#which will be very relevant to right now and so if my teacher was a zionist that would be hthe most hypocritical and absurd thing ever

[heilos]

Living Harmony AU relevant character sheets/info: Harmony aka the "Tree of Harmony" Shadow Lock Somnambula Starswirl the Bearded Stygian might be my favorite of the Pillars of Equestria and it's always made me sad that he wasn't used more in the show. So I decided to team up with my new friend Orin who's taken the time to make a bunch of amazing Pillar redesigns (same person I made this Starswirl animation rig for as a gift) that i'll be incorporating into my future animation project. The Pillars are very important characters to Harmony's story so I wanna do them justice. Listed below is some context for these sketches provided by my friend Orin and some written bits from myself. This is a Stygian who's been separated from the Pony of Shadows for some time, but is now dealing with the consequences of dark magic. I've had so much fun throwing ideas back and forth for this AU and I can't wait to share more in the near future.

Unicorn from a small sea side village in ancient times

Dedicated scholar and battle strategist

Special talent is writing. An incredible wordsmith in his own right

Wrote a very popular autobiography about his time possessed by the Pony of Shadows called “Me and My Shadow” (his third novel)

Name means "dark and gloomy" and also relates to the river and deity "Styx" of Greek mythology

Brought the Pillars of Equestria together in a bid to save his home town from the Sirens (the Dazzlings)

Wanted to become a hero in his own right even though he tried to convince himself otherwise

Lacks the physical strength and magical prowess of his fellow Pillars. Compared to any other run of the mill unicorn, however, Stygian is actually decently above average in terms of magical ability, though he downplays himself significantly

Ousted from the group after a misunderstanding involving him taking the other pillar’s relics to make copies of them so he too could be a hero and join them as an equal. His friends thought he was out to steal their power instead

Becomes bitter and seeks revenge afterwards when discovering the Well of Shade, which leads to the Pony of Shadows claiming him as its vessel

Banished along with the pillars to “limbo” for 1000 years through a powerful spell conceived by Starswirl and planned out by the rest of the pillars

Is freed from the Pony of Shadows' influence in modern Equestria thanks to the Mane 6 and the pillars with Twilight and Starlight being the main catalyst in helping Stygian where Starswirl had failed before

While no longer claimed by the Pony of Shadows, the consequences of using such powerful dark magic as well as being possessed by a being of pure shadow left its mark on him

Has dark magic scarring visible on his body. His eyes, inner mouth, teeth and magic color are permanently altered in appearance. It gives him a rather unsettling aura, much to his displeasure

The Pony of Shadows mark is not so easily purged, even with the combined strength of the past and present Elements of Harmony. A fragment of the shadow lives on in Stygian, inextricably bound to him, but small enough that it can no longer influence him.

Has abilities superficially similar to King Sombra's, albeit on a much smaller scale, and needs extensive practice before he can comfortably wield this new strength.

Luna becomes Stygian's second mentor, after Starswirl, to help him gain control over his new abilities. Her direct experience using dark magic to become Nightmare Moon makes her an effective teacher

As Stygian exerts better control over the shadow fragment, he eventually gains the ability to "Shadow Walk" or travel between shadows. This temporary form makes him look eerily similar to the Pony of Shadows. Pretty spooky

Can tell when the Pony of Shadows is close in proximity due to the shadow fragment, like a magic tracker

Stygian is a lucid dreamer. He appreciates dreams a lot more now that he’s sleeping on a proper schedule. Once in a while he’ll meet up with Princess Luna in the dream realm when they can’t find spare time in the waking world, outside of mentoring sessions, to enjoy each other's company as friends

Stygian redesign by Orin331

[fenrislorsrai]

The Crow Road

I did in fact read The Crow Road because of Good Omens and it was very meandering with a lot of character study. For a thing summarized as "trying to solve a mystery from papers left behind" it was very uninterested in doing so. It didn't even introduce them for first 100 pages, then didn't refer to them for another 100, then LOST THEM ON THE TRAIN. The book itself is mostly a distraction from solving actual mystery. In no way would I classify this as being Mystery, as in the genre. This is a family saga/coming of age thing. I did enjoy it, but if you're expecting a genre fiction thing, you will hate it.

ANYWAY.

Then we get to the last 20 pages or so of the book and OH MY FUCKING GOD

the rest of this is going under a cut for anyone who actually wants to read The Crow Road themself, but for everyone else, this is directly relevant to the end of season 2, episode 6 AND is NSFW

Toward end of book, MC Prentice figures out "oh, maybe I am actually in love with my best friend, Ash, I should tell here". Oh shit, she's taking a job and moving to Canada! FUCK. Well telling her now is not gonna do anything good here, I blew it.

Ash meanwhile comes to stay with him in his rented place before having to fly out in the morning. The place is tied up in an estate dispute. It has an enormous four poster bed in a room covered in naked paintings of Venus. And mirrors. Pointed at the bed.

They go out for dinner and have a conversation of who owes who for dinner and decide its neither. They walk around a little bit reminiscing about when they were in school. Prentice had once broken her nose with a snowball and thought she didn't know. She says she forgave him right away. It also turns out she knew he was using morse code to tap out rude things at their French teacher.

They get back to the house and she says she's going to turn in early. Goes to give him a kiss on cheek. WHich then turns into kissing. and grabbing ass. They head to the bedroom of Fucking to do just that.

have a couple round and then while tangled up doing effectively some cockwarming, Ash does a little rhymic squeezing via morse code to spell out I-L-U and he does some cock moving to spell out I-L-U-T she still gets up in morning to leave, tehre's that brief, but what if I convince you to stay??? and they basically both agree "no, this is a breakup for work." Ash goes off to do her work contract, Prentice is going to finish his degree and sell the Bentley he just inherited. The split is not forever.

I did not have love confession via morse code while fucking on my bingo card AT ALL.

But good god, that ending there and the kiss there at the end of season2. OH RIGHT, THEY BOTH HAVE DONE SPY STUFF!!! What the fuck are Aziraphale's hands doing? are they frenching with morse code? IF THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[fulgurbugs]

What would the travelers Pokémon teams be?

I can totally see Alfyn having a Blissey. Therion seems like he’d have a Gengar, potentially.

ok. upon literally hours of deliberation and team building (i actually already had ones for the OT1 travelers but decided to revisit them and change a few picks) me and my bestie @snailcruncher have settled on some teams. i will be going in depth on reasonings for these so prepare for a long post lol. im gonna put it under a readmore because really im not joking about how long it is

we also came up with some ideas/lore for why some of these would be picked in a pokemon AU setting, so i’ll be explaining any of those thoughts if they’re relevant too.

Ophilia:

one of the only teams left untouched, I think this is a good batch for her. i’m imagining a scenario where the sacred flame takes the form of a pokemon, and it’s a lampent. frosmoth and togetic felt just like… the right vibe. Lapras and Ampharos both have associations with guiding, so they’re in. Audino is a notable healing pokemon, and it feels in line with her personality as well.

Cyrus:

Alakazam for mr high iq smart guy. duh. oranguru for his role as a teacher, and Runerigus would be a late acquisition to his team in his ch4. Flareon, Glaceon, and Jolteon for the 3 scholar spell types. i also think him having 3 eeveelutions could also be kind of like, they’re really good for demonstrations for single-type stuff, as well as being popular with others. people might come up to him and be like omg you have a flareon i love flareon pleaseeee tell me more (flirtily) which of course would go over his head and he would start telling you flareon facts. I feel like Cyrus would excel in double battles.

Tressa:

Meowth: the pay day signature pokemon. this is as close as i can replicate to tressa randomly finding money. Skwovet (she can now take her pet squirrel with her in a pokeball)

Gyrados for sure. one, she lives along an ocean, so she should definitely have a water type, two, i’m imagining a scenario where she buys a magikarp cheap, seeing the potential in it, then raises it into a real powerhouse. just like her!

carbink: really funny scenario me and the bestie came up with that instead of eldrite the treasure was diancieite. the carbink is from the same cave. tressa did try to evolve it with the diancieite. it didn’t work.

pidgeot… felt like she needed a flying type (wind magic rep) and i feel like she’d gravitate to the humbler normal types… doesn’t get much more straightforward than pidgeot. Dhelmise… maybe it used to be captain leons, maybe she fished it out of the harbor in rippletide herself. either way, she thinks it’s cool

Olberic:

Aegislash: sword form, shield form…. this pokemon itself is the unbending blade. obviously i have given him several other sword based pokemon, too.

gallade, escavalier, and sirfetch’d badically all fit this. they’re knight-like, so they feel fitting i think to him.

as for conkeldurr and garganacl, they feel kind of… solidly built. like him. ( ⬇️ garganacl pick lore)

Primrose:

almost all of her pokemon can learn some kind of dance though their level up. Oricorio is the obvious choice, dragonair reps dragon dance, beautifly reps quiver dance, and lilligant… well they can learn so fucking many. we couldn’t decide on which one to give her, so we ended up giving her both. they’re her backup dancers or whatever.

mawile just feels very primrose to me. its cute or pretty or whatever, and you might underestimate it… but watch out. it bites.

