#I have a self-insert in an original story and she is FAR from perfect!

[elliehallers]

Say it with me, everyone:

Fandom OCs — even when paired romantically with canon characters — are not inherently Mary Sues or Gary Stus.

Yes, many are someone's self-insert who lacks any depth or flaws because that person sees themselves as Perfect, but that is not always the case.

Plenty of people (myself included) are more than capable of creating complex, interesting OCs to insert into our favorite fictional works. (And even a self-insert can be good if the creator doesn't make them Perfect At Everything and can see their own flaws.)

[hiramaris]

Kiss It Off Me

CHAPTER 2

Chapter Summary:

And what does Haley do when things don't go her way? She sabotages. So it wasn't a surprise when Haley's mouth opened and the next words that came out were ones she never intended to say. It was a defense mechanism, a way to push people away before they could hurt her. "If it weren't for those horrendous clothes, you might actually be pretty," she blurted out, regretting it as soon as the words left her lips.

Pairings: Haley x Fem!farmer

Disclaimer:  I do not own Stardew Valley or any of the related characters. Stardew Valley is created by and owned by ConcernedApe. This fanfiction is intended for entertainment only. I am not making any profit from this story. All rights of the original Stardew Valley story belong to ConcernedApe.

Warning: None so far? Just Haley being her usual self

Notes:

Okay, so originally in my AO3 this is meant to be a Haley x OC and I have already created a solid description for my character. However, I thought it would be much better if I changed it to a reader-insert instead tho I'll probably keep some physical descriptions that I had already inserted, so sorry about that. Also, if some of y'all have already read this in my AO3, expect some minor changes.

Gif from loriedarlin.tumblr.com

Spring 1

Haley rises with the grace of a blooming sunflower that she is. It's finally Spring!

No longer will she suffer from the icy chill that makes her toes feel like they're about to fall off, none of that ridiculously nasty snow that forces her to use that Yoba awful boots she had hidden at the deepest part of her wardrobe, and just as equally terrible gloves that hinder her from using her camera let alone her phone when she finally got that once in a blue moon occurrence of perfect lighting outside.

And most importantly; no more dry, frizzy hair.

AND.

She could finally continue her tan!

Oh, the endless possibilities that await her in this new season. So much to explore and experience. Haley is positively bursting with excitement, eager to dive into all the joys, and wonders what something new Spring has planned for her.

****

When Haley expected something new, She didn't mean new 'new' like a new person but new as in something exciting like a freshly arrived parcel from the shop she ordered online, or perhaps a new conditioner that makes her hair bounce and makes it shinier that Yoba could mistake it as the sun. 

Her expectations were already at rock bottom with Pelican Town being the dullest place on earth.

But why oh why did she even bother to expect?

"The new farmer's coming today, just so you know," Emily casually mentions as she washed their dishes that morning.

Haley scrunched up her face. She had already forgotten about it. Why bring it up again?

"Oh, goody. Another reason to avoid the Townsquare today."

Emily turned to her with her typical condescending look she learned to hate. "Hay, you don't have to become BFFs with her right off the bat. Just say hello and try not to be your usual mean self. You'll thank me later."

"And I don't have to introduce myself within the day, Em." Haley crossed her arms, standing her ground. "This is no classroom where you need to acquaint the new kid on her first day." 

"I know." She sighed as if she was having a conversation of repetition with a toddler and she's running out of patience. "Just be nice to her, yeah?"

Haley didn't answer. With camera tucked carefully between her hands, she left the kitchen without a word. Emily never fails to make her feel like a child being taken care of by her. Like she's in dire need of a babysitter and without her guidance, Haley would be nothing.

It's infuriating really. 

No. 

She wouldn't let this ruin her day.

Today was going to be a good day. Emily's incessant nagging couldn't change that. Besides, she probably wouldn't even meet the new farmer. It was already past 10, and the girl was most likely already mingling with the locals or resting in that old cottage of hers.

She can still take pictures back in Marnie's ranch. then she can hang out with Alex in his place. Go back home exactly during Emily's shift on the Saloon and then she'll have the whole house to herself while she can finally cook something edible without Emily breathing down her neck.

Yes, that would be ideal. Today is a good day.

****

Wrong.

Just as Haley stepped foot outside 2 Willow Lane, she was greeted by a tall, unfamiliar woman strolling by her house at an infuriatingly slow pace.

You held a whole map of what she assumed was the town's which was big enough to hide your whole face, and as well as hinder your vision to notice Haley on the side, much to her relief.

Are you the new girl?

All that she can tell is that you have the darkest hair she has ever seen in her whole life. It was shiny, and ridiculously long, too which kinda compliments its wavy nature. 

Also, why the hell are you in a dress shirt and a tie?

Haley may be a bit far behind the books but she's sure as hell that isn't the right attire for someone who'll work on a farm.

If Haley didn't know Lewis is the mayor, she'd probably think you're the new mayor with your totally immaculate wardrobe— a dress shirt and a tie, perfectly flattened slacks, and a pair of leather shoes that probably look expensive.

Shit. Are you really the farmer? Or just a visitor?

Oh, no. Are you turning around? Oh, Yoba, she is!

Haley scrambled to her feet. Not sure if she should bolt inside the house, run to the Townsquare, or what. 

With her probably last brain cell that saves her from the utter embarrassment of being caught checking out the new farmer (absolutely not, the disgrace), her own body moves on its own. She grabbed her camera and positioned herself like she was taking a photo of the least appealing subject she had ever captured in her life— Emily's cactus.

Please not now, Yoba. Not now.

She found herself praying to the deities she no longer talked to when she felt your eyes burning into her back. She had probably taken a load of mediocre photos of Emily's plant when she finally felt the farmer leaves.  

She breathed a sigh of relief when she turned around and found the street empty apart from her. Only then did she notice how fast her heart was beating against her chest.

Thank Yoba for saving me from that mortifying introduction.

Why is she even nervous anyway? She didn't even see me. Even so, that was so embarrassing.

Wait, no.

Embarrassed, not nervous.

Only embarrassed, nothing else.

The word nervous and Haley doesn't fit. In fact, it should never ever be used in a single sentence. Haley doesn't get nervous, ever.

She was just caught off guard, that's all. 

Next time, she'd prepare an introduction so fantastic that you would be left with the impression that Haley is too good for you— kind and never mean, but still way out of your league.

Just you wait, stranger. She thought determinedly, trying to ignore the voice at the back of her head that sounded suspiciously like Emily, asking her if she was really sure it was going to be a good day.

Haley doesn't really know.

****

"Did you meet Y/n?" was Emily's first words when she arrived home from her shift.

Haley remained sprawled on the couch, flipping through the pages of her fashion magazine for this season. The struggle was real, trying to choose between the blue skirt or the pink shorts.

"Who?" she asked, her eyes still glued to the glossy pages.

"The farmer, Hay." She can feel Emily rolling her eyes at her.

"Oh," Haley feigns interest, barely lifting her gaze. "That not-so-tall, dark-haired farmer with a fashion taste of an old woman ready to retire from her corporate job?"

Emily gasped, and Haley turned to look just in time to see her scandalized look. To be fair, you don't look that bad. You also tower over Haley for a couple of inches and your fashion sense isn't the worst that she has seen in her life. Haley wouldn't be caught alive admitting that aloud though, especially not in front of Emily.

Lies are an easier language to learn after all.

"Don't tell me you just insulted her on her first day?"

"Of course not." Haley protested, magazine long forgotten. "I saw her but I didn't even talk to her nor she even tried. The doofus was so busy with her stupid map to even see me."

Looking back at the scene made her feel embarrassed, relieved, and offended at the same time.

Like how could you not notice a true beauty in front of you? Her face alone was enough to catch the attention of all the people in the area. She's not crowned flower queen for nothing yet you just walked passed her like she's just an average woman!

How dare she?

But on the side, it would have been embarrassing otherwise for Haley to be caught alive staring at the newcomer with wonder in her eyes.

Would anyone really blame her though? It was perfectly natural to size up the competition in terms of beauty.

Right?

Right?

And it's not like she noticed how broad your shoulder was or how your lean physique perfectly suited your chosen profession. Not at all, pft.

"Still, you could have said hello," Emily tries to reason with her, oblivious to the internal conflict turning on the gears of Haley's brain. 

"Why should I? I'm not the new girl, aren't I?" She shrugged indifferently, turning back to her mag once again. "And what kind of lame name is Y/n, anyway?"

"Haley." There's that tone again.

"What?" she snapped.

"Don't even start. Y/n is actually nice." Emily chided softly, her eyes boring into Haley's like a disappointed mother. "You said it yourself, this isn't high school anymore. Being mean doesn't get you anywhere."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Haley bristled at the insinuation, standing up to face Emily with a fierce expression. "Are you saying I'm directionless just because you have a job, and I don't?"

"I'm saying that being kind is always the right choice," Emily's calmness only fueled the anger she felt. "And trust me, it doesn't cost you anything to be nice to someone. But being mean can cost you more than you think."

Haley remained tight-lipped, not wanting to argue with her sister anymore. Emily seemed to mistake her silence for compliance.

"I'm just trying to look out for you, okay? Sorry if I came on too strong," Emily consoled her, giving her a pat on the head. "I'm off to bed now, gotta wake up early tomorrow. Goodnight, sis."

As Emily headed off to bed, Haley was left to ponder the events of the day—

No fantastic photos in Marnie's ranch because the nasty smell of animal waste was enough to drive her back to her entry steps, and the risk of running across the new farmer is greater there so, no.

As for Alex, forget it, she didn't have the stomach to endure his stench after playing with his ball all day. Her only option was to head back home.

Emily left early which is a good thing but when Haley went to the kitchen to finally practice her baking skills, she only found out that they had no more eggs. She could have run to Pierre's to get some but she isn't really keen on doing the shopping herself. That's Emily's forte, not hers.

And now, she's been lectured by her sister like she's some rebelled teen.

What a good way to start the year, huh?

Yeah, today is not a good day. 

****

Spring 2

Haley was out with her camera in Cindersap Forest just by the river. Unlike yesterday, it seems Marnie was just as bothered by the smell of her animals and decided to deep clean her ranch or whatever. So, the air was fresh and crisp, allowing Haley to breathe deeply without cringing.

The weather was ideal for taking photos— partly cloudy with a gentle breeze that carried delicate flecks of pollen through the air.

Despite her aversion to dirt and anything that possibly has germs in it, Haley loved taking pictures of nature. Behind the camera lens, she felt a profound connection to the world around her. She was in her element, lost in her own world, and nothing else mattered. Once she found the perfect subject, she was determined to capture it, no matter how dirty or injured she might become.

At this time of the year, the river looked especially magnificent in the soft light, and the falling pollen added a magical touch to the already enchanting scenery.

Just as Haley was about to snap the perfect shot, she heard a little squeak that was impossible to ignore. She turned her head to locate the source and was delighted to discover a...

Squirrel!

The little creature was the cutest thing she had ever seen, second only to the bunnies she had spotted at Marnie's ranch last year.

Haley raised her camera, ready to capture the moment forever. As if sensing her intent, the little guy let out another adorable squeak before darting off toward the deeper part of the forest where the weird old guy with the tower lived. She hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was worth it to follow the squirrel, but her impulsive nature won out in the end.

With ragged breath and hair slightly disheveled, Haley finally caught up to the squirrel. And then, as if time had stopped, she stumbled upon a sight that took her breath away.

There you are, the farmer— Y/n, she reminded herself, with your back hunched over as you fed the little guy a handful of wild walnuts that you had foraged from the forest.

No longer did you look like the poised and polished woman in your dress shirt, tie, and slicked-back hair. Instead, you wore a well-worn jumper over a faded farmer's shirt, with your hair loosely tied up in a haphazard ponytail. 

