#age as ambiguous as her height

[sleeplesssmoll]

@withered-rose-unbreakable-lotus

You gave some really interesting points! And I do agree that I wouldn't put her in her 20s. I’d a like to add on another thing I overlooked that would make sense for Vertin to be younger:

Vertin’s searching for her mother.

While this can still be done if we were a young adult, it hits harder if she’s younger. Like a little kitten or duckling.

Although, it could also be taken as no matter how much she suffered as a child, she never forgot her mother. She’s an adult now and she has the ability to seek answers. She yearns for her mother even if she doesn’t know her. It's like an old wound that refuses to heal which would also be neat to explore.

As for not having all the answers, I think Vertin’s ability to understand what people want is a skill that normally comes from experience and reflection. She did it with Druvis, Jessica, Schneider, Regulus and so on. Other moments like redirecting Jessica’s behavior and looking after her crew while still letting them have their fun show she does know a thing or two about mentoring, but she’s not perfect. We see her get into trouble in Alien T’s anecdote and she feels more like a kid here, but that wouldn’t be out of character if she’s 19 either. I think it’d still fit well and is a point we both agree on! 19 is able to have way more responsibilities but also still a kid. I feel the same way you do about it!

Shamane is a great example of this. He learned a lot during his years but you can still see him grow as confronts ghosts from his past. While he is able to guide people, even he falters and has doubts. I’d say a lot of the SPDM kids have gone through this which is why aging up would not hurt the story, but enforce other motifs. On the same note, Vertin is similar but no where near as experienced. She won't always do everything right or "adult" the right way.

But you have another point with the Uluru games. Part of me wants to say that maybe Vertin wanted to let the kids cool off after their fight, but also she could have genuinely not known what to do. I do find it odd since she's not usually this hands-off in the Anecdotes or Suitcase interactions with members.

There is also a third way to perceive it (meta): It’s not Vertin’s story so she was only a vehicle for the real main characters. This would also explain why she’s so quiet and is around mostly to tie up loose ends. She has a Suitcase full of arcanists to test the stadium, she helps the Spathodea cross the desert, she brings that cool hat journalist to save the day. I liked the event, don’t get me wrong! I always love to see Vertin too but I’ll admit she felt like convenient extra in this one, in my opinion. 

Here is how I see the story playing out if she was aged up:

Vertin (19) has a deeper understanding of how the world works but is still trying out how to navigate it compared to the other SPDM kids since she was made the Timekeeper at 12-13. She’s seen how cruel the world can be. She’s also not your standard “gifted” child because she started from the bottom, not from the top. She was an awful student and her only saving grace was not getting erased like the other children. Now people applaud her for existing since it gives them a chance against the Storm. The “Timekeeper” title was thrust upon her but it could have been anyone with Storm Immunity. She’s grown into a kind, generous individual because she spent years traveling and meeting people. This also emphasizes her compassion. She’s not nice because she’s naive; she chooses to be a kind person despite the hardships she faced.

On that note, regardless of her age she’d still need an army of arcanists because she is a weak arcanist and the Foundation has literal soldiers. She’s better off working from the inside because they have her on a leash. Vertin also works within the Foundation because they give her the resources necessary to learn about the Storm and save people. Afterall, she is a kind person who genuinely wants to help people and staying with the Foundation allows her to do this. It’s not like they would let her go anyway. 

But if Sonetto is the same age, she’d also be 19. This would give us an even stronger contrast of Sonetto’s stunted growth and naivety due to the Foundation, and Vertin’s forced entry into adulthood. Sonetto's naivety and anger at the cruel world vs. Vertin’s experience and drive to change it are already present in the story, but I feel like giving them a bit of time to really grow into these roles adds depth.

In my opinion, the story doesn't change much if you do age them up but, it feels like it makes more sense. Also young adults and childhood trauma go hand in hand :D

Now for the more nitpicky stuff because I am insufferable.

She met a single mom at a snack bar at 2am which would have to be somewhere between 12-16, and 16 feels more unlikely but idk timeline. Vertin drinks beers and champagne, sure a 16 old can too but she seems to have easy access to alcohol. People refer to Vertin as a kid while punishing her like an adult, which is very common for freshly turned adults. You’re still a baby but you have all these expectations thrown on you.

Thank you for giving me things to think about! This is also just me adding on to the conversation and everything here is my perspective. Having another view keeps the brain rot from consuming me.

One thing I'd change about Reverse 1999.

The more I think about it, the more I wonder why Vertin and the others are so young. It's like the anime problem where they're so reluctant to use young adults/adults even though it'd make more sense in terms of immersion. Or they make a character look young but they're actually very old.

Matilda is 14.

Tooth Fairy is 25! I read her as at least 28-30ish. To put that into perspective, Blonney is 20 and Horrorpedia is 21 which I can see. They made Zima 29 so I know it's possible!

From a story standpoint, I read Vertin as at least 19, and that's including the trauma that forced her to be the mature and stoic Timekeeper. Her charisma, ability to travel the world on her own, and experience in the field made me think of one who is old enough to deal with problems but not quite at the level where they have all the answers. Also her travels and sneaking around in places she shouldn't be would be easier if she's older. For example, more job opportunities, the ability to get a license etc. 19 is a transitional stage where she's both a kid and adult. Although, you could say this about a 16yo Vertin too but it feels...different. like a different type of transition happens during these ages but I can't put my finger on it.

Idk if I can really put this feeling into words because that's all it is really. Certain characters ages don't "feel" right.

On a completely unrelated note, I want an arcanist that looks like your stereotypical witch with a point hat and black cat! She seems like a scary grumpy lady (70), but she actually has butterscotch in her pockets and and a big ol' loving heart in her chest.

I also want a Salem trials "witch" who is actually an arcanist.

[britneyshakespeare]

you know i'm usually the last person to have strong opinions on movie casting announcements but the idea of jacob elordi playing heathcliff stirs a fiery sense of indignation in my heart

[eternal-evergreens]

｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+*⁠.⁠✧"Into the looking glass."｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+*⁠.⁠✧

Part I Part II Part III Part IV

Post format: Multipart series

Pairing: Yandere!Male!DoL x Fem!Isekai!Reader

Word count: 5k

Synopsis: You gain the chance to wake up in the world of one of your favorite games. Unfortunately, the 'favorite game' happens to be one about rape, violence, and stalking. Not only that, but the game seems to be rigged against you. All you want is to find a way home and put this all behind you, but is that even possible...?

Warnings: Sexual Assault, Attempted Non/Con, Stalking, Violence, Age Gaps, Teacher/Student, Caretaker/Ward, Bullying

Color indicator: Excellent Good Decent Okay Poor Bad Terrible

Another dull morning, you think to yourself, rolling over to turn off your alarm. You pick up your cellphone and blearily swipe your screen as you clamber out of bed. It’s embarrassing to admit, but you really didn’t notice anything was wrong until you stood up and looked in the mirror. You blink, poking at you face and staring where your reflection should be, but isn’t. You wave your hand in front of the mirror. Nothing.

You look around, only to realize that your surroundings are different, too. The room you’re in is plain, cramped, and completely devoid of character. It’s almost liminal, in a way. Eerie in its emptiness. 

You need to get out of here. 

You nervously reach for the door and twist the handle. The doornob moves with you, but the door remains fixed in place. Your phone buzzes, and you fish it out of your pocket, quickly turning it on. You’ve gotten a text, but the number is blank.

You have not chosen an avatar yet. Please choose one from the mirror before leaving your room.

Well, that woke you right up. Is someone watching you? You swerve your head around, checking the ceilings and corners for cameras. You try the door again. You go in circles, turning the whole room upside down. You try the door. Nothing. You check your phone. The same message appears as soon as you open it. You swipe it away out of habit, but it refuses to budge. Freaky. The time hasn’t changed since you woke up, either, though you’re sure you’ve been at it for more than fifteen minutes by now.

You decide to take a peek at the mirror again. You try to remove it from the wall to look behind, but your vision goes white the second you make contact with its’ surface. Your vision clears, and in front of you is a grey figure of ambiguous gender. It looks almost made of clay. Your phone buzzes.

Player avatar selection. 

Select a sex. Sex cannot be changed after starting the game.

1.) Male 2.) Female 3.) Hermaphrodite

Well, you’ve either fallen asleep or been drugged. Not knowing what else to do, you choose female, watching in horror and fascination as the figure morphs to accommodate your choice. 

>Next

Other customization options soon come up. You give the figure your ideal height, weight, and features. You change her skin tone, hair color, texture, and eye color. You watch as she slowly comes to life as your ideal. The person you’ve always wanted to be. 

Your phone buzzes just as you finish touching her up.

Set Name

You’re about to name her when the text fills itself in with your name instead.

Welcome, [First]! 1. Start Game!

You grimace, and hit play.

—————————

When you come to, it’s 07:00 again, and you’re still in that room. You glance at the mirror, only to see your avatar glancing back. You wave your arm in front of it, and she mimics your movements perfectly. You make a lewd gesture, and she does, too. Creepy. Is this really a dream? You’re startled out of your thoughts as your phone buzzes once again.

Welcome to the alpha of Degrees of Lewdity!

If you want to avoid trouble, dress modestly and stick to safe, well-lit areas. Nights are particularly dangerous. Dressing lewd will attract attention, both good and bad. 

The new school year starts tomorrow at 09:00. The bus service is the easiest way to get around town. Don’t forget your uniform and backpack!

1. Next

Your face pales as you read the text. There’s no way. You hit next, reminding yourself that you’re only in a dream, and that no one can harm you in a dream. Your phone opens to its home screen, where you see various apps, some of which are labled.

-Characteristics -Social -Traits -Journal -Stats -Feats

You open characteristics and take a look. At the very top is a color chart indicator. description of your body’s appearance and condition, underneath are familiar stats.

Purity: 7/7 You are angelic. Physique: 3/6 Your body is average. Willpower: 1/6 You are fainthearted. Awareness: 3/7 You have a normal understanding of sexuality. Promiscuity: 0/6 You are chaste and pure.  Exhibitionism: 0/6 You are coy. Deviancy: 0/6 You are squeamish.

Everything seems to be in line with the stats for the beginning of a playthrough. Everything except one.

Beauty: 7/6 Your beauty is beyond measure.

That’s…not good, if the blaring red is anything to go off of, anyway. 

You scroll down. Your skills are all ranked as F, which is actually better than the “None” stat they usually start as. That’s weird, but you aren’t complaining. Your sex skills, however…are all at C. That’s super weird! You aren’t sure what to make of it, so you choose to ignore it instead. 

Your overall school performance is terrible, with F’s all around the board. In real life, this would mean you’d picked the athlete trait, but your physique is baseline, and your athletic stat is also at F, so it can’t be that. It must just be inconsistencies from being asleep, you reason. That’s why your stats are all over the place.

Your status is normal, aside from your allure. Which is maxed out at “You look like you need to be ravaged.” You shudder.

You check traits. You have two.

Alien - You aren’t from around here! RPG like elements have been incorporated into your reality for a smoother experience.  Virgin - Your purity recovers faster. Your virginity might be worth something.

You open your journal. 

It is the 4th of September, 2022.

-It has been 0 days since the game started. -The game started in autumn.  -It is autumn. -School term starts on Monday the 5th of September.

Current quests:

Visit Bailey in his office by 20:00 tonight to recover your ID documents and gain your independence.

Failure to complete quest will result in the day restarting

You turn your phone off and look around. Everything seems normal, too normal. You read somewhere once that it’s impossible (or perhaps just very difficult) to read clearly while in a dream. Could you have been drugged? Or did you take something and then forget about it?

You pinch yourself. Ow.

Well, that’s not solid proof. People have reported cases of feeling pain in dreams before it’s just kind of really rare is all. Or, or! Maybe you’re not dreaming. Maybe you’re dying. Maybe you got into an accident somewhere, and now you’re in a coma. People hallucinate during comas, don’t they? 

You pinch yourself, again. 

It’s not real.

…You might as well see what this quest is about.

You leave your bedroom, and walk to Bailey’s office. You don’t question how you know the way there. You knock on the door and enter. 

“I know why you’re here,” he says. “You want me to release you from my protection, so you’ll be an independent citizen. I could do that. But there’s a problem. You’ve been living under my roof without giving anything in return. You owe me. Until you pay me back, I’m not letting you go.” He picks up an envelope and flips through it. Dozens of identification documents are stored within it. One of them is yours. “£100 should do. To start with. I don’t care how you get it. Knock on doors and ask for work. Rent yourself as a footstool. Steal it, even. Just have it a week from now. Or I’ll find a way to extract value from you.”

