#I only have 3 Epics so far so I don’t have everyone

[bluedalahorse]

I feel like there’s some meaningful stuff here about Sara and August’s relationship, so I wanted to reblog and lift those up here! Sara has traditionally been unfairly slammed by the fandom, even though her actions were meaningfully different from August’s in season 2. And a lot of times saraugust is held up as this ontologically evil foil to wilmon, even though both pairings juxtapose the capacity to be sweet and loving with some pretty intense teenage flaws.

Personally, while I understand why they happen, I’ve always been a little wary of discussions of “is Sara a bad person/is August a bad person.” I understand why this framing works for some fans, but it doesn’t work for me. Mostly because a while back, Omar was talking in an interview, and he talked about Lisa’s writing philosophy being that there aren’t good and bad people in her stories, there are people in her stories who are capable of good and bad actions. Now, authorial intent can only go so far, I get that. But I do think this is a theme that underpins the series. I think they did a great job of showing Sara’s complexity and growth over the season. I do think there were some fumbles to August’s writing in season 3 that led a portion of the audience to believe he never changed, ever, over the course of the series. I think the show would have benefitted from him and Simon having a chance to do restorative work outside of their relationships with Wille. At the same time, I don’t think season 3 was without growth for August. @sflow-er’s post on the Fleabag parallel does a great job of breaking down August’s arc. I’m not saying any of this negates the harm August does—far from it—but I do think the show is inviting us to envision a better future for August where he grows and changes, especially in our fanworks.

And that’s what I want to talk about in this reblog: fanworks. It’s been a long time since people were acknowledging the saraugust nuance in season 2, and ultimately how fascinating the pairing is, but there’s still only 96 fics tagged Sara/August on AO3 and only a few are actually about them.

I think, what I’m sad about most when it comes to Young Royals fandom, is that there is no fanworks community around Sara and August the way there is for wilmon, at least on tumblr. There are individual people who are interested in their dynamic, and some of them create fanworks from time to time, and some of us reach out to one another and have meaningful and wonderful one-on-one conversations in our inboxes. But there’s very few reblog chains about them where people are just expressing fun headcanons, there’s very little circulating fanart, there’s some gifsets and edits but they don’t circulate as frequently, no fandom events or challenges themed around them, no following and cheering on of Malte and Frida’s careers, (to my knowledge) no epic multichapter saraugust fics we discuss together and swoon over and make starry eyes over.

To be clear: I don’t think I’d ever expect saragust to have the same size of following wilmon does. There are many factors that make wilmon more popular, first and foremost being that August does real legitimate harm and is annoying and kind of sucks. Like, hey! I get it! Not everyone is going to like him, and that’s perfectly okay. And then there’s the fact that not everyone who’s drawn to an m/m show is going to feel excited to ship a f/m pairing. As @crownedwille points out, fandoms sure can do some stuff when female characters are involved. Of course saraugust will get smaller numbers.

But as someone who’s been tracking the saraugust breadcrumbs in fandom for a while, and has been following their tag on AO3, what I’m noticing is not exactly a natural absence of interest in the pairing. It’s more like I see a lot of people who have an interest in the characters and the dynamics, but something about the way YR fandom interacts socially reinforces the notion that you keep your saraugust feelings to yourself. Or, for a while if you were expressing those feelings, you were encouraged to express them in ways that are full of apologies and disclaimers. When you’re spending all your time doing that, it becomes a lot harder to create fanworks. Like, even in the tags of this post, I see a lot of people saying they liked them or found them interesting or cute or they’re hooked in by the drama or whatever else! Clearly the enjoyers exist and are out there. I think the discourse (and the harassment of actors/writers/creative team on social media) has died down a lot since the finale and there’s more space to like the characters, but I also think that some of the patterns of fandom interaction that sprung up post-S2 have had a continued impact on how people express themselves.

And yes, it’s important to be mindful of the morally dubious sides of this pairing, but we can do that while creating space for people to openly enjoy it through fic and headcanons and edits and such the way that many people in the fandom openly enjoy wilmon, even if it’s a smaller group of us. (Heck, some people enjoy saraugust because of the moral dubiousness and that is part of a Valid Fandom Tradition of enjoying morally dubious pairings.)

As someone who’s currently feeling a little burned out on wilmon by itself and doesn’t really have a desire to read works centered on them, but who’s still in love with the broader YR world and its characters, especially my two favorite characters—I am desperate for a little bit less saraugust discourse and a little bit more joyous fannishness about them. I’m not entirely sure how to make that happen. I’ve been writing fic, blogging about the characters, creating ask games, posting pictures of the plushies, and also doing some other stuff behind the scenes. But I often don’t post or reblog as much as I could for fear of discourse returning, and I feel disconnected from fandom most of the time, even though I have some strong individual ties to individual people. (I also feel like I may have burned some bridges at times when I was upset.) It’s a bit of a sisyphean conundrum, isn’t it? I wish I could wave a magic wand and make more fanworks and community happen around this pairing in particular, but also around other pairings and characters on the show for the fans who want those other pairings and characters. I just wish there was a little more variety in the characters and pairings talked about.

Anyway, I don’t have any answers and it’s time for me to acquire groceries for the week, so. Blue out.

There's so much discourse around Sara and August. Whether they were good together or not. Whether they loved each other or not.

What we tend to overlook is the fact that they talked to each other. Enough that they knew each other.

He wanted someone to talk to and he thought about her. So he went to find her and he knew to find her in the stables. Then he immediately proved to her that he was someone "safe" by petting her horse. She misunderstood his invitation that evening but he didn't make her feel bad about it. We know she talked to him about the Felice Horse Selling Thing™️ because when she comes to say that Felice was officially selling the horse, he just said "I thought you already knew that" because she had already told him.

Sara talked to August. The same why August talked to Sara. He opened up about the drugs and why he used them. He opened up about being Wilhelm's back up. He opened up about his guilt and about feeling like a horrible person.

She talked to him about her horse and about Felice. Two things that she considers the most important in her life. She also opens up to him about wanting to fit in. Wanting to "be like him" meaning that she wanted to be like the Hillerska crowd.

They talked to each other.

So like, yes, they did horrible things. They are bad people. But they aren’t incapable of caring. And they aren't entirely self centered. That's what makes their individual betrayals even more heartbreaking. Because we know they're capable of caring and they made the choices they did anyway.

[quibbs126]

While this is definitely subject to change since the game just came out, I don’t want to replace Alchemist on my TOA team, she’s too useful

She’s the ranged attacker on my team, her Special can hit multiple enemies, and her Ultimate has quite the range, poisons the enemies and usually does my job for me unless it’s a boss, and it stays up for a good while

Like I feel like the only way I’ll replace her is if they make a new character that’s literally her but superior in every way

[lilacgyuvin]

out of my league — k. gyuvin

pairing: nerd!gyuvin x popular!gn!reader

synopsis: it’s valentine’s day! what better way to confess to your longtime crush (and the highschool’s most popular student) than with a letter shoved through their locker. just don’t let jiwoong find out.

wrd count: 6.3k (DAMN OKAY BITCH!!!)

warnings: highschool!au, slight hurt/lots of comfort, bully!jiwoong (srry someone had to do it), bullying, one km s joke, reader isn’t a bully, eunseok of riize sneak, jiwoong is really mean 😭 a little crack, funeral talk, not to be taken seriously this is fiction!!

a/n: yk i had to write smth with valentine’s day coming up!! i lobe gyuvin gyuvin pls be my valentine pls plsplspls

“I put a note in their locker.”

It probably wasn’t the best sentence starter, which Gyuvin realizes only after Taerae starts to choke on his strawberry soda mid-chug. Despite his eyes practically bulging out of his head paired with a boisterous gasp amidst hearing Gyuvin’s doings, Eunseok reaches a lending hand out to his suffocating friend’s back.

“You what?!” Eunseok screams in a hushed tone, despite being the only three occupants of the classroom. If Gyuvin didn’t think it was a stupid idea then, well, he certainly does now. He honestly wasn’t going to tell anyone at first; the embarrassment mixed with the fear of rejection almost made him drop the whole plan as a whole. However, binging 3 romance dramas back to back gave him the confidence he’d never thought he’d have otherwise if it weren’t for the male leads and their suave ways, which is what leads him to where he stands today: sending a confession letter to his longtime crush which also ended up being the cause of his friend’s premature death. Thanks, Choi Woong!

Taerae unfortunately survives his cough attack and uses his regained ability to breath properly to discourage Gyuvin’s efforts even more. “Jiwoong’s gonna kill you man.”

Yes, that’s exactly what he wanted to hear right now. He decides against answering with sarcasm and opts out to rolling his eyes as hard as he can at the mention of he-who-shall-not-be-named.

“He didn’t see me put it in,” He certainly didn’t, and Gyuvin knows this because he showed up an hour earlier than normal to slip the note in, partly to avoid Jiwoong and to also beat his inevitable numerous contenders. “Plus, they’re not even dating. They don’t like him.”

Eunseok and Taerae share a glance. They look back at Gyuvin. “Did they tell you that.”

Gyuvin’s starting to get tired of rolling his eyes. Of course they didn’t tell him that, they’re nowhere near close. While they’ve coexisted in the same space for the past four years, their friend groups are on complete opposite sides of the spectrum. They’re admired by everyone, in numerous clubs, and is practically known by the whole school. The only club Gyuvin’s a part of is the Epic Gamers Club™ held at Eunseok’s house every other day. And as far as being admired goes…

“Yo. Gyuvin.”

Oh fuck, it’s so over. Gyuvin is going to die. What’s-his-face is here and Gyuvin is going to die, all because he couldn’t confess to his crush like a normal person. How did Jiwoong even see him? It’s not like he handed the letter to them in plain sight, and there’s no way in hell Jiwoong showed up to school an hour early.

Well, none of that matters anymore. Jiwoong is now walking into the once peaceful confines of the classroom, his goons right behind him, and Gyuvin’s about to meet his end.

All he asks is that Y/n is at his funeral.

Despite coming into the classroom for Gyuvin, Jiwoong is kind enough to make time to mess around with his friends first. Wedging himself in between the three desks facing each other, Jiwoong snatches Taerae’s glasses off his face and tosses them to the floor, and at the same time shoves Eunseok’s tuna mayo kimbap out of his hands. So much for escaping the lunch room.

After watching his friends scramble for their discarded items, Jiwoong turns his back to them in favor of facing Gyuvin, his signature smirk plastered on his face.

Kim Jiwoong: The entire school’s boy crush and simultaneously Gyuvin’s worst nightmare. Going into high school, Gyuvin didn’t think he’d have problems with anyone, his plan was simple: make a decent amount of friends, stay in the honors program so he can get into his dream university, and best his all-time score in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Oh, and get into his first relationship (since the girl he ‘dated’ in the second grade didn’t count, according to Taerae).

He guesses he strived too hard at the second thing though, as in their freshman year Jiwoong was left at second place in their classes overall academic ranking, and Jiwoong was never second.

Ever since then, Jiwoong has tried everything to sabotage Gyuvin’s grades, which ended in failure each time. So, he just stuck to messing with him. Now Gyuvin wouldn’t really mind if he had got reprimanded for his actions, but he gets away with it— every time. Sneaking slaps upside his head when passing him through the halls, pushing and tripping him during gym, and ‘accidentally’ spilling his drink onto his uniform (which is what initiated classroom lunches amongst him and his friends in the first place): he got away with it all, for four damn years. All because of that facade he puts up in front of everyone. With his perfect grades combined with his charm, he’s adored by students and faculty alike— all but the few who were unfortunate enough to be victims of his ridiculing, Gyuvin included.

The devil himself opens his mouth once again. “I haven’t seen you in a while, you hiding from me?” His smirk forms into a smile, yet it doesn’t reach his eyes, and it holds the same sinister tone as his previous expression did.

Gyuvin looks up at him, disdain hidden behind the neutral shield he’s learned to master in favor of avoiding a swift blow to the face (not that it ever stopped Jiwoong from landing one, anyway). “No.”

At that, Jiwoong’s smile drops, his eyebrows furrow in fake confusion and he starts to look around the empty room. “But… you’re having lunch. In an empty classroom. When there’s a perfectly good cafeteria waiting for you downstairs.” Jiwoong’s friends snicker by the door as he leans down to be eye level with Gyuvin. “Don’t you find that rude, Gyuvin? The staff make sure the cafe is cleaned spotless for scum like you to eat, and you’re eating in the classroom?”

Literally what the fuck is he even talking about. It isn’t uncommon for students to eat in the classrooms, and he knows this because Jiwoong’s literally done it before. It’s in that moment that he realizes Jiwoong just came in here to mess with him, which means he doesn’t know about the letter which means that he won’t die today. Looks like he’ll live to see another day after all!

His newfound happiness isn’t long lived, as in the span of one second, Gyuvin blinks and his food is nothing but a pile of solids and liquids on the classroom’s floor.

Jiwoong gives him a mean snare, despite the fact that all of Gyuvin’s attention is to his now germ-infested food. “And now look, you made a mess.”

Gyuvin can barely hear him and his friends laughing with the way his ears are ringing— no, practically blaring throughout his head. His bulgogi over rice is on the floor. His fucking bulgogi over rice, the last of its kind (as his mom let him have the last of the leftovers), is now nothing but a concoction of soggy meat and rice sautaed with his strawberry milk.

Usually, Gyuvin would be the bigger person and walk away; he’d shut his mouth, clean up the mess, and go about his day. But for some reason, he doesn’t feel like being the mature one today. Maybe it’s the never ending grating laughter coming from his friends, maybe it’s because he’s tired of Jiwoong pushing him around, or maybe it’s just because his mom’s bulgogi is the best bulgogi, and now he can’t have any, all because Kim Jiwoong was bored.

Without a second thought, Gyuvin rises from his chair, lifting his arms to push at the chest of an unexpecting Jiwoong, who stumbles onto the desks of Gyuvin’s friends behind him (he’ll apologize to them for that later). Jiwoong unfortunately finds his footing rather quickly, and doesn’t waste a second as he roughly grabs Gyuvin by the collar, dragging him to the nearest wall and slams him against it. “You fucking crazy? Huh?!”

Those dramas must be really getting to me, Gyuvin thinks. It becomes obvious when he doesn’t shut his mouth after Jiwoong’s question. “Fuck you, Jiwoong.”

He doesn’t even mean to spit in his face, but it happens when he speaks, and he can feel his past self crying tears of joy. He’s been wanting to do this for four years. Maybe the bulgogi sacrificed itself for this very moment. Thanks, Bulgogi. I’ll never forget you.

Jiwoong dryly laughs, lolling his head to the side like the psycho he is. “Yeah, you’ve clearly lost your mind. I’m gonna fucking kill you.”

Okay, remember when Gyuvin thought he was free from begging murdered and would live to see another day? He’s starting to think he spoke too soon.

It’s like things are moving in slow motion; Jiwoong releasing a hand on his collar in favor of making a fist angled straight at Gyuvin’s nose, his friends standing from their seats in dreadful anticipation, and the swift breeze that comes from the door being swung open.

“Leave him alone, Jiwoong.”

Ah, his guardian angel.

In less than a millisecond, Jiwoong’s vice grip on Gyuvin’s collar is released, and the fist ready to knock him out is lowered to his side. A deep sigh escapes his throat before he turns to the agitated student. “Go back downstairs, Y/n. This is nothing.”

Gyuvin almost laughs wholeheartedly at Jiwoong’s weak attempt to redirect them. As if he could get them to do anything he said.

