#no she was too BUSY GIVING MONOLOGUES IN ASIDES

[highwaydiamonds]

Nearly everyone involved with Netflix's Persuasion should be slapped in the face with a glove. They have insulted us with drivel on screen, and I, for one, demand satisfaction.

[demonslayedher]

Things that went through my head while watching this episode: --"it's so nice to be able to get wrapped up in this and know about I'm about to get new content" was certainly something that went through my head by the end of the episode, but I was also reminded of how it felt a little too drawn out and over saccharine, and how the extra long length of this episode did not feel it served it fully well. I've come to be more forgiving of the excess happy fluff at the end of this season, and I will defend it as follows, but I still would have preferred they reign it in a little so we don't forget about how hard-won that battle was with how chipper and energetic everyone is.

--But you know what? They deserve it. They are functioning on the rush of relief, and it took a while for them all to gather down there on the grass. Like, it's kind of sweet that the people who first got to celebrate this victory with the Kamado siblings were a trio of swordsmiths who would have felt awful if Nezuko had to die on their accord. These weren't even swordsmiths whom Tanjiro hung out with much, but their lives were just as worthy.

--It was nice to see the group celebration expanded on a bit, but I think what got me feeling like it was overdone was seeing Mitsuri be overwhelmed with gratitude specifically on Nezuko's behalf too, since she was the one not to witness the peril Nezuko was in. I feel it was enough to have have Mitsuri be relieved on everyone's behalf, and to have her be shocked that Nezuko is there in sunlight, which is cute and funny. No need to quite rehash what Tanjiro has just momentously been through. And this is coming from some who really, really loves Mitsuri & Nezuko interaction. It would have been totally in-character to have left Mitsuri blissfully unaware of how awful Nezuko's experience was unless someone point-blank tells her that Nezuko almost didn't make it. Then the extra gratitude specifically for Nezuko would feel earned.

--And my gosh, Ufotable, you sure sold Nezuko's pain. I am still so impressed.

--I also initially did not like just how playful it is to have Nezuko and Tanjiro running away from Haganezuka, because it takes me out of how much peril they were just in. But hey, if there are two characters who are totally fine, it is Nezuko (the being the point that she is way more than fine) and Haganezuka (who will always have energy for enacting sword justice).

--But hey, besides that? Sure, it's pleasant to see them be so happily relieved. This isn't even "we defeated two Upper Moons" triumph, it's just "we're alive, Nezuko is in the sun, Muichiro remembers things, we're alive, we're alive, we're alive." Like, a littttle bit more "WHOA, THOSE WERE UPPER MOONS" like after defeating Gyutaro & Daki would have been nice.

--And like........ that whole final scene... it has its very cute points, just getting to see the swordsmiths interact more since this was their season to have some well-deserved spotlight, both for the work they do and as characters. But it played that "everyone loves Kamado Tanjiro (but he never takes the credit)" note a little too loud. Some things play more nicely with subtlety, but hey, Ufotable wanted to go out with a triumphant statement. I want to be forgiving of that, but... those villagers were busy trying to hurry out of that village. : / And I really hope that Genya, Muichiro, and Mitsuri got the same treatment, but I doubt anybody went collecting confetti each time.

--So anyway, setting those grievances aside!!

--MUZAN MONOLOGUE. Like, it was good, but it always give me flashbacks to Nomura Mansai's Muzan monologue in the Noh rendition, which was chilling. Still, this anime version was great, and I love me all those extra touches they expanded his Heian life with. Muzan isn't all that complicated of a villain. He was always spiteful human who wanted to take out his frustration by destroying other people. Then he got power, but spending half of his time on the brink of death for a thousand years is like being spit in the face. Sure, you're powerful, buddy, until somebody opens a window. And I like that Muzan is uncomplicated. It's his utter disregard for others that made him a villain in the first place, and he has never and will never change.

--And that is why one of my favorite Muzan moments ever is how he doesn't even both to pick his feet up or step around the two corpses on the floor as he exits the room. Other people really are nothing but furniture to him, and that little action--or lack of action, rather-- speaks so loudly about his character.

--Imagine how different the rest of the series would have been if Hantengu's head didn't spin in Nezuko's direction?

--Nezuko's victory over the sun deserves how much it got milked, because in the context of the series, she had in fact made the greatest achievement of any character in this series. Sure, Tanjiro has just killed Upper Moon Four, but it only took the Corp a little over a hundred years to accomplish killing an Upper Moon. Nezuko, within three years of being turned into a demon, has accomplished what Muzan has failed to do for over a thousand years. What's more, this is entirely through Nezuko's own power; there was no one who could have helped her accomplish this. Tamayo could only observe with wonder.

--Truly, Nezuko has "prioritized" this over, say, reattaining her sense of self. I see Nezuko's demon development as being a bit infantile. When she was first "born," so to speak, she was not aware of herself as an individual being, only that she hungered, and that she had just undergone some terrible loss, and that Tanjiro was all she had left. After a little sleep it got easily to process that Tanjiro was someone who she understood, and even as she started to gain some sense of self, it revolved around Tanjiro and his welfare. Listening to Urokodaki and Tanjiro as she slept, and perhaps seeing memories of her family as she dreamed probably put together something more basic, but she probably did not remember anything more than her family's faces and how deeply she cares about them. I think little by little as she started gaining more of an awareness of others as individuals and appreciating that there is more in the world she enjoys than just her brother's wellbeing, she probably gained more and more of an understanding of being someone named Nezuko and having a mission to fight demons with everyone else she has come to care about, and with, a high level of ability to understand language, but because she had the muzzle this whole time, she had no need to try to use words herself, so she didn't prioritize this either.

--I bring that all up just to say that she might have (without words) been thinking, "oh, I know what this is called. This is 'morning.' People are supposed to say something, what it is? Oh, right! Gu--gOoD mOrnNinG~"

--And then it's like, "OH, I CAN COMMUNICATE!!! THIS IS FUN!!!!! NEW POWER!!!"

--So proud of you, Nezuko

--I like that Ufotable stressed her daytime eyes still looking very inhuman. It stresses how something is still very off about her existence. Nobody is used to seeing a daytime demon. (I prefer her nighttime eyes, though.)

--But also that is such Kimetsu Logic to do a thing and then explain the thing without spoiling it. Thank you for your letter, Tamayo-san.

--Now, Tanjiro, though. You know that he's making it harder and harder to uphold Corp rules about what makes a Pillar. Haha, no, Tanjiro is no Pillar! He only cut the heads off those Twelve Moon demons because he had Pillars helping him! Haha, somehow he is still the same rank as Zenitsu and Inosuke after chopping the head off Upper Moon Four! (Zenitsu and Inosuke, what the fresh hell have you two been up to in order to match rank with Tanjiro???)

--But also, it is wicked cool how Tanjiro is just turns the Mark on now like a lightswitch, and that Ufotable switches up in the animation in a way that shows he's going at full throttle. (Meanwhile, our Marked Pillar friends looked just a little more blithe than their usual blithe selves.)

--I find it totally legit that he could suddenly use Thunder Breath, since Sun Breath is the source of all of them, so the concepts would be the same anyway.

--Those last hits Tanjiro gets in on Hantengu too, very cool. I love how many tries it takes to get that hit, too! Hantengu is full of surprises and I have come to appreciate him a lot more over the course of this rewatch. If I ever, say, get a skiddish hamster, maybe I'll name it Hante or something.

--Love the sound design on the mountain setting, especially when Muichiro calls out to Tanjiro from up on the cliff. That sounded SO GOOD in the theater.

--Also, just, a huge shout out to all of Ufotable's construction of settings. Really, really, wonderful.

--And the sounds on SUCH A REALISTIC PANIC ATTACK, and movements, right now to how Tanjiro's fingers shake. Man, way to stress me out. I sort of what to speed it all up to see how quick this all went down as Tanjiro was panicking, but the only parts that were really slowed down were watching Hantengu run. It was all so painfully slow and was all happening too fast. What an awful moment.

--and I can't wait for Tanjiro to reflect back on that when talking with Himejima

--This episode was Nezuko's biggest triumph, but at least for a few moments, it was also Tanjiro's biggest loss.

[theiloveyousong]

hiiiiii um. prompt. the nerds (richie ruth peter) and steph celebrating hanukkah together maybe

hi anon ilyyy! this was soooo fun 2 write <3 might flesh it out and plop it on ao3 tbh. it got away from me

Snow falls in a thin layer outside Hatchetfield High. The middle of December chill seeps in through the windows and doors, overpowering the weak heating and giving everyone an excuse to wear a coat during class. In the third floor Biology Accelerated classroom, Steph leans over and taps Pete on the shoulder. She smiles at him with a bit of nervousness. “Uh, so what if I told you I wasn’t listening to any of what Mrs. Mulberry is saying?”

Pete makes a face at her. “Steph! Come on, we’ve been over this. You have to try to get good grades, they’re not just going to happen!”

Steph grins. “Sooo… if I asked you to come to Pasqualli’s tonight and help me study?”

Pete’s face falls. “I would, Steph, I really want to, but it’s the first night of Chanukah, and Ruth and Richie and I always do something.” He must see the badly concealed disappointment in her face, because he backpedals and adds “But you can come over too, yeah! That would be great, and I’m sure Richie and Ruth would be glad to have you there.”

Steph raises an eyebrow. “Sure, Spankoffski.” Pete chuckles a bit.

When the bell rings out at the end of eighth period, Richie races down the hall to get to his car. He stops in his tracks when he sees Pete and Steph standing by the driver’s side door, Pete with an ashamed expression on his face and Steph leaning against the car making a face at her phone. She looks up at Pete. “Dictator said I’ve been released for a couple hours, so we’re good to go. You wanna ask the ner- Oh. Hi Richie.” She gives him a lazy wave. A couple more drops of sweat drip down Pete’s face. Richie swipes Pete aside.

“You invited Stephanie Lauter to our Chanukah party? Without asking?” he hisses.

Pete smiles a guilty smile. “Yeah? Sorry?”

Richie drops Pete’s shirt and holds his hands up. “Fuckin’ useless, Pete!” He sighs. “Geez, I didn’t know you thought Steph was so kawaii.” Pete’s face turns purple, and he splutters incoherently for a bit before Richie shushes him dramatically. “It’s okay, Peter. I will become your sensei… and educate you on how to talk to your waifus.”

Pete frowns. “Don’t call her that.” Richie mimes pushing up a pair of glasses, and Pete snorts.

Just then, Ruth stumbles out of the front door, fumbling with a huge binder full of sticky tabs and her water bottle. She almost drops the bottle while flipping through the pages of the binder, marked ‘BBQ Monologues Lighting Script - 2020 - Property of Ruth Fleming - Trevor don’t fucking touch this and stop changing your lines!!!!!!’. Pete lunges forward to help her catch it, and she pats him on the back while scribbling down a cue. “Thanks, Pete, sorry, busy!” she rushes out, dumping the pile of things in the backseat with a sigh. She looks up and makes eye contact with Steph, who’s been staring at her for at least thirty seconds. They look at each other. They keep looking at each other. Richie waves a hand in front of Ruth’s face, and her eyes snap back into focus. “Okay! Let’s get this party started!” she yells, grabbing Steph’s hand and pulling her into the crowded backseat. Pete slides into shotgun, and Richie starts the car.

At Pete’s apartment, Ted’s car is nowhere to be found. A menorah balances precariously on the windowsill, visible from the parking lot. The nerds pile out of the car, giggling while walking up the staircase inside the building. Pete jiggles his door handle and it slowly creaks inward. “Oh my God,” he groans, “Ted left the door unlocked again.”

He pulls out his phone and dials a number. It rings for a couple seconds, and then Ted’s voice buzzes out from the speakers with a smug “What’s up, Petey?”

Pete scowls at the screen. “If you keep leaving the front fucking door unlocked all day and there’s a robber here when I get home, I swear I will help them take all your things.”

Ted chuckles over the phone and starts a sentence, but is cut off by the sound of covers shifting and a sleepy voice drawling, “Teddy? Who is that?”

Ted hastily says “Okay talk tomorrow get sleep or whatever love you bye!” and hangs up.

Pete stares dumbfounded at his phone, no longer making noise. ”…What?” He pushes open the door. “So. Latkes.”

–

There’s a hazy buzz in the air as the lightbulbs flicker. Steph is playing with Pete’s hair as he lays in her lap, Ruth and Richie still engaged in a dreidel face off. They both keep spinning נ, and are getting worryingly competitive. “It’s a game of luck, you know,” Pete hollers from his place on the couch.

Ruth yells, “You only think that since you always win!” She spins the dreidel a bit too aggressively, causing it to spin right off the table and land under the couch.

Richie cackles. “Omae wa mou shindeiru! Remember, Ruth, off the table is losing a turn! And now I will swoop in and secure my victory, with…” He grabs another dreidel from the tray and spins it. He lands on a ℷ. Richie jumps up from his seat on the floor. “Hell yes! Richie Lipschitz, the ultimate champion of TopTourney 2020! Take that, Ruth!”

Ruth slaps him on the ankle, stretching out over the worn-out carpet. “That’s only cause Pete didn’t play this year.” She groans, sliding her headgear off and placing it on the table. “I’m fucking starving. Can we eat?”

Pete traipses into the kitchen, yelling commands over his shoulder and tying on an apron with ‘Best Bubbe Ever’ printed on it. Ruth and Richie fan out, Richie shredding potatoes and Ruth searching through the overstuffed fridge to find the old jar of applesauce. Steph just stands in the middle of the kitchen, people swirling around her and scraps of potato peel flying past her into the garbage can. She shakes her head a bit to clear it, and retreats into the living room. Clearly they have some sort of thing going on.

Several minutes later, Pete emerges from the potato-fueled cloud with a plate of perfectly fried latkes. Steph perks up at the table. “The Lord giveth indeed,” Richie cracks as he pours a glass of grape juice. “Kiddush?” They sit around Pete’s cramped kitchen table, all their plates barely fitting. Conversation flows easy as they tear into the latkes. Ruth dumps a heap of sour cream on hers, and Steph swipes a finger through it and throws it at Pete. It splats on the lense of his glasses, dripping down slowly and plopping on his lap. The room goes silent. Pete slowly wipes off his glasses, picks up his cup of water, and splashes it in Steph’s face. Ruth starts giggling uncontrollably.

Later, they’re all gathered around the window of the living room. Pete strikes a match, lights the shamash, and hands it to Ruth. She starts singing the blessings over the candles as she slowly lights the first candle. She has a good voice, clear and genuine. Shame she’s never felt confident enough to really sing. When the candles are lit, Pete reaches out to take Steph’s hand. He shakily starts the Shehecheyanu, voice flickering like the flames of the menorah. Ruth joins in, and Richie follows suit, grabbing Pete and Ruth’s hand. Even when the blessing is done, they stand there watching the flames dance and waver. No one says anything for a while.

–

Pete waves goodbye from his window to Ruth, Richie, and Steph as they schlep boxes of leftovers out to Richie’s car. Steph shifts the box of sufganiyot over to one hand as she waves back with a hesitant grin. Ruth taps her on the shoulder. “Uh, Steph, we’re going to shul tomorrow for Shabbat services, and we’re gonna hang out at Richie’s after. Would you, like, like to come?”

