#she shows her sister and they all think its the funniest thing ever

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

how to care for ur man thing

[possiblylando]

Whats the deal with the death devil? (YOSHIDA REAL?)

I made this fucking 'joke' back when 146 came out and I keep fucking thing about it cause its so fucking funny and I can one piece this theory into making sense hang on

I went ahead and made this chart to show the feelings towards the death devil. Both Makima and Fami wants the Death Devil dead however its unknown if they do that out of any animosity as their motives seem to be saving humanity from death. Yoru doesn't give a shit and Nayuta is in the same boat as Fami except she has no hatred towards DD. So that leads to the question, What did DD do to make them that mad? Here are the options based on what we know; 1. They don't hate DD at all they just want her to stay in hell because theoretically her presence on earth would mean the extinction of all life. 2. They HATE DD because she did something in the past that REALLY pissed them off. 3. Its a misunderstanding 4. Something else. Will the arrival of the Death Devil cause all extinction of life? (By Extension, Is She evil?) Using what we know of the other 3 Horsemen its a fair assumption to make that DD isn't pure evil or a natural disaster. For the most powerful devil to be a blank evil slate, It would be kind of boring. Even if it's something like the Darkness Devil, We've seen it happen before. We know that Primal Fears are weird and different as well because Darkness and Falling is completely different from each other. Given that I doubt DD's goal is to cause the extinction of all life, Especially because without humans there would be no fear, Thus there would be no devils.

Do they HATE the Death Devil? I think this one can be ruled out given the information we currently have as their reasons for wanting her dead seem to fall into the "Stop humanity from going extinct" angle. We could get some big reveal that DD ate the entire thanksgiving turkey one year but I doubt that'll happen. Could it be a misunderstanding? Given Fujimoto, This is a definite possibility. However I doubt the final antagonist of the series will be so easily resolved as 'Oh you're not actually evil mb'. There would be more too it. DD is probably malicious to some extent but not as much as it seems. It's also possible DD is completely uncaring for destruction and has no evil plans what so ever and just wants to visit her sisters. Because Death itself is cruel and impartial to who and what it takes. So what else could it be?

By FAR the funniest fucking option is that Yoshida actually IS the death devil and the rest of the horseman hate him because he's Trans and ruins their Sisters of the Apocalypse Gimmick. I'm not joking when I say this could ACTUALLY be the fucking solution and it's so fucking funny I keep fucking giggling at this stupid fucking One Piece Theory ass idea. Given what we know about War and how quickly Makima was reincarnated into Nayuta, It's likely that the Horsemen all have true devil forms similar to War and Pochita.

The bodies they currently inhabit aren't actually their Devil bodies and are instead hosts. Again, Given what we know of War, It can be inferred that Horsemen possess the ability to create a special kind of Fiend which is what Nayuta, Fami, and Yoru/Asa are. They're probably on par or only slightly weaker than their pure forms. As such these are more akin to host bodies than anything else. So then what if Yoshida (DEATH DEVIL REAL) is actually just DD's current host body? Yoshida is a weird case in general because he has basically no backstory yet seems related to Kishibe in some way. What if its a Nayuta and Denji situation? But then why would none of the other Horsemen recognize him as death when they met despite the fact they seem to have an intuitive knowledge of their sisters. It's possible that they don't recognise Death as Yoshida because he's actively hiding his identity as to not get outed. The Control Devil's one desire was to truly be loved and understand humans. So it's to go against their primary directive as a Devil; Be loved without control. Fami's motives are still a bit weird but they seem to just be "Eat a bunch of stuff that tastes good." Which again is against her MO as a devil; Feed the hunger instead of succumbing to Famine. Yoru, Who knows shes just a little freak. So thus the idea that the Death Devil's wish would be something like "Live among humans and keep them from dying" would somewhat match an inverted directive. Yoshida is a devil hunter after all who by extension stops humans from dying. So Illustrate how funny this would be if it was true:

But this requires Yoshida to not get fucking pwnd next chapter by another weird Queer Woman.

Time is a flat circle

[possibilistfanfiction]

ava teasing bea about her short haircut growing too long

[turned out silly! god bless]

//

beatrice wanders out of your bedroom around 11, hums in thanks when you get up from the couch where you had been reading to fix her a cup of coffee. she had been up early to surf, like usual, then back to sleep after you had laughed at her drooping eyelids and kissed her soundly after she'd showered. it's not new, not really, but the war is finally over and it feels like a series of small miracles: to sit on the couch as the day warms; to watch the sun float to the middle of the sky after the marine layer burns off; for beatrice to sleep without nightmares, to curl up into your side with her cup of coffee and kiss your shoulder. things are quiet, quieter than they've ever been since you'd had a piece of metal shoved in your back and life roaring through your veins; since you had kissed beatrice, sure you were going to die; since she had kissed you through tears when you finally made it back.

it's normal, these days, for her to nap: even though she won't fully admit it, she's catching up on, like, a whole lifetime's worth of rest, you're pretty sure. and a whole lifetime's worth of pleasure too, which you are all too eager to experience with her: the smell of peonies in the spring, the burst of taste from the plucots from the farmer's market, the feel of her hand buried deep inside you. and then rest — a pleasure borne of safety, of comfort, of finally, finally, not feeling like she's going to die. like, in some way, she deserves to.

she sighs into your neck and you kiss the top of her head, settle your fingers there. 'your hair is getting long.'

she huffs, quietly and mostly for show, which makes you smile. she sits up and rearranges her limbs, still casual, still soft and unassuming in her boxers and her favorite hoodie. 'i know.'

'you growing it out?' she's actively pouting about it, but fun to ask anyway, just to see her frown sharpen.

'ugh. no.'

'so you're just... vibing with this? it's, like, very 2010 justin bieber. i'm into it, though, don't worry.'

it adds a blush to her pout, which is delightful. 'horrible.'

'mmm. harry styles, original the x factor audition? more british, just for you.'

'ava.'

you laugh.

'you think you're very funny, don't you?'

'i'm, like, the funniest person i know.'

'that's okay,' beatrice says, a little smile sneaking its way into the corners of her mouth — delighted enough to make you suspicious. you narrow your eyes just in time for her to say, completely seriously, 'because, you know, looks aren't everything.'

'wow.' you clutch a hand to your chest. 'this is a worse pain than any injury i've ever had. a blow to my soul, beatrice. my very soul.'

it's worth it all, just for her silly laugh, for the terrible wink she offers you, for her apology in the form of a forehead kiss, gentle and reverent. 'i don't think that's true.'

'obviously not,' you say. 'and, also, i know it's a lie. i'm hot as hell. actually, hotter. i would know.'

she sighs, exasperated and overwhelmingly fond.

you brush back bangs that fall into her eyes. 'what's up, then?'

'i —' she pauses, fiddles with the chain around her neck, picks at her fingernails until you take her hand and squeeze. 'i don't know. ptsd and executive dysfunction?'

'ahh. so, super fun in your head lately, huh?'

'i—i've told you,' she says, a little hesitant.

'oh, babe,' you say, scoot closer to her and offer your hands. 'i know. and i'm sorry. you know i understand.'

she nods.

'can i help? i can schedule an appointment with your barber; we can make a little evening of it, if you want. or we can totally just come back here after. you know i'm, like, a sucker for a fresh fade.'

she grants you a gentle smile, a real one, a little indulgent and just for you. 'i do know that.' she squeezes your hand. 'our sisters asked if they might come over later, actually. so, if you could help me make the appointment for late afternoon, then maybe we can have a pizza night afterward, or something.'

never in your wildest dreams a few years ago would you have dreamt of having a pizza night with a bunch of nuns, or ex-nuns — one of whom is your hot butch partner, the rest of whom are your family — but, 'fuck yeah. that sounds awesome.'

beatrice nods, straightening and focusing seriously. you hide a smile. 'okay, i can do it. make the appointment.'

'you can.' you rub her back. 'or i can.'

she gets out her phone, opens her texts. there are... a lot of unopened messages, and you make a mental note to go through them with her tomorrow, but she scrolls to her barber's contact and sends off an extremely polite and perfectly punctuated text, and, like, god, you love her.

'okay, well, can we, like, make a music video or something with this hair before we go or something?'

'no.'

you scramble to follow when she stands up — lithe and graceful and powerful; you're still undeterred. 'what about a video in the car? taylor swift gay love interest?'

'oh, and you're taylor swift in this scenario?'

'you love her. i know it. speak now is like your favorite album of all time.'

'it certainly isn't.'

you follow her into your bedroom, just for fun, and nod when she tells you that her barber is available in an hour.

'hmm. 1989?'

she gives you a muffled sigh from the closet as you flop back onto the bed, and you smile up at the ceiling. her favorite taylor swift album is red, and you know it for a fact, but that's okay; you'll let her keep her silly secrets for now.

she emerges in a men's sage green linen co-ord set, slouchy and perfect, and pristine white sneakers, and holds out her hand. 'lunch?'

you pop up and lace your fingers with hers.

/

beatrice orders six pizzas, all different kinds from the sourdough pizzeria nearby, which you try to tell her is too many, but she's still a little anxious about things so you let her have it; you can eat leftovers and force camila and yasmine to bring some back to mother superion anyway. beatrice also sets the table outside, which is one hundred percent ridiculous, but it's cute so you just tell her it looks nice and put the whole stack of pizza boxes in the middle. there's a whoosh and sulfur and then mary, lilith, camila, and yasmin are dusting themselves off in your living room. you hug them all tight, compliment mary's freshly done braids and camila's t-shirt, yasmine's new earrings. you make it a point to annoy lilith with as many pick up lines as possible until she just walks away from you to skulk around on the patio while you get everyone wine or beer, but she takes the glass of a beautiful chardonnay she and beatrice like with a small, genuine smile.

'your hair looks nice, beatrice,' camila says, digging into her slice of pizza once you're all sitting around the table.

beatrice steels herself for a moment, and you all know she's still working through everything: a lifetime of trauma, from her parents, the church, a holy war. 'thank you,' she says, soft and sure, and you share a smile with camila.

'yes,' lilith says, and beatrice is mid-eyeroll when lilith contines: 'very love island boy.'

there's a brief pause and then mary is delightedly and loudly laughing, beatrice is blushing up to her ears, and it doesn't take long until the entire table dissolves into giggles.

'oh my god,' camila says, 'let's have a love island party!'

'it is summer,' yasmine agrees.

'i'm ordering you a waterbottle, right now,' mary says, phone in hand.

beatrice groans and looks to you, exasperated and adorable. 'better than justin bieber, at least.'

you grin, put your hand on the back of her neck, run your fingers along the grain of her buzzed hair until it fades neatly into the short top, where it's always inevitably, and fashionably, a little messy. 'i'd crack on and then couple up with you every trip to the firepit, if that's what you're asking.'

'i'm leaving,' she says. 'i'm on a journey of self-discovery, and you're all the worst,' but it's all posturing: she laughs and eats her pizza and is apparently swayed into actually having a love island party next weekend by your promise of wearing your tiniest bikini for it.

a few days later, a package does arrive on your front porch, and you almost snort seltzer through your nose laughing so hard when beatrice opens it to find a water bottle with her name on it in bright pink, curly font.

[leminhthinking]

"add something, if youd like" ok, here is something i used a throwaway account to comment on the Double MV. i didnt reread so i didnt remember anything about it sorry but there probably is mention about internalized ableism. also personal experience. its kinda shaped like a rant

posting it here now that i came out about being plural here. yeah.

tldr (theres another tldr at the end of it but it was from the time i commented and i want to add something else here) i love representations

I keep finding myself wanting to comment something under this video, but I know I'll say stuffs about myself that I feel would be unsafe to share using my main so I'm using this throwaway account to do it instead 😔

I just want to say that I'm so grateful that Mikoto and John (and maybe other alters in their system too? saying this just in case) were ever written. Being a system who had just discovered that only over a year ago, I can almost see myself, no, I can almost see *us* in every part of their story up until now. And in a way, I feel like I've also... grown with them? If that makes sense?

I have been following MILGRAM for quite a while, enough to be there when MeMe was just released. Back then, I still thought that I was certainly a singlet (didn't have DID), despite how one of my alters - I will refer to her as my sister from now - showed up pretty regularly at the time. That's why when I watched MeMe, I remember thinking to myself, "oh shit, this guy's just like me, and because [insert internalized ableism here] I'm saying he guilty then." But then we all know what's got confirmed 😂 Funniest thing is, a short while before that, I also came to term about being a system. Dammit, to think about it, it felt like a second confirmation 😭😭😭😭

Now that I have accepted who we really are, the release of Double and their second voice drama feels exceptionally special to me, as the host of our system. John and Mikoto's situation right now really reminds me of us last year. My sister and I specifically, respectively. At that time, I tried hard to deny the fact that I am not alone in my head, and that we are entirely separate people. It took me a while (with a few tarot spreads. fuck. I'm a Mikoto kinnie now) to know that we actually are... and some actual, honest conversations to know that she actually loved me, rather than wanting to harm me... Yeah. Yeah. You see what I'm talking about? That's why I'm really rooting for Mikoto and John to have better communication... Ah, maybe if Mikoto watched "his" own second trial MV, he would understand...

That being said, I'm still not sure on what to vote... When I first watched Double and listened to the second voice drama, I thought to myself, ouch, ok, guilty because John clearly seems to be the alter who knows more right now and that would keep him fronting more to interrogate. But after a while, my opinion... changed? I don't want Mikoto to be affected too much from the verdict and maybe going dormant because of that. John maybe still there for the interrogation but fuck, I don't think he's ever been without Mikoto for a long time and I'd hate to see his heart breaks. Maybe innocent is the better solution after all for the whole system, as it might soothe Mikoto's mood and his mindset. I also trust that MILGRAM's writer team know what they are doing and therefore would not "kill off" John. Maybe they will just let him be inactive for a while if they are voted innocent, given that he's finally satisfied with our decision...

(Yes, I do know innocent = forgiven and guilty = not forgiven and I'm deciding while knowing that. I'm just calling them innocent and guilty because I'm more used to it while speaking in English.)

Hmm, that was a longer rant than I expected. I don't know how to conclude really, so I'll say something that would sound entirely unrelated 😔 If I remember correctly, prisoners can hear us audiences right? If that's really true, I just want to scream to Mikoto and John that it's 100% ok to be a system! To not be alone inside your mind! To exist alongside another person in your system and love them! It's ok to just be yourselves! And please please please fucking find a way to communicate with each other!!!

Once again, thank you MILGRAM for letting them exist... I really hold them so dearly in our heart...

TL;DR: local system getting emotional over Mikoto and John, rooting for them to have better communication.

[aihoshiino]

whats your favourite thing about each of the onk characters?

As a person with ADHD I am ontologically incapable of picking Just One Thing but I'll do my best!!

Ai: oh my god she melts my brain too much to pick just one thing!!! If you really put a gun to my head though I would have to say her warm, persistent kindness in the face of a life that has often been abnormally cruel to her. She always goes out of her way to be kind to people even when it has absolutely no benefit to her, just because Ai is a deeply kind person that even abuse and neglect couldn't tarnish. She understands loneliness and abandonment to such a deep degree that even when she can't exactly understand the ins and outs of why or how other people feel the way they feel, when she sees people suffering or in pain, her instinctive response is to reach out to them and try and make sure they feel heard even if she can't actually do anything to ease their pain. For all the BS she says about calling herself cynical, people hating and all the rest of it, Ai is such a deeply and actively kind person to such an incredible degree.

Also her fangies. Can't forget the fangies.

