#And it's really easy to find stuff in red compared to a lot of other colors

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

Prince Charming

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.4k

Warnings: fluff

Summary: After an almost disaster at the club, you’re saved by your prince charming whom you want to thank with a drink. Minutes later, you realize that Prince Charming is just that, a fairytale. Weeks later, you run into him again and it’s not exactly the reunion you’re hoping for.

Square Filled: doctor is in the house for @mfbingo

Author’s Note: any and all comments are greatly appreciated <3

x

After waiting in the long line to get into the club, you’re finally granted access. The bouncer has to make sure there aren’t too many people per fire department codes, but you’re glad you’re even in at all. You bought yourself a new shirt that you’d never wear otherwise, and you really want to show it off. It’s a small sequin shirt that is covered with fake diamonds and shiny jewels, and it only covers your breasts like Ariel’s shell bra. The back has a few clear straps to make it look backless that clasp in the front. The only thing holding this shirt together is the small rusted clasp in the front.

You bought it at a thrift store that was part of a costume, so the clasp has definitely seen better days. Your only goal is to go home with someone since it’s been a while since you’ve felt the warmth of another body against yours.

“Okay, let me get us some drinks!” you yell over the music.

You push through the sea of bodies to the bar counter where you put in your drink requests. On the other side of the bar, by where the pool tables are, is Spencer, Derek, Matt, and Luke. Derek had a hard enough time trying to get Spencer out of the house, but he’s glad he’s here. He doesn’t get to hang out with his friends a lot since getting out of prison. He wanted to shut himself away from everyone, so being around people is good for him.

“Thanks for coming out, man,” Derek says and sips his beer.

“What choice did I have? You practically dragged me out by my hair.”

“Soak up the solitude, my friend, because in three weeks, you’re not gonna know peace,” Derek laughs.

Derek and Savannah broke up because her job took her halfway across the country, and Derek’s entire life is in Virginia. He loves being with the BAU and didn’t want to leave it. It wasn’t an easy decision to break up, but it was easier knowing that they were drifting apart. She was always at work and doing stuff for her coworkers like events raised by the hospital.

So, to prevent wallowing in self-pity and heartbreak, Derek asked Spencer to move in with him. Rent is climbing up a very steep hole and soon, being an FBI agent won’t be enough to cover rent. Luke and Matt start telling a story about when they went to talk to a victim’s family, but Spencer zones out of the conversation. He’s heard it once and that’s all he needs to remember every detail.

He looks around the bar at the different groups, just people-watching when he notices something shiny on the dancefloor. The sea of people part so he has an unobstructed view of you in that shiny sequin top. You’re dancing with your friends without a care in the world of who is watching. Spencer’s lips part slightly as he takes in every detail of your face and body.

He’s only dreamed of finding someone as beautiful as you. In prison, he’d create a woman in his head just to get him through the night, but none of that compares to you. Hair that flips as you dance, long legs leading out of a very short skirt, sparkly skin thanks to body glitter, and pouty red lips that he’d really like to kiss.

He looks at his friends but they aren’t paying any attention to you. They’re too engrossed in their stories to notice the beauty on the dancefloor. He looks back but frowns when he doesn’t see you. Your friends have dragged you from your spot on the dancefloor back to the table.

“We think we found someone for you,” Beatrice giggles.

“Oh, no, should I be worried?”

“No, no, he’s cute. I am seventy percent sure that he’s single.”

“Seventy? I don’t like those odds.”

“Well, I saw him with a woman earlier but she left and I haven’t seen her since. He doesn't have a ring on.”

“Hmm, why don’t we try looking for someone else I know who for sure is single. In the meantime, let’s go dance!”

You drag Bea and Aurora to the dancefloor, drinks forgotten. You’ll just get new ones when you want something else. The music flows through your body as you sway your hips to the beat, allowing your problems to slide off you. Your body twists too far to the right, and you feel the pop rather than hear it. You gasp and put a hand to the front of your shirt because the clasp had broken. If you remove your hand, your breasts will pop free.

“Shit! My shirt just broke!” you yell over the music. “I have to go home. I don’t have anything else to wear!”

“Here, take my shirt.”

Based on the starstruck looks on your friends’ faces, you know whoever is behind you is stupid handsome. You turn and are taken aback by how hot this man is. Curly brown hair, honey-brown eyes, a lean body, and super tall. Taller than any of your ex-boyfriends.

“Were you watching me?”

The stranger chuckles. “No, I was passing by when I heard you. Here, take my shirt.”

“No, I can’t.”

The words die on your tongue when he starts to unbutton the front of it. He’s wearing a black undershirt, and you find yourself disappointed you won’t be able to see what he’s hiding under those clothes.

“It’s okay, I have an undershirt on.”

He slides off his shirt and wraps it around your shoulders. Using his body like a shield, he blocks you from unwanted gazes and your friends keep eyes off you from behind. With one hand holding your shirt together, you awkwardly put the stranger’s shirt on. Once both arms are through, he starts to button it up so that you can keep a hand on your sequin top.

The shirt is bigger than you, so it hangs loosely, but it smells too good for a shirt. People nudge Spencer as they dance, causing him to inch closer to you. The act of him buttoning up your shirt is weirdly intimate, and you’re sure your friends have shit-eating grins on their faces.

“Let me buy you a drink,” you offer.

“You don’t have to.”

“I insist or else I’ll lose sleep over it.” Spencer doesn’t respond but lets you drag him to the bar counter. Luckily, a couple had just gotten up so you two take those seats before someone else does. “I’m Y/N.”

“Spencer,” he smiles.

“Thanks for offering your shirt to me. I would have to have gone home to change. You’re my hero.”

“I don’t know about that,” he blushes. “I’m just glad you’re able to stay.”

“Why is that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because I wouldn’t have met you and I wouldn’t be talking to you now.”

“Lucky you, then,” you grin.

“As weird as it may sound, I’ll have red wine. I’m gonna run to the bathroom real fast so you can just order for us.”

“Sure,” you nod. Spencer gets up and turns away, but you stop him. “Spencer? It’s not weird at all.”

As soon as Spencer leaves, you put in an order for two glasses of red wine. Five minutes turn to ten that turn to twenty. This man isn’t coming back. Maybe you read the situation wrong. Maybe he was only trying to be nice and made an excuse to get away the first chance you got. You slap some bills onto the counter before leaving to find your friends.

“Where’s McHottie?” Bea grins.

“Flaked on me. I think I scared him. We should just go.”

“What a bitch,” Aurora slurs.

“I’m calling an Uber now,” you say and pull out your phone.

As soon as Spencer got done using the bathroom, he hurried back to the bar counter. The line was extra long because some guy was fucking in the stall. A worker had to barge in and throw him out before he was able to use the restroom. He would have left to tell you but the line was getting longer and he really needed to go.

However, when he sees the empty bar counter, he frowns. The glasses of wine are still on the counter with a crisp twenty, and Spencer can’t help but chuckle. He knew you were too good to be true. Maybe you were creeped out by him when he offered you his shirt and was relieved when he had to go to the bathroom. He shakes his head and heads back to his friends.

“Where have you been?” Matt asks.

“Where’s your shirt?” Derek asks.

“Trash. I spilled something on it,” Spencer lies.

While you’re beautiful, you might just be a conniving little thief, so he tries his best to get you out of his head. After all, he’s moving in with his best friend. The day comes sooner than Spencer realizes. Luckily, Emily had given him and Derek the week off to get the new house ready. Derek wanted out of the house he and Savannah shared, so they needed new everything.

In the weeks that followed the club night, you had a hard time getting Spencer out of your head. It’s like even though he was a flake, he was a gorgeous one. You’re lounging on your bed scrolling through social media when you get a call from your brother.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Hey, are you busy right now?”

“Maybe. Depends on how much you wanna beg me to help you,” you grin.

“You’re evil. Look, the guys that were supposed to help me move bailed. Can you come help for a couple of hours?” You stay silent as you think. “I’ll give you money for Starbucks.”

“I’m on my way.”

He laughs and hangs up before you can change your mind. You search your closet for something clean to wear. Laundry day is tomorrow, and you weren't planning on going anywhere today. The only thing that’s remotely clean is the shirt Spencer let you wear. As soon as you got home that night, you took it off and it’s been on the floor ever since.

With a shrug, you put that on and head out. Your brother lives fifteen minutes from you, but you make it in ten minutes due to traffic being light. The moving van is posted outside his new house with two cars--your brother’s and his new roommate’s.

“Knock knock. It’s me,” you call out when you walk in.

“In here!” You walk into the kitchen to see your brother, Derek, next to his roommate who has his back to you. Wait… Wait a damn minute… “Y/N! Meet my roommate, Spencer.”

Spencer turns, confirming your suspicions. It’s Spencer from the bar. Wait, he’s your brother’s roommate? You don’t know much about his coworkers since you tend to lead very separate lives. He gets the bad guys while you’re a publishing editor. Spencer knows Derek has sisters, but he hasn’t met all of them. Derek often talks about you by name, but he never thought that the girl from the club would be her.

“It’s nice to meet you,” you say the first thing that comes to mind.

Spencer nods as if he’s thinking. “Okay. Nice to meet you, too.”

“Okay, I’m going to get more boxes. I’ll give the tour when we’re done.”

“Okay,” you smile. As soon as Derek is gone, you glare at Spencer. He looks just as good as he did in the club, if not better. It pisses you off. “So…”

“Are we not going to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?”

“About how you ditched me.”

“You bailed on me!” you gasp.

“I did no such thing. I went to the bathroom like I said I was going to. The line was long because some guy was having sex in the stalls and locked the bathroom. I would have stepped out of line to tell you this but I really had to pee. When I came back, you and your friends were gone.”

“What?” Embarrassment heats your cheeks. God, how can you be so stupid? “Oh, I thought you… Okay. I thought you ditched me and I got pissed.”

“Sorry I gave you that impression.” Spencer looks down and finally notices the shirt you’re wearing. “You’re wearing my shirt.”

You look down and chuckle nervously. “Look at that. I am.” You look back into his eyes. “Do you want it back? I can give it back.”

Your eyes are wide and innocent, and Spencer has a hard time resisting going over to you and ripping it off you.

“Keep it,” he says after a moment. “It looks better on you, anyway.”

Spencer pushes away from the kitchen counter and walks toward you. You back up for every step he takes toward you until your legs hit the couch.

“We can’t do this,” you mumble.

“Why not?”

“Look, my brother and I have a rule where I don’t date his friends and he doesn’t date mine. We can’t do this.”

Spencer leans down and grips the back of the couch so you’re trapped.

“We can’t or we shouldn’t?” he whispers.

“We shouldn’t.”

“Okay.” He backs up a few feet. “I wanted to give you a goodnight kiss that night. I’m kind of pissed I didn’t get to.”

“Oh, okay.”

“What if I gave it to you now?” You snap your gaze to him. “One kiss and then we can pretend like that night never happened.”

You don’t have to say anything. He can see the desire in your eyes. He stalks back over to you, grabs your jaw, and kisses you. You sit on the back of the couch and wrap your legs around his waist, falling deeper into the kiss.

“Oh, come on,” Derek groans.

You and Spencer jump away from each other and see Derek standing by the front door with a box in hand.

“Sorry, Derek,” you mutter.

“No, wait a second,” Spencer jumps in. “Just because you think this is going to blow up in our faces doesn’t mean it will.” He looks at Derek. “I’m not sorry, Morgan. I’m not going to stop wanting to kiss her.”

Derek shakes his head and sets the box down. “You know what? You’re both adults. I just don’t need to see your naked ass walking through here. I’m getting more boxes. It’d be nice if you two helped.”

The second Derek is out of view, you pull Spencer back in for another kiss with the promise of something delicious later on.

x

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[chibishortdeath]

Goodness, these doodles were all staggered in a way on the pages that made it really hard to take pictures of them and get everyone in there (>< ).

