#there is something about this arc in this fic where i keep thinking i'll never have enough words

[sabraeal]

Sic Semper Monstrum, Chapter 9

[Read on AO3]

Written for @sepalina's birthday, who deliberated for two days only to suddenly remember, oh yes right she has a favorite fic 🤣

That Seiran chick might have a princess’s pedigree around here, but there’s nothing dainty about the way she grips the metal bar at the end of each of their cots, twisting her wrists like she’s picturing flesh and bone rather than steel.

“You two have to be the biggest boneheads I have ever seen stuffed into a drive suit.” Her fingers clench, and Obi could swear the mental dints. “A bare knuckle brawl in the dome? At a time like this? Are you two insane?”

“Ah, well…” The Big Guy may have looked tough when Obi took him to the mats, a more solid anti-kaiju wall than anything the PDPC could toss into the Pacific, but he cringes just like any other mortal would when Kiki Seiran looms over him, all her disappointment honed to a point. “It wasn’t really a brawl. Just a…regulated spar, like usual—“

“Usual?” Her arms fold the way steel does into rebar, and oh, the princess is not amused. “Obi’s more bruise than bone.”

“Aw, Princess,” he croons, trying not to wince from the effort. “If you think this is bad, you should see the other guy.”

Her spine straightens, giving her all the extra inches she needs to give that glare of hers momentum, hitting him like a body off the Golden Gate hits the bay. “I can see the other guy. You’re both in the same infirmary, because you’re the same amount of stupid.”

“Actually, I’ve been wondering about the logic on that one.” He tilts his head, trying to go for that doleful dog stare that does wonders on sweet little nurses with hearts of gold. Too bad he’s got Yuzuri, who only wrenches his head back to the side, holding him still enough to swab when the skin’s split over his cheekbone. “Is this our— yikes, careful there, Florence— get along shirt or something? Two guys take some swings and you hope sticking us in a bottle sorts it out?”

“No,” she deadpans, taking a pen light out from the pocket of her scrubs. “I’m trying to quarantine the idiocy. You better be careful, Major” —she casts a long glance princess-side— “it might be catching.”

That regal mouth twitches, somewhere in the realm of amused. “Too late for me. No one ends up in a drive suit unless they’re born with it.”

“Ha, that’s for sure.” A light sears across his line of sight, leaving constellations in its wake. “As for you two, I didn’t see the point in sending you to your corners when you’re so friendly. Saves me space, and you can treat tonight like a sleepover. Braid each other’s hair and talk about cute boys.”

“Er…” How a big man like that can go through basic and still blush as easy as a school girl, Obi will never know, but it’s funny as hell. “I don’t really have opinions on cute boys…”

“Don’t worry, Big Guy,” he grunts, snuggling his shoulders into the pillows at his back. “I’ve got enough for both of us.”

That gets him a real side-eye from GI Joe, one that only ends when he swings those golden retriever eyes onto the real authority in this room. “Is there any way I get to go back to my bunk tonight?”

“Sorry, Major.” No matter what she says, Yuzuri’s shrug doesn’t give a single hint of regret. “Gotta keep you both on observation. SOP for rangers with head injuries. Last thing we need is for you guys to hare off and play hero just because you heard the dinner bell.”

He grimaces, all perfect teeth in a perfect face. Pity this guy fell into the military before someone could get him a magazine cover. Obi would have loved to hang that pin-up over his bunk. “Ah, right. That…makes sense.”

Of course it did. They might all be kaiju-fodder in the end, but they were the expensive, top shelf shit. The kind the PDPC wanted to stretch out as long as possible, not waste on some idiot who went into the drift concussed and had his brain melt right out his ears for the effort. Obi half surprised they haven’t been shoved into an MRI just to make sure.

“Aww, but you don’t really want to leave, do you, bestie? Not when we’re gonna have so much fun.” The target of his grin shifts from bed to bedside. “What do you think, Yuzuri? Think we could borrow some ManGo For It or Red Hot Rio?”

“I dunno,” she deadpans, not even looking up from her notes. “I think he’s more of Rosy Future guy.”

“Really? Still running your mouth?” Her Highness tosses her head, more pony than princess. “Did you not get beat bad enough?”

“What, this little mosquito bite?” Obi gives his jaw a good clench and turn, displaying his medal of honor at its best angle. Hurts like a bitch, but it’s worth it to see even Princess get squeamish. “Lucky shot. I got three hits for his one.”

Her mouth does that thing it does, that twitch, the one he’s starting to figure out is a laugh. “Yeah, and that’s all he needed to make you crumple like a tin can.”

“I already said I felt bad about that,” Big Guy grumbles, all folded in on himself like a teddy bear longing for a good squeeze. “I wasn’t trying to…well…”

“It’s okay, Superman, we all know you’re living in a world of cardboard.” Obi leans over, giving one of those meaty shoulders a good pat. Probably feels like a whisper to a man that stacked. “How can I blame you, when you were only defending milady’s honor—?”

Her weight shifts, no longer balanced parade-style between their cots, but sitting back in her hips, displeasure heavily implied. That man-sized mountain straightens so much it Obi can practically feel the plate tectonics beneath his palm.

“I was not!” Big puppy eyes swing right around to the ticking time bomb at the end of their beds. “I would never do that!”

One elegant eyebrow arches, and ah, now he can see why half the PDPC pisses itself when she punches the bag right off its chain. Most of the rangers the Academy rolls out are brawlers, the kind of guys that get in between a kaiju’s punch and the Pacific coastline, but this girl— her power’s in the application of force, the art of finessing a blow to where the bones can’t bear it. Can’t get into a brawl with a fighter like that and expect an old fashioned beatdown, oh no— when princess steps on the mats, she doesn’t fight, she dismantles.

Ha, and by the way she chucks her chin, all challenge, she knows it.

Now how about that. It’s a whisper in his ear, a hum across the million and one electric impulses in his brain, dangerous and fond. Remind you of anyone you know?

Knew, maybe. Bright blue smears over stark white when he closes his eyes; suits that stood out, even among halls that housed living legends. Eye-catching, the higher ups had called it, but it caught all the wrong eyes when it came to Sonisay. They all learned, of course; even now he hears the sickening crack of bone, sees the sweep of dark hair as she steps out of her spin—

Not just that. That laugh jangles his nerves, too close to his own and yet infinitely different, inimitable. Not just her.

There’s a boy too, too small, too skinny, too…not enough. Might as well be a shadow for how closely he clings to that same dance, to those same stances. Might as well be a monster for how easily the bones crack under his heels too, no remorse, no regrets—

A boy that shouldn’t exist. A boy that no longer does. Obi closes his eyes.

You can’t look away forever. Too many voices to count on that one. Watch me, only his reply.

“Let me make something clear.” Big Guy’s grunt grounds him, dragging him right back down to his bed, to the finger waggling at him. “Kiki doesn’t need me to fight her fights for her. If she wants to kick someone’s ass, she can make her own bodies.”

Ah, great. Got back just in time to witnessing Bloodbath Barbie over there desire Big Guy carnally. Not that he notices; oh no, the Jolly Marine Giant only has eyes for him, serious as a heart attack. Makes him want to mention that these rickety little med cots can’t handle two ranger pilots going at it, let alone three, but of course Yuzuri’s gotta make it a rain out.

“All right, all right, visiting hours are over,” she sighs, and oh, by Princess’s look, this is the first time someone’s tried to shoo Kiki Seiran out of anywhere. “These boys need some rest, not an audience. Just gonna rile ‘em up.”

This guy benches almost twice Obi’s weight, a monster of a man, but the second Yuzuri aims that scold his way, he’s all puppy. “But I wouldn’t—”

“You might behave, but he won’t.” She jerks a thumb back where Obi lounges, pointed. “And if he doesn’t want to play nice, he’ll find some way to drag you along with him.”

Sounds about right, hums a nuisance that has no right to throw stones. Not at this particular glass house, at least.

“Me?” Obi a presses a hand to his chest; harder to see it tremble that way. “Why, I was only going to take a small snooze. A cat nap, really. How could I—?”

“No sleeping!” Yuzuri glares at him, incredulous. “Didn’t I just say you could have a concussion?”

“Aww, come on,” he sighs, hooking his hands behind his head. “First no fighting, now no napping? What else are we supposed to get up to in here?”

Princess hangs in the gap of their curtain coverage, and oh, she may not smile, but that’s one masterclass of a grin. “Strenuous activity.”

“Kiki—!”

“None of that either!” With an officious wave of her hands, Yuzuri succeeds in doing what PDPC has failed to do for years: tell Kiki Seiran where to go. “Now, get. These two don’t need a bad influence.”

“Aww, c’mon, Flo! That’s no reason to shoo Princess out,” Obi whines now that his entertainment has sashayed right out of his evening. “I’m an even worse influence, so—”

“You don’t need to tell me,” she sniffs. “Now give it a rest. Or else I’ll call Shirayuki down here, and she can read you the riot act.”

There’s a time he might have laughed. Might even have let one shoulder and a wry eyebrow do the heavy lifting as he said, I’m sure the Good Doctor has better things to do with her time than worry about little old me.

But a week ago he woke up in one of these cots soaked in his own sweat, ears still ringing from a klaxon that never rang. At least, not in this dome, not that day; his stomach churning from the heady brew of trauma and military grade sedatives. He’d turned, half convinced he’d see either six bodies or and empty room, and instead—

It was her. Tiny ponytail and all, clumps of it making a bid for freedom from that poor excuse of an elastic. A borrowed one,  all stretched out from trying to contain the fallout from Yuzuri’s nuclear-level event that she calls her hair, but it’s serviceable. Enough to bridge the gap between now and whenever Doc finally decides whether she’s gonna bite the bullet and grow it out again, or just chop the whole thing off.

That’s not the sort of stuff he knows about people. Not the sort of stuff he ever gets close enough to find out. But she was sitting right there, head tipped off the back of that chair, breath trembling the little flyaways splayed over her lips, and—

“Fine,” he sighs, settling back into his pillows. “I’ll play nice.”

Yuzuri snorts. “I won’t hold my breath.”

*

It’s when Big Guy lumbers out of their cozy little curtained love cave to go take a piss— or a shit; Obi might be nosy, but even he’s got his limits— that Yuzuri swoops back to his bedside, using his vitals as an excuse to say, “What the hell were you thinking anyway?”

None of her business. There’s a gruffness to that, a texture that implying barbed wire fencing with the prickly bits facing inside. Embarrassment, the kind a boy at the cusp of manhood couldn’t bear with any grace. Not that he had done all that well with other emotions either.

Could never bear being anything but the hero. A taunt, a snipe across the mess hall’s tables. Even in his head those two would never get along.

You can just admit it. Sonisay speaks the way silk would sting, if it could, a smooth stab with no mess left behind. A sliver beneath the fingernail, only noticed when it slips deeper. It’s not as if you were thinking of anything sexual.

Sure. There’s no need for the smile-like stretch over his synapses, too smug. But not from lack of trying.

He appreciates the honesty is the best policy shtick, especially from the girl who always spoke out both sides of her mouth as easy a breathing, but Obi settles on a nice neutral, “What?” instead.

Might earn him the sort of look that begs the question of just what is rattling around between his ears, but it’s better than having to explain that when he closes his eyes he sees red. Not spread out across his pillow or tangled in his fingers, but caught up in plain little hairpins, already slipping free.

“Are you kidding me?” Her gaze darts over the the empty bed beside his, pointed. Oh, so that’s what she’s asking about. “Did you somehow miss how big that man is? He could fit two of you between his shoulders!”

“Aww, Flo, he’s harmless.” Pain shoots up his cheek when he tries to grin, settling somewhere near his temple. Damn, that’s gonna put a real crimp in his game. “Big Guy’s a gentle giant.”

She stares at him. “Half your face is a bruise.”

Obi hasn’t had the pleasure of seeing himself in the mirror lately, but by the way one half of his face feels heavy enough to make him lean like a tower in Pisa, he doubts that’s an exaggeration. “He didn’t mean it though.”

“Doesn’t really make a difference to your capillaries whether he meant it or not.” One finger of hers brushes an eyebrow— yowch— and she scowls. “They’re broken all to shit anyway. God, you’re gonna be lucky if that smile of yours isn’t permanently lopsided from this.”

Already was, but she didn’t ask for his medical history. “I’ll be roguish.”

“You’ll be in PT, that’s what you’ll be.” She pulls back with a cluck of her tongue. “Lucky as hell that he didn’t break your orbital. Ugh, or your nose. That would have been a bitch to set. And your cheekbones—”

A cough, timid for how deep it is, rustles outside the curtain. “Sorry,” Big Guy starts, all doleful hound dog eyes as Yuzuri pulls them back. “I didn’t want to, er, eavesdrop, but…”

He’s smarter than to say, but you told us not to leave. Not to someone like Yuzuri, who’s already ruby red from the collar of her scrubs to her headband, ready to crack out of her shell like a crab left too long in the pot.

“You…I…” She slides out right around him, never once turning her back. “G-go. Lay down. Or something! Ugh!”

Big Guy blinks once at her back before swinging those hound eyes back to him. “Is she—?”

“Embarrassed,” he agrees. Yuzuri’s always happy to share her opinions, up until she get caught. “Big time. She’ll recover. But until then it’ll be your fault.”

“Oh…” He winces, though Obi can hardly tell if it’s from the thought of Yuzuri’s ill-wishes, or the kick he landed on his hip, making what should be an easy walk a bit of a hobble. “I am sorry about that, you know.”

That lantern jaw juts itself toward him, or more specifically, the shiner painted up one side. “This old thing? Don’t worry about it. Got worse from a mosquito.”

