#Anyway for all intents and purposes that anime girl is me

[sio-writes]

I have just sat on, and broken, my apple pencil 😭 🕯️🕯️🕯️

[m1ckeyb3rry]

── PEREGRINE // ONE

Series Synopsis: The ways that you and Seishiro Nagi fall together and fall apart over the years.

Chapter Synopsis: You wrap up your affairs before flying over to your hometown, where your best friend will soon have his wedding.

Series Masterlist

Pairing(s): Nagi x Reader, Kira x Reader

Chapter Word Count: 5.2k

Content Warnings: unhealthy relationships, cheating, non-linear narrative, probably ooc, angst, nagi is endgame, kira sucks, alternate universe, original characters

A/N: you know it’s a m1ckeyb3rry fic when the main love interest doesn’t even show up for the first few chapters…also please note this is NOT THE FIRST CHAPTER of the story there is a prologue before it!! which gives a lot of necessary background so you’re not (as) confused by the plot

divider credits: @/benkeibear

“Sora,” you cooed at your cat, your torso jammed beneath the bed as you tried to pull her out. “Dearest Sora, please don’t make this so difficult.”

“I told you you should’ve gotten rid of her when you had the chance,” Ryosuke said from where he was folding clothes to put in his suitcase. “Honestly, I don’t get why you insist on keeping her around. All she does is shit in the house and make problems.”

“She uses her litter box like a good girl, and she doesn’t cause trouble on purpose,” you said. “She’s an animal, not a person. She’s not capable of malicious intent.”

“Whatever. All I’m saying is that things would be a lot easier if you had just left her at the shelter when you moved in with me,” he said.

“I’ve had her for years,” you said, finally getting a grasp on her body and yanking her out in one swift move. “She’s a part of my family. I don’t know why you’re so determined to hate her.”

“She hates me, too!” he said. True to form, Sora hissed at him as you walked past, her ears flattening to show the disdain she had always held for him. “And you always take her side. It’s like you like her more than me!”

You rolled your eyes. “She’s a cat. You’re jealous of a cat.”

And you’re the one who’s cheating, anyways. You left this second part unsaid, because it wasn’t really relevant to the conversation, and besides, you had done such a good job at maintaining the facade of normalcy in your relationship that it would be a waste to break it just because he was annoying you.

That didn’t stop you from scowling at him when his back was turned, pressing a kiss atop Sora’s head and smiling when she purred at the show of affection — or was it because you were in the kitchen and near to her container of treats on the counter that she was so pleased?

“I’m not sure what to do with you,” you admitted, scratching under her chin with one hand and opening the jar with the other, offering her half of a treat as a consolation for having ripped her so uncaringly from her hiding place. She accepted it daintily, which meant that all was forgiven, and you stroked her in appreciation.

She was an enormous, fluffy white cat, closer in size to a small dog than anything. Her eyes were a wide, endless blue, hence why you had named her Sora, and her fur felt like cotton when you ran your hands through it. You had had her for almost as long as you had been in America, and you thought that there was almost no one in the entire vapid country who you loved more.

Normally, if you and Ryosuke had to go somewhere, you’d drop Sora off at Chigiri’s. She liked him well enough, and he was typically glad for the company, so it was a mutually beneficial deal. But of course, this time, Chigiri would also be away, as he was attending the same wedding that you and Ryosuke were, which meant that you were somewhat out of luck.

Sora dangled limply in your arms like a heap of rags as you paced about the kitchen, trying and failing to come up with someone who could take care of her while you were gone. Finally giving up when you realized that Chigiri had been right, you really did need more friends, you picked up your phone and called the man in question.

“Yo,” he said, answering almost immediately, though you could hear the shower running in the background, which meant he was either about to get into the bath or had gotten out for the express purpose of answering you. Either way, you decided not to hold him up with useless pleasantries.

“Hey, Chigiri,” you said. “I heard you’re going to Reo and May’s wedding?”

“Yeah, I’m between jobs again, so it’s not like I need to take off work or anything,” he said.

“Again?” you said, your resolve to have a quick conversation shattering almost immediately. The sound of water stopped, which meant that he, too, sensed the call was probably not going to be a short one.

“Tell me about it. I can only land short-term gigs at the moment,” he said.

“Maybe you should just move away from trying to coach entirely,” you suggested. “You were a marketing major, right? You could probably go corporate.”

“I know, but I don’t think I’m that desperate yet. I’m sure something or another will come along. The issue is that no high-level team wants a coach who hasn’t played in years, but those high-level gigs are the ones that are much steadier in terms of pay and schedule,” he said.

“I’d want you as a coach,” you said loyally. “If I was a soccer player.”

“You’d be a shitty soccer player. I don’t even think my coaching could change that fact,” he said.

“You’re so mean to me,” you said.

“Someone has to do it,” he said.

“And there I was, trying to support you,” you said. “On a more serious note, though, any team that doesn’t hire you just because of what happened back then is stupid.”

“Oh, I agree completely, but try telling them that. It’s all ‘sorry, but we want a coach that has a little more experience.’ I have experience! The only reason our school ever won games was because of me, even after I stopped being able to play myself. It’s not like that dumbass coach ever did anything for us beyond praising your peacock bastard fiancé,” he said

“Exactly,” you said, though you had no idea how true this was, as according to Ryosuke, he had been the one to carry the team to victory. The roles Chigiri might’ve had to play in their victories, if any, had always been omitted.

“Ugh, it’s fine. Like I said, I’m sure there’s some youth league that’ll take me on next season, so it’s okay. I’ll work it out, like I always do,”he said.

“Let me know if you need help at any point,” you said.

“Always,” he said.

“In the meantime, uh, I actually need your help,” you said.

“Right, I was wondering why you had called,” he said.

“The thing is that I don’t have anyone else I can leave Sora with, so I was going to pay one of my company’s interns to watch her while we’re gone,” you said.

“Aw, make sure you pick someone gentle. She’s very particular,” he said.

“You know, she is my cat,” you said.

“Just reminding you!” he said.

“I think I know who I’m going to ask already, so as long as he agrees to it, it’ll be fine,” you said.

“Okay, so what’s my place in all of this?” he said.

“Ryosuke and I have to go over a little earlier, since I’m the maid of honor, so I was wondering if you’d be alright with watching her until you have to leave?” you said.

“Why, because you don’t have to pay me?” he said.

“I can, if you want,” you said. “It’s just so she can be somewhere she’s comfortable, since she’s never met this kid before.”

“I was just joking, don’t worry about it. Drop her off whenever,” he said.

“You’re the best,” you said.

“Yup,” he agreed. “Now, I was kind of in the middle of something, so…”

“Oops, right, go enjoy your shower,” you said.

“Wait, how’d you know I was showering?”

Although there were several interns working for your company at any given time, you generally paid little attention to most of them. You were too busy with your own work and life to care about their struggles, so beyond giving them advice when they asked and helping them out when you didn’t have to go out of your way to, you didn’t interact with them much.

There was one boy, though, who had caught your eye. Something about his aloof personality and quiet demeanor reminded you of a person you had known back in high school, and you had unofficially adopted him, though you weren’t sure if he was exactly aware of this fact.

Actually, he was definitely unaware, considering the way he all but jumped out of his skin when you sat across from him in the lunchroom.

“Hey, Niko,” you said brightly. His dark hair covered his eyes, so you couldn’t read his reaction, but if you had to guess, it was probably panic. If you were in his place, that was what you’d be feeling, considering it wasn’t exactly typical of the regular employees to hang out with the students.

“Um, hello, Miss L/N,” he said, somehow managing to keep his voice level. “Am I in trouble or something?”

“No,” you said. “I just need you to do me a favor.”

He got out of his seat immediately, pulling out his phone from his pocket and opening the notes app. You furrowed your brow as he tapped his foot expectantly.

“Well? What’s your coffee order? And which shop do you want me to get it from? I accidentally went to Starbucks the other day to get a latte for the director and he freaked out about it,” he said.

“Oh! He thinks Starbucks makes their coffee too sweet, that’s probably why,” you said.

“I learned that the hard way,” he said.

“Yikes, I’m sure that was not a fun conversation,” you said. “But that’s unimportant. I don’t need coffee, and you don’t have to say yes to this or anything. I guess you can consider it to be more of a request from a friend — although I promise I will pay you!”

“Okay,” Niko said hesitantly.

“I’ll just lay it on you,” you said.

“Go ahead,” he said.

“I’m going abroad for a wedding soon, and I need someone to watch my cat,” you said. “She’s very well-behaved and friendly! Honestly, she’ll just sit with you on the couch the whole time, I’m sure. I’ll give you her food and everything, and like I said, I’ll pay you, so how about it?”

For the first time, he looked up at you, his hair falling out of his face and revealing bright, shimmering eyes. He clasped his hands together, a smile threatening to dawn upon his face, and then it was your turn to grow bewildered by the sudden switch in his personality.

“Yes!” he said. “I’d even do it for free, Miss L/N.”

“Woah, are you a cat enthusiast or something? And none of that; of course I’m going to pay, or else it’d just feel like I’m taking advantage of some poor intern,” you said.