She grimaces nervously, and Steph smiles. “Yeah, I think I’d really like that.”

[adelaidedrubman]

2, 6, 12 (sfw) + 3, 4, 9 (nsfw) for JohnJess!

thank you again beloved and sorry that these took awhile and for the long answers, particularly on 12 you kinda activated my trap card for something in wildfire i like talking about:/

2. Who’s the messiest? The cleanest?

john leaves most of his unattended mess in the arts and crafts zone and keeps their living areas fairly tidy and presentable. at least compared to jestiny “passenger’s seat full of chip bags and energy drink cans” rook, who lives like this.

6. Going out to eat: Who pays? Who orders the most food? And who has dessert?

honestly they don’t go out to eat that often? it’s usually eating around the house for them or grabbing food to go while on some other type of outing.

most of the time they do dine out it’s a jessie dragging them into some kind of dive (or loudly announcing she’s going there so john will follow) situation because that’s the only place she’ll set foot. and similarly she’s usually just going to steam ahead and order/pay for whatever she’s getting as well, and if he wants to order something too that’s his business. he often doesn’t — not much to suit his palate (so he claims, before stealing her food) and he’s mainly just there to bother jessie anyways, so she gets the ordering the most food award too.

12. Can they stand silence? Who talks the most? Who talks the least?

i mean, beyond the extremely obvious “they are both physically incapable of shutting up” vibe... i actually intentionally make it a Theme that the answer to that first question is a very unexpected yes, actually. while shutting up is still a rarity because they just have so much to say both in general and to each other, they can in fact feel comfortable in silence together.

like, in wildfire, john directly tells the reader quite adamantly and earnestly in an extended internal monologue that leads chapter 11 that he Hates Silence, he’s always Hated Silence, and his actions in that chapter (going into full hysterics when joseph asks he for once, in his life, Don’t Talk just Listen and Think) demonstrate as much.

...except that there are two distinct instances during his interaction with jessie in the chapter just prior in which he is explicitly comfortable with jessie briefly dropping their conversation to demand or impose silence. and he immediately goes on the very next chapter to in fact feel so comfortable existing in silence with her that he falls asleep during jessie’s requested Hour of Silent Reflection, turning it into a full eight. so john what is the truth. (it’s that they both feel comfortable and confident enough in how the other Reacts to them and their strange fucked up bond that they can tolerate silence with each other when they couldn’t otherwise.)

jessie is generally more comfortable with silence (despite her self-proclaimed need to not hear herself think sometimes) and does talk less overall (easy designation to win), in general and when they’re together. with others she tends to be fairly closed off and wont to shut down despite being assertive and jocular. and with john she tends to commit to longer stretches of silence at some misplaced attempt at stonewalling and not giving him the satisfaction of a verbal response. 50/50 odds on if she also ends up being the person breaking the silence.

3. Any kinks they clash on?

nothing major. there are perhaps things they’d say on paper they’re into more than the other, but most of those preferences are generally secondary and easily cast aside for whatever the most spontaneous desperate patheticcore cringecore sex they can have is regardless.

john would say that he wishes jessie would give up control more often, but he’s lying. he is in fact quite satisfied with the fine line between getting brat tamed and being a bossy power bottom he is allowed to occupy, and if she did it would definitely be a dog that caught the car problem:/ he would also wholeheartedly proclaim that he does not share the blasphemy kink that jessie also swears she does not have, but. see below answer to #4, i think jestiny “i would like to corrupt the thought of this sacred location for you and that somehow makes jerking you off a personal victory for me” rook in fact might just have a blasphemy kink. jessie would claim to “not be into” a lot of “weird fucking shit john’s into” then proceed to fire off a list of kinks he has never once actually voiced interest in while with her and may or may not actually have.

4. Oddest place they’d have sex?

...i really couldn’t quantify it. spread eagle alley is definitely the most normcore? (i kid, they manage to do it in their own bedroom every now and then.) actually Weirdest™ hookup is probably in future wildfire chapters i won’t spoil, although already (spoiler alert) points for the recent sex one of the hay bales at the cult baptism area. (yeah the same one jessie got drowned at. different time though she wasn’t actively hostage or drugged.) in aus points for eden’s gate outreach center and altar at the convent as some of the weirdest i think.

9. Quickest turn ons? Immediate turn offs?

there is usually a very particular moment when john is trying very hard to get jessie’s attention and she’s making a big show of ignoring him when he finally says or does something that causes her to stop everything she’s doing and direct the entirety of her (usually surface level angry) attention towards him. and that moment is like a flip of a switch on the whole interaction, a pin drop moment when you can practically hear him immediately getting rock hard. besides that, he loves any time she just reaches out to grab him. he loves when she pulls his hair or grabs him by the hips, and when she trails her fingers along his collarbone.

as much as she claims to be irritated by it, jessie gets very aroused by the way john tends to just. hover in her personal space and wait for her to make a move. she likes when he whispers in her ear and gives her ghosting touches, brushing her hair out of the way or picking something off her clothing far too intimately. she really likes when she can hear his voice get breathier around her even when he’s not trying to whisper. and she’s officially off to the races anytime he finally gives up the teasing game to just break down and tell her what he wants in his mix betwen begging/demanding voice.

and not many honest to god turn offs with them, most would-be moodkillers they just openly complain about then move past with equal enthusiasm. only actual turnoff would be being interrupted. (maybe do it in private more then, freaks.)

[watchmegetobsessed]

Sorry super busy with the festival and work but yeah… idk. I am going to try to be as spoiler free as I can. Also I hope you actually get this because it’s gonna be long and I’m on mobile rn! The film as a whole was enjoyable and I thought the storyline was interesting, but I do think Harry’s performance was lacking. Overall he did a fine job, and his physical acting was good, but some of the line deliveries were… bland and very “I’m-just-learning-how-to-act”. He was just reciting the lines not actually putting proper intonation behind them. I think he could improve and do better in future roles (hopefully / maybe). His character is very much a himbo, and while I get why Patrick falls for him, I actually don’t get why Marion does aside from Tom is pretty. But that could be because we get to hear Patrick’s internal monologue. The film does do a good job and showing how all these characters are flawed and products of their time, so I think in that sense it was quite well. And as Harry mentioned I do see how they showcase the parts of ourselves we don’t always like. Really my biggest issue with the film is Harry’s acting. I think it’s also more noticeable because the rest of the cast was very strong. Linus Roache as the older Tom did an excellent job showing the bitterness, resentfulness and pain of a what that character would be feeling in the later timeline after going through his whole life, which really juxtaposes with H’s performance. I was sitting next to a press person and me and the girl (also industry) next to me where talking about the fact that we were disappointed in H’s performance and the press lady quietly laughed (rude but oh well) and while she couldn’t agree with us out loud we could tell she was like… yeah I’m definitely talking about his performance in my article. Also unrelated but apparently she had been promised a ticket for in conversation with Taylor Swift and then they took it away. So I just want to point out how much of a mess TIFF has been with tickets this year (and every year) because all of us industry people were complaining too! Now to talk about the actual conference part. I wish the moderator had asked Michael Grandage more questions as the director of the film but that’s coming from me being in the industry and wanting to hear from the filmmakers. I get marketing wise people care more about the actors. We were all also a bit disappointed that we couldn’t ask questions since in other TIFF screenings you often can but this was being recorded and showcased live so it wasn’t for us in the theatre. I did think Harry did a much better job talking about this film that what I saw him saying in Venice for DWD. You can tell he did care about this story a lot. He definitely put lots of thought into it. (Or they talked to him after Venice haha). He was a sweetheart and even blew a kiss to one of the people in the front row (I really wish I had moved closer once the film ended but I didn’t want to be craning my neck during the actual film so I had sat in the middle of the theatre). He definitely was looking at us in the audience though and subtly interacting. It’s funny though because they did ask for us to stay in our seats during the press conference and a bunch of people not only left when the film ended but also midway through the press conference. It does always happen but it is still always rude and bothers me. Don’t come to a screening where the filmmakers are going to be talking afterwards if you can’t stay! Oh and some poor person’s phone went off in the middle which my friend told you could be heard in the live stream lol. Anyways there’s my opinion and experience - E

ah interesting! honestly, i wasn’t expecting an oscar worthy performance from him, he is obviously just starting off so im gonna keep my expectations low lol, give him the chance to improve, im very curious about the movie now!!

[goddamnwebcomics]

“The best sex scene you’ve read in this blog?”

“Not cringy?”

Oh come now (no pun intended)…

Look, you know I rarely ever object to your riffing publicly, if at all, but I feel you are giving Jon way too much credit on this…His porn comics are mediocre at best, and just subtle bragging and ego-stroking at worst; it’s literally one of the main reasons why Jon even has the large following he has aside from the cosplay stuff. They flocked to this material like goldfish to flakes.

It’s really no different than MGA at the end of the day; It has the gratuitous “SCHLURP SCHLUP SCHLORP” sound effects and the typical porn comic cliches like loud moaning and exaggerated faces, all which try waaaaay too hard (no pun intended) to be arousing…only difference is its in a western looking artstyle. I’ve seen soap operas that have better sex scenes than this!

I’m just saying, a softcore sex scene with the typical aspects like erotica, introspective monologue which tbh may not always fit (que obligatory “thats what she said” quip), aesthetic beauty, et cetera and whatever can work much better than this cumshot nonsense. Take one good look at Berserk’s sex scene between Guts and Casca and just how deep it is. Even the writer behind Blacksad has used softcore atleast twice, albiet with as little detail as possible…but the warmth of the implications are still there. Hell, even a romcom like “Anyone but you” did it right; for me to even to suggest a romcom says alot about it.

Too many webcomic authors think they’re hardcore porn writer material and too many keep relying on that genre to illustrate a sex scene…it’s obnoxious to see. But this one is especially irritating given alot of factors.

It really depends on how much sex you want in your sex scene. Some people who haven't seen millions of webcomic sex scenes may find it uncomfortable while for others it's business as usual. You do make a fair point though, I will always oppose main comics having long drawn out hardcore sex scenes as well as canon porn comics because quite frankly there are readers who care about characters fucking and those who don't. It is interesting, a sex scene that is treated like well-refined art with its own depth. I mean, maybe it speaks a lot about modern webcomics, but I never considered that as a possibility.

[regenderate-fic]

When I Run Away (You're Who I Run To): Chapter 5

main post read on ao3

Word Count (Chapter): 2,251

Dan came by the next week. Yaz hadn’t worked with him in a few years, but they’d stayed friends all this time— they’d seen each other through enough drama, and by now Yaz trusted Dan more than just about anyone in the universe, with the possible exception of Rose. He’d been saying for weeks he was going to stop by as soon as Bad Wolf opened, but of course, he was also a full-time tattoo artist, and fairly popular at that: he didn’t exactly have the time to go around looking at other people’s studios. Even if it was Yaz. 

When he finally did show up, Yaz was in her studio with a client, midway through tattooing a set of mushrooms on their shoulderblade. She heard his voice in the waiting area, and then Amy’s in response, and she smiled to herself as she continued her work.

“Think Dan’s here,” she said to Bill, who was sitting to one side, splitting her attention between watching Yaz work and drawing her own designs. Bill had met Dan a few times, mostly because after Yaz switched shops, Dan had come by at the end of the day a few times to heckle her (and sometimes get a meal together, but that was secondary). 

“D’you want me to go tell him you’re busy?” Bill asked.

“Nah, Amy will,” Yaz said. “I’m almost done here, anyway.” 

Five minutes later, she heard footsteps in the waiting area again, this time accompanied by Penny’s noisy monologuing. She smiled to herself: Dan really wouldn’t be bored if Penny was there.

She finished the tattoo, being extra careful not to rush through it: it would’ve been easy, knowing her friends were outside, to rush herself, but she had very deliberately developed the ability to set that sort of impulse aside so that she could give each tattoo the time it deserved.

Finally, though, she wiped blood and ink off the design and took pictures to show her client (and for Rose to post on social media later), and once the client left, satisfied, she took the time to clean up her station before heading into the waiting area. Sure enough, Dan and Penny were there, Dan sitting in one of the available chairs, Penny leaning against Amy’s desk as she talked. As Yaz entered, Dan got up, pulling her into a hug. 

“How’s my favorite newbie?”

Yaz groaned. “Not sure you still get to call me a newbie when I'm eight years off my apprenticeship,” she replied. 

Dan stepped back, grinning. “Nah, you’ll always be little Yasmin to me.”

Yaz gave him a good-natured shove. “And I haven’t been ‘little Yasmin’ to anyone since years before we met.”

Dan countered her shove with a cuff on the shoulder. “Seriously, Sheffield, how are you?” 

“Never better,” Yaz said, and meant it. “Shop’s going well so far.”

“Looks like it,” Dan agreed. “Rose here?”

“Probably with a client,” Yaz said. She glanced towards the reception desk, on which Penny was still resting about half her body weight. “You’ve met Penny and Amy?”

“Yep,” Dan said. “Great conversation to be had in your waiting room. Penny was telling me she runs a bakery?”

“Yeah, across the street.” Yaz checked the clock on one wall: there was about half an hour until her shop officially closed for the day. “Penny, are you already closed?” 

“Yep,” Penny said. “That’s why I’m here, isn’t it? But if you want, you can come look around. Just can’t promise any baked goods.”

“Honestly, it’s kind of worth it for the paint job alone,” Yaz said to Dan. “I’ve still got to be here for half an hour. Stick around and we can go over after?”

“Sure,” Dan said. 

“You could always come by in the morning sometime, too,” Penny offered. 

Yaz and Dan both laughed at that: Yaz had witnessed years of Dan being late for work until he finally had enough clout to flat-out refuse to schedule appointments before eleven.

“Dan’s not really a morning person,” Yaz said.

“Well, that’s what the coffee is for,” Penny replied, not skipping a beat.

“You’ve still got to be a little bit awake if you're going to drink the coffee,” Dan said. 

Just then, Rose came into the waiting area, leading her own client behind. “Thought I heard voices,” she said. “Anyone want to see the nose piercing I just did on Quinn here?”

Her client stepped out from behind her with a shy wave and new jewelry in their septum.

“Hiya,” Yaz said. She nodded to the piercing. “Looks good, Rose.”

Rose beamed. “Thanks.” 

Yaz rolled her eyes. “Don’t let your head get too big.”

“Too late for that,” Rose replied, still grinning. 

Her client moved to the desk to check out with Amy, and Penny stepped away, flinging herself down in one of the chairs. Yaz watched as she somehow managed to do everything but sit in a normal position: she flailed for a few seconds, then wound up with one foot on the chair, one foot hanging over the edge, and her arms flung out at random. 

“Dan and I were going to go see Penny’s bakery at closing,” Yaz said to Rose. “Want to come?”

“Sure,” Rose said. 

As expected, they didn’t get any new customers in the next half hour— which meant that Yaz and Rose could sit in the waiting area with Amy and Penny and Dan, and soon enough Bill came out and joined them. The space was small, and when Bill came out she found herself lacking a chair, but Rose fixed the problem by squeezing herself onto Yaz’s chair, the two of them jockeying for space until Rose wound up half on Yaz’s lap, seeming completely unbothered by the situation. Yaz was well used to this by now— she wrapped an arm around Rose’s waist, keeping her from falling off the chair, and continued talking. 

