. Meg was resourceful, hardworking, beautiful, compassionate, charismatic, somewhat of a dorky odd-ball, both shared some latent fear of phantoms (Pico was the prime exception) and Forte’s mental list could go on and on.

Forte was content simply just remaining close friends with the musician but as the months and years went by it became clear that she couldn’t deny her own feelings any further.

It started out with simpler things such as her regular compliments towards Meg becoming more frequent in nature. It was followed with other small instances such as their hands brushing against each other by accident on several occasions or noticing the aromatic scent of her hair on a more regular basis. Afterwards, it all escalated to much greater physical contact such as sitting awkwardly as Meg fell asleep next to her on the bench during one late afternoon after work.

It reached an apex when the musician casually kiss the knight on the cheek during her birthday. All Frey and Doug could recall was that Forte was reduced to a stuttering, flustered mess that same day.

A few weeks later, the knight confided with the royal couple that she could no longer deny the feelings she’s harboured for Meg and declared her resolved intention to confess.

Needless to say, Frey 100% supported the proposition alongside her husband, even if the latter wasn’t too enthusiastic about lowkey stalking their Night of Holies date in the guise of a group outing.

Doug sighed and hurried to catch up with the rest of the group. Even if he wanted to, it was too late to turn back now.

Within the top floor of the windmill observatory’s interior, Doug had finally caught up as his wife handed out the hot beverages and snacks she had prepared for them all prior to leaving.

“I brought along some hot cocoa and choco cookies.” Frey pulled out four heated thermos containers and a plate of chocolate chip-cookies from her picnic basket. “I have a few bottles of Prelude to Love in here too that I brewed up during these past few days if you’d like some later tonight Meg.”

“That would be lovely, thanks!” Meg cheerfully replied.

“Doug and I are gonna go head down now.” Frey announced suddenly, “Oops, you see…uhhh…turns out I forgot a few extra cloaks and blankets, incase for when it gets colder tonight…Y-yeah.”

��Wait, we just got up here!” Doug stuttered in an alarmed fashion. “Also, I brought us some blankets and cloaks in my bag…AGH.”

Frey interrupted her husband’s objections by playfully pinching him on his bottom. He played along as a result. “Uhhh, I mean yeah. I totally forgot them. H-haha, oops.”

“We’ll be right back in a jiffy, ok? I left the hot drinks and cookies near the benches next to the outer entry. Help yourselves!” Frey playfully declared as she and Doug descended down the stairs.

Forte sighed. She knew very well that the entire thing was a copout ruse to make sure she and Meg were alone. She appreciated the sentiment but wished as well that the couple didn’t have to sacrifice a part of their romantic evening to help her confess the feelings she’s held for so long towards the beautiful elven musician who stood nearby.

“Ahem. Ummm, mind if we step outside? I want to take a good look at view right now.” Forte somewhat nervously proposed.

“Hmm? Sure thing. The snowy evening view probably goes great with the hot cocoa.”

“So easily. What about your fear of heights, Meg?”

Meg giggled lightly and responded, “Why would I be worried about that? Especially when I have you by my side?”

Forte couldn’t help but melt internally and smile at the sentiment. She extended her arm out towards Meg, offering her hand. “Well then, shall we?”

“Wowwww!!” Meg gasped in delight. As they walked into the exterior viewing balcony of the observatory, the sight of a tranquil snowy evening glittered with the night sky’s stars awaited them both. “I’ve been to this observatory countless of times but the view’s always amazing…”

“And to think you were afraid of coming here, let alone of setting foot into the observatory’s top floor because of your fear of heights…” Forte teased slightly and continued. “…I’m glad you’re enjoying the view these days.”

“Uh huh…” Meg nodded enthusiastically while she opened up her drink. Taking a light sip, she sighed happily. “Ahhh, this is heaven. I’m not big of a chocolate lover as much as Dolce but this alongside he winter evening is pure utter bliss…”

“Indeed,” Forte agreed, taking small sips of her hot cocoa while her gaze was transfixed between both the view and at Meg herself. “This reminds me of my childhood…Our parents always used to make us hot cocoa on winter evenings. My mother was practically a master at the craft and it was one of the many things that warmed our father up after his snowy evening patrols…”

“Forte…”

“They’re both gone now. However, what isn’t are the memories they left behind for Kiel and I. For that reason…I want to keep living on, protecting those I hold dear and…well, continue to make even happier memories with the people I care for.” Forte uttered the last part out with a faint blush.