Aqua: Aqua Hoshino Is The Funniest Guy In Oshi No Ko And He Doesn't Even Know It. This sort of falls under the more serious header that is the cavernous gap between Aqua's stated goals and intentions and the reality of his actual feelings that often slips out via his actions but more specifically I'm obsessed with the hysterical comedic gap that is Aqua larping as Light Yagami during season 1 of Love Live. Like ugh yeah I have to kill my dad but what am I gonna do, NOT wear matching TWINS tshirts with my sister? Or shit like him being the one to go and get his copy of Sweet Today and start paging through it while Ruby and Miyako watch it and then immediately tattling to Kana that Ruby talked shit even though he toooootally doesn't care you guys :/// Mfer dressed up like a buff chicken and did a squeaky voice for a week because he can't handle having a crush on Kana!!! HE'S THE FUNNIEST GUY IN THIS WHOLE SHOW AND NOBODY UNDERSTANDS Ruby: The way Ruby's history as Sarina - or I guess more specifically, as a person who grew up both disabled and under a toxic mother - informs her zest and energy is soooooo sweet and tender to me, but especially in the ways in informs her deep, deep love for Ai as her mother. The inheritance of Sarina's despair and its transition into Ruby's joy and empowerment is such an incredible and powerful beat - I watched episode 1 with a friend last night (hi Silvie!) and the scene of Ruby realizing that she no longer lives in a body at risk of betraying her at any moment and that she has a mother who loves her and values her happiness and positive growth over all else is still one of the most powerful scenes in the whole story for me. The way that realization of euphoria and power continues to form the foundations of her arc going forward is a big part of why the first stretch of the manga is still the strongest material to me.

Kana: my little failgirl <3 Kana is another one of those characters where I could say a lot of deep and introspective things about her incredible resilience, her intelligence and determination and the way she continues to try and make herself big in a world that has only ever operated by making her feel small but the truth in my heart is just that I think she is the funniest bitch on the planet. If Aqua did not exist she would take the crown as Funniest Character In Oshi No Ko. The consistency with which she takes Ls and gets fed her own hair emotionally speaking (UH AND LITERALLY I GUESS BECAUSE I WROTE THAT JOKE AND THEN REMEMBERED THAT SCENE WITH THE DIRECTOR) just really gets under my guard and makes me fucking lose it every time it happens. I'm a simple guy, ok? Memcho: Mem being a woman in her early 20s and the perspective and emotional intelligence that comes with that experience, especially when contrasted with the teens, is soooooo fascinating to me. In general it's just really refreshing to see a girlie in her mid 20s in an anime still being portrayed as just as fun and cute and silly and energetic as the teens; anime in general has a really bad habit of having two ages which are Teen and Middle Aged Adult but Mem just feels like an actual person in her mid 20s which is SUCH a nice change. I also just think that, like I said, the way her emotional intelligence contrasts the kids who are still going the fuck through it as teens experiencing huge, fucked up emotions for the first time in their almost-adult lives; Mem's a lot smarter and sharper than folks give her credit for and it's always so interesting to see her snap into 'adult in the room' mode. The fact that this doesn't at all interfere with her friendship with Kana and Ruby is also really sweet - I actually do not remember ever seeing one of these age gap friendships in an anime that didn't come with some weird maternal overtones but the way B-Komachi's friendship kind of supersedes and makes their age gap a non-factor really reminds me of my own friendships like that - both when I was Ruby's age and had older folks looking out for me and now that I'm Mem's age and some of my besties from my real life DND group are babies LMFAO

Akane: The way OnK portrays Akane's acting technique is really fascinating to me! This is maybe a bit of a silly comparison to draw but I find that I weirdly relate to Akane and the way she portrays characters because I've been doing some form of online text roleplay or another since I was licherally 11 years old and the way she talks about like... sewing up internal inconsistencies and reverse engineering a character's thoughts, feelings and general worldview from their portrayed actions, making connections between aspects of their character that may be unstated by the text but make your portrayal cohere and feel richer and more vibrant. This is literally exactly the way I handle writing canon characters right down to the unhinged canon review, to the point that it is a running gag between me and my friends that Akane's serial killer ass Ai research session is Literally Just Me when I'm doing my Oshi no Ko canon review. It's about the weirdest and most unexpected way I have ever felt represented by a piece of media LOL Miyako: The absolute character development W this woman had!!! Admittedly I feel like the glowup is only so strong because Aka clearly had a very different Miyako in his brain when he started writing Oshi no Ko vs the one she actually became but I still absolutely love the ways Miyako grows over the series and how smart, competent and fiercely driven she is when given a reason to motivate herself. I don't have a huge to to say about Miyako just because she so effortlessly speaks for herself but God I Love Her. Ichigo: i just love it when a guy is a faildad to a fucked up teenage girl There we go! Admittedly this wasn't Everyone and I mostly just stuck to the main cast I had strong enough opinions about to voice but! If you're ever curious about what I think about someone in the extended cast, please do feel free to drop me some asks and prod me for my thoughts!

[skylarstark4826]

"Namor. ACCESS: GRANTED." GRIOT announced and…

"Hey, princess~ miss m—"

"The real question is WHAAAAT AREEEE THOOOOOSE—?!!!!"

…

Shuri is being too much at this point. Exaggerated. Namor thinks and looks down at his own feet where she is gesturing exaggeratingly.

"...My "wings on my ankle that I could swim in the sky" winged ankles feet?" Namor quoted himself smoothly.

"I invite you to my lab and you have your toes out!"

Namor thinks Shuri is being unreasonable to him. 

Only to him, to be exact.

"Why are you being unreasonable?"

"I'm not! You are the one being unreasonable! How could you walk into my lab showing your toes out, and wet feet! You're making my floor wet all over the place—!"

The funny thing is,

The more unreasonable she became, the more he yearned for her.

"The next time you come into my lab, with sandals on, at least! Anything! Are you even listening—"

"I'm listening~" He isn't.

"NO YOU'RE NOT LIS—!"

Namor continues to pace around in the lab, making her floor wetter as the waters drip down from him. Nodding and pretending to listen to Shuri seriously all the while.

"K'uk'ulkan. ACCESS: GRANTED."

Namor enters the lab and immediately stubs his toes.

"FUCK!" Namor kneels in pain as he hits his toes on the edge of a table. He grumbles and waits for the lingering pain to pass.

A few moments later,

"Told you not to have your toes out in my lab."

Namor hates it when she's right.

Except the table wasn't AT the entrance yesterday.

"You little shit." Namor curses under his breath.

"Make way! You are blocking the way, K'uk'ulkan!"

Shuri holds him up and nudges him to the side to let the scientists go through while they are moving tables.

"This is the lab's new vacuum robot, little Vakoo. And ah-ha~ my new invention! I mean upgrade!" Shuri pats the tables when they pass through them.

"Vibranium-enhanced and upgraded tables, to be exact! It is…"

Shuri announces her new toys excitedly. Namor looks at her, deadpan. He looked around while she kept on explaining…

"—Top notch adhesive to the floor, its—"

Namor kicks the table with all he got.

Sending it flying across the lab, across all Shuri's other tables, across her sand table, across the med bay, across her hologram screen, the table etched into the wall. A mighty crash resounded, causing vibrations to ripple through the lab.

"You were saying?"

…

The whole lab falls into silence. Except for the wall that the vibranium table is etched into, it started cracking and crumbling. Pieces and pieces falling off.

…

"I INVITE YOU TO MY LAB AND YOU JUST KICK THINGS AROUND AND DESTROYED MY WALLLLL—!!!"

Shuri continued bombarding Namor for an hour, but he remained unbothered and NOT SORRY AT ALL.

…GRIOT updated the screen accordingly as Shuri instructed this morning:

Namor - Shuri

  1 - 1

The next day.

A fucking huge "NO" sign on the lab entrance.

(Rayne: seriously, this is the funniest shit I ever drew (and I don't know how to draw at all, let alone draw with a mouse) Of course, Shuri could definitely draw WAYYYY BETTER but I CAN'T obviously!!!)

With the words "PROHIBITED TO ENTER!"

Still, he decided to try his luck.

"King Namor of Talokan. ACCESS: DENIED."

Namor stood there. Dumbfounded.

Namor - Shuri

  1 - 2

T'Challa happens to come to the lab to meet his sister and pats the God-King's shoulder playfully, asking, "First time?"

"King T'Challa. ACCESS: GRANTED."

T'Challa walks in, leaving Namor busy rolling his eyes on the spot. He misses the chance to sneak in with the king.

Shuri and T'Challa do their usual Wakanda salute routine enthusiastically.

"You think it's a good idea to leave someone as strong as the Hulk out of the lab entrance?" T'Challa voiced out from the bottom of his heart.

Shuri pointed at the wall. There's an enormous hole in the wall. Yes. The same hole that was destroyed by Namor who sent the table carved into the wall.

It could fit ten T'Challa's in it.

"Point taken." Her brother raised his hand in acknowledgement.

"He. Came. Into. My. Lab. And. Kick. Things. Around!" Shuri complains to her beloved brother.

"But I heard that you intentionally placed a table at the doorway because he..." 

Shows his toes out in the lab. 

T'Challa looks down at his royal sandals quietly, he's showing his toes too… for now. And he kicks things in her lab a few times too…

T'Challa decided to remain silent on this issue. No comment. He only hopes it doesn't affect their "diplomatic relationship."

"What was the upgrade that you wanted to show me?" As soon as T'Challa finished speaking,

A loud thunderous clang reverberated throughout the whole lab.

The lab's alarm blares immediately, and the emergency red lights flash. 

Another resounding whack echoed across the entire lab.

In an instant, T'Challa suits up and heads towards the source of the disturbance.

Shuri shouts, "GRIOT! Give me an update NOW—!"

A loud thud and reverberating clash of a heavy object is slammed and hurled into the lab. The mighty crash resonated throughout the place, causing vibrations to ripple through the whole lab.

T'Challa sprints to the crime scene and sees…

"BAST, you are fucking kidding me…"

Shuri catches up to him quickly, ready to support her brother.

"Brother! Wha—"

"...I told you it's not a good idea to keep him out."

Shuri hates it when he's right.

Namor came into the lab through the window he sliced.

He walks towards Shuri and—

"Hey, princess." Looking smug. Sounding smug. Being smug. 

…

Being an idiot. T'Challa tries to focus on the sound of the maglev trains carrying vibranium. But failed as he heard Shuri cracking her knuckles beside him.

She stares at the huge floor-to-ceiling window of the lab that was being slammed on the floor.

AND having his toes out in the lab after she told him not to!

…

Everyone remains silent. Even the king didn't interfere with the intense atmosphere. T'Challa rolls his eyes, facepalming.

Shuri takes deep, deep, DEEP breaths on the spot, turns around and walks towards her sand table.

"Shuri, let's not be haste—" T'Challa follows her closely, 

The sound of gauntlets loaded on.

T'Challa gave a not-subtle head tilt at Namor, signaling him to leave quickly, while Namor himself remained, watching Shuri with great interest.

He just got in! He's not going to leave just like that! 

Shuri turns around in her Black Panther suit, mask off and points at Namor directly.

"GRIOT—"

Namor started walking backwards at this point. Oh fuck.

"Light him up."

Namor immediately flies out of the window he came through just moments ago before the concussive sonic force blares and resounds throughout the entire Great Mound.

He soars into the Wakanda sky, looking down at the mountains that remind him of Mayan temples while his eardrums are racked with pain. Waiting for her to chase after him.

Waiting for Shuri to come to him. 

Shuri pilots the Sunbird and fires heat seeking rounds towards Namor, ambushing him from behind. Namor dodges it deftly, deflecting them with his spear and takes Shuri on a trip to breathe in Wakanda's pristine air.

Idiots in love. T'Challa sighed silently as he watched them soaring through the sky, dancing around each other. 

Another restless day. He thought about venting his frustrations to Mother later. Ever since the God-King arrived, his headaches instantly doubled up.

T'Challa announces through his kimoyo beads when the explosions are getting more consistent.

"Stand down, everyone. It's just a military exercise, no need to worry. Raise the barriers. Raise all your barriers, for Bast's sake…"

He tried to enter Shuri's lab again the other day.

"The Feathered Serpent God. ACCESS: DENIED."

Namor went the other way around. From the windows. And it was SEALED as well. Along with the NO sign. And extra shields. With electrified sonic barriers pulsating furiously.

Welp…

The gears in Namor's head turn quickly.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"Prince T'Challa. ACCESS: GRANTED."

"Thanks, Soobe'." Namor high-fives Toussaint.

"You're welcome, Ts'eyuum! Don't forget my xocolatl and whale riding!" 

"I won't."

Toussaint runs into the lab happily and says hi to all the scientists.

Namor walks into the lab with his toes out. Heading straight to where Shuri is standing. She's discussing something with her scientists.

The scientists noticed him but didn't say a word. Shuri didn't notice him at all as she was into explaining how things work.

He sat on the couch silently. Fumbling on the prototype kimoyo beads which are coloured in deep blue instead of obsidian black. For his people. 

Namor took off his golden-coloured kimoyo beads and connected with the prototypes, playing with her tech effortlessly.

Shuri is done talking and walks past him. She didn't notice him. Namor waited and waited and waited—

Shuri started walking backwards and stopped right in front of him.

She looked at Namor with a bewildered expression, then glanced at her intact windows first, and finally observed him fiddling with her prototypes in his hands. He pressed a few times on the screen, and her deep blue kimoyo beads illuminated in green through the Mayan wordings, indicating approval. 

"HOW DID YOU GET IN?" Shuri exclaimed, slightly incredulous, with her hands on her hips.

Namor didn't bother to answer and continued fiddling with the beads.

Shuri was impressed by how he managed to bypass her lab and what he did to make the beads work. But she wants answers.

It distracts her from noticing Namor have his toes out in her lab AGAIN. 

And she got her answer when Toussaint ran into her, hugging his favourite aunt fully.

"What did he bribe you with?" Was the first thing Shuri asked her baby nephew.

"Auntie Shuri! Uncle Namor promised to take me to go whale riding and treat me xocolatl for a month!!!"

And Toussaint SOLD him out just like that.

A big smile spread across Namor's face as he shook his head in amusement.

"Ho, that's all it takes to win you over? I didn't teach you like this, young man—" Shuri said with a triumphant look on her face as if she had already won the bet before she proposed. 

"How about I promise to let you fly around Wakanda a few times, and you are piloting it! And maybe shoot some flying god from the sky! And tonight, I'll take you to the night market for some fun, once every week starting from now on. The deal is, don't let him in next time." Shuri pointed at Namor and Toussaint grins widely. So does the man being pointed.

"Deal, baby boy?" Shuri knows exactly how to win hearts over easily. 

And Namor absolutely enjoyed seeing Shuri in this victorious and teasing manner.

"Deal! Remember your promise, Auntie! You can't brush me off with work like how you do with Baba!"

"Of course! I kept my promises, okay! Now, run along, be careful and don't break my stuff!" She lets him go finally. While grinning victoriously at Namor.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, never knew a princess needed to bribe a child, thinking she can stop me from getting into the lab~" Namor clicks his tongue smugly.

"Tsk, never knew a god needed to bribe a child so he could let himself into my lab~" Shuri looks at him, amused.

"At least I'm not trying so hard to bribe the kid. He mentioned it before, and I just went along with it," Namor returns Shuri her beads, he got everything set up for the ones she left out.

Shuri knows it's a trap but, "What did you do?" She waves her beads, she wants to know what he did to make it work.

Namor looked smug, cocking an eyebrow in a playful manner. Of course, no one will understand every single thing about his nation better than himself. And of course, he could handle these minor technological conflicts with ease.

"Bribe me, princess."

It was Shuri's turn to cock an eyebrow.

"You have a god tempting you to bribe him. Make sure you seize the opportunity," Namor teases.

"What's the deal?" Shuri crosses her arms. Not giving in.

"Simple. Maybe let him back in your lab."

"Sounds like a bad deal, at least for you," Shuri questioned, raising her eyebrows. She thought he was gonna ask something else.

"It's definitely worth it," he replied with a smirk.

"Hmm. Let me think about it~" Shuri decides to let him wait.

It was a peaceful afternoon where they worked with the scientists to improve their border security together.

Before Toussaint almost got himself in trouble.

He was busy playing with the suction robot, little Vakoo and didn't pay attention to the rack of chemical substances behind him.

Shuri's been paying attention to the boy through her peripheral vision. Toussaint is just like her, someone who seems to attract trouble.

And there it is.

Shuri heard a thud and immediately started pacing towards Toussaint without even looking at what was happening.

"—Toussaint—!" Shuri shouts.

Toussaint bumps into the rack and the bottles on the rack start shaking wildly, he reacts quickly to hold onto the rack and not let it fall but the bottles of chemicals are already slipping towards the edge.