If Big Guy is impressed with his bravado, he’s got a funny way of showing it, looking all hangdog like that. “I just…I didn’t really mean to…”

Fuck you up is what the big guy can’t bring himself to say. It’s probably rude to tell him, I’ve had worse.

“No hard feelings, Major.” It’s half a laugh, half a groan as he hauls himself up his pillows, every muscle aching. “I did tell you not to go easy on me.”

A grimace is what he gets in reply, and a pained, “Still…”

The you didn’t know what you were getting into hangs in the air, heavy with implication. Like maybe he’s never fought a guy above his weight class. Like he’s never stood in front of a boy a third again his age, watching his knuckles crack beneath the cloth of his binds.

More like he doesn’t know how much he can mean it, a grim mouth huffs humorlessly. He will though. Give him a few months.

“Didn’t really expect you to try to kill me, though.” For a moment, he’s not quite sure who he’s talking to. He rubs at his jaw, pain scintillating beneath his palm, and, haah, yeah, he knows what fist laid a kiss on this cheek alright. “Damn, no wonder kaiju don’t walk away from you.”

“I wasn’t try to…” It’s funny watching a mountain hunch like that, shoulders riding up again his ears making him a whole range instead a single peak. “With someone who moves like you, there’s only two sure ways to win. I went with the one that relied on power. Wasn’t going to land many hits on you but had to make the ones I did count.”

“And then did too good a job.” That’s the thing with having a body that shares more in common with a jaeger’s chassis than human flesh; the fall back option is to just do everything more and harder. Obi had met more than a few men like that in his time, but none of them so friendly. “I gotta admit though, Big Guy, you got me curious. What’s the other way?”

Big lungs heave big sighs, and oh, this one feels like it could take a few trees with it before he settles back against the headboard. “Tire you out. Quick guys typically don’t have a lot of stamina when things drag on, so—”

“All right, all right, don’t let the ladies hear that one.” Or most of the men while he’s at it, even if Obi’s personal tastes tend more toward the techs tending the tin cans than the bodies they throw in them. “Don’t want anyone to get the idea that I can’t keep up off the mat either.”

That won’t be much of a problem. It’s rare to hear advice from that corner of his mind, but Buma’s habit always was to watch first and speak too late. Not with all the training you’ve done outside—

That’s Need To Know only. Obi casts a long glance over where giant feet nearly hang off the mattress. And I don’t think the Major needs to know.

“Anyways,” he huffs, the sort of quiet career boys get when they’re shy. “Sorry.”

“Aw, c’mon, Big Guy. I asked you to bring me a fight and you did! I’m hardly gonna blame you for that.” He turns his head, grinning at him across the poor excuse for a bedside table. “Besides, now I know what it’s like.”

Those puppy eyes blink, too innocent for a guy who could break him in half by breathing. “Hm? Do you mean—?”

His eyebrows lift —well, one of them tries to— enticingly. The wince probably doesn’t do him any favors. “Kissing your girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend.”

Oh, it’s a real treat to see a lantern jaw drop so hard it nearly shatters. Too bad Princess isn’t here to enjoy it. “What?”

“You know…” His fingers weave through some hazy dips and lazy dives. “I can see what was good between you and High Highness, or whatever. The way you’d could compensate for each other in the drift. But you and me” — his hand flicks between them— “we don’t fit.”

“Oh.” It’s a pleasure to watch his mouth wrap around that noise, to see him really wrangle with the meat of what his meaning. “Yeah. I get it. I think.”

“I mean, for one thing,” Obi says, so casual. “We’re both bottoms.”

“Come again?”

“Kidding, kidding.” Kind of, Sonisay hums, and oh, he could swear he feels that forked tongue flickering where she coils in his mind. I doubt he’d complain if that blonde woman took it into her head to—

Hey. Maybe if he had a mirror, he could give himself a warning look, the kind Doc was always giving him right before he took a joke too far. But instead he had to settle for just thinking louder, like trying to shout over a crowded bar. I still gotta talk to this guy with a straight face for the next twenty-four hours.

Sounds like, that too-familiar voice hums, a real personal problem.

It’s too bad Major Do-Right over there can’t hear the speculation of the peanut gallery; then he might no be so quick to let relief bring those shoulders relax, to settle back into those pillows with a sigh that speaks of a light conscience. What did Yuzuri say? If Obi doesn’t want to behave, he’ll drag you down with him…?

Well, he hates to disappoint.

“Or am I?” The cot nearly cracks down the middle from how fast the Big Guy turns on it, sputtering. Obi just tosses him a wink. “Don’t worry, Big Guy. I’m not the kind of girl who likes to kiss and tell.”

*

For all that their lovely nurse devotedly frets over the potential stupors they could slip into with even the slightest bit of shut eye, or sometimes even something like getting up too fast or breathing too easy, she’s sure eager to encourage them to piss all by their lonesomes one she’s sure they can make the walk.

“What, this doesn’t get you going?” Obi asks, peeking around the door. “I hear some people really get into—”

“I hear some people really don’t get jello at dinner,” she replies, shoving him bodily through the crack. “Wanna see if you’re one of them?”

“What if the stream’s too strong and I get vertigo?” He winces, hearing all those words echo in so small a space, but it’s worth it for the noise she makes outside the door. “What if I crack my head on the floor and get a double concussion?”

“Then at least you’ll be quiet.”

There’s a slam— a door. Not this one, the particle board so paper thin Big Guy could probably sneeze it off its hinges; but the heavier infirmary door, one meant to withstand a mortar shell, maybe even nuclear blast— but Obi doesn’t bother to bite back his grin. Maybe if he’s lucky, she’s run into Suzu on the way to the commissary and give him a full run down of all the ways she could make Obi’s death look like an accident. Some real romantic talk to keep a nerd warm at night.

With shake and a wriggle— how Big Guy managed to move around in here when his elbows keep cracking into the tile, Obi’ll never know— he wraps up his business, sauntering straight out onto the infirmary floor. With no kaiju to keep the place hopping, it’s dark, the only light coming from the lamp angled over Yuzuri’s desk, and from behind their ring of curtains. A nice way to find his way back; or at least it would be if he didn’t already count two shadows there: one hitched up on the bed, shoulder big enough to overflow the outline of the pillows, and the other—

The other’s standing, tall enough to make Big Guy seem normal sized, and radiating authority the same way the sirens do danger.

Ah, fuck. It’s the Marshal. Hide, a cacophony of whispers hiss, which— he’d love to, if there was a single goddamn place to do it.

“I take it this isn’t a social call.” Big Guy doesn’t have a deep voice, not the way the circumference of his chest would suggest, but he’s pitched it low now. Still too much to be contained by a curtain, though.

The Marshal cocks his head, wry. “Would you believe me if I said, ‘yes?’”

There’s a hesitation, a huff that might be something like humor. “No.”

“Then let’s not waste time pretending.” It might be a trick of the acoustics in this room, a little reverb on that tinny echo, but Obi could swear His Majesty sounds amused. “I’ve heard you’ve quite the rapport with our new ranger.”

Oh, hell. As if this isn’t the cherry on top of his shit sundae: not only is he stuck, standing right out in the open as the top brass talks Top Secret, he’s the topic they’re having tea over.

“News travels fast.”

“Danger of living in one of these little warrens.” The Marshal shrugs. “Rats like to chatter.”

Air hisses between Big Guy’s teeth, the way it did right before he threw his haymaker. “Not a lot of people eager to be on the wrong side of the mat from him. Not after the way he and Zen went at it the last time.”

“So you…what?” It’s uncanny how even the Marshal can make his voice; no inflection, no judgment, no answers. “Thought you’d help him keep his edge?”

“He asked.” There’s a rustle, a creak, and even though he can’t see it, he knows mountains are moving to make that shrug. “Not like I’ve got much to be afraid of.”

If one half of his face didn’t feel as ginger as the oldest wicker chair on some grandma’s patio, Obi might take some offense to that. That’s what you get for being so scrawny, a gruff voice scrapes over his ear, everyone underestimates you.

That, hums another, too pleased, is kind of the point.

“Good.” There’s something final in the way the Marshal says it, less like an observation, and more like an assessment. A test passed with much anticipated flying colors. “Keep doing that.”

Obi could cut the consternation in this room with a knife. “Excuse me, sir?”

“Was I not clear?” His Majesty’s tone conveys his confidence that he was. Maybe even too much so. “I’d like you to pursue this…relationship with our new colleague. Foster this tentative trust you have managed to build.”

Ha. Obi’s heart stutter hard enough— loud enough— that even the peanut gallery keeps their opinions to themselves. He should have known something like this would happen; sure, all the paperwork calls Hachimaru a failure, one that should have never flopped its way out of dry dock, but to someone like Izana Wisteria, well—

He’s got a reputation for ruthlessness for a reason. Enough of one that it escaped containment, slipping past the PDPC’s iron curtain of silence to spread around the streets of Sitka. Buildin’ a wall to keep the monsters out, one of the wallmen had chuckled over his pint, but no matter how high we do it, that one will still be in here.

Obi might have called that unfair, once. Sure, His Majesty wasn’t exactly a friendly guy, at least not with the rank and file, though there were magazines enough that showed him being chummy with the higher ups, but, well— pedigree might have put him in a pod, but it wouldn’t have pulled him a position so high above it. No, that only went to the corps' top minds, the ones who knew what it took out there to take your lumps and drag your metal coffin home. The ones who understood what they were asking when they dumped two men out into the Pacific and asked them to stop a natural disaster or die trying.

But if that guy is gonna meddle in his business like this, well, maybe once they finish building that wall, they can dump him over it. Lets the monsters sort it out between themselves. Knowing the Marshal, he’d still find a way to come out on—

“No.”

“No?” The way the Marshal wraps his mouth around the word sends shivers up his arms.

“I can’t do that. I mean, I won’t.” Big Guy snorts, like there’s a stench in the air he can’t quite get rid of. “I’d do a lot for you, sir, I would. Take a bullet. Die for the cause. But I’m not going to…to manipulate that man back into a jaeger for you. Not like this.”

A breath catches in Obi’s throat, nearly choking him. Big Guy’s got a heart of gold, but he can’t possibly be stupid enough to— to—

“Well well.” To his utter surprise, the Marshal laughs. “Good thing that’s not what I’m asking.”

Big Guy grunts. “Isn’t it?”

“If you couldn’t manage to convince my brother into the cockpit, I doubt you’ll have much luck with a man you barely know.” For how casually it’s said, there’s a bite to it, each word honed to sting. “I only meant that he’s not responding to the typically recommended course of therapy.”

Right. Because after that one session with Doc post-drift, all his peanut gallery clamoring to have their turn now that cat had clawed its way out of the bag, he hadn’t been able to drag himself back. And with all the dinners and hallway-run ins they’ve had since, Doc didn’t seem eager to sit him back down on her couch any time soon either.

“But he seems responsive to you, Major Lowen.” Or at least responsive to getting his shit kicked in, whatever that said about him. “Rangers are typically taciturn about their issues. I thought this route might be worth encouraging, since he seems amenable. Sometimes it’s easier for military men to discuss their problems with someone who has gone through the same ones. Especially” —Obi doesn’t need to see his smirk to know it’s there— “if they’re with the same person.”

Obi might not have stuck around under his dome once the dust settled, but he knew all about guys like Lowen. The regulation haircut, the closet full of BDUs, the fondness for field rations and boiled chicken— just a thin veneer of muscle and bravado over a reflex to ‘sir, yes, sir’ his way out of any problem more complex than picking which socks to put on in the morning. He might have stuck his neck out for something that twinged the weather vane that was his moral compass, but now that someone with stars and bars has explained to him that black is white, he’ll—

“That all?” Big Guy’s too nice to spit out the “sir?” but that little hitch before it, that small hesitation— well, sky writing would have been more subtle.

“Yes.” There’s no tone to that one either, no flavor. Just the implacable bite of subzero. “Unless, of course, there’s something you’d like to discuss?”

There shouldn’t be, his tone conveys, clear enough it could be heard in the hangar. Obi could swear he hears Big Guy’s teeth grind from here.

There’s a long stretch of silence, the kind that makes his skin itch.

“Just one thing, actually. Sir.” The bed creaks, and his shadow shifts, pulling straight. “Been noticing there’s a lot of hopefuls hanging around the past few months. Thought they might be clearing out now that all this business with Tyrannis is done.”

The Marshal hums, distant. “There’s hardly any rush, Major. A few sets of extra hands is always welcome.”

“Even when they don’t come with their own ride?”

For once, His Majesty hesitates. “Even then.”

“Even” —Big Guy almost savors his next words— “if they’re Hisame Lugis?”

“Dangerous times makes strange bedfellows.” The Marshal laughs, sour. “Especially ones like Hisame Lugis. Now if you don’t mind” — the curtain pulls aside— “I think our friend might like to use his bed. Isn't that right, Major?”

Ha, a voice tingles in his ear, busted.

[the-snail-that-reads]

Please ramble about the Au I’m so curious

Well, since you asked so nicely~

(This isn't proof read. Forgive the incoherence)

I've just been calling this Traveling Companions Au. So basically, Odile meets Siffrin way before the events of the story, not long after the whole Island thing. So, when they're about eleven-ish and she's in her 30s.

And now Odile has this child on her hands who

Can barely communicate. (Going off the assumption that Siffrin was already taught some Vaugardian when he was young since the countries were so close)

Remembers nothing about where their from.

And seemingly just showed up out of the mist.

At this point, Odile has already begun traveling the world. So even if she was in the mood to take a random child in (which, she very much isn't) she isn't in any position to give them a stable home. So, she leaves them at the first orphanage she finds and that's that, isn't it?

Of course not. Because Siffrin just. Keeps. Finding her, having latched onto her like a duckling to the first thing it sees. And eventually she just kind of caves and stops trying to get rid of them. She understands what it's like to feel like you don't belong anywhere, after all.

