#(and tbh it's highly likely he had his own little reflection about it in the time he was mia in s4)

[fluffypotatey]

!!! Macaque is super bitter. But for someone that mentions his grievances with wukong all the time, there is shockingly little about the murder. Like 1 one off mention. This boy has messed up priorities, and that priority is their gay break up before it's about dying

never forget his issues stem from attachment, abandonment, and replacement issues. never forget that his play (which could be a way for him to "expose" the death YET HE DOESN'T) focuses more on how Wukong willingly left him. never forget that Peng said "replacements" and "i don't know how you stomach it"

never forget >:3

[lostiolite]

Hiya!! How about general relationship headcanons with Geten? Love him sm🙏

ABKBWJBAJAVWJWBWJABA THANK YOU FOR THE GETEN ASJ OH MY GOS 🩵🩵🩵WKSBSJWJAUABAJWNSNS

Hes kind of like a an overprotective dog, you and redestros personalised gaurd dog 😊

He gives tsundere vibes, but mainly because he obviously has never been in a relationship before, and isn't really the best at understanding his feelings, so he tends to be sort of Standoffish.

Love language

Giving: acts of service and gift-giving i think are his instinctual way of showing love, hes strong and has alot of power within mla. Will buy you something or have some underlings assist you. Despite his twinkish build, hes strong. He'll take heavy groceries on one arm like its nothing, he enjoys helping you out on a personal level like this.

He isnt good with words because he has a tendency of being blunt. He wont hesitate to tell you how much he adores you, or how much he hates that friend of yours. Hes affectionately insulting, "you look... so stupid, anyways i bought you that thing you were looking at earlier". Its clear your different, because the way he insults you is different than how he insults other. He dislikes it when others are being silly or stupid but when its you, it makes him happy. He wants you to have an easy life, to be treated like royalty, thats how high he holds you.

He likes touching you, playing with your hair or laying on you, it makes him feel warm and fuzzy inside. When your in his arms he enjoys the feeling of protecting you.

His attention is always on you / or redestro, hes really perceptive so even if it seems like hes in his own world, he's taking note of everything.

I feel like hes very literal and sort of extreme, this also ties hand in hand with his bluntness. You could make a small comment of somthing being cute and he will shower you with presents of said thing. this will lead to miss understandings, the two of you could have a disagreement and you could somthing about him being an asshole or somthing and he assumes you hate him and youre gonna leave him.

Definitely yaps to redestro about you, maybe curious/trumpet as well when he wants to be more "romantic"

Speaking of romance i dont think its really his thing, he doesn't see the need to go on fancy dates. Spending time with you is more than enough for him.

Receiving: please praise him. Let him know how highly you think of him, not in a self absorbed way, but also in a self absorbed way. It makes him feel usefull. I feel like once he starts getting involved with you romantically hes gonna start doing some inner reflection and realize he isnt used to love and probably isnt the best partner. Feeling usefull to you helps leviate his insecurities, even if not for the right reason. It takes him a while to comprehend that you like geten himura not iceman the mla comander.

Touch him, hug him, kiss him, cuddle him please. (Maybe im just self projecting cus i love physical touch) likes laying down on your lap/chest/you in general. Scratch his head please. Makes him feel warm fuzzy and embrassed but a good embrassed. He'll think about it while working and start smiling like an idiot.

General

Gushes to redestro about you, like a middle school girl talking about her crush.

Tbh if it wasn't for him, he wouldn't have confessed to you, or realized his feeling for you in the first place.

Redestro is fond of you, making geten even more content with being in a relationship. Hes kind of dedicated his whole life to work, redestro was his only personal relationship, and he wasn't sure if he would be allowed to pursue one with you or how it would work. Thankfully the old man gave him the ok to confess and even pushed him to do so.

Oh. my. god. Imagine him making ice sculptures for you. It could range from little hearts to miniature versions of you, him and redestro like a little family.

Listens to your music cus he hasn’t really had a chance to find his own taste. Plays the romantic songs over and over again thinking of you.

If you like baking or making food he will cherish it and brag how his s/o made him food. Probably shares it with the rest of the commanders, I feel like some part of him has an attachment to them.

I don’t think he can cook, maybe the most would be a sandwich made with cheese and ham.

Buys you your favorite foods to eat together sort of like a picnic, but not a romantic picnic, just a nice picnic.

I feel like he would enjoy feeding you and being fed by you, something about you holding the fork/chopsticks/spoon for him to eat and vice versa makes him feel warm and fuzzy inside. Let’s you have the second bite of his food, requests to have a bite of yours, again something about it feels warm and fuzzy to him.

Quirks and children

If you've got a strong quirk he would be really proud. He'd be intrested if you wanted kids, afterall two people with strong quirks are bound to have a strong child. If you didn't want kids i dont think he'd really care, he could always like give him sperm (without Intercourse) to a surrogate for somone else to train if the mla wanted him to continue his bloodline.

If you've got a weak / no quirk he'd be apprehensive first meeting, you not seeing your worth. Hes mad that he fell in love with someone weak, feeling that he shouldn't be with you. Though its redestro who again convinces him to go for it, that if he loves you he should try. Im not sure he'd be a good father, especially if you wanted a child being quirkless/weak. But it lets him realize his whole "only the strong should have power" ideals are kind of fucked up. He still wants his children to have somthing good about them, so unlike him they would probably go to school, not just school but like top teir ones.

Give him a few years before having kids, hes not ready, let him mature. He isnt used to being empathetic or social cause he was robbed from it at an early age to train.

I think redestro kind of understands that he and geten were kind of shoved into power without any choice in the matter, and would encourage geten to let his children have more freedoms and a normal childhood.

[mecachrome]

What is the hype around jendo? I am trying to do research but I feel like they barely had any interactions?? Especially recently? Is there a primer or something cause I totally want to try to get into them!

OMGGGG well i wouldn't call myself a jendo expert or anything but i can briefly tell you why i like them!!! also soz for late reply 😭

tbh the very first thing that converted me was watching this interview forever ago because i remember being deeply intrigued by lando's demeanor + relative shyness + how hard he tried overall to appear Respectable and Mature in front of jense while answering his questions??? like the way jenson smiles at him during "are you happy?" "UMMM... kind of" wtheck T__T

jendo honestly have a lot of lore though! again i am not an expert but @cuthechicane has so many fantastic clips and gifsets if you're looking for interax that will rewire your brain chemistry ☝️ (the sheer giddinesssss of their miami interview 😭 also this is a classic moment). part of their thing is that they're both "somerset boys" (lando grew up in glastonbury / jenson is from frome) so that connection also kind of adds an extra layer to jenson having raced for mclaren / lando looking up to him and the general hero worship or cyclical nature of f1 that is palpable in their dynamic and a lot of other f1 agediff ships. ofc rossi was lando's real hero but... you know jenson is jenson

really though i think what i like most about jendo is how much jenson genuinely ADORES lando lmfao like their dynamic is so ridiculous but in a really absurdly sincere way!!! ofc it's super fun to go all in on the rancid age gap power imbalance vibes etc. and the way they flirt in public and fluster each other but jenson 100% RATES lando and hypes him up constantly to the point that it's almost embarrassing negl. lichr him going all in on lando like 4 hours ago... what's craziest to me is that he sincerely believes everyone else loves lando too like his brain can't comprehend the mere concept of someone not being obsessed with his favorite little british twink 😭 he's those innocent guys on reddit who still post comments like "lando is so nice it's impossible to hate him!!!" as if we're still in 2019 or something...... i want to live in that world

imo there's also an aspect to jendo where it's like...? jenson sees so much of himself in lando to the point of having preconceptions about lando's mentality that he projects onto him a bit which i think adds dimension to jenson's vulnerability but that goes into way more my own Meta and isn't really relevant to this post. but part of jenson's personality is that he is very charismatic and a natural speaker and also Usually Right so he loves to SAY shit and although he's not quite a nico-level professional shit stirrer he does kind of um... always speak like he knows something you don't. as evidenced by his time as lewis's teammate wherein he won the idgaf war by not acknowledging it going on in the first place. this is also why he and oscar should banter more because i feel like the comparisons between oscar and jenson are honestly so apt HLSDFH i have a jenson/oscar/lando post if that is of any interest

ok sorry i'm getting off-track but >>>all of that to me is why jendo is fun... jenson presents as very self-assured but if you do a psyche deep dive you realize he was quite sensitive growing up and Personally Victimized by briatore and has been quite open about his anxiety and the way f1 culture functioned at the time, and he's always been quite emotionally regulated but obviously there was... also a lot of glamour that accompanied that until later in his career LOL. so getting to explore those sides of him with a 20-something lando who very much mirrors him (self-reflective and sometimes overly critical and learning to live the "highly committed and industrious playboy" life) but also makes his façade crack in ways you don't often see is so fun & fascinating...!!! imo you can take them in a lot of different directions as a ship :3c

^ bonus bits i like from his book

[herwrittenuniverse]

So I'm rereading Patience and Ripples and I noticed something...

The photo of Aaravos in the rain clearly shows him crying.

You can see the streak of water start right about where his eye is, right down his cheek. This had me thinking, isn't this moment quiet similar to this one...?

And in this, Aaravos is looking at a reflecting of himself. Not only do we see a mirror/reflection motif (in both the shows and the stories), it also sheds some light on our Startouch Elf's situation...

He references a fallen star in Ripples. Pretty sure that he and it are one in the same.

He also keeps references how the other Startouch Elves are arrogant, too caught up in themselves and their own greatness to notice how small actions (ie, humans - particularly, how the wise human touches the water and literally causes it to ripple or 'distort their reflection') can have huge consequences.

Aaravos does not like his Startouch Brethren. He does not speak highly of them in either stories.

On the contrary, while he acknowledges that humans have weaknesses (and talks down upon them tbh), he also credits them for teaching him two valuable lessons - patience and consequences (ie, 'ripples').

I would say the first image - the one of Aaravos crying in the rain - is a teaser and a throwback to whatever conversation he is having with The Merciful One - who, as I have already posted, is probably not that merciful. And you know the creators have all this planned out already and love to drop little hints without us even knowing what's happening.

This is all really fascinating food for thought as we head into S6. I already mentioned that Aaravos is going to be regarded in a sympathetic light. My bets are that he was cast away by his own people (perhaps over someone he loved, as he references love in the S6 teaser - yes plz) and has something to prove to the other Startouch Elves who outcasted him - be it revenge or something similar, who knows.

Damn. I do love this show.

[greensagephase]

how long have you been in love with Miguel? how did your love for him begin?

