#I think it’s pretty obvious what the other ship is but let it be known that I hold no grudges towards any shippers

[tecnestheim962]

I need more RG in my feed and less of literally everything else, the brain worms are seeking food and all they’re finding is stress and isolation

[lilislegacy]

i love how in heroes of olympus, there’s a boat full of couples (+leo☺️). and yet even if you didn’t know when each couple started dating, it’s so blatantly obvious that percy and annabeth have been together the longest, and are the most serious

cause frank and hazel are still pretty nervous/unsure with each other. they JUST started dating, and are so pure and adorable. they just haven’t quite figured out the romance part yet

and jason and piper have their moments, but they’re just so… distant. like not physically, of course, but they just don’t really seem to connect on a deep level. and they aren’t super affectionate, at least not physically or openly. piper is constantly unsure about where they’re at, and while jason has thoughts about how great piper is, he doesn’t openly show his feelings too often.

but percabeth? they’re the oldest in age (physically), have known each other the longest, and have been romantically committed to each other for the most time. they act like they’ve been together for eternity, which is funny since they were technically only dating for 4 months before percy got abducted. but they just have such a deep history together and such an intense connection. they’re in it for the long run. there’s no doubt or uncertainty - and it shows. like…annabeth is so wife girlfriend. there are so many funny/cute little moments, like her scolding him for putting too much syrup on his pancakes, and telling him to take a shower when he smells bad. and when percy suggests him and jason should go on a dangerous quest instead of annabeth and piper, instead of being like “omg he cares so much about me😍” (which hazel and piper would have done) annabeth is like “what seaweed brain?? you think two guys can do better than two girls??” and percy is immediately like “uh uh NO nope i definitely do NOT think that!!” he knows better. the immediate fear is so husband boyfriend of him. they simultaneously have the most disagreements (remember when percy called annabeth out when she thought she should navigate through rome alone, and basically called her stupid for thinking it was a good idea, and then they argued and had a face-off, which percy won) - while also being the most lovey dovey (they’re constantly putting their hands on each other - annabeth putting her hand on his chest to calm him down, putting their hands on each other’s arms for support, percy having his arm around her when they’re at the edge of the ship, always giving each other a kiss on the mouth or the cheek when they separate, etc). and they have no issues sneaking off in the middle of the night to do some talking and kissing. and quite frankly, making out in front of piper in BoO (remember that? when piper got super uncomfortable at how long their kiss was lasting, and then annabeth let out, and i quote, “grunt-whimpers”). they are just so natural and comfortable with each other. piper says it herself.

i just think it’s so funny. little frazel being adorable and blushing when they hold hands, jiper is happy to be dating but they’re also a little angsty and uncertain, and then there’s percabeth just being the old married couple they are. (and leo is being cute and fixing stuff)

[relicsongmel]

Iris, Miles, and their mutual "secret"

The Ace Attorney fandom is no stranger to discussions of homoerotic subtext in the game's script—pretty much everyone who's spent more than five seconds here will be able to tell you that. Screenshots of lines that imply romantic tension between same-gender characters are all over the place, to the point that many fans are drawn to the series purely by its reputation as "the gay lawyer game." Some scenes are more well-known than others, but one I find brought up fairly regularly is this conversation between Miles and Iris:

This is optional dialogue that can be triggered by presenting incorrect evidence on Iris' Psyche-Lock during the Investigation portion of Bridge to the Turnabout. The argument here is that the "secret" Iris is referring to is the same as her own: that being, a romantic interest in Phoenix Wright. Which is definitely hilarious when you consider that Iris has known Miles for less than a day and she's already reading him for filth (granted, she could have been clued in by the similarly infamous "indispensable friend" line, and she's also exceptionally good at reading people despite Miles thinking otherwise). As a Narumitsu shipper myself I am not immune to enjoying that interpretation; however, I feel like there's a lot of nuance in this scene that isn't often addressed by the fandom at large. Which is unfortunate because watering it down to just Iris calling out Miles for being the gayass he is (to be fair. she's not wrong) does a MASSIVE disservice to both of their characters, and I'll explain why.

My bone to pick with the usual analysis of this scene is mostly centered around the larger conversation to be had regarding the treatment of female characters in fandom spaces. All too often they tend to play second fiddle to the male characters, and a similar principle holds true for ships with their canonical male love interests: mostly ignored in favor of the the more popular M/M ship(s). At best these women are sidelined, at worse they are flattened into wingmen for the boys (as is frequently the case with many AA girls and Narumitsu, Iris included), and at the absolute worst they are demonized for their perceived "competition" with whatever gay ship is most popular and therefore the Only Valid One for the male characters involved (as exemplified by some very "passionate" fans that I generally try to avoid interacting with). Whenever this scene gets brought up, the focus is almost always exclusively on Miles and what the interaction says about his relationship with Phoenix; Iris is only relevant insofar as she's the one initiating Miles' Homosexual Moment™—you could replace her with almost any other character and there'd be a similar level of neglect for their role in the interaction. Only very rarely will you see attention given to what Iris' question about Miles' secret means when she is the one asking it, and what it can tell us about her relationship with Miles/what she thinks of him, and vice versa (absolutely wild how even Miles himself is often flanderized despite being the fandom's golden child). It's all too characteristic of the systemic misogyny that has plagued fandom since its inception, which is deeply frustrating to me as someone who adores Iris as much as I do (if that wasn't obvious by now). So that said, let's dive deeper into what I think the missing link is here: namely, the Iris-Miles dynamic as it pertains to their relation to Phoenix.

Iris and Miles is one of my favorite relationships to explore in the whole series—but as I've described above, unfortunately a lot of people get it wrong in my opinion. Discussion about the two is frequently centered around Narumitsu Love Drama—which is a conversation worth having, don't get me wrong—but the elements at play there aren't always represented the way I envision them, which again, is frustrating. Take the idea of potential jealousy, for instance: it's pretty standard love triangle fare that can be (and often is) quickly turned into demonization when it's used in a shipping context, character assassination be damned (re: Narumitsu fanfic authors that project their personal dislike of Feenris onto Miles via his jealousy of Iris and/or how they tend to portray Iris unfavorably). However, it's not inherently a bad thing to explore: personally, I do believe that there is mutual jealousy between the two of them. Miles might not have the full context of Iris' history when this conversation takes place, but he's emotionally intelligent enough to pick up on what Iris means to Phoenix, and vice versa. And him being a jealous hoe about it isn't out of the question when you consider that he's a bit of a loner by nature and doesn't have many close friends or outlets for socialization outside of his job. The crucial element that's sometimes missed, though, is that Miles not only lacks the self-awareness to realize he's a jealous hoe...he's also a self-sabotaging jealous hoe.

And the same can be said for Iris, who is similarly introverted and doesn't often leave her home at Hazakura Temple.

The whole reason Miles is peering into Iris' heart in the first place can be found in this exchange, after he breaks her Psyche-Lock:

Miles uses the Magatama in order to gain the answers he needs to bring the truth to light and get Iris acquitted, and he does so for the express purpose of reuniting her with Phoenix so they can find closure—in fact, he reiterates this to her multiple times. He obviously recognizes how Phoenix is suffering from what happened between them (I'd argue he sympathizes with Iris' plight as well) and has resolved to do what he can to help him heal, but there's no reason for him to be so insistent that she rectify things with Phoenix when it does nothing but harm his own chances with him. Unless, of course...that's the whole point.

To convince Iris to reveal her secret so he doesn't have to face his own, because he thinks himself undeserving.

And Iris, noticing this because she empathizes with that feeling of unworthiness, calls him out on it in an almost uncharacteristically forward manner when she asks him what he's hiding.

Takes one to know one, indeed.

Iris highly respects Miles for taking on her defense despite the risk to his job as a prosecutor. She's willing to trust him after hearing he's a friend of Phoenix, hearing him out and letting him reason with her. She still keeps her cards close to her chest in some regards, but she's more honest with him than she's been with anyone else in her life apart from her sister. She sees his commitment to the truth and how it starkly contrasts with how she's lived her life to this point, and thinks that this is the type of partner Phoenix deserves—not someone like her, who only knows how to survive using lies and deception. She sees so much strength in him but still recognizes the insecurity lurking beneath his tenacity, which is why when he falters in his logic, she takes a leap of faith and gives him one last chance to examine his reasons for pushing the burden of his unspoken affections onto her, as if to say: "Look in the mirror. Is this really for me? Or is it for you? Do you really seek the truth for its own sake, or do you merely hope to find one truth so you might run from another?"

Her question to Miles is a gamble—a coin flip of self-sacrifice. If she loses and he presses on, she has to face the secret within her heart she's been suppressing for five years. But if she wins and he gives in to the truth in his, she has to live the rest of her life watching it unfold and knowing she threw away her chance to finally stop living in fear of her own love.

Either way, there's no escaping heartache for her anymore.

Miles and Iris both want what's best for Phoenix and prioritize their vision of his feelings over their own. However, they are also both deeply emotionally repressed people who find difficulty in being direct with their feelings, and are predisposed to self-sabotage due to childhood trauma. These tendencies may manifest in different ways for both of them, but the fact remains that such people would likely not compete for a person's affection in the traditional sense, which is exactly what we see with how Iris and Miles deflect their feelings for Phoenix. These selfless, lovestruck idiots toss that man around like a game of hot-potato because their mutual self-hatred for the ways they've harmed him has rendered them terrified of the reality of what he means to them, and desperate to find a way out of admitting to it. It's the most compelling explanation I can think of for why the usually unassuming Iris makes such a bold judgment about what Miles might be keeping locked away, and why Miles goes to such lengths to make sure she talks to Phoenix and tells him the truth—his agreement to defend her was conditional on that exact promise. They go through this whole song-and-dance of playing wingman to ignore their own feelings while still trying to bring Phoenix the happiness they think he deserves—and then they wonder why seeing Phoenix give the other one attention burns them up inside.

