#like wow so true OP you really have it down

[3cremepie3]

Peppermint Mocha

. Synopsis - After striking it gold you end up becoming Nami’s assistant. Well, it turns out there are a lot of perks for “working for her”.

. Warnings - 18+, cursing, public sex, power advantages, body fluids, mentions of poverty and wealth

. A/n - First part of my OP series. Thank you for reading Luffy and a Nami Drabble are next! Please read them in order or you’ll be incredibly confused. There might be some grammar mistakes in here but idc.

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“Peppermint mocha latte two extra sugars and two extra creams, light on the ice.” Take my card it’s half off on Wednesdays with the promo.” The card was already laid on her desk ready for you to take. This gave her more time to stay wrapped up in her phone. She the social media manager was probably looking for new trends. 

You wanted so desperately to say Hi to her. Nami Swan one of your idols was right in front of you! She must’ve got you mixed up with someone else. But you happily marched down to the Dunkin in the building lobby and received her order. 

You walked through the vast hallways and you were almost back to her secluded office. Then a woman rushed out of the door in front of you. In her hands was a box full of office supplies. She dropped a ruler and you were quick to help her by picking it up. 

“Thank you.” She smiled at you. “The janitors always were the nicest. I’m only sad to leave y’all,” she frowned. “Are you getting a new job,” you inquired. “Yes, I have no other choice. I can’t handle her anymore she’s crazy.” Can’t handle who?” It was your first day at the company and there was already trouble. “You’re a beautiful girl so soon you’ll understand.” But please before you go give this note to Swan.”

You took the note from her still concerned but it was too late to worry about it she went down the flash elevators and by now she would be lost. Not like you had any time to worry either Nami was still waiting. “Here you go ma’am just as you asked.” 

You sat down the coffee and the note the mysterious woman wrote for you. “Thanks, Kalifa I need it since today’s a long ass day.” She sighed before finally looking up from the screen that captivated her. “Who are you and why are you in my office?” She looked you up and down wondering how she could even mistake you. “My bad sweetie I thought you were my assistant.” 

“It’s okay no problem,” you smiled. “If I’m not mistaken she left you this letter.” You pointed to the letter you left on Nami’s desk. “The god-forsaken letters I’ve got 4 of this month,” She sighed. 

She took a sip of her coffee while reading. “We’ll looks like I’m out of an assistant for the 4th time this year. That’s a record of mine,” she chuckled. Who in their right mind wouldn’t work for you?” Oh honey 24 others!” They always leave after realizing the extent of work that we do. They think it’s just sunshine and rainbows. Then the documents and endless coffee orders come.” 

“And im stuck with no two weeks notice.” Wow I’m sorry about that Miss that is so unprofessional. If I worked here under you it would be a dream come true! Your eyes lit up at the thought. “But you do work here other wise you wouldn’t be in my office.” 

“But I’m just a janitor that doesn’t count for much.” So you really want to work here huh,” She asked. “Yes it’s been a dream of mine forever I loved your guy's toys.” Well, you are already in my room now and I have no assistant.”

“Why don’t you just fill in until I can get another one?” But I’m not trained in that position I wouldn’t want to mess up.” Don’t worry about it I’ll teach you the ropes. Come on just say yes it’s more fun than cleaning after all these people who already have ocd anyways.” She finished up her coffee in between words giving you extra time to think about things. 

“Yes,” you squealed. “Okay then let’s go back downstairs then. My coffee order is wrong.” Oh no, I’m sorry,” you frowned. “It wasn’t your fault it was those idiots downstairs.” Nami stood up towering past you into a door in the corner of her office. It opened up to a second lobby this one was empty and adorned with wooden statues.

“So pretty!” You marveled while feeling the handcrafted piece. “Franky made those he’s an expert carpenter.” Wow, the Frankie! He’s an icon  I remember watching him on TV when I was younger.” 

“How old are you sweetheart you say that like it was a while ago?” You arrived past all the wood displays and into a private elevator. It was small and only big enough to fit about 3 people. It felt even more suffocating with Nami so close to you. 

Her perfume smelled nice like tangerine and tulips. “I’m 19 about to be 20,” you bragged. “Wow if only I was that young again,” Nami laughed. “Well, how old are you?” 

“Don’t you know it’s rude to ask a woman her age,” she scoffed. “Sorry ma’am.” I’m only joking I’m 40 honey about to be 41,” she groaned. “You don’t look a day over 20,” you gasped. “Haha don’t flatter me,” she blushed. She walked out of the elevator after it landed on the first floor. 

“It’s not flattery I’m serious,” you trailed after her. “Wow, we got here quick.” You were already approaching Dunkin. Nami speed walked ahead of you irritated about her coffee. “Camie.” She yelled out at a green-haired employee who was behind the counter. “How many times do I have to tell you liquid sugar.”

“I can’t even drink this without having to swirl it around because nothing dissolved.” You’re lucky I like you or I would fire you on the spot,” she spat. Nami had a temper on her that you didn’t want to cross. But she was hot when she was mad the way her eyebrows furrowed and her cheeks turned red was probably the closest face to the one she would make while degrading you. 

“Stop y/n,” you spoke aloud. “What was that,” Nami asked. “Nothing!” You straightened up god you were gay! “Really you look a little funny,” she teased. “I’m fine!” Okay if you say so. You know what Y/n let’s just go I’m tired of coffee because a certain someone always gets my order wrong.”

You heard the other women working at the cafe laugh at Nami’s joke. The green-haired girl smiled too embarrassingly. “Where are we going, Ma’am.” You asked following after the sound of Nami’s pumps. You were too distracted by the gold carvings along the marble floor to look up. And by the time you did you bumped into someone. 

“Are you alright honey?” You looked up to see no other than Nico Robin. “I-I I’m f-fine,” you blurted. “I’m sorry oh my god are you hurt anywhere?” I wouldn’t forgive myself if you were.” You checked for any scruffs on her. 

“I’m sure she’s fine Y/n,” Nami interrupted. “Nami’s correct I received no damage,” Robin agreed. “That’s good,” you huffed. “Is this one of your friends Nami?” She’s my new assistant starting today! Isn’t she just lovely?”

“Yes at first I thought she was a janitor.” You looked down at yourself humiliated that you forgot to take off your uniform. “Yeah, it’s a new policy my employees can wear whatever they please.” You sure it’s new,” Robin interjected. “Before I could’ve sworn I saw one of them wearing vibrating panties.”

Nami scoffed crossing her arms. “While that’s her business I couldn't do anything to stop her.” You could if you were the one controlling them.” The whole time they bickered you stood there in between the two of them. “Ahem,” you coughed. “I thought we were gonna leave.” 

“Oh yes let’s go Y/n maybe I’ll pick you up a pair of those panties since they’re a part of our uniform,” she smirked. Nami walked off and waved bye to Robin who gave you a warm smile back. “Eeek,” you squealed. “I just met Nico Robin!”

“I’m not getting the hype Y/n.” She’s one of the most important people in this company! She’s also one of the dreamiest,” you drooled. “I can’t disagree with those statements.” Nami rolled her eyes. You guys made it outside of the lobby now you stood waiting while she called for her car back from the valet. 

Her driver opened up the door for you both and you hoped in the back after her. “Where going to the mall drop us off at the side entrance,” she instructed. The driver shook his head and started off. You looked out the window of the unfamiliar area. You had of course heard of the MerryGo corporation but you had never set foot around the boogie area. 

Even with your Sunday best on people could still probably tell that you were an outsider. “Why did you want to work at our company Y/n?” Your guy's toys saved me when I was younger I want to spread that joy to other children.” 

“Aww, that’s so sweet.” Thanks, it was hard to find any work so I had to settle on being a janitor.” We are in high demand this year well at least you got promoted.” Yeah, I would’ve never expected this.”

“And another question. Are you a lesbian I got some vibes back when you talked about Robin?” You laughed at her randomness even though you could tell she was serious. “I’m sorry! It’s just that was sudden but no I’m Pansexual.” Oo so you like a bit everything,” she assumed. 

“Yeah pretty much!” Why wouldn’t I when there’s so much beauty in the world.” Tittes,” she responded. You both chuckled as she gave no context. “And pussy,” she added. “Even though you gave nothing I understand.” Women really are top tier.” 

After what felt like hours of talking about tits you arrived at the mall. “Let’s stop at Nordstrom first.” You walked over taking her purse to unburden her. “There’s no need for that.” I have to start acting like your assistant somehow.”

“I’ve done nothing so far.” Well then okay thanks for taking my bag those cross bodies do dig into your shoulder a bit.” I know that's why I use backpacks they’re immature but so cute.” Well, there’s some of them in Nordstrom maybe you’ll see something you like.” 

“I hope so,” you cheered. You guys walked into the store a sales assistant quickly followed after the both of you. “Hello is there anything you’re looking for in specific today?” Yes, we need form-fitting button-down tops.” Okay, right this way!” You followed after the lady through rows and rows of mediocre clothing. 

Nothing was catching your eye you had a peculiar style. A style-only thrift store with random selections would fuel. “What about this one Y/n? You can even wear it without a bra and it’ll still give you lift.” She held it up to your chest. “It’s cute.” You shifted around wanting to get out of the store. 

“You know I can tell when you’re lying right.” Her face dropped. “I’m sorry I just have a very different style from typical office wear.” Hmm okay, so what do you like?” You took this time to pull out your Pinterest. “If only I had an app like this when I was your age I would’ve saved so many fashion disasters.” 

“There’s a store I think you’d like it is across the street, however.” I don’t mind walking.” You were so excited since Nami had great fashion taste. Her tight business set and tall pumps gave her such a sexy secretary look. “Look both ways before you cross the street.” She held out her arm which blocked you from walking further. 

You must’ve been too busy staring at the way she strutted across the crosswalk because a car almost ended you. “Thank you I definitely was not paying attention.” God, please don’t tell me my assistant is an airhead.” I am not,” you pouted! You jogged across the remainder of the sidewalk. 

You and Nami arrived at the boutique she was talking about. The display windows were filled with intra-quit blouses that spilled off the tall mannequin figure. “Wow, it’s perfect!” I knew you’d like it,” she smiled. 

You walked in and explored like a child in a candy shop. “Y/n over here.” She called you to their formal wear section. “Pick up whatever you want I’ll be waiting in the dressing rooms for you,” she instructed. “Okay.” A sales clerk helped you further holding the large amount of shirts you picked up. 

Finally, once you were done you moved everything over to the dressing room. “Wow this is like all those movies,” you giggled. “What do you mean? Nami looked at you confused. “Like the type of dressing room in movies. Where the bride finds the dress that’s the one.” 

“Oh, I get it well welcome to luxury.” A woman stepped in with the both of you. “Hi I’m Perona I’ll be your seamstress for today.” Her cold hands ghosted over your arms spreading them out. You stood there for a couple minutes getting measured. You giggled every time she got too close you couldn’t help it. 

The only time someone had been this close to you was when you got kissed. “You’re so sensitive Y/n,” Nami teased. “I finished measuring it’s time to try out what you picked.” I picked up so many Ms. Nami can you pick for me?” Sure how about that skirt with the ruffles.” Perona handed you the skirt. At first, you were nervous to undress in front of them but they assured you that they had seen it all before. 

Luckily you had worn some decent panties today. “Cute panties I love the cherries,” Nami complimented. “Stop looking,” you blushed. She laughed a bit at your timidness. “You’re too cute sweetie now let’s see that skirt.” 

It was a perfect fit but one thing bothered you. “It’s like a belt so cute,” Nami pointed out. It was so short your ass almost hung out. But after twirling around in the mirror you did realize you looked amazing. 

“Is it too tight,” Perona asked? “No, it’s good.” I’m glad you’re such a cool boss Nami. Any other office place would fire me on the spot if I was wearing this.” There are pros to working for me,” she mentioned. Perona handed you some other skirts most of them being what Nami picked for you. 

You realized one thing. She liked to see you in skin-tight leather. You even got a matching body suit and jacket set. “I look like a biker.” Your hands traced up the zippers that went from your bust to your ass. “It’s so hot in all this leather,” you groaned. Nami got up and started towards you. “That’s why you have these.” Her hands unzipped your body suit. The breeze immediately hit you sending goose bumps up your spine.

