#shes not bad its just that her acting is noticably worse than everyone elses

[minamotoz]

rewatching s13-14 of degrassi with my sister has made me rethink my opinions on some characters... i like grace a lot more now, i think i didnt care for her before bc i hate tv show depictions of 'computer hackers' but i appreciate her way more, same w the rubber room group. i have a newfound appreciation for becky bc shes my sisters current fave and i think sarah fisher is extremely cute, i dont hate frankie or tristan as much anymore and i think im even coming around a bit on zig which are words i never thought i would ever say.

on the flipside though i somehow hate drew and jonah way more than i used to

[all-timelee]

To be loved || O.G.

//clearly I’m going through a bit of a phase here 😅\\

Word count: 1.8k

Warnings: use of female pronouns

Masterlist

Being born blind certainly came with it’s challenges. It was something that made life difficult, for sure, but it also had it’s set of advantages.

Ominis had grown more than used to the dark world he navigated through daily, his other senses had seemed to adapt as well, almost overcompensating for the one he lacked. He considered himself to be a very perceptive person, especially due to the fact he lacked eyesight.

He’d been the first person to pick up on your change in attitude. His ears recognized your sudden dreary tone, he could almost feel your deamnor shift into one of resignation and weariness. It was so different from the Y/N he was used to, he wondered how no one else had noticed.

It bothered him, the way things had changed between you two, and while you tried to act like nothing was wrong, he knew better. You weren’t being rude when you turned him away, you were simply exhausted. He could tell you needed time to yourself – he had his own ways of knowing. You didn’t want to bother anyone if you could help it.

But it had been months of this and Ominis’ concern was growing by the day. The way you had become so distant with everyone, even the people who meant the most to you, was worrisome. And it just wasn’t you.

He’d spent countless days trying to approach you to talk, but the last thing he wanted was to make matters worse, so each time he found the courage to do so only to find the conversation falling flat at his hands.

When he finally managed to ask what was bothering you so much, you brushed him off, doing your best to assure him everything was normal. But Ominis saw straight through it all, despite how good at lying you thought you were.

But he dropped it. If you weren’t ready to talk, he wasn’t going to force you. At least, not yet.

—————————

“Have you noticed anything strange about Y/N lately?” Sebastian asked, pulling Ominis’ attention away from the parchment sprawled out in front of him.

“I can’t believe you’ve only just noticed,” the blonde remarked, turning his gaze towards the other boy with a sigh. “Of course I have.”

Sebastian frowned, tilting his head questioningly. “What do you mean? When did you notice?”

“I don’t know… maybe a couple months ago? I’ve tired to ask her about it, but she told me she was fine. Obviously, I don’t believe that for a second, but I can’t force her to tell me.” Ominis scratched absentmindedly at his arm, trying hard to keep his frustration to himself.

“I’m worried, Ominis. Poppy told me Y/N’s been having nightmares. They’ve gotten bad enough that she woke up screaming in the middle of the night.” That caught Ominis’ attention quickly, the blonde sitting up straighter in his seat.

“Y/N wouldn’t tell Poppy what they were about, but she seemed pretty concerned.”

Ominis could feel the frustration growing in his body. He was well aware it wasn’t fair to be upset with the girl, she was clearly dealing with something, but he just wish she’d confide in him. He hated that Y/N continued to suffer in silence when she was surrounded by friends who only wanted to help.

Ominis abruptly stood, leaving his things spread out on the common room table, making large steps towards the exit.

“Where are you going?” Sebastian called after him, looking bewildered.

“I’m going to find Y/N.”

He left without another word, walking briskly towards the Astronomy tower. He remembered Y/N telling him she liked to star gaze when she couldn’t sleep, maybe that was where he’d find her.

The walk there only took a few minutes at his quick pace, but he couldn’t help the unease that had crept into his body. As he approached the tower, he felt his heart rate begin to pick up its pace.

His thoughts were racing when he finally reached the top of the steps, taking them two at a time in search for her.

“Ominis?” Her voice was soft but surprised, and he stopped dead at the sound of it. “What are you doing up here?”

He approached you cautiously, unsure of what to say next, “I was looking for you.” He heard the small sigh that fell from your lips, the rustle of your clothes as you stood.

“Whatever it is, it’s probably best we wait until tomorrow. It’s late, Ominis. You should get some rest,” you spoke softly, causing the boy to frown. He should’ve expected you to dismiss his concern yet again.

“No,” he spoke firmly, completely aware that his body was blocking your way through. This had gone on too long, he would not let this continue.

“No?”

“No, Y/N. I can’t watch you suffer anymore and I won’t let you push the help I’m offering you to the side yet again.” He spoke with such conviction that it was almost a little intimidating, especially coming from someone as kind as Ominis usually was.

You weren’t going to crack that easily though. You gently placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to push him back enough you could squeeze through. “I’m serious, Ominis. I’ll be fine, just go back to the common room.”

His hand quickly wrapped around your wrist, keeping you exactly where you were. “If you can’t trust me to help you in your time of need then why should I trust you when you say you’re fine?”

Ominis hadn’t meant to sound so angry, but he could help the hurt slowly growing in the pit of his stomach. He considered Y/N one of his closest friends, (he sometimes thought of her as more than that), she was one of the few people he undoubtedly trusted. Did she not share that sentiment with him?

“Let go of me,” you said quietly. There was a slight tremor to your voice, betraying your emotions. He used his taller frame to walk you back to the railing behind you, his arms moving to trap you against the metal. Your eyes widened, unable to fight him off.

“Please, Y/N….just tell me what’s wrong,” his tone was softer than it had been before, his words full of desperation and genuine care. You could see the worry on his features and you could feel the walls you’d put up slowly cracking.

It was silent for a few moments, you debating on whether or not to confide in him, and Ominis desperately wanting to know what was plaguing you. The tension in the air was heavy and thick, it was getting harder and harder to breathe under the pressure.

Eventually, you sighed, giving in.

“No one asked how I was doing during our fifth-year. They put a wand in my hand and suddenly it was my duty to save Hogwarts. They gave me a role to play, a responsibility to uphold.” You paused, furiously trying to blink back the wetness steadily growing in your eyes. Ominis stayed quiet, allowing you to finish before giving his input.

“No one cared that I was a child dealing with the weight of the world. No one noticed or cared about how I was feeling, no one noticed how much it was hurting me. And every single person that should’ve known didn’t care.”

Ominis slowly moved his body back, a sense of shame washing over him. He hadn’t realized how much it all had taken out of you, and now he was forcing you to relive it for some selfish need of his.

“You all just looked at me and saw my magic, not the teenager who needed help.”

The sadness in your voice nearly broke Ominis’ heart, he nearly collapsed when the first sob reached his ears.

Without hesitation, he pulled you into his arms, wrapping his arms tightly around you, holding onto you with both arms as if his life depended on it. His face pressed against the crown of your head, letting you cry onto his shoulder while he held you close.

For a moment, you forgot all about the tears that were streaming down your cheeks. All your pain melted away the longer you buried yourself against him, feeling his heartbeat calm down your own heartache. His warmth radiated from him, warming you up in a way nothing else could.

After a few minutes, you calmed down entirely, feeling more relaxed than you had in weeks. You pulled back slightly from the embrace, looking directly at the blonde, wiping the tears from your eyes.

“I’m sorry you went through everything by yourself. If I’d known, I would’ve done more to support you,” he whispered, cupping your cheek in his palm. “And I’m sorry I didn’t notice how much pain you’ve been carrying until now.” His thumb caressed the corner of your eye, wiping the remnants of stray tears.

“I didn’t tell you all of that for an apology, I’m not angry, Ominis,” you assured, leaning into his touch. “It wasn’t your fault. I don’t blame you.”

“It still hurts to think I failed to notice all your struggles.”

“You and Sebastian were dealing with struggles of your own, it’s okay.”

“Struggles that you helped carry. You went out of your way to help so many people, the least we could’ve done was notice how much you were cracking under the pressure.”

Without much thought, you placed your hand on top of his, pulling your lips up into a small smile. “Don’t do that to yourself, Ominis. Stop blaming yourself. You’ve always been a source of light for me, I promise.”

His eyebrows rose in surprise, “Really?”

“Really. I’m grateful to have met you.” Your words made Ominis blush deeply, making your heart skip a beat. His own smile grew wider once he recovered and he brushed the tip of his finger across the edge of your mouth lightly. A shiver ran down your spine, your heart pounding in your chest.

“I wish to always be that light for you, Y/N. If you’ll have me.” His expression seemed pleading, begging for your answer.

As if on instinct, you leaned in to press a quick kiss to his soft bottom lip. A soft gasp escaped you as soon as he responded by placing his fingers on either side of your face, deepening the kiss.

His lips were warm against yours, his tongue slipping between them and exploring every inch of your mouth. You couldn’t contain the sigh that left your lips, relaxing into him as he continued the kiss.

This was what you wanted, you told yourself. To be loved like this. To be desired. And you found it, in the arms of another human being, you found happiness.

[alottiegoingon]

hc!friends to lovers

shauna shipman x gn!reader

summary: going from friends to lovers with shauna

warnings: mentions of jealousy, shauna being slightly toxic when it comes to her feelings, fluff, no nsfw but characters are always aged up, not proofread

୨୧ being friends with shauna shipman was like having a second shadow, she was always glued to you. you didn't mind, you liked having her always by your side

୨୧ shauna always knew she had feelings for you since the day you met but would rather die than admit that

୨୧ she got accepted into brown university which means that shes really smart so you had your own personal tutor

୨୧ "this is so easy, i can't believe you don't understand that," she mocks you, a smug grin on her lips. you were friends with shauna for long enough to know that she wasn't the most extrovert person in earth but she loved to tease you over small things

୨୧ "not eveyone is as smart as you, shipman!" little did she know that you were hiding your aced tests under your bed while putting on your best show to pretend you sucked at math just to listen to her

୨୧ even if you weren't much of a extrovert, shauna was worse. she would cling to you in parties like a lost puppy and would panic if had to stay by herself for a few minutes while you grabbed drinks or said hi people

୨୧ however, that didn't mean that she didn't praise some alone time.