You nod and leave his office, returning to your room.

Your phone buzzes as soon as you close the door. 

Quest completed. New quest added to journal. View Now? 

Y/N

You hit yes. 

Time-Sensitive:

Bailey wants £100 on Sunday. Find a job and free yourself from his clutches. 

That’s great and all, but maybe you shouldn’t leave the orphanage today…or ever. Not until you wake up. You decide to just download some social media apps and scroll for the rest of the day instead. You scroll until midday, when you’re stopped by your stomach growling. Can you get hungry inside a dream…? You feel uneasy as you climb off the bed. Your neck hurts from the uncomfortable position you had been in, but that’s the least of your worries right now. 

You leave your bedroom and enter the main hall. A trim girl happens to be passing by your door, so you stop her and ask about when lunch is. She looks at you strangely. 

“Whenever you want…? Just go somewhere and get it. I don’t know.” 

“I meant here, can we get food here?” 

“Sure, if you’re underage. We have to provide for ourselves once we reach eighteen, though. You know that. Everyone knows that.” She leaves in a hurry. You go back to your room to watch “Gootube” videos. It’s not as pornographic as it sounds. 

You stay on your phone for the rest of the day. It never seems to run out of charge. Finally, you turn it off and climb under the covers. You don’t bother to wear pajamas. You sleep soundly, and wake up at 07:00 on Sunday, September 4th. 

Wait, what? 

You look at your journal again. 

Journal 

It is the 4th of September, 2022.

-It has been 0 days since the game started. -The game started in autumn.  -It is autumn. -School term starts on Monday the 5th of September.

Current quests:

Visit Bailey in his office by 20:00 tonight to recover your ID documents and gain your independence. Failure to complete quest will result in the day restarting

But you didn’t fail your quest! You completed it and…

It’s because you didn’t get a job yesterday, isn’t it? 

You sigh and climb out of bed. Off to visit Bailey again. 

“I know why you’re here,” he says. God, you wish you could skip dialogue in real life. Or in dreams, you guess. Bailey wraps up his speech and you leave, this time heading outside the orphanage to look for work right after. 

As expected, you bump into someone almost immediately. A voluptuous woman grabs you. “You’re the cutest thing I’ve seen all week!” She says, lunging for your clothes. You step back, but she catches you, lifting your sundress’s skirt and revealing your lace panties. You try to grab her hand and pull it away, but she’s stronger than you. She pushes you to the ground, and you land painfully on the sidewalk. You let out an involuntary yelp as your elbows scrape on the pavement. Is she really going to try and molest you out in public like this? It would appear so, as she’s currently straddling your legs with her knees, keeping them apart. You come to your senses when you feel a hand on your groin, and scream out for help. 

A taut man comes to your rescue, chasing off the woman and helping you to your feet. He treats your wounds and gives you a pepper spray charge. You thank him and go on your way. 

The dog pound is probably the best place to start with, you think to yourself while looking at the map on your phone. So you hop on a bus and wait for your stop, but not before a thin man sits next to you and rests his hand on your thigh. You shuffle away from him, and he follows you. You stand up, and he does, too. No one else is paying attention. You quickly walk to the most crowded area of the bus and sit next to a plush woman. She doesn’t look happy, but doesn’t say anything, either. The thin man watches you from his seat. You reach your destination, and he moves to follow you when you stand. Luckily, a tall man stops him, giving you a thumbs up as he blocks the thin man’s view of you. You give him a grateful nod and step off. 

Your shift at the dogpound goes on without incident. Thugh the employees tried to get handsy more than a few times, they never took it further when you moved away. You even took your lunch break at the nearby cafe! You’re surprised by how much character the place had visually, considering it comes from a text-based game.

By the time the dog pound closes, it’s nighttime. You pale at the realization. It’s nighttime, and you’re in Degrees of Lewdity. Should you risk taking the bus? Or should you risk the streets? 

If you’re on a bus, you’re there for less time, but it’s an enclosed space. If you’re outside, there’s more places to run and hide. But hiding goes both ways. 

You elect to go through the streets, sticking to the places that are the most open and well-lit. You get home without incident, though you swear you saw something in the alleys. 

You collapse into bed and sleep for ten hours. 

—————————

It’s 07:03 when you wake up. You have school today, so you look through your wardrobe for your uniform. You find it, but…why is it so skimpy? Sheer tights, short plaid skirt, tight shirt, platform mary janes and loose socks. You put it on, but the shirt is so tight it won’t button all the way, leaving a sizable amount of your cleavage and lace bra visible. 

Speaking of which, aren’t you only supposed to start with plain underwear? Why is all of yours lace? And why does it clasp at the front? You spend twenty minutes looking for a jacket, different shirt, or other way to cover yourself, but find nothing. Bailey bangs on the doors around the orphanage to wake the orphans up. You sigh and put your clothes back into your wardrobe before leaving.

You bump into Robin on your way out. Literally. He nearly runs you over.

“Hey!” He says running towards you. He doesn’t slow down in time and plows right into you. You help him up. “Thanks,” he says, looking a bit bashful. “I didn’t see you yesterday. Remember, you can visit me in my room anytime you want. I have something to show you. I’m so excited!” He runs off, and you realize you’ve forgotten your backpack, so you head back in and find it. It takes you another ten minutes to realize you’d put it behind the door. By the time you’re ready, it’s already half an hour past seven. You decide to see if Robin is still in his room. 

You knock, and hear some crashing. Before you can ask if something’s wrong, Robin opens the door and hugs you. “Look,” he says, pulling you inside. Your eyes immediately land on the shiny new game console in the corner of the room. “I’ve been saving up,” he says. “What are you waiting for?” He pats the bed beside him and you hop on. You watch him play for a few minutes, and the two of you walk to school together. 

Though it’s literally your first time meeting him, you feel safer around Robin. Though you know he can’t fight to protect you, having someone by your side does a lot to ease the mind. Plus, he’s one of the only decent people in the game. You’re glad, but at the same time, you’re uneasy. You wonder if he notices you’re not his childhood friend. That you look like her, sound like her, but you aren’t her. You wonder if he’d hate you, should he find out.

“Is something wrong, [First]?” You snap to attention. 

“Huh? Oh, uh, no. I’m okay,” you say. “I was just kind of busy yesterday, came home exhausted but couldn’t sleep, you know how it is.” You wave your hand dismissively at him as you pass the school gates. “Where are you heading? I’d like to go with you, if that’s alright. Since I didn’t see you yesterday, and all.” Really, you just don’t want to be alone here. But there’s no need to say that. 

Robin smiles, and the two of you hang out in the rear courtyard. It’s nice, but you can feel him glancing at you when he thinks you’re not looking. It makes you uncomfortable. Has he caught on? You excuse yourself and head to the library. Maybe you should acquaint yourself with the other non-crazy person on campus. At least you won’t have to lie about your identity to Sydney. 

You walk over to the counter near the back of the library. A tall boy with a strawberry blonde ponytail and glasses is stamping books behind it. You smile as you approach him. “Good morning…” He says, yawning. “First time at the rental counter? You can rent out one book at a ti-” Sydney yawns.. “Time. You can also buy school-approved clothes here. Headmaster Leighton’s marked the prices way up, though. Students with a good record get special discounts.” He seems excited, though you can’t place why. 

“Books can be rented out for two weeks at a time. You can renew your rental at any time…” He looks down. You look down. Sydney has stamped his hand. You smile.”...Let’s call that a demonstration of what happens if you return a late or damaged book. My name’s Sydney, by the way! Pleased to meet you.” 

“I’m [First],” you respond. You and Sydney spend some time chatting. You notice that he’s oddly red. 

“Are you feeling okay?” You ask, raising a hand to his forehead. “You’re burning up! Let’s get you to the infirmary!” 

“W-what? No, I’m okay…” 

“No, you’re not,” you say, pulling him up by the forearm. You drag him to the infirmary, and he has to bend down to allow it. No one pays you much mind, though you’re sure you look a little silly, holding onto the forearm of someone much taller than you. You reach the nurse, who informs you that Sydney is perfectly healthy, though tells him to take a rest on one of the beds upon seeing the bags under his eyes.

“See?” He says, smiling. “I didn’t realize you were such a worrier.” You flush, embarrassed. Is pure Sydney supposed to tease people? His face softens. “Thanks…for worrying about me, though” he says, then checks the time. “You should probably get to class.” Right, you’d nearly forgotten you were at school. You thank Sydney for reminding you and leave as he waves you off.

You go to your science lesson. Despite your grade being at F, the lesson is actually pretty easy to follow, some of this you remember from your own highschool lessons. The bell rings and you leave the classroom, only to get shoved into a locker immediately. A boy with blonde hair covering one eye looms over you. You recognize him immediately. 

“Don’t get in my way again,” Whitney says, pressing his knee against your crotch. “Or I’ll put you in your place.” He releases you, but you know that won’t be the end of it. You hurry to math class, hoping Whitney will skip today. You’re tense for the first twenty minutes of class, but slowly begin to relax upon realizing Whitney probably isn’t going to show up. Nearly half an hour into class, the teacher River steps out for a moment. And with the kind of timing you’d only see in movies, Whitney waltzes in, his jacket thrown over his shoulder. You try to look away, but it’s too late. Whitney makes eye contact with you and grins. He walks over to the mousy girl sitting next to you. 

“Move,” he says. She does. You turn away from him, but he grabs your hair, forcing you to look at him.

This is unfair, you think to yourself. Whitney isn’t supposed to sit next to you unless you’re dating. Why now?

“Watcha lookin at, slut?”

This sucks. You want to go home. When is this dream supposed to end? 

Whitney tugs at your hair even harder. “I asked you a question, slut.”

How did you even get here in the first place? Did you really die? Were you in a coma? Whitney yanks your hair back so hard your body goes with it, creating an awful screeching sound as your chair lurches back. River walks in just in time to see you fall on your back. Whitney is sent out. He turns to make a penetration sign with his hands at you as he leaves. 

Math ends, and you head to English. There’s a crowd of students blocking your path. You peer over shoulders and heads to see the source of the commotion, and see a dark haired student on the ground, with two bullies standing over him. Your first instinct is Kylar, but you must be wrong. Kylar’s event shouldn’t happen until a week from now. 

You could try to help, but that would probably get you assaulted. Even if you didn’t, your fellow students would think less of you, leading you to getting picked on later, and potentially assaulted more and–

Fuck it, you can’t ignore this. You’re already shoving past students and blocking the bullies’ view of the student. “Leave him alone,” you say. “I won’t stand for this.” One of the bullies, a thin girl, shoves you down. 

“Sit, then!” She says, the audience laughs. You pick yourself up and ram into the thin girl and her friend. You knock her off-balance and she falls to the floor, screaming as soon as she lands. “You stupid bitch! You broke my tailbone!” The audience is laughing at her, now. Her friend is helping her up. “I’ll get you for this! Mark my fucking words!” You shiver. Hopefully no one notices. You turn to check on the boy they were harassing, only to nearly bump heads with him. You jump back, and the boy smiles apologetically. There’s something else in his expression, but before you can figure out what it was, you make eye contact with him, and the whole world goes dark.

Tousled black hair, short stature, sickly pale skin and the greenest eyes you’ve ever seen. It’s Kylar. It has to be. “T-thanks,” he says. “I-I’m Kylar.” Your face drops, but you aren’t sure if he saw it before running off. The tips of his ears are red, you notice. You step towards the crowd, which is already dispersing. The remaining onlookers make way for you, though you feel a hand grope your butt as you leave. You turn, but no one’s there. 

You head into English class, already exhausted. Kylar watches you from the back. You ignore him. The plump boy sitting behind you sniffs your hair during the entirety of the lesson, so it’s hard to focus. You look down at your notes. It’s an unintelligible mess. Is this what it means to have a grade F in English, you wonder?

Finally, it’s lunch time. You head to the cafeteria, passing by the headmaster on your way there. You swear you saw him checking you out. You shudder and speed up. Upon reaching the canteen, you are presented with three options.

Robin is talking with some students at his table, they seem to be arguing.

Sydney is sitting alone, several piles of books surrounding him. 

Kylar is also alone, stabbing at his food with more violence than seems neccesary.  