“Biker chics are the hottest,” she joked. “And so are businesswomen,” you blurted. Nami was right in front of you her hands ghosting your waist. “Wanna know who’s hotter than a biker chic?” Sure.” A naked one,” she admitted. “Why don't I help you strip down, she offered. Her legs rubbed together ever so slightly awaiting your response. “Come on let the girls breathe,” she smirked. “Can you do it for me my hands are broken all of a sudden.” 

“Of course anything for you.” Her hand dragged down your stomach then it bunched up the remainder of the body suit. She pulled you closer to her so close that she could feel your rapid heartbeat. Your eyes darted anywhere but hers as she pulled your shirt up.

A hiss fell from your lips as both her hands wrapped around your shoulders to your back unloosing your bra strap revealing your tits on full display. “Fuck,” she mumbled. “I could take you right now if there wasn’t that woman and the ghost of nosy employees watching.” 

“Ugh I hate pda,” Perona groaned as she walked in. “If you have enough money to buy all this you have enough money for a damn hotel.” She was right and Nami knew so too but she was Nami. “Shut up bitch I’ll give you 5 thousand right now if you give us some alone time.” She stepped out of the room accepting Nami’s offer. 

“I need a taste of my new assistant.” Now you understood what Kalifa the frantic woman you met earlier was trying to relay to you. As soon as the door closed Nami began to palm at your tits. She massaged the soft mounds like they were freezing and needed to be warmed up despite how hot your body was becoming. You felt the need to strip from the other layer that held your heat. That being the panties she complimented earlier. A string of your wetness followed them to the floor.  

Her leg that was adorned with her nylon stockings went in between your thighs rubbing against your drooling pussy. “This is the best day ever,” you moaned. Nami’s lips wrapped around yours silencing your excited pleas. The kiss was hot and intoxicating enough for you to not realize that she backed you against the wall. You were sure to smudge the mirror with your body that now glistened in a layer of sweat. 

Your arms tugged at Nami’s blazer until you pulled it off. Her hands worked on her skirt and yours went to her tight polo pulling it over her head. You messed up her neat curls but she could care less. She had her new meal right in front of her. She had you someone who was untainted by the MerrryGo company. So she couldn't let you go. She kissed you again giggling into your mouth. 

The beef she had with Robin was mostly one-sided but she still couldn't help but to brag about this lay later. “What is so funny,” you asked. “The fact that Robin was right. Don't worry sweetie this time is so different I want to keep you.” And it seems like you need me.” She was right about that you were ready to pounce on her. She held your hand and led you to the couch she just watched you try clothes on. 

She patted her lap and you sat on it. Her hand wrapped around your throat knocking out any of the airflow that you barely had before because you were choked up by her beauty. “Wanna try something? As my assistant, you need to be adventurous.” Sure, you gulped”. Get on top of the couch and spread your legs.” You hesitated but she gave you a reassuring look. 

You did as you were told and she quickly followed you her mouth meeting your clit as the couch dipped at her weight. Even after the first stroke of her soft muscle, you felt like you could collapse. But you stayed grounded as you would never want this experience to end in a million years. One of her hands slipped from your waist and into her own underwear. She began to play with herself in time with the many moans you were letting out. 

“Ah that feels good,” you cried out. Her tongue inserted your fluttering hole that kept spurting out your arousal. “You taste so good, she mumbled. “I can eat you forever my sweet girl.” Her praise was definitely mending your ego as well. It had been so long since someone was this nice to you. She took care of you well not spilling a drop of your cream.

“I paid for this you can be as loud as you want.” She was right but you still could imagine what the employees were hearing. So your moans were held back. That was until she inserted a finger inside of your inviting entrance. You practically screamed at the sudden and calculated move. “Ms. Nami ahh that feels so good. To good fuck! You exclaimed as she moved faster. Her pretty face and hair were sure to be messy as she was so sloppy in pleasuring you. So was her pussy as she began to scissor herself focusing on her sweet spot. 

Her moans sent vibrations into you further bringing you closer to the edge. Your legs couldn't take it anymore you were going numb. Your back arched sending you down onto the seat of the couch. Nami’s mouth followed you not latching off. “So go damn hot.” You turned around admiring the sight of the woman that was about to come undone just from eating you. 

She looked up her eyes meeting yours. You could feel her smiling as she came undone wetting the cushion underneath her. Two of her fingers curved inside of you bumping against your sweet spot. Your eyes rolled in the back of your head from the pleasure. “Do I really feel that good?” Yes! You were quick to respond not having any more breath left to say anything. 

She knocked the air out of your lungs. And as you came you became a light-headed hyperventilating mess. Your eyes closed tightly together as you rode out your orgasm on her greedy tongue. Flashes of what Kalifa said went through your mind. But you couldn't afford to care after you just got the best head of your life. 

“Y/n you okay?” Yes, you exhaled.” Your head was banging as there was no blood flowing into it. Nami helped you to get redressed and you walked out of the dressing room. Employees stared at you both obviously fucked up girls. Perona even laughed as Nami paid for your items. You knew the store was a boutique but damn the clothes were expensive.

Not to mention the 5 grand Nami promised to pay her on top of everything. “Jesus.” You winced after seeing the total was 12 thousand dollars. “This is little money for me sweets Don't worry about it.” She swiped her black card and paid with no problem. Her arm was still around you helping to lead your shaky body. “Wanna pick up your actual uniform or do you want them sent to your house like the clothes.”

“What do you mean actual uniform?” The vibrating panties, she reminded you.” I thought that was just something Robin made up.” Nope, they are the real deal.” That and my peppermint mocha are something you'll be hearing about often.” 

[nebulaleaf]

What color would u say Akira’s eyes are? I see a lot of people say gray and I’ve also seen red, but I always thought they were a dark brown

You’re starting a cult around him so I figured you’d have an opinion

ok 1) not starting a cult that's just an in-joke making fun of a silly anon i got. 2) yes i do have an opinion. but also ...... FACTS !!! I usually go grey as the normal default but I understand the confusion. Official artworks for merchandise range from black to a light blue 😭. Lets take a trip down model / reference lane, shall we? First up: P5D!

We'll rope P5 / P5R into this too, because it's the same colour. Akira's eyes appear this shade... almost always! The metaverse, the real world... grey as graphite. Ah, but "almost! almost!?" you cry! Yes, yes. There's one exception.

Recall the persona awakening scene. Recall *all* of them, actually. All persona users have their eyes turn yellow when tearing their mask off.

This holds true for their models as well! For a few frames, during the summoning animation, their faces turn black and their eyes turn yellow. It's easier to see on some characters than others. (Others being joker. this took me SO long to scrub for.) Now, lets look at his sprites! So I guess we can call this part uh, Persona Q.A? (That's what these sprites are from, anyway...)

Now these eyes definitely look black! Honestly I think you could argue that the previous set were black too. On their own, they seem grey but the key thing to compare them with here is Akira's hair. They're both the same colour in the sprites and uh, that's definitely not grey hair. Now the anime! I won't be covering P5A: The Daybreakers because. Well. It'd just be more "Wow it's black. Now it's black again." P5A Is interesting because I swear to god his eyes were red when they were in mementos. but i must've imagined that???

That's just not a thing that happens! It's grey! The only exception is the... [shudders] All Out Attack. (Which also happens in P5:the game. forgot to mention that earlier; but it could be chalked up to mere aesthetic choice)

My assumption about red-eyes is at least partially true though. Nnnot in the sense that what I thought happened, happened, but more-so... Whenever Joker is depicted with red eyes, it's in his PT outfit. And like... only that outfit.

Mementos mission loves doing it. p5a does it. Artists do it. my BRAIN does it. Q2 also does it!! (hi all out attack. again)

other notable mentions for Doin' It Red While Being Joker are Akirby and the Official Jonker Nendo. Idk what that means but! Yeah

A few promo arts do the red-eyes thing like this original key art and multiple official illustrations for p5's release. I think it's just a fun aesthetics thing honestly. p5 is red. akira is from p5. slap some red on that bitch on him eye.

[ key art | strikers art | og p5 art ] So that solves that mystery. I think the idea of brown eyes either comes from being realistic (black eyes irl are just really really dark brown) op's colour palette ooooooooooor.... misunderstanding an official palette!

This is Q2's cut in graphic. The eyes look kind of brown, right? But it's mostly just a lighting thing. The face is darkened and the eye's colour is lightened to give that slick piercing-gaze-through-the-shadows effect.

(Q2 Akira is pretty pasty, as we can see here. the skintone matches the brightest highlight in the cut-in image.)

striker's sprites eyes look pretty brown too, but if you look at the hair and shadows, you can see it's because everything has a brown hue. we're doing black without doing black! (...except for the deepest shadows and lines, but cmon. if you put black on black its just gonna look like a big ol' blob.) this same effect is often used in many tribute artworks for p5 that aren't in the usual black/white/single colour style or crossover artwork because............ well it's basic colour theory. The only exception to the "rules" i've laid out here I have ever seen is the artwork done for Persora The Golden Best 5th Album artwork.

WHY ARE THEY BLUE. THAT'S WRONG. anyway. hoped this post helps you. my personal opinion is grey / silver if i wanna get all OOooh FANCY when writing a fic and waxing poetic and then yellow when summoning a persona or using some kind of spell in mementos. don't see brown in the slightest and red... yeah, i'll pass on having that be his default in mementos? maybe? idk i go back and forth on it lol. just get jiggy with it

[melonteee]

May I recommend some One Piece fics? One of them has me clawing the walls and wanting to write ten billion fics about all the OP women _:(´ཀ`」 ∠): and the other fundamentally changed me as a human being.

The former is a Robin centred fic and the latter is a Sanji centred fic. If you have read these before, sorry if I’m just parroting what you’ve already read! Also please feel no pressure to read these, I just wanted to share with a fellow OP enjoyer :DDD

Sanji Fic: Custom of the Sea - 17K: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39516201?view_adult=true

So this one really, REALLY explores Sanji’s duties as a chef and how far he’d be willing to go to ensure that his crew won’t starve (if you know what the title of the fic means then you’re halfway there) and there are heavy warnings at the start of the fic that I won’t repeat but I will state that the fic is tagged with “angst with a happy ending” so a heaping helping of optimism is needed whilst reading!

(I did not read the tags thoroughly though I still enjoyed the fic, but please don’t be as silly as me)

I love when a One Piece fic explores the connections between the Straw Hats (some more than others, cough ZORO cough) and I especially love the flashbacks we get with Chef Zeff— I will never be able to stop thinking about them and clutching at my chest like I’m trying to ease an unseen weight (the burden, oh the burden of loving a fictional blond man).

I love how Sanji is written, how we get to see him reduced to his base components, how as he thins with each day we see what becomes transparent beneath all the layers; who he truly is when stripped down to the bone.

^ tryhard

There is also a scene that is so reverent; so intimate; so raw that it feels like a violation to intrude upon such a private moment and a discourtesy that it isn’t being analysed and examined by every literature study or professor alive. Wow it fucks me up that this fic only has 8K hits. The author also writes some good ZoSan fics if that’s also something you’d like :))

Robin Fic: What is and What could never be - 58K (unfinished as far as I’m aware): https://archiveofourown.org/works/42768912/chapters/107441889

Robin. Has. A child.

[incoherent wailing about motherhood, unconditional love, the fear of loving someone and letting them love you back, love you thought you lost but has endured all along]

I haven’t even finished it yet nor am I even anywhere close in the timeline in which the fic takes place but I already know it’s one of my favourite fics I’ve read, and has made me realised that I have overlooked the OP women in the most egregious manner possible.

I absolutely adore your OP character analysis videos, and having your big brain analysis sitting in the back of my mind while reading this fic has made me appreciate and enjoy this fic tenfold.

Nico Robin I love you in a way that heals me and hurts me.

I am also a tremendous sucker for Frobin (the author wrote smut for this fic which 😳) but I also adore her relationships with Chopper, Nami and Luffy which absolutely enamoured me and has scorched my brain, leaving a permanent mark. Also extremely cruel and wicked that this fic only has 8K hits.

