#(because it would have been deeply hilarious for the bros to find out)

[thevioletcaptain]

the thing about the devil's trap tattoo is that the flames around the pentacle are completely unnecessary. like the flames are not a functional part of the devil's trap at all. they just added those for flair.

[eco-lite]

Finally got to read Volume 6! I didn’t think anything could top Volume 4, but this one is a very close contender for my favorite. Here are my unedited thoughts:

“Sinhalite Beckons, Part 1”

* An extra case first??? Okay then.

* Who is this female version of Seigi? This is hilarious, they’re way too similar!

* Very curious where in the timeline this story takes place…

“The Wandering Conch Pearl”

* WAIT WTF?? That was Seigi’s dream? Did he dream of himself as a woman interacting with Richard in Sri Lanka??????

* Not the milkman omgggg.

* Oooh Richard’s assistant in Hong Kong. That’s probably the sleezy guy he was talking about in the last story. Can Seigi see into other peoples’ pasts now? Didn’t know there was going to be a supernatural element lol.

* “I couldn’t decide if I should serve tea or not, so my brain cells had a meeting and came to the unanimous conclusion not to” (34). I love Seigi so much. 😂

* “I couldn’t stop smiling. Richard thanked me. He said he thought I was dependable. His smile was beautiful enough to start, but boy, a direct hit from his charm sure packed a punch. I was glad he’s withdrawn to the back room, because I was pretty sure my face wasn’t going to go back to normal for a while” (42). Oh, honey… 😌

* Wow, I did not think I would be learning so much about post-WWII politics between Japan and the Dominican Republic from this series, but here we are.

* This conversation between Richard and Seigi from page 62-67 is all over the place. Richard shutting Seigi down when he invites Richard over, but obviously still wanting to let Seigi in. And he ends up asking Seigi to dinner even though he just made the argument that Seigi should go home and go to bed early. And then he gets frustrated that Seigi is being so amenable to going out to dinner with him?? Bro, get your emotions together! You of all people should know that Seigi is not a mind reader. Let him know how you feel, for fuck’s sake!

* “To me, Richard’s beauty was like Mount Fuji at sunrise or the windswept sand dunes in a desert. Anyone else’s beauty was…very human. When I looked at Richard, I felt a mysterious calm, like if I were looking at a lake or the sky or the sea. Normal human features weren’t even in the same category. But if I said any of that out loud, I was pretty sure I’d offend literally everyone” (67). Yes, would would offend literally everyone. You’re learning, Seigi!

* “To have someone look upon the grain of truth hidden within the most tender part of yourself, and tell you their unvarnished opinion of it—I thought that would, without question, be cause for joy” (69). Okay well then you better tell Richard how you feel about having to leave Étranger in the next story, Seigi! Expose that grain of truth!!

“Resplendent Spinel”

* Seigi is really too nice. Filling in for someone in a club where you don’t know any of the other members? Could never be me.

* Ayame describing the “insincere drivel” her boyfriend spouts at her and Seigi’s reaction is “I felt like I was about to go into cardiac arrest” (93). 😅 Is he finally gaining some self-awareness about how ostentatious his compliments of Richard are?

* Ayame: “‘And if you think that a compliment can’t cut as deeply as an insult, you’re terribly naive’” (93). Seigi: “I felt like I’d been sent flying by a body blow” (94). Seigi is really going through it…

* “‘But you are different. Your words are different. When your words brush my face, it’s like a playful wind. With your absurd vocabulary, you are expressly telling me that my appearance brings you joy. It does feel a bit peculiar at times, but perhaps I find that peculiarity oddly endearing, Seigi.’ And then he smiled. I was struck dumb for a while” (96). Holy shit… 😳

* “‘I have a hard time understanding the nature of your love for me. It’s be a great help if you could give me a rundown, as if you were briefing me for a job’” (101). I wish Richard would ask Seigi to do this. But I think Seigi needs to complete his “self assessment” first. He doesn’t even understand the nature of his own love for Richard.

* Wow, Itagaki is actually pretty mature. Good for him.

* “‘Well, I just want you to know there has been a lot of diversity in body type in the industry lately, and I would love you even if you put on a hundred kilos, so don’t overdo it’” (110). It’s really nice to see a male character so adamant that his girlfriend shouldn’t have to worry about losing weight, especially since she’s in the entertainment industry. I hope we see even more diverse body types in Japanese entertainment in the future.

* I hope we get to see this “long talk” they’re going to have in the next story.

“Paraíba Tourmaline Romance”

* Omg Tanimoto is back! And she’s finally meeting Richard!! The two of them ganging up on Seigi is so funny.

* “Once again, it was Seigi Nakata versus the allied forces of Richard and Tanimoto. Honestly, I was probably the happiest if ever been in my life, but I was also just as embarrassed” (135). This is so cute.

* “‘I agree that romance might just be a stone I don’t know yet, but it feels so removed from me—like that planet made from diamonds orbiting a distant star. Maybe I just don’t have the courage for interstellar travel’” (153). This is so ace. I’m so so glad Tanimoto decided to be true to herself and not force herself into a romantic relationship she didn’t actually want. Sometimes you don’t need to experiment. You just know yourself. I’m so proud of her!

* Wow, I really teared up seeing Richard talk about queerness and fluctuations in identity so directly. I’m so happy Tsujimura had the courage to include frank conversations about queer issues. Richard’s perspective here truly is “like a spring breeze rushing through a window that no one remembered opening” (153).

* “‘What really matters is that you never forget that while you possess the potential to change, your present self continues to become your future self… I know it’s hard to decide what choice will be best for you, if I were in your position, I would not think forcing myself into a romantic relationship would be that choice… While dying on your feet is all well and good, one wrong step might make it nothing g more than foolhardy and reckless. And perhaps in the same way, a strategic retreat isn’t running away so much as it is a change of course’” (157). Ace ally Richard is so important to me. This is why he’s my comfort character.

* “‘When Seigi told me about this place, I thought it was a shop run by a foreign man who would show his customers wonderful gemstones. I see it’s actually a shop that provides kindness and comfort to those who see themselves as Étranger’” (158). fUCK.

* I’m so glad Seigi apologized for what he said to Tanimoto at the museum. I know it’s hard for him to let go of the fact that Tanimoto doesn’t feel romantic love since he has a crush on her, but I think he’s more understanding of her feelings now, thanks to the conversation with Richard.

* Omg Seigi and Tanimoto having a mature conversation about why they wouldn’t work out romantically. So nice to see. I think Tanimoto still kind of misunderstood why Seigi wanted to ask her out before, but that’s very on brand for her lol.

* “‘I feel like having you around has made me a better person than I was before’” (173). Richard!!! ����💘💘

* Tanimoto defending Seigi and telling Richard to never hurt him again! I love her so much!

* I love this story so much! It was great to learn more about Tanimoto’s past and see her finally interact with Richard, who was just so thoughtful here. I can’t believe he felt bad for telling her not to worry about romantic love because he thought it might hurt Seigi. That’s sweet, but I’m glad he was true to himself and what Tanimoto needed to hear in that moment. And Seigi got just a bit more mature, too. I have such intense affection for everyone in this situation. But not Seigi’s father coming to ruin the vibes at the end. 🤬🤬🤬

“The Tanzanite of Rebirth”

* Seigi’s father is such a disgusting manipulator. I always say I want to learn more about Seigi, but learning how awful this man was to him and Hiromi, and how dark Seigi’s thoughts were at that time… How dark they are now… It’s really distressing.

* The fucking tonal shift from this melancholy last dinner together to Jeffrey showing up in the hotel room is so funny. For real though, what did Seigi think would happen when he followed Richard to his room?? 👀 But it’s really concerning that Seigi felt he had no choice but to follow Richard to his room. Obviously that’s Seigi’s extremely negative headspace talking, but please have some self-respect!

* “‘Maybe you’ve forgotten, but I spent a long time stalking you within the realm of what’s legal, of course. Obviously, I’ve repented of my actions—please, God, forgive me for my trespasses. And since I’ve repented, I hope you’ll forgive me for reoffending. It’s plain for anyone to see that something’s been eating at you’” (228). JEFFREY. It’s kind of sweet that Jeffrey has been keeping an eye on Seigi, but did he have to get this intense about it? This kidnapping situation is so chaotic lol. That is his style, though.

* “‘Why do you treat me like some rock on the side of the road? What do you think I am? A doll that’s not good for anything but being on display? I’ve been on this Earth longer than you have. I possess more knowledge than you, and I have enough free time to be able to afford to spend some on you. And yet you had the audacity to try to abandon me and walk off into the darkness. It’s beyond asinine and irrational’” (230). YOU TELL HIM, RICHARD! (Not to even mention Richard told Seigi he loves him just before this rant.) But I feel like Seigi could have said this exact speech when Richard ran away to England before. They both feel that the other should rely on them more, but wouldn’t want to be a burden. After the England debacle, Richard learned that it’s okay to rely on people who love you. Now Seigi has to learn that lesson too.

* “There was a large dam inside my heart, and what it was holding back wasn’t water but sludge. And I didn’t want any of that getting on Richard. It’s the sort of thing that you let out into a drainage ditch in secret” (232-233). Oh, honey, no. First of all, Richard is a human being who loves you and can withstand hearing bad things. You’re not tainting him. He’s asking you to trust him with this. Second of all, please go to therapy…

* It’s really concerning to see how Seigi thinks of himself as having the potential for violence against people he loves. It’s really common for witnesses of domestic abuse to think that way, but it’s so clear in Seigi’s actions that he could never do that. He has such a good heart. But he’s really clouded by dark thoughts from interacting with his father. It’s not like he was thinking this when he wanted to date Tanimoto. These thoughts resurfaced very recently. Thankfully Richard has done enough self-reflection to throw his own situation in Seigi’s face to show him how ridiculous he’s being.

* “‘You don’t think of me as normal or expected. You don’t think of me as tangible, something that is always by your side. That is why I remain someone distant and unreachable to you… You never attempt to close the distance between us. And you never allow me to pay your price, the affection, you are worth’” (243-244). Wow. This reflective Richard is extremely powerful…

* “The moment I realized that he had been watching over me and accepting me for who I was on a much deeper level than I could even have imagined, I felt like I’d been tossed into the middle of the ocean—it was salty, and I struggled to breathe. I was such a loser, such a thoughtless person, a timid child crying in the dark with his knees held tightly to his chest, and yet it felt like he took it all in and said that it was fine. But it wasn’t just a feeling, he believed in me, more than I could ever believe” (247-248). Yes, Seigi, that’s what you do when you love someone. You did the same for him.

* Omg punk Jeffrey?! I wish I could see all those photos Richard keeps as blackmail. 😂

* I’m glad Richard brought up “what floor?” Seriously, Seigi not feeling able to reject him was scary. For both of them, I think.

* Seigi’s stepdad is an absolute legend! King of positive masculinity! “‘I don’t think being strong or not has anything to do with whether you’re okay’” (272). Fuck yes. Hiromi did so well marrying this man.

* “‘I don’t want an apology, I want you to reflect on your behavior. I imagine you understand this by now, but your number-one assignment at the moment is learning to value yourself more’” (274). The fact Richard is able to say this to Seigi is a reflection of his own growth as well. I’m so glad they’re in each other’s lives. They make each other better. 🥹

* Seigi trying to tell Richard he wants to keep being around him even if he doesn’t work at Étranger anymore but it keeps coming out likes he’s proposing or asking him on a date. I think his first statement was the truest to how he feels: ‘“I want to be by your side from now on, if you’ll let me’” (280). I think Richard was ready to accept that as a proposal until Seigi made a bunch of qualifying statements lol.

* Wow, this story means so much to me. Everything that came out of Richard’s mouth was something both Seigi and I (and so many other people, I’m sure) needed to hear. Their relationship got so much deeper. And I can’t wait to see what shenanigans Seigi gets up to in this hotel lol. Especially if Richard is staying there as well. Very excited for the next volume. This one had better come out on time! 😤

“Sinhalite Beckons, Part 2”

* OKAY this is wild! I swear to god the person on the motorcycle in part 1 is Richard, but it seems to be Seigi now???? And he and Richard seem to live together in this nice house in Sri Lanka???????

* Omg she’s the sister of the airport lady from “Flourite By Your Side!” 😲 Glad she’s feeling better!

* Okay so it’s been three years? And there are pictures of the shop in Ginza and their families on the coffee table?? This is so fucking domestic. Is this their future???

* It’s refreshing to see someone call Seigi attractive for once! RIP Keiko’s love life though lol.

