#since that canon is way more strict and Specific About Things

[starry-bi-sky]

miscellaneous danyal al ghul things

specifically about the danyal al ghul from my post/prompt here and i wanna get my misc. headcanons/thoughts on him (especially in his early stay with the fentons) out here before i make any other danyal al ghul aus

list under the cut because whoops this got longer than i expected. which really i should have expected

the Fentons are unaffiliated with the League, which was perfect for Danny faking his death.

he struggles with empathy. Empathy was not taught nor encouraged while he was with the League, so it's a skill that's been pretty stunted. At 15 he's better at empathizing with people, but he still struggles with it. He's pretty bad at reassuring/comforting people and usually acts as an emotional rubber duck for Sam and Tucker to vent to if need be. He sometimes offers blunt and sometimes mean opinions, especially if its about another person.

Sam and Tucker do not know he's an ex-assassin, they are however, pretty positive that he used to be part of an eco-fascist cult with a focus on martial arts?? They've been helping him tone down some of his more,,, extreme views on humanity ever since they caught wind of his more extreme ideologies.

He and Sam are still avid environmentalists and feed into each other quite a bit. They spend plenty of time at protests and pestering the school into more eco-friendly options.

Dash is not dead on the sole fact that Danny knew he had to lay low in Amity Park and killing someone was not, in fact, 'laying low'.

he did, however, traumatize him when Dash first tried to bully him. Safe to say, Danny is not bullied at school and neither are Sam and Tucker.

Danny didn't make any friends in his first year at Amity Park. He was surly, grumpy, standoffish, more stubborn than Sam, and pretty self-important about himself. Jazz was trying to teach him against these things, but she is a 12 year old unaffiliated with the League. Danny did not respect her nor listen to a word she said. It wasn't until like, year two that he finally started paying to mind what she was saying and slowly started to improve on himself

Sam approached him first, he rebuffed her quite harshly, and then Danny approached her sometime afterward when he overheard her talking about environmental rights. Sam completely ignored him though when he agreed with her, and Danny had to later learn that he needed to apologize for being rude to her when they first met. He did so eventually, and they started to talk more with Tucker and Sam.

Danny's a bit more reserved than he is in canon, although he steadily learns how to act as a regular teenager when he's out in public. He's a bit more friendlier at least, although when he's around Sam and Tucker he drops the act. He still has a somewhat formal way of talking, it's just become more casual after a lot of ribbing from Sam and Tucker. When he's angry or annoyed he starts talking poshly though.

His humor is relatively the same as in canon, if somehow dryer and more insulting at some points

Those rare moments where he gets really pissed usually ends up with him insulting someone in arabic or any of the other languages he picked up from the league. He is the go-to for Tucker's Spanish homework. (Tucker makes that mistake and learns that Danny is a very strict teacher)

while Danny doesn't view the Fentons as his parents, even five years after living with them, he does respect them to some amount. He respects them enough at least that when Vlad Masters comes sniffing around, he is suitably offended on both Maddie and Jack's behalf. And when he finds out Vlad was the one who tried to kill Jack and tried to tell him to renounce him as his father/parental guardian, danny threw a suitably sharp object at him and insulted him quite horrendously

Vlad still wants him as his kid. In fact perhaps even moreso after this.

Danny trains with Maddie to keep up with his training. It's not quite the same but it prevents him from getting completely rusty

Sam and Tucker know that Danny has a little brother, but nothing else beyond that other than Danny cares about him quite a lot and that he got his facial scar from keeping him safe.

Danny cares about Sam, Tucker, and Jazz quite a bit, but he struggles to convey it. Especially early on when he realized he cared about them and like instinct started being harsher to them and more critical of their actions. This resulted in quite a few arguments with Sam and Tucker and Jazz until he got sat down and told outright that the way he was treating them wasn't okay. It's a process he's still trying to unlearn even at 15. He has become kinder towards them as a result, and has begun looking for what they did right rather than what they did wrong.

He harbors a lot of guilt over how he treated Damian in the League, and its a pretty big conflict he has with himself since he's torn between telling himself it was for the best to make sure Damian survived the League, and feeling like crap over how harsh/critical of Damian he was and realizing that he probably could have come up with a better way of training him despite being a child himself at the time. Danny comes to the realization that more than anything, that he just wants to apologize.

His ghost form, specifically is outfit, is a combination of his hazmat suit and his uniform from the league, and he carries a sword with him. He also doesn't know how to react to Dani, honestly. Although it is fair to say that he figures out she's a clone instantly because of her whole 'I'm your third cousin once removed' thing and he freaks out. She spills the beans pretty quickly after that. And Danny is pretty skittish around her - or the equivalent of skittish. Her being younger than him kinda reminds him of Damian, so he's uncomfortable by her presence but learns to warm up to her.

[weeb-polls-with-pip]

Autistic Anime Boys Prelims - Propaganda Division - Group 6

Propaganda:

Kiriwo -

"Seems innocent at first and he's just a guy with a special interest in magic items, but watch out."

Arjuna -

"MASKING KING!!!!!! ok joke aside one of his biggest things is that he's super scared that if anyone gets too close to him they'll notice he's not perfect/has a 'secret darkness' (that's literally just a guy) and overall a lot of his storyline is a strong parallel for being neurodivergent and becoming more comfortable with accepting it. he's also super strict and hard on himself for any sort of failure that isn't in line with what's socially appropriate but at the same time he doesn't always have a good grasp on what that is which is how you get stuff like him blowing up a forest to try and impress someone. it also runs in his family bc his brother is autistic as hell too."

Sherlock -

"God, where do I start? I mean what Holmes adaptation, even if he's not the main character, would this be if he were not autistic coded? And our combo of autism and ADHD is absolute perfection, all tied up with a pretty, excitable face. Hit him with the crime hyperfixation and do not make him wear socks."

Apollo -

"Not canonically autistic but he has ZERO volume control plus he scripts/repeats stuff (“I’M FINE!!!”), sometimes mimics other people’s speech patterns (like replying “ja” to Klavier), sensitive to loud noises (stayed backstage at a concert cuz it was too loud) and bright lights (complained about the stage lights being too bright at the same concert + screamed when opening the hatch to the bright stage at magic show), and has been really into space since he was a kid, which could definitely be a hyperfixation (not to mention how he read every single one of Phoenix’s old case files back when he admired him). Plus he’s a little TOO normal, to the point where it circles back around to making him the odd one out, which is absolutely what masking feels like for me. Even when he tries to be fun and weird he gets strange looks/made fun of for not being weird in the right way. The list of autism symptoms is just a checklist for him at this point."

Heiji -

"90% of the cast in detective conan is autistic but heiji is the most autistic of them all."

Urara -

"Another alien who is so excited to dance with everyone that he does not understand that his intended purpose of inviting people to dance via water communication is brainwashing them into dancing and is causing extreme chaos. He nearly causes an apocalypse by being so excited about dancing but he apologizes and tries to make friends with Yuki at the end of the story. He is extremely soft spoken and try, finding it difficult to begin conversations and fidgeting."

Shu -

"speaking specifically about the first season but he was the "explains everything so the audience knows whats happening" guy. he was pretty antisocial (not sure if thats just how he was or if he lived alone [which was fucked up cause he was 11]) . im trying to think of more but my brain goes hghghhhggggh im just a big fan of him."

Vash -

"ain’t no way i’m the only one who’s submitted him. go look at the gif of him crawling in the dirt like a bug while he dodges bullets and get back to me."

Hyakkimaru -

"Due to a terrible curse he has lived his whole life without several body parts including his eyes and ears. Because of this he is often overstimulated and awkward in new situations (when he doesn't do what he does best, killing monsters and samurai with his sword arms) He can't say or express much, and often comes off as strange and creepy, but he is actually a cutie patootie full of emotions, has a big heart, a keen brain, endless inner strength and loves the people close to him! This adorable, cursed, demon slaying boy deserves everything!"

Kei -

"He has the tbh face. Also he canonically has sensory issues and gets sensory overload. He constantly wears earbuds. He has an extremely rigid sense of morality and considers himself a savior figure. He has a hard time relating to other people and is a bit awkward in his interactions."

[danganronpadespairtime]

Chapter 2 part 1 asks

All responses are in this post for organization. There may be chapter 2 spoilers.

(space to prevent misclick)

xmicrophonyx asked: How long did it take you to make the Insane Literature Girl MV? It looked like you spent a lot of time on it!

Making the drawing and video itself took a little over a month. But I had been planning out the text portions (translation, text excerpts, ideas for puzzles) of it for a little over a year (my planning document dates back to May of last year and somehow amassed 12K words..?).

I wasn't working on it continuously for a year, though; it was just an on-off project that I was lazily thinking about for a while.

Anonymous asked: Hi this is a random question but I was wondering if I was just seeing things or not. Does Xander have a tongue piercing? I think in some sprites it looks like he has one and others where it looks like he doesn't. He is totally my favorite character and I love his design by the way!

It's not visible in all of his sprites, but he does indeed have a tongue piercing.

He thought if he had one there he could slip it under his old school's strict "no piercings allowed" policy by just closing his mouth every time a teacher walked by.

Anonymous asked: one genuine question, was there anything specific you were considering when coming up with the cast’s birthdates? or were they pretty much random

Some of the birthdays are specific dates with meaning, then the rest were filled in throughout the remaining months of the year in a somewhat even temporal spread.

xmicrophonyx asked: For this chapter's BDA and fake-out BDA, were they made with 3D assets, just 2D art, or a mix of both? What was the process in making them?

It's a 2D image with a depth map.

Anonymous asked: Is the Hope's Peak the DRDT class went to a high school or something more like a 4-year university for young adults? (Sorry if this has already been addressed somewhere, if the information exists I couldn't find it.)

The second thing. The US's Hope's Peak Academy is post-secondary education. It is equivalent to an American college.

Anonymous asked: I really love the character Fan-Made MVs you do, like for Min and David! Do you plan on making one for every character?

No. I only make MVs for songs that I think fit a character, that I like, and that I have a good MV idea for, which is not something I can control.

Anonymous asked: Does David's new design have a default sprite?

This one is his default sprite.

Anonymous asked: Hi DRDT Dev! This is more of just a simple question and not so much a chapter specific question. We know David like to eat simple foods like ready oat meal. But can he cook small meals like scrambled eggs, omelets or things like that? Oh and how does David normally manage his feelings? I like to think that he journals but this is just a head canon of mine. I'm curious if you could share anything like that about him for us!

He can cook a decent meal, he just prefers not to.

Badly

Anonymous asked: Do the cast have exact ages or are they just deemed “colleges aged adults”?

They all do have exact ages, down to the day, but that's a spoiler. For now, just know that they're over 18.

Anonymous asked: Something I'd been wondering since Rose had talked about her secret with Teruko: She mentions that she was bailed out and came to work under the Spurling Foundation by Richard Spurling. In Bonus Episode #2 with Xander, he mentions the name Duke Spurling with distaste in regards to the Chariton incident. Are Richard Spurling and Duke Spurling the same person? Or separate people? If they're the same person, is Duke a nickname or a title?

Duke Spurling and Richard Spurling are different people, but they are brothers. Duke is (was?) a politician. Richard is a billionaire philanthropist who founded the Spurling Foundation. Duke is not officially affiliated with the Spurling Foundation, but he did receive sizable political donations from that foundation while he was still active in politics.

Duke is a first name, by the way, and not a title. Also, Duke is quite old, in the 80-something-ish age range. Basically, old enough to have been alive during the Tragedy.

Anonymous asked: I was wondering if there are any other characters with canon sexualities?

I said before that I would only confirm sexualities in the story itself, but I changed my mind.

Whit - bisexual Eden - lesbian Ace - gay Veronika - pansexual David - bisexual with a strong female lean. but he describes himself as "straight but also not opposed to any random impulses that may arise" Teruko - unlabeled/explicitly ambiguous

Everyone else is subject to interpretation for now.

citrusircus asked: You've stated before that you don't want any of your assets used with AI, but I'd still like to ask whether or not this extends to the character.ai site (considering no intellectual properly is actually used to make these). Completely understandable if you'd rather people not touch it! Just wanted to clarify.

I don't like character.ai.

tophats-tea asked: Was there a particular incident that caused the scar on Charles’ arm, or was it just a usual chemical spill from working as a chemist?

It's a dog bite scar.

Charles is under the impression that it's a birthmark.

Anonymous asked: why does hu have claws on her hand?

Those are not claws. They are plectra for guzheng.

shi-daisy asked: For my question, I'd like to ask is there anything random you can tell us about Levi? He's my favorite character and I'd love to know any miscellaneous details about him be it preferences or silly info you may have of him or how you came up with his character. Thanks in advance!

He has an almost unruly sweet tooth and will consume an entire bowl of lollipops (his favorite candy) in an hour if he doesn't watch himself.

If you see him in future art with a white stick of some sort in his mouth it's almost certainly a lollipop.

murderacademia asked: Ooh, do you have a random fun fact about Charles as well? :) he’s a big fave of mine! Thank u!

He's secretly very attached to his hair length, and doesn't like the idea of cutting it short.

welpuu asked: do the cast all have favourite colours? if so which ones? (also sorry if this was already asked 😭)

Teruko: red (reasoning: association) Charles: "Why would I assign emotional value to colors? That's a ridiculous waste of energy." (cerulean) Whit: neon pink (reasoning: "Pink!!") Rose: lilac (reasoning: likes subdued colors for their subtlety) Arturo: blueish white (reasoning: sterile) Levi: cerise pink (reasoning: feminine) Eden: daffodil yellow (reasoning: happy) J: black (reasoning: cool) Hu: emerald green (reasoning: elegant) Nico: none (reasoning: no interest) Ace: dark blue/purple (reasoning: refuses to provide reasoning) Arei: azure (reasoning: "I'm blue, so clearly it's the best color!") Min: taupe (reasoning: comforting) Xander: bright red (reasoning: passionate color) Veronika: white in conjunction with other colors (reasoning: brings out other colors well) David: gamboge (reasoning: inspiring)

Since I'm on the topic, here are least favorite colors as well.

Teruko: pitch black (reasoning: unsettling) Charles: dark red (reasoning: looks like blood) Whit: gray (reasoning: boring) Rose: none (reasoning: all colors have their value in the right situations) Arturo: neon colors (reasoning: tasteless) Levi: neon yellow (reasoning: a little hard to style) Eden: blue (reasoning: "Kind of a downer color...") J: pink (reasoning: obvious) Hu: blueish white (reasoning: sterile) Nico: white (reasoning: unsettling) Ace: titian (reasoning: doesn't like himself) Arei: green (reasoning: looks like puke) Min: white and pink together (reasoning: annoying) Xander: dark red (reasoning: looks like blood) Veronika: white in the absence of other colors (reasoning: soulless) David: gray (reasoning: depressing)

cuckaracha asked: but also for a real cool and sexy question. Can we have a totally normal and not fucked up fact about Ace?

When I designed Ace from the start, I wanted him to wear heels (because he is short), but I thought that it was inaccurate for a jockey's outfit, and I didn't do it. But then later I remembered that he isn't jockeying at the moment, so it would have been fine if he wore heels. In any case I decided it'd be okay to add them back in his new design.

When it comes to jockeying, Ace wishes he was shorter (he is on the tall side for a male jockey), but for all other aspects of life he might find it bothersome to be shorter than everyone else. So he might have a tendency to wear shoes that enhance his height. Subtly of course.

Also, he has 9 siblings.

Anonymous asked: taking a note from the levi asker, are there any random fun facts about nico or veronika that you have? those two are my favorites!

Nico cuts their own hair. Veronika's single green earring is a 'good luck charm' given to her by her dearest friend.

welpuu asked: another simple question sorry...im curious about if any of them have favourite ice cream flavours...or like maybe flavours in general? unless thats too broad then the ice cream flavours is fine 😭

Teruko - red bean Charles - coffee Whit - vanilla Rose - red velvet Arturo - chocolate mint Levi - caramel Eden - honeycomb J - black sesame Hu - rose Nico - "the flavor" (doesn't elaborate further) Arei - birthday cake Min - lemon Xander - sauerkraut??? Veronika - funfetti David - pistachio Ace - frozen bananas (actual frozen bananas, not ice cream)

sunriseindigo asked: does rose have a favorite art medium (acrylics, colored pencils, graphite, etc)? also, does she do digital art or is she strictly traditional?

Paints are her specialty, particularly oil, and she rarely uses any other medium. She does not do digital art.

Anonymous asked: would you be willing to spare any fun information about Rose?

Her whole family has plant-themed naming.

Daisy (older sister)

Saffron (younger brother)

Holly (mom)

Iris (mom)

xmicrophonyx asked: Is there any concept art of the DRDT cast?

There is, but it's so embarrassingly awful that I don't think it will see the light of day any time soon.

Other than this.

I'm certain is the first ever drawing of DT. I guess Arei used to have black hair.