Anyway I wrote all of this at 1am, so if I sound mad it’s because I am. Thanks for creating hilarious and extremely insightful analysis videos, I’ve been watching your channel since the MHA character design video (I still burst out laughing thinking about Todoroki’s design sometimes) and I always look forward to new vids :D

Thank you for these but I can’t promise I’ll read them haha, I don’t tend to read too many fics but I appreciate the thought. I know you didn’t do it here but I also ask to please not send me smut fics or anything since I’m not an nsfw account and also a stranger to you guys 😅

And thank you so much for enjoying my content! ❤️

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Okay, I finally have time to sit down and do this properly. New season! I am so excited for this one, I could have watched the episode yesterday before work but I wanted to save it for when I could really enjoy it. And stop and write things down when they occur to me.

Though I will say, I’m not going to set a precedent here. I started doing these posts, where I watch the new Taskmaster episode and liveblog it, at the beginning of season 11. I think I did every episode of seasons 11 and 12, and then struggled more with 13 because it aired during my in-person co-op placement last year, and it was hard to find the time. Then 14 was during my second placement, same issue. 15 I just had other stuff going on. So in those seasons, I liveblogged some episodes but not others, but felt like I should with all of them, and that at some point became a problem. Because I couldn’t just watch a Taskmaster episode when I had time, I had to keep saving it until I had 2 or 3 hours (it takes a surprisingly long time to watch these when I’m pausing to write notes and take screenshots all the time, especially if I’m cutting out video and making it a gif too), and the mental energy to write it while taking notes. So I’d put the episode off and try to figure out when I’d have that time and energy, until watching my favourite currently airing TV show started feeling a bit like a chore.

No one told me to do that. I didn’t feel any obligation to do it for anyone else’s sake (my liveblogging posts are nowhere near interesting enough for anyone to bother being disappointed if I don’t do one). But I do really enjoy writing down the stuff I think as I watch Taskmaster, because it’s fun to share that with people. That’s why I made this blog in the first place – too many Taskmaster thoughts and no one to share them with. It’s more fun when I share it, especially when I watch a new episode for the first time. But also, my free time is more limited than it was when I first got into it during lockdown, so I don’t want to feel like I can’t just sit back and enjoy an episode unless I have a three-hour block and the energy to take notes. So I thought it might be easier for myself if I say from the outset that I make no plans to do this every week, or even most weeks. Let’s assume this will be the only one of these I do for season 16 and we’ll see how it goes.

However, I have to do it for the premiere, right? I’m so excited for the premiere. I told myself I’d stay off Tumblr from when it airs until I watch it, to avoid spoilers, but then I broke that rule. I’ve seen a few very mild spoilers, but not too much. I do know a couple of my predictions have already come true. My prediction that Lucy Beaumont’s baffling comedy persona (the baffling part is trying to figure out how much is a character vs how much she is like that) will fit in perfectly on Taskmaster – I’m getting that that came through in interesting ways during the premiere. And my other prediction was that it would take exactly one episode for all of Tumblr (probably other parts of the internet too, but this is the part I know) to fall in love with Sam Campbell – that appears to also be happening. I think at some point earlier in the summer I said something along the lines of “If you think you know who your favourite season 16 contestant will be but you don’t know who Sam Campbell is, don’t lock your answer in just yet,” and it looks like that’s working out.

Okay, without further preamble, on with the liveblogging. Thoughts on Taskmaster s16e01, written as I watch it:

First thought: wow, why does he look so much older than I expected? Next thought: oh right, because I only really know him for old episodes of WILTY and 8 Out of 10 Cats, and time passes sometimes.

First thought... seriously, and I promise to avoid saying this constantly during the course of this season (yes I know I promised something similar about Mae Martin last season and then regularly broke that), but how the hell do they get away with continuing to do jokes on Catsdown about Jon Richardson not being attractive to attractive women when we can all Google his wife?

First thought... seriously, I have trained with at least eight different people who look just like that. There is a "wrestler look" and that is weirdly exactly it. Please, someone, make this man fight something in a task so I can find out if it's in his blood. If he walked around a varsity tournament this year and just went up to the tables and said he came second the 61kg division and wants his silver medal, they'd hand him one no questions asked, they wouldn't even look it up to check. He looks exactly like every guy who came second in the 61kg division at the provincial-level university tournaments for the last eight years.

This is good observational material, I promise. It's unfortunate that if I do another comedy set (which I am intending to do, have just put that plan on hold for a few weeks as I settle into a relatively new-ish job) it will be to an audience that is insufficiently familiar with my life experiences to get the joke.

First thought... I already used my "talk about how hot comedians are" quota for one post on Lucy Beaumont, I am trying not to just constantly write it down if I see a comedian and think that, so in interests of general decorum, I will pass on writing my first though here. Or my second or third.

First thought... I know very little about her (aside from she was good in Crazyhead), so forming much of an opinion based on this shot, and coming in strong with purple eye shadow and giant earrings with a pink tracksuit. That's a look. This will be fun.

Strong combination of facial expressions here:

I'm working as an autism therapist now, and one thing we do is show kids pictures of stock image people with different expressions on their faces, and ask them to label what emotion it is. I could print this screenshot out and use it in the sessions. Okay, kids, see if you can put a name on those five. See if you can guess which two already have a long and extremely successful TV career behind them, enough so they can sit comfortably and relatively placidly on a show that would be "big break" material for anyone who hasn't already "made it" to the absolutely highest level of mainstream TV success.

Love that one of the throne cats is still there:

We open on a food-based bad Alex Horne pun. We're back, baby!

Is Sue Perkins' Napoleon Dynamite shirt part of a task, or is she just wearing that? Either way I approve.

This is almost exactly the same as the "best wooden thing" prize task in season 9, but I don't mind. I guess if you have Julian Cleary you have to open by giving him some chances to make jokes about wood (I don't actually know much about Julian Cleary, that view of him is based on what he was like on 8 Out of 10 Cats in about 2008).

I was genuinely impressed when Julian Cleary introduced his prize without making a joke on the word "wood", and then I saw what the prize was.

Yeah, all right. I'm down for a season of watching the guy in the traditional old man chair bring in sexually suggestive furniture. I've heard worse ideas for how to go on.

I have just listened to Lucy Beaumont's entire boxer dog story, and I still have no idea. No idea if we're supposed to think she really believes in dog ghosts possessing beds and picture frames, or whether it's entirely a character. Either way, I'm mildly obsessed with how well she sells it. Though I am all for some pedantry about prize tasks, so thanks for pointing that she should be only judged on the frame since the picture's not wooden, Greg.

Sammy C opening on a surreal puppet joke. I wouldn't have expected anything less. If anyone else had done that, I'd have brought in some more pedantry to say there's no way he's had that for a while, he clearly just asked the production team to make it. But given what other things I've seen Sam Campbell make in his weird videos, I think I can believe he might have made this himself.

For anyone keeping score at him, my first proper, out-loud laugh of the new season came from Sue Perkins calling this mixed media:

Under seven minutes in and we're discussing ghosts of incel monkeys that missed the orgy. They're settling in fast to this one. None of the stilted awkwardness that you get in early studio portions of some seasons, as they figure out how each other are. Everyone's clicking in this one, or maybe Sue Perkins is just able to click with anyone.

I think Susan Wokoma must be the first person in Taskmaster history to apologize for her prize task not being haunted. It is quite beautiful, though. Only person to bring in someone genuinely beautiful (well, Lucy's picture was all right). Also, side thought that occurs to me as I write this, is this the first time one season of Taskmaster has had two contestants with the same first name?

I'd just written that these people are clicking faster than most casts, when Julian points out Susan's prize isn't "really wooden", and reminds me of the opening of season 13. That was another season that had a very strong first episode, partly because everyone got so comfortable so fast with picking at others' performances. And by "everyone", I mainly mean Ardal O'Hanlon immediately started heckling all his fellow contestants. Love that Julian Cleary is sitting in Ardal's seat and taking up his mantle.

Ooh, I love the decor this season:

The art style is rarely a thing I get excited about in Taskmaster, but I really like this one. That'll be fun to watch for ten episodes.

Ah, Taskmaster. I've missed this sort of thing:

Glad you're back, Alex. Glad you're back to making people look at you with that exact expression on their face.

Again, I'm enjoying Susan Wokoma's look.

A look at the trailer suggested to me that they haven't gone too big on the costumes this season, but strikingly blue nail polished paired with sparkly overalls is fun.

Lucy, I don't care how much is a character. I'm obsessed with you.

Several more large, out-loud laughs as I watch Lucy Beaumont struggle to leave a room. Taskmaster should blindfold people more often, that shit is never not funny.

From a pure Taskmaster nerd perspective, I like tasks that involve filming in the hall so you get better idea of the layout of the house:

Someday I'll go to Chiswick, jump the fence, break in and write down the blueprints.

Ah, I see, it's already a tower. That's a clear idea, and surprisingly doesn't feel recycled even though it's season 16, I don't think they've done that before. Set a task where it's actually already been done and their job is to just not ruin it. Surely that must have been done before at some point, right? Anyway, watching those cans fall on Lucy was glorious. That's all I really need from comedy, apparently. Just blindfold people and then drop cans on them.

Lovely tableau here:

Alex saying "All the information is on the task" to someone who's blindfolded is also amazingly funny.

So, if we wanted to be pedantic, which I do, we could discuss whether just leaving a tower up counts as "building" it. I think Susan is fine, because she put the cans on top of the tower that was already there. So she helped to build the tower, and it didn't say she had to build the whole thing by herself. Not sure Lucy's should count, as she didn't participate in the act of building it at all.

Julian and Sam up next, so they're saving Sue for last. Great, can't wait to see what disaster she created that got her put on her own.

What I've learned from Sam Campbell's stand-up and weird internet videos is that he's got a pretty strong comedy persona/brand, off-the-wall energy that I've heard some of his comedian friends say is very much based on his genuine personality, but obviously it's dialed up in a specifically planned way. They say Taskmaster is great at knocking people out of their carefully planned personas and forcing them to just be themselves, at least more than they do during shows where they're in control. I'd say blindfolding someone and making them walk around a house, especially once they've realized there might be a fragile tower in a room that they can't knock down but they don't know where it is or even for sure what it is and they only have five minutes, seems like a good way to strip away any acting. Which might be why I was struck by how incredibly genuine, and a bit off brand, the repeated swearing from Sam Campbell sounds.

Not that Sam Campbell the comedian wouldn't swear, but I don't think he'd drop the swear words quite so casually or quietly. That is a man who has genuinely recognized some bullshit and wants to share that fact with the people around him.

"I've never felt such a high things" feels like a more on brand quote, but also the sort of thing you'd say when you genuinely don't know what's going on. There's some nice editing here, contrasting Sam's utter bafflement with Julian Clearly calmly and easily reaching to the top of the tower. A combination, I guess, of Julian being calmer in general, and of him being taller so grabbing the top is not such a big deal - this task would have Lucy Beaumont, whom I'm pretty sure is tiny, at quite a disadvantage, if she'd actually found the tower and reached for the top, which she didn't. (It's okay, Sam most wrestlers are shorter than average. There's a place where you'd fit in fine.)

Another brilliant tableau: Julian standing there holding the cans at the height they were before the tower started falling, as though he thinks that's still the top of the tower, while Alex visibly winces at how badly he's fucked up:

Yeesss, my boy Sammy C is coming through with exactly what I expected from him (oh right, forgot to mention at the beginning of his post my first belief that Sam Campbell's work demonstrates the skillset necessary to do very well in the Taskmaster tasks, not just for comedy but in terms of winning the most points, I predicted he'd win so now I'm rooting for that like he's a sports team, this is the side of me that uses Taskmaster as a sublimation of my competitive nature coming out)! Perfect execution. Find it, instantly figure out the game, carefully put the thing on top, and then just lie down so they can't fuck you with you further and make you mess it up. That is how you play.

No, no, don't give me that. You lay down because you figured out that that would be the best way to make sure you didn't ruin your chance of winning the task, even if it also meant no more comedy for a few minutes. And I respect that level of play. Sure, fine, find a comedic explanation for it to give in the studio. Do that all you like. Just please keep playing this well in the house because I have backed you pretty hard to win at this point.

Lovely. They implicitly promised us a disaster by saving Sue for last, and what a way to deliver. I like the level of profanity this task is generating. I think everyone's level of profanity increases pretty fast if you blindfold them and drop cans on their head.

Further proper, scream-laughing out loud is coming from Sue Perkins repeatedly demanding to know whether there's a tower in some other spot, reaching with her hand to show what spot she means, and in the process, knocking over what few cans were left in that spot. Fucking brilliant. Using this as the opening task was a great idea.

