#I kinda mashed together two different quotes

[dani-luminae]

Incorrect quotes with my OCs (sorta)

Jamie: Why is it always "be the bigger person" and "the best thing you can do is be happy" and never "how was the blood-soaked revenge? the blood-soaked revenge looked fun"? Beast: You come home covered in blood and that's what you choose to gripe about? Jamie: It's not my blood. Beast: That doesn't make it any better!

[stillness138]

for hc ask game: triss is actually coral, ngl my fav "mainstream" theory

so uh

i don't like it 🙈

there are, i feel, two types of people into this theory: us the shitposters, and redditors who can't discern between books and games and end up taking it completely seriously.

so the idea of it is that Triss did die at Sodden and Coral used the chaotic situation to assume her identity, right?

my biggest issue with it is... Coral has no reason for doing that. She was well-known and well-respected in life as herself, she had everything she wanted, including Geralt. consensually, even.

my other big issue with it is that book Triss exists for a reason. The jealous best friend who is just spineless enough to throw the people she supposedly cares for the most under the bus when faced with a decision that would require her to take a real stand. seemingly sweet and caring, but spoiled inside. Sapko was trying to say something with her and gave her an arc that would've been undermined if it was actually someone else.

my last major issue with it, stemming from the previous, is that it diminishes the impact of what Triss did to Geralt. Coral wouldn't reminisce about him from the time during Season of Storms the same way Triss thinks about him in Blood of Elves because Triss is recounting a rape. And it was her, no one else, because again, she's the jealous best friend. Like, i'd rather Geralt didn't go through that at all, but given Triss also repeatedly tries to kiss him and whatnot after coming to Kaer Morhen... it's her, not Coral.

(in SoS, Geralt says smth like "you caught me on your flowery-peachy-magical perfume pheromones" [yeah he says pheromones, i don't know either man] and Coral goes "aint no way, actually you caught me on your elaborate mating dance when we first met" which like, you could read as she legit used magic and gaslit him afterwards but the whole, for the lack of a better word vibe, or i guess context of it comes across way different than the very much one-sided account from Triss. Geralt reads as very aware and very active in SoS. they are somewhat similar backgrounds, but i truly don't think what Sapko wrote post-saga in SoS is supposed to be the same event he described in BoE.)

however, i understand where the theory came from, because it seems to me like a similar place to the origin of W3 Dijkstra being a doppler. it serves as a bit of a cope for game Triss having like 3 different personalities early on.

that's the other side of the theory, right? that (only) game Triss is Coral?

which i definitely get, but again, there's no reason for Coral to do that. why would she be interested in all the manipulation and politics? game Triss eventually crystallizes into more or less her book personality - sweet looking, but rotten - despite CDPR's unwillingness to acknowledge her crimes in the text of the games. they still keep referencing everything else from the books, game and book Triss aren't two different characters.

as someone who takes design decisions way too literally, i truly think there's not much to it beyond Triss in W1 being written by mashing together book quotes by a bunch of different characters. it is wild and kinda funny but yeah. i'm not a fan :D

[lucaonthropy]

Ok, so @your-dead-european-ancestor (pls tell me if u rather not be tagged!) asked for an Indonesian book/author recs and I'm definitely way too excited about it. Here they are:

1. Ziggy Z. (Author)

By God I only read three books written by her and I'm blown away every time. Her writing style is unique and fun, a mix of old children novels such as Emil from Lonneberga or Totto-chan and creepypasta horror. Her stories read exactly like cautionary tales that start okay-ish and peaceful but the further you read the more you realize that things are wrong.

One of the quote from her book I remember to this day is (pharaphrased) "Be careful when you pray, because sometimes God doesn't hear your prayer fast enough and the Thing that does usually means no good". Banger.

Her books that I've read are Saving Ludo, Teru Teru Bozu, and Hari Ini Kita Pergi. For light reading, I recommend the third one. If you like murder mysteries, try the second. I don't really know to whom I should recommend the first one it's just plain unhinged.

2. Dee Lestari (Author)

If you never read any of her books, I ask you very politely to do so. Her writing style can only be described as poetic and light, like expensive tea that British people drink. I have read the first book of her Supernova series (it's insanely popular and gets reprinted like, every year?), Filosofi Kopi, the first two of Rapijali series, and some of her short stories that I don't know come from which book.

She is insanely good at writing characters that have different personalities and mashing them together. Her romances are also very good and complex. For someone who hates love triangle, I sure was infested in one of hers lmao.

If it's your first time reading her works, I recommend to start with Filosofi Kopi or her other short story anthology to get a taste of her writing style, since from the words of my classmates nearly all of them can't understand the plot because of her flowery wording.

3. S.Mara Gd (Author)

She is mostly famous because of her murder mystery novel series which has no series name but is generally called Petualangan Kosasih-Gozali. Her primary job is a doctor, so you can guess how much forensic stuff is included in her books and I personally adore it. If the first two authors I recommended have flowery writing styles with heavy prose and symbolism, S.Mara Gd's writing is concise and to the point but detailed - as is appropriate for murder mystery novels, ofc. And the novels in the series are all separate stories (with the exception of some that have 'part 1' and 'part 2' in the titles) so you can just pick at random. A lot of good use of red herrings and Checkov's gun in her works, though sometimes she kinda overdoes it with the plot twist. A lot of social problems are also brought up in the stories, sooo....

My favorite works of her are Misteri Gadis Tak Bernama, Misteri Rubrik Kontak Hati, Misteri Matinya Wanita Simpanan, and the four books of Daud Hakim dan Trista.

Obviously content warning for graphic description of dead bodies, graphic description of murder, and blood and/or injuries.

4. Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

This one is in English and I haven't finished it yet, but so far the humor is on point. Basically, the premise is that the MC, Meddy, a Chinese-Indonesian girl with a lot of aunties and a family curse that causes every man in her family to disappear or die, accidentally killed her first boyfriend and has to ask her (old-timey and traiditional) mom and aunties to help her cover the murder. If that alone doesn't pique your interest, I don't know what will.

5. Sepotong Kisah di Balik 98 by Various Authors

This is a series of 5 books where every book has 4-5 novellas by the winners of a writing competition and the novellas in each book are chosen by different famous Indonesian author. The theme of all stories included are about the experiences of marginalized people in the tragic event of Kerusuhan Mei 98.

The one I have is chosen by Dee Lestari (if you can't guess already lmao). I have only read 1 out of 4 novellas inside and am blown away by how good it is. From what I've seen, the competition was kinda prestigious so even though I haven't read much yet, I can't see any of the chosen story in any of the 5 books being bad.

The authors that chose the novellas in every book are Dee Lestari, Erisca Febriani, Luluk HF, Okky Madasari, and A. Fuadi.

Be mindful that due to the theme and topic, the books will contain mentions of death, graphic description of death, description of mutilation, description of heavy violence, description and mentions of rape and sexual assault, description of extreme poverty, prostitution, depression, and PTSD, and graphic description of suicidal ideation and/or suicide attempt. (These depend on which book you're reading, but I'd rather play safe and cover what I know).

6. Risa Saraswati (Author)

You probably have heard of her as the girl who can see and befriends Dutch children ghosts. Well, she ends up writing about them all! I have never read Danur (the main novel, basically centered more on Risa and her experience) but I have read all the ghost children books except for the girls (they haven't came out yet when I started binge reading them).

The ghost children's books are about, of course, the ghosts that Risa befriends in her new haunted home. But since that story is covered in Danur, these books tell us about the ghosts' lives before they became ghosts. And. Well. Considering they all lived when the Dutch is starting/still colonizing Indonesia, their backstory aren't all idyllic and fun. A lot of social problems are brought up from the POV of the children of colonizer people who, even though were taught that they were the better race and people, maintained their innocence and humanity until their deaths.

My absolute favorites from her works are William, Hendricks, and Hans. She has written a lot of other Danur spinoff books too, so check those out if you want.

7. Dan Hujan Pun Berhenti by Farida Susanty

This one is marketed for teenager and I can see why. It's dark and edgy in the way highschoolers who just grow up and see the bad things in the world as their enemies would like. The writing style in this one is the least informal one on this list, using 'lo-gue' and slangs. And while this book isn't particularly in my taste, I still enjoyed the ride.

The writing style is messy and kind of Wattpad-y, but the plot and character interactions compelled me enough to finish it. I also like the lack of actual romance in it and how that is perceived by our amatonormative society.

The blurb is a banger tho: "Kamu mau bunuh diri?" "Ya, asal tidak hujan."

8. A Hole in the Head by Annisa Ihsani

If you read Famous Five/Lima Sekawan before, this one is just like it. It's about Ann and her new friend Jo investigating a seemingly supernatural occurence in the inn Ann is staying at. The setting is not in Indonesia, but if you like something light and fun and adventure-y after all my previous recs, I recommend this one. The writing style reads like a foreign children novel translated to Indonesia - casual but staying true to KBBI.

9. Depaysement by Aisya A. A.

Ok so this one is ... a shameless plug lmao. This one is my writing and while I put this in the list jokingly, I also hope you will be interested to try it!

It's a low fantasy-mystery novella with the basic premise of the MC, Aniara, getting dreams and flashbacks to a life he never knew about after seeing an old painting in an exhibition. Not so long after, the painting is stolen. So Aniara asks his best friend Dirga to help him investigate what it all means and why he, specifically, is involved.

The writing style here is more poetic and the descriptions are long-winded, especially in the latter half of it. A lot of jumping from one setting to another too, since the story involves a lot of dreaming.

10. Garnish by Mashdar Zainal

I only read like, a quarter of it since I loaned it from the library, but my mom said it's good and sentimental so there's that. From the tiny bit I've seen though, it looks good. Basically a young adult man whose hobby is cooking and a young woman whose hobby is painting. Both of them are shunned by their parent(s) for their hobbies and end up running away until they bump into each other. I think it's a coming-of-age?

11. Beautiful Stranger by Fida Aifiya (Fantasteen series)

The best book from Fantasteen series in my opinion. It's a teenlit but with 'aku-kamu' and the premise is Khanza, a normal highschool girl, meets a weird boy named Thariq who has no past, weird identity, weird content in his backpack, and only five numbers in his phone. And when I say Thariq is weird I don't mean quirky teenage boy weird. It has something to do with the reveal in the later half of the book but by God he's straight up unhinged. And almost killed Khanza's best friend by urging him to do suicide - not out of malice, but genuine curiosity. While we're at it, I love how even though Khanza has a crush on Thariq, it isn't reciprocated and she ends up having to move on. A+ for that!

12. Petualangan Regu Elang by Caritra Sari

Last rec!!! Now, I make this rec mostly for jokes because the series is marked for 10+ y.o. kids but consider: It's well-written, fun, and short if you just want to turn your brain off and read something simple from time to time. Hell, I'd say the writing style is better than T*re Liy* lmao (sorry. I'm a bit bitter about him)

Anyway, all of the novellas in the series are about the adventures of boy scout groups doing boy scout things. A lot of bonding and friendship happen along their way and it's just a very wholesome and quick read.

Again, this one is mainly a joke but if you're interested go for it.

Overheard someone saying T*re Liy* is the best author in my country and subsequently took psychic damage

[batfoonery]

Binge-worthy (Batfam Headcanons)

My brain has been on the fritz, so binging shows and completing fiber craft wips has been about the only non-classwork activity I can handle.

Dick

Doesn't often binge watch shows, if ever. He doesn't like feeling like he's wasting time in front of a screen when he could be out there working a case, doing a job, saving a kitten from a tree or helping an old lady with groceries, etc etc.

Sometimes he can't sleep though, and there are two shows that are always on somewhere in the variety of his cable package: Law & Order SVU and Criminal Minds. Sometimes Dami snuggles up with him and they share ice cream and cry over SVU stories that hit a little too close to home until dawn comes to cleanse the morning.

He's seen just about every episode of each. And he has a Lot Of Feelings about SVU.

Be the Olivia Benson that you want to see in the world.

Jason

You cannot tell me this child does not love nasty TLC dramas. Say Yes to the Dress (he likes Atlanta best, but the og is also *chef's kiss*), Seeking Sister Wives, I Love a Mama's Boy, 90 Day Fiance, My 600lbs Life.... He's seen them all.

There are some days where it is too icky out for villains, so he holes himself up in a safehouse with snacks otherwise banned from the mannor, and alternates between trashy tv shows and classic lit.

Steph, Cass, and Babs usually break in and they all end up falling asleep screeching at the tv together.

Cass

No one ever sees her actually watching tv or streaming any shows online, but she's always up to date with the popular programs.

Knows all the good B99 quotes, and always deploys them with the best timing. It drives Tim crazy because he's always trying to watch them with her but they're always too busy.

The secret is she watches everything with Bruce. It's their bonding time, snacking on Alfred-approved pre-patrol snacks and having peaceful time before patrol.

Tim

Kinda watches things? But kinda doesn't. He plays things in the background while doing other things. So he gets the stories, but doesn't always get the details.

Loves all the different Star Treks and also some older programs, like I Love Lucy, I Dream of Jeannie, Gilligan's Island, MASH.... Old sitcoms make him nostalgic, because his dad used to enjoy them.

Sometimes if he's having a bad day he'll watch one and kind of just doze in and out, not really paying attention.

On those days, Alfred sits with him if he has the time. Tim's out of it, like his brain is resetting, and Alfred will just kinda pet his head, make sure he's getting fluids (tea, non-caffeinated, or flavored water). They don't talk, and it's possible that Tim isn't even fully aware that he's there. But it's nice.

Duke

When my man binges, he BINGES. Sometimes they don't see him for days. That's how he got through all of the (modern) seasons of Dr. Who (Ten and Rose always make him tear up, but Dr. River Song is his favorite character. She's a chaotic sass machine that he aspires to emulate).

