#so. when the schedule says the class starts at 1. that does actually mean you need to go to the class at 1. insane concept

[blueskittlesart]

i just. accidentally skipped my first day of this class. help me

[lowkeyremi]

Late Nights aizawa x reader

it's my birthday so im writing about the man i share it with (-ε-)

content: post war au, fluff, established relationship

"This isn't good for your health, Sho." Today marks the 5th night he's stayed up past 11 pm grading papers or doing something else for his job.

"How do you think I managed before I met you?" His small sigh meets your ears, and you really want to help him. Seeing out of only one eye is most definitely slowing him down.

"You looked dead on the outside when we first met. Do you want me to help grade papers?"

"I'll finish before one, go back to bed, honey." His eyes meet yours once he hears you scoff. He's draining himself by staying up this late, every single night. His face is lit by the warm kitchen light, one of his hands tugging at his long black strands of hair in order to keep himself sane.

"Shota. I'm not taking no for an answer." You say firmly, crossing your arms to indicate that you mean business.

"I knew you'd say that, come sit down." He gives in every single time. He knows he needs the help, he just doesn't want to admit it.

"Can you read through these essays?" At first you're confident, there's only a few papers on the table.

"Can you?" You nod diligently. You confirm you're willing to help, and your husband gets up from the table and slowly walks toward your shared bedroom. When he does return there's a large stack of papers in his arms. They drop on the table with a thump. He chuckles at your horrified expression.

"Just get through as many as you can. Write feedback on them too, hon." No wonder he's always so tired, you forget that 1-A isn't his only class. If you can remember right he has six periods of classes.

"Is this pile all your class or.." He's sat back down by now and started going through papers with red pen.

"That's 3rd and 4th period. I'm finishing up with 1st and 2nd right now." You click your tongue. It's hard to get started, you don't have any motivation unlike Shota. His only motivation is probably the fact he has to do this.

"Why don't you have an online classroom? It would make grading so much easier." He's probably going to say something about not knowing how to use it..

"I prefer for my students to write manually, because it helps with remembrance." Sounds like something an old man would say. You'd voice your opinion but he'd have a comeback for sure.

-----

"Shotaaaaa, I don't wanna do anymore." Your head is resting on the table, the cool wood on your cheek. He doesn't even spare you any sympathy either, laughing at you quietly. His rich chuckles sound like comfort more than mockery in your opinion though.

"Sweetheart, you've only graded four essays." The huge stack of papers looks back at you from it's side of the table.

"Yeah and each essay had like four to five papers in it. I feel bad for your students." The two of you are going to cuddle. You're determined to make it happen, so before he could even reply, you bounce up from your seat, grab his hand, and tug him towards your bedroom.

"We're going to sleep. I'm not taking any other answers besides "okay" or "yes my love." He clicks his tongue at your statement, but finds no reason to oblige.

-----

"Do you want to know something?" He whispers into your ear cuddling you close enough to feel the warmth of his chest on your back.

"What?" At this point you're only half-conscious, struggling to register what your husband's just said.

"I'm actually ahead of schedule. I can grade those papers loosely throughout this week." He admits with no guilt or shame in his voice at all. What a workaholic.

"Are you serious? So I could have been cuddling you all this time?"

"Yeah, I just do work to get out of my head." You wonder how many times you'll have to remind him that you're his strength and that you'll help him through anything, before he actually believes it.

"If you were having trouble sleeping, you should have told me." His big hand rests in your hair playing with it slowly.

"Didn't wanna bother you." His hand is so comforting that you almost fall asleep.

"You're never a bother to me Sho." Your voice is so soft and sincere that he almost breaks out into tears of joy. He's so happy to have met you.

"Oh." It has finally clicked in his brain, even though you've been married to him for quite some time.

You are his light.

[deadhands69]

cursing each other over and over again [2/3]

MDNI

Super fluffy, mildly angsty but it gets smutty in the next one.

Toge Inumaki x cursed speech reader (not quite the same as his)

Warnings/content/etc: Toge Inumaki x reader, fem-bodied/no pronouns, unestablished relationship, swearing, light violence (slapping), kissing, slightly suggestive conversation, mentions of dub con, cursed speech use.

AU: Jujutsu University, all characters aged up.

part 1 - this is part 2 - part 3

Text key: 🖤 You 🤍 Toge

Even after clearing things up with Toge, you still felt weird about going to class in the morning. Sure, you talked things through with him but didn’t know what to expect from everyone else.

In addition to this, you're exhausted. You spent most of the night laying in bed regretting a chunk of the texts you’d sent him instead of sleeping. You particularly regret telling your crush you have no game and can’t even manage to talk to him. How embarassing is that?

He seemed to understand though. He has to, right? Dating with cursed speech of any kind isn’t easy. You can’t just walk up and strike up a conversation with someone you like. There’s also the weird dynamic shift when they realize you can control their actions. When you inadvertently force them to kiss you and you’re awkwardly trying to get out of it, knowing it’s not what they want, traumatizing you both in the process. Or worse, you could accidentally hurt them. That’s probably even worse for him. Maybe he gets it?

Anyways, what does two cursed speech users dating look like, you’d be cursing each other back and forth constantly. He probably doesn’t want that.

Stopping yourself, you can’t think about this all day.

On the walk across campus, you started trying some breathing exercises Gojo gave you when you first arrived. In addition to the usual homework, he also tasked you with learning to control your emotions. Fair. So far, you’ve found it easier some times than others. This morning wasn’t too bad until, in your distraction, you collided with Toge where two sidewalks intersect.

He says “kelp”, his eyes smiling. You wave and smile back.

Your heart is racing, but at least it’s no weirder than when you first met him. You walk together silently until you reach the classroom.

Immediately, Panda high-fives him as Maki smacks him in the back of the head. You take your seat as she continues to berate him. Yuta sits next to you asking about your evening. It would be nice, but you can tell he’s just pushing to see how things went with his friend. He moves seats as soon as Inumaki approaches.

Just before class is scheduled to start (okay, you have an extra five minutes every day because Gojo is consistently at least five minutes late) your phone buzzes.

🤍 [sorry if that was weird for you]

🤍 [i actually didn’t tell anyone we hung out]

🤍 [maki told the gc you left my room at midnight after i left everyone on read]

You look up to see Toge waiting to see how you'll react. 

🖤 [haha i mean it's fine]

🖤 [technically that’s true]

🖤 [but]

🖤 [there’s a solid implication there]

🖤 [at least rumor me is getting laid]

You look at him rolling your eyes to make it clear that was sarcasm, you’d correct people later. He laughs.

The rest of the week passes quickly. Lots of homework to catch up on and even more to learn. Wednesday, you got to go on a mission with Maki. Who, you are pleased to learn, is a lot more caring than she lets on. The two of you were able to take out a few grade 2 curses together fairly quickly. It felt great being able to use your technique for more than destruction. After, you got sushi and talked for a while. You talked about jujutsu sorcery, life, pretty much everything. Toge came up once but since that was nearly all anyone in your class had asked you about since you arrived, she didn’t drag the subject out.

By the time Friday arrives, you realize you haven’t had time to fully unpack and set your room up. You also hadn’t talked to Toge much more than in passing. 

Pulling your folded clothes out of boxes and hanging them in the closet, your mind wanders. He asked to hang out first, does he want you to reach out next? Is he just busy? Or did you scare him off? You only hung out once, just because you have a huge crush on him doesn’t mean he feels the same after spending some small amount of time with you. He still seems to want to be friends, at least. So it wouldn’t be too weird to ask to hang out this weekend. That’s not so bad. Looking down at empty boxes, you realize you’ve been spiraling longer than you thought. Maybe you should just text him.

Pulling your phone out, you hear a commotion down the hall. The clang of pots and pans on the ground, Panda’s oversized footsteps thumping down the hallway, Maki yelling and Toge screaming “CAVIAR!”

Or, maybe you should text him later. He sounds busy.

A scuffle of footsteps make their way closer to your cracked door. Maki pokes her head in, she’s covered in half cooked rice. 

As mockingly sweet as she can muster, “hey [y/n], getting set up?” 

You nod, pretending you didn’t just hear the chaos. 

“Need help with those shelves?” she says gesturing to a box you’d thus far neglected.

“Yeah, I -” 

“Perfect! Here, take this” she shoves a disheveled Toge through the door and slams it.

“I was just about to text you. But you sounded, uh, busy.”

You lean into the doorway to look him up and down, amused. He laughs and pulls a grain of rice out of his hair.

Hanging shelves goes fast with the two of you, he holds them level while you screw them in. And since you’re concentrating, you almost don’t notice how close the two of you are standing together. Almost.

You’re on the last one above your bed, it’s the biggest and it’s heavy. He shifts so his hands are on both sides of the shelf above his head, pressing you between the wall and him. This shouldn’t be weird, you tell yourself. It’s not like there’s a better way to hold it. No, this is how you have to do this. Telling yourself that doesn’t change that you can feel his chest pressing into you and breath against your neck. Nevermind that you were on the floor of his room rolling around before he bit you Monday, this felt. Different.

Distracted, you pause for a second to take it all in. The feel of his warm body pushing into you with every inhale. His arms flexing above you. He’s so strong to hold something so heavy. Oh, shit. Back to work.

With some fumbling, the last screw goes in and you’re done. You spin around to mouth “thanks” but Toge stays in place. Smiling down at you, his arms drop slightly from the shelf to the wall, still pressing you back. His smokey violet eyes connect with yours. You glance at the circles on his cheeks, visible since he took his jacket off shortly after arriving. Sliding his hands down further, he gently grabs your wrists and pulls you down to sit with him. Keeping the closeness: you’re still up against the wall with him leaning in. He smiles and you forget how to breathe. His hand brushes the hair from your forehead, sliding it behind one of your now flushed ears. Your heart is pounding out of your chest as he moves in closer.

BANG. BANG. BANG. 

“Inumaki!?” 

Wide eyed, he freezes: still leaning into you with one hand on the wall near your head and the other at your side. 

BANG.

“Panda cleaned my kitchen. If you’re done hanging shelves, come help me with the extra laundry you made!” you hear Maki yell.

“Salmon!” he grumbles, not fast enough. Another bang and your door cracks open, giving Panda and Maki a direct view of the two of you on your bed. In the background, you see a pretending-to-be-nonchalant Gojo passing by then double-taking back to look over their shoulders. 

Well, so much for dispelling rumors.

He begrudgingly stands up and walks to the door. 

You slump into your bed in both embarrassment and disappointment. You were so close. You glance back at them.

Holding one finger up for the three of them to wait for something, Toge shoos the other three away and closes the door. 

Returning to your bed, he crawls back to you, pressing his hand back to its spot on the wall behind you while bringing the other behind your head. Leaning in, without hesitation, he presses his lips onto yours kissing you feverishly. Your face melts into his and you completely forget about the group standing outside your door listening. He pulls back, pecks your lips once more, and smiles before grabbing his jacket and walking out. You lay there, too stunned to move. Your hand slides over your comforter and - wait, is that a grain of rice?

9:58pm - Friday

🤍 [not to ‘you up’ you but you up?]

🖤 [kiss me once and you’re looking for a bootycall now?]

🤍 [you know it]

🖤 [pshhh]

🤍 [nah]

🤍 [fr tho i need to talk to you]

🤍 [i wanted to earlier but Maki just set me free 20 minutes ago]

🤍 [and i had to wash the rice out of my hair]

🤍 [can i come by?]