“I really like them,” he said. “I’ve had one my whole life, but my house is a three hour drive from campus, so I haven’t gotten to see her much since graduating high school. I really miss hanging out with her, though, so it’ll be nice to have a cat around, even if it’s only for a little while.”

“Perfect!” you said, cheering internally at how well things had worked out. “She’ll be staying with a friend of mine, so if you’ll give me your number, I’ll send it to him so you can coordinate picking her up at some point.”

“Sure,” he said, giving you his phone so you could type his number into your own. “What’s your friend’s name?”

“Hyoma Chigiri,” you said. Niko’s jaw dropped.

“Hyoma Chigiri?” he whispered. “You’re friends with him?”

“Do you know him or something?” you said, handing him his phone back. Niko shook his head.

“Not personally, but I remember reading about what happened to him,” he said. “It’s one of the reasons my parents convinced me to stop playing soccer.”

“Ah, maybe don’t mention it around him,” you said. “He’s doing fine now, but he still doesn’t like talking about it.”

“That’s understandable,” Niko said. “My lips are sealed. I just can’t believe I’m going to have Hyoma Chigiri’s number in my phone!”

“Feel free to act like a fan all you want,” you said, after the initial strangeness of meeting someone still so obsessed with Chigiri had passed. “He really appreciates it when people praise him. Though, you probably shouldn’t spam him or anything.”

“I’ll be just as responsible with his phone number as I will with your cat. Thank you for entrusting me with this, Miss L/N! I promise I won’t let you down,” he said.

“I know you won’t,” you said. “And, to be fair, it’s not really a difficult task. Just sit at home and watch TV a lot and be kind with her; if you can do that, then Sora will be perfectly content.”

“That’s what I’d do anyways,” he said.

“Great,” you said. “Now I can feel even less like I’m taking advantage of some poor intern.”

“Thank you again for your faith in me!” he said when you reached your office, bowing at you as if you were some kind of sage master that had offered him a great opportunity for personal growth.

At least he was taking it seriously. You thanked whatever deity had intervened on your behalf that you had found the one person within a ten-mile radius who would care for Sora as well as you or Chigiri would.

Unlike Ryosuke, you barely packed anything but the most basic of items. This was because you knew full well that the minute you stepped foot on Japanese soil, you would be dragged into Reo’s arms, whereupon he would force you into his car and take you shopping at the closest luxury mall — on his card, of course. He was prone to such acts when it came to you, mostly because you were one of the first true friends he had ever had, and so he tended to spoil you as if you were his baby sister or something.

“How can you be sure that Reo’s going to get you everything you need?” Ryosuke said, eyeing the suitcase you lifted into the trunk of the car. “It’s been a pretty long time since you saw him last. He’s probably matured a ton since then — I mean, he’s getting married! What kind of wife would be okay with her husband doting on some random girl?”

“For one, I’m not some random girl; I’ve known May longer than Reo has, and I’m also the one who introduced them to one another. She knows there’s nothing between us, so there would be no reason for her to not be okay with it. Secondly, I’ve been friends with Reo for so long that he’s more like a weird cousin of mine than anything. The Mikages look after their own, and it just so happens that I am, by proxy, one of them. So I can be reasonably confident that it’ll work out in that way,” you said.

“Don’t you feel bad, then?” he said. “You’re using your best friend for his money.”

“You’re so determined to find fault with our relationship,” you said. “It’s not like that. Everyone has different ways to show affection for the people they care about. It just so happens that Reo’s so wealthy that that kind of thing is his own personal manner.”

Ryosuke scoffed, pressing the button to turn on the ignition and starting the car without another word, prompting a worried mewl from Sora, whose carrier was currently on your lap. You tapped the side to remind her that you were still there with her, and she quieted at that.

“Don’t forget that we have to go to Chigiri’s first,” you said.

“Yes, yes, we’ll stop by your lover’s house,” Ryosuke said. At your surprised expression, he laughed. “What? You’re always with him or at his place. Any normal person would suspect it.”

There were a million things you could say in response, but the least-inflammatory was a repetition of the same thing you had been telling him since the day the two of you got together.

“You know I’ve never been with anyone but you,” you said.

“Of course,” he said. “I guess that’s true. No matter how many people you sleep with now, you can never change the fact that I was the first.”

“Hm,” you said, staring out of the window and speaking to his reflection instead of facing him properly. “Don’t be crude.”

“Come on, it’s just us two. When else can we make these kinds of jokes?” he said.

“You didn’t seem like you were joking,” you noted.

“Y/N, I’m hurt. You thought I was being serious? I mean, did you really think that I believed for a second that anyone preferred that washed up princess’s company to mine?” he said, stalling the car in the driveway and grinning. “Tell him I said hi.”

“You and I both know that’ll accomplish nothing,” you said, slinging the bag of Sora’s things over your shoulder and gripping the handle of her carrier so tightly that your knuckles whitened. “I’ll be back soon. No point in missing our flight.”

“I’ll be here,” Ryosuke said, waving at you as he began to fiddle with the knobs on the car’s dashboard, evidently trying to decide whether he wanted the radio to play classical music or the latest episode of some talk show.

You rang the doorbell and then stepped back, knowing it might take Chigiri a second to get to the door depending on where in the house he was located. Luckily, he had been expecting your arrival, so by the time your arm began to grow numb from holding Sora’s carrier, he was opening the door and inviting you in.

“Thank you again for doing this,” you said, setting the carrier down with a thump and massaging your shoulder. Chigiri crouched gingerly, unzipping the opening to the carrier and allowing Sora to peek her head out. When she realized where she was, she bounded out, rubbing her head against Chigiri’s legs as he breathed out a laugh and rubbed her face with his hands.

“Don’t mention it,” he said. “It’s nice having someone else in the house. Less lonely.”

Your face softened, and if it weren’t for Ryosuke’s presence looming in the driveway, you’d have leaned over and hugged him. But as it was, your fiancé was waiting, and if you lingered for much longer, you risked missing your flight.

“You have Niko’s number?” you said.

“Yeah. He’s kind of a weird kid,” Chigiri said.

“What do you mean?” you said.

“He keeps telling me that he thinks I’m cool and that he can’t believe he’s texting me,” Chigiri said, a faint pink dusting his cheeks. “So strange.”

At this, you smiled, vowing to text Niko and thank him later. His admiration was exactly the boost Chigiri needed when he was so down on his luck, and though he was pretending like he found it odd, it was obvious he was pleased by the attention.

“As long as he can take care of Sora,” you said. Chigiri nodded in determination.

“I’m sure he can. He obviously has good taste in other things, so it stands to reason that he’d be the kind of person who could really look out for her in the way she’s used to,” he said.

“You would be the first to die in a horror movie,” you said. “Did you know that?”

“What? Why would you say such a thing?” he said.

“Never mind,” you said. “I should go. Ryosuke’s in the car, and our flight is soon.”

Chigiri wrinkled his nose, his whole delicate face crumpling at the mention of your fiancé.

“I thought something felt off about the property,” he said.

“You are so dramatic,” you said. “He says hi.”

“Tell him I said fuck off,” Chigiri said.

“I don’t think — actually, sure,” you said. “I’ll do that. See you at the wedding. And Sora, please be a good girl for Chigiri and Niko alike.”

“She will be,” Chigiri said affectionately. Sora had wriggled her way into his arms, and he stood while hugging her to his chest, ready to shut the door behind you. “See you, Y/N.”

You were reluctant to leave, because it would be so easy to stay and talk with Chigiri while playing with Sora, but you knew you had to. Even that knowledge, though, was hardly enough — it was simply the thought of seeing Reo and May again that made you take the next step, and the next, all of the way until you were back in the passenger seat of the car and Ryosuke was reversing the car down the driveway.

“So, how is my beloved teammate?” Ryosuke said. “Did he leave you with a message for me?”

“Yes,” you said. “He told me to tell you to fuck off.”

Ryosuke chuckled. “Sounds about right. He’s always been a petty son of a—”

“Ryosuke,” you sighed. “Do you really get any gain out of insulting the only friend I have left in this country?”

“It’s the same gain he gets out of insulting your fiancé!” he said.

“Which I always reprimand him for,” you said. “And also, he at least has something resembling a reason to resent you. When you do it, it just feels excessive.”

“You defend me to him?” he said.

“Obviously?” you said. “Did you think I wouldn’t?”

“I suddenly feel very cheerful and optimistic,” he observed.

“What are you talking about?” you said. He waved you off.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “It was a personal musing. Think of it like an interjection from the narrator, except that in this case, the narrator and the protagonist are the same.”

“Okay,” you said. “Sure. If that’s what makes sense to you.”

The two of you spent the rest of the drive to the airport in relative silence. Ryosuke hummed along to whatever pop song came on the radio, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel as he drove, and you texted your friends — mostly Reo and May, who had been anxiously waiting for your arrival since you had agreed to come at all.