My favourite screenshot of the episode so far:

Team task! Hooray! We don't usually get one of those in the first episode, love this.

Team Sue! Team of Sues! I approve of that.

Susan Wokoma not noticing Sue Perkins has walked into the area would be funny if it were any two people, but it's especially funny because it's Sue Perkins, who is more famous than a lot of Taskmaster contestants. What would you do if you were just minding your own business and then Sue Perkins of Mel and Sue walked in behind you? I mean I'd probably do exactly what Susan Wokoma did, which is scream in a very amusing way.

I think I need to enter this one into the contest for Best Tableau of the Episode:

Seeing the initial duos, I immediately assumed Lucy would be on Team Sue. Because, I don't know, I guess women vs. men is something they've done before so I expected it again. Also, Sam/Julian has such a specifically odd energy that it felt like they'll stick with that as the team of two, and then the women who were excited to see each other could all be excited together with Lucy on the team of three. She'd fit in there.

It is so much funnier to have Lucy, instead of joining the Sues, awkwardly walk in on the awkward moment that Sam and Julian are already having and make it even more awkward. Love that none of those three people appear to know what to make of each other.

Taskmaster team tasks are fun that way because good chemistry can of course make a good team, but total lack of chemistry can also make a really fucking hilarious team. And it's really good when you get a season with one of one extreme and one of the other, like last season with the total dearth of chemistry that was Frankie/Ivo, contrasted against Mae/Kiell/Jenny who had a great time together. Looks like we might get something similar this year, given how well Team Sue instantly got along.

"Connect the most individual parts of one person to the most individual parts of another person. All members of your team must be connected. Your time starts now." No winning criteria specified there, which means that's only part one. So this is some season 8 shit, like the time they put a garbage back on Paul Sinha's head. Get tangled up but then the real trick is you have to do something while tangled. But will the contestants know that?

Team Sue does not. I don't know if this season has any proper Taskmaster nerds, which you'd really have to be to pick up on the fact that all tasks have criteria for winning, so if one is missing that then it's not the whole task.

They sure did have a great time, though. Team Sue confirming while tying each other together that they have not, in fact, met before. They just instantly got along. Again, I think Sue Perkins might just be able to connect immediately with everyone. What a fun time, and it is so clear that their task attempt is being edited in a way to emphasize the harmony, for maximum contrast against whatever the fuck the other team does.

Title drop! Greg Davies gets the first title drop of the season, sarcastically calling the awkward team "the natural friends". Some solid facial expressions here from the friends in question (well, two of the friends - Julian Clary remains fairly facially unflappable) that seem to confirm that they are remembering how right Greg is about to be proved about their lack of chemistry.

I've been trying to think of a portmanteau for the team of three, because finding portmanteaus is a lot easier than writing "team of two" and "team of three" over and over. Season 12 was so easy to write about because "Vicotrialan" and "Morguziree" went together so easily. One of those is easy this season - I'll just call them Team Sue. But the other one - God, they're so mismatched that even their names don't go together. Not enough syllables among them. Lusamian? Cleaubell? Not many good options.

What did I say? What did I say about Sam Campbell? I said he has the specific skillset that it takes to win Taskmaster. That skillset includes the creativity to immediately realize hair counts as a body part, combined with the audacity to be some guy from Australia who's half Julian's age, and we willing to ask famous TV comedian Julian Cleary to cut off stands of his own perfectly curated hair five minutes after meeting him. And, I guess, the abandon to have no hesitation about sacrificing some of his own hair for the task. God, he looks so much like a wrestler. I'm watching this and all I see is a first-year athlete who was a hotshot in high school but new to university sports, moves to a big city to be on a big varsity team, and on their first day decides to fuck with the best guy on the team. I've seen that happen more than once, and it usually involves the little guy getting beaten up quite quickly.

Oh, and then you throw Lucy into the mix, this is perfect. Julian is clearly trying to find the least inappropriate way to tell this kid asking him to cut his hair to fuck off, while Lucy launches into a long and unnecessary explanation of how her child got food in her hair. I've said "give these [two/three] a sitcom" about Taskmaster teams before, but rarely do I want that so badly, so early in a season. But I don't want them to write a sitcom together. I just want them to have to hang out and film their lives. Lucy could organize it, like Meet the Richardsons.

As far as tableaus go, this one's not bad:

To be fair, I guess I was wrong to assume Team Sue was being edited as a contrast against the disastrous performance of Team Cleaubell. The latter's performance was very good. But showing how much fun the Sues had together was certainly a funny contrast in chemistry levels.

Sam's story about the divers that were "not, like bubbly personalities, no offence [to Team Sue]" has again upped the already impressively high laugh count of this episode.

Ah, that's the sort of thing I hoped for when I heard we'd get Sue Perkins on Taskmaster. Her cheerfully calling Alex Horne a shitgiblet. Good stuff. This is all good stuff.

Quite a few more laughs in watching Team Sue drag themselves, each other, and a box across the finish line. That's some season six shit, reminiscent of Russell Howard and Alice Levine. Two people crossing a field while tied to each other and dragging a box - just some solid, classic good old fashioned Taskmaster fun.

I know Alex is kidding when he says he's going to "spoil" us with a location task, but that really is the case. A team task, a two-parter, and a location task all in episode 1. That's not common, but I like it. Show us everything we're working with.

I hope the editors had a really good time adding all that creepy animal footage.

Greatly enjoyed Lucy's story about being good at hook-the-duck in school (no idea what that is - is it a British school game or some shit that Lucy Beaumont had a dream about once?), because she could hook the ducks. I remain obsessed with her whole thing, whatever the hell it is.

First thought on hearing the task instructions: obviously you pop the inflatable duck, right? Does anyone pop the inflatable duck? It doesn't say you can't pop the inflatable duck.

And now we come to one of things I had seen spoilered, I saw a screenshot set of Lucy's utterly ludicrous talk with Greg about having arms where her legs should be. Amusing in screenshot form, obviously hilarious in the video. Lucy. Lucy, what are you? How do you work? Tell me your secrets.

I keep calling him "Sammy C" when I want to slightly ironically (honestly, not as ironically as I'd like to be about it) refer to Sam Campbell as something like the star of a sports team I'm rooting for, when I want to call him really good at the competitive elements because that's the sort of way his name would get abbreviated in a sports setting (I think I may have used the term "my boy" to describe him earlier in this post, also a thing people in a sports community tend to say about athletes they support, and I'm hoping my use of that term came off as a ironic even though in real life I absolutely use that term unironically and I was really being insufficiently ironic when applying it to Sam Campbell). However, someone else is looking so impressive here that I think I have to apply the same sports-style hype to her performance: Susie P! Susie P coming through with the lateral thinking of moving boundaries! What a classic! Fucking right!

...Is it weird that I think I've maybe never been more attracted to Sue Perkins? Which is saying a fair bit, as I was first attracted to her when I was about 19 and getting into The News Quiz.

That post-duck conversation was great, it's amazing how the studio banter is sparkling right from episode 1. They're all playing well off Greg and Alex, maybe a little more hesitation in playing off each other, but that's coming though. Great confused pleading from Lucy. Great sarcasm (that's not quite the right words, I guess - comedic condescention?) from Sue about the difference between a TV show and the law. Sam Campbell giggling in between them as they argued over him was a delight. But most of the credit for that what made that bit funny has to go to Lucy Beaumont - whatever her character is, she hits its notes perfectly.

Watching Julian Cleary get right up to a flamingo and then just not care and go right through it was funny. Obviously my favourites are the Taskmaster contestants who care way too much and get obsessive and competitive and argumentative and throw themselves right into it. But if a season has just one contestant who doesn't give a fuck, that can be funny. And I feel like Julian Cleary is perfectly suited to the "doesn't give a fuck on Taskmaster" role.

Well no one popped it, but Susan and Julian did find solid techniques. Showing that it's really not that hard to get it through if you spend about ten seconds finding a slightly different way to do it. I don't know why three people went with rolling it.

Okay, from a purely sports fan perspective here, nice that it turns out two people cheated so the one task in this episode (so far) where Sam did badly, he still finishes in the middle. Solid showing. Sorry for bringing sports competition into Taskmaster. I am, just so everyone knows, aware that it's the wrong way to watch it. I'm not like an American TV viewer who thinks there's a real prize. I like the comedy. But I really like competitions.

All right, this episode/post has already taken up most of my afternoon, so I decided to watch the entire live task instead of taking notes throughout it. That was great fun though. I always like the ones like that, where they get one turn at a time. Obviously got some good laughs on Sue calling Alex an "utter shit", and a bigger one on the "child of divorce" line (though that laugh would have been even bigger had I not seen a spoiler about it, I really need to stay off Tumblr until I watch these episodes). Loved the ending, that brief moment of glory when it looked like they weighed the same and he called it.

I can tell if Sam Campbell was being intentionally weird by not doing anything with the prizes after he won and then wandering away, or if he actually just didn't know what to do. Either way, that was also funny.

God, what a fantastic opener. Great season that it's setting up, I think, but also just really strong for a first episode. I cannot wait to see the rest of this.

[opinated-user]

"Wow you really just uncritically accepted random accusations from an anon about someone that are provably bullshit."

Lily saying this is so stupid because she does this constantly. As long as she already has a dislike for someone, she will believe anything an anon says about them without ever bothering to look shit up.

She also didn't add anything to this post because she didn't actually know the person the anon was talking about, so I have no idea why she bothered to yell at the op at all. For all she knows, they could be telling the truth (I also don't know who their talking about). If anyone jumped on her post just tell her to go fuck herself because she was taking an anons word for it she would be furious. Especially if they didn't have any knowledge of who her anon was bad mouthing.

It's just so weird to see someone get on someone else's case for something you've seen them engage in multiple times, not all that long ago.

the funny part about this is that those "probably bullshit accusations"... are all true. if you read stitch's work, then you know already that they compare liking reylo with racism and racial motivated harassment. if you as a reylo ever had to be whitewashed or treated as a racist person for no other reason than being a reylo shipper, somewhere down the line stitch was more than likely involved. i can confindently say that anything and everything LO ever said about reylos was more than likely influenced, if not completely lifted, by stitch and her works. if you follow their social media, then you already know how they react badly when they see other POC disagreeing with their takes about media. LO does know stitch, they're... friendly terms i want to say, because they don't give the impression of being actually close to each other. LO shares a lot of their work and i think even tried to defend them a couple of times on twitter, while stitch appeared in a couple of streams to say hello. so even though i do understand why LO wants to defend stitch, in this case... she's arguing for nothing. if she knows that those allegations aren't true, then she could have just said to OP to do their research or show them how they're wrong. but she can't do that, because all those allegations are true. in fact, they're the foundation of stitch's work. so instead she immediately went to the offense and attack because she doesn't care.

i do hope i don't have to clarify that you can be critical about fandom, racism and ships without going to the extreme of belittling other POC/their experiences, just because they happened to ship another set of characters than the ones you'd prefer they ship. that won't ever end racism anywhere.

i don't remember the exact wording, but i remember one time someone asked LO where she did she her research about fandom racism and she said the only source she has was stitch. it's fine to listen to the perspective of POC, of course, it should be encouraged, but to only limit yourself to the opinion of one is a disservice to all other POCs who don't get attention when they also talk about their experiences with racism.

[mandaloriandragontrainer]

Saw that post about Rayla with over 15k notes (for some reason I can't reblog It) and holy moly haven't you said It was about her I wouldn't have known! I'm glad she got support but worried at the same time since this seems to be a very common issue in fandoms.

I saw a similar thing happening in a fandom I was in‚ the female character was judged for literally everything even stuff she did to help loved ones (mostly boyfriend) and it got way worse when they became canon. Her journey was similar to Rayla's since she went from more serious to more softie and ofc people didn't like that.. It got so bad to the point people wanted her to die while pregnant. And while that was happening they would thirst over male characters who commited genocide. Kinda like bashing Rayla but being ok with Aaravos because he gets the hot guy pass.

Also you mentioned something about reddit hating her? What? I don't get fandoms at all.. Sending you this because you are one of the few mentioning this topic and it drives me crazy. I need to vent

The OP of that post deactivated their blog, but you can find them now at @ripple-rapple! But yeah, I’ve seen it in quite a few of my fandoms myself, and it’s honestly pretty disturbing.

