#will i ever actually start saving in any substantial way ever again? probably not<3

[sodrippy]

genuinely how on gods green earth can one earn money while paying rent i cant do it its impossible im going nuclear

[sun-lit-roses]

Librarians: Superhero AU

This isn’t a fic, but a ramble about Day 16 of The Librarians Prompt Month: Superhero AU. As an AU, I actually don’t think it’s too much of a stretch! They already run around saving the world from their secret base of operations, and superpowers could be added to the Librarian characters pretty easily. Here are my assumptions going in:

 The actual episodes of the show will not be substantially altered

The superpowers are granted by the Library upon accepting a position (so Cassandra’s visualization techniques, Jacob & Flynn’s intelligence, and Ezekiel’s thieving aren’t powers, they’re skills)

For now, let’s call this a Librarians-only trait

With this framework in mind, I suggest that the following are actually superpowers granted to the Librarians by the Library:

Flynn has some variant of lucky charm - this might seem more of an Ezekiel thing, but Flynn has survived longer than any previous Librarian (mortal Librarian, I’d argue Judson had an advantage there as he was tethered and semi-immortal) and he did it mostly without even having a Guardian; he tends to get an idea or have something turn up right in the nick of time and, while I’m not saying that he isn’t very good at Librarian-ing, there definitely seems to be an element of luck at play

Jacob has increased strength - at the beginning of Season 3, once we see him start learning to properly fight, he manages to about shot-put a punching bag AND THEN the god Apep across an entire room; I’m pretty sure rotating your wrist a certain degree does NOT generate this result in our reality

Cassandra has magical powers - this one is fairly obvious, since she doesn’t have any magical powers to start off with and develops them over the course of the show; now it’s supposedly a remnant from being caught in the fairytale spell as Merlin, but no one else had lasting effects, so my argument is that this is just the way she found out she was given the power of magic

Ezekiel has some sort of immunity to magic - time and time again magic spells and artifacts don’t work quite right on him, from the Apple of Discord to taking no damage from his photo being taken in Dorian Gray’s nightclub to Cindy; it’s clearly not a full immunity to magic, since things like the Pipes of Pan and the Happily Ever After curse work on him, so there might be some weird clauses working on that one (the magic can only be trying to affect him alone, which is why the two cases above effected him as well, or maybe it only works once over a certain period of time)

And, because I feel guilty about leaving them out:

The superpower that Baird probably *wants* is the ability to know where her Librarians are and if they’re about to do something more reckless than usual. Either that or telekinesis. Then she could grab hold of their collars long distance.

Jenkins just wants a Cone of Silence.

[fawnandshadows]

After the Ceremony - Chapter 3

I had so much fun writing this chapter, and I could not be more excited to share it! Please let me know what you guys think, and I also wanted to thank everyone for their support because I was so convinced that no one was going to read this, and I am so incredibly flattered at the response I have received. This story is also available on AO3

Summary: Elain and Azriel after Nesta and Cassian's Mating Ceremony.

Words: 2,938

Story Rating: M

Elain was giddy. She couldn’t remember the last time she woke up and was excited about the day ahead of her. Well, before the solstice she used to wake up and be content and hopeful. She would tend to her garden and try to make the world a more beautiful place; gardening was something that she was good at, something that she enjoyed, and it was something that was just hers. There were many times, before Feyre had been taken, that she wished she could have done something more substantial for her family, but they couldn’t afford the seeds to grow any food, and she didn’t even know how to grow food. So, once Elain settled into her fae life enough, she decided to learn a valuable skill - one that almost anyone would approve of.

She learned how to bake, and then she learned how to cook. The twins were surprisingly gracious and they were more than welcoming and patient with her, and before long Elain started to think of Nuala and Cerridwen as friends. The first friends she ever made that were hers, and hers alone. She knew they worked for Feyre, Rhysand, and Azriel, but the twins weren’t friends with them.

It was during this time that Elain started to hope to see Azriel every day when she woke up. Whenever she was with the twins there was always a part of her that wanted Az to show up and ask for a report, he almost never did, but she imagined it just the same. He would come in after a long day, and she would offer him the chocolate chip cookies she baked herself - Elain made those cookies at least once a week after learning they were his favorite- and they would simply enjoy each other’s company. She dreamed that he would open up to her, because the Mother knew he needed someone to talk to, and Elain would give him a lovely, cozy space where he would forget about his spy business for a bit. A space that he could think of as home.

And then there were the daydreams where Elain imagined they did a little bit more than talk. On many occasions, when Elain was alone in the kitchen baking bread and covered in flour, she thought of Azriel storming into the kitchen in a flurry of emotion - sometimes it was anger, but it could have been passion, or even an overwhelming lust - and he would take her into his arms and kiss her as if his life depended on it. They almost always ended up covered in flour, or whatever Elain was cooking, and right when her imagination was starting to get interesting somebody inevitably walked into the kitchen, and it was almost never the person she wanted it to be. Sometimes her family could be such busy bodies.

None of her fantasies lived up to the real thing.

The real Azriel, the one crafted from flesh and blood and bone, was so exquisite that her dirtiest most intense fantasy seemed childish.

Her heart pounded wildly just thinking about it.

A soft knock sounded from the door, disrupting Elain from the memories she was reliving over and over again, and Elain told whoever was knocking to come in. She briefly entertained the idea of feigning sleep, but she had already lazed in bed for almost an hour. A small indulgence she allowed herself - normally she would rise with the sun and immediately throw herself into the garden, or help with breakfast, or do something to show she was useful.

Feyre, to Elains surprise, entered the room and shut the door behind her.

“Good morning.” Elain raised herself up and smiled at her sister.

Feyre had not yet dressed for the day, she still wore her navy silk nightgown and robe, and it warmed Elains heart to see her sister in such finery. She was happy that Feyre found herself a mate that treated her like a queen - she deserved it after everything she did for their family. There were times when Elain felt the crushing urge to hug her sister, and she decided after last night to grant herself those small kindnesses - she had come to learn that it was never a bad thing to show someone you loved them, even if you couldn’t say it.

Elain had opened her arms and said, “Doesn’t it seem like a fine morning for a cuddle?”

Feyre laughed and walked over to her sister before plopping herself into the bed and into Elain’s open arms.

“We haven’t done this in forever,” Feyre said with a sigh - as if she were remembering the last time it happened and how everything had changed since then. “As much as I love Rhys he tends to hog the bed. He kicks off all the covers and then has the audacity to accuse me of stealing them, can you believe that,” Even though Feyre’s voice held a hint of exasperation Elain knew there was a smile on her face, probably one that found its twin on Elains face. “I barely got any sleep last night. Nyx woke up crying and I had to search the entire house for his favorite toy, you know the one - the stuffed bat that Cassian got him. Somehow it ended up downstairs in the ballroom.”

Elain felt tears start to well in her eyes. She was just so happy for Feyre, and her joy was only amplified knowing that Feyre was happy. Feyre was completely, utterly, and divinely happy.

“Is that why you decided to join me this morning? To get some peace and quiet?” Elain asked.

It was Feyre that almost stumbled upon her and Azriel last night. Her cheeks warmed not only at the memory, but at the fact that Feyre almost saw them. Elain was almost certain that Feyre didn’t know about the scene she interrupted, but still she wanted to make sure.

“Yes and no,” Feyre said, and Elain could tell from her voice that she wasn’t going to like what her sister said. Feyre shifted on the bed to face Elain. “Were you downstairs last night. I thought I smelled you, and you know how not great I am at distinguishing scents,” It was true. For all of her power and abilities, a keen sense of smell wasn’t one of them. “But I thought I smelled you downstairs when I was looking for Nyx’s bat. Of course when I actually got into the room you weren’t there, and I know my nose has been sensitive ever since I was pregnant, so I could have just been smelling you from earlier.”

A small smile tugged at Elains lips, and the delightful urge to share with her sister moved through her.

“Can I tell you something?” She asked shyly.

Feyre’s eyebrows raised as she said, “Of course.”

“I need you to be my sister. Not High Lady.”

At Feyre’s nod Elain couldn’t hold back. In excited whispers she told her sister everything that she felt, and most of what transpired last night, Elain kept some of the more private details to herself.

“That explains the torn nightgown.” Feyre commented at one point, and Elain couldn’t contain the giggle that burst out of her. It had never really been like this between her and Feyre, Elain had always drifted more towards Nesta, but she was glad to have this moment with her younger sister.

“Feyre,” Elaid started with a bit of hesitation. “Has Rhysand ever talked to you about me?”

Feyre’s brow furrowed a bit as she thought.

“He adores you, and he thinks of you as his own sister, but I can’t think of anything recently.” The two sat in silence for a moment before Feyre exclaimed, “Oh! He loved the tarts you made the other day, the apple ones, he was rather put out that you saved the last one for Az,” Feyre nudged her with her shoulder. “Although that makes sense now.”

“He hasn’t mentioned anything else?”

“No, why? Should he have?”

Elain debated whether or not she should share this part, that part of Rhys being a meddlesome mother hen, with Feyre. She thought that her sister would be on her side, but Elain didn’t want to be responsible for a rift between her sister and her mate.

She shook her head and said, “No reason. He just stepped on my toes a little harshly last night, but it wasn’t his fault. Cassian was practically falling on him, and when Rhys tried to get out of the way he landed on my foot. I was hoping to tease him about it today, but I’m afraid he might have been a little too tipsy to remember it.”

Before Feyre had the chance to respond, Nyx's cry filled the air.

“I suppose the day has to start at some point,” Feyre said and she rolled out of bed. “Starting it with my sister and son seems like a pretty good way.”

Elain nearly tripped over her cobalt dress as she rushed down stairs. She couldn’t help it. She was just too excited to start the day and to see Azriel again. She wanted to see him in the light of day, not that she minded seeing him in the shadows of the night when it was only them and the Mother, but Elain wanted to see his face blush with unobstructed vision, and she wanted his hazel eyes warm in the light of the sun.

It had been too long since they allowed themselves to be together in the light of day.

When she reached the kitchen Elain wasn’t surprised to see it was only Nuala and Cerridwen in the kitchen. Her friends gave her sly smiles as they took in her goofy grin and red cheeks before saying good morning to her.

“Good morning,” Elain replied, eyeing the cinnamon rolls that just came out of the oven. The rest of her family must have been waiting in the living room before breakfast, and a thought popped into Elain’s head. “Did you guys use the recipe we just came up with?”

“Yes.” They said in unison.

Elain didn’t stop herself from piling three rolls onto a plate and filling up a mug with coffee. She bit her lip to contain her excitement as she made her way to the swinging door, saying a quick goodbye to her friends before leaving the kitchen.

The trek to the living room was short, but the anticipation made butterflies flutter in her stomach. She knew what she was about to do, she was going to offer food to another male while her mate was in the room, but Elain was determined she wasn’t going to hide her feelings anymore. She brought Rhysand and Cassian food all the time whenever she wanted to surprise them. Elain even went out of her way to bring Amren the croissants she liked because Elain remembered how Amren was the only one who thought her strong enough to look for the Dread Trove objects, and Elain wanted to show her appreciation.

When Elain stepped into the living room no one noticed her. No one but Azriel that is, and even though he didn’t show it she was certain he was aware of her presence.

Azriel was on the far side of the room, in front of a big bay window, smiling down at More. Hesitation and fear threatened to break her resolve, but Elain moved before she could talk herself out of it. She suddenly remembered the one burning question she had forgotten to ask.

She had to trust Azriel.

As she approached them Elain was suddenly overwhelmed by Azriels beauty. She spent so long avoiding him that it almost felt indecent to look at him freely and openly in the light of day. The morning sun illuminated his tan skin and set his hazel eyes aflame. She could even make out a hint of blue in his inky hair. Hair that she had just found out was as soft as it looked.

“Good morning,” Elain said as she stopped a few feet away from them. “I brought you something. I know you love to have sweets in the morning, but you’re too disciplined to indulge yourself.”

His face was unreadable, but there was an undeniable warmth in his eyes as he looked at her. Elain was sure he noted that her cobalt dress matched his siphons which caused his eyes to go molten. Elain heard the conversations turn dull, just for a moment, before returning back to normal - and she was certain that a pair of violet eyes were watching their every move.

Elain could also feel vexation radiating off of Lucien as he watched them from his place next to the fireplace. Feyre, Elain noticed on her way in, planted herself firmly between Lucien and the group Elain was with.

Azriel took one step towards her, and Elain inhaled deeply his scent of night chilled mist and cedar. A small thrill skittered down her spine as his scent intertwined her own. Az let out a raspy thank you before taking the plate and the mug. He took a deep sip on coffee, his bright eyes maintaining contact with hers over the lip of the mug, and Elain would have sworn that the entire room disappeared.

Her eyes left his for a moment as they watched his tongue trace over his lips. Elains hands fisted in her dress to stop herself from grabbing his face and kissing the coffee away.

Elain watched as he set the coffee on the windowsill before picking up a cinnamon roll and taking a bite. A small groan emitted from the back of Azriels throat.

“Good morning.” A chipper voice broke Elain’s connection to Az.

Elain mentally shook herself as she looked at the blond standing with them. She had completely forgotten Mor was here standing with them, and Elain recognized the amusement in Mor’s tone.

“Good morning,” Elain managed a small smile as a furious blush overtook her face. From the knowing grin on Mor’s face Elain knew she had witnessed everything that just happened between her and Az. “You’re a lovely dancer. I saw you last night.” Elain had hoped to distract Mor with conversation.

“I think you might have been more interested in my partner.” Mor winked at her, and her face somehow turned warmer. She was blushing more than she ever had before. Elain noted the satisfied, and proud grin, that formed if Azriel’s beautiful lips. She wanted to kiss that grin off his face.

Mor looked between the two of them, as if she could see something that they couldn’t, and a frown appeared between her eyebrows. She quickly excused herself and left the room.

“Was it something I said?” Elain asked as she watched the blonde leave. “I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”

“Of course not,” Az said quickly. His hand reaching out to touch her, she shivered at the feel of his calloused hands on her skin. He quickly dropped her hand and reached for his mug, took a sip, and then thought for a moment before offering it to her. “You are never an interruption.”

Elain didn’t hesitate before taking a drink of his coffee, she had brought it to him black because he liked it that way, and Elain almost always dumped way too much sugar in her own coffee. It thrilled her to know they were sharing a drink, and that they were doing it in front of everybody. They were done hiding. It moved her, and made her insides turn to gooey, as she realized that this was a giant step for them - that it was Azriel that initiated it. They could write off her bringing him breakfast, but sharing a drink was as intimate as they have been in front of everyone else.

Her eyes widened as she felt a damn break inside of her. Before her eyes, a silvery blue chord appeared and flowed towards Azriel, who just looked at it in complete surprise. It looked like a river flowing from her heart into his and after a moment or two it dissipated.

They looked at each other without saying a word, but somehow they were more aware of each other. She swore if she concentrated hard enough she would be able to feel his heart beating in his chest.

No one else seemed to be aware of what had passed between them. The conversation still raging around them, and Elain knew that if Lucien had seen what happened he wouldn’t have stayed put on the opposite side of the room.

“Do you know-” Elain cut herself off at the shake of Azriels head.

Elain opened her mouth to say something, she didn’t know what, but stopped at the appearance of the twins and the announcement that breakfast was served. She brought her hand to his tentatively, giving him the option of pulling away, and gasped at the jolt that went through her as their skin touched.

What every passed between them felt electric, and Elain noticed the warmth that was pooling between her legs and the need to rip her dress off to feel more of Azriel’s skin on her.

“Ready for breakfast,” A friendly voice asked her and a heavy arm landed on her shoulder. Elain looked up to see Cassian smiling down at her, looking a little too fresh considering how drunk he was last night. “Not everyone got special cinnamon rolls this morning.” Cassian winked over his shoulder as he steered her out of the room.

[bwbatta]

two - persuasion

Abstract: Draco and you are just friends so doing him a favour and pretending to be his girlfriend wouldn’t effect your friendship, right?

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x reader

Warnings: some swears but that’s all!

Word count: 2623

A/N: let’s go for part 2 then?! Thank you so much for all your lovely comments! Everyone who has asked to be on the taglist has been added and if you would like to be on the list, just send me a message! Dividers are by the super talented @firefly-graphics 🤩

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist

Part 1 | Part 3

The plan was set.

Draco and you had talked some more about what being ‘in a relationship’ entailed, whilst at the same time avidly avoiding Pansy in your free time. In fact, you were surprised with how little you’d have to change the dynamic between the two of you.

The first point was friendship, which was easy enough you thought. There’s no point in starting a fake relationship if you don’t get on well in the first place.

Second, communication. You agreed to be open and honest with each other, this whole plan wouldn’t work if you weren’t telling each other everything.

And finally third, intimacy.

This one was obvious enough and it was more than just hand holding or sharing the odd kiss or two, you knew that. It was about selling your relationship to be believable to everyone else around you, including your closest friends.

One of which was Hermione.

The plan on paper was simple, you both said you’d start off small and work your way into being a couple, so why did you feel this pit of anxiety in your stomach?

Nerves? Sure, you chalked it down to that.

So when you entered the Great Hall the next morning, late and in desperate need of caffeine, you somehow didn’t expect your ‘boyfriend’ to approach you with a steaming mug of coffee.

You completely missed the blonde boy too as you took your normal seat with a frantic expression on your face. Your roommates didn’t wake you up like they usually did so when you woke and found no one there, you almost screamed when you checked the time.

“Coffee coffee coffee” the mantra on your tongue “where the hell is the coffee?!”

Hermione looked amused as she packed up the book she was previously reading into her bag.

“Ron finished it moments ago, there’s no more”

“What?!” You blanched “there’s none?”

Hermione shook her head, the answer a definite no.

With energy lacking and spirit deflated, you grabbed a couple slices of toast and buttered them quickly, at least trying to put some food in your stomach even if it wasn’t your usual caffeine shot.

However when Hermione froze slightly, eyes narrowly following something behind you with a glare, you frowned at her confused. That was until Draco perched on the seat next to you, holding a mug of coffee between his hands.

“Granger” he greeted in a civil manner causing the witch to freeze in shock, half expecting an offhand snide comment about her blood status. He then turned to you and offered the coffee, “thought you might need this”

“But I thought there was none left!”

“I saved you it”

“You saved me a coffee?”

