#totally won’t influence the way I write them at all

[lennythereviewer]

My favorite Kingdom Hearts fact is that one of the biggest plot-holes that Nomura has never been able to meaningfully retcon or write his way out, a plot-hole so big that it fundamentally breaks the very rules the series is written on...

Is the existence of Steamboat Willie

Let me explain for the uninitiated:

In Kingdom Hearts 2, there’s a small detour in the story involving Maleficent trying to invade Disney Castle, the home of King Mickey. She can’t step foot in the castle due to an artefact of pure light that wards off darkness locked in the basement.

Pete, who is working for Maleficent, opens a door into the past (Before Disney Castle, this land was known as Timeless River) and decides to remove the artifact from it’s place in time so it won’t be there to stop them from getting in.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy chase Pete into the past thanks to another magic door provided by Merlin, and through some shenanigans involving old cartoons and teaming up with Pete’s past-self, they lock the door the villains are using, and return the artefact to it’s proper place so it can exist in the present.

You with me so far? Pretty straightforward-ish time-travel plot right?

Here’s where it goes off the rails.

Time travel would go on to become a staple of Kingdom Hearts going forward and would come with a very strict set of rules over how it operates:

1. You can only travel to a point in time where a version of yourself exists

2. You basically give up your body to do so, and travel as a disembodied soul unless you have a vessel to inhabit

3. You can’t alter the past in a meaningful way, what’s going to happen will happen

4. You lose your memories of said trip once you return, but your actions could leave a lingering instinct on your other self that could influence their decisions

“Wait” you may be thinking “Why should anyone go through all those hoops? Wasn’t time travel super simple that first time?”

And you’d be totally right, because the existence of Timeless River completely renders all of these rules and restrictions meaningless. 

There is no version of Sora that existed in Timeless River before he step foot there, everyone kept their bodies, the trio and Pete were able to mess with the timeline as freely as they pleased, and they all very much remember their trip. 

Nomura has never been able to meaningfully explain this super simple, easy way of time travel and the more convoluted method co-existing other than a cheap-throwaway line from one of the villains saying that Merlin “broke the rules” 

The hilarious part about this line is that it implies that PETE of all characters is actually more powerful than the actual villain of the series, because Pete opened a door into Timeless River through sheer willpower and nostalgia for “the good old days”

But the all-knowing chess-master of a villain who had an evil plan several decades in the making with countless moving parts and contingencies to account for had to use the roundabout, more complicated method of time travel where a lot could go wrong.

Pete though? Dude just casually broke all the rules of time travel because he felt like it. He's just built different.

TL;DR: Steamboat Willie breaks Kingdom Hearts lore in half, Pete is more powerful than Master Xehanort, and I fucking love this beautiful trainwreck of a series you guys it means so much to me

I love Kingdom hearts so much.

[ang3l-fac33]

WJEJJF I HAD THE CUTEST IDEA can you please write a oneshot for husk being a total father figure for some younger sinner at the hotel (I feel like he’d be a reluctant teen dad haha) thank you so much! Love your writing!

of course! thank you for the request! :D i’m not sure if you meant the reader to be a teen so i apologize if i got it wrong!

—

husk x teen! reader. (platonic)

genre: fluff

husk was standing behind the bar counter cleaning a glass, and not looking really thrilled to be there as usual. sitting on the other side of the bar table was angel dust, sipping away at some fruity pink alcoholic beverage that he made a few minutes prior.

there was a comfortable silence between the two, both of them not having much to say to each other, but husk prefered the silence, it helped with the headache he was currently nursing from having to deal with everyone’s bullshit in the hotel.

the only two people he was most comfortable with was angel and you. you were a rather young sinner, only fifteen. that didn’t really sit right with husk, you being so young in a place like this?

maybe that’s why he felt the need to look out for you, because you were so young. he didn’t want you to end up like him, washed up with a long history of bad choices. just because you were in hell doesn’t mean that you couldn’t do good things.

you were young and impressionable, another reason why he kept a close eye on you. more than half the people in the hotel were bad influences. he really wasn’t the best either but at least he was sensible.

angel would constantly talk about drugs and sex, alastor was just plain creepy, charlie, well, she was fine.. it’s just that you were known to be a bit.. what’s the word? mischievous. and charlie didn’t have the heart to tell you ‘no’ half the times. vaggie was fine as well, though a little more on the aggressive side. and, well, nifty was.. well, nifty.

he felt like he was the only one fit enough to actually help you. but it’s not like he would admit any of this out loud of course. you still were very very annoying to him, and angel gave him enough teasing for his fatherly behavior. he can’t believe he got sucked into all of this.

the silence was soon interrupted by the hotel’s doors slamming open. husk flinched and sighed, already knowing who it was. you grinned as you made your way over to the bar, hopping on one of the stools next to angel dust.

angel dust gave you a side glance and a small smirk. he had grown fond of you, and due to your young status he viewed you as a younger sibling. plus it was also fun to tease husk about his father like tendencies towards you. “hey squirt. how was your day huh?”

you smiled, kicking your feet back and forth excitedly. “it was awesome! i went out with cherri bomb and she taught me how to blow shit up!” you said it as if it were the coolest thing ever, but to husk it made his heart drop. bombs? are you serious?

husk wanted to say something but he held it back, not wanting to offend the demon spider with his opinions about cherri. she was the guy’s best friend after all. as angel dust continued to encourage this, husk sighed.

“can i get you something to drink kid?” husk asked, trying to avert the conversation to avoid a bigger headache. “i’ve got orange juice, apple juice—“

“give me what he’s having!” you demanded, pointing towards the pink alcoholic beverage in angel dust’s hand. husk wrinkled his nose before giving a scoff of amusement, putting away his glass. “not happening.”

you pouted childishly at the denial of your requested drink, and angel dust laughed. “c’mon, let the kid have a drink. it won’t hurt him.”

husk’s brows raised in disbelief. “they’re fifteen!” he exclaimed, his wings giving a tiny flutter of irritation. “just because this is hell doesn’t mean that they can do whatever they want!”

“pfft— okay *dad*”

that makes husk freeze, and for a moment he panics. he knew you were just being sarcastic but something about it just.. whatever.

the smug and amused look angel dust was giving him made him instantly snap out of it with another scoff. “whatever kid. do you want a non alcoholic beverage or not?” he growled, grabbing a clean glass.

you rolled your eyes and sighed. “fine.. give me an orange juice.”

husk made quick work of pouring you an orange juice, making sure it was nice and cold before sliding it over to you, then grabbed a whole bottle of alcohol for himself.

as the minutes passed husk found himself quietly drinking as he watched you and angel dust chatter on about random things, a small smile tugging at his lips. he felt relaxed again, his headache being a little less bad now.

you may be annoying at times but you really were a good kid.

[candyk0rn]

❧Their ideal date

So…it’s been a while !! My bad everyone 😔 good news? Requests are now up and running again!! It’s also my first time attempting to write for Jjk, so take this with that in mind

Thank you for bearing with me, but CandyK0rn is up and running once again!!

Warnings: None!

Included: Megumi Fushiguro, Itadori Yuuji, Kugisaki Nobara (separate.)

I. Yuuji:

You already know what time it is

Movie dates ALL the way

I wouldn’t say it would be a theater date, because just chilling at home (more specifically, in his dorm) sounds like such an upgrade from a stuffy movie theater

Though, he likes the popcorn better

If you dose off even a bit expect a flick on the forehead

Especially if it’s one of his favorites, or even a newer movie released to DVD neither of you have seen

Speaking of DVD, he prefers it over streaming any day

I’d say he even has his own collection

After having to sit through countless hours of movies for his training, there were some that stuck out to him that he’d wanna rewatch with you

He is the literal WORST when it comes to spoilers though

“That’s foreshadowing for the end! I won’t tell you how it ends, of course.”

…

“..Unless you wanna know?!”

His favorites tend to be action or horror

And if you tend to get squeamish with horror, well you just have the perfect shining knight in armor to help out, huh?

Even if you like horror, it wouldn’t hurt to stroke his ego a bit

Totally cuddles during the entire watch

It’s just a chaotic pile of you, him, snacks and blankets

Expect him to play with your hair if you’re laying on top of him, he just cannot help himself

Definitely not a fancy date by any means, but it’s these nights that he remembers most <3

K.Nobara:

Dear lord

Going out with this woman is a JOURNEY

Because shopping dates are her thing, especially if you spoil her with money from your pocket.

But it’s not just the ‘date’ itself, it’s the before and after of it all

Expect her to go through her entire makeup and attire routine alongside you, if that’s not your thing? You’re sure as hell watching.

She’ll talk your ear off as she does it too

“Oh! This is that new lipgloss I was telling you about..some influencer was using it. Isn’t it the perfect shade?!”

She doesn’t exactly say it, but she’s happy even if you just listen to her

It’s what makes her happy, and to have someone listen to her ramble on is a gift in itself

Then there’s the during, where you not only go to the local clothing, cosmetic and jewelry shops

But you have to try the snacks around these places!

She’s still getting used to Tokyo, and there’s just so many new things to try.

Oh! But you have to wait to eat it, because she has to take a picture of it first

Then you can dig in.

And of course, there’s the ‘after’

She likes just sitting down and unloading everything she bought, going through each item and talking about how excited she is about it

If you got new clothes, she expects a fashion show equal to that of vogue.

She cheers you on and takes pictures of you the entire time

With the flash on, of course.

It adds to the ‘paparazzi fantasy’ as she calls it.

F. Megumi:

Like Yuuji, he much prefers to stay inside just in the comfort of your dorm/home

But he knows that also gets repetitive, so he tries to take extra steps once in a while

His dates are simple,

Dinners, walks around the city, even training with you is something he enjoys

But there has to be a specific time for them

He likes taking you out to eat right after missions, like a way to calm down the stress everyone’s been feeling

He texts Yuuji for the best places nearby, because usually he grabs something quick from the Seven Eleven and calls it a night

Itadori: There’s a sweet katsu place I ate at yesterday

Gumi: that’ll be good. thanks again.

Itadori: Yk I’m the best wingman around. 😋

Gumi: mhm

And honestly? During the outing, he just likes talking.

It’s not something he’d say he necessarily enjoys

He’s never exactly been a talker

But for some reason he cannot explain, you make him want to just share things

How his day went, something Gojo did that he found annoying…

But more importantly, he likes listening

He likes the sound of your voice, he likes the way you sound when your passionate, he likes the way you sound when your angered or frustrated

God, he just likes you.

He never thought he would ever admit that. But here he is

Enjoying a conversation over tonkatsu with the person he cares for the most.

Thanks for reading!!

[magickcandie]

John Deacon x Fem!Reader

In the rising fame of Queen, many journalists were often there to talk. More often than naught, the band found themselves repeating things before sending the reporter away. That was until Y/N L/N.

