#and how quickly it has to move through resolving their arcs

[jinwoosungs]

09/26/24; 12:20pm

- the academy arc -

yandere!sung jinwoo x fem.reader

anonymous asked: Hello! I've always admired your writing, and finally thought of an ask for you! What about yandere jinwoo with an oblivious reader? Its kinda funny how the reader has so much influence over him, and dont realize it, after all, how could they think he's dangerous when he's all soft for them, and only them... Oblivious to all the danger he causes to others

warnings: incredibly dark themes; harassment and petty bullying.

you felt butterflies erupting all across your abdomen, feeling your gaze darting all across the new sights and scenery of your high school. feeling a bit uncomfortable, you pull at the collar of your blouse and adjusted your tie at least a hundred times leading up to this very moment.

tightening your grip on your bag, you hardened your resolve and nodded, stepping into the school with as much confidence that you could manage. avoiding the crowd of students, you kept to yourself and take the flight of stairs up to the second floor. you trail your eyes across the labeled classroom before entering the one labeled 2-a.

you pass by a boy wearing a single glove, reading his textbook while flipping the pages with a bored expression. he sits near the back row, and you take the opposing corner, trying to remain as small as possible while getting out your pencils and notebooks for the day.

the sight of you settled off to the side makes the boy stop reading, and you caught a glimpse of how he was staring at you from your periphery, but wasn’t brave enough to meet his gaze. instead, you distract yourself by writing reassuring mantras in your notebook.

it’s going to be fine.

today is the first day of class for everyone.

surely no one is going to notice how you’re the newbie.

as the minutes ticked by, you became increasingly aware of the students that walked in, laughing while talking about their breaks. just as the bell rings, signifying the start of the day, your homeroom teacher just had to notice you as he forced you to introduce yourself to the whole class.

throughout it all, you were a stuttering mess, forcing out the syllables that made up your name all while feeling like your knees would give away at any minute now. the heat was felt burning against your cheeks, traveling down the length of your neck by the end of it all. when the teacher lets out a grunt of approval, you sat back down as quickly as you could.

a rich chuckle was heard coming from your left, and you took a quick peek over to see the same, perfect boy who had been studying softly laughing at you. his attention was on his open textbook, but you could tell that he was still looking at you from his periphery, those grey eyes drawing you in-

you clear your throat and look away from him, feeling the warmth now spreading to the rest of your body. the hours kept ticking by until finally, it was lunchtime. you grab your lunchbox from the confines of your bag, but found that you didn’t have much of an appetite.

as you debated on what to do for lunch, a loud whistle makes you gasp, looking over to see a group of rowdy looking boys making their way towards you. you visibly stiffen, willing them to go away, but your prayers were all for naught when the entered the classroom, already sauntering their way closer to you.

“man, when i heard there was a new girl here, i didn’t expect her to be so cute.”

you cling to your lunchbox, ready to bolt when needed. your anxiety was shot through the roof now, watching as the boys came closer to you when they suddenly stopped dead in their tracks. it appeared that they had a difficult time moving, like there was an invisible wall that kept them from coming closer to you. noticing their strange behavior, you visibly relax, watching their stiff movements as they walked out of the classroom and fell into a pile in the middle of the busy hallways.

laughter was heard erupting all across the hallways, and you breathed out a sigh of relief. the same soft chuckle was heard, and you look upwards to see your classmate standing before you. he had perfect, ebony locks of hair with grey eyes that shone with a startling clarity. “hey, are you alright?”

“oh, i’m fine! thank you for asking…”

the boy shakes his head. “there’s no need to be so stiff around me. just think of me as your new friend.”

your mind was spinning now, practically on cloud 9 at the thought of having this cute boy as your new best friend. you smile up at him, watching as he sheepishly brushes back his hair before reaching out a hand for you to take. “the name’s sung jinwoo, and would you like to have lunch together with me?”

you nod and stand from your seat with your lunchbox in hand. “of course!”

jinwoo gives you a kind smile, stepping out of the classroom with you. you see the same rowdy boys glaring daggers at jinwoo, yet he doesn’t relent, standing protectively in front of you. the boys end up scoffing before walking away. as jinwoo leads you in the opposite direction, you remain blissfully unaware of how shadows seemed to dart away from jinwoo while aiming toward the group of boys who dared to make you uncomfortable.