Alfyn:

he feels like a guy who loves a big fluffy dog. and stoutland has also been used in games for its ability to sniff out items, so it feels like it’d be a good pick for an apothecary looking to sniff out herbs and such. Comfey is an obvious pick, i mean its signature move is. floral healing. meganium also has mentioned in its dex entries its healing and calming properties. it’s also a cool as fuck dinosaur so i think alfyn would like it.

chatot. does this even need explanation

we also wanted to give him an ice type, and settled on cubchoo. it has a perpetually runny nose… even Alfyn can’t fix it, try as he might.

as for leavanny, we had some trouble picking the last slot on this team. we were looking through friendship evos, and leavanny caught my eye. it’s dex entries mention that it’s very gentle, it also shows no mercy to foes who target young pokemon. seems fitting… we decided alfyn got it as a swadloon (maybe it could be taught to use its sewing abilities to dress wounds?) and it evolved during his ch3.

Therion:

I think Krookodile, mimikyu, and klefki are quite obvious picks, so i won’t go too in on them. Ninjask and Shedinja…. Ninjask is super speedy, so it felt right to give one to therion, but also i feel like.. he’d keep the shedinja around. even with 1 hp and one billion weaknesses… it’s still a part of his team. it and ninjask were born from the same nincada. he couldn’t abandon it like that.

and applin lol. something about therion gives me “guy who’s going for a cool as fuck hydrapple and ends up with an appletun actually”

H’aanit:

If anyone’s allowed to have legendaries, it’s the hunters. Chien-pao is as close as we can get to a snow leopard. and yeah maybe it’s a little evil but H’aanit is built different. Decidueye feels like an obvious pick, and spirit shackle is a great signature move for the h’aanit vibe. trapinch for. leghold trap. kilowattrel is literally a thunderbird. and ariados… well, it has the ability sniper, to reference hunter’s crit boosting abilities, as well as having some trapping moves like webs. for the Hunters, I’ve left their last spot blank, but this just means like, a “flex” spot that would be different each time you battled them. H’aanits got boxes of options to choose from.

now, onto the OT2 ones!

Ochette:

I’m sure you can see what i’m going for here. it’s just the closest i could get to Akala/mahina and her 3 story beasts. and again, like H’aanit, the last spot is “flex” not empty, so imagine her bringing some different new bullshit to every battle.

Cassti:

i wanted to do a few things with Castti: obviously, give her some healing-y mons, but also a few oddball picks that might have you looking twice. picked Shiinotic because of its ominous dex entries, and then. toedscruel because i realize shiinotic actuallt doesn’t get spore i think? and i think castti “put em to sleep right in the street” florenz should have a mon with spore. (edit. i actually just cant read the bulbapedia tables and shiinotic does get spore. anyways she gets two spore mons i guess cuz what if she’s gotta knock out two people at the same time. or whatever. dustox emits toxic powder from its wings, which seems like it could be something castti would want to keep on hand for poison axe. these three might seem a little weird tho, and reinforce her bad first impression in canalbrine, even though i’m sure they’d all be very well behaved and nice. Blissey and Arboliva are straightforward healing picks. I feel like these would be common for apothecaries to have in general.

and then galar-slowking. poison-activated brain nonsense. i feel like she acquires this one post-amnesia. they feel a kinship with each other.

Throné

Throné’s team is half-blacksnakes dedicated, half catered to herself. Every blacksnake has a seviper or an ekans, as well as probably most of them also having other grunt-esque pokemon, like zubats and such. throné’s taken care of hers, though, and friendship evolved it into a crobat.

chose furfrou because i think throné would like a prissy little dog she can dress up cutely. milcery, which she’s waiting on evolving until she can figure out what alcremie form she wants, and a shade-cherrim.

oh, and zangoose, of course. the natural enemy of sevipers. one appeared to her right after she left new delsta. what a sign, right?

Osvald:

Osvald we had some interesting stuff to work with, I think. we decided that most of his pokemon were newly acquired after his prison escape- not on purpose. they seem to just take a liking to him and start following him around.

the avalugg helped get him out of the frozen water at cape cold, and then stuck with him.

the teddiursa.. also just stuck with him. we wanted to give him something that felt a little oddball for him… so this doesn’t evolve. it stays cute and unevolved forever.

the shuppet was found hovering around the ruins of Osvald’s house. he was reluctant to take it, but if it was formed out of some semblance of his desire for vengeance… he has to be responsible for it.

the Indeedee is the only one of osvalds old pokemon, out of this lineup. since indeedee are so helpful to people, it was kind of a family pokemon acquired after elena’s birth (dex mentions they’re good at babysitting.) Osvald could probably also trust it with simple lab assistant tasks like moving stuff around. was a very beloved pokemon within their family. anyways, following his sentencing, clarissa managed to get ahold of the indeedee and took care of it all this time. when osvald returns, it’s clear it wants him to take her with him.

the drampa was acquired after the events of montwise, having shown up and basically just forced itself to go with osvald. somehow it seems to know what’s going on and who it can trust…

and slowking.. well, smart guy needs a smart pokemon. it’s another one that took a shine to him, though at that point he was getting used to this happening.

Partitio:

Talonflame: partitio’s aptitude for fire magic and the “chickadee” nickname made this an obvious choice for an ace. I can imagine a young partitio’s first pokemon being a fletchling, for sure.

bramblegast. the funny tumbleweed. put it on the team immediately.

Milotic: Paritio picked up a feebas. having a knack for seeing the potential in pokemon, he wasn’t wrong, and now hes got this thing. it’s very popular with other people, though it seems an odd pick for partito at first glance to strangers.

armarouge: ok this one’s a little convoluted so i will explain it later. kind of vibes based pick tho lol. revavroom kind of. uhh. steam engine. (we can pretend)

there ain’t a more partitio pokemon out there than gholdengo. everyone say thank you scarvi for giving partitio most of his team.

Agnea:

hey, it’s another oricorio! i think you can guess why.

volcarona: learns fiery dance, but we thought up even more lore on this one. the larvesta was a family pokemon. mostly belonging to Garud (we ended up deciding that the Bristarnis had a lot of bug types, who help out with the sewing stuff and larvesta does give a little bit silkworm, lol..)

anyways, part of his blessing for sending agnea off was telling her to take the larvesta, who also turned out to be a dazzling star in the end too… after a lot of hard work.

altaria and leafeon rep dragon and swords dance. i just feel like they’re good picks for her energy, too. lunatone reps the moonstep. I’ve also opted to give her a sunny cherrim, which i think would be cute contrasted with Throné’s gloomy one.

Temenos:

temenos has quite the oddball lineup for a cleric. but hes kind of an oddball cleric so i think it works.

Absol. man. a lot of shit happens to temenos. this absol is stressed tf out 24 fucking 7. sorry man.

Clefable: felt like we had to give him a healer-adjacent pokemon and this one evolves with a moonstone. feels fitting for mr night-ability mistral tbh.

Lokix. alright. another scenario based pick. Temenos caught this thing on the pilgrims way as a nymble at like level 2. probably rustling in the metaphorical tall grass, crick is all “get behind me, it could be dangerous” and then. lvl 2. nymble. doesn’t even need to be fought to be caught. and then temenos is all hey crick, it’s a “crick”et pokemon! (we’ll ignore that the dex says grasshopper) he’d keep it just to mess with crick, but it ends up sticking around.

Houndoom. well, temenos is the pontiff’s hound, so we did need to pick a dog for him. it’s a houndour in the beginning, houndoom by the end. probably evolved in a moment of crisis (in ch4?) the yamask is from crackridge.

wooloo. this is actually Crick’s. it wasn’t helping with the little lamb allegations… after the events of stormhail, Temenos takes it in.

Hikari:

Kingambit: i mean. come on. gotta get a kingambit for the future king.

Gardevoirs dex entire mention that it is dedicated to its trainer/cause to the bitter end, and would do anything to protect it. perfect for Hikari.

