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river-bottom-nightmare · 4 years

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The Nightwing Suit

There are some absolutely incredible artists out here on tumblr, and seeing their fanart makes me cry tears of joy. Dick Grayson, one of my personal favs, is always a wonderful contender for fanart. His innate grace and agility and flexibility translate beautifully on the artistic spectrum. Bottom line: I love all the Nightwing fanart. However, there is something I want to address with his suit. I’ve been an aerialist ever since I was 7 years old, and I’ve taken gymnastics since I was 3. Now, I specialize in Lyra, while Dick obviously specializes in Trapeze, but when it comes to costume, we’ve got many very important similarities.

DON’TS

When it comes to aerial, we want as much mobility and flexibility as possible. So here are some things that absolutely will not be on his suit.

1. Shoulder Pads. I will scream it from the rooftops if I have to. The Nightwing suit WILL NOT have shoulder pads!! Red Hood? Definitely. Red Robin? Those shoulder pads are important for bo staff strength and support. Robin? Damian probably doesn’t need them, but they won’t hurt. Nightwing? No way. To me, one of the most important parts of my body when practicing and performing are my shoulders. They pull me into hangs and holds, let me rotate myself around, and basically support the rest of my body. This is partially due to user preference: I prefer arm-based stunts and hangs rather than leg based. But it honestly doesn’t matter that much. Nightwing will absolutely need 100% use of his shoulders. Him being able to freely rotate them can be the difference between life and death with his style of fighting. Shoulder pads will just hamper that flexibility. I will admit that shoulder pads look badass, but in this one hero’s scenario? Shouldr pads are a no-go.

2. Sleek Arm Braces. Nightwing, while being well recognized as a solo hero, does often work with a team. And on a team, he isn’t the type to huff angrily and say he can do this by himself. Emotionally? Yes, of course. Physically, and in a fight? He takes all the help he can get, with absolutely no would to his pride. When performing his flips and tricks and such, the other partner will grab hold of him by usually his hands or his arms. I’m just going to straight up say: catching someone by their hands is a Bad Idea. You will not believe the speed we travel when we go through the air, and catching by the hands will lead to dislocations and pain. For a few stunts it’s okay, mainly for the visual aspect of a performance. But when it’s life and death combat? Hands are a last ditch effort if you can’t catch someone by the arms. Because that’s what really counts. The forearms. When Dick is fighting with someone, and that other person has the strength to catch him/throw him from a drop or a flip, they will catch him by the forearms. If Dick’s wearing sleek ‘n sexy arm braces, he’s going to slip right out of their grip. I prefer to keep my forearms bare, but in regards to protective armor, the fabric around the arms better have a grip.

3. Extra Fabric. This one is a given. However, I want to get into the specifics. When you’re in the air, momentum is your most powerful ally, and if there’s anything opposing or hindering that momentum, that spells trouble. Extra fabric can sometimes be good, such as around the legs. Not too much, obviously, but wearing loose or baggy pants while fighting with Nightwing’s fighting style works (as long as you can, you know, actually fight in them and not trip over the extra cloth). Around the middle? Nuh-uh, nope. Anything looping around your waist, hips, or rib cage is a liability if it’s not skin tight. The belt that Robin often wears is okay, as long as it’s wrapped pretty tight around him and doesn’t move. For the kind of stunts that Dick pulls off on a daily basis? I don’t think anything but a skintight bodysuit will help. For arms, extra fabric is ~okay~ but not preferable. And anything strapped to his back, as long as it’s securely in place, will actually help his momentum (so his escrima sticks or any other weapon/item you want to put in there is fine). Nothing around the neck, at ALL. That one issue in Batman where Dick wears a scarf is hot as hell, and sort of makes sense because they’re in the desert. But on missions, at the speed Nightwing fights and flies through the air, anything around his neck will choke him. This entire section definitely wasn’t an excuse to say you should just keep Dick in a skintight outfit, nope, not at all.

4. Spandex. While we’re on the subject of skintight outfits, I just want to point something out that isn’t necessarily important or anything. It’s just a general preference for me. I prefer costumes with a little weight on them. The adrenaline rush is intense for some of my more advanced stunts, and those are things that I bet Dick would consider basic. I prefer something with a little substance/weight/texture to it. Nothing too serious, and nothing too restricting, just something to keep me grounded and focused. We all know how much Dick likes being in the air, but I’m willing to bet he also needs a little extra touch to keep his head in the game. So if you’re designing a serious Nightwing suit, not for crack or fun headcanons or anything, I would steer clear from the spandex, gauze, and showy-light-gossamer fabrics. They do provide extra mobility and flexibility, but that’s because they’re one drop away from naked.

5. Joints. Okay this may seem a little contradictory based on the last point, but around the joints, especially hips and shoulders, the protective padding needs to ease up. It’s one of the hardest areas on the body to injure, after all, even for a professional. And second, I know I’m sounding like I’m repeating the obvious, but flexibility is of utmost importance. If the fabric doesn’t bend with Nightwing, then there’s no point. It can’t chafe, it can’t grind against itself, it can’t break. The material around major joints needs to be malleable.

Dos

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about what you can absolutely add to Nightwing’s costume to give it either a little pizzazz, or just your own personal touch.

1. Boots. Yes yes yes, boots are an absolute must! And it’s not just me thinking thigh-high boots are cool. Coming out of a big drop and other major stunts requires rolling on your back and then onto your feet. But Nightwing doesn’t fight with the one-hit-and-done style. (That’s more Jason’s thing. He plants himself like a tree and puts power behind a punch, kinda like Bruce, which is why boots-especially boot soles- are important for them.) Nightwing gets in a punch and flips away, then bounces back and gets in a kick and flips away, then bounces back and gets in another kick and flips away. You see where I’m going with this. Dick is constantly on the move, constantly on the verge of flipping back. The main way he does this is with his feet: landing lightly on the balls of his feet to absorb momentum before using that to hit back. Boots with fricion-specific soles are important, he cannot slide or skid. Also, ones that go higher up aren’t bad either: extra support is always welcome. As long as they don’t cover his knees and allow for ankle flexibility, they’re good to go. They may even help stop ankle dislocation. Anything you want to add to the boots? Go ahead. As long as it’s not gauzy ribbon or something too extra, or something that can easily get caught in something else, it’s good to go. In my performances, I like to cover my shins with something, it can range from simple high socks or performance boots to go with my costume. I particularly like Damian’s long lace up boots, especially in Super Sons. It’s a cute outfit, and it won’t hinder his fighting at all. As long as Dick double knots, he can wear those, and any other variants of boots.

2. Gloves. I’m not actually sure if Dick has ever been called “Fingerstripes” in canon, but I’ve seen it in fanon plenty of times. Regardless, it’s one of my favorite nicknames for him, and it does have a basis. The stripes on his gloves are an awesome artistic choice, and useful too. Assuming they have a different texture than the rest of his gloves, those fingerstripes could help with grip. Grip is one of the most important tools an aerialist can have. I have had grown men look at me with shock when they shake my hand because of my firm grip (and the calluses, ugh). I firmly believe that Dick Grayson has one of the strongest grips in the DC non-meta world, and I bet you he surpasses even a good amount of metas. Having a good, no-slip grip is essential, even if you’re just swinging from the surface for a second, or if the surface is another partner’s hand. Gloves, once again as long as they’re not too restricting, would be awesome with helping with that.

3. Wrist Braces. I said before that Dick can’t have arm braces because of the whole partner-grip thing. But with the amount of force and pressure Dick exerts on his hands on a daily basis, dislocations and sprains should be as common as a bruise. Hell, I’m sitting here typing this and my left wrist is sprained. Fanfic writers, here’s a helpful tip: you can write Dick with a sprained or dislocated or just a plain sore wrist anytime at all, and having him rub his hands with a grimace, rubbing lotion onto them, or doing wrist exercises in his free time is a go-to for if you need anything filler. Or, you know, it could even be part of the plot. Wrist braces help with this, they keep the joints in place and add a little extra stability to his movements. As long as they’re not interfering with wrist mobility, wrist braces are a very very good idea. When you think how long, think about the length of Peter Parker’s handmade web shooters. Long enough to be there, but not immediately noticeable. Also, make sure the material is something cloth, wrap, or gauze based. Anything too hard could scrape against the skin, cause cuts and bruises, and even cut off circulation. Unless it’s armor, it’s not comfortable or easy to do aerial maneuvers with.

4. Back Harness. To be honest, I have no idea what the official name for this piece of equipment even is. But the thing that holds Nightwing’s escrima sticks to his back. The thing that holds Deadpool’s katanas (in the movies, not the comics). The back-strap-harness thingy. That’s a go-for-it when it comes to costumes. Not only does it look badass and hot when it’s on your costume and you draw your weapons from it seamlessly like a boss, it’s practical and doesn’t interfere with your fighting at all. As I said, a majority of Nightwing’s moves rely on momentum. The back harness thingy won’t harm that at all. As long as it’s strapped to your back, unmoving and steady, it stays out of the way and may actually help you with your momentum. Drawing weapons from it is easy and seamless, and one of the quickest moves you can perfect, aside from drawing your weapon from thigh/calf holsters. But as I said before, Dick would probably stick to the back because, once again, momentum.

Okay this got much longer than I thought it would. But regardless, I hope this helps if you’re ever drawing or writing about the Nightwing suit and need specifics. Or hell, if you’re a cosplayer and need some information on how to make an accurate costume, here you go. Now I need to take a breather and chill, because while I considered myself a pretty recreational comic reader and not much of an analyzer, I had no idea how much I picked up about Dick’s individual fighting style and how that fits in with my own aerial experiences.

#i have no idea what to tag this #suit analysis???#superhero costume dos and dont's??#nightwing #dick grayson #meta #dc #nightwing meta #dick grayson meta #dc meta #nightwing suit #river thinks too hard

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sugar-petals · 3 years

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Hey Caro ☺️ I just took your super m quiz - thanks for making such a fun quiz, I feel like it helped me get into super m! I know nothing about them yet but I thought it fit soo well that I got Kai bc I’m a full time dancer - now you have me super curious about him 👀👀

KAI :: INTRODUCTION MASTERPOST (dance focus)

so you wanna know about the god of k-pop choreo? oh yeah, i’ll talk to you about fucking kai! if you dance, this guy is the #1 must-know. once you see him move, there’s no going back. i don’t exaggerate: kai is the gold standard. brace yourselves, i’ll show you why.

kim kai aka kim jongin (27) is a solo artist and super m’s plus exo’s main dancer — est 2019 and 2012 respectively — heading either group with a passionate, hyper-physical style that roots in his early practice of of jazz dance and ballet. the influence definitely shows.

learning choreography, he’s become the gorgeous fusion of emotional grace and explosive power that unites both tension and extreme accuracy. while at the same time: never sacrificing his interpretation. and HOW MUCH HE BLEEDS FOR HIS CRAFT. he enjoys it so much.

and he’s communicating it 100%, jongin’s dance is so interactive and raw, luring. i swear to god, put the seatbelts on for this one. it’s never just him, it’s you as well. you’ve never seen this before. he’s like “yes, i meant you, i’m looking at you”:

he’s even gonna modify the choreography to point right at you to underline that very thought. he’s so good, he can learn it, ace it, epitomize it, and do his own thing anyway. even the person in the last row will get whatever point kai wants to make. this is dance that belongs on the biggest stages.

even when he films without a crowd, it’s like you’re literally standing opposite to him. he focuses on two people: his moves, and the viewer. he has it look like you made him smile and self-aware, or you made him determined. INCREDIBLE. he shows his charisma, BUT he also shows your own (!) impact on him. it’s a duet. he wants you to join him on the dancefloor. this is from exo’s call me baby mv where kai does his famous come-hither:

he flirts and he encourages. he values the audience and wants them to be confident as well. i think it’s the reason why he’s so outstanding and addictive, kai thinks beyond himself. it’s a tango he involves you in with his eyes and how he opens his body, interprets a lyric.

it’s not about imposing himself going one way. instead: he plays the back and forth ALL. THE. TIME. in any context. whether it be frivolous, or fun, or gloomy, or sweet. even with a simple little smiley wink it’s happening. and he acts like you had a reaction to it. there’s literally just a camera.

this guy’s physique, strength, elegance, feeling for the beat, character portrayal (!), and control is unbelievable. he’s destroyed it in every fancam out there. he can’t switch it off even if he tried. your eyes would go toward him in the largest group formation still. put him in the center, that’s his spot, he showcases it.

because he doesn’t just show learned moves, he makes it radiate something dynamic and animalistic (he embodies superm’s ‘tiger inside’ all the way).

jongin’s dance says: i love this, you love this, let’s do this, the feeling is right. he makes bodies and unrestrained touch the opposite of wrong, he pronounces it a source of having fun and being instinctual. and he never breaks the tie with you throughout, and uses his shoulders and lips to put the oomph into it.

he uses innuendo and a ‘we both know’ sentiment perfectly as an invitation rather than just going through his routine. that’s how he can make each move fascinating. you can tell kai knows exactly how to make everyone scream their lungs out. i bet somebody held their breath just reading this post already.

exo’s most famous choreo is ‘monster’ (kai focus linked) with good reason: jongin can turn himself into nothing short of a roaring beast. it’s one sharp, complex move after the other. kai can bend any gravitational law he wants to show any feeling and pose he wants. a glimpse:

now, how to spot him in general if you’re new to him? here are some pointers. kai’s execution is clean, fast, and powerful. those are two decades (!) of experience showing. kai is an all or nothing dancer, he plays no games. he treats every group and solo stage like his best and last. his work ethic is beyond words. yeah, he’s a capricorn. his style is direct as can be, working every axis.

as you can see, jongin is hard to overlook anyway: he’s a 182cm giant made of steel. he strives to acutely visualize impact in his style and it is always successful. in fact, it’s his signature. it’s like he creates invisible objects and pushes through them. boom, he just burst another bubble.

when the song gets to his part, i guarantee you won’t miss him and all the boldness and expression he brings to enrich the performance. hell... he carries it. jongin can handle the center, i’m telling you. (look how fast he rotates here)

talking features — this is what to look for when he dances in a group setting: you can recognize kai’s face by how wide, bluntly structured and sensual it is. jongin is a sight. he has such an aura, serious, sultry, and smiling alike.

with a very recognizable silhouette (like... holy hell!):

he’s very cute as well ♡ the fandom and kai himself have an adorable analogy going on. jongin calls himself a teddy/nini bear and we joined in on it. (i made a thread about it here, it talks more about his offstage life) — hence kai’s fans are called eri-gom, eris as in exo’s fanbase and gom meaning bear.

and i mean. look at him. what an attractive guy. he’s that handsome. strong brows, teddy eyes, square jaw, swept hair, glorious lips, tan skin.

now yes, something important concerning his appearance and a serious topic: i don’t want to list you the endless instances of colorism that kai has to endure but it has to be mentioned. jongin has been called every name in the book and people agonize him over his skin incessantly. it goes on and on and on. every day a new terrible comment about him emerges because some pitiful person thought it was funny and would elevate them.

he’s had to deflect, ignore, reframe, defend, remotivate, assert, harden, prove, denounce, and push himself, protect his confidence, decline skin bleaching constantly, laugh along, dance and practice thrice as hard to get the respect, and still see his dignity torn to pieces all day. i’ll just give it to you straight, that’s all fucked up. kai’s skin is perfect, he’s amazing and wonderful.

in his own words:

— exactly right. say it even louder.

having him at the bottom of every joke is weird and messed up. this man is an utter beauty and nothing has to be fixed. it is up to him to define himself rather than get called ugly for his skin’s appearance by default, and get whitewashed at every opportunity. it’s been going on for 27 years, he scrunitizes himself all the time and doesn’t look at himself fondly because he hears these beatdowns daily.

it’s heartbreaking that this happens literally with no end in sight (’kai is just a stripper!’... ‘he has bad vibes’... ‘darkest guy jongin!’). for his skin, and how he decides to show it, too. jesus christ his skin looks fantastic, end of debate. they just can’t handle him, kai couldn’t be any more immaculate.