🖤 [you’re not making the rumors any better, Toge…]

You’re pretty tired from getting your room set-up and finishing all of your homework but you know you definitely won’t get any sleep putting this conversation off. Hopefully he doesn’t think kissing you was a mistake. You don't think you used your cursed energy on him?

🖤 [but yeah]

🖤 [of course you can]

Quickly, you jump out of bed to change into something cuter. Still gym shorts and a t-shirt but at least these ones aren’t ripped or stained. You fix your hair before running to the knock on the door.

Toge walks in, looking around in awe of your room. The shelves the two of you put up earlier are now covered in books, plants, and color changing lights in the shapes of your favorite anime characters. He gestures at them and smiles. The dim lighting glows in a rainbow of colors that dance on his face. Taking a massive breath, he begins typing. Pausing, he erases what he wrote, puts his phone away, and unzips his jacket. Biting his lip, he turns to you. Is he about to say something?

Extending one finger, he slowly points at you then at himself. Still biting his lip, he shrugs his shoulders in a question. His eyes dig into yours, begging you to understand.

“together” you whisper-yell, this time feeling your cursed energy pull him to you. A twinge of guilt hits the back of your mind at accidentally using your power on him, but it’s quickly pushed aside by the familiarity of him smashing his lips into yours. He kisses you with even more passion than earlier, gripping your waist like he can’t pull you close enough. You run your hands through his damp hair. He pulls his face away momentarily to nod yes, before smiling and squeezing you back into him. 

Your curse has completely faded and he’s still here.

I’m so proud of him, I didn’t really think Toge had game, but somehow writing him this way made sense. Good for him.

part 3

[mopopshop]

Shattered Promises

part: 2

previous: part 1

pairing: paige bueckers x oc

a/n: enjoy and give feedback!! hope these aren’t too short of chapters 😞 i’m trying to work on that 🙌🏾

---

The next few days blend together with the usual whirlwind of classes and studying. Amid the chaos, you eagerly anticipate your coffee date with Paige. It feels like a welcome break from your hectic schedule.

On the day of your coffee meetup, you arrive at the café Paige recommended. The space is warm and inviting, with soft lighting and the comforting aroma of freshly brewed coffee. You spot Paige at a corner table, her phone in hand, and her eyes light up when she sees you.

"Yo, Alara!" Paige exclaims and waives you down, her smile radiant. "Hey, glad you could make it"

"Hi," you reply, returning her smile as you sit down across from her. "Thanks for inviting me. This place is adorable."

"I know right? A friend told me about it," Paige says, flagging down a waitress. "Want something to drink? My treat."

"Oh- Just a latte, thanks you really don’t have to” you say, taken aback by her chivalry.

Paige places your order and leans back in her chair, looking at you with a playful glint in her eye. "Nah, it’s chill don’t worry. But um- how’s the project going? I promise I’m not just asking to avoid doing my own stuff."

You laugh, feeling at ease. "It’s going well, pretty good actually. It’s a lot of shit to cover, but it’s starting to make sense. You?”

"Eh, like you said it’s starting to make sense but we can always work through it together, you know?" Paige grins playfully. 

"Right, right— together." you reply, heat creeping up your face.

Paige leans in slightly, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “So, when you’re not being an absolute academic weapon" Paige says with a teasing tone, "what do you do for fun?"

“Oh, we’re getting into the small talk questions now?” you tease “I see, I see, and where did you get the whole “academic weapon” thing from??”

“I have my sources” she smirks.

You burst into laughter “What the hell does that even mean?”

“Nah, i’m just trolling. But for real people are out here talkin about that brain of yours”

You flush, flattered “I wouldn’t say i’m that smart, I just don’t really leave my apartment so all I do is study”

“You too pretty to not be leavin the house, girl” 

As Paige speaks you’re in the middle of taking a sip of your latte, ultimately choking at her compliment.

You cough, trying to regain your composure. "Oh— th-thanks, thank you I’m— I uh.. I don’t know how to respond to that” you giggle nervously.

Paige chuckles, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "My fault, my fault, not tryna catch you off guard. I just mean, you’re smart and all, but you’ve got this whole, you know, vibe going on."

You raise an eyebrow, feeling a mix of embarrassment and intrigue. "A vibe, huh? And what kind of vibe is that?"

Paige grins, leaning in slightly. "The kind that makes me want to get to know you better.

Once again Paige catches you off guard and you can’t find the words to respond, just giggling and sputtering with what you want to say. “I.. um”

Thankfully Paige cuts off your embarrassing attempt at trying to match her energy. “I forgot you never answered my question, what do you do in your spare time? Ms. Scholar”

“I.. usually just relax at home," you answer. 

She kisses her teeth, rolling her eyes “A’ight now you just tryna be boring”

“Stop! It’s the truth!” you laugh back.

“You don’t crochet? read? scrapbook? nothing?”

“Okay now that’s boring”

“Don’t start hating on books now,”

“Okay! Okay!” You laugh harder, throwing your hands up in surrender “I cook a little? Like from time to time”

“Yeah? You gonna cook for me next study session?” Paige’s eyes widen at that, leaning in once again and giving you a sly smirk.

“I- I mean maybe, if that’s what you want. Just warning you I’m no Gordon Ramsey”

“I got faith in you, baby” 

Heat pools in your gut at the nickname but you attempt to push through and continue with the conversation. “I.. um just realized we haven’t discussed the- the project yet” 

“Damn and just when I was having fun”

You laugh and the conversation flows smoothly, but as you continue to talk Paige’s flirtatiousness becomes more apparent. She casually places her hand on the table closer to yours and leans in just a bit. "I’m really glad we’re working on this project together and not the stuck up pricks we got in our class”

You feel a warm flush at her compliment. "I’m glad too. I had a lot of fun today."

Paige gives you a playful smile. "That’s good, that’s good"

Eventually, Paige checks her watch and looks at you with a mischievous grin. "So, since we’re making good progress on the project, how about we make this a regular thing? Coffee and study sessions? Maybe have you take me up on the offer to cook at yours?”

You smile, feeling a flutter of excitement. "I’d like that."

"Sick," Paige says, clearly pleased. "Maybe next time we can work on the project over coffee again and then catch a movie. You down?"

"Sounds perfect," you agree, feeling a sense of anticipation.

As you both gather your things to leave, Paige steps closer and lightly bumps your shoulder with hers. "Hey, let’s not wait too long for our next meetup, yeah? I like seeing you"

"Yeah, yeah, of course” you say, feeling a warmth spread through you. "I’ll see you soon.”

As you walk to your car you physically cannot stop yourself from squealing with excitement. Hanging out with Paige just leaves you feeling entirely giddy and excited. 

———

[dw-flagler]

In this post, I will attempt to calmly, reasonably, and in-a-good-faith-manner argue all the points raised by tumblr user @library-bat-girl in the following posts. I am starting a new thread so as not to further destroy the original poster, @skitterenjoyer's, tumblr notifications. Worm (+MHA) spoilers ahead. This will be a long post.

Firstly, I would like to apologize on the worm fandom's behalf. We will not engage in ableism of any kind. I sincerely hope that this was a singular incident and @skittersdrippygirlcock will be better about this in the future.

"MHA has better characters,"

My Hero Academia's primary achievement, I think, is managing to make many decently well rounded characters in a fairly short time-span. It certainly has very good visual character design, with easily memorable character designs, like Mina Ashido or Tsuyu Asui. Most of Class 1A is shown to be more than single-note gimmick characters. For a story with such a tight schedule, and only so much page real-estate, that's impressive! For instance, a character decidedly outside of the main cast, Fumikage Tokoyami, is shown to have more to his personality than "is an edgelord," showing a humility and friendliness that is highly against-type. This is very different than a lot of its peers, especially in Shonen manga, where side characters (and sometimes even main characters) are never more than their tropes (see Fairy Tale, One Punch Man*, The Seven Deadly Sins, or Black Clover). My Hero Academia does clear that bar, by making side characters little more than their tropes. This is to say nothing of the primary cast, who, again, is largely defined by tropes and easily slotted into standardized interchangeable Shonen roles. Rival, Love Interest, Rival but Nice About It. Additionally, MHA has an uncomfortably sexualized main cast, for one composed primarily of minors.

This is compared to Worm, in which many characters are fully realized and could have been the protagonist (and often were in older drafts of the story, due to Worm's 10-year development hell). Every character that gets an interlude, and most that don't, all have fully realized interiority, traumas, and wants. In fact, this is one of the major themes of Worm. Every character, from the protagonist Taylor, to characters so minor they're seen only once (see Damsel of Distress, Dauntless), to major antagonists and monsters (see Jack Slash, Bonesaw) all have their own story, even if this is never shown on-screen. There are no "side characters" in the same manner as in My Hero Academia, because every character is a protagonist of their own story, and not in a trite "life is so beautiful" way.

Taylor isn't the center of the universe, there's an entire world outside of her 3-block bubble. The mechanism by which all characters get their superpowers means that the mere fact of having powers implies this about them. Even the seeming exceptions, aren't (see Alexandria, Garotte). Taylor is a good character. I don't even know how to elaborate on that. She just is. Worm does not have the character Minoru Mineta.

"a better plot,"

What... what is the plot of My Hero Academia? For the life of me, I can't seem to recall. I can tell you the general formula of most of the arcs for the first ~2/3rds of the story. Class 1A goes to do a hero high school thing, like do rescue training, or on-the-job training, or on-the-job-training, or on-the-job-training (they do it like 4 times for some reason), the League Of Villains shows up (even when it's seemingly not the league of villains it actually is the league of villains) they fight about it, the class beats all the villains, and Deku beats up strongest bad guy and also breaks his bones. Repeat step 1. But like. What's... the plot? The League of Villains is evil and wants to kill people and do bad stuff. They explicitly do not have greater motivations. There's generally themes of passing-on-to-the-new-generation, so there's Tomura Shigaraki as the arch nemesis to Izuku Midoriya, just as All Might's Nemesis is All For One. Eventually they fight a big fight about it and I stop reading because I find out about Worm. From what I understand (I have not read the conclusion) the series ends without addressing any long-running questions, wrapping up any character arcs, or concluding anything in a narratively satisfying manner. As if severely rushed.

Worm, there are maybe 15 main stories going on simultaneously, which are all tied into the final confrontation with Scion. The most obvious is Taylor's and the Undersiders' story, about taking over Brockton Bay and defeating Coil, which is a smaller part of Coil's story about taking over the bay, until their confrontation with him in arc 17, when it supersedes Coil's story, and then intersects with Cauldron's story, the Traveler's story, the Case 53s' stories, the Wards' story, all of it, in arcs 18-19. This is one example. A great deal of attention is spent making sure the reader knows that Taylor, the Undersiders, Coil, all of them, are bit players in a very large game. Despite this, it's never hard to follow, because Wildbow, while lacking some of the more flowery prose, manages extremely well at making his stories easy to understand.

"I feel like even people who like Worm can agree that Worm is not the most consistent piece of fiction ever written. The disjointed way it was written meant that emphasis was primarily put on 'What Wildbow thought was cool in the moment', [sic] and the story RADICALLY shifts gears every time a new arc starts."