“Awwwww, that’s so sweet…” Margaret softly said, hugging the knight from the side. The surprise was almost enough to let her drop the hot cocoa she had been handling finely.

“EEEEEK!! M-meg…please.” Forte staggered, “I could have spilled something hot on either of us… be more careful…”

“Sorry, I couldn’t help it,” she laughed gingerly, breaking the hug. “I really am happy though…to be here. Happy to be with you all…that’s all.”

“Hmmm? Is something the matter?”

“Well, just that…When I first came to Selphia, truth to be told: I was afraid. Porcoline had recently taken me under his wing at the time…I knew nobody in town. I wasn’t sure if I could open my heart up so easily. Especially somewhere so far away from home…Then I met you, Lumie, Venti, Dylas, Arthur, Frey and everyone…I fell in love with this town soon afterwards. It’s far from my birthplace but…Selphia’s my home. I wouldn’t have it any other way and…I’m just so thankful to be here with you all.”

“Meg…”

Meg sighed trying to shake away what was a bittersweet smile on her lips just moments ago, “…Sorry, I got over sentimental again. Winter evenings like this remind me of my homeland a bit, I couldn’t help it. Anyways, why don’t I play us a song?”

Now was the time, Forte realized.

“Uhhh Meg…look…I…there’s something I need to…uh, well…”

“Huh? You want me to play a Christmas song? Ok, I’ll think…Silent Night or Jingle Bells…I want to see how it works on my harp…”

“No, that’s not it, I wanted to say that…um…”

“Wait, neither of those songs? Well, I’ll just play us Joy to the World and…”

Forte bit her lip in frustration. Her thoughts raced insanely as her heartbeat rose sharply. “Forte, it’s now or never.”

“I got it! I’ll go play us Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, that was a classic my old teacher taught me…”

“Meg, please listen to me: I love you.”

“...Huh?”

As the knight uttered those very words from her lips, it’s almost as if time itself had stopped in its tracks that winter-clad evening. Meg’s expression went from that of her usually cheerful eccentric one to that of pure speechlessness.

“I don’t mean as a friend or as a sister. Meg…look, I love you as a woman. Romantically. You’re caring, knowledgable, talented, compassionate, empowering, warm and just pleasant to be around everyday. My chest has been racing as of lately just being next to you…I don’t know what else to say…”

“Forte…is this true?” Meg blinked while a tint of red began slowly surfacing from her own cheeks.

“Yes, it’s all true. I was scared prior to this…We’re both girls and I have no idea how your culture does it…hell, I’m not even sure how my parents would react if they could see this but I don’t care! As a knight of Ventuswill and all of Selphia, I’m not going to hold my feelings back in front of the woman I love, damn it!”

Once more, Forte was met with a silent and blank response from the musician. Fearing it amounted to nothing but a potential awkward rejection, she steeled herself for what was next. She walked into this knowing that heartbreak might be a viable outcome but she would rather have professed her feelings than hold her silence forever.

“I’m sorry…who was I kidding. Just pretend I said nothing, please…Regardless, I want us to remain friends and…”

“You idiot…” Meg gritted her teeth, glaring with tears in her eyes.

Forte wasn’t given much room to react as Meg tightly embraced her as if it would be their last.

“M-meg…?!”

“Honestly…you blockhead…” she sniffled, keeping her arms wrapped around the knight tightly. “Took you long enough…! I’m so happy…I’m so glad you feel the same way…”

“Feel the same way…y-you…you mean…?”

“Yes…but…I’m afraid too. Not because we’re both girls. I don’t care about that at all…it’s because I’m an elf. You’re human.”