{ … }

the trio of girls had purposely intercepted your walk to school, pulling at your hair before tossing you aside, making you land against the hard pavement of the sidewalk. you had the air knocked out of your lungs when you suddenly felt the contents of your packed lunch land over your head.

tears were felt filling at your eyes, and you watch as a girl leans down closer to you, her blond curls framing at her face while icy blue eyes glare down at you, “who the hell do you think you are, getting so close to my jinwoo like that?”

her lackeys stand beside her, all sneering at you while exchanging looks of disdain towards you. ah, it seems as though your seemingly perfect life was coming to an end, with jinwoo’s own fanclub coming after you now. you had barely been basking in your school life and newfound freedom with jinwoo for a month when the drama suddenly started.

it started about a week ago, when you found safety pins on your seat and your notebooks ripped to shreds. you did your best to ignore it while hiding your troubles from jinwoo, yet it only seemed to strengthen the bully’s hatred for you.

and now, it had come to a boiling point, as the three girls continued to mock and sneer at you, teasing you, making fun of all your imperfections while stating how you were a mere “charity case” for jinwoo.

by the end of their torment, you were a sobbing mess, all alone as the girls quickly left you behind with their harsh laughters echoing in your ear. the stickiness felt from having your lunch dumped all over you made you feel worse than you ever felt, and you knew that you couldn’t go to school like this.

while you were wallowing in your misery, you remain completely unaware of the way your shadow lengthened, reveal jinwoo as he steps out of it. he says nothing, simply falling down to his knees before taking you in his arms. “i was worried about you not being in class today.”

hearing his voice makes you cry out to him, facing him as you hugged him closer to you. jinwoo didn’t mind how messy your uniform was, simply holding you closer to his chest. he lets out soft coos of your name, allowing you to let out all of your tears and frustrations. while keeping your head kept protectively against his chest, his eyes began to glow a startling purple hue, already commanding his soldiers to get rid of three, new targets.

{ … }

after your encounter with the bullies, the next day, you felt a strange sense of dread consuming you. you truly wanted nothing more than to skip-

or transfer-

yet jinwoo stops you from even considering moving away from him. and after much convincing from his end, (“don’t worry, i’ll be by your side the whole time if those girls come back!”) you relent and head to school with him.

upon entering your classroom, you felt a strange sense of relief filling you. you saw no signs of those nameless, petty girls, and you visibly relaxed. upon entering the classroom with jinwoo, he seemed to flash you a knowing grin, as if silently telling you i told you so.

needless to say, with those girls seemingly gone, (maybe even transferred to a different school?), you were able to resume the peaceful school days with jinwoo by your side.

and of course, he shared his lunch with you because he “always made extra” and knew of your healthy appetite.

of course he walked home with you every single day after your club activities, simply because “it was dangerous for girls to walk home at night” and he was your “best friend who wished to keep you safe.”

you saw no red flags-

becoming so blinded by his own brilliance that it made you blissfully unaware of the neverending darkness settled in the depths of his heart and soul.

{ … }

it was amazing how you couldn’t see just how obsessed sung jinwoo was with you.

ever since that first day, where you had entered his classroom and introduce yourself, becoming a mess of stutters in the process-

you had completely captured jinwoo’s heart.

throughout that first day, he kept sneaking glances at you, thinking of way to properly approach you before wrapping his tendrils of darkness around your heart, further trapping you within his web.

with beru and igris talking his ear off, knowing of their king’s desire to capture your heart as well, they were obnoxiously supportive, thinking of ways to help with winning you over. and just as he was ready to approach you-

those damn men had to ruin it all.

jinwoo could see the fear and discomfort in your eyes-

the way you stiffened in response and how you looked like you wanted nothing more than for the earth to swallow you whole.

but he stops them from coming any closer to you, using his abilities as the shadow monarch to freeze them, controlling their jerky movements until they were tossed out of the classroom.

later that night, after beru had dealt with them, jinwoo reappears and gazes down at their lifeless bodies.

