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[thelastthingyouremember]

you know, I really want to write a fic about Snipe being Midoriya’s mentor.

like, so many people like quirkless deku, and I’ve seen people (jokingly) claim that Snipe doesn’t even have a quirk–he’s just a good enough shot for no one to actually notice.

and, like, the possibilities for an interaction like that is amazing. 

The ‘how’ of Midoriya meeting Snipe doesn’t really matter, but the two do meet, and Midoriya finds some way to catch the hero one on one. He asks Snipe The Question and it’s just as desperate and hopeful and heartbreaking as it was when he asked All Might (though with perhaps a little less hero worship).

And Snipe, who was not handed a quirk he could control from the moment it settled in his veins, who grew up with only a natural talent for shooting that might’ve been a quirk except for the fact that his family tree was filled with minor mutations and enhanced senses, he looks at Midoriya and feels he’s looking into a mirror.

(Snipe remembers being nine years old, no trace of a quirk to be found, as the whispers began to start. Dark, hungry things, hissed behind his back by kids he’d thought were his friends. Broken. Weak. Useless.

Snipe remembers coming home crying, remember his Momma go red in the face from anger when he told her, remembers her pushing a rifle in his hands and telling him a quirk ain’t no different than talent, and Heavens knows you got that in spades sweetpea.

Snipe remembers going to school the next day, the lie his Momma told him to tell on his lips. Remembers spending every day after school at the shooting range until he couldn’t miss a shot even if he tried.)

Now, snipe doesn’t exactly know the kid. Doesn’t know what he’s made of, or how he acts or what his goals are besides being a hero. There’s lots of reasons to be a hero, and some of them a more altruistic than others.

So Snipe takes it slow, and gives it a few days. He tells the kid yes, you can be a hero, and then he waits, and watches, and holds off on deciding what to do with the little tike.

It doesn’t take long for Snipe to realize the kid has heart, has guts, has enough brains that it makes his head spin.

It takes only a bit longer to realize that, once given encouragement, the kid sprints with it (specifically, towards danger). It’s accompanied by the realization that the kid’s going to get himself killed if no one steps in to help.

So Snipe decides to step in.

***

The first thing Snipe tells him, once he commits to taking the bean sprout under his wing, is the truth about True Target. Specifically, the fact that it’s fake.

He tells him because this whole thing is only going to work if the kid actually knows anyway and understands why Snipe knows lying about this is even possible in the first place. It’s a gamble for Snipe, telling a kid he’s only just met, but it’s a gamble in his favor. Even if he had wildly misjudged the kid, Snipe thinks bitterly, who’s going to believe a quirkless teenager over a Hero teaching at UA?

After, Midoriya stares up at him, eyes wide in disbelief and, perhaps, the barest hint of caution. Kid’s unwilling to get his hopes up, which, he supposes, makes sense. So Snipe takes a deep breath and says:

“Now, I ain’t too sure, exactly, what makes up a quirk. Didn’t exactly spend much time lookin’ into it if I’m honest. But as far as I can tell, sometimes a quirk is just a talent, a talent that someone skipped most of the steps to get good at. An old school contortionist ain’t no different from some folk with a flexibility quirk and a good con artist could fool you just as well as someone with a mind quirk.”

Snipe looks down at him, serious and solemn. “I spent hours, everyday after school since I was nine years old, learning how to shoot every type of gun I could get my hands on. Teaching myself the weight and the scopes and how to be so good no one would ever think twice when I said that’s what my quirk was. And why would they?”

(Snipe remembers being nine years old, no trace of a quirk to be found, as the whispers began to start. Dark, hungry things, hissing behind his back about how weak he was, about how much less he was. Broken. Garbage. Useless.

Snipe remembers coming home crying, remembers watching his Momma go red in the face from anger when he told her what they said, remembers her pushing a rifle in his hands and telling him a quirk ain’t no different than talent, and Heavens knows you got that in spades, sweetpea.

Snipe remembers going to school the next day, the lie his Momma told him to tell on his lips. Remembers spending day after day on the shooting range until he got so good he couldn’t miss a shot if he tried.)

“From the outside, is there actually any difference between talent and a quirk?” Snipe asks Midoriya, whose looking up at him, eyes watery and bright. “Can you tell if someone is naturally good at something, or if they’ve spent years of their lives working to become good? Do you think anyone else will?”

***

A few days later, after Snipe and the kid fall into a routine for training, the kid pauses for a moment to ask, “When are you going to teach me how to shoot?”

“I’m not,” Snipe says, before he can really think about it. Then he catches the expression on the kid’s face an elaborates. “Well, I might, but only because it’s a good skill to have. But I’m not going to teach you in the way you’re asking.”