“What if you are an elf? I care nothing about that. I know there are places in Norad that ostracize your people but I’m not…”

“It’s not that!” Meg cried out as she continued to cling onto Forte. She blinked through her tears and continued, “It’s much more complicated. You know that elves live longer than humans do. What if you go before me…? You’re a knight…You’ve already pledged your life to the sword. Your line of work makes it so that you’re ready for death at any given moment. If you die before me and I have to live out the remainder of my existence in this world without you…I…”

“Meg…” Forte whispered, “You’re not wrong. I’ve devoted my life to the path of the sword. The sword is nothing more than an extension to my real devotion: those who I care for. You included most of all. You’re right…maybe I could fall in battle or I might succumb to illness, who knows what the future has in store but…I’d rather face those dangers while protecting and loving you…”

“Forte…”

“I know we have to go slow of course…I-if you say yes, that is!” Forte stammered but regained her verbal composure right after. “Going moderately is the key but my feelings for you are genuine…Meg…I want to be your knight and dedicate my sword to you. B-by that…I want to be your girlfriend. W-well…?”

It wasn’t too long after that the musician’s anxious tears were immediately replaced with tearful giggles as she broke her embrace. “Honestly, do all knights have to confess like this? I don’t even want to know what the marriage proposal would be like…!”

“H-hey, I was being serious…”

“I know, Forte. I know very well…Therefore, my answer is: I accept!” Meg spoke out the last part with a cheerful grin as she wiped the last of her tears away.

“Huh?! Meg, are you sure about this?”

“More sure than I’ve ever been in my entire life. Not going to lie: I’m still anxious…I have no idea what awaits us but…with my brave and dashing girlfriend by my side, I have nothing to fear.”

“Meg…ugh…I…” Forte attempted to choke back a sob as tears welled up her own eyes. She stepped forward and gave her beloved a firm embrace. She sobbed softly between sniffles and hiccups, “Ngh…I’m so happy…I was afraid that…ugh…Meg…I love you! I love you so much!”

Reciprocating the embrace, Meg giggled softly as she comforted the sobbing knight. “You big dork…I love you too…don’t panic. Even if I said no, I wasn’t going to leave you behind either…You’re precious to me no matter what…”

“Sorry…I shouldn’t have lost my composure like that. It was unknightly of me, so to speak.” Forte calmed down as Meg wiped her tears away.

“I dunno, I have absolutely no problems seeing this side of you either.” Meg playfully teased.

“Hey!! Ugh…you’ve always been unpredictable at times, you know that?”

“Maybe. Maybe not…I wanna do something else unpredictable, of course.”

Forte swallowed a lump as her heart raced once more. “Well, what would that be?”

Kiss.

Eyes still widened, Forte stared blankly as Meg’s lips parted from hers in a quick but blissful instant. “Merry Christmas Forte. I love you.”

“Ah.” Forte said aloud and continued. “Ah. Ah. Ahhhhh.”

Thud.

“Oh my gosh, Forte!!” Meg cried out in horror as she witnessed her newly confessed girlfriend dropping to her knees. She immediately knelt down herself cradled the flustered knight around her arms. “Are you okay?! Do you have a fever?! Are you tired?!”

Meg was all the more puzzled as she witnessed Forte’s unconscious but dreamy eyed and flustered expression. It was as if she had gone to heaven and ascended into a higher plane of goddesshood.

“Honestly…I need to get us both inside ASAP. Can’t have my girlfriend fainting outside here.”

Unbeknownst to either of them, the royal couple stood quietly in wait within the observatory’s interior in a floor below.

“Fufufufu…looks like Operation Knight Song was a grand success.” Frey sheepishly giggled. “Mission accomplished!”

“Uhhhhh…We did absolutely nothing besides eavesdrop.” Doug informed in a deadpan tone.

“C’mon, dear. We promised to be backup for Forte incase she froze up but looks like she didn’t need our help. That’s my Forte, haha…”

“Well, I’m happy for them both. That much I’ll say. I think we need to go up there before Forte freaks out any further.” Doug proposed but his intentions were interrupted by the mischievous princess holding up a mistletoe over both their heads.

“Oh hell no. Dear, please. Not now…w-wait until home at least!!” the fiery red-head dwarf took a step back, panicking.

“Awwwww, don’t be like that.” Frey licked her lips. “It’s almost midnight. Besides, I want to give Forte and Meg some time to themselves while I have my own little fun…”

Doug swallowed hard, laughing nervously. He had no intention of denying his playful wife’s advances but he braced himself for what came next. This of course consisted of Frey pouncing on her husband and showering him with cuddles and a flurry of kisses over his face and neck.

Overall, it was just another snowy, heated, chaotic but romantic Night of Holies in Selphia.

[eggson-bren]

Are We Dating?

