#Ok personal pet peeve that I think makes me sound like a bit of a dick:

[bensiskos]

:3

[runningupthatvecna]

the law of seat partners | part 3

part 1 | part 2

a/n: ok this chapter is honestly a wild ride from start to finish, really had to look into google maps to get the geographics right here, sorry if it's a bit inaccurate, the dimensions in the us are a bit difficult to grasp for my european brain lol. same goes for the bus interior and the structure of road houses. also this is gonna be super self-indulgent since i keep picturing eddie as someone with this wholesome, kind and super soft stray dog side of personality that you only get to see once you break through his shell and i'm basically just romanticising the shit out of him in this entire story. also i apologize if the whole part is a bit random, it's just that i didn't plan for this thing to even have more than one part lol. anyway, thanks for reading and please leave me comments and reblogs if you're enjoying this little series! there will be a part 4.

summary: you're still on that damn bus with eddie. he plays you some of his favourite songs and they turn out to sound really familiar. when you do finally arrive at the camp, you find yourself spending even more time with your favourite metalhead and he makes it just a bit more clear that he might really like you back. and yeah, everyone around you already seems to know.

cw/tw: first off i want to clarify that eddie and reader both are at least twenty! slow burn, mutual pining, friends to lovers overall, (brief) allusions to +18 adult content (minors go away!), sexual tension, lots of physical touch, reader being self-conscious, angst, not feeling good enough briefly, a bit of self-sabotage if you squint, a few more pet names, bestfriend!Steve being reader's rock once again, reassurance, eddie not committing a crime, no mention of y/n, no mentions of reader's physical attributes except hair.

-----

Lunch break acted as a reminder that the rest of your friends were also still there.

That's how lost you were getting with Eddie Munson and your legs in his lap.

The gang was once again standing in a kind of circle shaped form outside on the parking lot next to the bus. You had passed Chicago already a while ago and the blue sky hadn't exactly followed you to Wisconsin, but thankfully it wasn't raining either.

Without even thinking about it you had taken the position between Eddie and Steve.

Jonathan and Nancy were standing opposite of you, the former holding his beloved pentax in his hands, it dangling from his shoulder on a strap being the guy's default. Always ready to press the shutter, just so now.

Steve groaned a little, complaining about how his hair just wasn't looking good enough to be in a photo right now, but no one cared. As someone who loved taking photos – probably even more than the Byers boy – it was in fact one of your pet peeves whenever someone complained about having their photo taken. In your book, photos depicted memories. Why wouldn't you want to be in them?

"You gonna fill that film up today, Jon?", you asked with a grin, and the photographer just nodded.

"Alright, now that we caught Steve's mesmerizing beauty on film, anyone wanna go grab a bite?", Robin asked into the round while shifting her weight continuously from her toes to her heels and back, trying her best not to sound too desperate to get something between her teeth.

"Oh shit yeah, I'm dying", Steve replied after a quick yawn and stretch and the three freshmen boys agreed with heavy nods and exclamations of the words yes and finally.

Their boyish eagerness made Nancy chuckle just a little, and she continued by taking the hand of the older Byers boy and pulling him along with her, leading the way to the building for the rest of you.

Jonathan kept turning around every few meters to just take candids of everyone, trying to fill up the roll of film just so he could reload once you guys would arrive at the camp.

Everyone in the gang seemed to be willing to at least check out the offers from the shop, and like, get a slushie or something.

"M'lady?"

Eddie had squinted one of his eyes shut looking at you while holding his arm out for you to hold onto it, just so you both could follow the group.

"Oh, thank you good sir."

He was just a little taller than you, which made walking with your arm hooked into his quite comfortable.

You threw the knowing smile of his towards you right back at him.

And while you were following the rest of your friends, he leaned in to talk to you. Even more.

"Quite rude of Ms Kelley to interrupt our sacred listening session like that. I guess she just doesn't seem to value a good tune, huh?"

"We didn't even start the tape, Eddie."

"But we already had headphones on so we were about to, that still counts."

He poked a finger into your side while walking, trying to stop you from bringing another absolutely valid and logical argument to his silly remark, making you squeak and jump to the side a little instead, letting go of his arm.

You only could see Steve's head turn towards you, having heard your exclamation of surprise. More of his reaction was kept hidden from you though, since Eddie had decided to continue poking, so you were left with no choice but to run, giggling like a toddler.

"Eddieeee, stoooop", you yelled in a higher pitch than your normal voice, trying and failing miserably at the attempt to hide between Robin, Will and Lucas.

You could hear your friends laugh, the sight must have been hilarious.

There was no escaping Eddie the freak Munson.

You had almost reached the motion sensor of the front door when he grabbed you by the waist, pulled your back flush against his front and apparently felt no hesitation encasing you in his arms entirely. He let out a short, low hum at the feeling and it sent a shiver straight through you.

You were slowly getting warm at the frequency you were having physical contact with him, but having so much of his body touching yours in this way did not leave you unaffected in the slightest.

His embrace made your heartbeat speed up, but it also transported this really comforting, almost soothing wave of feeling protected.

And it had you yearning for him. And it was essentially confusing you.

"Say that I'm right", you heard his deep voice mumble, the side of his head pressed lightly against yours.

You could feel the warmth radiating from his body. The way he smelled. The way he held you tight.

Yeah, bye.

"Huh?"

You wanted your voice to sound equally low to his, but it didn't come out quite as such.

"Ms Kelley disrespects the law."

He couldn't be serious.

"Eddieeeeee!", you laughed at his silliness and the great amount of dramatics he put into his persistence with referring to his law of seat partners rule joke thing.

The long haired boy let go of you since the others had caught up. You just saw him grin at you, before Steve swung an arm around his shoulders, pulling his best friend through the sliding doors, while you felt Max grab your hand.

The road house your teachers had decided to stop at consisted of a restaurant, bathrooms of course and a small convenience store, the latter being the destination of Max and you, while the others ventured out into the restaurant, trying to find something warm and edible to stuff themselves with before they would join the both of you.

"Are you having a good time? With him, I mean", Max dropped at you, slowly strolling through the aisles of products that ranged from sweets over car supplies to toothpaste.

The widest grin was plastered over her face as she eyed you curiously.

The question surprised you a little. And maybe you hadn't really been aware of your surroundings for the last few hours, for obvious reasons.

"Hm? Oh yeah, he's being so sweet", you replied to your friend, "not sure what's gotten into him today though, he's never been like this."

Max gave you a questioning look, clearly asking you to elaborate.

"I don't know, I mean he's always throwing arms around me and stuff, but this, I don't know, this feels different", you continued, not being able to meet her eye, "I mean, he's always nice to me when we're around each other, but he seems so much m–"

"He likes you."

Max interrupted your sentence.

"What?"

"It's so fucking obvious. Have you seen the way he looks at you?"

I mean, yeah sure you had taken notice of the way he had been gazing at you with his baby cow eyes all day today. Actually, ever since he met you all those months ago, now that you're thinking about it. But why would you read anything into that?

You felt warmth spreading over your cheeks.

Did Eddie Munson really like you? Like that?

"He's just being nice, Max."

Only now you shot her a look, trying to tell her what you were too self-conscious, even anxious about to say out loud.

Guys never really seemed to see you as someone they could like. You were so used to the vast majority of them treating you as one of their bros, if they even treated you like anything at all, so when there was someone showing interest in you in other ways, it freaked the living hell out of you. To the point of denying yourself something potentially nice. Or more like, someone nice.

"Just nice? He is never that nice to me! I think you're just way too much in your head about this. You know you like him. And he likes you back, it's crystal clear to me, in fact, to all of us."

Wait. All of them? Had he talked to anyone about you?

Now you were the one giving her the questioning look, and before you could say anything, Robin popped up next to the both of you with a pair of wide eyes along with raised eyebrows.

"Okay, what are we buying, hm? I need more cookies, Steve and Jonathan ate all of them already", she informed you, walking off to find her restock of baked sweets, just as quickly as she had appeared.

You giggled lightly at the similarity of her and your snack situation.

Max only gave you a grin and a wink through her sky blue eyes before following Robin to the cookie section. The boys and Nancy returned from their feast not long after and you had tried your best to bring your focus to the task at hand: finding something snackable that wasn't too much of an overload, but also essential for the remaining time on the road.

Steve grabbed and pulled you away from the others on the way outside, back to the bus. The thirty minutes were almost over and no one wanted to risk being left in the middle of nowhere aka Bumfuck, Wisconsin, nor having a search party consisting of Ms Kelley and Mr Clarke out roaming the area.

"Hey there", Steve looked at you while walking by your side and throwing an arm around you.

He truly was your best friend and so you just happened to know everything about each other's lives. He had always been your rock throughout high school and mainly responsible for having you be part of the gang. He knew about your issues and always tried to give you advice.

You let your arm sneak around Steve's back, around the height of his waist.

"Everything alright with you, honey?"

You glanced up at him just nodding and he shot you a knowing look, before turning his head around to wink at someone.

The grin on his face widened before turning his attention back to you.

"Uh yeah, I'm having a good time, thanks for checking on me", you replied to him while holding onto the box of chocolates you had ended up buying.

"Munson treating you right I hope, yeah?", Steve inquired further.

You could feel your heart jump a little at the mention of Eddie's name. What you also could feel was the eyes of the long wavy haired boy on your back. He had run after Dustin who had pinched his ass on the way out and you just assumed they were a bit further behind you and Steve.

"A bit more than usual, yeah. I don't really understand why, though. Max said he likes me? But–"

A little frown now covered Steve's lightly freckled face.

You stopped. He stopped. And kept his arm around you. And then you sighed, when his big brown eyes found yours and the way he looked at you changed into a worried brow furrow.

"I think I'm terrified, Steve. I don't know how to behave around him seriously and I don't know how to handle all the affection. That's all so new and I don't want to disappoint him because he deserves someone who's able to give him everything he wants and he's already making himself vulnerable by letting someone in close like that and what if he's gonna realise that I'm just really weird for not being used to–"

"Hey, hey sweetheart, slow down", Steve put a stop to your little ramble, a soft tone to his voice, "you're overthinking. You like him, isn't that right?"

You just looked up at him, almost a bit teary eyed since you were realising a lot of things at the moment, and dealing with your own insecurities and issues was just not easy. Especially in a situation where you couldn't retreat or flee.

And then you nodded.

Steves frown shifted into a grin.

"Then there's absolutely nothing to worry about. Eddie right there is probably genuinely surprised that you're not shying or running away from him, like everyone else. Just look."

Steve pointed in Eddie's direction which made you turn your head. Next thing you saw was the metalhead chasing after Dustin again, both of them running through the group trying not to bump into anyone, all the way over the expanse of the parking lot like two headless chickens, his dark mane flowing in the wind which carried the laughter and giggles of the whole group over to you.

The sight made you laugh a little.

"I mean, not that he really ever tried to get close to someone, like, he doesn't have to try for people to be sort of intimidated and even scared off by him, but that's besides the point. Anyway, I just know for a fact that you could never disappoint him. I'm very sure he's gonna be fine adapting himself to your pace", Steve explained and then paused to take a deep breath.

"It's up to you of course, but I'd just hate to see you get in your own way just because you're too much in your own pretty, little head."

You had snapped your head around again, and Steve lovingly ruffled your hair a little, the way he always did when he tried to tell you that he'd always be there for you and the situation you'd found yourself in would turn out just fine.

You would be just fine.

Deep down you knew Steve was right.

"Yeah, yeah I know. You know how I can get sometimes", you replied to him, reciprocating the same look Steve was now giving you. The depth in his brown eyes was radiating warmth and it helped you calm down your racing thoughts. Steve had known Eddie for a bit longer and was closer with him in general, which was one of your reasons to believe the words of your best friend. In this moment at least.

-----

It was time for the tape.

You took off your shoes again and pulled your legs up to rest your feet on the barrier, this time right in front of you, facing more towards the window.

The boy next to you was still trying to catch his breath from shaking off some energy, pulling a squished paper bag with greasy spots out of the back pocket of his jeans and placing it on his lap, before he lost the vest and leather jacket. He then proceeded to sit down, take both of your headphones and held yours out to you.

"Alright, unlike Ms Kelley, let's obey the law again, huh?"

He let out a deep chuckle when you nodded with a smile.

"Oh hey, and I got you some extra fries, just in case you get hungry."

He handed the small paper bag to you.

Did he just carry fries in his ass pocket?

The thought made you snort.

Oh Munson.

"Did you pay for them?"

"Yeah of course I did. Is that all you think of me, sweetheart?"

There they were again. His dark brown doe eyes blinking at you all sweet, the purest form of Eddie he was willing to show you in this moment.

He was clearly letting you in. Showing himself to you. Letting you read his eyes, hoping you would take the hint which he secretly was yet too insecure to speak out.