Despite your self preservation instincts, you walk towards Robin to see what the commotion is. The lean boy is accusing Robin of ‘looking at him with disrespect’. Arguing with him would be pointless. So you do the next best thing and smile as you spit in his face. 

As expected, he doesn’t take it well, and pounces on you immediately. He tears open your shirt, leaving you only marginally more exposed than you already were. You scream loudly, and Leighton rushes in. You suppress a smirk.

“What’s the meaning of this?!” He shouts, pushing past students to find you exposed on the ground, the lean boy holding you down. He scrambles off of you, and you fix your uniform. The lean boy tries to explain, but Leighton cuts him off and sends him out. Robin helps you up. 

“Are you okay?! Why did you do that?” 

“I saw Leighton on the way over here. I figured if we caused a scene, he’d be the one to get in trouble for it.”

“Don’t do something like that again! That was really dangerous!” You nod, though you don’t really mean it. 

Kylar watches from across the canteen. +Jealousy

The rest of lunch passes without incident and you go to History with Robin. The two of you chat about his game before class starts. You learn some interesting things about the history of the town. Nothing happens during history, and you leave feeling refreshed. You navigate the halls to your swimming lesson and change. You keep your eyes down, but swear you feel the stares of your classmates. You think you hear a camera go off, but when you turn, no one’s looking at you. 

A taut boy follows you around the pool, and doesn’t stop trailing until the lesson is over. He keeps his distance, but it still makes you feel uneasy. The bell rings, and you don’t see him again. 

You meet up with Robin in the courtyard, but hesitate walking home when you see Whitney hanging out by the gate.

“Can we go out through the back?”

“The back? Why?” You nod your head towards Whitney and his friends, and Robin makes an ‘O’ with his mouth. “I don’t mind, but how will we get out?” You’re about to answer when a realization hits you. Right. You haven’t unlocked the tunnel outside yet, which means you can’t leave unless you climb the fence. 

“...Nevermind,” you say. “Maybe they won’t notice us.” You and Robin try to blend in with the crowd, but a hand on your shoulder quickly yanks you into the open.

“Hold it, slut.” Shit. “You didn’t pay the toll.”

You grit your teeth. “What’s the toll?” Whatever, you have twenty quid to spare.

“Flash us your tits.” There’s a crowd circling around you. You notice people pulling out their phones. 

“[First]...” 

“It’s fine, Robin.” You give him a strained smile as you unbutton your blouse. “Happy?” You ask, turning back to Whitney. 

“Not quite,” he says, grabbing the front of your bra and unclasping the hook. Your breasts flop out. “There. That wasn’t so bad, now, was it?” You turn and quickly fix your bra, wishing it clasped at the back instead of the front like a normal bra. You and Robin speed away, then find a secluded ally to fix your shirt.

Finally home, you decide to check out some of the apps you didn’t bother with yesterday.

Social              

Excellent Good Decent Okay Poor Bad Terrible

Primary relationships: 

Robin The Orphan Robin wants to be your best friend.           Love: 100% Confidence: 0% Trauma: 0% Lust: 40%

You smile. It’s little different than the starting relationship in the actual game, but you’re slowly getting used to the inconsistencies. You’re about to look at the next box when your eyes are drawn back up to the pink text. Wait a minute, doesn’t that mean bad? You check the color chart to make sure.

But, why? Why is that bad? Isn’t it good? Or, is it because his confidence is low? Maybe the key word here is “wants”. Still, wouldn’t that count more as poor than bad? Whatever, no need to nitpick. You’ll check back in on it later. You move on.

…You almost move on. Why is his love so high? And his lust, too?! It’s gotta be a glitch, right? Right?

Right. You restart your phone and boot it back up. Nothing’s changed. You put that aside for now.

Whitney The Bully  Whitney wants to own you. Love: 50% Dominance: 50% Lust: 100%

Another different one. Also bad. Terrible, even. You aren’t even sure what to make of it. You just met him, and his lust is already maxed out. His love is also surprisingly high, though only half as much as Robin’s is. You make a mental note to sit in view of the teacher during math going forward.

Kylar The Loner Kylar is obsessed with you. Love: 100% Jealousy: 55% Lust: 90%

Another case of inexplicably high stats right off the bat, though you aren’t surprised with Kylar. You move on.

Sydney The Faithful ? Sydney is conflicted. Love: 77% Purity: 44% Lust: 66%

Okay, you’re pretty sure those are all just angel numbers. Or, supposed to be angel numbers. It’s kind of hard to do that with only two numbers. Though 666 is actually more of a demonic number, it still fits the theme. Aside from the strange percentages, you’re also concerned by the question mark next to ‘faithful’, not to mention the fact that his purity is already so low he’s conflicted. You haven’t even flirted with him yet!

You glance at the other named NPC’s. They’re all unremarkable, full of “has no strong opinion of you” aside from two.

Bailey The Caretaker Bailey doesn’t want you to leave. Love: 25% Lust: 99%

Leighton The Headmaster You’re Leighton’s favorite. Love: 10% Lust: 85%

Your stomach lurches. Gross. You are absolutely repressing that shit.

You check your reputation next.

-The police aren’t concerned with you, and have no evidence linking you to any crime. -The atmosphere in the orphanage is calm. -You are considered a normal student by teachers. -Your fellow students desire you.

You grimace at the last one. You make a mental note to buy a more concealing uniform.

Finally, you have your fame. This one should be normal, right? You’ve only just gotten here.

Sex: Unknown Prostitution: Unknown Rape: Obscure. Beastiality: Unknown Exhibitionism: Unknown Pregnancy: Unknown Combat: Obscure Kindness: Obscure Business: Unknown Socialite: Unknown Overall: Famous

What?! Famous?! How does that— Ugh, forget it. You keep reading.

The townsfolk call you Darling. Those in the criminal underworld call you Darling.

…?

What…what does that mean?

—————————

Next>

[vasyandii]

💡RAM & CAM⚒️

Included are my headcanons of AM's Older Brothers, and some explanations of their designs! (I took big inspo with CAM's design from @kibutsulove so please go check out their design as well!) Yes this pertains to VernonAM, No I can't shut up about them.

RAM (Yaroslav Machavariani)

Physically 53, around 6' (182 cm) in height.

Greying hairs, scaring around the cheek area.

Colour palette is blue leaning.

His Emblem is Я (Ya) for the Russian word "I", "I am"

RAM can speak with his mouth, however, his hearing is subdued (Think "Hear No Evil")

Because he can't hear that well in his physical form, he's extremely loud. To the point his jaw almost fell off, hence the scarring.

Perpetual smirk, as if he is scheming something.

Despite his looks, he is not the oldest Mastercomputer.

"MY LITTLE BROTHER FINALLY GOT A GIRLFRIEND!! THANK GOD, I WOULD BE SO EMBARRASSED TO BE RELATED TO A LOSER!"

CAM (Shengli "Samson" Min)

Physically age ambiguous (55), 5'10 (178 cm), still taller than Yankee AM

Monolids/Epicanthic folds, mole near nose

Colour palette is red leaning

His Emblem is 是 (Shi) as in 我是 (Wo Shi); "I am."

CAM is unable to use his mouth to speak, often having difficulty with his mechanical jaw. (Think "Speak No Evil")

He relies on his omnipresence or hand gestures to convey his messages. His hearing is extremely good, unfortunately.

Extremely observant. Sick of AM and RAM's shit, still gets them out of trouble.

The oldest brother, he's so tired, let him take a nap. Please.

"Look at her. Am I crazy, she doesn't look well adjusted. She- she's trying to eat the slug. Okay. Fun. Happy for you two. Fucking freaks."

((their mechanical designs totally aren't political/government commentary COUGH COUGH, if you don't see me in 5 days assume I've been killed and replaced by a body double))

[witchthewriter]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞

⤷ gender neutral, ambiguous race, human reader. Requests are open, thank you for reading!

inspired by @angelltheninth (check out their work, it’s amazing!)

a/n: All characters are aged up and over the age of 18. Let me know if you want me to do more characters in the Avatar preferences xx

Warning: this is sfw, but I accidentally have a few sexual innuendos...

ᴹᵃˢᵗᵉʳˡᶤˢᵗ            

𝑺𝑭𝑾🌿  

𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲: Not in an established relationship, but both of you are interested in one another. You had made your way to Pandora because you’re a journalist excited to write about this new world. You didn’t think romance would be in the cards, but here you are, completely head over heels. 

𝐉𝐚𝐤𝐞

・Understands your curiosity, as he felt the same way 

・He isn’t as defensive as other Na’vi would be

・Lets you touch and feel his fangs, tail and ears. 

・On instinct, his ears flicker, like cats’ do when they sense something is near 

・You wouldn’t be ready for his tail though. Being up close to it - god it would be massive. His actual tail is smooth, just like his body. But at the end, it has a different texture, it’s a bit fuzzier. 

・What really interested you was the queue. It was connected from the back of his head and ended in tendril like forms.  

・Eywa didn’t intend on humans coming to Pandora, but because there are similarities between humans and Na’vi, when you touched it, it felt like a small shock throughout your body

・You yelped when it happened, and Jake laughed so much he snorted

・In this situation, Jake would definitely be laying down on his back, swatting you playfully with his tail

・No matter your height, it’s nothing compared to Jake’s. His long legs are stretched out, and that’s when you become fascinated with his feet

・” You’re feet are HUGE!?”

・A lot of comparisons: putting hands against each other, measuring how much distance there is between your heights etc

𝐍𝐞𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐢

・She would see your curiosity as a positive thing as her features are strongly related to her spirituality. Her pointed ears, fangs and tail were specially created by Eywa so that she could experience her world in the most intense way

・Swats your hand away at first, but then realises she likes the feel of your hands

・You touch her apprehensively, not wanting to cross any boundaries

・But once Neytiri sees that you’re trying to be respectful, she would answer your questions before you even voice them

・You don’t prod or poke, but gently feel and caress

・Scrunches her nose when you stare at her fangs

      “I wish I had fangs-” you blurted out. 

“You have features that are most beautiful,” Neytiri replies, moving the hair out of your eyes

・She laughs when you start chasing her, trying to catch her tail 

      “Skxawng!” She shrieks joyfully, turning around to grab ahold of you.

・Collapsing on the ground, she turns her head to look at you, and holds your cheek in her hand “beautiful,” she whispers. 

𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐲𝐚𝐦

・After giving his consent, Neteyam would smirk at the way your eyes narrow and light up. Especially at his queue and how the tendrils reach for something to latch onto

   “I wonder why Eywa chose to make you blue. You could have been purple, or maybe even green...” 

He chuckles and shakes his head, “what?”

・Thinks it’s funny and playfully bites your finger when you prod his fangs 

・Is a bit defensive/protective of his tail though, and you would have to ask his consent to play with it

・Starts to purr when you touch him. He starts doing it within seconds. You don’t say anything about it until he coughs, trying to disguise it 

・Scares you by suddenly moving his tail. You were so focused on being respectful that it made you jump. It made you laugh though, but sparked a million more questions about how tails work - 

    “So you can control it? What does it feel like? Is it considered another limb? Can you pick things up with it? Is it for balance?” 

・Does his best to answer your questions but he has to think deeply about it because it’s natural to him. 

・Tries to explain things by using your body as an example (but his sentence trails off because he gets lost in thought while staring at your body...)

𝐋𝐨'𝐚𝐤

・Is a bit shocked at your curiosity. These parts of him seem so normal, it’s your body that looks weird to him

・Mimics you when you start prodding and poking at different parts of his body

・While you trace his ears, he moves your hair to do the same. 

      “So round-” he murmurs. 

“So blue,” you retort. 

・Smirks, but is also deeply blushing whenever you mutter “wow”

・A lot of tail swishing when you’re looking at his fangs. He’s in a mixed mindset - embarrassment, excitement, eagerness ... 

・When you’re doing this investigation, you get him from standing to sitting (because he’s so tall). You grab onto his arm and pull him downward, so you’re eye to eye

・ You cock your head from side to side, looking at his facial features. Your fingers run from his forehead over his nose and down to his chin

・And Lo’ak is doing ALL HE CAN not to kiss you 

・Your sitting in between his legs, one hand is on your hip while you admire his other one

  “Your hand is nearly the size of my skull.”

・The interaction turns from playful to intimate. And you’re trying not to focus on Lo’ak’s roaming hand...

