#(the art- i mean. the dumb joke is my addition.)

[euovennia]

oh oh - and if it’s not too much trouble to ask, an addition to mom/dad friend simon, maybe another hc where reader takes a bullet for him and he’s like "why would you do that" and she’s all like "because your my friend" and he’s like "🥹" rubbing my hands together deviously

so for anyone new, this post is a continuation of this request, but it can be read as a stand alone if you so choose! i will say simon may be a bit ooc but you've already been besties forever so it's fine. thank you to the anon who requested this, i hope i did it justice. now please, enjoy <3

so by this point it's become well established that you and simon are pretty much a package deal

one can never be seen without the other trailing too far behind

unless of course one of you (usually simon) is actually trying to do their job

but even then you both have a tendency to hover

well

the hovering is usually done by simon who will take it upon himself to sit somewhere in the same room as you while you work

but you're more direct in your approach

which basically means you have no hesitation in pulling up a chair and talking his ear off

depending on his mood/what he's working on he'll either slide something your way in hopes of distracting you into silence or he'll take part in your mindless chatter

it's usually the latter much to the annoyance of price whose come to notice that simon tends to submit his mission reports just a tad later than normal when you're around

but he doesn't dare say anything because he's just happy simon finally has someone to keep him company

even if it does mean him missing a deadline here and there

now with the amount of time you two spend around one another, there was the small concern that you two may become a bit more reckless on missions together

but honestly?

that couldn't have been farther from the truth

as much as you like messing around with simon, you're very aware that your line of work requires your full attention

so, despite how hard it can be at times, you limit your jokes and general shenanigans to the bare minimum so you can get the job done

and obviously it goes without saying that he does the same by shedding the name simon riley and becoming the infamous ghost

it was a bit startling for the team to witness this change at first

they honestly thought you two were mad at each other

but after the mission was said and done, you and simon started hanging out again and it just kinda clicked

simon probably uses you as an example to soap to be honest

anyway, point is

you both know how to keep your friendship out of the way in the field, you've practically mastered the art of it

but the moment you see him get into a knife fight with an enemy soldier on a mission, you can't help but worry

and you can't help the way your worry morphs into panic as you see a tiny red dot plant itself on his body as he finally drives his knife into the neck of the rival soldier

and you certainly can't help the way your feet seemingly begin to move on their own as you sprint toward ghost and practically ram him into the ground

and you most definitely can't help the yelp of pain that drops from your lips as you feel a searing hot pain rip through your lower abdomen

so much for those bullet proof vests

simon looks up from his position on the ground, knife in hand and ready to stab it into the poor soul dumb enough to tackle him like this

but then he sees you

he sees your face, eyes wide with shock and mouth agape

his eyes trail down your body and he swears his world nearly crashes as he stares at the dark red spot currently staining your shirt

he can only fear the faint sound of yet another gun going off before you're tumbling onto the ground

he snaps out of his daze to catch you and he can't help but feel horrified upon seeing another bullet wound lodged into your thigh

he can hold in his cry of agony and heartbreak as your breathing soon becomes labored and your eyes fill with tears

he gives your struggling form a once over before sucking in a sharp breath and dragging you to a nearby hill that was littered with enough rocks and boulders to offer shelter from the incoming storm of bullets

he settles your head onto his lap as he harshly barks out words you can't even begin to understand through the comms

you can barely register the way his hand gives your face a small smack

your eyes connect as he pulls a roll of gauze from his tactical backpack, "come on, kid. don't do this to me. just a bit longer."

even with the searing hot pain that was overruling all your other senses, you can't help but smile

you grab onto his inked forearm and he stops as he looks back at you, eyes wild and frantic

"hey simon?"

"what?"

"thanks for putting up with me."

your eyes begin to flutter open, a small hiss of discomfort escaping your mouth as you cringe at the bright overhead lights

you make a move to bring a hand up in front of your eyes to shield yourself form the harsh fluorescents, but stop your movements when the lights suddenly begin to dim

confused, you begin to look around the room only to see simon standing by a wooden door with his hand on what you assumed to be a light dimmer

he stares at you through the eye holes of his balaclava, "better?"

you offer him a nod paired with a small smile and open your mouth to offer your thanks but stop when he puts the lights back up to their full brightness causing you to let out a groan

you open your mouth once more to vocalize your complaints and throw a half-hearted insult his way, but stop when you hear the heavy footfall of simon's boots making their way over to your hospital bed

he comes to a stop by your bedside as he glares down at you, a swirl of emotions darkening his already hardened gaze

after giving your eyes a few moments to adjust he speaks, "you're the stupidest person i've ever fuckin' met."

your eyes widen as your jaw goes slack, "excuse me?"

he leans down and stops just a few inches short of your face, "i said you're stupid and i'd yank you off the field myself if i could."

you can feel your heart drop at his harsh tone but decide to soldier on, "you're in a good mood today, aren't ya?"

his eyes narrow and a growl of anger and frustration escape the lips hidden by his mask, "don't give me any of that shit, you know what you did."

you sigh, "i'm in a hospital bed, simon. i don't think i could've done any–"

you don't even get to finish your sentence before he's interrupting you, "why'd you do it?"

you stare up at him, confusion and annoyance evident on your face

"simon, what are y–"

he scoffs, "the fucking bullet! you took the fucking bullet! why'd you do that? what made you think that was a bloody good idea? do you have any fucking clue what you put this team – what you put me through?"

oh

right

your expression melts into one of sheepishness as you attempt to get in a word, but stop when simon decides to continue

"i had the situation handled, i could've taken care of myself! i'm smart, i'm capable, and i have years more experience than you do so tell me, i can handle myself! i don't need you steppin' in and throwin' yourself in front of bullets! you coulda fuckin' died!"

"simon–"

he points a finger in your face as he continues on with his rant, "no, you don't get to call me that, not anymore. from here on out, you either address me as ghost or lieutenant, nothing else until you can learn how to handle yourself on the field. we need soldiers, not daredevils. do you understand?"

you exhale, "no."

before he can continue with his angry tangent you sit up with a painful grimace and grab the pillow the pillow your head once rested upon and fling it at him

he narrowly dodges it and stares at you with a mix of rage and pure disbelief with a glare that practically screamed, "what the fuck."

hit block limit again. i'm afraid this may become a habit. anyway.

taking his silence as your cue to speak, you do just that, "okay fine, you're right. i probably shouldn't have tackled you down like that and taken a bullet for you, i probably should've remembered that you're a fully capable man with more experience than me, and i probably should've remembered that the field is no place to be playing favorites. you're right, i should've kept that all in mind but–"

you let out a small sigh as you avert your eyes to the think blanket draped over your body, "when i saw that gun pointed right at you i...i couldn't bring myself to care about any of that. at that moment, all i saw was you in danger and i couldn't have that so i did what i did. you can reprimand and punish me all you want for doing it, but i don't care. i stand by my actions."

simon eyes you for a few moments longer before grabbing onto a chair nearby and settling it beside your bed

you watch as he sits down with a small sigh, his eyes never leaving yours

"why?"

your brows knit together in confusion

"why what?"

"why'd you take a bullet–no, why'd you take two bullets for me? you and everyone else on this team know i could've handled it, so why?"

you frown, "because you're my friend, simon. why else?"

once those words leave your mouth, you're greeted with his blank ghost stare

again, he's just 👁️👁️

and you feel a small wave of concern wash over you

like

this is the same man who was torturing you with the bright fluorescent lights and lecturing you to hell just a few minutes ago and now he's just staring at you

still and silent as ever

you almost ask if he's okay, but stop yourself when he brings his large hand up to the edge of your hospital bed and begins inching it closer to yours before eventually resting it over yours

it's quiet for a few moments longer before he speaks in one of the quietest voices you've ever heard from him, "you took that bullet cause i'm your friend?"

you can't help but soften your own voice as you respond, "my best friend."

upon hearing you say that, simon can just feel the small well of tears that begin building up in his eyes

and as much as he wants to fight them off, he just can't

you, already being able to sense the internal war he's got going on inside his head, simply turn your hand so you can grip onto his and give it a firm squeeze

and by god he hates you for that

because now he can't help but disconnect your hands in favor of surging forward and wrapping his arms around you

you swear you can feel the small rumble of his shoulders as he tries and fails to conceal his quiet sniffles but you decide to overlook it because oh my god simon 'ghost' riley is crying in your arms and it's all your fault

so you decide it's best to just hold onto him as tight as you possibly can

he notices this and he just melts

what did he do to deserve you?

what overpowering force of life felt that he was good enough for the sunshine that is you?

who gave him the honor of being blessed with you?

he's not sure but quite frankly, he doesn't really care

not when you're holding onto him like your life depends on it

not when you pull back from the hug, look into his eyes, and offer him the brightest smile he's ever seen

and certainly not when you grab onto his hands and speak in that sweet honey voice of yours, "i'll always take a bullet for you. i can't lose you, simon."

jesus christ you're going to make his heart burst

he sucks in a small breath and squeezes onto your hands, "i can't lose you either, kid."

you only smile, "you won't, i'm always gonna be here with you."

words that once would've annoyed him to no end now set his cold heart alight

"you fuckin' better."

your smile widens and you lean forward to capture him in yet another hug

with his arms wrapped tightly around your body and you pressed up against him, he can't help but smile

it's definitely nice to have a friend

:)

[urplepurplegurgleturgle]

» The devil’s coming but only to worship me_.

Heyo guys, gals, and nonbinary pals! I'm Donatello, but I more commonly go by Don. I'm your average ninja mutant turtle teen with a penchant for violence and chaotic shenanigans. I'm just a silly guy, don't be afraid to hang around! You can slide something into my inbox while you're at it, I won't mind !

OC MASTERPOST (Last updated: July 1st)

SONA REFERENCE SHEET

TMNT:FF TURTLE REFERENCES

PRONOUNS PAGE

400 FOLLOWER DTIYS

THE GANG!!!

#atomic bomb [⚛️🧪] - @atomic-rattz (BEST BRO 🗣🗣🗣)

#Nebula [⭐️♠️]- @splatting-stampede (Nee-chan!!!)

#insufferable twink 🧡 - @rawcherrycake (my beloveth.. <3)

Other moots!

#eepy tello 💤 - @mrsleepytello (annoying star-gremlin /aff)

#cassette tape 📼 - @cin3maa (THE LIL SIS EVER‼️‼️)

#Glitter Gloop [🫐✨] - @heaven-is-a-bedroom (Silly-Billy big bro :3)

EXTRA TAGS

#my art - for my art, duh

#purple.txt [👾] - me when I yap

#swords vs tech - my rivalry with @ceruleanterrapin (he's cool guys I swear)

#villain au - anything related to my villain arc! hehhehehe

#cyan.txt [🧬] - My oc DNA's talking tag (he took over my blog once)

ADDITIONAL INFO UNDER CUT (PLEASE READ)

MY ART REQUESTS ARE CLOSED!!

Please don’t ask if my requests or commissions are open. They aren’t. And I don’t plan to open them any time soon. I’m a self-indulgent artist who draws what he wants, and I’d like to keep it that way.

INTERESTS Feel free to talk to me about these things!

Splatoon and the Splatoon Manga (aka coroika). It's my favorite video game EVER and I am more than ready to gush about it.

Pokemon. I'm not as well versed in the earlier games, but I do know quite a bit of it!

Legend of Zelda. Specifically BoTW, TotK, TP, and SS.

Kirby. I am I HUGE fan of the eldritch horrors in this game.

Haikyuu, SpyxFamily, Kuroko no Basket, Dungeon Meshi, and Kusuriya no Hitorigoto.

Vocaloid and J-pop. It's all I listen to, actually.

BOUNDARIES

Tcest, incest, and proshippers DNI

I make suggestive jokes (I'm a teen. What dost thou expect of me), but I won't be drawing NFSW, nor will I accept me or other minors being sexualized. We are not child molesters.

Please be nice! I'm not exactly the best at wording things (tone indicators save my life), but I will never, EVER be mean to someone on purpose (unless they deserve it. Then I'll go ham). While interacting on my blog, please refrain from being toxic. Some thoughts are better left to yourself

NO STEALING MY ART!! I don't know why you'd want to steal it in the first place (it sucks ass), but don't do it anyways. You can use it as long as you give credit.

I don't do commissions, but I take requests! If I see something in my ask box I like, I'll draw it. So, if you have any ideas, feel free to share them! I like having motivation boosters.

Don't.... don't try to flirt with me........ I'm taken....... I won't accept... guys please..... I know I'm hot but like.... please........ I'm also a minor....... guys..... 😞

EXTRA INFO ABOUT ME!!! IF YOU EVEN CARE!!!

16 years old

5'4"

INTP / 5w4 / 548

I ate a roly poly once (I was fIVE-)

During covid I chose suicide, now I choose homicide :)

I may be a Donnie but I am warning you, I am very. Very dumb

AuDHD (I just say I'm autistic tho because it's funnier)

Chaotic evil

Literally just a cat in a turtle body

Will Bite /threat

Keeps getting adopted by people for some reason

Yyyyyeeahhhhh that's about it, remember to be nice and have fun and shit. Stay silly gang!!!!

[whiskersz]

Hi there! I know you said matchups were closed but if you dont mind, Id like to send this in, just so I dont forget haha. If you dont wanna, its fine, feel free to delete my ask, or save it until you do reopen them, I just wanted to send one now because im forgetful and heard nothing but good things from my friend. <:) sorry to be a bother, once again, feel free to delete if I am bothering you

Im Ace, I go by she/they pronouns, Im bi, and stand at a height of 5'3.

I'm an introvert with anxiety and depression, but I am SUPER energetic and silly when you get to know me. I can be playfully mean, but i'm always there to help a friend in need. I get riled up pretty easy but Ive been told im very sweet and helpful and fun to be around.

Im chaotic and kinda delusional, and I can be flirty at times. I can also get a bit violent.

I think it says a lot about me seeing as I see Angel Dust as a big brother figure. I can be very sly at times and definitely impulsive.

Im creative and both really smart and really dumb, and Im mostly a coward unless it comes to friends and/or family

Im very sarcastic, playful, and affectionate, and I have no trouble saying I love you to people, but I do have trouble saying im sorry. Im also a people pleaser. I definitely dont make enemies but I do hold grudges. Im also super emotional and clingy. Daddy issues go BRRRRR

Thank you! Sorry again, hope im not being a bother.

Hello Ace!! Don’t worry, I don’t mind the occasional additional matchup! Do thank your friend from me for speaking well of my stuff, I appreciate that lots :3

Now, you seem to have quite the explosive personality, if you will >:3 So I match you with...

Cherri Bomb!!

To start off, Cherri is surely an individual who can take jokes, so you’re never going to have to be afraid to be a bother for her with your sarcastic and playful remarks as she will actually find this part of your personality hilarious, and will always play along and joke back.