* “‘But you know, you really surprised me. You speak textbook-perfect English, but your Japanese sounds like someone from a local convenience store.’ I told him I thought is was a very interesting gap, and he smiled bashfully. ‘He always tells me that—“At this point, the language you might be the least eloquent in might be Japanese.” It is the one language he didn’t teach me, after all’” (301). This is so funny. And it’s making more sense why I thought Seigi was actually Richard in the first part. I can’t believe Seigi speaks English with a British accent! 😂

* Lol once again somebody’s first assumption is that Seigi and Richard are a couple, and it’s still not hard to see why. Love that Keiko immediately asked Seigi out after learning they’re not together, though. You go, girl! But Seigi’s heart belongs to someone else, huh? For real, please tell me he knows it’s Richard at this point!

* I find it so interesting that Tsujimura decided to show us this glimpse of Seigi and Richard’s future. What was the purpose?? It’s a fun and cute story, but not very satisfying if you’re routing for them to get together. And it weirdly feels like an ending even though I know there are at least two more volumes after this…

“Afterward”

* This isn’t a story but I need to record my reaction to the sentence “the first part of the story has now come to a close with Volume 6—though there is still more to tell.” 😲😲😲 Okay, I didn’t realize this story was in parts! Maybe “Sinhalite Beckons” is a way to transition into this new future chapter of Seigi and Richard’s life. 🤔

* Tsujimura actually knows a jeweler who taught them how to make royal milk tea lol. That’s adorable. They do say to write why you know.

* “It would make me very happy if you would keep me company on their journey for a little while.” Tsujimura, I am with you for the long haul. 🫡 Let’s do this!

[aceonn]

SO SO SO

My two hyperfixations right now are Ensemble Stars and Project Sekai, so of course I had to think about what enstars and pjsekai characters I would want to see interact. And of course I made a list that has been sitting in my Notes app for God knows how long…

Units I want to see interact:

WonderlandsxShowtime and RYUSEITAI: There has been FANART of this for Gods sake (here and here) BECAUSE THEY ARE LITERALLY EACH OTHERS COUNTERPARTS. Like they’ve got the confident leader, the hyperactive group member(s), That One Guy, and the only semi-normal ones! I want to see Emu, Tetora, and Sengoku practicing poses together, Rui studying Kanata like a lab specimen, and Nene and Midori looking at each other, exhausted, saying “you too?” “sigh…yeah…”

Vivid Bad Squad and Knights: MY TWO FAVORITE UNITS INTERACTING!! YAY!! EVERYONE CHEERS!!! Akito would be even more exhausted now that he has more idiots to take care of…He would fucking HATE Leo…and I CRAVE Kohane and Suou interactions. I think Ritsu would probably use Toya as a lap pillow, he’d probably like the fact Toya would be too scared to move. Also I want to see An gay panicking over Arashi. I will accept no substitutes.

More More Jump and Ra*bits: EEK EEK EEK!! This would be so adorable like I just realized how similar Nazuna and Airi are…like they’re both energetic and responsible tsundere types (also did you know tsundere autocorrects to reindeer??) and Tomoya and Minori would be so precious…Shizuku would LOVE the Ra*bits members, she’d probably have so much fun playing with them. It would just be the cutest most wholesome group interactions ever.

Leo/Need and Trickstar: THEY ARE LITERALLY EACH OTHERS COUNTERPARTS OH MY GOD

Characters I want to see interact:

Hiyori Tomoe (Eden) and Mizuki Akiyama (Nightcord At 25:00): None of you understand how deeply I CRAVE this. I would commit FELONIES for this. I would murder someone or give someone toe curling backshots for JUST ONE HIYOMIZU INTERACTION. I want to see these two girlbosses girlboss together. They’re both mischievous transgender (With Hiyori it’s just a headcanon for Mizuki it’s practically confirmed) gremlins who love shopping and tormenting their two loyal servants (Ena and Jun) who they are most definitely in love with. (And Ena and Jun are probably trans too tbh) I want them to shop and try on clothes together. THAT IS ALL PLEASE

Rinne Amagi (Crazy:B) and Akito Shinonome (Vivid Bad Squad): YAY REDHEAD TO REDHEAD COMMUNICATION!!! I feel like Rinne would see through Akito’s “good boy” persona IMMEDIATELY and would be having the time of his life teasing Akito and trying to make him drop the persona. Akito would probably either try to keep up the persona to the end out of spite or drop it immediately to yell at Rinne. Either way it would be hilarious and a repeat of the AkiMizu interactions.

Sena Izumi (Knights) and Ena Shinonome (Nightcord At 25:00): Bro…they are literally gender bent versions of each other…Like come on. Two tsunderes who are hell bent on looking good at all times, are crushing on transgender gremlins (Leo and Mizuki) and are extremely fixated on social media and makeup?? Like yes please?? I want them to shop for makeup together, shit talk everyone, Ena force Izumi to take her social media pictures for her, and see them share skincare routines. I am BEGGING for this I DON’T CARE WHOSE DICK I HAVE TO SUCK PLEASE

Natsume Sakasaki (Switch) and Rui Kamishiro (WonderlandsxShowtime): I mean…I don’t think I have to explain this one…

Arashi Narukami (Knights) and Shizuku Hinomori (More More Jump): I would KILL for these two to model together and try on cute outfits. Arashi would get extremely worn out by having to watch over Shizuku 24/7 but would find her too precious to leave alone and honestly same. I imagine it to be a lot like when Mafuyu and Honami had to babysit Shizuku during the 2024 April Fools event. And to top it off, them as a duo would give everyone gay (and straight) panic. An would spontaneously combust with just one look.

Subaru Akehoshi (Trickstar) and Saki Tenma (Leo/Need): Honestly Trickstar and Leo/Need have so much in common! Their uniforms both suck!! (/j but not really) Subaru and Saki are both the energetic golden retrievers of the group, and I would LOVE to see them both interact, especially with characters like Shio and Midori. Just little wholesome bundles of sunshine!

Kaoru Hakaze (UNDEAD) and Mafuyu Asahina (Nightcord At 25:00): I’m just imagining Kaoru flirting with her (DW MAFUYU IS CANONICALLY 17/18 SO IN THIS AU SHES 18) and Mafuyu being completely unaffected by it…Kaoru would probably know something was up with her and be freaked out, similar to Emu, but would keep on regardless

Midori Takamine (RYUSEITAI) and Nene Kusanagi (WonderlandsxShowtime): Part 3 of They Are Literally Each Other! They are both the only normal members of their groups with crushes on their group leaders (POLYSHOW AND MIDOCHIA FOR THE WIN!!) and are both cynical and have a love for mascots! Him and Nene would go to the arcade together and absolutely EMPTY the crane machines. They would also play video games together and he would probably just backseat her lol

Kuro Kiryu (AKATSUKI) and Kohane Azusawa (Vivid Bad Squad): Like imagine how wholesome this would be. Kohane would probably be intimidated by Kuro at first, but she would warm up to him pretty quick. Kuro, on the other hand, would probably think she’s adorable and precious and treat her kinda like a small animal. THEY WOULD BE THE ONLY DUO EVER and honestly would work as a ship…Think about it…

HiMERU (Crazy:B) and Emu Otori (WonderlandsxShowtime): OK OK HEAR ME OUT Emu would probably be like a toned down, less assholey Rinne in the sense she would wear HiMERU down to no end but he would kinda subconsciously take care of her, like an older brother with a hyperactive little sister!

Mika Kagehira (Valkyrie) and Minori Hanasato (More More Jump): OH MY GOD TWO SILLIES WITH AUTISM AND EXTREMELY VISIBLE CRUSHES!! OH MY GOD!!

Leo Tsukinaga (Knights) and Kanade Yoisaki (Nightcord at 25:00): Two mentally ill composers with savior complexes meet…what could go wrong…They would probably like each other and compose songs together, and I think Leo would try to force Kanade to go outside and she would try to reject him in the nicest way possible but would just go along with it in the end…And then she would pass out and Leo would dump cold water on her or something (because he’s STUPID and I love him)

[where-the-water-flows]

character asks—hit me up with your hottest jiao liqiao takes

JIAO LIQIAO my best beloved nightmare failgirlboss. she cannot malewife for very long but by god can she manipulate and murder.

favorite thing about them honestly I love that she has a goal and she fucking goes for it, zero hesitation. is it a good, reasonable goal? well no. she would have been better finding someone to fixate on who was not somewhere on the utterly asexual to entirely homosexual spectrum, but y'know, can't win them all. A+ dedication, F- execution.

least favorite thing about them the laugh the laugh I know it is like, the most standard trope signifier thing but the high pitched ahHAHEHEHA laugh is always so jarring in a 'pulls me right out of the narrative' kind of way, I know it is petty but also oh my god please. please you sound like a second rate cartoon villain. please. On a more character less shallow note, bestie babygirl please stop playing with your food. it literally never works out for you, for the love of god. please learn your lesson after the eighth time it bites you in the ass. (also like on the one hand, I would love for her to not have a plot centered around how she is deeply unhinged for/about a man. but on the otherhand, like, idk, I think she's fun. terrible awful etc, but also, she's putting the fun in extremely dysfunctional <3)

favorite line look I love so much every unhinged word out of her mouth, especially the argument she has with snow master when he's like 'girl that man is gay/ace the magic incense amnesia did not make him suddenly not gay/ace he is Manipulating You' and she is like 'lalalala not listening he loves me also we both know that man can't/won't lie to save his life, also also if he is lying I'll mutilate him and keep him like a purse pet <3 but he's not lying. because he loves me.' I recognise that is not a line but like. you know what I mean.

brOTP uhhh I don't really know that she... has... bros. like I guess granny blood (rip), who is basically always full 'yes girl get your man he will def love you this time' in the manner of someone who knows that her friend is lusting after a guy who is 1)not ever going to be interested even if he wasn't 2)very gay/ace and is 3)probably mid at best in bed no matter how much her friend is like SEX GOD. like the most 'yeah girl go get your man!!!! (why that man though have you considered any other man literally there are so many other men) oh no, def the red lipstick, he'll love you in that (but why him for the love of god just buy a vibrator)' that said, I do think the wildly divergent au where li xiangyi ends up 1)aware of nanyin bloodline like. Early On 2) jinyuan alliance aligned, he and his cousin jiao liqiao would be a hilarious pair of nightmares. absolutely ends in disaster for everyone, including them and definitely including di feisheng, I have an entire stupid au vaguely plotted out about this, it is purely nonsense. compels me though.

OTP no<3 that said, like, obviously I do not want the boys to be mmmmm torture mutilated noncon wifed as the otp of my heart, but also, I think jiao liqiao deserves a harem of moderately to severely brainwashed/mutilated/etc malewives! as a treat! god forbid women do anything. I contain multitudes, the dirty joke here is left as an exercise for the reader.

nOTP shan gudao. I just. I think it would be a mess, and not even a fun one. like as an actual relationship I mean, not proxy fighting spy vs spy manipulation But With Sex kinda bullshit, that's fine and fun, but they are not romantically compatible except as a triad where the third part of it is the idea of the man they are individually personally psycho/sexually obsessed with. which I guess makes it like. a weird poly U, with two theoretical ends. weird poly u with them mostly egging each other on in their dysfunction, 100% fine, any sort of Actual Healthy Relationship, no. also, therapy. I think therapy would only make her worse, but on the off chance it did not, I don't want that for her. she's a nightmare! again, god forbid a woman do anything.

random headcanon she was literally never expected to take the throne, nor expected to be the primary way that her particular fork of the nanyin royal line passed down. which means she likely has at least one sister and probably a brother. I don't know if this is backed up or contradicted by canon, but also, she was raised knowing she was nanyin royalty (??) but also was allowed to just fuck off into the jianghu at age [mlc timeline is nonsensical]. like if that is your single heir of the bloodline you have been carefully keeping alive and aware of how they were The True Imperial Family, you are not letting said heir go out and get their ass killed playing with swords. therefore. youngest child jiao liqiao. no further questions, you know in your heart I'm right. less world logistics based, I think she absolutely can't fucking cook, but, crucially, feels that she is fucking aces at it. does she cook? irrelevant, also no obviously not, she is a lady of rank, we have servants for that. but, crucially, she feels in her heart that she is a great cook. not that she cares about it. but again, she is great at it. this is never challenged because 1)di feisheng, the one person I can see her lowering herself to actually cook for, does not pay attention to the taste of food unless he has amnesia, and thus he's certainly not going to be like 'you suck at cooking, ew'. 2) if you are not di feisheng are you going to challenge fucking saintess on her bad cooking? no! she will stab you in the eyeball with a chopstick.

unpopular opinion honestly I don't know that I have that many unpopular opinions on her. other than that she's fun. a nightmare and like, deeply uncomfortable as a character with how incredibly rapey she is, obviously. but fun! she is a problematic queen. terrible woman who really sort of stands out as one of the few of the main cast who uh...doesn't really seem to have any reason behind the terribad decisions she makes other than there is something Wrong With Her, but again, god forbid, etc.

song i associate with them Girlfriend, by Avril Lavigne; the early 2000s angry brat pop is just. so on brand. see also, so much for my happy ending. (also, this has given me the image of idea of early 2000s scene kids jinyuan alliance, which is the funniest fucking thing in the world to me. I don't know what sigu sect would be, but it's just so fucking funny.)

favorite picture of them quick and nasty screencap bc this response has already taken me two days, but like. the whole turn on li lianhua when he's in chains and she's like 'oh you're dangerous to talk to', I just. I feel so abnormal about it. she is so hot and scary.