Anonymous asked: what does the cast smell like :)

Teruko - Dirt, sawdust, burnt smell Charles - Laundry detergent Rose - Paint and chemicals Arturo - Antiseptic Hu - Womanly perfume (light) Veronika - Womanly perfume (heavy) David - Men's cologne (light) Levi - Men's cologne (heavy). Also, somewhat faintly, leather Nico - Cat Ace - Sweat and menthol Min - Lavender/eucalyptus/lemons/whatever essential oil she decided to use that day Whit - Fruity fun shampoo (for kids) Xander - Men's 3 In One Body Wash (for men). Also, somewhat faintly, gunpowder MonoTV - metal and burning rubber

Anonymous asked: Is the Spurling Foundation and XF-Ture Tech the same thing?

They are totally unrelated institutions. The former is a philanthropic organization, the latter is a for-profit tech company (that also seems to do a lot of other things).

spyrkle4 asked: Question! Will sometime in the future will we know a little more about the sibling characters of some of the cast members? I honestly am just curious about J's brother and wanna know more about him

It’s good to have names to refer to characters, so here are the names of some characters who have been referred to in the story (and additional information about other characters as well)

Fuyuko + Natsuko Nageishi (Arei’s older sisters, by around 2-5 years): They are identical twins, in both appearance and persona. Actually, their appearances are mirrored. The two of them are always seen together and share everything with each other. They are best friends and very close.

Ryan Rosales (J’s younger brother, by about 1-2 years): He likes playing video games, and the two of them play games often. He also loves annoying J. One of his hobbies is cross-dressing.

Elliot “Ellie” Cuevas (Charles’ older brother, by about 11-13 years): Although he has not had an appearance yet, he looks shockingly similar to how Charles looks now. His favorite food is pancakes and his favorite animal is dogs.

Felicity Giles (Arturo's younger sister, by about 3-4 years): She also has not made an appearance yet. She has low self-esteem and admires Arturo a lot.

These characters (and others) have reference sheets, but those are meant for internal use only, so maybe later I will draw reference of their designs to show you all.

zamazencian asked: Is there a fun fact about Xander you could share? He's my favorite guy :D

He has a very weak sense of taste, and most normal foods taste bland to him. As a result, anything he cooks has an overwhelmingly strong flavor that makes it almost inedible to other people. He seems unaware of this.

sourapplecake asked: what kind of accent does xander have? i can’t tell if it’s british or australian or what 😭🙏 <- a little slow

British.

Anonymous asked: Do you ever have any plans of making promotional splash art in the future? I apologize if this has already been asked!!

Not really.

Anonymous asked: Is Min, like... truly really into essential oils and healing stuff?

She is aware that essential oils don't have any scientifically proven meaningfully significant benefits, but finds them relaxing nonetheless.

Anonymous asked: Does David wear hairclips because he likes them or is there some other reason?

It's his manager's idea for "branding." But David thinks they're embarrassingly stupid looking and doesn't like wearing them.

saraanzu asked: do you have the death order for the rest of the show decided in your head already, or are you figuring it out as you go along?

Decided from the start.

xmicrophonyx asked: Any fun facts about Whit?

He's the best cook in the cast. His specialty is French.

Anonymous asked: where did David's hairclip's go after he had his little transformation in chap2? cuz it looked like he ate them lol

www.google.com/search?q=pants+pocket&tbm=isch

Anonymous asked: hi, sorry if this is a silly question but how do you pronounce davids surname? ive seen it pronounced "chee - em" or "keem" but i just wanted to know if there's an official way to say it teehee

CHEE-em

chee as in cheese

em as in seem

0-kaiya-0 asked: Will there be more FTEs?

Maybe, but I'm not sure I want to put out any more polls.

Anonymous asked: will there be any canon couples?

I'm not one to write romance, so don't count on it.

Anonymous asked: Are people allowed to make nsfw content of your characters?

Sure.

Anonymous asked: How is Veronikas last name pronounced?

GRE-ben-SHI-ko-va

Gre as in regret

ben as in the name Ben

shi as in shiba inu

ko as in cold

By the way, here's a tip for (approximate) name pronunciation. If you can identify the origin of the name, go to Google Translate, type it in the left box, set the left language to the appropriate language, and hit the speaker/play button to have it read out-loud.

[inquebrar]

sighing deeply and here we go again... i didn't think i would talk about this but this time it happened in one of my posts so i'll try to explain something from the point of view of someone who is aspec myself.

from the moment q!Cellbit got into a relationship with q!Roier before the wedding, there was a lot of talk about the honeymoon and q!Cellbit always made it clear by replying "i don't feel interested in that" "i don't like" "i don't do these things" and then this gave us a beautiful scene (which could easily not have happened if it wasn't important to the character) where q!Roier listens to q!Cellbit explaining that he would like them to sleep together but that he will not have sex and asked if there was any problem with that, then we had a moment of understanding and acceptance that only strengthened their marriage.

after that moment there were several other situations where it's clear that q!Cellbit's asexuality is not something superficial and used only as a meaningless label, but since then many people have started to make disrespectful comments, with misinformation and even contradictory to what was being said. no one ever said that q!Cellbit is the definition of asexuality as a whole, but to say that he is a character that brings us asexual representativity is no harm at all, being queer embraces many things and within the lgbtqia+ community there are various spectrums of sexuality and gender identity. there are people who are asexuals who also identify as aromantic but there are people who are only aromantic, they're two different things that can sometimes be together or not, in the same way that there are asexuals who experiences sexual attraction under specific conditions, some are strict asexuals, some experiences sexual attraction more or less, others are sex-repulsed others can have sex even without feeling sexually attracted and there are still many other variations and spectrums, and they are all valid and real.

to have a character who is canonically married and talks about not being interested in sex, is far from being something stereotypical. i have literally never had any representativity like that, especially because it's a big issue "not having sex is a sign of a failed marriage/relationship" now imagine that in a gay relationship. a character doesn't need to constantly remind people "hello! i'm asexual" and carry the flag for people to take it seriously, also many scenes that involve a better understanding of q!Cellbit being on the asexual spectrum he's speaking in portuguese so to people who don't speak this language lose a lot of context and subtle moments because that's how it really happens. and in general, if you want to have a headcanon that he's not asexual or you just don't think he is, i just ask, please be more respectful, it's great to receive asexual representativity in different ways, through different characters on different spectrums! let people feel joy and show appreciation, celebrate and just be happy.

your sexuality is valid and having a character that makes you feel happy and gives you a representativity that you've never had before and to have moments where you can relate is incredible! so please, if you are going to make negative comments or complaints that may make people uncomfortable, please use "neg" or "discourse" tags and don't do that on reblogs that have nothing related to negativity or stuff like that, always keep in mind to be respectful, please, it's not too much to ask 🙂

[storiesofsvu]

A Dangerous Game Ch 3

Emily Prentiss x reader Warnings: language, usual Criminal Minds canon type conversation, mentions of violence, nothing descriptive though. Minor flirtation, smut maybe eluded to. So. for those of you who loved how long the first chapter was, this may just be the fic for you. I originally wanted this entire "trip" to be one chapter but this one ended up being long enough on its own so I've split it up by days. Downside: you now have to wait for the smut. LOL. sorry not sorry at least that means we're now getting more plot? more time for our girls to actually get to know each other...

It was as if your first case in the field was your official initiation onto the team. Though honestly, it kind of was, being a profiler wasn’t for everyone, especially with the BAU. You had to be quick on your feet, fit in well with the rest of the team, be used to seeing gruesome crime scenes and be ready to leave Quantico at a moment’s notice, not worrying about what you were leaving behind. After the case in Omaha you’d proven yourself on all accounts and found yourself thoroughly enjoying coming into work and the people you spent your days with.

It started out with a coffee left on your desk, a friendly good morning from Penelope along with a warm smile. Monday’s she would linger a little bit longer, asking how your weekend went and when you mentioned most of your free time was still spent making yourself have energy for unpacking and trying to figure out where everything would go in your house she offered up some of her time the next weekend. Considering her office was one of the most positivity oozing rooms at the BAU you figured it’d be nice to have her as a second set of eyes. That weekend you discovered you were both coming from the same direction and usually stopped to grab coffee together on the way into work, giving you a little more gossip time before hitting Quantico.

After your first trip to the range with Derek you found that there was a lot of friendly competition banter going on between the two of you. In spare time between cases or to kick the mid afternoon slump doing paperwork you started running together, which lead to hitting the gym together a couple of times a week. The competition definitely helped both of you push yourselves passed the limits you’d normally go, not to the point of hurting, but you were already seeing results and you weren’t complaining.

One of your weekends you’d been out exploring Alexandria and ended up running into JJ coming out of a cute café. The accidental run in had you being introduced to Will and the boys, joining them in the park for a couple of hours afterwards. The boys loved you, pleading for more playdates, asking if you could come for dinner. You politely had to decline that night but did offer up to Will and JJ that if they ever wanted a date night you were more than willing to babysit free of charge.

Spencer and you often found yourselves talking about books, exchanging some of your favourites to read in downtime or while on the jet. It was another thing that helped you actually get unpacked and get yourself set up, wanting to find specific ones you knew he’d enjoy. He took you to a couple of his favourite old book stores around the area, spending a few hours perusing the shelves for a few hours until you had selected a few.

Even Rossi you found yourself getting along with perfectly, though your conversations were more limited or related to work. He did have a plethora of knowledge on fine wine and whiskey that you weren’t about to turn down, and you ended up having a couple of life chats over the weeks. He’d been with the bureau for long enough to have seen it all and the stories and lessons he could provide were ones you were going to pay strict attention to.

The only one you hadn’t had much one on one time with was Emily. Well… since you’d shown up for your first day of work that is. There were small fleeting moments here and there, ones where you had to drop off paperwork in her office, or when the two of you happened to be filling up coffees at the same time. Caught in the breakroom together with so much sexual tension buzzing between you, you were glad you were alone, it would be a wonder for no one else to pick up on it. It certainly didn’t help that you’d both been busy trying not to think about fucking the other person and with work that you hadn’t exactly had time to find someone else to relieve the urge. Instead your nights were full of remembering just how good Emily made you feel, your hands often wandering, wishing they were hers instead of your own.

Every day you got to work Emily would, once again, think about completely remodelling her office so your desk wasn’t in her direct eyeline when she was sat at hers. Your laughter would drift through the bull pen into her ears like fucking silk and it was killing her, she was more than happy to see you fitting in with everyone else but there was almost a twinge of jealousy. She wondered if the two of you would be able to hang out and just be friends as she watched you chatting with Penelope. She nearly had herself convinced she would be fine until you stood from your desk, leaning over to grab something from Spencer’s and the neck of your blouse gaped low enough she could see the green lace of your bra and swell of your chest underneath it. She let out a groan, dropping her pen to her desk as she shifted her thighs together. She needed to fuck you again.

Absolute need, not want.

*

It had been a relatively relaxing week, if one could even say that about working with the FBI. You all thought you were basically in the clear, waiting for the okay to come through so you could enjoy the weekend ahead. You’d finished a pile of paperwork earlier, dropping it in Emily’s inbox on her desk, thankful for the fact that she was in the conference room for once. Currently, Spencer had pulled up to your desk as the two of you were competing to see who could finish the crossword the fastest. (It wasn’t a competition, you all knew Spence was going to obliterate you, but it was a fun way to kill the time). None of you even noticed Emily exit the conference room as she quickly strode along the raised platform to her office, her authoritative voice breaking into the calm atmosphere of the bull pen.

“Wheels up in ten!”

You glanced up and she’d already disappeared into her office, your brow furrowed as you looked across at JJ, curious about what was different today.

“Means it’s super time sensitive.” The blonde replied, pulling open a drawer of her desk to grab her go bag, “we’ll debrief on the jet.”

*

The jet was on its way to Atlanta, where an unsub had been kidnapping young girls, taunting their families and the local police down to a specific timeline until he killed his victim. The first girl had been kidnapped almost a month ago and her body hadn’t turned up until nearly a week later but with each victim he got, the unsub was escalating, taking less and less time between the hunt and the kill. It had taken two weeks for police to realize things were connected, much less a pattern. Two days ago a young girl had gone missing from her bed in the middle of the night, it was the first kidnapping of its kind, originally not thought to be connected until the taunting started. Police found her body thirty six hours after she was taken. At eleven a.m. today a girl, April, was snatched from the playground at school and you had deduced you had less than twenty four hours to find her alive.

“We’ll be touching down in ten.” Emily’s voice floated through the jet, returning from the cockpit, pulling you out of the trance you’d been in reading over the case file, “Spence, Morgan, you’re going to the local precinct, read what they’ve got, figure out what they’re missing. JJ and Rossi talk to the families, all of them, we’ve got to figure out if there’s a connection between these girls, something that might help us find the unsub. Wilson and I will take the school and work through the other crime scenes.”

There was a small rumble of accepting roles through the jet, nods from all of you as you shifted into the right focus for the rest of the day. Emily hadn’t even really realized she’d paired herself off with you, she’d simply been thinking who was best applied where to find this girl as fast as they could. She dropped down into the seat next to you, her arm brushing against yours on the arm rest and heat surged through your body at what felt like an incredibly inappropriate moment. You cleared your throat to regain your focus, passing her the file you’d been looking through and shifted slightly in your seat so you weren’t touching her.

You could think about her touching you once you were in the privacy of your hotel room tonight, right now you had a job to do.

*

You were thankful for the distraction of work as you and Emily pulled up to the school, briefly talking with the local pd, a couple of teachers and the principal. Despite the police already doing a sweep, it was still ongoing, while Emily busied herself with talking to a few of April’s friends, trying to figure out exactly where she had been playing and if anyone had a description of who she’d gone off with you were retracing steps through the playground. One of the structures was made up to be a ship, cops said they’d found April’s back pack on the lower deck of it so you knew she’d been playing somewhere on it. You noticed a child sized entrance that lead to the below deck area, letting out a groan at the fact that this was clearly made for tiny humans and not adults, but weaseled your way through it anyways. Using your flashlight you searched the area, sand squishing under your shoes as you swept every inch. A bit of graffiti on the wood, an sand pail in the corner to collect the garbage, a note or two pinned to the wall as form of communication between kids who had recess at different times. The beam of your light swept over the corner of the space and a flash of vey bright colour caught your eye, pulling a glove out of your pocket you tugged it on before picking it up.

“Prentiss!” You called out, scrambling back through the entrance.

“Yeah?” Her voice replied from a distance and you found an exit from the ship, jumping back down to the sand. “You get something?”

“This is the same bracelet that they found on Lucy’s body.” You held it up.

“Looks like some kind of friendship bracelet.”

“Can’t be a coincidence.” You tugged your phone out of your pocket, snapping a picture of it before Emily pulled out an evidence bag for you to drop it into.

“Get that picture to JJ to see if any of the other parents remember seeing it on their kid, or who it might’ve been from. Loop in Garcia to see if it’s chain made or not. You mind?” She reached out for the bag and you shook your head, handing it off to her, “I’m gonna talk with a couple of these guys, make sure April was the one wearing it.”

“Yeah.”

You shot off the handful of texts, checking in with what the others had discovered so far, chatting back and fourth a bit before you swept through the rest of the playground. Emily appeared at your side again later and you glanced up,

“Hers?” You gestured to the bracelet and she nodded.

“You’ve got a good eye.” She practically smirked and you laughed softly before following her back to the car.

*

The rest of the afternoon was spent examining previous crime scenes, or doing so through photos and reports, visiting the medical examiner’s office and finally making a pit stop at the local pd’s office. You poured over photos there, looking through the files Morgan and Reid had left for you, along with statements JJ had emailed over. The sun was long gone from the sky by the time you and Emily were finally pulling up to the hotel, parking and grabbing your bags before heading into the lobby. Rossi was waiting for you, tossing a key in Emily’s direction, and old school keychain on it that had the room number embezzled on it.

“I don’t get one.” You half joked and Rossi laughed.

“You two were the last here, you’re bunking up.” He shrugged, clapping Emily on the shoulder, “can’t pull that chief card every trip.” She rolled her eyes, swatting her hand in his direction as he made his way out the front door.

“C’mon.” She nudged at your elbow, nodding in the direction of your room number, wandering through the halls until you found it. She let out a breath when the door swung open to reveal two beds, thankful she wouldn’t have to be that up in your space tonight. “I need a shower.” She grumbled, dumping her bag on the bed farthest from the door.

“Go for it.” You sighed in return, flashing her a small smile before kicking off your shoes, dropping yourself onto the other bed letting out a groan.

Emily grabbed a couple of things from her bag before slipping into the bathroom, making sure the door was locked behind her. She had to admit, so far things seemed to be going good, there wasn’t any awkwardness lingering in the air, despite the back of her brain wanting to invite you into the shower with her, you’d both managed to keep what happened between you from coming up again. She flicked the water on, giving it time to adjust to her preferred temperature while she stripped down and stepped into it.  She took the time to relax, to try and turn off the profiler part of her brain for at least a couple of hours before going to bed. She had almost forgotten where she was, her mind drifting to that first night spent with you, her hand slipping lower on her body when she heard the television spring to life in the other room and her eyes snapped open.

“Fuck…” she muttered, shaking her head, “get yourself together Prentiss.”