Oh Bast, Aunty sounds so angry, Toussaint knows he's doomed.

Shuri was quick to react.

But Namor was faster than her.

He was fast enough to lift the boy out of the falling rack as Namor swiftly pulled Toussaint into his arms, using his entire arm to shield him and positioning his back as a barrier to the falling bottles. His other hand was initially blocking Shuri's head, but as bottles and flasks kept falling, he shoved her away to safety, allowing the chemicals to splash onto his own hand.

Finally realizing the danger, Namor looked quickly and decisively kicked the rack in an open direction where there were no people, causing a huge mess on the floor. The shattering glass echoed in the entire lab and finally fell into silence after the bottles had all jumped down from the rack.

Shuri sat on the ground in a daze, not comprehending what had just happened, until others rushed to her side and helped her up.

Namor wasn't thinking straight. He was a bit slow to react and got some of the chemicals on himself, but his cloak shielded him from most of it, as his sole focus was protecting the young boy.

Namor stood in place, looking at the mess on the floor, realizing there was nowhere for him to go without stepping onto the shattered glass and chemicals that burnt his skin. Ignoring the pain in his feet, he gently patted Toussaint's back to reassure him that everything was okay. 

"Toussaint, are you hurt?" he asked, concerned that he didn't shield him completely.

"N-No… Ts'eyuum… I'm not hurt, but-but you- I'm sorry… A-Aunty, I'm sorry…" Toussaint trailed off, unable to bring himself to look at the trouble he had caused. He sensed his aunt's presence behind him and realized he was in trouble. Pretty sure he was grounded.

Namor chuckled and comforted Toussaint, "Well, at least your whale riding is still on. It's alright, just be more careful next time." 

Finally, Namor looked towards the aunt and joked, "I found the perfect home for your top notch super adhesive magnetic films. It could come in handy for these little bottles of yours."

She didn't say anything to retort.

Namor followed Shuri's gaze and— He shrugs, signaling the others to help clean up the mess their little prince made. Then, his gaze shifted to Shuri's... and Namor furrowed his brows deeply with concern.

He set Toussaint back on the ground when the floor was cleared. Nudging him to his aunt.

Shuri averted her gaze finally, 

Unable to bear the sight of Namor's feet covered in chemical-induced injuries, blood and flesh mangled. 

She was tired after the whole incident but she wants to get things done.

And the sound of shattered glass woke Shuri up. Her hand slipped.

The glass surrounds her and there's nowhere for her to go…

Shuri's mind was blurry. She short-circuited.

…

"...Namor—"

Shuri calls for him.

"Namor!"

Namor finally lifts his head from fiddling with the beads to look at her… and sees her situation. 

He never left since the incident this afternoon. Or not he would need to find someone else to sneak him in again. 

Namor smiles like a devil.

Shuri curses under her breath.

"Need saving, princess?"

Namor steps onto her vibranium tables and crosses through a few tables to reach her, bypassing all the shattered glass on the floor.

Shuri looks at him, dumbfounded.

…Why didn't she think of this???

Oh, because her foot fucking hurts!!!!

In an instant, Namor stood beside her. On the table. Looking down at Shuri. Grinning.

"Shut up." Shuri interrupts whatever he's planning to say. Before he could mock her.

"Give me some space, princess."

Namor proceeds to sit on the table and puts down one leg to sweep away the glass around her and steps into her personal space.

Shuri backs up but Namor holds her firmly.

"It's already cramped here, you genius."

"Step on me."

"What?"

"Step on me, Shuri."

"WHERE??????" 

"Step on my feet, woman!"

Shuri does as he says. Lifting her leg and going to step on him—

"…WAIT— but your feet-!"

They both look down at their feet in sync, both wrapped in bandages. Shuri's left foot and Namor's feet.

Namor was quick enough to lift Toussaint out of the way. And shield Shuri a bit then pushed her away. But she still got hit. While his feet were injured the most. However, it was mostly healed thanks to their combined technology.

"Just step on me, Shuri, I'll be fine."

"NO…I'll crush you…" 

But Namor insists. Indicating he will lift her up wherever she wants it or not.

She carefully steps onto Namor's feet, wrapping around his waist for support. Leaning her head on his chest. Listening to his heartbeat.

"Impressive if you did." Namor holds her tightly in his arms and starts sweeping the floor with his bandaged feet, carrying along the weight of a princess on top of him.

He sweeps away the glass, making a path to safety while feeling the weight of Shuri on him. She's light. Although his feet hurt a bit. But it was bearable. She's not that heavy to make his pain unbearable.

"…Am I heavy?" Shuri asks while leaning into his embrace, feeling safe.

This is a question of death. To answer or not to answer. From ancient times to the present day, it remains a challenging question.

"Unbearable."

Shuri hits him on the shoulder. She is going to hit him a second time…

"But it is my burden to bear."

…Shuri's hand falls back to his neck securely. Smiling secretly as she rubs her face against his heart.

Namor successfully lifts them out of the mess. Setting Shuri on the couch he was sitting on moments ago. He kicks the suction robot at the entrance. Calling it to clean the floor.

Shuri watched her robot sliding into her sight and sweeping the glass…

"...You couldn't have done that earlier?"

So he doesn't need to lift her out of the mess like that!

"No."

Shuri doesn't want to talk to him and closes her eyes to rest on the couch, waiting for little Vakoo to clean the floor and get back to work.

The couch on her left sank in as someone sat down, causing her to tilt in that direction as well. With a soft thud, her head knocked against his shoulder, and Namor once again invaded her personal space.

Their bandaged feet brushed against each other. His wings poked out as she wrapped the bandages avoiding them since his wings were fully healed. His wings flutter when Shuri uses her feet to rub against them softly. It tickles. 

Namor earns a few soft chuckles from the princess. He finally relaxed at the sounds of little Vakoo vacuuming the floor and Shuri's giggles.

Shuri puts her foot onto his. Comparing the size of their feet and contemplating how he walks like his feet weren't wrapped until she can't see his toes.

"Told you not to show your toes out in my lab." Shuri had to quip.

"If it wasn't for my toes, you and your nephew are going to get hurt."

Shuri groaned and pressed her lips together.

He's got a point though.

But he wouldn't be hurt that BAD if he had something on his FEET!!!

Namor didn't understand why, but Shuri seemed possessed, continuously rubbing her ankle against his wings. After rubbing against his right foot, she got up and sat down on his left side, then resumed the same action.

…What are you doing??? Namor decided to keep his mouth shut for a moment this time.

After Shuri had rubbed enough, she obediently sat still, placing her uninjured right foot on his bandaged ankle without even glancing at him. 

If Namor didn't like it, he hid it well.

His wings settled beside her ankles, not fluttering nervously anymore.

So does her heart. 

Seeing Shuri starting to doze off, Namor gently pulled her into his embrace, letting her rest against his chest as she slept. Even in her dreams, she didn't forget to rub her ankle against his wings. He reciprocate the gesture, and together they fell asleep amidst the noisy hum of the vacuum cleaner.

The first thing Shuri did the next day was lift the restricted command.

.

.

.

.

.

Namor came to the lab during the afternoon and prepared to be blocked outside of the lab entrance as usual.

Thinking he should look for T'Challa to help today.

"—Ch'ah Toh. ACCESS: GRANTED—"

Namor stood still at the entrance. Hmmmmm. Pondering whether it was a trap or not.

He peeks into the doorway, no tables.

The coast is clear! He walks into the lab carefully. As usual, he searched for her figure. And found her easily at her usual spot.

Shuri's laughing. 

How could she stand there and laugh and look so beautiful? 

Shuri turns around and points at the couch when she hears Namor come. Signaling him to sit and wait for her to finish a discussion with a group of scientists. She comes to him shortly after.

"I'll only say it once, just this once. Listen carefully, and stop smiling like an idiot—" Shuri declared, putting on a poker face, but failing miserably as her lips couldn't help but curl into a subtle smile upon seeing him.

Finally, Namor stood up and said, "I'm listening~" 

As he bent down and leaned closer, he gently held Shuri's hands, delicately caressing the back of her hand with his thumb in circles, and her left hand with kimoyo beads. His other hand softly and slowly tracing the inner of her wrist, her right hand with his mother's bracelet. 

Shuri's heart skips a beat and feels a rush of butterflies in her stomach. She was tickled by his touch, and she firmly held his entire hand instead, preventing Namor from making her feel more butterflies. 

Then, she brought his entire palm up, while using her finger to point at him to said in final, 

"YOU are the only one allowed to show your toes out in my lab FROM NOW ON. Only you. Just you. Do you understand? Only one. GRIOT, jot this down—"

"Just me? No, no, no, what about the others?"

"The others? It's only you who do this! I will not tolerate othe—"

"What happens if your future children like to walk around with their bare winged ankle feet too?"

"MY future children WILL NOT WALK AROUND WITH THEIR BARE WING—"

…

…

…

Realization hit her and Shuri is lost for words.

…

…

…

Namor grins wider and wider when he witnesses Shuri being stunned and her brain short-circuited, face going blank— 

A few moments later,

Shuri blinks four times and finally looks at Namor, who looks infatuated in her eyes.

Their gaze… interested. And Shuri…

"—YOU WISH!!! Keep dreaming! You idiot!"

The End. 

—BONUS:

They still took Toussaint to the night market as Shuri promised him.

Wait, they?

Yes, Shuri "bribes" Namor to come with her.

"Come with me and Toussaint to the night market. Tonight." Shuri commands.

…

Namor smirks, lifting his head with a sly grin from whatever he's doing to look at Shuri.

He smiles roguishly.

"Bribe me, princess."

"I knew it—"

Shuri stepped on his foot a few times purposely to make sure his foot was healed although he still kept the bandages on— Namor didn't wince, OKAY! And Shuri stepped on Namor with her whole body. It's all or nothing. 

Namor kindly wrapped his arms around Shuri's waist to prevent her from losing balance.

However, Shuri changed her mind and getting back down, she tiptoed instead. Namor instinctively lowered his head slightly, smiling uncontrollably as Shuri gently kissed his cheek.

"I heard Princess Shuri is very kind and generous and…"

With great gusto, Shuri showered Namor's other cheek with a loud, passionate kiss.

"Hmmm, think I have to disappoint Toussaint on the whale riding because his aunt—"

"Will you EVER stop? You greedy man—"

Shuri tiptoed and finally, with a look of teasing and twinkle in her eyes, 

Shuri kissed his lips, just as Namor desired.

Shuri could feel the unabashed smile on Namor's lips as she kissed him, but she noticed that he didn't kiss her back. Purposely pressing his lips tight.

Determined, Shuri began to lick and trace his soft lips, but Namor maintained his defenses. His mouth curved until it pointed to the sky. 

Just as Shuri was about to retreat, Namor finally enveloped her in a crushing embrace and deepened their unrelenting kiss.

They kissed and melted in each other's arms, intertwined and inseparable as their lips creating a symphony of tender intimacy that echoed with the sweetest whispers of affection.

Namor lifts Shuri up onto his feet as he kisses her softly, cupping her cheeks and stroking her sensitive and soft skin behind her ears, she shivers under his restless touch. But before Namor could feel smug, Shuri rubs her ankles on his wings intentionally. Making Namor's toes curls helplessly as his wings flutter furiously—

He imprisons her between his arms, his wrapped toes tickling under her feet playfully.

It was suffocating. They kissed with such intensity that it took their breath away. Shuri whimpered, unable to resist as she tightly wrapped her arms around Namor's neck and ran her fingers through his hair. 

Namor released her lips just enough for Shuri to catch her breath, and in that moment, they breathed deeply, as if their very existence depended on each other. Inhaling each other's scent with contentment.

They pressed their foreheads together, lingering in their affectionate embrace, their chests pressed tightly against each other as they could feel each other's hearts beating out of their chest exaggeratingly and relentlessly like an unquenchable fire.

Shuri nuzzles their foreheads together softly. Now, they share matching radiant smiles, their whole being brimming with joy. Their eyes crinkled at the corners with affection, their ears turned slightly rosy, and their lips glowed with a moist, rosy hue alluringly.

As Namor nuzzled back, he whispered affectionately, "Alright, wherever you go, I'll follow you. Shuri, In yakunaj —"

Namor lingered in tender kisses, planting them softly on Shuri's forehead, above her eyebrows, beside her eyes, on the tip of her nose, along her cheeks, and on her chin. 

Finally, he pressed a loud and passionate kiss on her rosy lips, feeling completely satisfied. Namor released Shuri with a contented smile and took hold of her right hand with his bracelet. 

"Come on, let's go~" His left hand with kimoyo beads entwined with her right. 

Hands entangled, 

Hearts synchronized, 

Souls intertwined and, 

Destinies interwoven. 

They are forever bound in this universe. 

Shuri smiled blissfully, her heart swelling with Namor's love. She tightly grasped his left hand, allowing him to lead her to the ends of the world.

"Fucking tease."

"You love it."

"I should change your access name again. Namor, King of Tease~ sounds pretty accurate to me—"

"Whatever you like, princess~"

In the end, Namor and Shuri took Toussaint to the night market together, and let him pilot the Sunbird with Shuri sitting beside him and Namor flying beside them. They went whale riding together and drank xocolatl together, not just for a month, but for the next month too, and the next, and the next more months to come in the future.  

Together. 

The End.

[runwithwolvcs]

Right Where You Left Me

Part Five: Wildest Dreams

No Warnings

“You coming to Gracies party tonight?” I hear the familiar voice from behind as he places his hand on the small of my back.

“Nope.”

“Come on, live a little.” Paul teases.

Rolling my eyes, I tell him, “I have to watch my sister.” 

“Bring her.”

“Shes thirteen.” I remind him, even if she was older I wouldn’t bring her. Gracies parties were always full of booze and drugs and I am not going to be the one to enable my sister in teen drinking.

“Right.” Paul nodded, before asking “How long are your parents going to be out for, maybe you can come later?”

“They’re in Seattle for the weekend.” I shut my locker, turning to face him, “Can we talk about something else?”

“Yeah, lets talk about how good you look in these jeans,” Pulling me against him by the belt loops

“We’re at school.” I whisper harshly, gripping his wrists to stop them from traveling anywhere else. Though we were currently the only ones in the hall, the bell was due to ring any moment and the halls would be flooded with students. I’d rather not be known as one of Pauls conquests.

“So? I know a place.” he mumbled, pressing soft kisses along my neck.

“Of course you do.” Removing myself from him as the bell rang, “See ya tomorrow.”

“Tonight?”

“I told you--”

“My window, I won’t be late. I promise.” The boyish grin he wore so well appearing on his face as he cut me off.

“See you tonight,” I say, shaking my head laughing as I continue to my next class.

Spending the night with Delta was, in my opinion, better than any party Gracie has ever had. We may be four years apart but she is wise beyond her years, and the funniest person I know. We baked cupcakes for our mom, although I know my dad and I would be eating most of them to make it look like she could stomach them, but I don’t mind. My sister loves baking, so I supervise and let her be a kid. She deserves it.

My phone dings, signalling a text message and I see its from Tessa.

I open her text, reading quickly, “Paul and Rachel are all over eachother tonight. Get tested, babes.”

I can’t say I’m  surprised, only a little disappointed. They saying you can’t teach an old dog new tricks plagues my mind.

Silencing my phone, I clean up the rest of our mess before heading to bed myself.

It’s not long before I hear him knocking on my window, but I ignore it, hoping he thinks I’ve fallen asleep. The knocks get louder and I can’t have him waking up Delta over this nonsense.

I hurry to the window and open the curtains, then the window. Crossing my arms over my chest, “What?”

“I sent you a text.” Is the first thing Paul tells me. His shirt is off and showing off the muscles he’s gained from soccer. His tan, smooth skin looks warm and inviting but I know he just had Rachel under him, and I’m not gonna be his sloppy seconds of the night. Even if he’s wearing those damn grey sweatpants that make me swoon.

“I know.” I admit, I read it. Then swiftly deleted it.

“Coming?” Gesturing to his room, with a smile. 

“Nah.”

“Seriously?” Paul asked, shocked written all over his face.

“Seriously.” I mock him, “What? I just figured you’ve gotten your fill with Rachel.”