She will definitely take advantage of your cluelessness sometimes – don’t call yourself dumb! – and tease you for it, though if she goes too far it’s not a problem for her to remind you that she was just joking and that she actually finds it really cute.

Cherri loves hanging out with fun people, so you being fun to be around is certainly a vantage point here. She’s not afraid of admitting when a person is boring and not of her liking, but I have the feeling that she would think the exact opposite of you. in fact, it’s not uncommon for her to invite you along whenever she hangs out with Angel.

You’re creative? She loves that about you. I imagine her house as one of those houses full of pop art paintings, handmade things and such. No matter how you express your creativeness, she will appreciate it and place something you made in plain sight somewhere around the house.

She also adores how expressive you are in a relationship; there’s many gestures that she finds attractive, but none goes above being proud of a partner and constantly reminding them that you love them, so when you do this with her she will waste no time and kiss you.

She doesn’t mind you being clingy at all, also. She actually finds it very cute and she loves receiving physical affection, so who is she to say no to a hug or a cuddle? If you’re into PDA just as she is, she’ll be thrilled to show each other affection in public, also to show others how lucky she is that she gets to date you.

Despite being quite chaotic herself, Cherri is also a very good friend and partner when it comes to comforting you; as seen in the “Addicted” music video, she’s willing to help Angel with his struggles, so why wouldn’t she do so with you as well? She understands that everyone has moments where anxiety overwhelms them too much, and that people who struggle with depression like you don’t have it easy every day, so in these times she will offer you all the support that you need. Mainly through physical contact, but also in other ways if you prefer being shown love through actions or words, for example.

You two might come across a bit of a problem if you ever end up arguing; she’s also not easy to get a ‘sorry’ out of, but one of you will have to apologize to the other sooner or later. I feel that if the relationship has been going on for a while, this will be easier, but at the start you two might have to take a bit of time alone before ultimately coming to the conclusion that yes, you do love each other and yes, apologizing if you’re in the wrong is the better option if you desire a happy relationship.

Overall, you and Cherri make quite the chaotic and fun couple! The rest of the Hotel loves having you two around when you visit, you definitely bring an air of fun and excitement.

[sketch-guardian]

I need the students with an mc who has horrible bangs/fridge 🙏

Oh dear😂well, I'll do my best😌I hope I didn't come off as offensive🙈:

"RAD CLASSMATES+NEW EXCHANGE STUDENTS WITH A MC WHO HAS HORRIBLE BANGS"

DEMYA

Demya has peculiar hair, meaning that genetically she was born with two different colors of hair, light blue and blue, a characteristic trait of the fauxsaeva race, in addition to the set of various horns on her head. For Demya it would be pretty normal, a basic trait, especially due to her demon nature, so sometimes it would be a bit difficult for Demya to remember to say while in disguise as an excuse on Earth that she has dyed hair and eyebrows, given that it would be impossible to have such colors in natural way for humans. Therefore, Demya wouldn't mind if MC had strange hair or a bad haircut such as horrible bangs, she would care more about important things like personality rather than physical appearance, as long as MC proves to be worthy and a good mate, Demya would be more than happy with it. In case someone offended MC for their horrible bangs, Demya would get protective and, if not stopped, make sure to put the person who bothered MC in their place, perhaps by tearing their hair out, if they have any, otherwise Demya would scratch their face, to teach the asshole a lesson

DOMNRA/MOBIM

Domnra isn't exactly in a position to criticize other people's haircuts, considering he looks like an emo with that tuft of hair in front of his left eye, but to be fair, he only has that in order to cover his blind eye, not wanting to use an eye patch. Before, when Domnra was in the Celestial Realm in fact, he had his hair slicked back. Mobim on the other hand, being hairless, wouldn't have an opinion on MC's terrible bangs, the little curse would be too kind to mock or show prejudice. Domnra however, would find MC's haircut embarrassing and dumb, he would refrain himself from criticizing though, considering that even his hair isn't the best, over time Domnra would end up getting used to their hair and no longer notice such detail. If someone teased MC over their horrible bangs, Domnra would give the jerk in question a black eye

AZUL

Azul has short white hair, soft and slightly curly, almost like the wool of a sheep or a lamb, so his haircut doesn't require too much care or attention and it can result pleasant to ruffle Azul's hair as a tease, although rather than being annoyed, he would likely enjoy the affectionate gesture. Azul has an eye for art and appreciates all aspects of compositions, both harmony and chaos, yet he couldn't help but find MC's hideous bangs quite funny, wondering if it was an accident or a conscious choice. If MC was sensitive about their bad bangs, Azul would avoid taking pictures or joking about their hair, however if they were chill about the topic, then every now and then Azul would show MC memes of people with bad haircuts, saying stuff like "look, it's you" to joke around, expecting them to tease him back with something equally hilarious, after all Azul is pretty cheeky and has a certain sense of humor. If someone made fun of MC's horrible bangs, Azul would be able to humiliate and roast the offender without even breaking a sweat

ZURI

Zuri has long, silky hair, slightly wavy towards the ends when she styles it in a ponytail, she takes great care of keeping it tidy and flawless, so only the luckiest ones, such as MC, would be granted the honor to fiddle with her locks, by twisting them around a finger, only in intimacy and if there were no other imminent work commitments to attend to. At the sight of MC's horrible bangs, Zuri would keep a blank face, but internally grimace at such atrocity, mentally wondering whether the perpetrator was MC or some incompetent hairstylist. In case MC was self-conscious about their haircut, Zuri would offer to accompany them to an expert hairdresser or at most, if they don't feel up to it, to let her do their hair, as Zuri is skilled with scissors. In any case, Zuri would attempt her best to make MC feel gorgeous, if they were fine with staying with keeping that hideous haircut though, Zuri would sigh, but in the end let it go. It's unlikely that anyone would insult Zuri's beloved, especially in her presence, because her icy glare would be enough as a deterrent against insolent and rude people

ODON

Odon literally has to hide their "eyes" behind bangs because their full bare face is such a horror beyond comprehension that just looking at it induces either madness or death due to them being an eldritch abomination, so MC would be wrong to assume Odon would care about something as irrelevant as an haircut. In fact Odon wouldn't have an opinion on the matter and would accept MC however they choose to present themselves, it would be the least considering they accepted Odon as a friend despite their past misdeeds, reputation and eldritch horror nature. Although it's known that Odon has changed for the better and is no longer the same cruel eldritch horror they were centuries ago, people would still avoid making fun of MC, because they wouldn't want to screw around and find out if the rumors were true

REMIEL

Remiel has hair with light shades at the ends and locks pulled back in a small ponytail, she also has a tuft of hair on the left side of her face to cover the crack on her skin, which contains a black void filled with eyes, a small window onto her true celestial form. Her peculiar trait has never personally bothered Remiel, she simply chose to style her hair in such way as not to further frighten the souls she has to help reach the afterlife, as they are already quite troubled by the dramatic situation in which they find themselves. Remiel has been criticized more for her half-angel, half-nephilim race rather than for her appearance and she doesn't know Earthly norms of how to present oneself or what is considered normal by human standards very well, so although she would try to learn them, MC's horrible bangs wouldn't bother Remiel at all, it would simply be another characteristic trait of MC, her light. If some rude person insulted MC over their bangs, Remiel would remain calm and explain with a matter-of-fact tone that it was just a haircut, that it was irrelevant for balance and that the most important thing is purity of mind and soul, involuntarily making the unfortunate jerk feel as the worst person on the planet with her somber gaze

NATHANIEL

Nathaniel has peculiar hair, straight golden blonde on the outside and bright blue on the inside, quite interesting to look at, especially in other hairstyles, even though he barely ever changes his haircut. Appearance is one of the last things on Nathaniel's mind and he has much more urgent celestial matters to think about than MC having horrible bangs, so even though he would notice their hair, he wouldn't comment it, instead paying more attention to spending the free time he was given with them, he would even let MC play with his hair if interested, he wouldn't mind at all, actually he would find it soothing. It would be rare for anyone to insult MC's bad bangs in the presence of the Archangel of Patience and Temperance, because despite him being patient and tolerant, as his title suggests, his default stoic and piercing gaze would prevent people from making blunt or rude comments

URIEL

Uriel has slightly wavy hair, a neat fringe and small wings instead of ears which she often holds in front of her eyes, covering them from sight and preventing others from reading her expressions, in short it would be a particular hairstyle mainly for that reason. Uriel doesn't know human norms of how to present oneself in public, however she would still sense something off with MC from an aesthetic point of view, identifying the problem with MC's horrible bangs. Uriel would be quite blunt in asking about the origins of their haircut and whether it was possible to get it fixed, but otherwise, apart from a slight annoyance every now and then, Uriel would soon forget about it and would no longer give their hair much importance, considering MC's braveness, sense of justice and soul more fundamental than anything else. If someone were to insult MC's horrible bangs, Uriel would flare up her wings and shout at the bastard that they should be ashamed of their awful behavior

[peachiejeongin]

Give Me Your TMI | hhj.

Synopsis: You’re not exactly sure how, but from the moment you laid eyes on Hwang Hyunjin, you couldn’t look away. He was mysterious, but it was that mystery that plagued your every thought. You couldn’t help but want to get to know him more.

Genre: School Alternate Reality, Fluff, Slight Angst Warnings: Bullying + Fighting + Detailed mentions of injury + Derogatory Names (Bully calls y/n a slut) + Swearing, lots of it + Not proofread

Notice: Hello, my loves! As always, credit must be given where it is due! I got the inspiration for this story from ‘This Universe’ by the lovely JenoMark! Please go read that story before checking out this one :)

----

He was quiet, timid, and an art geek. You have not said one word to him all school-year. Hell, you did not even know his name.

Therefore, you were not exactly sure what possessed you to stick up for him that day. He did not ask you to, nor did you really want to, but it felt right in a way.

A group of seven stood around him; however, their stance was not as intimidating as intended. Their target was significantly taller than their measly heights. The “tallest” was no more than one hundred and seventy-two centimeters. They circled the boy like hungry leopards ready to pounce on their pray. 

The shortest one spoke up first, asking him why he was so quiet. They all crowded him for an answer, treating the matter as if it was a deadly sin to be shy.

A bit of concern struck you; after all, their demeanor was not friendly in the slightest. As such, you pretended to drop your notebook, furthering your act as you searched for it under the table, when in reality you were keeping your gaze focused on the gang of boys and their, seemingly, horrid intentions. 

“Do you even have a name?” the presumable leader of the group piped up, shoving the boy’s shoulder. He gave no physical reaction, and the bullies mocked him for this. 

‘Deplorable,’ you could not help but think. It truly was disgusting how high school boys acted when they could not be condemned for their behavior.

“Hyunjin,” he muttered in a barely audible tone. “My name is Hyunjin.” He stared down at the bullies with a poker face. Although you were unable to read his expression from your angle of sight, there was a certain aspect of it that the leader did not take too kindly.

“Really?” the leader leered, leaning into Hyunjin’s face until their noses were almost touching. You could not help the fear that punched at your gut in addition to the uncertainty of what the boys could or would do to Hyunjin. As such, you intervened and rose from your position under the desk.

“Don’t you idiots have somewhere to be?” you inquired, leaning against the desk you were previously beneath. “Y’know, rather than messing with this kid?”

None of the seven, or eight for that matter, took notice of you. In fact, the seven found you quite comical in your standings, laughing at your comments as if you were joking around with them.

“As I was saying,” the leader leaned in closer to Hyunjin, if that was even possible. “Hyunjin, aye? Pretty dumb name. What does it even mean?”

“Shut up,” you spoke up once more. All eyes once again stuck to you, most in disgust but one pair in awe.

The leader turned his head in your direction with furrowed eyebrows. He then stood up idly, making his way over to you and subsequently towering over you.

“Look here, Hyunjin. You got yourself a girlfriend!” Hyunjin did not answer, instead keeping his focus on you as if he was anticipating your every move.

“I’m not afraid of you,” you flicked at the leader’s chest daringly, noting how he was attempting to mentally overpower you with his stance and expressions. “You’re just a loser who bullies kids for attention. No one actually likes you, y’know.”

“I could say the same thing from what I’ve heard about you.” You clenched your fist at those words. The rumors he made mention of were not true, of course not. You felt your brain fog up with anger, and before you knew it, you had knocked the leader clean in the nose. You quickly realized your mistake once he regained his stance. His nose was crooked and covered with a glob of blood. The bone appeared as if it was about to protrude through the skin with any wrong movement.

“You’re dead, Slut. DEAD!” You regained your own composure, ready to stick up for yourself once more. Yet, you did not get the chance as Hyunjin was on his feet now. He strode across the room and threw his own punches at the leader. Though the punches were rough, they were not enough to knock the leader off of his feet. The other six boys crowded around Hyunjin. It was seven on one; Hyunjin did not stand a single chance. 

With this realization, you joined in once more. You were tougher than you looked, Hyunjin noted as you knocked down one of the boys with one singular punch. 

Several more punches were thrown, cuts were clawed, and blood was shed. A nearby administrator heard the commotion and broke up the fight, dragging all nine of you to the headmaster’s office. Although neither of you could move in your restrained positions, you and Hyunjin gave weak smiles to each other.

---

You all awaited your hours of judgment in the dingy principal’s office. You and Hyunjin and the seven boys were separated respectively so that no more chaos could erupt.

The seven boys were called in first, one after another in order to see how well their stories matched up. The leader walked in with a triumphant expression as if he was going to sell the best story known to mankind. He came from money, so there was no doubt that the principal would fall for it. 

Hyunjin was called in shortly after the leader. You made eye contact with him once more, and he flashed you the same shy smile he had in the hallway. You grimaced at the blood oozing from a small cut on the right side of his bottom lip.

You sat there for what felt like an hour before Hyunjin was released and you were called in. You looked at Hyunjin again, returning the smile he had given you when he was interrogated. ‘Good luck,’ he mouthed meekly.

You slumped in the plastic seat opposing the principal’s sleek, wooden desk.

“Y/n,” she sighed. “How many more times am I going to expect you this year, Dear?” She looked at you with deep disappointment.

“Depends how much more injustice goes on in this school, ma’am,” you replied monotonously, never looking up from the nail you were currently picking at. She ignored your response, widening her eyes in an annoyed manner.

“Anyways, would you like to give me your account of what happened?”

“Would I? Absolutely not. Do I have to if I want to go home tonight? Hmm, well I don’t think you or I want to stay here for the night so,” you smirked, finally looking up at the headmaster. “My account is quite simple: seven boys were picking on another, I defended the latter, the bullying was turned to me, I stuck up for myself, and finally Hyunjin took it upon himself to stick up for me when the bullies progressed. Is that enough for you ma’am? Or do you want me to give the story of how I punched an innocent student for no reason because I’m a misfit who doesn’t know how to handle my emotions properly?” You leaned back and crossed your arms as you finished, narrowing your eyes at the woman in front of you.