When she was there, she found a way to make herself like able. Speaking about the art of performing with Freddie. Roger’s song writing. Brian’s understanding of writing music. And most of all, she got John to talk and smile and laugh. None of the others could.

She was the one they sent whenever they needed information of Queen. And that became the only time John was excited for an interview.

“You guys have another interview.” Miami said, walking into the studio. “It’s with Y/N.”

“Oh, that’s great!” John said, his tone of voice revealing how he really felt about said reporter.

Roger turned to look at the bassist. “That’s the most excited I’ve ever seen you for an interview.”

“Yeah, John, what is it?” Brian asked, just as curious.

“Nothing, just… interested in the… interview topics?”

“I think our lovely John is definitely interested in something, but not the interview.” Freddie said, coming to sit next to Roger and Brian.

Roger leaned forward to tease. “My my, Deaky, do you fancy Y/N?”

John raised his brows with a mischievous grin but shook his head anyway.

“You should totally take her out. It could be so romantic,” Brian said.

“No, I could never talk to Y/N.”

“You’re distaste towards human interaction is becoming… well, quite distasteful,” Freddie said with a pout. “What if we were to do something?”

Roger jumped to his feet in excitement. “Yeah, we could talk to Y/N for you!”

“No, we won’t be doing any of that, thank you. I’m willing to let things happen on their own.”

“John, dear, if we let you deal with it like that, nothing will happen.”

Freddie didn’t give John the luxury of arguing back. Said a simple “tut tut” and walked off, taking Brian and Roger with him. Which was fine because that’s when you walked in.

“Hello, John.” You smiled at him. “Where’s the rest of them?”

“Elsewhere. How have you been, Y/N?”

“Fine, fine. And you?”

“Quite alright. So what’s the plan for today?”

“Hm? Oh, I’m to ride with you to the venue while you all do sound checks and the like. In between those is when I’ll start individual interviews.”

In many ways you were found of John as well. You felt his answers were truthful in a way that the others didn’t quite have. But that was on the professional level. He made you happy, and laugh. He was very open, which you found out was actually a rare thing.

On many occasions, you tricked yourself into thinking he was just being courteous.

Much to John’s dismay, you got Freddie first.

“Hello, Fred. You can have a seat, I just need to get a new pen. Seems that I have lost mine.”

“Oh you won’t need that. Come, let’s talk.” He hooked arms with you. “Shall I interview you?”

“Me? Whatever for?”

“What, can’t I speak with my darling friend Y/N?”

You shrugged but went along with it. “What’s bothering you?”

Freddie waved his hands in dismissal. “You shan’t be my therapist either. This is about you, my dear. What do you look for in a lifelong partner?”

“Oh, that’s a bit forward." Freddie shrugged as if it wasn't "Well I don't know. Someone who's honest, I guess."

"John is very honest. Ever think about things short term?"

"No. I see no desire in that."

Freddie crossed his legs, then uncrossed them and stood. "Well that's all I have for you, darling. I'll send Roger in."

You didn't acknowledge him as he left the room, then Roger was walking in. He took Freddie's spot on the couch.

"How have you been, Y/N."

"Fine, fine. Now, I we see that you wrote a song on the album. What influences -"

"Oh, hush up about the album. Let's talk."

Okay....

"Roger, what are you and Freddie doing?"

"Oh, he got started? Good. Are you doing anything this coming week?"

"No, not that I know of."

"Neither is John." Roger left it at that and leaves the room, leaving you completely shocked.

Brian walked in with a smile. He would be easy to ask. He'd reveal himself if you asked.

"Brian May, what are you guys doing?"

"What do you mean?" He started to play with his hands. He was already nervous.

"You, Roger, and Freddie. What are you doing?" You crossed your arms, hoping that you could weasel the answer out of Brian.

"Y/N, we're not -"

"Were you coming in here to talk about John? Now tell me, what are you doing?"

Brian sighed and deflected in defeat. "John likes you, but he wouldn't do anything. We decided that we would try to push you into it instead." He stood up. "I'll leave now."

It was the greatest news you could've heard! You couldn't wait for him to say something, because you knew John. He wouldn't on any occasion!

John coming into the room took you out of your head. He smiled at you, sitting down at the couch.

"Hello, Y/N. What questions do you have about the album?"

At least he didn't set them up, you reasoned with yourself.

"John, I don't want to talk about the album." Everything was set up, and there was no better time to admit your feelings than here. "I really like you. And unfortunately, Brian did said you did liked me too?"

He went quiet and red in the face. "Y/N, I'm sorry you had to hear it from them."

"It's fine, John, really, but is it true?"

"Yes, Y/N, I really do. You're really beautiful, insanely smart, and just so... perfect. Can I take you out?"

You embraced him. "Of course, John!"

Freddie, Brian, Roger stood standing, peaking through the door. They froze when they saw John glare at them over your shoulder. The boys laughed before shutting the door.

Freddie sighed, dropping his hand to his hip. "Well that didn't take long."

[sleepy-lil-kit-kat]

if you won’t do this that’s totally okay!!! but a lil fic or cg hcs for malifcent from sleeping beauty? or hades from hercules? i’m a big disney villains fan :D have a great day/night! <3

heroes not like hercules

~700 words, not on ao3

disney's hercules, but also a little Greek mythology and some percy jackson influences (unfortunately I can't really tease them Entirely seperate when I write about Hades, but I've done my best to make it mainly disney)

cg!hades, regressor!reader, hero-ascended-to-godhood!reader

i hope you like it!!! it's a lot what I personally like in cgs–someone whos scary but has a soft spot for you, someone who'll badmouth the good guys for how they treated you, but I also wrote a lil of his more jokey aspects :P

requests are open! see my pinned <3

- k!nk/nsfw please dni! this is a sfw age regression post! -

Hades is not always nice. He is a god, tasked with running the underworld, shunned and maligned by the other Olympians–for him to be nice all the time is, relatively unlikely.

But sometimes, he's nice to you. A little godling, barely more powerful than a nymph, would not usually attract the attention of such a man, even as an underworld deity, but you have. Maybe–most likely–it's the fact that you'd ascended to divinity. Most who ascend do not ascend to a role among the dead; that you have done so is unusual, and perhaps a little telling.

His company is nice, when your head fuzzes up at reminders of your mortal life, and your form sort of stutters in the way only spirits' forms can. You don't necessarily talk to him much, when this happens–he's got a full time gig, as he often has to remind the other gods. No, you just curl up at the foot of his throne, a cushion left there just for you, and feel his presence.

His aura is... warm. Warm, and dark, and shadowy, but in the best of ways. Dark in the way of corners to hide in, shadowy in the way of the monsters that hunt the mean people. That feeling alone is enough, more often than not, to soothe you, and when you stay it's usually only because you just don't want to leave.

Once he's done with whatever he'd been doing, sometimes, sometimes, he lifts you up, just like he's doing now, setting you on the arm of his throne, with a "c'mere, kid." You just blink at him, gaze caught by the flames on his head. They dance and crackle and they're so, so, mesmerising, especially when you're as tired and fuzzy-headed as you are.

"What'm I gonna do with you, huh?"

You don't answer. The first few times he'd asked, you'd apologised, which seemed to disappoint him, so you don't do that. But if what he seeks isn't an apology, what does he want?

Hades sighs, wrapping an arm around your shoulders. "Damn hypocrites, the lot of 'em. Houndin' me for trying Zeus's brat, but it's just peachy when they do it to the mortals?"

You just sort of stare at him, tilting your head, uncomprehending, as fuzzy as you feel. It's... right now it's hard to tell what he's getting at, in all honesty. Yes, he's protective of the deities that reside below the earth with him, but this feels... different.

"Big words for a bitty kid, huh?" he asks, mouth twitching into a smile. "Don't worry 'bout it. Just remember the ones up there're..." he pauses, searching for a word, seemingly rejecting several he comes up with. "Idiots."

Easily, you nod. It's Hades, so he has to be right. It is, at least right now, simple as that.

-

Hades is in a good mood today.

"Heya, kid, what say we go on a... itty bitty eeny weeny walk?"

You look up at him, wide-eyed. Wasn't he busy?

"Managed to con my idiot nephew into helping me out a tad, so I've got the time and, the miracle of a kid that's never annoyed me once."

Tilting you head, you point at yourself, a clear question in your eyes. Surely he can't mean you...?

"Yeah, kid, you. Even my stupid little minions get on my nerves, there's this one time they boight merchandise–well, with Hermes on paperwork, I don't have to worry! Hah! Anyway, point is, you're the one person 'round here who doesn't get a spot on the annoying leaderboards."

It's a good day, you think. Hearing him joke like that is nice, almost as funny as the rare times he goes off on people while you're by his throne, but best of all... he's letting you in on some of his rare free time.

A walk around the Underworld especially sounds nice–you only get to go the places where you're needed, usually, and when your head is fuzzy it's near impossible to muster up the will to go off wandering alone. A smile comes to your face as you think more about it.

"Ahh, there's a grin, there we have it!" He grins back, flames burning brighter. "No mopin', no time on the schedule for that, kid!" Hades holds a hand down, for you to take. "We might have a break, but we don't have all eternity, c'mon."

[kaysutcliff-michaelis]

Aggretsuko rant after finishing season 5

I may mention things about past seasons so BEWARE SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

AGGRETSUKO SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT, BE CAREFUL

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Season 5 had me yelling, talking to myself and feeling like I need to start rewatching it right this instant after finishing it so that I can process everything properly. I really want to read comments and reviews about it but I’ll wait until I’m done writing this so that whatever I read doesn’t influence my rant. And don’t expect any order, rhyme or reason here, I can’t be bothered to make this look like a proper text.

THEY FUCKING GOT MARRIED? WHAT? WHAT? EXCUSE ME WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?????

It was incredibly cute and sweet how they just felt it was their time and eloped, no perfect wedding, no cute bride with her dress and no anything, just Haida and Retsuko. Four seasons raging because she wanted to be a cute bride with her wedding dress in a chapel and she ends up getting married at the registry in the middle of the night, who would have guessed! HOWEVER, it makes me sad that we didn’t see more about it. No rings, no family and friends’ reactions, not even a mention about it. This is supposed to be the final season, so the way A LOT of things were left makes me extremely confused.

We don’t know what Haida’s new job is. We don’t know who was behind the truck attack. We don’t know how come there’s a picture of them with Retsuko’s family now. We don’t know what the deal with Tadano, Gori and Washimi is. We don’t know how the stunt worked for OTM’s social media numbers. We don’t know what happened to that guy who offered Haida the construction work. There are so many things we don’t know! Idk, the ending felt a bit lackluster precisely because the second the elections ended the season was over and it feels there wasn’t proper closure for some points.

And why couldn’t we hear Shikabane singing??? ;__; It almost made me tear up how Retsuko offered her the microphone at the end, I was really hoping to hear them singing together.