*

On the other side of the door your head tilted up at what you thought was Emily talking, wondering if this was one of those hotels who stored their towels outside the bathroom or something. But after a moment of silence you figured you must’ve heard something from the hallway instead. Dropping back onto the bed you did your best to distract yourself, scrolling through your phone, it was purely out of instinct you’d left the tv on the late night news channel, you almost always had it going to see what they were reporting on versus what you were working on.

Your eyes drifted toward the bathroom again, listening to the sound of the water running, wondering how long Emily usually showered for. Your only hope of relief after spending all fucking day with her was once you’d gotten to the hotel; however this was far less private than you’d been hoping for. You thought about it for all of two more seconds before you realized that it was a terrible idea, if you were going to you should at least wait until you were the one behind the locked door.

*

Emily turned off the water, stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around her as she used a smaller one to somewhat dry her hair. She’d washed her face in the shower, smoothing on overnight cream and drying herself off. Since you were in the room she figured she’d get dressed in the bathroom, tossing the used towel over one of the racks before finally opening the door and wandering back into the hotel room. Her eyes moved between the tv playing the news and you sitting on your bed with your iPad on your lap, she knew by the way your lip was tugged into your mouth that you were still working. At the very least you’d changed into comfier clothes, a cute pair of glasses on your face as you worked.

“Didn’t realize you wore glasses.” She greeted and you glanced up at her.

“Hmm?” You replied before you’d properly digested what she’d said, “oh! Pen suggested them, they’re for the blue light, supposed to help with eye tiredness and headaches and shit.”

“You get a lot of those?” She asked, picking through amenities on the coffee table.

“They can get pretty bad from time to time.” You let out a soft sigh, “especially with the constant travelling. I’m still pretty used to Florida so anywhere particularly dry or cold makes it worse. Part of why I liked Florida so much, cold aggravates the ribs, never really heal properly those things.”

“Don’t I know it.” She chuckled softly, her fingers moving from the caddy of coffee pods over to the basket of snacks. “Injury in the field?”

“Cheer camp.” You admitted and she turned to you with a laugh, a wide smile on her face.

“What?” She laughed, the smile wide enough her eyes crinkled in an incredibly adorable way, “you were a cheerleader?”

“Scholarship covered university.” You simply shrugged in response, smile on your cheeks.  

“You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?” She teased with a grin as you laughed, turning back to your iPad. She let out a small sigh, chucking a pack of peanuts down onto the table, “I’m gonna go grab some food, you wanna come?”

“Nah.” You mumbled, not glancing up from the screen as she pulled on a jacket, picking up her wallet.

“You better not be overworking yourself.” She warned and you rolled your eyes.

“You know when you’ve got two dots and you just can’t seem to connect them but you just know that they’re related.”

“Okay, okay.” She held up a hand in defeat, “we’ve all been there. Can I at least get you something?”

“Where’re you going?”

“Dunno.” She shrugged, “saw a diner up the road that was still open, figured it’s twenty four hours.”

“Yeah.” You let out a small sigh, leaning over on the bed to grab some cash out of your wallet, “just like a sandwich or something, I’m not picky.”

“You sure?” She asked, tucking the cash into her pocket.

“Oh!” Your face nearly lit up, “don’t ask me why but I have had the worst hankering for mozzarella sticks.” You grabbed your wallet again, digging out some more cash to hand to her while she laughed.

“What are you, eighty?”

“What?” You laughed back while she took the cash and shook her head,

“Hankering? I’d expect that from Rossi but not you.”

“Now you’re just being mean.” You feigned offence and she chuckled softly, moving toward the door as you returned your attention to your work. The news on the tv took a turn, covering the open case you were working and it caught Emily’s attention for a moment as she stalled right by the door.

“Hey…” she began softly, “how did you know to even check under that ship thing?”

“Park by my house has the same structure.” You muttered in response.

“You spend a lot of time at the playground or are you hiding some secret kids on us?” She raised a brow and it was your turn to bark a laugh.

“Em… you’ve been to my house.”

“I wasn’t exactly given the grand tour.” She nearly smirked back and you felt your cheeks heat.

“You’re telling me an FBI profiler isn’t at least tempted to snoop a bit on their way out?” You grinned across at her, “and no, I babysat for JJ, the boys loved that ship. I had a fucking heart attack when I thought I’d lost them but they were just underneath the ship, called it their own private fort.”

“Hmm…” She nodded with a small smile, a blooming within her at the thought of you out with the team outside of the office, partaking in non work activities. She was glad, it was important to form those kind of relationships, to have those bonds so you weren’t constantly buried in work and lost in the darkness that was the world of unsubs. The thought crossed her mind and she glanced back up at you, “hey…” that caught your attention and you looked up, “if you’re going to keep working would you at least turn on something a little bit more lighthearted?” She gestured to the television and you held back an eye roll, “that’s an order from your superior, you know that right?”

She smirked as you bit back a grin, reaching for the remote and flicking through a few channels until you found some late night South Park, glancing back to her with a raised brow in the way that you were asking if that was substantial. She nodded with a soft smile before slipping through the door, making sure it was closed behind her before making her way to the car.

You felt an overwhelming sensation of warmth and comfortability as you settled against the headboard. Perhaps attempting to avoid each other was the wrong move, after all, you hadn’t exactly spent much time talking the night you’d met, maybe this was the route you were meant to go after all.  

_____________

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[95jezzica]

how do you think sweden is as a parent? any headcanons?

It's canon Sweden kind of spoils his kids quite a lot (with that I mainly mean Sealand and Ladonia, but to a degree this also includes Iceland). Not really spoiled in a bad way though? At any rate Sweden pays a lot of attention to his kids, constantly defends Iceland against Nor's and Den's teasing, and even pretends to lose wars against Ladonia. It's sweet, and I figure it's worth mentioning.

As far as headcanons go, this also means I headcanon Sweden as a pretty chill parent in general. As long as they don't endanger/hurt themselves or others, he allows them to do a pretty much what they want (within reason) - but he's still able to put his foot down if he thinks something is going too far.

With that said, if they want a tree house to hold their micronation meetings in? Then you'll be damn sure he's going to build a gigantic treehouse for them. If they're hungry they can usually just go and eat something from the kitchen - though Sweden likely has some rules about what they eat and when.

(Example: If dinner will be ready in 30 minutes they're probably allowed to eat a quick fruit like a banana, but not stuff themselves full on sandwiches. Sweden would probably also tell them to avoid sugary stuff like candy until after dinner, but as long as they don't overdo stuff he wouldn't be too strict on which days they decide to eat their candy).

For Sealand specifically I reckon Sweden & England have shared custody, and as a result Sealand technically has several rooms. (One in each house). To avoid Sealand having to choose between them on holidays they also make sure to celebrate major stuff together or alternate the days between them.

For an example Sealand's birthday is celebrated with everyone together. Meanwhile Sealand celebrates Christmas with the Nordics on the 23-24/12, then goes to that big party America is said to have (which probably is on the 25th), and then Sealand celebrates "Boxing Day" (26/12) with the "eyebrow family", NA-brothers and France.

They'd also have things they celebrate on their own, such as Sealand being with the "eyebrow family" to celebrate things like St. Patrick's Day, St. George's Day and Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes). Then Sealand would be with Sweden and the Nordics to celebrate things like the June birthdays (Ladonia/Den/Swe), Midsummer and Lucia. Just to mention a few examples.

I'd say Sweden and England try to keep the days where Sealand spend his time time pretty even, but they also don't stand and count every minute to make it "fair". One year Sealand might spend a few days/weeks more with Sweden, and another year Sealand might be a little more with England. Living costs are similarly divided. For an example I imagine England was the one who bought Sealand a mobile phone when it became more necessary, but Sweden was the one who bought Sealand a tablet.

Sealand strikes me more as a boy longing for adventures. Sure, he enjoys to sit down and play games/watch TV from time to time, but he's also boy with endless energy. I can imagine him and Sweden doing stuff like going on hikes, building rafts to sail on the local lake - etc - as quality time when they're alone together. Sealand strikes me as someone who if they don't get to DO enough stuff in a day to run off some energy he'll have a hard time falling asleep in the evening.

Now, Ladonia spends pretty much all his time living with Sweden unless he's having a sleepover with a friend or one of his many uncles. As a micronation who nowadays mostly functions as an internet nation, Ladonia has a lot of the latest technology available to him (through Sweden) since he's also more dependent on them.

Because of this Sweden obviously also make sure the house their family lives in has excellent internet connection. Though Ladonia mainly uses his own laptop while moving/traveling around, I headcanon Ladonia also has a robust PC inside his bedroom ("home base" in a sense) and a back-up laptop that he SOMETIMES let's Sealand borrow if they want to play games together.

(At some point Sealand got to choose between getting a computer, laptop or a tablet from Sweden. He chose a tablet).

I've mentioned in earlier posts that I headcanon Ladonia as literally having been born looking like a newborn baby, and as a result of that I think Sweden is/was very protective of him. Obviously Sweden is also protective of Sealand, but it's on a much higher level for Ladonia after Sweden spent YEARS not sure if Ladonia would even survive or how much "nation" Ladonia was since he grew at roughly the same speed as a human for the first 3-5 years of his life. It wasn't until Ladonia's aging slowed down a bit that Sweden could start to breathe easier.

Ladonia also has a big canon interest in Pokémon, so it wouldn't surprise me if he has most of the consoles and Pokémon games. Heck, some of the Quality Time stuff Ladonia and Sweden do together alone is likely a lot of video game playing, and they might even go watch tournaments and regionals being played. Sweden likely even ask Japan for favours to get tickets for the World Championships. I reckon Ladonia would enjoy amusement parks too, so that's another one of the few things Sweden can use to "get Ladonia away from the screens" for a few hours if Ladonia isn't having friends over. xD

Originally I also wanted to write about Sweden and Iceland's relationship as a bonus, but this post is getting really long and I've already done a few posts with them before, so I think I will end here for now. xD

Thanks for the ask, and hope you enjoy this!

[ltbarnes]

Anachronism - Part I

Or the placing of persons, events, objects, or customs in times to which they do not belong

Summary: Sprained ankles, snowstorms, blood-thirsty wolves and feral super soldiers. What was supposed to be a peaceful walk in the woods surrounding the cabin you're staying in with your best friend Steve quickly turns devastating, forcing your path to cross with the mysterious and burly man who can't seem to grasp social cues and the concept of privacy. His past is a puzzle that can't seem to be solved and your feelings for the sweet and giant man quickly develop from friendly gratitude to something neither of you can't quite grasp.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x fem!reader, Steve Rogers x fem!reader

Word count: 7.6k

Warnings: Bigfoot!Bucky? Yeti!Bucky? 6'6" Bucky (he's massive. so beefy), manhandling, technically kidnapping but it's all good,  hypothermia (almost),

(Specific warnings in each chapter)

A/N: be kind and ignore the ridiculous amount of times i have written "furs" in this chapter. also my very first series! please read and give feedback and your thoughts i will love you forever if you do!!! this is obviously an AU but also includes a lot of things that are canon, but i've tweaked some things to fit my story. it's a mini-series that will be released every Friday which i'm also still writing so any suggestions regarding the story are welcomed and appreciated

Masterlist

•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  • 

"Are you scared Bigfoot is gonna come kidnap me?" you say, a faux serious expression on your face. "Notice my great hips for childbearing? Smell my excellent pheromones from his mountain top?"

"You're hilarious, aren't you?" Steve answers, rolling his eyes fondly because you are hilarious. Self-proclaimed.

"It's not my fault I'm a fantastic mate. Bigfoot won't be able to resist his feral urges to claim me once he sees my healthy glow and extra layer of fat that will keep me warm through the winter."

The argument has been ongoing the entire morning—should you go out on an exploration walk with the threat of a snowstorm looming while Steve finishes his work or should you instead stay inside and keep him company? Steve is heavily in favor of the latter option, it seems.

You've been here for an entire 24 hours without leaving the cabin a single time. Usually that wouldn't bother you, but when your travel companion keeps insisting on finishing sketches and answering emails and doing everything but hanging out with you, exploring your surroundings seems a lot more exciting.

Yes, you were aware of the fact that working was a part of the deal when borrowing his boss's mountainside cabin. But you didn't know exactly how strict a certain Tony Stark could be when it came to deadlines. Technically Tony is only your boss and not really his, but the version of Stark you meet does not hand out deadlines. You came with because you wanted to spend time with your best friend, not stare at him in front of a computer and sketches of how to improve stuff at the compound-thingy.

"Steve, honestly. I won't even be gone for long," you say, leaning over the back of the couch while watching him draw lines over the large paper with his pencil. "I need to get some fresh air. You know, for my health and all that. Exercise."

"Since when do you care about exercise?" Steve asks you, reaching for a red pen on the other side of the table.

"You know what? I'm going out no matter what you say. I'm adventurous. Independent."

You walk over to the hallway, sliding your arms into your large puffer jacket while Steve watches you with raised eyebrows. He had an inclination that you would be getting your way in the end, but engaged in the benign argument in hopes of convincing you to stay with him. The truth is that you're not an adventurous person with any valuable survival skills, and both of you know that. You get lost in grocery stores—the endless snowy woods will do you no good.

"Okay," he tells you, laying down his pen for the first time in an hour. He didn't stop working for the entire time of your conversation, until now.

"Huh?"

"I can't stop you. But don't go too far, Y/n," Steve pleads, looking at you with those blue doe-eyes that piss you off. "I mean it. As soon as the first snowflake falls you go inside again."

A sigh. A roll of your eyes that he absolutely notices. "Yeah, yeah. We know I'll probably come inside in fifteen minutes anyway."

With your hat, mittens and a thick scarf wrapped around your neck you decide to take the leap and open the doors. The wind whines as you wave Steve goodbye. He tells you to be safe once more and you tell him to mind his own business if he wishes to have dinner served tonight.

Honestly, the man has no faith in you. Yes, you might have no sense of 'street smarts', but what good will those things do you in the mountains? You are perfectly capable of taking a walk. If anything would happen resembling trouble, you absolutely have dormant biological survival instincts waiting to be activated somewhere. Wether those lean more towards freezing than fight or flight is no one's business.

Nature is beautiful and gorgeous and miraculous, you have always thought that, and your beliefs are confirmed on your thirty-minute walk. Several inches long icicles hang from mile-long trees, glistening with shimmering snow and at least two squirrels hunting each other down the tree trunk.

If you're not careful you might convince yourself you are in a Hallmark movie, if judging only by the seven days left before Christmas Eve and the appropriate environment. But you are also painfully cold and longing for the crackling fireplace in the Stark cabin more than you wish to continue explore.

The urge to pout over following Steve's rules is ridiculously strong while heading back during the first snowfall of your trip. You don't know why you've acted like a spoiled brat around him these past few weeks when you really just want to kiss the life out of him. Stupid fucking Steve Rogers. Unnecessarily attractive—he really is. He doesn't need to be this handsome and gorgeous with that perfect personality of his.

You've known him for five years now. It's hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time, that you have spent so much time infatuated with a man without ever speaking your admiration out loud. Steve was just a friend for many years, the steady confidant and chivalrous caretaker. And then the meaning of chivalrous became devastating and the ability to listen without intervening turned horrifying when all those traits summed up into the absolute, certain definition of the man you have a hopeless crush on.

And what's sad is that you're still here. Feelings still unconfessed and unrequited. You can't let him go even though it fucking kills you to see him live his life without being yours.

When you were a teenager you feared you were incapable of love after your first date left you feeling absolutely nothing for the perfectly nice and sweet guy. Now you're so deeply sunken into the man that is Steve Rogers, but you can't confess in fear of destroying the only real friendship you have. Fear is a funny thing, and it manages to ravage your sense of self-worth in any which way it appears.

If you ever gathered the courage to tell him, he would be real nice about it. Assure you that nothing is ruined, and he won't look at you differently. Steve would actually try to appear as unbothered as possible going forward into the friendship if only to make you as comfortable as possible. But you know it would eat him up inside—his best friend is bordering on being in love with him and he can't reciprocate it. Steve's selfless and caring like that.

You can barely feel your fingers anymore despite the thick gloves on your hands. The temperature was a crisp kind of cold when you first started walking, now it's wet and icy and biting. Seeing more than three feet in front of you is getting slightly hard through the punishing snowfall, but you have faith. You walked in a straight line the entire time so you wouldn't lose yourself in the woods.

When you get home again you will make two cups of hot chocolate and curl up on the couch. Watch a movie with Hugh Grant if only to annoy Steve. Despite how you've complained about his time being occupied the past day you really do like it here. Quiet and peaceful and warm despite the freezing temperature outside. You could live here if only work wasn't an obligation and you had money enough to buy a house.

"Fuck," you seethe as you trip over a branch, landing face down in the snow.

The ground is soft and almost powdery and you still manage to twist your ankle during the landing. Of course you do.

"Ow, ow, ow," you whine while trying to stand up again, once more falling down onto the ground with a soft thud.

