#IT WASNT THIS SERIOUS BEFORE I JUST REALLY LIKED THE CHARACTER

[cloudbends]

I've been in a pretty bad headspace for the past week but it mostly made me realize that what was before just "oh I love this little catholic guilt ridden bird allegory with a beautiful design from the gacha game" became "I have never mentally resonated with a character more and this is getting scary" very quickly

[dullahandyke]

didnt even touch on the sandra lynn stuff int he tags of the last post bcos if i talk about her im liable to explode. get behind me, middle-aged divorced woman proficient in archery

[killjoy-prince]

I now know the context for the 'Doctor... you're huge' line

[xjulixred45x]

Hi, please can i have an Apollo from record of ragnarok x Male!Reader which is like Death The Kid from Soul eater ( obsessed with symmetry, a bit dramatic, perfectionist, distant but endearing, serious and thoughtful )

I'll try My Best(never saw Souleater)

(EDIT: so, this character is a minor, so the scenario will be PLATONIC ONLY, sorry if that wasnt what you wanted)

Apollo and Death The Kid! Reader: Old Habits Die Hard

Apollo was a god of very, VERY divided opinions, even within his own pantheon. There was no doubt about it, he was strong, beautiful, and talented in many areas, but his large ego and narcissistic attitude made him a difficult person, to say the least, both to deal with and to understand. For this reason, there was always skepticism regarding certain of his "attributes," or rather, his true colors regarding certain topics.

As was the case with his children.

It was no mystery that Apollo's children were often the ones who suffered the greatest misfortunes, or the worst fates in the pantheon. It was almost sad to see how the children of the god of medicine, defense, and the arts died before reaching their full potential. Any inexperienced person would say that Apollo would be used to this by now, that, like Zeus, he simply chose to have minimal involvement with his children.

But his worshippers knew. Apollo never allowed himself to show the other gods what the loss of his children did to him, but they could see how he gripped his later children more tightly, how he became less pliable, all with that stupid smile on his face.

Each child, increasingly watched, ever closer to Apollo's dominion, was as if each time he had a new opportunity to make everything better. Whatever the outcome.

That was the environment in which Reader was raised. One filled with luxuries, privileges, education, the arts, and a particular kind of love. Which seemed fitting, because he ended up being anything but a regular child.

Apollo loved the early stage when his children were learning about the world, being so innocent and so foolish at the same time; it was so adorable. Especially when Reader looked on in confusion when something didn't go his way—so cute!

However, it was also the early stage of his habits. Reader never really played with his toys; he just arranged them in a certain harmonious way and gazed at them, proud of his work. Oh, the cries he would make when someone moved his things, even if Apollo didn't understand them—they were too sad to bear! And he ended up indulging in them, time and time again.

He was the son of Apollo himself, so obviously he was going to be a theatrical and dramatic child; it was only to be expected. Even though he grew more serious over the years, his responsibilities as the son of a primordial god weighing more and more on him, those rituals, those customs that gave order to his life, remained.

It's not as if he didn't have other things going on in his day besides making sure everything was according to his preferences! After all, he had music practice, fighting practice (even his father used to say he was very promising!), and he filled in the gaps left by his father like a god, serving in his name, arranging the scrolls, making sure everything was in its place…that everything was perfect.

One would expect these habits to fade over time, but with the reader, it seemed quite the opposite: the older he grew, the more things needed in his routine to make everything “perfect,” to the point that it seemed almost ridiculous.

Whether it was how the ornaments were placed, the color scheme, or the size of how his father's worshippers arranged their objects, among other things that lacked logic. Hell, the young man even avoided stepping outside for fear of “ruining” the symmetry he had when he went to play.

Lord Apollo allowed much of this behavior for a long time, partly because he found it amusing, partly because it benefited him to keep his son focused on something that wasn't dangerous or in the outside world, but he wasn't a stupid god. He could see the consequences of his son's obsessions (which had, in part, gotten out of hand because of him), and he knew a stop had to be put.

Not only for the sake of the people at the temple, but for his son's own anguish! Even if the first few days were like holding a rabid groundhog every time someone broke a habit of his...

If it weren't for the circumstances, Apollo would be impressed that his youngest son, seemingly more of a ermit than a fighter, was so fierce and determined to the point of violence. Of course, the reader was good at anything he put his mind to, like the arts or boxing; maybe that was exactly what he needed to fix all this.

Apollo was a dramatic man, a god of the arts after all, but it was something he shared with his son, something he could take advantage of, exaggerate the truth a little, make things seem bigger than they really are, whether he eventually did something outside the temple, participated in one of its festivals, who knows!

As serious as he was, Reader was still young, easily persuaded, easy to read, and Apollo could see the subtle improvement in his attitude as he shed several of his more harmful habits.

Obviously, it wasn't an overnight thing. Even with Apollo's tendency to be impatient, to the surprise of many, his normally volatile temper always favored his son. It was almost strange to see both the sun god and the reader so... calm.

Everything seemed to be going well until the list of Ragnarok participants was released. Apollo noticed it again. He fell back into old habits, seeking comfort, reassurance. A part of him was more amused than offended (much to the reader's surprise when he heard Apollo laugh so openly at his worries).

He was the sun god, the true power of the Greek pantheon! He'd let it go this time, but he should have more trust in his father. Then maybe, just maybe, he could stop seeing him as that helpless little boy. Old habits, after all, right?

Shares, Reblogs and comments are very welcome!

[yxorul]

My break is almost over, and I'll probably go back into hibernation but here are some redraws of the Mountain Kids for the Villains AU I love myself a monkey and dragon duo 😌 (And like I just really like An Yu and Munki Gu in general lmao)

An Yu & Munki Gu Yeah, I really changed An Yu's design for this one and Munki Gu's definitely more Sun Wukong based. I even gave him a similar staff. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Both An Yu and Munki Gu were raised in the Pagoda, but due to years of vague rules, pressures, and being prohibited to have fun with her best friend (Munki Gu) An Yu decided in order to be free and have fun adventures with her friend, she must destroy Mystery Mountain. Munki Gu, who cares for the Dragon Masters (Gold & Scarlet), obviously does not want that and tries to reason with his friend. He was not able to, and they concluded that for her to be kept under control she is to be sealed inside of a gong.