I could relate a lot to Shikabane throughout the season. Those feelings of hopelessness, loneliness and having to constantly do something to keep your mind occupied so that you don’t succumb to those thoughts have been incredibly present in my life for the last months (going to therapy and relying on my supportive partner to try and get myself out of it), so I totally get where she was coming from and why she acts the way she does until the end. Plus her character design is SO CUTE. The platform shoes, the ribbons, the colour palette! Had me wishing I looked as cool and fashionable as her!

But Haida. OMG HAIDA. THIS GUY NEVER LEARNS. He was making bad decisions during season 4, but THIS. Retsuko is so patient with him, if my partner was ever in that situation and hid it from me that would probably be a deal breaker. Not because of him being jobless and homeless, but because I’d feel he doesn’t trust me and thinks I’m not reliable or that I won’t help him. He gets on my nerves so much, sometimes he’s the perfect ship for Retsuko and sometimes he just self-sabotages to the point of almost ruining his life. Annoyance aside though, I feel like their struggles as a couple are very realistic and I enjoy that. The struggles of all the characters in general are realistic.

AND SPEAKING OF SHIKABANE, HAIDA AND THE WHOLE NET CAFE THING. I was so shocked because literally two days ago I was watching a video by Nekojita vlog (Spanish-Japanese couple who has been doing Youtube for some years now) talking about this topic, women who live in manga kisas either because they cannot afford an apartment (with the money it would get you just to pay rent you have food, showers, washing machines, drinks, internet and a place to sleep if you find a good deal) or because their lifestyle is more suited to this (maybe they work most of the day/night and it is better to rent a booth for a few hours to crash there than be bothering with rent, bills, neighbours and all that stuff). I found the topic super interesting and it was quite a surprise to see it was one of the main points of the season.

The second part of the season threw me off a bit with the whole “suddenly Retsuko is running up for Parliament” thingy, I really dislike politics and it felt a bit like propaganda, it reminded me of this random Modern Family arc in which Claire is running for the council. Despite that, I think some real-life issues that need urgent addressing were mentioned and it would be good if that raised awareness about them in Japan, like how difficult and expensive it is to have your child in kindergarten (me hating politics doesn’t mean I don’t know about how messed up things are there). It also made me feel bad that Manaka and Hyodo kinda sold Retsuko to this creepy Ikari guy just so that they could get free publicity for OTM Girls. And Tadano buying the net cafe so that he can have it for himself??? He left so many people like Shikabane homeless with that move, he could just have remodeled his apartment. Overall this second part had some great moments but some bad stuff that leaves a bittersweet taste for me. And it annoys me that we don’t know who attacked Haida at the end so that Retsuko would quit!! I was so worried that he would die or end at the hospital and in the end nothing really comes out of this event (except for the eloping) and the next day he’s there playing with her (extremely cool btw) like he didn’t get hit by a truck the day before.

Selling Retsuko to Ikari for clout aside, I honestly felt jealous (in a good way) for Retsuko’s support network. I rewatched the whole thing during February so that I would be ready for season 5 and something that really caught my attention was how she gets more and more allies and how much teamwork there is.

Gori and Washimi the best friends ever!

Tadano who saves the day each time he appears, Retsy and him are cut out to be a couple but they sure are to be friends and allies!

Tsunoda and Fenneko being the unexpected wingman team?? They carried so much of seasons 4 and 5.

Anai doing a 180 and going from crazy newbie to someone who legit cares about his coworkers! He has evolved so much thanks to Kabae and his gf!

Director Ton OMG DIRECTOR TON, went from villain to that brutally honest but really supportive person who sometimes seems to know her better than anyone! And his daughters being part of the action of seasons 3 and 4?? And the whole family teamwork at the end of season 4 when they were trying to get the flash drive???? Loved that.

Manaka and the bodyguards making sure Retsuko was safe (Manaka in general with that bat full of nails is super cool). Though she’s still Manaka, 90% of the time I really like her but the other 10% I think she doesn’t care who she has to sacrifice for her idol career... Same goes for Hyodo.

It’s so wholesome to see how much she has evolved since the first season and how she relies on others and her trust is being rewarded.

I don’t really know what to think of her parents though. Her mother seems to have good intentions on the last seasons but in season 2 she’s just the most nosy and meddlesome mother ever. AND DON’T GET ME STARTED ON HAIDA’S FAMILY. I honestly feel bad for his mother, she looked so kind and she has to deal with crazy obsessive Juzo and Jiro. So manipulative, so money-centered, I don’t believe ONE BIT, what Jiro said about him not being behind the truck attack. And if he wasn’t him, it was their dad, how else would he know about what happened? I wanted Haida and Retsuko to tell them to shut their mouths and go to hell SO MUCH.

Random, but the Juliana’s references throughout the series gave me life XD The Bubbly Land ad made me crack up.

So no that the series is supposedly over, I think my fave season is season 3. To me it was perfect in every aspect: the plot, the character designs, the pacing, the ending, the soundtrack... Second place is shared by the Tadano arc in season 2 and the net cafe arc in season 5. Then we have the second part of season 4, all of season 1 and the second part of season 5. And finally the beginning of seasons 2 and 4. Not that Aggretsuko has any bad seasons or episodes, but I certainly cherish some more than others.

I said it before but I really think like I need to watch the season again to process everything that happened and gather my thoughts on it. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow or in a few days, maybe not. If this is the end, I want to say that since I watched Retsuko for the first time I have related A LOT to the characters and their situations at different points of my life or regarding different aspects of it. The show has got me through so many shifts and has felt so cathartic when I was done with my job and wanted to death voice all my customers and coworkers. I’m so grateful that this show exists to drop a sea urchin in the desert from time to time and remind us that things aren’t as hopeless as they may seem.

[the-real-sasuke-uchiha]

Sasuke what do you think of Hiruzen Sarutobi?

I saw this ask when you sent it, Anon, and I have been since thinking on how to answer in a way that won’t bore you to death. Because I could write enough to fill a thesis.

Sarutobi is either as fascist and hypocrite as his predecessor, but hiding his hate for the Uchiha behind that mask of an adorable and kind grandpa, or he is the most useless and incompetent Hokage to ever exist in Konoha. I am quite inclined towards the first option.

Sarutobi routinely consulted Danzo and the two council decrepits and completely gave in to their opinions. He heard their racist remarks about the Uchiha and just accepted them without question. He heard Danzo advocating for a genocide, and all he got was a childish scolding. He of course enabled Danzo and let him do as he pleased, right up to the very night of the massacre. And then played angry and surprised, but still let him go with a short detention as a punishment for annihilating a clan. Remember all those anbu designated to spy on my clan and obviously released from that duty after the massacre? Well, clearly Sarutobi couldn’t even assign one of them to have an eye on Danzo, because he was totally free to desecrate the corpses of my loved ones, tear off their eyes and go to Orochimaru to get that disgusting arm surgically attached.

So, one of your subordinates conspired against a clan on your back, ordered almost all its members to be assassinated without your permission or knowledge, and then he was free to go and do business with an traitor that was allegedly plotting against you and the government of Konoha. Sarutobi is not a genius but he couldn’t be so stupid. The only explanation is that, maybe he didn’t know exactly what Dazo was doing, but he certainly didn’t care in the slightest.

He got the Hokage position in a moment where the Uchiha were already segregated from the village, forced into a specific career and excluded from any position of influence or power. This was as a result of Tobirama’s policies, however, Sarutobi did nothing to revert that. You don’t do this based on ignorance, you only do this if you agree with your predecessor. He obviously inherited the hateful and racist ideals from his master. And, in fact, he goes all “will of fire” the first chance he gets.

He heard Danzo’s worries about the unrest of the Uchiha, he heard his suggestion to kill “even the innocent children” and did nothing about that. Nothing to stop Danzo, nothing to approach the Uchiha or alleviate their oppression. He had so many chances it is incredible he did absolutely nothing. “They are my comrades in arms, I want to use dialogue to solve this”, he said, probably just trying to look reasonable in front of Itachi, to keep the good-guy façade so Itachi would think “see, it is my clan’s fault, the Hokage seems so open and fair”. But he did shit. What other thing had him busy that day that was more important than moving his ass and go immediately talk to the Uchiha to prevent a tragedy? Weren't they so scared of war? What the hell were they doing to prevent it except violating every possible civil right of the Uchiha?

You know, even if we play stupid and assume that it is true, that he was just weak and incapable, that he really knew nothing about Danzo’s intrigues, what would be your logical course of action after you learn about it? Because I would not have allowed Danzo to see the light again. I would not have sent Itachi to join Akatsuki or put a bounty in his head. I would not have allowed a child to grow in despair, manipulated by lies and unfairly hating his only living relative. I would have exposed the truth, I would have held Danzo responsible. I don’t know, I would have behaved as a fair leader for once, as if the people I am in charge of are human beings with rights and feelings.

And these are only my thoughts about his involvement in my clan’s genocide. I won’t even start talking about his mighty speech in the chunin exams, telling children to go kill each other for the enjoyment of powerful feudal lords because, apparently, they would start a war if they are denied of that pleasure. Or about the orphans left abandoned. Or about how he allowed the barbaric practices in the Hyuga clan and how he consented Hizashi Hyuga sacrificing his life to protect his enslaver brother.

You know, Anon, my parents admired this guy’s father so much they named me after him. They fought in the war for him. I mourned in his funeral when I didn’t yet know the truth. I feel so betrayed and so stupid.

[megamindsupremacy]

Do you have any Spiderman fic recs? (Preferably not MCU but. I'm not picky)

YES ofc. Let me dig through my bookmarks for some. Warning- most of them will be Team Red fics because that’s where I interacted most with the Marvel fandom back in the day. Also, coming back after making this, unfortunately most are at least a little bit MCU influenced but I tried to stay away from the tropier/irondad/ooc fics

-

Inimitable by deniigiq

“Peter, is it supposed to be doing that?” One of his students asked him. He looked up to see the industrial-strength magnets he’d collected for this lab trying to crack through the glass between them to be reunited. The glass splintered.

“Yeah, no. That’s totally fine,” he lied. Then he inconspicuously chased everyone to the corner of the lab, donned a glove, and smashed the glass so that it wouldn’t splinter and stab someone in the eye in its explosion.

His students cheered.

He needed a drink.

(Peter gets called back to the city at the age of 25 to help mitigate the rapidly increasing crime rate. He's in way over his head, so he sets out to re-establish Team Red.)

(Classic Team Red fic, this author got me into the fandom years ago and I’ve been stuck since)

-

Say You Will, Say You Won’t by Traincat

Johnny Storm found him on a Friday afternoon, wearing the kind of beseeching look that filled Peter with dread.

“I need to ask you a favor,” he said.

“No,” Peter said, swinging away.