Your face is covered in snow in mere seconds. The urge to cry is overwhelming as you sputter to rid yourself of the white snowflakes burying you. Skipping breakfast doesn't seem like a great idea anymore now that your blood sugar is low enough for you to cry over things like this. It's stupid—the pain will most likely go away in a few minutes and the cabin can't be that far away.

But right now the snow is too heavy for you to drag yourself through on a bad foot. The temporary solution you find underneath a thick tree whose branches are so compact almost no snow makes it onto the ground underneath it. Cold, but dry. It will do for ten minutes.

Checking your phone connection almost feels stupid. Cell towers are usually not a frequent part of the infrastructure in the midst of mountains and woods. You send a text to Steve anyway, hoping that it'll come through once you get closer to the cabin, risking the well-being of your poor fingers during the short time you're required to take off your mittens.

I'm still alive

Also sprained my ankle

Don't laugh at me when I get back

•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  • 

Cold. So, so cold. Oh my god.

Too many spots on your body are freezing to the point where you can't move. A panicked breath forces your eyes open just halfway, revealing a white landscape of blur.

There's sounds other than the wind and your ragged breathing, you're sure of it, but you can't distinguish what they belong to. Your eyelids fall closed once again, despite willing them to stay open so you can see what the fuck is going on for more than a second.

You hear growling. Yeah, that's what it is. Animals growling. Animals growling.

The sudden epiphany is what forces your eyes open for real this time, awakening your nearly hypothermic body with a start as you take in the gray, furry hounds on all fours surrounding your resting place.

Wolves bare their teeth at you as you sit frozen in your spot, literally and figuratively, eyes wide with fear and heart beating a lot faster than the minute before. Tears are already making their way down your cheeks, because what are you supposed to do? The underlying survival instincts you thought were laying dormant are seemingly not doing anything for you right now.

You press yourself closer against the tree, watching as two of the wolves stalk closer, assessing their prey like bloodthirsty beasts. Dying of being mauled by wolves were not on your bucket list, if you're honest. Right now you're rapidly going over every prayer to every god, begging for your life. And the only thing you manage to do is have a panic attack in your place, struggling to match your inhales to your exhales. Death by asphyxiation must be better than being torn apart, right?

The largest wolf, tall and built with dried blood in his fur, leans back, readies himself for attack. You close your eyes with a sob, chest heaving so frantically you can't get any air into your lungs.

A roar sounds right in front of you, and you know in your bones that now is your last moment of life before your flesh is pierced by sharp teeth. But when three seconds pass by without a feral animal ripping you to shreds, you open your eyes dizzily.

The wolves are sprinting away, howling and whining, disappearing between the trees and snow until they're out of sight.

A heaving figure stands too many feet away for you to see clearly what chased the predators away. You're disoriented, sight becoming blurry again.

But right before you succumb to the sleep, you see the outline of a large man nearing you. He crouches down, grabs a hold of you, and you can't even protest.

Everything is upside down. You don't have the energy to stay awake anymore.

Steve is going to fucking kill you.

•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •�� •  •  •  • 

Orange and yellow flickers dance over wooden walls, painting shadows of make-believe figures in an unknown space. It's overbearingly warm—beads of sweat rest underneath your hairline and pools on the back of your neck. A world of difference from the biting cold you lived through what seemed to be just a moment ago.

Several furs cover your body, working alongside the fire undoubtedly burning somewhere in the room to warm your already overheated body. It feels claustrophobic and also deeply concerning because who in the hell has furs lying around in this amount and who brought you here and where are you?

You remember the cold and the snow and the tree and the wolves—there were wolves about to attack you. Actual, real life wolves two feet away. And somebody chased them away.

Turning your head away from the wall you faced takes more effort than you would have wanted to, and you almost wish you didn't when you come face to face with a bearded, blue-eyed man staring at you less than a feet away.

An ear-splitting shriek escapes your lips without your consent, furs flying off of your body while you scramble to get away from the strange man who's breath is literally hitting your face.

But you're pushed down onto the bed before you have the chance to escape, once again covered with the furs you desperately wish to keep off.

"No. You cold," the man growls at you.

His voice is rough, like he hasn't used it in a long while. There's a thick scruff on his face, complementing the dark brown hair almost reaching down to his shoulders.

You get stuck in your movements, left staring at him feeling like you can't tear your eyes away. He's so ruggedly handsome and nearly soft in his gaze, but the way he's clenching his jaw tells you he's rougher on the outside. Strong, judging by the way he pushed you down with only a palm to your shoulder.

"Still. Don't move," he tells you, furrowing his eyebrows into a frown while keeping his hands on you. And then he tucks you in, keeping you locked in place with the furs. "Cold," he whispers to himself, barely loud enough for you to hear.

You gulp, trying to rid yourself of the dryness in your mouth and gather courage enough to speak simultaneously. Assessing wether he's dangerous or not is painstakingly hard—you have probably established to yourself by now that you have no survival skills nor instincts.

"I'm—it's too hot. Warm," you stutter, keeping your gaze on him to gauge his reaction. It seems you've adopted his simple language, lacking complete sentences and any form of addition besides the most crucial information. You suppose it's more efficient to communicate that way.

"Warm soon," he speaks once again, getting closer with each word. It seems like he's nearly sniffing you, inhaling your scent which must consist of mostly sweat right now. A low grumble sounds from his chest, a pleased hum on his lips. What the hell is going on?

You tense underneath his figure hovering over you, blinking while searching for a way to make him understand. Despite his tough exterior he seems soft in some way—kind. He wants to keep you warm because you must have been freezing when he found you. No matter how much waking up in a strange man's home is alarming and deeply frightening, you feel safe. That's disturbing.

A second effort to push away the bear fur proves to be more successful, even though the man actually growls at you. He really doesn't want you to escape the makeshift nest he's created.

"No, I'm already warm. See?" you tilt your neck, showing the bare skin glistening with your sweat. "Not cold. Hot."

His gaze zeroes in on the exposed skin, brows furrowed in confusion. In a decision not very thought through when you reach for his hand, bringing it up to your forehead so he can feel how you're practically burning up.

And he obliges, except that the hand pressing against your face is not warm human skin. Metal, hard and flexible, runs up the entirety of his arm. You can't help from flinching, scurrying away from his touch into the corner of the bed you're laying on.

But fuck, it hurts when you push away on your feet. A blinding pain strikes up from your ankle into your leg, drawing a distressed cry from your lips that has the man tense and rigid in a second. He straightens from his crouching position, moving back from your writhing figure.

"I did not—did not want to hurt," he says, looking just about as upset as you are in pain.

The genuine concern in his blue eyes throws you off guard. His face is all chiseled and gruff and a little dirty, but his eyes are softer than the fur draped over your body. He's beautiful. And big. Now from a distance you can see his large build clearly, the muscles bulging out from his worn henley. You know he'll tower over you when he stands up and the knowledge doesn't scare you anymore than it exhilarates you.

"No, no," you whimper, kicking away the fur completely before holding onto your foot, squeezing your eyes shut while trying to breathe through the pain. "It wasn't you."

Stretching your leg out, you bring your swollen ankle forward for him to see. Purple bruises run around the small of your leg, even one on your knee. You didn't really notice until now how little clothes you are wearing—neither your thermal trousers or the leggings are on your lower body anymore. All that's left is the long-sleeved henley you stole from Steve and your underwear. You guess you and the giant are matching now.

A shriek escapes as he suddenly drags you forward to the edge of the bed, both arms underneath your body until he has you where he wants you. You cling onto his shoulders for a few seconds, trying to rid yourself of the momentary shock. He moved you like it was nothing—as easily as if you were a pillow.

"Wolves, uh—wolves did this?" he asks you without lifting his focus from your leg, cradling it a little too harshly for your comfort. He lifts your foot, inspecting. It's like he doesn't really know his own strength.

You shake your head, finding it hard to search for words with his hands on your bare skin. The metal arm still really hasn't made its way out of things you've gotten over. You're not scared of it, you weren't before either, but more shocked. How does it even work? It feels kind of miraculous in a way.

"I tripped over a branch," you tell him. But he looks confused, like some part of the sentence contains words he doesn't understand. "Uh, I fell, over a—a tree on the ground?"

You try show with your hands as you are speaking until he nods. He repeats "tripped" under his breath, lips parting softly as the word sounds from his mouth.

"I need to go the bathroom," you say suddenly. "Can you show me where it is?"

It's not like you expect him to have a full-blown ensuite in this little cabin. You can see quite clearly that it's a simple place, but hopefully he has at least a mirror and running water hiding somewhere. You feel icky from all the sweat.

As carefully as you can, you bring your legs to dangle off of the bed while scooting forward. The man rises while you begin to push yourself up, expecting him to take your arm or something to help you walk.

Upside down again. Instead of aiding you in your walk he threw you over his shoulder within a second, picked you up just like that. Who is this man?

"Wha—hello?" you shout. "What are you doing?"

His answer comes in a grunt, but that's more so because of opening the door at the same time. All you can see is his back, but you feel the temperature drop significantly as he brings you outside into the snow. Judging by the rapid pace of snowflakes landing on your bare legs you assume the snowstorm is still brewing.

After a few seconds of shuffling through the snow, his fingers dig into your waist as he lifts you down. The landing is wobbly and you have to bite down on your lip to stop from crying out. Despite your efforts a broken whimper manages to slip out, making you sound like a kicked puppy.

"Good?" he asks you, holding onto you even after you have let go of him.

You nod, cringing over the icy cold snow against the sole of your feet. "Be a little more careful next time, maybe, if you're gonna keep...lifting me."

Your teeth are already chattering, arms crossed over your chest while waiting for him to step away. But he just stands there, two feet away while staring at you. He's been staring at you the entire time since you woke up but now is really not a moment requiring an audience.

"Could you look away?" you ask, gazing up at him impatiently. You're wearing a shirt in a snowstorm in which you nearly can't see the man standing right next to you while barely managing to stand upright.

"Away...why?"

A little taken aback by the confusion, you answer with his lack of understanding in mind. He's strange—knows what a bathroom is but doesn't understand the privacy part of it, the metal arm, standing so closely all the time, the inhaling your scent and communicating in incomplete sentences.

"Privacy," you tell him. He only furrows his brows just like he did inside when you talked about tripping over a branch. "I want to be alone for a few minutes. Not you here."

"But, uh, wolves. Bears and—cold," he says, taking a hold of your freezing hand. "Protect." He points at himself.

He wants to protect you.

Your lips part just slightly while trying to find something to say. He's known you for less than an hour.

"So small. Tiny." He pats you on the head, and it would be patronizing but you know he doesn't mean it that way. He looks genuinely bewildered by the difference in size between you, as if he hasn't seen anyone without his impressive build before. Most people are quite a lot smaller than him. "Small can't fight bear."

"Oh," is all you manage to get out. "That's very nice of you, but I—you can turn around? Please? I feel uncomfortable having you stare at me."

"Uncomfortable?"

"Like not feeling good. Not happy, nervous. It's not a good feeling," you explain, trying to ransack the dictionary of your mind for synonyms.

"I will be close," he tells you after a few seconds of contemplative silence.

It looks like it pains him to step aside, despite not walking very far away from you at all. He's so different from anyone you've met before, more innocent but also animalistic in some way. Primal. You kind of like it.

The snow is used as water for cleaning while your teeth chatter against each other, limbs shaking to keep yourself warm. Your feet hurt from touching the snow, and the entirety of you is getting increasingly wet as the icy flakes melt on your body.

Only a minute passes before he seems to have had enough of waiting, turning around to see that you're done.

"This time, could you not—"

Before you can finish your request of not being thrown over his shoulder again, he puts his large hands on your waist and lifts you into the air. You're less surprised this time, maybe, but definitely not used to being picked up like that. A harrumphed breath is all that can be said as you once again, with your ass in the air and his as your view, are brought inside.

An hour later you have concluded that your phone must be left underneath the tree you fell asleep against, your ankle is definitely sprained and the man has not spent much time in civilization. But he still knows certain things that makes you believe he's somewhat civilized, like he spent time with other people a very long time ago.

He's wearing clothes at least, even though they are worn out and torn in some places. He knows how to make a fire and there's a few plates on a shelf and a wooden spoon. It's relatively tidy in here, but that's mainly because he doesn't have many things.

Most of all, he's been taking care of you. He knew enough about hypothermia to rid you of your wet clothes. Now he's wrapped you up in all those furs again and planted you in front of the fire place after you were shaking like a leaf when you came inside. He hasn't let you take a step by yourself on that bad foot of yours.

And even though all of these things are so sweet and slightly peculiar, you can only think about Steve. You don't know how long you have been gone for, but those fifteen minutes you said you would be back after have since long passed by.

God, he must be freaking out. He told you to stay inside and you stubbornly went against his wishes. Look where you are now—stranded in a cabin with a malfunctioning foot and a strange man who's nice but also extremely mysterious and hasn't been a part of civilization for many, many years.

"I have a friend who's probably looking for me," you say after an hour of relative silence. He's been gutting fish for some reason, taking out bones and bad parts with a pocket knife. It's now roasting over the fire. You don't really know how he got a hold of fresh fish in the middle of December.

He looks over at you from where he's sitting a few feet away, arms draped over his knees.

"Who is friend?"

"His name is Steve," you tell him. "He's my best friend. We are borrowing someone's house a few miles away from here."

A low murmur of 'Steve' is heard from him, and it almost makes you laugh. The way he says his name—like it nearly offends him—is so humorous you're bound to tell your blond friend about it when you get back.

"He is tall, almost like you. And very strong. I think you would like each other."

That implication was apparently not welcome. His face scrunches up, jaw clenching down while shaking his head to himself.

"No. Do not like Steve," he tells you. "No Steve."

"No?" you chuckle. "Why? You haven't met him yet."

"No. Steve." He glares at you, showcasing those blue eyes of his once more with a stare so intense it has you squirming. "No man."

Your chuckle dies down under his stare, leaving your cheeks to heat while he's observing you. He certainly does have a staring problem, but you don't really want to do anything about it even though it unnerves you. In a good way, mostly.

"Okay," you say softly, letting a small smile grow on your lips to dissipate the sudden tension. "What's your name? I don't think I've asked that."

He thinks for a few seconds. The smile drops as quickly as it appeared when you see his confusion, because who has to think to remember their own name?

"They call me Asset," he speaks up nearly a minute after you posed the question.

Your lips part in quiet shock as you stare at him with your brows furrowed into a concerned frown. Whoever he's speaking about viewed him as an asset. Not a person, a human being, but merely something to serve them. It makes you nauseous. He doesn't look very bothered about it, and that makes you even more sad. Sure, you've made it this far without calling him anything but you want to know his name. You want to know him.

"Asset? I can't call you that," you whisper, shaking your head. "Well, then we'll have to come up with something."

"Your name?" He points at you.

"My name is Y/n."

He lights up slightly when he hears it, looking up at you again. You feel heat traveling to your face, glancing away for a second because eye contact for that long is still hard for you.

"Y/n?" he asks, nodding at you.

His curiosity makes you giggle like a schoolgirl while nodding. Even more so as he repeats your name several times under his breath, as if he barely notices himself what he's doing.

"Asset?" he says again while pointing at himself.

"No," you answer, gripping the furs tighter around your body. Funny how two minutes outside could instill a cold so deep you're still feeling it over an hour later.

"No?"

"No. It's dehumanizing and disrespectful. You are a person, not an object."

"Don't understand..."

You gulp, blinking while glancing into the fire burning a few feet away. He still stares at you.

"You know what? I'll just call you Winter for now. My imagination is lacking and I feel like that encapsulates your energy," you say, maybe more for yourself than him. You know he doesn't understand much.

He nods, seemingly accepting his new name pretty quickly. "Winter...like Y/n?"

"Yeah. Your name." You point at his chest. "Do you like it?"

"Yes. You, uh—you gave it. Like it," he tells you.

Content with the conversation, the two of you fall into a silence while he watches over the grilling fish in front of you. Winter. Somehow it suits him—cold and to the point, warm and soft when he wants to. Yeah, that's a good nickname.

It's your turn to stare at him now. Observing as he takes the fishes off the spear, moving them onto one of the wooden plates he has stacked on the shelf above you.

He crouches down until he's sitting opposite to you, legs bent but still taking up so much space. The plate is pushed in your direction as you unravel your arms from the blanket-cocoon.

Carefully and with slight hesitance, you begin to reach your hand out towards your plate, but it's pushed away with a grunt from Winter's mouth. Instead, he pulls a large piece of the grilled fish and lifts his finger towards you.

"Eat."

You stare at it for a second, blinking before lifting your gaze to his face.

"Oh," you breathe out while he pushes it closer until the fish touches your lips.

You let him feed you, for some reason. But it feels natural when he's the one doing it. Though you have to slow him down sometimes, stopping him from choking you with the rapid pace and quantity of food he seems to want to feed you with.

After finishing one and a half fish, you feel overtly content with your meal. You would have stopped eating after the first one but he keeps insisting on you eating more.

"Winter," you tell him, gently pushing away his hand. His eyes flicker upwards to you when his new nickname falls from your lips.

He nearly pouts at you. "More," he says, holding up his fingers. You shake your head.

