#But I love the novel the most so there you go

[not-poignant]

Y'all, I hate to say it, but if you're reading romance books by rapid release romance authors from the past two years, there is a really high chance that unless they've made an explicit statement saying they're NOT using ChatGPT in the process of writing their books, chances are really high that they are.

There are many many FB groups for professional authors (like 'Gen-AI for Authors') where authors literally compile ways to use Gen-AI to do as little writing as possible, to get as much bang for their buck. Authors who were used to using ghost-writers are now no longer paying them the small bucks and going to ChatGPT instead. (To say nothing of Gen-AI and book covers). (To say nothing of Gen-AI and audiobook readings, Audible doesn't allow them, but everywhere else pretty much does).

The only difference between this and other situations is that this author got caught because they got fucking lazy. But I guarantee you that if you're a voracious romance reader you're now also a voracious Gen-AI romance reader. It's truly dystopian out there, right now (*stares at US politics and tries hard to stay on topic*).

I had to leave quite a few professional author groups last year because unlike the fine arts, so many pro authors are so incredibly pro Gen-AI. I think romance is the worst for it, because that's where rapid release (like the 20booksto50k method) really gets pushed hard in romance writing circles. And of course not everyone is doing it, and if you're particularly savvy, you might have already been able to tell when you're reading just weirdly slightly overwritten romance novels and had a 'hmmm is this...? I think this might be at least slightly influenced by Gen-AI.'

If the plots seem more generic, if the character voices are more generic, if the paragraphs are more generic, if it's all a bit more weirdly overwritten check a) when that author started publishing and b) what the quality of their work was like pre-2023.

And don't be afraid to point blank ask authors if they can declare their works Gen-AI free. Most authors are on socials now. Though be careful, many are encouraging each other to lie in FB groups about it, even saying things like 'readers don't have a right to know if I use Gen-AI it has nothing to do with them.'

So y'know.

This author got caught. Silly author. The vast majority of them aren't getting caught. And a huge amount of that bunch are favourable to lying to their readers and to Amazon's little 'declare that you used AI in making this' ticky box.

(Also please know that a not insignificant amount (i.e. easily thousands) of rapid release romance writers never cared about the craft of writing, and they only care about gaming the algorithm and making the big bucks. There are six figure romance authors who could not give less of a shit about the quality of their writing, and only care about KU page reads, because even 50 page reads of a terrible novel is still going to equal way way more dollars if their marketing is really good.

This is not all pro romance authors of course!! I'm a romance author, I know a lot of romance authors feeling like they're drowning in this right now. Any romance writer releasing one book a year is - if in professional circles - getting weird looks from their peers for not releasing a novel a month. Rapid release romance authors have among some of the highest burnout rates if they sincerely love writing, and if they don't, they have zero issues turning to ChatGPT and lying to their readers about it.)

Like, we have books in the bestseller lists with Gen-AI covers, Gen-AI content, Gen-AI plots, Gen-AI characters and Gen-AI dialogue. Non-fiction and romance are two of the worst genres for this. Be careful, get educated, hold authors accountable, and remember, the only thing that's unusual about this author is not that they used ChatGPT at all, it's that they got caught.

[katakaluptastrophy]

Five Fifth fics under 5k

I've seen lots of people recommending fics with various themes, and though I'd share a few shorter Fifth-centric fics I've really enjoyed:

Under Your Skin by pipistrelle (@neornithes)

"You're not yourself."

"No, you're quite right," Abigail said, and smiled. For just a split second the candlelight gleamed unnervingly on that smile, showing teeth too sharp and somehow too crowded in her jaw; then a pair of chattering couples passed in front of the candelabra on the sideboard, casting cheerful shadows, and in their wake the distortion was gone.

This is the polite but feral Fifth fic for me.

I'm resisting the urge to write a long and loving description of every perfect detail, but suffice it to say that this is a delightful and troubling snapshot of what "The House of the Fifth always skinned itself over with such airs of civilisation, with so many manners and niceties, but they were spirit-talkers and speakers to the dead. And the dead were savage." might mean.

Selected Excerpts by @liesmyth

I'm not going to do a better job than the original blurb: A reading from “Why do we pray to Lyctors? The role of Necrosaints in devotional practice” published by Abigail Pent, PhD, in the Journal of Early History, Vol. 876, No. 1, with oral commentary by several of the Emperor's Saints. Coffee to follow.

Heavily footnoted observations on the development of saintly patronages and the purpose of prayer, interspersed with snarky observations from the objects of those devotions.

the sea and its waters by @darlingofdots

Again, I can't do it better justice than the original summary: 'au where Gideon wore her real sword to breakfast on like Day 2 of Canaan House because fuck Harrow amiright? and from across the dining hall Abigail Pent was like, “oh my god that sword is possessed. That sword is VERY possessed.” *walking over* “Did you know that your sword is possessed by literally THE angriest - I’m gonna talk to her. Is anyone else going to - I’m not waiting for an answer, I’m talking to this ghost.”'

“It’s Two Thousand Years Old, It's Essentially Public Property”. by KaiserJo

Lyctor!Abigail and Mercy clash on the Mithraeum over Abigail's research.

So now Mercy rushed through the corridors of the Mithraeum like a tsunami, based on a tip off from Augustine that Pent had discovered some “Rather boring letters”, but that it would be “best to stop her before she attempts to draw academic conclusions.'