Explanations for all of it under here ⤵️ :3

I drew my Ratchet!!! My little guy!!! I’ve looked him up and he’s a little like “authentics” line one. He’s got really loose joints and his knees don’t bend hahahahsjdksjsjk, but yeahg. Tbh the big outer shells kind of design goes hard. Ratchet could benefit greatly from having shields on him, second doodle is a demonstration of those being used lol.

Hehehehehe he’s so fucking cute oh my god how did they make this one robot design to appeal to me specifically I’m gonna die— he’s sitting there so pleasant and polite :3.

This is an attempt at a Ratchet design that combines a bunch of other ones! I was trying to pick out stuff that I liked (big collar looking part, massive tiddie window with the ECG display, G1 as a base because G1 Ratchet is so aaaoiugauaugoihghgghhgh), but eh idk. I’m gonna go through a couple revisions of this design before I decide on one. Cause I did like uh start writing a fan continuity 💀💀💀. Like deadass I binged two seasons of G1 and was already so hooked and hyped that I started making OCs and plot lines and shit LMAO. The transformers hyperfixation got hands fr. Also, next to him is Starscream and a little very not finished Drift for size comparison :).

The largest Ratchet here was my first attempt at drawing him! I spent an unreasonably long amount of time trying to get his legs correct 💀💀💀. Directly next to him on the top is a little doodle that says “usagi ringo” and it’s comparing his forehead chevron to the style of cutting apples to look like rabbits of the same name hehe. And next to that is a bishoujo figure design because oh my god it would be so easy to make one of him and so peak— more on that later cause I’m proud of the design so it’s on here twice XD. Below those two: doodles of Starscream getting shot! 💀 There’s a lot of context behind these, but shortened version is Megatron got mad and shot him 💀💀💀. Any other explanation would be getting into continuity ideas I have not finished nor finalized yet lol.

Guys hear me out it would be so easy— he’s already got a boob window— and the red section of him looks like a bodysuit— it would be so so easy and so so peak please bishoujo line figure company— I would pay an unwise amount of money for silly anime girl pinup hahahajdkskkdksjskdkdahsj. Also smaller not skirt version as well if they wanted to go full “the red section looks like a bodysuit” lmao

Megatron!!! I tried to incorporate a lot of details that the original toy had like the chest decals and the gun elements :3c. The g1 toy is so funny holy shit dude, he’s so top heavy and has like teeny pencil legs it’s so dumb I want one 😭😭😭. Next to the ref image of him, there’s one doodle that’s like a shitpost of this stock photo of a guy drinking while watching TV, an unfinished doodle based on a pose ref from Pinterest, and an even smaller shitpost with him and Starscream and their shirts say “I’m high as fuck and have a gun in my backpack” and “cunt era” hahskdjkssj (X X).

Another Starscream practice and some other characters that require a lot of explanation— So, this big combiner guy that’s in this and the next photo is a combiner named Modulus and I found out about him in a very goofy way. A friend of mine saw a figure of a little known character (Medix) at Walgreens, didn’t get him, looked him up later, and went down a rabbit hole on the wiki, finding out this guy is part of Modulus, a combiner who… doesn’t exist??? 💀💀💀 Modulus only exists as a concept that was included in the instructions of one of his components and NOTHING ELSE HAHSJDKSHSJK. It is the most batshit insane thing, tiny wiki article and everything X,,,,,,D. But what’s really WEIRD about him is that— HE KINDA FUCKING FITS WITH AND TIES TOGETHER A BUNCH OF LOOSE IDEAS I HAD FOR CONTINUITY STUFF 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀?????????????? Idk it’s so scarily close it’s like as if I willed this guy into existence LMAOOO. Anyway, members of Modulus include: Scattershot, Medix, Ratchet, Starscream, and Rook. Two of these characters are like replacement members for other combiners that were basically created just so random games could function. One is the leader of another gestalt, BUT he’s also been in a TON of other ones. And then suddenly Ratchet and Starscream??? And in the original incarnation of the character, it was SG Starscream too????????? It’s not gonna be in my continuity (I have ideas—), but lol they just dropped the guy from another universe in there what 💀. Insane, deranged, maybe peak even. Why the hell did I end up latching onto the combiner that isn’t real help me (ToT ).

Above Modulus, there’s some doodles of Ratchet, Cliffjumper, Mirage, and Bumblebee, BUT these aren’t just those guys, oh no, it’s something worse hahahahahhasjsksk. My raised on undertale dumbass got plagued with the cursed idea of “huh, if Shattered Glass is like the Hasbro official swap au— F e l l A U” and uh… this exists now 💀. Fell AU (name pending) is basically just “the thing but edgier”, so in this universe the Autobots are still like The Good Guys™️, but they’re stuck in bad conditions. For that to happen, they’d have to not have access to renewable energy, meaning either humanity did not welcome them with open arms, there’s some kind of general crisis happening on Earth, or some mixture of both. So Fell (name pending) Ratchet is basically G1 Ratchet, but wayyy more stressed out cause they’re always short on things and barely scraping by. He’s visibly missing parts and damaged and he just does whatever quick temporary fix about it because his focus is on everyone else over himself; he lost an optic, a hand (that he’s replaced with his main tools), he’s got a crack in his screen, etc etc. Procedures are always messy and painful cause he’s just using what he has and the whole time he’s apologizing and trying his damndest to do the best he can— He’s a sweetie still, but man he could use a break (he will not get one alas). Cliffjumper is even more high strung and tempered than usual, he’s also got a nose ring and sharper horns for the edge lol. Mirage has his darker mask like coloring from the toy and typically is invisible far more often. They used to really fight a lot, but they’ve since gotten to a point where they’re the two each other trust the most. Cliffjumper does a lot of reckless shit and gets injured a lot (_ _ ). Then there’s Bumblebee. His colorscheme is still yellow and black, but they’re reversed. The reason for this is Edgy™️ but the in universe is that darker paints is just what they have. He’s also not the plucky rookie at all, he’s already gotten pretty jaded and hardened by everything, which makes Optimus really sad— he does get some rare moments of lighthearted antics because of Spike though. Idk it’s a funny AU concept and I might do more about it simply cause I think the Ratchet design goes hard lol XD.

[ughhwhyyyyyy]

Lets Run Away Together🎶

This song is actually my favorite in the album, it’s just so fun to sing. However, like Falling Apart, this song is also pretty straight forward about its message, so I kind of felt like there wasn't anything new about the characters to uncover fr. But like Falling Apart, I tried to find something anyway, and I think I did.

just like how Mad is obsessed with putting together a story for The Gaze, Hel also is obsessed with putting together a story for the gaze. Now the gaze that Hel caters to is stretching into whoever might be following Madeline’s “tragic end” but before this, Hel’s “The Gaze” was just Mad

Ernest’s “ah…” is very funny to me

Hel mpreg lover

The “lalala”’s are a peek into Hel’s childish sona she’s hiding with all this red bravado

something i JUST found, in the very very beginning of this song, the lower part under the violins play the leitmotif from Falling Apart, you gotta listen closely for it

this song is A LOT more disjunct and chaotic than That Was Then, This is Now

^ It’s incredibly fast paced and erratic, whereas That Was Then, This is Now is more grounded and walking pace. I mean, it’s comparatively more grounded, there were definitely hints to Hel’s obsession at that point in the musical.

^ I just love the insanity from the violins

at some point during her murder plot explanation, she starts to sound like a pharmaceutical commercial listing sound effects and it’s extremely amusing to me

She sounds extremely witchy hitting those last notes on “away” i love it

Anyway, to go back to this song compared to That Was Then, This Is Now, that song is almost entirely opposite to Let’s Run Away Together. They're very similar to how For The Gaze and Falling Apart are opposites in displaying Mad’s journey. Both songs show Hel and Mad's tumultuous relationship from Hel's perspective and how she uses Ernest to get to Mad, along with hinting at her mental instability, but in Let’s Run Away Together all of that is waayyy less subtle.

The melody in Let’s Run Away Together jumps back and forth often?? i guess?? it's constantly jumping up and down, whereas That Was Then, This Is Now’s melody was always building toward something or resolving itself

Even the difference in the very beginning of each song is jarring. With the swinging flute(? idk wind instruments) and languid cello, That Was Then, This Is Now’s had such a breezy, easy going intro. To cut from that to the tense, shrill violins that introduce Let's Run Away Together is a MASSIVE jump, it perfectly emphasizes the difference in Hel's character

The first few times I listened to this song I didn’t even realize there were verses and a chorus, I kinda just thought their wasn’t any structure to add to the chaos, but I think this adds to the song. There's an assumption that because Hel has gone crazy she is no longer capable of rational thought, and being that this song represents her mental state at this point in the story it appears to be structureless, but none of this is really the case. Everything Hel goes through in this song seems chaotic and insane but there is some reason in the madness. There is a reason why she’s been pushed to this point, and she has created a step-by-step plan to eliminate her target. Even though she’s insane, there is some amount of rationale in her thinking, just liker there is some amount of structure in this song. (or maybe this structure was more obvious to others idk my thoughts are subjective)

Also, this song completely disregards Ernest. That Was Then, This Is Now was a lot more emotionally sincere and appreciative of Ernest, and even though you could tell he was kind of taking the backseat to Hel and Mad’s whole thing, it still felt like he meant something to Hel. This song completely pushed him to the side so they could focus on killing Mad, it’s so tragic for him

This one's a litt;e shorter just cause its reinforcing some stuff we already learned about Hel earlier in the musical, but I had fun going over this one anyway

i love love love this song and i love hel sm

—

Masterpost

<— Falling Apart

[sl-vega]

✧It's a Date Then✧

Pairing: Itoshi Rin x Reader

Genre: fluff

Synopsis: Just Rin trying to ask his crush out last minute

The moment the bell rang, Rin sprang from his desk, grabbed his backpack, and burst into a sprint.

Fifteen minutes. He needed to leave for the game in fifteen minutes. That meant he had exactly fifteen minutes—well, more like ten, since he still needed to get his stuff from his locker—to find you, and ask you to the Spring Formal.

Of course I had to leave this for the last minute, he groaned silently, rushing through the hallway. The Spring Formal was tomorrow night. And he’d had so many chances to ask you. The assembly earlier this week where the two of you ended up sitting next to each other (and where your hands brushed his!). That time he saw you at a home game. All of those moments where he stole glances at you in the lunchroom or passed by you in the halls.

But each and every time, he could never seem to tell you

Rin wasn’t dense. He knew what people thought of him. He knew that he was always being compared to his oh-so-perfect older brother.

You, though… everyone adored you.

Not in the way where you were hot enough to get away with being obnoxious or some shit. People liked you because you were nice, kind, and selfless. You took his breath away sometimes. He thought you were incredible.

What am I even doing? He thought. There were probably loads of guys lining up to ask you out. Plus he didn’t even like dances, so what reason would you have to choose him?

He considered backing out, as he slowed himself down. If you said no, it would’ve been a waste of time trying to track you down. No, he told himself. He wasn’t quitting now. So what if you said no? He had the game to distract him later.

But God, if you said yes he thought. He’d finally have a chance with you. All those times where he's caught himself staring at you, all those times where he’d be grinning like an idiot when he thought about your smile… Maybe something could actually come from all that.

Rin picked up the pace again as he ran to your classroom, hoping that maybe you stayed back to help with cleanup, knowing you, you probably did. 

When he ran into the classroom, he didn’t see you, rather, he saw someone else.

“Hey Rin, looking for someone?”

Of course Isagi of all people had to be in here. But for you, he could resist wanting to wipe that smug-ass look off his face for now.

Of course Isagi knew what Rin thought of you, it was pretty easy to notice his ever-stoic teammate blushing and tripping over his words around you.

Snapping him out of his thoughts, Isagi said “She’s outside, she asked me if I knew where you’d be, she’s waiting for you by the bus.”

Rin was silent for a second, considering how to react.