“We kissed once. Well, more than once.” His excuse was terrible, but we’re not together so I can’t be mad. I know that. “But I didn’t fuck her, so it’s no big deal.”

“You should’ve because you’re not fucking me again.” But maybe I can hold a grudge.

“Baby..” Paul says, and I know theres not point arguing with him about this. Only a drunk Paul would call me baby.

“And you’re drunk and wont remember this in the morning, goodnight.”

“I am drunk” he confirmed with a lopsided grin, “But all I’m saying is that if you were at the party it would have been you, and not Rachel.”

I open and close my mouth, speechless. It was if the wind had been knocked out of me.

Oh, I’m sorry I had to take care of my little sister while our moms away in Seattle getting treatment for a cancer that is going to kill her sooner, rather than later, I wanted to say. 

But I didn’t. I couldn’t bring myself to.

“Go to bed, Paul.,” I quietly say, moving to shut my window.

“Wait, wait, I didn’t.. Fuck…” Reaching over and holding the bottom of my window to keep me from shutting it. I wanted to laugh, or maybe cry.

I think a lot about what my life would  be like if my mom hadn’t gotten sick. Would I have been at Gracies party with Paul? Would I even have taken him up on his original offer and gotten in to his truck that very first day? 

My dads not particularly fond of him or his father, not that I have any idea why. They seem like every other family in La Push.

“I’ll see you Tuesday, at our tutoring session.” I move his hand and slam my window shut, closing the curtains quickly.

I turn to shut off the lamp by my window and see a flash of red out of the corner of my eye, gasping I turn in the direction it was in. The room suddenly feels frosty and the eerie feeling of the darkened forest becomes me. I don’t see anything, I furrow my brows.

I take a step forward, and the another, the air around me gives me goosebumps.

I notice the book I had left on my bed was now on the side table. I didn’t put it there.

The feeling of a hand gripping my shoulder painfully, it felt like stone as it turns me to face them and I can’t help but gasp at the wicked grin I see before me.

I open my mouth to scream for help but nothing comes out as it lurches towards me and I--

I sit up covered in sweat as I gasp for air, shaking as I look around my room in the dark for whatever the hell I had just dreamt about. 

No red hair.

No pale skin.

No wicked grin.

I’ve never felt such relief in knowing I was all alone. I kick my covers off of me and rush to turn on every single light in my room, making sure there was nothing lurking in the shadows.

The red numbers of my alarm clock read, 4:28 in the morning. Not bad. Only three more hours until I need to get ready for school.

I can’t sit still, the antsy energy stemming from the anxiety of my nightmare has me pacing my room, looking over my shoulder just in case.

Jumping as a flick of light catches my eye, but it’s just from Paul’s room next door. I can’t tell if he’s just gotten home, or if hes waking up for whatever Sam’s got for him today. It’s been two weeks since I watched him run into the woods. He’d kept his word, leaving me alone.

My feet drift me towards the window, I want to feel what I felt in his arms in the woods. The sense of security was one I had never felt before in my life.

But I can’t bring myself to open the curtains, let alone the window.

---

The day dragged on longer than any boring movie Delta had made me sit through and all I could think about was my nightmare. I spent the entire day looking over my shoulder as if whatever it was would snatch me before I could scream. 

The last bell rang and I practically ran to my locker, tugging the lock off of it and ripping the door open.

A book, that I did not leave there sat with a note attached to it. The anxiety of this morning creeping back into my mind.

Picking up the note, I held my breath as I read, 

I know how much you love history, enjoy it.

Tu lobo 

“Your wolf? Who's that from?”

“Not sure.” I say quickly, stuffing the note in my bag. I turn to see Jacob grinning at me.

“You coming over afterschool today?” He asks, leaning against the locker beside mine.

“Can’t.” Shutting the door to my locker, “It’s Friday.”

“Right, sorry. I forgot you spend Fridays with your sister.” Jacob says gingerly and I’m glad he’s never pushed back on how I spend my time. He gets it, I guess.

“All good. Monday, maybe?” I suggest with a smile. The bikes were almost done and I had to admit, I was excited to see if they would actually work. I didn’t doubt Jacobs ability, but they were basically scrap metal the first time I saw them.

He nods enthusiastically, “ Yeah, maybe we can take my dads old bike for a spin if the weathers nice.”

“I don’t think three people would fit on one bike.” I tease him. I had gotten use to being the third wheel to Bella Swan. I didn’t mind it. It was a non-committal situation.

“I was thinking, just you and me.” Jacob avoided  my gaze, rubbing his arm nervously. I wasn’t sure if this was a pity thing, or a Jacob thing. Nonetheless I agreed.

“See you Monday, Jake.” I said, giving him a side hug before heading off to the freshman wing to find Delta. 

I find Leah Clearwater outside before I find my sister and stop to give her a giant hug, 

“I haven’t seen you in weeks, where the hell have you been?”

She laughs and returns the hug, “Says you. Jacob Black, huh? Guess it’s better than Paul.”

Letting her go, I shake my head, my hair flying around dramatically, “No, no, no. We are just friends. Thats it.”

“Mhmm. Said that about Sam’s lackey as well. Then you called me crying.”

“Speaking of Sam,” I change the subject, “ I was at his house--”

“What?!”

“Let me finish.” I whine. “Paul asked me to hangout and I thought I’d give him a second chance and thats where he brought me. I don’t know what you ever saw in Sam, he gave me the creeps.”

“First of all, why would you agree to hang out with him knowing he’s in a gang?” I cringe at her question, but she continues, softly saying, “Sam wasn’t always like that.

I give her an empathetic smile, now more than ever do I understand the complexity of what happened between Leah and Sam.

“Can I go to Seths tonight? It’s Friday.”  I hear from behind me, turning I see a smiley Delta, though Seth wasn’t with her.

“Did you and Sue have plans to bake something? I feel like you’re trying to make me fat with all these baked goods you keep bringing home” I joke and she giggles. My smile brightens at the sound.

“No, Seth wants to show me this new video game he got.”

“Oh. Seth, huh?” I tease and I can hear Leah hold in her snicker. We’ve talked so much about how they were going to end up together at some point, and it looks like that point is now.

“Paul, huh?” she mimics and my eyes widen as I turn to look at Leah who let out a genuine laugh.

“Seth overheard you and Leah gossiping one night. Is he really in a gang with Sam Uley?” She asks quietly, but I don’t answer her question, only giving her one of my own.

“How much homework do you have?”

“He hecho mi tarea.” Delta says in Spanish.

I raise my eyebrow at her, Spanish was not a class I had ever enjoyed and as soon as I could drop it, I did. Delta clarifies that she has already done her homework just as Seth approaches our little group. I agree to let her go, telling her if she’s staying the night she needs to let me know before ten o’clock.

“You two go, I’ll catch up.” Leah tells the two younger teens head towards the carpark.

“Now my sister thinks I’m into a gang member.” I say grimly, that’s the last thing I want her to worry about.

“You kinda are.”

“Leah.” I whine, shoving her playful away from me.

“Its the truth!” She laughs.

“I’m just worried about him. He said he would never join Sam.”

“I think you’re the only person who didn’t see this coming, the fact that you even let him in between your legs was shocking to me. The kids got a temper and its even worse now.” she reprimands like a mother. I never saw that side of him though, but we never hung out outside of study room or his bedroom, there was really no reason for him to get angry.

“Pauls temper isn’t that bad.” I try and defend.

“He beat the shit out of his bestfriend.” Grimacing at the reminder that he only did that because Shiloh was saying things about me.

“Well I’ve told him to leave me alone, I just have to return something to him.” The book that had been left in my locker belonged to him, I know it did. Who else would give me a book on wolves?

“Return something, uh huh.” Leah says with a cheeky grin.

“I do, he gave me this book about wolves. I dont want it.” I explain, but she clearly doesn’t believe me.

“I dont care if the sex is mindblowingly good, Kia, don’t let him in again. You’re smarter than that.” Shes not joking this time and I nod in agreeance, if one of my bestfriends is telling me to stay away, I’m going to listen.

Right after I return the book.

[scarletmaster143]

Skip beat: a hilarious mess full of love, friendship and human connections

(please do not expect cohesion or structure)

Skip beat will always always have a very special place in my heart solely due to the fact that it is the funniest show I have ever watched. The manga is written in an absurd, exaggerated style and both the anime and the drama manage to capture its unique sense of humour excellently. Ivy's over the top acting, siwon's cool but baffled expressions, dong hae's haughty side eyes (so much eyeliner) managed to capture the characters of kyoki, ren and sho so beautifully. It will always be a great pity that we never got a season two for either. (also props to the actors who played Mr yashiro and lory in the drama, they have my heart)

Coming to the characters themselves-

Kyoko: my beautiful bold courageous child, who dreams of fairytales even when she's going through hell. Her journey is amazing and inspiring and I adore how she rejects love but gravitates to cute things. Her friendship with moko is heartwarming and so is her big sister-ship with Maria. She makes so many connections throughout the story and each connection is so precious, i love it. My fav arc for her has to be the natsu arc but i will go into each character in detail.

Rich lady- yes I'm including this in her list of roles even though she didn't really play this part. The anime rendition of this is my favourite episode to watch solely because of how beautiful she looks and how much grit she has. It is also the first of many instances we see where kyoko draws from her own life consciously to act out a role, her past with sho is so shaded by her devotion and his indifference it was amazing to see how she took something positive from that.

Promo clip angel- legitimately gasped when I saw her outfit in the anime, so fucking gorgeous and it was so funny how she couldn't stop crying when thinking of moko (ahhhh kyoko is so adorable) also in the drama when she is bickering with sho (or shang ig?) in this outfit, have a hate-love relationship with the prisoner song tho.

Mio- ah mio, has there ever been a more iconic character, the last one we see in the anime and drama mio is iconic to kyoko in-universe as well as in the real world. The masterful way she crafts the character to be a little twisted but still striving to do the right thing, how she takes ren's advice and completely flips that perception that people have of mio, and how much heart she puts into learning about mio is awe-inspiring. Kyoko looks so good during her entire time as mio and i legitimately forgot how long she plays the role for- so many things happen while they are still shooting dark moon. Mio also allows kyoko to showcase a little bit of her darker side with the spirits of grudge

Natsu- the most delightful and horrifying character natsu's arc is the epitome of a showbiz drama. Her being so determined to shed mio but completely unable to, the entire sequence where the director and his assistant (?) discuss how she carries herself so different from other people her age, HER GOING TO REN'S PLACE AND DEMANDING HE TRAINS HER LIKE A FEMALE MODEL, chef's kiss. I like that she kept mio's wickedness but amplified it in a way that was more true to life. I feel like natsu somewhat resembles sho in certain ways tho I'm not sure if that was intentional. All in all it is the first step in kyoko's journey beyond dark moon and it is executed really well .

Kuon- lowkey forgot about it but when kuu asks kyoko to act as his son, it gave me goosebumps. Knowing that kuu is kuon's father and that kyoko has actually met him the past was already exciting, but when she showed up in that American boy outfit, i was stunned. Her meeting with ren was so cool, yashiro being confused af, ren being like wtf and her panicking internally, such a chaotic arc, her relationship with teacher/father is so adorable, she really thinks of kuu as a mentor and it warms my heart, i really want to see more kuu-juliena/ren-kyoko interactions simply because of how much ren's parents adore kyoko individually, but yes kuon is very special to kyoko and it helped her get over he funk with mio and natsu

Setsu- if natsu is my favourite arc then setsu has to be my favourite character. Made up for no legitimate purpose except for the ✨romantic spice ✨ setsu is such a cool character and her dynamic with ren as cain is absolutely revolting but also so cuuttteee. I love her fashion, love her confidence, there is a bit of natsu to her but definitely more outcast-y. My girl is totally a Vivienne Westwood grunge queen and i cannot ever get the hotel-hickey scene out of my head, kyoko's acting grows leaps and bounds here as she works with ren who even falls prey to her, it is beautiful. (Love that she kicks sho just for laughs) I hope we find some way to meet setsu again since we see murasame make a reappearance, would love to see her act as setsu in front of beagle boy,

Momiji- we haven't seen a lot of momiji the character but i do adore a tragic love, the momiji arc was probably the best in displaying how much kyoko has grown and how her connections with other people have shaped her, she's more sure of herself largely because she knows she has reliable people backing her up and their loyalty is a direct result of her kindness/positive behaviour with them. Her faith in her own abilities is very encouraging to see and i find momiji surprisingly similar to mio in that she has to hide her real feelings due to circumstances out of her control, her devotion to shizumasa and her grudging respect for chidori just as she bleeds out perfectly tie up her arc and though she is tragic she is splendid. I like that they took the time to establish kyoko's current position before moving into the route arc which I feel is going to be long and tedious, morizumi was a pain and director kuresaki is so pathetic i love him

[boypussydilf]

Shusumi for the relationship ask game

i dont know how you even found my blog but thank you *kisses your hand like a prince meeting a princess*

describe their canon relationship/dynamic

oh , you know. sumi is lonely and full of Emotions but doesn’t even know That let alone why she feels it and then a cool guy shows up and is Nice To Her and she goes omg!!! [latches onto him for reasons barely related to Who He Is As A Person] and akira goes Oh another person who wants to use me as a sounding board for their internal monologue. sounds fun :) This probably sounds mean, and almost DEFINITELY is not the dynamic the writers Intended for them to have, but i like it i think its really funny

legit sumi just wants someone to look up to and to rely on and akira was either blessed or cursed by god with a special talent for Being Relied On. she wants to feel like someones helping her and hes happy to help anyone. etc

your ideal/headcanon version of it? how does it differ from how it is in canon & why is this your favorite version? any other alternate versions of it you enjoy?

you know ive thought about royal trio and ive thought abt akesumi friendship but i dont think abt Just These Two that much.

first of all RIP to the person who sent this if they come back hoping for some Clearly Romantic ShuSumi Takes but to me they are like siblings. sumire doesnt Realize theyre siblings but akira is just constantly taking new younger siblings under his wings and she is included. theyre siblings in a very drastically different way from akira & futaba though akira and futaba are loud and obnoxious and chase each other around sojiros house like a couple of grade schoolers and sumi is not completely barred from that but her and akira are more like. they meet up and sumi talks about her Life and her Feelings and akira gives her Just Enough Advice To Be Helpful Without Being Pushy and then they, like, look at college application forms together or something. its practical, i guess is what im saying. akira Sometimes bullies and pesters her (affectionate) but her reactions dont tend to be very strong so its not as fun.

im Neutral on genuinely romantic shusumi, to me they are not that interesting as a ship and also they are both gay in the wrong direction and also they are big brother little sister mode, but i do exist in a state of absolute fascination with like. comphet shusumi. literally sumire is going I want a Perfect Life and that means Living Stereotypical Heterosexual Romance Tropes :) and she thinks she has found her opportunity here and is telling herself Yes i am IN LOVE! this is what that is! I cannot conceive of a version of the akira from my brain who doesnt know full well hes gay but if he somehow didnt wouldnt these 2 cringefail straight dating living their ridiculously played-straight damsel in distress & noble hero story be the funniest thing ever. And by that i mean fascinating and a torment labyrinth i wish them luck escaping

Also i think they are getting along fine and normal the way they are but like. sumire “used to relying on other people A Lot” yoshizawa and akira “just wants to help people. A Lot” kurusu. They can either have the perfect friendship that is exactly what sumi needs where he has the right level of involvement to help her gain confidence in herself while still knowing she can turn to someone for help. Or go straight off a cliff into bizarre codependency.

Basically I like it when things have the potential to be kind of fucked up. But they aren’t these guys are normal. They just sit in leblanc telling each other dad jokes. Akira buys a wallet just to put a comically large collection of photos of sumi’s greatest achievements in them and proudly show it off to his friends. She gradually goes from reacting to him experiencing something Comically Bad but Harmless like tripping over something with giggling immediately deliberately stifled by SORRY IMSOSORRY ARE YOU OKAY, to just openly laughing at him and he pretends to be annoyed but he’s happy about it.

what do you like about their relationship, why is it interesting or enjoyable to you?