By the time the shop had closed, not only had Rose agreed to come to the bakery, but Bill had also asked to go along, and then Penny had asked Amy if she wanted to come, with the result that Yaz felt like she was part of a tour group as they stepped into the shop and Penny flicked on the lights. Dan reacted with the appropriate amazement at the painted walls and space-themed memorabilia, and as he, Bill, and Amy wandered around the space, Penny went over and hopped up onto the counter, where her legs swung back and forth. Yaz and Rose drifted over to stand by her, but no sooner had they done so than she had hopped back off the counter.

“D’you know,” she said, “I might have some leftover pastries from this morning. Normally we sell them half-off, but, you know.” She shrugged. “Could spare a few. If anyone’s interested.”

“Oh, we don’t want to be taking food off your table,” Dan protested.

“Speak for yourself,” Bill said. “Yaz got me a croissant the other day. It was legendary .”

“Oh!” The Doctor grinned. “I’m sure I’ve got some croissants. And some homemade custard creams, if anyone’s interested.” Without another word, she disappeared into the kitchen. Rose took the opportunity to hop up onto the counter. She made eye contact with Yaz, and a second later, Yaz was on the counter too, her arm pressed against Rose’s. 

Penny came back out, carrying a plate haphazardly piled with various pastries and biscuits, including the promised croissants and custard creams. She set it down on a table, then whirled around, pointing at Yaz and Rose. “You took my seat!”

Rose nudged for Yaz to move over. There were a good few feet of counter between the cash register and the display cases: plenty of space for three people to sit, if those three people didn’t mind getting a bit close. Yaz moved over, and Rose did the same, which left room for Penny to grab three custard creams and hop up onto the counter, passing two of the biscuits to Yaz and Rose. 

“Brilliant,” she said, seemingly to no one in particular, and shoved half her custard cream into her mouth at once. 

“This is still legendary,” Bill said. She’d draped herself across two chairs and was now biting into a croissant. 

Penny kicked her legs. “Thanks!” Her voice was muffled: her mouth was still full of custard cream. “I work hard on those, you know.”

What had been intended as a five-minute tour of the place turned into another half-hour of talking as the pastries dwindled. Finally, Dan stood up and said, “You know, I think I’d better be getting home.” He grinned at Yaz. “Di and I have dinner plans.” 

Yaz grinned back. Dan and Di had been dancing around each other long enough— it was good to see them finally getting together. “You’d better stay in touch,” she replied, hopping off the counter. “Don’t let that new girlfriend of yours stop you from coming round.”

“Me? Never.” Dan clapped her on the shoulder. “Anyway, maybe I’ll bring her next time. Think she’d let you tattoo her?”

“You’d know better than me,” Yaz said. She pulled Dan into a hug. “See you around, Scouse.”

The group dispersed from there. Dan left, and Bill and Amy followed soon after. Yaz and Rose stayed behind to help clear up, although really there wasn’t that much to clear: it was just the one plate and a few chairs out of place. Still, Yaz straightened the chairs, and Rose swept crumbs off the tables and into her hand, and Penny took the plate back into the kitchen. Yaz could hear the clatter as she dropped it in a sink, and a second later she was right back out. 

“Thanks for coming by,” she said. “Always nice to have people around.”

“Even if we eat you out of house and home?” Rose joked. 

“Oh, especially then,” Penny replied. “Why did you think I became a baker?” 

“Fair enough,” Yaz said. She nodded to Penny. “See you tomorrow?”

“Bright and early!” Penny replied. “And I’m even supposed to have a new hire to train. Couldn’t think of better first customers than you two.”

Yaz glanced at Rose. “Can’t promise we’ll be early enough to be the first.”

“Oi, don’t look at me,” Rose protested. “I can get up when I want to.”

“No pressure,” Penny said hastily. “Was mostly a joke.” 

“No, we’ll be by,” Yaz said. She bumped her shoulder against Rose’s. “Whenever this one wakes up.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Yeah, ‘cause you’ve never slept in.”

“ One time , Rose! Six years ago ! And I was sick!” 

“We missed the whole marathon!” Rose protested.

“You were going to do a marathon?” Penny asked.

“Only of Rose’s favorite soap opera,” Yaz groused. “Which I then rented so we could watch later. When I wasn’t sick.”

Rose glanced at Penny. “See what I put up with?”

“Yeah, well, no one’s making you stay,” Yaz said. “You could’ve gotten out of all this at any time in the last eight years.”

“Yeah, but then I’d be out an alarm clock,” Rose teased. “Who else is going to make sure I get up in the mornings?”

“D’you need an alarm clock?” Penny asked. “I’ve got one upstairs that I engineered to honk like an old-timey car horn. Except Donna hates it, so I can’t use it. I could pop up and get it for you, if you like.”

“I do all right with my phone alarm, you know,” Rose said. “Not my fault if I’d rather not get up at the crack of dawn like Yaz.”

Yaz ignored her. “I kind of want to hear the old-timey car horn.”

Penny grinned. “Hang on just a tick.” She was out the door in a flash, and Yaz exchanged an amused look with Rose. Barely a minute later, Penny was back, holding out a cartoonish analog alarm clock with a curled horn attached to the top, struggling to catch her breath. “Right,” she said, sticking her tongue out as she fiddled with the clock. “If I just set it so the alarm goes off a minute from now…” And she set the clock on the table and stepped back. Yaz watched the clock with growing apprehension until it ticked over into the next minute. Finally, the minute hand ticked over, and what looked like the business ends of two metal forks clamped around the bulb, letting out an ear-splitting sound. 

Yaz was stunned into silence, but Rose burst into laughter. “That’s brilliant. Yaz, are you going to kill me if I put that in my room?”

“Er— the neighbors might,” Yaz said. She raised her eyebrows. “But I’ll already be awake by the time it goes off.”

“You’re welcome to it,” Penny said. “Honestly, I think I could make another, if I could track down more of those old horns.” 

“D’you do a lot of this?” Yaz asked, nodding to the clock. “I mean, tinkering with things?”

“Sure,” Penny said. “It’s a hobby. Just like baking, except usually it doesn’t go into an oven and you can’t eat it at the end. But you should see what I did to our toaster.” She paused. “Or, maybe not. It doesn’t technically work right now. I’m going to get it fixed up again, though.”

“Well, let us know if you do,” Yaz said. 

“Yeah, now you’ve got me curious,” Rose added.

Penny winked. “You’ll be the first to know. Promise.”

[perhaps-in-anotherdream]

“Holding The Entire World In Your Arms”

⌚WARNING⌚ This is just some random rambling LOL, containing spoilers from unreleased contents~ :>

Most of my rambling and fangirling usually don’t make it to my blog as I mostly tend to be more active on twitter and discord haha~

But–– this thought that suddenly hit me two days back somehow actually made me sit down and try to enlist this rambling on tumblr as well in a not-so-very articulate manner skfkskl LOL 💀

—

[it’s important to read the date since I’m not providing any context LOL]

The link of the date translation: Here💘

—

Those of you who are familiar with Victor’s contents, it’s no surprise that “holding hands” is practically Victor x MC’s lifeline haha~

And MC brings this to a whole new level when she says in the date—

“A long, long time ago. The first time you held my hand, I was bound to you right away.”

–

Snippet from S1 CH 4 MC’s dream sequence:

—

Now that throwback to 泽言哥哥 skfkskl

💘 • The significance of 泽言哥哥 ⁄(⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄

🎥 • Cilp of little MC calling little Victor 泽言哥哥 🥺

—

Anyway, moving on, next is the “hug,” or to be more precise – they both LOVE wrapping their arms around each other’s waist  ⁄(⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄

To be honest, the word “Love” seems like an understatement when you realize that the current counting of Victor x MC’s “arms around the waist karma” alone is 26 (it’s 27 if we count the shower karma too LOL).

However, in all of them, either Victor has his arms around MC’s waist, or it’s the other way around, except for one karma.

It’s his 5th birthday karma. In this one, they both have their arms wrapped around each other’s waist at the same time. This also perfectly symbolizes the gist of his birthday date––

MC’s grand confession, followed by Victor’s, and the both of them re-validating how the other person is their entire world.

–

The concluding remarks of their confession—

“I don’t have the whole world to give you. I only have myself. My most direct feelings, my unreserved heart, and my determination to bring you happiness infinite number of times.”

“This is an invitation. I don’t know how I can arrange you into my future, and this is the only way that I can think of. When one is used to being accompanied by someone, to being taken care of by someone, to being valued by someone, they will unavoidably become spoiled. Not only will they want it for every moment in the present, but they will want it for every moment in the future as well.”

More on “The World” (MC’s monologues):

Even if it is insignificant, I still want to give this person who has led me through the darkness countless times, a path of light sufficient to illuminate the curtain of night. I don’t know how many times I have gazed into his eyes and quietly told him about my greatest wish.

Victor, do you know… what a grand miracle it is to have you in this world.

Just like in that very moment he appeared in my life, sun shone through the cracks and fresh flowers bloomed in the wilderness. Since then, every curtain of night I have seen has magnificent stars. And, every daybreak that I have waited for, the first glimmer of dawn has filled the entire landscape.

—

Also,

MC’s single white rose in the form of a love letter––

When a single rose is given to someone you’ve been with for a long time, it means “You’re still the one” and white rose symbolizes “marriage”, also known as the “wedding rose”~

—

Needless to mention,

This date was the starting point of the unbroken escalating streak of Victor contents we’ve gotten so far, followed by—

them signing a new contract as business partners and taking on major projects together i.e. not just saying the words, but actually taking the actions towards building their future together 📝🚀

then “THE PROPOSAL,” which truly couldn’t be more perfect 🥺💍

and them moving in together, decorating their own home and everything—— 👩‍❤️‍👨🏡

All in all,

This karma practically is the visual representation of “holding your entire world in your arms” 😭💘🤲

–

ON A SIDE NOTE: EVERYTHING aside, I still am not over how MC literally arranged an exclusive drone show just for him. JUST LIKE THE CN FANS DO ON HIS BIRTHDAY EVERY YEAR HNNNGNNNNN 😭🤲

ALSO,

The word “gnomeshgh” in the karma refers to the tenderness you feel when someone shares an idea, a photo, a song, a passage etc., accompanied by a note that conveys that you were the face that came to the forefront of their mind when this thing first occupied their senses – that you’ve organically nestled your way into this other person’s cortices so that they no longer just sees remote objects in time and space, but rather a set of associations that lead back to you – recovering you once again from the self inflicted fallacy of aloneness.

THIS IS JUST SO VICTOR x MC!!!! AND IT JUST RE-VALIDATES EVERYTHING I RAMBLED ON SO FAR ಥ‿ಥ

—

[storiesofsvu]

Not So Blind Date

Warnings: Language, talk of medical stuff. Alex Cabot x f!reader Covers the “blind date” square on thatesqcrush ‘s Vday Bingo

As you finished up giving your patient a summary of how their surgery went, you gave them a warm smile, flipping the chart closed and tucking it under your arm before ducking out of the doorway. A voice (and connected body) jumped right into step with you causing you to jolt.

“Hey!”

“Jesus Zoey! Where did you even come from?” The younger nurse ignored your question, continuing on with her enslaght of words.

“What’re you doing on Valentine’s Day?” Reaching the nurses station you flipped open the chart, noting down a couple of other things while you replied.

“Like any self respecting single surgeon…I put in to be on call.”

“Okay, well that’s stupid. I’ve got a much better plan.”

“If you’re going to try and drag me ice skating it is friends off.” You cocked a brow, stilling your pen as you turned towards her. She laughed, knowing you meant well with your threat.

“No. A dinner date, I made a reservation at Oceans at eight.”

“Last time I checked you didn’t speak the vagina monologues.” You murmured, turning back to your chart.

“Not for us!” She laughed, “a blind date.”

“You want me…to go on a blind date…set up by you…on Valentines Day?”

“Please?” She shot you her best puppy dog eyes.

“What’s her name?”

“Can’t tell you.”

“What does she do?”

“Can’t tell you. It’s a blind date!”

You let out an exasperated sigh, placing a hand on your hip while you leant against the counter.

“Is she at least in my age range? How do you know her?”

“Yes! She’s a friend of my cousin’s, I met her at a Christmas party last year. She’s super nice, really pretty, really smart.”

“You’re sure she’s single and”-

“Part of the alphabet mafia? Yes and yes?”

“The what?”

“It’s a tik tok thing, I think? But yeah she’s gay. Pleeeease?” Pursing your lips together you pondered over it,

“Give me one good reason I should go on this date.”

“Aside from potentially meeting the love of your life?” You shot her a glare and she bailed, “there’s a hundred dollar credit on your bill.”

“Fine.”

“Yay!!!!!!” She squealed, “the reservations under Delac! Eight p.m, don’t be late!” She turned quickly from the counter and you called after her,

“You’re lucky you’re my favourite scrub nurse!”

Only a loud giggle was heard as she darted around the corner and you huffed out a breath, quickly jotting down the information in your phone so you wouldn’t forget.

*

And that was how you ended up pacing up to Oceans shortly after eight that Friday evening. You were barely a minute or two late, you’d started to internally panic over choices of clothing. It had been ages since you’d gone out on a date, you lived in a mix of scrubs and business casual at the hospital, depending on whether you were in surgery or not. Then you panicked over colour schemes considering it was Valentine’s before you said fuck it and grabbed your go to maroon sleeveless dress with a ruched skirt on one side.

Making up for lost time you jogged up the steps, glad to see there wasn’t too much of a crowd around the hostess stand, although, it was a later hour, most couples were probably already finished dinner. You gave the last name and party number to the hostess, saying you were meeting someone and she smiled, saying your guest had arrived a few minutes before you did. Slightly holding your breath you followed her through the restaurant and around the corner where she stopped in front of your table. The blonde caught the movement, glacing up with a curious look on her face, your eyes met briefly, her head tilted as your brow scrunched and the two of you instantly burst out laughing.

“Alex?” You managed through a laugh to nod to the poor hostess that you were fine, giving her as much of a thanks as you could between laughter.

“Y/n what the hell?” She laughed, standing from the table to pull you into a quick hug as you pecked each other’s cheeks before settling in at the table.

“I..is this some weird kind of set up by Zoey? I wouldn’t put it past her.”

“Who?” She asked, confused as ever.

“My scrub nurse, she’s Alison’s cousin, she said you met over Christmas?”

“Oh….the little brunette with way too much energy for her own good?”

“That would be the one.” You laughed, “I’ve never met Alison though…”

“I honestly think they didn’t realize we knew each other…”

In actuality, you and Alex had both attended Harvard at the same time, you studying medicine while she studied law. You’d met through mutual friends, over a couple of parties, or attended the weird mandatory classes for both degrees that really made no real sense to your end goal. You’d been friends ever since, both relocating to New York shortly after graduation as you made your way up the ladders of your respective careers. You’d kept in touch every so often, trying to meet for lunch or drinks at least once a month, that was of course, until Alex showed up in your OR with a gun shot to the shoulder. She’d always appreciated that she’d had a familiar face with her when the agents came to whisk her away, it made it seem somewhat less surreal, brought her back down to earth while she was still pretty hyped on on pain meds.

