#ya its mostly 5 but he has so many great moments

[astrogriffin]

Some little moments I really like part 1

[m-a-salter]

PLEASE provide us your playlist/lore/moodboard for Love Is A River. I'll take anything ya got. :-D

THANK YOU for asking. For anyone reading this other than the asker, she is referring to this fic:

Which, after a bit of a hiatus due to Life Events™, has just been updated with a new chapter!

I don't have an actual moodboard, but you can get the equivalent experience by looking at any stills or GIFs from The Husbands of River Song. I have also commissioned an illustration for the story from the incomparable @illustoryart, and have accordingly also been inspired by their many illustrations of cute cottages and nighttime coziness.

The two most important songs for me in planning and writing have been Now or Never by Alan Doyle, and Anchor by Fortunate Ones.

"Now or Never" has this bit that always makes me think of the end of THORS: "For tonight we are the chosen few/The least that we can do/Is lay our hearts on the line/Oh we're running, we're running/We're running out of time/And I can see the truth/It's coming for me and you/My Love, the moment's here/It's now or never, my dear."

The title of the story comes from "Anchor," and this little piece of that chorus--"Love is a river/It’s gonna run/Time is a sea that drowns everyone"--has been stuck in my head for six months. Not long after I became obsessed with that song, and had firmly established in my mind the water-cycle metaphors of the story, I heard Éilís Kennedy's song Row On, and that also seemed to fit.

Of course, when you are in the middle of writing a story, everything you listen to seems to fit, so the full playlist is mostly just a list of songs I have been listening to, which because I am in my head about this pair, seem to me to be about them. I make no claims to the objective fit of the lyrics of any of these. And the actual playlist I write to also has a bunch of Murray Gold from the Capaldi years, especially, of course, "The Woman He Loves" and "The Singing Towers." The list includes a good number of songs cherry-picked from the many Doctor/River playlists on 8tracks.

Here is the playlist (I don't do Spotify, so sorry for the extra steps):

1 Now or Never/Alan Doyle 2 Anchor/Fortunate Ones 3 Row On/Éilís Kennedy 4 Basket Case/Sara Bareilles 5 A Drop In the Ocean/Ron Pope 6 River/Emeli Sandé 7 Good Company (From "Oliver and Company")/Pianomation 8 Heartbeat/Scouting for Girls 9 Next to Me/Emeli Sandé 10 Start of Time/Gabrielle Aplin 11 Love is All/The Tallest Man On Earth 12 Gravity/Sara Bareilles 13 Stay/Hurts 14 Cherry Wine (Live)/Hozier 15 Home/Vanessa Carlton 16 North/Sleeping At Last 17 The Night We Met/Lord Huron 18 White Flag/Dido 19 Swing Low Sail High/The Wailin' Jennys 20 Work Song/Hozier 21 Poison & Wine/The Civil Wars 22 All I Ask/Adele 23 Boston And St. John's/Great Big Sea

The story has its origins in my own confusion, upon first watching The Husbands of River Song, over why the Doctor doesn't assert his identity more forcefully. It was clear what the Doylist answer is: the continued mistaken identity allows for lots of fun comic moments in the episode.

But to come up with a Watsonian answer I found myself doing a re-watch of River Song's entire run (in the order of her timestream), and developing this head canon about their mutual belief/fear that the other person thought it was a marriage of convenience. And I love nothing more than mutual pining, so I thought I'd write it up, and here we are.

[emptycoffinnail]

GEORGENOTFOUND X READER

Context: In a perfect world where cc! DreamTeam and reader live together. Quackity, Karl, Punz and others don’t live too far away. GeorgeNotFound x content creator!reader ~ angst mostly. Slight fluff. Friends to lovers?

Honestly inspired by the show Euphoria. My first DSMP fic/imagine. Feed back appreciated.!!