Brew the Dead by terribletressym

“The coffee,” Pent repeats, and there's a slight hitch to her voice as she shifts, jarring her broken arm, “is haunted.”

The coffee shop AU, but things take a rather alarming turn. Another little gem of humorous yet horrifying engagement with possession and its mechanics.

---

OK, there may be more than five recommendations here...

Have some fics that are not Fifth, but still under 5k:

Near–Far Problem by @heliocharis

This one isn't Fifth. But it does involve my second favourite ship involving a formidable woman with too many degrees, the wildly underrated rare pair that is We Suffer/Juno Zeta:

There is something nearly voyeuristic about it, coming to recognise the voice of someone who most likely doesn’t know you exist.

If she were to examine it any more, she might come to the conclusion that this is because the voice has something quite attractive about it. This is a ridiculous thing to think.

Push Your Luck (Revised) by anonymous

Samael and Anastasia backstory, set amidst the dour religion and robust mining unions of the not-quite-yet-Ninth-House, told in a style that reminds me of Pratchett's Watch novels.

Sam didn’t feel equal to raising that issue with the Holy Councils, but he asked his union rep to negotiate his dowry. Drearburh was getting a whole missile defense system, the least it could do was kick his Ma some cash.

Locus Desperatus by sigaloenta

You know how in HTN it's suggested that Harrow and Ortus have been arguing for a decade about whether Nonius fought a Lyctor? Here's a 13 year old Harrow debating paleography with Ortus. This is full of delicious details like the Ninth's library classification system, bindings inlaid with rare and precious wood, modern academic register as an almost indecipherable ancient way of writing, and lovingly rendered manuscript lacunae.

But Ortus stood his ground. "Is it not written, my lady, that palaeography is the offhand—the lesser sister of the dyad whose dance is the critic's art? The scholar must be prepared to write 'philosoraptor' if the sense requires it, where the manuscripts have the monosyllabic interjection 'o'."

The Lillian Sitta Memorial Lecture Hall by the_ninth_house_glared

Again, I'm going to let the original summary speak for itself: Necromantic duels aren’t common on the Sixth, unless there’s an accusation of plagiarism that doesn’t get resolved through Oversight. Then it’s on, in the Lillian Sitta Memorial Lecture Hall, with everyone jockeying for position to see two hoary adepts try to maim each other with necromancy they haven’t used outside a lab in fifteen years.

[to-boldly-ship-mcspirk]

okay so people seemed to actually like my post on having read the tos mirror universe saga comic (and thanks for the further comic recs!) so I thought I'd share my thoughts because I have SO MANY. I was not prepared for how married mcspirk was gonna be in this, especially kirk and mccoy.

as for the actual plot of the series: it picks up after the search for spock, with spock still recovering while kirk and the rest have to face off with their evil versions from the mirror universe episode. It was published by DC comics during the 80s in eight issues, and later turned into a graphic novel with eight chapters, which is the one I read. So, because I also intend to add as many photos as tumblr lets me, I thought I'd split my thoughts per chapter and if you're interested you can read my thoughts on CHAPTER ONE under the cut:

so this is literally how the comic opens, spock is recovering on vulcan and this is the first thing he says:

like come on, he's so in love. Also the "jim, his name is jim" mirroring his exchange with kirk from the search for spock, where he says: "jim ... your name ... is jim" and kirk says "yes" (which lives rent free in my mind) is so cool!

then we have a glorious exchange with bones, whose first words to spock after the events of wrath of khan and search for spock are "you look good" ... okay, I know he meant it as a medical opinion but come on. Also the fact they're immediately back to bickering, I love their relationship so much. Spock paying him a compliment and calling him excellent and bones just going: "yeah, something's up, he's lost his mind", they are so MARRIED

the next exchange is so funny to me because mccoy's "you bet" and saavik's "indeed" are so unnecessary but they're all being so supportive 🥺🥺 it's so sweet

and then of course spock and jim holding hands and being all lovey-dovey. Like, "you came back for me once, Jim ... I have no doubt you will do so again" is insane, and they're holding hands again .... just kiss already

I also love how obsessed amanda is with kirk in this one, she treats him like her son in law and it's so sweet

and of course kirk says sth like "I have to do this but I can't order you all to follow me into danger" or sth similar like 3 times and of course everyone (and mostly sulu, the adrenalin junkie he is) always goes "stop being stupid, of course we'll come with you" and it just warms my heart

then we have more of mccoy being the most relatable ever, and this exchange with kirk just screams married to me. The way I was giggling every time bones had a line is definitely not normal

also the death of david is still so fresh and kirk is clearly suffering and bones is just so worried.

it's so sweet! And then mccoy, who canonically hates/fears nothing more than transporters doesn't just agree to beam down with kirk solely for support, no, he immediately OFFERS it himself. Like, no questions asked, he sees this is important to jim and he's just like "what can I do to make him feel better". Bones I love you so much (and so does kirk) and if this isn't husband behavior then idk what is

and kirk admitting "I've never been okay" is wild. Yes, it's about Carol but still.

mind you, we're 15 pages in and kirk is already so depressed. I know david just died but he literally goes "I wish I could die" every other page and it ripped me apart, like this is literally what he says:

meanwhile bones is constantly trying to cheer him up, the whole thing just went: mckirk being married - depression - mckirk being sweet - depression - mckirk - depression ... the whole time

also we have a scene between sulu and uhura being besties and singing together in the botanical gardens and it made me SO HAPPY. And then chekov comes in and they're all like: "oh shit we stole the enterprise to rescue spock, that might have consequences", so then they're worried and uhura is just the biggest badass (which, we all know already)

like, she's so done with it. Literally like "yeah I might lose my job but who cares, spock is more important" and it's so valid.