__

Peter and Johnny get married, really-not-really.

(A classic Spidertorch fic, absolutely hilarious and not even a little bit MCU-touched)

-

Peter Parker: Legend of Empire State by Popjeckdoom

There was a dorm room, at the end of the third floor hallway on the male side of student housing, that was a mystery to all the students of Empire State. #339, Peter Parker.

The dorm itself wasn’t strange. It wasn’t haunted or cursed in any way, or as far as anyone knew. The door looked like everyone else’s; a doodle of Spidey on the whiteboard, a random scratch at the bottom left corner of the door, likely from someone moving in, etc. What made this ordinary room into a legend was it’s mysterious inhabitant, whom many believed did not even exist.

Peter Parker. The Criptid of Empire State.

(Technically incomplete, but it’s a series of oneshots so do with that what you will)

-

Dumpster Fires Verse by deniigiq

Peter and May receive a notice to vacate.

The other guys on Team Red have been there before, they offer a bit of advice.

(Another deniigiq classic, it’s a series of interconnected fics that don’t need to be read together to make sense)

-

Can you hear the drumming? (there’s a revolution coming) by Crescent_Blues

"You know how to throw a punch?"

Peter stops fidgeting and his heartbeat slows as he breathes deep and forces it to calm. The endorphins aren't quite there yet but he can almost taste the excitement, the hopefulness. Like carmel, like yellow, like tacky sweetness.

"Don't tuck your thumb into your hand and keep your wrist and arm straight?"

He has the basics.

That's a good start.

Right?

(Matt accidentally acquires one Peter Parker at the ripe old age of eleven and becomes the mentor he never wanted to be)

(This one comes courtesy of my friend Moon, who will kill me if he knew I was reccing his fic, but the writing style and quality is top notch so I refuse to stop. Also incomplete, but there’s 160k words before you get to the end so there’s a lot to read)

-

Peter Parker’s Home for the Wayward Villain by BeanieBaby

A really long redemption story.

(Another classic, Peter buys a house and adopts+reforms like 90% of the Marvel villains)

-

Roundabout by Gruoch

“Are you being killed right now?” Tony asks. “Am I listening to your final moments?”

“Maybe,” Peter chokes out, weakly pedaling his legs in the air while he futilely scrambles to pry the hand away from his throat.

Tony releases a sharp huff, irritated. “You are absolutely not allowed to die right now. Your graduation is a month away. Pepper’s moved around all her meetings to be free that day, and I’ve already given the deposit to the catering company for your party. I can’t get it back if I have to cancel now because of your untimely demise.”

***

In which Peter attempts to survive long enough to graduate, Tony moonlights as a semi-professional party planner, and absolutely nothing goes according to plan.

(This one is just. Peter Parker’s terrible horrible no good very bad day but in the best way)

-

Spider Season by selador

Peter Parker is Ben Urich's intern at the Bulletin. He's alright, as far as interns go. Bad coffee, but he fights crime bosses who want Ben dead. That wins a lot of points with Ben, that's for sure.

(Mostly follows the plot of DD s1 but still a great fic)

-

WHAT sugar daddy(s)??? By o1nm

"I've never really thought about it," Peter sniffs, gazing sadly into his mostly empty cup. "Maybe uh... maybe somebody who buys me milkshakes whenever I want? I don't know."

MJ's eyebrows twitch minutely. "Really?"

"Yup," Peter says lightly, "really," despite the fact that he feels like he just signed some sort of demonic treaty. "Hey, do you think we could circle back and -"

"I'll go get you another," MJ tells him as she snatches his previous milkshake, dropping it in a trashcan on her way as she sashays back to the ice-cream store.

...Weird.

(*slaps roof of Peter* this boi can fit so much autism in him. But honestly he’s so oblivious throughout, it’s amazing)

-

Always Glad You Came by aloneintherain

Spider-Man is a relatively new, controversial vigilante, and Johnny has a crush the size of the Empire Building. The Four - operating under the assumption that Spidey is an adult - do not approve.

“I just happen to think Spider-Man's cool,” Johnny says, matter-of-factly. “A hero can think another hero is cool without making it weird. I admire his aloofness. And his badass-ness.”

“His aloofness,” Ben repeats, chuckling into his mug of beer. It’s roughly the size of Johnny’s head. “Yeah, sure, I bet that’s all your admire, right?”

(Another Spideytorch classic, with So Many Misunderstandings it’s amazing they can walk straight)

[wildlyglittering]

A Love for all Seasons Part 2 (Spring)

So I am totally slack at continuing this series 😂

If anyone is remotely still interested here is Part 2 of ‘A Love for all Seasons’ which has now moved onto Spring. 

I’ll be honest... since reading ACOSF my love for Nessian has dimmed somewhat which means so has my enthusiasm for writing this. It’s likely I won’t continue the series beyond this chapter. 

I do have one final Nessian/ Neris piece that I am aiming to get out this year as a way to give myself some Nessian closure and say a final goodbye. For now - enjoy this one! 😉

***

The change from winter to spring brought new happenings to Velaris; pink blossoms on trees, turquoise waters on the Sidra, and the arrival of mating season which meant... well, it meant horny everything.

Nesta wasn’t immune to the hormones and pheromones and whatever else was being secreted into the air. Living in the city all her life meant she was prepared for what spring would bring, but she had been unprepared for spring when a hot-blooded Illyrian was involved.

That morning she woke to a dusky pink sunrise and with a bleary half-open eye, groaned at the number on her nightstand clock. She stretched and rolled, misjudging her distance from the other occupant in her bed.

“Ow.”

“Sorry,” she murmured, her voice still husky from sleep and snuggled closer, patting Cassian’s forehead as her face inched near his. “Still, elbow in the face is twenty points.”

“Hmm. Not sure I like this game and your bed is far too small.”

“Try hanging upside down from the beams like I suggested.”

Cassian’s eyes, centimetres from hers, flew open, bright and alert. Nesta swore he thought sleep was for the weak. “You are a wicked woman,” he said, glancing towards Nesta’s bare shoulder, “but there are other ways we can save on space.”

He rolled on top of her, ignoring her laugh and dragged the sheets with him, wings splayed above them both blocking out all hint of early sunlight.

Honestly, if he kept this up Nesta was going to need the hose.

After Cassian watched Nesta perform The Nutcracker at Solmas, there had been a few false starts. In part due to Nesta’s hectic winter dance schedule and in part due to what Nesta felt was a humiliation strong enough to die from.

Finally, after bouquets were delivered to her dressing room in such volume she would have been able to open her own floristry, she agreed to have coffee with him. Only the once, she’d said.

Coffee turned into lunch and then into dinner. Then, when he walked her home, she’d asked him inside. The next morning they ate their breakfast naked, tearing through toast and jam like starving animals before returning to bed.

Nesta remembered opening her curtains when they were done, the chill sinking through the glass as the frost displayed across the pane with a message. Naughty Girl.

She refused to be judged by frozen water and when Cassian came out of her bathroom, he’d raised an eyebrow on discovering Nesta pressing her middle fingers against her window.

That had been five months ago. Five months.

Snow and ice melted into puddles and now falling petals collected on the ledge outside her bedroom window spelling their own words. Today’s being; Niiiiice.

Yes, spring was hornier.

Oh, but it was nice. The time her and Cassian spent together somehow gave Nesta both peace and excitement, even if it was just them sitting on her sofa with her legs slung over his. Even now, after they’d relinquished themselves to spring’s influence once more, she lay on his sweaty chest, content to listen to the beat of his heart.

“You can’t be comfortable,” she said noting Cassian’s wings angled in unnatural directions to stop them squashing against the wall, but he only shrugged and said he’d manage.

Nesta’s small apartment was fine when it was only herself – small became cosy. When an Illyrian was present - small become cramped. When other, more unwelcome thoughts intruded – small became claustrophobic.

She’d tried reasoning with the apartment, tried flexing a little of her magic muscles to encourage it to increase space but it refused to budge, likely remembering when Nesta made good on her threat to hammer nails into walls.

Nesta had suggested that her and Cassian go elsewhere but last time Cassian booked them a hotel in the city centre. The room was lovely and most importantly, spacious, but that hadn’t been what Nesta meant.

Five months of sleeping together and she’d yet to visit his apartment.

The options she’d considered was that Cassian was either a serial killer hoarding his trophies, that he had a secret family no one was aware about, or that he was ashamed of whatever it was he was doing with Nesta and didn’t want her presence in his home.

She hoped he was a serial killer.

Cassian’s fingers stroked through her hair, tracing down her neck to her collarbone and Nesta knew they’d have to get up soon otherwise they’d never leave the bed. Even the graphically illustrated pamphlet she’d picked up from the Fae and Human Relations Clinic entitled, ‘Illyrian Sex and You,’ hadn’t provided the full picture.

“Oh honey,” a high fae woman next to her had said with a chuckle at Nesta’s blush, “you’ve got no idea.”

Cassian’s voice broke her out of her trip down memory lane. “What are you going to do with a full Saturday off?”

She shifted, trying to escape the fingertips drifting to the tops of her breasts and focused on the unsexy tasks before her. “Visiting Elain,” she replied, “if I don’t turn up to praise her garden in prime spring than she refuses to talk to me for months.”

One of the unwelcome changes of winter to spring was the shift in management at the Velaris City Ballet Company. Although Eris, the last fae director was an absolute, unmitigated prick, he was a prick Nesta was used to dealing with. Though he didn’t hold humans in high regard, at least he respected Nesta’s talent as a dancer.

The new director, Tamlin, had donned a sneer when he read Nesta’s name from the call sheet before making Gwyn cry, resulting in an argument between Nesta and him. After, he invited Nesta to his office and informed her that she didn’t have many more nails in the coffin of her departure to be hammered down.

Now, Nesta barely had any performance time. She wasn’t even ensemble; she was second ensemble. The once prima ballerina was about to become the prima cleaner.

The lies she spun to Cassian about her days didn’t include that. Instead, she deflected. “What will you do?”

“The usual.”

‘The usual’ for Cassian was free flying off the mountain Ramiel with Azriel and Rhys, followed by brunch with Mor and then training which seemed like a combination of throwing punches and getting hit by swords. Or avoiding getting hit by swords. Sometimes when she met him afterwards, Nesta couldn’t tell what the actual aim of the training had been.

Nesta stretched again, her back arching and cracking and the sheets fell from her chest. “Oh no,” she said to Cassian, noting the gleam in his eyes at her bared breasts. She shimmied under the covers to get to the end and crawled out, standing at the foot. “I have things to do.”

“So do I,” he said, eyes skimming from breasts to thighs and back again.

She grinned, shaking her head and scooping up his shirt to cover herself. In truth she couldn’t blame the spring air, he’d been like this all through winter.

The fucking fae were always fucking. Or tried to be.