Hiii, nonny!! Thank you so much for the ask!! 🥰

Like most people, my love for Miguel started with ATSV! I knew about him already from ITSV when I watched the movie a few years ago, months after it had come out already on Netflix. My youngest sibling knew who he was, so they told me a little bit about him. I remember thinking he was so cool since he’s half-Mexican and we’re Mexican, and also, the entire concept of him being from an advanced dimension was so intriguing. I also screamed a little when I realized he was voiced by Oscar Isaac lol, so I was already looking forward to the next movie because of him. I moved on (kind of forgot about it) after that, though, because I was in a highly stressful time back then due to college (academic machine…present 🤚����).

But then, ever since June 2023… I love him!!!! I don’t think I’ve been so interested nor invested in a character like this before. Obviously, he’s a very attractive man, but I love so many other things about him beyond his appearance. I love that he’s half Mexican. This alone makes me happy because I like to think I share some things with him culturally wise (honestly, just him being Latino in general makes me so happy, just like Miles). Also, Spider-Man has always been one of my favorite superheroes (tbh, he’s gotta be #1), so to see another Latino Spider-Man on the screen was awesome!! Representation really does matter :))

Then, there’s his story in ATSV, of course. He’s gone through so much (and I say this because he was unhappy before Gabby, so that means a lot has happened to him to reach that level of unhappiness in his own dimension) and still taking the responsibility of the multiverse’s safety to prevent other universes from collapsing like Gabby’s :(( I just want to give him a big hug!!!! So yeah, my love for him started right away after watching the movie, and it has grown since then due to learning more about him, reflecting on the movie, and reading fans’ analyses and thoughts about him. He’s truly such a complex character and one that’s often misunderstood, even NOW, but I won’t open that can of worms.

They’ll never make me hate him!! 🥺

Thank you for this ask, nonny!! I’m sorry for the yapping 😭 I hope you’re doing well and having a great weekend!!

Alondra❤️

[pertinax--loculos]

Figured I might as well update this! Thinking about doing a 2024 general writing roundup soon, but until I have the brainspace to do so, this is what I'm doing. ^_^

Wilder Girls, Rory Power

-> not my usual, but very good. I think I found the ending a little unsatisfying?

One Life One Chance, Luke Richmond

-> bought all three of his books because I met him at a market while I was on holiday and I have issues with impulse control lmao. This was okay, but honestly it mostly comes across as a privileged white man trying to tell you that you can do anything if you put your mind to it! ...while also being, y'know. A highly privileged white man. Probably won't read the rest.

Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros

-> I know, I know. Look, was the writing good? Not really. Was it compelling as hell? YES. I legit downloaded the sample for a laugh and ended up reading a solid third of it during a quiet shift at work. It's readable, I'll say that.

Iron Flame, Rebecca Yarros

-> like I said, impulse control issues. 😅 This was... fine? Honestly I'll probably read the next one when it comes out.

I Wish You Wouldn't, Alex Ritany (our very own @aritany)

-> very, very good. I have always loved Alex's writing and tbh I'll probably read anything they put out. This was a cozy read and I highly recommend spreading out with it on a lazy summer day wherever you are. ^_^

The Sins on Their Bones, Laura R. Samotin

-> this was fantastic. Queer as hell, kinda gross, lots of lore and an atmosphere that was just impeccable. I saw the other day that there's a sequel not too long away and I'm excited.

So Let Them Burn, Kamilah Cole

-> disappointing, tbh. The premise sounded really interesting but the execution was just a bit meh. Forgettable. I will not be continuing the series.

I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom, Jason Pargin

-> as mentioned above, Pargin's an auto-buy author for me; I actually preordered a signed copy of this book. It's good -- a little more preachy than his other works, but Pargin has always been the type to comment on current societal issues, and that's what he's done here. Eminently readable and the first hardcopy book in a long while that I've wanted to highlight and scribble all over </complimentary>

Cuckoo, Gretchen Felker-Martin

-> ooof. I didn't really like this. It's billed as horror but leans heavily into the 'sex in horror' tropes, has a weird focus on periods, and despite the amazingly diverse and queer cast it left me cold. I think mostly that gore-centric written horror just doesn't work for me; this had a fabulous premise and what should have been an interesting story, but mostly I just cringed throughout.

Poor Man's Fight, Elliot Kay

Rich Man's War, Elliot Kay

Dead Man's Debt, Elliot Kay

-> I loved these. I'm not gonna lie, the not-quite-omniscent narration style threw me out a few times in the start, but once I'd adjusted to what the author was doing it was fine. The series is slow in places but I never stalled when I hit a POV that I was less interested in; the plot always had me reading more to find out what was going to happen. The trilogy also ties up in a really lovely way and I enjoyed that a lot.

Empire of Light, Alex Harrow

-> I read this trying to recapture what Kay's books had, and that was a mistake. I fucking hated this book. I spent the vast majority of the time I was reading it enthusiastically rooting for one of the main characters to die (spoiler alert: they don't die). I thought there were a number of interesting ways the plot could go and it went in none of those directions. Upon reflection and with some distance, I think the ultimate issue was that I'm just not the target audience for this book. (I also have a huge bone to pick with the grammar in it, however. It reads like it was originally written in present tense and then edited (poorly) into past tense; almost every single instance when a sentence could have been "he had" or similar, it was shortened to "he'd". It's hard to explain without examples and I've already gone on way too long for something that is supposed to be a short little comment on the book, but trust me, it was noticeable and annoying as hell.)

Which brings us to a total of 38 books read for 2024! 🥳 (41 if you count the three rereads I did.) Given that there were large swathes of time where I didn't read anything, I'm pretty happy with that. ^_^

Books Read in 2024 (so far)

(Looking at my Goodreads, where I've been keeping track of this, I apparently only started keeping track in March? But I guess that's fair, there's a chance I didn't read anything before that. So let's go with that. ^_^)

The Foxhole Court, Nora Sakavic

The Raven King, Nora Sakavic

The King's Men, Nora Sakavic

-> These kicked off my reading binge for the year. Also, how have I never read them before? Because my god. Instant favourites. Don't talk to me.

Like Real People Do, E.L. Massey

-> My attempt to recapture the All for the Game vibes. It failed. The book was okay, though.

John Dies at the End, Jason Pargin

This Book is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It, Jason Pargin

What The Hell Did I Just Read, Jason Pargin

If This Book Exists, You're in the Wrong Universe, Jason Pargin

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits, Jason Pargin

Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick, Jason Pargin

Zoey is Too Drunk for This Dystopia, Jason Pargin

-> Some of these are technically rereads; JDatE, Spiders, and the first Zoey book. Regardless, Pargin is an insta-buy for me.

Leech, Hiron Ennes

-> Tumblr recommendation off a random post. Very good.

American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis

-> I enjoyed this. If you can say that about this book. Taking it as what it is, I thought it was very well done.

Dead Girls Don't Say Sorry, Alex Ritany

-> Go check out @aritany if you haven't already! Wonderful human, incredible writer, new book coming out soon!

Tales from the Gas Station: Volume One, Jack Townsend

-> Trying to recapture some of Pargin's bizarre humour. Pretty similar, and I did enjoy it, but I was starting to move away from that vibe, and to be honest this just wasn't as good as Pargin.

Maze-Born Trouble, Ginn Hale

-> My only complaint with this book is it was too fucking short. 😠 Astonishing worldbuilding and a very rich story for what amounts to a novella. Love.

Altered Carbon, Richard K. Morgan

-> Following on from the scifi of Pargin's Zoey series and Maze-Born Trouble. This was good. I doubt I'll read more in the series because from the blurbs they're quite disparate, but holy hell the world that was built was incredible.

Mystic River, Dennis Lehane

-> Complicated reason why I read this that actually has to do with OOC. Also technically a reread, from a while ago. Love Lehane, though, and this as a standalone is very good. Has some examples of omniscient POV that I would almost classify as head-hopping that actually works, and as a thriller, so an interesting read for a writer as well.

Educated, Tara Westover

-> The beginning of my brief nonfiction binge.

I'm Glad My Mom Died, Jenette McCurdy

-> Because, obviously.

Eggshell Skull, Bri Lee

-> Highly HIGHLY recommended. Some heavy stuff regarding sex offences and the legal system, and quite centred in Australia, but a brilliant nonfiction read.

The Sunshine Court, Nora Sakavic

The Foxhole Court, Nora Sakavic

The Raven King, Nora Sakavic

The King's Men, Nora Sakavic

-> Why yes, I did see that The Sunshine Court had been released and immediately read it, then immediately reread All for the Game, because what the fuck else was I gonna do? Not reread it? C'mon.

Icebreaker, A.L. Graziadei

-> Note the author there, cuz I know there's another book by the same title. This one was excellent. Still not the AftG vibes I was seeking, but closest I've found reading something immediately after finishing that series.

The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley

-> I know everyone's talking about it. Read it anyway.

Summer Sons, Lee Mandelo

-> currently reading. Currently loving.

...and that's 27 so far this year -- 23 if you don't count rereading books I read for the first time this year. 0.o Still, not a bad effort!

If you'd like more info or just wanna chat about any of this books, feel free to hit me up. Also if you've got this far without being intimidated by my awful formatting choices, congrats! And thankyou. ^_^

[luvreyn]

My Manhwa List (2021) Part 3

Death is the Only Ending is coming back on Feb 12, and Leave Me Be aka please throw me away is coming back on Feb 14! There’s so many releases on Feb so onto the list!

Villain Duke's Precious One

Description:

Dietrich Lagrange is destined to become the story's most evil villain, in a family where everyone cruelly vies to claim their place as its head. But somehow, Anissa is worming her way into his cold, shut-off heart. Little does he know that she's actually a reader reborn as his baby sister. No matter what happens, she plans to survive the story rather than live out her character's original deadly fate! Can she remain by Dietrich's side as he rises in power within the dangerous Lagrange family?

THOUGHTS AND WHY READ THIS

- art = 3.5/5 is decent

- plot =?/5 

- another isekai

- cute cute cute

- the brother is a tsundere lmao

- just don't let them be the couple here or I'll riot

- my heart just needs familial bonding!

- funny

- verdict, good read!

Please Don't Eat Me

Description:

Ertha Arlez is an impoverished purifier looking to provide for her family. Duke Zahid El Callenor is a wealthy and powerful magician looking to cleanse his evil energy. The two seem like a perfect match… except that Zahid is fated to eat Ertha alive! Ertha must keep the duke at arm’s length for her own protection, but the intimate purification process combined with Zahid’s nonstop flirting make that nearly impossible. Can she stave him off and stay alive, or will she be consumed by passion?

