#this came out more ´poetic than i intended

[adhdtsukasa]

because nene's full yoru ni kakeru alt releases in LESS THAN A WEEK!!!! and i'm sooo so sane about this cover (a lie!), i just can't go on with my life without RAMBLING!!! and i'm rather surprised that it hasn't been done before (or maybe i just can't search properly. also very possible. anyways), so here it is — an analysis? of how yoru ni kakeru's lyrics correspond to ruinene's relationship so much that it HURTS (and why nene got this cover instead of rui, even though it's about suicide).

quick disclaimer: i will be using the lyrics from vocaloid lyrics wiki, because i'm uh. not a fan of the official english ver. and because it had to be somewhat changed so the english translation could fit the rhythm, it's also just not the same as original. hope you understand.

also this is not neccesarily a ship post. feel free to view it as such, but i'm interpreting everything here as fully platonic and how it is in canon.

starting with basically one of the first lines, it immediately connects with rui and nene losing contact during middle school — even moreso, to their unfamous scramble crossing conversation, where rui tells nene that he's now doing shows alone. they talked just like normal (did they, though?) and rui was still polite and kind towards nene, yet his goodbye was carrying something else with it: they're not best friends anymore. hell, it's not even clear if they're still friends, or did they simply become complete strangers to each other.

a throwback to their first meeting, so i'll also say it now: i see the whole song as kind of a messy retrospection, actually. the lyrics basically escalate in a present (as of main story) -> middle school -> childhood -> middle school -> present (still as of in main story) way, but i think it's rather easy to spot on? so i'm not gonna talk about it too much.

whatever, let's get back to the topic: it's important to remember that nene was rui's first friend, the first person (outside of his parents, obviously) that accepted him for who he is. obviously rui had a lonely gaze when they first met — because he was lonely. he was alone.

the first two verses can be referencing how rui's peers treated him: they were scared of him, they called him a weirdo. for a child like him, these words surely were enough to make him cry, as he only wanted to have friends — that's why nene is here for the rescue! they're together, so he doesn't have to be scared anymore. as long as they're together, everything will be just fine.

the happiness they want to find is ordinary, but that's because rui wants to be treated as an ordinary human being, too.

nene wanted to be rui's friend, sincerely. he was and still is such an important person to her, her very best friend. she wishes for him to finally be happy, to finally have friends, to finally give her the sincerest of all of his smiles. and she wants to be a part of his happiness.

as long as they have each other, the sun will surely rise for them. but...

...as the years pass by, everything starts to fall apart. rui is getting more and more stigmatized and him being in middle school now is definitely not helping him in any way. in this moment, we're back to their conversation mentioned at the very beginning: rui tells nene everything, and nene tries to believe it. she really does! if rui didn't beg for her to get closer to him again, then he surely must be fine being alone, surely.

but there is doubt in her heart, and it's sickening. it cannot be true. this is in no way what rui wanted.

she still hopes that they can go back to what they used to be. one day, rui will surely trust her again. and maybe one day, she'll finally understand his struggles. she wishes for that out of the kindness of her heart — but rui's middle school self is just unable to fulfill this wish.

but the days are still passing by, and nothing is going for the better — everything is actually deteriorating. everytime nene tries to approach rui, his answer is always the same. he doesn't want her close. and soon, rui isolating himself from her is not her only problem (or you can even say, her only trauma). her stage incident happens and she's left with nothing, as well as with no one to turn to. rui is already tired of everything, and nene is slowly becoming tired too. the days are getting duller and more gray for both of them.

their hands are just like parallel lines. somehow, they also can never meet.

so now, nene is just like rui. traumatized. alone. scared. she's just like that until she starts her first year of high school, because then she suddenly sees rui again. oh, god, she sees rui again. he offers her to join wxs, and he's actually smiling. his smile is just like a cure for all of her problems. it's a smile she has always wanted to see... a smile that he has offered her when he finally reached out to her.

so, nene joins wxs. and it's not the end of their problems, but also surely a new beginning for their relationship. the damage has been already done and they both suffered because of it, so they're still racing into the night, but at least they're together—

there's one thing that differs them from the yoru ni kakeru story, though (and i'm talking about the lyrics exclusively here. and, well, the end of the mv. but nothing else, none of the references that the song used) — yoru ni kakeru is about suicide, after all. the mv ends with the main character committing, that's a dead end. but it's nothing like that for rui and nene; ever since they joined wxs, their lives slowly started to get better. they managed to achieve their happy ending, despite the circumstances.

they're friends again.

so, why is not rui covering this song? after all, his middle school self just screams depression, suicidal thoughts, stuff like that, he'd be such an obvious pick. but... from the perspective of the lyrics, there's something more to the song than just the theme of suicide. the lyrics are going in the direction of being unable to help the person you love, of being forced to only look at how they're becoming worse and worse each day, of finally getting overwhelmed by it as well. that's precisely what middle school nene was. suicide is not enough to give it to rui. he wouldn't fit the lyrics at all, since his relationship with nene didn't look like that from his side.

was nene actually suicidal during middle school as well? i believe that's a question that should be left to one's own interpretation. but i think it's worth considering, especially since proseka's line distribution usually implies some things.

oh, obviously, they could've just picked her because she was the most accurate vocal to sing this song. but you cannot say that it doesn't fit her. it does. a lot.

middle school rui kamishiro and nene kusanagi, i hope you explode.

[knifegremliin]

god, when does the exhaustion end? when do i get to have energy? when do i get to wake up in the morning and be ready for the day, instead of just drudging through until i can go sleep again? does it last forever? i don't know.

[yuwuta]

Wow I have been nonstop thinking about tennis king yuuta and his little baby boy I’m going to kill you (affectionate) - @yuutito

teeheeeeeeeee….. here’s some more, aleks :’) enjoy :))))))

“Everybody thinks he looks like me, but I don’t see it that way. Maybe it’s because every time I look at him, I see my wife and I’m reminded of her […] I’m a little biased so I see her in everything.” 

You find yourself with tears welling in your eyes the more you read into Yuuta’s latest magazine interview. Between his sweet quotes and the pictures of him with your son, it’s taking everything in you not to burst into full-blown tears. 

Your boys look so handsome. You and Yuuta shared your concerns with publicizing your child at such a young age, but you two came to the conclusion that you’d rather have the control in the narrative than to let private family pictures be leaked uncontrollably. As another point of reassurance, Yuuta’s career provided him with just enough lime-light to be a household name without the crazy fame and criticism that came along being a true celebrity. Besides—Yuuta talked enough about you and your son in press conferences and interviews that it was bound to happen sooner rather than later. 

The article wasn’t entirely about you, or your family—or at least, you’re sure it wasn’t intended to be; you knew your husband had a knack for rambling about his loved ones, even where work was concerned. As you continue to read, you find a segment where the author compared Yuuta’s current statements with something similar he’d said about you twelve years ago—at the very start of his professional career: “If I owe this [winning Gold] to anybody, it’s my girlfriend. She’s always believed in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself. I wouldn’t have qualified or even thought to qualify if it weren’t for her.” 

It feels like you and Yuuta were just two kids in love back then. You didn’t think it could be more than that—you didn’t think you could love Yuuta more than you did all those years ago, but somewhere along the way just being in love wasn’t enough to describe it; Yuuta became your partner, someone you loved fundamentally, but also because you couldn’t stand to see yourself without him. And just when you thought you couldn’t love anyone nearly as much as you love him, you turn the page to a picture of your husband and son peeping through the holes of a racket and your heart feels full. 

When you scan the image more closely, you realize that it isn’t just any racket—it’s an old one, one you’d given to Yuuta as a gift probably back in high-school. You had no idea he’d kept it, but you suppose you shouldn’t be all that surprised; Yuuta is nothing if not sentimental. 

“Ah, there she is~” Yuuta’s voice cuts through your thoughts. When you turn, you see him, with your baby boy on his hip, sliding the back porch door closed. 

Both boys approach you with a smile on your face, and you set the magazine aside to sit up in the lounge chair to greet them. Yuuta presses a kiss to your forehead, then your lips before you do the same to your son. Immediately after, he reaches his arms out for you, and Yuuta chuckles, “You wanna be with your mama? Can’t blame you, I missed her, too.” 

He hands the baby off to you, and takes a seat on the other end of the chair, reaching over to coo at his son as you smother his face in kisses. 

“How was the farmer’s market?” you question, letting the baby settle into your lap. 

“Good, he picked out some very bright peppers, and we got some more strawberries, know you’ve been craving them,” Yuuta smiles, reaching over to pat your son’s head, when the closed magazine catches his eye, and he reaches for it, quickly flipping through, “Ah—I guess that interview’s out. He’s grown so much, even though it was only a few months ago.” 

You find the blush on his cheeks beyond endearing. Yuuta always finds room to be bashful no matter how many times he’s waxed poetic about his love for you, or his family—his cheeks always stain pink like the first day you met him. 

“It’s sweet. You’re sweet,” you smile, sparing a hand to run through Yuuta’s hair, charmed by the way he leans into your touch, “I didn’t know you still had that racket.” 