“That’s not what I was implying, or, in fact, what I ever imply, y/n-”

“Really? ‘Cus you may not intentionally imply it, but trust me, ma’am, the judgment is present. Not to mention, I’m one hundred percent certain it’s what those guys just attempted, key word, to sell you not even two hours ago,” you sit up this time, leaning on your elbows, which were resting on the arm rests of your chair. “You have my account now, may I leave?”

“Unfortunately for both of us, I have to ask a few questions to get a more... detailed account,” she grasped at the files skewed about on her desk until she had yours in hand. “Let’s see. First off, what were the comments made to you in reference to?”

“What were you told they were in reference to?” you probed deeper, partially to be annoying and partially due to curiosity.

“Y/n,” the principal sighed again, this time out of annoyance. “Neither of us have time for this. You are a grown woman by law, and so am I. So please, and I don’t mean to be vulgar, but answer the damn question.” You raised your eyebrows, tilting your head to the side against the soft material of your finger gloves.

“Hm, I don’t know. See, Miss, I know how the hierarchy in this school works. In reality, it doesn’t exactly matter if I answer your questions or not because you’re going to believe the upper-class student whether he’s innocent or not. But so help me if I have to answer, Mr. Daddy’s Money called me a slut. He has been calling me a slut for only Heaven knows how long. Yet, every time I actually tell you this information, you or some other faculty member gaslight me into believing the comments were misunderstandings.” You were rambling, but you were fed up. You wanted to go home, which you knew you were not exactly aiding in your case, but you also had a desire to convince the administrators that money does not equal class. “Any other questions?” The principal stared at you in both disbelief and slight realization. 

“No,” she answered simply. “None. I will inform you of your punishment within a few moments. You are dismissed, y/n.” Once she finished, she looked down at her paperwork, not once glancing back up at you. You strode out of her office without a single etch of worry on your face. You took your place besides Hyunjin, glancing at him as he fiddled with his hoodie string. A miracle happened in that very moment:

Hyunjin spoke.

“What, uh, what did you tell her?” he mumbled to you, a slight Korean dialect accentuating his words. You looked up at him in shock, finally getting a good look at him for the first time; he, of course, was much taller than you, with longer dirty blonde hair that came down to his shoulders. His heart-shaped face was now decorated with cuts and bruises from the earlier scuffle.

He was beautiful.

You found yourself unable to form words simply from his ethereal appearance. He flashed a shy smile, seemingly trying to get your attention from your star-struck state.

“Sorry,” you said quickly, “I just told her what happened. Those pricks were bugging you, so I stepped in and defended both myself and you.”

“Sweet,” he quietly responded. His glance turned from you to the floor as he absent-mindly fidgeted with his fingers.

It was silent once more until the principal walked out, files in hand, with a sigh.

“Alright, so,” she began as if she were a sports announcer. “You seven,” she pointed to the trouble-makers. The leader was smirking as if he had already won over you and Hyunjin. “On school-based charges of violence, both physical and verbal, you are all hereby suspended for two weeks.” All nine of you had your mouths agape, seven in anger, two in disbelief, all in shock. 

“As for you two,” the principal continued, “I appreciate you sticking up for one another, but please, going forward try to lessen the physical aspect of it.” You could have sworn you saw a smile poking at her lips. “Although I do have fondness for your intentions, school rule, and more so the law, says I do have to punish you. You both have after school detention for the remainder of the week.” Upon finishing her declarations, she walked back into her office. The seven bullies slugged out first, angrily muttering over their punishments. Hyunjin left soon after, smiling and nodding to you once more.

“Thank you,” he added on to his kind gesture. “I do appreciate it.”

“Any time,” you replied, mirroring his gentleness. You were the last to leave. You made the conscious decision to walk home, not necessarily having a ride. Plus, you only lived a couple blocks away from the school.

You made it home just before sunset, fiddling with the spare key-set you kept under your front door mat. Hyunjin had arrived from his car ride home. His parents were angry, spewing raging comments as to how he needs to be concerned with himself and nobody else, the latter no doubt referring to you. He flashed you a nervous glance before he was practically thrown into the house next door. You finally managed to unlock your door, doing so with a newfound interest in your neighbor.

---

You could not get Hyunjin off of your mind. Whether it was his beauty or mystery that plagued you, he was all your thoughts consisted of. You are not even sure why you had interfered with him. He lived next to you, but that was all you knew about him. You have not spoke a word to him during all four years of high school. You did not even know his name until today. You were apart of different friend groups; well, he was apart of a friend group, or so you thought. You, on the other hand, did not care much for friends. You only spoke to teachers and, occasionally, whoever you were paired up with for projects.

You stood up dreadfully and opened the blinds to your window. You sat in the unusually large windowsill, glancing across the way to Hyunjin’s illuminated window. He was in the same position as you were, slouched over in his windowsill and staring up at the ceiling. His gaze trailed from the ceiling over to your side of the block. His eyes widened nervously upon meeting yours, and he waved shyly. You returned both the wave and the timid demeanor, earning a shy laugh from the boy. 

He got up from the window, saddening you slightly; although, he did not go too far away. He opened his window, shivering slightly as the cool winter air met his body. He motioned for you to do the same, and you followed suit. You pried open your window carefully and crouched slightly whilst keeping your hands placed at a distance apart on the bottom sill. 

“How’s your hand?” he began the conversation, nodding his head towards your bruised knuckles. You rubbed them subconsciously, your other hand moving slightly forward in a ‘don’t-worry-about-it’ gesture.

“Eh, not hurting as much anymore,” you spoke loudly over the falling snow. Hyunjin shook his head as if he found your response amusing. “How about you? How’s your...” you rubbed your finger over your lip in the area mirroring where his cut was. He mocked your previous gesture, which elicited a giggle from your end.

“Hurts,” he responded. You were about to respond with a sarcastic remark; however, Hyunjin’s bedroom door swung open to reveal his mother, an angry hand on her hip and a rage-filled expression etched on her face.

“Hyunjin! What did I tell you about her?! Go to sleep, now!” She slammed the door distastefully, causing both you and Hyunjin’s smiles to fade. He looked at you sorrowfully, and you nodded in understanding. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said with a broken voice. You nodded and waved goodbye in response.

As both windows shut, blinds closed, and lights flickered off, Hyunjin felt ions away once again.

---

The next morning seemed anything but bright and sunny, contrasting its physical appearance. You had come to the conclusion that a friendship between you and Hyunjin was simply not meant to happen; therefore, you were going to avoid him. At all costs, no matter how much you wanted to, you would not speak, think of, or even acknowledge Hyunjin.

Or so you figured.

The moment you began the dreaded walk to school, headphones in ear and music nearly deafening your eardrums, you felt a tap on your shoulder. You removed your left earbud and looked up at the tapper.

“Hey!” was all he said to push every thought of ignoring him to the back-burner. You still attempted to stand your loner grounds, only giving a small nod in reply. “You uh, ready for detention?” his demeanor was playful, but the question only brought forward further annoyance from your end. 

You had forgotten all about after-school detention.

“Why are you talking to me?” you asked Hyunjin, coming off more stand-offish than you had intended. His joyous expression diminished slowly. 

“I want to talk to you. You seem pretty chill,” he responded meekly, as if he did not want to make you any more enraged than you already seemed.

“Talking to me gets you in trouble,” you probed further.

“You say that as if I care,” Hyunjin persisted. “Like I said, I think you’re pretty interesting.” A scoff elicited from your mouth, surprising you as much it did Hyunjin. “I mean, I thought so at least. What happened to the person I was talking to last night? Or the person I was giggling with in the halls yesterday?”

“Hyunjin. Really? I mean, come on, four years of high school, we haven’t said one word to each other, then I knock down a couple bullies, more so for my sake than yours, and suddenly I’m interesting?” You both had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. Although furious, your words were not sincere.

And Hyunjin knew that.

“Why don’t I believe you?” You shrugged, going to put your dangling earbud back in; however, Hyunjin stopped you. “Are you not talking to me because you genuinely don’t want to or because my mom screamed at me when you did talk to me? Because, like I said, I couldn’t care less! I want to talk to you, no matter how much trouble it gets me in!”

“Has anyone ever told you you’re a pain in the ass?” you popped off, once again shocking both you and Hyunjin. There was an apology etched on your face, but Hyunjin shook his head in dismissal. “Hyunjin-”

“Message received, y/n.” With that, he sped up, walking away from you without a seeming care in the world. You did not mean what you had said, after all how could you have? You just did not want to open up.

Rather, you could not open up.

---

The school day was the same as last night: you could not get your mind, more so your eyes today, off of Hyunjin. You watched his every move like a stalker. He was polite, of course, but contrary to your former beliefs, he did everything alone. He walked to class alone, he ate lunch alone, and he spent his free time alone. You could not blame him; you did the same thing. Yet, it intrigued you. It was strange, you thought, how you had lived next door to him practically your whole life, yet yesterday was the first day you had ever talked to him.

All throughout the day, you heard whispers or had direct confrontations about the prior day’s events. You never gave detailed responses, chalking it up to ‘you had to be there to believe it.’ Nevertheless, the story was twisted into multiple different versions. Some painted Hyunjin as the hero and you as the villain, some vise versa, others omitted one party or the other. Some versions of the events were complete hullabaloo, having some version of you and Hyunjin as a couple. Then there were the nasty stories about how Hyunjin was sleeping with you and that is the reason why he defended you. All stories had one common denominator:

They were nonsense.

You ignored the whispers of your name as you walked the hallways, keeping your eyes peeled for Hyunjin as it neared the end of the day in hopes that you could apologize. You sighed when he never came about, slamming your locker shut and making your way to the detention hall. 

You walked in to see both Hyunjin and the supervising teacher waiting for you.

“Sorry,” you muttered insincerely. “Locker got stuck.”

“Never mind,” the teacher replied. “Take your seat.” He motioned to a seat on the opposite side of the room from Hyunjin, yet parallel to his position. “Don’t want you two causing more trouble than you already have,” he elaborated on your seating placement, giving you a distasteful feeling in your gut.

“Alright, so,” the teacher began, “now that we are all here, welcome to detention. Rules are simple: no talking, no horseplay, no leaving early, and no phones. If any rules are broken, a minor infraction will be written up for the perpetrator and you will be suspended for two to five days. Do I make myself clear?” You and Hyunjin gave a side glance to one another before nodding reluctantly.

Detention was boring. You attempted to divert your attention to unfinished school work, but it quickly became uninteresting. Thus, you turned your attention to Hyunjin. He was drawing, it seemed, but you were unsure as to what. You glanced down to your notebook and ripped out a half-sheet of paper. You wrote a message before crumpling the paper into a ball and throwing it at Hyunjin. The teacher was too wrapped up in his phone to notice.

The paper ball smacked Hyunjin clear center in the temple. He looked up from his drawing to give you a dirty look. You motioned down to the paper, signalling to him to pick it up. He did so hesitantly, reading the message you had written down.

‘Why do you always sit alone?’

Hyunjin gave a confused expression before mouthing, “You’re going to get us in trouble.” You shrugged in response, and Hyunjin sighed out of irritation. He jotted down a reply under yours before tossing the paper back. You tried to catch it in order to prevent unnecessary noise but failed in your attempt, eliciting a snicker from Hyunjin.

‘I just don’t find the need in friends,’ his response read. You continued to toss the paper ball back and forth for a bit.

‘That’s kind of sad, but same, honestly.’

‘It’s just life, y/n.’

‘Didn’t you used to have friends a couple years ago?’

‘Stalking isn’t legal, y’know.’

‘It’s not stalking, it’s curiosity.’

‘I thought you thought I was a pain in the ass? Now you’re curious about me?

‘I didn’t mean that, y’know. You were right.’

‘I figured.’ His final response made you look up, your eyes narrowed playfully. You were throwing your response when the teacher finally looked up.

“Hey!” he boomed. “I didn’t think I’d have to clarify to a couple of seniors that...note-passing, I guess, counts as talking. Knock it off!” You and Hyunjin both mumbled apologies, while looking at each other in humor. Hyunjin opened your reply.

‘Why did you stick up for me?’ Seven simple words caused an array of confusion for Hyunjin. The laughter on his face went away and he looked up towards you with a shrug and an upturned lip. You nodded in disappointment and went back to your unfinished homework. 

---

For the second night in a row, you were sitting in your open windowsill, somewhat hoping Hyunjin would be doing the same. It was not long before his blinds opened and his lamp flickered on. He almost immediately met your gaze, as if he was expecting you. He shook his head in silly manner before opening his window. You had a feeling of comfort, in a way, seeing him across the pavement. You leaned on your elbows and looked down at the street below.

“Death wish?” he asked, watching where your eyes went.

“Not recently,” your tired gaze met his playful one, his gummy-esque smile shining in the dark. “Nah, I just get...intrusive thoughts, I guess. Like, what would happen if I fell off of my windowsill right now? Normal stuff, I guess.”

Hyunjin furrowed his eyebrows. “How on Earth do you consider that to be normal?”

“No idea...So like, your parents. They definitely don’t like me, right?” you said, quickly changing the subject. 

As if expecting his mother to bust in similarly to the night before, he turned to look back at it. He then made his way over and locked it, striding back over to the window whilst shaking his head.

“Not exactly,” he giggled. “They just didn’t like the idea of me ‘defending some girl’ as they put it...what about your parents?” The question made your mouth gape slightly as you looked down at the ground sorrowfully. 

“Couldn’t tell you. I haven’t seen them in months.” Hyunjin’s expression softened.

“Who do you live with?”

“No one,” you shook your head accentuating your sentence. “But hey, no big deal. I like being alone.” Hyunjin smiled apologetically.

“I’m sorry...But hey, speaking of, me defending you,” Hyunjin paused briefly. “I don’t know why I did it. It just felt right, I guess. Those guys were clearly getting to you and I just didn’t want you getting hurt.” You smiled warmly, and genuinely, at Hyunjin’s semi-confession.

“Thank you, really. But, you don’t have to coddle me. I’m eighteen, I can take up for myself.”

“I know, I still remember when you wore that silly crown our English teacher gave you a couple weeks ago,” he responded with a bright smile. You let out a dramatic gasp.

“Hwang Hyunjin, are you stalking me?” you lowered your voice as if the comment were genuine; nevertheless, it caused an eruption of laughter from both of you. You liked the sound of his laughter. It was airy, light, and gentle, mirroring his personality almost to a tee. When you opened your eyes, Hyunjin was smirking.

“I can’t be friends with you, y/n.” The suddenness of the sentence nearly broke you right in two.

“Why not?” you responded, trying to hide the obvious crackle in your voice.