When you had first started dating, you used to go on aimless drives for hours, talking about whatever crossed your mind. Not a second would go by without one of you speaking, but that kind of constant conversation wasn’t sustainable. Eventually, you both ran out of things to say, and so you began to spend more and more of your time together in silence. That was around the time that Ryosuke began to seek outside assistance in quelling the fire which was constantly blazing within him; whether it was a coincidence or a cause, you could not tell, but it remained that everything had happened at once and led to your relationship now being like this.

You always forgot how long the flight back to Japan was. It was the second reason you never visited, beyond the fact that there was hardly anything worth visiting in the first place — it was a day-long ordeal composed of arguing with the TSA agents, waiting in security lines, and of course the flight itself, which was only marginally bearable because Reo insisted on buying you first-class tickets.

You spent most of it dozing, the armrest between you and Ryosuke pushed up so you could lean your head against his chest as he watched a movie. In the haze of your sleep, you could feel his arm wrapping around your shoulders, his fingers idly stroking your cheek as if that were the natural outcome, as if there was no other place that they could come to rest. It was the easiest that things had ever been between you in some time, and subconsciously, you relished in it, in the soft scent of his cologne, in the warmth of pretending like you were loved by someone again.

Reo had told you, in no uncertain terms, to not even attempt going to the baggage claim. He had contacts in the airport who would take care of it, because of course he did, and so the only thing you and Ryosuke had to do was meet him and May at the gate. You stopped in the bathroom, mostly at your insistence, so that you could freshen yourself after the long flight, which had sapped you of most of your energy despite how much of it you had spent sleeping.

“Are you nervous?” Ryosuke said as you reached the door. He held both of your carry-on bags in his hands, an amused grin on his face as you all but vibrated with every step you took.

“Of course,” you said. “I haven’t seen them in so long, and I haven’t been back home in that same amount of time. I don’t know how it’s all changed. And what if it hasn’t? What if the only one who’s changed is me?”

“Only one way to find out,” he said, nudging you in the side. “Look who it is.”

Standing awkwardly by the metal barrier separating the airport from the street in front of it, surrounded by security guards that kept the rest of the crowds at bay, was Reo Mikage. He wore a pair of khaki shorts and a polo, sunglasses perched on his head as he checked the time on the — likely expensive — watch which he wore on his left wrist.

A grin split your face, your spirit rejuvenated as surely as if you had never been exhausted in the first place. Cupping your hands around your mouth to amplify your voice, you shouted out his name with glee.

“Reo!”

The boredom dropped from his expression immediately as his head snapped up, trying to determine the source of the noise. When he locked eyes with you, he beamed so brightly that you were all but blinded by it, and then you were both racing towards the opening in the barricade where you could finally meet.

You tossed your arms around his neck as soon as you could reach him, clinging onto him tightly, suddenly and unreasonably weepy at the fact that the two of you had finally been reunited. He did the same, squeezing you to the point that you thought you might burst from the pressure.

“I can’t believe you’re finally back,” he said, letting you go and holding you at an arm’s length so that he could look you over with a critical eye. “How have you been?”

“Good,” you said. “Where’s May?”

“She had to go to the bathroom,” he said. “She should be back in a couple of seconds, and she’ll probably be furious, too, considering she was really hoping she’d spot you first. I convinced her that it would be fine for her to take a moment to herself, and that it’d probably still be a bit of time before you arrived, but, uh, I guess it ended up being kind of an unfortunate coincidence in that sense.”

“What’s up, man? Congrats on the wedding,” Ryosuke said, finally catching up to you and offering Reo his hand. Reo glanced at it, and anyone who didn’t know him as well as you did wouldn’t have even noticed the way he hesitated before taking it and shaking it with the firm conviction of a businessman.

“Thanks, Kira,” he said. “You’ve been taking care of my best friend?”

“’Course I have been,” Ryosuke said, ruffling your hair. You did your best to force a laugh, not wanting Reo to have to concern himself with your wellbeing when he was about to be married. “You’ll be the one coming back to America for our wedding soon.”

“That so?” Reo said, raising an eyebrow at you. “I expect to be the first one invited to the wedding, then.”

“Was I the first one invited to yours?” you shot back.

“Er, I mean, not exactly…” Reo said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I had to tell Nagi first, since I wanted him to be my best man and had to give him adequate time to prepare for the hassle of the role.”

“Then I’ll invite May first, since she’ll naturally be my maid of honor,” you said, your stomach twisting at the mention of Nagi. “But you can be second, Reo.”

“That’s right!” a new voice said. “He had better be second, considering he sent me to the bathroom so that he could win our bet!”

And then there she was in front of you: Reo’s soon-to-be wife and your former roommate, May Ducat. Her thick brown hair was loose and wavy around her shoulders, and her peacock-feather eyes gleamed as she embraced you tightly.

“May,” you said. “It’s so good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you!” she said. “I miss you every day. Mostly because you were a much better roommate than this one. He snores.”

“Hey!” Reo said, gasping in offense. “I do not.”

You dug around in your pocket before solemnly presenting her with a box of breathe-right strips.

“I know,” you said. May clapped in delight, accepting them and then turning to hand them to Reo, who took them even as he protested that he definitely didn’t need them and how would Y/N even know if I snore, anyways?

“Congratulations, May,” Ryosuke said, offering her his hand as well. May glanced at but did not accept it, opting to smile frigidly instead.

“Thank you for coming,” she said. After a discomfiting pause, Ryosuke lowered his hand, brushing it off against his pants and clearing his throat.

“I couldn’t let Y/N come alone,” he said.

“Of course not,” she said.

“It’ll be my first time meeting her parents,” he said. At this, May gave you a sad look. Though you had never told her much, she had always harbored her suspicions, always been less fond of Ryosuke than she really ought to be, considering he was typically polite to her.

“I hope it goes well,” she said. Ever the diplomat, Reo was the first to break the ensuing silence, clearing his throat.

“Alright, then! I’ll have one of my drivers take you two to your hotel room, where your things will be waiting, and then tonight, we can show you around. Y/N, they just built a new mall where that park used to be, so we can go shopping there,” he said.

“They built a mall over the park?” you said, your eyes widening at the prospect. Reo nodded.

“Isn’t it great? It’s so much more convenient than the one we used to go to,” he said. You disguised your frown with a yawn.

“Right,” you said.

“Try not to sleep,” May advised. “It’ll help you break your jet lag if you just stay up for as long as you can.”

“We’ll do our best,” Ryosuke said. May gave him a measured look before nodding slightly, turning away to continue her conversation with Reo instead of risking further discussion with your fiancé.

The hotel you were staying in was only a few streets down from your childhood home, and as with all things Reo, it was excessively opulent. The shower itself was large enough to fit at least ten people, and you spent far longer in it than was really necessary, rinsing the grime of your journey off of yourself.

“Going to sleep already?” Ryosuke said when you crawled under the covers of the bed beside him. “May recommended we wait.”

“I know,” you said with a yawn. “I’m just going to lie down and close my eyes. I’m not actually going to sleep or anything.”

“Whatever you say,” he said, patting you on the head. “I’ll do the same, then.”

Before long, the both of you had passed out.

[morporkian-cryptid]

I feel like the fandom is sleeping on the 2023 live-action Jigen Daisuke movie.

Do you want to see Jigen very confidently state "I can't stand kids, they irritate me", then five minutes later proceed to lay his entire life down for a traumatized little girl?

Do you want to watch him wreck a bunch of assassin's shits with only his bare hands and a table?

Do you want to see some actual real-life badass fight scenes that we never see in the anime because it would cost a fortune to animate?

Do you want to watch Jigen actually get his time to shine and show off not only badass gun fighting skills but also brilliant strategy?

Do you want to see a very gay florist who for some reason isn't in fact Lupin in disguise?

Do you want to see a kickass old lady gunsmith who for all intents and purposes has basically adopted Jigen?

Do you want to watch him fight back actual tears on TWO (2) separate occasions?

Do you want to see him fully adopt a child like seriously I cannot stress enough how wholesome his relationship with Oto is I actually melted into a puddle of feels several times

Then WATCH THE MOVIE PLEASE I promise it's really good!

Also Tetsuji Tamayama is very very handsome

Bonus: adorable gay-ass florist whom I am 100% convinced is Lupin in disguise

"...what just happened??"

Anyway. Movie good. You want to watch it. Reblog. (pssst I have a link 👀)

[barb-l]

Isn't a writer question but was curious; How does wenclair different from other ships you've enjoyed?

Is it solely due to having been a lifelong Wednesday Addams fan, or is it specifically the Netflix's Addams world that you find intriguing?

I ask mainly because I recall you once saying that your wenclair comics--specifically the Next Gen Au I believe--are written and made with a lot of intention in regards to dialog and the discussions had between characters.

Is this due to a greater insight into the characters or simply a mark of growth in writing comprehension?

I like to think I put as much thought in all ships I've been hyperfixated on tbh. Wenclair isn't even the one I've been obsessed with the longest. So far it's actually Trimberly, for which and I was hyperfixated with for like 3 years.

But yeah ok I get ur point lol The intensity this time feels different, I suppose.

I think it's a mix of both being a long time Wednesday Addams fan and how cute of a ship Wenclair is both in concept and the canon execution of their dynamics.