“Of course, I keep everything you give me,” he says, earnestly. He closes the magazine and scoots a little closer, taking advantage of the proximity and of your touch to lay his head on your shoulder, “Did you… read all of it?” 

“Almost, but no, why?” you question, with a light-hearted grin, “Did you say something that would lead the world to believe you’re somehow even more in love with me? Because you might already be past the threshold, dear.” 

Yuuta hums. He reaches to take you son out of your lap and carefully shifts himself to that he’s laying down, his head on your lap, and the baby in his arms, happily giggling and cooing as Yuuta holds him up. He lowers and raises him back and forth a few times, nuzzling their noses together when their faces are close, before sitting him up on his chest.

Then he tilts his head up to look at you, wide, love-filled eyes blinking slowly before he says, “Maybe… depends on if me saying I want more kids is past the threshold or not.” 

[sage-nebula]

When The Owl House first came out, there was a lot of discussion surrounding how King could potentially be Bill, with the most common theory being that Bill had somehow been reincarnated into King by the Axolotl. After all, not only does Alex Hirsch voice both of them, but the voice he uses for King is very similar to the voice he uses for Bill. (Very similar, but not the exact same; apart from not having the voice distortion, King's voice is higher pitched. King's voice is basically Bill's voice before Bill hit puberty, lmao.) Apart from that, both King and Bill are demons; King had an obsession with ruling, power, and conquest; King has yellow sclera; and, well, people were desperate for connections between Gravity Falls and The Owl House, to the point where I actually did end up pretty annoyed for awhile that people weren't letting The Owl House stand on its own two feet and were instead treating it like a sequel show. (Though there are actual, canonical connections between them now, the most notable being that Eda married Stan for less than 24 hours in Vegas so that she could rob him blind, lmao. He still thinks fondly of her to this day, as he should.)

I bring this up because I never really subscribed to this theory, or thought very much of it . . . until now. It's not that I think the theory is more plausible now, but more that I think that the idea holds a sort of poetic beauty to it now, if it was true. (Which again, I don't think it necessarily is, but more that it's a nice "what if" to think about.) And the reason for that comes from information that we gained from The Book of Bill, along with additional information that we've now gained from the website, along with how King's story arc developed and played out in The Owl House. (So, spoilers for that show, the new book, and the website if you haven't kept up with any of that.)

Essentially:

It's been heavily implied for years now (to the point where, in my personal opinion, it was known, but to be safe I'm saying heavily implied) that Bill destroyed his home dimension. In the show, Bill says that he "liberated" his home dimension, and when he brings it up, there is fiery imagery around him that is similar to the rift that opens in the sky to link Gravity Falls to the Nightmare Realm during Weirdmageddon. Then, in one of the spinoff books, when Dipper asks the Axolotl about Bill, the Axolotl says, "Saw his own dimension burn [. . .] blame the arson for the fire." Considering that Bill said that he "liberated" his dimension with fire imagery, and the Axolotl says that he saw his dimension burn (and blames the arson, rather than the arsonist for the fire) . . . the conclusion can easily be drawn that Bill's "liberation" was actually "destruction." Which makes sense, when you remember what he wanted to do to Earth during Weirdmageddon.

Nonetheless, we have had that confirmed now thanks to The Book of Bill and the website. We know that when Bill tries to recant what happened to his dimension, there is a loud ringing in his ears and he blacks out; we know that he looks "more distant than [Ford] had ever seen him" when he tries to recount the story to Ford (implying dissociation; we know that he told his henchmaniacs the "liberation" story and that he freaks out when Time Baby tries to speak openly about what actually happened and who actually caused it; and we know that, during his therapy sessions in the Theraprism, when the therapist tries to turn the discussion to his parents, he shuts down discussion altogether. (And also only draws red and blue triangles during his art sessions, implying that may be what his parents looked like.)

So we know that: Bill destroyed his own dimension, that he's the sole survivor of the massacre, that he was severely traumatized by this (because he didn't intend to massacre his entire people, he honestly was trying to help them see what he could see -- the third dimension) and that he just handled his trauma in the worst possible way, particularly since he did not have anyone left to give him a support system. A billion years without a proper support system or any form of healing, sinking further and further into denial, rationalization, and detachment (outlined on Bill's page on morality as his tools of the trade), lying until his lies were no longer lies to himself, made Bill into the monster he is today.

But then the Pines family defeated him (thanks to Stan), he invoked the name of the Axolotl, and got sent to the Theraprism. He hates it there, and he is so deeply entrenched in the lies-he-no-longer-recognizes-as-lies that he is not making any progress. As Alex said at one of the Barnes & Noble Q&As, what Bill really needs is to actually be honest with himself, but it's unknown if he will ever be able to do that. Until he can do that, the hope of him actually making progress at the Theraprism is nil.

But here is the thing about the Theraprism. Well, here are the two things about the Theraprism:

The first is that we are told that the Theraprism is a place specifically devoted to reincarnation. The reason why the "King is reincarnated Bill" theory was popular before was mostly due to the reasons I mentioned above, but also because of another line in the Axolotl's poem: "A different form, a different time." People understood this to mean reincarnation, and it's easy to see why. But for me personally, I always found it a bit strange that the Axolotl would simply let Bill reincarnate simply by calling out for help. Would that really be all it took for the Axolotl? True, the Axolotl is the god of this universe, and Jesus (from how I understand it) is all about "accept me as your savior and you're immediately absolved of all sins," but I also felt that was just too easy of a Get Out of Death Free card for Bill. It was a very clean getaway, considering everything.

But The Book of Bill makes it evident that isn't the case. As it is described by the Theraprism employee in the book:

"Here at the Theraprism, we believe death can be the beginning of a new life. With good behavior, former wizards, world-eating titans, and even Mr. Cipher have many exciting options for reincarnation -- perhaps as a newt, shrimp, or a cloud of fungal spores!"

The Axolotl also made this clear to Bill (though Bill misunderstood entirely:

"You cannot regrow through denial. You'll have to face my hardest trial. See my program to the end, then you may yet live again. You're getting what you need the most; one way to absolve your crimes, to change your form will take some time."

Now, many of you are probably thinking: a baby titan from the Boiling Isles is a huge leap from newts, shrimp, and fungal spores. I would agree with you; it seems that the Theraprism does tend to pick very lowly life forms for the big bads they rehabilitate to reincarnate into. But here are the reasons why I think it would be poetic if it were King, and therefore why I like to think that it would be nice if this were the case:

Like Bill, King is the last of his kind. Unlike Bill, this is through no fault of King's own; the other titans were wiped out before King even hatched, and King's father had to hastily inscribe runes to protect him from the titan hunters (or archivists?) so that they couldn't find and kill him as well by destroying his egg. Nonetheless, King is the sole survivor of a genocide and this is something that weighs heavily on him and influences his character arc in a big way in the second half of the show. The fact that he doesn't know what he is lends struggle to him trying to discover who he is. Yes, he's in a family of misfits, but Eda and Luz know what they are and who they come from. King doesn't have that. King has no basis for what he is, or why he was abandoned -- none of it. And then when he does finally start to get answers, it's to learn that his people were massacred in a genocide; that there are people still out there who want to kill him; that he is going to grow to be a deity-like figure, that he'll outlive those he loves . . . King is a child of about eight-years-old, but he has so, so much weighing on him already.

But where Bill accidentally destroyed his dimension and killed everyone in it, and then was crushed under the weight of that trauma because he was left alone and covered in blood, King did have that family of misfits to support and love him through it all. He was still burdened by the fact that he didn't know what he was or where he came from, but Eda, Hooty, Luz, and eventually Lilith gave him unconditional love and a home and support to figure all of that out, to the point where it was King's idea to be formally adopted by Eda and change his name to King Clawthorne. And while he will eventually outlive them all, he made a friend in The Collector who is also immortal, so he'll never be truly alone.

Essentially, what I'm getting at here is: there are parallels in Bill's and King's story, now that we know Bill's backstory. They aren't the exact same, especially since King was not responsible for what happened to the other titans. But there are still parallels that can be made. But whereas things ended as badly as they could possibly end up for Bill, King's story had a much better ending. So if we imagine that Bill was reincarnated as King, then it is almost like he got a do-over. Like he was put in a similar situation, but this time he was found by a new adoptive mother who raised him with love and care, and got an adoptive big sister, and owl tube house mate, and aunt, as well as a ton of friends. He suffered trauma, but this time he didn't have to suffer it alone, and was able to handle it in a much better, much healthier way. Yes, he's an all-powerful demon (or at least, he will be someday, when he grows into an adult). But this time he isn't going to be causing any apocalypses, or delighting in any mortal suffering. This time, things are going to be different for him, because his soul completed the Axolotl's program in the Theraprism and he was able to reincarnate for that second chance.

(And if you're thinking, "But The Owl House doesn't take place that long after Gravity Falls, so how is that possible?" Well, the Theraprism exists outside of time and space, so it doesn't matter how many millennia it takes for Bill to complete the program. He literally has all the time in the multiverse.)