He was the town's freak after all and getting his hopes up had never really turned out too positive for him. It had painfully taught him to better keep everyone at a distance.

It took every little ounce of willpower that you could find in yourself to not melt into a puddle, right there in that seat.

And if that wasn't enough already – him being thoughtful enough to think of you while devouring his own lunch – he pressed play on your walkman, before you could give him any sort of response to the fries situation.

The fact that the opening chords of Everybody Wants To Rule The World by Tears for Fears now filled your ears, your absolute favourite song, was sending you into another dimension.

How did he know your favourite fucking song? Did he ask Steve? He must have asked Steve.

He had asked Steve specifically about your music taste.

So many thoughts were flooding your brain at the same time, you were having trouble catching up.

The boy next to you just grinned at your visibly delighted reaction. And then he leaned in a little and you felt the heat once again rise to your cheeks.

"Is that good, that's a real good song, yeah?", you heard him ask, a very light sultry tone to his voice, after you quickly pushed one of your headphones behind your ear.

"Yes Eddie, immaculate choice right there", you praised him in a similar tone, before giving him a genuine giggle, unable to hide the way he was undeniably making you all flustered and earning another warm chuckle from him in return.

The way his cheeks turned into a beautiful shade of rose almost made your heart combust in your ribcage. At this point he was practically beaming with pride, reveling in the fact that he had elicited praise out of you. And it was the most beautiful thing you had ever seen.

You lightly nudged your shoulder into his, which made him lift his arm, a gesture for you to lean into his figure.

"Come here, you."

That head of yours landed on his shoulder and you let him drape his arm over your torso like a seatbelt. A (still very) warm hand was placed between your waist and hip and you were pretty convinced it was going to burn a big hole right through the fabric of your shirt.

He just had to touch you, right?

His boldness however gave you enough of a confidence boost to return the gesture. At this point you needed to tell him, too. Make him feel the burn on his own skin. So you just hugged his arm, pulling it close and nuzzling the side of your face into the soft fabric of his hellfire shirt covering the skin between bicep and shoulder.

With every song you went on listening to, it became more clear than ever that Eddie Munson must really have gone all the way to Steve Harrington's house to ask him for a list of your favourite songs. Which he could then put on a mixtape. For you.

That's what you do for friends, right?

Yeah, right.

For a few songs you both just sat there in utter peace as you watched the landscape outside the window pass by. The wide plains of Wisconsin, fields of crops, forests, small gatherings of houses, farms, barns and horses and cows and sheep. The sky was slowly losing its light grey cover, which had you anticipating an actually nice sunset later.

He had leaned his head against yours, which made his warm breath trickle down the side of your neck down to your collarbone. And you had felt the goosebumps spread all over your arms underneath your longsleeve.

You were feeding off of the warmth radiating from Eddie's body once again, and the ringed hand on your waist had started rubbing up and down softly and slowly.

When Eddie felt you leaning more of your weight into his side, you could hear him let out a satisfied little sigh.

Every second of this part of your little road trip, whenever he tried to search for some form of physical closeness, felt like a fever dream.

And you didn't want to wake up just yet. How about never?

-----

Golden hour announced itself by coating the trees of the forest, the earthy paths for walking, the accumulation of dark wooden cabins and the water on the vast lake in gradients of yellow and orange.

Said lake would look more like the sea to you, it made little waves that were lightly crashing onto the shore of a small beach of a bay around which the camp was located, and it was so vast in fact that you were unable to see the opposing shore on the horizon.

You had just woken up from another nap which you had slipped into after one, two, you actually don't know how many hours of watching the endless fields and forests pass by through half-closed eyelids. Listening to The Romantics, New Order, Fleetwood Mac, The Cure, Genesis and of course Metallica, on Eddie's account.

Still surrounded by the warmth of his body, still tucked in between torso and arm. His hand however had sneakily breached an invisible barrier, now resting comfortably beneath the hem of your shirt on the skin of your waist. You didn't dare to check, but the hole in your shirt was certainly there now, burned through.

Even Ms Kelley's announcement of your arrival didn't bother any of you to move or shift positions. Or god forbid, separate your bodies.

You only slightly turned your head to watch Mr Clarke leave the bus in the corner of your eye, probably to head into the administration office of the camp with the intention to make your arrival known to the staff and to pick up keys for about 40 students.

From what they had told you pre-trip, you were gonna be sharing a cabin with Nancy, Robin and Max, since the plan foresaw keeping the middle schoolers separate from the older kids. And of course there couldn't be any cabins accommodating groups of mixed genders.

Which is precisely why Eddie was going to share his cabin with Jonathan, Steve and Dustin, while Lucas and Will had the honours to be joined in theirs by Gareth and Jeff.

Before letting you go to take the headphones off and gather all your things, Eddie's grip on your waist tightened a bit as he pulled you minimally closer for just two seconds, the vibration of his chest against your back telling you that he was humming softly.

You already missed him, and you hadn't even left the bus yet.

The structure of the camp was simple. There were ten cabins, each of them intended to accommodate up to four people comfortably. A row of them was spread out along the shore of the lake directly by the water. Another row spread out further towards the forest. Both separated by the same earthy pathway stretching and winding itself through the entire place, connecting the cabins to the rest of the camp. There were little houses with sanitary facilities not too far from the cabins, a little square with lots of seating opportunities intended for bonfires, barbecue and other gatherings, the office house, the beach further down the path past the cabins, and a pergola kinda situation with benches for mealtime and a corner with outdoor couches and further more cozy seating.

The cabin you were designated to spend your next 6 nights in was one of those directly by the water. Excitement spread through you at the thought of falling asleep to the peaceful sound of the lake water lightly hitting the shore at night and cicadas singing their songs after sunset. Frogs croaking and birds chirping away. The ambient background noise of a forest by the lake.

You had always been a dreamer.

"Top one's mine!", Robin exclaimed as she was the first one of you to enter, throwing her bag onto one of the top beds that were part of two bunks standing opposite of each other in each corner, a window with light beige and pastel floral curtains separating them.

You were loving the rustic atmosphere. The log aesthetic gave off the biggest summer cottage vibes, so taking in the interior of your small home for the next few days made you smile.

There were two closets with multiple drawers, enough space for accommodating clothing of four people.

The bag hanging from your shoulder landed on the bed below Robin's, while the other two silently agreed on Max above, Nancy on the same level as you.

The beds themselves were about the standard bunk bed size, nothing too fancy, but of course all wooden, fresh bedsheets folded into a neat pile along with a towel decorating the mattress.

While you were getting to making your bed (you knew that you'd thank yourself later), your mind started wondering if you could fit maybe even two people in there. For science, of course.

All of you had agreed to meet at the fireplace once everyone had dropped off their stuff, and when you and the girls arrived there, six pairs of eyes were already awaiting you.

The boys had probably just messily thrown their belongings onto their respective beds, not giving a flying fuck about pulling the covers over the duvets or maybe even taking power naps after the journey.

So yeah, night number one ended with all of you sitting by the fire that Mr Clarke and some guy from the staff team had set up. Conversations about everyone's most anticipated activities that were planned and scheduled for this week were held, your friends' former earth and science teacher telling stories about his first time field tripping back in the day.

Once again you were sat between Steve and Eddie, the metalhead's leather jacket around your shoulders, because he had insisted you'd take it. A sly grin on his face directed at you at the gesture, before turning his attention to the mutual best friend on your other side.

The younger kids had been tucked in by Ms Kelley already, since their curfew had been set to 9pm. Yours was at eleven.

You admired the multiple strings of fairy lights that had been hung into the lower maze of branches long ago, illuminating the earthy pathways throughout the whole camp to keep the kids from stumbling off into some bush or having to pull out flashlights.

At least until midnight, cause that's when the lights were going to be turned off.

-----

Your first full day at camp. The teachers had taken the whole group to a hike through the forest and up the hill at the end of the bay, overviewing the stunning scenery and you had taken a few moments away from everyone to take in the enormousness of the vision opening up in front of you.

Closing your eyes, you tried to wrap your head around the moment, taking a few deep breaths, feeling the freshness of the air surrounding you.

Slow down.

The sun made the deep blue of the sky reflect on the lake, a shimmer on the surface in the distance, sparse trees and bushes covering the top of the hill you were standing on, a bit separately from most kids.

The light brush of a hand against yours caused you to shoot open your eyes, jumping lightly at the sudden delicate yet profound touch.

"Uh, sorry I didn't mean to sneak up on you. I can also leave again if you want another moment to yourself?", you heard him say, an apologetic tone to his voice.

The rough facade now showed cracks.

Traces of softness, a great amount of empathy and hints of sensitivity were shining through them. He had always been a little more gentle with you than with everyone else in the group, but this telltale sign of trust he was instilling in you over the last hours? That was new.

So new. And so new to you.

Your head turned towards him, eyes squinting a bit because yeah, it was quite bright up there with almost no trees to throw shade, and of course clumsy you had forgotten your sunglasses on the little nightstand next to your bed.

"Eddie no, it's okay" was the only thing you managed to get out, brushing the back of his hand with the back of your index finger, in silent search for more contact, trying to support the words that had just come out of you.

It was just Eddie. You tried to remember Steve's words from lunch break yesterday. He's gonna be okay with adapting.

He turned his back on the sun, more towards you, and the light formed a halo around his head.

Given his reputation back in Hawkins, it looked hilariously absurd.

"Did you have a good first night?", you asked him then, in such a tone indicating your expectation of a sincere answer, while his shadow was covering half your face so you wouldn't have to stare into the late afternoon sun.

"More or less. You know how Steve snores", Eddie said before continuing his dramatic act, "plus, it was really lonely. I think there should be an additional paragraph in the law about an extension from bus seats to beds, you know? I think that would make a real difference and save me from eternal doom and misery."

He returned your previous gesture with his own index finger, his eyes finding yours, giving you a sheepish grin as your cheeks started imitating the colour of very ripe tomatoes.

Your entire body bloomed with electricity from just one light touch. If you didn't know any better, you'd say it was ridiculous.

Yes, there had already been touches that were way more direct than this, but there was something in the way and in the lightness of his touch now, that had your head spinning.

The lightness basically fuelled whatever this thing between the two of you was.

Ms Kelley's voice announcing the beginning of your descend ripped the both of you out of whatever moment you were having right there, and it sucked.

You could have stood there with him for the rest of eternity, if it meant being looked at by his warm, reassuring eyes, making you feel as if you were the center of the universe. It felt like his gaze was reaching the deepest corner of your soul.

And your brain started going 200 kilometers an hour, thinking about the allusion Eddie had just made. He was starting to consume your every thought at this point.

As a collective you managed to return to the deep green veils of the forest around an hour before sunset.

Slowly the day was coming to an end and since it had been a rather warm experience for everyone, the teachers had kindly granted you an evening dip in the lake.

High schoolers only though. Thank fuck.

Honestly, you probably would have gone for it anyway.

The beach included a small wooden pier leading into deeper water, which the boys delightedly acknowledged before using it to gracefully yeet themselves into the cold wet.

They also didn't deem it necessary to strip themselves of their clothes beforehand.

Too much enthusiasm and even more longing for relief from the day's heat and physical efforts. Who knew Michigan could be this warm already in May?

The girls and you had preferred to change into actual swimwear before joining the boys on the beach. A wise decision.

Because now you found yourself standing on the pier together with Nancy and Max, watching Robin follow Steve and dive in head first.

You were silently hoping the water was deep enough for her to not hit her head.

Next thing you saw approaching you on that pier was Eddie, dripping wet everything and soaked to the bone, some worn out jean shorts and dark blue Metallica shirt as well as his dark curls sticking to his skin like glue.

He left a trail of wet footsteps and sprinkles and splashes of water on the dry wood, grinning at you almost eerily and you threw him a similar glance back, because you knew he just wasn't anticipating your abilities to foresee the future when you jumped out of the way the second he started running towards you, trying to pull you into the water with him.

He landed face first, while everyone who had just witnessed that scene bursted into laughter, including you.

"You wish, Munson", you shouted at him and his poorly executed attempt once he had resurfaced, his appearance now reminding you of a wet poodle with his wet dark curls that were sticking to his reddened face, a piece of some green sweetwater plant decorating the top of his head.

You weren't ready to hit the water just yet, which is why Nancy and you decided to just plop down on the pier for a moment with crossed legs, while Max joined Robin and the boys.

Observing the scene happening in front of you, there were Dustin, Lucas and Jonathan, all of them fusioning their powers to swim after a screeching Will who was trying his best to escape being cruelly dunked by his brother and friends, Robin trying to stand on Steve's probably slippery shoulders while Eddie and Max were aiming for the same acrobatic performance.

Nancy next to you let out a chuckle at the sight before turning her head in your direction, "today was so nice, don't you think?"

With a nod you replied to her and leaned back on your arms behind you.