"I'm full. No more food."

"But—ugh," he snarls, breathing out a frustrated puff of air. "Don't know how to say."

"It's okay."

You lay a careful hand on his arm, nodding for him to continue. He gulps, letting a few seconds pass by as he thinks hard and thoroughly. You don't want him to feel dumb just because he doesn't speak your language well.

"Want you to feel good. Not sick."

"Healthy?" you ask with a smile as soon as you get the sentiment.

"Yes, healthy. Much food for healthy."

Winter touches your stomach, pressing his fingers into your skin while you chuckle. He's sweeter than you ever would have expected him to be and it hurts to know that you have to leave him soon.

You could very well visit him during the rest of the week you're here, but after that you will be far away. Keeping contact with someone who's barely been socializing with humans for what must be years upon years could be very hard. He doesn't have a phone and probably doesn't take trips that often.

"Not happy?" Winter redirects the subject when he sees your fallen expression, gazing out of the window.

Your short-lived trance is broken by his voice. "No, sorry. I just got distracted for a second," you tell him. "I have to go back soon. To Steve."

All he does is grunt, leaving you to raise your eyebrows in amusement.

"No," he mumbles after a few seconds of shaking his head. "Snow is too much. Much—very dangerous."

You immediately look out of the window again, which is nearly covered in white snowflakes to the point where you can't see much. But you can hear the strong whines of the wind outside, and despite wanting to assure Steve that you're fine you know Winter is right. On this foot you can't go anywhere far, and it's not like you're gonna force him to carry you the entire way.

"Okay," you say softly. "I'll stay until the storm is over."

"Yes? Y/n stay with Winter?"

"Yeah. I'll stay."

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The crackling sound of the fire has been slowly lulling you towards sleep for the past half an hour. You constantly fight to keep your eyelids open but you know you're going to lose the battle soon if the furs keep enveloping you in a big hug while trying to shield yourself from the cold.

You went out for another bathroom break a while ago. It's dark now, but the soft light from inside of the cabin lit up the grounds outside enough to see a bunny and her babies jumping through the snow.

You just about had a meltdown and Winter thought you had hurt yourself because you were crying. Having to explain to him that no, you were not sad, but just extremely overwhelmed by how cute and pretty the bunnies looked and the dramatics of the whole day was equally difficult and amusing. He seemed quite confused by that explanation, even more so than your reaction.

"Don't understand," he had told you while picking you up again to throw you over his shoulder. Standard practice by now. "Happy crying? So strange."

Now you're leaning against the couch with your legs stretched in front of you. You've been watching Winter carve a handle to the knife blade he just sharpened twenty minutes ago. Somehow you feel he has no real need for a knife when he's built like he is, when he could chase away a whole pack of wolves with merely his presence.

He's so concentrated. Nearly passionate in the way he sculpts that piece of wood, eyes never straying from his craft except for when he looks at you when he thinks you're not looking. With each minute he's nudging himself a little bit closer, thinking you won't notice.

It's cute, really. But you're too tired to read into it and the way your eyelids grow heavier with each passing second tells you that you might not be awake much longer. You don't want to sleep yet—if what you have left with Winter is only this night and tomorrow morning, you want to spend it on something else than laying passed out on his floor.

You want to know more about his story and why he's living in the middle of the woods and why he doesn't have a name and why in the goddamn hell he's so sweet and attentive and god, you might like him a little too much for only knowing him a day.

It's weird, right? You're not supposed to want to stay here with him while having the man you've been in love with for half a decade waiting for you at a cabin you borrowed from his boss, probably (hopefully) worried sick for you. Steve most likely thinks you're dead for god's sake and you're out here thinking about if some Bigfoot man would be able to bench press you. He has to, right? It seems like he could.

And spending time asking yourself rhetorical questions while you should be trying to keep your eyes open is apparently the downfall of your self-control. A poke at your side forces your eyes open with a flutter, gaze flickering down to Winter's finger pressing into your cheek.

"Sleep? Y/n, uh, lay down?" he asks you, nodding towards the bed.

You shake your hand with a yawn, wrapping the furs tighter around your shivering figure.

"No," you say softly. "I can—I'll sleep here. You can take the bed."

He doesn't have a chance to answer before you're slowly lowering yourself down to the floor, snuggling into your blankets with a tired hum and closed eyes. In all honesty, you might freeze to death if you're more than three feet away from the fireplace.

"Y/n," Winter says, nearly chastises. "Y/n."

You don't answer. Too tired to form words and actually speak them. You know he's going to offer you the bed again, but he's been so good to you this past day. He deserves some comfort.

"Small—little bunny," he says, nearly mumbles, hand brushing over your arm and your eyes shoot wide open like a comic book character.

"What?" you breathe out while rolling over until you're facing him.

"Name for you. Like Winter but for Y/n," he says, cheeks flushing red and you can't help but let out a girlish giggle.

"Nickname?" you ask him, smiling much too big for your dignity to still be intact.

"Yes. Not listen to Y/n so use other name."

"You think I look like a bunny?"

The tiredness you felt half a minute ago has suddenly dissipated into thin air while you prop your chin up on your hand, gazing up at him with amusement.

"No," he tells you. "Like words you say—"

Winter stops a few seconds to think, furrowing his brows in frustration. He gets really irritated at himself when he can't find the right words, you've found these past hours. You don't mind at all, but he gets frustrated so quickly when he can't communicate his feelings. It's equally adorable and sad.

"Like cute and uh...pretty. Like bunnies."

You don't say anything—you can't. Laying there dumbfounded and a few degrees warmer than the second before, struggling to hold the intense stare Winter has decided on.

But he keeps on looking at you with those stone-cold and intense yet innocent blue eyes of his, wanting to say something but refraining from doing so. The staring problem is really starting to become an actual problem for you when you can't reciprocate it anymore. Instead you curl into yourself, snuggling into the blankets while avoiding his gaze.

It's getting to the point where you can't decipher wether it's due to his lack of social cues or genuine interest in you. Just one day in his presence and you feel like you can truly exist. He doesn't really judge in the way other people do. It feels nice spending time with someone who doesn't have to know things about you to know you. But it's been less than twelve hours for god's sake.

After what must have been a few minutes but felt like half an hour you drowse into a half-sleep once more. You know Winter is sitting right beside you, hopefully planning to relocate to the bed soon. If he's going to sleep there on the floor your sacrifice would have been redundant but somehow you feel he's stubborn enough to do that.

You've been descending towards sweet unconsciousness for a good while when you hear him rise from his seated position. And you should've known it was coming, even after knowing him for such a short time, when his arms snake around your figure.

For once, Winter hauls you up into a bridal carry, though still lacking that sense of gentleness most people would use on a sleeping person. But you're not sleeping, and maybe he knows that too.

The bed sinks underneath your weight as he lays you down, pillow cold against your head and shivers instantly breaking out when the sheets meet your body. And you suddenly hate the idea of laying alone in this bed absolutely on your way towards freezing to death.

"Winter," you mumble, eyes barely open.

You feel him stop in his movements, hands still on your body from when he laid you down just a few seconds ago.

"Will you lay down with me? I'm cold," you nearly pout. It's childish and bordering on mirroring an opening to some bad 70's porno, but still sincere. The hellish warmth you felt when you woke up before has escaped your mind entirely.

"Sleep?" he asks.

"Yes. Only if you want to. It's okay if you don't," you tell him, breathing out deeply while fighting your tiredness for just a little longer.

You scoot over, lifting the furs draped over your figure to make space for him if he decides to lie down next to you.

And he does.

It's ungracious and a little awkward when what must be at least a 6'6" man climbs into a bed that fits half of him when it's empty. His warmth instantly streams over towards you the moment he lays down, drawing an embarrassingly loud hum of pleasantry from your lips.

A groan descending from the very depths of his stomach sounds from him only a few seconds later. It nearly makes you laugh, but mostly pleases you that he finds this comforting too.

It scares you a little that you might be seeking this closeness to make up for what isn't there between you and Steve. That this natural ease you find in Winter's company is a figment of your imagination. Maybe you're still sitting underneath that tree, on your last few seconds of life with your dying mind creating stupid fantasies?

But it sure feels real when your cornered position against the wall turns into Winter using that goddamn strength of his to maneuver you to lay on top of him. You barely react to his touch until you realize just what position the two of you are laying in.

A soft 'oh' escapes your lips as your cheek meets his chest, large hands wrapped around your back while he snuggles into the crook of your neck.

"Smell so good," he mumbles as he takes in your scent, nose pressing against your skin. "Little—hm, bunny smell good."

Your eyes open wide where you're laying, and he can't see that luckily, but he must be hearing the increased pace of your heartbeats against him. This man is going to be the death of you.

"Hm?" you hum in answer, a strained one and slightly shocked and one that comes out when you don't know what the hell to say.

Winter does that thing he did when you went outside the first time—he pats your head gently, like he's petting a cat or a small child. It's humorous to think that he might've learnt it from those scenarios a long time ago.

You prop your chin up on his chest so you can see his face. It's an awkward angle but somehow you feel he doesn't think about things like that.

He's staring down at you, palm still resting on the back of your head as it slides down to rest at the back of your neck. His eyes are so fucking blue that you are mad about it—who gave him the right? What kind of crazy ass genes did his parents have for him to be so tall and strong and beautiful?

"No tired now?" he whispers, as if it's a secret he's telling you.

You shake your head, which turns out to be a little difficult in this position, while blinking slowly. "I'm still very tired. But I just—I wanted to look at you for a second." You move your hands until they're underneath your chin, palms splayed out against his chest. "Your eyes are very blue. Almost cerulean."

Winter scrunches his nose. Adorable, of course. Ugh.

"What is that word?" he asks you, furrowing his brows and drawing a smile from your lips. "Your words—so hard. Use words I don't know all the time."

"I'm sorry," you answer through a soft chuckle. "Cerulean is a certain shade of blue. Like the sky when there's no clouds."

"Oh," he answers, brows still furrowed in thought.

You wonder if he's seen his own eyes in recent years. Somehow you feel like he doesn't spend a lot of time in front of mirrors. You can't really say the same for yourself—your insecurities make you so paranoid that looking yourself in the mirror has become an addiction. Ever since you woke up in this cabin you haven't thought about how you looked a single time.

"So cold." Winter takes a hold of your hand, lifting it up while running his thumb over your fingers. "Like snow almost."

"Yeah," you sigh. "Hopefully that'll change soon."

"Yes. I, uh—I will warm. Make your hands not so cold anymore."

All you can do is give him a closed-mouth smile while already feeling yourself grow several degrees hotter. Honestly, if he keeps talking he could warm you up from the other side of the room with his words.

"I'm gonna sleep now, Winter," you tell him quietly, holding off a yawn but also feeling that you can't keep your dignity intact much longer. "Thank you for keeping me warm."

"See tomorrow?" he asks you, still holding onto your fingers.

"Yeah," you answer through a chuckle. "See you tomorrow. Goodnight, Winter."

Part II

[albentelisa]

Hi! So what do you think would happen if Jlaire switched roles? And by that, I mean, what if Jim was born as Ophelia and Javier son while Claire was born as Barabra daughter? Their personality can be the same as canon, though.

Oh, I adore what if asks! It gives a lot of thought.

Let's start with Jim. I feel he'll be closer to Javier, who will be more lenient when it comes to breaking rules. Ophelia is a strict and demanding mother, not to mention a workaholic, however, I believe that Jim will be taking care of her lunches much like he does for Barbara. However, unlike the canon, Jim won't be the only one responsible for chores and cooking in this kind of AU. I feel they will split the responsibilities with Javier 50/50. I also feel that Jim will 100 % percent baking cookies for Ophelia's charity events (and he'll enjoy that, unlike some other activities!)

I feel that Jim will be a responsible brother to Enrique and will be as devastated as Claire in canon when his brother is kidnapped.

Jim will still like Vespas, but even though his family will be able to afford it, Ophelia will be against it as 'it is dangerous and will create a negative image'. Javier will try to convince her though.

Unlike Claire, Jim isn't a fast learner, but with enough effort, he can keep up with all his studies while getting good marks. He isn't as busy with chores here and unlike Claire, he has no theatre to care about, so... We all know that it won't last forever, though.

Obviously, we won't get bad!Spanish Jim here, but imagine this - Jim switching to Español each time he's over-emotional (nervous, scared, or angry).

And unfortunately, Jim will have no reason to see Strickler as a father figure. He will still respect him a lot and Walter will be his favorite teacher though.

And now to Claire. She'll obviously have a wonderful relationship with Barbara and absolutely despise her absent father. She'll get way more freedom here as Barbara will never limit her daughter when it comes to hobbies or fashion preferences.

Claire doesn't seem like a cooking person. She won't be as bad in it as Barbara, but still way below to be called a good cook. Those two will survive on takeaways (well, at least until Jim and Strickler interfere).

Claire will try to make things easier for Barbara, but she'll pick a different approach. That will be good studies (to be able to get a grant in college) and picking up some part-time jobs (one of which will be babysitting Enrique).

Claire is still a true theatre lover, but she's free to participate.

And here Claire is the one who's closer to Strickler. Not to the same extent as canon Jim as I feel it takes more time for her to open to people (and somehow I can imagine in this specific AU Claire might have some bad experience with one of past Barbara's boyfriends, not to mention her absentee dad, so she is suspicious towards any adult man at the start.) Still she likes Strickler enough to root for her mom dating him and thinking he could be a good father for her (well, until the reveal).

So what about Toby then? In this AU, he is living next door to Claire, so he's best friends with her since kindergarten. However, in elementary Toby also befriends Jim, quickly becoming best friends with him too. Jim and Claire meet through Toby here, and by the beginning of the canon events, those three have been best friends for some years.

Mary and Darci? Claire befriends them after joining the school theatre. At the beginning of the canon events, those two groups of Claire's friends are rather awkward with each other, but later they become way closer.

Jlaire will have a bit different dynamics here. Jim has had a crush on Claire since the very first meeting but has no courage to confess (because if she turns him down, it'll be really awkward in their friend group, and Jim also cherishes Claire as a friend). On the other hand, Claire has considered Jim a good friend only for years and only started to get some romantic feelings towards him recently (let's throw in some friends-to-lovers while we can). Those make her conflicted as she isn't sure how Jim feels and if her confession may ruin everything. Toby knows about Jim's crush and suspects Claire's (even though she denied it when he asked her).

I have two scenarios of how the canon will play.

The first one is where the role switch is complete (Claire is the Trollhunter, while Jim gets shadow staff eventually). In this one, Toby and Claire get a shortcut through the canals because Claire has overslept after forgetting to set her alarm. Claire finds the amulet.

Meanwhile, after countless encouragement words from both Strickler and Toby, Jim decides to go to the tryouts (even if Ophelia calls it a bad idea). Here he actually learns words for Romeo's role as he knows that Claire will be Juliet for sure. Jim believes it'll give him a chance to confess properly. He gets the role with ease (he's motivated!).

Claire gets a visit from trolls, but unlike Jim, she tells no one. There's no attempt to talk with Strickler, neither she shares it with her friends (as she believes it's her problem only). Nevertheless, both Toby and Jim feel something is fishy and barge in, demanding answers right when Blinky and Aaarrrgghh come for the second time. So they both become members of the team right away.

Claire gets more time without enemies knowing as Strickler has no chance to learn about her new role. Still, the amulet acts up some days later, summoning the armor - and Strickler, who has been racking his brains for some days, trying to think who is a new Trollhunter gets a major surprise.

Another difference will be the reason for Claire's initial reluctance to take up her role. Unlike Jim, who hasn't been in fights, Claire believes that she cannot be the best for the role (and she hates to half-ass stuff).

Draal will still move to the Lake's household and Claire will also use grit-shaka, getting some of huge embarrassement moments (including forcefully kissing Jim). She won't remember it afterward, and poor Jim is never sure what that meant (like it could be only because of grit-shaka).

Enrique's kidnapping is a low blow for both Jim (who fails as his brother) and Claire (who is a regular babysitter and is supposed to be a protector). Not to mention that in this AU the kidnapping itself will happen when Jim and Claire visit Papa Skull concert together (initially, Toby was supposed to go too, but he suddenly 'remembers about an important task'). Obviously, the outcome will make both question if there can be any romance in their situation.

Mary and Darci join a team as they accidentally discover Not!Enrique identity when Jim's parents employ Mary as a babysitter (as at that point, their opinion of Claire has reached some new lows).

Eventually, Jim will get a shadow stuff and as there's more than enough negativity in his life, including growing rift with his parents as his night activities influence his performance at school and his parents are not big fans of Claire who is more punk in this AU. Besides, at some point Jim is on a verge of going to the Darklands alone, but is caught. That is one of the triggers that forces Claire to go there alone herself.

The second scenario is closer to canon where, despite living in a different house, Jim is still the Trollhunter. Here he founds the amulet when he goes to meet with Toby and Claire to go to school together. So both his friends learn about the amulet. After Blinky and Aaarrrgghh visit, Jim isn't able to contact Toby, but he tells Claire about it (remember, in this setting he isn't that close to Strickler).