THOUGHTS AND WHY READ THIS

- art = 4.5/5

- plot = 5/5

- I was creep out with the title so I didn't wanna read tbh

- ML is sly hahah

- church dude is hella creepy 

- I love when ML is all abt seducing her and she’s like nope lmao

- MC is pretttyyyy

- cute coupleee

- overall, a good read

The Flower Dances and the Wind Sings

Description:

As Ersella lies on her deathbed, she has only one regret: never being a good mother to her son, Vicente. When fate sends her back three years, she gets a chance to make things right. While reflecting on her past as a young bride and reluctant mother, Ersella begins to untangle years’ worth of heartache. But as familial, marital, and even political issues enter the picture, she realizes there’s more to her second life than she thought. Will Ersella’s change of heart be too little, too late?

THOUGHTS AND WHY READ THIS

- plot = 4/5

- art = 3.5/5 is decent

- I didn't think I was gonna like this so it’s a pleasant surprise

 - prob the only one that did ptsd (and with justice at that)

- seriously the scenes wherein mc had these thoughts about her baby just pls - I cri

- close to reality 

- the mother the son and the political play just 

- let them be happy

- THE FLASHBACKS HURTS MY SOUL

- husband loves her but she doesn't know it 

- “as you know, you’re my best choice” hurts ok 

- mother and son bonding all the way 

- verdict, highly recommended!

The Tyrant's Tutor

Description:

Primabelle is astonished when she wakes up to find herself in a novel of her own creation as an obscure painter who gets killed by the male protagonist, Prince Rainsis. The world she created has not been kind to Rainsis. In addition to being colorblind, he has been shunned and feared his entire life, for a prophecy had been made that “the one trapped in a black and white world shall drench the empire in blood.” Primabelle resolves to disprove the prophecy after witnessing his misery firsthand. To do so, she must track down his destined other half. The only problem? All she knows about the fair beauty is that she has black hair and crimson eyes. Will Primabelle be able to help Rainsis see the world in all its splendid colors and find true happiness?

THOUGHTS AND WHY READ THIS

- AN MC WITH MY NAME FINALLYYYY

- art = 4.5/5 tbh I was more into the promo art but this one is beautiful too

- plot = 4/5 a nice twist in the beauty and beast farytale

- I’ve been waiting for this since I’ve read the promo sksksk

- only like have 2 chaps but I have high expectations

- mc is adorable

- I need more chapters!!

- prob on its way to be a new fav

- overall, an awaited story!

Roxana

Description:

Kidnapping, murder, and risqué relationships! Within the scandalous pages of The Abysmal Flower, the downfall of Roxana Agrece’s criminal family is already foretold. So when Cassis Pedelian, the heroine’s older brother, is kidnapped by Roxana’s father, she can either wait for the heroine’s revenge... or take matters into her own hands, since Cassis is the key to her survival. But with deceitful characters on all sides, can Roxana and Cassis trust each other enough to bring down the brutal Agreces?

THOUGHTS AND WHY READ THIS

- where should I even start??

- this is a gem

- plot = 5/5

- art = 10/5 it’s not just the art is beautiful but it really compliments the story

- I am in love

- if you love Medea (Your Throne MC) and Penelope (Death is the Only Ending MC) you’re gonna love Rox too!! I AM IN LOVEEEE

- this is a family describe as villainous that actually lives up to its name!!

- my new fav!!

- ROX IS THE QUEEN

- Dion is so hot and beautiful that gosh 

- ML is a hottie, a sweeties, a shy boy 

- AND HE IS POWERFUL 

- the characters are all interesting 

- I can't stress how much I love this manhwa 

- Jeremy is a cutie devil

- MC (Rox) is a manipulative she-devil and I love her periodt

- D I O N

- everything is magnetic srsly I read every available chap in one sitting

- and baby asil I cri

- basically the dad fucked them up and I hope he rots 

- disclaimer that some scenes are quite sadistic so beware but swear this is so beautiful. beautiful art and a beautiful story

- verdict: highly highly recommended!!!

[lazyrabbit755]

Ok so I finished Wednesday...

So first of all I wanna start by saying I really liked the series. I'm gonna go into detail about what I liked and didn't like and what I want to see improved in later seasons (assuming there are any). But overall no matter my criticisms overall I really liked the show as a whole! You might be asking yourself why I'm not just writing a review on IMDB or something? To which my reasoning is that this is my little blog and I am going to exercise my right to rant about my stupid little obsessions on the internet as much as I want!

Just a heads up I am going to go into spoilers so I would highly encourage you to watch the show first and come to your own decisions before reading what some rando on the internet has to say about it. Now with that out of the way, let's get into it...

The Good:

Obviously the art direction is great, I mean it's Tim Burton directing an Addams Family reboot, that's a match made in heaven! The characters were wonderful, I honestly think they carried the show imo. Eugene and Thing were some standouts to me although of course Bianca, Enid and Wednesday were my favorites. I just really feel like Eugene was like the MVP and like was consistently one of the nicest characters both to Wednesday and the other characters (although the scene where he barfs all over the pilgrim bullies was kinda dated, really felt like I was watching an early 2000s movie making fat jokes in poor taste) The music score was lovely it really sold the whole "Goth Girl Hogwarts" vibe which I don't mean as a jab towards Goths cause I'm obviously here for that or I wouldn't be writing about this show.

The not so good:

Tbh the whole teen romance subplot wasn't doing it for me. I mean I get why they wrote it in but it felt kinda forced at times ngl. Like having Wednesday go back and forth between Tyler and Xavier, (the two most boring "straight guy" names of all time btw) after a while it felt like writers ran out of excuses on why Wednesday would be leaving one of the boys hanging while pursuing the other. Yes a lot of people have complained about how boring in general Xavier and Tyler were as characters and I agree! You had on one had an artsy loner boyfriend who has psychic abilities and the power to LITERALLY MAKE HIS DRAWINGS COME TO LIFE and they managed to make him uninteresting and kinda unlikable (that last one being more subjective to myself but you get the point). And on the other hand a literal serial killer boyfriend who turns into a 10ft tall monster with a mommy kink. And like just saying the whole idea that Laurel controls Tyler because she told him the truth about his mother also being a Hyde was kinda weak. Like just say the kid has mommy issues!

In all honesty the main gripe that I have with the show is actually about Wednesday herself. She didn't really get that much character development throughout the season. YES her relationship with Enid was very cute and I love Enid...BUT...the show even acknowledges that Wednesday is kinda a jerk to her friends. Enid straight up tells her to her face that she doesn't like the way she treats her, bringing her along to dangerous investigations and tricking her with the promise of a girls night out. And before we knew that Tyler was the real killer he was in the same boat. I mean she leads him on prioritizing herself first and her investigation and uses him to get what she wants. Same with Xavier who REALLY got the short end of the stick getting PUT IN FUCKING JAIL (even if it was only for a night or so). It felt like towards the second half of the season that Wednesday was going through a series of selfish decisions and having characters highlight them to her face so that she could reflect on her bad actions and grow as a character. But instead of giving us that payoff she literally doesn't grow OR APOLOGIZE to basically anyone! And when she does apologize it's weak as hell! Instead most of the characters she treats like crap come to her and apologize or attempt to rekindle their relationship. I MEAN FOR GOD'S SAKE Enid literally tells Wednesday TO HER FACE, that she is the one making most of the effort in their friendship and instead of apologizing, Wednesday just tells her she doesn't need friends and that she's a gigachad alpha. And Enid just comes back like an episode later and has a change of heart. And her "apology" to Xavier was just pathetic. He just sorta forgave her for everything after being justifiably pissed the fuck off at her for ruining his life and then suddenly forgives her for everything because she took an arrow to the shoulder for him.

Like it feels like the writers ran out of time or something, like they wanted her relationship with Enid and the other characters to have more depth. Like most of the other side characters have at least decent character development arcs, like Enid and Bianca standing up to their Mothers. The thing is I like Wednesday as a character, contrary to what you might have just read I want to root for her! But the writers made it a bit hard towards the end. I know they wanted to sell the whole Goth girl, raven from teen titans, attitude but it's ok guys you can make her a little more likable.

Conclusions:

You may think that I have been a bit harsh or nitpicky about the show. Or perhaps you're thinking "Why the hell did this loser nobody write several paragraphs about some dumb teen drama Netflix show" to which my response is why are you still reading? YES I'm probably a bit harsh on this series or nitpicky but that's because I like it so much! When something that you enjoy is so close to being "perfect" (or at least really well done) it's all the more disappointing when it just barely falls short. If your favorite sports team loses by one point right before the final whistle you're even more crushed that you would've been if they had lost by 8 points.

To conclude despite the cheesy teen romance plot lines and boring ass love interests, I enjoyed my time with this show and if there are more seasons to come (which it's looking like there will be considering the success of the show) I want to see the show do better and improve upon it's previous seasons.

If you read all that borderline incomprehensible word vomit here's a gold star 🌟 you deserve it. 👍 And hey, Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a great rest of your day/night and if you watched the show lemme know if you agreed with some stuff I said or you think I'm fucking insane for caring so much and writing all this. Either way it's just a show at the end of the day. :)

[letters-from-eros]

Can I get some big brother chuuya hc with a little brother (or you can do gender neutral! Which ever you prefer!) that's also in the port mafia

A/N: I was rewatching AOT and realized Jean had Chuuya's VA today so yeah Chu-Chu content. This might be really really bad I'm an only child 😙

Pairings: Chuuya Nakahara x Sibling!Reader (GN)

Form: HC

Warnings: Probably shit writing, I haven't done anything in WEEKS

Beta-Readers: Wifey @bokuno-volleybabes

Mmmmmm Big brother Chuuya. Interesting.

Overall, he's a really good brother to you, I don't think you could really ask for much better tbh.

Yeah you two do bicker a lot, especially if you managed to be taller than the poor lil alcoholic, but it isn't constant unless you're the one provoking him

God the amount of SHIT Chuuya gives you if you're shorter OR taller than him god bless your SOUL, believe when I say 90% of your arguments come from the concept of height.

I definitely think hating Dazai is something that runs in the family, if it doesn't good luck having to hear all about Chuuya's hatred towards the suicidal bastard.

But!! If you do hate Dazai as much as your brother does, y'all would tag-team and roast his ass so bad he'd think he finally died and went to the fiery depths of hell. If he knew this was gonna be his punishment, he would've rethought his suicidal tendencies 💀

But anyway!! You working with him at the P.M, lets get to that.

Chuuya holds a ridiculous amount of loyalty to the mafia, and his work ethic definitely reflects said loyalty.