> Many Years later, after Munki Gu's release from his stone prison, he decides to stay in the Pagoda and train Night Ninja and the Ninjalinos. > Then the AniMasks were tasked to release An Yu from her gong (Not quite sure if I want them to be the one releasing her, but they do have a reason to do so) > As soon as An Yu was released, she immediately went for a strike. Slamming her fist straight into her friends gut, launching him into the stone walls of the mountain. (Munki Gu is fine tho, he's like pretty much indestructible) > An Yu's been holding a bitter grudge against Munki Gu for helping their masters seal her for a millennium. Though despite that, she does still genuinely love and care for him, even if she's blinded by her goal to destroy mystery mountain.

> An Yu is kinda similar with her PJ Classic counterpart, she's still a serious type character but leaning more to calm rather than uptight (If she wasnt so hellbent on destroying Mystery Mountain) because of Munki Gu's influences before she was sealed. > Munki Gu is also in the same situation as An Yu, he's still a fun and mischievous monkey just more controlled. He knows when to have fun and when to be serious (but mostly fun tho) > In this AU An Yu doesn't really care about Ninjas being present in the Pagoda. She's actually pretty supportive of it. Her Masters (mostly the Gold dragon) didn't like change, so seeing that they let Ninjas settle down is a nice change of tradition. > An Yu still loves her ancient bonsai plant.

[mcsm-confessions]

i love shipping as much as the next person but i also really like to focus on just the characters and their dynamics outside of a shipping thing.

like for example, i LOVE olivia. i love her deeply. i even have an entire au centered around her and how she would react to losing someone she cared about. i want to explore her character more, and i think it's lovely that she's sarcastic and intelligent. i also wish she wasn't just completely reduced to being a "mom friend" or just to be shipped with axel.

i LOVE axel x olivia. i think they're very cute. but i would like it if they weren't completely boiled down to that.

speaking of axel: I LOVE AXEL!!!! he's protective and stubborn and selfish but nearing the end he sets aside his selfishness to nearly sacrifice himself to protect his friends. AND THAT'S AMAZING. but everyone just . demonizes him for being mean to lukas for a while [AND HE WAS MEAN RIGHTFULLY SO.] and. also. btw. axel is fat. axel is fat why does everyone just draw him skinny he's LITERALLY FAT IT IS, WHILE UNFORTUNATELY SAID VIA FAT JOKES, LITERALLY TOLD TO YOUR FACE that he is FAT. there is nothing WRONG with being fat. do you think. that making him skinny. will right the wrongs of those jokes. ALSO. BY THE WAY. I HAVE SEEEEEEENNNNN PEOPLE TRY TO REMOVE AXEL'S UNIBROW. YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS. im so sorry im just. urgh. okay. whew.

on to lukas: he's not as soft as everyone thinks he is. that's it. he's sarcastic and witty and snappy and pissy. he's not your pathetic uwu soft boy that everyone wants to portray him ass. im sick of everyone reducing him down to that just for jesskas. im sick of it. i like jesskas. its GREAT. its cute! but it's all done wrong. its all done so so so wrong. he can abso-LUTELY be pathetic, yes! but that isnt his ENTIRE character.

before i finish this, i have ONE more character to talk about.

HARPER.

EVERYONE JUST. everyone just boils harper down to being ivor's wife. hey i love their dynamic and i think they're a very cute couple. but i would like a bit of more focus on harper's character herself and her dynamics with everyone else. she's snappy, she's sarcastic and quick-witted, she feels deep guilt and is desperately trying to convince herself that it wasnt her fault. she knows what's going on, and she feels so much fucking guilt. AND I WANT THAT EXPLORED. I WANT THAT EXPLORED AS MUCH AS IVOR'S GUILT IS EXPLORED. im gonna fucking lose it. i love harper and everyone just. uurrrghhhh.