Bounces around from genre to genre. Likes fantasy, comedy, sci-fi... isn't as big on slice of life. Binging is a good way to escape, and he takes full advantage.

Famous binges have included: The Witcher, Witches of Waverly Place, Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Phineas and Ferb, The October Faction, The Order, The Haunting of Hill House, Modern Family, and Sherlock.

Damian

Duke got him hooked on anime. He literally reads manga in canon it isn't exactly a big leap. Unlike Duke, he enjoys slice of life, with maybe limited fantasy. Fruits Basket, Shugo Chara!, and Blue Exorcist are all things he's watched and enjoyed, but that's about as "fantasy" as he'll get.

Found family/friends are his favorite types of story. Kabukibu! is one that he found particularly charming.

That being said, if a show has particularly stunning animation, even if it isn't his favorite genre, he'll watch it. The first few seasons of RWBY, for example.

Oh my GOD LAND OF THE LUSTROUS. Dick agreed to binge watch it with him on a whim and they ended up not emerging from the bed until they'd seen all the episodes. No food, no sleep. Just story and beautiful perfect animation. When they were seen again they were in tears and demanded that Bruce figure out how to fund a second season. He told him that he'd work on it and be the hero that we all need, I NEED MORE OK?!

[haroldtea]

i wrote something!!

soooo I’m a pathological “i have a fic idea and i’m never going to write it or I write a few pages and then fall off” writer buuuut I had this very cute idea and wrote 4k words of it! I wanted to post it here before ao3 because 1) not sure if I’m a fan of starting a multichapter WIP because I still may abandon it like my other stuff 2) i want feedback before i continue!!

here’s the gist: it’s princess prom except it’s a high school au and princess prom is actually homecoming. Adora is very happy and supportive of Glimmer and Bow running for king/queen. Glimmer is very, very passionate about winning. The problem is they’ve naturally got competition, in the form of Perfuma (who is equally as passionate about winning, for her own reasons) and her new girlfriend Scorpia. In a sitcom-style mishap, Adora sort of accidentally signs up to run as well...with Catra, Scorpia’s best friend who Adora doesn’t not have a crush on. The two decide to go through with it with the intention of getting eliminated from the race as soon as possible. Then, their friends come up with a different plan for them.

so, take a read below at 4k of stupidity and let me know what you think, and if you would be interested to read more :) (fyi there is a lot of swearing lol)

“I’M GONNA BE THE QUEEN!”

Adora shrieks, flailing her arms and almost knocking her lamp over in the process. She whirls around in her desk chair to face the intruder, arms raised in karate chop form (she does not know any martial arts), and finds Glimmer, who has flung her bedroom door open and has that crazed Glimmer look in her eyes that only means trouble.

“Fuck! Glimmer, you can’t just sneak up--wait, how did you get in my house?!”

“Didn’t you hear what I said?! Also, the door was unlocked,” Glimmer replies, kicking off her shoes and launching herself onto Adora’s bed, which she had just painstakingly made.

Adora presses her hand into her face, sighing. “I was kind of busy trying not to piss myself. Haven’t you heard of knocking? What if I was, you know...” she says, gesturing vaguely.

Glimmer rolls her eyes. “Please, Adora. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before. Anyway--the student council decided to bring back the homecoming pep rally!” she squeals, gleefully kicking her feet in the air.

Adora leans back in her chair, brows furrowed. “Bring back? Didn’t we have one last year?”

“Yes, but after the water balloon thing they weren’t gonna let us have it anymore, but it turns out that one senior who wasn’t gonna graduate did graduate so I guess they figured it would probably be fine, ‘cause like, who’s ever gonna try and top that?”

“Right,” Adora hums, thinking back to last year’s pep rally. Just before homecoming court was announced, a group of rogue seniors had risen from the bleachers, unleashing dozens of water balloons they had stashed in their backpacks. What ensued was a pandemonium Adora could only remember in flashes, resulting in almost the entire student body and the school’s hallways being completely soaked.

The catch was that the seniors had filled the balloons with blue paint. It had taken the janitorial staff weeks to get the gym bleachers, the lockers in the science wing, and the cafeteria ceiling (don’t ask) to look normal again. Classes were cancelled for almost an entire week because the paint had messed up something with the internal plumbing. It was single-handedly the coolest thing Adora had experienced in her living years.

It was all led by the legendary Mara Hart, notorious for sticking it to the man during her K-12 years. The prank had all but gotten her and her friends expelled, but given that she was otherwise an A+ student and no one could technically prove who was behind it (her friends were loyal to each other to the bitter end), she walked at Bright Moon High’s graduation to uproarious applause from her classmates.

Adora knew some of the more grisly details because Mara had been captain of the girls’ lacrosse team last year--effortlessly cool Mara, endlessly caring Mara, definitely part of Adora’s gay awakening Mara--but it had become something of an urban legend at BMHS over the past year.

“Wait, how do you know any of this?” Adora asks, because while she was personally connected to Mara in a small way, she hadn’t been aware that they were going to cancel the pep rally indefinitely.

Glimmer arches an eyebrow. “Um, hello? My mom’s the principal?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“And Mermista totally let it slip when I asked her about it after the student council meeting,” Glimmer adds, then pauses. “Okay, it was more like I didn’t even wanna be there and I wish no one had ever voted for me and I’ll tell you whatever, but still. I’m...” she props her face in her hands and bats her eyelashes, “in the know.”

Adora smirks and rolls her eyes fondly, turning back to her desk to shut her textbook and put her notes away. She can never get anything done when Glimmer’s around. “Okay, so, pep rally’s back--that’s cool,” she says.

“It’s not just cool, Adora,” Glimmer scoffs. “Being homecoming queen is literally all I’ve wanted since I was a kid. I thought my dream had died with Mara’s academic career, but now there’s hope again--it’s meant to be, Adora. It’s destiny.”

Adora had literally never heard Glimmer talk about this, but, “Um, okay.”

Glimmer huffs and dramatically rolls onto her back, flinging her arms out and further messing up Adora’s sheets. Lesson learned, it isn’t worth the effort for Adora to make the bed anymore. “My mom was the homecoming queen like a hundred years ago, and my aunt was the homecoming queen before that. It’s, like, my birthright!”

Adora lifts a shoulder, twisting around in her chair to look at Glimmer. “Okay, then we’ll just get you to be the homecoming queen too. Can’t your mom just...make it happen?”

“Ugh, no,” Glimmer sighs. “I already asked. It’s a student vote.”

“Oh!” Adora brightens. “That’s easy, then. Everyone loves you.”

Glimmer pouts. “I know, but it’s not just a popularity contest--it’s, like, a whole thing. Me and Bow are gonna have to do a talent show, and there’s a relay race, and other stuff that if we don’t do well in we won’t even get to be in the final vote.”

“Wait, what?” Adora doesn’t remember any of that from last year. “What do you mean, Bow? Is...he's running for homecoming queen too?”

“Ha! No,” Glimmer laughs, then her expression darkens, eyes narrowing. “I would crush him.”

“Right...” Adora says. Actually, Bow would make a pretty good homecoming queen. But Adora values her life, so she decidedly does tell Glimmer this.

“No, every queen nominee has to also have someone to run with them as their ‘king,’” Glimmer explains, making air quotes with her fingers. “There’s no boy/girl bullshit, but you do have to be in a pair.”

“I don’t remember any...talent shows, or whatever,” Adora points out. “I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of one of those happening in real life.”

“Well, obviously you never went. It would’ve all been during your lacrosse thingies and you would've been too busy making googly eyes at Mara Hart,” Glimmer replies, wiggling her fingers at Adora.

Adora crosses her arms and blushes a deep red. “I would not. I would’ve been playing lacrosse. And stuff.” Okay, maybe she did make googly eyes at Mara, but only sometimes, as a treat, and Glimmer doesn’t need to know that.

Glimmer flips back over on her stomach and levels Adora with a pout. “Adora, this means a lot to me. We’re gonna need your help to win this.”

Adora has no idea how she could possibly be of any help with this, but hey-- “Of course, Glimmer. Whatever you need. I’m there.”

Glimmer grins, eyes sparkling. “Yaaaaay. Also, my mom’s making meatloaf tonight, you in?”

Adora pumps her fist in the air. “Sweet. Hell, yes.”

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

“This is a joke, right? Like, you’re joking?” Catra says into the receiver as she shoves another handful of popcorn into her mouth.

“I am usually a pretty funny gal, it’s true--but, ah, no. This time I’m serious,” Scorpia replies on the other end.

Catra hoists her phone higher up on her shoulder while she adjusts her grip on her Xbox controller. “Okay, please explain,” she says between chews.

Scorpa sighs, and Catra visualizes her sitting cross-legged on her bedspread, hugging one of her many stuffed animals to her chest. “I know it’s kind of silly, but Perfuma sounded really excited about it, ‘cause I guess if you win, you get to pick what charity the proceeds from the dance ticket sales go to, and...I just couldn’t say no?”

Catra smirks, mashing a series of buttons on her controller as her TV screen lights up in front of her. She’s been trying to get past this level for weeks, but she’ll probably die right before the end again whether she’d answered Scorpia’s call or not. “You are so whipped,” she says.

Scorpia sighs again, but this time Catra can hear a smile in it. “I guess so, kitty cat. Still, it sounds kinda...fun? I mean, it’s more time spent with her, if anything else. She’s talking about writing an original song together for the talent show and incorporating her Tibetan singing bowls into it.”

Catra takes that in and barely suppresses a laugh. Her New Year’s resolution was to make fun of her friends less. Some days are harder than others. “Um, wow,” she says instead. “That’s, uh...that’ll be interesting. Do I have to call you Queen Scorpia if you win?”

“Oh, Perfuma doesn’t believe in gendered royalty,” Scorpia replies. “She wants us to be known as Homecoming Monarchs.”

“Of course she does,” Catra mutters. Perfuma is endlessly kind and patient and makes Scorpia smile, so by default Catra likes her, but otherwise they...don’t exactly share identical values, let’s say. Catra brings her own point home by pressing a button on her controller and chainsawing an alien in half on screen.

“Do you...think it’s a stupid idea? The whole...running for homecoming thing, I mean.”

Catra hears the telltale signs of Scorpia-doubting-herself in her reply, so she pauses the game. “Nah. If it’s something you guys wanna do, you should go for it. Fuck what anyone else thinks.”

“Okay, thanks,” Scorpia says, sounding lighter. “I think it means a lot to Perfuma. It would be cool to win it for her.”

“Well, hey,” Catra continues, un-pausing her game. “If you need any help, let me kn--oh, fuck!”

“Catra?” Panic sets in Scorpia’s tone. “Kitty cat, speak to me--do I need to call 911?!”

“No, no, Scorpia, please don’t do that,” Catra groans, tossing her controller aside. “I just got blown up in my stupid game again, that’s all. I’m never gonna beat this final boss.”

Scorpia sighed in relief. “Aw, don’t give up, kitty cat. One of these days, you’re gonna really give it to--what’s the dude’s name again?”

“Prime something-or-whatever,” Catra grumbled, reaching for her popcorn.

“Yeah, that guy. He’ll never know what hit him.”

Catra snickers into the receiver. “Yeah, okay. Thanks, Scorpia.”

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

The lunch period at BMHS is, naturally, chaotic. Being a regional high school, every inch of the place is usually crawling with students, and the cafeteria is no different. The student population is small enough and the cafeteria big enough to condense into one lunch period, although Adora has oftentimes heard Perfuma lament about the ethics and health concerns of overcrowding.

Adora likes chaos. She likes that the overlapping sounds of chairs scraping and garbled chattering combine to form a comforting din that allows her to drown out whatever weird TikTok plans Bow’s making (ok, to be real, she will be asking about them later) and quietly observe the antics happening at tables around them.

She takes another bite of her pudding and her eyes land on the table to their right where Kyle, Lonnie, and Rogelio from her math class always sit together. Lonnie is mechanically chewing her gum as she stares into a compact mirror, examining her eyebrows with fierce concentration. Across from her, Kyle is holding up something on his phone to Rogelio with one hand and gesticulating wildly with the other as he holds a corn dog. Rogelio is nodding along but is staring down fondly at Kyle rather than at the screen Kyle’s pointing to, one arm hanging loose around Kyle’s shoulders. Lonnie slaps her compact shut and shouts something at them, pointing emphatically to her eyebrows. They all pause for a moment before bursting into laughter. Then Kyle drops his corn dog.

Adora pointedly does not observe the table across from theirs. She’ll gladly watch the Star siblings silently and intensely do their homework for the next period, or listen to Mermista fight off Seahawk’s PDA attempts, but nothing could compel her to look at the table straight ahead.

That table was where Catra Weaver and her friends sat.

Including: Perfuma’s new girlfriend, Scorpia Garnet; Entrapta Dryl, who was dating one of the Hordak twins (Adora was ever completely sure which one); the Hordak twins in question, one of which who usually broods silently and one of which who usually stares around smiling at nothing and everything; the stylish and blonde ruler of the theatre kids who has been nicknamed Double Trouble for as long as Adora can remember; and finally: Catra Weaver. Effortlessly cool, effortlessly gorgeous, effortlessly effortless Catra Weaver, leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed, coolly regarding the rest of the cafeteria as she holds court at her table of wonderful misfit toys.

Today’s effortless ensemble: cool jean jacket, a cool crop top, cool black jeans, cool combat boots, she got a haircut recently so--

“Um, Earth to Adora?”

“Huh?” Adora says, jerking her head up.

This is why she avoids looking at Catra Weaver’s table. Or Catra Weaver in general.