Because they’re dumb. And I love them.

TL;DR the Iris Psyche-Lock scene in BttT is so much more than just "haha Miles gay" and I wish people talked about it more. Also Iris and Miles are way more similar than they appear at first glance and if I think about it for too long it makes me physically ill thank you for coming to my TED talk

[deathworlders-of-e24]

Jane, Medical Technician

Part 4

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I still don’t see why I have to do this,” Simms of the Galley whined, sponge in one hand and a spray bottle in the other.

“Well let’s see,” Huhuma crossed her arms, “you came in here on the first day of the mission with a completely avoidable injury, made us waste precious time and medical supplies, and then somehow thought it’d be a good idea to vandalize my sick bay.”

At her desk, Jane smirked but continued filling out forms. It’d been several months since the Noah had launched, and like clockwork, Simms was there cleaning once a week, every week.

“So unless you want to explain to the Captain exactly why you’re here during your off hours,” the doctor continued, “get back to work.”

It’s been kind of hilarious, in Jane’s opinion, watching all three feet of Simms wielding a broom that had at least half a foot on him, but even she had to admit that the little gray man was putting the effort in. Either he really did feel remorse for his actions, or much more likely, sincerely did not want Captain Skitch to find out what he’d done. Either way, Jane was happy someone else was doing the cleaning.

Simms grumbled something about primate descendant species, then got back to scrubbing.

“Uh huh, and when you’re done there you can wash the test tubes,” Huhuma said, walking back to her office. She winked at Jane as she passed and the human’s heart did a funny little number as the door closed behind her. It took an embarrassingly long moment before Jane could refocus on her files again.

Nothing else had really happened since that night with the Scrib’s dinner and subsequent ‘morning after’, but Jane wasn’t sure whether to be thankful for that, or just disappointed. She’d admitted to herself that yeah, she had a crush on her boss, much to the relief and amusement of her newfound friends Liz and Marrin. Liz’s mandatory therapy session has since devolved into ‘girl talk’ between the three of them, and sometimes Coco, Liz’s Sprygan lab partner.

Totally humiliating, Jane thought, too many people have seen me break down like we’re back in high school.

Jane figured work would be a good way to clear her head, that and watching Simms struggle to reach higher shelves.

After a few minutes of trying to use an old fashioned mop on the walls, the Galley gave up.

“Do you have anything I can use to get up higher? A stool or something?” He asked, defeated. Jane decided to take pity on him.

“Yeah, there’s a little step stool in the supply locker, I’ll get it.”

Jane punched in the code, and the door opened. She handed the small alien the stool.

“Thanks. Weird that the one who tackled me to the floor is actually the nice one,” Simms joked.

“Hey, Huhuma’s nice, really, she just saves it for people who deserve it.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed. She’s always nice to you,” Simms threw her an odd look. “If I’d known you two were mates, I’d have never tried to make jokes that first shift.”

Jane started, taking a second to respond.

“What? No, no, we’re not ‘mates’, we’re… friends, and coworkers, and she’s my boss.”

Smooth.

“Oh really?” Simms turned back to the wall and kept scrubbing. “On my planet, when somebody looks at you the way you both look at each other, it’s pretty obvious what happens behind closed doors.”

“Well thanks, I guess, but if I wanted the opinion of a little gray vandal, I would’ve asked,” Jane said, turning her back on him to continue typing.

“Well, all I’m gonna say is, if you two aren’t together, better get on it soon if you want to be,” Simms droned on, as if only half thinking about what he was saying. “When this ‘experiment’ comes to an end soon it’ll be too late.”

Something in the Galley’s tone made Jane turn back around, her brow furrowing and her eyes squinting at the alien.

“What do you mean ‘soon’? The ship’s only been out for three months,” she asked.

“What?” Simms’s big black eyes widened just a fraction, but it was enough that Jane noticed. “I just… I just mean, it only lasts a year right? That’s not a lot of time for you humans, right?” His eyes twitched and he looked away, scrubbing harder.

Jane wanted to press further, but concluded that he’d just turn it into something stupid to try to get out of cleaning. She did, however, admit that the Galley was right. A year wasn’t a lot of time, and a quarter of it was already spent.

If she really wanted to do something, she’d have to make a decision about what that’d be soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jane decided to eat lunch in the mess hall for once, giving Doctor Huhuma total control of the med bay. The doctor would be performing a relatively major procedure on one of the crew soon, and had to plan it with the nurse staff. Jane wouldn’t be assisting unless something unexpected happened. It didn’t make sense to tie up the hands of both the ship’s primary doctors for a whole cycle, in case of emergencies.

So there she was, taking her Vending Machine ramen and looking for a place to sit. Jane hadn’t eaten in the mess hall for weeks, usually opting to dine with the Doctor and the other Indoprimes. Looking for a place to sit, she saw Liz and one of the other humans, she thought his name was Thomas. She headed that way.

“Hey guys, mind if I sit?” she asked.

“Oh, hey hon!” Liz said brightly, “yeah, pull up a chair.”

“Hey there doc,” Thomas waved. “Heard you watched me sleep for a couple days, thanks for that.”

“Oh yeah,” Jane snapped her fingers, “nasty sunburn you had there, almost forgot about that. You doing alright? How’s Odis?”

“We’re both good, thanks for asking. His cast should be off in a few more days.”

There came a muffled beep from under the table. Thomas looked down.

“Yeah, it’s the nice doctor lady, the one who fixed me,” Thomas said quietly, then turned back up. “Roomba says thanks for patching me up. Little guy was worried about me for a while there apparently.”

“That’s the most precious thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Jane said, putting a hand to her chest, “and I need you to know I’d both kill and die for Roomba’s sake.”

Another muffled beep.

“He said he’ll remember the sentiment.”

“Where’s Coco?” she asked Liz.

“Oh, they’re writing a report back to Spryga. Apparently their rapid growth spurt was actionable cause to boost cocoa production on their home planet. Turns out the whole species is just… malnourished isn’t the right word, but anyway, gluten stimulates growth for them so they’re looking into it more.”

“Weird they didn’t know that,” Thomas said through a mouthful of sandwich.

“What can you do, they’re not a predator or prey species, their entire evolutionary development is a passive experience,” Liz shrugged. “They’re just now taking a more direct approach to handling predators on their planet.”

“You know, I almost did a thesis paper on botanical lifeforms in the academy,” Jane said, “it was between that and evolutionary symmetry across planetary systems. I went with the latter.”

“Good choice,” Thomas said. “That’s a way more popular topic right now anyway. Nothing against the Sprygans,” he added, looking at Liz. She just raised an eyebrow at him and kept eating.

They ate quietly for a few minutes, idle brainless chatter filling the space between bites. It wasn’t until Thomas asked the question that Jane even thought of that incident again.

“Either of you guys notice anything weird on the ship?” the engineer asked. “Like stuff going missing or people acting strange?”

“What a blatantly loaded question,” Liz said, raising her eyebrows. “Who are you, Sherlock Holmes?”

Thomas just looked at them in turn.

“Yeah, actually,” Jane said, more to Liz’s surprise, and her own, than Thomas’s, “a couple of, uhh, laser scalpels went missing a while ago. I thought I had messed up inventory, but they’re not in med bay. I’ve turned everything over twice looking for them, they’re not there.”

“I overheard my boss this morning saying he’d lost a bag of tools and spare parts somewhere,” Thomas continued, “but it’s not just that. Maintenance has been getting reports of weird breakdowns and other mishaps for weeks. I didn’t notice until now because the weird ones are never assigned to me.”

“Okay, hold on, stop,” Liz waved her hands, “what are we talking about here, some ship wide conspiracy to make our jobs harder? What? Do you hear yourselves?”

Jane was more confused than anything. Sabotage on the ship? Seriously? In what universe did that make sense? They were on an experimental mission for intergalactic cooperation.

Who’d try to screw that up? Jane thought. She took another bite, more to buy herself time to think of what to say than actual hunger.

“Look, all I’m saying is, something weird is going on here on this ship,” Thomas whispered, looking around at the other tables with all those different species. “Have either of you talked to Danny?”

“Who?” Jane asked.

“Chief Ducane, Danny, the head of security,” he explained.

“Right! That’s right, he’s the one who carried Liz here to med bay after her accident. No, not since then. Why?”

“Because somebody searched his office while the door was jammed open.”

Liz turned to look at him, eyes narrowing, while Jane herself simply looked dumbfounded.

“The hell are you talking about?” Liz questioned, dropping her voice low so they wouldn’t be overheard.

“Yeah, I was with him when it happened,” Thomas explained. “We were looking into something, and when he got back to his office someone had been in there.”

“Jesus,” Jane exclaimed. That really put the incident with Simms in perspective for her.

“Why are you telling us any of this?” she asked. “Chief Ducane had to have told you to keep that to yourself, right?”

Another muffled beep. Jane looked under the table to see the tiny service drone peeking its head out of Thomas’s work bag. It had what looked like a modded data pad.

“Roomba said that is correct,” Thomas explained, “though clearly not in so many words.”

“And?” Liz stared at him.

“I… had to tell somebody,” Thomas said sheepishly, “it was eating me alive, and I figured if anyone was safe to tell, it’d be the humans. We have the most to lose if the mission goes sideways. We built the ship, it launched from Earth orbit, the new Warp core was what put us in such good graces with the GAIL in the first place. If something derails the mission, then we Terrans are going to look the worst because of it.”

Jane didn’t know what to say to that. An hour ago her biggest problem was that she might stay perpetually single. Now it looked like their jobs in their entirety were in danger, maybe worse.