“Kept it warm too”

You could’ve cried when you took the mug from him and immediately the drink warmed your hands. Eagerly taking a sip, you found the coffee itself was exactly to your liking.

You went to point it out but before a word could leave your lips, Draco rolled his eyes at you with a smile.

“What? You thought I didn’t know how you took your coffee?”

The question was rhetorical, not that you cared. Exhaustion was the only thing you felt that morning up until then, quickly being replaced with utter fondness for the Malfoy boy next to you.

“Thank you” you told him as he grinned back at you

“Don’t mention it”

Draco raised his hand and swiped away a lock of hair which had fallen out of your two second attempt to pin it back this morning in your rush.

Your breath hitched slightly as his eyes found yours and he leaned in towards your ear.

“How am I doing?”

Your brain stalled.

Right.

Of course.

He was acting like he cared about you in front of Hermione.

To convince Hermione.

Who of course, confirmed with a quick glance, was looking between the two of you with suspicion in her eyes.

Quickly painting a smile across your face like he’d said something sweet, you pulled back and shot him a dazzling smile.

“Alright, I guess” you said, vague enough so Hermione wouldn’t clock onto what he really said.

“Good” he grinned back at you before standing from the seat. “I’ll see you after class later, yeah?”

You nodded at him, and with a fond smile at you and a courteous nod to Hermione, he left the two of you be, heading to his first class.

With the thought in the back of your mind that you should probably also get to class, you were stopped by a substantially confused Hermione who looked at you like you’d grown another head.

“Was I just in some parallel universe?”

“What?”

“‘What?’ Seriously, that’s how you’re going to answer that question?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” you shrugged your shoulders before standing and picking up your bag and the mug of coffee from Draco.

“What aren’t you telling me?” The Granger girl continued to interrogate you as she too stood, though with a lot more vigor.

“There’s a lot of things I’m not telling you Hermione, but if it’s anything to do with Draco, I don’t know what you mean”

Striding out the Great Hall, she quickly followed you, pestering for more information which you avoided expertly until you got to your first class you shared.

“Why did Malfoy get you coffee?”

“Because it was a nice thing to do”

“Why was he civil with me?”

“Maybe he’s seen the light”

“(Y/N)! Tell me! I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight otherwise and you know it!”

With a sigh you turned to face her.

Putting on a performance like it was tough for you to keep a secret, you ‘umm’d and ‘ahh’d under her questioning until you really had had enough of the interrogation.

“Okay, fine, we may or may not be dating” you said like it wasn’t a big deal

“What?!”

“Miss Granger!” Professor McGonagall’s voice snapped “if you’re so done with your conversation, perhaps you could start writing your essay?”

“Yes, Professor. Sorry, Professor”

With a glare shot your way, meaning she’d grill you later for information, the bookworm turned back to her work and started writing furiously.

It was later that day that you found out that Lavender Brown had overheard your conversation with Hermione and so naturally, the gossip that you and Draco were dating was spread across the entire school.

Some believed the rumour, others didn’t so much. This of course included Blaise, the Weasley twins, and of course, the ever stubborn Pansy.

When the boys finally cornered each respective friend, they of course had some questions that needed to be addressed. 

Blaise cornered Draco first at Lunch. 

The Malfoy boy had just started to tuck into his food when a book slammed down on the table next to him, startling the boy. 

Blaise pinned him with a hard look.

“Is it true you’re dating (Y/N)?”

“How’d you hear that?!”

“Word gets around fast... so, is it true?”

“Yes it’s true” Draco rolled his eyes at his friend

He was honestly shocked at how quickly the rumour had gone round the castle, though he suspected some of the Gryffindor girls were behind it. They always seemed like they pounced on any gossip going.

This also meant, Pansy had probably heard it by now.

Draco’s interest peaked.

“Who’d you hear it from?” The blonde asked his friend

“Bulstrode of all people” Blaise rolled his eyes “thought I might’ve found out from my friend himself but apparently not”

“Sorry man, it only really happened yesterday”

Blaise waved his apology off

“So tell me, is this for real? It’s not a prank or anything, she knows you think you’re going out with her right?”

“Yes, (Y/N) knows we’re going out” Draco rolled his eyes in exasperation “she’s also not being forced or blackmailed into going out with me if that puts your mind at rest”

This wasn’t technically true and Draco fought the urge to cringe slightly as he remembered the deal he had made with you.

Despite the other copious Christmas presents he had to get you, being civil to Granger wasn’t so bad he remarked. They only shared a few classes, all of which were with you present, so all he really had to do was ignore the fact the muggleborn witch existed and he’d keep his side of the deal up.

“Good” Blaise huffed, finally sitting down next to him “can I ask you something though?”

“You just did”

“Smart arse” Blaise rolled his eyes but continued on “what made you ask her out?”

Draco paused.

You hadn’t actually discussed this so there wasn’t a definite plan on what response to give. The boy trusted himself to come up with a decent answer though so instead of panicking, he said the first thing that popped into his head.

“I’ve been in love with her for years”

Well... he didn’t expect that to be his response.

“You have?” Blaise asked also taken aback

“Umm, yeah, sure, she’s the one for me you know?”

Draco kicked himself once again

Why couldn’t he think straight?!

“She’s just... she’s so funny, you know? One of the funniest people I’ve ever met. Her laugh, man, is enough to make me laugh even harder because have you heard it?! It’s hilarious!”

Unconsciously, Draco began to smile at the thought of you.

“Also, she’s super talented at anything she does, which would be wildly annoying if she wasn’t so modest about it. She’s also the most sarcastic person I’ve ever met, yet also the kindest. She’s got so many good qualities it’s hard to even think about anything bad about her.”

Draco stopped, breaking out of his train of thought.

Now that... that, he really hasn’t expect to be his response.

“I’m glad you’re happy then, Draco” the Zabini boy smiled at him “seems like you really like her”

“Yeah... I do”

You were pounced upon by both the Weasley twins not much later on, both demanding answers.

“You’re dating Malfoy?!”

“As in Draco Malfoy? The ferret?”

“He’s not a ferret!” You rolled your eyes at the pair. “And yes I am. Why? Do you not believe the castle gossip?”

“We heard it-“ Fred began

“Still working on believing it” George finished

You rolled your eyes and continued on to the library, your original destination before you got jumped by the identical redheads.

“Believe what you want” you shrugged trying to play it off.

“See (Y/N), here’s the thing, I don’t know if I believe you’re actually going out with him” Fred stated causing you to frown.

“What do you mean?”

“Freddie here believes you guys are faking it for some reason” George chucked an arm round your shoulders as they continued to walk with you.

“Why would we be faking it?!” You laughed like the idea was ridiculous.

“I just know you wouldn’t go for him” Fred shrugged “your standards are too high.”

“My standards are too high?!”

You were mildly offended at the suggestion, no matter how correct Fred was about the two of you faking your relationship.

Reaching the library quickly, you turned to the boys who had halted at the sight of the only room in the castle they adamantly wouldn’t enter.

“Well, unless your plan is to follow me into the forbidden room of books, I’ll see you guys later?”

Not waiting for an answer you swung open the door, mind now focused on studying for that test you had coming up in Herbology later that week.

“I still don’t believe you!” Fred shouted after you before the door closed shut behind you

All you could do was roll your eyes.

It was dinner later that evening when you saw your ‘boyfriend’ again since breakfast when he’d given you the coffee.

By now, you two were the talk of the castle which is why you weren’t surprised to see a fuming brunette strut up to you. The Slytherin girl looked as if she should have smoke coming out her ears you thought, not that you’d tell her that and anger her even more.

“(Y/N)” Pansy sniffed almost impatiently as she reached you.

“Pansy” you replied innocently which seen fo infuriate her more.

“I heard you’re supposedly dating my boyfriend?”

“Your boyfriend?”

You couldn’t help but phrase the question like you really didn’t know what she was talking about.

“Draco!”

“...Draco?”

“Draco Malfoy!” She practically growled at you

“Ohh, Draco as in my boyfriend?”

“Yes! Wait no-“

You snorted at her slip up and ignored her as you sidestepped and entered the Great Hall spying the familiar mop of platinum blonde hair, sending him a smile,

Before you could make your way over to him though, a hand grabbed your arm with nails roughly digging into your skin.

“Hey, I wasn’t done talking to you” Pansy seethed

“Well I was done talking to you” you shrugged truely bored with the girl “I’d appreciate it now though if you let go of my arm.”

“No, I’m not finishe-“

“Yes you are” Draco cut her off this time

Pansy’s expression looked like her brain had short circuited for a moment before she gathered herself and smiled flirtily at the boy.

“Hey Drakey baby”

“Firstly, for the millionth time, don’t call me that” Draco narrowed his eyes at her into a glare. “Secondly, (Y/N) also asked you to let go of her arm so I suggest you do so.”

At once, like your arm was on fire, Pansy dropped her grip which she had forgotten about as soon as the Malfoy had entered the conversation.

You rubbed your arm as you pulled it to your chest. Pansy’s nails had dug deep and actually split the skin on your arm slightly by the force she had held you by.

“And finally, I’d appreciate it if you’d fuck off and didn’t harass my girlfriend, especially about lies that we’re somehow involved.”

With that being said, Draco wrapped his arm around your waist and escorted you over to the spot he was originally sitting at, letting you take his seat while he forced Crabbe to move down a space so he could sit next to you.

“Thanks for that” you sent him a smile “though I can handle Pansy”

“I know” he replied with a grin of his own “I just needed to get that off my chest. Let me see your arm.”

“It’s nothing-“

“(Y/N)”

With a sigh you reluctantly held out your arm so he could see the damage Pansy had done. Spotting the crescent shaped breaks in your skin, his jaw clenched in anger.

“Psychotic bitch” he mumbled under his breath barely loud enough for you to hear, “episkey”.

The wounds sewed themselves back together in no time and you send him a grateful smile.

“Heard you got cornered by Blaise earlier”.

“Heard the same about you with the Weasley twins”.

“Mmm” you shrugged “there was bound to be a few that didn’t just automatically believe we’re dating. Some might need a little more persuasion, especially Pansy. Also it is still only the first day since the gossip broke though, it might just be that we wait for the news to settle.”

“I guess” he rolled his eyes playing with the pasta on his plate with his fork, before pausing slightly, setting it down and turning to you.

His eyes glanced round the hall quickly before snapping back to you with a grin. Leaning towards you, he wrapped an arm around your waist to pull you slightly closer to him as his lips became level with your ear.

You fought the urge to shiver.

“Or... it just means we’ll have to make it all the more believable, Sweetheart.”

Series Taglist:

(If you’re in bold, tumblr wouldn’t let me tag you ☹️, otherwise if you want to be added, let me know! 🤩):

@weasleytwinswheezes @azkabanlexi @streetfighterrichie @queen-of-the-coven @gdee703 @thatguppienamedbae @crumpets-are-better-with-jam @savcks @remmyswritings @thescarletknight2014 @w0nderr @heyiheardyouwereawildone36 @moonlightorbit @ceeellewrites @nicole-prz @depressedchilipepper @swiftlymoniquesblog

[rivalsforlife]

Do you have anything you wished was different from Ace Attorney canon?

Hello I'm finally slowly starting to get around to answering some of these! Sorry for the wait.

Uh this ask got super long so a basic summary of it: narumitsu being canon in a well-written way would be nice even though I don't think it would ever happen, I stand by not bringing back Phoenix as a main protagonist in DD, and I'd also want to rewrite all of SOJ so that Apollo goes to Khura'in in place of Phoenix, to have more interesting character stuff going on.

So the longer answer is this:

Aside from some of the actually problematic stuff that I don't feel qualified to talk about, story-wise, I answered a sort of similar question about a year ago here. I have changed my opinions a little bit since then, particularly with regards to the canonicity of narumitsu... because while I do love narumitsu I feel like I don't trust Ace Attorney to actually do it properly. After all if this past November has taught us anything "making a ship canon" could actually be quite undesirable and I have no desire to see Phoenix and/or Edgeworth sent to superhell. (I literally know nothing else about supernatural sorry about that.)

If capcom were somehow able to make narumitsu canon but in an unobtrusive way and as a natural progression of the storyline, like oh hey, the court record profile for Miles Edgeworth's Obligatory Last-Case Appearance has Phoenix mention they're dating, and maybe there's a few lines suggesting they live with each other, but it's not like... taking the entire story to force them together and otherwise does not change the way they interact with each other and butcher one or both of their characterizations in the process? I'd definitely be happy about that. Not gonna lie even if they made narumitsu canon in the most terrible way possible I'd have a "holy shit I can't believe they did that it's the best day of my life" kind of moment before I could think about it critically. But I honestly see no chance of them ever actually making narumitsu canon, so that's quite unrealistic to hope for anyways.

Aside from that in that other ask I talked about basically the premise of an Apollo trilogy and not bringing back Phoenix as the main protagonist in DD, and I still stand by that, buuut in my other ask I did touch on making SOJ a different game where Apollo goes to Khura'in instead of Phoenix - and you know what I'm going to take some time to actually talk about my dream version of SOJ because there were a lot of little things about the one we got that I didn't like. And it's going to be very long. So it's under a cut.

SO yeah I talked about it a bit in the other ask. I think that Phoenix going to Khura'in is a rather weak idea both externally and in-universe. In one of the interviews, too lazy to find which one, Phoenix basically goes to Khura'in because the writers couldn't figure out how to challenge him anymore. ... And then they don't actually challenge him at all. Because oh well now we're going to this new country where they KILL DEFENSE ATTORNEYS WHO LOSE and then it's supposed to be *shocking* that Phoenix would risk his life for a kid or his best friend. you know the guy who ran across a burning bridge to save his best friend. you know the guy who got punched in the face, nearly killed by the mafia, and tazed trying to save his clients. This doesn't tell me anything new about Phoenix's character. His whole travel in Khura'in doesn't tell me anything new about Phoenix's character. Basically the only reason he's there is to see Maya - Maya who theoretically would be returning home in about two weeks. Maya who was still in her training for two more weeks when Phoenix visited so he wouldn't be able to see her anyways. ... And in the meantime Trucy had the biggest show of her life that was going to be on TV and Phoenix wasn't there for it. And of course Phoenix didn't return home after Trucy was accused of murder (yes he couldn't be there for the trial, but he definitely could have for the emotional support afterwards) and instead just sits for two weeks in Khura'in doing literally nothing after Ahlbi's trial.

(And yes I know about the anime prologue that has Phoenix think Maya's in danger... but that's not strictly canon since it's never mentioned in game, isn't technically a part of the game, and even still, why wouldn't he go home after knowing that Maya's safe and that Trucy had been ACCUSED OF MURDER. Honestly that's what makes me angriest about this whole thing is that it makes Phoenix out to be a terrible dad. We really don't need any more takes like that, especially not from canon.)

And what about Apollo, you may ask? Well, given case 5 of SOJ, Apollo actually has a personal link to Khura'in and ends up staying there afterwards... after being there for like a day or two. I should note here that it has been a while since I went through SOJ in its entirety so I am fuzzy on many of the details. But both through what I remember and some conversations with people who actually played the game recently, the motivation for Apollo to actually stay in Khura'in isn't that great. It mainly seemed like guilt about his dead dad who he hadn't been in contact with for years and had completely written off until a few days ago but oh he died and then went to go visit him so... better take up the law office!

If Apollo had gone to Khura'in in place of Phoenix and spent more time there, reconnecting with his childhood home and actually getting passionate seeing how corrupt the legal system is there (even though we have a corrupt legal system at home) and being driven to fix it, that would make for a stronger story, I think. The Khura'in plot is more personally focused around Apollo than it is Phoenix. Phoenix's connection to Khura'in is through Maya, but Maya doesn't really have much of a connection to it aside from "it's where spirit channeling is from and she trains there". But Apollo, I guess, grew up there. So it's so strange to me that they force all of Apollo's connection to Khura'in in the last case while Phoenix is running around doing who-knows-what for the rest of the game. Phoenix spends more time getting to know the state of Khura'in and the Defiant Dragons and case 3's whole thing but he isn't the one who in the end decides to sit down and fix it; that's all on Apollo. It almost feels like they forced one of the two plots in to everything. And it was probably conceived as a Phoenix story that they needed to fit Apollo into last minute because oops he's supposed to be a protagonist too.

Some other strengths to Apollo going to Khura'in include that it would shake up the character dynamics a bit. Instead of Phoenix defending Maya, it's Apollo defending Maya, and that's a particularly interesting thing to look at in the context of Khura'in's "we kill defense attorneys" system. Of course, Phoenix would risk his life to save Maya, 100%, every time. But what about Apollo, who hasn't met Maya, who only knows her as "Mr. Wright's former assistant" - would he risk his life for her? And I feel like Maya would argue more against him defending her because of that. "We're strangers, you don't know me, you don't have to risk your life defending me." (Sidenote that I was always upset that Maya didn't protest much when Phoenix offered to defend her, knowing his life was at risk - sure she knows him better and knows he's always been able to get her out of these situations, but at the same time, the fact that there was no "what about your daughter?" conversation sucks. I really wish SOJ wouldn't have like. completely forgotten about the phoenix-trucy father-daughterisms.)

Let's say Apollo goes to Khura'in. Phoenix stays at home. Phoenix gets a call from Apollo that's basically "uhh hi Mr. Wright you know your friend Maya, she's been arrested for murder, if I defend her and I lose we're both dead," then you can tie in to that moment in 6-2 where Phoenix (who can't make it in time for the trial!) believes in Apollo and his skills as an attorney, not just to save Maya's life, but also his own. It ties in a bit more to the overall challenge of defending someone at the risk of your own life. Again, Phoenix would have very few hesitations, if any, risking his life to defend Maya. Apollo may have more defending a stranger at the risk of his own life.

Then if you can actually have Apollo and Maya talk together that would be neat - Maya can tell him embarrassing stories about Phoenix's rookie days, for instance. Their dynamic would be quite a bit different from Phoenix and Maya's, and that would be an interesting thing to see, unlike what we have in SOJ where all of Maya's substantial interactions are with characters she already knows or brand new characters.

(It would also be pretty neat to know more spirit channeling politics and dive in more to Maya's perspective on Khura'in and also her role as upcoming Master of the Kurain Channeling Technique and where she plans to lead the village in the future and also reconcile with her family's bloody legacy, but I'm not quite sure how to fit that in right now.)