Morpeko and Zweilous. some literally two-faced pokemon. (maybe he feels a little bit of a kinship with them in that way) i also really wanted to give Hikari a pseudo-legendary, and i think that his zweilous would probably evolve just in the nick of time to kick some ass against mugen. Hydreigons might be notoriously destructive, but something about the personalities merging into one brain in evolution seems to have mellowed Hikari’s out. it’s remarkably personable, for a hydreigon.

lucario: i really wanted to give him a pokemon that learns copycat, and lucario fits that bill. plus, he definitely needed a fighting type.

Cerudelge: formed from bitterness of old cursed armor, but also an extremely skilled sword fighter… one of hikari’s aces.

I also like to imagine that a lot of hikari’s pokemon are quite difficult to deal with (his ceruledge in particular is quite belligerent and mean) but they all have utmost respect for him as a trainer, once they’re on the battlefield. but onlookers sometimes worry… how the hell does he deal with it all?

other notes about some of the picks :

Partitio’s amarouge. Paritio picked up a. charcadet later on, and hikari personally warned him that it might be difficult to deal with. (his charcadet and later ceruledge were super hard to train for him) of course, partitio did end up in possession of the cool nice armor that evolved it into the better mannered and nobler armarouge… but honestly, even his charcadet was far better behaved.

paritio and tressa both get those shitty fish that get cool. must be because they both have an eye for a diamond in the rough.

agnea and throné’s cherrims are best friends. throné rarely got to see her cherrim sunny-form until she left new delsta… she wonders if maybe it was upset about being so nocturnal before, with the blacksnakes.

castti and osvald, team mom and team dad somehow both ended up with slowkings. everyone’s a little concerned about castti’s, though…

after the events of his story, Osvald leaves indeedee and teddiursa with clarissa and elena. the teddiursa and elena in particular take to each other very well… when osvald finally is able to return to elena’s life, the teddiursa is really much more her pokemon.

also. H’aanit and Ochette and far and away the best battlers of both groups. i know i only have them with one flex spot, but you can imagine that they’d swap out a lot more for whatever they need to do to build a good team. they’ve got loads more options than everyone else.

you know that thing about giving someone an applin in galar? therion did trade it over to alfyn at one point. but really they have joint custody of that thing. which definitely ended up as an appletun.

we also had some npc aces sprinkled in there, so here’s some other thoughts, just as bonus!

Malaya: Pawmot (revival blessing), rapidash.

Elena: Abra

Harvey: Hypno, Bacephalon

Pala: Kricketot (formerly belonged to her and agnea’s mom)

Roque: Metagross

Kazan: Husuian Braviary

Ori: Chatot

Trousseau: Glimmora

Cordelia: ….ferrothorn

Erhardt: Aegislash, Hisuian Samurott

Z’aanta: Zamazenta

Juvah: is literally a solgaleo

Darius: Scrafy/Pangoro

Simeon: Malamar

Esmeralda: Mismagius (wanted to give her something with perish song)

Mattias: drifblim? darkrai?

Lucia: Hatterene

Miguel: Grimmsnarl

Werner: spectrier

Mugen: Kingambit. mirror match with Hikari, but mugen’s has supreme overlord while Hikari’s has defiant.

Kaldena: we couldn’t pick but maybe she goes like lusamine mode and fuses with something.

Claude: Cradily. (uh. literally fossil pokemon)

Dolcinea: belive it or not, also an oricorio. also, solrock. but her oricorio is the prettiest.

veronica: she has somehow acquired the worlds first and only female gallade through the power of lesbianism.

Crick: … wooloo….

I do wanna make some drawings for these ideas, but this post was literally already one billion miles long and has way too many images, so it’ll probably be a separate post. thanks for the ask! and sorry for talking so much, but i fucking love making pokemon teams so much it’s insane.

and a big thank you again to my bestie @snailcruncher who helped me with a lot of these picks (and did basically all of the npc picks thank you so much i love you). tysm for pokemon octopath brainrotting with me for like 4 hours.

[drdemonprince]

don’t know if this is relevant to your ask box, but I thought you might find it interesting.

I’m a 20 yr old trans man who’s just started an ongoing thing with a new Dom, who is over twice my age. I’m currently finishing up my second year at uni, and he’s, you guessed it, also the, uh…. academic sort.

He’s a busy guy so obviously we can only meet up every once and a while, but we text almost every day. From the beginning he was always curious about my school endeavours, but recently it’s become more of a thing.

He won’t let us meet until certain assignments are done. He’s flexible and understanding, like any good dom, but holy shit this man had me at a cafe for ten hours on 40mg of vyvanse writing my final essay like my life depended on it. I didn’t even know who I was, motivated by the pure need to please and, quite frankly, desperate desire to be absolutely taken and used. This man has “cured” my ADHD (not really, but damn well is he fucking helping it).

I think the point I’m getting at here it that I can’t believe it took the motivation of my D/s relationship to get me to get shit done. Like, I’m done DAYS before the deadline for things I usually would have left last minute. I’ve been honest with my struggles with motivation and difficulties taking care of myself, and he is genuinely invested in my well-being so I know it all comes from a place of care and respect.

At the moment I’m working on my final short film for a class, and he told me to make a list of all the foley sounds I thought would help drive the narrative (he knows I love making lists, it’s also the autism), and as probably one of the best rewards for my good behaviour, he shared with me a collection of audio files (he dabbles in audio mixing) that were relevant to the list I shared. Can you believe this??!!

All these studentxprof fics are getting it wrong. Sometimes nothing comes between a teacher’s genuinely investment in student learning (if they enjoy what they do, like he does) and that is absolutely true in this case. Absolutely unbelievable this is my life right now. Would love to hear your thoughts on this!

This sounds so fucking sweet and HOT anon! I'm so glad you're having an exciting time with an older dom who cares about you and helps you meet your goals! And the phrasing of this guy making you write for hours on vyvanse is especially titilating...making it sound like an intox scene omg drool

ADHDers are generally very socially motivated, which is not rare for human beings at all. It makes sense that having the external structure that an outside observe can provide and the sense that your actions actually matter to other people and that people care about you would help facilitate you focusing on shit and getting organized! Not to mention how much fuckin easier it is to perform any kind of household task or bit of drudgery once it becomes sexual service. Shit gives boring regular life a charge of excitement, and the abdication of power gives you the discipline to actually follow through, because you're not the only one on the hook for everything and that's less scary!

I have nothing much more to say other than this rules and I hope you keep having a fun time!

[nyuuronfly]

quick doodle showing how you draw perspective, if that's ok?

i really like your art btw, you're one of the few people i usually go to for reference for drawings and actively follow

i'm definitely not the best teacher haha! this may not be useful. in general, my approach to perspective is the basic stuff: horizon lines are the most important, and vanishing points are placed along it. I am working on a drawing right now which is pushing perspective, its my first very extreme fisheye lense one. I could use it as an example of somethings.

the horizontal line in the middle is the "horizon line" or "eye level." It shows that anything above the line is above the viewer, and anything below it is below. So below, you are looking at the top of things, and above, you are looking at the under-side of things. The other points are the furthest possible point down an axis. In this extreme perspective, you can see all the way to the right and left (or east/west) of the viewer. So it is very distorted. Anything that is getting further away from a viewer along a certain axis is moving closer to a respective vanishing point. so as we go further right, they converge toward the right point. upwards is converging into the upwards point. etc. The guides are there mainly as reminders of how to keep certain dimensions in mind. But the most important thing is to think of things 3-dimensionally and visualize. I'm freehanding this, so its imperfect. But hopefully that illustrates some of the idea. Normally, perspective does not have to curve. It curves when there is two vanishing points for polar opposite directions like up/down etc. but for lower field-of-view "camera," where just one point on an axis is visible or relevant, i dont need to do that.

If you're interested in learning perspective properly, the two books you might want to look into are either Perspective Made Easy by Ernest Norling, or How to Draw by Scott Robertson. The later is more advanced, but is basically the best resource. I probably could learn a lot from it myself.

[queerpumpkinnn]

Hi can you write a Robin Buckley x reader fic, where Robin and reader were each other's first kiss (they didn't tell anyone)and now are partner for a science project. At first they dont realize who each other are, but once they realize it it's awkward, eventually reader asks Robin if she wants to go on a date and Robin says yes

Of course! I fell in love with this idea as soon as I read it, I love Robin with my whole heart and I hope I did her justice.

we fell in love in october

1.8k words

Summary: The cute girl in your science class has a first kiss story that's strikingly similar to yours.