You looked... different.

It was as if you belonged in this community far more than Haley ever could.

Maybe it's the clothes, or maybe it's the way the little squirrel was so comfortable in your presence.

Before she knew it, Haley's body moved on its own, and she instinctively raised her camera to capture the moment. It was a picture-perfect moment that spoke to her soul, one that was raw, genuine, and brimming with vulnerability.

For years she hadn't seen something as picturesque and just raw and so vulnerable as this.

Suddenly, you whirled on your spot with wide eyes.

Wide, so gray, very surprised gray eyes, and your just as dark eyebrows rose so high it disappeared behind a thin curtain of bangs. The little squirrel darted behind a bush in fright, startled by the sudden flash of Haley's camera.

It felt like ages before Haley's fried brain decided that maybe it was time to finally move and stop making a fool out of herself for the second time around. You are just as frozen, your hands still holding three walnuts suspended in midair.

"Uhm," you started, voice soft and hesitant. Finally standing from your place, Haley could just stare at how tall you are in this proximity. You let out a small smile. "You're the girl with the camera yesterday, right?"

Haley could only nod. The words dying on her tongue. Her brain is still short-circuiting in all ways possible. 

"Oh..." Haley breathes out, her heart racing as she takes in the sight before her. "You're that new farmer girl or whatever, aren't you?"

Just how the hell did the gray get so green though? She wonders as your eyes bore into her with piqued curiosity. Was it the lighting and the green scenery that did it?

Good Yoba.

Is it possible for someone to be blessed with a nose this fine, so shapely up close? And don't even get her started on how a farmer could have such luscious, shiny hair when Haley has to spend hours just to get that shine and bounce that she likes.

What kind of mouth is that even? It's so small yet so plump. It doesn't look chapped though. You don't seem to be a lip gloss type, so you must be using chapstick regularly. That's good.

And wait, were you talking?

"Huh?" she mutters to herself, catching herself from zoning out once again. "Oh... I'm Haley." She manages to respond in what little she had caught up from your ramblings. 

She only understands the word grandpa, Zuzu City, Y/n, and new. 

You smiled and that's all that it took for the accumulating embarrassment to flush on Haley. It was too bright, too happy, too much and Haley couldn't handle all that.

For the first time, she's at loss for words, flustered, and was that her being nervous? 

In a desperate attempt to regain control, Haley shook her head vigorously, hoping to shake off the ridiculous embarrassment that was consuming her.

And what does Haley do when things don't go her way?

She sabotages.

So, it wasn't a surprise when Haley's mouth opened and the next words that came out were ones she never intended to say. It was a defense mechanism, a way to push people away before they could hurt her.

"If it weren't for those horrendous clothes, you might actually be pretty," she blurted out, regretting it as soon as the words left her lips.

Your smile evaporated in a split second and Haley almost missed it immediately.

Almost.

"Excuse me?" You looked offended, and Haley could easily admit that she didn't like your eyes when they were darkened like this. 

"Actually, never mind." She replied, steady and fast. Hoping the farmer didn't really hear her stupid comment. 

Just what the hell is wrong with me anyway?

You pursed your lips and went silent for a second or two as you turned and rummaged on your rucksack which Haley hadn't noticed before. "Here," you held out a freshly picked daffodil, and Haley almost swooned. Almost.

Her lips parted in a soft gasp. "For me?"

"Hmm. It kinda looks like you." 

Haley's lips curved into a small smile. "Thank you."

You hummed in acknowledgment, but you didn't return the smile. Had Haley gone too far with that comment earlier?

Haley rarely feels guilty. She always tells herself that she doesn't have anything to apologize for. Her parents didn't, so why should she?

But right now, that dreadful feeling came resurfacing. It's suffocating. 

The silence is suffocating.

"It's my grandpa's." After what seemed like forever, you turned to her with a small, almost nostalgic smile. You must have noticed Haley's questioning look. "These clothes are his," you clarified. "I moved here with nothing but myself after I decided spontaneously that I can't live a life as I had in Zuzu's." You gave out a low chuckle.

Oh.

That's why you looked like that yesterday. It makes sense now. The guilt now creeps on her like a palpable living force. Emily's words came echoing at the back of her mind.

Being mean can cost you more than you think.

The apology is at the tip of her tongue yet a small part of her, the mean one, kept telling her it was just a harmless comment and that she meant nothing of it. How could she know it was your grandpa's? Or that you suffered back in your old city and you're finding a fresh start here?

Because you didn't even give her a chance to know her before you judged her. This Emily conscience of hers is really starting to scare her. But she's right, she did judge you immediately. 

"I—"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be so grim." There's that smile again. "Uhm, sorry to cut this short but" you stared at your watch. "I still have to tidy the farm up; you know it's not exactly the cleanest place right now. I just took a break to feed the little guy. I'll catch you later, Haley."

Haley didn't even have the chance to say goodbye.

Or even apologize.

She sighed as she watched you retreat back to your farm.

****

"How do you say sorry?" Haley asked hesitantly, her voice barely above a whisper. She never saw Emily abandon her sewing machine that fast. In record time, she sat beside Haley who chews her bottom lip, clearly troubled. She barely even touched her fruit salad and that's something.

"What did you do?" was her only question yet Haley found herself telling her sister everything. 