In this scenario Jim will have way more trouble sneaking out than in the canon, not to mention slipping studies. But either than that I think the differences will be pretty minor.

And a bonus scenario, which I throw in, because it's the only way to keep Jim's relationship with Strickler and make it even closer. It involves Jim being a changeling implanted in Nunez household, with Strickler being his mentor and kind of a father figure. Claire is the Trollhunter in this one, meaning some Romeo & Juliet parallels. Jim learns about the amulet before Strickler, but keeps silent because he genuinely loves Claire (and he is young and not as jaded as other changelings, so betraying the Order comes easy to him). Strickler learns about his protegee's betrayal and exposes Jim after being exposed himself. Claire is angry and refuses to talk to Jim. I think Jim is able to clear his name only after coming to Claire's help during the battle of two bridges.

[tyran-the-tyranical]

Hope Dream Theory Pt.2 (Just a rant tbh)

Ok, so I’ve been racking my brain thinking about the NOT CANON taming hope part 3, I’ve never been so happy to be wrong, but now I cant stop hypothesising what’s real and what’s not.

Look I understand it’s non canon but the building blocks of what it’s saying to the player is already in game, you can still kind of assume that maybe Hope wasn’t being physically tortured but just mentally, and as a result believes it 100% in her head that she looks awful ect etc. and that means it is real, or was, because its what she genuinely believes.

But, If Hope wasn’t tortured physically, what else is real? Did Raphael really kill a kid and some family in front of her? And what about the boudoir? Dream theory could explain a kid dying and a family in that they were possibly just nightmares but if it was specifically Raphael doing the deed, it seems less likely, that goes for the boudoir as well, it’s too specific to be a random nightmare. (Look, dream theory can only go so far lol)

A few people did bring up that whether is was physical torture or not, Hope believes it was 100% real so, it basically became real anyway. The only thing it really does is make Raphael or korilla feel better about what they’re doing. (I want you all to realise that I am coping so bad rn, the cope is real) I understand that if taming Hope part 3 is ever actually implemented in game it may soften Raphael’s character a lot, that is if you believe that everything he did to her wasn’t physical but mental, it’s easier to swallow, though still deplorable.

It’s my personal headcanon anyway, and look, the guy is never gonna be good but anyway to soften him up is great, I mean if his half brother Magadon can do it, so can he alright (sorta). Though I do feel like this explains alot, since Hope honestly feels like she only exists to give the player a reason to want to kill Raphael, otherwise he’s just too charming and no one would bother to kill him.

It will annoy me endlessly that there isn’t more in game information, I appreciate vagueness as it leaves room for theories but I’m dying for answers Larian 😭 because right now I’m going crazy over an entry that isn’t even in the game, just the files AHDKSJSKS LIKE- Look I would love a way to have my cake and eat it too, free my girl Hope but like, NOT KILL THE DEVIL BOY, that would be great, cause tho she’s hella under cooked and under utilised they made her too bubbly and likeable, that or I’m just weak.

This is turning into less of a new development to the theory and more of a rant lol, and though I would like an answer, I also think I would die if it’s just he is super evil like his dad and did all those things to hope, because some of the things that’s been said that he’s done to hope feels way too much like edgy evil things just to be evil (like his father has done, tho I know he hates him but still ends up being like him lol) one reason I like Raphael so much is that he’s nuanced and honest to the player (also why I have beef with how strict the DnD alignment system can be) he isn’t like Mizora that comes across as your typical devil, Raphael (purposefully) is different and yea that’s sort of his manipulation, it’s still refreshing to see, but I guess oh woe is I.

Like for instance, the boudoir dialogue that Hope hints at- WHAT DOES SHE MEAN, because yes, I think we can all guess what she means but also what does that actually mean in context? That she’s been (yknow) or she’s forced to I dunno watch ? If she has been (yknow) does Haarlep have her form? If so, why even bother trying to break her if he’s such the “hopeless romantic” (also not canon) if that’s what he was after.

look even as I’m typing this I realise how I sound, this is definitely a rant, but I can’t stop thinking about these pixel people lol, but the whole Raphael and Hope thing will never not bug me, for multiple reasons; it’s undercooked, vague, and didn’t really get the attention it kinda deserves especially since it’s probably one of the dark parts of the story (one of many to be honest) like the content matter leaves alot to the imagination.

Bleh, I love my girl Hope, especially the letter we get if we free her, and it’s actually sad to see her state in game, she’s all over the place, I just have so many questions about their entire dynamic, like I can understand how it might’ve happened, she’s a cleric who probably wanted to save her sister and didn’t know much about Raphael other than he’s a devil, and he just happened to gain a sick curiosity or obsession with her, but everything after that, after the first two entires, WHAT HAPPENS?! I’m hooked, I need to know the full context, was it just nightmares or was some of it real? Did he actually love her or did he grow to hate her? Is she actually Hope or has she just grown to believe that herself? If so, How could Korilla stand all that?

I guess for now I’m just stuck with Headcanons, but what do you think? What’s your take on it all?

Edit:

Sooo, I just wanna add a few things extra here, Raphael is not rlly redeemable, and I really don’t want him to be BLEH good.. he’s is 100% lawful evil aligned, but like I said, I’m not a fan of the strict alignments in dnd, I think from a narrative perspective it’s more interesting to add nuance and maybe soften him a tiny smidge, and Raphael definitely shows that and the only time it ever tips the scales to completely abhorrent is when it’s what he’s done to Hope.

He doesn’t need to become his brother lol, but you’ve gotta admit how interesting it would be to see something other than a stereotypical devil, because he’s a devil can help you out for their own benefit, but they will never defer from their “nature” but I think It’d be cool to see him have an arc similar to the companions, breaking their cycles and change for the better (or worse)

His story wouldn’t even have to be convert him but something akin (a controversial take here) to Astarion. Astarion has a lot of reasons to why he is who is at the start of the game that Raphael really doesn’t (from what we know) but there’s so much you could do with his character, even as a non companion. I mean, he’s a sadistic asshole, (just look at his debtors) but what was it like being Mephistopheles kid? He was a child once I mean, and who was his mother? He must still have a human part of his family somewhere, unless they’re all dead.

This is all unnecessary stuff tbh, not even some of the companions get this much revealed about their history, but even just ignoring his possible past, how is he even going to take over the hells? He says that his father and Co. are coming to see him and “negotiate” or something but how’s that gonna turn out, huh? Like he says he’ll be knocking at our door but is he even gonna make it that far? Coz what I’m thinking is, he’s gonna get nerfed bro. Now a dlc could answer this but ehhhh, that’s not for awhile, if at all anyway.

This edit is going way away from dream theory but also dream theory or in Le head theory is frustrating, (for numerous reasons I know) because it’s the default explanation for anything isn’t it? Oh it was all a dream or coma or blah bleh blah, while it can explain a lot,it removes just as much, it makes Raphael soft, (YES ITS STILL TORTURE) but it’s easier for an audience to swallow. I don’t want to throw this theory out just to make him seem less villainy or whatever, I kinda just want it so Hope didn’t have to actually watch some kid or family die, or whatever happened in the boudoir, real to her but in reality no one had to die or whatever, love that girl bro, she rlly got the shit kicked outta her fr, but then again that’s why you can side with her and kill Raphael.

It’s so weird that I’d want this sorta theory for a character who is so blatantly evil aligned but hey a girl can dream, ok? 💅 like I said the coping here is real, and at this point of the rant I just seem like a crazy person, (so true) so I’m gonna end it here, STILL WOULD LOVE AN EXPLANATION LARIAN, taming hope part 3 will forever haunt me lol

[local-diavolo-anon]

Might as well write it so

DayCare Attendant General Headcanons

(This is for biblically accurate and canon compliant versions of these guys)

it's all under a cut to avoid a slab of text in ur faces lol

Sun has separation anxiety, he was not meant to have it, but sometimes shit happens

Their face being stiff and unable to move left them forced to figure out how to express emotions through body language

The easier thing to read are the clicking of Sun's rays and Moon's entire head: the more clicking, the stronger they feel

clockwise turning = positive reaction, counter-clockwise turning = negative reaction

Moon is a gremlin. And also a bit of a bastard and likes to make pranks and play games on people

Depending on the game its up to you to figure if he likes or dislikes you (which could be difficult since mean pranks also indicate liking)

Moon stashes candies in his hat to give to children who behave nicely, Suns doesn't like that

Both of them are very obliviously jester-oriented in their movements, but Sun more in the way you'd expect from an actor whose performance include interacting with people, Moon moves more like an actor on stage

So sun is energetic and moves like he does in the game, (mainly exagerated, circular motions aimed at not scaring children), he is acting but he still keeps in mind that he is interacting with someone and they need to be included in his play somehow

Moon however does not give a shit and you might be talking to him and he just start cartwheeling around you while keeping his head and eyes locked on your face

Sun is absolute trash on their wire and could faceplant from 30 centimeters (roughly a foot)

Moon is the most skilled one, he loves his wire and likes to perform intricate tricks with the cable, like strategically propping himself up to spend some time up there as if he were in an hammock

Sun is a ray of sunshine and pretty much a golden retriever of a robot... if it weren't for his crippling anxiety, which gives him more the vibe of a stressed chihuahua (he is still doing his best)

He tries very hard to be sociable but the "i'm at my fucking limit" point is reached fast, especially on busier days

Neither of them can swear by programming

Or well, not directly at least, Sun finds creative way to curse people he dislikes when he is very stressed; even if he feels mean afterward

Moon doesn't do it but he thinks its hilarious to watch

Eclipse has the disappointed stare but it's amusing and harmless so he let it go

Sun curses are on the "your mother is a hamster and your father smells of elderberries" kind of level, and not everybody understand what he is saying

If Moon dislikes someone that someone will simply end up with everything in their possession stolen and dissaminated through the whole pizza plex

Moon is the most strict about following rules and absolutely hates when rules are broken, even smaller ones

Sun is less strict, despite like moon being neurotic about keeping things clean

Eclipse cares about rules, especially safety ones (for sun and moon are rules are important the same), so while he is lax on anything else, safety measures have to be respected no matter what

However, despite being the more adamant about rules Moon is also the first to try and find loopholes and walkable paths around them

That is why the pizzaplex has some oddly specific rules that would leave any normal quest to wonder just what the fuck happened for that rule to exist, kinda like the "don't poop on the floor" rule in fnaf 1 but somehow worse

Some rules could not be implemented necause they went against necessary programming or legally mandadory safety protocols

So basically Moon is fully authorized to kick down a door if he deems it necessary, which could be at any give time even if nothing is happening

The management just gave up after a while and gave him the rule to simply not go beyond a certain amount of money in damages

Oh and while Eclipse does not care, Sun hates when Moon walks around rules, that's something that fuels his anxiety

all 3 of them would dislike a daycare assistant because of past experiences, most people do not like taking orders from a robot and that combines bad with people who priorly only worked as nannies and teachers

mainly because when you're used to work in a position of control, being told you need to respond to a robot of all things, might not sit right with many people

them scaring each assistant away is the reason of why at the time of the game settings, the daycare has been closed since a while

while Eclipse agrees with them on the assistant, he thinks scaring them away is not worth the trouble

Eclipse is made to be the caretaker of sorts, the one who runs the daycare and gives instructions

at the time of the first game, the glitchtrap/mimic virus had him in permanent standby to prevent him from interfering, which is why we never see Eclipse in the first game

he is the one that would kick in when there is a child in danger, that needs help or when they needed to talk with a parent

he is basically the customer service one of the three, the other two are one to anxious and the other takes too much satisfaction in scaring people

[pecuniam-amo]

Sengoku Jidai and the Edo Period

Starting writing their own fan fiction, every author who adheres to reality tries to take into account the story and clarify small points so as not to escape into the wilds of fantasy and fiction. The same thing, namely, digging into the World Wide Web, caught up with me. Specifically, a problem arose here: the history of Japan is a rather difficult industry to understand, which is almost impossible to connect with the canon of the "Naruto" era of the Founders for one simple reason — readers do not know anything.

Of course, many people understand that the beloved Madara and Hashirama lived during the Sengoku Jedi, during internecine wars, to put it more clearly, and also met the beginning of the Edo era in their lifetime. How can this be played out in fan fiction?

If we turn to the real world, which I will do quite rarely, since it is more pleasant to fantasize, the Edo period is not the most pleasant for ninjas, since it was then that their extermination began.

But who are the ninjas? Men in black fighting with shurikens? Nope. First of all, they are scouts. As far as it became clear to me, their main goal was to get information, and in order to do this, it is necessary to steal the necessary things as quietly as possible, be it scrolls, maps of military campaigns and so on. That is, Shinobi are primarily agile, not strong.

It is also known that they lived in separate clans, not obeying the daimyo, the shogun, even the emperor. Ninjas, in order to find money for food, took any missions for which they were willing to pay a decent amount. That is why Oda Nobunaga, a politician whose life goal was to unite the world, was afraid of them in a sense. It is not unreasonable, since ninjas are quite corrupt people. He began their extermination.

This did not happen in Naruto. Now we begin to fantasize why.

Let's imagine that the chakra is subject only to ninja. There are villages and towns where the most ordinary ordinary people live. And now let's remember the world of "Harry Potter". What did magicians and Muggles do? They lived separately, in different worlds, roughly speaking.

What if the Shinobi of the familiar universe lived somewhat apart from the rest? Given the specifics of their work, it can be assumed that they rarely crossed paths with the "ordinary" ones.

By the way, has it ever seemed strange to you that Hashirama and Madara suddenly started talking about peace, even though they were brought up in the strong strictness of their fathers? Children take an example from their parents, taking away their foundations and worldview. It can be assumed that they were influenced in this way by their own mothers. Again, why?

So, what if they were inspired by the most ordinary people? Once upon a time, they did not grieve, so they did not notice how the rest of the world took a huge step forward, forgetting past grievances. It doesn't matter who realized everything first — Uchiha or Senju, the main idea is that the whole world lives in the Edo period, while Shinobi are still sitting in their pants in Sengoku Jedi.

In this stupid and naive way, I justify my mistake in fan fiction in the form of the fact that some devices that appeared a couple of years later are here and now with the characters. How do you feel about the idea?

[szollibisz]

A lot of people seemed very interested in the Spies Are Forever formal/informal pronouns essay, so I’m here to provide

First of all, disclaimer: There are many languages that differentiate between formal and informal pronouns, some are more strict about them, some less. I’m specifically writing this with a Hungarian perspective. But since the usage of formal pronouns change a lot over times, and as you may have guessed I wasn’t alive during the 50s, there may be some inaccuracies.

The gist of it is: it wasn’t considered cold to refer to someone in your personal life formally, unlike nowadays (although there are exceptions), and in purely professional relationships it was mostly unheard of to refer to someone informally.

I’ll be splitting these into sections based on specific character relationships for the more important ones.

Curt and Owen

I already talked a bit about this one, but my general idea for them is to obviously use informal pronouns with each other, but only in private. When other people are around, they’re colleagues, spy partners, workplace friends as best, and to stay safe and put further distinction between the two worlds they’re forced to live in, they use formal pronouns.

Now there’s no good scene in the musical to showcase what I mean exactly, because they only talk to each other with other people around twice. Once when Owen alerting Curt in the intro, while Cynthia is listening (this is quite a heat of the moment situation, so I think Owen might forget, but then again, he’s more calculating one, so he might use it in that one singular instance) The other time is Owen’s monologue, at which point I don’t think either of them would care, they are literally having a public divorce.

Some pre-canon headcanons to showcase the gay/closeted/repressed metaphor better:

- when they first meet the very much dislike each other, so for a long while formal it is. - Owen switches to informal when really angry, because he stops pretending he has extra respect for people after they massively fuck something up. - Curt is the one to initiate referring to each other informally, but at that point they’re really good friends, so Owen reciprocates without question (he’s also in love by then lmao loser) (if you don’t know how initiating something like that is, it’s basically just “you know you can *call me by informal pronouns* right?” it’s almost the same as telling someone what name to call you by. But since Curt is a bitch, I think he just starts addressing Owen as informally and he just goes along with it) - On missions they’re formal with each other, until things get too scary, in which case they’re too gay to pay attention to it

The one specific scene I already broke down, was the beginning interrogation, in which Owen uses formal pronouns for Curt and Oleg up until his reveal, but Curt stays informal the whole way through showing their separate attitudes and styles towards their job. Owen is better at solutions with more planning behind them, and Curt is saying and doing things as they come.

Curt and The Deadliest Man Alive

Curt stays formal mostly out of intimidation, DMA on the other hand is very deliberately informal. Which of course you would expect from an unhinged serial killer, except Curt is the *only* person he addresses this way, which would also be foreshadowing Owen’s reveal.

Tatiana and Curt <333

(Alright, so a little more info: It was the norm to flirt with people you don’t know using formal pronouns)

When they meet for the first and second time, they both stay formal, up until the point where Tatiana saves Curt, where she starts calling him by informal pronouns. He doesn’t switch yet though, which alludes to how he still doesn’t exactly trust her. (Also gender roles were/are a thing, so a man and a woman would usually become informal later than two people of the same gender would)

In the safe house scene Curt wouldn’t know how to refer to Tatiana, and we’d see him fluctuate and be awkward, but after Prisoner of my Past, he’d fully switch to informal. This would persist for the rest of their interactions in the musical.