“We were talking about homecoming,” Glimmer says from her seat across from Adora, raising an eyebrow. “You were totally spaced out.”

Adora clears her throat, willing herself not to blush. “Sorry,” she replies, digging back into her pudding.

“Glimmer’s trying to convince me not to run for court,” Perfuma continues, crossing her arms.

“What? Why?”

“Because it’s totally lame and stupid and a waste of time,” Mermista answers from beside Perfuma, inspecting her nail polish. She glances up when she senses everyone at the table staring at her. “What?”

“Mermista, you’re on the homecoming committee,” Bow says.

Mermista shrugs. “So? I said what I said.”

“Look, Perfuma,” Glimmer starts, sliding her hand across the table toward Perfuma. “I just don’t want you to be disappointed if you lose. Homecoming’s a really big deal to me, and I really want to win.” She smiles saccharinely, tilting her head at Perfuma, eyes gone wide. Bow and Adora exchange a look.

Perfuma smiles back. “Oh, don’t worry about me, Glimmer! I’m sure our classmates will select the most deserving and talented couple to win,” she says, then goes back to stabbing a fork into her salad.

Glimmer’s eye starts twitching. Bow slowly and gently takes Glimmer’s hand and slides it back to her side of the table. “Glimmer, we’ll do great. The most important thing is to have fun,” he says, patting her hand.

“The most important thing is the charity,” Perfuma mutters.

“That too.”

“Is anybody else we know running?” Adora asks. Glimmer and Perfuma both shake their heads in response, until Mermista sighs dejectedly.

“Unfortunately,” she groans, raising her hand.

“Wait, what?! You just said it was stupid and lame!” Bow squawks.

“It is,” Mermista rolls her eyes. “But the rest of the student council said it would look really bad if I was on the planning committee and didn’t run. I was forced against my will.”

“Isn’t that a conflict of interest?” Glimmer asks, gripping her lunch tray so tight Adora wondered if she was going to launch it at Mermista’s head.

“I don’t know? I guess not? I’m planning on getting cut as soon as humanly possible though, so whatever,” Mermista replies, flicking her hair behind her shoulder.

“We won’t win with that attitude, my love!” Seahawk roars, throwing his arm around Mermista’s shoulder and raising a fist triumphantly. “You and I are going to be the greatest King and Queen this school has ever seen!”

“Oh my god, please stop,” Mermista groans, hiding her face in her hands.

“Picture it: you, me, newly crowned, gliding down the science wing--the students stop and stare! Could it really be our King and Queen in the flesh? The teachers stare too! I am going to give them both straight A’s!”

“Please just sit and eat your sandwich,” Mermista begs.

“Never,” Seahawk says, then kisses her on the cheek and acquiesces, taking a big bite of his sandwich. Adora tries to hide her smirk when she sees Mermista blush a deep red. She elbows Glimmer and nods in their direction so she can see.

“Aw, how cute. I’m going to destroy them,” Glimmer whispers in Adora’s ear.

“I know,” Adora whispers back. “But try to at least be nice about it.”

“No promises.”

“Ok, I have to pee,” Adora announces to the table, grabbing her lunch tray as she stands, grinning at Bow’s groan of TMI, Adora!

She makes her way over to the trash cans by the cafeteria exit, waving to her friends on the lacrosse team as she dumps her leftovers in the trash and sets the tray in the dish bin beside it. She should probably go over and check in with them about practice tonight, but she really has to pee, which reminds her that she forgot her water bottle all the way back to the table and needs to refill it before her next class.

“Damn it,” she mutters to herself, still smiling at her lacrosse friends as she whips around to head back--

And crashes right into someone, their heads knocking smack together.

“Ow!” Adora yelps, losing her footing for a moment. She rubs at her stinging forehead, glancing up as she apologizes, “Shit, sorry, sorry, that was totally my fault, I--”

And stares right up at Catra Weaver.

“I...I...I...”

She blinks a few times, but yes, that is Catra Weaver, rubbing at her own forehead and fixing a few strands of hair that had come loose from behind her ears. Catra Weaver, up close and personal, who she hasn’t talked to since...

“Your forehead is fucking hard. And big,” Catra says, holding her tray in one hand as she narrows her eyes up at Adora.

“Oh, um, you too...I mean! Thanks? I grew it myself,” Adora replies spectacularly, and then promptly wants to crawl into a hole and never come out.

Catra raises one eyebrow at her. “How hard did I hit you?”

Adora scrambles to answer. “Oh, not at all! I mean, not hard. It was my fault. Are you, um, are you okay?” This is going amazingly.

“I’m fine, Greyskull,” Catra replies, sending a tingle up Adora’s spine. She goes to deposit her tray. “Just watch where you’re going.”

Adora grins dopily. “Yes. I mean--I will. Sorry. Again.”

Catra glances Adora up and down, eyebrow still raised, and goes to say something else, when they’re interrupted by a foreboding, familiar voice.

“Ah, Adora! I’m so pleased to see you taking an interest in student affairs.”

Adora turns to see Glimmer’s mom looming over them, hands neatly clasped together. Maybe looming isn’t the right word as she’s smiling brightly down on her and Catra, but she’s tall, ok? “Oh, hi Ang--,” Adora starts before remembering they’re at school, “um, Mrs. Moon. What’s up?”

Angella gestures between her and Catra. “I was just observing how wonderful it will be that Glimmer will have a friend to share the homecoming experience with.”

Adora tenses again, remembering that Catra is still standing very close to her. “Oh, haha, yeah, super great. Wait, what?” Sharing?

Then she notices that her and Catra are standing in front of the wall where the Homecoming Court Signup Sheet is hanging. A sparkly pen tied to the clipboard is dangling within Adora’s reach.

“Oh, um, actually, Perfuma’s already--”

“I think this activity will make a fine addition to your college applications, Adora. And you know how Glimmer gets,” Angella leans in conspiratorially, not bothering to lower her voice. “I think it will calm her nerves to have a friend by her side. A bit of friendly competition, even!” she claps her hands together, delighted. “I remember having so much fun with my friends back in my day.”

“But, I’m already on the lacrosse team...” Adora mumbles, scratching the back of her neck. She glances down at the pen.

“Oh, but you know schools these days, always looking for that something that makes a student stand out,” Angella says, waving her hand dismissively. “And don’t worry, I’ll speak to Coach Huntara about any scheduling conflicts. You’ll get to have the best of both worlds!”

Wait, but lacrosse was Adora’s whole thing--does she not stand out enough? Will she seem boring to UEternia? “I...”

“Oh, Ms. Weaver!” Angella says, as if she’s just now noticing Catra. “I didn’t take you for the...school spirit type.”

“I’m not,” Catra replies, crossing her arms. She smiles saccharinely and adds, “ma’am,” for good measure. God, she’s cool.

“Ah,” Angella says, creating an awkward pause before brightening again. “Well, still, here you are. Are you Adora’s running mate?”

So, sometimes Adora panics.

Look, she’s in a high-stress situation. The girl she doesn’t not have an embarrassing crush on bumped into her, talked to her, and then her best friend’s mom swooped in basically saying that lacrosse is boring and dumb and running for homecoming court will get her into UEternia. At least, that’s what Adora got from all that. And then she insinuates that she’ll be doing that with Catra Weaver.

So, she panics. She panics, and she grabs the glittery pen, and she continues to panic.

“Yep! We’re running together!” she says, grinning.

“Say what?” Catra hisses.

“Oh, wonderful!” Angella squeals, clapping her hands together again. “I must say, I think this will turn out to be a very interesting competition. You’ll have to come dress shopping with us, Adora.”

“Haha, yeah...” Adora says, quickly scribbling Adora Greyskull & Catra Weaver on the signup sheet. Oh fuck, oh god.

“Hang on a fu--” Catra starts, then clamps her mouth shut, because the goddamn principal is still talking to them.

“Oh, I wonder what you’ll do for the talent show! I can’t wait...well, I’m off. It was great catching up, girls!” Angella says, and winks, and does weird-mom-finger-guns, and then she’s gliding away as quickly as she came.

Adora continues to grin and wave awkwardly until Angella is out of sight, then she deflates. That was so weird.

Then she turns and sees Catra reach for the pen that’s still in her hand. Adora has half a mind to snatch it away. Or half a brain cell, at least. “Hey!”

“Cross our names out. Right. Now,” Catra growls through gritted teeth, still trying to grab the pen. Adora tries to hold it up out of reach, but it’s still attached to the clipboard, so the best she can do is weave her hand in and out of Catra’s way.

“Um, no? I just told her we were running!”

“Well, we’re not. Give it to me!”

“No!” Adora grunts, yanking the pen away. “You heard her--she’s gonna talk to Coach Huntara. I can’t back out now.”

“Well, I can!” Catra says, grabbing at Adora’s arm, where she has the pen tucked under her armpit. “Find someone else to run with you!”

“I can’t! They’ll want to win!” Adora says, twisting her body away from Catra. She’s having a slight meltdown over Catra touching her so much, but she’s focusing on the pen for now. “No one’s gonna want to run with me anyway.”

Catra mutters something under her breath that Adora doesn’t catch, then she snakes her hand under Adora’s and takes hold of her wrist. Adora stifles a gasp. “Wait, you don’t want to win?” Catra asks, eyebrow quirked.

“Noooo,” Adora furiously shakes her head. “No, no, no. Glimmer would kill me. She wants to win. I just, um, panicked. I guess?” The heat from Catra’s hand is searing into her wrist.

Catra glances down at their hands and back up at Adora. “So, your friend will kill you if you run for homecoming. And you just signed up in front of her mom?”

“Um...” Adora thinks for a second. “Yes?”

Catra huffs out a laugh. “Wow, you’re even more of an idiot than I remember.”

Adora feels her face redden, shocked at Catra’s casual mention of the past, and glances away. “Look, let’s just get eliminated as quickly as possible and then we can forget it ever happened. Deal?”

“Ugh,” Catra lets out a groan, leaning her head back. She tugs at Adora’s wrist a few times, finding that she isn’t budging. “Fine! As quickly as possible.”

“As quickly as possible,” Adora nods, finding herself grinning as Catra loosens her grip and pulls away. “I’m gonna take this pen home, by the way,” she calls out as Catra begins to head back to her table.

“Fuck!”

After Adora finally pees and refills her water bottle, she gingerly sits back down beside Glimmer. Poor, sweet, deadly Glimmer, who’s chattering away excitedly with Seahawk about some new music video or something.

She says, in a very tiny voice, “So, um...I think I’m running for homecoming queen?”

Glimmer whips her head around, nose flaring. She stands up, slamming both hands down on the table with a smack.

“You WHAT?!”

And then the bell rings.

[bigskydreaming]

So just out of curiosity, what inspired the whole Beacon Bay idea? What kind of sharks and dolphins are they? This entire thing is very intriguing to me and I can't wait to see more.

So first off, anyone who’s ever played soundingboard to my original stuff like Moukie or Adam can attest to the fact that I’m ocean obsessed, so there’s pretty much nothing I’m interested in that isn’t a mere two or three steps removed from an ocean/merfolk/sea witch AU in my head. Gimme anything and like, five minutes, and I can make it ocean themed. Space operas included. I grew up near the ocean, been surfing for ages though of course I haven’t in years, blah, but like. I’m a big fan of the deep blue sea. Its just....neat. ghaskfhalkfhla

So I’ve always had a bunch of ocean-set concepts. This particular AU came about from like, smashing a couple of them together to preserve them when my plans for doing original stuff with them fizzled out, at least for the time being. Cuz the other thing about me is the way some people like, take their fanfic and file off the serial numbers to turn it into original novels, I more often do the reverse, lmao. When I have something I can no longer do something with original-content-wise, for whatever reason, but I still like the idea, I turn it into fanfic so I can still play around with it whenever I want and like, have purpose to that, so I don’t feel like I’m wasting time by still ‘indulging’ in that concept or whatever.

Like my Batfandom fic By Lost Ways, as I’ve mentioned before....that actually started out as an original high fantasy novel set in my ‘Tales of the Citadel’ shared universe. BUT the setting ended up being similar enough to a sci-fi project I wanted I to move forward with, ‘Waveriders’ (the one with the sky pirates and the ATLA-style benders only instead of evoking the four classical elements, waveriders could each ‘hack’ a different kind of wavelength, that one) like....basically, the projects FELT similar enough in setting and various superficial elements that I started to feel derivative of myself moving forward with both, so I picked Waveriders and then recycled the setting and a lot of the plot of the sky-set fantasy novel for fanfic, just for fun.

Same thing here, though Beacon Bay is basically the mash-up of two different shelved original projects. Basically, its the plot of a CW-style show about teen sirens and the sea witch making like the Fagin to their Oliver Twists, from a pilot I wrote years ago.....it got some interest but I refused to make it less gay because lol have you met me, so it ultimately never went anywhere but I still liked the plot. 

And then remember the werewolf books I mentioned awhile back, that had the mongoose shifters in them? LOL. Yeah, so I’d written two and a half novels in that series and had this whole expansive worldbuilding of twelve different shifter clans each with their own innate magic, patron deity/creator, etc, but all my agent and editor contacts at the time were like yeah sorry, shifters are over for now, and I was like wow, can’t believe cancel culture’s real and publishing cancelled werewolves, wtf, rude, and then I was like eh, still wanna play in this universe especially with the dolphins and shark shifters which I never even really got to in those books, so I’m just gonna air-lift them out of that and drop them smack in the middle of my CW siren plot and fanfic away to my heart’s content and call that ‘being productive’ when I feel like it.