Warnings: cursing, mentions of depression, anxiety and substance abuse

Please do not read if you are not comfortable with these topics. You are never alone. Please reach out to anyone, myself included. There are resources to help.

~~~~~~Reader POV~~~~~~

Being a streamer has been really draining lately. There’s not been too many new games to play. The same old ones have not been too fun to play as I’ve spent the past few years playing them ,but being with friends and chat is always worth it.

Today I streamed for about 5 hours before tapping out. My brain got tired and slow. Maybe all I need is to rest?

Resting on my bed, with the door open, I have the urge to want to simultaneously curl into a ball under my sheets and feel like I wanna jump out the window.

Laying here, I play some background noise. I’m not even sure what it is. It just something to stop me from being alone with my thoughts. Anytime I let myself think more than five minutes my anxiety spikes. I guess why I like streaming there’s always someone there. At all time, anywhere. But even now that feels like too much.

I think the boys are busy. I’m not sure. The longer I lay here the less motivation I feel.

Now I’m not as big as the DreamTeam . I really only became part of the group way later than everyone else. Meeting Dream and the connections I’ve made have been something I would never have imagined. But the moment we clicked online, I knew we were something special. Not too long after that everyone was moving towards each-other, I joined in too. I get loads of hate for seemingly clinging onto the boys clout,but no one would understand that I would kill for these guys. They are my family now and that’s something the internet can’t take away from me.

Now from the viewer point of view. It can really seem like I’m the odd one out. That I don’t deserve this opportunity and I’m not as talented as thousands of others online. And trust me, I understand that. In times like these more than ever. I just feel really low.

Turning my head to my side, looking at my night stand. There is someone or thing that has always been great during times like these. Their name is OXI. Now I don’t think I have a drug problem. It’s just that often times where I’m feeling low, these friends have really lifted me. Yeah I’ve got it under control. More importantly its very low key and I’m 80% sure no one knows. I say because I’m sure Dream and Sap don’t but one very observant Gogy………walks into my room right after I slip two pills into my mouth.

“Hey, how’s it going” smooth British motherfucker.

I try to close my night side table smoothly but quick enough that he doesn’t see exactly what it is.

“Hey gogs, um just ended stream and got a headache so just took some Tylenol”

I’m trying my best to act normal but as the pills start to work, and the numbness begins I can’t help but to overthink that he will know. But he won’t. Please don’t.

“Yeah I was watching a bit actually. Great stream from what I saw.” He scratches the back of his neck, making eye contact with my night side table then me.

I smile slightly, sitting up in my bed now.

“You got any plans to stream?”

The pills feel great now. Exactly the way I need to be. Except the overwhelming guilt and fear and paranoia and everything else…

“Not exactly, I never really plan to…like have plan, ya know”

A small smile takes my face now, I’m ready to lay down, listen to music and maybe just maybe…

“You alright?“ George asks.

I blink back into it. I guess I spaced out for too long.

“No yeah no. Of course, sorry was just thinking about something. I….Um…yeah sorry”

“Don’t apologize, you haven’t done anything wrong have you?”

“Yeah your right, any plans for right now gogs?”

I smile as I lay back down. Heavy eyes,slow my blink down, comfort taking over me. He smiles slightly back.

“No plans. Might get some food. Are you hungry?” He pulls out his phone. I assume to pull up Ubereats or something.

“I can eat.”

The overwhelming urge to need more comfort comes suddenly. I need someone.

“Gogy?” I ask. Extending my hand from my bed towards him standing in the doorway.

“Yess” He extends the s, still looking down at his phone.

“Can you come lay with me just for a minute?”

I feel like I can cry, like the numbness is taking over, the thinking won’t stop. I asked one question but I feel like I’m pleading him. He looks up and puts his phone on my table. I guess he sees the desperation in my eyes because George is not a physical person. He doesn’t like to cuddle, or even hug longer than necessary, but I think he knows.

“Um I’m not really…I guess just for a little bit”

“Thank you” I say very quietly. Almost embarrassed.

He shuffles slowly towards me. I move over in the bed making room for him to lay directly on my left. I’m staring at the ceiling, glancing at him trying to get comfortable on my bed. We’ve never really cuddled unless you count those times Sapnap just smushes all of us together on the couch as “roommate bonding time”. But I think he knows that I need him right now. We move in a way that feels really nice for me. George is so small usually I would consider him the small spoon, but I choose this time to lay my head on his chest and almost wrap my arm around him.

“This is nice. Thanks.”

I say with a frown. I really feel like I can cry right now. Like if I let one tear out, the dam will definitely burst. I feel like he tilts his head down to try to catch a glimpse at my face. I just bury my face into his chest. He rests his chin on my head. He sighs.

“Can you stay just a bit? Till I fall asleep?” I ask quietly.

“Yeah, that’s fine. You know, I’m always here for you. You know that right?”

I take a deep breath, curl slightly more into a ball.

“Yeah. I know” I pull away for a second. Lifting my head to look at him, I try to give him the best smile I can right now.

He looks concerned, but he’s good at covering it. He looks into my eyes, when his hands move close to my face. I don’t even notice I started crying when he wipes a tear away. It scares me to be honest. I lay my head down once more.

“You know. If you have any troubles. We can help you. Not just Dream or Sapnap, but with whatever you’re struggling with. I can help with the best of my ability, no judgement.”

If I wasn’t crying already. I would’ve cried now. I just wanna say that I’m okay. To fall asleep and wake up tomorrow with another start to the day.

I nod instead. He takes a deep breath.

“And I just….um it’s just that I really care about you. A lot. Okay?”

I lift my head again, to look at him in the face. He looks deep into my eyes. No doubt he sees how high I am. How much pain is there. I just wanna explain but I’m tired. I just wanna say anything but it won’t come out. Instead I just, lean forward and kiss him.

It’s a light kiss. More than a peck but not anything too deep. Like I’m testing him. I’m sure he’s surprised. I want to leave room for him to totally reject this.

I don’t get that. He rests his hand on my cheek. He’s kissing me back. I pull away first, opening my eyes slowly. He speaks first.

“Did you mean that or was it…?” He’s hinting towards the pills.

My voice breaks. “I meant it. Fuck I’m sorry. I should’ve..I meant to ask.. or say something.” I feel embarrassed now. I put my face in my hand.

“No I’ve been meaning to do that to. It’s just that. We’ve -the guys and I -have known you’ve been struggling and we don’t wanna pry too much.”

I peek up from my hand. Kind of amazed.

“Oh I didn’t know you guys really saw that. Or that you wanted to kiss me too. Sorry. “ I would’ve been more responsive if it hadn’t have been for the pills.

“Don’t apologize. We care about you. I admit, I’ve noticed first but we just want you to be okay and comfortable with us.” He says softly. Testing my reaction.

“I trust you guys more than I trust myself.” A small chuckle leaves my mouth.

“Once you sleep this off. Maybe we can discuss it?“ He hesitated to ask.

“Yeah I think we have quite bit to discuss.”

I’m not sure if I mean it 100%, but I definitely wanna start the conversation about my struggles, about kissing him, and about being better. I snuggle back into his chest and he kisses the top of my head. Unspoken words said, but for one time in a long time. I feel okay as I drift to sleep.

[the-broken-truth]

Senior!! May i ask you a question? Are the requests still open?

If yes, could you do a Donna Beneviento x Child!reader? (Platonic-Comforting). Okay so, one day, the reader is really Curious about their mother face because its always covered under her long black veil.

Since the reader wanted to know their mother real face even though the reader already knew from the picture that was displayed on the wall, having an opportunity when their mother is working on her new doll, the reader suddenly lifts her veil up and shows a mutant or a big scar on the right side of donna's face.

Knowing this, Donna immediately slapped their hand away and accidentally slapped her child until their cheeks turned red. Instead of crying, the reader suddenly hug her tightly and apologize for million times because the reader lifting up her veil without her permission.

Donna burst into tears and explained why she was hiding her face because she was afraid that the reader would feel embarrassed or disgusted with her. however, the reader assures their mother that they will not do such a thing and they're grateful that they can be her child

Andd if the requests are closed, please ignore this request and take your time^^ thank you very much, i hope you have a great day/night.

Mommy's Cloth Face - Donna Beneviento x Child Reader [Platonic]

Broken Truth: Hey, @snowflakestree! Just wanted to let you know that - yes, the requests are still open; I recently opened them and don't intend to close them anytime soon. Thanks for the ask and now I shall have to honor of writing this interesting request.

- Quick Key -

[Y/N] - YOUR FIRST NAME

[H/L] - HAIR LENGTH

Broken Truth: The Reader's Last Name shall be Beneviento and their age shall be 8. Eight years olds are very curious, at least I was at that age. Their hair & eyes will be black - the same as their mother's. As for their skin, they would be rather pale, living in the Valley of Mist doesn't give much sunlight

Curious black eyes stared at the large portrait that hung against the wall where the stairs rested; focused on the face of the Head of House Beneviento. Tiny feet were planted firmly at the top of the stairs, looking at the portrait as if to see something they had missed before; even though they've seen that same picture every day since they began aware of their surrounding but something was always drawing them to the painting of the Head of House Beneviento. They were going to question themselves when a suddenly...

"GOOD MORNING, [Y/N]!!!" A sudden loud voice shouted behind them, making them jolt forward with a chill up their spine as they began falling forward in the direction of the stairs. Black eyes narrowed as they turned to where their back was to the stairs and shot their hand out - sending 5 red strings shot from the tips of their fingers and nail into the wall, stopping their fall mid-air with their heels at the top of the stairs.

Broken Truth: What? You thought I wasn't gonna give them some kind of power? Please, what would be boring and the Broken Truth doesn't do boring.

[Y/N']'s Power: Puppeteer's Stingers - [Y/N] calls mental control links - that appear in the form of puppet strings from the tips of their fingers; whoever the strings touch, [Y/N] can control their every move or control the area around them.

"For the love of Mother Miranda, Angie, why must you scare me at the worst times?" [Y/N] asked as they pulled themselves back to the top of the stairs - the moment their feet touched solid wood, they lifted their hand to recall the puppet's strings.

"It's not my fault you were distracted. Besides, why were you just staring at Donna's painting like you? it's not something new, ya know." The doll said as she floated round the young master/mistress of House Beneviento.

"I know - it's something else." [Y/N] said as they turned on their heel and walked down the stairs to head to the study to look for their mother.

"What is it then?" Angie asked as she followed them.

"Mommy's always wearing her veil around - even in the house & around me; I wanna know why. The only thing I have to her face is that painting." [Y/N] said as he and Angie reached the study; the doll was quiet for a moment before she spoke in a softer voice.

"Some things are better to be left alone, [Y/N]. There's a reason Mother wears the veil and she doesn't want to take about it." Angie said, almost in a sad tone of voice.

"What could be so bad that Mom doesn't trust me with it?" [Y/N] asked with hurt floating in their black eyes.

"Sorry." That was the last thing Angie said before she floated away to do her own thing. [Y/N] just stood there with their hands clenched by their side, looking at the ground with hurt in their heart at the numerous amounts of questions that were floating around their 8-year-old mind.

'What is Mommy hiding from me? What is under that veil that she doesn't trust me with?' They stood there and through for a while before opening their eyes and making the choice then and there. 'I'm gonna see what's under that veil.' With resolve in their heart, The Future Lord/Lady of House Beneviento went off to find their mother - who happened to be in her creation room to make a new doll.

[Y/N] peeked around the corner of the threshold that led to their mother's Doll Creation Room - doll parts of many shapes and sizes hung from chains on the ceiling while other parts - like joints, sockets, eyes, and fingers - were kept in small drawers or jars tucked away in the shelf.

Sitting in the chair at the table - littered with doll parts - was the woman down in a black dress, a mysterious veil over her head - covering her face, and her hands - the only thing that remained uncovered - as they moved along the doll parts to assemble them into a body - that woman was Donna Beneviento - The Head of House Beneviento and mother of [Y/N] Beneviento.

The child took a calming exhale - to strengthen their nerves and resolve; they had to do this or they were going to go their entire life without knowing the truth.

"Mommy." [Y/N] called out to their mother as her hands froze over the doll torso she was connecting the legs to as she turned around in her seat to look at her son/daughter, who just stood in the doorway with nervousness in their small black eyes - eyes just like hers.

"[Y/N] Dear, is there something wrong?" Donna asked in her concerned motherly voice.

"No, Momma. I just...I wanna know - Why do you always wear your veil around me? Why don't you show me your face?" [Y/N]'s question made the breath in Donna's throat catch as she turned back in her seat, unable to look in her child's direction.

"Momma has some...issues and she prefers to wear the veil for the betterment of everyone. It's nothing to worry about, darling; just go play with Angie and the other dolls." Donna said in her low voice as she went back to fiddling with the incomplete doll; it became quiet in the room as if she was the only one left - [Y/N] must have listened to her and went to play with the other dolls.

Wrong.

The child still stood there - their mind running with thoughts - they weren't thinking straight. They were some in depths with their own mind that they didn't notice their body moving closer to their mother, nor did they feel their arm lift or their hand reaching for the veil before clenching into a fist.

It was the sudden "NO!" from their mother that made them snap back into reality and become aware of their surroundings, but it was too late. The veil was in their hand that was now at their side - revealing their mother's face to them...

As well as the massive growth of flesh that overtook the woman's right side of her face - completely replacing her right eye. [Y/N]'s eyes widened at their mother's face - the horror and fear in her eye - as they dropped the veil and reached for it; BAD MOVE.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!!!" Donna's voice yelled as her hand lashed out to slap her child's hand away from her face but in her disorder, she missed her child's hand but made perfect contact with their cheek, making them fall to the ground - sitting on the ground with their eyes wide and their hand on the sore cheek. Once again - fear took Donna's face - she just struck her child, her child saw her face; they would mostly be running away in horror if they weren't paralyzed in pain.

"Oh my god! [Y/N], I'm so sorry! I didn't been t hurt you! I...It was a reflex, I would never hurt you, ever!" Donna panicked, trying to come up with an acceptable excuse for what happened but she came up with nothing. Tears began falling down her face but before she could open her mouth to speak - the sudden weight of her child crashing into her mid-section and wrapping their arms around her while sobbing in her chest made her quiet; looking down at the child who held her for dear life.

"I'M SORRY, MOMMA! I DIDN'T MEAN TO SCARE YOU! I'M A BAD [SON/DAUGHTER]! I DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT YOU, PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!" The child begged with tears flooding their eyes.

Donna was confused.

Her child wasn't afraid of her?

Her child was angry at her for striking them?

Her child was begging for forgiveness...for scaring her?

She looked down at the child who looked into her eye with tears down their cheeks.

"You...you're not afraid or disgusted with me, [Y/N]?" Donna asked in her low voice - this made the child look at her wide-eyed and confused.

"What? No, why would I be Momma?" The child asked - completely confused.

"Dear..." Donna rubbed the back of her baby's head. "So many people have hurt me because of my face. They would bully me and ignore me. When I started wearing my veil, people started befriending me but once they saw my face...they would abandon me. I didn't want to lose you over my looks, my child. I thought...once you saw my face...I would be alone again." Donna closed her eye - letting all the tears fall.

"Then all those people are idiots!" [Y/N] yelled, making Donna look at them again. "If they couldn't see the really awesome person you are, then they are the ugliest of all people! My Mom is the most beautiful person in the village...no, IN THE WORLD! NOT EVEN AUNTIE ALCINA OR GRANDMA MIRANDA CAN MATCH HOW PRETTY MY MOMMA IS!!" [Y/N] cried out as they reached up and placed a gentle kiss on the mass of flesh that took their mother's eyes. The head of house cried again before hugging her child for dear life as she thanked them for staying with her and loving her...as not even her own mother did.

As time went on, Donna would no longer wear the veil around the house or around her child. [Y/N] was happy to see their mom happy and now had the inspiration to draw pictures to show at the village school...which caused a few people to say mean things about Donna, resulting in [Y/N] being suspended for a week for nearly killing 5 students. When Donna asked them why used their powers to bend the bullies' limbs in inhumane positions and almost kill them, the child answered.

"They were talking crap about my beautiful Momma and that don't fly."

It got a lot worse when [Y/N] grew up and started going into the village to do teenage things - one negative whisper about Donna Beneviento would get your neck twisted the other way & it didn't matter if you said it around them.

Their little puppet ravens always find out who said what about his beautiful mother and they would pay...DEARLY.

[precious-potter]

Harry Potter (Draco/Hermione) Fan fic recs... I know Draco/Hermione is sometimes controversial but this is MY Tumblr account so mind ur business. Jk, feel free to message me to try and convince me why im evil for liking this OR message me your fic recs! Either works. Rated 1-10 based off many things but mostly memorable-ness and feels they made me feel.

Manacled (370515 words) by senlinyu OBVIOUSLY Im going to recommend this one... Arguably a famous fic amongst the Harry Potter fandom... I recommend this if you are emotionally stable enough to handle uh horrible horrible things. Very very dark and sad but honestly just amazing, better than most published books. Senlinyu is a great writer and ive read their other works and am always amazed. Harrys dead, kind of a handmaids tale au? that's how some describe it. Voldemort wants to repopulate the earth with more wizards and is using prisoners of war (the girls mainly) to do it. LOTS of dark stuff srsly read the tags before you read this. That being said, one of my favorite fan fictions, would recommend. Explicit. Rate: 9.5/10 BECAUSE ugh idk I don't want to rate smth 10/10... I haven't read everything yet so who knows! Also because this is a very serious fic and I like a little bit of fluff sometimes.

All You Want (172650 words) by senlinyu Give me ALL the omega verse fan fictions plz... Hermione stumbles into being an Omega when really she just wanted a quiet 8th year. P much all the alphas want her but only one is not actively chasing her, until he is. tbh they deserve to be together in my opinion! Its not really like a werewolf AU, more of like a secondary gender type thing. Some smut... kind of a lot but still some good plot. Explicit. Rate:8/10 I did read this a long time ago so im forgetting some key points however, I am bias and love a/b/o and pining!Draco so sue me... also well written smut, did not make me cringe at any point lol.

Unwritten (28891 words) by Maloreiy Veela!Draco.. yas... I guess I just love creature fics idk. Basically, Veela!Draco, Mates r a thing kind of, Hermione is his mate, but obvi he can't just tell her cuz they hate each other. No-war AU which I honestly always really enjoy. Feels like a very long fic when you read it but only almost 30,000 words... I don't have much to say other than I really liked it. General Audiences. Rate:7/10 because it is not very memorable but still cute. Also, I like how they are written.