Y/n cooks their head to the side, which in Gyuvin’s book is a telltale sign that they’re about to read the fuck out of Jiwoong. “Yeah, it was nothing, until you decided to come in here and bother them for literally no reason. Do you seriously have nothing else better to do?”

Gyuvin can feel an amused smile crawling onto his face as he watches Jiwoong scramble to find an excuse. Seeing Jiwoong try his hardest not to physically deflate in front of his friends would never get old.

And neither would his good-boy facade, apparently! Despite being caught in the act by Y/n for the millionth time, Jiwoong still attempts to save face by pulling out the puppy eyes plucked from the deepest pits of Hell, paired with the fakest apologetic look Gyuvin’s ever witnessed, and turns to be face to face with Y/n, caressing their arm in what he thinks is a comforting gesture. “Come on, don’t be like that. What, you want me to apologize?”

“Yes.”

Like he’s just heard he’s due to get castrated tomorrow morning, his hand’s cease the petting motion and Jiwoong does a double take. “You serious?” He looks into their eyes for any signs of humor behind them (which is stupid for issuing an apology, Gyuvin thinks), and when he doesn’t find any, he drops the act faster than Gyuvin can say ‘COD sucks’ and pinches the bridge of his nose, letting out the loudest groan known to man. “Oh my- fine.” Jiwoong looks to his right, locking eyes with him, “Sorry for knocking over your piece of shit lunch, Gyuvin.”

Piece of— his mom’s bulgogi?! Of course Jiwoong wouldn’t know the significance the lunch held for Gyuvin, but he wouldn’t care anyway, so Gyuvin breaks eye contact and rolls his eyes as far into his head as humanly possible.

Gyuvin, now making his way to his book bag to retrieve napkins for his late lunch on the floor, can’t see the look of disbelief on Jiwoong’s face, but he sure can hear it. “What, you’re not gonna accept my apology?”

Gyuvin doesn’t stop fetching for the tissues even when he hears Jiwoong’s footsteps approaching him, and neither does he stop when they come to a halt. “He doesn’t have to do anything,” When he finally retrieves the napkins, Y/n is at his side on the floor, grabbing the empty plastic bag on his desk. “Now if you aren’t going to help clean up, then leave.”

Jiwoong furrows his eyebrows. “You don’t need to help them, Y/n.”

“I also don’t have to meet with you at the cafe after school.”

Oh, Gyuvin knows that one hurt. Everyone knows Jiwoong’s been dying to ask Y/n out for a while now (mostly because he’d never shut up about it), and boy was Gyuvin right. He stumbles over his words as he raises his arms before dropping them. “Come on, Y/n. It’s Valentine’s Day.”

Despite the obvious hurt in his voice, they don’t even spare him a glance, focusing on the mess in front of them. “..So? We’re not dating, take Minjeong or something.”

A beat of silence passes, and he thinks Jiwoong died of embarrassment until a scoff erupts from his throat. Okay, there was no way Gyuvin would miss out on seeing Jiwoong’s face after getting rejected before he could even confess, so he raises his head and fully suspects Jiwoong to be sulking or something. He was so wrong. When Gyuvin looks up, Jiwoong is staring right at him, his eyes holding nothing but disdain and revulsion. Wow, Gyuvin thinks, if this is how he reacts to them just simply helping me, what’s he gonna do when they accept (which they hopefully will) my confession? He’d rather not think about that right now actually, and he doesn’t have to any longer, as Jiwoong turns on his heels and makes his way out of the classroom, his goons behind him, but not before mumbling a parting gift for Gyuvin. “Fuckin’ freak.”

So original. Anyway, Gyuvin’s just glad he doesn’t have to deal with him for the rest of the lunch period. His friend’s are quick to his side, and he reassures them that he’s fine. “I’ll go get more napkins.” Eunseok nods and rises from the floor, and is halfway through the door before he stops when he realizes Taerae isn’t behind him.

He cranes his head to the side, and from the corner of his eye he can see Taerae still at Gyuvin’s side. Unbelievable. “Um, Taerae.” He raises his head to his friend standing, and doesn’t get the hint until Eunseok is nudging his head towards the hallway in a ‘get-the-fuck-out’ sorta way.

He looks between Gyuvin and Y/n before his whole body straightens, finally getting up from his crouching position. “Oh! Um, yeah. I’m going to get napkins too.” While Taerae walks towards his other friend, Gyuvin raises his head, and Eunseok gives him a thumbs up in support. It’s in that moment that Gyuvin decides pizza’s gonna be on him at tonight’s Epic Gamers Club™ meeting.

A beat of silence passes, only the sounds of his poor lunch being scooped up into the bag are heard, until Gyuvin musters the courage to start the conversation.

“Thanks for helping me.” He doesn’t have to stop his task to know that they’re smiling. “Of course, I’m sorry about him.” They say in a remorseful tone.

Gyuvin hates the way they apologize on Jiwoong’s behalf, but at the same time he can’t help the way their kindness makes him feel all warm and gooey inside— They're just too good for this world. “You don’t have to apologize for him. You’re not his babysitter.”

His last comment seems to make Y/n laugh. ‘Huh, I’m just funny like that, I guess’ (It’s what he’s thinking, but his friends would agree to disagree.) “It sometimes feels that way.”

Gyuvin hesitates to ask his next question; they’re not exactly close, but he’s been feeling all sorts of confident recently, so he does anyway. “Why do you hang out with him? With them?” ‘Them’ being the rest of Jiwoong’s posee who think they’re hot shit; being all types of mean to other students just because of their looks or their parents’ social statuses. Gyuvin doesn’t think he hates anything more than a snobby rich asshole, which is what induced Gyuvin’s question in the first place, because Y/n isn’t a snobby rich asshole, yet they hang out with a group of them. It’s a question he’s been dying to ask for years now, and all it took was for Jiwoong to fuck up his lunch. Gyuvin almost mentally thanks him, but he barfs in his mouth a bit just thinking about it.

A few seconds pass, and it seems like they’re trying to find an answer to the question themselves. A nervous sigh passes through their lips as they wipe at the strawberry milk staining the floor. “Well, I guess I just fell into it? The friend group, I mean. When I first transferred, I thought they were really nice. At least they treated me that way. I don’t know why.”

‘Because you’re smart and all types of talented and you’re fucking gorgeous’ and a thousand other things is what Gyuvin wants to say, but he keeps his thoughts to himself and lets them continue. “But yeah, they’d always push me to hang out with them, and I guess by the time I realized who they truly were, everyone had already established their friends groups.” At this point is where they ran out of napkins and there was still a bit of the mess left over, so the two sit across from each other, leaning on the legs of the desks behind them. Despite loving the alone time they’re getting, Gyuvin hopes Eunseok and Taerae come back with more tissue soon, or else he’d have to explain the mess to his teacher, thus taking the fall for Jiwoong once again. His sulking that came from just thinking about the possibility is interrupted when Y/n speaks again, in a more hushed tone this time. “I guess I’m just scared of being alone.”

Woah, Gyuvin’s never thought of it that way. Having no friends was a valid fear, hell, Gyuvin felt that way before he met his. He can’t imagine how it would affect Y/n. The school’s most popular student: a loner— they’d never hear the end of it.

He hates that they feel like they need to hang out with pieces of shit to avoid being lonely, when that isn’t the truth at all. As delusional as it may sound, Gyuvin is right here. Who cares if they don’t have similar interests? They can introduce each other to all their different hyper fixations and special interests. And so what if they’re from seemingly different worlds? Gyuvin would swim across all the oceans and walk over thousands of miles if it meant getting to be with Y/n. Every time they’re paired to work on an assignment together, whenever they congratulate him on yet another academic achievement, when Y/n spots him in the hallway and stops to talk to Gyuvin and only Gyuvin. It never gets old, his heart beating a million times over with how kind and effortlessly funny and drop dead gorgeous they are. Fuck, he thinks, I don’t know if I’ll be able to go on if they reject me.

Gyuvin never wants them to feel alone, he needs to let them know that such a thing can never happen. He can tell his silence goes on longer than expected with the way they start to nervously fiddle with the edges of their uniform sleeves. He says it before he can think about it for another second. “You don’t have to be alone. I-I know we’re not close, but you can talk to me.”

With the speed in which their head lifts from their fixed view on the ground, Gyuvin doesn’t know if he’s successfully swooned them or if he effectively fucked up his chances at being anything to them. He needs to save face, so he raises his hands in defense, his eyes widening in pure fear. “O-only if you want to! Like. Just in case you felt like it or whatever.” Yeah, it totally wouldn’t put me into anaphylactic shock if you were to seek me out in any way shape or form!

Gyuvin lowers his hands, leans back on the legs of the desk, and watches as Y/n’s expression transforms from one of shock, to pure adoration. Their eyes soften in a way Gyuvin’s never seen before, and if he were to look a little closer, he swears there are tears swimming at the brim of them, threatening to fall.

‘FuckifImadeY/ncryI’mgonnaenditall’ is the one thought running through Gyuvin’s head as he waits for a response. He isn’t joking either— he’s sorry to his loved ones and all that, and he supposes the Epic Gamer Club™ would have to go on an indefinite hiatus with the emotional trauma it’d leave on his friends. He wonders if his dog would be brought to his funeral?

Turns out he won’t have to plan out his funeral arrangements after all, that becomes clear when a warm smile meets their eyes, and the tears dwindle to a glassy thin layer over their eyes. “I’d love to. Thank you, Gyuvin.”

Oh Gyuvin thinks his heart just exploded, but like, in a good way. A love explosion, if you will. He doesn’t waste a beat before he’s sporting a smile of his own, sitting straighter than before. “Anytime.”

His friends aren’t back, the period isn’t over yet, and he doesn’t want to stop the conversation there. So, he talks about the thing that’s been plaguing his mind for the past week. “I saw your locker. You got a lot of letters.”

Y/n laughs bashfully at the mention of the hundreds- no, thousands of letters they received today. When they arrived at school, they opened their locker and was bombarded with a sea of pink and red cards that practically drowned them, and by the time second period rolled around, their desk was stuffed to the brim with even more advances in the form of candies and cute plushies. “Yeah, I haven’t even gotten to a single one yet! I’ll do it before school ends, though. I’m glad people like me enough to get me things.”

They’ve got to be kidding. The spring semester of freshman year was absolutely rocked by the wave that was Y/n’s arrival. Despite coming from a normal, middle class family, they were quick to rise in popularity. At first, it had just been their beauty that seemed to draw everyone in, but as soon as they were able to showcase their physical and academic skill, along with their endless heaps of kindness, they became more than just a pretty face, and the whole student body can testify to that. Unfortunately, by the 4th day into the new semester Jiwoong and his loser-ass friends had already sunk their claws into Y/n and scooped them up before any other group could. But yeah, anyone who doesn’t love Y/n is crazy and is probably most definitely going to hell.

‘I hope you read mine.’ It’s at the tip of his tongue, he’s straightening his posture to sit taller and ask them with his whole chest, and—

“More napkins!” is the opener Taerae decides to go with as he and Eunseok barge into the confines of the classroom. “Uhh sorry we took so long, we were arguing about…” he turns to Eunseok who just shrugs his shoulders before turning back to the two. “.. who the strongest avenger is.”

Gyuvin wants to roll his eyes, partly because they couldn’t have come up with a lamer excuse even if they tried, they unknowingly sabotaged his unplanned confession, and cause the strongest avenger is obviously Scarlet Witch.

He decides against it, rather locking eyes with Y/n who he finds is already staring at him, and they exchange equally bashful smiles. Gyuvin isn’t mad at his friends, not when they invade his and Y/n’s space to help clean the last of the mess, and not when they use the rest of the lunch period to bombard them with questions like, ‘have you read kimetsu no yaiba?’ and ‘where would you go if a zombie apocalypse broke out?’ (they answered with staying in Seoul, which prompted Taerae to blatantly tell them they’re going to die, which in turn earned himself a slap from Gyuvin).

He isn’t mad because he still has a chance: today, at 3:00 in room 124 after school like his letter specified. He hopes, some way, that through the piles of letters and candies and plushies and whatever the hell else, they somehow recognize Gyuvin’s from the crowd, and pick him.

It’s time.

It’s time, and Gyuvin’s got it all figured out: Although school’s ended 45 minutes ago, he knows Y/n is part of the cooking club, so he isn’t keeping them behind or anything. He used that time to run to the flower shop a few minutes away and get them their favorites along with a stuffed animal. The classroom he initiated the meeting place in was one that was barely used by students, let alone teachers, so they wouldn’t be disturbed. Oh! And it’s on the first floor, so if Jiwoong happened to find out about his advances and decided to sabotage him with his friends, then he could jump out the window without sustaining any injuries.

Gyuvin’s got it all figured out, so why’s he practically shitting bricks right now?

There are a lot of reasons really— the main one being the fear of rejection which he’s afraid he’ll never be able to live down which will lead to him maybe most certainly doing something drastic.

But it’s 2:58, two minutes before Gyuvin’s letter says for them to meet, and he has to pull himself together. He decides pacing around the room a billion times isn’t gonna do the trick, so he opts out to sitting on the teacher’s desk instead, setting the flowers and plushie behind him. He pulls out his phone and at the same time receives a text from Eunseok.

eunseokie <(˶ᵔᵕᵔ˶)>: let us know how it goes 🫡 also please don’t die today

eunseokie <(˶ᵔᵕᵔ˶)>: taerae brought danganronpa and you know how he likes to voice the lines aloud. you’re nagito we need you

Along with Taerae’s ridiculous gaming antics, Gyuvin finds it amusing how Eunseok also thought about the possibility of Jiwoong finding him out, and it makes him laugh, somewhat calming his nerves down. It’s comforting to know that if this confession doesn’t end up going well, he’ll at least have his friends to fall back on.

“What’s so funny?”

The sudden voice echoes through the empty classroom and Gyuvin almost lauches his phone through the ceiling with the way he jumps.

His heart drops a million times over and he nearly passes out, but he doesn’t, as an angel was sent before him. The angel, if you will.

Standing by the now closed door was Y/n, the sun cascading over their skin to only amplify the seemingly everlasting glow on their face. The same tender smile that they gave Gyuvin a few hours earlier was back, and he looks down and—

They’re holding his letter.

Out of the swarm of all the pinks and reds, through the heart-shaped candies and the softest plushies, none of them are in sight but Gyuvin’s. Gyuvin’s, with the stupid Evangelion washi tape on the side preventing the envelope from falling open after he accidentally ripped it, the one with animal crossing stickers plastered every which way because Y/n mentioned the game once, the one with emoticons drawn on by Gyuvin himself in hopes of standing out in the sea of letters: it was in the grasp of Y/n’s hands, fiddling with the edges as they approach Gyuvin in what to him feels like slow motion.

He honestly feels like he could cry. Oh shit, is he crying? Gyuvin sets his phone down to raise a hand to his cheek, which is thankfully dry, but the action brings him back to reality and he realizes that he’s been staring for longer than normal, so he manages to use the little breath he has left to muster what he can.

“You came.” It’s not much, but it’s the best he can do, and way better than just staring at them in pure silence.

“Of course I did.” They say it like it’s the most obvious thing ever, which only serves to throw Gyuvin off even more.

“But- what about everyone else?” What he really wants to say is ‘why me?’ Throughout the day he’d pass by their locker, their desks, even Y/n themselves; everyone seeking them out were more than worthy candidates. Whether it were their looks, their popularity, or the fact that they were confident enough to confess straight to their face— all of them were more worthy than Gyuvin could ever be. So why were they here, at 3:00 pm in room 124 like the letter read?