Anyway, found family was a big theme of those books and the world-building I did there in general, because again, have you met me, I’m not predictable or anything (shhh, the word is consistent), and one of my initial things there was I wanted the various shifter types to all have innate magic, because for literally no real reason that I can discern other than Whimsy, I have always been Team Werewolf in vampires vs werewolves, and I was tired of werewolves always being by default the underdogs in those narratives. Even if that does make for a good pun.

SO, I wanted to come up with werewolf magic that felt natural and organic to werewolves, like nothing too flashy or obscure, but that would make them a legitimate threat even to other supernatural creatures. And I made it so each of the shifter types were granted an active and a passive magic by the god that created their type of shifter, and with werewolves, their active magic was that of the pack gestalt. I took the idea of ‘their whole is greater than the sum of their parts’ that TW kinda briefly touched on when presenting (but never really doing much with) the idea that the more wolves in a pack, the stronger that pack was.....and I decided okay what if being part of a pack upped stats all across the board AND all shifters have a SLIGHT innate resistance to magic, being innately magical beings themselves? 

So a werewolf pack, with enough pack members, would thus not only be formidable in strength, speed, senses and speed of healing....but compound that innate shifter resistance to magic, which in a single shifter is negligible, like, just enough to make them slightly harder to track with magic or curse or whatever.....but in a whole werewolf pack, that adds up to make the pack effectively immune to foreign magic. Vampires can’t compel them, demons can’t possess them, witches can’t curse them, etc. So a lone werewolf, not part of a pack, is formidable, but nothing another supernatural being can’t take on. But a lone werewolf who IS part of a pack....different story entirely, because now most other supernatural beings, no matter what their USUAL strengths, are reduced to taking on that werewolf hand to hand, as their own supernatural gifts or spells or whatever, like, aren’t gonna do them any good against these particular foes. And werewolves are USED to fighting with just brute physical strength and attributes, which gives them the edge against opponents who are more used to being able to fall back on magic in battle.

But as much as I like sticking to a theme, I like to diversify that theme where possible, so when it came to the other shifter types, I wanted to similarly come up with ways where ‘the whole would be greater than the sum of their parts’ but in like, entirely different ways.

So with dolphin shifters, their ‘passive magic’ (in quotes cuz that’s not quite the right word for it but whatever) is that they’re all empaths, with their more active magic being weather manipulation. Their empathy is a two-way street....they project emotions as well as just feel other peoples’, which ties into the fact that their patron deity was Dionysus. Dolphin parties....legendary. But in an extremely wild, dangerous and Bacchanalian kinda way. In terms of Beacon Bay specifically, this is a bit of a problem for the BB dolphins, as the closest thing they had to an official Triton (the dolphin shifter version of an Alpha) was Peter, but they were like nope, not loving this guy, and kinda drove him out of town in the AU S1 backstory of this ‘verse, which means Scott and the others are kinda just making it up as they go along, and don’t really know the ins and outs of BEING dolphin shifters. (Derek is....elsewhere, in this. Mostly). 

So bottom line is they have reputations around school for being loud obnoxious goofs and trouble-makers, constantly playing hooky and such, but its because they don’t really know HOW to safeguard against spilling their emotions onto everyone around them so they try and err on the side of being the life of the party whenever possible, as that’s better than the alternatives in their opinion. And when they’re just having bad days and bumming hard, the whole pod will just skip school and glomp around the bumming pod member whilst self-caring, rather than like, accidentally bum out the entire school.

But their weather manipulation magic is where the gestalt idea comes into play with them, as I love weather manipulating powers, but I didn’t want to make them all Ororo Munroe, y’know? Only Ororo Munroe can be Ororo Munroe. Don’t make me scoff. I’ll do it. I’ll scoff so hard. SO I went with the idea of weather control married to manipulating storms via song and was like, okay what if a dolphin pod is like, a symphony of shifters. 

Basically, its like each individual dolphin shifter is a single voice in a chorus, and there’s magical equivalents of being a baritone, an alto, etc. Like, none of them can whip up a storm on their own. Its more that each of them can summon or conjure a PIECE of a storm with their song, with it being different for each of them....symptomatic of their magic as an expression of them as an individual. So for instance, Scott’s song is ‘tuned’ to lightning. He can call down a bolt of lightning from a clear blue sky.....but he can’t summon so much as a drop of rain to save his life. Literally. Its an actual plot point at one point. Whereas Isaac’s song is all about calling down rain, Boyd’s is more of an arctic wind, and Erica’s kinda summons a pressure front that in harmony with the two of theirs can whip up a mean waterspout. And then Corey’s all about conjuring fog banks with low visibility while Liam can whistle up a strong, gale-force wind but sucks at using his song as a precision instrument. Etc, etc. But the real magic is when they all use their voices and magic in concert....as a group, they can summon huge magical thunderstorms.

Also, one thing I love about using different kinds of shifters is the opportunity to explore enhanced supernatural senses that aren’t just keen sight, smell or hearing. So the dolphin shifters aren’t like wolf shifters in being able to detect chemosignals or anything like that....in fact, their sense of smell isn’t much different from anyone else’s. But they do have an ability to use what’s effectively supernatural echolocation even above water, and their sight is adapted for optimal viewing underwater, making them particularly good at seeing in the darkness even on land. 

(Also, related but somewhat tangential to both the shifter senses and dolphin ‘voices’....all dolphin shifters have a strong talent for mimicry, but this isn’t technically a form of magic, more just a combination of their control over their voice and their keen senses of pitch, etc).

The shark shifters, on the other hand, have some of the keenest senses of all shifters. Not only is their sense of smell even better than a werewolf’s, they’re sensitive to changes in pressure, for one thing. Which means on land, they can even feel changes in atmospheric pressure.....so like, the shark shifters of Beacon Bay could be in math class and then ‘feel’ a sudden drop in air pressure and thus even before some strange weather phenomenon occurs, they’re groaning like ugh fucking A, what the hell did the damn dolphins do now.

Also, their magnetic field perception is such that they can kinda ‘sense’ when people are around, just by being aware of the approaching magnetic field of another living being.

And then with the sharks, I was looking for ways to lean into the associations we have with sharks and blood, but subvert them to be less macabre and more communal. And another big theme of mine in general is like, I am DETERMINED to go to my grave shouting at the top of my lungs “Its THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT IS THICKER THAN THE WATER OF THE WOMB, NOT BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER, HOW DID PEOPLE GET THAT SO BACKWARDS ITS SUPPOSED TO BE THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF HOW ITS USUALLY STATED!”

Like, that’s just...HUGE pet peeve of mine. Its like nails on a chalkboard, lmfao, that drives me nuts. That phrase is usually cited by people using it to express like, the idea that there’s no greater force than family, specifically BIOLOGICAL, ‘blood’ relations, but its literally meant to be the exact opposite, that the blood of CHOSEN bonds, of covenants, of vows or promises, is a greater force than the water of the womb, ie being born of the same womb, as in biological siblings. The entire point of the phrase is biology ain’t shit, family is what we choose. And somehow it got turned ENTIRELY around.

(Note: Okay, so for the record, its not ‘somehow’, there’s actually a very clear reason for why that particular interpretation gained so much momentum, and that’s because for a long time it was conflated with an old German proverb from like a thousand years ago that basically translates to “kin-blood is not spoiled by water.” Which basically was meant to mean that nothing can ‘dilute’ blood relations, not time, not distance, not water. So that phrase DOES correspond to the idea that ‘blood is thicker than water.’ Problem is, there isn’t a direct trace from that particular proverb TO most USAGES of ‘blood is thicker than water,’ which when you throw in the OTHER phrase, which in its entirety is “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,” what you end up with is a lot of people SAYING that one when they actually MEAN to say ‘kin-blood is not spoiled by water’ and that’s where the meanings get switched. But I fucking digress. Per usual).

Anyway. So combine that particular pet peeve with my found family fixation AND the fact that this is about magic and magic means I can do whatever the hell I want, fuck your biological connections mwahahaha.....I decided to base shark magic on the idea of the blood-ties of family....but CHOSEN blood-ties, as in blood of the covenant ties.

What I mean is okay, so it first of all just made sense to me to have shark shifter communities be heavily focused around adoption, because like....let’s be real, shark shifters going around biting people to change them into shifters, and then people magically healing from....shark bites....was going to attract a lot more attention than people turning after being attacked by other types of shifters. Not to mention the fact that not only are shark attacks always big news, part of why they’re big news is because they’re actually pretty rare.

So, shark shifter communities were never really gonna propagate via lots of random shark shifter attacks turning people. So the way they DO expand and grow is by, well, family. Both biological AND adoption...as well as of course shark shifter communities taking in people who ARE attacked by rogue shark shifters, when that does happen. 

But bottom line is, there’s an additional element in play in shark shifter communities, beyond just the gene pool....and that���s like, a magical tidepool of talents, let’s call it. Because I do love me some alliteration. But also tidepool of talents is just a cool phrase, IMO.

Anyway, the main part of shark shifter magic, and how THEIR whole is greater than the sum of their parts, is that any shark shifter can draw upon or channel the talents, skillsets or knowledge of anyone else in their communal family. And whenever that family gets added to, the talents, skillsets and knowledge of the new addition gets added to the pot, so to speak. So shark shifters are kinda all like Rogue, if Rogue’s focus was less on the superpowers of other people and more on things like Beast’s scientific knowledge, Cyclops’ strategic skills or Cable’s weapons expertise.

And then their ‘passive magic’ is a form of psychometry whenever they come into contact with blood. By touching even just a drop of someone’s blood, they can get a vision of how that blood was spilled or even get a sense of where the person who spilled it is now.

As to the types of sharks and dolphins they all are, for that I went with the thing about the shape you take reflects the person you are.....all the shifters here are full shifters, and there’s no genetic component to their shifting, its purely magical, so like....just because Peter turned the various dolphins of BB doesn’t mean they all turn into the same kind of dolphin he was. In fact, I don’t even know what kind of dolphin he was on account of I don’t really care tbh, lol. Whereas Erica’s an Atlantic spotted dolphin, Liam’s a pygmy killer whale which looks like an orca just tiny in comparison and is actually a dolphin, and I found that combination of factors hilarious, etc, etc.

Same thing with the shark shifters. Even among biological relations, there’s a ton of variety of shark types. Like the twins aren’t even the same type...Ethan’s a blue shark and Aiden’s a bull shark, Tracy’s a tiger shark and Hayden’s an angel shark. Danny’s actually a throwback to an unnamed prehistoric shark, not Megalodon big but big enough to shut up Jackson when he goes on about being a great white shark. Shark and crocodile shifters are the two oldest shifter clans, old enough that literal dinosaurs fall under the umbrella of their shifter type, and thus occasionally show up even in modern generations.

[daxwormzz]

@weyounbathwater tagged me in this game thingy oh man oh man here i go

Name: Malcolm! or Mal, sometimes my friends even call me milk boy for some reason

Gender: Beleagured Academic sitting on an antique leather armchair passed down to him from his grandma in the middle of his own personal library, utterly surrounded by books he uses in an attempt to fill the ever-growing proverbial cavernous emptiness in his soul. He dreams of one day faking his death so he can leave the country and become the clown he always yearned to be.

Star sign: Leo

Height: 5,6" & 1/2"

Time: 1:25 PM

Birthday: July 28th

Favorite band(s): oh boy uhhhhhhh thats a good questiooonnnn i listen to so many different bands its hard to choose (and plus my opinions on everything changes constantly so if i do put my current faves here they'll most likely be outdated in a week or two) but here goes nothin: Will Wood & The Tapeworms, The Paper Chase, Jukebox The Ghost, They Might Be Giants, Insane Clown Posse, CAKE, and Mother Mother.

Favorite solo artist(s): (same stuff about my opinions changing a lot goes for this too) Fiona Apple, Lemon Demon, Yung Spinach Cumshot, Talkshow Boy, Penelope Scott, Marina, aannnnddd Shayfer James.

Song stuck in my head: My Chinchilla, by Cub

Last movie I watched: The LEGO Batman Movie

Last show I watched: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)

When did I create this blog: uhhhhhhhmmmmmmMMMMMMM liiiikkeeee 2017 ish i think? something like that

When I post: Everyday like all of the time, or just kind of whenever i want i dunno man i never schedule stuff

Last thing googled: how old do you have to be to rent a Uhaul truck

Other blogs: wouldnt you like to know weather boy

Do I get asks: a couple every now and then, i do wish i got more cause whenever i get them they're always really nice and funny

Why I chose my URL: i was just like "fuck dude what are words that mean huge nerd loser whos annoying and talks too much and goes into too many details and specifics???" and then i just mashed the two words together when i found them.

Followers: 886 currently :)))))))

Average hours of sleep: hmmmMMMMMMM like, some days its 3 other days its 10 and there is no in-between.

Lucky number: 3! i dont actually know if this number is lucky for me i just really like the number 3

Instruments: I play Clarinet! and i used to know how to play the drums but ive certainly gotten rusty by now, and i've been meaning to learn Guitar some time soon ish.

What I’m wearing: khakis and a weird button-up with a wacky print on it

Dream trip: A big couple-week-long summer roadtrip with me and all of my online besties i havent met in person yet!

Favorite food: okay please dont bully me for this but its,,,,, Potato chips and ketchup. or Blue cornchips and ketchup both are really good

Nationality: Native American! but like there's also a bunch of different stuff mixed in there as well but prodominantly native

Favorite song: Every Single Night by Fiona Apple

Last book I read: Good Omens by Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman

Top 3 fictional universes i’d like to live in: all i can reaally think of is star trek tbh, all of the other universes my favorite media takes place in tends to kinda suck a lot in some way and i mean star trek's world has its problems too but id say the good outweighs the bad.

Favorite color: i like all colors so its a bit of a context thing i'd say, buuuuuutttt if i HAD to pick more specific colors then i'd say green and warm yellows.

all of the people i would have tagged to do this sort of thing have already been tagged so i have.................. nothin...