The Auction (325702 words) by LovesBitca8 Possibly also a famous fan fiction amongst the Harry Potter fandom.. I often confuse this fic with Manacled when reflecting on it and remembering it however, they are very different. This fic is more light hearted (not by much) but still has very dark moments... dark themes, dark imagery, but no dark Draco really. He's KIND of dark... well ok he's pretty dark but I am unfortunately a dark Draco apologist. Essentially, Harry is dead, Hermione and everyone else is being sold off at an auction (hence, the title lol) to death eaters. This is kind of spoilers... sort of, but Hermione ends up in the "care" of Draco. Its honest an amazing fic and there's some badass girl characters/moments. Especially towards the end we get BAMF Hermione kind of. This fic is long as shit and also has some dark stuff so read the tags for your own mental well being. Loved the ending tho even if it took me like 5 days to get to it. Would 100% recommend this. Favorite fic probably. Explicit. Rate:10/10 I know I said I was saving it but.... this is a good fic! idk maybe its not a 10/10 and im crazy but this was a good read! very memorable very emotional, all dat stuff. Also, smutty? a little? romantic? a little? idk read this fic and send me your opinions plz, do that w/ all these fics I need to know how other people feel abt these!

Bring Him to His Knees (246526 words) by Musyc BDSM uh stuff...post-war, auror Draco, Friends w/Hermione... the author tags it as "idiots to lovers" so I think that's funny. Murder is happening and its linked to a local BDSM club and he needs to go undercover w/Hermione (just cuz) in order to access the BDSM club and find the murderer... they cross some lines and end up uh in a different sort of relationship... Awkward Hermione and confident but horny Draco. Good fic, I was in my BDSM era when I read this so there's a good amount of smutty stuff but it takes a while to get to, very drawn out (in a good way) but some ppl don't like slow burns. Explicit. Rate:7/10 cuz its very long but also really good and I do love the ending a lot.

Love is Madness (24589 words) by Canttouchthis, LeilahMoon DARK!Hermione... like seriously fucked up... this is a fucked up fan fiction tbh like its seriously messed up... Idk what else to say about it. Hermione is obsessed w/ Draco and takes advantage of his emotional troubles and practically kidnaps him and does some... immoral things... Idek what to say abt this honestly and I wouldn't recommend smth like this usually but its realllyyyy well written. I usually don't like dark!Hermione but its just really well done.. idk im warning you its weird as fuck and dark but its good! Explicit. Rate: 7/10 superrrr memorable and well written but the... content is disturbing... I still read it and liked it obviously but its just sort of off putting a little. Good luck...

The Troublesome Thing About Time (38914 words) by LadyKenz347 Okay so first of all... I do have daddy issues so maybe thats why I like this fic but... its good! Draco and Hermione are co-workers kind of when somehow Older!Draco (like 40 or 50) is sent back in time and finds Hermione and claims they are married in the future and he needs her help.. yes he is a DILF for real... without the father part idk. Smut happens and it is uh controversial to present Draco but its ok dw abt it. The plot is actually really original and interesting and the smut is well written, double trouble. Mature. Rate:7/10 Good fic honestly but not super memorable, maybe cuz it ends really sweetly.

A Thing With[out] Feathers (18253 words) by senlinyu Honestly.. slay. Veela!Hermione? (kind of Veela!Hermione idk) r u joking? Love it. Romantic comedy? hell yeah baby. Good fic. Hermione works at the ministry and gets sent out to deal w/ a Veela divorce when things go.. wrong and Draco helps her out. The author tags it with "idiots in love" so thats adorable. I love idiots. Not much to say without spoiling it since it is kind of a short fic but I do love a good creature fic. Explicit. Rate:8/10 just a good fic idk no explanation for the rating other than bc I said so.

Honorary mention:

Love In A Time Of The Zombie Apocalypse (355727 words) by rizzlewrites I have been meaning to read this and I WILL give me time... it looks really good. Basically, Voldemort's defeated but then a zombie apocalypse? whaaaat? crazy. Hermione and Draco team up to survive and search for a cure, I think? not sure, I'll get back to you but! it looks so good so I had to recommend it. Explicit. Rate:?/10 idk haven't read it but it looks interesting! but I am scared of zombies so it might give me nightmares. EDIT: I finished it…. This actually might possibly be my favorite fic….. took me a week to read and it was so worth it, the best relationship dynamic and such an original plot with so many original characters…. literally amazing, Rate:10/10 amazing i have no words to describe my love for this fic! would recommend a million times over.

Thats all for now.. send me ur opinions and ur personal recs!

[xmyshya]

Soft

summary: I am a firm believer that Atsumu CAN be soft. When he wants to. And now he just might. genre: fluff, crack, smut warnings: fem!reader, soft Atsumu, sexual tension, making love at the end, MINORS DNI special thanks: HQHQ and our lovely Atsumu sessions, you guys gave me so much inspiration for the last part. I love you. I love you all. a/n: I don’t want to say that I’m proud of this one, but I am. wc: 2.7k

Looking at the friend sitting across the table in the quiet corner of this adorable cafe, you can’t help but think how crazy it has been. Mostly because he’s an idiot, but you LOVE that idiot. “Y/N? Are ya even listenin’?” “Uhh… yes?” “What were ya thinkin’ ‘bout so hard anyway?” “Okay, uhm, remember when…”

The gym was huge and offered a lot of equipment, half of it having names you’d never heard before. The only problem? It was constantly crowded. Except for crazy early hours, which is why you were dressed in your tracksuit and drenched at 5 am. Yet, you were still not alone at this ungodly time. On the first day, he visibly hesitated before entering, clearly wanting absolutely no company. You couldn’t really blame him, he was probably followed by throngs of fans and paparazzi every day. The man must have deemed you harmless however, because he stayed. Well, at the other end of the enormous room, but stayed. He came back on the next day. And next one. And another, and soon enough you were nodding at each other in a silent greeting. This odd ritual continued on for a few weeks, until… “Hey, ya… come here often?” Fuckfuckfuck, he was still sporting the smug smile, though his eyes were filled with panic. You stared at him dumbfounded. Guess even celebrities struggle sometimes. “Uhh… I… N-no, this is my first time.” Both of you erupted in laughter. “Miya Atsumu, nice to meet ya.” “Oh yeah, I know.” He raised an eyebrow. “I mean… L/N Y/N, nice to meet you too”

“D’ya really gonna rub it in ma face til the end of ma life?” “Nah, I’m pretty sure I’ll forget when I’m old, so I gotta make use of it till I can.” The blonde doesn’t look happy. Amusing. “So what were you talking about?” “Oh right, so there’s gonna be a party for the team and friends, and… uhh… would you like to… be my plus one?” Of course you would like to. Love to. “Lemme know what colours ya wanna wear.” “Ehh? You wanna match or something?” There is a teasing undertone in your question. He either misses it or ignores. “I’ve always wanted to do that…” But you already know. Black and gold, the colours of his team. Yes, obviously that’s the only reason. It’s completely unrelated to your current imaginations of Atsumu looking smoking hot in a black fitted suit, black shirt, and matte gold tie. Totally not.

You’re still adding final touch ups, when the doorbell rings through the air. “Open!” In response there’s a click of the door, opening and closing, and Atsumu announces his arrival with a sigh saying why aren’t ya ready yet. “I’m coming, I’m coming.” You shift from your bedroom to the hall, and he whistles. Sharply. You know you look good in that black dress, hugging tightly all your curves (extra points for a deep notch on the back and thin golden chains), and golden heels. And now, he knows it too. Just like you assumed, he does look great. So great, that the only image filling your head as your eyes run down and up on him is how much you want to rip that suit off of him. Party? You’d rather have a one-on-one party against the wall he’s leaning on. Or a kitchen counter. Or a sofa. Shower maybe? “Are ya checkin’ me out?” Again that smug look on his face. You really want to wipe it off. With your lips. “Must be your imagination.” You push him out of the apartment and lock the door.

One of the greatest mysteries of this world must be why elevator scenes are so… weird. Weirdly hot. You’re both on the opposite ends of the tiny cube, ogling each other and turning your gaze away. “Ya really look beautiful.” “Thank you.” Silence. “You look great too. Perfect ten.” You look him straight in the eyes, and if you have the timing right… “Very fuckable.” Ding and the door opens. You brush his chest while walking out. Atsumu forgets to leave the elevator.

Party hall is already swarming with people when you arrive. Faces from magazine covers flash here and there, some of them entertaining whoever wants to listen, some whispering mysterious promises in eager ears, some just roaming around in search of god knows what. “I’ll get us some drinks” is one of those promises, and Atsumu leaves your side. He’s quickly replaced by one of those roaming creatures. “You here alone?” He’s much too close to your liking. “Actually I-” “You’re beautiful. Absolutely stunning. I’m Shugo-” “Meian!” The voice of your companion startles you with its sudden proximity, but also brings comfort. As soon as the drink is passed in your hand, you feel his touch on the small of your back. “Oh, I didn’t know you two were-” “We’re not.” “We’re friends.” Both of your replies come immediately. Meian straightens up and smiles. “So, you wouldn’t mind if I went for her?” “Not like I have any right to stop ya.” Miya says calmly, but you can feel his whole body tense up against yours.

“Alright everyone, we’d like to make a toast…” Clinking of glasses interrupts your surprisingly pleasant conversation with the MSBY captain, but soon enough he’s back to flooding you with questions. Atsumu walks away to join his other teammates. “Please excuse me.” You don’t even look at the male next to you, focused only on catching up with the blond friend. His questioning gaze burns a hole at the side of your head. “I came here with you.” “Is that the only reason?” Your eyes meet and you give him a lopsided grin. “Nah, you’re much hotter.” He stands a little taller, visibly more confident, fuller of himself. His hand finds its way to your hip and he pulls you a little closer.

Next two hours are spent on the dance floor, countless people already pulling you back before you even step outside of the designated area. You’re currently trapped in the arms of none other than Bokuto Koutarou, and you could swear you were swayed by the sheer force of his alone. But you don’t mind, his energy of a nuclear reactor and megawatt smile fully compensate for any inconveniences. The song comes to an end however, and you quickly follow him back to the table. “Ya don’t wanna dance anymore?” Atsumu asks when you settle in your chair, looking for something to replenish your energy. “Why?” “Ya looked so happy on the dance floor. And yet, yer sittin’ here now.” “Were you watching me this closely?” His ears fire up like Christmas lights. “I do.” “Huh?” “I do wanna dance.” For a moment you’re both just staring at each other in silence. Then you notice gears turning slowly in his head, and, at the moment of realisation, a light bulb. “May I please have this dance?” He holds a hand out, and you place yours in it. Atsumu leads you towards the swaying crowd, and then pulls you close. So close, that your bodies could merge. “And the next one too.” He purrs in your ear.

Miya’s breath on your skin is hot and distracting. Does he feel you shiver every time he exhales on your neck? He must, you conclude, since his palm is resting on your bare back. “Ya smell so good…” The whisper caresses your ear, his lips so close, yet so far. “Mmm… you too.” And those lips curl up.

It’s not just this dance. And not just the next one either. Many dances later and you’re still glued to his body, surrounded by a muscular arm, and one hand still in his. The other one playing mindlessly with his undercut. “Looks like Meian found someone to take home t’night.” “Hmm? Did you?” You pull a strand of his hair and lightly scratch his nape. “Do that again and I might get dangerous.” “Maybe I like doing dangerous things?” There’s a movement near your thigh, and you both hope those words carry a promise.

It’s well into the night and people start leaving, but it seems like the blonde is still not ready to let you out of his embrace. You lean your head on his shoulder, forehead right under his jaw, and let him rock you gently to the slow music. With eyes closed, breathing in his scent, it feels almost as if you two were the only people here. “Are ya tired?” You only purr in response. “Lessgo home then. Wanna stay at mine?” “Oya?” “I-i-it’s… not whatcha think… A won’t… won’t touch ya.” “But if you won’t, then what’s the point?” He freezes, agape, and you wonder how the hell someone so hot can become so flustered. “But seriously, I don’t have a change of clothes” which is a lie, because you do have spare panties in your tiny purse “or cosmetics, or-” “I’ll give ya somethin’ to sleep in.”

The door behind you closes with a quiet click. God, it feels so good to finally, finally take these heels off. You put your purse on a drawer right next to the door, and proceed to take your earrings off, placing them neatly in a tiny pouch. “Tsumu? Could you help me with the necklace?” He doesn’t say anything, instead coming behind you and trying to unclasp the piece of jewelry. Trying, because his hands shake. You take a sneak peek at him through the mirror, at his focused face and slightly poked tongue. He’s so adorable. In the meantime you reach to your hair and start removing the pins, but soon your hands are pulled away and replaced with his. It’s surprising but endearing how gentle this giant man can be. You close your eyes and just enjoy the moment, as your strands tickle your nape one by one. And then something hot and wet tickles your neck, right below your ear. Oh. Oh. “A… ‘m sorry, a didn’t mean to…” Nononono, come back here. You grab his tie and pull him down to a kiss, a searing clash of lips, slowly beginning to move against one another. One of his hands caresses your back, right under the edge of your dress, the other one pulls your hair gently making you gasp. His tongue slides along your lips painfully slowly, and you chase it with yours until the tips meet. The feeling is electrifying, sending shivers through your whole body.

Undressing Miya Atsumu is similar to unwrapping a Christmas present you’ve been waiting for for months. Button after button, you reveal more and more of his heavenly sculpted chest and stomach, your lips following the hands. He loves it, the feeling of your wet muscle soothing the bites drives him crazy, little purrs he lets out make his chest vibrate. It’s almost unbearable. He decides he can’t take it anymore when you hook your fingers under his pants and start unzipping them, grazing his cock. He pulls you close, sliding your dress off of you, and letting it pool at your feet. And then drags you to the bathroom, where he rids both of you of your underwear. The man enters the shower, extending his hand to you, and you grab it by instinct, before being pulled right under the stream of steamy water. “‘Tsumu, I’m gonna look like a panda!” “Eh? But pandas are cute tho?” “I’d rather look hot right now” He laughs boyishly, almost innocently, as he pumps some of his face wash and rubs it gently all over your features. His calloused fingertips massage your forehead and temples, while thumbs work on your chin and nose. It fills you with millions of bubbles, cotton candy surrounding your heart as fluffy as the foam. “‘Tsumu?” “Mmm?” “Kiss me.” And he does. At first it’s slow and sweet, but as your hands wash away the evening from the skin, there’s more hunger, more passion. Atsumu pulls and lifts you, throwing you over his shoulder as he walks out of the bathroom. “‘Tsumuuuu! The towels! We’re NOT sleeping in a wet bed!” “Who said anything about sleepin’, princess?”

Idiot.

Bonus scene: “Good morning sunshine.”

He whispers against your forehead after your lashes tickle his neck. His palms embrace your cheeks, and his lips on yours are as soft as summer rain. Pecks become open mouthed kisses, invitations and promises of summer heat. Breaths and sighs remind you of a seaside breeze, carrying the freshness of waves and hotness of sand. Your hands are roaming in search of a buried treasure, but no matter how much they find, it’s not enough. It’s never enough. His mouth ghost over the shells of your ears, spilling words smooth and shiny like pearls, while fingers trail new paths under the veil of your shirt. They discover new lands, gliding along the skin, making it bloom in tiny goosebumps wherever they touch. Kisses and licks flow at the surface of your neck, sealing and sucking over sensitive spots, painting them in pinks, reds, and purples. Big palms cover the hills of your breasts, thumbs sweep over the nipples so gently, that you’re not even sure if you imagined it.

Your naked body shivers underneath his, and arches into his warm embrace, as his lips press silent praises into your skin. You open your eyes, and you don’t know which is brighter - the sunshine pouring through the windows, or the sunshine of his hair. You can touch his hair though. So you do, and the soft rivers of gold cascade and tickle in between your fingers. Atsumu raises his gaze and smiles against your skin, lighting up your heart.

Reaching your heat, he pulls the strings of your pleasure with each kiss, each flick of his tongue, and you sing the ballad he composes. In this concert you’re the star, you’re the diva, and he’s merely there to worship you, to accompany your voice, to encourage and appreciate. He’s guiding you through the quiet breathy parts, not much louder than a whisper. He’s caressing the keys, adding more passion, more force, more depth, eliciting notes reaching higher, pushing you through a crescendo, rapidly, lovingly, until you’re nothing but an effusion of pleads and cries of his name.

“Atsumu, come back to me.” You breathe out.

And he’s walking the path again, kissing the ground he steps on, coming back to where he belongs, where he wants to belong. Your eyes meet when he glides into you, slowly, carefully, as if any sharp movement would shatter you and this moment. Atsumu nibbles at your lips and you let him in, let his tongue dance with yours, as your fingers intertwine.

One more push joins your hips, and you both let out a breathy sigh. He pulls back and rolls back in, making sure you feel all the veins, until his tip kisses your cervix. And again. And once more.

“Ah… Tsumu…” And he knows he’s lost.

“God, yer so beautiful.”

You’re sinking in his eyes like molten chocolate, and the whole world ceases to exist. There’s only you and him, and the flame spilling from where you’re joined, overtaking your bodies, minds, and senses. It’s too much, it wells up in your eyes and overspills, and he’s quick to brush it away. A kiss is placed on your temple and travels down your cheek and onto your neck. With a free hand you rub mindless patterns on his back, scrape at his nape, while his roams down along your skin, adorning all the curves.

You moan into his shoulder at the sudden touch. He only grazes your clit and you’re fluttering, pulling him deeper inside of you. The movement is slow, as slow as the roll of his hips, as the drag of his tongue on your throat. But it spreads like a wildfire, floods your mind in waves until everything is drowned in a white haze and explodes in a million stars.

“Come with me”

And he does. He paints his own milky way inside of you, releasing galaxies upon galaxies until he pours everything he has, until he’s empty and you’re full. He does, because he would follow you anywhere.

[sid471]

An OBJECTIVE look at James Ironwood

A much needed TL;DR: Ironwood’s story is sad. But it doesn’t excuse his actions just cause we’ve known him longer.

So I’ve made it.... abundantly clear on many many posts that ever since the end of volume 7 and into volume 8, I’ve hated General James Ironwood. I’ve made SOME posts “throwing him a bone” but I usually end up still emphasizing his flaws. So... Here’s a post where I DON’T focus solely on his flaws. Here’s a look at Ironwood’s actions from his introduction in volume 2, to now. And I’ll try to be as, well, objective as possible.

So James’ first appearance is in episode 2 of Volume 2 where he talks to Ozpin and, briefly, Glynda. He clearly has some history with Glynda, maybe a romantic relationship that I personally support 😗... Well I mean not NOW but I did. So Ironwood seems to be a bit of a 3rd wheel to Oz and Glynda, Glynda dismissing him and his compliment and Oz not being PARTICULARLY happy with him and his army’s presence in Vale and after a bit of arguing, James says the infamous line, that’s even quoted in his theme track, “Do you honestly believe your children can win a war?” James bringing his army to Vale, and then later going behind Oz’s back to the Vale counsel to get permission to protect the kingdom, and also get Ozpin in the Counsel’s bad graces? He... meant well. But it was still a betrayal of Ozpin’s trust. Which is ironic considering trust is Ironwood’s whole... thing.

And it also tells us something interesting. He UNDERESTIMATES the capabilities and potential of humans. I know that may sound a bit like I’m reaching but think about it, Atlas mostly sends soldier bots to take care of Grimm attacks instead of humans. And even when he DOES send human soldiers, they rely on surprise attacks to get the job done, like the Ace Ops arresting RWBY and friends at the beginning of Volume 7. And when they DON’T have surprise attacks, Atlas’ huntsman lose. The Ace Ops lost to RWBY, they basically lost to Penny in a 1v4 fight, which Harriet admits in saying “Good work would’ve been capturing Penny.” So yeah they lost, Clover lost to Tyrian and Qrow, which I know is a different scenario but still if he were among the best of the best he would’ve either recognized the bigger threat in Tyrian, or would’ve been able to hold them both off, or, 3rd option, would’ve retreated and let Qrow and Tyrian have it out then come back to arrest them both, or the remaining one considering Qrow vs Tyrian, when we get it again, is GONNA end in a death. Fair Game bias aside, everyone blames Qrow but Clover also could’ve been smarter in his final moments. 