"Yeah it was beautiful! You just don't get those views in Hawkins."

"Yeah, absolutely not. The closest thing you're getting there is Lover's lake with a bunch of drunks fishing in their tiny boats, and that's about it", she paused, "are you in with us for the flower crowns tomorrow?"

Midsummer was still a few weeks away, but that didn't stop you from plucking and braiding.

You and the girls had been having this fantasy of spending this excessive amount of time in nature with flower crowns on your heads, inspired by Scandinavian summer solstice traditions. For weeks you all had been painting this picture in your conversations, anticipation bubbling up every time the topic came up. The picture of the four of you with the flowers of summer in your hair, in the deep green shades and distinct scent of the forest surrounding your every breath these days, had rented a big part of your mind, long before you had stepped on the bus, bringing you here.

"Hm? Oh yeah, definitely."

Losing yourself a little in the thought again, you hadn't yet taken notice of how two figures from the group of people in the water in front of you were missing.

You would learn soon, though.

Because before you knew it, a pair of strong, wet hands hooked themselves in the space of your armpits, lifting you up to stand, while another set of arms wasn't too shy to grab both your legs off the ground, wrapping themselves around your knees.

"Let's get you nice and wet, shall we?", you heard Steve's voice come out behind you in an absurdly husky tone, while–

"Time for your bath, princess!"

Eddie.

You were so taken by surprise, you couldn't even get anything in form of a verbal protest out.

The only thing you saw before your vision went black due to your reflexes was Eddie's mischievous grin between strands of his dark and wet curly mane, Steve's pearly whites being flashed at you equally prominent. Their laughter got muffled by the water invading your ear canals, and the sudden shock of the cold liquid surrounding every inch of your sun warmed skin was forcing a gasp out of your lungs.

When you returned to the surface, both of the boys held onto their bellies, high-fiving one another and still laughing on that pier like two fucking dipshits at you as well as at Nancy who apparently got to suffer the same fate as you, being dropped into the ocean mere seconds later.

With the back of your fingers you wiped the water out of your eyes along with strands of your hair that were clinging onto your cheeks for dear life, while you gathered back clear vision.

Unknowing to the two boys, Jonathan, Lucas and Dustin were currently in the process of sneaking up behind them. With big splashes both Eddie and Steve were forced to ungracefully breach the waves next to you, letting out equally surprised gasps for air before they had to instinctively hold their breaths.

You burst out into another laughing fit when the metalhead slowly appeared next to you just as soaked as half an hour ago, his hair now covering his entire face.

You took one stroke towards him while Jonathan and Dustin landed in the water not too far from you, shortly after being followed by Lucas and Max cannonballing their way in to join everyone.

The laughter and giggles filled the warm air, and you took both your hands to wipe Eddie's mane out of his face, just to reveal his brown chocolate orbs and a dorky smile, gazing at you from underneath.

The ground of the lake where you were finding yourself was close enough for you both to stand on, which made not sinking a lot easier.

"Thanks, sweetheart" was the only thing he brought out before putting a hand on your waist, pulling you closer before wrapping both his arms around your middle, while you responded by wrapping yours around his shoulders.

You thought he was going to bury his face in the crook of your neck with how close he was leaning in just now, connecting his lips to your skin, but all he really did was briefly running his nose over the side of your neck in an upwards motion. Giving you a little nudge while letting out another one of his hums.

It was almost like he wanted to do more than that, it was almost like you could feel him holding himself back. It was almost like you wanted him not to.

His warm breath hit the wet skin on your collarbone and it sent a slight shiver right through your system at the sheer thought of what exactly he was holding back.

And just when you felt him let go of you a bit more, you saw your chance at taking at least a little bit of revenge on him. For conspiring against you with Steve Harrington.

You placed your hands on his shoulders, found purchase on the ground, and your own weight forced him to go head below surface once again.

"Oh darling, that was an unwise decision", was all you heard before he returned the favour, his entire weight on yours as he drowned you beneath him, just before bringing one of his unnecessarily muscular arms around you to pull you back up again swiftly.

Soon after a few more dunks that you practised on Steve and Dustin, your swimming session came to an end when the sun had disappeared behind the trees and the sunset-ish colours of the horizon had faded into several shades of purple and blue.

After fresh showers that helped with rinsing off the lake water and smuck and sweat of the day, the older boys had decided to drop you off at the flower cabin, a nickname for your particular accommodation facility Lucas had come up with during the first bonfire.

To say goodnight or something.

Eddie held you in his grasp, pressed you into his chest for a second, letting you know that you meant something to him, shooting you one last glance, a hint of wistfulness in it, before disappearing surprisingly quickly into the dusk of the forest, towards the cabin he shared with the others.

You hugged Steve and Jonathan goodnight as well, the latter wearing a smirk on his face and you instantly wondered about the reason.

When you looked at your own pillow, you stopped wondering. A polaroid photo had been placed there for decoration, and you let yourself plop down on the mattress to inspect it more closely.

Jonathan had only recently started shooting polaroid in the first place, and the sun had delivered enough light for him to avoid using flash for this one, which had the colours of everything come out more natural.

The photo showed Eddie in his bus seat. You in yours, resting with his arm wrapped around you, his head on yours, both with your headphones on, both passed out. Steve, Dustin, Will and Robin behind you with widened eyes, tongues out and peace signs up.

Unable to hide the smile that spread on your face, you placed the photo on the little nightstand accompanying the bed.

Everyone knew. You knew. Eddie probably knew. But who would say it first?

-----

taglist: @josephfakingquinn, @ghost-proofbaby, @spellbounddd, @imjuststeddietrashatthispoint, @mystars123, @gothmingguk, @kennafild, @chloe-6123, @michaelfuckinglangdon and @bakugouswh0r3

[nickwildelvr]

Genshin rant that I have to get out bc no one has talked abt this but

BIGGEST PET PEEVE is when people make childes dad abusive or homophobic because he sent childe to the military bc ik that sounds bad OUT OF CONTEXT but lets put this into his fathers perspective ok. His “timid and hesitant” 14 yr old boy suddenly goes missing for 3 days and has come back a completely different boy. He is now an egotistical violent maniac. He HURTS people, PICKS FIGHTS WITH EVERYONE, imagines tearing off BIRDS’ WINGS. And even though his dad was extremely worried the last straw was when childe took place and POSSIBLY EVEN STARTED a HUGE BRAWL with CLOSE FATALITIES. HE ALMOST KILLED PEOPLE. Do u realize how scary that is to see that type of drastic change from your own child(e). (I had to) THAT MAN WAS SCARED OF HIS OWN SON. THATS SCARY TO SEE??? and in this little town of morepesok it’s not like there’s fucking mental hospitals let alone ANYWHERE IN TEYVAT so at that point what else is there to do. I mean u CANT just let him get worse as he gets older he’s probably gonna join some gang or smthn. So “he had no choice but to send his BELOVED SON to the fatui”. It’s not like he did it to make his son worse or to hurt him, plus childe was FAR from hating it and still loves his job. Plus he gets big bucks too 🤤❕

And I do not for one second think that childe resents his father for it. Now I still definitely don’t think they have the best relationship when it comes to opening up though, or anything emotional, maybe their past plus as dash of toxic masculinity in there. I feel like they would both avoid the topic too, maybe sometimes it’s a little bit stiff between them. Childe would probably be a little more closed off to his old man than he is to his mom yk cuz there’s no way he’s not a mamas boy. BUT THEY STILL FUCKING LOVE EACH OTHER AND HIS DAD ISNT HITTING HIM OR CALLING HIM SLURS LIKE GOD. Leave that man alone he loved his son more than anything and still probably does.

I’m sad childe isn’t that major of a character to the point that we would probably ever get a close look into his relationships with his family let alone his father but that’s just my personal take on their dynamic. I just am GETTING TIRED of people saying this like “I bet childe hates his father” “his dads probably homophobic” “poor childe he got sent the the fatui :((“ MAYBE BC HE ALMOST KILLED PEOPLE???? Like what That’s on him bruh 💀

I removed the drawing I originally put bc anything angst that I draw makes me cringe so bad after a week 💀💀💀💀

[sly-s-n0nfusion]

Sly’s ✨personal opinion✨ on Octopath Traveler’s english voice acting

Ok it’s been a while since I’ve wanted to do this! I tend to play almost all games with the jp voices when I play jrpgs but that doesn’t mean some English VAs didn’t do a great job! :)

All respect towards them and everyone else who has different opinions; I will simply rate them with ✅ passed and ⛔️ not passed basing on my personal tastes

Octopath 1

Ophilia: ⛔️ not passed - I really don’t like how artificially high-pitched her voice is?? It just sounds a bit fake :((( really not a fan

Cyrus: ⛔️ not passed - Listen I know a lot of people love his English voice and while I do agree that it’s not half bad I also must admit it just doesn’t fit him 😭 compared to the young, honey sweet voice he has in jp I think he sounds a bit too old? If that makes sense. Like he’s 10 years older or something 😂 I like how the VA exaggerated the tone of certain expressions tho, very dramatic!

Tressa: ✅ passed - I LOVE how snarky and bratty she sounds! The VA did a great job, she sounds just tomboyish and childlish enough

Olberic: ✅ passed - ok we’re talking about Patrick Seitz guys what do you want me to tell you!! He’s great and I don’t mind a more booming and intimidating Olberic compared to the quiet and brooding jp one. Fits him so well!

Primrose: ✅ passed - one of the exceptions where I prefer the en VA to the jp one. While the jp voice is sweet an and soft, the English voice has a coldness and edge to it that just fits Primrose’s personality so well. Great job!

Alfyn: ✅ passed - a biiit more soft spoken compared to the deeper, louder jp voice but I still think it fits him. Not much to add

Therion: ⛔️ not passed - I’M SORRY because this is another fan favorite but I really don’t like how the va completely changed his personality, going from the quiet, soft spoken, wary thief to a snarkier version of sonic the hedgehog 😭😭 also malus because they didn’t bother to make him fake the merchant voice during the disguise moment in his ch1 :((((

H’aanit: ✅ passed - MOMMY- I mean I LOVE her en voice SO MUCH. Like her jp voice was also great, but the VA somehow managed to keep the deep, cold sound of her voice and use it in a way that’s just so in character. The “NGAAAH” she makes when you boost her attacks is still implemented into my brain and I love it

Octopath 2

Ochette: ✅ passed - I love how faithful to the jp voice the actress was! She really did a good job also because it was a challenging role imo. Nailed the little growls and rawrs! Adorable!

Castti: ✅ passed - A nice interpretation, not much to say. The eng VA has a sweeter voice than the jp one, who added a bit of raspiness to her I really liked but overall a neat job.

Throné: ✅ passed - LOVE the VA’s voice. Deep, cold, but at the same time you can sense warmth in it. Excellent interpretation :)

Osvald: ✅ passed - The best adaptation in ot2, hands down! I know his Va is also a vtuber and a professional in his job and it shows. SO GOOD MAN! The tone, the personality, 100% nailed. Even though jp Osvald is also great this one HAS to take the crown

Partitio: ✴️ passed (?) - This one was hard to decide for me because while the eng acting does nail the southern accent and the overall vibe it’s also a bit too soft spoken for an energetic and loud personality such as Partitio’s. There’s like a huge difference between the jp acting and the eng one and I’m usually not a fan of that because it completely changes a character’s personality in a way

Agnea: ⛔️ not passed - again with the fake high-pitched voice 😭 idk it might be a pet peeve of mine at this point but. Idk I can tell when a va is clearly trying to fake a tone of voice that is really different from theirs and it bothers me so much

Temenos: ⛔️ not passed - I’m sorry but this one is a big no from me :( I know many others also found his eng voice a bit too emotionless and plain, it really misses that playful and snarky tone the jp VA gave him. Not to mention the part when [redacted] happens in Stormhail ch3, the emotions just… aren’t there. I’ve also heard the eng VA was a novice though so I’m sure he’ll have time to improve :)

Hikari: ✅ passed - I really like his eng voice and interpretation! It’s faithful to the jp one and suits his personality well. A great job!