୨୧ shauna seems to be a lonely girl and a people hater (shes just like me fr) and she would always be reading something. when she was alone, she was also busy girl with her most loyal friend; her pencil

୨୧ she would write about you on her mf journal 24/7!!! it didn't matter if it were good or bad things, she would go from cursing you and your entire family to calling you beautiful words and rant about you being the love of your life

୨୧ very very very jealous. can kill someone just with her angry gaze if they look at you in the wrong way or act too friendly (only got worse after you started dating)

୨୧ shauna would never, ever discuss her feelings, so if she felt jealous, angry, or upset, she would become a ticking time bomb, unpredictable and ready to explode at any moment

୨୧ would 100% say the meanest and cruelest words to hurt you on purpose, looking into your soul. my girl has some anger issues ok...

୨୧ she regrets all of it later but is sooo embarrassed to apologize, stuttering and struggling to look you in the eye. it's not like you could stay mad at her when she looked so cute...

୨୧ being friends with shauna had a great advantage; she had a car. you had made her your personal driver and she would always find a way to complain

୨୧ "i'm not your butler, you know," she rolls her eyes after agreeing to drive you to the mall. and then at the beach. and at the bookstore and the movies and the ice cream shop

୨୧ she was always making disapproval noises and acting annoyed but you knew she enjoyed driving you everywhere when she would act pissed if someone else did that

୨୧ "are you gonna sleep at school tonight?" shauna asks as she notices you not following you to her car. she was so used to drive you home that it was a natural thing already

୨୧ "you're so funny," you taunt her. "you're free today. lottie's going to give me a ride to the mall. i need her help to buy new clothes."

୨୧ "oh, okay," she forces a smile. "good, cause i hate driving you all the time. that's great," and its just shauna and her sad brown eyes against the world on her way home to write horrible things about you two and draw lotie with devil horns and a mustache

୨୧ in the classes you shared, she always sat by your side and paid no attention to them. she was too busy staring at you

୨୧ if someone was being annoying by always asking dumb questions, she would be so stressed. constantly bitching about it with whispers in your ear. but then if you asked the professor why the sky's blue she would be the first one to keep an eye on everyone and see if any of them was mocking you

୨୧ during mari's birthday party, shauna decided to play seven minutes in heaven with you and a bunch of "stupid drunk weird idiots" (more like forced to because she didn't want you to be out of her sight)

୨୧ coincidentally, she turned out to be your partner for the game. panic flashed in her eyes, and her cheeks flushed crimson as she heard her name paired with yours

୨୧ "we don't have to do this if you don't want to," you whisper, you and shauna exchanging awkward looks inside the closet

୨୧ "it would be so weird, don't you think? we are friends," a sheepish chuckle fell from her lips. yet, she takes a step closer

୨୧ "so weird," you nod, your fingers brushing against shauna's by chance, yet she made no move to retreat. instead, she timidly intertwined her fingers with yours

୨୧ "but spending seven minutes locked in here seems like a bit of a waste. it's just a game anyway, right?" her words incresed your heartbeat, your gaze flickered to your entwined hands as shauna drew nearer, her nose was inches away from touching yours

୨୧ "and it would be just a one time thing. and for the sake of our friends too, we don't wanna ruin their game," you agree, adding to her comment, lips grazing against each other

୨୧ "you're right," she murmurs, her hot breath tingling against your skin

୨୧ judging by her shaky voice and unsteady stance, it seemed that the scary shauna shipman was more nervous than you. offering her a reassuring smile, you reached out to stroke her cheek, drawing her closer until your lips met in a tender kiss

୨୧ thank god because she would not have the courage to kiss you or ask you out, only if it happened during a fight and she was so full of anger that would just force you to shut up by crashing her lips into yours

୨୧ it soon became clear that it wasn't just a one time thing. no questions asked, kissing shauna shipman became a habitual affair and, just like that, you were dating

୨୧ if shauna was jealous before, she was a green eyed monster now. extremely protective and would make it obvious by always touching you in some way. a hand over your body, a caress on your face, kissing you like she was about to devour you in front of everyone and holding hands were just a few examples

୨୧ shauna could be shy in the first weeks but then she would call you pet names like sweetheart or baby (like when she called lottie sweetheart in that episode 😔)

୨୧ and you were completely fine with that cause calling her sweet and cheesy pet names ever was your thing; honey bunny, cupcake, pumpkin, sunshine, buttercup, the list was endless

୨୧ your favorite part about it was to watch shauna's cheeks getting rosy in a matter of seconds whenever you affectionately called her those names in front of your friends. she'd act all shy but the moment you left to grab some food, she would tell the others to fuck off

୨୧ shes just a girl 🎀

[upsidedownwithsteve]

The Second Day Of Christmas

Eddie Munson x fem!reader [1.2K]

“This is a bad idea,” you huffed, lips twisted into a worried pout.

“Sweetheart, you worry too much,” Eddie grinned from beside you, not nearly as wrapped up as you were, barely feeling the chill that was nipping its way over your skin. “What could go wrong?”

He was in a sweater, a deep forest green knit that made his eyes look darker and he’d had the common sense to tuck his jeans into the tops of his boots. Even if they were untied.

“So much,” you stated bluntly, staring over the precipice of the hill. The snow made it seem taller than usual, an endless expanse of white that was already way too steep. “So, so much.”

You crossed your arms, curling into yourself, holding your coat tighter to your body, as if Eddie’s borrowed hoodie underneath wasn’t enough warmth for you. It was, it was edging on too big and the sleeves were too long but it smelled like him, like cologne and smoke and something vanilla.

But no one else seemed to heed your warnings, or your worries, and you sighed unhappily when the kids all lined up at the edge of the slope, giddy with excitement, noses red and cheeks pink with the cold.

An unanticipated snow day had everyone acting like ten year olds, old sledges pulled from the messy depths of garages, makeshift toboggans conjured from cardboard sheets and trash bags.

You watched as Dustin and Mike piled together on a cherry red sledge, plastic and flimsy looking. Your eyes were squinting with worry and you didn’t even want to argue with Max as she sat on nothing more than an old breakfast tray, fingers curled around the sides with her knees tucked under her chin.

“Someone’s going to end up in the hospital,” you told everyone morosely. “And I’m gonna have to be the one driving.”

“Nah, you won’t,” Steve seemed to assure you. He wasn’t even looking at you as he busied himself with Will, kneeling in the wet snow to tie a scarf around the younger boy's waist, strapping him onto the decades old sledge that had a crack in the middle. “We’d call an ambulance, you don’t drive all that fast, y’know.”

You grumbled, shoulders dropping in despair because, oh my god, someone was going to die.

But Eddie was crowding you, smiling that smile you swore was just for you, knuckles tucking under your chin to lift your face to him. You were pouting still and it only made the boy grin, eyeing that soft crinkle between your brows that he seemed to kiss away on a daily basis.

“You’re such a worry guts,” he said fondly, lowering his voice so the kids wouldn’t hear, so Steve wouldn’t poke fun. “It’s fine, sweetheart, the kids have handled worse than a face full of snow.”

“S’not the point, what if there’s a rock underneath? Or, or, they get ice in their ey—”

Eddie cut you off with a kiss, a smooth move, you couldn’t deny, his lips slanting over your own and they were warm, so warm. Your cold nose pushed at his cheek and you squeaked at the feel of him, flushing at such a public display. But you felt him smile against you, one large hand curling around the edges of your scarf to keep you close.

Not that you were planning on going anywhere. Instead, you pushed up onto your toes, boots sinking into the slush as you chased his kiss, bottom lip trapped between his. It was sweet and adoring and Eddie tasted like coffee and peppermint candy canes.

He barely pulled away to whisper to you, nose brushing once, twice, three times over your own and his lips brushed yours as he spoke.

“Now—”

You hardly registered the scuff of the sledges pouring over the edge, the shrieks and yells of the kids on their descent.

“—what does a boy like me gotta do, to get a pretty girl like you—”

Will flew down next, chased by Steve, all whoops and shouts as they raced to the bottom.

“—to sit on my lap and take a ride?”

You burned at the words, the implications, the dirty grin on Eddie’s face. He seemed to understand though, noticed the way your eyes got softer, a little droopy and cherry balm stained lips parting in anticipation.

He huffed out a laugh, quiet and pretty, one hand warm and cupping one side of your face, long fingers splayed over your jaw and cheek. He thumbed over the soft skin, pulling a little at the bottom curve of your lip, playful and teasing.

“Eddie,” you warned but there was no heat there and it came out like a soft whine instead.

“C’mon, pretty thing, it’ll be fun,” he promised you, “I’ll hold you real tight.”

He winked, salacious and all flirt and charm, and god, Eddie Munson had been your boyfriend for almost two years now, but it had only taken a few days of knowing him to realise you could almost never, ever say no.

“Teddy,” you tried again, softer and with puckered brows. This wasn’t your idea of fun. The cold, the wet, the imminent threat of being thrown off a piece of fast moving plastic….

But Eddie was already pulling away from you to sit on the sledge, one that was comically small for him, his knees bent up and spread. He looked up at you, all soft curls dotted with wet, tiny spots of melted ice that glittered. He was unfairly pretty and then he pouted, brown eyes doe like as he held out his hand, silver rings enticing you.

“For me?” He asked sweetly.

Well, fuck.

You sighed, let your head drop back as you groaned, all amatuer dramatics and it made Eddie grin. But he waited, knowing this was you giving in and he laughed brightly when your smaller hand curled into his own.

“Atta’ girl,” he praised and he held you steady as you stepped between his legs, slotting yourself between his thighs. You were frowning, undeniably adorable and Eddie loved it. “So brave,” he half joked.

“Shut up,” you told him weakly, feeling marginally better when he pulled you against his chest, wrapping his arms around you like he promised. You grabbed at his knees, fingers cold and vice like as he scooted you both towards the edge of the hill.

Hawkins was all white from this viewpoint, glittering in the daylight, the sky as fluffy looking as the ground, cloud covered and heavy, threatening more snow.

And from the bottom of the hill, the kids were standing with Steve, looking up and cheering as they saw you ready to fly down. Even from here, you could see Steve’s smirk.

“Ready?” The boy asked, a soft whisper by your ear, lips over the shell of it.

“Don’t let me go, Munson,” you warned him, eyes wide as the huge drop came into view. God, it really was steep. “You owe me a hot chocolate after this.”

“With extra marshmallows,” Eddie promised solemnly.

“And I get to pick the movie tonight,” you added on quickly, pushing yourself further into the boy, his chin resting on your head. You felt rather than heard him laugh.

“Whatever my girl wants,” Eddie assured you.

“Even if it’s Pretty In Pi— waitwaitwait, no! EDDIE—”

You didn’t get to finish your bartering but after Eddie had to pick you up from a particularly deep and wet hump of snow, brushing ice from your lashes, from the inside of your collar, you were pretty certain he’d say yes to anything you asked for.