A McKirk fic, posted by popular request If not in ST fandom please ignore Prompted by @eiseul‘s beautiful art !!!!!!!!!!! 1622 words, takes place in alternate reality pre-ST 2009 I also put my own spin on the timeline of McCoy’s life since the canon doesn’t make financial sense.  Enjoy!

Are we dating?  

The question hung in the air like a baby bird leaving its nest for the first time.  The two Starfleet cadets were lounging at Bones' apartment, watching Godzilla 3 for the twentieth time, when Jim suddenly blurted out something obnoxious, as always.  It wasn’t an unusual scene; Jim's roommates hated him, and Bones had his own place, so the younger had a tendency to crash here more often than not.  Caramel corn littered the space between the cushions on the couch.  Exams were over for the semester, and both of them were burnt out from studying hard. This was supposed to be their time to unwind.  

So why did Jim have to go and ruin the mood?

The boys had known each other for almost two years by this time.  That was two years of hell for Bones; two years of being dragged from the lab in the middle of important research; of having trash and uneaten scraps left all over his apartment; of trying not to look at the drawer where his old wedding band was stowed as he retired to his room each night when Jim finally passed out on the couch.  Why couldn't tonight just be another one of those nights?  

He knew exactly how it would go:  Jim would eventually doze off against Bones' chest, and the older would remove him gently, secretly enjoying touching his unbelievably soft hair, before heading to bed. The next morning, Bones would make breakfast for the both of them—not because Jim couldn't cook, but because he could finally shut the blonde up by putting food down in front of him. Besides, it was nice to have someone to cook for again.  He'd take just about anything over the loneliness he'd endured for nearly four years since his ex-wife had taken Joanna in the divorce.  

He'd never dated anyone but her.  They were so young, barely legal adults when they'd fallen in love.  Together three years and married three more; by all accounts a responsible, respectable relationship.  He still didn't know how it had all fallen apart.  Are we dating?  Buddy, you're asking the wrong guy.  Jim was the one with all the experience.  Six years younger—when Bones was his age, Joanna was already almost three—and yet he was Bones' senior in more ways than one.  Bones didn't know how he managed to pass exams with all the flirting he did. He wasn't even allowed in the apartment in the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day; if any female cadets on or off campus found out Jim liked to crash here, his inbox would be flooded with packages and notes faster than he could bail it out.  

It was true they spent more or less every waking moment together.  He'd even been asked on a few occasions if they were "more than friends," but had always flatly denied it (ignoring Jim's childish "yeah… best friends!" every. single. time).  If Bones didn't look out for the brat, he'd get himself expelled, no matter how much Pike liked him.  Then where would he be, without someone to waltz into his room drunk at 3am and throw up on his floor, crying hysterically about whatever alien chick had rejected him that night?  

To his credit, Jim made things interesting.  Without him, Bones probably would have dropped out already, aviophobia notwithstanding.  Being somewhat older than most of the student body, already a fully licensed practitioner, and a divorcee with a daughter turning nine this year, he didn't have much in common with his peers in the medical school.  Really, he was shocked Jim wanted to be around him at all—they were as different as moonshine and whiskey.  But in a way, they completed each other.  Opposites attract, he shrugged inwardly.  The thought surprised him by how… normal it felt.  

He should be appalled, really.  He had a child, for Christ's sake.  A little girl!  He couldn't just turn around and decide that he was gay!  What would his ma think?  And besides that, since when was Jim at all interested in men?  This was probably just another instance of the blonde baby fishing for compliments—Lord knew that boy's ego was wider than the Mississippi. Sure, he made a lot of dirty jokes, especially when they were alone… and he could be handsy with his close friends… of which Bones seemed to be the only one.  And there was that one time…

Bones had gone drinking with Jim one time in the two years they'd known one another.  He didn't drink, and he told the other boy this, repeatedly. He didn't like the person he became when he was drunk.  But Jim kept asking, and he kept refusing, for over a year.  After that night, he didn't ask again.  

It started more or less innocuously.  The bar was busy, but not full.  The two of them were beginning to loosen up, little by little.  Bones was feeling lighter, like some of the stress from his studies was being lifted away.  God, it had been so long since he'd let go and enjoyed himself.  What had he been waiting for?  He ordered another shot.  