As some of you are aware, I've been a fan of The Addams for a while now. All incarnations of them are great in their own way, but one of the many reasons why the animated 2019 movie is my favorite is because it didn't give Wednesday a bland ass male love interest. I don't think the B/W series did it(because Wed was like six in that) but the 90's movies, musical, and netflix series for some reason found it necessary to give Wednesday male love interests so painfully boring and i hate it. This isn't even about making Wednesday attracted to boys. I personally headcanon her bi, as the ol' stereotype that all grumpy/angsty female characters must be lesbian isn't my cup of tea, and also because I like to think all Addamses just don't give a shit about gender when it comes to romance. I woulda been fine with her getting a boyfriend so long as they're not boring af and goddddd canon incarnations still haven't delivered. Joel was sweet but he was too much of a wimp, not even Gomez is that pathetic. Lucas' thing with Wednesday was just portrayed in such an icky way in the musical that I couldn't finish watching by the time their sexually charged duet came on, and don't even get me started on the boys Netflix gave her. I expected better of Gough and Millar...(unless the blandness was on purpose like it was with Lana Lang--)

Anyways, because of all said canon love interests, I've been desperate for Wednesday to have a love interest that is both not painfully het or boring for once. Crossover shipping with Lydia Deetz from Beetlejuice the Musical was fun but was ultimately a very niche fandom. I could only draw and write for an audience of twenty or so people for so long. Parker from the animated movie would've been great, but the cop out with her mom dating Fester just made it too weird for me to be fully on board with the ship.

So when Enid Sinclair was introduced as a character I was absolutely ecstatic. On paper alone she already seemed great. She has a very distinct appearance (even if her "design" was inspired by Harlequin and it shows) that goes so well when she stands next to Wednesday, whether it's in the actual show, fan arts, or even in official merch. Her being Wednesday's complete opposite in so many ways makes her being paired with Wednesday so dang interesting too.

And I don't just mean aesthetic or personality wise. I'm talking about how one of Wednesday's struggle stems from having too much smothering love from her family as someone who gets overwhelmed too easily, and Enid's loneliness and insecurity coming from her own family's lack of love and attention where it matters most. Or how Wednesday's just girl who, deep inside worries about being an actual cruel monster like the very bigots she hates, while Enid is a supposed beast who resents herself for only being a scared little girl. Even the fact that Wednesday is an older sister to a soft-hearted younger brother while Enid is the youngest daughter to a bunch of rough-housing older brothers feels very on purpose.

Everything about Enid feels deliberate. Like she IS supposed to be paired with Wednesday, platonically or romantically. She's the best person to stand beside Wednesday as a character because they have enough differences and similarities to have interesting conflicts but also significant character growths sparked by each other. She's not bland or boring like the canon love interests because even without her attachment to Wednesday, Enid is still such a compelling character. The mere fact that she's as popular as she is despite an eight-episode series being her debut in a franchise that's been iconic to generations is already pretty amazing, and only a character as impressive deserves to smooch somebody as iconic as Wednesday Addams.

And their on screen chemistry is just *chef's kiss*

[andreabandrea]

regarding that post about it not making sense to same gender trans headcanon a character who is tortured by their gender in canon, i think probably two of the biggest reasons you see this anyway is that, first, sometimes people want to see a character be a trans man for fetishizing reasons in their yaoi fics and dont really care if it thematically 'fits' or not (and im not saying the only reason that people would make a character trans in a fic is to fetishize them, but if you look at the way the majority of trans characters are written by cis authors on ao3, then i think you can excuse me for being a little suspicious and exasperated).

then, secondly, you have the ones like jesse pinkman where i think sometimes its just a case of he's a popular character who can be kind of relatable and a lot of transmascs want to see themselves in media, thus projecting onto him-- and i think anyone can have a battle with toxic masculinity, whether they're a normal man or a cis man. it doesn't have to be inherently transphobic for a trans man to struggle with what it means to be a man.

and sometimes it's just vibes based, i get it. bernadetta von varley is hard to sell as a transfem reading because of her abusive father training her to be a wife and spread the crest and so on, but she's an anxious loner in a hoodie so like she's sooo boymoder etc. and sometimes you dont care about canon/authorial intent and think to yourself actually i could do a really interesting piece about the intersection of misogyny and transfemininity with bernadetta, and that's awesome too.

however. i think though- and this is why i started typing this long-ass post- that the most insidious reason people might do these headcanons is pushback against transfem headcanons. i've seen a lot of sudden interest in nonbinary/genderqueer and/or transmasc laios touden ever since some transfems pointed out that he's tortured by masculinity and seems oddly interested in the alternate universe where he's a girl, among other points.

and i think- again- a lot of this just comes down to fandom/yaoi culture having a certain focus on men (notice that when dungeon meshi became popular with its anime adaption, the roving yaoi fans found labru and it overtook farcille which was the largest ship on the ao3 beforehand), and i dont think its always transmisogynistic on purpose.

'on purpose' are the keywords there-- sometimes i think people might not know how they come across. i see a lot of interactions on this site from sapphics and/or trans women like "i love women" or "this is a post i made about women" and well-meaning gay and/or trans men will add on "what if this was about MEN!"... and i want you to celebrate your identity and we can enjoy this interesctional lgbt community together, yes i know The Cishets are coming for all of us fuck infighting etc, but sometimes you have to realize when you're being rude and speaking over a woman. ask yourself why a trans woman might be offended that you took her personal post about her femininity and misogyny she's facing from men and said "this is so me except about men".

anyway laios and falin are both trans women.

[inkblackorchid]

Hello it is me, I am back again with weird questions the necessity of which remains questionable but I thought if there was one person in this entire world that cared, it would be you.

So, I rewatched the last episode of 5Ds again recently because I missed the kids and wanted to look at them all grown up again and at the beginning of the episode we get the little glimpse into Doctor Aki’s life. The camera pans over a (presumably) German city before it halts on a large building (clinic).

I had to do a double take and then google because the city seemed familiar and I came to the conclusion that it looked an odd amount like the German university city Heidelberg. (I attached pictures of the camera shot — sorry for the quality I was watching on Crunchyroll and couldn’t take any screenshots — I also attached images of Heidelberg (admittedly specifically chosen to resemble the camera shot to illustrate my point LMAO).

Characteristic for the town of Heidelberg is the river with its bridges — from what I know about it anyways. There’s also a church that, while not unique for German towns, super basic architectural structure imo (at least from afar, I looked it up and the art historians disagree with me, say it’s super unique, which actually makes my hypothesis stronger)— looks almost exactly like the one in Heidelberg. The way it is situated towards the river is all wrong, but it still seems like a weird coincidence.

Now, I am not saying Aki is IN Heidelberg (the 5ds town looks significantly larger than Heidelberg), however I am saying that I think it’s possible the person in charge of this shot may have looked at pictures of Heidelberg to inspire the town Aki goes to. Which is a crazy coincidence either way because (and you’re probably aware of that, Orchid, since you live in Germany, right?) Heidelberg is known for having the oldest and most prestigious medicine faculty in the country. I also looked up what the uni clinic looked like and it looks nothing like the building in the 5ds camera pan, but hey, a girl can dream :/

Idk if I want to believe they actually did that on purpose because it would be super obscure but once again: it would be so cool if they did and as someone who’s spend a considerable amount of time comparing (German) anime towns to the towns they’re inspired by, I love picking up on these things

"Person who cares about 5Ds-related questions whose necessity is questionable" is a title I'll happily accept, frame, and hang on my mantelpiece, thank you.

That said, well, I'll be damned! That church specifically feels like a very strong indicator that, at the very least, an animator referenced Heidelberg to get a feel for what a German city looks like here. There's also the option that it is meant to be Heidelberg, of course, in which case I'd probably go as far as saying they intentionally "futurised" (as in, enlarged) it a bit to fit 5Ds' general, futuristic vibe a little better. I could also see the nod to Heidelberg, specifically, being intentional because honestly, it'd make sense for Aki to end up there. Her parents would have definitely sent her to the most prestigious medical university they could have come up with, and we all know our girl would shine there. So maybe this isn't a coincidence, maybe someone who's interested in Germany snuck that in as a kind of nod to the city. Either way, I salute your detective work, because this particular similarity would have otherwise eluded me! (Probably because I do not, in fact, live in Germany. You're close, though!)

[tuxedaaron]

Hello, all. For those of you who enjoyed my Justice League fanfic, "Emergence" (posted on DA, as well as on fanfiction.net), which begins Galatea's journey to becoming Power Girl, and have patiently waiting for the follow-up, "Ascension", which completes that evolution, at the time of this posting, I'm still putting a few final bits and pieces together. But hopefully, this will tide you over, if only in some small way.

This is actually an scenario that's been dancing in my head for quite some time..."What would happen if Jax-Ur and Mala, the Kryptonian villains from 'Superman: The Animated Series' showed up again in the Justice League Unlimited timeline (but with Galatea around as Power Girl now)?". While this would obviously take place after, "Ascension", I'm not sure it's something I would actually craft a story around...you know, unless a really good idea came along (and by that, I mean, a convenient excuse, since Jax-Ur and Mala are, for all intents and purposes, DEAD in the DCAU, after being sucked into a black hole). So (for the moment, at least) think of this image as more of an "Elseworlds"-style aberration.

