#she first introduced herself as he/him but now uses any pronouns

[dragons-and-yellow-roses]

I met my friend House this summer and we immediately vibed, and about half a week into our friendship we friended each other on Pokemon Go, and I noticed that their avatar was a woman but I paid little attention to it because I was more concerned with Pokemon. And at this point I was still under the impression that she was a cis guy. But he said something like "Yeah I really like making and customizing the avatars, it's fun," and my brain didn't make the connection that MAYBE THEY WERE TRYING TO DRAW MY ATTENTION TOWARDS THEIR AVATAR TO KIND OF SUBTLY LET ME KNOW THEY'RE NOT CIS but again I was too concerned with the Pokemen and I can't even remember what I said in response, but later I was looking back and thought HOLY SHIT WAIT I THINK SHE WAS TRYING TO TELL ME SOMETHING and now I know that they're nb.

[reputationmunson]

Brought Me Back to Life | S.H x fem!reader

_

Summary: The suspicion of your boyfriend cheating grows and grows causing you to go get a drink, or several, at a local bar. What happens when you meet a man with the kindest eyes you’ve ever seen?

Content: SMUT (18+ ONLY), modern!au, infidelity, flirting, drinking, swearing, oral (f&m rec), fingering (fem rec), oral (m rec), slight exhibitionism, protected sex, multiple orgasms, titty sucking, missionary position, sort of rough, slight choking, dirty talk, praise, fluff, pet names, use of y/n, afab!reader, she/her pronouns, barely proofread

word count: 4.8k

a/n: In honor of it being Steve’s birthday and also high infidelity day i figured this was fitting! Enjoy! (sort of based on high infidelity by t swizzle)

ANY MINORS OR AGELESS BLOGS THAT INTERACT WITH THIS POST WILL BE BLOCKED

_

The noise in the bar drowns out as you stare into your drink, hoping it will magically give you some sort of answer to your problem. 

You were supposed to have a date with your boyfriend tonight, but apparently he had “stay late at the office” and by that you’re pretty sure he means he has to bury himself in his secretary.

It’s so cliche, isn’t it? A man having an affair with his secretary while you stay at home being the so-called perfect girlfriend. It’s ridiculous. 

“Why don’t you just leave him?” your best friend asked you the first time your suspicion appeared and isn’t that the question of the century?

At first, the thought of leaving him seemed scary and it still sort of is. He’s your first serious boyfriend and the beginning of the relationship started off so well. He was kind, affectionate, and treated you like you could walk on water. It all seemed too good to be true. Turns out you were right. 

Now, he barely touches you, he only tells you he loves you when you say it first, and you can’t remember the last time he did anything nice for you. You keep hoping he’ll change at that it’s all just a phase, but there’s only so much hope a person can have. 

A man you’d seen in here a few times before sits next to you at the bar. You’d never properly met him, but he seemed kind. He was never creepy or crude. There were even multiple occasions that you’d seen him order a girl an uber when she was far too gone to do it herself and he waited with them to make sure they got in safely. It was endearing. 

He lets out a defeated sigh and you turn to look at him. “You okay?” you ask and his head whips up to look at you. “Me? Yeah, sorry. I’m here for my birthday and all my friends are gonna be here late so I’m kinda bummed” 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Happy birthday, though” you smile and he smiles back. He’s cute. Way too cute to be sad on his birthday. “Thanks. I know it’s totally lame to be a grown man and be upset about this” he chuckles. “No, I get it! I’d be sad too. You’re never too old to wanna have fun on your birthday, right?” 

“Right. I’m Steve, by the way” he introduces himself. “y/n.” you respond. “I like that name. Suits you” Is he flirting with you? Is it bad that you hope he is? “Thanks. Had it my whole life” you say and he laughs. 

“What are you drinking, birthday boy?” you ask due to the lack of alcohol in his glass. “Jack and coke. Why?”

“Hey, Tony!” you get the bartender's attention “Can I get a jack and coke and two tequila shots with limes, please?” you request. “On it, sugar” Tony replies before going to fetch the drinks. 

“You know him by name? You always come in here to cheer up sad guys on their birthdays?” he teases and you shake your head. “No” you laugh “I, um, I come in here whenever I have a fight with my boyfriend, which is pretty often. I guess I should get some better coping habits, huh?”

Boyfriend. ‘Of course you have a boyfriend’ Steve thinks to himself. Just his luck that the pretty girl he’s been admiring from afar for two months has a boyfriend. 

“What was it about? The fight, I mean” He wonders and hopes you don’t get upset with him for asking. “Oh, I’m pretty sure he’s cheating on me” you say it so casually Steve assumes this isn’t the first time you’ve had this thought. “Shit, I’m sorry. Why do you think that? If you don’t mind me asking” 

“He’s been having a lot of late nights at the ‘office’ lately and when he isn’t there, he’s always on the phone at two in the morning claiming it’s the office, but why would they need him that late? He’s shit at his job so he’s the last guy they should call. Oh, and I found an acrylic nail in his car that most definitely didn’t belong to me.” you sigh and feel a little embarrassed about the admission. You get enough judgment from yourself and you really don’t need it from the handsome man sitting next to you. 

“Shit, that sucks. I got cheated on once and, god, it was rough”

“Yeah, it is. Are you in a relationship now?” Wow, subtle you think as soon as the question leaves your mouth. “Nope. Single as a pringle over here” he cringes when he says it, but you laugh and he realizes it wasn’t that bad if you thought it was cute, even if he feels like an idiot for saying it. 

The bartender comes back to set your drinks in front of you and you thank him.

“You didn’t have to get me anything. I should be buying you drinks” he says and you shake your head at him “No way. It’s your birthday. I hope you like tequila. I didn’t even ask!” you exclaim and hand him the shot glass. “Are you kidding? I love it” he raises the shot glass to his lips but you stop him. 

“Are you a neanderthal? We gotta lick salt off of our hands first”

“Oh we do, do we?” he cocks his head and raises his eyebrows. He’s so pretty that you feel like you’re already tipsy before you’ve even had one full drink. “Yes, obviously. Salt, tequila, lime. It’s math” you state. “The only math I know is me plus tequila equals bad decisions” he responds and you lean in close to him. “I’d like to test that” you whisper and he gulps. His cheeks flush and you can’t help but smile. “o-okay, so, um, salt first?” he stammers. 

You grab a salt shaker and his hand. He feels dizzy from your touch and he can’t imagine what it’ll be like after he’s had a few drinks. “You gotta lick your hand” you move his hand near his mouth and wait for him to do so.

“You don’t wanna do that for me?” he smirks “Mm, you’d like that. Maybe the next one, though” you playfully wink. 

“I’m gonna hold you to that. Permission to take the shot?”

“Permission granted” 

You clink your glasses together and throw the tequila back. It slightly burns your throat, but oddly in a good way. You feel warmth spread throughout your body and you aren’t sure if it’s from the alcohol or from the way Steve hasn’t stopped looking at you. 

“Next rounds on me and no way we’re getting another shot of that” he grimaces. “I thought you said you loved tequila” you pout and he wants to kiss the expression right off your face. “I like when pretty girls take tequila shots with me” he corrects and you roll your eyes. “Alright, casanova. Unfortunately, this place doesn’t let you buy your own drinks on your birthday. Weird, right?” 

“So weird, considering I bought my first drink all on my own. How about I play you in a game of pool and loser buys” he suggests. “But I suck at pool” you whine and he stands up from his seat. “C’mon, I’ll go easy on you” he offers you his hand to help you down from the stool and you gladly accept the offer. 

“Do you wanna break?” he asks as he lines up the solids and stripes in formation. “No, you can. Might put you at an advantage and you’ll probably need it” you tease. “Oh really? Thought you said you suck at pool?” 

“I suck at pool, not trash talk” you clarify. “Ah, I see how it is. Watch and learn, pretty girl” 

Steve breaks and of course one of the balls goes into a pocket because he’s annoyingly good at everything from what you’ve seen so far. “Solids it is. You might wanna take a seat, I think I’m about to be on a streak” he jokingly gloats. 

Steve makes three in a row and it’s finally your turn. You assume what you thought was the correct position because it’s 8-ball and there’s really only one way you can do this. 

“That’s your form? No wonder you suck” 

“How many forms are there? This is, like, standard form” you defend and he tsks. “You gotta- hold on, I’ll show you.” Steve sets down his cue stick and walks over to you. 

“First, you’re kinda hunched over weird” Steve rests his hand on your lower back, signaling for you to arch a bit more and you comply. “y-yeah.That's good. Next, you gotta position your hips in line with the ball. It helps with aim” He doesn’t actually know if that’s true, but he still gently grabs your hips to position you. When you move, your ass brushes his crotch and he lets out a small gasp at the contact. 

“Now what?” you ask since Steve hasn’t moved or said anything in about ten seconds. “Oh, um, now the way you hold the cue stick. It’s abysmal the way you do it” 

“Show me then?” you ask, sweetly and look over your shoulder at him. “Here, like this” He moves his arms to position them with yours. “This” he starts and you can feel his breath on your neck, causing goosebumps to appear on your skin “helps you keep it steady. Look what happens when we go to shoot” 

He moves the cue stick to demonstrate and pushes himself closer to you. “You wanna keep a nice grasp on it- yeah, just like that- it can be kinda hard at first, but once you find a rhythm it’s simple. You don’t wanna be too rough or too soft with it, either. Gotta find the perfect in-between” 

“You’re still talking about pool, right?”you kid. “Do you want me to still be talking about pool?” he whispers in your ear and it’s so difficult to keep your composure. “Mhm. Still gotta kick your ass, don’t I?” 

You do, in fact, kick Steve’s ass. 

“I told you I’d win!” you exclaim, jumping with glee. “Yeah, yeah. Guess I owe you a drink now” 

Truth be told, Steve let you win. Not only did he want to buy you a drink, seeing pure joy on your face is worth the relentless teasing he's going to endure for the rest of the night. 

“Yeah, you do” you respond, stepping closer to him so there’s barely any space between your bodies. He wants to wrap his arms around your waist and pull you to him so badly, but he worries he’s crossing a line. Sure, you’ve been flirty with each other and a little touchy, but you’re still in a relationship. What if you’re just trying to have a little fun before going back to your douchebag of a boyfriend?

“What’re you thinking about?” you ask “You look all serious with a hint of confused”

“Just wondering how the hell you beat me in pool” he lies. 

You take the plunge and wrap your arms around his torso. He feels drunk on your touch. The scent of your perfume and the way you’re looking up with him with your alluring eyes is driving him crazy. 

“I’m just that good” you boast. “I think you just had a really good teacher” he moves his hands to rest on your waist, gently moving his hands up and down to rub your sides. “yeah, he is. He’s too handsome, though. Makes it hard to focus”

He puts his hand under your chin, keeping your head tilted up so he can look at you. “I think I might be able to make that up to you” 

Your eyes flutter close as Steve leans in so slowly that it’s almost painful. His lips brush ever so slightly over yours and the anticipation is killing you. “Can I kiss you?” he whispers, lips hovering over yours. “Please” 

He graciously presses his lips to yours. The kiss is soft and sweet, simple yet effective. The kiss isn’t heated or messy, but you can feel the passion. You can’t remember the last time you felt like this, like everything else around you has become insignificant except for this one moment. 

Steve’s nerves get the best of him and he pulls back sooner than you’d like him to, causing you to whine at the loss of contact. 

“Why’d you stop?” you pout. “I just can’t think of the last time a girl made me this nervous” he confesses with a nervous chuckle. “I make you nervous?” you ask, surprised. “Are you kidding? It took me two months to even work up the courage to just sit next to you.” 

“Two months? I think we have a lot of lost time to make up for”

“I’m gonna tell my friends not to bother then we can get outta here” he says, pulling his phone out. “You don’t have to do that. I’m not going anywhere, so we can stay”

“Good, because they’re already on their way” he tells you once he reads a text from Robin that says:

on our way, dingus. prepare to throw up tonight

“Dingus, huh? Suits you” you giggle and he presses a chaste peck to your lips to avoid more teasing, and also just because you look so pretty right now that he couldn’t resist. 

“Oh, you’re gonna fit in with them perfectly”

_

Steve was right, you fit in with his friends like you’ve known them for years.The introduction felt a bit awkward at first, but after that it was smooth sailing. 

You seemed like a completely different person tonight, compared to the melancholy girl he’s so used to seeing drink alone at the bar. You’re fun, witty, and you have a smile that lights up a room. It unfathomable to him that someone who’s lucky enough to call you theirs would fuck it up so badly. He admits he’s crossing his fingers that you’ll give him a chance to show you how you actually deserve to be treated. 

You and Steve are currently watching Robin beat Eddie in their fifth game of 8-ball. Steve hugs you from behind and you both sway to the rhythm of the music. He occasionally presses a delicate kiss to your neck, or shoulder, or cheek, basically anywhere he can kiss. It makes you shiver every time. 

“Can we go sit on that stool over there?” you ask, pointing to a stool not too far from the pool table. “yeah, let me go grab another chair”

“I don’t know. Looks big enough for the two of us, don’t ya think?”

And that’s how you end up sitting on Steve’s lap. Your ass is pressed against his crotch and he swears that if you keep moving, he’ll finish before anything has even started. 

“Baby” he whines, hands gripping your hips to keep you in place “you gotta stop moving” 

“Sorry, handsome. Am I hurting you?” you ask, voice filled with concern. “No, no. It’s just your keep grinding-”

“Oh! well, I’m not sorry then” you smirk and he can’t wait to get you back for that. 

His hand trails up your leg and stops once he reaches your inner thigh, leaving his hand to rest there after giving it a rough squeeze. His thumb occasionally rubs your skin and if he was just a few inches higher, his thumb could brush your clothed core. He wants to so badly. He wants to tease you until you can’t take it, but he knows you’re waiting for him to do so and he decides he’ll let you wait in anticipation instead. 

The corner you’re in is barely lit and the bar itself is already dark, it’s practically begging Steve to make you whimper while he has his hand in your panties. 

Steve buries his face in your neck, pressing sloppy kisses to the column of your throat. His index finger plays with the hem of your panties and you let out a small gasp. 

“You want me to touch you?” he mutters through kisses. “Yes” you breathe out. “Ask nicely” 

“Please touch me, Steve” 

He pushes your panties to the side and his finger glides through your slit and grazes over your clit causing you to let out a moan that’s a little too loud. “Quiet, baby. You don’t wanna get caught do you?” 

“n-no. I’ll be quiet” you answer without trying to moan again. “Good girl” 

He rubs slow, tight circles on your clit and you grasp onto him tightly to avoid falling off the stool. “already so wet. what’s got you so worked up?” 

“you, steve. Just you” 

You can’t recall the last time you had been touched like this, in a public place nonetheless. It’s exhilarating. His touch feels like it’s brought you back to life. You’ve been spending the last three years of your life in a dark night, waiting and hoping for someone to bring you daylight. 

You aren’t the sad girl who stays at home while her boyfriend is out doing god knows what. Right now you’re Steve’s girl and it’s the best thing you’ve felt in a long time. 