♡

jongin has vigorously protected fans from discrimination, bullies, and shaming himself whenever it came up. in a very straightforward and deadpan manner because he knows exactly how it damages you. (”J” in the subtitles = jongin, he’s wearing the plain white top at the very back)

we need to protect and praise him that way right back. it’s important.

so, needless to say. all in for jongin getting the center stage he deserves. because he has the wow factor in every regard. kai usually opens an MV because there’s no better way to get people’s attention with that level of presence. with kai, you can’t go wrong. if you get the center in a an all star group like superm, you are the king.

being part of that presence, kai’s stage alter ego has reached levels of infamity you can’t even imagine. it’s great to see him being sovereign without apology.

and it doesn’t stop there. he shows time and again that acting, props, and commanding the audience has to be mastered to be an exceptional dancer. kai owns his sex appeal. sometimes, he even dances a portion of choreo with his eyes closed because he’s feeling it so much.

he is a pro in using his surroundings as well, superm’s stages are a glorious opportunity for kai to show how he comfortably ‘lives in’ the 3D space around him.

which makes the viewer do the same: watching kai makes you feel amazing, energized, but also serene and enjoying the moment.

there’s always balance. it’s the magic of it. e.g. he comes along with so much impetus and decisiveness but eventually, he halts to offer himself. here i am — take me. i’m yours. closed arms, open arms. walking, kneeling. looking down, looking up.

kai goes every extra mile there ever was and makes each eye contact count. involving the audience, one grin at a time. it works. it’s about establishing contact. he connects to the onlooker with so much nuance.

kai’s smirk is notorious and you can see why it’s so raw and real: he makes it linger. it’s such a duality since his dancing says i’ll come over, while his message is come and get me, i know what’s on your mind.

with a hilarious twist – kai expertly uses humor. you don’t get that in many dancer repertoires. i love it. all those quick expression changes. his smile! 😊 what a man.

so — what makes him so good and known: yes, his style doesn’t deny that dancing and eroticism are one in his business. that takes courage. kai has it. iconic performances have been his reward. point dance/killing part: exo’s love shot choreo.

that suit has swept the nation. what’s more: kai shows you it’s more than just good hip movement that a good dancer needs. he does everything at once, he puts the pleasure on his face, all his limbs are following the template he chooses.

the thing is. kai couldn’t be any shyer, but when the music starts he becomes a oscar-winning madman. he emotes constantly (!) and stays in character. this is gold.

jongin always plays it up. he knows how to use that face and does a lot of power posing. this is how visceral looks like. he’s interpreted exo’s aggressive concepts to a T.

and he has so. much. fun. it propels him. on every beat.

past every hurt, heartbreak and injury, man. if you know about his genre you knew this was coming, kai does all of that with 4 herniated discs. since debut days, never recovered. every gif in this thread, he dances with a battered spine. wheelchairs, stage collapses, relapse-recovery-schedule tales, the dilemma of injuries being inevitable, limping, kai falling into depression during breaks, constant pain killers, countless tears on stage, we’ve seen it all, the extreme end of it.

kai works out like hell to literally keep his body from falling apart. but it doesn’t help the nerves in his back that are impacted. doing choreo you can sometimes literally see the pain kicking in and he pulls himself through with force for the last minute. once you know how strained his back is, you can see it.

at the end his expression goes fuck now it’s coming when the adrenaline fades. he takes every second-pause he gets to rest but still finishes each move. even when he holds back, he keeps it together and executes each turn. sometimes, he has to restrict himself and soften his movements to protect his health (especially in hard choreographies such as lucky one which is universally disliked by exo — still jongin makes the very best of it smiling bright and dancing so hard his sleeves come off).

he frequently states he ‘dances in any case unless his legs are affected by something’. all torso injuries are fair game, this guy is hardcore. and people claim he’s just pretending. chen (a fellow exo member) says not a single part of jongin’s body is intact. he has paid every price to get this far to follow his love. he’ll step on stage with crutches. he works SO HARD.

that being said: exo being called the official nation’s group, i say kai is the nation’s dancer. period. he has had his great moment at the korean olympics flawlessly dancing in a hanbok with traditional instruments and fulfilling his dream.

i love the tension and drama he can bring. he can also thrill with slow, vulnerable movements alike.

kai’s is called a legend, he’s all that and even more. the facial expressions alone are feared by any kai stan because they hit home.

this guy is a sex icon and goes off like a gun, messing around was never kai’s incentive.

while at the same time being incredibly nuanced and so, so descriptive with his movements.

point dance: baby don’t cry. yep, kai has danced in water. must-watch.

this man loves what he is doing. he said he wouldn’t regret to die on stage because dancing is his destiny. boy, it shows. this guy has found his purpose. he can tell any story he wants. he’s a complete artist.

he’s perfectly portraying his incentive and he couldn’t look any more like a god on earth.

long story short, kai is dance and motivation goals. if you dance professionally, you can easily look toward him for the right words.

if you want to further your study and knowledge: he released a self-titled solo album recently. highly recommended. he worked forever on it, and he’s really dishing it on there. you get to hear his soft voice plus sizzling footwork. and he isn’t even getting started yet. you’ll hear from kai, i promise. he constantly achieves new levels of artistic perfection.

a last remark. jongin is amazing for a myriad of reasons that go beyond what i show you here given the post focuses on his work on stage. but the point stands, while other people have tried to break him, he broke through every barricade instead and stood up for himself. we can be extremely happy to have him and witnessing his unreal dance is an exceptional pleasure. here’s to jongin continuing his passion and confidence, healing, and getting the sweeping respect and acknowledgement that is his.

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adrienscroissantx · 3 years

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I really like the few carmen sandiego aus ive been seeing soo uhhhh i made the class as VILE students/operatives. (also in this au its alyadrien and ninette because i sAID SO)

Alya oF COURSE is Rena Rouge, and would play the role of Carmen. She grew up on the island, and doesnt know much about where she came from.

Marinette is Coccinella, a ladybug themed gymnast turned ladybug-themed super thief. She’s a favourite of Countess Cleo. She’s graceful, smart, always one step ahead, with a taste for art, fashion and jewelry. I’m not 100% sure on her backstory, but either way, i adore evil Marinette.

Nino still goes by Carapace. He likes staying low to the ground, keeping valuable cargo and cool gadgets in his turtle shell backpack. He’s a skilled swimmer, stealing onto boats. Good at hiding and avoiding detection. He does what he does for the rush. It started by supporting his family, but he found he had a knack for it. So why not make your passion your job? Dr Bellum’s teachers pet.

(Marinette and Nino totally have the Le Chevre/El Topo dynamic btw)

Adrien is a cat burglar who goes by the alias chat noir. Villainy is in the family business of course, his father being the head of a sketchy corporation called Hawkmoth. He has this in common with Chloe (aka Queen Bee). Her mother, Style Queen and her father, a corrupt politician, organized her to study at Vile before she could walk. Her and Adrien are childhood friends. Chloe’s loyalty is undeniable, and by extension, so is Chat Noirs. However, what nobody except maybe Rena Rouge knows, is that he’s a double agent. He was approached by ACME, and seeing all the horrible things his father has done disillusioned him from the lifestyle he thought he wanted to live. Now he gives them intel and secrets when he can, hoping to dismantle VILE from the inside and live his dream of being a secret agent. Chloe doesn’t know this, and his betrayal leaves her feeling abandoned (with the added bonus of the abandonment of her mother) pushing her further towards the dark side. (real catra vibes)

Alya prefers working on her own, but her and Agent Noir are allies who run into each other on missions and maybe flirt a little too hard.

ANYWAY, the rest of the class:

Queen Bee, a skilled close range fighter and burglar, totally has Tigress vibes. Fights w Marinette for Countess Cleo’s attention (aka mom figure #2 who is nicer to her).

Vanisher, aka Sabrina, a magician themed burglar who can make your valuables, and herself, disappear. A student of Shadow-san. Daughter of a policeman who took bribes from criminals to steal out of the evidence locker. Nobody ever suspected her, since they were only looking for dirty cops.

Beauty Sleep, aka Rose, a talented chemistry student whose work tends to put others to sleep. Works closely with Dr Bellum.

Artificer, aka Nathaneal, a brilliant forgery artist working under Countess Cleo.

Chameleon, aka Lila. An excellent actress and disguise artist, works at hiding in plain sight. Prof Maelstrom’s personal favourite. Didn’t have the best childhood, but makes up for that with her new lavish lifestyle. As long as she comes out on top, she doesn’t care what happens to anyone.

Reflekta, aka Juleka. A psychology student whose interests lie in manipulating the brain into seeing things that aren’t there. Top of Prof Maelstrom’s class.

Mime, aka Mylene. She’s a spy, hiding in plain sight.

Toro, aka Ivan. He had an abusive childhood, and the institution holding him used him for his strength and pushed him to limits he shouldn’t have gone. He’s incredibly loyal to VILE who rescued him from his circumstances. He doesn’t talk much, is one of the cleaners.

Pegasus, aka Max. He works in robotics and hacking. He just likes seeing how far he can go without limits.

Chronogirl, aka Alix. She’s fast, whatever you’re trying to protect will be gone before you finish blinking. Has a passion for rollerblades, cars and any gadget with wheels. Impossible to catch on foot.

Roi Singe, aka Kim. A talented climber and trapeze artist, a used-to-be circus performer. He loves a crowd, but sometimes stealing under the cover of darkness has it’s own perks.

BONUS:

Kagami, aka Agent Tsurugi and Luka, aka Agent Couffaine. ACME agents and partners who work in close proximity with Agent Noir.

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emsartwork · 4 years

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i forgot to add: how do design ????!?!??????

So I’m not expert but this is how I think of character design! (also sry if you were asking about clothing/outfit design thats a little different)

under the cut because this is long im so sorry

So in my opinion there are three really important aspects for character design!

AESTHETIC: obviously everybody’s aesthetic is different, but this is more about what vibe the character has, what makes them THEM design wise.

INTENTION: who is the character supposed to be? this can range from their personality, their back story, their occupation, or their role in the story, but the design need to fit that intention.

COHESION: does the design go well together? or do certain aspects clash too much? obviously you can have disjointed parts of a character design, and if those serve a purpose then thats fine, but if its so disjointed its distracting from the character as a whole you might need to tweak things.

AESTHETIC: the contrasting part of the design (white flowers in dark hair, dark trim on dress, and dark shoes) provide interest to the eye. The mixing of round and sharp shapes also keeps the design from feeling “boring” even though its relatively simple.

INTENTION: so what role would this little doodle character have? according to her design elements, shes cute and friendly with her round shapes (bouncy balls, babies, etc), but could have a sharp/fast/active or even dangerous edge to her with the triangles (arrows, knives etc). of course the design doesn’t limit her possible roles. She could be a bubbly younger sister who teases the older protagonist, or maybe she’s the villain hiding in plain sight. the shape this character design doesn’t really have is squares(think bricks and rocks), which communicates that she might not be really strong, steady, or reliable.

COHESION: repeating the curves across her whole design builds cohesion, it communicates that “yes, these are all part of the same character”, it also allows the eye to “rest” on a familiar shape or line.

NOW LETS LOOK AT SOME DESIGNS

(Boku no Hero Academia) so both of these characters are super heroes, but have vastly different design elements. so lets analyze them.

OCHAKO(the pink one) is all rounds, with a few pointed shapes in hair mostly, but a little on her costume as well. Her personality is cute, bubbly, and friendly which perfectly suits her soft and bouncy design. Howevre she also has a very slight edge to her, which is seen her determination and drive to improve herself over the course of the anime.

KIRISHIMA(the red one) at first glance, seems to be super pointy!! shapes that are usually seen on villains or really dangerous characters, but while he IS sharp(literally sometimes) and sometimes aggressive, he is also made of squares, which perfectly suits his loyal “i gotchu bro” attitude towards most of the other characters in the anime.

ISSUE AREAS: so the only problems i have with Ochako and Kirishima’s designs is that their costumes each have one area that clashes a little too much for my taste. With Ochako, the belt over the color blocking stripes down her crotch are......questionable taste wise. I think the design would be better if the pink chest ended above the belt in a shallow v. not only would this mirror the triangle aspects of her hair, it would fit the belt outline, and continue the trend her costume has of being “grounded” or “heavy”. Kirishima has those.... gears??? around his shoulders??? and while the gear teeth are technically squares, the gear shape itself is a circle, which is a shape that isn’t present anywhere else in his design. I think changing the gears to something similar to his boots or his mask/headgear would create a more cohesive design(also the gears just look hard to move in)

These two characters are presented as individuals so their costumes don’t have to match at all even though they are still seen as “connected” because of the art style for the face, hair, and body.

In a group giving the outfits cohesive motifs is an easy way to present a strong team image! In Yuki Yuna is a Hero, the girls all have colored lines(usually princess seam placement), armor or fabric hip accents, covered arms, and similar flower shapes in their hair. The Aesthetic of each girl is strong in a monochrome signature color, but not over whelming as the black+white connects them even in color so they aren’t out of place.

Speaking of color! if your characters are all similar looking (like same body for all of them) you can communicate their personality and aesthetic just with color! (only gonna talk about a few of the ponies) Pinkie Pie (the really pink one) is energetic and playful, so her color scheme is a variation of the primary colors(happy, child like), and have one of the more saturated colors(high energy, intense) of these characters in a large quantity. Apple Jack (the orange one) is a down to earth farm girl, and her color palette is accordingly, mostly earth tones, its also warm analogous colors, which makes her appear un-complicated and warm personality wise. the pop of red is a nice touch to add interest, but notice that its uses sparingly in her cutie mark and tail accessory. Rarity on the other hand is elegant and fussy, her high contrast scheme of white and dark blue/purples gives her more visual interest and is something that makes her appear more “complex” in addition to the gradient thats included in her hair. the colors are also all cool colors, bringing to mind cool glass or water which both have connotations of grace and beauty.

however all the characters here are unified by their colors being on the pastel side, which is also important for a cohesive cast.

another, short, note on color; making the color/line/shading of your figure different from the background can help them stand out, this is used ESPECIALLY in children’s media, but can be applied to any illustration or animation as needed.

Color can also help your characters “read” quickly on screen, the powerpuff girls are a prime example, of having a distinct color blocking and silhouette. even the color blobs at the top and my crappy hand silhouettes STILL read as the characters despite being broken down into abstract elements. I also really enjoy the thick outline in the powerpuff girls, it really makes the characters pop to the foreground even though they have pretty simple designs and are often in a colorful setting.

Also, for a lot of animation, silhouette is INCREDIBLY important for your characters, some designers sketch silhouettes and then design the particulars its so important to nail the shape. These examples from Coraline are some of my favorites (though Laika wins in my heart every time no matter what lmao) because the simple shapes are SO CLEAR and indicative of the character, you literally don’t need to have watched the movie to know these are each different characters with different personalities and roles.

silhouette can also help tell the story. In Kubo and the two strings (another Laika film) the above three characters are sisters. One has chosen to leave her home in the heavens to live on earth, and the other two stay in their roles as “heavenly” warriors. This is even shown through their designs, the two sisters are weighted on top and their cloaks don’t even touch the ground, while the first woman has trailing, heavy sleeves, hair, and robes all grounding her and emphasizing her connection with the earth.

another example of shape/silhouette reflecting the story, In The Croods, the family of cavemen are for the most part very top heavy, with large torsos and arms, usually in a more hunched over position, while the newcomer, Guy, is bottom heavy with thin arms and stands more upright. In the plot, the family represents the old ways, the strength and rules that have helped them survive, they look like very stereotypical “cavemen”, while Guy resembles the modern man, and appropriately is associated with new ideas and forward thinking.