They shrug, a knowing smile plastered on their face. “You said you wanted to talk?”

“Oh! Right. Yeah.” He opens his mouth, breathing in a handful of air before speaking again, “...I forgot what I was gonna say.”

It wasn’t a total lie! He was caught completely off guard, it was kinda expected to forget the speech he’s been practicing for weeks now. It doesn’t seem to phase Y/n though, for they simply shrug again, and begin to remove the letter from the envelope in their hand. “That’s okay. Maybe if we read your letter it’ll jog your memory.”

‘Dear Y/n,

I know we aren’t close, but you’re not like anyone I’ve ever met before. Please meet me in room 124 @ 3:00pm today, so that I can express my feelings in full.

— Kim Gyuvin’

It sounded like poetry when Gyuvin read it in his head, aloud in his room, and then to his mom for a second voice of opinion (she said he was better than Shakespeare, which went straight to his head). But now Gyuvin isn’t too sure how that made the final cut, he cringes a million times over when they read it out loud.

He scratches the back of his head and tries to hide his mortification as much as possible. “Sorry, I know that’s pretty vague..”

“It’s okay! You can say whatever’s on your mind, I’m all ears.”

Holy shit, this was really happening. He doesn’t know why, but he wasn’t expecting to get this far. Maybe he thought Y/n was too good for him, and he really did think about the possibility of Jiwoong finding him out, but none of that matters anymore— not when his dream come true is standing right in front of him, when they could be doing anything else right now and they decided to be with him. The fact that they’re even giving him the time of day is enough to fuel him with more confidence than those romance dramas ever could.

He stands up from the desk, and takes a deep breath. “I really like you Y/n, I have for a while now. You’re smart and funny and really pretty, and you’re always nice to me. I know we don’t like all of the same things, but that doesn’t bother me. I want to learn more about you, I want to learn everything about you. I hope you feel the same way, and if not, I understand. I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself if we graduated without letting you know how I feel.” Without turning around, he reaches for the flowers and stuffed animal, trying his best to steady the nervous look creeping onto his face as he holds the items out between the two of them. “Please be my valentine! And then something more. If you wanted to.”

Gyuvin’s rant has finally come to an end, and he doesn’t realize they’re tearing up until he’s holding the items up for them to take.

Oh my God he’s seriously made Y/n cry, he’s got to end it now. It’s what he’s thinking until his personal space is being invaded by the warmth of the bone crushing hug Y/n has them in before Gyuvin can even apologize.

Despite their face being shoved into his chest, tears wetting his uniform vest, they still manage to muster a coherent response. “I’m glad you told me before graduation. Of course I’ll be your valentine.”

Wait, what? Gyuvin stiffens in their hold when he both realizes that he hadn’t returned their hug and that they said yes?! “Oh my God really? Wait. I’m sorry, I know this is what I like, wanted, but can I ask why?” their hold on Gyuvin releases a bit as he continues, “Is this just you being nice? Cause if so—”

In the span of two seconds, their warmth is gone, and Gyuvin can’t even sulk the lost feeling before he’s being punched in the arm. “Ow!”

Their tear stained face holds a look of offense, like Gyuvin just wronged their entire lineage. “You think I’m crying just to be nice?” Oh, he thinks, thats a good point. “I like you too, dummy. You’re really smart, and you never stoop to people like Jiwoong’s level whenever they bother you. Also, you get really cute when talking about your dog or those games you like.”

They actually listened to his stupid rants? How could he not blush at that? It spreads from his cheeks, all the way to the tips of his ears, and fails to go unnoticed by Y/n. “And when you blush. You’re just a big cutie.”

Oh Gyuvin’s having one of those love explosions again, but like, a million times worse. This can’t possibly be good for his health. In a poor attempt to hide his bashfulness, Gyuvin brings his hands up to cover his face, his words muffled by the makeshift shield. “Oh my God. I can’t believe this is happening.”

And apparently Gyuvin’s suffering is funny? Because now they’re laughing, coming closer and raising their own hands to grab at Gyuvin’s wrists, successfully pulling them away from his face. “Don’t be shy now! You’ve come so far.”

They’re right, he has come so far. So why cower away now? He’s quite literally got them in the palm of his hands (or vise versa, he should say), and he’ll be damned if he lets them slip away now. With their hands now holding his wrists at their sides, Gyuvin doesn’t have half the mind to think before he’s leaning in, landing a feather-light peck to their lips. ‘Oh fuck, am I doing this right?’ It isn’t until now that Gyuvin remembers he’s never actually kissed anyone before, and panic follows quickly as he pulls away, their faces still mere inches away. “I-I’m sorry. I don’t really know what I’m—”

Their lips are suddenly on each other again, but it’s Y/n who initiates the kiss, and it's beyond better than Gyuvin’s. It’s light and refreshing, like how Gyuvin feels whenever they’re around. Their lips are as soft as their hands in his grip, and he can feel them smiling against his as they continue. He never wants to let go of this moment.

He ends up not minding when it does end though, for when they both pull away, Y/n finally lets his wrists go in favor of holding his face in their hands, which has Gyuvin practically melting into their touch. “If you apologize one more time, I’m going to punch you again.” They smile, despite having just threatened him.

Gyuvin doesn’t mind, though. They could hit him with the force of a hundred meteors, and he’d still forgive them. So he just smiles, basking in the warmth of their hands. “So, what’d you wanna do now?”

Y/n ponders for a moment, and perks up not long after. “Wanna go grab food?”

Oh, Gyuvin could cry. Y/n came straight from the cooking club, where they make full course meals that they get to eat at the end, so there was no reason for Y/n to be hungry. Yet Gyuvin’s lunch was ruined by what’s-his-face, and there was no way he wasn’t starving by now, and they remembered that.

He doesn’t wanna ruin the mood with his crocodile tears, so he sucks up his tears as much as he can, and smiles fondly instead. “Sounds perfect.”

Gyuvin’s still in a minor state of shock when they walk out of the school's doors. The person who he’s been pining over for the past four years likes him back, and they’re going on a date. Is this a date? He doesn’t want to ask, rather basking in the sun from both the sky and the one right next to him. He’s kind of worried that Jiwoong is gonna find out, but he can’t find it in himself to care all that much when his valentine is holding his hand as they make their way to the train station.

He takes note of their warning from earlier, but he has to ask. “Are you okay? Sorry for making you cry.”

Gyuvin’s ready to take a punch, but he’s lightly shoved instead, making the both of them lose their footing a bit before walking in tandem again. “It’s okay. And yeah, you’re just really sweet.” They turn to him and smile, squeezing his hand lightly. “Okay, let’s learn more about each other starting now. What kind of ramen do you like?”

“Wanna check out the new spot downtown and find out?”

Gojo’s boy toys (◕ε◕*)

3:40 pm

You: bros.

eunseokie <(˶ᵔᵕᵔ˶)> : bro??

taetae ˶^•ﻌ•^˵ : was that a good bros or a bad bros

You: we kissed

You: we’re going out for ramen now

taetae ˶^•ﻌ•^˵ : ?$/;&/??@

taetae ˶^•ﻌ•^˵ : BROOOOOO

eunseokie <(˶ᵔᵕᵔ˶)> : omg i’m crying

eunseokie <(˶ᵔᵕᵔ˶)> : gyuvin im crying

taetae ˶^•ﻌ•^˵ : he is crying gyuvin

taetae ˶^•ﻌ•^˵ : we’re so happy for you bro.

You: thanks guys 😄

i’ll still be home in time to play so

just sit tight

taetae ˶^•ﻌ•^˵ : tell y/n i say sorry for saying they have zero survival instinct!!!

eunseokie <(˶ᵔᵕᵔ˶)> : AND FUCK YOU JIWOONG

a/n: in no way am i implying that doing things like reading manga or playing smash bros is weird, i just took things that’ve gotten me called a nerd 😭😭 also being a nerd isn’t bad i love my nerds 🫡 stream beautiful monster stan p1h get get get get a guitar bai

[trellanyx]

I finished the siege of Weisshaupt quest last night, and feel like BioWare did a really good job of selling how chaotic it was. I really felt how batshit overwhelmed everyone was, facing wave upon wave upon wave of Darkspawn from all sides, the booming taunt of Ghilan'nain in the sky and an Archdemon destroying every plan and hiding place as fast as the party could come up with them.

The closest comparison to this mission, ofc, is the assault on Adamant Fortress in DAI. But I never felt the characters’ desperation like I did during Weisshaupt. The relentless mantra of “keep moving, keep fighting, make it alive to just the next second, we have to try we have no choice”.

And because of the dialogue options I picked, it made me the most invested in my Rook that I’ve been for the entire game so far. I kept picking encouraging dialogue, and as the mission went on it really began to feel like she was straining, keeping a strong front because she’s the leader, it’s what she has to do, because if she doesn’t keep up a steady stream of “we’re gonna be okay, we’ll figure out plan B, C, D, don’t give up” then not only will she have failed her team when they need her most, but she herself will fall apart and be unable to do what comes next.

It’s Lucanis yelling, “how am I supposed to stab a cloud with a dagger?!” It’s Davrin saying the horns are calling reinforcements to the east battlements - “And where are we?!” “The east battlements!” - and the realization that the 3 of us fighting these Darkspawn alone are the reinforcements. It’s the dying screams of Wardens every few minutes, it’s the wall is gone the bell tower is gone the escape path is gone everyone is gone—

It’s Rook standing by the dragon trap, muttering, “And now I die.”

it’s also Lucanis’ EPIC move with the wings and dagger

This was the first time in Veilguard that I felt truly sucked into the story. If nothing else, I’m glad I got at least one moment like that.

[elvensorceress]

wip wednesday

tagged by @diazsdimples @hoodie-buck @theotherbuckley @wikiangela @spotsandsocks @exhuastedpigeon @hippolotamus @daffi-990 (though I think these were mostly for Tuesday so consider this me also tagging you for Wednesday 😘💕) tagging @eddiebabygirldiaz @evanbegins @ebdaydreamer @shortsighted-owl @messyhairdiaz @wh0re-behavi0r @rogerzsteven @loveyouanyway @bekkachaos @giddyupbuck @tizniz @disasterbuckdiaz @epicbuddieficrecs @transboybuckley @spaceprincessem @confetti-cupcake @heartshapedvows @monsterrae1 @loserdiaz more Unless firefam silliness that directly follows this scene 💕

“Okay, enough stalling,” Chim waves a hand to redirect their attention. “So far we have heard nothing about what happened after the party and what came of our intervention and what is going on with the two of you?” He points at both Buck and Eddie for emphasis. Like he means business. 

Eddie just turns to look at Buck. “Intervention?”

Buck makes a face and waves it off. “It was— I’ll tell you later,” he says to Eddie and then addresses Hen and Chim. “What do you want to know about our private personal lives that are private and personal and none of your business?” 

Hen and Chim make identical groaning noises. 

“Oh, suddenly you’re not going to say anything?”

“It’s personal and private now but not when we have to hear about infamous firehose escapades?”

“You go on about the reporter and the dispatcher—”  

“—and snake lady and all the yoga teachers and bartenders and dancers and surfers and cowboys and cowgirls and poor, unfairly slandered Lucy—”

“But not about this?” 

��We have to hear disturbing details for weeks, months, years but now you want to plead the fifth?”

“We have to suffer through that and you won’t even tell us what we want to know?” 

“We’re your squad goals family!”

From where he’s sitting, Eddie can clearly see Bobby rubbing at his forehead and possibly contemplating prayer. If that is a thing that can be ascertained by an expression. Eddie’s pretty sure it is. At least where Bobby is concerned. 

“It’s only fair,” Hen says. “If you’ve finally realized you’re both epically in love with each other in a way that puts all tales of fictional love to shame because the both of you—”

“Buck mostly,” Chim clarifies and then says to Eddie. “We had to intervene because red alert reporter demon and questionable 2.0 decisions and did you know he went and broke poor Ravi? Ravi couldn’t take it anymore. He went back to B shift. That’s where he went.” 

Bobby chimes in to very patiently say, “Ravi chose to switch a few shifts because Eddie is back and we still have to figure out a good schedule for everyone while Harper is on maternity leave and Jackson is recovering from a broken arm and Bailey is out on her national guard rotation.” 

“Nuh uh,” Chim eloquently argues. “You were there. You saw it. Buck and the red alert reporter broke him.” 

“Both of you,” Hen persists as if there has been no interruptions. “Are driving us insane with this oblivious, ‘he doesn’t love me, we can’t be together’ thing. So, I think you owe us some information.”

“I swear if you two haven’t figured out something here,” Chim gives them a frazzled, frantic, desperate look. “I don’t know what we’re going to do.” He turns in his seat and leans around the edge toward the front. “Cap, what are we going to do?”

Bobby glances back at them, and he could easily disclose that they both signed certain paperwork already only moments ago. Because he knew even without them saying anything. But Bobby just shrugs and nonchalantly turns and faces forward. And probably prays for peace and quiet for them all. 

Leaving the choice to them.

read on to part 3

[bohemian-nights]

love your blog <3

there's no reason for nettles to be cut. the only reason she's not in s2 is because they want to milk "daemyra" as much as possible and don't care about sacrificing the only canonically black character to make the main white couple look good.

it's bullshit. they do shit like this and then claim to be "progressive" ? including black character only to turn them into side kicks for the main white characters and mistreat them is not progressive. why are baela and rhaena sidelined for the strongs? in f&b they're more important. why is laena turned into the "unloved wife"? second to rhaenyra? why is vaemond framed as the villain for being angry that his home is being robbed by a white boy?

and now we have a shot of all of the dragonseeds - except nettles, the only important dragonseed. and when you try to complain the stans hit you with the "but there are other black characters" card. they say that "race doesn't exist in westeros" (LMAO) to excuse and justify luke being the heir and pretend like there's nothing problematic with a white person stealing a black family's home. they also use the "no race" card to justify nettles being erased or downplay her importance. the gaslighting and racist undertones are actually crazy.

thank you for calling these people out.

Thank you. I do try and try my best not to come off like a crazy person talking at a wall, but this fandom and this show are nuts and severely anti-Black.

I won’t say it’s worse than other fandoms, but admitting there is a problem is like pulling teeth.

You have people blatantly lie and pretend like their headcanons are actual canon which is extremely disturbing when it comes to the Black(ish) characters because those headcanons are made to take away their characterization.

There is only so much one can ignore without disregarding their self pride.

As far as the showrunners go I will say I don’t think they are trying to prop up that ghost ship because they wouldn’t have added choke-gate if they had any intention of turning Dumbnyra(I’m not respecting a ship populated by people who think it's fine to call Black characters the n-word) into an epic romance, but they are trying to hold off on putting Nettles on the show because she makes said self-insert look bad and they can’t have that.

Yet they know cutting her looks suspect considering their past actions.

They think diversity = having Black(ish) people there never mind lighting them on fire, sidling them, turning them into an undisputed villain, turning them into stereotypes, etc., and unfortunately they’ve emboldened an extremely racist and toxic fanbase with their (in)action(s).

Laena was deliberately made into the disposable Black girlfriend, but no one cared about that. No one cared about how that looked or how Black fans would feel with that being our representation. How it's harmful and damaging to see that play out time and time again. They cheered it on and called her slurs while doing so.