Pairing: Robin Buckley x reader

Warnings: None, but let me know if there should be!

~

You didn't think anything of it at first. But then again, that's usually how these things go.

When you stepped into class on the first day of school, taking the first empty desk you saw, you didn't think it would ever make a difference. You didn't think you'd even spare your seatmate a second glance, planning to daydream through the entire period.

But the more you sat near her, noticed her in your peripheral, you found yourself leaning back to get a better look- still trying to be as subtle as possible. She was leaned back in her seat, legs spread open in a manner that would earn a side-eye from most parents, right leg tapping furiously. Her arms were folded comfortably over her middle, and she was chewing on her lip. Her eyes darted towards you, and she gave you a shy wave.

Shit. You hadn't realized in your curiosity that you'd actually turned your head all the way and were now staring at her. You ducked your head, giving an embarrassed 'hi'.

Robin seemed to be opening her mouth to say something, but it snapped shut when the teacher, with a very dinosaur-like face and cat-eye glasses, cleared her throat in a shrill and exaggerated manner. She began calling out names, and you let out a quiet breath.

You were now hypervigilant about how often you glanced at her, cheeks warming every time she caught your gaze. It wasn't panic that flared up in your stomach, but you weren't sure what else to name it. Excitement, perhaps?

"Buckley, Robin."

"Here!" Your seatmate raised her hand, and upon further inspection, you noted the chipped black paint on her nails. Her fingers and wrist were adorned with silver jewelry. It waved, and shit.

She caught you again. Your head whipped back towards the front, and you could have sworn you heard a quiet laugh.

. . .

"Today's the day, Pop."

Your head fell back, a groan paving the way for an exhausted laugh.

Robin had given you the nickname Pop a month into school, after she'd made a comment that you, like Mary Poppins, were "practically perfect in every way". You'd laughed it off and rolled your eyes, spending the rest of the day desperately praying nobody asked why you were smiling to yourself.

It was October now, temperature dropping rapidly and making way for snow season. So every time Robin trudged into class her cheeks and nose were tinged pink, making your staring problem- which Robin had long since told you she picked up on and teased you for- much worse.

"Don't remind me." You sighed, grinning.

"Wonder how she'll do it." Robin scooted her chair in, folding her arms over the desk and resting her chin on them. "Arrange partners, I mean."

You shrugged. "I just hope I don't get stuck with Carol."

"Ooh, yeah. You'll get stuck doing the entire project." Robin agreed.

"Hem hem!" You winced at the sound. Robin snickered, hiding her face in the crook of her arms to stifle the noise.

The teacher droned on and on about what you assumed was the relevance of the project, how it would impact your grade, and how she would be grading it. You didn't hear, Robin was making faces to mimic your fossil of a teacher.

"You'll be working with your seatmates, and no, there'll be no exceptions."

Your ears perked at that. You and Robin looked at each other in sync.

Robin's face, though it was excited, had a strange undertone of shock. Like she'd just realized something; what it was you had no clue.

"Guess you didn't get Carol after all." Robin smiled, but it didn't quite meet her eyes. She looked a little panicked, actually.

"Thank God." You rolled your eyes, then glanced at the clock. "There's no way we're going to get this done by Monday."

Robin was looking over the material. "Yeah, definitely not."

"We're gonna have to meet up over the weekend, when works for you?"

Robin looked up abruptly. "Sunday," she blurted out after a second.

Sunday.

. . .

You shouldn't have spent as much time as you did standing in front of your mirror, glancing at the clock and then back at your hair.

You'd spent the entire morning cleaning your house, checking and re-checking if your room looked appropriate for company. You had your books and papers laid out neatly over your comforter, finding nothing else and everything to fuss over.

When the doorbell rang, you leapt from your seat, nearly slipping on the hardwood floor as you scrambled.

When you opened the door, Robin gave you a wave. That same awkward wave she'd given you on the first day of school. Your heart fluttered.

"Brought us a little pick-me-up." She held up a plastic bag in the other hand.

"You're a lifesaver." You stepped aside to let her in, blinking at the proximity as she passed you. She was actually in your house. You thought you might shit yourself.

You led her to your room, sitting awkwardly on your bed as she stood looking around, taking short steps as she took in your posters and pictures and furniture. You watched her, trying to gauge a reaction. Did she think your wallpaper color was immature? Was there dust on a picture frame you'd forgotten to swipe off?

When she glanced over at you, you expected her to make a joke but instead she winked.

You certainly weren't expecting that.

Robin laughed at your stunned reaction, sitting down next to you. "Sorry Pop, force of habit." Her head was ducked, curtained by chestnut hair. She ruffled it, tsking.

You cleared your throat, reaching for the plastic bag she'd left on the nightstand. "So, what'd you get?"

It turned out Robin had gotten coffees. While you sipped yours happily while you worked, you noticed Robin pursing her lips and scrunching her nose every time she took a sip. You wondered why she got coffee if she didn't like it, but didn't press.

Speaking of work, you made very slow progress. Your conversation went off topic a few too many times, too busy laughing and too engaged in stories to work and talk simultaneously. At some point you'd abandoned the project completely, lying side by side on your bed and staring at the ceiling.

"So you've never had your first kiss?"

You frowned. What's so bad about that?

She caught on immediately, shaking her hands. "Not that that's a bad thing! It's just, you're really pretty, so that's a little hard to believe, you don't just have guys lining up?"

You were fidgeting with your fingers. "Technically... okay, you cannot tell anyone."

Robin rolled over on her stomach, chin resting in her palm.

"When I was little, probably seven or eight, I made friends with this girl at the park. I didn't know her, I don't even remember her name, but she was really nice. She had so many band-aids on her legs, and she wore this old baseball cap with a smiley face on it. Anyways, us being dumb little kids, we kissed under the slide. It was more of a peck, really, and she ran away as soon as we did it. I never saw her again. But anyway, I don't know if I really count that as a first kiss, because I was so young and it obviously wasn't a romantic thing.."

Your voice trailed off when you noticed Robin's expression. Her jaw was hung open, and she wasn't blinking.

"Robin?" You asked, voice hushed and tense, but she didn't speak. She sat up, rigid in her movement, and walked slowly out of the bedroom, hands folded over her mouth.

The reality of what you'd just confessed hit you like a truck. You told her you'd kissed a girl. Even with how much you padded it over by saying it happened when you were young and stupid and that it meant nothing, fact was fact and if it gets told to one wrong person, it can get warped and twisted into some predatory lie and you could end up kicked out of the house and getting beat up behind grocery stores.

One minute passed. Two, three. Finally you couldn't stand the silence and hauled yourself onto your feet.

Robin was standing just outside the door, leaned against the hallway wall with her arms crossed, one hand picking at her lip. Her head jerked to look at you, cheeks paled despite the warm light from your bedroom washing over her normally honey skin.

Your hand was shaking on the doorknob, lips chapped as you opened them to speak. "I know what it sounds like-"

"You remember the hat?"

Your brows furrowed. "Huh?"

Robin shuffled past you, reaching elbow-deep into her backpack until she tugged out a tattered old snapback with a very familiar yellow stitching on the front.

Your jaw fell open. You looked, dumbfounded, between her face, equally awestruck, and the hat.

"That was you?"

Robin nodded. "That was me."

You smiled, even if only out of anxiety. "You ran away from your first kiss."

"Hey, you surprised me!" Robin threw her hands in the air. She was smiling again, ruffling her hair and shaking her head. She turned to you, who was sat back on the bed now. "Anyways, you don't even consider that a first kiss."

You shrugged. "I didn't like you then."

"But you like me now, eh Pop?"

You froze. Robin laughed, flopping back down onto the mattress. "Kidding, kidding."

But she was still chewing her lip, ducking her head down so that her hair shielded her face. You stared at her rifling through papers, resifting as though she herself didn't know what she was looking for.

"Robin."

She looked up, the most bashful you'd ever seen her.

Your body acted on its own. Your lips caught hers in a moment of reckless abandon. Briefly, before panic settled in, and you began to draw away, but a hand on the back of your neck pulled you back in.

The world around you seemed to fade, the only thing going through your racing mind was the shock of your own actions. The fact that you were actually kissing her.

When you broke the kiss, she chased after you, forehead rested against yours. Her eyes were still closed as though scared to open them, breaths held. Her hand was shaking against your skin.

When they did open, they were wide and terrified. You winked at her, and they softened, laugh lines closing around her eyelids.

The silence was deafening. She rested her face in your shoulder. It wasn't until she started giggling that she looked up.

"What's so funny?"