And how about Phoenix, back home in Japanifornia? Evidently he'd end up being in charge of defending Trucy. Now, I did love the siblingsisms in canon 6-2, but I feel like there is still potential for Phoenix defending Trucy. All of Apollo Justice has a bunch of good moments between Apollo and Trucy, and she's co-counsel on all his trials, but we've never had any substantial Phoenix and Trucy investigation or co-counsel moments. I feel like AU 6-2 would be a great opportunity to dive more into Phoenix and Trucy's relationship and how it may have changed after Phoenix got his badge back. Plus, Phoenix being "the only one who knows how she really feels on the inside", he'd have unique insider knowledge into some of the Gramarye stuff that comes up in the case and Trucy's personal connection to the Gramaryes, which Apollo knows a bit of, but Phoenix knows more of. ... Or at least, should know more of, given that he raised Trucy for nine years at this point and they're very close, and Phoenix knows her better than anyone else does, even if capcom has forgotten this.

... Of course having Athena defend the case would also be great because more Athena spotlight is never a bad thing, but it's hard to come up with a reason why Phoenix wouldn't be there to defend her. And doing more switcheroos in terms of role in the plot is a bit beyond the scope of what I have in mind right now. Sorry Athena.

Aside from that, Athena still gets Storyteller, Apollo still heads Turnabout Revolution, and Phoenix still gets the DLC case. Apollo stays in Khura'in in the end with a bit more to his motivations. Rather than it just being about carrying on Dhurke's legacy, it's also something Apollo is passionate about after all he witnessed here. While we're at it I'd still rework a lot of Turnabout Revolution to make it so that Phoenix genuinely believes in Atishon because that makes for sooo much more interesting of a plot and actual character development on Phoenix's part than "Maya was kidnapped again and Phoenix is only wrong when he has no other choice", but that'd require some more detail and this post is long enough already.

And in terms of other details that need to be sorted out, there's the question of why Apollo would need to go to Khura'in in the first place. I'd probably say something to do with Dhurke. Maybe he comes back a bit earlier - actually alive, maybe, though crossing borders would be a bit of a challenge, or he reaches out to Apollo remotely somehow and Apollo goes to yell in his face about abandoning him (or at least that's what he thinks he wants.) Then we could have some more Dhurke and Apollo bonding time, potentially? Idk, if you switch up Phoenix and Apollo you're pretty much writing a whole new game and obviously I have not worked out all the details, but I think if Capcom had tried to go with this route from the outset they'd have a stronger game. At least stronger character motivations.

So... yeah. Those are my opinions. If you read through this whole thing I'm very impressed because it got very long!

[seyaryminamoto]

I think the episode Th Beach was supposed to portray Zuko in a sympathetic manner, but in my opinion it makes Zuko look worse. This is the ONLY episode in which Zuko spends a substantial amount of time interacting with the fire nation citizens, and he can barely control his jealously and temper around them. He even wreaked Chan’s house. Those are his future subjects. He should have learned to treat them better if he’s ever going to be fire lord.

Playing the devil’s advocate just slightly, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I’m pretty sure Zuko’s complete incompatibility with the Fire Nation during the first half of Book 3 intended to convey a message that says Zuko doesn’t know how to fit in with his old life anymore. Hence, he couldn’t have a particularly positive thing going for him in the Fire Nation besides Mai, because then he’d have enough roots to keep him locked down in his role as Ozai’s heir and he wouldn’t feel as easily compelled to turn his back on his royal life and do the right thing.

Nonetheless, it is a problem from a thematic standpoint, I agree 100% with that. I have more than enough problems with Zuko’s character arc, but that his connection with his nation is practically severed or non-existent feels really wrong to me, especially when the show makes a point to feature Team Avatar bonding with ordinary Fire Nation citizens, and even finding some, like Piandao, who aren’t supporters of Ozai’s rule.

In my personal opinion, Zuko could have undergone a storyline akin to that of Alejandro in Mask of Zorro, who was absolutely out of place amid nobles, but he had to play a role so he could find the information he needed and put an end to their self-serving plans. There’s a very heartwrenching scene in that movie when the group of nobles are basically touring a gold mine where enslaved locals are forced to serve their lords, and one of these slaves, an old friend of Alejandro’s, attemps to attack them only to get killed immediately by the asshole captain protecting the nobles. Alejandro then steps forward and cradles the dying man, who recognizes him and realizes what Alejandro is doing, disguised as a nobleman... and then the man dies in his arms, smiling because he believes Alejandro will set things right. But he still dies, and Alejandro is obviously both livid and depressed about it because he couldn’t save his friend.

Obviously... there’s no way Zuko would be put in a similar situation, at least not a situation that’s 100% the same as this, it’d be way too dark for Avatar even if Avatar did feature dark situations when it suited the plot. But if Zuko’s journey had been mapped thoroughly from day one... gee, how about Jet doesn’t die, but instead gets captured and handed over to the Fire Nation, and Zuko finds him in a cell at the Prison Tower when he’s on his way to meet Iroh? His old frenemy, in horrible shape... Zuko finds he doesn’t care about the past, because he knows this is wrong and Jet’s been through more than enough by Fire Nation hands, so he releases the guy and they escape! And then Jet potentially acknowledges that not all Fire Nation people are garbage thanks to Zuko... while Zuko realizes, through Jet’s words, that if there’s good in the Fire Nation he has to find a way to help it grow, and that there’s so much he can start doing to fix the mess of a country he’s supposed to rule someday.

With that as a starting point, Zuko could begin to travel through his nation, to learn more about his people, to visit cities and villages and find out if they’re living well or not (then maybe confront his father about their living conditions, showing a Zuko who’s no longer scared of standing up to Ozai, not even if it means risking the approval he chased after so desperately for years). Imagine him showing up at Jang Hui village, finding this horrid situation the villagers are living in! He’d not only cross paths with Team Avatar, which could be interesting at this stage, but he’d also potentially offer the people an alternate living location because he wants them to be free to live in better conditions than this... only for Team Avatar’s approach to teach him that maybe the answer isn’t running away or leaving when your house is on fire, but to put out the fire by any means you have available. Then, Zuko could start having many similar epiphanies throughout his journeys in his own country and understand that his work with the Fire Nation has to be FOR the Fire Nation itself, and not the glorified concept his father believes in: he’d have to work for the people who are unaware of how oppressed they are, the people who barely can get by in these times of war, those who have lost family, those who have lost friends, all be it for a war that makes no sense. Had Zuko’s character arc focused on THIS rather than exclusively on his own internal struggle... you probably wouldn’t see that many Zuko-critical posts on my blog. It would convey a strong message about what it really means to be a leader, and Zuko’s character would benefit greatly from that.

... But yep. Instead we got him losing his temper at small triggers, acting out and being very much socially inept. I understand what they were going for, I repeat it, and I don’t think it’s fundamentally WRONG... but I do think it’s too simple considering the scope of the story they were telling, and the character development they were trying to build for Zuko. There’s way too much to address with a character like Zuko... and that all his growth was meant to be internal (with even a few things that either were never addressed or were addressed poorly or that he supposedly grew out of but then regressed into all over again) may not have done him any favors.

... And well, I’ll say, I actually don’t think most of The Beach intended to portray Zuko as sympathetic? Maybe only the point where he gives Mai gifts that she rejects, and when he goes to the old family villa, but in general he feels like such an ass in that episode that I’m pretty sure they were making him an ass intentionally xD Yet I can’t agree more, it’s really wrong that the only time we see Zuko interacting normally with common Fire Nation people, as equals, he acts the way he does. I’tll never not confuse me that Team Avatar gets to see and learn more of the Fire Nation, and interact positively with their people, than Zuko did...

[dibs4ever]

Gone

Barbara stared at the test in her hands ”Crap” she mumbled to herself, she bit her lip. The past couple days she’d been feeling uneasy and then counted up her days and realized she was late. So while her husband was at work she decided to take a test without him knowing.

He always wanted 3 kids

She was comfortable with one.

So they settled on a median of 2, which she was thankful for because she wouldnt trade their daughter for anything.

“Looks like you got your way Boy Wonder.” She sighed leaning back against the bathtub from where she sat on the master bathroom floor.

There was a tiny knock at the door “Mama?” Came the voice of her first born

“I’ll be out in a second sweetie, is your sister awake?” She questioned through the door

He replied a second later “No, she’s sleeping. Mama are you okay?”

Barbara smiled. He was so kind, she couldn’t ask for a sweeter little boy. Next week he would be 3.

Her eyes widened as realization dawned on her.

She had a 3 year old and a 4 month old.

She was pregnant again, how far along she didn’t yet know but she couldn’t imagine she was too far along

How would she ever be Batgirl again? She’d just gotten back into the rhythm of the business after their daughter

Taking a deep breath she stood and hid the test before stepping out

“Mommy!” Her son smiled, his bright blue eyes gleaming up at her

Barbara grinned and scooped up the young boy “Hello sweetness” she kissed his cheek “Wanna go make lunch before the baby wakes up?”

Nathan nodded “Yes mommy” he hugged her neck “I love you mommy.”

Barbara smiled as she carried him to the kitchen. Perhaps having a third Grayson baby wasn’t so bad. After all they did make really cute kids.

A few days later Barbara was prepared to tell Dick the news

That was until Joker took over the city, using mind control turning thousands of people into mind controlled goons.

It was bad. They weren’t just in Gotham. They were in Star City, Central City and now Bludhaven.

A phone call came from Dick- who was currently working as Nightwing.

He called her on her personal phone. Something never done before “Babs, We need you. The goons are everywhere, the family is all out fighting.” She heard a grunt her heart skipping a beat till his voice returned several seconds later “Hide the kids, you’ll never make it to the Manor in time to drop them off with Alfred. They could use your help in Central City”

Barbara bit her lip “But Dick-“

“Babs, I’m in Bludhaven I promise I won’t let them get to our babies. Okay?” He pleaded

She couldn’t tell him now, besides, she’d patrolled with Nathan the first 10 weeks of her pregnancy. Due to not knowing she was pregnant.

One night wouldn’t hurt right?

She could hear sirens in the distance. They lived in a well secured gated community but was it anything against jokers goons?

She looked over at her son, lounging on the couch innocently watching a cartoon. Her daughter in the bouncer kicking her legs. Happy because she had just been fed and her little stomach was full.

She walked into the living room and picked up the bouncer with her daughter still in it, “Nay Nay, follow mommy please.” She instructed, turning off the television set.

Nathan tilted his head but followed her anyways

She lead him into her and Dick’s bedroom. She pulled things out of her large closet “Mommy has to go somewhere.” She informed Setting the bouncer down in the back of the closet. Little Leah smiled up at her. Barbara bent down and smoothed her fuzzy red hair with her fingers

Nathan stepped into the closet “Where you goin?” The almost 3 year old asked

“Mommy has to help daddy and Grampie with something. But I don’t have time to take you to grandfather .” She said running a hand along her sons cheek “You get to stay here with your baby sister. Listen to me.” She held his face to ensure she had his full attention “You and Leah are staying in here. Mommy is going to lock the door. Whatever you hear don’t leave and try not to make any noise. Okay?”

Nathan nodded “I be bwave mama” he whispered

She smiled and kissed his forehead. She picked him up, setting him down againest the back wall and moved the baby bouncer beside him. Barbara leaned down kissing her daughters cheek. Looking her over taking in every inch of her tiny 4 month body. The little fuzzy blush pink sleeper she’d just dressed her in. Her blue eyes that she was sure were beginning to turned green. Dick’s nose and ears. Her red hair and lips.

Then she moved onto her son. Dressed in his Green Arrow pajama’s. His favorite super hero. Little did the boy know in less then 15 minutes his mom would be fighting along side him.

His long raven hair, bright blue eyes. Her nose and ears along with a splash of freckles along his cheekbones . Dick’s lips.

She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “I love you both so much .” She told him before standing and backing out.

Barbara pushed a wardrobe up against the closet door, barricading the two kids inside while also hiding the door from view . The house had a central sprinkler system so a fire was the least of her worries.

She suited up and then went out. Praying everything would turn out fine

Six hours later Dick rushed into the clinic “Where is she.” He demanded

Leslie and Dinah both ran along side him “She’s lost a lot of blood.” Dinah said

Leslie nodded “She is very weak and drowsy”

He stopped and turned toward the two women “Take me to my wife now.”

The both gulped...Dick had actually admitted a small bit of fear in the two women something hard to do.

Dinah nodded “Come.” She waved

Dick entered the room and swallowed upon seeing the love his life looking so helpless lied up in the hospital bed. She’d been stabbed in her arm and almost bled out. Had it not been for Ollie’s basic medical training that saved her

“Her arm will be fine. It’ll make a full recovery. But...” she paused “The other bleeding ontop of the arm is what added to the substantial blood loss.”

He paused “What other blood loss?”

Dinah then realized he didn’t know “Barbara was pregnant. Not very far along 6 weeks at most....she lost the baby.-we haven’t told her yet.”

Dick’s heart sank. They’d made another baby. Another product of their love. And now just like that it was gone?

“Can we be alone?” He asked looking at his sleeping wife

Dinah nodded and exited the room

Dick approached the bed, sitting in a nearby chair. He was sore and probably had a few injuries he should be getting checked out himself but they could wait

He grabbed her hand in both of his. Bringing it to his lips he placed a soft kiss to the top of her hand.

Slowly Barbara stirred awake

“Hey beautiful.” He whispered

Her eyes were only had open “Dick, you’re okay.” A smile played on her lips. Which were now a pale pink

He nodded

“Kids?” She said, her voice a sleepy rasp

“As soon as we got the mind control turned off I ran to the house. They’re fine. Nate had Leah in his lap and she was sleeping. He told me he was protecting her” Dick grinned down at his childhood best friend as he softly brushed away the hair in her face.

He watched as her left hand slowly inched toward her belly “I’m so sorry Dick.”

Dick furrowed his eyebrows “For what Love?”

She closed her eyes “The baby, it’s gone.”

She knew, of course she knew it was Barbara. Tears were welling her eyes. As much as she didn’t plan for another child the idea of having a third baby with Dick was starting to excite her.

He leaned forward and hugged her to his chest “Barbara it’s okay.” He turned his head and kissed her temple “You did nothing wrong. “

She shook her head in his shoulder “They were beating my abdomen after stabbing my shoulder. Green Arrow came over and stopped them but it was too late. I knew the baby was gone”

He nodded “Its alright Babs. We have two beautiful children at home. They are safe because of your quick thinking.” He kissed her cheek and pulled back to look at her “You’re okay I’m okay. Yes we lost the baby. Yes I’m heartbroken as I know you are but we have each other.”

She smiled “I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have you”

He nodded “Neither do I.

[kalinara]

It does occur to me that episode 5 of the Witcher is possibly my favorite in terms of interpersonal dynamics.  Specifically for Yennefer and Geralt.

It’s always tricky when we’re dealing with a limited series, with one episode per short story (and not even the full episode, really), to establish strong relationships of the sort that tie the narrative together.  This is especially the case for Yen and Geralt, since its their relationship and its push and pull that’s so very important in the novels and the games.  (Even if you go the other romantic path, it’s still incredibly significant.)

But overall, I think that episode 5 (and episode 6 after that) do a surprisingly good job with the set up.

A lot of the relationship dynamic between Yennefer and Geralt is set up with what came before.  I joked about how the juxtaposition of Geralt’s interest at Calanthe’s torture threat and Yen’s “I *inflict* pain” are the show’s unsubtle way of showing how compatible they are.  But honestly, it’s kind of true.  If you look at the relationships set up at the very beginning: Geralt and Renfri, Yennefer and Istredd, we start to see how the two can fit together.  Yennefer doesn’t play at being anything other than she is.  Geralt (with one exception) doesn’t judge her ambition or lust for power.

I think for people looking for a conventional romance, episode five might seem more than a little lacking.  But Yennefer and Geralt aren’t really a conventional romance.  They’re a kinky romance.  Their initial give and take is more about the exchange of power than it is sweet words and candlelight.

The moment they meet, in the middle of the orgy, the power dynamics are already visibly in play.  He’s out of armor, disarmed, asking for help and bringing apple juice of all things.  She’s gowned and masked, domme chic, lounging in what might as well be a throne.  She’s standing above him as they meet and slowly descends as they speak.  She sets the terms, he accepts.

Then there’s the bath.  He’s naked, in plain sight, while she stalks around him appreciatively.  She lowers herself into the bath, but only after making him turn his back.  She shifts the mirror so he can’t see.  He doesn’t seem to mind that at all.

It gets really interesting though when he mocks her transformation: what was her flaw?  A clubbed foot?  Split ends?  That’s the moment that Yennefer freezes up.  And I don’t think it’s because she was offended.  I think it has to do with the way Yennefer sees her transformation.  Because Yennefer’s transformation was never really about fixing her physical flaws.  If you recall the beginning of episode 3, Yennefer’s big complaint was that she had no idea what her idealized self would look like.  She tells Istredd that he’s lucky: Ban Ard boys don’t have to go through the transformation at all.  She’s not ashamed of her disfigurements, nor should she be.  They may have made her a target for village bullies, but in Aretuza, they’ve never held her back.

Istredd accuses her of being angry that she missed her chance to be beautiful, but there’s no real indication that Yennefer was even thinking about that when she missed the ceremony.  She was still focused on the damage her ancestry reveal had done to her ambition.  She does choose to undergo the transformation, but as a weapon and a means for the power she wants.  It’s a mask, the same as she was wearing in the orgy.

What Geralt did in that moment was say “I see that you’re wearing a mask, and I don’t really care what you’re hiding.”  And that is where things shift. 

She immediately drops the idea of him prostituting himself for his friend’s life (something that he finds obviously disappointing.  Clearly he was enjoying the power exchange too) and goes for a more overt means of getting him out of the way.  But the sexual chemistry is still there and unspoken, and she can’t completely drop the domme act: see, for example, the way she dresses him.

So then we get mind control and an almost execution.  I don’t necessarily think Yen was trying to kill him there.  She probably assumed he’d escape before execution (I doubt she had any idea that the one guard really wanted to “play” with a Witcher.  And how fitting is it that we get those sexualized taunts in an episode that’s all kinky power exchange.).  Or that Jaskier would wish them both away.  Though Yen is also pretty focused on her own desires, so I’m not sure that she that she’d have felt that badly if he had died there.