In fact EVERY major Atlesian we’ve seen has lost a fight at least once. Winter lost to Qrow in Volume 3, if you count that AS a fight, and Cinder in Volume 7, Ace Ops lost to RWBY and Penny, Clover, as mentioned, lost to Tyrian and Qrow, Watts lost to Ironwood, and Weiss has, notoriously, lost a lot of fights but among the first was against Banesaw, the White fang lieutenant in Volume 2, and most recently, Rhodes lost to Cinder, if you count him. Whyyyy? I’m personally of the belief that it’s because of Atlas’ over reliance on its tech, and I know I’m not the only who thinks this 😗. Atlas has the best Tech on remnant and can easily create robosoldiers or mechs to protect the pilot while also allowing the pilot to still fight. What use is training humans to fight when they have mechs and robots to do it for them? 

Phew. That was a little off topic. I’m sorry, anyway, so in volume 3, James brings Penny to Vale to participate in the Vytal festival which, speaking of trust, he didn’t tell anyone about. I understand not making it public knowledge. Soldier bots are one thing but a robot that looks like a little girl? I don’t think that woulda sat right with people. So, yeah not making it general knowledge, makes sense. But not trusting your 3 closest allies, and FRIENDS, in Oz, Glynda, and Qrow? Like Glynda said, it’s time to stop talking about trust and start showing it. That aside, things go decently well. No DIRECT signs of any conflict *looks at Cinder* and the festival goes well until the one on one finals. Yang attacking a “defenseless” student, in James’ mind, is horrible yes, but people’ll move past it, especially cause he disqualified her. But then shortly after that, Pyrrha, Ozpin’s chosen one for the Fall Maiden’s power, dismembers Penny on national TV. That is a huge blow for both the festival and him personally.

Continuing with Volume 3, while he’s calling for reinforcements, the robosoldiers that’re in his plane with him are hacked and cause him to crash land. Also a hit to him personally, HE ordered these be created and the fact that they were so easily turned against him and the people he swore to protect? Yeah... Kinda get it. Although, something else interesting in Volume 3, when he DOES rendezvous with Qrow and Glynda, Qrow immediately turns his sword into Scythe form for the first time in the show. And James’ immediate reaction? “Qrow! This wasn’t my doing!” and preparing his gun for a fight, before turning around and realizing that Qrow actually just saved him from a Griffon. This is........ interesting. Why would he assume a colleague he’s worked with for so long would suddenly be turning on him? I dunno. Just seems a little... paranoid wouldn’t ya say?

Volume 4, we see a new side of James. We see that he cares for Weiss, at least somewhat. More than Jacques, but granted a squirrel cares more about the Schneeblings than Jacques. But yeah, James has some pretty sweet moments with Weiss in volume 4, standing up for her at Jacques’ party, offering her a place at Atlas academy, he’s a pretty stand up guy to Weiss. But, big picture? This volume shows the signs of his paranoia being something serious. He completely shuts down Atlas. In his own words, “No one in. No one out. Not without the Counsel’s permission.” now, he knows about Salem. But he doesn’t know what she’s CAPABLE of, as implied by Qrow last volume. So, from James’ perspective, this DOES seem like the safest course of action. But this is exactly what Salem wants. Separation. Anxiety. Paranoia. FUEL for the Grimm. And this is the first sign of a common theme of James inadvertently playing into Salem’s hands.

Jumping to Volume 7, we don’t see him in 5 or 6 😗, James is still hella, HELLA paranoid, but he’s still happy to see Qrow and happy to have new allies. Now this is where we get a little dicey because volume 7 is a.......... divisive volume 😓. I’m gonna talk about JAMES’ perspective of events. Not necessarily my thoughts because... well... I’ve done that already lol. Many times 😓. So JAMES’ perspective on Volume 7. James sent the Ace Ops to investigate a stolen air ship and arrest the ones responsible for... ya know... stealing the air ship. So the Ace Ops do. And then they go back and take them to James’ office, and it’s the general’s old friend Qrow and his niece’s team and her friends, and a mysterious young man. We can see that James is happy to see Qrow, especially cause of the hug :3, and he’s especially happy to see Oscar, the new Ozpin. He trains Ruby and her friends with his Ace Ops, and allows Winter to help Weiss. And he DOES start to relax more. He starts to, dare I say it, let loose. He allows some lenience, he lets RWBY have the night off. Ruby going to Robyn’s celebration, Yang and Blake going on a double date with Flynt and Neon, and let’s the boys and Weiss have a movie night. He even gives RWBY and their friends their huntsman licenses. These are really great things to do :3

But where things start to crumble is after he announces that Amity is ready, which is a whole speech full of half truths, that he didn’t tell any of his allies about once again, to lure out Watts. It works, they fight, he wins, and we see THIS face.

This is a man who is completely CONTENT. He is happy in this moment. He’s arrested a man who’s always, by his own admission, been a pain in the ass, he has Clover, Qrow, and Robyn on the way back with Tyrian Callows, everything is great right now. He KNOWS that Ruby and her friends lied to him because Oscar told him, but he can sort that out with an honest conversation right? In my opinion, THIS screenshot is Ironwood’s last GOOD moment in the series. That thought process of everything is great goes to shit when he sees the Black Queen piece that Cinder left expressly to fuck with his head. And THEN he gets irrational and, once again, plays into Salem’s hands. He directly ORDERS the divide of the people. He plans to abandon Mantle, leaving them to die in the process, and he plans to completely sever Atlas from all of Remnant basically by launching it into the atmosphere to keep the Vault safe. That only ACTUALLY accomplishes one thing, being keeping the vault, which IS important. But it isn’t more important than keeping the people, ALL of the people, calm and prepared to face this threat, like he did at Beacon. He should have remained calm, like an experienced military official should, and made an announcement to all of Atlas and Mantle saying kind of what he did in Volume 3. “Grimm are all over the kingdom. You can either stay and protect your kingdom, or save yourself. No one will fault you if you leave.” 

Ironwood has a thing with fear. He doesn’t want to admit he’s afraid of Salem. As evidenced both times he’s shot someone....... interesting 😓. In the last episode of Volume 7, The Enemy of Trust, this exchange happens. Ironwood: You still think I'm afraid? Oscar: We all are. It's what we do in our fear that reveals--Ironwood: That's easy for you to say!

And then later, in the first episode of Volume 8 Divide, he shoots and kills Sleet once he says... Well... His last words “And what’s this about martial law? Have you lost your damn mind?! Are you that scared of what-- “ And notice, Ironwood shoots after Sleet goes to say “Are you that scared of what might happen?” And he IS right about one thing. It IS easy for Oscar to say “It’s what we do in our fear.” Because Oscar is child who can AFFORD to be afraid. James doesn’t have the luxury. He’s denying his fear because he’s the general. He’s James Ironwood. He can’t AFFORD to be afraid. If he’s afraid, everyone is going to be afraid. And, well, he can’t have that. That would attract the Grimm. He thinks he HAS to have a level head at all times for the sake of the kingdom. But James even generals in the military have feelings.... and sometimes need therapy to talk through some shit 😶. But... well... Maybe too late for that 😶😓.

In conclusion: James Ironwood is indeed a tragic character. A character who has taken A LOT of blows. A character who has always been paranoid. ALWAYS been ready for an attack. But even though he’s always been ready, he still wasn’t PREPARED. He wasn’t prepared for the sheer strength and AMOUNT of Salem’s forces. If he was more calm and more rational, he could have prepared better. He could have had Mantle and Atlas united against Salem, and that’s what can beat Salem, like Ruby said. James Ironwood is a tragic character, he has had it rough. But that doesn’t mean we should overlook his OBJECTIVELY horrible actions through out these last 2 volumes. Like ya know... Murder.

Phew .-. This is DEFINITELY my longest post. This better get attention I didn’t do all this for nothing >_>

[myelocin]

REQ #3, #4, & #5 | STORIES IN PASSING

synopsis:

REQ #3 |@/anon | Sharing an empty cafe with a stranger as you silently bond over strawberry shortcake, rainy weather, and the train schedules may have its perks after all.

REQ #4 | @thatnikkixx​ | There was something about mornings that you loved, but can’t quite recall a reason why. 

REQ #5 |@/anon 🍄 | Bus rides, strangers, the setting sun and conversations must mean something? Right?

Characters: Kuroo Tetsurou, Iwaizumi Hajime, Miya Atsumu, You

Genre/Warnings: Fluff

Kuroo Tetsurou | req #3 | 3:06 AM, 2 blocks away from the station

Waiting out a rainstorm at a café to catch the first train in the morning wasn’t exactly your ideal schedule, but you suppose it couldn’t have been too bad.

Empty café, good food, your ideal music, chill atmosphere, and a good book all counted as good points by your standards.

About two hours before the first train runs, the rain outside is still pouring when a man rushes in and heaves a sigh of relief when he realizes the café’s still open. It was a little awkward, for the first few moments at least. His eyes scanned the vicinity of the café, nodding to himself because he must have thought it was empty before letting himself stretch and yawn—only to awkwardly pause when his eyes meet yours.

You offer a laugh as a response to his rigid form and shoot him a wave. He mumbles something about catching up on “late night work”, before returning your acknowledgement with a wave of his own and a sheepish smile.

The rest of the two hours fly by in a series of stolen glances, airy laughs and simultaneously blanking out as you both stare at the clear doors and watch the rain hit and slide back down to the pavement.

Also within those two hours, you notice he orders the same slice of strawberry shortcake as you do paired with two cups of coffee you can’t quite remember the name of. Though, based on the color of the liquid and the smell that permeated the air, you would guess it’s quite a strong one.

Then again, it looks like he needed it though, especially as he flipped through the various sheets of paper he sprawled out on the table he was occupying while periodically typing something in his laptop as well.

It felt nice; the atmosphere felt nice. The words on the pages of your book eventually blended together until it became a scene vivid in her head as the distant clacking of the stranger’s keyboard remains as constant as the pen scratches on his notes.

Then, when the rain hushed into a silence and the first streaks of light glided on glass the alarm on your phone rang simultaneous to the one in his. You look at each other.

“First train?” he asks and you laugh out a yes as you shut your book and arrange your things.

“I’ll walk you there,” he says again, then gathers his belongings sprawled out on the table.

“Here,” you offer as you make your way to his table and begin stacking the papers closest to you, “I’ll help.”

He bows his head slightly in thanks before zipping his bag close and following you to the door.

“I noticed the book you were reading,” he says.

You face him, then reply, “Is that so?” and turn the corner with him as the train station comes into view.

“I also noticed you’re more of a sweet tooth, too,” he laughs, “not that it’s a bad thing, though.”

The two of you swipe your IC cards on the entrance of the station. “You’re awfully observant,” you pause and look at him. He grins and faces you, holding out his hand. “Kuroo Tetsurou”

“(Y/n),” you reply, shaking his hand before signaling to the left, “Platform 2?”

“Going the other way,” he replies, then shoves his hands in his pockets.

“See you around?” you offer as you turn and he shoots a smile your way.

“Maybe when we get caught in the rain again,” he laughs out waving as he watches you turn.

You make your way down the platform smiling—you hope there’s forecast for rain. On Platform 1,

Tetsurou steps on the train and smiles when he sees a promotional ad for strawberry shortcake on his phone screen—then smiles even wider when he sees the rainy forecast predicted for the rest of the week.

-

Iwaizumi Hajime| req # 4 | For Nikki | 7am, outside your neighborhood

There’s always something in the mornings that has you feeling everything good that you can’t quite place your finger on. By now, your morning routine has mostly been ingrained to your body in a way that it feels as natural as taking a breath. It takes nothing more than a quick stretch, trip to the bathroom and you’re out the door with your playlist shuffling to some good music in your ear.

Maybe it’s the way the air feels like, you think to yourself as you jog and cover the first few blocks of your route. Morning air feels a lot more crisp in the mornings—almost like the feel of fresh linen from your laundry.  The quiet in the air makes the collision of your feet against the pavement a bit more audible against the low volume of music in your headphones.

You see him when you round the corner and spot the park you always take the time to cool off at. He looks cute, you conclude as you slow your jog to a walk.

Spiked short hair, dry fit tee, athletic shorts and a wild smile etched on a sun kissed face as he ran circles around the track with his dog in tow.

He spots you as you make your way closer to the both of them, the path he’s taking coincidentally the one you happen to be going to.

“Morning,” he says and slows his pace to match with yours. You offer him a smile and move to take off your earbuds and hook them around your ear instead.

“Morning,” you reply and laugh as his dog walks in the space between the two of you and nudges at your leg.

You lean down and pat the head when the stranger next to you opens his mouth to chastise. “Sorry about that,” he says, “we’re new around the neighborhood and she gets pretty excited around new people.”

“All good,” you reassure.

“(Y/n),” you begin and hold out your hand smiling as he takes yours in his to shake before introducing himself as Hajime.

“Pretty empty around here in the mornings so you probably won’t see that many people out this early.”

“Other than you?” he says and you laugh out your agreement.

“The morning hits different, though, so I can’t blame you,” he says as the two of you finally match your pace with a slow walk. You turn to face him as he closes his eyes briefly and inhales.

“Good air, too,” he adds and you nod, grinning when he looks at you.

His eyes are green, like the leaves the morning dewdrops rest on before the sun carries them away. The way he’s smiling has you feeling tingly too: like the same feeling you get when you first crack your eyes open and roll around sheets still warm with lingering sleep.

“Well, I’m turning this way,” he says when the sidewalk eventually forks and you realize you’re going the opposite way.

“Guess I’ll be seeing you around,” you say and wave as he does the same.

You’re halfway down your side of the street when you turn the volume of your music back up and quicken your pace until you’re jogging again. Mornings are great, you decide.

There wasn’t really much of a reason that stood out to you with why you loved it so much, but when you think about meeting Hajime again, you think that maybe he can be one of those reasons.

 -

Miya Atsumu | req # 5 | For 🍄 anon | Bus ride home, 17:38

“This seat taken?” was a weird thing for him to ask when he boards the bus at 17:38  and looks around the clearly empty seats (save yours) in the bus.

Despite that, he walks forward, hands gripping the edges of each seat as the vehicle rolls to gain momentum and takes a seat right in front of you.

You continue to pay attention to him, or at least continue to do so through a peripheral angle before turning to face him as he turns his body to the side facing the window so he could face you.

“Hi,” he says and you blink in response as the music from your headphones continue to fill the silence.

“Hi?” you respond in question, as you take out one earbud and look behind you to make sure his greeting wasn’t misdirected. A quick glance around the vehicle confirmed that you were the only two passengers, so you turn back to face him with a quirk of the brow.

“I was talking to ya,” he says again and you nod slowly, not exactly comprehending what he’s trying to get at.

“Come here often?” he says and you shake your head, trying to distract your thoughts so you wouldn’t laugh at his question.

“This is a bus,” you reply and turn your head back to face the window in hopes he’d drop the conversation.

Though of course, he doesn’t because he’s takes your cue and faces the window again all the while laughing at your response.

“What are ya listenin’ to?” he says again and just like that conversation starts. Neither of you are even facing each other as you continue to talk about the people and signs you observe out the window as the bus moves and stops every once in a while. Ten minutes into the conversation you learn that his name is Miya Atsumu and that he’s headed to meet up with his twin brother at an Onigiri shop the latter owns.

Most of the time you’re nodding your head and only giving a few hums as a reply, but you suppose it wasn’t so bad; you enjoy how his accent always finds a way into his speech no matter how hard he tried to suppress it. The city and the lighting when golden hour dips and the skies slowly turns blue adds to the ambiance that has you feeling like you’re in a movie.

Atsumu’s fleeting comments replace the music in your ear and you think it fits. Buildings and scenery fly by as he stumbles on his sentences and laughs at the error of his words. When he asks you questions about your day, he listens as intently as he looks at you.

And for a stranger you just met, you suppose it’s kind of nice.

The bus rolls to a stop and he stands up just as you do, shrugging his shoulders and tucking his hands in his pockets as he follows you out into the street.

“This your stop too?” you laugh when you’re finally standing face to face on the sidewalk.

“Actually no,” he confesses and laughs out loud when your expression morphs into confusion. Eventually, his eyes crinkle with his smile when he waves off your attempt to respond.

“You were talkin’ and I hate to cut ya off since it took me that much work for you to join in the conversation.”

“Unbelievable,” you say and turn to walk the opposite direction. This was becoming a little too cliché for you to believe.

You can hear him laugh behind you and call out your name, then saying, “If I meet ya’ on the bus again by chance you have to tell me stories this time!”

Atsumu’s laughing again when you throw a peace sign as a response and keep walking further away from him as you bite back a laugh.

You don’t turn around; you’re more than certain you’ll be seeing him around, anyway.

[snkpolls]

SnK Episode 71 Poll Results (for Manga Readers)

The poll closed with 176 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Manga Readers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll, click here.

--

RATE THE EPISODE 172 responses

This week’s episode keeps up the high mark of the previous episodes, with 98.8% of respondents giving the episode a score of 3 or higher (overwhelmingly 4s and 5s). Nice!

It was aight. 

It's cool

8.5/10 

great!

Very rocky imo in terms of animation, as the cracks are beginning to show but overall look like the backgrounds and music choices were top tier.

Really good episode, I was disappointed in the jacket scene but it’s not the end of the world

loved it

It was overall a great episode I loved it. 

🔥🔥🔥

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING MOMENTS WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 174 responses

46.6% of respondents overall were most excited to see Eren meeting up with Floch and the others, with 23.6% of those respondents favoring the scene of Eren putting on his jacket specifically. 12.1% most enjoyed seeing the angry citizens shouting out the Survey Corps motto. 9.8% were thrilled to see Zackley’s death animated. 8% were psyched to see Pieck in disguise at the end, and 6.9% most enjoyed the moment where Hitch caught Armin red-handed trying to touch Annie’s crystal.

YOUR REACTION TO EREN PUTTING ON HIS JACKET? 171 responses

Eren putting on his jacket was a scene many obsessed over when it first appeared on page and many looked forward to seeing it animated. Most of the response choices were focused on various forms of swooning over Eren and his abs. Some (13.5%) stated that they didn’t really understand the dramatism and some others (another 13.5%) simply stated that they did not see much in Eren outright. We’ve gotten a lot of write-ins about comparisons to the pre-animated trailer shot of said scene. More on that in a later question. 

i mean i understand the thirst, but eh

Prefer manga :/

The trailer did it better 

Meh. Better in the trailer and the manga.

TF was that? Well it's still good in its own way. 

YES! YES! YES! YES! Y E S! 

both "HOOOOOLYYYYYY 😳" and "so dramatic and for what?"

Trailer/Manga shot was way better

Manga shot/trailer version are way better. Dissapointed

Trailer looked better :(

Mappa only made Reiner thicc, why Eren is so frain he has 1,85! He is so strong in the manga

I don't care

Manbun.........👀

He can have my babies anytime 😌💅🏻

Not as sexy as advertised; that’s okay, though.

That scene looked weird af ngl. It looked better in the trailer 😔

Me after THAT eren scene: 🤰🏻🤰🏻🤰🏻

Eren makes my dick rise