Steve’s pace grows faster, causing you to let out a whimper. His other hand comes up to your mouth to try and muffle your noises, but he’s so desperate to hear them. 

“I’m gonna make a deal with you, okay?” he begins “if you can be quiet when you cum, I’ll take you back to my place and make cum over and over again until you’re screaming. that sound good?” you nod rapidly at his words and he goes back to kissing your neck. 

He presses another finger to your clit, giving it a few more quick rubs before moving his fingers down to your entrance. He slowly inserts his fingers, curling them to hit the right spot. “Fuck, you’re so fucking wet. Can’t wait to see what you feel like around my cock” you clench at his words and he lets out a low chuckle.

 “You like that baby? Thinking about my cock?” you nod again, scared if you try to speak you’ll let out an emphatic moan. His fingers pump in and out of you, his pace almost relentless “What are you thinking about? How deep inside you I’ll be? How hard I’m gonna pound you?” 

The thought of his cock is enough for the feeling in your abdomen builds and builds. “Can feel you squeezing my fingers. Gonna be a good girl and cum for me?” 

As if on command, your sweet release hits you and you cum around his fingers. He peppers kisses along your jaw to soothe you through your orgasm, which is the first one you’ve had in a long time that you didn’t have to do yourself. 

Steve removes his hand from your mouth and withdraws his fingers from your soaking core. You grab his hand and suck off your juices from his fingers. He doesn’t think he’s ever been so hard in his life. 

“Holy shit. I need to fuck you now” he groans and you let out a laugh while trying to catch your breath. 

Once Steve requests an uber and you say you’re goodbyes, you both stand outside, kissing each other like your life depends on it. You fist his shirt to pull him as close as possible. His hands rest on your ass, occasionally giving you a rough squeeze. Your legs are still a bit wobbly, so he has his thigh between your legs to support you. You can’t help but grind against his thigh and moan into his mouth at the sensitivity. 

Your uber pulls up and Steve is definitely going to have to give the driver five stars for what he just witnessed. 

It’s hard to keep your hands off each other in the backseat, but you keep it to a minimum due to the poor stranger who was unlucky enough to be the driver for two very horny individuals. 

“We’re about three minutes from my place. Think you can handle another one?” he mutters in your ear before gently nibbling your earlobe then kissing down until he reaches your collarbone. “I think the real question is if you can handle me, Stevie” 

You and Steve hurriedly get out of the uber before it even comes to a complete stop. He kisses you all the way up to his door and struggles with the keys, making you giggle into the kiss. 

“Shit, sorry. Hold on” His hands are shaky as he tries to open the door. “Steve, relax. I’m not going anywhere” 

The door finally unlocks and you’re back on each other as soon as you’re inside. His hands travel down to the back of your thighs and you jump to wrap your legs around his waist. 

He carries you all the way to his bedroom and you both flop down on his bed. Steve’s weight on top of you feels so familiar, despite this being the first time you’re sleeping together. In this moment, it feels like nothing bad could happen to you. You’ve never felt more secure with someone. 

Your hands fly to the hem of his shirt and once it’s removed he wastes no time kissing you again. 

“Take your clothes off for me, gorgeous” he demands. As you take your top off, Steve slowly drags your skirt down your legs before tossing it on the floor. “Can we take this off too?” he slides down the strap of your bra and you reach behind your back to undo the clasp. 

“Oh my god” he groans once your tits are free. It’s almost like an automatic response when his hand massages your tit, thumb brushing over your nipple, causing you to whimper. “Lay back. Gonna make you feel so fucking good’’ he practically growls. 

Steve wants to tease you a little, but he can’t resist the urge to wrap his lips around your breast while his hand massages the other one. You feel wetness pooling in your center and you need him to touch your pussy, but he looks so fucking enthralled with your tits that you can’t even complain. 

He eventually trails kisses down your stomach, pulling your panties down while doing it. “Bet you taste so fucking sweet. Can I find out?”

“yes, steve, please!” you cry out. He licks a stripe through your slit and you shiver when his tongue catches your clit. 

He presses a kiss to your bud before devouring you. No teasing, no anticipation, just him licking and sucking your clit like a man starved. Two of his fingers slowly enter you and his eyes roll in the back of his head when you let out a guttural moan. 

It doesn’t take long for you to cum and even when you do, he doesn’t stop. 

“Steve!” you yelp at the overstimulation. You’ve never felt anything like this before. Your boyfriend rarely goes down on you and you also rarely even cum from sex. Even times when you do, it’s a one and done situation. 

“Fuck yes” you cry. Tears begin to fill your eyes and he hasn’t even been inside you yet. You can’t imagine how good it’s going to be to have his cock fill you up. 

Your third orgasm of the night approaches even quicker. You have to practically pry Steve off your pussy so you can recover. 

“Holy shit” you say, breathless. “So that was good?”

“Oh, don’t even try to be modest. I think my soul ascended for a second. I’m gonna need a minute to recover though” you laugh and he has a smug look on his face that makes him look devilishly handsome. “We don’t have to go any further if you don’t want to”

“Shut up and take your pants off, big boy” you respond and he wastes no time fumbling with his jeans to get them off as quickly as possible. “Boxers too, please” you add. 

Your mouth drops once his cock springs free. You honestly just thought he just had something in his pocket when you were sitting on his lap, but that clearly wasn’t the case. 

“Is that reaction good or bad?”

“It’s good and you know it. Do you have a condom?” you ask and he nods, opening up his nightstand drawer to retrieve it. 

He positions himself between your legs and sits on his knees. “Can I put it on you?” you ask, shyly. “Go for it”

You wrap your hand around his cock, giving him a few pumps. He throws his head back and moans “That feels so good, but I wanna cum in your pussy, not your hand, baby” 

Your core throbs at his words and the excitement of having him inside you builds and builds. You slide the condom on his length before laying back and spreading your legs for him. 

He swears he could cum right now just looking at you. Your dripping pussy on display for him and only him. Your sweet tits just begging to be in his hands and the look of pure lust on your face is enough for him to lose his mind. 

“Ready?” he lines his cock up with your entrance and you moan out a ‘yes’ 

You both moan in unison when he puts the tip in. Slowly and inch by inch, his cock fills you up so perfectly. Like you were made for each other. 

You gasp when he begins to thrust. He’s slow at first and you need him to go faster. 

“Faster, please” 

“Wanna hear you beg for it. How badly do you need it?”

“So fucking bad. Please go faster, I’ll be so good. I promise” you beg. “How hard do you want it?”

“I want it hard, Stevie. Don’t wanna be able to walk after”

That was all he needed to hear before he starts pounding into you at a ruthless pace. His eyes focus on the way your tits jiggle and his hand that isn’t on his headboard grabs your breast, squeezing and massaging at just the right amount of roughness. 

“You feel so good, y/n. Could live in this fucking pussy, shit” he says through gritted teeth when he feels the way you squeeze his cock. 

“Fuck, right there!” you exclaim as he hits your spot over and over again. You feel like you’re seeing stars. It’s hard to wrap your head around the fact that it feels this good. 

“I’m so close” he moans “you gonna cum with me, sweetheart?’’

“Uh-huh” you barely get out. “What do you need? Want you to cum with me”

“Choke me, Steve. Please” It’s nearly impossible for him not to cum when you ask him to choke you. He wraps his hand around your throat, not squeezing, but keeping it there to remind you that you belong to him now. 

“I-I I’m gonna cum” you stammer. “Me too, fuck. Let go, baby”

Steve collapses on top of you as he cums and you gush around him, your hips thrust so you can work through your orgasm on his cock. He moans in your ear over and over at the sensitivity and you come to the realization this is the best orgasm you’ve ever had. Shit, it’s the best sex you’ve ever had. 

As you both come down from your highs, you play with his hair and he presses kisses along your collarbone. You lay in a serene silence and you both have loopy smiles on your face. His room smells of sex, sweat, and his cologne. You’re both severely dehydrated and exhausted, but there’s nowhere else you’d rather be. 

“Leave him” Steve says, his words muffled by his face being buried in your neck. “I can’t understand you, Steve” you giggle. He moves his head to look up at you. You get lost in his eyes. They’re beautifully golden and you truly believe you could stare into them forever. You could connect the freckles on his face like a constellation and he’s truly the most mesmeric person you’ve ever seen. 

“Leave him” he repeats. “For you?” you ask, hopeful he says yes. “Not just for me, but for you too. You deserve the world, y/n, and I’m not saying I could give it to you, but I’d try a hell of a lot harder than he would” he promises. 

You feel like you could burst into tears. You’ve known Steve for less than twelve hours and he’s made you feel more than your boyfriend ever did throughout three years.

“Okay” you whisper “I’ll do it for me and for you”

“yeah? you wanna be my girl?” he beams. “More than anything. Can we take things slow? well, starting now”  you chuckle. “I’ll do whatever you want me to” he kisses the tip of your nose before laying his head on your chest. 

You fall asleep in each other's arms that night and you break up with your now ex-boyfriend the next day, like you should’ve done a long time ago. 

Who would’ve thought April 29th would change your life forever?

[bumblesimagines]

Olivia Baker 

a lot of things have happened since we broke up.

you look really good. i'm happy for you.

i'll regret saying this, but i still have love for you.

a lot of things have happened since we broke up.

you look really good. i'm happy for you.

i'll regret saying this, but i still have love for you.

Pronouns: They/Them/Their, Gender Neutral!Reader

"Let me guess," Spencer spoke up suddenly, fingers unscrewing the cap of a cool water bottle. You lifted your head, dragging your eyes away from your laptop and onto the boy in question. You'd hardly had any time to get to know the newest football team member despite having a brother and a best friend on the team, and now that'd you gotten assigned to him for a project, you wished you'd introduced yourself sooner. 

"Are you going to psychoanalyze me again, Spencer?" You asked with a small grin. "Maybe you should become a therapist."

"Uh-huh." He chuckled and shook his head, taking a few gulps of his water before setting it aside and bracing his arms on the island counter. Spencer squinted at you playfully and rubbed his fingers over his chin. "Coach and Mrs. Baker looked surprised when you showed up, which makes me think you know their family more than you let on." 

A quiet chuckle escaped you and you nodded, gazing back at your laptop. Your eyes skimmed the words but your mind drifted elsewhere, somewhere back in the past that part of you wanted to let go of. "Yeah, you... you could say I know them pretty well. I, uhm... I used to-" 

"Hey, Spencer, Mom wanted to know if you-" Olivia's voice rang through the kitchen, her eyes locked on her phone until she lifted her head and cut herself off mid-sentence. Her mouth remained partly open and her attention locked firmly onto you, a million different expressions shifting through her face until it settled on a somber, longing look. You forced yourself to look back at the laptop, briefly glancing up at Spencer.

"Oh, I get it now. I'll, uh... I'm going to use the bathroom real quick. You two should... chat." Spencer said, closing the textbook beside him and slipping out of the kitchen before you could say anything to him. You clamped your lips together and took a deep breath, rubbing the side of your neck and accepting the situation. 

"I... I didn't know you were friends with Spencer." Olivia spoke first, voice soft and unsure, and she walked closer to the island, keeping some space between you and her as she sat down on one of the stools. "He's pretty cool, right? Really sweet, too. You guys would get along great."

"Yeah, yeah, he is. We're just working on a project together, that's all." You'd like to say you hardly remembered the last time you spoke to Olivia but the memory of the screaming match that'd led to the breakup had been engrained in your head for ages. You pursed your lips, tilting your head toward her to take her in. She looked healthier, happier, and much better than the girl who'd been hauled off to rehab after spiraling. "You look really good, Liv. I'm happy for you."

"Thank you, (Y/N). I- A lot of things have happened since we broke up, as you can tell." Olivia chuckled, gesturing in the direction Spencer had slinked off in. Her gaze dropped onto the island counter, the sad smile on her face lightly tugging at your heartstrings. "But, I'm... I'm better now. Better enough to realize that I hurt you, and I'm really sorry for how things ended between us. And maybe I'll regret saying this, but I still have love for you. I miss you, (Y/N). I miss us."

[onomatopagu-et-cie]

Some other theories and observations, part 3

First impressions after re-reading DGM Some theories and observations, part 2 Notes on Link, part 1 & part 2

Again have a nice week!!

(SPOILERS UP TO CH248!!!!)

▶ Allen's curse

Will the manga elaborate more on Allen’s curse? The pentacle reappeared on volume 28’s cover again and D is an integral part of the title. (Btw, I can’t wait to read the copy I got of volume 28 as it’s now out in France! The cover is so beautiful, Hoshino outdoes herself every time with the new format, the back cover is pretty!!!)

This is the only piece of information we’ve got on it, apart from its evolving abilities. How can Komui be 100% sure a curse can only be inflicted on humans? Given how the majority of the Order didn’t know about the Noah and Apocryphos, I wouldn’t be surprised this could be false too.

▶ Allen/Neah’s (?) hidden ability

(thisoneislongsorryyyy)

Note: I wrote this BEFORE ch248 came out in July: it revealed the Allen we know was entirely remade by Apocryphos, and this could finally explain Neah, Road and Wisely’s confusion over Allen’s strange powers ; however, this doesn’t explain Apocryphos’s own confusion over Allen when he first encountered him nor exactly to what extent Allen was 'remade', so I kept these notes as is since we still don’t know more!

At the beginning of the volume 25, Wisely addresses Road as his brethren, probably because of the similarities of their powers. Wisely worries over Neah’s powers because he can’t read his mind somehow. At the end of the volume, after saying « Allen » is dangerous to Neah and them, Road states that she can’t connect her dream realm to his at will for some reason.

The two scenes mentioned sort of answer each other: both take place in Wisely/Road’s realm, one is at the beginning and the other at the end of the volume. And while Wisely thinks it’s Neah that outweighs his power, Road believes « Allen » (edit after reading ch248: Allen as he's remade by Apocryphos) the true danger instead.

Road’s inability to do as she wants might then involve a power we have not been officially introduced to when it comes to (past?)Allen besides his Innocence. And I don’t believe it’s about Neah at all, since she deems Allen dangerous (and also other people/things she refers to as ‘they’), and wants to warn Neah. If it was about Neah’s ability, this scene wouldn’t even happen and Road wouldn’t have questioned it since she knows him fairly well (while the other Noahs don’t because of the memory gap Neah caused).

In this chapter, Road also says « they’re using us », suggesting they could be the reason Allen is that threatening. She uses 奴ら (yatsura, plural) to refer to ‘them’: 奴 (yatsu, singular) is a derogatory/familiar pronoun.

EDIT: It's actually Cross, not Road, who says this specific part ('Allen is dangerous', 'They're using us.')!!!! She only speaks in the next page in her mini form, about her dream realm! This also means Cross and Road might've been communicating (and it's not only Road one-sidedly using him like I thought initially eg. manipulating him to lead Allen to the mansion), working together because they share some common goal (eg. protecting Mana and Neah)!