also, I didn't expect to see so much friendship between scotty and saavik but I'm so here for it, they have a bunch of scenes together just playing chess and being sweet

then mccoy is taking carol to david's funeral because she and kirk are not on speaking terms, like, the man loves jim so much he's doing everything he can. And at the end of the chapter kirk and carol are able to talk it through and make up solely because mccoy talked to her and convinced her that blaming jim wouldn't help. Anyway, just another example of bones being the best

that's all I have to say on chapter one, or at least all I could think of with the photos that tumblr let me include. Let me know if you want me to continue? I'd love to make a post like this for every chapter and guess what? They're even more married in the next one

[bakudekuficlibrary]

Do you guys have any fake dating bkdk with a nsfw and angst

BakuDeku: Fake Dating ( angst & nsfw ) 28 Works.

Vicious by feelslikefire ( E | BKDK | 105,173 | 13/13 )

Midoriya and Bakugou wind up in the very last position either of them thought they'd be in: Hero Partners. It's not fun, but they learn to cope. Their first big assignment together takes them undercover to infiltrate a cult, but the situation turns out far more sinister than they first thought.

(Or: Midoriya and Bakugou pretend to be Fake Married, join a cult, start having sex, and learn not to suck as partners, not necessarily in that order.)

What I can never tell you by Mikacrispy ( E | BKDKBK | 27,067 | 6/6 )

‘Bakugou suffered an accident. You need to come back. Now.’

After living in the US for 5 years, Izuku returns to take care of a concussed Bakugou who believes they're engaged. Now, Izuku has to pretend he's in a relationship with the man he's loved for most of his life, knowing that it's just a matter of time until Katsuki gets better and realizes it's all a lie.

Courting for the Camera by imnotpoppunk ( E | DKBK | 111,654 | 29/29 )

"Courting," she says, simply, beginning her pitch. Izuku's eyes go impossibly wide, already not liking the direction this is headed in. "One of the things that people love to see in other public figures is when they begin to court their prospective mates. So, I've devised a plan to stage courting rituals with you and a potential mate, all of which will be either posted to your social media or accidentally captured by paparazzi."  NightMight Pro Hero Agency is dealing with backlash from the public over their top hero, Deku, being an unmated alpha, and their concern is only growing as the Hero Ranking Polls draw nearer.

Similarly, Fat Gum Hero Agency is struggling to find a compatible alpha to calm their explosive omega, Ground Zero.

And so, the two agencies strike up a deal: plan a fake courting between the two heroes and everyone ends up happy. Right?

Maybe.

Someone Borrowed by mynameis152 ( E | BKDK | 138,996 | 38/38 )

It felt like hours that he stared at Izuku, coming to terms with the fact that a man, his childhood best friend, whom he hadn’t seen since their senior year of high school, was there in front of his very eyes. Then his brows furrowed and his jaw clenched before he uttered through gritted teeth the very name Izuku had longed to hear for years.

“Deku.”

Spyderwebs by surveycorpsjean ( E | BKDK | 69,069 | 8/8 )

Katsuki and Izuku are tasked with an undercover mission as a couple aboard a luxury cruise ship. The problem is, they haven't seen each other in years.

lover's compass by sapphicflower ( E | BKDK | 55,177 | 5/5 )

Katsuki and Izuku are rival spies from separate agencies, and generally try to stay clear of each other's missions if it can be helped.

However, when their missions seem to diverge into one, they must collaborate for the first time since their falling out from several years ago. Forced to pose as a lovesick couple who are checking in to a romantic getaway island, Katsuki and Izuku have no choice but to set aside their personal differences for the sake of keeping up appearances and not getting caught by other enemy spies.

To say that Katsuki is not fucking happy about this arrangement is the understatement of the century.

Read {between} Your Lines by greatcloudninja ( E | DKBKDK | 54,252 | 18/18 )

Midoriya Izuku, up-and-coming actor, has finally hit his big break: he's been cast as one of the leads in a film based on the first book of a best-selling novel series. Even better, his co-star is none other than his idol, Bakugou Katsuki, who has been acting for over twenty years.

However, Bakugou seems to have it out for Izuku, leading to tension both on and off set. When some incriminating photos surface, the studio suggests an extreme form of damage control: having Bakugou and Midoriya fake a relationship to get ahead of the rumors. But not all of Midoriya's fans are accepting of the relationship...

Can the two of them get through filming without killing each other first, or will hate turn to passion along the way?

to have and to hold by maquina ( E | BKDK | 43,019 | 10/10 )

Teased for being permanently single, Katsuki bets he'll have a plus one by the day of Kirishima and Mina's wedding. As the event rapidly approaches, he instead reaches out to his former childhood best friend, Izuku, and invites him to be his fake boyfriend.

What could go wrong?

The Boyfriend Theorem by imnotpoppunk ( E | DKBK | 80,930 | 23/23 )

Katsuki is the first omega to ever play for the UA University men's hockey team. He's just not sure how much more he can take before he cracks under the pressure of it all.

Izuku is an alpha grad student working on his PhD in philosophy. He's also working on keeping himself convinced that it's his one true passion in life.