this is what i see the most in the mcsm fandom and. honestly. i genuinely wish that people would look more into these characters rather than just boiling them down to Basic Traits.

~~~

[deathbringerdragon]

In a specifically goober mood today so time to info dump about my second monkey wrench oc that yall haven't heard about yet.

This is them. They don't have a name yet. Tbh idk if they're fully/truly osteon or not. But since there's so little info on osteon biology, I just call them an osteon.

The pictures are just a hosposh of all of the in work progress screenshots I've been posting in the oc fan servers I'm in. So some of these have sections that are out of date to the current version with the rest up to date

Now for some of the lore that ive posted in said servers.

so i've had the idea that my osteon oc was friends with JB before either of them became infected.

what their relationship was like exactly im not sure. since we know literally NOTHING about jb was like or what he did or Anything before infection, other than what he looks like.

alls i know is that they were at least close.

and- like-

pretty much my oc has been there since Day One for JB since becoming infected and a pirate.

JB went off and became an infected pirate first. Then came back as asked my oc if they were willing to take the chance and go with him.

Cuz right before JB had left, my oc had told him that they dont care what he does, they'll chase him down and find him no matter what so they can play video games together. And then while JB was gone, some incident happened with him that made him question if what his friend from before said was actually true. Maybe some cruel pirate or the like broke JB down emotionally and more or less said "Someone like you is going to die alone, abandoned by everyone you thought were your friends, and betrayed by those closest to you" because he was infected.

So thats why JB went back to find my oc cuz, he just needed the confirmation that what the other pirate said Wasnt true (cuz remember, this is like, Right after jb became a pirate. so he's still somewhat in the "normal dude" mentality)

Wanted to more or less test his closest friend to see if they would be scared of him or not cuz of his infection/how he looks.

And so anyways he pretty much corners my oc and is like "*You said you'd chase me down wherever i go. So, now that ya see what im like now. Are you still willin' t' keep that promise?"*

And after a long beat of silence, my oc just goes "You should know what the answer is. I dont care what you become. A monster, a killer. I'll just become the same thing so we can still be together"

and HHFHGHDNNFDGH they're just friends i swear-

ANYWAYS SO-

after that whole situation (cuz like, the actual scenes in my head were, intense. like. Serious character moments)

my oc joins JB and becomes a part of his crew, and pretty much right-hand man.

the OTHER idea i had, and the original idea. Was that my Oc was actually originally a rival plague walking pirate, who after several encounters with JB and his crew, and having the whole "Are they/arent they flirting" type of rivalry with him, they decide to join his crew, and become close but volatile friends. like. both of them are like "I never gotta question if they have my back in a battle. But i dont trust a single fucking piece of food they give me cuz idk what they might've put in it" kind of friends. and its hilarious.

For a long time i was really unsure which idea i wannted to go with cuz like. on one hand, i absolutely love the back and forth these two dumbass assholes would have if they became friends after being rivals forever.

but at the same time i also really like the undying loyalty/closeness of the idea of the two having been friends since the Start.

in the end, I decided to go with them being friends from the beginning. But since my original idea was for them to meet after, they still have bits of that original idea mixed in to their relationship.

BUT EITHER WAY-

no matter what.

Yall see how broke open their skull is in the sketches i've been posting?

Yea.

their skull wasnt broke open like that in the beginning

[princeseerow]

animorphs #2: the visitor: ch. 1 - 5

first of all, i like emily ellet's tobias voice way more than macleod andrews'

speaking of tobias though, it's interesting how long it takes rachel to outright say that tobias has become a nothlit, like she's having a hard time coming to terms with it herself. she alludes to it a few times, but doesn't say it until the end of chapter 2

somehow i cant believe that animorphs acknowledged underage drinking

it's kind of stressing me out how hard of a time they're having keeping track of time without a dedicated time-keeper on their team

jake STILL hasn't gotten over eating that spider

marco sexism moment

it gets old after a while, but in these early books, i really appreciate the "narrator tells us what they think of the other characters" sections. it tells us about the other characters ofc but i think it says a lot about our narrator too. jake's observations in his section were much more surface-level (rachel is pretty, cassie is nice, tobias is weird), in part i'm sure because it was the first book, while rachel keys us in on things like jake being very serious yet sometimes competitive, and marco being self-conscious about his height, and cassie being the group's peacemaker. which is not to say that jake is particularly unobservant, as his opinions and perceptions of the others comes through a lot more during action and dialogue, but just that it seems so far that rachel is better at directly articulating her thoughts

another thing i want to point out about rachel is that she really doesn't see herself as some sort of teen model fashionista, which is the impression that everyone else seems to have of her. people think she's stuck up and shallow, and she expresses a subtle frustration that people must think she's stupid as well. the fact that her own perception of herself is already at odds with how other people see her sets up her arc in the rest of the series nicely imo

there goes marco banging on about using their situation to become famous again lol

huh, i think this is our first hint that jake and cassie might have feelings for each other

the "rachel gets followed and sexually harassed on the street by an older man" scene is a lot like the "cassie gets repeatedly targeted by a cop" thing in the first book, in that it is disturbing, but on a depressingly unsurprising level. like, it doesn't bother me that it's in the book, it bothers me that this happens for real, in real life, and yet it's nothing new. if that makes any sense? the first time i read the visitor, i was 18 in college in a new city, and spent a lot of time walking or taking the train by myself. it wasnt my first animorphs book, or even the first one i'd read that year, but some guy yelling gross things at her on the street really spoke to me at the time as much as it does now because, yeah, i've been there. a lot. i wish i had been able to turn into an elephant!

ok anyway on a lighter note, rachel says she wears a size 6 which means she can't be much taller than about 5'5". when i was her age i was wearing 9s, i wouldve killed to have smaller feet

nice little bit of characterization that jordan and sara like scary shows but rachel never did

so cool that everyone shames rachel over scaring off that guy 🙄 i get it coming from marco and jake, but cassie not having any understanding for rachel in that situation is weird to me. i can only hope that it means cassie hasn't been followed by creepy men on the street before, but like, irl it doesn't only happen to pretty white girls.

[syllarinfirinne]

I was thinking about Critical Role last night, I have been thinking about it a lot recently as I have been finally working my way through the Aeor arc of Campaign 2, and specifically about Campaign 3.

I fell off of Campaign 3 a couple times and dove back in trying to catch up before finally just saying Maybe Another Time/Maybe After Its Over around the time of them finding the Fire Titan Shard, because tbh, I got bored of the constant circular debate about defending/killing the gods, but I still think aobut it a lot because I liked the narrative Matt had built, love Exandria, and even liked Bells Hells as characters.

