#and don't really care much about the overall show itself

[ewatsonia]

this season of dw wasn't my absolute favorite but i got to see 15 be really sad about susan multiple times so i'm pretty content tbh.

[stayteezdreams]

Mine

Plot: When you decide to show your friend San the costume you aren't so sure about, you get a lot more than you were expecting.

Prompt: "Stop staring at me like that." "If you didn't want me to stare, you shouldn't have worn that."

Pairing: Best Friend!Choi San x Gn!Reader (Friends to Lovers)

Warnings: A bit suggestive throughout. I tried my best not to be too descriptive about body type or gender but it might not be perfectly gender neutral, I apologize. Slight mentions of self-esteem issues, or body-image issues, reference to low confidence.

A/N: Don't go into this expecting too much lol, you have been warned.

Words: ~1.8k

Most years when it came to Halloween, you played it relatively safe. Choosing a famous character that matched your vibe. But you got bored of it, plus you were running out of characters you could pass for.

After some convincing, one of your friends persuaded you to dress up as a character from a show you both watched. They were also going to be a character from said show, so you wouldn't be alone.

The only problem was the costume of said characters was somewhat....revealing. Parts of the costume were cut to expose random areas of your body, and though none were too risqué, the costume itself hugged your figure in a way that left nothing to imagination.

You were uncertain if it suited you, or if you would be comfortable overall. The friend who suggested was no help in making you feel better, as they had already gotten excited about you being said character.

You had tried the costume on a few times, and every time you remained uncertain if it suited you. Was it the color? The overall vibe? Did it just not suit your body type?

When the topic of costumes came up with another one of your best-friends, San, you mentioned to him you weren't feeling too confident about the costume your friend gave you.

"I mean, I like it, but...it's not like anything I've worn before. I don't know if it suits me really."

Glancing at San who nodded along, understanding, but not fully knowing your predicament. He smiled softly, "Can I see it on you? Maybe I can help you decide?"

You perked up a bit at this, though you were a bit bashful about it too. "Would that be okay?"

He nodded with a bright smile before you hummed.

"Okay!" You rose before looking back at him, "It'll take a bit for me to put it on."

He chuckled and nodded, "No rush."

It seemed like a good idea at first, San was always helpful and always honest with you. But as you put the costume on you remembered just how it looked on you and you began to regret asking him to look at it.

San had never seen you in anything really revealing or figure hugging, not that he would care, he was one of your closest friends. But he was also the guy you had a crush on for ages. And even if he didn't care what you looked like in the costume, you began feeling timid.

Would he think you looked bad? You felt your chest clench a bit at this thought. That would definitely not help your confidence. You weren't sure if you wanted this now.

"Is everything okay?" You heard San's voice come from outside the door.

You let out a soft sigh. "Yeah! One second!"

You had finished putting the costume on but felt apprehensive about showing San. Taking a deep breath, deciding it would be too weird for you to suddenly change your mind, you walked out of the bathroom.

San was looking down at his phone and waiting for you patiently at the edge of your bed. Hearing you come out, his eyes shot up to see you, but what he saw was nothing like what he was expecting.

His heart seemed to stop all together as his breath caught in his throat. He was sure he looked stunned as he stared at you, unable to look away.

San always thought you looked great, no matter what you wore, but seeing you like this was more than he ever expected or could wish for.

The costume accentuated every part of you he often caught himself staring at. Various patches of your skin were exposed, and San felt his ears burning hot at the sight.

It took you a moment to gain the confidence to look at San's reaction. When you did you weren't expected to see him slack-jawed and stunned.

Was it a good thing? A bad thing? Was the costume too much?

When his eyes started raking over your body slowly, you felt a shiver run up your spine as you felt almost naked. You felt shy under his gaze, the look on his face something you had never seen.

You let out a nervous chuckle, "San, stop staring at me like that."

San's eyes finally rose to your face, and he saw the way his stare made you react. You were nervous and shy under his gaze.

'Cute.'

"If you didn't want me to stare, you shouldn't have worn that."

"Wh- but- I" You looked down at yourself. "You told me to try it on! To help me decide if I should wear it"

"Don't."

Your eyes shot back to him, only to see him staring at your body again. "What?"

"Don't wear it."

You looked back down at yourself, your chest tightening a bit. Was it really that bad? Or maybe he was feeling protective?

"Does it look that bad?"

Through San's struggle to keep his composure, the tone of your voice caught him off guard. Paying attention to your gaze as you turned and looked in the mirror, he realized his mistake. He was making you insecure.

He stood up, "That's not what I meant."

You looked back at him, "Then it just doesn't suit me?"

San let out a shaky breath as he desperately raked his eyes over you again before swallowing harshly. As you shuffled on your feet anxiously, he clenched his eyes shut.

"That's also not what I mean."

"Then why shouldn't I wear it?"

He opened his eyes again and took a step closer to you. Your hands absentmindedly rose to your chest out of nerves and he wondered if you were feeling as....tense as he was.

You noticed his almost darkened gaze as he stared at you again. You swallowed nervously as he stepped closer.

"It suits you....too well."

"Too well?"

He nodded and you noticed the way he swallowed before he licked his lips and spoke again. "You look great. Amazing even, and I... don't want others to see you like this."

Another step forward and he was mere inches from you. You could practically feel the heat radiating off of him as his eyes cast down to your body again. Your breath caught in your throat. What exactly did he mean? What was he thinking?

"I-" slowly, he lifted his arm, as his hand hovered above the exposed skin of your shoulder. "I want to be the only one to see you like this. I want to keep it to myself."

His voice was low, almost raspy, a shiver coursed through you as you heard it. Slowly his eyes lifted and locked with yours. The look in his gaze was almost dangerous, and it took your breath away.

"Why?"

"I don't want anyone to try and steal you from me. I want you to be mine."

You swallowed nervously; San didn't fail to notice it. He took another step closer, until your chests were almost touching. His face was close to yours and you nervously met his eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"I want you to understand why I'm saying these things."

You almost jolted as you felt San's hand suddenly grab your waist, his hands touching your bare skin were the costume revealed it. His hands gripped your waist as he pulled you against him.

His eyes stared deeply into yours as he inched closer.

"San?" Your voice was a whisper, barely heard.

"I've always wanted to keep you all to myself, but I thought it was too selfish. But this. Letting other's see you looking like this, seeing parts of you only I should see. I can't stand it. So, let me be selfish this time. Please."

Your breath wavered as San inched closer, his lips almost grazing yours as his eyes held a desperation you couldn't miss.

"Please?" He repeated, his voice soft, barely heard.

Your mind was fuzzy as your stomach swirled, warmth encasing you. You were unable to speak, so you just nodded your head.

Before you could even process your action, San's lips were against yours. His arm wrapped around you in a desperate attempt to bring you closer. One hand now held the back of your head, the kiss was deep, passionate.

As his tongue met your lips, asking for entrance, you obliged, almost gasping at his actions as he pressed you up against the wall as the kiss became almost sloppy. His fingers intertwined with your hair as his body pressed against yours.

San, managing to get some form of grip on himself, pulled away, his breathing heavy as he rested his forehead against yours. Opening his eyes he looked at your breathless figure. Slowly you opened your own eyes, as your gazes locked.

Bringing his hand to your face he gently caressed your cheek. "I'm sorry. I just- lost control a bit." He gently caressed your lightly swollen lips with his thumb. "It's been so hard repressing my feelings for you. I've always wanted you so badly, and today, seeing you..." He let out a soft chuckle, "I just couldn't hold it in any longer."

You smiled softly, "How long exactly? Have you felt like this."

"A few years, at least."

Your heart was racing as your chest clenched. All this time, you felt the same way, both of you unknowingly repressing shared feelings. Hurting yourselves and each other by never making it known.

"Then I'm sorry too." You said softly and he frowned, "Because I've been hiding it for just as long."

San stared at you for a second before a smile slowly spread across his face as he let out a soft chuckle.

"I guess we have a lot to make up for."

You nodded softly with a smile and San peered down at your figure again. He hissed as he let out a staggered breath, biting his lip. Your ears burned as he stared, your heart racing.

Bringing his hand down, he gently trailed his hand down your stomach before he hooked his finger under the cloth where it exposed your side.

Meeting your eyes again he spoke with an almost hungry tone. "Are you going to wear this?"

You bit back a grin, "I suppose I can find something else."

He smiled and tilted his head as he leaned in closer to you again, his lips hovered over yours. "Good."

You wish you had taken a breath before he kissed you again. You could tell from the way his hands hungrily gripped you as he pushed you against the wall again, his lips never breaking contact, that this was going to last a while.

xx End xx

A/N: I have written some fluff, some humor and a little spooky. So I thought I would write something a bit suggestive to throw in as well lol. Hope you liked it!

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[reachartwork]

the process

a lot of people like to ask me about my process and how ai can be "creative" because they're under the impression that it's just kind of a big slot machine. you pull a lever and art uncontrollably comes out. well, let me show you my process

this is going to be a long thread tagged with #long post, blacklist that if you want to skip it.

so how it starts like most art is that i have an idea. in this case, earlier i made a post about witch-knights "surfing" on swords, so i'm going to try and make that - a witch-knight flying through the air atop one of her swords.

it starts with this picture.

i think this picture is dogshit so i discard basically all of it to try and find something closer to my original intent. there's a couple of uninteresting regenerations so it's clear i have to go back to the drawing board and teach the machine what it is i'm trying to do

let's start with a witch-knight on a broom. it's definitely not great but it gives us a better pose that i can work with.

i start by erasing the broom and replacing it with a skateboard - the machine understands skating better for what i need it to do.

there's a ton of small, subtle errors in this image and it overall looks like dogshit but the most important part right now is blocking and the overall pose structure - i need her "surfing" a large, lengthwise object, in the sky. i start by erasing pieces of the skateboard

now we have a sword, which is good. but the sword itself looks... bad. i'll spare you the abortive attempts at selective regeneration of the sword and just show you what happened when i rolled it back a couple of times from this pose and let it regen entirely.

again, tons of small little shitty errors, but this is something i can work with. i do another regen for a less shitty sword. her boob armor gets replaced with, like, generic scale mail.

this image has a great sword and decent pose but like... everything else is kind of futzy and i dont like it. instead of trying to pick and choose i just throw it back into the oven for a second. much better! but now she's going to cut herself on the sword, oh no!

again, i'll save you the agonizing thirty minutes of trying to get it to understand where the foot should go. unlike before i didn't really have a choice except to muscle through. there! now she's surfing safely :)

so it's done, right? well, i mean, i could post this. and it would probably do okay. but *i'm* not satisfied with it. there's stiffness. dozens of minor errors. the eyes look weird when you zoom in. let's start by fixing her hat, and then maybe her hands?

but she's missing fingers on her left hand so let's go ahead and fix that too. and i don't really like the tip of her sword and the ocean looks really flat and boring. so, VERY CAREFULLY, i have to etch out the parts of the sword and her body i have to keep, and also write an entirely new prompt to tell it "i want an ocean w/ rolling waves please :)"

this is better but not great. i try again - serendipitously, it makes this really cool variant with a shadow over the water, but i know working with that will take more wrangling so i'm considering it an evolutionary dead end and discarding it for now.

i proceed to spend 30 minutes trying to make the ocean look better but it's really not working imo. i'm gonna go back to the shadow version and see how that works

i'll spare you the other 8 minutes - i'm satisfied with the following picture. the sword isn't *perfectly* straight, her eyes aren't perfectly textured, the scale mail is... weird, in texture, but anything else would be greasing the wheel and i think beyond the machine's ability to do fine detail.

i've also attached the starting picture for comparison - it has better, "higher quality" clouds and ocean but i personally cared more about the pose and the sword surfing - the background is mostly tangential. could i get back ocean and clouds of that quality with another two hours of painstakingly cutting and re-generating bits of the background without destroying any of my existing work on the pose? probably. but i don't want to.

total time spent on this piece from start to finish was one hour and twenty one minutes. and now you know!

[bonny-kookoo]

Jungkook

X♡X♡ [SEVEN DAYS] Day 3

If you gave him your heart, your soul, your body- what would he do to those things? Maybe it's time to see if he can handle your love for once, and not just the other way around.

Tags/Warnings: Porn with a lot of plot basically, inexperienced!reader, Dom!Jungkook, BDSM themes and elements, mild Angst, fluff, slow burn but we'regetting somewhere, they have mad chemistry but mc has trust issues, mentions of past domestic abuse (mental), Outercourse (basically non-penetrative sex except with a dildo), toys, Cumplay, it's messy smh, hand kink? Increased authority from kook

Length: ~5k words

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐜.♡

A/N: you'll never be able to imagine how much I struggled reconnecting with this fic. This was torture. I hated this fic so much at some point. I'm not proud of this part but if I don't get this out I'll never be able to continue this series.

-> Masterlist

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Jungkook has really nice hands.

Not just in a sensual or sexual sense, but in general. They're big but not intimidating, because the way he uses them is never in a mean or hurtful way. They're soft, and kind, and they also look very nice. Masculine, and strong, veins underneath the skin sometimes a bit more visible than other times, but they also hold a certain softness to them. His nails are well taken care of, only his thumb sometimes giving you a hint of a nervous habit.

They're uniquely Jungkook. Rough, but not to be feared. Gentle, but with the potential to lead. Capable. Handsome.