A tutoring session leads to a white lie to save face and after that things get more complicated than either of them had intended.

Pretty Boy by Hopeless Creations ( E | BKDKBK | 422,116 | 65/65 )

Katsuki Bakugo is the arrogant heir to a multi-billion dollar company. Mitsuki Bakugo is, quite frankly, done with his shit, and threatens to disown him if he doesn't start bringing a partner to events to show he's taking his future seriously. Izuku Midoriya is an escort.

What could possibly go wrong?

The Pretty Woman BakuDeku AU you didn't realize you needed in your life, with a twist!

OR;

“The fuck did you just call me?”

Izuku stared him down, green eyes glinting and refusing to show sign of weakness. Thank god his shaking hands were hidden in the darkness of the vehicle. “Well, since you seem to have a nickname for me, I figured I should have something fitting for you, too, right? Mine means useless, I presume, and yours is…” He looked Katsuki up and down, pursing his lips, before his face again broke out into a smile, seasoned with just the right amount of patronizing. “Cute.”

[ Graphic Depictions of Violence | Past Rape/Non-con | Abuse | Heavy Trigger Warnings ]

Break my heart by SapphicPandaBear ( E | BKDKBK | 70,376 | 29/29 )

"You mentioned practice," says Izuku. "What were you thinking?"

"Depends on boundaries."

Izuku covers his flustered emotions with a laugh. "We could always start with road head."

Silence.

Damn. Maybe he went too far. "Sorry, Kacchan, I—"

"Too dangerous," says Katsuki, his voice low and rough. "Handjob would be easier."

Izuku's heart stutters in his chest.

---

Or, a grievous misunderstanding drove a wedge of silence between Katsuki and Izuku for 7 years. Now a dangerous honeypot mission has them undercover, investigating a politician suspected of violent hate crimes and a suspect BDSM club, all while navigating each other's volatile emotions under forced proximity.

[ Graphic Depictions of Violence ]

Izuku and Katsuki's Guide to Fake Dating by TheFifthCharmedOne ( E | BKDK | 16,783 | 10/10 )

Mitsuki has been repeatedly asking (read: harassing) her son about settling down with someone despite his apparent lack of interest in doing so. After a long day of hero work, the last thing Katsuki feels like doing is talking about this crap with his mom. So, he tells her he's dating Deku just to shut her up. And it all rolls downhill from there.

how he should've known (and how it turned out) by vannral ( E | BKDK | 43,918 | 13/13 )

Izuku should’ve listened and known and watched out for this so he wouldn’t be here, in this position. But he is, and everything is awful.

In which Katsuki and Izuku pretend to be a couple to avoid journalists, the plan backfires magnificently because of course it does, and the act goes on. Includes feelings, pining, domestic fluff and jealousy.

Not-Dating by MiraChaDoodles ( E | BKDK | 14,290 | 1/1 )

“On a...date…” Izuku repeated the word as though it made no sense. As though the four letters that formed “date” simply didn’t mesh together to create meaning in his mind. They truly didn’t seem to. D-A-T-E. Katsuki couldn’t be saying that word to him...right?

---

Or, Katsuki takes Deku on a not-date to save his career, only to find himself wishing it were real.

Whiplash by Flarewrites ( E | BKDK | 29,061 | 5/5 )

Shouto: Let me get this straight. Shouto: You’re in love with your fiancé, who is also not your fiancé because he proposed on purely platonic terms but now you’ve caught feelings and you don’t know what to do. Izuku: YES! No? I don't know.

OR the one in which Izuku and Katsuki are both disaster gays and Shouto wants to bang both their heads together.

A Kiss as a Lie by Fawn_Eyed_Girl ( E | BKDK | 39,522 | 7/7 )

Izuku might be the Number Five hero in the country, but the adorable young man is not immune to the thirst of social media. When his boss is finally tired of having one of his top heroes sexualized and picked apart, body part by cute body part, he comes up with a suggestion he thinks will fix everything:

Izuku needs a fake girlfriend, at least through the big Hero Gala, which is two weeks away.

Except that Izuku is not interested in girls.

Luckily, there’s another hero at the agency who offers to be Izuku’s fake boyfriend.

Unluckily?

It just so happens to be Izuku’s crush from the time he was…well, forever, if he’s being honest.

How will he survive the next two weeks as Kacchan’s “boyfriend”?

With artwork commissions by kalcia 💖

What a damn hero by SaysiWrites ( E | BKDK | 5,904 | 1/1 )

When Izuku comes across an account full of photos captioned "send this to guys who won't leave you alone" it seems like the perfect way to get clingy suitors off his back. What he doesn't expect is a spiral of stupid actions that leads him to asking the man to play along.

Nor does he expect to find out the buff angry dude is a pro hero.

love is a labour (i'll slave til the end) by nikkiRA ( E | DKBK | 3,830 | 1/1 )

"You know," Kacchan says, although Izuku clearly doesn't. "Just scent me, and act like we're together. It doesn't have to be a big deal."

But it is a big deal. It's a very big deal, because Izuku is madly in love with him, and it's hard enough hiding that on a regular basis. And now Kacchan wants him to pretend to date him? To be mates? How was Izuku supposed to do that?

But how was he supposed to say no?

Blurry by spicymacaron ( E | BKDK | 4,614 | 1/1 )

When his mom tries to set him up on a date, Izuku panics and tells her that he’s dating Katsuki. Surprisingly, Katsuki agrees to be his fake boyfriend for a week until they can publicly break up. The problem is, Katsuki’s starting to take his role seriously and Izuku’s finding it harder to pretend.