“Thanks…”

“What was that?~”

“Shut up.”

Rin dashed out of the door rushing outside. When he got to the parking lot, he saw you. You were clearly looking for someone. At some point you stopped pacing around, you looked dejected, it was clear the person you were looking for wasn’t in there. He saw you turn around and when the two of you made eye contact, your face lit up. 

God you were so cute. He could’ve sworn his heart almost gave up on him.

“Hey Rin!” 

You smiled at him, beaming.

It was now or never

“H-hey” Fuck, of course he stuttered

“There’s something I want to ask you” the two of you said at the same time.

Rin turned bright red, and you giggled.

“You first,” you said with a chuckle.

He breathed in and out. God I probably look really pathetic right now he thought.

“So the Spring Formal is tomorrow, and I was wondering if you’d want to go with me?” he sped up the last bit, he felt his voice getting higher as he asked you the question.

You smiled. 

“Of course I’ll go with you Rin.”

He had to resist pumping his fist then and there, he already made a total fool of himself.

“So it’s a date then?” you asked.

“Totally” Rin responded, trying to sound casual. He heard your phone buzz. 

“Sorry I need to get going” you said as you looked down at your phone. Rin could’ve sworn he heard some disappointment in your voice. It gave him a small bit of hope that you felt the same way.

Before you turned around to leave, you gently pecked his cheek. “Good luck with your game by the way.” you said, with your face slightly flushed. You waved goodbye as you walked away.

It took him a second to register what happened. Then, it hit him. First of all, his crush agreed to go to the dance with him, second of all you kissed him. 

A date huh?

[katn1px]

Colour theory with the main cast

Basically, there are two main trios in Assassination Classroom, atleast that’s what I believe :

• Nagisa, Karma, and Kayano

• Nagisa, Karma, and Korosensei

And I just find it so ironic that they also have the most popular colours as their hair colour, but like, why not go into depth about it?

 

Nagisa, Karma, and Korosensei are obviously more well known; literally, most official art is based on them (excluding manga fanart in this).

Also, their main colours are the primary colours (red, yellow, and blue); it’s almost as if they were designed to be remembered like that. Most people learn the primary colours at a young age, and it’s a very easy concept, kind of like it’s easy to understand that these three are the main focus. Plus, Karma and Nagisa naturally have their hair coloured (wow, what a shocker). and Korosensei made himself that for reasons I genuinely forgot, but I think... it was so he could be more presentable looking to the class. Yeah, I really don’t know.

They have quite a bit of stuff focusing on the three of them (when they went to the cinema in Hawaii and how the whole class civil arc was focused on Nagisa and Karma fighting to get their opinion on how they should deal with Korosensei in the future). In addition to that, they’re the three characters with the most screen time and are ranked the most popular in the fandom:

Going back to the colors, they have almost the exact same traits as their main colour.

• Korosensei: inspires, optimistic, energetic, creative, kind of egotistical (?) and the list really goes on.

• Nagisa: loyal, relatively calm, reliable, pretty responsible, passive, etc. (also, the idiom "out of the blue" really does suit him).

• Karma: strength, attention (shown clearly in the class civil war), courage, confidence, and aggression (again, the idiom "seeing red" fits him when the class starts to argue about killing or saving Korosensei).

Now, in comparison to Nagisa, Karma, and Kayano, they're a completely different story. Although the three are known, Nagisa and Karma are obviously more popular (as shown before in the old ranking chart), and their scenes together as a trio isn't a lot, as well as official art (since Korosensei is in quite a lot of them), most I've seen is promotional material, like merch or the Blu-ray CD covers.

Clearly, they're not the primary colours—at least not for paint, that is. They are the main additive colours, which are basically the colours that produce white light and are used for laptop, phone, or iPad screens, so it's a bit trickier for people to get their heads around compared to red, blue, and yellow for paint. It's as if they're right there, but you can't see them; they're not obvious, but they are indeed there.

Now here's where the true comparison comes in: Kayano and Korosensei are not naturally their “colour”. Kayano dyed her hair from black to green, and Korosensei personally decided to become yellow when he could've very well picked any other color. With that, Korosensei is genuine about the traits he has that are shared with the colour yellow, while Kayano is not genuine and it's all an act (except negative traits like inexperience and possibly envy), but slowly she gains those green color traits throughout the show, especially after her whole arc (growth especially, encouragement, generosity, etc).

Overall, even though Nagisa, Karma and Korosensei are the main focus of the animanga, Nagisa, Karma and Kayano truly do drive the narrative forward and do play key roles (not saying Korosensei doesn’t he definitely does).

I just found this really interesting, and I live for colour analysis in characters, so yeah 😯

[yurislotusgarden]

Hii! could I request ranpo and chuuya with a fem s/o who makes cute bento boxes for their lunch at work? (I was curious on how this would go, feel free to add any details you want!)

My bento!

ʚїɞ Separately! Nakahara Chuuya, Ranpo Edogawa, Sigma x F!Reader

ʚїɞ Keep in mind English is not my first language, so you may find mistakes!

ʚїɞ word count: 1764 (Chuuya - 537, Ranpo - 664, Sigma - 561)

ʚїɞ Have Sigma as an extra bcs my ass forgot it was meant to be Ranpo instead of him after I was done with Chuuya's part

ʚїɞ Tw’s: None! Just pure fluff, pet names are used (barely), reader’s gender is not specified that much

Nakahara Chuuya!

ཐིཋྀ He loves the bentos so much, well more like the fact that you take time to make them for him

ཐིཋྀ Tries to always eat them

ཐིཋྀ Once, when you started making them, he didn’t eat the food because he was so busy that day, and when he had a little free time, Chuuya decided it was a better idea to go on a stress smoke break (He tries to limit smoking to the minimum he can if you don’t like smoking/the fact that he does it. He knows it’s because you care about his health)

ཐིཋྀ It ended with you fussing over him eating almost nothing that day and he doesn’t like causing you stress or making you worry so he makes sure to eat those bentos😭

ཐིཋྀ He may be an executive but this man is not embarrassed at all to eat those bentos in front of people, no matter how colorful or cutesy the food looks

ཐིཋྀ Food is food, he’s not gonna not eat cause you to worry just because the bento is one that doesn’t look like someone like him would eat

///////////////

“Lad, may I ask where do you get those bentos from?”

It was a long time since Kouyou noticed Chuuya’s bentos, and she tried to ignore just how much she wanted to try one. The only reason why she didn’t is because she doesn’t know where he is getting them from.

The young woman looked at many shops in Yokohama and saw a few places with similar bentos, but it was easy to see that none of the stores were the ones where Chuuya kept getting his lunch from.

…She really wanted one for herself, especially with how obvious it was that they were delicious, kept quiet about it tho.

Chuuya turned towards the older woman, whom he came to see as an older sister over the years.

“They’re not bought from a shop.”

“You don’t buy them?”

“Not a single one of them. Actually,-”

Kouyou was confused. Where did he get a bento from every single day? She knows the younger of the two probably wouldn’t bother spending his free time making food for lunch definitely a day before, even if he did, it wouldn’t be so colorful or detailed. There were even rice balls decorated as bears and stuff, it obviously took time to make one. But if he wasn’t buying them,  then the only other option that came to her mind was-

“- [Name] makes them for me.”

“She does?”

“Yeah, and she’s yet to make one I dislike.”

It all makes sense now to the red-haired woman. You have more free time most of the time compared to Chuuya, and you were probably aware of the eating habits he had before.

The fact that you take time, quite a lot it seems if Kouyou was to guess, the bentos are even detailed, in a very cute style if she was to say, made a smile appear on her face.

“Mhm, you wanna try?”

“How could I refuse such an offer?”

The food was even better than she thought. Kouyou made a mental note to ask you if you would have a problem with making two bentos from time to time.

Edogawa Ranpo!

ཐིཋྀ Another reason as to why he’s dating you -you give extra homemade sweets to the Bentos-

ཐིཋྀ He doesn’t even need to try to remember to eat it because he ends up eating it before lunch anyway -the reason behind you making more than one bento usually-

ཐིཋྀ He fucking boasts to everyone about the food😭

ཐིཋྀ “See what I have here? HAHA! Something you don’t and probably never will!” ← totally not Ranpo to anyone else -and totally not him to Dazai and Atsushi about the fact that they will probably never have homemade food like him-

ཐིཋྀ Don’t make the bentos with him in the kitchen unless you have prepared double the amount of food you plan to use. He uses any opportunity to snack on the not-ready-yet bentos

ཐིཋྀ BUT! He will share with you if he notices you’re hungry or just generally wanna eat it <3

///////////////

“C’mon give me just a little piece!”

“Nope! [Name] made it for me! Make your own if you want a bento at work, Yosano-san!”

“I can’t make such a bento Ranpo-san!”

“Not my problem!”

With a pout, the brunette turned his chair away, trying to eat his food in peace. It’s one of his favorite bentos! You put his favorites in this one! The only thing he doesn’t like in it is the veggies which Ranpo would ignore or throw out but he knows that he won’t get his favorite candy made by you anytime soon if he does (the others will snitch if he throws them out, especially Dazai and Yosano they did that the one and only time he did so. He learned a lesson from that after you didn’t cook his favorite like you said you would that morning)

Ranpo could practically feel the eye-roll done by Yosano. “It’s not like it’s the only bento you had today.” It’s true, he ate a similar one 2 hours earlier. “Doesn’t matter. It’s my bento either way.” A sigh came from the woman.

And right when one would think his problem was solved, another arrived. 

“Ranpo-san! What an interesting bento you have there!”

“Go away Dazai. I’m not giving you a single piece of my food!”

“Oh c’mon! You can spare a little!”

“Nope! Especially not when it’s [Name]’s cooking!”

Seriously, can’t they leave him alone? He knows your cooking is good, everyone at the agency knows that! But he wishes that you’d never let Dazai taste your food. The bandaged man has horrible eating habits, you both know that, and yet he always tries to get his hands on Ranpo’s bentos. The audacity!

Ranpo could tell that Dazai's annoying mouth was about to open again before someone interrupted him.

"I can make bentos for you too if you like them so much, Dazai-san"

Isn't that his angel who came to visit him at his oh-so-tiring job? Lovely timing, if Ranpo was to say, but there was one problem.

Among ‘hello’s and ‘hi’s from others upon noticing you, gasps could be heard, from 2 men specifically.

"You would do that for me?!"

"Excuse me?!"

What is this?! There's no way that you’re gracing anyone else with the perfection that are your his bentos!

“Hm?” It’s easy to see for anyone in the room that you were confused.

“[Name]-chan, if you could be so nice, could I ask for a bento with cra-”

“No no no! Shut up Dazai! She’s not making you any bentos! In your dreams!”

In the end, while Ranpo and Dazai at first thought that you wouldn’t make the taller brunette a bento after your conversation at that moment, you indeed did as a surprise. 

The best detective in the world didn’t like that but he allowed you to after bribing him and reminding him that if you can get Dazai to eat, you will, no matter if Ranpo will allow you to make a bento for him or not.

Dazai's happy scream the next day could probably be heard throughout the whole building.

Sigma!

ཐིཋྀ He didn’t think he’d be able to adore you more than he already does, and yet you found a way to make him do so

ཐིཋྀ He tries to eat the bentos every day but it isn’t that rare that he forgets about eating altogether when faced with a mountain of paperwork or problems in the casino

ཐིཋྀ He loves how they look and taste. He, at one point, will ask if you can teach him how to cook. Like not even necessarily a bento, just to learn since he doesn’t want the kitchen to end up in flames one day, he’s aware he sucks at cooking

ཐིཋྀ He probably would be a little embarrassed by eating it. Not because of how colorful or cutesy they are, but because of the looks he gets from people who see it. 

ཐིཋྀ The stares aren’t criticizing or anything, others just don’t expect that their boss/the manager of the casino would eat food that looks like that

ཐིཋྀ Someone was probably jealous because he has homemade bentos like that and they have some store-bought sandwiches 💀

///////////////

“It’s mine actually. Sorry, I forgot to take this from here earlier.”