She's not their mother, never tries to be their mother. She probably just calls them her ward until their old enough to reasonably be called a travel companion. Obviously she cares about him. She just. Never tells him how much she cares about him. In direct words.

And yes, while cute kid Siffrin stuff is all well and good. What I really wanna explore with this AU is how it affects the main story.

Sif grows up with a drier sense of humor. Though puns are still a thing. Odile will never be free from the puns.

Siffrin probably? Learns about her whole Familytale quest, but never pries into the context until the Friendship quests arc.

Self-esteem issues are still a thing, just in a different flavor.

He's definitely a lot more comfortable with making fun of Odile than he is in canon. Though it goes both ways. They've got over a decades worth of dirt on each other.

And if Odile was perceptive before, imagine how much easier to read Siffrin is going to be now? She's known them for like 2/3s of their life she's definitely going to notice somethings going on in most of their loops.

Mirabelle and Isabeau get two party members for the price of one in this AU! And with the way Odile and Siffrin behave around each other they assume they've been traveling together for a while.

One day, Mirabelle actually thinks to ask how long they've known each other. And when Odile casually replies, "oh... fourteen years? Fifteen?" She and Isabeau are baffled because ??? Siffrin's in his mid-20s????

At one point, Mirabelle or Isabeau mentions that Odile must be like a mother to Siffrin, and the absolutely disconcerted look Siffrin gives them in response is enough to make them never bring it up ever again.

So yeahhhhhh those are my rambles. Maybe I'll write a fic about this. Maybe I'll just release this into the wild and let people do what they want with it. Who knows?

[just-some-random-blogger]

HII gorgeous 👋👋 I wanted to say I love your writing and honestly your brilliant mind gracing us with all of your stories 🤩 with that being said my birthday is in a week— eeekk 21 BITCHHH 😛😛😈 and I wanted to request a HOTD cast imagine since I’m pretty sure they’ll start filming soon, so imagine maybe a raging birthday party just before filming or something and it gets crazyyy and wild and wouldn’t it be great to get sloshed with Emma D’Arcy 😃 doing this would be a pretty rocking birthday present soo… not to put pressure… 👀👀🤭

(Also I’m the star points bitch. So keep that in mind hon 🔍🔍 this is your redemption arc)

Sloshed 🥴

HoTD Cast & Reader (there's a paring here somewhere if you quint hard enough)

Summary: To celebrate your birthday, your castmates in HotD throw you a makeshift party with a karaoke machine, a poorly homemade cake, and lots and lots of alcohol.

Word Count: 1k+

Warnings: gender neutral!reader, drinking/drunkenness/everyone gets cronked, super chaotic everything, grade school bullying (affectionate), crack fic, fluff, typos, etc.

A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY START POINTS NONNIE! (im not going to call you bitch because i dont like that word) im sure at this point youre prolly 22 T_T but better late than never. also Omg my child 😭 you think i give a shit about redemption??? HAHAHAAH IT MAKES ME WANT TO FUCK THIS UP SO BAD but the request is so compelling that i'll silence the part of my brain that is screaming for murder HAHAHA idk it all kinda went all over the place but lol enjoy star points nonnie! or dont i dont care Tagging: @pinksirensong @aralezinspace @deniixlovezelda @targaryenmoony

You had your phone on, eye level, recording, flashlight and all, so did Milly. You were both snorting to yourselves as you made your way through the streets-

"WHERE THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME!" you sing, flailing your arms around as you spun on the pavement.

No, no, you weren't drunk yet. But boy were you were excited to be.

Milly had picked you up and, like an idiot, spoiled the surprise party altogether by being too giddy and blabbermouthed. It was obvious she was leading you to a 'secret birthday party' and though Milly adamantly denied to her final breath, when you got to the venue, still somehow startled by the loud scream of 'SURPRISE HAPPY BIRTHDAY!', Emma gave her a piece of their mind for being so obvious.

You immediately hugged the gals, namely Olivia, Emily, and Phia, then after gave a kiss to person who remembered your birthday at all, Emma.

"I love you so much," you muttered as you pulled them into a hug, nearly choking them in the process. Emma chuckles, sealing their arms around you with a lot less enthusiasm, only cause in you were a python comparison.

They turn to Milly, who was already heading for the food, "did you two drink already?"

"No, babe, we're drunk on life!" Milly responds, pouring herself a drink.

Emma and Olivia turn to each other, the latter rolls her eyes exaggeratedly, "dear god, to be twen'y somthin'."

Emma snorts as you finally pull away from them.

You spin your arm overhead, stupidly forgetting you had your phone in hand. This allows it to get darted across the room, nearly hitting Phia on the way.

You scramble for the object, amazed that it was uncracked and still in one piece, camera still filming everything. You look up to everyone and call out, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!"

Each person in the room cheers and claps for you, immediately getting ready for the festivities.

At one point, you managed to end and restart recording on your phone as you eat some chips and ready the second song on a karaoke machine, and by karaoke machine, I mean a big-ish laptop propped on an box on a table connected to a Bluetooth speaker that was honestly impressively loud for its size.

It was also at this time, the MIA boys finally arrived, as in Fabien, Tom, Ewan, & Matt, carrying fast food and drinks, cheering as they came for absolutely no other reason than to be loud.

Now. Now, the party was really getting started.

After eating and the singing got old, an idea was proposed. You don't know whose genius (stupid) idea it was to play fucking marco polo, but DAMN was it intense.

You down the last for your 3rd(?) beer before running off as the it of the game neared you. You find yourself in a corner where Matt now to your right. You do your darndness to evade the blind folded Tom, who by the ways was insanely horrible at the game.

He was so bad, Olivia, like the mom she was, had to keep reminding him he could call out Marco, so that you lot could call out Polo and give some semblance as to where you were in the Emma's largish flat.

"Babes," Olivia calls, beginning to remind the lost puppy, Tom.

Elbow pushing the massive block of doofus (Matt), who was CHEATING by using you as his shield from the nearing lost, blonde boy, you struggled against the man, both of you fairing horribly to hold in your giggles as you push deeper into the corner of the room, trapped behind the sofa.

Tom turns behind him, blindfold on and all, at the sound of Olivia's voice.

"You can call out Marco," Olivia reminds before going back to a conversation with Phia safely a distance away in the kitchen.

"Oh-right- MARCO!"

"POLO!" everyone screams except you and Matt.

"THEY'RE CHEATING!" Fabien calls loudly in protests from behind the dining table, "TOM, TURN AROUND! TOM, TURN AROUND!"

Fabien's plan backfires as Tom instead heads for him. The former runs over to where Ewan was, who then runs over to where Emily was, by the front door.

"POLO YOU CUNTS!" Fabien shouts with a chuckle, extending his arm out to your direction, accusingly.

You stick out your tongue to Fabien as Matt begins to shove you the opposite direction.

Ewan to Fabien's side drops his jaw over the brunutte's backfired attempt in both a 'STFU' manner and 'this is kind of funny but STFU' manner, then slaps his hand on Fabian's blabbermouth.

Tom was nearing them. Emily begins to push back against Ewan, covering her mouth as not to make a sound. This allowed you to climb from the back of the sofa, onto the cushions, escaping the entrapment in the corner with Matt.

Emily topples onto Ewan and holds her breath as she barely dodges Tom's reaching hands.

And then-

"POLO! POLO! POLOLOLOL!" Matt screams, grabbing you by the shoulders, alerting everyone in the room.

Tom takes the bait, turning about as you squeal and wrangle out of Matt's cheating grip.

Emily, Ewan, and Fabien sneakily evade him whilst Tom is distracted.

"MATT YOU FUCKER!" you whine, finally escaping him. You swiftly run past Tom, who almost managed to grab you and make it towards Emma, who was had been sitting in an isolated corner of their flat, drinking a can of pop.

They give you a nod and you look over finding Tom was approaching the corner where you and Matt had been, yet the man was nowhere in sight. Rats, he was good.

Fabien, running towards you out of nowhere, grabs you by your arms and offers you as a sacrifice, "POLO! POLO!"

Tom turns your direction as you shriek.

"YOU CHEATING RAT!" you protest mid arm imprisonment.

Tom, now at his limit, stops then pulls down his blindfold, making everyone groan. The man, who had been it the WHOLE time you have been playing, sighs and places his hands on his hips, "guys, ain't no way I'm this bad at Marco Polo. You lot are double crossing me!"

Everyone gathers over towards Tom in a chorus of laughs and disagreements.

Olivia speaks, "I'm sorry, love, but honestly, this flat isn't that large."

"You just suck," Phia deadpans, making Tom give him a sour look.

Milly crawls from underneath the table she had been hiding from the entire time, "who's it now?

Milly jolts when Matt sneaks up from behind her and screams, "YOU!" The moron evades Milly's incoming punches.

Meanwhile, you have been chasing Fabien across the room, pulling on his hair when you catch him.

Between that point and when you all (mostly you and Milly) began to cry while singing Hello by Adele, another 3(?) bottles of beer was consumed by your person.

This was why when you reached for another bottle, Ewan (who had been watching you the entire time) took the thing from you, "that's mine."

You blink slowly, turning to him as he takes the bottle from you, handing it to Matt, who was cheering Emma and Olivia on as they sung from the top of their lungs. Matt turns to Ewan, taking the bottle from him, "thanks, babe."

You move to take another bottle, and Ewan grabs it again, "that's also mine." This time, he takes a swig of the alcohol when you turn to him.

You grunt, taking another shot at grabbing one of the last two bottles on the table. Before you could even reach out for it though, Tom grabs the two bottles and you watch as he hands the other to Fabien. They clank it together, then sit next to you, unwittingly triggering your tear ducts.

They were so mean. You flat out begin to sob. Each man on the sofa turns to you.

"It's my birthday!" you whine under your breath, tears streaming your face, "I'm being oppressed."

Tom beside you hears your mewls then panics, "hey, hey, what's wrong?"

Ewan ,on you other side, stiffens turning to you, face falling at the sight of your tears.

You choke on your tears as you whine.

"MATT YOU'VE REALLY DONE IT NOW MATE!" Fabien screams after seeing you.

Matt turns to you, as does the singing Emma and Olivia, as well as Phia who was doing background vocals and Emily and Milly who was recording the whole thing.

"Me?!" Matt calls out with a chuckle, "what did I do," he leans towards you, "what's happened, love?"

You ignore them as Emma makes a beeline for you and grabs your hand, "come on babe, boys suck."

Ewan begins to explain the situation to everyone and Fabien calls out, "you want my beer, baby?"

"FUCK YOU FABIEN!"

"What about my beer?" Tom asks.

"S'fine," you mumble as you get in front of the make shift karaoke machine where Olivia then wraps her arms over your shoulders.

"Hey! Why the hostility!" Fabien calls out.

"Because you're ugly mate," Tom sneers, chuckling before he drinks his beer.

Matt says, giggling, "I mean you did make the birthday baby cry."

Fabien's jaw drops, "yeah, yeah, yeah, says the man with no eyebrows."

Tom hollers, throwing his head back in laughter. Ewan snorts under his breath, holding in his laughter.

"Woah, woah, woah," Milly walks over with a camera, "is there a row goin' on 'ere," she points her phone camera to them, "come on," she says in a thick Australian accent, "have at it!"

Fabien exaggeratedly bites his lower lip and flips Milly's cam off.

Meanwhile Phia and Emily are cheering you on as the next song begins to play. The intro has everyone in a frenzy.

You burp as you croak out the first lines of the song, "buHaybe can't you see-- I'm callin'. A guy like you should have a warning, it's dangerous-"

"IM FALLING!" you lot sing out in various keys.

Absolutely feeling yourself with the music, you begin to dance to Britney Spears, doing body rolls against Emma and Olivia.

By the time the chorus hits, you and the girls are dancing and singing to Toxic. You twirl all the way over to the sofa, nearly falling on your way as you tell the yucky boys to join in the festivities.

Yet all it takes is one loud bang on the door to burst everyone's bubble.

"Oh fuck," Emma calls, turning frantically around everyone, shushing them as Emily scrambles to cut the music.

Blissfully unaware of everything, you clumsily continue to dance and hit not one, but two faces (Ewan and Matt's) with your hands.

"Alright, Britney, that's enough of you," Fabien calls, pulling you away from your accidental victims of violence.

"There's something to be said about the fact both of your chins were hit," Milly says under her breath, but both men she was teasing hear her loud and clear, in fact, everyone hears her, which is why Tom wheeze with Phia as Olivia holds back her laughter.

"Oh fuck off," Matt says as Ewan purses his lips and shakes his head.

"At least I can reach the bars in the tube," Ewan rebuts.

"OH! For the jugular!" Emily calls just as Olivia hushes everyone.

Emma comes back with clenched teeth, turning to you, "right, uh... my neighbors say happy birthday, also, shut the fuck up."

[they-breasted-boobily]

Ways the plot of tua s4 could have been improved while including a lot of the same storyline:

It goes without saying that a 6 episode season was too rushed for even the shitty plot we got given, but I'll mention that these ideas would have worked better for an 8-10 episode season. Or maybe you could use them for fics or comics- I'd love to see them!

1. The careers and new lives of non-powered umbrellas: While Lila, Klaus, and Viktor had decent set-ups, the others seemed out of place. Diego's personality and desire to be a hero would have been better suited to a mall cop or traffic cop, where he feels undervalued and underutilised, rather than just beaten down as a delivery driver for jokes about peeing in a bottle. Luther only mentioned Sloane a couple of times in the entire series- with more than 6 episodes, it could have been possible to give flashbacks of him trying to get back to her, but her not recognising him and not being romantically interested. Not sure what changes could be made to his job or housing though. Allison's setup was mostly fine, but we really should have been given an explanation for why Raymond left- maybe lean into the horror of being taken from your time and timeline raising a daughter you suddenly have? Five would not work for the CIA except as a double-agent, either that or he would be retired as a fishing supplies store owner. Ben is his own whole point later in this post.