arise.

he commands their shadows to awaken, tying their souls to him for all eternity as they now obeyed his every desire and whim. even when the teachers questioned their absences, jinwoo made sure to dispose of their corpses. he had thought about erasing everyone’s memories pertaining to them-

but he was achingly aware of how it would alter your memories as well, which made him hesitate when it came to executing it. for now, as long as you remained blissfully unaware, then he would allow yours (and everyone else’s memories) to remain intact.

after all, what did he have to worry about? to the whole world, he was the ideal student, making 100’s on all of his assignments while doing his best to win the heart of the girl he adores. no one has any reason to suspect him of any foul play.

and he was going to use this seemingly perfect image of him to his advantage.

once jinwoo saw you again, he pretends to bump into you, successfully gifting you his freshly made soldiers by having them morph into your shadow as you remained clueless to his abilities.

after all, seeing your smile and how much happier you were with them out of your life was like receiving a piece of heaven for jinwoo. he lived for your laughters and could feel his devotion for you growing by mere seconds.

that was his first act of love and devotion toward you.

and the second act?

i believe we know when that was, too.

red hot anger was felt coursing through jinwoo’s veins when he found you broken and tossed aside, with the contents of your lunch thrown over you. though it pained him a great deal to watch your suffering through the eyes of his shadows, he had to confirm the identity of your pursuers before taking action.

as you sought comfort within his embrace, jinwoo commanded at least a hundred of his soldiers to stalk those who dared to bully you, not even feeling an ounce of regret when not even their corpses were found due to how they had all been ripped to shreds.

jinwoo didn’t bother extracting shadows from his latest victims, knowing that you would be so much happier without any traces of them close to you.

so, as he lay in bed with you sleeping so soundly within his arms, he silently vows his loyalty to you alone. his heart already burning with an inferno of emotions when it came to you and how you made him feel so alive-

and he never wanted this feeling to end.

he would never tell you the truth of his darkness either, or the things he had done to keep you safe and happy, oh no-

for why would he when you could forever remain his precious girl, living in a perfect sandbox that he had made specifically for you, all while swearing to protect it with his life?

all stories are written by rei; please do not repost, plagiarize, or translate my works!!

[ruporas]

cheers to the future of humanity (and the future of us)

[ID: Digital illustration in color of Vash and Wolfwood from Trigun. The illustration takes place during the ship/home arc, specifically chapter 21. At the center, Vash is grabbing Wolfwood by the collar and pulls him into a kiss in the middle of a celebration. The pair is colored in vibrant warm hues while their surroundings are colored in cooler colors like green and teals. Luida, Brad, Meryl, and Milly are shown amongst the crowd, occupied in the celebrations as Vash and Wolfwood share a moment by themselves at the center. END ID]

[lunarspiral1127]

X-Men 97 episode 3, here are my thoughts.

*SPOILERS*

Pros:

Goblin Queen got a magical girl transformation sequence. Dunno why this is a pro, but I like it and her outfit. See? A woman looking sexy. Now can the people talking about Rogue's looks can back off now? By the way, Madelyn was actually the Jean we saw this whole time....yeah, I'm gonna get to that later.

The mansion being haunted and the hell pit. The visuals were pretty good on that. I especially liked how each section was showing many of the characters' greatest fears and mess with their insecurities.

Bishop and Cyclops team up which Bishop got to do something cool.

Jean vs. Goblin Queen. It was good. Honestly, I felt bad for both of them Jean was held captive for who knows how long and missed out a lot. Madelyn didn't know she was a clone until Mr. Sinister revealed it to her since she believed to be the real Jean. Then she got brainwashed like a sleeper agent to do Mr. Sinister's bidding.

Forge! He's finally here!

A lot of comic references that worked pretty well.

There was more moments with Morph. He still got involved and despite what he went through because of Sinister, he was still willing to take the X-Men to where he is. However, I thought Morph would do a bit more due to his connection to Mr. Sinister. So, this is kinda a pro and a con to me. I just hope he doesn't get even more traumatized because of Goblin Queen brainwashing him when he was in his Magik form.