So he will get on you if you're not doing you're best, or just generally slacking off and neglecting the reports/paperwork that goes with working in the mafia. But like... He'll get on you super heavy while picking up like a third of your paperwork to do himself since he doesn't wanna see his little sibling stressed.

It.. Cancels out. He's an ass but you'll never forget about the fact he loves you lots.

Chuuya sticks his neck out for you a lot and isn't ashamed to let everyone know that yes he has a bias for his little sibling, the fuck are you gonna do about it?

But doesn't pull too many strings for you, y'know? The Mafia is a highly difficult job to have, and he can't have you going soft and lazy. (And this is all under the assumption you're not an executive)

But if you ARE an executive oh my god

You two would be working in the same office (either your own or Chuuya's, most likely the latter's) complaining about how much paperwork comes along with your position, probably while drinking wine too. Gossiping n shit 😭

Also, executive or not, EVERYONE knows to fear the Nakahara siblings.

Always reminds you when he's about to go out on a field mission. If you both aren't at the same place its via text, if you two are he's stopping by and ruffling your hair while telling you he's about to head out on a field assignment. It calms him down a lot plus it helps clear his head. He definitely expects you to do the same when you head out on missions, he needs to be in the know about that stuff and will get pretty upset if you don't.

God forbid you get hurt on the job. His reaction depends on how hurt you are.

If its just a few scrapes and bandages, he'll just chew you out about getting hurt and makes you give him a rundown about everything that happened on the mission, he's giving you his undivided attention.

If you're hurt sorta bad and put out of commission he's a muddy mixture of emotions he's not good at portraying.

He's scared because what if you got hurt worst than how much you already are, if the injuries were preventable he's upset with you for being so careless, plus he's angry with who ever caused you this pain.

Now... If you're in critical condition, Chuuya's literally seeing red. No one related to him is gonna be weak by any means, so its heavy stuff if you got hurt this bad.

His first instinct would be to get back at who ever hurt you if they're even still alive. But after Chuuya's after them, they're as good as dead. Afterwards, he's not leaving your side, he doesn't care if you're in a coma or what. He is not leaving you under any cicrumstances, this goes for when you're recovering too.

You two probably rarely get assigned as partners for missions, despite your relation.

I feel like Chuuya prefers going solo on missions ever since Dazai left the mafia, but if you seek him out to go on missions with you, he isn't all that against it. Always tells you "He's only doing this once" every mission because he's probably trying to build a reputation around him going solo but tbh he's coming with you whenever you ask 🙄

Its hard for him to say no to you a lot of the time, and honestly if you both start partnering on missions more than you're going solo Mori's gonna end up making you two official partners like he was with Dazai.. Chuuya's gonna be hella pissy about it, though.

Late nights researching about Arahabaki are.. Oddly personal. Its quiet and dark. The only things not making it a complete void is the illuminated screens of laptops the sound of clicks and scrolls. Maybe the occasional scribble of notes. But although little to no words are being said, its still an important time that just feels really vulnerable and personal, which is something thats usually difficult for Chuuya to display

...

He drags you to go shopping with him 💀 Chuuya lives by the rule "drip or drown" and gravity man REFUSES to drown

Dw you definitely dripped out too LMAO. If anything catches your eye he'll buy it for you knowing full well you can afford it yourself. Its useless to talk him out of it.

Shopping is probably how you both get your quality time outside of work, so even though Chuuya will semi-aggressively drag you out with him, its still a slightly pleasurable time 😭

Please don't get to arguing inside a peaceful designer store over whether or not some piece of apparel looks good or not, its gonna be hard not to but please...

People are looking at you two.

You're gonna get thrown out..

[runawaymun]

For the WIP ask game: 2, 13 & 15

WIP ask meme

2: Post a line from your WIP with no context. (can I cheat and give you two? They’re small)

Elrond swallowed and stayed behind the threshold, asking through osanwë, how is she?

Arwen’s answer was slow, measured, and furious at him. (How do you think, Ada?)

13: Your characters are stranded on a deserted island. What happens?

Maglor is having the time of his life. Cel is sunbathing. Elrond is simultaneously trying to build a boat, complaining that no one is helping him (until Arwen does), and also trying to make sure he keeps track of everyone at all times. Elladan and Elrohir fish and make sure everyone’s fed. The two baby kiddos build sandcastles (with Maglor’s suggestions on how to improve them).

It turns out to be a pleasant day trip (minus Elrond’s anxiety). 

15: Do you know your characters’ MBTI personalities?

I don’t, actually, I have spent a LOT of time thinking about their enneagram types, though. I’ll give you Elrond, Cel,  Elrían, and Thal. Under the cut for an essay length answer. 

Elrond: Type Two, The Helper 

People are drawn to them like bees to honey. Healthy Twos warm others in the glow of their hearts. They enliven others with their appreciation and attention, helping people to see positive qualities in themselves that they had not previously recognized. In short, healthy Twos are the embodiment of “the good parent” that everyone wishes they had: someone who sees them as they are, understands them with immense compassion, helps and encourages with infinite patience, and is always willing to lend a hand—while knowing precisely how and when to let go. 

I think Sleeping At Last put it best in his song Two, which he wrote for his Enneagram series. This entire song just screams Elrond so much that I actually sob while listening to it tbh. 

Sweetheart, you look a little tired / When did you last eat? / Come in and make yourself right at home / Stay as long as you need

Tell me, is something wrong? / If something's wrong, you can count on me You know I'll take my heart clean apart if it helps yours beat

It's okay if you can't find the words / Let me take your coat / And this weight off of your shoulders

Like a force to be reckoned with / A mighty ocean or a gentle kiss / I will love you with every single thing I have / Like a tidal wave, I'll make a mess / Or calm waters, if that serves you best / I will love you without any strings attached

It's okay if you can't catch your breath You can take the oxygen straight out of my own chest

And what a privilege it is to love / A great honour to hold you up

-

Celebrían: Type Four, The Individualist

Profoundly creative, expressing the personal and the universal, possibly in a work of art. Inspired, self-renewing and regenerating: able to transform all their experiences into something valuable: self-creative.  Self-aware, introspective, on the "search for self," aware of feelings and inner impulses. Sensitive and intuitive both to self and others: gentle, tactful, compassionate.  Highly personal, individualistic, "true to self." Self-revealing, emotionally honest, humane. Ironic view of self and life: can be serious and funny, vulnerable and emotionally strong.

And again, Sleeping At Last with description lyrics from Four, which make me sob: 

Flashlight in hand determined to find / Authenticity, only poetry could even begin to try to describe / Bodies fashioned out of dirt and dust / For a moment we get to be glorious 

Get to be glorious / Get to be glorious

What if we already are / Who we've been dying to become / In certain light I can plainly see / A reflection of magnificence / Hidden in you / Maybe, even in me

-

 Elrían: Type Six, The Loyalist

The committed, security-oriented type. Sixes are reliable, hard-working, responsible, and trustworthy. At their Best: internally stable and self-reliant, courageously championing themselves and others.

Sixes are the most loyal to their friends and to their beliefs. They will “go down with the ship” and hang on to relationships of all kinds far longer than most other types. Sixes are also loyal to ideas, systems, and beliefs—even to the belief that all ideas or authorities should be questioned or defied. Indeed, not all Sixes go along with the “status quo”: their beliefs may be rebellious and anti-authoritarian, even revolutionary. In any case, they will typically fight for their beliefs more fiercely than they will fight for themselves, and they will defend their community or family more tenaciously than they will defend themselves.

The reason Sixes are so loyal to others is that they do not want to be abandoned and left without support—their Basic Fear. Thus, the central issue for type Six is a failure of self-confidence. 

Sleeping At Last is at it again, with his song Six: 

Oh, God, I'm so tired / Of being afraid 

What would it feel like / To put this baggage down? / If I'm being honest / I'm not sure I'd know how 

I want to take shelter, but I'm ready, ready to fight /  Somewhere in the middle, I feel a little paralysed / Maybe I'm stronger / Than I realize

I want to believe / No, I choose to believe / That I was made to become / A sanctuary

Fear won't go away / But I can keep it at bay / These invisible walls / Just might keep us safe

With a vigilant heart / I'll push into the dark / And I'll learn to breathe deep / And make peace with the stars 

Is it courage or faith / To show up every day? / To trust that there will be light /  Always waiting behind / Even the darkest of nights / No matter what

Somehow we'll be okay Don't be afraid

-

Thalionel: Type Nine, The Peacemaker

Nines are either in touch with their instinctive qualities and have tremendous elemental power and personal magnetism, or they are cut off from their instinctual strengths and can be disengaged and remote, even lightweight.

We have sometimes called the Nine the crown of the Enneagram because it is at the top of the symbol and because it seems to include the whole of it. Nines can have the strength of Eights, the sense of fun and adventure of Sevens, the dutifulness of Sixes, the intellectualism of Fives, the creativity of Fours, the attractiveness of Threes, the generosity of Twos, and the idealism of Ones. However, what they generally do not have is a sense of really inhabiting themselves—a strong sense of their own identity.

Ironically, therefore, the only type the Nine is not like is the Nine itself. Being a separate self, an individual who must assert herself against others, is terrifying to Nines. They would rather melt into someone else or quietly follow their idyllic daydreams.

One last set of Sleeping at Last lyrics, from Nine: 

Who am I / To say what any of this means? / I have been sleepwalking Since I was fourteen / Now as I write my song / I retrace my steps / Honestly, it's easier / To let myself forget

Still, I check my vital signs / Choked up, I realize / I've been less than half myself / For more than half my life

It looks like empathy / To understand all sides / But I'm just trying to find myself / Through someone else's eyes / So show me what to do / To restart this heart of mine / How do I forgive myself / For losing so much time?

Wake up / Roll up your sleeves / There's a chain reaction / In your heart / Muscle memory / Remembering who you are

Stand up / And fall in love again and again and again / Wage war on gravity / There's so much / Worth fighting for / You'll see

We were born to try / To see each other through / To know and love ourselves and others well / Is the most difficult and meaningful / Work we'll ever do

-

Thanks now I’m crying about all of my characters. 

Immense kudos if you read this whole essay. 