I like Akira World’s Most Big Brother Moments #227. i like all the different winding pathways the concept of Them can go down bc i like having things to pick apart and analyze and look at from hundreds of different angles. i like. the video game persona 5 royal

what about the individual characters involved? what does this relationship mean to them, what makes it unique among their relationships?

No matter what, like. Sumire at the point in time where they meet NEEDS this, i think. Her sister just Died and she doesn’t really know it but she’s trying to figure out her place in the world Without her and also if the fact that most shujin students seem to dislike her is anything to go off of she doesn’t really like, have friends? She needs like. A hand to help her up. Someone To Lean On. Sort of like how Becoming Kasumi was not, like, The Best Solution To Her Problems, but was really helpful in getting her through that period of her life. & now she has someone who will listen to her and help her unconditionally and that is Great for her. She looks up to Akira she admires him she is eternally thankful & grateful to him. And also is convinced she’s in love with him

As for akira i . </3 For most of the time they know each other she’s kind of Just Some Girl He Knows. he definitely cares about her a lot & they have the chance to get closer in third sem what w her being Herself again & she Is part of his Little Sibling Collection. but i cant think of anything akira is getting out of this relationship aside from general Human Socialization. he just want to protect it want to see it grow up healthy (i say that a lot huh.)

favorite interaction they have in canon

Zero interest in them as a couple but sumis romance route IS one of the best things in all of p5 just for the scene where akira leans on leblancs counter Like That and stares at her just to be a Nuisance

favorite interaction they have in your head/a situation you want to put them in

oh god oh fuck i dont know uhhhhh. I think THEY should bully akechi together. I think sumi should get mad at akira. Not for anything in particular i just think sumi has the potential to be very mean if she will allow herself to Feel Negative Feelings and i like conflict between friends. Sumire tries to teach him gymnastics and he forgets hes not in a palace and does something stupid and embarrassing like faceplanting into a wall for no reason and shes very polite about it at first but in the long run she will not let him live it down. umm. thats it. i like them <3

[whatsthecraicwith]

What’s the Craic with...Films To Be Buried With?

I recently started binge listening to Brett Goldstein’s (aka. Roy Kent) new podcast Films to be Buried With and SPOILER ALERT! It’s really good. So good in fact that I decided to answer the questions myself. Please enjoy my controversial and strange opinions on films and do feel free to judge.

1. What was the first film you remember seeing?

Mr Bean’s Holiday. I remember going to see it with my dad and my sister at the cinemas during the school holidays. The scene of him eating oysters in the French restaurant is peak cinema.

2. What was the film that scared you the most?

Wallace and Grommit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I will not hear any different - this film is a horror film. It is not for children. It should not be shown to children. When I have children I will only show them this film if they have misbehaved so terribly that I need to scare them straight. I personally think my parents should pay for my therapy bills after having inflicted this psychological torment upon me as a child.

3. What was the film that made you cry the most?

Judy. This film DESTROYED me. I absolutely adore Judy Garland. I wish I could have been alive to have seen her perform. There will never be another performer like Judy. The emotion she put into every single song she performed was simply mesmerizing and Renee Zellweger captured perfectly everything that made Judy, Judy. 

4. What was the film that made you laugh the most?

Airplane! I know its one of those films where the humour is very much rooted in its time and most likely wouldn’t fly (pun intended) today but I remember being showed this film when I was younger and I thought it was the funniest thing ever produced. Everything about the guitar scene is so simple yet so effectively funny.

5. What is the film that means something special to you?

The Greatest Showman. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say I saw this 5-10 times at the cinema. I bloody love this film. I went to see it with my grandma at one point which is one reason why it’s special to me but the bigger reason is because of how much my dad loves this film. It’s his comfort film. He says it never fails to cheer him up. He even set it as his ringtone at one point just so he had an excuse to listen to it.

6. What is a film that people hate but you love?

Jingle All the Way. People who hate this film deserve jail time. You know who you are. It is up there in the top 5 Christmas films of all time. Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming a superhero? I can and have recited this film from star to finish. The quotability of the film is also top notch. IT’S TURBO-TIME! It’s not Christmas without it. 

7. What is the film people love but you hate?

Back to the Future. Quite possibly the most overrated film I have ever seen. How it managed to get it’s own musical I will never know. I will also never understand the amount of people on the podcast who put this as the best film or their favourite film. I really just don’t understand the appeal. Or why they made three. 

8. What is the worst film you’ve seen?

Christmas on the Square. Right. It is the worst film in existence. But it makes one hell of a watch party. I spent one of the best nights watching this film and it is both 2 hours of my life I will never get back and 2 hours of my life I want to relive over and over again. One word - CHANGE!

9.  What film did you love as a kid but think is shit now?

My friends would want me to say Jingle All The Way but they would be wrong. It is in fact 

10. What is the film you relate to the most?

Happiest Season. If you know me then this requires no further explanation. Therefore I shall give none.

11. What is the sexiest film you’ve seen?

Oceans 8. Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Rihanna, Helena Bonham-Carter. Anne Hathaway. Mindy Kaling. Awkwafina. Sarah. Catherine. Paulson. End of discussion. However the film does come with a *MAY CONTAIN JAMES CORDEN* warning so you have to be on guard at all times and armed with the TV remote for immediate fast-forwarding.

12. What is a film you found sexy but wasn’t meant to be?

Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness. I’m not proud of it. But they had no right making that Indiana Jones looking anthropomorphized rabbit look as good as he did.

13. What is the film you can watch over and over again?

The Princess Diaries 2: A Royal Engagement. A Queen is never late, everyone else is simply...early. Princess Ami HAS to go potty. They’re smitten whilst playing badminton...where’s my kitten? ARE YOU SASSING YOUR GRANDMA?!

14. What is your favourite film?

Mary Poppins. Julie Walters won that Oscar for a reason people. If you don’t think of Mary every time you open an umbrella then you’re not living life properly. The voice of an angel, coupled with Dick van Dyke’s charmingly bad cockney accent (which I as a child thought was spot on and didn’t see any issues with). I will never get bored of this film. It never fails to make me happy. And the best moment of the film? The very first scene. The overture. The minute that first note is played I get goosebumps. The best piece of music ever composed.

15. What is actually the best film ever made?

The Wizard of Oz. I will fight people over this. It is the best, most timeless film ever created. The Wicked Witch of the West is the ultimate baddie. Judy Garland in the performance of a lifetime. It’s a musical which already makes it fantastic. The moment Dorothy arrives in Oz and the picture goes from sepia toned to full over-the-rainbow technicolour is not only one of the most important moments for cinema but without a doubt the most iconic. 

16. Which one film would you take to heaven to show everyone?

Right. Now the thing with this question is it tends to be that people pick one of the films already chosen to take with them. But if I were to do that I’d naturally either pick my favourite film - Mary Poppins - or the best film - The Wizard of Oz. But I feel like millions of people would already have taken those two films to heaven and shown everyone. So people might get bored if they have to watch it again (I wouldn’t but that’s because I’m class). So instead I’m going to go with a film that no one in their right mind would have decided to take to heaven. And that it - Diana: The Musical. Now here me out because I’ve thought about this. Not only can I show Princess Diana herself whilst I’m up there in heaven, chilling out with her (because we would be friends. We would.) But I feel like showing everyone this complete and utter piece of garbage would make everyone appreciate musicals like Mary Poppins and The Wizard of Oz SO. MUCH. MORE. And just like that I will have done what was thought to be impossible - I will have improved heaven.

If you reached the end - congratulations! If my taste in films hasn’t completely put you off my opinions on anything, here is my brief list of recommendations of the best episodes of Films to be Buried With:

Hannah Waddingham

Aisling Bea

Rosin Conaty

Tom Allen

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I’ve been watching these NextUp streams from Edinburgh this month, had been meaning to make a post about what I thought of some of them, but have decided this one deserves its own post. I’ve been trying to expand my comedy horizons a bit lately, try out some styles of comedy that I might not really be into normally. Partly because I’ve tried that a few times before and it’s turned out great (I don’t know what the hell “absurdist theatre” is so I expected to not understand one moment of John-Luke Roberts, but then I watched it anyway, and now his show A World Just Like Our Own is one of my favourite comedy hours I’ve ever seen), so I want to see what else I’m missing out on that I’d really enjoy.

The other reason why I sort of feel like I should try this is just because I sort of like the idea of being like the cool cultured comedy fans who can appreciate shit like that. I wasn’t a theatre kid. I don’t understand the theatre kids. I saw the theatre kids in school. I see the theatre kids as adults. I’m glad they’re having a good time. I really am, I’m glad all that artsy experimental theatre shit exists and I’m glad there are people who enjoy it. I just wish I could back up my theoretical beliefs about The Importance of Art by personally enjoying it myself.

Today, I decided to watch Siblings and Family Friends, which was the title of a show by the comedy group called Siblings. I watched it because it was described on the Fringe Festival website as:

“Variety, cabaret: Prepare yourselves for a wild and wonderful variety night hosted by character comedians and IRL sisters Maddy and Marina Bye, of critically acclaimed Siblings, starring their family friends (who also happen to be the best comedians at the Fringe). Expect stand-up, clowning, sketch-comedy, drag, dance and more in these three exclusive nights.”

That is a lot of words that can appear in a description of a comedy show and make me recoil a little, and then move right along past it. Clowning. Drag. Dance. Variety. Cabaret. I figured, if I watch this show, I can get all my horizons broadened at once! A little sample of all the things I’m not sure about, in one show, so I don’t have to see any other shows with that stuff.

Thoughts about it are below the link, just because this gets rather long.

…It opened with an ironic interpretive dance about birth and childhood, but it was a bit difficult for me to tell just how ironic it was, the whole thing was confusing. But “an ironic interpretive dance about birth and childhood” sounds like exactly the sort of comedy I want to be able to appreciate, so I tried to do just that, just stare at it non-judgmentally until I get the joke. I’m pretty sure it was a joke. But I didn’t really end up getting it.

Then they said some other stuff, in character, where the joke was that their family is a secret cult but they’re pretending to not be a cult so they can recruit the audience, and at least that makes sense to me. It’s not the funniest joke I’ve ever heard, but it’s all right, I can see how if you were in the room where that happened and you got on board with it that would be a fun thing, so I tried to get on board.

Then a woman came out and did some things with a hula hoop that would make James Acaster wild with envy, while music played in the background. While this happened, she took off her clothes. Which I believe categorizes that performance as “burlesque”, which is another word that can appear in the description of a comedy show and will make me immediately decide it’s not for me. Not of any prudish instinct, I don’t think. Just because I want to hear someone say funny and/or emotionally moving things into a microphone and this is one of the many types of comedy that isn’t that.

So I actually watched the burlesque show, to see what all the fuss is about. And it was extremely impressive. I’m very very impressed that that person can do all that stuff with her body and with the hula hoops. I don’t… I don’t quite know how to say this without sounding horribly prudish, but I’m genuinely not sure why she took her clothes off. Not, like… “People should keep clothes on because bodies are bad!” I don’t think that. I just don’t really understand what the removal of clothes added to the show.  But maybe that’s exactly what it added. I guess that’s sort of the point of the whole thing, making the performance a rebellion against all the people who say that everyone should keep clothes on because bodies are bad? Either way, I didn’t really get the nudity part of it. But it was fun to watch the hula hoop move in time with music. And it was an incredibly impressive athletic feat.

The Siblings came back, and did a weird sketch, where I did get the joke but didn’t find it all that funny (it was a parody of meditation things, very visual, and I often don’t find comedy as funny if it significantly relies on visual cues).

Then Tom Ballard came out, and it was like… you know when you’re at a party where you don’t know anyone, and you get this rush of relief when you see a familiar face? That’s what it was like to watch this show and try really really hard to appreciate the comedy styles that I do not understand, and then Tom Ballard walks on stage. And yes, I realize it is not ideal that I could watch several women do really interesting alternative entertainment things and it left me impressed but also cold and confused, and then a white guy walks out and I say “Oh thank God he’s here, this is something I understand.” In my defense, I also great enjoy plenty of women who just stand there with a microphone telling jokes in the conventional way.

I’ve heard Tom Ballard tell this joke twice before in recent performances – he announces that he had gay sex with a witch, and then asks if there are any witches in. Both times I’ve heard it before, no one in the audience answers, so he says of course they’re staying quiet, the witches know not to identify themselves or they’ll get burned. He did that joke again during the Siblings set, but this time, when he asked if there are any witches in, quite a few people cheered. He had to change his response, saying that the people who cheered must be lying, because if they were real witches, they’d have stayed quiet to avoid being burned. That seems about right. That Tom Ballard does that joke to a regular stand-up audience and get the silence that he needs to set up his response; he tries it at this show and several witches are, in fact, in.

He did an extract from his full This Is I set, using the parts I’d expect. He did the bits of that show that are about sex. He left out the bits that are about politics and the death of his grandmother. That seems like a good choice for this show.

Then Siblings came back, this time in different costumes, playing different characters. They did a sketch about, I think, annoying teenage boys starting a business. I’m not quite sure what was going on in it, but it did not help that these characters had quite mumbly voices so I couldn’t understand half the words they said. I didn’t find it hugely funny, but I sort of got… maybe 50% of the joke? They waved the microphones around a lot. They made a man in the crowd get up and the lights flashed.

Then a guy came out and juggled what appeared to be bowling pins while music played. I was, again, very impressed with the athletic feat. Though it was less athletically impressive than the hula hoop woman, so if the entertainment is just supposed to come from us watching someone do something physically difficult and saying “Wow look at that,” it was somewhat diminished by having to follow her. I guess that shouldn’t be hard to understand – watching sports is an extremely popular passtime, so clearly, people do enjoy watching someone perform a physically difficult feat just to be impressed by their skill. Although, at least in my experience, a big part of what’s fun about watching sports is the competitive element. Maybe that’s what’s missing here. Those are my notes as a non-theatre kid trying to understand alternative entertainment – I think they should make variety shows competitive.

This guy didn’t take his clothes off. But he did juggle quite a lot of bowling pins by the end.

Siblings came back out in their initial characters, as people trying to recruit the audience to a cult. I liked those characters better than their other ones.

Then out came Egg, a sketch duo I’d vaguely heard of but had never seen before. They were, actually, really funny. Didn’t require any effort on my part to enjoy that. I would enjoy seeing more of them. They did two sketches, one about an annoying conservative aunt and one about awkward crowd work, both of which were good.

Then Siblings came back and sang a song about soccer dads, which was kind of funny. I enjoyed the song. Enjoyed it slightly less when they started slipping in and out of character afterward, and I went back to not being able to tell what they were doing.

Then there was a guy named Bill O’Neill, from a sketch duo called the Banana Brothers. A significant part of the joke in this part seemed to be that the other guy in the sketch duo wasn’t there. He messed around with banana peels and threw himself on the floor a few times, and I kept waiting for the twist or punchline or other way where we find out what funny thing that was setting up, until I realized that the sight of him doing that was meant to be the funny part. Then he did a sort of… parody of miming, I think? Or possibly just actual miming. A fair bit of the difficulty I had with this show came from not being able to tell how much irony there was in most of it. He threw some bananas on himself and writhed all over the stage for a while.

Then Siblings came back and did what was definitely a parody, they said so at the beginning, where the joke is that they have no circus skills but would pretend to do a circus act anyway. Once again, it helped that I finally got the joke, found it a bit funny, but so much of the humour came from visual stuff that just isn’t that funny to me so I ended up skipping bits of it.

And then: oh thank God, another familiar gay white man whose tour show from this year I’ve already heard so I know exactly what he’s like these days so nothing will be a surprise! Out comes Paul Foot (I’ve been weirdly writing this post in the past tense as though I’d seen it all and then sat down to write this, don’t know why I’ve been doing that because actually I’m watching it now and stopping to write stuff down as it goes along), and I know that guy! I mean, Paul Foot is not exactly known for being a non-confusing comedian. But it was quite a while ago now that I put in the small amount of work required to figure out what Paul Foot is doing, so now I already get it and can enjoy it.

He opened with a weird bit where he pretends to be a marmoset, but he was explaining it rather than acting it out, got in the audience’s face, it was fucking funny. Then he did his rhino horn joke from his previous tour show, which I find very funny. The line “They are, though” has gotten a laugh out loud from me every time I’ve heard it, which is now quite a few times. Then he did a bunch more from that show, including some briefcase disturbances.