What? Huh? Worm is extremely consistent. Like. 1.1 to E.x. It's, like. Not disjointed? Oh my god, are you talking about interludes? Is that what you mean? The interludes shift gears? Because that makes sense. It's one of the hardest things about worm, yeah. It's gripping! The interludes are a great idea to expand the world of worm, but the problem is that taylor's story is so intriguing that stepping away from it to focus on something else is hard, no matter how individually interesting. I want to read about taylor's escalation spiral, not the travelers! (As opposed to My Hero Academia having random escalation and de-escalation between arcs with no real explanation. We're reading about lives-on-the-line battles with child-slavers and then move to playing on a playground with little kids? Best I can think of is that this whiplash is intentional, but this is never communicated to the reader. Worm does not do this. Any de-escalation is met with the explicit understanding that this is merely a period of calm before things get even worse). Taylor's story wraps up in an extremely narratively satisfying fashion, following her story to its logical conclusion. There were so many ways it could have been avoided, but there was really only one way that it could have ended.

"better worldbuilding,"

This actually offends me. MHA could have had great world-building. It doesn't. Every potentially interesting bit of world-building is backpedaled out of or stopped before it could get anywhere. Or it's just never elaborated or expanded upon. Everyone having a superpower could have been cool, but the implications of this are nonexistent. The reasons for this having no real implications, that being the banning of quirks, also has implications that are also immediately backpedaled out of. It's been hundreds of years since our time, yet life is exactly the same. Nothing ever happens. Endeavor is a cool concept. I like Endeavor. his existence implies such interesting things about the world, how important hero ranking is to these people's lives, that he would create this horrific system of domestic abuse to try and get to the #1 spot. What does this say about this system of heroes that operates like a popularity contest? It could have said a lot. It says nothing. What does the League of Villains, a league of people who call themselves out-and-out villains, who base their ideology in opposing this system of heroes, say about society? Nothing. On purpose. Worm does something with this. One Punch Man does something with this. My Hero Academia puts it in the story, and lets it sit, unused, for a decade.

Worm has... unique world-building. Because it's both good and bad at the same time. Worm's #1 feature is its world. It's brilliant, full stop. Triggers, The Birdcage, the PRT, Exclusion Zones! Why does the status quo exist? what does it say about that society? What does it say about our society? Why hasn't society radically changed from how it is in our world? This is explained. This plays into the themes. The story wants to say something about this world, and so it does. There are characters whose stories explicitly delve into these themes that are set up in the worldbuilding, like Armsmaster, or Battery, or Bonesaw, or Coil, or Piggot or Alexandria or Taylor herself or Brian or Lisa or ANY OF THEM THEY ALL DO THIS. Sorry.

Anyway, the bad part is that the actual world is not well built (and is kind of racist). What's going on in Europe? There's a 3 blasphemies! a 3 what? never explained. What's going on in Asia, aside from Japan? China is a monarchy for some reason. Why? It's never elaborated on. India gets a little bit of elaboration, we're told its different but not how it's different. Wildbow uses machine translation wrong and names some guy caliph of dogs. This is like worm's #2 problem honestly (#1 is Amy). Wildbow tries to make the implication of a well thought out globe without actually making a well thought out globe.

"stronger themes,"

It really doesn't. As I said in the worldbuilding section, MHA makes a point out of not saying or doing anything. I don't know if editors made Horikoshi walk back the more ambitious story beats or what, but there are multiple points in the story where the author pretty much looks you directly in the eye and goes "This Story Isn't Saying Anything At All Even Though It Looked Like It Would. Lmao."

Worm has lots of themes. I think Armsmaster/Defiant's story is my favorite. His entire character arc (which is fully realized despite him being a background character for nearly the entire story) has a point to it. It says something. It's misanthropic and uplifting simultaneously, and manages to feel like it earns both. It's a shared theme with Bonesaw/Riley's story, explored in two different ways.

"Meanwhile MHA establishes an actual overall theme/message right from the start that expands and develops throughout the story. The worldbuilding is informed by the message, which informs the characters arcs and the people they become by the end of the story."

I notice that you never actually say what that message is. What is it? Like, for real. I'm not being confrontational or anything, like what is the message? Cuz' I can't think of one. My Hero Academia, at its very core, is a defense of the status quo. Much like its world-building, but much less forgivable, because it does do something new and unique with its world-building. MHA could have done some extremely interesting stuff with its early implicit critique of heroic society as shown with characters like Bakugo, or Shigaraki, or Endeavor, or Overhaul, or Midoriya himself! It just doesn't! It doesn't do stuff that Worm does do!

Worm does have a message. It has a lot of messages, actually, some that the author disagrees with somehow. Prison abolition, for one. We know Wildbow loves prison. Anyway, the big one is in the subtitle: doing the wrong things for the right reasons. Taylor's constant spiral of escalation, her dwindling attachments to her friends and greater focus on treating herself like a soldier is prevalent, and it is to be avoided. Taylor isn't a sin-eater. They don't exist. From what I remember, this is sort of explored in Deku's character arc for a short period of time, but much like everything else in MHA, it is backpedaled out of.

The funniest is "don't text and drive" though.

"Just on a basic level the way that the audience is meant to feel about Taylor oscillates wildly between being directed to think of her as a misunderstood victim of circumstance, or history's greatest monster."

That's kind of the point. Like. the audience isn't meant to look at Taylor the same way throughout the entire story. It's meant to change as she changes. Taylor's opinion of Taylor changes. The mistake here is saying it "oscillates wildly." it doesn't. It's a slow and steady change for the worse, as Taylor gets more violent and starts throwing away greater and greater parts of herself to become more like a robot and less like a person.

"But a bigger issue in general is tone. It's very focused on being dark and gritty and edgy, and it makes the mistake a lot of consciously edgy media does. IE: it thinks that all it has to do to be smart is be bleak and/or graphic. It doesn't really try to say anything, in fact it contradicts itself throughout the book as I mentioned before, it just throws in extremely graphic scenes and content periodically to remind the audience how fucked everything is."

Did you read the boys and think it was worm? What? It's not being smart when it's bleak or graphic? I actually personally like the endbringers or the slaughterhouse 9, and not because I like watching people suffer. These things exist for a reason. It's not being dark for the sake of being dark. The heroes could stop the slaughterhouse 9. We see that, when they almost stop the slaughterhouse 9 (it's explicitly shown that they are stopped from destroying the slaughterhouse 9). The question then becomes why don't they? It's a grim, brutal calculus, and one that wasn't worth it. That's the point. The Endbringers are different. It's not until arc 27 that they're really explained. You could either read them as a criticism of Eidolon or of ableism, honestly. I mean, it wasn't intentional, he didn't create them on purpose, he needed something to fight, because without that he's nothing. His powers are all he has.

"Worm spends so much time trying to be edgy that as with a lot of edgy media the edginess loses all impact quite quickly and becomes sort of cringe."

I don't really think so, but like. Okay. I don't think this is a reconcilable viewpoint (none of this is really but this especially), so like we're probably gonna have to agree to disagree. The only thing I can really think of as edgy for the sake of edginess is Amy's arc. But even that's not really true. It's meant to be an utterly avoidable tragedy that could never have been stopped because of the people involved. Much like Taylor, actually. Amy could have stepped back from the brink, but she didn't, because Amy could never have done that, and nobody else was willing/able to help. It's supposed to be a thing where you sit back and think of all the tiny ways this could have easily been avoided, but wasn't.

"When body horror happens it still has impact because it's not happening constantly."

I mean, I guess. But like. I never got desensitized to the body horror in Worm. It hit pretty consistently for me throughout. As opposed to MHA, where it was usually walked back by the end of every arc. I never felt much tension or suspense because it felt as if there weren't actual consequences. In Worm, when Brian was strung up on his nerves, it felt disgusting because I was fully aware Worm would explore the ripple effects of this. It felt entirely possible he would die there, or never recover, because Worm didn't pull its punches. MHA did. This is a matter of opinion. We'll just have to agree to disagree about it.

"But most importantly - you root for the heroes because the world actually seems like it's worth saving."

that's just, um. sorry. I'm really trying here. That's just. Uh. Dumb. Do you root for Batman cause Gotham is a nice city? Everything's worth saving, that's, like, at its most basic what the concept of a superhero is about.

"Not only that but MHA simply does villain protagonists objectively better than Worm."

um. No? There straight up aren't villain protagonists in MHA. The villains are the POV characters for, like, one arc? You know what, here's a good spot for it. It's stated throughout the story that Shigaraki and the League of Villains have a goal, beyond just death and destruction. They're here to stop the corrupt society of heroes (that MHA hints at the existence of before backpedaling away from), and bring about a fairer society. But then, and this part pissed me off, one of the characters, I think Bakugo, says: "you're just using that as cover! you just want to kill people, you have no noble goal!" and shigaraki's like "dang you caught me." and then it happens again with Deku! Because My Hero Academia is allergic to saying something. Nope! They're villains! No moral depth here! They're Villains, We're Heroes, Go Put Them In Jail.

This is opposed to Worm, where- "The characters of the villains and their origins are used to highlight the flaws in the Superhuman society"

"Most of the villains are only villains because society failed them in some way, and the specific ways in which that happened become big plot points that then play into the future arc of our heroic characters."

I had to walk away from my computer for this one. It's hard to be civil. It's really hard. Polite and reasonable.

So Worm is about this. To even say this without a shred of irony makes me thing you've never once read a single word of Worm and are doing this purely as bait. Or you've read all of Worm and are doing this purely as bait.

"They're actually extremely complex in a way that ends up being fundamentally important to the overall story - where in Worm the villains are either based heroes fighting a corrupt system or they're histories [sic] greatest monsters... until they're presented as heroes again."

I think I get it now. I really think I do. You're not supposed to agree with all the characters. Like. Worm is inconsistent, in that it follows the perspectives of inconsistent people. Of course Triumph and Armsmaster don't agree on what is right! They're different people, they have different perspectives!

"See. Worm fans keep saying "This is Bait." It's not Bait, you all are simply ridiculous and obsessed with this series to such a degree that you feel compelled to say "This is Bait" instead of just... ignoring it, because you have no actual counterargument."

Perhaps worm fans are inclined to believe you posted rage bait because you brazenly walked into another fandom's post and wholeheartedly proclaimed that the thing they liked was Stupid Idiot Bullshit For Fucking Morons, and refused to elaborate until prompted, at which point you said several things that are demonstrably false about Worm.

"Your only response to anything I've said is pedantry, bigotry, and deflection. If it was obviously just bait why are you engaging?"

Well, I'm engaging because I've been in a foul mood since I woke up this morning. Also because you, again, said some very rude and patently false statements about a story that I really enjoy and find narratively rich, even in its faults.

"MHA's characters do fall into archetypal shounen character roles - but they are all given a solid amount of focus explaining why they are like that and developing them into something bigger."

Again, as I said, it's a genuinely impressive feat to have an ensemble cast like what My Hero Academia has, and give so many of the characters a degree of depth, with such little manga to work with. I think worm does it better, but worm doesn't have to be economical about it. MHA does. The problem I have with this statement is that it becomes a question of scale. How much bigger? They're no longer defined by their tropes, instead defined by their opposition to their tropes. It's still a one-note character, you've merely changed the note from C to C sharp.

"so almost every member of the cast has an arc that either develops them past the person they initially seemed to be or explains why they're like that."

This is probably my favorite part about MHA. They do have arcs! I love ensemble casts! it does a much better job in this than all of its contemporaries, even One Piece. However, they are comparatively simplistic arcs that all follow a similar formula.

"I've heard people say MHA is neocon or pro-establishment but the story literally concludes by showing that society HAS TO FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE or the same problems that created the villains in the first place will keep happening. The entire time skip specifically focuses on the fact that for eight years the main characters have been forcing change in the world and addressing the issues the villains brought up."