2. The marigold sake shots: I feel like this plot point added to Ben just being an asshole and scapegoat for the entire season, which could benefit from major changes. If left relatively unchanged, the fact that Klaus threw it over his shoulder could have led to greater implications if it landed on an unknown person behind them and gave them powers. This person could have been the subject of an episode or two as they were tracked down when it was necessary.

3. Ben's character: While s3 Sparrow Ben was a dick, he was not as edgy, conceited, or self-absorbed as he was in s4. I think it's fine to start his arc with him leaving prison, but making the crime as major as crypto fraud (just because you think it's funny) makes it much more difficult for him to seem likeable and relateable to Jessica or anyone else. If the crime was something more minor, or he was framed/unfairly jailed it could set up a revenge/redemption arc from the get-go. With his relationship with Jessica, it would have benefited from being more of a slow burn, or if the gradual unnatural obsession had more than 6 episodes to build up.

4. The subway romance: While I can almost understand why it was Five and Lila due to their history working together and especially using time travel together, I think if Five needed a romance (which I don't but show writers can't stand having one member of the main cast never being in a relationship), it should have been someone he met while on that 7 year subway adventure (probably an older woman) and settled with in Strawberry Tradwife timeline while Lila keeps looking for a way out for the sake of her children. Lila would find the journal a few months later and using both it and the subway map, get back to Five because she still needs his powers to get entirely out of the subway system. Could you imagine a scene with Lila trying to convince Five to leave the peaceful Strawberry Tradwife life he's always wanted after dealing with the trauma of being stuck in time twice?

5. Klaus's return to addiction: I think Klaus's arc could have definitely benefited from the season being longer. If there was a slower burn towards his addiction returning and his confrontation with Claire and if she stressed more that he didn't need to go down this path again, it could have really been impactful. The ghost sex trafficking thing was gross but if that was the only way to get him buried alive then so be it, because having him in a situation where he would have to directly face his trauma from the mausoleum and become stronger would be so good for the sendoff of his character. Maybe that could have been the point where he learned how to levitate?

6. Reginald and false memories: Why was the fact that he's literally not human and crafted this timeline so he could have as much power as possible (including a militia town) not explored at all? The plot should have revolved a lot more around at least verifying what he was saying about marigold and durango, if not about handing him a final defeat for this final season. Everything around him killing Ben led to huge plot holes (why wouldn't Klaus know the truth from Ben's ghost? Ben easily could have been spared and only Jessica shot. Why was Jessica being in a squid never explained?). While it's interesting to see the Umbrellas all give a brainwashed explanation for Ben's death, it couldn't be something as blatant as that, because Klaus would have to know even if everyone else was brainwashed. The brainwashing is an idea with promise, but it should have been something like Ben and Jessica being consumed by the giant squid together because Ben went against orders.

What other things could have been changed? I personally liked the CIA subplot, especially as it taught Diego to appreciate his family more. I also found Jean and Gene and the Cleanse conspiracy theorists to be fun new mini-villains.

[starzzyeyed]

Hi! Are you still doing Hug Prompts?! If so, can I request HotchReid #36? I love all your HotchReid writings!

Hi! I most definitely am, thank you so much!

I actually have a much longer fic with this premise set during the Lo-Fi/Mayhem arc that I'll add a link to here for you too!

But here's your prompt fill, I hope you enjoy and thank you again for your kind words <3

36 - I thought you were dead hug.

Despite the clarity of the sound of the shot that rings through the air around them, Hotch can’t hear anything other than the thundering of his own heart in his ears.

He thinks Morgan shouts something, or maybe it’s Rossi, but the only thing he knows besides how fast his own heart is beating is how much adrenaline is currently being released into his body; flooding through his bloodstream, enabling him to flee the danger his mind subconsciously recognises is nearby.

Except, it’s not him who’s in danger.

bad enough, he was having to instruct his partner, who he knows is less physically capable of defending himself than himself or Morgan is, into danger on his own.

He’s terrified of what he might find as he keeps moving forwards towards where he thinks Spencer must have found Lindsey, and then a door opens in front of him and for the briefest of seconds, his heart stops altogether, because if someone is walking away from the scene, especially without screaming for help, the chances of there being a casualty inside is lowered.

But then-

Then he sees who it is, sees that it’s Jack.

Not only Jack, but Jack and Lindsey, which means there only people remaining inside the room are-

The fact that Jack had immediately raised his hands does nothing to ease Hotch’s fear.

Hotch feels as though he’s about to faint as he bursts through the room of the men’s bathroom, expecting to see his partner covered in blood and most likely on the floor, and the fact that Spencer isn’t either of these things surprises him so much that, for a moment, he’s unable to do anything other than stare straight ahead, his eyes on the body of the teenager on the floor but not really seeing the scene before him.

Slowly, he forces himself to take a few steps towards Ryan’s body, taking in what’s happened before his eyes catch with Spencer’s at the exact same time as Morgan speaks.

“You okay, Reid?”

Hotch only just barely manages to contain his desires until Morgan’s hand has left Spencer’s shoulder, until he and Rossi have filed out of the room, before he’s crossing the room again in three long strides and pulling his partner against his chest in a crushing hug.

He hears Spencer gasp slightly, clearly not expecting the action and really, Hotch can’t blame him. They’re almost never physically affectionate with each other in public, and especially not in a fresh crime scene that will still need to be processed, but he can’t help himself this time.

He’s been keeping it together this entire case, coming up against so many more unexpected developments and issues than usual, not to mention the fact that it’s a case involving children, and the thought that he’d lost Spencer, especially after he’d sent his partner into this situation alone… that had been the straw that broke his back.

Subsequently, the relief that he felt seeing Spencer not only alive, but alive and uninjured, had been too much to squash back down.

“I thought you were dead,” he breathes into his partner’s long hair before Spencer has the chance to question his unusual behaviour. “We heard the shot from outside and I thought-… I thought I’d sent you in here to your death.”

He both feels and hears Spencer inhale a sharp breath before his arms are wrapping around Hotch’s back, pulling him against his own chest as tightly as he can in return.

���Never,” the younger man whispers back, tucking his face into the side of Hotch’s neck and breathing out a shaky sigh. “Never, Aaron. Never.”

[cinderella-ish]

For the Fruits Basket asks: 2, 3, 19, and 18/20 for Momiji!

Oh, yay! I'm so glad you asked! (ask game here)

2. This might be the hardest question of all, because all the characters are so richly developed and I genuinely like (almost) all of them! I have a certain soft spot for Yuki and Momiji, of course, as the characters I relate to the most, and a similar soft spot for Ayame and Arisa, because I relate to them in a way as well, though to a lesser degree.

I've been writing a lot of Kyo, Saki, and (weirdly) Hiroshi, so I feel really attached to them right now. I mean, Kyo is a character whose happiness genuinely healed me. Saki's unapologetic weirdness is just the best (and uhhh my friend group in high school had a few people who shared several traits with Saki, so I was bound to like her). And Hiroshi and Yusuke are literally the best part of every scene they're in. (Especially Hiroshi in Cinderella-ish. Seriously, his narration is top tier!)

And Machi and Kakeru have a special place in my heart, too, partly because of their roles in Yuki's development, but also because of the ways I relate to each of them. And, of course, Tohru. I mean, there's so much to say about her, but her deep, deep empathy and the richness of her arc and development are just gorgeous.

I do keep coming back to Yuki and Momiji, though. They're central to two of the scenes that I found most surprisingly powerful; Yuki when he tells Kakeru "that isn't what I want!" and Momiji in his speech to Akito, when he says "a happiness might exist for me!" Outside of the major plot points of the series (which are nearly all centered around Tohru and Kyo), these two moments are, I think, some of the most satisfying developments for any of the characters, period.

(Oops, that turned into an essay 😅)

3. If we're sticking to named characters, I think Katsuya is the only choice. I know Takaya couldn't develop every single character in the series, but Katsuya is one whose development would have enriched not only him, but Kyoko, Tohru, and Grandpa Honda as well.

I think that the Katsuya-Kyoko relationship can be read as problematic and even predatory exactly as written. It reads as romanticized because it's told from Kyoko's point of view. But Katsuya himself remains kind of an enigma, and it's just really hard to like him when we don't even know what made him think pursuing a middle schooler was okay.

19. Oh gosh. You're going to get a few long answers, I fear. 😅

I have several favorite fanworks! Off the top of my head:

Ripples, by @proseprincess

So, canon divergent AUs are probably my favorite type of fic, and I especially love fics where one canon event changes, and everything that follows changes due to something like a butterfly effect. In this two-part series, Tohru never met Kureno in the park, which changes everything that came after in a big way. I love that this tackles some massive changes to canon, yet they all feel grounded in the world and characters we all know. The second installment is incomplete, but still very worth the read IMO, not only because part 1 ends with a massive cliffhanger, but because it's just so inventive and unlike anything else I've read. Maybe my very favorite fanwork.

I'll be Standing There By You, by Eboni_A

This is a beautiful, devastating AU told from Yuki's point of view where he finds out in the final weeks of her life that Tohru has terminal cancer. We see Yuki drop everything to come and support Kyo and be with Tohru in her final weeks, we see Tohru die, and we see Kyo and Yuki (and everyone else) try to keep going afterward. It's heartbreaking yet hopeful, and the author made relatively recent comments about a potential sequel! Fingers crossed!

Inertia, by miss_coverly @lesbian-kyoru

This is another canon divergent AU where Kyo and Tohru become friends with benefits before the curse breaks. It's honestly shocking how beautiful this work is. The prose is gorgeous, the angst is dialed all the way up, the sexual tension is dialed even higher, the characterization is crystal clear, it's honestly a masterclass in POV, the sex is sexy, and I could go on and on. I never thought a blowjob scene would make me cry, yet it did.

The Pursuit of Repeating History, by RiddleAfar @mistergrass

So, when I first started reading fanfiction, I stuck strictly with canon-compliant works. Then, I dipped my toes into canon divergence AUs like those above, but I heavily resisted reading anything with alternative pairings.

Then, I got curious about that one really popular Yuki/Kyo soulmates AU fic, and gave it a read. By the end of the first chapter, I couldn't put it down. And when I was finished reading, I knew I had to check out everything else by that author, which is how I ended up reading The Pursuit of Repeating History.

This story honestly showed me the power of fanfiction. The author legit crafted lore for the Fruits Basket universe. And the "lore" chapters (I think they're referred to as "intermissions") are each beautifully-told stories in their own right. But the author also grappled with how the curse might work, and I think they did an incredible job. I'm actually rereading this beast right now!

We'll Work it Out Together, by inheritanceofgeek @mrsmarymorstan

Okay, I'm a sucker for anything with lots of Hiroshi and Yusuke, and this story is probably the most Hiroshi-and-Yusuke-focused story on Ao3. (Probably worth mentioning the author's sideblog, @2d-iendfrays which is an absolute treasure!) In it, Kyo figures out he's asexual, then figures out he's demisexual, all with the help of his two wholesome buds.

Like almost all the authors on this list, inheritanceofgeek has some other really fantastic works that are worth checking out, from sexual humor to Yuki/Machi smut to a touching piece about new parenthood.

How Can I Thank You, by SharkFairy77

Another brilliant Yuki/Kyo piece, in which Yuki hosts Kakeru and Komaki for dinner (at the apartment he shares with Kyo), and at the last minute, Kakeru asks if Machi can come. (Machi is Yuki's ex in this universe)

The piece starts with dinner prep, and then dinner, and the character writing is just incredibly spot on. I loved the arc of the story through the dinner, and the way Kyo and Machi come to an understanding.

But then, we get into some A+ YukiKyo smut.

I'll Be Here, by Blanche2023 @biancanekoyokai

(Full disclosure - I beta read this work!)

This is a very sweet and sad piece about Kyo's first few days in Kazuma's care after his mother's death. Blanche's characterization is outstanding, and she handles tricky things (like writing a young Akito who's also performing head-of-the-family duties) in a really clever way.

I don't think there's enough pre-canon fic out there, nor enough gen fic, and this piece is just beautiful.

Escaping the future, by Modzy78

I really love the way Modzy78 thinks about the Fruits Basket universe, and her take on the canon-divergence of "what if Tohru never confessed to Kyo" is inventive, suspenseful, fluffy, and just such a fun read! I also really love her other canon divergent AU Cursing the Cursed. And Modzy78 is honestly a superhero for the fandom.

The Talk, by Geoduck @drgeoduck

Honestly, Geoduck has a ton of works you should read, but I'll mention this one because it's probably the funniest thing I've ever read. And then it somehow gets even funnier!

The Ones Who Walk Away From Sohma House, also by Geoduck

If you're a fan of Ursula K. Leguin (my very favorite author!), then you are probably familiar with her famous short story, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, and this short fic is an absolute must-read.

no one is lost, by emphasis

Momiji bumps into Ritsu in a gay bar. Not a pairing I ever imagined, but an excellent fic that puts Momiji in the position of "elder queer" to Ritsu. (Honestly, I wish there were more Momiji-as-elder-queer fics!)