I don’t really follow Marvel anymore (aside from Spider-Man), but I still have a soft spot for Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. I remember the fandom absolutely tearing her apart for snapping at Tony (i.e. making a single sarcastic remark) when his suit attacked her in her own bed. How dare she be mean to him when she nearly died? She’s a horrible girlfriend! And wow they were mad when the two reconciled, got married, and had a child—after all, she’s toxic and he could do way better than her. Never mind the fact she was more responsible than anyone else for changing him from a pretty horrible person to a true hero. And the best part? Shipping him instead with people whom he has far more antagonistic relationships with. You don’t have to put down a canon love interest who’s almost always a woman to enjoy a non-canon pairing.

Anyway, tangent over. That’s really disgusting… I hope everything worked out okay in the end for your girl and her child!

But yeah, I don’t go on the TDP subreddit much, because every time I do it’s a cesspool of negativity. I have a hard time believing anyone on there even likes the show. If you hate it that much just… don’t watch it? It’s also kind of the headquarters for dark magic apologists (at least it used to be), which is hilariously ironic. I can excuse a practice that corrupts your very soul, but I draw the line at a traumatized teenaged girl making a questionable decision to protect the boy she loves.

[littleladymab]

FebruarOC - Zoë

Alright so like, I will also have to make stuff up for Zoë as we go because, like Ianto, The World Listens is still stuck in the limbo of not-HP/not-original as I gave up in the early stages of converting it for something else that held my attention better. 

She's the Hermione expy of the project! Wow I wish I knew better what her goal would have been then, because that would make the concept of repurposing her... easier. She wanted better rights for people like her (magical people born to non-magical parents) and she wanted to like, put a stick in the spokes of the wheels of the government but beyond that it was such a shallowly plotted story I couldn't tell you. 

So we're going to spend some time fleshing out just who she is and what her goals are with this agency that I never figured out! 

Zoë approaches Ianto because she knows that he's an unregistered "can communicate with the dead". How? Now that's a very good question. In the original version (I almost said "in canon" which is absolutely bonkers, it's not an AU fic anymore and also it wasn't true "in canon" even if it was!), she was well-connected enough to know who his parents were and then tracked him down that way. However, if Ianto is as really on the DL as he would want to be, all things considered, I'd probably eliminate that route. 

Which can give the tasty opportunity of him accidentally helping somebody and that person promising not to tell anyone and then promptly telling Zoë about it. And so when she just randomly tracks him down and sits next to him in the park like it's nothing he's like "oh shit oh Jesus christ I'm going to be taken in aren't I and this is some black-ops fuckery and she can kill me 17 ways with a spoon and I'll never be heard from again" and instead Zoë goes "how'd you like to work with me?" and that's not a BETTER answer, tbh, but it's easier for him to cope with. 

now: what the HELL should this office do? You know how just sometimes in a strip mall you'll see an office that is just a NAME and no discerning characteristics whatsoever and you have no idea what it does? but someone MUST because it's still there? I think it would probably be like that. I don't think Ianto will have HP levels of money, but instead Zoë sources all their clients from within the magical community -- except that's still not an answer as to what they can do, because for all but their inner circle, they'd want to keep Ianto's abilities a secret! 

But maybe something like an investigations agency -- it would also work better when the rest of the crew starts joining and can use their abilities to help? I think that's the best answer we're going to get. 

Zoë knows of Shiloh (who is the Luna expy if you couldn't tell since i didn't mention it last time) more of through rumors in the magical community. And she reaches out to Shiloh and originally going into business together, but Shiloh isn't much of a person people would expect to do business with, and then a lot of the people-to-people work would fall to Zoë. So they chatted a bit, never met in person, and agreed maybe a future project together would be best, but still kept in touch! So when Zoë tracked down Ianto, who COULD serve as the face of the business, Shiloh immediately went "Oh, now I'd be interested in helping, if you're going through with this -- and it'll be an opportunity for me to test an invention". 

You know, that's more than I had before going into this, so I'm going to call it a wrap. You can read her drabble for free over on Patreon!

PS: It turns out I DID give Ianto a last name. I could remember giving one to Zoë, so I had to check, and I can thankfully stop calling him Ianto Jones; he's Ianto Porter. 

[moonstruck-writing]

The International Club's party [Omi Fushimi x reader]

Pairing: Omi Fushimi x gn!reader | A3! Rating: Teen C/Ws: light platonic angst, romantic fluff, friends to lovers, reader is Omi’s university classmate Summary: You made plans to go to the International Club’s university party, but your friends cancel at the last minute. Luckily, Omi kindly offers to go with you. Word count: 3.4k A/N: I got the inspiration from this post I saw about Omi being good at English, so my thanks go to op <3 Set during Year 2

You breathed in and out slowly, trying to hold back a yawn. It was the last lesson for the day, and then you had a meet-up to look forward to in the evening. You could do that.

Bzzz.

You felt your phone vibrate under your table and cursed mentally. Quickly, you went to put it on silent mode and checked the notification that had made it buzz.

   Sorry but I won’t be able to make it today :/

You closed your eyes, now less sleepy than ever. You should’ve seen it coming, really. It always happened like that in your group of friends. Whenever someone cancelled plans, it was a matter of hours before everyone else deserted too. The problem was, you couldn’t just cancel that plan, not when you had already promised the International Club that you’d be there for sure. And what was more, you had promised them you would bring somebody else to the party with you, too.

   Guys, I already signed us up for tonight! Is there no way you can at least come for a bit? 🗸🗸

You heard the professor coughing and turned your screen off. What had been once a class you couldn’t wait to leave, was now a class you didn’t want to finish. Not when you knew once your friends said no, there was no changing their plans.

But alas, the lesson came to an end. You took your stuff and joined some of your classmates on your way to the exit.

“Finally, the weekend!”

“You have any plans?” Omi asked the classmate he was closest to.

“Yeah, I have to work but there is this friend of a friend that I’ll be meeting too.” He showed a cocky smile.

‘’Oh, a blind date?”

“Yes.”

“I’m so jealous,” you interrupted. “You’re here going on hot dates while my friends have completely ditched me today.”

“Aw, what were you going to do?” They refocused their attention on you, moving aside so you could go down the stairs with them.

“We were going to the International Club’s new event. Well, I’m still going, since I was the one who signed us up for it. I cannot say no now.” You sighed, focusing on not missing any steps. The last thing you needed was tripping and tumbling down the stairs. Or maybe that was exactly what you should do, so you could have an excuse to not go to the party.

“What’s the event about?” Omi asked, interrupting your thoughts.

“It’s a get-together in English. There will be some students from different English-speaking countries, and we’ll chat and play games in English. Like a cultural exchange event.”

“You can speak English well?” Your classmates looked at you in disbelief.

“Yeah, that was my second option for university, if I didn’t get into our program.” You finally arrived at the ground floor and turned around to look at them.

“Wow, I can’t relate at all. I always hated languages at school. But Omi, you’re good at it, aren’t you?”

“Well, I sometimes help the guys at our dorm with their English homework.” He simply shrugged, like it wasn’t a big deal. You still remembered how when you first met Omi, you thought that humbleness was fake, but now you could see it was painfully true.

“Like a tutor or something?”

“There is a designated tutor, but yeah, I guess I do the same whenever he isn’t available.” He chuckled lightly.

“So you would enjoy going to this International party, then?” Your classmate eyed both of you as if he had just come up with the solution to all your problems. Omi smiled tensely when he saw your reaction.

“That would actually save me. I promised the Club I’d bring at least one other person. And I’d love to have someone I know there.” You waited for an answer, but you could see Omi was hesitating. As much as the idea of him going with you was a miracle, you didn’t want to force him to do anything just because someone else had stood you up. “But it’s… you don’t have to. You’re not my stupid friends who ditch me every now and then.”

“Yeah, I can’t believe they ditched you. I wouldn’t do it. And… it’s been a while since the last time I made last-minute plans,” he said, nodding.

“So you’re in?” You couldn’t believe it, but you restrained yourself before you bounced up and down. You didn’t want to pressure him, knowing how accommodating Omi was.

“If there is enough time for me to go back to the dorms? I am on cooking duty today and I’m not sure someone else will be free,” he said while looking at his watch

“Yeah, sure. The party doesn’t start until 7 pm.” You anxiously bit your lip, waiting for his answer. You couldn’t believe how the events had unfolded. From going with your friends, to going alone with Omi… you felt your stomach churning. Being around Omi at university was one thing, when it was always in a group of people. But meeting with him for the first time outside of campus… you gulped down, forcing yourself to act as usual.

“Cool. I’ll see you there then?”

“Yeah, I’ll send you all the details in a message.” You waved at each other and also said goodbye to your classmate, going in different directions.

___

Your steps echoed as you walked as fast as you could without running. You weren’t late, but you weren’t early either. You cursed mentally as you remembered how if you hadn’t decided to get changed for the third time, you wouldn’t be in a situation like that.

Then, Omi came into view.

He was wearing a button-up shirt, and for a second there you felt completely underdressed. But it wasn’t his clothes, really. They were casual, perfect for an informal and friendly party like this one. It was the fact that he had also changed clothes, and that you were seeing him for the first time outside of the university campus, alone. And it felt too much like a date, except it wasn’t one.

You still didn’t really understand how this turn of events had happened, but you weren’t about to complain. Not even when you felt sweaty as you approached him at the exit of the station.

“Hey,” Omi greeted you with a small wave.

It wasn’t a long walk to the venue they had rented for the party, but you still had thought it better to go together instead of meeting directly at the place.

“I hope my English isn’t too rusty,” Omi casually joked while glancing at you.

“Oh, don’t worry. It’s not about speaking perfectly, but about welcoming and doing something for the other students. And learning a thing or two about their countries.” You offered him a reassuring smile. You weren’t about to let him run off now that he was there with you. “Plus, everyone will be speaking fluently once we start drinking.”

“There’ll be alcohol?”

“You don’t have to drink if you don’t want to, but yes. That’s the main reason why they had to find someplace outside of campus.”

“Good thing today is Friday,” Omi laughed and the sound made you melt. You had forgotten how much you really liked his laugh and everything that came from him. But you soon recollected yourself. You had to keep yourself in check tonight, especially when Omi was being as charming as usual, which meant extremely. You had to find someone at the party to distract you from showing your feelings too much. You didn’t want to scare him away and make him misinterpret your intentions. You were there together as friends, after all.

When you reached the venue, you greeted the hosts and found out some people had also cancelled last minute. Even then, there were quite a few students, both international and national, and there were plenty of snacks and drinks.

Soon enough you started doing some rounds of introductions in English, and you were glad to find out everyone seemed quite friendly and relaxed. And Omi, being humble, had completely misjudged his own ability in English. You had to admit it was impressive and hot. You were so surprised that you had forgotten you weren’t supposed to stare at him so much.

“Your accent is pretty sexy.” Those words startled you out of your haze, and you looked to your side. You vaguely remembered this person’s introduction, but before you could think of anything to reply, Omi moved to stand closer to you.

“Oh, I didn’t know accents could be sexy. What about mine then?” His tone of voice was relaxed, even chirpy, but it nevertheless sent a clear message that they didn’t fail to catch. As the person left, Omi sighed, running his fingers through his short hair.

“Sorry I butted in. Just… let me know if you want me to go hang out somewhere else.” He looked at you apologetically, and it took everything in you not to shoot your hand out and cling to his shirt. You didn’t do it, of course, but he also never left your side. You were grateful for it, especially as time passed by and you started playing drinking games. You really wanted to see Omi being drunk, although you had a hunch that it wouldn’t be so easy to see.

And you’d soon regret having felt so hyper about it.

“Truth or dare!” One of the hosts screamed as the bottle stopped spinning. It pointed clearly in your direction.

Clearing your thoughts, you wondered if you even had an option. You weren’t about to let them order you to do something weird – you could still hear the faint coughing of the guy that had to eat cinnamon a few turns ago.

“Truth.”

“Is there anyone you want to kiss at this party?”

Of course, it had to be a question like that. You were glad it wasn’t anything even more personal.

“Yes.” You tried to say it confidently like it didn’t matter because it was only a game. But your voice came out too breathy to not reveal your embarrassment.