“People would talk.”

“I don’t care!”

“I don’t either.” Hyunjin glanced back to his bedroom door. “But they do.” ‘They’ was in reference to his parents, no doubt. He felt too seen at this moment in time. “I’m sorry,” he shrugged his shoulders, adding emphasis to his words.

“Me too,” your eyes were noticeably drooped as you replied. Hyunjin gave you a small smile before saying that he probably needed to rest. You accepted his response, but closing your window was harder tonight.

As you looked across your window, across the falling snow, your curiosity could not help but grow for the boy next door.

---

Hyunjin did not keep his word.

Over the next couple of weeks, you saw Hyunjin consistently. You sat together in nearly every class you had together, sat at lunch together, and walked to and from school every morning and afternoon. You had learned more about him than you ever thought there was to learn.

He loved art, which you had caught a glimpse of during detention. It turns out, the drawing he was working on was one of a sunset, which you thought was absolutely gorgeous. You also learned he loved dancing, mirroring one of your interests.

Things seemed to be going extremely well; almost too well. 

That may be why you were bummed when Hyunjin suddenly withdrew himself. You hardly saw him in class, he did not come to the window at night, and you always seemingly missed him walking home. You tried to convince yourself that it did not matter, that he was just sick. Yet, as the weeks progressed with Hyunjin’s absence, you were noticeably bummed out. 

You could dare to say that you missed him.

You did not get another chance to talk to him until one Saturday night. You heard a slight commotion from across the pavement which turned out to be Hyunjin yelling your name.

“Finally!” he blurted out in playful relief once you opened your window.

“Where you been, Pretty Boy?” Hyunjin smiled at your new nickname for him.

“Sick. But never mind that. You, me, tonight...We should go on a walk or something.” He scratched the nape of his neck nervously.

“Lemme get this straight: we don’t talk for nearly who knows how long, and now you wanna go on a walk?” you were smiling, but your words were filled with confusion.

“Please?!” Hyunjin was begging, which was cute. You smiled, looking down to the pavement once more.

“Front of my house, two minutes.” Hyunjin brought his arms down in a victorious motion before abruptly shutting his window as you did the same. You threw on your winter coat and raced down the stairs. 

You met Hyunjin out front, just as planned.

“You look gorgeous,” he suddenly complimented you, causing your cheeks to turn a rosy pink.

“Um, thanks?” you responded nervously.

“Sorry...too soon?”

“No, it’s just, I’m in a coat, the ugliest sweatpants known to mankind, and green Nike slides. How do I look gorgeous?” Hyunjin cackled, a smile lingering on his face afterwards.

“You just do, alright? Anyways, come on,” he held out a hand for you to take, in which you did almost instantly.

The walk was filled with an awkward silence for a bit before you finally spoke up.

“Just felt right, yeah?” you inquired in response to one of your previous encounters with the male. “Defending me, that is.”

“Yeah, I suppose. My gut was telling me to do it, so I jumped in. Not to mention, you were about to be tackled by a guy who’s a foot taller than you!” He let out an unintentional giggle at the end of his sentence.

“Hey! For your information, I am like, 5 centimeters shorter than him,” you retaliated, causing another fit of giggles.

“Okay, okay, fine. But still.” He paused for a few brief moments. “What about you? What made you decide to take up for me?” You hesitated in your response.

“You know, and don’t take this the wrong way, but for a while, I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. You’re all I think about, y’know. I think about your stupidly pretty face, your amazing artwork, and just...you...I don’t know why I stuck up for you. I guess...I just saw myself in you: loner who’s too timid to defend himself against shit from anyone but one day finally snaps.” You both stopped among the slush coating the sidewalk. “Was that too much?” you added on, reluctantly glancing up to meet Hyunjin’s gaze.

It was soft, unlike the horror you were expecting.

“Glad to know I’m not the only one who feels that way,” he responded quietly. “Y’know, I didn’t like you...” You stepped back a couple movements, muttering an ‘oh’ before looking away from his gaze.

“That’s not what I mean,” he stumbles over his words before sharply inhaling. “I thought I knew you. I thought what everyone said about you was true. That you...”

“That I’m a slut?” you stated blatantly. Hyunjin regretfully nodded. “I’m not. That rumor only started because I refused to sleep with one of those fucking bullies and he got pissed.”

“I know that now. And I’m sorry. I never gave you a chance but...getting to know you these last few weeks has been exhilarating. With you I...I feel like I can do anything. I’m stronger, more confident, and overall, better when I’m around you. I tried, y/n, I tried to convince myself that we weren’t meant to be friends. I was wrong.”

You stepped forward, closer to Hyunjin as he spewed out his confession.

“So, do you like me now?” you asked, a slight fear of rejection present in your voice.

“Yeah,” he responded immediately, a gasp following his words. “I really like you.” You both nodded thoughtfully. It was only then you let go of his hand, only to move it up and cup his cheek.

“Your lip is bleeding, Dumbass.” You chuckled in attempt to bring humor to the tense situation.

“Wanna kiss it better?” he immediately replied, causing you to physically cringe; however, he took note of the way your lips continuously glanced down to his, yours slightly parting in the process. Before you knew it, you were kissing. His lips were soft, inviting, and felt like home.

Not the home you knew, which was filled with darkness, yelling, fighting parents, and broken alcohol bottles.

Not the home he knew, which contained isolation, neglect, and extreme pressure of perfectionism

It was a home you both knew. One that was warm, delicate, filled with love, and sweet as honey. 

A home that you both could make to begin anew.

The kiss was not hurried in the slightest. You took your time getting to know each other’s lips as you had done with each other in general. Neither of you wanted to come up for air. The kiss was saying so many things that the two of you had pent up from the last three weeks.

At last, Hyunjin pulled away, glancing up at the night sky decorated with shining stars in all its beauty. 

“Imagine if we could go there,” Hyunjin stated, looking back down at you with awe in his eyes.

“We can...you just took me there.” Hyunjin kissed you gently, once more, in response to your words.

“Y/n, we should start over, y’know. Introduce ourselves properly rather than being condemned to doing so during a fight or detention hall,” Hyunjin suggested. You smiled endearingly at his words, shivering slightly from the cold and nodding slowly.

“Hi, my name is y/n.”

“Hi, my name is Hyunjin. And I think I’m in love with you.”

---

Notice: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! This is by far my favorite story that I have ever written! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did :)

[fandomsoda]

Do you have a shorted version of your DNI and blog rules because I'm fucking stupid and can't read all that. So sorry if there was a shortened version and I didn't see it :(

Pardon, but I don’t shorten my DNI, what’s on there is on there. But I can try to summarize it/put it in an easier to read format.

Do Not Interact if you are any of the following:

-If your primary blog/the blog you interact from is nsfw/kink related -A racist of any kind -Anti-Palestine -Bigoted against certain religions -Queerphobic in some way/exclude any part of the LGBTQIA+ acronym -Against neopronouns and/or xenogenders -Against “contradictory labels” (mspec-mono identities, lesboys, etc) -MAP/zoo/supporter of acting on any harmful paras -Against non-harmful paras (objectum, etc) -Pro/com/dark ship or a supporter of those things -If you police/bash non-abusive ships or try to label people as pro/com/dark shippers when they aren’t -Pro-harassment antis, I’m antiship myself but this behavior is incredibly unproductive and harmful -Being pro-harassment of any kind is honestly reason enough for me to ask you to leave -Ableist -Against educated self-diagnosis -Stigmatize Cluster-B disorders (NPD, BPD, ASPD, etc) or any disorder for that matter -Against otherkin/fictionkin/therains/any other alterhuman identity -If you’re against and/or sexualize age/pet/animal regressor/dreamers -Fakeclaimer of any kind -If you’re outwardly and vocally against all endogenic systems (you can have your opinions but keep them to yourself, this is a safe environment and fakeclaiming is NOT tolerated. I WILL fight you.) -If you deny or invalidate anyone’s good-faith identity in any other way

Basically: be appropriate, don’t be a bigot, don’t support abuse, don’t be a dick, that’s it. I hope this was more succinct. If you have any questions or need any definitions, feel free to ask.

As for my blog rules/pinned I’ll try to sum up the more important things here:

Ask permission to use my art.

Do not put my characters in tournaments/polls, especially without my consent. (And no, I don’t participate in nor host art competitions, they make me uncomfortable.)

No inappropriate comments towards myself or others on my blog will be tolerated, there’s a difference between joking and being creepy.

If I upset you/I fucked up, please let me know since I can guarantee it’s not on purpose. I can’t promise a response if you just send something in on anon, but if you send me a DM or something I’ll do my best to talk if you’re willing to converse. I make a lot of mistakes and I wanna know about it so I don’t make them as much, I am bad at self-awareness and have a lot of issues.

That being said, please be patient and understanding with me. I’m trying and I am not in the best situation yet, but I’m growing. Aggression only causes a shutdown so please try to be careful, I have a lot of BPD symptoms (not certain if I actually have it yet but I’m looking into it) and struggle with confrontation and abandonment.

While this is an art blog it is also a personal one, and I do vent. It is usually tagged and under a “read more” though.

I consume media critically and I assume that most others do the same.

Be nice about my favorite ships please, they’re also mostly queerplatonic because I’m arospec.

If I ship something then that means I have reason to believe that it is not pro/com/ship, at least not immediately or inherently. It’s dumb I even have to say this, but apparently I do.

That’s basically it. I know this was still kinda long, but I hope it was abridged enough for it to be easier for you to understand, like I said follow up with any additional questions you have if you need to.

last updated (mm/dd/yy): 8/23/24

[winderlylandchime]

He made another fucking list! There is another piece of paper taped to my wall! I am officially starting a bidding for this man, the starting price is 1 dollar. I walked into the living room to him sitting on a couch looking at the paper and he kept saying ‘I’m missing something’ Apparently my brother is the dumb version of Nancy Drew. The list is about Ben and the drugs and how that will play into s3 and obviously Britin as well. I did have to reveal to him yesterday that he is on steroids because my brother was convinced it was cocaine. Now I’m wishing I didn’t. So this is what he wrote on it. It’s split in half and the top half is called Ben+steroids and the points he made are: -Ben goes to rehab and the season revolves around that to try and make him less boring, -Ben gets Michael into steroids but that’s just dumb, cmon (his name) you can do better than that, -Ben ODs and we are back to debbie hating him, -he loses his job and itll be embarrassing for me to watch -they use this to write off the actor but then Mike becomes annoying again, and my all time favorite -it was just a trick bc in reality what happened was Benny gave that guy a lecture about Buddha. So that was all on the ben part. The Britin part is him trying to work out his previous theories: -I don’t think the reverse sugar daddy thing will happen, i mean he has a 30k worth car. -Justin will wake up one day and look up and see that goatee and dump him immediately, -okay so Justin is not gonna cheat with Brian so maybe Brian does something really cool which leads to Justin realizing he is the one, -or Ethan does something even more boring than simply existing and Justin has a wake up call. -maybe Bri can get him to do more posters for work and thats how they connect again through the love of sex and art, -BRIAN ADMITS THAT HES IN LOVE AND FUCKING SAYS IT! With his full chest! And makes it romantic but not too romantic so that he doesnt freak out. And in a very very small letters he wrote in the bottom ‘it’s still fuck Ethan till the day I perish!’

So that’s what the new addition on the wall is now. Dramatic and dumb just like he is.

Also i genuinely cannot believe you have people coming to you about the fire house thing he said. I will admit that even I have had moments where i go ‘damn, he just spilled some tea’ while he’s talking, meanwhile this idiot is 60% pain pills while he is blowing my mind with random shit he says.

The funny thing is that that fire house is kinda our “inside joke” minus the joke part. When he was little and i did something bad that i would think my parents would kill me for, he would calm me down by saying ‘the house is not on fire’ basically trying to reassure that no matter what, all is okay. So it kinda became our thing and then every once in a while he would do something dumb (like get rainbow hair) and i would get a call/text that just said ‘the fucking house is burning the fuck down!/the bitch is on fire and it’s blazing!’ And that was basically a ‘take this as a warning that I pissed them off’. And when i mentioned that the next day, this dumbass couldn’t even fully remember what he said. He remembered it all except the water part which is annoying cause that was the part i wanted him to clarify. I swear to God we are (kinda) functional human beings. It just doesn’t look like it right now.

ALSO!! We might actually get to the break up tomorrow! He wants to watch 4 and 5 today sooo we are getting closer!!

Okay! You heard it here first folks - Brother Anon is up for adoption. Come make your intentions known.

These lists! Compared with your brother’s ideas, Ben manages to make steroid abuse boring. He’s going to be so disappointed.

Hopefully he won’t be disappointed with the Ethan-cheating storyline. I dislike it (I want Justin to choose Brian and nonmonogamy because he decides Ethan and monogamy are not a good fit for him, not because Ethan cheats) but also the “Brian never had to apologize” line is iconic and I think your brother will like that.

Okay but that’s a sweet story about how he would comfort you as a brother by telling you the house was not on fire. I love that that line was from that.

Keep us updated dear sweet anon!

[bangtide]

any blogs you recommend for a yoonminnie? my tl is deprived and soulless 😭

firstly, it's your dashboard or dash, not tl! i've rbed some posts about using tumblr & will hunt down more, please check them out. i'll discuss army tumblr culture below the read more link.

a tour through my following list yields that nearly all the bangtan blogs i follow are inactive, lmfao. but for basic bangtan content, these were the go-to:

bts-trans (still active, just slow) bangtan (ia) audiorkive (active, but only for new releases) btstwtarchive (active) allforbts (ia, but posted all updates)

as for people and content, here's what i'd have to say about army tumblr culture vs twitter (esp my community there):

the big blogs are mostly gif makers (knjspjm & sugajimin are the two i follow who come to mind). gifs are rlly popular & reposting a gif is offensive.

the same for any sort of content. always give credit to original creators, translators, ect. it's also general practice to link to the source if sharing bangtan content, such as clips.

fic writers, rpf artists, ect are rarer than they used to be due to the porn ban in 2018 when a lot of users left.

but even when you do find them, rpf-heavy text posts (aus, fics, rpf-y fawning) have become unusual outside particular niches. nsfw even more so. most authors just post fics to ao3, and artists focus on art, so on so forth. this is the biggest difference from twitter.

that said, it shouldn't stop you. i'm of the opinion rpf-ing needs to be more visible to those who want to see it.

rpf on tumblr is separated from the real life boys. not perfectly, but more so than on twitter. you should consider tagging rpf-heavy posts & fics as rpf or an equivalent if you post abt it. (my tag for it is "fic-ish")

tumblr blogs are often just people vibing & engaging in what they feel like. even if they're dedicated to one fandom, other posts will show up (jokes, politics, discussion, art, other fandoms, ect), and usually people mix fandoms on one blog.

a lot of bangtan blogs on tumblr are multi group or cover k-pop as a whole.

most of them are sideblogs, meaning op has a main blog that they interact through (like me). this doesn't mean they're more active there.

fanwars between different group fandoms are regarded as incredibly stupid & if you engage in them you'll look very stupid. they don't really happen here anymore.

in general, if you start beef with another blog instead of just blocking and moving on you'll look stupid. fanwars of all kinds are not well-tolerated on tumblr.

solos are more common on tumblr & they're not evil. starting beef with them is also considered dumb. block & move on if you're bothered.

that doesn't mean you can't criticize what you see, but vociferously decrying specific people or subcommunities with no nuance is a bad look.

criticism or expressing negative/neutral opinions of bangtan, hybe/bh, their music, content, and even individual members is normal. some people use it as an excuse to pump their hateboner or go on tirades, but again, if it bothers you block & move on.

that said, reblogging with your addition if you have something insightful to respond with is normal. so is ranting about what you saw without naming anyone.

tumblr is in general a very anti-drama climate compared to twitter. people here truly do their own thing. there are exceptions, of course, but overall you live and let live.

tumblr is also EXTREMELY anti-clout compared to twitter. it's totally fine to talk about how much you like a blog, make a post looking for people to follow or mutuals, ect. making your own post promoting your stuff is even fine as long as it's earnestly about sharing your work. but most people hide their follower counts & don't fixate on visibility. going viral is considered a curse.

lastly, publicizing personal information as a prerequisite for interacting with someone is weird here. you don't need to have your age visible to everyone to follow nsfw blogs without being blocked, for example. minors may be sbed or blocked if op wants to, but not having a public age is normal. anonymity is valued.