Some other favorites:

The Night We Met, by pettyimperfections

Hold On, by Danyu

Heart Strain, by Kitty0430

I think about you all the time, by lucybeee @riceballcatfb (incomplete)

Making Nice, by Itsalreadyhalloweenright @riza-rin-rose (incomplete)

What's a White Lie Between Friends (& My Family)? by AnxietyAvocado

My Hands on You is Just a Fantasy, by unscheduledmakeouts

This Air is Blessed, by KyoDoodles

Please, Let Her Live, by @goldfishoflove

And that isn't even touching the dozens of phenomenal Yukeru fics! Just a small selection of Yukeru favorites:

fit back in, by @luftballons99

woebegone, by a-bigail @yunsoh

The Other Side of Paradise, by reconquer @yukisohmasmokesweed

If I Ever Feel Better, also by reconquer

if i do anything i regret tonight, no i didn't, by sacrificialParsnip (another fic where Momiji is an elder queer!)

i wanna be dyed with your colors, by halfhope

Like Fireworks in the Night Sky, by Princely_Hairdos (incomplete, currently being updated!)

President Perfect, by draebelle

tongue tied, by b_o_i (note: heed the warnings!)

And if you're familiar with OnigiriCat4Ever's canon continuation series, Always and Forever, some of my favorite works from that series include My Brother, Truth and Consequences, You Don't Understand, I Want to Understand, and all of their smut (collected in a separate series called Tohru and Kyo's Amorous Adventures, plus one explicit Hajime/Mutsuki fic).

And, of course, I'm really proud of my longfic, Bloom Within Us, and wrote it because it's the sort of thing I'd want to read. It's currently in progress, and I took a break from writing due to a family emergency, but I'm back at it and hope to start regular posting within a month.

uhhhh so I think I'll have to make my Momiji headcanons another post (hopefully tomorrow) because this got long! 😅 Thank you again for asking!

[thedragonagebigbang]

Bang Creator Interview: Tumblr: @crabs-with-sticks  |  AO3: CrabsWithSticks

The Collaboration period has begun! In these quiet months before works are due, we want to foster a sense of excitement, camaraderie, and celebration among our participants. To that end, all participants were given the option of a formal interview by our mod, Dema, or an informal “ask-game” survey. We hope you enjoy getting to know our phenomenal creators as much as we have!

Found Family in Crisis!!!!!! How This Local Woman's Life Just Keeps Getting Worse!!!  

Jacs and Dema talk music, tragedy, DMing tabletop games, and OCs who won't follow the damn rules

Dema: Good morning! Happy Saturday. Are you writing today? 

Jacs: I'm hoping to! Though I might be taking a break from my actual project to do some fun oneshots. Give myself a bit of time away from the tragedy of my bang fic and write something happy haha

Dema: That is very fair! Especially with heavier fics. How do you get in the zone to write, regardless of the project? Or does it vary depending on the vibes of your fic?

Jacs: Normally it involves getting nice and cozy under a blanket on the couch with a good cup of tea. I'll sometimes put a playlist on to get into a particular vibe, I've got a bunch of character playlists which can help get into the perspective of whatever oc I'm writing that day.

Dema: I won't get too specific with this question but, if there is one song on your playlist that especially fits your bang fic, what would it be?

Jacs: Hmm, I'd say probably 'Sampson' by Regina Spektor. The song is based on a tragic biblical story and is all about what could have happened if things had worked out differently. If the love had been enough to save them, then they wouldn't have been remembered by history but they would have been happy.

Dema: Oh okay, arrow straight to the heart. I see, I see.

Jacs: Yeah, I'm a known tragedy enjoyer, just rolling around in the sadness like a dog in a puddle. In order to get optimal levels of tragedy you gotta have some happiness first just so that readers can really see that it didn't have to be this way (but they never could have changed it).

Dema: I can't wait to read it! I also love tragedy, and especially in that ratio. Is there a particular one-shot idea you have kicking around, to cleanse the palate?

Jacs: Not sure! Though probably something with my oc Luca Trevelyan with Dorian, though I haven't actually managed to get very far through that particular playthrough yet....I'm a bit of a serial oc creator who then never gets around to actually playing them in the game.

Dema: Do you always make your OCs in game? Even if you don't get around to the playthrough? 

Jacs: Yep! It’s probably my favourite part of Dragon Age, or any CRPG. I really like thinking up characters, with their conflicts and histories. I'm a forever DM in real life, so I'm fairly used to making up characters and then never playing them, although at least with Dragon Age I already know the events of the game they'll be going through, so I have a better idea of their development arcs. I am trying to do a re-playthrough of the whole series before Veilguard comes out, but we'll see how successful that is haha.

Dema: Do you find that DMing has informed the way you structure your stories?

Jacs: I'd say that it probably has. When I DM I'm always keeping a hand on the pulse of all the characters, their emotions and where they're at in their arcs, because my aim is really to tell a good story. So I think it can help me to see things from the big picture as well as a more mechanical perspective. Though sometimes I do need to tell myself to stop looking at the big picture and just focus on what is at hand.

Dema: I'm a bit in awe of DMs. To me it seems like being the conductor of an orchestra, except all your musicians are improvising. Do your characters sometimes feel like players? Or do they tend to stay within the lines?

Jacs: They do end up getting away from me sometimes, or they'll do something that leaves me going 'huh, why did you just make that decision', because I know it's accurate but I'm not entirely sure why. Though sadly there's no actual player to ask...just my brain. I was intending to make quite a whimsical and happy Brosca, but she just keeps doing morally grey things!

Dema: HAHA ah yes, relatable. I find it's such an interesting balance, for me, between wanting everything in the story to feel a bit inevitable (especially in a tragedy!) and embracing the realism of some things just not having a clear explanation, especially character decisions.

Jacs: Yeah for sure! It's great when characters are messy and contradictory, I just wish it wasn't so hard...I had a character at one point who was making a whole bunch of decisions I wasn't expecting or had planned for, and I'd try to think 'ok why is this character doing this?' and all she supplied in return was 'I'm lactose intolerant'...which honestly was a very in character response; just straight up ignoring the question. 

Dema: A character in writing, or a character in a campaign you were DMing?

Jacs: A character I was writing.

Dema: Hahaha, incredible.

Jacs: I sometimes have, I guess little 'conversations' with my characters in my head where I tap into the section of my brain that they live in.

Dema: That's a great strategy! Is that how your characters first come to be?

Jacs: Hmm, I think the conversation part comes a bit later when I have some context for them, either in their history or in the game itself. It starts off as a lot of collaging together different ideas until it makes a full character. Often I start off from a particular theme or emotional angle I'm interested in exploring. So one started off as 'religious trauma', and another from 'idealism in a cruel society' and so on.

Dema: Has that first theme or idea ever come from a really unexpected source? And related to this, do you tend to be primarily inspired by the source material itself? I know that's a big reason so many of us love DA in particular.

Jacs: I think the themes are usually all ideas that I'm already interested in, but it's super fun seeing the way it can connect to the worldbuilding and lore. I think it's really important for characters to have specifics which tie them into the world around them, so thinking about how their family might have lived in the particular part of the world they're from, how they and the people around them either adhere to or go against it, and what impact that would have on their story. It's really fun looking at how a theme can change based on where the character comes from, like a character with conflict based around religious trauma is going to be different if they're human, Dalish or a city elf, and the world will react to them differently because of that.

Dema: Now I simply must ask you if you ever write AU fics.

Jacs: I haven't written many to be honest, though I do have some ideas for some. It can be hard translating a story that is really rooted in the specifics of one particular world and translating that to another. So I'm always really impressed to see when other people do it so well! I often find you can find a good parallel for one aspect of a character, but then you have to try to fit a second aspect or character conflict in and it doesn't fit the new world at all!

Dema: I feel the same!

Jacs: Writing; it's hard man.

Dema: It is! So why do you do it!? And a follow-up question: writing is hard, and you're signed up for a Big Bang! What made you interested? Is it your first one or have you done this before?

Jacs: It's like a wonderful little puzzle; except it can be all wibbly wobbly and just like real life it doesn't always need to make sense- it's lovely just to embrace the humanness of character writing!

So a bit of context, I recently finished postgraduate studies, and realised I didn't have any hobbies! I used to love creative writing of any sort when I was but a young whippersnapper (they say, in their mid 20s), so I decided to embrace the cringe and get back at it. I've never participated in any fandom events, or even written something this long that wasn't academic! But I'm really loving the community around this event and getting to chat to other writers as we all write (and suffer) together!

Dema: In the last minutes, and just for fun: can you come up with a click-bait title for your fic? Without giving anything major away, of course.

Jacs: Maybe something like 'Found Family in Crisis!!!!!! How This Local Woman's Life Just Keeps Getting Worse!!!’  (To quote the venerable Sir Terry Prattchet: And all those exclamation marks, you notice? Five? A sure sign of someone who wears his underpants on his head.)

Dema: Ten out of Ten, would click again. Thank you so much for setting aside this time to chat with me!

Jacs: No worries! I had a great time!

[amethystfairy1]

What’s your writing process? Like do you do outlines or just jump right into plot etc… I’m a young writer (14) and really admire your work and want to get better myself. Ty!

✨WRITING PROCESS✨

...

this.

this is my writing process.

OK TO BE REAL THO

Firstly, I don't do outlines.

I KNOW THAT'S BAD BUT I JUST DON'T

What I usually do is word vomit whatever idea I have for a fic into a notes file.

For example! Here's a little random nonsense I just copied verbatim from my notes file that might look familiar!

Tango and Z in sky, blue cracks, Z decides to drop a container with info and his phone number into the rift. He wants to talk to the hybrids, maybe he’s some sort of researcher, he went AWOL from the biotech Institute, something like that. But he is human. Then, tango finds it, or it is brought to him, because he is a direct aid to doc in the labs. Tango ends up deciding to call Z, and they end up becoming really good friends, but only over the phone. Have some fun stuff, where both Z and tango are getting a crush, but how can you crush on someone you’ve never even seen? Tango is freaking out, because he’s not the type of hybrid that can pass as human. he knows he’ll never be able to meet Z face to face. But Z is a little more determined that he gives him credit for. Also have X be a side character in the labs, voidwalker, something like that! Maybe Z is an AWOL scientist, and scar, picked him up to work in his hot guy lab, with cub.

This is the blurb that spawned the Zedango arc in TTSBC.

In case you can't tell I use the dictation function in notes because like 90% of the time I have ideas while I'm driving so I'll just tell my phone to write down whatever I'm thinking and then talk it out

So yeah! I do this, which I dunno is kinda like an outline? I do it for more or less all of my fics.

As far as other stuff, I think the best advice I can give about being a "better writer", which has to do with your question about 'jumping into plot' is to know about your characters and your world , even if you don't plan to share that information in the piece you are writing, or even like, ever.

It's the way you make your characters feel like people. I was actually talking about this with @honeylashofficial not to long ago! You should know why your characters make the choices they do, even if that information never comes up. You should know what they like and dislike and why, if they have traumas then how would those traumas affects them in small daily ways?

Jimmy in TTSBC grew used to being threatened for his wings, so now he has a love-hate relationship with them.

Tango spent a long time without a truly safe place to sleep as a child, so now he has insomnia because he has an internalized fear of falling asleep/being vulnerable.

Zed was treated very poorly at his previous workplace, and he had a terrible experience where his professional lifes work was torn to shreds in front of him, so his self-esteem is very low, and he tends to be very self-deprecating even in a joking fashion.

Cub has sensory issues that severely impact his mood because of his warden hybrid traits, so he typically keeps himself very low energy as a baseline to avoid seeming like he has mood swings.

Even little stuff like what characters notice about their surroundings! Again in TTSBC, Jimmy pays close attention to the weather and the sky, Scott notices people features and expressions, Cub has more detailed thoughts about sounds than he does about sights, stuff like that!

Also I'm gonna give ya the piece of advice no one wants to hear when they're just starting. Just write. Write a TON.

Write even if you only have half an idea. Write even if you think it's gonna be bad. Write if you have even the slightest smallest bit of a motivation to do so, just WRITE WRITE WRITE.

And I will say while I could just be one of the lucky ones, I have been posting on various fanfic websites since I was 13. And in all that time I can count on one hand the amount of hate/negative comments I have received. Over a DECADE of writing and posting and I’ve written and posted A LOT and I have only ever been met with kindness, excitement, and encouragement.

Also, the delete button exists for a reason. You curate your experience on these websites. Especially on A03, with the ability to reply to comments, you can make very clear very quickly what sort of comments you want, which ones you don't, and the vast vast vast majority will be people who are excited about your work and want to encourage you!

If you need a mood booster or some encouragement, you can find my old old stuff on FF.net under the same penname, Amethystfairy1. Just promise you won't come back over here and send asks laughing at me for how bad those stories are, ok? 😆

My point is, you learn best by doing. As you write you will get a feel for your characters, for how they interact and react, for what your specific writing style is going to be and what you enjoy writing the most. And write what you enjoy! Of course you should stretch your writing style, but also make sure you never feel like you're slogging through your writing, especially if it's for fun or creative!

OH ONE MORE THING! 👏

I HIGHLY RECCOMEND DOING A WRITING CHALLENGE!

Stuff like Whumptober, Febuwhump, Novemcomfort, AU-gust, or different fandom weeks that come up, you can find them all over tumblr! Try to participate in one of those and get in as many days as you can! It'll make you write a lot in a short period of time, and you won't have time to overthink it, which I believe is really helpful for finding your writing style and getting comfortable with writing and posting content! It'll also give you a connection to a community of other writers who are participating, especially if you plan to post your updates to tumblr like I do!

Whatever you do on your writing journey, I hope it brings you much joy, fun, and creativity! You'll create something beautiful, I just know it! 💖

[bbcphile]

3, 13, 17, and 29?

Thanks for the ask, @deathdefyinglifeleaps!