Now, I'm going to be clear. I stopped reading My Hero Academia around chapter 275. I don't know the exact number, but it was the latest chapter in ~mid 2020. I would occasionally attempt to reread, in an attempt to catch up, but give up around chapter 200 out of boredom. I don't know exactly how the story ends, but I have read ~2/3rds of the story. I feel this gives me a pretty good understanding of the general tone of the story, unless it wildly changes tone at the 3/4ths mark, which you have explicitly said it does not, as it is extremely coherent and consistent. Therefore, I believe I can state with some degree of confidence that MHA does not do that.

I would certainly believe that it tries (and fails) to SFP it, but SFP does not promote a fundamental societal change. That's the problem. Strong Female Protagonist was willing to come up and say that Alison lived in a fundamentally unjust world, even if it was never willing or able to offer real change. And hey. You do what you can. I sincerely doubt My Hero Academia is even willing to call its world fundamentally unjust, from the 200+ chapters that I did read.

"In the case of the actual main characters, they have extremely comprehensive character arcs."

Adding this behind the last point just so that I don't have to reiterate I haven't finished the book. I am, however, very much not inclined to believe the actual main characters had extremely comprehensive character arcs.

Which plays back into the initial theory that ANYONE CAN BE A HERO.

man, spider-man did that better (not a real argument, but like, spider-man totally did that better). Not least because midoriya specifically could not become a hero were it not for all might giving him a power.

No, the Villains don't get happy endings,

Why not? Why do they go to jail, even the ones who changed and wanted to redeem themselves? Endeavor never goes to jail. He did some horrible stuff. He's redeemed himself in the eyes of the story, right? Anyone can be a hero, right? So why not them? Why haven't they redeemed themselves in the eyes of the story?

You may wish to turn this back on me and ask why doesn't Armsmaster go to prison? Because he's similar in some respects. But worm never calls prison justice. (for some reason, even though wildbow totally loves prison). Prison is punitive, a tool for those in charge to control those it manages to capture. Maybe some deserve life in the birdcage. Many don't. It doesn't matter. Because the birdcage isn't a tool of justice. It's not meant to be. it's a box to put the uncontrollable capes in, until they can be used as meat shields. So Armsmaster doesn't go to prison because the story says explicitly there is no point to it. But MHA? MHA says there is a point to it. Endeavor needs to go to prison if he wants to atone. He's escaping justice every second he's outside.

I have actually read Worm, and for the first half to two thirds I loved it.

Weird. That's exactly how long I really enjoyed MHA. Not, like relevant, to anything. Just odd. I mean, I don't actually dislike MHA. I think it's fine, actually. It feels like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to me. Funny (when Mineta isn't around), bombastic, and a good time, even if I don't think it's super thematically rich.

I'm not coming at this from the perspective of someone who has never seen any of the merits of Worm, I'm coming at it from the perspective of someone who really liked it, gave it a fair shot, and was eventually disappointed when it ended up not tying together right.

See, this makes me more inclined to think it's bait, actually. since you said "Oh yeah. MHA is published. MHA's been an ongoing publication with a large following for ten years, in a notoriously competitive industry. Now this might seem kind of unimpressive, it's a very low bar to clear I know. But it's one Worm hasn't, so. I dunno, I'd say that's fairly objective. Now you may think "Yeah, but Trash fiction gets published all the time." And that's true but again - Worm hasn't. The worst piece of fiction you can think of got published and Worm didn't. You wanna be an asshole about this? The thing you love is so mid that it was self published in 2013, couldn't get picked up for professional publishing until 2019 and as far as I can see has stayed in development hell since then." in your previous post. Sure, perhaps we can say you were pissed at the time, but "the thing you love is worse than trash fiction, an altogether nothing piece of literature that isn't even worth the paper it would hypothetically be printed on" does not strike me as the words of someone who "really liked it, gave it a fair shot, and was eventually disappointed when it ended up not tying together right." In fact, going back through your other statements on the story, you seem to have genuinely disliked it from the very beginning, on grounds of being too edgy (which I can fully understand the logic of): "IE: it thinks that all it has to do to be smart is be bleak and/or graphic," thematically incoherent: "It doesn't really try to say anything, in fact it contradicts itself throughout the book as I mentioned before, it just throws in extremely graphic scenes and content periodically to remind the audience how fucked everything is," and utterly devoid of purpose or meaning. "When it does introduce new lore that new lore is almost always overly convoluted and acts as a catalyst for things happening, but not really things happening that play into a wider theme or message. It's just "Oh and here's this team of god-level serial killers who are gonna string a dude up by his nervous system." Like yeah, cool visual, but what is any of this actually saying?" This does not sound like a ringing endorsement of the first half of Worm to me. In fact, this sounds like you hated every second of it.

"And frankly given the number of comments that are just people saying "Bait" - I don't think any of y'all have engaged with this in a fair or honest way"

I'm going to reiterate on my previous statement. I like my hero academia. Capeshit is my favorite genre, it probably always will be. They're my favorite genre of story. While I find the themes—or lack thereof—extremely frustrating, I still think of it as fun. I gave it a fair shake. I would probably really enjoy the ending if I didn't have a reading list that was 300 books long.

[constelationprize]

ROBIN/ELODIE ??????

if this about to be like my eva josten/adèle moreau scenario i will cry then ask u to please marry me.

i need this more than i need air. u don’t understand. i love u. ur the freaking best. tell me more.

Yeah that one came to me in a vision.

The thing is that like most of my other niche rarepairings I just cannot resist the allure of Narrative Parallels™. Mostly I just realized how similar Elodie and Robin's stories are (in concept) and that they could actually be around the same age (considering Elodie would be around 15-16yo in 2007 and Robin joins the Foxes in 2009 after Kevin graduates, and assuming Robin didn't get held back due to the Horrors, that would put them at around a 1-2 year age difference).

So the basic concept for the AU is that Elodie survives and is rescued by Stuart during TSC and then brought over to the USA to live with Jean and the Trojans. This goes about as well as you would expect, which is to say not at all – she's heavily traumatized, barely speaks English for the first couple years, and is resistant to any kind of help that would result in her having to leave Jean's side. She also at first does not want anything to do with the other Trojans at all because she sees most of them as adults she can't trust and also resents them for monopolizing Jean's time, and none of these college sports players is anywhere near qualified for unpacking All of That.

Elodie and Jean effectively make each other's recovery worse for a long while because they immediately try and fall back to their childhood dynamic, which can no longer work for multiple reasons. But through Betsy Dobson all things are possible and eventually they get to a point where they aren't actively standing in each other's way anymore, though things are still Not Good.

It gets tough again when Jean graduates and they move out of LA, which just uproots what little stability Elodie had again, and he has developed a need to constantly check on her that cannot be good for his now even busier pro player schedule. Also, Elodie is almost 18, and at a point where she should be graduating high school and thinking about her future, which she very much is not doing because until a couple years ago she didn't even HAVE a future so she doesn't really know what to do with it.

They start floating the possibility of getting her into a community college or something in the state Jean's in, but eventually the possibility of having some strings pulled to get her into PSU is brought up, and Elodie latches onto it immediately, mostly because she both feels stifled by Jean's helicopter parenting AND kind of wants to punish him for not actually spending time with her by moving away. Jean doesn't want to let her, but he also doesn't really have a choice, and PSU might be far but at least he knows Elodie will have people there to reach out to if she needs it.

Joke's on Elodie though because going to college to annoy your brother does mean she just conned herself into taking classes and figuring out what to do with her life now and she has to do it while dodging 20 phone calls per hour. Anyway now that she's on PSU she has to learn how to do human person things like making friends. She ends up joining a roller derby team as a combo meeting people-getting exercise-venting anger deal.

Robin, on the other hand, is going through a similar situation where Andrew just graduated, and Neil is in his last year, so she's about to lose her anchors at PSU. Once Neil graduates, she won't have anyone to night practice with anymore, so she also joins the roller derby team to fill in her nights, in a way of trial-running how to maintain some sense of routine and normalcy and maybe make some friends as well.

And that is how the world's saddest most traumatized girls meet. They have no idea who the other really is at first because Elodie doesn't follow exy out of spite and they also don't tell each other their full names because they are very googlable and the team is for both of them a way to finding who they are outside of what happened to them, so they don't want to invite the past in there.

Neil figures it out pretty fast though, since he's been keeping an eye on Elodie, but he tells no one because he thinks it's going to be funny when Andrew and Jean (who absolutely hate each other) discover they're dating (He's right). The basic idea I have is that everyone kind of finds out at the same time when Andrew and Jean play against each other in a nearby city and both Elodie and Robin come to watch and it's a very spiderman pointing meme moment all around.

Getting to truly know each other then is a blessing and a curse because the similarities between their stories are as important as the differences. Elodie would have given everything to have parents that would want her back home and want to protect her and Robin would kill to have her family understand and relate to her trauma the way Jean does. Elodie genuinely cannot understand Robin's guilt over escaping by dooming another girl because she would have actively killed without remorse to break out. Robin doesn't get why Elodie is bitter over having to be rescued when she used to dream about someone finding and saving her. It's a very "grass is always greener on the other side" situation, and they clash a lot, but eventually they work it out.

I'm also thinking of having Robin being conflicted over whether she wants or even is capable of going pro (since as per the EC she technically wasn't good enough to be recruited if not for Andrew's constant endorsement). I'm not sure what Elodie would be majoring in, but that's fine because neither is Elodie. So that's something else they're both dealing with.

That's mostly what I have so far, I'm hoping some day this fic will grow a plot that can hold my attention so I can actually write it.

[sadquickchristmassnowman]

do you know significant dates for community episodes like for example december 10th for comparative religion (idk does make sense)

yes I think I get what you mean.

so, actually, for seasons 1-3, I’m pretty sure the dates the episodes aired, for the most part, line up with when the episode is meant to take place within the community universe. it's convenient that american networks have a similar schedule to the american school year, so it makes the timeline of shows set at schools line up pretty well with dates in the real world. this is no longer true for seasons 4-6, as they were likely pushed to midseason (making the season start airing in january/february and still end around may, making it half as long). so, for example, the season 4 halloween episode aired on february 14th, 2013. the halloween episodes for seasons 1-3 all, obviously, aired very close to halloween.

I do have some specific examples that support this, if the simple fact of the school year and network schedule lining up isn’t enough. as you said, in 1x12 comparative religion, they mention multiple times that it is december 10th. that episode did, in fact, air on december 10th, 2009. same with 2x11 abed's uncontrollable christmas; they mention that it is december 9th, and the episode aired on december 9th, 2010.

all this yapping to say: for seasons 1-3, a lot of the episode air dates are likely compliant with the in-universe set date. although, I do doubt that they had specific dates in mind for every single episode. it's just not super relevant. but, if you really wanted an estimate, I would consult this list of community episodes, which includes the date each episode was aired.

but, to more directly answer your question, I'm going to try to compile a list of episode dates I'm 100% sure about.