The three talked a while longer, exchanging comm-link communication codes, and unwittingly eyeballing the other crew in the mess hall for any odd behavior. Intelligence agents they were not. Jane thought the crew was watching them as well, but that could have just been because they hadn’t seen three humans together before.

Jane Shaw wished she’d had a lighter meal. She left the mess hall with her stomach in knots.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Jane, respond please!”

The comm-link on Jane’s hip blipped as Huhuma’s voice came out of it. She pulled it off her belt and clicked the button.

“What’s up, Doc? Need something?” She clicked off, waiting for a response.

“We need you in the surgery suite, one of the nurses accidentally spilled anesthetic gel on themselves and I need you to substitute immediately.”

Another odd accident, huh? Jane thought suspiciously, silently cursing Thomas for making her paranoid.

“I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

Jane took off at a brisk pace down the hall to the lift, trying her hair up as she went.

She scrubbed down in the sanitation room and got her scrubs and PPE on, then made her way into the surgical suite. The nurse staff were half around the patient, who was mostly obscured by the sheet save for an exposed patch of blue skin with a sizable hole in it, the other half around Nurse Waas, a four armed Zilont, who was slumped over in the corner. The anesthetic had semi paralyzed the gas bladders they used for muscles, so until they regained feelings in their limbs again they were out of commission.

“Good, you’re here,” Huhuma said while her hands were inside the open body cavity, “I’ve mostly got this under control, but things got a little hectic in here so I thought it’d be better to call you.”

“It’s no problem doctor,” Jane brushed it off, “what do you need me to do?”

“They’re going to take Waas out of here and get him on a bed in recovery, so I need you to take over for the three of them while I finish up. Hand me those clips.”

Jane came around to the operating side and set the clips in Doctor Huhuma’s hand. She didn’t even mind the purple blood too much.

“There’s a little bleed somewhere in his bowels,” Huhuma explained, “he got shaken around when Waas collapsed and I think I nicked something. This was just supposed to be a quick obstruction removal until everything went wrong.”

“Everything is gonna be fine Huhuma,” Jane said calmly, “we got this. What else do you need?”

That was how they worked. Doctor Huhuma operated, making adjustments and stopped the bleeding, while Jane handled everything else and watched the beautiful work her counterpart did. To her it was like poetry in purple bloody motion. Every move precise, every action calculated. Jane remembered the last surgery she performed, where her patient was basically awake as she cut into his throat. Compared to that, this was like watching an artist in her studio, calmly going painting a masterpiece. Jane hadn’t seen Huhuma operate yet, and she had to say, it was impressive. As she was closing him up, Jane doubted he’d even have a scar, the Doctor’s stitch work was flawless.

Coming out of the surgical suite, the nurse staff took the patient to recovery, and the Doctors hung back to sanitize and get back into normal clothes.

“Good work today,” Huhuma said, washing her hands. “You really came through for me.”

“My pleasure, Doc,” Jane said, lathering up her arms with the soap. “Happy to help.”

“I didn’t know what I was going to do when that gel tube burst out the back. Poor Waas, never saw it coming. Had to have been a faulty seal on the stuff, just bad luck that it happened while I had someone open on the table.”

Jane looked at her for a second, thinking quickly. Bad luck? Maybe. Another possible sabotage? She didn’t want to think about it.

“You know,” Huhuma continued, “you humans never disappoint. Always seem to come through for others in the end. You especially, Jane. This is the second time you being there has saved a patient. I really, really appreciate that about you.”

Huhuma bumped her shoulder into Jane’s, and all thoughts of a saboteur flew out the air lock. Suddenly she was very aware that it was just the two of them in the decontamination room, and that Huhuma’s tail was flicking against the back of her legs.

“Well you know,” Jane said slowly, “it’s my job too. Be there to make sure everything works, fix people up.”

Huhuma smiled and dried her hands and fur off before putting her hand on Jane’s shoulder.

“Still though, we should do something special. Just because it’s your job doesn’t mean you don’t deserve some kind of… reward, right?” Huhuma left her hand on Jane’s shoulder and moment longer before grinning and walked towards the door. It opened with a hiss, and as she stood there, the good doctor looked back.

“See you tomorrow, Doctor Shaw.”

And then the door closed.

And then Jane’s legs buckled and she slumped against the sink.

What the hell what the hell what the actual fuck does that mean? Is this work place harassment? Do I care? Am I into it?

Apparently!

Of the many problems aboard the Noah, Jane decided to try to focus on just hers for the time being.

[pomefioredove]

um um. the nbc boys with a reader thats smart and learns easily but has trouble keeping up with the school system(? for lack of better words). they get distracted and bored easily, forget about homework, doodle on their papers and stare out the window, etc. they get great test scores and do exceptionally well when they are interested in what they’re learning, but otherwise get burned out really quick. i don’t know much about your nbc but it seems like the system is pretty fast paced and doesn’t really leave room for mistakes! 🫶🫶 i love your designs for nbc so far. can already tell the readers gonna have a blast (and a migraine)

my first ever noble bell oc request... rubs my hands together evilly

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ no room for mistakes (noble bell college)

inspired by my AU

type of post: headcanons characters: rollo, original characters; pierrot, bou, phoenix, clodio additional info: romantic or platonic, reader is gender neutral, reader is yuu

Rollo Flamme will arrange a precise time to study with you every day, whether you ask him or not. it's within his best interest that you succeed at Noble Bell (heavens forbid you're shipped off to a lesser, simpler arcane academy like that terrible Night Raven College), and so there will be no room for mistakes. this isn't something you should take for granted, either; Rollo is a very busy man, and to have an hour of his time for him to tutor you is a privilege. at least, that's what everyone else will tell you

to Rollo, this is nothing. he would make his whole weekend for you, if you asked. perhaps his whole life

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Pierrot Gregoire is probably the last person you should be going to for help. yes, he's exceptionally intelligent in the ways of history and literature, and yes, he could lecture you for hours longer than your actual professor does, but I doubt you would actually get anything but a headache out of it. he's a poet, not a tutor, and he has a tendency to talk himself in circles, go on tangents, anecdote about his personal life... yeah. it would take a special sort of mind to keep up with him, otherwise, you're probably better off trying to make sense of his unorganized class notes... which are just as full of doodles and daydreams as yours

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Bou de Neige is known for making harsh judgments about his peers... which are often accurate. and so he can tell, by the way you talk and articulate and express, that you're not a blithering idiot. you only lack the discipline that the typical Noble Bell College student has. and if it weren't for Rollo's faith in you, and his own damned pity, Bou would have been happy to let you fail...

...but he doesn't. he sits next to you in classes and pinches your arm when you're dozing off, or not paying attention to something important. he leers over you and corrects the mistakes on your homework before you turn it in. he begins carrying clean paper for you to doodle on, and insists it's nothing (it's so over for him)

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Phoenix Bussiere is not what I would call a trustworthy tutor. he's not even a trustworthy student. oh, but don't think he wouldn't love to waste a few hours every week "helping you study" while he vandalizes 500 year old wood desks and falls asleep in the library. he's way too eager to volunteer. and how can you say no? his attention is highly valuable; the jealous glares of other students make that obvious. and perhaps you wouldn't have minded working alone, without anyone breathing down your neck... except he doesn't let you. he couldn't care less about the homework, but he'll ask you a thousand questions about yourself

...you can never quite tell if he actually cares, or if he's just passing the time

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

if you think Clodio LeFou would be the worst of the group, you'd be very wrong. is it chaotic? yes. but he'll teach you Latin while hanging upside down (and he's really quite good at it). he's managed to get by at Noble Bell without raising any eyebrows, after all, and his grades certainly reflect that. he'll act out your history lessons and critique your writing assignments like a professional. he'll make a puppet just to teach you math. it's unconventional, especially for Noble Bell, but it's much better than the dry lectures from your professors. you'll take what you can get

[your-resident-boat-person]

ever play ultrakill? there's an ocean liner on stage 5-2. do you think it was based on any known ocean liner? if it's nothing obvious, what do you think a close comparison could be?

Howdy! Unfortunately, no, I haven't played ultrakill.

This is the ship you're referring to, yes?

The ultrakill wiki refers to it both as a cruise ship and a ferry. I'm not sure if there's another source that says it's an ocean liner, but for the sake of this post, let's assume it is. It's difficult to get a sense of scale from the photo or gameplay footage, so it's difficult to discern how big it is. Zooming in on the photo, it looks like the hull is made from wood? The largest wooden sailing ship ever built was the Wyoming, a 6-masted schooner measuring 450 feet long, and she sank because the wood she was made from, combined with her size, made her prone to sagging and hogging, which likely made her snap in the middle. Ships of that size just can't be made from wood. It's not strong enough (*cough* *cough*, Noah's ark... I'll get to you another day...) in terms of funnels, it has 2 which are very close together, and they appear to be red, with a black top (likely to mask the stains from the smoke and dust). The funnels look to most closely resemble the French line? I think? It's difficult to tell... in terms of a wooden hulled 2 funnel liner? My closest match is the SS Adriatic of 1856, belonging to the Colins line.

But as you can see, there isn't much of a resemblance... especially considering she has a friggin paddlewheel and rigging for sails

The ship looks considerably more modern. If it were real, judging by the superstructure, I'd be shocked if it predated the 1960s. But those round cylindrical funnels were WELL out of date by then, with may companies beginning to get creative:

The funnels are also pretty far back. On most Ocean Liners, the boilers, engines, and other heavy machinery were kept towards the middle of the ship, to ensure it would remain stable. We only started putting engines on the back of ships of this size relatively recently. For example, the SS America had 2 funnels, but only one was functional. It rests in almost the exact middle of the ship

And judging by the ultrakill ship, the funnels are pretty far back. They're REALLY close together, not unlike the SS Brittanic and Germanic of 1874

The bow also features a VERY prominent rake backwards. One of the earlier examples of this was the RMS Queen Elizabeth of 1938, but the rake wasn't very prominent.