ON A SCALE OF 1-5, HOW HAPPY ARE YOU NOW THAT WE APPEAR TO BE GOING BACK TO LEVI AND ZEKE’S PERSPECTIVE NEXT WEEK FOR A BIT? 171 responses

Levi and Zeke’s chemistry has been the subject of praise for many, so it’s no wonder that 87.1% of respondents are rather excited to get back to seeing Levi and Zeke again. Wow!

ARE ARMIN’S FEELINGS FOR ANNIE GENUINELY HIS OWN? 173 responses

Armin’s feelings for Annie have been looked at under a microscope for a variety of reasons, which is why we’re asking if you believe that his feelings for her are genuine. A plurality, 49.1% think that they’re a mixture of his feelings for her, as well Bertolt’s. Slightly less (30.6%) believe that Armin’s feelings for her existed since before any of the recent developments. Only a select few believe that he either became interested in her post-timeskip or that his feelings are solely influenced by Bertolt. One person doesn’t think Armin has any feelings for Annie at all. And a few others just don’t care.

Bertmin simping for Annie and that apparently being enough for her to start considering him as boyfriend material is the fucking worst. I hate this shit. It's made me like both characters considerably less.

Uhh Armin where ya reaching?! 

He was interested with her even before it was revealed she was the Female Titan and now that he has Bertholdt's memories, he sympathizes with her too and wants to understand her more so maybe Bert's memories intensified his feelings

His feelings for Annie are mostly his own. Bert's feelings might be in there a little, but the feelings are still Armin's.

CONTINUITY ALERT! EREN HAS HIS HAIR UP IN A BUN IN YELENA’S FLASHBACK. THOUGHTS? 173 responses

Uh-oh, Eren’s hairstyle moment. It would appear that there might be a continuity error with Yelena’s flashback and whatever that means for the timeline. A slight plurality (37%) didn’t seem to care about this, actually. But 33.5% appeared to believe that it was a mistake on MAPPA’s part that might get fixed in the BluRay version of the episode. 16.8% also believe that it was a mistake, but don’t believe it’ll get fixed. 9.8% think that it’s actually a retcon and that Eren’ll have the man bun when Chapter 123 gets adapted in Final Season Part 2.  

I hope it gets fixed because it's bugging me.

I really wish it was like how it was in the manga. Eren looks good with his hair down in his 16-17-year-old phase. Despite the error, it wasn't a deal breaker for the episode.

He looks totally gorgeous with his hair up in a bun, please let this mistake be

Honestly I don’t mind it. It looks great either way.

Eren in a manbun is a total win for me!

WHICH PIECES OF INFORMATION MISSING FROM YELENA’S ADMISSION IN THE MANGA DO YOU WISH WOULD HAVE BEEN INCLUDED IN THE ADAPTATION? 163 responses

As with almost all dialogue-heavy chapters in this series, there are cuts. In this episode, these cuts mostly affected the conversation between Yelena and Pixis. The most yearned for cut material was Yelena never telling Eren to go along with the plan and Yelena saying that she used Floch as a “go-between” between her and Eren. Others also noted missing lines about Yelena wanting Eren to stand up for himself, Yelena stating that Zeke gave the volunteers a hopeful future and the idea that her and Eren came to quick agreement. The plurality (31.9%) however, didn’t seem to mind any cuts. 

WHAT ARE YOU OVERALL FEELINGS ABOUT SOME OR ALL OF THE AFOREMENTIONED DETAILS BEING CUT? 161 responses

There is often a sort of expectation to have everything (or almost every) line from the manga adapted in the anime, so it’s interesting to see how people react to that sort of stuff. An almost 50% of respondents stated that they didn’t really care about the cuts, whereas smaller handfuls of respondents stated that the cuts either took away from the characterization of the conversation, or from the context and timeline-building purposes. 

I'm not thrilled about the cuts, but I understand MAPPA can only fit so much in on each episode, so I'm okay with it

the yelena/volunteers plot has always been wonky and hard to follow

I don’t think it’s a problem, they need to cut certain things. 

i literally never notice but i agree that it makes it harder to piece things together 

Meh

It might seem for anime watchers that Yelena didnt do much, and Floch and Zeke that did the most part, in their own plans. Floch to betray and Zeke in predicting Eren wouldnt be on his side in some way. Yelena helped Zeke a lot to where he arrived in the rumbling 

All of the above

ZACKLEY WALKS OVER TO HIS TORTURE MACHINE IN THE ANIME BEFORE MIKASA ASKS WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO EREN, RATHER THAN GLANCE OVER AT IT AFTER HER QUESTION. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE CHANGE? 170 responses

There was a partially comedic insinuation in the manga that Zackley thought about strapping Eren to his “art piece”. The insinuation is possibly still there in the anime, but in a different form. So we asked how you felt about it. Slightly below a half (48.8%) stated that they thought the subtlety was still there. 18.8% thought the subtlety was lost with the small change and 8.8% believed the change made Zackley seem less unhinged. 21.8% really didn’t care at all. 

Why is this a question?

The glance was funny as fuck in the manga, but might have been awkward to pull of in the animation

They're blown up tho, does it even matter?

DID EREN KNOW ABOUT THE BOMB? 170 responses

Whether Eren truly knew about the bomb is a bit unclear to this day and with how it endangered Armin and Mikasa. A plurality (40%) believe he knew about the bomb, but did not know about his childhood friends meeting Zackley. Slightly less (30.6%) think that Eren did not know about either the bomb or AM meeting the Artist. A minority (7.1%) does believe that Eren knew about both the bomb and meeting and 21.8% simply aren’t sure!

Even if he didn’t know, he obviously doesn’t care either way.

THERE IS SOME DEBATE ABOUT WHETHER EREN’S JACKET SCENE WAS BETTER ANIMATED IN THE PROMOTIONAL VIDEO OR IN THE EPISODE ITSELF. WHICH DO YOU CHOOSE? 170 responses

Here we go… The elephant in the room… Which Eren abs scene did you prefer? The Promotional video or the actual episode? A somewhat slight majority (57.1%) seemed to like the version seen in the promotional video more than the episode itself versus the ones who preferred the episode’s style (42.9%).

THE EPISODE MARKS THE BEGINNING OF FLOCH’S ACTIONS AS THE VOICE OF THE YEAGERISTS. HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT IT? 170 responses

Floch has always been a controversial character and the developments seen post-time skip have not been any less debatable. You may floching love him or floching hate, but he’s here and he’s staying for a while. A plurality (48.8%) notes that although they may not personally be a fan of the character, they truly do appreciate the nuance his appearance gives to the story. Just over a quarter (25.3%) stated that as big fans of the character, they’re looking forward to all the screentime the Flochster will receive. In contrast, 20.6% despise the man and his questionable haircut and are also dreading the showcase he’ll soon receive.  

I hate Floch and will cheer again when he dies, but I enjoy his character.

I detest Floch but I'm not dreading all the screen time he'll take up.

Since he died in the manga, my hatred for him has cooled down somewhat now that I'm watching the anime.

I am once again asking for you to shut the fuck up, Floch.

WE KNOW NOW THAT EREN DID CONSPIRE WITH FLOCH TO BETRAY ZEKE TO ENACT THE RUMBLING. STILL, DO YOU BELIEVE HE DID IT BECAUSE HE HAS THE SAME BELIEFS AS FLOCH, OR WAS HE JUST USING FLOCH AND THE YEAGERISTS AS A MEANS TO AN END? 161 responses

An overwhelming amount of respondents (87.6%) stated that they believe Eren never truly saw eye to eye with Floch and his ideology and that Eren was simply using Floch as a means to an end. In contrast, 9.3% truly do think that Eren was ideologically similar to Floch and the “New Eldian Empire”. A select few thought you couldn’t just say one way or another. 

They both wanted to protect Paradis

DO YOU THINK IF THE YEAGERISTS, BESIDES FLOCH, KNEW ABOUT THE FULL SCALE RUMBLING BEFOREHAND THAT THEY WOULD WILLINGLY FOLLOW EREN? 167 responses

The majority (53.3%) feel that the Yeagerists would see a divide if they knew beforehand that Eren wanted to initiate the rumbling, with some sticking around for the cause and others possibly leaving because it’s too extreme. 25.1% believe that they all would have fully supported the rumbling in the name of their own survival. 15% believe that every Yeagerist already knew about the plan to commence the rumbling, and only 6% feel that they would most certainly have betrayed the Yeager brothers (and Floch) if they had known. 

I don’t know, this is a loaded question and I’m tired.

DO YOU THINK THAT, IF THE STORY ENDS PEACEFULLY, MIKASA WILL HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY IN HIZURU? 170 responses

While this plotline may not be going anywhere in the manga (or so it seems), the reminder of its existence is brought to light again as we revisit these older moments from the manga. 32.4% feel that Mikasa wouldn’t leave Paradis behind to start a life on Hizuru. 23.5% think that she wouldn’t leave Paradis behind, necessarily, but will still have a role to play in Hizuru. 21.2% think it doesn’t matter because Isayama has completely discarded (or forgotten) about this plotline. 12.4% don’t know what to predict (if anything) and only 8.2% believe that her future lies in Hizuru beyond the main storyline.

The last two options plus me not caring. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

hizuru is already rumbled, gone, but she will continue the azumabito clan in paradis

Is no one else gonna question Kiyomi's hair being sucked into her skull??? HELLO MA'AM???

Hizuru is likely flattened

WHICH SCENE FROM THE PREVIEW ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? 171 responses

Episode 72 has already broadcasted as of the completion of this poll. For scenes that were most anticipated, 35.7% were most looking forward to seeing Levi and Zeke’s interaction in the forest. 33.3% most looked forward to Niccolo leaning straight from Gabi’s mouth that she is Sasha’s killer. 18.7% highly anticipated the Blouses learning about Gabi killing Sasha, and 9.4% were looking forward to Gabi/Falco and the Blouses gathering at Niccolo’s restaurant. Only a small amount were looking forward to Niccolo protecting Jean and Connie from drinking the wine.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

Man the animation was gonky 

no levi </3

So many faces of Niles are weirds !

Let hange aloneeeeeeee and happy, please

I have no word for this, but I feeling good

Shit is getting really real now! 

Everyone talking about Eren’s abs and I just wanna say the music in that scene was amazing!

I loved how it was all neatly put together and fast moving

Armin looked so good. Homie walked from point A to B and i SCREAMED. Thank you. 

i wish they included eren's warhammer escape from the prison, besides that solid episode all around, the people chanting 'dedicate your hearts' gave me chills 

I can't stand Hitch at all but MAPPA made her really pretty. Re: The jacket scene The trailer version was pretty much identical to the manga panel. But I liked the version that made it into the final episode too. People have been so ridiculous about MAPPA ""ruining everything"" this season, they should stop watching if that's how they feel. I thought Eren looked great and found the sun shining on his abs funny. The scenery was better in the episode, imo. I hope they don't cut Jean's line about booze not caring about what race you are. Lmao

Meh. It's not bad of course, I just find the rythm weird and I don't really feel many emotions watching the episodes. And I was so thirsty for the jacket scene, and it turned out weird too.

Mappa pls stop drawing eren like shit he is gorgeous in the manga

MMGH SOON!! LET'S GOOOOOOO

You friccin moron, you just got zooked!

i miss eremin </3

Wish they had shown how eren used his titan powers to escape.

I'm so not looking forward to the controversy that's gonna be reignited during the EMA talk scene. I'm actually dreading it, but we'll finally get the Levi vs Beast Titan scene so I'll be fine

112 will destroy ships 

I felt the animation was flawless as usual but the script was kinda boring, I expected more of these aspects: -Yelena, it was bland with the cuts -Hange, they cut something I cant figure what in this Yeagerists coup act that turned her scenes a little bit lacking? Idk something -Again the soundtrack in the episodes is so silent. The only episode so far I liked the ost beyond the Opening and Closing themes is Reiner episode. I miss the melodrama of Witstudio osts

Eren putting his jacket on in slow-speed whilst talking at regular speed is fucking trippy

Just happy to see Hitch!

It was slow and mainly plot driven. I enjoyed it despite the changes.

goddamn is that a hella well-animated explosion

more abs please

Great episode. Really ridiculous how many people overreacted about the jacket scene. It's ok to perfer the way the trailer did it but to those who say Mappa is ruining the adaptation because of minor things like this, calm down. 

I wish the jacket scene was better But over all the ep is pretty good

Boring, but then again so was this phase in the manga.

I really like the VA they chose for Onyankopon! His voice is very warm and genuine, which suits his character well

The sunset was so aesthetically pleasing 

yoooo just read ch. 138 and im crying in da club :(

These MAPPA episodes have been a low point for me. I’m trying to enjoy them because I love this story but it feels like a chore.

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 161 responses

Thanks again to everyone who participated!

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Chapter three! I already skimmed through it and just. Holy fuck I’m falling in love with this series all over again, and this is just the opening arc, how the hell is this so good??? I’m genuinely just in awe and fuck is it making it hard to decide where to have a cut-off point for this chapter. I suppose we’ll just have to see what fate decides.

(Also, the temptation to just paste in all of the last three pages of the chapter is so incredibly strong, you don’t understand.)

[No. 3 - Entrance Exam]

We start off with some exposition: UA’s hero course is designed to give students all they need to go pro, and is the toughest and most popular hero course in the country, with only a 1 in 300 acceptance rate. Discounting the four slots that are recommendation students, that’s 36 slots a year, which is about…

Yeah. That’s a lotta applications, and that’s just for the hero course! 

Several alumni are mentioned: All Might, who declined the people’s choice award; Endeavor, who’s stopped more crimes than anyone else in recorded history; and Best Jeanist, who’s won the Best Jeanist award eight years running. (One of these things is not like the other~ One of these things just doesn’t belong~) The exposition suggests that graduating from UA is basically a requirement for becoming a great hero - something which we’ll learn soon enough isn’t quite true.

But yeah, Endeavor with the record for crime handling, even above All Might. Quite the impressive hero, though that face…

Not precisely reassuring.

So yeah, Izuku here mentions the date of the exam - February 26th. I figure that this has to be a Sunday, for the simple fact that Japan has a slightly different school schedule than us. Most notably: Japanese schools (some of them, anyways) have 5.5 day school weeks. Yes, that means the first half of Saturday can still be a school day. 

While I couldn’t confirm for sure whether this is more common among the higher end schools, I feel like a school like UA, with its ‘Plus Ultra’ motto, would definitely be a school to have a half-day (or even a full day) on Saturdays, and since they also have to accomodate for middle schools that have Saturday morning classes, I figure that it would make the most sense for UA to schedule this exam on a Sunday. 

The benefits of this, as we’ve already seen, is that we can then narrow down the timeline for the rest of the series, just based on that single, confirmed date. We know from the last chapter that the Sludge Villain had to happen on a Thursday or Friday of the first week of school (April 14th/15th), with the first training session two days later (the 16th/17th). But what this also gives us is when Izuku’s first year of UA starts, AND the possible years it could start on. 

Since we see the glowing baby is in a modern hospital, we can assume that’s correlated to about our times. Give it a few generations, and we can guess that we’re in the 2200s or 2300s for the current era. Based on that assumption, we get the following years that have February 26th on a Sunday:

23rd century potential years: 2204, 2209, 2215, 2226, 2232, 2237, 2243, 2254, 2260, 2265, 2271, 2282, 2288, 2293, 2299

24th century potential years: 2310, 2316, 2321, 2327, 2338, 2344, 2349, 2355, 2366, 2372, 2377, 2383, 2394, 2400

As a side note, when I got into the series, my brain weirdly latched onto the idea that this had to all be happening in the year 2317. I don’t know why I decided on that number, but that’s what I rolled with, and hilariously I could be RIGHT about the year the current manga arc is happening in, provided Izuku’s first year is in 2316. Sometimes you just know, ya know? I know at least one other friend made these calcs independently of me and chose to run with 2237, which is totally valid! Probably makes more sense to be in the 2200s, but there’s room depending on how much time one thinks has passed.

As for when Izuku’s high school school year starts, we know that Japanese schools start on the second Monday of April. Since we don’t know if this is a leap year or not, we’ll end up with two dates, but that’s fine!

Feb 26 (Sun) -> Feb 27 (Mon) -> March (6/5, 13/12, 20/19, 27/26) -> April (3/2, 10/9)

Therefore, Izuku’s first day of classes (not counting the orientation, which I’ve seen a few other timelines assume is on the Sunday before classes start) is April 10th (or the 9th if a leap year)! I know this is all in the future from this chapter, but still, I wanted to share this at some point and figured now was as good a time as always.

Math!

Sorry, I’ve just wanted to share this math I did for a while now, I put a lot of work into it and I am very proud of it. Let’s get back to the chapter.

So Izuku lives a 40 minute train ride away from UA, and has made it just in time for the exam. Apparently, this is only the practical portion? Or well, that’s the part that gets focused on in this chapter, with no mention of the paper exam. I would imagine they’d be the same day, though? But I suppose one can do whatever they like with it.

He’s standing there looking at the school, thinking about how he didn’t have a chance to test the power, while the other students head in-

Excuse me, Toga?? I know that hairstyle is just a bit off, but… ???

...right, anyways. Izuku is wondering whether the hair really did anything (also, it was apparently sour, which, ew.) Katsuki comes up behind him and tells him to move aside.

Truly a flattering image. Izuku panics a bit and greets him, but Katsuki just walks by without another word or gesture, leaving Izuku confused as he watches him head on into the building. The narrative notes that since the villain incident, Katsuki hadn’t bothered Izuku, while the unnamed characters in the background apparently recognize Katsuki from the ‘sludge’ incident (well, not shocked how the fandom held onto that name). 

Izuku notes that he’s gotta stop flinching instinctively, and then tries to hype himself up, noting that it’s not like before, and think about the past ten months while taking a wobbly step forward- and then tripping over himself.

I’m sorry Izuku just has so many fantastic faces in this chapter I am crying trying to limit myself to just a few. But yeah, that little derp as he realizes what’s happening is adorable, especially while Ochako gently sets him back on his feet. She mentions that it’s her quirk, and apologizes for using it, but that it’s a bad omen to trip and fall. (I wonder if that gets played with again during later parts of the series… will have to check to see.)

While Izuku freaks out over talking to a girl, Ochako notes that the exam is nerve-wracking, and then heads off while wishing both of them luck as Izuku stares after. 

This fucking kid. I love him so much. His flustered excitement gets him some weird looks from the others still outside.

We transition to a new character (Present Mic) who immediately shows off his performative side by calling for a ‘hey!’ which… is met with silence from the crowd. He doesn’t let this throw him off, instead letting them know that he’ll present the guidelines for the practical, followed with a ‘YEAH!’ that gets met with an even heavier silence.

Izuku and Katsuki are seated next to each other, with Izuku descending right into excited muttering over Present Mic and how he listens to his radio show every week. Also with the assumption that all the UA teachers are pro heroes, which I mean, true, but still. Katsuki tells Izuku to shut up.

Present Mic explains the test: ten minute long ‘mock cityscape maneuvers’, with the applicants split among seven arenas, labelled ‘A’ through ‘G’. With more than 10k applicants total, that’s about…

Yeah, more than 1500 per arena. Fucking hell, no wonder the robots deplete so quickly in only a few minutes. Also of interest:

“Bring along whatever you want.” So technically, if Izuku were able to procure the tech and training to handle the robots, there would be nothing keeping him from getting into UA quirkless… though I imagine any kid who gets in mostly on tech probably gets side-eyed… though if said kid made their OWN tech, they might also get an offer from the Support department.

(AU where Mei accidentally took the heroics exam and got a shitload of points, but she ended up taking the offer for Support instead despite setting the record for most points in said exam. Katsuki forever wants to fight her. Izuku and her are good friends.)

Also, another thing I love is how Katsuki just told Izuku to shut up a moment ago, and then:

He’s the one to initiate conversation on the details of the test, basically agreeing on the reasoning behind dividing up the students between arenas. Katsuki is annoyed at not being able to crush Izuku, which has Izuku awkwardly silent. 

Also mini-Mic.

Poor, poor Mic. He just wants audience participation. Anyways, he continues on to explain the points system, with the help of cute little Mario-themed silhouettes. There are three kinds of faux villains, with different points awarded for defeating each based on their difficulty levels. Also, attacking other examinees is prohibited!

A student (cough Tenya) raises their hand to ask a question, going on to note that the handout sheet appears to have four varieties of villain, and that such a blatant error (if it is one) reflects poorly on Japan’s top academy. He then spins around and points at Izuku, calling him out for his muttering and how distracting he’s been, and that ‘if this is some sort of game to you, then please leave immediately!’ 

Is that… Mineta seated behind Izuku? I can’t find another panel that disproves that theory, so. Whelp. If you ever for some reason want to have Izuku accidentally deal with the grape early, he’s right there. 

Anyways, Present Mic brings the convo back to the initial question/comment, noting that the fourth villain is worth zero points, and is more of an obstacle. He then brings up Super Mario Brothers, the old retro game, and compares the Zero Pointer to a thwomp. There’s one per site, serving as a gimmick that’ll rampage in close quarters. Tenya thanks Mic and apologizes for the interruption. 

And so we get our final words from Present Mic:

??? either he's referencing the original guy (which I think would be a misquote because I doubt OG Nap ever noted anything like that) or some French hero or the like who took on the name.

Discord offered this to me while putting together the post:

So there you have it. Tentatively confirmed.

Those EYES man, dude’s got the Rinnegan going on.

Honestly, I have to end on this panel just because of that last line from Present Mic. Like, look me in the eyes and tell me this isn’t the exact point to end on. 

The discord’s takeaway from this:

[baconpal]

talkin bout fuckig manga

hey it’s me, haven’t had internet for over a week and i’ve been sick and uni and blah blah blah time for a rant about manga

this time its about  "Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru", tl;dr, good manga read it idk

lots of bullshit below the cut

Before anything I say gets too confusing or I go off on an insane tangent, just know my recommendation is that you read "Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru". It's not very easy to find online since it has an official English release (which my recommendation extends far enough to suggest I might pick up in the future, just to have it, but I am very stingy), but there's an alright torrent of all the volumes on your local anime torrenting website, and is at the very least worth the trouble of reading as such. There is also an anime that gets better as it goes, but the manga is my primary recommendation. Beyond this point I'm not gonna give much regard to what I write, so get ready for anything, read the manga and see if you agree with me, or don't and see if I care:

BOUT THE ANIME: The SoreMachi anime is one of those rare comedy anime you find where the animation and overall production is just really extra the entire time. Hopefully you know what I mean because I won't really be able to explain it any other way, it's simply one of those shows where the jokes are decent and it's a fun time for the most part. Unfortunately, the anime makes a couple of critical missteps that kept me from getting far into it when I first tried watching it about a year ago, and in retrospect seem even less reasonable.

Starting with the good, as an adaptation it does a good job with most chapters it covers, it properly sources where each chapter comes from incase you intend to read the manga and skip around to catch up, and the anime adapts some sections to have additional jokes that fit very naturally in to the story. It also covers up some of those problems only manga can have like having a concert segment without any actual music involved, until they invent mp3-paper it's just something we'll have to live with. Translation work was pretty good (I watched the [WhyNot] release for those who care), which is extra important for something as difficult to translate as jokes from another language. The set of episodes they chose to end on was very good, and was expanded to be a lot more impactful in the anime. If it wasn't for the last episode being as strong as it was I may have given up on finding the manga when I saw it wasn't super easy to read online.

As for what the anime fails in, some episodes feature some really blatant over-acting that doesn't really help make characters believable, and there's this obnoxious gag that continues the whole where through where most scenes have a few seconds long line from what is essentially a forced mascot character, which usually mean nothing and only serve to harm the pacing of many episodes (there isn't even any sort of equivalent bit in the manga so I really don't know why they did it, most of the anime original jokes are pretty good so I just really don't get it). The biggest issue the anime faces is that the source material is about 140 chapters, while the anime is only able to cover 24 chapters. This comes with a LOT of problems, the first being what I'd call the "required reading". SoreMachi is not a 1-note simple comedy where you can skip to any chapter and be completely okay; There are many small but meaningful subplots lying beneath, and characters have a fair bit of development throughout. What this means for the anime is that the first 3-4 episodes are just the first few chapters of the manga, which are a bit rough and not as good as the majority of the work, which is true of a lot of comics (god fuck I promise there will be more than a first chapter of my comic I promise it'll get better fuck). In terms of the anime by itself, I'd say episode 1 is decent, 2 is middling, and by 3/4 their still taking a while to introduce members of the cast, and I didn't immediately want to finish it. I put the show down for a long time until my internet started dying and I wanted to watch something fun. Slapping it back on at episode 5 I immediately had a great time and watched the rest of the show pretty soon after. While I understand the reasoning behind doing this, the anime does not pay off this structure, as beyond the first few episodes, the chapters start being presented out of release order and out of chronological order, kind of destroying any consistent throughline. This decision in and of itself isn't the worst, since the comic isn't always chronological, and the volume ordering is a bit different from the release ordering, but the inconsistency makes the first few episodes feel lessened without reason. The other large failure that comes with only animating about 1/7th of the entire work is that many themes and concepts that are core to the manga are not represented in the anime well at all. One of the biggest is the rare but unnerving supernatural chapters, of which only one is animated, and not a particularly good one. In order to talk about these themes I'll have to transition into talking about the manga itself, since they aren't part of the anime.

DA MANGA: So one last recommendation that you read the manga, the whole damn thing. Cus we're gettin into themes and character moments that take a long time to pay off, and obviously is all part of my interpretations, so if that stuff means anything to you don't let me ruin it for ya.

The title of the manga is, in essence, the entire manga's "punchline" in that every chapter could meaningfully end with simply the text "And yet the town still turns..." (My translation of the title, fuck "And yet, the town revolves" or "But the town moves"); by this I mean most chapters end in an anti-climax where a mystery is left unsolved, or a mystery is solved and undercut by the realization that life simply keeps on going without much change. This is used to essentially force your eyes open to all possibilities when reading, as the main character spends her time acting like a detective, and these mysteries end up as either misunderstandings, secrets, riddles, and sometimes something out of the ordinary happens that makes you unable to pin anything down firmly. Similarly, these endings aren't always read-and-forget scenarios. Several chapters come back in the form of a continued joke, a continued mystery, or contribute to some greater purpose later. Readers are properly rewarded for keeping everything they can in mind, while also tormenting such people with loose ends.

I enjoy Hotori as a protagonist due to her character being defined not in flaws and strengths, but in mindedness. Hotori seems like a simple "haha she's dumb" character to start, but consistently throughout she proves that her strengths are in memory, observation, and deduction, while lacking in some more common sense and abilities. Her brain works in strange ways that some people may or may not understand, such as her need to think through even the most trivial fictional scenarios, which I relate to deeply.

The art and paneling throughout are wonderful. Ishiguro Masakazu is one of those artists who draws very simple characters, but knows how to use details and depth to breath so much life into the artwork. He also clearly uses the occasional supernatural happenings as an excuse to draw what he loved, as all sorts of artistic depictions of the supernatural come out that simply look satisfying. These parts obviously meant a lot to him since he's been working on a primarily mystery-action manga that has a lot more of that stuff in it. (Also, as hindsight is 20/20, if you've read any of his new work you'll notice that the main character of it is eerily similar to a character who shows up very late in SoreMachi that the author obviously fell in love with, cus she just keeps coming back and even ends up with a really unsettling end to her character arc despite only being introduced as a component in a harmless mystery. Feel free to call me out for the same shit 30 years from now when I'll probably do the same shit)

I'd like to get into some of the major themes of this work, as a lot of them hit very close to my mind (which I guess is true of any theme you recognize for yourself, you wouldn't really "get it" if it didn't mean something to you...).

The simplest theme, again, comes from the title. The main character, Hotori, expresses a desire that the town she lives in continues going on, unchanged forever. This is obviously a fear of change, which ya know, same, but also an exploration of what it means to fear change. Hotori actively tries to keep businesses from closing down, keep friends from leaving, and keep relationships from changing, while simultaneously making all sorts of new relationships and solving mysteries. Hotori even comes to realize that simply learning the truth about something changes the world through your own perspective, and that such changes can't be undone. In spite of this, Hotori mostly gets her wish, any time she fears that a large change will impact the town, its resolved about the same as any other issue. Whether its a message that even time can't keep you from your loved ones and that change isn't worth fearing, or a concession that large changes to the setting would be a bad idea in terms of humor, I can't really decide. This theme reaches it's conclusion in what is one in a series of "ending" kinda chapters at the end of the series. Hotori is faced with a supernatural ethical situation, save her town from destruction at the cost of her existence, or live through the disaster, knowing her town and the people in it will forever be changed. While the actual result is that nobody disappears and nothing is lost, and the event may have simply been a strange dream, Hotori confidently decides that sparing the people in her town from a life altering event is worth giving up her memories with them. A kind of bold spit-in-the-face to the idea that change is okay, where we find that Hotori didn't fear change for herself, but rather for the people around her.

There's another major idea in this manga, which takes a very long time to pay off, and completes its arc at the very very very actual end of the series, the idea of "leading someone to be something". A character that rides that line between main and side character, Shizuka, is a writer of detective novels, who feels the best person to judge her works would be a version of herself without the bias of being the author. She tries to achieve this by leading Hotori to be interested in detective works (including her own) and generally be just like her, starting from a young age. The end result is a young girl dead set on being a detective herself (or at least another novelist), while Shizuka keeps her identity as an author secret. She then uses Hotori as a scapegoat for herself, attempting to see how she would solve various mysteries and use that as inspiration, and this is depicted as though Shizuka were some sort of villain, which she may feel like she is. The end result of it all, though, is that Hotori was likely already a detective-minded person, and that even if Shizuka pushed her down that path, it was Hotori's decision to continue down it, and the very end of the manga is a scene revealing that Hotori figured out Shizuka's secret at some point, and even still respected Shizuka and aspired to reach her, and the two accept each other for who they are. I enjoy this ending a lot, since as an artist I've worried that some of my love or aspirations for and from other artists came with an ulterior motive of wanting a better community for art to exist in, but people are people and will make their own decisions, and some day everyone may be able to become equals in a truly meaningful sense, where everyone is inspired by and guiding each other together.

So that probably didn't mean shit to nobody and I didn't even really talk about anything in the comic like most of the main characters or any of the shit goin on but ya know fuck you go read it, and thanks for reading this.

[minijenn]

Happy Birthday, Keys to the Kingdom!

Yeah as of today my own special little slice of hell known as Keys to the Kingdom has existed for the world to see for two years now. And its still going strong even into its second half (which I’m VERY much looking forward to!) I didn’t really plan a big huge celebration for Keys’ 2nd birthday (though ya’ll are more than welcome to do something special for it if you’d like, I’d love you forever if you did) But I figured it would go fun to go back through every chapter of Keys written so far and list my top ten personal favorites. So this is that list. Enjoy!

10. Chapter 30: Recuérdame: This was a really fun chapter if I remember correctly; its a nice mix between plot progression and the Coco stuff (featuring some of my favorite scenes from that movie, so playing around with those was great) but I also loved writing the first in story reveal for Xion and the fight between Sora and Xigbar while set to Imelda singing La Lorrona? Fuckin Iconic if you ask me, this one is great 

9. Chapter 31: Destined Reunion: This is mostly a very dialogue heavy chapter where not a lot happens but honestly I just really like a lot of the interactions in it; there’s a lot of Sora being salty towards Riku in here which tbh is kinda fun to write? But there’s also some soft Sokai stuff and towards the end we get some fun/foreshadowy interactions with our resident Goth Club so overall its a pretty neat one :3

8. Chapter 24: Where the Dream Takes You: So I really love the second Atlantis chapter? It veers away from the movie and also follows it just enough to feel unique in its own right and it has a lot of plot progression for the main story, especially in regards to our good friend the Lingering Will; I like the action in this one a lot and I really love the Trinity Trio’s little emotional talk with each other at the end, it tugs at my heartstrings every time I read it :3

7. Chapter 38: So This Is Love: otherwise known as Prom! Honestly this one is just a sweet, cute fluff-fest and it was so much fun to write the kiddos just relaxing and having a good time for a change. The Destiny Trio in particular just filled my heart with so many warm fuzzies here, especially towards the end when they really start romancing it up! Plus everyone in their fancy outfits was a delight to draw and to write about, overall its a grand time for all ^_^

6. Chapter 21: Depths of Despair; golly this one is just a bit ol drama fest but I think its a pretty great one. Sora spends the whole thing captured and tortured and poisoned and it really is just the biggest shift in the tone of the story so far because of that; Maleficent gets to be the center stage baddie for a chapter, Pete gets a bit of development, and we also get some strong moments from Kairi and Axel and the Restoration Committee, and the scene where Kairi brings Sora back from rage form near the end is still one of my favorites; overall there are a lot of little moments in this one that I love in here, its a really good one. 

5. Chapter 33: Song as Old as Rhyme: A great example of a Disney chapter where the overarching plot kind of takes more of the center stage. This one is a wild ride for sure with a lot of action and intensity, and its Not a very good time for our boy between him having a panic attack over Maleficent confronting him again to getting shot in the damn shoulder to being grounded by his boyfriend for lying it really does tear Sora down quite a bit but I looooooved wriiting all that so its high on my list for sure because of it 

4. Chapter 36: Return to Depart; this chapter features two really great scenes right at the start of it, Sora bonding with Aqua and soft Soriku fluff/angst hour. But then I doubled down by giving the boy an identity crisis between all of the different hearts inside of his and wooooooow I love how I wrote it, its trippy and wild and intense and dramatic; even to the end this one is great because we get our first hints of the bond between Sora and Ven and its soft yet solemn all at once and wow despite carrying some scenes from the game I still think this one is pretty standout 

3. Chapter 35: Distorted Reflection: Whoooooo boy this chapter is hella dark and kind of a mind fuck but golly if it wasn’t such a delight to write. Having Sora essentially hear himself list every fear he has and everything he hates about himself is some quality Character Study stuff; there are so many lines in this chapter I keep coming back to in more recent chapters and I really will continue to do reference it as we move along; it’s also pretty standout that Sora doesn’t even win against his phantom in this chapter, my original plan was for him to win but then I was like “no that’s not thematically right, the entire story is basically about him fighting a battle against himself that he can’t win so why should he win the literal battle against himself?” so I made it sad and had him lost until the Mystery Light came around to help him (I also love that entire part, its such a nice bit of comfort after all the angst this chapter brings). Overall, I love the deep intensity and feels of this one its a classic.

2. Chapter 22: Rise and Fall and Rise Again. Basically a biiiiiig ol bundle of hurt/comfort with some soft angst and romance mingled it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this chapter really is just another big long character study for Sora and golly if it doesn’t have some of my favorite moments in the entire fic so far, despite those moments being quiet and understated and mostly emotional more than anything else; I also really love Kairi in this chapter and I love how it develops her relationship with Sora even more towards their eventual Relationship Upgrade. Its also the first chapter of Keys I got teary eyed while writing soooo ya know there’s that. 

1. And finally, my favorite chapter so far: Chapter 27: What Once Was Mine. Gooooosh this chapter has EVERYTHING. It starts out soft and fun and fluffy with some cute romancy moments, then it gradually starts getting more tense and it builds until basically everything’s gone horribly wrong and ends in a really sad kind of solemn place and we get such nice pairing between the Tangled stuff and the Keys overarching plot stuff. This chapter has so many exceptional moments but I really love the entire section where Sora finally comes clean to Donald and Goofy bc I’m destroyed by Trinity Trio feels every time I read it. Overall, I adore this one but I really do think that it’s very soon about to be outclassed by some stuff I have planned for Keys in the very near future :3

And some Honorable Mentions: Chapter 20: Immortals (mostly for its second half, its first half is pretty weak which is why its not on this list); Chapter 10: Sinister Whispers (aka the chapter where Keys finally starts fucking picking up the pace XD), and chapter 16: Unspoken, Unheard (a nice little Kairi character study)

And those are all the chapters of Keys I really love, feel free to drop me a line about what your favorites are (or even just your favorite moments, general discussion about Keys, things you’re looking forward to seeing, stuff like that). A HUGE thanks to everyone who’s stuck with Keys thus far, I can assure you that the best is certainly yet to come.... :3

[0poole]

Soul

Breaking news, everyone: Pixar made another slapper.

I’m gonna get it out of the way first, but the only (and yes, only. Not like someone trying to say “only” even though they have many more nitpicks that they just don’t want to talk about) problem I had at all was that the super high realism of the settings of Earth kind of made the more cartoony faces of the people look a little more off. But, it’s kinda like the same thing people were talking about with that cat in Toy Story 4. It looks super real, which is impressive, but I feel like it was almost too real compared to the faces. Obviously it was too real compared to the supernatural settings because that was intentional, but yeah. It’s not even a big problem, it’s just the only one I can think of. I do think the realistic renderings of hair, light, water, etc at least work with cartoony stuff, but apart from that it looked almost like it could’ve been a photograph, with no exaggeration in the buildings or anything else.