They're his main way of exploring your skin too- his fingers often used to make shivers run up your spine, palms warm as they feel every curve of you. He doesn't need to look at what he's doing ever it seems like, hands having minds of their own every time they touch you.

Like a separate entity almost, listening obediently to their master's command.

You slowly wake up from your nap, feeling actually refreshed, when Jungkook walks in from the door, giving you a hint to what must've woken you up. "Oh- You're up." He smiles, walking closer with a plastic bag, though his first mission is to press his hands into the softness of the couch before he kisses your cheek. "Here- let me show you something." He impishly chuckles, sitting down on his shins, before he opens the bag on the bed.

You're in a state of shock for a good moment, not even having noticed him move.

He's got the audacity to laugh over your shoulder, front pressed into your back, hands teasing your sides as they sneak up your loose shirt.

"Bought one that's about my size." He purrs sensually, almost like he's mocking you. But it's not malicious- playful, if anything, but not mean in any way. "So you can call it.. practice." He explains, while you stare at the nearly clear pink dildo that's staring at you, still packaged together with other things in the black plastic bag in your lap.

"Jungkook.. when did you even buy those things?" You wonder, feeling almost scared to touch any of the things inside.

"Earlier, when you were napping." He shrugs easily, hand reaching past your body to shamelessly dump the contents of the bag on the bed, bag flying somewhere on the floor. "Anything look like an absolute no-go to you?" He asks curiously, and you look without touching.

There's an egg-shaped item there you're not too sure of what it might be. The dildo explains itself, clearly- and the other massage wand is also pretty self-explanatory. There's two bottles of lube- one pink, the other blue. A.. plug, with a pretty pink gemstone on one end of it. Leather handcuffs, with soft looking fur on the inside. Overall, nothing immediately makes you uncomfortable.

You don't know what gives you the confidence for your next comment you blurt out though. "Don't you have any toys?" You ask him bluntly. "Like, for yourself? Or do you just.. use your partner's body for stuff?" You wonder, and he looks at you with a sharp gaze, a smirk growing on his lips.

"I wouldn't mind using your body, that's for sure." He flirts, leaning his head a bit to the side. "Why would I need toys if I've got you?" He fakes innocence as he asks that question without expecting any answer- And for a moment, you don't give one.

But something about his flirty comment bothers you.

Maybe because you hear someone else in your head again- all the men who've degraded you over the course of time. Your ex. Your friends. Your father. You hear them laugh yet again like you're pathetic and worth nothing.

"I don't want to be used." You deny with a flat tone, and it's clear from the slight change in his eyes that he's now on high alert at your every word spoken by mouth and body language, so he can figure out what happened to change your mood like that. "I don't just want to be.. a toy you get bored off and toss away at some point just to pick it back up once you're interested again." You say, drawing a clear line.

You're not sure how he might react to this. You didn't want to make a statement like that, but you can't mask the truth. You really are scared of getting hurt at the end of this- you don't want him to just play around and then let you go.

You don't want to go. You want to stay- You want him to want you to stay.

He says your name to gain your attention, voice low and steady, horribly gentle- and it makes your eyes sting as you realize that this is the first time a man has ever spoken in such a tone to you. He notices the way your eyes begin to gloss over- and it hurts him too, the fact that you're hurting.

"This isn't just something fun to me. I think I might not have made it clear." He says, staying away from you as to not invade your little bubble you're in, letting you have your safety. "I don't know what happened to you in the past to be so full of distrust towards anything good offered to you-" He sighs, running a hand through his hair. "-but I promise you, this isn't just a game to me."

"Then what is this." You say quietly, scared. "I'm scared that we're not on the same page here and that we're walking down to entirely separate paths." You complain pitifully with your back hunched over and head hanging low.

"That's because we are." He chuckles softly. "I'm trying to hold your hand here so we don't lose each other- but you're not holding it." Jungkook offers.

"I don't understand-" you shake your head, when as you look up again, his face is right in front of yours, eyes looking at your lips.

"Then let me help you." He hums towards you, before his lips press onto yours. And your body freezes.

Because he's never kissed you like this before- tender, calm and without any lust in it whatsoever. In fact, your realize only now that you've never been kissed without any hidden intentions or something to gain in mind. This kiss is soft, it's no words needed, it's love confessed in physical form. You've never been kissed like this. Ever.

And even more so, you're pretty sure he hasn't actually kissed you at all either- not until now, at least.

And it's all so confusing now, because you want to trust him, you want to just lean into him and let him have his way with you- but the fear inside you is still there, clutching your limbs, leaving you with no way to move anywhere- neither away from him, nor closer. You're currently stuck in place, and it's only a matter of time until he grows tired of you and your constant push and pull behavior.

You're hurting him, you know this.

Especially because you're kissing him back, giving him hope for something you might not be able to give him. You're cruel, aren't you? And the worst is that he probably knows even that.

Because once you start to cry, once you sob and cling to him like a touch-starved pet, letting all of those pent up emotions out because who cares, he doesn't say anything, doesn't ask what's wrong. He just holds you, gives you that moment, keeps your pieces collected in his palms for you to put back together later with his help. And you're not sure how many times you can do this.

Or how long he's willing to participate in this.

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Since Jungkook didn't make a move the entire morning, you've been spending it entertaining yourself as to not get bored. Not in a sexual way-

but by simply trying to see how strong his patience is.

It's a new feeling you've developed after just two days of being with him- confidence, and trust in that he won't ever hurt you whatsoever. No consequences he could come up with would ever truly put you in harms way, you absolutely believe in that. But what's disappointing was how he didn't ever get past a clench of his jaw, or a tilt of his head. He'd just.. let you do whatever, and never do anything to somehow discipline you.

It made you wonder. Is he even such an intimidating 'Dom' at all, or did he just make that up?

However, after talking about it after lunch, he's finally opened up to you too- having told you that he's gonna trust you too, that he'll be more open with you and his own desires, while you'll have to be honest about when he's going too far or too fast. And you agree- you want him to trust you too, want him to relax more around you as well.

After all, he wants to get to know you too, right? Not just the other way around.

What you did not take into account though, is that now, your actions actually will have consequences- and he will indeed put you back into your place in one way or another. And even if in that very moment where you piss him off he isn't reacting- he will remember those actions to remind you of them, later, when you don't even expect it.

Just like now, as he's finished some calls he had to make, finally finding time again for you. "I'm sorry- I technically told the studio not to contact me on my break." He hums into your hair, as you sit with him on the small sofa in his office, having practically demanded his attention back on you the moment he'd put his phone down, and he'd been visibly amused by it. Unbeknownst to you, he's more than just excited- after all, it feels like your week is finally gaining traction, as you no longer step around in the dark trying to navigate around obstacles that aren't even there.

He's just been too scared to scare you. But by now, it's clear that you're not. And it makes him eager to explore now that he can actually see where he's going with you.

There's a hand under your shirt, cropped top and cotton shorts nothing more than decoration really, considering he's already seen you naked. It's nothing too sensual technically- but at this point, you feel like something might be wrong with you. Because even a simple touch like this makes you.. needy.

He reaches over to the side, plastic bag rustling- and now you're actually starting to get antsy. Because there's only one bag next to the couch- the one that's containing all the different items Jungkook had bought this morning as he'd told you. And that's exactly what he's grabbing for it seems like, as he moves his arms a little to take out one of the items you weren't too sure about- already unpacked for some reason, as he holds it out for your hand to take.

"What is that?" You ask, fingers running over the smooth, silicone surface, while he chuckles behind you, since you're still halfway laying against his chest.

"Something I always wanted to try." He simply jokes. "It's really fun, according to a friend of mine. I've never used it with anyone before, but I think you might like it.." He hums, taking the toy away from you again, before his free hand pats your thigh once. "..scoot to the side for me, yeah?" He asks, and you do so, sitting next to him now while watching how he finally reveals what this.. object might be used for.

He has to adjust the belts multiple times to fit around his thigh, plastic clipping into place, before his eyes find yours, lips turned into a suspicious smirk. "Alright.." He starts, leaning back against the couch, and it's obvious that he's now demanding respect and most of all, your obedience. He points at a spot in front of him, and without words, you know exactly what he wants you to do, his expression one of almost.. pride, as he watches you stand in front of him, instinctually knowing what to do.

"Undress." He simply says, a straightforward command that you follow easily, because shame is something that you refuse to let yourself feel. He's not one you need to be hesitant with- he's promised you his honesty, after all, and he's promised you that even if things get awkward, it'll never change his view on you.

And his view of you is one of love, that's very clear to see and feel.

So it's not weird to stand in front of him all bare, clothes on a small pile next to your feet now, as he smiles. "Come here." He urges with a softer voice, having clearly realized that you've accepted his invitation into a scene now- for the first time not having needed any cues. "Take a seat, princess." He almost teases, and you do so, sitting on the soft silicone toy hugging his thigh.

It's pastel colored, multiple hues swirling together into one another, creating wave like patterns. "There you go... So pretty." He chuckles, hands running over the length of your arms, causing goosebumps to erupt from the sensation of his warm palms. He's feeling your skin a lot more sensually now, clear intentions as he touches your hips and waist, thumbs almost massaging the skin of your lower stomach, moving from the inside towards your hipbones before repeating the action.

His hands are so close to where you'd love to have them, and yet, you try and be patient. Because if you're good, he'll reward you, right?

It doesn't take long for you to notice the way your arousal makes movement a lot easier- your core by now slipping around with every little jerk of your hips, making you anxious to move more. And finally, as his fingers grip your hips, he gets into a more comfortable position himself- the unoccupied leg casually stretched out, while his back rests against the sofa, giving him a good position to watch you. "Show me how those hips can move." He urges, and you instantly take that invitation, slowly moving to test the waters.

You don't care what you look like, or about the wet sounds coming from the toy between your legs- because the feeling is insane.

He clearly let's you enjoy yourself for now, giving you free reign to figure out yourself how you like it. Your hips are squirming from side to side, ridges and bumps of the toy an odd but definitely pleasant sensation as you roll your core over it, uncaring of your arousal already leaking onto his grey sweatpants.

And neither does he care.

Watching you chase your own pleasure on his leg is just such a treat to witness- especially when he holds onto you, before he lifts his foot, forcing you down onto the toy without any warning, earning a surprised whimper from between your lips as he lets you down- just to repeat the motion a couple of times, simply to entertain himself. You're just too cute, even while doing such a sinful act. And especially when you clearly reach your orgasm is when he truly can't help himself-

hands guiding your hips to keep moving despite your clear sensitivity, just to see you struggle a little, thighs trembling and hands gripping his arms.

He's letting you lean against him, hips occasionally moving just a little, clearly still needy to feel more- and he's actually quite surprised when your hand curiously runs over the inside of his thigh, hesitating just shy of his very obvious erection that's only somewhat contained in his underwear and sweats. "You can touch me, you know?" He chuckles, making you look up at him. "I'm all yours." He tells you, and it feels like he's offering more than just his body to you.

But you don't get to think for long, because he's already helping you lay down on your back on the leather couch, unclipping the toy from his leg before he looms over you, hand running through your legs. "You didn't think I've forgotten, right?" He chuckles darkly, while his hand explores your still clenching core.

"You don't think I'm just letting you act like a brat and not put you into your place?" He purrs, leaning back on his heels, before he takes out something from the bag, his phone as well from the table close by. You're pulling back your legs, unaware that you're still exposed to him, lower lips plump and red from the friction of the toy, skin glistening with your arousal.

It's playing right into his desires, seeing you so clueless about your own appeal.

You're watching him press a hidden button on the toy, the pink object buzzing to life once, red light blinking while he taps away on his phone. "Oh~" He hums, trying out somethin it seems like, as the toy buzzes in different patterns before it stills again. "Interesting.. That'll be fun in the future." He chuckles, before he leans over you, kissing you with playful intent.

You're not sure what he's up to when he pushes your legs back down to stretch out, running the smooth object between your legs to cover it in your slick. "You're always so worried you can't take it.." He teases, looking right at you before you notice him push the object inside-

the egg shaped vibrator slipping right in, almost suddenly, core taking it inside greedily- only the elongated part staying outside, something resting right on your clit. "Oh?" He jokes, brows raised. "Where'd it go?" He jokes, making you laugh now, entire nature of this whole scene awfully light in that moment, lifting your overall tenseness entirely at this point. And for a moment, all is fun and games-

until he leans back, sits down in the corner of the couch, finger on his phone suddenly doing something-

The toy inside you buzzing to live, and not on an easy setting, that's for sure. He's obviously amused by the way you squirm, hips jerking whenever you move in a way that forces the part resting against you to move. And he's having the time of his life, trying out different settings and rhythms while watching you suffer under his antics.

"You still need to learn." He chuckles, watching your legs jerk whenever the piece that's resting over your clit moves just slightly. "I don't have to touch you to gain my fill." He says, simply scanning your body with a warm, hooded gaze. "Hm? You've had such a smart mouth the entire day." He coos, almost feigning innocence as he looks at you racing towards your final high-

Generously turning down the intensity so that it's not that harsh.

You're slowly catching your breath, when his lips tilt upwards, and his finger taps around- buzzing intensifying again, catching you off guard, causing a yelp to escape you as your hips lift off the couch.

This is too much. Or not enough? You can't take this, there's something strange happening with your body as it moves without your permission, turning over into all fours, front laying down as your hands frantically touch the inside of your thighs.

And Jungkook relishes in the scene you present to him, because there's a reason your fingers hesitate to touch your core, and he knows it.