The reason I dont think it really clicked for me, and seemingly others, is I dont think Bells Hells is the right party for this story, and that it wouldve worked better with either all different characters, or as a shorter Epic Tier arc for Vox Machina or The Mighty Nein. Because, like, Bells Hells, at the start of their campaign is probably the party least connected to the Gods, either in a positive or negative light, especially compared to late game Vox Machina or Basically Any Point Mighty Nein.

Vox Machina had:

Grog: No connection to the Gods at the beginning of the campaign, finds some religious awakening with the Stormlord.

Keyleth: Strongly anti-organized religion at the beginning of the campaign, comes to resent the Matron of Ravens because of everything that happened with Vax.

Percy: Has a strong distaste for magic in any form, either of the arcane OR Divine persuasion, sees it as a shortcut that cheapens human ingenuity, despite that ruler of a city watched over by the Dawn Father with a respect for the Dawnfather.

Pike: Devotee of the Everlight, occasionally struggles with her devotion but one of the Everlights most ardent followers.

Scanlan: No strong connection to the Gods for most of the campaign, is smiled on by The Knowing Mistress during the Vecna arc.

Vax: His struggles with his sense of purpose push him towards religion early in the campaign and his love for his sister thrusts him into the service of the Matron of Ravens, eventually becoming her Paladin and Champion.

Vex: Defends the Dawnfathers city, but like Keyleth has a strong resentment towards the Matron for in their eyes Taking Vax.

The Mighty Nien had:

Caducius: Ardent follower of the Wildmother, helps guide Fjord towards enlightement in the Wildmothers eyes.

Caleb: After he broke mentally was broughtback to clarity by a follower of the Arch Heart.

Beau: Monk of the Cobalt Soul, and therefore a follower of The Knowing Mistress, while not overtly religious she has no problem presenting herself as a follower of the Mistress.

Fjord: Warlock of a creation of the Betrayer God Zehir who eventually finds redemption in the light of The Wildmother.

Jester: Cleric devouted to a Demi-God/Arch Fey who has a Less Than Great reputation with the Pantheon.

Nott/Veth: afaik basically no connection to the gods.

Yasha: Follower and adherent of The Stormlord, who lifted her from the brink of death and despair but challenges her in extreme and difficult ways.

I dont know, I just feel like either of those groups of characters would have had a more tangible connection to a plot related to killing the gods than a group consisting of two people who felt their prayers went unanswered, two people with no real care or connection to the gods, a cleric looking for a god, and a guy who is kinda connected to the Wildmother.

And, again, I dont think Bells Hells are a BAD adventuring party, I just think their adventuring and story shouldve maybe touched on the source of Imogens powers, but also spent serious time exploring the rest of the new characters backstories, and found another Main Plot that wasnt this.

[sonicnerd]

Amber

Alright, guess imma have to

First of all, the way they grew up:

Amber has privileges since she is a royal and we've seen how some royals act , specifically, clio and Hildegard.

Amber is used to having people do things for her which is kinda to be expected since she is a royal and she grew up with that kind of life. Jade , she grew up not privileged and you'd think she'd be grateful to have whatever she can but no, she's mad that her friend gets to have a family , if you ask me , that's toxic

Next,

Amber as we see later as the show goes on and specifically in season 3 & 4 (mostly 4) she improves and learns from her mistakes and becomes a better sister with time , hear that? With. Time. She. Becomes. Better. And. Improves.

Jade on the other hand, you may say "I'm only focusing on the bad episode", let's look at the other episode, the one where balilywick came along , Jade didn't go anything cause this episode was mainly just roland being worried about his daughter and wanted her to be safe so that's why balilywick was there and how Sofia didn't need to be protected or treated differently, yes there might have been a different lesson there but I got the basic stuff from it. And the other episode, that was Sofia and Cedric based , when they went to see the sorcerers, that was Sofia helping Cedric and Cedric dad see eye to eye while the other buttercups did good deeds. Other than that, Jade is toxic/bad.

So , Amber has character development to be better to others and to her sister. Jade doesn't really have any of that other than when she's not with Sofia

The sleep over episode "oh their just kids having fun 🥺", no! Would you like it if someone acted like that in your home?? I think the fuck not. Even if they were having fun you'd think they'd at least try to you know, not mess stuff up and have manners at someone else's place and be respectful , ESPECIALLY to ROYALS. Even though they are friends, still, be respectful of others homes

The one episode where it was where Sofia had to pick between her royal friends and her village friends. She was basically forced into playing with the villagers, and let's not forget, she was still getting used to being a royal . That whole episode was just non stop back and forth of who Sofia should choose. Like, Sofia wanted to play for the royals and her "friends" hated her for doing that and "betraying" them, they said that they never won a game before so what was the point of if Sofia was on their team or not. Then when Ruby gave Jade the same treatment, she didn't like it but went right back to being a lil bitch to Sofia. Even when Sofia joined their team , Jade was so bitchy about it as if she wasn't BEGGING Sofia to come back to them which wouldn't have made a difference at all if even with Sofia THEY STILL LOST PREVIOUS GAMES , and yes the only reason they won is cause of how the show was written.

And when Lucinda was changing to be a good witch. She was raised to be bad, she didn't know any other way to act. And OTHERS forgave her since they saw how much she was changing and willing to help un-hex everything. And we all saw that trap, of that trap cussed that much damage, just what would happen if this WASNT. A kids show?? It would have caused serious injury.

The episode where they had to build their flying carriage thingy, both Ruby and Jade were bad in that episode. Sofia tried everything to get them to her friends again but they only wanted to spend time with Amber , Amber was used to everyone wanting to be her friend so she didn't even notice . "Oh she's a bad sister for not realizing-" stfu!! The only reason she didn't notice is cause she was , oh my God, you won't believe it, SHE WAS HAVING FUN 😮🫢. Ik, it's hard to believe that when it's obvious you haven't fully watched how amber grows as a character unlike Ruby and Jade , specifically Jade

Now respectfully, go away. All you Jade supporters have this one painful thing in common. Going after Amber , a character WITH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, when poorly defending Jade

Now if you were actually able to read this, go watch all four seasons THEN come back to me if you really wanna compare Jade to Amber who yet again HAS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

Bye!! 😚😚

[fuselsstuff]

Why i am so excited to have the Bucktommy storyline

Buck, the wild child, the hot head, overthinker, the talker, always a little much, but thats him, and he is so so loved.

He is the little brother of his found family, and in their heads he will allways be just that, so he gets all these backhanded compliments, like

" he doesnt know your an Idiot yet, but he will love you anyway like we all do"