“Who is it?”

“Only one question per turn!” Someone else shouted.

You sighed with relief when they offered you the bottle to spin around for the next person. Your mind was too busy to think of a proper question or dare, so you went with the typical ‘tell us your most embarrassing story.’ Some people complained that was too soft, but fortunately, the person you asked was a great storyteller and soon enough everyone was absorbed in their story.

Everyone but you.

What had pushed you to tell the truth? Of course, it was a game of truth or dare, and by the rules, you should always tell the truth, but even then… What would you do if the bottle spun again and landed on you? You already knew they’d ask who it was. And this time, there was no way you could lie. What would happen if you told the truth?

You glanced at Omi, who was sitting next to you. He was looking at his phone with a frown, and just a second later, he got up and placed the device next to his ear. Was it some sort of emergency?

You tried to refocus your attention on the game, but when a few minutes passed and Omi was still not coming back, you started worrying something bad had happened, so you decided to get up and search for him. Everyone was too excited to pay attention to you, so you easily slipped away from the circle and the room, into the hallway, where you found him still speaking on the phone, now with a less bothered expression on his face.

It wasn’t long till he noticed you and offered you a surprised smile. He quickly shut the conversation and hang up.

“Shouldn’t you be inside the party?” Omi asked approaching you. You simply shrugged your shoulders. “You may lose your chance with that guy. And I won’t take responsibility for it twice.” He joked, but you wanted to laugh for completely different reasons. He thought that random person who had started speaking with you had caught your attention?

“For the record… I didn’t want to kiss that guy.”

“Huh?”

“When they asked me if there was someone I wanted to kiss there, and I said yes… I didn’t mean them.” If there was anything you knew, it was that you didn’t want Omi to believe you had a crush on anyone else.

“Oh. Oh. So someone else caught your eye? So they didn’t even stand a chance.” He laughed and rubbed his neck, visibly uncomfortable. You bit your lip to contain a smile. Yes, no one at the party stood a chance against Omi, but sadly, his thoughts were the opposite at that exact moment. “And who was the lucky one?”

“I also talked with the person,” you ventured, trying to redirect his attention in an attempt to find out the difference in Omi’s mannerisms, how he expressed his discomfort, how he really felt about you, and whether he was simply curious, embarrassed or annoyed.

“Oh. When? I didn’t see you talk much to anyone in particular.” His expression suddenly changed to a serious one, his gaze fixated on you.

“Well, I did.” You wanted to laugh. He probably meant he hadn’t seen anyone else flirting with you, but you had talked with several people. That made you confident that you could just tease him and hide your real feelings. Except, Omi’s humility played tricks on you.

“When? I was next to you for the most part. Unless you mean me.” He chuckled, showing that it was a joke. You felt adrenaline rush through your body, but there was nothing you could do now, so you didn’t deny it. You didn’t want to deny it. The silence between you two stretched for a while as if he was waiting for your reaction. When you couldn’t hold his gaze anymore, something clicked inside him. “You mean ME?!” Omi looked around, realizing he had spoken too loudly. The hallway was mostly empty, but one of the people there turned to look at you with curiosity. When he made sure no one was paying attention to you two anymore, he looked back at you.

“I had a really good time today, Omi. Thank you, you turned what seemed like a disaster into memories I am glad to have.” You smiled at him, not wanting to make things awkward. “I think I should leave now.” You started walking away, unsure if you were making a mistake, but you really didn’t know how to solve that situation.

“Wait!” He rubbed his neck again, but now his discomfort felt slightly different. “You can’t just… throw that bomb and run off.”

“Okay?” You weren’t sure if that meant he felt the same way or not.

“We can walk to the station together?” He suggested, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

You agreed, and after saying goodbye to the hosts of the party, you left. It was slightly chillier than before, the Autumn breeze moving the treetops on the street.

“I am glad I came,” Omi said, breaking the silence. “We haven’t… gone out much together since we were first years, but I really enjoy your company.” He glanced at you, offering a short smile. “We should hang out more.”

“Yeah, I’d love that.” You sighed, unsure whether he really meant it or if it was one of those promises that came from politeness. You knew Omi was a nice guy, so he probably didn’t want to make things awkward between you two. “I guess I have to thank my friends for ditching me this time, otherwise you wouldn’t have come with me.”

“I guess I also have to thank them, then.” Omi laughed softly, compelling you to look at him. “I’ll also have to think of a plan for next time, since it was you who invited me this time.”

Was that… a date? No, you couldn’t let yourself get carried away and misunderstand him like that. It was just…him expressing interest? Omi Fushimi was saying he’d plan the next time you hang out? The guy you had liked since the first day of university, but that you had given up on after seeing how popular he was and how full his hands were not just with classes but also with acting, was now saying he wanted to spend time with you like that?

“Um, sure! I look forward to it.” You hoped your voice hadn’t trembled there. You had been bold enough to hint at your feelings for him because you genuinely thought you had no chance, but he’d be nice enough to ignore it. That, and the alcohol – it gave you courage and hope that in the worst-case scenario, maybe you wouldn’t even remember it, or you could always play it off as a joke. And now, it was way better than a joke.

“Great. I’ll have to make sure not to disappoint you.” Omi smiled again, and this time you felt the air between you two relaxing.

“I think that’s impossible,” you blurted out before you could register the words. It seemed, today you just couldn’t control your mouth.

“Thank you.” Omi laughed; his cheeks tinted a faint pink.

Fortunately, the entrance to the station was near. You felt conflicted because you didn’t want that day to end, but at the same time, you didn’t trust your mouth anymore. It was already a miracle that Omi didn’t think you were embarrassing yourself.

“Could you wait here a second?” Omi suddenly interrupted your thoughts, and you stopped in the middle of the road. He jogged to a nearby vending machine and searched his pockets for change. When he came back to where you were standing, he handed you a water bottle. “Here.”

“Why?” You were slightly confused by that sudden act of generosity.

“Well, we both had something to drink and now you have to go back home alone.”

So, he thought it would help you sober up a bit more just in case.

“You’re saying I am acting completely drunk now?” You feigned being bothered to tease him.

“No! You’re not! I’m just worried, that’s all.” He shook his hands in front of you, wanting to reassure you. “Our stops are in opposite directions, but I can-”

“Omi, it’s fine. I’m fine. Thank you for the water.” You opened it and started drinking. “See? You don’t have to worry.”

He smiled awkwardly, and under the faint lights of the streetlamps, you saw his cheeks were still pink.

“You are a really responsible drunkard, you know?” You said, believing that was a symptom of the alcohol he had consumed. “Here, you should drink some, too.”

He accepted the bottle and took a few gulps before giving it back to you.

“Oh, no, you can keep it. I think you need it more than I do,” you said. It seemed that he was becoming more flushed the more time passed.

“I thought… you wanted to…” he trailed off, looking away from you, but still holding out the bottle for you to take it.

“I wanted to?”

“…indirectly,” he whispered, confusing you further. Maybe he really had a low alcohol tolerance? You hadn’t seen him drink that much. Seeing your confusion, Omi decided to speak up. “I thought you wanted to kiss me indirectly, so this would…”

His words made you blush violently, finally comprehending the meaning behind his words. You took the bottle from him, your heart beating madly.

“I’ll see you at university,” you said, wanting to run away. You started walking again, getting inside the station before he could follow you, and preparing your pass. He rushed inside.

“Text me when you get home,” Omi said to your back. You didn’t dare look back, but you waved your hand just in case.

--

You:      I just got home. 🗸🗸

  I hope you arrived home without any problems too. 🗸🗸

Omi:      I still have a few stations left.

  maybe I’ll use the time to start planning for our date.

  any places you want to go to?

  wait, don’t tell me. I want to surprise you :)

You squealed and sunk your face into your pillow, feeling giddy. It would be a date.

.

.

.

I hope you enjoyed this, interactions and constructive feedback are appreciated <3

Masterlist | AO3

Please do NOT repost. Reblogging is okay! Characters belong to their rightful owners, the plot and content here belongs to @moonstruck-writing

[nenastrology]

step aside sensui is straight youtube comments you are old news homophobic asides about sasuke the real king is reddit threads of people trying to decide if griffith is gay or not op of the thread is like hey griffith gives me kind of a gay vibe is he gay? first commenter um you are really reducing the complexity of muira’s work down to concepts like sexuality like this he obviously did not intend this and you are not understanding the complex martial bonds between men he wished to portray it is NOT gay to think about your bestie while you have sex with someone else right guys and someones like wow so true i agree completely actually his interactions with men are a product of his deep narcissism and whatever scenes you might see as “gay” but its actually a deep commentary on his deeply held not gay desires to penetrate men with swords and then someones like idk man i think he might be gay and is immediately dogpiled like oh are you in favor of incest because griffith and guts have a bond of brothers and someone else is like well i mean i didnt see griffith and guts having graphic on screen sex so how can they be gay and it just goes around in circles helpful gay person shows up and is like hey guys you know i think ur overthinking this people can in fact just be gay and posts paragraphs to back up their analysis and everyones like um idk about that man and u scroll to the bottom and its just people calling griffith homophobic slurs its like performance art i think

[yesyourstalker]

Warabi: Hi, welcome to rock shock. We have a sale If you buy one shirt you can get one free or a premium shirt 25% off....... I- op..... Wow!!!. I thought you were my dad for a second! I didn't even recognize you

Mhai: why do you look like that!! Where are your piercings?!? your tattoos!!...... Your tentacles!!! Your face!!!

Neta: I have to go to the bank today. To do some very important business. I have to present "professionally" so no piercings, No body mods, no tattoos visible. I had to use some makeup to cover my neck and hands. Face clean shaven, tentacles cut to an "appropriate" length.............*sigh*. it'll all grow back in 2 months.

Mahi: is it true when you cut your tentacles they turn into little guys or Is that like propaganda or something?

Neta: yeah they do that It's not as common you assume. The method to prevent that from happening is the twist and pinch method they take the base where you want to cut it. You pinch and twist and then cut the tentacle off that prevents it from actually growing and becoming a little octarians. Mine's been cut off so much it doesn't even do it anymore.

Warabi: I used to keep them as friends when I was little. I had one named Steve. He used to dance and stuff. My grandpa sent him to the military............... He's probably dead.

Taka: hey you twerps anyone know where my man is? I'm planning a surprise date for a third month anniversary

Neta: taka, I'm right here.

Taka: Neta!!! ...............…Your hair!?! You look......... different.

Neta: yeah..... I actually look like a normal everyday man....... Honestly I kind of like it. I like my tattoos and piercings it makes me feel like me. But sometimes I want to blend in..... No big clunky boots. Tons of rings, jewelry and battle vests. It's nice sometimes I just want to wear khakis..........I think I might keep it short for a while maybe grow it to mid length..............Yoooou liiiiike?......do you like normal Neta..... Come on the button down has to be doing something for you right?......... What about my clean face? If you told me you actually like the soul patch I'd assume you're lying to me.

Taka: uhhhhhhhh............. you look............uh...............very..............plain...... Your hair.......... is...........single toned. Hummmm

Neta: what's wrong taka? I thought you loved me for my extroverted nature, boldness and my outgoing personality. That didn't go away you didn't just fall in "love" with me cuz of my loooooooks. You like me for me not just the aesthetic. I think I might keep this look for a while. Let you get used to it. Why don't you come over tonight maybe watch a movie we can work on your album together. I know I said that I'll only play on one song. Maybe if you pushed the right buttons....... I might give in to anything really........... Anything you want. What do you say?................. Why don't you take suburban Dad Neta for a test drive? Huh? Huh?............(POP)..... That was my knee It's been doing that for a while need to get that checked

Taka:ehhhhh......uhh......hummmm..................no..... Not tonight . Ummm I got to discuss things with the band first yeah I need their input first Oh and I also need to talk to you know my producers and my recording studio everything......... But we can maybe do something later....................in the month when your hair grows out ...ok .........................bye..................ugh........ your loose earlobes.................ok bye.......[Kiss].......... I love you babe.................I really do.......... truly...... It's me not you

Neta:. Okay............ Jackass............... I shouldn't be surprised but am. Am I ugly? Without all my body mods?

Warabi: No, you're still hot for someone in their 30s

Neta: 30s is not that old.... But thank you

Mahi: can I kick his ass?