1x12 comparative religion: december 10th, 2009

2x10 mixology certification: december 4th, 2010

2x11 abed's uncontrollable christmas: december 9th, 2010

4x05 cooperative escapism in familial relations: november 22nd, 2012

not as long as I would have hoped, but ofc it's entirely possible there's things I missed.

to dive deeper, here's a list of episode dates I’ve speculated:

1x05 advanced criminal law: october 15th, 2009 (in contemporary impressionists, abed says that he and troy made a deal: "october 15th, friends don't lie to each other." this parallels their story in 1x05, and the 5th episode of season 1 being in october makes sense logistically in the canon. this episode also aired on october 15th, so it lines up in that way too. this episode does span across multiple days, though, so october 15th would just be one of the days included in the ep)

2x04 basic rocket science: october 16th, 2010 (this episode aired on october 14th, 2010, which is a thursday. they mention in the episode that it's a saturday, and the 16th is the saturday closest to the air date)

2x19 critical film studies: march 24th, 2011 (this is the date this episode aired, and is the generally accepted date for abed's birthday)

3x07 studies in modern movement: november 12th, 2011 (the episode aired on november 10th, 2011, which is a thursday. again, the mention in the episode that it is a saturday, and the 12th is the saturday closest to the air date)

3x10 regional holiday music: december 8th, 2011 (following the trend of the two previous christmas episodes, which took place on the last day of classes. again, this episode spans multiple days, so december 8th is theoretically the date of the episode's final scene)

5x11 g.i. jeff: november 20th, 2013 (this one is a little rougher. jeff's actual date of birth is a whole other can of worms, but it was originally listed as the same as joel mchale's, which is november 20th. a lot of people accept this as jeff's birthday. although, it is a little hard to justify for me, for one specific reason. if season 5 is supposed to span across an entire school year, and there's only 13 episodes, episode 11 should logically be sometime in the spring, not in november. so, either there is a months-long gap between episode 11 and episodes 12 & 13 (in order to make the finale line up with the end of the school year), or season 5 is only supposed to cover the first semester of the 2013-2014 school year. but, again, that is kind of weird, giving that all the other seasons cover the entire school year. the air date, however, is april 3rd, 2014. so. I could go on and on about theories on backtracking in the writers' room and whatever else, and I will if you want me too, but for now I think I've written enough. believe what you want about this one)

holiday episodes are kind of a whole other issue. you have to take the date of the actual holiday, the air date of the episode, and logically how the celebration would interfere with an actual school day, and try to extrapolate a canonical episode date. (ik I put the season 3 christmas episode in the list above, but I'm more sure about that one than any of the episodes I’m about to list) idk if you even want me to do this, so I’ll try to make it quick.

1x07 introduction to statistics: aired on thursday 10/29/2009, halloween was saturday 10/31/09. ep is centered around an after-school party, so I’d guess it's actually set on friday 10/30/09.

1x16 communication studies: aired on thursday 2/11/2010, valentine's day was sunday 2/14/2010. I’m pretty sure the dance is on a school day, so I’d guess it's actually set on friday 2/12/2010.

2x06 epidemiology: aired on thursday 10/28/2010, halloween was sunday 10/31/2010. I'd guess this dance was on either friday or saturday, although I have no clue which one. so, I'd guess either 10/29/2010 or 10/30/2010.

2x15 early 21st century romanticism: aired on thursday 2/10/2011, valentine's day was monday 2/14/2011. the episode description says it's set actually on valentine's day. I tried looking at liverpool v. man u soccer games, but the only one in the spring of 2011 is on march 6th, which is the opposite of helpful. all I know is it's set on a school day. maybe they actually did have a dance on a monday, or maybe it was the friday before (2/11/2011). who knows.

3x05 horror fiction in seven spooky steps: aired on thursday 10/27/2011, halloween was on monday 10/31/2011. based on vibes alone I think this one is set on a saturday, but idk. so, I’m guessing saturday 10/29/2011.

I'm not going to list the halloween and christmas episodes from season 4, because the season 4 timeline is so irrevocably fucked up. (it's the first time the show was pushed to mid-season, so the air dates don't match up with the canonical ones whatsoever, jeff "graduates a semester early," but they celebrate christmas and go into the spring semester while he's still attending school, etc etc etc). in conclusion, I wouldn't recommend trying to make any sense out of any season 4 canonical dates. whatever.

seasons 5 and 6 don't ever really mention specific dates (as far as I remember), and, like I mentioned earlier, they are half-length seasons, so the air dates don't really match up with the school years anymore, so it's all kind of up in the air. you could potentially try to go in and analyze things further, but I'm not going to do that right now. I could do it in the future if someone really wants me to, or if you guys think it's worth doing? but in this moment I don't think it's worth it. I’ve already written WAY too much to answer a simple question LMAO. anyway.

I do want to reiterate that there Probably aren't specific canonical dates in mind for most of these episodes. but yk. it's fun to speculate I suppose. I hope this was somewhat helpful, and I am once again opening the floor to anyone who has anything I missed 💯💯💯

[huynun]

So since I’m basically rewriting the show, I sort of know in general terms how I would want to lay out the first two seasons and part of the third

Season 1

- setting things up

- very episodic, you can watch most of them out of order (like a lot of shows seem to start)

- Chloe is the stereotypical mean girl

- setting up the friendships between Alya & marinette and adrien & Nino

- also setting up a friendship (and soon one sided crush) between adrien and marinette

- at some point, they have the hotel work study episode (with changes like the akuma won’t be quite the same and Chloe isn’t quite as obvious about giving the bad jobs to the people she doesn’t like) which is the beginning of marinette’s ties with jagged stone

- marinette also becomes class rep despite Chloe’s efforts

- some identity shenanigans but not too many since Lila is on the same school schedule as them

- Lila isn’t really a threat as a civilian but does make some comments and if you look closely, she does benefit a fair amount from the attacks, getting more effective as time passes

- don’t reveal who has the butterfly miraculous until the finale

- speaking of the finale

- adrien fully cuts off his friendship with Chloe after she does something horrible to his friends (after a season of them teaching him that it’s okay to set boundaries etc etc)

- obvs a more intense akuma

- marinette also gets a good win against Chloe when she lashes out about losing her friendship with adrien which does not help Chloe’s mood/vibes

Season 2:

- starts with Lila beginning to make herself a bigger name in the class and start trying to get an in with adrien

- she makes up lies that are somewhat out there but not easily provable

- however, she does say something that tips marinette off that she’s lying but has something to do with being ladybug so she can’t prove it

- Alya hears her say that this girl is lying and listens but doesn’t put much stock into it (like canon but actually hears her out and tries to alleviate some of her concerns even if not necessarily well)

- no one truly turns against marinette but they do brush her concerns off for the most part

- throughout the season, it’s still pretty episodic but things do escalate

- Chloe is still causing problems but fewer and less on purpose, beginning a redemption arc

- Lila makes more subtle digs at marinette and does things to try and isolate her (with varying amounts of success)

- Lila also becomes more blatant and cocky with her use of the butterfly miraculous

- meanwhile, Gabriel and Nathalie have been investigating the use of the miraculi, they can’t just figure it out because there are glamours over them but they can figure out that the butterfly holder is from the school since lila has been getting over confident and cocky about her use of it, thus they can survey the school and catch her

- when they see lila transform, it’s the second to last episode

- ladybug and chat noir have been investigating as best they can too in spite of their many responsibilities

- in the last episode, they figure out lila (not sure how yet) and try to set up a plan to catch her and take the butterfly miraculous

- they end up being just too late, seeing lila upset on the floor and Gabriel transformed into Hawkmoth leaving

Season 3

- starts with stoneheart

- when lila had it, she was bound to the children’s limits and only ever really did akumas with mind control and other things that didn’t result in property damage or real injury

- immediately, Hawkmoth comes in hard with something big that affects the city instead of just a small area

- ladybug only had the lucky charm power and since lila was on limits (and just didn’t know she could) they never had to actually catch the akuma after breaking the object

- though both ladybug and chat noir gain new powers (haven’t yet decided what I want chat’s second power to be) they don’t know how to use them yet (ladybug needs to capture the akuma and use the energy she gets from purifying it along with her own to cast miraculous ladybug) so things go similarly to canon stoneheart

- since it ramped up so suddenly and combined with the failure to get the butterfly from lila before, marinette really feels like she needs to give up, that she can’t do this, and tries (and fails) to give her miraculous to Alya

- an episode or two later, ladybug and chat noir are really struggling to face the butterfly without limits so fu releases the fox and turtle

- even with the help, marinette begins to buckle under the pressure of her responsibilities

That’s all I got for now

[naraven]

Dear @navxry,

Hello, Operator! For your next mission, we have decided to pair you up with the following operator(s):

VIRTUOSA

cw // they/they doctor, yandere, emotional manipulation, stalking, use of Executor's real name.

Virtuosa knew exactly what her role was within this world.

She was a world class soloist. A beloved teacher to her aspiring students. Wanted criminal of the Lateran Notarial Hall.

It's hard not to know, really. Her dear little brother would always be close by to remind her that she could never be the norm of the society she lived in.

It came with the prestige, and the fear. Fede was never really the sensitive type.

So it came to some surprise to see someone who could give less of a shit.

VIrtuosa had never met this operator before aboard Rhodes Island. Curiously, they also happened to be draped in the church's black garbs.

She didn't talk to them during the duration of the mission. Actually, she made it a point to be deployed further away to the Doctor themself.

>What's the matter?

"Oh, nothing. It's just personal preference for now. Do you mind?"

>...Not at all.

And so it was. Operator Virtuosa was vicious on the battlefield: she would leave not a single enemy standing on their feet.

But so did you. Virtuosa was intrigued: it seemed as though you were a rather... laissez-faire, when it came to wielding that unusually large cross. She nearly couldn't believe her eyes when you started... leaning back?

Amazed, Virtuosa had never met someone like you. Immediately after the mission, she started tailing you. Fede would say otherwise and call it for what it is (stalking) but as long as she wasn't harming anyone, he simply kept a close eye on her.

Her shadowing your schedule lead to some discoveries:

1. That you enjoyed the company of one certain Liberi from the Lateran Notarial Hall. She had nearly ruined her parole in Rhodes Island multiple times when she saw that bird always so close to you.

2. That the literature you read was on the rather... darker side. Virtuosa had never before seen such themes and plots before!

and 3. That you were the typical Lateran citizen.

What does that mean? Well, she was captivated by how you were always wiling to listen.

Maybe it came from living in Laterano? But Virtuosa's natural empathetic Sankta mind could deduce that you were easily more Sankta-like than any other she knew.

Soon, she knew that she had to be a part of your life.

It took a while, trying to get to know you.

Not that it was hard, or difficult. You were uncaring of her status as a rather polarizing figure, and for once in her life she wished for someone to be a bit more on guard around her. She would have loved seeing you squirm a little when she introduced herself for the first time...

Your love for tails was another trait she found rather endearing. Of course, her lack of tail was something she mourned at times, but your propensity to chase after operators with any kind of tail was rather amusing.

Ahh, you were simply so... so unlike anything she's seen before! Not only do you tolerate her, you even started trying to fine her yourself! And you would never know, but she saw the plot of the most recent book you picked up and saw how one of the characters was a stalker...

Not that she was stalking you!! She was just trying to get closer to you, of course...

"Virtuosaaa."

"Nameless... Good day."

She giggles as your smaller frame peers up with sleepy eyes. Your raven black feathers ruffled, which she learned was something you did unconsciously as a greeting. It made her so incredibly happy to see how much she got close to you, really!

And today, she's finally going to do what she should have done from the beginning.

"Well, I managed to sneak away from my dear little brother today." Actually, he was called into a mission today, and someone had overlooked the detail of her current status as a criminal. Regardless, she was now free for a couple days at most.

"Oh, hey, you're right. Where is he today, anyways?"

She ignores what you just said, and motions you over to a practice room with her cello.

"I composed a piece with you as my muse. Do you mind if I play it for you?"

"Ah, hey...! I thought I wasn't allowed to listen to your music?"

She tunes her cello more as a preview for what you should expect. Humming, she motions for you to take a seat.

"Relax. It's just one song."