So I'm on board with this theory now. Again, I do not think it's canon. But it's a nice idea, and one that I think has a poetic sweetness to it. No one has to agree, of course, but that's just my take on it.

[raticalshoez]

Man, there is just something so fascinating to me about the Boat Boys because I think their relationship has always been akin to like...the rockiest of waters (pun intended). I've just been thinking so much about it...

In 3rd Life, funnily enough, one of their first interactions was just them riding a boat together. In Last Life, Joel ended Etho's series. Even before being soulbonded they've had that sort of "me and the bestie/can't stand his fakeass" dynamic.

If anything was evident in Double Life, it's that they had fun together. It's safe to say they probably weren't the most loyal to one another, mainly due to Etho and his Bdubs withdrawal, but it would be wrong to say that they didn't enjoy each other's company. They both have the urge to cause chaos, but one's more upfront about it and the other is more subtle. They complimented each other and balanced out the other, and when the time came around, they died together poetically.

Limited Life was definitely...a season for Joel and Etho interactions. This season was filled with animosity, and constant jabs, and bitter callbacks to a past life. Boat Boys this season were just killing or insulting each other left and right, not finding a moment of comfort or piece around each other.

Then there's Secret Life. This one in particular makes me kind of insane because there's both the animosity and bite to their words when they're interacting with one another, but there was also sincerity. For a brief moment, these two were able to express genuine care that they still had for one another, and that's just crazy to me. Both Joel and Etho's characters don't know sincerity and always deal more mushy, heartfelt things awkwardly, so this was CRAZY for me. And it always hits harder for me because I've always just imagined Joel and Etho's relationship to just be a very strong, platonic bond. They have people who they are definitely closer to; Joel has people like Lizzie, Grian and Jimmy, and Etho has people like Bdubs, Cleo, and Tango. Those are people that they tend to naturally gravitate towards, but the two of them will always end up crossing paths. And well, that's what being soulmates is really about, right? It's not really about romance; it's about being bound to find this particular person in every universe, no matter what.

Out of all the people on the server, I never expected it to be them. Etho and Joel, the two guys who never seemed to be able to let go of their soul bond when everyone else had moved on to some capacity.

It's like how Martyn never left winter. It's like how Jimmy and Tango will always be each others' ranchers even though they no longer reside at the ranch. It's like how Scar and Grian know monopolies better than anyone. Cleo will always be caught up on BigB's betrayal and Lizzie will remain bitter about Cleo's destructive tendencies towards her home. Impulse will never let go of Bdubs' betrayal. It's the way Scott seems somewhat attached to literally ALL of his exes. The lifers just cannot be normal about each other and every new season adds to their insanity regarding one another.

If you've reached the end of this, I commend you. I'm not adding anything new to this conversation, I'm just yapping and blabbling about the Minecraft series that changed my life and altered my brain chemistry. These worms eat at my neurons everyday and I just HAVE to tell somebody, ANYBODY about my insanity.

[aheathen-conceivably]

🎶 Whatever colors you have in your mind, I'll show them to you and you'll see them shine 🎶

Antoine had slept later than he intended to. By the time he began to stir, the sunshine had progressed from its early position across the floorboards onto the plaid comforter of their bed and the stripes of his pajama pants. He turned to reach for Zelda but found her gone. Rather than panic, he opened his eyes to a room now grown increasingly familiar. 

Spider webs had disappeared from the corners and their trunks now sat in the places they had once claimed. The iron bedframe’s creak came as a comfort rather than a surprise, and the woman he sought stood in front of him, already in an apron and looking down at the few belongings she had already unpacked.

She turned to smile at him, “Good morning, city boy. I thought you’d never wake. I’ve already been down to see the situation with the soil. It’s not as bad as Giorgio believes, or at least I hope, but I don’t know if it will ever be capable of achieving his dreams of grand success.”

He reached his hand out toward her and she walked over, continuing the train of thoughts that was still fresh in her mind, “He may need to switch crops, or I can see about the water quality of the stream, maybe digging some sort of trench, experimenting with the old well…”

She kept on, discussing soil quality and techniques with more expertise than Antoine thought she was capable of. He tried his hardest to listen to every word, but his thoughts trailed off as she absentmindedly ran her hand down his arm. As she spoke he continued to pull her closer, with the single goal of coaxing her back into bed, even if it was only to better listen to the waxing of mineral compositions and acidity levels that had somehow taken on new poetic undertones.

She laced her fingers with his, putting forward a half hearted effort to pull him to his feet and out of bed. He sat up and looped his hands around the band of her apron, rising only so far as to meet her eyes without standing. She gave into his weight, tumbling back onto their bed laughing, trying to continue on about her plans for the garden as he moved his hands up her leg. 

“You do know we live on a farm and must rise before noon now, don't you? We can’t just lounge about all morning as we once did.”

“Old habits die hard, my dear. And must we give up all our luxuries so fast? Truly it seems only right to acclimate slowly to this new life of ours, lest we fail at it entirely…”

Zelda’s protests of the pressing work to be done went silent on her upturned lips. After all, he did make a very convincing argument.

[angelfleurry]

hii! id like to ask a nagito x fem! ultimate hope! reader, if thats ok??! thanks for the attention!! <3

♡ Nagito X Fem!! Ultimate Hope!! Reader: ♡

Thank you so much for requesting, Anon! I just LOVE writing for Nagito honestly. I’m not the most perfect at it, but something about his particular character makes it really fun to write for! I just did little headcanons if that’s okay! I wrote it assuming it was light-hearted, but if you wanted something more serious I can!!

That being said, I really hope you like it! Have a wonderful day, my love, and feel free to request again whenever!

~

♡ You really do live up to the title!!

♡ You’re so determined it’s incredible.

♡ Whatever you set your mind on, it will be done. You don’t quit, you don’t give up.

♡ Most of all, you encourage others to continue alongside your own journey.

♡ That inspired Nagito so very much.

♡ As the Ultimate Hope, there was no falsity in the fact that you had gone through some intense events within your life. Whatever the nature of these events, you always seemed to rise above them in some way, never letting it affect your hope.

♡ In fact, living through these events only seemed to strengthen your hope.

♡ You often felt a little silly being within Hope’s Peak. You didn’t see how your talent could compare to the rest of the student body.

♡ But when a certain Ultimate Lucky Student started gravitating towards you, you had to rethink that opinion.

♡ It was a little confusing at first, what with him suddenly seeming to devote himself entirely to you, but you came to find a friend in him.

♡ Slowly, you too had begun to devote yourself to him.

♡ Eventually, it became more than a friend you’d found.

♡ You made a point to compliment and praise Nagito whenever you could.

♡ Something about his bewildered reactions amused you, but they also do come from your heart.

♡ You knew Nagito held a rather…degrading view towards himself, and sometimes it could be incredibly difficult to break him out of it.

♡ While aware you could not magically change his self-view, you were determined to make him feel as loved as possible.

♡ And, needless to say, you did that wonderfully!

♡ It didn’t even have to be direct words of affection, once Nagito would be met with your smiling face and a sweet welcome; he’d be in a frenzy.

♡ He didn’t understand - he couldn’t understand - why him?!

♡ What he did understand, however, was that he was completely and utterly undeserving of you.

♡ You were everything he admired, everything he wanted to embody, everything good he craved in the world.

♡ You were so incredible, so determined, so very kind…

♡ And, you were devoting yourself to him. *Him*, of all people!!

♡ He couldn’t comprehend it; what were you doing?!

♡ Still, though, it was working.

♡ Slowly, but surely, he was becoming aware that you intended to stay, and that you genuinely loved him for who he was; flaws and all.

♡ He adored you, and made sure that the act of giving affection didn’t just fall upon you.

♡ Words of affirmation were an incredibly important part of your relationship, both from you to him and him to you.

♡ You were everything to him; there was nobody else he treasured more.

♡ He just couldn’t understand how he was the same to you.

♡ He sung your praises constantly, regardless as to whether or not you were around. The praise in question would be about literally anything; your talent, you as an individual, the outfit you chose to wear - you name it.

♡ He is very poetic in the way he talks about you.

♡ Cuddles are a definite must between the two of you. It took a while, with Nagito being hesitant under the belief of him tarring your perfection, but you slowly managed to get him comfortable with it.

♡ Nagito appreciates the verbal affection you give him, but something about the physical affection you give sends him spiralling.

♡ He won’t say it, but he ADORES it when you lean into him desperate to be held.

♡ He feels you wrap your arms around him, feels your head against him, and he’s a GONER. Any source of oxygen he previously had is gone.

♡ He himself doesn’t tend to initiate physical contact though. He still feels like he needs to keep a distance from you, for your own protection from his luck, but it’s not as if he doesn’t enjoy the contact you give him. He loves it, even.

♡ But then, at the same time, there are moments where Nagito has a weird surge in confidence.

♡ He’ll reach you first, keeping you close, before then apologising and reverting.

♡ It’s confusing, and you try to encourage him to just do what he wants.

♡ He’ll just a give a light hum at that.

♡ Nagito loves listening to stories about your life. It doesn’t matter if he’s heard them all, he will be listening again, and he loves it.