[aerequets]

sugar, spice, and everything nice

ao3

rating: G

genre: fluff, humor

synopsis: After the fifth time Loid turned around to see Yuri feigning immense interest in their coffee table, he sighed, long-suffering and in disbelief of what he was about to say. “...do you want to come see what I’m making?”

a/n: this is the first fic i'm posting that was not written in one sitting past midnight :D milestones yall! also i think the first fic which isn't twiyor centric? anyways i know some people love yuri and many, many people loathe him. i'm more on the neutral end, where i acknowledge he's a funky guy and if i ignore the weirder aspects of his love for yor and pretend its just intense attachment issues due to trauma etc then i think he's swell. i didn't really know how to write him since in the series itself he's used more as a plot device than anything else, and loid's view on him reflects that, so hopefully this doesn't feel too weird. also ending fics is hard im sorry 🙏🙏

anyways i've talked enough, one last thank you for everyone who leaves reviews and kudos, i don't get to respond to them but i do read them all and appreciate the love <3 enjoy

...

“Yooor!” Yuri sang as he shoved the door to the Forger residence open, bouquet of flowers in hand. “I got off work early so I decided to come… and…”

His voice petered out as he took a better look inside the apartment he’d just forcibly entered. The chihuahua girl and her polar bear of a dog were in the living room with some noxious cartoon blaring on the TV set. That damned Forger was in the kitchen, messing around with something that definitely didn’t smell good whatsoever. Most importantly, there was a glaring, offensive lack of Yor!

“Where is Yor?” He asked, accusingly pointing a finger at Loid who finally looked up from his work. “What did you do to her?!”

Loid’s eye twitched. What made Yuri assume he could just barge in whenever he wanted and find Yor waiting for him? “She got called out for a late night shift.”

“Don’t lie to me, you—” Yuri’s other senses finally caught up and he begrudgingly confirmed that whatever Forger was messing around with did smell good. Really good. And vaguely familiar? He sniffed the air deeply, trying to figure it out.

Anya looked up from her cartoons. “Are you acting like a dog, Unkie?”

“I’m not the dog here!”

Loid debated with himself as Yuri stood in the doorway, neither coming in nor leaving. The polite, Loid-Forgerly thing to do would be to invite him inside to wait for Yor to come back. That was what upstanding gentlemen, good members of society—far from the blacklists of the SSS— acted like; gracious, affable.

The thing was, he didn’t really want to.

He watched Yuri argue with Anya about dogs (“there’s an actual dog, and then you, chihuahua girl. I am a normal person!”) and groaned. Come on. What would Yor think if she heard Yuri came by and I turned him away? It would be no good if he displeased her. He had to do this for the sake of Strix.

“Would you like to come in?” He called from his spot in the kitchen, none too welcomingly.

(Doing it for the mission didn’t mean he had to be happy about it.)

Yuri was torn from his impassioned argument with a literal first grader. “Tch… I guess since I’ve brought flowers, I might as well put them in water,” he muttered. “No other reason!”

He came in. He split the gargantuan bouquet up into six different vases. He made some comments about how Anya’s cartoon was impossible according to the laws of physics. Then he just stood in the living room, trying—and failing—to act like he wasn’t peering at Loid’s activity in the kitchen, still loudly sniffing the air. Really, even if Loid didn’t have senses sharpened to a knife’s point, it would be difficult not to notice Yuri. To make matters worse, every time he turned back, Yuri would suddenly whip around and act like he definitely wasn’t loitering, the way they did in bad sitcoms. Is this the way the SSS carry out their own covert operations? he wondered.

Aside from Anya’s cartoon playing in the background, it was painfully quiet, the only sounds coming from Loid's activity in the kitchen. It seemed like Yuri wasn’t going to strike up a conversation, and Loid wasn’t inclined to, either. But then why is he just standing there?

 After the fifth time Loid turned around to see Yuri feigning immense interest in their coffee table, he sighed, long-suffering and in disbelief of what he was about to say. “...do you want to come see what I’m making?” 

 Yuri squinted at him like he was affronted at the mere notion. “Hmph. I guess I could.” The speed with which he made his way to the kitchen offset his haughty tone. He glanced down into the various bowls Loid had set out on the counter, one filled with sliced apples, another with some uncracked eggs, and a third with flour, sugar, and spices laid out, but not yet combined. 

 “Apples,” Yuri said, almost dumbstruck. He forgot to keep the scowl on his face as he picked up an aniseed from the third bowl and brought it to his nose. It seemed like he finally found what he’d been sniffing around for. “You’re making apple cake?”  

 “Close,” Loid said, surprised by Yuri’s flip in demeanor. “Apple streusel pie. Do you make apple cake?”

 “Not me. But… this smell is…” Yuri mumbled, smelling the anise. “I don’t really remember, but this thingy smells familiar to me.”

 “It’s star anise. And people often say that smells are stronger links to memories than visuals,” Loid offered. “Maybe it’s something you used to have.” 

 Yuri’s eyes widened. “Oh. Now that I think about it…” He held the aniseed up to the light. “I think Mom put this in apple cake once, on Sis’ birthday.” He cut a glance to Loid. “Apples are her favorite.”

 Loid knew—that was why he was making apple streusel. But he was more astonished at the fact that Yuri brought up an old memory to him at all. Right now, with Yuri looking at the aniseed with an almost wondrous expression, it struck Loid how much of a kid Yuri was. 

 Yuri was only twenty years old. When Twilight was twenty years old, he was still new to WISE, training hard and getting his ego beaten down even harder. He’d thought he knew everything there was to know back then.  

 Could he blame Yuri for thinking the same way? 

 For the first time, Loid found himself regarding Yuri with something that wasn’t annoyance. Sure, the guy was more attached to Yor than superglue, but again, could he be blamed? He was a kid clinging onto the only thing left from his childhood. 

 Yuri turned to him with a grim expression. “I think I should take over this baking project of yours.”

 Any feelings of tenderness were dashed in an instant. “What?”

 “Apples are Yor’s favorite, and I know her best, so I should make the apple cake.”

“Apple streusel. ”

 “Whatever!”

 Loid resisted the urge to physically kick Yuri out of the kitchen. Don’t tussle with an SSS officer. Don’t tussle with your wife’s brother. Don’t tussle with a kid! “Are you forgetting the last time you came and destroyed the kitchen?”

 “You may have won then, but I won’t back down from this fight,” Yuri hissed. Loid gaped, a headache building in his temples. Since when was this a fight?

“Is this round two?!” Anya’s voice suddenly piped. The two of them turned to see her standing by the counter, looking strangely excited. She’d abandoned her cartoons to stretch up onto her tiptoes to see the counter. “Papa versus Unkie?”

“We aren’t doing that,” Loid said at the same time Yuri declared “I’m going to wipe the floor with him.” They turned and glared at each other.

Bond trotted up to Anya and nudged her with his nose. She paused, turned to the dog, and then brightened up.

“I just thought of a way better idea,” she announced. “Let’s all bake for Mama together!”

“What?!” The evening was spiraling way out of control. All Loid had wanted was to make some apple streusel for Yor since she was working late so often and deserved a treat (because if she got too tired or fed up, it would reflect badly on their fake marriage). Now he was meant to bake with her hyperactive brother and his equally hyperactive daughter—two people with an entire lack of abandon in the kitchen?

“No way,” Yuri sniffed, and for once Loid wholeheartedly agreed—until he continued, “I'm gonna make such a good apple streusel Yor will forget why she ever married you."

“This is not your kitchen,” Loid said, patience evaporated. “You aren't making anything, not here at least.”

“What, are you scared?”

“I'm not going to argue with you about this—”

Anya sighed loudly and tutted as if she were an exasperated adult. “Mama will be happiest,” she said slowly, “if we all make it.”

That got both men to pause. Well, thought Loid, I am making this to cheer her up in the first place. Anya's not wrong…

Agh. If it makes Sis happier, then shouldn't I…?

Anya smiled in satisfaction. In the snippet of the future she read from Bond's mind, it seemed like everyone was getting along and Mama was smiling really wide, so Papa and Unkie had to stop fighting in order for that to happen. As fun as round two sounded, that future seemed better.

(Also, in that version of the future, everyone was too distracted and happy to notice Anya sneaking extra dessert. Double win!)

“Yay! What do I do?” Anya asked, eagerly hopping up on a stool. “Can I put the crumblies on top?”

“It's not time for that yet,” Loid replied. “Though you can help me make the topping if you want. Er, Yuri, if you want to get started on the custard, you can crack the eggs…”

“Right, eggs,” Yuri repeated before picking one up and smashing it into the bowl, shell splintering. Loid and Anya jumped.

“Not like that!” Loid cried.

“Even I learned how to crack eggs,” Anya unhelpfully supplied, leading Yuri's face to glow red. Loid felt a tinge of pity (he knew how Anya's words could burn firsthand) and cautiously asked, “Did you ever learn to crack an egg, Yuri?”

“It was fine to do it this way before Yor ate your food,” he mumbled in response. Loid was silent for a few seconds before turning to the fridge and pulling a fresh egg out. “This is how you do it.” He demonstrated over the bowl, noting how Yuri carefully tracked the movement. “Tap gently enough to make a crack in the shell. Then pull it apart like you're opening it. Yor learned this way too.” He threw the empty shells away before adding, “Not everything has to stay the way it was before, you know.”

A muscle in Yuri's jaw jumped, but he said nothing and instead set to cracking the other eggs, a little clumsy but decidedly better. Loid then got Anya to whisk the powders together ( “Gently,” he insisted, since it seemed Anya had some sort of floury vendetta) and he cut the butter in for the streusel topping. Yuri began haltingly asking for instructions on what to do next, which Loid was glad to provide.

Time passed like this, with Loid and Yuri slowly warming up to each other via baking. During the process of whisking, mixing, pouring and arranging apples, it seemed like Yuri forgot to be thorny with Loid, and Loid forgot to be cross at Yuri's presence. Anya, too, quickly forgot why she was helping at all and went back to watching cartoons, in wait for when the streusel would be ready for her to eat.

It was when a warm, cinnamon-sugary smell was filling the apartment and Loid and Yuri were cleaning up that the front door opened. Yor trudged in, tired and sore from the night's assignment and ready to collapse into bed. She froze upon seeing six fresh vases and a very familiar pair of shoes in the doorway.