Curt and Barb

I’m sorry, but Barb will take an L in this one. With the way Curt acts with her, I just can’t imagine how that could work formally. On the other hand how she acts with him is definitely formal. When they get drunk in One More Shot she switches to informal though.

And as much as I want them to be friends, I think the last scene they’d go back to the original way things go, and they’d need more time after for Barb to go informal, and for Curt to go informal 2: (respectful)

Curt and Cynthia

Oh yeah this is a good one.

So, here’s the setting. You’re some spy guy and one of the most influential people in the US is not only your boss, but also your mother figure. How the fuck do you address her, and how the fuck does she address you?

Now we for sure start out with Curt formally addressing Cynthia, not even he has the nerve. But when he calls for help at the gala and she refuses, he switches to informal exactly at “I want you to do your job!” extra disrespect, extra earning getting kneed, and extra solidifying the moment he decides to quit the A.S.S. In the last scene though, when he’s calmer and more peaceful, he goes back to informal.

That’s relatively simple, but Cynthia on the other hand fluctuates more. She begins formally, then switches as soon as she starts Keep Your Eyes on the Prize. At the gala she’d stay informal, although at first she’d try to keep up appearances with formality, it just wouldn’t work because she’s angry. In the last scene she’d say her condolences informally and the rest formally.

This does sound weird and *a lot* written out, but I swear it would work and complexify their relationship so much more. Also, it’d add a lot to their characters individually. Curt who dared call Cynthia informally, when that would be genuinely unheard of for any other agent, and Cynthia who has moments where she sees Curt more as a son than an employee, and shows vulnerability by expressing it verbally, which I don’t think she’d ever do with anyone else. She has those vibes where she’d even address her own parents formally (fun fact: it was the norm for the entire 19th century, but I don’t actually know when in the 20th century that stopped)

Other Relationships

The Informant is formal with everyone, and everyone is formal with him, except for Owen during his monologue, but he addresses everyone in the room informally then.

As I said the DMA is formal with everyone, that includes Tatiana, except for the line “Don’t get involved, love” for reasons I’m completely normal about. After Owen’s reveal he’s fully informal though.

Sergio is informal with everyone :]

(DMA is informal during Somebody’s Gotta Do It, but not during their conversation)

Richard "Dick" Big is formal with everyone, yet manages to be the most disrespectful person ever <3

[utilitycaster]

@spiderdreamer-blog I hope you don't mind me spinning off on this because I agree, and I have some unsubstantiated thoughts as to why. For what it's worth, it's common across fandom spaces; it's not specific to any one fandom.

Anyway. I think a lot of young people, especially young queer people, with politically conservative and often right-wing religious (usually but not exclusively Evangelical Christian) parents have, understandably, found a haven in fandom. Unfortunately, they have not yet learned how to actually interrogate their beliefs or look at things from a nuanced perspective, only to do a simple swap of what's Good and what's Bad (eg, used to be that God was Good and The Gays were Bad and now that's flipped, rather than like, a mature and complex approach to religion and sexuality and morality.)

(putting the rest under a cut because this is long as fuck and as stated, ultimately an unsubstantiated rant.)

The reason I think it's particularly pronounced in Evangelical Christians, at least among Americans, is that they can both leave and not leave in a way that say, an ex-ultra-Orthodox Jewish person (of whom I, as a Jewish person who was raised in a much more mainstream and moderate denomination, know quite a few) cannot. If you leave a small minority religion within your area, you are forced to undergo profound culture shock to survive. An ex-Evangelical in America, unless they were truly in an extremist cult to the point that like, women wearing pants is shocking to them, can remain in a kind of in-between state indefinitely.

I think it's gotten worse recently because of both the extreme and rapid polarization and subsequent insularization (that's not a word but you know what I'm getting at) caused by the Republican Party's descent into Christian fascism that's been going on for some time but rapidly accelerated in 2016; and the fact that the pandemic plus tiktok plus internet access in general have made it easier and at times preferable to only engage with likeminded online communities, whereas if you, well, go outside and touch grass, you will meet people who are largely on your side but still at times disagree with you, and this will speed up the process of developing critical thought.

Since we're talking about fandom here, you can also throw in the Geek Social Fallacies as a complicating factor - replace "ostracizer" with "person asking for some actual complexity" or "criticizer".

Also, I don't think everyone engaging in this behavior is from this particular background; I think that you also get newer people, especially young people new to fandom, who see this kind of behavior and don't realize how fucked up it is and just think it's the norm.

Anyway, things this explains:

In general:

What I like to call the people who think the B in LGBT stands for blue hair people: people who have never actually talked to queer people outside of fandom or learned any meaningful history/differences or evolution in terms and subcultures over the past century. People who don't understand how dramatically better the media landscape has become re: queer rep even in the past couple decades. Which leads to such nonsense takes as "it's queerbaiting to have the Wrong Lesbians Kiss", failure to understand non-traditional relationships, or getting weirdly hostile when people do not immediately equate like, a brightly colored shirt with Being Gay, or conversely getting mad when a canonically queer character doesn't "look queer".

An inability to separate ritual/observance from faith or handle the idea of fictional gods or fictional characters who find comfort in religion. This gets particularly bad in fantasy stories where the idea of physical, objectively real gods is not uncommon.

An inability to separate out what was is overly strict or abusive parental behavior vs just like, parents being imperfect human beings.

The belief that experiencing or enjoying something with behavior that can be deemed "problematic" will infect you with The Problems. Relatedly, the belief that mere depiction of something is glorification (ie, Conservatives:saying a trans person just living their life is glorifying Bad Lifestyles and Corrupting The Youth::The kind of person I'm talking about:saying that if you show violence in media it's Bad to have Shown Bad Things)

Overemphasis on "wholesome", uplifting, and unchallenging material. I wish everyone who legitimately thought that saying fix-it-fics are good actually because it's inherently and objectively better to show a character living than dying a very grow a fucking brain.

Being fucking weird about the concept of redemption arcs and seeing redemption either as a binary (redeemed/not redeemed) or alternately as something you must constantly and endlessly self-flagellate over until you die instead of just like, an ongoing process during which you may also live a normal life. (FWIW the reason I think people are SO weird about these is because they still only really understand redemption as Being Saved but since they no longer really believe in that specific process they sort of short circuit.)

Trusting charismatic individuals who reaffirm your beliefs instead of understanding how to do research and verify sources. (terrifyingly, not limited to fandom).

Basically, if someone sounds like they're proposing an even more severe Hayes Code, except it's gay and anticapitalist? Chances are this is precisely what's up.

I think it also might be behind the following behaviors:

I know I've been on this a lot but spamming tons of people with the same claim. Real knocking on my door asking me if I've heard the good news or informing me while I am literally just taking an elevator that Jesus loves me energy. (The fact that the specific person who I think keeps doing this is obsessed with penance is also contributing.)

Freaking out when people don't agree, due to a mindset that does not have room for doubt or dissent.

Anyway I do think a lot of people, as they finally break free and go to college or go to their first job and get therapy and meet people with different perspectives, unlearn these behaviors, but there's still that constant influx of new young people who act like this. And, unfortunately, because this mindset is somewhat tautological (I am good therefore what I like is good->if the thing I liked does not reflect my belief it is not good->beliefs reinforced), without that outside real-world influence you do get people who are just...stuck.

[bloomingforerza]

Head canons for reader once being best friends and crushing hard on Tamaki Souh and Kyoya Ootori but ghosted them due to strict parental orders? Hosts reactions and feelings towards reader?

Tamaki Suoh and Kyoya Ootori — Ghosting them because of your parents + how they’d react

notes from bloom: hi guys!!!! happy new years! :) here is a request i’ve been working on since saturday, its a long one! i tried to go into detail more in this fic, and i hope requester likes it. im not one for angst with a sad ending unless specifically asked for it, so if that’s something you want feel free to submit an angsty angst request :) enjoy and happy reading!

TAGS: angst with a happy ending, some fluff, hosts are more present in tamaki’s than kyoya’s, we all know kyoya fronts for the host club, not much crazy stuff really just some mild angst and fluff hehe

Tamaki Suoh

🌸 You’ve had a crush on Tamaki Suoh since he joined Ouran in middle school. He was very popular amongst the crowd, but he always wanted to follow you.

🌸 Shortly after finding out your families’ groups were trade partners, you became close friends, and things didn’t stop progressing from there.

🌸 All throughout middle school you’d been in the same class, and once Tamaki began to befriend Kyoya, you didn’t particularly like his attitude at first, but he never gave you an issue. Thus, the three of you became a trio.

🌸 Even after the two of them started their host club, you would visit every day just to hang out with Tamaki.

🌸 When he would dote on other ladies, you’d get this feeling of jealousy inside of you. You knew you were being irrational, considering this is what they do here at the host club.

🌸 You’d always catch him sneaking glances at you after, though, and he’d smile your way. Not anything cheeky or teasing, just a genuine and kind smile, almost like his words were meant for you.

🌸 That was what your delusional little love-sick brain told your anyways.

🌸 But one day, quite randomly, your father had a disagreement with Tamki’s father and demanded you cut ties with him.

🌸 And you didn’t know what to do. Being in his class, being best friends with him, having a huge unshakable crush on him? How would you even bring yourself to be able to go about it?

🌸 And so your only real choice was to just block his phone number, then do your best to ignore him in class. That’s what you thought would work, anyways.

🌸 Except Tamaki noticed you blocked him straight away. And you know Tamaki, he’s the KING of dramatics. He tried calling your house, but the maid said you weren’t in.

🌸 At school, he noticed you began to avoid him. He tried to talk to you, but you’d run away and talk to one of your girl friends instead. It felt like a punch in the face to him

🌸 He found out later that evening from his father what had happened. His father said he’d cut ties with the (L/n) group, and he knew how your father could be.

🌸 So he made it his personal mission to try to speak to you again. Tamaki had feelings for you, he didn’t want you to slip away from him for good.

🌸 The hosts would be just as sad not seeing your face around the club anymore. Whenever Tamaki was acting out, you’d help Haruhi get him in check, you’d help the twins play pranks on him, and you’d even play with Honey and Mori.

🌸 Tamaki confided in Haruhi, and he begged her to help him talk to you again. Haruhi also was slightly fond of you, she missed having you around because Tamaki would bother you instead of her.

🌸 During lunch one day, Haruhi came to speak with you. Your anxiety drops in your stomach, you already know what she wants to talk about.

🌸 “You know Tamaki is really concerned and he misses you, right? So why are you still giving him the cold shoulder?” She’d ask, but you didn’t know what to do.

🌸 You began to cry, because you also miss Tamaki and you want nothing more than to hug him and tell him how sorry you were. You told Haruhi everything, and instead of reprimanding you, she offered a hug.

🌸 “Your parents work relationships can make your high school life here hard, but whether you choose to follow your parents lead or follow your own is entirely up to you.” She told you matter-of-factly, and you thought about what she said.

🌸 So that same day, you anxiously walk to the host club after school hours end. Haruhi’s talk had given you the clarity you needed. Your dad told you to stop speaking with Tamaki, and he thinks you did, but he doesn’t know what you do during school time.

🌸 The minute you walk through the door though, the rest of the host club is on top of you, telling you how much they missed you.

🌸 Tamaki, however, sits in shock, waiting a moment to see if you’ll run away again. But after seeing you haven’t left, he stands abruptly, walking over to you.

🌸 “(Y/n), can we talk? Alone, maybe?” He says slowly with uncertainty in his voice, and you hesitantly nod. You follow him into the empty changing rooms, and your anxiety drops into your stomach.

🌸 “Tamaki, I’m so sorry. I never wanted to stop talking to you. You probably know why I did it by now, but you have to know I never wanted to. I thought not saying anything to you at all might make things easier, because you know how my dad can be. I’m sorry.” Tears are welling up in your eyes at this point, but you can’t let yourself cry. You don’t deserve to. You hurt him, not the other way around.

🌸 “You know I don’t care what your dad thinks, right? I don’t want to stop being your friend. I will switch phone numbers, or even get a new phone for that matter. He doesn’t have to know we are still friends.” He’s pouting at you. He can see your tears, he knows you want to cry. He knows this hurt you just as much as it hurt him.

🌸 “Is that really something you would do for me?” You can’t help but start crying. He walks closer to you and pulls you into a hug. You cry it out in his chest while he pets your head, something you’ve missed.

🌸 “I have really strong feelings for you (Y/n), and your dad can’t keep my feelings away from you. I will do my best to change my dad’s mind and fix things with your dad. I care about you so much, I can’t bare you not speaking to me.” You can feel his grip on you tighten as he gets to that last part, the sincerity in his voice making you feel at peace once more.

🌸 “I feel the same way. I never wanted to cut ties with you, I can’t apologize to you enough. I feel so calm and at peace in your arms, you make me laugh so much and your voice eases all of my worries.” You laugh through your tears.

🌸 “Please be my girlfriend then, or at least go on a date with me first. We will not let our fathers tear us apart. This is going to make us stronger.” He says confidently, and you nod, looking up at him. He presses a kiss to your forehead, and you know you can do anything with him by your side.

Kyoya Ootori

🌸 Your father had opened a new operations building in Tokyo, so your family had picked up and moved halfway across the country so he could operate it.

🌸 He was a CEO for an electronics company, and he was very strict with you. But moving felt like you’d have a new sense of freedom. You’d be going to a new school and make new friends.

🌸 You had transferred to Ouran Academy your second year of middle school, and Kyoya was your first friend there. He was quiet and laid back.

🌸 Kyoya sat next to you in class. He seemed to not care much, but one day he saw you crying by yourself in the classroom. He showed you concern, and asked if you were okay.

🌸 You confided in him, and from that point on you two were best friends. You remained in the same class in your third year, and you helped Kyoya with his mission on befriending Tamaki Suoh.

🌸 In fact, you were probably the reason Kyoya didn’t blow up sooner than he did. You kept his sanity in check. You thought Tamaki was humorous and animated, although he was a bit overbearing when he got carried away.

🌸 But Kyoya eventually began to genuinely like Tamaki, and the three of you would hang out together sometimes. But he would always prefer hang out alone with you. You didn’t mind, though. You began to crush on him, so alone time was your favorite time spent together.

🌸 All the way up to now, in high school, when he realized he began to have feelings for you too. He

🌸 He’d enjoy playing games like chess and sudoku with you during class free time, or even discussing what you may do together on your upcoming day off. You’d help him out with his work at the host club, something he only trusted you with.

🌸 After you had entered high school together, however, your father became stricter with you. Whatever club you joined had to be approved by him. Anyone you spoke to, he knew of. He would look through your texts and call logs.

🌸 He took notice of your friendship with Kyoya at that point. He saw you spend your Sundays with him, you spent time with him at school, and you sure texted him a lot outside of school, and saw the way you spoke in your conversations on the phone with him.

🌸 Your dad had demanded you cut ties with Kyoya. He knew you had romantic feelings for him, you didn’t need to say so. You tried to reason with him, but he couldn’t seem to trust you for any reason at all. He reminded you that any man you’d court would be a man he chose himself.

🌸 You didn’t know what to do. You didn’t answer Kyoya’s texts that night. In fact, you stopped answering him altogether.

🌸 And he knew something weird was going on. Because the day after your father had demanded you stop talking to him (which he didn’t know of), you didn’t show up to school.

🌸 And at first, Kyoya was concerned. He tried to text you again during lunch hours, but got no response. The next day was Sunday, and you and he had plans to go to a new book store that had just opened up today.

🌸 However, you weren’t answering his phone calls. But trust and believe you were getting them, because all you could manage to do was cry and watch your phone ring for the past couple of days.

🌸 But Monday quickly came, and you couldn’t play the sick card again. You had to catch up on the work you had misses Saturday, so missing another day wasn’t an option for you.

🌸 You wear a hoodie over your head as you try not to draw too much attention to yourself. You took your seat next to Kyoya’s, who thankfully hadn’t arrived to school yet.

🌸 However when he did finally show up, you felt the anxiety begin to bubble in your stomach. “(Y/n), did I do something to offend you? Are you angry with me?” You heard him ask from his seat, but all you could do was look away.

🌸 Kyoya tells the hosts what happened later that day. He didn’t know what to do. You would not speak to him and you wouldn’t even so much as look at him.

🌸 “She definitely is acting strange.” Hikaru said. “Maybe she’s finally tired of us.” Kaoru adds with a pout, and Kyoya thinks. You definitely didn’t get tired of them, that isn’t your personality.

🌸 Kyoya gave it a couple of days, he wasn’t sure how to approach you. He had to know what happened, and he was going to find out for sure.

🌸 He walked up to your desk, where you were were silently reading a book, and he cleared his throat. You looked up at him, and the panic set in when you realized it was Kyoya. You knew why he was standing here and you knew what he wanted to talk about.

