#you guys should totally ask any questions about my spirit

[weird-is-life]

Can I request a shy reader and Spencer's fic. When the reader works at a flower shop, Spencer comes in there looking for flowers. And the reader goes on a little rant about what he should buy and what each flower means.

Hii lovely, ty for the request! Hope this is okay🙈warnings: use of y/n, fluff, a few swear words, (0.9k)

Spencer needs to buy some flowers for Emily. It's her birthday and he's always brought her flower before, so even if he's already running late to her birthday dinner, he can't not go buy her some flowers.

He goes into the first flower shop, he spots on the way to Emily's apartment and that's where he finds you.

It's almost the closing time, so you are just sitting behind the counter, reading some book. Spencer immediately thinks he's in love.

He swears, you are the prettiest girl, he's ever seen and the fact, that you are too absorbed in your book to even notice him, makes you even more attractive to Spencer.

You finally notice him as he's a few steps away from the counter. You quickly slam the book shut and try not to look too caught off guard.

You weren't expecting anybody to come to the shop anymore and you definitely weren't expecting it to be a very handsome guy.

His messy, curly hair, expensive-looking black suit and the small stubble have you buckling at your knees. You are sure, that if you weren't sitting on the chair, you would be on the ground.

"H-hi," you somewhat compose yourself, "w-what can I help you with?"

He shoots you a smile and you're pretty sure that your cheeks go very red," Hi, I was wondering if I could get some flowers?"

"D-do you have any specific in mind?" you ask, barely holding an eye contact with him. You are shy and he isn't helping your situation at all.

"Ye-...No, I don't. Can you recommend me some?" Spencer literally knows the meaning of every flower you have in this shop, but something about you makes him shut his mouth, so he can stay here longer.

"I can, yes," you smile sheepishly at him, "who are they supposed to be for?"

"My friend, it's her birthday today," you would be lying, if you said that your heart didn't skip a beat at hearing that it's for his friend and not a girlfriend. You thought, that he was getting flowers for his girlfriend.

"W-well, I'd suggest, that you should definitely get some yellow flowers for her. Yellow color represents friendship, would that be okay?" you hesitantly ask. Spencer just nods encouragingly.

"Okay, so we could do some mixed bouquet. Yellow roses are definitely a yes, you can't go wrong with that, they are beautiful and smell amazing. We should also add sunflowers, they represent loyalty and adoration of the friendship. Oh and mums are grest, too. They can really make the bouquet come alive, they are like the spirit of optimism. We could also-," you ramble about each flower, that you put in the bouquet for him.

Spencer listens to your every word with a happy smile, you remind him of himself with your rambling and to be honest, he finds it adorable.

You are done too quickly tho and Spencer finds himself wanting to hear you speak again.

But his phone rings and he doesn't even need to pick up to know, that the team is wondering, where he is.

"Here, i-is this okay?" you hand the insanely pretty bouquet to him. Spencer's grin basically answers your question.

"Thank you, thank you. It couldn't be more perfect. You're a total lifesaver..." he looks at your name tag, "y/n. Thank you, y/n."

You are certain, that your cheeks couldn't be more red as they are right now. Spencer's compliment makes you blush like a fool.

"Oh. I'm..I'm glad, that you like it." You stutter out your response, looking at the ground. You carefully wrap the bouquet in the flower wrapping paper and tell him the price of it.

He pays it and before you can say no, he puts a bigger tip than it's normal into the tip jar.

Spencer then slowly leaves thanking you as he goes. And right before the door closes, it looks like Spencer wants to tell you something else, but in the last second he shakes his head and dissappears.

You wave him a shy goodbye, you are a little disappointed even if you don't really know why. Well okay, maybe you do know why. But you shouldn't have put your hopes up, thinking the handsome stranger felt the spark like you did. And that maybe, only maybe, he'd ask you out.

You sigh and sluggishly start to clean up the counter to finally close the shop and go home. The door bell rings again and your head immediately shoots up.

He runs up to the counter, a little out of breath, "shit, I'm sorry to bother you again. I don't usually do this, like ever, it's just....Would you like to go out with me sometimes? Like for a-a coffee? You can say no of course, hell, I'd totally understand if you said no." Spencer's now the one to rumble.

"I-I'd love to," you, surprising even yourself, reply immediately. Cheeks, of course, burning red.

"It's okay- Wait, really?" Spencer was totally expecting you to reject him.

"Yes, really....." you want to say his name.

"Spencer, my name is Spencer," he quickly understands.

"Spencer, " you try out his name," I'd love to Spencer, here." You bravely scramble your phone number on a piece of paper and give it to him.

Spencer takes it with a huge smile, "I'll call you, " he looks like he wants to stay longer, but looks at his watch and curses under his breath," I'm so late. I gotta go, but I'll call you, I promise."

"Bye, Spencer," you say sweetly and Spencer already knows he's fucked. Not even one date and he knows, he's down bad.

[doberbutts]

I have a really odd question about trans/gender dressing stuff. It's totally OK if you don't feel comfortable in answering, I'm just not sure where to go for opinions on if something is harmful or not.

So teachers this year at the start of school had aprons with prompts for kids to pick a greeting they were comfortable with (stuff like a wave, high five, fist bump, pinky hugs, etc). The aprons have a frilly tutu. The majority of teaching staff in the school is female, but a few male teachers petitioned to get their own aprons (tutu and all), and have since made it a point to wear them as a Friday tradition every week. They're not acting any different than normal, and when kids express discomfort/dislike at the fact the guys are wearing a tutu the teachers prompt them to try and understand why, as well as encourage the kids to challenge why it's 'wrong'.

They handle it with as much respect as they can, but one of the students parents recently expressed concern that while the weekly thing is being done in good spirit/faith and as a way to make things fun for kids, they could possibly be acting in a harmful way for the trans community. I didn't have a ready answer, because while I'm an ally I am not a part of the community directly.

So I wanted to ask someone who might have at least a little more insight if this is something I should gently encourage them to stop, or if I can reassure the concerned folks that they're not being harmful.

I'm gunna be honest, this is so out of anything I ever experienced at school because I went to Cult School where you got expelled if they caught you as gay or pregnant, so I have no opinions other than "this would not happen at my school ever even nowadays".

[bowandcurtsey]

Hi! Just saw your requests open post and squealed. Could I please get headcanons of Fuegoleon falling in love with an extremely beautiful woman and how he goes about courting her?

Hi sweetie!! Thank you for waiting so long (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)

I hope you're still here and get to read this request! Hope 2024 would be filled with nothing but amazing things <3

My last piece of work in 2023 hehe! Here's some gentleman Fue for you Anony!

Characters: Furgoleon Vermillion x f! reader tw: unchecked works

When he first saw you, he was so mesmerised by your beauty that he started blushing.

Fuegoleon, the captain of the crimson lion was usually an eloquent man. But he started to stutter around you and found himself not being sure of what to say.

He actually thought of many ways to talk to you a little more but he couldn't think right at that moment.

When you both parted way, Fue found himself thinking about you all the time. He just couldn't shake you out of his head. He was mentally slapping himself so many times in the day everytime he thought about how awkward he was when he first met you.

He had to come up with an excuse to meet you again. He just had to.

And guess what? he organised an entire event for the village you stayed in, just so that he could see you again.

Did he have any plans when he met you again? no.

So he arranged a charity event in your village (and a few other villages as well for cover up of course), and he was there in person every single day.

And when he met you again, he goes tripping over his tongue again. It's like you're his kryptonite and his brain malfunctions when you meet.

Thank the heavens you spoke to him a little, else he'd won't get over himself again that night. You volunteered to help out at the charity event and of course he agreed without any hesitation.

In the next few days, he would bring you breakfast or some snacks, or water - anything that could increase his chance of coming to interact with you.

Slowly he would start to make more casual small talks and ask a little more personal questions.

As he interacted with you, he fell harder in love, not only because of your physical features, but also your inner beauty. Every time you laughed, he found himself smiling as well.

On the fifth and last day of the village charity event, fue found himself in low spirits. He thought about extending the event, but as a magic knight, he knew that there were other villages waiting on the help too. He had to move on to the next village tomorrow.

He brought you a small little bouquet of flowers. "as thanks to helping us out" he spoke in a low and quiet voice, but internally he was freaking out.

The smile on your face was everything to him. He would never forget the sparkle in your eyes and the rosy tint on your cheeks. But what you said next was even more unforgettable.

Because it would be the start of everything you had with Fue.

"would you guys need an extra helping hand in the other villages? I would love to volunteer"

WELL WELL WELL

it is safe to say he almost jumped in joy at that moment. But he had to maintain his composure else he'd risk looking like a total dork in front of you.

Now he would find himself having lunch with you daily. Bringing you water, breakfast and snacks are just the norm now.

Some days he'd even ferry you to and fro the village so you wouldn't even need to travel yourself. Because it's "the least I should do!"

Every week when you ended the charity event with a village, he brings you a brand new bouquet of flowers "as thanks" and they get bigger and bigger in size.

You guys chat about more personal things and share more stories now. He's starting to get comfy with you.

By now, the entire Crimson Lion knows that Fue is trying to court you. The dissing he gets from Leo and Mereo is UNIMAGINABLE. Soon, mimosa and kirsch knows about it too and they tease him about it as well. Poor Fue.

But nothing is going to stop his determination of courting you.

How could you resist a fine, charming man like Fue anyway? You knew you were starting to catch feelings as well.

Fue is not the time to spend lavish amount of money on you during the courting stage. He believes the best way to show his sincerity is through his actions.

Chivalry is Fue's middle name, so do expect a lot of opening doors, pulling out chairs, lending you a hand on simple tasks, helping you hold your dresses, etc.

After ALL the charity event at the different village (which spread across 6 weeks in total), Fue finally mustered up the courage to ask you out for dinner. The rest was history.

[killacharacterbingo]

Kill-A-Character BINGO!

Welcome to the first official round of Kill-A-Character BINGO!

I'm sure you guys have a lot of questions to ask, but first please check out the getting started post and rules.

(Or check out out masterpost)

The idea for the Kill-A-Character BINGO first came about in 2020, when I the creator, accidentally kept killing my character during Whumptober, and I decided I wanted to make a challenge around it.

Apparently, people thought it was cool when I shared it on reddit, and now, it's a real challenge.

It has changed a lot in shape over the last few years. From some tiny event driven from a reddit post, till having a discord, to having other events and mods and staff. But this will be our biggest leap yet! Going from a small prompt challenge, to a full on Bingo!

Waow...

The three main things you should know:

One:

The event is created with the idea of killing the same character for every single prompt. In spirit of the event I'll tell you that's a rule, but if you want to kill 25 different characters instead, that's totally cool as long as you tag accordingly.

Two:

It's a open fandom event, meaning that everyone can join in. With few exceptions. We do not allow AI generated text, imagines or other AI media. And we do not allow RPF (Real person fic)

Three:

The event officially started on January 1st, 2024. You can apply for cards already now, but won't receive them until the event begins. From there, you can request and receive cards throughout all of 2024.

We're starting early guys! Go get a bingo card :)

Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions :) And remember to come join us on discord!

[tanglepelt]

Run Ghost Run 16

prev master

Ellie and Constatine meet and plot with Lady Gotham, while Jason hunts for the child with someone else

Danielle wasn’t sure what to do in this situation.