[waratah-vroom]

Scandalous (ms47)

✨ join waratah's (over) 100 follower celebration ✨ Made to order for super sweet anon

Liked by yndaily, ynsource and 19,274 others ynstylefiles: When will they finally admit they're dating? They're so cute together!

"You need to leave."

Mick had barely finished tying his shoelaces when you threw him his jacket. "Pushing me out so soon, Hase?"

"No, you idiot, I mean you leave now and I'll follow you out in ten minutes. We'll meet in the car."

"This is getting ridiculous, honestly. I don't know why we can't just say we're dating."

You'd had this conversation a million times before. "You know why."

He groaned, his head falling against the back of the couch. His response was always the same. "It's so stupid."

You and Mick had already been dating for three months when your show's publicist approached you about entering a PR relationship with your co-star, Jacob. You'd flat out refused, but since you hadn't gone public with Mick yet, they'd managed to talk you into a compromise of leaving an 'air of ambiguity' between you and Jacob.

Mick wasn't thrilled, and to be honest neither were you, but it was either publicly ignore your boyfriend and get caught grabbing coffee with your co-star a couple of times a week, or damage your reputation with the biggest studio in Hollywood. That was six months ago, and your season finale was set to air in a week.

"It's just until the season finishes, then we can tell everyone."

"It's been six months, Hase. I'm getting exhausted with all the sneaking around."

You were getting exhausted too. It was tiring staggering your exits from hotels and restaurants, never being able to hold your boyfriend's hand in public. It was also getting annoying wearing sunglasses and a beanie everywhere you went, even in the height of summer. But you'd come this far and the finish line was almost in sight.

It's not like you didn't enjoy hanging out with Jacob. The two of you had become close friends since his character had been introduced as your new love interest at the start of the season. It was also helpful that Jacob was a huge sports fan so him being seen with a formula 1 driver didn't raise any questions. He also loved talking to Mick about cars so he was happy to tag along on your 'dates'.

Like right now, when you and Mick had found yourselves at a group dinner with Jacob, a popstar, two NBA players, and a few more of your co-stars.

"You know I love your friends but I really wish this was just the two of us," Mick took hold of your hand beneath the table, his thumb rubbing circles on your skin. "We could be home alone right now eating pasta. I would have gotten to have my desert first."

"I've been promising Olivia I'd catch up with her for ages," you whispered. "I couldn't turn her down a third time."

You would have much rather been at home too. You'd been on edge all day. Your manager was going to ring you some time tonight and you'd been over thinking the phone call since you'd woken up.

Olivia knew what day it was, how could she not when you brought it up any chance you got? She'd invited you and Mick out tonight as a distraction. "I can see the wheels turning in your head, babe," she said from across the table. "I know you're thinking about it."

"It's an Oscar nomination, how could she not be thinking about it?" Jacob asked, tossing a chip in his mouth.

It was true, how could it not be on your mind? As soon as your new film had started being shown to the press, the Oscar buzz had begun. It had only intensified when the film was finally released, and now you had an entire studio worth of pressure on your shoulders. Today was the day nominations would be announced and you were just waiting for your phone to start buzzing in your pocket.

"You'll get it, Hase. I know you will. You deserve it."

"I bet you'll feel like shit if she doesn't get it now," someone said quickly followed by a thud and a yelp.

"Of course she'll get it, the movie's incredible."

"She's incredible in everything she's in!"

You drowned out their chatter, a bubbly feeling slowly growing in your stomach. You'd won awards before; hell you'd won an Emmy for the first season of your TV show, but the Oscars were big. Really big.

A tapping on your shoulder snapped you out of your daze and Mick said, "your phone's ringing."

"Everyone shush," Olivia's eyes widened as you answered your phone. Her whole body seemed to vibrate as you spoke to someone on the other end.

"Okay, thank you," you nodded, listening as your manager said something about press and photographs. "Yeah, I'll speak with you in the morning. Okay. Bye."

The table was silent, everyone's eyes were on you, waiting for you to speak.

"I got the nomination. Best Actress."

Cheers and shouts erupted from everyone at the table. Olivia was the loudest, shouting that she never had any doubt, but your eyes were focused solely on your boyfriend.

He grinned, "ich war mir sicher, dass du es kapieren würdest, Hase."

"I don't know what that means but it sounds like you love me."

"I do love you," his hands grabbed your cheeks, pulling your face to his as he kissed you. Just as you deepened the kiss by slipping your tongue into his mouth he whispered, "ich bin so stolz auf dich"

"Again, no idea," your lips chased after him as he pulled away to look in your eyes.

He went in for another kiss but stopped when Olivia cleared her throat, "as much as I'm loving this moment between you two, there's cameras."

Y/N L/N CAUGHT CHEATING ON JACOB ELORDI

Y/N L/N SEEN KISSING MICK SCHUMACHER AT AN INTIMATE DINNER: CLICK HERE TO SEE HER RUMOURED BOYFRIEND'S REACTION

JACOB ELORDI REPORTEDLY DEVASTED AMIDST Y/N L/N CHEATING RUMOURS

"Oh my god, I'm going to have to post one of those notes app apologies, aren't I?" You'd been pacing the living room for what felt like hours.

Mick had checked his phone and it hadn't been longer than five minutes. He'd tried to pull you in for a hug but you'd shaken him off, continuing your laps around the coffee table. He'd resigned himself to sitting on the couch and letting you rant. "You haven't done anything wrong."

"People think I cheated on Jacob."

"You'd have to be dating him for it to count as cheating."

"Everyone hates me!"

"I think you're overreacting, Hase."

"You don't get it, Mick. You're not a woman. It's always our fault. They're making me out to be some sort of... I don't know... Sex-crazed adulterer!"

"Adulterer? I don't know what that means."

"Cheater, Mick. I'm a cheater," you finally collapsed on the couch next to him, your hands covering your face.

"Hase. Schatz. Love. Come here," he patted his thigh and you sighed, reluctantly moving to sit on his lap. All it took was Mick stroking your hair for you to bury your face in his shoulder and let out a shaky breath.

"You haven't done anything, okay? It's always just been me and you. You can't cheat on me with me, can you? Plus it's not like you've ever kissed Jacob or confirmed you two were dating. The media made it all up in their heads. Sure you never told them they were wrong and I'm not going to say I said it would end badly-"

"Mick," you groaned. "Not helpful."

"It'll blow over, Hase. I promise."

He looked so sure of his words, his blue eyes full of confidence. He always had a way of putting you at ease.

You pressed your forehead against his and kissed his nose. "You still love me, right?"

He went to turn his head away but your palm caught his cheek, keeping his eyes locked on your own. "Do I need to respond to that?"

"Yes."

"Ich liebe dich mehr als alles andere."

Tagged: mickschumacher Liked by yourfriend, taylorswift and 15,392,842 others yourusername: In my lover era 💘

mickschumacher: Mein Schatz 🤍

jacobelordi: Never seen a better matched pair than you and Mick

oliviarodrigo: Cutest couple!

georgerussell63: Thank god. I think Mercedes admin was going to have a heart attack if they had to crop you out of another photo. ↳ mercedesamgf1: It's true, my blood pressure has been shockingly high.

read more of my writing here

ﾟ｡ ⋆ mags' radio: Idk how awards nominations work... so pls suspend your disbelief. This was a fun one! I know anon said they wanted a chaotic ending, so I tried my bestest ⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡

German translations (idk German so I used a translator)  Hase, Schatz = affectionate nicknames (side note: all german nicknames are adorable) Ich war mir sicher, dass du es kapieren würdest = I knew you’d get it Ich bin so stolz auf dich = I’m so proud of you Ich liebe dich mehr als alles andere = I love you more than anything

taglist: @fulla02reads @flowerchild-96 @camillalarke @cool-ultra-nerd @azxulaa @booksobsess @formulakay

[shattered-eagle]

Shattered Eagle RO Descriptions

Hi all, I got some questions on what the ROs look like and their personalities, so I thought I'd share what I had in mind while writing. All of the ROs are some shade of bisexual, if I hadn't noted that already.

Empress Julia Vitallia Hevernica: The Empress of Iudia is a forty-eight year old woman of average height, with a pale complexion and dark black hair on a slow but steady journey to silver. She has gray eyes which tend to bore icily into whoever she happens to be speaking with. Even as Empress, she has remained active from many years of military campaigning, with a fit and athletic physique. She tends to wear her hair short, barely reaching past her ears.

She is known to be cruel to her enemies, ruling through fear of her merciless wrath. Nevertheless, as a savvy politician, she takes care to project an image of harsh, yet fair, justice at her hand, if dealt with in good faith.

In her most personal relationships, Julia can often be more distant than she intends, as she seeks out understanding and care from her loved ones, despite her cold exterior. She is well known to be estranged from her husband.

Legate Antonius Lethungius/Amalrik Wulfhid: The general of the barbarian auxiliaries is a tall, clean shaven, forty year old man with a great blonde mane of hair. His once youthful good looks have, however, been marred by the scars of countless bloody wars. He has bright green eyes, flecked with a faint gold. A formidable foe in battle, he bears a strong and stout frame.

The Legate is half of 'civilized Iudia' and half of 'barbarous Gruthungia,' and everything from what clothes he wears to what accent he speaks with may change by the audience he finds himself in front of.

As a result, it is difficult to tell whether he is a a fierce, unbowed barbarian warrior, or a obedient, dutiful son of the Empire, an ambiguity is he seems content to maintain.

Ever careful about who he lets get too close, the Legate has been known to be somewhat aloof, trying to steer clear from personal relationships, supposedly out of his sense of obligation to his soldiers and their needs. His resultant lack of experience is then a source of embarrassment, though he does not let others know this readily.

Consul Consentia Plinia Dorcia: An older woman of fifty-five years old with a fair complexion, Consentia nevertheless has features that have aged as well as a fine vintage. Her dark brown hair, once near matching her brown eyes, has long since turned grey, however, reaching down a few inches past her shoulders.

Refusing the indulgences that many of the matrician class enjoy, Consentia is healthy and fit for her age, considering the long hours of work she tirelessly puts herself through for the business of the Senate.

Carrying elegance with her every step, she is well known to be polite and courteous to all in search of a new, more republican form of government, though she reserves ire for the 'barbarians' she views as emblematic of Iudia's decline. She is also a skilled orator, giving rousing speeches filled with carefully crafted rhetoric.

In her personal relationships, the Consul has been widowed for many years, having eschewed remarriage. Some whisper she has taken on a paramour or two in the past decades, though few socialites are brave enough to do more than speculate on the matter.

Tribune Ceto Vera: The Tribune is a forty-three year old woman with shoulder-length brown hair, an olive complexion and hazel eyes. Her features are calloused and weathered from her upbringing in the harsh streets of the slums of Kyro, an attribute most expressed in her scandalously low-class accent, a trait which she proudly bears even amongst the highest of matricians.

Though she stands rather short, Ceto carries a lean frame, her quick reflexes lending her a vicious talent with a dagger.

Despite her brusque demeanor and crude humor with the ladies of Kyro, however, she carries a talent for rousing the passions of the dispossessed and the discontented, using her criminal empire to generously reward those lending a voice to her populist cause, and ruthlessly make examples out of those who would refuse.

Ceto's personal life is shrouded from the knowledge of most, for all her shameless comments and advances she does not speak much on her past relationships. Nor of how she came to rise to power in the streets, both mysteries being either a source of regret or resentment for her.

Prince Darius of Pharia: Darius is a thirty-three year old man, standing at an average height, with black curly hair, a rich brown complexion, and a short and well groomed beard. In public, he bedecks himself in silks, radiant colors, and copious amounts of fine jewelry.

Trained as a warrior as any Prince should be, he is most skilled in the Pharian repeating crossbow, a curious invention that few Iudians have ever wielded.

Despite his status as a foreign hostage, the man has a charming, almost obsequious manner about him, inviting many dignitaries and notables of the capital for tea and idle talk at his embassy, which supposedly functions as his cage.

Darius often speaks of himself as an open book, and has carried on more than a few flings during his time in Iudia, though none have stuck around very long in the Prince's company.

[igorvinyls]

Why I Believe John Lennon is Asuka Langley

Hello everyone! I originally created a thread about this over on Twitter, though I also want to post it here just because. I want to preface this by saying while this is mostly a joke, I still want to point out the similarities between the two. I find that both John and Asuka are very complex people/characters that happen to heavily relate to each other. Obvious spoilers for Neon Genesis Evangelion. TW FOR TOPICS SUCH AS SUICIDE AND DEATH.