Cons:

I'll be honest. I liked the last two episodes more than this one. I think it's because the Madelyn/Goblin Queen storyline from the comics was resolved so quickly. The return of Mr. Sinister, the Jean we saw since episode one was a clone, Nathan going to the future to be cured, Goblin Queen, that all happened and concluded in one episode. Something like this should have some more buildup. Like, be a two-episode or three-episode arc. Many arcs from the 90s X-Men show has lasted for 2-3 episodes, so I thought this was gonna be that. But, I guess not.

Roberto AKA Sunspot was there in this episode, but he didn't really do anything aside from being saved. I thought he left the school, and I don't get why he had to be there when Beast was checking on Jean at the beginning since he's not a member of the team (not yet at least). Maybe he was there to hangout with Jubilee? Well, I just hope that this is building up to him using his powers and develop his character.

The calling herself Madelyn Pryer....when the hell did she come up with her new name?! It felt like it came out of nowhere. She was saying goodbye to Jean, and she's like, "Just call me Madelyn Pryer."......HUH?! You can't just suddenly introduce her new name like that cause it so sudden.

Questions

Will Gambit confront Rogue on her relationship with Magneto and will it go badly?

Again, WHEN WERE THE TWO EVEN A THING?!?! Unless this is a red herring.

When did the switcheroo happen with Jean and her clone? We don't know when so it could've been during the timeskip offscreen.

Is that it from Bishop? Was the point of him being there was to take Nathan to the future to be cured?

What the hell was Morph gonna do with those claws?! I know he can joke around, but hard to reach places?! With those claws?!

How's Forge gonna help Storm get her powers back?

Now that Jean knows how much she means to Logan, Cyclops having a son with a clone who he thought was Jean and knowing that some of the time he spent with her was a lie cause it wasn't Jean, and the last scene where they stood there awkwardly, is there gonna be even more tension between the three? Cause that's gonna be stressful to watch. I blame Sinister if more drama is gonna happen.

Logan's never gonna move on, is he?

And, that's pretty much it.

[blooxorsista]

Blue Exorcist - 3x09: Rin, Izumo, & the Rescue Scene

Okay, I was reading the comments under the latest episode (3x09), and I wanted to type something out, but it ended up being pretty long and I decided I'd just post here instead.

Basically, this post will address Rin and Izumo's character development in this arc, and the importance of the rescue scene in the most recent episode.

I've already mentioned that this arc is probably my favorite in the whole manga (although I'm not currently caught up), but the scene where Izumo cries for help and Rin comes to her rescue is probably one of my absolute favorite scenes in the series.

The scene was just so impactful to me as a reader, which I wrote about in my analysis from when Chapter 60 came out.

So needless to say, I was SO excited to finally see this scene animated! I was also especially excited to see the Nine Tails dance from Izumo, and was slightly disappointed that they may have adapted it too faithfully to the manga, with still shots instead of a moving dance. Maybe they didn't want to assume what it looked like and chose to play it safe. (It's fine, not a deal breaker!)

It wasn't totally apparent in the anime episode, but manga readers know that Rin noticed Izumo crying from the vent. That's why we saw his wide eyes right before he exploded through the ceiling. It was seeing Izumo that caused him to move into action.

It may be easy to overlook since it moved so quickly in the anime, but that scene is extremely important for both Rin and Izumo's characters. Up until that moment, Rin had been struggling internally about fighting humans. When he's trapped inside the giant zombie, he can hear the voices of the humans that were inside (in the same way he could hear Kuro). That's why he was having a bit of a mental breakdown, asking his father what he should do.

He KNOWS that he has to cause harm to humans in order to succeed in this mission. But it's easier said than done for him, because as someone who has been constantly demonized and struggled with his sense of self, he has drawn himself a red line in his own personal code of ethics. To him, the zombies ARE human. And hearing their voices just confirms that for him. They are still conscious inside of their experimented bodies. So in order to fight them, he would have to harm these humans who were essentially innocent victims of this organization.

For Izumo, she finally accepts her true feelings about others, and asks for help. Up until this point, she's put up a strong front, thinking she had to handle everything on her own and couldn't trust anyone. Now she lets all her walls come down and accepts her vulnerabilities.