The SS United States of 1952 featured a MUCH more prominent rake akin to that of the ultrakill ship

So in short... I dunno! It's kinda a mishmash of a lot of things! Thank you so much for the question, and if you need clarifications for anything I'm referring to or any of the vocabulary I use, feel free to ask! I can kinda forget sometimes that most people don't know a lot of these Nautical terms, and I love talking about this, so I don't mind explaining! :3

[stupendousfoxthing]

You’ve probably said it before but what is your top 3 2023 Taekook and why?

It's been so long since I turned anon asks off, I don't remember if I ever gave my top 3. 😂 In no particular order: The Dream premiere It might not seem as definitively "romantic" as some other moments, but it was a big moment and I think that goes for Taekookers as well as Taekook themselves. I always thought that if we were going to see them as a pair at a red carpet event like this it would be years from now. I still remember that day because a handful of Korean accounts started buzzing about it and I was getting frustrated that people were running with it without confirmation yet. I thought for sure we were being played. 😂

I think to understand how big it was for Taekook you just have to look at their faces. It's all there.

The Sweetheart shirts This is one of those Taekook things that is just so obvious I don't know how anyone ignores it. When the Seven mv dropped I didn't even notice the shirt was the same one Tae wore to the Bruno Mars concert until someone pointed it out. I was just thinking yesterday with the convo in Peach's blog about looking for ship moments in Run episodes (I don't find any moments there really, let alone meaningful ones) how funny it is that not only do I not feel the need to go digging for "moments", but that often Taekook moments find me instead. The dots just connect, the pieces fall into place and all of sudden there it is. Clear as day. It went from something cute to something major when the call sheet got posted and we found out they were wearing them on the same day. Obviously not a coincidence. That definitely takes it way beyond the "matching items" (some of which don't even match) that every ship screams about.

"To Find You" Another Taekook thing that is just so obvious. Jungkook had been away for a while at that point and Tae was missing him (did you know that despite spending a lot of time together Taekook miss each other when they're away?). So in wanting specifically to hear Jungkook sing "To Find You" he drops the bomb on us that Jungkook always sings this song for him. He sings it for him. He sings it for him.

Hawaii and the Inkigayo backstage round out my top five. Hawaii probably would have made it into the top three if we'd known about earlier, but I was already pretty attached to my top three by last summer. 😁

[elledberry]

No, but like, WHY do people care so much about other people ship preferences?

I get it, I don't ship the obvious ones or the "right" or what was given to me by the author, but IS JUST A SHIP.

Look, don't get me wrong, I'm not angry at other preferences when it comes to this. What I get annoyed at is that when there is an illustration, an edit, a fucking fic, any kind of media, that shows that romantic dynamic between the characters they will be like

"siblings 🩷" "omg no how could ship that? They aren't like that." "Have you read the books ?" "Omg, people actually ship them?" "The author said..." "omg but this (name of other ship), it's so much better," and so on.

My beautiful person who comments in every edit of (some examples, but I'm sure that there's more) harmony, lunami, zutara, sasusaku .... do you really think that they/we don't know or care about this ? Do you know what you look like when u comment stuff like that? An idiot who can't let others have a different opinion on literally fiction character's romance life, like that one kid in kindergarten who saw another kid getting a toy and go's on about how that toy is lame compared to theirs, a spoiled brat.

You have so many things to be arguing about in the actual plot, but you can't cus you think that the idea of nami and luffy together is so wrong that you go around in every media of them "oda said..." But with other members of the crew, oda said absolutely nothing... not only that, but are we really discussing this ? Can we be talking about I don't know... how racist and hypocrites are some people in this famdon? Really give your disappointment and disgust to that(what is actually important).

Harry and Hermione are another great example of "I know they aren't like that but I like the idea of it" WE KNOW THEY AREN'T LIKE THAT but we think is cute it could HAVE BEING cute, sometimes people just grow up shipping and seeing they as a possible couple, like people who grow hating sakura and now simply can't have a actually good argument of why she should be hated on... that was an ironic comment by the way but also not, ( no, her not liking the main character the same way shouldn't be one, or the author not giving her screen time either much less cus of the fact the the anime did her dirty with so much disconnect things from the manga, like her relationship with sasuke <his perspective of it > or naruto himself for that matter, hate on a literally 12 years old for saying shit that every fucking person in the village grew up thinking, funny, why not hate on the thirdkage then? The person who could have actually stopped the hate on a little kid) [Sorry that got out of the main point]

Or zutara, my God, people get personal with just as harmony, relax, just cus I like them doesn't mean I hate kataang, surprise or not I do think they are indeed very cute, I'm pretty sure some other people who ship zutara too... we just see the potential, what could have happened, once again, enemies to friends to loves, the plot, you know ? There is no need to get offended by the IDEA of it. We love the drama and the fic, the illustrations, the edits are just a format that represents and shows it, share if people who likes it, you don't like it ? Oh well, let me tell you a secret, ignore it, you probably ignore so much more important things, why not a fucking edit of ship you don't even like ?, oh you can't ? You can't see other people "toy" and shut about your disappointment on it, is it that hard ?, oh well, have you actually not known that there's an amazing thing within social media, when you hold/press or simply click on the 3 dots on the top of the post, there's a option there, that's right, BLOCK IT the algorithm will understand if you continue blocking it, unlike some people.

I'm just rambling about this because I'm sick and tired of people being such a killjoy, I just want to enjoy "my ship" and see the comments of people who actually likes it to, not yours "siblings 🩷" in post which is definitely not about that, or "oda said..." when i didn't ask what he said, you know people have different things that brings them a scape from reality that brings them a funny giggle (no killing others people joy, when it's such a basic no harmful thing), wave of emotion for those who don't get to feel much in the day-to-day life or simple just cus.

It just petty of you, be better.

Ps.. There is no offense for those who ship other characters within these plots(or different ones), original, popular, or unpopular. Do your thing. Be happy. Just don't spoil others.

Ps2... NO I'm not defending incest that's no it at fucking all ( sorry if I didn't make it clear). I said "siblings" when it came to lunami and Harry x Hermione (cus people like to comment that on posts that aren't even about it < the platonic soul mates comment>), they AREN'T related or grown up at such. Point is you hating the idea of it and going on every post about the ship and hating there. hate all you want, but not on ,obviously, posts that are for the fans of the ship.

[tyrantisterror]

At Sea Without a Map pt. 20

Perhaps unsurprisingly, you feel overwhelmingly concerned with Calibani's well-being. Even as you're pulled in three other directions, the drive to go to check on her is stronger than all of them combined. A good 38% or so of your mind asks you whether you might be getting too attached to this woman-who's-actually-a-monster that you've only known for, what, two days or so? It adds that you should be careful since you've been alone for a while. You're vulnerable, you need to take care of yourself.

You tell that part of your mind to fuck off. Well over half of you thinks it's full of shit anyway.

You find your sea-monster predator-turned-friend? leaning against the side of your boat and resting her face on her hand, her eyes scanning the horizon with a troubled expression on her face. Immediately you feel your concern is justified, and you don't even hide the haste in your step as you close the distance between the two of you. "Calibani, what's wrong?"

Her eyes go wide when she hears your voice, and she hastily puts on a big smile as she turns to face you, though you notice it doesn't reach her eyes. "Oh, nothing, Sailor!" she says with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Just tired, is all! Fighting that gloppy monster took a lot out of me!" She smiles again, bigger and more visibly forced this time, and says. "What about you? It's can't be fun for you dealing with all these..." Her smile falters for a fraction of a second. "These monsters trying to eat you..."

It's a deflection, and not even a very good one, but you worry if you call her on that it'll scare her into withdrawing further. "It's been harrowing," you say as you keep your gaze locked on her face. "But I imagine it's worse for you, since you're a lot more vulnerable now than you used to be."

Calibani frowns briefly, her eyes big and just a little watery, but she quickly plasters a smile back on. "Oh, I've never been the biggest fish in the pond," she laughs. "It's not the first time something's hunted me, and it won't be the last. At least I have a new weapon to defend myself with." She looks at her stork-headed spear, and her smile finally becomes genuine again. "Thank you for making it, by the way."

Now you get to wave dismissively. "Please, you're the one who made it useful. I think you did as much damage to that thing as the boat."

Calibani's smile grows wider as her eyes flicker with worry again. "Yeah, I hurt it pretty bad," she says with clearly feigned enthusiasm, and again tries to change the topic. "It was so clever of you to hit it with your boat. What a finishing move!"

"Well, it worked for me bef..." you stop mid-sentence as you realize that Calibani knows exactly when you last hit a monster with your boat, and that it's likely a bit of a traumatic memory for her. But there's really no way to end that sentence differently, and so you just whisper out, "...fore..." as an awkward silence falls between you. As both of you stand there quietly not making eye contact, your eyes fall upon her tail, which once again hangs over the side of the ship.

"You're tail's hanging off the side of the ship," you say, stating the obvious.

Calibani looks at it. "Yeah, it is," she says quietly.

"Aren't you worried something will grab it again?"

She shakes her head, and her big mane oh hair attached to it wiggles with the motion. "The water feels so good on my scales and fin," she explains. "I think the time spent enjoying that will outweigh any time spent getting grabbed or bitten, so it's worth the risk. Besides, if something grabs my tail, I can warn you that trouble is coming, so we'll be better off in the end anyway."

You decide not to argue with her logic. "Well, let me know if you need anything," you suggest, unsure of what else to say at the moment.

"Will do, sweetness!" she replies with a bright, fake smile.

With a nod, you leave her to her thoughts, deciding to wait and see if maybe she'll open up later. It's time to focus on the second task at hand, anyway, the whole reason you came here: you need to search these boats.