3. What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

Hmm. I think it's "What's Sealed Away" (MLC). I was really proud of how I fleshed out what the show gave us about how a-Fei's amnesia works with aspects of my own lived experiences of having amnesia and tried to answer some questions that the show (possibly unintentionally) raised with some character decisions that happen later in that arc. I'm really pleased with the emotional range it covered and I really love the voice I used for it. There are some more lyrical passages from it that I sometimes go back and reread if I need reminders that I do in fact know how to write, no matter what my brain tells me. :D

13. How much planning do you do before writing?

Hah. 😅 Ummmmm. *nervous laughter * A lot. So much. So, whenever I write for a new fandom, I make a document where I write particularly characteristic lines of dialogue (and translate some of the lines myself if I feel like the translation is obscuring something), make note of what sorts of things they ask as questions vs state as assertions, how they express different types of emotions verbally, physically, etc. Basically, trying to capture a full model of them so that when I plot things and write dialogue, I can reference what they've done in the show and then make sure what I'm doing is in keeping with the show, or if it's different, then make sure that the differences are justified by something else that's happened in my fic.

When it comes to actually writing fic itself, I first do a really detailed outline that will have some chunks of dialogue as a part of it, but will mainly focus on the main scenes/beats that are the meat of the story: for a shorter fic, it's basically a very sloppy first draft and it includes emotional beats, choreography/blocking, internal monologue, etc. If it's a multi-chaptered fic, then I do an outline for the whole thing, then a detailed outline like I described above for each chapter. I'll also usually do a character outline to look at the growth or emotional trajectory I want to cover to make sure the pacing makes sense and that the things in my plot outline are showcasing the character-specific themes I'm invested in. Once I have my outlines, I'll do a fleshed out version of what I wrote there, and it usually takes 3-4 drafts before it's something I'm happy with (sometimes they are VERY different from each other and from the original draft and have involved TONS of rewriting.)

17. What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic?

I researched the Drury Lane theater for a Hornblower fic; specifically, when its renovations happened, what the renovations included, what shows were done in which year, what concessions would be served, etc., so I could write a fic where Archie drags Horatio to see his first Shakespeare play. :D

Oh, and I spent SO MANY HOURS with Google Street maps to research Greenwich for Harboured and Encompassed; I especially spent ages watching videos and images of the Emerites Air Line (now the IFS Cloud Cable Car) for That One Scene. I was a little embarrassed to discover when I actually got to go on it several years later that they couldn't have escaped it the way I wrote it, but oh well! AU where the support pillars double as emergency exits! :D

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic.

I feel like most of my followers wouldn't be very interested in the scene I was contemplating sharing from the sequel to Harboured and Encompassed, so I guess I'll bend the rules a little and share an alternate version of an argument in a chapter that will be included in my long MLC fic (although it goes in a different direction so it doesn't include these lines):

Di Feisheng’s hands shook so hard Dao rattled in its scabbard. “This whole time, you thought I would kill you for a rematch?” Xiangyi scratched a spot near the bridge of his nose. “Not . . . the whole time,” he countered. “Just . . . some of it.” “Li Xiangyi!” he shouted, just barely keeping his voice steady. “I told you multiple times I wanted you to live!” “When you didn’t have your memories!” Xiangyi yelled. “That doesn’t count!” If Xiangyi didn’t believe he wanted him to live while he had amnesia, and he wouldn’t have changed his mind during the time he was pretending to work for Shan Gudao, then that meant– Oh. Oh gods, no. He swallowed until he was sure he could open his mouth without being sick all over the bed, took a long, slow breath that caught and snagged on every rib, and forced himself to look him in the eye. “Li Xiangyi,” he said, his voice shaking as hard as his hands, “When we drank wedding wine and fucked in the newly wed suite, tell me you didn’t still think I planned to kill you!”

[majycka]

Hello op! I am one of those people who actually like Utahime as characters, my initial reason was her character design and name (I still think she has the best design among the female cast in jjk, maki and yuki aside). Her CT made me love her more, cause that differentiates her from other jujutsu sorcerers, where selfishness and greed is required to become ones absolute best self, Utahime’s CT does the opposite though, she as a human and also by the virtue of her CT can never really be selfish in a way. She literally powers up others (and herself), and her major strength lies in connections (again completely different from what is expected of sorcerers). If we break down her CT, she is the strongest version of herself (since her CT also powers herself) when she is with others helping them to be even stronger, almost exactly opposite of what gojo, the pinnacle of what jujutsu society represents.

I am also someone whose perception of her don't align with that of her majority fandom, I think you are one of those people, too. I would love to know your thoughts on how you personally perceive her and why your point of view is different. Cause there are times I wanna discuss something about her with my irl mutual, but then again, it never goes well. They are too deep in fanon stuff. I am someone who generally likes to keep my headcanon toned down and mostly stick to canon. I really wanted a pov of someone who actually likes her but also respects canon quite equally.

I honestly would have loved to see her more. This is not even something i am saying a fan, but even as a minor character, what she represents is just so different from everything we have been told (even her students defy that).

I hope I didn't bother you a lot with my ramblings 🙏

Nah you're all good anon! I love it when I get to ramble with other ppl about my faves and I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments of Utahime! I'll proceed to just dump all my thoughts about her as well and discuss what fandom thinks of her from what I've seen.

One thing that I've picked up from fanon of view of Utahime (in some of the fics I've read) is she's SOLELY this strict teacher all about respecting tradition/authority when it's not and it reduces her to that "respect your seniors!" dialogue. In fact, I can even argue that Gojo represents more of JJK traditional view in valuing individual strength even how much he says he's being progressive. His view of dividing people between strength vs weak screams kinda the same as those traditional clans valuing cursed techniques above anything else. Meanwhile, Utahime's value of teamwork challenges this traditional view of individual strength when like Gojo said, the pinnacle of jujutsu, all sorcerers die alone even how much allies you have 'cause the jjk world is an individual sport.

But let's break down this a bit and see what Gojo mean by jjk being an individual sport. We have seen so far that people who usually ascend the ranks are pretty selfish. Mei Mei who cites herself having a pretty weak technique, optimized her CT by using her brother. Kusakabe who doesn't have a proper CT was able to be a grade one rank because he, at the beginning of the Shibuya arc, wants to save his own skin and would rather stay behind in fighting (but dude later on helped in pulling out the kyoto kids from the Kenjaku attack, still dude can be selfish). The big clan families will kill each other over cursed techniques. Gojo himself advised Megumi to be more selfish and greedy in power when they were training together. Of course, there are outliers such as a strong sorcerers like Nanami, who cares for children, but boom ended up getting killed right at the very end while Mei Mei was able to go to her Malaysia trip. It paints this image that selfishness is a needed trait to survive the jujutsu world and rise to power.

However by Utahime promoting teamwork shown through her kids, teamwork can give up the idea of selfishness because we learn when to trust others and work together for a common goal. It can save people especially in a world where being "weak" is a disadvantage. An excellent example of teamwork from Kyoto Tech is shown through that one scene in jjk 0 how each kid has a role in their group attacks which optimizes their cursed technique no matter how VARIED their ranks/skills are. Momo usually surveys the area, communicates to others, and is like the oversees everything in a big picture. Kamo acts as the leader, looks out for everyone and keeps them in task. Mai is the long range shooter and can back people up. Mechamaru constantly backs others up like Miwa. Meanwhile, of course, there's our fun outlier, Todo.

But the funny thing is despite Todo usually going off his own, breaking the "yay teamwork!" streak of Kyoto tech, his character brings up another essential point about teamwork: connecting with others. If it weren't for Todo showing up in helping Yuuji against Mahito, then Yuuji wouldn't be able to defeat him right after seeing Nobara blown up. Todo works best/fights best with his besto friendo. Todo is the same dude who said being sorcerers means always honoring their allies/friends because they keep us going. It's still very much in line in the spirit of Kyoto kids' teamwork and also their connection with others. Muta and Miwa. Mai and Maki. Momo and her bond with Mai and Miwa. Kamo and his mom. There's also their teacher Utahime who is close friends with Shoko, and she probably influenced these kids to get along with each other and foster that teamwork skills (you know like the MANY MAANNNYYY times Uta keeps on saying that the kyoto-tokyo kids should get along during the goodwill event). I'm not saying Tokyo kids can't get along, but it's not as the same degree as Kyoto's. I think what Kyoto's dynamic different is how they can be vulnerable with others and open about their problems/feelings which helps in these kids growing closer. For example, Momo is well aware of Mai's situation and will defend her. Miwa, who's well aware that growing closer will only end up hurting them because of the inevitable death in jjk, still chose to connect with her peers, and that lead to Muta even falling in love with her. For Tokyo, let's take an example of how the first years reacted to Yuuji's "death." Both Megumi and Nobara definitely tried hard to keep that stoic front. Nobara said how she can't cry on some guy she just knew for a few months when in fact Nobara is clearly affected. In the earlier arcs, Megumi and Yuuji were keeping secrets from each other about the whole "eating the Sukuna finger actually made things worse by awakening other fingers and kills more people everyday." The second years became close because of Yuta's nature who constantly reach out to everyone and not under Gojo's influence.

Moreover, I don't think I've seen this much group cohesion like Kyoto’s compared to Tokyo because it stuck to me how in Shibuya arc, the Tokyo kids are just constantly going off their own to prove their strength like Maki and Nobara which yes is a bit understandable cuz these kids are strong, but would it be so much stronger if they work together? But Gojo, their teacher, has established that he does not really advocate teamwork (even if he did for other’s help like Nanami and Utahime, he still ended up doing things alone). If Gojo's students are all strong individually because he's very particular in choosing his kids(aka choosing them for their potential/strength), then Utahime's student's are weak individually HOWEVER more stronger as a group. No wonder she is adored by everyone. No wonder that when Miwa was at her lowest during Muta's death, Kyoto tech was there for her.

However, there are times too when Utahime is carried away by the system and her students fell victims to it too(like the time she didn't know her student were targeting Yuuji, how Mai and Muta died in cruel way) because as the opposite of Gojo, she isn't traditionally strong who has the power to defy authority. She's more subtle about it because she works around the system (shown in investigating that haunted mansion from gojo's past arc and working to find the mole within the ranks and students) and doesn't easily power through them like how Gojo destroyed the mansion and can do whatever he wants cuz of his "strongest" title. That's why Gojo asked her help because she could investigate within the system and he couldn't do something like that when he's all about being loud and throwing around his weight. There are pros/con to her subtle nature, but since the JJK world favors the strong, then she gets stuff unchecked. So, NO, I don't think she's all that "strictly respect traditions/authority" type of person. She just knows how to play politics especially in a world where they will hammer down who is weak against the system, and yet, despite that, she's able to influence her kids to do something that sorcerers struggle with.

This is why her CT is beautiful too because literally and thematically anyone who gets into her "zone" will be strengthened by her. I've seen complaints about Utahime's CT in being merely a support/buffer type. Some people had been expecting that it could be something powerful and not just buffing people up. I’m guessing that its the girlboss belief that fans can latch onto. I mean most of the jjk girls are tough as nails that the fans like which yes is understandable! But I’ve seen this happen way too many time in shonen spaces where at times the considered “weak” or "support-type" fem characters are easily non favorable for fans. I think such thing doesn’t help people actually analyze the text and for me, if such character is written well then I’m 100% in (like c’mon, Miwa’s a “weak” character and yet she’s compelling not just her fun personality, but how she struggles with grief and a world where she gets her ass kicked for being weak). As for Utahime’s case, I love it! Because the whole point of the cursed techniques is it reflects a lot like of its user’s psyche and the series establishes that Utahime values teamwork and her connections with others which is anomaly in the jjk world, and it makes her CT badass in that way. That’s why it’s no wonder she’s a natural in supporting others! It 👏makes 👏sense👏!

My next fanon and canon comparison is more within the gjhm fandom which will be a bit controversial. Like I'm a gjhm shipper myself but there are times I have some issues in how they deal with Utahime. I think at times Utahime's spunk gets taken away just so she could coddle Gojo and easily ship them together fast. Like yall Utahime actually has some genuine reasons why she hates him not just 'cause of his annoying ass but cuz of his "weak" mockery to her. And I find it very much so amazing that Utahime's doesn't take his shit and will retaliate. I think it's Utahime wanting Gojo to be accountable on shit he does (like dang man this dude been getting away from shit) 'cause Gojo does perceive people in the traditional fashion of strong vs weak lenses. I keep on saying strong vs weak lenses because how Gojo nitpicks people he wants to "save" and that's usually people with "potential." Is it altogether bad wanting kids/students that have the drive to be stronger? Well, not exactly, no but when he started spouting how he wants to raise a generation way better than the higher ups, then why doesn't he include ALL of generation whether the kids start of strong or weak. Why didn't he pull out both Maki AND Mai from their Zenin situation? Don't give me the bullshit of "I can't save everyone who doesn't want to be saved" because especially if this is kids put in a dangerous environment, then it would be the job of adults to be responsible for them.

This is where the comparison of Utahime can show up again. Even how much different her kids are, personality and sorcery skill wise (llike Mai, Momo's fiery personalities way different from Miwa's, Kyoto being quite annoyed by Kamo's leader attitude), they obviously still make their group attacks work whether one is disadvantage in some skill or not. Utahime again and again is shown to care for her students whether not they're strong or weak. She prioritize their safety when that attack from goodwill arc showed up, and she went to the frontlines during the Kyoto-Kenjaku attack back in Shibuya.

I think, just personally, the fanon of Utahime coddling Gojo is ain't it for me when in many ways, Utahime can point out the flaws of Gojo's teaching that he needs. I'm not saying Utahime doesn't have her flaws either because she's weak to a whole system against her and there are times she couldn't be there for her students.