I don't know. Am I the only one who thinks this would kind of be a mismatch? I mean, if you look at their track record with a cold eye over their two appearances in Superman:TAS, you start to realize that, for a couple of arrogant soldiers bent on becoming ruthless conquerors, Jax-Ur and Mala (to borrow a line from Bob "MovieBob" Chipman) were "actually NOT all that efficient, or well-managed, or strategically competent, or even battlefield TOUGH, but were mostly good at LOOKING the part for a while". In fact, one could even argue that it was really only the advanced technology of Krypton (and the powers they gained later on Earth) that made either of them, in ANY way, formidable. Which kind of tracks, when you consider that Krypton (from what little we know of it in the DCAU) didn't seem to have any real NEED of a military, other than to simply defend the planet against any would-be invaders. So what chance would they have against not JUST Superman this time, but also someone like Galatea/Power Girl, who not only has the same powers, but has been specially trained to DEAL with such threats? In fact, I could easily picture a point in the fight where PG starts openly MOCKING both of them..."Really? YOU TWO are supposed to be the BEST the Kryptonian military had to offer?".

Anyway, that leads us to the image you see here. Personally, I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out, especially when measured against the skyline. At first, I thought I was still gonna have to add some speed lines to add emphasis. But no, as it turns out, the motion blur effect was all I ended up needing, and it really does make the whole thing just pop off the screen. Or at least I think it does. But what do you think? Again, for those of you still waiting for me to get "Ascension" written, hopefully, this will tide you over. And for everyone else, I just hope you like what you see. As always, thoughts and comments are always welcome. Enjoy. ^_^

[nobodyexpectsthe]

party banter that's canon in my head bc i got pirith's name from a random elvish name generator ten years ago & it is very much non-dalish name

dorian: pirith... that's an unusual name for one of you dalish, isn't it? pirith: it is. *laughing* it's not exactly dalish. i won't bore you with the story. dorian: no, no. please do. before solas fills the silence with another one of his. solas: i must admit i am also curious as to it's origins. pirith: very well then. pirith: my father was not dalish by birth. in fact, he was born and raised in the alienage in denerim... and it was his intention to escape that life by running away to par vollen. entirely foolish on its face, he was not the sort of man who could stand being told what to do and didn't speak a word of qunlat. pirith: anyway. like a fool, he ran off into the night with this dream in his head and it immediately went awry. you see, he'd never set foot outside the alienage, he was poorly armed and ill-dressed for the season. before long he was being chased through the forest by beasts, certain he was to die. by how he told it, he'd run through every known prayer the maker had to offer and was just reciting whatever he could recall as he waited for death to come. pirith: as he would tell it, a pretty dalish hunter came across this poor soul lost in the wood. she thought to leave him there at first, but she was moved by the eloquence with which he spoke, and put an arrow between the creatures eyes. when his eyes met hers it was love at first sight. solas: would she have let him die had his words not moved her so? pirith: no. not at all. pirith: her account *starting to crack up* of these events is this fool of an elf was babbling so loud it scared off all her prey. the 'beast' he feared was a curious halla she shooed away. she only took him back to the keeper because she'd feel bad for the animal that ate him. he ended up staying with them, determined to win her heart. dorian: well, that's a lovely story on how your parents met. but how does that explain your name? pirith: if he is to be believed at all, the chant he was reciting when she came across him was something called a pirith. it's a protective chant, not necessarily of the chantry. he viewed her as the answer to his prayers and wanted me to carry that same protection everywhere i went. bull: so... let me get this straight. your father, a city elf, was planning on running away to join the qun, gets saved by a pretty girl and names you, a dalish elf, after a type of chanting? pirith: there is a reason she only let him name one of us. pirith: they really did love each other. for all his faults, he made her laugh. pirith: sometimes it was even on purpose.

[missiletoe]

another quick fill for the yuri shipping olympics (i love kittyuri)

Word Count: 800 Prompt: "I eat a live frog one time and now it's all I'm known for!"

"Wait, why did you eat a live frog?"

"It wasn't on purpose!"

"How did you accidentally eat a live frog?"

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

Kitty’s still scrubbing the words PORTLAND FROG EATER off her locker when the bell rings.

“As much as I like graffiti, I don’t think it’s allowed on school premises.” 

She turns to find Yuri leaning against the wall, arms folded across her chest. Of course her socks match her skirt which matches her tie. Of course she doesn’t have a single hair out of place. Of course there’s a cute little teddy bear clip pinning a strand of hair behind her ear.

Everything goes right for KISS Arcane Academy’s top student. Kitty wishes she could say the same.

“I’m not creating graffiti, I’m cleaning it. The school should be thanking me.” She throws the damp sponge against the locker and lets the wet SMACK! of it against the floor do the talking.

“Portland… frog eater?” Yuri reads.

“I eat a live frog one time and now it’s all I’m known for!” Emotions cycle across Yuri’s face like an old film reel–first shock, then curiosity before finally landing on amusement. It’s not a good look on her. (Well, it is. Everything is a good look on her but Kitty’s not thrilled that it comes at her expense.)

“Wait, why did you eat a live frog?”

“It wasn’t on purpose!”

“How did you accidentally eat a live frog?”

“It wasn’t just any frog!” Kitty protests. “It was Minho’s frog but somehow everyone seems to forget that tiny little detail when they’re telling the story!”

Yuri snickers and does a poor job of covering it up with her palm.

“Okay, why’d you swallow Minho’s frog then?” Kitty sighs and throws down the bundle of paper towels in her hand in defeat. Not like they were doing much for her anyways.

“Q and I were in his dorm for our weekly Friday movie marathon. Minho, his unfortunate and insufferable roommate–god, I don’t know how Q puts up with him. Q is a literal saint and Minho is like if the devil had a child and then left the child at an orphanage but instead of an orphanage it was a school dedicated to raising–”

“Kitty. Frog. Focus.”

“Right, sorry. So Q and I were in his dorm and Minho had just found a frog outside and he was intent on taking it in as a little pet or something. I think he saw some TikTok about pet care being good for your skin or something. Anyways, he had it in some little posh cage and he was showing it off like it’d just solved World Hunger or something and then we got a knock on the door. It was Professor Lee with ResLife doing random room inspections.”

“And we’re not allowed to have animals in the dorms so.” Kitty sighs and mimes something going down the line of her throat. Yuri mock-gasps in response.

“You didn’t.”

“Hey. Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“Kitty Song Covey, you’ve got to be the weirdest girl I know,” Yuri laughs, shaking her head. Kitty’s torn on whether to take it as a compliment or an insult but her stomach makes the decision for her when it feels like a cage of butterflies has been released into it.

“Thanks, I try,” she replies, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

“Hey,” Yuri says, slipping her arm through Kitty’s in one fluid motion. Kitty blinks and tries to place when she got close enough to do that. “I’m heading out to a cafe to grab a drink before I go home. You wanna join me?”

The prettiest girl in school is asking her to hang out and Kitty just spent the last ten minutes telling her about the time she swallowed a frog.

“Your… friends are going to a cafe?” she clarifies.

Yuri laughs like she’s said the funniest thing in the world and leans in close to pinch her cheek.

“No, silly, it’s just me!”

The prettiest girl in school wants to get a drink with her. Just the two of them. Holy shit–is this a date? 

She’s gone quiet long enough for Yuri to start tapping her foot and Kitty decides to throw caution to the wind. She can figure out the semantics later, for now she just needs to get out of here and to that cafe before Yuri comes to her senses and ditches her on the side of the road. Probably in a pond near some frogs.

“Yeah. I’d love to go out with you.”

“Great! Let’s go then!” 

Yuri unhooks her arm to lead the way and Kitty has to fight to suppress the urge to chase the touch. It’s a battle that she just barely wins.

She only turns around when they’re at the exit.

“Sorry, though, I don’t think there are any frogs on the menu.” “ONE TIME! It was one time!”

[300iqprower]

thanks for the tl;dr. While I don't agree with all your opinions, I get where you're coming from. Highkey, if you don't mind, what do think of Urobuchi as a writer? I frankly can't stand the man's writings, not only in regards to his "DeCoNsTrUcTiOn" of the magical girl genre with Madoka, but also Fate/Zero and his work on Kamen Rider Gaim.

It's......really hard for me to not blame Urobutcher himself for how Madoka basically killed the entire magical girl genre by causing it to be flooded with edgy tryhard tortureporn.

Like from an objective and analytical standpoint, Madoka is an incredible and meticulously crafted story. ...but subjectively, i fucking hate it, and then on top of that also hate it for what it (again, indirectly) did the genre and really just mainstreem anime in general to a certain, albeit obviously much lesser, degree. I feel like that's an entirely different discussion though, and really it just boils down to a case of "it's good" and "I don't like it" are not mutually exclusive. That's my read anyways.