He is such a competent person/firefighters but sometimes he doesnt get taken serious because his ideas doesnt seem thought trough, and it looks like He is just doing stuff without thinking, but thats his neurodivergent brain, people with Adhd sometimes dont have the words for their Plans and Action, they just know it (its like that With my Brain, i dont say everybody is like this)

And then we have his past realtionships,

Abby, she really really liked him, but she had her own demons to deal with, she couldnt be what Buck needed.

Allie, she knew what she gets herself into, so she broke it off before she could really fall for him and i think thats very honorable.

Taylor got Buck, she knew exactly who he is, and she was there for him, but maybe they were to similar, i dont think it would have worked out in the long term.

Natalia, well, cant say much about her.

Our boy just wants to come home to somebody that gets him, not just says that, but really really gets him, shows up for him, takes him seriously and is his person.

And yes we could debate that he has Eddie, these two have a wonderfull friendship, and i admire that. Its deep, its vunerable, they are there for each other, both need eachother, and they trust eachother, its beautiful.

But for now, its exactly that, its a beautiful friendship.

(side note... The will? That doesnt make Buck a coparent, it makes him Chris' godfather basically)

And now to his current realtionship, Tommy. I think its perfect, and the first thing i want to point out, the comunication. Buck is a talker, but no comunicator, if people dont tell him exactly what they think, he is gonna asume what they think, and well, when was that ever a good thing right? There are a lot of examples where Bucks missing comunication turned into Problems.

Tommy does comunicate, i mean... He drive to his loft before his shift, to clear the air. After He kisses him, he doesnt run away, he asks him if that was okay and then asks him out on a date. Do we have to talk about the date? He was smooth, polite and open, he didnt run away before he cleared it up to him "your adorable but i dont think your ready" comunication my friends! The Coffee meet up? " you allready know i am interested" I mean how much clearer can it get? And also that he told him that the Coffee wasnt what he would order, its a small thing but i think its just as honest and important.

And he Shows up for him, Bachelorparty and wedding! He is there because of him. The scene where Buck looks on his phone before Tommy arrives? I could feel those butterflys, *somebody is here because of me* such an amazing feeling.

I could go on and on on how amazing the character choice of Tommy is but then this would get far too long, i am Sure there are a lot of posts that point out why its so cool to have an "old" Character back.

To get back to the start, Buck is loved, he is a Idiot but with a heart of gold, truly a golden Retriever.

But its the difference between *Buck, your such an Idiot, i love you anyway* to *i love you because you are an Idiot, Evan* that makes it for me.

Thanks for reading until here, i needed to get that out, feel free to add points!

But for now i enjoy this mature and hopefully domestic realtionship for buck storyline waaay to much <3

[hwa-ae]

can you write shinyu as reader's tutor pls? ty

Tutor —

: ̗̀⇢pairings: shinyu x gn! reader

: ̗̀⇢synopsis: IN WHICH shinyu helps you with math, but you get a little curious about why he agreed to tutor you and not anyone else

: ̗̀⇢genre: fluff, sfw

: ̗̀⇢warnings: confession out of nowhere (for my socially awkward readers who might get second hand embarrassment)

"shinyu, i really really dont understand how to do this question. can you please please explain it again?" you whined, pushing the math paper towards his direction as he looked at you dead in the eye.

"[name] you know you cant bring me to the exam with you, right? think carefully! I've explained this question to you beforehand!" shinyu sighed, pushing the paper back to you, pointing at the question as if it would spark up the steps and answer to the question.

"but i really dont remember! shinyu, please explain it to me again... please?" you pleaded, holding your hands up together as you begged for him to do his job as a tutor and help you.

shinyu stared at you for a few moments before sighing and reaching for his pen which has rolled away while he wasnt looking, giving in to your begging whines and pleading pouts.

"im only going to explain this question one last time, okay? i wont be explaining this to you again." he said sternly before explaining the question, to which you just smiled and nodded along, knowing that he would give in to you and explain it to you again if you just begged a few times with a cute pout.

"ohh... i think i understand now..." you mumbled, nodding your head softly as shinyu hands you back your paper.

"good, now solve this question yourself," shinyu praised, pointing to a smiliar question before watching you solve it with serious eyes.

"hm... shinyu?" you mumbled, solving your question halfway before interrupting the comfortable silence.

"yes?"

"why did you agree to tutor me but not anyone else? i heard you rejected all of them." you asked mindlessly, still writing down equations, not noticing the fumbling mess you made him as he tried to think of an excuse to your question.

"uh... uhm... well..." he stutters out, acting oddly out of character, making you look up at him with concerned eyes. "its because they're not you..."

"what?" you froze.

"sorry, forget what i said!" shinyu immediately tried to move on, rearranging the already well arranged papers to try and forget about what just happened.

"shinyu, correct me if im wrong but, do you like me?" you asked teasingly, finding the ever so composed class president's clumsy state adorable.

he nodded slowly, turning his head away and covering the lower half of his face with his hand, allowing you to see the red tips of his ears.

"i like you too."

this time, it was shinyu who froze.

"are you being serious? you're not messing with me right?" he turned his head back to look at you so fast you were worried he would break his neck.

you giggled softly, nodding along as his face lit up immediately.

"can i bring you on a date?" he asked with wide puppy-like eyes and a bright grin, anticipating your reply.

"right now?"

"yes, right now!"

"haha! of course!"

© 2024, hwa-ae ♥︎

do not steal, plagiarise or translate my work on any platforms!

[yearningandpatheticaboutit]

CHAPTER 20: SPEAK FOR YOURSELF

wc: 2740

warnings: none.

prev chapter

***

~ 2 years later

yaera

i dont smoke malboro gold anymore. i never had the guts to quit either. cuban cigars have grown on me, and my lungs probably want to vacate my body, but since an old woman that strangely reminded me of my grandmother taught me how to handroll one, i didnt just want to give it up.

constanza taught me lots of things. how to make traditional jewelry, soap, candles and even some textiles. her shop is loved by locals and tourists alike, even though on most days, its not really busy. its always just a slight buzz, like the rest of soroa.

her grandson was apparently on drugs, so she needed someone urgently to start helping in the shop. luckily for me, she was desperate, and i just happened to not be good at a damn thing. but she had the patience and still taught me. something something, rotten work.

"you bring more people because you're pretty," constanza told me. "not more pretty than me in my days, but still pretty."

she wasnt even wrong. the shop had some framed pictures of constanza in her heyday, and man, even marilyn monroe would be jealous. like a 40s hollywood bombshell. the kind of woman james bond wouldve fallen for on some mission in cuba. at 70, her cheekbones still cut diamonds.

the locals and tourists thought i was cuban, till i whipped out the italian and they were more impressed and spent enough time in the shop for constanza to throw fifty deals at them. it was ritualistic.

today things are more quiet. constanza's busy in the back, and the only people walking around are a little girl and her mother. they come to the reception with two big candles. i overheard them speaking, they sounded british.