Then suddenly, Jim was there, asking all sorts of questions, rapid-fire.  Aren't you glad you came out tonight are you having a good time can you be my wingman do you wanna get outta here what do you think Uhura's doing right now wouldn't it be hilarious if—

"Jim.  Shut up for a second," he said.  He downed the last shot, then instantly regretted it. It was the tipping point.  He could feel it.  

He stood.  Jim started in with the questions again.  Are you going somewhere where are you going do you wanna hit another bar wanna get food wanna dance wanna talk to some chicks…

"I have to go," he muttered, making a beeline for the exit.  

"Leonard, wait!"

They made it as far as the curb outside the club before Jim stopped him, grabbing the sleeve of his motorcycle jacket.  That jacket was the first item he'd bought for himself since his ex-wife left him.  It was his new life, a shred of confidence he'd clawed back from the failed one, and now his shitty freeloading classmate was trying to tear it away.  

"Don't touch me!" he barked.  Jim's hand dropped.  

"Leonard, I'm sorry. If it's something I said…"

"It's not you, you stupid prick.  You always make it about you!"  Leonard sat down on the cement.  A snowflake drifted past his nose.  That's right—it was his birthday this weekend.  In less than a week, he'd be thirty years old.  He wanted to cry, but thought if he did, he might get sick.

"Len… I don't know what to say."  

Leonard didn't know, either. "She took everything, Jim. Everything but my damn bones."

Jim sat down alongside him. The snow began falling in earnest, so his long eyelashes caught the flakes and glittered like fairies' wings. "Well, she didn't take everything."  

Leonard looked up.  

"You've got your bones. You've got your life.  And you've got me."

Remembering that moment, Bones couldn't help but question himself.  Since that day, Jim had always called him "Bones."  At first, he hated it.  It reminded him of the moment of weakness outside that bar, when he'd stupidly taken that extra drink and cried on the pavement in the arms of his junior colleague.  But the more it stuck, the more he began to realize what Jim had meant back then.  He had his bones.  He had his life.  He had the present.  He couldn't keep living in the past, like a ghost; it was time to wake up and see what was right in front of him.  

Jesus on the cross, are we dating?

Bones suddenly felt electrified.  He wanted to get up, to run, but he didn't dare move.  He had to know the answer.  Acutely aware of Jim's head draped intimately across his chest, he struggled to get his heart rate under control.  

"Are we?" he asked.  

"I think so."

The feeling which shot through him in that moment was one he hadn't felt in so long, he'd almost forgotten what it was like.  Lovesickness—it was so bittersweet, he was almost overcome.  Jim was right; they were dating.  Ever since that night outside the bar, they'd done nothing but support each other. They were already best friends. They made time for each other and thought about one another when they weren't around.  And somehow, Bones wasn't repulsed by the idea of being with the other man… romantically.  If it was Jim, it felt like the most natural thing in the world.  

"So…" Jim continued, and Bones found himself unmoving, hanging on every word, "that means I can do this, right?"  Suddenly, he rolled over on the couch, lifting his head to plant the lightest of kisses on Bones' cheek.  

Bones wanted to scream, What the hell do you think you're doing!  Jim was always being impulsive like that, playing with people's emotions without even realizing it.  Right then, it felt as if someone was dribbling his heart like a basketball.  But… if it was Jim, then it couldn't be helped.  He wouldn't learn no matter how many times he was told.  

Calmly, he turned to meet the most beautiful pair of eyes this side of Appalachia.  "Then… that means I can do this!"

Bones pounced on the younger man, knocking the caramel corn to the floor, and began tickling him relentlessly, his nimble surgeon's hands flying.  The two of them rolled and fought, laughing like children, as Godzilla blew up buildings across from them on the screen.  And the baby bird safely took flight.  

[waqasamjadme]

What is Platonic Love and How Far is Romance From it?

 What is Platonic Love and How Far is Romance From it?

Typically two wholesome, sexually-active adults might be shut associates with one another with out there being any intercourse concerned.

Though many individuals consider such unions are unimaginable, they do exist and in reality present sound expertise that may profit partakers once they do get into sexually-intimate relationships.

1 What's Platonic Love?

2 Platonic Love vs. Romantic Love

3 Platonic Love vs. Friendship

4 Well-known Quotes about Platonic Love

WHAT IS PLATONIC LOVE?