Not So Fake After All by kyramidoriya ( E | DKBK | 12,275 | 5/5 )

Izuku and Katsuki have always been a bit too competitive. It gets them into trouble this time when they bet who can keep a fake relationship going the longest. The worst part? They have to do it while keeping their genuine feelings a secret from each other.

Who's going to win the bet? And can they keep their love hidden?

[Abandoned] bring me the head of a love song (bring me the head of a lie) by saekimchi ( E | BKDK | 32,813+ | 6/?)

“We aren’t dating,” Izuku blurts out, only just managing to keep from spilling to the head of his Hero Office just how thirsty he is for big, mean, and blasty. Katsuki makes a disgruntled noise that Izuku is too preoccupied to parse out the exact meaning of, but there might be something close to agreement in there so he’ll take what he can get. “We aren’t dating, so--”

“I don’t know,” says Ryo smoothly, flipping the newspaper around so he can inspect the photograph more closely. “Usually when your tongue is that far down another person’s throat, it’s a good indicator that something special is going on.”

Chapter 8 of How Long Will This Last by osakakitty ( E | BKDK | 1,822 | 1 out of 12 )

Prompt 8: “I need you to pretend we’re dating…”

excuses by wbtrashking (orphan_account) ( M | BKDK | 15,089 | 1/1 )

Four weeks isn't a lot of time to find a date to a wedding, but Todoroki issues Bakugou a challenge and the blonde refuses to back down.

He happens to run into Midoriya, so he asks the shorter man to accompany him as his fake date for the occasion. Bakugou figures it'll be good for both of them―he hasn't been on a pleasant date in years, and Midoriya needs to move on from his recent breakup.

It winds up being as fun as it is complicated. That's just Bakugou's luck.

Hold me like you mean it! by Unoutan ( M | BKDK | 8,420 | 1/1 )

Kacchan needs a favor of him and he never openly asks for this help! This is, but one addition to the signs that their relationship is progressing closer and closer as friends, but...is that all Izuku wants? He will never say no to Kacchan when he needs his help. Never.

[Abandoned] I do but I don't - we're really fucked by greekfreaks ( E | BKDK | 127,458+ | 18/25 )

Where Olympic swimmer Bakugou Katsuki gets into serious trouble after a UA student exposes him as something he says he isn’t – a raging homophobe. With the threat of the IOC disqualifying him from the upcoming Tokyo games, his famous fashion designer mother, Mitsuki – with the help of his PR team and a long-standing blood pact with Inko – devised the ultimate plan:

Dating your childhood friend (and enemy) Midoriya fucking Izuku.

Kiss and don't tell by SaffronRum ( E | BKDK | 42,203 | 47/47 )

When Katsuki Bakugou stumbles into Izuku's shop, Kiss and Tell, he didn't expect the pro hero to need his under-the-table services.

What would happen if Katsuki found out it was all a scam?

(short chapters of approximately 800 words)

You and Me and a Baby Makes...Me by Fawn_Eyed_Girl ( E | BKDKBK | 106,361+ | 26/? )

Bakugō Katsuki wants to break into the Top 10 heroes in Japan more than anything. He’s put in the work; he’s strong and capable. The only problem is his…”attitude,” which makes him the Hero People Love to Hate.

On the other hand, Midoriya Izuku is the number 2 hero, and beloved by everyone...except Katsuki. Once childhood friends, and now bitter rivals, and reluctant business partners, Katsuki just can’t deal with Izuku’s success.

Then one day, a daring rescue leads Endeavor and All Might to concoct a plan that just might be the perfect makeover for Katsuki. It’s an idea that Katsuki hates, and Izuku loves.

An idea that Katsuki fights against with his entire being, especially when he starts to fall in love with it—and with Izuku—too.

[Abandoned] Reluctantly Yours by Hazel_Halfpint ( E | BKDK | 25,026+ | 4/? )

If you asked Midoriya Izuku about himself, he'd tell you he's average. He loves his mom and siblings, and works hard to reach his goal to be a quirk-related counselor. Unfortunately, part of that working hard, includes interning with his (attractive) hot-headed, crass, and annoying boss at Endeavor Agency. Bakugou Katsuki; Japans Number 2 Pro-Hero and sought-after Alpha bachelor. Izuku does his best to keep to himself, doing what's requested of him, and going home.

Until he finds himself in a meeting with Endeavor, Bakugou and the Hero Commissioner. In rapid succession three things occurred, 1. Endeavor mentioned Bakugou settling down. 2.Bakugou looks like he wants to explode, until he notices Midoriya. (That look never means anything good.) 3. The blond alpha says six unthinkable words, "Izuku and I are getting married.”

**Inspired by "The Proposal" w/Sandra Bullock & Ryan Reynolds**

[downtroddendeity]

@sapphirestar98

Hoo boy. Okay.

This is going behind a cut both because this post is already so long and because I generally try not to talk too much about gacha game fandoms on Tumblr because I feel weird about providing free marketing for things with gambling mechanics that can easily destroy people's lives.

Let me see if I can explain this.

So! Despite the aforementioned attempts to mostly keep the amount I talk about it on Tumblr low, I have been into Arknights for several years now. Like, into it enough that I keep breaking down and ranting about it anyway.