"vanilla and jasmine, classic flavours," i say in english, smiling at the little girl.

"can i eat them?" the girl asks her mother.

"no, you cannot." the girl's mother answers stiffly.

"but she said it was vanilla?" the girl says in confusion.

her mom squeezed her hand tightly, and i knew that "shut up" motion all too well.

miserable on vacation? reminds me of my own mother. thank god, i dont miss her.

"it only smells like vanilla," i answer the little girl. "it tastes like wax, very yucky. you dont wanna try it and get sick."

she smiles shyly at me and rocks back and forth on her heels. her mom puts down the money and looks like she just wants to get out of here.

"what happened to your face?" the little girl suddenly asks, pointing to her own cheek.

"milly!" her mother gasps, slapping her mouth shut. "im so sorry about that."

embarrassment grows on my skin and i just smile and put the candles in the bag so they can get the fuck out. now i wish milly would eat that candle. fuck them kids.

milly and her mom leave the shop, and the afternoon sun is leaving the pavement. the bell on the door rings on their way out. i lightly graze my cheek, tracing the bite marks left behind. constanza told me its not noticable. but she noticed it enough to say its not noticable.

how many hours left?

"no more want to work?" constanza comes out from the back, smiling at me knowingly.

i cant force a smile. men often flirt with me here, but a child just asked what happened to my face. kids are more honest than men-everyone knows that.

"señora epsino, le dije que entiendo español." i say with a sigh. (Mrs Espino, I told you I understand Spanish).

"but then how will i practice my ingles?" she scoffs at me. "go home, you are not any fun today."

"i can go home?" i perk up like a dog. "serious?"

she clicks her teeth at me. "before i change my mind."

i run up to her, kissing her on the cheek. she groans and wants to shove me away but i run away fast enough. the bell dings. i call out and say bye to her. then, i make my way home.

***

san

the broom's too short for me. always has been. but don miguel insists it "builds character," which i think is old man code for i'm not buying another one.

he's snoring in the backroom again, the little radio beside him playing bolero songs older than both of us combined. the glass jars clink a little when i sweep too hard near the counter. i try not to wake him.

the place smells like eucalyptus and plastic. shelf after shelf of over-the-counter meds, dusty ointments, and herbal teas locals swear by. i used to imagine i'd be in a white coat one day, writing up prescriptions in some city. now i'm here, sweeping floors and counting painkillers for farmers with busted knees.

i swear mr miguel only hired me because im asian.

i guess i should be happy that's what i had going for me, seeing as i didnt get to finish high school.

i told myself i have to go back, i have to finish. this small life...it cant be mine forever.

when the last customer leaves and the sun starts dipping behind the hills, i lock the front gate. don miguel's already back to snoring. i don't wake him. he always finds his way home.

the walk back is all gravel and golden light. i pass a group of teenagers wrestling near the mango trees, teeth bared, fists flying. they remind me of me and wooyoung before everything went to shit. scrappy, loud, stupid. its what we wouldve been, if we had met any other way. if we met on a playground instead of the floor of a gangster's garage.

i almost want to stop and break it up, but they're laughing too much. so i keep walking.

i see the door to my front porch open and tighten my hands on my bag, nearly falling as i stumble in.

"yaera?" i call, trying to be cautious and not panicked.

she comes out of the kitchen, wearing an apron. i see why the door's open, because something's burning.

"what did i tell you about leaving that door open?" i ask her seriously. she swings her arms around my neck, pressing her lips to mine. i drop my bag and tighten my hands around her waist.

just as i start to melt, she pulls away and gives me a stupid smile.

"what did i tell you about actually explaining to me how an old stove works?" she fires back at me.

"i explained like eighty times," i sigh with a smile on my face.

"youre about to explain eighty-one times if you wanna eat."

"no need. mr miguel gave me homemade pies from his wife."

"thank god."

yaera lets go of me and goes to close the door. i head into the kitchen to see what she made, shrugging off my shirt in the process. i smell like antiseptic, the perfume she gave me and the day's sweat.

i look inside the pot and see something charred on the bottom. "what even is this?" i ask. it looks like burnt spices.

"something with onions," she comes up behind me, sliding her arms through mine as she hugs me. "maybe."

"maybe?" i say with a hum.

"it doesnt matter now. its gone to hell, like everything i touch." she pouts against my bare back.

i turn myself around, making sure to hug her from the front now. "not true, your food dies but i came home perfectly fine."

she looks up at me with that look. i dont know what it is, but her eyes go big and soft, and i surrender like a strawhouse. i lean down to kiss her, holding her face like a priceless ceramic. her lips melt against mine, like the sunkissed petals of a flower. shes slow today, probably tired. she usually devours me.

shes gotten used to slow everything. especially out here, where the only constants are waking up and going to bed, the ceiling fan, the sunrise and sunset and mosquito bites. i thought we wouldnt make it through this...the quiet.

the evil voice in my head still told me, i met yaera in chaos, we lived through chaos and now that it was all over...we'd shrink like a seasonal fruit. but somehow...she still looks at me the way she does. and she still wants to sleep next to me. and when i piss her off, on the chair opposite my bedside.

she pulls away from me, breathless, her hand on the band of my pants. i want her like i always do.

"i did not miss you," she tells me. i smirk and push back her hair, and it spins down her back in curls.

"speak for yourself, marino."

***

yaera

i know once san starts eating my face, nothing will get done. for a man that could barely handle me existing near him before, now its like he wouldnt let me breathe. he drags me to bed (i willingly went) and damn near suffocates me into the duvet (i pulled him down with me and locked his entire waist with my legs).

he plants soft kisses on my lips, playfully tugging my bottom one, dragging it slowly as he smiles. god, sometimes this didnt feel real. "you didn't miss me, huh?"

"not even a little," i tease. his hand trails up the side of my thigh, drifting up my sundress. he holds eye contact with me with every motion, and i cant help but get lost in the bliss.

"i guess we have to fix that, huh, marino?"

"do your worst."

san smirks, and one of the best things to come out of everything, was san's fucking insufferable, adorable competitiveness. this could go on for days, any game we played. its like we were always pushing and pulling, and i used to think that was the best part.

but the best part was giving in. finally surrendering. because i got to be curled up into his arms and squished between his biceps. kind of like now.

san's sculpted frame lies between my legs, my entire body folded between his muscled arms and his face blessing mine with very little distance. our breaths are intermixing, like some kind of spell, because thats what it feels like with him. it just never gets old.

ive seen the worst of him—no, we've seen the worst of each other. and now its just this. the stuff we never got to revel in. the parts we hid from each other because of our agendas and fears. now it was just bliss.

staying after all that, after seeing the worst part of someone, like having them undress infront of you in the most naked way, and still loving them. i couldnt describe love as anything less.