[costellos]

LOL A 401K IM DEAD but honestly...... tru

all that tax stuff, retirement plans.... nanami’s got it covered. and then there’s gojo, committing tax fraud 🤧 i’d compare gojo to salt as a seasoning but that’s kinda mean, he does have some flavor. like, sugar probably suits him better?? sweet, can be addicting, but bad for you if have too much of it 🙈 AND THEN NANAMI. man’s the whole spice rack, he wouldn’t have it anything less since he loves food so much 😤 he is, as we say, umami personified 🤌

yeah, it’s unfortunate lmfao but oh well. i do occasionally have them in a smoothie though, like you said!

alsjfhsha it’s def time consuming.... like i’d be sitting down w my family and when i’m finally done picking it all out, they’ve finished eating welp 😭 and yeah, the rational part of me knows that, but i’m that person someone has to go up the service worker for and be like “excuse me she asked for no pickles” (except i didn’t 🙈) i’m much better in restaurants bc the language barrier isn’t as intimidating so i will tell them to leave out an ingredient if it’s something i can’t easily take out

mmmmm i can see that! he’d be the guy who’d eat pizza with a fork and knife wouldn’t he lol. and dab all the excess oil off w a napkin. he probably only goes to the Legit pizza places too haha but i think if he likes you enough he can be convinced to eat almost anywhere

ofc!! ask games are more fun if it goes both ways 😌 and ooooo tsumu! interesting...... 👀 those are honestly such good date ideas w a guy like atsumu! that’d rly be smth he’d enjoy and ngl the moment i read ‘something physical’ i immediately imagined y’all racing LMAO. he’s a prime example of how competition can be good for you w the right person, so i can see you filling in the space osamu left after he decided to focus more on his food aspirations. like imagine making cute lil bets w him and the loser having to do what the winner wanted hehe. omg a double date w the miya twins would be sm fun tho??? from my impression of you so far, i definitely trust you to keep tsumu in line lmfao so catch me there. me and osamu are the ones spectating and judging your guys’ competitions and cheering you on to beat atsumu like we’re olympic commentators or smth LOL

aaaaa i’m honestly p shy but if anything can get me to come off anon, it’d be nanamin 😂 (it’s like we’re todo and yuji bonding over their shared type but w nanami skdjfjsjsjs) let me know if you prefer to keep it here or on discord and i’ll give you my account, whichever platform you like better! also congrats on 1k! much deserved!! 🎉

cut for length!

A;LDSKJ GOJO WOULD COMMIT TAX FRAUD. lmao salt is a lil mean!! sugar is more fitting <3 sugar is also used for more fun foods, and I feel like it matches him bc of his sweet tooth. but Nanami........ o lawd. definitely the whole spice rack yes. 100% agree. pls I would use him in everything. wait was that a weird thing to say?

ah I totally understand! well, u got this friend. the next time u go out for Mexican food, I’ll be there cheering for u in spirit!!

and yes.... ugh... I don’t think he’s particularly picky, he’ll try anything. he just doesn’t like foods that are excessive, if that makes sense? like what you were saying with the grease. I think he’s more the type to like subtle flavors. an obnoxious meat lover’s pizza from The Hut would be a no go, but he’s down for a, quote, Legit Pizza Place. the kind of Italian restaurant that’s authentic! but let’s admit it, by that point it wouldn’t even technically be “pizza.” authenticity comes with a price :’)

ty friend you’re far too kind 🥺 AND PLS YOU’RE MAKING ME BLUSH OVER MY LAPTOP HHHHHHH. I would love nothing more than to fill the Osamu-shaped hole in his heart once they both go into their separate careers. and god..... don’t encourage him. or me. I would definitely make bets w him. and I would win. but thank you sweet anon, I would do my best to keep him from annoying the shit out of you!! it would be an honor to have you and Osamu comment on our tomfoolery. 👉👈

MY GOD I WAS ABOUT TO KEYBOARD MASH AGAIN. we’re definitely Todo and Yuji.... u like Nanami and so now I’m obligated to imagine a whole life we coulda had together in high school together. even tho I graduated five years ago. and I’m assuming you did some time ago too since you mentioned you’re old...... lordt. anyway! thank you for the congrats!! I would love to discuss more headcanons and such w you over Discord! dm me and I’ll add you so that we can sob over Nanami’s absence in the anime <33

nanamin date anon said: me, rewatching eps 9-13 on replay until the new episode comes out: hahaha i love all the jjk characters equally! nanamin and *looks at smudged writing on hand* the extras

lol i love them all rly, it’s just super refreshing to have an adult like nanami in a shounen

haha yeah, i’m definitely glad i’m not the oldest (bc that’s way too much responsibility for me, idk how they do it) so being player 2 as a younger sibling isn’t too bad, especially since it’s the story that i’m usually more interested in rather than the gameplay itself. i don’t have to worry about remembering which buttons to press in a fight when i can just watch the plot play out lol. (it’s definitely a good game, i just suck at the controls 😅 my brother let me play a bit and i couldn’t get the web swinging down i was struggling so bad aslfjjfsjak) what sort of games are you into? 👀

even if it’s boring to some ppl, watching is a good way to experience the game for yourself as well, esp if it’s a single player game! ofc i do tend to prefer multiplayer games, but it’s not too dissimilar to watching someone play a sport tbh. AND NO KENMA IM PRO-SIDEQUEST LIVE OUT YOUR COMPLETIONIST DREAMS. if we gotta fetch that dude a super rare item to unlock his backstory we MUST do it ok

YEAH! mikorin is also voiced by noya’s va! it’s honestly a shame gsnk didn’t get a second season, it’s so good 😔

me: lol does that mean kuroo’s your tomoda

kenma: ok this date is over

LMFAOOOOO not my fault the popular choices are the ones that get you the good end 😤 and it’s all good, i’m also guilty of replaying to see how the other choices impact the story haha. if there’s no save system tho, i’d make him switch out w me every time we replay bc i’d zone out at all the repeat stuff (bless games that have a skip option 🙏)

UGH TELL ME ABOUT IT!!! ok so I love the other charas too but.... Nanami’s so good. so good. iono about you, anon, but I went back and rewatched his episodes from the dub and it made me Feel Things. and I agree, it is refreshing to see an adult like him in shounen. esp since he treats the kids like kids. and he makes it clear that their being kids is never a bad thing. I will reiterate: he’s so good.

ahhh friend that’s so nice!. your brother sounds really chill. plus it sounds like a good balance: you get to watch the story, and he gets to dick around!! win-win. and as for my fav games, I’m up for anything! I try to avoid co-op games like Overwatch bc I get too competitive and I’m a sore loser lmao (but they are fun!). the last games I played were the Last of Us 2 and Persona 5, two very different games, but stuff that’s a good time nonetheless. tbh as long as I can immerse myself in the story and there’s tons to explore, I’m down. what about you?? you’d kind of mentioned otome games and Animal Crossing, but I’m curious!

hm. interesting. that’s a nice way to look at it. I guess if it’s a really good game, it’s no different from an interactive movie! also Kenma would love that omg you’re going to save so many villages in the rpgs he plays w you.... gotta max out EVERYTHING. every side quest! every mundane task!! collect literally every feather!!! but I feel like he would pass the time by making idle conversation. like some dumb shit Lev had mentioned earlier that day. such a nice way to unwind at the end of the day, shit talking Lev w his fav person 😌

anyway! going back to completionist stuff: Kenma would have such a blast going back and replaying games w you! and yes bless games w a skip option hhh. thankfully he’d remember all your previous choices together, so he can help navigate where to go next. he has no qualms handing the controller over, I think he’d love to curl up next to you and analyze how you play! but I also feel like he’d be giving unwarranted suggestions....... thanks, Kenma.

also, about Mikorin’s va: WHAT. OH MY GOD. so many things to learn..... pls. indulge me w your trivia.

[stardomyx]

DISCLAIMER: Before I begin I would like to establish that NOBODY has to agree with or even like my Lore, especially since this particular post is on a Canon Character. These are purely my headcanons and my thoughts on this character, I am not about to force these ideas/headcanons onto anyone.

After re-reading Spaghetti’s backstory and thinking over the little system I have in place for Food Soul ranks, I realised that Spaghetti would be a pretty interesting subject for this theory. So lets talk about him.

First of all, I have to say that the way Spaghetti’s backstory is written is a little strange, as it seems to imply that he both was and wasn’t with his Master Attendant while he was still living in poverty. However it’s also stated in his story that his MA’s true family took him in because of his potential as an Attendant, a potential that no one else in the family had, therefore giving him the ability to summon a high ranking Food Soul in the first place. So with that being said I think it’s safe to assume that the first part of the story can be believed, and Spaghetti was summoned directly into the estate belonging to his MA’s family.

Which starts us off on the topic of this post:

I’ve stated a few times that most UR Food Souls are of such a rank because they’re one of a kind, whether it’s due to them having abnormally high power levels or some other reason. One of these reasons is that they were customised for whichever Attendant summons them, these Attendants will most commonly be those of the upper class like those in government, and of course, royal families. Da bourgeoise basically. You guys will have to forgive me for not knowing exactly how this customisation process works yet, but I do definitely think that the custom Food Soul would end up as a physical manifestation of everything their Attendant wants in a companion. To give an example; a Guild official would like a professional and hardworking Food Soul who would also be a good ambassador to the Guild, so that’s what they would get. The process is by no means cheap, and the resulting Soul is often a bit of an anomaly, regardless of what line they come from, thus creating a completely one of a kind UR.

So; Spaghetti’s Attendant, what do we have? We have a young boy who started off very roughly in life, living in poverty, who has recently been sought out and adopted into this very high class family. No doubt his mindset is a little bit scrambled, he’s got one foot on the gravy train and the other is no doubt still firmly set in the place where he had lived previously as he tries to adjust. So as a result of these mashed up mindsets we get canon Spaghetti; a Soul who - considering the dish itself - probably wouldn’t be considered by a lot of upper class humans, but because of the influence of the family and his Master’s background, canon Spaghetti turned out very differently to how the rest of his line would typically be. I would imagine that the rest of the Spaghetti line are mostly M and R ranks because of the dish itself being a staple food. It’s a very well known and common dish, so you typically wouldn’t find a Spaghetti soul above a R rank because they’re common, like a Tom Yum or an Orange Juice. But, because canon Spaghetti was summoned into an upper class family by an Attendant who had roots in a far more humble background, that all mashed together to form him, a custom made Spaghetti.

An UR rank Spaghetti. At least at first.

My theory is that canon Spaghetti started out as an UR ranking Soul for a couple of reasons, one of the biggest reasons is actually highlighted in the post’s header, (the art is by the always talented @gearfilledgoggles so please go and commission them if you have the funds.) The reason being that he has violently purple eyes, and with the exception of just two other SR Food Souls, Spaghetti is the only non UR to have purple eyes, which incidentally is what lead me to think about this theory in the first place. 

The two other SR Souls I mentioned both could’ve been UR’s themselves, playing into this theory of purple eyes = UR. But I’ll get onto that later. But they both strengthen this theory.

The second reason is because of the environment he was summoned into. His MA got a protector and a father figure in a Food Soul, I have no doubt that Spaghetti was tailored to what his Attendant had been lacking in his early life, therefore he was customised, making him one of a kind within his own line and therefore a UR. 

The third reason is actually something I have to provide some quotes for. If you guys remember the Castle Mystery event, we’re introduced to the Fallen Angel Bone Knight, a pretty fearsome Fallen who’s on the same level as Tsuchigumo and the Enhanced Uke Mochi as we see in the future team ups. This would add absolutely nothing to this theory if Spaghetti just happened across Bone Knight and chose to use its power for his own gain, but that isn’t the case at all. If we look at some of the dialogue from the Castle Mystery event, we see quite a lot of evidence that points towards Bone Knight being a product of Spaghetti’s corrupted Soul Power, here we go:

1)

"Oyster pushed the door open to find Spaghetti sitting on the throne in the main hall. In his hands, he was holding a pale blue stone. Behind him was the Fallen Angel that had ambushed them.” - Castle Mystery Main Story Chapter 8.

2)

“Let me introduce you. This Fallen Angel here took me a lot of effort to create-- Actually, it seems that you've already met Bone Knight." He couldn't tell for sure, but it seemed to Pretzel that Spaghetti's voice was more downcast than usual, and it seemed to have a self-deprecating tone. - Castle Mystery Main Story Chapter 8.

And finally 3)

"A Fallen Angel made from human ill will concentrated in Bluestones." - Bone Knight’s wiki page.

Blue stones, huh? Like the one we see Spaghetti looking for in B-52′s backstory? Curious. I’ve seen theories floating around that these stones are essentially for purification, they’re vessels for holding impurity until they can be cleansed - kinda like how humans use crystals and other such things IRL. My theory? This Fallen Angel was born out of the corruption of Spaghetti’s Soul Power, and because of the - well - power contained within that Soul Power, Bone Knight ends up being what we see in the event, huge, terrifying and destructive. Personally, I think it’s a bit odd that Spaghetti - a Food Soul who in game isn’t that great of a unit - was able to create something like this, unless he wasn’t always a SR unit, and the power he is able to use has been stunted somehow.

And the reason behind his power being stunted is.. Pretty much why he needs to siphon off that corruption using blue stones in the first place. It’s because of his contract with his Master Attendant being severed in such a cruel way. That severance didn’t just leave him with scars, it left him vulnerable to corruption, it left him vulnerable to the possibility of Falling. Spaghetti has taken part in a lot of unscrupulous activities - including murder - so it’s no surprise to me that he’s picked up enough corruption to Fall. Not only has it left him open and exposed to the possibility of Falling, but because of how traumatic that severance was, it’s also dulled down his Soul Power. Essentially the family who took in his Attendant played themselves by killing him, they had a UR ranking Strength unit, but because of their selfishness they ended up with a far less powerful Soul than they started with. A less powerful Soul who’s also capable of producing a destructive monstrosity like Bone Knight out of the corruption he takes on.