Nesta pulled her hair into a braid as Cassian sat up to rest against the wall, wings now stretched as wide as possible in the gap, the talons brushing the plaster. “Hey,” he said, his voice breezy. “I have an idea. Before you visit Elain, why don’t you come with me for some of them?”

“Some of what?”

“My Saturday activities. Might be fun.”

“I’m not launching myself from anything thank you and I don’t feel like getting whacked with a sword.”

“You could come with me to brunch with Mor.”

Nesta paused, her fingers tangling in her hair, the braid pattern now destroyed.

Cassian had said it in a way like it wasn’t a massive deal to say to one of his long-standing friends, ‘oh by the way, you know Rhys is seeing Feyre who we all love. Well, I’m sleeping with her sister. No, not that one. The one no one likes.’

She looked over at Cassian, his skin holding a hint of crimson, his eyes staring down at his sheet covered knees. There was a lurch in her stomach. If he couldn’t make eye contact with Nesta during an invitation to brunch, how would he be throughout the actual event? Nesta imagined sitting opposite the blonde, glamourous Morrigan, a plate of maple-soaked pancakes between them, while Cassian pretended death glares weren’t being shot Nesta’s way.

Though her first inclination was to tell Cassian she would rather spend her time bathing in the Kelpie pool this was his first attempt at something different, something more public.

“I could look at the timings,” Nesta said, re-braiding her hair. “Are you sure Mor wouldn’t mind? Won’t it be weird if I just turned up with you?”

Cassian’s eyebrows lifted. “You’ll come? Ah she’ll be cool with it. She’s used to me rocking up with....”

Nesta arched an eyebrow of her own. “One-night stands? Girlfriends?”

“I was going to say, ‘lovely ladies of which I’ve spent lots of pleasant time with.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I can say we bumped into each other by the door.”

Nesta blinked but kept her face impassive. Cassian had shrugged at his statement, a hand casually gesturing into the air. Casual, casual. All so casual.

Almost half a year. Dinner dates, brunch dates, lunch dates – every meal date possible they’d done it and invented some of their own. He’d attended her performances while she still had dances to perform and he was over at her apartment so much that the front door of the building now opened to let him in.

She hadn’t been to his home and they hadn’t told anyone that they were – what? Dating? Seeing each other? Sleeping together? Nesta had used the word girlfriend in relation to women who had rocked up to his brunch with Mor but that’s not what she was. Even if she was, would any of his friends, her sister’s friends, be impressed?

The only one would be pleased would be Emerie but Nesta wasn’t ready to give her the satisfaction of knowing her stunt with The Nutcracker choreography had worked.

Nesta cleared her throat. “Thinking about it, I can’t.” She kept her voice as light as she could. “I’m taking the slow route to Elain’s and if I’m late to view the peonies open, she’ll kill me.”

There was no change to Cassian’s expression, he simply nodded and relaxed his shoulders. “Sure,” he replied, and Nesta wondered if he wanted that to be the answer all along.

“I’m going to grab a shower,” she said, turning away. Usually, she would extend the invite to him but not even the pollen in the air could fight its way through the heaviness of her chest. “Feel free to stay, have some coffee.”

“No, it’s best I go. I’ll be getting the third degree from Az and Rhys about being late.”

The bed creaked behind her as he rose, his heavy tread padding its way across the floorboards. A warm kiss landed on her shoulder, “I’ll see myself out, you go grab your shower.”

Nesta turned to face him, nodding with such enthusiasm she must have resembled a bobbing goblin. She kissed him goodbye, nothing more than a brief touch of her lips on his, before dashing into her bathroom.

The shower she took was long and hot, the steam curling into condensation everywhere in the small space. “Am I unlovable?” she asked the apartment walls.

When she stepped out from under the spray of water, there was a reply in the mist on the mirror.

No, it said, you’re not.

***

Elain lived an hour from the heart of Velaris and wasn’t too difficult to get to if you knew the best method of travel. Winnow Express didn’t operate outside the city parameters and if Illyrian Air had been operational, it still wouldn't be an option Nesta would have gone with.

Peregryn Air was renowned for speed and customer service but the prices highlighted on the app were out of Nesta’s shrinking budget. In the end, she settled on Pegasus’ non-flying option which meant she travelled by horse and carriage – much to Elain’s delight when Nesta arrived.

“Look at you!” Elain had squealed. “Very classic!”

The sisters sat under the shade of an oak tree, serenaded by the hum of bees while long stemmed flowers bobbed their heads in the breeze.

“How is Velaris?” Elain asked, adjusting her wide brimmed straw hat.

“Oh, you know this time of year – perilous.”

“Have you seen a lot of Feyre?”

Nesta shook her head and took a sip of her drink. Pink and fruity and delicious with a strange but not unpleasant tingle that Nesta couldn’t put her finger on.

“I saw her in March for lunch but then the snow melted and now she’s shacked up with her boyfriend.”

“Ah yes, spring madness.”

“I just hope they’re cleaning down the counters.”

They both shuddered.

“How about you?” Elain poked an ice cube in her glass with her straw. “Are you seeing anyone?”

Before Nesta could stop herself, the words fell from her mouth. “I’m sleeping with Cassian.”

There was a shriek from Elain and the hat flew off as she leant forward over the small garden table, the ribbons of her floral dress close to sinking into the pitcher. “Noooo! When did that start?”

“Soon after Solmas.”

“Five months! Are you just sleeping with each other or is other stuff going on?”

“We've been on dates. And he stays over so much it's like he's living with me.” Nesta frowned. Where was all this coming from? Although Elain wasn’t in contact with Feyre’s inner circle, it didn’t mean that Nesta planned on spilling her guts.

“Oh my goodness,” Elain said with a giggle. “I’m not surprised, you two always had a thing for each other.”

“We did?”

“How’s the sex?”

“Best sex of my life, in fact this morning he-”

Nesta jerked back in her chair, forcing her lips to press together. Elain was leaning so far over the table now it seemed she was seconds away from clamouring over it and onto Nesta’s lap. Nesta looked at the glass in her hand, the delightful blush pink liquid almost gone showing a golden residue collecting at the bottle. She stuck her nose in for a sniff.

Yes, there it was along with the cherry and hibiscus.

“Elain – did you put Amorveritas berries in this?”

Her sister had the decency to go a little red. “Maybe.”

“Elain! That’s a gross betrayal of trust!”

Elain’s freckled nose crinkled as she sat back in her chair, adjusting her hat which had seemed to grow an extra inch to hide more of her face. “Oh, you’ll forgive me. How else am I supposed to know what’s going on in your life?”

“You could ask.”

“I always ask,” Elain said with a huff. “You say ‘its fine’ and move on. But the last time you said it was fine – and I believed you – I got that phone call from Feyre to say you’d been arrested.”

“That was sorted out. And Feyre didn’t need to get involved either.”

“Hmm.”

They sat, the heavy shade of the tree covering them greater than before. Nesta glanced up, it wasn’t her imagination that the oak was leaning over them both, trying to listen into every word. “Do you mind?” Nesta snapped.

Elain winced and waved a hand at a low hanging branch. “Sorry, it has a will of its own. Loves gossip and my life doesn't give it enough.”

Nesta placed her drink down on the table. “I thought you weren’t going to get involved in magic? I thought that was the whole point of moving away from Velaris?”

Elain sighed and looked away into her garden, fingers twisting themselves in her dress. “I wasn’t. The problem is that little seedling we have. It’s hard for it not to take root. I wasn’t bothered in the city but now I’m here and I feel like I’m in my right place and I guess it grew.”

She looked to Nesta and Nesta nodded for Elain to continue.

“I have a non-magic herb and flower garden and a magic one. But Nesta, the prices I can charge for the magic produce is ridiculous! People will pay anything! You see all these acres of land? I own them. I’m about to put a down payment for my own Pegasus delivery service.”

Nesta smiled at her sister. “That’s wonderful. I’m really pleased for you.” But something wriggled inside her. Not a writhing serpent of jealousy, more a wriggling worm of discontent. Feyre was living her best life, her art indulged at Rhys’ expense, and so was Elain with her cottage and booming business. Nesta was happy they were happy, she just wished she wasn’t so unhappy.

“I’m looking for another job,” Nesta blurted out as Elain’s eyes went wide. The confession nothing to do with the berries and more the weight Nesta felt when she woke each morning.

“Why? You adore the ballet.”

“If you thought Eris was bad, he has nothing on the new director. Give me another week and I’ll be begging to clean the stage just to stay relevant.”

“Oh, Nesta.”

“It’s fine,” Nesta said, waving her hand as though she wave away the tightening of her throat. “I’m thinking about tutoring children in dance. If I can’t be the prima ballerina any more than maybe I can teach the next one.”

“That’s a beautiful way of looking at it.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

They both went quiet and when Nesta looked over, she saw Elain’s doe brown eyes grow watery.

“No please don’t cry,” Nesta said, “I’ll bounce back, I always do.”

“Does Cassian support this?”

There was a beat of silence as Nesta reached for her glass, just needing something to hold. Nesta had no plans to finish her drink and start telling Elain everything. Before she knew it, she’d be confessing about the time she and Feyre gave Elain’s ‘Garden Witch Barbie’ a haircut and makeover.

Some things, like that Barbie, had to remain buried.

“Cassian doesn’t know.”

“Why not?”

“Because we’re sleeping together. We’re not in a committed relationship. Besides, I don’t think he’d be interested.”

Elain leant forward to rest her elbows on the table and place her head in her hands, peering at Nesta. “Are either of you seeing anyone else?”

Nesta paused. Well, she wasn’t and she didn’t think Cassian was. No, she knew he wasn’t. He’d taken a call from Rhys while she’d been cooking dinner one evening and overheard him rebuffing Rhys’ attempts at a set-up.

“I’m not. I don’t think he is.”

“And this is Cassian we’re talking about. Pretty sure a queue as long as the Rainbow Bridge exists lining up for him, and it’s not to hold his hand.”

“I’m going to ignore you now.”

Elain tilted her head, eyes not leaving Nesta. She was unnervingly like Feyre when she had something in her sights. The Archeron family gift being a sliver of magic and a shit-ton of stubborn wilfulness. “Why don’t you think he’d be interested?”

Nesta shrugged her shoulder and looked around the garden for something, anything, that would remove her out of this conversation. Aside from placid rows of flowers and a nervous looking cherry tree nothing was coming to hand.

“He’s not seeing anyone else but it’s not like he wants anyone knowing he’s seeing me either. We only go out to places no one we know goes to, I haven’t even seen his apartment let alone spent a night there and this morning he suggested we pretend to bump into each other so I could join him and Mor for brunch.”

Elain straightened in her chair. “He invited you to brunch with Mor?”

“Not really.”

“Yes, he did! And we’re talking blonde bombshell Mor? Ex-girlfriend Mor? Best friend forever Mor?”