[thegeminisage]

STAR TREK UPDATE TIME! once again, i am behind. four-episode update 💀monday we watched ds9's "visionary" and voy's "emanations," and last night we caught voy's "prime factors" and "state of flux" which was a banger of a fucking evening tbqh.

visionary (ds9):

HEADLINE: ONCE AGAIN, O'BRIEN SUFFERS! he's become so dear to me that i get really distressed when this happens, but also a little excited, because his reputation for suffering is like the only thing i knew about him even when he was just an extra in the tng pilot, and i like knowing what's up

actually, he did a lot of swooning this episode, which was really fun. very damsel of him.

side bar kira gets so quiet when they're dealing with people she doesn't like. it's almost like sisko told her "fi you can't say something nice don't say anything at all" and so she shuts it to avoid undermining him (whom she likes and respects) in front of people like romulans or cardassians, whomst noses she would be happy to break.

i DO like that she got to get mad later, though. ESPECIALLY mad when they insinuated that odo had feelings for her. odo agreeing that this was absolutely ridiculous totally made my night. liar liar <3

back to the a-plot, obrien and julian having moved onto darts after wringing every last bit of joy out of racketball that they possibly could...this is so funny. julian is literally going through his wifeless year right there with him. he is such a good bro

which made it so distressing when obrien saw him in the future and was like BRO HOW COULD YOU LET ME DIE

julian's response of "i did everything i could to keep you alive for an hour" was very casual but i can just imagine him sweating bullets, deeply distressed. i'm sure it was a very long hour for him. i wish they had played it with a little more gravitas!

obrien seeing his own dead body TWICE was creepy. what's more horrific, OUR obrien basically kind of died. like, future obrien is a slightly different version of him. the obrien we've known since tng is dead and he never got to say goodbye to his family. like green shirt and black shirt john. i think i spent fifteen minutes of the next episode (which was about death, hilariously) going "OBRIEN JUST DIED? HE JUST DIED??" he even said he felt like it wasn't his life...........

monday was literally existential dread night. we brought up the mood after this with...

emanations (voy):

this episode was a pretty thoughtful look at te nature of death and what happens if you fuck up a culture whose belief in the afterlife is unshakable by shaking it up. that said, absolutely none of this is up my alley. GOOD for harry kim though. or um bad for him depending where you fall on that

i liked chakotay's story at the beginning about accidentally desecrating someone's grave. i was afraid they were having him be ultracautious about the dead bodies because they were being racist like oh he's aware because native americans are so Spiritual but he literally just picked up a rock once and felt bad about it. could happen to anyone. bullet tentatively dodged.

i have been referring to harry kim as chekov with brain cells but i think in this episode he lost the brain cell for a little while. he very much violated the prime directive with every word. dude, don't tell them you came from the asteroid with the dead bodies!

that said, i am no less fond of him - it was very compassionate to offer that guy a way out and VERY brave to get back into the death pod wearing the death shroud

it is crazy also that this place was in a whole other fucking dimension. this could easily have been a planet.

janeway & co waking that alien lady up and her finding out the afterlife is not real and that she still has to die anyway was really horrible and fucked up. like, they didn't even need to do that to get harry back. he got it on his own. they just tortured her for nothing <3

janeway at the end like i wanna give you time to reflect on what happened harry kim :) and harry kim is like yeah i should do that :) and theyre like yeah the afterlife might be real after all bc of the energy around this planet :) not my ass. there's not even a therapist on board. i would be back to work as QUICK as possible. who wants to reflect on getting into the death pod!!!

prime factors (voy):

HOLY SHIT.

here is the thing. if you let it, this episode will FUCKING take you places

wait wait let me go back and remark on some little details before i get into it. firstly, tom paris needs to stop trying to get harry laid. he'll cheat on his gf if and when hes ready and considering the extenuating circumstances we can't get mad at him bc for all he knows his gf thinks hes dead and has begin moving on too

also, smart of them to bring seska in for this episode when next episode she. you know. bc she's had such small parts so far that otherwise i'd be wondering who tf this even is. and she is HERE to cause problems on purpose! she's such a bad fucking influence i was absolutely aghast. more on this in the next episode but it's a wonderful way to show the maquis guys, who, lest we forget, FUCKING HATE STARFLEET, didn't all automatically hop on the starfleet bandwagon just because they're all stuck out here together.

i think janeway could have pulled a captain kirk in this episode ie fucked and sucked her way to victory. i mean, i'm glad she didn't have to bc that guy was SO skeezy, but she COULD have and it wouldn't have felt the way deanna's victimization in tng felt, it would have felt like kirk's close encounters in tos.

harry kim discovering the transport technology by accident when he's about to finally cheat onm his gf with some hot alien lady...poor harry. he has the worst luck recently.

and of course now we get to the big thing. the tech. the Big ethical dilemma. i LOVE that they quoted the prime directive here - like yes, of course it sucks for the aliens! it's also true what harry said that it still does more good than harm, but there has to be nuance involved...i still think it's stupid to let an entire culture die rather than save them, etc

you know, and i was sitting there like. falling out with this episode, is the thing. i was sitting there going jesus christ why is everyone being so STUPID why are they disobeying orders why aren't they thinking straight. especially after the huge plot twist of tuvok being the one willing to take one for the team, so to speak, and do the illegal dealings so he could save janeway's morality (WHICH: HELLO??? WHY DO THAT IF NOT FOR THAT FORBIDDEN EMOTION: FRIENDSHIP). like just wait to test the damn thing! tuvok is on his way to janeway RIGHT NOW!

but they're desperate. they're desperate and scared shitless and of COURSE it is making them stupid. they almost KILLED EVERYONE because they weren't being smart because THEY WANTED TO GO HOME. like, the scene in janeway's office at the end totally saved all of this for me. you can see on b'elanna's face so clearly she is facing her sins in the cold light of day and having the SAME THOUGHT PROCSS which is "how could i have possibly been so FUCKING stupid"

oh my god. i rewatched it twice. JANEWAY. did we know kate mulgrew could ACT? she was so emotional but still holding it together because SHE IS THE CAPTAIN. her whispered "dismissed" at b'elanna after she GAVE B'ELANNA A CHANCE. i would have sunk right through the floor. and her speech to tuvok!!! "you can use logic to justify anything that is its power and its flaw" LIKE HOLY SHIT GIRL. SAY IT, OUT LOUD!

sorry ik hes married but i also know hes gotta do pon farr eventually he and janeway could get it. like they could literally get it just as buds like one time. "we have forged this relationship over years and i depend on it" SHE LITERALLY DOES DEPEND ON IT! like, that was easily, EASILY the finest acting we have seen in this series so far. that scene CRACKLED. it was incredible. it took an episode i was losing faith in and flipped it around to one of my favorites. 10/10

state of flux (voy):

this one wasn't as good as the previous one but it was still pretty fucking good.

the mystery was really entertaining in this one and kept me guessing until the end. i kept going "no it's too EASY if it's seska" and then seska would trick me and everyone else into thinking she had plausible reasons for x suspicious fact and i would go SEE she's just complex! but she got me. and in hindsight it's SO obvious, and especially compared to lt carey who was a dick at first but fell in line and is working on his redemption arc or whatever. it wouldn't make sense narratively to send him back

chakotay refusing to take even ONE MORE BITE of that soup he wanted so bad after he realized seska essentially stole it. punishing himself ALONG WITH everyone else for the infraction. seska is such a good way to illustrate the tensions between starfleet and the maquis, even out here, and chakotay is in SUCH a rough position, having to both protect his own people AND keep them in line AND protect them BY keeping them in line. he and janeway both want the crew to be completely integrated but it's just not that easyyyy i love the complexity of it all

i feel like i recognized the filming locations in this one...yeah, all caves look alike but it looks so much like that valley outside the holo-city from ds9 and the save reminded me of that tng ep where picard and crusher got mind-linked

janeway was a sucker to let those kazon get that close. like of COURSE they kill the guy after the entire ship bled to save his life. but she's a well-meaning sucker. classic starfleet move

i also love chakotay's little crisis at the end. like, bro, am i that easy to trick? he is trying so hard and everything continues to fall apart around him!!! he hates cardassians and he was fucking one! dude is living in a nightmare scenario.

i hope we see seska again - they wrote her out when she just now got interesting. problems on purpose.

crack headcanon for a second there was maybe she was that woman they thought kira was in that one cardassian kira episode. that would have been way more interesting than her being cardassian on purpose, actually

TONIGHT: ds9's "distant voices" and "through the looking glass."

[alexanderflowerbird]

Some thoughts about my ex cuz at this point I just do not care lol

So, I checked the hateraid playlist again cuz why wouldn’t I, and new Halsey songs have been added. On one hand, my ex LOVES Halsey, so I can see that her particular brand of romantic tragedy might hold its appeal, but lyrically speaking none of this makes any sense. You’d think we had this tumultuous, ups and downs, fighting screaming throwing up sort of relationship, the sort of love that is so intoxicating even if it’s toxic when like… we were very domestic, barely fought over the five years we were together, the biggest blow up outside of the fight before the break up was a result of them violating my boundaries and prioritizing the comfort of another partner over my sexual safety, so like… what do you mean Easier than Lying by Halsey bro??? What do you mean You Should Be Sad my guy???

The hilarious and confusing thing about this level of pissed off crying to my mixtape from them to me is that like… they have no idea why I ended things. They don’t know and neither does my other ex, because they’ve both been too cowardly to do what they know I expect if they want communication and likely? They don’t want to know my side of things because if there’s been a theme across the mess that has been the destruction of my polycule, it’s that these two would literally rather die than be wrong or feel like they did something harmful. I’ve always had a policy as far as how I handle people who fuck with me. The worse it is, the braver you have to be to communicate with me. If you hurt me enough, you lose the right to text me and have a conversation where you get to curate your responses and delay. You have to call me. If it’s worse than that, you have to show up and meet me and look me in my face. My exes are at that level not because they were the worst partners ever to exist and it was so toxic the whole time and bla bla bla. We’re at that point because they tried to unhouse me. Because in the end, they tried to manipulate our friends into believing I was having a psychotic break, that I was dangerous to their pets and our household, that I was becoming malicious and dangerous.

We are at the point where we don’t speak and no closure can be had because it would appear to me that they agreed together this was the best course of action, and true to my ex’s behavior in many other conflicts, they sent someone else to do their dirty work while they silently reaped the benefits. They seem to think that I used them, that I selfishly moved out and planned to abandon them, that I was awful and secretly evil the whole time when like… the last fight we had, I was actively on my knees begging them to listen to me and they wouldn’t. They screamed at me for the first time in five years because I asked them a clarifying question. They expressed that they literally could not work things out with me without a counselor present because they were so overwhelmed by having to deal with this head on. How were we gonna fix these things under the same roof? I moved out because I was being emotionally abused by both of my partners, and I knew that it would only get worse if I stayed in that apartment. But I thought I’d known them both well enough that if I moved out, and we did couples counseling and we went back to the dating phase, seeing each other on weekends, having hard talks and going to our own safe spaces, we’d find our way back to normal.

They’re over there biting their knuckle and hating my guts to ‘I hope ur miserable til ur dead’ like I put a cannonball through their life when I was doing the only thing I could do to save our relationship, and ended it because having two partners who would conspire to put me on the street during the summer time because I hurt their feelings was untenable. I got told I needed to leave because I ‘maliciously’ deleted a playlist I didn’t delete, and this perceived action was attributed to the entirety of my person. I got framed as some how deeply malicious and pitifully mentally unstable and if my friends and husband hadn’t been right there to watch me make the decisions I was making to try and save things, it would’ve been a they said/they said situation. I’m not the one who chose to recluse and shied away from our friends, who avoided hard conversations about what happened like the plague. I didn’t move out with plans to cut and run. Yes, where we were at when things ended was really bad, but I didn’t think our whole relationship was a lie. I see a lot of things now in retrospect that were problems, with me, with them, with how we communicated, but when I’m not having a chuckle at how stupid they look, did I think they were evil, awful, I hope ur miserable til ur dead levels of toxic? No. Just stupid. Just scared. Just utterly inequipped to navigate a conflict that really tests a relationship.