Fate/Zero i love when watched bit by bit but dont like as a coherent story for much the same subjective reasons I'm personally not a fan of Madoka. For all my negativity I don't actually like nihilistic or cruel stories. Fate/Zero is actually what made me realize that, being the first time I had to as aforementioned go "it's good....but I don't like it." I love pretty much everything that doesn't involve Kerry, which is an issue when the whole story revolves around Kerry.

It's by no means without some serious issues though. Urobutcher wrote Artoria as a completely different character and it causes some serious inconsistencies that had harmful long-term repercussions, the banquet scene is a great setup that as I've discussed before falls completely flat in retrospect because nothing talked about was delivered on, and characters like Abs Hassan and Kariya got beyond wasted, just to name some of my issues with Zero.

But unlike with a LOT of Nasu's writing, actually just FGO writing in general frankly, those flaws don't contradict the ethos of the story. They come across less as contradictions that the writer couldnt be asked to rectify, as much as they do human error and an inability to make everything perfectly coherent and loop back around to the an overarching point. None of the things i've mentioned really detract from the message Fate Zero wants to give. They detract from the quality and consistency of the storytelling, absolutely, but not from the intended purpose of that storytelling. That sort of thing is HUGELY different than something like FGO just making up alternate history to suit it's narrative despite said narrative supposedly being about unity through our shared real world history.

I suppose what it really comes down to is that I don't feel malice or narrow mindedness from Urobutcher's works the way I do from Nasu. Kirei is the best example of this - i'd go so far as to argue Kirei's character didn't have ANY of the depth people now attribute to it before Urobutcher got involved. That's not even a dig at Nasu, that's just how much Urobutcher clearly GETS the kind of character Kirei is [now] meant to be. Same goes for Gilles and Kerry, those are characters that were perfect for someone like Urobutcher to execute (in multiple senses).

Again, Urobutcher is not a flawless writer by any stretch, no one is, and his style is by no means for everyone, because no style SHOULD be universally appealing...but I feel like he very much gives a shit. I feel like whether its all the way back with Fate Zero or his relatively more recent return for Lostbelt 3, Urobutcher gave a shit and did everything with as much purpose as he could. On that ground alone, I'm willing to be a lot more sympathetic to the parts of his writing i don't like, since I can at least convince myself those things (be it intentional choices or simple mistakes) were done in good faith.

[voidsentprinces]

Heh, that reminds me. Homestuck had such a wide reach that people started making versions of the main characters including the trolls as PoC. So one time during a point in the story where the teens are being teens and can't speak with each other or share emotions because they're EMBARRASSED ABOUT THEIR EMOTIONS! You know...normal teenage stuff. One of them licks a magical lollipop (I shit you not) turns into clown version of themselves with flourscent pink hair and eye hurtingly bright clothing and flies to the friend they can't speak their feelings to to confess and feel happy and joyous. And when they arrive, the friend is understandably like, "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON" and then they lean forward and are like, "I AM FEELING PERFECTLY CAUCASIAN" well...if you don't know Homestuck was kind of the Undertale of its time. So a feeding frenzy occurred and they eventually changed it to, "I AM FEELING PEACHY".

Homestuck was a fucking ride...any way after turning three more people into Clownsonas, one of which it didn't even change much, for all intent and purpose, they wake up in a sugar hang over sometime later. Having been captured by the big bad two.

Anyway this sets up a dead pirate woman, a clown in a god tier cosplay, Sea Hitler, a skynet possessed girl, a brainwashed half dog girl to fuck everything up. As most of the main cast is killed. As the dead pirate woman uses her telepathy powers to fling planets into each to try and kill Sea Hitler but Sea Hitler removes the ring keeping dead pirate woman alive and proceeds to break her neck for the attempt. Main boy has to learn to use his powers to pull pranks on one justice seeking blind alien woman to keep her from killing a spider woman and set the timeline to a path where they actually win against an incel alien boy complete with shitty anime draws, obsession with guns, Peaky Blinders, and getting jacked after having his soul ripped out and shoved into a puppet.

I will not elaborate.

[lizzyscribbles]

So I watched Arcane for the first time the other day. I've had my eye on it for years, I just never set aside the time to watch, but I needed something to keep my mind off stuff and so I turned it on. And like...holy shit. Holy shit. Like I have so many thoughts, it was such a mind-bending, morality twisting adventure and I'm stoked to go watch the new season. I wanted to bring up something I've been cooking on for a bit for funzies because apparently this is what I do for fandoms I'm interested in.

I want to talk about Jinx's season one outfit, specifically the subtle genius in it and how it adds to her character. When I first saw older Jinx's outfit I had to do a full stop and stare for a second. My first thought was just "great, another sexy, impractical video game outfit". Like, don't get me wrong, it's a sick outfit and I think it looks really cool, but her abdomen - and thus a lot of her vital organs - is completely exposed. What's up with that?

We all know that Arcane is based on League of Legends (fun fact, I actually didn't know until I started watching it), which is a video game. "Lizzy, we know this," I know, but bear with me. Video games of this caliber aren't always known for having good, realistic female outfits that aren't solely designed to be eye candy. So, as much as I like the outfit in the show, it was kind of a turn off.

But, as I continued to watch the show, I came to a realization. You don't see that design among the rest of the female characters in the cast. I mean, look at Vi, Caitlyn, even the female members of the council. They all have far more functional clothing that doesn't expose their vital organs. Usually, when developers, show runners, animators, whatever you will, don't care much for practicality and do things for fan service, it's something that spreads to most, if not all, of the female characters. (Example, My Hero Academia. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this show, but take a look at the girls' hero costumes and then look at the boys and tell me you don't see a pattern).

This is when I realized something, I think her choice of outfit was intentional. Like, actually intentional and served a purpose.

Jinx is the embodiment of chaos, we know this and we love her for it. She's unpredictable, temperamental, and impulsive. Reckless, is really the word I'm looking for. She's reckless.

In that light, her outfit starts to make way more sense.

Going beyond that, she rarely, if ever, actually fights hand to hand. (At least in season one, like I said, haven't watched season two yet. I'm planning to start tonight). Unlike Violet, who needs that extra layer of protection wherever she can get it, Jinx never intends to let anyone close enough to take advantage of her lack of protective gear. So yeah, why is she going to care about covering her midriff and protecting it?

And I honestly think that's such an incredible piece of nonverbal storytelling. It drives home just how fucking unhinged she is and tells us, the viewer, more about her than they could've in other ways. It's subtle, but powerful, and was one of those things that made me pause and go "huh...oh, oh, that's genius" when I put the pieces together. I mean, look at how I managed to drag that one thought into an entire post.

Could it just be a fan service thing? Yeah, it could be, but I want to believe there was more thought put into it than that. Giving the designers the benefit of the doubt here.

Anyway, I think it's really cool and I salute whoever came up with it. 10/10, love it.

[dreaming-medium]

This might end up being a super long message so I apologize in advance. I’m a yapper :)

I needed to say how much I absolutely love Animals Without Direction. It’s not even funny how hard this fic grabbed my heart & will not let go. Your fic is what cemented me getting into Stray Kids. Before this, I knew of them, I even had “Backdoor” on Spotify but that was as far as I cared to go. Like 2 ish weeks ago, I ended up reading another OT8x Reader fic before this one just out of morbid curiosity ( I will always succumb

to reading something where the MC has multiple partners, I just eat it up) & the love I had for the author’s previous work & I loved it so much. I read another one after that & I was slowly finding myself caring about these boys through these fics but yours?? I knew I could not go back after reading AWD. I became high key obsessed with how you wrote them & that obsession turned into me wanting to know the real people behind these characters. One of the best decisions of my life, I swear. (I tried to fight getting into them so much but every interview that popped up on my YouTube or edit that made its way onto my fyp would not let me lmao).

The way the boys are written, the world building, the tension surrounding every situation, ect. It’s all so amazing. Even in your Kinktober work, the same thing applies. I rarely read kinktobers bc there’s usually no build up to the sex & I’m left bored bc the build up is always what gets me. Yours are just *chefs kiss* (That Min one has a grip on me. I live for a nerdy boy x popular girl story. AND Frottage?! I’m obviously that girl, they all obviously want me, like it can’t get better than that idk)

I’m going to make one last point & it’s so minimal that you’re probably not doing it on purpose but I just had to point it out. The way you write the reader to have minimal descriptors means a lot to me. I’ll explain: One of the very many reasons that I got out of reading K-POP fics specifically is that, more often than not, the reader was not someone I could identify with & it would take me out of the story completely. I’m not talking personality wise but physical traits.

Ex. I’m black so my MC is always black. If I read that the “reader” is supposed to be “blushing pink”, I 100% know that this reader was made with a fairer skinned person in mind, even if it’s not said explicitly. So the reader I have no longer exists & my mind is thrown out of the story. It’s different if this reader is supposed to be an OC or it’s tagged differently or whatever else, but when it’s supposed to be a character that anyone should be able to place themselves into, it’s a bit upsetting when it’s not. I hope that makes sense.