MORE SHAPES, in DC super hero girls each girl has a distinct personality emulated by her shape language. Zatana is dramatic curves and edges, Super girl is hard, straight edges against curves, giving her a solid muscular shape. Wonder Woman, though also strong, is taller and leaner, lending to a confident leader type. Green Lantern is slim, her lines all flow into each other giving her a go with the flow look. Bumble Bee is, of course, tiny, but her boots and gauntlets add weight and strength to her otherwise small frame. Batgirl is lanky and has a lot of pointed style lines, reminding the viewer of a skinny cat (ironic what with cat woman i know) or weasel which mirrors her preferred “sneaky” crime fighting style. (also yes this was just an excuse for me to gush abt how much i love the dcshg designs shut up)

so in my opinion, Cartoon Saloon’s The Secret of Kells is PERFECT in aesthetic, intention, and cohesion. Kells focuses very strongly on creating silhouette WITHIN the larger figure shape via color and line, most of the characters pictured here have no neck, the one who does, Brendan, is the main character and the use of negative space that cuts into his shape is used to draw attention to him. Kells is also very strongly inspired by Medieval Illuminated manuscripts (namely, the book of kells lmao). The characters still manage to stand out against outrageously detailed backgrounds via their simple shapes and strong color blocking.

Aisling, a secondary but very important character, is not human, and has a totally different shape language from the rest of the characters. She is thin and pointy, while most of the others are round or square. Aisling also has the most negative space making up her silhouette, compare the triangles made by her arms and legs in the above picture to the figures in the first image where everybody’s body is self contained with no negative space. She is also very different color wise, very pale and cool colored, as opposed to the warm saturated colors of the human characters. (yes this was another excuse to gush abt one of my fave pieces of media deal with it)

hopefully that wasn’t too rambley and actually helps? if yall have more specific design questions lemma know lol

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level247-table-tech · 4 years

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here are the sprites on their own! not all of them, but there are way too many to fit up there. i’m leaving the rest under the cut.

others include significantly asymmetrical sprites, as well as a bonus set. 8)

these don’t really clarify their relative heights. they are not adjusted to the bottom pixel i actually drew for sure, that’s not how i aligned them. i actually have a guideline in the file, but. i can’t really show that.

above are the regular sprites. it took ages to figure out what i wanted to do with virgil’s plaid, but it turned out going simple with it was the best plan. also it looked very bad until i figured out to use values correctly.

also, while we’re at it, i can tell you some things i changed between projects! this is a remaster of my last attempt at pixelology, and i do believe it’s an overall improvement.

virgil’s plaid, yeah, changed that, but also the colour of his hair, because the old one blended too much with his skin. glad that happened to virgil, because i was trying to keep the hair highlights the same for everyone, with differently-tinted shadows. i did give him a bat instead of the wings this time, because a, he seems like a bat kind of guy, and b, the wings sucked and i don’t think i could improve them. like, the best thing about those wings is that they were the ace flag colours, and since his general colour scheme is already like that, it’s not a spectacular saving grace. they also made the frame fit weird, but i don’t like drawing wings absurdly small, like why bother? i alos tried to be a bit more competent with the jacob lines in his shading. those are an indicator of fear so of course i wanted to keep them included, but last time i feel like i didn’t do great, and this time i think i improved. especially on the legs. it is kind of a pain how there are adjacent sections where the shadows are done in the same colour, but. that’s really who virgil is, let’s be real. wouldn’t be the same without the all-black clothes.

also, patton’s different skin tones were really bad, you could barely see the shadows, so i changed them. his overall shape also did not work, so this time i stylized it a bit more to fit with the pixels. also i gave him a different weapon. hopefully it’s still funny in its incongruity!

roman had very little change. like, i really like his original sprite! i did change some of the gold details, but the biggest thing is probably the pants. they’re white with a red stripe because, a, it looks very good, and b, it set up a parallel with remus.

and remus. most obviously in the first one, his different head angle super didn’t work. it was very bad! which, in his case doesn’t automatically rule it out, but this one looks way better next to the majority of these. i mentioned relative heights earlier and this one should actually be the same height as roman, you can align them by their chins. aside from that, i added a lot mor detail to his ruffles, i tried my best to maintain clarity on his torso, i got the sleeves just plain wrong, but it looks fine, and it happened to be very good art that led me astray on that, so whatever. i feel like his morningstar might have gotten worse between versions, but what can you do. maybe i accidentally put it at a slightly harder angle to make look nice. whatever.

logan! i don’t think i’m doing these in any real order, sorry. like patton, his shape has been changed to be more stylized to fit the pixel thing. like, a realistic taper on the legs, as it turns out, looks pretty bad! exaggerate it or make it just straight lines and it is better. i feel like i very much improved his hair, and i also added the belt that he wears which i forgot last time.

lastly, janus. well, lastly for now, but the next one won’t be a remaster of anything. i gave him his canon weapon instead of snakes, which, not sure what i was thinking gameplay-wise for those. [that’s a lie, i was thinking nothing about gameplay because i am no gamemaker. i’m not even an animator, much as i’d like to be.] when i made his last sprite, i forgot the lining of his cape is yellow. also last time i had not seen the magnificent longer cape from the game sections of svsr, which as i’ve mentioned elsewhere i am never letting go of, ever. so that features here. it kind of blends with the backgrounds i use for the vs character selection screens, but i don’t think that’s necessarily a downside. aside from that, i did remove some scales from his right hand because we have now seen it, and it’s proven bereft of those. as you’ll see in a second though, fortunately no such thing can be said of his legs. nor upper arm.

now for the bonus set. you may recognize this theme if you’ve followed this project awhile. 8)

some notes on these specifically:

-this is simply a complete set based on janus’ bonus sprite from the original project this is remastering.

-i tried to base the colours on their onesies. that proved harder than expected. remus and janus have no shown onesies, but

>i had janus’ previous sprite on hand, so that was him taken care of.

>virgil’s onesie didn’t really have multiple colours, so it’s just different shades of black, with some grey thrown in because white is already a base colour.

>logan’s, oh boy, i thought i remembered it having two colours, but i was wrong, it is just blue. and white, but again, that doesn’t work. so i gave him a couple of shades.

>patton’s, i didn’t really want to use grey as a colour, but it actually had two others, they were just in trace amounts. it was okay.

>remus. nghh. i wanted to use like, an inverted version of roman’s colours, but it turns out blue and yellow inverted is yellow and blue. so i used the orthogonal colours instead, and i’m not really sure it was a good look.

-aside from colour schemes, each of these has its own little variation, because i felt like having fun. aside from any kind of socks/leggings, because whatever, those are pretty variable anyway, each has one detail different. from most to least noticeable as i see it:

>patton has pants instead of a skirt. i just thought the look suited him better. the thing about patton is i always imagine him in Dad Fashion, which doesn’t have a ton of skirts in my mind. maybe that’s just my dad, but eh. i do think it’s a good look but i didn’t draw it very well.

>roman has a different crown. need i explain further? adding the others’ crowns was a bit of a pain considering how they interact with hair that isn’t drawn in anime style.

>virgil’s might not be too noticeable on its own, but the leggings kind of direct the eye there. he’s wearing his own boots instead of any variety of sailor scout ones. mostly because they are much, much cooler.

>logan has a different collar. closer to his usual polo than... whatever the sailor collar is actually called. he also might not have the same choker necklace as everyone else, but mostly you just can’t tell. still tied with a weird bow thing, though. how the hell do those bow accessories work?

>janus has a longer cape. again, need i explain further? he’s also the only one with a magical girl wand, because his colour scheme* was the most permitting and i really wanted to draw coily ribbons.

>remus is kind of like virgil with the leggings, but again, those don’t count, and with remus they draw attention away from his change. anyways, the different thing about his outfit is the sleeves. i only noticed long after i was out of the pixel stage that none of the sleeves are accurate, but his are even more not accurate, they do the poof thing. also his neckline’s a bit lower, but i mean, how could i not?

-i might assemble a full scene with these, if anybody asks. or nobody, i kinda just want to. it’s not too much trouble, but it won’t be animated this time, that took ages and i don’t think it even turned out well. i gotta find somewhere to actually get taught things about animation, though it also just does not gel with my medium.

-i can’t for most of these, but for janus i can talk about some improvements. his crown looks more visible, though that might just be compared to this side of his face. the skirt is not better and might be worse to be honest. also the bow on his chest. other than that it’s definitely better for the gloves actually being incorporated in this one.

*i do actually have set colour schemes for these. i tried to even limit the number of colours for each one. that said, most of them have exactly 17 instead of the nice power of two 16, and one of them couldn’t even fit that bill.

#sanders sides #tsfanart #pixel #my art #tabletech #8)

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beneaththetangles · 3 years

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Reader’s Corner: Bofuri, The Catlords’ Manservant, and Chasing After Aoi Koshiba

Love Me, Love Me Not, Vol. 8

Love Me, Love Me Not is a simple story. The characters are basic, and though they have their struggles—as do all teenagers—theirs are not overly complicated. The obstacles they face are moderate, and growth feels attainable and realistic. I think that’s part of what makes this series special—it doesn’t overreach in any category. Io Sakisaka has settled into a comfortable, appealing tale where 95% of the focus is on the four major characters, and it plays out well for most of the volumes, this one included, as Christmas nears and Rio and Yuna start their relationship together, while Inui and Akari remain somehow both connected and distant. With the former couple now dating, the spotlight is on the latter, and Sakisaka lovingly and patiently develops their story with an authenticity that is marked by the best chapters in this series, while using a Christmas setting, the stress of arguing parents, and the expectations and dreams of impending adulthood to create both romance and nuance in the characters’ growth, particularly for Inui, who after eight volumes receives the fuller development he deserves and is a mystery no more—just in time, perhaps, to receive the love of a girl who’s become more mature and ready to give love than she even realizes. ~ Twwk

Love Me, Love Me Not is published by Viz.*

Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense, Vol. 1

I loved the Bofuri anime that aired last year, so I was eager to try the light novel. It is…exactly what you’d expect if you’ve seen the series. Maple’s friend talked her into buying a new VRMMORPG, but then the friend gets grounded and Maple winds up starting the game on her own. Through a series of stupid and/or brilliant choices, she ends up creating an insanely OP character. Silliness and adventure ensue. In contrast to the many stories that put a dark spin on the concept of the VRMMORPG, Bofuri is a lighthearted romp through the game’s fantasy world. The light novel does explain a few things better than the anime does, but in return, you lose the visuals, which I tend to find especially beneficial for a highly comedic story like this one. Of course, the greatest flaw of this book is that it doesn’t include the unfathomably adorable flying turtle, Syrup. I can only hope Syrup shows up in volume two! If you’re only going to do one—either watch the anime or read the light novel—I’d recommend the anime. But since I loved the series, and the novel is giving me details I missed there, I think I’ll happily continue with the next volume. ~ JeskaiAngel

Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense is published by Yen Press.*

I’m the Catlords’ Manservant, Vol. 1

Different than I expected in that it felt more like a slice-of-life but in a SCHOOL setting, volume one of I’m the Catlords’ Manservant was an interesting read! It follows the indigent Yukihara as he’s given room and board by shape-shifting cats in return for being their servant. With that setup, I also expected more shenanigans at the house, and while I felt a little disappointed in that regard, this is still a captivating starting volume. The mangaka does an excellent job of introducing readers to each of the cats and making their personalities shine (Susumu is by my favorite and would say Miyako would be a close second, while Akira has something fishy about him, especially given things that happen near the volume’s end). I was fairly surprised at how loving Yukihara is towards everyone given the circumstances, but I think that is probably why he is a hero you find yourself drawn to because despite NOT being happy about his circumstances—I felt bad for him more than once—he still wants everyone to be happy. I was unsure if I would want to continue this series, but I feel this is a good one to continue now that everyone has been introduced. The ending is a chilly cliffhanger that also had me glued to the page and wishing volume two was already available. ~ Laura A. Grace

I’m the Catlords’ Manservant, vol. 1, is published by Yen Press.*

The Indignation of Haruhi Suzumiya (Haruhi Suzumiya, Vol. 8)

Not all Haruhi Suzumiya novels are created equal—some are more meaningful, some are more complicated, some are funnier, and some are more plain, that last of which unfortunately applies to The Indignation of Haruhi Suzumiya. With a first half ensconced in a daily life / school club story, with the student council finally cracking down on the SOS Brigade and the group coming together to avoid losing the literary club classroom by putting together a publication, everything seems to come to a standstill, including, unfortunately, character growth and the story at large. There are some interesting bits here, though, including the unusual and perhaps troubling piece that Nagator writes and Kyon’s cute “love story,” but the better portion of the novel is the second-half investigation of a frightened dog caused by perhaps the next supernatural entity in the universe—a ghost. More “classic” in how it involves mystery and sci-fi, continuing to propel the franchise forward, it helps balance out the more soporific first half, though regardless, Haruhi fans will enjoy reading more about their favorite club from the narrative voice of Kyon, who brings life to even the more tepid stories in the franchise. ~ Twwk

The Indignation of Haruhi Suzumiya is published by Yen Press.*

And Yet, You Are So Sweet, Vol. 1

While I felt slightly frustrated in the beginning due to desiring a little more depth to Kisaragi (I also didn’t like how she kept calling herself ugly), I found that I really enjoyed volume one of And Yet, You Are So Sweet, which was, well, very sweet! I’m a huge fan of the trope where popular boy becomes friends with said unpopular girl and a romance begins to unfold. The manga introduces this in a unique way; I wouldn’t say I find reading the same trope boring (it’s my favorite for a reason), it felt creative and had me especially engaged in this volume. It probably didn’t help that Chigira is one of my favorite kind of male heroes: quiet, sort of “out of it,” athletic, and a kind person once you get to know him. I was bummed when the manga ended because it was fairly fast-paced and found myself getting caught up in these characters lives. It seems like there are quite a few after school activities, and I enjoyed them as settings for a variety of situations (especially the library!). I LOVED the ending, too, but that cliffhanger had me groaning. I’ll just have to wait to see what happens next, and am excited to read more! ~ Laura A. Grace

And Yet, You Are So Sweet, vol. 1, is published by Kodansha.*

Golden Japanesque: A Splendid Yokohama Romance, Vol. 1

An absolutely fantastic volume, I did indeed felt “swept away” in this unfolding Yokohama romance! Maria, a young woman who dislikes her appearance, is instantly a character my heart went out to. And while I don’t think the potential object of her romance, Rintarou, is a bully, I do think he’s a major tease. On top of his teasing, Maria’s mother is the WORST (The last time I reallyyyyy disliked a parent in a manga was Kazehaya’s father in Kimi ni Todoke)! She is harsh and cruel, using words that bring her daughter down and which don’t show any kind of love towards her. I strongly dislike her and am thankful that Rintarou (and Maria’s grandmother!) is there to spread some love into Maria’s heart. While I wouldn’t say I was expecting a “fluffy” read when I first started, I was fairly surprised at some of the topics that are presented, including prejudice (even within family), lack of self-confidence, loneliness, and a near-assault (Thankfully someone intervened on that last one!). I think as a result, these more consequential events made Golden Japanesque: A Splendid Yokohama Romance a very heart-stirring and relatable story and helped lead to a very strong first volume. I’m super eager to keep reading this series and hope there are wonderful things in store for Maria! ~ Laura A. Grace

Golden Japanesque: A Splendid Yokohama Romance is published by Yen Press.*

Chasing After Aoi Koshiba, Vol. 1

The intrigue at the center of Chasing After Aoi Koshiba is why don’t the two main characters—the beautiful and popular Sahoko and the athletic, confident, titular Aoi, get together? The initial chapter shows Sahoko and others after several years have passed, establishing that she and Aoi have lost touch, before diving into their high school days when earlier, desperate to maintain a high level of popularity after being a “side character” during middle school, falls quick and hard for the latter, whom she admires for displaying the authenticity she lacks. Shown from Sahoko’s perspective, the early chapters of this yuri romance are at once funny and romantic, capturing well the awkwardness and energy of youth, and feature a protagonist whose inner monologue is quite captivating. Sahoko’s desperation for Instagram likes and passing comments about her beauty could become annoying, but instead she comes across as both self-aware and sweet, the type of character whom the audience is excited to see as she matures, while the archetype tomboy Aoi is fleshed out with surprising energy. The two are joined by an intriguing group of supporting characters, and all are drawn in a sharp and beautiful style—as pretty as any series I’ve seen. The artwork by FLY is stunning. And altogether, that leads to an exciting opening volume of what could be a special, special series. ~ Twwk

Chasing After Aoi Koshiba, is published by Kodansha.*

Your Lie in April, Vol. 11

I have finished my reread of Your Lie in April! The final volume hit me like an emotional truck. It deals with Kaori’s surgery, the aftermath, and the finale of Kosei’s amazing musical performance. I’ll mostly avoid spoilers for those who haven’t read it, but I’ll also note a few things. First, this manga is gorgeous and facilitated the wonderful journey as I reread it. Second, the emotions it evokes with the art, characters, and story are top notch. Third, the language used in the manga by the characters feels more like actual angsty teenagers than in the anime, which upped it a little bit, making it closer to a Dawson’s Creek level of pretentiousness. And finally, the concluding volume puts some lovely touches on characterization, with Kosei seeing Kaori’s flaws, but loving her anyway, and with this volume also showing all the people touched by both characters throughout the story (and their lives). This series isn’t perfect, but it is wonderful for exactly what it is—an emotional series following Kosei’s musical journey to work through his own grief. You are intended to feel these emotions as you read this series, and on that front, it succeeds brilliantly. Sorry…I think it just got dusty in here while I’m writing this conclusion… ~ MDMRN

Your Lie in April is published by Kodansha.