Now why am I putting this on the internet? Idk. I guess to be honest, I’m tired of having back room conversations about how I feel that are supposed to make me feel better and walking away from those conversations feeling like I’m between a rock and a hard place. If they hadn’t tried to unhouse me, hadn’t called me crazy and evil, hadn’t ran away from me insisting they didn’t want to hear how I felt last time we actually spoke? I’m the type of person who would’ve reached out. It has always felt right to me to reach out if I thought the person was worth trying to reason with, and I’m not gonna pretend that I didn’t feel that way about my exes. I thought we could overcome anything, once. But I can’t do that, both because that’s an act of self sacrifice that would violate my self respect and because I told myself that I wouldn’t talk to a wall again, that the only way I could be certain they were ready to hash shit out is if they came to me. And they haven’t, they’ve just held as tightly as they can to this ludicrous version of me that meant them harm and was selfish and evil, oooh narcissistic toxic evil ex oooo like come on man.

I supported them through so many hard times, I celebrated their successes loudly and proudly, I promised to spend my life with them and meant it until keeping that promise meant I was going to suffer in ways I wasn’t sure I could survive. So, I guess this is on the internet because it’s half way reaching out. If they’re looking at my socials as much as I look at theirs, if they’re lurking and watching for things to be mad about, I’m putting this here so that I can put this down. I have said what I needed to say somewhere where maybe they will see it. It exists, if they look for it. And maybe, knowing the reality of things they can step out of this wild, self aggrandizing delusion where they did nothing wrong and I was evil the whole time, and put it down too. We can never be together again, but hating me for shit that is made up in your brain is so, so fucking lame. I loved you very much, get a life, move on, I wish you well as much as I find the behavior you showed yourself to be capable of exhausting, heart breaking and childish. Knowing you, you’ll see this, see how long it is and decide to simply ignore it, but that’s your choice bud. I’m glad I finally said something where maybe, just maybe, you might hear it and grow the fuck up.

Here’s a song for ya, and unlike you, I really thought about it

[fuckingeviljerseybitch]

the concept of being ninja romanced by gay or lesbian characters in games is *hilarious* to me.

in my experience as a bisexual, genderfluid person, i have had exactly one friend put moves on me that i had to politely side step. and i did just that. i've also had somebody "warn" my friend group to stay away from me because i was queer and clearly trying to secretly put moves on all of them, to "trick" them into also being queer. (note: this is NOT part of the gay agenda. there are no secret agents intended to turn cishets gay. if there had been such a program, i TOTALLY would have jumped on it, simply for the acting experience.)

human emotions are complicated. we don't even understand ourselves all the time. and sometimes we fuck up while trying to understand others.

in game life, if i were trudging along as an engineer Maleshep and suddenly Ken Donnely made a move that i wasn't into, i'd just tell him i wasn't into it and then proceed to the next planet. the guy can still do his job, and i need him to. he's part of the team, crushstruck gay man or not. no need to view or treat him differently. just suggest he maybe hang out with Vega and Cortez a little more, to see if one of them (or both, since i love a healthy throuple!) are into him, and then keep on fucking trucking. redirect to more likely candidates, and perhaps even offer to wingman on the situation. that's it. that's the whole magic trick, Penn.

the concept of being so utterly blindsided and disgusted by a mistaken advance as to call it ninja romancing is pretty telling. in real life, these are the assholes who stop including a guy in their bro pack when they find out he's gay, or who advise other women to "watch out" for a woman that they suspect is a lesbian in disguise, or something. (let's not talk about how bisexual people get suspicion from literally*everyone*. we do, even in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty four. i cannot wait for the downfall of the star system, but it's currently still hella extant.)

i want media to deal with this- movies, games, books- whoever gets to it first and does it best. i want a main character to be friends with a queer person who is an essential part of their staff or team, sort out that they're queer and interested, let them down properly, and then continue working and being friends with that person WITHOUT being weird about it. that can, and does, happen, and we should see it.

bonus if the main character later falls truly madly deeply for an aro supporting character and has to relearn how to be coworkers and friends without overreaching that person's boundaries. imagine the MC having to turn back to the romantically rejected queer team member who had a similar experience attempting to romance them, and actually getting the necessary support.

you may say i'm a dreamer, but-

[risingshards]

It's time for my latest musing on side projects that ends up being mostly me talking about Rising Shards! I've been thinking a lot this week about my other projects. And by other projects I mainly mean my mythical side project that's tradpub friendly and like tradpub publishable, like a...I don't want to say "Normal," but a story that follows the rules a bit more. Total beat sheet business. I have a side project with my bestie that's in early-ish stages that do not fall under this tradpub mountain climbing umbrella, that one I am a lot more confident/having fun working on but again it's early on.

For that mythical Side Project™, my latest close attempt is D6R, my kind of half written/kind of 1/3rd written trilogy that's a more serious fantasy take in the Rising Shards universe that I've determined takes place prior to the main Rising Shards story, one that I think would be cool to exist in tradpub and then people could find out that the story continues in a weird web novel, that sort of thing. I've posted about it before. I had a feeling almost like an epiphany on a sleepless night recently that D6R is the closest I can get to that mythical Side Project™ because so much of it is written already in drafts and such. There's a big chunk of it that isn't written, because I basically have a cast that becomes horrendous by the time RS rolls around, so I'd need some likable people in there.

That connection to Rising Shards has me debating: why not just keep it as backstory to RS and have the story beats in there come up as needed as lore and reveals for the main series? I'd lose all that writing, but like, maybe not really? It'd be a lot of time spent with some jerks just to find out they're still jerks at the end even if the heroes win the day.

The Venture Bros. came back with a movie this week that may be its capper completely, and that has me thinking a lot too. Venture Bros is my favorite show and is one of my biggest creative influences ever. EVERRRR. What Jackson and Doc and co. created has a firm place in my heart, and it being back is reminding me of the DNA in Rising Shards that creatively traces back to the bizarre and beautiful series. If you haven't heard of it, Venture Bros. is an Adult Swim show that's been on and off for about twenty years, starting off as a Johnny Quest parody with some edgelord 2000s Adult Swim bad jokery that grew and evolved into one of the most sentimental, empathetic, beautiful shows I've ever seen, that also is constantly gross and hilarious and weird and creative in its approach to storytelling, character building, all of it, I love it so much but it's a hard sell to trudge through the early seasons, the whole thing has "you kind of had to be there" vibes, but like I don't think there's anything too irredeemable and they've taken such strides to improve and UGH ANYWAYS—Venture Bros is a huge influence on me.

First thing VB's comeback (brief though it is with just the movie, but I hope so dearly we get more) has me thinking: D6R as lore could be stronger to Rising Shards in a backstory/reveal kind of way similarly to how Venture Bros. handles its big backstory reveals. And maybe keeping it unwritten for now allows me for more freedom in doling the info out when the times are right.

Second thing, a lot bigger of a thing: Reading about Jackson and Doc's desire to just talk about characters they love, show more of their lives, not building towards a conclusive ending just like, seeing where these people who become real are at, that hits me so hard. Having a gaggle of idiots that you love dearly and want to write about forever is such a powerful feeling. Characters that don't shut up in your head in the most glorious of ways, like when you get those you can't just let go. I think that is one of the biggest things that made me feel pushed to write Rising Shards the way I have—just like caring so deeply about your characters and the maybe weird way you're telling the story, but it's the way you want to tell it. Loving your weird idiots that never shut up so much that you just want to document them is just, that is so big to me. Not in a cynical drag out a story forever kind of way, more just like caring so deeply about the weird losers in your head and their world that becomes a kind of creative self love that you don't want to stop expressing.

Putting your whole ass into some weird shit that maybe nobody else likes, maybe you build up a band of loyal weirdos similar to you, maybe not, that feels so much more rewarding to me than chasing those big published project dreams. Try as I may (and I will continue to try, I'm sure), I just can't muster the same passion for writing a firmly by the beat sheet story about like some fantasy action epic that feels like [insert big popular tradpub fantasy book here] that I can writing about my band of 50 or so weirdo gays. Writing some weird shit from my heart means so much more than writing some boring shit trying to impress a lit agent who will give me .0001 seconds of their day before rejecting me. Even if I'm just putting out a webnovel that I maybe won't ever make a career out of, I'm putting my heart and soul out there and that's more important than any monetary gains. I'm not judging anyone for chasing tradpub, I still wanna like try to, just. Getting to express myself and talk about all my passions while working through that bad shit from my past, exploring myself and my identity, getting comments filled with love and happiness, including ones saying they see themselves in my characters in Rising Shards...that makes me go like "there's a reason this is your priority, Chiral."

The other thing for Mythical Side Project™: my workshop group. This is probably an easy fix. I should probably just bring Rising Shards pieces. But I just never really got great feedback on Rising Shards sections, just like "cute characters!" or "this was funny!" Stuff that didn't really help me. So part of me is generally like "well why not try that Mythical Side Project™ with folks who are more looking for that kind of piece?" And that is motivational. And being in a book club at work where they go gaga for books that I egotistically am like "*I* could do better than this" also make me want to chase that goal of climbing that tradpub mountain. And maybe D6R is it. Maybe it's just Rising Shards backstory.

At the end of the day as I debate I know this: Rising Shards is my main creative outlet right now, and probably indefinitely. I've never figured out that formula for writing that's so me in a format that's so able to house the goofus losers I love writing about so dearly. If I can find some motivation/spark/time to work on Mythical Side Project™ I'm sure I can make it work. But I never want it to compromise writing my heart and soul weirdo business that will probably resonates more because it comes from a sentimental, empathetic, true to me place. That's not to say any other projects won't come from those places, but so far I just end up coming at them from a cynical and bitter place, rather than a joyous one, and when there's a cynical and bitter project and a joyous one, the latter is always gonna win. If I stumble upon that tradpub dealie that will easily fit into an easy to explain marketable pitch to a lit agent while also not draining my soul, I'll go for it, but writing about Zeta, Oka, Kalei, Lillia, Diast, Stella, and co. will always have my heart.

—Chiral

[anonsally]

Headless!

What an incredibly well-crafted series!

I’m gonna need to rewatch the final episode, but I can’t do that tonight or I won’t be able to sleep, because it was scarier than the other episodes. But in the meantime here are some random thoughts @scribblinaway and I were discussing earlier today. SPOILERS BELOW! don’t read until you’ve watched the whole series!

First of all: I did Not see that coming.

I had entirely assumed that the death certificate was a clue that her dad planned to kill her. I thought maybe Dr. Crayon had created the death certificate ahead of time but the murder attempt had failed, and Mayor Van Tassel would eventually try again. I absolutely did not imagine that it was real. 

I may have to watch the whole series to fully understand what happened. But, in retrospect, it (i.e., Kat... being what she ended up being) was kind of foreshadowed in a way? When Ichabod first met her, she very clearly signalled that she was Not Interested. But after talking to him at her dad’s party, she... was a little more interested, and it wasn’t entirely clear why. So I guess she just realised he could be useful, in that they could put him to sleep for a year to keep her alive--because it’s clear at the end that she absolutely doesn’t like him, and he also definitely Knows Too Much. 

Also: I was pretty shocked that our ukelele-strumming friend Diedrich Knickerbocker died. And this did not really tie in with the main plotline very much, so one might argue that it was superfluous. But I guess that’s how you show that shit is about to get Real. If they’re willing to kill off the Bard, then anything could happen! Nothing is sacred! (Also, it was worth it for the fight between the two bards.)

Matilda was clearly deeply shocked by Kat killing the new (evil) bard. Also, I think she had gotten really invested in helping the Headless Horseman. Now, knowing that Headless was actually a woman, and that she’d been killed by a fellow witch... clearly she had a change of heart and chose to reunite Henrietta with her head, rather than (putting Ichabod to sleep in order to use his life force to) keep her best friend “alive”.

I just love how they made Kat seem like her role in the narrative was basically just as the love interest, but then she turned out to be something much darker. Shipwrecked really did a great job of taking a bunch of tropes and upending them.

The very first image of the first episode was of a Black man getting, apparently, killed. But in the end, it turns out he’s just asleep (granted, his name hinted at that) and he ends up becoming the mayor who will help put Sleepy Hollow back to rights.