You can't take it out. Not physically- that you can, if you really wanted to- but mentally. You know he's put it there, and he's the one in control. This is your punishment, and in an odd moment of realization, you accept it, thighs trembling as your body reaches yet another, warmer orgasm that causes you to cry out, voice sounding foreign to your own ears as your hips jerk, your knees pressed into the leather below the only thing holding you upright-

Or maybe it's Jungkook, who's leaning over your back, arm keeping your front elevated as it rests against your collarbone.

When did he move?

When did he shed his top?

Your core feels empty, and your legs feel wet. Is ge not wearing pants anymore? You can feel something touch you, hot and heavy against your thigh, and it must be him.

You want him. Where'd that toy go that was inside you seconds ago?

You’re still breathing heavily, cheeks still wet from the tears you didn’t even realize had fallen from your eyes. Your lashes are still coated in them, wet and heavy, when Jungkook kisses your neck from behind you, a reminder that he’s still there.

Just like he always promises. He never let’s you feel lonely.

“That's it.” He praises. “Hold onto me like that. I’ll keep your body safe while you let go.” He chuckles, and only now do you notice the iron grip you have on his forearm over your chest, nails digging into his skin. You feel a bit bad for it.

Though you just lessen your strength a bit, not letting go.

Suddenly, his other arm moves, grabs something out of sight, before he runs the object through your slick-coated cunt and thighs, covering it in your arousal before it prods at your still clenching hole.

“You think I won’t fit?” He purrs against your neck, and you swallow thickly, a strange cocktail or anticipation and worry mixing in your body. “You think I won’t claim this cunt as mine at the end of this week?” He asks again, and you can feel the wave if cool excitement wash over you- starting at your very neck, before it ends in the tips of your toes.

“I’ll teach your body to take me..” He almost chuckles, pushing the very tip of the clear pink toy inside, before he moves it back out- Pushing it in a little further each time. “I’ll make sure to get you all ready for me..” he hums sensually, by now having learned of your little kinks you have, as the hand from his arm still keeping your upper body pressed against his own finds one of your tits, groping the soft flesh before his thumb flicks the sensitive bud once to see you squirm.

“I won’t let you forget any of this.” He threatens almost, and you whine when you feel him push the toy even further now.

You feel so full. How much more is there to go?

“Jung-” you whine pitifully, eyes closed as your hips can’t stay still, all of it a stark difference to the fast paced, almost aggressive orgasm he’s given you just moments prior. “I cant-” you start, and he laughs.

“Oh you can.” He tells you, before he gives the toy another push. “And you will.” He purrs, and its then that you feel the base of the toy against your lower lips.

You swear you can feel it in your stomach- and for some odd reason, you like it.

"You're made for me." He chuckles, kisses at your neck and cheek before he bites, toy leaving your cunt with only the tip before he moves it back in, feeling of a Rollercoaster ride making your insides jump and eyes roll back. You can't think anymore, you can only feel- and right now, you feel just so used in the best kind of way.

Somehow, he makes your worst nightmares come true- but they're not nightmares anymore, just dreams, vibrant and pleasant. Exciting. New.

It could be so easy to replace the toy with himself right now- but he doesn't, because that's one of his own rules he will never break. Your trust in him is precious, it's a gift- and he won't tarnish that by simply being greedy for more than you want to offer.

"Jung.." you huff, swallowing down saliva before you can say anything at all. "Jungkook-.. please-" you beg, unsure how to phrase it.

"What is it?" He asks, moves to nuzzle your neck so softly- a stark contract to his constant push and pull with the clear pink dildo he's using to give you a taste of his own length one day doing the same. Filling you up. Probably even better? You can imagine him all warm and slicked up from your wetness, stretching you open and making you feel so full you can hardly breathe.

"More.. f- faster-" you request. "Please?" You add on, and he chuckles.

"See?" His breath fans over your neck. "You can be such a good girl." He teases, pressing the replica as deep as it can reach inside you, base pushing against your skin. "Where were your manners today?" He wonders. "Will I always have to ruin this cunt to remind you where your place is?" He asks, and you nod, shamelessly so.

"Yes!" You whimper, mind somewhere else by now entirely as you struggle to keep yourself still. "Yes- I.. I forget-" you huff out, and he laughs as he runs his lips over your shoulder, piercing a distinct contrast to his softer lips.

"Then let me remind you, darling." He hums against your jot and sweating skin. "You're mine, in this moment. And I decide what to do with you... or to you." He tells you, and you nod, legs quivering.

Only for him to move the toy back to have it slip out, hole gaping at him, closing around nothing. The sigh is everything he ever needed or wanted- cunt all red and flushed, lower lips swollen and glistening, and he has to imagine his own seed staining your skin, mixing with your own arousal staining the couch and your legs.

His cock twitches at the sight, a drop of precum escaping him without control.

But what he does have control over is the rest of himself, as he pushes the toy back inside, causing your toes to curl, especially once he moves it in a faster, steadier pace. It short-circuits your brain, everything around you smelling of sex as he uses the replica to give you a taste of what he could give you.

Your arousal foams up around the base of the pink silicone, creating a ring of white as you cream up from his pace.

The orgasm you reach from this is different, as if it happens somewhere else in your body- though his hand is quick to flick your sensitive pearl to send you off with a proper goodbye, soil leaving your body as you quiver and lose all control one last time, body giving out as he lets you lay down now, muscles twitching from the overuse.

And it only takes him one good pump on his own cock to make him spurt his release onto your back, where his lips kiss up your spine in his post-orgasmic fever.

He's drunk off of you. He's never even had full on sec with you yet- and he's already addicted.

You've got no idea what you're doing to him.

◇━━━━━━━━━━X♡X♡━━━━━━━━━━━◇

In the bathtub, his hand is a lot softer as it runs over your body, cleaning you and nurturing this blossoming feeling you're growing for him.

You're both back from your respective highs, world slowly bleeding back into reality as you simply exist in the warm water for now. "Was that alright?" He asks you, and you nod.

"It was.. new." You say, voice echoing in the bathroom, together with the sound of water sloshing everytime he moves. "I didn't think I'd enjoy what you did- but I did."

"How so?" He wonders, wanting to know hour thoughts now that your brain is functional again. Feedback is important now more than ever after all- he has to still figure out how to navigate this new experience with you.

"I thought.. it would feel, you know, degrading." You explain. "To be used." You clarify, and he nods, carefully moving your hair to see the side of your face better. "But it didn't. It felt more.. as if I was.. of service? Is that the right word?" You wonder, and he chuckles.

"Its how I feel in my position as well, you know." He answers. "Knowing that what I offer gives you pleasure.. is enough for me." He shrugs, and you stretch your legs, cramps finally letting up. "You looked so pretty.." he teases, and you whine.

"I was crying like a baby!" You argue, turning around a bit-

Though you're caught off guard by the terribly soft look he offers you, hand reaching out to hold your cheek.

"Thats because you are my baby." He says-

Making you cry once more.

◇━━━━━━━━━━X♡X♡━━━━━━━━━━━◇

[mauesartetc]

Redesigning Helluva Beelzebub

Hoo boy, roll up the sleeves for this one.

The Original

In my review of Helluva Boss 108, I mentioned that Beelzebub's character design put me in mind of how some DeviantArt kid's fursona might look. And... Yeah I stand by that statement. The most likely reason I can figure Viv Medrano wanted her to be dog-like was to make a reference to her Die Young music video, which featured an anthro wolf singing a Kesha song (for context, Kesha herself voiced Beelzebub and co-wrote a song for this episode).

But for those who are unaware, Beelzebub's traditional depiction looks nothing like this.

Really the only visual similarities the Helluva version shares with the Infernal Dictionary version are the insect wings, six limbs, and the crown thingy over the head. (At least I think that's a crown-? Kinda hard to tell on both counts.)

Bee's eyes get somewhat more insectoid later in the episode, but that feels like a cop-out. Wow, her eyes and colors changed. Totally a bug demon, right?

They had the same problem in Hazbin Hotel with Katie Killjoy, who's allegedly supposed to be a praying mantis but barely resembles one, even after her transformation.

I understand the desire for fresh takes on old figures, and taking creative liberties so the new interpretation doesn't feel generic. But the changes should at least make sense. By now it's pretty clear Viv couldn't care less about representing Ars Goetia demons faithfully, as demonstrated with Paimon, Andrealphus, and now Beelzebub. You could slap completely different names on these characters and it wouldn't change a thing. I posted this meme a while back but it's never been more relevant:

On top of that, what reason could there possibly be for the design to be this damn complex? Why did she need so many markings on her face? Why did she need so many layers of hair? Why did she need flowing goo for her hair, tail, and body, each requiring dedicated effects animation?

When it comes to a hand-drawn production, less is more. Any superfluous details on a character just make unnecessary work for the animators.

Anyway, here's what Viv has to say about it.

Alright, I'll admit: The lava lamp bit is a little clever. Basically it works as a regular stomach does, but on demonic steroids. But it wouldn't look so much like Viv's making this up as she goes if we'd seen Bee's stomach performing its intended function in the episode. Let her chow down on a giant piece of food (maybe that cotton candy she's been handing out-?) and swallow it, and let Loona (and the audience) see it dissolving in her transparent belly. As a general rule, if it's not shown or explained in the work itself, it's not canon. Like I've said before, Viv: Elaborate on the nuances in the story you're telling, not on social media.

Also, "Her ears are designed after beehives"? Wh...Wha? Ma'am have you ever seen a beehive.

(Hell, even if you told me the ears were inspired by the generic cartoon beehive we're all familiar with, I wouldn't have guessed. There's a difference between being subtle and being vague.)

I can kinda see it in the overall shape, but that's a very specific design inspiration that wasn't clear at all in the design itself. Same with the "animal trainer" thing: I never would have picked up on that if Viv hadn't pointed it out. If a character design doesn't visually convey all the necessary information, it's not a successful design. Show, don't tell. There's a communication breakdown between what Viv's telling us and what Bee's design shows us.

(It's possible she actually meant "Her ears are designed after honeycombs", but even then, each compartment has a specific pentagonal shape that's not coming across at all here.)

I also find it interesting that Bee and Loona have almost the exact same body type. Of course Viv's pretty infamous for samebody syndrome, but it's actually unnerving how similar these two are.

Might this be a reference to Vortex's "type"? Is this foreshadowing a relationship with Loona? Am I overthinking this? Yeah, probably. Viv's demonstrated a clear preference for tall, skinny body types over the years, so it's safer to assume that's the explanation. It's all aesthetics. It ain't that deep. Occam's Razor and all that.

Finally, Bee how the hell does your shirt work.

The Concept

So at this point it seems most logical to lean into the "bee" thing for the redesign, and scrap all the canine elements. As for the blobby hair and tail... yeeeah let's nix those too. We're going for a streamlined version that's easier to animate. And because I ignored the ringmaster look for my redesign of Asmodeus, it only makes sense to do the same for Bee's animal trainer vibe (what little there is) for the sake of consistency. I know this version of Hell has a circus theme with its highest-ranking demons, but there's never been an in-universe explanation for why that is.

Let's look at actual bees, then. A quick peek at Google has informed me that certain insect species have smaller, "simple" eyes (also known as ocelli), in addition to their compound eyes. In bees, this manifests as a triangular grouping of three beady eyes on top of the head.

In her Helluva Boss episode, Bee's full demon form has three eyes, which could be a reference to this triangular arrangement, plus her regular form has two spots on her forehead in addition to the third eye. So it's possible Viv actually did research for something. Pleasantly surprised on that front.

Next, the body. I've noticed that some folks find Bee's skinny body type refreshing, as the sin of gluttony is too often personified with fatness. And that's fair. That's valid. But consider this:

Imagine any Vivziepop character saying that about a chubby person. Imagine the series sending the message that fat people can be sexy too, and that they have worth outside of their appearance, enough for at least one character to consider them girlfriend material. That they're valued and appreciated regardless of this culture's beauty standards (which we know nothing about since the worldbuilding is as thin and flimsy as tissue paper, but whatever). Imagine if this show finally had a fat female character who wasn't relegated to the background. Don't know about y'all, but that would be refreshing to me. And when you take into account all the fat-shaming of a character who isn't even fat, portraying a fat character as attractive would be a nice change of pace for this show.

Now let's talk about clothing. In the episode, Bee's clothes show off a lot of her body, with a cutout crop top and short shorts. We can take a similar approach for the redesign (something that still shows off her chest, belly, and limbs, in keeping with the extroverted "party girl" persona), but that perhaps includes more queenly elements.

The Redesign

Because this is a redesign, many elements were already in place, but I still had to figure out how this character would look as a bee. Here's where the preliminary sketches came in. Lots of trial and error in this process.

Wrestling with this character's face got a lot easier once I realized I could mold it into a pentagonal shape akin to a honeycomb compartment. It took a few tries, but at last, I had a final sketch.

All that was left to do was test out some color combinations.

I tried a few different approaches, but in the end, this is the version I felt worked best.

I used many of the colors from the original, but pushed the orange much harder since orange is the symbolic color of gluttony as a sin. And overall it gives Bee a nice honey-ish look rather than the generic black and yellow we already see on so many bees in cartoons. I thought the colored outlines on her clothing would add a soft, feminine touch, as well.

And just for kicks, here's a quick sketch of her giant form, inspired by the Infernal Dictionary drawing of Beelzebub.