The easiest way to describe Arknights is, "Grimdark science fantasy tower defense about catgirls with guns." But this is a little like describing Metal Gear Solid as "a series of stealth games where you play as a genetically-engineered supersoldier": it's a largely accurate description and necessary starting point, but it doesn't remotely prepare you for what you're about to get into, and especially how much of that experience will consist of hour-long cutscenes discussing the human cost of the socioeconomic turmoil following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Arknights is an otherworld fantasy story and the vast majority of its characters are animal-people, but most of the countries are extremely clear and up-front parallels to real ones- the Ursus Empire is Furry Russia, Siracusa is Furry Italy, Victoria is Furry England, etc. That makes it a setting that's knit together by huge amounts of real-life references, even though the original setting lore is pretty expansive all by itself, which is something they're only able to pull off because there are clearly people on the creative team in a variety of positions who do incredible amounts of research about a wide variety of topics purely out of love of the subject. We're talking deep cuts. We're talking "there is a Halloween costume skin that paraphrases the closing passage of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, which turned out to be a stealth spoiler for main story plot points several years later." We're talking "a whole storyline centered around 12th-century poetry." We're talking "NPC named for the author of a novel about medical ethics." We're talking heartrending multilayered Russian puns. We're talking the translators once had to swap out the names of several boss levels a few weeks after they released them because they hadn't caught that they were all titles of songs from an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

So, this is already a shockingly dense text, and it's intensely and openly political. And on top of all that, their favorite way to foreshadow things is through Dark-Souls-style single-line ambiguous but portentous hints. For someone like me who loves deep reading and overanalyzing for fun, this is catnip. However, for us losers who only speak English, there's a major extra complication: Arknights is made by people in China, in Chinese, and localizing it has got to be one of the most nightmarish translation tasks ever. The English server is 6 months behind the Chinese server, so there's always quite a bit of in-game material that's been released but Anglophones only have sketchy fragmentary translations of, and there are various tie-in materials that we don't know if they'll ever translate at all, notably an in-universe setting guidebook.

So, if I want to get my red string and thumbtacks conspiracy corkboard on properly, I need something like a wiki. I want to be able to check out references I might have missed and hunt for lore breadcrumbs more easily. Pretty basic wiki stuff, right? There's just one tiny little problem.

It's a mobile gacha game about anime catgirls.

And it turns out people who become admins at websites for posting data-mined combat statistics for mobile gacha games about anime catgirls are not always very smart or good at reading.

So the trivia and lore articles are frequently just... wrong. Sometimes it's tiny quibbles or missing nuance that disproportionately annoy me, but other times it's flagrant. Like, there's a character song that prominently references an extremely famous piece of classical music, the serenade from Franz Schubert's "Swan Song." Both the wiki and the not-actually-a-wiki-but-says-it-is-anyway correctly say that the character song is referencing a piece by Schubert... and then link to a completely different Schubert piece that is not referenced in the character song, because both of them are titled "Ständchen" because it. Means "serenade." And somebody made a Twitter thread about classical music references that linked the wrong video, and Gamepress plagiarized it without checking, and the wiki added it to various pages also without checking. And you can tell this immediately if you listen to the songs, but apparently no one has done that in almost 3 years even though @onwardmotley tried to fix it.

Now imagine that across a whole wiki trying to document a game with millions of words of text, which is the only public-facing source about some Chinese-language official material in English.

*sighs and resets "days since last tirade about an extremely obscure subject in a group chat because someone was wrong on the internet about a video game" counter to zero*

[leebrontide]

I was watching some anime and started thinking about when I used to draw a lot of very sparkly anime eyes when I was younger, and thought I'd do it again. Very soothing.

Y'all have been talking about the beauty of various types of brown eyes, so here's a variety.

These are the characters from the Second Sentinels books (Secondhand Origin Stories, Names in Their Blood, Brittle Idols)

From the top:

Enoch- The quiet and reserved custom-engineered messiah. He was raised and educated by one of the genetesist who built him gene by gene to conquer the world in anticipation of a new golden age. He's not used to having the freedom to make his own choices and consequently makes some very questionable ones that come from a place of deep moral conviction and unexamined trauma.

Issac- Keeps saying he doesn't want anything to do with the world of pro superheroing and has 0 superpowers. Keeps winding up in situations where weapons are pointed at him because he has 0 capacity so not backtalk and because he loves his family. Perpetrator of the nanite incident, and is hoping to go to college and not spend his early adulthood dealing with felony charges.

Opal- She reads a lot of gothic novels (especially more modern, queer ones) but isn't thrilled whenever her actual life starts resembling one- which it turns out is a thing that can happen when you involve yourself in multigenerational superhero's families.

Yael- The only child of the US's most notorious and dangerous supervillians, raised among superheroes after their deaths. But xe's totally fine with that. No hangups at all about the cult that produced xyr genes or how taboo xyr origin has been for almost xyr entire life. Everything is fine and xe's going to be a superhero. Yael's all golden retriever vibes right up until xe's NOT- and xe hasn't got any hangups about that either- nope not at all!

Zipporah- She's got a whole array of genetic modifications and most of them don't work right. Unlike some people, she's perfectly willing to tell you about her trauma and that the process of being genetically rewritten because her foster parents decided she wasn't good enough, and she'll be charming the whole time. But there are plenty of others things you'll never get out of her.

Jamie- The weakest child of a superheroing family, she knows what she wants from her life, but has no expectation of making it. She has no desire to be a rebellious daughter but also 0 capacity to let things go, stay out of the way, or prioritize self-preservation. Her first crush, on Opal, hit her like a mac truck.