We started off assuming Ichabod and Kat were endgame, as they did seem to connect in some way, but then it was the unlikely pair Brom and Matilda who became The Ship, and in fact, Kat was undead and basically evil.

The whole heist episode was one hilarious parody of the genre. But then the final standoff between Judy and Baltus is kind of a callback to it, only this time the woman outsmarts the man. 

Brom and his Babes. I mean. Such bros, such frat dude types. But largely without the toxic masculinity. Brom really makes the effort to respect women (albeit with a bit of a lapse during an episode of jealousy), and once he finds himself accidentally married, he clearly does try to be a good husband.

I am 100% going to buy the soundtrack. I love the theme music.

And ...yeah, so many things that seemed like throwaway jokes turned out to be important later. So well-written, so silly, and so surprising! And the finale was such a satisfying ending. Great work, Shipwrecked!

[angelsdean]

hi darling ♡

what's your latest saddest dean thought at the moment? you always shatter my heart with your dean thought and i need it to hurt sjfhdhs <3

this got so long oops !

hiii sana<3 hmm ok well idk about saddest but here is my sad dean thought of the day that i've been twirling around in mind since seeing kath @caskarass's very hilarious post abt sam and cas fighting over cas bringing up sam's embarrassing childhood prayers. so like, dean's there and he's watching all of this go down and at first he's doubled over laughing his ass off because he's always up for embarrassing his little bro and having CAS tease sammy too is just soo !! yeah that's his bestie, they're all family and cas gets a pass to tease the heck out of sam! but then. after they've all settled down again and they've all returned to their research or whatever they were doing before this, dean just sits there thinking about what cas said, that he and the other angels all heard sam's silly prayers. which means…which means they heard /dean's/ too. because yes, as a child, especially when he was very young, in those first few years after the fire, he prayed. he held on to the words his mom always used to tell him, "angels are watching over you." he was still young, still wanted to believe that good things could happen, that someone would come and save him, make everything better, help his dad stop being so sad and angry. hold sammy when he cries. bring his mom back. so little dean started praying sometimes. pastor jim taught them a few prayers like the hail mary and our father. but he also told them they could ask god for help too. so, sometimes, after a bad night or when he was sad or scared, he'd pray. but not to god, no, he'd pray specifically to the angels his mom said were watching over him. and he'd ask them to help him and sammy. he'd ask them for food or money. he'd ask them to make his dad happy. he'd ask them come and take him away and bring him to his mama in heaven. (more under the cut because i’m evil)

so dean thinks about all those little prayers, and realizes the angels all heard him. and did nothing. he's not mad at cas, doesn't blame him or anything because cas didn't even know him then, and even if cas wanted to intervene he knows the other angels wouldn't have let him. but it just hits him hard, and he slips away to his room and just lays there, his chest clenching painfully as it hits him again that his whole life really was just entertainment for an uncaring god and he was purposely made to suffer again and again for chuck's ~narrative~

he curls into himself and just remembers laying like this as a small child on motel room beds, silently pleading with the angels to please please come please please save him. and while no angels came then, one seeks him out now. cas feels his longing, his distress and goes looking for him, knocks softly on his door, asks, "Dean?"

And dean sits up, murmurs to come in, makes space for cas to sit beside him. Cas asks, "What's wrong?" and dean's instinct is to brush him off, say "Nothing. I'm fine." and move on. But. But this is Cas. His best friend. The love of his life. Dean /likes/ talking to Cas. Even when the stuff they talk about is bad or uncomfortable, he still finds he wants to talk to him about these things. So he tells him about the prayers he already knows Cas has heard. And Cas ends up holding him and telling him he wishes he could have done something then, wishes he could go back and protect dean's younger self. Dean cries a little, face burrowed against Cas's chest, overwhelmed by Cas's love and care. And he still mourns the suffering he went through as a kid, and he's still pissed as fuck at Chuck. But he's glad to be where he is now, to have this angel, to have someone who loves him as deeply and unconditionally as Cas does. It's something he never thought he'd have, something he never even dared pray for. But he has it now, he has it.

sorryyyyy this got so long lmao anyways here are your dean feels, sana enjoy<3

[littlesmartart]

I'm curious how all the Jin sibs met in the modern au. Not to infect you with my terrible brain worms, but I had the terrible thought that Qin Su and Meng Yao may have been each other's beards when they were younger out of convenience. It's a very hilarious story, which people only tell if Meng Yao is definitely at minimum 500 miles away.

modern AU

Zixuan and Meng Yao meet when Meng Yao comes to live with the Jins a few years after his mother dies, when they’re in their mid-teens. Jin Guangshan and Qin Cangye are good friends, so Zixuan and Qin Su have run in the same social circles for most of their life as vague acquaintances. 

Qin Su and Meng Yao meet at social events with their respective families over the years, and Qin Su has always sort of fancied him a little bit, but it’s not until Meng Yao is in his early twenties and Qin Su her late teens (there’s about three or so years difference between her and Zixuan and Meng Yao) that anything really comes of it - Jin Guangshan essentially has a strong suspicion that Meng Yao is more than just Super Bros with Mingjue and Xichen (correct) and in an attempt to let his son know he Knows, at a big event Jin Guangshan makes a vague homophobic “joke” about Meng Yao, before suggestively commenting that Qin Su might be the “solution”. 

Madam Qin reacts really badly and drags Qin Su home, and when Qin Su asks about her mother’s out-of-character behaviour, Madam Qin forbids her from ever dating a Jin boy. Qin Su, a teenager nursing a years-long awkward crush who has just been mortified in public by a grown (creepy) man as well her mother’s explosive reaction, and feeling deeply hurt that her mother who usually trusts her would ever forbid her from doing something, explodes herself, which leads to a horrible tearful argument and Madam Qin telling her everything she has kept hidden for nearly two decades...

Xuanyu’s story under the cut because this is getting long!

the three other siblings meet Mo Xuanyu when he’s about seven, a year after his mother dies; with all the drama kicked up with the Qin family revelations, the Jins are advised by their legal team to sort out any unfinished business with any other known bastards, and the Mo family are delighted to get Xuanyu off their hands and release him into the custody of his father. Zixuan and Yanli - who, with toddler Jin Ling, are just VIBRATING with new protective parental instincts - cannot in good conscience accept the idea of A-Yu being raised in the main Jin household, neglected by his father and hated by Madam Jin (Meng Yao, who suffered this exact scenario for most of his teens, also has very strong feelings about it). they ask for custody of him, and Jin Guangshan says that they are welcome to take him, but they can’t have him legally, as it would ruin his already wrecked reputation to lose custody of his own son. 

aaaaaand that, along with finding out that A-Yu’s mother was only sixteen when he was conceived, is really the last fucking straw. Meng Yao had been trying to find the best way to bring his father down for years, as revenge for his mother, but had never found a good opportunity - he’d hoped that perhaps Madam Qin could be persuaded to bring a rape charge to court, but she was in such a fragile emotional state after the news went public that she refused. winning custody of Xuanyu via destroying Jin Guangshan becomes the cornerstone of their legal case - and that winds up escalating into allegations of corporate corruption (lots of Jin&Sons higher ups are smart enough to realise which way the wind is blowing and immediately offer up evidence in exchange for being kept out of it), as well as other women speaking out about abuse they’ve suffered at his hands.

Jin Guangshan loses everything, and goes to jail for a very long time :) :) :)

[leossmoonn]

Temptation

masterlist

pairing - silas x forbes,fem!reader

type - fluffy smut, angst

note / request - “can i request a silas fic where the reader is Caroline's lil sis and Silas likes to annoy her, and he likes her a lot. Then Care and Damon are always into protective sibling modes where silas is around y/n. So one day they catch y/n making out w him, and then theres a lot of banter again” this was really fun to write! im not gonna rewrite background info lol so make sure to read the request. also the timeline of events is a little fuzzy so i apologise if i make a mistake. enjoy :)

summary - damon and caroline find you making out with the enemy, who just happens to be silas 

warnings / includes - language, sibling fighting, steamy make out, sexual tension heheh, you’re in your senior year of high school, suggestive

————

*gif isn't mine*

“Hello, doll face,” Silas greeted behind you.

You jumped at his voice, but quickly settled down. “Hey, Silas,” you said dully.

“Why the long face, princess?” Silas asked. 

“Because you’re here,” you said. “Oh, that’s so mean. You’ve hurt my feelings,” Silas pouted. 

“Well, I’m not supposed to be talking to you anyways,” you stated matter-of-factly. 

“Ugh, you are such a goody two shoes. It’s cute, but annoying. Why not break the rules? I know you want to,” Silas said, leaning over the top of the couch, his face going right next to your’s.

You inhaled deeply, your heart pounding against your chest. You were attracted to him, no doubt about that, but if you even considered shaking his hand, Caroline and Damon would kill you. And you definitely didn’t want that.

“I can read your mind, Y/n. I know you want to kiss me, so go ahead,” he whispered. 

You didn’t turn your head, but your eyes wandered to the left. You got a good view of his lips, which made butterflies flutter in your stomach. It was so tempting to close the gap between you two, but you knew better than that. You turned your head the other way, standing up from the couch. You packed up your school work, deciding to leave the Salvatore house and go to your own. 

You were at the Salvatore house because Damon had offered to help you with your history homework. You took the offer and you two had been studying for a few hours. He had left you for 30 minutes to go and get you two lunch. In those 30 minutes, Silas had wandered into the house, looking for you. 

You pulled out your phone, texting Damon to go to your house instead of back to his. 

“Where are ya going?” Silas asked. 

“Home,” you mumbled, keeping your head down and walking to the front door. 

Silas stood in front of the door, making you look up at him with an annoyed frown. 

“Please let me go,” you said. 

“No, I’d rather see you beg,” Silas smirked. You rolled your eyes. “Please. Damon is waiting for me at my house with food.”

“Oh! Well, why don’t I just go with you, then? I’d love to see Damon.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” you chuckled. “Why not? I can just pretend to be his brother! I’ve fooled lots of people already,” Silas smiled. 

“I think Damon will notice. Especially if I’m there,” you said.  “I’ll just sneak in then,” Silas suggested. 

“No, Silas! I just want to go home alone. Leave me alone,” you said sternly, looking him straight in the eyes. You went to push him out of the way, but his hands grabbed ahold of your wrists. His strong grip made goosebumps rush up your forearms.

Silas couldn’t help but smirk. You rarely ever had outbursts. He thought it was incredibly sexy and cute when you put your foot down. Especially when it pertained to him. 

“You are so adorable when you’re mad. You're so small, too. I can’t help but not take you seriously,” Silas chuckled. 

Your eyes went wide and you opened your mouth to say something, but nothing came out. You masked your embarrassment by groaning and running your fingers through your hair in frustration. “Just let me go! Please. I’m hungry and tired and really need to study for my test.”

“What is your test over, anyways? History? Cause if so, I could help you out. I bet I know more than Damon,” Silas said. 

“No thanks, bro, she’s all taken care of,” Damon said from behind Silas. 

“You tattled that I was here! So naughty of you,” Silas glared at you playfully. 

“Step out of the way, Silas. Otherwise I will snap your neck,” Damon sneered. 

Silas sighed. “Fine! I’m only obeying because I want to kiss you before I die.”

“Fat chance of that. C’mon, Y/n. I got you a burger and those onion rings you like,” Damon said.

“Thanks, Damon,” you smiled gratefully at him. 

“See you later, doll face!” Silas called out as you walked to your car. 

“I’m sorry about him. I should make you the owner of the house,” Damon said. 

You shrugged, “It’s alright. He would never actually hurt me.”

“Well, we don’t know that,” Damon said. 

“Yes, we do. Sure, he might threaten to kill me sometimes, but his liking for me trumps any chance of him killing me. I don’t fear him, he’s just extremely annoying,” you said, getting in your car.

“Agreed,” Damon said. 

You two drove to your house, eating lunch and studying for a few more hours. Caroline and Elena then came home, talking to you and Damon about a party at the Grill. 

“Can I come?” You asked. 

“Um, yeah, sure,” Caroline nodded. 

You smiled excitedly. You barley went to any of these parties. You usually were at home studying or hiding away in your house because Caroline and Damon were always worried for you, but Caroline figured that since she and Damon and everyone else would be there, they would be able to protect you. 

So you took a quick shower and got ready for the night. You put on ripped jeans and a black, spaghetti-strapped top with a jean jacket. You put on heeled boots and put on some silver jewellery, as well as lined your eyes with eyeliner and painted your lips red with lipstick.

“Oh, you look so cute!” Elena exclaimed as you walked out of your room. 