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Reader’s Corner is our way of embracing the wonderful world of manga, light novels, and visual novels, creative works intimately related to anime but with a magic all their own. Each week, our writers provide their thoughts on the works their reading—both those recently released as we keep you informed of newly published works and older titles that you might find as magical (or in some cases, reprehensible) as we do.

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mahou-furbies · 4 years

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Magical Girl Raising Project Limited - character design ranking

Captain Grace

An alright pirate design with enough little details that keep it from being forgettable (I especially like the anchor buckle on her belt, and the earrings and hooks on her hair). The spikes on the coat are what stands out most to me; makes me think of a Mario enemy or something. However I’m not sure how much of a Magical Girl design it is. Like pirates and frills already go together, so the well tested formula (put a miniskirt and frills on it and it’s a magical girl look!) doesn’t really do much. Maybe it’d be better if she had some cutesy detail in there somewhere? Also is that an tail again or what, or some kind of blunt hook? What is it with these unnecessary tails in Magipro designs. 6/10.

Funny Trick

I’ve always liked Funny Trick’s look, and it’s probably because of the pleasant colour palette, unique eyes and two-tone hair (I’m easy to please with two-tone hair). The nail polish and colourful glitter on her fur are also good little details. But apart from that I guess this is only barely strange enough to be any kind of “magical” look rather than just an anime stage magician, but at least that’s pretty close to magical girls already. Also is that a frigging tail again?? At least it goes well with the hair I guess... 8/10.

Kuru-Kuru Hime

It’s a cute design, but when I think of a ribbon magical girl I somehow expected more ribbons? Like this feels like an the higher end of an average magical girl amount of ribbons? Or maybe it’s totally over the top and my perspective is just skewed since I love ribbons and want them everywhere. Either way I like her outfit from neck down, but I’m not that into the headgear, the combo of the bonnet thingy and the weird crown just sitting on top if it looks strange to me. Nice hair tho even if it could use more ribbons. 6/10.

Weddin

I absolutely love Weddin’s design. The muted and light colour palette is very appealing to me, and the dark chains break up the mostly monochrome design so it doesn’t look dull and faded and also give the otherwise super frilly appearance quite a lot of edge. There’s repeating elements (braids in her hair and veil, the same kind of flowers everywhere, flower yellow also appearing in her eye makeup) so it doesn’t get too complicated, and all of them go well with the wedding theme too. The flame... is a bit of an odd touch and I’d rather associate it with a birthday party or Christmas than a Wedding but I guess you can have candles at weddings too, and I don’t find it too distracting.

I’m not a huge fan of the lingerie like look though, but at least visible garters go with the wedding theme and she’s so covered in veils and frills that it doesn’t look so bad. Also the back train looks kind of lazy. But overall still one of my favourite Magipro designs. 10/10.

Rain Pow

A tail again! However this time I actually like it, since she has that rainbow hoop behind her it looks good to stick something through it, and at least it somewhat resembles her twintails.

As for the rest of the design, it has zero frills and ribbons and looks more like some kind of scifi spacesuit than a typical magical girl design, but somehow I still really like it. I think the weird heart hair is just enough to pull it into magical girl territory for me so my impressions are more on the “an unique take on an mg look” rather than “not mg enough” side. Then all the rings keep the look consistent (I absolutely love the rainbow halo) and the suit itself looks alright enough. I also find it interesting how muted the suit colours are for a rainbow magical girl and even the rainbow is pretty pastel, but I figure this is a better choice than all the expected seven colours in all their eye-strainy glory. 9/10.

Postarie

Please put on some pants, that is a shirt and not a dress.

Not too interested in this one, but I find it a commendable effort on making a design on the idea of “postal delivery girl”. Still lots of repeating elements so that’s a plus, especially the back epaulette is such an absurd idea but somehow it works and its wings and the wing hairstyle add the required fantasy touch. Bonus points for the cute birds. 7/10.

Tepsekemei

An inoffensive genie design but I struggle to really have emotions towards it. Butt flower is silly and I have no idea what the things hanging from it are, but at least they’re consistent with her head decoration. Don’t care for the shoulder spikes in an otherwise soft looking design. Huge earrings and multicoloured nails are a nice touch. 6/10.

7753

Also one of my favourite Magipro looks. It feels like the design philosophy here was “gakuran jacket and some frills, and then some hearts. And more hearts! More! Even more!” and I think it’s a great way to go with when designing a magical girl. Using just hearts everywhere makes the outfit cohesive, but since they’re all implemented in different ways it doesn’t get boring. I especially like the little hearts on her hands and under the eye, and the one in her pocket.

Two-tone hair in twintails is also one of the best design elements out there and the hairstyle is quite memorable (and also manages to incorporate the heart motif) and I’m always a fan of caps too. The green eyes and the little bit of green nail polish which you unfortunately can’t see here go well with the otherwise reddish look. Maybe the hair looks a bit too clunky (I only just realised it appears to be tied in a hoop behind her) but I won’t let it bother me. 10/10.

Mana

A solid witch design, I especially love the dimensional cape and hat. I also like the huge collar with the lace detail, but I’m not sure if it works with the hat brim. Not a big fan of the hair, I think it clutters the design. The snake leg accessory feels weird and a bit out of place but I do appreciate the asymmetry and also having something dark to break up the otherwise plain bottom part of the design.. 7/10.

Gekokujou Hana

I tend not to be a huge fan of kimono-based clothes, but this one is an exception I guess. The great colours must play a part in it, and the bottom part is fun. Then the dangly decorations add the correct amount of strangeness so it’s not just a bunny girl in a mini kimono Also, another tail, but this time it’s almost a requirement and I love how ridiculously huge it is (and also repeats elsewhere in her outfit). But really I can’t think of anything to dislike about this, must be the colours and the tail. 10/10.

Archfiend Pam

I believe this is the record on how little clothing you can wear in this franchise... At least she has the personality to pull that off. But that is not a top! At least it’s something new...? The wings fit the description in the story, but I don’t think these blank rectangles look very aesthetically pleasing. I like the tail best, the fur edge makes it a lot more interesting than just the usual demon tail. I don’t know, if the theme is a sexy demon girl this design definitely accomplishes it in a unique way, but also I don’t care for this fanservicey designs. Also not a fan of the hair. 4/10.

Pythie Frederica

Before drawing her for the chibi series I thought she had some kind of a helmet but upon closer inspection of course it’s a veil. But what are the horns?

Upon closer inspection this one is also very fanservicey, in that her “dress” is actually see-through and the only thing covering the critical areas look like thin belt-thingies. At least she doesn’t look like she’s ten... But a major issue I have is the bottom part of her outfit, like how is it supposed to work? Is it one big piece of cloth, or multiple thin ones? What is the “fire” behind her? Is the dark part her hair, or the clothing, and is it supposed to be black or just shading? I do like the stars; otherwise the design gives a more mature “sexy” air, but the little stars everywhere adds a cute element. The colour palette is pleasing, but as much as I like multicoloured hair it doesn’t grant points this time, because the wiggly stray strands look very out of place here and the colour change makes them even more noticeable. 2/10.

Tot Pop

This one really isn’t my aesthetic, I very much prefer the cutesy style and there isn’t really anything ‘magical girl’ about this design. And it doesn’t really evoke the supposed image of ‘pop star’ to me either, like if you remove the guitar I’d think her theme was a prisoner or halloween. Though I don’t really know what a ‘pop star’ should look like anyway, like can’t they wear anything they want, I know Lady Gaga had a meat dress or something. But as of this design, I don’t think there’s anything specifically wrong with it, the colours are pleasing, the details are consistent and it’s not bland or boring either, but it just doesn’t do much for me because of the theme. I like the blood-stained hair and the spiky hair accessory, the long hanging part makes for a nice silhouette. Meanwhile the skulls on her shoulders feel somewhat tacked on, and in general I don’t care for piercings in anywhere else than ears. 5/10.

Pukin

And it’s a tail again. What is it with the stupid tacked on tails on every other design in this franchise? Sometimes it’s not so badly out of place, like if you have an youthful cutesy design, a fluffy animal tail can still add to the cute effect even if it’s otherwise out of place. But Pukin is supposed to be this dangerous and majestic authority figure and a cutesy tail very much doesn’t fit that image. And while we’re on the topic of animal features, the story describes that she has a feather decoration in her hair, but the way it’s drawn as a tiny feather jutting directly up in the middle of her head gives me more the impression of a character whose theme is a baby bird rather than a fantasy prince.

Now that we’ve dealt with the tail let’s get the biggest issue out of the way: I’m aware that there was a time in history when people used to wear these kind of giant ruffled collars but I really don’t care if there’s some kind of history based reasoning. It looks like your head is on a plate and it’s something I can’t ignore. I don’t feel even clowns can pull that off. There is no way getting around this.

When I first read Limited I thought Pukin’s appearance was an absolute mess and an instant 1/10, but upon closer inspection there is stuff I like about it too. She has a good colour palette, great shoes and gloves, and as a friend of multicoloured hair I welcome the yellow hair tips. The big heavy cape balances the small top and pants, and I really like the fur. Earrings go well with the pants too. The theme is a bit confused, or at least I don’t know of any fairy tales about pumpkin prince, but it’s not like I would complain about pineapple or cauliflower princess so that’s not really a problem. 3/10.

Sonia Bean

And we end Limited with yet another excellent design. I like how this manages to look kind of tattered and messy without actually being gross and dirty with the patchwork dress, dustball-like thingies, newspaper clippings and asymmetry. Even her hair looks disheveled. The headgear gives the design an old-fashioned vibe which suits her well since she’s so old. The light palette, soft design elements and ribbons give the look a cute feel, but at the same time she feels suspiciously pale, and the manic expression screams danger, like you can’t reason with this girl. She’s like a ghost of a Victorian era child who wants to play with you but you know you definitely should not follow her.

The design only works if I don’t think too much about it though, like dust is gross and newspaper paper is crinkly and not soft at all, but since we’re magical girls here I can ignore that and enjoy the image the clothing evokes. 10/10.

------------------

Limited average: 6,9.

#magical girl raising project #mahou shoujo ikusei keikaku #mahoiku #my stuff #ranking #ranking: magical girl raising project

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fyexo · 4 years

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200925 SuperM Dives Deeper with Super One

We meet the game-changing and boundary-breaking supergroup everybody needs to know.

There’s a rumble in the ground, a rupture, a star shining in the sky. Like a meteor landing on a quiet plain, SuperM – the Avengers of K-pop – landed in our lives, igniting the industry in unprecedented ways. With K-pop now considered a global phenomenon, how much more innovation is required to demand attention? The answer lies in the Capitol Records and SM Entertainment supergroup: the first K-pop act to debut in the US who immediately stole the show and made music fun again with their record-breaking 2019 introduction. SuperM consists of a diverse group of stars hailing from different groups: Taemin from SHINee, Kai and Baekhyun from EXO, Taeyong and Mark from NCT 127, and Ten and Lucas from WayV. They are the future, the charismatic force managing to both elevate and inspire. With Super One, the group’s first full-length album released on 25th September, they graduate from simply jumping and popping (Jopping!) to invoking the sincere emotions of listeners while simultaneously lighting up the room in the way that only they know how.

Baekhyun – the soulful vocalist, humble leader, and oldest member of SuperM – opens up about their growth: “When we first met, I could tell that the younger members were feeling a little nervous. But aside from working and performing together, we also naturally spent a lot of time together off stage, too.” In fact, their chemistry is palpable: “From sharing the same rooms when we were on tour in the US to shooting a reality show together recently, we made a lot of memories. Now, we’re like close brothers. We feel very comfortable with each other.”

Since joining the supergroup, Baekhyun’s Delight, released in May, became the first album in 19 years by a Korean soloist to sell over 1 million copies. Baekhyun says, “Shortly after completing my solo activities with ‘Candy’ [the lead single], I regrouped with SuperM, and I definitely feel more at ease in a group.” As evidenced by their discography, which fuses elements of hip-hop, pop, and various other genres, “We are always experimenting with different styles and trying to create something new so the synergy that we bring to the stage is very distinct and unique.”

Taemin has found similar success with his solo endeavours, recently releasing his best-selling project to date just this month. His 3rd Korean studio album, Never Gonna Dance Again: Act 1, hit number 1 on several iTunes Top Albums charts including the US and Canada. The graceful performer ponders the importance of embarking on this journey with the rest of SuperM. “Through our individual teasers, we wanted to tell a personal story about our beginnings—from how we developed our dreams to how we got to where we are now. They are reflections of our past that allowed us to become the artists that we are today.” For Taemin personally, who first debuted in SHINee in 2008, “This experience helped broaden my boundaries as an artist and I’m very thankful for that.”

Taemin’s wisdom is apparent in how he interprets his growth, “Although I’ve performed abroad many times before, SuperM was formed with the global market in mind so I took this as a new challenge and a great opportunity for me to learn and grow even more. Through SuperM, I was able to get closer to my international fans and learn more about their cultures. Because of the opportunities I’ve had more recently to perform on a global stage, my stage performances and mannerisms have improved and this has made me a stronger artist.”

Branded as fast-moving and dynamic, there were certain expectations for them to continue on this path. The motifs are intentional, but fitting, and as the endearing Hong Kong rapper Lucas puts it, “‘Movement’ and ‘speed’ for us carries a deep meaning and represents our strength and energy. It also describes how SuperM is always moving forward no matter how difficult the situation may be. There is no better tomorrow if you’re not moving forward.”