san strokes my scar, knowing how much i hate it. but when he does it, i feel like it doesnt even exist. i had to get medical attention back then because apparently human bites were really infectious, and hongjoong was a fucking psycho so who knows where his teeth was before munching onto me.

definetely not in wedding cake. thats for sure.

san's eyes are so much softer now. i thought they'd lose all life after everything. i was so scared there'd be nothing left of us.

but somehow we rebuilt out here. we held on. from hong kong to cuba. we stayed alive to have all this.

san lifts my dress above my bed, taking it off slowly. i just let him, honestly, he lets me do anything i want anyways, and i do the same. he buries his face in my neck and i smile, feeling the feverish, ticklish rhythm of his lips. and then of course, i feel him.

he moves like he has all the time in the world, like he really wants me to feel him. and i feel every single line of him. "i missed you so much," he whispers needily. "i thought of you the whole day."

"i missed you more," i say through a suppressed whine. i tighten my legs around his hips so he can move deeper, yet i can barely breathe when he does.

"its not a competition, marino," he chuckles deeply, like he knows what hes doing.

"but if it was...i-i'd win."

"stuttering, are you?"

"shut the fuck up, san," i groan and grab his face, gasping onto his lips when he picks up the speed. we're like an old married couple overdoing missionary, but i dont give a fuck, because san is beautiful and i wouldnt want him anywhere else if not on top of me.

"stop being mean to me," he says, nipping at my ear. i swear, soon this starts feeling like a high. a religious experience almost. is that blasphemous? knowing.this is premarital? either way, in these few minutes, i taste heaven. its between my fingertips, under my nailbeds, across his back. its in the way he grips my skin as he gets under it. the way he pulls my hair down as he drives me up the wall. choi san is a religious experience on his own.

"i-i think im–" i cant even get it out. san shushes me and keeps going. then, his fucking phone starts blaring.

its so loud it ruins the mood. gasolina is playing. i look at san like he cant be serious.

"really?" i ask him.

he pauses and sighs, shrugging. "what?"

"just so you know, daddy yankee is puerto rican. not cuban."

"i didnt put that as my ringtone because of that!"

"mmm sure, san."

it keeps ringing. san groans and reaches over me to get it, but doesnt make a move to get off me. thats until he sees the caller id, and he suddenly rolls off and sits right up, making me frown.

san answers and puts the phone on speaker. "lucas?" he says, his breath suddenly short.

lucas. he hasnt called in a while.

"hey san. sorry to bother, i know you probably didnt expect to hear from me. b-but i have to tell you something," his voice comes from the other line. he sounds so off, i can tell he doesnt have good news.

he only ever calls to hear how we are, and tries to keep that side of the world out of our earshot. it was sweet.

"go ahead man. are you okay?" san asks.

"its mao. he's gone man. they took him out last night."

silence. san stares and grips his phone tightly, and i see it all rush past in his face.

its like hes pulled back into everything. he remembers it all, because in the end, hes thinking about the beginning.

"san?" lucas asks into the silence. "im sorry for dropping this news on you man. its just that...mao always told me you have to be at his funeral–im not dragging you back into this gang stuff, but mao–"

san hangs up abruptly. lucas doesnt try calling back.

i touch his arm, rubbing it softly. but i see it in his eyes. that fire. san thinks its out of him, but once you're stuck in a storm that long, all you know are those rough waters. peace feels like being in the eye. you dont expect it to last. more so, you dont know if you want it to. because it isnt what you know.

i know what san knows. danger. chaos. intensity.

its none of what he has now. he tried so hard to run from it. it took wooyoung from him. but when i look at him in this moment, all i see is a man yearning for the familiar. and being ashamed of it. he doesnt want to be living in the chaos. he wants this. peace. bird-chirping mornings. the sun behind the mountain. helping out farmers.

but he cant escape what hes made up of, can he?

"i..." he tries to speak, but his eyes are helpless. "mao's dead."

san's last unofficial family. his father's right hand, and the whole reason hes still alive. i know whats coming. i dont fight it, because ive always wanted him the way he is. even the parts hes ashamed of.

he turns to me and has a strained look on his face. i raise my brows knowingly, not fighting it. he knows i'll go where he does, that was my part of the deal. and i dont break my promises.

i sigh and take his hand. "so, we're going back to hong kong?"

***

A/N: thank you for reading speak for yourself guys :) and thank you for the support. it was so much fun. i love you all <3

[peaterookie]

Found this cool drawing i made, possibly a concept of demon lupin before i made his actual design.

orrr it could just be a cool outfit i wanted to draw on him. either way it made me want to also share my other concepts of dem lup and ang goe and explain my design

i knew the first one wasnt gonna be final obvs because i was kinda thinking on dem lup's initial role. when i landed on him being kinda the prince of the underworld and deciding he aint for that i wanted to show through his outfit that he's carefree and chill but also has a rich kid vibe lol

seeing the lupin's canon design already sorta shows it I didn't really change much of it in the end. the punkish? outfit above was just too extra for him imo

before i wanna show the design i landed on I also wanna mention this drawing since this was the drawing that started the au in the first place. i casually drew this in class along with angel goemon, and lupin was the only one that ended up getting redrawn on digital.

ok there we go

this was very rough and rushed since I didn't really think this au was really gonna be serious and stuff (still isn't but im sorta invested in developing it in my head now)

one thing youll notice is that lupin's horns are red for most of these drawings and also much longer. while this is fine i decided to change it to stubby white horns later on for a more symbolic reason.

Lupin's personality is this au is leaning more on cagli lupin with some roughness to it. he's deep down a kindhearted character. bros totally fucking chill he's really not evil at all. but given how he's raised in a pretty fucked up and evil place he still behaves a bit like a rat

to show that behind that scary and evil exterior, his horns are white to show his purity and kindness. they're also stubby to show his lack of aggression

demon's horns in this au also show their inherent mental and physical health in a way. if they're long and sharp they are healthy, if it's the opposite they're probably not doing so well. I'll let you guys figure out what this could mean for lupin.

let's move onnn tooo goemonn

the main reason why that first reference above was not kept was because of how bad the outfit for goemon was, i was honestly embarrassed at myself even then for not figuring out something better and i really struggled to make the colors work LMAO

eventually as i developed his personality and beliefs, the more this got easier for me and i finally arrived at the design you see now.

i think you can tell at this point that i really really love using colors to convey symbolism throughout my designs.

for this au it is primarily white and black. white represents what you typically think of the angel, a purehearted being. and black is the impure and demonic color, it represents the ugly side of things. even then black does not represent evil or should be interpretted as a sign that the character is bad.

this is especially with goemon. the outfit you see above is the one he adorns after he has accepted his demon half.

before this his outfit would have been completely white, to show the repression of the trait that he felt hatred and disgust towards because he has been taught that it was dirty and ugly. lupin would end up helping him realize that it is not the case and he should accept the way he is.