Nesta narrowed her eyes. “Is there any other?”

Fae were notorious for many things; parent issues, extensive criminal records, long lifespans and ridiculously high sex drives. Sooner or later, most fae found their way into each other’s beds, or bathrooms, or balconies, or underwater sex centres if Nesta believed Gwyn’s stories.

Cassian and Mor had both lived a long life, so long that Cassian didn't remember birthdays. But he did remember meeting Mor and finding her, in his words, ‘painfully attractive.’ Mor thought the same of him and they indulged in their mutual attraction until the spark burnt out before it became a fire.

Aside from Azriel, Mor was a rare factor in Cassian’s life that would remain until the end of eternity. Not even Rhys held that honour. Nesta had only met Mor a handful of times through their connection via Rhys and Feyre. Those occasions hadn’t been unpleasant, had even verged on cordial, but Nesta wasn’t known for natural warmth and Mor hadn’t extended conversation beyond polite pleasantries.

“I think you should talk to Cassian,” Elain said, “because I think you’re wrong. I think he would be interested to know what’s going on in your life and I think you want to tell him. You’re pissy over this whole Mor brunch thing which means you like him.”

“Well of course I like him.”

“No, you like him, like him. As in ‘you want him to be your boyfriend’ levels of like.”

Nesta snorted, a noise she hadn’t made in years. Feyre brought out the bratty teenager in her and Elain brought out the bratty child. “We’re grown women talking about liking boys. Soon we’re going to be doodling initials over hearts.”

“There have been studies on the success of doodle magic.”

Nesta sighed and rubbed her forehead, their talk kickstarting a headache. Soon she’d be begging to talk about anything else, even if it was Elain’s pruning routine.

“Nesta,” Elain said, quieter this time. “Please talk to Cassian. Five months is a long time – no don’t interrupt – I know five months is nothing for fae or Illyrians but I remember Feyre saying once that Cassian doesn’t do relationships.”

“Exactly.”

“No, I mean he doesn’t do anything that lasts over a month. In Cassian time, you’re married.”

“Elain-”

“Just promise me you’ll talk to him.”

***

Nesta had to begrudgingly accept that she’d softened over the years.

A promise had been extracted from her by Elain and a basket had been thrust into her hands. According to Elain the sex apples were all the seasonal rage. Nesta eyed up the shining red fruit and was beginning to understand how Elain was now able to afford the construction of her own set of Pegasus stables.

She trudged up the stairs of her building, ignoring the breathy moans from behind her neighbours’ doors on each floor. The sooner spring was over, the better.

Nesta heard Cassian before she saw him, a loud baritone passing as singing vibrating through the walls. Her apartment was now letting him waltz right in and that irritated her. This was her home; he had his own. Probably.

The door opened for her and she murmured a half-hearted thanks to the building which caused it to slam behind her. Cassian was in her small kitchenette, wings tucked in, hair tied up, wearing an armless undershirt revealing his swirling Illyrian tattoos.

He looked up, a broad grin on his face. “Hey, how was your day?”

“Fine,” she said, placing the basket onto the sideboard and looked around. Cassian’s jacket and shirt were thrown over her bed, his overnight bag back in the same corner he’d left it.

“Tea?”

“No thanks.”

“I thought we'd go out for dinner tonight, Autumn Court has just opened a new restaurant, The Forest House. I could fly there in less than an hour. The website says to expect lots of smoked meats and craft ales.”

Cassian boiled his water, a mug with a teabag waiting on the side from his unique blend of tea which now lived in her cupboard. The kettle whistled and a surge of irritation bubbled beneath her skin. The water never boiled that quick for her.

“Why are you here?”

Cassian’s smile slid from his face. “What do you mean? I always stay over on Saturday nights, it’s our thing.”

“Is it? Or is it just convenient for you so you don’t have to leave after fucking? Because that’s what we do, that’s ‘our thing’ – we eat and fuck.”

Cassian’s mouth dropped open but only for a second. “What did you just say?” His voice was soft but disarmingly so. The kind of soft the mermaids used before they sank their sharpened nails into your calf.

“You heard.” Nesta shifted where she stood, wondering where this was coming from, wondering if Elain had snuck something else into her glass.

For the briefest of moment’s Cassian’s face changed into something unrecognisable. Suddenly he was wearing a different face, one Nesta had never seen directed at her but was likely a familiar sight to those he hunted down as a bounty hunter. Black consumed all of his eyes, his wings flexing, talons scrapping against the brickwork. A muscle twitched in his jaw as he clenched his teeth, while a shadow passed over his features.

His eyes scanned her face, his nostrils flaring. This version of Cassian, albeit restrained, was still dark and dangerous and Nesta’s pulse hammered in her throat with a reason far from anything considered arousal.

Then, the moment drifted away. Cassian let the moment drift away as though it were a cloud in the spring breeze.

“How’s Elain?” he asked, injecting a lightness to his tone.

“She’s fine,” Nesta said with a frown.

“And what happened to put you in this mood? What did she say?”

An indignant snarl left Nesta’s mouth. Best Cassian know all of her she decided. He’d heard Feyre’s stories of how difficult Nesta could be. “She didn’t say anything. And how dare you! I’m not in any mood, this is my home, I want to sit on my couch, watch ‘Suriel on Saturday’ and do fuck all.”

“Then we’ll do that.”

A shriek left Nesta’s mouth and she pushed the base of her palms against her eyes until she saw lights. She took a deep breath in, trying to remember the exercises she’d been taught from her court ordered ‘Temper Your Temper’ class.

When her breathing calmed, she pulled her hands away. Cassian still standing in the same place, eyes fixed on her.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you think I’m losing it, like I’m something to be pitied.”

“I’m not-” he began and paused, scrubbing one large hand over his face. “I don’t understand where this is coming from.”

Any energy Nesta had vanished, and she turned to the section of her apartment which acted as her living area and walked over to the couch, sinking into the oversized cushions and pulling her knees underneath her. She stared at a blank spot on the wall ahead.

“I’m going to quit the ballet.”

A soft ‘what’ came from the kitchen followed by the heaviness of Cassian’s tread before the couch dipped under his weight. Nesta swayed towards the middle, their knees brushing.

“Why?”

Nesta cleared her throat. “I’m not being utilised and won’t be for as long as Tamlin is in residence and he’s not going anywhere fast. The longer I stay, the more I doubt my ability so I need to get out while I still believe I’m good. I am you know – good.”

There was a chuckle next to her and she turned to look at Cassian, a broad grin stretched across his face, any hint of his earlier anger gone. “You are,” he said, “I have your Nutcracker performance etched in my memory. Might get a tattoo of it. Before we started dating, I masturbated to it more than was healthy.”

Nesta coughed on air and chose to ignore his latter comment. “We’re dating?”

Cassian frowned, turning towards her. “What else are we doing?”

“Sleeping together.”

“Yeah, but the other stuff – the hanging out, the going out – that’s not dating to you?”

Nesta pinched the skin between her eyebrows in her fingers, a tension headache beginning to rise.

In the basket of fruits Elain had gifted her, there was a nectarine designed to soothe any ailments but her mouth was dry and her throat was tight. If she tried to swallow a bite, she was concerned she’d choke and turn into some tragic modern fairy tale.

The last thing Nesta needed right now was a series of dwarves rocking up to cart her off in a glass coffin to be gawked at by perverts. They had a habit of turning up every time there was a fruit related choking incident.

She sighed, releasing the skin between her fingertips. “Yes, but also – no. When I’ve dated other people, I’ve felt like I’m in their life. I don’t always end up meeting their friends but at the least I’ve been to their homes you know? I haven’t been invited back to yours once.”

“Ah,” Cassian said, “so there’s a reason I haven’t invited you back to me place.” A deep crimson bloomed on his cheeks. “I don’t actually have a place to invite you back to.”

Nesta blinked at him, the words taking longer to meet her brain than she would have thought.

“I’m not homeless,” Cassian said. “I have a house, a very nice house, lots of bookshelves – you’d love it. It’s in Illyria. I didn’t want to put roots down in Velaris so I fly the distance to the city each time I come or I stay with Rhys and Feyre. I figured if I invited you back to theirs, it would be weird.”

Nesta opened her mouth to speak only to close it again. Words were taking longer to exit her brain too.

“I am looking to rent a place,” Cassian continued. “It’s been on my mind more and more but I didn’t want to get ahead of myself and do that if there wasn’t a reason to. We hadn’t discussed where this was going and you seemed to be quite casual so...”

Cassian trailed off, gazing at the same empty spot on the wall opposite that had enraptured Nesta earlier.

“You fly from Illyria to Velaris. Daily?”

“Now, I do. Yeah.”

“And you think I’m casual about this? About us?”

Cassian inhaled and turned to face her again. “Yeah, you’ve never mentioned wanting to do anything more – announce to friends or see my place so I figured you either didn’t care or didn’t mind me being here all the time. You never told Emerie that we got together after Solmas so I thought you didn’t want people to know. I thought you were embarrassed.”

“Huh.”

Nesta processed his words. She hadn’t told Emerie, even when pressed, that her stunt with the Illyrian choreography had worked. It was nothing to do embarrassment over Cassian but more that Nesta’s pride couldn’t handle how Emerie had read the situation from a distance.

“I’ve told Elain. She seems to think you’re into me.”

“She’s right. I am into you. In a massive way.”

“I’m kind of into you too. In a massive way.”

Cassian’s following laugh was more nervous air being released from his lungs than mirth.

Nesta reached out to grab the material of his undershirt. “If you’re so into me, why did you invite me to brunch with you and Mor and suggest we go through an insulting charade?”

Cassian winced, reaching out to clasp her hand with his own, his large fingers entwining through her thin ones. His wings flexed and unflexed behind him.

“I’ve spoken about you so much to Mor. If she hasn’t worked out that we’re seeing each other, she’s worked out I’m into you. I thought if we could have brunch she’d see how awesome you were but I didn’t want to pressure you so thought I’d suggest something more.... casual.”

“I was agreeing until you started bringing up ex-girlfriends and making stupid suggestions!”

Cassian began to say something and then stopped before replying. “Well, I panicked.”

They sat back on the couch, Nesta’s hand now removed from Cassian’s top but her hand still cradled in his. The floorboards above them creaked in a rhythm as spring claimed the upstairs neighbours.

“What’s it like staying at Rhys?” Nesta asked.

Cassian shuddered. “Awful. One time I had to hose them.”

Nesta laughed and Cassian looked at her, eyes twinkling. Then, the twinkle dimmed a little. “I’m sorry about the ballet,” he said, his voice gentle, “I know you loved it.”

Nesta shrugged, feigning nonchalance but she knew Cassian could tell she was faking from the way he squeezed her hand. “Some things are meant to come to an end.”

“Not all things I hope,” he said, flexing his thumb to caress her skin.