Conclusion

The canon version of this character exists in the form she does for no reason than to stroke her creator's ego. "Hey guys, remember when I animated that Kesha fan video? Remember how cool that was? Wanna see me foist this unnecessarily-complex character design on other animators while I take a victory lap?" I wouldn't mind so much if Viv animated any of this herself, but she didn't. I could almost excuse this if she had no animation experience and didn't know how much work it requires, but she does. The self-aggrandizing entitlement is just off the charts. But a nonsensical design is leagues better than a stolen one, so... brownie points for that, I guess.

[l-in-the-light]

The most embarrassing series of posts about Lawlu you will ever read: edition Wano (part 13)

Sorry for the long wait, not only I needed a break (Silent Hill 2 remake came out <3), I also had troubles in general writing notes on tumblr for a while, for some unknown reason! But we're back to our Lawlu's love tale, now finally making it into Wano my beloved.

We start on the ship heading to Wano. Luffy is getting depressed over his bounty for the first time. We know he cares a lot about his bounty poster, apparently he always wanted to be on one ever since he was a child and Shanks told him stories about pirates. He also wants to impress Shanks, so there's also that.

But it's possible part of the reason why Luffy is depressed is because... his bounty would be now lower than Law's. LOL. Dressrosa ended with same amount of cash placed on their heads ;) I dunno if it's reallly part of Luffy's reason, but he did see Zoro and Sanji fight over their bounties before multiple times, so it's probably not a stretch that it might have rubbed on him a little, haha. Just throwing this as possible food for thought :D

Kin'emon is not picking up? Who cares, Luffy has enough of waiting. Which is understandable, but also... we know already that he can't get to Wano fast enough, he was in this speedruning mode ever since they left Zou. He's so close to seeing his crew and Law again, waiting even few hours more is simply killing him in those circumenstances.

Luffy immediately got immersed into roleplaying a samurai, but besides using "gozaru/verily" speech pattern, he mostly just focuses on his sword he practically snatched from the Tengu guy. He's so happy that not only he has a sword, but it's even one of the cooler ones. He holds it up like he wants to show it off, and then throws away the scabbard and claims he can slice people too.

I don't really want to doubt Luffy here, but he spent so much time with Zoro, practically since the beginning of the manga, and he never got interested in any swords before. Not even once. He seemed to interact with any only twice: when he found it for Zoro before freeing him in East Blue (he wasn't particularly interested in them yet, but he did get impressed with Zoro's skills), and when he held it for Law for half of Dressrosa.

So what do you think caused Luffy's sudden interest in swords? If your guess is Luffy's first ally, you're probably scoring a jackpot. Luffy wanted to feel cool and show off with his sword, because he kept looking at Law doing cool stuff with his own one, and Luffy decided he suddenly wants to do the same. Luffy usually has simple reasons for stuff, after all. Maybe he even imagines how it's like for Law to hold and fight with the sword, while he's at it.

It's also worth noting how Luffy is shamelessly admitting that what they're about to do will destroy Kin'emon's plans (Law's, actually, as we will see in a few moments) and declares he will just apologize for it later. It's funny for multiple reasons in retrospection, because: 1. Luffy never actually apologized, lol. 2. He indeed got away with it easily (waaaay too easily) 3. Luffy totally knew at this moment he will get away with it. Cheeky brat! And yes, he was right about that. He knows his Torao well and he knows he will be forgiven. If anything, it seems Luffy upon returning from Whole Cake Island decided to be openly cheeky when he knows a certain someone can handle it.

The action itself though will end up having very terrible consequences overall, but that's something Luffy couldn't have known yet.

"But you didn't even use it", indeed. Just simply carrying the sword around might be reminding Luffy of Law already. But also samurais (and ninjas) are just cool and it would be a waste not to have a sword like everyone else.

Also I'm always curious what Law does with his scabbard when he fights. It would be kinda funny if he throws it away too, lol (probably not up in the air like Luffy did, but he has to dump it somewhere, right? He doesn't carry his scabbard at his waist like Zoro, or on his back).

Law and Luffy's reunion! Yeah I know, at surface level it seems very bleak in comparison, after all Zoro got a glomping hug, just like Sabo did in Dressrosa. We actually don't see Luffy hugging people this way very often. Luffy also never attempts to hug or touch Law, not counting grabbing his clothes (which counts only as indirect touch).

But when we take a closer look at how they react about seeing each other, it does show they care and are happy to meet again.

Let's start from Law. He's resting (it's his last resting moment in Wano lol), his crew make a commotion, screaming "Captain, trouble! Strawhat and Roronoa are going to Bakura town!". But what Law picks up on is only this part: "Strawhat is in Wano?!" That selective focus in this scene says more than any expression or words could have shown us, it's like he didn't hear any other part, as soon as his brain connected the dots "they're talking about Luffy in Bakura town" but "Luffy isn't in Wano yet" which concludes in his deduction of "Luffy's finally here!". It's kinda cute, really.

Anime even emphasized this moment. At first Law asks "why are you so upset/making noise" but then picks up again only on the part about Luffy arriving in Wano, and even adds a line that wasn't in the manga: "So he's finally here", which only further shows he was indeed missing him, it's like it slips from his mouth before he can stop himself. He even gets up, his crew suddenly having all of his attention, just because Luffy's name was mentioned.

Indeed, Law, he is in Wano finally. You will regret feeling a tad bit happy in just a moment though.

And the blissful moment is over, Law is back to worrying 24/7, always about Luffy (and I guess, the raid's plan as well. But mostly about Luffy). Haha. It's okay, he likes to suffer this way, despite the stress.

Luffy got really personal very fast here. "Why is the food only for them?!". After experiencing his own childhood in Goa, seeing Rebecca starving herself and despite that Luffy was still firmly sticking to plan, and then witnessing Big Mom's sugar rampage, and finally the situation in Wano with people constantly poisoning themselves by drinking water from polluted rivers and being able to afford rice only few times a year (or less), Luffy snapped immediately.

That's the result of his experiences in Whole Cake Island, struggling to find things he could do (besides beating the Big Bad Guy) and facing Katakuri who was holding back for the sake of his family. Luffy rediscovered that he doesn't have to hold back what he truly wants to do anymore, as long as he keeps wellbeing of his dearest people in mind at all times. It's a good conclusion he reached here, but it's still not enough if Luffy wants to keep his promise of "making Wano a country in which his friends can eat as much as they want", Law will point it out to him later.

"He'll probably get mad" says Zoro, and one page later we have Law thinking "Roronoa knows the plan". Proving to us that Zoro meant actually Law there, not Kin.

"This is the worst possible thing that could have happened" thinks Law, and this will be important later for us to understand why Luffy had to land in Udon as the result of that. This is our strategy mastermind Law we're talking about here, he must have came up with a plan to deal even with "worst case scenario" (after all the raid plan didn't fail as the result!). He just really wished he could avoid it.

And funny thing, Law is *instantly* mad at Zoro for this outcome. "You swore that you wouldn't make waves!". Law knows everything that was going on with Zoro already when he's talking with him here. He knows he's a wanted man now, he knows Jack has been called up (thanks to Hawkins), and he of course put one and one together: Zoro chose not to stop Luffy from beating up Holdem. In Law's mind this is all Zoro's responsibility here, heh. Also just to show us his petty nature Law took the occassion to vent about every single little thing that he could think of, together with "you were supposed to be in the capital, not in Kuri!!". He had to get off his steam somewhere and Zoro happened to be the best target. Though everything Law said here is true and he has the right to be annoyed about it.

One thing worth noting is this: Law never blamed Luffy for this situation. Luffy didn't know about the plan, he just arrived and couldn't contact Kin'emon, and Law might vent sometimes, but he's not an asshole who would blame people for doing something wrong, while they had no chance to hear about the plan yet. It's simply not their fault then.

The anime emphasized my point as well, actually! Zoro puts the blame on Luffy (lol, Zoro, how could you do that to your captain!!) and as soon as he does that, Law's tone and expression changes. He understands now the situation differently, he thinks Zoro *tried* to stop Luffy, but Luffy was the one to push for what he wanted anyway. And yet... and yet Law is not mad at Luffy. He takes it as a fact and accepts, even if he dislikes the outcome.

He knows this will lead to bad stuff, but he even stops being angry soon after. And do you know why? Yes, of course it's because he likes Luffy a lot and cares for him, but he would scold him (even if not as openly as Zoro) if he thought Luffy is being unreasonable. He does scold Luffy when he later goes directly for Kaido, after all!

So why not now? The answer might be surprising, but it's the only one that truly makes sense. That's because Law has faith in Luffy. He might think he acts unreasonably at times, that he destroys plans, but he does not doubt him, ever. And it's not just a Wano thing either, it was like that already in Dressrosa. He was surprised and tried to push Luffy away when he came to his rescue, but as soon as Luffy declared he's not gonna leave Dressrosa to it's own fate, Law shuts up and accepts it. He doesn't doubt him or his decisions, even if he thinks they might lead to undesirable outcomes.

I can't tell you when exactly Law gained his faith in Luffy. Punk Hazard? But he already waited with Luffy for the rest of Strawhats crew there when they were supposed to escape, even if he complained about it. He didn't leave on his own, he stayed, and he couldn't know if they escape safely or not, they were risking their lives by staying and waiting. But if Law didn't develop his trust in Luffy on Punk Hazard, then the answer can be only one: it happened already on Sabaody. And personally, that kinda blows my mind. Upon first meeting with Luffy, Law started to have deep faith in him. Of course, it doesn't mean he won't *worry* for him, that's a different matter altogether, lol.

Back to being a worry cat Law. "Where's Strawhat-ya?" he can be so one-track minded sometimes haha.

Finally, a reunion! Look at Luffy here, he's basically crying out his excitement at seeing Torao again. "It's been so long!!" it was two weeks indeed and he already told similar line to Zoro before, which is also quite curious. But the moment he spots Law, Luffy's full attention is on him, and he spots him almost immediately too.

Let's think about this reunion from Luffy's point of view, okay? He arrived at Wano and is pretty much alone. He's thrilled to see Zoro, but meeting Zoro was by pure chance, Zoro had no idea where Luffy is (nor where he himself is as well, probably, lol. It is Zoro after all). But Law? It's clear as day he seeked out Luffy (with his own initiative! not simply sending his crew after him! despite Bepo's little incident coming in the way too!) and he indeed found him. From Luffy's POV, Law was the one who searched for him to see him again, to reunite and probably to talk (it is Law, he does talk a lot - when it comes to plans xD). And to achieve that so quickly, it's clear he was waiting and observing, to show up and fetch Luffy as soon as he arrives anywhere near the centre of Wano.

And yeah, sure, Law doesn't say anything upon their reunion there, but Law never says any greetings, like ever, so this is in-character. But his eyes, the way he looks there at Luffy, seem to reflect the exact same sentiment Luffy has. Remember his "finally" line from before? Yep, it's been a long time, and not just for Luffy. They clearly both missed each other.

And then Law drops the bomb "This is rebellion". Wait, but where's the scolding for ruining all the plan?! Well, there's none.

Just a moment later Law just lets Luffy do whatever he wants and doesn't comment on anything anymore.

In anime he only sighs to himself. (also bonus points for sharing sweatdropping moment with Zoro, the guy who was with Luffy practically from the start, haha).

While the people in Okobore town are eating and celebrating, Luffy is talking with Tama, and Law is just there at the side, facing away. Why? He's guarding against the possible enemies approaching, it's his swordsman's instinct. And that's his response to Luffy's actions in the end. It's an alliance, they're in this together, if Luffy does something, Law actually follows through and he doesn't need any prompt for doing that. He falls into this role naturally, because... because he worries so much xD

And again, in the manga Law only ever scolds Zoro, and not Luffy. Luffy doesn't even have to apologize to Law, heh.

In anime they played this scene a bit differently, Luffy is mockingly roleplaying Law there, pretending to be scolding them and making a serious face (yes, this is Luffy mimicking Law's usual face and tone and words, lol. Ain't he cute? Luffy does it a lot to his crewmates actually, we saw him do that quite a number of times: he pretended to be Sanji, Zoro, Usopp and Chopper. Usopp often joins him, he pretended to be Robin before, for example. Luffy probably would have pretended to be Nami too if he wasn't afraid of her. Yet, he's not afraid of Law in the slightest, lol). Actually, it seems he made this impersonation of Law just because he wanted to get a reaction out of him, acting like a spoiled kid... or a spoiled younger sibling, in fact.

Law gets annoyed at the call out, but besides this one line "you don't get to scold anyone!" he still doesn't scold Luffy for what he did, at all. The scolding is only about "how dare you steal my line and use it inadequately!". In the anime he does get a small petty payback on him for this later, lol.

This is an interesting scene. Law asks why Kiku is tagging along and Luffy reassures him it's fine. After that Law doesn't question her anymore.

The anime even shows us that Law is seeking Luffy's opinion in particular, asking him to make sure "is it really okay?". He wants to know if Luffy trusts her. Upon hearing that he indeed does, he accepts it as good enough reason and neither asks again nor worries about Kiku's presence at all. Just because Luffy said it's okay.

That's Law's level of faith in Luffy, like I said before, he never doubts him and even seeks out his opinion. Someone (who by all means is smarter than Luffy himself) *seeks out* Luffy's opinion in particular, trusting it, despite the fact that most people think Luffy is just carefree and doesn't think about anything too deeply.