It wasn’t long before a server came over, you picked out a bottle of wine and a few appetizers to start with before you launched back into conversation, catching up on the years since you’d last seen each other.

“How long have you been back?” You asked, figuring it was an easy starting point.

“Almost three years.” Alex sighed, “I would’ve called, but…it felt weird to google you to get your number.” You laughed,

“It’s okay. I’m just glad I knew you weren’t dead.”

“I mean that would’ve made for an entertaining blind date.” She teased, pulling a laugh from you.

“Most definitely.” You smiled over a sip of wine, “you head back to SVU, or did you end up somewhere different?”

“No, an opening came up once I was ready to come back to the city, I’ve been a bit in and out, sharing it with a couple other prosecutors. It’s a big of a huge mess right now anyways.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of fresh faces around the hospital, haven’t seen Stabler in months.”

“Mmm” Alex hummed, swallowing back some Pinot, “forced into retirement.”

“Honestly, can’t say I’m surprised.”

The blonde laughed at the half smirk on your face. The chosen appetizers (shrimp cocktail, a bowl of edamame, a dynamite roll) found their way to the table shortly. You both picked over the food as the conversation flowed as if it hadn’t been years since you’d last seen each other. You were happy that the evening was going so smoothly, it helped that it was an old friend instead of a stranger, though dare you say, there was much more of a hint of flirtation than your previous lunches.

After splitting the filet mignon and free range chicken (with the added bonus sides of lobster Mac & cheese and Parmesan truffle fries…gotta use that full tab credit after all) you made sure the wine was drained before settling the bill.

Making your way out into the streets of Manhattan neither of you wanted the night to end, picking up some hot chocolate from a nearby stall before strolling through the park. Your little flirtations continued on, Alex shivered, using the excuse to link her arm through yours, tucking your bodies closer together. When you reached W85th you sighed lightly, turning to face her, knowing you’d have to split directions for the subway now.

“I had a really good time tonight.” You smiled, “it was amazing to see you again.”

“Same.” She replied, her lips curving up, “Can I ask you something?” You nodded, “I don’t suppose you’d be interested in grabbing dinner again next week?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“And what if this time it’s not a blind date…but an actual date.”

“That…sounds like a wonderful idea.” Alex’s cheeks flushed at the sparkle in your eye when you answered, “now can I ask you something?”

“Course.”

“Would it be okay if I kissed you?”

She uncharacteristically let out a small giggle, ducking her gaze from yours but nodded heavily. You chuckled softly, unearthing your hand from your coat pocket to cup her cheek as your lips met hers gently. A soft and tender kiss, lips curving up in smiles at the feeling of friendship morphing into more. You reminded yourself to say a very happy thank you to Zoey, as it turned out, unexpected not-so-blind dates could turn out to be the greatest thing to come from Valentines Day.

[hyperfixationtimego]

WHO LISTENS TO KAITO INFODUMPING ABOUT SPACE HEADCANONS!!!!!!! BECAUSE THE MANS DESERVES IT

Shuichi - OF COURSE SAIHARA LISTENS TO THIS SHIT BRO. THEY’RE SO IN LOVE AND EVERY TIME MOMOTA OPENS HIS MOUTH SHUICHI IS INSTANTLY LIKE 😍 yes tell me more……I am absolutely retaining this information………no don’t ask me questions just keep talking /j (I’m kidding he really does listen and find it very interesting!!! Constellations are his favorite 🥺) bruh straight up one of shuichi’s favorite things to do is sit down and watch his boyfriend pace around the room, excitedly stimming and raving over whatever space fact has him excited this week simply because he gets to Look™️ at Momota

Maki - says “do you wanna die” before he starts talking and then pretends not to listen but actually does. She also really likes sitting with him and listening to him, even if she doesn’t show it. Sometimes she’ll just spit random space facts she picked up from him in front of everyone and they’re all just like 🤡 hello??? Ms. Assassin????

Kokichi - he and Maki are 🤝 in this. Officially their stance on the matter is “if Momota doesn’t shut the fuck up right now I’ll sucker punch him.” but unofficially they are resting their heads in their hands and hanging on his every word. Like Kaito doesn’t typically come talk to Kokichi about space or anything, but whenever he does or Ouma overhears it it’s like O///////O

Kirumi - Mom said it’s my turn to listen to the astronaut himbo 😎 see what happens is she’ll be doing something and Kaito will find her and start chatting casually and then something will happen and Kaito will delve into Space Mode™️. Which automatically means Kirumi simply MUST stop what she’s doing and sit down to listen and engage in conversation. It’s not a request, per se, but………yes it is it absolutely is she is legally obligated to do this /pos

Gonta - THEY INFODUMP TO EACH OTHER!!!! THE CONCEPT OF “SPACE BUGS” IS SOMETHING THEY DISCUSS VERY OFTEN IT’S SUCH A FUN HYPOTHETICAL THEY LOVE IT

Korekiyo - even anthropologist man is not immune to the Luminary of the Stars’ charm because um everyone is in love with him actually??? Kaito is usually the only one to ever actively engage in Kiyo’s lectures aside from Shuichi, and they have a lot of fun discussing the history of space travel, as well as the effects it had on humanity. This is actually how they become friends!!!

Rantaro - they are comfortable just sitting and listening to any of their friends’ random hyperfixations, so hearing about space is pretty pog

Kaede - she engages very well in the conversation whenever she’s not bored by it!! Sometimes Kaito is a little too much for her, but she’s usually able to match his energy very well!!! :D she tends to go to Shuichi almost directly afterwards like “guess what Kaito told me today!” And he’s like “do tell 👀”

Ryoma - 🤝 with Rantaro on this one. he is just. he is just sitting there

Angie - SHE LOVES LISTENING TO HIM SO MUCH!!! WHENEVER HE TALKS ABOUT SPACE TO HER, SHE STARTS PAINTING GALAXIES AND THE NIGHT SKY AND UNIVERSES AND THEN SHE SHOWS THEM TO HIM AND HE STRAIGHT UP LOSES HIS MIND LIKE BRO??????? BRO

Tenko - doesn’t happen very often because she’d rather punch him than listen to him monologue for three hours, but whenever it does, she’s awed by the determination and admiration she sees in his expression. Like it’s one of those things where it’s obvious how much he loves it just by looking at his face and she’s fucking 🥺 over it

Miu - Miu’s secret is that she loves when people tell her things so the whole time, even though she’s insulting him, she’s fucking hanging on every word. Like literally she’s so happy that Kaito wants to share this with her it makes her feel so honored and excited and it motivates her to do some inventing while he’s talking so she can keep her hands busy!!! They’re friends hehe I love them

Himiko - they text!!!! Himiko’s not a fan of long winded verbal conversations, and Kaito understands that!!! It’s easer for her to simply read the giant walls of texts he leaves and respond to them that way hehe. Plus, whenever she’s about to fall asleep during a conversation, she just lets him know that she’s fine with him rambling while she sleeps so she has a nice little surprise to wake up to 😭

Kiibo - are u kidding???? Kiibo loves learning about new things!!! He’d be all over learning about what Kaito knows, and would be even more excited to find out why it’s so important to Kaito!!! They probably talk to each other and exchange ideas really easily!!!

Tsumugi - was honestly debating even putting this one in here but why not!!! She’s initially like why are you talking to me :D but when Kaito refuses to give up and just keeps infodumping she eventually starts to click it with her favorite manga and anime and things like that!! The way they talk about things is near indecipherable for any bystander, but it makes sense to them and that’s what matters!!!?

[whythinktoomuch]

attempt #37

This was the 52nd formula that Lena had come up with, the 45th solution that she had to wait several hours to synthesize, but only the 37th time she was injecting her shoulder with the resulting concoction. 

It was bright green this time, which only made it seem all the more promising.

There’s a rush and some mild nausea that Lena had come to expect with the experiments, but everything else felt the same. For now. Setting the syringe aside, Lena called out, “Hope, think of a number between one and a million.” 

Then, for the 37th time, Lena tried. She cleared her own mind, practiced the meditative mantras, stared intently into Eve’s eyes, bright blue yet blank with Hope’s quiet disinterest, and... nothing. Not a single digit came to mind. 

No matter how hard Lena tried, the only thoughts in her head were her own. 

With an exasperated sigh, Lena rolled her sleeve back down and directed Hope to log their latest attempt as yet another failure before storming off to start her day. 

// 

Lena emerged from the laboratory with wrinkled clothes and dark circles sunken around her eyes, which was probably why the first thing she heard as she stepped out of the elevator was her personal assistant’s hushed commentary of, Oh sweet Jesus, she looks tired. 

“Oh, I’m well aware, Hector,” Lena said, lofty and without much malice. “Nothing a little coffee can’t fix though.” 

Hector stared at her blankly. “I’m sorry, Miss Luthor?” 

“Never mind,” Lena said, rolling her eyes. She took the outstretched coffee in question as she walked by the assistant’s desk. “Just hold all my calls until the afternoon, please.” 

This time, when Hector grumbled under his breath about wow, she must be grumpy too, Lena ignored it. There were better things for the CEO to tackle, after all; as for example, some fitful sleep on her couch, perhaps? 

Hours later, Lena was relatively well-rested, so she pored over her notes again, trying to pinpoint the exact variable she must have overlooked in her carelessness. Because by all accounts, the formula should have worked—Lena had been certain of it. But then again, she’d admittedly thought that of almost every attempt thus far. 

When Hector walked into her office at some point in the late afternoon with a handful of contracts to be signed, Lena felt no closer to the solution and a slight headache coming on.

“Is there anything else I can help you with?” 

“Another coffee would be great,” Lena said, as she sifted through the documents. 

“Oh my God, if she takes in any more caffeine, her heart’s going to literally explode...” Hector muttered to himself. “Well, maybe she won’t notice if I get her decaf instead...?” 

Lena dropped the papers onto her desk with a scoff. “You know I can hear you, right?” 

Hector appeared startled, which seemed rather appropriate until he slowly said, “So... was that a yes on the espresso?” 

“What?” 

Hector maintained his slow cadence, carefully enunciating every syllable as if he were repeating himself, “Did you want to stick with your usual order... or maybe go with an espresso... because it’s a little stronger?” 

But in a normal cadence, also in Hector’s voice and somehow clear as a bell in Lena’s head came, “If this woman doesn’t get another nap in pronto, she is going to drop dead, and everyone’s going to think I poisoned her coffee, because she’s always in—” 

Absolutely stunned, Lena continued to stare up at Hector in silence, eyes narrowing as the assistant’s slightly panicked voice droned on and on in her head. Until a louder remark broke through the reverie. 

“Whoa, did she just fall asleep with her eyes open?” 

Lena blinked quite obviously, and her mild shock was accompanied with a loud and clear, yet unspoken Oh, thank God! from Hector. 

But the Hector standing before her hadn’t moved his lips once, only watching the bewilderment play out on Lena’s face with some polite concern. 

“The usual’s fine,” Lena interjected before her assistant could press again. “Or the espresso, or whatever. I don’t care, as long as it’s still hot and caffeinated.” 

“You got it,” Hector said. 

“Definitely getting her decaf,” Hector thought as he turned to leave, but Lena hardly minded. She was too busy restructuring the rest of her day around this most exciting realization. 

After some quick bit of arithmetic in her head, Lena set a timer on her watch for five hours, which was presumably the amount of time it would take for her body to break down the serum and render it useless. Then she logged on to her private interface and happily directed Hope to re-record attempt #37 as a success. 

//

The ability to read minds was, quite simply, quite the advantage. 

Though it wasn’t so much “mind-reading,” as mind-receiving. The serum seemed to have granted Lena access to the loud and active thought processes of everyone around her—their inner monologue, if you will, everything put into words but left unsaid. 

Lena had been hoping for more, to be able to break into other people’s minds so as to hack secrets, determine why supposed close friends would ever betray her, and the like. Maybe that would come with time and practice. 

But as it turned out, there was rather plenty to be gleaned from the forefront of someone’s mind, as people often thought about the things they weren’t supposed to say before choosing more palatable means of expression. Which made the rest of Lena’s workday somewhat informative, if not a little fun. 

For one thing, Lena found out that a lot more of her employees enjoyed working for her than she had thought. All of them respected her, several feared her, and quite a fair few entertained invasive thoughts about her décolletage before swiftly directing their attention elsewhere. 

She also found out there was one board member in particular who liked to fudge the numbers during meetings, and that his face took on a very unappealing shade of off-white when Lena could inexplicably confront him with the actual results of his findings. 

But most importantly of all, what Lena found out was that... she actually enjoyed this heretofore inaccessible sense of control this ability afforded her. She had taken on the experiments for a very specific purpose, but now, it was difficult to even imagine going back to how things were, even after the fact.  

// 

Lena walked into the DEO, and for the first time, the outpouring of distrust attached to the Luthor name was all but imagined. The disparaging thoughts followed her, even as the people who had them smiled or averted their eyes as she passed. 

Nothing she wasn’t used to though. 

Alex’s voice slid into Lena’s head in a whisper—... the hell?—one whole minute before she actually greeted her, “Lena, hey... Well, can’t say that I was expecting you.” 

“Yes, that’s what it sounds like,” Lena mused, and Alex gave her a slight frown. 

“So, did you need something?” 

“Where’s Kara? I want to talk to her.” 

Alex’s carefully composed face betrayed no emotion, but her thoughts sighed heavily, “Of course...” before ebbing away into something entirely indistinct and indecipherable.

Lena blinked. She hadn’t encountered anyone whose thoughts weren’t immediately accessible to her before. But here Alex was, giving directions to Kara’s current whereabouts, all the while muttering some underlying commentary in tones so hushed that Lena couldn’t quite make out any of it. 

“... Is there something on my face?” Alex swiped her sleeve across her forehead. “What are you looking at?” 

“What? No, nothing,” Lena said brusquely. “Thank you for telling me where Kara is. Bye.” She turned on her heel, headed for the hallway that would eventually lead to the training room. 

“Well, that was weird...” Alex’s voice drifted after her, a literal afterthought. “But I mean, I guess she has a nice ass, so—”

Lena shot a dirty look over her shoulder, but Alex was already back on her computer, mind rattling off coordinates and running through tactical drills like a well-oiled machine. 

// 

Kara was wearing short shorts and a sports bra, panting, and absolutely drenched in sweat when Lena stepped foot into the training room. She looked over at Lena, her skin glistening against the dimmed green of the kryptonite-lined walls, and smiled wide. 

“Oh, hey! What are you doing here?” Kara asked, giving the punching bag one last jab before tugging her gloves off. "Did something happen or...? I mean, not that I’m not happy to see you, of course.” She flashed Lena another bright grin before pressing a towel to her face and neck and chest. 

It was enough to stop Lena in her tracks, and almost enough to put a damper on her plans. Almost. 

“I need to talk to you,” Lena said evenly, eyes glued firmly to Kara’s forehead. 

“Yeah, sure! Jeez... I’d give you a hug, but I’m like sweating in places I didn’t even know existed. Alex says that this is the only way to learn proper form and all, but wow. I can’t believe there are humans who actually do this for fun—” 

“Kara,” Lena cut in, lips pursing in exasperation. “I’m serious. We need to talk right now.” 