The man standing in front of the bar was shocked.

He’s been sitting there and drinking not too much for some time now. At one point he noticed the bartender taking out a bento from under the bar, the lid see-through enough to see the food inside. He has to say, the detail and overall look were very cute, it definitely took time to make it look so.

The man had thought that the bento was made by someone for the bartender (In his mind it was a fair thought as he didn’t think that one could buy a bento like that anywhere close to a place like this. Especially if you work there).

The slightly shorter man changed his thought upon noticing that the bartender didn’t touch the food he had taken out (later on the lunch break he took out something else to eat)

Around 2 hours after the lunch break, -the bento still untouched, he noticed- the man decided to finally ask, curiosity winning over after all the time spent at the bar seat.

“Excuse me, who is the owner of the bento? I couldn’t help but notice that it hasn’t been touched at all.”

And he really chose the worst time to ask that question didn’t he? Right as the person to whom the bento belonged to, came.

“I-It’s yours sir?”

“Yes, why?”

How is he supposed to answer? That he didn’t think that such a cute-looking bento -that if he could he would consider stealing, it looks delicious and definitely better than his sandwich- can belong to the ever so stoic and calm manager of the sky casino?

“No reason! Was just that curious, that’s all! after all, the bento was lying here for the past, almost, 3 hours by now.”

“Ah, understandable then”

The bi-colored-haired man turned to the bartender, who was already giving the box over to him.

“Thank you for keeping it here for me, Shuichi-kun”

“no problem, Sigma-san. [Name]-san also told me to tell you-”

Yeah, the man needs a break from the confusion and shock for the next week.

And Sigma? He’s just happy you leave the bentos somewhere he can take them from when you know he’s busy.

Notes, comments, and reblogs are greatly appreciated <3

Do not copy or translate my works on/to any site

[normallosers]

I've been waiting for this moment haha, talking about this unit/ line that I cherish a lot. My moment has come lol

Berriez is in an undeniable way, one of the cutest dynamics in plave, and maybe I'm biased bc I think both of them are super adorable and lovable, and do a lot of cutesy stuff, and Yejun always pampers Bamby. But I would do the same, even when he's a little bit taller than me, but he's the smallest in my heart.

Now it's my time to send Yejun to prison bc I have a lot to say bout that man, he has created a really strong bond with all the members, it's comfortable to be around him, he is someone funny and reliable, talented and always there to help, he listens to what they have to say and he knows how to accommodate to them.

I know it's a common joke, but he is kinda like the dad there, always talking care of them, the responsible figure, a real professional, and in a weird way even the way he mocks them and jokes around it's like that, just cause it feels not with the intention to be mean... just want to embarrass them a little. He just thinks he's funny, and he is, in a different way.

So, it's really easy to understand why Bongby wants to be near him. Every time he's around, Bamby is happy, smiles a lot, defends him, and looks up to be like him, even imitating his movements, actions, or words. And with Bamby being an introvert and kinda shy (depending the environment), is really interesting seeing him acting like that, cause it shows the level of trust and confidence he feels towards Yejunie, and why not, patience and tolerance.

Bc Bamby is not that turbulent around him. Makes me remember the recent interview with Billboard, and he described Bamby like this:

When they're together, the vibe seems to be calmer, and he's at ease, they laugh together, and the way of interaction is soothing compared to other members (Eunho lol), even when Bamby is... Well, Bamby. And remembering that time when he said he would never talk to Yejun the same way he speaks to Eunho, cause Yejun would think he did something wrong probably hahaha.

And, during the second anniversary q&a, Yejun said he would be the closest to Bamby first if they were the same age, and Bamby, even when he said he would be closer to Eunho first, he thinks that he would make a bond with Yejun first.

And ofc Yejun finds Bamby super cute, so he treats him like a kiddo or some times even babies him, that's why we see a lot of red eyes moments when it's bout berriez, but Bamby is good with that, cause it's Yejun, cause he adores him. Bc they have their own way to relate with each other. Contrary than with Eunho, with Yejun, it is just like little pouts, whining or let himself be, never gets really mad at him.

Bamby never lost an opportunity to say good things bout Yejun, but the thing he seems to love the most is his voice, he's always enjoying hearing him sing but not just like normal, there's admiration, endearment, a genuine appreciation of his talent. Both of us are his number 1 fans, and if that old blue haired grandpa says his singing is not good enough, Bamby is ready to fight him bout it haha. That's how it should be.

Both of them are cowards, even when it's undeniable, they seem to haven't embrace that part of them, so it's a common thing to see Bamby whining 'Hyuuuuung' to blame him for his scared reactions, as he really was fooling anyone.

They have shared really funny moments while scared, singing together, or even dancing.

Even when Bamby was his kinda teacher/ support, like partner at some points, and Yejun ended in 5th place in the dance competition, they keep on enjoying their time together, never a bad attitude, misunderstanding, or something like that, everything is always fun and fine. Cause is not serious. Nothing is more important than friendship, even stealing the Asterum cafe in a monopoly kinda looking game.

They have shared a lot of funny moments and somehow that makes me think that Bamby can be kinda naive haha, and I like to see the difference in the interactions between the members, the new dynamics throughout the years and how the confidence let them build a friendship that is kinda comforting to watch, even tho Bamby almost kills him while driving him home (does he really lives in heaven? Is Yejun really an angel?). Seeing them give me a warm feeling, maybe bc as an introvert myself, I know how nice it is to have a friend you are super comfortable and happy around, idk but I really love berriez lol

[chimerafeathers]

thinking about Frieren and Dungeon Meshi today and just remembered seeing a post/comment or two saying that people have no reason to compare the two stories since they have nothing in common except being non-isekai fantasy. different tones, different pacing, different themes, etc.

i don't know if whoever said that were dunmesh manga readers or not, but i kinda assume they were making judgments based purely on however much of the anime was released at the time, because i think about how similar these stories are a LOT, actually.

[spoilers for the dungeon meshi manga below, and a little bit of frieren manga]

i think that's a pretty fair assessment to make based JUST on the "prologue"/setup arc leading up to the red dragon. while some of the main themes are very in-your-face, others are still being woven into the characters and established much more subtly, and we don't get the full weight and payoff for that early work until later into the story.

Frieren establishes its identity within the first episodes and never drastically deviates from that first impression. on the other hand, dunmesh takes its time to build its foundation...but instead of using it as groundwork to build a house above, it then leads you into the depths of the dungeon below.

the stuff about conflicts between long-lived and short-lived races seem like just jokes/banter and a touch of political worldbuilding, in the beginning, but that tension is absolutely central to both Marcille and Kabru's arcs. both Frieren and dunmesh are about elves facing their (near) immortality in contrast with the brief mortality of their companions.

I think about the ways Frieren, with a thousand years of life behind her, carries the memories of those she's outlived along with her and all the ways she emulates them to preserve their lives and values. I think about the way Marcille, with a thousand years of life ahead of her, clings so tightly to the people she holds dear and fears the future she sees beyond their deaths.

I think about the way Serie talks about training Flamme on a whim, casually dismissive of short human lifespans. I think of the way Kabru resents the way elves treat short-lived species like children and fights so desperately for their agency and right to speak on the same level as the rest, fully informed of the dangers that threaten them all instead of being left in the dark.

beyond that, too--you can really feel that these series come from a place of love for the genres that inspired them. dunmeshi's speculative biology for the monsters and the ecosystem they're a part of, the exploration of how and why different races get different "stat" bonuses (dwarven constitution, half-foot perception, tall-man versatility, elven/gnomish magical affinity), the side comic about "Grease" as a starter spell--all obviously come from deep knowledge and affection for D&D and/or similar rpgs.

meanwhile, Himmel gives thoughtful weight to doing "side quests" for paltry rewards--they help because they're heroes, but they accept scraps and useless items for rewards because no one wants to feel pitied or indebted to anyone. he says they "went the wrong way" if they find the stairs to the next floor in a dungeon, because the "right" way is to explore every nook and cranny first before you progress. it would be very easy to mock how annoying fetch quests are, or make the dungeon bit a pure joke--but this is a story that relishes the process and the journey of it all, down to the smallest detail and silliest quest.

flashbacks to Falin being achingly kind and gentle, and also strange and awkward. flashbacks to Himmel being blindingly heroic and noble, and also vain and goofy.

these are both stories about the weight of death and loss and the things we'll do to see our loved ones one last time, when we are destined and doomed to outlive them. they're about the joy of the journey even when it's painful, thriving on silliness even when things are "serious," and loving the people in your life knowing you will lose them, and how you carry them with you when they're gone. dunmeshi is heavier on the comedy side of things, but both have their fair share of emotional gutpunches, and their themes and values mirror each other.

all this to say, these stories are holding hands.

[katebeckets]

Hi, it's dream anon, I'm back!! How have you been?

Work has been quite literally kicking my ass so I had to slow down my marathon :/ Right now I'm halfway through season 3 so there's a lot to unpack. Sorry in advance to how long this has gotten.

Like, the episodes where Scully was kidnapped KILLED me (logically, I knew she wasn't dead because I've seen the gifs of other seasons, but I can't imagine what this suspense was like for people who watched the show live lol) and then Scully's mom wanting to "bury" her and Mulder's reaction to that and the part where she was in the hospital and they didn't know if she was going to survive???

The focus on Mulder during all that was so (!!!) I don't have words, the journey he went through on that episode still lives rent free in my mind. The writing and the acting just really drives in how much he loves her and how strong their connection trully is. There are only a few other times I remember ever being this frazzled watching a TV Show.

Now, skipping to season three briefly, I need to rant about the cockroach episode because one, I absolutely hate cockroaches, and two, I'm so glad I didn't skip this episode like I had wanted to. It's so freaking funny agdagdkagakd

I loooove that Scully is on the phone like "No, Mulder, here's a rational explanation for how those people died; I'm sure the cockroaches have nothing to do with it. No, I'm sure that the fact that all the bodies were found covered in roaches is just a coincidence" (you gotta love her commitment to being a skeptic, like, after everything you've seen you still think that murderous cockroaches is a reach???) but then she falls asleep holding the phone waiting for Mulder to call AND that was so 🥺🥺🥺🥺

Plus the fact that as soon as Mulder mentions a woman she does a complete 180 and goes "you know what, maybe there is something going on. I'm on my way" (absolutely love that her possessives is a consistent trait)

Another thing that I love about the show is the fact that it's making the alien thing so ambiguous (or maybe the government propaganda to make Mulder believe that aliens really do not exist is working on me, who knows), but there's such a nice juxtaposition of every time Mulder comes close to finding concrete proof that aliens are real the goverment is already on him, showing that no, actually they just used the alien excuse to hide something more sinister (or at least I feel that way), compared at the same time to all the other weird, "unexplicable" stuff happening. It boggles my mind!

It's not only Scully's skepticism but the way the whole show is framed imo. Like yes, sure, vampires and ghosts 100% exist; people can project their minds to commit murders, and there's this guy that quite literally sucks the life of women, another one that accidentally kills people with his shadow; psychic connections and psychic's predictions are possible (and this is just season 3!) and so on, but aliens? Hm, no, I'm not sure that's possible agfshagfdhag

There have been so many times where I thought "Oh yeah, aliens are for sure real, Mulder is 100% right", but then slept on it and woke thinking "hmmm, no, there's another plausible explanation for this, I'm sure for real now."

I feel like I should apologize to Scully somehow because if you don't have Mulder's absolute conviction that aliens are real then it's so easy for our brains to come up with excuses and make connections that can fit into a more "reasonable" explanation. (Also, the fact I can't marathon a whole season in one sitting is just contributing to me slowly becoming a conspiracy theorist I think. I feel like the guy on the meme connecting the dots with the red string lol)

Oh and also, there's the fact that both Mulder's and Scully's fathers are both connected to separate alien conspiracies somehow?? That just strengthens my opinion that they're soulmates, no one can fight me on that.