It's slow, methodical work, and at first it doesn't yield much for all the labor involved. All the wrecked and capsized ships are a bust, their contents either lost to the sea or so water-damaged they're basically useless. The boats that are right-side up provide a bit more - some non-perishable or at least not rotten food here (and, to Calibani's assured delight, some salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika), a few useful tools there, even some clothes that you decide to pocket in hopes of adding to your wardrobe (and, notably, a few more sweaters that seem like they might fit Calibani, though a couple might need to be stretched out a bit first).

In one boat, however, you find something truly interesting. It seems rather bland at first - a briefcase, kind of fancy but not something that seems promising at a glance, with a logo on its side that seems vaguely familiar to you: Spindle Inc.

The name sounds familiar, and you wrack your brain about where you heard it before. Isn't Spindle one of those big tech companies, the ones that make a shitload of money but no one's quite sure what the hell they actually do or sell? You realize this is one of the few specific memories of your life before the Sea that you can recall, and try to see if you can remember more details, but nothing comes to mind.

There's a lock on the briefcase, but luckily for you the former owner didn't remember to lock it. You decide to open it up, just to see if anything inside might further jog your spotty and unreliable memory.

Inside, you spot several documents, with the one on top reading, "Field Agent's Guide to the Sea of Monsters." Most of it uses jargon you can't begin to comprehend, but as you pour over it you come across some notes jotted in the margins.

"It's no use, the only way home is under." "Need a deep sea vessel." "North, South, East, West. Where did it come from?" "Can't risk going back to the lab, they won't let me go." "FIND DR. NEPTUNE." - underlined "Where is Neptune's base? Clues scant." "Captain Peter = only person who knows where Neptune is. Find him beyond the boat graveyard. We're close. I'm close. We're going home."

It's scattered and strange, but you think you get a sense of what this person was looking for. Someone named Dr. Neptune, who you can only find by meeting someone named Captain Peter, who is "beyond the boat graveyard," which you can guess from context is where you are right now. Seems your next destination is... well, ok, not really set, but you know where to go looking next, and that's something, dammit!

Of course, looking requires sailing, and that reminds you that you should probably check on your boat. It's been running well enough, but you've had collisions with two large creatures in about as many days, more or less, so it's good to give things a looksee.

Most things seem in order - no leaks, no dents, no strange noises from your engine (because you're not even sure this boat has an engine, much less where it is or what noises it should make, since the damn thing has always been eerily quiet). Only one thing seems out of place.

There's a... stain? you think? on the front of your boat, a jagged red stain that looks eerily like a mouth. It must be the globster's blood, you tell yourself, except wasn't the globster's blood more of a, like, melonoma black sort of color, that putrescent shade of black that's got other colors mixed in like a mess of spilled paint? And it was chunky when it came out, so how is it smeared so neat and smoothly.

Unless... maybe it's paint? Yeah, that's it, it's paint! How could you forget the cute little shark smile that was painted on your boat, that sharp-toothed painted on grin it's always had as long as you've known it? Of course that smile's always been there, it's probably the reason you picked this boat in the first place whenever... whenever you found it, or bought it, probably? Who wouldn't want the goofy grinning shark boat?

Regardless, nothing is wrong with your boat, as it's in perfectly ship shape. You've got a heading, you've got a working ship, and you've defeated a hideous monster that wanted to eat you and, perhaps worst of all, seemed to be British. If anything calls for celebration, this is it. Going below deck, you break out one of your rarest treasures: a bottle of red wine you found, unopened and of, well, a vintage you hope is good (you don't know shit about wine, you're not Donald Pleasance). It's time to break out the salted meat, cook some of those potatoes you found among the ships, and make a night of it!

You go below deck and make as decent a meal as your conditions with allow, then invite Calibani to eat with you. The two of you share the best meal you've cooked yet, and while the little "ooo's" and "mmm's" Calibani makes while eating show she enjoys the food, you can't help noticing she still looks awfully troubled.

"Did you notice?" you say as you finish your meal. "That it tastes different, I mean."

She nods. "It's good," she says quietly.

"That's cause I found some spices," you say proudly, hoping for a big reaction. But while Calibani smiles, it once again fails to reach her eyes. "Did I oversell how good spices are?" you ask.

"No, no, I'm sorry," she says. "It's really good, best I've had, honest, but..." She looks down at the floor and sighs. "Do you... hate me?"

You stare blankly at her, completely dumbstruck by that question. "What?"

Panic flares behind Calibani's eyes as she throws up her hands and animatedly explains, "It's just that you've been attacked by monsters that want to kill you three days in a row and one of them was me! And the other two are dead - I killed one, we killed the other together, and - and I just don't get it, because you didn't kill me when you could have, and I'm just worried..." She stops her ranting to catch her breath. "I'm worried that you don't like killing and that I've forced you to do it and you hate me for it, or that you hate those creatures for trying to kill you and that means you hate me because I tried to kill you, and I never thought of killing as a personal thing before but now that you put the thought in my mind it's all I'm thinking about and I feel terrible about everything and just - just - do you hate me?"

"Uh... wow," is all you manage to say.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she says quickly, "I didn't mean - oh no, you do hate me, don't you?"

"No, no!" you say just as quickly, your hand instinctively touching your compass. "In fact, I'd go so far to say that my mind keeps being pulled in a direction that likes you quite a lot."

She cocks her head at you and squints, confused by your phrasing despite understanding the jist of it. "Um... well, I mean... why though? I tried to kill you, just like that bird and the... the globster thing we just killed." She looks thoughtfully at the floor. "What makes me different? Why did you spare me?"

That's... actually hard to answer. So, as you do with all hard choices, you consult your compass.

[zombieefish]

oh by the way here is an excuse to write

if you want a prompt uhhhh

WINTER. SNOW. HEAVY SNOW.

hmhmhmh... this reminds me of something i wrote last year in december.. rewrite time!!

except it's not silverbrush anymore and it's a different ship.. i do like silverbrush but they'll get something else on christmas eve maybe

★ ★ ★

Snowflakes gracefully pranced around the sky, twirling with elegance as they soon hit the ground, coating the landscape in a blanket of pure white – all around was the laughter from the others who were inhabitants at Hotel OJ [or should I say Hotel HOOT? I've got no clue. ], enjoying the winter season and what it had to offer.

Fan would be bundled up in his winter coat and what not, scarf covering his face almost completely – as his glasses slowly began to fog up from where he stood.

He didn't mind the snowy weather, not at all – but the cold wasn't exactly his favourite thing in the word, that's one thing for certain. But he didn't let it ruin the mood around him, as that would be a silly thing to do.

Paintbrush would walk up to the other, giving him a brief once-over, their brow raised.

"You're all geared up, huh?" They moved to cross their arms, holding a sled under their arm while looking at the redhead, who was bound to overheat at this rate.

"Geez.. no need to point out the obvious," Fan would awkwardly reply, shuffling back and forth to gather more warmth – as he was somehow managing to freeze, despite being in so many layers.

Usually, snow was linked to the jolly holiday, known as Christmas. So, what exactly does Christmas mean for Fan?

If you asked, he'd reply with presents. Sometimes he would say Christmas carols, but it really depended on how his brain decided to work that day.

Fan would wipe his glasses, his eyes glancing down to the sled beneath his partners arm, and then back to their face – a sled, huh?

Gosh.. sledding always seemed so cool in the TV shows and movies, yet he had such little expectations for real life. They didn't have much of a hill to go down near the hotel.. and if there was one, it was mediocre at best.

"Are you going sledding?" He'd ask, peering behind them briefly – seeing a few of his friends making a snowman.

"Yeah, you wanna come? Lightbulb and Mic are tagging along, if you're interested. Think they're already at the place." Paintbrush stretched out a hand, offering it to Fan.

He didnt understand how his spouse was wearing fingerless gloves in this weather. Were they not freezing? Maybe they had warm blood, or whatever the term was nowadays.

The redhead nodded eagerly, taking their hand – letting his gloved fingers curl around their.. non-gloved ones. He liked holding hands with Paintbrush, because it always sent a small electric shock of joy through his system.

It sounded nerdy, he knew that – but he didn't really care.

The pair began to walk to a small hill nearby, Fan looking at his surroundings with awe. He just loved the way the island looked when covered in snow, especially in December. It made the Christmas movies he'd seen feel like a dream come true.

Paintbrush held his hand, watching Fan's gaze like a hawk, a small smile creeping up onto their face – it was nice to see that he was enjoying himself, even if they hadn't gotten to the main event.

As he was zoned out, a snowball would come flying past the pair of them – making him snap out of loo-loo land, and back to reality. His eyes would move over to the direction it came in, seeing the perpetrator in question.

Well, it was actually perpetrators in this case.

"I thought I'd get them! Guess I need better aim." Lightbulb would huff, sat on Microphone's shoulders, the pair behind a tree, which didn't do very well at hiding them.

"They can see us. I told you the rock was a better idea." Mic looked up, and before she knew it, Lightbulb threw another snowball their way.

This time, the snowball hit the target.

A little too well, I fear – poor Fan got his right in the face, hitting the snow pretty quickly. He felt a little dizzy, and his face was.. cold, to say the least.

"Oops."

Paintbrush glanced down at the other with a frown.

"Goddammit.. should've known they'd do that." They muttered to themselves, kneeling down to check up on their partner on the ground.

"Are we theeere yeeet..?" Fan would garble out, as if there were cartoonish stars spinning around his head at a moderate speed.

Lightbulb and Microphone would soon approach, Lightbulb still on her shoulders – the pair glancing down at poor Fan.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Microphone glanced over at Paintbrush, her brow knitted as she briefly gave Fan a glance, seeing his glasses fog up once more.

"Probably," They'd purse their lips, giving the two a look. Maybe they'd have to put the sledding on hold for now.. until Fan gathered himself.