And lastly, as for the two SR Souls I mentioned above who also have purple eyes, I’m of course referring to Marshmallow and Fried Chicken, both of whom I think could’ve been UR’s too because of these reasons: In Marshmallow’s case, she’s deathly afraid of fire, which implies that she may have been in a traumatic event to form this fear. Key word here being trauma, something that I believe can cut down Soul Power and leave the Food Soul at a lower rank than they started with. And as for Fried Chicken, we don’t know exactly how he ended up as a SR unit, but we do have this in his bio on the wiki page: “He's searching everywhere for ways to become stronger, so he can keep up with his attendant.”  He’s trying to become stronger, huh? This need to become stronger and burn brighter is highlighted very strongly in his voice lines, which gives me the inkling that he’s trying to regain some power of some kind. If he was previously a UR unit and suffered some trauma to bring him down to SR, of course he would be fascinated with gaining more power and possibly climbing back up to his original UR rank. It may seem far fetched, but I think there’s some substance to it, all things considered.

Tl;dr: Spaghetti strikes me as a far, far more powerful Soul than canon portrays him to be. Because of his ability to form Bone Knight, because of the circumstances under which he was summoned and because of his eye colour. Lets just take a quick peek at what the colour purple can represent: royalty, nobility, luxury, ambition and power.

[batboyblog]

I really don’t like Reylo

So I’m on record as saying I don’t like it when people assign moral value to liking or hating a ship, and that I don’t feel like it’s anyone’s place to try to say “you can’t like/watch/support” a piece of media because there’s a problematic thing in it. 

and I believe that still so if you enjoyed Star Wars: the Rise of whatever, great I’m happy, if you enjoyed Adam Driver’s sad face mashing against a bored Daisy Ridley’s face, okay I guess.

But it all feels amazingly sexist to me. Again to me. I mean a big part of my issue is that The Force Awakens is clearly a thematic remake of A New Hope. So Kylo Ren, was clearly meant to be Darth Vader, I mean masked Sith Lord with a complex family thing going on, who kills the elderly mentor figure in the 3rd act of the movie? While they didn’t save who he’s related to for the second film, thats understandable given that “Luke I am your father” is maybe one of the most quoted lines in movie history. 

So clearly again, in The Force Awakens, Rey is serving as a mash up of Leia and Luke, she’s both the bad-ass girl character and the newbie Jedi who’s just working it out. Poe is our Han our rouge pilot with a heart of gold, and Finn is a mix of Luke the fish out of water who doesn’t really know whats happening, and C-3PO a nervous character who gets stuck in scary places. Han Solo is our replacement Obi Wan here, the older mentor/father figure who’s gonna get murdered by a Sith Lord it turns out he has a close personal link to. 

Now imagine for a hot second walking out of a New Hope in 1977 and turning to your buddy and saying “Darth Vader and Leia are gonna end up together” They would look at you like you were insane because thats a crazy idea. 

But also, imagine having the conversation where you say “I don’t think Leia needs to end up with a man” in 1977 and even today people wouldn’t go for it. For me thats where the sexism issue comes in. That the (two men) who wrote The Rise of Skywalker couldn’t imagine a woman’s story out of relation to a man’s story. That of course Rey ends up with a man at the end, and like the womanly power of love, is how Rey a girl can reach Ben a man, not through logic, not through appealing to his humanity, no no no, love. Which is very reductive of Rey, it in a muddled and fucked up way makes all the movies really about Kylo Ren rather than Rey, Poe and Finn as set up in our first film. 

Idk I guess the biggest issue is that somehow they spent billions and billions to make these movies and didn’t plan them out at all, so you ended up with 3 TOTALLY different movies in tone, themes, plot, that do not really go together and shockingly it kinda ends in a train wreck. 

again if you liked it, more power to you, enjoy what you enjoy, but I always encourage people to enjoy stuff with eyes open its problems and flaws and if you look at the flaws and say “still worth it” awesome. 

[thehouseofgrey]

“One of the highest praises we’ve heard about this book, over and over, is how realistic the sibling interactions are. I know you said you grew up as an only child, so how did you capture the essence of life as a sibling in your new book?”

Magnus smiled at the interviewer and the audience beyond the cameras, finding Alec beaming back at him through the crowd. “My partner has siblings. I watched them interact, how they greet each other, embrace each other, speak to one another, as well as how they talk about each other when you get them alone. And what I found was no matter where you fall on the birth order, there’s this sort of fond exasperation that comes with having siblings. I love you, and I kinda want to hit you over the head with this plastic sword, but if anyone else tries to hit you with a plastic sword, I’m going to hit them in the face with a very big rock.”

He was quoting directly from a story his boyfriend had told him several months ago when he was in the editing stages and the editor's notes only said, “make them more like real siblings.”

“Make them more like real siblings?” He looked at Alec in frustration. “That’s the least helpful editing note I’ve ever received.”

Alec laughed at him. “She’s right though. I’ve read your manuscript. They sound like aliens pretending to be siblings. They don’t actually sound like they’ve ever met in their life, let alone lived together for all of it.”

Magnus sighed and threw the notes and the copy of his book he was editing down on the table. “What I’m saying is, there are no suggestions of things to make them seem more like siblings. Just telling me it’s bad doesn’t help me fix it.”

“Come to dinner with me on Friday,” Alec said in lieu of an answer.

“I thought Friday nights were family dinner at your mom’s.”

“They are,” he agreed. “Come. Everyone will be there.”

“Why would I come to the Lightwood family dinner, Alexander?”

“To observe.”

It had been the greatest gift Magnus had ever received. This chance to observe, in close quarters, a natural interaction between real siblings. They made a habit of it. Every Friday, Magnus came to dinner. He learned more about family in two months than he had ever known. When he sent the manuscript back to his editor, she was thrilled. “Now they sound like siblings.”

Alec was a different man around his siblings. Magnus expected his boyfriend to be the same affectionate but no nonsense person who ran his own start-up business. But that was not who Alec was at all on Friday nights. He was truly the big brother everyone wished they had.

“Hey dork,” he said to Max that first Friday evening, leaning against the doorframe of the boy’s room.

“I’m not a dork,” Max insisted even though he was visibly putting back together a computer he had taken apart.

“Yes you are,” Alec chuckled. “And mom wants to talk to you. She’s in the kitchen.”

Max sighed and rolled his eyes but he got up from his desk and gone, shouting “don’t touch any of the stuff on my desk” over his shoulder.

“So these characters are based on real people?” The interviewer asked.

“All the best characters are,” Magnus answered. “At least in part. But, if you’re asking if I based these characters interactions on my partner and his siblings, the answer is yes. Some of them I even lifted wholesale, changing little scenes in the book to match the dialogue. Just to get the authenticity.”

Once, after Izzy missed a brunch with them, Alec had taken Magnus straight to her apartment, pulling a spare key from beneath the potted plant by the door and letting them in. The apartment was dark, but there were clothes strewn all over the floor on their way back to Izzy’s room.

Alec opened the door with no hesitation, Magnus’ bid for her privacy dying on his lips. Izzy was lying in her bed, Clary on one side of her and Maia on the other. Magnus looked away but Alec just looked smug.

“Hey, Iz.”

She sat bolt upright, looking both alarmed and embarrassed. “Get out of my room!”

She threw a pillow at him which he caught easily.

“You didn’t show to brunch. I had to come check on you. Mom would kill me if something bad happened to you.” Then, almost as if it were an afterthought, “And I would miss you or whatever.”

The nonchalance has stuck with Magnus. Alec didn’t care what his sister was doing in her own apartment. He didn’t care that she was naked. He even pretended he didn’t care what happened to her, claiming his mother’s concern and not his own. But Magnus knew his boyfriend. He had seen the worry when she didn’t show and the relief when he saw her in bed. “And I would miss you or whatever” didn’t cover any of that. But there was Alexander with an easy trouble-maker smile, no trace of his earlier panic on him. Like he had just come over to ruin her late morning wake-up sex.

Another time they had gone to the gym where Jace worked as a physical trainer, after some bet between Magnus and Alec about who could bench press more.

“Who are you?” Jace greeted them.

Alec met his joke with a playful punch to the shoulder. “The guy who’s about to win this bet and choose where we’re going to dinner tonight.”

Jace laughed. “I don’t know, Alec; Magnus looks like he could take you.”

“Smart boy,” Magnus agreed.

Magnus had discovered it was common practice for the older siblings to gang up on the youngest. But, Max seemed unbothered by this.

“What’s up, buttholes?” He greeted them when coming to the table.

“Shut up, loser,” Jace replied.

Or another Friday:

“Hey nerd,” Izzy said from that same spot in the doorway where Alec had stood that first night.

“What do you want?” He snarked.

“Fine, I guess we’ll let Magnus eat all your pizza.”

Max lit up and pushed past them in his scramble to get to the dining table.

But it was just as common, Magnus found for them to namecall each other.

Sup bitch.” Alec said when Izzy answered the door.

“Fuck off.”

They entered the house to Max playing video games with Jace on the couch.

“Hey, shithead,” Alec said to his brother like it was a term of endearment.

Without looking up from his game or changing his tone at all, Max responded, “Hey dickface.”

Alec nodded at Jace who at least had the decency to glance their way. “Whaddup, slut?”

Jace just laughed and got back to mashing buttons and killing random baddies on his half of the split screen. “Eat my ass, little brother. I crushed you!”

That was the only time Magnus had heard any of them refer to any other as “brother” or “sister” and it was clearly meant to be a taunt.

The oddest of all was when they all stayed the night at Alec’s loft one night. Alec stood in the doorway of the living room and stared at his siblings who were watching a movie until Izzy noticed him. The silent staring continued for at least fifteen seconds, now mutual, before Jace finally broke it.

“What?”

“What do you guys want for dinner?”

“Bitch…” Izzy scoffed.

Alec left and ordered Chinese, somehow knowing exactly what they all wanted without asking them.

“I had a surprisingly easy time coming up with convincing dialogue for the scenes I couldn’t change,” Magnus continued to tell the interviewer, “once I had spent a couple months observing what it was like to have siblings. It was perhaps the most fun I have ever had researching for a novel. I recommend every only child spend as much time as they can around their friends with siblings, because it’s truly delightful to witness.”

“Well there you have it, ladies and gentlemen,” the interviewer said in conclusion. “Unfortunately we are out of time but you can buy Magnus Bane’s newest book…”

The rest of the promotion was drowned out by uproarious applause and Magnus had the feeling this one would be another best seller. And he had no one but Alexander to thank for that.

——

@kinkymagnus : ask and ye shall receive. Have 1400 words of... whatever this is. This thing I wrote at 3a instead of sleeping.

In reference to this post

[yyrz]

meet me halfway to your heart

note: part 1 of the sorta sequel of tear the walls down, don't be stupid that i wrote for mmjr week 2018! 

weird characterizations, quirkswap au and momojirou abound! anyway here are the who’s who:

bakugo - momo todoroki - tokoyami deku - kirishima jirou - ashido kaminari - tsuyu aoyama - shouji kouda - shinsou sato - sero ojiro - hagakure uraraka - iida

ao3 link! | fic masterlist!

i.

It starts with an announcement.

“Cultural Festival preparations. Go wild.” Aizawa’s monotone voice didn’t echo like it usually does after an announcement, if only because most everyone erupts in cheers over ideas that they’d like for 1-A to do for the supposed festival the very moment Aizawa’s hand signaled the end of his part of the discussion. Iida and Bakugo are up front in that instant (as Aizawa slinks into his small corner, ignoring the chaos around him), all the while getting everyone to settle accordingly (to no avail, rambunctious as class A was).

Class A is loud in the mornings, a fact only strengthened by the amount of complaints Iida gets from other classes in other buildings about the noise levels that come from their classroom. Even their dorm is no exception — they’ve already decided to set up a mailbox for complaints that Iida and Bakugo have to go through each night. It isn’t a pretty sight to see them, both president and vice-president, hunched over mountains of papers of other students telling them to keep their explosions and general ruckus down.

They were apparently noisier than the support students, which was saying a lot.

But really, it’s to be expected from a class housing Yaoyorozu and her infamous temper — which is the lead cause for all the noise from their side of the school, along with the antics that follow her around.

And because of that (and more), Kyouka’s glad she doesn’t have Ashido’s quirk, especially in moments like this. But then, watching her classmates stand and pull attention to themselves, watching the pink-haired girl effectively make everyone look at her, Ashido is also one of the louder students of their class, so really, it feels like her little thought means nothing.

Well, Kyouka can be loud too, but only on topics that carry her interest.

A festival barely touches any of her hobbies. Well, not yet. She isn’t about to bring up the one idea swimming in her head though, so she simply listens to her classmates and their increasingly absurd activities instead.

“Maid cafe!”

“Who said that??”

Everything (from shouting to chatting to ignoring ideas) ends with Aizawa’s pronouncement that they’ll likely have a seminar if a decision hasn’t been made until the next time they talk about it. So it could be tomorrow, or three weeks later. Even on the day of the festival itself, if they dare test Aizawa. Faces fall at the thought of having a seminar. Even Bakugo frowns, and he had the strangest idea to have a study session .  

Hours after the fact, everyone’s still raving about what they might want to do, groups holding their own brainstorming session in hopes of finding that one idea to rule them all. Kyouka’s group (that is, her, Ashido and Kaminari) have ventured to watching Herotube videos, making do with vine compilations that they can maybe try? For the festival?