♡ He loves hearing about the event that made you become the Ultimate Hope, but he also loves hearing little things as well. Anything about you, anything at all, he’ll whole-heartedly listen.

♡ You two can often be found curled up reading books together. It can be your own individual tastes, or you’ll both have a copy of the same book.

♡ The silence isn’t awkward, it’s rather calming. Nagito appreciates that you can be in his company without needing much communication. It brings him some reassurance about the nature of his luck.

♡ Sometimes you’ll go to the river and read, which is always so lovely. The birds and the gentle gushing sounds of the water always bring such a charm to the activity.

♡ You have this selection of perfume and scented body scrubs that you rotate on a monthly basis and he ADORES IT.

♡ He just thinks it’s so precious how you find joy in pampering yourself, and the gorgeous scents are always welcomed.

♡ In fact, you’ve offered some of your stuff to him before, and he loves the designs of the products. He finds them so beautiful.

♡ Certain scents just remind him of you now.

♡ He’s a darling when you’re on your period.

♡ He’s a little hesitant, unsure of whether or not he’s being patronising, but he tries to envision himself in your situation and is just so great at making sure you’re comfortable; even if you know how to live with it.

♡ To him, you’re so very dear, and he wants you to be happy.

♡ That ties in to the physical affection once again. You’ve both shared kisses on a few occasions, and everytime he finds himself questioning why you, the Ultimate Hope herself, are willing to partake in such intimacy with him.

♡ He worries he’s going to do something wrong, or that his luck will play up, or that you’ll grow tired of him and leave, but…

♡ Once your lips meet his, his mind kind of clouds over.

♡ You’re so delicate as he holds you close, butterflies kicking his stomach from all angles, fingers gently caressing the ends of your hair.

♡ Even just little, quick, kisses are everything to him. When you kiss his hand, or peck his forehead, or even plant one upon his nose, he’s smitten every time.

♡ You’ve fallen asleep whilst with him a few times, and every time he always stops to gaze at you in awe.

♡ “So peaceful..” he’d whisper, breath hitching, a soft fuzziness in his chest, “So…perfect.”

♡ He just likes to watch.

♡ He’s fallen asleep as well, and sometimes awakens to you playing with his hair.

♡ You do that when he’s awake as well, gently brushing through it and just fluffing it around.

♡ He just adores and appreciates you whole-heartedly. You really are his hope, his light, and he would do anything for you.

♡ He would die for you, self-inflicted or not.

♡ But, just having you there with him will do.

♡ He likes that a lot.

[deusvervewrites]

I think you're right with Bakugo losing his quirk being something interesting for the series. I get that the intended reading (or at least a rather common interpretation in the fandom) of his character is supposed to be that he's generally completed his redemption, but to me it feels like its still got a lot to cover, mostly because I don't think that it dug that deep into his mindset or really made him actually reevaluate Why he wanted to be a hero.

I'm not saying he didn't have a character arc, its just that what arc was there was very slow paced, and kinda makes it look painfully slower when you compare it to the constant escalation of the rest of the plot. In theory its an interesting look into how changing as a person comes slowly, but in practice there's really only so long I can stand watching some little dick waffle about on whether or not he should treat people with basic human decency when he's looking to take on a position of power.

Like yeah he starts to respect his classmates, but to me it feels more like that respect came solely from recognizing their power rather than realizing that everyone deserves respect. It would be a solid start to an improvement arc! But no, its at what a lot of people think to be is the peak of Bakugo's redemption.

Especially in regards to Midoriya. Everyone cheers on the fact that he now sees him as a rival and even finds joy in their competition, but it currently falls flat to me because. its just validating Bakugo's power-based worldview now that Midoriya has a quirk. like sure he respects his heroic skills but does he respect him as a person?

But now, if he's lost his quirk... He's going to have to fully confront How Exactly He Fucked Up. No rationalizing that someone deserves his respect because they're as powerful as him and can compete against him in a game he's gonna win! Its either he rethinks his entire worldview or he wallows in his own misery at being quirkless, and there's no way that the story will go the second route, especially if Midoriya's own quirklessness sticks.

And honestly? that would be the most fulfilling ending to his character to me. Bakugo not being a hero would probably piss a rather vocal portion of the fanbase off, especially if Midoriya pulls off becoming a quirkless hero, but it would be very satisfying to me in particular, so. Yeah.

(OOPS this got long. My bad. I just started typing and it just spilled out)

I mean. I wrote a 1300 word essay on the problems I have with Bakugou's character arc. And like I said, his dialogue is worded once again to place value in Midoriya's Quirk over him. Personally I was hoping that Bakugou would be the Quirkless Hero because it would be a poetic inversion of how the series started while also showing a mindset that doesn't put that kind of value into Quirks.

Bakugou has some really good moments. The Final War has done a lot of good with him and addressed most of the issues I've had with his character overall. But with Bakugou you never know when you're gonna get a moment where he, I dunno, spitballing here, overhears that Midoriya lost his Quirk and starts crying because they can't compete anymore. Or physically attacks Midoriya for slapstick comedy. Wouldn't that be a weird writing decision? Making a joke about how Bakugou still attacks Midoriya? Over 250 chapters in? That'd be fucking weird.

[sn0wbat]

a row of einarrs because.... why not tbh.

honestly i just wanted to have a reference for his hair and skin colors at different ages. he changed a bit

details under cut

toddler

born very light blond

still very baby

child

hair may start darkening, as is usual with most natural blondes.

turned out to be surprisingly good at sewing, placing him with the women at an earlier age than usual. :^)

he was trying to give his dress a more masculine tunic cut, because he liked it more for some reason. unfortunately, he did it maybe a little too well.

still a bit clueless about his gender situation, but Something Felt Off

really liked roleplaying... you will never guess what gender all his best characters were. (boys. they were all boys.)

teen

so apparently lye bleach was a thing?? anyway he probably did that with his hair at this point.

came out as a boy 🏳️‍⚧️

going by einarr for real now

father immediately accepted him, mother not so much.

constantly wearing an oversized capelet over his entire torso because he was dysphoric as hell.

fledgling vampire (age 24-40)

ah, the hubris of exploring on his own while the rest of the group were trying to pillage this mysteriously empty castle. it's an old ruin. and those just intrigue him a lot. they are fascinating to him

anyway so basically he ran into a vampire while going viking. ended up in a duel. died.

in his early vampire years, his growing bat form's white fur started to overtake his existing hair color. kinda similar to graying hair.

once he realized how hardy vampires were, did top surgery on himself with a sword.

then he had to stitch himself up. with his existing sewing skills - a skillset deemed to be very feminine at the time. something poetic about that i feel

stuck in a castle. doesn't escape until he's like 50

middle vampire (age 200-700)

hair has already gone fully pale a long time ago.

skin is getting paler. more purple in tone.

ears are slowly growing in size, gaining transparency along with it

however, has also figured out how to blend in with humans again at this time (through vampiric illusions that make him look mortal)

peasant for a while. growing dislike of kings and authority figures. ends up joining the pirates in his seventh (?) century

has been caught drinking blood from humans, has been caught stealing from the rich, and has been to jail several times. usually escaped pretty easily with vampire powers. has been responsible for at least one mass jailbreak

the look of his clothing actually shifted a lot over all these centuries, but this art wasn't really focused on clothes, so i just picked something basic

ancient vampire (900+)

skin gone blue. fangs gone long.

ears reached their max size a while ago.

gotten quite nostalgic; started to wear norse-style clothing in his own time again. it's comfy and familiar!

among the mortals it has been many centuries of trying to match contemporary fashions. genuinely enjoys working with textiles though, so it's no big deal. yeah he still does this.

cannot keep up a human disguise for more than a couple hours... maintaining an illusion gets exhausting when it's so many things at once.

mostly goes for fish blood these days. it's not the greatest blood, but he likes the taste of it the most and it's less of a hassle to get when he's at sea all the time.

avoids the greater vampire community. he feels it's too much drama all the time, all while they just tend to think of him as a hermit, and well. they're not wrong.

has been known to take some odd jobs here and there, pretending to be mortal.

i did not actually intend to write down this much but!! i just like him a lot. gotta stop myself from writing too much. there's so much more i could say about him, but we'd be here forever

[frostedpuffs]

hi ash, do you have a fic rec list of miraculous fics that you have enjoyed? 👀 i’ve watched miraculous for years and been a fan but i’m new to reading miraculous fics 🐞❤️🐈‍⬛💚

i can try! i actually don't read a lot of fanfic, but i can recommend a few I've read that I've enjoyed :) most are one-shots.