You gulp, and soon enough notes as smooth as butter flow into your ears.

Virtuosa's music is something that you've only heard about in rumors. After being detained, recordings of her performances had been banned for fear of her Arts.

This is a song you've never heard before. It feels really nice, and you feel your mind slipping.

Virtuosa silently cheers in victory as her recital for you slowly goes her way. Ahh, for so long so had wanted to see how you would react to her music! How wonderful it was to see, and she pulls at a specific emotion inside you out and towards her.

Love.

You sigh shakily. When did Virtuosa look so... blurry?

"My dear Nameless, how do you feel?"

You don't think you register anything she's saying at the moment.

"Oh, dear. This worked a bit too well. It seems I underestimated myself, haha."

Virtuosa suddenly leans over, and you barely flinch when her nose almost touches yours. You feel a hand come up to cradle your cheek, and you instinctively lean into it.

"My, my. My little crow, so malleable now... I do adore such pliancy from you now. Words cannot describe how happy I am that you've finally come to realize your true feelings, Navina."

[the-audience]

The Audience's findings #1

Lives are weird aren't they? How every single person has such a unique experience. Every single one! Here's an example of a life, completely different from everyone else's! Like everyone else, this kid is made up of stardust, which is cool but I think we’re going a little bit too far in the past now. Little bit of a fast forward: late 2000's, this kid is born somewhere in the Dutch Province Noord Holland. Born in a hospital, their family consists of their mum, dad and older sister. Their parents are a little on the older side, but the kid doesn’t care cause that means their parents have more life experience, and thus more stories to tell. Who doesn't love listening to stories? Their parents are kind, and caring, and just overall amazing figures to look up to in life. The kid has been raised to be kind and understanding, and patient, they are as much as they can. Always going out of their way to always say "hello", "thank you" and "have good day!!" the employees of the stores, restaurants and other companies they visit. A lot of people don't, the lack of gratitude in the people who don't bothers them deeply.

They want to make clear to employees that they are valued, always! This might be because the kid is a bit of an outsider. in kindergarten, primary and secondary school, they were (and still are) being made to feel like there's something wrong with them. Their classmates exclude them and make fun of the kid (behind their back of course, cause bullies are cowards) and they don’t want anyone else to feel that way. Thats why they always value everyone, try to see the best in everyone and give everyone a chance (even when they really, REALLY shouldn’t).

When they are very little, the kiddo spoke quite late, they barely said any words at all, but when they started to talk it was full sentences, right away (and ho boy with a lotta sass too). The first sentence was "MOMMY, ME WANNA WATCH TV, NOW!". Their mum prioritized doing the laundry over putting on the tv right away, and the little one did NOT like that. But that’s something the kid does more often, not starting something until they fully understand it. Probably the autism. In primary school they were really smart, but had trouble actually performing well in class, especially with maths. They always finished the schoolwork late, if at all. They tried to do it, but it was hard to concentrate. They even had to stay in to finish the work while the rest of the class got recess, that made them kid feel even worse. The first year of high school they also often didn’t finish homework (again they had trouble concentrating) but now they got away with it because of covid. In the summer holiday after the now teenager found out they had autism and ADHD They god medication, and since then they’ve been thriving. Exceptional report cards. Last year they only had eights and nines (outside of PE) on their report cards, in other words, straight A student. They are especially good in and, to their surprise, math. They are always 1 or 2 lessons ahead of the schedule. They are also exceptionally good at English, being allowed to do an accelerated course that allows them to finish English a year earlier then their peers. It probably helps that their parents raised them on English tv since they were a toddler. Not to mention that they have English relatives and that their mom is an English teacher who lived in England for a year.

The kid is also very openly queer. They had the luck of parents telling them since they were like 7 that if they ever found out they weren't straight, they could tell their parents and their parents would accept them. The family was also never an issue since they had a grandma in a sapphic relationship (had because the granny's partner died about a month or so ago) and a cousin a gay relationship so they knew the family would be accepting.

[rosainta]

[Outdated! No longer applicable]

RQDL Announcement + Wednesday Art Dump!

Started December 13th, 2023 at 8:00AM, Home

Finished December 13th, 2023 at 10:45PM, Home

Announcement #1

Hello there, wonderful viewer!

(“Meet the Demoman” Art by me— more on that later!)

Firstly, the bad news.

I’d like to apologize for not posting these past couple of days. I realize that the whole point of these logs is that they are supposed to be daily… hence the name Rosain Quivan’s Daily Logs, LOL, and me breaking that purpose so soon after starting is a bit disappointing.

However, as I was attempting to continue King of Hearts (Part Three) over those two days, I came to realize that, unfortunately, I actually don’t have enough time to write as I initially thought I would. At least, during the weekdays. This is mostly in part due to classes, extracurriculars and just general life stuff, and as much as I want to urge myself to write and just wing the rest, that’s sadly not possible. And I don’t think that the only 3 hours I have free before sleeping is enough time to write anything substantial, much less of good quality that both of us could enjoy.

I’m sorry if you were looking forward to anything recently, like KoH3, only for it not to be there. I know I promised you that it would be the next log, but I believe I may have to push that farther out to this weekend, or worst case scenario next week.

I know it’s probably not such a big deal for you as I’m putting it here, since I am probably just another random TF2 person on the Internet for you (who, mind you, has only really been active for about 4 days), but it means a lot to me.

I made this vow of continuity and quality to both myself (to improve my writing skills and commitment) and you (to give back to the community whose inspiration never ceases to amaze me), and it pains me to know that I have already failed to follow through with it.

However, as much as this sucks, this does not give me the right to sulk over it, because sulking is for MAGGOTS!!! (Just kidding- sulk as much as you want, we still love you!)

Which is why in order to fix this, I propose….

A SOLUTION!!

(Now, the good news!)

(“Meet the Engineer” Also art by me— explanation coming in a bit, just a little more patience!)

Now, what I’m about to propose is a bit complicated, and I’m not entirely sure if this is going to work… but hey, at least it’s only after the 4th log right? Beginnings offer a lot of room for experimentation. And if it doesn’t work out, we’ll fix it when we get there.

So, because of real-life scheduling conflict, the best way for me to balance this out with writing (as well as all the other things I’d like to include here), I have decided to make a schedule for when and what these logs will look like and contain. Most of what will be on it will likely be considerably shorter works in comparison to say, King of Hearts, because of obvious time constraints, but they include a lot of different things to look forward to aside from the same old writing scheme, like say, artwork!

This way, it provides a bit more variety (so you’re not just stuck reading TF2 essays everyday LOL), and also the possibility for you to provide input, ask questions and make requests!

The first goals I had in mind when making these logs was for this to be fun and enjoyable for both of us, as well as sustainable. So, by having this schedule, hopefully that can fulfill both those goals. Now, enough of my babbling; here it is!

RQDL SCHEDULE

Weekdays (Mondays-Thursdays, possibly Fridays)

Posting time: around 10:30PM, Atlantic Time

Monday : short writings (poems, vignettes, opinions, other stuff like that.)

Tuesday : same as Monday

Wednesday : artwork &/ musical composition (such as shown above!)

Thursday : same as Wednesday

(Friday, possibly) : art requests, anything you’d like!!! (Within reason, of course. I have never attempted NSFW, so let’s maybe steer clear of that… for now)

Weekends (possibly Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays)

Posting time: earlier or later than 11:00PM, Atlantic Time

(Friday, possibly): writing requests, anything you’d like!!! (Again, within reason, of course. still steering clear of NSFW for the time being)

Saturday: long projects (multi-part stories, opinion essays, major art or music projects, publishing, etc.)

Sunday: same as Friday / Saturday

So, yeah, that’s the schedule for the logs! I hope you find it has more variety, and I’m really looking forward to being able to follow through with it, especially the requests part because it allows me to be able to interact with you all more and be able to hear your thoughts!

Again, I’d like to stress that the purpose of these logs is for them to be sustainable but most of all enjoyable for the both of us, so please let me know what I can improve over the course of these logs so those purposes can be realized! Your input is as important to me as booze is to Demo’s survival, so feel free to let me know what you’d like to see next.

Anyhow, that’s it for this announcement! I’m sure you’ve had enough of my rambling as much as my fingers are getting tired of typing, so I’ll just end this off with a final Spy art.

Have a great day, pally!

(“Meet the Spy” Art by me!)

(P.S. All of this artwork dates from around January from an old Daily Art challenge I made for myself, so it is quite old, but I thought it might be nice to share them anyway instead of them just sitting in my camera roll for the rest of its lifetime, LOL. I might post the rest tomorrow!)

Credits: Team Fortress 2 by Valve

Image source: Rosain Quivan

Written by Rosain Quivan Cross posted on Amino ( Rosain Quivan )

[consulcato]

I didn't know what to post so I just said to myself: "Why not speak about life in Liceo Classico?" Honestly I know you guys don't care about it but hey I'm going to speak about it because I'm kinda bored so yeah 😎🤟

Let's start with a brief introduction of what is the Liceo Classico.

The Italian “Liceo Classico” is a high school major in humanities: it is possibly the only high school in the world where pupils study both Latin and Ancient Greek and it’s internationally renowned for its advanced curricula in philosophy, literature and history. The literal translation from Italian to English of “Liceo Classico” is “Classical Lyceum” but, as we anticipated above, it’s correctly translated as “humanistic secondary school” or “high school major in humanities”. The “Liceo Classico” is the oldest and most prestigious secondary school in Italy and, before 2012, was actually divided in two segments: the first two years – called "Ginnasio" or “Gymnasium” – trained the students for the second part – the real “Liceo” – which lasts three years. Now, the first two years are called "biennio" (transl. two-year period) and the last three "triennio" (transl. three-year period). Besides that, it was considered so prestigious that, up to 1969, you could not attend an Italian university of any kind if you hadn’t obtained a “Liceo Classico” diploma.

This is our week hours. The translation is:

Monday:

8.15-9.15= Italian

9.15-10.15= Science

10.25-11.15= English

11.15-12.15= Maths

12.15-13.15= Religion

Tuesday:

8.15-9.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

9.15-10.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

10.25-11.15= English

11.15-12.15= Italian

12.15-13.15= Geography and history

Wednesday:

8.15-9.15= P.E

9.15-10.15= P.E.

10.25-11.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

11.15-12.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

12.15-13.15= / (we leave school earlier)

Thursday:

8.15-9.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

9.15-10.15= English

10.25-11.15= Geography and history

11.15-12.15= Maths

12.15-13.15= /

Friday:

8.15-9.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

9.15-10.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

10.25-11.15= Geography and history

11.15-12.15= Maths

12.15-13.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

Saturday:

8.15-9.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

9.15-10.15= Science

10.25-11.15= Italian

11.15-12.15= Italian

12.15-13.15= /

Our school schedule is not messed up at all, actually. This is really good, considering many things. Of course, we have homework everyday and this week, for example, we had a test every day and the next days we'll have tests so yes, this is normal here. Oh, plus, not only tests, but also oral exams where our geography and history professor gives us 110 pages for the next day at 11.27 p.m. Oh, and she's a real bastard, like, she calls 8 people to her desks, does 2 questions each (things that she didn't say in class/things that aren't in the book), she continues to interrogate even when the bell of the end of the lesson rings and she gave all the people in my class a 3 (We have a 1-10 grading system, and below 6 it's a red grade, an insufficient). Like, for tomorrow, I have 130 pages plus the greek oral exam! Oh, also, today our latin-greek prof (don't get me wrong, we love her) entered our class and said "put your desks apart 😃😃" That means, there was a surprise test. Of greek. And god I went to school with 37.4 degrees of temperature (basically a fever) and pfft my mind was not working so yes 😭

These stuff that you see up here are our daily homeworks...of greek. Because yes, we have latin too for the same day!