Her friends are idiots.

You’re an idiot too, you know. Her brain supplies, unhelpfully, as they watch a certain dish soap video for the seventh time in a row. Kaminari and Ashido have taken to quoting it, and with Kaminari’s perpetually straight face, it becomes all the more hilarious a sight.

They could do that. A comedy show.

In English? Nah. Bad idea.

Unless you tell Present Mic and not Aizawa-sensei?

Still, Kyouka laughs at their antics, making sure to loop the video again — maybe watching it one more time will give them an idea?

.

.

.

It doesn’t but at least they’re having fun.

ii.

Surprisingly, it’s Shinsou who gives them the much needed push to settle on a mini-concert slash rave, walking by just as the trio watch David question why Johnny has nineteen bottles of dish soap, with Johnny retaliating that David should mind his own business, that it’s his life (damn). Kyouka notices Kaminari fidget in his seat when Shinsou points at the autoplay thumbnail, where they can see purple and pink strobe lights flash across after hovering over said thumbnail.

Ashido brightens up at that idea at once, and she wastes no time in roping half the class into agreeing on it. Her enthusiasm encourages most of them at least — Kyouka’s certainly enthralled by how hyperactive Ashido’s become with the idea of a concert.

Actually, she’s giddy in her seat as well. Her idea is given form (verbalized by both Shinsou and Ashido), and Kyouka makes it a point to share her own thoughts that she’s well aware can help them with their show.

Kyouka adores music, what with her musician parents and their currently touring band ( The Alien’s , all five members pink-faced and ready to take on the younger generation with their post-punk pop/rock hybrid style). Kyouka would be with them, mashing keyboards and strumming guitars,  but she’d rather be a hero.

The class erupts once more in cheers, but now with the goal of performing for their schoolmates in mind.

This is actually the beginning of the end for Kyouka, but she doesn’t know about that just yet.

 iii.

 “So we need to pick people for the band,” Ashido says three days after their disastrous homeroom planning, two nights after the decision to showcase a mini-concert (courtesy of one perpetually sleepy Shinsou, who’s currently nursing a baby kitten in his arms), twirling one of her jacks between her fingers as she mumbles, deep in thought. Kyouka only half-listens to her friend, watching some sort of commotion happening within the kitchen instead, attention span stolen while Ashido continued to murmur about a song she’d like someone to hear.

Said someone is probably asleep in her own room, but really, Hagakure has always been an early sleeper compared to the rest of Class A. Something about having gotten used to her schedule at home, where she’d honed her body to a rigid timetable because of her dedication to her martial arts.

Maybe that’s why Ashido’s so smitten with Hagakure.

Said commotion, meanwhile, is really just a shouting Yaoyorozu, berating one of the boys because they touched that one cup she used that came all the way from France… or so she had said. Kyouka doesn’t know really the specifics of it other than they aren’t allowed to touch that one cup (but then someone touched that one cup and now, Yaoyorozu’s rage is an eruption waiting to happen).

Which is curious, because by this point she should be thoroughly done with the boys and cursing at them or crushing them beneath the soles of her sneakers, instead of just mildly talking to them.

Okay, well, shouting is definitely not mild in anyway, but considering who was shouting, it was still a subdued reaction.

Well, whatever. All Kyouka knows is that Yaoyorozu is pretty. She’s pretty when she’s angry, she pretty when she’s not. She just a very pretty girl that Kyouka’s been staring at for the past thirty minutes now, without ever knowing that her eyes have glazed over and her lips have turned into a smile not quite different from her usual ones.

Oh geez, she can feel her cheeks heating up just from thinking about it. That Yaoyorozu’s pretty? Yes, that’s it brain. That Yaoyorozu’s really pretty. Now stop that.

Ashido nudges her, and when Kyouka glances back, clutching her poor side from Ashido’s pointy elbow, she sees the girl wiggling her eyebrows. And really, Ashido only does that when she’s teasing… oh, oh great, was she that obvious?

“You kinda are,” Ashido tells her, laughing as Kyouka’s face brightens three more shades of red, unknowingly having said that out loud, “but also your heartbeat speeds up like crazy when you’re looking at Yaomomo, you know?” She pokes one of her jacks for emphasis, where it’s haphazardly laying beside Kyouka, slithering away now that it’s been caught red-handed.

Jeez.

Kyouka lets out a frustrated sigh, thumping her chest for betraying her like that. It only makes Ashido laugh even more, leaning into Kyouka’s space. Her earphone jacks proceed to poke the poor girl while they both watch as Yaoyorozu quiets down with the promise of a new tea cup, courtesy of the ever brooding Todoroki.

As the boys cheer for their savior, Kyouka’s mind screeches to a halt. Something in their interaction makes Kyouka frown, and the girl beside her shifts her weight, staring at their two recommended students.

“Can you imagine Kyouka? Yaomomo and Todoroki together?”

She mulls over it for a moment. Not that she needs to. “Them? Not really? I mean, Todoroki’s just so… Todoroki and Yaomomo’s—”

“The sun, the stars and the moon of my life that I wouldn’t want to be snatched away by the master of darkness?”

“Mina!”

“Kyouka!” And she’s once again laughing, while Kyouka’s holding her head in her hands. Defeated. Utterly bested. She’s usually just as hyperactive herself but when paired with Ashido, her own personality dips down because Ashido was a force of nature that no one should ever try to face on their own.

Flustered, Kyouka huffs at Ashido, turning their conversation back to their first topic. A not-so-subtle change that Ashido allows, even as her eyebrows are still wriggling in Kyouka’s direction, victory prevalent from the smirk on her face.

“Shouldn’t you look for members for the band? We still need a drummer and a pianist remember?” Kyouka says a little too loudly, an attempt to drown out Ashido’s still giggling reaction.

It works, at least, because Kirishima’s head appears from behind the sofa upon hearing that, pointing his chin to this left, “Oh hey, if you’re looking for a drummer, Bakugo here knows how to play!”

And like a rehearsed set, the demure Bakugo lifts up his own head, immersion with his book broken by Kirishima having called his name, “Ah, yes, I wanted to learn to play the drums. It’s nothing much, really.”

Bakugo playing the drums was something they couldn’t imagine, not from the soft-spoken teen. But his smile is far too wide to be kidding (and anyway, he was too honest to lie), so Kyouka thinks that she’d like to see him play a song. Maybe later, when he isn’t so busy with his book.

“And there you have it! Just a pianist and we’re all set!”

Todoroki appears behind Ashido as she all but shouts, having fled the kitchen where Yaoyorozu was making a new cup to nurse her growing disinterest of everything that’s been going on around her. Probably? Kyouka’s attention (yet again stolen) is spent looking at Yaoyorozu’s movements, fluid and practiced, so she doesn’t hear Todoroki’s words until Ashido’s (again) shouting.

“Yaomomo! You can play the piano?”

Kyouka watches as Yaoyorozu’s hand stills above her cup, eyes flaring with annoyance.

“You dipshit,” is the only thing she says, looking straight at Todoroki as he hums, ignoring how Yaoyorozu’s hands have started to pop out small explosions.

And yet, ever the brave soul that he was, Todoroki ignores those said sounds as he settles beside Ashido. “Dark Shadow and I are in agreement — broaden your horizons and engage with this class once in a while,” he pauses for a beat, before adding, “Plus, you’ve been complaining about those lessons for years. At least let me have the enjoyment of hearing your ‘supposed’ skill.”

“Why you!”

The back and forth that occurs between Todoroki and Yaoyorozu is nothing short of awe-inspiring. In one way, everyone knew that they’ve been friends even before coming to U.A., and as well as being recommended students, were closer than any one of them could be. But in another, watching Todoroki brush off all of Yaoyorozu’s angry cursing towards him is a brave enough story to feature on a daytime show. It’s just that amazing.

Or maybe it’s because he keeps on saying he wants to ascend to the heavens (or some other metaphor for death) and Yaoyorozu’s probably the only person who can do that. Kyouka’s not sure what’s going on in Todoroki’s mind anyway.

“It’s at that moment when she found out that she was fu— oh wait, cursing is Yaomomo’s thing.”

Someone slipped to sit beside her, with Ashido having left her seat in favor of bothering Yaoyorozu, who, in turn, is pestering Todoroki (who had been pulled out of his seat during Kyouka’s little daydreaming) about ‘spilling the beans’ of her apparent knowledge of piano playing.

“Who are you talking to Kaminari?”

“The audience.”

Kaminari sticks out his tongue to point at their door, left ajar by Uraraka as she fled the scene before anyone could coerce her into joining any dancing committee. Which is too bad, because Kyouka knows Ashido would have liked to see everyone dance.

Well, Ashido will be pulling Uraraka back soon. Ashido will be pulling everyone into their performance soon enough.

For now, she focuses on how weird her friend is and how pretty Yaoyorozu is.

iv.

Yaoyorozu’s phone rings in the middle of class one day.

Everyone stops doing what they’ve been doing, hearing a soft, classical tune (of Gymnopedie No. 1, Kyouka will find out after a little research) suddenly playing within their classroom. Kyouka’s gaze wanders towards Yaoyorozu, because that’s where Ashido’s looking at, and people trusted her hearing enough to know that she’s intrigued at hearing something so… calming coming from their explosive classmate.

Yaoyorozu huffs, looking at the screen of her (very expensive) phone, muttering a curse before answering it.

Good thing Aizawa’s not in the room.

“Good morning, mother.”

It’s… shocking to hear her speak so politely.

Kyouka’s eyes sweep their room, and looking around, notice everyone gaping and slack jawed towards Yaoyorozu’s direction. Except for Todoroki, who’s expression was more subdued (though Kyouka can see the subtle smirk on his face, as if he’s expecting something).

“Yes mother, no mother I didn’t take out the battered jeans. Hm, no mother, I’m not going to that party. Yes mother, I know he’s asking but I don’t want to go up to those fu— fudging people.” And it’s also shocking to hear her censor herself. Half of the class is looking at Yaoyorozu like she’ll flip her table over their heads any minute now. But she doesn’t, because it looks like she’s engrossed in her conversation.

“Who told you that? Oh, oh , the son of— I see. Thank you mother. I’ll make sure to thank him for that. Yes, yes, I love you too. Please send me that new set you bought from Italy. Uh-huh, the black with golden outlines. Sure mother, I will.”

And when she sets down her phone, she whips her head to her seatmate, seething.

“Did you seriously just tell mother that I’m playing for your shitty band?”

Todoroki, for all this posturing about not having emotions, allows his smirk to grow — and for the first time in their months together, class A bore witness to a teasing Todoroki Shouto.

“Yes.”

Yaoyorozu blinks, dumbfounded. Everyone’s expecting an explosion, but it never comes. “That settles that!” Ashido shouts just to break the silence that’s filled the room, and everything around Kyouka devolves into chaos.

All she can think about is how Yaoyorozu’s red in the face. Whether from embarrassment or anger (or something else entirely that she doesn’t want to address), Kyouka doesn’t know.

v.

Yaoyorozu’s addition to the band completes the set.

So they start practicing.

Fortunately, (and apparently, based from what information they can gather from Todoroki), Yaoyorozu can’t really turn down a request from her mom, after having been allowed to go to UA for her schooling. It was a compromise, he said, though the details were kept secret even from him. 

Dark Shadow zoomed in and out of her peripheral, adding little snippets of stories about the three of them growing up.

It’s weird to hear them from Dark Shadow, of all… people?, but the stories paint Yaoyorozu in a better light than how they all thought of her during their first few weeks together.

Dark Shadow’s stories make Kyouka imagine what it would’ve been like to grow up with Yaoyorozu. She can’t seem to get it out of her head, tales of blasting a guest’s face because they insulted Todoroki, hiding behind cupboards to evade tutors, running from their parents to avoid etiquette lessons but failing and going through with it anyway , because they were heirs to their family legacies and it was expected of them.

Compared to her own upbringing, filled with music and constant praise for her various hobbies.

She wonders, not for the first time, if it was lonely living like that. During the days Todoroki and Dark Shadow weren’t with her and she’d have to accept the inevitable as the heiress of a large conglomerate.

Then again, when explosions rock the foundation of their dorm, the thought flies away. Yaoyorozu has always been in charge of her own life, regardless of everything. Maybe that's why she's in a hero school now, training to be number one instead of trudging through a management course.

Maybe that’s why Kyouka's so enamored with the girl, who pushes towards whatever she wants, doing what she has to in order to achieve it. That Yaoyorozu isn't just a pretty face and a powerful quirk — that her drive to be the best pulls in the everyone around her, including Kyouka —

.

.

.

wait a minute.

[walkingtheplankonasinkingship]

Well, it’s Fic Writer Appreciation Day, so what better time to make a rec list that no one asked for?

These are just a few of my favorites. I definitely haven’t read all of the legendary KiriBaku fics, so I know there are some amazing pieces that I missed. I also limited myself to only 2 per author and 20 total, so I highly recommend checking out some of the other works by some of these authors!

Hopefully all the links and the cut on this works, because it’s gonna be long.

Students at UA

acceptance and denial by @vikingpoteto

It all goes okay when Kirishima decides to come out to his friends and it all goes wrong when decides that Bakugou is the best fake boyfriend material.

G. Fake dating while still at UA. First fic I ever read and I don’t regret it!

Pro Heroes

slow it down (go easy on me) by @newamsterdame

When a confrontation with a villain throws Bakugou through time, he's forced to face a future he never imagined, and maybe something he can't leave behind.

T. The time travel fic that puts all others to shame.

the fool’s rush by @chonideno

Settling down with each other is naturally what comes after being dorm neighbors for years. It’s time to navigate through adulthood together, to live the daily grind of being pro-heroes, to learn more than they thought they’d like to know about each other, about themselves.