Midoriya blinks. “Huh?”

Snipe sighs and motions for the kid to keep doing his push ups. “Shooting works for me because I had a talent for it young, and I built up that talent far enough that no one could tell the difference. That took years. Even if you did have a knack for it, buckaroo, eleven months ain’t enough time to convince anyone that you aren’t just hand with a rifle. For this kind of thing, you can’t just be good, you need to be exceptional.”

Izuku’s face scrunches up. “Then what am I supposed to do? I don’t have any talents I could pass off as a quirk.”

For a moment, Snipe is silent, half expecting the kid to go ‘sike!’

He doesn’t, of course, and Snipe realizes the kid doesn’t even know how smart he is. How many people in his life overlooked him and his mind just because he lacked a quirk?

(More than Snipe wants to know, probably.)

Well, no time like the present to start fixing that.

“Kid, I’ve seen you deconstruct entire fights in real time. I’ve watched you break down quirks and fighting styles and support equipment in ten minutes flat with a worrying amount of accuracy. Your brain jumps tracks faster than a rabbit on a hot day and keeping up with some of the things you say is like trying to follow a lecture on quantum mechanics.”

“Well, actually, quantum mechanics isn’t actually that-”

Snipe raises a hand and the boy silences instantly. “Kid, trust me. You’ve already got your knack, and judging by your notebooks, you’ve been building it up for years.” Snipe pokes him in the forehead. “You’re greatest asset and the ‘quirk’ people are mostly likely to believe in, is your mind. So, I’m gonna take you to meet the smartest man I know. Or, well, I suppose he ain’t technically a man.”

The next day, Midoriya Izuku meets Nedzu, the Beast Principal of UA.

Snipe regrets introducing them within the week.

[thelastthingyouremember]

So lovely was the loneliness / Of a wild lake

Edgar Allen Poe, The Lake

[thelastthingyouremember]

And I wish… I had Wish.

[thelastthingyouremember]

i am respectfully watching this d&d game

[thelastthingyouremember]

favorite drarry headcannons and/or fic things that i am a disaster for:

contrast. just. all contrast is good contrast. Draco in sharp black suits and Harry in red sweaters and ripped jeans; Draco being Calculated and Harry being Impulsive; Draco having a white Persian cat named Lady and Harry having a golden retriever named Golden (Draco makes fun of the name)

to expand on contrast, different ways of showing affection. Harry bursts in the room and goes “Hey, sunshine! you look lovely today!!!” and Draco deadpans, ”what is this. Affection™? disgusting. also I did your laundry and made you tea and cleaned your room and filed your paperwork, enjoy your sunday with me, for one bloody time.”

a sectum sempra scene which - if done right - would be loved by anyone. because Harry would be crushed to think there are scars and Draco’s just like I?deserved it? smh don’t be so daft, potter

Draco sucks at cooking. he thought it would be easy since he was so good at potions, but potions are precise, and food is messy, and complicated and if you say one more time that I need to measure something ‘with my heart’ I swear I’m going to throw these eggs at your face, potter

there is always that first delicate moment of complete trust, maybe Draco is sick with an aftereffect of a wrong potion, or Harry got injured in the field, but there is a moment when they put their wand away and close their eyes and let the other take care of them, and it takes the other’s breath away

a scene with the mark, and a whispered you are defined by your actions, not your past

Harry tells Draco some of his childhood, and then has to physically restrain him from turning up at the dursleys’ house full of cold fury

Draco is an overthinker and Harry is intense, and frankly, not like anyone Draco was ever closely exposed to, in his life. so the very first stages of their budding friendship consists of Draco carefully considering every situation and dialogue option and being Prepared for everything, just for Harry to say something entirely different and disorient Draco

just. Draco being wrong-footed and his composure failing around Harry

Draco got Malfoy hair color, but Black hair texture, which means that the first time he took a shower without any of his usual hair products on hand - aka Harry’s flat - he strode throught Harry’s kitchen with his slightly curly hair Like That and asked what they had for dinner, as if Harry had not just lost all semblence of high brain function

making friendships. Harry carefully talks to pansy about politics but finds Curse Breaker Blaise easy to talk work with, and Draco falls into a rhythm of talking about Quidditch to Ron and books to Hermione

Draco and Ginny become friends, too! it’s actually not awkward at all and they click instantly

Harry and Draco in long nights, where they can’t sleep, so Draco reads a book while he cards his fingers through Harry’s hair until they both fall asleep like that on the couch and wake up tense but refreshed

Draco is like, 90% of my impulse control and unfortunately for you, he’s not here right now

first kisses. the ones where they kiss the other because they can’t take it anymore, a caress on the lips and back again because what if - but the other is already moving and they’re crashing

Draco being a general drama queen, as he is. read the more inappropriate fan letters out loud completely deadpan, in character (sometimes getting a few ideas himself ;)) Draco reveling in Harry Potter Themed things (one Christmas he buys sheets with Harry’s face on them, and Harry refuses to talk to him for a solid three days)

Draco being ready to hex all the reporters that bother Harry, Draco nagging Harry to come home sooner, or file his paperwork faster, and finishing the work himself when Harry falls asleep on the desk, exhausted

the same Draco almost hexes Harry when he buys a 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner. enough said.