He actually got quite a muted response from the crowd, which I thought was much less than he deserved; he’s very funny in general but was also very funny in this specific set. The crowd failing to recognize that immediately makes it more difficult for me to agree with this crowd about anything else.

Last up is Rueben Kaye, a guy I’ve vaguely heard of and know is a drag queen but I’d never seen him before. He was funnier than I’d expected, actually. I liked that he did actual stand-up, rather than the drag itself being the entertaining part. He had some quite funny jokes about his family. And at the end he sang a really dramatic rendition of Colin Hay’s Down Under song, which was a lot of fun.

I’ve realized that this stuff isn’t particularly different from those old Late ‘n’ Live videos that I enjoy so much, making it silly that I consider this “not my thing”. But I think what makes those so funny is the irony. The fact that it’s all people who normally get on stage and tell jokes, but instead, for this night, they’re wrestling in bubble wrap and doing rap battles and singing Eminem pulling apart cows and shit. It’s funny because it’s unusual and because they’re doing all of it with an ironic sense that this is a weird thing they’re doing and they’re kind of making fun of themselves. And not that people in this Siblings show weren’t making fun of themselves. It’s more than I just don’t know what they normally do so I didn’t get the joke so much. I couldn’t tell what was a parody and what was just entertainment. I guess that’s part of why I’m an obsessive completist about everything I like and will seek out as much context as I can for everything – I tend to enjoy stuff more once I’ve seen enough of it to really “get” what it is. And I haven’t, really, with this.

Anyway, I'm glad I watched that. I enjoyed... some of it. I enjoyed a bunch of it, actually. Some of it is not going to be for me. I think I like sketch comedy if there's a lot of talking in it and not so much if most of the humour is visual. I think that sentence still works if you take out the word "sketch", actually. This was an interesting experiment but I think I'm now going to find the most conventional straight stand-up show I possibly can, and watch that to balance it out. No character work. Preferably not even any crowd work. No interactivity of any kind. No sketch. No second person on stage. Not even a song. Just one human being spending one hour saying words that are 80% humour/20% personal trauma, as God intended comedy to be.

[paintball169]

Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month 2021!

Day 2 - Family

Day1 - Day2 - Day3

Marinette Wayne was the baby of the Family. She loved her brothers to no end.

Maybe a little more because they treated her as the baby.

Being the youngest had both its advantages and disadvantages. On one hand they listened to her every demand. On the contrary they were over protective.

Being the youngest also had other perks. No one could ever say to Marinette. Growing up Marinette was given lots of love by her older siblings. She got everything. She always loved the attention her crazily big family paid her. Don’t get her wrong, She loved her family a lots.

They gave her everything she asked. All she had to do was ask.

A ride in the Batmobile. Done. Modelling her clothes. Done. A baby Tiger. Also done. But mostly Marinette enjoyed spending time with her crazy family.

She loved the gifts and all, But the most? It was spending time together.

Playing pranks, Making gifts for each other, Game nights, Cooking nights.

Yeah those were definitely her most fond moments.

Her father and Siblings tried not to blow up the kitchen. That was something straight out of the funny TV shows for Baby marinette. She always loved her brothers and father trying to cook, and later accidentally blowing up the Kitchen. That was the funniest part. She would fall down laughing while clutching her stomach every single time.

Don’t blame her, Her family managed to do the most impossible things. Setting water on fire, Blowing up an egg in the microwave, Her father couldn’t even make coffee!

And that was funny itself. Marinette loved sitting on a chair and watching her Dad trying to make sense of the Coffee maker. Everytime she ended up laughing out loud.

She also loved doing the trapeze with Dick. Playing pranks on everyone with Jay. Trying to stay up all night with Tim. Walking Titus with Damian. Dancing with Cass. Doing ridiculous things with Stephanie. Watching Babs help through the Comms. Baking with Alfred too.

Also there was another thing she loved the most. Going to WE with her Dad. The Employees were made to sign NDA’s so her Identity wouldn’t get out. Many times she got bored in Dad’s meetings. So she ended up talking to one of the employees while they worked. Marinette was curious about business. So she often ended up with her bombarding a person with Queries. At the end of the Day, her dad would realize she wasn’t with him. That ended with him panicking and announcing on the huge microphones in WE. She enjoyed scaring the shit out of her Dad.

So when it was time to stay with her mother. Everyone ended up crying. Marinette was confused and sad. Did heer family not love her anymore? Did they hate her now? What about Jay-Jay? And Dami? Sure he was four years older than her, but he loved her, Right? She pulled her father’s coat and timidly asked

“Do you all hate me now? Is that why you're sending me away?”

Gasps were heard among many. “No darling, we don't, we love you lots. But your mother gave birth to you right? Don’t you think she wants to meet you too? You can still visit every summer and winter break.We won't miss a single christmas without you. I promise we’ll all call you daily!” Her father says. Yes, that makes sense. She should thank the lady for giving birth to her. Maybe the lady wants to know what she looks like.

“Pinky Promise?”

“Pinky Promise.”

And the promise was kept. Every Summer she ended up with new memories. She also got to thank the lady who gave birth to her. She was her Maman now. And there was Papa too! Marinette hopes that her Dad finds her another Mom! Then she would get to keep two Moms and two Dads! One will always be her Dad, Bruce. Second will be her Maman. Third, her Papa Tom. And fourth her Mom or another lady her Dad finds.

Marinette loved her new life too!! She also missed her Brothers and Sisters and the craziness they brought. She loved cooking with her Maman. Also she loved Baking with Papa. She also had a two year old sister Bridgette! She looked just like her! Now she has a small Sibling. It’ll be just like her and Damian!

Marinette made a lot of friends. Bonded with her sister. Also Introduced her to her Dad!

She had such good friends! She also became a superhero. Her both families knew about that. But all that changed one day. Why? The one and only Lila Rossi.

She took all of Marinette’s friends. Except Chloe, Kagami, Luka and Nathaniel. Chloe is dating Nathaniel. And Kagami is dating Luka. She also has a boyfriend, Jon kent. She started dating him Last year. Her family knew about Lila. So did Bridgette. She always called Lila a Witch.

This year she won't be going to Gotham to visit her family! They will be coming here! She was Psyched. Now Bridgette could meet them in person! She and Bridgette were currently sitting in Le Grand Paris waiting for the Waynes. Her Class was also going to be there. Instead they will be talking with Mr.Agreste. Oh Boy, She was going to enjoy this.

As she was thinking about what her family brought her, They said it was a surprise. They even got Bridgette one! Bridgette wanted to become a Cop, Just like Dick. She wondered if that was related. Maybe a famous cop’s autograph. Ooh maybe Commissioner Gordon’s.He was her role model after all! As she was soaked in her thoughts she missed the group of men wearing suits. Everyone’s Jaw Dropped. Aurore started filming. Her train of thoughts were cut off when she fell down from weight. She looked to see it was Jason Todd.

“Ouch Jay-Jay! Get off!” Marinette shouts. “What? Am I not allowed to hug my Baby Sister anymore?” He asks with fake hurt. “Of course you can! But seriously you are jumping on me!”Marinette Retorts. Then she’s under a dog pile. “I’m gonna join the pile too!!” Bridgette and Damian shout. “Boys get off your sister!” This earns a lot of Gasps. “Thanks Dad, I missed you.” Marinette then hugs her father. “Missed you too.”

“Hey Bridgette, nice to meet you formally!” While the waynes are absorbed in their conversation they miss a class with a teacher and principal coming in and taking a seat. Mr.Agreste is here in person.

“Aren’t those the Waynes? Why are they sitting with Mari-trash?” Lila asks getting a lot of Gasps. “Lets go talk to them, they will make an excellent Buissniess partner.”Mr.Agreste says to Adrien, getting a nod in return. Everyone follows them. The first thing they here is

“-A whole fabric shop for me? Thank you!” Marinette says hugging her Father.

“Is this Commissioner Gordon’s Autograph? That’s so cool!” Bridgette says.

“Mr. Wayne! A surprise seeing you here!” The Waynes turn to see Gabriel.

“Hello Gabriel. A surprise indeed.” Bruce answers smoothly.

“If you don’t mind, What are you doing here?” Gabriel asks.

“Oh, I decided that this year I should visit my daughter in Paris, Instead of the other way around,” Bruce says Patting Marinette’s head.

“She’s your daughter? She has quite a lot of potentiel Mr.Wayne.” Gabriel says Surprised.

“Right? She’s MW! Marinette Wayne!” Bruce exclaimed. Everyone Gasps.

“Oh?I’m glad our kids are such good friends.” Gabriel says fuming to the fact she’s on the top of the Designers list. To his surprise Mr.Wayne Scoffs.

“Good friends? Good Friends? These children bully my daughter on claims of a liar! Your son knows the truth, Yet he let’s kids bully my Daughter!On what note are they Good Friends?” Bruce Fumes. Everyone pales.

“I apologise, I had no idea.” Gabriel says.

“Not your fault. You should pay more attention to your son. Like even I’m a lot of busy. I still make time for my family. Although I'll still be pressing charges against the class and School.”

That’s how Lila’s Reign ended. She loved her Family no matter how much Chaotic they were. Yes she loved them lots.

@maribat-bdbwm

[itzyourgirlnat]

Not a science fan

It’s a monday evening, you and Kara are eating peacefully.

‘So, your school called me this morning’ she said while eating.

You immediately stopped eating and raised your head to look at her.

‘whatever they said I did it wasn’t me’

‘What? Kid, no! You didn't do anything wrong’ she stopped for a second ‘Did you?’

‘No! of course not’ you said while choking a bit.

‘Anyways, they called me to know if you were attending “the ceremony” this Saturday. It seems that you didn't confirm your attendance?’

‘oh, OOH’ Of course, the ceremony, you completely forgot about it.

The thing is that when this school year began, you were supposed to take physics. However, you hated it. Ok, you didn't hate it, but you definitely weren’t a fan (which is hilarious since your mom is literally one of the best scientists on the planet). But the funniest part was that even your teacher knew, actually it was him who recommended you to quit his class. At first you were shocked because science is something you’ve always done, what could you do instead of that? That’s when he suggested the newspaper along with a class specialised on writing. It is true that you’ve always been good at writing stories, but you never considered taking it seriously.

Anyways, literally the next day instead of learning about physics you’re learning the basic elements of a storyline. The surprising part was that after that class, you completely fell in love with it and, since then, you started working on a simple storyline that ended up being much more complex and longer than you expected. You wanted to talk to your moms about it, but when all happened you weren’t seeing them that much, and once you were, you just didn't have the courage to do it. A thing that stopped you was that both Kara and Lena were geniuses when it comes to science. But the main problem was with Lena, you’ve spent so much time with her in her lab in L-Corp, and even if you didn't enjoy it as much as her, every time you spent with her there was such a bonding experience that you couldnt tell the truth. So you just avoid the topic, even if you knew that one day they would find out.

Going back to the ceremony, that story you first started writing ended up becoming a book. A novel that you had to present in order to pass the class. What you weren’t aware of at the time was that the best ones would compete in a contest that involved schools from all National city. And, last week, you were given the news that your story was one of the finalists.

While you were scolding yourself mentally for not declining the invitation Kara had put all the food away and was now cleaning.

‘What’s that ceremony?’ she questioned while turning around to look at you

‘It’s nothing’

‘Y/N’

You sighed

‘I wasn’t planning on going anyways’

She did the famous crickle and that’s when Lena entered the kitchen

‘Hi loves’ she kissed Kara and then kissed you cheek.

‘What are you two talking about?’

‘Your daughter was invited to a ceremony’

‘Really? what is it about?’ she questioned

‘It's nothing, just an award ceremony’ you got up and started walking towards your room.

‘Wait, so you are nominated for something?’

‘It seems like it’ you sighed ‘but it's nothing and I wasn't planning on going’

`Why?’ Kara asked

‘What for? I’m not gonna win and I don't really care if I do’ you walked towards the door

‘Well I do,’ Lena said. ‘Can we go?’

‘The principal told me that we could’ Kara said

‘Guys it's really not necessary’

‘Of course it is!’ Kara said

‘Wait, is it that science competition?’ Lena asked

Oh no

‘Emm no’

‘Then what is it?’

They both looked at you. You took a deep breath

‘Its, its justforasillybookIwroteforaclass’ you said as fast as you could

‘Wait wait , wait, what?’ Lena said

‘Did you say you wrote a book?’ Kara said walking towards you

‘Umm yeah’

‘Why didn’t you tell us?!’

‘When did you say the ceremony was?’ Lena asked

‘Saturday. Y/N why didn’t you say anything?’

You were about to answer when Alex called her sister. Soon enough she had to leave for a Supergirl emergency. Thank Rao

‘We’ll talk about this later’ she said before leaving

You were already going to you room when Lena called you to sit with her

‘So, Y/N, for what class did you have to write the book for?’ she said, raising her brow. Oh no, she knows, she totally knows

‘Please don't get mad’ you said

‘Why would I?’

‘Ok, so, its for a writing class that I’m taking’

‘Really?’

You nodded

‘Why would that make me mad?’

‘Because I’m taking it instead of physics. Sorry I didn’t tell you, I swear I’ll join physics again if you want me too’ You looked away from her expecting an angry response. Surprisingly, she grabbed your hand and squished it gently

‘Y/N, I know’

‘What?’

‘Did you really think you could just change your classes without me finding out?’

‘Yes?’

She chuckled

‘Of course not. in fact your physics teacher told me about the newspaper and the writing class before telling you’

‘So, YOU’VE KNOWN ALL THIS TIME?’

She was now laughing hard, but she soon hugged you. After some minutes she let go of you and placed a lock of you hair behind you ear

‘and you’re not mad?’

‘No! I mean, it did hurt that you didn’t tell us but, it's your life and if you prefer to attend that class I support your decision’

‘I’m sorry. I just didn’t wanna make you feel disappointed and-’

‘What? Honey, you know you could never disappoint me’

‘I know, it's just that science in general is something that you really enjoy and that I’m supposed to be good at. But it also made us spend a lot of time together at L-Corp. And, I love spending time with you, I guess I didn't want that to end’

‘Oh Y/N. Look, just because I enjoy science doesn't mean you have to like it too. Besides, spending time together doesn’t have to involve science. When I take you to L-Corp it's nothing more than an excuse to spend time with you. But we could do other things, all I care about is spending time with you’

It was now your turn to hug her.

You cuddled for a while and when you were about to fall asleep in her arms she asked ‘Why didn’t you tell mom? I mean writing is kind of her thing’

‘I was planning on doing so, but I’m not very good at it, and I wanted to improve before I show her’

‘What did we tell you about being perfect Y/N?’

‘I know, but ieu is a Pulitzer winner. I doubt I’ll ever be at her level but I wanted it to be at least presentable before showing it to her. I want her to be proud’

She caressed your cheek

‘She’ll always be proud of you. Well except if you murder someone or do something very terrible like that’

You laughed at her comment

‘But I’m sure she’s dying to read it’

‘Thanks mom’

She kissed your forehead and at that moment through the window Kara entered

‘Hi guys’

‘Hi’ you both said turning your heads to look at her

You looked at Lena, who somehow guessed what you were thinking (like always) and nodded

‘I wanna show you something’ you said to Kara before sprinting towards your room. Before anyone could say anything you were already back with a your book in your hands

‘Here’ you said giving it to Kara ‘The binding is pretty simple but the full final story is in there’

She was looking at the novel in her hands

‘You wrote this?’ her eyes were starting to water

‘Yeah. Please have mercy while reading it, its not -’

‘It's perfect’ she then hugged you harder than she had done in a long time 'I'm sure it is'

‘Does this mean you’ll go to the award ceremony?’ Lena ask

‘I mean I have nothing better to do this Saturday’

That same night Kara started reading your book. It was actually 3 am when you woke up to go to the bathroom when you saw a light coming from their bedroom. You walked towards the light and saw Kara still reading your book out loud with Lena on her lap listening. They were so invested in the story that they didn’t even notice you. You decided to give them some privacy and went back to your room.