[majormeilani]

I can complain for hours about how sour the plot of this game made me you can't just pull a epic all your friends help you defeat the final boss when said "friends" tried to kill you and the issue was never resolved like atleast snatcher seemed to get a tiny bit of character development before death wish came and crapped on it but conductor and grooves like even if grooves boss was canon and conductor helped you he still pulled train rush and was a complete ass to you and grooves doesn't get to apologize at all if you do conductor as a boss that saves grooves from being irredeemable but now conductor is a monster and all you get is ah what's a wee disagreement between coworkers like seriously my guy and grooves boss fight seems like what they were going for too the only characters you can argue did the enemies to friends thing right is the mafia and those jerks are responsible for mu being evil and are never held accountable like even mafia boss is like no your the bad guy like what dude you stole her island shut up

lolll GO OFF anon

tho tbh i never exactly took the ending as "all your friends help you" necessarily and more like everyone is against mu and they recognize that hat kid needed help because they saw that she, who had essentially beat all of them before, struggling and they figured they would help her do something about it. not necessarily that it automatically redeems them or anything, i often see people take that as the game "redeeming" everyone which i don't think was the intent? more like everyone just standing up against the same cause bc it essentially stops them from doing what they were doing before ig.

but yeah, death wish did completely undo any of snatcher's character development (little as it were though lol.) snatcher asking her to sign another contract is neutral sounding but in a sense he's saying he wants you to stick around still until you realize that he's referencing death wish and then you're like oh. he's a lil fucked up for that

and i do think at the very least ONE character who kinda gets redemption is conductor but that's because he goes from pretending he doesn't care to showing that ultimately he does and even going as far to say he doesn't want you to leave.

n yeah the whole thing with the birds does a get a bit messy too when you think about it too hard. like honestly best case scenario would have been BOTH of them apologize to you for getting you caught up in their rivalry. because if not for conductor, i highly doubt grooves would have gone to such an extreme on his own if you choose him to win. and as far as choosing conductor, YEAH his apology is so shitty but i'm like at the very least he seems remorseful of his behavior... there at least implies he had some self reflection and felt bad about what he'd done enough to lower his pride and say sorry. but we get none of that from grooves which fucking sucks so much GFB whhhhyyyyy... makes grooves look like such an asshole for attacking you even though he expressed he cared about you (which you could argue was just him being manipulative which it COULD be but i do think a lot of it was genuine care too... grooves is so sweet and seemed very considerate of other ppl's feelings NUMEROUS times so i don't think he was just a manipulative asshole...)

and yeah with the mafia that is true. they do seem to have actually come around to hat kid in the end and them helping her makes sense but it IS very insulting for mafia boss to claim that mu is the bad one when he's the one who took over her island in the first place AND IN ADVERTANTLY caused this whole ordeal in the first place. i don't like that the game seems to pit all the blame on mu when she was just vibing before mafia boss and his posse rolled up and fucked everything over. not to say that everyone else wasn't already a mess before hat kid showed up or anything but yeah. pretty fucked up tbh.....

[enderspawn]

dream smp asagao au, aka the very specific high school au

also aka the post thats very self indulgent for me and maybe 3 other people.

in short: its a dsmp high school au based on the game asagao academy, where everyone is part of a gaming club and compete against one another in tournaments. more in depth info about the AU/Asagao itself, as well as more info about the plot and roles of the AU itself.

Asagao Academy Basics

So to start, let’s cover the basics: what is Asagao Academy. ….well, an old Youtuber dating sim game (which, despite unfortunately including some fairly questionable CCs, IS still really good and well written and I recommend it) But what is it for AU purposes?

Asagao Academy is a highly elite world-wide boarding school set in Japan for those who are either rich enough to afford it, or those skilled enough to get scholarships. Within the game, there are two main clubs: Normal Boots and Hidden Block. They’re both gaming clubs, and joining is seen as super exclusive since they’re ALSO the most popular people in the school.

The two clubs compete with each other in various tournament events with specific categories. For example: Satch (from NB) and Jimmy (from HB) both compete in the “Tech and Invention” category, where they have to create/invent something related to gaming and have it judged at the event like a science fair. Meanwhile, Jared (from NB) and Wallid (from HB) both compete in “Dance” aka DDR and the person with the highest score wins.

The other categories featured in game include: Puzzle games (like Bejeweled or Tetris), Video Game Trivia, Pinball, Retro Platformers, a three-person fighting game, and 100% completion speedruns. So tldr; the categories can be kind of fiddled with and be whatever you want them to be, because even the original ones are pretty wack.

Also, there’s no rules against competing in multiple categories— in fact, most of the HB members in game do! It’s more about balancing time and practicing for them alongside school and other activities.

The winner of the competition is the team/competitor(s) with the most total wins.

Another thing to note: despite competing as clubs, they’re all actually pretty good friends. It’s all lighthearted and fun in the end, hell the leader of the opposing club even helps the main character join the main club just because he wants a decent challenge.

Speaking of… the main character! Hana Mizuno! I don’t have any current plans to include her in this AU (a la new dating routes), but I wanted to mention her for a few reasons.

For the main reason: her hair. Even as soon as she shows up, Mai (her best friend and roommate, who can break the 4th wall) immediately calls her out for her hair for looking like a main character which as we learn… isn’t an exaggeration. She’s literally a born protagonist, thus being born with naturally pink hair and a tragic backstory. Not only that, but other people are also born protagonists with pink hair as well— she isn’t an exception.

About the AU -- Revolution Era

A few things to note: in this au, when I first drafted it I… wasn’t looking to include 20+ people. I cut a lot of characters, but instead working with the idea that they’re still THERE, they just… don’t compete? Either they aren’t in the club and are just friends with the members, or they’re members who just don’t compete professionally. It’s nothing personal against those CCs and tbh as times goes they may get added more, but for now they’re just in the BG vibin.

It covers a really basic retelling of s1 for most of the planned au. It starts with One Club: the Dream Team. Members include: Dream (sophomore), Sapnap (sophomore), George (junior), Wilbur (junior), Eret (junior), and Fundy (freshman).

For reasons, possibly just as a goof or spite towards their American counterparts, Wilbur declares independence from the Dream Team and makes his OWN gaming club: L’Manberg. He takes Eret (a close friend from his grade) and Fundy (the freshman he immediately adopted) with him, causing the two teams to be 3v3.

But Wilbur’s got a dastardly surprise up his sleeve: TOMMY, HIS YOUNGER BROTHER (bc I am nothing if not a dedicated crimebros stan), AND TUBBO. They’re both too young to actually attend Asagao yet, but theres no age rules in the actual competitions so its fair play. They’re Wilbur’s secret weapon. After all, a 5v3 where the team with the most wins wins the competition? That’s a massive advantage.

… we all know how this goes though don’t we. Wilbur’s day be so fine, then BOOM, Eret betrayal 😔

In this case Eret feels it’s a LITTLE unfair to blindside them like that, plus Dream promised to make him the Leader of the Dream Team and, yknow, that kind of stuff DOES look good on resumes, so…

TLDR; Eret rejoins the Dream Team crew, as well as informing them of Wilbur’s plan with including Tommy and Tubbo and becomes leader. They’re still letting Dream and Co. basically actually do the leading, they don’t care that much, the title is just nice. L’Manberg cusses her out and promises to hold a grudge, but it’s all in good fun. After all, they’re just teens goofing around and playing. The clubs are again 4v4.

Dream tells the L’Manberg club that they can separate, sure… under one condition. They have to win the competition. If they lose, they have to rejoin the Dream Team club.

L’Manberg accepts, but come competition day… they lose. Tommy outright challenges Dream post awards to a speedrun competition for L’Manberg instead. …which Dream professionally competes in, and Tommy DOESN’T.

He loses, but he puts up a good fight despite having little to no actual practice put in, so Dream “grants” L’Manberg their “Independence”. (In this au, instead of being like… weirdly obsessive over Tommy, it’s a lot more “he sees himself in Tommy and wants to support/mentor him” and a “friendly rivalry” kind of deal bc its a damn HIGH SCHOOL AU)

So L’Manberg can be it’s own club! …Next year, when Tommy and Tubbo actually attend, since Wilbur and Fundy aren’t allowed a two person club.

About the AU -- Election Era

SO time skip! Congrats, everything up to now has been BACKSTORY. It’s now the next school year, with two main clubs (I’ve tried to keep them fairly balanced, which is why not all CCs are featured, sorry!)

Dream Team club:

Dream - junior

George - senior

Sapnap - junior

Eret - senior

Punz - junior

BBH - senior

Awesamdude - junior

Ponk - junior

L’Manberg club:

Wilbur - senior

Tommy - freshman

Tubbo - freshman

Fundy - sophomore

Schlatt - senior

Quackity - junior

Niki - sophomore

Jack - sophomore

(Also fun fact! Their grades are loosely based on the CCs actual ages! …Except Fundy, who got Baby-fied to fit the “Wilbur’s Kid” joke, and Eret bc it fit better to be the same age as Wilbur I thought. Oops HEKANDNSN)

So, for whatever Reason (listen this was an au I made in like one night when plagued with brainrot, it’s not all figured out), L’Manberg holds an election. Maybe it’s related to Wilbur wanting L’Manberg to be meaningfully different from Dream Team, maybe it’s a joke, idk!

…. SOMEHOW, Schlatt wins. Which ticks off Wilbur a lot. It’s his damn club, and the whole point was to avoid Americans, tf?? The two start to feud a lot and it threatens to split the club entirely via ppl taking sides. Worse, it means people aren’t practicing for the competition.

All while this is happening, there’s a new intrigue building. Dream catches word of an infamous player in the area, someone known to win entire competitions against teams of people all by HIMSELF. A man with bright bubblegum pink hair called Technoblade. That’s right, literal universe-assigned protagonist Techno. If Dream could enlist him, there’s no doubt in hell they’d be able to beat L’Manberg.

L’Manberg hears of him too and works to try and enlist him as well, so he basically gets courted by both clubs trying to get him to play for them to mixed results. He’s pretty chill vibin by himself, so what’s in it for him? (….I don’t know, remember how this is a WIP au I worked on once?)

Eventually, a teacher named Phil (who’s been the honorary sponsor of the L’Manberg club) gets pissed at Schlatt and Wilbur’s fighting and bans both from competing (aka this AUs version of them dying). Which fucking SUCKS for L’Manberg. They’re now going 6v8 with a wildcard player who’s undeclared on which side he’ll join, if at all.

… honestly, that’s as far as I got. Theoretically, Techno joins L’Manberg to reflect Pogtopia and they win. I never had plans to go into s2 due to its darker theme, but there are definitely changes that could (and might?) be made for the s1 plot just so it flows better.