These are the homework I had to do for today.

Ahem, so, after you cried and asked yourself why the fuck did you go to this school, you watch the clock and see it's 1 am and you think you can finally sleep, but you remember that the professor said some homework in class and she didn't put it on electronic register. With the will to live below zero, you take the enormous dictionaries.

The last step is believing that God actually exists, since you finished at 4 am and you have 2 hours to rest before waking up earlier (6 am) than the other days since you didn't understand half of the stuff that your prof will interrogate you on.

[moongurl95]

Chapter 5.5 – Crossed Wands: Round 1

“So how many are there?”

Beatrice looked up from reading Lachlan the Lanky's page just in time to see something briefly glint beyond the walled map she and Sebastian just passed before she answered the boy's question, “Oh— I think maybe... around at least a hundred?” She answered most casually, still planning when to study her Field Guide more, and maybe enhance her Revelio casting abilities if objects other than Field Pages were starting to shimmer before her—

“A hundred???” How does Weasley even expect you to find all that within the school year??” Sebastian sputtered.

“I'd imagine most of them are here in Hogwarts, I did say it's already quite an adventure to be here.” She just had to think of it as a big game wherein she had to “collect” stuff along the way, the Floo Flames were coming along easily enough, and she was pleased to have activated yet another one in her map as they entered the Clock Tower.

“And so here we are, I'll introduce you to Lucan Brattleby and see if he's got any rounds open. We'll find out if your performance today was sheer luck— or actual skill.” Sebastian grinned at her as they approached a younger Gryffindor student.

“Well, if it isn't the undefeatable school champion, Sebastian Sallow!” The boy greeted enthusiastically upon seeing the Slytherin.

Sebastian met the boy's enthusiasm as they shook hands in greeting, laughing heartily, “Surprised you haven't heard the rumors yet Lucan, I’ve been usurped, embarrassingly so…” He made a show to wipe away crocodile tears.

“Can't really expect me to believe that unless—” Lucan stopped in his sentence as he just took notice of the girl beside Sebastian.

Beatrice only observed in amusement as Lucan leaned in towards the older boy as he whispered, though she couldn’t help but hear it either way, “Is that her? From the rumors?? The new fifth-year???”

Chuckling as he leaned away from Lucan, Sebastian nodded in her direction as he replied, “The very one. Fresh from her first day at Professor Hecat’s class, if you get what I mean…?” He and Lucan shared a look with the younger initially staring owlishly before the realization of what Sebastian said seemed to have sunk in, “Oh! Then if Sebastian vouches for you, that's all I need to know.”

The boy now looked at her and introduced himself, “I'm Lucan and I coordinate duels here for Crossed Wands, which is our duelling club of sorts. It's usually by invitation only, so you must have really impressed Sebastian.”

“Hello Lucan, I'm Beatrice and while I'm flattered to hear that, Sebastian's not a bad duellist either.” She glanced at said boy only to see him smiling comfortably back at her with his arms crossed.

“I'd imagine it's quite something to see the two of you duel.” Young Lucan had an almost knowing grin as he glanced between the two fifth-years.

“How does Crossed Wands work, exactly?” Beatrice asked, curious if the secret club was had anything like the Quidditch seasons she'd read.

“The official tournament of champions will start next month, it's our way of determining the school's greatest duellists, the winner is even awarded a prize to liven things up. In the meantime, I'm still getting our members' time schedules, so for the next two weeks we'll have daily Initiate rounds for the newbies at certain times.” Lucan paused enough to point out the schedule he momentarily hang by the gate, “Though now that you've showed up, I can match you with the other duellists here, if you're interested?”

“Of course. Duelling's an entertaining pastime.” Beatrice perked up at the mention of a prize, briefly remembering what Andrew had whispered to her back in class... “Congrats in earning your first lot of pocket money, it'll definitely help with future trips to Hogsmeade.” And if the glint she saw earlier was anything to go by, then Beatrice didn't have to feel burdened by Professor Fig covering for her personal expenses.

“I agree.” Lucan’s reply almost made Beatrice think he had read her mind, her focus was now on him as the boy continued, “Besides, in Crossed Wands you can duel with a partner if you like.  Your first time I'll pair you with Sebastian. Next time, you'll need to bring a partner along or duel alone. So care to step into the ring?”

She and Sebastian shared a look, smiling back at the younger boy with a nod, “Get us in the ring.”

“Spectacular. Let the fireworks begin!”

They were soon paired off against a younger Gryffindor, Lawrence Davies, and a Housemate of hers named Astoria Crickett-- who Beatrice was sure she'd heard the name being mentioned before— “We'll make you regret signing up.” At the other Ravenclaw's scathing words, Beatrice now had an epiphany as to why Astoria did not seem to be the type to want Everett in her Quidditch team. She did sound intimidating...

“Mind if I let you handle this for a bit?” Sebastian broke through her thoughts as he held up his wand with a smirk.

“And be able to practice my actual skill in duelling? Why not?” She gave him a smile of her own, palming the handle of her wand, it definitely weighed lighter than a sword which made the past spells she'd cast under Professor Fig's tutelage easier to project, no matter how complicated her mentor said it initially would. But ever since she'd “activated” that glow from the Portkey's container, there was this steady built of power she was suddenly feeling inside herself, something she needed to cast out through duelling lest she feel like she might implode, but her second-hand wand was only now starting to feel like a cork—

“Glacius!”

Beatrice managed to pull up a Protego despite her shock at being casted a spell she had yet to use for herself, she casted Stupefy back in retaliation, enough to give her a split-second to note that both her opponents were susceptible to any control spell based on the yellowish glow from their shield charms.

“Levioso!”

“Confringo!”

Beatrice looked back in surprise at Sebastian's obvious damage spell that followed the one she'd just casted, to which the boy only shrugged in turn before his eyes widened as he pointed his wand at her, “Accio!”

Oomph! Beatrice felt Sebastian's one arm wrap around her protectively just as the flames from an Incendio nearly blasted her way. Maybe she'd bitten off more than she could chew, she only had two spells bouncing in her arsenal right now and none of them even included these nasty fire starters, for Godsake!

“Eyes on the prize, luv.” He whispered in her ear before he pulled back to give her a smug look, though this just made her smile sweetly in return, quite pleased with something she'd learned from him just now, “Guess you were right about Accio being used on humans.” She patted him on the chest as she quickly went to finish the round with a new strategy in mind, unbeknowst to her that she had left the poor boy with a slowly reddening face, which was definitely not the after-effects from the Confringo he'd just casted.

A combination of Levioso, Basic Cast and Accio later, Beatrice was more than pleased to hear of their victory, “Nice work! Sebastian wasn't wrong about you.” Lucan had said after the match ended. Speaking of, Sebastian had grown suddenly silent...

“There's strong competition ahead, but keep this up and you could be the next school champion.” 

“Brilliant. Count me in on next month's tournament.” She was definitely curious of that prize.

“I shall, it takes time to organise these duels, so do come check with me tomorrow round the same time. I may have something lined up for you. Again, congratulations on your first Crossed Wands victory. Well-fought. Hope to see you back here again.”

It was when Lucan walked away to speak to the other club members that were there that Beatrice spotted Sebastian who had Davies in a headlock, “Just wait till I've grown a bit— then we'll see how well you do.” The younger student grunted almost petulantly.

“Oh yeah? Make sure I haven't grown white hairs then lest they put you in Azkaban for picking on the old!” Sebastian retorted back playfully as he head-knuckled the boy.

Beatrice smiled at the easy camaraderie Sebastian seemed to have among their schoolmates, she felt ashamed that maybe she had easily jumped to conclusions when she'd closed her mind off to the Sorting Hat and remained adamant with her House of choice, partly due to a sense of prejudice. Though Beatrice still wondered about the advise she received regarding Sebastian's friend, Ominis Gaunt, it's as if there's an insinuation that she'll get herself in trouble if she was to befriend even half of the Slytherin pair...

“I feel sorry for your next opponent.”

“Astoria! I don't think we've properly met, I've only heard from Everett about you in passing.” Beatrice offered a hand in greeting to the girl who suddenly spoke beside her.

“Tell that oversized runt there's no chance he'll be making the team as long as he hasn't been cleared by Kogawa, and that's even if Black brings back Quidditch next year!” Astoria huffed, though she met Beatrice's outstretched hand with a firm grip of her own, narrowing her eyes with a sly smile, “And you're Beatrice I've heard, despite being the new fifth-year, you seem to be making friends with a troublesome lot.” Astoria then nodded towards Sebastian's direction.

“I think I can get away with a little trouble here and there, thanks.” Beatrice furrowed her brows, loosening her hold on Astoria's hand but the other girl held on for just a bit longer, “Don't let the young Gaunt hear about it then.” She had said with a taunting smile, before letting go of Beatrice then walking away.

“Well, I’ve places to be. See yah around fledgling~”

Now that would be the third time she was warned of Ominis Gaunt. Truly there must be a charm in threes... and speaking of places to be— Beatrice gasped.

next chapter ⤜⤏

[xwinchesterxlovex]

Exhale

September 24th 2001

Sam lights his last cigarette. It’s his first day of college. He can’t believe he’s even here.

He is supposed to meet up with some buddies from freshman orientation outside the chem lab. Class starts at 8:00 AM and it’s already 7:54 AM. They might be no-shows. He takes a long drag.

Sam doesn’t honestly know how people in college are supposed to behave. Unless you count the times Dean forced him to watch Animal House. If you’re going based on that, you ALWAYS skip an 8 AM, especially if it’s a Monday.

Not Sam, though. He has goals. He isn’t here on daddy’s money (laughable to even think about). He is going to quit smoking, try to make some friends, and become a lawyer. Sam is done hunting for good. He wants to make something of himself. He just wishes it didn’t mean Dean wasn’t in his life anymore.

God. He can’t even think about it. Sam knows that if he dwells, he’ll end up dropping out. All the pain of leaving, for nothing.

He lets the smoke billow from his mouth, then wipes a hand down his face, hard. Checks his watch again, 7:58 AM. He stamps out the rest of his cigarette and heads in.

-

Sam leaves his first class and pulls out his map of campus and his schedule. Next he's got freshman speech. That is definitely going to be hard. It isn't that Sam can't write a good speech. He definitely can. But, standing up there in front of everyone? His hands are sweating just thinking about it.

He rubs the back of his neck. Then he chews his nails. Cracks every knuckle. He lets out a frustrated sigh.

He pulls out his 'last' pack and lights up.

-

The next morning rolls around and Sam has the worst migraine of his existence. That includes the time Dean knocked him out cold sparring, only to later be thrown against the Impala by a ghoul. It doesn’t help that his roommate snores like an old man.

Sam had managed to cut back his smoking by half on the first day. He only had ten. Today he’ll aim for five.

He checks his schedule, then his watch. He was heading to grab some lunch at the dining hall, but he only has 18 minutes until calculus. His stomach growls.

Okay, having six won’t end the world. Sam grabs out a smoke and lights up as he walks. It’s a beautiful day, same as yesterday. It’s still weird to Sam that the only “weather” here is the occasional sprinkle. He stops outside the math building to finish his cigarette, when he notices someone is staring at him.

He ignores it. Sam isn’t a hunter anymore, there’s no reason this person could possibly be a threat. It does make him a little uncomfortable though, and his cigarette is only half gone.