The TV was playing one of Anya's cartoons, but the living room was void. Yor, weary and blood still pumping, immediately assumed the worst. Oh, no. What if Yuri came and got in a fight with Loid? What if he found out we're fake married?! Where's Anya? And—

She, too, had to pause and finally breathe in the mouthwatering scent hanging in the air. There was just something about it…

Abandoning all caution, Yor slipped inside, keeping her steps light just in case something really was wrong. But it smelled too good for there to be any real damage—was that sound logic, or was she just hungry? In any case, she made sure not to draw attention to herself as she poked her head into the kitchen. 

“And for pots that have a lot of gunk in them, you can just boil a bit of water with soap and vinegar  and wait till it foams. Makes it easier to clean,” Loid was telling Yuri. “Yor taught me that, actually—oi, Anya, don't open the oven yet.”

“Makes sense.” Yuri was scribbling something down in a notepad, punching down on the dots and lines. “I'll triple-star that one since it's a tip from Sis.”

“Is it ready yet?” Anya was alternating between excitedly jumping in front of the oven and plastering her face up against the glass. Bond, too, was sat next to Anya with his tail furiously thumping on the ground. “It smells sooo good!”

“It'll be just a minute. Come on, back up from there, both of you.”

Yor was so shocked at what she was seeing that she dropped her purse, alerting everyone of her presence. They all gawked at each other; Anya and Bond were the first to react, scrambling up from their spots. 

“Mama! You're back!” Anya exclaimed, hugging her mother's knees. Bond barked and Yor pet his head absentmindedly, still trying to process what she was seeing. 

“I am,” she said faintly. “Yuri…? When did you get here?” 

“Sis!” Yuri said, also snapping out of his stupor. He sheepishly tucked his notepad away. “Um, a bit ago, I guess. I came to visit you, but you were out, and…"

“Did you guys bake together?” Yor asked, daring to hope. Yuri and Loid exchanged a glance before Loid smiled.

“He's a quick learner.”

"Loi-Loi is an okay teacher, I guess,” Yuri reluctantly added. “We made apple streusel. Do you remember Mom's apple cake?”

Yor inhaled, closing her eyes. The memory was fuzzy, but distinctly sweet, as if the taste of the cake remained. “Yeah. This smells really similar.”

“Yuri had the idea of adding cloves and cardamom,” Loid said. “It worked out quite nicely.”

“Yeah, it was my idea,” Yuri said proudly. Loid rolled his eyes but said nothing more on the subject. No wonder it smelled so familiar, Yor thought. She could hardly believe Yuri even remember the apple cake. Or that he'd shared enough about it with Loid that they were able to replicate some of it in the streusel.

Something warm and sweet  was filling up in Yor's chest. Was it the sugar in the air? She breathed it in, cheeks apple red and sore from how widely she was beaming, previous tiredness all but forgotten. She hadn't realized how much she'd subconsciously wanted Yuri to warm up to her family before. Her family. His family now, too. It didn't have to be just the two of them. 

“Ah—are you crying?!” Yor's eyes had gotten a little shiny, which naturally led to Yuri bursting out bawling. “I missed you toooo!”

The oven dinged and Loid pulled out the streusel as Yor joined them in the kitchen. As the adults got to chatting, Anya snuck around and victoriously stabbed a forkful of the piping dessert, blowing on it vigorously before chomping down. She grinned around her fork. 

 

Victory was sweet. 

[p1nkcanoe]

“will you stay with me ‘til then?”

[ rain x fem!reader angst/smut ]

summary: rain notices that his lover has been acting odd lately, but when he goes to check on her he discovers that something much worse has been plaguing her.

warnings: mild smut

word count: 1854

masterlist

Rain had known something was off. In fact, he had noticed it months ago. The way that his lover smiled less and less and then eventually altogether, the way that she slowly stopped trying to find him at various points during the day just to tell him about something interesting she saw, and how she stopped spending the night in his bed more than her own. Her scent was once seemingly permanent and weaved within the spaces between the thread of his sheets, but it's been days since the last time they even took a nap together and Rain is more than worried she is unhappy with him.

So now he finds himself in front of her chamber doors. The sun has already gone down and mostly everyone in the abbey has been sent to bed for the night. Well, as it seems, everyone but his lover. The remnants of candlelight tease the bottom edge of the door and Rain takes that as his invitation to knock. He shouldn't need an invitation but for some reason he feels out of place. He feels like a stranger. His knuckles shake. He doesn't know why.

When the heavy wooden door that guards her room finally opens up Rain is smacked in the face with a confusing array of scents and a dull pair of eyes. "Rain?" He enters the threshold without another thought and pulls his favorite girl to his chest. Her warm and familiar scent is still there but it's overcome with the stench of sadness and something else much more complex. He holds her tight and supports her form as she falls limp against his thin frame, a wave of tears washing over her cheeks and into his shirt. She doesn't hold him back. Her hands stay glued to her chest and balled into fists. His heart ties itself into a knot.

When he looks past her he sees a collection of boxes and suitcases in a room that barely resembles the one that he's spent countless hours in. The walls and the floors are all the same, and the window pane still has the mark where they'd written their names together in the condensation, but the life has been completely stripped away. They stand, intertwined, within a void. Her comfort, her memories, her scent- all shoved away into boxes and bags.

"Are you moving rooms?" Rain finally asks, and it sounds absolutely ridiculous coming from his mouth, but he has to ask as he just stands there and prays to Lucifer that maybe this isn't as bad as it looks.

But it must be as bad as it looks, because his heart plummets and shatters into a million pieces when his favorite human cannot gather together enough space between her tears to answer his question. A second wave of nauseating emotions hits his nose and Rain digs his claws deep into the fabric of her night clothes. "What's wrong? Why're you hurting?"

"I'm leaving," she manages to choke out. Her face stays buried in the ghoul's chest, afraid of what he might say or do in response. She knows how ridiculous it sounds, she doesn't have anything else to say. It only worries her more when he takes a moment to respond.

"But why?"

To Rain the world has stopped turning. The moon falls from its place in the sky and plunges into the frigid water of the lake. It must be the end of the world, because it sure as hell feels like it. Rain struggles to communicate with his brain and his hands cannot do anything except clutch the girl to his chest. She's so warm and he's so cold. For the first time since he's known her, the temperature difference feels wrong. He feels like the walls are beginning to collapse on him and he can do nothing but hold on as the world falls apart. His eyes sting as he stares at the initials drawn in the pane of the window; completely thrown off kilter.

"We aren't the same, Rain. One day I'll be gone and you'll still look the exact same. I don't want to hurt you that way. I don't want you to watch me deteriorate in front of your eyes."

"But I want to."

"I can't bear to let you."

For the first time since his summoning, Rain wants to be sent back to the pit. He hates his immortal shell and the life he was forced to live until the end of time. He silently curses the man who brought him here and his blood boils at the thought of the one who allowed him to be given away.

"So what?" His voice breaks and he swallows around the lump building in his throat. "You're just going to abandon everything that we have? You're going to leave me?"

"I can't stay here."

Their voices soften and come out as whispers meant only for the other to hear as they fall deep into the dark and agonizing depths of heartbreak. There are no more tears. Her eyes have long since run dry despite the choked sounds that tear through her chest. As Rain gathers the strength to pull back slightly and grasp her face in his much larger hands, he does so with the lightest of touch; as if she would dissolve into the air. He pulls back enough to look his mortal lover in the eyes and all he sees is pain. In that moment he understands that she is already gone- miles away from the abbey that she called home for so long- she made up her mind a long time ago. There was no convincing her otherwise, and that fact only causes his own tears to spill hot and heavy over his grey cheeks.

"Don't cry, Rain. Please, don't cry," she pleads, raising her hands to his own cheeks and swiping her thumb to wipe them away. He leans into her warmer touch and can't help that he only cries harder. Is there a hole in his chest? Something feels as if it's missing. He's never felt quite like this before.

"How long have you planned this?" He asks.

She frowns and her eyes tell him all he needs to know. Rain huffs in blindsided disbelief. "A long while. I've talked myself out of leaving so many times. I just can't do it anymore."

"So when are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning."

Rain's long fingers caress gently over swollen cheeks and swollen eyes, soothing the puffy redness that pools underneath. His thumb finds the plumpness of her bitten lips and he pulls gently at her bottom lip, watching and remembering all of the love that has poured out from them. The skin they've kissed. The body they've worshipped. He loves her so much and the time they have together is so cruel. It's too short. He hates this curse that he calls life. "Will you stay with me till then? Spend the night with me once more before you go?"

His lover nods and places her forehead on the ghoul's sternum. Rain's heart might've well not been there at all, but he surprises himself when he hears it beating through his ribs. He was sure it was sitting in his chest in a pile of jagged pieces.

Nevertheless, she looks back up into deep brown eyes and breathes out a simple yes.

They two walk hand in hand back to the ghoul's den where a bedroom waits for them that still feels familiar and safe. They walk unhurriedly and trace the patterns in the hallways with their steps as if they have all the time in the world, and Rain hums a slowed and gutted version of life eternal into the crisp abbey air. It makes his stomach churn, but it was always her favorite song. Now he understands why...

When they make it back to the den and Rain guides her through the dim tunnels that they've walked a thousand times before they make it to his room and the last dance begins. Clothes are shed in a ritualistic manner and the feeling of skin upon skin distracts two grieving lovers from the truth that they soon have to face.

They take hours to perform a dance they've done a thousand times before, but this time it's different. It's slow and it's languid and it's full of passion and pain all in one. Every inch of skin in both human and ghoulish forms is worshipped in a way so that the other won't forget how they felt under their tongue and fingertips. The noises that fill the room are heavenly and loud- lacking any ounce of shame for who could hear them- and meant only for each other. Rain takes his time, pressing in and pulling out at only the perfect places to hit that spot that sends his lover reeling and pleading for more. He can't help but beg silently that she would change her mind. She can't help but feel like he silently hates her. There's no room for thinking, so the two showcase their love in their own respects, pushing away their consciences and replacing it with overwhelming pleasure.

And even when they get tired and they take time to lie in silence and the coolness of the den, wandering hands ghost over bare skin just as a reminder that the other is still there. Still there for now. They don't let the pain settle for long. Their dance continues through the night and paints the air with the sweetness of sex.

And when the sun begins to rise and the birds begin their morning songs the lovers begin a mourning of their own.

"Will you ever be back?" He whispers into her neck, avoiding her eyes as he is sure he won't forget the look on her face.

She breathes slowly in and out and cards a shaky hand through dark locks, holding him close to her naked chest. Her scent changes; she shatters. "I don't know."