Kara blinked, then slowly nodded. “Okay, yeah, let’s talk... You wanna sit down?” 

“I prefer to be standing.” 

“Okay.” Kara remained standing as well, towel now crumpled in her hands. “So, what’s going on?” 

Lena took a deep breath, quickly running through the meditative techniques meant to keep her mind clear and open, then asked, “Why did it take you so long to tell me that you’re Supergirl?” 

Kara’s shoulders slumped. “Lena, I...” 

“No, why did it take three years? Why didn’t you trust me?” Lena continued, her pace steady and firm just like she had practiced. “I trusted you. I trusted you with every part of me, which is extremely difficult for me to do, and you just... didn’t care, I guess.” 

“Of course, I care. Lena... I never meant to hurt you,” Kara said insistently. Her voice was loud, emphatic, and at the moment, the only thing Lena could hear.  

“Don’t!” Lena snapped when Kara started to approach her. “Don’t come any closer. And stop talking! Just listen.” 

Kara exhaled sharply through her nose and raised her hands in tentative surrender in absolute, utter silence. Lena even paused for a beat or two, just to see if any of Kara’s thoughts would breach the surface, but none did. 

“Why couldn’t you just trust me, Kara?” Lena asked, and regrettably her voice trembled on the last syllable. “Why did I have to hear it from Lex?” 

Kara’s eyes widened. “Lex? Lex told you before I did?” 

“Shut up. Do not talk,” Lena hissed out, waiting for Kara to snap her jaw shut before continuing with a bitter laugh, “Do you, do you even trust me now...?” Kara stared, gaze hardening. “And how do you expect me to trust anything you have to say for yourself now?” 

Lena’s questions—all of the above and beyond—were met with silence, strained only by the sound of Kara’s heavy breath and Lena’s own thoughts. 

Scoffing, Lena threw up her hands. “Do you even care that you hurt me?” 

“... Can I talk now?” Kara demanded, seething like she had any right to it. But when Lena shook her head furiously, she held her tongue and apparently everything else as well, because Lena couldn’t hear a single damn thing. 

When the alarm on her watch went off, Lena left, slamming the door on her way out. She contacted Hope through their private channel and had her re-log attempt #37 as just another failure. 

Back to the fucking drawing board. 

(next part here)

[vibraniumwing]

my stars know about you.

a sam wilson x fem!reader blurb wherein sam finds the old videos the reader has when he was snapped away.

WARNING: a bit of angst and tfatws spoilers for those who haven't watched but aside from that, nothing else.

A/N: ha yes hello i impulsively wrote this bcs my muse was so high all of a sudden and i have this monologue ready for it. listened to this playlist right here and wendy ft. john legend’s written in the stars <3 also, is this still a blurb ??

---

Sam had promised you he would clean around the house while you go on a fun little weekend with Sarah and the boys, wanting to give you more time to relax and be around his family; his lips churning up into a small yet giddy smile at the thought of the small velvet box hiding somewhere in your shared room that contained the necklace you’ve been eyeing whenever the two of you could go out.

He was half-way done with the things hidden in your work drawer when he came across a flash drive that had a label written on it called visual diary. His brows furrowed lightly as walked to his side of the office, opening his laptop and plugged it in, opening the files to see multiple videos titled with dates, the first one from all the way back in 2018.

Sam shifted in his seat, clicking on that certain video only to be greeted by your tear-stained face and bloodshot eyes, under eyes dark from the possible lack of sleep. His heart dropped at the distraught look on your face as you took a deep breath in before looking into the camera.

“hey sam, it’s me. it’s一 it’s been exactly five days since Nat called me about how you were one of the people who, unfortunately, got snapped into non-existence.”

The way you spoke caused goosebumps to form along his skin, realizing that these were probably videos you'd made five years ago, when the snap happened. Sam’s heart was shattered at how lost you looked from the other side of the screen, wanting nothing more than to cradle you in his arms.

“I’m with Sarah right now, she’s sleeping in her room with Aj and Cass. She’s been strong, but you can see the worry in her eyes一 she’s holding up much better than I am though. I’ve been such a mess, I can’t look into the mirror without seeing… feeling you beside me. I miss you.”

Sam stopped the video, his own tears starting to choke him upon seeing the state that you and his younger sister have been. He knew that it was hard, after seeing Sarah struggle with the family business and keeping things together; seeing you wake up at night with cold sweat glistening on your skin as you jolted up from yet another nightmare of him not coming back.

He wanted to stop from diving deep into the videos but his curiosity was stronger. He scrolled through some more videos, randomly clicking on one.

This time, Sam was greeted with a somewhat cheery you, out on the hill you first confessed your attraction to him一 the same night he admitted that he loves you more than a friend, where everything started between the both of you.

“hey there, handsome. i surely hope you can recognize where i’m at right now, if not, then i guess i’m kicking your ass.”

He chuckled, finding your humor amusing despite how lackluster your tone was as you spoke into the camera. Sam reached up to trace your features that were present on his screen, remembering every single feature of yours, engraving it into the forefront of his mind.

“today’s the day we’re supposed to celebrate our first anniversary, sammy. we should’ve been in hawaii by now, swimming with the fishes or explore the beauty of that island. instead, i’m here, in my car alone on the hill where we first admitted our feelings for each other.”

Sam didn’t fail to notice how you were trying your best to hold back your tears, taking note of how your tongue poked the inside of your cheek一 a habit he noticed you would do whenever fighting strong emotions一 and he whispered a small, “Don’t hold your tears back, sweetheart.” and as if you heard him, you let out a small chuckle.

“if you were here right now, i know you would say something like, “don’t bottle those tears up, beautiful” or something along those lines. i want you to know that i’m trying, sam. but it’s hard, it’s been five long months since you’ve been gone and i don’t know how long i can last without hearing you say you love me or your obnoxious laughter that would resonate through the house.”

“I love you, baby.” was all that left Sam’s lips, tongue jutting out to dampen his lips as he listened to you speak, mind blank as too many thoughts about what he wants to say to you as of the moment are too much.

“i’ve told the stars about your laughter. it’s niche and cliche, i know, but mom told me to tell them all about the people i treasure the most whenever i can’t tell others about them.”

“i told them about how beautiful you are一 about how scintillating your eyes are that they could battle even the brightest star in the sky tonight. i let my stars know about how amazing of a chef you are even though you almost burnt my old apartment’s kitchen down because you forgot about the cake you tried so hard to bake.”

Sam cringed at the memory, nose scrunching up in disbelief that he could forget such a simple task; he spent the night apologizing and all you ever did was smile and lean in to give him a kiss in hopes to shut him up.

“i told my stars about how brilliant you are一 how your words are so deep even with the shortest sentences, about how you can easily captivate me and a bunch of others with the stories that you speak… about how much love you have for me and for everyone you care for. it never ceases to amaze me how you can stand up and fight for the people that you love.”

At this point, Sam was already in tears as you shared about how you spoke about him. He adored how your eyes were filled with that well-known fondness you have whenever you speak about something you love.

As the video ended, Sam was left to look at the reflection of himself on the screen, staring at his reflection as your words echoed in his mind. He always listened to you ramble on about how everyone’s destiny was written somewhere in the skies, their lives aligned like the constellations that shined bright in the nighttime.

Normally, he would brush it off, skeptic to that belief but as he tuned into your stories, he can’t help but believe that in what you were saying. Sam was about to play another video when he heard the familiar jangle of your keys in the front door.

Sam pulled out of his chair and raced over there to meet you, immediately engulfing you in a tight hug before you could even close the door. “Hello, beautiful.” he softly greeted, pulling away to place a light kiss on your temple. “How was your weekend away with Sarah and the boys?”

You chuckled softly at the sudden affection he was giving, dropping your duffel bag on the floor to wrap your arms around his torso, feeling how relaxed he was against you. “It was great! Could’ve been better if you were there to be with us.” you answered, reaching up to peck his lips a few times, making the latter smile. “What’s with the affection? Did you break something, Samuel? Wait一 were you crying?”

He shook his head, adamant in admitting that he was, he lifted you up easily as he took you over to your shared office, sitting back down on his office chair with you in his lap as he showed you the compilation of the videos, “I… I found the flash drive while cleaning and I got a little too curious and decided to see what was on it and well, turns out I got a bit more than what I expected.”

“I was going to show them to you one day, Sam.” you admitted, making yourself comfortable as you snuggled up to him, his arms laced around you securely. “But I wanted to make it a bit more… special since this was a very vulnerable time for me.” the softness in your voice made him curl a single digit under your chin to make you look at him.

“I’m sorry that I left you alone for that long, baby girl.” Sam apologized, feeling incredibly guilty for leaving. Despite knowing it wasn’t his fault, he couldn’t bring himself to accept that you and his sister had to spend so many years without him. “I know you’ve told me multiple times that I shouldn’t say sorry, but I can’t help it. You’ve waited for so long.”

“And I’ll wait a million more if it meant I could be with you.” you cut him off, shifting slightly to make you face him completely. “You can go anywhere, anytime, for how long and I would wait for you to come back every single time. So please don’t feel guilty about it, love.” your hands holding the sides of his face as you start to pepper it with gentle kisses.

You smile at his peaceful expression, “My heart is in peace knowing that we’re written somewhere in the stars.” you say to him softly, squishing his cheeks in a playful manner, light laughter filling up the room.

Sam smiled, sealing the feather-like kisses with his lips on yours, capturing it for an intimate one that conveyed how much love he has for you, resting his forehead on yours right after. “You know that I love you, right Y/N?”

“I do and I love you so much more, Sam.”

---

TAGLIST: @https-bvcky @harrysweasleys @selenasprompts @weasleytwins-41 @anchoeritic @marvel-diaries @demirunner @barneswidow @lovecroftreads @punkrific @6r4cie @yougottalovefandoms @swiftssss

to those whose urls are in bold, i can't tag you for some reason. join my taglist! it's in my main main masterlist <3

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 290: It’s Touya Time

Previously on BnHA: Iida and Hadou showed up like a couple of Pennsylvanias and Georgias to bail Shouto out at the last minute. Ochako and Toga had an exceptionally strange fight which consisted of Toga being all “guess what Ochako, I used your quirk to murder someone, how do you feel about that”, and Ochako being all “I do not like that”, to which Toga was all “:(”. There was some doll-stealing and some bookcase-yeeting, and then Toga left in tears because Ochako was all adamant that murder has consequences. Anyway so I have absolutely no idea what Toga is thinking now, but I guess we’ll have some time to stew on it, because we ended the chapter by cutting back to the Iida+Hadou+Shouto VS Afomura battle, which was interrupted by Gigantomachia and the LoV showing up like a bunch of Floridas to ruin everyone’s nice day.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi hands the mic over to Dabi and is all “take it away, kid.” Over in Room 315 of Musutafu General, Rei is all “may I please watch some TV” and the hospital staff is all “sure”, and so she tunes in just in time to catch Todoroki Touya’s Peabody Award-winning documentary “Number One Hero, Number One Fraud: The Todoroki Enji Story”, which is being broadcast nationwide courtesy of Skeptic and his magic laptop. Meanwhile in Jakku, Dabi is all “I’M TOUYA, BITCHES”, and Shouto and Enji are all, “(゜◇゜ )”, and Dabi is all, “anyway so just to sum it all up, because of how much of a jerk Endeavor was, I am now Evil.” Everyone continues to be all “(ﾟoﾟ)” except for Dabi, who is all “└(˘▾˘┌ )≡ ( ┐˘▾˘)┘≡┗( ˘▾˘)┛≡┏( ˘▾˘)┓≡┗( ˘▾˘)┛” for pretty much the rest of the chapter. Idk. Just let the man have his fun, guys. He’s waited a long time for this.

y’all I have a confession to make. I am technically not spoiled for this chapter thanks to my robustly paranoid system of spoiler-tag-filtering, which is extensive enough that it pretty much will catch whenever someone so much as breathes something even remotely new-chapter-related. that being said, I like to think that I am capable of making basic logical inferences! and so the fact that for the past 36 hours, my dashboard has pretty much nonstop consisted almost entirely of this...

...has led me to conclude that MAYBE, POSSIBLY, PROBABLY, BUT ALSO DEFINITELY, a certain someone is finally going to reveal his ~secret identity~ woop woop. lmao

anyway so everyone, please remember to act surprised though, as we would not want Dabi’s feelings to be hurt at all. he has been planning this moment for the last decade or so and I wouldn’t want him to feel like all of that effort was for naught. so just play along, okay. OH MY, IF IT ISN’T THE LEAGUE OF VILLAINS’ MYSTERIOUS DABI. WHATEVER COULD HIS ARRIVAL POSSIBLY BE HERALDING, I JUST DON’T KNOW

“Dabi’s Dance” lmao. I’m sticking with Touya Time myself. ngl I had this recap title planned out for at least the past year or so. just waiting for that day to finally come

anyway so some people in some building somewhere are all “TURN OFF THE TV IN ROOM 315” and idk. I’m guessing the LoV is hacking the airwaves to livestream the reveal, as predicted

-- oh shit. UHHHHHHHH

did she always have this TV or did she get it just recently?? jfc of all the times for the hospital staff to finally loosen up

um... so that’s... (・＿・；)

well but I mean, she was gonna find out one way or the other at some point though. like you can’t really just keep her locked up and isolated from all news of the outside world forever and ever and ever. granted, this isn’t exactly the ideal way for her to learn this particular bit of information, but it’s not really ideal for anybody else either! EXCEPT DABI, THAT IS. have yourself a day you funky little terrorist

oh shit what is this?? it’s not live???

over in Jakku, a red-faced, sputtering Dabi makes a frantic grab for Skeptic’s laptop. “WAIT, NO, JESUS, NOT THAT TAPE!”

lol. but seriously Dabi are you even wearing a shirt. like I’m not one to slutshame anyone bro, but it’s just, exactly what type of mood were you looking to set here??

anyway so we really are cutting back to Jakku now, and Gigantomachia is all, “MASTERS”! which, I wonder if he really did use the plural? that’s right Machia, both of them in one place now! that sure is convenient for you huh

lol what is this with all this AFO monologuing. you’re really gonna make me read through this when I’m sitting here all sleep-deprived from election week. JUST GET TO THE TOUYAS. WE WERE PROMISED TOUYAS!!

sigh

“tee hee it’s fucking hilarious how goddamn powerful I am now lol”

alas, in spite of myself I do have two serious takeaways from this. one is that AFO is still controlling most of Tomura’s body behind the scenes, which both does and doesn’t bode well for Tomura (like, at least he’s not dying, but the long-term implications of this for his free will and such certainly are not Good). and two is that this confirms that Ujiko did give Tomura at least one powerful mutant quirk, which explains why he was still so deadly and indestructible even when Aizawa was using Erasure on him (since Erasure doesn’t work on mutant quirks, just emitter and transformation ones)

MEANWHILE ON TODAY’S EPISODE OF “TODOROKI SHOUTO’S TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD LIFE”

I like how he doesn’t actually say that he can’t take on Gigantomachia. just that he can’t take on him and Afomura at the same time. that’s confidence, baby. that right there is why you always draft Todoroki Shouto in the first round for your fantasy team

HADOU!!!!