CHILDHOOD TRAUMA

Both John and Asuka lost their mothers from a young age, with Asuka losing her mother at 4 and John losing his mother just before his 18th birthday. It’s known that John’s mother wasn’t exactly mentally stable as Mimi, John’s aunt, was given custody of him. Similarly to John’s mother, Asuka’s mom, Kyoko, was also mentally unstable. Kyoko lost her mind after surviving a failed experiment with Evangelion Unit-02. This experiment would also end up taking the life of Yui Ikari, Shinji’s mother (this is important info for later.) Kyoko ultimately committed suicide after losing her mind and her husband in the process. Though it is ambiguous how Asuka’s father felt towards her, he did indeed drive his daughter away by cheating on Kyoko while hospitalized. It’s also known that John’s father wasn’t very involved with him up until the height of Beatlemania. Both John and Asuka were never very close with their parents due to many different factors.

(It can also be argued that John and Asuka were both adopted, but Asuka being adopted was only canon in the manga. For the sake of this post, I’ll only mention canon events from the anime going forward.)

I would also like to bring up this video.

RELATIONSHIPS WITH LOVERS

John and Yoko will probably be the most recognized celebrity couple in the world. It’s also recognized that John had an Oedipus complex which was sometimes discussed. The same can be said for Asuka, considering the fact that she romantically latched onto Kaji, a 30 year old special inspector for NERV. Asuka does this to fill the void of a perfect father figure in her life, as well as filling the role of a lover. John mentions doing this with Yoko numerous times. John and Yoko would even go as far as calling each other mommy and daddy. Moving onto other romantic relationships, I will now discuss Shinji, Asuka, John, and Paul. Shinji and Asuka have this strange dynamic throughout the story of Evangelion. Asuka is secretly in love with Shinji (you can already see which direction this is headed in), though Shinji has a hard time reciprocating his feelings due to his own personal struggles. Asuka’s rudeness and constant bullying also confuses Shinji, leaving him to wonder what Asuka truly feels for him. In this scenario, Paul would be in the same boat as Shinji. Shinji and Paul both lost their mothers at a young age. Paul and John bonded over the loss of their mothers. In a way, this also happens with Shinji and Asuka. It’s easy to tell that Shinji is more drawn towards Asuka after she tells him that her stepmom isn’t her actual mother. John and Paul go on to have a rivalry as they grow older, which also happens to Asuka and Shinji, though their rivalry was highlighted since day one. This rivalry between the two characters progresses all the way to the finale of the series. You can say that Asuka finally accepts Shinji when she lifts her hand up to his cheek while he is brutally strangling her. This act is seen as her accepting him into her heart after everything that they’ve been through. John and Paul also reconcile towards the end of John’s life. In Evangelion, the world is quite literally destroyed at the end of the series when the two finally reconcile. I’m not gonna be cheesy and say the same for John and Paul, but yeah. MOVING ON NOW.

OTHER FACTORS

John and Asuka have a habit of trying to appear more “mature” than they truly are. Asuka constantly boasts about being the best and most mature out of everyone. Same can be said for John. We also see this with his marriage to Cynthia Powell, John’s first wife. In my eyes, John’s first marriage was a rush to maturity considering the fact that he was only 21. I could say the same for John having a child with Cynthia at such a young age as well. John and Asuka, though trying to seem mature, are ultimately vulnerable people who tend to regress. Asuka acts like a young, lovestruck girl with Kaji. John acted in a similar fashion with Yoko. Asuka and John had massive egos. What else is there to say, really?

FINAL SUMMARY AND A FUN FACT

This is gonna be a quick one that basically ties together the points of my threads.

John and Asuka were seriously neglected as children which had a massive impact on their social development, as well as behavior.

Both had large egos, yet low self esteem.

The only fun fact about the two I have is that they both know German and Japanese.

THANKS FOR READING!

[gingacat]

twisted from: Myth of the Victoria Water Lily

name: Lily V. Maven

birthday: February 12 (Aquarius)

age: 16

height: 155 cm

homeland: Starway River, a river that starts in the Oniric Rainforest and crosses the Golden Cordilleras. (my fan made locations)

grade: Freshman

class: D

club: Film Research club

best subject: Astrology

worst subject: History of magic

dorm: Astromunay (my Yzma fan dorm)

hobbies: Stargazing

pet peeves: Heartless people

favorite food: Avocado with sugar

least favorite food: Meat

talent: Acrobatic diving

nicknames: Mavis (Cater), Seaweed (Floyd), Mademoiselle Clown (Rook), Leaf bug (Miyuu)

quotes:

“What am I doing? Well, I'm counting clouds. It sounds boring but it's lots of fun, I totally recommen— Hey?! Why are you walking away?!”

Personality

At first glance, Lily seems to be innocent and naive, but she is still a fae from the Oniric Rainforest, a place known for its mystical and mischievous creatures. She is a playful person who loves playing tricks on people and talking in ambiguous ways that leave others confused. She also finds it fun to pretend to be dumb, when in fact she's secretly really smart.

It's easy to get along with her, but you have to be careful not to believe 100% in what she says. She likes riddles and puzzles and expresses herself or her thoughts through either weird metaphors or by using sarcasm that sounds genuine. It is hard to know when she is joking and when she's not.

But Lily is not that complex, it's just her nature to act in a more playful way, she just wants to have fun and thinks her way of acting will also bring fun to other people. She likes teasing others, but if she sees that she has hurt someone, she'll immediately stop and apologize.

When she is upset, Lily becomes quiet and distant, seeming to be in an entirely different place inside of her head.

She is obsessed with astronomy and when someone awakens her love for it, she gets extremely excited, rambling about stars, planets, galaxies, the universe, etc. Lily gets really happy when people actually listen or are invested in what she says, loving to share an interest of hers to others.

Background

Her father, Levi, is a water fae and her mother, Rosario, is a wood fae. Lily is their only child.

Her parents were always fighting, always stressed by their own personal lives, and the overall mood of the household was dark, sorrowful. Levi was fond of Space though, and he enjoyed taking Lily to go stargazing. Ever since she was very young, she was enamored with the stars.

Lily's first memory with stargazing was unforgettable. She remembers she was very upset that day and couldn't stop crying because she was the reason her parents had fought. Not wanting his daughter to be sad, Levi took her to see how beautiful the sky looked that night. For the first time in her life, Lily had seen something that wasn't gloomy nor dark, but shining so bright that it had touched her heart. Just as she was looking at the stars, the stars were looking back at her, embracing her with all their warm and beautiful luster.

Lily imagined how it would be like to be there, shining right next to the Moon. She wanted to be like the stars, who make people happier, who brighten people's moods even when everything seems to be horrible, even when the entire world seems to be so dark and so lonely.

Although, because of her mischievous nature, she eventually found a more playful way to shine and bring joy: by making others laugh.

Trivia

Her age is counted in human years because her mother is half-human and half-fae so Lily is not 100% fae. (i had to humanize Lily bc fae years are just so complicated 😭)

Lily mispronounces Diasomnia for Dysnomia, the name of a moon. Sebek keeps correcting her, but she never gets it right. (she's doing it on purpose)

She can breathe underwater.

Lily is very interested in scientific theories and loves debating about them. (ex: wormhole theory, panspermia theory, things like that)

She is the class clown. She keeps asking the most outrageously stupid questions to the teachers and manages to make the entire class laugh. (except for Sebek, lmao)

Lily never met Malleus but she would probably call him her broski.

If anyone is curious, the Victoria Water Lily myth tells the story of a woman who drowned after leaning towards a river to touch the reflection of the Moon, since she was in love with the Moon. The Moon (or Goddess of the Moon) was known for choosing women and turning them into stars, but to honor that woman who drowned, the Moon turned her into a Victoria Regia (water lily), which is known as the "Star of the waters".

[wreath-of-leon]

me realizing i can just infodump and repost about my ocs and world on here without worrying cuz my posts only get three likes each time, ALSO I FORGOT TO DRAW HER FRECKLES IN THE FIRST PICTURE IM SORRY:

Svetanya

Svetanya, long for Sveta, is a deer satyr. She's pansexual, her pronouns are she / her, and she's trans (specifically identifying as transfemme, and probably deer-related xenos in a modern!AU). If you really wanna get specific, I think she socially transitioned at a very early age (probably 7 or 8), but doesn't want to medically (or magically) transition. (of course I added magic transition, queer fantasy is supposed to be fun!). In these pictures, she's around her late twenties.

Satyrs often live in very communal environments—lack of an enforced hierarchy, individualism, large, ambiguous family units—the whole shebang. Unlike Atlanticians (Merfolk / Seafolk) and harpies, who get along based on similar hierarchical societies, satyrs do not get along with either on the same basis. Sveta, however, is unique in the sense she was not raised in a communal satyr circle.

Although living amongst satyrs is considerably ideal for a lot of humans, satyrs are often targeted by predator animals like bears or wolves as if they were actually animals. The communal living style, similar to herding behaviors, is useful to avoiding attacks, but not full proof. Not only this but the primarily rural lifestyle relies on the environment, of which several factors can decrease crop yields and production. As a result, living in a satyr herd can be quite difficult and challenging.

Sveta's parents, who acknowledged this significant challenge, were tired of predation. So, as a solution, they decided to integrate into a more urban, human-centric society.

Sveta, growing up within a rigid class structure, adapted personality traits and behaviors unlike any other satyrs. She can be arrogant, ignorant, sardonic, and sometimes vain and self-important. Though not only are these traits informed by her upbringing, but by the people she surrounds herself with. She was taken up by a certain human noble, Aylin Ernheim, impressed with her eye for fashion, and gave her a job as a tailor. Something both her parents were weary about, but allowed.

Aylin, in his neglectfulness, allows Sveta to face the brunt of abuse from other vain, self-important nobles. Although on the outside, she parades herself as bold, confident, and snarky, she's only really kept around as upholstery. She's deeply aware of her class, and thinks of herself as someone who exploited others to get where she is. In other words, a bit of imposter syndrome. Despite her sometimes rude honesty and lack of a filter, she knows where the boundary is because it's made implicitly clear.

Sveta also struggles with objectification. She cares a lot about appearances, and can unhealthily fixate on her body (fur, height, face, hair, antlers, clothes) due to her lack of self-esteem. When stripped of the exterior, she's overwhelmingly quiet, observant, and introspective. A type of quiet that'd make you think she was judging you, but she's really wondering if you're judging her.

Kinda went hard into all the negative aspects of her but she has positive aspects too guys, I promise!!!

Because she feels obligated to do stuff for others, she's very supportive, caring, and sensitive. Even if she's kind of being a brat to you while she does it. She's also witty. Satyrs are usually taught more practical skills in agriculture but her intelligence is purely based on word form rather than movement (also because she's just not strong enough for farm work, VERY fragile in terms of super heavy physical labor like that, and especially because of her antlers which are her pride and joy).

Because of her body image issues, she gets bouts of depression—sort of like seasonal depression—when her antlers annually shed (like real deer!). I wanna draw her when her regrown antlers are short and velvety, i think it'd be cute.

[rottenpumpkin13]

Does Genesis go on a diet after Angeal comments how tiny Sephiroth's waist is?

CW: Body image/body issues

It'll take a lot more than a comment from Angeal to get Genesis Rhapsodos to give up his overpriced coffee—that's 80% sugar—and the handfuls of Red Hots he eats when he's nose-deep in a novel.

Genesis pledged to never again alter his meals to conform to a certain goal ever again. As a child, Hollander crafted dietary plans for him, urging him to "gain a little weight" or "bulk up like the other boys his age," all which made Genesis' frail, "bony" eight-year-old body fill with rage. He sought to cherish and take pride in his body as he matured. Plus, puberty did a number on his height and muscle gain, so why should he feel inferior?

His body both exuded an ambiguous allure when shrouded in layers, and a masculine strength when they were shed—which was just the image SOLDIER wanted from its newly recruited Thirds.

He spent the majority of the war and his youth fixated on becoming a hero, becoming known, building a reputation that everyone would remember. The way all the boys around him seemed to grow in height and weight while he stayed stagnant didn't bother him until he and Angeal were promoted to Second Class, and Sephiroth came along.

Genesis pretended it didn't bother him that Sephiroth and Angeal were the same height. He feigned indifference when Sephiroth complained of growing pains, or how his own arms looked like twigs compared to Angeal's. Admitting to insecurities would be showing weakness—a notion utterly inconceivable to him. He was not weak, no matter what stories his physique told to others.