But then he comes to save her.  And that’s where things get really interesting.  He offers her his wish, she can have whatever she actually wants if she just takes it.  But she refuses.  Her desire for a fertility cure has never really been about having a child.  It’s about being denied something she wants.  It doesn’t mean anything if someone else gives it to her.  And I think she especially doesn’t want HIM to be the one to give it to her.  Yennefer will always be dominant, damnit.

Then Geralt makes his wish.  We don’t know what his exact wording was, but I think we know Geralt well enough to know that whatever wish he made wouldn’t have involved Yennefer falling in love with him.  He’s as emphatic about choice as she is, in his own way.

But at that point their relationship has shifted again.  Yennefer realizes, at least subconsciously, that this is a man who has seen her at her most power hungry.  He saw her in the center of maelstrom screaming that she wanted everything.  Istredd may have loved her before she was beautiful, but he found her lust for power revolting.  Tissaia ridicules it.  But Geralt, who saw her at her worst, experienced her at her worst, doesn’t mind it.

In fact, he trusts her enough to fall asleep in her presence.  That’s got to be intoxicating for someone like Yen.

Geralt’s side of things is also interesting.  (And requires a bit of future knowledge to analyze.)  I think there are a few elements at work here: first, his desire to save self-destructive women is clearly what gets him back into that building after she puts him under mind control.  But I don’t think that’s the point where he truly became enthralled.

I think it was seeing Yennefer at her worst actually: it was seeing her power-lust and her ambition.  It was seeing how much she WANTS.

Because that’s the thing that stands out about season 1 Geralt: except maybe at the very beginning, he doesn’t seem to WANT much of anything.

Of course, he demands coin for service.  But he shies away from any kind of more substantial reward.  Especially if it feels like it’s undeserved.  The whole reason he got a Child Surprise is because he didn’t want a reward at all.  Duny had persisted and Geralt just said “fuck it, give me the next goat you have.”  Geralt’s a dumbass who doesn’t appreciate destiny’s sense of humor.  But he still tries like hell to refuse that gift.

He doesn’t seem to have much by way of long term physical possessions, besides that amulet.  He has Roach...possibly, assuming Roach isn’t a sequence of horses under the same name.  But with the way he talks to her, it’s clear that Roach (Roaches?) is a being to him, not a possession.

Geralt doesn’t seem to care about personal comfort.  He rejects gifts.  And the only thing we ever see him buy for himself is a night’s companionship with a sex worker.

And I think that’s not meant to be a positive thing.  It’s like Geralt says in episode 6, when Yennefer asks him if he ever wanted anything else besides being a Witcher.  And he says that if he had, it was too long ago to remember.

That’s heartwrenching in its own right.  Kaer Morhen did such a number on him that he literally can’t imagine anything other than being a Witcher.

But it’s also even more heartwrenching after episode 8, when we do get to see a Geralt who IS young enough to want something.  And we see at least some of what happened to him to change that.

And it’s sad-funny too, because early on Yennefer doesn’t believe that he went looking for a djinn just to get a good night’s sleep.  But I think we’ve seen enough of Geralt to believe just that.  That’s how broken he is, the closest thing he has to a “want” is sleep.

And then he meets Yennefer.  Who is indeed magnificent.  And she wants EVERYTHING.  She’s everything he doesn’t know how to be.

And when she refuses to accept his wish for herself, she forces him to make a wish.  And in that second, he does want.  He wants HER.  Not her love or companionship, obviously, or she’d never have been able to storm away from him in episode 6, but he still didn’t want to lose her.  

It’s not a healthy relationship by any means.  Not yet anyway.  (Maybe Jaskier can give them a pamphlet about safe BDSM practices and teach them about safewords?)  It’s not a traditionally romantic relationship at all.  But I find it absolutely compelling.

And hot.  I own my kinks.

[checkerflats]

Haven't been on tumblr in a long time. Felt like this was a decent place to write since nobody I know really uses tumblr anymore. I wanted to talk about my journey over the last few years and tumblr feels private enough a place to do so.

I moved to Florida 3 years ago (well as of this upcoming March) and at first life was decent. I tried to acclimate myself, stay healthy, positive, supportive, etc. At some point during that first year, I became incredibly depressed, nervous, anxious, overwhelmed trying to support myself (I did have a good friend group to help me) but down the line I had convinced myself I had a plan and that it was 'my plan, I thought of it' so instead of talking to the people I cared about and loved, I continued to try to do things in my own way.

A belief is a thought you have that you like. My belief was that I was the only one who could tell me what to do. And I never told myself to shut up and listen to people; realize they're saying what they're saying because they care. I became toxically selfish. I started judging my friends and peers opinions, being an asshole, being inconsiderate to everyone around me, unwilling to talk about my issues (and if I did I sounded like a narcissistic twat), etc.

To make a long story short, I resulted to drinking to cope with my overwhelmed thoughts and feelings. This isnt an excuse. It's just what happened. It in no way makes my behavior acceptable. In fact, anyone who knows me and how I act when drinking changes my thinking patterns would attest that it's only ever made anything worse. Even days or weeks without doing so, it affects me on such a negative level that negativity is the only lense through which I view the world and its inhabitants. I become the definition of nihilistic.

This led me to losing my friends, my loved ones, my job, housing, and ultimately respect from others and respect for myself. It was devastating and I did it to myself. After July of 2019 I started to refrain from drinking and honestly believed I had become the best version of myself. I got a new apartment, job, new friends who have still supported me to this day, albeit, upon making these leisurely friends who wanted to be wild, I felt I should--I wanted to participate. It was fun for a minute, and I was sober for about a month or two..

I'd begun to drink with them every now and then, never alone or at home, never two days in a row. I thought I could be a casual drinker. However, these friends and I stopped drinking for the most part, and begun to do a lot of acid (one thing I wouldn't say is neccesarily bad or addictive, in moderation) and a LOT of xanax. I started to learn a whole new meaning of 'fucked up' and went downhill faster than Jack and Jill could even imagine, baby!

By December, a friend and I decided we'd start doing cocaine. Fuck it, right? That got bad quick. It only lasted about 2 months on and off until we realized how crazy it was and that we needed to actually save our money (and sanity) so we stopped. By this point (March/April of 2020) I'd stopped doing everything other than weed. That inevitably led me straight back to drinking. This time it was everyday again, alone, at home, you get the point. When coronavirus hit I lost my job, couldn't find another anywhere therefore couldnt afford rent, was constantly in scary situations for 2 months (drunk), and decided it was best to GTFO and high tail it back to Ohio by May of 2020.

This took me months to realize, but I had so subtly slipped back into mass depression. Being back in Ohio, around triggers and friends who'd grown apart from me, I felt helpless and alone. I began drinking all the time. When I'd wake up, all throughout my shifts at work, at 2 am once the beers I'd had after work were buzzing off.. I was having the worst thoughts and feelings possible that I won't elaborate on because, again, I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses or even manipulating the perception of whoever might read this. I did this to myself. My behavior was absolutley unacceptable. I'd been put on probation for drinking, I'd been arrested for it even once in my own bed sound asleep (lets not go into how corrupt the law enforcement is in Mansfield, OH). The point is I'd broken the law and, regardless of the circumstances, the law is the law and it comes with consequences.

By October of 2020 I'd agreed that the best case of action was to go to a treatment center for addiction. The center was more or less a joke at first until a counselor committed to actually helping us started working there in mid-November. All in all being sober long enough to get back to a focused, rational, kind state of mind has put me in a euphoric state of content more so than any materialistic or temporary feeling that a substance or whatever else could bring me. Real peace is better than fake, self-driven delusion. I got released from the center today (1/13/21).

What I'm trying to get across is that if it wasnt for those who care for me after all the shit I've put them through, if I hadn't accepted I had a problem and my plan wasnt working, I'd still be that other guy. If you give up your ideals and listen to a 'Higher Power', (a 'God', a group of people as in power in numbers, a spiritual intuition that things happen for a reason and you agree you alone can't solve issues the same way you've tried 1000 times over and failed) whatever your view on that is, if you are willing to change and accept support you will be able to find genuine serenity.

That other guy is still in there. I have to continue working my program daily and catch myself if I slip up, be prepared to tell others, make amends (unless that would make things worse) and by all means listen to their advice in order to turn 4 months of sobriety (even from weed, but this is mostly about drinking) into 4 years, and so on. If you read all this (well first off, thank you, like.. golly!) and you are someone who knows me, then I'm sure that's hard to believe because everyone who knows me has heard me say before that 'I am quitting alcohol!' when in all honestly all those same people probably knew damn well I was just trying to convince them rather than myself and even if I did want to stop, I still had a desire to do it. That's where I can finally cut ties and announce that I, personally to myself, no longer have the desire for alcohol. Today. Right now. One day at a time. I despise it. It took my ambitions and spat them in my face along with my kindness, positivity, all my goals and loved ones like they all meant nothing and I am sick and tired of enabling that feeling. The world we live in is full addiction. Eating, technology, fame, money, power, caffeine, nicotone, sugar, sex, drugs, rock and roll--you get it okay? None of those will bring anything of substantial value or genuine joy. Being selfish will bring nothing but suffering. Be kind and loving. Love is salvation.

Once more, if you read all this, you're a saint and I thank you and hope your life, if not already, becomes (and continues to be) positive, peaceful and great. Love yourself, the best and worst. Face fear head on and never give up. Always lend a hand to those who clearly need it and if they turn it away like I did so many times, all you can do is hope and pray they'll get to the point of acceptance someday. I am so grateful for the oppurtunity I had to turn my life around. I am thankful for every single person who's come and gone and the help they offered before and after I actually admitted it was neccessary. I'll try and be of service to others when and where I can. Stay safe, world.

-cone

[saitamaandmanakoblog]

Manako’s PTSD: The Hero Training Test: 2/2

ZombieMan didn’t know why, but she got the distinct impression that the monster was apologizing for something more than her breakdown. Regardless, he wasn’t about to let his coworkers see her like this, so he took an alternate route to Doctors office.

“Oh dear.” She said the moment she saw ZombieMan with an injured monster passed out in his arms. The monster had a death grip on him even though she’s asleep.

“Testing accident ended up triggering some sort of flashback.” ZombieMan explained. “She didn’t recognize me, and asked if her gang is ok.”

She thinks that I was Mikey and asked if Foapy,MooMoo And Vend was ok.

“Strange…” Her brows furrowed before she turned to tend to his injuries. Manako was barely able to tear the monsters from his arms, and when he did, the she whimpered lightly.

“Mmm She seems very attached to who ever is making her feel safe.” “That’s probably because Saitama always has Bright Light in his pouch.”

“I have to inform the other minister about this development.” He sighed. “Call me when she wakes up. If she’s still in the flashback, I should be able to bring her out of it unless Caped Boldi is here.”

“Right. Thank you for the heads up.”

With that, ZombieMan closed the door behind him. Ugh, today was mess up already. He shook his head. He still had to deal with SweetMask. But first, he needed to inform the other Staff of the now obvious PTSD that Manako had. Ask how Saitama deal with her all the time.

He sent off a quick text to his coworkers. Luckily, it was most everyone’s free period, so Silver Fang, Agoni, the Bearded Workers, The Branch Operator, Bespectacled Workers and Console Operator were all in the Staff Room. He’d have to inform Sekingar of the situation later.

“ZombieMan ? What’s wrong, I thought you were observing the heroes?” Sekingar eyes flashed in concern when he noted the dust and blood on his outfit.

“There was an incident. SweetMask disobeyed a direct order and used an attack of lethal force on Manako.” The room stiffened. “She’s fine. Somehow Bright Light managed to dodge the collapsing building , but her leg got hit pretty badly. She’s in the Doctors Office, now. But the attack triggered a flashback. I was only barely able to pull her out of it.”

“A flashback?” Silver Fang asked in concern.

“She was talking about hearing ‘Mobs’ nearby, and her eyes were tracking invisible enemies. Bright Light was so quiet I almost didn’t find her. But she seemed to recognize me as someone else.” His brows knitted together in concern.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Sekingar asked.

“That’s the thing. She called me ‘Mikey’, and only reacted when I called her by her given name.”

“That’s… strange.” Agoni conceded.

“She also asked about ‘Foap’, ‘MooMoo’, and Vent’.” ZombieMan looked at Silver Fang and Sekingar, She came back to herself before she passed out, but if anything happens again and I’m not around, I think you two could manage to pull her out of a flashback if Saitama is not around, also maybe King too but he’s outside with the other heroes.”

“That’s actually very concerning, having to have Bright Light call me by her friends name.”Unknown scratched her head.

“Do you two know her outside of Hero Work?” Silver Fang asked.

“Yes, we befriended each other after I helped her down from a tree.”

(Manako was being bullied and got hang by a tree, while Child Emperor ask ZombieMan for help.)

“I think we should all keep a closer eye on her. Any idea what specifically triggered it?” Staff A asked.

“Ah… maybe I can answer that question.” TG said, coming into the room. ZombieMan glanced at the clock—it was already the end of the day. “Before the start of the match Bright Light came up to me and confessed that she had bad reactions to crashes and loud noises. I assumed Bright Light was uncomfortable, and said that she was going to talk to Mike or Saitama at the end of the week about it. She wanted to switch partners, but…”

“But you made her face SweetMask anyways.” Silver Fang pinched the bridge of his nose.

“How irresponsible.” Agoni tutted. “Didn’t you read the Hero’s Handbook?”

“Handbook?” TG questioned, causing the entire room to groan.

“Here.” Zekingar chucked the handbook almost hitting his face. “Certain staffs or Ministers is required to have that memorized before even setting foot in a Hero Training Test Room or some certain kind of Office .” He crossed his arms.

“Page twenty-five talks about what to do when a Hero who’s suspected of having a traumatic experience in the past confesses a possible trigger.” Zekingar stated dryly, sending TG a mild glare of his own. “In short, you excuse a hero from the situation that could re-traumatize them, and inform their homeroom coworkers privately before informing the rest of the staff.”

“In this case, you would’ve given her a different opponent and kept a closer eye on him while she observed SweetMask’s fight.” Silver Fang stepped in. “Immediately after the test, you would’ve informed me or someone else of the situation, before I informed the rest of the staff to prevent re-traumatizing her.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.” ZombieMan sighed. “You can apologize to Bright Light later after Miss.Doctor and Saitama have cleared her. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a rebellious brat to discipline.” He paused in the doorway. “Silver Fang , I think you or Zekingar should go see if Bright Light is okay. She’ll probably respond better to you two than anyone else right now.” He sent them meaningful looks and the two smiled.

“I’ll go. The Little monster is growing on me.” Silver Fang grinned, heading out the door, closing it behind him with a soft click.

“I’ll inform King” Silver Fang sighed.

“Thank you.”

Time Skip

ZombieMan sighed as he watched SweetMask leave the office. His punishment was light, in Agoni’s opinion, but there wasn’t much they could do for a 1 S Class Hero. So he’d be on restriction for 3 weeks. Allowed to participate in his concert activities while attending Spas when ever he likes.

He looked up when the door opened. Child Emperor had wanted to speak with Manako regarding the incident, and had Flashy Flash and Silver Fang accompany him up to the office. He was bandaged, and had a light scratches, but looked fine otherwise. He looked a little tired, but that was probably from the stress of the crumbling building while Flashy Flash tried to save both of their lives.

“You feeling better?” ZombieMan asked, and the monster nodded. He didn’t miss the way kid relaxed when he saw Manako sitting there. The boy was unusually attached to Bright Light, and once of his life he couldn’t figure out why.

“Welcome, Child Emperor. Please have a seat.” ZombieMan motioned, and Silver Fang stood to leave.

“A-actually, You three can stay if you want?” Bright Light spoke up, and Flashy Flash sat back down. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t curious. He saw the expression mirrored on the other two heroes’ faces.

“I understand that you had quite the experience today. I wanted to apologize for you getting hurt.” ZombieMan said.

“Oh, that’s not your fault. SweetMask’s always has a strong hate towards Monsters off handedly. “I’d have to be more careful if I’d had new who I was sparing, but that’s my fault for not doing my research.”

ZombieMan stared. This monster is surprisingly mature.

“Either way,” Silver Fang, handing a cup of tea to the monster, who took it gratefully. “I’d like to know what exactly triggered your flashback earlier. To prevent any future setbacks, and to keep you on the right track, you need to inform us of any major trauma in your past.”

“W-wait… you mean I’m not getting kicked out of the Hero Association?” She blinked in shock.

Child Emperor startled. “Of course you aren’t.” He stated. “Bright Light, nine out of ten heroes have PTSD or something similar. It comes with the job. To disqualify a hero hopeful for something you’ll likely get anyways is illogical. But we can help you with it before Saitama picks you up.”

She relaxed substantially, and Flashy Flash wondered if that had been weighing on her this entire time. Was she worried about Saitama getting worried?

“I’m sorry. I just…”

“It’s okay, Bright Light . We’re here to help you.” Silver Fang spoke up, and Bright Light sent him a small gentle smile. There was a tinge of sorrow there, though, and he noticed that Manako’s hands are shaking grasping her outfit, like she’s trying to not feel uncomfortable or Nervous.

“I… Part of it is collapsing buildings that reminds me of collapsing caves sometimes. And the smell of decaying bodies… and unfortunately, the burning smell of used TNT 🧨 and whatever else was in a cave mines happened to smell similar enough to, um… well… a building or loud noises and screams but that barely triggers me sometimes.”

Dead bodies?! Child Emperor stiffened, along with the other heroes. What kind of situation had this Monster been through? As far as he knew, The Monster Association must have mess up Manako a lot…, and also the part that it’s hard to find good information or records indicating anything about Monster Association.

Though it was possible that something had happened during that time where the whole world didn’t know about the monsters existed and then no one bothered to document it due to her being a Monster status in the current society. As much as Silver Fang hated it, some people just didn’t care about the civilians monsters who was not part of the evil Monster Association. Also the part that 3/100 monsters are evil instead of good ones like Manako, good monsters barely exist.

“Mostly, the biggest thing is silent or being alone when I don’t feel safe.” She spoke quietly, and Silver Fang noticed it now. He shifted in his seat. He did that in Hero Meeting, too. The monster was always making some kind of small, quiet noise. “The silence with the following creepy sounds or threatening sound are the worst. They tend to scare me or send me into…”

“Flashbacks.” ZombieMan finished for her.

“Yeah. So you saw that?” She winced.

“Yes. Nobody else did, But you did call me Mikey thought.” Manako flinched lightly.

“I-I’m sorry, sir. I meant no offense.”

“I’m not offended, just curious.”