The only subjects triggering that pronoun and hatred from the Noahs (essentially, their memory crying out ‘I won’t forgive/I hate’) so far were:

→ Innocence (eg. Skinn Boric’s awakening as a Noah) → the exorcists (eg. the Earl when the Ark was saved by Allen) → Neah (eg. Wisely as he talks to Road) → the Pillar (eg. as Cross mentions it to Road)

Maybe Allen’s power is something close to what both Wisely and Road have since that sort of power can equal theirs to the point that both can’t stay omnipotent against that, just as they usually are eg. Wisely with supposedly all the Noahs (and also when he forced Alma’s memories with Allen and Kanda) or Road with Lavi.

And we have already seen (but without any real explanation yet) that Allen experiences « visions » (夢, yume, which we usually associate with Road, the Noah of dreams, can also mean vision):

→ Lenalee and Allen's respective apocalyptic dreams

→ Allen sensing Lenalee is drowning while facing the akuma Eshi

→ having a kind of out of body experience and seeing Krory and the ghost after being KO’ed in the Destruction of the Black Order Arc

→ his second dream in which what we now know as the Pillar talks to him ; Mana calls out to him in the original version by « ••• » (which is weird in itself since Neah is supposed to have no Noah memory??? Since Mana and Neah were two « halves » of the Earl, and we don’t know exactly what each half covers, could there have been some sort of mix-up between the two along the way?)

→ a glimpse of Kanda’s past when Marie talked about it

→ witnessing Cross’s ‘death’ through Apocryphos

→ whatever was happening when Allen and the Earl shared the same vision of Road protecting Mana in volume 24 was never explained (I put it here but it simply could be because Mana and Neah were revealed as the two halves of the Earl in the next volume)

→ seeing Johnny reaching out to him in the inn when we know it was Neah who sleep-talked after having a dream about the Campbells and woke up (idk if I should count this in bc it could just be Allen’s semi-consciousness fighting Neah)

But when Allen saw Cross’s ‘death’ through Apocryphos, he called that a consequence of the « parasitic » influence over « Allen ». According to him, it went on for many years. He then proceeded to merge with Allen in order to « erase that influence and suppress the 14th’s memory »: this might suggest that Apocryphos deemed Neah as the parasite of the exorcist Allen.

If he’s really talking about Neah, what Apocryphos says could contradict Road’s assumption that this power comes from Allen, not Neah. So, between Apocryphos and Road, who is right? ????????

Let’s consider for a moment that whatever is going on is due to Allen’s ‘long’ experience with a ‘parasitic’ Innocence and that Apocryphos never meant Neah when he talked about a parasite. But we know from Cross that Red’s arm didn’t show any sign of activating at all. Moreover, Neah wouldn’t have been shocked by the Innocence’s influence over past!Allen’s arm after awakening 35 years later if the latter synchronized with it when they knew each other, it wouldn’t make sense. So where does this long influence fit in? Are we talking about the parasitic-type Innocence or is Apocryphos referring to something entirely different?

It doesn’t help that the type of Innocence Allen has is called a ‘parasite-type’ in the original version and the English localization.

It helps even less that Apocryphos uses the same terminology as Komui when he first introduced the parasite-type: 寄生型. Except for Komui the furigana reads 型 as the loanword ‘type’ (kisei-taipu) and for Apocryphos it reads ‘kata’ (kiseigata) as the kanji should be pronounced.

Note: in French they chose to call this type of Innocence a ‘symbiotic-type’: it emphasizes the close association between the accommodator and the Innocence more and suggests the bond is mutually beneficial, but we know after all these chapters that it’s a totally one-sided control led by the Innocence over the accommodator’s body. It’s anything but mutual in retrospect. Parasite suits the Innocence more!

Interestingly, the word used for Allen’s role as a host is 宿主 (shukushu). I didn’t know the word ‘host’ could refer to the organism affected by a parasite!

Both Neah and the Innocence are parasites hosted by Allen. The imagery is also carried by the Fallen Ones’s design. When Allen witnesses Suman’s suffering, he uses the verb 蝕む, ‘mushibamu’:

What looks like giant worms pierce his body and tinier worms gnaw at his heart:

And also, I never considered it but 寄生, kisei, ‘parasite’ almost sounds like 犠牲, gisei, ‘sacrifice’ with just one letter difference: if intentional, these paronyms ironically bring out Allen’s sacrificial role even more. Ch240’s cover illustrates this dimension even more:

I might be missing something or this doesn’t really add up.

It’s also interesting to note that ch222 is titled « Hypokrisis ». Cross calls out Allen’s selflessness once again:

The noun ὑπόκρισις (hypokrisis) meant 1) answer & 2) role (on the theater scene, the masked actor was called an ὑποκριτής, hypokritès, separate from the chorus) in ancient greek. But its meaning became morally (and religiously) loaded, now suggesting a duplicity in someone’s behavior (their personality, qualities, principles, opinions, …).

This chapter shows Allen in a dream staged by Road that leads him to the Campbell mansion. Facing Cross offering him to stop his search for the truth, he gives his definite answer to once again fulfill his vow to Mana and « keep walking » even at the cost of his own existence and the bond to his home. It’s also a call back to « Mana’s mask » during the Phantom Thief G arc.

Behind the scene, Road now understands she made a mistake she should have realized sooner: she’s being manipulated herself (along with Neah and perhaps the other Noahs) by someone else and Allen is dangerous, a reality that was concealed to her eyes until now.

The phrasing also parallels Cross’s late realization:

Were they making the same mistake on Allen’s true nature? After Red’s flashback, at least we know one mistake Cross made: Red didn’t say he was « Allen » (thinking Cross asked about the dog) ➾ even though he didn’t want the Innocence close to Mana (as it could 1) destroy him, being a Noah and 2) call forth the Earl, I guess), Cross didn’t monitor Red enough to see the influence of Apocryphos ➾ Red synchronized with an Innocence and the Earl was called back.

So far, Road (and the other Noah) benefits from these consequences: she wanted the Earl’s awakening to destroy the present world in order to take revenge of the Pillar. So either Cross and Road talk about two different things or there’s more to it than that to the point that even Road considers this a mistake despite the advantages at first glance.

At least, I guess it’s (kinda?) safe to assume Allen’s body = past!Allen as Neah knew him. Allen wouldn’t have been able to move the Ark otherwise:

Another lead to whoever past!Allen was might be linked to THIS in volume 27:

????? Who was this? And also what kind of situation were they in? It looks like the mystery person held past!Allen right before parting (before he lost his memory maybe?)/dying. They look as though they’re stuck in a tricky situation: their clothes look torn to shreds, and particles in the air look the same whenever there’s action in the manga? OH. Perhaps the transfer of Neah’s memory into past!Allen would be successful if and only if the memory of his past self was erased? Because two memories maybe can’t safely coexist in one body: we know even the Noahs, described as « superhumans », struggle with their memory and it threatens their sanity if they don’t suppress it. So this could be worse should a human unrelated to the Noah experiment the same thing.

But could one erase their memory in the universe of DGM? It doesn’t seem that far-fetched since:

Neah’s memory was successfully transferred in Allen,

magic is a thing in this universe,

Skulls can ‘reprogram’ a human’s brain to transform them and Apocryphos can easily rewrite memories,

in ch209, when Johnny was searching for Allen, Crows (who use sorcery) coerced him into drinking a drug that would supposedly erase his memories of the Order??? (now I know it could be a lie and it was poison instead since the Central and the Crows’ methods are rather radical):

Heck, past!Allen could even be from another timeline/from the previous/future world destroyed by the Pillar! Which could explain Allen’s recent dream of the Pillar? It could even be linked to « ••• » in this dream eg. his ‘real’ name or role (since the syllables don’t even match Neah’s even though it triggered Neah’s awakening once he woke up)??

▶ Road and Apocryphos

It’s more apparent in the original version but Apocryphos wavered, looking almost surprised/bothered to face Road as it’s accentuated with the ツ. Compared to his confidence in taking down Tyki, calling himself their Reaper and so on, this looks like Road could be a bigger threat than the other Noahs. (Perhaps it’s only random but Road stabbed Apocryphos in the left eye, just as she did to Allen in the rewinding city!)

It’s also interesting to note he recognized Road as the 9th Noah only once Tyki shouted her name. It could mean:

Road took another appearance we don’t know of 7000 years ago, and it’s confirmed in the manga: she’s stayed like this for 35+ years. We know that since Wisely awakened as a Noah and met them.

Either Apocryphos didn’t meet her since she took on this appearance (so in this 35+ year span)

Or he did meet her but didn’t recognize her as the 9th Noah

If he only recognized her after his punch, how could it have badly hurt Road? I thought you had to know her true ‘identity’ to harm her, which was why Allen couldn’t hit her with his sword.

Allen could harm Tyki but not Road, and only Apocryphos could???? Since he was present 7000 years ago and most likely was responsible in whatever happened then, it’s safe to say he should know about the Noah and the world they lived in enough to be able to harm Road.

▶ Chapter 219: Butterflies, the souls and the Earl

(thisoneisevenlongersorryyyyy)

When the Earl vanished before Katerina and split into Mana and Neah in ch219, two butterflies are seen flying above them.

My best guess would be they’re respectively male and female white cabbage butterflies (pieris rapae, or the great white butterfly, pieris brassicae, a close relative to this species), pretty common butterflies:

I also found that pieridae caterpillars often PARASITE cruciferous plants (they often eat cabbages, broccoli, kale, mustard) ie. plants with flowers that have CROSS-arranged petals (yes, it’s a detail that’s probably irrelevant but it was fun to find that randomly, I live in overthinking and reach-land haha).

In Japan, butterflies often symbolize the souls of the living and the dead. It’s also a symbol of spirituality (the cycle of life, birth, death, metamorphosis, reincarnation, immortality), as the cycle of a butterfly embodies it in its four stages (egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly).

As the later part of the manga focuses on helix magic and its principles (the body, the soul and the spiral of life), the ‘death’ of the Earl makes way for Neah and Mana, a ‘rebirth’ of some sort. Which makes me believe that what we saw as the Earl against Allen in volumes 24-25 (and perhaps even the rest of his appearances in the manga with the suit) was actually his ‘body’, which takes the shape of his suit (we even see the costume ripping in half with what looks like a zipper). According to past!Allen, a body is merely a vessel that needs a soul for life to exist. The costume of the Earl might be in desperate search of its lost soul (Mana + Neah), which is why it endlessly devours human souls (through perhaps the making of akuma?): Hoshino said there’s a reason why she draws the Earl plump, it’s just a theory for posterity haha! Is this the same mechanism that turns Timcampy this big?

Note (see the end of this point for more on golems and DGM!): I read on Twitter that at the exhibition held in honor of DGM, it was explained that Adam was the name of the ’skin of the Millenium Earl’ and Adam was the first golem (just like in the Bible, Adam was made of the dust of the earth and was animated by God’s breath)! (With their poison, Akuma turn humans to dust………… Timcampy also turned to dust once touched by Cornelia’s bark…………. Innocence also turns to dust, just like Mugen when Kanda left with Alma or just like Allen’s did at the Asian branch…………)

This is pure speculation, but perhaps the Earl decided to forsake his tragic millenium role once he finally witnessed the beauty of this world (be it his meeting with Katerina and/or something else). After all, according to Neah’s words: « Seven thousand years of life… yet the Earl’s heart is stuck in that scenery. » Maybe he realized the Three days of Darkness were meaningless, that they would feed an endless cycle of atonement, hatred and vengeance? It could also be why he gave life to Neah and Mana. Neah holds the power to destroy the Noah while Mana seems to be able to devour the Noah: perhaps the Earl intended Mana to first devour all the Noah in order for Neah to finally destroy them all and put an end to this all?

However, something ruined this project: the Noahs probably disagreed, determined to see their vengeance through (by sacrificing the Earl, summoning the Earl and destroying ‘this world’ they created). It could also be the Heart, or both the Noahs and the Heart working with each other. In one way or another, they managed to persuade/compel Mana to devour Neah (perhaps that’s where Joyd played a significant role in all this?).

On the subject of the souls, since Neah describes Atuuda’s power as the opposite of Mana devouring him (and we now know the Earl feeds on human souls), it certainly works as the partial transfer of the owner’s soul to another to ‘heal’ them (or is it something like ‘rewinding’ their state to before they got injured? Does this have something to do with whatever rejuvenated past!Allen and aged up Mana’s appearance??). Before Link healed Neah in ch221, Allen’s jacket was pierced ; Atuuda mended his injury and the hole in the jacket was also gone.

Zuu only described it as Atuuda exhausting his own ‘life-force’ to transfer it to someone else, he was not specific in his explanation so it’s only guesses here.

Design-wise (and reachland-wise haha), the six spots on the female white butterfly could be a recurring motif related to the soul, like the six dots on Link’s tattoo 8D

(Also noticing just now but dude Link must have a lot of gloves in stock, he came back with a glove when he saved Neah haha)

I can’t decipher what Zuu wrote to summon Atuuda but they’re replacing the dots here. Atuuda also has three spheres on each mustache-thingy!

I found a retelling of a Japanese legend of a white butterfly (in Myths & Legends of Japan, by Frederick Hadland Davis). I found it narrated on Japanese Folktales: The Butterfly Soul – Under the influence! if you want to check it out! A white butterfly visits an old man at his deathbed. It was the soul of his beloved that died when they were young, the old man never left her alone and would keep tending to her grave. The butterfly didn't leave until his soul left with her.

The butterfly in ancient greek was ψυχή (psyche), which holds several meanings: the wind blow or breath and by extension life force or breath, life, soul, butterfly and Psyche (essentially known from the myth of her love with Eros/Cupid and its trials). Interestingly, « psyché » in French also refers to a piece of furniture with a window-frame in which a great mirror was mounted. It was a great Art Deco symbol and was a motif depicted in paintings. It reflected its owner from head to foot, just as the mirror reflected Mana, Neah and the Earl’s souls in volume 25.

It’s also a symbol of (tragic) love sometimes eg. the chinese legend of the butterfly lovers.

Final note on golems: the word ‘golem’ was used once in the Book of Psalms to refer to Adam when he was what was translated as a shapeless mass, an embryo out of clay lacking a soul. The Talmud sometimes calls Adam a ‘golem’ when referring to the first twelve hours of his life: it was still only an inanimate body without God’s breath of life.

Golems also have a mystical origin, created by magic spells. The methods of creation and destruction vary from a tale to another eg. dancing and chanting the hebrew alphabet in different combinations ; using a pure mass of dust, water, sand, earth or flour ; prayers, fasts, purifications ; engraving ‘emet’ (truth, God’s seal) on its forehead and erasing the first letter alef to call its death (met means death).

In ashkenazi hassidic traditions in the 15th century, the golem became a real creature, serving its masters and fulfilling the tasks it was given. This tradition became really popular in the 17th century, and was linked to the ancient belief in the possibility to resurrect the dead by putting in their mouth (or on their arm) a piece of parchment marked with the tetragram. Following this belief, it could turn into an evil being that had to be destroyed to prevent terror and death from spreading.