Plus the mystery of Scully's disappearance??? Will there ever be a concrete answer to what happened?? I'm dying to know what really happened but also sort of scared that it will be just another thing that COULD be aliens like Mulder thinks, but then someone will "prove" to Scully that is something else (the government), but I'm also sure that answer wouldn't satisfy anyone.

This is barely coherent rambling again, sorry, but I have too many thoughts and feelings about this show.

I like to think about how Mulder and Scully's dynamic from episode 1 sucked me in yeah, but also, how the show is written in such a way that just keeps getting me more hooked. Every time I think "Surely this episode will give me some answers" and then I inevitably end up with more questions I realize why this is such a good show and why people still love it today.

Okay, so, this got a little out of hand, but I'll come back soon with more updates on how the x-files is consuming my life :D

okay first of all I need you to know how HAPPY this message made me (I literally posted about you the other day fkjda;fja;) but I am going to reply with a read more so it's not too too long 😂

abduction arc, beloved abduction arc. I actually just got through that in my rewatch and GAHHHH it is EVERYTHINGGGGG like the fact that Mulder wore her necklace? That Maggie trusted him with the necklace and said when you find her. Also, literally everyone in her family had made peace with her dying and I fully believe one of the biggest things that drew her back is the fact that she knew Mulder wouldn't be okay and she loves him too much for that.

okay I feel you on hating cockroaches and I am SO GLAD you didn't skip because I love that episode, it's got one of my favorite I love yous (she SLEEPS WITH THE PHONE IN HER HAND?? AND IMMEDIATELY ASSUMES IT'S HIM WHEN SOMEONE CALLS????) and is just so funny. Yes! I love how possessive they are of each other, like that is their human, do not go near them. I'm excited for you to watch Syzygy if you haven't already 😂

I will not spoil anything but I am so enjoying watching you slowly unravel the mytharc of the show <3

please please please do keep me updated (feel free to stay x files dream anon or come off anon, I'm happy to hear from you!)

hope work lets up a bit <3 <3

[rainisawriter]

Lassie 🎃⚔️ Pumpkin Spice

Genre: Fluff, comedy, romance, halloween

Word Count: 4,264

Pairing: Reader x Lassie

Group: White Rascals

World: High&Low

A/N: This was written for my Highloween set back in October of 2022.

━━━━━━༻🎃⚔️༺━━━━━━

Autumn has always been your favorite time of year and you often wonder how anyone could hate it. It’s not cold like winter or hot like summer and everyone is getting ready for the spooky season. Pumpkins are literally everywhere, the leaves change into beautiful shades of orange and red, and everything just feels less serious and stressful. During Autumn, it was quite difficult to put you in a bad mood because of how much you enjoyed the season and everything that came with it. More than anything, though, you loved the taste of pumpkin spice. There was nothing more enjoyable than a fresh batch of pumpkin spice cookies with chocolate chips!

When you first moved to Japan, you had to adjust to a lot of things because of how different it was from your home country, but the thing you missed most was the overabundance of pumpkin spice during the spooky season. It’s true that you could find a handful of products with said spice, but it was nothing compared to back home where nearly everything had a pumpkin spice variant. People go nuts for it and, honestly, they put it into things that it really has no business being part of. No matter how much you love it, you simply can’t support those weirdos that think pumpkin spice belongs on pizza!

It’s even become a meme online with thousands of images cropping up each year. As with anything, once something becomes overhyped and popular, it starts to gain a bad reputation but that didn’t really bother you. The spice spoke for itself, in your opinion.

You hummed softly as you relaxed on the couch sitting atop Oya Koukou’s roof, scrolling through your phone as you looked for the perfect recipe. The problem is that there are hundreds of recipes, each with only slight variations to them. How are you supposed to know which one is the best? It’s not like you can try them all.

“You seem to be in high spirits today.”

You glanced over at Tsukasa who sat at the other end of the couch. “I am because my package finally arrived this morning, right as I was leaving the apartment. I was starting to get worried that it wouldn’t even arrive until after Halloween… damn customs.”

Fujio glanced up from where he sat atop several wooden pallets, his hand holding several playing cards. “What’s in it?”

Jamuo sat across from him, gaze focused on his own cards as he tried to figure out which one to set down. “It must be important to have worked you up so much.”

“My friend back home sent me a bunch of pumpkin spice.”

“Oh.” Fujio’s brow furrowed as if he were disappointed, but he was actually just concentrating on his next move. “Is it true that people are really obsessed with that stuff where you’re from?”

“Hm, I wouldn’t say obsessed, really,” you mused, tilting your head back to look at the baby blue sky above. “It’s become part of meme culture, so it’s easy to think that and we really do push the limits of what we can add it to. It’s usually only around during Autumn, though. No one really mentions it or uses it any other time of the year.”

“What are you gonna make with it?” Jamuo wondered, setting down the last card in his hand before jumping up, his arms in the air. “I win!”

“What? How?” Fujio scowled, glancing from his hand to the table and back again. “I was so close… ugh!”

You chuckled as you watched the pair, shifting on the couch. “Pumpkin spice cookies with chocolate chips. It’s my favorite Autumn snack so I wanted to make some for Lassie. I’m a bit nervous, though… I’ve never made them from scratch before. They usually come pre-made or ready to bake.”

“Are you worried that you’ll mess them up?” Tsukasa wondered, quirking a brow at you. “Or are you worried that he won’t like them?”

“Both. The first time you try a new food can really impact how you view that food in the future. I don’t want to be the reason he comes to hate pumpkin spice when he might actually like it if it’s made correctly…” You frowned, picking at a loose thread on your clothes.

“And?” he prompted, making you sigh.

“You read me too well, Tsukasa. It’s annoying.”

“Right?” Fujio scowled at the blonde.

Jamuo sat back down, turning on the empty oil drum he sat on top of so he could face you. “What else is bothering you, Y/N-chan?”

“Well…” you hesitated, biting your lip. “How do I say this… Lassie is from the White Rascals and you know how they are. They’re obsessed with never hurting women. More than him not liking it, I’m worried that he’ll lie to me and say he loves it just to spare my feelings. That’s way worse than not liking it, in my opinion.”

Fujio hummed, folding his arms over his chest. “Most people would be happy with that, right? It means he loves you enough to lie.”

“But lies can hurt more than the truth,” Jamuo added with a frown. “It’s like they’re saying you’re too weak for the truth.”

“Exactly, Jamjam,” you sighed. “He always treats me like I’m some fragile creature that will break at the slightest jolt. He never tells me the truth if he thinks it might hurt my feelings, it’s so frustrating!”

“Have you told him this?” Tsukasa inquired, sending you a look. Your silence was the only answer he needed. “How is he supposed to know how you feel if you don’t tell him?”

“I… may be a bit insecure. Lassie is the type that wants to take care of his partner completely. If I challenge that… he might move on to someone who won’t.”

“Then it’s his loss!” Fujio smacked his hand on the table, sending cards scattering across the rooftop. “Who breaks up with someone over something like that anyway? You’re worrying for nothing, Y/N!”

“Maybe.”

Tsukasa scooted closer, putting his arm around you. “No matter what happens, you’ll always have us.”

You glanced around at the smiling faces of your three best friends and chuckled. “What a terrible fate that is.”

“Oi!”

“That’s mean, Y/N-chan!”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“Don’t agree with her!” The two boys chorused, glaring at the blonde who only chuckled in reply.

━━━━━━༻🎃⚔️༺━━━━━━

You fell onto the kitchen chair with a tired sigh, closing your eyes as the smell of pumpkin spice cookies filled the room. You had spent the past four hours trying out as many recipes as you could, hoping to make the perfect cookies to share with your boyfriend. There were many failures and the kitchen had been reduced to a baking warzone. Flour coated the counter and the wall, there was cinnamon stuck to your hair, sugar had made itself comfortable on the ceiling and your precious pumpkin spice had been knocked over, forming a small pile on the ground.

Several plates of cookies had been set out on the table and, while they looked almost identical, they varied in taste. Who knew a minor change in ingredients could change the flavor so drastically?

“Woah, what happened in here?”

You glanced to the side, seeing Fujio standing in the doorway with wide eyes. You grinned, giving him a thumbs up. “I won the war, Fuji.”

“You say that, but don’t you have to clean up the mess? Sounds like you lost to me.”

Your smile fell as you realized he was right. “Damn.”

He stepped farther into the kitchen, carefully stepping over an egg you had dropped. “You want me to taste them, right?”

“Only one from each plate.” You sent him a look, pointing your finger at him before approaching the oven to check on the last batch. “I want to choose the best tasting ones for Lassie. You can take the rest to Tsukasa and Jamjam.”

“I’ve never tried pumpkin spice before,” he hummed, picking up a cookie from plate one.

“Make sure you remember which cookie you’re eating!”

“Hai~” He took a large bite, chewing thoughtfully for a moment before his eyes suddenly widened. “So good!”

“Which one?”

“The first one!” He tossed the rest of the cookie into his mouth, dropping crumbs onto the dirty floor.

“Oi, don’t make the mess worse.” You scowled, setting the sixth and final plate onto the table before falling back onto the chair, stretching your body out. You rested your chin in your palm, watching as the black-haired male scarfed down cookie after cookie. You wondered if he was even able to taste them. Once all cookies had been tried, he sat down at the other end of the table, eyes closed and arms crossed over his chest.

Several minutes passed by and you were just about to question him when his eyes finally opened.

“I’ve made my decision,” he told you, expression deadly serious.

You nodded, leaning forward. “Which one is it, Fujio? Tell me.”

He shot up, hands slamming on the table. “Number five…!”

Your gaze fell to plate number five before you reached out for it.

“Is the worst.”

“Eh~?” Your hand dropped to the table. “Oi, I told you to choose the best, not the worst!”

“You can’t have the best without the worst, Y/N-chan.” He wagged his finger at you with a grin. “That’s how they do it on those cooking competitions that my mom always watches.”

“I don’t care. Just tell me which one tastes the best before I kill you.”

“Fine, fine.” Fujio pointed at plate number three. “These taste the best, in my opinion, but all of them are really good.”

Your shoulders relaxed at the compliment and you smiled. “Thank you. I can always count on you.”

“Of course! That’s what friends are for, ne?” He grinned, grabbing a cookie from plate number six.

“I thought six is the worst.”

“It is.” He took a large bite, chewing thoughtfully before grinning again. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not good.”

“You’re so weird,” you chuckled, shaking your head at him as you got up to grab a plastic container for your boyfriend’s cookies. “Here, catch.” You tossed a plastic container at him and he caught it with ease. “Box up everything but plate three.”

“Hai~”

“And you better save some for Tsukasa and Jamjam or I’ll kill you!”

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You gripped the strap of your messenger bag tightly as you descended the stairs into club Heaven. You had never felt very comfortable because the club scene just wasn’t for you. You didn’t like the large crowd of sweaty bodies hitting against each other as they danced and you didn’t like the flashing lights that threatened to blind you. If you had your way, you’d never come here but this is where your boyfriend spent most of his time. It was basically his home.

Your eyes scanned the sea of people, searching for your brown-haired boyfriend. And there he was, sitting at the back of the room with two girls sitting on each side of him. He smiled at them politely as they showered him with compliments and praise, their hands touching any part of him that they could reach.

You frowned, turning around so you could sit at the bar and not have to look at such a scene. You knew deep down that those girls meant nothing to him on a personal level, he was just doing his job and trying to make some lonely women happy. Even so, how could it not bother you at least a little? You didn’t want to be the kind of partner that got all jealous and demanded that he not be with any other woman. Besides, you knew what you were in for when you started dating a White Rascal. You had no right to complain now.

“Good evening, Y/N-san.”