She could handle ghosts and other supernatural beings. The solution is to punch first never asking questions, and gain dominance. If they can’t get up, you win! Sure fire way to get away. Jazz’s number one rule for her had always just been don’t get caught.

Which she never had! Well... never for long.

Fighting her way had always been the best and her personal favorite solution.

Humans and protection spirits though. Punching first made things worse. Humans just couldn’t stand it to quote it’s plain rude. Listen it’s not her fault humans are squishy. She never had that problem with her template. Protection ghosts and spirits. They fought back hard.

They were annoying to deal with.

Ugh. She had some bad fights in her history.

And whichever city ghost was in control here just dumped her. It was a good thing. Maybe? Hopefully. Ehh, she didn’t know. It probably wasn’t at least a bad sign.

The spirit wassss in discussion. And didn’t instantly deny her entry. Another good sign! While city protectors weren’t too common, they did pop up here and there. Some cities she couldn’t even enter without a fight. Apparently, she was too much trouble. They said shed cause more problems for those cities.

Getting in. First step of her not planned plan conquered. Now to find Danny!

Now she was dumped in front of this guy. So, there was a chance he was someone she trusted??? Tolerated?? Dealt with? She wasn’t too sure. This was new. Grand old time.

Time to face this one head on. Figuring out where to go next. Cause she could not for the life of her find Danny’s signature. The whole bat and bird’s thing on the note means Danny should be here.

Not many other people are known by that. Super easy to find on social media. Tons of conspiracy theories. The butts matched apparently. So obviously he had to be in Gotham. Why else would she be entering the territory of Batman?

He was a detective, right?

If Danny was there, Batman would know.

Hopefully the lack of a signature was some tech or something. The only other time she had heard of a signature just not being traceable was with dire health. AS in DEATH health. It takes a lot for a ghost to pass. Danny couldn’t feel her and she nearly destabilized.

It HAD to be tech.

Right. She had a guy to question! She should do that rather than just stare him down.

The man with the trench coat! He had to know something.

Now she couldn’t keep staring at him with her head to the side like a confused dog. Cause a sad man in a trench coat was not what she expected. He looked very much like he needed a nap. But that wasn’t important. She needed answers. And she needed them now!

Then again, the man seemed off. Human for sure but definitely off? Messed up? Incomplete?? She didn’t know. He was another new thing. But she still needed to question the man!

Danielle was about to begin her detective work and huh?

She didn’t even get a chance to say a word and poof the man was cussing. She didn’t do anything. This man now is a target. When he reached for a lighter clearly ready to smoke. Which was very bad for the man. Obviously, she could help him out. It was totally not out of spite for cussing the minute he saw her. She chose chaos. She didn’t know this man.

Clearly, he had bad coping methods. Even if they weren’t. This was too much of a fun opportunity to pass up. Maybe she was a problem.

Freezing the lighter “you know those are bad for you right, any chance you know who the spirit of this city is

Cause I need info. Either you or her?” Yea, she thinks the spirit was a girl. Just a feeling. “Need to answer my questions!

“Your worse than the bat” the man grumbled

“As in the birds and bats!! Like Batman??? Please say you know where that one is at least”

“Th-“

Danielle interrupted the man “cause like. I have a sticky note! Green and glowing saying to find my template with the birds and bats!!! And the weird eyeball drawing. That’s a future me problem!”

She couldn’t help but wave the sticky note in his face. She needed to find at least something out. It would get her in the right direction.

The man backed away from her. Which rude. All she did was get up in his space. Danny and his friends never minded. “That’s bloody coated in ectoplasm.”

“Duh. I’m like 90% positive it came from clockwork. Danny complains about him giving him tasks via green sticky notes.”

The guy’s face seemed to go several shades lighter. The spirit dumped her in front of him. Shouldn’t he know this stuff?? Who else communicates green glowing sticky note?

“Seriously tho Danny? Batman??? Even the spirit would be great. I gotta go stab my template” time to get them back on track.

The man taking a deep breath got something useful out of his mouth. “Lady Gotham stepped away, right in the bloody middle of a deal.”

“Ewww. Deals aren’t a smart move. They like to tick ya!” she just had to inform this guy. Clearly, he didn’t understand the risk.

The man seemed to think about something. Hopefully taking her advice to mind. “Well. Gotta find the prince as she’s been putting it. Heard he was in right trouble. More than happy to make a deal to help the kid.”

“You’re looking for Danny two!!! The note told me to find him and had the ecto dejecto on it” now she knew why the spirit dumped her here. She had to help him! Trench coat man might just be useful after all. The other ghost she meets always talked about how the new king was more of a prince. “If he’s in trouble we gotta help him. I knew something was wrong! The weird dreams and other ghost being yoinked back to the zone!”

“Exactly. Unless ya got another way to find him deals got to be made”

Hmmm. Well, that made some sense. Danny was untraceable. Of this lady Gotham had my clue of where he was. She’d have every right to enforce some deal. But. Should Mr. trench coat do it.

Or.

She did have the thing that was likely to help him. Most ghosts wanted Danny not dead. That’d leave a gap or something. Politics not her thing. Soo. She had a bargaining chip.

Well. There wasn’t much time to think about it anymore. She felt this lady reaching out with her ecto. Trench coat also noticed.  “I’ll take lead. No deal making for you. Its awfully stupid for a human” she could always just freeze him or something id he tried anything.

The man looked ready to say something but never got the chance. The ghost was done!!! Most of been a quick unimportant talk then. She let the darkness overcome her.

Emotional sensing? Manipulation?! Wow this spirit is strong.

Indeed.

Mind reading!! Cool. Imma cut to the chase. Where’s Danny? I gotta stab him per clockwork.

As I informed Constantine, I had a deal with the prince. I will not help my knight, by extension those working with them. A deal had to be made.

Well, I’m no knight. Frighty is the only knight I know!!! I could care less about trench coat. Boot him and tell me!!

That may work.

Danielle felt the annoyance from the man.

He was injected with bloody blood blossoms. Which should have killed the kid. Ya need someone who can flush them out. I’m well okay ta not tell the bloody bats where he’s at.

Wait what?!?!?

The young prince is not well. He needs help yet refuses what has been offered. Refuses to see past surface level misunderstandings.

Okay okay. Danny needs help. We all need to deal with this. I need trench coat man. So how about this. You tell me where Danny is located. I stab him trench coat scans him. You ensure his safety, and we don’t tell the birds and bats.

It favors us all. Do we have a deal?

**

He can’t believe he lost the kid.

Jason blames Bruce’s. 100% all his fault. He just had to insist on a call. Had to bug him and get in the way. Something spooked him.

Danny looked terrified as he fled. Like he was expecting him to hurt him or do something to him. He had managed to get him in. Room.

Got him out of the street.

Something set him off. He overheard something from the phone conversation. So, kids definitely got enchanted hearing. That’s 1000 % confirmed.

Taking the call had been his worst decision yet.

All Bruce’s fault.

For now. He had to play hunt the child. Kid had the backpack, he got that going for him.

There were some medical supplies there. Which is a good thing. He didn’t see any supplies to go out in the wilderness. That was also a good thing. Kid couldn’t just disappear into the swamp or something. Then the tracker he planted. Never be too paranoid it seems. All he had to do is pull it up and find the kid yet again.

Keep a farther following distance and hope he hasn’t high tailed it out of Gotham. That would make things more complicated.

Nice simple plan. By all accounts it should have worked. Should have been the best method. He followed all the standard stalking guidelines. Get a tracker on the subject.

But the program.

The way to track.

Absolutely glitching out. Pinging randomly. At one point at the library the next second a café. Could the kid teleport? Or was it a glitch?? But Barbara had set up that program.

The picture was glitched.

Could that be a part of this?

Brnng brnng

Bruce was back to calling.

Which was the problem in the first place. Yea no. He ain’t getting him involved. Kid absolutely wanted nothing to do with the weird vigilantes. Batman was the biggest one.

He’d just follow the tracker and hope for the best. One had to be right.

Nope. Not. Signal one. They just went nowhere and everywhere. What was up with this. Pictures were glitchy, videos were a mess. Mind. Simple tracker wasn’t working at all.

Maybe since the tracker was staying in Gotham he was still here.

If he were to map out every location the tracker was pinging. He could check the center of where it was. That’s a supernatural thing. Right?

The acts did see them as ghosts. Supernatural may just be the key.

He’d have to put a pin on that plan for a second. He’d make the next conversation quick. He had a kid to find. Again.

“Little wing.”

“Something spooked the kid; I blame the bat. Trackers don’t seem to do jack except bounce everywhere.” At least Bruce wasn’t the one bugging him.  “Unless you have any leads got a kid to hunt down.”

“New theory. Oracle has an inkling he was unknowingly looking for us. Bats and birds are our thing. Then being in Gotham. Kids clueless about heroes. The research paper just didn’t track.

But there is a bigg-“

Both him and dick turned to. One of his goons.

“Ummm” the goon he thinks it was mark “there’s been sightings of men in white suits approaching your territory”

Crap.

He was off. Dick close behind.

“Have a lead yourself.”

“An idea” hoping the middle point works.

“There is reason to believe kid can sense those around the pits. I was able to watch him on the roof about 5 minutes, no issues. Minute robins in the area. He’s aware.

Red Robin. On a prohibited coffee run was clocked at the doorway.”

Huh.

Maybe it wasn’t just general like he thought. Danny always seemed to track him. Knew where he was.

“If the location pans out. "You can take lead” kids' safety was more important at this point. “He’s against you vigilantes adamantly.”

“Two eyes are better than one still.”

“A single agent gets close I ain’t staying back.” They weren't getting ahold of the kid again.

“Wouldn’t expect anything else little wing.”

[donnerpartyofone]

I bailed on a party over the weekend because the parties in that particular series tend to be kind of overwhelming and the last time my husband and I were at one some creepy guy grabbed me in a really intimate full-body way and got kind of hurt about it when I reacted with stunned confusion, and even though I don't think he meant personal harm and basically "nothing bad happened", it gave me this feeling of trepidation about the next party and I decided I needed a slightly longer break from that whole crowd. In the meantime I made it clear to my husband that in the future I might just leave on my own when I start to get overwhelmed so people don't have to watch my aura change and wonder what the fuck my problem is while I wait until things wind down naturally.

Anyway the incident above is exceptional because that guy was really not acting right, but in general: When you have a thing where you strongly do not wish to be touched, and especially if you are at the same time a woman, people will give you all kinds of idealistic, impractical advice about how you Must stand up for your self in a spirit of radical honesty at all times, to exercise your all-important modern bodily sovereignty, and it's like...yeah but life is not an after school special where everybody learns a big lesson and changes for the better in the space of two or three lines of dialog. And like people who say this kind of thing--well, I often suspect that they don't really live the way they're telling me I should live, it's just some aspirational fantasy they have about how life SHOULD be, but to that point I think they're not really considering the tax of constantly, righteously asserting your needs with all kinds of people, especially in more casual and/or public situations. Like yes in a perfect world I would bring the law down on anyone who threatens to ignorantly violate my comfort, but the reality is that most people just do not understand specifically the touching thing at all, and trying to explain myself to people who are not going to get it in situations that don't really matter is just a lot more trouble than it's worth. I have had supposedly-close loved ones make fun of me for it, or passive-aggressively declare that they're respecting my boundaries while making it really clear that they're hurt by my perceived rejection of them, or even just act like I secretly DO really want a bunch of big ol' mushy hugs and my whole "don't touch me" thing is just my secret way of begging for the physical contact that I'm too shy to ask for directly. And when it's a question of dealing with someone I do NOT know, and who I may not even want to get to know, there can be political factors in play, or safety issues, or just the plain old desire for expedience. A lot of the time it's genuinely better to just eat shit and accept the hug knowing that this, too, shall pass.