Neta: No mahi. You can't........but I don't control what you do outside of work.

(Epilogue)

Mahi: hey babe, if I suddenly stop dying my fins and start wearing regular clothes. Would you still like me?. ........... awww I knew you would...... Oh fuck no I'm not going to do it. I'll just asking. Bye

(Second, epilogue because why not?)

Neta: hey babe!

Ikkan: hey. Did you something with your tentacles? You look different.

Neta: do you like it?

Ikkan:ehhh I don't know I don't really have a preference for that. It's whatever you like honey. If that's what you want to look like, it doesn't change how I feel about you?.

Neta: thanks inkky I really need to hear that today.

Ikkan: though I do prefer you put in your gauges, It looks gross without them....

Neta: You're right....

Ikkan: I'm thinking of cutting off my tentacle or growing it out and kind of sick of the side shave.

Neta: not your iconic doo I say you grow it out

Ikkan: I was thinking of getting a buzz cut Maybe a mustache combo.

Neta: oooooo that sounds nice! Whatever you want babe.

Ikkan: I have to go to bed Love you bye

Neta: Love you too

Ikkan: seriously put your piercing back in. You look weird with holes in your face.

Text

Taka : sorry I was so weird back there babe I just wasn't used to the new look. I like it now it suits you. Do you want to go to dinner tomorrow night? ;)

Neta:...................... (Typing)

Neta:.... ................ (Typing)

Neta:.............. (Typing)

Neta: k

Mahi belongs to @fish-at-fish-fish-resort

[raamitsu]

I know that big Tokrev twitter account you’re talking about and yikes…Now they’re trying to spearhead the theory that whenever Mikey is in dark impulses mode that it’s actually Shinichiro possessing him and I—Can we just have Mikey be accountable for his actions?? Like I love Mikey too but we need to stop giving him a pass for the things he’s done and stop blaming other people for his actions.

And then them being shocked that a person who is grieving is behaving...Like a person who is grieving. You can really tell that the OP has never experienced true grief before for them to think that the way Shinichiro was behaving was bizarre (and people who supported OP too). Like you stan literal murderers but a guy who’s grieving the loss of his family is apparently where you draw the line?? Get out of here >.>

Wow who are you anon and why are you spitting ?

Tbh it’s affecting a lot of TR stans’ minds to believe Shinichiro was still a bad guy like ?? I thought we’re collectively agreed that none of these characters are either good or bad? Funny cuz no one is saying Shinichiro was a perfect saint guy, but we can somehow grasped the idea of what kind of a guy Shin was from other characters that spoke highly of him. “Bad role model” “excuse violence” - Idk man. Shin brought Mikey to Black Dragon’s last gathering is not equivalent to teaching or educating violence, am I wrong? Like what do people expect? This is a manga that revolves around delinquents after all and most of them are involved heavily in it so don’t expect to see sunshines and rainbows all the time. As far as I remembered, she made a couple of tweets shitting on Shinichiro after the first one she let up still. I guess she deleted them due to the amount of people calling her out.

Aside of that, reading Chapter 270 makes me feel heavily bad for Shinichiro, as he worked hard to the bone to manage his family’s basic needs after their parents passed away, while both Emma and Mikey were just a kid. Being the first born and an elder brother holds a huge responsibility - in fact, he even had to bear all of that by himself. Furthermore, after Grandpa Sano passed away and Emma ran away from home, it’s possible to think all sort of emotions he tried to conceal were piling up, and it got even darker after Mikey passed away a month later. Shinichiro was the parent figure of Sano family, yet she and the people agreeing with her wanted to come at him just because he took down some disrespectful losers at the club :/

Seriously though, are we gonna forget what Mikey did to Sanzu? are we gonna forget the day he wanted Kisaki to realize his dream + said he wanted darkness and he didn’t care whatever method Kisaki used - then suggested Kisaki to join Toman even after Baji, Draken and Mitsuya were fully against it? are we gonna forget that he massacred all of his friends in the future timeline and the fact he never hesitated to show that side of him? are we gonna forget how he let his dark impulses took control of him and took South’s live and put Takemichi in koma? He was entirely conscious and knew what he did. He also uttered Takeomi’s name after he kicked his face. For someone who claimed to not be able to differentiate what’s wrong and what’s right, that is still not an excuse for whatever he has done, so I hope his stans are not being blinded by “how young and traumatized he is” till they can’t rightfully criticized his unforgivable acts.

[siremasterlawrence]

Starburst

I hate feeling the ramifications of a anxious and depressed mind wallow over me even now with sone effort. Today is not bad as I made much progress but today was if I had enough. Walking in to the bathroom I match eyes with my professor.

I could not help myself deciding to go for it I sneakishly lock the door as he walks into the stall. I shove it open while he unzips his pants, he sees me but I swiftly grab him by the neck. Yank him back with my knee press on his back and flash him with the light.

It’s funny I am not scared of the security ops with cameras everywhere because I flashed them last week. I had enough trouble as it is with my health last thing I need is anymore by any means. He stood motionless waiting like a zombie so I command him to pee in his pants.

I force him on to the wall leaning in on him as I kiss him slowly are lips intertwine as we make out.

I feel his body realizing that they ass is min to conquer and I can’t wait to fuck him.

Happily my arms wrap onto his waist land onto his belt, begin to undue his belt and lower his underpants.

A gigantic smirk on his face letting my hand slide down his sides and glee with true excitement.

My belt, my pants and underpants drop in

a instance and slip in to his ass feeling his body pulsate.

I push in and out make him cry, moan and then feel the pleasure in him begging to explode on impact.

“This so fucking hot, zip up your pants turn around and follow me to your office now.”I instruct him.

“Yyyyyeeeessss, I will follow you.” The state of mindless and that low voice turn me on.

“Close the door behind you we need to talk immediately.” I instruct to which he does and sits behind the desk.

“Good you smell foul. I love it” I state letting it fill the room with its odor

“I am having a extremely difficult years at the moment and you will help me.” I say.

“Let’s commence this. Shall we? Protocol eight six.” I utter .

“How may I serve you?” He asks the light blows up on his eyes.

“Wow! Completely mindless” I proudly yell in victory.

“Master?” He questions me not sure how to react.

I snap my finger bringing him hack to our own reality in a fast movement once more.

He sighs loudly wiping his eyes off the sleep overtaking him.

He wraps his arms over me as he kisses me once then leans in to me.

Our lips touch as we make out our lips are finally connecting on a whole new level.

He wraps on me even tighter laying his head on my side and inhaling his scent.

He lifts my arms up in the air digging into my arm pits inhaling every bit of my scent.

He has fallen deeply in love with me the man of my dreams swooning in my arms.

The door slams shut once more as I try to excuse myself but he races to block me.

He kisses me again this time with force to distract me from trying to escape again.

“What do you want boi? Why?”

“I want you Master, My Master Lawrence “

“I want to, need to and have to serve you “

“I love you”

“Do you ?”

“Yes, Master Lawrence “

“Good boi”

“Sir Yes Sir”

“My God”

The lights flick off, the shades lower and I am totally the one in control over everything.

His knees buckle in growing stiff and hard fail him descending till he is before me.

I laugh at his weakness as he place his palm on my waist, he lifts up his shirt in awe.

“OH MY GOD!”

“Oh Master”

“My love “

He plummets on to my skin kissing me with his lips planting kisses all over.

Every touch eats away at his soul a little bit at time erasing him.

How wonderful this professional man finally sees the truth about his who he really is.

“Who am I?”

“My king, my master”

“My every desire”

“You own me wholeheartedly, completely and with all of it”

“You use this soul and body”

“It’s your vessel”

“I am ship for you to guide”

“The pilot to this air craft”

“The driver to this car”

“A Astronaut”

“Exploring my galaxy”

“Just a adventurer jetting off”

“A new frontier”

“A abyss of my world”

“Perfect being no one can touch “

“Oh God!”

“You own me”

“You are forever transforming me”

The end

[theknittingshadow]

A Shadow’s Scattered Thoughts

Part 2 of my reaction to “Journey to the West”

I’m at Chapter 35

TW: murder, genocide, abuse

-Okay so Zhu Bajie seems to defer to and respect Wukong quite a bit at first BUT this changes quickly.

-Wukong called him out when he talked about finding a nice home to take shelter in for the night going “you just want to go back to your cushy married life!” I don’t this was true. Old Monkey is getting a bit ahead of himself. Seems like Bajie gets defensive for a REAL long time after this.

-There’s a lot of instances where Bajie wants to give up and go home, actually. It’s kind of nice to see someone who struggles like this. Changing one’s habits can be HARD.

-On that note, Wukong’s supposed habit of going straight for murder isn’t…really….there. Sure, he’s itching for a fight but he’ll gladly let bygones be bygones if the person in the wrong tries to make amends.

-Introducing Sha Wujing! I like him! He’s very chill and already pretty disciplined, humble, and kind. Even Tripitaka notices this straight off and nicknames him “Sha Monk.”

-Oh Oh Oh! They are all monks now! Every single one of them has a shaved head, even WUKONG! Wow, that is an image.

-The fight between Wujing and Bajie when they first meet is actually pretty interesting. Wukong can’t go underwater, he can only part the water or turn into a fish so Bajie has to step up. He’s very willing!

-Guys, the Bodhisattva Guan Yin literally told you guys to mention that you are escorting the Tang Monk to retrieve scriptures whenever you introduce yourselves. You could have avoided the WHOLE fight with Wujing if you did that.

-There are several opponents they face that are too strong for Wukong to take on alone. He easily fights them to a standstill, don’t get me wrong. Just, he rarely beats them with his sheer strength. Usually, he either has to use his wits, or get help from Guan Yin or someone. I thought he would be OP and mow down anyone in his way. I like this better though.

-There’s a whole thing where they visit a monastery or pagoda and the elder priest really wants Tripitaka’s fancy robe Buddha gave to Guan Yin to give to Tripitaka. They legit decide to trick the pilgrims into lending them the robe and try to burn them all, locking them in a room at night.

-Wukong, why did you go to the trouble of fetching a magic fire-proof blanket to protect the sleeping Tripitaka when you could have easily just carried him out or WOKE HIM UP?!

-There’s also the monastery with the immortal ginseng fruit. Trip, my guy, you’re hilarious. The fruit happens to resemble newborns and he freaks out thinking they really ARE newborns. The two monks there are like “he still has impure mortal eyes and can’t tell what these are”

-Again, Wukong, why must you jump through ALL OF THESE HOOPS?! SURELY THERE IS A SIMPLER SOLUTION?

-Guan Yin comes in clutch yet again. I like her. They even have a party together. Now all the pilgrims will live at least another 47,000 years, Trip included.

-Bajie keeps on doubting Wukong’s loyalty and intentions, thereby making Trip suspicious of Wukong and/or ruining Wukong’s plan to rescue them.

-The White Bone Spirit Arc hurt me guys.

-The Bone Spirit (LBD to Lego Monkie Kid fans) knows she can’t beat Wukong to eat Tripitaka so she decides to mess with them instead. Disguising herself three separate times, she approaches the Pilgrims. Wukong sees through her disguise, tries to kill her, she escapes the body before he can destroy her. Boom, dead body of what looks like an innocent person.

-Bajie uses the opportunity to throw shade at Wukong. Trip forgives him twice but the third time banishes Wukong.

-Wukong actually calls Trip out on his favoritism towards Bajie a few times. Good for him! I’m wondering if this might be a degree of xenophobia? Bajie has lived around humans recently and knows how to act like them. Wukong doesn’t.

-However, it could also be that, being only in his early to mid twenties, Trip is instinctively deferring to one of his elders in this situation. I’ve struggles with this too. When you are a very young adult put in charge of adults older than you, it feels weird and wrong at first. Since Bajie (and Wujing) were in the Celestila Realm during Wukong’s rage, I wonder if they are older than him?

-Conclusion, I am conflicted about Tripitaka. On one hand, he uses the tight fillet spell on Wukong despite him providing proof that the White Bone Spirit was, in fact, a yaogui. On the other hand, he’s a young, sheltered, inexperienced adult trying to lead a group of immortals thousands of years older than him. One of said immortals has a reputation for violence that frightens the other immortals.

-Huaguoshan was burned. My heart 😭

-Wukong is having a bad time here. Falsely accused, punished, banished only to find his home in shambles and over half his people killed.