T. Mutual pining with a side of hurt/comfort? Yes, please!

Coming Up for Air by @ellieb3an

Kirishima learns to cope with the trauma of having been trapped in his own quirk, and Bakugo helps him through it.

T. I don’t have any commentary to add that wouldn’t be a spoiler. Just know that I REALLY love this one.

Six Page Spread by @indigonow

They're 22 and Bakugou's finally gotten control over his public image. Think more..."bad boy" and less "explosive asshole".

E. Ongoing. At this point, I think every KiriBaku shipper is already reading this one, but it’s too good not to rec!

Black Out by @kiribakurecs

After a fight gone wrong, Bakugou suffers from irreversible amnesia. Kirishima tries to put him back together again.

T. Ongoing. It’s still early in the story, but I was hooked within the first two paragraphs.

Fantasy AU

such a funny pair by @ellieb3an

6-year-old Katsuki runs away from home and forms an unlikely friendship with the dragon hatchling that has been stalking him through the woods.

G. Nothing should be allowed to be this cute. It will melt even the coldest of icy hearts.

The King of the Mountain by @kobonibomibo

Rumors of the barbarian king are easy to come by, but few have actually lived to tell.

U. Nothing explicit happens, just jokes. But holy crap, I was in stitches from laughing.

what’s a secret amongst friends by @electricitylightning

The five times Bakugou nearly finds out Kirishima’s part dragon and the one time he actually does.

T. Chaotic Bakusquad shenanigans in the fantasy AU. What more could I ask for?

Other AUs

but i’ve got an angry heart by @newamsterdame

Bakugou Katsuki is not going to jeopardize his future a second time, and that means staying away from anyone who gets too close. Kirishima Eijirou has never learned how not to be close to someone. Of course, they end up as next-door neighbors.

T. Quirkless college AU. I don’t know what to say. Words cannot convey how much I recommend reading this fic.

neon season by @chonideno

how kirishima and bakugou share food, beds, bodies, and refuse to admit they want it to last

T. Quirkless AU. Fan fic is not an accurate description of what this is. This is a fucking experience. The mood is incredible and the emotions are intense. It’s a must read.

A Meme A Day by PorcelainRose

Kirishima's always been happy to meet people and make new friends. Needless to say, he's ecstatic when he's informed that he's finally getting assigned a roommate after a month of living alone in a dorm room. He's more than happy to welcome his new roommate with a smile and help him out with anything he needs. He isn't expecting, however, to meet a seriously attractive blonde with intense irises that shine with his favorite color, and who he also has trouble keeping his own eyes off of.

T. Ongoing, but updates weekly. Quirkless High School AU. Super cute and low angst, but it is definitely a slow burn. I look forward to this one every week.

Beating in Time by @patster223

To be honest, it never occurs to Kirishima to actually tell Bakugou that he’s a vampire. Bakugou is the most observant guy on the planet; surely he’s already figured it out. Right?

T. Vampire AU. What can I say, I love some high quality hurt/comfort content, and this is definitely it.

you and I might just be the best thing by @vikingpoteto

Kirishima has the bad habit of falling in love with assholes - and then he meets Bakugou.

T. Quirkless College AU. Kirishima is a pining fool and I love him!

will you lead me? by @kiribakus

If the wolf is going to follow Bakugou into town, the least he can do is pretend he's not a wild animal.

T. Werewolf AU. Perfection. The dynamics between the characters are great, the werewolves are done in a way that I love, and the worldbuilding is beautiful.

Make You Cry (AKA Major Character Death)

Finding home by Save1410

Inko gasped when her eyes fell on Katsuki. “Oh my lord! A kitsune!” His eyes were wide as she passed by her son and kneeled down in front of him. “Oh my oh my. Look at you poor thing!”

T. Baby kitsune Bakugou must find his place in the world after the death of his parents.

Winters Home by @red-rioting

After his release from the hospital the first thing he had done in weeks was buy a large bouquet of flowers, different varieties of reds and orange, from roses to tulips. All the flowers he knew Kirishima admired the most and drove out to the hiking trail, his feet crushing the brown fallen leaves that scattered the ground as he walked the trail.

G. A near-death experience temporarily brings Bakugou together with his lost love. I never cry. I made the mistake of reading this at work and had to hide my tears. It’s so good, if you can handle the sadness I highly recommend!

Non-KiriBaku

saltwater room by reapers

It starts —like all ideas that inevitably lead to one’s downfall do— with something akin to this: Midoriya Izuku. Midoriya Izuku and a five-story house by the beach, completely devoid of any entry-fee --save for the one where Todoroki has to pretend to be Deku’s boyfriend.

All-in-all though, not an awful price to pay for the vacation of their dreams, right?

Right?

T. Tododeku. Quirkless AU. Fake dating.  Kinda has the feel of the beachouse part of quote love unquote (which I also recommend even if it’s not technically on this list). Has some great character dynamics.

The Legend of DKFSTA by @kiribaku-some-cute-stuff

Sero gets roped the worst god damned slumber party game of all time.

T. Light Seroroki. Remember the game MASH? The girls make Sero play a game similar to that. There’s a ton of teasing and it’s funny as hell.

fall from the sky with several flowers by @gaybirdkid

Shouto struggles with his overwhelming emotions after Hanta is injured. He doesn't do well with being powerless.

T. Seroroki. Established relationship. Third years at UA. A beautiful piece about a painfully small rare pair.

[anneimaginesundertale]

Things back then were simple and clean; if the sanctuary and passion you built are destroyed, don't think twice on facing your fears

Okay. So this is song titles mashed up into a motivational quote. I actually want to break it back into two parts, if you don’t mind, right at that semi-colon, and write a couple pieces, one with US Papyrus and one with UF Sans. I like it all together, but the first part hit me with one idea and the second part gave me another...

Both pieces are canon for the Scattering of Skeletons universe, although they may not show up in the story (which I still have not started writing!) Enjoy!

——————————————————————————————

1 - Simple and Clean

“So what was it like where you were from?” you asked Stretch.

He shrugged. “Nothing too interesting,” he said, his lollipop clacking against his teeth. “Small town. Simple, clean, good people. It was the kinda place where no one locks their doors. We had a lot of friends. Blue did, I mean. I had a couple. They were always over, hanging out and stuff. It was nice. Half the time you didn’t know who was going to be there for breakfast or what breakfast would even be but that was the fun of it. And everybody just knew everybody, but you didn’t mind if they knew your business. Everyone was friendly.”

You nodded. “I grew up in a town like that,” you said, smiling fondly. “Small town life can be awesome if you’ve got friends. So what made you guys decide to move to California instead, and to such a big town? I mean, it’s not L.A. but this is pretty different.”

“Blue’s choice,” he said shortly and crunched the rest of his lollipop. He chewed on the stick. “I want to get back someday,” he added. “I miss...everything. I’m working on it, but...sometimes I just don’t think it’s possible.”

——————————————————————————————

2 - Sanctuary Destroyed

“Hey Red?” you said softly.

“Yeah sweetheart?” he mumbled, still drunk and half-asleep against your shoulder.

“What happened between you and Boss?” you asked. “I mean, why don’t you live together? All the other guys live with their brothers.”

“We had a big fight,” he said. “It was my fault. I fucked things up. I was stupid. We were doing so well and then...stupid Red, destroying everything, like usual. I fucked up and he won’t forgive me for it.”

He buried his face in your shoulder and you felt wet droplets fall on your neck. You wrapped your arms around him. “I bet he would,” you said softly, thinking of how Boss had spoken about his brother. “Have you asked him to forgive you?”

“He won’t talk to me...”

“Have you tried?”

You just barely heard him say, “I’m scared...”

“Maybe I can help you,” you said. He didn’t respond.

——————————————————————————————

Neither of those was all that positive and uplifting, and I’m sorry, but I have been wanting to write these ideas out a bit, so this gave me a chance. I hope you don’t mind, Anon. Both of these take place somewhere in the early parts of the story I (kind of) have planned and there will (eventually) be a happy ending.

[royalreef]

@weavingroses​ inquired:  👀 ayo what merfolk would mer-brian be

(( “Grouper”, without a doubt. He’s one of the few other characters who I know INSTANTLY what species of mer he would be, and he’s just big, strong, and average enough for me to immediately assign him as “grouper”. 

Which reminds me, I really need to get a better name for them than “groupers”. I always put them in quotes because, while the niche they evolved for ( low-lying coastal ambush predator who is too big to be bossed around by anything else ) is the same niche as groupers AND they have the brown-grey-black-yellow color pattern of some big groupers, I feel like it could mislead people into thinking that my merfolk all have one specific irl species that they’re based after. Which they aren’t, and it’s one of those tropes that REALLY grates on my nerves. I build my merfolk up for certain niches in certain environments, which is how actual evolution works, and there’s something just so uncanny in having this random fish-human hybrid that is ENTIRELY UNRELATED to this other species, even though they act very similarly, steal behavioral and physiological traits from each other, and look exactly alike down to some very fine details. Not to mention how people act like the human biology would have no part in it, nor would they ever consider how human biology conflicts with some given parts that the other included species have, because these traits don’t just exist in a vacuum and mashing them together like that provides a really bad idea of how biology works.

Basically, this is why I keep putting “grouper” mer in scare-quotes, and making a big point of, while these two different species may have converged on some similar solutions to similar environmental pressures because they occupy a similar niche, they are not the same thing and should not be thought of as the same thing. Kinda the difference between mistaking one of them for the other from a distance, and copy-pasting anatomy.

Anyhow, there’s not much to say about the “groupers”, really? That’s why I’d pin Brian as one of them — since my rule for undead is to just treat them as their living counterparts to figure out what mer species they would be. Since Brian would essentially be Some Guy, albeit a very big Some Guy, he gets “grouper”, where the weirdest thing about them is that they’re one of the few mer species with slit pupils, and that they’re actually the most related species to Abyssals. Both them and the Abyssals are the most basal of all the species of merfolk, with their very small upper tail fluke, non-fused earfins, and heavy outer scale coating — but in terms of social conditions inside of the Merkingdom, the Merkingdom has had “groupers” inside of it since long before it became the modern Merkingdom, and they don’t really hold any kind of special social position. Some of them got grandfathered into some very nice positions as Royals, but usually not much mind is given to them.

[findingmarvinchavez]

hi!! 🥰🥰🥰

i totally get what you mean about liking cooking a lot or not at all!! i felt the same way (more often hate than not though) up until like a few months ago when i randomly started to enjoy baking and cooking?? (more baking than cooking though). but i still feel too unmotivated to actually do it like half the time akdkd. also that’s so great that you have started cooking more, and it’s so cool how it was because of your friends :’)

ty so much for giving me a rundown about 911!! i actually do not know what the announcement was because my mind tends to ignore like the words on the gifs bc they all blur together to me at this point since it’s a show i don’t watch, if that makes sense?? it probably doesn’t but regardless i am very intrigued by that 👀👀. also i am curious if you watch the spinoff or no?

i didn’t realize we are the same age!! that’s so cool :)) unfortunately though i cannot relate, i have had four fandom blogs (two were very short lived though), and the one i am sending you messages from i have had since late 2011 rip (but it’s also sort of a main one, it’s turned into a bit of a mish mash of things).

thank you!! do you have any fun plans for the weekend? :D

-♥️♥️

p.s. if you do spotify what was your top artist of 2021?

(also sorry if you get this a bunch it kept saying there was a problem with my ask so wasn’t sure if it went through :/)

hello!!

23 gang yeah! Do you enjoy your age, currently? 🙃

I envy people who are patient enough for baking! do you have a favorite thing to bake? Or do you like to try out new stuff (when you do get around to it, haha)?

i mean, since you're probably gonna watch the show, it's probably gonna super cool that you don't know about what's going to happen! Also yeah yeah it's funny the kind of selective vision scrolling through Tumblr creates. If I don't recognize either the show or the quotes or whatever, I'm just huh colors!

I do watch lone star, the spinoff. I think it's fun and that the cast/character choices are intriguing, but I also find the critique that appears to come lone star's way more than valid. It is slightly different in ~vibe~ than 911, which I guess is also something not everyone enjoys. I'm not that deep into the subject matter here, tho, so I'll leave it at this for now. I'm always gonna recommend just giving one or two eps a try, tho! And the crossover episode with the regular 911, which is in season 2 of lone star, is very dear to my heart! 😇

would you...would you mind sharing (some of) the fandoms? 😳 I'm intrigued now lol! (If you know how little I'm gonna judge, i literally still reblog the occasional supernatural post and I do watch that show for fun. 😬

oh, Spotify, my best friend, my worst capitalist vice! I do Spotify, I do it excessively, and I look forward to Spotify wrapped for weeks before the fact lol! My top artist is DeWolff, a Dutch "southern psychedelic rock band". If that kinda music is your jam, I highly recommend them! Just to give you an impression of how my taste in music is not communicable.in one stat, though: my top genre is blues, and my top two songs are for your entertainment by Adam Lambert and Montero (call me by your name) by lil Nas X, so basically pop*1000 haha. sry for being so obnoxious about this I should have put a disclaimer *do not ask about music unless you want to talk for hours* 🤐

BUT i also cannot hear enough about other people's music so share your own top artist, song, whatever you're happy to share, pretty please! 😊

Oh almost forgot about the weekend plans, so I'm currently visiting one last new city before leaving the country (Lithuania) next week, so yeah, lot's of fun! (Typing this in a bar, no less) what about you?

looking forward to your next message!

♥️

P.s. i did not get this a bunch, and if I did, i would have just been happy about it a bunch! 💞