"So.. no sledding?" Lightbulb would ask the two, her scarf falling off her neck and onto Fan's chest.

"No." They both replied.

I guess it would have to wait.. maybe a few minutes.

★ ★ ★

[knitnightstudio]

Rings of Our Flag Means Death

This is somewhat conjecture but I have a theory about Ed's rings on Our Flag Means Death and I need to get it out of my head and written down. I'd be thrilled if @davidjenks could confirm but I understand if he's too busy!

I'm sorry about how bad these pics are, because of how Max blocks its content I had to take photos of my computer rather than screen grabs.

My theory is that the bright green ring Ed wears in Season 2 belonged to Stede and that when Ed destroyed the ship right after Stede left in season 1 Ed found the ring and kept it. I am basing this on nobody wearing it in Season 1, it being way too big for Ed, it being Stede's color, and Ed not getting rid of it when he gets rid of the "poisoned" loot. As you'll see below, Stede's rings are canonically too big for Ed. There is NO reason for Gypsy Taylor to make Taika Waititi wear a ring that doesn't fit unless there was a specific reason for the ring.

Additionally, When Ed gets rid of all the treasure in 2x6 why would he keep the ring if it was part of the plunder? There is no way he'd keep it unless it meant something important to him.

Then Ed throws his leathers overboard but he STILL keeps the green ring. Why would he do that if it was part of what the leathers meant to him?

It HAS to have a different meaning, and I believe that meaning HAS to be Stede.

We all know that Ed kept Stede's black tie after they switched clothes in 1x4. He wears it through most of season 1. He has a history of keeping part of Stede close to him.

You can't see the tie in season 2 until he has decided to drive the ship into the storm, so sometime between when he leaves Izzy with the gun, and when he tells Frenchie to let him steer the boat he put the scarf back on. After he and Stede are reunited we don't see the scarf again until it is placed on Izzy's grave. Why?

I think it's because the crew knew that the scarf belonged to Stede. If Ed had worn it prior to driving into the storm the crew would have definitively known that sweet Ed was still in there. Clearly they knew why Ed was behaving in the way that he was, but I think Ed probably thought he wasn't being so obvious.

He could wear the ring and thus keep Stede close to him because nobody had seen it before and would just assume it was from a plunder, not as a reminder of Stede.

Stede could have given it to Ed before they got separated, I'm assuming if he had we would have seen that. But regardless if Stede gave it to Ed or Ed took it, the fact remains it HAS to be Stedes as far as I'm concerned.

Once Stede and Ed are reunited he doesn't need the scarf anymore. It's too reminiscent of the life he wanted to leave, but the ring symbolizes Stede without the pirate baggage.

_______

These are Ed's rings in season 1. I have watched pretty darn closely and other then when he and Stede change clothes, they remain the same all season. AND THEY FIT HIM.

This is Ed wearing Stede's rings. They are clearly too big for him. All of them are sideways nearly the entire time he wears them.

In 2x1 Ed is suddenly wearing this ring. It's a bright green rectangular stone being held in by 4 prongs. It is NOT seen in season 1. The image below is from the sequence of them going on all the raids and is the only clear pic i could get of the green ring in 2x1.

You can see it a lot more clearly in 2x2.

It also does NOT fit Ed well, just like Stede's other rings from 1x4. He wears is all season except in 2x5 when he doesn't wear any rings. He does wear it in 2x8 I just didn't take a picture. You can see it most clearly when Ed puts his hand up when he is trying to save Izzy.

Ed gets rid of his leathers but keeps the green ring

[theladyheroine]

The Bad Batch ATLA AU 🪨🔥🌊🍃

❥ Headcanons #1

❥ Hello there! 👋🏽 I’m back with the Bad Batch posts! And I wanted to try elaborating on a previous headcanon I made. There’s some things I might change from the original concept though, but I hope you all enjoy!

Starting off, as a way to try & connect with both the Clone Wars & Bad Batch concepts, let’s just say it’s during the 100 Year War. I think the major clones from the series would be soldiers fighting the Fire Nation. Or as an alternative, it could take place during a different Avatar period. And maybe they’re framed individuals on the run? Kind of like in Season 1-2 of the series. 😅

Either way, I really want Omega to be the Avatar! But so far for each member, they would be from a specific region or place. Rather than being everyone being related, they don’t exactly resemble each other anyways lol. 😅

Also shoutout to my Bad Batch Discord Server! Who helped me flesh out this AU! 🙏💕💕

Hunter would definitely be a firebender, at first I wanted him to be Earth instead but Fire seems more his style. While he’d still be the tracker of the group, he might also play role as a scout when they enter a new territory. For a professional occupation, maybe he’d be some kind of a survivalist? Just a guy out in the wilderness, I’m not too sure what else to do for him though? 😅 If anyone has any ideas I’d appreciate it!

Wrecker is an obvious earthbender, but I don’t want him to be only a skilled fighter because of his strength. I feel like that’s a common trope for tough characters, but also because Wrecker is known to be pretty smart with his demolitions skills. He could prove to be a good engineer or inventor much like Sokka, with the help of Tech of course. Even a metal bender!

Tech would for sure be an airbender, at first I wanted Water but air bending is about avoiding your opponent then knocking them off balance. Which is totally Tech’s thing! However, I feel as though Tech would have a bit of wanderlust in Avatar? He’d want to see the world & learn about the other nations, so maybe he’d already be an Airbending teacher! Or a researcher! But with some engineering skills he’s picked up since he, Echo, & Wrecker spend alot of time fixing the ship too.

Echo was definitely a toughie for me, but I decided to go with Waterbending instead! While I’m sure it’d be a little bit tougher considering his prosthetics, I feel he’d be very a real strong bender once he gets going. His teaching skill is very kind though with Omega. Also! As his occupation I feel being a normal solider fighting the Fire Nation would work well with him.

Crosshair would be a nonbender from the Fire Nation! He’s definitely a hothead but since he can’t bend I feel he’d try to teach Omega how to use weapons if she can’t bend in a situation. But instead of a gun or something like that he’d be the archer of the group! Maybe he’d have Hunter make flaming arrows for him if they need it, but he strongly advises against it. 😅

And Omega is *drumroll* the Avatar!! 🥳 I really really wanted her to be the Avatar, and water is probably the best fit for her! I originally picked Air but I changed my mind because I didn’t want her to be a copy of Aang, it didn’t seem fair. And I did get an idea from my Bad Batch discord saying Batcher would be a Polar Bear Dog! This was sooooo cute! But continuing, Omega would be thrilled to travel with the Bad Batch! Storywise, I feel maybe she left the North Pole part of the world to either learn on her own or she had to leave for safety reasons? But also because those who were originally training her thought it’d be too dangerous for her to leave the Pole.

I also want to include Gonky because he’s the Bad Batch mascot! Gonky would be a little injured turtleduck Omega found while traveling near the Earth Kingdom. And he likes to hitch rides in their bags or maybe Wrecker likes to hold him since he’s so cute & wittle! 🥰😊 Batcher likes to play with him too but he gets scared sometimes. 😅

The Maurauder is also Tech’s Flying Bison! I did discuss with the discord about his name being Maurauder or Havoc? I went with Maurauder, but both can work well!

❥ And that’s it for now! I do wanna expand on this at some point in the future, but I hope you all had fun! 🙌 Thank you for your time!

[eleemosynecdoche]

Okay. Oil fire serious posting, huh? Now my friend @rlyehtaxidermist is a patient, forbearing soul, and I've been known to get a little hot under the collar at times. The language may get spicy. You have been warned.

Anyways, there are people apparently trying to do some kind of shipping war over this interpretation of Touhou 19 and of Sanae and Tsukasa. They level three basic charges- that there's no support for it, that it's a shallow sex ship, and that Tsukasa is obviously manipulating Sanae. Let's take it from the top.

1. No Evidence, Not Canon

Well, I could go and take screenshots and get the Japanese text and screenies of confirmed "sex isn't real in Touhou" people trying to puzzle out the parts of the Japanese text where Sanae and Tsukasa use very familiar language with each other. But I won't.

Why does it matter? Like, take it as a given that this is the case, that this ship is created from nothing. What would that mean? That people need to stop talking about it? Or restrict their posting about it to some kind of space for non-canon shipping? Is that reasonable?

Look, shipping characters on the basis of them being in adjacent stages has a history in Touhou. Some of them, like Parsee/Yuugi, got ZUN offering some support for it much later, through indirect means. Others, like Nitori/Hina, are kind of unpopular nowadays. People still make art and comics and doujin novels for those unpopular ships based on proximity. And why shouldn't they?

Some of my favorite doujin works- Ōkawa Bkub's "Charm" series, ALISON Airlines's drug-themed and mind-expanding works, Komaku Jūshoku's Ran-chama shorts- are far outside the boundaries of what ZUN produces. I think it's good that people take what ZUN puts down and run with it. I think that's a much healthier way to creatively engage with an artistic work you enjoy. It also gave us Higurashi When They Cry, Umineko When They Cry, Undertale and Deltarune, and other independent works where the influence isn't quite as obvious.

Anyways, all that freedom brings with it people being allowed to ship in ways you think aren't canonically supported, as part of being able to creatively reinterpret the work they're engaging with.

2. It's A Shallow Sex Ship!

Now let's be fucking clear here- what people are implying by this is pretty clearly "You're using this shipping to get off!"

Look. Do you really think that people are likely to be getting off to the idea of sex that's unglamorous and kinda mediocre, a bit awkward? If there is some kind of fetishist of that kind posting about SanaKasa, I'll buy them a drink to salute their extremely broad and abstract sexuality, which would be quite rare indeed.

I'm being mean. The more likely thought process here is that social assumptions around whether anyone would use direct and somewhat crude language about weird sex without being aroused at that moment or being some kind of perpetually-horny sex pervert are shaping how people react to seeing posts where a foxgirl's tail is used as a proxy for her having an erection.