The golems embody both the figure of a protector/servant but also of a creature of destruction:

→ Golem | Jewish Museum Berlin « A golem is a creature formed out of a lifeless substance such as dust or earth that is brought to life by ritual incantations and sequences of Hebrew letters. The golem, brought into being by a human creator, becomes a helper, a companion, or a rescuer of an imperiled Jewish community. In many golem stories, the creature runs amok and the golem itself becomes a threat to its creator. (…) Originally, creating a golem was a way for medieval Jewish mystics to come closer to God. »

I don’t know why, but these two pages of ch231 comes to my mind when I read the last sentence:

I wanted to know more about golems in general, and I came across this conference of Ada Ackerman, an art history specialist that dedicated a great part of her works on the golem and its representations through time (religion, myths, books, cinema): YouTube

She quoted a yiddish play excerpt and it was really reminiscent of the creation of Akuma. The golem in the play pleads with a voice (which is unusual, since it is mainly represented without a voice and genderless) its creator to not create them. It is already conscious of its potential for destruction, and asks to remain into nothingness:

I tried to translate it very roughly: « I have a voice that is not yet a voice. I have a heart that is not yet a heart. (…) I will say it again and I warn you, please do not create me! See those stars dying! And so will the light of every eye laying on me. My footprint will only leave desolation, and from what my hand touches only ashes and dust will be left. »

Interestingly, גּוֹלֶם in modern hebrew designates both the pupa and the golem, as well as a dummy, a mould or a fool.

▶ Chapter 219: Poppies, puppets and myths

Flowers also grow at the foot of the tree Cornelia. When the Earl disappeared, Katerina was plucking those flowers. It could be poppies, that often bloom in wheat fields. These flowers are also on the chapter’s cover.

In hanakotoba, poppies can symbolize peace of mind, sympathy, presentiment of love, sorrow of parting, comfort or consolation, rest or relief. This is pure speculation, but like I said above, this could fit with Katerina and the Earl meeting and whatever he found in the mansion, making the latter realize his war against the world is meaningless.

Poppies in Japanese are 芥子, keshi. I remember seeing on her ig account that Hoshino wanted to emphasize the meaning of flowers in her story. For example, the lotus held a heartbreaking significance to Kanda and Alma’s arc. She also focuses a LOT on the puppet/staging/dramatic imagery in DGM (Lala, the exorcists controlled by the Innocence and Apocryphos and the Noahs by their memories, Crown Clown, the circus, …)

And funnily enough, poppies can be phonetically associated to a kind of japanese traditional wooden dolls, こけし, kokeshi. Kokeshi doesn’t have a kanji writing people generally agreed on: I read that before an exhibition in the 20th century, dolls were referred to by many names. Artisans and collectors agreed on ‘kokeshi’ in hiragana only.

Therefore, you could have various combinations to write kokeshi:

→ the ‘ko’ in kokeshi could refer to ‘child’, ‘small’ or ‘wood’ (then deriving from 'ki') → the ‘keshi’ in kokeshi could refer to the verb ‘chisel’ (削る, kezuru: kokeshi are wooden pieces chiseled on a lathe). It could also correspond to ‘poppy’. But most interestingly in DGM’s story, it could be linked to another verb, ‘erase’ (消す, kesu eg. an eraser is a 消しゴム, keshigomu): Neah said the Earl disappeared only once off the face of this earth, Mana ‘devoured’ Neah, and Allen is now facing the risk of disappearing himself.

Kokeshi can be made with cherry wood, japanese maple, but also dogwood. Dogwood’s variety is also known as cornus in latin, that Cornelia’s name could also originate from aside from cornix (raven).

One of the kokeshi features is sometimes the lack of limbs, just like the Innocence and the Fallen Ones.

Note: Poppies and crops (just like the Campbell mansion landscape) are also symbols of Demeter, the greek goddess of the harvest, the fertility of the earth. These flowers are also associated to Nyx, the goddess of the Night, Hypnos, the god of dreams and sleep, and Thanatos, a minor god of death, who are her sons. The abduction of Demeter’s daughter, Persephone, by Hades also involves poppies. In some tales, as the poppy was cultivated for the sleep-inducing and anesthetic properties from its sap, it is said that Hypnos gifted Demeter the flower to find sleep as she grew desperate at her daughter’s disappearance and left the earth barren. Other tales explain that poppies would grow to announce Persephone’s return to Earth, symbolizing the nature and Demeter’s rejoice.

▶ Mana or the Earl’s destruction?

I’ve been wondering about this since Allen’s escape from Apocryphos & Cross’s involvement with the plot: what real difference does it make whether Mana/the Earl is destroyed by Neah or the Heart?

Ch237 introduces these two paths clearly as opposites in Cross’s pov: « Right now, Mana has forgotten that he is the Millenium Earl. For the Innocence… The Heart, this is an opportunity like no other to destroy the Millenium Earl. Neah must be the one to destroy Mana. I have wandered this world for decades for that very reason. Searching for Neah’s host. Anything else that draws near Mana, I eliminate. And by that, I mean anything. Anything at all. »

Dude was hellbent on this mission to the point of 1) killing a kid should he come too close to Mana & 2) making a deal with Luberrier to ‘protect’ Neah (and eventually use him as a weapon)??? And THIS makes me wonder (when I read the trivia on his wikia character page):

What was his relationship with Neah? He was dragged in this mission by him. Which is interesting since Cross was introduced in the story as Neah’s supporter by outsiders ; we now get to see a more nuanced relationship. I wonder what differs from his relationship with Mana.

So, in addition to what it carries emotionally (to have Neah destroy Mana to save him from his misery), the consequences must be different depending on who (Neah or the Heart) kills who (Mana or the Earl) somehow. It must be the same consequences for Allen as overcoming Neah’s memories by himself and letting Apocryphos fuse with Allen to get rid of Neah. In ch236, Apocryphos witnesses Mana and Red embracing each other, saying Red will destroy the Earl so that the Heart will be reborn????? (First of all, it is a loophole in the Heart’s description by the Order: it is an Innocence that presumably holds an absolute power over the others, its destruction by the Noah would be fatal to the Order. Since it will be reborn, how come the rest of the Innocence still exist, eg. Cross’s Judgement and Maria were both seen, idem for the exorcists experimented on for the 2nd gen. project before that alleged rebirth?)

What if (see my theory in the previous points): → the Heart destroys the Earl (after destroying Neah) ➾ perpetuation of the cycle, the Pillar is again summoned since the end of the world is also « God’s » will: the Earl must forever be God’s sacrifice in atonement of his past sins. The manga suggests → Neah destroys Mana ➾ the end of the Noahs, set free from their vengeance and the Pillar

At this point I’m even starting to believe the Heart is a Noah haha (I was thinking about Road but what if it was Joyd 8D? He was perhaps not yet ‘reborn’ when Apocryphos changed Mana and Red’s fate because Neah killed him, and he was the only Noah seen destroying Innocence in the manga when he destroyed Allen’s)

In volume 25, we learn through Neah the Earl disappeared only once, dividing into Mana and Neah (so prior to the Heart’s rebirth). After Apocryphos mingled with Red and Mana’s fate, we see one of its direct consequences is the Earl’s awakening. And in ch202, we learn the Earl (or a piece of Mana’s consciousness) asked the Noah to protect Neah from the Heart even at the cost of their lives?????

The first time we learn of the Heart’s existence is from the Order’s point of view. With the search for the Heart from the Order's perspective, we take it for granted that the Heart is a single human being synchronizing with this special Innocence. Since the story revolves around the possibility it might be told by an unreliable narrator (the existence of Apocryphos and its ability to rewrite entire pans of memories, Innocence — a false ‘God’ the Order is fighting for, Noah’s hidden truth, the other side of the war …), who is to say the Heart comes in a shape no one expects?

In ch111, Lavi states the Heart should only be one. But should it, really? The original version of this panel puts accent on ‘one’:

For example, the Heart could be two halves forming a whole, just like … Mana and Neah form the Earl … Mana and Red were also needed for Apocryphos’s plan to succeed … I don’t believe the Heart is the Earl, at least not alone (why would it first want the awakening of the Earl and then his destruction?), there must be more to it than that.

▶ Joyd

I never paid attention to this bit in ch226:

I get the feeling that whatever made Mana ‘eat’ Neah was also urged by Joyd. Especially because Joyd appeared grinning as soon as Tyki set out on destroying Neah’s bond with the Earl, the obvious bad blood between Neah and Joyd (+ the fact he reincarnated with an uncanny resemblance to Neah, and his peculiar existence apart from other Noahs was hinted at by Road since ch93) and these panels:

Mana sounds helpless here, overwhelmed by whatever made him do this.

[multi-fandomsfreak]

Hey!! Can you do movie sonic x mobian fem reader (platonic) who is a fan of him and wants to show herself to the world and fight eggman but she is too scared people will hate her

Sonic Meeting Mobian!Reader Who Happens To Be A Fan

Hey there! Thanks for the ask!

Sorry for the late post. I’ve had a bunch of requests coming through and with me going to the hospital recently to see if my foot’s good (by the way it’s healing great just need to get used to walking again.) so I didn’t have the time to do it till now. Hope you like reading this because I definitely enjoyed writing this. ~J/Blaze

Pronouns: She/Her

Warning: ⚠️Mentions of low self-esteem/anxiety⚠️

Requested: Yes/No

Characters: Sonic + Mentions Of Tom + Maddie + Tails + Knuckles + Eggman

Proofread: ❌

Credits: Icon by jennieismygirlfriend on Pinterest + Banner by scyprod on Pinterest

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- Sonic the hedgehog. A name that constantly rings through your mind constantly. You most likely discovered him around some point from the baseball scene to near the end just like how Tails did. You had heard about his antics on earth and to say you liked him was an understatement. Judging on the info you had discovered from the most recent event with him and eggman you became a massive fan of him. Can anyone blame you? He helped you be inspired in your own way. Even if you had some problems expressing yourself mostly due to fear of what people might think of you. You wanted to prove your worth but you just didn’t know how.

- You really wanted to meet him even dreaming of what he would be like if you were to talk to him. Would he take interest or not? You were contemplating on going to earth just to meet him in real life. Show him how he has helped you in a way without directly meeting you. But you let your insecurities get the better of you. Eventually you decided to risk and travel to earth, you didn’t know what you were going to do when you got there, you didn’t really have any other motive besides meeting your idol. With Eggman gone as far as you were aware of and no one else who wanted to carry out his plan you didn’t really have any reason to go and get yourself into any trouble but still for some reason you felt like you needed to go. It kind of took you a while to get used to being on earth as well trying not to get spotted by pretty much everyone. You never know what they’re reactions could be seeing you and honestly you didn’t want to find out so you created a hide-out like what sonic did in the first movie.

- Now for when Sonic met you for the first time. He managed to come across you and your hide-out on his solo adventure and to say he was surprised was an understatement. There was another mobian like him, he immediately went over to you and started asking you a bunch of questions catching you off guard before immediately recognising him as the idol you love. You were too busy internally fangirling about if this was a dream or not to answer his questions.

+ “Ma’am is everything alright there?” Sonic asked, managing to snap you out of your fangirl trance concerned about the lack of reaction coming from you “oh…yeah I am, you're sonic right like the actual sonic?” You asked in return wanting to confirm it even though you knew it was. Sonic gave you a confused look before slowly answering your question “yeah I am sonic, why do you ask?” You gave him a cheerful smile before bringing him into a hug, surprising him even more but still hugged you in return despite just meeting you. You then told him about how much of a fan you were of him, telling him how much you appreciated him to which he thanked you and joked about he never knew he had fans.

- Pretty much since then he wanted to introduce you to Tom and Maddie because why not, they were also starting to suspect something with him constantly going off to see you. At first you were nervous because based on how he described them you guessed they were humans and your nervousness was getting the best of you but sonic managed to convince you that they really didn’t mean any harm and you trusted him so you decided to go with him to meet the two of them. As soon as you met the two of them they were excited they’d pretty much had gotten used to seeing sonic so seeing you with him although surprised to see someone like sonic they openly welcomed you with open arms, they were just happy that sonic met someone else. Also Sonic may have been teased by Tom about you especially since you were a female but except for that they enjoyed meeting you.

- Sonic will be your number one defender. If anyone even dares to make you upset about something he isn’t going to sit there and let you take it, making you even more self conscious. He doesn’t like seeing his friends upset, it kind of makes him both angry and upset himself seeing you just take insults being thrown at you.

- He pretty much noticed a bit after meeting you that you're very self conscious about yourself. Although you seemed to be somewhat open, when it came to expressing yourself and your strengths he noticed how unwilling you were to do it. He didn’t really understand why at first because he thinks you're really cool. You must have some sort of strength if you were willing to leave your home planet just to visit him. But once he learns about your lack of confidence he honestly feels bad for you. He could tell by the way you talked to him that you do genuinely want to prove yourself to the world; you just let your feet get the best of you. So with the new information he learned about you he’s willing to do anything to help raise your confidence. He feels like he has to, what sort of idol would he be if he didn’t?

- He takes it a step at a time, although he was wanting to make sure that you gain your confidence he knows it will take some time. You two will often have one on one sessions basically letting you express your feelings (imagine that scene when sonic is acting like a therapist but it’s with you and not just him).

- Eventually when Eggman returns from Mushroom planet Sonic definitely wants you to join him alongside Tails. He knows this would be a big step for you but he sees this as an opportunity and wants you to join him. He promises to keep both you and Tails safe as long as you're with him. Although a bit nervous yourself you could see what his point was and you knew he wouldn’t let you get harmed. You wanted to prove yourself and put what you learned from him to use so without thinking you joined him. And to say that it felt oddly good to finally do what you wanted to was an understatement. Still you were nervous but that nervousness was overwritten by adrenaline and relief. Although you went through some things during the trip to get the chaos emerald it was worth it in the end. This is when you decided to permanently join Sonic’s group alongside your new friends Tails and eventually when he decided to join Knuckles.

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[keulixeutin]

A Late Night Chat

a/n: aaaah, have this little thing.

summary: uraraka eavesdrops on midoriya’s phone call. midoriya x gn!reader.

cw: gender neutral pronouns used.  uraraka-centric. one-sided uraraka x deku, unrequited love.  suggestive.  18+. implication of exchanging of nudes and masturbation.  mentions of alcohol, drugs, drunkenness. mentions of food. knife and stabbing metaphor for heartbreak. pet-name, babe, used toward deku.

wc: 1,986.

Uraraka had fallen asleep before she could make her move.

It was Deku’s belated housewarming party—extremely belated, considering he had been living in the apartment for a year and a half now. With everyone’s hectic hero schedule, it had been hard to get their graduating class together until today.  Waiting for that long meant that the housewarming party leaned closer to a house party; friends of friends were invited, and Deku’s rank and charisma had brought in new contacts and new companions.

The apartment was filled with low music and high laughter, undercut by the flavorful aroma of food that people brought.  Uraraka caught up with everyone from her graduating class, introduced herself to people she didn’t recognize, and played drinking games that made her feel young and reckless again.  People came and left quickly due to patrols, so it never felt too crowded or too tight.

All in all, it was a good night—as good a night as any to confess, so it was the perfect night, actually.

Uraraka was finally tired of being on the side.  She was going to waste her life away by waiting for the right moment to present itself, or, worse, for Deku to realize her burning desire and acknowledge it.  She had decided to confess the night of the housewarming party due to her failed attempt earlier that week (during lunch, she had put her hand over his, only for him to absentmindedly pat it as he spoke, leaving her annoyed and fuming).