The look on the Manako’s face told him that she was embarrassed, and ashamed. But her eyes told Silver Fang a different story. Grief, regret, anger, loss. The emotions were overwhelming and Flashy Flash looked away, feeling like he was violating some part of the monster privacy just by reading Manako’s eyes. It’s not a open book 📖 but he did catch a few things from that look.

“Can you explain what kind of experience brought on this trauma?” ZombieMan asked gently.

“I…” The monster looked out of the window beside Child Emperor for a moment, and ZombieMan was briefly afraid that she’d fallen into another flashback. “I lost some humans or Monsters very dear to me. It when the Monsters Associated found out that I was being friends on the enemies side… there was this terrible silence afterwards…” She gently touched her right arm. “I’ll never forget that screams. I had to choose to ditch the plans or continue plan B since she wanted to distract the others, but…” Manakos hand clenched, and ZombieMan knew what had happened. Manako had been forced to choose between two options that were precious to her. Likely, if Manako had stayed and ditch plan B and try to help the other, all of her gang would be dead. This Monster was way too young to have an experience like that. To have to make that kind of choice…

Child Emperor looked ready to cry, and Silver Fang looked heartbroken. Even Flashy Flash looked mildly disturbed, though he quickly masked it before Manako could notice.

At the very least, Bright Light already had what it took to be a Hero/Sidekick , of that ZombieMan was now certain. Not many people could even make that kind of choice. Flashy Flash took a moment to digest this information.

“Thank you for telling us, Bright Light.

Are you getting help for your trauma at least?”

“I was going to go visit them in the end of the week, after the test.”

“Good, you’ll start those meetings tomorrow during your free time, then.” ZombieMan smiled. “Now, on to the topic originally scheduled for today—the Hero Test.” Manako relaxed almost completely.

If Silver Fang hadn’t seen how tense she was a minute ago, he wouldn’t have suspected anything. It was like she flipped a switch. Manako was way too good at hiding trauma. Looked like the staff needed to up their game.

Before he can say anything else someone Knocked the door 🚪.

“Can I come in? I’m here to take my friend home.”

“Yay! Saitama your back!

Manako ran up and jump to hugged 🫂 Saitama in happiness.

“It’s nice to see you again Saitama.” Silver Fang said in relief.

“Bye everyone!”

Saitama put Manako in his pouch and left with a wave 👋.

....

“I wanted to know how did Bright Light got that Smoke Screen Bomb.” ZombieMan said in disappointment.

The End

[captain-of-the-historicfuture]

~hello~ !! For the meta asks!: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, and 25 :))

Hello!! Thank you for sending these; I was really excited to see that ask game and I was hoping somebody would send some in. It still took me a while to actually answer them though, and for that I apologise. But without further ado! Some meta answers (under the cut because they ended up being fairly long, whoops):

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (Consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway.)

I thought of a few examples, but they could basically be grouped together under a common theme: whumpy/angsty scenes that were self-indulgent as all heck. The whole self-indulgent aspect often required the characters to be just the teeniest, tiniest bit OOC and/or necessitated rather unrealistic plot circumstances. So it was simply easier to keep such scenes as maladaptive daydreams, rather than trying to think of explanations for the character/plot issues…or exposing myself to judgement for them LOL.

Receiving permission to write/share one such scene anyway is an opportunity I can’t let slip by though. It might be because I’m writing this while running on zero (0) hours of sleep—let’s hear it for insomnia, y’all!—but I suddenly couldn’t remember any of my newer ideas under this category. However, I did recall a one-shot I had started writing a couple of months ago that sort of counts? “Sort of” because I could actually be arsed to write it since I was, ya know, writing it. Only got about six hundred words down though.

…should I share those six hundred words…?

………nahhh. I don’t think I’m quite ready for that yet.

But here’s the gist of it: Coulson and May (because of course it’s Philinda) were married for quite some time before the Attack on New York. But then Coulson DiedTM and then got ResurrectedTM. But gasp of horror, he had to lose his memories of his romantic relationship with May because reasons. (I actually did have some ideas for those reasons but sshhhh this is about me yeeting context and setup.)

The first half of S1 still happens as normal (except MayWard doesn’t happen because??? Vows) and it’s now post-E20 “Nothing Personal”. The morning after (or a morning soon after, whatever) the T.A.H.I.T.I. reveal! May’s mom—who doesn’t know about GH.325 and whom May fed a cover story about Coulson divorcing her or something equally as oof, IDK—shows up at the hotel and starts ripping into Coulson for breaking her daughter’s heart, then dragging her back into the field with her ex-husband (him), then accusing her of terrible things and forcing her away again.

Poor guy’s confused as heck, and so is the team, and soon enough so is Lian. The only one who understands what’s going on is May, and she’s freaking dying off to the side like why is this happening to me and eventually everybody’s like! Explain??? (Was thinking about including something from Coulson like, “Are you still keeping things from me?” Just for that extra smidge of angst, yay!)

So yeah then May gives a, like, two-sentence debriefing that elicits more questions than answers. Coulson decides to take May aside and they have a heart-to-heart. Lots of feelings and angst and hurt/comfort and at some point plenty of kissing too. Just! May hiding her feelings for Coulson’s sake but really magnified, plus some actual apologies and consideration of the grief May’s been through on Coulson’s part.

And uhh yeah that’s basically it I dunno hdsjncjshd. I warned y’all it’s OOC, plot-bendy, and very self-indulgent!

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

I don’t think I could name a single character for this. I get different things out of taking on different voices, you know? I guess recently I’ve found myself gravitating towards more taciturn and introspective points of view, like JQ from my original novel Rosewood or M. Yisbon from my…other original novel Temple.

Generally, however, I like tackling stories from an outsider’s perspective. That’s why I so rarely write my more “substantial” (serious? demanding? for lack of better words?) projects from the PoV of my “preferred” character. This usually means writing from their love interest’s perspective, but not always. With shorter fanfic, using a more removed/unconventional/niche PoV can be really fun. Like, I once wrote a canon compliant ficlet purely(-ish) about Philinda from Tony Stark’s perspective. That isn’t always sustainable with stories that demand more character development or closer character studies, however, which is why it’s a good thing I like writing drabbles!

9. Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other?

My word counts tend to run long, but I usually only write one-shots for fanfic. If I’m even inspired with a novella- or novel-length story idea for a fandom, you already know I’m in deep with them. And if I actually find the motivation to plan and execute that idea? Dangg. That’s only ever happened…twice, maybe thrice, and I’m in a lot of fandoms.

At times, I wish I could go for more of a middle ground ’cause, like, you know what I love to see? An AO3 dashboard with several completed novellas for my ship/character of choice. I mean yes, I hecking love >90k fics, but sometimes I’m in the mood for quick reads…and what am I supposed to do when I burn through all the drabbles and 2k one-shots? (Besides despair and/or reread my faves desperately.) Novellas are basically always safe for me LOL, and I’d hope to be able to give as much as I take.

Ultimately though, I think I’m okay with where I am with regards to that. I wish I could write more in general, but I’d be okay with “writing more” just meaning “writing more one-shots”, ya know? More than okay, really. I have mad respect for fic writers who have, like, a hundred or more one-shots under their belt for this one ship. The fandom ecosystem would be incomplete without them (as well as every other type of writer, but sshhh that’s the type of writer I’m closest to being right now).

I’m definitely a plotter, and I definitely prefer it that way. It’s cool having such a detailed record of my process. I like feeling like a frazzled genius on the brink of a major discovery with all of my different outlines and colour coding and many drafts and various websites.

12. Do you want your writing to be famous?

Not exactly. It might be cool if my original works were recognisable in the world, but I don’t think I’d want to be recognisable. As for fanfic, I’d low-key enjoy gaining a place in that fandom’s community as a fic writer. Like someone who gave and got fic gifts from fic writer friends, who participated in challenges and GCs, who received writing prompts on Tumblr, whose name was known for doing a certain trope/genre a bunch of times… Ya know what I mean?

Unlikely to happen when I’m so hecking hesitant to publicly (i.e., outside of AO3) claim credit for my writing, but fjnskfsjhfjs. A writer can dream, right?

15. Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?

Of those three, tags are the easiest for me, for I have a reliable system for figuring out those.

Next easiest would probably be titles. For fanfiction, I like to use titles that are a quote from the source material. You should have seen all of my old Hamilton fanfic… I was really proud of some of those titles. And I don’t mean, like, whole lines—usually only two to five words. It’s a unique type of wordplay that I just love dabbling in.

And lastly, summaries. Sometimes inspiration strikes me and a snappy and intriguing synopsis just jumps out—one that I’m quietly pleased with—but most of the time I’ll spend way too long trying to think of such a synopsis and eventually just go with whatever I’d come up with so far. And live with my quiet dissatisfaction for the rest of time.

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (Plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations...?) Tell us about them!

Typically, no. If I have deleted scenes, I save and publish them separately, but that’s about it. I sometimes think of AUs for my own work and might talk about them in my author’s notes—might even talk about writing them—but I never really do anything with them.

Although…

It’s not uncommon for me to decide a plotline isn’t working for a certain story or to think of an interesting but undoable arc for a certain character, but what I’ll do is make a whole new story for those ideas. Once I’m done developing the original idea and the branched-off one, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell they grew from the same roots. Does that count?

21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as (film, webcomic, animated series, etc.)?

That depends on the story. I’ve actually written stories in other mediums—movie screenplay, musical stageplay, poetry, TV show scripts, play scripts, roleplay—but the novel does tend to be my comfort zone. Sometimes, if I have an idea that I think could work, or would even work better, as another medium, I’ll label it as such in my folder of ideas and decide not to write it as a novel.

Most of the time, my non-book projects are collaborations. I’m working with five different people on six different story ideas: two webcomics, one stage musical, one anime, and two animated TV shows. Little concrete progress has been made in any of those, mind you, but they’re still fun to discuss!

24. Would you say your writing has changed over time?

Absolutely. But I’ve been writing stories since I was five years old, so we would hope so, huh?

I wouldn’t say my writing’s changed completely, though maybe that’s just my insider’s perspective.

25. What part of writing is the most fun?

Oh gosh, I can’t believe you’d make me choose. Writing is just such a wonderful experience for me; I love just about everything to do with it. Admittedly, not all the time, but. Since that barely qualifies as an answer, however, I’ll give you this—

The endings. Not only that intense feeling of rightness when you wrap up that last sentence, but also the moments before. The adrenaline of knowing you’re almost there but you gotta push just a bit more to actually get there. And also the part right after—the real wrap-up, honestly: the revision and the editing. Heavens, I love revising and editing my work.

Which is not to say I don’t like writing it out for the first time, too—there’s nothing quite like seeing your cursor scroll to the next page, like going from a blank expanse to a Oh man, how many more lines are even going to fit on this page?, like watching that page counter tick up another number. However, there’s something cathartic about finally ironing out those problems I had to force myself to stop worrying about earlier because “just finish the first draft dangit”.

I guess that’s not really the end of the writing process, but whatever. Close enough (as fic writers are wont to say).

Another thank-you for these asks, and feel free to come back with more at any time! ;P

Send in fun meta asks for your friendly neighbourhood writer!

[starlighttaek8]

Redamancy

Pairing: Yoongi x Reader

Word Count: 4k+

Genre: Fluff. Just Super Fluff.

Plot Summary: This is a sequel to my other story, Untitled. I guess you don’t HAVE to read it, but this story will be able to be understood better if you do.

So, this is just a really fluffy Yoongi x reader story, with a lot of cute moments. 

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

Him.

You had just met up with Seokjin and his wife. 

Tragic really, he was your first love and to see him married and with a child will always hurt. 

That nagging voice, toxic in nature, always in the back of your mind, plaguing your thoughts of how to rip and shred and cause havoc just to make him yours. 

Thankfully, these intrusive thoughts were only a very small piece of your mind and as you left the coffee shop that day, you couldn't help but be proud of yourself for how much you have grown as a person.

Although you have always been a more in your head person, a person whose world is so internally focused, you should really focus on what is right in front of you.

Especially when you walk out the door of the coffee shop right as another person walks in. 

The surprise collision also made you spill your coffee, all over this person's, objectively nice, sans coffee, dress pants and shoes.

"I'm so sorry!" You exclaim, rushing back into the shop to get some napkins.

"I'm really such a clutz, I'm always in my head, please forgive me!" You rush out, practically begging for this stranger's forgiveness although he had yet to speak. 

"Erm.. It's okay." He responded, shock from having hot coffee spilled all over his ankles substantially subsided.

You looked up and you admit, you were startled at his appearance.

He was quite handsome, bleached blonde hair falling lightly over his forehead. His eyes were the second thing you noticed, the intensity of the brown irises not one that you could soon forget.

Min Yoongi.

At the discovery of the identity of the person in front of you, once you had finished cleaning off his pants the best you could, you slowly stood up to meet him.

"Min Yoongi?"

"Um.. Yes, have we met?"

"Well... Not officially. I've been Seokjin's friend since we were little. He would occasionally talk of his friends and point them out to me."

"And you remembered me?"

"Well... Yes. I may be clumsy with my feet, but I usually never forget a name or face."

There was a reason why you didn't forget his face in particular though.

He was the only other one, besides Jin, that would have let you play with them. 

Occasionally, as the rest of the class was walking inside, he would look at the drawings you made in the dirt, and give you a tiny grin.

Then there was that one time where most of their friend group had gotten sick from the nasty germs that infested the public schools. 

This time, it wasn't a tiny grin as you drew intricate designs in the sand.

This time, he picked up his own stick, and as you drew, he drew. 

While your designs were more freeform, circular, wavy, carefree, his were angular, calculated. Each line he drew complimented yours, with the both of them creating a beautiful pattern in the sand.

Neither of you talked during this experience, two silent people drawing shapes in the ground.

As the bell rang, and the teacher started gathering kids to go back inside, you shared a small smile with him, as newly kindred spirits and went back inside.  

That same moment never happened again. 

5 months later and just as school was ending, you overheard that his parents were getting divorced. He was going to live with his father, about 3 hours away.

Until now, you never saw him again.

But then was then, and now is now, and seeing his older, yet still youthful features grace your eyes once more sent a small smile to your face.

"Well, color me impressed then. Are you in a hurry?" 

"Erm.. No, I'm not, I just.., I just met with Seokjin, his wife, and their new daughter. We haven't seen each other in a good 5 years."

"Wow, so it's been a while. Are they still here?"

"No, they left just about 10 minutes ago, Seokjin mentioned something about a pediatrician appointment. Are you sure you're okay? Um, I can buy you a coffee as an apology, if you want..," you offer, still embarrassed as you look at the mess you made on his nice pants.

"Oh... Yeah," he snickers softly, "I'm fine, these things happen, but if you don't mind, since I was the one who interrupted your thinking process, I could get you a new cup of coffee, and we could catch up a bit. You know, since you're not in a hurry and all."

Having an actual conversation with him was different.

When you were kids, the only conversation you had was the unspoken kind, the kind that only kindred, creative, quiet minds could have. 

But as you spoke with him that afternoon, you realized just how much you both were alike, and just how much you were different.

You shared a lot of the same interests. He had studied Music in university, you liked music, liked being a term that did not, in any way, describe your love for it. 

Music, to you, was another form of life in and of itself. Another plane of existence so to speak. 

It was vibrant, it flowed, each musical note a new wave in the air, perfectly differing from the note before it, creating chords, symphonies, tying in all that mattered in the world into neat little waves of sound. Each note had a life of its own, but only with the other notes did it have true meaning, only with the other notes was it able to become true music to your ears.

That's how spending time with Yoongi was. 

After your impromptu coffee shop date, you both exchanged contact information, and as soon as you arrived home that night, a small buzz accompanied by a picture of Yoongi greeted you.

As time went on, you were able to get to know Yoongi better. You often hung around the same coffee shop that you met at, and you could already feel a small twinge of something in your heart. 

The first time you held hands with him you weren't sure you should count, as it was, much like many things that you did, purely on accident. 

It had been precisely a week since you two exchanged numbers at the coffee shop, and you had already arranged to meet each other for dinner. 

There was something about not only the way you met all those years ago, but also, Yoongi realized from the short conversation you had shared over coffee that there was something special about you, from the way that you frequently spaced out into your own thoughts, as if your inner mind was a much more interesting place than anything the outside world had to offer, to the way that you got so excited when you saw a cute puppy across the street that you just about ran into traffic in an effort to get to it.

The way you started to take steps off the sidewalk alerted him immediately, and he took hold of your hand, barely saving you from a car speeding past you, and bringing you back into the safety of the sidewalk, and coincidentally right against his chest. 

As you looked up at him from his embrace, you could see the panicked look in his eyes and the short breaths that escaped his lungs in small puffs, visible due to the chilly weather. 

From that moment on, he didn't let go of your hand, claiming "I can't lose you because you get distracted by a butterfly and decide to get yourself killed by traipsing through fast traffic."

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

As said before, many things in your life happened by accident, both good and bad. 

Two months after the hand holding incident, something else happened. 

Accidents happen, you understand that, but why of all the accidents did it have to be this.

"...and that's why Jin has a short scar on his hand."

"Oh my goodness! Yoongi!" You laughed as he told you some of the things that happened in your elementary years, bonding over nostalgic times.

This conversation happened on a phone, one night where you hadn't been able to see him all day, as was the same with most days, but  you didn't know how such an average day could turn into a special one. 

"Anyways, it was really nice catching up with you, I feel like we haven't seen each other in weeeeeks!" Yoongi said, making you both laugh a little bit.

"I know! But that's probably because it has been. We've both been rather busy lately. I should probably let you go now. It's 2 am and I have to be up in 5 hours."

"Alright, well then sleep well!"

You don't know what possessed you to say what you said next.

"Alright thanks! Goodnight! Love you!"

As soon as you pushed end, you flew into a self-deprecating swirl of a human.

"WHAT DID I JUST DO? DID I REALLY JUST SAY LOVE YOU?" You thought out loud before collapsing on your bed, face down onto your pillow, not caring if your mascara stained your pillowcase.

*buzzzzzzz* *buzzzzzzzzzz* 

It feels like your whole bed vibrates and so you decide to look at your phone before falling asleep.

One (1) new message

Yoongles: Love you too. Sleep well.

Delivered 2:17 am

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

Ever since the accidental "love you" exchange, it has been, honestly, quite uneventful. You had work as usual, Yoongi had work as usual. You started going on little outings with Yoongi, maybe once or twice a week, and they started becoming your favorite parts of the week. 