So set that aside. I'm gonna talk about why the sex posts are meaningful to me personally.

I'm not an old hand of Touhou fandom, I came to it as a grown adult with the period between Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom and Hidden Star in Four Seasons as my entry point. But what I learned very quickly is that there's a lot of Touhou stuff, posting, art, comics, fanfics, where people offer up sexual content that I find deeply unappealing (mostly because it's dull, het, and not infrequently invokes sexual violence). And then, eventually, I realized that there was a kind of reaction to this state of affairs.

This was the sense that Touhou fandom was divided into bad sexual stuff and good desexualized stuff. And sexual stuff from a lesbian or WLW perspective was lumped in as part of the bad, with an assumption it was made for men too. And so if you wanted to enjoy the lesbian overtones of Touhou, the Touhous better not be having sex!

This is in turn correlated, I think, with the sense of Touhou as the whimsical side of the "cute girls having tea parties" media metaconcept. All of this ties really heavily into a broader social understanding of sexual desires between women, between nonbinary people, (or even between men much of the time) as intrinsically predatory and needing to be desexualized to be acceptable.

But Touhou isn't a series about cute girls doing cute things at tea parties in the text. In the games, it's a bunch of rude women threatening each other with violence in erudite ways, then engaging in elegant examples of that violence, and finally going drinking together. There's intrinsic sexual tension to all of that. It's people flirting with each other, showing off their stuff, and then getting to know each other at a bar.

Touhou's gotten more explicit about the sexual side of things. Tsukasa, who's drawn with what are instantly recognizable as sexually charged expressions, lidded eyes and insouciant gestures, whose outfit loosely resembles both short pajamas and a romper dress with the skirt cut away to show off the built-in bloomers, is a noteworthy chunk of that, and then she gets treated both in the fandom and in UDoaLG by powerful beast youkai as, essentially, a born slut.

But the sexual aspects have been there since Perfect Cherry Blossom at the latest. The implicit flirtatiousness, the women with extremely close relationships. So what talking about Tsukasa having bad sex and falling in love means to me is a couple of things- it's an acknowledgement that sex is going on. It's also a way to engage with Tsukasa as a character who's engaged in what is only barely subtextually survival sex work, and offer up the possibility of love in a very normal and unglamorous sense, for Tsukasa to be sexual and yet loved and fully worthy of love.

Making them both transfem or transfeminine-coded (i.e. Tsukasa probably didn't transition, but her penis is still effectively a trans woman's rather than that of a cis woman who shapeshifted in terms of how characters understand her position and body) is in turn an extension of that, of how trans women's bodies are fetishized (especially in sex work). And taking these bodies we, as a group of people, have, and treating them as sexual, but in a more naturalistic way yet playful way. And so for me it's just a matter of being truthful- this is describing the situation in terms of the world as I know it, within certain specific boundaries of Touhou I like to use.

This humongous nerd can have a loving, fulfilling relationship while not being good at sex and having to figure that out. This poor little kon kon can be loved without it being transactional, without having to try and become purified and sweet and "More tea, Miss Sanae?" Even bad girls (in several senses) can love and be loved. If you're gay enough with your cringe girlfriend, a miracle will happen.

All of this is of course my hyperprecise sexual fetish. Every last word of it.

3. All According To Tsukasa's Keikaku

"Tsukasa's just manipulating Sanae!"

Why is it important that Tsukasa be an undefeatable schemer and manipulator?

Let me put it this way. If Tsukasa can manipulate everyone equally well because everyone has weaknesses in their heart or whatever, that's blandly cynical. It makes her out to be some kind of overwhelming malevolence. If Tsukasa is really really good at manipulating powerful, perceptive, and forceful women, but completely unable to affect naive, slightly gullible, says exactly what she's thinking Sanae beyond marginally? That's funny! The one person that should be a cream puff to manipulate is beyond manipulation!

It's thematic! Someone who's open and honest and not trying to manipulate other people can't be manipulated in turn, because she's rejecting the game. It's relevant to Tsukasa's character! UDoaLG makes it clear that tube foxes are despised, that they're seen as weak and unable to fight like real women do. Tsukasa has to manipulate people because it's her only way to keep from being crushed, or so she thinks, because she's immersed in that reality.

Sanae isn't manipulatable, but also doesn't really try to crush her. Sanae offers a relationship between equals, even if they have different power levels.

It even plays into neurodivergence and mental illness- think of Tsukasa as someone unsure if she's manipulating people or not. Sanae being autistic and not manipulatable provides a reassurance that she's capable of doing better.

None of which means she's going to start being a saint or even a decent person, just that she's an awful person whose awfulness is hard to separate from her situation, but she can be in a better situation without having to become good first. She can stay malicious and kinda sucky and we know she's doing it on purpose now! We can say, "you are yucky disgusting, babygirl" and squeeze her into a Pringles tube without guilt. With minimal guilt.

Also, abilities are self-declared and Tsukasa's method of manipulating the other polycule members in Unconnected Marketeers mostly seemed to be encouraging them to do what they wanted to do already. Similarly, she can manipulate Aun in UDoaLG by playing on Aun's desire to be helpful and the dangers of the situation, but Aun also knows it's safe because her other body is back at the shrine. She's not, frankly, massively strong. In demonstrated "power levels" she's a step below Yachie "failgirl" Kicchou. Think about that.

Made it all the way to the end? Congratulations! Imagine a Touhou ending slide where I'm (whatever you think I look like) holding up Tsukasa and Sanae sock puppets.

[moodyseal]

FAV APOLLO / PJO SHIPS GO 💞

OOOO difficult ask! I'm not usually someone who focuses on ships that much so I don't have many favourites (despite giving the opposite, much more intense impression) but there are some that make me particularly. How should I put this. Unwell

1. Apollo/Hyacinthus! I know that it's usually considered a boring ship because we were effectively shown 1% of what Hyacinthus' real personality might've been (Apollo spends more time thinking about his death than about his life doesn't he), but I'm hopeless over these two. I don't know what it is that's doing this to me

Maybe it's Hyacinthus potentially being much less perfect than what the myths present him as (as in stubborn and flawed, not homicidal and deranged and whatnot. Let's leave that to Commodus). Maybe it's Apollo's constant waiting and mourning over someone who will never really return. Maybe it's the love persevering despite it all. Maybe it's the mystery behind this man being so extraordinary that not only Apollo never forgot about him (to the point of still being reactive over any mention of him, as if the grief were still fresh) but also wished to be turned mortal just so he could die and be with him

Like dude who ARE YOU what's the deal with you how did you and this god tie your souls together so tightly that he's not known true happiness ever since you died

2. Apollo/Commodus. I have no good excuse or elaborate analysis for this one I just love drama and watching things burn to the ground. A flawed man who sees the good in everyone he lays his eyes upon VS a flawed man who hasn't got anything good inside him anymore. The desperate attempt to save someone who cannot be saved. Poetic cinema

(I do like to explore scenarios where these two reconcile though, because I do still believe that there's just the tiniest chance that Commodus might've been redeemed) (🤡)

3. Apollo/Naomi, the only (modern) rrverse relationship of his that we know anything about LMAO

I've been drawn to this ship mostly through fanfics but I do enjoy even what little content we have about them in canon. Between the song Naomi composed and Apollo's digressions about her in TOA they seem to still really care about each other, plus I'm quite convinced that he still watches over her because idk about you but the crowds cheering EXACTLY when the song about him comes on is a pretty obvious sign of a blessing to me

I'm actually still writing a fic about them!! Hopefully it'll see the light of day someday but anyway if I'm willingly writing something about a ship you just know that I'm not normal about it in any way shape or form

[uriekukistan]

Fanfic Writer Interview

thank you @alonelystargazer for tagging me!

no pressure tags @earthtodora @sunnyyflowerrs @kentuckyfriedmegumi and @kat-likes-writing !!!

How many works do you have on AO3?

counting the ones i moved to "anonymous" i have 36 for 3 fandoms

Your top 5 stories by kudos/likes:

Family is Embarrassing

Dancing With a Stranger

summer lovin'

koi no yokan

honey and lavender

all itafushi. i write other fandoms/ships sometimes but yeah im mostly known for itafushi. if i can even call myself known.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

okay so i DO but im just really slow right now because of uni. like i have 100+ comments stacked up im so sorry guys. uni is kicking my ass. but usually i try to bc i like to let readers know that i appreciate the support <3

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

....this is hard i have a few that are pretty bad. the one that hurts me the most is right where you left me (ghost au)....idk it's like sad and happy. they both sortaaa get what they need but also like they dont get to be together, and i think (hope) it was obvious from the start that a happy ending wasn't on the table for them

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

contrary to popular belief i write a lot of happy endings!!!!!! i want to say koi no yokan even though it's not out yet, not because it has the objectively happiest ending, but because the whole thing is so angsty and a lot of people have said they doubt that i'll actually give a happy ending. and i will! anyway, i'd say its the happiest because its like. relieving at the end. without giving too much away.