Nesta squeezed back. “No, not all things.”

What would be her plan now? Options whirred through her mind. Find a new job, quit her current one, call Emerie for a drink where Nesta could confess that Emerie’s plan had worked and listen to her gloat on her genius for a couple of hours. Have brunch with Mor. Tell Feyre.

“What are you thinking?” Cassian asked her.

“I’m thinking we need to step up our game. I need to find a new role and you need to get an apartment that doesn’t cause you to hit your head on beams.”

“It’s fine – the beams move for me.”

“Of course, they do,” Nesta said with a glance upwards at her ceiling. If brick and mortar could shrug, it would have. “Then I was thinking we could have dinner with our collection of weirdos, tell them we’re in a committed relationship and sit back as they argue over it while we eat dessert.”

The broadest grin she’d ever seen appeared on Cassian’s face, “Yeah?”

“Only if you’re up for it?”

“Oh,” he said, a growl to his voice as he leant forward, “I’m always up for it.”

Nesta rolled her eyes - honestly, spring.

“Wait,” she said, placing her hand on Cassian’s bare chest – how in the Mother had he removed his top so fast? She looked over his shoulder to the basket of fruit on the sideboard, the juicy red sex apples shining. “First, I’m going to bake us a very nice fruit.”

[doodles-with-noodles]

Story ideas that won’t leave my head so I just write them down on here (It gets continually longer):

-Post-apocalyptic setting. The main character reaches a scrappy town whose only supply way has been blocked by enemies. Helping each other ensues because I am a sucker for „the inherent goodness of humanity“ storylines. Everyone is batshit crazy and it’s fun.

-Rich heir of a cruiseship starts seeing ghosts on said cruiseship. With no way to escape they start solving their murders/deaths to get them to leave them in peace + have to deal with lotsa own family drama. Probably post-war sometime and quite serious/more gritty than stuff I usually write, so I think while it’s a fun concept it wouldn’t quite fit my style (I alternate fluidly between funsie stuff and grittiness).

-The main character, a girl named Jules enters into the absolute chaos that is the job to protect society from ancient Egyptian mythology and has to decide if her quest for justice or her new team are more important. I really love the characters for this one, they’re very cool but take constant Ls. They’re also super interesting to explore, and despite me having a lot of story I adore having very much personality and character in my writing.

-A group of very much morally gray characters are offered something they truly want- in exchange, they have to steal/alter someone’s memory with cool future midtech stuff. Problem is that

1. never before has there been an attempt to directly influence a person’s mind

2. who knew? Totally stable seeming person has a fucked up mind and

3. If someone dreams they absolutely will be present in their own consciousness.

So now they’re not only dragging their subject (their dreaming subjects projection through their own consciousness? Idk) with them on a weird and wildly illegal journey trying to find the memory but also grappling with the moral implications because peak enemies to friends is happening. Plus facing the problem that you can’t just remove a memory because it is so deeply entwined with who the person is. But they cannot stop because their employer holds something against all of them. Came from a random line that popped into my head „bold of you to assume I can control my own mind.“ Also, once again very character and their dynamics focused. Idk if it has a good ending because if they remove the memory the subject will forget and that would be shitty but at the moment the only possible solution I could think of. Definetly has the vibes of old-fashioned slow music laid over violent slow fight scenes I don’t make the rules.

[ursie]

genuine question: if devin wrote dick as romani in a hurtful way, why does fandom seem so intent to keeping him romani while decrying the writer that made him romani in the first place? like, if it came from such racist/hurtful archetypes then why cling to it so much? (in contrast, i've seen people say that headcanoning tim as asian is bad because of sterotypes, which is why i don't understand the difference.) i barely read past the 80s comics i grew up with, i just read a ton of fandom arguments and the contrast between "dick IS romani" vs "tim ISN'T asian" is like. i don't understand it? i know fandom isn't a monolith but there are trends overall. idk, i figured you seemed like a "safe" person to ask this question in good faith. hope it doesn't upset you! thanks for taking the time to read and/or answer this. <3

Ok so the thing is bad rep is worse than no rep-yes but erasure is worse too so the solution isn’t to erase but to fix it and there has been genuine effort in canon and by Romani people in the fandom to address Dicks rep. While it’s undeniably rooted in some stereotypes there’s also no denying how important Dicks character is. He’s undeniably the most popular Roma character of all time and that’s an issue when people won’t acknowledge he’s Roma. He’s multifaceted and smart and brave and complicated and undeniably good ect these are really good characteristics for any character let alone one to represent any group of people. The best thing dc could do is either hire Roma writers (or Roma editors/sensitivity readers/ect) they need Roma people in the workroom not less Roma characters in comics. Because at the end of the day If we wait for perfect rep before we acknowledge it we’re not going to get it and that goes for any marginalized identity. People cannot know other’s peoples lived experience-which is why we need to push for our voices in the room. Almost all the diverse characters in comics nowadays started as stereotypes and were stereotypes til someone said no and chose to do the work so they could write them better or at least try-that’s what needs to be done. I think it’s funny (and this isn’t at you) that with Dick given his importance given his cultural influence people push for erasure due to some writing flaws when that’s not and never been the case canon or fanon for other characters I mean have you read early black panther? It’s not good. I think people need to reflect if they actually have an issue with how he’s written or if they not only don’t want to view him as Roma but don’t want to put in their own work of looking past the stereotypes either. Also tbh while you’ll see people tote that Roma people don’t like his rep (which I’m not saying there’s none who don’t) the posts that are most commonly referenced are by non Romani people (and one is by a total freak so yeah). In current canon Dick is probably about 1/4th “ethnically” Roma (though that hardly matters he’s Roma hes roma like. Roma is a race he’s just not white) but also in preboot, dick's father was a kalderash-american rom, dick also spoke lovari dialect in preboot. as of post flashpoint, dick's mom is an american roma but her vitsa is not confirmed, so i just like to hc john was kalderash and mary was lovara personally 🥰 like again the best thing dc can do is actually talk about the Graysons, Mary’s family, ect and make them human. Make them more than stereotypes. Actually talk about his culture and his family and his people-not just brush it under a rug until they reference it for diversity points later

As for your other question/point to me the difference between hcing a character as a different race vs like Dick is the push to view white characters as non white instead of actually making fan content of canon non white characters? Like it’s almost a white guilt thing w Tim (this is not at fans of color) but like you want to feel good about stanning characters of color but you also. Don’t actually stan a character of color (like Tim or Jason for instance) so you just hc them as non white (and yes often stereotypically) instead of like reading a single comic w Duke in it. Like racebending is fine and I think it’s good but when done by white fans it’s often actually done to like justify their distance from actual canon characters of color. Like I’m glad you think Tim’s Asian but you still won’t draw fanart of the batfam w Duke in it in 2022 yknow? You still prioritize Jason over Cass but you think he’s Latine, you hc Steph as ambiguously brown but you still characterize Damian in a racist manner, ect. Does that make sense I’m not actually sure I’m explaining well. Oh and in the case you specified Dick is canonically non white wheras Tim isn’t-and it should be noted that white isn’t the baseline-While no one’s saying writers had any intentions he was never stated to be white before-him being “retconned” as Roma isn’t really fair or true he was simply revealed to be so as again white cannot be treated as the inherent norm (nor should heterosexuality and being cisgender or able bodied) I’m not saying you’re wrong but I think it’s important not to think about that kind of stuff in those terms if that makes sense. I hope I cleared this up. I certainly tried and should you have any more questions my inbox/dms are open

Edit : adding on an important response from @royharper : the bottom line is that people who aren't roma should not be speaking on his identity as a rom because they have no idea what roma identity fully entails. i've seen people claim "he's not culturally connected, therefore he can't be roma" or "he can be white and roma, he's not a person of color" when neither of these things are true. for one, while devin is inconsistent in her writing, dick is shown to be raised within the culture as far back as her titans run in the late 90's, in which he is shown to be speaking romanes with his father in a dream sequence that is heavily implied to be a flashback of sorts, and as well lian states that dick can speak romanes when discussing the various languages that her dad, aunts, and uncles can speak. language /is/ culture for us, it's not something that any outsider can just learn super easily. it was really strange that she retconned this herself by the time gotham knights was written a few years later through the character yoska, who attempts to speak romanes with dick and finds that he can't understand him, however using this, along with the orientalist stereotypes devin tried to impose on both dick and yoska when writing about roma identity, as an excuse to say that dick is not "really a rom" is racist. outsiders do not understand the nuances of roma identity enough to make that judgement, and no, wikipedia is not an accurate source for information about roma. touching on the idea that roma can be white, this is a misconception. while outsiders may be folded into the community by marriage or adoption, this is not very common because we don't tend to marry or adopt outside of our communities. furthermore, roma is not an ethnicity. roma is our race. our ethnicities are our clans. there are roma with pale skin, there are even roma that appear white, but they are still racially roma and are still subject to racial discrimination. in response to the idea that there is an outpouring of roma fans who don't want dick to be roma at all, this simply isn't true. that rumor was originally started by someone who was outed as a racefaker, and is perpetuated by white fans who seek to weaponize this perspective to justify their whitewashing and racism. i've known more roma who were, while still critical of devin's orientalism/antiromanyism, ecstatic to have a roma comic character who actually speaks the language, as in comparison to doctor doom and the maximoff twins, who are arguably just as popular, who do not speak romanes in comics, or have only spoken one or two words of the language. dick is important in terms of representation for this fact alone. i can't fathom the amount of people who are not roma who think that just because roma characters are often subject to stereotypical writing that it's somehow better to simply erase their racial identity all together rather than doing their own research to avoid stereotypes when portraying the characters and pushing for these companies to start hiring roma creatives as we do with /every other character of color because not a SINGLE character of color in comics history has been entirely free of racist, stereotypical writing or of colorism and whitewashing in official artwork/. and yet you don't see people pushing for other characters of color to be made white. it's really very telling to me. and just for the record, since i know this is for some reason a popular talking point, dick's race was not retconned after devin initially wrote him as roma. his race has been referenced across numerous other comics written by other writers over the years, most notably tim seeley in his run of nightwing rebirth. while i have issues with seeley's characterization of dick, and he tends to sexualize him just as much if not more than devin imo, dick's racial identity plays a big role in the raptor arc. stop acting like devin was the only writer to ever write dick as a rom and that it was never seen or heard of again in canon after she stopped working on nightwing.