[thelastthingyouremember]

Maybe there are no good guys.

THE 100 | Nevermore (3.11)

[thelastthingyouremember]

when travis mcelroy said “what if you could just cut out the bullshit and do good recklessly?” and when marc evan jackson said “now go do something good” and when chidi anagonye said “i argue that we choose to be good because of our bonds with other people” and when brennan lee mulligan said “you, mortal beings, are the instrument by which the universe cares. if you choose to care, then the universe cares. and if you don’t, then it doesn’t”

[thelastthingyouremember]

Happy Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!

[thelastthingyouremember]

The Good Place Appreciation Week Day 6: Favorite Lesson/s

[thelastthingyouremember]

I’m fascinated by the fact that, per in-game conversations as well as both of their meta playlists, Caleb and Veth have one of the deepest and most important relationships within the Mighty Nein, but fandom tends to not engage with it. 

And I think it’s because it’s so unclear what that relationship actually is. And that’s not helped by the fact that the characters themselves seem to struggle with a label for it, and might not be on the same page. 

Caleb assumes he must be less important to Veth now than she is to him because she’s been reunited with her family. Veth, on the other hand, still feels as strongly for Caleb as ever and is even harboring a crush on him that she’s not acting on because of her marriage. They feel like “family” to each other, but there’s no easily transferable familial label either of them have found to help clarify or codify that feeling. Veth, while once using “parental” to make a point to the rest of the group about the fact that she was not a child (back in the days when everyone assumed Caleb was like a father-figure), immediately after that conversation and ever since has rejected “motherly” labels for their relationship at every turn. Caleb once used the word “sister,” but tentatively, and hasn’t tried that label on since. Veth feels something romantic for Caleb, but will likely never act on it due to her history and present relationship with Yeza, even as she’s uncertain if, while she loves him, she might not be in love with Yeza anymore. Caleb shut down an inquiry from Beau about if he was “in love” with Veth in a romantic sense, but it’s entirely possible he just refuses to entertain the possibility because he knows she’s married. Caleb does excel at putting his feelings into controlled boxes.

We know more what they think they aren’t than what they are to each other. And there’s pining there right now, from both sides, but it’s hard to call it strictly either platonic or romantic. So I can’t help thinking that fandom at large, getting frustrated as every label they try to put on Caleb and Veth’s relationship has been overwritten or rejected or transformed as we’ve moved through the campaign, has reached a place where it honestly doesn’t know how to define their love for each other, and so just doesn’t engage with it. 

[thelastthingyouremember]

favourite vox machina moments: episode 83 “The Deciever’s Stand”

[thelastthingyouremember]

Today in fuck ableds I went to the recycling center where they’ve decided the best way to implement social distancing is to block off every other parking spot with a large concrete barrier - starting with the only disabled spot.

Then I went to the grocery store where the delivery guy decided the best place to park his truck was - you guessed it - the disabled spots. I was doing curbside pickup so I wasn’t planning to park there anyway (because I’m not an asshole) but every other disabled person was completely fucked.

This is him trying to explain why he parked there over the noise of me yelling at him.

People with actual disabled plates/placards are out here only using the disabled spots if we need them - otherwise we will leave them for someone who needs them more that day. Meanwhile Ableds are dumping anything and everything in those spots and parking in them at the drop of a hat. If you don’t see disabled people as actual people then you’re not inconveniencing anyone that counts when you abuse accessible parking, right?

[thelastthingyouremember]

To all the girls who “Love adventures”

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The M9 vs the storm, inspired by Hellboy

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season 1 | season 2 | season 3 

[thelastthingyouremember]

on soulmates

f. scott fitzgerald / friedrich nietzsche / florence and the machine / andrea dworkin / kiersten white / euripides / audre lorde / phillip pullmann / bob hicok

[thelastthingyouremember]

That’s one conception of death, for a Buddhist. The wave…returns to the ocean. Where it came from. Where it’s supposed to be.

Not bad, Buddhists.