"I didn't run away this time." She grinned.

"Good for you, Robin." You rolled your eyes, pressing another chaste kiss to her lips.

You sat there for a moment, just staring into each other's eyes, fingers tracing over hair and jawlines. That is, until Robin jumped, clapping her hands against her thighs.

"The project! Shit, it's so late!"

Shit.

~

Robin Buckley Masterlist

Sapphic September Masterlist

Stranger Things Masterlist

Main Masterlist

[uraberika]

First impressions of Victory Road by someone who has never played any of the inazuma games. I am halfway through watching a gameplay but I just had to share so BEWARE (MILD) SPOILERS AHEAD

the rock-paper-scissors gameplay is absolutely hilarious and i am so here for it and all of its unexplored potential

contrast that with the story which takes a very wild and serious turn from the beginning which is so spot on for the inazuma franchise i actually gasped. it is genuinely the most inazuma thing ever, i swear

the characters seem to evoke other characters but not enough to feel like copy-pastes which i really like

Sakurazaki looks like a mix between Kidou and Gouenji which i appreciate

Unmei is such an awkward little emo boi, i love him already. he still has the drive to protect ppl like Endou but without the sunshine attitude; he is way more analytical which is honestly sooo refreshing i could cry

speaking of sunshine, Kisoji is a 10/10 character already, instant fave, precious boy, must protect, and i have not expected him to become so relevant so early (i thought the others like that long haired goalkeeper would be in the forefront rather)

there are few girls but you can already see the ones who might become relevant to the story: Juno is Haruna/Akane coded, while Lilac evokes Natsumi for me but we shall see if they become relevant later on

pls pls let that female teacher be their coach, i have been missing women coaches from inazuma

i don't mind the simulated social media in it. it doesn't add much for me but it also helps in establishing how far away from the og series we are, which i appreciate

og characters becoming coaches was a top tier idea in GO too, i'm glad they kept it

i have said it before and will say it a hundred times, endou's kid being uninterested in soccer and being a little brat in the field is a genius move and whoever came up with that should deserve a raise. it seems a bit self-evident but when you think about it... endou had met and recruited/shown the ways of sakka yarouze to many such kids who did not care about football the Right WayTM and for his son to become the antithesis of his own philosophy... *chef's kiss*

i am gonna lose my mind because of the names though... like i will end up referencing half the cast in japanese bc that is how i learnt their names before the game came out but now i only know many other character's translated names so... my tagging system will be a mess

[paulacocks]

I finally built up the courage to make a post myself so here we go 🤪

But in the bmc fandom no one can agree on rich’s real personality. Is he over the top chaos? Is he soft and calm? Well i pulled up my english analysis skills and decided to english analysis the SQUIP song and give you some unnecessary essay

Alright before we get into the analysis, i want to mention that i believe rich was abused by his dad growing up as he drinks and it seems stereotypical for the bully character to have a bad home life and we all know the bmc characters are built on stereotypes. Now according to a google search teachers are told to look out for things like bad hygiene, back chat, aggression as they can be indications of abuse/neglect

When listening to the squip song i felt like some of it was the squip trying to relate to Jeremy’s problems. We do even see the SQUIP do this in the broadway version by getting Jeremy to tell rich his dad drinks. So some of the lines you got to take with a pinch of salt as it can just be the squip trying to relate

On that note

Freshman year didnt have a girlfriend or a clue i was a looser just like you

This is not too relevant to rich’s character and seems to be going off of what Jeremy was singing in More Than Survive. The squip just saw him sign up for the play and interact with Christine. So to immediately open with this line makes it seem less personal to Rich and more trying to appeal to Jeremy

Good times would only sour by

This however is Rich. Jeremy actually doesn’t want to be popular, he enjoys Michael company. He gets the SQUIP to not be a total loser cause he wants to avoid ridicule. so right now i can infer that rich probably didn’t have any or many friends. We was probably desperate to be included and join in on teenage good times.

I was gross

As i mentioned at the top, i believe rich was abused so i feel like this may be a nod to that.

As every female would detest my sexting was a futile quest

This is one of the most important lines. As earlier on its says he is gross with no friends so how is he even managing to get girls numbers? This may be a leap but call me the doodle jump guy thing but i feel like rich was very funny. He was probably the type of guy to talk back to teachers and when kids are picking fun of him he probably made jokes about himself to try and join in on the fun. While that didn’t get him friends it probably got him a few nice or insecure girls (brook??) but he was too awkard or nerdy or too… sexual to get anywhere with them

Furthermore

The squip does not completely change your personality

Atleast what we see through Jeremy is that the squip just hides your flaws and plays up your strengths. Like Jeremy did remain somewhat awkard and geeky; crying about eminem, being a robot to the halloween party etc

So we can look at how rich acts with the squid which will reveal how he was before

Rich is the funny guy in the popular kid circle, hes the one shouting GAY and picking on kids and messing with jenna. More evidence for funny guy rich.

BUT that would suggest that rich probably always had a bit of a violent streak-

All characters have flaws and rich was that he probably was quick to hop on to picking on kids on the same level as the high school food chain as him in hopes of getting friends and boosting his status. Definitely not to the extent he would now cause he was probably too weak but he definitely wasn’t nice at least verbally when it suited him.

This probably was his downfall really as if he was nicer to the losers he probably would of been friends with them

Now rich is my fav character as you could prolly guess and i don’t really like the idea of rich being a meanie without the squip SO

We could go for a nice little alternative and say that he would fight with kids picking on him. Maybe he had mad reflexes from his abusive dad and would smack up kids who touch him or do that think fast thing or something :)

Anyways i think i had more to go on about but this is pretty waffle already and i can’t really remember. If you guys have your own ideas on ANY of the characters reply i would love to read them :D

[dreamsofminnie]

“Ethereal Paintings”

02~ Transfer students and a task☂️

Scaramouche x Reader Smau

You waved a farewell to Ayaka, Yoimiya and Albedo as they eyed you walking towards the professor as the lecture ended.

Professor Rukkadevata waves you over with a gentle smile. The most gracious and kind professor from all the other teachers you knew. Not that every other prof is terrible to you, you loved every art teacher. She asked to see you after class, emailed to you right before class had started. You are one of her favorite—if not most favorite—student.

“Good afternoon Professor Rukka! How may I help you!” Your vision failed you since you didn’t notice the two people who came and stood to the side of you.

She nods a greeting then raises her arm towards the two others, her voice gentle with care. “Y/n, the new transfer students have missed two weeks worth of lectures. And I trust you to help them catch up. A simple task I merely ask.”

You turn your head at the two boys and looked them over. When you were with your friends trying to get a glimpse of the transfers there were way too many bodies sitting in that section so it was hard to really see. Now that they were directly placed in front of you, you could gauge their appearance.

One had an aesthetic of what you would call a soft boy. Definitely fit for autumn theme. His cream white hair stuck out a tuff of red which you pinned him as a male leaf. He smiled as a greeting which you returned.

Adverting your eyes to the other guy, your breath hitched. You really never believed in love at first sight but, you might have to rethink because; he was jaw-dropping gorgeous. His skin was so glossy and porcelain-like, eyes were strikingly sharp and hypnotizing. He majorly wore dark colors with either blue accents or dark purple. Emo-rock aesthetic. The look he gave you however contrasted his beautiful appeal, they glared at you and with a shiver you swivel back to the older woman.

“Of course! I’m happy to help my art peers.” Grinning at the chance to befriend the breathtaking male, your energy levels elevated even without coffee on this dreary monday.

“Thank you Y/n. Have a splendid rest of the afternoon you three.” She slightly bowed her head as you lead the boys from the lecture hall.

“My name is Y/n as you both know from the Prof. Can I have your names?” You tilt your head back at them as you hike the stairs towards the campus library.

“I’m Kazuha. Nice to meet you Y/n.” Kazuha put one hand on his chest with a little bow of his head despite climbing the stairs.

“…Scaramouche.” Pretty boy finally said as you all reached the peak of the staircase. Unique name for a pretty boy—was your first thought.

“Mmkay! I have all may notes on me so let’s get started on the first lecture notes. There are 4 days of lecture notes in total, but the notes are very long since it’s a 2 hour lecture.” Kazuha nods while Scaramouche groans.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The way the three of you sat at the table facing the window was you, Scara then Kazuha in that order.

You were texting on your phone when a pen tapped your arm, it was gentle so you assumed it to be Kazuha. “Can you explain this part to us Y/n.”