The unique idea of platonic love shouldn't be as it's interpreted as we speak. The entire concept was created by the traditional Greek thinker Plato, and it was used to explain the love an individual has for “the divine” facet of life. In different phrases, an individual who needs to grow to be godlike by way of the pursuit and achievement of non secular objectives was stated to be motivated by platonic love.

As time went on, platonic love grew to become the time period related to the idea of a robust but non-sexual cross-sex friendship. Nevertheless the “divine” factor was nonetheless concerned, as this attraction was stated to nonetheless be based mostly on the pursuit of advantage although by way of affiliation with the actual pal concerned. In different phrases platonic love meant an individual was attracted to a different based mostly on what they perceived as the opposite individual’s increased stage of spirituality.

Within the trendy world, platonic love is usually outlined as a robust relationship between two members of the alternative intercourse who're inside suitable and certainly expected-mating ages. However regardless of what would usually seem as an intimate relationship, the 2 events usually are not engaged in sexual exercise or any actions that might point out an precise romantic relationship.

That stated, this doesn't imply the idea of sexual intimacy is completely absent in platonic relationships. As an example, contributors might jokingly flirt with one another.

PLATONIC LOVE VS. ROMANTIC LOVE

Platonic love differs from romantic love in that in a romance there's some stage of precise or outrightly meant sexual intimacy.

Thus the manifestation of a platonic love is completely different from that of a romantic one. As an example, since there is no such thing as a intimacy concerned, contributors are extra cognizant to respect one another’s private area. Furthermore, since there's little prospect of an enduring intimate relationship ever creating, contributors are much less inclined to impose their private wills onto the opposite individual. Alongside the identical vein this lack of high-level private attachment additionally permits contributors to be themselves extra, as in they aren’t afraid to show their true mannerisms and beliefs since there's much less concern of the opposite individual abandoning them. In different phrases, the primary causes an individual might really feel extra snug round their platonic versus romantic love, regardless that logic would dictate the reverse be true, is that platonic relationships have fewer expectations and guidelines concerned, which in flip means contributors might make really feel freer. And this freedom in fact can translate to an elevated sense of happiness or enjoyable.

Finally the easiest way to establish the distinction between a platonic and romantic love could also be by learning the objectives of the contributors. Put in another way, if even one member has the lively aspiration to sleep with the opposite, than it's secure to say that his or her sturdy affection could also be based mostly in romance than commonplace friendship.

When one individual in a platonic relationship begins to develop sexual emotions, this may threaten the character of the connection and certainly put your entire affiliation in danger. If one of many contributors in a platonic relationship is feeling with discontent together with his or her romantic love, this might encourage them to view their non-intimate, platonic pal in a doubtlessly romantic capability.

Some argue that throughout the course of a platonic love, it's inevitable that at the least one of many contributors develops intimate, sexually-based emotions for the opposite. It's the pervasiveness of this perception which explains why many individuals have a tough time accepting the concept of a purely non-sexual cross-sex love.

Platonic loves may also be used as foundations of romantic ones. In different phrases, the communication expertise and sensible information one attains by having a platonic love can help them in coping with the alternative intercourse once they really do embark on a romance, even when it isn't with the identical individual.

PLATONIC LOVE VS. FRIENDSHIP

Platonic love positively has a robust factor of friendship. For instance, folks concerned in a platonic relationship are sometimes described as “simply associates”. Nevertheless, one of many major variations is that in platonic love there's a normal notion of their being an intimate relationship whereas such might not exist in a friendship. In different phrases, two folks, even of the alternative intercourse, might be associates with out it being platonic love if as an illustration, they're co-workers who affiliate as a consequence of circumstance or associates from early childhood who folks wouldn't usually view as potential lovers.

There's a skinny line between the notion of a platonic love and of a normal cross-sex friendship. Nevertheless, since within the former, the phrase “love” is concerned, it may be gleaned {that a} platonic love is extra intimate than a standard friendship, even when no intercourse is concerned. Merely put, having a platonic love is greater than the standard pal. It’s like having a bestie of the alternative intercourse. Beneath such circumstances and given common ideologies on courtship, these fortunate sufficient to expertise a platonic love may even should take care of the distractions of societal pressures that dictate the 2 of them must be sexually concerned.