Well these were my opinions that absolutely no one asked for! I’m sure all the VAs did their best and put a lot of effort in their job ❤️

[quidfree]

Your katsuki, shouto and todobaku pet peeves respectively (If you like reading them too)? And my sincere thanks for providing such precious gems called your fics 💖

honestly i don't read much bnha fic or even that much fic in general bc i'm usually too busy writing it. and when i do read fic it's for weird very niche/dead fandoms or pairings i feel like lol.

but my pet peeves are always just any measure of OOC, with differing levels of tolerance for certain choices. let me see what's some questionable stuff i've come across uhhh

katsuki:

aggro sexy dom daddy vibe... especially when it involves any kind of pet names. no this guy would not be calling anyone 'baby girl'. he is not a tiktok mafia au trend.

on the other end of the spectrum, complete soft baby blushy tsundere. he told midoriya to jump off a roof bc he had no future in middle school okay he is... not that.

either way too dramatically brooding/'emo' or completely lacking self awareness. bonjour nuance

also just get his friendships right please. you should be able to make him part of a solid friend group without it feeling like a completely different person. like i think he'd be a very good friend down the line but that doesn't mean i can see him being #goofy besties with everyone.

shouto:

well similar to above either making him too cutesy soft and fragile (todoroki shouto? certified bad motherfucker todoroki shouto? backtalks cops and throws people out of arenas via icebergs? nah) or making him just like. extremely bland stoic. he has a personality y'all.

trying too hard to make him like.. #relatable or sassy is also always a bit too obvious. like if it sounds like a joke someone on tiktok would made realistically shouto would not be making it yk. 'it's the trauma for meeee' i don't think so....

gotta strike the right balance for the family drama. it's bad for him but he's also really emotionally resilient.

todobaku:

when they're not funny/don't banter. have you met these mfs their every interaction is comedy gold.

like just OOC in general!!!!!! relationship content tends to warp either or both characters to fit a trope instead of bending a trope to fit the characters, which is just a waste. if it's not fundamentally a relationship of equals instead of one strong/one needy chara i'm not interested and that's that.

them having very... 'basic' relationship dynamics where they're netflix romcom vibes and have like normal dating progression. first of all adapt romance to the people involved, but also i just do not believe that like. todoroki would be out there texting anyone 'baby ily sm <3333' yk what i mean.

either party being angst central dramatics for the other person to sentimentally ~fix~ as if they don't share the vast bulk of their trauma / have similarly stoic ways of dealing with angst. i'm all for h/c but not melodrama. especially don't enjoy when people add random shit to canon to justify drama like sexual abuse. just not for me

this isn't even about todobaku specifically but i've never seen a good ABO fic in my life. and i do say 'see' because i admittedly tend to not get past the descriptions.

ok that's all i can think of off the top of my head. but please feel free to tell me about the worst ones you've encountered i love to hear people's horror stories.

[solar-halos]

please forgive me bc even though i won’t be planet of the apes posting i WILL be apes posting which i think is arguably worse

i am like so obsessed w learning abt apes rn. which is probably bc of how much i’ve been enjoying the planet of the apes movies but also they’re just interesting in general. so here are my thoughts

1. ok so i literally just learned the difference between an ape and a monkey just a couple weeks ago (most notable difference is that *most* monkeys have tails and no apes have tails) but it’s still a pet peeve of mine when there’s a youtube thumbnail that’s like “monkey reacts to [whatever human is going]” and it’s literally a shot of like a gorilla or chimpanzee or something. but also im a hypocrite bc i still use those terms interchangeably in my head

2. chimpanzees are fucking crazy. maybe this will be a bit about planet of the apes bc why’d they switch the personalities of caesar and koba 😭😭 like were they tryna bring up a nature vs nurture debate or WHAT bc koba was stacking up BODIES and not in a sexual way. which might sound weird until you realize that bonobos (aka koba) settle all their problems with sex. two bonobos want the same piece of fruit? sex. two bonobos having an argument? hug it out. two neighboring bonobo societies? the meetup is fucking obscene. chimpanzees on the other hand will literally create organized groups and if they see a lone male they will beat the shit out of him. infantcide is also rlly common (against neighboring societies i mean, chimpanzees live in a polygynandrous (or however tf u spell it??) to avoid that problem). also did u know that bonobos were originally called “pygmy chimpanzees” bc they looked so much like a smaller branch of chimpanzees we just thought they were the same species? i literally thought that koba was a chimpanzee too lol

3. gorillas are literally chill as hellll. take what im saying w a grain of salt though bc i’ve only done research on chimpanzees (in my defense it was for an assignment ok im not THAT obsessed) but i think it’s so cool that they’re not only aware of how strong they are but that they know how much force to use around smaller animals so they won’t hurt them. im explaining that horribly but basically let’s take koko as an example. ill get into the ethical issues w koko later but basically she was a gorilla born and raised in captivity that was taught sign language and there was one handler that she spent ALL her time with. she was also fed a human diet but that’s beside the point 😭😭 she was like 300 or 400 pounds (something like that…) and like even when she got excited when she was playing or leaned on her handler to give her a hug she was SO gentle about it. i think there was only one instance i saw where her handler was like “gentle, koko, gentle” but i think that’s when koko was little. also, her obsessions w kittens was cute but it did make me anxious watching her hold them. not cos i thought she’d crush/hurt them, just cos it reminded me of that kid that invades a kittens personal space until that kitten snaps, which koko was very much giving

4. with that being said, i don’t believe koko could actually talk. i get that if gorillas/apes in general could speak english they probably would just say “i would like food, please” but to me i feel like koko signing that she wants food is the same as when my dog used to wake me up and tug at the seal of her dog food. like, koko is absolutely communicating her needs, but she’d do that with or without sign language. also, the handler does do a good job of explaining kokos vague signs and assigning more complex meaning to them. like, do i think koko was smart? absolutely! do i think she needs to know human language to be smart? no. also i read something that was like “research about teaching apes asl has been declining recently” like.. yeah. i sure hope it has. like i’m not gonna sit here and say that koko was abused or whatever bc at the end of the day the only thing i know about her handler (aka penny) is that she was a fucking weirdo and bought michael (kokos bestie) and another female gorilla through some SKETCH poacher, but idk how she treated koko specifically. i do think it’s fucked up that koko spent her whole life basically alone though, esp since gorillas are such social animals. i think we base so much worth around if an ape is smart “like a human” that we ignore the fact that gorillas will never be human and humans will never be gorillas. again im not explaining this well but even though we’re human that doesn’t automatically mean we’re gonna be better caretakers for a literal gorilla. also about koko wanting a baby… girl i have no doubt that she did and i think it’s rlly sad that she never got one. but at the same time i think it’s so funny that her handler was like “we negotiated hella with other zoos but they just WOULDNT send over a male gorilla” um yeah girl prob cos you’re sketch as fuck… just a thought

5. anyway enough about koko. orangutans are so chill. like the chillest. maurice is my fav ape from planet of the apes and its literally cos he says so much yet so little. male orangutans have fatty cheeks but some males choose not to have them so i convinced my family that raka was a female orangutan. idk why they literally didn’t care one way or another so that was kinda fucked up. they’re also the epitome of solitary creatures they kinda only meet up when they wanna reproduce.

6. tbh that’s it. i had more to say when i was in my very fleeting lions and tigers era so like maybe im not as obsessed w apes as i thought. but looking back i did type a lot of stuff so i guess that’s just the consequence of being single. i’m kinda like an orangutan that way. also here’s my fav orangutan video bc imagine you’re just a single mother trying to provide for ur family and some fucking freak of nature tries to conspire against u. it’s like the fnaf of the animal kingdom

7. i guess there’s something else i wanna bring up. the original planet of the apes movies focus on three apes in particular: gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans. the gorillas are soldiers, portrayed as aggressive and brutish and dumb, which… i get it. guerrilla (aka gorilla) warfare. clever. very smart. i’m still clutching the stitch at my side. then the orangutans are political leaders, which… huh? like i remember in divergent the author was like “it’s best to give power to those who don’t want it bc then they’re least likely to abuse it” but like… that orangutan bitch was so obsessed w keeping the power exactly where it was. and then the chimpanzees being pacifists… what? like idk maybe they were making a joke or something bc they had to know that chimpanzees are brutal asf for no reason. or maybe they just needed to pick an ape to be a pacifist and they chose that one

8. speaking of the movie… the bit where they all worshipped the atomic bomb was crazyyyy. rlly shows u where their heads were at in the 60s. what i think is interesting tho is that the original planet of the apes are rated G (at least where i watched it) and then the new ones are pg-13 even though taylor literally was like “ummm yeah we had a female astronaut with us and lucky for her she died bc if she did survive we all would have had sex with her and made her have all our children.” um… okay! now that i’m thinking abt it modern planet of the ape beastality enthusiasts need to get on the original movies bc there’s literally three separate instances of apes kissing humans! but maybe they wouldn’t like that bc the ape characters are obviously just humans in costumes, which i bet would ruin the appeal for them. with that being said, im done with this rant now

[c0rpseductor]

im just doing all of these at once regardless of likes and i'm doing it here because i hate twitter's character limit. and i love the sound of my own voice. feel free to steal it from me if you like in fact please do

i listen to music when i write Sometimes. i try to keep it to stuff without lyrics or stuff with lyrics in a language i don't speak fluently enough for them to distract me. sometimes i do listen to music in english if i've heard the song so many times that i can kind of tune out the words but in general music with lyrics pulls the language bits in my brain in too many directions

i tell my close friends about plans for my fics and talk to them about it and sometimes let them beta sections of writing but in general i'm a no beta/loose beta kind of guy.

third person limited babyyyyyyyyyy

depends. i used to write more often in past tense but i switched to present recently and i feel like the immediacy of present makes it a lot easier for me especially where more figurative prose is concerned. i've been meaning to try past tense again just to see if it's really more difficult or if my decision to switch tenses is unrelated

pretty even mix. i start and abandon longfics like nobody's business

see above.

i guess if you count oc/canon or oc/oc stuff as rarepairs but. not really? shrug

i try really hard to write principal characters as close to canon as possible, but background characters i take more liberties with. in general i don't like discarding canon characterization bc it feels like, ok, why not just write an oc? after a certain point. like the point is that i enjoy the character as depicted yknow

i don't really think about this. if you put some cliches or tropes in front of me in a story i'd be able to identify them and say whether or not i like them but a lot of times it's contextual and i like the execution more than the trope itself. or vice versa. i like reincarnation romance conceptually but do not often like the way it's written

i fucking hate omegaverse. gender is a prison

obviously im an emetwol freak. emetwol is my otp. sickos voice

i dont have any notps really. i dont spend time thinking about specific ships i hate i just ignore them

nice dichotomy, now what lies outside it? i guess i like both fluff and smut but i don't know that i really care for fluff vs smut as a binary. my personal definition of "fluff" encompasses any particularly tender feel-good warm fuzzy kind of fiction and that doesn't preclude sexual intimacy in the slightest. conversely i love a good bit of tender feel-good warm fuzzy smut but do not really like "fluff" in the way i tend to see it used in fandom as specifically like sexless "wholesome" feel-good slice of life stuff a la coffee shop au. nothing wrong with that but i get a little bored of it unless it's a breather in a longer work with dramatic weight personally

i love angst. i think my personal hangup is that angst has to have a point and be about something. angst for the sake of angst inevitably feels kind of cheap and shallow to me. whenever i write angst it's like to process something specific so i tend to have a lesson in mind at the end of the work

in the shower or lying awake in bed at night the same as everyone else i assume

plantser. i always have an outline in mind but it's flexible. vague. mutable. gossamer

i title my chapters and i kick myself for starting the habit every time bc i'm dogshit at titles

i think most of my pet peeves are smut-related which says a lot about me. stop saying core to mean vagina. stop saying sex as a noun for genitals. i never want to see sac again. also i fucking despise orbs as a noun for eyes and i thought we'd abolished that like via geneva convention sometime in 2015 but people still use it.

scene transitions and communicating the passage of time. im still working on that

bold of my amateur ass to give advice but i think READ REAL BOOKS. is high on the list. not just fiction, either. read nonfiction, both bc it can be surprisingly engaging and poetically written and because it's good to learn facts about things. read wikipedia. recipe blogs. i dont care. read everything you possibly can that is not fanfiction. and when you are watching tv and movies pick apart every narrative you encounter to see how it works. you will be a better writer for it i promise

[funnywormz]

Well OK what kind of a person would I be if I didn't say 002 rimster for that ask game

LET'S FUCKING GOOOOO THANK U ANON

002 | Send me a ship and I will tell you...

when i started shipping them:

honestly very very recently lol. i can't remember exactly but i think abt 2-3 months ago? ik their dynamic was definitely entertaining to me from the start and there were moments that made me go like "👀" sometimes (bc im a gayass hopeless romantic so im always kinda subconsciously on the lookout for fun characters to ship ig lol), but i started getting genuinely rlly invested in the ship roughly when i watched dimension jump for the first time. something abt seeing rimmer get so jealous and catty abt lister and ace i suppose.......... hehe

my thoughts

i mean obviously i think they're great lol. i am nuts abt them. they're both such fun characters and their dynamic together is just wonderful and iconic and hilarious. even platonically they're just like...... a duo to me. ik all of the dwarfers are a set (Do Not Separate Them) but lister and rimmer especially just go together. it doesn't feel right to talk abt one without mentioning the other. they're just lister and rimmer yknow......... regardless of whether they're friends or lovers i just love them together and love it when they interact

what makes me happy about them

SO MANY THINGS....... the ship does bring a lot of comfort to me bc despite their arguments and the insults that get thrown around they do really care abt each other and it becomes pretty obvious in later seasons. the opposites attract/sun and moon thing they have going on is so endearing to me as well.......... i get so much serotonin from the little moments of honest affection they have for each other in the show.