Now I’ve seen people claim to be concerned about Nettles and her being made into a mistress and yes there are problems with showing a Black woman as a mistress, but there are just as many if not more problems with showing a Black(ish) woman as someone’s second choice or showing us as undesirable. Not a peep was said about the latter.

The same people who are so concerned(I see y’all in her tag) are the same people who a couple of months ago were calling for Nettles to be cut and replaced with Baela and Rhaena or even Addam because they are all Black(ish) now. Never mind that Nettles’ story is vastly different from theirs.

That Nettles isn’t supposed to be indisputably Valyrian like the others(at least in the books her heritage is the least clear out of everyone present and in the show she still isn’t being claimed by anyone).

Never mind that she isn’t supposed to be Daemon's daughter(the dates don’t line up and I dare anyone to tell me they bathed naked with their father at 17; I dare anyone to say that someone who claimed a wild dragon with the highest body count during the sowing doesn’t know how to bathe herself).

Or that she isn’t just someone’s mistress(you don’t risk your life for a woman who is just your mistress).

That she isn’t an unloved unwanted woman despite who she is(Daemon chooses her. We can talk about how that isn’t “progressive” enough for some people although I’d argue that it’s progressive for a character like Nettles, but that’s what’s written in black and white).

That she’s saved and survives the Dance. She’s the only dragonseed that survives maybe even the last dragonrider for two hundred years. She certainly gains more than what she had(she becomes the spiritual leader of a tribe for God's sake). 

Is Nettles’ story perfect, no, but people are holding her, her arc, and her potential characterization in the show to an unhealthy standard that they would never hold a character like Rhaenyra, Daenerys, or an even Helaena to and basing whether they like her or not based on that standard.

They aren’t allowing her to be a nuanced character let alone someone with her wants and motivations who experiences love and loss alike.

Nettles' arc is as complex as every other character in this story, but people don’t want that. They don’t even want her there.

Never mind that she’s important to the narrative and there is a reason for her complexity, it’s her skin color they see. Her skin color is the only thing they see and therefore they fail to see her as someone deserving of her dynamic arc.

Instead they want the downtrodden girl. The abused girl. The poor orphan girl who is just grateful to have found a family. The girl who can easily be placed into a box and doesn’t need any analysis whatsoever.

A girl. She doesn’t need love because she’s a girl. She doesn’t need to have her own will and desires because she’s a girl. She’s a child. She’s not a nuisance. A box of gunpowder waiting to go off and change the narrative. She’s not a threat.

I’ve talked about this before(too many times), but that’s who they want.

They can’t have a Mammy that looks too obvious given the story, or Jezebel(I imagine that’s what they’ll say she is once she appears although they’ll look crazed trying to pigeon hole her into the slut category), and they know she most likely won’t be cut, so they settle for the non-threatening, sexless, naive(selectively intellectually challenged) child.

The show calls itself diverse and the fans claim themselves to be feminists, but that’s a joke and a slap in the face to Black fans who aren't self-haters (who the fandom has harassed anytime we don’t blindly agree with and call them out on their bullshit).

Black fans don’t want characters who look like us wrapped in bubble wrap with a pretty little bow on top. We want characters (in every sense of the word), but neither the showrunners nor the fans seem to get this(tale as old as time or at least it’s centuries old).

I started ranting I’m sorry anon, but Nettles tag has been a mess so I used this as an opportunity to voice my peace. It’s extremely disturbing that you have a bunch of non-Black people trying to police Black representation particularly representation for Black women, but at the end of the day what they have to say doesn’t matter.

[caitlynmeow]

I know this isn't an ask blog, it's 1 am I wanted to write this, so I did.

To Countess Alcina Dimitrescu:

I've been informed by a villager that is somehow alive that your eldest daughter Bela is a fan of classic literature. I write this at 2 AM by candlelight. I write it because due to madness or boredom or any such disease I decided to write an exhaustive list of recommendations. I have some expertise, I keep the village book store in business and have read about 190 "classic" novels and books by classic authors.

Authors: I imagine Bela would love Franz Kafka. Kurt Vonnegut could work, of course his masterpiece Slaughterhouse-Five is definitely the first to read, the best quote from it I think is, "here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of the moment, there is no why." It seems that Russian Lit could also fit. Obvious or not any sane individual can and will really enjoy Dostoevsky (Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela have a bit of Ivan, Dimitri, and Alexei Karamazov in them respectively. Although it would be an insult to compare yourself, my Lady, to Fyodor Karamazov. Bela as Ivan of course. If there should be one he's by far my favorite.)

Here are some ideas for specific books. The Homeric epics of course but I'm sure those have already came and went, Ovid's Metamorphoses, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Catcher in The Rye, and the Call Of The Wild. Of course for the oldest, gayest shit, The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde and Carmilla would be ideal. Oh, fuck! Magical realism! How didn't I think of that before?! One Hundred Years of Solitude, that would definitely be one of the best ones I've mentioned.

(don’t worry about it nonnie! i don’t mind these things at all <3)

Alcina looked at the letter, her eyes scanning it’s content, her head nosing slightly as she read along the list of recommendations.

It is a good list of staple classical works, some titles are familiar, ones that her daughters have read when they were younger. Generally, she is against electronic devices in excess, which is something she had better control on when her daughters were younger.

She only allowed one hour of television per day.

Her daughters were busy playing with their toys, reading, and developing their hobbies. As a result, her daughters are fluent in multiple languages, they have different talents, and they are well read.

Russian literature might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but her daughters loved it. Daniela not so much, but she did read a few of the book they have in their library. Cassandra was never intimidated by size and density, the dark nihilistic themes were to her liking, and the darker the theme was, the more she got into it. Bela, on the other hand, showed genuine intrigue.

Bela has read some of these titles, she read Slaughter House Five when she was in with grade.

Oh, The Brothers Karamazov- it was something the whole family would sit and discuss over dinner! Many fights broke because of that novel because each one of the daughters had her strong opinion about it. Good times, good times indeed.

Why yes, those titles are indeed sitting in the library upstairs. Magical realism is something that Bela dabbles in, but not really invest a life of time reading. This should be something to look into and perhaps persuade her to try. Cassandra has read One Hundred Years of Solitude and I’m sure she can lend her sister a copy.

In Cold Blood is a title that she hasn’t read either, so I’ll make sure to add it on his list of the next batch of books that are coming to the castle.

[duhragonball]

Neon Genesis Evangelion 02

I’m honestly not sure if I knew beforehand about the penguin.  This is one of those “wacky” anime tropes where it’s like “Uh-oh, we have a kooky thing in our show!  Wokka wokka!” and I’m pretty sure it’s in so many different titles that I probably heard about the penguin and got it mixed up with some other show’s wacky animal.  Anyway, let the record show that there is a penguin in this anime.

So last time Shinji Ikari got voluntipulated to pilot Eva Unit 01 in battle against an “angel”, a powerful monster that occasionally shows up in this world.  All we really know so far is that the angels are hostile and only the Eva machines can stop them, if they have a compatible pilot to operate them.  I guess the NERV Agency built the Eva machines, and recruited Rei Ayanami to pilot one of them, but she’s been hospitalized, so the NERV director, Gendo Ikari, has brought in his son, Shinji, to pilot another Eva unit in her place.

And he reluctantly agrees, despite having no training or prior experience.  Hell, it’s not even clear he had any idea what he was getting into today.  Anyway, he seems to have a gift for controlling his Eva, but the angel still overpowers him and starts kicking his ass.  One of its powers is some sort of energy piledriver thing it uses to batter the head of Eva-01. Shinji can feel the damage, even though his own body isn’t physically harmed.

In the NERV command center, everyone’s freaking out because this clearly isn’t working, but there’s nothing they can do about it.  Well, everyone except Shinji’s dad, Gendo.  He doesn’t seem to care much one way or the other.

Then we flash forward to after the battle, when Shinji wakes up in bed.  The middle of the episode just moves on, and for a while it’s unclear what the hell happened. 

A bunch of big shots have a meeting in a darkened room, talking in circles about how expensive it is to fight the angels and all the projects they want Gendo Ikari to work on.  I feel like I’ve seen this a hundred times.  Pop Team Epic spoofed a scene like this, and this whole show reminds me of the not-funny parts of the Excel Saga manga.  All these vague references to things the audience couldn’t possibly know about, and flashbacks to lines delivered earlier in the same episode.  I don’t know if Evangelion was the inspiration for a lot of this stuff, or if it was just using tropes that were already familiar in 1995.  Certainly the giant robots vs. giant monster thing is nothing new. 

Anyway, nothing really gets settled in this scene.  The authorities want Dr. Ikari to handle this crisis, and from what I can tell he already is. He’s a callous prick about it, but none of these guys seem to care about his attitude. They briefly ask why it’s so hard to find compatible pilots for these Eva Units, but we never get a clear answer. And Gendo has no reaction to their posturing, so this scene really doesn’t advance his character at all, unless the point is to show that he’s just as indifferent towards his superiors as he is to his subordinates.

At some point Shinji is released from the hospital, and Misato sets him up to live in this city.  He wasn’t injured from the battle, but he was shaken up pretty badly.  On their way, they briefly run into Gendo, who just stares at Shinji, who looks away in frustration until the elevator door closes.  Soon enough, Misato learns that Shinji won’t be living with Gendo while he’s here.  That doesn’t seem to bother either of the Ikaris. 

So Misato arranges to have Shinji live with her, since she doesn’t like the idea of him being in a place by himself.  She tells Ritsuko about this, and jokes that she isn’t planning to seduce the kid, and Ritsuko is upset at the very thought of it.  

Misato was only kidding, but yeah, that’s kind of a messed up thing to kid about.  It’s not even a case of the joke aging poorly, because Ritsuko takes offense in the very next line of dialogue.

On the way to her place, Misato finally explains to Shinji what this place is: Tokyo-3, a fortified city designed to repel Angel attacks.  I think I can make an educated guess about what happened to Tokyo and Tokyo-2. What I don’t understand is what good the city does.  It didn’t protect anything, and it was up to Shinji to defend it.  Maybe it’s just easier to clean up and repair than a regular city.

Anyway, they get to the apartment and there’s empty beer cans and trash everywhere.  Shinji is uncomfortable being here, he’s uncomfortable eating instant meals with Misato, and when he doesn’t immediately relax like she wants, she brow-beats him over it. 

I guess that’s the point of all this.  Misato’s the only person in this show so far who even tries to treat Shinji like a person, and she’s frustrated that he isn’t more like the kind of person she’d like him to be. 

I mean, the additional frustration of living with an adult woman must be stressful as well, and the penguin probably doesn’t help matters. 

Okay, so this is kind of a thing.  At night, Shinji lies in his bedroom listening to his mixtape or whatever, and it switches from track 25 to 26.  I was reading a Twitter thread that mentioned this, and how he only listens to those two tracks over and over, so I think that becomes important later.  Anyway.

At last, we finally flash back to the battle, and learn how Shinji survived.  Somehow, his Eva went berserk and began fighting back all on its own.  Or maybe Shinji was controlling it unconsciously or whatever.  The Angel is quickly overwhelmed, and it tries to self-destruct, but the Eva survives unharmed. 

The NERV crew mention something about the Eva’s “true form”, which I guess explains whatever this thing is that we see beneath it’s helmet.  Shinji gets a look at it through his viewscreen and they stare at each other for a while before he blacks out from terror.

Before turning in for the night Misato stops by to tell him what she feels she should have told him earlier: that he did a good thing by saving Tokyo-3 from the Angel. 

I don’t know, it didn’t quite hit me until now, but yeah, it’s kind of fucked up that no one bothers to thank him until well after the crisis has passed.  I mean, if Tokyo-3, the NERV Agency, and all the rest are so crucial to the future of humanity, then you’d think there’d be more gratitude towards Shinji.  I think part of the disconnect here is that the Angel problem is a lot bigger than this one attack, and the characters are too busy worrying about the big picture to appreciate a single act of heroism, no matter how important it might be. 

Anyway, that’s it for now.  Join us next time when... actually I have no idea.  I watch the next episode preview, but I couldn’t make much sense of it. I’ll find out soon enough.

[purplemoonabove]

*inhale* *hold* *looong exhale*

Okay.

I saw the last episode of Our Flag Means Death Season 2.

I’m a writer.

I’m not being mean, I’m not being judgmental. I’m just stating my personal opinion here, nothing else.

…

The ending for the last episode… could have gone into a different direction. Mainly with Izzy, and the Prince.

First, the Prince. Now, from what I’ve gathered: he was knocked out after everyone was poisoned, then was taken hostage, and then as expected, immediately escaped and shot Izzy while doing so.

… Why was he still armed?

Why wasn’t the gun removed? Why didn’t anyone check over his body, removing all weaponry he still have? It’s one thing to show that he lost, it’s another to be careless when free. And it came with a cost…

Speaking of cost, let’s go to Izzy now!

Now, his death was… I mean…

Okay, so. Season 1, I hated his guts. Season 2 made me start to love him. His death was something I would loved to see first season, but now, it was sad. I did feel sad seeing him go, but… here’s the thing: why have him go now? When he was still in development?

Like, giving a shock moment for the audience is clever, if you do it right.

From what I gathered, Izzy was still healing. He lost his leg, lost his position as First Mate, lost a lot of dignity until, as far as I know, he shot Ed during that storm scene. Now, we get him with a unicorn wooden leg, singing and being open with the crew, actually happy for himself… His death?

Yeah, that was too early.

I read someone’s post that Izzy’s death was planned from the start – and the actor finds out in the middle of shooting (What the hell?!).

Personally for me, if I was a writer in the show in joining debate on who and how a death will happen from the crew, I’d choose Izzy, but I would give him more development beforehand.

He was still healing. He was still adjusting. He was still be happy with himself. It was a position where the audience wasn’t comfortable with the change yet. And by that, I mean they, we, you’re still getting use to this new concept that Izzy was having since the first episode with his breakdown.

It was so new to him that new creations of self-focused goals weren’t made yet. A new lifestyle to try, while still being a pirate. New interests, new ideas, new hobbies – or bringing back old hobbies (that singing threw me off. He. Was. Amazing 🥹).

The writers should have given him more time to really change and for us to change with him. Show us that self-love is just as loving as being in a relationship, mono or poly, straight or queer. And quoting from another post I saw, he would have been more of a symbol to not only the LGBTQ+, but for everyone, especially those who don’t really hold on to the concept of self love.

(Damn. Izzy got rep with me. Amazing… This was lost potential right here.)

The Prince shouldn’t have been armed. If anything he either should have been disarmed, or tortured and “returned” to someone they would let live to send back to his father. Which can also further the plot as we know he is a prince, but we don’t know any single thing about his family. As far as we know, anything could happen through this idea.

Izzy’s death in season 2 was unnecessary. Dying in the last episode of Season 3 would have worked.

We’d be more comfortable, he would have a new lifestyle, he’d be happy… and the death would have been more honorable than it was. And more epic, like in a battlefield, and probably add a few more from the crew to die, too. Giving us a Harry Potter feel, with the number of beloved characters killed during the Battle of Hogwarts.

Like I said, this is just personal opinion on how I saw the show.

Happy for Ed and Stede. Happy for the wedded Pete and Lucius.

It just could have gone better. And deep. And realistic.

Season 3, I will be patient for you until then.

[theplatypusblue]

COMPILING ALL LEGENDS OF CHIMA SEASON 1 THOUGHTS BELOW THE READ MORE (super long post, written as I was watching)

(I can be a little mean but I promise I’m having fun lol)

Episodes 1 + 2:

Man this shits super boring.