-He’s a good king. In only a few days, he rallies his people, defeats a verifiable army of hunters, and uses the loot from said hunters to clothe and arm his people. Then, gathers all kinds of trees and plants and starts rebuilding Huaguoshan. I salute you, sir!

-Seriously, there was practically an army of hunters coming.

-Kui Mulang, the Yellow Robed Yaogui, comes up. Bajie is VERY confident in his ability to lead and protect the Pilgrims. Proceeds to get his tail handed to him.

-Ao Lie breaks out of horse form and DOES STUFF IN THIS CHAPTER. THIS IS HUGE!!!

-Kui Mulang is more violent towards his wife than I had been led to believe. When he suspected she sent a message back to her people, he nearly beat her. Wujing, bless his soul, convinced him otherwise and he dotes on his wife to make up for his outburst.

-Bajie has a time convincing Wukong to come back and help. Monkey’s shockingly happy to see him and cordial and everything despite their arguments.

-…they actually killed Mulang and the princess’s kids. What.

-People regularly refer to Tripitaka as handsome and well-mannered. I can’t help but this Tolkien elf vibes.

-The aforementioned leads to an interesting lesson on judging by appearances.

-Wukong and the others make amends. Not before he holds them accountable. Even Wujing has to admit to standing back and doing nothing.

-THE GOLD AND SILVER YAOGUI ARE HERE!!!!!!!!! They are both amusing and heartbreaking.

All of the characters are more complex than I initially expected. None are ever fully in the right all the time. Each have strengths and weaknesses, good and bad.

[lomappreciationblog]

LOM Anime OP screenshot dump!

So I've calmed down a bit from last night enough to take proper screenshots of the OP lol. Here's the link to the Warner Bros. account if you haven't watched it yet! https://youtu.be/1wqIWMssfu4

If you haven't played the Jumi arc in Legend of Mana though, warning for spoilers! I beg of you, please play and finish it first.

This is a long post, so warning for that as well. I have so many thoughts about it.

Oh, and as expected, the music sounds beautiful!

Obligatory shots of our protags. Don't they look just adorable, though? I'm so, so happy to see them.

Lady Blackpearl! And wow, that is a beautiful shot of the Bejeweled City/Etansel in the background. I'm so excited to see it.

Alexandrite looks really cool! I'm pretty stoked we get to see what they looked like as a Jumi knight. I love that you get to see Alex and Sandra's outfits in it and the fact that their core has two colors.

For comparison, here's the game art. Alexandrite has Alex's ponytail, pants and shoes, but has Sandra's green top - actually, it looks like they are wearing Sandra's whole outfit over Alex's outfit.

Though I am a little sad that since Alexandrite and Blackpearl are featured in the OP, they won't be able to pull off the plot twist that these two exist and are key characters in the Jumi saga. I always found it interesting how in the game, Alex just looks like a harmless NPC until you connect the dots.

Also, this is speculation, but I'm also wondering, is Alexandrite going to be a different persona from Alex and Sandra? In the game, judging from some conversations between Blackpearl and Sandra, Sandra is the "true" persona, and Alex is simply a disguise. In the manga, it's reversed - Alex is the original persona and Sandra is the disguise. I wonder what direction will the anime take? I'm hoping we get to see more of Alexandrite as they were, personally.

Aww, Florina. :'<

Diana leading the Jumi. Pretty cool since we don't get to see much of her doing active stuff in the game! And it's neat that Rubens is the first in battle he is Diana's Knight and for all their flaws, Rubens loved Diana a lot.

Oh, and the background here looks a lot like Luon Highway!

Speaking of my man Rubens - look at him being an actual Knight! I was expecting he also uses a weapon but it makes more sense he uses fire attacks because he is the Flame of Hope. I like the little detail that his core flashes when he uses his attack here too.

Speaking of Rubens, I hope he gets a bigger role in the anime because the game seriously does him dirty by killing him in his only quest - even the manga just kills him straight away! So the fact that's features so prominently in the OP makes me think he might have a bigger role and I really, really hope so.

Now for the mystery blue Jumi #1! She must be a knight judging by the fact she's fighting alongside Rubens and Blackpearl. She also has an overall water theme with her attacks and the anchor accessory. I'm guessing she's an aquamarine Jumi?

I'm happy we get to see more unique Jumi because the Bejeweled City was just palette swaps of Esmeralda, Rubens and Diana when you repopulate it.

Mystery blue Jumi #2! I can't get a read on this guy either - but I'm guessing he's a sapphire Jumi? He does look a bit like Elazul with regards to the hairstyle, so maybe they're related, but probably not. Oh - and there was an unnamed Jumi in the Drowned Dreams quest, one whose core has the power to show events that happened in the sea. Could it be either of the new characters shown?

The most the OP hints at is a relation with the Lucky Clover sisters, so my other guess is he was their knight or guardian. Speaking of the Lucky Clover - look at them!!! They're all here and I love their designs sooo much! It's perfect - in the game they're just color swaps of Esmeralda so I'm glad we get to see what they actually look like.

Speaking of my girl Esmeralda - she's here with the others at the end of the OP, so my hope is she also gets a bigger role because she also ends up just getting killed off in the original game...

Please, justice for my girl and let her show she's actually studying magic!

One last thing to note is that they're fighting a Jewel Beast in the OP!

I spent a bit of time speculating about Alexandrite in this post, but I'm actually happy with all the other neat details shown. Can't wait to see this!

[rahleeyah]

So this is kind of random, but a while back you had reblogged a post about fanfic authors' knowledge bleeding through into the work and mentioned that you were curious about if you did that. I've been contemplating that a little so I thought you might be interested in a response.

First, I'll say I don't think you do that in the way the OP was describing. I think you do an excellent job of meeting you audience where they're at and then building what knowledge you want us to have for the story to work. I feel like that comes down to exposition and you are great at exposition.

That being said, my undergrad major was in English and I feel like I've never been able to turn off the part of my brain that it always analyzing who the author is and what they're saying between the lines. Every author that's ever lived has put their own context into writing so like it's not a bad thing. But I thought I'd tell you the things that I've guessed about who you are based on your stories.

1) I think you have good parents and a nice family. Idk if this is actually true or not, obviously people can write about good families without having one, but there's something about the language you use and the assumption that the natural order is for parents to be selfless and set boundaries and for families to care about each other. I think the parenting in hof definitely made me think that, but also trying to think back I think I thought about it in the two stories with Elliot's sister and maybe hov or monsters or even haunted (I love haunted!!). I don't think this is a bad thing at all, I think just coming from a place of having a fairly dysfunctional family myself I had thought "I think this girl has a nice family."

2) I think you are not Catholic. Again this is something that I think is different about us and so it stood out to me. I think Catholics tend to just be a bit more practical about their religion and it feels a little mystical when you talk about Elliot's Catholicism. To be clear, I love the way you write this. I love any time you engage with Elliot's religion. I just think more Catholics aren't really engaging with their religion all that much. Like it's more about just doing what you're told? Idk I guess I'd say it reads as either an outsider, or super devout and given the rest of the context I do not think you are a super devout Catholic. Elliot is though so that really could just be down to good writing and I'm making things up.

3) I guessed you were gay. The way you write you queer characters is so perfect to me. Like I think people get bogged down in trying to make queer characters seem normal and organic without realizing that queer characters ARE normal and organic. Like can straight writers write good gay character? Absolutely. But do they usually? Eh. I'm trying to think if this assumption pre-dates Jimmy from hof. Was Elliot's new partner from hov gay? I can't remember when I started thinking that, but it's been around a while.

4) I thought you might be British. This one is funny. Idk if it was just because a lot of people on ao3 are or if there's something else. I think you just have a good vocabulary and I'm crazy sometimes.

Anyway, now that I've written this I'm not sure if I should send it. I love your writing so much and I'd die if you thought I was being critical, I just was thinking this was a fun/funny way to engage with the material. Okay I'm going to send it, but please know none of this was intended to be negative at all. You writing is such a gift to me. And also my experience with literary analysis is that the people doing the analyzing are often the most biased, short-sighted people of them all and we tend to completely miss the point more often than not.

🧍‍♀️

I -

Wow you read me lmao

Please don't be sorry this is DELIGHTFUL and also incredibly on point like

I do have good parents and a nice family. And that's precious to me, I've always felt incredibly lucky bc of them, and so when I write about family - esp about Elliot and Olivia making a family - a lot of the time it is bc I want to give something good to the characters, I want to make family good for them, even if their family of origin hurt. And yeah a lot of my relationships with my own siblings informed the fics about Elliot's sister. My mother was the best person I have ever known, and a lot of the time when I'm writing about family I'm really just writing about her, and how much I admired her generosity and her heart and the work she put in to make family something worth having.

And I am not Catholic I'm not anything but I was raised evangelical and I'm a melodramatic bitch with a background in classics so I always go big on the mysticism 🤣

And I am really happy my gayness bleeds thru 🤣🤣🤣I honestly can't remember now but yeah I do think Elliot's partner in hov (Sam) was gay.

And I am not British but I spent a good idk like. Five years writing fic for British and Australian shows and the Australian show I wrote the most for was set in the 60s, so the pacing and tone and turns of phrase were different. I had myself trained to use "mobile" instead of "cell phone" and as many of the other little Britishisms as I could remember and it still crops up from time to time. I also always use the British spelling for grey rather than the American gray bc I just think grey looks nicer. So that was particularly intuitive even if the conclusion wasn't correct the evidence was there 🤣

Well done you I'm impressed lmao

[mlynar-nearl]

heya so sorry i havent asked anything in a long while lifes been really hectic haha and i only rmb'd that i said id ask more after i saw ur latest mytol fic (oops....)

anyways it was a really beautiful fic !! i really like the way you write about uncle nearls grief and the way he and toland just go through it, one step at a time, but only when uncle is ready to move on and all. i just think its really neat man....

also on another thought i would love to hear more about ur oc (as always!) how do you think hed fare as a deployed operator tbh ? like putting him into ingame contexts such as uh trials of navigators/is2/sss settings, how do you think hed react? since technically such enemies are pretty... uhm, lets just say the power lvl in ak is cracked. yeah, so how do you think shealtiel would do ? im just curious to know more ww and i think putting them into ingame contexts are cool and fun (hehe) ps trials of navigators is.... i hate the ultimate trial and i hate mandragora i havent started ch 9 out of laziness but i hate her so much alr also wow this is a very long ask im very sorry haha i hope ur well <3

LMAO no please don't worry and take care of yourself! glad you liked the fic, i think grief is such an integral part of who mlynar is and how he interfaces with the world right now. think i made a post about that last night. he grieves for his brother and SIL so, so deeply, and you can see the through-line to why he's so against what his nieces are doing. he doesn't want to lose them, too.

as for my oc! shealtiel! i love him!

i think in terms of gameplay he would unfortunately be pretty niche, but niche in a way that i specifically enjoy, haha. i've said in response to another anon (unless that was you? dunno) that he would be my personal favorite archetype, the deadeye sniper, with a focus on debuffs/crowd control. fartooth is one of my favorite units (eternally glad i built her) and i think she doesn't get nearly enough credit for what she can do if set up correctly. i think shealtiel would need a functionality similar to fartooth's dodge ignore to see stronger use in things like IS and TFN, but in my experience, snipers fall off so hard in SSS that i see basically no way to legitimize any but the strongest of snipers (chalter, pozy.) i think that the funniest/ideal thing for his lore would be that he works very well as a counter to enemies and bosses like andoain, who rely on not being blocked and high dodge when he sets down the dodge field. since andoain is his mortal enemy (?) (questionable at best) it makes sense for him to be a concerted counter to these things. plus, the grappling rope arts i gave him just applies well to crowd control, and that would probably see the most effect on enemies that are unblocked/cannot be blocked.

i'm so sorry about mandra. she's suuuch an annoying boss sometimes. my pro tip is that in her second phase you can bait her into dropping the pillars on herself with a FRD or similar and the pillars deal her true damage. you can also bait her laser beam by dropping two ops on her. eg surtr + nearlter s2 where surtr baits the laser beam and nearlter does the real damage. or use ranged damage to keep her from having anything to attack (gg, pozy typewriter, my beloved fartooth although the last section of ultimate trial has very few fartooth lanes). hope this helps !