For a confidence boost, she had a few shots; that was supposed to have been it, but her nerves convinced her into drinking several cups of jungle juice.  Then, to finish it up, Ashido gave her a tiny bite of an edible, further loosening her shoulders and softening her red cheeks.  She had a nice pep talk with Tsu, and she even had a game-planning moment with Kaminari—but, when it was time to put the plan into motion, she choked.

She had grabbed Deku’s arm, said his first name with too many z’s, and slurred out that she loved his new haircut and that she was so proud of his muscles—and then she passed out.

It was in his arms at least.

His face had been beet red when he had caught her, the last thing she recalled, and she would’ve thought it was a good sign had she not known how easy it was for him to turn any shade of red.  Uraraka had once seen his ears flush deeply when a fan had simply asked for an autograph, but that was part of why she liked him so much—Deku was humble and sincere; he was both good and great all at once. 

Hours later, Uraraka groaned; her consciousness slowly flickered awake, pushing back against the siren call of sleep and the pleasant haze of alcohol.  Her cheek was pressed into the couch cushion, a little wet from where she had been open-mouthed drooling.  She wiped at her face, but the alcohol made it difficult to gauge distance and power, and she ended up smacking herself harshly in the chin.  

Suddenly, there was a warmth: a hand gently tucked her traitorous arm back into her side and shifted a blanket up to her shoulders.  She was quickly encompassed by the familiar scent of detergent and vanilla—the familiar scent of the boy she adored and the man she could love (could love because she was too scared to think that she was already that far gone).

Uraraka forced her eyes open against the weight of the night, deciding, in her still foggy mind, that his lingering fragrance was a sign from the universe that her chance was still within her grasp.  As her eyes focused against the dim light of the few lamps still softly lit in the apartment, she could hear the scattered snores and delicate breathing of the remaining guests.

She heard Deku move again.  In the corner of her blurry eyes, she saw him draping a brown blanket over Tsu.  When Uraraka tried to shift her head, the room began to spin.  This was her moment, though, she thought heatedly.  Tonight was supposed to be her night.  He was right there.  She could get his attention and then—she didn’t know if she would tell him everything all at once, but whatever she’d end up saying would be better than how she had been living the past several years.

But as soon as she had made up her mind, she heard Deku speak softly—“Yeah, they’re all passed out.”

The words died in her throat as she suddenly found herself embarrassed and unsure.  She didn’t know why the feeling of being rattled washed over her sp abruptly.  If he was talking to someone in the apartment, she shouldn’t feel concerned, but… There was something in his voice—a lilt or a tone that she couldn’t quite explain, that she hadn’t heard before.

“Ah, Ochako, Tsu, and Aoyama are in the living room, Mina and Yaoyorozu are in the guest bed, and Kaminari and Sero are in my bed—I think Mineta is still in the bathroom cuddling the tequila bottle Kirishima brought.”

She heard a distorted snort, a muffled laugh buzzing through a phone.  The volume was loud enough that she could make out the words; she just needed to push through the haze of sleep and alcohol, and focus.

“Sounds like it was a good time.”

She could hear the voice—your voice—but she only vaguely recognized it.  She couldn’t pull up a face in her mind, but she knew you were familiar, as though you had been introduced to her in passing and she hadn’t paid enough attention—and for some reason, there was something about that realization that unnerved her.

Deku chuckled quietly.  “It was.”

“Did Katsuki come through?”

Uraraka stilled.  You were on a first name basis with Bakugou?

No, maybe that was a good thing.  Maybe that meant you were something to Bakugou and not to Deku.

—But wouldn’t that mean you’d be calling Bakugou?  Why would you be calling Deku?  

“Yes,” Deku responded, moving slowly about the room with what sounded like a trash bag now.  “Kacchan actually brought a really nice gift, but he and Kirishima left after thirty minutes ‘cause they had patrol.”

“Ooh, what did he get you?”

“He got me a, uh, vicuña blanket?”

“Oh, that’s good shit.  That’s expensive, you know.”

“You know what it is?” he asked in awed shock, dropping his voice when Aoyama rolled over onto his stomach, mumbling something in French.  “I had to Google it—I didn’t even know how to spell it…”

The conversation seemed casual enough, Uraraka reassured herself.  If you weren’t somehow connected to Bakugou (and, thus, to Deku by association), then perhaps you were an old friend.  He could’ve met you post-graduation, during the time when everyone had temporarily disbanded as they tried to find their footing in the world of Pros.  That could explain why she didn’t truly know you.  Though it was a plausible theory, it still didn’t sit well in her stomach.

“How is it on your side?” he asked.

“It’s hot and bright as hell.”

“That sounds nice.”

“It sucks.”

“I’m sure there are some good parts that you’re overlooking,” he said.

Plain, simple, and uncomplicated.  Yes, Uraraka thought.  If Deku sounded tender, it was because he was kindhearted.  There was no need to read so deeply into this.  

She tried to relax, force her mind to fall back into the darkness that had been calling to her moments before.  She felt ashamed for eavesdropping for so long, like an invasive, lovelorn schoolgirl.  It wasn’t any of her business—but it (thankfully) sounded like a casual conversation.  So, it was fine.  She could try again in the morning before everyone else awoke.  She’d just go back to sleep for now.

That was what she had thought anyways, but even as Uraraka tried to slip back into sleep, she found her brain was wired.

It just—this didn’t feel right.

It was surely past midnight—way past midnight—and Deku was up talking to you while he cleaned up after his friends.  And even though it wasn’t a conversation that she was a part of, it still felt so…it felt more than private.  It felt personal.  Intimate.  As if she was listening in on something that Deku was cupping secretly in his hands.

Deku dropped the bag in the trashcan, but she didn’t hear him move or speak afterwards.

It was quiet.  He was generally very talkative, so for him to not say anything, perhaps it meant this was special.  How much was being said in that silence?  How much of it she didn’t understand?  Wasn’t privileged to?  Her chest hurt, as if her body knew what she wouldn’t yet admit.

Finally, she heard him ask, “How much longer will you be there?”

“You ask this every night.”

“It changes every night.”

“Barely.”

“…It gets closer every night.”  His voice was soft.  Tender.  Full of the longing she dreamt of, the same longing in her own voice.

You responded with an amused chuckle.  She could hear the affection even through the distortion of the phone.

It was quiet again.  Uraraka held her breath.  

“I miss you.”  

He said it gently.

He said it desperately, desperate like the aching in her chest.

“It’ll be just one more month, Izuku.”

He sighed.  “One more long month.”

“Well… I sent you those pics the other day to help hold you over.  You didn’t like them?”

Uraraka heard his voice catch.

“I—um…”

“Did you get off to them?”

“H-hey…!”

“Don’t be embarrassed; that’s what they’re for.”  You snickered.  “Send me a video next time.”

“I’m…I don’t think I can do that.”

He sounded breathless.

It was easy to make him red, easy as pinching his cheeks and congratulating him, but she wondered how hard it was to make him breathless.  She wondered how easy it was for you.

She had never done it before.

“If I send you a video, you’ll have to send me one back.”

“I—um.”

You laughed again.  

What did you look like, she wondered.  Did your eyes have the mischievous gleam that your voice had?  Were your cheeks rounder than hers?  Were you taller?  Kinder?  Would you be laying here eavesdropping, too, or were you better than that?  She chewed the inside of her cheeks, finding herself creating faces in her head and trying to match them up to what she could hear of your voice.  She imagined you in different scenarios with Deku, replacing her with you in her memories, and her insecurities and nerves and sorrow had him react to you differently than he had to her, more loving and affectionate, more attentive and devoted.

She felt she had just been stabbed in the chest, and yet there she was, masochistically digging the knife deeper into her sternum.

If you were his significant other—if you were his lover—why didn’t he tell anyone?  Why didn’t he tell her?

And…if he had you, where did that leave Uraraka?

“Hey, Izuku, go to the bathroom.  I have an idea.”

“Mineta’s passed out in the tub.”

“The guest bathroom, then.  Solutions, babe.”

Babe...? Her chest tightened. That wasn't something she could ignore.

He inhaled shakily.

Did she ever have that affect on him?

“Put me on video, Izuku.  Go, go, go.”

He sighed, but he headed toward the guest bathroom, his footsteps quiet and eager.  In the dim light, Uraraka strained to hear his breathlessness and your laughter until he disappeared around the corner.  Then, she curled beneath the blanket and breathed in his vanilla scent, the closest she’d ever get to having him in her arms, the closest she’d ever get to having him against her chest.

[bella-is-sleepy]

Rise! Donatello x Female! Smart/Nerd! Reader || PART 1 || A New Aquaintance

This is my second story so im still getting better at writing (kinda 💀) so…yea also I have like zero requests PLEASE REQUEST SOMETHING

___________________________________________ not proof read

parings: Rise! Donatello + Reader

Pronouns for reader: She/her

words: ??? Idk but it’s short

key words (FN1/2)= Friend name 1/2

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It was a getting cold in NYC, because it was October and around 8pm. Y/N was walking down the street with her headphones/Ear buds on blast. Here’s the question, why was Y/N out at 8:23pm (to be exact). Well short answer she snuck out; long answer Mom & Dad we’re fighting—again! Mr & Mrs.L/n were fighting over their daughter. You see her dad said it was not ‘lady like’ for a young 14/15 year old girl to be making inventions, codes, engineering, etc.

But did that stop Y/N from making inventions; Hell no!! She was at the top of her class she was not gonna just give up now, because she had a great future ahead of her. Her Mom, April (her best friend), (F/N1), and (F/N2) all supported her.

Everything was going perfectly normal until one night, which was that(this?) very night. She heard a weird crash sound coming from the alleyway. And this crash was LOUD Y/N could hear it through her headphones/Earbuds. Out of instinct she Stoped and flinched as well. She walked towards the alley slowly turning on her phone flashlight, and what she saw next made her freeze. Y/N saw a giant mutant turtle with a purple mask, metal shell with a hovering thing.(?) The two just stared at each other for a couple of minutes until Y/N broke the silence.

Just make the lens you fav color

“I like your goggles, they look but mine look a bit different from yours.” She said. 15 seconds later he responded “Your not scared of me- I mean like how..” she tilted her head “Why would be scared? I mean yea you are different so what, I’m different too.”

“Right, im just not used to people not screaming and running away..” At this point the girl thought that she should introduce herself “Oh, sorry, I should introduce myself! My name is Y/N. Y/N L/N.” She said while she held out her hand. The purple clad turtle shook it “Donatello. Donatello Hamato. Or just Donnie for short.” He gave a small friendly smile. “Well it was nice to meet you Donnie I really should get going tho.” She said as she checked the time ‘CRAP!! How is it 10 o’clock?!?’

Donnie was about to grab his tech-Bo he had sat up against the wall of the alley way, until She said something else. “Wait before you go do you want to hang out sometime?” He looked at her and said a plain ‘Sure’ it sounded blunt when he said that. (If that makes any sense) || So the give each others number :p

Y/N Went home and tried to go to bed, yet should couldn’t something…no someone’s keeping her awake. She could could not get him out of her head. Y/N I just drawn to him somehow. She liked the sarcasm in his voice, and the way the purple compliments his skin. She was not the type of girl to think love at first sight was real; now that she has met Donatello….she might just believe that it exists.

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YAY!! Got that done Ik it was short but should I do a part 2?? I really enjoyed writing this it’s not fully edited I will do that as soon as possible hopefully 🤞

[donutholehole]

A Murder, A Nurse, A Case.[B.Blanc/Reader]

Part 1 of A Murder and A Motive

Summary: World’s greatest Detective and his second pair of eyes take on a difficult murder case of secrecy, disguise and revenge.

Pairing: Benoit Blanc [Knives out]/Reader. He/Him pronouns used.

Warnings: Descriptions of death, blood and wounds, abandonment.

Word Count: 1,946

Note: I am aware Benoit Blanc is canonically married but I am ignoring Hugh Grant in this story (rare for me - Paddington 2 is one of my favourite films because of him). Also! I am very not American so if words are off and it ruins the immersion, very sorry!

Not my gif!!

It was a remote farmhouse, far from any major roads and cities. Surrounded by seemingly endless fields and woods, though you could detect a small town nearby from the road signs. Usually, you would never notice a house like this. You would typically drive passed, but with the addition of four police cars, an ambulance, and P.I.‘s on the property, it was hard to ignore. It was a beautiful house still, architecturally stunning.

A chubby, older woman sat on the doorsteps of the house, unable to compose herself though police attempted to calm her. You closed the door to Blanc’s car and took in the stunning scenery and chaotic atmosphere. Another car pulled up swiftly after you, a young woman rushed out of the vehicle as soon as she stopped it and ran to talk to the police and comfort the woman on the steps.

“Blanc, good to see you.” A cop said. Officer West, she was present during a few cases throughout your time with Blanc. “Y/N…nice to see you again.” She said, a smirk on her face. Blanc had stated many times that she was utterly obsessed with you however you chose to ignore him.

“Officer West.” You nodded, and she nodded in return. You walked towards the house door where the two women sat consoling each other. Both women cried now.

“This is Marlene Edwards, James Lee’s primary nurse. She contacted us and told us of his death when she arrived this morning. This is Joanna Lee, the victim's only living relative.” Officer West introduced you to the women, who were obviously beside themselves but staying strong. Marlene Edwards was in her late 60's, she had her dark hair in a neat bun and wore her scrubs just as she usually would. She had dark circles around her eyes, perhaps from crying, perhaps from being an overworked medical worker. Nonetheless, she looked kind.

The other woman, Joanna Lee, was frankly the opposite. She had long ginger hair, which was in a messy ponytail. Her clothes seemed to be the first she picked out, it was only 7:15 A.M. anyway. Pain lined her tearstained face.

“Pleasure to meet the two of you. I’m Detective Benoit Blanc, and this is my assistant Y/N L/N. Perhaps we go inside and talk to you both?” He asked as he shook their hands. They nodded, opening the door and guiding you both through the house.

The house was even more beautiful inside. Each wall was an aged brown with lightly gold details on each corner, and the floor was a dark wood that had a slight creak in some places. It was traditional, simple but not too simple, and obviously an inherited home.

The two women sat in the lounge together, and you sat opposite them with Blanc. The couches were made of dark leather with sage green feather pillows. You enjoyed noticing the small details of the locations of murders, it showed some repeating patterns.

“Now, Marlene, is it? Tell me, when did you arrive here this morning?” Blanc asked her, the victim's daughter held the older woman’s hand tightly to comfort her. You opened your notepad and took a sleek black pen Blanc had gotten you for your birthday from your pocket.

“6:30 A.M, just like every mornin'.” She managed to choke out, Joanna rubbed her back. You scribbled that down in your notebook.

“What time did you find his body, would you say?” He asked, she took a moment to answer.

“Around 6:55 A.M, I don’t remember. I always spruce the place up a bit, make him a coffee and breakfast before he wakes up, then I give him his medicine.” She replied, thinking particularly hard to remember. "I hit a bookshelf when I went to the phone, it's a mess up there."