OOOH, TOMURA’S ALL “MAN, THIS GIRL’S WAVE POWERS AND THIS KID’S ICE POWERS ARE A SUPER-STRONG COMBO DAGNABBIT.” YESSS I LIKE THAT, TELL ME MORE ABOUT HOW COOL AND POWERFUL THEY ARE

HOT DAMN LOOK AT THAT

um but not to take away from this exceptionally cool moment or anything, but why is Endeavor dying and shouting “RUN” down there in the corner um

oh

excuse me. not to take away from How Bad This All Is, but!!

just a little, smol, IidaBaku for everyone. Iida, who apparently doesn’t know a damn thing about first aid and is all, “hmm that’s a pretty bad-looking puncture wound he has in his left shoulder there, I think I’ll just let his arm dangle freely like that and I won’t bother taking off his heavy gauntlets either. I mean. he’ll be fine, probably.” smh. at least Shouto probably cauterized the wounds

EXCUSE ME WHAT

TIME FOR MORE OF THAT GOOD OLD FASHIONED SHOUNEN RIDICULOUSNESS I GUESS LMAO. KACCHAN YOU HAVE A HOLE IN YOUR TORSO. THERE IS A HOLE IN YOUR TORSO, AND YOU LOST LIKE FOUR GALLONS OF BLOOD, BUT SURE. “PUT ME DOWN” HE SAYS. FIRST OF ALL, PUTTING ASIDE THE FACT THAT YOU ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT BE CONSCIOUS, THE FUCK ARE YOU EVEN GOING TO DO, LIE DOWN AT THEM?? LISTEN, YOU SWEET IDIOT. TAKE HEED, BELOVED DUMBASS!!

ah well. I guess he gets to watch the Touya Show now too then lol

LMAOOOO now Machia’s lifting Tomura carefully in his palm like a broken action figure and Spinner is all “THE FUCK, YOU LOOK LIKE DEATH WARMED OVER”

“oh hey there Spinner. well let’s see, I woke up from my three-month coma and destroyed a city, had my body incinerated, and am currently being possessed by a diabolically evil potato. but please, tell me more about everything you've been through”

AW YISS AND THE FOCUS NOW SHIFTS TO THE TODOROKIS. EVERYTHING IS PROCEEDING EXACTLY AS WE HAVE FORESEEN

Endeavor my dude. it’s as if you want to die here. also holy shit, that bit about his lungs definitely does not bode well for him either

MOTHERFUCKER

GO AHEAD AND SIGN YOUR OWN DEATH CERTIFICATE, WHY DON’T YOU!! FLAGS UPON FLAGS. JESUS CHRIST

meanwhile Dabi’s just waving at ‘em

lmaoooo please oh please Caleb please keep this ‘EYYYYYYY’, it’s fucking perfect kdlshk;hg

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

(ETA: so as you will see very shortly, I completely missed this detail in my first read-through because I was so anxious to get to the reveal page, but THIS MOTHERFUCKER LITERALLY DOUSED HIMSELF WITH INSTANT HAIR DYE REMOVER THAT HE’S JUST BEEN CARRYING AROUND IN A LITTLE HIP POUCH APPRENTLY SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME. MOTHERFUCKER. I HAVE NO WORDS.)

IS THIS THE TIME. IS THIS THE MOMENT?! HERE IT COMES SLKFHS BRACE YERSELVES LADS

EYYYYYYYYYYYY

OKAY EVERYONE JUST LIKE WE PRACTICED!! SURPRISED FACES ON THREE! ONE... TWO... (•̪ o •̪) !! okay how was that

LMAO ENDEAVOR

at least Shouto looks properly stunned. Enji just looks like endeavor.exe just straight up stopped working

meanwhile Deku’s out here trying to do the math on this latest surprise family reveal! first Tomura is related to Nana, and now this. what’s next. who are you related to, Spinner. he rips off his boots to reveal engine legs and declares himself Iida’s long-lost uncle

oh shit Touya

it’s as if a million fanworks suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly jossed. who knew that all this time he was secretly sporting a crop top scar

also, THIRTY?! holy shit son you been busy

la la la two-page spread of Touya casually driving the dagger into Endeavor’s hero career and rocking the foundations of hero society as we know it la la la

la la la!!!

OH IS THAT THE END OF THE STORY THEN

almost got confused for a sec. there’s two monologues happening at once here. Endeavor doesn’t even know that his dirty laundry is being aired out nation-wide as we speak ffffff

btw while I appreciate the close-ups of Enji and Shouto here for sure, ngl I would also really love to see everyone else’s reactions right now. SHOW ME BAKUGOU AND THE LOV YOU COWARDS

is his hair actually turning white all of a sudden?? your hair dye just reacts on command??

(ETA: in all seriousness though, the hell kind of hair dye was he using? all he has to do is pour a bottle of that stuff and not even lather it in and it’s just gone just like that?? what the fuck would have have done if it ever rained lmao.

and this motherfucker just goes and leaves the dye remover in afterwards, too. I have never dyed my hair in my life and even I can tell you that’s probably not a good idea, Dabi.)

is this it. is this the legendary Dabi Dance in action. lmfao

oh hey what the fuck

so you figured you’d just murder your innocent younger brother to get revenge on dad, huh. well that’s nice

is that really all there is to the origin story though?? feels like we’re still missing a huge chunk of it. what was it that finally sent him over the edge? or was the trauma of being created as Endeavor’s perfect little hero tool and then being subsequently rejected by him enough on its own? because I’m still kind of confused on the part where he goes from “abused and discarded by his father” to “killed thirty people and was plotting the murder of his own brother” to tell you the truth

(ETA: lmao the initial fandom reaction to this did not disappoint. listen guys. people can be traumatized and shaped by awful circumstances that are completely out of their control, and grow up to be people they wouldn’t have grown up to be if things had been better, and all of that absolutely sucks, but. it doesn’t mean they get a get-out-of-jail-free card for all of their future actions, either! the tragedy of this situation is that terrible things happened to Touya, and he then went on to do terrible things himself. the tragedy of it is that this is exactly how the cycle of abuse keeps repeating itself on and on and on. maybe one of the people Dabi killed had a child who will now grow up traumatized themselves, and potentially go on to pay it forward themselves when they grow up. the tragedy is that the eye-for-an-eye justice that Touya is seeking out won’t actually make anything better in the end. the tragedy is that we understand why Touya is so angry, but that anger has basically warped him into the gleefully sadistic dancing figure we see in this chapter who has stopped caring about anyone else’s pain or suffering and just wants his own revenge.

anyway. basically what I’m trying to say is that it’s possible for the concepts of “Todoroki Touya was an innocent child and a victim of abuse” and “Dabi is a grown-ass motherfucking adult who killed thirty people and PROBABLY NEEDS TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THAT” to coexist lol. like, y’all wanted your moral grey, well HERE YOU GO lmao, eat up.)

lol but LOOK AT THAT BOY DANCE HIS LITTLE HEART OUT though

Todoroki Touya confirmed not a fan of the Endeavor redemption arc huh. well we all saw this coming lols

anyways here’s a sexy Touya for y’all

you really are the most theatrical bitch I s2g lmao

also for real though, what is happening with his hair? anime team in shambles here. they’re probably just gonna double down and keep it red. too bad though cuz this is a surprisingly good look on him

SO MANY CLOSE-UPS OF THE TODOROKI FACES

friendly reminder that Dabi without a doubt REHEARSED this speech like a thousand fucking times. LET US FALL TOGETHER!! COME DANCE WITH YOUR SON IN HELL. apparently if you fake your own death in middle school you will never mentally age past that point and will remain a permanent chuuni

OH LMAO THAT’S THE END

we really just gonna end on “DANCE WITH YOUR SON IN HELL”, huh. very well then. you know what song to play, Horikoshi. one, two... YOU ARE MY DAD. YOU’RE MY DAD!! BOOGIE WOOGIE WOOGIE

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers LUNATIC PARADE ;; Shuu Route ー Chapter 3

Monologue

“To heal Riegel-san’s heart,

broken and closed off to others

from losing his beloved.”

That was the goal we set in mind,

when preparing for this party.

I want it to be held at a place,

where Riegel-san would be able to relive,

vivid memories of himself and his late wife.

I am willing to go through great lengths,

to accomplish thisーー

ー The scene starts in the hotel room

Yui: ( First things first, we need to secure a venue. )

Shuu-san.

About the party venue, don’t you think we should hold it somewhere memorable to Riegel-san and his wife?

Shuu: Yeah...In that case, it’d have to be on a gondola, no?

Yui: On a...gondola...?

Shuu: If the information we gathered through the Familiars is correct, that is where Riegel and his wife tied the knot.

Coincidentally, it happened during the Parade as well.

If you want to make it memorable, now’s the perfect time, no?

Yui: You’re right...! I’ll go negotiate right away. Please wait here!

Shuu: ...Oi, hold your horses.

ー Shuu approaches her

Shuu: You’re going by yourself?

Yui: Um...Knowing you, I figured you’d rather not move...

Shuu: Yeah, I don’t. It’s a drag after all.

But...I’ll make an effort for you. (1)

Yui: Are you sure?

Shuu: Yeah. Let’s get going before I change my mind.

ー The scene shifts to the gondola docks

Yui: ( The reflection of the light on the water makes the surface glitter...How lovely. )

I’m sure meeting each other at such a lovely place must have made for a wonderful memory.

Shuu: ーー Well my bad that our meeting wasn’t all that ‘lovely’.

At first, you were just terrified the whole time after all.

Yui: T-That’s, well...You’re right, but...

Right now, I consider all of them good memories.

Shuu: Well, I guess that works. Haha...

ーー Anyway.

If we want to use this place as our party venue, we have to talk to the gondolier in the back.

Yui: Yes, I know.

( Here goes nothing! I’ll try and ask him. )

ー Yui approaches the gondolier

Gondolier B: Welcome! A ride for two?

Yui: Ah...Oh. 

I’m sorry. Actually, we came here to ask for a favor...

Gondolier B: A favor...?

Yui: Yes. 

You see, we are hoping to hold a party and...

We would love to organize it here.

Gondolier B: Eeh!? A party, right here!?

Yui: Yes. We want to hold it here no matter what.

Gondolier B: That’s easy for you to say, but the Parade is when we get most of our customers and when most of the money comes in.

I can’t just easily give you permission to use it.

Yui: Right...

( I guess we’re being pretty unreasonable. )

( However, I can’t imagine Riegel-san would prefer any other place over this one. I wonder if there’s really nothing that can be done...? )

Gondolier B: My bad, but we’re expecting a lot of people today as well. So I’d like to ask you to hurry up and leaーー

Shuu: ...Pwaah.

Gondolier B: ...! Y-You are...Karlheinz-sama’s...!

Geez! You should have told me that sooner!

Gotcha! Go ahead and organize whatever you want on the gondolas! My bad for being so unwilling earlier.

So...Please give my best regards to your Father.

Shuu: If I feel like it, I guess.

Yui: ( ...W-Wow...I’m not sure if I should say I saw this coming or what. )

*TIMESKIP*

Shuu: Haah...That concludes it for the venue.

So, what’s next on the list?

Yui: Um...

We can’t hold a party without food and drinks, huh?

It’d be nice if we could rely on the hotel as our main catering service but...

I’d also love to prepare a specific dish which was his wife’s favorite.

Shuu: If I recall correctly, the report we got from the Familiars described her as having a sweet tooth.

Yui: Exactly. For example, she was particularly fond of what we’d call a ‘Galette de Rois’ in the human world...

How about we go to a sweets shop which might be able to make it for us?

Shuu: ...I’m not too thrilled about this, but sure.

Yui : ( Fufu, I’m glad he’s still willing to come with me despite his complaints. )

ー The scene shifts to the Sweets Shop ‘Saphir’

Female Vampire A: Woah, looks delicious! As to be expected from Saphir, the number one sweets shop in the Demon World!

Female Vampire B: I don’t even know where to look first. I want to try them all...

Female Vampire C: In that case, we’ll just have to buy the entire line-up and take them home with us~

Yui: ( Wow...This place is packed with people...Just getting around the store seems difficult... )

Shuu: ...

I’m leaving the rest up to you. I’ll be...resting in the back.

ー Shuu walks away

Yui: ( Ah...He retreated to the eat-in area.... )

( Actually, I do feel a little bad for forcing him to be amongst such a large crowd. )

( I hope I can talk to a member of the staff soon... )

*Thud thud*

???: Hey, you! Move aside, move aside! Coming through with the cake!

Female Vampire A: Ah, it’s the owner! This scent...Aah, irresistible~ 

Yui: ( So that guy’s the owner! Okay, I should try and have a word with him...! )

U-Um! Excuse me!

Sweets shop owner: Hm? What do you want? I’m in a rush, so move aside!

Yui: I’d like to have a small talk with you! There’s a dessert I’d like to order by the final day of the Parade...

Sweets shop owner: An order by the end of the Parade? Not happening. Right now we are especially busy, I can use all the help I can get. (2)

Aah, so busy! I don’t know what to do first!!

Yui: ( No way... )

I-In that case...

Let me help out! I’ll try my hardest!

Sweets shop owner: No, no! There’s no way I canーー

ー More and more customers come in

Sweets shop owner: Hey, you! If you’re willing to help, then get to it!

In regards to what you asked earlier, depending on it, I might consider it.

Yui: Eh? Y-Yes! Understood...!

( I-I just have to give it my all for now! )

*TIMESKIP*

Female Vampire D: Please give me three more of these cakes.

Yui: Y-Yes!

Female Vampire E: Excuse me!? It was my turn first! Give me four of these first!

Yui: ( O-Oh no! It’s super busy...! )

Shuu: Nn...

Pwaah...

Yui: ( Ah...Seems like Shuu-san’s awake. )

ー Shuu walks over

Shuu: ...What are you doing?

Yui: As you can see, I’m helping out in the shop.

Female Vampire A: Hey, miss staff member! You’re in the way!

*Thud*

Yui: Wah!

*SHATTER*

Yui: ( Aah!? The plate broke! )

Shuu: Helping out? Like this?

Yui: ( Uu...E-Either way, I better clean up! )

ー Yui cleans up the shards

Shuu: Good grief...I can’t watch this...

Yui: ( Huh? Where is Shuu-san going...? )

Female Vampire A: Hmー If possible, I’d like at least one pie which isn’t too overly sweet...

But I have no idea which one to pick...

Shuu: ...In that case, I would recommend this. Not only does it cut back on the sugar, in turn it allows for the natural sweetness of the fruits to shine.

Female Vampire A: Oh dear, you seem very knowledgeable.

Yui: ( Wow... )

Female Vampire A: Right...In that case, I’ll take your recommendation and buy this one.

Shuu: You’re welcome.

ー Shuu returns to Yui’s side

Shuu: Well...There you have it.

Yui: You’re amazing, Shuu-san! The customer was delighted as well!

Shuu: Let me tell you, I’m not doing that a second tiーー

ー More customers approach them

Female Vampire B: We heard there’s a clerk who is especially knowledgeable on cakes here, but who could it be?

Female Vampire C: Anyway, I want to get a recommendation as well~?

Female Vampire D: Could it be the young man standing there!?