I mean, I love the faces, so I definitely wish they went the extra mile showing extra personality and character in the buildings, as faces do with characters. Considering the faces matter like a bazillion times more, I still think they knocked it out of the park on the visuals. People with more investment and knowledge into the topic already said that the faces of any of the people of color felt cartoony and unique while also being true to life and respectful (My family recently stumbled onto some old animations from the 30s and lemme tell ya... We’ve come a long way), but seriously the characters that sold me on the visuals were the Picasso-esque beings who may or may not be the Gods of the universe maybe?

Spoiler boundary of course. It’s definitely worth a watch.

And that’s honestly what made the realistic world so much better. When the accountant guy went into the real world to set the count right, it was one of the most fun I’ve had just watching something. The sheer contrast between him and the world was so much fun, and it even solidified that those beings weren’t even acting in a different dimension or anything. They’re literally just beings that exist, meaning that all the other parts with the unborn souls and such are just as real as Earth. Or, even better, they’re the ones who can just casually rip a hole in dimensions. As far as depictions of Gods go, if they are even Gods at all, I think they’re one of the best I’ve ever seen. They feel like they could actually be how Gods actually exist, since all the commonalities of Gods involve supernatural power, which would suggest they’re supernatural themselves. I mean, I have a story with Gods in it too and they’re basically just that although admittedly a lot less imaginative.

With those guys being my favorite design, second place definitely goes to the lost souls, although obviously for more subjective reasons. 1) They’re purple, 2) They have one eye, 3) That eye is yellow which I always think is the best compliment to purple, 4) Tentacles, 5) Creepy in a kid’s movie. Franky, I would’ve made them a lot creepier, but even then they’re super creepy, if not visually then in their behavior. They’d just be kind of sad if they were just mumbling around, but since the first introduction to them starts charging at the main characters like a deranged monster. Considering how weird everything in that dimension is, finding something that isn’t nearly as innocent as everything else instantly invokes fear, since you have no idea what that thing can and wants to do to you. Sort of similar, I would’ve also made the “In the Zone” moments a bit more crazy and colorful, like when Joe fell through the void between the road to the Great Beyond and the You-seminar (is that how it’s spelled?), but these “I would do it differently”s might just be a fault of my design ideas or just subjective interests. I would’ve watched 2 hours of pure, nonsensical abstract worlds like the You-seminar with no explanation to how they work.

I definitely have a relief with the story, mostly entirely revolving around 22′s character. I was kind of worried she’d be too childish to really enjoy, but I feel like she was done really well. All the major historical figures’ remarks on how hopeless she were both funny and also really tied into her character “flaw” at the end as she was a lost soul. It might not be the most unique character archetype of all time, but it definitely makes sense, with all the people bringing her down implanting in her mind that she was an anomaly, and after a while was just sort of following it. Plus, she seemed genuinely interested in Joe’s weirdness, instead of being super mindlessly irreverent. And her being able to expand Joe’s understanding about his own world, like with the barber and his student, brings her up as more than a whiny, bratty child in the scope of the story. She didn’t JUST learn.

Even though I kind of expected it from the get-go, I’m also relieved that the movie didn’t shy away as much with the dark elements of death. It was kind of suggested that this wasn’t going to be a perfectly casual romp through a magical afterlife like Inside Out was with the mind because of the unborn souls unabashedly saying “Hell” in the TRAILER of the movie. I feel like that alone made the story super interesting, because it shows they’re actually going to be a bit more serious with things instead of just simplifying the unknowable complexities of the before & afterlife. Even with the dead souls going into the Great Beyond, it was a mix of being weirdly peaceful for some and super scary for others. My family thought it was peaceful for the most part, but my mom specifically though it was terrifying, and even though it’s a lot more peaceful than almost all other depictions of death, I can’t blame her. The souls were just kinda accepting it, like they’d been brainwashed or something, but still acknowledged that they were dead and were going into the afterlife. Plus, Joe, being the main character who we are supposed to sort of reflect in a way, was super freaked out by it, so that could easily suggest it’s to be afraid of and the other people are the weird ones.

I think the true message of the story being so strange was better too, because it would’ve been so boring if it fell into a super basic message we’ve heard millions of times. I feel like it has a similar sentiment to the basic messages, but is at least a more interesting way of saying it, if it is even like that in the first place, because it’s also somewhat vague in a good way. I think my brother/mother misinterpreted and simplified things a bit too much, where they thought it was sort of like a happier way of saying “accept your lot in life and don’t change it.” I could probably go on a full other rant about why I think this is wrong, but part of it is I don’t really know how they came to this conclusion in the first place, considering with that scene with that guy who threw the computers off his desk as his lost soul was cured (I guess you could call it that?), who obviously realized he wasn’t okay with his lot in life and was destined to change it. I think they sort of misinterpreted “the spark” and other things it as a 100% for-real, this-is-how-the-real-world-works sort of way, and not as much as a fictional way of saying things. Not necessarily symbolic, but I guess symbolic also? It has some of the same weird logical problems as the Cutie Marks from My Little Pony, except they’re obviously better since Cutie Marks determine your life down to your very job some of the time, while “sparks” are more vague and seemingly up to you. They’re more like when an unborn soul realizes there’s something on Earth they want to figure out, not necessarily their hobbies or jobs. For example, they kind of cited the barber character as the one who supported their point, but I think he does the complete opposite. He wanted to be a vet, but he ended up being a barber. But, they sort of assumed his “spark” was to be a barber, and that his personal interests didn’t matter because the “spark” forced him into a less favorable job. But, in reality, I feel like his “spark” is more his interest in love for the people around him, which is why he decided to get a more practical job to support his daughter (wife? one of the two) when he really needed to. Plus, he still enjoys being a barber because his devotion to love lets him connect to people as he cuts their hair. After all, he seems to be succeeding in his goal, since Joe was just like “Hey, let’s go see this guy he’s the exact guy we need!” People who don’t show love and interest for others don’t make that kind of impression in people’s minds. I feel like if we knew each story of everyone’s life down to the last detail we could fully determine what the mechanics of the world and its people are meant to say from a fictional context, but with such a limited selection I don’t think you can say something so sure. Sure, every choice in a movie is made specifically for a purpose, but I feel like if a movie tries to hard to be like “Oh but don’t worry here’s an exception” a million times it gets bogged down by its own attempt to make the message as obvious as possible.

Anyway...

There are also a lot of neat little details I loved, like how even though they did this for basically no other point in the movie, they made sure to include people from all around the world in that mess of dead souls, firmly sort of putting in the idea that the entire globe is in a sense one single entity that leads to the same place. They could’ve so easily just made everyone speak English for that throwaway scene, but I feel like including people from all around the world was very beneficial. Even the EXTRA little things, like the path to the Great Beyond looking like the neck portion of a guitar with the metal bits that separate the notes, or the facial features of the Gods blurring when they turned their heads in the other direction.

But yeah, who would’ve guessed Pixar made another good movie, right? Even then, Soul’s in the upper echelon of Pixar films. I really hope they (and Disney) realize they can go bonkers with a movie and still benefit/survive from it, since they’re so damn rich and inherently profitable. I think AAA animated movies like this that are the perfect amount of artsy are few and far between, and we need more of them. If anything, I hope they get more artsy, but I guess I’ll still never say no to a fun fantastical romp either. Basically, Pixar has looped me into watching any and everything they produce because it’s never “bad” I think. In the grand scheme of quality, even their worst work (Cars 2) is still not “terrible,” per se, even if it feels like it exists more as a cash grab than a genuine tale.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

From Chin To Yon Rah (Part 5)

The little girl giggles as she watches Azula tug at the turnip and topple over when the leaves come free without the vegetable itself. She lands with a soft thud and an off. Her cheeks burn to a degree that would make her fire feel cool.

The man laughs, “no, no, you do it like this.”

Azula sticks her lower lip out and folds her arms over her chest.

“You gotta take it by the base, if you just pull from the leaves then you’ll just get a fist full of leaves. I mean unless you get lucky. But let's not test our luck because that just makes it harder.” He approaches a new turnip and grips it as close to the vegetable as possible and then gives it a pull. It comes free, dirt shaking from the roots. He brushes it off and tosses it into a wheelbarrow. “Sometimes, if it’s really stubborn, you have to dig around it a little.”

Azula looks at her hands and furrows her brows. She has yet to get dirt under her fingernails and that is not part of her plan.

He laughs again, “yeah, you’re going to have to get them dirty.”

“I don’t mind getting them dirty. I just don’t want to have to dig dirt out from under my nails.”

“In other words, you don’t want to get them dirty.”

Her eyes narrow. “I don’t have to do this, you know.”

“You do if ya want old man Ojihara to pay you.”

Her pout only grows. She opens her mouth but he beats her to it. “And I’m not going to do your share for you.”

She holds her glare as she wraps her fingers around the leaves and gives the turnip a hard yank. It jerks free to reveal the most pathetically small turnip that has ever been harvested. With a sharp inhale through her nose, she chucks it into the wheelbarrow. The man laughs, “I guess that, that’s a good start.”

“Sure, whatever.” She grumbles.

“I ken eat that ‘tur’ip, it’s me size.” The little girl calls from her perch. She kicks her legs at the air. “Ken I have that tur’ip?” She asks the man.

“You’ll have to ask Ojihara.”

“Just give her the turnip.” Azula rolls her eyes. “He won’t miss one, especially not one that small. My mongoose-lizard wouldn’t even want that.” She plucks the turnip from the pile and tosses it to the girl who beams from ear to ear. At least someone appreciates her hard work.

The man chuckles again. “I take it you’re the heroic sort?”

Azula tilts her head.

“Stealing food from privileged folks and giving it to children. That’s like, classic hero stuff.”

“I’m not a hero. That turnip is simply insignificant and won’t change the world or anyone’s life one way or another. She’s going to eat it and forget that I ever gave it to her and Ojihara will never know.”

She can tell that he is going to laugh again before he does. “Are all of you Fire Nationals so serious all the time?”

“Yes.”

She yanks another turnip, this time it is worth placing amid the others. She doesn’t want to smile, because it is a really stupid thing to smile over but she does. “I got it.” She remarks smugly. “I harvested a turnip.”

“Great, only twenty or so more. Hopefully you’ll be this enthusiastic about the rest of them.”

Evidently she is at least to the degree that she has made it into a contest; if she can harvest more turnips than him then she is the superior, more skilled harvester. And that is something to take pride in. He doesn’t understand why she is so mad that he won the competition that he never knew he was in.

“I think that you did good!” The little girl declares as they pack it in.

Azula wipes a beat of sweat off of her forehead. Agni, could she use a shower and those luxurious soaps and shampoos from the palace. She smells like hard work and dirt and turnip. She hates all three odors.

“So what if he got more. Yours look better. They’re more purple.”

Azula isn’t sure that purple is the color she would use to describe them, but the compliment still stands. “You are correct.” She agrees. “I’d wager that you’re the only sensible person in this town.”

“I don’no what that means.” She shrugs. “What’s a sen-si-bowl?”

“Nevermind.” Azula sighs.

“Are you gonna stay here or are you gonna go to Chin? My dad says that yer goin’ to Chin?”

“I am, eventually.” She replies. “I’m just staying here a bit longer than I thought I would.”

“Good, ‘cause I like you and you can’t leave ‘cause I said so.”

Azula quirks a brow. “Oh? And how do you think that you’re gonna...going to  make me stay?”

She thinks for a moment. “I’ll tell dad and he’ll make you stay.” She flashes a smile as though she has had achieved some grand victory.

“If you say so.”

“I’m Caihong, who are you?”

“Rikka.”

The man appears behind her and scoops the child into his arms. He tosses Azula a pouch of coins.

“This is more than…” More than she earned, she knows that much. She is woefully horrible at harvesting turnips. And she didn’t exactly lose with grace.

“I gave you some of my share. For keeping Cai entertained.” He grins. “She really likes you.”

That day she learns what it is to be humble.

.oOo.

Azula exhales as they run the comb through her hair. The scent of cedar wood rises off of the softly steaming water and mixes with that of the incense that wafts gasps of smoke into the air. She is surprised that the serving girls remember what scents she likes, it is minute detail. She feels the comb against her scalp, a much welcomed sensation as a different serving girl massages delicate smelling lotion into her calloused palms. Another still, scrubs at her feet, carefully grinding away the roughness of a long walk. She hadn’t realized just how terribly her feet were aching until they began to work the knots out of them.

“Grapes?” Offers another servant.

Azula shakes her head, content to bask in the pampering. It has been such a long time. She almost feels as though she should be receiving such tender treatment. As leisurely as it is, it feels intimidatingly foreign to be so sublimely indulged. Somehow it feels wrong to let them work the callouses out of her hands and feet and the dirt out of her hair and pores. It is unfathomably wonderful to have them scrubbing aptly smelling soaps over her face, to feel clean for the first time in ages. Yet her stomach still flutters.

The servant tentatively sets the princess’ hand down and takes the other. The other servant is still working on her first foot. The servant with the comb withdraws, “your hair is washed, I’ll fetch some ribbons and hair ornaments.”

Azula nods.

“Would you like your nails polished?” Asks the servant working on her left hand.

She nods again. She hasn’t worn polish in ages. And her nails, chipped and broken, could use some filing and evening.

The other serving girl puts her left foot down and takes the right. This time her lips press into a grim line. “I’m going to have the palace physician look at this one.”

The fluttering in her belly swells. Admittedly, that foot has been sore but she has since grown used to it. “Why, what’s wrong with it?”

“It’s swollen and inflamed.”

Azula knows that she has tensed when the girl working on her hand pauses to massage her shoulders. She relaxes again and the girl resumes her task. Azula closes her eyes and inhales through her nose.

“Good.” Murmurs the remaining serving girl. “Just try to relax.”

She does, mostly. The physician examines her foot as the team of serving girls fix her hair up and apply a subtle layer of makeup to her face. Significantly less subtle is the amount they apply to her neck. She doesn’t stop them, looking at the scar opens the ones in her mind.

“There’s a slight infection.” The doctor declares. “I’ll get that cleaned up and get you some ointments.”

“That sounds well.” Azula replies.

He gives her a slight smile. “When you are finished here, I’d like to give you a full examination. We’d like you to be in good health for when your homecoming is announced.”

“Yes, I would like to be in good health.” She agrees. Though she doesn’t feel particularly ill, it couldn’t hurt to make sure. She supposes that she might be at least slightly malnourished, her hair doesn’t grow as fast as it used to and its color is less vibrant.

It doesn’t piece together until he has left the room; they are going to parade her in front of all of Capital City. The amount of attention that Zuko had garnered with his arrival after three years was record breaking. She has been out of the public eye for nearly six; one spent institutionalized, another two self-confined to the palace, three in the Earth Kingdom, and an additional two months trekking from Yon Rah to Capital City. Her mouth runs dry. She used to love the attention, loved standing over her subjects and looking down upon the crowd. She isn’t sure that this is still something she will relish in. She isn’t sure how they will take to her after so long. They took kindly enough to Zuko’s return…

“Hey, Azula!” Sokka greets.

.oOo.

His stomach does a little flop at the sight of her. Her servant just finishes applying a soft shade of red to her lips. It is like looking into the past; save for shorter hair, he is looking at the girl he’d pinned to the wall during an eclipse. She is styled to almost uncanny perfection; well manicured nails, soft skin--sunburns, scars, and freckles concealed, long and pretty lashes… He suppresses a shudder.

“Sokka.” She returns the greeting.

He clears his throat, “how are you?”

She is quiet for a moment. “My foot is infected.” She turns it inward and back outward again.

“How bad?” He asks.

“The physician says that it isn’t anything to worry about.”

But he has a suspicion that she is worried about something. The inquiry burns on his tongue but this time he leaves it there, lest she make another remark about how many questions he always has for her. He wanders closer and asks something more mundane instead, “it must be nice to get spoiled again.”

He catches the slightest upward quirk of her lip. And he realizes that his initial assessment is wrong; there are other differences between she and who she had been. Though her makeup and hair are fixed up similarly, her stance isn’t so rigid and her eyes are warmer. At the very least, some of the intimidating coldness has left them. And up close he can see the more prominent scars beneath the concealer. She smells nice too, he realizes. And this time without the tinges of smoke.

“Yes, quite.” She answers. “They are going to announce my arrival.”

He laughs, “I feel like that’s a given, right?”

She works her jaw, slightly sticking her lip out. “Yes, I suppose.”

“You want me to come out with you when they announce…”

She shakes her head, “that would look ridiculous.” She pauses. “I mean, I need to go by myself or I won’t be taken seriously. I am stable. I can take care of myself.”

“I think that everyone knows that.”

“Perhaps.” She replies. “But I need to know that everyone knows.”

The servants take a step back, one steps forward again and applies one final stroke of eyeshadow and holds a mirror up for her.  “That will suffice.” She says.

“If you are ready…” The physician prompts.

“I’ll see you at dinner, Sokka.”

He watches her walk away. She limps slightly and he guesses that the doctor has advised against putting her full weight on that foot. He wanders back down the hall and to his room. He wonders how Katara and the others are going to take to Azula when they finally arrive. He hopes that they will give her a chance. He can’t explain it but he thinks that it would sting to see her get discouraged and leave again. He can’t explain it, but he wants her around.

.oOo.

Tomorrow, they tell her. They will have a speech prepared and her outfit ready. Tomorrow everyone in the capital will know that their princess as come home. Tomorrow word will spread fast and she is certain that her moment of peace will have subsided. It has already done so, she reminds herself, her fingers curling around the stone in her pocket. Her thumb brushes over the engraving.

She sits down beneath the maple and lets the wind rustle the fabrics of her robes. The silk caresses her skin pleasantly, like the stokes of a lover’s finger. More like the spectral finders of a lover gone. She swallows, her lower lip trembling. She draws her legs up to her chest

The sun bathes the garden in a wash of picturesque orange. She leans her head against the tree and watches it sink. When it reaches the bottom, she closes her eyes. The night air has a chill, like a death gasp. She grips the stone tighter. She doesn’t notice Zuko taking a seat next to her. She doesn’t wake when he lifts her up and carries her back to her room. Doesn’t stir when he pulls the covers over her shoulders.