Experimental Kisses by MireilleTanaka (komorebirei) Summary: Ladybug watched him. Maybe it was guilt, maybe sympathy, maybe a streak of playfulness. Maybe the traumatic akuma experience had softened her up. Whatever the reason, a thought wafted lazily through her mind and out of her mouth. “You know… you’re right. It isn’t fair, is it?” Chat Noir looked up. “I remember my first kiss, but you don’t.” She hummed and tapped her chin, making a show of remembering. “It wasn’t a bad kiss, but we were in the middle of fighting an akuma, so I didn’t get to enjoy it much, either.” Oops—that came out sounding a little, no, a lot more flirty than she had intended. Anyway, if she was going to commit to this idea, she may as well go all in. Rating: T Comments: a very cute ladynoir kiss fic. i really like the way the author wrote the kisses here!

i think it’s time i told you (i’m a fan of your universe) by a_miiraculer, clairelutra Summary: Years after Hawkmoth’s defeat, Ladybug and Chat Noir have a conversation about life, love, and marriage. Rating: T Comments: a WONDERFUL little one-shot where chat noir buys a ring, and ladybug wonders who it's for. ladynoir.

where roses bloom by @carpisuns Summary: “You’re sick, aren’t you?” He drops down to the balcony. “You’re sick because you love someone and … they don’t love you back.” (Love square Hanahaki AU, Marichat centric) Rating: T Comments: i LOVE LOVE LOVE this fic. a bittersweet marichat centric Hanahaki AU that makes my heart feel things. please read it

whose woods these are (I think I know.) by Reiaji Summary: Four years after his future turns to cinders, Adrien is a servant in the house he was meant to inherit. Disowned by his father and abused by his stepmother, his days are filled with drudgery until he meets a masked huntress in the forest behind his father's chateau. As his friendship with Ladybug turns to first love, he dreams of a future spent at her side. Then, on the eve of the Princess's masquerade, he meets his guardian—and is granted a wish. [Ladrien Cinderella AU] Rating: T Comments: magical ladrien cinderella au. it wouldn't be a fic rec list by me if i didn't recommend the fic that i still think about on a daily basis. the poetic writing, the story, the characters, just...AUGH. i cant even describe how good this story is. I'll admit i wasn't into it at first but by the time i got near the end i COULD NOT PUT THIS FIC DOWN. very good please read. multichapter

Eating (nothing but) Affection by crownedcrusader Summary: Some cats won't eat unless they feel safe. Unless someone they trust is nearby, keeping them company. Unrelated: Adrien has pushed away so many cold meals that he can't eat if he's alone. Rating: G Comments: a sweet fic where adrien doesn't like to eat alone. his friends notice this.

Probably Not The Best Idea by @coffeebanana Summary: When Adrien first offered Ladybug his spare room, it was mostly joke. Not once in a million years did he think she'd actually take him up on the offer. After all, he's the only one who's hopelessly in love. Right? For her part, Ladybug never meant to make a habit out of visiting Adrien. But now that she has, well…spending time with him feels safe. It feels right. So why not give this roommates thing a try? Surely it'll be nice, not having to hide her hero identity in her own home for once, even if she has to hide her civilian identity instead. All in all, it might not be the best idea they've ever had, but…can it really be the worst? And if they happen to get a little more than they bargained for in the process? That's just part of the fun. Rating: T Comments: VERY cute premise, excellent writing, ladrien roommates who are obviously in love with each other, WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR GO READ IT. multichapter

œuf ouch owie by miraculousunflower (ominousunflower) Summary: Chat Noir enlists Rena Rouge's help to create an Aspik illusion. Absolutely nothing goes wrong. Rating: T Comments: literally the funniest gd fic I've ever read in my life. I've never had a fic actually make me laugh out loud before and this one did. i still go back and reread it when i need a laugh. it's like a shitpost in artistic form

L'Autonomie by @xiueryn Summary: After three years, Marinette tells Chat Noir who she is. The only problem is that he doesn't believe her, insisting that her and Marinette couldn't be the same person. With the knowledge he's close to her, she tries to figure out who he is. AU. (mari finds out adrien is chat noir and has fun planting clues to make him believe she's ladybug.) Rating: T Comments: a silly ladynoir and adrinette reveal fic. ladybug tries to convince chat noir she is marinette. he doesn't believe her. it's adorable and i love it

i hope this is enough! happy reading ♥

[jalwyn21]

“Like I said, I'm just trying to be a Joe Alwyn (and The Last Kingdom) fangirl in peace. But ts is on a mission to destroy his life, his career and his reputation. And her fans are harassing Joe and Joe's fans. So, this is defensive more than anything else.”

To quote her…”I love you. (but) It’s ruining my life.” I don’t want to hate her. I loved her music for a long time. And I felt horrible for her (and Joe) when it ended. But it lasted exactly 11 days before she started pulling shit. I don’t know where it came from, but my empathy for Joe is overwhelming. I love everything he stands for, how respectful he and his family and friends were for all those years, the way people know him talk about him, the way she wrote about him, and his very English way of being. The punching down that she has been doing and will continue to do when she knows he wants to live outside the spotlight and is probably a big reason why they split makes me ILL for him.

I think we all know that she is not okay - her drinking, her moving from one man to the next, this PR created nightmare of a “relationship” she is currently in that is legitimately the opposite of everything she had with Joe, her behaviour that makes it very clear that she believes she could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue (to quote the god awful orange man) and get away with it, that she is so incredibly online (see the jet issue using Insta comments in the lawsuit and all her time on TikTok) and knows her ex is being sent death threats and threats of physical violence every day and continues to give her fans red meat. She’s flying within meters of the sun and she doesn’t give a fuck. She’s not okay. But I’m sick that Joe has to be the one to suffer because of it.

This album was always going to be written - this was always the ending for them because it’s clear they are not compatible. But just from the timing of it, she wants the story out NOW. And that’s her right. I just don’t trust her to be thoughtful and introspective of the end and realize her role in the breakdown. The clues are everywhere on how she is going to approach it and I guess I’m just praying for Joe. I hope everybody in his life that loves him protects him wholly. He is going to need it because you are right - she is out to ruin his life, his career and his reputation.

Joe has a loving family and extremely loyal friends. He is well loved.

And, like I already said, I have NO sympathy for her. None. After what she did in 2023 and she is about to do in 2024? I hope that Karma she believes in, gets her!

If you think that she is not happy.. good! Call it poetic (pun intended) justice . 🤷‍♀️

[insertsparkleshere]

Speak Now - Rosa Diaz x Reader

Summary: Rosa's wedding to Pimento doesn't go as planned. (Inspired by the Taylor Swift song of the same name, the bridge of which makes me absolutely feral).

Word Count: 902

Pronouns: None, but she/her reader intended

Published: 12/18/2022

Note: I totally didn't accidentally post this on my main what are you talking about

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gina is the only one who knows that you're in love with Rosa Diaz.

Frankly, you're surprised that she hasn't told anyone yet, but she kept your secret. Mostly because you didn't tell anyone when you found out that her and Charles had sex, but it counted.

Rosa's romance with Pimento had been...Interesting, to say the least. To you, it came out of nowhere, but you did your best not to pay attention to Rosa's love life. You wanted to stay sane and not-jealous, thank you very much.

But Pimento...They made sense together, you had to admit. You just hated him.

Jake and Charles still didn't get why, and neither did Hitchcock or Scully. You were pretty sure Amy had an idea, and Terry definitely had his suspicions. Holt had figured it out ages ago - you could tell - but he didn't say anything, which you were grateful for.

Until he did.

"(Y/L/N), see me in my office."

"Yes, Sir."

Rosa snickered. "Someone's in trouble."

"I'm sure it's nothing. Know Holt, I put a period when there should be a semicolon somewhere in my most recent bout of paperwork."

You step into Holt's office. "You wanted to see me?"

Holt stares at you, for a long moment. "Close the door."

"Okay..." You shut it.

"And the blinds. Santiago can read lips."

You frown, but do as he asks. "Is something wrong, Sir?"

"Are you okay?"

"What?"

"Diaz and Pimento's wedding is next week. Your feelings for Diaz are...obvious. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Sir. Whatever makes Rosa happy. And, right now, that's Pimento."

"Hm."

"What?"

"Have you considered telling her?"

"Once. But it's not meant to be. I've accepted that."

"You're a detective - act like it."

That was the moment that Rosa Diaz fell in love with you.

It was the third Halloween heist. And you were explaining your plan.

"I planted the idea of a Halloween Heist in your head three years ago. I wanted to have one, and I wanted to win. None of you have ever seen me get competitive, and I knew that Jake would obsess over this. Especially if he thought it was his idea.

"So, I gave you the idea for the Halloween Heist. And I waited, because I knew you'd take it into the many years to come. I didn't want to win the first one. And I considered winning the second, but the third seemed more poetic.

"All of you adore my baking, so, I decided that I would make a cake. For whoever won the third Halloween Heist. And then I said...What was it? 'It's not done yet, I wanted to make sure it was perfect.' And then I set myself up in the break room, already on Jake's team. He would want the cake, and he'd tell me to work on it while Charles guarded the briefcase, and Rosa went in to get it."

"What about Rosa?" Jake asked. "You could never betray her."

"You're right, Peralta, I couldn't. So, what do you think we did? You're a detective - act like it."

It was teasing, and off-handed, and you were riding on the high of victory, but it felt like Rosa's world had stopped.

"You were working together."

"Exactly. We made a great pair, don't you think, Rosa?"

"Yeah."

And you smiled, and Holt had looked over at Rosa, and she knew that he knew that she was completely screwed.