I recently witnessed a helpful example of this problem that had nothing to do with sex. If you've spent any amount of time with macho tough guys then you probably know that they're incredibly thin-skinned--not just that they're easily angered, but they're extremely sensitive to rejection and criticism. Sometimes I meet one of these tough guys and while I think I'm being totally friendly and normal, they manage to react to everything I say as if I'm secretly judging them and they have to somehow communicate that they know I don't really like them or something. It's funny how that tough guy stuff means the opposite of what it expresses, like how saying "I don't give a fuck" is the clearest possible way to let people know that you most certainly give a fuck and in fact you are giving one right now.

So I was at the classy neighborhood whiskey bar for the birthday of a friend who has had his party there every year for like a decade or something, and the owner is one of these guys. I like him actually, he's smart and funny and has interesting things to say, but he's always indicating that he thinks I'm avoiding him or rolling my eyes at him or something, like he's going to catch me in the act of secretly not liking him. So at this party, which was really an intimate gathering of close-knit pals who have been coming to the bar for years, there was another big macho tough guy, and he refused to shake hands with the owner. There was a good reason that he explained very clearly up front; I can't remember exactly but it was something very rational like his kids were sick, or he was trying not to catch a cold before traveling to see older relatives, that kind of thing--but the bar owner just got so uncomfortable about it, it was really awkward and the two tough guys were like not OK with each other for the rest of the night. And you can imagine that if there were a harder-to-understand reason like a person just does not enjoy physical contact with other people and says "No thanks I do not prefer this", it might have been really not-worth the political problem of creating a bad atmosphere at an intimate birthday party just to avoid five seconds of discomfort. I mean if you're always happy to confront and instruct people under all circumstances, god bless you, but things are not always as black and white as all that for everybody else.

[qierxing]

Soft, like the night

Yandere! Toge Inumaki x Reader Word Count: 742

—

It's a soothing place; this convenience store. Tinny pop music echoes throughout the store as Toge steps through the cramped aisles. Routine as always, he’s in front of the medicine section and grabbing his usual before heading straight to the front counter.

“You look like shit. You good there?”

Toge blinks once, then again, to process the question. The hum of the AC filters in and out of focus as he takes in your cocked eyebrow and worried eyes. What would his classmates say if they were in his shoes? 

He nods, grabbing his latest purchase of cough spray off the scratched counter, only giving a small affirmative noise. Maki would tell him there’s no need to explain himself, especially not to a person who didn’t even know what he is. But he doesn’t want to be rude to you, the cashier who checks out his cough medicine without fail every time at graveyard hours without batting an eye. 

You sigh and Toge watches the usual battle of your face on whether you should pry further or leave him be like the many other suspicious customers that pass through the convenience store. Tonight, again, you decide to let him walk out of the store without any more words. 

It’s stupid, but one of these days, he wishes you would ask.

-

His wish is granted one dark night. It was a grade one curse, nothing too extreme, but it definitely left him rougher for wear. 

He barely realizes he’s stumbled into the konbini if not for your panicked voice.

“Holy shit–sir, are you okay?!” One moment he’s staring at the white ceiling with fluorescent lights and the next, he registers your face hovering over his. Calloused hands frantically wipe at the blood trailing out of his mouth and head, and he wishes he could stay like this forever. 

“We need to get you to the hospital, stat.” He finally lurches to consciousness at those words, grabbing at your wrist before it can reach for your phone, shaking his head violently. Both of your gazes lock and after a long pause, you scrunch your face and sigh. 

“Fine, fine, are you okay with my place?” 

He thinks of how nice you are to care about a stranger this much, even if you’ve seen him so many times hobble in at spiriting hours to get throat medicine and nothing else. Perhaps, if he can delude himself more, he could think of how there was a bond forged in those late nights, when only you and him existed in that empty liminal space.

Soft sheets replace the cold granite floor of the shop and he wonders if this is your bed. It must be because the soft scent in his nose makes him melt within the blankets. What would it be like, he wonders, to wake up to your face the next morning? To feel your warmth in his arms and on his chest?

A warm cloth wipes at his mouth, then head, and his eyes lazily trail up the arm. You're adorable and soft in this moment and even if your face is anxious, he thinks he might as well have lived a good life just from the sight of it alone. He closes his eyes, accepting, willing to take in your baptism of his undeserving body.

"You're so weird…you should've gone to the hospital." You whisper, mistakenly thinking he succumbed to slumber. "Why trust a total stranger with your life?"

But you aren't a stranger, he wants to argue. You're someone who knows him, who didn't care that he couldn't say anything. And yet he can't convey it without risk to you. 

He clings to your arms and dreams.

-

So when he wakes up to your sheepish apologies, he starts panicking. He doesn’t want to return to being the guy who just shows up and buys cough syrup, he doesn’t want you to return back to the apathetic cashier who doesn’t bat an eye when he comes in–he doesn’t, he doesn’t–

It’s like he can’t breathe all of a sudden.

He knows better, he knows, but he can’t stop himself. 

Not when your face had been so horrified when he spoke his first understandable words to you. (Stay still.) Not when he runs his hands gently down your petrified face. Not even when your phone’s alarm goes off for your shift in the morning. 

None of that matters now, with you by his side.

[kenkaodoll]

Kamiya Dojo Monogatari Tale 75 (JUMP SQ 24/04)

About Kamiya Dojo Monogatari:

Tales of Kamiya dojo is written by Kaoru Kurosaki and published along with the “Rurouni Kenshin Hokkaido” arc in JUMPSQ. The tale involves the Rurouni Kenshin character in daily life that takes time between Kenshin and Kaoru marriage until the epilogue chapter in the original manga before the Hokkaido Arc. Until this month (March 2024) there are a total 75 chapters in Tales of Kamiya dojo. This is an unofficial translation. 

Previous Story: https://www.tumblr.com/kenkaodoll/743294478639661056/kamiya-dojo-monogatari-tale-74-jump-sq-2403

“It’s not good to trust people too much, you know.”

“Is that so? I don't think so.”

Kaoru directly objected to Mikio's doctrine. Mikio did not expect an objection from her, looked as if he didn't understand.

“You have to think with your head,” he told her plausibly.

“That’s true. That may be important.”

“Right?”

Mikio was thrilled inside to be able to answer Kaoru's objection so well.

Then he suddenly came to himself, did I really think with my head? Should I bring home the clay mold? A slight feeling of uneasiness, discomfort, disquiet, he didn’t know what it was, crossed his mind.

“Good morning!”

Misao entered the store cheerfully, but her voice did not reach Mikio's ears.

.

The preparation for the opening of the Rabbit Cafe passed in the blink of an eye, and they were ready for the first day of business.

The day before the opening, Usagawa, the owner of the store, would come to make a final check to see that everything is ready.

And what about Mikio's clay? It had not yet been molded into a key, and was still in clean state.

Suwa had asked him several times since then, “What happened to the key mold?” But each time, Mikio would dodge the question, saying, “I haven't been called by Usagawa-san yet.”

Each time, Suwa praised Mikio and it motivated him to take action. For a moment, Mikio wanted to do iy, but as he talked with Kaoru and Tsubame about preparing for the rabbit café, his motivation was replaced by an indescribable reluctant feeling.

Mikio kept stalling his trip to the Usagawa residence to take the key mold.

“Finally, it’s tomorrow, Mikio-sama."

Tsubame spoke to Mikio.

Kaoru, Megumi, Misao, Tsubame, and Mikio were waiting at the café for Usagawa to come for final confirmation.

“Oh, yeah.”

Mikio had been thinking about the clay and was in a high state of anxiety, became impatient for a moment.

“I am very happy,” Tsubame’s eyes looked a little bit wet.

In Mikio's mind, Tsubame was praising Mikio with all her might, saying things like, "The head family must be very happy to see you become such a splendid man," or something like "You are indeed Mikio-sama, opening a cutting-edge café in Western-style attire that fits the new era." But the actual Tsubame was not a good talker, so he does not say such things. 

Mikio was in a good mood because he felt as if he had been praised, even though she did not say it.

Thinking about the clay would make him feel down, and thinking about the opening of the café would lift his spirits. Mikio was extremely unstable. On top of that, his wife, Shino, was in the last month of pregnancy, and a baby could be born at any time. Many things can happen at once.

…

When he was thinking about it, the store’s door opened.

“Welcome!”

The waitresses who dressed in western-style, Kaoru, Megumi, Misao, and Tsubame shouted in unison and bowed.

“Mmm-hmm. Well, that's a good start!” Usagawa, accompanied by his apprentice, came in with a big smile on his face. 

“That's all!” Mikio smiled and welcomed Usagawa, “We're all set for the first day of business, leave it to me.”

“I'm glad I asked you guys to do this. I'm glad I asked you guys to do it,” Usagawa said with satisfaction.

“We'll have a cup of tea while watching the rabbits, won't we?”

“It's a sunny day today, so how about sitting on the terrace?” Kaoru suggested.

"Oh, the terrace."

“This way. You can have tea while watching the cute rabbits running free in the garden,” Misao guided Usagawa and his apprentice to take a seat on the terrace.

The garden was covered with the white clover, and the rabbits were free roaming on it. On cold or rainy days, the rabbits were kept indoors, but during the warmer days, they could be admired under the sun.

“I love the terrace!” Usagawa was satisfied.

“Here is the menu,” Megumi held out a thick sheet of paper.

The menu includes tea, sweets, and their prices written in a stylish font.

“The menu… And?” Usagawa read it aloud.

The rest of the menu was written in Japanese, although the word "MENU" was written at the top.

Then in addition to tea and snacks, the price of rabbit food, such as *komatsuna and carrots, was also written. There was an arrangement that allowed customers to feed the rabbits. If they found a rabbit they like, they could take it home with them for a fee.

“Now, tea and baked sweets for both of us, and shall I have a bunch of *komatsuna for the rabbits?” Usagawa placed his order, Megumi bowed and headed for the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Tsubame prepared the order and brought it to Usagawa and his apprentice.

Tsubame served with exquisite timing, not rushing, but not making them wait too long.

“Umm… It's wonderful,” Usagawa sipped the tea which was brewed carefully. 

“This rabbit café has turned out to be even better than I had envisioned in my mind. Thank you for preparing it so well,” Usagawa said deeply.

“No, not so much,”Mikio was embarrassed when he heard Usagawa's praise.

“Nagaoka, you have played a central role in bringing us this far. The service, the décor, the rabbits, the tea, the sweets. Everything is wonderful!” Usagawa stood up and gave him applause.

“Usagawa-san…”

Mikio was very touched by Usagawa praising him even though just for the preparation, the show hadn’t started yet.

“But the real show starts tomorrow,” Megumi doused his excitement with her fair argument.

“!” Mikio's face looked as if he had really been doused with cold water.

“We've done all this preparation, it'll be fine tomorrow, I’m sure it will run smoothly,” Tsubame backed him up.

“Yes, yes. Let's be happy that things have gone so well, instead of thinking about what might go wrong," Usagawa said smiling.