But yeah, that's about it for my Utahime thoughts and fanon discussion. Anon, if you have any fanon interpretation that you've encounter or more Utahime thoughts and wanna share then please feel free to drop an ask! ;)

[wanderingblindly]

⭐️ for Impasse of Biting because I think about this fic daily! Love you 🤍

ooooooh god i love talking about this fic so fucking much THANK YOU FOR ASKING!!! (ask game link)

There are a million things I could choose to talk about, but for this ask I'll focus a scene that almost went a completely different direction:

Lando Confronting Oscar at His Flat

My main goal with this final "it's now or never" moment was highlighting Lando's agency. In almost the entire fic, Lando never chooses who he sees and when; Charles shows up at the café on his own schedule, or he drags them out to clubs he chooses; Oscar appears and disappears at his own will, regardless of what Lando wants.

So Lando choosing to step out of the café and into someone else's space with the intent of actively seeking what he wants felt crucial.

However, originally, I set it in Lando's flat:

"Oscar," Lando calls confidently, turning flicking on the light. He hadn't straightened the couch before he went to bed last night, the living space almost welcoming in its disarray. "I know you're there." The curtains rustle in the evening breeze, rustle further under Oscar's cautious hand as he steps into Lando's flat. His shoulders are hunched, eyes facing the floor. "Knew you were out there," Lando says, toeing off his shoes like this was casual. Like Oscar waiting outside his windows was normal, like he didn't want to revert back to their typical, safe distance. "I was never, um. Watching, or anything." Oscar mumbles, still waiting by the window.

I didn't end up keeping this for a few reasons. First, it just didn't... feel right. It didn't make by brain go !!!!!!!!!!, and I think that's because it didn't suit the character arc I was trying to build.

Yes, Lando trying to get Oscar to show up in his living room mirrors one of the previous scenes (where he's certain Oscar is there, but feels crippling mortification at asking for him). It made a nice contrast, Lando's uncertain manner in that scene vs. his confidence here. But it was still missing something.

I realized that Lando needed to, literally, step out of the spaces that represent the current version of himself and into one that represented newness. I also though it fitting to have Lando seek comfort in the same way Oscar does: by being where the other feels close -- Oscar in Lando's café, Lando in Oscar's flat. Lando needed to feel like he was moving forward in some way or another.

The final nail in the coffin (nice) was realizing that having Lando ask permission to enter Oscar's home was a fun reversal of typical vampiric imagery. That's not overly important to the plot, but it does subtly reiterate the unconventional nature of their relationship dynamic relative to their biology.

Deleted Line that I Really Liked

I think I've mentioned a few times that the end of Ch. 1 wasn't actually meant to be an ending at all lol. Originally, I planned to transition into a series of brief vignettes that showed their relationship continuing to grow in a two fold way:

Their routine splits in two parts: the day and the night. Time hasn't affected him since it all changed, the sun moving in tandem with the moon fading into the background. But it affects him now, how the light plays in Lando's curls and the moon shines in his eyes.

I wanted to show like, contrast in how they get to know each other at Lando's café during the day (maybe more question oriented, conversational) with how they interact at Oscar's flat at night (sensory, sort of testing their limits in the dark and quiet).

It didn't end up happening, but I liked that quote :)

[somestorythoughts]

Eldritch Echo Pt 8:

I'm pretty sure this is the longest section I've done for this fic. I'm not sure how that happened, one minute I was like "I'm kinda tried but I'll try to write a bit of this so I can say I wrote something today" and then next thing I know I'm in a writing groove. Not what I was thinking when I thought of Echo going feral earlier but I think it works.

Also, can someone who's seen more than a tiny bit of the Bad Batch confirm for me whether Crosshair sounds like Cad Bane? Cause I think he sounds like Bane.

@mezmatch , new part!

The Bad Batch’s mission doesn’t go well.

Hunter jerks awake in a cell to the sound of distant screams.

It’s not his brothers, he realizes. He can hear their heartbeats and see Tech in the opposite cell. Tech appears to still be unconscious and he can hear Wrecker grumbling to himself.

The screams stop.

“Wrecker?”

“Hunter! You alright?”

His head hurts and his ankle feels sprained, but that’s manageable. “Nothing too bad. You?”

“Bruises. Crosshair doesn’t look good, and I can’t see Tech or Echo.”

Echo Hunter realizes suddenly. Checking for the other three is habit, he’s still getting used to checking for four. “Tech’s unconscious. I can’t hear or see Echo, but someone was screaming earlier.”

“Do you think it was him?”

“No but they’re too far away to be sure. What the hell did they hit us with?”

“Nothing that would keep me down.” Is Wrecker’s grim response, meaning that whatever had been in that gas it wasn’t exceptionally strong. They called Tech and Crosshair’s names, trying to wake them up.

Four floors up, Echo is angry and working his way towards fully pissed off.

The Separatists who had caught them had brought him here to confirm that he was the trooper the Techno Union was hunting for and to get some information out of him. They had been straightforward about their plans to torture the rest of the squad for any useful information before killing or selling them, that detail was still being decided.

They had made two crucial mistakes. One of them was deciding this was a good idea in the first place.

The second was not asking the Techno Union exactly how they had managed to keep Echo down for so long.

The Techno Union got very, very lucky with Echo. He’d been in a state not too far from hibernation while his body recovered from the explosion, and then there were prosthetics and stasis chambers and things digging into his mind and one of the scientists had realized that they needed a very strong cocktail of drugs to keep him sedated. It had taken all of that to keep him under control, and even then he’d managed to cause trouble a couple times.

Your average sedative and some reinforced binders? Yeah, good luck with that.

Echo stands in a room with the remnants of five droids and three people. He walks to the terminal and turns on the security cameras with sticky red fingers. Blood drips from the knife at the end of his right arm and he narrows his eyes as the other Separatists hurry towards the cells where his squad is imprisoned, several droids with him. He taps another button.

“I would strongly suggest leaving my squad alone.”

He knows the way his voice sounds as it echoes, ha, through the intercom. Echo’s never called himself a sadist, but he won’t deny he relishes the way the Separatists jump out of their skin. He continues. “I’m coming for my squad. If you want to live, I suggest leaving now.”

He watches the screens just long enough to confirm his next actions, then turns and walks out the door.

He doesn’t have his armor or his blaster, but that’s alright. He’ll check for their location once he gets the others out, then he won’t have to try and carry everything. This trick Elevenses and Chomper had taught him and Fives during ARC training didn’t work with armor anyway.

In the cells, Hunter and Wrecker have managed to wake the other two up. Tech’s alright, but Crosshair has a concussion and a broken leg due to the sedative disorienting him as he was fleeing his compromised perch. They’d all been awake enough to hear Echo’s announcement and had almost immediately taken bets on whether the Seps would leave or not because some troopers would bet on anything, if only for the hell of it.

When the Seps arrive, they’re rushed. A minute later, the droids in the hall start blasting. There’s a sound like Wrecker ripping the hull off of a ship and the droids start yelling.

“Take him he’s the most injured.” The woman orders her companion, pointing at Crosshair. “I refuse to lose to a clone.”

“You certainly ran from him quickly.” Crosshair spat. He’s unsteady, but if he can get to the control panel for Wrecker’s cell…

He punches the man in front of him. There’s a shout, but Crosshair can only move so fast on a broken leg and finds a blaster leveled at his face, out of range. He puts his hands up and a stun baton hits his back.

He hears the others shouting as he goes down, tasting blood. They cuff him and drag him out of the cell and something on the ground catches his eyes. There’s too much light in the hallway between the cells for his shadow to be that dark, and he knows his shadow can’t grin.

“I told you to leave them alone.”

That’s Echo’s voice, if Echo was something massive and predatory speaking from the depths of a cavern too dark to see into. And those are Echo’s eyes, the violet golden color he’s grown familiar with. The handprint on his chest is Torrent blue, the 99 to the left of it in the same red the Batch uses. But the rest of him is black and white and something like armor. There’s a knife where his scomp should be, something shining on the ends of his fingers that could be claws and could be something else entirely. There’s too many teeth. Crosshair doesn’t have the words and doesn’t know how much of that is because of the concussion.

The woman keeps her blaster pointed at Crosshair’s head. The man points his at Echo, who sighs and raises his arms.

Something flashes. Someone yells. Something yanks Crosshair out of the way and he screams. When he stops, Echo has his teeth in the woman’s throat.

“Bleh. Never liked doing that.” Echo grumbles. He hurries to Crosshair, crouching down just out of arm’s reach with a face closer to what they’re used to. There are red lines over one eye much like Crosshair’s tattoo. “Are you alright?”

“When the fuck did you get a tail vod?” He croaks. Echo smiles, worry and relief plain as day even with the damn concussion. “Can we leave now?”

It doesn’t take too long to find their armor and weapons, even with Wrecker carrying Crosshair. Most of the droids had been in the hallway, and they clear out the remainder with ease as they get their stuff and swipe a speeder to get to the Marauder. Echo scomps into a terminal, he can practically hear Tech holding back questions when the blade changes smoothly back to a scomp, and retrieves the data they came for before they leave.

Crosshair’s gritting his teeth in pain by the time they get to the ship. While Tech and Wrecker are taking care of him, Hunter and Echo head straight for the controls. They don’t fully relax until they’re off the planet. Echo leans forward with a sigh, skin warping back into his usual shape.

“That could have gone worse.” Hunter groaned. Echo snorted. Something beeped.

“If that’s another mission we’re not here.” Echo grumbled. Hunter would have laughed if he hadn’t been so surprised. When his face is back under control, he answers the comm.

“Sir.”

“Hunter I’m glad I caught you.” The small blue form of Commander Cody says. “You boys alright? Is Echo there?”

He sounded stressed. “We just wrapped up the mission, only need to send in the data. Crosshair’s injured, he might be out of commission for a few days. Echo’s right here.” The ARC trooper waved one hand in range of the comm. “What’s wrong?”

Cody sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. “The Chancellor was a Sith, he’s now dead, and Fives was involved.”

Echo’s in front of the comm in a heartbeat. “Fives is on Coruscant?”

“The Chancellor’s a Sith?” Hunter asks because that also sounds important.

“It’s been a long day.” Cody replies. “I’ll give you the rundown but first, how soon can you get to Coruscant?”

“About two days if nothing goes wrong.” Echo replied. Hunter steps in.

“Would it be easier to send us a report? I assume you need to send one out anyway, and we can get the full details when we arrive.” Echo opens his mouth. “I’m not going to stop you getting details about your twin, but Cody looks exhausted and I know the others will have questions.”

“Fine.” Echo grumbles as Cody agrees. “You tell that idiot I’m going to wring his neck when I see him okay?”

Far away, an ARC trooper blinked and looked up. Something had pinged across his mind, resonating in his veins and resting on his back like a weight.

“Something wrong?” One of the Corries asked. Fives grinned, tired and relieved.

“Somewhere my twin is pissed at me.”

[twotangledsisters]

You’re awesome for posting fic updates not only consistently, but daily! Any tips for keeping up with writing?

Thank you so much! I love updates and writing being a part of my routine and I'm glad other people enjoy it too!

And sure, I can think of some tips:

First, there's a mixture of inspiration and forcefulness. I remember when I was really little I read a post somewhere about how if you want to take something seriously, you have to take it seriously on the days when you're inspired and on the days you're not. That changed how I treat art forever!

But years and years later I learnt a more important lesson, to never overlook the power of inspiration.

It's through a mixture of both that I can really keep up with writing. If I only wrote when inspired, sooner or later I'd get a loooong writing block that would leave me simply paralysed. But I'll often do the 'just one chapter' method, and often writing just a few paragraphs will get me back into the flow. But if I'm still very blocked after a chapter, that's fine.

But if I am inspired, I will follow that. Even if it takes my story in weird directions that weren't planned! A good example is that Caine rescuing Cass in the final S1 fic wasn't planned, she wasn't planned to come along in S2 and certainly did not expect her to fall in love... A lot of their scenes came from me writing while inspired.

Now, stuff such as Eugene's near death in S1 finale, the way Koto framed him, the way Cass had to deal with accusations of witchcraft, those stuff were planned way ahead of time!

It's really important to keep that balance, to have plans and also leave room for inspiration to run wild!

An added bonus, if you feel an intense desire to go write a fic that's completely different to the one you're trying to work on, just let inspiration win. I was struggling a bit with the 'Day of Animals' arc in tangled sisters the other day, then I got the urge to do a little Cass oneshot, so I wrote the oneshot in one sitting and have had zero issues writing since.

Sometimes you can unblock writing block with MORE writing! As long as you're letting inspiration guide you.

Second is to take breaks! I update every day but I do not write every day. I write a few times a week and usually have at least one really long session!

One of my currently updating fics 'Always By Your Side' I wrote half of it in like a week, took a few months break, then wrote the rest and started publishing!

Sometimes long breaks can really help. I've taken several long breaks with Tangled Sisters.

Third is stay ahead. With 'Always By Your Side' I have it completely written so I just proof read on the day of upload. Tangled Sisters I keep track of in Notion:

Look how cute my fanfic section is!

I'm usually at least 30 chapters ahead but I did take a writing break recently. Soon as I get the next arc done I expect to be well ahead again.

Fourth, motivation! This one isn't entirely your control, but a huge factor for keeping up is just that I'm super motivated! I can thank the amazing people who comment every day, those who comment occasionally, those who leave kudos or send nice asks like this one!

It does sooo much to make me smile and excited for the stories I'm telling.

And if you look at my fanfic section of notion, I have that little box titled kind words, the content actually changed every time I reload the page, it's linked to a little table where I keep track of all the kind words regarding my fics that I've gotten on Ao3 and tumblr! (I also have several bits of fanart by the amazing @rebecagpfs in that page who I cannot thank enough!!!)

So, although you don't have full control over motivation, having a notebook to collect those kind words can help!

Fifth would be talk to people. Have at least one person who's cool with spoilers cause brainstorming is just easier with somebody else! For me @the-writer1988 has got me through sooo many writer's blocks! Often times I just ramble at her until the problem resolves itself, other times it'd be a more active back and forth. But writing friends supporting each other, always great!