You glanced up at the bartender and smiled. His name is Naoki and he had a mess of hair that stuck up in all directions, defying gravity. It was split down the middle, the left side the color of a raven’s feather and the right side the color of fresh cream. Black eyeliner was thick around his eyes and he had various piercings in his ears and several tattoos that couldn’t be hidden from his open vest. Despite his appearance, he was one of the sweetest of the Rascals and seemed to always know when someone was feeling down.

“Hello, Naoki-san. How is work today?”

He hummed as he grabbed your favorite non-alcoholic beverage, setting it down in front of you. “Today seems to be dragging on for ages. I’m glad it’s almost over.”

“Don’t let Rocky hear you say that,” you chuckled, accepting the drink with a small thank you.

“Of course. I’m not a masochist, you know,” he grinned, leaning his arms across the counter. His eyes flickered over your shoulder to your boyfriend who had yet to notice your presence. “What brings you into the club today? Lassie didn’t say you were stopping by.”

“I didn’t tell him, though maybe I should have…” You frowned, rubbing the back of your neck. Usually, when he knows you’re stopping by, he does his best to avoid being surrounded by women though they always find him even when he avoids them. He’s one of the most popular males among the Rascals, second only to Rocky himself, so it made sense that there would always be women looking for him.

“Maybe so,” he replied softly before tapping the counter and straightening his back. “Ne, why don’t I escort you into the back? You can wait for him there. I know you don’t really like it out here.”

You nodded, giving him a grateful smile as you stood up. “Can I bring my drink?”

“Of course, Y/N-san.” He bowed, one arm across his chest and the other behind his back. With a smile, you picked up the glass, supporting it with your palm so you didn’t drop it as he led you through the crowd and into the back of the club. No one was supposed to be allowed back there except for the Rascals but you had become a bit of an exception. If Rocky or Koo found you, they would lightly scold you, telling you not to let it happen again, but they never made you leave or enforced it. For that, you were thankful.

Naoki led you to a small break room. “I’ll let Lassie know you’re here -“

“Don’t.”

“Hm?”

“I don’t want to bother him,” you smiled sheepishly. “Or take him away from his patrons… I’ll wait, I don’t mind.”

“Are you sure?” he questioned softly with a frown.

“Positive!” You forced a smile to put him at ease and he nodded.

“Very well, then. I’ll come check on you in a bit.”

“Sure.” You listened to the sound of his footsteps fading down the hall before you shut the door, glancing around the room.

Against the right wall was a comfortable, purple sofa that felt more like a cloud than a piece of furniture and there was an oak coffee table in front of it. Against the left wall and the wall beside the door was a line of vanity tables covered in makeup and hair products. The lights surrounding the mirrors were off since they weren’t being used and you could see your reflection in the glass. In the corner between the left and back wall was a TV sitting on a stand.

You carefully set your messenger bag on the coffee table, knowing that the container of cookies was inside before you settled down on the couch. You considered turning on the TV but decided against it, lying down on your back and tugging your phone from your pocket. You replied to unread messages from the trio, letting them know that you hadn’t given them to him yet but sparing the details as to why. Then you pulled up YouTube, watching videos to pass the time.

━━━━━━༻🎃⚔️༺━━━━━━

You felt fingers brushing against your cheek and your eyes fluttered open, blinking away sleep. It took you a minute for your brain to recall that you were still at the club.

“Did you sleep well?”

You glanced over, seeing Lassie kneeling beside the couch, his fingers resting softly against your cheek. “I fell asleep,” you muttered, pushing yourself up and rubbing at your eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize.” He pulled himself up so he could sit on the side of the couch, smiling warmly at you. “You’re so cute when you’re sleeping. You even mumbled my name~”

You sent him an embarrassed look. “Liar.”

“Am not! I’ll just have to film it next time~”

“Don’t you dare!” I scowled at him, making him chuckle. “What time is it?”

“It’s morning. The club closed about twenty minutes ago.”

You frowned. “I slept so long…”

He nodded, going quiet for a moment. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Eh?”

Lassie frowned at you, eyes meeting yours. “You always tell me when you’re coming to the club. Why didn’t you call me? And then you got here and still didn’t tell me. You sat back here alone for so long.”

“I wanted to surprise you and then I got here and saw you with…” You cleared your throat, glancing at your messenger bag. “I didn’t want to bother you while you were walking.”

“You could never bother me.” His hands gently cupped your face, bringing his forehead to rest against your own. “You’re the love of my life, Y/N. You are far more important than my job.”

“Rocky might kill you if he hears that,” you joked softly, unable to hold back your smile.

“Then I’ll die a happy man because I have you.”

“Idiot~” You smacked his shoulder. “You’re not allowed to die without me.”

“As you wish, my love.” Lassie pecked your lips but when he pulled away, you followed, tugging him closer by the front of his shirt. He obliged your silent request, pushing against your lips in a slow, sensual manner that had you feeling breathless.

“Lassie?” you whispered softly, lips brushing against his when you spoke.

“Yes?”

You glanced at your bag, biting your lip. Now that you were here in front of him, you weren’t sure you wanted to offer him the cookies. ‘No, I worked hard on them. I have to give them to him,’ you told yourself, shifting on the couch so that you could reach your bag. Lassie watched you curiously as you pulled a small plastic container from the bag, gripping it tightly.

“Will you promise me something?”

“Of course.”

You took a deep breath, turning to meet his gaze. “Promise me that when you try these cookies, you’ll be honest with me even if you hate them.”

His eyes widened at the request, gaze flickering to the container. “Is that what you want?”

“Yes. It hurts when you pretend to like something just to avoid upsetting me. I just want you to be honest.”

“Then I will be. From now on, I’ll be honest with you,” he smiled softly, resting his hand on your thigh.

“Good.” You nodded your head, holding the container out to him. “It’s my first time making these from scratch but I did my best.”

“You made these?” He took the container carefully, tugging the lid from it. The smell of cinnamon, sugar, and pumpkin spice filled the room, making his mouth water. “It smells amazing. Are these sugar cookies?”

“No. They’re pumpkin spice.”

“Pumpkin spice?” Lassie blinked, picking up one of the cookies to inspect it.

“I know you’ve never tried it before and it’s okay if you don’t like it. It’s my favorite Autumn treat, so I wanted to share it with you.”

“Itadakimasu,” he said softly before taking a bite of the cookie, holding his other hand beneath it to catch the crumbs. You watched his face closely as he chewed, taking note of his furrowed brow as he considered the flavor. He swallowed, paused a moment, then took another bite, humming thoughtfully.

“Be honest,” you reminded him and he nodded, leaning back against the couch with one leg crossed over the other.

“Honestly speaking, I don’t hate it. It’s a strange taste,” he mused, eating the last of the cookie. “An acquired taste, perhaps.”

“Maybe.”

“I guess I’ll just have to eat the whole container.”

“Eh?” You blinked at him as he picked up another. “You’re not even gonna share with me?”

“You made them for me,” he pouted but it quickly bloomed into a smile as he held the cookie out to you. “Well, you did put in a lot of work. You’ve earned one.”

“Just one?” you chuckled, accepting the cookie. It was like pure bliss from the first bite and you found yourself sighing in contentment, unaware of the loving look your boyfriend was giving you as he watched you. “I guess I can live with that.”

“Thank you, Y/N.” Lassie softly kissed your cheek, sliding his hand into yours. “I’m so lucky to have you.”

“That’s my line.”

“Now you have to promise me something.”

You looked at him curiously, meeting those beautiful brown eyes that you had come to love so much. “What’s that?”

“The next time you come to the club, let me know. Even if I’m with other guests. Promise?”

“I promise.”

Lassie leaned in to kiss you but paused when your phone started to ring from the table. He grabbed it for you, glancing at the caller ID. “It’s your dad.”

“He must’ve just gotten home.” You exchanged the cookie for your phone, pressing it to your ear. “Hello -“

“I’m going to kill you, brat! This kitchen is a mess! Did you have a fight, huh? Were you raised in a barn? I work all night and come home to an absolute mess! How dare you leave the kitchen in this state! No child of mine would be so irresponsible, so stupid! Ah, I know! Someone must have broken in and trashed the kitchen, ne? The trash bandits, ne? Ne, brat?!“

You swallowed hard as you slowly lowered your hand, the sound of your father ranting and raving filling the room. You had completely forgotten about the kitchen because you wanted to get the cookies to Lassie as soon as possible. You hadn’t planned on falling asleep, you had planned to get home before he did and clean up the mess.

“He sounds really angry,” Lassie spoke quietly so your dad wouldn’t hear, a frown on his lips. “Is everything okay?”

“It’s fine,” you replied, your voice an octave higher. “I, uh… I might die today, though.”

“Hah? As if I’d let you. Here, let me talk to him.” Before you could react, he plucked the phone from your hand, pressing it to his ear. “Good morning, otou-san. Forgive me for interrupting, but may I ask what has you in such a foul mood?”

You leaned closer to try and hear what was being said, but your dad had started to speak at a normal volume as he often did when talking to anyone other than you so it was hard to make out the words.

“I see.” Lassie sent you a disappointed look. “I can explain, if you’ll allow me to. Y/N wanted to make cookies to thank you for working so hard, but the task proved to be a bit much. Such a mess would be hard to tackle alone, don’t you agree? I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t pick up my phone when Y/N called, so they came down to ask me for help. We were just about to return and clean up the mess when you called… hai, that’s right… We’ll be home soon, otou-san. The mess will be gone by the time you wake up, I assure you… hai. Sleep well.”

You blinked dumbly at your boyfriend as he hung up the phone, handing it back to you.

“Honestly, what were you thinking, leaving such a mess behind?”

“I wanted your cookies to be fresh,” you mumbled, staring at your phone. Your dad was often compared to an angry bear by Fujio, the only other person who had witnessed his true nature. He wasn’t quick to anger unless he was tired and his rage was hard to ease, so how the hell had your boyfriend talked his way out of disaster? It made no sense to you.

“Aw. You knew he would kill you but you still put me first!” He set the container on the table so he could turn toward you, cupping your face and bringing you into a passionate kiss. “What would I do without you?”

“Die, probably,” you joked, making him click his tongue.

“I’m pretty sure you just described yourself. Now, let’s get back to your apartment. We have a lot of cleaning to do.” He stood up and you jumped up after him, grabbing his hand.

“You don’t have to help, Lassie. It’s my mess and you worked all night at the club. I’m sure you’re exhausted.”

“I’m never too tired to help you. That’s what being in a relationship means, right?”

You slid your hand into his with a smile. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“I always am~” He winked playfully, giving your hand a squeeze.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Lassie. I might have to hit you.”

“You wouldn’t dare~”

He was right, of course, but he didn’t need to know that.

━━━━━━༻🎃⚔️༺━━━━━━

-> High&Low/Rampage Taglist: @kiraaaeon, @simpforchuchu, @star2fishmeg, @thatpoindexterpixy @manhwabtch

-> General Taglist: @asterhaze, @mrskenpachizaraki

[adanseying]

For the ship game: Aria/Alison and Aria/Alex Drake

Aria x Alison

Whether I ship it or not: I obviously do a lot! They’re one of my favorite pll pairings/dynamics. I’d say they’re my favorite Aria ship rn (sometimes Sparia ties with it depending on my mood) and in my top 2 Alison ships (with Monison).