With your story, that has not happened to me. I could image the reader to be whoever & it fits. It feels like a true “reader x *insert character here*” story as it’s tagged. I’m not sure if that was your intention, as I know a lot of authors do try to have that thought while writing, but it’s something that I appreciate & it makes the reading experience so much better for me personally.

Anyways, this was just a very very long winded way to say that I love your work & I’m waiting on my knees for the next updates 🤍🤍🤍

I am so so sorry that it took me this long to reply to this message, but you obviously put so much care into typing this out so I wanted to return the care I put into replying to you.

First off, thank you SO much for your kind words. Genuinely, it means so much to me that you enjoy Animals Without Direction. Truth be told, when I first came up with the idea, it wasn't going to be an OT8 fic, it was originally going to either be a Chan, Minho, or Seungmin story. But the more I kept developing it in my head, the more I got emotionally attached to these characters I assigned to them.

The character I particularly got attached to was Jeongin as the Squire. He just kept tugging at my heart strings when I would develop little story lines. And then I was also thinking about Felix and how much his character means to the MC and every single one of them came tumbling after.

I can't even stress the smile I got on my face when I read that I got you more into SKZ with my fic. It's SO funny that you would say that because its another OT8 fic that got ME into SKZ.

Tangled by Ao3 user ThisPeachIsDirty got me to look further into SKZ and fall in love with our boys.

THANK YOU for the compliments on my writing style as well! Sometimes I get so worried that I put too much effort into the plot and the story that I forget the romance. Especially with my kinktober series (which I do plan on continuing, life is insane for me at the moment).

(Also, I also love a 'they're all in love with me' trope. i do not care if its not realistic. its my world and everyone else is living in it.)

That last point you made is not minimal. It makes me SO SO happy, you have no idea. Because, believe it or not, it IS something that I actively try to consider and adapt to when I'm writing.

The reason that we read 'reader inserts' is so that we can all feel like we're a part of the story. And it's so important that no person is left out of that narrative.

I cannot STAND how many fics all play on the 'I'm tiny, in 4 feet tall and I weigh 80 pounds soaking wet. I have dainty, tiny, frail little bones and every single person towers over me and constantly reminds me how small i am.'

oh it boils my BLOOD.

I am a 6 foot tall, athletically built, amazon of a woman. Me and my swimmer shoulders are NOT small and dainty.

My best friend is POC. And something she always told me about reader inserts is exactly what you're saying. She would say that she could tell it was written by someone who is not POC. It breaks my heart.

And while I do use descriptors sometimes. For example, i do bend this rule a little with statements such as "at your asymmetrical features", "you're not a tiny person either", or maybe a hair descriptor that may not fit someone. I do genuinely try to keep it all inclusive, because that's what these types of stories are supposed to be.

So THANK YOU for noticing. I'm happy that I could provide something that is well deserved and should not have to be requested.

I promise an update is coming soon. Quite possibly within the next few hours. I'm on a business trip at the moment and if my boss doesn't invite me out to dinner tonight, I plan on finishing the next chapter in my hotel room.

Life is... insane lately. I have zero spare time left with the job I have now.

But I promise it's coming!! it's like 90% done!!!!! Maybe even 95%. I'm trying to decide where I want to end this chapter in terms of the story.

Love you so so so so much. <33333

[magicalgirlagency]

*Note: there may be bad English due to the writer horrible language skills. You have been warned

Wondaria is such a wonderful place...

F*ck Earth, can I somehow move into Wondaria? I'll gladly sold all my belongings to do that. Heck, I'll even sold my blood and kidney so I can get there.

Wishful thoughts aside, you are a very cultured human from what I've seen on this blog. Good anime taste, nice analyzing abilities - I've never realized how f*cking ableist YuYuYu is, how absolutely and disgustingly misogynistic Symphogear and Nanoha are with it sexulisation of freaking children, how Kill La Kill is just a horrible show that sexualize minors yet somehow got such a huge Fanbase behind it, etc... MGA, you've no idea how happy I was to found your blog. There aren't any other tumblr blog that have a similar, i dunno, Vibe/energy to yours. Hell, there aren't much stories I've found that have a similar CONCEPT to Wondaria.

This is like, the most EPIC fix-it au that might have ever existed IMO. Seriously, because you save the YuYuYu girls, you saved Minowa Gin -my sweet child - and reunite her with her friends (why Tougou-san and not Sumi Washio though...). Then you save the gems from having to continue to live under the rules of the Space Crystal Nazis Diamonds. And then you saved Izuku and his classmates from the apocalyptic hellhole that his home has become. Mate, are you an Angel for these unfortunate characters!? Because god damn you're like their greatest saviour.

Honestly, I really hope that someone, anyone, would be inspired by Wondaria and then went out to create their own Solarpunk Eutopia where they also save characters who suffered in stories. For some f*cking reasons, this is the only instance I've known about an Eutopian world for fictional characters. Shouldn't there be more of these world? Considering how much sh*tty, grimdark, edgy and "mature" shows have popped up nowadays. I'd love to write a fix-it au as well, but I highly doubt that it would be readable at all (I'm just horrible at writing and characters making).

...Have you ever thought of making a book series based on Wondaria? Just wanna ask, I'm rather curious.

Oh, please! It ain't THAT great, you're exaggerating! I only did what any disenchanted but passionate fan would do in such scenarios!

I don't think of myself as an "angel" nor a "savior", because 90% of the characters that I rescue are more than capable to fend for themselves; what they really need is support. They need something or someone to help them to provide them clarity so they can map out their futures with little-to-no trouble.

I am a firm believer that there are no bad ideas, only bad executions. All of these series, their characters, the lore and the worlds that they live in, are absolutely brimming with gigantic amounts of potential...

...but unfortunately, it's all thrown in the trash because of incompetent writers and showrunners, who have 0% of passion and care, falling into outdated clichés and are only concerned about gaining profit. I'm even not mad, just disappointed.

As for the book thing, I really don't have the intention of expanding this story outside Tumblr, because of copyright issues and Cringe Culture bullies. Wondaria was born as a self-indulgent coping method for me to practice my writing and vent my frustrations towards mediocre and horrible series.

However, I am planning on making another MG series that doesn't depend on a pre-existing series for its survival, but still serves its purpose of a whimsical female-driven power fantasy in the future...

But anyways, many many thanks again for the compliments!

[aprillikesthings]

TIME FOR MORE SHE-RA

s1 ep7 let's do this

note: it's 9:14pm let's see how long a single episode takes me ahaha

Y'know, I was going to make a joke about how this is so my aesthetic it's painful, but interestingly enough the colors shifted wildly between my screenshot and adding it to the post. Have they been doing this the whole time and I hadn't noticed??? In Netflix it looks far closer to periwinkle??? fascinating

It's always been a little odd to me that nobody carries ANYTHING (other than magical swords I guess) in this show. And I get why (too much of a pain to animate) but it does mean they have to just sleep on the ground without a blanket or pillow or anything.

Meanwhile I can't even leave my house without at least a messenger bag

I ALWAYS WONDER THIS

okay so I forgot about Mystacor being the place all the sorcerers hang out and it's also mystical vacation land

SIDE NOTE a small thing that frustrates me is how little the animators agree on Glimmer's body size/shape. She's intended to be chubby (and not in an hourglass-y way) but it feels like a lot of the animators just refused to do it. There's a lot of scenes where she looks closer to my size, and I wear a small/medium in American clothes. Harrumph.

I was just about to make a joke about how Adora is gonna struggle to relax

Like gooey stuff in Miyazaki/Ghibli movies, but with a much lower budget

I can't find a gif but you know what I mean

Listen. I know I'm literally here for the gay. I know the show was made by people familiar with fandom, who put all that subtext in there on purpose and knew we'd read into it. But I still did a little kicky-feet wiggle thing when Catra's eyes widened at the mention of Adora's name.

TBH I think this is actually why I keep falling for animated media. You always know that whatever is on the screen was done on purpose.

Like, this shot from Arcane:

This is right after Vi sees Caitlyn visibly flirting with another woman; earlier Vi had asked Caitlyn "men or women?" and Caitlyn had wiggled out of the question.

So Vi's face here does an "Ah, so women it is then. NICE. Shit, I might have a chance." in like, a second and a half.

And it was all very intentional!! The people at Fortiche animation have SAID this. We're supposed to read it that way!!

I dunno. Maybe I'm still just traumatized from my time in the BBC Sherlock fandom. Are we supposed to read it as romantic or not? Because so many shots seemed full of intentional subtext (and I'm not even getting into TJLC shit, just stuff we ALL NOTICED after THE FIRST SEASON, even fucking normies noticed it) and then the showrunners spent the next few years telling us we were just imagining it.

Whereas if Caitlyn looks at Vi's lips before looking back up at her eyes, and we read into that, it's because we were supposed to. If Catra looks worried about Adora after Shadow Weaver mentions her, that's on purpose.

UGH.

Anyway.