You wrote carefully and quickly so as to not miss any information. “And what medications was your patient on?” Blanc inquired. You loved the way he was so meticulous about what questions he asked, when to ask them, everything. He was incredibly talented in his work and took great care of the victim's family and friends.

“Lisinopril, a blood pressure medication. Hydrocodone, a pain medication. He’s diabetic, so I test his blood every 2-3 hours and inject insulin when needed.” She told you, she was cooperating perfectly. You wrote down what she had said.

“How many nurses or caretakers have been here in the passed few days?”

“There’s always 2 of us on sight in a day, Sarah, she comes and takes care of his bathing needs and everything like that around 4:30 P.M. Yesterday there was a trainee nurse, his name was, uh, Clark?” That was intriguing. You’d had some background information on the case beforehand and only two caretakers were noted. Marlene Edwards and Sarah-Jane Matthews.

“Tell me more of this Clark," He leaned forward, clearly compelled by this mysterious character.

"He was a young feller, fresh out of school, maybe late 20's? He said he was new and still partly training to care for the elderly. He showed me his work I.D...I didn't even question he could be lyin'. Oh, sweet Jesus." She covered her mouth and realised it was likely to be him, she couldn't help but blame herself for allowing him into his home.

"Don't blame yourself, love. You couldn't have known." You reassured her, sending her a warm smile before returning to your notepad and writing down a possible suspect.

"Thank you, Mrs Edwards. This information could be crucial. I'd like to speak to Miss. Lee alone if that would be okay?" He informed her, she nodded and scurried out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Miss Lee. I know it is a horrible situation. You’re strong." You prefaced before Blanc could begin. Blanc glared at you and gave you a smile. You took after him in supporting the victim's family members and friends.

“What was your and your father's relationship like?” Blanc asked, she composed herself and thought for a few moments.

“Strong, I’d say. We loved each other and talked every day after I finished work. We’d always have a game of Clue with Marlene and Sarah when I was there, I bet you’re really good at that game.” She laughed slightly, reminiscing on good times with her father.

“He’s terrible.” You mimed at her, and she smiled at that. Talking to people casually was a psychological trick you’d picked up. You used standard English, made jokes when acceptable and spoke to them like you would a friend. They open up and become more comfortable talking.

“Your mother, is sh-” Benoit began before he was cut off my Joanna.

“Margaret Lee. She died when I was 14. Car accident. It took a real toll on Dad. He had Survivor’s Guilt since that day. Always blaming himself. It hurt to watch. He was on Antidepressants for 3 years,” She said. She looked down at her hands for a moment. You sent her an empathetic look, your head bowed down and your eyes closed.

"That must've been very difficult," Blanc said. "Y/N, would you investigate that Trainee Nurse while I talk to Miss Lee?" He asked, you nodded, standing from the couch.

"It was lovely to meet you, Joanna. You're powerful." You shook the woman's hand before she left and gave her kind eyes. You wandered through the house, taking time to indulge in your surroundings. Though the gruesome smell of death lingered through the house, you doubted it was unfamiliar to it. It was aged, and the paint on the walls chipped away from where furniture and frames once were. You saw Officer West and headed towards her.

"Y/N! You alright?" She turned around quickly, two cups of coffee in her hand. "Here, I know it's cold out." She handed you one.

"Thank you. We need to get in contact with whoever is distributing carers here. We have a suspect." You ordered, she gasped slightly. "Clark, no other details other than a young, late 20’s, trainee nurse. He was here yesterday."

"I will get that info for you!"

After 10 minutes of waiting by the door, the tips of your fingers turning blue, Officer West approached you. "There is a Clark, trainee nurse, but he's 45. He was reported in an old folks home yesterday. But get this, when asked, he couldn't find his I.D.!" She told you enthusiastically with a smile. You smiled and nodded.

"Thank you, Officer." You stormed inside, finally feeling warmth against your skin again. "Blanc!" You yelled towards the lounge room, which he was already leaving. "Bad news, the Clark that Mrs Edwards described isn't registered. But, the real Clark is a 45-year-old man whose I.D. is absent from his person. It was stolen."

"My, so we're on a hunt for an unknown individual?" He questioned, you took a pause before nodding uncomfortably. "No leads, nothing."

"Well, we haven't snooped around yet. That's my favourite part," You smiled, walking back towards the stairs. "Shall we?" You raised your hand as you stepped onto the first step. Blanc looked down at your hand and laughed, not taking your hand but walking up the stairs with you still.

"We're not snoopin', Y/N. We're looking for evidence," He reminded you, shooting you disapproving, teasing eyes.

"We're kinda snooping," You mumbled before getting to the upper floor. It was a slight mess, with books scattered across the floor from when Marlene ran to the phone. You kicked some out of the way to make a clear path. You knew which room was James Lee's. The metallic stench of recently shed blood and the linger of death surrounded the doorway. You entered the room.

His sheets were still painted with his blood. You couldn't help but uncomfortably cover your mouth at the horrific sight. It was clear the killer wasn't well-skilled. The walls and floor were splattered with blood. It was a horrific sight to witness. "My lord, they really wanted him dead," You heard Blanc mutter under his breath.

"Seems so. Get to looking," You ordered him, you weren't usually as clear and demanding to Blanc, but after seeing this you couldn't help but be angry.

"I thought I gave orders," He huffed before he put a pair of gloves on. You followed after him and began the search for something, anything that gave you enough evidence to have a lead.

You found nothing. There were pictures of his family, vacations, books, empty medicine bottles, clothes. That was typical for any room, you didn't doubt that they were there well before the murder had occurred. You looked at high shelves when you noticed a camera.

It was old. Clearly a valuable item for display only. You picked it carefully from its place. You coughed as dust entered your throat. Checking if it had film, you were met with nothing. You sighed, placing it back on the shelf.

A case. There was a case hidden behind the camera. It was sleek and untouched for many years, covered in dust. As Blanc searched under the bed. You slowly opened it. "Blanc. Look." He raised his head from under the bed.

"What? What've you got?" He asked, hitting his head as he tried to get from under the bed and yelping. Once he'd composed himself and stood, he dusted himself off and looked at the case. "Joanna's baby book? That's all? Did your parents not do that?" He asked. It was a small book, with a photo of a newborn baby on the front with the name Joanna Haf Lee written on the front in gold lettering.

"Blanc, there's two."

Part 2 <-

[arecaceae175]

Have you received a poly sky request yet? Gonna also toss in poly twi if you'd like

:D Poly Sky incoming! Just a short one, bc today has been busy.

Sky: pansexual, polyamorous, bigender, he/she

Groose: queer, polyamorous, he/him

Zelda: pansexual, polyamorous, any/mirror pronouns

“Welcome to Skyloft!” Groose said- more if a yell, really- with his arms thrown wide.

Sky’s smile felt even wider as Zelda pushed through the group with authority, coming straight for him. Sky pulled him into his arms, held him tight, and surged forward into a kiss. Zelda made the most adorable little noise of surprise; Sky giggled and pulled away from the kiss.

“Hi,” Sky said.

“Are you going to introduce us?” Zelda asked, one eyebrow raised.

Sky chuckled and stepped beside Zelda, one arm tucked around her waist.

“Everyone, this is Zelda and Groose. Zelda and Groose, this is Link, and Link, and Link, and-“

Zelda swatted Sky’s chest and he cut off with a laugh. Warriors stepped forward and bowed deeply.

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, your highness,” Warriors said.

“I like him,” Zelda said.

Sky was sure all of Skyloft could hear Twilight’s groan.

“Alright, move over. I want to see my girlfriend,” Groose’s voice boomed over the crowd.

Sky felt the warm, happy feeling bubble through his chest, the same one he got every time Groose called him that. Now, Sky got that feeling every time Groose called her any term of endearment. At the beginning of their relationship, though, when Sky was first exploring his gender identity, hearing the term girlfriend made his heart flutter more than she could have imagined.

Sky pulled himself back to the present just as Groose approached. He pulled Sky to his chest in a tight hug. Sky let herself melt in his embrace, safe and content in his boyfriend’s arms.

Zelda put a hand on each of their backs as they pulled apart.

“How about some proper introductions?” Time said.

Sky sighed, jokingly rolling his eyes. “Alright, alright. But make it quick. I’m not wasting any of my time here,” She said, looking lovingly into both his partner’s eyes.

“You sap,” Zelda whispered, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“You can call me Time. They/them, please,” Time began.

Sky saw Zelda making notes in her head, and saw Groose looking so adorably concentrated, both desperately trying to remember the newest additions to Sky’s list of most important people.

Sky smiled, soaking in the feeling of both his partners close, and the rest of her family within her sight. Perfect.

[silentmoths]

As Fragile as a brick wall

Masterlist||First||Previous||Next

Ch3:

Despite her claiming to no longer be a royal under his rule, sometimes old habits die hard.

Zhongli x Afab (fem pronoun) Reader

little death/gore in this one? just a wee bit.

NSFW elements in later chapters

Multi-chapter, Royal AU, angst, mentions of death, eventual fluff, eventual smut, idk more tags when they happen ig? (Wonderful header image made by the wonderful @ainescribe)

This was your own damn castle, and now you were tip toeing through it like you did when you were a child, sneaking off to the kitchens for an extra sweetroll…how annoying. But if it’s what you needed to do to keep out of his way? So be it.

The moment you got the news of your fathers death? Of course you were going to return, not like you could stay with your fiance any longer…considering you were technically no longer the princess, meaning there was nothing to gain from marrying you.

But when you finally arrived in the throne room to find him of all people, standing there? Something snaps. 

Zhongli.

Zhongli who used to play chess with your mother, who helped her teach you.

Zhongli who had introduced you to who would later become your most loyal steed, Azhdaha. ‘Old’ he claimed when he had left the stallion in your hands, more like too large to escape on without being seen.

Zhongli, who you had wept over in the privacy of your room when he was the only one not to return from battle, dead, they had told you. Died protecting the rest of his troops, an honourable death.

And then there he was, standing before you, trying to worm your hand in marriage for the lives of your ‘brothers’. Bastards the pair of them, you’re sure they, and your father, were the reason your mother met such an early end, their obnoxious demands causing nothing but stress and misery…and when your father had finally snapped? They followed along with everything like dutiful little dogs. Hounding you, sneering about how you were going to be married off as soon as your birthday rolled around so they didn’t have to deal with you anymore.

You probably should have felt something…anything but satisfaction over finally being able to put them down…but alas, the gods laughed at you, a murderer in your own right, cutting down your own siblings no less. At the time you were angry- no. Furious. All that time, all those years spent alone, with no one else to reach out to for company…and then he has the gall to return and try to bargain your hand in marriage? Absolutely not, the look of shock on his face was satisfying at least, those stupid pretty eyes wide with horror. Perhaps if he had returned home like he’d promised, you would not have taken up the sword to at least try and protect yourself somewhat, perhaps if he had returned home you might have remained the ‘fragile orchid’ as most had an unfortunate habit of calling you.

Fragile as a brick wall perhaps, but no orchids to be found here. 

The first night, he’d sent an attendant to your room, a pretty lady with a kind smile and tired eyes. She'd introduced herself as Ganyu, and had asked if you would like to join the king for dinner.

“Not on his life.” You huff at the poor woman, you know it’s not her fault, and you don’t like the way she recoils as your response, but first trying to bargain marriage, and then sending an attendant to do his dirty work? This wasn’t the Zhongli you knew.

At least not the one you thought you knew.

You expected that to be that, you’d already made peace with sneaking to the kitchens at odd hours to feed yourself, at least until you could figure out exactly what the plan was, yet not half an hour later is there another knock at your door, and an extravagant spread of food left for you.

In a way, it made you happy. The castle cooks had been so dreary when you left, a roast and a stew was all you would usually find upon the dinner table, but now, under a new reign, it seemed they had been allowed to enjoy their craft once more.

How long had it been since you’d actually had fresh bread, made right there in the kitchens? The food your now ex-fiance offered had been exquisite, but being a kingdom of snow, very monotonous in its fare. 

He never made an attempt to force you from your chambers, nor did he make any attempts at removing you from the castle, or well…anything really. Good, hopefully your little display with your brothers had shocked him enough into just leaving you alone.

But cooping up in your room for several days straight was beginning to grow old, Azhdaha had a tendency to get cranky when you didn’t take him for a good gallop every few days.. Perhaps you could quietly sneak out for a few hours?

All’s quiet when you eventually poke your head out the door, save for a few guards that you already knew well, everyone had their stations, and those stationed around your rooms were relaxed, they knew you well enough that all they do when you pass them by is smile and wave.

However, as you pass through a particular corridor, intent on sneaking out through the kitchens to swipe a few apples for your steed, you hear a commotion. Several people all clamouring and talking over one another trying to be heard in the throne room.

You shouldn't.

But seeing him get his newly royaled rear handed to him by the villagers?

You had to.

Silently you stalk down the hall to the throne room, stopping to lean against one of the large, velvet curtains, out of sight of all, but able to watch the festivities.

“Silence, all of you!” Zhongli’s smaller attendant, xiao you think his name was? Shouts, but the villagers heed him no mind. It was great, seeing the people of the kingdom so fired up again, even greater to watch the new king flounder.

“My lord, please! The grazing fields have been in disrepair for so long, they should be tended to first so we can fatten the cattle for the winter!” one farmer cries.

“Nonsense! The rice fields should be seen first, sure meat is nice, but we can survive the winter with a plentiful enough rice harvest!” another spits back.

“What about repairs to the fishing boats?” the fishmonger hollers over the others “it’s been far too long since the market has had any decent fish!”

All fair points, you think to yourself, gaze slowly sliding to Zhongli.

He really hasn't changed much…at least not in the face…perhaps a little slimmer…more sharp and refined than you remember, you find yourself watching as he speaks, loud and clear over the din of bickering farmers. Seem’s he must have been listening during the times your mother, bless her soul, had been teaching you how to project and annunciate your voice. Learning to speak clearly over a crowd was an art in itself. 

And then there were his eyes. Expressive, captivating…

As beautiful as the day he’d left.

Between the swirling magma of amber and gold of his pupils, and the defining red flicks beneath his waterline, he really made for a handsome image.

Once, you’d thought he spent his mornings tirelessly and meticulously applying those little red flicks with eyeliner, come to discover that they were actually a permanent mark upon his face, somehow passed down through the generations of his family like a stubborn birthmark.

How strange.

However, for all the picturesque image of a king that he made, it becomes startlingly obvious to you that he’d been away for too long. While each farmer had a point, you could see it clearly, like a game of chess. If he wanted the kingdom not only to survive, but to thrive through the winter.

“Repair the fishing boats.” you announce, acting before thinking, it was an unfortunate trait, but in this case, if he wasn’t going to make a decision on who and what needed attention first, you would have to do it.

All at once, the moment you step out from your hiding place, eyes are on you, the villagers gasp and wave; zhongli’s eyebrows raise and you can see the smallest hint of a smile pulling to his lips as you approach, snatching the ledger out of his hand, as well as the quill as you look over the funding available and the allocations, shaking your head and scribbling a few out.