Even Luffy's own crew tends to doubt Luffy in smallest things (Robin warning Luffy about betrayals in alliances instead of trusting in his faith about Law, Usopp and Nami always protesting about dangerous stuff, Zoro doesn't trust Luffy handling a sword, Sanji thought Luffy can't beat Big Mom and also doesn't need him anymore despite Luffy saying otherwise etc.), but so far I didn't see even one moment in which Law doubted Luffy in any way. The closest to it would be on their trip to Dressrosa when he scolds him "we can't go there without a plan!" but literally one moment later he agrees to eat breakfast with them, just because Luffy declares it's meal time. He complained but still went on with it.

Let this sink in :)

This vid doesn't have the original voice lines since it's a music video (borrowed with permission from @lutorao ❤), but it's fine because I want you to pay attention to the dynamics here, which can't really be captured in screenshots.

Luffy is getting impatient and wants to know what Law and Zoro mean by the "ghosts of Wano". Zoro quickly dismissed him so Luffy moves on to pester Law about it and he acts totally spoiled about it. Frowning he leans to him from one side but noticing that Law looked at him, he moves away to his other side instead, and Law's eyes follow him there immediately. Luffy's frown turns into a playful expression instead, he's totally doing it on purpose because he enjoys when Law is looking at him.

Law is lost in his own thoughts, but as soon as Luffy approaches him, he gives him full attention, and he can't help but follow him with his eyes too. He catches himself falling for Luffy's little game, so he stops and answers him "you will see it soon enough when we arrive". Law totally got played here, he allowed it to happen actually, if anything he enjoyed it as much as Luffy did, but he feels like he can't lose his face so he puts an end to it with firm but also not dismissive words. After all he can blame only himself and his own affection for Luffy for falling for that little "attention seeking" game. This is yet another proof to me that Law likes to watch Luffy, likes to spoil him, likes to give him attention too. He doesn't do it all the time only because he wants to maintain his "face".

At the end of this scene Luffy gives up and calls Law "kechi" which is probably the most awful nickname Luffy have given anyone so far in the series (together with "four swords style" name-calling for Zoro lol). It's often translated as "mean", but we know Luffy better than that already, he would never call Law mean, not even while joking. Literally the Japanese word means something like "cheapskate", emphasizing Law's refusal to tell Luffy immediately, so Luffy thinks Law is holding out on him (he's just a bit bored and impatient though). I guess Luffy isn't used to be told to wait, not coming from Law at least. Law spoiled him too much heh.

Personally this is my second favourite Lawlu moment from Wano, besides the ghost story. And this one is anime-only ❤ great job, Wano's anime arc!

This is also Law and Luffy's moment. Luffy's surprise that there's no castle and Law reminding him "I told you it's ruins". In anime Luffy adds afterwards "oh, right!". It's just a cute conversation those two have. Also another moment showing us Law doesn't leave Luffy hanging, even if he has to repeat himself.

The same happens just a moment later, when they're walking around, and Luffy comments that this place is kinda creepy. Law also immediately replies to him, providing an explanation. Luffy really doesn't even have to ask for attention anymore, he's always getting it anyway. Law would never ignore him.

And here comes the fan favourite (mine as well hehe): Law tricking Luffy that Kin'emon and the rest of the samurais were ghosts all along. Yet another example of Law's teasing and deadpan sense of humour, btw.

Let's analyze it step by step. It's neccessary to point out that Luffy is actually the first one to arrive at the idea that "they're dead", without any sort of prompt from Law. Luffy immediately jumps on that idea "they have graves, are they actually dead, that's why I couldn't contact them" and then in his panic he asks Law "Where's Kin, wasn't he supposed to be here??". Law didn't really have to do much for Luffy to believe they're ghosts. All he had to do was to not deny it openly.

Now let's try to see it from Law's point of view. He simply showed Luffy the graves, witnessed him panic and then seeking confirmation or denial from him, because he would believe whatever Law would tell him, that much is clear. And Law couldn't stop himself from leading him on a bit more. He didn't actually lie to him in any way or actively tried to trick him, he just decided to say things that don't exactly deny or confirm openly the ghosts idea. His only responses are "it's not just Kin, look at other graves", and then "he might come up in the middle of the night, like yesterday", and finally "It's not my place to tell you". He's not lying, he's just slightly leading Luffy to spiral more into his own doubts, lol. Such a troll.

He's also super pleased about it, look at his shining eyes there. We never see Law's eyes shining like that, it's a proof of how amused he is despite his deadpanned face. Luffy on that other hand believes Law immediately and even lets go of him (anime-only extension of the scene), devastated. He got successfully trolled, lol.

We know Law is saying bullshit here, because his eyes are hidden, heh. Luffy gets so agitated he grabs Law by his clothes (first time he ever did that, Law gets his payback for that in raid on Onigashima). He's not doubting Law, not really, he's just really confused, because so far Law always gave him a clear answer, every time Luffy asked about something (and often even when he didn't ask). Law's reluctance to answer here clearly makes Luffy so worried, he is ready to kick ass of whoever caused Law to behave in this way, because he thinks it's just too painful for Law to properly say what's going on (the same way it took Law a while to share about his true reason why he's after Doflamingo!). Luffy's reaction is very understandable, but Law's? He's totally playing with him, lol. This all takes place in same episode in the anime, in which their playful interaction from above also happens.

Law probably thought it's cute how Luffy immediately jumped to the "they're ghosts!" conclusion. He wanted to see how far he can push him and how scared he can actually get. If you wanted proof of how much Law missed Luffy, this is actually it. Despite usually distancing himself so much, here he literally couldn't stop himself from playing a trick on Luffy, just so he can see a new face expression on his face. Law in Dressrosa wouldn't allow himself that, but Law after the two weeks of seperation does. Seperation makes the heart grow fonder.

It's worth noting that despite trolling him and getting grabbed, he still doesn't want to outright lie to Luffy :)

Law plays along when Kin'emon shows up. Law can be such a little shit sometimes, lol. Luffy is quickly getting more distressed.

And his surprise reaches it's peak here and he screams, terrified. Meanwhile Law just stands there, enjoying the show quietly.

Luffy is so relieved that Kin'emon is alright and isn't a ghost. And then he immediately complains to Law, accusing him of lying, to which Law calmly denies "I didn't say he was dead, did I?". This is literally the first time Law played a trick/joke on Luffy, and the bottom line is, Luffy isn't even fully aware of it. He just thinks Law was saying things in unclear way and tells him not to do that, lol. He suspects Law probably did it on purpose (after all he never did that to Luffy before! always providing clear explanations), but he still doesn't understand why ;)

Law turns away in the anime, probably with the intention to smile or snicker to himself without being noticed, but when Luffy makes an angry face at him, he can't help but look at him anyway. His eyes just always wander towards Luffy.

This is it, the in-depth analysis of the joke Law played on Luffy. Did it destroy it for you or made it even funnier ;)?

This is a fun little whimsical moment between them. Again, Luffy wonders outloud whether Kiku knows Kin'emon, and Law, completely unprompted, provides his own insight to clear Luffy's confusion. "It looks like more than just knowing each other" (implying: they're kinda close). Luffy doesn't get it immediately, but observes their interaction for a bit longer, and few moments later realization dawns on him.

And that's all thanks to Law, of course. He pointed it out to him as soon as Luffy voiced his confusion. This shows that not only Law always pays attention to Luffy and answers his questions, never ignoring him, but also helps him comprehend stuff Luffy never could before. Like a good older brother would.

It's the same in the manga, though it's a shorter version.

And then we have another reunion. Luffy gets hugged by Chopper and Carrot, and it seems Law is staring at them. Taking into account the scene before (him commenting on Kiku and Kin knowing each other very closely), it's likely he thinks the same way here about Luffy, Carrot and Chopper. He also might be a bit jealous actually, after all it seems Strawhats hug each other, but Law didn't get a reunion hug (not that he could handle it, seeing how poorly he handles most touches and closeness, but doesn't mean he can't wish or yearn a bit for one anyway). Also after observing Strawhats closeness with each other on multiple occassions, he tries to act more affectionately with his own crew as well. He's a good observer and learns a lot just from watching from the side.

And I ran out of space already in this part, haha (I thought I would at least make it till the scene when Luffy runs off to fight Kaido, lol). Including anime kinda affected the pace and made the post even longer! But I think all those additional scenes are really worth it, they're pure gems :3

Tbc in future parts about Wano :D

[harmonysanreads]

Some more thoughts for the Sumeru Love Hexagon AU !!

Alhaitham has gifted you a matching pair of noise-cancelling headpieces, after seeing that you loved it when he offered his pair to you once. Drunkards can get unbelievably loud sometimes and for everyone's peace, the best you can do is ignore them. Secretly, he revels in how this basically shows you're undeniably entangled with each other.

Though, Wanderer is always willing to toss the nuisances in the fountain or restrict their air supply (and he has done it, more times than he cares to count), but he needs to keep his unassuming facade around you, so, he begrudgingly allows you to flaunt it off to everyone.

Your daily overall look is decided by Kaveh. It started in miniscule amount, him making friendly suggestions on what colour or accessory would suit you best on this particular season and after you start taking them more prominently, it spirals. To a point, you have to take him with you to shopping (much to your former shopping buddy, Dehya's chagrin). Sometimes, you can negotiate about your preferences but really, he knows best! You receive the most compliments when you wear what he tells you to, no? An expert guilt-tripper, will bring up reasons to back him up you cannot refute to.

When Cyno is in Sumeru city, he'll always do a night patrol around the area you live in. Coincidentally, he's certain he sees traces of dendro elemental energy when he scouts the area, whoever it belongs to seems to leave before he arrives, though. He has a hunch and if it's true, this stalker (or what if they're a ‘protector’ like him?) would appear to have more energy than they express they have.

Tighnari purposefully weakens the effectiveness his medicine would have, just to keep you hanging around him. It's unethical, he's aware. But in his defense, it's still nothing compared to what the others are doing.

When the four of them gather for TCG, it's simultaneously entertaining and exhausting. On one hand, you have Alhaitham purposefully asking for your input on his bickering with Kaveh. The topic itself doesn't matter, they only care if it'll be another line added on their tally of wins.

Sometimes, Kaveh will be flat out drunk, singing off-key songs at the top of his lungs. But honestly, you'd much rather prefer that over the times Alhaitham somehow wins against Cyno and it almost escalates to a physical dispute (had it not been for your intervention). Tighnari isn't innocent either, unnoticeably egging them on.

And when you go behind the curtains for something, the silent Wanderer finally shows his true face, no word he spits are even the slightest bit honeyed and it doesn't even take much of them to get the rage burning inside the other men. Every time, anyone tries to fight him though, you magically return and of course, you don't believe any of those barbaric charges against this pure boy. Hm, perhaps, they should collaborate to expose the two-faced prick.

[just-another-star-47]

I feel like Hogwarts Legacy has done a much better job in creating characters fitting into their houses. 😅

I know in the Harry Potter books it's about 'actions are more important than just character traits, but it feels weird, when Harry for example is very much a Gryffindor at his core in the first place - like he didn't really need to go against his traits at all. 😅

When it comes to the houses I always ask myself what the character would do in a stressful situation - I think that's always a good indicator of where they belong.

As Harry dreams about Sirius beeing tortured by Voldemort, his first reaction is to attack, to get into action, to find him, fight everone who stands in his way and done - simple, reckless, a little stupid Gryffindor logic.

Hermione on the other side (I know she's technically a Gryffindor, but that's the point right? In my mind she would have been better off in Ravenclaw), thinks in that exact same situation. She wants to make sure it's not a trap, thinks about the dangers that will await them and tries to prepare herself and the others for it.

I feel in Hogwarts Legacy it's much more clear.

Natsai is very adventurous, her first reaction to Rookwood and Harlow is to fight them. She throws herself in dangerous situations and just wings it from there on.

Garreth doesn't care what others think of him and just does his thing. Could his potions be dangerous to him or other students? Very much so. Does he care? Not at all.

I had my problems with Leander, but I really like now that they put him into Gryffindor because I think he shows the bad sides of the traits of his house very well. He's highly competitive (I think competitive and ambitious are different things) to a point were he becomes arrogant and annoying. He wants to fight and learn dangerous spells, to a point were he's rude to a professor. I don't think he's a coward, he's just not able to let actions follow his big words.

Amit loves knowledge just because of knowledge itself. He is easily fascinated by other cultures and probably everything around him and tries to understand it. He wants to know the 'how' and 'why' and is very creative when it comes to problem solving.

Poppy is brave, but always because of a reason, not for the adventure itself. She wants to protect and has a very soft spot for the weaker ones. If problems arise, she'll ask for help and has overall a very caring personality.

Ominis first reaction, when he catches MC leaving the Undercroft is to threaten her with his status and connections. A behaviour caused by the stress of feeling betrayed and a clear indicator of his house. 😅

And do we even have to talk about Sebastian? 😅 If there's a problem, his first reaction is to charm, to manipulate, to taunt and to gather information so that it's more likely he succeeds.