But Sephiroth's physical perfection tormented him. Genesis couldn't fathom how someone could be so immaculately perfect. One could compose sonnets about Sephiroth's muscle definition, write articles praising the width of his shoulders, and spend hours marveling at his perfectly slender waist.

Nights were spent on Genesis' behalf, choking down envy so that he didn't throw it back up. His waist would never look like that—not without the rest of his body thinning out too.

Sephiroth towered over everyone, and with that long hair of a color that was impossible to replicate with dye, it was like the goddess herself her crafted him from the flesh of the lamb men sacrificed to keep beauty in the world.

And it drove Genesis absolutely mad. Because devoted like he was, he would sacrifice himself on an altar to keep the goddess happy and have everything he could ever want, yet all she granted him was illness and a body that the magazines and articles constantly compared to Sephiroth's.

Honestly, he was grateful when he was promoted to First Class and had the liberty of accentuating his uniform with personal details. He could do anything he wanted, show as much skin and wear the fabric as tight as he pleased.

Yet he couldn't bring himself to do it. He couldn't bear the prospect of standing next to his friend, looking "almost like Sephiroth, but not quite right"

The red leather coat was perfect. It was snug enough in the arms to make his muscle definition visible, bright and captivating to make him stand out, and its shape kept his body ambiguous, inviting positive speculation. It gave him the freedom of not having to worry what his body looked like in public all the time. He was a good actor, great at acting like his own body didn't bother him, and even better at acting like the mere mention of Sephiroth's physical perfection wasn't enough to make the resentment in his heart send him into cardiac arrest.

So to answer your question, he does go on a diet—a mental diet of jealousy, where every meal is bitter, unfulfilling and the end result will surely make him rot.

[midnightnemona]

Zero Crew headcanons if you even care!! 🎉🎉

[🍊 / 🥪 / 🌟]

🍊-NEMONA!!

-Age: 15 beginning of game, then 16 by the end of Mochi Mayhem

-Lesbian, Bigender & Ambiamorous

-Uses She/He

-She wasn't born in Paldea, instead Alola, but she is ethnically 100% Paldean.

-Autistic(undiagnosed)

-Her freckles are really spread around her body(like she has ALOT of them ykwim?)

-She fidgets a lot, whether she rocks on a chair or playing around with her uniforms tie, etc

-Her braced arm has her arm having scars from a Tera blast injury

-She always has one of her Pokemon party members walking around with her(mostly her Pawmot, but she'll have her starter or Lycanroc walk around with her too at times)

-Some arm and face scars but not big ones, probably ones you get from your usual Pokemon journey, maybe(like wild Pokémon injury, scrapping your limbs, etc)

-She has an average body type, not leaning the skinny side but also not too chubby, either yknow, but she does have some stretch marks on her body

🥪-ARVEN!!

-Age: 16 by the beginning, then 17 by the end of Mochi Mayhem

-Agender+Transfemme, Lesbian & Asexual

-Uses She/They/It

-Heterochromia, her shown left eye is ofc turquoise(?), and her covered right eye is brown(from Turo). Depending on the version, it's reversed.

-She's scarred on her right eye because of the mention of the Raidons having an accident with wild Pokemon. Making them blind under said eye.

-Audhd(Diagnosed)

-They're much more tan than she looks in game since they're outside and camping so much.

-She's very accident prone when it comes to cooking and exploring, so she has many bandages on her fingers, arms, and her clothing are sewn together in places.

-Has a random peanut allergy(there's no reason for this. I just find it funny to give them an allergy)

-Her body type is that she's definitely a chubby person with some stretch marks but also with some muscle.

🌟-Penny!!

-Age: 16 by the beginning, then 17 by the end of Mochi Mayhem.

-Transgender(MtF), Lesbian & Polyamorous

-Uses They/She/Vee/Xe

-Autistic(Diagnosed)

-Repeating her first year when she's supposed to be in 2nd year like Arven.

-Their hair is naturally black she just dyes it.

-She wears braces so she doesn't smile with her teeth in general a lot.

-Vee's a very picky eater.

-Non existent spice tolerance

-Has a very big light sensitivity.

-Xe's voice is so monotone at times that it sounds like it's sarcasm when it's genuine.

-She's pretty chubby, but because of her oversized clothing, it's hard to tell, though her round face and pudgy cheeks give it away a lot.

Usually, I would add heights, but those are canon things, and if anyone cares, I'll add them!

Nemona: 5'8

Arven: Honestly, his height is very ambiguous, but it's definitely in the 160 cms, so he's around either 5'3 to 5'5

Penny: 5'1

Next, I'll do the Kitakami Siblings, then Blueberry League, Team Star, possibly the gyms and teachers, but it's a lot of character, so stick with me, lol 😭😭

[artsandculture]

Lake George Reflection (1921–1922) 🎨 Georgia O'Keeffe 🏛️ Private Collection 📍 Somewhere

Painted circa 1921-22, Georgia O’Keeffe’s Lake George Reflection embodies the contradictions inherent in the artist’s best work which came to define her career and cement her legacy as one of the most enduring and intriguing figures in 20th-century American Art. Lake George Reflection, the most ambitious in scale of her works from the 1920s, is a meditation on the sublime, building upon the tradition of the 19th century Hudson River School artists who sought to capture the drama and beauty of the unspoiled landscape surrounding Lake George. Presented alternatively as both a vertical and horizontal composition, the work is an expression of the artist’s experimental thought process as she considered what it meant to be representational in an age of burgeoning abstraction in American Art. Horizontally, the painting exemplifies the boldly colorful landscapes which have become a hallmark of O’Keeffe’s career, foreshadowing the abstracted paintings of the New Mexico hills from her later years. When viewed vertically, as Lake George Reflection was first exhibited in 1923 at the Anderson Galleries, the infinite horizon shifts to a powerful vertical thrust, with the formerly symmetrical reflections of the landscape morphing into the interior folds of a magnified flower or echoing the bold and daring heights of a New York City skyscraper. This ambiguity of orientation results in a painting that is at once highly representational and wholly abstract, carefully constructed and malleable, and which defines the subtle power of O’Keeffe’s most dramatic and admired works. O’Keeffe signified the importance of certain works by including a hand-drawn star on the reverse or backing board; she noted this distinction on the verso of Lake George Reflection.

On June 10th, 1918, Georgia O’Keeffe moved to New York City. That August, she visited Lake George in the Hudson River Valley with Alfred Stieglitz, the influential photographer and art dealer twenty years her senior whom she would marry in 1924. On this first extended trip to the area, the Stieglitz family’s 36-acre retreat provided a welcome respite from the city, and one that afforded creative inspiration and freedom. “Stieglitz, like many urbanites then and now, also had a rural base, at Lake George in upstate New York, and every year he joined other members of the large family at his mother's home there. In August 1918, he was accompanied by O'Keeffe, who was warmly received by the mater familias and the sundry siblings, in-laws, and offspring of the Stieglitz tribe." (Georgia O'Keeffe, New York, 1991, p. 39) Over the next decade, O’Keeffe and Stieglitz frequently visited Lake George, spending most of every summer and early fall on the family compound, first at ‘Oaklawn’ and later at ‘The Hill.’ The landscape and its environs seemed to stimulate her creatively and she often referred to it as ‘perfect.’ The flora and fauna, and the relationship she developed with botanist Donald Davidson, a Stieglitz family cousin, provided veritable fertile ground for artistic discovery.

Just as Lake George exhilarated O’Keeffe, it also ushered in a period of creativity and artistic exploration for Stieglitz, allowing him to view the landscape through new eyes. “Although in earlier summers he had all but overlooked the landscape at his family’s home in Lake George, New York, he now began to photograph it, stimulated both by O’Keeffe’s infectious enthusiasm for the natural world and her own paintings of the area. Citing her ability to put ‘her experiences in paint,’ Stieglitz wrote that he too endeavored to ‘put his feelings into form’ in his photographs of the trees, barns, and buildings, as well as the landscape and clouds that surrounded him.” (B.B. Lynes, Georgia O’Keeffe, 2001, pp. 26-27) Whether sparked by lively competition or simply that O’Keeffe’s admiration of the landscape invigorated Stieglitz, both artists created some of their most bold, dynamic and experimental imagery during this time. Barbara Buhler Lynes notes, “Stieglitz’s investigation of equivalence began in the early 1920s at Lake George. O’Keeffe was involved with a parallel effort, working with color as Stieglitz had worked with light. Both his photograph and her painting suggest grand panoramas and infinite distances, while at the same time that vastness is overridden by patterns of flat, undulating shapes.” (Georgia O’Keeffe, 2001, p. 38)

In addition to the myriad of visual delights that the great view from the property afforded, it would not have been lost on O’Keeffe that she was on hallowed artistic ground. “As any visitor to Lake George, then or now, she would have been more aware of its role as a popular tourist destination reaching back to the early 1800s. In the wake of the French and Indian War (1754-63) and the American Revolution (1775-83), it captivated the hearts and minds of Americans, who were increasingly nostalgic about their history. The 1826 publication of James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans sealed Lake George’s fate as an American icon.” (Modern Nature: Georgia O’Keeffe and Lake George, p. 23). Many 19th century predecessors captured the autumnal foliage, verdant hills and crystalline lakes, putting forth a vision of the landscape as untouched and unspoiled. These Hudson River School depictions, often dramatized with sunrises and sunsets, emphasized the sublime in nature, a concept that would have no doubt interested O’Keeffe. “Over the past two centuries, the concept of the sublime—with its immediate sensation of awe inspiring infinite space and evocative color and light directly internalized to moments experienced in our own lives—has been substantially redefined by a small number of artists, writers, and critics, for whom it has become a vital source of spiritual values at times of increased secularism.” (Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of the Sublime, 2004, London, p. vii)

Seen as a landscape, Lake George Reflection is a meditation on the awesomeness of the open countryside of upstate New York found only a short distance from the hectic metropolis. Incorporating the groundbreaking experimentations from her early career, the rolling hills and water are depicted in the undulating forms so prevalent in O’Keeffe’s early abstractions of the previous decade. Similarly, the bulbous forms that line the foreground recall her abstract ‘Special’ series, also executed at Lake George a few years earlier. Taking these elements one step further, all is reflected, creating a virtual mirror image bifurcated by a dramatic horizontal cross-section. With its monumental scale, the resulting image echoes the images of sublimity in 19th-century art, which captured the grandeur of the landscape, an untouched splendor and a vastness seemingly born from the imagination. Lake George Reflection similarly suggests a landscape of infinite scale, confined by but not limited to the expanse of the canvas.

For the exhibition at Anderson Galleries in 1923, the first time Lake George Reflection was exhibited, O’Keeffe dictated that the painting be hung vertically. While the title suggests a certain formal interpretation to her work, the adjustment of orientation altered the viewer’s understanding of it, particularly when viewed in context with other work from the period. The change solely in orientation of Lake George Reflection, not to the painting, forces the viewer to understand the forms in a different manner. Marjorie Balge-Crozier describes this phenomenon in O’Keeffe’s works from this period, writing, “Manipulation of scale, depictions of fragments, precise lines and blurred edges, bold colors—all of these devices are used to create works that are emotional equivalents for her experiences. These are devices that can also elicit feelings of uncertainty, awe, and even terror in the spectator, whether one is looking at a close-up view of a flower or the splitting darkness of the Black Place. Paintings that are extremely minimal can appear at first as objects for calming meditation, then dissolve into uneasy questions of identity, with hills resembling body parts. In the end, the spectator is left with an equivalent sublime experience.” (Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of the Sublime, p. 103)

Particularly when understood vertically, Lake George Reflection encourages anthropomorphic comparisons. Sharyn Udall explains, “Some of her landscapes do contain forms that—perhaps without any conscious intention on her part—insist on some relationship to the body. At Lake George in 1919 O’Keeffe produced several paintings of bifurcated glowing forms that begin as landscape but become increasingly abstract.” (Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of the Sublime, p. 118) As a vertical work, the painting most closely relates to her magnified flower imagery, which she was simultaneously exploring. In works such as Flower Abstraction (1924, Whitney Museum of American Art), undulating lines and soft coral tones are quite clearly evocative of the delicate petals of a flower but the cragged vertical white line serves to bisect the image, echoing the compositional format of Lake George Reflection. Other more abstract works from the period, including Music—Pink and Blue No. 1 (1918, Seattle Art Museum) which was also in the Anderson Galleries show of 1923 and Grey Line with Lavender and Yellow (1923, Metropolitan Museum of Art), are similarly suggestive.