Why I ship it or not: They’re just a very intriguing relationship, I love anytime pll creates a sort of homoerotic mirroring effect between the girls so things like Aria wearing the red coat, parallels between their home lives (their being groomed by Ezra, their home lives where one of their parents was unfaithful but even though that was Byron for the Montgomery’s and Jessica for the Dilaurentis’ the gendered dynamics in the marriage are similar imo, and both girls are kind of regarded as More Adult (the correlation between that and them being groomed Spencer is also a comparison there rather than Hanna and Emily who have comparatively more stable/supportive guardians but this isn’t about Sparia or Spalison I just had to mention it), and being kind of the vortex of controversy and attention (although those aren’t really positive) while their brothers are kind of sidelined. So in terms of that theirs a lot going on to dig into, and then Alison’s treatment of Aria in the flashbacks is very interesting because she treats her so much more like an equal than the other girls, I mean she does see Spencer as an equal in a way but that’s based on their rivalry and with an understanding that Alison wants the upper hand. With Aria she just seems like she wants her to be there in a way that’s .. simpler isn’t the right word. But I think Alison likes being reflected in Aria vs her conflicted feelings about being reflected in Spencer or Hanna and that’s interesting to me. I also think I enjoy when Aria’s forgiving nature and open mindedness is brought out in her dynamics with morally ambiguous women which I think is why aside from Spencer most of my ships I feel strongly about for her are with more morally duplicitous female chars, Alison Mona Jenna Alex in descending order tbh. (I also find Aria’s sharp edge / parts of her char that conflict with her “sweet/nice” image very interesting and those are also emphasized in these and by her finding Alison so compelling by). And all the liars visions of Alison are very interesting and more than a little gay, but Aria’s “you know why I picked you right” scene is especially ripe for analysis imo.

My opinion on their canon potential (chemistry, canon interactions, etc): Oh I think there’s quite a lot of canon basis for especially Alison’s side of it between the photographs she secretly took while Aria was sleeping, which when we think Jason took them were meant to assume is out of a warped sense of romance and then his words about Alison’s tendencies to hide things really sound like they’re about internalized biphobia and being in the closet, the cosplaying as an Aria look alike and then taking on aspects of an Aria persona with Ezra, a lot of her treatment of Aria being a lot more.. seeing her as an equal rather than a subject or rival. On Ali’s side it’s very easy to make the argument imo. On Aria’s side the relationship is super intriguing and I can read stuff romantically but in the way you can kind of read all the liars as at least a bit in love with Alison / they all kind of talk about her and imagine her in hallucinations in that way. In terms of chemistry I think theirs is good, it’s maybe not the most chemistry in any pairing between the girls like I think if you compared Sasha’s scenes with Janel or Troian with her scenes with Lucy she probably has a higher level of chemistry with the former two (but also that’s a bit unfair because Janel and Troian just have copious amounts of chemistry with like. Everyone (except Keenan in Troian’s case)). But there are plenty of scenes especially in the flashbacks (the first secret is crazy in this regard) where I’m like. Girlfriend behavior, maybe accompanied by close face watch (the scene where they wreck Byron’s office especially + all of the first secret especially).

My opinion on fanon interpretations/fandom around it (Favorite widespread hcs, pet-peeves, etc): Mostly that it’s massively underrated? Attribute that partially to I think a lot of fans are disdainful of Aria and don’t really think of her as a char Alison would be fascinated by or give a lot of thought to that, and Alison’s really polarizing as well, plus the fact the writers didn’t do much with the dynamic after Alison came back with the exception of 7.04. But I don’t remember a take about them I thought was *wrong* I just think they’re underrated/underexplored.

Aria x Alex

Whether I ship it or not: I ship it, not majorly because Alex as a concept isn’t super developed, but the things I like most about her are related to her fixation with Aria and the choices she made regarding her in 7b.

Why I ship it or not: I enjoy Aria’s whole 7b plot a lot and Alex is a contributing factor to it, and also like I said the Aria obsession piece made Alex more interesting to me and the Sparia compare/contrast is fun.

My opinion on their canon potential (chemistry, canon interactions, etc): well they don’t interact on screen a ton but Troian essentially plays Alex like Spencer but very British and more explicitly sapphic, “I’m so evil and skanky and I think I’m kind of gay”, so yeah I think they’re good on the chemistry front. And Alex Drake’s actions really only make sense if she was into Aria because why else would she kidnap Ezra of all people? Rather than idk, Peter Hastings? Too funny

My opinion on fanon interpretations/fandom around it (Favorite widespread hcs, pet-peeves, etc): n / a I haven’t seen that much and what I did see I mostly agreed with.

thank you!

(Send me a ship and I’ll answer these questions about them)

[thecommandertable]

Lost Caverns of Ixalan Artisan Set Review: Part 2

Find Part 1 here! Part 2 covers multicolor and artifact cards.

Multicolor

Akawalli takes the classic black-green self-mill strategy we see with commanders like Kagha and Uurg and adds a voltron twist. Expect to see Akwalli in creature-heavy decks with cards that can buff it equal to the number of creatures in the graveyard. Giving it menace once you're at Descend 8 makes it unblockable, so Criminal Past and Moodmark Painter are must-includes.

Bartolomé is a very powerful Magic card. They don't often give us free sacrifice outlets anymore. For white-black decks that want sac outlets, I expect this to be played alongside Viscera Seer, Fanatical Devotion, and Carrion Feeder.

Caparocti Sunborn looks like a sweet value card either in the 99 or in the command zone. It's large enough to attack someone and survive (usually) in the mid game; as the game goes longer you'll want to augment him with some sort of equipment (which you can tap to pay for his ability) so that you can continue attacking. I'll be adding Caparocti to my Commander Liara Portyr deck.

There have been a bevy of pirate creatures that make treasure tokens or care about artifacts: Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator; Dargo, the Shipwrecker; Fathom Fleet Swordjack, etc., and there are some pirates that carry +1/+1 counters very well, provided you can get up to 10 permanents, which isn't hard with all the treasure: Slippery Scoundrel, Storm Fleet Sprinter, and Storm Fleet Swashbuckler.

As I said in Part 1, I find this card a little underwhelming as a commander. It's an excellent card in limited, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't support a dinosaur deck in the way you'd want a commander to. From a purely mechanical perspective, I'd prefer to have something like Ruby or Tuya leading my red-green dino deck. Itzquinth is pretty cute, though.

This card's very good. This card is I'm-thinking-about-putting-it-into-my-cEDH-deck good. It's part Grand Abolisher, part Toski. It'll find a place in nearly any green-white Artisan deck, but especially Hamza. It protects your board as you Overrun or cast a big Hunter's Insight! It draws you cards! *chef's kiss*

Alas, not every color pair received a legendary creature for its signpost uncommon. This card is very slow, and making it work is going to be a tall order, but gosh darn it, I'm going to try. I really want to build a golem assembly line.

At first blush Nicanzil looks sweet, but if you go look at all the common/uncommon creatures that explore, it gets a lot less exciting; they're all french vanilla beaters like Merfolk Branchwalker. The other explore payoffs, Wildgrowth Walker, and the new Twists and Turns, don't seem strong enough to make up for it.

Uchenbak looks pretty unwieldy. A 5-mana 6/4 vigilance menace commander makes for a serviceable (not good, but serviceable) beater, and you could try to lean into that with a quasi-voltron build with stuff like Strider Harness (getting to seven power is a big deal with voltron commanders). Getting eight permanent cards into your graveyard is no easy feat, however, and in return for doing so you get to recast your commander for only one mana cheaper than it would be from the commander tax.

I don't think Zoyowa is that great either. It having deathtouch is nice, but its second ability requires you to descend, which again, seems like a thing that's difficult to do every turn. Furthermore, giving your opponent the choice between discarding a card, sacrificing a permanent, or taking 3 damage means that they get to choose the least impactful thing- they'll hold onto their extra lands to discard, they'll sacrifice their treasure tokens, they'll take 3 when they have a high life total, etc. If Zoyowa is a card that you're excited about, I implore you to try Loyal Subordinate if you haven't already.

Artifacts

Some people have been comparing this to Solemn Simulacrum and frankly that comparison isn't flattering. If Solemn were downshifted (which I believe it should be) I would put it into some of my non-green Artisan decks, but not all of them. This card is significantly worse. Consider it this way: what percentage of Solemn's total value is constituted by that card draw? I'd argue that it's somewhere between 35-40%. How much of that is recouped by the extra point of power? Maybe... 5%, if we're being generous. (In 20-life formats, and particularly Limited, the difference between a 2/2 and a 3/2 is a lot bigger than in 40-life formats)

That said, Scampering Surveyor might find a home in some blink deck like Oji that really likes having a creature with that etb ability, or a Cave deck- at least, once we have a 5-color commander and probably another set's worth of Cave support.

---------------------------------

And that's all the cards I'm gonna talk about! Looking over them, the selection here feels a lot thinner than it was for Wilds of Eldraine. I'm not sure if that's because there are fewer interesting cards in the set for Artisan, or if it's because my bar for including them in the set review has risen. Time will tell.

[f1]

De Vries deserved to stay at least until the summer break Tsunoda | 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix

AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda says his former team mate Nyck de Vries deserved more races before losing his race seat just ten rounds into his rookie season. De Vries was replaced after the British Grand Prix by Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull’s third driver, after failing to score a single point over the first ten rounds of the championship. Speaking ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Tsunoda told media including RaceFans that he believes his former team mate deserved more time in the car before losing his seat. “I think so,” Tsunoda said. “I think just 10 races, especially at a couple of tracks that he didn’t know, I think so. “At the same time, I know what Red Bull’s side is, what they’re saying. But I think he deserved at least until probably the summer break. I was thinking like that.” Tsunoda said he had a good relationship with De Vries and that the pair had exchanged messages after news broke that he had lost his seat. “I told him what I felt and also appreciation to him and he gave me a very nice message back,” he said. “So obviously we’re friends and I felt he was a really nice guy and a respectful person. I can respect a lot of things from him.” Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free Tsunoda has scored AlphaTauri’s only points of the 2023 season so far. The team lies tenth and last in the standings on just two points. Asked if he felt the AlphaTauri was an especially difficult car to drive for a newcomer, Tsunoda said he believed the car his raced during his rookie season two years ago was more challenging. “To be honest, compared to the 2021 car, this year’s car is, for me, probably less difficult to adapt to compared to a 2021 car,” he explained. “The 2021 cars had much more downforce, which was a huge step compared to other categories. This year’s car fees like last year’s car – the 18-inch tyres and less grip in the low-speed, it’s slower in those corners. So I don’t feel like it’s super-hard to adapt, but it still is hard. Especially as each team has their own characteristics and probably the AlphaTauri’s not that easy as well.” Asked if he believes the AlphaTauri is the slowest car on the grid, Tsunoda replied “yeah, I think so.” “For me, my perspective, we’re not definitely like P8 or P9,” he continued. “It’s not ideal. But the good thing is we are having upgrades every race so far and we’re going to bring a couple of stuff to this race, so hopefully we can make a bit of a little step each race.” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner explained the team’s decision not to keep de Vries until the summer break when he spoke to the official F1 website. “I think the situation was clear,” he said. “It was a question of ‘okay, what’s the point in waiting?’ If we’ve got to do something, we may as well get on with it and give Daniel 12 races to see what he’s capable of.” Bringing the F1 news from the source RaceFans strives to bring its readers news directly from the key players in Formula 1. We are able to do this thanks in part to the generous backing of our RaceFans Supporters. By contributing £1 per month or £12 per year (or the equivalent in other currencies) you can help cover the costs involved in producing original journalism: Travelling, writing, creating, hosting, contacting and developing. We have been proudly supported by our readers for over 10 years. If you enjoy our independent coverage, please consider becoming a RaceFans Supporter today. As a bonus, all our Supporters can also browse the site ad-free. Sign up or find out more via the links below: Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix Browse all 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix articles via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net/

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bestie Ive missed you lots these two weeks (crazy it’s been this long😭)!! It’s been so busy for me! Aside from it being the first week, I had two birthday dinners to attend that week! which is a lot for my social battery lol it was fine though! And getting back into my routine has been rough and aside from that getting prepared for graduation stuff has been so much!