And Rain feels every break and crack of that shatter as he experiences something similar of his own. It's times like these that he curses Lucifer for disallowing him a soul. Nonetheless, his chest tightens and his heart feels like it tries to escape through his throat. He wants to cry but no tears come; he's run dry and the only thing that he is able to offer is a simple okay.

So they lay together, entwined impossibly close as they engrain each other's bodies into their memories. Every bend and scar and curve. Every few minutes a chest rises and lungs are filled to the brim with their scent. They don't talk much after that, just silently waiting for the world to end when the last hour turns over it's hand. And when it finally comes it only takes seconds more for it to all be gone. The bed gets cold again. His lover departs.

nothing's gonna hurt you baby - cigarettes after sex

[raveneira]

Aight its time to say it

Warning: Anti BoruSara post, dont like dont read.

Aight enough time has passed and now its long overdue to be said so Im gonna be the one to burst the bubble since nobody else is.

Sarada's actions in 78 did not solidify BoruSara because it mirrored the NH moment in the Pain arc, it actually did the OPPOSITE and showed how flimsy the ship actually is and how weak Sarada's feeling for him are.

People love this argument of 'love makes you act irrationally so that proves Sarada's feelings are more real/stronger than Sumire's because she acted reckless like Sakura and Hinata did while Sumire stayed behind and did nothing'

Now at first glace that does seem to be the case, but after the initial shock has worn off and you actually reread the chapter with a much clearer head, you realize how much damage this actually did to both the ship and Sarada's character.

Now what do I mean? to see the problem you just have to answer one simple question, what is the one major difference between the moment with NH and the one with Bsa? the answer is Pay Off.

What do I mean by that? lets compare the two side by side and all will become clear.

Aight I think it should be clear now, notice the difference? yea, the very scene they claim solidified the ship actually weakened it, the very scene they said solidified Sarada's feelings as more 'real' than Sumire because she acted irrationally, actually showed how flimsy her feelings really are compared to Sumire.

It's true that Sumire staying behind could give that impression, but at the same time people get on Hinata's case all the time here for how stupid her actions was and how she actually made the situation WORSE rather than better by jumping into a situation she knew she couldnt win and made Naruto snap so bad that if not for Minato's fail safe it would've been GGs for everybody and Naruto would've died by undoing the seal.

But Im not here to criticize Hinata right now, because all in all her actions were out of love right? thats the point of this post. So Sumire's actions actually make more sense than Hinata's was because she knew she didnt have a chance to begin with so why bother going there? just to get one shotted? what happened to Sarada is a prime example of WHY she was right not to go, because thats what happened.

But ok since yall wanna be hung up on girls inlove for real all acted irrational and ran to their mans rescue which solidified the ship, well this goes back to what I said the biggest and most important difference between all the other girls vs Sarada, and thats PAY OFF.

Still confused by what I mean? well I'll show you cuz it aint just NH, Sarada failed to be like ANY of the girls who acted irrationally and fought for their man, keyword FOUGHT.

The difference is night and day atp, when I say Pay Off I meant PAY OFF, and with BoruSara, unlike everyone else I showed, had zero pay off.

What do I mean by pay off? should be obvious by now but the answer is simple, when everyone else fought for their loves they actually FOUGHT, they didnt always win, but they TRIED there were ATTEMPTS made to protect them no matter HOW badly they got hurt. No matter HOW much stronger the enemy was than them they NEVER faltered when their love was in danger and were willing to fight tooth and nail to defend them as much as they were capable of doing.

THATS the sign of true love in the Naruto verse, not the foolishness yall try to make it as just acting irrational = true love, no, its ACTIONS which is something Sarada did not take.

The arguement of she was scared doesnt apply here, because if your gonna use this argument as proof it solidified Bsa then Im gonna use it to prove why it didnt. EVERYONE was scared in those moments but it didnt stop them, they didnt back down, they fought for their loves REGARDLESS of how scared they were, even knowing that they could die they still jumped in head first and FOUGHT.

I dont care how you try to twist it, turn it, flip it or reverse it, if your gonna use this argument then you gotta use it all the way, dont just talk about the irrationale, talk about the actions, or in Sarada's case lack thereof.

If you need more proof of how bad this looks on Bsa and just how this moment proves how not strong Sarada's feelings for him is, you need look no further than Haku.

I mean nuff said right there, Naruto learned where true strength comes from from Haku, which is that when you have someone whos precious to you, romantic or platonic, thats when you can truly become strong, as strong as you need to be, and this is shown time and time again all throughout Naruto through multiple characters who overcame their fears and fought for who was precious to them, unleashing a whole new strength they didnt know they had. It didnt always have to be some brand new ability, but simply just having the courage to put your life on the line for that dear person was enough to solidify who really mattered.

This is what kills Bsa in that moment, not saying the ship is dead obviously, but that moment killed it in terms of perception and their relationship as a whole. We can keep HEARING how deep their bond in, how close they are, how much they mean to eachother, but if you dont show it and instead show the opposite then people will have a hard time believing their actually as close as we're being told they are.

Just imagine Naruto talking about how much Iruka and Team 7 mean to him but we never see any strong actions that proved it, would you still believe their his closest bonds? if Naruto still says Sasuke is like a brother to him, would you still believe that if they barely showed the two of them bonding and being close like sibling? pretty sure you wouldnt, thats why its important to SHOW DONT TELL, because if all your doing is telling people but not showing them your definitely not gonna convince them that anythings really there like you say it is.

Even her bs MS isnt an example, because for every MS there was emotion and build up and the situation was centered around that character, it was THEIR big moment, a moment that showed just how much the person who triggered it meant to them, which is why yall like to use that as proof as well but even that just goes to show how weak her feelings are in the eyes of the narrative and mangaka himself. Sarada's MS is on the same level as Sasuke's half hearted sorry to Karin, it was short, rushed, moved right past like it wasnt a big deal and just went onto the next thing because her MS wasnt important for her character or the plot or even her feelings for Boruto, no what it was is plot convenience.

Plot convenience to convince Sasuke to save Boruto because he wouldnt have believed her otherwise, he needed to see her MS to convince him that if what shes asking is strong enough to trigger that then she must be telling the truth, thats literally the only purpose her MS served, a half assed way for Boruto to be saved, same way Sasuke's apology was a half assed way to address his betrayal and get right back to the real important stuff aka the war.

Again this goes back to what I said about show dont tell, if you want people to believe her MS was triggered by her strong love for Boruto then you have to show it which they didnt, her MS literally ONLY APPEARS when shes trying to convince Sasuke to save him, it was literally a deus ex machina because her eyes didnt budge an inch before then, it was literally ONLY when convincing Sasuke that her MS triggered, do you get just how bad that is yet? that her MS had nothing to do with her character, her growth, her feelings, her bond with Boruto, but just as a plot convenient way to bail Boruto out and then move on like she didnt just awaken a major power up? do you not see how pathetic that is?

I cant make it any clearer, 78 killed BoruSara's credibility as the most solidified ship, and her MS awakening purely out of plot convenience rather than actual emotion and then moved on from like it was nothing just killed it even more.

3 years have passed now and during a huge invasion with an Jigen level threat she doesnt even activate her MS once, and you want me to believe her MS awakening was a really big deal for her character and their relationship? this just proves it even more that the MS really was just plot convenience for Boruto to be saved, thats it, it had nothing to do with her character or her feelings etc, it was literally just a deus ex machina to keep Boruto alive into the timeskip.

It is INSANE to me how people see either of these scenes as solidification for the ship, all it did was prove how flimsy Sarada's feelings for him are and vice versa but thats a topic for another day, this post is just focused on Sarada.

When Boruto was about to be killed by Kawaki she blew one fireball and then buckled under pressure when it was time to actually square up and needed to be saved instead

When everybody was hunting Boruto down she just fell to her knees and cried, even after hearing him say hes going to kill Boruto she did not try to stop him and just sat there crying, and had Sasuke not shown up, she STILL would've been sitting there crying and Boruto would've been killed

Her MS doesnt awaken behind any emotion surrounding Boruto, but purely as a means to make Sasuke go and save him, yet she takes zero action herself to try and protect him and it literally took Sumire spelling everything out to her for her to even try to convince her dad in the first place, if not for Sumire Sarada was all ready to fall apart again and just sit there and cry until Sumire said they need to find a way to save Boruto but she doesnt know how they can which is when Sarada got the idea to ask her dad for help

Which leads me to my next point, since we established Sarada's feelings werent proven to be real or stronger than Sumire's, how does Sumire fair in comparison? well you can probably already guess but these chapters actually solidified BoruSumi alot despite Sumire not stupidly jumping into a losing fight.

How exactly? well lets start with 78, Sumire is being smart about the situation, she knows she cant help even if she tried, but she also knows reinforcements are on their way to help, so its not as if she left Boruto to fend for himself but she KNEW there were people on their way to go help him, her going there would just be in their way.

Sumire was actually trying to explain the situation to Sarada but she freaked out and Shikamaru gave the bare minimum run down of what happened and then she ran off, in this moment Sumire tries repeatedly to keep Sarada from stupidly running into danger but she doesnt listen. There are 2 reasons for Sumire not acting, 1 she knew she couldnt do anything anyway, and 2 because their supposed to be pretending to be under Ada's charm, so leaving Ada behind to go chase after Boruto would be highly suspicious since remember, their supposed to be charmed by Ada, so Boruto being in danger shouldnt pull them away from Ada if their both 'inlove' with Ada now.

You could argue the mission shouldnt have been more important than her love for Boruto but my response is why shouldnt it be? they NEED Ada to believe their affected because by them being the only 2 who arent means their the only ones who can take her out, blow their cover and Daemon will be on their ass like a hawk. Sumire rather than thinking in the moment, she thought long term, she knew people were on their way to help, and she knew she had to keep playing along to make Ada think she's affected, which would have been suspicious if she ran away with Sarada too leaving Ada behind.

But ok lets say I give you that and agree it wasnt a good look, lets move onto 79-80

Once Ada is GONE Sumire wastes NO time taking action, she immediately puts together what happened and contacts Sarada, SHE'S the one with a clear head with her entire focus on saving Boruto, she's running to meet up with Sarada so they can do something to help him even though she's unsure of what they CAN do, shes still going there to try and think of SOMETHING.

If Sumire never had this convo with Sarada she would have NEVER thought of asking Sasuke for help, it was only thanks to Sumire's explanation and level head that made Sarada act, not through any mental strength or determination of her own, but because of Sumire snapping her out of it.