“Repair the fishing boats first.” you repeat, quietly scribbling new numbers onto the parchment “there is usually a large migration of bass that pass by our docks towards the end of fall, not only would catching them provide us with meat for the winter, but if we circumvent the funds allocated to fix the bakery, we can also repair the damage to the rice fields and double our stock…not to mention any extra fish we catch, we can easily sell to neighbouring kingdoms without the need to herd cattle.” 

“But if we do not repair the bakery, we will have no bread!” a villager cries from somewhere in the back.

“It’s just the chimney, yes? If I recall it was damaged in the last monsoon and my father never bothered to have it fixed…but if I also remember correctly, the smithy currently has a stock of brick behind his workshop from when the new forge was built and my father ordered extra…is that still correct?” you call out into the crowd of people.

“It is!” comes a response after a moment, you nod, making a few more scribbles. 

“In which case, in these trying times as we get back on our feet, look to one another as well as to your king.” you state “Everything can and will be fixed in time, but with winter fast approaching, we need to think of what is both going to keep all of us fed, with the potential of bringing in extra income. I know we have plenty of extra building supplies strewn about everywhere, if we can pool all of them into one inventory, we might be able to get good headway into repairing what needs it most before the cold sets in.” 

With a final scribble you hand the ledger back to the king. You don’t look at him, in the back of your head, you’re absolutely kicking yourself for even getting involved. You weren’t a royal anymore, this wasn’t your job, no matter how much study and training you’d put into all of it, but you’d sooner die than watch your already tattered kingdom fall to ruin when the fixes were easy enough.

Zhongli scans over the amended ledger with a pleased hum.

“M’lady, where should we bring excess building supplies?” A villager calls from the crowd, really that should be a question for the king.

“The main gatehouse, there is enough empty space in the courtyard there to keep any and all supplies, we can take stock of what we have and use the leftover allocations to order more materials…” you sigh. Sometimes you really did just like to stick your thumb where it doesn't belong…

And yet, the approving murmur of the villagers gathered fills you with a sense of pride. These people had always been good, despite the hand dealt to them, and while you couldn’t take back the atrocities your family had committed unto them, you could at last try and get things back on track, running like the prosperous kingdom your mother had told you stories of when you were small. 

“But M’lady, our relationships with the neighbouring kingdoms are…rocky at best.” A villager points out “how are we going to sell to them, if they do not like us?”

“Ah, I’ve already seen to making amends with our direct neighbours.” Zhongli cuts in for the first time since you had stepped in. “What the princess proposes could also work in our favour…depending on how much we catch and what we can repair, we may even be able to offer a little excess stock to them as a show of good faith.”

This, you weren’t too sure of. Sure you could talk a big game, but all you did was alter some numbers using what you knew…if the fishing boats failed to bring in a decent enough catch, there might not even be enough to go around amongst the people, let alone give away to others…

But the looks on the villagers' faces…the spark and the hope, was something you’d not seen in so long, that you simply nod; you would not shoot down their excitement, archons know they’d had enough of that.

“If there are no more questions or requests, I suggest we all get to work!” At his announcement, the villagers cheer and quickly turn, making for their homes to gather what materials they could. You watch as Zhongli hands off the ledger to Ganyu, that poor woman already looked so tired and overwhelmed.

You don’t stay when he turns to address you, spinning on your heel and venturing back down the corridor, ignoring the call of your name. Turning your back on the king was never a smart move, but he wasn’t your father, he wasn’t a cruel man.

Honestly? He was entirely too soft. 

A soft traitor. 

Clenching your teeth, you march to the kitchens; your horse needed his apples.

Taglist: @stygianoir @meimeimeirin @ainescribe @dustofthedailylife @theheartshaker @alice4wonderland2812 @bel0vedcup1d @rjssierjrie Want to be added to the list? shoot me an ask~

[kiankiwi]

What about trans Elvis HC?? You should make this into an au! If you want ofc!! I just love the idea of ftm elvis.

Oh I definitely will!!

Gladys gets him his very own suit and tie and he cries tears of joy!!

Dodger tries her very best to use the right pronouns and new name but Elvis sweetly corrects her and she just tsks at herself and gives him an extra piece of werthers candy (first grandma candy I thought of) as an apology

Elvis HATES when summer/summer chores roll around bc he sees all his cousins and vernon taking their shirts off to work and Elvis just looks down sadly bc he has a bigger chest so he can't just take off his shirt whenever he gets hot

JERRY is the first person he tells of course before his family and Jerry protects him throughout his career if any transphobia or any type of hate comes up

Elvis is afraid to wear jump suits when he still has his period so he prefers to just wear pants and a dress shirt

He LOVES that Red, Sonny, Jerry, and all those guys treat him like one of the boys and let him wrestle and play football with them regardless of what he looks like or his gender

Elvis is SO FUCKING HAPPY when he finally gets to introduce himself as Elvis and finally someone doesn't know at all that he ever had a dead name

Every year on his Maniversary, Jerry comes together with the guys and gets E a little gift to make him feel special on his day

SO MANY MORE but that's all I can think of for now !!! <333

@mooodyblue

@elvisthesillygoose @vintagepresley

[bugdogg]

💬🏳️‍🌈 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 💖🍳 ryu and blanch maybe ?😭srry i rly wanna know more abt them

IS FINE, I GOTTA TALK ABOUT THEM MORE ANYWAY! ^W^

💬 - What are some filler/buffer words they use? (Like, um, etc.)

For Blanch, she uses "alright" and "whatever" in her speech a lot, but more often she adds unnecessary cursing to her sentences (she often isn't even angry, it's just a habit). She has a very brash or harsh way of speaking and often times the words she uses implies she's pissed off about something.

For Ryu, they use a lot of "uh"s and "um"s in their sentences and also has a habit of going "eh..." when they finish talking. He speaks in a very slow, laid back way and despite how long it takes him to talk he still tends to not be certain in what he's saying.

🏳️‍🌈 - What do they identify as? What are their pronouns?

(mentioning now: all three my ocs are based on me in some way. For me, identity and labels are very confusing, so all of their identities are kinda undefined as I'm still trying to figure it out myself)

I don't really want to label them right now but Blanch's pronouns are she/her and Ryu's pronouns are he/them.

I'd say for like a basic idea of how I view them is Blanch doesn't like labels really and could be agender but she wouldn't call herself that, and Ryu is transmasc!

(actually a good summary, at least for me, is Mizuki: doesn't know, Blanch: doesn't care, Ryu: does know and does care!)

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 - Do they have any siblings?

Blanch probably had a younger sister she used to care for, I think she'd take the older sister role seriously but would have also been a bully, simultaneously. She lost touch w that sibling after moving out, I don't think she and her family get along at all but I'm sure she'd still stalk her sister's socials to make sure she's okay.

Ryu would've been the middle child I think, they keep in touch w their family and I think have a good relationship w their older sibling but a hint of resentment for the younger one. I think if Ryu introduced Ichimatsu to his family they'd all just go "Oh good, you found someone to connect with." and Ryu would just look so tired.

💖 - How and how often do they try to impress their partner(s)? How and how often do their partner(s) impress them?

Blanch doesn't care for other's opinions on her and never sets out to impress anyone, but I think Choromatsu at least is impressed by her ability to be both insanely hostile and still smart and successful. He'd probably see her as a cartoonish-brute at first but is surprised to see she's actually pretty smart and grows to respect her more, as she also does w him (somewhat).

Choro would often try to impress her I think by trying to one up her in arguments or anything. At first it'd be to try to feed his own ego or feel better about himself, then he'd fail and would actually start trying to impress her. Unintentionally, I think Choro would impress Blanch by being very resilient, something every matsu sorta has but she'd still admire his stupid persistence at trying to win a constantly losing battle.

Ryu tries to impress people by spewing worthless facts... (not really) they don't have any interest in a partner, and, w Ichi and Oso, doesn't feel the need to impress them. Ryu is used to being considered mediocre and has sorta accepted it, he doesn't care to impress people who he doesn't think will ever care so he just talks about things he likes and see's who sticks around to listen.

Ichi and Oso wouldn't care to impress him, I'm pretty sure. All three's dynamic is mostly based around being very chill and just existing together. Maybe occasionally, Ichi would try to do something to get some kind of approval from them but that's about it.

🍳 - How well can they cook?

Blanch is a good cook, she isn't the kind to make some new recipe on the spot or anything but she's memorized how to make some things and is very good at being precise w it. She mostly learned the skills as she started traveling w her bandmates. She already had some skills from making things for her sister back home so she volunteered to make meals when they couldn't afford to eat somewhere and got better as they went.

Ryu can't cook, at all, he can cook things in the microwave, and somewhat follow the directions on the back of the pizza box. But besides that, he doesn't know how to do a lot, and I think they would somehow burn a salad.

[rjalker]

"https://www.tor.com/2023/11/25/doctor-who-celebrates-60th-anniversary-by-reuniting-one-of-its-greatest-teams-in-the-star-beast"

I've left this as a comment on the site, but, you know, they might just not publish it so here you fucking go.

= = =

I'm sorry but it's very ironic that this review brings up the Doctor asking for the Meep's pronouns and respecting those pronouns, only for this review to misgender the Meep by refering to the Meep as "it". The Meep explicitly uses nameself pronouns -- ie, the Meep/the Meep's. The Meep doesn't use it/its pronouns. I see so many people celebrating that this episode is "making TERFs mad", but then in the same breath they misgender the character whose pronouns we are explicitly told.

The Meep is not an it, he, she, or they. The Meep is always "The Meep", as is demonstrated in the episode. But I guess people only care about neopronoun users when our existence will make TERFs mad, but not when it comes to actually using our pronouns! I wish I could say I'm surprised, but by this point the Doctor Who fandom has proven to me they don't actually respect neopronoun users, they just hold us up to scare away TERFs, immediately followed by misgendering us -.-

As many people have pointed out, Rose being trans *because* of the metacrisis is just the "nonbinary alien" stereptype all over again, as a tripple whammy with the Meep also being the only character in this episode using neopronouns, and here's something I haven't seen anyone else point out--

If Rose were being written like a character who makes sense, why wouldn't she have just asked the Meep's pronouns when she first met the Meep? Why didn't she introduce herself to the Meep with her own pronouns? If she's the sort of person who corrects other when they assume someone's pronouns without asking...then if she were a real person not meant to set up a tired, transphobic joke ("Did you just assume my gender?!?"), then she would have literally just casually asked for the Meep's pronouns in the first place, instead of only randomly getting upset when the Doctor assumes he/him for the sole purpose of being corrected.

No parts of this scene was written in a way that makes sense for the characters as we're supposed to believe they exist. If we accept that Rose is willing to go to bat for other people about asking for pronouns instead of assuming, then she would have asked as soon as she met the Meep! She would have asked the Doctor! She'd be introducing herself to everyone she meets with her pronouns!

But no, that would mean that Russel T Davies didn't get to use the "Did you just assume my gender???" joke in 2023 while pretending to be progressive about it. And it very much is pretending to be progressive about it, because if he actually wanted to show that asking for pronouns is normal, he would have had Rose and the Meep introducing themselves with their pronouns in the first place!

Imagine if Rose had asked for the Doctor's pronouns! Imagine if we'd gotten to have a legitimate conversation about the Doctor's pronouns and gender identity outside passing jokes!  Imagine if the Doctor had been given the real opportunity to think about the answer and genuinely choose, rather than having everyone else assume based on whether they think the Doctor currently looks like a man or a woman! Imagine if we'd actually gotten to see the Doctor allowed to truly express a preference or even just saying "all pronouns are fine with me"!

But no. We get another iteration of the "trans people are unreasonable and get pissed off over things that don't matter" joke but this time...pretending to be progressive so now people aren't mad. Even though it makes no sense for any of the characters and is clearly only here because the cis man writing the episode thought it'd be funny.

And seriously, does Russel T Davies think all trans people are inherently nonbinary? Because there is a massive difference between purposefully creating representation for nonbinary trans women / transfeminine people, and assuming that all trans people, no matter their gender identity, are inherently nonbinary. And because Russel T Davies doesn't seem to understand the difference, he gives no explanation to the audience, which is made up of millions of cis people, for whom this is their first introduction to trans and nonbinary people! So now are they gonna think all trans women and trans men are inherently nonbinary? Are they gonna think all AMAB nonbinary people use she/her pronouns?

RTD has a responsibility to represent trans people in a responsible way, and this episode is just failing that. Rose is presented as being trans and nonbinary only because she's not fully human, as though being trans is something unnatural that happens to you rather than something you are.

And even if we ignore the rest of the problems with the way trans issues were handled in this episode, you know the thing that's causing the most lasting damage?

Russel T Davies teaching millions of people, cis and trans alike, that assigning other people "x-presenting" terminology is Progressive™ and Cool™ and Fun™ and Acceptable™. When trans people have been talking about how harmful assigning other people these terms is for years now.

It's literally just misgendering but masquerading as progressive, and placing the blame on the person being misgendered, rather than asking the perpetrator to check their own biases and learn not to assume people's genders or pronouns just based on appearance.

No one has ever asked the Doctor what pronouns to use, or what gender-terms, or anything. All everyone does is assume based on the gender of the actor who currently has the role. And that's not how gender works. And calling it "gender-fluidity" is just completely false. Gender fluid people aren't literal shapeshifters who magically change their sex when their gender shifts, and saying that the Doctor is inherently genderfluid because a woman had the role one time is just, plain biological essentialism and assuming that everyone who looks like a man is a man, and everyone who looks like a woman is a woman, and all aliens are magically cis to whatever their current society-assigned sex is.

Which is something trans people have also been talking about since Jodie Whittaker took the role. Just because the Doctor is being played by a man at the moment does not make the Doctor a man. That's just reinforcing cissexism and shoving trans people under the rug so you don't have to think about us anymore. Why do you think the Doctor has to be a man because David Tennant is in the role? Why do you think the Doctor has to be a woman because Jodie Whittaker had the role? It's because considering the idea that gender is separate from sex is uncomfortable for you, so you decide that the alien shapeshifter Must Always Be Cis To The Sex I Think They Are Right Now.

And I was hoping RTD would maybe address this when he came back as showrunner, but we've all seen where that's taken us now. So I guess we're just gonna keep playing this game of "everyone's always cis because I don't want to think about gender" for the next few years.

And no, the Doctor is not “male-presenting” just because David Tennant is in the role. That’s not what those terms mean, and it is absolutely negligent for Russel T Davies to have characters assigning these terms to other characters without permission, while portraying this as Progressive and positive and funny. It’s literally just misgendering. It’s not okay.

And again. Cannot stress enough how painfully ironic it is that this review is praising the show for respecting the Meep's pronouns while misgendering the Meep with it/its pronouns that the Meep explicitly does not use.

There's absolutely no excuse for misgendering the Meep after you praise the show for not doing that. Come on, people, please at least pretend you respect neopronoun users if you're gonna hold us up as anti-TERF shields -.-

I need absolutely everyone reading this comment, whether you’re cis, trans, nonbinary, or other, to swear on all you hold as holy that you will not ever call someone any “x-presenting” term unless you’ve explicitly been told by that person that that’s how they identify.