Yep, today isn't a good day, too.

~~~~

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A/n: had to delete the other one due to some minor changes again.

[dreamieparadise]

OC-tober 2024

Day 5☆. Re-designed OC

@mimiruku tagging you because ofc!

This is a long story, so it'll be under the cut...!

Anyway, so basically, my first long-standing OC was named "Julie." I was a little kid when I created her! Think single digits. I believe 7 years old? Her "face claim" was none other than Rei Hino from Sailor Moon [added quotations because I didn't know that term back then]! Whenever I doodled Julie, it was straight up just Rei. Julie was my stand-in! I suppose a self insert but not quite? The fandom I used her for was none other than Digimon Adventure. I had made all sorts of stories with Julie and the cast! I, like most darker skinned children, wanted to have pale skin and straight hair like Julie! She was my inspiration, my ideal form. So kind, serene and loved. She has so much forgiveness in her heart! But eventually I wanted to see someone that represented me truly. So over the years she transformed, she had my traits...my skin tone...my features...she was more "me"! There are still factors of myself I wrestle with so it's not a perfect representation but even so, she helped me love myself more. This continued until she became "Momina Luqman." More messy, less curated but so perfect to me.

However, Jojo did say I should bring back Julie so I'm thinking of doing that? I have an original universe but I'm still deciding if I'll insert her there or if maybe she'll be a khr oc? Here are things about Julie that I've created so far! [Things have been tweaked since childhood.]

Facts About Julie:

Asian American

5'7''

A figure skater

Slender, long necked, freckled face, purple eyes and black hair.

Julie is kind, serene, graceful and has a soothing disposition. She is someone who is modest and can be prudish but tries her best not to judge. She has a heart that always tries to forgive, is hardworking and tries to maintain a specific image. Julie is someone who is aware she falls into the standard of beauty in some ways and yet lacks in other ways...these "imperfections" bother her. She would rather have fit neatly into the standard but tries her best to work with her appearance. [WIP]

Animal association: swan

If she is a khr oc I would like her weapon to be a fan.

Differences between Julie and Momina:

Julie is tall, slender and graceful. Momina is shorter, chubby/curvy and clumsy.

Momina is an angry person...Julie is far from that.

Julie forgives easier than Momina. Momina can seemingly forgive but her heart is often full of resentment and anger. True forgiveness is hard! It almost feels impossible.

Julie is healthy and always has been! Momina is sickly and has been since birth.

There is def more but this is long and I want to continue working on Julie! I hope I can continue showing aspects of both characters.

[fzzr]

Uncontroversial Opinion: Toradora! is Perfect, Actually

Toradora! is the greatest love story ever told. It is Perfect In Every Way That Matters. This is a rant about how implementation can outweigh originality.

Characters

The romantic comedy is at least hundreds of years old as a genre. Toradora!'s core cast of five each fulfill a critical role in that formula.

The character archetype of the love interest who starts off hostile and softens over time is as old as the romcom itself, if not older. Anime and manga have had romcoms with such characters in them for generations. Today, the "tsundere" is almost inextricable from the very formula of anime romantic comedy, with examples as far as the eye can see. Toradora! came out in 2008 standing on the shoulders of those many giants. Taiga "Palmtop Tiger" Aisaka was the fourth to debut of the quartet of tsundere characters voiced by Rie Kugimiya in four consecutive years. Shana, Louise, Nagi, and Taiga, the "Four Tsundere Wonders," redefined the short and spicy female protagonist we know so well today.

Taiga, I would argue, did so the most. She's a lot of character in a small package, but doesn't actually take any of her traits too far. She's passionate, but doesn't just explode with emotion any time anything new happens. She doesn't always immediately recognize her own feelings, but she is always capable of at least some introspection. She sometimes acts spoiled, but she's not dismissive of others who help her. She is full of very relatable tension when trying to expose her feelings, but she doesn't let it paralyze her. She is capable of feeling the sting of social hostility but can also push past it and deal some in response. Toradora! doesn't just tell you why someone might love Taiga - it makes you fall in love with her, so when a character does you don't need any explanation at all.

Next let's talk about the male anime romcom protagonist. Typically unpopular and a bit different from those around him, he serves as the self-insert character for the target audience to imprint onto as he does something on the spectrum between "find true love" to "wake up each morning with his face in at least one bosom". Ryuuji Takasu is tall with the dark messy hair typical of his ilk. His poor social position comes from the delinquent look he inherited from his father. Of course, he's actually an all around nice guy who takes care of his mother and considers his worst nemesis to be the mold caused by the shadow of the giant apartment building next to his house.

No protagonist can go it alone, and the main guy will always have a loyal companion in the "bro character". Best friend and wingman, you can rely on the bro to help the protagonist on his way, though not always in the way he wants. In this role, Yuusaku Kitamura is the social glue of Toradora! Popular and respected by all, he keeps Ryuuji from total social isolation. He also unintentionally brings Ryuuji and Taiga together, as she enlists Ryuuji's help to act on her crush on Kitamura.

The 'com' part of romcom requires a certain amount of chaotic energy, and the wound spring of Toradora! is Minori Kushieda. Consummate Genki Girl, when Minori is in motion even a brick wall of social expectations can't slow her down. Everyone loves Minori, but Ryuuji's crush on her is the window through which we see her at first. There is a lot more to her than what we (or even Ryuuji) see at first. She might be the smartest of any of them, certainly on an emotional level. Somehow managing to both wear her heart on her sleeve and keep it under lock and key, Minori is also the hardest character in the show to really understand.

One character type to go: I don't know if there's some established name, but I call them the "Interloper." Typically the last major character introduced, they serve to knock the show off balance. In shows about shenanigans, they will be a source of chaos, an instigator. In shows that are going places they are often the catalyst, the one who nudges the story over any bumps that keep it from rolling down the hill. (These are not mutually exclusive.)

In Toradora!, that character is Ami Kawashima. Professional model, instant school idol, mean girl or klutz depending on the audience - Ami as introduced is designed to be hated. That doesn't last long, within a few episodes we peel away enough layers of the façade to start to understand her. Ami fulfills her role as Interloper flawlessly. She needles Taiga, using levers like her looks and childhood friend status with Kitamura. She flirts with Ryuuji, which confuses him and raises Taiga's hackles in a whole other way. She enables the beach, school festival, and Christmas arcs, each essential in their own ways. Toradora! is about Taiga and Ryuuji first, but it doesn't work without Ami.

Plot

I could rave about the series episode by episode, but instead I'll pick just one. Toradora! launches with one of the strongest first episodes I've ever seen. It spends a few minutes setting up Ryuuji's home and social life, introduces us to Kitamura and Minori, and puts him torso to head with Taiga all in under 8 minutes. That first encounter ends with Taiga wordlessly delivering an uppercut in retribution for how I called her short back in paragraph two. While this is their first meeting, it is not the true meet cute. Nor is their next encounter, where Ryuuji catches Taiga in the middle of "remodeling" their classroom, after which she assaults him when he takes his bag to leave.

No, the moment that launches the show and when their relationship is set in motion comes that night, when Taiga breaks into his house and assaults him with a wooden sword. Her motive is to cause just enough brain damage for him to forget about finding the empty love letter to Kitamura she mistakenly put in Ryuuji's bag. The result of a combination of shenanigans and oversharing is an accord: they will help each other get closer to their respective crushes. On the way out the door, Taiga tells Ryuuji to patch the hole she left in the wall with the envelope from the love letter. The episode wraps up with Ryuuji cleaning her apartment and making her breakfast the following day. The initial dynamic is thus established: Taiga acts as though she still considers Ryuuji beneath her, even as we learn about her vulnerabilities through the ways she depends on him for help.

Haha I tricked you, that dynamic lasts barely one episode. Toradora! is always moving. Sometimes it's faster, sometimes it's slower, but it's never spinning in place. The five principal characters are never static, nor are their relationships. Sometimes a turning point will be a conversation in the middle of an episode about something else, and sometimes it's the climax of a multi-episode arc. Other times you can't identify a phase change at all - you just look back and find that things are different now.

There's more to Toradora! than the romance, of course. The secondary theme is family, specifically relationships with parents. Both Taiga and Ryuuji have absent fathers, due to estrangement and mortality respectively. Over the course of the show, the way they think about those relationships changes. Their relationships with their mothers are not as distant, but they also prove malleable and important to the evolution of both characters. This thread is not disconnected from the romance, either - those changes prove critical to the final act.

Music

Toradora! has two opening themes and two ending themes, and they're all, guess what, perfect. They're catchy as hell, with on point lyrics. The animation is fun, with barely any reliance on footage from the show proper. I'm not here to break them down, so once again I'll give a single example. When Ryuuji patches his wall with Taiga's empty love letter to Kitamura, he does it by cutting out a piece in the shape of a sakura blossom petal. This serves as a symbol of the beginning of their relationship. In the second opening, there's a moment showing him putting it back in place from peeling away. This reinforces that symbolism, while additionally showing how that relationship is being reinforced with time. There's also an insert song at a critical moment of the story which will leave you in awe, but I don't want to go into it for spoiler reasons. Just know that it acts as a cultural touchstone among my friends for how an insert song can be used.

Conclusion

Toradora! is the nth entry in a flooded genre. Its characters all fit established roles in that plot and are built out of well-defined tropes. The plot beats are all standard issue: Intro, pool, beach, festival, Christmas, school trip, late-breaking twist, ending. The art is consistent, but conventional. It seeks neither revolution nor evolution.

No, Toradora! is the go-to example of how much of a difference execution makes. The soundtrack is consistently excellent. It has solid gold characters. The plot is free of cul-de-sacs and dead ends. Every obligatory shenanigan moves the plot forward a little bit. Not everyone gets what they want, but everyone lands in a place that makes sense. It's satisfying. It's electrifying. It's both fun on the surface and full of layers to peel away.

Score: 10/10. Toradora! is Perfect In Every Way That Matters. It is the greatest love story ever told.

Recommendation: There is no one who should not watch this show. I just wrote way too many words about why, come on.

Comparisons

Saekano was the reason I re-watched Toradora! in the first place, and that rewatch was what re-convinced me that Toradora! has no equal. The characters of Saekano are mostly assigned tropes at introduction as well, and they sure change a lot, sometimes drastically. Both shows have the destined love interest referred to in the title ("Tora" for Taiga and "Heroine" for Megumi) so while the journey does take you many places the ending is never truly in doubt. There is no question that Saekano acknowledges Toradora! as an ancestor.

The way Toradora! truly beats out Saekano is the ending. Both of them feature the obligatory last minute will things fall apart twist. Toradora!'s is connected to the theme of family, and Saekano's is connected to the theme of artistic fulfillment. In both cases, the choice of the character who follows the divergent path does so in demonstration of how they have changed. The problem with the Saekano one is it barely feels like a twist at all, instead being a token roadbump. The Toradora! one is truly heartwrenching, and the way it resolves will show you just how deeply the relationship on screen has become a part of who you are.

Final Word

I only had the one comparison for Toradora! because I haven't yet reviewed enough things on tumblr. You can expect many more things to receive Toradora! comparisons in their own reviews soon. Now, go watch Toradora! My mom put it on her Netflix watch list after a single episode, you really don't have an excuse.

[crownofgildedlilies]

beautiful things sneak peek (pt 1?)

so, I'm just too obsessed with my Leo x oc fic that I'm currently writing but I'm not ready to post it yet? even tho I have 45 parts written? (literally... im not ashamed to admit im a wattpad story girlie)

so! I've decided to post the first part of chapter one, because that might convince me to actually start posting it, fr.

it is an original character, not a reader insert, so be warned if it's not ur thing!

lmk what you think!

"MURPH!"

Even if Emery Murphy hadn't recognized the voice, she would have known who interrupted her solitary reading by the nickname alone. There was one person in all of Camp Half-Blood that called her Murph.

Well, only one person, since Charles had—

"You're so annoying, Jackson," Emery hummed without looking up from her book. There was a crease between her brows; a common sight as her dyslexic mind put most of her focus into sorting through the tangled mess of letters on the page. Percy liked to joke that she was a glutton for punishment, somehow finding enjoyment in reading and making complicated plans.

"What else are brothers good for?" Percy Jackson teased, dropping onto the sandy beach beside Emery's chair. 

"I told you not to make me regret saying that," Emery huffed, not yet giving up on reading, though her eyes stopped scanning across the page at their uneven pace. Percy was the son of Poseidon, Emery was the daughter of Athena. They weren't really siblings—which probably was a good thing, considering he was dating her half-sister—but only a few months back she had told him that he was her brother and she had his back, no matter what. 