“I see… that’s how you think. It’s a bit like congratulations, but well, that’s okay isn’t it?” Megumi admitted.

“Megumi-san, as a doctor, you always think of every possible eventuality, that’s why you're so calm, aren't you?” Kaoru asked

“Are you a doctor?” Mikio was surprised to hear it.

“Yes, I am. So what?”

“Well, it's just... It's rare to see a female doctor.”

Megumi was amused by Mikio's honest reaction.

“I think it's been a long time since I've been told that a female doctor is rare.”

“Megumi-san is already a rare presence in Kamiya Dojo, you know.”

Everyone chuckled at Misao's words, agreeing with each other. Usagawa looked at everyone in such a friendly mood.

“We've completed the final checks. As Megumi said, tomorrow is the big day. Please wrap up today at a moderate point and prepare for tomorrow,” said

“Yes, sir,” The ladies responded cheerfully.

“And then, Nagaoka-kun.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Will you drop by my mansion on your way home?”

Mikio's heart skipped a beat at Usagawa's invitation.

“Heh... Heh. To your house?”

He thought about the clay that he received from Suwa the other day.

“Congratulations in advance.... Yes?” Usagawa smiled and returned with his apprentice.

.

After Usagawa left, they spent the day practicing to service customers and cleaning the rabbit hutch for tomorrow's opening. Finally the preparation was finished. 

“You guys, starting tomorrow please be successful!”   

Mikio was being uncharacteristically auspicious, but then he said, “I’m going to Usagawa-san for pre-celebaration!” He was sure he would have a good drink. Mikio grinned with anticipation.

“Don't we have that kind of pre-celebration?” Misao asked naively.

“Oh, I'll get something for you guys.”

Mikio went to Usagawa's house in a good mood.

.

Mikio arrived in front of Usagawa's mansion after the sun had set.

Should I do it now?

Mikio hesitated.

He had been stalling to mold clay for a long time. If he missed this opportunity when Usagawa invited him, he did not know when he would be able to enter the Usagawa residence again.

I have no choice but to do it.

He prepared himself and entered the mansion.

The apprentice guided him to the Japanese-style room where a boxed set of dishes and sake were prepared.

“The master still has some work to do, so if you don't mind, please go ahead and begin.”

“Oh, thank you very much! Well, then, enjoy!” Mikio said and began to drink from the cups. The apprentice bowed politely and went away.

Now… I must do it.

Mikio left his room and began to search the house.

However, since he had been sluggishly stalling the opportunity to do it, he had a general idea of where the key to the warehouse was located.

It was in the altar at the back of the mansion.

“Bingo.”

Mikio grinned when he found the key successfully. After making a mold with the clay Suwa had prepared, Mikio put the key back where it had originally been and he put his hand in front of the altar as if he was praying.

“Thank you”

Then, he returned to the room where he was before with a nonchalant look. Relieved that everything had gone as smoothly as it had, he downed a glass of sake.

“Yum!”

Mikio knew that the unpleasant feeling he had felt before, which he couldn't describe, was just his imagination. Because the sake was so good.

Then Usagawa finally arrived.

“Well, come on, it's the pre-celebration!” Usagawa was holding something in his hand.

“What is this…?”

Mikio looked at it and saw that it was a soft clothes for baby diaper. It was an expensive-looking clothes that would be useful in the coming cold season.

“The celebration is not for the cafe, it’s for Shino’s….”

“I thought she would be in full term soon.”

Mikio couldn't taste the sake at once.

Notes:

*komatsuna: Japanese mustard spinach, a leafy vegetable.

.…..to be continued in chapter 76……https://www.tumblr.com/kenkaodoll/747021286034849792/kamiya-dojo-monogatari-tale-76-jump-sq-2406?source=share 

TLnote(1): translating Japanese is so hard because the sentence structure is very different compared with English. Also the style of writing is different, plus there’s a lot of figurative, poetic language and things that don't make sense if it’s directly translated into english. So forgive me if this is very weird to read, and please tell me if you want to give corrections. 

TLnote(2) I will provide the original Japanese text for correction if any of you who read have better knowledge of the Japanese language. Just dm and I’ll send the file.

TLnote(3) Dtninja had translated some earlier chapters on his website. You can go and check on there

Read the rest of the story here: https://www.tumblr.com/kenkaodoll/686193523858538496/rurouni-kenshin-tales-of-kamiya-dojo?source=share

[airin-lavellan]

my brain agonizes me every day about latching onto rezaren and here's the thing. here's the thing I dislike most about how he was written: he was an inconsistent and rushed character. the inconsistency was the worst part and I could go on forever.

he starts as the morally questionable guy right? the show leads you to believe he's grey in morality- willing to fight a spirit for what he believes is right, manipulative but still caring. the first major hint of the backstory/flashbacks we see is rezaren crying. crying asking what miriam has done in the bloody scene. and that hits like a "holy shit there's more to it

then they open up with the brother/sister thing when they finally meet. still incredibly interesting- a villain who platonically loves the mc? who cares about them but in the wrong way and does the wrong things because of it but overarchingly loves them? amazing.

then in episode four, they build it up. the flashbacks point to rezaren having an idealistic idea of their past and miriam being rightfully very angry. we see it from his eyes, them laughing and playing together. then we see what rezaren ignored. he deflects this by saying he was a child and couldn't protect them- a fair point if we infer his mother was abusive towards, which we can infer from the harrowing "no ammosine has failed" part. he could apologize. he does not. miriam brings up the harrowing as her trump card- extremely strange to me in terms of narration because it portrays rezaren in a...not bad light? his mom is the aggressor, he's just shown as younger and weak and helpless. it doesn't match the buildup

there is a very clear snapping point where redemption is no longer an option for him: when he loses his temper at miriam. the switch is jarring, very jarring, at first, but it's okay. it would have been preferred if he was redeemed but it's not necessary, he could still be an amazing pure evil character.

...and then he's not. he goes far too quickly into too much evil- they set him up for a descent to madness and then go from one scene of "i won't use blood magic tassia don't worry" to "watch me publicly kill this guy on my own team".

when his character is really messed up is the finale. when he decides to go super sayan racist mode and be like "i'm going to enslave you bitch kys" but is STILL TRYING TO RESURRECT NEB. perhaps he's delusional but they don't explain that!! if he's angry with miriam now, if he's fully evil now, his character motivation is gone. it cannot be "i want to resurrect my 'brother' and have a happy family again" because if he's going to turn on miriam in this way he should have no reason to keep trying with the circulum.

the show had so many places it could have solidified him as a villain- a true villain like he was supposed to look like at the end. they could have, say, shown him mistreating miriam or slaves. or shown him owning slaves. because we don't have any idea if the slaves in the summer palace are his- and they're probably not because he doesn't even live in that city. the palace is in Nessum, and he explicitly tells Tassia "don't worry queen i can't keep doing evil blood magic study because soon I have to go back to Minrathous".

they could have made him a descent into madness character- which is totally thrown off by the whole "hey don't get too deep into blood magic" "*kills people*" swapup. so now people can basically paint things however they want- because a lot of the "proof" for him being a certain way is inferences. justified, reasonable inferences, but inferences nevertheless and the show is just badly paced. and so we have people differing from "if you like rezaren you're a slaver" to "actually his enslavement was good and miriam is the real villian" and it's just. aagg. they were all good and bad characters!! liking a fictional character does not mean you agree with them. agony agony agony. anyways sorry for my 9 paragraph essay in your ask box but I am Tormented By Thots and your rezaren post reminded me of the queercoded little man who would call me slurs if I ever breathed the same air as him (he has 55 limp wrists and two arms. and it's no coincidence the show censored the only heterosexual kiss him and tassia have to be fruity at least just a bit)

Wow first of all thank you for taking the time to read my post and giving me your insights. I was fully viewing this in terms of what we see in the show but reading this, I must say a lot of aspects of how he was written also came into play. I loved the show and it's characters and I think it's biggest flaw is it's length since a lot of things had to be rushed and couldn't get explored on a deeper level.

He is definitely presented as a rather grey character and I think it's thanks to all of these sudden shifts that the fandom is very divided, since we didn't get to explore more about him and his other motivations or actions in the past we can merely judge him by what we see, and only what we are shown. From the start he did seem a bit manipulative, hiding true intentions behind the so called kindness, yet as the show progressed I couldn't help rooting for him, like you said: the harrowing scene doesn't show him in a bad light. He was completely helpless and in danger himself, the choice to use Neb was his mother's and I do believe she was also abusive to him. Sure not in the same way as Miriam got abused but you can see how fearful he was. When they were kids he was taught that slavery was normal and okay, yet we see an adult that wants to change that, he recognizes his mistakes.

The snapping did feel rushed and out of nowhere, and you're right. I hadn't noticed how conflicted his motivations are during the show. Perhaps it is indeed flawed writing but I think if we can find a logical explanation, it would point to the circulum itself. Tassia openly says that the thing is changing Rezaren, and she has known him for a while. Again, we haven't seen anything else from his past so nothing we can really base ourselves on. He seems to know blood magic and as far as we know he was always in control using it. Why did it change now? I blame the circulum, mixed of course with his desires being frustrated. Miriam was algo blinded by rage, both were equally stubborn and wanted to do something yet they sought a different purpose with different means and I can love and appreciate both. I just indeed dislike the discussion about Rezaren being a slaver, because imo he definitely isn't.

[chordsykat]

I see the "Herald" descriptions for Baen-she and I was wondering how you came up with that?

It's uh... aliens. No, it's not. And it's not substance abuse or secret access to unreleased Metalocalypse lore or secretly being Brendon Small or even having a space helicopter that can fly to the future (all are excellent and very popular guesses, however).

If I told you the secret is having a lot of time to think about it all, that'd probably be the real answer. But I realize it's a huge cop-out, too. So what if I told you that character development that goes beyond the surface-level and ascends into metaphorical and symbolic territory is something you can learn to do? Or maybe, better yet, it's something you can train yourself to do? Like flexing a muscle you didn't know you had..?

But to give this question its proper due, I'm going to have to delve into both Dethkomic and (very speculative) Metalocalypse fan-theory. Therefore, spoiler alert if you follow me below the cut :)

One of the nice things about working with an entire cast of OCs, as opposed to just one, is the built-in ability to play each one off the other, and build intricate thematic relationships that seem a lot harder to pull off than they actually are. The other nice thing Dethkomic specifically has going for it, is that I get to borrow off of themes already found in the canon.

Finding good ways to connect your characters to the world you put them in on an abstract level takes one thing above all else, and that's listening to who they really are. So, whether I'm writing fanfic or my own fic, I ask myself "Why are we writing these people in the first place?"

Sometimes this will lead you to answers like "They're just here to hang out with X," and I think the majority of fanfiction has that component to it. Mine sure does. But that's not always the totality of any character's purpose in the story by a long shot. If you're looking to throw symbolism, metaphor, and themes into your work, you're probably not writing one-shot hookup fics where that actually is the final answer (and if you do want to put that stuff into one-shot hookup fics, you should send me your WIPs because that sounds amazing).

It should be said -- None of the stuff I'm talking about here is necessary to tell a good story. Working with layers of metaphor is tricky, but if you successfully pull it off, even a little bit, it can add to the "wow, cool!" factor. That's not just something for the audience, either. As a writer, your overall satisfaction will see an uptick as well.