You nodded and he tilted the notebook a bit higher towards you, Scara looked on as well. And at this moment, you didn’t realize your handwriting could be so small. You leaned a bit further toward the book. Completely unaware of the invasion of space you have penetrated at that moment.

Scaramouche held his breath when your head was a few inches from his view. He could see your side profile in every detail, his eyes couldn’t help but stare. You didn’t seem to be focused on him only on your own penmanship so it wouldn’t hurt to look as long as he was allowed. How your nose was shaped so cutely, the way your eyelashes stretch out in length, your blinking and the scrunches of your nose and crinkle of your eyes. When you suddenly brighten in relevation and let out a “Aha!” did Scaramouche snap out of that trance and shrunk back into his seat further away from your body.

You explained and Kazuha’s nods and “Ohs” felt distant to him as he thinks back on his unconcious actions. This is stupid—Scarmouche silently huffs and takes his note book to doodle write in which his knees drawn up to hold up his book. Your back-and-forth explaining went on over Scara’s head with him still silently listening.

Previous | Masterlist | Next

Synopsis-> When you were required to help the new transfer student the history of art from the two weeks he missed. He didn’t know you were the one artist he was inspired by. You grow fond of each other but stay at a flirting stage. But finding out that he’s a dreaded a.i user; your mortal art enemy; everything in your relationship is obliterated. Will he be able to reconcile and steal your he-art♡ once again?

When is it my turn to fall in love at first glance☹️

//Taglist// {Open}

@akagism2 @pokidot @kyouzki @rmiyuki @infe-risk0 @sakurapeach @bluebelony @kichiyoshi @mikctp @kur44pika @cupids-chamber @aeongiies @crucnhice @neigesprincess @scaramoo @gojoandelsalovechilde @childeslegstrap @sakiimeo

[jingerpi]

I think more cute girls should be marxists

Things I am: a Proletarian Queer Woman. These are not separate but intersecting.

How do I identify?: Depends on when you ask but some kind of angel girl faery cat strawberry thing. I love everybody but especially those outside of (oppressed by) patriarchy and I do not set numerical limits on relationships.

Things I experience: Plurality, PSTD, Neurodivergence, gender outside of Patriarchy, and inhumanity.

Philosophies I follow: Dialectical Materialism. Collectivism, Marxism generally, and the Scientific Method of continual progress. Forever a learner and sometimes a teacher.

Things I like: ask! generally I like media that expresses something novel or enjoyable, especially things which illustrate some aspect of struggle against oppression. story driven games and anime like Outer Wilds or Haibane Renmei are some of my favorites. Music is also something we're all very fond of and one of the simple joys in life. I'm a stem girlie lots of calculus and compsci. I also like my partners :3

Points of privilege: I am white and in the imperial core. I do my best to mitigate biases caused by this but I'm inevitably going to make mistakes, if you want to unfollow, block or stick around to tell me when I fuck up feel free.

tags: my tags are kind of inconsistent at the moment but I usual tag global politics by the relevant countries, games and media are tagged with their names or abbreviations (madoka is pmmm). I try to tag disturbing things with "cw [thing]" so they can be filtered out. if something is tagged with a single seemingly unrelated word or term its probably a headmate tag but the only one who really tags her stuff right now is cera

[ninchen1909]

The Teacher and the Mob Boss

Pairing: Mob! Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Very short mention of an traumatic childhood

I'm froom Germany so please excuse my English an possible mistakes.

enjoy:)

With a deep breath I turn off the engine of my car, let my forehead sink against the steering wheel and close my eyes. I struggle with the need to simply drive home again and snuggle into my bed, which I had to leave far too early this morning. But since I have to finance my love of food, wine and Netflix somehow, I quickly dismiss these thoughts and reluctantly open the car door to get out.

Immediately, the cool September air surrounds me and makes me shiver, in small but steady steps mother nature heralds the autumn and makes the trees that surround the school shine in the most colorful colors.

After grabbing my work bag and locking my car, I walk across the already well-filled school parking lot towards the main entrance. As I have done so many times before, I take the direct route to my classroom and unlock the door, which I immediately let fall back into the lock behind me so that I can enjoy the peace and quiet for a little while longer. I have already done most of the preparations during the holydays, so now I only have to wait for my 2nd graders,to greet them.

I'm just picturing the new school year in my mind when the door to my classroom is yanked open and my colleague is standing in front of me with her eyes wide open, clutching a single piece of paper in her left hand while still holding the doorknob with her right. Her chest rises rapidly and she is audibly out of breath.

I raise an eyebrow questioningly, "Good morning Wanda, is this your new way of early morning exercise?" I grin at her, however this is not reciprocated by her.

"How can you please be in such a good mood?", uncomprehending I look at her, with a shrug of my shoulders I let her know that I have no idea what she means. Wordlessly she hands me the paper.

"This is my class list, I already went through it during the holydays." I look at Wanda over the edge of the paper, her breathing has calmed down by now, but her eyes still look at me uncomprehendingly and also a bit pitifully.

"(y/n) you should read through the letter "B" again more carefully.", I let my eyes glide over the relevant place and indeed, there is a name there that I haven’t read before.

"Charlotte Barnes?", I draw my eyebrows together.

"She was enrolled during the vacations, and her father went to see the principal himself for this."

"Since when does Mr. Stark let parents interfere with his free time? And why are you making such a drama over a new kid?"

"We're talking about Barnes (y/n), James Barnes, Charlotte is his daughter, Barnes daughter will be going to this school, your class to be exact. James Barnes is the biggest ma..." The shrill ringing of the school bell snaps us out of our conversation, I jump up from my chair and rush to the door to greet my students. I look expectantly at Wanda and ask her to leave with a wave of my hand

"(y/n) please listen to m.."

"Wanda not now, I have to greet my students, we will talk later." It is clear to see that Wanda does not like this suggestion, however, she reluctantly leaves my classrooms. After I greet all my students and everyone has found a seat, I go through the attendance list, only to notice that one child is missing."

"Do any of you happen to know where Charlotte Barnes is?" no sooner do I finish this sentence than the door to my classroom is yanked open for the second time that day. Standing in the doorway is a tall, broad built man with ice blue eyes and dark blonde hair, in total contrast to him is a small, petite girl standing in front of him holding the straps of her "Paw Patrol" backpack tightly in her hands, she gives me a bright smile that reveals a gap in her teeth. With firm steps she approaches me and extends a hand "Hi, my name is Charlotte, sorry we're late but Uncle Stevie took too long to do my hair." I get down to her eye level, look briefly at her admittedly rather crooked braids and smile at her "Good morning Charlotte, my name is Mrs. (y/l/n), glad you're here, would you like to go ahead and find a seat." the little girl nods, beaming, and goes to find an empty seat.

"Mrs. (y/l/n) could I speak to you for a moment." "Uncle Stevie" nods his head towards the hallway, at my slight nod, he disappears towards the hallway

"Kids I'll be right back with you, you can talk quietly with each other for so long." No sooner have I spoken than the kids start whispering to each other about their vacation, I on the other hand follow "Uncle Stevie" out into the hallway.

"Mrs. (y/l/n), my name is Steve Rogers and I'm really sorry we were late, I just really don't have much practice with hair clips, usually her dad does her hair, he just had some urgent business to take care of."

"Mr. Rogers, as long as this tardiness was a one-time thing, it's really not a problem, however, I have to admit that it's very unusual for a child to not be brought by their parents on their first day at a new school, if they are still in the child's life."

"Believe me, her father would have loved to bring her, however, he really had to make this appointment urgently." Mr. Rogers takes a step toward me and eyes me appraisingly.

"I understand, however, in my opinion, work should never come before one's child, now if you will excuse me, I have to get back to my class."

Without waiting for a proper response, I give him a curt nod, turn and walk back to my classroom. As I stand in front of my class, I briefly gather my thoughts and try to banish the emerging images from my childhood back into the last cells of my consciousness, where they have been tucked away as best I can for years. Afterwards, I put on my best, if not most honest, smile for my class and begin the lesson.

The school day ends faster than I'd like and before I know it, I'm saying goodbye to my students and handing them over to their parents or the bus drivers.

Now it's just Charlotte and me standing in front of the school waiting for "Uncle Stevie" who’s going to pick Charlotte up.