Then she had thrown herself headfirst into a horde of monsters to protect him while he saved the world from the Titan king Kronos. 

"I'm pretty sure you knew what you were getting yourself into. You've known me since we were twelve." He propped his elbows on his knees, fingers expertly finding a perfect shell buried in the sand before him. Emery watched him carefully from the corner of her sunglass covered eyes, her reading momentarily paused. 

"Did you need something?" It wasn't that she didn't enjoy spending time with Percy, but it was rare that he was ever so far from Annabeth's side. Especially after he turned down godhood to be a demigod with her. "I'm pretty sure Annabeth had chores in the infirmary today."

"Nah," Percy hummed, sifting sand between his fingers. "I mean, yeah, she did. But I came to check up on you."

Emery sighed as she placed her bookmark between the pages. She should have been expecting this conversation, daughter of battle strategy, and all. But she had foolishly hoped he would have let her suffer in silence for just a little bit longer. 

"Perce, we talked about this." 

"Would you hate me if I said I didn't believe you?" He shot her a charming smile and she fired back her own flat look in return. "In all seriousness, Murph, I'm worried about you. You've been... distant. Since before Manhattan, even. And I know—"

"Listen," Emery interrupted the savior of the world. A frown tugged her lips downward, not quite a pout, the crease still between her brows. She knew Percy's concerns were valid—she had developed a habit of self-isolating herself from others, hadn't been eating as much or staying long at camp bonfires. But that didn't mean she was ready to hear what Percy had to say. "I've been at camp since, well, forever. Demigods tend to die early, and in nasty ways. That wasn't my first time watching people I care about get hurt." 

"That doesn't mean you have to cope with it alone." Concern laced his words and he sat up a little taller. Even though Emery was in a chair, it was low to the sand, so he was almost eye level with her. 

Not that she could get herself to meet his eye. 

"You seem perfectly okay. Why can't I be, too?" Emery reasoned, propping an elbow on the arm of her chair and twisting so she faced her not-quite brother. 

"I didn't know Beckendorf as well as you. No one did, except maybe Silena—"

And Silena died, too, leaving Emery alone to grieve the both of them. 

"Charles died a hero. Isn't that what we all want to do?" Her voice was hard, turned to stone in the way it always did whenever someone brought up the boy. Another one of her not-quite brothers, except Charles Beckendorf had been her best friend, too, at camp. And even so many months after his death she still couldn't deny the ache in her chest whenever she thought of him. 

"You know I'm just looking out for you, Murph." Percy's voice was quiet, working a like a wave washing over all her jagged edges and brick-wall defenses. 

Murph. Charles had given her the nickname only a few days after he had arrived. A natural consequence of living at camp everyday for as long as she could remember, Emery had made it her business to know every half-blood that ever showed up on their doorstep. And Charles Beckendorf had taken her under his wing, the eager child she was, and shown her the forges and workshops built by the sons and daughters of Hephaestus. 

And then Charles had died, in a move orchestrated by Luke Castellan, the golden boy of demigods, who was doing Kronos' bidding. 

She was still working through the tangled knot of emotions. She couldn't figure it out, and she was supposed to be able to figure everything out. The more her frustration built, the easier it became to justify lashing out at Percy for just trying to help. 

She sighed, guilt coiling low in her stomach. 

"I know," Emery sighed, slumping lower in her chair. Suddenly, the sun beating on her skin was growing a little unbearable. Usually, Emery couldn't get warm enough. "You know, I know." 

"I know you and your sister know everything," Percy taunted, and Emery huffed a pathetic, half-laugh. Maybe he had a point; what else were brothers good for, if not to annoy their sisters? "Mom still says you can come stay with us for the school year. Get out of camp for a little bit."

It wasn't enough for Percy to be savior of the world. He had to be one of the most genuine, caring guys out there. Emery hated him for it. 

"Tell your mom I said thank you, again, but," She paused, forcing herself to focus on a spot in the distance, grateful that her sunglasses kept Percy from seeing the tears pooled in her eyes. "But I'm not ready to leave this place, yet."

Even if she had been there for so long, she wasn't sure she'd be able to handle normal school. 

"Offer still stands, if you change your mind." Percy stood to his feet, her nose scrunching in distaste as he wiped the sand off his shorts and onto her. "C'mon, sis. Lunch is starting soon, and Tyson almost flooded the cabin crying last night because you've been skipping out on hanging with us."

She knew Percy meant his words as a teasing joke, a total hyperbole, but Emery couldn't help the jolt of shame at hurting her friend—however indirectly. How rare was it that Tyson came to stay at camp, lately? She shouldn't have been hiding away, moping. 

"Well," She sighed dramatically, taking Percy's outstretched hand and allowing him to pull her to her feet. "I can't disappoint my favorite son of Poseidon." 

"Hey!"

a/n: no Leo in this part, but it's only part of ch 1! plenty of Leo to be had in the rest trust trust

[lonely-shine]

Alnair 🌂🧠 Atlas 🍎🎯 Shell 🎓🍀 Ebis ✨🥊🎯 Marcus 🌂

Thanks for all the questions!! :D Let's see...

*Alnair

🌂 - What genre do they belong in? Fantasy! She's an Arcana game OC, so fantasy all the way in.

🧠 - What do you like most about the OC? They're the perfect mashup of self-insert to project into and character of its own to explore paths I myself would personally not walk through. I also love how she lets me rewrite canon events however I want xD

*Atlas

🍎 - What is the OC’s relationship w/their parents like? In short, pretty good! Atlas has two moms, Naith (they/them) and Irdred (she/her) (and the auntcle/biological father, Laith (she/he/they)) and loves them very much. Atlas picked many interests from them (art, gardening, etc), specially from Naith. And athough he travels far and often (he picked that from Laith), he still keeps in touch regularly and visits home once in a while.

...wow, me giving a character a perfectly healthy background/family. This is rare to happen. Quick, make a wish!

🎯 -What do they do best? All things plants. In magic? That means potions, charms, etc. In daily life? You got him gardening, cooking, brewing tea... If it involves working with plants one way or another, he has you covered.

*Shell

🎓 - How long have you had the OC? I wanna say May 2021? *goes check* Yeah, I posted about her in June 2021 for the first time, so maybe I had her for like. maybe a month before that. Which means I had her for almost three years already? And she's still so little developed? Gods. In my defence I don't choose what my brain fixates on and also my life went to shit in late 2021 and kept like that for two years, so yeah. I want to take better care of my OCs and stories now tho ^^

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC? At first I just needed someone to comfortably play Asra's and Julian's routes with because it didn't quite work with either Alnair nor Atlas. Then I started wondering if it was possible to have one character that fitted all six Arcana routes. So I gave her an angsty backstory by which her identity was stripped and to be reshaped by the route she takes, gave her the name 'Shell' solely so I could have the play on words "Shell is your name and that's what you shall become" as part of her 'curse', and ta-daa! Yet another OC for the collection was born xD

*Ebis

✨- How did you come up with the OC’s name? Okay, bear with me. Ebis is a Submachine OC, loosely based on the Player. And I say 'loosely' because there isn't really any information about Player to base Ebis on. Anyway, in one of the games you get out a padded room and there's the patient number 2183. Which, in digital clock numbers, if mirrored, kinda read like 'Ebis' if you squint hard enough. That's the logic Ebis follows to choose her name, since she wakes up without memories and it's easier to think of herself as 'Ebis' than a 4 digit number anyway.

Maybe it's a dumb way to decide for a name but if it works it works.

🥊 -What do they love to do? What do they hate to do? She loves tinkering away with computer software, which is good for her because she makes a job out of it post-canon (I have not written about that, but it exists in my head), and also numeric games for when she wants to scratch that brain itch without dealing with the inevitable bugs. She also loves gardening and not only that but needs to get her hands into the dirt and feel the sun on her face regularly for optimal mental stability. As for hating... I can only think of anything that would involve her going underground? Trauma related thing, after Submachine she's had enough underground for the rest of her life. Otherwise I don't know, I haven't given much thought to it. Oh! But she's incapable of sitting still and doing nothing, if that counts.

🎯 -What do they do best? She's very good at computers and programming... and the less socially accepted side of it as well (by which I mean she knows how to hack stuff, but she doesn't do that post-canon, and in-canon she does by necessity).

*Marcus

🌂 - What genre do they belong in? As the other Submachine OC I guess sci-fi/fantasy? Adventure? There's some post-apocalypse vibes to much of the game as well. Post-canon this would turn to the fluffy slice-of-life this poor tired man (and Ebis as well) deserves.

And that's all!! I believe I have talked enough for the day, thank you so much for the questions, they made my day :D

[tsuraiwrites]

✨weekly fic roundup✨

fic I enjoyed this past week! please leave the authors a kudos and/or comment on these excellent works.

ASoIaF

But then comes the curses of diamonds and rings - gen wip

House Lannister is the next oldest Great House after the Starks, whose founder was cousins with Bran the Builder, and originally of the First Men. What if Jaime got some of those nifty old powers?

Every time that you lose it (Sing it for the world) - gen wip

A self-insert into Jaime Lannister, except this is a normal guy who doesn't know how a printing press works and just wants to raise kittens and play with a sword

Assassin’s Creed

Memory more perfect - leonardo da vinci/desmond miles wip

In hindsight, the whole thing is a little ludicrous. Hiring a man he doesn't know, a man who doesn't know himself, off the streets with not even the chance of checking his credentials… it's foolish beyond measure. He knows little of Desmond, and what he does know is not something that should inspire confidence. Homelessness, thievery, starvation, memory loss...

Leonardo does it anyway.

Sons of No One - ezio auditores/ofc wip

Altaïr reincarnates into the year 1476.

BNHA

Fulmination -  gen so far, wip

Hold on just a moment, I'm a main character? Excuse me? No wait, excuse you! I'm not having it! No sir! Uh-uh, no! I refuse! You stay away from me Green Boy! I know what trouble you bring and you can bring it to someone else! 

oc-insert!bakugou katsuki

Dragon Age

Few Against the Wind - solas/ofc wip

A woman falls from the sky just when she’s needed, what could it be but the work of the Maker? Why else should she speak in tongues but for being struck dumb by His grace? She would disagree if anyone asked her. Could ask her. But by the time she has the words it’s too late, and June is heralded the Herald of Andraste. Burdened with knowledge and an entire system of faith carried on her shoulders that she holds no stock in, an earthling muddles her way through Thedas.

Forbid/Forget - gen wip

From wisdom of the world comes wisdom of the self. Mastery of the self is mastery of the world. Loss of the self is the source of suffering. Suffering is a choice, and we can refuse it. Refuse the will of others exerted upon you, and strike in mastery.

self-insert!ketojan told from outsider pov

Rebel Archivist - krem aclassi/ofc wip

Elisabeth St-Laurent arrived in Thedas 9 years ago. She tried to be smart about it, not to get involved with "heroes", but there is only so much she can do without being in the Inquisition. She wants to help, but she'd rather not get murdered by Leliana, please.

Dragon Age & Naruto

Nobody Expects The Shinobi Inquisition - gen wip

In an act of classic Uchiha Melodrama, Uchiha Shisui leaps to his death... only to be thwarted when he wakes up, chained up and in a dungeon, with a splitting pain in his left hand.

Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

Shakespeare in the Park - male dovahkiin/sanguine wip

He wakes up in a horse-drawn cart to see a scruffy man, with shaggy blond hair, bound and sitting in front of him. He knows exactly how this story goes. The question is, how can a theater kid from modern America convince an entire fantasy world that he belongs there?

Naruto

The Bewitching Hour - gen wip

Wherein a semi-si/oc gets reincarnated as some mythical japanese spirit instead of a badass ninja and proceeds to fuck with the plot. Features kidnapping small children, ancient mythology, and being a menace to ninja society.

Poor Timing - senju tobirama/uchiha sasuke

Sasuke’s thrown backwards in time to meet his soulmate, stuck in the past, he figures fuck it, maybe he can change the fate of his clan. But that’s only after he finishes panicking. Sort of Fix-it.

The Sandman

and in the waking world we wait and want - dream/hob gadling

“Did I hear you say,” the pale stranger asks, “that you have no intention of ever dying?”

Hob Gadling shrugs. No point in denying it.

“Yeah.”

Twilight

Before I Wake - edward cullen/ofc wip

This was NOT part of the plan. I was supposed to wake up after brain surgery and get better so I could do all the things my mom and I had been dreaming about for years. I was NOT supposed to end up in the Twilight universe inside of Bella fucking Swan's body.

[k1tt13sbl0g]

Creepypasta oc- remake

So! If anyone remembers, I posted a thing of this character-ish a bit ago. I made a drawing of "then-her" and Laughing Jack.

Ｗｅｌｌ-

I'm kinda gonna re-write her character. Honestly, don't know who I'm gonna eventually pair her with. But, I do know that her name won't be Jinxx. Have too many self inserts/OCS with that name. SO, I'm gonna try something new but still something I'm familiar with ✨

Her name I've decided will be Lilith! (i̶k̶ s̶o̶ o̶r̶i̶g̶i̶n̶a̶l̶ l̶m̶a̶o̶)̶, well given name. I'm still gonna try and figure out a design and official name for the man she was wed to and turned her.

She is originally from Ireland, and emigrated to "the new world" because her family wanted a new better start. She comes from a wealthy Irish family, so her parents wanted her to be wed to someone who was also wealthy. And in their eyes, America would be perfect for that. Lilith was 20 and her parents were concerned. She hadn't found a husband on her own and none of the ones that were suited for her back home, she rejected. Lilith wanted to be her own person and not have to live for someone else instead of living for herself.