But Rosa knew that you didn't like her. So, she left it alone. And she met Pimento. And they got together. And it was stressful, and crazy, and every time he left, she found that she only ever wanted to talk to you.

But she ignored it, because emotions are for babies.

Or so Rosa told herself.

The day of the wedding came. You sat near the front, but behind someone, praying that no one would be able to see if you cried.

Your heart was shattering. But Rosa's happiness was more important than any pain you were feeling.

So, you tuned out for most of the ceremony. You didn't know if you could stand it.

"Speak now, or forever hold your peace."

There was a moment of silence.

There's my last chance. Your heart whispered.

You stood, hands shaking.

Hitchcock and Scully looked equally confused.

Realization was dawning on Charles's face.

Amy's eyes were wide.

Gina was smiling. She looked like she was about to laugh.

Terry looked worried.

Jake's eyes were bouncing from you to Pimento to Rosa and back again.

And Holt was neutral. You glanced over at him, and he nodded.

"This kind of wasn't what I thought was supposed to happen." You say quietly. "Right, um...I'm sorry. I just...I can't let you marry Pimento knowing that I could have said something and told you how I feel. And I didn't want to do this here, but I chickened out before, and...And now I'm here."

Rosa stepped off the pew, walking down the aisle towards you. You stepped into the aisle yourself, swallowing hard. The worst possible options raced through your mind.

Instead, she stopped inches away from you. "Hi."

"Hi." You whispered. "Sorry."

"Don't be." She leaned forward, kissing you softly. You froze, short-circuiting. Out of everything that could've happened, you hadn't expected this. "Let's go."

You nodded, and she took your hand, and you ran.

So glad you were around

When they said, "Speak Now."

[theravenclawlover]

🎃Kinktober Day 18🎃

Day Prompt: Glory hole/shotgunning/somnophilia (I didn't like any of the prompts for this particular character, therefore I opted for using one from Day 20 instead).

Word Count: 1,762

Warnings: +18 (MDNI), unprotected sex, female reader, double penetration, overstimulation, edging, squirting, and my shit writing and my grammar of course.

A/N: somewhat longer than intended but for some reason, it came out this long and rather poetic? I don't even know, man. I know I'm hella late and could leave the days missed, but I won't because my mind won't let me. It's just been hectic ngl.

Loki x F!Reader

You were nervous, like down-right-to-your-toes nervous. You had asked for it, repeatedly, to Loki until he finally decided to give in and entertain your whims. It had been innocent enough, you wanted to add anal to your times in bed even if he didn’t fuck your ass. As long as his fingers or a toy were in you, your orgasm came to you as easy as flipping a switch. So when you got more curious, you brought it up.

“Loki, how realistic are your umm doubles?” you asked while you two were having dinner. Something he had suggested from one of those cooking books you’ve got but only collect dust.

“I’d say they’re very realistic, hard to tell the difference if any,” he said, cleaning his mouth with the napkin. A hand grabbed his wine glass. “Why you ask, love?”

“Just curious,” you shrugged. “But, umm, were someone touch ‘em, would it feel real?”

Loki took a few sips of his wine, silence fell, and it was heavy like the food now sat on your stomach as you waited with batted breaths.

“With big numbers, it’s almost impossible to make my echoes more than that, they will be only that: echoes. Mirror versions of myself, touch would only make them fade,” he said.

“Have you ever tried to make them, you know, tangible?” you inquired innocently. Loki put his glass down in a slow manner as his eyes scanned you over, trying to see through you. You swallowed the saliva that had collected in your mouth.

“When I was younger, when I began perfecting the mirror image, I managed to perfect only one. It takes arduous work to make something tangible, small things are easy, and bigger things are a lot more complicated. But I haven’t tried to do it in a while,” he said. A moment of pensive silence fell, and he looked at you again. “I believe I could do it now. Make a very much realistic version of me.”

It hadn’t taken much later for him to figure out what your intentions had been.

“You want me to create a mirror image of myself so he and I can fuck you at the same thing, don’t you?”

He’d hit the nail. Loki had teased you endlessly about the idea, he’d even brought it up while he’d been fucking you, balls deep inside of you as he told you all he would do to you when the day came. You’d had cum so hard you blacked out.

And as the days came and went, you were itching to see when Loki would do good on his promise, you a constant alarm and reminder with your innocent pestering when it finally came.

You and Loki had been in bed, it was one of those nights when you both had meant to go to bed with the purpose to sleep, but a single kiss had turned the night’s events more south. The kisses were soft as he marked your neck, your collarbone, and every other bit of skin that his lips could find. His hands were digging under the flimsy material of your little night dress. Panties gone long ago, leaving your slick cunt to pulse as it was only offered cold air every time your legs parted from being squeezed. But that feeling was soon replaced with a colder touch.

A yelp had come out of you to see that Loki was massaging your inner thighs. You looked up at Loki—the one that only seconds ago had been working on leaving a purple mark on your collarbone.

“Wha-”

“Shh, a treat, love,” he said, kissing your parted lips. The other Loki was now kissing your inner thighs, your breath hitching. It felt so real, his lips were as cold as Loki’s normally were before the heat of yours warmed him up. His touch cooler on your heated skin until he was all flushed when he worked himself up with the idea of fucking you. One of your hands went to his hair, carting through the dark locks, and you sighed as it turned familiar.

“Can he talk?” you inquired out of nowhere. You looked to see that Loki was watching himself work with a glint of mischief and lust.

“No, reckoned one of me teasing you all night would be enough, although he might not be as charming as the real thing,” he said with a slight chuckle as Loki number two looked up and rolled his eyes.

“He’s clearly got your attitude,” you giggled but it was cut short as the other Loki bit into your skin.

“Oh fuck me,” you sighed.

“Soon enough, darling.”

But soon enough was longer than your lust could handle. There was no part of your body that had gone untouched by your Lokis, both of them driving you to ramblings as they shared your cunt like a candy that was taking its time to melt. Their tongues had been battling to have your taste on their tongue, greedy to have you cum on their tongues, but unable to let the other be the one to have a such reward, thus having your orgasm only on the verge, mounting your pleasure before they let it quiet down before their torturous fight reassumed.

“I-please, I needa cum,” you struggled to voice as your hands gripped their moused locks.

For a minute you thought neither had heard your pleas, but then Loki—your true Loki—raised his head, eyes wild, mouth slicked with your arousal as he grinned at you.

“It’s alright my love, you will,” he said. The other Loki seemed to be enjoying the reward of your pussy to himself as his tongue buried inside of you. You moaned loudly as his fingers dug into your skin.

Loki seemed unbothered by this as he moved around the bed, to you he was a mere shadow dancing around as the Loki between your legs was only seconds away from giving you the promised orgasm.

“Stop.”

You nearly cried when he stopped, like stone, leaving you like you suddenly ran a fever that could rival the cold of his skin.

“Shh, it’ll all be alright, love.”

You didn’t hear him no more as they began to talk to one another—Loki did all the talking why the other one was grunts and nods. But to you it was whispers as your legs rubbed together, your thin fingers rubbing with no avail to bring you to your peak.

But then they were manhandling you, Loki chuckling to himself. Loki rested his back on the headrest, positioning you on his lap as the other Loki moved behind you, offering kisses to your body as he shushed your pleading cries with a sweet humming. It was news to you that you were even talking rambles of ‘please’ and ‘wanna cum’.

“And you shall have it,” whispered Loki into your mouth before a kiss quieted your whine as his cock found itself buried inside of you in a swift squelch of your cunt. It was like all your time on the verge of your peak allowed you to appreciate the way the stretch scratched more than your need to cum, it filled the need to clench around his cock, cum on his cock more than cumming on their tongues. It was heavenly to have a reward for all the punishment your body had gone through without reason, or at least it felt so as you moved like a whore in heat.

“Ravishing as always,” he muttered against your lips, your moans covered his words the more his thrusts unraveled you.

Hands became more noticeable on your skin as you noticed that Loki’s hands were gripping your face rather than pushing you down so your back arched. That’s when you remembered that Loki’s mirrored self was behind you, watching as you got fucked. His hands were on your ass massaging it, spreading your ass cheeks. Then you noticed he was helping you bounce on the cock burying up your cunt, helping you slick and wet your thighs and Loki’s, and one of his fingers was laddering that very slick up your puckered hole. The moaning turned louder as he teased it, massaging the slick into it. Your body shivered as you realized what was to come. But nothing could have prepared you for the feeling when his fingers had finally worked you open enough for his very real cock to burry to the hilt inside of you.

There was no way to describe the sounds coming out of you, but words were nothing more than distorted vowels and consonants, louder than anything you could ever recall. Was this how whores sounded in order to convince men that they were being pleased? But you were no liar as your pleasure was more than you could take, more than ever you couldn’t process the feeling of two cocks inside of you, giving you nothing but otherworldly pleasure.

“You look beautiful,” you heard Loki say to you, “filled to the brim with cock, my cock. One inside your enticing cunt, the other cock of my mirrored self fucking your arse as per your wishes. Has it been everything you’ve wanted, love?”