But the book that I got is going good! I really enjoy the concept considering it’s really interesting and I’m half way there! I fear that it may take me awhile to finish it only because I fear I just have way too much much to read for my classes :(

I kinda was confused for a second about the pun and then I remembered it’s a 1D song😭 Anyways lol im so sad you sliced your nail!!! Omg I hope it’s healing well and fast! I do think it’s best to let it fully healed before getting a manicure! Depending on the type you get the risk for complications is high so just take it as easy as possible! Also brittle nails is such a real struggle and tbh it’s takes a while for your nails to strengthen! It’s so many factors like health, genetics and like how much you actually use your hands can affect it! I’ve struggled with it too and for the past few months I’ve learned that in order to protect my nails is to never have them bare. Meaning even just a simple base coat on my nails is enough protection!

Oh trust me bestie if it weren’t for financial reasons I would NOT be living at home!! It’s a lot rn in general so yeah i totally get where you’re coming from especially when you say it can be exhausting! A Shameless reference to describe someone’s family is actually so insane omg😭 (but I get it lol) that’s show is crazy but dare I say I kinda want to rewatch again lol

I will seriously be so surprised if basketball bf ever gets kicked out of the #1 spot! Football bf does seem like he would make the whole story so stressful yet I do think it would be good for the plot lol

I hope you get more time to read though! It does sucks that other tasks get more attention or there just isn’t enough time to read though! Hoping you can find some time to do that soon💕

Oh i completely UNDERSTAND why you would feel that way towards Harry because I do too tbh! I just saw those recent pics of him in those red shorts… yeah that was crazy of him 😵‍💫 and omg I would gladly give you full creative rights to my delusional fantasy!

I think it was so easy for me to compare because his characters are really similar to each other! And both shows deal with like family dynamics/dysfunction so it was interesting his interpretations! And yeah I get not being able to dive into the whole show, it’s truly a lot and if bad parenting makes you exhausted them omg Sam you will never find peace with this show 😭

Last quarter of classes is alright! I avoided the horrors of the math department a bit too much when I first started college so now I’m taking one math class 😔 BUT my other classes are fun! I’m taking psychology course, an anthology course and a sociology course! Most excited for the sociology one since we are analyzing films in there!

HOW HAVE YOU BEEN??? How was deep cleaning your apartment? Has meal prep gotten easier these past few weeks?? Have you read any new books yet??

Hope these past few weeks have been good to you my love💕💕 I’ve missed you so much😭💕-💜

HI I'VE MISSED YOU TOO!!!!! I was just about to send the SOS flag to make sure you were good 💕

Two bday dinners is a lot!!! I hope they were fun though, even if they were a bit draining and I love that you had time to read half your book! That's such a win!!! I get the putting off the rest of it, but at least you have something to look forward to! Graduation will be here before you know it!

I bought this nail strengthening base coat (OPI $20 🙃). I used it consistently for a while but I stopped. Right now they feel pretty strong (they are short) but they're bare. I've been chatting with Miss Monica (@monicaalexandraaa) and we were just discussing this, and we decided I may need to venture into the dip nail world. BUT. I ALWAYS tell my sister and bf that I use my hands a lot so they just chip and break easily. I'm like "sorry y'all have cushy jobs??? Like I write 90% of the day under a doc cam. and ya'll don't do chores??? Like the fuck?" Boyfriend has like the BEST cuticles (men are the worst) like he doesn't even care. So annoying.

I have not gotten more time to read but I'm VERY close to April Vacation here in MA and while I am PACKING my schedule with a lot of work/chores/writing, I'm determined to read at least one book. We'll see how I do. As such it will come as no surprise I haven't read anything since football bf.

Idk how my sister watched it. She gets SUCH bad second hand embarrassment. It used to take us 10 times as long to watch a show because she ALWAYS paused it to freak out and hide under a blanket 🙄

TELL ME ABOUT THE MATH CLASS 😍 (I'm sorry you have to take it!) Analyzing films is so fun! I love that for you. I hope it remains "easy" if you will and you have time for yourself and all those good things 💕

I don't have much to report on my end. Same humdrum of life right now. I have been consistently doing pilates (Monica and I are holding each other accountable by referencing Callie from Pucking Rookie and how he would want us to follow through 🤭). I have to clean my apartment again, but tbh I might wait until April break. I forgot we get Friday off so I could do it then. Last week I made a crock pot meal and it lasted a few days. I get a little sick of it though (especially because it didn't reheat as perfectly as I would have liked, ya know?) But we're doing a soup this week so hopefully that will work out. I'm embarrassed to tell you how many books I've read when I have like 0 hope of reading them 😭 I'm looking forward to quite a few of them, but some have been on my shelf for years and I know they're like "you're delulu" but still.

SO happy to hear from you bestie 💕💕 glad the quarter is okay thus far. I hope it goes by quick and painlessly. You deserve a break!!!

xoxo

[stripedtabbycat]

peaks episode 5: we meet philip michael gerard, visit the vet's office, question dr. jacoby, frame jacques renault and kill bernard, start thinking about investigating horne's department store, and meet hank jennings, not necessarily in that order.

first appearance (or...audio manifestation) of gordon cole! you can tell lynch was like yeah i'll just read these lines over the phone myself, and then i don't know who decided to have him show up in person as that character but it's fun hearing him not saying anything particularly weird, unlike everyone else in the show. the real influence this had on hannibal is every character using these odd turns of phrase and quirky dialogue that kind of establishes the show as not quite taking place in our reality even aside from the supernatural stuff. i love it

i also love the little snippets we get of invitation to love, so the show can casually parody soap opera tropes while indulging in some of those itself; so far maddie has been here for two episodes (though not for very long in either) and both times her appearance has been adjacent to a showing of invitation to love, which we see also has one actress double-cast as a pair of twin sisters who get compared to and pretend to be each other.

we see the teens actually in school (which also doesn't happen often on this show) and i'm reminded why i like donna and audrey's interactions so much. it feels like they've been casual friends for a while, they're always chatting at their lockers or in the bathroom, but when audrey refers to laura as her friend it's always in front of her father, trying to make it seem like she was closer to laura than she was. she seems kind of fascinated with laura, too, probably something about her wholesome golden girl image hiding her dark secrets. meanwhile i think donna's really intrigued by audrey's successful performance of that glamorous rebellious persona, smoking in school and switching out her shoes for red heels. i also think this is maybe the first conversation we see in the show to pass the bechdel test. yay!

the one thing donna actually didn't know about laura that audrey tells her is that she was seeing dr. jacoby, who we maybe should have been questioning earlier. like how he tries to appeal to coop with his own interest in eastern mysticism but cooper's not having it. ("they were boys, laura was a woman." UGH.) donna insisting that she and james were the only ones who really loved laura is interesting because you could see that as her just wanting to believe it, especially if she feels guilty about hooking up with james right after laura died, or about not doing more to help her while she was alive, but well. they are the most invested in finding out more about what happened to her aside from the actual police and fbi. and no one else who was "supposed" to be helping her, a vulnerable teenager - her parents, her psychiatrist, any of the adults in town - was doing much before or now.

love the scene at the vet's where it's mostly a normal veterinary clinic as you'd see in a small town but there's also just. a llama. no other comments i like that the llama is there

coop going for the "women, the most mysterious and enigmatic creatures of all, amiright?" with the other guys - eh. coop then promptly going into wistful reminiscence mode about a woman he knew and loved once without giving a lot of details - intriguing. is this about caroline (the one ex given the most narrative importance in the show) or someone unspecified who probably shows up in my life my tapes? don't know because they haven't decided yet

norma and shelly's scenes together are so sweet. i think for a time i did actually think norma was shelly's mom, they look just enough alike and have a genuinely maternal relationship it's easy to mistake, and we don't know shelly's maiden name or anything about her family. we also see what's going on with norma's husband hank, another character i regularly forget about. all i can say about him here is that putting the domino in his mouth at the end was really gross. we don't know where that's been. same with jacoby's trick with the golf balls. stop that.

i'm really intrigued by what's going on with philip michael gerard. is he just a normal guy who really did lose an arm in a car accident and became the vessel for MIKE later? is he a tulpa of sorts with false memories of a normal human life and family and job and mundane circumstances behind his missing limb, only reverting to his true identity when he goes off his meds? i don't think answering these questions is the point but i kind of want to speculate anyway. we haven't learned yet that Without Chemicals, He Points.

[truitt-story]

Monday, November 18 — The Character Tour: Create a travel itinerary featuring 10 significant locations from your character’s life (can be in the same town/city, country, or even around the world!). You can do this in a saved Google Map too.

From: tiana@tianasplace.com To: ktruitt@tulane.edu

Hey Keke!

Heard you're all moved in to Tulane— can't believe you're already in uni!!! Seriously, you're making me feel so old.

I'm christening your new university email address with some local recs that I remember from my time in NOLA. Have fun, be safe, call me if you need anything, etc.

Cafe Du Monde for beignets

Yes, it's basic, but it's sort of a rite of passage. And they're good beignets. Not the best in town, but I can recommend them in good conscience. The thing about beignets is that sadly nothing will compare to my recipe (sorry!) but you'll find your own favorite spot in time. For now, go with your first-semester-freshman-year friends that you may or may not stay in touch with later on and just enjoy being adults for the first time.

2. Mojo Coffee for studying and snacks

I know this is across town for you, but when I tell you how many long, long nights studying I spent here... and yeah, there is absolutely studying that you have to do in culinary school. It's not all chopping and sauteeing. I'll spare you the explanation of the history of the sous vide method, but just know that I did a lot of readings here. Get an iced mocha and a banana chocolate chip muffin and thank me later.

3. Tia Maria's for a great first date spot

Or just bring a friend here! But I always thought this place was a little romantic. Or maybe it's just that their pupusas are an experience akin to falling in love. I won't bore you with the whole story but I did have some really lovely moments here, I'll say that much.

4. City Park for people-watching and dog-watching

I went here a lot when I was feeling homesick or overwhelmed. I think something you'll find (not to scare you) is that when you're all on your own in a new place, it's easy to feel alone, even in a room full of people. For me, being completely surrounded by strangers going about their random lives made me feel better for some reason. And dogs. Lots of dogs. Just grab a bench here, watch the world go by. It'll help. I promise.

5. Red Eye Grill for FOOD and NON ALCOHOLIC DRINKS until you are 21

I am officially NOT recommending you a bar. I'm just letting you know that this place is a lot of fun and open late, and once you are of legal drinking age (why is it so late in the US??) you would maybe enjoy a drink here. Many fun nights here in culinary school. And open late.

6. The Superdome for a concert

I DID get very lucky to get gifted Saints tickets once, but I wouldn't count on that. But next time Beyonce goes on tour (she better in the next four years) I'm coming to visit and we're going. Anyway, keep an eye out for cheap nosebleed tickets for other stuff, the stadium's not hard to get to and you'll have fun.

7. St Charles Ave for Mardi Gras

There are actually a ton of parades in different locations all season (Mardi Gras is a season, not a day!) but this was always where my friends and I went. Bring coffees and beignets and get ready to catch some beads! This is when I started really feeling like this was my city. Maybe that'll be another moment for you, but I hope you feel that it's special too.

8. Jamila's Cafe for amazing Tunisian food

You're in uni now! Try new things! My roommate, Nina, and I, we used to literally spin a wheel to try a new restaurant every weekend. Once we tried Jamila's, we sort of started rigging it so we could keep going back there. It's that good. Make sure you save room for dessert, their pastries are heavenly.

9. Fives for a special occasion

Go here with your parents toward the end of the year. Brag a little about how hard you worked. Thank them for everything. And then cover the bill. I know, I know! But trust me, it will be a special memory they never forget. I did it, and I know I won't.

(Get the oysters)

10. Bonnabel Hill for a perfect sunset

Bring a few of your friends and some NON-ALCOHOLIC beverages, also toward the end of the school year. Or maybe save it for graduation. Sunsets are kind of perfect for stuff like this, and this is the best one you'll see in NOLA. I'm not gonna say much more than that, because I know you'll make it your own. And that's what I really want for you. These are just my memories, but I know you're going to make your own.

Love you. Call me. Call your parents. Have fun and be safe.

XOXOXOXO

Tia