I already had to shift Wil and Schkatt’s “deaths” to fit, unless I were to have them LITERALLY make a new club. Maybe Schlatt uses his power as Club President to make them work with Dream Team (to the point it basically merges the clubs). Sure, they might be guaranteed to win now but it removes the competition and fun as well as the spirit of OG L’Manberg. So then Wilbur rebels and makes his own club AGAIN, calling it Pogtopia with the intent to get L’Manberg back. Then Techno, intrigued with this group of like 2-3 ppl going against a team of like 13ish people, decides to join them. Idk! Alternative possible plot based more closely on s1 I guess!

I’m gonna add a list of characters in full with their age, their club, and what they compete in (if it’s already brainstormed, most ppl are unknown) below

Character List

dream (DT) - junior - speedrunning

george (DT) - senior - coding/tech and invention

sapnap (DT)- junior -

eret (DT) - senior -

wilbur (LM) - senior - rhythm game/guitar hero-esque

tommy (LM) - freshman - (possibly pick up speed running during election arc?)

tubbo (LM) - freshman - chess

fundy (LM) - sophomore - coding/tech and invention

schlatt (LM) - senior - he never actually declares what he plans to play and then gets banned anyway, aka no game kekw

quackity (LM)- junior - dance

niki (LM) - sophomore -

jack (LM) - sophomore-

punz (DT) - junior -

bbh (DT) - senior -

awesamdude (DT) - junior -

ponk (DT) - junior

technoblade (SOLO) - junior - multiple categories

FINAL BIT

here’s some scraps for ppl who know Asagao already as well as small bits I didn’t bother to write up any further

- Karl, much like Mai, is ALSO aware of the 4th wall and has time travel powers because of it.

- Purpled (undecided if he’s a solo player like Techno or has his own team he competes with that’s not a formal club) plays Literally Bedwars in competitions

- Callahan is the Dream Team club sponsor, Phil is L’Manberg’s club sponsor

- Karlnapity is real and canon bc I say so

- both for balance/laziness, every person only competes in one category. also bc it makes Techno that much more Protagonist-y that he does

- I made this AU in like February man idk I’m just vibin

- Fuck I never even included Ranboo huh

[that-wizard-oki]

Hello! I've been aware of your blog for years, and made a Tumblr blog very recently. I want to say that your posts are extremely well thought out, and give the storyline of Wizard101 a lot of much needed depth. I think if Wiz had the gameplay and story structure of Pirate101, it would benefit highly especially for worlds like Azteca and Khrysalis. Currently I'm rewriting Wiz and your posts are a huge inspiration. Finally. what are your thoughts on Arc 3? Imo it had potential but failed.

Hey there! Thank you so much for all your kind words, I’m glad you enjoy my thoughts and theories about the game-  and I’m flattered to hear they inspire you to create your own fan work :D 

Personally, I wouldn’t say that Arc 3 failed in any sense. I think the idea of a children's/family game to tackle the theme of a broken family\divorce is pretty smart- it gives the opportunity to adults who play this game with their kids to find a way to perhaps talk about their own experience with the same themes in their real lives (if it applies to them). Likewise, i also like that the story focuses on that the CHILDREN are the one who have to clean up the PARENTS mess, more or less. Often times the children in families who have a parent/parents that are either split, should split, or are abusive to one another, are the ones who get caught in the cross fire- this is SO evident with Mellori and Bat in Empyrea.

Following that, I think it was also super clever to have Mellori (and the wizard) initially ALSO be fighting against Spider’s children. Another common occurrence in families that experience abuse between their parents/ect, is that one or both of the parents will try to divide their children onto sides- furthering the divide and conflict in the family itself. THIS was exactly what was happening in arc 3- we weren’t technically fighting Raven and Spider, but their children were fighting each other in their names.

One of the most beautiful things to come out of this game was the fact that Mellori and Bat WERE able to see through that, and instead focused on the real threat at hand- their parents. In fact, it is their COMBINED power that allows the wizard to defeat the result of Raven and Spider- the Aethyr Titan. This reflects so well into reality, where when the children of broken families try their damned to support one another, instead of letting their parents continue to control and divide them, it leads to the kids being able to break the domino effect that comes with that kind of family dynamic. They are able to become individuals- instead of being some mini version or “part” of their parents (which is also clever on KI’s part to make Mellori and Bat/Rat/Scorpion LITERAL extensions of Raven/Spider, which makes it seem like they are just kind of mindless bots doing whatever their entrusted parent tells them). 

One part i particularly like as well is that towards the end of Empyrea, Mellori talk about how she’s going to go home to her mom- and it’s not Raven, it’s Baba Yaga. I absolutely love this idea that, yea, Mellori (and any kid for that matter) SHOULD be able to choose who their mom/dad/parent is if their birth parent(s) don't provide for you the way a parent should. I think that is a SUPER important lesson for Kids AND parents to hear. You choose your own family if that’s what it comes down to, and there is NO shame in that. 

That being said, i do have my issues with some things too- this might seem small, but I never liked how when we’re in the Husk, and Raven and Spider are talking to one another about who’s “really” at fault, and eventually Raven goes “oh what have i done?” and Spider just goes “.... Yea were were BOTH really bad huh?” Like.... listen, sure, Raven probably shouldn’t have locked Cob away for eternity and stole his chaos heart in order to reform the spiral, BUT imma be real with y’all... Spider also did shit to aggravate Raven- specifically, he messed with her kids into a fucking war. I mean this half sarcastically, but tbh, if you mess with a mother’s kids... that's fucking on you man, you know the grave your digging for yourself on that one lmao.

But more seriously- i feel like they REALLY tried to make Raven out to be “worse” than Spider, and having Spider just beguile her with his words at the end in a way were she ended up being like “oh nooo IM the really bad one, oh no oh noo :((” JUST for him to be like “no its ok babe :) we’re BOTH equally as bad, stay here with me and we can be bad and alone together :)”

Actually now that i write that out, it is a little.. weird that Spider kinda got what he wanted- to be with Raven, when imo, they really should have STAYED split. I don’t come from a divorced family, but I’ve many friends who do, and I’ve gathered that more often than not... divorce can be a good thing, as it is likely to stop/lessen the conflict within families. I think that yea, they both did bad things to one another, and need to stay apart, not spend the rest of eternity together.

That’s probably my biggest qualm with the entirety of Arc 3, beyond the various obvious one, which is that Morganthe played like, absolutely no part in it lmao. I’ve talked endlessly about it, so i won’t repeat myself too much lol. 

Just to briefly reiterate- i think that Morganthe, the one who re-discovered shadow magic, was groomed by the Shadow Magi, and very blatantly infused with something akin to the conversion tables we see in Khrysalis, I think she would have been an invaluable source of information and help for the Wizard. Not only does she probably know the most about Shadow Magic outside of Spider, but it’s insanely alluded to that she was under his control- perhaps even had contact or conversation with him somehow in her time as Shadow queen.

The biggest frustration of her lack of presence though, comes from the way Khrysalis built up this INSANELY interesting Foil between the Wizard and her. The way that they both weirdly fit the prophecy, the way their lead into The Hive was so eerily mirrored, the fact that we were both called the Children of Light and Shadow by Spider, and not to even mention how the shared feelings of loneliness and fear of failure as students of Ambrose... like I could go on about these two and how amazing it would have been for them both to work together in arc 3, but also help heal and grow as The Children of Light and Shadow... but that’s not what we got unfortunately. 

Anywho, i don’t wanna ramble on about that too much because i touched on it in another ask post and you can look at that if ya want in my tag, but yea! Those are my general thoughts on Arc 3. Again, i love this arc, i think it truly has some of the most nuanced writing and characters thus far in the game. 

Besides, i always think they could easily write in Morganthe’s return for a redemption with the wizard, especially now with the Wizard seemingly trying to fight their own shadows.

Hope that satisfied your question though, and good luck with your writings :D

[astrologysvt]

What are your thoughts abot the recent news about mingyu being a school bully?

hi! so i wasn’t going to be commenting on this but i’ve spoken to a few friends about this and i figured id put my thoughts out there in case anyone is feeling anxious and hopefully it can ease their minds a little bit. 

ive looked into the situation and understand that there is still a lot that isn’t clear, a lot that was lost in translation, and some aspects that are highly circumstantial and based in perspective. i’m not about to comment or invalidate/validate any single direction/statement/thought process. what i will say is i think bullying is awful and no aspect of it, no matter when it occurred or the circumstances, should be excused. being an idol does not give anyone a free pass to not accept responsibility for their actions when called out. 

what i will say is that if you’re struggling with this recent news i hope it brings to light the flexibility we need to have when understanding/perceiving our idols. when i heard about this situation, and pretty much every single bullying scandal ever in kpop, i wasn’t shocked. people are capable of doing stupid, awful, and mean things -- especially when we are young. i always struggle to feel pressed whenever news like this comes out (and maybe this is a personal flaw of mine) but i personally do not have the energy to try and hold a third person account of something that happened 10+ years ago over a person who has performed a lot of good now in their adult life. i dont say that in an attempt to invalidate the victim’s experiences because no matter how incidental, unintentional, or minor such an act was on mingyu’s end in terms of bullying -- that doesn’t mean it couldn’t have long lasting effects on someone else’s self-esteem and mental health. with that being said, i try to be empathetic to all perspectives in this situation because the reality is everyone is capable of hurting others. there are people i know who have hurt me deeply that i wouldn’t fault now for their actions, and similarly there are a lot of things ive done that i deeply regret and i simply hope that if i were ever in mingyu’s position that those who ive intentionally/unintentionally hurt would offer me even just a small bit of human forgiveness and understanding as as we both reflect on the situation as adults. i honestly just see the victim’s own personal attempt at speaking about her situation as an attempt to process her own trauma with the situation, and i think stan/idol culture is skewing our ability to accept this reality while also understanding that our idols can still be redeemable years after doing those things. i don’t think it’s particularly fair that we’re using the victim’s attempt at airing out her grievances as a kind of fandom fuel. i feel this way whenever there is a serious issue in kpop. i feel like it should be a given that our idols could be capable of these things, and that we shouldn’t take these scandals with actual important issues to discuss as merely a “fandom” issue. like even tho i don’t hate mingyu now, nor do i feel like i need to choose whether or not i should unstan svt -- that doesn’t mean i can’t empathize or validate the victim’s experiences. tbh to me it just feels tone deaf. like “i see mingyu all the time and it hurts because no one knows what i’ve gone through and he’s being put on this pedestal as a perfect human being who can do no wrong meanwhile im still trying to process a lot of personal issues” and instead of being like “wow that must be difficult and seeing him must be super counterproductive to any progress you try to make. it must feel like for every two steps you take you take three back and simply by hearing him sing on the radio” -- fandom culture now pits these two people against each other, either paints her as solely a victim and now mingyu as the villain or vice versa where she’s attempting slander and mingyu still cant do no wrong. like tbh i think it’d be super validating to her if, adult mingyu now, addressed what he had done in the past and asked for forgiveness and promised her that the person she sees now succeeding isn’t the same person who hurt her all those years ago. maybe shed be able to hear svt songs and not have it set her progress back. i just don’t think the way fandom handles these things is fair if i am being honest, and i think it’s possible to wish for the best for both of them. 

i think the biggest thing people struggle in these situations is having to face the reality that maybe our idols aren’t good people. to that i have to say that the reality is more than likely far less exciting than that. mingyu, the rest of svt, and every idol out there are not extraordinarily good or bad people. they’re just people we’ve stumbled across that we’ve gotten attached to. they’re likable people but they’re also flawed. i don’t think a person needs to be perfect in order to be likable, and i think it’s possible to hold our idols accountable for their mistakes while also investing in their success. its just what humans do. 