Idk if I can get behind craggers plot line tbh. He’s too much of a dumbass for me to really root for him.

The lore seems really cool so far. I like the settings and the stuff about the legend beasts.

Like?? Forest full of trees that just fall down all the time? Epic.

Legend beasts are especially cool cuz it means this is how Chima characters react when seeing a regular ass lion for the first time:

Episode 3:

Man Laval really fucked everything up.

I have a feeling all of cragger’s dumbass-ness, like, transferred over to laval and now we’re gonna be seeing him making all the dumbass decisions

The only thing I really care about here is the b-plot about Gorzan and his flower. More engaging than the main plot

Episode 4:

Prediction about Laval replacing Cragger as the resident dumbass seems to be coming true

Gorzan is quickly becoming my favorite.

Oh hey look it’s the beavers!! I remember they show up in that one episode of ninjago. I had zero context for what they were all about then but now I know!!

Episode 5:

The gorilla tribe seems like the most chill out of everyone. Gorillas 👍

Can I just say I hate the fucking skunk. He sucks.

Honestly kind of a nothing episode

Episode 6:

Eagle spire does that cool thing where all the buildings are built on super scary precipices. There’s literally a post going around about this exact thing but I can’t find it rn

Oh so the eagles are just a bunch of nerds. A little weird I guess(?) I feel like eagles are usually symbols of strength n stuff so that’s different. It’s giving cloud kingdom.

“Wing girl” tf kinda nickname??

Apparently the ravens are double crossing everyone but I have not been paying close enough attention to what’s going on to really process that

Ok so it was all an extremely convoluted way for the crocs to get everyone to fight each other. And the ravens tried to profit but they’re kinda stupid so nothing really worked out for anyone

Episode 7:

Purble moon??? Epic

Man the bears are so epic just like me fr

Nooo don’t mess w the gorillas they’re so chill :(

I am entirely uninterested in the 100 year full moon skunk fart lore. Sorry.

It’s a little strange and maybe I’m hallucinating but I feel like the animation has has somehow gotten better?? Like the lighting or smthn…. Or the facial expressions???

Oh….. skunk fart lore is plot relevant………

Now that I’m thinking… is that the only skunk in chima?? Cuz rn it looks like just the one guy

Episode 8:

Oh it’s a big boy chi

There’s a fucking peacock?? Don’t know how to spell his name. So wait if he wins who does the chi go to?? He gets it all to himself?

Oh wait nvm it’s probably a cragger thing. Mr. Peacock comes back after retirement or w/ever in order to do some evil shit with the crocs I get it I get it

Gorzan I love you

WHO THE FUCK IS THAT GUY?? Is it a pig? A warthog??? It’s giving Mr. E vibes.

Man idk this episode is structured rlly weirdly. Nothing really fit together very well. It’s alright tho.

Episode 9:

GORILLA EPISODE?? Let’s go dude

It funny cuz I feel like gorillas aren’t actually this mellow irl

STOP FUCKING WITH THE GORILLAS CRAGGER I’LL KILL YOU

Oh hey it’s our mystery mans. Oh nevermind he left again.

There are balloon plants?? Oh yeah those are the things they were using in the other episode. Sorry I wasn’t paying attention to anything else that happened.

Episode 10:

Uhh I forgot to take notes while watching uhhh

The fox guy was cute. I like a little fox guy

This episode managed to make me feel a little bad for cragger!! He wants to do a good job but he kinda sucks at everything :(

It also made me confused abt cruller!!! What are you doing w ur life girl!!!!

Kinda messed up how the wolves had to serve the crocodiles tho… probly for the best she threw away that pledge

If Laval’s dad is right when he says they’re not gonna race for chi for a long time, I’m guessing they’re not gonna do any more racing episodes for some time. That’s fine honestly.

WAIT THAT RHINO GUY’S DYING. Oh nvm. This whole situation is cringe I hope it’s a one-off thing….

Also I forgot everyone thinks craggers parents are dead but really they’re just chilling in that canyon. Kinda funny actually

Episode 11:

Oh man the wolves are fucking everything up

“We all gotta stay here till the walls are fixed” bruh just call the beavers or smthn

Man what is the deal with this shadow wind dude.

If there’s one similarity I could point out with ninjago, it’s all this talk abt ~the balance~. I guess it makes sense since they take place in the same universe, technically

These bears are so cute lol napping does solve everything so true

Episode 12:

Jets travel super fast in the air. If they’re going through a storm Laval should totally be dead by now

Cragger is setting boundaries!! We love to see it. Cruller is acting pretty cringe. In her ~~girlfailure era~~

Is Laval gonna fall in this gorge?? Oh yeah he’s gonna fall in this gorge

Noooo Gorzans underwear is gonna tear

It’s a little sweet how Laval still wants to help out cragger

Episode 13:

I guess I’m still not super into cragger but I pity him a little. He’s trying his best but he’s just a bit stupid. And also his sister sucks ass

Okay. So she may be cringe but cruller is living her best(-ish) life.

That wolf is wearing a really cute apron

Man they were bringing up Shadow wind earlier and I thought they were gonna reveal their identity but now I’m a bit disappointed…

Laval is being peak dumbass rn I kinda like it. “The warm milk of oppression” lol

Episode 14:

“You bears think you’re so clever” bro they are literally asleep I don’t think they give a shit

I think the thing with Cragger is that I absolutely hate him when he’s under the influence of the flower thingy. He’s unlikable in a not-so-fun way, but he seems much more cute/compelling when he’s normal lol.

Oh my god they’re getting back-alley chi lmao

Oh is everyone gonna think Cragger did this on purpose. That’s sad.

This Reagle(?) guy is really silly I like his design a lot

Ohhhhh the wolves are gonna plug the fake chi and become chickens. It’s not a Cragger-might-be-evil thing. Gotchaaaa that’s cute

Seeing Cragger and Leval act like buddies again is genuinely nice they’re friends :)

Episode 15:

Eagles are based communists that live in the sky got it 👍

Cruller stop fucking with the gorillas istg.

Okay what the hell did burning the flower do. Is that like taking an inhalant

The ravens attempted to use the eagles’ based communist values against them. However, they didn’t realize that the eagles are boring as shit, and don’t “own” anything cool in the first place. Based communist eagles for the win.

Okay wait is Eris liking the rhino like. A brand new development or was it hinted at before?? It’s been a hot second since I watched the last couple episodes

Also I recognize that animation from the Ninjago season 5 finale lol

Episode 16:

Man I just hate this stupid skunk

This fog of destiny stuff is really goofy looking from the outside lmao it’s hard to take serious

So it’s like. Making them entirely delusional or something? Some of them are acting the opposite of how they usually do, but others are having like, delusions of grandeur. Idk how it works exactly

Laval there has got to be a smarter way to wake them up. You keep getting thrown into the lake…. Oh my god is the skunk gonna fart again. If that’s literally how they wake them up I’m gonna be so mad.

Oh okay thank god I was wrong.

Oh wait it randomly made cragger evil again. Man come on.

Cruller you stupid dumb idiot lmao get wrecked honestly

I hope the skunk dies like actually for real

Episode 17:

Oh shit Lavals dad also had a best friend that did shitty things and eventually grew apart from?? Damn.

Also Laval in exile time!!! Hopefully this will be cool

Eh. It’s not so cool with the skunk around

OH SHIT is the shadow wind the guy that was exiled before??? Ohhhhh

Ahhh okay Cruller backstory time. Damn girl was getting compared to her sibling straight out the egg. Didn’t even have a moment to spare there huh

Noooo Laval you just enslaved the wolves again by giving him the treaty. That was like the one cool thing cruller manages to do

Oh. I guess the exile thing literally didn’t matter at all lmao kinda underwhelming

Episode 18:

Lol so Cragger is such a dickhead now it’s even causing his stupid ominous dream to take notice

Okay so the floating mountain that gives everyone the chi also makes you on fire when you touch it. Chima world building really is epic man I gotta include random cool shit in my stories once I get around to writing stuff

This definitely feels like part of a finale lol maybe we’ll finally learn what the deal is w shadow wind

Andddddd the chi’s all fucked up now

Episode 19:

Tbh I would also be kinda mad at the lions like. They had no idea what they were doing or if it would have any negative consequences.

Man the whole thing with the wolves just kinda. Fizzled out huh? Like a few episodes ago they had ~all the chi in chima~ and now they’re all like “idk man why don’t we all just get along” lol

I love the attitude of just asking the beavers to fix the mountain. Like let’s just chuck a couple of construction workers at this malfunctioning holy site that’ll probably work

Episode 20:

I’m guessing this is the finale?? Let’s see

Laval looks so weird without his little crown thingy lol hes so square

He’s definitely not dead tho

CROCODILE LETS GOOO!!!!! EPIC!!!

OH UM. Okay well that complicates things. And there’s like a million other questions we still haven’t answered but ok. I guess all of that other stuff can wait until later????

I thought the eagle guy said chima only had 2 moons left before everything fell apart?? So they really gotta get the ball rolling on that one uhm. Oh well.

**EDIT** Last time I posted this I thought it stopped at episode 13 for some reason?? Tubi is stupid; thanks to the person who pointed out the actual episode number. I’ll probably stop here for a while, sorry it took so long to update this lol. My initial thoughts and feelings haven’t really changed all that much, so I’ll keep them as they were:

I definitely feel like it’s a show that doesn’t have super strong characters. I think it would better if the show leaned more into the world it’s created instead, if that makes sense. Maybe later the character writing will improve a little bit, and I’ll changed my tune. But!! Who knows. I’m having fun with it.

Idk when I’ll get to season 2, cuz I get super busy sometimes (I started this one a couple months ago but couldn’t finish it till now ugh) but I do want to continue watching!! Eventually!!!

[amazingmsme]

CURRENTLY SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS AT YOUR GUYS’ EPIC HEADCANONS, TO YOU AND THELAUGHTERCAFE THANK YOU FOR THE GOOD FOOD!!!! i love how playful and teasy you guys make odysseus, he’s a quick thinker and good with words so it makes sense that he would be the teasiest motherfucker on that ship, and he likes to wreck people with a strategic approach, using the tactics and types of teasing that he knows work best on the specific person.

i love the idea of eurylochus witnessing so much of odysseus and polites’ shenanigans that at this point he just Knows when one of them is about to do or say something that’s gonna get them wrecked, and sometimes he says nothing and just lets it happen but sometimes he’ll actually be like “whatever you’re about to do don’t do it” and they usually don’t listen when he says that and then lo and behold they suffer the consequences, and eurylochus just watches them reap what they sow like “i tried to warn you, man”

i also feel like polites would genuinely not understand why everyone loves to (affectionately) bully him so much, and he’s not entirely complaining but he’ll still whine about it like “why is it always me </3” and they just stare at him like how does he not know that his smile and his laugh are like a beautiful warm summer day - fluffvoid

I’M SO HAPPY THAT I HAVE Y’ALL TO BOUNCE IDEAS OFF OF IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY! Seriously, the depression has been hitting hard, but these headcanons make me so happy & giddy! At this point, I’m getting a little desperate for a fic lol

He’s literally such a smug little shit! Like, this guy literally tricked Athena of all people & then laughed in her face immediately after. He’s so charming even when he’s being all smug & sly about it, so you just know his teases are deadly. If he doesn’t make you whine out of embarrassment he’s clearly not working hard enough

Real talk, I fucking LOVE that part in warrior of the mind where he does that sly lil chuckle like wtf who told you to be so dorky & endearing? I feel like he does that laugh right before he pounces or whenever he’s teasing the hell out of someone

When he’s bored, one of his favorite things is to trick people into falling for one of his traps. Even goes as far as to plan out what he’s going to say for the best outcome. King of gaslighting, acting like he’s not planning to wreck their shit & being all innocent & clueless when they try & call him out on it only to strike the moment they let their guard down

Eurylochus is so used to it & by now he knows all of their worst spots, what teases get to them, & how they act both when they’re about to wreck someone or about to get wrecked

Because of this, he’s picked up on Odysseus’s favorite teases & phrases to use while tickling someone. Especially if it’s Polites, because he’s so easy to fluster & Odysseus makes sure to use the most effective ones, so yeah, sometimes he repeats himself from time to time

But Eurylochus just learns to pick up on it, & one time he said the tease in perfect sync with Odysseus, kinda as a way to tease him for being predictable. But he was like “hey Polites-“ & Eurylochus was like bet I know what he’s about to say & goes out on a limb & proceeds to do the funniest fucking thing & they both ask “do you think the gods meant to make you so ticklish, or was it just an accident?”

Odysseus is frozen is shock, mouth gaping open as he stares at him. Meanwhile Polites immediately burst into loud laughter, not even from the tickling but from the look on his face & the sheer absurdity of it all. He’s just like “wow you really do use that one a lot!” & Odysseus is just staring at Eurylochus & is like “so you think you’re funny now?” & abandons his original target in favor of teaching him a lesson on what happens when you mock the captain

But dude doesn’t really learn cause it’s been a couple months since that happened. But while watching those 2 goofballs get into yet another tickle fight, he decides to make things a little more interesting & turns it into a drinking game. Odysseus & Polites are none the wiser… until a completely shitfaced Eurylochus tells them why he’s so wasted & now they’re both teaching him a lesson because wtf how dare he turn them into a drinking game!

Polites starts to catch on that he seems to be everyone’s favorite target & he’s like “wait a minute, that’s not fair!” He knows questioning their captain will only prompt another attack so he goes onto Eurylochus when he’s alone & is like “so… do you, uh, know why everyone… always tickles me?” & he’s blushing soooo much & Eurylochus has to fight back a smile, but it doesn’t really work & he’s smirking when he answers “what can I say? You have a nice laugh” & Polites is so flattered & flustered he’s just like “r-really? Wow, thank you!” & he’s about to walk away & Eurylochus speaks up “that, and you make it almost too easy” & he turns around like what? but Eurylochus grabs him up in a hug & starts tickling his sides & tummy. So he did get his answer, it just came with a price

These dudes are actively consuming my mind, thank y’all for indulging me

[13ghostlytitties]

The Heart of a Hero is returning once more!

Today marks the 5-year anniversary of the premiere of HoaH, and is fairly close to the 3.5 year anniversary of its last official upload. Well, the wait is over. It’s time for me to resurrect this series and eventually bring it to its end (not that it left off anywhere close to ending 😉).

Since it’s been a while, I’ve put together a recap of the story so far that I’ll post at some point here. It’s not complete, I had to cut out some of the newer chapters since it just became a play-by-play synopsis that doubled the total word count, but hey, having to reread 5-10 chapters is better than rereading 150.

The tentative return date will be this time next month as I work on creating a backlog of chapters. If I need to push it back, I’ll let you know. As for other questions I’m sure some of you have, check below the cut. For those who don’t care, see you in a month, hopefully.

So, some questions I’m sure some of you are asking:

1: where have you been? And why did you stop?

I’m not gonna go into details since I’m not that kinda person, but overall, just been living life, dude. I originally began my unexpected hiatus when college was kicking my ass and expected to get right back to things, but some stuff happened, and by the time I had dealt with it, it was Spring of 2020. You can guess what stopped me up then lol. But yeah, things just got away from me and eventually, I didn’t have the time or energy to dedicate to diving headfirst back into this outside of unconnected one-off stuff like those Bang fics. There’s other facets too, of course, the biggest one being a general disinterest in the source material. I stopped reading MHA around the villains arc (though I’ve kept up a bit in terms of big stuff like the traitor reveal), so I lacked that interest to pull me back into this world. Where I left off in the story, in the middle of a complicated arc full of OCs and big fights and stuff, was also a hurdle to getting back into things. But I’m here now, I’m working on my backlog, and I’m gonna commit. If you guys are excited about my return, spread the word and lemme hear it so I can keep this motivation 🤟

2: Is A New Era coming back too?