[psuedosugu]

You know something I've noticed? Yeah, Nifty is your typical yandere but can we talk about Vox? You technically don't even have to request him as a yandere unless you want it to be romanticized toward you and/or further explored because according to ALL of the recent regular Vox x readers (and the show itself), he clearly has many traits of one especially toward Alastor. He acts like a toxic, jealous ex 😂 He cyberstalks people for one, he's manipulative, insecure (this is where possessiveness and jealousy tends to stem from), doesn't take rejection well as we heard from Al, is capable of being obsessed with someone, and an overall control freak. He wants to keep the Vees' image and everything looking perfect. Imagine this guy being attached to you. An absolute nightmare. Never any privacy, eyes and ears everywhere, can teleport with or without a screen, blackmail is 100% on the table as well as other tactics, and constant validation for him whether your relationship is forced or not. What sucks about the last part is that it's a double-edged sword. If you fuel his ego, he's enabled but if you don't give him enough attention, he'll try harder and tighten his hold on you. So while Val absolutely horrible, it's like you can never win with Vox. Not when you don't have equal power and he's stated to be very strong. Especially these days, tech is an absolute must since even jobs heavily rely on it. Life and the afterlife here is much harder without a smartphone. He's literally a TV. He wants to be watched and noticed.

So he'll get it.

exactly brooo

cw: themes of manipulation, blackmail, and toxic, controlling relationships.

gender neutral

:･ﾟ✧:･.☽˚｡･ﾟ✧:･.:

ੈ✧̣̇ || honestly atp he’s practically a canon yandere.

ੈ✧̣̇ || i kinda talked about this before but i feel like he would manipulate reader into thinking that they need him when its the other way around

ੈ✧̣̇ || as u said, he’s insecure as hell and he needs someone to boost his ego and make him look superior

ੈ✧̣̇ || he also needs some source of stability in his (after) life which is where you come in.

ੈ✧̣̇ || hed also never let things go or get over you.

ੈ✧̣̇ || he started beef with a dude that he hadn’t seen in 7 whole years, for gods sake 😭

ੈ✧̣̇ || bro will start fights over things that happened months ago and are over now done with

ੈ✧̣̇ || he also craves control, not only will he spy on you through your electronics but he’ll also try and control other things that he has no business controlling like what you wear, who you talk to, ect.

ੈ✧̣̇ || if you mention your concerns about it he’ll try and back off, but hes just so paranoid that something will happen to you even though he knows you’re capable of taking care of yourself.

ੈ✧̣̇ || he needs to feel like he’s needed.

ੈ✧̣̇ || he also exerts his control by threatening you with blackmail, wether it be secrets that you told him or pictures.

ੈ✧̣̇ || not like you don’t have a fair amount of dirt on him too, though.

ੈ✧̣̇ || he’d definitely fight a bitch for you, if you’re getting threatened, stalked, and/or harassed by someone (that isnt him ofc) said person better prepare for his wrath.

ੈ✧̣̇ || hes a whiny ass bitch which is either annoying or hot depending on who you ask and what the context is.

ੈ✧̣̇ || its also kind of confusing how he acts, he’ll be practically ignoring you one second and begging for your attention the next.

ੈ✧̣̇ || another reason why he’s so scared of you leaving is because of how vulnerable he’s been to you.

ੈ✧̣̇ || he’s told you things that he’s never told anyone, shown parts of him that no one has ever seen, and the thought of what you could do with this info if you ever were to turn on him makes him feel sick to the stomach.

ੈ✧̣̇ || despite how it feels sometimes he really does care about and love you, he just has an unhealthy mindset when it comes to love.

ੈ✧̣̇ || perhaps you should stay around (not like u rlly have a choice), teach him how to love someone properly. you wont regret it :)

:･ﾟ✧:･.☽˚｡･ﾟ✧:･.:

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[picturejasper20]

Looking back the ending of Gravity Falls while thinking about endings of other series like Amphibia and The Ghost and Molly Mcgee, Weirdmageddon has a message that is underwhelming when it comes to Dipper and Mabel's relationship and Mabel's potrayal in the show.

This isn't about Mabel getting tricked by Bill. She is a 12-13 years old that in that context she was feeling really bad and not thinking well what she was doing. That isn't relevant to the topic at hand and honestly it isn't a problem she did that, it does makes sense in the episode it happened.

What i have an issue is how the narrative makes Dipper feel bad about considering staying studying with Stanford. This is something that Dipper was interested in and he was very fascinated by anything that was paranormal related. Stanford himself told Dipper he had a lot of potential and the kid was digging into it.

Mabel lashing out and not liking the idea of Dipper staying with Stanford is understandable in the episode Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future. She doesn't seem to have much friends back in her home and her parents are implied to not be the best. She gets scared of Dipper leaving, that's a reasonable fear for a kid to have.

However, as i mentioned before, Dipper is made feel bad about considering choosing something he wants to do. It isn't Mabel who has to learn that things change and sometimes this brings things we don't like. She doesn't exactly consider what Dipper wants for himself, she mainly cares about how ¨she is going to be alone¨ and making her brother feel selfish for choosing his own path or do something that could make him happy.

Yes, she learns that things can't stay the same forever and they are growing up, that itself is a pretty good development for her and overall a good message to teach.

Yet her being codependent on Dipper doesn't get brought up nor addressed, in fact the series seems to praise this behavior of hers. In how Dipper has to do what she wants if not he is a bad brother. Mabel's clinginess and controlling behaviour to an extent isn't called out, which that itself is a problem.

Small edit: I want to add an extra point here that Mabel does have a short scene near the end of the episode that she tells Dipper that she won't get in his way if he wants to stay with Stanford and she was ¨acting nuts¨ in the dream bubble. This is good for her but it does still feel in part that her issues weren't fully acknowledged and it doesn't help she didn't say this until after Dipper told her that he was going to stay with her and not be with Stanford, which is rather questionable in my opinion. It would have been more appropiate in the episode to have this brought up and getting adressed better than for her to wait for Dipper to do what she wanted.

In contrast in Amphibia, Marcy Wu has a similar arc about change. The series explores how she can take her escapism too far and how she can be very selfish in plenty of ways, something that is potrayed as an aspect she has to learn from and realize that it isn't healthy.

Her being too codependent on Anne and Sasha and their overall friendship is potrayed as toxic and the series explores this relationship a lot, having the girls grow over time and think about different aspects they have to work on.

In ¨True Colors¨ it is revealed that Marcy Wu learned about the Calamity Box the same day she got told by her parents that they were moving away. Very afraid of having to leave her friends behind and having to be alone in a new city, she found the Calamity Box and told Sasha and Anne about it. Worth of mentioning she didn't know if it would work but it was a desperate act of her just to not having to move away from her friends yet.

When Sasha and Anne find out about this they are, not surprisingly, very pissed and push from Marcy away for a moment, making Marcy realize her mistake and eventually apologizes for what she did.

In ¨All In¨ Marcy finally comes to terms with how she can't force Anne and Sasha to be the way she wants them to be and that her codependency on them isn't a good thing. She realizes that has to move away to her new home at some point, that things change but that doesn't mean the three of them have to stop being friends.

As you can see, there is a clear difference between how Mabel Pines and Marcy Wu’s characters and flaws are potrayed in the narrative. While Gravity Falls makes Mabel’s codependency and controlling behaviour to be something acceptable and that Dipper should conform to, Amphibia does the complete opposite and presents Marcy Wu’s actions as flaws she has and that can hurt other people, including her friends. She is the one that has to make a change and understand she has to work on herself if she wants to have new friends and keep these relationships as times moves on.

Since we are on topic, one thing that really bothered me is how Mabel created a version of Dipper that is ¨cool¨ and says yes and goes along with everything she wants to do. (Weirdmageddon Part 2)

This has… interesting implications of how Mabel believes that relationships should work, or at least with her brother twin Dipper. A lot has to do with how she and Dipper have very different personalities and she maybe wishes that he was more like her, but expecting someone else to say ¨yes¨ to everything you want is a toxic mentality to have. And the episode itself doesn’t address this enough, it doesn’t bring up to Mabel she can’t expect people to work like this and she should try thinking more about what others wants.

Lets talk about The Ghost and Molly Mcgee. In this series Molly Mcgee often has episodes where she has to learn certain lessons. One of them she learns over time is that often she has to give up control and let what others want to do instead.

A good example of this is ¨Ready, Set, Snow!¨ in which she is constanly trying to make Libby and Scratch to go and play outside in the snow with her without considering they would rather stay inside and sit near the fire for the moment. She spends most of the episode trying to find ways to make them go outside until she gets angry and goes out on her own. She has… quite of a mental breakdown in a sequence song. Scratch goes to check on her but he tells to her that she can’t do always what she wants and what it is important is for her to be spending time with her friends. Molly realizes she was wrong, goes back to the house and she apologizes for how she acted.

Molly has quite a lot of episodes like this, and all this becomes important in the series finale ¨The End¨ when she sees that Scratch has to go back to be Todd even if that means forgetting the memories he got as a ghost, her included. She tells Scratch that she is going to miss him a lot but she knows that forcing Scratch to stay wouldn’t be right. She encourages Scratch to go and ¨live his life¨ because she cares about Scratch being happy.

Similar to Marcy Wu, Molly learns that she can’t force people to do what she wants and she has to let them choose for themselves. She knows that encouraging Scratch to do what he always wanted to do as human is the right thing to do, even if it means saying goodbye to him.

I do understand the idea that Gravity Falls was doing at with something among the lines of ¨Dipper and Mabel not repeating the same mistakes that their uncles did¨ but that doesn’t mean Dipper has to give up his dreams at expense of what Mabel wants. As Dipper said in VS The Future episode: he can still visit and they can still talk to each other. They don’t have to fall apart the same way Standford and Stan did. Just like in Amphibia, if Marcy still was able to remain friends with Anne and Sasha over the years, the same can be applied to Dipper and Mabel as siblings.

If not, it could be rewritten in a way that makes Dipper reconsider that he would like to wait a few years before joining Stanford in his adventures. That he is still a kid and wants to spend a while longer figuring himself out and be with Mabel before making a decision. That way it feels more like a decision he wants to do for himself and goes along with his character arc that he doesn’t have to rush to grow up.

As for Mabel, she has a lot of growing up to do. She has to learn overtime that Dipper is his own person and he can take is own path. That if she wants to have friends or have in general healthy relationships with others, she can’t make it always about herself and people have their own needs as well. She would have to work on her codependency and clinginess she has on others, specially her own brother. This would help her with being a more mature capable individual when she grows up.

This post on itself isn’t me hating on Mabel’s character since she has moments she can be good and i feel a lot of her behaviour comes from not being taught properly and being a teenager. The problem is that the series doesn’t address this behaviour enough and, as result, it comes off as the series giving an unintentional underwhelming message of potraying Mabel’s issues as something that should be acceptable and not her having a dynamic with Dipper that comes off as toxic. It is important to understand to learn to support others and not always make things about ourselves. That sometimes relationships change and we can’t force people to be in a specific way.

[eimids]

I am beautiful

Lucy Bronze x reader

Can I please request for smut where reader is really insecure about how they look because they’ve gained weight after Ed recovery and they don’t feel good enough for Lucy but Lucy shows reader how much she loves her. Thank you xx

That was the request

I might have made this based on my own experience :D

Warnings: smut, soft smut, so soft!!, but also a bit angst, bad body image and talk about ed (in the past) but everything is good at the end!! so soft smut and soft Lucy <3

Lucy was kissing your neck and tenderly holding your jaw. It was pleasure itself but you wanted more. You wanted Lucia to destroy you, eat you and fuck you till you couldn't move.

After the dinner with some of Lucy's teammates, where Lucy was teasing you the whole time, you finally got back to your apartment. The innocent kisses turned to needier and more passionate. You loved her soft lips on your body, devouring you.

Lucy's hands traveled down to the zipper of your dress. She easily slid the zipper down and stripped you of the stress. She admired her view. You almost naked body facing her. It was the most beautiful sight Lucy had ever seen. Every time she saw you like that she fell in love with you even more.

For you thought it was different. You were feeling bloated after the dinner and just overall uncomfortable in your own skin. You hated how bare you were and the eyes that were studying your whole body. It was weird having a bigger body than you were used to. Now you had an healthy body that didn't collapse after a bit of jogging. A body that was strong enough to finally not make you lose your hair and gave you your period back.

You loved being in recovery. You loved having control of your eating again. Now you could eat much more freely but it was hard. Every pound you gained and the new skin around your stomach was hard to accept. Lucy helped you always. Being there through the recovery process and always making sure you treated your body with the respect it deserved.

Lucy noticed your sudden hesitation. She noticed the way your body got tense. You even went as far as covered your stomach.

"hey, hey, hey what's going on?" Lucy asked. She was clearly worried that she did something wrong.

"I- just umm I don't feel so good" You lied. You didn't want to worry Lucia.

"Are you sure?" Lucy asked knowingly.

"I just- I don't feel good in my body. I fell bloated and too big. I look ugly and I just hate my body right now. I just- umm" You started but Lucy shut you up by kissing you.

"You don't talk like that about my beautiful girlfriend" Lucy stated.

"You, my love, are beautiful, kind, loving, gorgeous, amazing, and some many more things. But ugly and big aren't words that describe you. You are just perfect" Lucy said and kissed you between every word.

You loved how Lucy didn't care what your body looked like. You always thought that you weren't good enough for her because she was an athlete and in perfect fit. But that was far from the truth. Lucy adored you in every way possible.

"I want t worship your body. I want to show you just how beautiful you are if that's okay with you?" Lucy asked.

"Please" You murmured.

"Go lay on the bed" Lucy commanded. You obeyed her and went to lay down. You got comfortable on the bed, laying on the soft cushion. You looked at Lucy who was moving things around in the room. She had the mirror moved to closer to the bed so you had a good view on it from the bed. Lucy then went to grab a vibrator. You were exited for tonight.