The outings didn't have to be anything special, sometimes they were not even outings, instead choosing to spend time together on your couch (his place was always a mess, he said, plus you had the bigger tv).

The question of whether or not you two were actually dating always seemed to linger in the air. In every sense of the word, yes, yes you were, but technically speaking, he never asked, you never clarified, and labels were never that important to you anyways.

But labels are there for a reason, and that is for clarification. 

Jin and his family wanted to meet up with you again, and you asked if you could bring Yoongi, because it seemed Jin hadn't spent much time with him lately either, and this way he wouldn't be the only guy surrounded by women.

You arrive at the cafe, this time with Yoongi, (less of a chance to spill coffee on him again he said, if we came together) and you spotted Jin and his wife almost immediately. They didn't have their child with them, so they must have gotten Jin's parents to babysit. 

The outing with Jin, his wife, and Yoongi goes well, so well in fact that this conversation happens.

"So we've been talking a lot about us lately, now tell us, are you and Yoongi a couple?"

"Ye-"

"N-"

You both look at each other. He had almost said yes, while you had almost said no. 

"Trouble in paradise already?" Jin laughs.

"What she meant to say was yes, yes we are dating, and yes we are boyfriend and girlfriend, that is in fact, what she meant to say."

"And what do you think of that?" Jin asks pointedly.

"Um.. Yeah, yeah that's exactly what I meant to say, 100 percent, completely and utterly fact, it's just the first time we clarified it." You say as you rub your neck, a slight smile coming to your cheeks as you feel the blood rushing there. 

The rest of your lunch was filled with teasing coming from Jin, and from Yoongi, he was a lot more touchy, always wrapping his arm around you, holding your hand with his other one. 

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

As time went on, your life intertwined more and more with Yoongi's. 

You both shared your passions for life, even though you both already knew each other's likes and dislikes.

His passion was music.

Mixing, to be specific.

It always took a long time to finish each track, but when he did complete it, you were the first he called to listen to it. 

It didn't always go well though.

There were times where he didn't feel like his work matched up to his previous masterpieces. 

He would work as if he was tireless, often spending several days and nights without rest.

On these nights, it's become your custom to bring him some sustenance, as he usually worked so hard he forgot to eat. 

Vanilla Latte in hand, as well as a box of fried chicken, you knock on the door of his studio.

You tried the door, locked.

"Yoongi," You call out, knocking a few more times, "I brought food."

The door clicks and you enter, already finding Yoongi back in his chair, headphones around his neck, face illuminated by the computer screen. 

Which is also the only source of light in the room.

You tell Yoongi to close his eyes and you turn on the main light, the adjustment harsh on even your eyes. 

You both eat together, him offering you the wings while you offer him the drumstick, sharing the Cola that came with the set. 

After eating, you clean everything up, and he gets back to his work, but this time offering you a pair of headphones as you turn out the light. 

You know that he's tired. 

His eyes have dark circles underneath them, body movements are slow, and if you look closely, you can see the red lines in the whites of his eyes, all of these clear signs that this might just be his 2nd day of no sleep. 

Nevertheless, you know that he refuses to sleep until he's satisfied, and you give him your thoughts on his latest piece.

Just like this, you both stay up the rest of the night, your head sometimes leaning on his shoulder.

As soon as the latest masterpiece is completed, you help him out of his chair and into his bed. He can shower after he's gotten some rest. 

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

It has been approximately 6 months since you started dating Yoongi, and your dynamic as a couple was truly something amazing. 

Ever since clarifying the relationship to Jin, and to yourself, Yoongi had amped up his efforts to really make you fall deeper for him.

Or maybe he hadn't, but it sure felt like it, because you could feel the love for him in your heart grow every passing day.

You feel your phone buzzing in your pocket and see an incoming call from Yoongi. 

You excitedly pick it up, feeling your heartbeat quicken.

"Princess, can we meet tonight? I want to take you out to dinner," Yoongi said, his voice deep and smooth, just like the voice that you hear those nights that you spend with him in the studio.

Those nights were the best. 

He had gotten you your own rolling chair for his studio, along with a comfortable headrest and blanket. 

So those nights where neither of you could quite get to sleep, where just being in each other's presence was cathartic enough, even if you don't say a word, you would oftentimes find yourself at his studio. 

He would welcome you with a hug, arms around you tightly, head nestled ever so lightly in your neck, so that he could be as close to you as possible.

From there, he would wrap you in a blanket and pull you along to your chair. He would make you sit down and make sure that the blanket was covering every inch below your neck for optimum comfort. 

The final touch was the big, studio-quality, headphones that would encase your ears and cut off everything else that you would hear. The exception being Yoongi's smooth voice and background tracks  that played throughout the dimly lit hours of the night. 

Oftentimes, you would fall asleep right in the chair, it being more comfortable than you ever thought it could be.

Reflecting on what were some of the best nights of your life so far, almost caused you to miss something. 

Yoongi just called you Princess. 

It was a good thing he couldn't see you through the phone, because when you realized that he called you Princess, you could feel your cheeks get hot, and you had the biggest smile on your face. 

It made your heart start to beat just that little bit faster, but thankfully that didn't stop you from replying normally.

"That sounds wonderful, Sweetie."

You couldn't see it through the phone, but Yoongi's cheeks slowly turned pink when you called him that, and his heart started to beat just that much faster.

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

It has now been one full year since Yoongi started dating you. 

Before Yoongi, you didn't know it was possible to love a person this much. 

Sure, you had loved Jin before, you grew up with him, and there wasn't any doubt in your mind that your feelings for him at the time were absolutely, 100%, true. You knew they were true too, from the way that even after 5 years apart from him, when you met him again for the first time in so long, those feelings struck you hard again, and you could feel the jealousy creeping back up into your soul. 

But then, you saw him smiling.

You knew that he was happy. And you wanted that happiness for yourself.

You wanted to let go of all the negative feelings that came from keeping your love for Jin inside for too long. 

You wanted all of the jealousy you had towards his new family to disappear. 

And that's exactly what being with Yoongi did.

It took a while.

The first few weeks, when you weren't quite sure if you were dating or not, were difficult beyond belief.

So many thoughts would creep into your mind, saying that Yoongi didn't even like you, and that he was just reconnecting with an old friend from kindergarten. 

Saying that this relationship would end up the same way as your friendship with Jin ended, with you falling hard and no one to catch you. 

But after that fateful day in the cafe, when he told Jin that you two were, in fact, dating, your heart SOARED. 

He liked you back, and you could work with that.

Bit by bit, Yoongi tore out your old, still broken feelings for Jin, and replaced them with his own.

Except his weren't broken. 

His were healing, you could feel that every passing day, you were forgetting what you felt for Jin, the scars that were self-inflicted on your heart from an unrequited love were being healed by someone who wanted to take care of you, who wanted to love you. 

All of these emotions went into the planning for your 1 year anniversary.

You made his favorite food, made sure that he had time tonight, because tonight was something special. 

He was able to get out of work early tonight, coming to your place while you were still in the middle of cooking, and while you wanted to hug him, you didn't want to ruin his clothes, so you didn't run to the door and throw your arms around him like you wanted to, but that was okay, because he came in and hugged you from behind.

This was another one of your favorite moments.

Your back against his chest, his arms secure around your waist. A short kiss placed on your neck.

"Princess, I love you so much."

"Aww Sweetie, are you just saying that because I have your favorite food?"

"That's just a bonus. I love you so much."

"I love you too, Sweetie."

His arms let go of your waist and shortly after you could feel something cold and metal being placed on a chain around your neck. 

"I specially ordered this for you Princess. I was able to design this necklace to imitate the same designs we used to draw in the sand together back in kindergarten."

You had a huge smile on your face as you rushed to wash your hands so you could see it in the mirror. 

You fingered the small metal design, it looking so fragile against your neck. 

He wanted to see your reaction so he had followed you into the bathroom, and right there, you turned around and kissed him. 

Arms around his neck, looking into his eyes, you say, "Happy 1st Anniversary, Yoongi."

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

6 months after your first anniversary, something else happened.

You adopted a dog.

Rather you and Yoongi, both adopted a dog. 

You went to the animal shelter that day, dead set on getting a cat with Yoongi. 

You both loved cats, they were always so adorable, with their little toe beans and whiskers. 

When you arrived at the shelter, that's when you saw a box. 

Specifically a box full of tiny, little, brown, curly puffs of fur, sleeping peacefully.

Then one of the puffs of fur opened his eyes, and you both had instantly made your decision, looking each other in the eyes and nodding. 

You picked up the small puff of fur and brought him inside the shelter.

"Ahhhh hello! I see you've spotted our puppies! Their mother was pregnant with them when she was brought to the shelter, and then in a very sad turn of events, passed away due to complications in giving birth."

A few tears dropped at the story, sad for this puppy's  start in life.

But that's what you were here for. 

"We'd like to adopt him now, please."

"Absolutely! Follow me and we can fill out the paperwork."

And that was how you two ended up with a dog instead of a cat.

That small, clumsy puff of fur immediately set off in your house, sniffing everything and becoming familiar with his new home. 

Around its neck was a simple collar with a tag that said "Min Holly"

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

Your relationship with Yoongi was a whirlwind of emotions. 

From the very moment that you two had reconnected, to this very moment that entranced the two of you, you knew that what you felt for Yoongi was special. 

Your energies combined and swirled around each other in the same ways that your dirt drawings contradicted each other yet still made a beautiful picture. 

At this moment, you two were overlooking the ocean from a high cliff, watching the waves crash against the sharp rocks at the bottom, the water frothing and foaming with each wave. The sky was littered with stars, each twinkling in their own constellations. 

Your fingers were intertwined with Yoongi's, head on his shoulder as you looked out at the scenic view. 

"You know," said Yoongi, turning his head slightly to look you in the eyes, "I never imagined that the little girl who drew pictures in the sand every afternoon during recess would be the one I would eventually love to the ends of the earth. It's quite sobering, really, to find the one that completes you so fully, and yet I've never felt so completely entranced, yet so level-headed, I've never felt more sure about myself, than when I'm with you."

"I love you too, Yoongi." You whisper in his direction, his eyes drawn to yours, never breaking contact, never wanting to, because if you could do one thing for the remainder of your life on this earth, it would be to see the soul and passion of Min Yoongi in his own two eyes. 

There was something.... Special...about Yoongi. He made all of your troubles seem as they were merely cirrus clouds in the neverending blue of the sky, light and wispy, as if they were going to disappear with even the slightest of breezes. 

He made you forget about your past feelings towards Jin, as if every thought that was formed about Jin when you were younger was nothing but a mere breeze that briefly wove through your hair, and nothing more. 

Yoongi somehow erased all of your negative thoughts, worked with you through all of your lapses, and loved you every step of the way, through this very moment that you spent with him.

And as you looked into his onyx eyes, you knew that you loved him with every beat, every blood vessel, every ounce of your heart, and you knew that you wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.

"There you go again, staring into my eyes and getting lost in your own thoughts. Let me bring you back down to Earth." And, as he said that, he produced a small golden ring and slid it onto your left hand fourth finger. 

"Y/n, I love you, and with this ring, I promise that I will always love you, and I ask you, here and now, will you marry me?"

"Yes."

[medea10]

My Review of Interspecies Reviewers

End of January…um, 2020

“Grrr…this day was a crap show! The republicans rat-fucked our country and Brexit fucking happened. I’m gonna write some scripts and call it a night. Let me just check Twitter one last time before I…

Huh?

FUNimation drops newly-added anime, Interspecies Reviewers?

This smells scandalous, I must watch!”

It’s very, very, VERY rare that an anime licensor drops an anime that’s currently airing in Japan and doing it weeks after announcing a full release (no pun intended), plus a friggin’ English dub. And where there’s controversy, I will be there to sniff it out…eventually. I think I can squeeze one more anime to watch on a week-by-week basis. Hell, I shoved Domestic Girlfriend in at last minute in 2019 right in the middle of moving to a different state. I think I can handle a little anime like this. What could possibly go wr…?!

*one week later*

Oh fluffies! This escalated quickly!

So…Interspecies Reviewers is about a human name Stunk and an elf named Zel. They go around to brothels, spend some time with the ladies of the evening known as Succu-girls (because these girls suck you), and review their “encounter” with them for a tavern full of curious males. Stunk and Zel want to go around and conquer as many species, discovering all new kinks and fetishes, fondle all kinds of jiggly-bits and naughty bits from cow-girls, cat-girls, skeleton girls, succubis, fire salamanders girls, elves, fairies, slimes, demons, bird-maidens, cyclops, and oh-so many others. This is a vast world and there’s only so many brothels these men can tackle at a time.

Oh yeah, there’s also an angel named Crim. Stunk and Zel saved Crim, but Crim can’t go back to Heaven since his halo is busted. Although now, I doubt if he’ll ever get entry back into Heaven after being defiled by a cat-woman. I mean who among us haven’t lost our virginity to a cat-eared girl on a whim?

*ahem*

R.I.P. Crim’s virginity

So there you have it! A human, an elf, and an angel walk into a brothel and…that’s the anime!

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUUUUUU…..UH-OH: The sub was fine and I’m gonna leave it there with the subtitle version. As for the dub…What dub? There’s no dub! Dubs are just a myth here! Like I said before, FUNimation DID have this series. Emphasis on “DID”! They released the first 3 episodes in their normal week-by-week fashion, no worries there. They promised an English dub and released one episode dubbed, sounds about right! But then one night, they just drop this series!

Funimation on Jan. 31: After careful consideration, we determined that this series falls outside of our standards. We have the utmost respect for our creators so rather than substantially alter the content, we felt taking it down was the most respectful choice.

*sighs*

BOI!

Did you, FUNimation? Or was it Sony pulling the strings? But I’m getting ahead of myself here. A wide variety of things could have sprung this on! One reason could be that the voice actors felt uncomfortable with the material. I know some voice actors from FUNimation are a little skeptical here and if they voice something that’s borderline Hentai or IS HENTAI, they’ll use an alias name so that no one would be the wiser. I know it’s a job and money’s on the table here, but people are people. They have morals and boundaries! Not everyone can have the bravery to voice act in a Hentai like Dan Green (he totally did, you should look it up).

Another theory, Sony and/or FUNimation were being cautious and don’t want to air something so extreme in the naughty department. But if that were the case, how do you account for your full releases of High School DxD, Panty & Stocking, Conception, Keijo!!!!!!!!, Shimoneta, My Girlfriend is a Gal, and A Sister is All You Need? Then again, these animes were made and released prior to Sony buying FUNimation. But as of recent, FUNimation is streaming works from Aniplex of America that are kinda questionable. Where I’m going with this is that weeks after dropping Interspecies Reviewers, they add shows like Nisemonogatari AND Eromanga Sensei to their site. Ahem! Guys, where were those “STANDARDS” you were talking about earlier? Eromanga Sensei is downright illegal! Then again, none of these titles really reached full-blown bestiality like this series does! I mean, Sentai Filmworks happily released Monster Musume and that was borderline bestiality. But whatever, you guys do you!

Then again, no series has gone the distance by having several sex scenes per episode with the uncensored version going beyond the boundary quite like this.

Yeah…in this “woke AF” time we’re living in, if an anime doesn’t have an advisory stated at the beginning of an episode with lewd or controversial scenes, people lose their shit. Hence, Goblin Slayer’s debut and that one Sword Art Online episode! Whatever the case, now that FUNimation dropped this series, I don’t expect it to get picked up by any other licensor and it’ll probably remain in license limbo forever. There were a few voice actors set up to be in this anime including Monica Rial, Brittney Karbowski, and Amber Lee Connors. Only one episode was dubbed and good luck finding it now! But after this, I doubt these folks would ever finish what they started. And that’s a shame, because FUNimation voice actors have a knack for turning an anime dirty. Especially if you hire Monica Rial or Jamie Marchi (or both)!

I know every season, there’s a fight between American licensors in what animes they’re going to grab and show to their subscribers. FUNimation really could have taken a few extra minutes to do a little research on this one before jumping in a pool where the water is replaced by naked half-species chicks. For fuck’s sake, there’s a manga to this! Although, I’ve heard that the manga doesn’t even go this far! So this is disproving my rant! Let me just finish by saying that FUNimation really fucked up here. You could have streamed the series censored, have an age confirmation to watch the uncensored version, and then release that later down the line! But dropping Interspecies Reviewers has unleashed a fury of pissed off viewers who ended up trolling MyAnimeList and other websites. Yeah, thanks a lot! Those were some idiotic days on the internet! With all of that said, here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

*Stunk is played by Junji Majima (known for Ryuji on Toradora, Ryuunousuke on Assassination Classroom, Kimihito on Monster Musume, Nikaido on Shugo Chara, Racer on Fairy Tail, and Kouhei on Oreimo)

*Zel is played by Yuusuke Kobayashi (known for Subaru on ReZero, Tanukichi on Shimoneta, Arthur on Fire Force, and Marui on Food Wars)

*Crim is played by Miyu Tomita

FAVORITE CHARACTER: God bless this boy, I love Crim.

I know he’s got the short end of the stick in a lot of these reviews. But there’s nothing short about his stick if you get what I’m saying.

Yeah, I said it.

SHIPPING: DO STD’S EXIST IN THIS FUCKING WORLD?!

Look, all you need to know is that real love is not gonna happen in this franchise and just fuck it! Literally!

Actually, I really think the boys have a special place in their hearts for Meidri. I’m only basing this on episode 6 where the boys go to the Golem brothel to “Build-a-Bitch” and out of all the figures, ladies, and ways to build a bitch, their little Halfling friend builds a golem replica of Meidri. Maybe it’s because she’s familiar or they’re curious in case they end up having sex with Meidri in the future or if the Halfling has a thing for Meidri! I just know all four boys ended up fucking a golem in the likeness of Meidri AND gave it a great score.

But aside from that, there’s really nothing more to say except Stunk has a thing for that 500 year old fairy and Zel has a thing for a 60+ year old human.

IT’S FUN TO STAY AT THE…: It’s obvious that Japan has a thing for music made outside of the country. Especially those made in America (and England)! Recent examples are animes like Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Eden of the East, and A Silent Voice actually using songs from groups like The Bangles, Oasis, and The Who. THIS IS NOT ONE OF THOSE TIMES!