Taemin further reflects on this. “I think fans will be surprised to hear mellow, medium-tempo tracks that are not performance-based. Incorporating the performance element is of course one of the most important parts of what SuperM does in our music, but this time, we also wanted to emphasise a message of hope.”

Kai, lead dancer of EXO and Gucci ambassador, who will also be embarking on his solo career soon, shares that “I really want to perform ‘Infinity’ and ‘Monster’. Together, they form our title track, ‘One’. I’m excited to perform ‘One’ as well, but also would love to showcase the two tracks separately, as I think that would bring a different charm on stage.”

The love for this track is echoed by Taemin, an expert when it comes to this fusion of songs as SHINee also had a combination of tracks with 2012’s ‘Sherlock’, a mix of ‘Clue’ and ‘Note’. “With K-pop, you often have a gradual change of genres in one song, but ‘One’ brings together two completely different songs, so it’s fresh—but it still sounds very natural and seamlessly put together.” He adds, “The members’ vocals really stand out through these tracks so I hope fans enjoy!”

B-sides like ‘Together At Home’ and ‘Wish You Were Here’ are like a comfort blanket for fans, suitable for the current world climate. Kai recognises that impact and describes it as intentional, “Music can really lift your spirits when you’re feeling down so I hope people find healing and happiness while listening to our music. That would make us very happy.”

“FROM SHARING THE SAME ROOMS WHEN WE WERE ON TOUR IN THE US TO SHOOTING A REALITY SHOW TOGETHER RECENTLY, WE MADE A LOT OF MEMORIES. NOW, WE’RE LIKE CLOSE BROTHERS. WE FEEL VERY COMFORTABLE WITH EACH OTHER.”

Prior to the official album drop with title track ‘One’, several songs were released, each accompanied by their own electric music videos. The single, ‘100’, has lyrics written by youngest member Mark, who explains, “For ‘100,’ I wanted to really bring the energy of SuperM, because my verse opens up the track, and I wanted to really complement the song while emphasising our strength as a group and that we have the capability to be at the top.” The Canadian rapper, whose positive energy is contagious, says, “Taeyong and I also wrote our verses for ‘Together At Home,’ and I think we tried to keep the lyrics closely tied to the overarching message of the album. So for that song, we tried to envision what it’s like to be “together at home”, so staying connected to the fans and our loved ones while we are physically apart.”

Ferocious single ‘Tiger Inside’ was released on 1st September, and NCT leader Taeyong describes it best, “as a hip-hop song with an Asian-themed vibe. One part of the lyrics says, “Wake up the tiger inside” which I think describes SuperM’s energy really well. He eloquently personifies the group through a more artistic lens. “SuperM coming together is almost like a painting created using these different colours, to create a new work of art.”

Though promotions are hectic, Taeyong opens up about life outside of the spotlight, sharing, “I personally spent a lot of quality time with my family and also creating new music.” Mark has also been in tune with his rhythmic side, adding, “I’ve been listening to a lot of the new music that’s been coming out… Recently, Big Sean’s new album and Dominic Fike.”

The fashion of the group ranges from traditional Korean wear to modern hip-hop stylings, reflecting the merging of cultures, sounds, and themes apparent in their music. Lucas took a special liking to the outfits they wore for this comeback. “I wore a black outfit in the ‘One’ music video and it made me feel like a fictional character from a film or a book. I really liked the concept of that look. For ‘Tiger Inside’, I wore this beautiful emerald colour outfit with gold embroidery and intricate Asian-themed details—that was another one of my favourites!”

With everything going on in the world right now, Ten, the multilingual Thai singer and dancing king, says, “Right now, our biggest goal is to interact closely with our fans in the best way possible given the current situation. Even though we can’t meet each other in person, we want our fans to know that we are always thinking of them and that we are always trying to create opportunities to make us feel close.” He mentions ‘Beyond Live’, the platform SuperM spearheaded earlier this year to provide a virtual concert experience for fans.

“We are always thinking of fun and innovative ways to interact with our fans so we are definitely planning on doing many more online promotions that bring us closer together.” He elaborates, also sharing that he’s excited to finally perform songs off of Super One.

This album is a new era for SuperM, whose journey as a group has been far from ordinary but delightfully rewarding. As Baekhyun concludes, “When SuperM was first announced to the public, it may have been odd to see members from different groups come together like this to form a new group. But in spite of that, our fans have always cheered us on from the get-go and we’re incredibly grateful for their support.” SuperM’s awareness of the times they’re in and ability to adapt allow them to be a tantalizing force in the industry.

Though awards and accolades are nice, what makes this group special beyond their obvious talent and charm is the passion, grit, and hard work they put into what they do, and Super One is the ultimate care package and culmination of their gifts. Through music, they remind us that we all have the power to unite together as one no matter where we come from.

Ashlee Mitchell @ TMRW

#exo #baekhyun #kai #t: interview #album: super one #200923 #e: interview

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yxllbetterlisten · 4 years

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Don’t believe the hype — “Marvel” does female empowerment better than “The Boys”. Here’s why.

If you haven’t heard it yet, Amazon’s “The Boys” is the new trendy show that everybody needs to watch and like, if they want to hang out with the popular kids now. I won’t get into the details why this show is catered to 13-year old cis-het male edge lords who love gore and “nihilism”. It’s a waste of time and a highly problematic one too, trust me. I only watched it because I wanted to understand what all the hype was about.

What I really want to get into is that one scene from episode 8 in season 2… You know, the one that everybody is reaving about. Haven’t seen it yet? Here’s a summary:

Three womxn brutally beat up another womxn while men watch and cheer. And the audience thinks this is a good example for feminism. No, really.

And the internet loves it, of course! They even celebrate it as a good example of female representation and “real” feminism:

And y’xll know what? I’m not having it. Let me explain why.

Remember the all girls scene from Avengers: Endgame? People say it seemed forced. And maybe that claim is not completely wrong. But it had style and grace. It was an epic moment that brought many of us to tears when we first saw it in the cinemas (remember cinemas?). Yes, as probably the mightiest Avenger, Captain Marvel didn’t need the help of the other girls. But have y’xll ever heard of emotional support? Everybody needs it, even the strongest among us. It’s about being validated. It’s to demonstrate that girls should be there for each other and fight the powers of evil together. And each and everyone can do their part, even if some are more effective than others. It’s a message that is meant to inspire especially young girls.

“Eat my shit, you Nazi bitch!” — “Just die, you bitch!”

Now this on the other hand is just a dull, overly brutal display of female on female violence. Three womxn beating up another — for “The Boys” (those without superpowers who stand in the back of the scene and those in front of the screen who aren’s super either). Now if this isn’t a perfect picture of “good womxn” protecting the patriarchy against “bad womxn”, I don’t know what is. It has no other purpose than being borderline pornographic. What does this say to young girls? Probably nothing nice. Except if you think that supporting each other in ganging up on other girls is a positive message… (It’s not!) Neckbeards and Meninists are certainly furiously masturbating to this, while the rest of the audience reluctantly cheers only because, yay, she’s a literal Nazi, I guess! Who doesn’t like seeing Nazis being punched? I gotta hand it to the show writers, they did an amazing job in hiding their blatant misogyny in plain sight.

Things get particularly interesting (and nasty) if you take a closer look at who’s beating up whom…

Queen Maeve, the tall and sexually adventurous redhead. Starlight, the cute blonde branded as marriage material. And Kimiko, the mysterious and exotic asian girl. OMG what a coincidence? Those are all popular sexual tropes created for cis men. And they are joining their powers to beat up the evil brunette jewish girl (actress Aya Cash comes from a jewish family). But wait, she’s actually a Nazi, right? So it’s all good? Yes, Stormfront who’s a guy in the comics (huh!) is a literal Nazi. But that’s not the point.

The point is that this is what the media does today and nobody really seems to notice or care. They twist and turn things around so in the end nobody can tell up from down.

They started the season actually pretty good when they introduced Stormfront. She questioned everything Vaught’s marketing department threw at her. She dared to speak against Homelander (male) who’s officially still the boss. She was sexually confident. So, of course, she’s a Nazi. Like a literal Feminazi. The embodiment of all what incels fear. Don’t y’xll see what they are trying to sell here?

The secret message is: All strong womxn who stand up for themselves and don’t give in to patriarchal expectations have a secret hidden agenda to destroy everything that’s good in this world. Like Nazis. Let’s kill them!

#the boys #theboys #amazon the boys #amazon #amazon prime #feminism #fake feminism #fakefeminism #avengers #the avengers #marvel

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jinmukangwrites · 5 years

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Wild

Summary: When he wakes up from the shrine of resurrection, Link notices that he doesn’t always feel like a he. Link learns to be okay with that.

Notes: I guess I should make it known that I identify as the gender I was born as, this was largely requested and I really wanted to write it. I tried to be as factually correct and respectful as I could, but if anything seems super super wrong and incorrect to anyone genderfluid reading this, please kindly let me know via ask or pm and I will make sure I correct it.

Warnings: slight dysphoria, angst, fluff. I tried to make this an overly positive story, focusing more on the self discovery than the angst. Please enjoy. :)

-o-o-o-o-

He'd been this way... for as long as he could remember. It wasn't like he knew the words for it or what to do about it the moment he first opened his eyes in the Shrine of Resurrection, but from day one he'd sometimes fell… off. Off like his very skin was wrong, and it would give him a sick feeling down to his gut for no reason at all, and he'd know nothing to do about it; but then a day or a few hours would pass and he'd feel normal again, comfortable in his own body.

The first month he was on the great plains and the entire time he switched between those feelings. Normal, and off. As he continued onward, he began to notice that the off days were sometimes not the same, sometimes he'd feel it in his chest other days in his stomach. It was an urgency, telling him he needed to do something, but he had no idea what to do.

He never told the old man, and he never thought too much into it until he left the plains, stepping into the vast land of Hyrule for the first time, never realized what the feelings were until he saw a woman for the first time.

A traveling brother and sister getting attacked by some Bokoblins. He rescued them with no hesitation and introduced himself after, excited to meet actual people—he was almost afraid there were no people and he would be completely alone in his journey. What happened next was while he spoke with the brother about directions to Kakariko, his eyes trailed over towards the sister. Right at that moment, something stirred in his chest and without any warning his mouth opened in an "O".

That's it. That's what the weird feeling is. Looking at her, in that moment, his features felt sharp, his hair too messy, his hips too skinny and even his butt and chest seemed too flat. He doesn't understand why, but that was it. It has to be. Something about his brain, his body, or his very soul just wanted to be like her for a few hours or a day. He wondered how he could do that.

The brother yelled at him, ripping him out from his epiphany, scolding him for making googly eyes at his sister, and the sister laughed and gently calmed him down, saying Link meant nothing of it. He couldn't help but watch as her wrists moved, she talked with her arms and it was graceful, joints bending gently and slowly instead of jerky and to the point like her brother as he threw his arms up angrily. She took a step forward and Link copied how she did it, smoothly, walking with a slight tilt to her hip, without even thinking as he stepped towards the brother to explain that it wasn't what it looked like. The moment he opened his mouth and said the first word, he realized that that's wrong too. He stopped, cleared his throat, and raised his voice a bit. Not perfect… but it felt better.

Thankfully, the brother deflated rather quickly and didn't try to start any arguments or fights. Turned out he's just very protective. The sister insisted that she'll be fine and that she can take care of herself, and Wild agreed.

"She's going to kill me someday," the brother said, and Wild stopped in his tracks because it's the first time he'd ever heard that word. Right now… she wanted it to apply to herself.

She thanked them and took a step back, about to head back to that pathway strewn with ruins and monsters, and as she walked back, she noticed the brother lift his entire arm to wave goodbye, while the sister lifted her arm up and simply tilted her hand back and forth. Link copied her, and it felt right.

The rest of the evening, she moved with a gracefulness she never thought about before. Something changed in her and it felt so very correct and okay that the pain in her chest was hardly recognizable, not even after she left the ruins and began her journey to the towering twin peaks before her.

She saw travelers along the way, and she'll walk with a slight tilt and she'll wave with her wrist and talk with a bit more gentleness and pitch than what she thought was normal back at the plains. She noticed that some of the female travelers all had a slight difference to their style of clothes while compared to the men, and she thought about that a lot, thinking of how that applied to her, all the way to the first stable.

She was exhausted by then, so she didn't think too much about it, in fact, she was thinking about close to nothing the moment her head hit the pillow.

-o-o-o-o-

When Link woke up, he felt different again. He thought that if he did what he did yesterday, he'd feel okay again. However, it didn't feel right. Raising his voice, swaying his hips, brushing his dirty hair out, none of it worked. The feeling remained as he finally gave up, choosing to just act how he normally would and not put on an effort to act like a woman. Though… he didn't want to be male either.

Whatever the case, he had limited sunlight, and he had to push this new predicament to the side as he finally caught a horse, named it Harold, and left his way towards Kakariko.

He found that this new feeling didn't last as long as the one from last night. The urge to act more like a woman lasted the entire day, while that one left by the time he was heading up the last stretch of hill towards Kakariko. He forgot all about it by the time he returned the maracas to Hestu. He was back to feeling comfortable in his skin, and it didn't even bother him when Hestu referred to him as "Mr Hero". It felt right in that moment.

It felt right the rest of the day, all the way until he found himself giving rupees to the village inn and once again, settling down for a good night's rest.

-o-o-o-o-

The next few weeks he spent traveling towards Hateno to fix his camera, and those weeks were filled with a mix of three feeling, two he knew what to do about, the third was a bit harder. Luckily, the third one didn't come around that often, and when it did it only lasted a few hours until it switched back to one of the others.

The first one was easy, it's what he was born as. Or… what he's pretty sure he was born as, with just a few months memory but with a body more than a dozen years old it's sort of hard to tell. Anyway, it's when he feels content as a male. It's the one that sticks around most, lasts the longest too, which is good. It's the easiest to be. The second one is a tad bit harder but he's getting used to it. It's when he refers to himself as "she/her" and just naturally feels better in his skin when he switches up his habits to be more woman-like. On days like that he—or in that time it would be she—would just copy what other women around her do. It lasts just shorter, if not the same amount, as the days when he's male.

The last one… he was still trying to figure out. He doesn't feel comfortable doing either woman things or male things. He's tried going by she, or he, tried brushing his hair, tried wearing less form fitting shirts (like what he did when he's a she… on those days it's extremely uncomfortable to show off a flat chest…), tried to be overly manly, and none of it worked. He hoped that someday he'd figure out. Thankfully that last feeling never lasts long.

When he—yes he was definitely a "he"—finally stepped into Hateno, he decided to explore a little bit first. He ran into a kid who found something neat just off the main road of the town, and one thing led to another and now he knew of the existence of some sort of anti-Hylia shrine that can take, morph, and return his strength and his energy for a suspiciously steal of a price. Whatever the case, he will not be going to that again unless he absolutely needed to. If fact, he should probably find a way to destroy it.

Anyway, after he got done with that, he turned around and stopped before he could even take a step. Atop the hill… was a very peculiar looking building. He didn't need any of his previous memories to know that a house with a flat, square design was very uncommon not only in Hateno, but for probably all of Hylia.

So he ran up to it.

Naturally.

There were multiple structures of the same kind around the first building he saw, built just out of the main section of the town to either stand out or because the style wasn't welcome in the middle of civilization. Maybe a bit of both.

He spent a few minutes gaping at these very strange buildings before he caught sight of a well trod yet overgrown path leading further out of the town. Without thinking much about it, he decided to follow after that trail even though there was a shrine literally just to his left and that should take priority, but with Link being, well, Link… he'd rather explore just a bit longer before he had to suffer the headache of another pointless puzzle.