@yoonminist is the og yoonmin blog here (another is sugainmycoffee). be warned if you follow me from twt, she's a vers fan. that sort of content rarely shows up on her page, though. using that to segue into another subject i wanted to cover briefly,

top vs bottom culture & discourse on tumblr is not as much of a thing as it is on twitter. this is in large part due to the lack of nsfw + tumblr's overall anti-drama culture, but a lot of rps blogs here genuinely don't care either way. that lends its own issues--namely, the same old underlying sentiments that caring about top/bottom content in a meaningful way is silly, bad, ect & ignorance of how viciously certain communities have been bullied over it + favoring certain flawed but popular narratives. it's similar to twitter but less skewed in favor of one over the other, and vers fans usually do sincerely like it all (as opposed to labeling themselves vers but only engaging with one trope consistently).

crash course concluded.

[crowned-ladybug]

Additional context stuff for hopeless, for the lil parenthesis dialogues, mainly who's saying what and a lil bit of why

(If you're seeing this when I'm posting it, I'll only be posting a usual link post later but the fic is There i promise)

Arada: You know that that’s not really what an anagram is though, right? Murderbot: You’re overestimating my willingness to care. Overse: Ooh, you walked right into that one-

This is 100% just good natured, friendly bullying. Murderbot is enjoying itself immensely and so are its friends

Amena: Does that mean you can see in the dark? Murderbot: Define dark. Amena: Like, if I shut you in the closet- Murderbot: I’m not going in the fucking closet. Someone laughs, bright, high pitched. I cannot place it. I should be able to place it.

Also just fun teasing, the laughter is also Amena ofc. Also followed up by some joke about "I don't know how second mum would feel if she knew how much you swear around me"

Ratthi: How are you just fine with this? Murderbot: How are you not? It’s not meant to be rude, maybe. (It genuinely isn't, Murderbot is just like this, it's just asking) A pause. Ratthi: Well, the thing with humans- our inner ears- hold on, let me sit down…

Set sometime during the survey that Network Effect opens on. Getting around on a boat for whatever reason and the water is a bit choppy. Ratthi isn't sea sick but it's more than his balance can handle whereas Murderbot's systems for balancing work completely differently and are much more finely tuned so it's doing fine

Ratthi gets to be distracted by giving a mini lecture on the topic that Murderbot pays a bit more attention to than if another human was giving it

Murderbot: That’s not what it is. Gurathin: Mm-hm. Murderbot: I’m not taking pictures. I’m saving individual frames of my camera inputs. It’s different. Gurathin: And the end result is different how exactly?

Some sort of survey or excursion or whatever, peace times and a pretty view, and Murderbot is taking pictures of said view for keeping and also bc it thinks Mensah would like them maybe. The interaction with Gurathin is genuinely not mean spirited at this point, they just usually communicate by being contrary assholes anyway

Mensah: I thought you liked unrealistic stories. Murderbot: I’m- yeah, but this is just dumb! Mensah: What would make it better then? I can’t tell if that’s bait. I don’t think it is. It’s not her style. ...her? The episode rests paused between us for over two hours. We make up a better story.

Not much about this, Mensah and Murderbot are just watching something together that neither of them have huge emotional stakes in so they get distracted just talking to each other bc it's more fun

Murderbot: And you’re calling me immature. ART: My desire to know how this arc ends is not immature. In fact, my emotional investment is the exact opposite- Murderbot: Do you even hear yourself right now? I start the next episode anyway. The weight over me abruptly stops complaining.

Just your regular "Murderbot and ART arguing over media" stuff, only thing of note is that this is ofc happening over the feed, I just had to keep with quotation marks for the sake of consistency

The actual purpose of these was 100% just vibes but the dead author who is very alive says that while the nightmare itself came entirely from organic brain bits, these flashes came from inorganic long term memory trying to contribute/course correct and completely failing to establish a proper, coherent connection due to the Oh God Everything Is Fucked And Nothing Computes nature of a nightmare

[reno2005]

When did you begin playing Resident Evil?

Why is Leon your favourite?

Top 5 favourote RE and/or Leon facts?

Do you have any headcanons?

It’s kinda long, sorry lol but thanks for reading if you do!

1. An older brother of mine showed me a video of a comedian at a gaming convention and the whole joke was how cartoony kingdom hearts was compared to how hardcore resident evil 4 was.(it was a different time for sure) so I was fascinated with how hard this game seemed.

One day I went to a swap meet with my dad and this man selling used video games had a copy of RE4. At the time I was too nervous to ask to get it since my dad was… not the kindest to put it lightly. Anyways I saved up the money, I begged my dad to go back to the swap meet to get the game, and luckily it was still there.

2. I had gone into RE4 hearing how cool Leon was.(like I said it was a different time, a lot of people on tumblr think he’s cute but back then he was Chad McGee, I still think he is but whatever that’s just me, don’t think I’ll judge anyone for how they see him)It was probably the hardest game I had ever tackled at the time so having gone through everything the game throws at you blew me away. Like, I’d never seen a man jump like 10ft out of a mining cart and climb to safety. I was so blown away in fact I had shown a friend of mine that one scene in particular like it was Jesus walking on water lol

Leon had such cool lines and his look was pretty cool too(as a kid of course I was “discovering” myself and my tastes). Y’know as a kid you see someone you admire a lot and you want to be just like them and him and the game as a whole was an escape from my pretty bleak childhood. If Leon could get through all that and still win and look that cool while doing it I wanted to be as cool as him. I wanted to look like him too, I discovered I was trans without knowing what that was until a friend told me about transitioning years later.

Right afterwards, because I couldn’t get enough of this guy I found out he was in RE2, so I bought that for the psp. Idk about you, but if I had to go through that shit, that licker would have killed me at the beginning.(which it did, a lot lol) I was fascinated with the game and I would start new games just to run around as Leon shooting stuff. It’s why I believe he’s so cool myself. You don’t get RE4 cool Leon without being already a bit cool.

Also a random addition, I think he’s really kind and caring.

In conclusion, he was my childhood hero.

3. I think it’s pretty cool he graduated top of his class and had extraordinary marksmen skills.

Something about him wanting to solve the disappearances in RC tells me he has an observant and critical mind.(which is why I don’t get why people call him dumb? Or maybe I’m just “old” now and don’t “get the joke”)

The “John Wick” thing Leon does is called the Center Axis Relock(CAR) and the cool swish swoosh stuff he does with Krauser is called Kali. We know he knew kali in OG 4 but with the addition of CAR in 4 remake we can assume he learned that back then as well.(which I’m happy about for preferential reasons)

Leon knows several different Martial arts styles. I don’t know the names but I used to watch martial arts movies a lot when I was younger.

From what I remember reading, his outfit in RE2 is a combination of different parts of varying types of police clothing (winter, summer, etc). Which makes sense since he’s trying to cover himself up as much as possible to avoid bites and grabs.

4. I think he’s a coffee guy.

He’s clearly a meat guy. If I saw a rotting cow carcass and thought of cooked juicy meat, I mean lol to add to that I always imagined he’s a decent cook.

I’d like to think he gets his hands on Matilda and then continuously gets it taken away in some form or another. Poor guy can’t even keep his favourite gun.

Maybe at first it was a new thing to him, but I feel he developed a taste for working out.

Not that he doesn’t like other genres, but if he’s a rock fan he has to like classic rock as well. It just makes sense.

I think he’d actually be pretty good with social media,memes, jokes, and etc.

Not that it’s his whole world, but he gives the impression he cares about fashion/his look to some degree.

I think he likes a fun lighthearted challenge just going off of his lines after completing merchant tasks and if he actually canonically stops by the shooting range.

I’m not sure how to word this one, but he seems nervous about rides and such if they’re out of his control. On the minecart and castle seat shortcut he either audibly shows distaste or uncertainty at the experience the ride will give. But on the jet ski he gives a cool reassuring line with no hesitation.

That being said, I do not think he’s bad at driving, steering, etc. but I’d rather not say anything more than that.

[iconiczuko]

[campyvillain]

i just deleted this post ^ bc i’ve been seeing it circulate more but without the additions i’ve made n honestly i’ve had it up to here lmao

for like months on end ppl have been reblogging this unknowing that this led to me getting diagnosed w aphasia after an incident at school a few years ago that left me w some brain damage that went undetected at the time. while it answered a lot of things for me it also made a lot of things worse. originally when i didn’t know i had aphasia, i was fine w ppl reblogging it but now seeing people reblog it with things like “LOL THIS IS SO FUNNY HAHA ITS FUNNY THAT THIS PERSON JUST FORGETS THINGS A LOT” or people treating it like a spectacle or worst of all i’ve seen people REDRAWING IT WITH CHARACTERS FROM FANDOMS!!!! LIKE REDRAWING ME LITERALLY GETTING A DIAGNOSIS FOR BRAIN DAMAGE WITH FANDOM CHARACTERS. like i’m not even a person and that my struggles are the main center point.

and look i’m not here to say you CANT laugh at this post. i have many times and i’m genuinely thankful i learned i had aphasia even if it wasn’t thru conventional means but good god am i fucking tired of seeing people treat my condition as a joke. i am fucking tired of seeing people treat me like i’m lesser or that aphasia is a funny thing to go through.

aphasia is not a fun thing to deal with. there’s times where it feels like hell. i forget major parts about things i am extremely passionate about. there’s times where i forget what my house looks like, or where i even live. worst of all, what i before being diagnosed chocked up as nothing but typical monthly art block has instead being me forgetting entire parts of how to do art and having to pick up the pieces over the course of weeks to the point where even simple things can seem virtually impossible to draw. i say this is the worst because art is genuinely my main passion in life like in a way i can’t describe and having to deal with that at least once a month when i know i have the capability to do amazing things but my condition is halting me back from achieving that greatness is. fucking infuriating.

so yeah. there’s no harm in laughing at this post because it is really funny. i don’t blame you if you do. but to see it and then to decide trivialize aphasia like it’s just “haha funy dumb forget disorder” is really upsetting, and just shows that the ableism on this site, especially towards those w conditions that affect memory, is way more prevalent than you may think because for half a year ive had to put up w comments like that. with people basically calling me dumb because of something literally engraved in my brain. and i’m done. even though i like this post because it let to a major veil looming over my life to be lifted….you guys really gotta treat disabled people with Basic Human Respect for once LMAO

[river-bottom-nightmare]

Nightwing 79 Review

i said i would and i will. i did like this issue! not as striking and attention grabbing as 78, but i think this issue was meant to be a foundation one, laying out the groundwork for the future. overall, pretty good. also there wasn't enough bitewing. as promised, overly extensive metaphors and me reading too much into things under the cut

i know i've talked about this cover before, but this particular thing is oddly important to me, so i'll talk about it again

this is me, once again screaming about how artists put nightwing in traditionally feminine poses and how every time i see it i just get whiplash. i mean, true, the main reason why is because nightwing is a so often sexualized character, and putting him in these poses just increases the objectification, which is a goal that dc producers have. but there are very few popular male characters that do this. the only one i can think of off the top of my head is deadpool, but that was so obviously a critique and a way to make fun of the media industry. when they draw dick like this, they’re being serious. they’re putting him in appealing poses meant to show him off, and that’s something that’s traditionally only been done to women.

it's a very direct and very loud breaking of traditional gender roles in media, especially for a character as high-profile and historic as dick grayson. colour also plays a factor in this. the entire background is pink. i was absolutely shocked when i first saw it, when the teaser came out, because i cannot think of any comic book covers of male comic heroes this high-profile where pink is even just prevalent in the cover, let alone the majority of the cover. the pink does look beautiful: it offsets and highlights the black and blue of dick's suit gorgeously, but does it with more finesse than orange or red. but the fact that the stylistic choice was made to accent and draw this cover with aesthetic and beauty in mind, completely ignoring traditional hard-set gender rules in art, was a conscious choice and one i wholeheartedly support.

just another example of the sexualization i was talking about. i remember seeing harley quinn in this exact pose in suicide squad.

so far, taylor's been pretty dead-set on bringing alfred to the forefront of importance in this series. he wants people to know how much he loves alfred's character, and how much the butler meant to dick growing up. he was dick's father too. but what i adore is how taylor managed to stress alfred's importance in a way that didn't insult or belittle bruce.

this is one of the best bruce and dick interactions i've seen, and it's done in one simple interaction. in this, bruce is tough and harsh. he knocked dick down hard, but then he reached a hand down and helped pull dick back up. let me analyze their dialogue for a minute

on your feet: this is bruce telling dick to get up. he's trained dick, he knows what the younger boy is capable of, he knows his limits, and he knows what dick can do. this is bruce telling dick i know you're strong enough to get up, so get up and prove me right

are you just going to knock me down again?: surface-level, it looks like dick's complaining. he doesn't like bruce's rough training, and he's tired of bruce knocking him down. but look at his face in this. he's smiling up at bruce, knowledgeable and a little hopeful. he knows that bruce is doing this to help dick better himself, he's completely on board with the rough training, because they both know the rewards are incredible. also, he's teasing. he's bantering with bruce. there's an ease in that joking statement, one that belies affection and intimacy. they've only known each other for a little bit, but they're already slipping into a close familial relationship.