[mattydemise]

I’ve fucked up a lot over of the course of my life. Said the wrong things, been lost in the wrong place at the wrong time, found myself in the wrong relationship, and I've fucked the wrong people, but I’ve never regretted any of it. Despite the laundry list of my fuck ups, the extensive bible it’s become, I move forwards with gratitude, and the grace only afforded to those lucky enough to see a few years. I’m not old by any stretch of the imagination, not yet, but I will be eventually and I’ll be able cast my gaze back into the sometimes shimmering, sometimes murky and opaque, waters of the past, and be thankful that I got to write my own story. Some people go through life, hit their twilight years, and wonder where the fuck it all went, how it all managed to escape them, just as they were starting to live them. I hope that my experience and perspective continues to allow me the rare human luxury of looking back at these golden years and smile at everything. I’ve managed to find myself in relationship after relationship with special people, sometimes they’re in my life for mere months, other times I’ve been blessed with their companionship and their own perspective for years, and I won’t lie, sometimes I find comfort in the arms of another for a solitary evening, but it in way invalidates the significance and totality of those experiences. Sometimes it’s through those lone evenings of comfort where the best poetry, the most expressive of our art, is created. I am grateful for every day I get to wake up in my bed, an 80s Power Ballad as my alarm, and bask in hazy glory for the work I do, the people I know, the family I have, the life I’ve been lucky enough to live, at any moment that luck could and most likely will change, so I carry on with gratitude and grace. A deep, almost divine, gratitude for everyone and everything I’ve been blessed with over the years, every single person, even those that’ve done me dirty, have a place in my heart, and I carry their unique influence with me every single day. And it’s with grace I carry all that with me, and wear it proudly like a favourite jacket to keep me warm when the winds pick up from the south.

[gffa]

I'm pretty new to the sw tumblr fandom, would you mind telling me what the pro/anti jedi "discourse" is about? absolutely understand if you don't have the time for that of course haha

Hi! Oh, I’ve tried like five separate times to write a short summary of What Jedi Discourse Is About, but it’s hard for me to put into a nutshell, because I really want to try to be fair and objective, but also I have experienced a lot of shit in this fandom and I’ve lost a lot of patience for it.  (This is not aimed at you!  This message was totally fine, I’m just still disgusted with some people’s behaviors towards other fans..) As short as I can make it:  While people run the gamut from “the Jedi were monsters and a cult and they hated Anakin and it was their fault he fell and Order 66 was totally deserved” to “well, the Jedi were pretty awful, but the babies didn’t deserve to be murdered, I guess” to “the Jedi did some things wrong and some things right” to “the Jedi were right and their decisions were understandable because there just weren’t any good choices”, and many people are incredibly insufferable about it along the way, whether anti-, neutral-, or pro-, as all subsections of fandom are, and there is a very common tendency for pro-Jedi fans to get bombarded with people trying to argue with them. (There was a time when I literally could not make one single post about the Jedi without someone trying to tell me how wrong I was.  This is why my anon is off and why I block when people are only here to argue.  Things are calmer now, but sometimes people still get a bug up their ass and won’t leave us alone--sometimes for literally A YEAR they’ll keep badgering someone.) The discourse is usually centered around the definition of “attachment”, whether or not the Jedi were a cult, the idea that the Jedi suppress emotions, the Jedi were baby thieves, the Jedi were totally cool with slavery, the Jedi were corrupt and stagnant and bad for being drafted into the war, the Jedi were super mean to Anakin and it’s their fault he fell, the Jedi weren’t blood families so they don’t really count as family, the Jedi kiiiiiiinda deserved their own genocide because they weren’t nice enough, etc. There are plenty of people who are chill about their Jedi criticisms and I usually get along pretty well with them (babes, this post isn’t about you guys, I promise), but there are a LOT of people whose behavior is fucking atrocious towards pro-Jedi fans and that has kind of poisoned the water between us in a lot of ways, so when we’re talking about the shitty behavior in fandom, it’s about the people who just will not leave us alone or who constantly feel the need to come yell at us on our posts. Basically, it’s about a lot of different issues (I feel like if I listed them all, it’d just be starting things up again), usually centered on whether or not the Jedi were emotionally healthy, whether or not they were corrupt for fighting in the war, and whether or not they were responsible for Anakin’s choices.  Pro-Jedi fans feel that Lucas’ commentary is very “the Jedi are right about the Force and they really didn’t have any better options about joining the war and Anakin’s fall is his own fucking fault” and that a lot of criticisms the Jedi get are bad faith, unsupported by the actual source material, or outright racist because of their Buddhist influences and that much of what gets criticized is those Buddhist origins. But it’s a complex, many-tentacled issue, so that’s the best overview I can give, as well as, you know, I am pro-Jedi so my experiences are from the pro-Jedi side, I register these things far stronger than someone who has a different experience!

[greenhikingboots]

Hey Green!🤩 For the trope ask: Fake Dating, Reincarnation, Rivalry and Childhood friends. Thanks💕

Loula!! Thanks for asking. I typed up a reply on Monday and then totally forgot I never posted it. You can find the post being referenced, here. But also, I copied and pasted the important parts below. A: Love it. Spend my time combing AO3 for it. B: Like it. Not one of my bigger cravings, but it can scratch a certain itch if I’m in the right mood. C: Neutral. A good author might be able to sell it, but a bad one will kill it deader than dead. D: Not my favorite. I avoid it if I can, but it won’t necessarily put me off reading something. F: Hate it. Will immediately make me nope out of a fic. Now for the answers. - Fake Dating A! Love it! I read it and write it, and I’m so into it that it makes me go, “Gaaaaahhhhh I wish I was a better writer.” Wait. Don’t take that the wrong way. I’m not fishing for compliments. Like, I’m happy with my skill level as a hobbyist. It’s all good. But I love this trope so much I want to be able to elevate it even more, ya know? Super cute affectionate moments, but dripping with angsty uncertainty? What more could you want in life!? - Reincarnation C. Neutral. I guess? Not super confident about this answer because I haven’t read much of this trope. So I don’t know what other tropes usually get paired with it, and if it would be my jam or not. If we’re talking canon universe Jonsa, I’m all for fics that pick up right after Jon comes back to life. Like, that makes a lot of sense because that’s also around the time we expect Jon and Sansa to be reunited. Also, I went through a short stint recently of reading “Jon came back wrong” fics. And that was a lot of fun. But does that count? I’m not sure. And outside of that, I’m just not familiar enough with this trope to have a strong opinion. - Rivalry C. Neutral again. My Dramione days might be influencing me here. I once made a long post (which is probably now lost to a deactivated account) about how it’s actually not canon that Hermione *hated* Draco throughout school. I mean, sometimes he infuriated her. She slapped him. I get it. But for the most part, she had more patience for him than Harry or Ron did. She was more likely to roll her eyes and say something sarcastic than actually get mad. So I got tired of the rivalry/enemies-to-lovers trope with Dramione, especially if it emphasized being snarky childhood rivals instead of, you know… overcoming their history as an actual Death Eater and a Muggle-born witch!! Does that make sense? Like, I’ve seen too many fics that just act like their canon dynamic was different than what it really was (probably stems from more movie watchers than book readers) while also ignoring the major appeal of the ship, if you ask me. Buuuuut! Lately I’ve been spinning around some ideas that would combine fake dating and rivalry tropes for Jonsa, and that makes me like rivalry a little more than I would have said just a few days ago. Actually, calling my recent idea the rivalry trope might not be exactly right. But, like, a premise that would lead to a lot of distrust for them to navigate through while being forced to work together. That’s rivalry/enemies-to-lovers adjacent, and I like it. So that’s why I still gave it a C instead of D or E. - Childhood friends B. Like it. This trope is super sweet and I like it a lot. But compared to a lot of other popular tropes, it runs a great risk of being kind of bland in execution. So I think it needs to be paired with other fun tropes and/or strong storytelling elements to keep the tension alive. I think one of the things I really like about Jonsa is that their childhood allows for a familiarity and closeness and deep sense of caring, but not full-fledged friendship. Which means there’s still a lot of room for tension and growth between them. Love that balance.

What about you, Loula? How would you grade these tropes? I’m curious!

[wishmemel]

Heyy! I saw your ask a fanfic writer post so I hope you don't mind me participating :D

5, 17, 19, 20, 39, 42, 45, & 64

[ I would've asked more, but I don't want to overwhelm you w a bunch of asks 😭]

hi hi i appreciate you going out of your way to ask ! thank u sm for this as i’ve never gotten a chance to participate in one of these before > <

5. have you ever made a playlist about something you were writing as an elaborate means to procrastinate when you could have been actually writing and if yes drop a link, son

when it comes to playlists, i make them for my own OCs - not really for fics that i've written ! (but i have a playlist for satoru that is... still a work in progress. i'll totally share once i feel like i'm actually getting somewhere > <)

17. what is your favorite line you’ve ever written?

this is such a good question omg - had to scroll through all my unpublished wips for this, but my favourite line at the moment would be:

"IS A STORY DEEMED A TRAGEDY IF YOU TAKE BACK WHAT WAS YOURS (you can raise the dead, climb through hell, and fight the devil if you must; even the gods won’t interfere when they see a wrath like yours, harbinger. fear not, child of stars, lady midnight, the gods need not your wrath to bring about your damnation.)"

hehe this is from one of those never-ending fics that i keep in my drafts and finish two years later cause why not !

19. what are some books or authors that influenced your style the most?

rick riordan honestly altered my brain chemistry as a child. he was my favourite author for so long which is why i was a little disappointed when i grew up and read about all the cultural stereotypes in his writing :( aside from him, i know this is controversial, but i really like sarah j. maas's writing style for some reason? she focuses a lot on characters, rather than plot, and i tend to do the same, but overall i just enjoy her silly writing.

20. what is your favorite trope to write?

ahh this is such a hard one to choose from, but if i'm being honest i'm always a sucker for two characters in a relationship arguing and being really hurtful towards each other, and then later making up and being so so soft. idk if it counts as a trope, but i have countless wips of this ^.^

39. are you an avid reader?

yes ! ever since childhood ! i used to be a really shy kid and would always read while the teacher was talking until i was told multiple times to put my book away > < i'm more social now and usually only read during breaks when i don't have school to worry about !

42. describe the aesthetic of a story in 5 words.

this question confuses me a little, honestly... like one of my stories? a story i like? i'm so confused > <

since it's not very specific, i'm going to do it based off of this: JJK Men Tropes, if that's okay !

Suguru Version (cause i've been thinking of @mambalae-s recently and i'm always reminded of her love for Suguru): imprints, confessions, promises, childhood, and forever !

45. name three of your favorite fanfic writers.

it's been a while since i've read fanfic and this is more than three, i'm sorry > <

@tawus, @/beaubcxton on ao3, @/impxria on ao3, @edendaphne, and @/xoxodee on ao3 !

64. what is your favourite title for a fic you’ve read? 

honestly, any taylor swift lyrics, but also you don't even know me at all (but i was made for loving you), and What Shall I Swear By? (Swear By Yourself, and I’ll Believe You), and Say It Later, Say It Now, and i put this heavy heart in you (it's not your fault) !

i find them all so so poetic and heart-wrenching !

ask game - come say hi (i promise i don't bite ^.^)