Almost immediately he caught sight of a very old and very cozy looking cabin. It's style was exactly like the rest of the town, except for it's missing bricks, collapsed chimney, missing door, and shattered shingles. It looked… like it belonged to something old, something unwanted, something far away.

He wanted it.

He picked up his pace, a rush of excitement filling his chest and fueling his limbs. He ran over a beautiful bridge over an equally beautiful stream that appeared to lead to a pond he hadn't noticed before which seemed to settle right next to where that evil statue thing was. In all a few moments, he was standing there, looking at the full magnificence that is the ran down and withered building.

Already, visions of fixed up structures, a painted door, a sign with his name, and a fully furnished kitchen and living room filled his mind. He took a step forward, heard a crash, and whipped his neck over to where a rather large man with the biggest hair-do he'd ever seen was smashing a double headed hammer into the wall of that beautiful house, making an already big hole bigger.

"H-hey!" He squawked.

And, well, the next thing he knew his was sitting around the campfire with Bolson, Karson, and Hudson talking about buying a home. Turned out, Bolson liked him, and was willing to lower the whopping price of 50k rupees down to 3k and 30 bundles of wood. Doable. He'd just have to sell his hoard to opals, topaz, amber, and rubies to reach that goal money wise. Wood wise… he'll probably have to find an ax of some sort that he won't mind shattering to chop down that much wood. It probably wouldn't be acceptable to bomb the whole forest outside the peaceful town. He'd like to stay on the good side of the masses thank you very much.

After that was all sorted out, Link had a minute to truly look at the men in front of him. Hudson looked like a genuine gentle giant, he spoke with a soft voice and his features seemed to be in a permanent state of relaxed and non threatening. Karson definitely acted and looked the part of an energetic side kick towards Bolson, always ready and rearing to begin any task asked of him, a grin practically plastered onto his face. Now... Bolson confused Link. Everything about him was completely different to what Link had ever seen. He wore brightly colored clothes, raised his voice a few notes higher as he spoke, and walked with a sassy bounce to his step that Link definitely hadn't seen on another person, let alone another man.

Right then, the thought occurred to Link… that maybe Bolson is like him. Maybe… right now Bolson called himself… herself?

He'd have to work up the courage and ask Bolson about it later…. when they're alone.

"Thank you for letting me have a shot at buying the house," Link said, standing up and holding out his hand for a shake. It was easy to talk to them, proof of that was that that sentence had been the longest he'd spoken since he had woken up. "You are all very kind."

Bolson held out his hand, his wrist flicking smoothly and practiced, and grabbed hold of Link's hand, shaking with a gentle bounce. "Of course," he said, smiling.

-o-o-o-o-

"Are you a woman?" Link's blurted out. It'd been a week. She… he… it was that strange feeling again… he decided to stay over at Hateno for awhile before traveling back to Kakariko. He did all that he needed to, he fixed his camera, got some pretty cool looking pictures that ping a little bit of familiarity within him, and was even able to upgrade his bombs. He would have left earlier, but he used the excuses of gathering bundles of wood and crickets to stay longer. That would be what he told Impa anyway; that he stayed longer because he had to help some people out. Not because he was delaying asking a question that shouldn't be so scary to ask. He could have left ages ago, he probably should have, but he knew that if he didn't ask… he'd regret it.

Bolson looked up from where he's pounding nails into the wooden floor of Link's house with wide eyes. Hudson was out working on the roof while Karson was sent to paint the outside walls, and with Link leaving the next day… this may be the only opportunity he had to ask the question privately. It's not very often that Bolson was without Karson.

The surprised… almost shocked look on Bolson's face made Link instantly regret everything. He shouldn't have asked. He should have kept his big mouth shut.

He knew he was different. At first it felt normal, but he'd interacted with enough people for long enough to know that males are males and females are females. He hadn't seen one person, not in Kakariko, not in Hateno, not at the stables or on the trail, suddenly refer to themselves as anything different than what they were.

It was only a matter of time that the feeling of… difference and… brokenness sunk it's claws into his gut.

And it's clear now that whatever this was, it wasn't normal. Link was the only one feeling different with his genders.

He's about to apologise, about to ask Bolson to forget it before Bolson can think about how… unnatural Link really was. But then, something genuine flashed across Bolson's face as he pushed himself up. Link remained speechless, afraid, even as Bolson placed a hesitant yet gentle and un-threatening hand on Link's shoulder.

"Do you think I look like a woman?"

It wasn't sarcastic, or angry, like Link expected it to be. He knew what it's like for someone to get your gender wrong. He got it every time a found a korok while he was actually a she and they call her "Mr Hero". She got it every time when someone said "man" at the end of their sentence, referring to her. She wondered why they do that, why can't they just see that sometimes things that are male just don't apply to her.

It wasn't sarcastic or angry, it was curious… and worried.

"I- I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"Link, darling, please answer me."

Link looked Bolson in they eyes and he had to fight down a choking noise. He shouldn't have said anything. He should have left it alone. "I-no… I just thought…"

"You thought because of the way I dress and speak that I don't think myself male. Is that correct, darling?"

"I'm sorry…"

Bolson sighed and let go of Links shoulder before he slowly sank to the floor. "Sit with me," he said, patting the spot next to him. Link swallowed and lowered himself down with as much enthusiasm Purah would have when giving away something for free. He looked down. "Gender," Bolson started and Link forced himself to look up at him, Bolson was returning the gaze but was giving nothing away, "gender is expressed in many different ways, honey. I, for example, do identity with my birth gender, but the feminine things interest me greatly. I choose to express myself with traditionally womanly ways and manors, but I've never considered myself apart of that gender. Does that make sense?"

"Yes…"

"Good. Now, you can explain to me what's going on in your cute little head."

Link… wanted to tell him, Bolson had just shared something personal, but… he didn't understand it himself. How could he share his feelings with the other man when he didn't even know how to explain it? He hated how he had spent the last few months trying to explore his feelings and then when asked about them… he freezes up. Why… did he feel ashamed of it? Why did he feel like this was something to hide and to only practice when alone?

He wanted to wave his hand and say it was nothing, that he was just curious, but the way Bolson was looking at him… it made him feel like he already knew what was going on in Link's head and he just wanted him to admit it.

Link won't be able to back out of this. He had a week to get to know Bolson, and if there's one thing he knew for sure, it's that Bolson will not let Link leave the conversation with lies.

"Sometimes…" he… no she. It's she now. The weird feeling was gone, gone so fast, and now she knew that it's she for sure. Or it felt like it should be. Right now… she didn't feel that great. "Sometimes…" her voice was naturally higher, she folded her arms across her stomach, fighting off nausea, how can she say it? How can she tell something so personal and strange and uncommon. Goddesses, she feels more scared now than she had the first time she ran into a Yiga soldier.

Rip it off. Rip it off, take the consequences, just spit it out.

"Sometimes I don't feel like a man," she whispered, her eyes closed, her stomach doing somersaults, her heart pounding so hard in her ears. She can feel something building up behind the bridge of her nose, a warm pressure. "And- and I don't always know what to do about it, but it's been going on since… for as long as I can remember. I just… I'm just sometimes……"

Her chest shuttered and she curled up, clutching onto herself like she would fall apart. She can't look at Bolson. She can't see the shock, the surprise, the regret, the anger, she had never told anyone, but it's too strange to gain a good reaction to it.

Then, a hand placed into her own. "What are you now, sweetheart?" Link shook her head and curled up tighter, trying to close herself off in any way she could. "Are you a woman?"

A sob tore through her throat and the next thing she knew, she was wrapped up in a pair of strong, supportive, gentle arms. Her arms stayed wrapped around herself, she remained curled up, eyes closed, head bowed, even as Bolson pushed her into his chest and whispered words quietly. "It's okay," he said, and she wanted to push him away and scream at him that it wasn't okay, but all she could do was let another sob claw its way out.

It stayed that way… for a long time. In all honesty, when Link finally got ahold of herself, she was surprised that Karson and Hudson hadn't walked in to see what the fuss was all about get.

"I'm not angry with you, Link," Bolson said, "I just want to understand. Can you talk with me or do you want to wait and try again when you feel ready?"

He gave Link an option. An option to get away and forget about it and… and she didn't want to do that.

"I think…" she whispered, "I think I want to talk."

"There is nothing wrong with you," Bolson said, taking the answer as an invitation to continue. "People live in an illusion that gender is black and white, when in fact that is not so. There are grays, and there are all the colors of the rainbow. The world isn't black and white, so why should we be? Whatever you're feeling, whatever you are, you are normal, and you are not broken."

Link nodded, slowly reaching up to wipe at her eyes.

"Do you understand?"

"I…" she sucks in a breath. "I will."

Bolson nodded, looking like he knew he did a good job, but there was something far away in his eyes, something sad and… from experience.

"Just be yourself, no matter what. If you're male, female, a mix of both or neither of them, just be yourself. You'll be happier that way, and people who don't see that don't deserve to know you."

"Okay…"

-o-o-o-o-

Link decided to grow his hair after that. Something resonated with him with that conversation. Maybe the ending when Bolson mentioned that he can be a mixture of the two genders, or maybe neither at all. Whatever the case, he decided that during the short period of times where he would try to do both "feminine" and "masculine" things, he just didn't feel right. So maybe… maybe if he tried out being neither of them, it would be as good as feeling as when he first called himself "she".

The idea of being formless, unrecognizable to either genders… was exciting.

Growing his hair was the first step towards that.

The next day before he left back to Kakariko, Bolson took him to the Kochi Dye shop, not to dye any clothes but to buy some already colored scraps of fabrics. He said the best way for himself to express himself is to wear fun and exciting colors that represent who he is, and that maybe Link should try it out. They bought three scraps, a finger's width and about as long as his forearm, in three separate colors.

"This one is when you feel feminine," Bolson said when they were alone, it dyed a bright pink and it had a simple, little white diamond design on it. At the time, Link was still a woman, so Bolson immediately tied it around Link's wrist. "This one is when you feel masculine," a light blue one, same dimensions but designed with dark red swirls, he placed it in Link's hand. "And this last one is for that pesky third emotion."

It was the hardest for them to pick out. Link didn't like the idea of assigning colors to gender, but Bolson insisted he try it for just a little while, until he figured himself out further. They already knew that pink was traditionally womanly, and blue was traditionally manly, but for an unknown feeling, and unknown emotion, an unknown gender, that was harder to choose out. "What color do you feel during those times?" Bolson had asked.

The color he felt was white.

Not a boring white. The fabric in Bolson's hand was white but also designed with star designs of every color, it was an expensive piece of fabric, a complicated work so colorful and blank at the same time. Yeah, Link definitely felt like that.

The white one was placed in his hands.

Now, the moment he materialized outside Kakariko with the To'loh Naeg Shrine behind him, the pink fabric was untied from his wrist and he replaced it with the blue. It felt so simple, a proof that he had changed in that moment.

Physical. Not in his mind. Real. Valid.

-o-o-o-o-

The only acknowledgement to his new accessory was when Impa gave him a slightly confused look when she happened to look upon the blue scrap of fabric. She didn't say anything on it. Link didn't say anything on it. She just nodded herself, as if the fabric was nothing new. He wondered if she would react the same way to the pink or the white, but he didn't feel quite ready to address that with her.

Apparently, by all evidence, she knew Link from a hundred years ago. He could easily ask her a question that had been eating at him for so long, but at the same time he wasn't sure if he could take the answer. Was he always like this? Did the hero he had to live up to do this? Did he change his colors? Or was this… something new. Something… different.

He didn't know if he could take any answer. He didn't ask. She didn't pry.

After a nights rest and a lot of cooking and playing hide and go seek, she wrapped the pink fabric around her wrist and tightened the strap of her travel bag, making her way towards the uppermost right dot on his Sheikah Slate, showing the location of a Divine Beast. She's told it's past the Lanayru Mountain and Wetlands, at a place called the "Zora's Domain". It's closest, and apparently there's a stable along the way so she could grab Harold and get there even quicker. She's hoping she can stumble upon a few shrines and maybe find some koroks along the way.

Impa said that she should find memories with the fixed camera option, but in all honesty Link would rather not for now.

She waved goodbye to the woman always at the entrance of the village and went on her way, a bounce to her step.

-o-o-o-o-

Sidon was one of the most... interesting people she'd ever met. He seemed totally unaffected by the harsh realities of their world. Not unaffected in the sense that he's ignoring everything, but in the sense that he knew things sucked, he knew his domain was close to flooding and was surrounded by enemies, but he didn't let it put a hamper on him, he didn't let it make him a hard, angry person.

No, instead he chose to smile more, compliment more, encourage all the time. Link's only known him for a few hours, but she already knew that without the constant, constant, encouragement and shouts of praise and affection, she would probably have turned around on that monster infested road to find something easier to do.

But she made it.

Instead of heading up directly to the King's room, she instead explored a little bit, wanting to know the layout of the extremely interesting and unique city, wanting to talk to every Zora, even the elders who seemed to dislike her quite a bit, but instead of being hurt by that, she kept Sidon's words in her heart and continued onward, vowing to prove herself and show that she would never lead a person, especially someone who sounded so nice and beautiful like Mipha, to their death.

She stepped inside the Coral Reef general store pretty late in her exploration, but the encounter she had in there changed everything.

A Goron. That is what… he… she... Um… he… he called himself. Link had conversations with him, stuff about Death Mountain and eating rocks, total normal subjects, but the entire time it boggled her mind how she just couldn't figure out if Reagah was a boy or girl. It wasn't like she needed to know, she just was curious, she hadn't met anyone yet besides Bolson who she couldn't instantly recognize the gender of.

"This is probably going to sound offensive," she said slowly, keeping her expression open and careful, "but are you a girl or a boy?"

She didn't expect the laugh. She expected so many other things, but not a full on belly laugh.

"An understandable question!" Reagah said after he'd finished belting out. He wiped a tear from his eye, smiling widely. "I suppose I would be a boy. All Gorons have the same gender, you see. Long ago, our people adopted the pronouns for males because it seemed most other species recognized us as all males, so we went by that to keep confusion down."

"I- I see. So… what did you call yourselves before?"

Reagah hummed, putting on a thoughtful look as he reached up and scratched his chin. "It was long, long ago. We've always been calling ourselves by "he"… but I suppose it used to be just "them"."

Something stirred in Link's gut, but she couldn't dwell very long on it because she thought she heard Sidon calling her name. She thanked Reagah for being so kind and then walked out, ignoring the glare the elder Zora in the same room was giving her.

Before she traveled up towards where Sidon was waiting for her, she pulled out the white cloth with beautiful rainbow stars and ran it through her fingers.

"Them," she whispered, trying out the word. Something stirred in her gut again, something warm, nice, good.

It felt good.

And for the first time, she looked forward to that third feeling.

-o-o-o-o-

The memory came against her will. Caught her off guard. She went down to help Sidon calm Muzu down after the temper tantrum he threw, and when he looked upon her face, she blinked and she suddenly wasn't there anymore, but sitting upon the trunk of a massive mechanical beast, watching what seemed to be a memory ravel itself out in front of her.

She… he was there. Link, from a hundred years ago, his wound being mended by the Zora girl, Mipha, from that statue. She watched it play out before her, hearing Mipha's words meant only for Link. She could see love, affection in her eyes and she instantly knew where Sidon got it from.

When she returned to the present, she told Muzu and Sidon about her memory, her heart pounding in her chest. Sure, she was happy to remember such a lovely scene at the exact moment she needed it to get on slightly more even grounds with a Zora elder, but also… also because when she watched the memory, her eyes caught on something glinting in the sun. A beaded bracelet around Link's wrist.

The beads were blue.