“Thanks, Elena,” you smiled at her. 

“No, go change,” Caroline said. “Why?” You frowned. 

“Because Silas could be there and that outfit would tempt him even more,” Damon explained. 

You rolled your eyes. “So when Klaus was here, Caroline could wear anything, but I guess since I’m younger and a human, I can’t? That’s so unfair.”

“She’s right, guys. I hate Silas as much as you two, but let her dress how she wants. We’ll be there to protect her. Plus, if Silas thinks she’s hot, then good for her. She is,” Elena agreed with you. 

You smiled at her. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” she smiled. 

“Ugh, fine! But no drinking, okay?” Caroline said. 

“Ay, ay captain,” you said. You four went out to Elena’s SUV, driving to the Grill. 

Loud music blasted into your ears as soon as you stepped inside. You smiled as you saw everything dancing and having the time of their life. 

“Shots?” Caroline suggested. 

“Hell yeah!” Elena squealed. 

“Iced tea for you, Y/n?” Caroline asked. “Yes, please,” you nodded. 

“Alright, you guys go to the pool table. I’ll be back,” Caroline said. 

“Where is Stefan?” You asked, looking around the bar and walking to the pool table that was conveniently empty. 

“Right here!” 

You turned around, smiling once you saw Stefan in a grey shirt, jeans, and his leather jacket. You went to hug him, but Damon stopped you. 

“Ah, ah, ah. How do we know it isn’t Silas?” Damon asked. 

Stefan rolled his eyes. He pulled out a blood bag from his pocket, taking it and drinking it quickly. 

“Alright, alright, we know it’s you. Cool it on the blood, brother. Don’t want to go into a bloodlust,” Damon said, taking the empty bag and throwing it in the trash. 

“Well, I don’t really know how else to prove I’m not Silas,” Stefan sighed. “Can I get that hug now?”

You smiled and nodded, wrapping your arms around him. 

Between everyone else, Damon and Stefan were your best friends. They were like the brothers you’ve never had, protecting you and teasing you whenever they felt like it was necessary. You hadn’t seen Stefan in a while since he was found in the safe, but you were glad to see he was okay. 

“Glad to see you’re okay, Stef,” you said, pulling back. 

“And I’m glad to see you haven’t fallen victim to my doppelgänger,” Stefan smiled. 

Caroline came back with shots, pleasantly surprised to see Stefan. 

“Stefan! You’re here! Oh, my God the whole gang is here!” She squealed, putting down the shots and engulfing Stefan is a big hug. 

“I’m excited to be here, too. This is the first time I’ve really gone out for fun. I hope nothing goes wrong,” Stefan joked. 

“Well, if any of you spot Silas, make sure to not let him get close to Y/n. We don’t know what he could do to her,” Caroline said.

You rolled your eyes at her concern, but didn’t say anything. You knew it would end up with you two arguing and that was the last thing anything wanted. Forbes were very controlling and heated when they got angry.

You took your tea and sipped on it as Damon downed the first shot. 

“Wait, are we playing in teams?” You asked. 

“Yeah, which one do you wanna be one? Damon and I’s?” Stefan asked. 

“Definitely yours,” you said. “Oh, what! You know I win all the time,” Damon said. 

“Yeah, but when you lose you get so mad. It’s hilarious,” you giggled.

“True, it is cute,” Elena smirked. 

Damon rolled his eyes. “Whatever. You two are so annoying.”

You smiled and played with your friends for a little while. It came to a time where everyone was too tipsy to where they could barely walk, so you were in charge of getting the drinks. Damon and Caroline, despite being pretty much drunk, stayed close behind you. 

“Hey, Matt,” you smiled at the boy working behind the bar. “Hey, Y/n! Let me guess, more shots and another iced tea?” He asked. 

“You guessed right,” you chuckled. 

“So, how is school?” He asked. 

“Pretty good. History is kicking my ass, per usual. It’s weird because I’m surrounded by history buffs,” you said. 

“Well, I know you have Damon helping you, but Stefan is a lot better at tutoring, in my opinion. I know he’s been having a rough time, though,” Matt said. 

“He has, which is why I should be your tutor,” Silas smirked next to you. 

You jumped slightly, surprised to see him there. You looked at him, seeing him wearing a dark navy shirt and jeans. Your eyes stared at his biceps and his strong, broad shoulders. Once you noticed him smirking at you, you looked back to the drinks Matt was filling. 

“Now I get the silent treatment? C’mon, not fair,” Silas whined.

“You shouldn’t be here, man,” Matt said. 

“Yeah, and what are you gonna do about, it huh?” Silas taunted, looking at Matt with narrow, menacing eyes. 

Matt rolled his eyes, putting the tequila shots and your drink on a tray and handing them to you. 

“Thanks, Matt,” you smiled.

You took the tray, ready to turn around and walk away from Silas. He put his arm up, planning to grab your arm to stop you, but Caroline and Damon used their vamp speed to push him back. 

“Don’t you dare touch her,” Caroline sneered. Veins were circulating under her eyes and she bared her fangs. 

Silas smirked, not at all fazed. “Oh, please, I could kill both of you so fast, you couldn’t have chance to say bye to Y/n. Now, let me go, Damon.”

Damon’s grip on Silas’s arms tightened. “Not a chance. We’re going outside and I’m gonna make sure you are far away from here.”

Damon then took Silas to the exit, Silas looking back at you and giving you a wink. Caroline groaned in disgust and took the tray away from you. 

“You okay?” She asked. 

“I’m fine, Care! He wasn’t going to hurt me,” you glared at her. 

“You don’t know that! Why are you defending him? Doesn't he annoy you?” Caroline asked. 

“Yeah, he does,” you said, your voice trailing off at the end, alluding to something else.

Caroline stared at you intensely, gasping once she put the pieces together. “You… You like him? Ugh, why! He’s a monster.”

“I don’t like him! God, why is that always your first assumption?” You asked.

“Because you obviously are having physical reactions to him. We all see the way you look down in shyness when he flirts with you, and we can hear your heart racing. We just hoped you wouldn’t give in,” Caroline sighed. 

“I’m not! I don’t like him in any way, okay? Just because I defend someone doesn’t mean I automatically like them!”

“That’s what you always say! You need to get rid of those feelings, Y/n. He’s not a good person.”

You closed your eyes in frustration, sighing roughly. “I’m going to the bathroom to cool down. When I come out, you better not say anything else about me liking Silas.”

You spun on your heels, storming off to the bathroom. You washed your hands, putting them to your forehead to cool yourself down. 

“Feelings for Silas, please,” you scoffed to yourself. 

“She’s right. I know it, you know it. Everyone does.”

You looked in the mirror, jumping once you saw Silas behind you. You turned around quickly. 

“H-How did you get in here?” You asked.

“I knocked Damon out,” he shrugged. 

“What?! Is he okay?” You asked. “Yes, he’s fine. I know that you would hate me if I killed one of your friends,” he said.

You sighed, “I have to go. They’re waiting for me.” You went to the door, but Silas once again blocked the entrance. 

“You gotta be quicker, Y/n. Someday you might find yourself in real trouble,” Silas smiled down at you. 

“You are real trouble,” you retorted.

“Oh, we both know that’s not true. If I was then you’d be screaming for your life. But you’re just standing there, looking so incredibly kissable,” Silas said, shamelessly looking at your lips. 

Your cheeks felt like they were on fire, and you looked down to hide your face. “No, I just don’t want to make a scene,” you mumbled. 

Silas put his hand on your chin, making your eyes meet his. “While that is true, you also having feelings for me.”

You stepped away from him, his hand falling to his side. “I don’t. You’re evil and cheated on your girlfriend. No girl wants to be with a guy like that.”

“Elena practically cheated on Stefan emotionally, you’re still friends with her,” Silas stated. 

You furrowed your brows, not sure what to say back. He was correct, but you knew that wasn’t the point. You needed to get out of there otherwise Caroline and Damon would freak out. 

Silas walked towards you slowly, like you were his prey that he was stalking. You turned around, not wanting to look at him. Silas grinned, seeing as his plan would work out even better now that you were facing the mirrors. 

He put his hand on your bare arm, dragging his fingertips up your skin. 

“I’m so glad you took off the leather jacket. Your outfit looks so much better without it,” he murmured. 

You immediately froze. Your eyes were glued to the two of you in the mirror. You watched as his hand went up to your shoulders, pressing down lightly on your muscles. 

“Shouldn’t you be running, Y/n?” Silas asked, moving. your hair out of the way so he could get a better view of your neck. 

You knew you should, but his touch felt so good. It weirdly calmed your nerves down, but also made you flustered as hell. You would be lying if you said you didn’t want to stay in this bathroom and let him take you. Silas smiled at your thoughts, lowering his lips down to your shoulder. 

“I can totally take you right here if you want,” he whispered, his lips making contact with your skin. 

You inhaled sharply, finding yourself stumbling back into his chest. His other arm went around your waist, holding you close to him.

“Your skin is so soft, doll face,” he said while kissing up your neck. 

You watched him in the mirror, your stomach doing flips. Your legs felt weak and heat gathered in between your thighs. You had honestly wanted to kiss him this whole time. You decided a few more minutes in the bathroom couldn’t hurt. 

So you turned around, crashing your lips onto his. Silas smiled as you kissed him, his hands trailing down to your legs. He lifted you up with ease, taking you to the sink and placing you on the counter. Your legs wrapped around his waist, your hands running themselves through his hair. 

“Silas,” you breathed out as you felt his hands on your thighs, going higher and higher. 

“You like that, princess?” He hummed, his fingers going higher until they reached your clothed entrance. He pulled away, grinning and looking you in the eyes. 

“Uh-huh,” you hummed, pulling his face close to yours roughly.

Your lips collided again, your heart and brain exploding. Kissing him felt like heaven.

Silas mirrored your neediness and put his hands on your waist, pulling you impossibly closer. You pressed your chest up to him more, your hands going down from his head to the bottom of his shirt. You lifted it up, Silas pulling away so you could pull it off of him. You sat back and admired his abs and muscles, excitement growing in between your thighs. 

You dove down to his neck, kissing and sucking lightly. Your hands explored his chest, tracing along his prominate abs. Silas breathed heavily into your ear, groaning as you found his sweet spot. 

“Oh, Y/n,” he panted. 

You smirked against his skin. Before you could put your hands on his belt, the bathroom door burst open. You saw Caroline and Damon standing, eyes huge and mouths agape. 

“What the hell!” Caroline shrieked. 

Your eyes widened and you pushed Silas away from you, getting off the counter. 

“Really, Y/n? You pick him to make out with in the bathroom?” Damon groaned. 

“It is just happened,” you shrugged sheepishly. 

“Yeah, she’s a really good kisser,” Silas smirked. “I never would have expected it since she’s shy and all, but man, she is wil-”

“You shut the hell up. And you,” Caroline pointed to you. “Are going home. now.”

“He wasn’t hurting me, Care,” you said. 

Caroline looked at you two incredulously. “You’re making her say this! You pressured her, didn’t you!” She pointed to Silas. 

“He’s not! I was the one who kissed him first,” you admitted. “Yeah, but I helped a little,” Silas smirked. 

Caroline made her vampire face and lunged at Silas, to which Damon pulled her back. 

“Alright, blondie, why don’t you take Y/n home and I’ll deal with Silas, okay?” Damon said. 

Caroline huffed and nodded, grabbing you by the arm roughly. 

“We’ll continue another time, doll face!” Silas exclaimed. 

“No, you will not,” Damon glared.

————

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@123cxcv​

[kingkatsuki]

Hi Jo! How are you? Soooooo… I’ve been gatekeeping my feelings about Knockout from you because I’ve been trying to find the right words to convey my emotions about this amazing, glorious fic! (I apologize if this is really long 😅)

Ok first off, I read this a few times 🙈 and the way you captured the atmosphere of the whole fic was perfect! The tone was established right out the gate and you already get a sense of where the reader’s head is at— we are DESPERATE! Not only are we desperate, but we’re desperate, nervous, & scared because of our situation. We already have this idea in our head that’s like, “ok this is the plan! Bakugou’s gonna hire us and everything’s gonna work out!” but little did we know that it didn’t really pan out the way we wanted at first. The FORESHADOWING with Kirishima’s fight though?! Freaking Rappa with his knuckle destroyer, I knew right away this was gonna come up again later on about fighting fair. (Thank goodness Kirishima was alright 😭)

I loved our interactions with Bakugou! When we first meet Bakugou, he’s already sizing us up and immediately tells us that we don’t “belong” at his club just by the way we look, etc. however, he senses something about us. After we “prove” ourselves, you can already see and feel Bakugou’s hidden/not so hidden protectiveness over us and I LIVED for it! Every time he tells us something, we fight back against his word. (of course we’re stubborn) Whenever he tells us to not push ourselves and to go home, he’s showing his concern for us. Granted he wasn’t pleasant about it, but we as the audience know that Bakugou cares for this person (us) and he cares deeply.