The next day you were so nervous, you knew that they had been reading your book but were too scared to ask for their opinion. Luckily between school and practice you didn't have time to think much about it. After a long day you finally got home and as soon as you entered the door both of your moms ran to you.

‘Y/N! when Rory is at the cave under the fire palace and gives Camila the silver stone and tells her that is her turn to take care of it, does it mean he has accepted that he won’t see her again?’ Kara asked very seriously

But before you could answer her question Lena asks ‘But if that is true why does he continue to deny the fact that he won’t be able to see her again during the next four chapters?’

You chuckled ‘Wait you’ve already read it all?’

‘Yeah and we have questions so please tell us’ Kara asked

You spent around an hour answering all their questions about your book. This made you incredibly happy since they were both so into it

‘You’re gonna write a sequel right?’

‘I wasn’t planning on doing so’

‘WHAT?!

‘But Y/N it's not only an incredible story but the way you portray society and all the critiques you make are perfectly made. I mean this is more than a fantasy story’ Kara exclaimed and at that moment you couldn’t hold it anymore and started crying. She panicked and hugged you immediately

‘Did I say something wrong?’ she asked very worried

‘Do you really like it that much?’ you asked

‘Of course I do! Not only because you wrote it but because it is really good’

‘Then I’ll have to write another one’

‘Please do’ Lena said ‘And no pressures but don't take long because I need to know if Rowan survives’

You all laughed

‘I knew you'd like him’

It was three days later, Saturday evening, you were all getting ready to go to the award ceremony. A week ago you didn’t care about this event, but now, after your moms read your work, you were really nervous. You walked to the kitchen with the outfit you had chosen earlier (a dress or a suit,... something elegant of your choice).

‘Wow, you look great’ Lena said

‘Like mother like daughter I guess’

She winked at you. Soon enough you were all in the car and suddenly you were already sat in the auditory surrounded by other nominees and even a couple press members.

‘Nervous?’ Kara asked who was on your right

‘Kind of’

‘Don’t be’ Lena who was on your left held your hand

A few categories were announced and yours was the next

‘Hey, whatever happens we’re very proud of you’ Kara said

The following things happened very quickly. Suddenly your name was called and you were walking towards the stage after Lena literally crushed you with a hug. And five seconds later you were with the second prize in your hands. Once many pictures were taken you were walking down towards your moms when a man in what looked like a very expensive suit approached you

‘Congratulations’ he said

‘Thank you’

‘I’m Anthony Lee’

‘Ar-are you serious? you’re the owner of one of the most important publishing houses of the city’

He chuckled

‘I see you know who I am’

You were about to reply when you heard Kara calling you.

‘I don’t want to take much of your time, just wanted to ask you to continue writing, you’ve clearly inherited your mothers ability with words’

You blushed

‘Well thank you’

He gave you a card with a phone number and an email

‘Please, if write something else send it to this email and one day we may work together’

With that he kindly said goodbye and left. You then walked towards your moms and Kara immediately hugged you.

‘Y/N you did it! I’m so proud of you!’

‘Congratulations darling’ Lena said squeezing your arms

‘Thank you guys’

‘Who was that man that approached you?’ Kara said

‘That was Anthony Lee’ you said

‘No way!’ Kara replied

‘Emm a bit of context please?’ Lena said

‘He’s the owner of one of the biggest publishing houses of the city!’ Kara said almost jumping

‘He told me to send some of my future work so that one day we can work together’ you said blushing once more

‘Are you serious?!’ Lena said

You nodded. Immediately they both hugged you and somehow Alex was soon hugging you and then Kelly (it turns out your moms couldn’t hold it and told almost everyone about the ceremony). You then went to a restaurant to celebrate and had an amazing time with everyone.

Once in your car on your way home you said ‘Hey guys?’

‘Yes baby?’

‘Thanks for making me go, it was really fun’

‘Well, we didn't do you much. You were the one who won’ Lena said

‘I got second place’

‘Same thing to me’ she replied to which you all laughed.

It had really been a very unexpected week.

************************************************************************

Hi !! Just wanted to let you all know that you can send me request anytime and that the ones that I already have received will be done as soon as possible :)

(thanks for all the support btw I really appreciate it)

[whencartoonsruletheworld]

The Thrilling Saga of Connie paying real life money for the Worst Sonic TV Show

Let’s begin with the simple fact that me and my sister, @birdsareblooming​ “Cori”, have both been hyperfixating on Sonic the Hedgehog since last March. During this hyperfixation, I was on Sonic Wiki to copy-paste song lyrics onto my stolen mp3s, and I called my sister in and pointed at the template at the bottom. 

“What is this Sonic Underground thing?” I asked. “It has one shit billion songs.” 

So we clicked on the page to read about it, and each sentence we read was a punch in the gut and this quickly became the funniest thing we’d ever read. Highlights include:

It looks like this:

“Sonic[...] is known to be a prince” 

Sonic has two siblings who actually have good characterization but their names are literally just Sonia and Manic. Like. Sonic split into two names. jesus christ 

Also Sonic and his siblings all share a voice actor. honestly Jaleel White does his best with it but 

“The three siblings possess enchanted medallions that transform not only into musical instruments, but also into weapons.”

“Some fans consider Sonia to be a clone of Amy Rose, minus the attraction Amy feels for Sonic.” YEAH I SURE HOPE IT DOES

“Manic is the most often captured of the siblings” himbo king 

Knuckles shows up, and for the first, like, two sentences his description is very similar to the game, and then you get immediately pulverized by “He has a pet Dinosaur called Chomps.”

Literally so many sentences on Sonic Wiki are lowkey salty about this show. The page features lines such as “Sonic Underground bears little relation to the often complex Sonic universe (including previous animated series, as well as Sonic comics and games), and shares only three established characters” and “many of the characters in the Freedom Fighter group that were in Sonic the Hedgehog are completely left out (including Tails).”

“The show met with mostly negative reviews.”

*checks air dates* It only lasted two goddamn months

So after seeing this we thought it was the funniest thing and we showed our older sister, @patema-introverted​ “North.” To our surprise, our at the time “knew nothing about this sonic bullshit” sister recognized the show. Turns out she’d seen trailers for it as a child and that was her sole exposure to Sonic canon. 

We were in quarantine at the time, so we ended up finding it on YouTube and binge-watching it all together as a sibling bonding activity. It was just as hilarious as we thought it would be- some stuff was legitimately good, like the sibling dialogue for instance, but good lord were the character designs ugly, the plot all over the place, and pretty much every song, um, not great. Also there was one episode that we skipped because it got, um, I think “stereotypical” is the nicest word I can use here. 

But the point is, we had a jolly good time watching it, and afterwards we binged all the other Sonic shows and bonded as a family. 

After quarantine, North and I go back to college. My roommate gets groceries at Walmart, while I get them elsewhere, so while she and North collect food I wander the DVD aisle to look at the cool movies and also dumpster-dive in the bargain bin for Cats (2019). I am also short as fuck, so the top shelf of movies I cannot see, I can only read the labels. 

So one day I was browsing the DVDs, and glancing over at the labels for the top shelf. I read over the final one before the shelves end. 

And then I stop, do a double take, and have a heart attack, because there is a label that reads “SONIC UNDERGROUND $3.74″

I immediately climb the shelf but there aren’t any DVDs atop the shelf. However, the label is still there. I excitedly tell my sister and roommates, freak out with them a bit, and then give myself a mission statement:

I will buy the $4 Sonic Underground DVD from Walmart

I did not want it as a gift, I did not want to find it online. I wanted to walk into a store, pick up the Worst Sonic Show on DVD, walk it straight to the checkout, and in front of the cashier and God, pay for it with my own money. I did not care if it was the whole series or two episodes; I needed to do this for my own serotonin.

We would go to Walmart about once a week. Every time, I would go to the DVD aisle, and go right to the end of the shelves. I would stare at the label SONIC UNDERGROUND $3.74 and empty space above it and wonder who the fuck was buying this other than me. I would occasionally ask employees if they had any copies in storage. I would build a shrine to Manic in my room. Okay, no I didn’t, but only because my RA would have murdered me. 

Christmas break comes, and we have to go home. We have a nice Christmas, and Cori and I infodump at each other about how we would make Sonic Underground a good show (note: we’re both galaxy braining) and also play Bendy and the Ink Machine. Fun times. 

When we finally get back to College, it’s late January- long story short we have a very long winter break. My roommate who gets food at Walmart got food without us the first week cause she showed up first, so we take her out to Walmart the first time in the year of our lord 2021 on January 29. 

I wander the Valentine’s aisle, immediately grabbing a sequin puppy. I go to the DVDs and see Animaniacs Season One, also grab that. 

And then.

There it is.

The Holy Grail. 

Above the label SONIC UNDERGROUND $3.74, is one DVD left. 

Already I am losing my mind. It’s roughly seven hours of episodes- I couldn’t find an episode list, but I think that’s half the show, for $4! And the cover is amazing. 

That’s a png of Sonic from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993) with a medallion badly photoshopped over it. The medallion is too small. 

Manic is shoved into the corner. He doesn’t have his medallion at all. 

Sonia isn’t even pictured on the front cover, probably because they realized she was the worst designed of the bunch. I’m not ragging on her though, because she’s still one of the better designed characters of the show. Those background characters make me cry 

So you bet your ass I finally paid my hard-earned $4 for this shit. Upon getting home, I discovered that there was even wilder shit with this DVD than I thought. 

For starters: the bonus features listed are as follows:

Original Concept Art - did not expect that these character designs were the final draft

Storyboard-to-screen - did not expect they bothered to storyboard this 

Music Video Jukebox - that’s cute, they thought we liked the music 

Interviews with original screenwriter & executive producer - I fully expect the only questions to be “why.” 

On the left of this list are screenshots from the show, where people can finally see Sonia, who we Know™ is a girl because she is pink and has hair and also an actual body shape instead of just circles like her brothers. 

But wait... what’s that in the lefthand corner? 

That looks like some kind of robot. But it’s not a robot from Sonic Underground! That didn’t appear once. Why is it here? 

The mystery continues upon opening the DVD case: inside are advertisements for other collections, including other Sonic DVDs: two volumes of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993) and the final episodes of Sonic the Hedgehog “SatAM” (1993)

First of all, the first volume of AOSTH has the exact same PNG of Sonic as the Underground Volume 1. Not even trying to hide it. But second... the second volume of AOSTH also has this robot on its cover. 

And THIS ROBOT IS ALSO DECORATING THE THIRD DISC IN THE SET?

So you may be asking, who is this robot? Is it from AOSTH or Underground?

IT’S FROM FUCKING SATAM. The one show that doesn’t have it decorating the DVD covers.

Also, not only is it from SatAM, it only appears in one fucking episode. Not a major character! AND IT HAS A DIFFERENT DESIGN ON THE PROMO ART, WITH HAIR AND FANGS.

Why is it showing up everywhere? What is going on? 

I have not yet had the opportunity to watch this glorious piece of animation, but I am so glad at the confusion I have felt upon receiving it. 

But before I go, I must share with you the best part of this DVD purchase. And it was flipping to the back, scanning the details, and discovering the exact runtime of the episode collection. 

Guys, gals, and enby pals, friends and enemies, Nintendo and Sega, the first Volume of Sonic Underground has a runtime of...

420 MINUTES.

Maybe I’m wrong and this IS the best Sonic show. 

[pandaponderart]

Underrated Anime Part 1:

Hello my fellow Weebs, I’m back for some more Anime blogging, this time to talk about so not so well known ones. Some that have got forgotten with time, some that new Anime fans have maybe never heard of and the ones that I feel deserve more love and recognition. I’ve been watching Anime for about 13 years so I’ve seen a lot so this will be in at least 3 parts, so hopefully you like this and look forward to more. Til then enjoy, hope you can find some new anime you’ve never heard of thanks for reading and look forward to part 2!.

1. Azumanga Daioh(2002)

Starting off with an older Anime, and one of the best and earlier comedy, slice of life Anime that paved the way for a lot of other Anime in the same genre like Nichijou and Daily Lives of High School Boys. Off the wall and highly unrealistic, this comedy is completely over the top in the best way possible. it’s old but gold and should be crowned as one of the best comedy Anime to exist.

With the most lovable cast, you have Chiyo the 5th grader who is so crazy smart she gets placed in a high school class, then there’s Osaka, who’a real name is Ayumu Kasuga who’s named that because she‘s from Osaka. Osaka isn’t the smartest and neither is her other classmate Tomo Takino who will do anything to avoid studying. Then to balance out the cast is Koyomi Mizuhara aka Yomi, the smart one who keeps everyone in line and Kagura the sporty one. Then of course can’t forget to mention the teachers Yukari Sensei who is anything but the normal responsible teacher and to balance her out Minamo Sensei the responsible one. There’s no real plot with Azumanga Daioh but there’s not meant to be it’s just an over the top comedy slice of life, with moments that will make you laugh from your gut. It’s all about the characters and the ridiculous situations their put in and each one is a lovable idiot that really drives the show. Give this one a shot if you want a show that will put a big smile on your face the whole way through.

2. Eden of The East (2009)

Another older Anime, not everything on this list will be older Anime but there’s so many good ones like this!. Eden of The East is an action, mystery with elements of romance with one of the most unique stories I’ve seen in Anime. It’s a short watch being only eleven episodes with two movies following after which I recommend watching because they continue the story. I’m really surprised not more people know or talk about this show but it need to be talked about more!.

With one of the funniest and most bizarre starts to an Anime, our lead charcter Saki is on a trip to Washington D.C, when she gets in trouble for throwing a coin in the White House’s fountain she’s saved by a naked man who claims to be a terrorist. Not only is this mysterious man naked and claims to be a terrorist, he also has amnesia and is carrying a phone with 8.2 million dollars. Saki befriends this strange man and throughout the story they try to uncover more of his past, his involvment in an incident called careless monday and a dangerous death game with other players. They must also spend all of the money as instucted by the mysterious voice in the phone Juiz as well as try to save the world.

3. R.O.D The TV( 2003)

Ok I know I said this list wouldn’t only be older Anime but I guess the older Anime just has my heart and this one has a special place in mine. One of my all time favorites and one of the earliest Anime I saw and it still holds up to me til this day. It is hands down probably the most underrated show on this entire list and if you only watch one of these Anime please make it this one. The story is completely original, the characters are complex and endearing, there’s action, heartwarming moments, comedy and mystery, I wish there was more Anime like it, it deserves to be a classic.

It‘s a one of a kind show about the paper sisters Michelle, the oldest bubbly bookworm, Maggie the seemingly intimidating quiet giant. Then you have the youngest sister Anita who unlike her sisters hates books, she’s a bit rough around the edges but loves her sisters. Although they aren’t actually sisters they have a detective agency to help find lost books to help pay for rent while also doing odd jobs like being body guards. Their first assignment is to protect the author, Nenene Sumiragawa who is being threatened to be killed at her book signing. The paper sisters aren’t called that just because of their love of books, they can turn paper into weapons and whatever else they please, but each having their speciality. Nenene finds out they‘re paper sisters just like her friend who ‘s missing, Yomiko Readman and asks them for help finding her. They try to help Nenene find her friend, while solving other cases and saving the world with the power of paper.

4. Baccano(2007)

Probably the most well known but also I think one of the most under appreciated Anime, from Durarara’s creator, Baccano. I feel like most newer Anime fans won’t know this one and although it’s a beloved series by many, I still feel it’s underrated. Also another bias opinion shocker, it’s one of my absolute favorites but that’s why it’s here. It’s once again a shorter anime with only 13 episodes but it somehow manages to combine all of the storylines cohesively, it’s a wild ride full of mystery, murder, and magic that will keep you on board the entire time trying to piece everything together. Also warning it jumps around a lot so make sure to pay attention everything pieces together!.