Catra (trying to sound bored): sooooo gotta go find Adora again, got it Shadow Weaver: Nuh-uh. You get to just stand outside as guard, because you're a worthless piece of shit. [Unspoken: And also so Hordak doesn't know I'm disobeying him. :) ] Shadow Weaver: *creates a ginormous monster* Catra: yikes Shadow Weaver: GTFO OR GET HIT

Glimmer keeps trying to get out things like the tour and the eclipse ceremony and it's like your Auntie is right GIRL YOU CAN PUT UP WITH IT FOR ONCE it's all new to Adora c'mon

sorry I just get excited when they make places look a bit like medieval cathedrals

Side note did you know that, at least in England that I'm aware of, none of those medieval cathedrals have foundations. None. None of them. There's one in England that's built over a GRAVEL FILLED LAKE and if the water level gets too low the place is just gonna collapse. (They have fancy water gauges and plans for diverting water if necessary.) Anyway that's part of why so many of them charge admission for non-religious stuff. Keeping those 800-year-old super tall stone and glass buildings with NO FOUNDATIONS standing up is hella expensive. D:

Here's the twitter thread where I learned some of this information, btw

NOPE.

Anyway this is why part of the plot of my fic is related to how Adora and Catra have never had a healthy model for any kind of relationship, family or otherwise.

Oh I forgot Shadow Weaver's previous name. Anyway I still think her and Castaspella were together at some point

Adora's expression here ahahaha

Adora has ADHD but I already said that lol, and yeah I love the beach and I still need something to *do* even if it's just endlessly walking back and forth

also how does a floating island have a beach? anyway (edit: they're clouds that SOUND like water)

Yes this moment gets ruined immediately but I love it when they throw a bone to other ships, okay

YES???? DUH

also I get that they did the top on Bow so they didn't have to draw nipples and make him the only one that's topless but also we can imagine it's covering top surgery scars, trans!Bow headcanons are always winning

"So, mom stuff?" "No, commanding officer stuff. ...And mom stuff."

'cause yeah that's not awful or anything

but also now I'm imagining Shadow Weaver trying to explain periods

AAHGHHG Bow is the best. "sounds like she did a number on you. But you're away from her now. Did you want to do something else? Maybe find something to hit??" he's trying so hard to be supportive

The fact that Shadow Weaver knows how to make that monster have Catra's voice, and that she knew that was Adora's weak spot...

And this is in Hordak's, saying basically "the entire rebellion will end up dead and it'll be your fault :)"

Shadow Weaver knows exactly how to psychologically torture Adora.

Okay so Castaspella says She-Ra destroyed "a thousand years of sacred writings" and I'm just like...okay that implies Etheria has an actual religion??

And yeah that's definitely still Shadow Weaver

Also I watched the screenshot change color as I posted it. Gyahhhh.

A mutual pointed out in her live-tweeting of s5 that you could write an entire essay on the meaning of face-touching in this show. It's the one thing Shadow Weaver ever seems to do to intentionally imply affection/caring, but she only ever does it with manipulative, cruel intent, and there are multiple times I think that both Adora and Catra lean into it (even if only for a second) out of hope/relief.

(something something about baby monkeys clinging to dolls that shock them rather than have no mother at all)

(don't look up that experiment if you don't know what I'm talking about as it's incredibly upsetting, but the gist is that children will seek affection from a parental figure when hurt, even if said parent is the one hurting them, because seeking out a parent/caregiver when hurt is instinctual to infants and children. And if knowing that explains any part of your childhood I am so, so sorry)

Yeah that's straight out of the Standard Abuser's Guidebook

"Nobody cares about you or loves you or understands you the way I do. You're just like me, not them."

More face-touching!!

oh I don't like the implications here at ALL

[EDIT: she wasn't actually going to do that. She just wants Adora under her thumb to control her. it's the kind of bullshit abusers promise the moment they think you might leave. "I'll be better this time!"]

I'm not screen-shotting Adora's little speech of triumph but oh man it's GREAT and cathartic to watch

"Adora, enough of this. Come home." ....didn't Catra use nearly those words exactly

Yeah I'm glad they included that line

Bow: I'm so sorry we didn't believe you :( Adora: No, that's what Shadow Weaver does--manipulates people and pushes them apart

That's some nice awareness

And then yeah we get a moment of Catra scheming.

OKAY it's 10:44pm. Hour and a half! For twenty minutes of TV! But to be fair I did make/eat toast and play with the cat (he walked in and then jumped into the laundry basket, of course I had to parade around the house with him in there).

11:24pm: shit this post has been sitting here for half an hour bc I was actually writing on the fic lolol

[semi-sketchy]

This is gonna be more personal than I usually get, but I've had some thoughts lately.

I was an awful person. Seriously.

Something recently made me go back and look through some old screenshots from when I was 14/15 and...yikes.

My emotions clouded a lot and I didn't remember how frankly vile I was. That's actually the reason I keep these screenshots. It's not so I have a laundry list of receipts I can whip out and use against others, it's so the facts of the situation are not lost. It doesn't matter that screenshots are easily edited because this is for my archive so I remember.

They say there's nothing scarier than a teenage girl and I can attest to that. I was angry with the world. While my intent in many of these fights was sticking up for friends, what I actually did was just plain bully people I thought "deserved it".

It's no secret I was with a group at that time which I can only describe now as a hate group. We were all young then and the people in it have grown up. I don't know where they are, but I'm sure they're better people now. I'm not really in much of a position to judge anyways, seeing as I was one of them.

It was only once I exited that group (which I also handled badly) and there was no one to laugh at my awful "jokes" anymore did I realize the person we attacked didn't actually "deserve it". My understanding of that harmful mentality was only starting at that time, but it was enough to know I was in the wrong and approach the person to try and make amends.

Was there more to the situation? Absolutely. Although at the end of the day, my actions are still my own. I don't like living with the knowledge that I might've damaged someone, but I can't change the past. There's not much more I can do than say I'm sorry.

My behavior shifted after that. While it wasn't perfect, I actively made an effort to not throw insults at people when having a disagreement. I picked my battles and didn't argue with everyone. My most valuable lesson though was to not to retaliate publicly and prolong the arguments, instead opting to vent privately.

While it took another situation to figure this out, I did eventually realize I shouldn't get involved in another friend's drama to try and help them. At that point, I realized I wasn't sticking up for them; I was just a tool.

Around that period, there was a lot of negativity and reoccurring trolls that kept making new accounts in my comments section. I was tired of the arguments, tired of people yelling at me over stuffed animals, starting fights with others, and no matter how many I blocked, they kept coming back. I was just tired so I disabled comments. It's a decision I still stand by today, even though I've since enabled comments again. The fandom has gotten more peaceful over the years and I'd like to believe I've learned how to foster a chill community.

People were quite vocal about the decision, some saying I had a god complex while others said I was violating free speech. Some made videos at me, I even found a hate quiz on Quotev.

People made up a title to call me then got mad at me over said title, even though I never used it. I got people accusing me of being stuck-up because while I was loud on camera, I wasn't talkative and often didn't respond unless I was asked a question. I tried so hard so many times to try and get people to understand I wasn't what they said I was and I never claimed myself the "queen" of anything. I rejected the idea that I was a "higher power" and tried to show that I was just another person. Of course, the videos I made for this purpose came off to many how I view them in hindsight: pretentious cringe.

All of it came crashing down when the news about the person I attacked got spread around like wildfire, someone from that hate group egging on my demise with their friends and posting stories about me.

I shut down. To this day, I still can't open that screenshot folder without shaking. Folks I always interacted with stopped talking to me, people I looked up to joined in, some even used the callout as an excuse to release my personal information.

People demanded a public apology, that I needed to make up with some of the very people perpetuating the drama, and I did nothing. I didn't think I owed the entire internet an apology over a situation that didn't involve them and I believed to be settled years ago. I knew anything I said would be used against me, so I said nothing.

To be fair, looking back at this stuff...yeah I had it coming. It was true. I did do (some) of the stuff I was being accused of. I should be held accountable. Perhaps I did deserve this treatment.

The part that made it feel unfair is I already learned from the mistakes. I tried to make it right and changed my behavior. I wasn't acting like that anymore and I figured out it was wrong without someone needing to tell me.

I was a horrible person, it's true. My actions and attitude hurt others. From this I became a people pleaser, dedicated years of my life to trying to be as nice as possible and share very little so I won't be a troublemaker. It shaped who I became and while it took awhile to realize my feelings matter too, I'm comfortable with who I am now. I'm weary of many people, but at the very least I know I'm not mean-spirited.

Say I'm dwelling on things and stuck in the past, I can't refute it. Every few months, something takes me back to 2016 and it plays out over and over again. Not long ago I watched season 1 of Oshi No Ko and episode 6, Egosurfing, was so accurate it triggered me so bad, I was lightheaded and in a confused panic. It took hours to drag myself out of my own head.

I don't want to carry my mistakes around with me forever. I want to forgive myself and move on, because while I was a little shit, I grew from that. It was a learning experience and something I think I needed to experience to understand.

I guess my purpose for posting all this is to help put it behind me. When something triggered me and I started going through the screenshots again, I had a serious feeling of "I should just quit, it's time". I know, it's been 7 years and I still haven't healed.

I'm not asking for patience or even forgiveness, just understanding. Hold me to this because I want to get better.