The OP song for this series is literally Y.M.C.A. except about getting your dick up to fuck!

And you know what? That was another missed fucking opportunity for FUNimation! This song could have gotten an English dub. Normally I despise it when English companies give an English dub to perfectly good opening and endings from Japan. But this would have been the ONE exception. GOD! Only in my dreams!

OH THIS IS WRONG: I don’t mean aspects of this anime! I’ve gotten used to the sex scenes and the shock factor of watching actual hentai at this point. Surprisingly, the one thing that got my feathers ruffled is at the end of some of the episodes where we get a small segment from a gentleman named Professor Ookina or Professor Poke if you will.

LOOK AT THIS FUCKING MAN!

Pokemon, why haven’t you sued yet? This is a sexual version of Professor Oak’s end-of-the-episode lectures. Unshou Ishizuka’s probably rolling over in his grave either from laughter, disgust, or that he didn’t live long enough to voice this colorful character. I haven’t settled on which to believe in!

ENDING: The last few episodes we saw a few interesting storylines. For one, we’ve got one brothel where all four adventurers gave the ladies a unanimous 10/10. Spend three days with the clones of a powerful woman and just all-around perfect scores. That is just unheard of! Even in the anime reviewing community, a perfect anime doesn’t exist. So stop trying to turn Interspecies Reviewers into the next Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. OKAY?! Not gonna happen! Just stop it! Stop it.

Then we had a gentleman who has generously been giving previous ladies of the evening perfect scores. This dude loves the ladies and sees the positives in all of them giving them all a perfect score. And I guess that does bring up a good point here.

Different strokes for different blokes! Not everyone is going to have the same taste as you. Stunk might have a thing for 500-year old fairies while Zel finds her old and disgusting. Zel might have a thing for Mitsue while Stunk finds banging 60-year old human whores repulsive. That’s where reviewers come in. They say the good and the bad when it comes to reviewing (insert profession here). In the case of this series, the boys have different tastes and when going to a foreign brothel, some of the ladies customs might confuse and weird out the boys. But in most cases, they had fun (except that afternoon watching girls laid eggs). So I’m glad Stunk and Zel found fault with the dude who gives 10/10’s like candy.

The final episode felt a little nostalgic as we revisit a race we haven’t seen since episode 2. Stunk and Zel find a business card for a demon brothel. They WERE supposed to go over and review the demon girls...

...but got side-tracked by the big-tit cowgirls.

Better late than never, but at least the demon brothel got some decent reviews by the boys. Good since demons are rated quite low in what men want to bang.

Then, the boys celebrate New Years by hitting up a good brothel to start the New Year off right. You know, start it off with a bang! It’s just that a lot of the popular brothels and Stunk’s regular hangouts are all booked up for the night. Lot of horny John’s on New Years! So the boys end up in a dream eater brothel. These girls take on the form of their dream succu-girl and believe it or not, the reviewers were very pleased. Almost like a pleasant dream!

Now conclusion wise, we really didn’t get Crim’s halo fixed nor did we go to Heaven to see Zel and Stunk get it on with some freaky angels. Instead, we get the same intro we got in episode one, reminding us that there are a barrage of brothels out there in this world and a bunch of succu-girls ready to suck your dicks off. And as long as we have succu-girls and brothels, there will always be reviewers like Stunk, Zel, and Crim to bust a nut! And I think Stunk is now going to visit his father’s harem now. Yeah, his old man has a harem. So there’s that! Too bad we’re not going to see that story.

I got to say…this wasn’t all that bad. In fact, I really liked this anime. And I’m usually rough on borderline-Hentai programs (and not in the good way). I am impressed at the creative way these men review these ladies and the brothels they work in. As an anime reviewer, I have to admire this. To take it all in with how these guys approach something such as having a one-night stand with a succu-girl! Each episode was a new experience with a new lady, sometimes two new brothels in the same episode. After their nights with a succu-girl, their reviews…actually, it’s best to watch it instead of taking my word for it.

NOW THEN! This is by no means on Top-Tier levels of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. So you people on MyAnimeList better knock it the fuck off! Yes, FUNimation dropped the ball by dropping this series when they’ve clearly licensed and dubbed WORSE. But owning them this way is just going to come off as weird when we look back at this years later and laugh. On top of which, FUNimation wasn’t the only one that dropped Interspecies Reviewers. Amazon Prime and at least three television stations in Japan dropped this series in the middle of its run.

Oh good God this was a fun and bizarre ride and it was fun while it lasted. Come on y’all, face the facts. There is no way this anime is ever gonna get a second season unless they absolutely censor the fuck out of it over in Japan. Look at all the Japanese channels that dropped this series not even halfway into the run! The best I’m hoping for is an OVA release. That way they can show us all the sex and nipples they want. But a season two? You’d have a better chance getting a Haruhi Suzumiya continuation! Yeah, I said it and I ain’t taking it back! Despite it not being available anywhere in the states, I advise my anime friends and followers to at least give this a chance (as long as you’re not grossed out by sexual discourse).

...

Medea, aren’t you going to give a number score like the Interspecies Reviewer lads?

*sighs*

I truly hate giving a number score. But for once in my written reviews, I’ll do it just this once.

If you would like to watch this series legally here in the states, you are shit out of luck unless you’re from Australia or Japan.

And once again…

R.I.P. Crim’s virginity!

[yfere]

Shipping Calculus! Live Updates from C2E65

Why no one started singing the K-I-S-S-I-N-G tree song during this episode, I have no idea. Thank you to @alarnia and @softazelma for helping with data entry. Masterpost here.

+500 to Liam O’Brien/The Sympathy Vote If anything, the investigative report humanized the man, what with his agonized expressions, the hard choices he’s making, the deals, trying desperately to hold onto his friendships. Sam Riegel seems like a robot in comparison, with very long bits. #VoteWithYourJohnson #LiamForPresident

-100 to Marisha Ray/Trustworthiness as the person in charge of the investigation into Liam O’Brien’s campaign, we expect a certain amount of clearheadedness and integrity, which does not include getting high before giving testimony. Fire her from the case! #VoteWithYourJohnson #LiamForPresident

+23 to Jester/Yasha for an adorkable conversation about Yasha’s hard rock harping career, using the imagination to handle hard feelings together, as all good Jester ships should. The offer to wipe Yasha’s memory again if there’s anything she doesn’t want to know or remember #ThatsLove, and Yasha channeling Jester’s slightly unhinged love of animals and peacemaking by speculating they could offer the udak some scritches to quell its murderous impulses. Yasha quoting Jester only about 500 times a day, worshipping the ground she walks on, believing she has the power to heal the grass, and then placing that grass into her pressed flower book to remember the moment with #ArtisticSolidarity.

+31 to Beau/Yasha, with a few Battle Aftercare Points for Yasha helping up Beau after the fight, and for an even more emotionally charged watch conversation that resulted in a Ljore Drop from Beau. Talking about past loves and betrayals, the “types” that Beau prefers. Yasha appreciating Beau’s lack of judgment, Beau only slightly ineffectively wielding her I’m-Horrible-Too trump card, Yasha saying she’s “seen” Beau “a lot.” Floating the idea that it is actually possible to move on from Zuala’s death. Beau offering to help Yasha dig up the body, because that’s not weird at all, That’s Love. Darlings. Points taken away because the focus of the conversation was almost entirely on other people they love and have loved, and Jester, which brings us to…

+10 to Beau/Yasha/Jester, as in the launch of the second major intra-party poly ship in the shipping calculus lab, we have two wlw who spend a substantial amount of their Lesbian Bonding Time just talking about how beautiful and perfect and incredible Jester Lavorre is. Fuck Caduceus, this Literal Saint walking amongst them can heal grass with her spit and her “radiant glow”. With the same logic, we can expect that her toenails cure poison, her kiss brings you back from the brink of death…Also, Jester lending Verbal Support to Yasha’s physical support after the gloomstalker battle, as Beau wrestles with embarrassment over not having done anything

+10 to Caleb/Fjord/Jester as our second poly ship gains points with Caleb saving both Fjord and Jester from plummeting to their deaths and Fjord taking the chance to thunderstep them both up the tree again!

+17 to Jester/Fjord but as usual, Fjord’s contribution to the Rescue-the-Jester operation looks a lot flashier, so he gets more of the Romance Credit. Not only that, but many points for a competitive tree-climbing adventure straight out of a romance novel where Fjord’s Need To Impress The Love Interest gives him enough adrenaline to actually beat out Jester on athletics, swinging her up safely into the branches like a magical green Tarzan. Fjord (and Beau) being lovingly sketched in Jester’s book so she can remember the moment forever. Excellent Battle Couple vibes in distracting and shooting down gloomstalkers while on the moorbounders, not once but twice. Fjord also made an admirable attempt to Rescue-the-Jester during the first gloomstalker attack, but Caduceus got +6 to Cockblocking for immediately assassinating the charmed gloomstalker before Fjord’s spell did any good. Fjord yelling at Nott for not listening to Jester. Plenty of point loss, however, because Fjord is never going to learn to love Jester’s animals, losing his cool and yelling about what her “fucking animal is doing” STOP, Fjord.

+5 to Jester/Caduceus, for the aforementioned gloomstalker assassination, and being #Blessed alongside Yasha and Fjord, but point loss for Caduceus rolling his eyes at Jester’s well-meaning attempt to spit the grass to life and saying “that’s not how it works,” saying “that’s not how it works” about the scrying despite having never succeeded in doing it himself, and for Jester insisting that the massive tree is an evil “vampire tree,” much to Caduceus’ dismay.

+15 to Caduceus/Arts-n-Crafts for sweetly weaving a sunhat for Yasha while everyone else does dumb shit like nearly getting themselves killed, damaging a holy tree and antagonizing the largest bird of prey in  several miles’ radius. He’ll probably sit through whatever encounter happens next week continuing to weave that hat.

+20 to Sam Riegel/Heatstroke as he responds to Concerns over his sweating and over-warm getup by putting on more layers. I’d expect a President with some more self-preservation in him, but if he offs himself with poor costuming choices at least he’ll be taken out of the running, am I right? #VoteWithYourJohnson #LiamForPresident

+16 to Beau/Jester They also earn many Battle Points, as Jester sends her nastiest Guiding Bolts (according to Sam Riegel, an expression of love) rocketing towards the gloomstalker attacking Beau. Beau instantly thinking of Jester’s skill with art and asking her to copy the map, and Jester adorably sketching Beau as one of her favorite people up in the tree, besides thinking that Beau’s tree climbing skills are Incredibly Impressive, and sneaking alongside her and Fjord to get a better look at the roc nest. Point loss for Beau saying Jester’s map was “garbage” which, even though Beau meant the map itself and not Jester’s skill in copying it, Jester still took personally.

-10 to Caleb/The Mission as he confesses to “losing faith” during watch with Nott, feeling like they’re failing and they don’t know what they’re doing.

+25 to Caduceus/The Mission as despite the Wildmother telling him Things He Did Not Want To Hear during his Communing session, Caduceus gets a massive, massive sign he’s going in the right direction in the form of Melora’s tree, and a detailed vision of all the places he’s expected to go to when he sleeps that night.

+19 to Caduceus/Nature as Caduceus plays around in the dirt, pokes at some interesting moss for several minutes, and gets to hang out, utterly smitten with a massive tree that is the best thing ever look at it.

+4 to Caleb/Fjord as no one listens to Fjord’s desire for a short rest, and even his puppy eyes directed at Jester is not enough to sway them, until Caleb catches on to Fjord’s plight and uses his #ItPaysToBeADamselInDistress power to say he wants a short rest, and shift the party to his favor. Caleb wanting some light to read his now-apparently-waterproof book for the Tiny Hut, and Fjord eagerly offering to cast a spell to make Caleb and everything around him darker. It’s the thought that counts? Point loss for Fjord ignoring Caleb’s advice against antagonizing the chasing gloomstalkers.

-2 to Caleb/Cat-Shaped Creatures as asking Frumpkin-the-Vulture with his razor claws to knead and drape himself on people is not nearly as comforting as actually having a real-life cat do it. However, +10 to Caleb/Vulture Culture for that and for turning himself into a huge bird of prey to cart Nott around.

-5 to Jester/Cat-Shaped Creatures (also -5 to Jester/Pets) as despite attempting to comfort Yarnball after the first gloomstalker fight, Yarnball remains spooked enough to break formation when they encounter them again, at which point Jester channels Alison Hargreeves vibes by lying and using mind control to get the poor thing back in line.

-4 to Fjord/Caduceus as Fjord gets a special, potentially life-saving visit from the Wildmother in his dreams, delivering him for the moment from Uk’otoa….and repays her by fucking up one of her most sacred places on the planet with repeated wood-shattering Thundersteps. Caduceus can’t watch.

-40 to Fjord/Uk’otoa as Uk’otoa now has a schedule of bothering Fjord every one to two weeks. I shudder to think how Uk’otoa is going to react once the Wildmother can’t protect Fjord anymore, now that he’s escaped from their clutches once.

+1 to Fjord/His Inner Bard for motivational rapping of...questionable quality

+3 to Caleb/Caduceus as Caleb very sweetly refuses Caduceus “wasting” his light spells on him, asks him about his feelings towards the tree. Caduceus looking to Caleb before anyone else to see if investigating the turtle shell is a good idea.

+4 to Nott/Jester as Nott offers some excellent advice on how to get ones’ way—ask the same question over and over again until you get the answer you want, and if that fails, do what you want anyway. Jester being the Most Concerned with Nott’s drinking, and alongside Caleb successfully steering her away from a suicidal (though heroically romantic) standoff against the gloomstalkers. Nott helping Jester and the others float safely down, and instinctively trying to save Jester and Fjord during their first fall. Bonding over an appreciation for big square dicks, which would only, and I mean only count for point gains between these two individuals. Point loss for Nott calling Jester “crazy” and saying she’ll scar Luke for life, which is probably just a deflection but a hurtful one. Jester catching Nott after she fails to climb the tree and just barely managing to stop herself from being negative and saying “Good effort!” instead, because Jester can’t help but feel like it’s her job to Be Encouraging.

+30 to Nott/Keeping It Together Maybe as she’s totally fine, she’s just going to drink a lot and nearly kill herself trying to stand off against the gloomstalkers and go stealthing alone in the middle of the night and rip the heart out of her enemies—she’s fine guys. It’s all under control

+2 to Clerics/Loneliness, as both Jester and Caduceus are abandoned to take a watch alone. Even so, their love for the others shines through, with Jester phoning up Kiri, and Caduceus preparing breakfast for everyone.

+1 to Caleb/Jester as Caleb tries to gently defend Jester to Nott, a few different times—a difficult thing, to dissuade Nott of anything!

+25 to Nott the Best Detective Agency/Detective Work and Beau/Nerdom as Beau is the one to find the map of the area to have Jester copy, alongside Nott’s excellent vision catching Melora’s tree at a distance. Then, Nott’s investigation of the tree alone demonstrating Admirable Detective Curiosity, while Beau is the only person to recall exactly what the tree is and its significance to the Wildmother and the Calamity. Jester finding their target running his hands along some mountain in the Prenumbra Range, looking for the correct place to put the emblem that he bought from the scout courier.

+3 to Essik/The Mighty Nein as he is “proud” that they’re hanging out cheerfully in the middle of the Badlands. At this point Essik seems to have just accepted that they’re a dumpster fire and has resolved to pat them on the head so long as they do the bare minimum and keep themselves alive. A few days from now they’ll give him a call from the bottom of the ocean, yes yes that’s very good children, we’re very proud of you here and that’s what I’ll tell anyone who asks because it’s not like I staked any part of my reputation on backing you to the Bright Queen or anything.

[queenofnohr]

The Charming Empire - Otome Review (Soshi Amazaki Route)

I was going to hold off on doing this because 1. I wanted to play more routes to have a more comprehensive look at the game and 2. I don’t really have free time yet. Promptly ignored the above logic mostly to get this out of my system.

Before we begin, a disclaimer - While I do have pretty extensive knowledge about the otome genre in both longer “proper” VNs as well as the shorter, bite sized mobile VNs, I’m able to derive enjoyment from most anything (I feel the need to point this out because I see a lot of reviews that get hung up on stuff I can easily brush off even if I do understand where they’re coming from).

This is going to be a spoiler-free review based on Soshi Amazaki’s route alone.

Firstly, I must note that this is a mobile otome game. If you’re looking for something as long and substantial as, say, Hakuouki, Alice in the Country of Hearts, Dandelion, etc. this is probably not the game for you.

Now that that’s out of the way, I’ll be rating it based on usual points with a more... comprehensive and personal look at the end (feel free to skip to that if you know our tastes align and/or just want to see me losing my mind).

Prologue - 1/10

Normally I wouldn’t separate prologue from story. However, as this game started as a mobile game, there is no general route in which one gains points toward a love interest as is standard in full-length otome games. However, even by mobile game standards this game’s prologue fails in that it you meet exactly 0 love interests. Indeed, the prologue is the bare-bones introduction of the setting. This flaw is further complicated by the fact that, because it started as a mobile game, routes are bought individually. This means that there is no way to gauge the love interests except by the game’s straightforward summary on the buy screen. Luckily for me, I was sold at “Kenjiro Tsuda voices a love interest who is both a big brother and a lord” so this wasn’t as knee-capping as it could’ve been, but normally you’d have to simply take a leap of faith because if a love interest doesn’t actually end up being your type, you’re out of luck since you’ve already paid for the route.

This is an aside, but translation for the prologue is... questionable. It isn’t unreadable, like some translations I’ve had the misfortune of reading, but it does create some confusion regarding the MC’s family situation which I can’t help but clear up here. MC is the daughter of the previous lord whose mother moved with her out to the countryside. Her mother is died of illness, and MC now lives with an elderly couple. It’s simply when I say it here, but in game the family situation isn’t actually explained until well into the route and the narration refers to the couple as the “old man” and “old woman,” while the MC calls them “Grandpa” and “Grandma” (ojii-san, obaa-san in Japanese, which is a literal translation of what someone would call any older folk with the degree of familiarity MC has with them) while they call her “princess” (literally, hime-sama). The closeness of referring to them as grandparents vs the distance of the narrative’s “old man/woman” + calling the MC princess in a literal sense (vs. a nickname) is jarring especially because, again, they do not clearly explain the MC’s family situation.

Story - 7/10

Soshi holds the most powerful seat in all the empire. Only trusting himself, he rejects the opinions of others as he continues his dictatorship agenda -- breeding animosity amongst the people. He’s a cold man who sees even his own sister as a political tool.