And hey, to anybody who wants to ramble about their fics to me I'm always open! I love hearing about people's fics and am huge on the writer supporting writers sorta mentality!

Sixth is just have fun! If you enjoy what you're writing it's going to be sooo much easier than if you don't.

I do want to point out though, every writer's different! I can sit down and write 10k words in one sitting, but a lot of people can't, just like I need five hour to do a drawing many artists can do in an hour.

Writing is an art and you get faster with experience.

Also, I do daily updates because I adore consistency! Having that routine is amazing for me and I think it's lovely for some readers. But I also accomplish that via very short chapters! Sometimes as short as just 600-700 words. Many authors opt for longer chapters that upload weekly but there still writing the same amount!

So yeah, I do hope this helped!

Thank you so much for the ask :D And if anything didn't make sense, please tell me, it's almost 1am here I just noticed but I really wanted to answer this before bed!

[dracomort]

i think your takes on draco are the most interesting and realistic that i've read! would you mind sharing some more about your thoughts on him? specifically his life after the war (you mentioned that he is unlikely to be down-and-out, which i agree with vehemently and it was always off-putting for me to read in a fic lololol). but also you mentioned he is likely to not be SUPER guilty after the war and i wonder how that plays into your idea drarry dynamic? (i hope that made sense @_@)

Makes complete sense, anon :)

There's a million-and-one things i could say about Drarry, but I'll keep this Draco focused to maintain a somewhat reasonable wordcount and actually answer your question.

I don't think I have an 'ideal' post-war Drarry plot/setting since what I like most about Drarry is the variety in fics. Thematically and relationship arc-wise though, what I enjoy seeing most from Drarry is a situation where they both bring something to the table and shift each other's perspectives, rather than Draco bending over backward to align to Harry's moral rigidity.

Just as Harry won't be cheerily joining the Death Eaters and declaring Muggles scum that need to be wiped off the planet (or maybe he will be in your fic, IDC), I also don't see Draco embracing the Muggle world with open arms, abandoning his family and donating all his money to charity. I don't care how much Voldemort bullied him. This is still Draco Malfoy we're talking about.

I know the more common dynamic is for Draco to be self-loathing and Harry to give him a motivational pep-talk about how he was a victim/he was acting under duress, etc. etc. But personally, I think Draco would deny responsibility till he was blue in the face. Not only is he a known compartmentaliser (hence why he was good at Occlumency), but he's also a spoilt brat who has never had to take responsibility for his actions in his life. It's easier for his psyche to insist that he played no active role in the war or anything that came before it. He's very well practised at playing the victim, after all. This of course would lead to a legendary spat and Harry wondering why he ever felt sorry for Draco in the first place.

Draco is not someone who handles rejection or embarrassment well (e.g. "you don't like me? well your mum is dead"), so I hardly think he would cope with shame or guilt in a productive manner. It's precisely this guilt that would lead him to lash out with aggression, hostility and blame, rather than cope with those emotions in a healthy manner. He's not a pleasant person at the best of times, let alone when you mix in war trauma. Only through getting to know each other (perhaps through some sort of forced proximity) would Harry be able to begin to unpack the clusterfuck that is his brain.

In post-war Drarry I would love to see more of an emphasis on the recovery of the Malfoys as a family unit. Even if Draco eventually decides to distance himself from his family, I think that would be a complex, extremely difficult decision for him to make. Quite frankly I don't see Draco ever cutting them off, leaving behind the magical world, etc. I can see his focus post-war being on improving the reputation of the Malfoys, returning the Manor to its former glory and strengthening their relationships with the other surviving pureblood families. I don't think the Malfoys would be the only family doing this. Many purebloods would double-down on their ideology and cry about persecution under post-war scrutiny while, for the most part, still benefiting from being a formidable, wealthy, politically powerful force within Wizarding Britain, regardless of whether they have Voldemort. I don't exactly buy Lucius spending much time in Azkaban, but if necessary for the plot/Draco's character growth, I fully support.

Draco is the Malfoy heir and the last of the Blacks. There's a thousand years of history resting on his shoulders and that's not something that Harry can easily empathise with. I don't believe characters can overcome all their flaws, nor that couples need to agree on everything. Harry and Draco will always have differences that they will never, ever see eye-to-eye on, and that's perfectly fine. Smooth, flawless characters that can come to an agreement on any topic through healthy, open communication regurgitated from some shrink's relationship script-book are not at all interesting to me. Sorry lol.

Do I think Harry would tolerate bigotry or have a healthy, warm relationship with Lucius? No, though the latter would be pretty funny. But do I think Draco will ever be able to match to Harry's idea of moral goodness? Also no. I like to see them find a middle-ground. Draco lives in a world of ambiguity and contradiction. I'm sure he's very used to the people he loves most doing horrible things that he will never properly be able to comprehend. As a child, he justified their bigotry and cruelty with a certain level of moralism, but I doubt he'd be able to keep that up post-war. I imagine he would just ignore their unpalatable traits, avoid conversations where he has to address that, etc. I don't think Harry would respect that approach, but I also think he has enough empathy and maturity (post DH) to understand the difficult position Draco is in.

I have some difficulty with eighth year fics where pursuing a career is something Draco sees as a natural next step. I don't have an issue with Draco falling on hard times financially for the sake of the narrative (I too have written, as one commenter called it, Temporarily Embarrassed Billionaire!Draco), but I think he would struggle with the shame and embarrassment of having to 'lower' himself to take a job. Again, something that Harry, with his (at best) middle-class upbringing, wouldn't be able to even comprehend. You thought first world problems were obnoxious? Try 0.001 percenter problems. I do love fics where Draco pursues a career though, be it Auror, Healer, Curse-breaker, etc. It's one of my favourite features of post-war Drarry fics. The world is their oyster. I just don't agree with Draco having a middle-class liberal mindset. Bro is an aristocrat.

[ghostofskywalker]

Hey lovely❤️❤️ Just popping in with a spring fic request.

Was thinking maybe our handsome boy Jesse with the prompt "You're cute when you try not to blush"

You can totally change it if you want to tho, I'll be happy with anything Jesse you write because I already know it's gonna be beautiful.

Hope you have fun writing this and enjoy your wine, you deserve it!! Love u babe <3

🥺 you are the sweetest! i did change the prompt a little (all of my fics are written as race-neutral so a blushing reader is something i’ll never do), and i've been looking for an excuse to write this fic for a while so i hope you enjoy it!!

words: 910

summary: you're the general of the coruscant guard, and a certain arc trooper keeps finding ways to get arrested to see you.

clone troopers masterlist

Heart Eyes in the Holding Cell

The first time you met Jesse, him and another ARC trooper had been taken in by one of your commanders for speeder racing outside of 79’s. It wasn’t a serious offense, and you understood the need for some soldiers to let loose in slightly unconventional ways given all that they had seen during the war, but Thorn had still brought them in as a little joke (if you had to guess why, it was because they sassed him a little upon getting caught). 

“I didn’t know the Coruscant Guard employed such pretty attendants,” one of the troopers said as you stepped into the room with the holding cell. You took in his blissed-out appearance, clearly still tipsy from the liquor he had consumed that night. The number 5 tattooed on his forehead (combined with your knowledge of your best friend’s battalion) told you exactly who this trooper was. 

“Technically they don’t,” you said, shifting your body so that he could see the lightsaber strapped to your hip. Your outfit was slightly fancier than usual, given the fact that you had just gotten back from a Senate function, where you served as a voice for the Jedi Council and security for Senator Amidala. “I’m in charge.” 

The first trooper’s eyes widened, and the other trooper with him started laughing so hard he was practically crying. “Nice going,” he managed to wheeze out, his head shaking. “Flirting with a general, that’ll get us out of here Fives.” 

“Shut up Jesse!” 

You just laughed at their antics, crossing your arms. “Actually, we’ve decided to let you go,” you said. Technically you weren’t supposed to let them go until the proper reports were filed or their commanding officer came to pick them up (bureaucracy was a nightmare), but you weren’t above a light joke here and there.

“Really?” Fives looked like you had just told him that he’d been elected chancellor.

“Once your commanding officer comes to pick you up, sure.” 

Both Fives and Jesse deflated. “Really, you can’t just open the door right now?” 

“Fox has already called Captain Rex, he’ll be here shortly,” you said. “We’re not going to charge you, but you can’t just go joyriding any time you want to.” 

At the news that they weren’t going to be in any real trouble, the two troopers relaxed. You ended up staying and talking to them until Rex came to pick them up, and you couldn’t help the way you were drawn to Jesse. 

As you waved goodbye to them, you had to try and push some very un-Jedi like thoughts out of your brain. 

***

“General!” Every clone’s voice was supposed to be same, but you knew exactly which trooper this voice belonged to. “Fancy seeing you here!” 

“Jesse, don’t tell me you’ve been arrested again.” Your utter bewilderment at the amount of times that he had ended up in your holding cell was only beat out by the confusion you held about the smile on his face. Ever since you had met him and Fives all that time ago, he ended up in custody at least once for every time the 501st was on leave. 

“Nah, like I told you last time, I just break into the holding cell for fun.”

You sighed. “What was it this time?” 

He smiled harder. “Does it really matter, mesh’la?” 

Oh, his words should not have had an effect on you. Trying to keep your composure, you raised an eyebrow at him. “I think it does.” 

“Racing again,” he said, managing to somehow look proud of that fact that he had gotten caught. 

“I think I’m going to tell Rex to put you on a leash whenever you all to go the bar or something,” you joked. 

“Why, you don’t want to see me?” 

“Oh, are you taking lessons from Fives now? Trying to flirt with the General to get out of jail?” 

“Maybe. You’re cute when you try not to smile, you know that?” 

Clearly he wasn’t going to give up (and maybe you didn’t want him to), so you decided to try a different approach. “And you’d be cute too if you didn’t stop getting arrested so much. If you wanted to see me, you could have just stopped by and said hello.” 

For all the times he had flirted with you before, Jesse seemed lost for words when you finally started to flirt back. The smile on your face was wider now, as you took in the confused expression he wore. 

And to confuse him a little bit more, you unlocked the holding cell. “Come on,” you said. “If you promise not to get arrested again, I’ll take you out to dinner.” 

Jesse looked stunned. “But- you’re a-” 

You just laughed. “If your general can be married to a senator, I think I can let one date slide.” 

He regained his cool with in an impressive amount of time, right as you two were approaching the front door to headquarters. “Why do you think it’s just going to be one date?” 

“I don’t know, I guess you’ll just have to impress me.” 

Right before he stepped outside into the night air, he leaned in and placed a soft kiss on your cheek. “Don’t worry cyar’ika, I plan on it.” And with that, the door opened and he walked away from the building. 

You couldn’t stop thinking about him for the rest of the night. He was bold, and you liked that. 

- the end -

[ravenkinnie]

thoughts on jinx largely using pink for her graffitis because the color reminds her of vi??

i like to think its true bcs it makes all those years of stewing resentment/longing/grieving before she sees vi again hits a little more harder. vi seeps into even the most trivial parts be it conscious or subconscious. even in her 'JINX' grafitti tag the first letter 'JI' is drawn in a shape similar with 'VI' the letter J is just tilted kind of, which is a blatant visual representation of how jinx's heart and soul yearns for her sister. its these little things that truly make me realize how obsessed jinx is with vi & idk to me the fandom doesnt talk enough ab it.

I mean I'll be real lads, jinx was using pink way before arcane and before her and vi were even sisters and I think they chose it because pink and blue go well together and now shes stuck with it forever ksjsjsj. I'm also glad s2 is coming out soon because the more people try to find VI in every poster the more I'm starting to feel like that encanto tweet that's like were running out of things to say about this movie jaisusj

don't get me wrong, I'm also prone to delusions, like riot renewed their K/DA trademark and I've been reading signs in the water and the sky for an upcoming EP/album so its not like I also don't live in delululand but my stance is we don't need to read the posters for signs of jinx's feelings towards vi when jinx already told us. like vi is one of the two protagonists we already know she's central to the story and we know that the vi jinx relationship is the centre of the show and the heart of it. and if you don't realise that then I think you will really love arcane because clearly you've never seen it before jajsjksks

but like, they are the centers of each others stories, vis entire arc in s1 is basically just defined by her sister and s2 will probably do little to change that at least in the first half. we know jinx defines herself outside of vi in some ways but she can't really cut her off, she says explicitly vi is a voice she heard over the years, and seven years on a bitch that slightly looks like vi is a trigger. silcos dead ass or not, that's not something you just move past, vi will always be the most important figure. esp since based on trailers we saw so far it seems that jinx in her current position is not living her best life, we've only seen her struggling and looking devastated so far and I assume vi will also not be thriving so I think it will only emphasise how they really are all each other has. and you can say vi has caitlyn now but first of all, caitlyn is insane amd also a bitch and now has personal and political beef with her sister. second of all, caitvi fandom simply is classist so you would think its not a problem but the class divide between them is a huge part of vis character in league and I assume they will keep thay in arcane looking at the direction they are going towards. they both will never have another person like each other, someone who knows where you come from

the reason the fandom doesnt care about it is not because its not true and factual to the show, its just how this fandom works. firstly, nobody cares about platonic relationships already. secondly, parts of the fandom that care about jinx don't necessarily care about vi and parts of the fandom that care about vi don't necessarily care about jinx so hilariously there doesn't seem to be a ton of overlap between the two parts of the fandom where you would have that relationship explored. and it's a very messy relationship that doesn't show either of them in the best light and fanon content is chronically allergic to complicated dynamics so at most you're getting like ship fics with background vi and jinx fluff or like few throwaway angst lines. and most meta on them just tries to argue that the other one is the problem kskskksksj