A powerful friendship between two relations of childbearing age belonging to the alternative intercourse, particularly when they don't seem to be siblings, could also be outlined as a platonic love. Nevertheless, usually they don't seem to be referred to as so. The first motive is that in such associations, simply the concept of the potential to get sexually concerned doesn’t exist, as there are usually taboos in opposition to such practices between blood-related relations who might naturally share shut ties.

Even when contributors in a platonic love determine to take it to the following stage and truly have sexual activity, they usually select to not interact in an all-out, ongoing romantic relationship. The rationale for that is that they worth the friendship factor of the connection a lot that they don't wish to jeopardize it by participating in a doubtlessly fleeting romance.

FAMOUS QUOTES ABOUT PLATONIC LOVE

Under is a compilation of some well-known quotations about platonic love:

Even earlier than I met you I used to be removed from detached to you. Oscar Wilde

He reached out and took her hand. Neither cared that somebody would possibly see. They'd been taught all their lives that the one deep emotions between women and men have been sexual, however now they knew that it was a lie. They have been associates and so they cherished each other, and their hand-holding was completely harmless. It was yet another factor to rejoice in, yet another approach through which that they had risen above the system, above the machine. William Sleator

Platonic or Divine Love: The boy is so good-looking! God has created him so superbly! Vulgar or Earthly Love: The woman is so scorching! I want I might kiss her! Md. Ziaul Haque

[A]s individuals are starting to see that the sexes type in a sure sense a steady group, so they're starting to see that Love and Friendship which have been so usually set aside from one another as issues distinct are in actuality carefully associated and shade imperceptibly into one another. Girls are starting to demand that Marriage shall imply Friendship in addition to Ardour; {that a} comrade-like Equality shall be included within the phrase Love; and it's recognised that from the one excessive of a ‘Platonic’ friendship (usually between individuals of the identical intercourse) as much as the opposite excessive of passionate love (usually between individuals of reverse intercourse) no onerous and quick line can at any level be drawn successfully separating the completely different sorts of attachment. We all know, in actual fact, of Friendships so romantic in sentiment that they verge into love; we all know of Loves so mental and non secular that they hardly dwell within the sphere of Ardour. Edward Carpenter

For love is a celestial concord Of doubtless hearts compos’d of stars’ concent, Which be part of collectively in candy sympathy, To work one another’s pleasure and true content material, Which they've harbour’d since their first descent Out of their heavenly bowers, the place they did see And know one another right here belov’d to be. Edmund Spenser

And people who solely know the non-platonic love haven't any want to speak of tragedy. In such love there might be no kind of tragedy. Leo Tolstoy

Ah, mate. My soul loves yours. It does. However this lifetime, my physique received’t get on board. Molly Ringle

I’ve been questioning if in actual fact superb platonic love isn’t simply an intensely concentrated type of what evokes one of the best academics. Edmund Marlowe

They see nothing indecent in sexual activity, whether or not heterosexual or gay, and take pleasure in it fairly overtly, in full view of everybody. The one exception was Socrates, who was all the time swearing that his relations with younger males have been purely Platonic, however no one believed him for a second, and Hyacinthus and Narcissus gave first-hand proof on the contrary. Lucian of Samosata

That males of this type despise ladies, although a not unusual perception, is one which hardly seems to be justified. Certainly, although naturally not inclined to ‘fall in love’ on this course, such males are by their nature drawn quite close to to ladies, and it might appear# that they usually really feel a singular appreciation and understanding of the emotional wants and destinies of the opposite intercourse, main in lots of circumstances to a real although what is known as ‘Platonic’ friendship. There's little doubt that they're usually instinctively wanted by ladies, who, with out suspecting the true trigger, are acutely aware of a sympathetic chord within the homogenic which they miss within the regular man. Edward Carpenter

I've felt so many loves so deeply: love of associates, love someplace between friendship and romance that our society doesn’t outline, love of artwork, love of life, love of dying, love of language, so many loves such a mess greater than romance. But I've by no means been in a “relationship”. Noella Handley

It might appear possible that the attachment of such a one is of a young and profound character; certainly, it's potential that on this class of males now we have the love sentiment in considered one of its most good types—a type through which from the requirements of the scenario the sensuous factor, although current, is exquisitely subordinated to the non secular. Edward Carpenter

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