Female Vampire E: It has to be!

Yui: ( Ah...They found us. )

Shuu: ...

Seems like...I won’t be able to go for another nap.

Yui: ( Ahaha... )

*TIMESKIP*

Sweets shop owner: Honestly! Thank you so much for today! You helped me out a ton!

I don’t want to simply call this a way to return the favor so...

Please allow me to accept your request from earlier.

Yui: A-Are you sure?

Sweets shop owner: Yeah!

Doesn’t matter when you want it, I’ll make sure to fulfill my duty as the owner of this shop!

Yui: ( Hooray! )

Sweets shop owner: So? What kind of sweet treat is it?

Yui: Umーー

ー Yui explains

Sweets shop owner: I understand what you want very well.

You’ll have something to look forward to on the final day of the Parade!

Yui: Thank you very much!

ー The scene shifts back to the main street

Yui: It’s all thanks to you, Shuu-san! Thank you so much

Shuu: That was the first and final time I’ve done that, okay? ...Haah...

ーー So? What should we do next? We’re not done with all preparations, are we?

Yui: Um, I was thinking we should tackle the decorations for the gondola next.

Since we actually get to use it, I figured we might as well dress it up nicely.

Shuu: In that case...Reine de Aji’s shop could work, right?

Yui: Reine de Aji...?

Shuu: You’ll understand once we get there. Follow me.

Yui: ( ...? )

ー The scene shifts to general store Reine De Aji

Yui: ( Waah! There’s so many beautiful decorations out on display...! )

( I don’t know where to look first. )

How do you think we should decorate, Shuu-san?

Shuu: Anything works. I don’t really have a specific preference.

But well, personally, rather than the decorationsーー

*Thud*

Yui: ( Ah...They’re even selling antique violins. )

Shuu: I believe the music is what makes or breaks a party.

Yui: You might have a point.

Ah...Since it’s such a good opportunity, how about you play one song as well?

Shuu: No. Too much work.

Yui: ( Ahaha, I figured he’d say that... )

...I’d love to hear you play since it’s been so long though.

Shuu: ...

Yui: Is that too much to ask?

Shuu: Haah...Just a little, okay?

*Thud*

Shuu: ...

ー He starts playing the violin

Yui: ( What a beautiful melody... )

*THUD*

Shuu: ...Who’s there?

???: ...

Shuu: Aji, is that you?

Yui: ( So this is Aji-san. )

Reine de Aji: ...What exactly brings the eldest Sakamaki to my establishment?

Shuu: I don’t owe you an explanation. It’s none of your business, is it?

Reine de Aji: Hmph...If you don’t feel like answering my question, then I don’t feel like selling you anything either.

Yui: ( O-Oh no...! )

Aji-san! We’re actually planning to hold a party for a certain someone...

We came here to purchase the necessary decorations.

Reine de Aji: ...I see...

Well, in that case, you made the right choice by coming to my store.

After all, my line-up is rather extensive. On top of that...

I have a great offer.

*Rustle*

Reine de Aji: Voila.

Yui: A locket pendant...?

Reine de Aji: It’s not just your regular old pendant.

It’s a bewitched object which makes the wearer take the appearance of the person whose picture is put inside the locket.

Yui: W-Wow!

( Then...If we were to put a picture of Riegel-san’s wife inside...! )

Reine de Aji: Well then, this isn’t a demonstration. Better put it away again...

Yui: Ah! P-Please, wait! Could you please let us borrow that pendant?

Reine de Aji: This?

You make it sound so easy, but...

Yui: Is it too much to ask...?

Reine de Aji: ...

Under one condition.

In return for borrowing this pendant, you have to show me something good.

Yui: ...Entertain me...?

Reine de Aji: If no, it’s a no-deal. What will you do?

Yui: P-Please let me! I’ll try my best!

ー The scene shifts to Aizen Alleyway

Yui: ( I replied in the spur of the moment but... )

What do you think we could do to please Aji-san?

Shuu: ...

Yui: Shuu-san?

Shuu: Say...Do we even really need that pendant anyway?

Yui: ( Seems like he’s not too happy about the idea. But... )

I’m sure it’d make Riegel-san happy.

Shuu: ...

...Well, if you insist, fine.

Anyway, let’s try asking the people in town about whatever may catch Aji’s attention.

Yui: Y-Yes...!

ー The scene shifts to the main street

Male Vampire A: Hm...You’re kind of catching me off guard with the sudden question.

Yui: Anything will do. No matter how trivial...

Male Vampire A: ...

Yui: ...Ugh.

Male Vampire A: I’m sorry, I don’t know. Please ask someone else.

Yui: ...Okay...Thank you very much.

Male Vampire A: Bye.

ー The Vampire walks away

Shuu: ...That was our tenth try...What will you do? Give up already?

Yui: ...No. Why don’t we test our luck somewhere else? If we do, I’m sure we’ll...

( Gotta keep trying and not give up! )

ー The scene shifts to the wagon area

Yui: ( It’s even more crowded than earlier. One of these people might know something. )

( Okay...! I’ll try asking that person over there first. )

Excuse me...! I’d like to ask something...

Male Vampire B: ...Oh dear, what could that be?

Yui: Do you happen to know the person who runs a store over in the other street called Aji-san?

Male Vampire B: I do know her.

Yui: Actually, we want to make her happy somehow and...We were wondering if you knew any good ways to do so?

Male Vampire B: ...

...Hmー...

Yui: ( This time for sure...! )

Male Vampire B: My apologies, I doubt I’ll be of much help.

Yui: ...I see...

Male Vampire B: ...

If I had to name something I know about her...The only thing I could tell you is that she enjoys flora.

Yui: ...Flora...You say?

Male Vampire B: Yes. ...Oh, I made plans to meet up with someone, so you’ll have to excuse me now.

ー The Vampire walks away

Yui: T-Thank you very much!

( Flora, huh...? )

Yui: Um, Shuu-san? Why don’t we try giving her a plant she might like?

Shuu: ...I’m not sure. I can’t tell you whether that’ll actually please her or not.

Yui: But I don’t think we have much other choice but to rely on the information we just got...

Are there any stores selling plants nearby?

Shuu: I mean, there are, I guess.

Yui: ( Okay...! Let’s go take a look! )

ー The scene shifts to the garden store

Yui: This is the place...

( There’s so many plants I’ve never seen before! Guess I should have expected as much from the Demon World... )

...Amazing...

Shuu: Not really. They’ve only got plants which are commonly seen around the Demon World. I doubt any of these will please Aji-san.

In short...I feel as if we’re only wasting our time here?

Yui: S-Sorry...

( Hm...What a shame. Seems like we’re back to square one. )

???: ...Hm? Are you customers, perhaps? Welcome.

I’m the owner, so if you are looking for something, please ask away.

Yui: Thank you very much.

Garden store owner: My extensive knowledge on the flowers which grow in the Demon World is the one thing I pride myself on.

Yui: ...I see. In that case...

Which flower would make a person the happiest if they were to receive it as a gift?

Garden store owner: Everyone has different tastes.

But...A flower which can please everyone, can only be ‘that’.

Yui: ‘That’?

Garden store owner: Exactly. ‘That’ flower which only blooms in the mountains.

Yui: Only grows in the mountains...Then where exactly are these mountains?

Garden store owner: Don’t tell me...You want to go pluck one?

Yui: If it’s a flower which can make any person happy, then I’d like to if possible.

Garden store owner: I see.

I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I doubt it’ll work out.

...Well, I’m sure you’ll find out once you reach the mountains. I don’t mind drawing you a map.

Yui: ( I wonder what he means? )

ー The scene shifts the entrance of the mines

Yui: ( Um...I’m pretty sure we have to go right here...Then left at the next corner... )

ー The scene shifts to an underground lake

Shuu: Oi...We’re still not there yet?

Yui: P-Please wait. I’m pretty sure we’ve reached our destination...

According to the map, there should be a cave closeby.

Shuu: A cave?

Couldn’t it be that one over there?

Yui: Ah...!

Shuu: Good grief...You’re getting way too caught up in the map instead of actually looking at your surroundings.

Well, that being said, I’d rather not get ourselves lost again from walking around aimlessly.

Come on, let’s get going already.

Yui: Y-Yes!

ー The scene shifts to the Selenite Crystal Cave

Yui: ( Wow, it’s glittering somehow... )

What are these...?

Shuu: Selenite, right? Seems like the entire cave is made up from them.

Yui: ...I see...

Shuu: Oi, this isn’t the time to be captivated by them. Let’s look for the thing we came for.

Yui: Right.

( The shop owner didn’t tell us anything about the actual flower, did he? )

( ‘You’ll be able to tell straight away’ is the only hint we have... )

...Um...

*Flash*

Yui: ( ...? )

*Flash*

Yui: ( I’m not...imagining this, right? )

Shuu: ...Oi. Don’t you think that could be it? There’s been flashing lights coming from the back.

Yui: Let’s go look.

Monologue

What we found at the end of the path,

was a mysterious flower.

Covering the whole surrounding area,

they spread a warm light across,

shining amidst the dark like fireflies.

Their beauty is simply out of this world.

I subconsciously extended my hand towards the stem.

Howeverーー

*WOOSH*

Yui: ( I-It disappeared... )

Shuu: This must be the Ghost Flower.

Yui: Ghost Flower?

Shuu: Yeah, just like actual ghosts, you aren’t able to touch them.

Yui: ( So that’s why it vanished. )

( But...It was really pretty. I think I understand why anyone would be happy to see these flowers. )

( I’m sure Aji-san as well... )

...Um, Shuu-san? Can’t we get this flower to Aji-san’s store somehow?

Shuu: ...Haah...

Doesn’t seem like you’ll give up any time soon, so why don’t you try out some things?

Yui: ( Um...He’s basically saying he’ll stay here with me for now, right...? )

( F-For now, I’ll just try anything which comes to mind! )

*TIMESKIP*

*WOOSH*

Yui: Aah...Another fail...

( No matter how gently I touch them, it’s no use. Trying to pluck them from a different angle didn’t work either. )

( I guess it really is impossible... )

Shuu: ...

Yui: ( Shuu-san appears to be listening to music, but he seems bored. )

( But...There’s one more thing I’d like to try. )

( They disappear upon contact...So basically I have to avoid touching them, right? )

( I wonder if digging them up together with the soil would work then? )

( It’s all or nothing...Here goes...! )

*Thud thud*

Yui: ...! Shuu-san, look! The flower didn’t vanish...!

Shuu: Looks like it.

Yui: We can take it back with us to Aji-san’s store like this...! Aah, I’m so glad!

Shuu: ...

No, it’s too early to rejoice.

Try waiting a little like that.

Yui: ...?

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: ( I wonder how long I should wait? I’d guess about five minutes have passed by now. )

Shuu-san, what’s the point of thiーー

*WOOSH*

Yui: Ah!

Shuu: ...I knew it.

I figured that if all you had to do was scoop it out with soil and all, then the people from the garden shop would have long been doing that.

Yui: You...do have a point...

( There’s no way we can make it back to Aji-san’s shop in just five minutes. )

I wonder if it’s really impossible...

Shuu: ...No, that’s not true either.

Yui: Eh...?

Shuu: Let me ask you once more. ...You really want to borrow the pendant, right?

Yui: Well...Of course!

Shuu: Okay then.

ーー Oi. Dig out that ghost flower from the ground once more.

Yui: S-Sure.

( What could he be thinking? Anyway, I’ll just put faith in Shuu-san for now... )

*Thud thud*

Yui: Done.

Shuu: Okay. Now I just have to do this...

Yui: ( Why did he pick up a pebble...? )

Shuu: Thereーー!

*Swoosh*

*Thud*

*Flap flap flap flap flap*

Yui: Wah!? B-Bats!?

( They were startled by the sound of the rock and jumped out! Where did this many of them even come fromーー!? )

*Rustle*

Yui: Shuu-san!? What is this about...!?

Shuu: They can carry us to Aji’s store in under five minutes.

Yui: I seeーー

*Flap flap flap flap flap*

Yui: ...Wait, eeeeeh!?

Shuu: Wake me up when we’ve arrived.

*Flap flap flap flap flap*

Shuu: ...

Yui: ( Geez, Shuu... )

( O-Okay! I have to just let myself be carried. )

Monologue

I made up my resolve.

And decided to keep still,

as I let the bats carry me.

When taking a quick glance at the ground below,

I could see,

the ongoing Parade.

If I hadn’t gotten my heart stolen, then perhaps right now, 

Shuu-san and I would also beーー

Such thoughts flashed through the back of my mind.

I shake my head, getting rid of those thoughts,

while continuing to pray,

that the Ghost Flower in my hands would not disappear.

ー The scene shifts to Reine de Aji’s store

*Flap flap flap flap flap*

Yui: ( W-We somehow got here before the Ghost Flower vanished. )

Shuu-san! Wake up, please! We’re here!!

Shuu: Nn...Pwaah...

That’s pretty fast. I wouldn’t have minded snoozing for a little longer...

Yui: More importantly, we should hurry up and find Aji-sanーー

*Flap flap flap flap flap*

Reine de Aji: W-What is this ruckus about!?

Yui: Ah, Aji-san!

Reine de Aji: You lot...! Are you trying to destroy my shop out of spite for not getting the pendant!?

Yui: N-No!

Take a look at this, please! We wanted to make you happy, so...

Reine de Aji: T-This is...Could it be, a Ghost Flower...?

The legendary flower, and the one flower in this world I had yet to see...

*WOOSH*

Yui: ( Aah, it vanished... )

Reine de Aji: ...

Yui: ( Oh no. The shop’s a mess because of the bats... )

( I guess...We failed to please her... )

Reine de Aji: That wasn’t an illusion just now, it was an actual Ghost Flower. I...

I’ve always wanted to see it here in my store, even if only once.

You did all of this just for me?

Yui: I just thought it’d be nice if it would make you happy...But I’m sorry you were only able to see it for such a short time.

Reine de Aji: Don’t sweat it. You made me plenty happy.

Furthermore, the fact they wither is exactly what makes flowers so beautiful.

ーー Thank you. I’m very pleased.

Yui: ( T-Thank god! Then... )

Reine de Aji: As promised...

*Cling*

Reine de Aji: I’ll lend you this pendant.

Yui: T-Thank you very much!

( We did it! )

Reine de Aji: Hey, you...Sakamaki.

Shuu: ...

Reine de Aji: I’ve written you guys off as lost causes for the longest time.

But you did all of this to make me happy. Especially this young lady over here.

...She’s quite the catch.

You chose your partner well. I suppose we should have expected as much from the eldest son of the family.

Shuu: Thank you.

Yui: ( I guess...she complimented me? It’s a little embarrassing but I’m happy. )

ー The scene shifts back to the hotel

*Cling*

Yui: ( If you put a picture inside this locket and put the necklace on, you can turn into that person...Huh? )

( Reevaluating it, it really is a mysterious thing. )

Anyway...We can hold the party without any trouble now.

Shuu: Yeah.

But...You’re forgetting one important thing.

Yui: Important...?

( What could that be? )

We’ve settled on the location, the cake and even got a surprise prepared...Which leaves...

Shuu: ...

Yui: Which leaves...?

Shuu: ...