Just as she is about to tell me her favorite dogs from "Paw Patrol", she interrupts herself with a loud "Papa" and rushes towards a tall man, who takes her in his arms, beaming with joy, and hugs her tightly. Slowly, I walk in their direction so as not to interrupt their greeting. When I finally stand in front of them, Charlotte grins at me and introduces me to her father: "Papa, this is Mrs. (y/l/n), she's my teacher and really nice." He takes note of this information with a grumbling "mhm" and grins at me before turning his attention back to his daughter, "Monkey, will you wait for me in the car, I'd like to talk to Mrs. (y/l/n) for a minute." He then holds the door of a white shiny Mercedes open for her to, which for some reason I hadn't noticed before, and helps her to fasten her seatbelt, when he has turned his back to me I start to examine him, in size and muscle mass he is in no way inferior to Mr. Rogers, his hair is cut short and only single strands of his brown hair hang down into his face. His steel-blue eyes are accentuated even more by his dark-blue designer suit, so that one could sink into it. I am able to escape my thoughts just in time as he carefully slams the door to his car, in which Charlotte is apparently engrossed in a radio play. He gives me a wry smile and extends his hand to me, "Hello Mrs. (y/l/n), my name is James Barnes, am Charlie's father, I thought I'd introduce myself since I learned through Steve that you think it's inappropriate for parents not to be present on the first day of school." Surprised, I look at his face, where a smug grin forms. Before I can answer him, he circles his car and opens the door, but before he gets in, he calls out to me, "It was nice to meet you, I'm sure we'll see more of each other." Puzzled, I look after the car as it drives away. My stupor doesn't last long, however, because shortly afterwards I feel someone approach me.

"I see you've met Mr. Barnes." Wanda looks at me auspicious, as if I've just revealed a huge secret, yet I can also see a spark of concern flashing in her green eyes.

"Yes I did, and I can tell you, I'm not a fan of him." I cross my arms in front of my chest and turn to her "he's arrogant and smug" a disdainful snort escapes me as my gaze settles back on the spot where his car was just a few minutes ago.

"(y/n), you should really be careful with him and not give him a reason to get angry." she gently places her hands on my folded arms, a silent plea to look her in the face.

"Why would I do that, I'm not going to treat him any different than any other parent, just because he walks around here in designer suits and whizzes by in luxury cars doesn't make him any better. Who does he think he is anyway."

"He's the biggest and most dangerous mob boss in our country, that's who he is."

And with this sentence from Wanda, the air gets stuck in my throat, and I look at her with eyes widened in terror.

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for breaking up with my girlfriend over her previous modelling job?

I felt like I was in the right at the time, but now I'm not so sure, so I figured I'd give this internet thing a go.

I, 35M, and my ex-girlfriend, 32F, are both teachers at a high school, which is how we met and got together, just over a year ago.

This is relevant, since, on the day of our anniversary, I ended up confiscating a… risqué magazine from one of our students. I've no idea how he got his hands on it, since it was a 1975 edition, and this kid would've been a toddler then!

Anyway, I began perusing it, solely for educational purposes, you must understand, when my girlfriend walked in and asked what I was doing. I explained I'd confiscated it and was just curious.

She seemed off, but I didn't think anything of it at the time. That was, until I turned the page and was met with complete full-frontal nudity attached to a very familiar face. My girlfriend.

I was in shock and immediately confronted her. It turned out she'd been rather strapped for cash at 18 and took up a modelling offer for the magazine. I told her I needed time to clear my head and walked out.

We had to do a couple of awkward assemblies, but the next time we properly talked was around a week later at a party we both ended up going to.

She told me she regretted the decision she made at 18 and would take it back now if she could, but I just couldn't get that image of her out of my head. I broke things off with her and left the party.

That was a week ago.

I don't own a cellphone, but I know she's been trying to reach me as my mother told me my ex has been blowing up her landline trying to speak to me. I've been ignoring her at school as well, I just can't bear to face her after knowing what she did.

Now I've had time to reflect, I really miss her, this has been my only issue in our relationship So far and I think I might have overreacted. So, AITA?

TLDR: By divine intervention, or pure coincidence, I found my girlfriend posing half-naked in a swimsuit magazine and broke up with her over it. AITA?

[pearwaldorf]

Some shit has come across my dash that reminded me about this talk* between David Baddiel and Toby Lichtig that discusses his book Jews Don't Count. (There is also a documentary of the same name, which I have not been able to find. Supposedly it's on iTunes, but I'm not downloading it to find out.)

It discusses the duality of antisemitism wherein Jews are seen as both powerful but also "the usual" tropes we associate with non-Jewish marginalized people. It's all tangled up with white privilege (because some Jews are white), the idea of passing, and the conflation of Jewishness** and Judaism.

This is instructive and useful for everybody, but especially people who consider themselves leftist or progressive. I very much hear (or not hear) the silence on the left when antisemitic stuff comes up, from the left or the right. (And it's amazing how that shit sounds exactly the same regardless of which side it comes from.)

As a goy and somebody who considers myself progressive, this is something I find extremely fucking concerning. If a group of people are being attacked and marginalized because of things they can't control, they should be protected. I don't see how proximity to whiteness*** (and some Jews benefit from white privilege) changes how we approach the issue.

Like. This article from 2020 talks about how Tottenham Hotspur uses a word considered to be a racial/ethnic slur to describe their fans and players. I substituted the n-word or the c-word and it became extremely clear how offensive this is.

It is enraging to hear people say it's reclaimed when they were the ones who made it a slur in the first place. A dominant group can never reclaim a slur that is leveled against a marginalized group. That's called, uh, using a slur to describe a marginalized group. You would never do this with anybody other ethnic/racial group today, but it's acceptable because antisemitism is baked into western culture.

One of the things I have been most surprised and appalled by is how very little I know about Israel and how that affects what I know as an American. I was in my 30s before I learned there were non-zionist Jews. I had never met or heard of one.

[Part of this might be where I grew up. The PNW has a very small population of Jews (~1%), and I knew exactly three: my 2nd grade teacher, the annoying kid, and the annoying kid's dad (who was a rabbi and came to talk to my high school class). My primary exposure to Jewish culture was Kornblatt's and Mel Brooks.]

So maybe my knowledge of Jewish (and Israeli-American) politics is kind of remedial. I can't recall a subject where I continually learn something that makes a lot of things fall into place. And sometimes I wonder if other people have this experience too.

--

* "BAME" is a term that comes up a lot in the video, which is an abbreviation for "Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic". It is now an outdated term, but it takes time for that to filter into everyday consciousness.

** As Baddiel bluntly puts it, "It doesn't matter if I'm an atheist, that wouldn't have gotten me a pass out of Auschwitz."

*** Honorary whiteness is a whole different can of worms which is not quite relevant here.

[lloydfrontera]

weird i thought lloyd would be in textbooks for generations to the point students will curse his name for making their tests difficult/it's this guy again types of questions but nope he just vanished from history and only a handful knows him

speaking of does his summons, skeleton corps and yongyong still exists and with him?

weird i thought lloyd would be in textbooks for generations to the point students will curse his name for making their tests difficult/it's this guy again types of questions but nope he just vanished from history and only a handful knows him

i mean. do you remember the guy who revolutionized the history of civil engineering and architecture in your country?? the guy who changed the history of building construction and sewer systems a couple centuries ago??

like. personally i am not very informed about that topic cause it's not part of my daily life! i imagine it's different for, y'know, people who have to study the topic and will make a career out of it.

for all we know lloyd is still very known but just to the people the system told him he would be remembered by: engineering and architecture students and teachers.

[Hell's Top Talent] [Title Level: Hero's Journey] Okay, it's time to study the railway of the past. Open your History of Modern Civil Engineering Book to page 359. Yes. That's the famous Pantara Railway, which I'm sure every one of you knows. Student in the front row. Could you briefly walk us through how this railroad came to be? Excellent. That's correct. The Pantara Railway, just like what the student said, is a masterpiece built by Lloyd Frontera, who received an order from the Magentano House. Hahaha. Are you all bored? It's Lloyd Frontera again. Look at this section, and you'll find Lloyd Frontera. Move on to the next part and you still find him. I, too, am sick of him. Had it not been for him, we would only have one eight of what we will study this summer. But what else can we do? That son of a gun set the groundwork for the civil engineering of our empire. So, it would be unfair if we were the only ones to suffer, no? Let's hit the book. Come now. Let's study harder, create new theories and make it harder for the students who'll come after you all. All right, so the Pantara Railroad introduced the switchback system for the first time in the world...

again. does this sound like something the every day person would be studying?? yes, lloyd did leave a very big mark in history, one that will last for centuries, but it doesn't mean literally everyone will know about him. just... the people who are most involved in the field he worked in.

who's to say there aren't a bunch of students in the background of rakiel's shenanigans, cursing lloyd's name or making little altars in the back of their classrooms every time a test comes and they have to answer insanely complicated questions that only exist because lloyd did a bunch of stuff 300 hundred years earlier??

we just don't get to see it because it wasn't relevant to rakiel's journey </3

also. the sequel is mostly from rakiel's perspective. and rakiel is busy. he hasn't traveled to a lot of places where lloyd went. his field of work is extremely separated from lloyd's. he has no reason to really think about lloyd and yet he does! several times! he hasn't been forgotten he's just not relevant to rakiel's daily life.

just because you're famous in one field doesn't mean everyone will know of you! just to the people invested in that field and maybe a couple adjacent ones!

speaking of does his summons, skeleton corps and yongyong still exists and with him?

the summons yes! lloyd himself confirms that he has ppodong and the rest of the gang with him in heaven. i don't remember if he has mentioned the skeleton corps or yongyong yet, but lexi is working with javier so?? it's unclear.