[yurileclercseyeliner]

A Dumb Rant About A Webtoon

Okay so I’m actually super into reading webcomics (I read them on both Webtoon and Tapas), and although this has nothing to do with my blog (I AM considering making a side blog for webcomic content/reviews tho) I sort of feel like ranting about one that I saw. I’m sorry, but if you like Athena Complex this is probably going to piss you off. Admittedly, I couldn’t get far into the comic without being upset about this so I stopped reading a few chapters in, so that may affect my opinion here. This is mainly my opinion though, and if you disagree with me it’s fine.

So I did mention in my Fire Emblem kelpie beast unit post my opinion on mythological adaptation. Essentially, I believe that when you adapt any sort of mythological being into your story you need to keep these two things in mind:

The recognizable features/symbols/abilities: by this I mean what physical features is this being known to have, what are their physical/magical abilities, what objects are they most associated with, etc. You don’t need to have every single thing that is mentioned in the source material, just a decent combination of them that can allow the reader to easily connect the adaptation to the source material.

This factor mainly applies to individual characters as opposed to a full species or classification of creatures (I have read a decent number of mythological adaptations and have seen a mythical species depicted as evil in one adaptation and benevolent or neutral in another and enjoyed both, it all depends on if it makes sense in the context). What are the character’s main personal views, goals, and motivations? By this I mean how do they think and what are their views on the world around them, and what is the context surrounding that? Essentially, what can their main personalities and motivations be boiled down to and why?

After those two factors, I think that you can then go buck wild with any other characterization as long as it isn’t contradictory and makes sense in your story.

Now that I have set that down here’s my deal with Athena Complex. Athena Complex is a Webtoon based on Greek mythology that follows Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and strategy. She falls in love with Poseidon, the god of the sea, and is rejected by him. Fueled by vengeance and a desire to win his heart she takes the form of a high school boy in order to take revenge on his reincarnation. Basically, this entire Webtoon is practically a public execution of a large part of what makes Athena, well, Athena.

First off, I will give credit to Athena Complex for at least getting the symbolism correct, Athena is a goddess of wisdom and war and when in the form of a goddess her design reflects that with her armor, among other things such as her association with owls, so the first aspect that I mentioned is fine.

Additionally there is the fact that they also did heavily tap into the prideful aspect of Athena’s nature. Essentially in the source material Athena is a VERY prideful goddess and will take any opportunity to prove her worth if someone attempt to upstage her, and gets very angry when she fails or is insulted in the process (ie the story of Arachne, the story behind the double flute). This aspect could also be seen slightly in Athena Complex’s Athena’s behavior, which I can also give them credit for.

But that’s where a lot of the similarities end. Tbh a large majority of these issues surround the second aspect, the basics of the figure’s personality and motivations.

First, Athena’s stance on romance. Original Athena...literally wanted nothing to do with any sort of romantic relationship. Seriously it’s one of her main things one of her epithets is literally “Parenthos”, which means virgin. No lovers, no sex, no marriage, no intentionally created children (I say intentionally bc she and Hepheastus accidentally created a child when his snot got onto a torn piece of her cloak, but that’s a different weird story), nothing. She solely focused on the expansion of knowledge and learning. She had no time for any sort of relationship. Making Athena in Athena Complex heavily motivated by an unrequited romantic attraction literally rips one of her main core values to shreds.

And this in my opinion one of the worst offenses, MAKING THE SUBJECT OF THAT ROMANTIC ATTRACTION POSEIDON. Literally one MAJOR thing for the original Athena and Poseidon is that they HATE each other. (Also Athena is literally Poseidon’s niece, but tbh that’s a less heinous crime bc Greek mythology was weird about that shit, multiple gods married their siblings/cousins/uncles/aunts/nieces/nephews/etc., it’s weird. Also in Athena Complex Poseidon acted the main person raising Athena, which is ALSO really fucking weird and concerning, anyway back to why they hate each other).

The Contest for Athens: Basically before the Greek city of Athens was called Athens the people were looking for a patron deity, and both Athena and Poseidon tried to lay their claim. In order to determine who the city would go to, they decided to have a contest of who could give the city the best gift. Poseidon gave the city some horses (for transportation and farmwork) and a small spring in the middle of the city (note: the water in the spring was salt water and therefore undrinkable). Athena gave them olive trees (for food, making oil, wood, etc.). The peoplr decided that Athena’s gift was better and thus named the city “Athens” after her, leaving Poseidon incredibly salty.

The Medusa Incident (TW: possible rape/non-con): So Poseidon was having a nice little affair with a mortal woman named Medusa (you notice how this name is familiar, right? that’s important). It’s a little iffy on whether or not this affair was fully consensual on Medusa’s end due to the sort of victim blame-y aspects to this story, hence the trigger warning. So Poseidon his having his fun and decides to find a nice little place they can go to do the nasty. Where does he think would be a great idea? One of Athena’s temples of course! You know, a literal place of worship dedicated to his rival who is known to dislike involvement in romantic/sexual relationships? Nothing could go wrong at all! They of course get caught, and Athena, being pissed, decides to curse Medusa with snakes for hair and the ability to turn people into stone just by looking at them (see why the name was familiar?) For good measure she also curses Medusa’s two sisters with the snake hair. The sisters are then dubbed the Gorgons and then go live in isolation on a island until they are killed by Perseus (a hero that Athena was helping).

So this Webtoon completely ignores the context behind this hatred and decides to make it into an enemies to lovers story based on unrequited feelings (the feelings of a person for their childhood caretaker too...still weird). I guess they wanted to do enemies to lovers and such based on a rivalry dynamic, but in doing so they erased most of the actual substance behind that rivalry by making it romantic and destroying the characterization of one of the main characters.

I can understand taking creative liberties, but before you do so you NEED to have a full understanding of the characters that you are adapting. If a mythological character is known for a certain practice (refraining from romance) or for having an extreme distaste for another figure (Athena hating Poseidon), INCLUDE IT. You NEED to have all of the bare bones basics before you start taking liberties.

For example, the original Athena:

Goddess of wisdom and strategy

Association with owls, olives, carries a shield known as Aegis

Highly values learning and knowledge

Prideful to a fault

Virgin goddess with no interest in romantic or sexual relationships

Extreme hatred for Poseidon as a result of repeated negative encounters

Those are the bare bones basics, after that you can do what you want.

Honestly I don’t think that this Webtoon is necessarily BAD, but it is VERY annoying when you have the context behind these characters (hence my frustration and inability to make it past 10 chapters). In my opinion, if the author wanted to write this storyline, they should have made their own OCs as opposed to butchering a pre-existing figure’s characterization.

(Also I’m so sorry I know that this isn’t relevant to my argument BUT THE POSEIDON REINCARNATION LOOKS SO BORING HE LOOKS LIKE A BACKGROUND CHARACTER WHERE IS THE FLAVOR????)

[that-damn-girl]

(3) Bucky and The Bed

Completed

Chapter 2

Bucky and The Bed Masterlist

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x (cis)fem!reader

Words: 2800+

Summery: You and Bucky are stranded in the middle of a snowy nowhere when there is an 'electronic blackout' during your mission. With no back ups or any way to contact your team, you take refuge from the worsening weather in the only cabin you find  in miles. Not to mention, with no power, Bucky has become your personal heater and there's only one bed.

Chapter type: Lovesick Bucky, cuddling, mutual pinning.

Chapter warning: A bit paranoid reader.

A/N: Tbh, I am not proud of this chapter but I wanted to get done with this part. I am not really a tech person, nor can I form proper plots with tech stuff involved. Sorry in advance for the plot holes you find. Some inspiration is taken from movies Spy Kids 2 and Charlie's Angels. 

The hours of night soon gave way for morning to creep in. Beam by beam light poured in through the large sized windows, illuminating the room in a silver glow.

In a relaxed and peaceful moment, Bucky woke up to the sight of a goddess wrapped up in his arms. Your face was pressed against his chest, one hand gripping his sweater tightly in your fist and the other thrown loosely around his waist; legs intertwined with his in comfort.

With one arm around your back, Bucky could feel your chest rise and fall with every breath; feel every exhale of yours through the thin layers he had on.

Golden rays from the fireplace and the pale brightness from the windows in the absence of direct sunlight cast a beautiful glow on your face, a mixture of different shades dancing about. 

He could feel his heart swell with adoration just looking at you. Your lips, partly open, appeared more plump since a side of your face was cutely pressed against his body. With a slight pout and closed eyes, your face conveyed a look of pure innocence which Bucky knew he couldn't get out of his head anytime soon.

Your face was angled so that your lovely lips peered at him, seemingly begging to be sucked and licked and kissed and bitten with pure red passion. As if he hadn't wanted to do exactly that.

Closing his eyes, he gave himself a moment to calm down his racing heart. He loved the feel of you engulfed in his arms, filling a void he'd become familiar with since too long. Hard yet soft, pressed against him in the sweetest of manners  due to a girdle of trust and confidence which surrounded your friendship, keeping it tight.

Silencing his wants, he leaned down and kissed the top of your head hard and lovingly, as if convincing you that he would not act on his wanton desires and loose a friend he cherished immensely in greed for more.

You slowly stirred against him. He stilled, worried that he woke you up, but after giving out a breathy exhale you resumed your position, burying your face even further and an arm tightening around his waist. Your otherwise calm posture would have fooled him, but the secretive smile tugging at your lips gave you away. Bucky thought that his kiss wouldn't have been noticed, but the small peck to his chest, right above his heart by your lips proved him wrong.

Gracing your face with a smile which took his breath away every damn time, you said, "I could get used to this."