I loved how we tried to keep Bakugou at bay and keep a wall between us but in typical Bakugou fashion, he broke them down. When he came looking for us when we didn’t show up for a week, I was smiling like a goof 😂 That first sex scene tho! Bakugou was making love to us and it was beautiful! He was so gentle with us, not wanting to break us but he just wanted to be there for us and take care of us and that was 🥺🥺 (he fucked us later and geez louize that was another hot ass scene 🥵🥵). Gaahhh him asking us who we belong to while he’s— I hid under my blanket 🙈🙈 and then later on after the fight with Shindou… when he told us to take it it’s ours?!?!?! Sheesh Jo I was sweating (still sweating thinking about it 😅). Oh we taking what’s ours!

When Bakugou told us he loved us 🥺🥺 and we said it back to him 🥺🥺 The fact that he wants to be there for us, take care of us, and treat us how we deserve to be treated *sighs dramatically* and he called us “his girl”… Jo you really did something here. Ooooo and the taunting back & forth between Shindou and Bakugou was hilarious! Shindou was super salty, especially when Bakugou let him know that he had us cumming on his tongue… I think Shindou wanted to K.O. right there 😂 You did a good job writing Shindou as a jerk because I couldn’t stand him. I kinda feel how Bakugou feels about Shindou canonically, but he’s hot I’ll give him that 😂

This is already long enough, but I just had to let you know that this story was/is amazing!! 40k words went by so fast for me, I was that invested.

Just one more thought/question, who was in on the bet that we were dating Bakugou? Was it just Kaminari and Sero, or was Kirishima in it too?

I am literally going to sob. Thank you so so much for taking the time to leave me your thoughts like this, I held onto this and read it a couple of times because it just made me smile. I’m so glad it feels like I managed to portray their relationship the way I wanted it to feel, that care on a deeper level and that he knew something was up when we actually listened for once and didn’t show up to the club for a week.

In my mind I had the bet between Denki and Sero! And maybe Mina too because in this fic I feel like she’s such a hustler 😂 Kirishima wouldn’t have made the bet cause he’d be like “it’s too fucking easy bro, it would feel like robbing you.” Because Kiri is just so sure that Bakugou loves you. He can just tell?🥺

Thank you again for sending this in, I’m gonna cherish it😭💕

[ladyartemesia]

Fic recs for taehyung? I love your stuff btw I’ve read them all uwu

As a beacon of extra-ness in an already extra world, I am entirely incapable of just recommending fics like a normal blog. No. I’ve got to wax on like a bloomin connoisseur. I have compiled some (but not all) of my favorite works in several different categories and sorted them accordingly. This crazy list is so long I had to add a “keep reading”... but I simply couldn’t bear to leave any of these off the list. They are all so good!

Fics have been divided into 8 categories. Some are under the cut. 

 ▨ FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS and FRIENDS TO LOVERS ▨  ▨ ARRANGED MARRIAGE ▨ ▨ FANTASY ▨ ▨ ANGST WITH A HAPPY ENDING ▨ ▨ HYBRID and ABO (alpha/omega) ▨ ▨ MULTIPLE PARTNERS ▨ ▨ NEIGHBORS AND ROOMMATES ▨ ▨ TABOO THEMES and DARK FIC (Sex Work/Power Imbalance/Very Unsafe Sex) ▨ ▨

▨ FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS and FRIENDS TO LOVERS ▨

Insomnia by @hobiwonder

This is one of those fics I read and literally could not stop thinking about. It is wildly hot and honestly hilarious. Poor reader cannot sleep and the beautiful bro she’s tutoring offers a rather unconventional solution.

(Ego) Hoe Chronicles: KTH by @suga-kookiemonster

Listen. If you find a niche fan blog devoted entirely to Ego Tae... I’m not gonna say it’s mine. But it’s probably mine. I once told suga-kookiemonster that I would literally read a story about Ego Tae going grocery shopping on a Wednesday night and I stand by that. In this lurid romp, the reader falls into the clutches of everyone’s favorite bohemian sex lord and he rails her into another dimension.

Falling, Falling, Gone by @johobi

Pining (mutual or otherwise) is not really my thing, but I would straight up read Jo’s laundry list if she posted it. As usual I was blown away by how everything she does seems somehow better than any other version of it. This reader is really unique as well, and her relationship with the wildly popular soccer star Tae comes to a sexy and hilarious head at a sort of bachelor auction. With sharp dialogue, delightful subtext, and fantastic side characters, you really shouldn’t miss it. It’s pretty much perfect.

A Friendly Favor by @baeseoul

This is the classic “teach me some sex for another woman” trope and it is done so well. Sweet best friend Tae is looking to benefit from your experience, but his is not the only world about to be thouroughly rocked.

Officer Kim and the Criminal Crush by @ddaengyoonmin

This is one of the best twists on childhood friends to lovers I have ever seen. Tae grows up to become a cop and reader grows up to be a societal menace. I won’t spoil it, but it’s the perfect blend of nostalgia, tenderness, and smut. This fic technically doesn’t have a name so I had to give it one to link it. It’s part of an AMAZING series Zoe did that I also highly recommend.

Out of the Blue by @jimlingss

This is one of those stories that blooms throughout the narrative until you are left with this gorgeous flower at the end. I loved the journey of these two characters. It was real and it perfectly captures the experience of finding your soulmate in the person you least expect.

Sin Pijama by @brilliantlybasicb

This fic is a switch culture fic. It is wild wicked hot and this Tae is unreal. I love the way he lets the reader think she is in control just long enough. It is a wild romp with an adorable sequel and honestly you should read it.

Girls Like You by @jjiminah

I was in jjiminah’s asks IMMEDIATELY about this fic because I had FEELINGS. The reader begins wordlessly teasing and tempting Tae on their morning bus ride every day until he is literally losing his mind. Everything that follows is fire. Jjiminah has hinted she will wrote more for these two and I NEED IT.

Sighs and Sonnets by @btsaudge

This fic is beautiful. Like it’s basically art. This is a bad boy who is bad for you. But he has the soul of a poet and the stroke game of a renaissance master. Bittersweet and seductive, this fic is a full experience.

The Text by @taetaesbaebaepsae

Tae is your friend with benefits but it looks like feeling may have been caught by one or more parties. When you attempt to soothe your aching heart with another pretty boy, Tae decides to stake his claim. This was very sexy. The whole fic was sexy.

▨ ARRANGED MARRIAGE ▨

Monster by @neonlights92

Monster and all of its companion series about each of the boys is one of those fics that I reread constantly and also just think about constantly. This is one of the best mafia AUs out there and it’s characters are vivid and unforgettable. Tae’s stubborn resistance to his lovely new wife in contrast with her quiet, clever strength really brings this story to life. A word of warning. The masterlist links are a bit messed up. To read part two you must click on part three. And to read part three must click on part four. The link to part four is at the bottom of part three (or you can just search it on her site. It is definitely all there though).

Dichotomy by @kpopfanfictrash

There is a reason the incomparable Shanna is on this list three times. She is truly incomparable. This is childhood friends-to enemies-to spouses and it is wonderful. I adore this Tae. He is sharp and vulnerable and occasionally heavy handed, but truly a gem. This fic also features one of the best angry sex scenes I’ve ever run my eyeballs across.

▨ FANTASY ▨

Chism by @kpopfanfictrash

The world-building in this story is genuinely awe inspiring. You could write series upon series within this vivid universe. The god of Winter is missing and Summer’s heat burns unchecked for many years. The reader is a warrior with a unique ability tasked with guarding a very interesting prisoner. This story is so good. I mean it is really bloomin incredible. It’s hard to say what I liked best about it, because it was stellar across the board.

Obsidian by @kpopfanfictrash

In the pantheon of delicious Tae incarnations, Obsidian Taehyung is essentially unrivaled as a grey witch who moonlights as a sexy rock star. His extremely erotic clash with a white witch detective plays out as the two of them track down a sinister killer (with the help of some truly memorable side characters).

Out of this World by @ddaengyoonmin

This one is really unique. Tae is a merman scientist on the water planet of Neptune and when the reader and her misguided crew crash into his sea, he takes it upon himself to improve inter-species relations. This fic features excellent world building alongside several twists and surprises. Clever scientist Tae is downright irresistible.

▨ ANGST WITH A HAPPY ENDING ▨

Picking Flowers by @jamaisjoons

So this story is a journey - truly a beautiful one and it’s a gorgeous addition to the hanahaki genre. There is real pain and I cried real tears, but gosh it was so sexy and so worth it. I was surprised by how truly immersed I ended up in this piece. I lost track of everything else. The end is insanely satisfying, but the journey is really what makes this fic unmissable.

Until Yesterday by @jimlingss

This fic destroyed me slowly then slowly put me together again piece by piece. When I say I went through it - I WENT THROUGH IT. The story is loosely based on the movie “The Vow” and it is just fantastic. Beautiful and tender till the last word.

The Foolish Muse by @bibbykins

This is the story of someone who is deeply in love, but knows they deserve better. It is a sexy and evocative work with allusions to mythology that fit seamlessly into the narrative. I think my favorite part is Tae discovering how much the reader meant to him and what choices ultimately lead them to a really delicious conclusion.

Back to You by @ladyartemesia

The last time I did a fic rec list, it got like 700 notes. Ya girl is not makin the same mistake again. I spent hours on this list. My work is comin along for the ride. Kim Taehyung is the love of your life, until one day he disappears without a trace.

Vacancy by @ppersonna

This one is the only idol AU on the list and I normally don’t read those, but Lindy’s work is too good to miss in any setting. I am thrilled I took a look because what I found was a glimpse into a beautiful relationship that weathers and eventually overcomes the challenges of loving in the limelight. There is a LOT of emotional depth and symbolism which really elevates everything about this lovely story. The reader’s internal struggles in the face of her lover’s fame are extremely well done.

▨ HYBRID and ABO ▨ (alpha/omega)

Eye of the Tiger by @opaljm

I am beyond hype about this story which is (very) loosely inspired by Zootopia and features a cocky tiger Taehyung and a fiesty prey hybrid he needs to fake date in order to keep panther Jimin from murdering him. (Tiger Tae got a tad too frisky around Jimin’s mate and now things are dangerously awkward.) This story is already so freakin good. I cannot wait for the rest.

Silver and Blue by @taetaewonderland

What happens when you get on the wrong side of the right werewolf? Very sexy - very crazy times. Chronologically this is the first of the Silver and Blue series which follows barely civilized were-Tae through his courtship and eventually his relationship with the spunky reader. Holla to all my impreg kink homies. This is the fic for you.

Heat Run by @ladyartemesia

As I said before, the last time I did a fic rec list, it got like 700 notes. Ya girl is not makin the same mistake twice. I spent hours on this list. My work is comin along for the ride. Alpha lawyer V is a man of many secrets, but his well ordered reality spirals wildly out of control when he crosses paths with a fiery omega set on saving the world from his wicked ways.

Beautiful Stranger by @interludemoonchild

This was a wild ride from start to finish. Taehyung is a tiger hybrid shifter who escapes from the circus to be close to a veterinary student he bonded with. There is a lot of interesting twists and surprises in this one. I was definitely screaming at the end.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell by @jingabitch

A very young wolf hybrid Taehyung adopts you as his pet human when you are just a kid. After Tae leaves to serve in the military he returns to an adult version of his sweet little princess and chaos ensues. Mind the tags for this one folks. It’s excellent, but there are very triggering themes throughout.

▨ MULTIPLE PARTNERS ▨

Level of Restraint by @lemonjoonah

This is not strictly a Tae fic in that he is only one of three major players in this twisted masterpiece. Lemon is the undisputed queen of the surprise twist and this one is truly brilliant. People dropped this fic in the discord calling it the best fan fiction they had ever read and I am not here to argue with them at all. Fair warning, every word - every inch of this fic is sexy and it’s delicious brand of titillation is wrapped around your psyche good and tight by the end.

Four by @luxekook

The quadruplets next door are fueling your very lurid fantasies. It turns out they have some fantasies of their own... You will need water if you read this fic. This is the original patented Kim Taehyung Horny Hive Mind 4D Experience™

▨ NEIGHBORS AND ROOMMATES ▨

The Heat Wave Series by @curly-bangtan

The original story (chapter 1) in this series is definitely famous, but I don’t know how many people have read all 9 chapters and if you haven’t, you are really missing the incredible journey of two very horny idiots stumbling recklessly towards real and amazing love. Everything is set off when the air conditioner breaks and a pair of wild roommates shed their inhibitions along with their clothes.