She was very sweet and almost loved everyone she met. Almost.

Like for example, the man her parents had her wed to. At first, she was very curious about the man. Always wearing clothes that covered him almost completely. He wore sunglasses pretty much everytime she saw him before they were married. Though, she did not want to marry this man.

Sadly, she didn't have any say in this matter.

They day they were married came and went faster than she had predicted, the night of however, was a completely different strory.

When they returned to his home(think of the house the main characters from "Interview with a Vampire") and when they stepped in, Lilith turned to her new husband as he took of his sun-glasses. And to her horror, the glowed a yellowish color.

The next thing she knew, she woke up in a daze. Tied, hands behind her back and legs tied to the ones of the chair. She'd looked around, confused and beyond terrified. Her husband walked towards her, not that she couldn't see his eyes in the dark. She was surrounded by candles, the lighting wasn't the best. But she could see those glowing eyes.

Then, she noticed more figures standing not too far behind him. One. Then two more. Then another. Four other women, two on his left and another pair to his right. Their eyes were glowing as well. Two of them had eyes like her husband's, the other two had different ones. One of the two had purple, the other almost orange-ember like.

Her husband walked over to her and had a sinister teethy smile. Once he was closer to her and vision was clear, she saw something that made her heart sank. Vangs.

Before she could realize what had happened, the four women gathered around her and husband began reading something from a blood red book. Once he finished, he looked down at his new wife. He told her, that her name was now Lilith, and she completed his "set". Her eyes widened as the candles all blew out. In a flash her husband lunged at her, biting now in the rim of her neck. Hard.

After she had been changed, she went into a frenzy of hunger and rage. Rage, from being used and betrayed by seemingly anyone who was supposed to be her proctecter and to love her. Hunger, from the new feeling of blood lust. She killed her husband, and the wives. Not knowing what to do, she ran into the night with what she would possibly need. And was never sawn again. Well, at least by humans.

I hope you guys enjoyed this! I will add more and continue to work on her story as I figure out what will be happening during modern times. Oh! She tends to seduced people (men, women, in between) for food. Some of the pastas when they met, mistook her for a succubus. She finds this rather funny.

And if you're wondering, yes it was Toby and Jeff who asked this 🧍💀

[scribbledquillz]

*rest chin on my hands*

17. What is the worst thing you have put your OC through story-wise? for Revka and Ceral? Pretty please?

Have a lovely day!

Edgy/misc OC ask meme ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Hey thanks cool beans, I hope you're having a good one too!

*Ahem*

*insert I have done nothing wrong ever in my life meme here*

I think the worst thing I've ever put Revka through was like. The entirety of her original origin. When I first made and wrote her she was a far more hardened, callous character who was much more self serving because of the shit she'd gone through.

Her parents still passed from an illness when she was too young to become Ceral's caregiver. But instead of Ceral being taken by the Templars around age 12, he was killed when he was 8 by a noble's son and two of his friends who'd gone into the alienage to throw their weight around. Revka finds out and pretty much snaps right then and there. She goes to the guards at first but unsurprisingly they're not going to do anything about it, so she takes matters into her own hands. Both of the noble's son's friends turn up dead, and soon after Revka is spotted covered in blood standing over the son's corpse. She flees the city and shit just keeps getting worse from there.

In chronological order she:

Had a woman she'd come to think of as a surrogate mom turn her in for the bounty on her head.

Been captured and dragged off by the soldiers set up to trap her by said woman and only escaping out of sheer dumb luck.

Been attacked and injured by a man at a tavern who she rebuffed (original source of her missing half her ear - changed now to be a result of the templars coming to drag off Ceral)

Paired up with a set of twin brothers to travel and survive off of petty crime together, only to have them find out about her bounty as well. One wants to turn her in and attacks her, and she's forced to kill him in self defense.

In the heat of the moment and facing a second instance of someone she trusted turning on her she turns on the other brother as well and attacks him despite his claiming he wouldn't turn her in, figuring it's only a matter of time until he betrays her too after killing his brother.

Soooo yeah - very much a no good awful time was had by all in her original story. Have to say I enjoy her current iteration far more now. She still goes through a lot and has way too much on her shoulders, but having her brother still alive gives her a lot more grounding and something to fight for during the Blight where originally she was just as willing to wash her hands of the whole situation.

As for Ceral - I think the hardest thing he'll go through will come during his time in Inquisition. I have it planned that he'll be one of the companions that goes with the inquisitor to the well of sorrows, and ends up being the one who drinks from it. Aside from the inseverable connection to Flem-mythal, he's inundated with thousands of years of history and memories that aren't his own. Language that he understands but doesn't, struggles to tell what thoughts are his and what are those of elves who died aeons ago, reconciling histories that conflict or aren't clear like trying to put a puzzle together through frosted glass with a bunch of the pieces missing. It's INTENSE. Not to mention that in the immediate aftermath he struggles to speak with the people around him, this sudden perfect understanding of Elvhen taking over so that he forgets how to talk in the common tongue at all for a little while and will slip into the language without realizing it off and on most likely indefinitely.

And the worst of this is that he knows he did this to himself. He thought his being at the well, being given this choice was the 'higher purpose' he felt the Maker had been calling him to. And he doesn't regret his choice - not really. He knew it was needed and that it was too much of a risk for the inquisitor to be the one to bind themselves to things they didn't yet fully grasp. But holy shit being a living reliquary for thousands of years of Elvhen memory and history is a lot to take on.

[mothlover69]

for the self insert ask!!! 1, 2, 3, and 16 for the s/i of your choice!!! 🖤 -canongf

@canongf hiii Liv!!! 🩷🩷🩷 im gonna answer for my Doctor Who s/i, because this is a perfect opportunity to write down some of my Thoughts

1. what are the basics of your self insert? name, date of birth, height, etc.?

Name: Logan. Birthday: 4/20. Age: 24 but also immortal cuz they got caught in the Bad Wolf thing, just like Jack Harkness. Height: 5'3. Pronouns: they/them

So not much different from real life

2. when in canon does your self insert come in? do you have a scene in mind for your entrance?

I've changed my mind about this a lot and its liable to change again but I think I was Rose Tyler's coworker/friend and we both end up caught up in the whole living mannequins thing and we both end up traveling with him. So not that much different from canon, I'm just there, too.

Listen, I love Rose, but her story (like... many of the companions stories) makes me SO sad so originally I was gonna just. Remove her and replace her with myself to save the heartache. But. I need to be immortal so i can stay with the doctor and bad wolf is the easiest way to do it. I am getting rid of the parallel universe plot point, Rose gets a happy ending and she leaves the TARDIS by choice 😤 also her romance subplot is removed bc the doctor falls in love with ME

3. how do the other characters generally feel about your self insert?

Depends, of course. In general, I'm close friends with or dating the other companions. Some of the people we meet along the way love me, some of them (especially if theyre like a political figure or something) HATE me. Some people cannot decide if they love or hate me.

16. freebie! name a fact about your self insert you want everyone to know.

They have met every Queen Elizabeth so far and every Queen Elizabeth ended up declaring them an enemy of the state and calling for their execution. This has also happened with other political leaders and isn't limited to just earth. Um. They keep trying to start rebellions/commit assassinations :)

[ocprompts]

Gay people from my imagination

Basically imagine if a bunch of random teens were heralded as the best of the best in the world for their specific talents and were sent to a ridiculously prestigious academy because of that, only for a vengeful one close to one of them to forge papers making her seem like one of the class, lock the school down and trap her “classmates” inside, and force them to kill each other to escape in a copycat killing game to the one that happened ten years ago (the events of the main Danganronpa series, sans the third game.)

These characters, as opposed to being from just Japan, come from every continent. The majority are still Asian, but this system actually developed because the protagonist was originally a self insert, but I felt weird making a self insert Asian since I’m Irish-American. Thus, he was a transfer from Ireland. Then when an online friend who became my co-writer asked if she could make a character for it, she made a transfer from the UK. Then I decided to make a canonical explanation for having several transfers in one class, and then the cast became mostly transfers from there.

There are seventeen of them, but I’m just gonna tell you about my favorites.

Rian ó Broin, the ultimate horror novelist, is an eccentric goth and the protagonist of the story. He has low self confidence due to the way he’s been treated for being autistic and transgender all his life, and because he’s never really been given praise but his talent in writing has, he views himself and his talent as separate entities, and thus has impostor syndrome. His perception of the world is a bit skewed thanks to his view of his talent, and one of the main themes of the story plays into his development in that regard. His sister Kira, originally planned to be over a year older but probably should only be like, a few months older, also goes to the academy, and is basically his best friend.

Kamiko Yoshioka, the ultimate academic, is far more straight-laced than Rian. She grew up in poverty, and has basically had to fight like hell to get where she is now. She sees her talent as the one good thing in her life, and she’s basically fighting to keep it so she doesn’t lose the one leg up on life she has. This ideology is why she seems so heartless and cold. That, and the fact that she resents the rest of her classmates, feeling like they haven’t worked hard enough to be where they are. She sees herself as nothing but her talent because her talent is the one good thing in her life. It’s a self-imposed spiral of pressure she holds herself in and because of that she hates how many of her classmates’ talents just come easy to them, and in particular she hates Rian, who believes he doesn’t deserve to be where he is. Conversely, Rian hates Kamiko and projects his insecurities about his talent onto her.

Alice Aldaine, the ultimate psychologist, is soft-spoken and stoic when first met, but once she warms up to someone she becomes bubbly, passionate and kind. She’s very emotionally and factually intelligent, and while she’s not great at making friends, she holds hers very close. She comes from a long line of researchers and academics, and her family has imposed a lot of pressure upon her to be perfect. For Alice, her talent is a representation of who she’s supposed to be, the pressure her family placed on her to be this great successor and do nothing but study, study, study, until she was their perfect prodigy, and she resents this idea of perfection, but feels she can’t really resist the pressure- who is she if not the ultimate psychologist?

Minori Mizuno, the ultimate detective, has a strong moral compass, even more so than classmates like Amara Kimathi. She had always felt like a victim of the world, and she began investigating criminal cases to bring the victims justice. To her, her talent is her one way of resisting the idea of victimhood. Her biggest fear is not being able to fix anything, and she fears helplessness more than death. Her talent is a desperate refusal to stop fighting. She’s not afraid to die for it. In a similar way to Kamiko, it is her life’s one good thing.

Masumi Kosuke, the ultimate artist, is ridiculously depressed! He acts wild and goofy, but he’s actually pretty mellow I’d rather immature. He’s basically been bullied his whole life partially due to being autistic and having adhd, and partially due to “looking weird” because of a skin condition. He’s learned to do whatever it takes to be liked. Despite being very artistic, he doesn’t really give his talent a lot of thought. Being passionate and emotional isn’t going to get people to like him. His talent is supposedly insignificant so he seems more likable. It’s the things he’s been bullied for and made to hate himself because of, but no matter what, those are always going to be a part of him, and he can’t really avoid that in the eyes of most, he is just the ultimate artist. He will never really fit in, no matter how hard he tries, and he’s resigned to that he may never be loved for who he is. He also has DID.

Amara Kimathi, the ultimate environmentalist, is not really a people person. She’s very grounded and very kind, but prefers being around her pet snake than any people. (Her snake’s name is Ground Beef, but he bit her hand the second she brought it home after adoption so she called him Shit Lump for a few days as punishment.) To her, her talent is a fear of the pain that will be caused if things don’t change, but her cause has been exploited as a talking point for people in high positions to make them look more environmentally conscious and thus better. Her passion and kindness is exploited and makes her into a puppet for people to show off without ever listening to her. While she’s more reserved, she knows how to demand attention due to this exact problem- her talent being a shallow label for her wanting things to be better, shown off like a toy by the people who don’t want to change to make them look good. If Amara has something to say, you will hear it. Despite that, she doesn’t like demanding attention. She’s pretty reserved, and tends to be more drawn to other introverts.