-o-o-o-o-

She wanted nothing more than to find more memories, to see if that blue bracelet was just an accessory or something like she's doing now (and if they were actual color coded to her gender, where were they now?!). Unfortunately, the well being of the Zora's Domain, Vah Ruta, was more important.

She's told to find shock arrows, and to find shock arrows she went, excitement and hope swirling around her entire being.

-o-o-o-o-

The first time Link used "they" was when the third feeling came over Link, switching she to that new word, as they were running away from the Lynel that finally spotted them as they grabbed their twentieth arrow lodged in a tree.

They should have been terrified, should have been thinking nothing but swears and curses as the Lynel reached for it's bow, but the moment the feeling came over them, all they could think about was how good it felt.

They. They. Thay. They. They.

Over and over in their head that the sound of the bow being loaded with electricity, the impending doom that they could die right here, none of it was noticeable. They sprinted to the highest part of the mountain, to the point where they could practically see everything, even the giant reserve and the Divine Beast below, and without reading the sign, without thinking, they jumped, wind whipping at their hair as they whooped, the sound of an electrical explosion reaching just where they used to be a few moments before.

They hit the water with an amazing splash, and they probably should have been in awe of the Divine Beast in front of them, but nothing could compare to the complete joy and happiness they felt within themselves at that moment.

They.

They did it.

-o-o-o-o-

He forgot to ask her. Mipha was right in front of him. He was dripping, wet, and coming down from an adrenaline high from fighting the blight, and she was standing right in front of him.

He forgot to ask her.

He was in too much awe from seeing her spirit, he didn't think to ask if he was always like this, if he was always switching between three different settings.

He forgot to ask.

It wasn't important in that moment. Calamity Ganon was important.

He still wished he asked her.

-o-o-o-o-

With one Divine Beast on his side, and one corner of Hyrule safer than what it had been in a century, Link packed up his bags and waved goodbye to his new friends. He needed to continue, head to the next place, the next shrine, the next memory, the next adventure. He will return, but probably not for awhile.

From there, the adventure only got harder, but the happiness and contentment within himself never left, always stuck around, always felt so good. Link wore all three colors of fabric with pride and never again was one feared over the other.

Granted, he still didn't quite know what to do with his third gender besides "they" and growing out his hair, but he's working on it.

Excited, he went to Death Mountain next. A terribly hard journey, but the cool fire resistant iron suit he got was… just amazing and so worth it. The most comfortable they'd ever been wearing that white scrap of fabric had been while he was in that suit. It felt so… blank. Like, no assumptions can be based upon it.

It's one of his favorite pieces of armor, sadly he doesn't get to wear it often.

He found that he absolutely loved the Gorons. One called Link a brother while he was actually a… sibling... And they corrected that Goron on instinct. Instantly, the Goron apologized and said "sibling" instead, without any kind of scene made or questions asked.

Gorons are amazing.

Life seemed to be going good, all the way until he gained his second memory.

He hadn't been searching out the others. One looked like it was upon Death Mountain somewhere, but he was too hyped about getting out of the heat and into the village that he forgot about it. It was another statue that dragged him in, one made in the memory of Daruk.

He was so excited, but then he saw that his self from one hundred years ago was still wearing that blue bracelet, and his stomach dropped. He missed most of what was said after.

What if… what if that bracelet was something entirely different? What if it was a keepsake or a gift and it was just coincidentally blue?

After the memory, he pretended to smile, pretended to be ready and raring to go and help stop Vah Rudania, but in reality, the small sliver of hope that Link just happened to identify as a male in both memories got smaller and smaller with each step away from the monument.

-o-o-o-o-

He didn't ask.

Daruk was right in front of him, and he remembered, but he couldn't bring himself to. There wasn't much time, he told himself, he couldn't waste time with something like this.

When really… he was afraid.

So he didn't ask.

-o-o-o-o-

She left Goron City much more down in the dumps than when she went up. She sluggishly dragged her feet down the path of the mountain, not even feeling that comfortable in the fire resistant armor anymore. She kicked rocks in front of her, making a mental plan of what to do next, where to go, when something caught her attention.

She's been here before.

And not in the sense that she's taking the same way down that she took up, but… the cliff to her right looked very familiar.

On instinct, she pulled out her Sheikah Slate and flicked over to the photo album. Her finger tapped on one of pictures later in the album, but it was definitely why it felt so familiar here.

She spent hours looking at this picture, just… wondering where it could be. If she should seek it out. If she should take that risk after the last major disappointment.

It happened here. She took a step forward, hardly thinking about it, another and another until she was overlooking the entirety of Hyrule, the positioning of the castle, the land, the distant mountains, all of it had to be the same. She glanced down at the slate again, she could hardly feel her heartbeat, and she looked up and suddenly she wasn't here.

She was watching a scene from one hundred years ago.

"That cut doesn't look too bad, actually."

The voice came before she saw who was speaking, but she knew who it was. The first voice she'd ever heard.

Zelda.

"You're fine for now."

Zelda's there, crouching next to Link, surrounded by slayed monsters, looking at something on his body. The cut, perhaps. Link from now purposely looked away from her past self, her breath was already taken by the wonder that is Zelda, she didn't need to completely stop breathing when that stupid blue bracelet reared its ugly head.

"But you know, there's a fine line between courage and recklessness."

She was beautiful. Link had always assumed she was, but seeing her in person just exceeded all expectations and imagination.

She talked some more, talked about how the monsters were getting stronger, attacking in greater numbers. Link's past self said nothing, just sat quietly by as Zelda talked, as if he were already used to just letting her ramble.

Then, Zelda stood up, patting the dust off her pants and looking down on Link. "-and, if that's the case. I'm ready to expect the worst. We'll need to make preparations as soon as possible."

Link nodded, and moved to stand up next to her. The familiarity between the two baffled the present Link. So much, in fact, that she forgot to not look at her past self.

The memory faded.

Her eyes opened.

Her heart was so still. She couldn't feel her fingers or her legs and she stumbled backwards like she had taken a blow. She landed on her rear, metal armor creaking and dust rising around her. She was lightheaded.

"Pink," she whispered. To herself. To the sky. To the volcano. To the Eldin Ostrich minding its own business a few meters behind her. "It… was PINK!"

-o-o-o-o-

By the time Link made it to the Rito village, they had gone through many more memories. It was exciting now, to see the bracelets on their past self's wrist, to see the adventure, to find out more about the past to help them with their present. They'd notice that Zelda and Link were not always friends, and during those memories, the ones where Link was forced to be a good soldier, he'd always wear the blue bracelet, or no bracelet at all. But they could see it now, they could almost remember exactly what Link thought way back in those memories. The one where Zelda yelled at Link after following her to the shrine, Link was a boy, he was wearing the blue bracelet to match it. The one where Zelda asked Link about the Master Sword (which still presently needed to be found…), Link was neither.

The memory that snuck up on Link back in the Zora's Domain, Link was a girl. The one with Daruk, Link was a boy.

They can tell now, without even having to search for the bracelet, but it still made them soar when they saw the white on Link's wrist as he rode with Zelda up to the horse statue. Still made them want to pump their first and scream with pure joy when they saw the pink one on Mount Lanayru. Sure, some of these memories were so sad, but it's proof. It's important proof that Link had always been like this.

White while they ran away, when Zelda cried in their arms. No bracelet during the coronation ceremony, but the memory of a pink one hastily stuffed in her back pocket beforehand came back to her too.

They only had a few memories left, and they couldn't wait to see them.

For now, their hair is longer. Reaching the middle of their back. On days when the pink fabric was worn, she liked to practice braiding it up and putting flowers in it when she had time. On blue days, a simple ponytail would do. On white… well, they liked to just let it out. Maybe braid a little bit down the side but that's the most they'll do.

They found they like to wear the Hylian cloak on days when the white fabric was needed. The mountain climbing armor as well, it helped hide the subtle curves or lack thereof on his body and gave a more neutral look.

They're more confident now on correcting at least the koroks on the pronouns. He even taught one about the colors on their wrists and word seemed to spread among them, and before they called him "Mr Hero" he noticed that they'd start to study his wrist first, sometimes going with "Miss Hero" and "Friend Hero" instead. Hero seemed to be a gender neutral term to them, and Link didn't mind.

People were harder. It came up less often. They've told Beedle, Karson, Bolson, and Sidon, but that was about it. They didn't know how confident they were on telling people that he didn't talk to often, or people like Impa who knew him from way before. Link got the feeling only Zelda knew back then, they don't know how or why she was the only one, but they feel like they need to actually talk with Zelda before they start telling the whole world.

Closest friends first.

Then everyone else.

At Revali's Landing, Link was a girl.

Before they left after defeating Vah Medoh, they told Tebo. Tebo didn't seem to care either way what Link was, he was just thankful for their friendship and for the safety of the Rito. Link can only hope the rest of the world felt that way once Calamity Ganon no longer plagued it.

-o-o-o-o-

It had been months since a mishap, so when she approached the Gerudo Fortress, she was sure that they would kick her out. This was it. This was the big test. The Gerudo only allow women into their town, Link had been in a few times out of necessity as a man, dressed as a vai, but that was for the sake of getting to Vah Naboris quickly, with no way of telling when the pink scrap would come out or if they would even let her in.

It didn't feel right to pretend, to force. But it was necessary, the stakes were more important than the discomfort of being a man in women's clothes.

But now… now that she was truly a woman, she had to test it.

She was dressed in her blue champion's tunic, Hylian pants, and her hair was pulled up into a bun with braids trailing up into it. It was evening, so it wasn't too hot or too cold, it was the perfect time to try and walk in… or get kicked out… without having to lie about her gender or dress dramatically like it.

The guards eyed her as she approached and she sucked in a breath.

Just so it.

What if they kick her out?

Just so it.

She doesn't want to be kicked out while she's an actual girl.

Just do it. Rip it off like a bandage and do it.

She let out her breath.

And walked past them.

"Welcome, little vai," one Gerudo said, smiling away towards the horizon, as if she'd known the whole time.

-o-o-o-o-

Link never realized that the final memory was right by the Kara Kara Bazaar until after Vah Naboris was released from Calamity Ganon's control. Link was a man at the time, though at the very end they were genderless. The first time Link had seen her past self change. She saw it in their stance, in the way their face shifted naturally into something different. It was liquid, not rushed or thought too much into. Nothing about them changed, nothing but the gender. No personality, no values, nothing but the gender.

As fluid and ever changing as a river.

-o-o-o-o-

Nothing was revealed with the "memory" of the Master Sword. The Deku tree told him nothing.

But there was a revelation at the real final memory, the one of his death.

As he watched it, he realized he could not remember what gender he was during it. At the moment, it didn't seem to matter. Link… was Link back then. Just a fighter, a knight, and what they identified as did nothing to help Link fight against all odds to make sure Zelda survived.

Link died with a bracelet on, but it didn't mean anything. It was singed black with the blast that dealt the final blow. Noticed by no one as Zelda quickly took it off as the Kakariko soldiers carried the body away.

-o-o-o-o-

It was time. After... months of traveling and helping and self discovering, it was finally time. He'd been in the castle before, to get one of the most dangerous memories he could possibly get, and then he left rather quickly after that, choosing to train more than risk going in further. Now, he was back.

He took his time. Something gave him the feeling that while Zelda had waited long enough, she also could wait a little while longer. There was something important he wanted to check. He knew where Zelda's laboratory was, he just had to find her bedroom. He got the feeling… he got the feeling Zelda left him something there.

It thankfully wasn't hard to find. It wasn't hard to get rid of the monster within it either, he'd grown strong over the months, both in mind and body, so it was of very little effort to get himself alone with the book placed on a desk.

The read was… emotional, but what really got him was the note hastily scribbled in on the back page.

"In the middle drawer," it said, "and thank you. I'm counting on you. Sorry I couldn't find the others. We can look for them together once Hyrule is safe."

He carefully opened the middle drawer of the dresser… and found nothing but a single, singed, black beaded bracelet.

Link slipped it on and put the blue scrap in his pack with the others. Right now, the hero stepping in to save the world was Link. There had been a whole lot of ups and downs, but Link believed it would only get better, once Ganon was no more, once Hyrule was safe, once Zelda was relieved of her one hundred year battle. But first, it's time for Link to be a hero.

And that would never change.

#fanfiction #fan fiction #jin writes #genderfluid wild #legend of zelda #loz #breath of the wild #botw #loz: botw #linked universe #sort of #it will lead into a second part with the bois #long fic #link #genderfluid au #lgbt bolson #lgbt link

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polar-stars · 5 years

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A list of SNS content creators? Hell yeah, and hell, to mourn the lose of the anime im thinking of becoming one too

ooooooOOOOOOOOOO

Anon! Go wild! Share your ideas with us then :DDD This fandom is always in need for some good content !

But well, to name the people who are already working hard in blessing me and everyone else:

- @yourmoontothenightsky or better @soaringlanddormitory for Shokugeki-content, has a galore of fun Shokugeki OCs from plain OC to Next Gen ones. Additionally to that, she’s insanely imaginative when it comes to AU and has a huge list of wonderful and well-thought out ones. She’s a multi shipper and has created a lot of content for multiple ships already. She’s generally a wonderful person and an angel walking earth who is insanely nice and will most defiantly enthusiastically welcome to you to this fandom as I know her ovo !

- @polar-star-dorks Nice, friendly and mature but with a mix of quite dark humor that you just gotta love. A fellow Polar Star Dormitory Stan like I am (as you can probably tell by the URL) and also? A SouMegu fan who blesses us with good content that this ship needs more of. She’s another multi shipper though and if SouMegu is not your cup of tea, that’s cool with her as long as you respect her ovo ! She has a very unique art style that I celebrate + a lovely Next Gen.

- @isshinene Listen anon, if you’re into IsshiNene, yeet off there instantly. Asuka is the greatest blessing for the IsshiNene community, you can’t convince me otherwise. She diligently collects all content there is for her ship and also creates herself. She has fantastic writing skills and some wonderful stories to show. Next to that, she recently took on editing and ??? She’s???? Talented as hell at it??? I am in awe and floored?? Also, an adorable IsshiNene daughter you can find there. She’s very respecting towards other ships and my fellow Nene-Stan. Also she gives the 91st Gen the appreciation they so rightfully deserve.

- @mpkp76 has a beautiful gallery with gorgeous pieces of art. She draw mainly TakuMegu and ahhhh, just bless how she does it. Every piece she uploads just makes me go “woah” and makes me soft. She loves her ship but is also friendly and respecting towards people with other shipping choices. + Two adorable TakuMegu fan children and one RyoAli fanchild. She’s just very talented and very nice, I stan her !

- @muggleinvidbuay another TakuMegu-Fan with an absolutely adorable art style. Her art looks so squishy and soft and ahhhh just so cute. Currently at creating an AU and the art for it looks amazing and just ahh, so colorful and cute! I love it! Has a Next Gen as well with a bunch of great characters in it! alSO HAVE YOU SEEN HER USAGE OF WATERCOLORS I AM LOOSING MY MIND EVERYTIME!

- @shokugekinospice is a new imagine blog made by a very fun and very open person, who will never fail to entertain you believe me. His main blog @nightcrownsking also has some good Shokugeki content. He’s an insanely talented writer who just writes….so poetically and beautiful that it pulls on your heartstrings. Adding to that? Some good NSFW content if you’re into that, something not often discussed within the Shokugeki Fandom :0 ! Also another multishipper!

@that-girl-at-the-corner has great talents for aesthetics and edits. Also another greatly talented writer, who graced the fandom with some damn good pieces of writing for Sorina. Every time she updates any of them I am just “!!!!!” My favorite is “The Royal Engagement” because ahh, I am just a sucker for Royalty AUs haha, but also the “Your Name” one is so !!! promising !!!!!!