And now for the other shoe to drop. It is not. Im very sorry, especially to those whose OCs I included, but it’s just not feasible. Every time I considered it or tried it, the whole return to the main story was stopped up with it. Anyone who’s interested in continuing it themselves in some way shape or form, you have my permission in terms of the general idea, the OC kids I came up with, the places that canon characters are in it, etc. As for other people’s OCs, I’d check with their creators. One again, very sorry, but it’s just not doable.

3: What will this return look like? How often are chapters gonna drop?

Still working out the specifics, but my idea for now is to drop 2 chapters a week. If I need to go on hiatus, I’ll announce as much and plan the placement of it much better so that I don’t stop in the middle of an arc. That way, the hiatus will only be a month instead of years lol. The schedule may change over time, but I’ll keep everyone informed as I move ahead with it

4: a lot has happened in the manga and anime and movies since you stopped. Will these things be worked into the series?

Nope. I stopped reading and probably won’t start again until it’s over and done with. More than that, I’ve been sitting on these plans for a couple years now and don’t feel like changing them much. Besides, this story has had a long, rich history of shitting in the soup of the canon story, so I’ll just continue doing my own thing

5: are you still as epic and cool and funny as in the past?

Don’t ask questions you already know the answers to. I never was 😎

[whitetaileddeer]

Gio questions!! been filling this out whenever I’m bored, but I’m sick of doing Gio now so I’ll probably move on to someone else :3

taken from this questions list!!

Part One: The basics

1. What is your name?

Giovanni Orferus Rabellino

2. Do you have any nicknames? If you do, who gave it to you and why?

his brothers started calling him Gio and now everyone does, his mam sometimes calls him Orferus as a joke (she really loves that name)

3. How old are you now?

18

4. When were you born?

late summer (august/september) 2005 during a heatwave

5. Where do you call home now?

Gio doesn’t really see Italy as home anymore, he feels like he’s grown out of it, but he’s never quite seen england has home either. It was always temporary to him so seeing his brothers so rooted there makes him a bit uncomfortable. He doesn’t quite know where home is or when he will find it.

6. To what social class do you belong?

Gio was quite lower class, his mam worked a low paying job and couldn’t always keep consistent pay due to her bouts of depression. After adopting Juan they probably got some government/ system benefits and could live a bit more comfortably. Now he lives with his rich brother and his brother’s rich boyfriend and is exceeding creeped out by their comfortable lifestyle.

7. What is your eye color?

brown

8. What is your hair color?

a darker brown

9. Do you have any distinguishing facial features?

Gio has an arched nose and deep set downturned eyes, though they fit his face very well. Apart from his long curly hair, he’s quite average looking.

10. Do you have any birthmarks? Where are they?

some moles on his neck and arms, probably a birthmark or so elsewhere.

11. Do you have any scars? How did you get them?

Gio has self harm scars on his upper arms and his thighs, from ages 14 on and off to 17, but is recovering from it now.

He probably has quite a few little ones on his knees and elbows from mucking around and showing off too much as a kid.

12. Do you have any tattoos or other markings? How and why did you get them?

I don’t doubt he has a bad stick and poke somewhere, but it’ll be far too faded to make out.

13. Do you have any allergies, diseases, or other physical weaknesses?

He gets bad headaches and migranes sometimes and isn’t a great sleeper.

14. Are you right or left handed?

He’s right handed but practiced a lot with his left hand (he wants to be ambidextrous but isn’t quite there yet)

15. What does your voice sound like?

His voice is mellow and low, his accent isn’t as heavy anymore and he’s probably nice to listen to. He sings like Jeff Buckley.

16. How do you dress most of the time?

He likes baggy clothes and darker tones. He has a bit of a fashion sense but is never too bothered to persue it. He likes hyper turf type trainers, baggy jeans and dark hoodies. He wouldn’t wear joggers or shorts outside of the house. He’s always loved more alternative styles and you can probably tell through what he wears. he wears bracelets, ties, beaded bracelets and braided leather all up his wrists, and occasionally likes a necklace. But it’s always hidden under his clothes.

17. How do you dress up?

He doesn’t, but when he lets himself dress more alternatively he isn’t as tied to modest baggy clothing. He likes more outwardly grunge clothing, excessive belts and bracelets, messy eyeliner and cinched waists. This is only for when he’s going to gigs or clubs when he’s a bit older, and even though he’s quite secretive about it he loves it.

18. How do you dress down?

joggers and hoodies, or clothes that have clashing colours.

19. What do you wear when you go to sleep?

joggers and a hoodie or a long sleeved shirt

20. Do you wear any jewelry?

He wears bracelets and necklaces. He has bracelets, ties, beaded bracelets and braided leather all up his wrists, and occasionally likes a necklace. But it’s always hidden under his clothes. His favourite bracelets are those classic italian charm bracelets, his are wooden with pictures of the virgin Mary on it. He also wears rosary beads and a cross and chain from time to time.

21. What words and/or phrases do you use frequently?

Not a word or phrase, but he groans and sighs dramatically a lot. Usually as a joke but sometimes it’s genuine.

22. Do you have any quirks, strange mannerisms, annoying habits, or other defining characteristics?

Though hes usually very reserved, he can put on over excitement quite easily, wave his arms around and move exaggeratedly, He’s not worried about embarrassing himself. He reads and watches a lot of old or classical media, and quotes and references it a lot, which is probably a bit pretentious. He writes frequently and feverishly in his diary and snaps whenever anyone tries to look at it. He can switch his emotions quickly, going from quiet to loud or from relaxed to irritated which could possibly be very annoying. And though he’s very shy about singing genuinely, he does burst into song in a joking manner a lot.

23. Do you have any bad habits? If so, what are they and how do you plan to get rid of them?

He bites his nails a lot, he doesn’t realise he’s doing it. He also smoked on and off when he was 15, and picked it up as a genuine habit when he was 16-17, he’ll quit one day but is in no rush to do so. (He hasn’t really told anyone, but his mam is a smoker so he’s not worried that she’ll care.) He also experimented with a lot of substances when he was a bit younger, but luckily it never led anywhere.

24. Do you have a lifelong dream or aspiration?

Gio always dreamed of being a writer or a poet or a rockstar, touring every country in every continent, when he was younger. His mam pushed him towards a formal classical music education which he despised. When he moved to England and all plans of pursuing a classical music career fell through, he gave up on any sort of dreams and decided in the back of his mind he probably wouldn’t live to follow anything through anyway. He lived day by day not giving much thought to the future. Now he’s older and in a better place, he kicks his younger self for not making any plans. He really does’t know what he wants to do with his life, having only just decided he wants to live it.

25. Do you own a car (or other form of transportation)? Why or why not? Describe it.

He doesn’t, and usually begs his brothers for a ride everywhere or gets the bus. He really really wants a boat, for some reason.

26. What is your current state of mind?

Gio’s just come out of a very dark place, he’s not quite well but in a far better mindset than before. More than anything he’s confused and a bit scared of the future, he doesn’t know where he belongs or who wants him around. He’s scared of being a burden on his brothers and their lives or being a burden on his mam, but he’s not quite ready to be alone. He’s slowly figuring things out, he’s scared but tentatively hopeful that things can and will get better.

Part Two: Family

27. How close are you to your family?

Gio’s closeness with his family is quite inconsistent (his own fault). He pushed his brothers and mam away for a while, but they pulled through and are still very close. He’s not at all close with his family outside of his brothers and mother, those three are the most important people to Gio.

28. Do you have a spouse or significant other? Describe them.

Not currently, he needs to focus on himself. He had a long term turbulent relationship with Aaron that he broke off when he was 17. He almost developed a proper relationship with Dawn, but wasn’t in the place for anything romantic and they stayed friends.

29. Have you started your own family? Describe them if you do. If not, do you want to? Why or why not?

No he has not because he is 18 and semi responsible

30. Who was your Father and what was he like?

Gio’s dad is Narciso, a famous musician. He cheated on Gio’s mam multiple times during their toxic relationship, and continued to hassle her after they broke up when Gio was a young child. Gio hates his dad, genuinely passionately hates him and can’t talk about him without getting angry. He has only a few memories of Narciso, when he would come to the house to offer Maria ‘childcare money’. Narciso never even looked in Gio’s direction, and little Gio found himself torn between desperately wanting his dad to stay and wanting to never see him again. Narciso was never violent, never intimidating, but Gio was terrified of him. Most of Gio’s anger stems from the emotional reaction Maria would have surrounding his father, he could see how much he hurt her. Gio knows that Narciso could have made all their problems go away, but had to live with the fact that he didn’t. Gio hopes his dad loses all of his money gambling or something and then falls in a ditch and dies.

31. Who was your Mother and what was she like?

Gio’s mam is Maria Ceija Rabellino. Gio loves his mother a lot, they’re scarily similar in humour and wit but clash horrifically over almost anything. They have a turbulent relationship that gets better as Gio gets older and comes to understand that his mam is just as hurt and scared as he is. Maria is quite a closed off person, she doesn’t care for other people too much and is fairly judgemental. She has a cynical, fierce sense of humour and is extremely funny. Though she never lets anyone else give an opinion on her, she’s very self conscious about herself and personality, which she knows can come across quite strong. She cared for Gio as much as she was able when she was struggling with her mental health, and is devasted and helpless as she sees him going down the same path she did. She has high aspirations for him, and is more scared than angry when he can’t reach them. Maria is controlled by her emotions, and like gio can switch from angry to happy in a heartbeat, making it hard to guess what she’ll say or do next. Gio and Maria haven’t always gotten along fantastically, but she loves him more than anything.

32. Who are you closest to in your family?

At one point Gio would have said his uncle Francesco, who passed away when he was young. But now it’s a toss up between his mam and his brothers. He can never feel truly honest around either of them, and when he was a younger teen would have probably seen himself being closest to Juan (who he likely considered his best friend for a long time) Though now he is older and Pierre and Juan are starting their own lives and their own families, Gio probably feels a bit isolated from them, and would be more willing to confide in his mam.

33. Is there someone in your family you wish you were closer to?

Gio wishes he was closer to his grandparents and his cousins. Maria doesn’t have the best relationship with her parents and brothers, and for a long time was excluded from them. This meant Gio wasn’t as connected to his extended family when he was younger, so his cousins were always closer to each other than to him. He felt a bit left out and always wished they’d spent more time together when he was little. Though, he does have some really fond childhood memories of his cousins and loves them a lot. He wishes he got to know his Grandfather more before he passed, he thinks they would have got on.

34. What was your parent’s marriage like?

Nonexistent, Maria ran away from Narciso when she found out she was pregnant with Gio. They were engaged, but never married.

35. Did they remain married? If not, how did that affect you? When did they split?

Gio never knew what his parents were like when they were together, he always imagines it as toxic and horrible. So when he sees pictures of his parents togetehr, smiling and in love, it makes him feel a bit queasy.

36. Do you have any siblings? What are/were they like?

Gio has two brothers, Pierre and Juan. You know what they’re like. Gio loves them a lot and wishes he wasn’t such a headache for them.

37. What is the worst thing one of your siblings ever did to you?

In Lena’s words, Juan probably snitched on Gio once.

38. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done to one of your siblings?

Implied that Juan wasn’t really Maria’s son or that he wasn’t truly a part of their family. They argued unlike they ever have before and their relationship deteriorated significantly. Gio was always probably quite snappy and rude to Pierre, blowing him off and isolating himself from him. They’re all good now, but Gio still feels guilty for being such a brat.

39. When’s the last time you saw a member of your family? Where are they now?

He sees his brothers probably everyday, or at least he sees Pierre almost everyday.

40. Did you meet any other family members? (Aunts Uncles, etc) Describe them.

Gio has four uncles, who all apart from Francesco have wives and children. He’s met them all, and is closest to his Uncle Roberto (the eldest) and his family, especially his cousins Bianca and Severo. His uncle Dario (the second child) holds a grudge against Maria and has never forgiven her for leaving, so he and his family (His wife, and children Floue, Dante and Elvaria) are not at all close to Gio, though he and those cousins have nothing against each other. Gio’s uncle Alfonso (the youngest) was young when Maria left, so was never as close to her but also wasn’t as hurt by her actions, he gets on well with Gio and his son, Alfonso, adores Gio.

Part Three: Friends and Relationships with Others

41. In general, how do you treat other people that you have just met?

Gio isn’t fond of new people, he would never willingly introduce himself or take part in a conversation. He probably comes off as quite rude or intimidating, but really hes just a bit shy.

42. Does your treatment of people change depending on how well you know them and if so how?

Definitely, Gio isn’t one to be rude or cruel to someone just because he doesn’t know them but he’s definitely colder and seems uninterested. Though if he’s met someone a few times he’ll say hello and be nice, he does genuinely take an interest in other peoples lives once he knows them a little bit.

43. Who is the most important person in your life and why?

For a long time it would have been Maria, who was really the only consistent person in Gios life. Though when he moved to England he definitely relied on Juan a lot more, being the only familiar figure to him. But throughout most of his teen years it was probably Aaron, who inadvertently dictated Gio’s thoughts and feelings.

44. Who is the person you respect the most and why?

Definitely his mam. With his brothers he respects them but it’s hard to see them as authority. Gio knows what his mam has been through and is so impressed by her at all times, he’d probably do anything to please her.

45. Who are your friends? Describe them.

Gio doesn’t really have many friends, when he was a little kid he didn’t make close friends with the kids in his school and preferred to play with the kids on his street who he was much closer with. After moving to England the friends he made sucked, they didn’t respect him or really know him at all, and they didn’t care to. After he meets Athena he forms a very small friend group of people who actually want to know him and enjoy him. Athena was his first true platonic friend, she adores Gio and understands him better than most people. John came along later, and his calm, at ease attitude compliments Gios more erratic nature quite well. Dawn, though slightly romantic, is one of the closest friends Gio has ever made. She sees right through him and tells it like it is. Gio really appreciates her and all his friends. Gio’s friends are all honest, authentic people. He’s chosen to surround himself with people who aren’t scared to be themselves, or at least aspire to live that way.

46. Do you have a best friend? Describe them.

Aaron was Gio’s first best friend, they had a lt of fun together and found themselves opening up to each other in a way they had never with anyone else. Their romance complicated any true freindship they had. Gio’s one true best friend will always be Athena.

47. Who would you turn to if you were in desperate need of help?

Gio has the unfortunate habit of believing he can sort everything out himself and doesn’t need anyone to help him. This obviously leads to most of the issues he faces, he never asks for help. When he understands he can’t fix everything himself he’d go to his brothers for help. Gio sees them as responsible and put together, he knows they’d help him.

48. Do you trust anyone to protect you? Who and why?

When they were together probably Aaron, he’s not a violent guy but he’s not someone willing to back down or give in and has always been very protective over Gio. Other than that, probably Juan.