[diana-bookfairchild]

@hinnymicrofic May Prompts Day 17: Lessons

TW: A kind of teacher and student relationship. Both are of age, Harry is only a temporary instructor and this is pre-relationship but it's there.

Ginny had never loved lessons more.

Auror Harry Potter – temporary Duelling Instructor, but she felt calling him Professor would be contradictory to her efforts to seduce him – had been suspended for not obeying orders in the field. Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for her, his superiors and Dumbledore had cajoled him into teaching at Hogwarts.

She’d heard him grumbling about it to Ron plenty of times.

Ginny was really glad she’d opted to take Duelling lessons during her Charms mastery.

She’d known Harry for ages, of course, but being four years younger than him had not inspired him to see her as anything other than his best friend’s little sister, the seven-year-old who had had a debilitating crush on him in their childhood.

The one triumph she’d had had been last year, when at Christmas at the Burrow Sirius had hung enchanted mistletoe and Harry had had to kiss her. The way he’d stared at her after their brief kiss had given her a spark of thrill right down to her toes.

Now she was twenty-one, three years into her five-year Mastery. She had no desire to see him kicked out of his job, of course, so her seduction master plan was very subtle.

But she thought it was working.

His suspension was for six months – half of which had already passed, so he wouldn’t be her Professor for much longer anyway.

He didn’t act as much of a Professor to her either. She’d stayed back after the lesson to tease him about his duties as best man in Ron and Hermione’s upcoming wedding. He’d gotten some chocolate biscuits out for them to share.

She munched as they discussed the temporal translation theory. Neither of them were experts, not being Hermione, but it was relevant to both Aurors and Charms, so they were knowledgeable enough to debate it.

“You’re coming to the Burrow for Christmas, right?” She asked.

“Yeah, most likely. I don’t think Sirius has anything special planned.” He answered.

Ginny laughed. “Mum might kill him if he does without giving her any notice.”

“You have a point; I’ll have to warn him.” He watched her, and Ginny licked the tips of her fingers as she finished her share of the biscuits. She felt his eyes on her and the sensation made her heart flip. “You know, I don’t get why you picked duelling as one of your classes.”

She shrugged. “It was one of the electives, it’s pretty relevant to my focus, and I’m fairly good at it.”

Harry smiled faintly. “I’d say more than just fairly good.”

Something inside her buzzed at the compliment. She ignored it, and tried to make him feel as he had her. “Well, I had an excellent teacher.”

Harry stilled. “Miss Weasley—Ginny,” he started. “I know what you’re doing.”

Ginny inclined an eyebrow, leaning back against the wall. “I’m sure I have no idea what you mean.”

He considered her. “You’re trying to seduce me. Your Professor.”

A heady mix of fear and thrill passed through her. “How in Merlin’s name did you get that idea? I’m not trying to seduce anyone.” She was succeeding at seducing, so that was true.

“Don’t lie to me.” Harry sounded very unimpressed.

She sighed and made a show of giving up. “Fine. But not you. There’s this guy in class – Gareth Overcliffe. He’s—”

“A Herbology mastery student. I know,” Harry growled, and Ginny observed with delight the – was that jealousy? – that leaked into his voice and eyes. He gathered himself impressively quickly, but he was an Auror after all.

“Right, I suppose you would,” she said blithely. “Anyway, I’ve been trying to gauge if he’s interested in me.”

If you’re interested in me.

Harry looked amused now. “I feel I need to remind you that I’m a trained Auror and can detect feelings and lies pretty well.” Their eyes met, and he broke the gaze a few seconds later. “And what if he isn’t interested in you? Will you stop the … seduction?”

There was a tone change. He seemed slightly uncertain, poised for disappointment.

Well, may as well set him straight.

Ginny looked up at him cockily. “Oh, I can assure you, there’s no chance of that.”

[flameshadowconjuring]

I am in the middle of my Assassination Classroom reread and rewatch and I am really enjoying it. It might just be that it resonates with me more now than 8 years ago when I originally read and watched it (ironic, given that I was much closer in age to the characters then than now), but it is even more fun than I remember it being. Most anime don't make me perpetually grin while watching them. Korosensei must be rubbing off on me.

The series does what the Japanese do best exceptionally well, which is to mix things that seem incompatible and make it work. Korosensei is the most kind and devoted teacher there is. He is also going to blow up the earth in one year if no-one kills him before then. He is the best teacher ever, can move at Mach 20 and is just generally a badass superbeing, but he is also deeply pathetic. He can destroy the world, but lives paycheck to paycheck. He encourages his students every step of the way in their mission to assassinate him, but does everything he can to survive their attempts. His students love him and depend on him, but also they are doing all they can to assassinate him. The most skilled assassin in the class, Nagisa, is a meek, kind boy who looks like a girl. All of this contrast is the source of most of the comedy of the show, and it works really well.

The thing I find most compelling in my reread/rewatch is how the task of assassinating their teacher unites the class. While the (almost) thirty students don't all get equal screen time/relevance, they all get moments to shine, and all of their successes come from everyone pitching in with their own unique set of skills. So many shonen manga talk about the power of friendship, but Assassination Classroom actually delivers on it. It has this strong message that everyone has talents to be nurtured and can become badass assassins someone awesome if you give them the chance.

The characters, particularly Korosensei, are very likeable and fun to watch. The anime's soundtrack is really good. It suits the series perfectly. The anime is generally a great adaptation. The mangaka actually worked closely together with the studio (at least for season 2, presumably also season 1). The cuts that the anime made were largely scenes from the manga that weren't essential. Exposition scenes whose information content can be inferred from more active scenes and stuff like that. I liked those scenes in the manga, but they were definitely the right scenes to cut so that the anime can conclude within only 47 episodes. The anime is really good. Just try not to look at students in the backgrounds of shots. They are often CG.

Perhaps most notably, Assassination classroom has achieved what most manga fail to do, which is to be neither too long nor too short, and to end in a way that wraps up the main plot in a satisfying, emotionally moving way. You will cry by the end of the story. I don't make the rules. The ridiculous initial premise of 'hey, your new teacher is a superbeing that just blew up the moon, he will do the same thing next year with the earth. It is your task to assassinate him before then.' is actually explained satisfactorily by the end.

That being said, I do have a few criticisms. I don't really like Bitch-sensei. A lot of scenes featuring her feel more like a reminder of 'hey, she still exists'. There are some great scenes with her, but not many, since she really only has one gimmick.

The first big plot twist of the show, which, to describe it in a non-spoilery way, is the big twist surrounding the actress, came out of nowhere. Maybe I am just dumb and missed all the clues (the author did point out that he planted some extremely subtle visual clues), but there were a bunch of scenes where the author could have easily planted some clues that would be subtle enough, but that a reasonably attentive reader would be reminded of during the reveal. The twist right after that one is really good though, so honestly its fine.

I will frame my final criticism as a warning. You might be tempted to let your guard down. To get emotionally attached to any budding romantic subplots that the story is suggesting or outright devoting entire scenes to. Don't. Down that path lies only disappointment and ambiguous open endings.

So, yeah. To close this with something positive, I guess I'll say who my favourite character is. Except I am going to cheat. I love Korosensei and Nagisa, but they are the two characters who get the most screen time. My favourite non-main character is Rinka Hayami. She is the sniper girl who is a steady shot no matter what, and she is just really cool. I ship her with the sniper guy who can shoot from super long distances. They are just a really cool, calm, get-the-job-done-without-a-hint-of-complaint duo. Mild spoilers, but they were responsible for what you could argue was Korosensei's closest brush with death.

Who would have ever thought that a show about middle school students learning the art of assassination to kill their teacher could be so wholesome and touching?