[battleroyale-textposts]

[lilcreaturethingfromthewoods]

Thanks to @yutamayo for tagging me (soz i took so long to reply)!!

1. Your favorite character - While Kugisaki is absolutely my queen, I'm actually also really fond of Inumaki (which is why I got so excited when I found a light novel in which the two of them teamed up). She's an absolute badass, and I think he's really sweet (also I like his voice an abnormal amount, even if he only speaks in ingredience most of the time)

2. Your favorite villain - I guess I'm going to have to say Mahito. I like the insight he provides into the nature of curses. But mostly I really just love to hate him. I want to put him in a sealed jar and shake it really really hard

3. Character who has your favorite technique - Kugisaki. While I do envy Fushiguro's summoning ability, I do like the use of hammer and nails - not to mention her driving nails into herself to cause pain to attackers? The Baddest of Ass.

4. Your favorite relationship (romantic or platonic, up to you!) - hmmmmm. I feel like there aren't many opportunities in the series to see characters just kinda hanging out together when they're not fighting, so my top (platonic) relationship is probably the main three of Itadori, Fushiguro and Kugisaki, since they have the most downtime together. I like watching them just being idiots and having fun together!

I cast tag upon the following: @sleepy-sham and anyone else (I don't know how many moots I have that watch jjk pls help me)

Jujutsu Kaisen tag game!!

1. Your favorite character

2. Your favorite villain

3. Character who has your favorite technique

4. Your favorite relationship (romantic or platonic, up to you!)

⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖ ⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖ ⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖

tagging- @odysseus-s-sword @chosoyukiism @creativebrainrot @midorriii @fushigurover @1ichtbringer @canontypicalgoblins @darksidesuguru @epickiya722 @supportingwomenswrongs @sunnyyflowerrs @alonelystargazer @syrooo

[licorishh]

no way she's alive ?? yea those mental health breaks because social media makes people suck are wild huh

[not-the-coffee-machine4]

Me: *tries to see what the Queen fans on TikTok have to say*

*Jim hate*

*”facts” that may or not be actually true*

*”Freddie Mercury was bisexual-“*

*Using Barbara Valentin as evidence*

*thinking things that happened in the movie actually happened irl*

*general misinformation about everyone and everything*

Me: aaaaand back to Tumblr I go

(open tags at your own risk, there’s a whole essay in there)

[lnkedmyheart]

This one is in response to @fizzytastic asking

"I would LOVE to know what you mean regarding the light novels."

Dazai in the light novels has been down BAD since the day he met Chuuya.

I know the whole "must be because I love you" can be viewed as a joke but my man actually "whispered with a look of regret" at being shot down.

He also proceeded to cheat during the game by tampering with the machine to ensure Chuuya would lose the bet and become his dog. He was also stated as being in awe of Chuuya's fighting ability, repeatedly refering to him as "incredible". Dazai also flat out admits to wanting to try out living because "Chuuya convinced" him.

He is even described as having forgotten how to breathe watching Chuuya fight.

Moving on to the events of Stormbringer, Dazai spends too long exposing his obsession with Chuuya, telling the big bad that he spends all his "days and nights thinking about ways to annoy Chuuya".

He further proceeds to insist that Chuuya is human because of how strongly he hates Chuuya and due to a specific word it can be viewed as him saying Chuuya would hate him less if he wasnt human as was stated in the stage play of the same.

Furthermore at the end of Stormbringer he offers to come up with a new plan to give Chuuya an out if he needs one when he has to use corruption as a last resort. And he fully intends on coming up with a new plan within 2 minutes.

In general Dazai does a lot of staring at Chuuya throughout the light novels. On a lighter note Dazai jokes about wanting Chuuya as his personal maid at one point and demands that Chuuya let Dazai look inside his head and know everything there is to know about him.

But then we move onto the dragon head conflict as mentioned in Dead Apple where after making light of an executive's death and getting punched in the face by Chuuya, Dazai is so shaken up by Chuuya implying he's inhuman, he actually pulls strings to try and bring the conflict to an end. He also stops corruption by touching his cheek and pulls Chuuya's head into his lap while he is unconscious after his fight with Shibusawa. The following is from the manga.

Now everyone knows about the whole Snow White and Prince reference but in the light novel its clarified that Chuuya's ability was not affected by the fog and Dazai knew this but he still forces his head down. Even more telling is that Dazai cradles Chuuya's face for no real reason because Corruption had already been nullified when Chuuya made skin to skin contact when punching him in the face.

And of course that was how their expressions are drawn in the manga panel

Then we move to the present day and you have Dazai saying this to Sigma about Chuuya

But then his comment about Gide has him claim the exact same behaviour is romantic in his messed up troll brain

Basically Dazai has a history of staring at Chuuya in awe since 15, "jokingly" confessed at 15 and then got somewhat upset about the rejection, cheated to be able to keep Chuuya as his, repeatedly makes remarks that imply he is vaguely obsessed with him at 16, tends to let Chuuya rest his head in his lap post corruption, has nullified him twice that we have seen by touching his cheek (as per the movie and once as per the ln). Is actively affected by how Chuuya views him (which was shocking to me).

Aside from that he has also talked about Chuuya to the ADA off screen because Yosano knew about Chuuya and his ability (though this could just be a random update about the membera of the mafia to watch out for during meetings) and I heard he talked about Chuuya to Oda in The Day I Picked Up Dazai ln.