it depends on how fast you learn: this is bruce bantering back. this is bruce not being a stoic, unfeeling asshole. instead, he's shown with the dry humor that a good batman writer knows is a staple of the character. he's teasing dick, telling him he'll basically whoop his ass if dick doesn't learn fast enough. it's incentive for dick to train harder, while also being lighthearted enough to tell dick that believes in dick and doesn't want him to push himself too hard.

gosh i love the titans. also it looks like wally's staring at dick's ass.

this was cute. a prod at dick's silly and playful sense of humor, while not dumbing him down for the sake of a laugh. instead, he's joking about food, which is stuff everyone jokes about. this is the kind of stuff that'll actually make me laugh, instead of just making me vaguely uncomfortable.

bludhaven's almost always portrayed as a cesspool of a city. and to be honest, it really is. but this panel gives the city a meaningful history, while also giving us a reason for why dick moved there.

it talks of a time when people still thought they could beat the monsters. that if they fought hard enough, they could win the fight. it was a tentative hope that you could always overcome hardship.

dick's little "i like that it's still standing" shows how he still believes that, despite what the rest of the world thinks. despite everything that he's been through, dick is still tentatively an optimist, and believes he can fight the monsters of the world and win. it's a beautiful testament to his character, and i'm like that they added his signature element of hope back in. it used to be what he symbolized as robin, and despite his growth and character arc from robin to nightwing, this is one aspect of robin that i'm glad nightwing still has.

remember when i said "things that make me vaguely uncomfortable??" yeahhhh,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Shooketh Dick: A Sequel

(the expressions in this series are just,,,,on point)

this was an incredibly sweet and kindhearted thing for dick to do, but i found it kind of,,,,,,,,desperate? maybe that's just me, but let me explain.

dick's suddenly a billionaire, and he has entirely too much money that he knows what to do with. it's also alfred's money, what the man left to him, so dick forever links it with alfred. in addition to that, he's back and bludhaven and looking at it with "fresh" eyes. (at least, from a different point of view since he got shot in the head. then mind controlled.) he's desperate to do something with the money and he's desperate to help the people around him that so obviously needs up, so he comes up with an on-the-fly solution that's a little impractical and a little crazy, but it still helps and still does some good.

to me, dick seems a little lost. he hasn't completely found his balance yet, and he's trying to do things that will. he tries charity, because that's what bruce did and it's what he knows, even though he admitted that he always thought bruce could have done more as bruce wayne than batman.

they have a family group chat guys yall were right.

also, do i think that dick would ever actually get his wallet stolen?? no way in hell, he’d notice someone getting ready to pickpocket him a mile away. but i suppose it’s important to the Plot. 

okay this is getting interesting. first blockbuster, now maroni (+ the weird heart stealer guy). i can officially say that i am intruiged

this particular artistic quirk is shown a lot in this issue, and from this art team in general, but i feel like this panel is one of the best examples of it. it was stunning enough to take up a full page, and it’s well deserved.

the way they show dick moving is absolutely brilliant. as a reader, i like seeing these smaller versions of dick getting clearer and in more detail as they come closer to the screen. not only do they show depth in the picture beyond what a simple 3 dimensional piece of art does, it also shows the passage of time.

in addition, it showcases dick’s skill. dick spots these mobsters running after a group of petty thieves. he then, and follow me here, leaps off the roof of one building feet first, springboards backwards off the side of the adjacent building with his feet, gracefully continues his backflip, rights himself, shoots a line with perfect timing: just in time to soften his landing but not slow him down, execute said landing on top of a moving bus, keep running on the moving bus without missing a beat, shoot his grapple, use the grapple to swing, use the swing to build up momentum, then use the momentum to deliver a powerful blow to the mobsters. and he did all that fast enough to catch up with the mobsters, even though he was a ROOFTOP OVER. 

d a m n  s o n

this panel, the very first in the issue, is also another example of that art style, but a little more distinctive. i love the way they showed dick’s different costumes through the ages, along with him simply growing up. it’s a little heartbreaking, but a lot uplifting to see how far he’s come. thank god he got rid of the red. now all we need is the fingerstripes, and we’ll be golden

discowing my beloved. also i can’t clearly see discowing’s hair but it definitely looks like it’s pulled back. it looks like he put it in a ponytail. guys. guys. dick had a ponytail omg. 

he’s having a Hero Moment

are you talking about the city, dick, or are you talking about you? the kgbeast, the court, the joker. dick fell to each one of them, no matter how hard he fought. he won in the end, eventually and with his family’s help. but i think he’s feeling a little low, a little defeated right now. it’s almost like he needs a win, he needs to feel victorious, he needs to feel like he helped someone (hence the food and the hotel room), just because he needs to remember what it feels like.

these lines were supposed to resonate with you, and goddamn they did.

i looked at it from two ways. first, it’s the girl asking, begging nightwing not to hurt them. bludhaven doesn’t know dick the way gotham does, they’re still a little frightened of him. this child was brave enough to step in front of all of the other hurt and homeless kids and ask, to a strange man in a mask, if he was going to hurt them like the other men had. it’s heartbreaking, but commendable, and an echo of the city itself that dick’s decided to protect. they’re bloody and broken and terrified, but still gritty and brave enough to stare what they fear in the eye and ask it not to hurt them.

second, it’s dick seeing the question reflected in himself. recently, he got shot in the head and lost all his memories. while i think that the way ric reacted was a perfectly valid and human response to the situation, i think dick still regrets how callously and rudely he treated his family. then, he was manipulated by the court of owls, then he was brainwashed with a magic crystal by the joker. dick does have a guilt complex. it’s not a big as bruce’s, but it’s there. and right now, with this girl begging her not to hurt them, dick is probably thinking about all the times he hurt people, in control of his own actions or not, bc he “didn’t have a heart.” 

little ambitious don’t you think, dick?

also just look at the sunset colours loOK at the they could not make this any more obvious oh my godddddddddddddddddddddddd

in conclusion, i need more of her

[itsbenedict]

I just finished hosting a 15-person game of Mafia for some friends. One tradition we have for these games is that every death is accompanied by some themed narration, so for my game I opted to spice it up with some art on top. Had to draw it real quick since I didn't know for sure who was going to die next until it happened.

The game's theme was "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure", with the hidden subtheme that all the roles (stands) were named after They Might Be Giants (@tmbgareok) songs! A list of their powers, links to songs, and a recap of the game under the cut.

01) Mogis - 「Flo Wheeler」

02) TD260 - 「Working Undercover For The Man」

03) JGH27 - 「Good To Be Alive」

04) Raya - 「Stone Cold Coup D'Etat」

05) KK / Sahrimnir - 「Thinking Machine」

06) Spontaneous Combustion - 「The Statue Got Me High」

07) Leviwulf - 「Push Back The Hands」

08) DarkFalco - 「I Am Alone」

09) Deli064 - 「Doctor Worm」

10) Fedaykin - 「Letterbox」

11) Surge - 「I Am Alone」

12) Wikxen - 「Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head」

13) Minby - 「Where Your Eyes Don't Go」

14) Bel - 「(She Was A) Hotel Detective」

15) SnakeInABox - 「By The Time You Get This」

Bold roles were Jotunheim (Mafia), normal roles were Johnsburg (Town), and italicized roles were third parties. (Jotunheim is the realm of giants from Norse mythology! The mafia were, in fact, giants! And the town's job was to figure out who might be giants! And the two sides were Jo and Jo! JOKES!)

「Flo Wheeler」 was a town role with a power that was pretty dangerous to the user- if anyone happened to be watching or tracking when a kill took place at night, Mogis would look like they'd visited the target that night in addition to whoever actually did. It could potentially be used to catch a mafioso in a lie, but otherwise it was more of an obstacle for the town to overcome- a miller-type role.

♪ You can't do the time, therefore you didn't do the crime ♪

「Working Undercover For The Man」 was a third-party role working for the Speedwagon Foundation to perform a threat assessment. TD could win with the town, but could win and leave early if he could guess all the names or powers of every other stand in the game. He could scan a name every night, to help that along.

♪ Planning midnight raids / On our unsuspecting fans / While the roadies rig / The video surveillance van ♪

「Good To Be Alive」 was a spin on the usual town doctor role- normally, a doctor can target a player and prevent their death if they would die that night. But... JGH couldn't actually prevent deaths- just fake it. The dead would become ghosts, who couldn't vote and couldn't be killed but were still allowed to talk as if they were alive.

♪ Hello leg / such a shaky leg / Just barely more than decoration ♪

「Stone Cold Coup D'Etat」 was a third party with an unusual win condition. They had to recruit a certain number of people to a private side-chat- and then make sure all those people got killed. Plus, she could redirect anything that happened to her at night to her recruits. If the recruits figured out what she was doing and got rid of her, they'd get a boost to their power.

♪ The bark now commands the trees / The queen is overruled by the bees ♪

「Thinking Machine」 was a town role with a mysterious purpose that didn't seem to make much sense at first. Sah would get, every morning, a strange series of numbers and letters of uncertain origin. It was information, somehow, but how to use it?

♪ Tape has brightening arm connect (Wait, that didn't make sense.) / Self-paint lever itching does! (That made even less sense!) ♪

「The Statue Got Me High」 was a mafia power. As the song describes, the victim is enthralled by the monolith and forced to obey its commands, until their eventual death. That is, Spont could recruit a player to the mafia, but they'd die one night later- and if he wasn't careful, he could die and his recruit would flip back.

♪ And now it is your turn (your turn to hear the stone and then your turn to burn) / The stone, it calls to you (you can't refuse to do the things it tells you to) ♪

「Push Back The Hands」 was a passive ability that caused anything that would happen to Levi- a nightkill, an execution, some other power- to be delayed by one day, giving him some time to react. He'd be told who it was that targeted him, so going after him as mafia was risky.

♪ Screeching tires but never a collision / Endless day without a sunset provision ♪

「I Am Alone」 was a weird one. See, DarkFalco, who was mafia, didn't have a stand as such. She was the stand- and she was the stand of Surge, who was town. They were linked together in everything, meaning the mafia had to work to keep Surge alive on top of their own people. She could send messages to Surge at night to mess with him, though.

♪ Before you fire I should inform you / One of us is a double ♪

「Doctor Worm」 had no real special abilities. His ability was to be pretty good at playing the drums, a power that had absolutely no relevance in a game of Mafia.

♪ I'm not a real doctor, but I am a real worm I am an actual worm ♪

「Letterbox」 was a mafia ability that let Fedaykin pick another player, and offer that player a chance to deliver a private message to one other player of their choice. He could see the "secret" communications, though, and once per game he could edit the message before delivering it.

♪ I'll never know what you'll find when you open up your letter box tomorrow ♪

「Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head」 is a classically mafia ability, but in the hands of a town player: the ability to force another player to vote for another. Normally the manipulated person isn't allowed to say what happened, but there was no such restriction here- confusion's no good for the town.

♪ Memo to myself: do the dumb things i gotta do: Touch the puppet head ♪

「Where Your Eyes Don't Go」 let Minby pick someone else to watch him at night. If anyone visited him to target him with an ability, the person he designated would be told the names of those people. A nasty trap for the mafia, as long as Minby doesn't pick a mafioso to share the information with.

♪ Where your eyes don't go, a part of you is hovering / It's a nightmare that you'll never be discovering / You're free to come and go / Or talk like Kurtis Blow / But there's a pair of eyes in back of your head ♪

「(She Was A) Hotel Detective」 was a very powerful town role- Bel was the cop, and could scan another player's alignment at night, plus track or watch them. Except... not directly. She couldn't scan players- she could scan hotel rooms, and if other players didn't check into the hotel at night or give up their room numbers, her information was useless.

Here are the room numbers, in order: Levi (1) Snake (2) JGH (3) TD (4) Spont (5) Sah (6) Deli (7) Fed (8) Minby (9) Falco/Surge (10) Raya (11) Wikxen (12) Mogis (13).

(Oh, and Thinking Machine's codes were actually encoded versions of her results, and Sah would get a weaker version of her power if she ever died.)

♪ She's got her ear to the walls / And she's tappin' the calls / If you've got a secret, boy / Forget about it! ♪

「By The Time You Get This」 imbued its wielder with the incredible powers of... an estate lawyer! Which meant Snake could leave a will behind when he died, naming another player and casting a vote on them from beyond the grave the next day.

♪ By the time you get this note / We'll no longer be alive / But our skulls are smiling still / At the thought of things to come ♪

So! Here's how it all shook out.

Day 1: The first day is always kind of a tossup, since no one has any information yet, and everyone's just trying to verbally stir the pot. Levi soft-claims his role right out the gate, warning town not to try targeting him or else. Mogis is executed, casting a vote on himself to save the town the trouble of dealing with Flo Wheeler.

Night 1: Spont uses the statue to recruit Wikxen, at the same time that Wikxen forces Snake to vote for Levi. So, now the usually-scum power in the hands of town is in the hands of scum for real. Bel scans room 3, and learns that its occupant is innocent. Raya recruits DarkFalco, and accidentally recruits Surge alongside her, to her surprise. JGH tries protecting Levi, to test if his claim was a bluff.

Day 2: Levi tries to push JGH on the basis of having targeted him last night, but everyone agrees to wait and see if Levi actually dies first. Votes circle around Wikxen and Raya for suspicious-seeming defensiveness on Day 1, and ultimately, when it seems like Wikxen's about to be executed, a small group of players flip their votes at the last minute and vote Raya out while she's asleep and can't defend herself. Rude! She was poised to win the game for herself and the town, since she'd convinced Falco that the mafia would benefit somehow if they were all recruited.

Night 2: The mafia kills Minby- and Minby opts to tell have Fed watch him, wasting his power. Lucky for town, though, Bel happens to scan room 8, confirming Fed is mafia since he volunteered his room number. Wikxen's coat contains a furnace where there used to be a guy.

Day 3: Wikxen forced Snake to vote for J, making him look bad- but Sah begins sharing his bizarre results from Thinking Machine, and Bel confirms that they're a log of her detective power. Then she points out that Fed is mafia, and the town falls in line behind the accusation with Sah to confirm.

Night 3: Spont uses the statue to recruit Bel, to keep any more problematic scans from ruining them. Bel, before being recruited, scans room 10, though- and now the town knows there's something funky with Falco and Surge, because Sah gets the results and knows what they mean. Due to their mismatched alignments, though, the encoded version is still misleading, so there's wiggle room. TD scans Spont and learns his role name.