Flicker by @chimoona

So this fic started out with adorable neighbor dynamics and ended with erotic rope tying. Baby I was ABOUT IT. This was so bloomin hot and also like sweet and tender. Really a sexy and sentimental treasure.

Not Your Typical Flower Shop Story by @jungtaeyoongles

This story goes from “aww” to “WHAT THE-” real quick. Fast paced plot and twist after twist turn the whole flower shop au upside down and then inside out. I can’t say more because spoilers but like - WOW.

▨ TABOO THEMES and DARK FIC ▨ (Sex Work/Power Imbalance/Very Unsafe Sex)

Extracurricular by @ppersonna

One of my favorite professor-student AUs. The reader writes her gorgeous professor a borderline erotic analysis of several major works of art and he feels compelled to discuss it with her privately. Lindy really outdid herself on this one. It is scorchin. Professor Tae is actually really sweet and somehow that just makes the whole thing hotter.

Akrasia by @nitaescence

This is insanely hot. Emphasis on the insane because it’s basically a super erotic romp where you have sex with a man you don’t know (Taehyung) on a crowded public bus. I literally felt my blood pressure going up the longer I read. Whew.

The Client by @jungkookiebus

This one hit me right in the feels. Taehyung is a sweet and lonely man who has a standing Wednesday appointment with an upscale sex worker. As the story progresses, feelings become involved on both sides. When I say I am checking her page thrice daily for part three... This is so engrossing. And this Tae. I just want to hold him.

Daffodil Dreams by @sombreboy

Tread carefully ladies and gents. This story is excellent, but it is easily the darkest fic on the list and, if you choose to read it, please read the trigger warnings carefully. The reader is a psychologist called in to analyze a very dangerous criminal. As their sessions progress, however, several boundaries are crossed.

Obey by @jjkfire

Taehyung is the most feared and ruthless member of the local mafia and you are the world’s most inept escort. You needed a job, but had no real interest in sex work and you’ve managed to fly under the radar as a glorified waitress until Kim Taehyung himself walks into your agency and decides that you’re the only girl he wants. Oh my gosh I loved this story so much. It was downright amazing and there is a surprise at the end that makes everything even sweeter.

[the-devils-girl94]

Okay I know this is very out of cannon but it sounded hilarious in my head and I want reactions to this

How do you think the new datables (+the demon bros if you want) react if one day Luke was just really fed up with everyone, so when some random demon tried to pick a fight with him, he got in a that fight and absolutely beat the other dude

(I was having trouble finding the rules, I'm hella sleep deprived so I deeply apologize if I aam breaking any. If I am, feel free to correct me or not answer my ask)

((One, I find that hilarious! I love when people finally snap on people who really deserve it instead of being doormats. So I already love this. Two, just imagine a smol little Luke beating the absolute crap out of someone who is twice his size and the person goes away weeping. Also I added MC because some MCs may or may not tease Luke or don't like to tease him.))

Diavolo:

He will find it hilarious! He won't punish Luke since he is a transfer student and almost every demon should know to never pick a fight with the transfer students or they will face heavy consequences. Although when he heard about it, he did not expect the little angel to be the victor. Oh well, he guessed all that teasing he got must have finally got to him.

Barbatos:

He's so proud. He won't say he was a bit worried about Luke being in a scuffle with a demon, but to hear that the little shortstack won, oh, he is smiling and trying his best to not show how proud he is of Luke for standing his ground. He makes treats to take to him since he might still be in a bad mood afterwards.

Simeon:

He's shocked but also super proud of Luke. Of course he gives Luke some space since he was mostly compliant in teasing him. So he wants to make sure he's not gonna get kicked in his shins if he messes with or babies the smol angel boy. Especially if he's still in a bad mood.

Solomon:

Just might get kicked in his shins or private area if Luke kicks high enough. Solomon has almost no tact so when he hears what happened, he will try to chum it up with Luke and joke around. Sometimes it might be at Luke's expense. So yeah he's gonna get kicked in the shins.

MC:

Shocked but not surprised. They knew it was only a matter of time before he blew up on somebody. Can't really blame him for being tired of everyone's shit. Of course, they expected either one of the demon brothers (mostly Mammon) or Solomon that he would beat up as it would have been well deserved. Most assuredly, MC would go over to comfort the smol angel and even bake some goods for him to help get him back to being his kid like bubbly self.

[toweroftickles]

UNCATEGORIZED FILES: Completely Random Ticklish Character Examinations

Exploring the multiverse for ticklish test subjects is surprisingly tedious sometimes. There’s so much data to sift through, tons of organization, and you’re often stuck with the same popular victims.

It’s fun to go after underutilized, unknown, or obscure entities. As of yet these personality profiles cannot properly be sorted within existing folders.

Mary Smith (Mary & The Witch’s Flower)

Most Ticklish Spots: Arches, Belly, Knees

A kind but proud witch student…skillful, protective of own image. Can’t stand being tickled - considers it humiliating and frustrating. Post-release, will immediately curl up into a ball, or cover her stomach with her arms and pout.

Sad-sounding laughter that really lers you know that she hates it. Helplessly begs for it to stop.

Will react with fury, and fight back.

Tickle Talk: Playful teasing with plenty of giggles, if she’s the one who starts it. If enacting revenge, however, she taunts aggressively and angrily to embarrass her playmate as much as possible.

When allowed the use of magic, imaginatively utilizes tickling finger spells, as well as object manipulation and stasis.

Teased about how ticklish she is by her boyfriend Peter. Tickle fights common.

Add. Notes: Comparisons to (her contemporary) Kiki are all but inevitable - not quite as ticklish but much less open to enjoying it. Direct side-by-side comparison may be beneficial for studying the impact of magic on sensitivity.

Razor Lemay (Starlink: Battle for Atlas)

Most Ticklish Spots: Feet, Abs and Belly Button, Upper Ribcage

This no-nonsense metal band pilot is highly resistant - use stronger restraints in future. A violent thrasher. Headbanging skills came in handy when freeing herself.

Never ceased to let me know that I’m a “sick weirdo.” Consider this possibility.

Though toned and muscular, her skin is surprisingly soft. Weak to any kind of tickling.

Most effective tool: backscratchers

Has an airy laugh that is mostly gasps and wheezes; runs out of breath quickly.

Used the phrase “oh my god” more than any other subject studied so far. Offered up nonstop torrent of swearing, violent threats, and begging for mercy.

Jojo McDodd (Horton Hears A Who)

Most Ticklish Spots: Sides, Feet

Hates it. Becomes embarrassed and angry when tickled. Will frustratedly sulk rather than fight back or seek revenge.

Usually groans through teeth but can’t prevent the odd chuckle from slipping out. Skilled at holding his voice in. Press the matter further.

Involuntary reflex - noodly arm flailing if not restrained.

Very responsive to poking and light, fluttery touches.

Often depressed. His mother, Sally O’Malley (who, according to him, is also quite ticklish - investigate) used to tickle him in attempt to cheer him up, but abandoned this years ago upon realizing it bothered him.

When his younger sisters want to pester him, tickling is a go-to option.

Add. Notes: With their long, fuzzy, highly-animated fingers, natural mischievous mirth, and piano-playing aptitude, the Who species has evolved anatomy well-suited for tickling others.

Schell The Spacewitch (Yooka-Laylee)

Most Ticklish Spots: Belly, Armpits

Considers tickling to be her “one true weakness” - doesn’t hate it, but it renders her utterly incapacitated.

Has one of those hearty laughs that carries well over distances.

Feathers are very effective.

Will eagerly return the favor - once used feather tickling as an interrogation method on a fellow spacewitch.

Interplanetary adventures have put her in conflict with various alien plants and monsters, some of which accidentally tickled her with tongues or tentacles or the like - take samples for further lab testing.

Sphinx (Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy)

Most Ticklish Spots: Belly Button, Feet

The adventurous and heroic sort, he’s a little bit cocky….tickling is a good way to make him slightly less so.

A surprisingly effective technique is to tickle his stomach with his own tail. Good results.

He himself occasionally uses his tail this way to flirt with girls.

Not excessively ticklish, but ticklish enough. Will at least squirm and try to pull away.

Doesn’t show much strong emotion…more vaguely weirded out by this than anything else.

Pipirika (Magi: Adventure of Sinbad)

Most Ticklish Spots: Toes/Balls of Feet, Ribs, Inner Thighs

Unusual Ticklish Spots: Inner Elbow

Loud and rough, unrefined. But also very friendly, excitable, and loves to laugh.

Like all Imuchakk people, huge in stature and musculature. Between her large size and insistence on always going barefoot, she’s a tempting target.

If you ask if she’s ticklish, or for permission to tickle her, she’ll gladly say yes and volunteer with a big smile on her face.

That said, she frequently seems to find herself much more ticklish than she remembers.

She likes it but she’s a kicker. Hard to pin down and will not hold still. Tough restraints essential.

Will always seek playful vengeance or start a tickle brawl. Loves to tickle her brother and friends. Often giggles and laughs more than the people she tickles.

Hearty, rumbling belly laugh. Very cute.

Can’t keep a secret; will tell others if you like tickling. (Not out of malice - she thinks it’s hilarious.)

Fire (Adventurers: Masters of Time)

Most Ticklish Spots: Feet, Lower Tummy, Belly Button

Self-described as “a total tickler. You better watch out!”

Her default attack when trying to escape an enemy’s grip is to tickle them. Has done it more than once. It’s canon. So there.

Claims to have used her school’s time travel computer specifically to visit and “play tickle pranks” on famous historical figures. Seemed very excited by the multiversal capabilities of the Tower.

Spunky and playful. Very energetic. Tickle Talk: mean, merciless, and will make fun of her victims for being so ticklish and weak.

Apparently aware that her constantly-exposed belly invites tickling. Will dare others to start a tickle fight with her “because you’ll lose.”

Most vulnerable to rough tickles (especially brushes).

Always laughs wildly and tells her tickler to stop, but seems to enjoy it at less-intense levels.

Add. Notes: I like this girl. She could be very useful.

Saki Amamiya & Airan Jo (Sin & Punishment/Smash Bros.)

Most Ticklish Spots (Saki): Feet, Belly, Lower Ribcage

Most Ticklish Spots (Airan): Toes, Sides

Virtually inseparable couple. Could not tickle one without the other.

A highly skilled gymnast and gunner, Saki will jump out of his skin when tickled. Airan will lash out physically or curl up into a defensive ball.

Saki is the more ticklish of the two. He’s a live wire of sensitivity; a poke can cripple him. Has a high-pitched giggle.

Airan has a low, wailing laugh. Quickly tears up and complains about how much her tummy hurts when tickled.

Airan sometimes tickles Saki awake in the morning and teases him when he squirms.

Both hate being tickled: feel it’s a silly, embarrassing vulnerability.

Neither are particularly touchy/physical and never really tickle each other. Don’t think about it often.

Saki eventually develops Ruffian physiology after an experiment with his blood - effects of this on ticklishness unknown.

Tess Darrett (Pole Position)

Most Ticklish Spots: Arches, Armpits

Unusual Ticklish Spots: Upper Back, Under Chin

Rarely far separated from her stunt rally cars and spy technology. Exceptionally difficult to apprehend.

Resourceful and skilled in combat. Exercise caution.

Once captured by a criminal organization and interrogated with feathers to make her reveal the access codes to her stunt car computer AI, Wheels. Strong willpower - laughed and laughed but refused to talk.

Otherwise is only ever tickled by her younger sister Daisy (who reportedly is also very ticklish, and has also been interrogated to force her older siblings’ hands).

Not usually a tickler. Avoids going after her younger brother, because he’s not ticklish and would definitely get her back.

Typical sibling relationship: her brother used to pin her down and tickle her when they were kids. She hates it.

Add. Notes: If a woman who is deeply entrenched in the seedy underworld has big 70s/80s hair and often wears a jumpsuit, just assume that she’s tough but with a soft side and also very ticklish. (See also: Fujiko Mine, Carmen Boom, April O’Neil.)

Conclusions:

I might indeed be a sick weirdo. This merits further study.

Breaking character…yeah, IDK what the hell this is and I’m assuming none of you care. Just kinda wanted to blow off steam. I like weird characters that nobody else really cares about.

And why the hell do I even write some of my blog entries this way? Deliberately making things “less fun” seems kinda like a bad idea.