Heiran McKenzie, the ultimate makeup artist, is cold and apathetic. She hates her classmates for having their talents at all, no matter the circumstance, and she hates her own talent too. Moving up in the beauty industry has basically had her exploited by it in a similar way to Amara. People capitalizing off the self hatred of others, especially girls and young women, has left her completely jaded and hateful of it being called her talent. She just thinks it is the way of the world that people will make others suffer for their own benefit, and doesn’t really buy into the attitudes of students like Amara, who wants to make things better, or Minori, driven by a strong sense of righteousness. She’s just kind of going through the motions, and doesn’t care about a lot. Her talent, to her, is the reason she is this way. It is what has made her deal with all this. That’s something Amara empathizes with, though, so Heiran does have a bit more appreciation for Amara. By the end of the story, she’s a bit more grounded as well. She and Amara are minor characters without a lot of relevance, but they contribute to the themes of the story a lot in subtext.

they all sound fantastic!!

[salty-dracon]

My final thoughts on AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative

Contains highly endgame spoilers for AINI. Please don't read unless you've finished the game!

The first question is, did I like this game? Yes! I thought it was fantastic! I’ve always been a big fan of murder mystery games, and I loved AI: The Somnium Files, so hearing there was a sequel coming out made me super excited! Furthermore, it starred the absolute best character from the original game, and promised a lot of craziness. If you check my Twitter, I’ve been going nuts trying to analyze the trailers- and if you talk to me on Discord, I’ve been talkative there too about the HiddenBats ARG. I’m happy to report that AINI did not disappoint, and if you enjoyed the original, and/or wished it was a little bit darker or a little bit more elevated, you’ve got it!

That being said, I struggle to compare the games mainly because they differ so much in tone. I’d consider the first game to be relatively light and character focused compared to the second, which was heavier, darker, and more relationship focused.

AINI fixed the two biggest problems I had with AITSF: Iris's relatively flat character compared to the rest of the stellar cast, and Date's habit of making sex jokes at inappropriate times. While I originally feared Kizuna would be a second Iris, especially after she became Tearer's hostage, she eventually became a character whose self doubt was weighed down by years of loss and pain, who was able to smile again thanks to Lien's undying support. While I was less endeared by Tama making horny jokes (why a chastity belt joke re: Shoma?), for once this game didn't have a male protagonist for whom "horny" was a personality trait that came out in every conversation.

The game is darker than the first, and more consistently as well. Cults, human experimentation, Ryuki slowly losing his mind over the course of the game- you can expect any long period of playful banter to be quickly followed up with an earth-shatteringly sad story or a terrifying revelation.

The plot is fascinating, and makes this game perfect for replaying (which I will do, eventually). From the very beginning, I spent the whole game slowly trying to pick apart every mystery and considering every possibility I could think of. It starts with a mystery- how could two halves of the same person’s body appear in two different places at two completely different times, as though each one had been a fresh kill? But it quickly becomes far, far more. Before you know it, you’re listening to gossip about a medical institute and its head scientist. Then, you’re diving into his mind and learning about his obsession with superhumans. Then, you’re asking about a sixth grader’s favorite robot. The facts pile up so quickly, and it feels like there’s an impossible number of loose ends! But over time, they start to connect to each other until finally, they form a complete picture of the whole story. The answer was very clever, taking advantage of facts I remembered but never even considered to be relevant. And while I was able to figure out the purpose of the Nirvana Initiative very early on, I was in for another shock when, in fact, the order of events wasn’t quite what I thought it was. (There were so many little plot holes that I just chalked it up to someone forcefully inserting false memories into every character.)

The plot got meta later on. As the player, referred to Tokiko as the "Frayer", collected information from alternate timelines, alternate story pathways were opened. And every time those alternate timelines and alternate worlds were touched, via Ryuki's hallucinations, Mama's fortune telling, or the player's password inputs, the world would glitch out. However, the payoff for it all doesn't happen until a secret ending is reached- one where you're offered the chance to make sure that none of the pain and suffering the characters underwent ever happened. It also potentially set up a connection to the Hiddenbats ARG (am still trying to figure out that final nirvana spell!!!) or a potential third AI game. The chance of you running into a certain perfectly legitimate ideological society president in real life is always low but never zero, I guess. I've always been... iffy about fourth wall plot twists, and I'm still iffy about this one. As a player, it's important to me that I feel like I'm helping a character through their story, and not causing more undue hardship- the ambiguous nature of Ryuki's hallucinations made it difficult for me to know if I was really helping here. Same with the story's ending.

The characters introduced in AINI (or brought back as ascended extras) are fantastic! There was not a single one I outright disliked. A boisterous locksmith is devoted to one woman’s happiness, simple but endearing. A hardworking maid cafe maid masks her terror with a smile and endless kindness. A masked chef’s heart shines bright, but he fears that others will call him a monster. A sixth grader doesn’t want to open up, but once he does, he’s all smiles. An aged woman hides many secrets- some personal, and some world-shattering. This and more! Amame, especially, went from a simple witness in AITSF to a fantastic character in AINI, shown to be forced all her life into making hard decisions and it eventually driving her to despair. Yet despite all that, she held a ceaseless love for the people in her life, including her family and Gen.

I felt the characters were weaker overall compared to AITSF’s. I’d say Komeji was up to par with the characters from the first game. When you first meet him, he’s acting like an obnoxious quiz show host. When you see him again, he’s failing at his comedy routine. When you chat with him privately, he’s talking about his family and apologizing for his script. And this is all within the first hour or two. Through his family (which consists of Shoma and Amame, as you later learn) he becomes a rich and well-developed character- a father who made many mistakes and hurt his children, but who still, above all, loves them very much.

Chikara was one of the weakest, if you ask me- though many of the characters (Tokiko, Masked Woman, Shoma, Lien, even Mizuki) were suffering as a result of his actions, and he maintained his presence throughout the game in some characters’ Somnia, and his institution was connected to everything, we never learned much about him. I wanted to know more about why he seemed to completely lack a sense of ethics beyond his belief in the order of %. Same with Tokiko- why did she join Naix in the first place? We never really got an answer (though it may be implied via why Shoma joined up). Though I'd excuse it more with her since she was meant to be mysterious in the first place.

The relationships between these characters more than make up the difference, however. While Kizuna struggled with self-doubt and depression, making it a little bit of a chore to listen to her talk, and Lien’s obsession with Kizuna was annoying at best, the development of their relationship made it clear that despite everything they couldn’t tell each other (which we learned in their somnia) their affection towards each other outlasted any of the pain they felt. And both were multilayered in their own right, even if we only learned the true depths of their personalities within their somnia.

Frankly, this one is more of a nitpick than it is an actual criticism- every character was shown to be multilayered in some way. And it’s hard to compare this game to the one that I considered to have some of the best character writing I’d ever seen in a murder mystery visual novel! It’s like comparing a seven-layer cake to a six-layer cake. They're both already fantastic.

The protagonists, Ryuki and Mizuki (or rather, Ryuki, Mizuki, and Mizuki) were fantastically written. Ryuki was, at his heart, a young man with a kind heart, driven to desperation due to guilt. The first part of the story was spent slowly watching him spiral out of control, torn between many things- his care for the other characters, his admiration for his mentor Date, and his own health. Eventually, you reach the tipping point- the explosion that forever changes the lives of all of the witnesses. Then, Mizuki takes over- and she's a plucky, sassy, and talented young woman who's got the same love for the witnesses. With her being a returning character from the first game, I was happy to see she maintained her hot-headed and passionate personality. She constantly broke the law to get what she wanted - very in character if you ask me. That being said, I was really confused during her story. Genetically modified and adopted? Didn't her mother say she wished she'd never been born? And that her grandfather was as monstrously strong as her? A younger sibling? Wouldn't she have brought that up in the first game? Why were so many other characters mentioning female figures in their life? I realized in the middle of the game that the Masked Woman was another person with Mizuki's face. It explained the discrepancies. Luckily, the one we cared for in AITSF was still a protagonist - and in the end, the game even told us which was which! I look forward to knowing which Mizuki is which when I eventually play the game again. Together, the Mizukis make a fantastic pair of protagonists- and ass-kickers.

The OST was 100% bangers. Lien's somnium music, Shoma's house, and every Chikara related song stuck in my head specifically. (I'm a big fan of electronic music and guitar tracks - can you tell?)

The fight scenes were great! The first games fight scenes relied more on humor and impossible coincidences, while this game used mocap to create fantastic fights where a group of super-powered friends battle for justice, truth, or to fuck over the police. The prompts were appropriate for the most part with regards to the various situations, and there was a rewarding increase in difficulty over time.

The Somnia have improved significantly. And they are gorgeous, filled with mechanics, and thematically so cool! They weren't afraid to get silly, either- or foreshadow HARD. The mechanics are so well improved- swimming, flying, things you CANNOT touch, stealth segments, being chased by faceless Ryukis, a quiz show with timed questions, an extended interrogation segment inside someone's brain, a cooking rhythm game (?), a discount Pokémon Go game in a lawmaker's mansion... they pulled out all the stops! It's AINI's biggest improvement over AITSF. My biggest issue is that the Keys didn't provide perfect hints to the Somnium, as I was led to believe they were... they were more like explanations of each character's psychological state, which I wasn't sure I liked being told straight. Also, thank you devs for the option to play the Somnium using a story mode.

All in all, can you believe that they made a visual novel with really good gameplay of all things? And a fantastic mystery that'll have you on the edge of your seat? All in one game?! You'd better believe it! I loved AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative... and I'm excited to play it again!

[callsignbaphomet]

I have been watching SO FREAKING MUCH Elden Ring lore videos that it's just inspired me to finally sit down and write down info of my own content. I'm in the word vomit stage where just every bit of info gets written down out of order and with little structure but it makes sense to ME so putting it in an orderly fashion in a structured document later won't be an issue but it's super funny to see that mess. I've had a lot of challenges throughout the years when it comes to world building. Like obviously shaping up Oracle to be as cohesive as possible, shaping the mythology, biology, whatever-logy of my werewolves, the rules and structures of the arcane and so on. Don't even get me started on Jelani's original self origins and how to fit an entire creation origion complete with deities and pantheons and justifying it in a way that can be easily digested. That was an undertaking that has been developed for over 10 years. Don't get me wrong, Jelani's original self story is really solid as it stands now and I poured so much of myself into it without really realizing it till recently. It was arduous work and I scrapped and changed so much that even characters involved in it were discarded due to how I was evolving the story. Don't know if any of y'all remember Jet but she's gone. She's been gone for long years now as I myself came into realizing my own self and discovering things about me. Jet just outlived my own perception of me which allowed Angelus to evolve and change as I did too.

However, shaping an entire people and a culture has been so much work and so much research. It's been equal parts fun and a pain in the ass. I like taking inspiration from real world things and adding a twisting shape to it. Long ago when Oracle was taking shape I wanted to represent not just myself in it but the rest of the world too. I wanted to add those who go under represented or if at all in it. To be honest the hardest but most rewarding part is doing it respectfully, I've had to peel away so many layers of negative and bigoted stereotypes we see everyday in media. 14-year-old me could have NEVER ever created a good character of color that wasn't from the same background as me because I had no access to the internet as I do now much less was privy to all the knowledge that I've come across. I'm not saying I'm perfect now but I know to sit back and analyze before creating a character for Oracle. I know that what is okay for certain people to be shown as is not okay for others. I have to give myself crash courses in history lessons to double check that I haven't given a character of color a trait that's seen as racist or any type of phobic. It's hard but there is NOTHING better than seeing people voice their concerns about a movie or game with a poc that's portrayed in a bigoted way and seeing people list off racist and harmful stereotypes to avoid in (insert culture/ethnicity) people and I managed to avoid each and every single one because I did my research and listened to people's concerns. That alone is amazing and I'm just one guy with the only tool available to him being Google cuz he's broke and can't pay people for information. I can't believe literal companies with millions in budget still can't get that right. It just boggles me.