You guessed you had said yes or something similar because Loki chuckled as he grunted with exertion, behind you the other Loki sounded the same as he held you close, forehead resting on your shoulders. There was an inkling that told you he was watching his cock thrust into you because he was just as merciless as the Loki beneath you.

“Cum, my darling girl, cum for us—for me.”

Your body seemed to not belong to you anymore, like the minute they had touched you, all of you was no more than a thing for them to fuck and command, and so you came at his words. His command flicked the first domino piece that dammed the rest to fall, the last being the one to trigger the tingle your body felt as you gushed on them. Cocks still burying in and out as a river of your orgasm forced itself to come out in spurts. You were trembling, their hands holding you still as you lost touch with the reality of the situation, mind going blank like you had ceased to exist.

And that was the only feeling you knew for a while until soothing touches brought you back, the feeling of your heated and slick body coming back.

“You alright?” one of them whispered, most likely your Loki as you vaguely remembered that one of them couldn’t talk. You nodded, the first time in a while since you gave an answer coherently. But as your mind regained reason, you noticed that feeling of fulness was still very much present.

“We’re far from done, love, this is just the first taste of what awaits you.”

[hollyhomburg]

THAT WAS SUCH A GOOD CHAPTER LI!! I was really worried reading the tags because I admit it’s a more hardcore smut than the one I’m used to but it came out feeling so natural and soft?! Like I couldn’t help feeling fluffy even though I was highkey turned on by all that filth 💕 AND THE END?!?! WHEN I REALIZED SHE WAS HOLDING ON TO YOONGI AND THAT YOONGI WAS LETTING HER I JUST STARTED FUCKING GIGGLING AND MOVING MY LEGS NON STOP LIKE IT JUST MADE ME SO HAPPY I JUST NEED THEM TO BE HAPPY AND FLUFFY TOGETHER 😭😭

p.s. don’t worry about the length of the smut at all, at least in my case it just flew by like it didn’t feel like much at all!!

i feel like "hardcore but fluffy" is totally my vibe- the thing i was most uncomfortable writing was the kneeling and crawling by far like- i think if i where to do those in actuality i would safeword so quick or at least yellow- and it was an interesting challenge to write it out because while i wanted it to happen that way i wanted it to not feel quite so humiliating.

funnily enough- although the next scene chronologically in bily happens during the smut we've just seen take place- i didn't initially intend to make her aware that yoongi helped during aftercare- we do get to see a bit of what she missed in the last chapter but i think theres something poetic in the fact that he's the one who carried her upstairs like- yoongi's always been the one to take her weight, to put her to sleep, to make sure she doesn't have to stand on her own two feet when she doesn't feel capable.

i think the length was helped by the fact that there was quite a bit of dialogue! it's unfortunately an aspect of chapters with so many characters you know- the word count always goes up and up and up~

[livefastdriveyoung]

Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion

The Garden of Time. If something in the back of your brain is itching with the familiarity of the title, perhaps you came across the inspiration for the theme which is a story by the same name written by J.G. Ballard. It's a piece that tells a story about the aristocracy at the height of their wealth relying on the comforting nature as a way of hiding from the inevitable forces of time.

It's a perfect inspiration for the gala intended for the elite of Hollywood.

The exhibit itself features 400 years of fashion pieces, with prominent ones including a Charles Worth gown from 1877 that is too fragile to place in anything but a pressurized container. It is beautifully reanimated in video and breathtaking.

The exhibit also features three key components, land, sky, and sea, as a sort "ode to nature and the poetics of fashion."

It should have been easy. It should have been a walk in the park. Designers could recreate archival pieces, they could put flowers and birds and bees and clouds everywhere.

Instead we got a lot of beige.

But I've also been seeing a lot of analysis that's only been looking for flowers and missing the other two components of the exhibit, sky and sea, as well as the reawakening fashion and time. I think there are some pieces that definitely missed the mark, but I don't think it is as many as people are claiming. I'm going to make this a thread because realistically, I have a lot to say and I can't fit it all here. We'll start with Zendaya's first look:

This is Zendaya's first look of the night. It's a custom John Galliano for Maison Margiela. It's a stunning reference to a Galliano piece from a different century, his 1999 Spring collection with Christian Dior. It was a different era of fashion, and Galliano, so to reimagine it for Zendaya was quite fitting.

The original piece is gold and blue/purple stripes all the way up covered in an assymetical piece of blue fabric starting at the waist that wraps up to one shoulder. There are grapes and leaves incorporated all over it, and, iconically, the model walked down with a glass of wine in her hand.

A Quarter century later, Zendaya's version is perfection. Ocean Blue tulle and organza creates a fluid motion in the skirt. The material itself is iridescent and gives the image of moving water as it climbs her waist to merge with the familiar but darker blue fabric. The grapes at the waist are more prominent, they're designed to stand out more, in shades of metallic emerald. We climb up to her left shoulder and we're greeted to a deep green bust, with grapes acting as a loose strap on her arm, almost like a tree or vine. Over her right shoulder is the deep blue fabric giving her the assymetrical look. It's pinned by a few grapes to keep the motif. Around her neck is a small bird figurine, perched delicately.

Ok you may say, she did the whole garden thing with the grapes and the birds and the reimagining fashion by wearing a reference piece. So what?

It's so much more than that. There are three elements to the exhibit, land, sea, and sky. We have them all, in the exact order they appear to the world. The Ocean, the sea, encapsulates the bottom of the gown. It's deep blues and leaves you wondering what is underneath. Then you climb up onto land and you're greeted to the stunning greens of nature, the fruits that it bears. Finally, over her shoulder is the sky. The ocean is blue because it reflects the color of the sky, that is what a lot of science tells us. Unlike in the 1999 version, the blue sash was the only clearly blue part of the gown. Here it connects the whole piece. You can't have one without the other, a seemingly inseparable piece of material. The bird nestled on her shoulder connects the sky and the sea, and beautifully ties everything together.

So why grapes? Well, regardless of your belief in religion, a great many people would likely tell you or I that the fruit Adam and Eve ate in the garden was an apple.

Except, that's not really true. There's no record to indicate that the fruit of the tree was an Apple. In fact, there are a number of people that believe the fruit in the garden was a grape. Whether that was the purpose of the reference here or not, it's a beautiful addition that ties in to the garden theme.

This outfit literally checks off every box:

Reawakening Fashion - Referencing an old piece from a previous era of fashion, but making it refreshed without taking away what made it special

Garden of Time - the Grapes and the Greenery

The Land, Sea, and Sky - the whole dress layout.

This is Reawakening Fashion. People want everything so simple and at their fingertips because that is what the world is becoming, and sometimes, yes, you want your clothing to be simple. You want it to fit you and not be stained and feel nice. Rightly so.

But Haute Couture is meant to be thought provoking. It is meant to be outrageous and fun and custom and one-of-a-kind. It is meant to leave you breathless and wanting more. It is meant to be timeless.

Recently there was a video of a young woman getting ready for her senior prom, wearing her mother's prom dress from the late 90s I believe. Every single comment I read called the gown timeless, beautiful, exactly what a prom dress should be.

Why don't we expect the same for high fashion? Why can't a piece from 1999 be as gorgeous and perfect in 2024? Why can't we take parts of it and make it our own?

It's perfect.

[magnorious]

A Lightning Thief Retrospective, 16 Years Later

Good grief, I am old. *Spoilers ahead*

In the spirit of the resurgence of appreciation for this series, I’m doing a retrospective on the books that single-handedly got me to love reading. No matter how old I get, Percy and co will always hold a special place on my bookshelf and in my soul. 16 years later and I have my own books to show for it.

*Disclaimer, I have read the books multiple times in the interim, but I first got my hands on it, and first fell in love with it, in 2008.

So: The Lightning Thief

The Greek-verse isn’t Riordan’s only series to open with a fourth-wall-breaking element, nor is it the only series to open with a “if you’re reading this, be warned” narrative (Maximum Ride comes to mind) but, at least in the paperback edition circa 2006, the last lines on the first page read:

Am I a troubled kid?Yeah, you could say that.

And I just… it’s so Percy. It’s perfect. You have no idea what it really means on your first read through but sixteen years later after growing up with these books, that line just makes me grin like the little kid that’s still inside.

As I kept reading, I tried my best to remove my “victim of the hellish IB Program, literary analyst” hat. This book spoon feeds you exposition in a really palatable way. We’ve seen the museum scene adapted twice now and while older me thinks that’s really convenient timing, it does a lot of legwork while also being short enough to keep the attention of its intended audience. It is also very, very good at foreshadowing, and setting up major payoffs, for events later in this book and beyond.

“Mr. Brunner” looking at the stele of the unnamed hero like he’d been to her funeral

Luke’s scar in the firelight making him look evil

Percy’s affinity for water and the sea, peeking into Cabin 3 before it’s his

The Fates’ electric-blue (remind you of anyone’s eyes?) string

“Someone summoned it,” Chiron said. “Someone inside the camp.”Luke came over….

Ares’ curse on Percy

Speaking of foreshadowing – prophecies. Since all five books have them, I’m dedicating a section in each review to each one.