This is the official description for Soshi’s route. Unfortunately(?) for some this... doesn’t really hold true for most of the route and I find it an odd way to bill it.

The initial conflict/relationship growth in the game stems from the MC wanting to be closer to Soshi - not necessarily in a romantic sense - and his distance due to his position. If you’re expecting a more haughty/sneering/pragmatic Kenjiro Tsuda more along the lines of his role as Kazama Chikage and/or a villain archetype who treats MC as a tool (no judgment, we all got our otome types) he’s by and large not that. Things get more complicated around the 10th chapter, but that’s 2/3 of the game in.

The writing is competent. Again, if you’re looking for complex worldbuilding and something deep, you will not find it here. But, while it isn’t poetry in motion, there was at least no point where I actively cringed or asked myself why I was playing it (this is compared to my experience with Voltage Games and Playchoices).

The MC is tolerable. There’s nothing special about her, but she avoids being a literal faceless protagonist with zero presence while also not having such a strong personality as to be polarizing. She shows more competence and restraint than I expected of her (the bar was nearly floor level, but still).

The pacing is... odd. I get the distinct feeling that it’s a longer otome shoved inside a mobile otome, if that makes sense. I’ve seen other reviews call it rushed, but that isn’t necessarily the feeling I get. For a game to feel “rushed” to me, it has to show a lack of care and attention to detail; scenes are had just to have them and either don’t contribute to the overall plot/theme/feeling of the game. I feel like this game does take care, especially in it’s early bits, but some developments happen later on which don’t get the development time they necessarily need. Which leads me to-

The plot kind of goes off the rails around chapter 10 or 11. It returns to form in chapter 14ish. This... plot twist, shall we say, is predicated on hiding obfuscating knowledge from the reader that should be apparent due to being from the MC’s PoV. Whether or not this is a dealbreaker will depend largely on the person. Personally, I was loopy off resisting sleep medication while reading this part so I just sort of accepted it and the return to form/explanation in later chapters made it worth it, but your mileage will definitely vary. I have Thoughts on this, but this is all I can really say while still maintaining a spoiler free review.

Playtime if ardently listening to the voices is ~3 hours. Playtime can be cut down significantly if you’re a fast reader and don’t overly care about the voice acting.

I haven’t tried all alternate options, but there doesn’t seem like huge variations regarding the choices. The 16th chapter, however, will change based on whether you get the Normal or Happy End.

Art - 7/10

The art isn’t anything special nor is it terrible. It’s much less stiff and has more style to it that most mobile otome’s I’ve played, but is lacking when compared to, again, full length otome games.

The MC has a face, which gets points from me (I dislike faceless MCs a lot especially when included in CGs). The fact no one but love interests even get sprites is somewhat jarring.

As far as CGs go, they’re standard fare and about the number you’d expect for the length of a route. The game isn’t raunchy like... at all so don’t expect anything too scandalous.

Voice Acting - 10/10

What can I say? It’s Kenjiro Tsuda.

To elaborate, however-

Kenjiro Tsuda does an excellent job. I’m not sure if I’d call it his best work, but even if it is voiced, I think there’s some expectation for a mobile otome’s voicework to be phoned in. This is not the case and Tsuda’s acting gives a lot of life to the character and scenarios. I’ll, uh, save my gushing for my line-by-line dissertation, and leave it at that.

What was unexpected was, despite not having sprites, minor characters do get voices! They also have some rather nice performances, and there was no VA I disliked listening to or whose performance was noticeably lacking compared to the others (the actual sound quality was consistent overall as well).

Overall - 8/10

Aside from the prologue, this is a solid performance from a mobile otome game. Compared to full-length otome games it’s lacking, but it’s still one of the better mobile otomes I’ve played. For the $6 you can get individual routes for on the mobile app, it’s a fun, quick romp that was perhaps not necessarily what was advertised (regarding the actual summary), but instead met the expectations I dared to dream of. While I can’t vouch for the game in its entirety, I can, at the very least, vouch for this route.

Comprehensive Overlook + Personal Rating - 10/10

Okay, I’ve been objective as possible despite this being a very subjective topic and now it’s time for me to shill my little heart out.

Writing a standard fare review for this game was really really hard for me because against all odds, logic, and my own taste preferring shit like Hakuouki, I’m in love with this game. Obsessed with it. Half the reason why I’m doing this is because it is a totally unremarkable (though, again, fun) otome game so of course it doesn’t have, like, a community, but I need to fucking gush about it somewhere.

Why?

Because Soshi Amazaki literally hits every single husband trait I so dearly love. This route is the equivalent of if someone took my taste buds and analyzed each and every one of them, then cooked a meal precisely on my most loved things. It isn’t necessarily fine dining, but it feels like it was scientifically engineered to appeal directly to me. It’s like I was possessed and ghostwrote it. It’s like someone peered into my heart and teased out the essence of everything I’ve ever wanted, then told me to eat shit because the shell it’s rammed into is that of a bite sized otome game. I have never had such a feast before me. I’ve never been served such an exquisite palette of flavors. I have never been so thoroughly outraged that this is the form my heart takes.

And yet, I’m... pretty much satisfied, despite its flaws and shortness, with my only real outrage stemming from the fact there is literally nobody I can talk about this with (the morning after I binged the entire route I made my boyfriend play it just so I could rave like a lunatic to someone about it) as well as my shame for being so enamored with what is essentially a mediocre otome game.

I talked about how the story kind of went off the rails 2/3rds of the way through, but honestly? I didn’t care because the payoff was incredible. Was I scared the game wasn’t going to end up where I wanted it to while it was happening? Was I prepared to be immensely disappointed because I felt, briefly, like I was baited and that of course nothing would never let me have my cake and eat it too? Yep. But you know what? I don’t know or care if it’s because I set the bar so low or what, but my expectations were thoroughly blown out of the water.

I’m still committed to making even this part of the review spoiler free, so I won’t be going into depth about what I loved (I’ll save that for another post because this is long enough as it is), but I’ll add this apart from just character archetype and themes being what I loved.

That is, shockingly enough and even considering the pacing and, ahem, weirdness - this is a route where everything seems to serve a function. Again, the story isn’t necessarily deep, and while perhaps I would’ve gone about certain things a different way (and had there been space allotted for greater development), there are many, many, many things that are called back to or that seem insignificant, but serve as thematic backbone and create delicious implications.

As a big brother connoisseur, I give this route 3 Michelin Stars.

If you followed me for/like Fire Emblem’s Marx/Xander, I highly recommend this route.

[scoopsohboi]

you look cute in that hat

Pairing: robin buckley/henderson!reader

W/C: 2575

Summary: since your first shift at hotdog on a stick starts soon, you drive dustin to the mall so he can see steve. while your killing time you flirt with robin.

-more robin readers-

-st readers-

“Stop running so fast! I swear that security guard has been watching us since the parking lot.” You were chasing after your little brother, Dustin, as he sped-walked ahead of you through the halls of Starcourt, his sneakers squeaking loudly on the linoleum causing the large man in a blue uniform to follow you two on the other side of the walkway. “Why are you in such a hurry, anyway?”

“That’s Phil. He’s had it out for me ever since he caught Mike, Will, Lucas, and I sitting in Nightmare on Elm Street without tickets.” You rolled your eyes as Dustin slowed his pace ever so slightly. “And I need to tell Henderson what I figured out last night.”

“Oh, right. The ‘Russian spy code’ thing,” you said in a mocking tone, using air quotes until Dustin spun on his heel and frantically grabbed your hands and shushed you loudly.

“Are you literally insane?!” He cried in a voice barely above a whisper. “Oh, my God, don't talk about it out loud,” he hissed before turning around as he muttered about letting the Russians get you and you quietly snorted in amusement. Dustin had burst into your room last night animatedly talking about how he’d intercepted a Russian transmission of a secret spy code. Although it sounded intriguing, you were only going to be home for about another month before you were leaving to start your first semester of college. You were pretty sure it wasn’t actually a spy message, but even so, you didn’t want to get murdered by Soviets before you left Hawkins. Unfortunately, being eighteen meant driver’s license and that meant driving your little brother around town.

“I still can’t believe you’re friends with Steve. Such a trip,” you muttered. You went Hawkins High School with Steve and the two of you were in the same grade, but you were never friends. In fact, you could probably count all the conversations you’d ever had with him on one hand. You had no clue why or how he’d become so close to Dustin. You tried to pry once but the boy never really told you much. Hell, the only reason you knew about the transmission was because none of Dustin’s friends were around to answer the phone. Needless to say you came from a very private family.

Dustin skipped ahead as you two reached the food court and you trailed behind him. You glanced up at the large clock on the wall and took note of the time. 3:20. Your mom made you get a summer job to save up some extra cash before leaving town and your very first shift at HotDog on a Stick was at four. You signed and continued after Dustin, reaching Scoops Ahoy just in time to see him bound around the front counter and to a back door labeled ‘Employees Only.’

“Hey, slow down, I just mopped!” A brown haired girl in a sailor costume chastised from behind the counter. “There’s a sign; you can’t sue if you trip.” You laughed a little and she turned forward, seeing you for the first time. Her blue eyes seemed to sparkle even under the shitty florescent lights and you felt your cheeks blush when she smiled. You knew Robin from school, too, and admittedly better than Steve, but not by much. The two of you had a few class projects together over the years, but nothing too substantial. Probably nothing close to warrant how big of a crush you’d developed on her. God, why did she have to look at you like that? You felt like a puddle already. “Hey, Y/N,” she said coolly, though her voice was slightly higher than usual as if she was surprised to see you. “How’s you summer going?”

“Just, you know, trying to get my life in order,” you shrugged. “I actually got a part-time job here.” Robin’s head cocked to the side slightly. “Not, like, here here,” you gestured to the ice cream shop. “But, like, in the…food court,” you finished lamely. Robin’s brow furrowed a little, confusion spreading over her features. You always liked how expressive she was. You absently wondered if she even knew she did it.

“I thought you were going to IUB?” You could feel your face heating up a little. You didn’t know how she’d heard about that- maybe Dustin mentioned it in passing, but the fact that she remembered made your stomach do flips. You cleared your throat a little, suddenly feeling very dry under Robin’s gaze.

“I, uh- I’m heading out mid-August, so my mom practically went handing out flyers to everyone she knows with a business.” You placed your elbows on the counter and leaned in a little closer to Robin. “I’ll have you know, you’re actually talking to the newest employee of HotDog on a Stick,” you said, shrugging like it was a big deal. Robin laughed and bit her lip.

“Oh, wow,” she said, feigning to be oh-so-impressed. “Lucky me.” Your eyes darted to her lips before you could stop yourself and you saw a little smirk dancing there. You caught yourself leaning in the tiniest bit of a fraction and you let your head fall a little as you let out a shaky laugh, trying to hide the blush that was spreading across your face. This was bad. You had it really bad and Robin didn’t even know what she was doing to you. You were in a crowded food court for fuck’s sake. Not to mention the fact that you didn’t even know if she liked girls. Which, knowing your luck was probably a ‘no.’ You let out a steadying breath before looking back up, feeling more composed after breaking eye-contact for a moment. You decided you were allowed to flirt a little, just to test the waters.

“Yeah, stick with me, baby, and you’ll never want for lemonade again.” You needed to keep it together but you could swear you saw a glimpse of something in Robin’s eye when you called her ‘baby,’ even if you were just joking around. You mentally composed yourself, not wanting to come on too strong and freak Robin out. You hadn’t even started your job yet that would mortifying. “Seriously, I can already tell my love for lemonade is going to go straight to shit.”

“Yeah,” she agreed with a nod, her smirk turning into a smile. “And hotdogs, fries, literally anything fried, probably.” You smiled and nudged her arm playfully. “At least you get one of those cute bucket hats,” she added slyly, bursting out laughing when you gave her a glare that only lasted a second because you couldn’t even fake being miserable with a literal angel laughing.

“Oh, come on. At least it’s not a sailor outfit,” she tried with a little curtsey, but you rolled your eyes.

“Please, at least you and Steve still manage to look hot in your uniforms. I’m going to be an ugly, striped cylinder. They literally make their employees look like rainbow-striped hotdogs. Like, what is that?” You spoke quickly, going on a short tangent without realizing you’d called Robin hot until after you’d finished. You hoped she didn’t notice, but you weren’t so lucky. She stood there very still, eyes slightly wider than before and lips parted softly, the ghost of her smile still evident. She blinked and shook her head slightly, furrowing her brow and biting the inside of her cheek. She opened her mouth, and then closed it, seemingly deciding whether or not to say something when the voices from the back-of-house started to grow. You saw Steve’s hair flop out from the doorway and Dustin was a few steps behind him. When he saw you Steve’s brows practically soared to his hairline.

“Y/N?”

“Hey, Steve,” you said, grateful for a distraction from the embarrassment of Robin still staring at you. She looked away then, and out of the corner of her eye you caught her tuck her hair behind her ear as her face grew red.

“How’s it going?” He made his way over to the center of the counter next to Robin. You shrugged, sneaking a glance to the girl whose eyes were trained on the register before turning your attention back to Steve.

“Not bad, just waiting for my shift to start. Dustin wouldn’t stop bugging me about coming here all morning so I had to leave a bit earlier than I planned.”

“I forget that you guys are related,” Steve said with a laugh and Dustin huffed next to him, hand already digging a testing spoon into a tub of ice cream.

“I wish I could forget,” he muttered. You scoffed.

“Shut up, you love me.” Dustin made a noise of disgust and you couldn’t help but smile. The two of you didn’t share your personal lives with each other very often, but you and Dustin had your own sibling adventures over the years. From days at the arcade, to driving across Indiana to see a Star Wars trilogy marathon in Bloomington, you knew the kid really did care a lot about you.

“Shift where?” Steve asked as he swatted Dustin’s hand away from the toppings. You jabbed a thumb behind you to where the bright neon sign stood behind you across the sea of messy tables and people eating greasy pizza. Steve caught where you were gesturing and grinned. “Ah, I see. Going to be one of those cute HotDog on a Stick girls, huh?” You felt your face heat up immediately.

Steve Harrington had never flirted with you before. If it had been a few years ago, you would’ve died completely. Having Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington talk to you like that would’ve melted you like butter, even when he was a total douchebag. You knew Steve wasn’t the same guy he was sophomore year, if his being so close to your brother was any indication, but you’d changed a lot over the years, too. There was no denying that Steve was incredibly gorgeous, but that crush had long since fizzled. You’d had your eye on someone else for a while. Someone who also happened to be standing right in front of you.

“I don’t know about that,” you said, trying to regain some composure. It was getting very hot despite you being so close to an actual icebox and you could feel your palms getting sweaty. You were desperate to get the attention off yourself. “Dusty,” you called quickly, trying to change the subject, “did you tell him about the transmission?” Steve blinked as Dustin began to excited regale his findings, watching you curiously for a moment before turning his attention to the kid.

You sighed internally once the spotlight was turned on someone else and chanced a glance at Robin. She looked distracted, blue eyes flitting back and forth like she was thinking deeply about something. You turned to check the clock again and your first shift started in fifteen minutes. You decided you might as well run away now and try to distract yourself with the assumingly terrible job training you were about to endure. You pushed off the counter, gaining some attention from both Robin and Steve. “I’m going to head over. Don’t want to be late,” you said, looking at Dustin and Steve and trying very hard to not stare at Robin.

“Oh, okay. Bye, Y/N,” Steve said, sounding a little disappointed you were leaving so soon. Dustin muttered a quick ‘buh-bye’ before going back to his conversation with Steve. You finally looked over at Robin and you hated that it was one of the few times you couldn’t read her face at all. You would’ve given anything to read her mind.

“I’ll see you later?” you offered, and Robin smiled softly.

“Yeah,” she said quietly with a nod, as if confirming it. You had no idea what the damage would be from that conversation but you tried to brush it off as you turned around and made your way upstream to HotDog on a Stick. You met your manager and trainer for the day before getting started on the basics. After about an hour you heard a familiar voice talking to one of your coworkers. Your head shot up to see Robin, changed out of her uniform and into her regular shorts and shirt, chatting easily with your manager. You tried to focus on the task you were learning- how to smash the lemons, while straining to hear what they were talking about.

“-but I’m finally off so I don’t have to deal with that anymore,” Robin finished. You wondered what she was talking about as your manager laughed. She wouldn’t talk about you- you knew that. But that didn’t mean your subconscious was reasonable. Your stomach twisted as you started to grow anxious. “Actually, do you mind if I steal one of your employees for literally a minute?” Robin asked shyly and you felt like you might pass out.

“We’re supposed to carpool for church tomorrow and I wanted to make sure she knows where to meet.” You couldn’t help but snort at her quick excuse to talk to you. You tried to cover it with the sound of your smashing, but it didn’t work out too well. You just turned all your attention on the bucket of lemons in front of you.

“Y/N,” Robin called, this time a lot closer, and you looked up to see her leaning on the doorway beside you, nodding quickly toward the main food court. You nodded and held out the handle of the stomper to your coworker before rubbing your hands on your apron and following her out and a few tables down. She turned around and smiled at you, grin growing as she looked up at the hat. You instantly blushed.

“Don’t,” you warned. She smiled widely, full teeth, and you couldn’t help but crack a smile as well. “What do you want?” you asked, pretending to be harsh though it had no bearings considering how much you were grinning now too. Now it was Robin’s turn to blush.

“I-um…what are you doing tonight?” The question took you by surprise as your heart began to hurt in anticipation. You were pretty damn sure where this was going and your head was spinning with disbelief and excitement.

“I-I have work until 8,” you stuttered, a little frozen just thinking about Robin literally asking you out. Robin laughed a little, and you could tell you sounded a little Steve-ish but sometimes talking to Robin made your brain fry. How were you supposed to act normal anyway with her staring at you like that with her amused grin? You wished she would just put you out of your misery already.

“And after?”

“Whatever you’re doing,” you said with a shrug, snapping out of your stupor enough to regain control of the situation. Robin bit her lip, trying to hide her big grin as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Cool,” she said, though her eyes told you everything she didn’t dare say out loud. Things you’d both reveal later behind closed doors and out of reach from unwanted ears. “So, 8:30?” she asked and you nodded. She glanced back up at the hat before gazing into your eyes again. “You really do look cute in that hat.”

It was going to be a great night.