Symbols and character themes come about in two ways -- one is intentional, and one is incidental. You look at a character's personality and you might say, "This is Bob. Bob's spirit animal is a naked mole rat and his guardian celestial body is a black hole and his guiding natural element is ragweed." These themes are intentional and you can and should have fun putting little tidbits of them into your writing, straight out of the gate. Bob goes to a zoo and he gravitates to the naked mole rats? That's so Bob!

Incidental themes are a bit trickier. They appear as side-quests in your writing journey, and it's up to you to notice them. Here's a pointer -- if you get good at spotting symbolism in others' writing, you are "training your writing muscle" to be better at spotting it in your own. The bad guys escaped into a cave and the good guys are all afraid of the dark? Well holy shit! What about using Bob to go in and get them? Maybe Bob's not afraid of the dark? Maybe Bob is a natural spelunker? Bob's spirit animal is a naked mole rat, after all! This is so Bob!

So how do you "train" to spot symbolism? As I said above, the best way is to look at the media you enjoy, and see if you can spot any themes the authors have snuck in. Don't be afraid to "cheat" by interacting with your fandom and looking up some connections other people have made. Metalocalypse is full of this stuff, and we get into what I think are some of our liveliest discussions when we go back and forth about the prophecy. Go look at the wikis. Go peruse fan-theories (even "debunked" ones) on message boards, Discords and... *sigh*... Reddit (no offense to all my Klokateers on Reddit out there -- ilu but not the platform). Join in on the discussions right here on hellsite when they come about. Prophecy-speculating one of my favorite things about this fandom, personally.

So that brings us back to me and why my characters are here in the first place. Most of you know this, but Baen-Shee is in the Dethkomic story to explore the supernatural side of things. Not every MTL OC out there (or every character in the show for that matter) is going to be involved in the Prophecy, but I enjoy torturing myself with difficult and incomplete lore puzzles, so mine are players in it. All that said, here's probably what you came for in the first place -- a breakdown of some of the things I'm thinking about with my own characters as I examine the canon and my own stories, and little tidbits about how some of it came about:

Nita: We know she's head of the group, muscially, but I liked the idea of her being the last one anybody expected to be the most powerful character, supernaturally. I saw a lot of opportunities to play up her kind and unthreatening nature while simultaneously giving her character arcs that emphasize personal growth and strength of character. Nathan's a character who is giving off every indication that he's in charge and capable of managing his band and becoming a leader when the end of the world goes down -- but we all know he's incredibly insecure about all of it. I wanted Nita's purpose to not only be the usual finding herself stuff, but also helping others to find themselves. She's the Holy Unifier, and her "great appointed eternal task" is to keep everyone together. Too, I feel Nathan as the Chosen One is representative of the power of an individual, whereas Nita's on the flip side of that coin as the power one gets from others around them (she's totally Twilight Sparkle is what I'm trying to say, here).

Caj: She's a study in duality and surprises. Guardian of life, but also an assassin. The Holy Mother and (wo)man-at-arms. She's a girl who presets as a boy. Her eyes are two different colors. Her totem is a chameleon. And lest we forget, it's funny as hell that her Chosen One is also her greatest rival on the planet... etc, etc... Some of you guys already picked up on this, but watch closely, every mention of angels and devils in our current Dethkomic arc. This is a good example of a theme that sticks around for one story, only -- which is a thing that happens often in fictional serials and something you can totally employ if you only have one story to tell.

Cherry: The Holy Messenger -- and the Metalocalypse's first sacrificial player. Unlike Charles who follows her into the great hereafter a few weeks later, she doesn't get to escape death and become the Dead Man. I am so utterly stoked to show you her part in the continued Dethkomic stories, and that starts happening in just over a week from now, so I am going to try containing my excitement and keep from spoiling too much, but... Cherry's spirit animal is a phoenix for a reason. Also, I've said before the reason Cherry dies is not just a matter of emotionally torturing my readers, nor is it angst-porn: She dies because you need to get comfortable with the idea of major characters dying in my stories. ...and now I've probably said too much.

Sparkles: I've said before how Sparkles is my favorite character to write for, and how it's not just because I don't have to think up any dialogue for her beyond the occasional grunt and growl. Sparkles is a spirit of purity, nature, and all that's good and right in the world. It's definitely more an abstract concept than it is an "element" and I get to really stretch my imagination when coming up with the kind of things she's capable of. One symbol, one idea, one theme can mean several different things, and you might find as a writer (and especially if you're only just beginning to dip your toe into this stuff), it's easiest to loosely define your connections so as not to write yourself into a corner. You'll see Sparkles' powers finally come to the fore in Issue #7 of Dethkomic, and they suit her on several different fronts. I really surprised myself when I came up with it, in fact.

Eden: Her element is "the void" -- whatever that is -- and it's more than just a connection to her position as herald of death. Here again, keeping things kinda vague and loose, but the mirror-effect of a character whose history is (currently) a big question mark, having powers that come from something as obscure as a "concept" of an element is a connection one might make. Too, we throw that extra element of the moon in there, as a sort of guardian celestial force (calling to mind other visions too -- like space in general, the stars, the afterlife, the heavens...) and you can make further connections with Toki's association with rabbits on a mythological level. It's kind of all over the place, but tight enough to work, I think. Oh -- and speaking of mythology and bunnies in the moon... brush up on your world mythologies every chance you get. They'll do nothing but serve you in this endeavor, because at the end of the day, it's all about connecting the dots... or the stars in the sky, as it were!

SO. That was more of a tutorial than it was an answer. I hope you got to read through this and are still interested in this question, Claudia. It was a lot of fun to ponder and equally enjoyable to throw in some pointers for all my writers out there.

Also, I haven't gotten into it yet, but this is a good time to remind anyone reading this far that I'm doing a how-to-make-comics thing over on @dethkomic, and I release a tutorial every update over there. I totally will be covering more about metaphors and the like, very soon.

Great question! Thanks for reading!

[dallysnecklace]

Eddie Munson with a girlfriend who practices witchcraft

This is gonna be some little blurbs and headcanons bc I love this idea sm and I practice aswell :)

WARNINGS: Bullying

Eddie first noticed you freshman year

You were walking down the hallway, your jewelry making noises and you did, and your long skirt was flowing behind you

He thought you looked pretty witchy, but that didn’t mean you were a witch right?

He asked you about it during lunch and you just straight up said your a witch

He pretty much fell in love with you at that moment

He finally got the courage to ask you out, and you two are INSEPERABLE

Eddie was rushing home to see you. He had a long day at work and just needed someone who would hug him and tell him everything is okay. He stepped out of his car, and unlocked your front door(using the key you gave him) and stepped inside. Usually at this time you would be in the kitchen making dinner but you weren’t, and he grew a little bit concerned.

“Y/n? Where are you sweetheart?” He yelled

“Eddie! I’m in my room!” You yelled excitedly. You were super excited to see him.

He ran upstairs and opened your room, to be met with all of your candles lit, and a large pillar candle dressed with herbs, oils and sigils waiting to be lit.

“Okay…” You dragged him further into your room, “So I know you’ve been having more trouble than usual with the boys at school, so I made a protection candle specifically for you and your club to help you guys out with that. I’ll light it everyday for a month and it should help.”

He smiled so wide at you. His friends and him have been getting pushed around more often than usual and he was getting worried for the younger boys in the group.

He quickly engulfed you in a hug and whispered, “fuck I love you so much my witch.”

He can always tell when you anoint yourself with attraction oil, because he cannot let you go.

He loves all of your jewelry and he especially loves when you give some to him

You will charm his jewelry for him with specific intents if he needs it

He always worries for you when you get bullied

He thinks it’s totally unreasonable for you to get teased just because of your belief system

He hates that you think you deserve it just because your different

He will often ask you to pull tarot cards on certain situations, and it always helps him out

You always smell like insense, cedar, vanilla and lavender and he LOVES the smell

You walked into the cafeteria at lunch, looking around for your boyfriend and his “little band of geeks” as you like to call them. You spotted them and walked a bit faster over to their table, ready to join them.

You sat down, and pulled your lunch out of your bag.

“Hey sweetheart.” Eddie greeted you.

“Y/n!” Dustin caught your attention. “Susie’s been ignoring me can you do your thing with those cards to help me.”

You giggled and made eye contact with your boyfriend, who knew how you were a bit drained and was taking a bit of a spiritual break.

“Dusty I didn’t bring my tarot cards today. I’m sorry.” You looked over to the younger boy.

“But you always bring them though.” Mike added.

“Guys.” Eddie said louder, catching their attention.

“She needed a bit of a break okay, leave her be.” He shot them each a glare, not wanting them to bother his girlfriend any longer.

“Wait so you’re not a witch anymore? Y/n I need you to do spells for me though!” Dustin complained.

“Oh my gods I am still a witch I’m just taking a break for like two days dusty.” You sighed. “I can give you a reading if you ride back to my house with Eds and me after school, okay?”

“Okay.”

You are always giving Eddie charms to keep around him room to keep him safe

You always have protection on him, put the charms just help with warding his space

Eddie loves asking questions about your practice, and especially about spirits

He’s so interested in how you communicate with them, and he wants to aswell

You have a matching tattoo with Eddie. Yours is a sun, and his is a moon. They are both right beneath your collarbone.

Whenever you do glamour magic Eddie will not stop telling you how gorgeous you are and how you somehow look even better today

Compliments always go back and forth between you two

He loves to hold you hand, feeling your rings on his

He loves just little intimate moments like that between you two

He once asked you to do a love spell between you two to bring the both of you closer

You performed the whole ritual with him, making the spell very potent

It brought you two even more close if that was possible, and you always have it on your altar front and center

You’ve gotten Eddie into Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac

You are very proud of this accomplishment

“I just don’t get why you can’t hex Todd.” Eddie pouted, sitting on your bed while you were doing a quick tarot reading.

“My love, you know I don’t hex, I only do return to senders. I can do that if you like.” You walked over to him and kissed him softly, he sighed into the kiss and was quickly entranced by the feeling. You pulled away, leaving him pretty stunned by the kiss.

“Y/n, did you do something today to make me fall completely in love with you all over again?” He looked at you.

You giggled, surprised. “I actually didn’t Eds. But thank you for falling in love with me again.” You grabbed his hands and softly rubbed the back of them.

“God you’re so magical Y/n. How do you do this to me?” He blushed, a rare sight and fell back on your bed.

“I don’t know My love. Anyways about that return to sender. What’s his last name and birthday?” You inquired.

Something about you makes this man entranced by you

It’s not even the fact that you practice

He just thinks you’re send from Heaven, er- whatever you believe in, he doesn’t really understand. Is it the universe?

You are like and older sister to Dustin

He loves you so much, and thinks you’re one of the coolest people ever

Eddie loves how Dustin loves you

It feels like a little family

Eddie loves cuddles, and just needs to be holding you at all times

You think it’s the cutest

Anyways y’all are perfect together

[cocoartistwrites]

I love the agony aunt idea! You give great advice! In that spirit, I do have a story hehe:

(context) I’ve been dating this guy for a few months and he’s very nice and also very conventionally attractive. I haven’t ever had major major self-image issues, but I would consider myself to be pretty in an average way. Anyway, this girl from my work (I work in an office) asked about my boyfriend and I showed her a picture and she’s like (in a certain tone) “Wow, you would think he would be able to date a model or something”!!! I was gobsmacked, can you believe! It’s literally something in a high school movie- I’m TWENTY SIX.