You shall go west, and face the god who has turned.You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned.You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend.And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.

The whole point of these things is to drive you crazy trying to figure out what they mean before they play out, making you rotten suspicious and paranoid. The book does go line by line in the end and explains how each element was resolved. It’s both very deceptive, on purpose, but easy to grasp for younger readers. I think the prophecies in Titans Curse and Battle of the Labyrinth are superior, but it does its job well.

—

The whole book, likely intentionally so, with an ADHD protagonist, isn’t filled with fluffy narrative. There’s a ton of one-sentence paragraphs and Percy’s personality always shines through, even from page one, a la Holden Caulfield. Even when it’s an exposition-heavy scene, or just traveling while on their quest, nothing ever *lingers*.

Percy is direct in his observations and his narration jumps about from thinking about some random comment another character made that’s poignant in the moment to funny descriptions of the mythic world, to pitching his two-cents on the matter, expressing his annoyances with Annabeth, etc, all in a snappy and easy to keep up with manner. He doesn’t wax poetic, that’s not who he is and that’s not the story this book is telling.

For anyone intimidated by chapter books (re: me at that age) this book is endlessly approachable. He doesn’t have *too much* personality to be distracting, but he has enough to be more than a reader-insert everyman.

I don’t necessarily believe he’s twelve, but he does have that childish immaturity with his narrating and I forget if it ages with him. Since I brought up Maximum Ride earlier, she’s a child protagonist who does not read like a 14 year old girl, she reads like a quirky caricature written by a middle-aged dude.

**Side note, upon my re-read, it came to my attention that the Disney show inexplicably skipped the cutting of the thread with the Fates scene that is like, foreshadowing for the entire series**

*Side side note, Percy isn’t the one who came up with Wise Girl, it was Clarisse. Chapter 6**

I also forgot just how big a temper Percy has. He contemplates kicking Smelly Gabe in the balls for being mean to Sally, with zero care for the consequences. Not to mention the whole “Gabe would love to give away free appliances” schtick. He’s such a little sh*t and we love him.

For a book that’s largely action adventure, it balances the slower moments with the fight scenes smoother than butter. Percy’s demigod-ness gives him quite a bit of plot armor and excuse to survive these fights as a mostly-untrained twelve-year old without making him unrealistically over-competent.

The world building, at least in my opinion, feels like it looked at Harry Potter and went “I can fix that”. There’s not one cabin of demigods rudely and unfairly and problematically labeled Wizard Nazis, (except Grover insinuating that Hades’ kids were actual Nazis in WWII…. Hmm). The Mist exists to hand-wave away everything mortals aren’t supposed to see. It gets really creative with modernizing these myths and making them more child-friendly, and does a good job at urbanizing it, for lack of a better term. The concept of mapping Ancient Greece onto the US is neat, for American readers, and the explanation of “traveling Western Civilization” makes sense. The Underworld having traffic and toll booths was funny.

It treads the razor-thin line of “paganism is real” as well as it can, I think. It focuses less on “creation of the universe was definitely this” and more “the forces of nature have names and faces,” and sidesteps the giant sinkhole of Christianity and Christian readers with “we shan’t deal with the metaphysical,” and says nothing more about it, or demigods who grew up religious, or the other pantheons (yet). Beyond a throwaway dead preacher who Grover argues likely sees the underworld through his Christian kaleidoscope.

The series also doesn’t suffer egregious plot holes, only some continuity errors (like Blackjack). One that comes to mind in TLT is that if Camp contacted Sally about watching over Percy, Sally knew his dad was Poseideon. So how did the whole “I want to watch over your son cause he’s interesting, hm, can’t put my finger on why. Say, who’s his dad?” never lead anywhere? But it doesn’t break the immersion, certainly not for young readers.

It’s interesting how, looking back after knowing the entire story, how the seeds of doubt are right there, in your face, from the moment Percy learns the gods are real. It’s almost a meta self-fulfilling prophecy how things go so wrong for these characters, it’s so obvious.

SInce it is an adventure, the places they go are all wildly and entertainingly different. The garden gnome emporium, St. Louis Arch, Waterland, the Lotus casino, Crusty’s waterbed store. Each provides their own challenges and take full advantage of “mythology is real”.

Let’s talk about the villains, and how Hades was not done dirty this time. I’m going to presume that it’s bias on part of the characters for the whole “Hades’ kids were Nazis” and it’s absolutely on Chiron for insisting that Hades is the culprit when he sends Percy on his quest. Nowadays, especially with the staggering popularity of Nico, Hades has been pretty well redeemed in the eyes of a casual reader. But I think, at the time it was written, making Hades not the villain here was fantastic. He’s still a god, still a jerk, still dangerous, but he’s not the Devil. He drew the short straw and is an introvert written by salty extroverts.

Luke, for a twist villain (read my post here for a deeper analysis) and Ares as a tool of Kronos worked really well. If anyone got the Slytherin treatment, I guess it would have been the Ares cabin, but… he’s a jerk. His kids got his temperament, thus they are jerks. But even then – Ares was just a tool, a crude hammer swung alarmingly well.

Setting up your series-defining villain as a disembodied voice pulling strings is nothing new, but it comes with the benefit of two thousand years of real-world mythology backing up this entity’s power. Kronos is basically a non-entity in this book, but what he does is effective, and kudos for making readers’ skin crawl with the near-tragedy at the edge of Tartarus (foreshadowing!!!!!).

Something else the book does well is having a very well-written and uniquely motivated reluctant chosen one. Yeah, we’d all rather be demigods than Tributes, but being a demigod has drawbacks that being a wizard doesn’t. They don’t shy away from the risk of kids getting skewered and mauled, even if you don’t actually see it happening. This is dangerous work.

And, Percy calls it out – he exists to be used. That’s all demigods are worth to the Olympians. So, he’s going to use this quest to rescue his mom. He doesn’t give a damn about his dad, he doesn’t care about the looming civil war, doesn’t think it’s even the right thing to do, except to prevent the nuclear fallout that said war would cause.

He’s not one of those whiny “I just want to be normal” protagonists like no child in the history of ever has dreamed of if they were in their hero’s shoes. He’s also not pumped and jazzed and excited about being a demigod. They’re the victims of abusive and absent parents and, for a kids series, I still think such a sobering subject was handled really, really well.

You want to be a hero like Percy. You’re rooting for him from the first page. Discovering all his new powers is fun, daydreaming getting claimed right along with him. It isn’t dated with pop culture references and most of the humor lands (a novel experience that does not last forever, unfortunately). He’s sassy and sarcastic and his in-character ignorance and naivety opens the door for plenty of smooth exposition and letting the reader discover the world through his eyes, without feeling lifeless.

Speaking of personality, his rapport with Annabeth grows pretty decently over the course of the book, from being super catty to getting embarrassed on the tunnel of love ride, as if anyone would really care. They have their spats, but the budding friendship is realistic and she doesn’t feel at all like the girl hastily written in because the author forgot to include one.

She has her faults, but that’s the point. She’s also a victim of godly propaganda, and twelve, and literally burdened with hubris. All three of them bounce off each other well, each bringing different strengths and weaknesses to the trio, building each other up and bickering to tear each other down because, you know – twelve.

—

I read somewhere that the first five books all pay homage to some of the most famous Greek myths. Lightning Thief’s myth is that of the original Perseus with these familiar beats shared by both:

Murdering Medusa via reflective surface

Wrongfully convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and punished by Zeus

Hermes’ winged shoes

Hades’ missing war helm

Obtaining a cool new sword

Rescuing his mom from the Bad Guy

Not dying tragically

Princess Andromeda (the more famous Perseus myth adapted by Wrath and Clash of the Titans) does make an appearance in Sea of Monsters.

The joke people used to make about the fans of the series is that reading PJO does not make a mythology expert, but that isn’t the point. The books opened the door to further research at your own pace and maybe fostered love of a subject and culture you’d go on to study later in life.

This review is about the book, not the show, but it is a disservice to the book to cram nearly ten entire chapters of content, out of twenty-two (156 pages in the ‘06 paperback) into two episodes both less than an hour long. No wonder the premier felt, night and day, far inferior to episode 3. Episode 3 wasn’t sprinting the entire time.

Overall, the missing-persons-turned-possible-child-terrorist subplot stayed its welcome exactly as long as it needed to and every time I think about this book I forget it’s even part of the story. The payoff is really at the end with the free appliances and, of course, Gabe’s just desserts.

The book is absolutely, transparently, the first leg of a relay race, not one of those “I wrote this and it was successful now I have to come up with a sequel” stories and all the seeds of development for the series at large were expertly scattered.

The worst I have to say about the book is this: The constant “Thalia, daughter of Zeus.” There’s at least seven of them across the book and the whole title almost every time she’s mentioned reads a bit strange.

It’s paced excellently, with a few slow beats for good character development in between locations. The foundations of our heroes are solid, all the twists and turns with the true villains and the real meaning of the prophecy was well done. For the book that began a multi-series world of interconnected pantheons with new publications still coming out today, it’s humble and smart and, for a “children's” book, anyone can enjoy it, no nostalgia required.