The guy looks preppy. Polo shirt, khakis, the whole nine. Sam notes to himself to never, under any circumstances, dress like that guy. He might not be a hunter anymore, but no need to stray THAT far from what he knows.

Mr. Preppy saunters up to Sam as though he isn’t dressed like a little kid going to Sunday school. How cute, Sam thinks, this guy thinks he’s tough shit. Sam is ready to take this guy if he has to, but he would rather not get arrested on his second day.

“Hey man, can I get a smoke?”

“Uh, sure,” Sam hadn’t been expecting that. He pulls out his pack of Marlboros and hands one over to Mr. Preppy. He pulls out the zippo he stole from Dean and lights it.

“Thanks. I’m Brady. You?” Sam supposes he couldn’t have called him Mr. Preppy to his face, so Brady works.

“Sam. I’m Sam,” He says it around his cigarette and reaches out to shake Brady’s hand. “So, uh, are you in Calc 1 with Professor Touriev?”

“Sure am. I gotta be honest with you, Sam. Most kids who go here don’t smoke out in public. Bad for their image. They’d rather do lines at parties and stick their powdered noses up at a good cigarette,” Brady takes a long drag and closes his eyes like it’s the best thing he’s ever had.

“I’m actually trying to quit,” Sam ignores the comments about lines and powder. He doesn’t need to get mixed up in that right now. He has enough going against him.

“Oh, sure. Me too. You should try American Spirits. They’re healthier,” Sam figures he’ll have to look into that later. Maybe those could help him quit.

“We should probably head in. I think class is gonna start soon.”

They put out their cigarettes and head in, chatting about starting school and their home lives. Sam lies.

-

December 31st 2001

They’re in Brady’s dorm room getting ready and pregaming to go out when she knocks on the door. Brady lets her in and looks at Sam with a twinkle in his eye. Sam wonders what he’s up to.

“Sam, this is Jess. Jess, this is Sam. I just know we are going to be the bestest of friends,” Brady says with a big fat smile. It always amazes Sam just how outgoing Brady can be. The shots of tequila they've been taking probably don’t hurt either.

He supposes it’s a good thing since Brady is his only friend so far, but Sam really isn’t up for it. It’s bad enough that he and Brady are going out tonight.

Sam quietly gets up and offers Jess his hand, “It’s really nice to meet you Jess,” Sam hopes his smile reaches his eyes.

“You too, Sam,” Jess replies with a shy smile. Sam’s heart gives a heavy thud. Her eyes are as green as grass. It’s hard to tell around the smell of Axe body spray, but Sam smells cinnamon and whiskey on her.

Brady cuts in, clearly oblivious to the moment they’re having, “We got tequila and beer if you want something to drink.”

“No, I’m okay. I had a few shots of Fireball before I came. I’m ready to go when you guys are,” Sam is happy to hear that his senses are still sharp as ever. But, the color of Jess’s eyes and the smell of cheap whiskey make his heart hurt.

“Yeah, let’s get going. I gotta have a smoke,” Sam claims, breaking away from the group to go outside.

“Kinda seems like you took care of that already,” Jess says before he gets to the door. She must mean the weed. That was mostly Brady, Sam only had one hit.

Before Sam can respond, Brady does, “Nah, Sammy here is our resident fag enjoyer.”

Brady can be such a prick sometimes. Sam just rolls his eyes at Brady and holds up his pack of American Spirits towards Jess. He walks out without waiting.

He lights his cigarette and walks down the hall, ignoring looks from people as he passes by. Smoking inside is definitely frowned upon.

Sam chain smokes the entire way to the party.

-

11:43 PM

Sam has been sitting on the sofa, watching the people around him engage in things he only ever saw in movies, until he came to Stanford. He watches someone do an actual keg stand. Shortly thereafter, he watches a couple of blonde girls do lines of coke on the crappy coffee table.

Brady stumbles down the stairs and flops onto the couch next to him. Or rather, on half of Sam’s body.

“Dude. I’m totally gonna fuck Jess.”

“That’s nice, Brady,” Sam really isn’t in the mood to hear about his friend’s conquests. Especially not if the girl in question is Jess. Those eyes.

“Aw come on Sam, be happy for me!” Brady kisses Sam’s cheek and unsteadily stands to go back upstairs. Sam is coming to realize that he is not nearly drunk enough.

Sam gets up to get another beer and checks his watch, 11:51 PM. He hurries to the kitchen, grabs a beer from the cooler and chugs it in one go. Downs a second. Sam picks up one more, but this time, he sips it on his way out of the kitchen. His stomach feels like he’s about eight months pregnant, but he’s had worse.

He heads out to the front porch where everyone is smoking. Sam lights his 18th cigarette that day. So much for quitting.

With a beer in his hand and a cigarette between his lips, he’s transported right back to growing up with his brother, and well. John. Sam moved away from them. Yet, here he is. Same damn bad habits as his family.

As if to put the perfect bow on such a depressing line of thought, his phone starts to ring.

Sam pulls out the Nokia he bought off Brady and looks at the screen. He doesn’t have many contacts yet, so it just shows a number without a name. Sam isn’t sure if he should answer. The little screen says it’s 11:58 PM.

He clicks the answer button and puts it up to his ear.

“Hello?”

“Sammy?” Sam’s grip on his beer falters and it splatters all over his shoes.

“Dean?” He wheezes out.

“I just, uh, wanted to tell you, that I, uh… Happy New Year's, Sammy,” Dean stumbles over his words a little. He sounds miserable. Dean should never sound that way. What’s worse is that Sam knows he’s the reason.

The people around him start chanting, “Ten, nine…”

Sam is feeling the alcohol now. He needs Dean to know how much he misses him, “Dean, I’m so so sor-”

“Sam!” Jess bursts through the door behind Sam.

“Five, four…” people are still chanting as Jess grabs his face.

“Sam? I’m sorry too, okay. I miss y-” Sam thinks he hears Dean say on the phone. He can’t really hear over the fireworks now shooting overhead.

“Two, one! Happy New Year!” People all around them are yelling. Jess kisses him hard right on the lips.

Sam pulls back after a second or two, “Happy New Year’s, Jess. Please, I just need a minute.” She looks a little confused as he turns away from her.

He puts the phone back up to his ear to see if Dean is still there.

Nothing.

[lonesome-witching]

How long does it take you to write, usually?

This is a very broad question so you'll be getting a lot of answers.

A typical prompt takes me about two to three hours of actual writing but I don't often have two to three consecutive hours to write so it'll usually take anywhere from two to 14 days. I also only post 1 work per day so if by some miracle I have like 4 hours to write I might finish two prompts but only one will be posted. Currently is a very busy period with both school (my thesis, classes and some minor papers) and the fact I started a new job so it might take long for me to write a prompt.

Now you didn't specifically ask how long it takes me to write a prompt. So, for a typical one shot that I came up with myself it'll take about 4 hours for me to finish. Again I don't always have 4 hours to write so often it'll take 2 days. If it's not finished in 2 days which often happens I'll just abandon it and never finish it.

Occasionally I write a very long one shot, like Revived, that typically takes about 7 days to finish. Probably about 14 to 17 hours of writing work spread over a week.

And multi chapter stories, like Miscommunications, take about 5 hours per chapter, usually spread over 3 to 4 days. So for Miscommunications that took me about 50 hours, it ended up being spread over 4 months, this was also due to me starting an internship and having a massive task during this period.

Now I will say I'm kind of assuming you meant prompts and I'm kind of assuming you mean when a prompt you've requested will be posted and with my currents schedule I'll say it's probably gonna be about a 10 day wait. With the prompts I already have waiting for me and school and work and I have to attend a film festival and an event. It's gonna be a little while.

[weltonreject]

what does being an English major entail? I’m trying to be one but I have no idea what the work or anything is going to look like/be like. I don’t know any English majors irl but I thought of you ? If this isn’t too weird. You don’t have to answer this if it’s weird to ask idk if it is. Have a good day bye

hi anon! This isn't a weird question-- I was just trying to figure out how to give a helpful response without rambling. Sorry for the delay!

So my English BA was in sort of in "general" English, meaning that I could take literature, creative writing, and theory classes that all fulfilled the major. My college offered a creative writing minor, but I couldn't use any writing classes toward both my major and my minor, so I minored in something else and just "made" my English degree more writing-focused. Definitely check what any prospective college offers in terms of class requirements or minors to see how you can maybe tailor a "general" English degree to your interests and strengths!

As for the workload, it depended on what type of class! I'm sure there are variations but the overall two types of classes I had were literature/theory and writing:

Literature/theory classes were really reading and discussion based. The syllabus would breakout all the readings-- articles, sections of books, whole plays, essays, chapters of an epic, etc-- and it was up to us (the class) to do create our own reading schedule (personal use, not like, as an assignment or anything) in order to have X read by a certain class with ideas ready to discuss or ask questions! Sometimes professors would ask you bring in discussion questions (which sometimes was annoying because you don't know what someone else is going to ask and sometimes that's when you really start to Get Into a text... but whatever. personal gripe lol). But other than that, there weren't really "assignments" day to day. In terms of exams, they were mostly essays-- my department didn't do blue book essays for english classes (timed essays in person) and did only "submit a 10-page paper on X by DATE" type of things, which meant I had time to massage my schedule as I needed come finals week.

[Side Note: Since most exams are essay based, and you are usually so fried by the end of term (and also writing about three other essays for other classes) I'd always mark page numbers whenever I took notes so I could find my "evidence" for essays a lot easier. I actually still mark page numbers/quotes now when I read recreationally! It's just a nice practice and a way to never lose something I thought was interesting! Just something fun I thought I'd share-- studying practices sometimes carry over to post-grad!]

(Creative) Writing classes are just as you'd imagine! The class would be put on a schedule and 3-4 people would have workshop during class. The other students would submit their 15-20 pages of new work two days before class and we'd all read and take notes (in-line edits but also a one-page summary of feedback) and come to class read to workshop/discuss the piece! Really the only thing that was ever annoying or bothersome about these writing classes was 1. making sure I had an original idea "in time" for my scheduled submission date and/or 2. how workshop was run; sometimes professors run them in a way that is boring/unhelpful/very cookie-cutter and not dependent on the writer or their work or what they hope to get out of it. Although, I say that now as someone who is a WAY different writer than I was as a freshman so. Perhaps 19 year-old me very much deserved the cookie-cutter process... Overall, still sort of a "reading schedule" class, but with less ability to read ahead, and working a different part of your "analysis" brain than reading finished, published works!

Being an English major was a lot of the same type of work in mass quantities-- which sometimes was great and other times made my brain Mush. I also had a very reading-focused minor so that's on me too... But, overall, no matter what class combination, there was always a rhythm I could find with all the different readings and writings and essays.

Being an English major was one of the best things I did at school, to be quite honest. I know that sounds a bit... canned, maybe? But I'm being very genuine. I can't imagine having studying anything else. There are so many different avenues and focuses and minors to drill down into, I never felt like I was bored in any class.

ALSO English departments are filled with so many different types of "English Majors!" The writers, the readers, the essayists, the analytic researcher-- you don't have to be all Dark Academia or Super Creative Poet to study English! As long as you bring sincerity and enthusiasm, you'll find great professors and mentors that can further expand what you can "do" with(in) an English degree!!

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask!! I know I'm not the End All Be All on what it means to study English, but if there's anything I can tell you to give you a Boots On The Ground idea of the day-to-day, I would be more than happy to!

Have a great day! xo