Day 4: Spont concocts a daring scheme. He has Bel lie and claim to have received an incriminating result on him- so that Bel will be caught in said lie when Sah produces his own results. The plan is to frame Bel, who's a dead girl walking anyway, and clear Spont's name going forward. But the town talks themselves into explaining away the contradiction- even when TD reveals Spont's stand name, and Spont denies it outright and claims 「Combustible Head」, a fake vigilante (town nightkiller) role instead, the town explains away that, too. After a few more people claim, TD260 has completed his mission- his correct guess wins him the game and he leaves. Spont cleverly excuses himself by claiming that TD lied about his role to get him to claim his "real" one. Afterwards, the town ends up executing Deli064 instead, for some reason- poor Doctor Worm!

Night 4: The evidence vanishes from Bel's charred and smoking chair- because JGH tries to protect her at the same time the mafia are killing him! Bel is a ghost now, and the town never finds out her alignment.

Day 5: Bel not dying poses a problem for the mafia, because Spont was supposed to prove his own innocence by pretending to kill her! The mafia tries to misdirect by having Bel lie again, claiming to scan room 10 when she actually scanned room 6, Sah. Ultimately, though, the town is able to coordinate behind killing Surge and Falco, which- because they're linked- is a compromise option that both parties are happy with (when perhaps they shouldn't be).

Night 5: Since Bel is technically dead, Spont recruits again, grabbing Sah and removing the threat of scans entirely. If he'd recruited Snake instead, they'd have won on the spot, since only his will-vote prevented them from winning instantly due to outnumbering the town. We move on to a somewhat redundant...

Day 6: It's now down to five players- Spont, Sah, and Bel vs Levi and Snake. The mafia technically outnumber the town, but Bel's vote doesn't count, and Sah's going to burn the next night- so the town can still win by forcing a tie and then using Snake's By The Time You Get This power to place a vote on Spont. But that's if they can figure it out and get on the same page, and... they don't. There's no way there could be three mafia still alive, so the mafia are able to sow total confusion and ultimately get the town all voting for Bel... who's a ghost, and can't vote or be executed, which the town doesn't know because JGH died before he could fully explain. The execution defaults to Snake, and the mafia win the game.

[pfreadsandwrites]

九つの命/9 Lives Translation

Hi!! So, @foxy-and-tales asked me to tell her what was going on in the comic mentioned in this post. After skimming through it, I thought it'd be good practice - and it'd be easier to answer her question - if I just went through it and told her what it all meant. I realised by that point I was doing a translation, and since I was going to the trouble anyway, I thought I'd post it publicly.

So, the full comic is here. It's basically a comic that has 7 little stories about Kakashi's ninja hounds and their lives with Kakashi. It's an adorable, heartfelt story and I absolutely love the personalities that the artist gave all the ninja hounds and the depictions of their relationships with Kakashi.

My translation will be this post, follow it as a script. I don't have the skill or knowledge to edit and typeset and change the images myself - and I wouldn't do that anyway, as it would involve reposting the art and changing it without the artist's consent. But I do think that not referring to the pictures as you're reading through the script really harms how sweet this story is, so if you can go through the comic slowly whilst referring to my (amateur) translation of it, I hope you can get a glimpse of that!

WARNINGS: There is a depiction of an already dead dog in part 4 😢, and some (human!) male partial nudity in part 6 (😉)

Tagging: @scaredlittlefoxy @lemony-snickers @backalleykat @whatshernameis @gwedosuns @topsyturvy-dream @ice-icebaby @cosmiclattes

This is also the artist’s note that follows after the comic, that I’m putting here:

(Artist’s note translation)

"This is a story about the daily life of Kakashi and the eight ninken.

The ninja dogs’ personalities etc mightn’t be faithful to the source material.

The dogs live free range in Kakashi’s house.

There is an illustration of a dog dying, though it isn’t any of the ninken. Please take note.

You don’t have to read it, but below this are the dogs’ personalities:

Shiba: Friendly and sensitive

Biscuit: Childish and Selfish

Akino: Calm and cool demeanour

Bull: Timid and Quiet

Urushi: Ladykiller. A little bit dim. (Note: Himbo!)

Guruko: Annoyingly helpful and naggy

Uhei: Pure-hearted and cheerful

Pakkun: Same as in the series"

Some notes and then onwards into the translation under the cut:

Please take heed before continuing:

I’m not a professional translator, in fact I’ve done very little of this, so there’s some guesswork and liberties taken, and I don't claim that that there’ll be no mistakes.

I’ve separated it out by sections and pages, so you should be able to follow the story from following the speech bubbles (right to left) and referencing the lines here by speaker

Each space between a line denotes that it’s the next speech bubble

A new line but no change in speaker will denote that it’s the same character talking, but in the next panel or speech bubble

Italics means the character is thinking or flashbacks. I'll try and make this obvious as I go but the artwork should make that clear too.

Brackets are my additions, or me translating things like signs etc, or brackets will have smaller background dialogue not in speech bubbles. I'll try to make this clear as I go.

Stuff surrounded by * denotes actions or onomatopoeic actions/words in panels

Ask me if there’s any parts that confuse you about the story!! The way I’ve done this isn’t easy to follow but it's the best my dumb brain could come up with

TRANSLATION:

Title page

(p.1)

ここのつのいのち

9 Lives

(p.2)

1. ‘I won’t tell anyone’

(SFX: dogs playing and wagging tails)

Kakashi: Hm? You’re not gonna play, Shiba?

Shiba: …No. …Hey, Kakashi’

Kakashi: Hm? What?’

Shiba: There’s a girl I like’

Kakashi: Ohhh… I won’t tell anybody.

I won’t tell ~ I won’t tell ~

(p. 3)

Shiba: She’s really cute…

Kakashi: That’s great ~

Shiba: But I haven’t even spoken to her once

Kakashi: You should go for it ~

(SFX: *happy dog panting*)

Shiba: I’ll come back as soon as I’ve talked to her!’

Kakashi: Yep!

Shiba: I’ll be right back, definitely!

Kakashi: Ok, ok (lit. Yes yes)

(p.4)

Shiba: She’s already got someone (lit. she’s already in a couple/has a mate)

Kakashi: I see…

Shiba: She said her mate hurt his leg and can’t walk so he's staying at home…

(p.5)

Kakashi: Shiba, you know.. have feet that can walk anywhere…

So maybe you’ll meet an amazing girl again, won’t you?

(*dog cries*)

Kakashi: ...I won’t tell anyone. (*Comforting doggy*)

I won’t say anything. I won’t say anything.

(Kakashi: Aw, Shiba is pretty sweet to me, huh?)

2. Biscuit’s Sausage (note: I know his name is technically Bisuke in Japanese, but Biscuit is his dub name and it’s too adorable so that’s what I’m going with here! Also suits the personality he has in this story. What a biscuithead this boy is)

(p.6)

Biscuit: -You’re so sneaky, Kakashi! I wanted to eat sausages!

*crying dog noises*

(Uhei: Sorry, Kakashi…

Guruko: I told you!!)

Kakashi: You know if you eat sausages, Biscuit, your tummy will get sick, right? I’m boiling cod for you right now

(*tantrum noises, pounding feet and barking*)

Biscuit: *angry puppy noises* I hate fish, you idiot! I said I want to eat sausages! Sausages! Sausages!

Kakashi: *sternly* Biscuit

Biscuit: *whimper*

(p.7)

Biscuit: Kakashi, you IDIOT!

(2. Biscuit’s Sausage)

Biscuit: *sniff*

(Sign says Konoha Pet Food)

Biscuit: This is the store that sells the dog food Kakashi buys! Wow, maybe they have sausages here too!

(p.8)

Biscuit: I wonder if I'll be able to eat as much as I want… *gulp*

But if I did that, Kakashi would get in trouble

No, maybe…

*heart pounding*

Kakashi kept it (this) a secret just from me, because I'll get sick...

(Apron says Konoha Pet Food)

Shop Lady: *shuffles*

Biscuit: I didn't do anything yet!!! * heart pounding*

Shop Lady: Oh my… you really just talked!

Shop lady: You’re Kakashi’s pup, aren’t you?

(p.9)

Shop lady: Kakashi got you to come here, huh?

(Shop lady: you’re a good boy!)

Bisuke: Oh, no-

Shop lady: Though, he shouldn't have made you come pick it up without contacting us, huh? Here, sausages!

Biscuit: Sausages?!

Shop lady: There’s a pup among you guys that can’t have normal sausages, right?

It was a request from Kakashi.

He said he wanted me to make some especially for the puppy who can’t handle meat.

(p.10)

Shop lady: Well, here you go!! You’ll tell Kakashi we’re sorry for making him wait, won’t you?

Biscuit: Oh, um… But I don’t have any money…

Shop lady: It’s fine, because it’s Kakashi!

Whenever he has free time, he comes to pay.

I have a deal with him, you see. And he can't get the food if he's not here...

Next time, come together with Kakashi, okay?

(p. 11)

Kakashi: *casually picks up Bisuke* Thank you! This is for you ~

Shop lady: Thank you, come again!

Biscuit: Kakashi…

Kakashi: Hm?

Biscuit: Sorry…

Kakashi: Yeah…

I’m sorry too. I gave everyone else sausages while keeping it a secret from you.

I thought you’d definitely want some if you saw…

(Kakashi: But I got caught.)

(p. 12)

Kakashi: But…. Everyone’ll want some if they see this, too.

How about stopping by the park and eating it there?

We’ll keep it a secret from everyone 😊

Bisuke: *happy face licking and barking* When we get home, I’ll eat the cod too!!

Kakashi: Uhh… Well, Uhei and Guruko already ate it…

Bisuke: WHAT?!!!

(Flashback, Uhei and Guruko saying ‘Cod! Me too!! Me too! I want to eat some too!’)

3. Kakashi’s smile

(p. 13)

*paws thudding on ground/running away*

Kakashi: …Got you.

Akino: Ack!

It’s always only me that you brush so roughly, Kakashi!

Kakashi: It can’t be helped, can it? You have the thickest fur, Akino

*brushing softly* It’ll be over soon, it’ll be over soon…

Other doggies: That seems nice to me, Akino…

Kakashi: Hey, it’s falling out, it’s falling out ~

Akino: !!!

Kakashi: Look, it’s a mini Akino!! So much fur…

Akino: That’s too much hair off the bottom, Kakashi! Wha…

(p. 14)

*Kakashi continuing to laugh at his mini Akino*

Akino: There are times now where Kakashi summons us, even if he doesn’t have any business for us to take care of…

(Back then) he never ever summoned us outside of missions…

(p. 15)

Akino: He was doing all kinds of things, but he was the kind of person who never had a smile on his face…

Kakashi: If I had more time, I could make an even hairier one, you know

(Other dogs: *laughing* Akino: That’s a lie!)

Akino: Kakashi…. You're having fun?

Kakashi: *genuine smile* Yep, I am!

Akino: *smile* If you feel like it, you can keep going…

Kakashi: Oh?

(Later, Akino notices Kakashi has put sunglasses on the mini Akino)

4. Timid Bull (CW Animal Death)

(p. 16)

Bull: I’m the last ninja hound that came to Kakashi’s home.

Before that, I was living in a training centre for ninja hounds.

(4. Timid Bull)

The dogs I lived together with there… were all adopted when they were puppies.

But I still lived at the training centre, even as I became fully grown.

Ninja Hey, that dog looks tough, doesn’t he?

Centre manager: Yes, but… he’s not all that suited for battling…

Despite how he looks, he’s actually a timid dog.

Bull: I… I’m scared of insects. I’m scared of noises.

I’m scared of blood.

Centre manager: Because he can understand the stories of troubled humans, you see…

Bull: I’m scared of anything other than myself.

(p. 17)

Bull: Nobody would want a dog like me, right?

Kakashi: I found a good boy ~

Bull: *panicking* There’s no manager here!

Kakashi: Hello ~

Bull: …Hello… *heart pounding*

Kakashi: Ah, one that talks, huh…

Would you like to become one of my pups?

(p. 18)

Bull: Me…? Me, really? Quit it… That’s enough joking around.

Kakashi: What do you mean?

Bull: No-one wants me (😢)

Kakashi: No-one?

I want you, though.

Bull: What kind of a strange person would want me, I thought

(p. 19)

Bull: There were lots of dogs at Kakashi’s house

(Happy barking doggy noises)

Uhei: Woah, you’re huge! But among these guys, I have the fastest legs, you know!!!

Guruko: And I have the best nose!!

Biscuit: And I’m whiny!! (Note: lit. ‘I’m selfish!’)

Shiba: I have the sharpest bite!

Pakkun: I am the wisest. (Note: Pakkun I think uses Kansai-dialect Japanese lol so he sounds kinda... distinct. This is hard to convey for me lol)

Urushi: I’m popular with the ladies ;)

(Akino: I’m the fluffiest!)

Bull: I was so confused

You… you’re not scared of me?

I’m huge, and I have a scary face… So no one comes near me.

They all said they weren’t scared.

The reason, they said together, was…

(p. 20)

‘Because Kakashi brought you, Bull!’

Everyone was totally relaxed, as if they had no worries at all.

They all clung to me as if it was completely natural to do so.

I realised that there’d always be someone beside me.

(p. 21)

*sounds of paws scuffling against ground in first two panels*

*jumping to the ground noise in third panel*

Kakashi: …Bull, this way is a dead end.

Bull: …Sorry.

I couldn’t go back to where you were, and I thought so, but -

(p.22)

Bull: *looking at dog* He asked me to stay by his side.

…He was an enemy, but he was already dying.

That’s why, Kakashi….

Kakashi: …Yep.

Let’s give him a send-off together.

(Note: this was a tricky one because Kakashi says 送る, which means send, and is used with mail etc, but can mean to say farewells to the deceased, which is why Bull comments on it on the next page)

(p. 23)

Bull: He wanted to say ‘I want to bury him’

But Kakashi said ‘send-off’.

Lightly, as if his life force was still there

There… there are a lot of things that scare me.

When I was waiting for this dog, I was scared.

But I couldn’t refuse his request.

(p. 24)

Bull: …I’m spineless.

Kakashi: Everyone else has lots of things they’re scared of, you know.

That’s why they all stay by your side, Bull.

If you’re there, everything will be alright. That’s how everyone feels.

If you’re close by, everyone’s able to feel safe.

(p. 25)

Kakashi: ….This puppy, too.

Dying dog: …Please…

Bull: That dog…

Dying dog: Stay with me, until the end…

Kakashi: Because you stayed with him, Bull, he felt at peace, didn’t he?

Bull: I don’t think that dog was happy…

…Kakashi.

He was very thin, and he also smelt like he was sick

To protect themselves, his owner didn’t treasure this [this dog’s] life.

Kakashi, I…

Somehow, I..

I’m very…

(p. 26)

Bull: I wanted to cry out as loud as I could..

Kakashi: Yeah… (I’m not sure who’s saying this line)

Bull: For feeling guilty towards that dog, and for knowing Kakashi…

For my life being here now.

For my life, I wanted to cry it out until the blood came out of my throat.