🌸 “(Y/n), we need to talk. Can we go for a walk?” He suggests, and you nod, unsure of how this conversation is going to go.

🌸 You walk down to the courtyard with him, and the silence between you two has never been so awkward and unwanted. You walked over to your favorite bench to share together, where you both sat for a moment to take in your surroundings.

🌸 Kyoya looked at you as you looked everywhere but him. He always thought you were so beautiful, you look radiant in beautiful places. “What’s going on? Why have you been avoiding me?” He asks after another moment of silence, but his eyes never leave you.

🌸 You visibly tense, and you let out a loud sigh. “My dad noticed how much time we’ve been spending together, and he told me I’m not allowed to see you anymore.” You pout, looking down at your hands now. “I didn’t want to though, I never wanted to do that to you. I-I love you too much.” You began to tear up a bit, that word meaning so much for you.

🌸 Kyoya was silent again for a moment, thinking over what you said. You’d never told him that before, and he knew your dad was strict. But he felt the same for you, and he didn’t want you to have to go through everything alone.

🌸 “I understand that your father has been overbearing and more strict since you started high school. Would I be able to speak to your father myself?” He asks, and you can’t even imagine how that conversation would go. “I love you too, (Y/n), and I know doing this hurts you. Maybe I can speak with your father and change his mind about it.”

🌸 “You would try that?” You asked in a small voice of disbelief, and he nodded. “I can see that you don’t want this. And I don’t want to see you sad anymore.” He replies with a small smile. He grabs your hand that you’ve been fidgeting with and holds it on your lap.

🌸 “You can try, then.” You meet his gaze finally and smile back at him. “Even if he says no, I’m willing to keep this a secret from him for now.”

🌸 “Hopefully it won’t be for long.” He reassures once more. “Let’s get back to class.” He holds your hand the entire way back, and even if it’s for a short while, things might be okay.

[littleeyesofpallas]

Got a fun ask from @macchiato-dreaming22.

I'll be honest I'm kind of weird in my relationship with headcanon and fanfic in that I'm kind of not all that engaged with characters as characters, if that makes sense? I'm not the type to get hung up on "he would not say that" sort of quibbles, or really dwell freefloating in the spaces inbetween canon characterization the way a lot of fanfic writers, or RPers, or stans or shippers or whatever else you'd call it do. I can appreciate the need or the preference to do so but it doesn't really call to me the way it seems to to them. So what I tend to do is try and round up all the otherwise loose bits of canon trivia and try and piece them together, only loosely speculating about things that havent happened based on their adjacency to things that have. I dunno if that makes any sense at all as a distinction...

Anyway point being is that the fact that I've never thought very hard about how old the Visored are individually/relatively sort stems from that M.O. but also I can definitely figure out what my own existing headcanon would imply is the answer to that question, and so that's what I'm going to do.

(And to be clear I'm not really going to fuss about the ages, relative or otherwise, within the strict canon of completed manga so much as I'm going to take my headcanon/AU for the character concepts and run with things from there. That might not make sense right now, but it should clear itself up as I get going.)

oh boy this got long...

So as a refresher on the AU I never wrote: Given their introduction between vol.21-26, my headcanon is that the Visored were never a bunch of gotei captains and lieutenants, they were a bunch of humans, each became something like a substitute shinigami in their own right, and then had those powers taken from them, at which point Urahara conveniently appeared and took advantage of each of their desperation to get their powers back to experiment on them, working out the system he'd eventually use on Ichigo. So it's not only the hollow aspect as an impurity, but the fact that they (re)obtained their shinigami skills in spite of being stripped of their substitute shinigami status that makes them criminals. But in the process, each of them would either be abandoned or otherwise escape Urahara's "care" and/or observation.

Given the implicit consequences of the Shattered Shaft method, and Bleach's general world building, the elephant in the room we never had addressed was that because Ichigo and in this interpretation of their premise, the Visored, all had their soul chains severed, thus separating their soul from their body, making them ghosts. That in mind, I consider them all to have stopped aging when the Visored process took place, and THAT is where I anchor most of them to certain time periods based on their basic design and sense of style. (technically I do sort of head canon them as all having been turned in the 1970s, thus ~30years prior to the start of Bleach, which is, ya know, the right age for the father of a 15yo to have been about 15 30 years ago... but if i just left it at that it'd be kind of boring, so I'm letting these age ranges drift a little, if only to make this whole thought experiment more interesting.)

So for starters, I associated Shinji with the British Jazz-Rock and Mod scenes of the 1960s: the hair, the teeth, the ugly ties, the scolor scheme, even the trenchcoat he wore the one time at random, the only thing he was missing was a moped. I also very specifically think of him as a Pete Townshend analog for some reason. So given that he passed as a 15yo highschooler in Karakura, I'm going to say I think he was 15 when he was turned in 1965, so it aligns with The Who's release of the song My Generation. So that puts Shinji's birth in 1950.

The easiest to nail down actually would just be Mashiro, since she clearly borrows from very Himitsu Sentai Go-ranger specifically, but also Kamen Rider more generally. That puts a cap on how old she could be at 1975 as the airdate of the original Super Sentai series. It's hard to judge her age considering she's so distinctly childish, but it's kind of implied that even supernatural aging aside, she's immature for her age. It's an arbitrary call to make, but I'm gonna say she was 10 in 1975 when the tokusatsu thing left an impact on her, but got turned when she was older and just never grew out of it. So born 1960.

Another somewhat straight forward one to pin down is Kensei, who I associate with the Vietnam War, and implicitly the 1969 lottery draft, and the US Military occupation of Okinawa as a launch pad into Vietnam. Although historically the actual draft applied only to those born between 1944-1950, making any draftee who deployed in 1970 at least 20yo, and I see the Visored as kind of explicitly teens, so I'll say he wasn't drafted but volunteered and was 18 in 1970 and when he was turned. That makes him born in 1952.

(I could have alternatively nailed him down to the 1980s bosozoku scene on account of his later theming, but the super distinctive cargo pants, combat boots, short hair, and a rubber grip combat knife all point to more of a military theme than a biker thing --also there's some military motif in one of his random attacks to boot. Although arguably that style of knife grip is even more modern, but I don't get the impression Kubo was thinking about it that hard, just about whether it gave off the right (para)military vibe.)

Funny enough Risa is one of the harder ones to really tie to a time period, as her classic sailor-fuku could be placed anywhere from the 1920s to the 1980-90s when they started falling out of style. Notably though they have a stronger association with middle school than high school, and Risa is also a pervert, so I want to say she's wearing it as a fetish thing, rather than as an actual student. That in mind, the school girl fetish really took off in the 80s and hit its peak in the 90s just before social awareness and political actions to try and curb the trend started being put into place. (Oh and I forgot, her Visored mask is a Gyan from Mobile Suit Gundam, so that already caps her at 1979.)

(I was also going to add something about Comiket and the birth of the doujin market, but that actually overlaps with this timeline already so it doesn't really narrow things down at all. It's pretty arbitrary but I'm gonna pin her to 1984 as the date the term "Cosplay" was first used. Assuming she was also 18 at the time, that makes her born in 1966)

(There's ALSO a weird thing in one of her attacks, and the general style of her shikai, and very very loosely a possible Chun-li reference that all seem to suggest she's got a bit of a chinese thing going on too? but I don't see how it gels with the rest of it, and it's just kind of a deadend to look further into. Technically there's a whole character type of the fujoshi/female otaku being very into chinese historical/fantasy, so like... maybe that because ti woud mesh with the general otaku vibe of the school girl uniform??? Theres a reason I didn't pursue this angle...)

Rose, I could try and triangulate the whole bishounen trend in 70s shoujo manga, but I'm gonna be lazy and just say he's the same age a Bjorn Andresen and born in 1955 as that more or less lands him right smack dab in the timeframe I would've ended up pinpointing anyway, give or take. For technicality's sake I'll say he was turned at 17, thus technically qualifying him as a proper bishounen and not just bidanshi, making him turned in 1972.

Hacchi is so hard to work with in this context... So long as this is all just headcanon anyway I'm gonna let go of even loose anchors to canon and just say his whole tux getup is a host club thing. (I know that doesn't quite feel right, even to me, but I gotta pick something instead of just juggling "maybes" and "sortas" for forever... I can't really match the look to much else eotherwise... Like a wedding caterer maybe? One half of a classic Japanese standup comedy act? Some kind of a stage magician?) Host clubs only really took off in the late 90s, peaking in the 2000s. Considering the range of dates on the other members this does kind of afford him the chance to be older, although it's sort of weird if he's the only physical adult in the whole group... If I call him 25 at the tail end of the slow decline post 80s bubble economy pop, around 2002, then that makes him born in 1979. (if i shift that back to the start of the pop in 1992, it slides him more in line with the others at 1957, but then he's kind of out of the range of the host club thing.... I dunno, man, Hacchi's an enigma... He really is maybe the absolutel single biggest wrench in this whole thing, which is a damn shame because he's maybe my favorite visored.)

(love that the little cartoon in the sweatpants was the exact thing that showed up when i googled guudara[ぐうたら]:"lazybones; good-for-nothing; idler; slacker; loafer")

It took me a second to remember who I'd missed. Love and his weird slacker, drop out, tracksuit thing scream 80s to me, and technically the whole adidas tracksuit look was in fact a 70s-80s thing. it's a much less specific kinda look than some of the others where it can be tied to specific characters, titles, and authors, or historical events... I'm gonna go out on a limb with this one and just tether it to 1984 and the release of the Run-DMC album, if only because they're the only specific names I can tie to the tracksuit look, rather than just a general casualwear trend. If Love was, say, 17 in 1984, he'd have been born in 1967.

And then that just leaves Hiyori.... Hers is such a general look that I have like zero idea where to place it. It falls into a similar time span as Love's with the track suit thing. but then she's got that mountain hick country bumpkin sorta thing going for her, which suggests she's kind of out of style, so then is her tracksuit look sort of out of date? She very specifically has some general parallels with Kumiko, in the manga Gokusen as a homely, spunky, firebrand kinda gal. If I consider that Gokusen came out in 2000, and had Kumiko be 23yo, then if I map that onto Hiyori, she'd have been born in 1977? But clearly turned very early as she's by far the youngest of the Visored physiologically.

BDAY - name (age apparent/real)

MAY 10, 1950 - Shinji (15/55)

JUL 30, 1952 - Kensei (18/53)

MAR 17, 1955 - Rose (17/50)

SEP 8, 1957 - Hacchi (25/48)

APR 1, 1960 - Mashiro (16/40)

FEB 3, 1966 - Risa (18/39)

OCT 10, 1967 - Love (17/38)

AUG 1, 1977 - Hiyori (13/28)

I guess the only thing I'd do to manually tweak these is nudge a few years around to more evenly space them out... Maybe make Mashiro a Visored before Kensei, because I feel like that's how their some of their conversations in the early arc pointed. I can't figure out if I feel like Hiyori gives off the vibes of being the first or the last recruited Visored... I like that she bosses others around like she has seniority, but also she seems like the most inexperienced and rough around the edges, as well as the overt comparison to Ichigo. Although actual age-vs-apparent age aside, the order in which they were actually recruited into the ramshackle gang they are is a timeline all its own.

Again though, I think of the Visored as that ramshackle band of undead kids squatting in an abandoned factory hoping the samurai death cops don't find them, or the mad scientist that threw them into a hole in the first place --half of them convinced that the whole process was a mistake and who just want to not have a monster inside them anymore, and that the hogyoku is the key to turning them back, but then at least Shinji secretly convinced that he's just a god in the making and wants to hougyoku to push the transformation even further.(ala the general thrust of the Fullbringer premise) The ones Ukitake betrayed for the sake or balance and order, ala his yinyang theming. The one he's secretly using ichigo to monitor via the substitute badge. Rather than just a bunch of weird coworkers who had one bad night and then just sat around doing nothing for like 100 years.

(Again, see all the odd little details of how they were introduced that later got steamrolled or just outright ignored: Urahara and Isshin talking as if they're not in touch with the Visored. Hiyori's between-two-worlds talk with Shinji emphasizing the line between humans and shinigami. Hiyori and Shinji having signs of a practiced recruitment process they're using with Ichigo. Kensei not being at all familiar with Mashiro's training process. Kensei thinking Orihime slipping thru the barrier could've been another visored, as if it's just assumed there are an indeterminate number of others out there unaffiliate with them. etc... yadda yadda.. I've made this post somewhere before, right? or has it only ever popped up in bits and pieces?)

Anyway all that just to reiterate that this whole exercise is less preoccupied with trying to make any particular "sense" out of the manga's canon backstory, and more just a pulling on loose threads of my own headcanon.

(Oh, and because there wasn't any better place to throw it in there: in this headcanon, Shinji was Isshin's substitute 30 years ago.)

[psychewritesbs]

Thanks so much for sharing your metas @theanimepsychologist , I learn a lot of things from you...

Sorry for just realizing it now, that you are the writer of one of my favorite 'Soul Eater' meta ever from a few years ago (love it so much).

Now I found your blog again through your JJK metas (new fan here, just got to JJK fandom last year)....

Can I ask something, do you think SatoSugu is queerbaiting? What do you think about Gojo and Geto's relationship as romantic subtext?

(Sorry if you don't ship them, it's just, I want to know objective pov like you that neither love nor hate Gojo and Geto as characters).

If I ask these questions to SatoSugu shipper or anti SatoSugu (Gojo/Geto hater) both of those groups are subjective to their likes and dislikes...

But if you don't want to talk about it, I understand, sorry if I ask too much.

Also, just want to tell you, one of the main reason why I entered the fandom, is because of stsg. The fan arts and fan fictions for SatoSugu are amazing....But I love JJK more and understand more about the story & characters are thanks to you @theanimepsychologist (Sorry again if my main reason for entering JJK fandom is because of shipping).

Well this is awkward... I've since changed my username and perplexed moots and followers alike because of it.

Anyways, is stsg queerbaiting???? HMMMMM let's taco'bout it under the cut.

I think the ship in the manga walks a very fine line between queerbaiting and whatever the opposite is, but imo, it is ultimately not queerbaiting. More about this in a little bit.

If I'm honest though, if we go by the strict definition of queerbaiting as a "marketing technique for fiction and entertainment in which creators hint at, but do not depict, same-sex romance or other LGBTQ+ representation," the anime feels by contrast queerbaity.

I say this because MAPPA seems to be very aware it is catering to a very specific target audience...

Like... did they have to go this hard with Nanami?

Similarly, they took creative decisions that were very openly supportive of stsg as a ship while still remaining somewhat ambiguous to all of the people who do not see the romantic undertones.

In other words, MAPPA goes out of their way to make certain aspects of the story more obvious, which can feel like it is very intentionally speaking to an audience that would enjoy such changes.

Honestly tho, I LOVED the creative liberties that the anime took in general.

ANYWAYS.

My thoughts on stsg... I've actually talked about how I do like this ship before. I used to be on camp "they're just friends" and came around because I saw the vision and now I can't unsee it. But the fact that I had to be shown the vision in order to "get it" makes me feel like you have to see the ship through a certain lens in order to appreciate it romantically.

Thing is that I personally find it dissatisfying that a ship is presented to me in little "hints" and "clues" rather than through the dynamic itself. Which is where the queerbaiting allegations come in.

HOWEVER, to me, knowing how Gege writes by subverting tropes, the "queerbaiting" hints are very intentionally placed in the manga to say "these two were lovers" as opposed to doing it for "marketing purposes".

Personally, I much prefer Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle's kurofai because the clues are hidden in the dynamic and their emotional behavior to one another.

Compared to stsg, I can only read romantic subtext in two or three canon stsg panels, but I'm also not sure if it's because of Gege's skill level, lesser focus on emotional intimacy, idk...

That's how I see it at least. And I honestly respect anyone who doesn't think of them as lovers because, again, the ship is somewhat hidden in clues, not in the dynamic. And say a stsg fan reads this, they could very well think "is she blind?!"

And this is where we get into post-modernism and jjk's main theme: no one owns the objective truth. You are reading jjk through your very own unique lens, and any meaning you make out of jjk is always filtered through that lens. Trying to say your truth is absolute is basically power scaling.

At one point or another someone has to agree to disagree.

So yeah, you'll hear me say this bit about not owning the ultimate truth a lot.

Anon, thank you so much for the kind comments 🥲. I am so happy to hear you loved my Soul Eater write up and that you've ran into my jjk rambles too.

Honestly, I love writing about my favorite ships and nothing makes me sadder than the state of shipping in jjk fandom because people won't just mind their own business about who should be shipped with whom.

As a side note, I've been brainrotting about atsumei recently. Might actually write about the breadcrumbs because these two move me the way some of my absolute favorite ships, soma, asucaga, and kurofai move me.

Anyways I'VE RAMBLED WHY DID NO ONE STOP ME?, it looks like you are feeling worried about my thoughts on you starting to read jjk because of stsg. I say it is a wonderful thing that you started reading it and found enjoyment in it.

Thanks for reaching out, and as per usual I apologize on taking forever to answer asks... I have like 50 and I do try to answer most of them.