But back to the point, the second biggest challenge has been forming the culture and history of the Nyota tribe. You know, it's far easier to readily find all kinds of information about Vikings than it is to find information on medieval Africa and I'm not talking about Egypt, I'm talking everything aside from Egypt. I can easily trust Google Translate to give me a near perfect translation of a short sentence in Norwegian, Finnish, German, Spanish, French or Italian. Hell, Latin which is a very dead language is easy to Google for translations! But finding translations--good translations--for Swahili, Xhosa, Zulu or much of the thousands of thousands of languages spoken in Africa is challenging. Gee, I wonder why that could be.

I'd love nothing more than to have a non-English name for Starheart which is THE HOLIEST of all holy relics to the Nyota. A tribe that came together from different cultures (Maasai, Bantu, Swahili, Kikuyu and more) and in just those there are a ton of different languages but translations are hard to find. At least in MY experience anyway. Need to learn to search better. I'm currently working on a zodiac with roots tied to the phases of the moon and I wanna use the actual languages spoken in the area where the tribe is located. Gonna be honest it might take a while. Plus I admit when it comes to things I really take a liking to I’m a perfectionist, it has to be JUST right. There’s so much I wanna write down about the Nyota because biases aside I believe them to be a really interesting bunch and the most rooted in fantasy, which is my favorite of the genres. True, I do refer to Oracle Corp as weird espionage but whatever, it has a lot of stuff just thrown in. I have all this floating around in my head and I’d love nothing more than to neatly put it together to show off because I’m super proud of it, it’s been one of the most fun subjects to work with and the culture is base on some of my own thoughts too. Slow going but I’ll get there, besides, I’m constantly making changes to things and updating character profiles to meet better quality so I can always go back and change as I get better information. I just wish it was a bit easier sometimes.

[omg-im-such-a-masochist]

📽 📼LET’S (NOT) KEEP IT PG PART 3 📼 📽

Prompt: Drew and Y/N are reunited once again

Word count: Long!

Pairing: Drew McIntyre x Reader

Warnings: +18, fluff (by the end), smut, vaginal sex, anal sex, fingering, oral sex (male and female receiving), 69, anal plug, dirty talking, trichophilia (hair kink - pulling), asphyxiation kink (breath play - chocking) in other words: just pure filth😈

Tagging: @jibbles26 , @akiko-tanaka , @blondekel77 , @theworldofotps , @new-zealand-chic

Notes: Originally this shouldn’t be up until March but you already know me: I have no self respect at all! In a conversation with the lovely Marissa aka MJ, aka @howdareyouhydra. She asked if I could come up with a part 2 and 3 for the original “Let’s (Not) Keep It PG”. Part 1 and 2 are already up (you can read it on my Masterlist) and this is the finale: part 3! I thought to myself: Go big or go home! So here’s the result of it! Also: I tried to keep it “as real as possible” SPECIALLY with the first time anal thing. I just want to put it out there that communication is KEY and HIGHLY important kiddos, so please before doing the dirty business find someone who will truly care about you and your wellbeing! Not only with their own pleasure, ok?!...Y’all know the drill loves,sorry for misspellings,english isn’t my first language (bla bla bla),check out my other stories if you’d like to(it would make your girl here very happy 😊)You can check out my other stories on my Masterlist and my newest story as a fixed post. Okay,now let’s get to the fun part,shall we? Hope you’ll enjoy 😉

❤️Drewy❤️: I’ll be home in 20 minutes

I reread the message Drew sent me once more. Staring to feel the goosebumps all over my skin.

I was patiently waiting for him in the bedroom, dressed in a lavender mini circle skirt; nude underneath it, a white tulle crop top with my breasts bare and some sheer white medium length socks.

I listen to the sounds of Drew’s heavy footsteps upon the dark wooden stairs, that are now leading him to our bedroom.

The door swung open and an impatient Drew, dressed in a black dress shirt and pants comes in my direction.

“Finally!” He grunts, giving me a bear hug while inhaling deeply upon the nape of my neck “Argh, I missed ya so much. I missed your smell, your skin, your lips” He kisses me urgently.

“I missed you too baby, those two months without you were a literal hell” I close my grip tighter around his neck.

“I know, princess” He coos “But we’ll have one whole week to make up for lost time” Smiling he kissed me again

“How’s daddy’s little girl doing?” He whispered

“Lonely, without you,”

“We’ll fix that right away, love” He began to kiss my neck

“Daddy...I have a surprise for you” I smirked when he backed away to look at me

“Surprise?”

I nod “Yeah, while daddy was away I took the time to prepare myself so daddy can claim the one thing he hasn’t claimed yet”

I watch as all the blood from Drew’s face is drained in disbelief

“Did you really?” He breathlessly asked

“Yes, do you wanna see it daddy?” I deviously grinned

Drew just nods, completely speechless as I lean in all fours on top of the bed with my bottom facing him. He scooted closer and lift my skirt slowly up to my hips, moaning a long ‘fuck me’ in a thick accent when his eyes encounter the beautiful dark pink with a flower base, glass butt plug.

“Did you liked my surprise, daddy?” I smiled innocently, looking at him over my shoulder.

“Liked? Oh love, I hope you’re not planning to go somewhere tomorrow ‘cause I’m sure you won’t be able to even get up from the bed!” He caresses my butt cheeks “You’re so perfect, princess. So fucking perfect” He praised “Turn over and lay down for me, love”

Drew unbuttoned his dress shirt, eyes glued to mine. He slowly takes the shirt off, letting it slide through his arms until it reached the floor, followed by his pants and underwear.

He kneels down, dragging me closer to him. The movement made my skirt go up to my waist.

“I missed this sweet pussy” He let a glob of spit fall upon my clit so it would drip down to my entrance. Drew watched until his spit reached the bedsheet, only then leaning in to give me long, teasing licks until he focused on my clit and slid one finger in.

“You managed to get even tighter without daddy, love?” He added a second finger in “I can barely fit two fingers inside of you”

He moves his fingers at a slow pace as he incredibly softly sucks on my clit.

Low moans fell from my lips when he speeds the pace of his fingers and tongue

“Daddy, please” I beg

“What do you want, princess?”

“I want daddy’s cock on my mouth” I babble

Drew slowly removes his fingers, lay down on the bed and motions for me crawl to him.

“Straddle my face, baby” He says panting

As soon as he has his face between my thighs he pulls my core towards his face and I lean down to suck him off.

The bedroom soon filled with our muffled moans of pleasure. I can feel my orgasm reaching close, making me suck Drew even harder. He slides two fingers in, pumped twice and that was enough to make me reach my high. With Drew’s own orgasm followed by, once he feels my walls suck his fingers in.

I swallowed his seed, turning over to meet his blue eyes.

“Come here” He beckons me

I crawl to him, hovering his body. He rapidly pulled me up, so he could kiss me vigorously.

“Think you can take another round right now? ‘Cause I want that pussy AND that ass” He nibs my jaw

“I’ve been waiting two months for that. Ruin me, daddy” I smirked

“Oh princess, you should’ve chose wiser words” He laughs, entering my core in one swift motion and wasting no time to pound me roughly.

“Oh fuck” I moaned. The way the butt plug pushed my walls further to the front, made the whole pounding feel like it never felt before. The whole sensation was like being doubled penetrated.

Drew close his fingers around my neck, pressing it lightly as he kisses me, tossing his free arm around my waist to keep me in place.

“Did you missed daddy’s cock, princess?”

I nod lightly

He releases his grip on my neck to only keep my head in place by locking his thick fingers on top of my head, firmly gripping my hair.

“Did you missed the way how daddy’s cock stretches your pussy, love?”

I nod again

“I bet your vibrator can’t do that, can it?”

“No, daddy. Only you can” I whispered

“Argh” He growls and pounds me even harder “I love how your pussy feels around my cock baby” He pulls me down by my hair so his lips can whisper in my ear every kind of obscenity you can think off: how good I felt, how his cock missed me, how he couldn’t wait to fuck my ass...With every filthy word his accent grew thicker and thicker. Drew always knew that dirty talking was my weakness and also the fastest way to make me cum.

It didn’t take long for me to reach my second orgasm, he continued to pound me but this time it was softer, making the orgasm last longer.

Drew caresses my cheeks, whispering

“Are you ok?”

*Always so thoughtful* I thought

“I’ll be better once you fuck me in the ass” I giggled and he laughs

“There’s nothing that I want more right now than to fuck your ass, baby. But I don’t want to push ya too far...I don’t wanna hurt ya” He brushes my hair with his fingers

“Drew” I caress his beard “I love how much you care about my wellbeing, but trust me, tiger: You won’t hurt me and I’m still really turned on, so would you please, kindly, fuck me?” I bat my lashes

“You’re gonna kill me someday, woman” He grunts, carefully sliding out of me

“Where’s the lube?” He asks in a raspy voice

“Nightstand”

He got up from the bed and took the plastic bottle on his hand, leaning down to kiss me softly

“I love you Y/N”

“I love you too, Drewy”

He smiles fondly “Turn around, princess”

Drew squirted some of the lube on his length, carefully took out the glass plug and squirted more lube upon my hole, inserting one finger in and out

“Are you ready, love?”

“Drew, stop teasing me” I yelped

“So eager, aren’t you?” He laughs, positioning his cock’s head upon my hole, carefully entering me.

The feeling was...new, the fact that I took my time to prepare myself with the plugs undoubtedly helped, a lot! He entered easier than if I didn’t had, but at the same time Drew is thicker and bigger than the butt plug so the pressure was different. Not hurtful, just new. He was half way in when he stop it.

“Are you ok, baby?” He asks, drawing soothing circles with his palm on my back

“Yeah, it’s just different”

“Different good or different bad?”

“Different...weird” I laughed lightly

“Do you want me to stop?”

“No”

“Y/N, love. Talk to me, I need to know how you’re feeling” Worry surrounding his voice

“It doesn’t hurt or anything like that, if that’s what you’re worried about. It’s just that you’re bigger AND thicker than the plug, so it’s a new feeling that’s all. But not bad, you’ve got the green light Scotsman” I joke

“Ok” He chuckled “But if at anytime you feel like you wanna stop, you let me know ok?”

I nod

“I’m serious Y/N, at ANYTIME”

“Noted!” I mock him and gained a hard slap on my ass

Drew slowly moved until he was buried deep inside.

“Motherfucker” He faintly moaned and stayed still for what it felt like ages

“Drew, are you ok back there?” I mock “Aren’t you gonna move?” I ask

“Yeah, yeah, just give me a second” His voice breathless “I need to focus, because you feel too fucking good and I will be damned if I cum just now! So I just needed to breathe” He says and slowly started to move.

The once weird feeling became extremely erotic when he started to move. It was still different, but incredibly good.

“Daddy” I call

And look behind my shoulder to see Drew’s eyes glued to the sight of his cock going in and out of my ass and I could swear, I saw some drool escaping his lips. I’ve never seen him so turned on before and the vision woke up a primal part in me.

“Daddy” I call again, but this time louder

He awakens from his lust haze and stopped moving

“What’s wrong princess? Do ya want daddy to stop?”

“No” I whined “I want daddy to go faster”

“Faster? Are you sure?”

“Yes! Please daddy” My eyes pleaded to him

Drew circled one arm around my waist, pulling me up and out of my in all fours position so I could be kneeling down on the bed and started to increase his pace.

One arm around my waist, another vigorously gripping my hip and a fast pounding got me moaning loudly.

He started to bite my cheek, neck and jaw line, making me lift my arm up so I could bury my fingers on his dark hair, keeping his face glued to mine.

Drew releases his grip upon my hips to roam down and rub my clit.

“In, put it in, please” I babble incoherently but he (thankfully) understood

Entering my core with two fingers and roughly finger fucking me.

It was all too much and too good. His cock inside my hole, his fingers in my core, the biting, the moaning...it was all so dirty and lustful.

“I’m gonna need you to cum princess, Right now!” He mumbled

With two more thrusts I came the most eye rolling orgasm I’ve ever had in my life! I was coming down from my high, when I felt Drew pulling out and the hot spurts of his thick seed landing on my butt cheeks.

I collapse onto the bed, with Drew landing by my side a few seconds later, after cleaning us up.

“That was...beyond this world” I mumbled with my face pressed against the mattress

He laughed loudly before saying

“YOU are beyond this world!” He pulls me towards him like a rag doll, turning me over so I could lay on my back “Are you ok?”

“Drew, I’m fine! More than fine” I giggled

“Are you sure I wasn’t too rough?”

I lightly touch the frown between his eyebrows “You’re never too rough, you’re a perfect gentleman every single time” I pecked his lips

He shyly smiles, slightly blushing

“Thank you for the surprise. I really, really loved” He said and stared at me for a few minutes

“What?” I ask, feeling incredibly exposed due to his intense staring

“You’re so beautiful, on the outside undoubtedly! But on the inside as well. Just so beautiful...I can’t imagine my life without you” His voice is in pure awe

I never knew how to react whenever he said those sort of sweet and deep words to me, Drew was always the romantic one: expressing himself, talking about his feelings and wishes. Me? I was the complete opposite: shut down, didn’t like to show that many emotions, didn’t knew how to express my feelings. I was ‘the ice queen’ as he used to tease me ever since we’ve met. It took me precisely 2 YEARS to take the courage to finally say that I loved him, when he was able to do it after 2 months!

I didn’t knew how to reply to his beautiful, kind, loving words so I decided to deal with it, my way: Break the uncomfortableness with a joke

“Does that means my Voodoo dolls have worked then?” I narrowed my eyes “You got no choice but to stay with me forever, McIntyre” I chanted as if it was a spell

He laughs like a child, cups my cheeks and says

“I do have a choice, love! And I choose you, everyday! Today, tomorrow and forever! My one only gal” He winks and I blushed