49. If you died or went missing, who would miss you?

Well hopefully his friends and family. At a certain point Gio probably believed the people around him were better off without him, that it would be hard to miss him. Being an annoying rebellious teen, Gio likely had frequent periods of not being where he should be, not answering his phone or coming home when he was supposed to. He’s often just disappeared for a few hours, that he spends kicking around and listening to music or sleeping in Aaron’s bed. If he were to truly go missing, likely the first person to notice would be Pierre, as he is someone who never answers his texts so it would never alarm his friends if he went radio silent.

(After the fight with Liam, which happens in the late evening, Gio doesn’t come home. This isn’t unusual as he frequently spends the night at Aarons and forgets to let anyone know until much later in the evening. But then he doesn’t come home the next morning before school, he doesn’t show up to school, he doesn’t come home after school. It would probably be then that people realise no one has seen him since the early morning the day before. He doesn’t come home that evening, or that night, or the next morning. Then, people would start to miss him.) (tldr Gio does in fact go missing and this likely isn’t realised for a little while due to this being a boundary he pushes often)

50. Who is the person you despise the most, and why?

Liam. whatever his last name is. Gio find it hard to hate someone who’s wronged him, as I suppose he feels he deserves it. But Gio despises Liam for what he’s done to Athena, how he’s ruined her life, and how most of all he doesn’t think that he’s done anything wrong. No sob story or explanation or understanding could ever make Gio see Liam as anything but dirt.

He also hates his dad, but Liam takes the lions share of Gios ire.

51. Do you tend to argue with people or avoid conflict?

Gio would like to say he avoids conflict but he definitely doesn’t. He’d like to be he’s too emotional and rises to side comments tooe easily. He does grow out of this though, especially when he moves to the blue school and sees where rising to conflict lands him. He tends to just run away from it instead of facing the music responsibly.

Though, when it comes to arguing the toss or defending himself he can argue for hours he has a great stamina from it, probably inherited from his mam. I think she’s always been someone its hard to back down to, so Gio find it hard not to argue back or act reasonably.

52. Do you tend to take on leadership roles in social situations?

Though Gio does occasionally love bossing people around, he could never take charge of a group of people. If he was in a situation where he had to, he’d probably just leave and sort himself out. aka he’s too self centred to be in charge of other people.

53. Do you like interacting with large groups of people? Why or why not?

No, he doesn’t like interacting with people. Though he loves observing people, if he could just stand in a group and not contribute anything and just listen he’d enjoy that a lot more.

54. Do you care what others think of you?

He’d say no, but he absolutely does.

However that doesn’t stop him acting the way he does or presenting himself a certain way.

55. What habit do others have that annoys you the most?

He hates lazy people, and people that are just stupid. Not academically stupid but just people you know have never had to do anything, people that need someone else to hold their hand for them.

I think he hates popular people only because he’s jealous. and he doesn’t like people that lie, especially about stupid useless things.

56. What is the most important quality you look for in a friend?

Honestly and transparency

57. What do you most value in your friends?

Their honesty and transparency, as well as how gentle they are with it. He loves that his friends are themselves, rather than trying so hard to please others.

Part Five: Growing Up (Teen/Young Adult)

70. How much schooling have you had?

A lot of it. He did music lessons outside of his regular primary school education, which means a lot of his free time when he was younger was taken up by schooling. Then he started secondary school in Italy, moved to England and a new secondary school, and then got kicked out of there and went to a third secondary school. So he had a quite inconsistent secondary school education, but didn’t miss a lot of the curriculum. (He’s a pretty average student, decently smart and able to catch up, but puts in very little effort).

The only true interruption to his schooling came in sixth form, where i imagine he had to take quite a bit of time off, first from the fight then from the school’s consequences and then for his mental health. (I also think he went back home to italy for some time during all this, when his mental health was very bad)

Essentially I think he had to retake sixth form, or at least re do year 12 a year after everyone else.

71. Did you enjoy school?

Gio likes learning and knowing things, but only things he’s interested in. He thinks that school especially secondary school is a waste of time as he’s being made to learn things that either don’t matter or he doesn’t care about.

Instead of doing homework or revising he spends his time doing his own thing, reading and learning about what he wants. Essentially he’s very smart but does badly at school.

And no, he hated all of school, even primary. There’s no doubt he’s cried over how much he hates school before, and begged not to go in on the mornings. He hates the people and the structure and everything. It causes him a lot of distress, especially how the other kids view him.

He’s shed a lot of tears over this.

72. Where did you learn most of your skills and other abilities?

For music it was his mam and the music education she gave him outside of his regular education. She also encouraged him to read whatever he wanted and to never stick by the schools rules. Everything he knows he’s learned from the library, especially learning how to write both songs and poetry.

73. While growing up, did you have any role models other than your parents? Describe them.

Probably poets and songwriters, I don’t find it hard to imagine little Gio having a strange affection for Sylvia Plath.

74. While growing up, how did you get along with the other members of your family?

He and his mam got on like a house on fire, aka extremely well and extremely not well. They clash a lot, argue a lot but love each other to bits.

Gio got on well with his cousins but didn’t see them very often, and was quite distant from his uncle and aunts given how infrequently they saw him.

When Juan came into his life, I can imagine Gio was a bit withdrawn at first, but Juan brought out the best in him and they got along really well.

75. How old were you when you went on your first date? Describe the date.

Oh lord.

His first date was probably with Aaron, though it would never have been specified to be a date.

The only time Gio would consider their time together ‘dates’ would be after they kissed in that December.

After that first kiss, when Gio was very drunk and immediately fell asleep, Aaron started avoiding him.

Gio, feeling completely awful and like some twisted pervert, avoided him too, terrified Aaron would tell all his friends and Gio would, once again, be a laughing stock.

Obviously this didn’t happen, and after a few weeks of the cold shoulder, Aaron quite clearly reciprocated Gio’s feelings (he snogged him).

Any outing with just the two of them after this Gio may catalogue in his head as a ‘date’. Which more than likely consisted of them buying some crisps at the corner shop, stealing a few cans of something off of Connell, riding their bikes to the river and having an impromptu picnic whilst mucking about. Very romantic.

76. What is your favorite memory from your teen years?

77. What is your worst memory from your teen years?

78. When and with whom was your first kiss?

He was 14 and it was with Aaron. I’ve already written it out 🤭

79. Are you a virgin? If not, when and with whom did you lose your virginity?

Not a virgin. Gio lost his virginity to Aaron when he was about 16. It was after they met for the second time, after they spent some time pretending they could just be friends.

It was obvious to Gio that Aaron was more experienced than him. That between the time of their ‘breakup’ and them meeting again Aaron had lost his own virginity, had maybe had sex multiple times. When or with who Gio never asked. Gio’s a naturally very jealous person, as when he falls in love he falls in love hard, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel envious. He knew it was his fault that him and Aaron broke apart, so much had changed in that time, Gio had changed, so he couldn’t really be surprised that Aaron had changed too.

It didn’t happen at either of their houses, instead in the back of Aaron’s brother’s car, parked up in the Northumberland coast. There was no one around.

For how impromptu and strange it was, Gio’s never regretted it or thought back on it with anything but fond humour. He thought it was nice, and despite everything he’s glad it was with Aaron.

80. Describe any influences in your past that led you to do the things you do today.

Probably all the weird depressing books he read as a kid. He had a library card and free will and a mam that let him read what he wants.

Gio’s always had a bit of an unrealistic, darker mindset and always sees things more poetically due to the books he read that romanticised all matters of dark material. Essentially he’s weird because all he consumed when he was a kid was weird media.

I think his mam’s depression had a big influence on him too, especially how independent he is. He doesn’t really think about it, but the way he feels in his teen years and how he reacts to these feelings is very based around how his mam dealt with her own mental state.

[foxspritez]

Would be super epic and cool if you ranted about that Sampard mermaid au, would love to hear more about it 👀 👀 👀 also you mentioned a fic in the tags for your recent post? Hope you don’t mind me asking if there is there one (and to please share maybe 👀)? If you don’t wanna on either it’s all goods 😋

OMG… THANK YOU FOR ASKING 🤭🤭🤭 i’ll literally kill for you thx for fueling my self indulgence xx anyway basically im picturing it like belobog’s overworld being a seaside kingdom (the landau family being royalty with gepard as prince) and the underworld being like boulder town ocean city idk. anyway. locals have recently reported “sea monster” sightings by the docks, that being sampo stealing valuables to bring back down either to sell at ten times it’s worth or give away to nat or the kids, normal sampo behavior and whatever. So gepard, being more of a silvermane guard and less of an active royal ruler at the moment, starts keeping a closer watch of the shore to keep the people feeling a bit safer, not thinking anything of it really, since “sea monsters aren’t real and can’t hurt anybody 🤓☝️” but whatever helps his people sleep at night. to his surprise, he spots an unusually large looking fish swim off with some cargo while he’s keeping watch, and starts to believe there really is something in the waters.

Being more prepared next shift, he sets up bait (expensive jewelry he stole from serval, she’ll thank him later) at the edge of one of the docks, with a sailboat ready to follow as soon as soon as it takes the bait. Unfortunately for him, the little pile of treasures isn’t taken until it’s already nighttime, so his tracking abilities are already sabotaged. But he is a Landau, and he’s too stubborn to wait any longer, so he sets off after it. late night light rain follows shortly, but he’s too far out to turn back now, and the harsh winds will help him to catch up faster. Rain turns to storms, and the winds and deep waters become too much for the little sailboat he took out. He tips over, and struggling to resurface from the crashing waves, gets pushed into that steering part of the sailboat (idfk what they’re called the ones at the bottom or whatever) and knocks himself out.

As for sampo, he’d been keeping a close eye on the boat once he realized he was being followed, and quickly swam up to keep the sailor above the waves. Awkwardly swimming half above water with the man in his arms, he takes him to the closest shoreline he can find as the storm dies down. Gepard wakes up hours later, with an unfamiliar pair of sea green eyes staring down at him. Insert my recent post here. When he wakes up again, it’s from the many guards sent out as a search party to find him, the man he met nowhere to be found. Had it not been for the pretty blue seashell placed carefully in his hands, he would have been convinced he was dreaming. It would be nice if he could have his sister’s jewelry back, but the seashell was cool too i guess.

Knowing no one’s gonna believe him, he claims he lost the creature early on, and sailed to the nearest island to wait out the storm. He just assumes he’ll never sea (:3) his savior again, but obviously im not gonna let that happen as there’s more plot to come.

I like the idea of mermaids having a human form to use at free will, so I’m thinking sampo has to get creative now that his regular boat stealing spot is swarming with guards after rescuing that pretty blonde days ago. Apparently, he’s a pretty important royal figure, so it’s not like he’ll see him around town if he starts doing his thieving on land. Now he can even scam humans too, it’s a win-win. Of course, he doesn’t know gepard is associated with the guards. I just want gepard to start chasing after the con man everyone’s been reporting, only to come face to face with those deep green eyes again, and the necklace of his beloved older sister around his neck.

I’m still thinking about what comes next, but I have a basic idea of what I want to happen. Nothings really set in stone since it’s all just ideas and brainrot atm but I’m having a great time coming up with every new thing 🤭

Unfortunately there is no fic for this since I just made it up for my own self indulgence, and the tags were referencing a different work from a fic i’ve been reading for awhile. I would write this au no hesitation if I could write, but I’m not the best writer and have to either ramble or draw the ideas/brainrot that pops in my mind. If anyone makes a fic like this/someone makes a sampard mermaid fic in general i’ll die for you though 😇

But yeah that’s about it! Thanks again for asking I appreciate it a lot 🥹🥹 getting to ramble about them always makes me !!! so this made my day!! Thank you for giving me this chance!!! 🤗🤗

[kenjirose]

Rate the fallout companions from your favorite to least favorite

1: Nick Valentine

- He is the only one that seems genuinely interested and devoted to helping you on your journey and find what you’re looking for, Shaun.

- I respect that he prides himself on a sense of serving justice, his story is good and it was genuinely very interesting for me.

- Terminal Hacking is a life saver AUGH thank you Val.

- His voice… His sarcasm…

2: Dogmeat

- Doesn’t talk.

- Never hates you, you can do anything around them.

- You can dress Dogmeat up in collars, bandanas, canine armor, headgear and more.

- Dogmeat will also play with a teddy bear if you give it to him- what a dope guy.

- Is a dog.

3: Codsworth

- Bro is loyal to you even after 200 years. This robot is my real son, he calls me mum. Fuck you Shaun.

4: Curie

- She is literally my wife.

- I adore her voice and accent.

- Supplies me stimpacks which is epic.

5: John Hancock

- Gives me Jack Sparrow vibes. He’s a big smart ass while simultaneously being high asf all the time and it greatly amuses me

- He’s also a big flirt. What a loveable douchebag!

6: Preston Garvey

- Rose why is Preston of all people so high? Yeah, “a new settlement needs your help” can be annoying sometimes, but I personally really like the minutemen quests.

- He just wants to help everyone and with everything and he’s willing to admit that he isn’t strong enough to do it on his own. That makes him the strongest character in my eyes, sure he’s weak in combat but that’s a trait that really speaks to me.

- He knows he isn’t a hero and he’s willing to admit that. But he still strives to be that perfect person, even if it’s far from reach.

- Bonding with him hits hard, I don’t romance him but I love having him as a very close friend. Especially when he opens up to you about how he contemplated suicide. To keep going when you’ve gotten down that low with yourself is also really strong.

- In short I know it’s not a popular opinion, but I love Preston.

7: Paladin Danse

- Best fighter IMO.

- I really like his story esp with helping him improve his view points on the Commonwealth and Synths, as well as himself who ofc, happens to be a Synth.

- Even if he never stops being ENTIRELY racist, even to his own kind.

- He’s very pretty for a boy.

8: MacCready

- Best companion if I wanna be a sarcastic menace.

- Also if I want to get up to some mischief, like stealing and shit.

- His sarcastic dialogue is the best he’s very funny and I love that he plays off of whatever you say.

- Gives me ammo randomly THANK YOU.

- Also his perk is like broken, it’s fucking awesome.

9: Piper

- Super sweet and nice.

- Gives me snacks.

10: Deacon

- Lowkey a meme.

- Fucking hilarious.

11: X6-88

- Highest S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Perks by far.

- He’s cool to look at and his dialogue is fun.

12: Cait

- Doesn’t mind if I act like a dick or take chems.

- Honestly if I had to kin anyone.. she’s most like me I think.

13: Ada

- Doesn’t care whatever you do I’m sure.

- Can be upgraded into a weapon of destruction.

- Eh overall though, no good story.

14: Old Longfellow

- He’s alright. Has a very sad story with his wife.

- Legit an alcoholic.

15: Strong

- Stop hating everything I do bro.

16: Porter Gage

- Annoying asf I hate this guy.

[nyxivy]

Dude your boorman fic fed my ❤ I loved it soooooooo much. If you ever do another one you should definitely do one in the Nockmaar castle. If not a graydon one where he's possessed and talking to Y/N like he did with elora which I think was episode 4. They're just sooooo fine.

thank you so much!! <3 There are defo more boorman fics brewing but i just loved the graydon idea so much i just had to!! as always its a gender neutral reader, the reader's a bit angry in this one but i don't think they actually dislike anyone they're just stressed. hope you enjoy!! <3 <3

It was hell to see Graydon like this, for almost as long as you had been a knight, you had been his personal protector. You were best friends and companions in almost everything you did, even on your days off. You had been there the day he-  the day his brother died. You’d seen the thing that had taken control of his mind and body and you had vowed to yourself that you’d never let anything like that in again.