"So pretty for me laying there. Such a good girl for be, so beautiful" You heard the voice of Lucy's it brought you back to the moment.

She straddled you and caressed your body at the same time. Her hands were touching every part of your body, lips founding their way to the tender skin of your neck and then your lips. Your mouth left an involuntary moan as she sucked your neck. A bit embarrassed about it but you kept going. Lucy's tongue left a stray of saliva in the valley of your boobs as she made her way to your lips.

"Mhmm, so good for me princess" She said between kissing you.

She turned around and made her way behind you. Now she was sitting and your back was laying on her chest.

"Look at yourself in the mirror" Now you understood the mirror placement. You did look at yourself. You saw a body that you almost didn't recognize but Lucy loved it. Your eyes didn't stay long in the mirror before you closed them, not wanting to see.

"Keep your eyes on the mirror baby, I'm gonna make you feel good if you keep looking at yourself" Lucy said. You needed the pleasure so you opened your eyes.

Lucy brought her fingers to your wet folds. Swirling them around and gathering the wetness. It wasn't what you needed but still brought you pleasure. When Lucy brought her fingers to your clit, you moaned. The pleasure of the sensitive bud was amazing. Lucy was also kissing your neck.

You closed your eyes in the pleasure and as soon as you did it, the movement stopped. "I told you, you gotta keep your eyes on yourself" Lucy said with a hoarse voice. You opened your eyes immediately.

This time Lucy brought the vibrator to your clit. She put it into the lowest setting, not enough to make you come, but enough to make you see stars.

"Oh Lucy, you make me feel so good baby" You moaned and with that Lucy put the vibrator a notch higher. Your body jumped with surprise but your moans kept coming. Soon enough Lucy's fingers found you wet pussy and pushed themselves in. It was once again an amazing feeling.

"You don't come until you tell me how beautiful, I need you to tell me that you know how gorgeous you are." Lucy said as you were getting closer to your orgasm.

"Lucy please let me come" You begged. You just wanted to feel your orgasm rush through you.

"Nope, I haven't heard the words 'I am beautiful' from your mouth yet princess" Lucy just said and kept her pace.

"Mhmm, I'm beautiful Lucy, please can I cum baby" You pleaded again.

"Say it like you mean it, look at yourself in the mirror and say the words" Lucy repeated herself.

You looked at yourself. You looked the body that was bringing you all this pleasure. Half a year ago you didn't have the energy for this kind of activities. You looked at the body that was now healthy and it looked beautiful.

"I'm beautiful Lucy, I'm so fucking beautiful" You cried as your orgasm took over you.

The pleasure waves came crashing over you and it felt never ending. It was blinding and you loved every second of it. You loved how your wife was making you feel, how well she knew your body.

"So so pretty for me princess, I love you so much and you've come so far in your recovery" Lucy praised you.

"Mhmm thank you Lucy" You moaned as the orgasm was over.

"You are so good for me baby, you are so pretty and I hope you know that. Your body is strong and so is your mind. I'm so proud of you" Lucy kept praising you.

She was all you needed in your life.

---

Kinda love this

[aihoshiino]

chapter 161 thoughts

Chapters Since The 143 Kiss Happened And Went Entirely Unacknowledged And Unaddressed Count: 18

Aqua Hoshigan Status: For the future

Never has an OnK chapter gone from It's Hoshinover to We Are Oshi no Back quite as hard and fast as this one. I have issues with this chapter in terms of what it implies about the story's overall structure and the fact that it sort of ruins 153-4 by association but this chapter's back half is so fucking good and the chapter itself works so well in isolation that much like 153-4, I kind of uhhh don't care about the structural issues because the story's heart is, for the most part, not just intact but beating harder and more passionately than it has in a long time.

To get what I don't like out of the way, the story seems to have settled on Super Evil Serial Killer Mastermind Kamiki as his final form characterization with some helpful Tsukuyomi exposition to just straightforwardly Tell Us things the manga probably should have spent some of the last 70something chapters Showing Us about Hikaru. The basic idea of Hikaru being some sort of serial killer so dedicated to upholding Ai's legacy that he kills women with the potential to surpass her was more or less always where I expected his character to land and this settling of his character does at least preserve what I think is the most important thing: that he genuinely loved Ai and his bent towards villainy only came after her death.

What I don't love as much is that this chapter seems to continue leaning into Uber God Manipulator Mastermind Kamiki like last chapter. I already talked at length about my issues with this framing in my previous chapter review so all I'll reiterate here is that the story's attempt to frame Hikaru as being equally or even more culpable for the actions of Nino and Ryosuke fall entirely flat to me, especially when the manga itself does such a pisspoor job of actually explaining how or why Kamiki was able to control and/or predict their actions to the extent that he supposedly did. And ESPECIALLY especially given that Nino and Ryosuke seem to have already been dangerously obsessed with Ai by the time they approached him.

In general, Hikaru's character is honestly just so inconsistent at this point that making any sense of his actions feels fruitless. If I really dig into what's going on, I can infer that maybe he fell into the same trap as Aqua by overcompensating for his trauma-induced helplessness by becoming overly controlling and guess that his fucked up trauma response to Ai's death combined with those terrible words Kindaichi gave him at Airi's funeral lead him down he road he's traveling now. I can even extrapolate that Aqua showing him the DVD message in 153-4 pushed Hikaru to this extreme and now that he has nothing to lose, he's lashing out at his children too - though, it should be noted, that the manga still hasn't actually established what Hikaru's culpability is in Nino's attempt on Ruby's life, outside of Aqua saying "well you didn't use your psychic powers to perfectly predict nino's actions so it's on you".

But like - this is all stuff I'm having to infer and extrapolate and guess, reverse engineering logic from our end point in an attempt to create a stable foundation for this characterization. The manga has done such a poor job of properly establishing Hikaru both as an antagonistic force and as a consistent character that I feel like I'm trying to assemble a coherent image from two different puzzle sets with all the fucking corner pieces missing and that's with Crow Girl looking into the camera and Explaining Him to me.

And listen, I am a bitch who LOVES to infer things. One of my absolute favourite pieces of fiction of all time ever is Umineko no Naku Koro Ni, a mystery story that literally does not contain any straightforwardly explicit, textual confirmation of the culprit's identity or motives because it believes so strongly that you, the reader, are smart enough and empathetic enough to put in the time and effort necessary to understand it regardless and it deeply, deeply values being able to give you that experience. But OnK feels less like it's intentionally encouraging me to think hard and enjoy the process of putting my head and my heart to work - it feels like it's leaving its homework unfinished and letting the reader do the actual hard work of sewing up the internal logic.

I probably won't talk much more about Kamiki this chapter cos I'd just be saying all this shit over and over but I really just am struggling to understand from a perspective of authorial intent what the vibe is even supposed to be. Like I mentioned in a previous ask, if this is where Kamiki's arc is reaching its conclusion then it means that the Movie Arc was essentially a whole-ass waste of time in and out of universe. Blech. Hate that.

Also, before I move on, I don't want to leave this just implied - making Kamiki explicitly a CSA victim and then ending his arc on Aqua (and implicitly the narrative) dismissing him as being too broken/corrupted to be saved is a really major misstep that I think represents a huge black mark on OnK's handling of CSA as a topic. The idea of an eternal defilement or an unfixable core wrongness in the self is already something real life CSA victims struggle with in the process of unpacking their trauma and having our likable and supposedly morally superior protagonist espouse this unchallenged in a work as prominent and relevant as Oshi no Ko is irresponsible bordering on dangerous. It's incredibly disappointing that after all the care Aka and Mengo seemingly took in handling this topic that it was whiffed so badly at the last second.

ANYWAY!!! Now all the beef's been dealt with, we can cleanse our palettes and move onto everything else I liked which was… basically everything else in this chapter!

Admittedly, Aqua's overall arc is still suffering from us being kicked out of his head from like 123 onwards for no real apparent reason and while 150 was a welcome refresher on where he's at in this part of the story, it still feels a bit like the story is prioritizing preserving the surprise factor of its twists over making these surprises feel earned. Compare it to volume 1 - you are basically told exactly what is going to happen to Ai, especially in the manga when Saitou and Gotanda outright say as much - but her death is still incredibly impactful and upsetting. I think this chapter is very effective, but could've been a lot moreso if we'd spent more time in Aqua's head leading up to it.

THAT SAID… If the intention of keeping us out of his head was to recontextualize Aqua's behaviour across the past ten or so chapters in this new light, I don't hate it as much as I might have. I initially took issue with what felt like the story off-screening and not addressing the resolution to Aqua's suicidal ideation so whipping back around to prove that it was still very much present puts some particular Aqua moments over this past volume into a very different light. As some people pointed out, Aqua missing Kana's pitch - literally dropping the ball in responding to her feelings - and his wide-eyed look of alarm in 151 seemed very ominous omens for the success of her confession and that beat of him covering his face when Kana approves of his dream… very incheresting knowing Aqua was still struggling with 'love or revenge' at this point.

Most interesting of all to reconsider is Aqua breaking down in tears in Miyako's arms in 155 when she addresses him as her son for the first time. At the time it read like catharsis but now I can't help but wonder if this was Aqua grieving for something he desperately wants but thinks is out of his reach.

i do have to say though. i get the general vibe of this plan and think it works fine as the apex of aqua's self-sacrificial protectiveness for the people he loves but how is being the daughter of a serial killer somehow any less scandalous for her career than being the sister of someone who killed one dude. does aqua think they just won't notice that kamiki happens to be their biodad or something. wasn't that the whole point of the movie. goofy ass plan.

What really saves this whole scenario is the emotions at play, though. This really does feel like Aqua at his most Aqua in a really long while and this chapter has so much love and respect for his life as Aqua and the bonds he has formed as a result. The dreams Aqua lays out are so agonizingly simple, too - he wants to pursue the career he finds rewarding. He wants to date the girl he likes. He wants to accept Miyako as his mom and Himekawa as his brother and to make things right with Akane after hurting and using her. He wants to see Ruby achieve her dream and be there to support her when she does.

But Aqua's always considered his dreams impossible, hasn't he?

I fully admit; I got spoiled with the full page spread of Aqua stabbing himself way in advance of the chapter and initially hated it as a twist. But with the full chapter as context and the sheer weight of Aqua's longing to just fucking live and find joy, it's not just effective but absolutely gutwrenching. It is the synthesis of Aqua's series-long battle to choose love or revenge and it resonates perfectly because it has never been one or the other for him - Aqua's revenge has always been rooted in the fact that he loves others so wholly and completely and hates himself so utterly that he thinks sacrificing himself to preserve their futures is the only path for him to take. It's the culmination and final release of the suicidal ideation Aqua has been dealing with since he was four years old and like Ai's tragedy before him, there's a horrible sense that maybe there really was no other way this could've gone.

Aqua being the character who actually takes the knife also firmly cements him as Ai's narrative echo in the text which has me barkin and howlin because it's what I've been saying all this time. Not just that, but so many of Aqua's expressions in this chapter pointedly and deliberately echo Ai's after she was stabbed. Not just that, but Aqua's achingly simple dreams echo Ai's own heartrendingly simple regrets - all the two of them ever wanted was to be happy with the people they love.

This also reframes the story's prior establishment of Ruby as paralleling Ai and seems to place the twins in the position of echoing not Ai in her entirety but Ruby as 'Ai of B-Komachi' and Aqua as 'Ai Hoshino'. This was actually something I outlined in one of my very first meta posts on the series, but I think making it more specific to 'Ruby as Ai the idol' and 'Aqua as Ai the human', this actually gives Ruby's arc in relation to Ai a bit of breathing room. Don't get me wrong, everything I've said about her post-BH writing being underbaked and inconsistent is still the case, especially when it comes to how confused the story is on whether Ruby is her own idol or New And Improved Ai 2.0 but giving it less ground to cover helps in terms of her writing no longer being spread quite as thin.

Speaking of Ruby, that beat of her seeming to react or sense something is up the moment Aqua takes the stab. 'Something happened to my loved one far away and I just Feel It' is a trope I'm always a sucker for and I really dig it here.

"The public don't care about the truth, so let's tell them a lie" is such a crazy hard sentiment to go out on too. Holy fuck.

There go our boys…!!! Quite a few people predicted they might go over the edge when Aqua showed up in his Mephisto fit (Mefitsto) and I'm interested to see if we get any parallels to the ED's imagery in the next few chapters. Overall, though, I'm really excited for where things are going - I don't think Aqua will die, but I do have some theories about what might happen. I can't think of a more traditional misogi purification experience than the middle of the ocean in late December, after all…

No break next week! Woohoo! While the delay of episode 12 means we won't be getting them on the same day, that is the same week S2 of the anime will be concluding and Aka does like lining up his bombshells with the anime. So who knows what we'll see.

seriously tho aqua. everyone already knows kamiki is you and ruby's biodad. HOW IS THIS ANY BETTER THAN HER BEING THE DAUGHTER OF A SERIAL KILLER AS IT ALREADY STANDS

[haedalkoo]

hello 😊 could u translate the military talk jikook had on the 5th ep? it was very sweet and cute so i just wanted to hear your own interpretation and if you would translate some words or overall the structure of sentences differently <3

Hi!! Here's my translation, as you'll see, not at all different from the show's.