As much as I hate this for Sarada's character making her this stupid and emotional, it was great characterization for Sumire that really showed her strong feelings for Boruto. She held herself back in order to play along with Ada, but as soon as that was no longer in her way she immediately took action, her mind was clear despite the chaos and she was determined to figure out a way to save Boruto with Sarada even though she had no idea how they could, she was still running over there to try.

So if you wanna be technical then thats closer to all the other moments of people fighting for their loved ones, none of them really knew how they would succeed or if they even could but they were willing to try anyway, and had Sarada not have thought of convincing Sasuke to go save him there's no doubt in my mind that Sumire would've looked for and found and protected Boruto, or atleast try.

But that falls into theory territory since we'll never know for sure how'd that play out cuz things didnt go that way, but you can just look at how the scene played out and see she was determined and planning to help Boruto in any way she could while Sarada was just on the ground falling apart doing nothing to try and help him.

Which goes right back to what I said, when its time for Sarada to act and prove her feelings, romantic or platonic or otherwise, she buckles under pressure, this is something even her own mother and father were able to overcome for their precious bonds, Sarada literally just sat there in despair despite knowing her childhood friend was in danger.

Sumire who's not even shown to be a fighter in the manga [yet] still got moving and kept her head on straight enough to analyze the situation and act accordingly, but Sarada the active ninja whos been through equally stressful situations before now and kept her head on straight now cant? yea, I think its obvious whose feelings are being pushed as genuine and more along what Haku described and whos isnt.

I really need to say no more, I already know antis gonna hate me for this if they read it but hey the truths the truth, when a girl or anyone for that matter in the Narutoverse is truly inlove they always take ACTION no matter what when that love is in danger, Sarada did not, case closed.

PS: All you Sumire/BoruSumi antis really need to thank Sumire, because if not for her your ship would've died, literally, because Sarada was really gonna let him die by not doing anything to help, so yall need to be grateful, she gave yall your 'moment'.

[taocc-updates]

[So I've been reading every statement I could find up until the point Xeya asked if I should get kicked out.]

[First off, oversxuallzation. I admit. It's going way, way to far. Even for myself. And I dont know why I keep doing it. I hate it so much but I just dont stop and I think its because at school and pretty much everywhere I go with all my friends were always acting sexual with each other as jokes and I've just been thinking all this time that thats the normal thing to do with friends I guess? I don't fully know. But seeing how everyone else hates it just as me I'm going to stop. I didn't mean for anything to get this bad and I didn't mean to make anyone uncomfortable. I genuenly didn't mean to do anything to make anyone hurt or feel worse I just wanted to be stupid or funny or something I don't know anymore. I'll stop being so sxuallized. I'm sorry I put anyone through anything, it was not my intentions. I was just being stupid.]

[Secondly, on Lily's statement she said that I saw her and Sign, mod and oc, as the same person. Which I did. For the longest time I really did. At the time it was just easier to see Signs mod as Signs mod and my partner that I cared about because it would be easier to remember who they were why they were important what they did and why and how. I had no idea I was misgendering them either, I really didnt. And I had no idea how bad it really was, once again, I'm sorry. I truly am. I didn't mean to harm anyone or make anyone uncomfortable and I didn't mean to do anything to her or to anyone else. I just wasn't thinking rationally and I was just doing what was easier rather than what was supposed to be. And as she said in her statement, I did fix it up when she told me to and I apologized. Atleast I think. Did I not?? Sorry for misgendering you Lily and for doing all that. Anyways. I'm sorry to all of you and I'm sorry to anyones thats dealt with me doing all that. I didn't mean to make anyone uncomfortable I really didnt.]

[Thirdly, the venting. I noticed someone I think it may have been star I may be wrong but they said that I frequently go to TAOCC to cope and to be oversxuallized. Which, the overszuallized is already bad it was the first thing in this essay, but the coping and real life problems I don't wish to speak about. I will if you really want me to but I just feel like its unessesary to talk about problems I have in real life and I don't want to feel like I'm guilt tripping anyone. I'm sorry.]

[And the last thing, I felt like it needed its own section, Autumn and Xeya. Autumn is a great person, shes amazing and I could never be happier to be friends with her and I truly hope that I can still be friends with her. I admit, I'm kind of sexual with her characters and she has stated that shes uncomfortable and like I said before, I'll stop. I'm sorry I made you and everyone else so uncomfortable and I'm so sorry I had to put you through my bullshit. I never should have said anything like that about your characters and I promise I'll make differences. And Xeya, like Autumn I'm happy to be your friend. And I feel so lucky everyday that I can just think about doing things with you and your characters and talking to you and I feel happy when I do. And, I know it was really far in the past but, I'm so sorry about Drunkie and the sexualization stuff again I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or... Make you... Y'know. I really didn't mean to. And I'm so sorry I put you all through this. I know I keep repeating the same apology every single time but its because I truly mean it.]

[This is such a great community with even greater people and I could never ask for a better place to be in and I'm so happy when I talk to mods or rp with characters, I have said before that I'm trying to be so much better than I was and I admit I started losing myself again. Just making that blog made me consider so much and I should have listened. I deleted the lust blog its gone. I'm sorry I put anyone through any of my bullshit. I'm sorry I'm such a terrible person. I'm sorry I'm not changing to be better for anyone faster but I really am trying. I promise I am. Even though it dosent seem like it I really am trying. I'm so sorry to everyone about all of this. And I'm so sorry that I'm doing more harm than good anymore. I'm sorry. All I ask is that you just keep waiting for me and keep me in this group of people and I'm going to stop everything to change myself. Any means necessary.]

[I'll ask again. If theres any questions that you want me to answer, if theres anything you want me to do to change or to stop doing or to start doing, tell me. Please. I'm not doing any rp until I fix whats destroyed.]

[Thank you for reading.]

Just putting this here. I’m on break, heh.

[mae-i-scribble]

Random thoughts on the orv epilogue part 4/??? AKA: why I will forever believe orv ends happily.

You see a lot of different interpretations of what happens after that hospital door opens, and rightfully so since that’s literally what the authors intend for us to do as readers. After scrolling through all available pages of fanfic for kdj/yjh I noticed that you tend to see imaginings that lean towards that happy ending, even with struggles along the way. Every now and again you’ll see a sort of “bad ending” fic that just dives head first into that depressing what if of kdj never coming back, or coming back but never to be the same. While these are fine and dandy, power to those who write them, personally a happy ending where kdj does come back (if not whole nearly enough to say he truly is whole) and lives his life happily with everyone in the end just fits better with the emotional strokes of orv’s writing.

Orv is about a lot of things, its incredibly fast paced giving us a convoluted plot and numerous characters to meet and watch grow or impact the narrative, its a meta thematic novel on epic proportions. But to me, really and truly, orv is a story about love and is in it of itself a love letter to every story. From the get go orv is a celebrator of stories and their importance to people, the hope and love and power they give people. It’s a narrative paying homage to any and all narratives before it, for their flaws and their triumphs. Beyond stories though, orv is about the love between people, no matter what label is applied, involving each and every one of the cast.

It’s about how kdj, through all his bluster and unreliable narration, can barely remember what it is to give or receive love, or what it means to be genuine, that he’s left fumbling constantly, met with problems his emotional intelligence cannot parce out. About how jihye and the kids become a trio of their own, all them far too young in a world that has made them adults, and how jihye fights to preserve the small spark of innocence those kids have. About how when hyunsung has to save heewon from her own demon he says that he will bear her wrath on behalf of the world, even if it means literally melting as he pushes through her flames to cover her with his steel shields. It’s Jung Heewon falling into despair as kdj leaves her behind again and again because loving a person who values themselves so little is a wound that keeps on growing, pain made all the worse by the fact that kdj means none of it, and would rather nothing happen to heewon, and she knows this, but cannot accept it because that is what her love means. It’s Sangah sacrificing herself over and over again to get their group more information on the future, to protect them in kdj’s place and make sure they all survive. It’s the entire group coming together to teach the kids important skills. It’s kdj waiting at yjh’s bedside after the reveal of ways of survival, for the first time willing to lay everything out on the table and just *talk* to yjh. And when yjh leaves, kdj accepts yjh’s anger and is more than willing to take it all without fighting back until hsy steps in between them. It’s jang hayoung tells dokja that even if you can’t reach at other person, to try anyways, because even the act of reaching out has value, even if it isn’t seen, even if it isn’t heard until it’s too late, it matters. It’s how lee sookyung loved kdj with everything she had, and how that love hurt him more than anything else in the world. About how even when kdj doesn’t consider lee sookyung to be his mother, he still loves her and wants to understand her. It’s how the adoration han myungoh has for his daughter makes him a fundamentally different person. How hades protects persephone until his last breath while persephone plays the ode to their love.

About how kdj saw a world where everything was nearly perfect, everyone was happy even the people he couldn’t save, and couldn’t accept that world because it was one where yjh was unhappy. It’s about hsy taking one look, one fucking look at kdj in that hospital stretcher and realizing that no, he never was lying when he said that ways of survival saved him, and that in turn she had to do whatever it took to make sure he kept living, the world be damned. About how kdj dies at the hands of the person he loves most after fighting yjh over which one of them will be the one to save the other. It’s the way that the 999 round companions travel the worldlines all for the sake of meeting the man who loved them enough to sacrifice everything for them. About how yjh first reacts with betrayal and hurt after finding out that kdj had read about his life, asking kdj why, when yjh is right here in front of him, is kdj still reading. About how yjh then goes on to say that he is the only one who can pass judgement on kdj for enjoying ways of survival, and he has long since forgiven kdj because that is how kdj lived, and yjh accepts that part of him. It’s about how secretive plotter, upon meeting the oldest dream, reacts not with violence but with understanding, and he and the 999 rounds are finally able to be at peace because of it. It’s the way that countless people, not just kdj’s company, went back for another life because they all had things they loved and wanted to save.

It’s about the way that even as kdj is dooming himself to a life of endless dreaming, he wants the people he loves to be happy.

There’s so much love in this novel, such care and loving detail put into describing its many facets and complexities. My rambling here only scratched the moments that I remember most clearly, and even then it wasn’t all of my favorites. In a story so full of love that centers around a protagonist who cannot, for the life of him, even imagine himself living in such a world peacefully, of course I want him to have his happy ending.To love without sacrifice, to love mundanely, simply, and to have all the time in the world to learn what it means. And for his companions, who traveled time and space to bring him home and spent years grieving him, to finally get that chance as well.