i think they can be a source of comfort for each other as well, not always in an obvious way but they just keep each other grounded, they're each a reassuring constant in the other's life yknow? also they're both very relatable to me in their own different ways so i would be lying if i said there wasn't an aspect of projection in it as well lol

what makes me sad about them:

the answer to this one is also Many Things......... sometimes they are genuinely just Mean to each other and it makes me a bit sad. and just. lister's childhood and his loneliness and depression and likewise rimmer's childhood and self hatred...... idk they're just both very saddening guys at times, im not even gonna lie. i wish that they'd both allow themselves to be more vulnerable with each other and more open abt their feelings sometimes but ik there are plenty of reasons why that's hard for them. ig it's more their characters separately that make me sad mostly rather than their relationship with each other though, if that makes sense

things done in fanfic that annoy me:

this is a rlly specific personal pet peeve but i kinda dislike it when ppl rlly exaggerate lister's accent in fic. like when they write his speech out as "rimmah" instead of "rimmer" and that sort of thing lol. it's fine in small amounts or if it's a purely comedic fic but if im reading a more emotionally poignant (or sexy) fic and the author has changed the spelling of every second word lister says i just have to exit outta there sorry. for me i feel like since we all know what he sounds like then trying to write out his pronunciation that way just seems awkward and silly. this is by no means an objective thing just personal preference.

it's also a pet peeve of mine when lister gets kinda sidelined or his characterisation gets messed around with in favour of the author basically using him as a self insert bc they're horny for rimmer. it doesn't come up often but when it does it annoys me......... ik rimmer is everyone's special little boy but i love lister too and i don't like to see him get ignored or undervalued like that

things i look for in fanfic:

honestly just an interesting premise really! basically the stuff i look for in any literature, like strong characterisation, a fun plot etc...........

my wishlist:

idk exactly what this one entails? if it means stuff i wish i could see in the show, ig i'd just like to see more sweet genuine moments between them (like the moonlight scene). idk if i would actually want there to be a canon romantic relationship between them, like yeah i ship them so much but ig i just wouldn't want it to be forced or executed weirdly. basically i just want to see more of them exactly as they are now, except maybe they should be nicer to each other sometimes. OH ALSO i need to see deb and arlene again so fucking bad

who i'd be comfortable with them ending up with, if not each other:

this one is tough bc there honestly aren't many romantic prospects for either of them lol. i def wouldn't be comfortable with a romantic relationship between either of them and any of the other dwarfers, just personal taste. i personally view rimmer as a closeted confused gay man so i wouldn't be that comfy seeing him with a female character either so that rules out pretty much everyone for him haha.........

for lister, although i love kochanski and his friendship with her, i don't like the idea of them being "endgame" bc it would feel forced at this point and just...... uncomfortable. honestly i can't imagine feeling comfortable with any other relationships for rimmer/lister being canon lol. i just prefer the idea of them both being single in canon i suppose, sorry lads. it's funny bc in most fandoms im a chronic multishipper but with red dwarf im kinda like rimster or die basically lmao 🤷‍♂️

my happily ever after for them:

basically just the same as they are now but married and in love LOL.

also they need to finally get a proper bed to sleep in together and get out of those goddamn bunks, 1) because i want them to cuddle and 2) lister is in his 50s now and those bunks can't be very comfortable or ergonomic, i am worried abt the state of his back lol. it's not much, ig in the end i just want them to stay together and be happy together. since there seems to be technology that exists to sustain multiple holograms that they've found on other ships, maybe once lister finally dies they could be holograms together and travel the stars together forever....... or maybe the opposite would happen and rimmer would shut himself off so they can just be at peace together. ough sorry this got sad im getting emotional

anyways tldr i just want them to stay exactly the same but openly in gay love and also sharing a proper actual bed. that's it

[nemo-of-house-hamartia]

ok, I finally found the time to properly sit down and reply to this. I wanted to give it my full attention, so I apologize for the delay.

OMGOMGOMGOMG A CHRISTMAS FIC. I personally adore Christmas and everything connected to the Winter festivities, SO BRING IT ON. BRING THEM ALL ON. (AND SELF-INDULGENCE IS PERFECTION. IT'S THE WAY. FOR EVERYTHING FANDOM RELATED :D)

I personally am a bit in a stagnant situation due to having to work a lot, so I am mentally drained and all the energies I have is for drawing. BUT. I do have a few artworks in the making for Genshin (tho they involve ocs as well, just a heads up), and I cannot wait to share them as well!

OMGOMGOMG.

yes. YES.

Mondstadt is HOME. Like, no matter where I am, I always spend a good part of my playing sessions roaming around Mondstadt because I just have such sense of peace: all those green hills and glens, the forests and the rivers and the lake….it's everything. Plus, the soundtrack that plays in the City is beautiful, changing throughout the day while maintaining the main theme. I just adore it all. It's home. Honestly, my biggest pet peeve is that we don't have all the characters roaming around normally, because if I were to see Kaeya or Diluc going about their day I would be like YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS.

Or even Venti sitting on the hands of his statue and enjoying the view, and depending on the time of the day, he is somewhere else entirely.

I think it would be so lovely! It was one of the things that I actually loved about this last Lantern Rite: after being done with the event, I was still able to see all the characters from Liyue hanging around and interact with them.

As for Sumeru, I have to say that I am yet to play the Archon Quest for it and while I did a bit of scouting around, I haven't truly explored as much as I wanted!!

(I am a little slow with the main story quests, I like to drag them out as long as possible to just enjoy this game throughout time and keep playing :D)

GODS, ZHONGLI AND THAT FREAKING OSMANTHUS WINE. Honestly, my husband listened to saying this I don't know how many times, and when I told him more about the lore behind him, he just answered me "maybe he repeats that so many times because he is old and a bit senile"! 😅but in all seriousness, it's kinda makes me sad because he has been alive for so long, and all he has left are memories, and that's truly heartbreaking.

OMG I LOVE YOUR ROSTER!! I had Yanfei in my ranks until I pulled Diluc, but I still use her a lot, especially when I know Venti won't be effective (so I have Pyro Resonance with Diluc), and I just love her so so so so much.

OMG 83 WISHES????? WISHING YOU ALL THE BEST OF LUCK FOR EULA TO COME HOME!!!

MANIFESTING EULA FOR YOU!

And yes, I will try to pull for Hu Tao in this upcoming banner (I just adore her, she reminds me of myself sometimes lolol).

GUIZHONG AND PING THIS YEAR JUST KILLED ME, BECAUSE OH DEAR GODS, SO MUCH SADNESS. Like seriously, all these characters have gone through so much, and all I want is to just wrap them all up in a huge cocoon blanket and keep them safe and sound.

I personally feel extremely linked to characters from Mondstadt and Liyue the most, so their lore is the one that I focus the most on and the one that totally destroyed my heart.

Weinlesefest was adorable, but I was so sad for Razor. He is another one of my main, before I switch with Zhongli (I have used it for the better part of the last year and half), so I was happy that we got to know more about him! but it was so incredibly sad that I was relieved that he had the Traveler, Bennett and Klee and Diona there for him!

and I totally understand you. TOTALLY UNDERSTAND YOU.

I have been rewatching the cutscenes of all the events I missed because I started to play to late, and the ideas are just running rampant, tbh. But as you said, SO MANY IDEAS, SO MANY THAT WON'T BE WRITTEN (but please, do write yours because omg I need to read)!!

Morning morning!!

Coming in to bring something good to drinm and munch on!

Also, i saw that you are into Genshin???😁😁 me too!!! I just adore that game!!! 🤩Who is your favourite character, if you don't mind me asking??😁😁

Ohhhh thank you! Please have a piece of apple pie in return! Made it myself last night :D

Genshin is such a good game! I love the music, I love the exploring, I love the lore, I love te soundtrack! (And writing silly little fics about it all :D)

Favorite character is a hard question, hmmmm... aaaa there's so many good characters but I think Kaeya and Albedo :D I just love the way Kaeya talks and all the backstory that goes with his past. And if the leaks can be believed there will be even more about him in 3.5! And ngl, the hair and the fur scarf are just *happy sigh* And Albedo? Just look at him, so cute! And the voice? Damn, Khoi is talented. And his relationship with Klee and Alice. I have alchemy fam feels aaaaaaaaaaa :') oh, oh! I noticed last night that when Albedo walks, his clothes do this little metal clinking sound and I really like it!

I always get so happy talking about Genshin :D what about you? What's your favorite character? Any favorite events? :D

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

Hello! Hope you're having a nice day or night! If i can request a match up-

I like to cook, dance and clean! Tho sometimes i can be very ignorant naive and lazy to the point where nothing interests me at all- my favorite food is mac and cheese- i love cats (i own one- his names Quincy). My biggest pet peeve is probably when people chew loudly and have no manners whatsoever and when no one closes the gosh darn door when they leave my room- a dealbreaker for me would probably be ignoring me for the whole day for no reason and then getting mad at me for it. It also takes very much time to impress me (i have very high standards T~T). I can be a drama queen at times too- i get dramatic over the smallest things. Um- that's it i think- honestly I'm lame aF but eH-

Last one today :D I'll continue tomorrow.

It was a very close one too! In the other choices you could have had, there was UT Papyrus, Toriel and Grillby, HT Papyrus and Toriel and Disbelief!Papyrus :D

But none of them could deal with our lord maniac drama queen, which is...

UNDERFELL PAPYRUS (EDGE) !

A classic choice for a classy person.

Obviously, Edge loves to cook and to clean. He is even very strict on this, and someone who is actually like him and like that is pretty rare. He's not exactly a dancer, but he knows his classic and he is almost good (except when he's stepping on your feet.)

He's fine with ignorance, since he likes to teach you new things, it helps him feel powerful. Even if he doesn't have any idea what he's saying either. He uses big words so he's sure it might sound clear in the end. He likes your naivity because he can play with it, always gently, but sometimes, you know, he might be playful. He has more difficulties with the lazy part, but if he survived his brother, he can survive you.

Mac and cheese are not his favorite, but he's ok with it and want to help you make the recipe more original. However, the two of you loves cats. It would help if you stop bringing stray cats at home now.

He is highly deranged by rude manners, like chewing loudly or leaving doors open. The two of you are traumatising poor Red that is so scared of you he doesn't want to visit anymore.

Your dealbreaker is his too. Edge much prefers talk things out. He hates being ignored, because he knows he can be a bit rough sometimes, but he has difficulties to see why. Talking is a way to help him get more soft over time. He learns of his mistakes.

You will probably take a long time to seduce each other since you are both terrible tsunderes that want to be impress first to engage. Someone might need to push you towards each other first.

And of course, Edge is a big drama queen, and he is overeacting all the time other little things, so now there's two of you. Nightmare fuel.

Edge seems clearly the best candidate to me, and he's very loyal too!

[teaboot]

Hey I just wanted to ask you something I don't know if its personal so maybe I'll start with me, my psychiatrist told me that I have asperger's syndrome and like my mom keeps asking me like what does that means because I think she sees people with autism as stupid and I'm at the top of my class so she feels like it's a mistake, I personally go mute for months sometimes except for like oral tests, and idk I forget about having a body and so I hit onto walls when I'm focused on something but *

"...*is not so exaggerated like I'm pretty functional I just forget that there are walls and doors and that I can't just transport me to the other room or so,I mean I feel like I'm just trying to find what my "weird or autistic" traits are to justify the diagnosis,I didn't asked my psychiatrist to elaborate on that and so I was wondering, what would you say that your autistic traits are?Also just in case,I know that autistic people can be hella smart and I think that you are really wise I admire you"

Thank you so much, that's very sweet of you to say!

Honestly, I'm sort of in a similar situation- My parents' reaction was to say, "you're too smart to be autistic" or, "Everyone of ~your intelligence~ is a little weird in the head, anyways", and then. Expect me to live up to all the positive stereotypes without ever getting bogged down by the negative realities?

This might not be very helpful at all of me to say, but as an adult who grew up in a rather unpleasant environment, there really isn't much help for a number of things except getting old and independant enough to move out, and then just accepting that their perception of reality isn't open to negotiation. You can try debating it, or meeting them on common ground with scientific basis, but in my case....

....well. There's just some things I now know not to talk about at family gatherings.

I'm sorry, I know that's probably not very helpful or heartening to hear. 

As for my personal grab bag of symptoms? I tend to hyperfocus on personal projects. When I'm really invested in an art piece, I often forget to eat or sleep or drink, and the only way I've learned to snap out of that is that if my hands are shaking or I'm falling over a lot, I probably need to eat something and lay down for a while, because otherwise- and yeah, not the healthiest motivator- otherwise I might start fucking up my hard work.