At first I just thought it was funny & dumb and that maybe I had even misunderstood her meaning, but I honestly don’t think I did. And now I have been feeling kind of bad about myself! I didn’t tell my boyfriend and I realized it was because I didn’t want to plant the seed in his mind that he was too good for me. That’s crazy! I feel like I’m sixteen and it’s so stupid and shallow but GAHH. I don’t really know if this is an advice question but hmm wish I could get over it. Hope you get some entertainment out of this if anything!

I am SHOCKED tbh that is very rude but also I do think probably says more about her and her view on life and herself than it does on you? We all know the most beautiful women with apparently very substandard men, and I think there’s a general trend where, viewed in a purely physical context, men are more likely to date women who are judged more conventionally attractive women than them. BUT!! This is, when taken case by case instead of societally, absolute nonsense naturally — lots of very handsome men also appreciate a good personality, that’s not something women have a monopoly on.

So specifically for you: this person is obviously not a great associate so don’t trust her but also now that you know her opinion is a bit trash why hold yourself up against it? You should only be concerned with the opinion of people you respect and also, as we all know, of total strangers on public transport.

So sweep her views aside into nothing and we get to the crux, which is why you didn’t tell your boyfriend. I actually think that’s good initially - if you’re anything like any of my friends you’d have tried to make it funny and come across just a little too tense. But it has obviously exposed a sensitivity that I do maybe think warrants some very gentle self-reflection and maybe a confession at some point that you aren’t always as physically confident as you’d like to be. Exposing our vulnerabilities is good for two reasons: it brings us closer but also it means he is aware of it going forward and will know that every now and again he might touch a nerve and why. In a relationship I think it’s good to arm your partner with the knowledge they need to understand you if you can, and this seems like a good opportunity to flag something that isn’t major or serious or character defining but could potentially derail a conversation in a shop on a Saturday when you’re hungover or at 8pm at a wedding or when his mother compliments your courageous dress sense.

I think I’m leaning towards doing the agony aunt newsletter, so thank you for this anecdote which made me laugh and was very relatable and do send more

[onebiginkymess]

Spring Came to Paris | Chapter 5: Riding to Paris (Part 1)

Offender x Pascal (OC)

***

I’ve started to reduce the amount of sugar I consume and I’m already seeing results. I feel more motivated about myself and maybe in my writing too.

French in Italics.

Warning: Swearing, Workplace Stress

***

“Wake up.” Slender’s clear voice sounded muffled to a groggy Offender in his bed. “It’s 9 in the morning. Get up.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll get up. Sheesh, you don’t have to be that loud.” Offender, exhausted, got out of bed and crouched to his bags on the floor. After he picked out the clothes to wear for the day, he asked. “By the way, how much are we getting payed to find an artifact and the guy who took it?”

“2 million dollars for each member of the family.” As Slender answered without hesitation, Offender’s mouth slowly formed a wide smile.

“8 million in total? That’s a pretty sweet job!” Offender stood up and patted Slender’s shoulder, but Slender gently moved Offender’s hand away. “Shit, sorry.”

“It’s alright. Just find Pascal and the artifact as soon as possible and bring the object back.” Slender grabbed Offender’s arms to bring him closer to whisper. “I don’t want to spend any second with Zalgo, do you hear me?”

The angry whispers Slender made it clear for Offender: do the job, get the money, and get the fuck out of here. “Yeah, I hear you. Can I change first?”

Slender lets go of Offender’s arms. “Make it quick; the train to Paris will leave at noon and remember: stay in the spirit realm or be in the human realm in your human form, do you understand?”

“Right, got it, we don’t wanna freak the humans.”

---

Julien, the imp butler, drove the car to the train station while Offender sat at the backseat, silent. Nothing but silence other than the sound of car’s tires on the road. The silence even made Offender pick the skin off of his dry lips. His head was racing: talk about something, anything and get some lip balm, it’s fucking dry here.

“Julien, can I ask you a question?” Offender waited for an answer, but Julien was focused on the road. Offender asked awkwardly. “How did you know that guy Pascal went to Paris?”

Julien let out a deep sigh when the car stopped at a red light. “When I went after him, I saw him go into a train that goes to Paris, couldn’t get to him in time.” As the lights turned green, he drove while he talked. “I assume he went there; Paris is densely populated. It will be hard to find him.”

“Thanks for the info and you can drop me off here. The station’s close enough to walk there. Should I go in there in my human form or go in there in the spirit realm?”

“Do you have a ticket for the train?”

“Oh yeah, Slender gave me one before I left. It feels fake to have a human form for me.” Offender and Julien got out of the car and walked towards the trunk of the car. “Hey, thanks for offering me the ride. You’re a pretty nice guy.”

As Julien got the two duffle bags out of the trunk, Julien looked down at the trunk, solemnly. “I only did it because you were considerate enough to learn French. My employer not only doesn’t, but refuses to and demands me to speak English around him, no matter who I’m talking to.” Julien slammed the door of the trunk, hard enough to jolt Offender and covered his face with his hands to cover his tears. “I can’t take it anymore. I don’t have any other job than this one and I have to do everything in there. All of the other staff quitted because of that demon-”

“Hey, everything might be shit right now, but you have me and my bros now. They’ll help around the castle and I can be there if you wanna talk. Do you have any socials?”

“Snapchat.” Julien said in a slightly calmed voice after what he heard.

“Thank fuck I got Snapchat. Can we add each other?”

“Sure.” A calmed Julien and Offender added each other as friends on Snapchat. “Don’t you need to catch a train?”

“Yeah, and I need to go.” Offender grabbed the duffle bags and walked off in a fast pace to the station. As he hurried into the station, he bumped into someone.

“I’m sorry.” A woman said whilst looked down.

“Who are you talking to?” The woman’s friend asked the woman who was beside her. “Did you bump into air?”

Offender, invisible to the woman and her friend, quickly walked away to the trains in a panic: good thing they can’t see the spirit realm.

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[yeswritingsandwritings]

Guy Loses His Pants In Front Of A Bunch Of Chicks... Pt. 1

My holiday in the sun ends badly when the seagulls fly away with my swimtrunks.

Mercifully annie told her friends not to laugh as i covered my genitalia and the birds squacked victory

Back at the hotel i run the bathtub

Mercifully annie shouts from the other room saying they probably didn’t see a thing.

“Yeah i’ll bet they didn’t see a thing with how small it is” i said about my penis.

The water is warm as if radioactive. I go into it and leave the speaker on the cabinet. Only the finest opera for my shame.

Mercifully anne is trying to change the subject.

“We should try that new ethiopian place,” she says, her voice losing definition against the pizzacato violas.

“I’m down,” i say, but really i’m watching the open faucet gushing water onto my legs. The faucet is silver and i can see a foggy reflection in it. My face is cut up venetian blinds-like from the rainforest adventure yesterday and my cheeks are hot from the brandy.

This vacation is lame as hell.

“Did they say anything to you about it?” of course most of me doesn’t want to know but I can’t let it go. I’m concerned mostly about jessica, one of anne’s hotter friends who i secretly dream about fucking. Of course anne is not going to give me any real information about the situation. She knows i’m too delicate to handle the facts.

After the bath I am struck by the urge to go ask Jessica myself.

“I’m going to get some ice,” to Anne.

I even bring the ice bucket.

Jessica’s room is on the highest floor of the hotel. Her window, as I am soon to find out, looks over the docks and the beach where anyone on that whole side of the hotel could have seen my nudity scandal from on high.

I knock at the door. Jessica opens it in a towel. Another towel holds up her hair in a bundle. She looks surprised to see me.

“Where’s Anne?” she asks.

I am not sure what I am doing here, but I am possessed by a spirit which I don’t dare second guess.

“Did you see my weiner?” I ask her. “Down there on the beach?”

“I did.” she says.

This is great! It dawns on me that we could truly have a sexual relationship. She is deliberately overlooking her confusion, and her whole relationship with Anne, my lovely girlfriend, to talk frankly about my weiner. I guess everything really does happen for a reason.

“Be honest with me,” I say, extending an arm to grab the doorframe. “Sizewise… am I bigger or small than most guys?”

Jessica has a reputation as the village slut so I know that she is qualified to answer this question. Whether she gives me an honest answer or not is still up in the air.

Here she says “Did Anne put you up to this?”

It’s totally understandable she considers Anne’s role in this situation. I thought she’s be considering her more, just based on their friends-since-childhood status.

“Absolutely not.” I say. “Actually Anne doesn’t even know I’m here.”

“Well” she says “I didn’t get a good enough look at it.”

Here, of course, I step more deeply into her suite. What a suite. White carpet on hard wood floor. Floor to cieiling windows aimed at the sea. 18th century pottery sitting on hand-carved chamberdesks. Our room looks like shit compared to this one.

“How can you afford this room?” I ask her, lifting an ancient jar from the shelf.

Jessica was the frontdesk girl at a Mariott Resort Hotel. An important position in this rough-and-tumble society to be sure, but definitely not the kind of gig that would afford her a room like this.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” she says.

Ok, she is acting mysterious about it but I suspect a trust fund situation.

“What did the other girls say about it?” I ask her, bringing the conversation back to my genitals.

“None of us really got a good enough look!” Her voice is and high and wispy as if we were already naked.

“Alright well if I show you we’ve got to keep it between us.” I say. “Very quick, no long examinations, just get a quick feel for the size.”

In reality my penis is smaller than the average bloke’s, but matters such as that could not concern me less as I stand in the hotel room with Jessica. The size of the penis does not matter. What was important was that she witness the dong, and that she is able to reliably communicate her impressions.

“Prepare yourself,” I tell her, taking the beltline of my trousers in hand.

Slowly I draw down the boxers and bike shorts. Jessica’s concentration is such that the crashing of the construction site down the road does not stir her, and the magnitude 6.8 earthquake that hits at the moment barely made a dent in it.

The penis is unusually curved for a man of my stature, and it appears suddenly as a bat from a cave. In the flash of eye we both have the majestic thing before us, and Jessica is clasping her hands over her mouth. I wish she would not cover her expression. I’d managed to take in a taste of it but want the whole enchilada.

There is silence for a good while. I let the thing hang, bobbing quietly up and down. It isn’t as though I want her to interact with it physically (God forbid), but I do expect some sort of reaction beyond the surprise-face. Eventually I have to say “Is it different than you remember from the beach?”

The situation down there had been a good deal more intense, with spiteful words flying between Anne and I, and the policeman trying to calm us down. Perhaps the chaos had impaired her judgment.

“Well me and Hailey were saying it looked small, but it’s bigger than I remember!” she says, stuttering and wrapped up in the fever of beholding.

“That’s just why I wanted to come up here!” I say. “I don’t want there to be any misinformation about my weiner or anything like that.”

Although I’d been extremely embarrassed by the exposure on the beach, showing myself to Jessica here in this quiet suite seemed a sort of redemption. Yes, now she would go tell her friends that my weiner is perfectly normal sized, and I could go back to Anne knowing that I did my best to resolve an unfortunate situation for all of us.

I am just putting my fingers around the waistband to yank the shorts back up when the two of us hear Anne’s voice from the doorway.

Somehow we’d left the door to the hallway open during all of these shenanigans, and now Anne is there with a look of rage on her tiny face.