Part 1| Part 2 | Part 3 | ... | Part 5 (upcoming)

[wind-corner]

Chapter ten

Brigitte admit she was tried after everything that happened. Also her parents seemed to smother her for a while, and while it was a bit of a pain she was sort of happy to see her parents after all its been a while.

And after calming her dad down (something both she amd her father did a bit often) she was able to go back to her dorm though she was followed by her parents till they seemed to be called else where and while she had simply wanted to flop down on her bed and sleep, for quite a long while. It seemd her absence caused a power valcum that before she could sleep Brigitte had to stomp out. And remind everyone one, no only who she was but the pride they should have as members of their dorm and that they shouldn't bring shame to the dorm by acting like fools.

And while most time she was quiet and didn't say much she knew it was the time to get loud m, and loud she got. And she admit she was worried she might have hurt a few ears, but they honestly needed to behave like reasonable people, rather than a bunch of fools. But at least that event made it clear.to her that she seemed to have gotten faster and stronger in her time away from home.

Of.course she had texted meri who oddly enough didn't respond till that morning saying that they were training for months with weights, which made Brigitte wonder if she could mimic it with actually weights and decided she should most likely do that so she could keep the speed and strength from the fight. But that would be something she had to look in later?

Or ask mister crewel the potion teacher? Or would it be better to ask Mrs crewel the home economics teacher? After a moment of thought Brigitte figure it might safer to ask the potion teacher since everyone knows if you don't make an appointment Mr crewel the math teacher and Mrs crewel would be making out in their class room, and she rather not walk into that. Roumor has it someone saw them doing worse but it has never been confirmed.

But pushing all that aside Brigitte has slept poorly and had been awoken by her alarm. Because it seems the headmage wouldn't let them escape from school, and thus Brigitte got up and dressed before heading to the cafeteria for some breakfast.

Yawning she didn't seem to notice or care about most of the whispers around her, after all its not like she could stop them, and it's not like they were saying anything bad, just talking about her, chaim and meri returning from where they disappeared from. As well as the beating she had done to her dorm, or at least the ones who had thought to cause trouble but for now everything should be peaceful.

At least in her dorm, sighing she wonder what the cooks had been making when she heard someone calling her name and for a moment she was confused since not to many people add the word 'miss' to the front of it. Before it clicked. And she recalled the Heartslabyul freshman she had saved.

Having noticed the girl she gave her a light wave. And she noted the girl coming closer to her, and Brigitte wonder if she could ask the girl what was good today? (After all she couldn't remember what they were serving today since she wasn't fully sure if she only slept for a few hours or for mutable days. Mostly because how tried she felt maybe after a few days she might stop feeling light headed? Another thing to text her friends about later.

Ywaning Brigitte soon found herself bombard with questions one after another, it seemed the freshman was both worried and curious. And while she did try to think of the events she knew their was a bit of a haze a fog hiding it, but than again that was also explained to her, after the mission of getting them back, a lot of the information would be destroyed, esared from the records to keep anyone from using the information from being used for evil uses. Afrer all time travel isn't something anyone should truly have.

Reaching out she found herself patting the girl's head. She was much smaller than herself so it wasn't hard to do so. "I don't mind answering some of your questions, but is it alright if I eat first?"

It seemed the girl was embarrassed as she seem to apologize, in which brigtte told her it was fine and than went to go get food before sitting down, and it seemed while she had been doing that the freshman had bought over her own meal to sit beside her.

And.the girl begin her questions and while Brigitte couldn't remember details, not that she planned on telling the girl everything, memory wipe or not. After all she didn't want someone overhearing and than trying to get more information out of her. Information she didn't have. Why did people have to be so heartless to others? No what matters is doing what can to do what's right.

So eating and answering every few questions Brigitte found herself in the middle of many other people as she had to mention what happened but rather go into details she was merely answering questions of the people who had gather around her in hopes to know what happened.

By the end of breakfast and the bell rang to go to classes she had a mix of students from diffrent dorms around her seeming to be watching her, some with a shine in their eyes. Others with a bit of disbelief, others who seemed to want to ask more but where unsure how too.

What she did tell them, they were transport to another world, the air their was like breathing though smog, and their movement was hinder by some great weight. They did have to dress like the locals so they weren't found out. They had only fought one great beast (she didn't tell them it was an overbloat rotem) no they didn't become famous because they were trying to keep a low profile.

The food was decent, they got the foods by a bit of trading and selling things (she wasn't fully sure how, but it seems meri and chaim made it possible and she wasn't to sure ask for more details but they had said it was legal means), and no they didn't find love since they try to stay close to themselves, and not interact with people unless they couldn't help it.

They weren't sleeping out in the wood but had found a small abbondon place to room for the time they were there. They even fixed it up so it was more liveable for them. And based on the dates, seemed time flow the same there as it did here so they were their for the same amount of time as they were missing here.

And yes they had been looking for a way back home. But it had taken us a while to get back, thankfully they did get back since she admit to being tried, of not being home. She also said she did get to see a lot of cute animals and pet them.

And yes their was nature so they did what they can in the shadows. After that point Brigitte had wrap everything up and had gotten up since they still had classes, or rather she did, she wasn't sure if meri and chaim would. And Brigitte found herself hoping her two friends would be ok. All she could do was hope they would be alright. None the less she had class to go and hopefully not a lot of make up work.

So after getting up tossing her trash and say buy to all the ones who had gather to hear her talk about what happened Brigitte made her way to the first class of the day, feeling rather hopeful for the day ahead.

[izanamihorrortales]

The Annabelle Doll (Haunted Artifact)

(WARNING NSFW this post is about a demon-possessed doll; the word devil and demon will be used reader discretion advised) - Izzy

Dolls, the one toy that everyone wants to play with. But imagine having a doll that has a mind of its own. Annabelle comes from the name of the alleged girl who possesses it. In the 1970s, Ed and Lorrain Warren (one of the most famous paranormal investigators) were given Annabelle by a college nursing student named Donna; Donna received the doll as a gift from her own mother.

Soon after a couple of days, after having Annabelle in the house, Donna and her roommate started to notice some crazy things happening in the house. Annabelle would be left in Donna's room, but Annabelle would be in the living room when she returned, and no one would be home. One night Donna's roommate came home to find Annabelle next to a note with the word "HELP." She thought it was a small prank from Donna and brushed it off. Until the day they both found Annabelle moved again but with a red substance on her.

Once they noticed something was wrong with Annabell, that's when they called a medium to see what is in Annabelle. The medium came to the house and was already feeling the spirit of a demon. There is something that has inhabited Annabelle. The medium soon discovered that Annabelle was controlled by a spirit of a murdered soul that happened in that very building that Donna lived in. Donna and her roommate were scared but still kept the doll.

Donna had a friend who believed in the afterlife and wanted to help Donna do something with Annabelle. One night after Donna and her roommate left for the hospital, their friend Lou stayed at the house with Annabelle to catch her in the act. Sadly Lou never had the chance to tell them that Annabelle was the Devil's seed. Donna came home and saw Lou's dead body in a pool of blood. Annabelle was sitting next to Lou and covered in his own blood.

That is when Donna contacted a priest to perform an exorcism on Annabelle. With many attempts to get the devilish demon out of Annabelle, the priest could not do any more exorcisms on the doll and then contacted The Warrens. When the Warrens came to the house, they knew this doll needed to leave the house immediately, or else someone would die next. To this day, Annabelle is kept away from the world and closed in a wooden case in the Warrens Occult Museum in Connecticut.

Many people who visit the museum have had horrible things happen to them when disrespecting Annabelle. One visitor banged on the case where Annabelle is held in and soon was in a serious motorcycle accident that cost him his life. A priest took Annabelle out of the case, threw her across the room, and told her that "God is more powerful than the devil himself" that's when he was in an accident with a tractor-trailer.

No one, not even the Warrens, would look at the doll in the eyes because of all the bad things that the doll has done. Once the Warrens both passed away, the daughter Judy still watches over the doll and even tells everyone, please do not look at the doll's eyes. To make matters worse, there are rumors that Annabelle escaped from her wooden case just a few months ago. Maybe she did, or maybe she still, in her case, planning her next kill.

[goatpaste]

Did Holly or Jotaro ever hide under Wammu's warm side, expressing their doubts about themselves and their fears of hybridity? And did he reassure them?

hmm not fully

not in the sense that they never felt they could talk to him about it, especially Holly. Holly knows Wham loves his family.

its more, their all a bit dysfunctional and dont communicate with one another. between, wham is a bit quieter and whatever changes and growth he has had to make, its been through, having two loud spouses who tell him what he's doing wrong or reassuring him of himself when needed. Wham is also a very confident and smart man, he is sure of himself and faces things head on. Its hard to notice he struggles with living with humans, when even by p3 he still makes mistakes and doesnt always feel like he where he should be when he steps outside of the circle that is his family. He also has fears of being a monster and a bad person sometimes, but mostly choses to stay true to himself and his own instincts. So with his behavior the others dont assume he would understand what their feeling, to them he's adjusted and fitting in well to this life he chose.

Holly grew up surrounded by her family with love and support that she didnt fully realize she had an issue to face until she was older and really being pushed out into the world. Truly understanding she doesn't quite fit in as a human or a pillar man. Her struggles are in a way the other end of how Jotaro behaves. She is afraid of being disliked and being seen as a monster that she becomes so passive she lets herself get walked over so she can be liked. She acts super happy and refuses to let others be bothered by her. She will be likeable, she will be sweet, and she will be a perfect human who defiantly is struggling and pretending to be ignoring her pillar man parts in fear of accepting that it will always be apart of her. to everyone else, Holly is happy and adjusted, she fits in great in human society so they dont realize from ages 15 and up she has had a constant falling in and out with her self idenity and who she truely is and what she wants.

For Jotaro he's terrified out his own strength and violence. To him he is a big scary monster and his mother and grandfathers who has more pillar man blood in them seem more adaptive to human society than he is. He's believes himself worse than Kars who by p3, while a lot better in a lot of ways still struggles with human behaviors and living up to human/modern standards. To Jotaro, even if Wham and Holly were more clearly understanding of how he felt he probably wouldn't have approached them himself. He has to do it alone. And in his cold shoulder he isnt approachable for the topic. also by p3, holly has been away from home for 20 years and for jotaro he hasnt seem his grandparents since he was a young child. holly is the closest family to him and in a way his only friend.