I also get overwhelmed by overlapping noises- if two people are talking at once, even if one is on a radio or TV show, I can't hear either of them and it stresses the shit out of me. White noise, like in malls or assemblies, also tends to burn my energy pretty fast.

Things like leaf blowers, people whistling indoors, and emergency sirens are physically painful. Repetitive noises like a bouncing rubber ball, sniffling, dogs licking things, and low-frequency vibrations from massage chairs, earthquakes, distant bass music, and some fluorescent lighting systems are impossible to ignore, which ranges from irritating to distressing, depending on my headspace du jour.

I hate bland food with a passion. It tends to make me nauseaus. I like lots of spice, lots of sugar, lots of sour and hot and acidic. I love strong flavours, and if I'm cooking for friends and family I often have to remind myself to tone down the seasonings for them.

Some textures make me genuinely ill, too- most types of meat, fat, and other animal bits result in.... Bad times for all. Polyester towels suck ass. Microfiber cloth. Thick cotton knit material. Any fabric covering my forearms. Thin, elastic denim. Vinyl. Polar fleece.

On the flip side, I looooove woven cotton blankets. Cotton sheets, cotton bedding- cold, heavy duvets are good, too. Acrylic, so long as it doesn't get damp. I have.... Perhaps a little bit of a problem here, as I do... Maybe, possibly, get a little impulsive with buying rugs, throws, and blankets when I come across one that feels right.

All my cups and bowls are handmade out of clay. I'm OK with smooth ceramics, but stoneware feels happy in my hands. I think of it as a treat, like packing a bit of chocolate with my lunch, or eating a whole bag of popcorn by myself. Again, I.... May go a little overboard when I come across A nice-feeling piece of dishware.

Basically, from what I understand, a lot of folks on the spectrum are under and over stimulated by various sensory inputs.

Me, I gravitate towards taste, inertia, tactile sensation, temperature, and dark lighting, while I find myself avoiding, limiting, or minimizing sound, light, color, oral texture, and smell.

As for more stereotyped behaviors, I find organizing things such as legal documents, filing cabinets, paint swatches, hardware, coins, stones, or colors to be very soothing and almost meditative. I go through special interests fairly often, and have been 'into' things like animals, insects, natural history, and art since before I could walk. I can't explain why they're such alluring subjects, they just make me happy.

I didn't realize until recently that I do stim, as well- I rock, sway, growl, swish water around, hang upside-down, rotate my thumbs, rub fabric, twirl coins, and flex my hands. I also (rarely) seem compelled to jump up and down in circles very fast when I'm particularly excited, or flap my arms against my sides like a penguin.

When I'm overstimulated, I go.... I'm not sure if you could call it 'nonverbal'. I get the feeling I COULD speak, it's just.... Overwhelmingly difficult. Usually I find a dark space or a corner away from people, put a coat or something over my head, cover my ears, close my eyes... Sometimes deliberate eye contact is hard, or I can't say more than one or two words at a time, or I find myself relying more on a hum or a grunt to communicate that I'm listening.

It... Probably all sounds weird to a neurotypical who may be reading, but I'm perfectly happy with myself as I am. I wouldn't change it if I could, except perhaps to minimize some of the more irritating things.

Mostly, my biggest peeve is being treated like a cool new pet or accessory. "Oh, this is my person with Autism- they're great at cleaning, you should get one!"- yeah, that can fuck right off. I'm right here, I can hear you, I'm a person. A little respect goes a long way.

But, whoops, here I've gone on a ramble- you want the best advice I have, though? Become comfortable with the person you are. Accept and seek out what things bring you happiness. Don't get hung up on the negatives. Love your experience, if you can, and don't worry about validating anything- you are who you are, and the words we use to explain ourselves fall so, so short when faced with the complexity of our individual existence.

The way I see it, the day before your diagnosis is the same as today, you just have one more tool to understand yourself with. The decision of how and if you choose to explain this to those around you is entirely yours to decide! 

I know this kind of went off the rail of your question. My answers are a little limited. I hope I could help anyways! Good luck!!

[filipinoizukuu]

pls tell me more of ur fic pet peeves

K OSMFKS OKAY MAN. man. HSDBBSJDJS

so i have like. a FUCK ton of pet peeves for fics, and i just wanted to say first that fanfic should not be placed in any boxes or standards because it is freely written and it is something meant to be enjoyed. these are my opinions and all peeve me to only a certain degree (meaning it squicks me out at worst)—so if you are a fic writer and you find yourself doing any of these things, do NOT take it to heart and just know i love you for doing what you do and i wish you all the best ♡

im gonna give reasons why certain things peeve me so i dont just sound like im bitching but generally, when reading ANY fics, i dislike the ff:

- long paragraphs with no breaks. bro i have adhd i cant go through all of this im going to get LOST.

- underlining, bolding, italicizing, AND capitalizing statements for emphasis like sir its chill i think i get the point. imho if you wrote your scene well enough and paced it properly, the most you'll need is an italics and maybe an exclamation mark. u gotta trust ur own writing and the reading comprehension of your audience.

- jittery perspective jumps especially when its fic about characters who use the same pronouns and youre constantly shifting the thoughts being presented. it... gets kinda confusing.

- FIRST PERSON POV. ITS NOT BAD I JUST GET SO JARRED BECAUSE SASUKE UCHIHA IS DOING WHAT TO ME??

everything else like grammar and punctuation and spelling is literally just. whatever. like as long as i get your point i really dont care. sometimes writers dont speak english fluently. sometimes writers just fuck up and dont have betas. sometimes writers just post their chapters at 3 am and leave all their mistakes out for god. i have no right to judge.

for personal bnha fic pet peeves, ig most of my annoyance lies on characterization and my own personal beliefs

- i already said it previously but i cannot STRESS how much i dislike the whole "fuck redemption arcs and fuck all authority figures except LoV for some reason" theme. it annoys me and i just flat out dont agree with it

- HATE tropes that reduce deku to being like 🥺👉👈 uwu okie soft helpless bean. theres nothing wrong with it if thats how you prefer deku, but i just get annoyed by it

- ANYTIME BKDK HAS AN UNEQUAL DYNAMIC. again. nothing wrong with exploring it in fanfiction. i just dislike reading fics that make either deku or bakugou blatantly weaker than the other. i love quirkless deku fics but i hate ones where he's also characterized as amounting to nothing and still acts like bakugous punching bag/okay with bakugou disrespecting him. their whole dynamic in canon is built on a great deal of respect

- speaking of bkdks power dynamic, FRICK GOSH I HATE SEEING FICS WHERE DEKU "realizes bakugous been abusing him for years!" and gets him expelled from ua and everyone claps. like. LIKE??? N. NO???? thats not how it works 😭

- all might slander. also unjustified or unnuanced endeavor slander where they dont tackle the complexity of his character. also also unjustified or unnuanced bakugous mom slander. this ones a bit controversial so i wont talk about it much.

- sexist homophobic or racist bakugou. im kicking that away. no. especially fics where bakugous past bullying is explained as "repressed homosexuality". i like making that as a joke but i genuinely do no believe in it.

- BAD MOM MIDORIYA INKO. ITS A TROPE I SEE SOMETIMES AND IT MAKES ME CRY I DONT HAVE A RATIONAL REASONING FOR IT I JUST LOVE INKO

- fics where ochako is obviously very reduced into a supporting figure with absolutely no dimension except being a supportive character and maybe having a shoe-horned wlw romance just for the sake of making her unavailable. shes my fave bnha girl and sometimes in fics i can literally FEEL her character being butchered to only show up when deku needs Love Advice. *note that this only applies when literally every other male character has something else going on for them and its just the females being sidelined into Boy Advice Givers and Talking Sense.

- fics that very obviously belittle asian principles and culture. family means a GOOD DEAL to a lot of asian cultures and fics that spout "if you dont like your family then leave and find your own! its that simple!" usually sound incredibly ignorant or outright claim moral superiority to the weight of familial bond in asian culture. same with manners, respect, and discipline.

- jeALOUSY/CHEATING FICS OK IM SELFISH I ONLY WANT BKDK TOGETHER LIKE IM DEKUBOWL ONLY SOMETIMES BUT BKDK ALWAYS HAS TO END UP TOGETHER

- "murdering is ok if its characters i hate 🥰" ... listen, you do you bestie but like. no thanks. if i wanted to read about mineta getting murdered by momo with a pistol i dont think id be opening a bkdk soulmarks au

- any dekusquad slander 😭 i love them okay

- *kicks mean/bakugou-hating todoroki out the door*

- *kicks 'all mha characters text, talk, and behave like 14 year old stan twt users (no offense ok i speak like that too)' fics out the door*

- *kicks bratty deku and/or bakugou out the door*

thats. all i can think of atm.

[lady-plantagenet]

Unsolicited Book Reviews (n5): Wife to theKingmaker

Rating:

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Even before I had an account I had a tendency to go to tumblr to see people’s opinions before buying a histfic novel. Certain books are either severely underrepresented where I feel like there needs to be something on them, whereas others that are talked about enough - something more can still be said. So for my quarantine fun, I had decided to start a series where I review every medieval historical fiction novel I read. Hopefully, it will either start interesting discussions or at least be some help for those browsing its tag when considering purchasing it.

TL;DR: Ok swear to god this book was written by two different people. The ending was actually heart-wrenching, but so much had annoyed me throughout that I swore to myself to never again touch this genre for my own health. Twas an odd tale, and tbh the fact that it was odd probably elevated it from the 2 stars (or hell maybe even 1 if it was going to get any more richardian) to 3. Honestly, quite glad I read it in the end. Not the most historically informative, but some of the character arcs were actually quite neat (however extremely farfetched). Spoiler Warning: I’m going to divulge a lot on here because I know no one who follows me is going to read this book.

Plot: Ok, the plot... It was only after I placed my order that I realised this is the Sandra Heath Wilson of ‘Cicely’s King’ fame. I cringed and didn’t know what to do. For all you innocents out there... her Cicely series is a saga wherein Cecily of York pretty much bangs everyone who is male and from the house of york (minus her father and uncle George) and Even Henry VII(!!). She then has this kid by Richard III, calls him Leo and the rest is history(this is what I gleaned from goodreads). Nevertheless it had already shipped and honestly I had it coming; the synopsis does say she has an affair with her brother-in-law John Marquis of Montagu. Whatever, I couldn’t resist buying the only novel about Anne Beauchamp, and since it was published in the 70s/80s I knew it would at least be flamboyant and go all out. It delivered enough for it to have been worth reading.

So the novel follows Anne Beauchamp!(Nan) from when she is a 13 year old girl to 1478 when she finally leaves Beaulieu to go live at Middleham with her (as you guessed it- favourite) daughter Anne and her oh so belovéd son-in-law Richard Duke of Gloucester - You see? Since now finally the Great Other (Mr George) is finally vanquished England has its peace. Of course this is not true, Nan historically left the abbey in 1473 for Middleham and while I wanted a possible explanation from the author (who I would assume is better researched than I) for whether she went to Middleham out of her own volition or simply because the King trusted Gloucester better than Clarence... alas I got none. It was all pinned on the fact that the evil George (who as per usual alternates between omnipotent mastermind to absolute drunken himbo at the turn of a page) would not have her free for as long as she lived (for whatever reason). I really think the real historical explanation was because Edward trusted Gloucester - because after all Warwick Castle was Nan’s patrimony not Middleham. I doubt Nan had a choice in the matter but, the point is, Isabel was alive in 1473 and since there’s zero historical record or suggestion that Nan and Anne had ever seen her again, it would have been nice to have had a depiction of the conflicted feelings or a final meeting written for the three women. I’ll let it slide I guess, after all, one needs to cut some slack when it comes to books written pre-internet age by non-historians. And unlike Sunne in Splendour, this book does not purport to be completely accurate or a representation of the truth.

Christ some sub-plots were truly unexpected. One that made me groan at first was the whole arc between Nan and her niece Eleanor Butler. In this book she’s her ward (not historically true) and little Eleanor is all sweet and innocent and virtuous and, hell, at one point we get more Nan-Eleanor interaction than even between Nan - her own daughters (particularly Isabel who would have been the right age and a better substitute for Eleanor in their dialogue, but alas, who cares about Isabel right?). Eleanor even is the one to accidentally discover that Margaret of Anjou slept with Edmund Beaufort, siring Edward of Lancaster.