I understand why she’d be upset. It must look I was engaging in some depraved sexual act with Jessica, one on one with her exposing my private parts. Nothing could be further from the truth!

“Johnny what the f*ck are you doing?”

Oh the harsh language! So evil I can barely bare to print it here. But the truth is important.

I tell her as much, saying “Anne, keep your voice down.” Surely the other occupants of the hotel will recognize our group as classless heathens upon hearing such undignified words. Actions have consequences.

My pointing this out seems to upset her even more. Trying to compute it all she turns to Jessica.

“Jessica what is going on?”

[todoscript]

how he would ask you out

request: pls some headcanons of how the boys (shinsou/tamaki/shouto) would ask the girl they like out 🥺

characters: shinsou hitoshi, amajiki tamaki, todoroki shouto

genre: fluff

word count: 3.3k+ total, 900-1200 per character

tags: pining, confessions, fem!reader

author’s notes: sorry if this sounds rushed?? i can’t write 

copyright 2021 todoscript, all rights reserved. i do not allow my creations to be published or translated anywhere else.

SHINSOU HITOSHI

two years after his enrollment into the hero course, shinsou had finally came to terms with the feelings he’s been holding for you for quite some time now.

what began as just friendly encounters and kind gestures felt like something more to him. after all, you were one of the key people that led him to transition smoothly into the class, with your helpful demeanor and coming to his aid whenever he was stressed and troubled by the new environment.

you went out of your way to organize study sessions and small arrangements to mingle and get to know the other students better.

you reiterated to him that if he ever had any questions about anything, he could always come to you.

initially, shinsou thought he was being a burden—that he was just heavy baggage that tied you down.

however, you assured he was anything but, and stated that you were more than happy to help him, even going to say you enjoyed spending time and getting to learn more about him.

at your response, shinsou was appalled at how genuine you were.

appalled… but also very grateful.

eventually, there came a point when he realized there was no mistaking the affection he felt for you—not when he subconsciously noted every one of your habits and intricacies, able to tell whatever emotions were running through you at a simple glance, or when he would stop to admire the way you decided to style your hair differently or changed your look, thinking you seemed even more charming that day by the confidence you exude.

no, at that point, he’s sure it was painfully obvious. so obvious, in fact, that kaminari and mina had chosen to skip today’s group study session in favor of letting the two of you have your “alone time”. whatever that could mean.

shinsou had grimaced over their excuse of “being too busy that day” when you had told him the reasoning they gave you over text, despite knowing their next exam was only a couple days away. recalling just how nosy and enthusiastic they could get when involved in these kinds of affairs, he had an inkling of what exactly those two were planning. you, on the other hand, seemed completely oblivious to their schemes.

however, what did latch onto your mind was the thought of spending the day with only shinsou, in his very room, sitting across from each other with your textbooks open in front of you. though you should be more attentive to your studies, you couldn’t help the palpitations beating loudly in your chest and your wandering eyes that snuck glances at him after every question you answered.

unbeknownst to you, shinsou mirrored your actions all the same, reciprocating the flustered behavior, albeit a bit more subtly.

keep calm, hitoshi. why are you getting all worked up? he would say to himself, putting on his usual facade.

although he came off as relatively calm and collected on the outside, it’s difficult to keep his emotions in check when actions never lie.

that was especially true as he reached his hand out for the eraser you two were sharing between each other. with his eyes continuing to gander down at his notes, he hadn’t noticed that you were lunging for the same thing—not until your fingers had suddenly touched and you both pulled away at a speed equivalent to making contact with fire.

his stare unfaltering, shinsou was surprised to discern the embarrassed look on your face that immediately fixed itself as you rummaged through your pencil pouch. a second later, you pulled out another eraser, one that was notably smaller than the one you were sharing.

“um.. i’ll just use this,” you offered, and shinsou rubbed the back of his neck, the whole situation more awkward than it needed to be considering you never had any trouble sharing your supplies with each other before.

through some examination of your demeanor, shinsou had made a… bold enough claim, thinking that maybe—just maybe—you held the same kind of affections for him as he did for you.

it’s like he recalled earlier—actions never lie—and shinsou didn’t let the quiver of your lips or the intense concentration at your work to avoid meeting his gaze go past his head. that’s what spurred him to finally act on his desires.

without warning, he leaned forward on his seat to lay his hand over yours that caught your attention. you met his eyes, astonished to say the least, but more so concerned by how your eyes widened before you were about to open your mouth to ask him what was wrong.

the violet-haired male beats you to your words, voice resonating firmly, “y/n.”

you blinked. “y-yeah..?”

“i know this might be a bit late coming from me, but,” you could feel his hand tighten atop yours, “after exams, do you want to catch a movie together? just the two of us?”

shinsou fought the urge to look away, bashful at how he made his declaration for your time. the warmth surging under his skin was alleviated at the smile that slowly curled on your lips as you rotate your wrist, your palm touching his. the expression washing over your features told him you’ve been waiting for him to ask you this for a while now.

“i’d love to.”

AMAJIKI TAMAKI

ever a shy and introverted individual, tamaki has never had the heart to ask you out despite years of harboring a crush on you.

every time the thought had crossed his mind, he’d reason poorly with himself that you wouldn’t be interested in him in that way.

it didn’t help that his low self-esteem only deepened that thought that had now rooted itself in his brain.

at such a prestigious school like u.a., you were bound to find someone far more compelling than him—someone with guts, confidence, and great social skills. not a guy like him who conjures the image of potatoes at every anxiety-inducing encounter he comes across.

he was relieved enough to settle himself comfortably as just your friend—a title that allowed him to stay close and keep within your circle, all the while subjecting him to simply admiring you from afar.

but his eyes that held a hidden longing for more weren’t overlooked by a fellow student of his. or to be precise, the ever curious and free-spirited, hadou nejire.

always aware of his surroundings, it was hard not to notice that peculiar stare she’d aim at him during moments where he might’ve just finished speaking to you, or when you’d pass by and his head would naturally drift in your direction.

it was like she was picking apart every detail laid on him and it made tamaki absolutely restless.

tamaki’s suspicions and anxiety were later raised during one instance at the lunch table. he was at his usual seat next to his other big three companions, mirio and the aforementioned nejire, who was eyeing him with a gleam in her eye.

even with his self-consciousness, tamaki did his best not to pay any mind to the undesired attention and munched on his plate of takoyaki—the octopus nestled in the batter sure to come in handy later in training that day.

to his dismay, you passed by their table with your tray of food in hand, and nejire did not waste any time calling you over in that cheery tone of hers.

she invited you to sit down with them. you gave her invitation some thought before ultimately placing yourself in the free spot next to mirio, with nejire and tamaki already seated across from you.

the girl was all smiles and hums while tamaki was in a state of distress, both at his friend’s odd behavior, which was starting to spell trouble, to having you pulled into all of this. mirio was just being mirio, welcoming as always.

you greeted everyone at the table, making eye contact with mirio and nejire, but tamaki evaded your line of sight. he simply waved his reply without breaking away from his balls of takoyaki.

luckily for him, you didn’t give his lack of words much thought and started digging into your own lunch. it was then that nejire found it appropriate to start up a conversation.

“y’know, y/n, i’ve been meaning to ask you this, from one girl to another,” she mused, finger waving around playfully, “are you interested in anyone here?”

upon hearing her question, tamaki almost choked on his bonito flakes, his cheeks puffed and eyes blown. meanwhile, your chewing slowed as you gave your answer some thought.

“uh… well–”

“i’d say fujita from class d is quite the looker! think you’d be interested in them?”

after swallowing the food in his mouth, tamaki began to subconsciously listen in on the conversation. he paid close attention to your responses with bated breath, a small part of him anticipating your answer highly.

“fujita’s nice and all, but i don’t think we’d really get along as a couple.”

tamaki mentally sighed, relief evident all over his face. it was then that mirio had started fitting the pieces together after watching his close friend’s brow wrinkle throughout the entire exchange before finally relaxing at your words. crossing his eyes with nejire’s only confirmed his suspicions as the girl sent him a wink.

as a friend, mirio wasn’t about to let nejire’s operations fall flat. getting up from his seat, he motioned tamaki to come with him.

“i heard they have extra yakisoba bread right now! we should go check it out!” he said as a guise to give the other two time to themselves, free from tamaki’s prying ears.

unaware that mirio had caught on so quickly, tamaki didn’t object to tagging along with him. mostly because he thought of this as an opportunity to get some fresh air and calm his racing heart, finally feeling the effects of the blood rushing to his face.

with tamaki supposedly out of earshot, nejire was free to go about her questions however she wanted.

“okay then, if not fujita, then who? there has to be someone, right?” the girl scooted further in her seat out of pure curiosity. “tell me, is it perhaps someone in our class?”

it was your turn to be stricken by her boldness. you tried picking at your food, stuffing it into your mouth to avoid answering, but nejire’s tenacity outmatched you.

finishing your lunch, you opened your mouth to speak, “actually, the person i’m interested in is pretty close to you…”

nejire feigned ignorance, innocently placing a finger under her chin. “who? mirio?”

“ah no, it’s tamaki, alright?!” you ended up blurting, voice hushed but frantic.

bingo. hearing exactly what she wanted, nejire returned to her original position, a triumphant grin plastered on her lips. replaying what you said out loud in your head, you buried your warm face in your hands.

unbeknownst to you, tamaki had ended up hearing the whole exchange around the corner coming back to their table as mirio lightly snickered at his revelation of an expression.

the blond patted his shoulder. “go on then, you know what to do.” he threw tamaki an encouraging thumbs-up.

the boy gulped in response before inhaling a deep breath of air to prepare himself for what would arguably be the most important yet stress-inducing moment of his life so far.

noticing you getting up to discard your tray, tamaki—through a final push from mirio—went to make his move.

hearing him suddenly call out to you, you were caught off-guard. after admitting to your crush on tamaki to nejire, you felt your cheeks get hot just seeing his face right afterward.

“oh hey, did you get your hands on those yakisoba breads?” you scraped up a way to start the conversation.

“right... that… mirio managed to get the last one in the cafeteria,” he answered. then he brought his hand to rub his elbow, fidgeting in his spot as he found it difficult to look you in the eyes again.

“tamaki? something wrong? are you upset that he got the last yakisoba bread?”

he shook his head. “no, i… it’s just… i’ve been meaning to ask you this for a long time now, but never had the courage to say it to you because i didn’t think you ever liked me that way. but…” he finally mustered the determination to face you head-on. “would you go out with me, y/n?”

at first, you were speechless—absent of words as you relayed his request in your mind over and over again. then, your eyes softened, lips easing into a smile as you reached out for his hand.

“i thought you’d never ask.”

TODOROKI SHOUTO

it’s no surprise to many that when it came to asking someone out, todoroki didn’t exactly know the first thing to do.

mostly because he’s never asked anyone out to begin with.

you were the first person he’s ever felt these kinds of emotions for, and to be frank, he wasn’t sure what to make of everything that had been going through him when that root of infatuation had started to bloom inside him.

rather than sulk or contemplate on his thoughts for too long, he surmised it was best to simply come clean and ask for advice.

but when he confessed to what had been on his mind lately, he wasn’t expecting such a vigorous response from his friends.