Already thinking what other joke could I crack in order to break the spell he casted on me now...

Please let me know your thoughts on this? Feedback is always appreciated 🥰😘

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

#5: The One With Astruc's Self-Insert

In my introductory post, I said the main inspiration for this blog was @hypocrisyofandrewdobson​. For those who don't know, Andrew Dobson is an infamous webcomic artist known for drawing webcomics that tend to demonize people he's come across in public or people who disagree with him online (either critical of his art or his political views), while portraying himself as the victim or wise man calling them out on their differing beliefs.

If you want to learn more about this guy who I consider to be far worse than Astruc, check out the blog in question. And no, I don't know why he draws himself as a blue bear.

Why am I talking about this? It's one thing for some schmuck on the internet to use his work to respond to criticism, but the creator of a popular animated series dedicating an entire episode to attacking his critics and trying to get others to feel bad for him is another story.

The second episode of Miraculous Ladybug's third season, “Animaestro” served as a wake-up call for fans (myself included) to make them realize how immature Astruc could be. The plot centers around the premiere of a movie about Ladybug and Cat Noir directed by Thomas Astruc, who voices himself in the original French dub.

And this isn't just a brief cameo like what Stan Lee did in the MCU. Astruc is the Akumatized person this episode, so there's naturally a lot of focus on him. Throughout the first half of the episode, Astruc portrays himself as this timid man who nobody recognizes or respects, like this idiot who doesn't know what animation is.

Doorman: This is a private event, sir.

Astruc: Huh? Excuse me? I'm Thomas Astruc, the movie director.

Doorman: You filmed Cat Noir and Ladybug? What are they like in real life?

Astruc: Er, it's an animated movie. It's all cartoon characters. We don't actually film anyone. See, there's this whole team that draw the chara—

Doorman: Whatever. Who would want to see Ladybug and Cat Noir as cartoon characters?

Get it? Wasn't that meta joke hilarious? This is how much I was laughing:

And Astruc continues to get about as much respect as Rodney Dangerfield when he interacts with other characters like Jagged Stone and Chloe.

Jagged Stone: Ladybug is one of my best buds! I can't wait to see her movie!

Astruc: Well I—I'm the director, so actually it's more my movie, so to speak.

Jagged Stone: Oh, so you're the one who created the story?

Astruc: Well, technically the screen writers wrote the story, inspired by Ladybug's exploits.

Jagged Stone: Oh, okay. So you did all the drawings?

Thomas: No, no. The animators do all the drawings.  

Jagged Stone: So what do you do then?

(Later on...)

Chloe: So you're the one responsible for this movie?

Astruc: Yes, yes! Exactly! That's me!

Chloe: Then you were the one who left Queen Bee out of the trailer. You're lame, utterly lame.

I can't believe Astruc had a scene where he interacted with Chloe and didn't insult her at all.

The episode is determined to make the audience feel bad for Astruc. Nobody respects him and what he does. Isn't that saaaaaad? Nobody cares about animated film directors like Walt Disney or Tex Avery anyway. Not even these stupid children understand how hard Astruc works.

Several Children: Ladybug! Where's Ladybug?

Astruc: Hey there, kids!

Teacher: Ladybug isn't here children. We came here to meet the director of the movie. Children: (frowning in disappointment) Aww.

(Astruc looks visibly disappointed.)

Way to insult your primary demographic, Astruc. I thought you said kids have a better understanding of these stories when people criticized the writing of a certain episode (It's that scene in “Puppeteer 2” if you're curious/don't value your sanity).

It's almost like you're using that as an excuse to half-ass your work while still getting to claim this show is so groundbreaking.

In case you can't tell, “Animaestro” is one of those episodes. The ones where the showrunners decide to dedicate an entire episode to attacking critics of the show in a blunt fashion. Whenever a show addresses criticism, they either create an obvious strawman character to parrot the opinions of fans who don't like their work, or have someone defend the show and insult the critics directly.

The problem isn't that they're ignoring criticism. It's their show, and they aren't obligated to listen to critics or fans who don't like the direction the show is taking. On the other hand, they aren't obligated to fight back like this and treat their audience like crap. Any show that does something like the three clips I showed you usually comes off as petty and immature because they dedicate so much time to insulting the critics. 

Even during the Akuma fight, Astruc has to call out Ladybug for having problems with his movie in-universe, obviously representing critics of the show Astruc claims have no right to criticize the show while it's still airing.

Ladybug: What's with that trailer too? I am not scared of cats, at all.

Astruc/Animaestro: You haven't even seen the movie and you're already slamming it?

Cat Noir: He does have a point, you know.

Ladybug: I wasn't slamming it. It's called constructive criticism!

Yeah, how dare Ladybug be angry that this movie is portraying her as a powerless coward dependent on Cat Noir as opposed to a confident and brave superhero. She just doesn't understand the genius of Thomas Astruc!

And of course the character Astruc claims is “perfect” is the one to take his side.

And that's another problem with this episode, the metatextual references. Before he gets akumatized, Astuc says he spent three years of his life working on his movie. I get that time in this show is weird (we somehow had episodes taking place on the first day of school, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and the first day of Summer), but how did Astruc's self-insert work on a movie based on a superhero who has only been active for a year? Meta-wise, it's an obvious reference to the scorn Astruc has gotten from fans after working so hard on his show, but the only people who would get that reference are the ones who are aware of Astruc's reputation online.

Self-Insert aside, I actually think the titular Animaestro is one of the more visually impressive Akumas featured on the show. Animaestro takes on several forms based off several different forms and eras of animation, like flash, anime, rubber hose, and they all stand out. Granted, some of them are obvious parodies of other characters like Goku or Sailor Moon, but the actual Akuma fight is fun to watch. According to the Mexican Miraculous Ladybug Twitter account, this episode took two and a half years to create, and it shows. It's too bad the story behind it is completely insufferable, almost like the cartoon equidistant to Pixels.

But then comes the part that honestly makes the episode worth it, mainly for how unintentionally hilarious it is. Do you want to know what Animaestro's weakness is? Do you really want to know?

Animaestro is physically incapable of moving unless someone is watching him. I am not making this up.

Ladybug and Cat Noir literally defeat Animaestro by getting everyone to stop paying attention to him.

I could make so many jokes with this, but I can guarantee you're already thinking of something just as good, if not better, than whatever I write.

And there's the end where Astruc gives Marinette his ticket to the movie, which prompts Marinette to kiss up to him for no real reason.

Astruc: Sorry, I guess you don't know who I am either.

Marinette: Of course do. You're Thomas Astruc, the movie director!

Astruc: She recognized me. Somebody actually recognized me!

Nothing happened to make her change her opinion on the Ladybug movie, she didn't really say anything to him earlier in the episode that connects to this exchange, and outside of a few lines Animaestro said, she doesn't even know why he got akumatized (even though ironically she and Chloe accidentally contributed to it because of the awful subplot involving Kagami I talked about last time). If anything, it comes off less like she actually appreciates Astruc's work, and more like she's stroking his ego just to keep him from getting akumatized again.

So yeah, this episode is awful, and the fact that it came out right after the controversial “Chameleon” only proved to show what kind of direction the show was taking this season.

But honestly, even if Astruc still wanted to make about how he doesn't get enough respect the episode could have potentially. All he had to do was make a simple change: Instead of making it about validation for Astruc as a creator, make it about validation for animation in general.

It's a common misconception that animation is only used for shows and movies aimed at children, so the episode could reflect it. Instead of the huge turnout where several celebrities appear at the premiere, instead, the turnout could be a lot smaller, with the media dismissing it as some stupid kiddie flick. Instead of getting akumatized because he gets humiliated in public/getting no respect from anyone else, Astruc gets akumatized because he sees the audience didn't go wild for the movie after the premiere. All he can hear them say is that it's just “kids stuff”.

So when Astruc is Animaestro, he goes on about how important animation is. How it's helped produce propaganda since World War II. How it helped improve special effects in big blockbusters. How the medium is used to create movies that simply can't be filmed on a physical set.

After defeating Animaestro, Ladybug shows up to talk to him. She had seen the movie earlier, and actually enjoyed it. She had a few problems with the story, but they were just minor nitpicks and inaccuracies Astruc wouldn't know about, and she was blown away by the animation. She tells Astruc not to be deterred by his critics, and continue to do what he does. As a designer in her civilian life, Ladybug knows the joy creating brings her, and both she and Astruc want to spread that joy through their work.

Back at the premiere, Astruc thinks about what Ladybug said to him when he sees some kids reenacting a scene from the movie. Astruc walks over to them and asks what they thought of the movie. They said they loved it and how energetic it was. When he tells them he is the director, the kids' faces light up and they say they want to do what he does when they grow up, bringing a smile to Astruc's face.

Isn't that a much more humble approach instead of what we got? It would have helped Astruc come across as more sympathetic, especially with animation fans. But instead, we got an entire episode of Astruc whining about how misunderstood he is.

And you know the footage used for the movie at the beginning? Remember that, because I have a huge rant about it saved for a later post.

For now, here’s an example of a creator appearing in his work done right.

[harknesswife]

It was you all along (AgathaHarknessxFemale Reader)

Summary: This is a sweet self-insert love story between Agatha and a Westview citizen. Everything that happens follows the original events of "Wandavision" and MCU, like a parallel.

Chapter: 03/10

Word count: 752

My curtains were shut so I wouldn’t be tempted to wait for her to pass by. I soon realized that Agnes had nothing to do with all those mixed feelings. She was known for being friendly and I just misunderstood her. I’d get over it. Lights off, Carpenters playing on the radio, a bathtub filled with hot water waiting for me… how I needed that.

I was on my way to the bathroom when Karen Carpenter’s voice faded. I tried the light switch, but nothing happened. Out of power. Great. Usually, when something like that happens, all the neighbors gather around and complain about it until someone comes to fix it, but there was no one else outside. I got out to check and there was a small commotion way ahead, kinda far from where I was. I decided to knock on some doors nearby, looking for help or maybe a little bit of information about what was going on. I didn’t actually know anyone, but it wouldn’t hurt to try.

My first attempt was at the house right in front of mine. I could see a man and a woman, both sitting in front of the tv, focused. I waved, but they didn’t seem to notice. So I turned around, trying to find another angle to get some attention when I glanced at their tv. It was off, just like mine. But why would they keep looking at an empty screen? I felt weird, staring at that scene as if I knew something was wrong.

Suddenly I heard a really loud noise, and lots of pipes imploded, watering everything around. Those two sitting on the couch didn’t seem to realize what was happening. Even while getting all soaked, they stood still, like blinking statues. I felt the urge to run.

I opened my door and, even knowing what I could find, it scared the hell out of me. My kitchen was all wet, so were my living room and the bathroom upstairs. I felt my hair glued to my face while I fought to close the water supply, and after I did, it looked like I had gone for a swim. I sat on the floor, exhausted. Too much for a “me-time”, I guess.

I have no idea of how much time I just sat there, on the wet floor, thinking how crazy all of that was and how would I clean that up, before I heard the sound of a bell right in my front door. It was Agnes. And, of course, she looked like out of a magazine, with her bicycle and flowers in a tiny basket.

"How are you all dry and perfect?" I said, leaning my head on the door jamb, smiling a little.

"I wasn’t at home," she said, getting off her bike. "I came to check on you. Are you okay?"

I looked down so she wouldn’t see me blush like an idiot, and nodded. I wasn’t hurt, at least. But I had that pain inside my head again, trying to make some sense out of those last minutes. Some neighbors finally got out of their houses, also wet, holding brooms squeegees. Maybe a little late for that, huh?

Agnes was looking above my shoulder, maybe trying to get a peek of the mess inside, when what seemed a flash of red lightning came across us. One of those “if you blink, you’ll miss it” situations. Only I didn’t blink.

"Have you seen that?" I glanced at Agnes and then at the end of the street, trying to find any clue of what the hell was that.

She looked up, and then at me again, confusion in her eyes.

"This light! This red light that just happened!"

"Oh, you mean the fireworks?" she asked, looking so deep in my eyes that I forgot for a second what I was talking about. I shook my head a little.

"Those were not… were they? Fireworks?"

Like magic, we heard some more blastings right behind us, and beautiful sparks of fire burned in the sky. I took a deep breath. Maybe I just needed to lay down. Agnes looked at me with a pitty semblance, clearly, she thought the same.

"What was that about?" I shivered, feeling cold.

"Well, maybe they’re checking if everything is settled", she said, getting back on her bicycle.

"Settled for what?"

"Halloween is coming, babe."

She looked back at me, smiling. I trembled again, but the cold had nothing to do with it.