Ok. You’re probably thinking, god how trite eugh the Richardians are at it again, right? Yeah ok the Richardians are at it again, but it turns into something really neat at the end. Essentially, as I said, Nan has an affair with John Neville Marquis of Montagu (long story that I will expand on in characterisation) and she and him come upon Edward and Eleanor (overhearing them nothing more). So Edward and Nan then have this mutually assured destruction between them, because Edward divulges that he saw Nan and John years later when Nan confronts him (by this time he is married to Elizabeth Woodville) that she knows about the pre-contract with the intention of telling him off. He tells her that if she dares tell Warwick about the pre-contract he will tell Warwick about John, so she then agrees (also because she promised her niece that she would keep it quiet for the safety of her son by Edward). Years later when they meet again, Edward realised how much is at stake for Nan (especially since it turned out she loved Warwick all along and Edward figured that out), and so, during the period of John’s back-and-forth loyalties (we know he was disgruntled by the loss of the Northumberland Earldom)... Edward returns and tells Nan that if Montagu abandons him he will out her to Richard and cause a massive division between the brothers (militaristically speaking as well) and he knows he can do that because he figures out Nan will not out him because she blubbs about her promise to her niece. This madness then becomes bittersweet when (as history would have it) Montagu does end up fighting for Warwick, nevertheless, Nan is releaved during the whole time because there’s nothing in Warwick’s letters that give any indication that Edward ended up exposing her. Warwick dies in the battlefield, Nan is deeply aggrieved but happy he never found out at least. But then... years later when Edward comes to Beaulieu (1478 as this story would have it) to inform Nan that she may depart for Middleham, he tells her that he in fact did expose her to Warwick... but that Warwick didn’t believe him and laughed in his face because he thought there was no way she could be unfaithful because he knew she loved him. This sounds silly but it got to me a bit when I read it. Of course, we also have Edward saying he regretted his handling of the pre-contract affair because apparently Elizabeth Woodville had since lost interest in him and he’s hurt by how she shows no reaction to him having mistresses and he’s kinda given up, whereas Eleanor would have been more of a lapdog. This was essentially the centrepiece of the plot.

Look, I don’t really read these types of novels as a habit so I don’t know if bizarre plot lines like this are commonplace. Not going to lie though, it threw me and it was pleasantly enjoyable. This is basically what is to be said about the plot... the rest goes into characterisation. Nevertheless, this novel too often fell into the exposition trap (like telling us what is happening politically instead of showing us). While I appreciated the refresher of what happened 1445-1461 and I understand that the target audience of this book aren’t Wars of the Roses experts, I’ve seen it done more smoothly in many other more literary novels (eg Hawley Jarman’s or Lytton-Bulwer’s Last of the Barons). I’ve often said Sunne in Splendour was terribly dry and exposition-heavy, but at least it had historical detail so I could sometimes switch off and treat it as a non-fiction account for battles and character locations. But with this one I a) don’t have faith that the author paid attention to detail; see what I said earlier about the years 1473-1478, so I won’t take this as information and b) know that if she had done this with the years I know more about: 1461-1478, I would have gotten annoyed because of my familiarity with those decades.

Characterisation: Well we have lovelorn saintly Dickon here - always a pet peeve of mine. Look, I don’t have strong opinions about the man but it just innures me how whenever Richardianism rears it’s ugly head the plot suffers massively and it’s always favourite figures of mine that suffer the most. George Duke of Clarence... oh god, what can I say? Wife-beater, alcoholic, is disgusted by his wife when she is ill (you know, unlike the historical Clarence who had resided in the Abbot’s home near the infirmiary for the last months of his wife’s lying-in and after to be close to her and thereafter stuck with her until she passed away and two months after that as well), is stupid yet somehow still devious, is the indirect cause of her death... the list goes on. Welp, at least this Clarence unlike the Sunne in Splendour one has an elegant bearing, sense of fashion and is a great dancer. The Sunne one had NOTHING. It’s also odd that they make his attitude towards Isabel undergo a complete 180 as soon as he realises this marriage will no longer make him king. This makes no sense as the book has them want to marry for love, like YEARS before 1469, so this sudden attitude change makes no sense. Authors really need to be reminded that crown or no crown that marriage would still have made him the greatest magnate in England. There was also a ridiculous handling on the circumstance of his death, and this was the most factually wrong part of the book. Between Ankarette being aged down by 4 decades and the whole shmaz with Stillington, I don’t know where to begin. I bet most of you can guess how it was handled. Isabel is as per usual constantly depressed and without a personality because, well, we can’t have her compared to our shining heroine Anne Neville. 3x more beautiful, 5x more vivacious and 20x more significant than her doormat of a sister who complains all day- that is when she isn’t crying. Gahhh. Of course Anne Neville also cries but it’s for her beloved Dickon who she pines for constantly. Look, I have no qualms with romanticising this pairing, but authors need to keep in mind that Anne was like 13 at most when she became estranged from Gloucester. You. Need. To. Stop. Writing. Her. Like. A. Woman. . I don’t care what anyone says, no matter the time period, you can’t make me visualise a 13 year old that could feel romantic love of that deep a devotion and maturity and not send me laughing across the floor. But want to write a strong childish infatuation coming from a place of deep friendship? Fine by me.

Ok, onto more positive characterisation points: I liked Nan, quite a lot actually (I mean blatant daughter favouritism aside). A lot of authors attempt to write the proud noblewoman and great lady character but few pull it off. This is always how I have seen the real Anne Beauchamp and I’m glad to see it here. For a novel so insensitive towards certain figures, the author wrote Nan with great empathy. She was very intelligent but not in that artificial girlboss way, she loved her daughter(s) but in that medieval mother type of way (so no baby brain here), she may have not gotten along splendidly with all the women around her but there was none of that demeaning cattiness. About that, I want to say I was shocked by what a turn her relationship with Margaret of Anjou took. Since the whole Somerset-bastard child plotline was a thing... Nan was initially revolted and lost all her respect for Lancaster, but when the two women find themselves joined by fate they gain this strange mutual respect for one another. They butt heads a bit initially but Margaret of Anjou rises above it for her son’s sake and eventually strikes up an agreement with Nan on when they are to set sail. Margaret first won’t listen to Nan because she thinks she’s a fool but when she eventually slips by to tell Nan that she had thought about her plan and that maybe she’s right, she doesn’t apologise and Nan doesn’t need her to and it’s this weird telepathic understanding from then on and I certainly did not expect to see something like this in this novel. After the landing in England and news of Warwick’s death reaches the party, Margaret doesn’t gloat but diplomatically relays the news and when Nan says she wants to take sanctuary because she lost all heart and can’t fight on, Edward of Lancaster gently says something like: well if you come with us, you’ll at least get your revenge and that’s at least something (paraphrase). You could just tell this was Edward’s way of offering condolences, the type of way a child like him raised through war and promises of vengeance only could, and it was oddly powerful. Shame it couldn’t have happened as Nan and Margaret and Isabel all travelled at seperate times. The whole theme around Nan was that she wasn’t very partisan but only followed her husband as a magnate and then as a man, which I believe and it was great to see Team Lancaster understood Warwick was a seperate entity from York, and for all intents and purposes they were all in this together. Cool-headedness is much needed in this genre I realise, god how low flies the bar ~

Now onto the characterisation most people are wondering about. What of Warwick? He was the saving grace of the novel. He has the common touch yet he is sophisticated, he is idealistic yet he is shrewd, he is impassioned yet collected, he is dramatic yet subtle, he is ... I can go on and on. What is all the affair plot point about then? It doesn’t diminish the bond between the two main characters; to tell you quite truthfully the relationship the author wrote was bizarre yet still really touching. They used to hate eachother because Nan thought herself above him (after all the Warwick earldom was far more valuable than the Salisbury one- remember it was briefly a dukedom at one point), but then she sees what he made of himself and becomes proud of him and falls in love with him. However, he starts to get carried away with his ambitions, gets all-consumed by the legend of Warwick that he had cultivated and essentially becomes impersonal without wanting to (and realising). Nan feels she has lost him to the people of England (which are apparently all hypnotised by his presence, which ok is a fact grounded in history) and because of her wounded pride she starts seeking comfort in his brother (although, it makes little sense how this would work as I would gather he would also be away, especially at the Scottish boarders). When he refuses to support Warwick over Edward later on, she loses all feelings for Montagu and thinks him a coward, and when Warwick apologises for being amiss she realises that this whole time it was him she loved all along and is racked with guilt. I found this exploration of what it is like being wed to a man of such public standing quite interesting, the idea of losing him not to another woman or such but to his cause (which in this book is a mixture of belief in the french alliance, the common weal and subconsciously his own wounded pride brought on by an extreme adherence to inflexible chivalric values on his part and Edward IV’s actions), I confess, is not something I saw portrayed in this particular manner anywhere else. I mean it’s not like I’ve been searching for this particular motif, but this was a refreshing depiction of a medieval couple and it was a poignantly written relationship which the author had me invested in. The relationship was heartfelt because it was very distinct, Nan and Warwick weren’t just some stand-ins for a cash-grab but some consideration was paid to the real historical figures. The John plotline, sure I would in principle protest against something like this but it seems to have had two plot purposes: To illustrate the strain caused by the aforementioned issue and to kick off the whole Edward-Eleanor Butler-Montagu-Nan arc, which bizarre and unbelievable as it was, kept me on my toes. I’ll let it slide. Also, Edward IV was portrayed as quite a chilling villain in this, beholden of this weird mix of indifference, charm and wickedness.

Prose: This is what made me briefly wonder if this book was written by two different people. It failed to engage me in the first half, the descriptions were trite (except for the natural scenery bits), there was very little variety in sentence structures which gave it the stilted heaviness that thus afflicted The Sunne in Splendour (and most modern literature). There was a lot of redundancies eg the type of stuff like ‘whispered quietly’ or ‘yelled loudly’ and the author’s misunderstanding of certain period fashions drew me out eg references to bodices (not a thing then), calling the henin veil a silk scarf etc. She didn’t pull a Penman: exposit emotions to us, making me feel like I walked into a therapy session, but it was often heavy-handed. It first felt very much like an uninspired debut novel. A bit try-hard and I was wondering if this was the way of the bodice ripper... I wouldn’t know, I never read one before (though I’m unsure if this qualifies as it’s really not graphic and the focus is really not on sex nor is there much of it).

However, out of nowhere, the prose suddenly changed a little before half of the way in; colours, emotions, thoughts and the like started to blend masterfully. The sentence structures started varying to convey the way Nan was feeling. It became very show don’t tell, and it drew me in emotionally a bit (I must confess). Of course, that’s also around the point the plot had sort of started redeeming itself. Nan’s grief at her husband’s passing was particularly well conveyed - how she became a husk of her former self... I could read fifty pages of that. Her realisation that it had been him all along was also well written, and you could feel all the urgency and regret she felt at all the time she had wasted disregarding him as the plot grew nearer to Barnet. The mutual longing was also subtle yet strong, and it really was down to the effective use of sentence structure and waylaying of inspired thematic details. The mingling of past memories with present day in her later years was also very well done and with flow, and the adjectives etc used were no longer becoming distracting as before. My favourite part by far was the very last scene when she rides ahead of her escort to Middleham and she imagines a horse riding beside her caparisoned with the Neville standard; you can really feel how this is the first time that she had felt joy in years and she lets the ghost follow her.

... In Conclusion, this novel gave me very mixed feelings. I don’t know if I would have enjoyed it as much as I did had it not been for the fact that I entered it with a massive pre-formed love for the figures. It’s a bit like my experience with ‘Death Be Pardoner to Me’ (review #2 on this tag), was the book actually good or do I just have an affinity for the protagonist (Clarence in that case)? As such, I don’t think I would reccomend it. Indeed I wrote this spoilerish review because I was sure no one would fly off to Amazon after seeing this post. I can’t say if it’s above commercial historical romance in standard as this is the first time I’ve ever read a book from this genre. I think I’ll take a loongg break from historical fiction (after I finish with Jarman) because the Clarence portrayal was a bit of a nail in the coffin for me and I don’t want to continue upsetting myself for no reason. As I have now truly lost hope in reading a balanced depiction of him and if the literature isn’t absolutely expemplary why bother? Nevertheless, Warwick’s portrayal was a saving grace and made it impossible for me to give it two stars - it wasn’t perfect but still the best I’ve read (minus Last of the Barons Ofc). This is also a bit sad when you think about it, Warwick is also due some fictional justice. Even scholarly if you ask me.

The experience was educational as I learned a valuable lesson in what to avoid and include in my writing, what pitfalls/clichés not to fall into etc. I think I can draw another valuable lesson from this: Dear Histfic authors, if you happen to not be historians, heavily-researched in this time period, objective or literarily talented etc don’t take yourself seriously by publishing some tome of a work but just go nuts like this novel. At least this way you’re not sharing misinformation, inducing people into error and your work still gets to be engaging as opposed to a repetition of the previous amateur historical novelist. Yeah. For all the Sunne in Splendour’s superior quality, I must say I prefer this one better.