Do you write crossovers?

i don't think i'd write a crossover in the traditional sense where characters from two medias interact, but i've written au's where i put the characters from x show into the universe from y show. that's probably as close as i'll get to a crossover.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

four times...ngl i was a bit confused abt one bc it felt like they hadn't read the fic, one time they just hated the ship and took it out on the fic, and the other was recent......that once kinda upset me bc of the second ask they sent.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

uh. hm. i have. i'm very shy abt it so i would never post it in a way that'd tie back to me, and only a few ppl actually know abt the details.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i've seen.........but im also chronically offline these days

Have you ever had a fic translated?

also no, but i do frequently get comments in spanish which is cool

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

tbh i think it'd be fun, but i'm also so particular abt my process that i think it'd frustrate the other person. however....there would potentially be a few ppl i'd be interested in writing with. but once again, i'm shy

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

itafushi ofc. my number one forever, i don't think a singular ship has ever grabbed me by the throat like this before

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

sigh theres so many. i recently published a new fic and i'm like not even feeling motivated to write the next two chapters......i feel bad abt that bc i did already share it. this is why i need to write all if not most of the multichapter before i share it. most of the things i have rn are just ideas tho bc i havent had time to write much that's new

What are your writing strengths?

oh god......um i think i do a good job creating an emotional atmosphere and taking the reader inside the pov character's head

What are your writing weaknesses?

description for sure. i'm just not good with visual things, whether its art or descriptions in writing. i'm also not observant which doesn't help like i couldn't tell you anything about what's happening around me right now which is Not Good. either way it hinders my writing fs. also i think sometimes i struggle w pacing and characterization. and dialogue. um. honestly i think i have a lot of weaknesses, i'm not the fondest of my own writing unfortunately.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

hm. i think it has a place ig, but personally i would never do it, despite the fact that i'm trilingual and definitely have the capacity to.

also this is an unpopular opinion, and i think it comes from my time studying japanese in university, but when i see like "gojo-sensei," or "itadori-kun" type things, it does make me cringe a bit. like i know that is what they are saying but like if i did that in class it would be marked wrong so i've just been trained to read it as incorrect.

What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

ngl rn im only interested in writing for itafushi. i would like to write more for tokyo ghoul soon though

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

at this present moment.....right where you left me. there is also a budding au in my drive that i'm quite fond of but i'm waiting to share more details on that

[thestrangestthing89]

Mike Character Analysis

I realize there are a lot of posts about whether or not Mike is bi or gay and how aware of it he is. I think the show clearly explains what's going on with him if you look closely. This will be looking at his character from the perspective that he's has realized he's gay in season 2. This will be an in-depth character analysis some of which has already been said by other posters but I think people missed a few key points. It's very long - season 1 is in 3 parts starting below.

Season 1:

People who believe Mike is bi and people who ship Mileven have one key thing in common - the fact that they believe Mike had romantic feelings for El in the first two seasons and that their relationship was cute. However, this is due to the fact that people are viewing this interaction through the lens of heteronormativity. The male protagonist needs to be in love with the girl. There is nothing in Mike's behavior that indicates he has a crush on her, and certainly nothing to indicate that he's in love with her (they know each other for a week in this season).

Mikes behavior toward El ranges from brief periods of kindness, to flat out hostility. A good point of comparison here is Lucas. Lucas gets heavily criticized by the GA for being mean to El in season 1, but his behavior is not all that different from Mike's. They both lash out at her when they are afraid. And they are scared of her. She randomly showed up in the middle of the night when they are out looking for their friend who is in danger. She isn't explaining herself, (not her fault, she doesn't communicate well at this point) it's a tense situation and they are 12. Lucas's temperament toward El is impatient and he's a little more annoyed with her than Mike. But Mike is frequently shown to be exasperated anytime he has to explain something to her. He rolls his eyes a few times and doesn't always explain himself well. He's impatient too. His tone may be different than Lucas's sometimes but their behavior is pretty similar. So many people interpret boys being mean to girls as them having a crush. It's awful and sexist but I think that's why we see people interpreting Mike's behavior as a crush. He's occasionally nice. And to a lot of people it makes up for when he's mean. It shouldn't. Both Mike and Lucas scream at her during this season multiple times and try to get rid of her. But it's Mike who triggers her trauma with Brenner and continues to throughout season 4. And it's Mike who is viewed as having a crush on her and not Lucas even though they both treat her mostly the same and there are 2 reasons for this. One is the obvious one - Lucas is black and is not going to be viewed as the romantic lead by the GA. Even now, there are plenty of people who have a problem with him and Max. He is also criticized a lot more than Mike is for his behavior toward El for the same reason even though, again, their behavior towards her is very similar. The second reason is that Mike lets El stay in his basement. This is the only way his and Lucas's behavior differs. Again this has nothing to do with romance. They've known her for about 10 minutes at this point. Mike is showing kindness to her because she's a kid who was wandering out in the cold and rain and was clearly in trouble. This does not mean Lucas is unkind. Just that Mike is the leader of this group. He was also the one who put the whole search party together in the first place. So he takes responsibility. Lucas is also worried that El is going to distract them from finding Will which is a valid point to make. And we know from season 2 that Dustin's house is smaller and it would have been harder to hide El there. So she stays in Mike's basement. (side note: Another difference between the two is that Lucas, at the end of season 1, apologizes to El for his behavior and calls her a friend. He never treats her like this again. Mike on the other hand never apologizes even through season 4 and continues to trigger her trauma with Brenner. I don't think this is because Mike is unaware that he needs to. He shows multiple times through the series that he's capable of self-reflection and apologizing when he's out of line. I think this has to do with the fact that anytime emotions are brought into the equation with El they get interpreted as romantic by their friends and by her as well later. Mikes feelings toward her are platonic and he avoids having to explain this to her by simply not inviting the conversation to happen.)

Again, this isn't indicative of a crush. People let their friends crash on their couches all the time and he doesn't know her. He felt bad for her so he brought her home. The Duffers even say that Finn was instructed to treat her like a lost puppy he found in the woods. This isn't a crush. Mike interacts with El here in a way that shows emotional maturity and awareness. He knows she's in trouble and tries to help. At least as far as providing her temporary shelter. Because he is in agreement with Lucas that they need to get rid of her and focus on Will. They both come up with a plan to send her back to Penhurst, where they believe she escaped from. People don't escape from places they are safe. They escape when they are in danger. It's implied here that Lucas recognizes this and it's a large part of the reason he's uneasy around her. They brought the danger to them. It's worth noting here that they have this argument loudly in front of El without regard for her feelings. Mikes emotional maturity only goes so far. He's still 12. Within the first couple days of her being there, Mike is shown to interact with her in a different way than Dustin and Lucas. They both see a girl, where Mike just sees another kid. This is shown through their scandalized behavior when she tries to change in front of them. Dustin especially can't get past this. Mike on the other hand, just goes to show her all his toys like she's a kid from school who just came over to play. (She's also thoroughly uninterested in anything Mike shows her so the interest in playing isn't reciprocated.)

This is when characters start to directly state that there is something romantic going on. They tell us even though what they are showing us says the opposite. Lucas does the 12 year old thing and basically says "why don't you just marry her". This phrase is not only immature but the fact that the GA took this to mean Mike felt romantically towards El is stunning to me. This phrase is always said by a kid who is jealous that their friend is hanging out with someone new. And Dustin confirms jealousy later. Again, there is absolutely nothing in Mikes behavior to suggest that he feels romantically toward her. But we now have Lucas suggesting there should be. And both Mike and GA take that as enough evidence that the two should be paired off. It's worth noting here that when Lucas is being dramatic and gets down on one knee to fake propose to Mike, Mike is confused. At this point he has spent exactly 1 day alone with El and it's because Lucas and Dustin didn't help him figure out what to do with her. He stayed home from school the day after they found her to try and figure out what to do. During this time, Mike learns El knows Will and it's implied when Lucas and Dustin stop by after school that Mike spent the day trying to talk to her about this. Mike is confused when Lucas proposes because he knows that there was nothing about his behavior that would have been different if it was anyone else. Lucas's reaction is out of no where and it throws Mike off. And it should be throwing the audience off too. We have seen very minimal interaction between Mike and El at this point and usually Lucas and Dustin are there too. When Lucas and Dustin are around, Mike is focused on them and only talks to El when he needs something confirmed.

Mike's confusion is not because he's a late-bloomer. That phrase is problematic for so many reasons, one of which is that it implies that he will eventually have feelings for girls when he may not. But it also suggests that he doesn't know his own feelings and that other characters and the audience know better and are supposed to tell him what to feel. And this is the entire problem with Mike and El's relationship. Mike is always told what to feel and how to interact with her (more on this in season 3). Again, Mike is very emotionally mature and not nearly as oblivious as Dustin and Lucas (and the GA) suggest. Because we see this through his interactions with Will. He knows what he feels, he just starts to question it when people make suggestions that he's supposed to be feeling something else. He thinks he's wrong and second guesses himself, and then corrects his behavior to everyone's liking. But then we have the bullies. Who not only directly state that Will is gay but heavily imply that Mike is too. Troy only antagonizes Mike with his comments about Will's sexuality. Never Lucas and Dustin. And Mike is on the verge of tears and affected by this much more so than than they are. Not only does this imply that it's personal, but it also implies a close bond between Mike and Will. Because something had to happen in order for this kid to think they are both gay and to single Mike out. Now this could have simply just been they held hands when they were little or something similar. But either way there are multiple references to the bullying including Mike as well. Not to mention the fact that Mike is the one to fight back later. A thing Mike and Dustin end up dealing with the consequences for later when Troy attacks them with a knife, leading Mike to jump off a cliff (a significant moment that impacts his mental health the following season). His father also makes several passive aggressive comments about Mike being gay ("you see what happens Michael", "our son with a girl"). The family dinner is particularly telling. The Wheeler parents never once join in on the search for Will and are acting mostly unconcerned about it. They just don't want their kids out late. This causes Mike to lash out and say he's the only one who cares about Will. This whole scene shows how Mike is out of place in his family and very clearly sends a message - if he went missing would they even care or would they think he deserves it because of his behavior. ("You see what happens Michael"). So not only is it heavily implied by many people that Will went missing because he's gay, but that he's killed by "another queer", and that most people saw it coming and are indifferent about it. This is all what's being exposed to Mike while he worries about Will, his best friend since he was 5. A kid who he is very close to and similar to. So Mike is being told somewhat indirectly, that this will be his fate too if he isn't careful. Part 2 here