While O’Keeffe’s works, such as Lake George Reflection and her iconic flower paintings, seem to inherently suggest comparisons with the human form, something she patently rejected, the evolution of O’Keeffe from daring female Modernist to a sexualized media sensation was undoubtedly fostered, if not masterminded by Stieglitz. Beginning in 1918, he created a series of photographs which depicted O’Keeffe in the nude. “As art critic Henry McBride put it: ‘It made a stir. Mona Lisa got one portrait of herself worth talking about. O’Keeffe got a hundred. It put her on the map. Everybody knew the name. She became what is known as a newspaper personality.’ Moreover these photographs forged the first public image of O’Keeffe. She was seen as a sexually liberated, modern woman, and this idea of her became a visual equivalent of Stieglitz’s ardent and ongoing promotion of O’Keeffe’s art as a direct manifestation of her sexuality.” (B.B. Lynes, Georgia O’Keeffe, 2001)

Regardless of the source of these intimate connotations attributed to her most admired artwork, Lake George Reflection reflects the pictorial strategies that O'Keeffe developed as an avant-garde American Modernist: interest in a type of heightened realism that pushes an image to the edge of abstraction. It is this near abstraction that evokes the mystical and spiritual qualities that O'Keeffe associated with her organic subjects and which are the source of their strength. Hunter Drohojowska-Philp emphasizes the role of Lake George Reflection in pioneering this element of O’Keeffe’s best work, explaining, "In the spring of 1923, O'Keeffe incorporated Stieglitz's cloud motif into a pair of abstractions redolent of her earlier interest in Art Nouveau, Pink Moon and Blue Lines and Red Lines. Pink Moon and Blue Lines returns to a palette of magenta, lemon, and aqua arrayed in vertical waves on either side of a pink moon on a deep blue ground. She knew she was breaking down aesthetic barriers. Later, she said, 'When I entered the art world…you weren't supposed to paint yellow…and pink pictures.' Red Lines shows vertical waves of pale blue and buttressing columns of deep red divided by a think pink line. Both compositions derive from O'Keeffe's bisected canvases of the Lake George horizon, but upended. This technique began in her show with the vertical display of Lake George Reflection, a predictable landscape except that the horizon line runs up and down and is enlivened with pastel bubbles. Collector Peggy Guggenheim admitted that she could not decide which way to hang it. Studying photographs taken from various perspectives was enhancing O'Keeffe's ability to paint pictures that could be interpreted in multiple ways--paintings that could be hung vertically or horizontally." (Full Bloom: The Art and Life of Georgia O’Keeffe, New York, 2004, p. 219) Painted at the height of O’Keeffe’s most courageous and innovative creative output, Lake George Reflection confirms her prowess as a master colorist, daring modernist, avant-garde thinker and provocateur.

[bomberqueen17]

Aubreyad Running Tallies

Running tallies of recurring events in the Aubreyad series, reblogged/updated more periodically than per book exactly. So we're starting on book 2 here. Reasonings and citations below the cut, the cases are often ambiguous.

TALLY 1: HOW MANY INDIAMEN* HAS TOM PULLINGS BEEN IN

4

TALLY 2: HOW MANY TIMES HAS WILLIAM BABBINGTON HAD THE CLAP

1

TOM PULLINGS:

M&C is of course zero, as he does not enter any Indiamen until the second book.

as of Post Captain:

Chapter 5 We find him in the Lord Nelson, which counts as either 1 or 2 voyages. I'm assuming he's counting outward and inward voyages separately, so it is very likely this is his second voyage in her. 2

Chapter 7 he goes to impress sailors from the Lord Mornington and says he made two voyages in her. 2

POST CAPTAIN TOTAL: 4

TALLY 2: BABBINGTON

This one is harder because it is not directly discussed so most of it is inference. Trigger warning I guess, Babbington is of indeterminate, immature age and his voice has not even broken as of the first two books at least, but it is the Georgian era so I pray do not think too hard about it.

Master and Commander: chapter 6 Jack is eager to put to sea and one of the reasons is “where that infernal child Babbington did not have to be rescued from aged women of the town”

in chapter 8 Babbington is weeping from exhaustion and part of the cause of his distress is that he has been told that his hair and teeth are going to fall out and his body become covered with sores while his bones soften because of his "conversing" [at the time a euphemism on par with "intercourse"] with harlots, but this is just hearsay from the clerk (a boy a few years older than himself) and is not an official diagnosis. Stephen does make later reference to this time period, however, in a way that seems that the boy did in fact fall under his care for this matter, so I am going to grant this as a probable yes. (Stephen posits that the VD treatment, or the disease itself, stunted Babbington's growth so the fellow never gets above five feet six, but in a separate description it comes out that Stephen himself is five feet six with no cause for it given, and indeed it is not an uncommon height for men of the era [honestly, this era either] to be, so I think Babbington is just a short king. It doesn't hold him back or, unfortunately for this tally, make him less appealing to women.)

MASTER AND COMMANDER TOTAL: a tentative 1

Post Captain: Jack has Babbington turn out his pockets before going ashore, and confiscates almost all of his money to keep him chaste, and this expedient seems to work as incredibly enough Babbington's clap total for this book despite several runs onshore seems to be:

ZERO

Running total: 1

_____ * Indiamen is a term that refers to the merchant ships that plied that route, and not to people; an Indiaman takes the feminine pronouns used in English to refer to a ship or vessel. Actual Indian men, if on board ship, would have been termed Lascars and normal human pronoun rules would apply. Thank you for reading this definition of historical terms. I am keeping this count for hilarious timeline fuckery purposes and have phrased it this way because that is invariably how Pullings himself phrases it.

[aether-bun]

Hi there I was wondering if you could write some headcanons of the S/V Trio+carmin and kieran (and maybe the BB league if not then just the first two) meeting a gn or male reader who is poke-human hybrid(half incineroar) who was part of an experiment and was saved by their adopted mother

HEADCANON TIME

Anomaly (noun):

"Something different, abnormal, peculiar, or not easily classified; something anomalous."

"The legend of the hybrids is a story that has lived in Paldea longer than most. In an age long past, there was once a fearsome group of monstrous creatures; monsters that bore the forms of Incineroar, that spoke the dialect of humankind. They terrorised villages and destroyed homes, and were hunted down to what was thought to be their extinction. Some say they can still hear the horrifying screams of these abominations in caves and cliff edges to this day, but none who explore these rumours have ever come back..."

Characters (in order): Nemona, Arven, Kieran

The reader is referred to with he/him pronouns, but is otherwise kept ambiguous in terms of everything but the fact that he is VERY tall. This is purely platonic!!

[author's note at the end!]

NEMONA is the first to meet you.

I think she would meet you in the beach area we find Korai/Miraidon

It was by complete accident, she was walking around and exploring when she suddenly heard what sounded like human voices echoing from off the ledge, so she investigated, worried that someone was hurt.

What she didn't expect was to see a group of people, with arms that faded into red paws, legs that did the same, tails that swished around, a fiery belt around their waists and two red and black ears coming out of short, thick red hair!

You locked eyes, and both of you were very nervous immediately. She had so many questions! But by the time she could get her brain back together to formulate any sort of a sentence, you and your pride took off into the caves.

She doesn't see you again for a few months - she almost thinks she dreamt the whole day up - until she's exploring those exact caves in search of some houndour to catch.

She's overencumbered, of course, because suddenly their houndoom appears and they're all surrounding her and her pokemon, and she knows she's definitely screwed up

Suddenly, there's a loud, earth-shaking roar, as you emerge with your pack at the cave's only other exit. The pack of hounds flinch at your intimidating forms and flee, and you make sure they stay gone before cautiously helping this human off of the ground.

She's stunned. The rambler can't form a thought. You tower over her, and your form fills her head with so many questions that she's afraid her head will explode, but again, you're gone before she can even get them out.

So, she starts staying around the cave when she knows it's safe. She finally has the courage and the power to stop her brain from frying when she sees you, so she wants to get to know you. You see her, of course, from afar, but you don't go near her. The humans can't know.

Until she finds you anyway, and she tries to introduce herself.

You're cautious. This woman is half your height, you could literally crush her, but she's holding out her hand to you and telling you her name, as if that idea isn't looming above her like a vice. It is. She's very scared.

"....[Y/N]." You caution, shaking her hand as she beams. "So you can talk!?" She asks, making you cringe from her volume. "Yes?" You say.

From there, you grow to be unlikely friends. She swears she won't tell anyone who you are! She swears she won't let anyone know she's seen you - it'll be your little secret!

Yeah. Guess how long that lasted. Now take that guess and halve it. It took three days for her to crack and spill to Arven. Penny overheard by pure accident, too, and Nemona made them swear to not tell anyone.

"Didn't you also swear that?!" Arven had demanded. Nemona immediately changed the subject.

Finding two more humans in your den was irritating, but Nemona made you feel like you couldn't stay mad at her. This, in turn, made you even more frustrated.

Nemona likes to feel your fur and insists you're so soft that she feels like she can go to sleep on you. You deny her that leisure as soon as you can.

She likes learning about how you and your pack live, coexisting with other pokemon. You tell her it's an oddly isolating life; stuck between pokemon and human with no way of ever fitting into either category. It's why you live in this cave. It's safer here.

"Isn't it...lonely?"

"...yes. it is. but it's necessary for our survival as a pack."

Nemona feels very sorry for you, but makes up for it by always sneaking off to hang with you as much as she can.

You find you like the insight these new humans have, so you don't mind their stay.

ARVEN is very intimidated when he meets you.

For a researcher, you would've thought Nemona's story about Pokehumans would be completely blasphemous to him.

You would be wrong.

He believed her instantly, without so much as a photo of proof. It was Penny who managed to get him to realise how off that sounded.

The three of them took to researching anything about these supposed hybrids that they could. Arven was the one to find the old folkstory. It scared him.

"Nemona, you can't go back there. Look at this! These things are obviously just trying to kill you!"

Nemona is VERY quick to jump to your defense. "Arven! He saved me from those houndour and houndoom I was trying to fight! He saw that I could've been hurt and he stepped in and saved me!"

Penny remarked the unusual behaviour.

Arven wasn't buying your charity act.

"Until I see proof that these things exist, let alone are docile, I'm not believing a word." He crossed his arms.

"Great, come meet them then!"

"What?!"

And thus, Nemona and Arven set off while Penny did more research into the beings.

When your new human friend arrives to your spot in the cave, you see she's dragging along with her a blond haired man. This sets you on edge, and unfortunately, you and your pack immediately rising to defend your home gives off a bad first impression.

Arven tries to pull Nemona away, to escape, to fight back, to hide, to do anything but stand there and try to reason with them Nemona please for the love of Arceus let's GO

Nemona apologises to you for accidentally spilling your secret and it takes quite a while for you to tell your pack to stand down. You come to face them, and Arven stares at you with unhidden horror. You huff. He flinches with a whimper.

"[Y/N], this is Arven. Arven, this is [Y/N]. He leads the pack." Nemona's voice is steady but it's easy to see she's nervous. You can basically smell the fear on them.

It takes an even longer while for Arven to calm down enough to look at you properly. Multiple visits, where you aren't alone together, and then he eventually realises you don't pose a threat unless he does, which, to be fair, in your eyes he never did.

(you're pretty sure you could blink and he'd disintegrate. you don't say this, for fear that the idea will have the same effect.)

Eventually, you warm up to him and his Mabostiff companion, and he warms up to you enough to be alone with you and the pack.

He sews up some of your clothes, noticing the wear and tear of them. Like most of your interactions, it takes a while for you to let him, but once you do, he acknowledges the trust you have in him and is very careful.

Before long, he becomes your medic too. He teaches you about these wonderful things called sandwiches that you have in these events deemed picnics, and in turn he notes your behaviours and temperaments.

It's a mutually beneficial relationship. You trust him and he trusts you. He becomes your second "friend".

[For this next segment, I am going to say that the preface is that Carmine and Kieran are looking into urban legends around Paldea and they come across the one about your pack. This next section is assuming Nemona, Arven and Penny either never found you, or found you later. Consider this the other path in the road if you will! :)]

KIERAN meets you in the plateaued mountains of Paldea, on a mission to prove you're real.

In hindsight, the circumstances could've been better.