This is not counting any of the seriously insane amount of wan content because I dont view it as canon or atleast entirely canon but there Dazai admits to keeping 27 journals detailing things about Chuuya and its an exaggeration of the canon fact that Dazai prides himself in being a Chuuya Nakahara Encyclopedia. It also plays with how close they both actually are with several character refering to them as besties, Chuuya being forced to admit he doesnt actually hate Dazai.

(Oh and this is not even considering just how much Dazai touches Chuuya, like in the manga there is a part where Dazai keeps tugging at Chuuya's hair and refusing to let go while complaining about how much he doesnt want to touch him. Just let go dude...)

So yea, I would not be surprised if Dazai has his vows prepared by the time the last pre defection ln drops. Ofcourse this is mostly a lighthearted joke about Dazai being down bad but in all seriousness, Dazai genuinely cared about and still cares about Chuuya and its made extremely obvious throughout the novels. Its actually worth noting that it was actually Chuuya who seemed to be more vitriolic towards him until the end of Stormbringer where Dazai actually gives Chuuya a choice and shows open concern for Chuuya's needs. Hell Dazai was also the one insisting on Chuuya's autonomy, while he keeps insisting Chuuya is his dog, he hates the idea of people using him like a tool, its why he always gives Chuuya a choice. Chuuya always actively chooses to go rescue Dazai in Dazai's plans of getting kidnapped. Chuuya can always go, "nah, I dont wanna use corruption" but he doesnt because he knows since the events of stormbringer that Dazai will always give him a choice even if corruption seems like a last resort.

Chuuya has good reason for trusting Dazai. Its cause Dazai has in fact proven to him that he can trust him. Its why he went in to fight a dragon despite being told Dazai was possibly already dead.

(And yea I know the current arc would have people go "lol he tried to drown Chuuya, he clearly doesnt care" and you know what? That's so dumb. Dazai tried to drown Chuuya, yes. But we dont actually know what is happening with this arc rn and what he is doing or if Chuuya is in any way involved in whatever he is doing. Dazai said all those things and there was no need for him to say that but the fact that he even remembered several moments they shared, yea no, he was clearly affected by it. Maybe I am wrong and Asagiri decided to yeet out all of Dazai's characterization we saw with his behaviour towards Chuuya in 2 entire novels of his past but IDK I think I'm gonna wait till this arc ends and everything unfolds before making a conclusion about how Dazai is such an asshole he tried to drown his partner.)

Seriously, vows are like the least they could do at this point.

[afterthedreamer]

to be loved

is to be changed

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Sword of Kaigen

standalone fantasy set in a rural mountain village at the edge of an empire that still holds traditional values, with families of powerful water/ice magic warriors

follows a powerful young heir who begins to question his beliefs about the empire when a new boy comes to his village from the city

and his mother, a housewife who has tried to forget her youth as a warrior and vigilante in the city since she moved back home to a loveless marriage

when there’s a violent attack on their village that they’re unprepared for, everything changes, and she has to embrace her old skills to protect her family and people

[alexjcrowley]

The Hobbit or Bilbo Baggins's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Not At All Fun Steppe Vacation

[keepyourpantsongohan]

Meaningful Highlights from Sasuke Retsuden:

When Sasuke interrupts his own reconnaissance to untie a fellow prisoner who's being bullied, putting his mission in jeopardy to help a stranger.

When Sasuke is struggling to stand and falls backward into Sakura's arms and she catches him, the same way he caught her during the war arc: Without the strength left to even turn around, Sasuke fell backwards, and a familiar warmth caught him. “I got you, Sasuke.” It was Sakura’s voice.

Sasuke being so detailed-oriented with his friends and comrades that he knows their preferred method of picking a lock, and acknowledging he got his way from Kakashi: Kakashi often used the heat of Fire Style to melt the metal part. Shikamaru inserted a long, thin shadow into the keyhole to turn the cylinders. Naruto would make it move with a very small-scale bit of turbulence. Given that he excelled in Fire Style, Sasuke often followed Kakashi’s example and melted the lock itself.

Sasuke's narration putting how he feels about Sakura and how he copes with distance from her into words, both in narration and out loud: Even if they couldn’t always be together, the fact that Sakura was his wife and his family was never going to change. He was able to think like this thanks to a lesson from a good friend a long time ago. The most important thing was the bond they shared. He had a connection with Sakura that not even distance could touch. Even if he couldn’t see her every day, she was his precious partner.

The revelation that Sasuke was waiting for pink blossoms on a tree to bloom because he missed Sakura: “He used to sit here and stare out the window all the time. But he hasn’t been doing that lately. Not since you came. I always wondered what it was he was looking at, but now, I finally get it. He was wondering when that tree was going to bloom.”

Sakura being literally crushed in the crumbling foundations of a building but still being so selfless that she is concerned about not causing rockfall on someone else, and wishing she could be there to defend the prisoners. And, at the same time, Sasuke desperately manually digging through rubble to pull Sakura out, and being the one to heal her.

[bumblingbabooshka]

She watched in delight as the one...the unknowing one, they called it...found Tuvok, grasped him roughly around his torso, and bending its face to his, implanted the spore that it carried within it into Tuvok's mouth. [...] "Will you stay with me?" Tuvok asked. from 'String Theory' by Kirsten Beyer [Patreon | Ko-fi]