So basically its three generations hiding how they feel and all thinking each other to be doing a lot better than them. Hoping their loved ones arnt also feeling horrible anxieties and sharing struggles they have.

In choosing to hope for the best they kinda have let each other sit in their struggle alone's of different forms.

By the end of p3 when jotaro eats DIO, this is when Holly and Wham have hit a brick wall and are all forced to realize everything is NOT alright. Its the first real conversation Jotaro has with Wham, and the first time all three of them have really gotten to sit down and just talk. Beyond the childhood talks of "dont let them see your horns or fangs, your loved but others wont understand". it was time to talk to others who did understand.

This talk doesn't fix everything. but its a start. Wham wants to start reconnecting with Holly and be involved with jotaros life better. Holly has the start of realizing she can't let her emotions flood her alone and drown her and that she and jotaro have each other. The same goes for Jotaro. Their not fixed or healed, its not going to happen over night and not all of it will feel totally better in their life time. But it helps.

[chaotic-history]

So I finished A Visit From Voltaire... it's about as well-written as it could be for the plot(s) it has, though that isn't saying much. I hate the narrator so much but I'll try to be nice here and give her the benefit of the doubt. Honestly the characterization of V wasn't bad (considering he just appeared after being dead for 200 years and has to adapt to this entirely new world, plus I'd also be obnoxious if *that* was the only person I could talk to); my main issue with it was that with a lot of the facts he brings up about his life, it feels like the author just wanted to include them but couldn't figure out a way to make them come up naturally or be relevant to the plot, so she just shoehorned them in. Also she had V bring up the 'buggered by the Jesuits to such an extent I shall never recover' and used what was at least really close to the original quote, and then just uses it to make some stupid offhand joke like a chapter later and I hate her even more for that.

My other complaint is it felt like two completely unrelated plots in one. She's with her family or doing something with her kids, and oh by the way Voltaire's over there in the corner. It would've been a totally fine book without V; the plot is already emotionally compelling and interesting enough on its own. And then there's moments at Ferney where she's talking to V around other people (the tour guide, etc.) but they don't seem to notice at all. The plot holes that arise (that, V needing to move her books to put his there even though they're not fully physical objects and no one else can see them, this whole thing going on for months and no one in her family realising she's acting strangely) are because the two plots don't mesh together in terms of the little details.

My positive comment on it is that (and I'm maybe making a few assumptions here) I do think it's a really unique way to show how maybe his writing helped her through the things she was dealing with at this point in her life, for example her wrestling with how God can be good and also let this horrible thing happen to her friend, which leads to her and V debating about the 'best of all possible worlds'. Because her sitting around and just reading wouldn't make for a great story, and V having discussions with her is more compelling than if she were simply quoting passages from his work; we get how she viewed him, what things she thought he might say about the future or her life; we get to see *her* Voltaire rather than just *the* Voltaire, because everyone can read the same book and take away different interpretations, or find different parts that speak to them, or have a different relationship to it; it's an autobiography; it's not about Voltaire but rather what Voltaire means to her.

Also WHY did they include That™️ letter to Denis AND make it 1000x worse. Why was that necessary. 

In short, it's terrible but terrible in the funny way and hey it's V <3

[stregoniconiconii]

I don't understand fellow steddies obsession with making Steve this terrible bully😶 He was an asshole, no doubt about it, but Jonathan, Eddie, and Robin didn't have any negative incidents with him prior to the plot (other than witnessing the grave sin of spilling bagel crumbs on the floor). I think his assholery was more of the acting above everyone else kind, like sitting beside someone in class for a year and still have no idea who they were. but according to fics he's worse than Billy

nah it's true you'd think he was the incredibly violent person when like. honestly the bullying we did see Steve do on screen against Jonathan was lowkey justified bc like. he took pictures of his half naked girlfriend and probably also of him and like his private home. it was mean as hell but if I heard about the full story minus the monster stuff id be like oh well can't be that mad about it tbh altho maybe wait a minute bc Jonathans having the worst week of his life rn. and then the graffiti thing its not super clear who physically did it but he didn't protest it at the very least which is not good obviously but well it's not as bad as it could have been. and he obviously can't fight mans went down quick I do believe Jonathan is full of rage like a shaking chihuahua but damn he really went down quickkkk

and yeah I think what characterises Steve at his peak king days is like. selfishness or being self-centred. like he only saw ppl that he wanted to see, everyone else was just like nothing. which not fun if ur one of the ignored, but it's not a heinous crime. it's like how u said, he didn't notice robin despite sitting next to her for a year, bc robin wasn't doing anything for him! he didn't want to date her or be her friend at that point so she basically didn't exist.

and tbhhh in s1 Steve actually hangs out with a lot of girls. like this is off the top of my head but the only guy I remember seeing around Steve was Tommy and the rest was carol and a couple other girls, like the one who told them about the pictures in the first place. they could all be carols friends but tbh im fond of the idea of Steve just having a bunch of girl friends. and I think that influences how he's an asshole like I fully believe in mean girl Steve I think he can be cutting with his words when he wants to be and very passive aggressive (that's based off vibes tho lol)

anyway that was a tangent lmaoo when it comes to Steve being a bully in steddie fics I think it's just to add conflict I haven't read many where he's worse than billy, which to me means Steve being like racist or something which I can't see

[photoniccyclone]

Sun Fueled Rage: CUT CONTENT #2  Ezran Encounter.

Hey all! I’m back with another piece of cut content from SFR. This time from chapter 2. This would’ve been a much more substantial scene than the unity painting from #1 but had to be cut for reasons that will hopefully be clear soon. 

This scene would have happened rather early on in chapter 2. If this scene made it into the chapter, we would’ve been following Rayla for its duration as she quickly ran through Katolis city, jumping across rooftops and all that, doing her typical Rayla stuff as she searched for clues on Ezran’s disappearance. After some time, she would indeed catch sight him wondering close to an alley somewhere that led into the woods behind the town. Rayla would, understandably, immediately question Ezran on where he’s been, informing him that everyone’s been worried about him. Ezran would respond, apologizing, and saying that everything was fine, he just had to do “something” in the woods. Rayla, at this point would begin to notice something very off about Ezran’s demeanor. He was acting very weird, seemingly very nervous and unstable. Rayla would realize almost immediately that something was fishy about this whole scenario given her assassin training and likely lessons in interrogation that came along with it. Therefore, she would attempt to pry Ezran for more information, which he would be unwilling to give, telling her not to be worried about him and that he just needed to accomplish this thing he was doing, though he would never really specify what that actually was. 

Rayla would eventually begrudgingly let Ezran go. If I remember correctly it was due to the reason that Rayla kinda knew Ezran was in danger by this point, and attempting any rash action right now would most likely make that worse. The scene would come to close with Rayla, her arms crossed and a very concerned expression on her face, watching her friend slowly disappear back into the foliage before making her retreating back to the castle to inform everybody else of what she had seen. By the time they managed to get everyone together and revisit that area, Ezran would be long gone. 

It would soon be revealed that Ezran was, of course, ordered to say all this by his captors to stall a search effort for as long as possible, and that they were watching from the bushes with weapons pointed at him were he to go off-script. 

Now... there are variety of reasons this scene doesn’t work, some of them I even came up with while writing this very post. The scene sounded good on paper at first while it was playing around in my head, and it even sounded alright in the outline. However, I soon realized the flaws. The biggest one, and the one that I think caused the scene to get axed was that this would cause Rayla to be completely out of character. Rayla isn’t the type of person to “run and get help” when she sees her best friend in trouble. Even if she knows not to do anything rash in her initial encounter with him due to whatever danger their may be. After Ezran disappeared in the woods she’d charge straight in after him. There would then be two possible out comes to this scenario. 

1. Rayla dies... which... I think the reasoning for this being unfavorable is clear 

and 

2. Rayla is successful which means Ezran would get rescued *Way* too early. While that would be great for the readers feelings, it just wouldn’t work out for the story as it would basically remove the entirety of what we see from Ezran after chapter 1. Great for an angst break, bad for the story. Sorry <3 

Also, I remember struggling when trying to implement this scene because trying to fit it in naturally to the chapter was very hard. I feel like it would’ve felt forced in there somehow if I had tried it. As I write this I can even see issues with “forcing” beyond just fitting the scene into the chapter. For example, questions like, how would Ezran’s captors know Rayla was coming towards that location so they could send Ezran to it? And also, while Ezran and Rayla are talking, Rayla is *a lot* closer to Ezran than his captors are. I feel like rather then let Ezran go back into the woods, it wouldn’t be too much of a challenge for her to simply grab Ezran and run, even if the knights had ranged weapons, what are they gonna do if she suddenly swipes him out of the way unless they have unnaturally masterclass reactions and aim? And if it was so easy for her to do this, Rayla would’ve probably thought of it had she been in character which would...again lead to Ezran being rescued way to early. 

So yeah, this scene seemed good on paper and it was one I always thought was gonna make it into the story as I even thought about it before ever beginning with the SFR project... but there were just too many flaws with it. In the end, it had to be axed, as I feel leaving it in would’ve brought down the chapter. 

These two scenes, unity and the Ezran encounter, I think were the two big pieces of cut content from the first five chapters. If I remember anything else I’ll definitely make a follow-up post. Otherwise, if more things get cut along the way of writing this story and they’re not to spoilery to talk about, I’ll definitely see if I can talk about them here. 

Thank you for reading my ages long ramble about flawed scenes that didn’t make it into my story! 

[pathsofoak]

So in my fic the kids all get these little stuffed animals based on parts of their backstory or personality (hence why I asked for the animal associations a few weeks ago).

Now I'm not a huge fan of knitting/crochet myself, but I do like ceramics! So I'm making eight cute little animals out of ceramics now.

Chuck gets a duckling (plot relevance in the arc I'm writing for him about embracing his youthful side when he's safe):

Teresa gets a bunny (this relates to a piece of backstory I made up to support the arc I have in mind for her):

Obviously these aren't finished yet but I have to wait a few weeks before my mom can fire them so I can glaze (paint) them.

Brenda gets a moose (since she was canadian in the books, and it also appears as a motif in her arc)

Frypan gets a goat (a memory of the Glade, but it also has relevance to the way he thinks of his past)

Gally gets a beaver (because they're builders)

Minho gets a cheetah (they're fast, need I say more?)

Newt gets a dog (loyalty, kindness, they're very protective, but can be fierce as well. Also a lot smarter than we give them credit for. I thought this one through)

I'm keeping Thomas's a secret 'til it's done ;) that's writer speak for I'm perfectionist and keep changing it