She dreams of arms around her. Of a gleeful laugh. Of a sunrise and a warm breeze. It smells faintly of turnip and pine resin. It smells of security, of hope.

[mantra4ia]

Desires: Lucifer season 5 on Netflix

Created: August 21, 2020. Last Modified: August 22, 2020.

Preface: Alright my Lucis, here’s the sitch: it’s been a minute. Life got a bit chaotic I wasn’t able to start season five quite on time when it premiered on August 21st because I haven’t finished the great 2020 Lucifer rewatch. I’m nearly done however and should be able to jump into it either later today or tomorrow, which is why beforehand I want to — as I’ve traditionally done for a few seasons — create a desires list and keep a tally throughout the season to see how many are met. I am going to try to pace myself, not binge, and watch a single episode a day so don’t spoil me. Likewise I will tag my spoilers. Here we go... #21DaysofLucifer

Season 3 and 4 Roundout - Desires Fulfilled / Questions Answered

✔We’ve seen other demons “like Maze” and a bit of what havoc they can reek. Well sort of. To be quite frank, although it was cool to see them possess the recently deceased, it wasn’t as impending doom as I was expecting. They didn’t seem nearly as disciplined or intimidating as Mazikeen, even Dromos, more bored and desperate.

✔ We’ve seen a little more or the heavenly host in Remiel. Remi was cool, if a bit intense. Her character, and her affinity to Amenadiel was a nice foil to see how far his character has come in evolution. But again like Uriel was for Lucifer, she kind of became a driving force character device to push Amenadiel’s growth. So I wonder if we’ll get to see more of her or not.

✔ (s3) The backstory of Lucifer’s arrival in LA, finding LUX, and making a deal with Amenadiel.

✔ (s3) Cain finally went to hell, YES! Not that I didn’t like Marcus Pierce/Tom Welling, there were some great interactions there, but I just think he was a wishy-washy antagonist based on how he was written and I can’t wait to trade up for Michael.

✔ Maze finally had some happiness and attachment to this silly mortal coil and it slipped away! Why Eve why? I love Maze’s bonding with humans, Linda, Trixie, Chloe. But I love that after a Millennia of serving, and then watching Amenadiel and Linda be happy in a family unit, that she might actually make her own and my hopes were dashed. 

Things we got that we didn’t even know we wanted. SO GOOD:

Season 4 ep 8: Amenadiel bonding with Caleb and confronting community violence, police brutality, and systemic racism. It was a rough episode to be sure, but absolutely needed,

Chloe talking Lucifer down and out of a self-hatred spiral and his transformation into full-fledged devil and back again.

Lucifer playing Creep on repeat while missing the detective (even after insisting in a therapy session that “he’s not a teenager playing Adele on repeat) and Mr. Said Out B**** trying to rob Lucifer and gun point and ultimately get rich. What a fun twist.

The Dan and Maze Los X’s fight. They are wicked good at laying down the  hurt on the criminal element and I was wondering when they’d pair up again after dispatching Warden Perry.

The devil in a bar fight! I mean, it’s only fair since the ladies had their brawl. I love how this fight sequence was filmed in bursts of slo-mo from various angles, involved everything from fists, to tasers, knives, bottles, and the infamous pool cue, and they picked the perfect song for pacing (Jake Bugg, Lightning Bolt, could listen to it all day on repeat.)

Time for all good demons to go home / Enough, you will bow down to your king. Go home! (aka appropriate use of Devilish intimidation face)

Amenadiel vs Remi 

A Rocky montage with Lucifer and Amenadiel / Amenadiel’s face the first time Lucifer drives the Corvette

Lucifer at the roller derby

Chloe the YA fangirl

Maze teaching Trixie about knives, with each handle decorated in a different toy.

Amenadiel and Chloe catching up: your father is so proud of you. Like and angel BOSS!

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS:

★ (s3) Amenadiel taking Charlotte home

★ Dan being comforted in his grief by Amenadiel

★ Amenadiel’s wrath and the brotherly duo tag team to lay the hurt on the drug dealer that got Charlie killed. It’s been a while since we’ve seen warrior angel ready to dispatch anyone in his way. And it was glorious!

★ (s3) Lucifer’s almost driving lesson with Trixie “Morningstar”

★ (s3) Maze torturing Lucifer by making him think he’s the Angel of San Bernadino

★ (s3) Amenadiel and Lina helping to dispose of Lucifer’s wings

★  Lucifer kicking Julian, Tiernan’s son, through a glass pane window

★ The goodbye kiss between Lucifer and Chloe

 DIDN’T LIKE:

☒ (s3) Cain playing guitar and singing. What is he, a crime lord, a top cop, or an act that the improv club wouldn’t take? 

☒ Eve. I liked Eve, but we mostly got to see one side of her around Lucifer, and a kind of floundering an confused side when she was with Maze. The side that I would have liked to see more of was the maternal side that came out when she briefly talked about Abel or was interrogated by Trixie. That made her more layered.

☒ Father Kinley. That dude is just meh.

☒ Dan’s broken heart and rebounding with Ella. Don’t get me wrong, its a good arc, but I don’t see it lasting

☒ (s3) Abel and Reese. Those were two side stories I could have done without, although they had great moments of humor. I quite enjoyed Reese’s character, and although I didn’t like Abel Lucifer’s stick-figure comic illustration of Cain fighting with him over a rock was quite enjoyable.

WHAT I TRULY DESIRE: SINFUL SEASON 5, my BURNING QUESTIONS, and SPECULATIONS

Obviously, don’t spoil anything for me, but if any of my desires end up coming true in any of the first eight episodes maybe drop me a hint in the comments...

A big time jump. We need to see the lasting impact of Lucifer’s absence. I know that time in hell works differently per that episode where Lucifer saved Chloe and almost got stuck in a loop, but we still need enough time to elapse that the impact is felt on the mortal side. Or, we need to see the passage of time through a series of events without Lucifer, like a montage of character development. At least a year or so, if for no other reason then Trixie is growing up and I actually want to see her take driving lessons with Lucifer.

Last season Maze gave baby Charlie a gift, something she’d wished she’d had growing up, and previously had alluded to the language of demons, her many siblings, and teased her mother, the mother of all demons. Will we finally get to meet Maze’s mom Lilith (or however they address her)? And, in spite of Mazikeen’s found family, she still has restlessness and abandonment issues. Will her mom finally finally bring her peace, or will clashing with her resolidify Maze’s purpose on earth?

A Decker/Mazikeen team-up or girls night out 2.0 would always be appreciated. At this point its probably 4.0 if you count the bar fight and the bachelorette party.

Will we see tougher, scarier demons, or are they just warmup to the really scary depths of hell?

Speaking of hell, more hell. Tons of hell. I want to know the minutia of all the mechanics. If Lucifer’s gotta be down there in self-imposed exile, he may as well show us around. Pour us a drink.

Will Lucifer see Cain in Hell? Not that I’m dying to see more of “sad Cain” but it would be interesting to see a more dark or desperate or cunning side to him at least now that he’s actually neck deep in torment. Or, alternatively, I’m hedging my bets that he could be a good candidate to light the fire under Lucifer’s *** to get of hell back to the earthly realm. Even in hell, I’m betting Cain would have a soft spot for Chloe, and if news reached Lucifer that Michael were trying to abscond with his life and with Chloe, it would give Cain and Lucifer one last bit of “A-Hole brothers” common ground to bond over. Like “Brothers, am I right? Go kick, get Chloe back, I’ll still have enough guilt to torture me with in a few thousand years when you get back,”   

Will Lucifer fall into peril in hell of once again potentially getting distracted and stuck in a hell loop? Will his servants be satisfied with his return? Will Amenadiel bust him out.

Mr. Said Out Bitch needs a role reprise. He’s been in every season opener 2-4, we’ve gotten to know his undergarments very well.  Its high time we get to know his name and story. He’s put in the work!  

Amenadiel should be running LUX in Lucifer's absence. We got a tease of that in previous seasons (remember when he asked what would Lucifer do?) its time for that to come to fruition. Plus, any excuse to put DB Woodside in a suit, just because he wears them so well. It would also be interesting if, after that tragedy he’s experienced, Amenadiel will start taking after Luci. Maybe not the punishing, not yet, but wanting to seek out evil and corruption. It has been teased since s1 “fall as I did.” Perhaps he’ll start developing a taste for his bother’s line of work whereas he found it repugnant in the early days

Dan and Maze or Dan and Ella pair up. Both Dan and Maze are due for some happiness.

An Azrael reboot, when need more of her. She’s the angel of Death for pity’s sake. I don’t know if the original actress is still available or if they would have to recast, or if the character concept by Netflix would even be the same, but I need Azrael to be capable of sweet and unassuming and on a coin flip downright menacing.

More of Lucifer as a godparent, bless! And maybe a cool montage of “cousin” Trixie and Lucifer co-babysitting Charlie please.

Whilst on the subject of Lucifer and parenting, and without putting Trixie too much into harm’s way, I need to see what “I would do anything to protect that little urchin” looks like. Trixstar ride or die.

Father Frank, come back! I need a cameo or recurrent role pleeeeease.

Trixie in every episode. This is non-negotiable, much like chocolate cake. Beatrice is an all-star. In fact, I’ve decided that when Dad/God finally does show up, Trixie needs to be the one to get to know him / introduce him first. She’s been captain on the celestial cheer squad for four seasons, she’s earned this.

Who's going to see through Michael's facade first? I mean, I know that trailer shows Maze torturing it out of him, but as far as intuition goes, I've got a 50/50 split between Trixie and Linda, with an honorable mention to Dan.

If Michael is Lucifer's twin, does he have the same angelic compulsion skill set? Or something different? And will it work on Chloe or is she universally immune?

A “be like Mike” pop-culture reference. ******Spoilers: ******* all the trailers have revealed Michael already, so they owe us this for letting the steam out.

As far as pop-culture, how many movie and TV references will we get from Lucifer and ensemble this year? I expect A-game, from sci-fi to 80s action, on par with the previous likes of Parent Trap, Star Wars, Home Alone, Kim Possible, and Rocky.

Will Amenadiel’s necklace make a reappearance, even after he put it around Caleb’s neck in the morgue? Heavenly artifacts have a way of causing trouble in this show.

Will what finally learn what, if any, significance there is to Lucifer’s ring? Again, as all my fictional writings will attest, I really kind of want it to be a stolen little trinket from him Dad.

Plot twist: will we get to see Hell and the silver city all in one season, or is that too devilishly good to ask? It would be intriguing if Lucifer fell from Heaven for rebelling and now some threat like, for example, the mother of demons would pose a threat to the gates such that Lucifer was called upon to defend them. Not expecting anything Endgame level with a host of Angels popping up like sorcerers...but it is food for the imagination.

Plot twist: will Michael, duplicitous twin that he is, be revealed as the reason that Lucifer does not lie and can’t stand liars? Will be get a Michael back story? Is he perhaps the true rebellious son? see: my original fan conjecture here.

Additional links to previous recaps, roundouts and wishlists: 

Season 1: Best Moments // Season 2: Predictions, Desires, Roundout, Best Moments // Season 3: Speculations, Quick-shot summary 

[blackwatch-gwyn-active]

It's You (Poly!PharMercy x Reader / Poly!McHanzo x Reader)

PharMercy-

Angela’s POV

Wow, I looked at Fareeha’s arms and I was surprised to see my name. I mean, I knew since we were kids but this was a first for even me. What was the most surprising was that most people only have 1 name on their arm but we both had a special name on our left arms, the name of our second soulmate, (Y/N). We were not expecting to really meet them because the odds of meeting them were going to be slim yet fate has a funny way of showing it. 

“Pharah, what is the status of your fuel reserves?” I ask her as I was patching up Reinhardt for battle against Talon’s agents. 

“It is fine for the moment Mercy but there is a problem, I see a few civilians that look to be possibly injured about 300 meters from you, I will get McCree with them until you arrive. I think one of them is trying to help those that are injured but I am trying to hold off the riff-raff as long as possible.” she radios back as I worry but know that she can handle herself, she was once a part of the Egyptian army and she was one of the best soldiers we have in Overwatch. 

“Go to her, Dr. Ziegler, we will handle this from here.” I hear the loud laughter of Reinhardt and I rush off, thanking him. 

I rushed off but not before I hear someone yell, “Look out!” Only to turn and see a young person pushing me out of the way of flying bullets from Reaper’s guns. They took the worse amount of damage, a few bullets lodged in their back but it was on their arms that shocked me; In black ink was the names Fareeha Amari and Angela Ziegler. It was as if the world stopped moving and that my blood ran cold.

“(Y/N), shhh, stay with me.” I whispered as they were coughing up blood, not realizing that my arms were showing their name.

“I am glad I got to meet you, Ms. Ziegler.” They were coughing more as I finally managed to stop the extra bleeding as I radio to Fareeha.

“Fareeha, we need assistance down here, causality to a civilian, you have to see this.” I am breathless as I look at them.

“Shh, it's ok, Fareeha will be here soon and she will take you to safety.” I whisper as I see a blurb of blue land by me and when she sees her name, I could feel the anger from her even being about 5 feet from her. 

“Angela, take them to safety, I will clear out the riff-raff and I don’t want them anymore harmed.” She says through gritted teeth as she takes off and I call for Reinhardt to assist me and carrying them.

“Justice rains from above!” is heard along with many explosions as I see Reinhardt rush with (Y/N) and I to the dropship. 

“It’s ok, min kärlek, rest, you are safe now.” I whispered as they were put on a medical bed and I started my work, saying a silent prayer that we would not lose our beloved as quickly as we had found them.

***Time Skip***

2 hours of surgery and many cups of coffee later, I finally was able to sit and look into their condition but was surprised to see a sleeping Fareeha holding their hand as she tightly held it, refusing to let go even in her sleep. I leaned against the wall and smiled before going to fetch her a cup of tea for her, knowing she must be parched from her long day.

“Min Soldat...wake up.” I whispered as she slowly woke up and looked at me with loving eyes until she looked at them. 

“It's hard to believe that they were near us all along. They were the one I saw helping the injured from the rubble until you arrived.” She says with a smile as I look at them too. 

“Ja, they pushed me out of the way of Reaper’s bullets, resulting in their current condition. I am just glad the bullets missed any vital organs or nerves.” I whispered as she nodded. 

“Malak, they are just like us, defending the innocent and helping those they love...They are a true hero...they are our wali batal.” she says with a small smile as I sit by her and hold her hand, nodding as we await for you love to wake up, ready to start our new life with them.

McHanzo-

*Hanzo’s POV*

It was supposed to be a routine mission: get in, get the information, get out but someone had to be an idiot and cause a distraction. Only Jesse McCree could cause such a problem but what can I say, we are soulmates. But there is one person missing from our little group, the 2nd name on both of our arms. That name is (Y/N), our 2nd soulmate.

“I said I was sorry.” I heard him say behind me as I roll my eyes and changed my bandages for the 2nd time that day. The last mission turned out to be that Jesse cannot keep quiet, giving away our location and I got grazed with a bullet on the arm. 

“I said I forgive you but you still need to learn to keep yourself under control. Lena was almost killed because of your actions and she would have been fatally wounded if it had not been for Hana, Satya and Zenyatta.” I reminded him as he pouted and sat down beside me, assisting me if needed.

“Do you think they are out there, Hanners?” I heard him ask me as I sighed and looked at the arm that hold their name and I let out another sigh. 

“We can only hope, huckleberry.” I whispered as we tried to relax. We met when the recall happened so we were both surprised that we have yet to meet the 3rd member of our little love triangle but like all things, it takes time and it will come when it is ready.

“I am going to get some whiskey, are you coming for a drink?” He asked me as I shook my head and prepared to meditate.

“I will be here when you get back.” I informed him as he nodded, kissed my temple and left me alone to think. But before I could meditate, both my dragons appeared and they looked a curious as their master’s mate was about the missing mate. 

“Do not worry great spirits of the southern wind. All will come to pass when time is ready for it.” I say with some sorrow in my voice but I know it is because I share the same fear. What if they do not want to be stuck with a ex-clan leader and an outlaw as lovers? What if they do not love him like he hopes they do. With that thought in mind, he gets up and prepares to go to town, just to clear his mind.

***Slight Time Skip***

He saw happy couples running around and holding each other and he felt a bit jealous. He loves Jesse with every fiber of his being but without (Y/N), he still felt like he was missing part of himself. He hummed softly to a nameless tune as he watched his surroundings. Yet, as he then turned a corner near a ramen shop, he heard a gentle song being sung near him and he was drawn in like a moth to a flame. He knew the song as one that he has heard Genji talked about, it was an older song but the part that he was more drawn to was how their voice not only explained the story but still held hope.

“Thousands of cherry blossoms dwindling in the light. Though I can’t hear your voice, keep what I say in mind- This bouquet that surrounds is iron poison, see, looking down at us from that big guillotine. Darkness has just engulfed the universe we know the lament that you sing can’t reach ears anymore. We are still far away from reaching clear blue skies. Go ahead, keep shooting, with that ray gun, Fight!” 

He was drawn in and then he saw a person who was dressed as a westerner but the way they were handling a bow reminded him of his days in his youth. He took a step and landed on a stick but before he could react, he saw an arrow fly past his face, missing him by mere centimeters.

“Have you come for information regarding my soulmates because if so, I will put you in the grave first before I allow either of them to be harmed.” He drew his own bow and was prepared to fight them but when he saw their arms, he was shocked. 

On one arm was the name Jesse McCree and the other was surprisingly mine, Hanzo Shimada. 

“Answer me assassin...have you come to hold me as ransom because I will go down fighting before I allow harm to come to either name on my very arms.” They said with some vengeance in their voice as I lower my bow but had no problem returning it to stance if need be. 

“You would protect a ex-clan leader and a man who had ties with Deadlock Gang...why?” I asked and they growled as I then hear what I was not prepared to hear. 

“I have lost enough as it was! I lost my family, my friends and I should be dead but as long as I have these two names on my arms, I will fight to my last breath to keep them alive. Both Shimada-Sama and McCree will live even if it cost me my own life!” They yelled as they started to shake from what I could have guessed as either rage or fear. Before I could answer in kind, both dragons went to them on their own accord and circled their master’s mate, surprising them.

“Wait...If this is what I think it is...then you must...Hanzo?” They ask as I walk to the light and before I could respond, I hear another familiar voice. 

“Hanners?” I turned to see McCree at the end of the alleyway and were surprised to see the dragons surrounding this new person but suddenly connected the pieces when he sees their arms. “Is that...them?” He asks as I nod. 

“Yes, Airashī Baka...That is our soulmate.” I say as I kneel down and I am surprised by what I see.

“Anata, you are not harmed are you?” I asked as they shake their head and are shaking from what I could guess is crying. McCree kneels down and sees the the same person that we see. They have fought to keep us safe no matter where we were and yet, even faced with possible death, they would die to keep us safe.

“Howdy (Y/N), its nice to see a face finally with a name.” He smiles as they wipe their eyes and look at him.

“Now don’t be surprised Darlin’, we have been looking for ya for an awful long time.” He holds them and pulls me in as we tell them that soon, we will all go home together and for the first time in a long time, I can truly be happy. We have our family together and we will do anything to protect each other; until death do us part.

PharMercy:

*min kärlek- my love

*Min Soldat- My Soldier

*Malak- Angel

*Wali Batal- Guardian Hero

McHanzo:

*Anata- You (mostly used as familiar ‘You’ but can also be used for a significant other/Similar to honey or sweetie)

*Airashī Baka- Loveable Idiot