“i’ve been thinking about asking y/n out.”

there was a layer of uncomfortable silence amongst the group before all hell eventually broke loose.

midoriya, uraraka, and iida immediately sprung from their seats in the common room, yelling “what?!” in unison. tsuyu and her frog-like mannerisms were more idle, but still surprised nonetheless.

todoroki was unfazed by their reactions, actually expecting it to go that way considering he’s never brought up any topics of that nature before. at the very least, he’s thankful he decided to say this when it was just the five of them. compared to what the whole class’s reaction would have been like, this was incredibly tame.

todoroki was used to always listening to what others had to say and never being the subject of the conversation when it came to dating.

but now things were different. he was openly admitting to them that he was regarding someone romantically. that he possibly sought a relationship with this someone—wanting to be committed to them and become the very best person he could be right next to them. to the four, this was coming completely out of left field.

after everyone simmered down and let the news sink in, the dual-haired boy resumed his thought,

“but i’m not sure how to do it.”

though the entirety of the group never had any experiences when it came to dating, they knew enough from media and pop culture to get an idea on how to help him. more than todoroki could imagine on his own anyway.

“i know! how about we go with the romantic and suave approach!” uraraka suggested. the rest asked her to elaborate.

“it’s simple! it starts by you leaving a note on her desk right before class, saying to meet you on the rooftop of the school! before the designated time, you should wait there for her with a bouquet of flowers, and then when she arrives, confess your feelings and ask her out!”

midoriya rubbed a finger against his cheek, skeptical. “i don’t think that sounds as simple as you’re making it out to be.”

tsuyu chimed in beside him. “those kinds of ideas usually only work well in books, ochako.”

pursing her lips, uraraka gave her plan a once-over, and realized it did seem a bit more involved and out of character than what todoroki was used to.

despite sharing a few more ideas with one another, they couldn’t narrow it down to any perfect one.

that was when iida clapped his hand, bringing everyone’s attention to him.

“alright, i think we’re starting to blow this whole ‘operation’ way out of proportion,” he said.

“if you’re honest about the way you feel about her and show it sincerely, i’m sure she’ll consider your feelings. you don’t have to do anything extravagant when it comes to asking someone out.”

listening throughout every word, todoroki nodded. meanwhile the other three were astonished that their class representative could be so whimsical when it came to romance, which in turn, iida was conflicted by. however, at the very least he was glad they could help out a friend. and so, todoroki went about his day with their discussion in mind.

he found that in many occurrences, whenever he crossed by you and thought of it as a chance to ask you out, there would always be someone to come in and take your time away. leaving him to stand there awkwardly before dismissing the fated question for later.

eventually, the sky dimmed and evening arrived, and by then, the whole class was already back at their dormitory and about to have dinner.

through some rather convenient circumstances, you two were actually assigned on kitchen duty that night.

“it’s been getting pretty cold lately so i was thinking we should cook up a hot pot for everyone.” you gave your idea to him as you pulled out some ingredients from the fridge, waiting for his reply, but it came a few seconds later than you were expecting.

“right. sounds like a good idea,” todoroki answered a tad late. upon realizing it was only going to be the two of you making dinner tonight, his mind was occupied by what he and his friends spoke about earlier.

that was when he started overthinking the situation and absentmindedly half-assed his work.

“todoroki, the cut on the tofu is slightly uneven.” you reviewed his cutting board. looking down, he saw the inconsistent slices of tofu limp in front of him. if bakugou were the executive chef for the evening, he would’ve had to hear an earful from him.

“sorry…” he apologized quietly, reaching out for another cube of tofu to cut.

“is everything okay? i know you’re still learning how to cook, but i’ve seen you show some significant improvement on your knife skills recently.” you voiced your concern for him.

the white and red-haired boy stared at the white bean curd while hearing your worried tone and couldn’t find it within himself to continue the task. it was now or never he thought. he laid the knife flat on the cutting board.

“actually, i wanted to ask you something.” he turned toward you. “do you… want to go out with me?”

nothing but the sound of the fire running on the stove could be heard in the kitchen. todoroki didn’t move his eyes away from you, watching you nearly drop the plate of siu choy and shiitake mushrooms out of shock as your mouth was hanging open.

when you caught onto your bearings, you let out a small laugh. “oh… i… wasn’t expecting that,” you admitted honestly, placing the ingredients on the counter safely.

the boy furrowed his brows. “is that a no?”

“n-no! i mean that isn’t my answer! i–” you fumbled with your words, cheeks warming up now that his confession had finally sunk in. in the meantime, todoroki found your reaction quite amusing. the corner of his lip quirked into a grin.

“what i mean to say is that yes, i’d love to go out with you.” you accepted the offer wholeheartedly. todoroki would be lying if his heart wasn’t throbbing from anticipation. he’s glad he’s able to rest and put that aside.

“now let’s continue making this hot pot together!” you cheered, smiling widely and he found comfort in your words before resuming slicing the tofu.

[irrealisms]

c!Tommy is annoying (and that’s important)

I have... a lot of feelings about c!Tommy in s2, from the start of the exile conflict through the Green Festival. I also think the fandom tends to mischaracterize him--I know I’m guilty of this, and as a c!Tommy lover I’ll be mostly addressing a thing that I and other people who love his character don’t focus on as much--which makes me sad because the aspects of his character that tend to get glossed over are also some of the ones that are most personally meaningful to me. (rest of the post is /rp, because “c!” gets annoying to type.)

Specifically: Tommy is loud. He’s abrasive. He’s annoying. He threatens, he griefs, he steals. He lies, blatantly, all the time. He tends to be self-centered (despite being deeply selfless). He lashes out at people who are trying to help him.

He is, in short, a bad victim.

And this is precisely what makes him vulnerable. 

Some people on the server were opposed to and sad about exile, sure. But a lot of people? Thought it was funny, that it was natural consequences, that it was deserved. Sapnap came and laughed, Technoblade came and laughed, Lazar came and laughed, Quackity came and laughed. Now, we don’t know what would have happened if Ranboo was the one being isolated and abused; maybe it would be the same. But I don’t think it would have been. A lot of characters have issues with Tommy or simply find him unpleasant to be around, and I would imagine that a significant number of them were probably, on some level, kind of relieved that he wasn’t their problem anymore. To be clear, I don’t entirely blame them for this! Tommy is... a lot, and they (mostly) didn’t know the full extent of what Tommy was going through. Even those of them that tried to visit with good intentions often got their gifts burned and called “pity gifts”, got insulted or yelled at by Tommy, etc.--or in Jack Manifold’s case, actually killed! The first time I watched the leadup to exile arc, I found Tommy difficult to sympathize with at first--he lied to L’Manberg before his trial; he refused to cooperate with probation while he was on it, even though Tubbo was pushing for it as an alternative to exile; at the beginning of exile, he would sometimes log on to visitors, drive them away, and then complain that he was lonely. As much as it’s obviously ultimately Dream’s fault, it’s easy to look at Tommy and not feel much sympathy for his position or feel that it’s partially self-made. It’s easy for outsiders to look at a Tommy who isn’t stealing, isn’t griefing, who is comparatively quieter, who isn’t their problem anymore, and be relieved rather than concerned. 

Exile arc makes it obvious that they’re wrong.

(Incidentally, I have a lot of sympathy for what Dream’s going through in the prison.)

And not only are they wrong, but exile makes the consequences of this painfully, horrifyingly clear: the abuse gets worse, Tommy gets more and more depressed, and at the climax of it all Tommy attempts suicide. 

(Although notably to me, he’s not the stereotypical victim during exile arc, either--he doesn’t cry on stream, he’s still trying to make dumb jokes, he’s not strategic, he refuses to listen to people, he switches wildly between fight and fawn responses without much correlation with who he’s talking to or how he’s being treated.)

Tommy’s recovery arc, after all of this, starts with him stealing valuables from Technoblade, building a secret basement underneath the existing basements, and then loudly asserting that it’s his house and Technoblade is trespassing.

I could talk about how these things are rooted in trauma. I could talk about how his constant eating of golden apples comes after a period of food insecurity, appetite/disordered eating problems, and physical abuse. I could talk about how he’s regained some of his energy after a period of depression but has nowhere to let it out in a small basement room. I could talk about how he repeatedly annoys Technoblade--quite probably the best PVPer on the server--perhaps in part as a test of how far he can go before he gets abused again, and in part as a sign that he feels safe enough to be annoying without being abused.

But that’s... not the heart of it, at least not to me. The heart of it is that before exile, Tommy would have stolen from Technoblade without a second’s thought, and during exile, Tommy didn’t steal from Technoblade because “Dream wouldn’t like it”, and afterwards, he steals from Technoblade again. 

Sure, he’s being annoying. But more importantly, he’s being himself again. Before exile, I might have rolled my eyes, because Technoblade worked for those potions and golden apples and armor and so on, and Tommy’s totally ruining his chest organization system. After exile? I cheered. Tommy’s being Tommy again. And, yeah, that means that he’s being annoying, he’s stealing, he’s ruining dramatic moments. So what? None of that stuff is actually all that bad, in the grand scheme of things. He’s not depressed, he’s not suicidal, he’s not being abused. He’s a teenager and he’s having fun. Technoblade will tease him for it, but he won’t hit Tommy, won’t take his stuff, won’t threaten him, won’t isolate him any further. That’s what a proportionate response to finding Tommy annoying looks like: teasing. 

I’d also like to address one more thing, which... I couldn’t figure out how to fit in the rest of the post, but it felt incomplete without it. Right before the meeting that ends with Tommy pulling out Spirit, Tommy asks everyone what the plan is, and is basically told that the plan is for him to be quiet. He says “you guys, please, for the love of God, you know I’ve watched for this long, I’m not going to be quiet.” He reiterates this throughout the conversation: he can try to be quiet, but it is not, ultimately, as easy for him as “be quiet”. This is also the source of Tubbo’s anger at him-- Tommy can’t do “one simple thing” for him. I’m not claiming Tommy is neurodivergent, but... as a neurodivergent person, Tommy repeatedly saying “I cannot do this thing that is simple for you, I can’t, empirically every time we have tried this in the past it has failed, if you make more plans based on that then they will also fail, have you met me” and having this seen as evidence of me not caring or trying... resonated with me. Which isn’t to say it’s not a flaw--almost all character traits can be flaws in the right (or, well, wrong) situations--but it does show that Tommy has some level of self-awareness about his flaws, which is something I appreciate about him, and it frustrates me when that goes unacknowledged. Tommy knows he’s annoying. He jokes about it. But he can’t actually... turn it off. Whether or not he should (and I would argue that he shouldn’t have to) isn’t even in question: he can’t. This is who he is. The only time we see him less loud and more capable of being obedient is exile, when he’s severely depressed and being abused. That’s fascinating to me, as a character trait!

In my experience, there’s a specific archetype of abuse victims in fiction that is... overrepresented. I can’t quite find the words to talk about it in a way that doesn’t technically include Tommy, but... the ways Tommy is important to me is the ways that (a) he doesn’t fit that archetype (b) not fitting that archetype makes him more vulnerable to abuse. He’s not always easy for other characters to talk to or sympathize with... which makes him uniquely easy to isolate and victim blame. That’s important. I think I tend to downplay Tommy’s annoying tendencies because I want to emphasize his sympathetic traits, and that’s fine, but it’s important to me that... Tommy’s a victim, and he’s annoying. Annoying people can be victims just as much as shy rule-followers can. Not only that: Tommy’s a victim in part because he’s annoying. Him being annoying is a risk factor for abuse, not an excuse for it.