🐥: you know how him and I will be enlisting together (동반 입대, 'buddy enlistment') right 🐰: Ah, well, Jin hyung said that if you enlist together, really, he said that even friends of ten years fight* *(I've tried to add some fillers here to show how Jk's speech pattern, he said the word 막; mak, 'just' at least three times in one sentence heh) 🐻: well, that makes sense 🐥: Ah, if I'm being honest I'm not worried about fighting at all 🐰: yeah, me neither 🐥: I think we really will be able to rely on each other a lot 🐰: yeah me too. Just by my side, with your head shaved- (laughter) even just you-* (laughter and weird faces) *his words keep cutting off bc they're laughing so I can't tell you where this thought was going lol 🐰: I would love it if we could sleep like this (hand gesture) across to each other/face to face 🐥 I'm not lying by your side, if I sleep next to you you'll kick me with your elbow

I don't think there's much to say about the conversation itself, just that it's really really cute and funny! I loved the word Jimin used to describe what they'll do for each other: rely, depend on each other - 의지하다. They really care for one another and I'm glad they're together, especially in days like these (happy birthday jungkookie!!!)

Hope this helps!

[pressplay-if]

stevie alphabet? 😳

Yeeesss, gladly. But don't be surprised; she's the most vanilla out of all the ROs.

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

She's sweet, caring, soothing... So basically like she normally is, plus very contented and relaxed. She'll gladly rub her partner's back or spoon afterwards.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

She actually likes pretty much everything about herself. She knows she's pretty as hell, and she enjoys all the parts factoring into it. Her partner's... I suppose it would be all the soft and smooth parts. Anything that might invite caresses.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

She gets great satisfaction from being able to make a partner of hers come. She's also happy if it's inside her.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Does her crush count?

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

She knows her way around another person. She's been in committed relationship and has a lot of confidence in that aspect.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

She likes cowgirling, but it's not a big preference or anything. She's generally rather vanilla, in her own slightly service dom way.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

She's leaning on serious. She's pretty cool and composed overall, and that carries over into her sexual encounters.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Trimmed. Standard stuff.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Stevie can't not be romantic. She has this caretaking instinct that kicks in especially when she's with the MC, so that would influence how she acts in bed as well. Also paired with her complicated crush on them. So, all in all, that blends into some pretty romantic, affectionate moments.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

She likes to touch herself when she's got the opportunity to do so in a relaxed setting. It's more like a self-care thing for her. So maybe before she's going to sleep and is already tucked into bed, or when she's relaxing in a hot bath.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

She likes to take charge, but in a gentle, soft way. It's kind of like steering her partner to their own pleasure for her.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

A really nice suite at a fancy hotel would be so awesome... Actually, once the band starts to take off, that opportunity is going to present itself more and more often.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Like with the others, it's mostly the connection she shares with the MC through their music. The MC singing a song written by her always does things to her feels. Also, the crush.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Anything even slightly harder than spanking and slapping is a big no-no.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Slight preference towards giving, but only slight and only because she loves "servicing" MC. She enjoys being eaten out a LOT tho.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Slow and sensual; she likes to take her time. Especially with the MC. However, fast pace is also a valid option in her eyes. Then the MC would have to go on top tho.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

She approves, but more in a "sure, why not" way. But the idea of quickly helping MC relax in-between shows is a big turn on.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

She's moderately receptive to it. I feel like the above points capture her essence well enough.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

She doesn't last long but also doesn't get overstimulated very easily, so multiple rounds are definitely on the table! Like, five or six on a good day.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

She has a small vibe but she prefers her own touch.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Not at all. She wants things sweet and easy. She can't pretend she doesn't want to please MC.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Low, soft sounds more than anything.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

(I'm sorry, I'm so bad at this, nothing comes to mind...)

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Stevie is skinny, but in a very elegant way. She's perfectly comfortable with her body and has absolutely no issue undressing/showing off. (little piece of my brainrot: Stevie naked with her long wet hair covering up her breasts...)

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Moderate to high, I believe. Depends on the mood. Some days, she's feeling particularly flirty, and then it'll take a little more to get her satisfied. But mostly, she just goes with the flow.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

She'll take her time with that, too. She'll be very tired, especially after a long session, but she likes to enjoy a good long cuddle first.

[positivelybeastly]

Love reading through your analyses and I was wondering if you had insight on something I noticed with Hank/Beast and Kurt/Nightcrawler: writers often use both of them in the visible mutation metaphor and emotional cores, but Kurt's approach is more from faith and Hank's is more from curiosity. Often when one or either are gone/dead/changed, things seem to get worse for the Team overall.

Do you think those two would benefit each other's characters? Even just to have spirited philosophical discussion?

So, this actually touches on a funny thing that I've noticed with Beast and Nightcrawler over time - which is that they're almost never on the same team together, probably precisely because they serve an extremely similar function in a team composition, for the reasons you've kind of touched on here.

They are, after all, both heavily visibly mutated individuals who were, or are, considered figures of great integrity and morality, with a strong code of ethics and a depth of feeling that expresses itself in a deeply vivacious personality - romantic, friendly, charming, and erudite.

Therefore, having them both on a team is, unfortunately, somewhat redundant.

That being said! They do still interact, and they're shown to be sources of great comfort and friendship for one another. Their first meetings were - somewhat inauspicious . . .

See, this is the funny thing about old comics - storylines just flow and flow and flow. Comics didn't stop after ten issues and get restarted with a new #1 every few months, they just ran and ran and ran, and the pacing reflected that.

There aren't usually month long gaps where you can assume nothing happened and people just got to hang out, they're working hard! Hank has been working with the Avengers so much that he literally hasn't even had time to meet the new X-Men properly! Wild.

But, eventually, things did slow down, and they got a chance to properly socialise, and, as expected, they got along like a house on fire.

Like, these two are just born to be friends. They have so much in common. Where Hank leans more to the obscure, the erudite, and the scientific, Kurt leans more to the dashing, the swashbuckling, and, of course, the religious, but they're still both fundamentally cut from the same cloth - acrobatic, charming, philosophical, heroic, fun.

But, that same alike quality means you don't get a ton of interaction between them, so I cling to what they do have. One of my favourite interactions between them is in Nightcrawler's 2004 solo series.

First off, absolutely adore Hank in this art style. The fact that the artist decided to include the detail of his fur poking out of the shirt like that is just. It transfixes me. I really want to go over and just. Run my fingers through his side fur. But mostly, I just like their chemistry? Hank's a great supporting character because he's so emotionally intelligent and reflective, and he's great at giving people perspective, usually with a healthy dose of sarcasm and teasing.

That being said, this scene is always the one I point to whenever I say that the X-Men really have no idea what's going on in Hank's head a lot of the time, because this took place after Hank had been psychically brutalised, nearly beaten to death, and one of his best friends had just been murdered - and he's doing a really very good job of hiding that trauma.

So much so that Kurt thinks he's just fine. He's just fine. There's nothing to worry about. But it's not Kurt's fault, and it's nowhere near unique to him, either. He had no way to know, he had his own stuff going on (the subject matter of this solo series, as it happens), and Hank is doing well enough that it isn't interfering with things, so, let him deal with it in peace, I suppose.

At least on this occasion.

Kurt is, after all, an emotionally intelligent and caring individual. You can't stop Nightcrawler from trying to help where he can. And I think that even just the reaching out, just the show of support, can be enough for a character like Hank.

Moments like these matter, in my opinion. It's important to show that teammates and friends care about each other, in the moment to moment stories, otherwise it can all feel very impersonal and like no-one cares about one another. This is how you establish dynamics over years, even between characters who have, technically speaking, never really been on a team together before.

The next big milestone I can think of comes after the X-Men's move to Utopia, where, again, Hank and Kurt don't share a ton of panel time together, but . . .

This is one of the few times you'll ever hear anyone say that Hank was right. And it's not really a surprise that it comes from Kurt, because, again, these men are cut from the same cloth. They come at it from different angles, but they believe in much the same things.

And . . . that's why it hits so hard when Kurt dies.

I don't necessarily agree with the decision to have Hank break from the literal funeral procession to call Scott out for Kurt's death. Some fans of Nightcrawler really appreciate that moment, because it shows how much Kurt's death affected Hank, but I personally just. Don't think it tracks, for Hank to be quite that disrespectful.

After the funeral, or even before, but during it? Nah. Matt Fraction made a good few Hank characterisation choices I don't agree with, and this was one of them.

This felt a bit more apropos.

Remember what I said about how little moments build to dynamics between characters who have never been on teams together? I buy this moment so much more with the context of that moment from Endangered Species, where Kurt is literally positioned as the light trying to pull Hank out of the dark path he's following with obsessive fervour. The fact that he was trying went a long way. Hank felt it, even if he didn't take him up on it at the time. That moment mattered.

And that's why I absolutely buy Hank's reaction when Kurt came back to life.

Hank believes in Kurt. He believes the very best of him. On teams where Hank can often feel alone or isolated, someone like Kurt will reach out, and make him feel connected, and welcome, and pull him back. Temper his scientific pessimism and realism with optimism and belief. Restore his fervour, and remind him of simpler, happier times.

A lot of the best scientists, who have contributed the most to scientific inquiry, were religious, because for a lot of them, there's no real conflict between science and religion, they're both two sides of the same coin, in a way - a belief in a higher power. It's just how they react to that higher power that changes.

And while Hank was explicitly religious for a while, I always interpreted him as losing that faith over the years, becoming bogged down in the real over the sublime as what he went through wore him down. Someone like Kurt was able to spark that in him again. Maybe not his faith, per se, but at the very least belief in the human spirit.

It's important. As you say, massive benefit to each other's characters. Underrated dynamic, these two. Absolutely love 'em.

[bengiyo]

We are headed into our final Drama Shower show of the season. How do you rank the shows we got this season and how are you feeling about the direction of the project?

What is Drama Shower and Why Does It Matter?

Before we get into rating these shows, I want to do a breakdown of what this is. To give you a sense of how big a deal Drama Shower is, fans are regularly updating a Wikipedia page for it with relevant links to follow the project. Also, there is a dedicated MDL page for it.

Drama Shower is a dedicated half-hour programming block on MBS, a Japanese broadcaster that is over 70 years old, in conjunction with Kadokawa, a Japanese publisher and holding group, that plays BL content at 1:30 am on Fridays. The project's main producer is Kaoru Azuma, who is a self-described long-time BL fan. He wants to show that BL can do a variety of stories in genre, and has recently stated that he wants to produce original content through the project as well.

We originally had six shows air through year one: Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss!, Senpai, This Can't Be Love!, Takara-kun to Amagi-kun, Eternal Yesterday, Candy Color Paradox, and Jack o' Frost.

I originally reviewed these shows as overall a mixed bag, but showing great promise. I liked that they got more comfortable with depictions of m/m intimacy over time. I thought Mr. Unlucky was legitimately funny (9), Senpai never found its footing (6), Takara and Amagi mildly squandered their premise (8), Eternal Yesterday was extremely poignant (10), Candy Color Paradox had ambitions that exceeded its talent pool (7), and Jack o' Frost was a really strong finish (9.5).

MBS seemed to enjoy the performance of this project enough to continue it for another year.

For me, I think it's very significant to give BL itself a time slot to see how audiences are responding to BL as a concept compared to the pitch of individual shows. I'm really encouraged by MBS doing this. Even if you don't care about the name MBS, you have interacted with their content, because they are also behind Full Metal Alchemist and Haikyuu! anime adaptations.

Rating Year 2

I actually liked the way year 2 started, even if I'm a bit mixed on the end. I really loved opening with Tokyo in April is... I liked that they had BL trying to be topical. I think the show unfortunately conflates some things it shouldn't, but I loved TIAI and I loved Ren and Ryunosuke's experience being gay men. I liked the changes they made to the source material. This show was dark in a way that it owned, and I really like that. I gave it a 9.

We then moved to My Personal Weatherman, and that went over well for the people who like to see really hot people go at it with each other. I actually enjoyed how much Yoh and Segasaki actively misunderstood each other even as they were speaking to each other. I don't know that they exactly completed their story, and I suspect that there may be a future outing for this show. Despite enjoying it, I think it didn't get all of its pieces together fully and gave it an 8.5.

We then crossed over into uncertain territory with One Room Angel. Despite enjoying a lot of what was going on in this show, I don't actually think it's a romance. It's my understanding that the angel character is a lot younger in the source material, and so they may have been a little shy about how much they did with these characters on screen. I also don't think the storytelling was balanced between the leads. However, because I am susceptible to complex stories about grief, I gave this show an 8.

Now, we have Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun. I hated this show so much. I think it makes the unfortunate mistake of asking me to care about how homophobia and public perceptions impacts people through its flashback drama, but then does nothing with that in the front. It sucked so hard, and I'm really disappointed because I thought this show had some of the most potential, and I thought Toki was one of the most watchable characters Drama Shower had produced. I ended up giving it a 4.

Our next and final show (I think) for this outing is called My Strawberry Film. This one will also be in a high school, but I know little about it, other than we may have a GL plot in it.

So, overall I'd give Drama Shower an 8. I think fans of BL, and especially Japanese BL, should continue to show up and support it. The fact that we have a dedicated programming block is important. The fact that none of these shows has felt like a retread so far is super important. Drama Shower is varied. There is something in here for almost everyone. Drama Shower is the biggest commitment to BL we've had from a distributor other than GMMTV's ongoing BL slate. Taiwan has Vidol doing is four projects, but Drama Shower is the first time I know of that a Japanese distributor has focused on BL in a meaningful, ongoing way. We should stick with it.