@taku-megu one of the most talented editors I ever met. In this fandom for so long and cherishing TakuMegu. Just…a galore of insanely stunning edits and just? It’s a lot of fun scrolling on the blog and taking it all in. Always participates in any kind off week hosted in this fandom and just making it a lot more brighter and greater. ITS SUPER-GOOD CONTENT AND I ALWAYS GO “!!!!” WHENEVER SOMETHING NEW GETS POSTED !

@hanzome-hasashi The author of my favorite Sorina Fanfiction of all time also known as “Akai Ito” and my second-favorite Sorina Fanfiction also knowns as “Late Night Lullabies”. Can you tell, she’s great at writing Sorina? And great at writing in general? Plus a good editor! I especially love the flower-ones. A good sense of aesthetics! Just greatly imaginative and also funny! Most recently she also presented a promising Next Gen, that is worth a check out :DDD

@wishingforatypewriter A great writer! A GREAT WRITER! In my opinion probably the greatest blessing to the AkiSako fans, because they write them so excellently. Has written a few pieces of MarYu fanfic for me, which I still sob over to this day because it’s just so perfect. Has a Next Gen and quite some stories about it! It’s a really interesting take on Next Gen with some great characters and worth a check-out !

@otakinu beAUTIFUL ARTWORK HOL Y I AM LOOSING MY MIND EVERYTIME. The most softest and beautiful content for EiRin but also other ships you can find, it’s just so goOD!!!

@justaramblingromantic another great writer! Who writes EiRin just so….perfectly! Also wrote a few pieces for Kuga/Nene which were just awesome and amazing!

@harumaki03 writes mainly in Spanish, so I couldn’t read a lot since I don’t understand that ; 7 ; But there is a chance that you might understand Spanish, anon so I give a shoutout regardless. Also, a few stories have been translated to English and they were good as well !

I was unsure, but I will also add @madokasoratsugu (or @aoikasaa for art blog) while she left the Shokugeki fandom she was in it once and there’s still some damn good content to find. I just love her art style so much and she was generally a huge blessing in the fandom to me back when she was in it ! Plus, a great writer as well! But her stuff is still amazing regardless and maybe she also creates for something currently you’re into as well anon.

Also @mayuuunaise blesses my IsaMegu heart a lot with her fanfiction “A man for flowers” . Also just a greatly talented artist + writer worth a check out ;w; ! Even if she also doesn’t majorly creates for Shokugeki I think.

#Gofer answering to stuffz #I hope that was helpful anon

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eyesfixedonthesun22 · 5 years

Text

She’s So High: Chapter 7

Summary: 90’s karaoke and your snarky wit seem to have revived the charming side of one Bucky Barnes. Now that he finally has you home all to himself, perhaps he can put some of that charm to good use. Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female Reader Warning(s): Smut 18+. Swearing. Kissing, Hand Job, Oral Sex (male receiving), Vaginal Sex, Unprotected Sex. Word Count: 2,635 Notes: Idea was inspired by this 90′s playlist. This chapter was beta read by the lovely @viktordrago. You all go thank her cause without her there would have been A TON of really laughable errors. Thank you so much to everyone for their likes and reblogs thus far. Anyone who left comments has literally melted my heart. I love you all. Smut Note: ***DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, INTERACT WITH MY WORK IF YOU’RE NOT 18+*** It goes without saying, unprotected sex....please make sure your partners are clean and you use an agreed upon form of protection (if relevant).

You sprint up to the tower mildly annoyed you’re being made to run on one of your days off. The public doors to the tower are locked for the evening so you head for the private entrance. After scanning your biometrics, you push the door open only to see a smug Bucky standing in the elevator with the door hold button on.

“Took you long enough, Doll.” He says dangling your phone back and forth like a pendulum feigning as if he’d waiting longer.

“Not everyone has super serum steroids running through their veins. Plus, you try running with someone’s cum leaking out of you. Not fun!” you rant while attempting to steal your phone back.

“Not so fast, darling. All that talk of my cum inside of you is turning me on.” He says puckering his lips in a taunting manner while continuing to hold your phone just out of reach. You roll your eyes at his arrogance. Taking a deep relaxing breath, you spring into one of your favorite field moves in hopes of being able to grapple your phone to freedom.

Bucky must have known you’d take the bait. He counters you gently and with lightning precision has you pinned against the elevator wall with your hands helplessly overhead; hips locked in place by his own.

“Did you really think I don’t have your favorite move memorized? You and Nat, so predictable.” he tuts with his face close enough to smell the hints of whiskey on his breath.

His left hand takes over holding both of your wrists in place; the cool metallic palm dwarfing both your own. To any onlooker, Bucky’s position over you would have looked predatory but you basked in the return of his confidence. His right hand tucks your phone securely in his back pocket before taking a firm hold on your hip.

“Ever think this is the exact outcome I wanted and you just fell for it?” you counter, testing the waters. “Winter Soldier’s getting soft.”

“I think you’ll find it's quite the contrary, doll.” His hips grind against you and you feel him stirring in his jeans. Sensing your resolve is crumbling, he peppers light kisses along the column of exposed skin on your neck. You attempt to hold back and not give him the satisfaction, when he begins sucking and nipping at your soft flesh, you reluctantly cave.

The two of you are so thoroughly lost in one another you, don’t hear the elevator ding once you reach the living quarters.

“Agent Barnes. Agent Y/L/N. Floor 90: Living Quarters” Friday prompts. Bucky doesn’t come up for air. His metal arm releases your wrists from their willing prison only to tap lightly on your thighs. You know what he’s suggesting but you pause.

“Up you go!” He says picking you up with ease.

“Bucky Barnes you put me down this minute! I swear to god if you drop me-” His footsteps pause and he pulls back from kissing your neck. One eyebrow is raised and his mouth is firmly set in a smirk.

“I’m not exactly light as a feather, Buck.” His expression flickers to confusion as his head cocks to the side.

“Being picked up makes me hyper aware of my body.” Your eyes fall from his face now self-conscious about meeting his gaze.

“You mean aware of these?” He squeezes your bum appreciatively. “Or these?” Now holding you with his right arm and caressing the curves of your hip and thighs. “You must mean these?” Palming your breast in admiration. “Darlin’ I ache for every damn bit of your body. I wanna worship it all.”

Your eyes raise from their spot on his chest. “I’m serious, sweetheart. Besides, you’d have to somehow grow to Scott’s freaky large Antman size to pose a challenge for this super strength.” You beam and peck his nose lightly.

“Thank you, Buck.” He kisses you back with renewed fervor while continuing the trek down the hall. Finally in the privacy of your room, he lets your body gently descend his with a controlled grace; lips never leaving yours. You come up for air only to realize you’re in Bucky’s room not your own.

It shouldn’t surprise you; but it catches you off guard regardless. You’ve only ever seen small slivers of his room in the past. His door was always shut like a not so subtle “keep out” sign. If it is open, it’s only so he can peak his head out to chat with Steve to decline a run. Bucky senses your curiosity and lets you explore.

On the largest window-filled wall sits a beautiful walnut desk. You’d imagined it would be bathed in sunlight come morning. The desk is bare except for a set of small plain back notebooks stood between leather wrapped bookends. Upon further examination, you can see each notebook has a range of dates on its spine.

“Therapy has helped a lot; but my memory isn’t one hundred percent still. Whenever I remember something or have a dream, I write it down in those.” Your heart clenches with empathy.

On the wall near his closet is a cork board with a small collection of photos; mostly black and white prints. Looking closer, you find a scrawny Steve beaming a stress free smile you rarely see on him now. Bucky’s arm is slung over his shoulder. They look so young; clearly void of the pressures of Captain America and Winter Soldier. Squinting at the more faded photos, you make out what looks to be his family interspersed with some drawings you recognize in Steve’s style. Right in the center of the collection is a group photo of the Avengers from the holiday party last year.

On his nightstand is a well-worn copy of War of the Worlds next to an ambient noise machine. His duvet is a calming shade of blue which perfectly coordinates with the camel leather headboard. It’s warm and welcoming.

It almost feels intrusive to see the intimate details of Bucky’s space and disturb his calm oasis. Your heart swells with emotion knowing how much he must trust you to have brought you here.

“It’s beautiful, Buck. Did you decorate it?” you feel his arms circle around your waist from behind as you continue to look around.

“Of course I did, darling. It took me a long time to figure out what I wanted; but I finally have something that feels like mine.” He gives you a quick peck on your cheek before walking over to the nightstand.

Still wonderstruck by his room, your revere is interrupted by music filling the space. It’s a song you recognize from one of your private playlists. You turn to face him; his hands once again encircling you. “How did you-” You’re pushed back into the plush duvet with a short yelp.

“Your playlists may be private but you didn’t turn on a private listening session.” He raises his eyebrows like he couldn’t possibly be more proud of his sneaking abilities. Making grabby hands, you feel his weight settle on top of you.

“So you spied on my listening habits? That’s pretty impressive technology navigation for a senior citizen.”

“I mean… they don’t call me a ghost story for nothing.” He says with a lighthearted chuckle. “Plus I’d watch all that senior citizen talk, missy. What does that make you?”

Bucky’s warm lips mold themselves to the contours of your neck making it difficult to think. “A harlot?”

He hums in response while marking you with another love bite. His hands roam to your breasts caressing them in earnest while pressing you back into the down duvet. His hand moves to the small of your back to hoist you up further on the bed, quickly settling his weight back onto you.

Despite the earlier fervor you both shared on the elevator, you’ve wordlessly communicated a temper of pace. His flesh hand cups your jaw gently as his tongue slips in to meet your own. All urgency lost, you allow yourself to savor Bucky. The now familiar scent of his body wash envelops you as you attempt to memorize his tastes and sounds.

Fingers trace and graze. Palms grip and smooth across planes and dips of one another's body. Your lips only separate to gasp needy puffs of air before diving back into each other; never wanting to be apart for long. Each article of clothing is removed reverently before the skin below is explored.

“Fuck darlin’-” He says stealing his lips away. His eyes are a vivid shade of blue but show no signs of hesitancy. There’s a subtle flush across his cheeks which matches the beautiful color the kissing has brought to his plump lips. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this.”

You rise up to meet his lips again; gently pushing him off the bed before your hands move to the waistband of his jeans. The belt joins his other clothing strewn on the floor and you’re able to get the zipper down with far more grace this time. His hands settle on top of yours and you both push his jeans and underwear down together. He pulls you to stand and rids you of your final garments.

“You finally gonna let me have my turn, Buck?” He’s lying in the center of the bed stroking his length languidly; the mischievous grin you’ve grown to love makes an appearance.

“Doll, you know you don’t have-”

“I want to… so badly do. I want to.” You crawl up the bed and settle between his legs; kissing his firm thighs as you near your goal. “You’re not the only one who’s thought about this for a while, honey.”

“You been thinking about me during your alone time, doll?” He says folding his flesh arm behind his head as he looks down at you.

You’re certain there’s another snarky comment coming but it gets choked off in his throat as you lick him from base to tip. Knowing full well you have all evening, you set out to figure out what combination can draw those beautiful sounds from deep in Bucky’s chest.

A particularly strong moan followed by a choked breath alert you to a sweet spot. You continue to work the same pattern with heavier pressure; savoring the rhythmic tensing of his thighs in response. Bucky leans up slightly as if he’s going to tell you to stop; but you gently press him back down. He sighs deeply while pressing his head further back into the pillow; hips raising on their own accord, pushing him further into your mouth.

“Doll, I’m-”

He lets out a low growl from deep in his chest before he spills into you. You continue your motions; touching softer while adoring his little whimpers of oversensitivity.

“Sorry, darlin’. Didn’t give you much warning.” His voice carries a heady coarseness; indicating his post-orgasm state. Kissing your way up his thighs, abs, and pecs you hum gently in his ear-

“Didn’t need one, sweetheart.” You kiss the shell of his ear before moving to his pillow soft lips for a deep kiss. “Besides, you’re not exactly subtle.”

He chuckles lightly and shifts his weight pinning you beneath him once again.

“As perfect as that mouth of yours feels, I’m not done with you yet, doll.” Your legs part wider allowing him to settle between them. Allowing him time to recover, you both kiss with renewed desire. His cock, previously semi-hard, stiffens once more. His hips roll and dip allowing his shaft to slide between your wetness. Each pass provides a delicious friction to your clit making you crave him inside you.

“You’re such a tease, Bucky.” You intend for it to be a stern warning but it comes out a desperate plea.

“Hush baby girl. It’s not teasing if I deliver on my promise.” On the last word he angles his hips slightly and pushes into you.

Having been acquainted with quick and dirty, you’re surprised how delicate Bucky is. His kisses seem to land on your body exactly where you crave them. The gentle glide of his cock against your walls stretches you deliciously; passionate and slow. Before, your release came on like a freight train. Now it’s as though he started a small fire and was stoking it with each push and pull inside you.

“Bucky! That feels so-” your words die into a whimper as the fire breaks forth and spreads like a wave over your body. You spasm and clench around his length as he continues to rut into you.

“I’m so close, darlin’.” He manages to last a handful of thrusts longer before he releases into you. He quieter this time but it seems his release is endless.

Bucky stills above you; barely supporting his weight as to not crush your form beneath him. He pecks your lips so softly before gently lifting off you.

“I’ll be right back, doll.”

You watch his firm backside retreat into the bathroom. Releasing a deep sigh you reach for your phone in hopes to update Natasha and Steve so they don’t worry about you. Bucky returns from the bathroom with a soaring belly flop onto the bed before he scoots up closer; burying his head in your neck. Distantly, you hear the stream of the shower he started in the bathroom.

“Watcha doin’?” He slurs lazily against your skin.

“Just updating Nat so she doesn’t come hunt you down.” you say chuckling.

“You’d defend my honor.” He wraps his arm around your waist pulling you impossibly closer to him.

Opening the message on your phone a flush starts to creep to your cheeks. You see a string of concerned messages from Steve, Sam, and Wanda wondering if you need consoling. Tony sent a rather inappropriate message asking if Barnes had “sacked up”.

At the top of your list you see Nat’s messages turn from positively frantic to utterly annoyed. The last one reading, “I’m home now. I can hear you sickos through the wall. He better be treating you good for me to endure this torture.”

You return back to the message threads debating who to respond to first; or if you want to respond at all.

You contemplation is interrupted, “Why am I in your phone as ‘Grumpy Barnes’?! How rude!”

Bucky apparently has woken up from his mini post-coital nap. You’re about to defend the name (blame Sam) when he launches a sneak tickle attack. Eventually you manage to wiggle free from his clutches and sprint to the awaiting warmth of the shower. Bucky walks in and soon has you wrapped back in his embrace.

The gentle caresses of his fingers up and down the wet skin of your body paired with the steamy mist from the warm shower have your eyelids feeling heavy. You lean your body back against Bucky letting him support you while he washes you in his body wash. You find so much comfort being surrounded by his scent.

“What do you wanna do now, doll?” You hum sleepily; the length of the day catching up with you. “How about we curl up, watch something on Netflix and crash? You nod slowly into his chest.

After drying off and ignoring searching for pajamas, you’re nestled amongst the pillows and comforter. Bucky pulls you close under his arm while turning on an episode of Twilight Zone at a low background volume. Your eyes flutter shut enjoying the warmth of his body pressed next to yours. It’s quiet but you hear him mumble something inaudible before sleep takes you both.

“Doll, I know I’ll never been the same Bucky I was before Hydra got ahold of me, but if the new version of me feels how I do now, I don’t think I mind.”

#Bucky x reader #bucky x female reader #Bucky Barnes x reader #Bucky Barnes x female reader #bucky x you #bucky #bucky barnes #bucky smut #bucky fluff #my writing #my fics #She's So High #marvel #mcu

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