Yui: U-Um...What do we still have left to do exactly?

Shuu: Good grief...

ー Shuu steps closer

Shuu: ーー Show your gratitude.

Yui: Excuse me?

Shuu: Show your gratitude to me.

Who’s to thank for making it this far into the preparations?

Yui: ( S-Starting with the gondola, I guess none of this would have been possible if Shuu-san hadn’t been there with me. )

Shuu-san, thank you so much for today.

I’m sorry for not saying this sooner.

Shuu: Just words won’t suffice.

In that case, let’s see...I wonder what I should ask from you instead?

I guess I should pose you the question for once.

Yui: U-Um...

( ...Something I can do... ) 

Selection

→ Give him a massage (☾)

Yui: ...Ah, right!

How about...a massage?

Shuu: A massage...

Yui: ( Uu, I feel like he’s appalled. )

I figured you must be exhausted, so I thought it wasn’t a bad idea...

Shuu: Haha...I guess it wouldn’t be bad every once in a while. Guess I’ll let you do your thing then.

Yui: Y-Yes...

*Rustle rustle*

Shuu: ...Oi. You can’t call that a massage. Put in a little more effort.

Yui: Okay.

*Rustle rustle*

Shuu: ...Phew...

*Rustle rustle*

→ Write him a letter of gratitude

Yui: In that case...How about I write you a letter of gratitude?

We can frame it and hang it on the wall at the manor, for example...

Shuu: ...

Yui: ( H-He looks disappointed. )

Shuu: Haah...Guess I’ll take the sentiment at least.

Yui: Yes...

( I guess it would have been way better to offer him a massage or something... )

( I’ll do that next time. )

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: ( Anyway...I’m glad preparations for the party went smoothly. )

( Ah...But... )

( Shuu-san didn’t seem too stoked about the idea of the pendant. )

( I wonder why? )

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

Translation notes

(1) The てやる or ‘te-yaru’ construction implies that he is doing something for the sake of someone else. 

(2) Literally he says ‘I’d even be willing to accept help from a cat’. This idiom is used when someone is so busy, they will accept any help, even from someone who might not be the best.

← RETURN TO CHAPTER 2

→ PROCEED WITH MAIN STORY [CHAPTER 4]

→ SUB-SCENARIO #1 [W/ SUBARU]

→ SUB-SCENARIO #2 [W/ RUKI]

→ SUB-SCENARIO #3 [W/ KOU]

[vibraniumphoenix]

my stars know about you. [ s.w ]

a sam wilson x fem!reader blurb wherein sam finds the old videos the reader has when he was snapped away.

WARNING: a bit of angst and tfatws spoilers for those who haven’t watched but aside from that, nothing else.

A/N: ha yes hello i impulsively wrote this bcs my muse was so high all of a sudden and i have this monologue ready for it. listened to this playlist right here and wendy ft. john legend’s written in the stars <3 also, is this still a blurb ??

updated a/n: BYE I FORGOT THAT I WROTE THIS AKDFNKFJN my heart is so soft hhhh

---

Sam had promised you he would clean around the house while you go on a fun little weekend with Sarah and the boys, wanting to give you more time to relax and be around his family; his lips churning up into a small yet giddy smile at the thought of the small velvet box hiding somewhere in your shared room that contained the necklace you’ve been eyeing whenever the two of you could go out.

He was half-way done with the things hidden in your work drawer when he came across a flash drive that had a label written on it called visual diary. His brows furrowed lightly as walked to his side of the office, opening his laptop and plugged it in, opening the files to see multiple videos titled with dates, the first one from all the way back in 2018.

Sam shifted in his seat, clicking on that certain video only to be greeted by your tear-stained face and bloodshot eyes, under eyes dark from the possible lack of sleep. His heart dropped at the distraught look on your face as you took a deep breath in before looking into the camera.

“hey sam, it’s me. it’s一 it’s been exactly five days since Nat called me about how you were one of the people who, unfortunately, got snapped into non-existence.”

The way you spoke caused goosebumps to form along his skin, realizing that these were probably videos you’d made five years ago, when the snap happened. Sam’s heart was shattered at how lost you looked from the other side of the screen, wanting nothing more than to cradle you in his arms.

“I’m with Sarah right now, she’s sleeping in her room with Aj and Cass. She’s been strong, but you can see the worry in her eyes一 she’s holding up much better than I am though. I’ve been such a mess, I can’t look into the mirror without seeing… feeling you beside me. I miss you.”

Sam stopped the video, his own tears starting to choke him upon seeing the state that you and his younger sister have been. He knew that it was hard, after seeing Sarah struggle with the family business and keeping things together; seeing you wake up at night with cold sweat glistening on your skin as you jolted up from yet another nightmare of him not coming back.

He wanted to stop from diving deep into the videos but his curiosity was stronger. He scrolled through some more videos, randomly clicking on one.

This time, Sam was greeted with a somewhat cheery you, out on the hill you first confessed your attraction to him一 the same night he admitted that he loves you more than a friend, where everything started between the both of you.

“hey there, handsome. i surely hope you can recognize where i’m at right now, if not, then i guess i’m kicking your ass.”

He chuckled, finding your humor amusing despite how lackluster your tone was as you spoke into the camera. Sam reached up to trace your features that were present on his screen, remembering every single feature of yours, engraving it into the forefront of his mind.

“today’s the day we’re supposed to celebrate our first anniversary, sammy. we should’ve been in hawaii by now, swimming with the fishes or explore the beauty of that island. instead, i’m here, in my car alone on the hill where we first admitted our feelings for each other.”

Sam didn’t fail to notice how you were trying your best to hold back your tears, taking note of how your tongue poked the inside of your cheek一 a habit he noticed you would do whenever fighting strong emotions一 and he whispered a small, “Don’t hold your tears back, sweetheart.” and as if you heard him, you let out a small chuckle.

“if you were here right now, i know you would say something like, “don’t bottle those tears up, beautiful” or something along those lines. i want you to know that i’m trying, sam. but it’s hard, it’s been five long months since you’ve been gone and i don’t know how long i can last without hearing you say you love me or your obnoxious laughter that would resonate through the house.”

“I love you, baby.” was all that left Sam’s lips, tongue jutting out to dampen his lips as he listened to you speak, mind blank as too many thoughts about what he wants to say to you as of the moment are too much.

“i’ve told the stars about your laughter. it’s niche and cliche, i know, but mom told me to tell them all about the people i treasure the most whenever i can’t tell others about them.”

“i told them about how beautiful you are一 about how scintillating your eyes are that they could battle even the brightest star in the sky tonight. i let my stars know about how amazing of a chef you are even though you almost burnt my old apartment’s kitchen down because you forgot about the cake you tried so hard to bake.”

Sam cringed at the memory, nose scrunching up in disbelief that he could forget such a simple task; he spent the night apologizing and all you ever did was smile and lean in to give him a kiss in hopes to shut him up.

“i told my stars about how brilliant you are一 how your words are so deep even with the shortest sentences, about how you can easily captivate me and a bunch of others with the stories that you speak… about how much love you have for me and for everyone you care for. it never ceases to amaze me how you can stand up and fight for the people that you love.”

At this point, Sam was already in tears as you shared about how you spoke about him. He adored how your eyes were filled with that well-known fondness you have whenever you speak about something you love.

As the video ended, Sam was left to look at the reflection of himself on the screen, staring at his reflection as your words echoed in his mind. He always listened to you ramble on about how everyone’s destiny was written somewhere in the skies, their lives aligned like the constellations that shined bright in the nighttime.

Normally, he would brush it off, skeptic to that belief but as he tuned into your stories, he can’t help but believe that in what you were saying. Sam was about to play another video when he heard the familiar jangle of your keys in the front door.

Sam pulled out of his chair and raced over there to meet you, immediately engulfing you in a tight hug before you could even close the door. “Hello, beautiful.” he softly greeted, pulling away to place a light kiss on your temple. “How was your weekend away with Sarah and the boys?”

You chuckled softly at the sudden affection he was giving, dropping your duffel bag on the floor to wrap your arms around his torso, feeling how relaxed he was against you. “It was great! Could’ve been better if you were there to be with us.” you answered, reaching up to peck his lips a few times, making the latter smile. “What’s with the affection? Did you break something, Samuel? Wait一 were you crying?”

He shook his head, adamant in admitting that he was, he lifted you up easily as he took you over to your shared office, sitting back down on his office chair with you in his lap as he showed you the compilation of the videos, “I… I found the flash drive while cleaning and I got a little too curious and decided to see what was on it and well, turns out I got a bit more than what I expected.”

“I was going to show them to you one day, Sam.” you admitted, making yourself comfortable as you snuggled up to him, his arms laced around you securely. “But I wanted to make it a bit more… special since this was a very vulnerable time for me.” the softness in your voice made him curl a single digit under your chin to make you look at him.

“I’m sorry that I left you alone for that long, baby girl.” Sam apologized, feeling incredibly guilty for leaving. Despite knowing it wasn’t his fault, he couldn’t bring himself to accept that you and his sister had to spend so many years without him. “I know you’ve told me multiple times that I shouldn’t say sorry, but I can’t help it. You’ve waited for so long.”

“And I’ll wait a million more if it meant I could be with you.” you cut him off, shifting slightly to make you face him completely. “You can go anywhere, anytime, for how long and I would wait for you to come back every single time. So please don’t feel guilty about it, love.” your hands holding the sides of his face as you start to pepper it with gentle kisses.

You smile at his peaceful expression, “My heart is in peace knowing that we’re written somewhere in the stars.” you say to him softly, squishing his cheeks in a playful manner, light laughter filling up the room.

Sam smiled, sealing the feather-like kisses with his lips on yours, capturing it for an intimate one that conveyed how much love he has for you, resting his forehead on yours right after. “You know that I love you, right Y/N?”

“I do and I love you so much more, Sam.”

---

[clandestine-j]

Gossip Girl Reboot, EP. 3

Review/Reaction 

alright, we're here for ep 3 reaction and thoughts &

man, i must say, DRAMA.

love it. i'm going to try and make this short but i fail horribly at stuff like that soooo lets see how this will go. i think imma split it into three groups! adults, kids, other random shit.

adults

you know what? i was here for most of them. people talk about zoyas dad bad acting but he was fine in his little scene, i'm happy that he's forcing zoya to take time with obie or whatever. i know people hate her dad and zobie but it was a little nice scene.

i'm really loving julien's dad. i'm glad he can own up and apologize and i get where he was coming from. honestly 10/10 so far, i love the relationship he has with julien and how's he's learning to cope with her becoming an adult and seeing it happen.

fucking love max's dad and the whole family dynamic thing before it went to shit. obvi, the one day is shitty but his other dad, lovely, i love their relationship. parents are winning in this ep.

teachers? JAIL (maybe not rafa but we'll still see). honestly, i'm not hating the teachers being gg, i like that they put gg out there for other private schools so i'm enjoying it but still JAIL. JAIL. JAIL.

our mains

we didn’t get to see much of monet but her little blow up motion at the end was funny and when the chick offered her name, monet said no. queen. and home girl accepted it.

luna was #theebest from her doing the zoya glow up. i think everyone agrees that her holding up the phone is a fan favorite. luna is my best one liner girl. her delivery is on point.

obie, more of obie, i know people don’t like him but he’s an alright character for me. i see potential but we need to flush him out a bit more. i hope to see more of his interactions with aki, give us the friendship. i want him to take what he learns to heart.

zoya, yes girl, pop off. i guess she can when it comes to her passions but not to her. (just be catty once back) i love that she did call luna when it came to the hashtag and she realized who she couldn’t be fairly quickly. i wonder if the play wright is the new friend.

julien! honestly, she really is a queen and i’m loving her pushing back against monet and luna more and more. i also love the scheming and her night out with max. they’re great together and i just wanna see more of it. (all of the friendships) i also love her relationship with her dad. i like that they talk and work things out and while he shouldn’t have lied, i get why and i love that he thought about her so much.

idk how to even to the next few but here we go.

honestly, i found aud and aki funny this episode. their reactions were so alike but so different. the awkward wave and everything. i get that they’re lying to themselves but damn, if they could find a way to spice up their sex life they’d be good. i find them so cute as a couple when they’re all cuddly and just ugh. guys. talk. i will say that after though, when they met in the hall way, i like that once it was out there, aki was straight to the point. honestly, if they broke up...i don’t think it’d be bad, i think they’d be good friends and understanding of each other.

i saw people saying that they didn’t give enough (aki) but max was on his monologue shit and i think they were in two different mindsets. aki didn’t look blank, he looked pissed. and i would be too lowkey, you say you don’t wanna be in the middle of it but then you put yourself, right in the middle. and aside from the kiss, i don’t think aki tried anything more with him unless it comes out that he did. but a few days passed (julien jetting around) so i don’t if they were that thirsty. audrey probs thought that in that moment, she’d really lose aki and that’s what brought her too tears. i think aki already accepted what might happen and was just pissed while audrey, even when she told julien about it, she was disconnected in her head about what she had done.

max was a rollercoaster this episode. from the taking julien out to posting her with the coke to making the plans. it’s was all chaos. i think the moment i felt the worst from aside from the break down? when he didn’t realize the trouble with his parents marriage at the table but we could all see it. that was heart breaking and my dude though, his planning was on ten. making the profile, switching the seats, the hands on the thigh (aki licking his lips) and then his break down and just telling of the truth, exploding, spilling the tea. whatever you wanna call it. it was wonderful and his reasons for doing it, so childish and backfired but you get it. he just wanted the truth out with his parents and it all went to hell. really, heart breaking but amazing for the show and his character development.

my man is still messy though, even without telling the business. like aud and max were in a relationship but those were yo friends my dude. you legit blocked aki from sitting next to his girlfriend, im crying. (messy and he knows it and aki liked his lips. sick.)

now random thoughts that had no real place

audrey’s actress makes these strange faces sometimes...idk...it’s funny to me because i’m wondering why

the scene when max’s dads and rafa met, jesus

would you spell it buffl-ho?

it’s the least you could do

did aki say shenanigans, boy you are a kid 

the moment with max and his dad, still, thinking about and it still cute, all cuddly, idk if the og parents were like this but i love it

since we’re getting mostly reasonable parents i expect the worse ones to pop up soon

the way monet delivered that brad line, it sends

why would he put her doing coke on

aud / aki had reasons to think max would blab because he’s messy

my boy aki flirting with other dudes as rafa

i could see aud asking aki to make out with any boy while she watches, so guys get it together please

how did obie not see aki stops talking and suddenly look at max 

i wonder if someone has tried to take advantage of max because those words hit too hard

those teachers really set home girl up, omg, JAIL. 

aki needs new friends who’ll love his movie drops. he just gets bullied into things, maybe it’s his kink i won’t judge but he couldn’t change by himself, pushed into the bathhouse, the profile, obie won’t let the group chat name stick #stopgettingbullied

aki’s & max’s relationship summed up into one tweet, he really likes this boi, once i’m SICK (click the sentence) 

i haven’t loved all of at school looks but i really liked juliens at the end of the episode

was the music transitions a little jarring to anyone else?

thanks all for now, just my minds ramblings as normal. i could go more in depth about all of this but i’m sure ya’ll are sick of reading it now.