Based in the 1930’s in the prohibition era you have several stories involving different characters going on but they‘re all connected to one thing the transcontinental train, the flying pussyfoot. Yes that’s actually the name of the train, why, still no idea but all these characters from different walks of life end up here somehow. Now to introduce some of these crazy characters, first off the goofy thieves in love Isaac and Miria, who aren’t the brightest but can steal just about anything. Lad Russo the sadistic hit man who loves to see people die, including fantasizing about killing his fiancé one day. Then you have the ones involved in gangs, all In different ones, but nonetheless involved in some sort of crime. First there’s Firo, the youngest of the Martello family and one of the immortals in the show, then there’s Jacuzzi Splot and his partner Nice, Jacuzzi is a big wimp and crybaby but will protect his loved ones with all he’s got and Nice is a bomb expert and his childhood food. Those are some of the main characters it’s such a large cast it’s hard to name and explain them all. This one is a must watch especially if you liked Durarara, jump on the hype train of this wild show.

5. Black Cat (2005)

Now quick disclaimer before I begin talking about this one, I haven’t watched this in years so it may not hold up as well as I’m remembering but when I watched it I really enjoyed it so that’s why it’s here. This was one of the earlier Anime I watched I’m pretty sure my friend showed me it but it caught my interest from the beginning. It’s not the most groundbreaking show to exist and I’ve heard that the manga is apparently better but that’s for almost every show. It’s got cool action, funny moments and a great cast of characters, plus not gonna lie I had a crush on train when I was younger. its just a fun show and definitely worth giving a watch!

Train Heartnett is an infamous cold blooded assassin who works for the organization Chronos, and because of his lack of empathy for killing he’s named Black Cat. But after a chance encounter with a bou hunter named Saya Minatsuki, they become friends and Train decided he wants to leave Chronos to pursue an honest living as a bounty Hunter. However chronos and particular his fellow member Creed Diskenth are not pleased with this and try to get Train to rejoin Chronos. Along the way Train teams up with fellow bounty hunter on the brink of broke Sven, the bio mech weapon and little girl Eve and master thief and seductress Rinslet Walker. Together they try to escape from Chronos and get enough money for their next .

6. Arakawa Under The Bridge(2010)

Where do I begin with this one first off, this is one of the weirdest Anime I’ve ever seen but just like Azumanga Daioh that’s what make it so good. Beautifully animated by Studio Shaft with some of the most colorful and visually appealing animation I’ve seen, it’s pure eye candy. it’s equally as strange as it is hilarious and it’s just a fun time that’s not meant to be taken seriously. So if you want a good laugh and something thats truly one of a kind in story and characters give this crazy show a shot.

The show begins with one of our main characters Kou Ichinomiya getting stuck by his underwear on a bridge by some kids, he falls into the river and is saved by a mysterious girl. Kou is the son of a wealthy businessman and his life motto is to not be indebted to anyone, so when he’s saved by this girl he asks what he can do. He finds out that her name is Nino and what she wants is to fall in love, so she asks Kou to be her boyfriend. At first Nino seems like a regular girl but she claims to be an alien from Venus and lives in a box under the bridge, not wanting to be in debt Kou agrees and begins living under the bridge with Nino. However Nino isn’t the only one who lives under the bridge there are many other strange characters like hoshi, the aspiring musician who wears a star on his head, and the captain who’s a human in a kappa suit. I highly suggest watching this strange sci-fi romantic comedy for something different and fun to watch.

7. 91 Days (2016)

The newest Anime on this list so far, see I told you it wouldn’t be only old ones!, this is also the darkest Anime on this list so far. This has been highly overlooked since it’s release in 2016, it reminds me of baccano and in parts like death note. If you like mafia movies or just a dark gritty story with some light hearted moments, it s short show but nothing is rushed and it’s solid from front to back and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Just like Baccano, 91 Days takes place in the prohibition era in a town called Lawless where crime is rampant and illegal alcohol sales are thriving. In this town our protagonist Aviicio‘s family is killed by one of the mafia families, The Vanetti Family. He receives a mysterious anonymous letter telling him to return to lawless to infiltrate The Vanetti Family. He tries to befriend the families son Nero, to find an opportunity for revenge, the story keep you constantly guessing if they’ve truly become friends or if he’ll kill him. Please watch this wonderful mafia crime drama of friend vs foe.

8. Yamada Kun and The Seven Witches (2015)

This is one of the ones that I still really want to read the manga for because I just couldn’t get enough of it! i’m still hoping for a sequel one day! The premise of body swapping has been done many times in Anime and cinema as a whole but this one adds a unique enough of a twist to keep it fresh and interesting. I looked forward to watching this weekly each week meeting a learning about each new witch and learning what power they had.

Ryuu Yamada is a high school delinquent who wants a fresh start at a new school, despite the intention to start with a clean slate he soon falls into old habits of laziness and getting into fights. One day he trips on the stairs which leads to an accidental kiss with fellow student Urarara Shiraishi which causes them to switch bodies. Another student Toranosuke Miyamura learns that they can switch bodies and recruits them to his Supernatural Studies club. There they learn about the other seven witches that all have different powers

9. Arslan Senki (2015-2016)

The second to last of the list comes from the creator of my all time favorite Anime Fullmetal Alchemist, while it’s a very different series and not quite as good as FMA it’s still deserves a spot on this list and deserves your time. It’s hard not to compare it to FMA but it really is it’s own thing, and it actually came out before Fullmetal, it’s a historical drama about war and strategy and a character growing into his potential. Just as Hiromu Arakawa is known for there’s still some comedic moments and some great character development and a well done story, Plus if you like this there’s two seasons so there more to enjoy.

Ok I promise from this point forward I won‘t say anything more about Fullmetal Alchemist this is about Arslan Senki, here’s the story. In the year 320 the Kingdom of Pars is at war with the neighboring kingdom Lusitania. Pars is ruled by the ruthless king Andrangoras III who has a son who’s the complete opposite of him Arslan. Although he doesn’t know how to fight Arslan tries to prove his worth by joining the battle, but things take a turn for the worst when one of the kings officials betrays him. The once prosperous Kingdom of Pars is seized, and since Arslan is the kings son he must flee to avoid capture. So he sets off with his loyal bodyguard Daryun to find allies to help take back the kingdom. Knowing that Arslan is still alive he is still faced with pursuers from other kingdoms and the head of the Lusitania army, a mysterious man with a silver mask who knows a secret that could jeopardize Arslan‘s succession to the throne. Arslan is a gentle, kind person that doesn’t enjoy fighting, he must learn to fight and protect himself and gain the courage to lead an army to regain his home.

10. Shingeki No Bahamut: Genesis (Rage of Bahamut) (2014)

Leaving one of the best for last, not to be confused with the popular series with a similar name Shingeki no Kyojin(Attack on Titan) this show is just as good. One of the first shows from one of my favorite Anime studios, Studio Mappa. I had low expectations when I heard this was a card game adaptation from a new anime studio but I decided to check it out despite that and it was the best decision. This has all the elements of a great anime, the beautiful animation, the unique characters and the compelling story and all the cool action scenes are just a plus. There is a second season too but I’ll leave that for another time, ok time to stop gushing about this wonderful show, time for the story!.

Years and years ago the ancient powerful dragon Bahamut reeked havoc on Mistarcia, a land where gods and demons lived harmoniously with humans. The gods and demons manage to seal away Bahamut with the god key and agree to split it to keep him sealed. Now that the the peace has been restored we meet the main characters and one of my favorites the orange Afro haired bounty hunters Favaro Leone. Favaro is constantly on the run from his adversary and fellow bounty hunter Kaiser Lidfard who‘s main purpose in life is to get revenge on him. One day both of their lives are thrown into chaos when they meet the mysterious girl Amira who holds half of the god key sealing Bahamut and wants help reaching the land of Helheim. I also can’t forget to mention my other favorite character and the fourth member of this unlikely crew Rita the zombie necromancer little girl she is just the definition of cool. Then there’s the characters that want to steal the god key the demon Azazel and the knight Jean D’Arc who are constantly in the characters way but you’ll find out more about them in the show. These unlikely heroes must face the threat of the battle of gods and demons, the pursuers of the god key and incoming threat of Bahamut awakening.

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mai & the rest of the gaang:

mai & aang: a bit awkward, at first? not on aang's end of course, he's totally unflustered and in fact quite keen to get to know zuko's girlfriend and I actually think mai doesn't know what to do with this attitude, given she spent six months or so trying to hunt him down, and that's very present in her mind. hanging out with aang is a very pleasant culture shock in how he casually diaregards half the norms she was raised to strictly follow, speaking with warm enthusiasm and genuine curiosity to all, be they dish washers or tea servers or the Fire Lord's girlfriend, disregarding barriers of social class that are so carefully upheld in the Fire Nation. It's refreshing as it is bewildering. I think mai does develop a fondness for aang - although she can find him and his antics a bit much at times - and deeply respects and cares for him if only for how valued his friendship with zuko is. she claims to tolerate his goofy antics but she enjoys them far more than she lets on (his flying marble trick does elicit a rare smile, although it only appears for 0.02 seconds before returning to the most deadpan expression). I think mai respects him most politically actually - aang grows up to be an excellent diplomat, an excellent mediator who does not lose sight of the importance of various different perspectives, especially those who are forgotten or maligned, even when in circles of power.

mai & sokka: as discussed, they have a rocky start. sokka, my darling beloved sokka, has a tendency to be a bit abrasive, if we're honest, in that his humour and his puns are a little in-your-face, he has a bit of an ego aboht being the funniest/smartest person in the room, and he can take it personally when people don't like it. mai doesn't have much time for that. mai doesn't care much for sokka's jokes if only because they're attached to this ego, but also and finds the puns a bit flat (whereas she finds aang's mischief making genuinely funny, though she tries to hide it), and sokka takes this deeply personally and tries really hard to elicit a laugh from her. this just ends up with him aggravating her more. I think mai has little time for sensitive male ego games and that's partially why her and sokka clash- she won't blunt herself for him, even if he is one of zuko's closest friends. I think sokka, to his credit, doesn't dismiss her as a 'bitch' and keeps trying - in fact, the reason he comes on so strong is because he actually really wants her to like her - and i think that's because of boiling rock, and because of that alone sokka deeply respects mai on many levels (and was extremely surprised by how all that played out, and knows from that alone that mai is a layered and complex person who contains multitudes). I think what might cause mai to warm to him is politics - sokka's a pragmatist, who is skeptical of idealism without material backing and is refreshingly realistic for one of aang's friends. he keeps the fire nation on its toes at the negotiating table but he's also the first to point out when a potential proposition - when anyone's potential proposition - has more logical holes than a piece of honeycomb. i think mai appreciates that perspective. and i think they could slowly and gradually go from personality clashing to building this begrudging friendship where mai will never openly admit that she likes him, where sokka will still grate but in a way that becomes almost familiar and comfortable because of that, and where - especially in a situation where they have to work on a project together - they're a formidable team. a difficult friendship but eventually could be a dear one.

mai & katara: another personality clash that becomes a really fascinating friendship. katara wasn't there for boiling rock and is perhaps a bit cool towards mai even understanding what she did there, and the grounds where they most often meet is politics, and they largely are at odds there too. they're interesting parallels, in terms of role - both partners of powerful world leaders, but while mai positions herself as a vital support and power behind zuko's regime, furthering that goal, katara loathes to be associated with aang simply because of their romantic relationship, and does not envision their relationship to be a political one: aang and katara stand independent, but with shared values and goals (and perhaps katara simply does not understand why mai takes the position she does regarding politics and relationships). their actual political approach wildly differs, with katara being an impassioned idealist who is the most radical out of the gaang, whereas mai is a pragmatist - much more concerned about the feasibility of the radical ideas proposed and sees herself occupying the role of a much needed skeptic who asks 'okay, but how are we going to do this?' in a group of radicals. this does lead to some fierce clashes actually - some of katara's proposals appear outlandish to mai, and katara interprets this as fire nation indoctrination and ideological conditioning limiting her perspective (and honestly neither are completely wrong - mai can be on occasion perhaps too conservative and cynical and that is often because her upbringing has limited her scope, and katara sometimes isn't fully aware of how feasible her ideas are and leaves practical concerns to others). I think despite this they have such a deep respect for each other - and that's in part why their arguments are so impassioned, because they both fundamentally know the other comes from a good place. mai saved katara's brother's life at boiling rock, and katara saved mai's partner during the final agni kai - they have both proven to each other the extent of their commitment and cared for another they care about deeply. they're the biggest idealism vs. cynicism clash but honestly over time i think the respect only grows over time despite periods of hot and cold. I'd like to think if katara ever has relationship difficulties with aang, after her gran's, it's mai whose advice she might respect the most - after all, it's mai who understands what it's like to date someone who is a world leader, and mai absolutely believes in having firm, healthy boundaries and little tolerance for sufferring for men in relationships. I think given their positions they're often in dialogue and in conversation and end up building the most unexpected but also rock solid friendship. they *would* take a bullet for each other, i am sure of it.

mai & toph: i love these two. an incredible friendship. mai takes to toph the quickest out of aang's friends. it makes sense - toph comes from a similar class and upbringing as mai, albeit has taken a different life path and expresses herself completely differently, and i think while surprised and thrown at first by toph's bluntness, mai sees that and not only respects but honestly just loves how toph is a little crass, and doesn't hold decorum as the be all and end all. I think the age difference here actually makes a difference - mai very much sees toph as a younger peer (and eventually, much like zuko, a younger sibling), and while it can be sad to see someone from a younger generation express themselves freely in a way that mai feel she can't, i think her joy at seeing that takes precedence here over any mixed feelings. mai pretends not to be amused at toph's antics (but quietly delights at them) and absolutely is the person who will get the authorities that be in the fire nation to look away from whatever misdemeanours she's committing at any given time (indeed, mai as often been a partner in crime - actually, speaking of, she's been surprised before to see katara also partake with toph, and it was an ice-breaking moment for them, probably one engineered by toph). that said, mai absolutely does not patronise toph, gives it to her straight, will also tell toph when she's going too far or pushing the limit, something toph deeply respects and values. mai can see toph's wisdom and her strong intuitive understanding of how others feel, and admires that, as well as the kindness toph shows (i would not be surprised if mai looks at toph and wants to be a little more like her). I also think mai's sardonic and biting sense of humour is best appreciated by toph out of aang's friends (sokka also finds it very funny, but sokka is also trying hard to get mai to like him, as aforementioned). mai and toph vibe together *so hard* and *so well* (something i think zuko is quietly deeply grateful for, since mai hasn't clicked as well with the rest of the gaang, but also because he views toph like a little sister too).

mai & suki: right! so this one is complicated. mai does not see suki as often as the rest of the gaang - she sees katara and aang often for political reasons, at summits and keets and so on, sokka keeps in touch often and is constantly sending letters, and toph will just turn up unannounced and will stay for several weeks to "relandscape" the fire nation gardens (so she claims) every year or so. I am sticking to show canon here but reject the comics canon - there is no way in hell suki ends up as a bodyguard for zuko, the kyoshi warriors have better things to be doing. so! while mai absolutely saved the teal at boiling rock and suki knows this, the fact that they see each other relatively little mean things are a bit... cool between them? Not quite cold, but there's a degree of awkwardness that mai works past with the others that takes longer with suki. I honestly don't know if suki knows how she should feel about mai? like ty lee not only helped at boiling rock but then went on to work with the warriors and suki very much sees someone who wants to prove herself and right those wrongs in ty lee (as well as someone who is running away but. that's another post). mai completed step 1 and 2 with boiling rock, but hasn't... done anything after that. and on paper they're cool and she knows it but... idk if she knows how to feel? it's a bit weird. a bit awkward and weird. it's possible suki holds more of a grudge than she's willing to admit (she's been most directly wronged by mai and ty lee after all) and the fact that mai has returned to the fire nation, and been, according to katara, disappointingly conservative at times, makes her question what boiling rock meant. suki is cordial and professional around mai but doesn't really know her that well and doesn't trust her as much as the others. mai doesn't particularly care either way and will take or leave friendship with suki (though mai, to be clear, does respect suki immensely as a warrior). the key factor here is ty lee, honestly. i think the two of them could have an excellent relationship if so inclined but it would apmost definitely be due to ty lee trying to prod them into getting along and hanging out and getting to know each other - because i think they're both practical minded, no-nonsense girls who are exceptionally skilled in martial arts and if nothing else they could bond theough sparring sessions, but i think they'd also just get along splendidly if they had the chance. suki just doesn't quite trust mai and mai making those personal amends isn't a priority when she's trying to stop zuko running the fire nation into the ground.