You had been in that state rocking between the dream world and the real word for quite some time. Loving every cursory second of it, you didn't want to wake up and get out of the cocoon of Bucky and the blankets. While you were savouring the moment, you felt softness touch your head, realising what Bucky had done. Your heart thumped hard. You couldn't have stopped from reciprocating the affection even if you wanted.

Bucky felt his heart swell once again, swearing it would fly out of his rib cage at any moment.

"Yeah?" Bucky asked tentatively. A smile formed at the corner of his lips.

"Mhmm," You started, cuddling closer to him, fastening your hold on him, "You're so warm."

"You're making me cold." You whipped your head at him, worrying you'd overstepped the borders. But one look at the mischievous look in his eyes and a sly smirk on his luscious lips told you otherwise.

"Hey," You lightly hit his arm, making him rumble with laughter.

You looked at his beautiful face, eyes crinkled and teeth bared in mirthful laughter. It was good to know that he felt light enough to crack jokes. God, you thought, if the cold wouldn't kill me, his smile definitely would.

"No, but seriously," you propped yourself up on one elbow, the other still over his waist, "Are you cold because of me?" You sounded as serious as you looked.

His general body temperature was higher than yours. After giving it a thought, it only made sense to you. You'd made him cold if he'd made you warm.

He scrunched his nose, baffled as to why you would think that, "What? No! Don't be silly."

"Okay then," You said, snuggling back with him, "Don't come complaining to me later."

Why would I? He thought. He'd promised himself that he'd run to the ends of the world if it meant keeping you warm and comfortable. With a dreamy smile on his lips, he said, "Wouldn't dream of it."

You closed your eyes, relaxing further into him, "Good, cause now you're officially my cuddle pillow."

He barked out another laugh, "Cuddle pillow, huh?" He hugged you closer, "Well, cuddle pillow at your service, ma'am."

You both chuckled. He looked down at you, that post laugh smile still gracing your face. Smiling or not, he knew he could always look at you and never get enough of it, because he could never fucking get enough of you. He'd always admire those beautiful pair of eyes and those lips he couldn't stop daydreaming about-

"Hey, Bucky," You start , that smile having fallen off your face, "I've been thinking about that white thing..."

Huh?

It took Bucky a moment to understand that you had been talking about the split halves of the white octagonal box you two had found the previous day. So occupied with thoughts of you pressed against him, Bucky had forgotten that morning what had caused all of this in the first place. He felt dumb.

Clearing his throat he said, "What about it"? Pretending as if he'd been thinking about it too, because he couldn't let one of the few people whose opinions he did care about think he was dumb - especially not you.

"When it blew up, it somehow made all electronics in its range dysfunctional."

"Yeah."

"The range can't be infinite though." You paused, waiting for his confirmation; for an indication that you made sense.

"I guess."

"We already walked for like what...10 to 15 miles?"

"Kinda, yes."

You sat up, explaining animatedly with your hands, "So if we do venture out some more, maybe we can surpass the range. If we do, we could at least communicate through our comms."

Bucky sat up too, a puzzled expression in his face, "Yeah, we can try that."

"Yeah, we can!"

One look at your excited expression and he placed a hand on your shoulder. Shaking his head, Bucky said, "No, no, no, no. Not 'we'. It's gonna be just me."

"What?"

"You shouldn't go out there."

"Excuse me?!"

Bucky huffed, "Doll, we don't know what's the radius of the range. For all we know, it could be another 20 miles. You can't walk 20 miles in this weather. But I can."

You furrowed in your eyebrows. Truth be told, you knew without proper gear - which you didn't have at the moment - you wouldn't be able to survive in the bitter cold outside, let alone trek an unknown span. Bucky, on the other hand, had the serum which made him much more resistant to the cold - frankly anything else - than you. Damn it. You didn't want to admit defeat, but you had to.

Looking everywhere but at him, you tried to come up with a reason reasonable enough so that you could accompany him too. Finding none, you shrugged, "I mean - okay." Something clicked inside you all of a sudden and you grabbed his forearm, "But if you're going on your own, what if something happens to you? I wouldn't know it. I wouldn't be able to help you."

Unveiled worry reflected in your eyes. You chewed on your bottom lip. Bucky knew you cared about him, but looking at you being anxious just for him did things to his heart.

Looking deep into your eyes, he gave a shy smile, "No, doll, I'll be fine. You don't have to worry about me."

You knew Bucky facing any obstacles were highly unlikely. He'd was an ex-assassin - an expert one at that. He had amazing knife skills and was one of the greatest snipers the world had known. But he was also your friend, one you had feelings a little too deep for.

You shuffled closer to him and laid your head on his shoulder, saying in a voice softer than his heart had become, "I care about you, Bucky. I'll always worry about you."

His breath hitched. Strings tugged at his heart. Bucky didn't know why he was so surprised. He guessed it was because he wasn't used  to people outwardly showing concern for him. He didn't want to dwell on it though. Despite having known it already, it felt good hearing you voice it out loud.

He laid his head on top of your and started petting your hair. Hiding his smile, he said, "It's gonna be fine, doll. I'm gonna be fine."

As Bucky jogged through layers upon layers of snow, he could only see white sheets for as far as his vision allowed. The dark green, lushy, conical tress were the only living things by definition in sight - that too covered under silver thaw.

He could hear the crunch of ice crystals under his boots and the chilly hurried winds rush by his ear, biting mercilessly at his exposed cheeks and nose.

The air was crisp as he breathed; so sharp and freezing he felt his lungs were being punctured. Though he didn't have any trouble breathing, he didn't like the feeling one bit. He swore he could taste the difference in the air between there and New York.

The thickness of clouds prevented sunrays from falling on skin - or anywhere in sight. His surroundings were as gloomy as the sky above. The only thing which kept his heart light was the still lingering feel of your lips on his skin.

As Bucky prepared to leave, you couldn't help but fret over him. Double checking if he had his weapons on hand, though he doubted he need them, you said one could never be too cautious. You made sure he had his comm on and insisted he put on more layers than just one heavy jacket over a sweatshirt. He assured you that all the jogging that he'd do would make him warm enough to not need anymore layering.

In your anxiousness you expressed your concern over the littlest of details. In his opinion, they were unnecessary. He only needed to be careful about not losing his path and not push past his limit. He had to appreciate your presence of mind though, but that did not mean he could let you work yourself into a panic attack.

In your defence, you were worried!

How Bucky wished he could take a hold of you in a sudden moment and kiss you senseless to stop your rambling like he had seen in all those movies. He could almost picture it happening in front of him. Nevermind the fact that he knew while in the movies the couple would somehow confess their love for each other, in the reality version you would push him away and things would be awkward and your friendship would be strained. And he couldn't let that happen.

Only if he'd known how wrong he was.

Instead, Bucky chose to grab your shoulders in a sudden moment to stop your rambling, letting you calm down against him, "Doll, you worry too much."

You huffed, "Bucky..."

"I know, Y/N, but trust me, I am going to be safe. Everything's going to be alright." He assured you yet again.

When he was about to leave through the main door, you shouted, "Bucky!"

As soon as he turned around, he saw you running to him and hugging him tight, the sheer force of your body colliding into his throwing him off his feet for a second. He soon got a grip on himself and hugged you back.

You were aware you might have been over-reacting. You might have been paranoid too. But you the thought of Bucky out in the open all by himself, unsafe while you were not didn't sit well with you. He was a grown man and capable enough on his own, yet feelings or not, he was a very close friend.

For a moment Bucky thought you were on a mission to bruise his ribs when you said, "Just take care of yourself, Bucky." and put a soft lingering kiss to his cheeks.

Bucky could still feel softness of your lips on his skin. He didn't want to be out here in the cold when he could have been snuggling with you. But he had to.

He kept running for miles and miles and his body didn't even feel relatively tired. A little out of breath, yes, but not tired. He willed himself to not loose his patience and keep going on further when he heard some static in his ear. He stopped abruptly.

Pressing the communication device to his ear, he said, "Hello?" He only heard the constant buzz of static and nothing more.

Going forward a few steps, he repeated himself. A voice broke through the static, "Agent Y/N? Sergeant Barnes?" It seemed to be FRIDAY's.

Bucky couldn't believe it. Your idea had worked and he had surpassed the range!

Bucky called out with a relieved face, "Sergeant Barnes reporting. Does anybody copy?"

"Bucky!" A shriek tore out through his earpiece, disturbing his sensitive eardrums. Though extremely high pitched, he knew whose it was.

"Sam?" Bucky questioned.

"Man, what the fuck has been going on with you? You guys were supposed to report in eighteen hours earlier! I had been worried sick about you two!" Sam's clearly worried voice spoke.

"Sam, we're fine. Nobody hurt but there's a little problem." Bucky licked his bottom lip, contemplating how he'd tell him your 'little' situation.

"What problem?" Sam prompted.

Well, considering the fact that they had had fought an army of aliens, Bucky thought that this shouldn't be much surprising. Bucky told the Captain about the white octagonal box, what all had happened the previous day and the idea you put forward that morning.

Bucky heard no response. Worried he'd lost connection again, he asked, "Sam, you there?"

Sam was nothing if not flabbergasted. He didn't know how to respond to the situation. Hardly had he felt relieve over his friends beings safe when this came up. According to Bucky's calculations, that pesky little things had rendered any electronic useless within forty miles of its radius.

How the fuck was he going to get his friends out of there when he couldn't even get the quinjet near to them!

"FRIDAY," Sam started, unsure what commands to give, "Do you know what he's been talking about?"

"Sergeant Barnes seems to be talking about a transmooker." The AI replied in her nonchalant voice.

"A what?" Both Bucky and Sam shot up.

"A transmooker. It can disable networking systems and any electronic component within the range of its blast by slightly altering the magnetic field." FRIDAY informed.

"But I don't feel anything on my arm." Bucky said, now more confused than ever.

"It is not strong enough to restrict or guide your movement, Sergeant Barnes, but strong enough to hamper the electricity flow in the devices you have."

"Can you do something about it, FRIDAY? Like hack it or something?" Sam asked, overwhelmed beyond belief.

"I cannot override it, Captain. To do that, I'd have to track it first. It seems to have created a GPS blackhole. Though according to my calculations, with an error percentage of twenty percent, the effects must begin wearing down in a week or so. As soon as that happens, I can undo it's effects."

"A week?" Bucky asked, followed by a confirmation by the AI.

"Think you can hold out for a week?" Sam asked.

"We got the supplies, at least. So yeah." Bucky nodded, looking out into the distance. Details were worked upon, goodbyes were said.

A week, Bucky thought. He hadn't even spent a day with you without turning into a lovesick puppy, he wondered what the week ahead would do to him.

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Chapter 4

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