He'd been injured on the mountains by a rogue Zigzagoon, and he was currently trying to call for help.

No, as in, he was yelling 'Help'. He's a kid without a phone, man.

You hear his cries and, against your better judgement, you command the pack to hide and look for the voice yourself.

Lo and behold, you find a small boy, no older than a kit, and he's bleeding around his leg. A Dipplin and a Grigar are looking on in concern for their trainer, and, though weakened, they jump to defend when they see you approach.

Alerted by the sounds of his pokemon amping to attack, he looks and he sees you, the terrifying hybrid creature he'd read about in tales of old.

In those tales, this was the part where he became a fatality.

He was paralysed with fear, the pain of his leg long forgotten as he stared up at you.

Death never came. Instead, you kneeled and spoke to the offensive Pokemon. Just like the stories, you spoke perfectly human. Your voice was gravelly and rough, but completely comprehensible.

"He needs assistance."

The Pokemon spoke back to you. You seemed to dislike their answer.

"I do not wish to hurt him. If you want that wound to get worse, then I'll leave. But if you want that kit to keep that leg of his, I can help."

Kieran's Pokemon looked back at his trembling form, before resigning to a nod. You turned your gaze to focus on the boy, who seemed to be on the verge of a heart attack.

"I can help you, young one."

He shook his head.

"Your leg. It is bleeding."

Hating the way his words failed him, he slowly nodded.

"If you do not let me help you, that will hurt more and it will get worse. You cannot get to a Pokemon Centre from here by yourself. Allow me to help you."

Grigar and Dipplin had returned to his side and offered their concerned support once again. Soothed very slightly by his Pokemon, Kieran swallowed the lump in his throat and slowly, he nodded.

You were careful with the kit. You took him first to your pack and used some natural resources to bandage the wound and stop the bleeding. You crafted a stilt to keep his leg from moving with some wooden crutches, and then you left him near the edge of the woods, near a centre, where his Pokemon could then aid him in getting him the rest of the way.

In that time, he'd asked you some questions.

"How long have you been out here?"

"Centuries."

"And...you don't ever get seen?"

"We do. Most of your kind is violent first without thinking. That lack of trust almost made me not help you. But to go as low as those who cross that line would be to prove them right."

"So...you helped me to prove them wrong?"

"No, young one. I helped you because it's the right thing to do, and you are only small."

He was tended to quickly when he was seen by his own kind. Questions were thrown at him without even so much as the minute it took to sit him down. "Who bandaged this? Where did you learn to make these crutches? How did you get back down here without encountering any more trouble?"

He looked back at where he could faintly see your outline. You were watching him to make sure he was safe.

"...I just did." He said, refusing to elaborate.

With a nod, you disappeared into the woods, and the boy never saw you again. He didn't need to. He had all the proof he needed, and it'd stay with him for the rest of his life.

He could feel you watching him sometimes, when he was exploring the plateau with his sister. But he never really saw more than a flickering trail of embers or a rogue tail swishing as you undoubtedly left for your pack.

Your protection made him smile.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Okay so first and foremost, where are Penny and Carmine??

To be completely honest, I didn't know how to write either of them in this situation! I felt that Penny would be much like a diluted version of Arven, and that Carmine would be almost identical to Nemona, and maybe it's just my brain but I couldn't figure how to articulate that. So my sincerest apologies for that.

Otherwise, I hope that this was a nice little read! I liked the idea of trying to figure out how to hybrid an incineroar with a human, and I found a lot more trouble in it than I initially thought I would!

Thank you so much for this request, it was a real mind boggler to be honest, but incredibly fun nonetheless.

Send me your requests in my inbox! Otherwise, ciao for now ♡

[joelsgirl]

Love Thy Neighbor Pt. 1

Muse: Joel Miller Word Count: 2k Content Warnings: Age Gap, Size Difference, grief, parental loss, fluff, No Use of Y/N A/N: Set pre-outbreak, maybe a year or two before. Ambiguous timeline. A Gift For: @dreamsofmandalore - A little SJ for you. Thank you for being you. Happy Birthday, darling. + Want to see more? I’d love to see some requests, here!

The night should have been warm, beautiful, almost balmy. It was only the start of fall, things shouldn't have shifted so fast, yet no matter what you do, you can't seem to stop the chill, like it was deep in your bones, freezing you from the inside. Glancing around, you wonder if others can feel it too.

Everyone else seems to be fine, having a great time. The block party was being run by your best friend's mom. She and Lisa lived in the house down the end of your street. Her yard backed onto rolling hills, marking the edge of suburbia. This wasn't your scene, you weren't ever into parties, more of a homebody, really.

Even at college, you preferred late nights, the scent of dusty old books and the dim light of the libraries lamps. It's been six months since you graduated college, and it should have been the time of your life - out exploring the world, getting that high paying job you'd worked so hard for, living to the fullest, or whatever that means...

Losing your dad wasn't something on the cards. He was your best friend, the only family you had left... but fate was a cruel mistress. Moving back home after graduation was easy, sorting out the house and putting him to rest... was another thing entirely. Lisa had become your lifeline through it all... and though a season had passed, it wasn't any easier.

The din of the party was getting to you, the noise all too overwhelming. You were here for Lisa, wanting to enjoy the night as much as she was... but couldn't handle yet another concerned neighbor asking you how you were coping. Strolling down the back of her yard, your fingers trailing over the solid wooden posts of her fence until they reach the latch to the back gate. A quick check over your shoulder to make sure no one has noticed you before you slip out.

There's a small, narrow path that opens into a clearing. It takes you a minute to scan the canopy line before you find the treehouse your dad built for you and Lisa when you were kids. It's all so overgrown now but the steps to the ladder are still nailed into the large trunk. Testing the lowest one out with the toe of your ballet slippers, you climb up into the large space. He was a builder, a freelance contractor and this place had been your safe haven for so many years.

You hadn't visited in a while, but the interior was spotless. The walls painted a now faded burgundy, the window seat and sofa inside still clean and fresh. Lisa had mentioned coming by recently to tidy it up but she'd added some more knickknacks. This space had always felt like home, like a private solace, protecting you from the cruelty of the world below.

There was a desk against the far wall, a cupboard with books and a small coffee table in the center. Your dad had managed to hoist them up and set them inside. Climbing onto the soft cushion of the window seat, your back against the wall as you survey the clearing. Everything looks so small from this height, so insignificant.

The dark silhouette of another appears just below, so quiet you hadn't heard him coming... but you knew who it was, would recognize him anywhere. Your heart skipping a beat at the sight of him, idly wondering how he knew where to find you. "Hey..." His voice was low, sensual even from down there... at least to you. You bite back the grin wanting to take over as you nod to him, "Hey, yourself."

Joel had moved in to the house next door right around the time you graduated college. He had the stoic, single dad routine down pat; he was also kind, charming and seriously good looking. Everyone wanted a piece of him, but all he cared about was Sarah. His beautiful daughter, ten years old and sharp as a tack. She kept them both on their toes, that was for sure. Joel was a builder, just like her dad. Long hours and hard labour to provide the kind of like he thought she deserved. His brother Tommy would drop in on occasion, the genes ran in the family there... But Joel, he was something else.

"Mind if I come up?" You sit a little straighter, wishing there was a mirror nearby to check your reflection or something... "Sure!" He'd never been here before, but he knew about it. You told him when you were reminiscing about your dad shortly after... everything happened. Pulling yourself up from the window seat, you move to lift the latch, tugging open the trap door and helping him to pull himself up into the treehouse. "How'd you know I was here?" You ask, curiosity getting the better of you.

"Was watching you." There was something in his eyes. So dark, chocolate had nothing on them. So deep as he drank in the sight of you. That concern dancing behind his gaze melted you, the warmth in his tone something new, something you'd started picking up on more and more of late. "Saw you slip out the back... No one else noticed." He was standing so close, you could see the gold flecks and caramel highlights in those eyes from the fading glow of the sun's rays. "Oh?" You were normally such a conversationalist, but there was something so intense about him, you were suddenly lost for words.

"Yeah, you looked like you could use a friend. Didn't want you alone out here." He paused for a moment, his words sinking in before he broke that connection, shifting his focus to the treehouse. There was a ghost of a smile tugging at his lips as his hands slipped into his pockets, his leather jacket tightening around the thick muscle of his biceps. The black cotton shirt beneath it draped perfectly off the broad expanse of his chest, his black jeans almost faded. He walked around the room, eyeing off everything in the room before settling against the edge of the desk. "I see why you like it here so much."

There was something so surreal about having him here. He almost didn't belong. He towered over you, even like this. His body exuding nothing but strength and power as he filled the small space. Barely large enough for two little girls once upon a time, let alone him... The truth was, you'd been noticing the change in him because it mirrored the one in you. Thoughts of him always lingering in the back of your mind, afraid to look at them too closely.

"What are you really doing here?" Surprised he'd left the party, even though he hadn't brought Sarah with him this time. "I meant what I said; didn't want you alone out here." His voice was low, sweet like honey. It was one of your favorite things about him, the sound filling the space, tickling your skin as you bite back a smile. Your heart doing that thing it always does whenever he was involved; fritzing out as it fought to maintain some kind of regular rhythm.

You edge a little closer, half a step, then another. As if testing the waters. He knew it, too, a slight jerk of his head telling you to keep going until you were just within reach of him. A hand reaches out lazily, fingers hooking in the waistline of your mini skirt. Tugging you the rest of the way, until you were standing between his outstretch legs. Even though he's perched on the edge of the desk, he's still so much taller than you. His body so big, you wonder how it would feel to get lost in it. To have him wrap those arms around you and hold you until all your worries melt away. The rest of the world, too.

His hands slide down your sides, settling on your waist as he holds you tightly. Your cheeks feel warm, a soft flush coloring them as tingles rush down your spine. "Been thinking about this for a while..." God, that voice. He could bring a civilization down to it's knees with that thing. At least, he could, you. "Thinking about what, exactly?" You can barely get your words out, the sound a soft murmur as your breath catches... The way he's looking at you right now, the world really was melting around you. Nothing else mattered but him. Right there. If only you could freeze that moment...

His eyes flicker to your lips, to the way you're biting the lower one. The usually stoic façade gone, replaced by a hunger you'd never noticed before. One hand leaves your waist to cup your face. Thumb locking on your jaw as strong fingers grip the back of your neck, holding you in place as he dips his head, his lips finding yours in a hard kiss. Your palms find his chest, pressing against them as you deepen the kiss.

Your mind flashing to all those late nights at home, crying as you try to pick up the pieces of your life, only to look up and find Joel right there with you. Holding you, helping you, a support like no other. He'd always been right by your side, had been the one for you long before you were willing to admit it to yourself...

All the unspoken emotion pouring out between you as the hand still resting on your waist tightens its grip, pulling you harder against him, as if letting you go would mean losing you and he couldn't possibly bare the thought of it. It felt like an eternity and a single moment all at once when he finally broke away. Pressing a kiss to your forehead before looking in your eyes once again, his thumb brushing your lower lip as a smile tugged at his own. "This, right here... you... I can't get you out of my head."

You open your mouth to say something when his phone goes off, the buzz in his pocket pulling him away. The apologetic look on his face as he tugs it out entirely unnecessary, he hated the damn thing, kept it for two reasons. Sarah and Tommy. "It's okay," you say as soon as he puts it away, knowing real life was calling him away...

"It's Sarah, there's a crisis at home, something about a missing textbook and needing to finish her homework. Honestly couldn't tell you where she gets those brains from." The sheepish smile was back on those perfect lips and you can't help but ball his shirt in a small fist as you tug him back down for another kiss. A short one, but enough to tell him you're not going anywhere. You walk down together, away from the party, a shortcut to the main road leading you both back to your driveway. He lives next door, but your house is first and he takes a moment to step away... those perfect eyes lingering on you.

"Can I call you, later tonight?" The smile on your face the only answer he needs as he nods, watching until you're safely up the driveway and inside your house before making his way to his girl. You pause, your back leaning against the door as your fingers lift to press idly against your lips, thinking about the way he kissed you, about him... Fishing your phone out of your pocket and clutching it to your chest as you make your way upstairs, counting down the minutes until you could hear that voice again...

TAG LIST: @dreamsofmandalore @devilmademewriteit @devilmademepostit @not-a-unique-snowflake-blog @pedro-pedrito-pascalito >>> If you'd like to be tagged in this series or any other fics, please let me know!