Tagging @pythionice who I have recently discovered has also read this book! Welcome fellow fan of Warwick <3

[ratsoh-writes]

Hi!!! I would like to do a matchup please~

So I am in Integrity/Perseverance/Kindness soul, I'm really passionate about pretty much everything! My strengths are that I'm empathetic, I love to try and learn new things, I'm creative, chaotic, and I have all 5 love languages lol so it's easy to show my affection and I do it all the time. My weaknesses are that I'm extremely disorganized, horrible with time management and procrastination, I'm a bit clingy at times, and I'm *extremely* forgetful (if you're thinking it sounds like ADHD it's cuz I'm pretty sure it is undiagnosed ADHD lol)

My pet peeves are chewing with your mouth open and (undue) disrespect. My odd habits are leaving chores to do until I feel that I can do them (most likely an executive function thing) but then when I clean I go on like a cleaning rampage, I tend to space out a lot, I'll randomly change topics or blurt out whatever is on my mind, and I tend to stim a LOT, mostly in a tactile way, but I'll randomly sing or dance around.

My hobbies.... oh my gosh too many to list but my main ones are reading, writing, and the arts, visual and performing. Like all of them lol (but I also really love chemistry and science, even some math occasionally, which surprises a lot of people). I also like knitting, fashion design, badminton, and archery.

My no-nos include not being committed to the relationship (I get very invested in my relationships and don't really do casual dating, so I need someone who is going to put just as much into this relationship as I will), not being a good communicator (I won't say I'm the best communicator but I'm willing to try), and finally, I'm asexual, so I need someone that isn't going to expect sex with the relationship. I may eventually feel comfortable doing it or I may never, but I need someone that won't expect it of me.

So sorry this is really long, but I just wanted to give you as much info as possible lol! Also if it says anything about me I had to write my answers down on sticky notes before I even wrote this XD. I really love your posts and headcanons!!!!

Ok not gonna lie, you were one of the 9s. I even had a little note list checking off and crossing out certain skeletons lol. Although I’ve finally found one guy who is your best match.. NOIR (horrorfell papyrus)

I best you’re super confused right now. Well the biggest factor was your passion! Like the classic fell papyrus, noir loves someone with a bit of wonder and love for the world, plus your wide range of hobbies shows that you’re the kind of person who seems to easily fall in love with new things

As for the disorganization and forgetfulness: the famine had really softened noir up. He’s much more forgiving of little mistakes than his counterpart and he doesn’t have the same need for his surroundings to be absolutely perfect anymore. Some chaos isn’t going to bother him

And finally, like you noir is going to want a committed relationship! He doesn’t do casual. If noir chases after you, it’s because he’s looking at the future

Dating noir includes:

You guys will never repeat the same date twice! Noir wants to experience everything the surface has to offer, so dates are spontaneous and almost always educational

Noir is very affectionate towards his loved ones. He has a thing for nuzzling your shoulder and neck. If your too short, then he’ll just pick you up to do it! Plus he’s an avid reader, so if you want cuddles, let him grab a book and he’s good to chill for the evening

Just a warning, noir takes flirting as a challenge and isn’t afraid to make you blush or nab a quick pinch. He’ll never go farther than what you’re comfortable with, but he’d be very happy if you teased him back

Like edge, noir has a fairly good range and isn’t as insecure about his voice. If he catches you singing, it’s pretty likely that he’ll join in

[gaybystarlight]

okay now for some f everyone songs:

Grund Genug - Madeline Juno, I forgot that you existed - Taylor Swift, This is on you - Maisie Peters, YOU TO YOU - MAISIE PETERS (though that one's also sad), I Did Something Bad by Taylor, perhaps New Romantics by Taylor or No Words by Maddy? though not sure abt these, do you know We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together by Taylor? if no then that one & perhaps Priest by Julia Michaels (BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT ONES ARE AT THE BEGINNING) (OK I'LL STOP NOW FOR REAL)

F everyone? I‘m listening!!!

1. Grund genug: sound: 4/10 it’s too 2010s for my taste. I just think f everyone sings have to be more punk-rocky otherwise they don’t hit the same and run the risk of not being the right kind of f everyone. Because when I say f everyone I mean „f everyone <- -> personal happiness“ and not „I am hurt -> f everyone“ Lyrics: 8/10 for some reason I resonate with them??

2. I forgot that you existed: solid 10/10 in both categories. Ladies and gentleman we have a winner.

3. I did something bad: sound: 2/10 too many things I don’t like in songs (vocals, background music). Lyrics: 10/10 QUEEN!!!!!

4. This is on you: sound: 3/10 too modern in a bad way. Lyrics: 5/10 ok. just ok bit special not bad but the kind of lyrics that have been done 1000 times before.

5. You to you: sound: (ok the album cover is kinda aesthetic and I think I have the same earrings) 5/10 too modern but compared to some other modern songs maybe even a 6/10 but again I just usually don’t feel comfortable listening to songs that sound too modern for some reason they just make me feel out of place and I have NO IDEA why that is?! Lyrics: 7/10 could be more original but ok.

6. New romantics: 1/10 I haven’t done more than 9 seconds but uuuugggh this sound at the beginning makes my skin crawl sorry. It’s like someone is trying to make your ears flinch with this sound (pet peeve Info dump alert: sounds like this one but not all sounds that sound like this sound generally I mean you would find many sounds that have elements similar to this (ugh) but this particular one/it‘s frequency is so much worse????). Lyrics: „trust me mine is better“ I love this! 10/10

7. No words: sound: maybe it’s the new romances aftermath but TOO MUCH WEIRD SOUNDS NOT MAKING ANY SENSE 2/10. lyrics: 9/10 wow these lyrics are actually quite impressing!

8. wanegbt: sound: 9/10 it’s a bop!!! It has a nice beat! The vocals are nice! I like it. My „bops“ playlist just gained a new member!!! Lyrics: 7/10 oh it’s THAT song!!!! Too overused but that’s not Taylor’s fault so yes I don’t really care about these lyrics they’re ok.

9. priest: Sound: 3/10 why do singers always feel the need to humm???? Did you forget your text? Trying to be edgy and artistic??? Mouth full??? What is it????? It literally sounds like she just took a bite off a sandwich and is now singing. Lyrics: THEY PUT THE HUMS IN THE LYRICS?? They really think they are doing something here aren’t they? But except for that it’s actually a true f you and everyone lyric so 10/10!!

[mrslittletall]

Now that I played through the Phoenix Wright Trilogy, it is time to rate it! Graphics The graphics are painted backgrounds as well as hand drawn character models with different expressions/tiny animations. They are pleasing to look at and never feel out of place. For a game that released first on the GBA, they are surprisingly clean. I have no qualms with the graphics whatsoever. I love that, to this day, the character animations from the courtroom are used in animations where stuff gets debated. Sound and Music The music is fantastic, though I have to say, the one of the first title is the best and feels like the most iconic, especially the Objection theme, which is even used as part of the main menu theme for the trilogy.  The first title has a lot of songs that are so nice to listen too, the court theme, the objection theme, the cornered theme is godlike and even the music outside of the court is fun, especially the theme song for the easy go lucky characters, like Lotta Hart.  The other titles declined a bit, I think the music is a bit too somber and sounds too serious and the objection theme, while still remixing the first one, just doesn’t have the same impact.  The second title has a fantastic new theme for the Search Core situation, used for a villainous reveal, but the third title kinda ruined it by using it EVERYWHERE. I kid you not, that theme played like... a 50 times or so, while it only was used for a certain character in the second one.  The sound effects are fine. The blips of the text aren’t annoying and the way the text is sometimes written faster or slower got a good impression how fast or slow a person was talking.  I liked that some of the sound effects from court were sometimes used in the dialogues to convey certain emotions also. Gameplay The game is a mix of a visual novel and an adventure game, so prepare to do LOTS of reading. You basically go to an area, then murder happens and then you have to find your defendant and proof their innocent. There are two kinds of gameplay, the first is the investigation, where you go around and look at stuff and talk with witnesses and the police and such. That is the most classical for an adventure game. The second one are the trials, where you have to proof your client’s innocence. It generally is by getting a witness on the stand and having to find the contradictions in their testimony. You can press them to get more information or present evidence once you spotted a contradiction. That is like a really nice puzzle and it could be pretty hard to find a contradiction, but it was all the more satisfying, when you found it and the testimony crumbled in itself and the prosecutor had their damaged portray after a good counter.  I have a bit of problems with it though, because sometimes you are obliged to show a certain piece of evidence. Most of the time, several are allowed, but I had one case, where a crime photo very much proofed what I wanted to say, namely that the victim used his left hand to hold his coffee cup, but for some reason, the lip stain on the coffee cup was the only valid evidence. Huh... In the second and third title, the investigation part actually got spiced up by making Phoenix able to see when people hide secrets from him and then we need to gather evidence and get them to spill their secrets. It is similar to the court room, but with only two parties. I really liked that parts. The gameplay was pretty fun, for me at least, but it has a few weaknesses of course, which are the usual adventure game weaknesses. Once you know the solution to the puzzle, the replayability is gone. Story and Characters That is where the game shines. Like I said, the game is basically a visual novel. It has its own individual stories for each case as well as some over arching storyline, mostly centered around a certain case, the DL-6 in the first title and then about the Fey Family in the second and third title.  The cases are sometimes a bit crazy, but that is too expected, the whole series is very whacky and filled with jokes and humours, sometimes good and sometimes bad jokes. The stories are interesting to follow and I often wanted to find out the truth myself, see if my suspicisions were correct and if we could get the real murdered on the stand to make a confession.  It is the most interesting when the overall storylines are getting involved, like in the first title, the DL6-Incident was both for the fourth and the fifth case and seeing how it all came together and got solved completely, was amazing.  The characters are a bunch of regulars and a bunch of case specific. Our main characters are clearly Phoenix Wright, the defense attorney, we play as and Maya Fey, a spirit medium. We also get a few regular prosecutors, with Miles Edgeworth for the first title, Franziska von Karma for the second and Godot for the third title. They could be considered the “villains”, but in a sense, they only try to serve justice, even though all of them have pretty nasty personalities at first.  We also have Detective Gumshoe, a very unlucky homicide detective, Larry Butz, Phoenix’ creepy friend and Lotta Hart, a woman who can’t decide on a career, but loves making photos, and Pearl Fey, the little cousin of Maya. We also have Mia Fey, Maya’s big sister and Phoenix’ mentor, but she tragically died... but that isn’t too much of a problem, because Maya is a spirit medium and can channel her, so that she often helps Phoenix out. All of them, besides Larry, who I have some troubles with, are absolutely adorable, they are quirky, they have moments, they have character growth, they have certain speech patterns and I love them. What I especially like, Maya is kind of Phoenix’ assistant and in pretty much every other story, I would have expected for them to go the shipping route, but Maya and Phoenix, despite being shipped heavily by Pearl, never show any romantic energy in my book. They are more platonic, more like little sister and big brother. It may come from the fact, that Maya is the little sister of Mia Fey, Phoenix’ mentor, and he views her more as a little sister, but their platonic relationship truly touched me.  When it comes to shipping, Phoenix and Miles have more erotic energy between them that Phoenix and Maya could ever have! Especially in the first title! It doesn’t surprise me that they are a popular ship.  Pet Peeves  Ok, some gripes I have with this game are the ages of the characters! Like, we had a case where a 14 year old girl planned a fake kidnapping, good, everyone was super stoked about that, but then it turned out, her 18 year old sister was a police woman at that time. And at age 23, she was considered a police veteran. What?! We also had a doctor who was said to be 31 years old... he looked like he was 55!  Franziska is another offender... one of these japanese tropes of the “child genius”. She became a prosecutor at age 13 and only was 18 when Phoenix first met her. She is from germany and I am pretty sure it is downright illegal to be a legal prosecutor there when you are not of age, so... Then... we have the fact that this game so OBVIOUSLY is set in Japan, but the localization acts like it is set in America... Yes, America has a super traditional japanese village, Maya Fey is wearing traditional japanese clothing, we have a case centered around the Steel Samurai, typical japanese kids TV where an actor is wearing a full body suit and masks himself. I am actually surprised that when they were in super obvious japanese settings, that they actually talked about everything like it was japanese, and not made onigiri into donuts. But ok, I can forgive this, because it is so dumb and the original setting is more than obvious.  Larry! The guy turned out to be creepy! He first got introduced as Phoenix’ idiot friend with a weakness for hot woman, but getting used by them a whole lot, ok, that is still fine. But with each entry, guy turned more and more creepy, until he tried to hit on a married woman and said that he wanted to date Pearl. Pearl is a nine year old child, wtf, Larry?! He had some moments, but even the game acknowledged what a waste of space he is and made him the butt monkey. Which I can fully and totally understand.  Ok, that has been it! Overall, I enjoyed these games a lot! I would like to try and find the others in the series, but I don’t think I will be able to find them...