(p. 27)

Bull: That dog…

I wonder, was that dog ever able to feel like this, even once?

(Flashback) Doggies: Because Kakashi brought you, Bull!

Uhei: Hey!!! Bull!!

Shiba: You’re late!!

I was worried, you know!

Guruko: (to others) Hey, Bull came back!!

Bull: I’m Bull. The dog that Kakashi found.

5. Urushi’s scales

(p.28)

Urushi: I think I’m good looking

(5. Urushi’s scales)

Girl pups: Ahh~ Urushi…~

Urushi: I’m popular with the ladies

(note: he uses メス, which means bitch in the literal sense - a female dog - and all the puppers use it to refer to human women too. So I just left it as ladies, as I don't think the pups mean it to be crass, they just use dog language and apply it to humans as well as themselves)

Sometimes I’m told ‘it’s probably because you’re one of Kakashi’s ninken’, but…

(Background lettering over the other dogs says ‘Unstylish/Uncool/Lame’)

But my other friends aren’t all that popular, really.

Still, I think it’s because I really am good-looking after all.

(Choruses of ‘Urushi~’, ‘Ahh…; and ‘Let’s play together, Urushi)

Urushi: Hehehe…

Being good-looking is a great thing.

Guruko: Hey, Kakashi!

(p. 29)

Guruko: You got hit by a girl again, didn’t you?!

Kakashi: *laughing* No…

Akino: Why were you hit by a girl? Do girls not like you?

Uhei: It looks like it hurts…

Kakashi: Nooo ~

Shiba: You’re so strong, Kakashi, why were you hit?

Biscuit: You couldn’t avoid it?

Guruko: *Steam from nostrils* I’ll fight her for you!

Kakashi: It’s fine, it’s fine ~

What are you saying?

(p. 30.)

Urushi: Kakashi said ‘I took responsibility’.

Sometimes humans say things I don’t understand…

Girl dog: Urushi… pair up with me.

Urushi: If Kakashi’s saying it, it must be important…

Be… Because I’m one of Kakashi’s ninken?

Girl dog: It has nothing to do with that. I like you, Urushi

Urushi: Wow… *heart pounding*

Girl dog: Pair up with me, and…

I want you to leave the ninken. (Lit. Stop being a ninken)

(p. 31)

Girl dog: I love you, Urushi, but what if, on a mission, you…

I can’t stand the thought of that!

Leave the ninken, and… always stay in the village with me?

Urushi: This girl’s a beauty, and has a kind personality…

I think that I might want to be with her…

Should I leave the ninken?

(p. 32)

Urushi: *perplexed*

Kakashi, Bull and Biscuit: *zzz, sleeping sounds*

Urushi: If I said I wanted to leave the ninken…

Kakashi: (in Urushi’s imagination) If that’s what you want, Urushi

It’s fine with me! (Background: It would be a shame, though…)

Urushi: I feel like Kakashi would say something like that…

Do I want to do that…? Not really, but… *sigh*

Hey, Pakkun.

(p. 33)

Pakkun: Something bothering you?

Urushi: Yeah, there is

I have to decide between two things, but it’s difficult…

I want both of them, but I can’t have them.

Pakkun: … Is it a girl problem?

Urushi: Yep ~

Pakkun: That’s just like you, Urushi. (Pakkun’s imagination shows two girl pups arguing:

Urushi!! Which one will you choose, me or her?! *indignant barking*)

When making a decision about something, one needs to think about what’s most.

...important to oneself.

Let’s say you balance both sides on your scales…

Urushi: My scales?

Pakkun: For example….

(p. 34)

It’s not the physical weight, but the weight of what you think is precious and important. It’s the weight of those feelings.

If you think about which is heavier, you’ll find the answer.

Kakashi: You guys are having a kinda complicated conversation, huh…?

Pakkun: Oh, Kakashi, you woke up, did you?

Urushi: *heart pounding*

Kakashi: My scales lean towards sleep, you know..

Let’s eat soon, okay? Please…

Urushi: Kakashi…. Are you happy that I’m here?

(p. 35)

Kakashi: Hm? Yeah, I’m happy!

Urushi, of course I’m happy ~

(Note: the word Kakashi uses is 嬉しい, which is ‘ureshii’ so Kakashi is making a pun with Urushi’s name here.)

Urushi: *blush* Okay!

Pakkun: What we were just talking about… Don’t talk about it in front of Shiba.

Urushi: Huh? Why?

Pakkun: Seems like he recently had his heart broken…

(p. 36)

Urushi: The thing that’s most important and precious to me… isn’t you.

That’s why I can’t be with you.

I can’t be with you, but… you’re a beautiful and amazing lady.

So, let’s meet again one day ~

Biscuit: Kakashi! Kakashiiiii! It’s awful!!

(p. 37)

(*throbbing pain*)

Biscuit: Urushi’s hurt!!

(*dogs barking*)

Guruko: Let’s go fight them!! *steam from nostrils*

Shiba: No way, is it a girl? Kakashi, you better tell him off!!!

Kakashi: Did you get into a fight with a dog from the village?

Urushi: No, it’s not that…

I took responsibility.

I’ve got a manly mark on my face, heh~

Shiba: You better tell him off!! *bark*

Pakkun: That’s it…

6. Kakashi’s Helper Team!

(p. 38)

Kakashi: I’m home~!!!

Guruko: ?!!! Kakashi, you stink!!

Kakashi: *sweetly smiling* Oh, stop it…

I saw Asuma after a long time, and we talked and ended up getting some drinks… It was nice to see him… *flops down on floor*

Guruko: Take a bath!!!

Don’t go to sleep!!

(*soundly sleeping*)

(p. 39.)

Guruko: Uhei! Uheiii!

Uhei: What is it?

Guruko: Let’s clean up Kakashi!

(6. Kakashi’s Helper Team!)

Uhei: Ehh… But if he wakes up, he’ll take a bath himself, won’t he?

(SFX: Heave-ho! Heave-ho!)

Guruko: We can’t leave Kakashi as he is when he’s this stinky! It’s fine, take it off!

Uhei: Uh, this is stuck half way, I can’t take it off

Guruko: Because you haven’t taken off his leg bandages!

(p. 40)

Guruko: Damn, this is stuck half way *pulling*

Uhei: Isn’t that because you haven’t taken off his headband?!

Guruko: This is enough, let’s carry him to the bath like this!

(*dragging noises*)

Uhei: Won’t his clothes get wet?

Guruko: It’s fine, because we’re going to wash them anyway!

Uhei: It’s amazing… Kakashi still hasn’t woken up!

Guruko: Okay, let’s wash him!

Uhei: Isn’t that… the shampoo that we use?

Guruko: It’s totally safe!!

If it’s fine for us to use, it’ll be fine for Kakashi too, right?

Uhei: I guess…

(p. 41)

Uhei: We can wash his body, but what about his clothes?

(SFX: *scrub scrub*)

Guruko: If we wash them together, it’ll be fine! Hey, pour some hot water over here ~

Uhei: Okay!

(SFX: *splash*)

Kakashi: *suddenly yelling* I’m gonna die!!

Guruko: *screaming*

Kakashi: Even with my face covered, if you pour hot water on me, I can’t breathe, you know!! You really can’t do that.

Guruko: You woke up…

(SFX: *heart pounding*)

Uhei: You really scared me…

(p. 42)

Kakashi: You’d started something, and I wondered how far you’d carry on… Ah, I’m drenched.

Guruko: Ah, I’m sorry, Kakashi!!

Kakashi: Well, anyway.. you guys ended up cleaning yourselves pretty good too. You’re all drenched, too.

Guruko: Then I’ll go get some towels!!

Uhei: Kakashi, Kakashi

Guruko acts the way he does, but he really loves looking after you!

Kakashi: I know.

Biscuit: I want to have a bath with Kakashi too ~

Guruko: That’s not it! It’s just all slippery (note: not accurate, but the gist is that Biscuit misunderstands and Guruko puts him straight)

7. I’ll always love you

(p. 43)

(Flashback)

Sakumo: Pakkun…

Pakkun…

I have a favour to ask.

(Present)

Pakkun…

(SFX: Snoring)

Kakashi: Pakkun..

(SFX: Gasp)

Pakkun: Huh?

Kakashi: It’s time to eat.

(p. 44)

Pakkun: Alright.

(Other dogs: Food~ Food ~

Kakashi: Yes ~ Yes ~)

(Flashback)

Sakumo: Pakkun…

Pakkun….

Pakkun..

(p. 45)

Pakkun: Kakashi?

Kakashi: Hm?

Pakkun: For the mission report before… You didn't need me, did you?

Why did you bring me?

Other dogs: We want to come too!!

Kakashi: It’s just Pakkun for today

Kakashi: Hmm…

Hey, let’s relax here for a little while.

Pakkun: What’s this…

Kakashi: Come on…

Well…

(p. 46)

Kakashi: I want to talk about Dad.

…No. Maybe it’s a confession?

Talking about Dad…. Felt like something we couldn’t even broach. Ever.

I think you felt this way too, right, Pakkun?

I couldn’t tell you earlier that ‘it’s all right now’. Even though it was.

It was just a matter of timing, I guess…

Pakkun: But I wasn’t waiting for you to say that… Even if you’d have said it earlier, that’d have been good, but..

Why, out of the blue like this?

A change like that… Just like…

Just like…

(p. 47)

(Flashback)

Sakumo: I have a favour.

(Present)

Kakashi: The day Dad died…

Ever since then, for a long time, now… I became strange.

I’ve been nothing but trouble for you.

Pakkun: Kakashi-

Kakashi: Even though… you were hurting over Dad not being here too.

(p. 48)

Kakashi: Dad was your first master, right?

You really were precious to him.

….The other day, when you were having a nap, I woke you up, didn’t I?

It might have been because of the food, but your nose was twitching.

At first, I thought you were growling.

When I woke you up, you had a really startled expression when you looked at me.

I understood right away.

You were thinking about Dad, right?

(p. 49)

Kakashi: You were having a dream about Dad that time, right?

Thank you for always being considerate towards me…

But it’s alright now.

From now on, I want you to tell me…

The things about Dad that only you know.

(p. 50)

Pakkun: Sakumo…

(Sakumo: Pakkun…)

Pakkun: …really was a loving, kind man.

Kind, and…

(Sakumo: Pakkun…)

Pakkun: Kind, and…

…Kakashi.

I’ll tell you about Sakumo.

The things I’ve always wanted to tell you

I’ll tell you now.

Kakashi: Okay.

(p. 51)

Kakashi: Thank you for telling me about Dad, Pakkun.

Pakkun: …Don’t you dare die.

(Pakkun…)

I’ve had enough now.

Yeah. Enough.

(p. 52)

(Sakumo: I’m asking.…)

Pakkun: Sakumo…

The two of you are exactly alike.

Kakashi: Oh, really?

Pakkun: Everything’s alright now.

(p. 53)

“Kakashi!”

(p. 54)

(No text)

(p. 55)

Kakashi!

(p. 56)

Kakashi

(Note: I think the favour Sakumo asked of Pakkun was to take care of and be mindful of Kakashi always. This isn't outright stated)

[trio-of-dumbasses]

Farmer Character Intro or something idk

This one is gonna be long because when it comes to OC, I have a ton of stuff I like to tell—and I just happen to be a huge fan of the character design process and just general art stuff.

Yeah, it's probably a little late to do this but bear with me, I only got to try Story of Seasons this year because of the 3DS eShop discontinuation making me pick up my 3DS to play new games I haven't thought of playing before outside my Pokemons and Fire Emblems (and dipping into homebrew here and there too; hence I found out the True Love mod for the game), and I swear I was NOT expecting to get into it—I'm not the type to really like this type of stuff... Then I realized that I already sunk 99 hours of my life into it, and shocker: I'm into this type of games.

So here we are, I got the brainworms and so, trio of dumbasses was made, to dump my dumb little art for it... And to test the brushes I download from Clip Studio Assets but never use because I already have the ones I go to for my usual style but still download because there's something in my ape brain that gives me dopamine when downloading brushes.

But enough of me, you're here for me OC, so let me introduce you to my farmer, Shinya. I'll just be going over what I wrote on my notes the past few weeks, so yeah—overall design thoughts, outfits, personality, a bit of background lore, etc. It's probably a bit of a read so brace yourselves. (Also feel free to talk to me if anyone wants to do art or OC content together, I'm shy but yes)

I tried to make him as accurate to the in-game model (emphasis on the tried). It should be indicated somewhere there what hairstyles I used were. And for the outfits, well, I initially just went with Work Clothes and Suspenders because it was one of the few outfits I had, then for the seasonal outfits I just thought "Well, if he's from the city, then maybe he has more modern clothes with him" HAHAHA, though I do want to have a specific outfit to go to for every season, I think that's just cool. Needless to say, Shinya's image color is Light Red.

Shinya's around 24 years old around the time he starts his farm (which I named Sauce Farm, for some reason), and as to explain how he has red hair while the rest of his known family's hair color is blonde/sandy brown, he's actually Daryl's child from a previous marriage. He pursues his dream to become a farmer to spite his father, who is reluctant to let him be one, to the point that he declined a lucrative job offer just to show him that he's not joking around when he says he says he wants to open a farm, causing Daryl to allow him to experience the farming life. Yes, he's a college graduate and he has a degree in Engineering.

An addition I added (according to my notes I'm taking all these from), is that he has a twin sister (my head's equivalent to Holly/Nanami) who's away from home herself, pursuing a Masters, who is pen pals with Kasumi, for some reason.

Also, Shinya used to be a delinquent when he was younger, though he seems to have softened over time. He's married to Ford and while a loving husband, is willing to make a few jokes at the latter's expense, usually around his attempts to be affectionate such as the time he lost a contest, Ford told him to "jump in his arms", flustering Shinya for a little before he bursts into laugher.

Personality-wise, I imagine Shinya to be a chill guy that likes to joke around and liven up the mood; depending on who he's with, he's either the straight man or the funny man of the group. Sometimes he can come off as rude or so, probably, but he usually means well; and sometimes he uses his fists to show gratitude too. He's a reliable person, I imagine, who uses his background in engineering to improve the three towns' infrastructure, beginning with South Westown's bridge. He's someone that probably wants everything to go well, or better, as planned so as to help him gain his father's approval, and will get sad or upset when things don't go his way or when he loses, though he would probably hide it under a smile, or something. I see him as someone who would do reckless and irrational decisions under extreme stress or possibly overwork himself, or at least stretch himself thin.

He enjoys fishing, he also likes horseback riding with his horse, Twi, whom he always rides when visiting the towns and doing part-time jobs. And though he still raises plants, ever since he was able to utilize Westown's mining nodes, he's spent more time mining than growing crops.

Despite Ford being a bad cook, Shinya seems to genuinely love his husband's cooking.