but yeah anyways this design is way better lmao. also note that i also changed his wings to be half-bird half-bat, so this means he would not be able to fly during the beginning because he wants to conceal his demon side. it is not only ruining him mentally but also physically.

anyways, since ive explained lupin's personality i should also explain what I've changed for goemon too. i think it's best to say that its a combination of anime and manga goe, since he is a bit more serious, stubborn, and misguided, but still has the gentle and graceful mannerisms of manga goe. he's also a bit sassier too, he counters and compliments lupin's carefreeness

anyways this is like totally not organized at all lol, I just wanted to ramble on about these designs since I've put a lotta thought into it and wanted to share it given the nice feedback i got on the reference post. (if you haven't seen it, check it out!)

since my job is done now, I'll see you guys later. bye!

[lorax-devito]

castle Byers

Okay so a theory for ST season5 is that there will be time travel,as I’m sure we all know

it’s not my fav theory but it has a lot of potential

so I think what if they go back to Byers house in S5,Will hasn’t seen his house since they moved to Cali and there’s someone new living there (we wouldn’t get to meet them bc no new characters or Eddies Uncle moves in there bc he doesn’t want to live in the trailer anymore bc of hate crimes against Eddie and finding Chrissys body was really traumatic for him and he keeps seeing her lifeless,broken body whenever he steps inside,with Eddies voice echoing “IT WASNT ME,I SWEAR”)anyway the house is messy,falling apart and there’s not much furniture inside (El would open the door or smth also the messy part adds to wayne living there bc he’s so torn apart about Eddies death he kinda just gives up also he wouldn’t have enough money to finish the place) basically fast forward to them finding a gate in the house,getting stuck in the UD (this gives Will serious PTSD from season 1 but ‼️WARNING BYLER CONTENT‼️ mike comforts him and it’s sweet-we all know Will deserves at least a little sunshine in the cluster-fuck,world ending thunder storm he’s living in) while in the UD Mike and Will go and rebuild Castle Byers/go and see it,Mike finds a picture of him and Will there,he knows exactly what picture it is,he has the same on on his desk in a similar frame to the one on his bedside table of him and Will on the night of the snowball,only this picture was taken wayyyy before they met El,the picture was exactly like the original just it was distorted,except for 2 faces,his and Wills were normal,their beaming smiles and pinkish-red cheeks showed up perfectly on the page ,as well as their arms which were slung around each others shoulders,Will had to go on his tiptoes of course because of how much taller Mike was than him then,Will is still shorter than Mike but only a tad and he’s less,scrawny and more *mike glances at will lifting smth heavy and feels his cheeks heat up* muscular now.Mike put the picture in his pocket as he looks around more,he can see the torn up pillows and scratch marks on the fallen branches

“the demogorgan?” Mike asked sheepishly

“yeah”Will said rubbing his bare forearm nervously

“Sorry If I’m acting weird I’m just a little,on edge”Will said with a slight chuckle

“yeah me too”Mike said still rummaging though the cluttered branches

umm this turned into an AO3 story 💀

Anyway,my point is Wayne would be in the UD and finally know what actually happens to Will whilst also being really confused about why his house looks like that also just So.Much.Byler.Potential

also the bit about the picture and the faces was meant to mean that while Will was is the UD in S1 he used it to cope,and the thing that mattered most to him was Mike (obviously he cares about Dustin and Lucas but yk what I mean) and so the picture slowly while Will was there started to de-UD or smth idk 💀

Thanks for reading if you got this far i might add to this later bc I like to yap about Byler 😭

[rottenpumpkin13]

I think the biggest factor re: Seph being the only one who broke down so spectacularly is that he actually had the power to back it up.

Everything about how he was raised, what was done to him, and the perfect storm of Nibelheim just lined up perfectly with the fact that he actually had the power to back up his breakdown.

Like no one else is as strong as Sephiroth. Other characters whos only major kneejerk problem solving skill (violence) simply do not have his firepower. He has the magic, he has the physical power, he has the skill.

The games have power creep and all so its hard to see this, but Sephiroth in the lore was just totally unmatched except for Cloud in terms of what a single person could do. Zack is crazy strong, and Sephiroth had to have been sleep deprived and not eating for a week and mentally compromised for Zack and Cloud to just barely win and nearly die in the process.

Sephiroth has the biggest rampage because he has the tools to do it in a way that any of the other people on a violent mental breakdown bender simply do not.

I dont think, strictly speaking, the reason why he broke down like that specifically was simply because he was always destined to do so - I dont think he was destined to always go evil- but it was 100% only a matter of time before he simply couldnt take the strain of everything and had a serious mental breakdown of some kind. Eventually the untreated trauma just piles up so much you cant function anymore.

He didnt have to have chosen violence as his method of mental breakdown, but with the situation as it was, that is what he landed on. He could have just as easily chosen to take his own life or made a beeline for the brass and killed them all instead given other circumstances.

Without Jenova whispering in his ear, he probably would have chosen one of those, I think. In even fairly well adjusted people irl, discovering what unnecessary violating medical atrocities were done to you as a child secondhand off your medical records is often incredibly harrowing.

Theres just so many layers to why Sephiroth snapped and why Sephiroth behaved like that beforehand.

When characterizing him, I feel like people really undersell and underestimate what chronic trauma starting from childhood does to your sense of self, decisionmaking skills, emotional regulation, and ability to cope with shock.

Like without the way he was raised, he would simply not be the same person. Chronic childhood trauma becomes your sense of self when you experience it because your sense of self was forming when you were put through all of that. Its baked into your bones and how your brain is wired.

A Sephiroth who was raised in a loving family that wasnt medically violated or stuck in a lab or trained as a child soldier and set loose in war and put up as a carefully cultivated symbol would simply be unrecognizable. He would not act the same, he would not have the same preferences, he would not have the same insecurities or instability. He wouldnt be recognizably Sephiroth- not just because no cat eyes and white hair.

Because to be Sephiroth, he has to be incredibly traumatized by default.

Im not saying that his trauma of all the characters was the Most Awful and therefore he blew up the worst or w/e, but more that this multilayered complex trauma left Sephiroth unable to healthily cope with all the events piled on him during the events of Crisis Core.

I think the factor of how childhood trauma and continued abuse completely shapes how you respond to things as an adult is often lost in the discourse when people try to detangle Sephiroth's actions, so thank you for pointing that out.

Another thing, when talking about how Sephiroth's power is unmatched, is the Jenova cells in him (and how he later became one with Jenova) The only thing that took down Jenova was the Cetra because it/she was that powerful. So while he wasn't destined to break down, you have to admit that something was waiting to happen given what Jenova was.