Do not call trans women who haven’t transitioned “male-presenting” or “masculine presenting”. Do not call trans men who haven’t transitioned “female-presenting” or “feminine-presenting”. Do not call gender nonconforming men “female-presenting” and do not call butch women “male-presenting”. Do not call nonbinary people any of these terms unless you’ve explicitly been asked to do so. “male-presenting” is not a synonym for “looks like a man” or “wears men’s clothes” or “assigned male at birth”, and vice versa for “female-presenting”.

These terms are strictly for self-identification only. Assigning them to other people is literally just misgendering. Do not do it.

[cherriscoups]

The Ghost of Noria University | Episode 03

Pairing: Seungcheol x Fem!Reader (ft. SVT & other idols)

Words: 1057

Content: strangers to lovers, college au, non-idol!Seungcheol, workaholic!reader, reader has implied social anxiety, she/her pronouns used to describe reader

A/N: its been 84 years. so many things have happened in my life since the last episode. I honestly didn't realise how long it's been since my last update. Thank you so much for your patience! updates will still be slow but will be more frequent than the 7 month break i took. here's a shorter episode to start with. hope yall like this! reblogs are much appreciated <3

disclaimer: this is purely fictional. any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental. These characters aren't meant to reflect the real personalities of the idols, it is purely a product of my imagination.

taglist: @autumn-lv @wonuskie (if you wanna join the taglist, do let me know)

masterlist | previous | next

You find yourself back where you were initially seated but this time, in between Chan and Seungcheol instead of Doyeon. The Professor had told everyone to find seats once they grouped up and Seungcheol suggested you take a seat at the back of the class. There were 2 girls who were seated to Seungcheol’s right and were ogling him. The both of them also had the number 3 on their paper and followed you all upon hearing Seungcheol asking around for anyone with the number 3. 

Chan was still holding onto your hand. You had no intention of letting go though, especially with how awkward the air above you was. Chan and Doyeon often took turns helping to ground you whenever you got anxious and now it was Chan’s turn to help. 

The girl with a wolf cut spoke first, breaking the silence. “My name is Ryujin. It’s nice to meet you all. Especially you.” she said while looking at Seungcheol. You see him purse his lips while nodding slightly. The girl next to her then introduced herself, also openly admitting that she’s a fan of his. Yuna. You realised that while Jeonghan and Joshua entertained their fans, Seungcheol never really bothered. 

Chan introduces himself next, leaving you and Seungcheol to introduce yourselves. You look at him and he looks at you, both of you waiting for the other to speak first. Chan gives your hand a squeeze and you decide to break the silence. “I’m Y/N. Nice to meet you all.” You see Seungcheol smile a little and Ryujin’s face goes cold when she notices it too.

“I’m Seungcheol, but you all probably already knew that.” He says with a little bit of arrogance painting his voice. 

The class quiets down for a bit as everyone settles down in their groups. The Professor, Professor Seo, finally started his lesson. The lesson was pretty easy to follow granted that you had already looked up all the study material needed for all of your classes. You could occasionally hear Ryujin and Yuna giggle but for the most part, the lesson went by pretty quietly. You were focused on the lesson and were periodically helping Chan when he needed help. When the lesson started, you mentally put up a wall between you and Seungcheol, which by the way, was something you were good at, in order to focus. You were not intending to put down your mental wall until the lesson ended. 

And soon, the lesson did end. Before ending, Professor Seo gives the class a mini assignment. Seungcheol asks the group if anyone wants to set up a group chat to discuss our assignments and Ryujin offers to set it up. You all end up giving your phone numbers to her. 

“Do you want to be the group leader?” Chan asks Ryujin. You do need to put someone’s name as the leader and since Ryujin is setting up the group chat, Chan decided to ask her.

She looks at Chan and then looks at Seungcheol. “I think Seungcheol should be the leader.”

He takes a moment to think about her offer. And then he looks at you. “Only if Y/N agrees to be the assistant leader,” he says, leaving Yuna baffled and Ryujin seething with anger. A moment of awkward silence fills the air. Surprisingly, Ryujin is the one to break the silence. 

“So are you going to agree or not?” There’s a hint of spite in her voice, making you aware of the fact that you might have accidentally made an enemy on your first day of your second year. You realise that neither of the answers you give would pacify her so you decide to actually take up the offer. You end up taking yourself, and Chan, by surprise with your answer. 

“Oh my god I’m an idiot!” 

You’re back at the cafe where you started your morning but this time, only with Jun and Chan. You have a 3 hour break and decided to come back to the cafe for lunch solely to avoid having to see Seungcheol and his friends as well as Ryujin and her friends. Minnie and Doyeon’s schedules were different from the 3 of you which is why they weren’t at the cafe. 

After the incident in class, Seungcheol’s friends showed up and you couldn’t ask him why he wanted you to be the assistant leader of the group. Ryujin packed her stuff and left with Yuna while sulking, leaving you to finally process what just happened. Jun had walked up to the both of you and Chan suggested going back to the cafe knowing that you wouldn’t want to be on campus grounds after what just happened. Chan quietly briefed Jun on what had happened in class. 

“So why did you say yes?” Jun asks.

“I don’t know! The pressure? The fact that Ryujin looked like she was going to murder me regardless of what I said? I don’t know.” You put your head into your palms, trying to gather yourself. 

“Maybe you can use this to help you fight your fear?” Jun suggests, though he knew it wouldn’t be a good idea.

“Are you kidding? It’s already bad enough that I have to be in a group with him AND he wants me to be his assistant?! I made an enemy, EN. NE. MY. because of his stupid little remark. I did not spend an entire year making myself invisible just for Mr Has Everyone’s Attention to ruin it!” 

Your response leaves both Jun and Chan wide eyed.

“You know him?” Chan questions you.

It was at this moment when you realised that while you were externalising your anger, you might have accidentally acknowledged the fact that you knew him. 

“Do. Not. Tell. Doyeon.” You briefly go over how you know him without mentioning that you once found him attractive. It took Chan and Jun awhile to process the fact that you knew the guy from the library and yet you didn’t say anything about it. 

“Ok but what if he knew you from that class? It’s kind of obvious if there’s only one person who’s more interested in running out of the class than trying to flirt with him.” Jun suggests.

“Yeah, right. What is this, a romance book?” Chan scoffs.

Did I make a mistake?

© cherriscoups 2023 - all rights reserved.

[dark-twist-fairytales]

Back on my Snow System BS (never left it), and here's some details:

It's under a read more because it's detailed.

Once again noting: Not every system works like this, this is based on our research, and thinking of this as if the character.

So, originally they were going to call themselves 'The Ice System', but it felt too cold for their lighter nature, so 'Snow' was much more fitting for them.

S1 runs as it normally does, up until the true potential part. Bodily, they're named Zane, and Zane is the host present. When, Titan comes in during the true potential phase.

Minor difference between Zane and Titan are present, but no one can exactly pin it down to two, and instead chalk it up to being post-potential. This runs through S2 as well, with Titan and Zane trying their best. Even after finding out of being plural, they keep it a secret.

Titan is a host and protector that uses he/him pronouns, who powered off with the memory switch. A protector is someone who protects the system and/or body.

Zane is a host and symptom holder that uses he/they pronouns, who formed after the memory switch got flicked off. A symptom holder is someone who holds the symptoms of diagnoses.

S3 rolls around, Zane and Titan working in tandem together. And the Pixal comes along. Not that it's a bad thing, but when he gave her half of his heart, both Zane and Titan agreeing with this, it pushed Zane from the body and brought it over to Pixal.

This leaves Titan in the body, now having to only go by 'Zane', while Zane resides in Pixal's body and coding to help fight. This doesn't do anything to change the outcome, but Titan and Zane both deem that it is too quiet without the other.

S4 happens, which brings Pixal into the body, along with Zane. In between S4 and S5, Zane talks with Pixal and discuss Zane's plural nature, and both place it as a secret between each other, as Zane worries about how the team will view him, in turn them.

S5 happens as normal, and so does S6. Only, S6 has a consequence:

S6 introduces Echo, the headmate, but leaves them powered down after wishing. They aren't found until later, but right then, they are hidden and powered down, but still working.

Echo is an archivist that uses they/them pronouns, who is left powered off for now. An archivist is someone that stores memories, and can later pull them out for any reason.

S7 happens, and around this time is when Pixie forms. As Pixal gains her own identity away from inside the computer and Zane, this leaves Zane and Titan a little empty. However, this doesn't last long, as Pixie forms shortly after Samurai X is seen, running things like how Pixal did. It's an introject of Pixal, which explains her close nature to how Pixal runs things.

Pixie is a caretaker and uses she/its/cyber pronouns, who formed very very shortly after Pixal's first departing from Zane's body. An introject is a headmate that is formed based off of someone else, fictional or real. A caretaker is someone that takes care of other members in different ways. In this case, it means Pixie takes care of coding within the body, as well as the mental and emotional state of cyber headmates.

S8 comes around, as well as Snake Jaguar. What was supposed to be a disguise, turned into more. The further into the disguise Zane had to go, the more Snake formed, it turned into a battle amongst themselves. That was, until Snake got knocked out by Mr. E. Although formed first a misguided protector, the knock out and bug caused him to become a trauma holder, as his way of protecting the others away from what he could.

Coming to, with Pixal revealing herself as Samurai X and her physical body, came the entire dawning of plurality to Snake and the rest of the team. Reasonably, this causes panic, but Pixal manages to calm everyone down and get Pixie to run a diagnostic from inside, also viewing in.

Snake Jaguar begins as a misguided protector, but turns to a trauma holder, and uses he/him or vi/virus pronouns. Not together, separately. A misguided protector is, as in the name, a protector that is misguided and harms the system or body rather than helps, typically unknown to the misguided protector. A trauma holder is someone that holds trauma that happens to the body, or that the body has witnessed.

Around this time is when Echo awakens, and thus commences rules and expectations. It's not a lot, but it's for all of them to understand.

After everything calms down (between s10 and s11), the ninja actually sit down and talk more about it, with all of the members getting to know each headmate, learning terms, and learning triggers. Including that Snake was actually more protective than vi was deadly.

As for naming, circling back to that again, many were thrown around: 'Ice system' was one of the first, but got shot down for how harsh it sounded (by Snake, oddly enough), Cole's suggestion. Zane and Co. was used a temporary, and titanium ninja was used in public so both hosts felt validated for their work (which worked), Nya's suggestion. 'Nindroid system' was suggested by Jay, but was collectively dismissed. 'Team system' was suggested by Lloyd, which sounded nicer, but still wasn't it. And then Kai took the approach of asking question by question, soon reaching 'Snow system', which they ended up loving.

Bodily, they keep the name Zane, and each wears different colors to try and differentiate from each other.

Titan keeps with light and snowy blues with metallic skin. Zane wears pale and baby pinks, after mending his relationship with them, with synthetic skin. Pixie, when it does come out, wears purple and white, and vibes with both metallic and synthetic. Snake wears bright and neon blues and pinks, with synthetic skin. Echo, while rarely, likes blacks and browns and metallic skin, but does switch out for synthetic from time to time.

They aren't plural to the citizens of Ninjago, and frankly don't feel pressured to be. Only when someone gets close enough (ie, Skylor or Dareth) will they admit plurality, or allow whoever they're close to admit it for them (with consent).

[wikagirl]

Allow me to introduce you to: Salem!

Name: Mitsuki Salem Hale

Age: 24

Height: 162cm

Voice reference: Snapcube on youtube (yes the sonic realtime fandub person, penny)

Salem is the older sibling to gigi and middle child to the Hale clan. Originally, just like all their other siblings, they were supposed to take on a position as a higher up in the company, but ended up choosing not to. Just like their father, they just didn't feel like the coroporate life was fit for them, it felt oppressive and restricting with all its social rules in the office and while dealing with other companies, the plain environment of the facilities and the never ending mountains of paperwork.

So they opened a bar on the spacestation in orbit of Cernunnos. At first things were great, a regular flow of travellers passing through and workers from the station as well as from the planetary rehab team came by to grab a drink after work, watch the sports broadcast and just hang out. And then the planetary rehab team got their own base down on the surface.....and then the base had to be shut off from outsiders due to a containment breach in the labs of the research department. Sure they got to open back up when the containment breach was resolved, but the customers just never came back the same as before and salems pride refused to let them allow their parents to slide them a little cash to give the bar a makeover. They refused to be just a nother nepotism baby.

And luck would have it that the new owner the handsome jackpot was looking to expand her empire, always ready to strike a deal to further her business ventures. Salem had seen moxxis broadcast from the underdome before it went down in flames thanks to a certain jackass, they had seen her on tv when she got interviewed as the new owner of the handsome jackpot. The way she carried herself, the charisma, the confidence, the poise, it was something salem aspired to be one day. And so, after a having to hype themselves up for two weeks, one mental break down and several evenings spent on the couch at home sobbing to their father while eating dino nuggies, they finally sent a message.

Anxiety wouldn't allow them to eat until a reply slid into their inbox which then quickly turned to them sobbing hystericly on the floor out of happiness. Moxxi was invited over to tour the premises and they had a deal.

The bar got a makeover, a promo campaign and business got back to buzzing! Sure salem wasn't the owner anymore, but they were still management of the local and in the end they got to stay where they felt most comfortable, behind the bar.

Some random tidbits about them:

they are physically intersex thanks to the XXY chromsome deviation. (this is a legit thing one of my irl friends has btw)

They dress very femminine which, for some reason, makes some idiots think it's okay to disrespect their identity more than when they dress masculine, these idiots usually don't last very long against their regulars

They have a little sign they can flip through, like these little flip calenders, with different pronouns on them, while on shift they prefer to go by he/him just to mess with the customers who instantly assume they are female due to their looks and to filter out all the bad eggs right away, no space for homophobia and transphobia under their roof!

outside of work they usually stick with they/them tho as they see themself as the physical manifestation of being nonbinary. Their second most used pronouns are he/him.

While on shift they go by Nixxi, Moxxi thought it would be a cute idea to make the xxi name ending a brand thing.

They themself don't drink any alcohol. They hate the taste, they just like mixing drinks.

Look more like one of their aunts than either of their parents

Former breastcancer patient. Wears prostetic/silicone breasts now if they feel like it, but usually not. Find it really entertaining to be able to just yeet dem tits into a corner after a long day

moxxi calls everyone sugar, nixxi calls everyone honeybun

their father refers to them by adjectives instead of pronouns most of the time, it started as a joke and ended up sticking. Sassy it the most commonly used one.

The bar has a stage that is usually decorated with an assortment of instruments, sometimes bands play there and if you ask nicely you can also go up there and try your best to impress the audience. When they open they like to sometimes just sit ona chair on stage and jam on the accoustic guitar until customers come in.

When they're not at the bar or at home you can usually find them hanging out at a store run by one of their friends. It's a mix between an occultism and vintage clothing store.

Prefers icecream with a vanilla flavoured base and chunky addons like cookie bits

the only thing between them being fully tatooed and pierced all over is their fear of needles

Character theme: confident – demi lovato Songs 5 they'd listen to: That don't impress me much – shania twain I love rock 'n' roll – Joan Jett one way or a nother – blondie hot stuff – donna summer Maneater – nelly furtado