Yet here you were, Graydon chained by his wrists, kneeling on the cold, damp floor of Nockmaar castle of all places. You hadn’t left his side since the injury, your defences heightened to the point it took several minutes of debate to even let Boorman help you carry Graydon inside, you would have slung him over your shoulder and done it completely yourself. Now you knelt beside him, a dirty rag in your hand to periodically wipe sweat from his forehead or vomit from his chin. Your heart clenched every time he wretched and you think you must look as heartbroken as you feel because the others keep looking at you almost as worriedly as they looked at Graydon.

“What happened to Ballentine and Merrick is gonna happen to me,” Graydon says quietly into the silence of the cavernous room. It feels like he’s voicing a thought that everyone’s having so you screw your eyes shut and shake your head almost imperceptibly. You knew this was going to happen, Graydon was far too smart and far too righteous for his own good and you swear if he suggests any one of you kill him you were going to scream.

“And you guys are gonna have to stop me before I. . .”

A well timed thunderclap echoes through the room as your grip tightens on his tunic where your hand is laid on his shoulder to keep him steady. You're unable to muster up anything in response so you just swallow hard, trying to get rid of the lump in your throat.

In the background you can hear Elora questioning Willow but all you can hear is the rushing of blood in your ears, you only pay attention when Graydon speaks again and you can’t help but smile, of course he can still recite the epic tale of Bavmorda’s defeat whilst in his condition. He was obsessed with stuff like this. It was one of the things you lov-  admired about him. At the end of his speech he retched again.

Throughout the evening you attempted to feed him tiny morsels of food, you hadn’t said a word to the others, the only sounds you made were to murmur things to Graydon calmingly and the only time you moved was to fetch him water, more food or a clean rag. Right now you sat cross-legged with his head resting on your thigh, you stroked his head lovingly and hummed softly so that only you and Graydon could hear it, although you wouldn’t have really cared if the others did hear.

“How long does he have?” 

The sound of Jade’s voice catches your attention although you don’t look up

“Until it takes hold?”

Eventuallly, Willow answers her 

“Not long. Some time in the small hours of the morning he’ll lose control”

“I mean we all know what has to be done.” Kit says gravely

This does make you look up and you hurl a venomous look at her

“You little sh-” you begin, your voice croaky from the hours spent in silence but still seething with rage.

“Kit’s right” Graydon says quietly, laying a gentle hand on your leg, halting you before you can start to throw insults around.

“I’ve had some experience with this before and I know I’m not strong enough to stop it. . . I don’t want to hurt you guys. . .But I will”

His voice is so forlorn that it only hardens your resolve.

“You are not dying tonight,” Your voice is steely but your eyes are soft as you put a hand on the back of his neck and press your forehead to his. It was perhaps too intimate a gesture for the company but you had left your manners behind long ago.

Elora stands from where she was seated besides the two of you

“If Her Highness is in such a hurry to see it done, she ought to do it herself.”

You were glad to have at least one ally in this

“Oh, you don’t think I will?”

“Uh, I don’t” Boorman pipes up from his place beside the fire, his mouth still full. “Killin’ someone who isn’t trying to kill you back, it's not an easy thing to do”

You stand to take a step towards them, besides Elora, your hand going to your sword at your belt threateningly.

“There’ll definitely be someone trying to kill her back”

Elora pleads that there must be something Willow could do and you can’t help but agree, he was supposed to be the greatest sorcerer in the world. If Graydon died tonight and his personal fucking hero; the allmighty sorcerer Willow couldn’t save him you might just kill everyone in this room and then yourself.

When Willow agrees to at least attempt to help Graydon, you follow him out of the room and into what looks like a large storage cupboard, although you recognise very few of the ingredients in the jars on the shelves. You hurry to help everyone collect the ingredients and tools Willow listed off, nervous about leaving Graydon for too long.

“We can’t allow Graydon’s infection to pass to any of us, if it does we won't get out of here alive” Willow says as everyone gathers at a table ready to split up to their own tasks. You’re biting your nails, restless about getting back to Graydon.

“How infectious are you talking, like if he coughs on us? Or if I touch him and then I, you know, touch my face or. . .”

“I’ve been touching him all night, you couldn’t have said something before?” You demand. You can tell Boorman’s about to make a comment without even having to look at him “Not like that” You growl.

“The vermiscus goo.” Willow clarifies “Don’t sniff it, don’t wipe it, don’t eat it”

“Why would we eat it?” Elora ponders but you’re already done with this conversation and about halfway to the door when Willow seems to remember something else.

“Wait! There’s one thing even more important than that. No matter what, stay out of the High Tower. It’s maybe, probably a portal to the Netherworld”

“Portal to the Netherworld,” You mutter “Of course it is”

There’s another thunderclap and you leave the room before anyone else says another word.

Once you’ve returned to Graydon you deposit your armfuls of ingredients on a small table and when Willow arrives not long after you , you help Graydon into a reclined position on another kind of table. 

“Hey, now this is looking like a real exorcism” You joke, trying to lighten the mood. 

Graydon chuckles but it quickly turns into a cough. When Kit returns with the rest of the ingredients, you busy yourself with mashing together something the way Willow instructed, if you listen to her for more than five seconds right now you’re not sure if you could stop yourself from doing something stupid and what Graydon really doesn’t need right now is a fight. You had always been wary of Kit. She didn’t want to get married, you get that, but the way she treated Graydon had been grating on you from the moment you met her. Graydon had tried to give her the benefit of the doubt but your patience was wearing thin. It’s not even like her status as Graydon’s fiance meant she was trying to take him away from you. Not that you owned him, obviously, but you couldn’t help the bubbling jealousy beneath the surface that she was the one who got to marry him. And now she was basically advocating for his death, without even trying to save him. It was a double edged sword, you hated that she didn’t like Graydon but if she was any kinder to him your jealousy would probably be unbearable.

You’re snapped out of your thoughts when Willow puts a hand on your shoulder and you realise that the ingredients are far past mashed together and the mortar and pestle in your hands are gripped so tightly that they threaten to shatter. Willow gives you a tight lipped sympathetic smile and takes the bowl from you gently.

When Willow pulls out a large pair of shears you jump to your feet, ready to defend Graydon once again but Willow just uses them to cut open his shirt. 

You’d seen his scars a few times before, the first time when you had been showing him some of your scars and he was adamant he had you beat and you wouldn’t let it go until he showed you, the second time you had burst into his room while he was changing, much to the embarrassment of you both and the third time on one glorious summer evening when the two of you had been walking by a lake and you had convinced him to come swimming with you. He was usually very wary of anyone else seeing his scars but you had convinced him it was just the two of you. The memories flashed before your eyes as you put a comforting hand on his shoulder while he explained them to Willow and Elora. You wanted to tell them to mind their own fucking business but you were trying to keep a hold of your temper for Graydons sake and pissing off the only two people who might be able to save him was not smart.

Willow retreats to grab a bucket from his workstation and returns, gesturing for you to move out of the way. Reluctantly and with one final squeeze to his shoulder you step back to stand besides Elora. 

Graydon screams as the liquid from the bucket connects with his flesh. You screw your eyes shut, the sizzling sound of his flesh making you want to vomit or curl up into a ball or both. Elora’s hand finds yours and she squeezes you tightly. You squeeze her hand back and the two of you stand there for what feels like an eternity.

You feel utterly fucking useless, hours go by and all you can do is stand and watch. You’re not a sorcerer, you don’t know how to do spells or make potions. Hell, you’re not even that good at cooking. You knew how to fight, this sorcery stuff was Graydon's specialty, if only you could just punch this fucking Lich out of him. The sound of Willow and Elora chanting was driving you insane, the same gibberish over and over again and nothing seemed to be happening. Even in his state Graydon was able to correct Elora’s pronunciation of the spell. It made you smile despite the circumstances

Eventually Kit returned with the final ingredients. Graydon seemed to have settled down into a restless sleep while Elora and Willow finished the salve. You hovered nervously at Graydon’s side, biting your nails as you watch the two sorcerers work. Willow collects a blob of the salve on the tip of a knife that Boorman had retrieved earlier and presses it to the wound at Graydon’s shoulder. You tense up ready for the screaming to start again but it doesn’t seem to bother him. You don't know if that's a good sign or a bad sign.

Suddenly he sits bolt upright, his hands coming to fists in Willows tunic 

“Get me some water, peck”

It was Graydon's voice but it didn’t sound like him at all.

“Or you die. Understand? Water”

Elora hurries to fetch him water and you take a step forward, your hand outstretched tentatively, unsure if you should touch him or not.

“Graydon?” You ask softly, his eyes snap to you before his head flies back and the sound of Airk’s voice emanates from his throat.

“It’s not Airk, it’s the Lich, trying to break our concentration” Willow warns. 

Unable to cope, Kit runs from the room and Elora and Willow continue their chanting. When Graydon's voice switches to Mims, addressing Willow now he stuffs a rag in his mouth and your resolve breaks. You don’t care if you’re risking infecting yourself, you sink to your knees at Graydon’s side, an arm reach over his chest to hold him, your other hand around his chained bicep. You press your forehead to his side and the sound of Elora and Willow chanting and then breaking into argument is far in the distance. You focus on the fact you can still hear him breathing and you murmur quietly to him, telling him it’s gonna be alright. And that Willow and Elora are going to save him. Eventually you feel a hand on your shoulder, it’s Willow, holding some sort of instrument that looks more like a weapon than anything that would be used to heal someone. He has a grave look on his face

“You need to leave. You’re not going to want to see this.”

Silently you stand, and give Graydon one last look before leaving the room. You hadn’t noticed that Elora had left but there was no sight of her as you’re walking down the corridor. Piercing through the silence, Graydon’s screams start up again and you clap your hands over your ears and take off running, you need to get away from this awful place. Eventually, when you can no longer hear Graydon’s screams you stop running, you don’t know where you are, all the corridors look the same anyway, you sink down against the wall, bringing your knees up to your chest. There you sit, huddled up against the wall for what could have been minutes or hours. Eventually you’re too exhausted to keep your eyes open and you doze off. You think you’re dreaming at first, you can hear Graydon’s voice echoing around you but as it gets closer and you begin to wake up you can still hear his voice, and is that Elora too? You scramble to your feet and run towards the sound.

“Graydon?” You call, the hope in your voice is obvious.

You turn a corner and there he is, looking a little bit worse for wear but otherwise unharmed. You race towards him, collecting him in a bone crushing hug

“What happened?” You demand “Where’s Willow?”

They explain what Graydon told Elora, that the exorcism worked but now the Lich was possessing Willow and they needed to find him. Elora tells you that they think he might be in the High Tower and you nod, it makes sense but you can’t help but get a bad feeling about it in the pit of your stomach. Something wasn’t right. 

Right now though you couldn’t care less, with Graydon’s hand clutched in yours you felt like you could do anything and you were going to kick that Lich’s ass.

The three of you race up to the High Tower, Elora leading the way. Every so often, you catch Graydon glancing over at you with a smile and you wonder how much of the evening he remembers. The butterflies in your stomach soon overtake the previous unease and you’re almost embarrassed by how much of a wreck you were earlier. The door to the High Tower creaks open, revealing a dark and dusty yet empty room.

“He’s not here” Elora says, sounding defeated.

Graydon’s hand slips from yours and he begins to walk slowly into the room.

“No.” he says. You frown.

“I don’t understand, where could he be?”

“I don’t know, but maybe it’s okay.”

“What do you mean okay? We have to find him before it’s too late”

“Don’t you see?”

The sinking feeling in your stomach has returned and you find your hand creeping towards your sword.

“It doesn’t matter.” The previously unlit candles spring to life and you feel sick.

Graydon turns to face the two of you, two minutes ago he had looked unharmed, now it looked like his skin was blistering and peeling from his face. 

You unsheath your sword, it feels heavy in your hands as Graydon says

“He can’t help you anymore.”

Elora runs for the door but an unseen force slams it shut before she can reach it. You don’t take your eyes off Graydon

“We’re gonna finish the ritual. Tonight”

You take a step towards him

“Graydon, I know you’re in there. I know you can hear me,” you plead “this isn’t you”

“I’ve never felt stronger” His voice is distorted. This is not the Graydon you know. And it certainly isn’t the Graydon you love. He picks up a boulder from the floor and hoists it over his shoulder.

“Look! I’m strong now! I can finally protect you like you want. You don’t have to be the one looking after me all the time” His voice breaks and you hear the real Graydon underneath and your heart shatters. You shake your head at him, clutching your sword in both hands, terrified that you’re going to have to use it. 

“That is not what I want. You’re already strong, Graydon,” 

You can hear your blood rushing in your ears, your head is pounding, there’s definitely something fucked up about this tower. The tears you’ve been holding back prick at your eyes and threaten to spill out.

“You’re strong in ways that matter! In the real way! You’re smart and kind, I wish I was more like you!” Your voice cracks and you’re desperately trying not to let the tears spill out. Graydon looks unphased but you can see something swimming in his eyes. The real him is still there.

Suddenly the door swings open and Willow appears

“What did I say was the number one most important safety rule?”

Graydon hurls his rock at Willow who dives out of the way just in time. You launch yourself at Graydon, who just flings you backwards with a flick of his wrist where you fly into the door, hitting the back of your head with a slam. You black out for just a second but when you come to Graydon has Elora levitating high into the air.

“So tell me, how will you defeat us?”

You stand as willow says 

“Same as last time, with my friends.”

The door opens and Kit, Jade and Boorman stand besides you. You think for a moment that Graydon looks worried and is soon proved right when Willow uses his staff to send him flying backwards into the wall. Kit, Jade and Boorman run to pin him down. You’re still dazed, using a pillar to stop yourself from collapsing back on the floor when you hear Boorman's voice.

“We have to do it”

You know exactly what he means and you let out a yell, hurling yourself towards him. You are not letting anyone kill your best friend. Your tousle with Boorman for a moment, you think you’ve just got the upper hand when he lands a blow right to the bruise on the back of your head. Your vision swims and he manages to get a grip on your arms, holding you as you struggle against him. You scream in frustration, the tears finally spilling over onto your cheeks. Kit and Jade still battle to hold Graydon down although Jade has her sword half unsheathed and only Kit’s exclamation to wait stops her from using it. You’re sobbing now, fighting fruitlessly against Boorman’s hold. You just need to get to him, you just need to be with him. The world grows strangely silent as you turn your attention to Elora

“Please-!” you choke out “You need to save him please”

Slowly she makes her way over to you, you think it has nothing to do with your pleading and everything to do with whatever it was Kit just said to her but you don’t care. You just need her to save him. She holds her hand out to you and reluctantly Boorman lets you go to take it.

“I need your help” she says

You shake your head, the tears still flowing. 

“I’m no good at that shit. I can’t do magic. That’s Graydon’s thing”

“Do you love him?”

You’re taken aback but slowly you nod

“Then you can do it.”

She leads you over to Graydon who doesn’t fight back as Jade relinquishes her hold on him. Elora’s hand remains firmly in yours as you lean over the man you love. You feel as though he’s staring directly into your soul as your eyes flutter shut and your lips connect, the taste of him mingling with your salty tears. When you part you can see the wisps of gold light, streaming out from his mouth and into yours and when you turn to look you can see it travelling through your arm and into Elora where your hands connect. You watch as it dissipates out of her into the night air and you turn around to see Graydon staring at you in awe. You sob, wrapping your arms around his shoulders and burying your head in his neck

“You asshole, don’t ever do that to me again” You blubber. His hand comes up to the back of your head and he laughs breathlessly 

“I knew you could do it.”