And it's exactly in this moment that both Rin and Izumo have a synchronous realization. For Rin, seeing Izumo crying, asking for help, in her most vulnerable state -- it's the catalyst for him to resolve his own inner conflict.

In an instant, he has made his decision and strengthened his resolve (either consciously or subconsciously) to harm humans because all he cares about in that moment is to save Izumo.

It's enough to snap him into action. And that's HUGE development for his character. We even see him hesitate slightly at the end of the episode when the zombies fill the room, before ultimately slashing through them with his sword, because he knows that that is what's needed to save Izumo and her mom. In fact, I'd probably argue that this hesitation is due to Rin having to consciously decide to attack them, meaning that when he moved to save Izumo, he reacted subconsciously.

I just felt the need to point this out after seeing so many comments complaining about Rin and Izumo's actions and character development this season. In truth, their actions and motivations align.

Another common complaint I saw was about how Izumo should have taken Rin's offer for help the first time (on the bridge). I'd like to point out that running away wouldn't solve Izumo's problems. Even if she were to be rescued and escape with Rin and the others, Gedouin still has her mother and has already threatened to use her little sister if Izumo refused. In her mind, staying was the only solution, because her goal was to protect her family at all costs.

Despite what we know of the Nine Tails, Izumo believes that she can take control and use the possession to her advantage and destroy her enemies. That way she wouldn't have to worry about them coming after her or her loved ones again.

And for Rin, he's coming to learn that "good" and "bad" are not so easily distinguished. His view of the world has been turned upside down after realizing that not all of the "bad guys" are demons.

And as a side note, I also want to mention the animation style. I know it's been a bit of a controversial topic this season, since the style is so different from seasons 1 and 2, and that a lot of people have complained about some of the episodes. However, I had a feeling that the animation team was just prioritizing the more important scenes over the others (after all, there is a limited amount of time and budget, so it would make sense to spend more time on the biggest scenes, if you have to choose).

And I was glad that this seems to be holding true up until now. I was happy with the quality of the scenes that featured Izumo this episode (much like how I thought her backstory episode was high quality), and especially the rescue scene. And I loved that we finally got to see posessed!Izumo colored and animated!

I'm also curious as to how the next episode will be adapted. I was reading through an old rant of mine from when the corresponding manga chapter came out, so I'll be curious to see if I feel the same way after watching the next scenes play out.

All in all, I'm still enjoying this season and getting to experience the manga come to life with animation and voice acting!

[maliceincandyland]

Jessie (Pokémon) & Her Duality

Jessie is a gangster who is sweet but becomes cutthroat when she’s on the clock. Fracturing her personality into two halves weighs on her more and more over time, but she resolves this inner turmoil in the end.

Her Past

Jessie grew up on the streets with no money or family. Being a criminal was never a lifestyle choice for her because being is a criminal is all she’s ever known.

When she was about 10, she had a crush on a boy who wanted to be a Pokémon Coordinator (a type of Trainer) and invited her to go with him. She declined. She figured that she should focus on her own life, and she thought that falling in love is what has doomed many a woman’s career (DP73). Then she auditioned for a big career-making play, but she didn’t pass the audition (DP73).

She applied to Pokémon school and met James (Kanto 9, Kanto 48). She passed the entrance exam, but James didn’t. She must have really, really liked him because she chose not to go, for his sake (Japanese version of Kanto 9). They both joined a biker gang and hung out together, for a time (Kanto 36, Kanto 48). But they ended up parting ways.

Jessie joins Team Rocket and goes from petty thief to full-blown gangster. Since she’ll do whatever it takes to survive, including leaving her Team Rocket partners for dead, her peers called her The God of Death. She didn’t care, and embraced being a femme fatale. She said that she had been on her own for so long that she didn’t know how to open up to or trust other people. She was somewhat friends with her co-worker, Cassidy, since Cassidy was the only person who wasn’t intimidated by her. They ragged on each other and Cassidy liked to hit below the belt, but they had some respect for each other (Chronicles 13).

The God of Death

James joined Team Rocket and seemingly volunteered to be Jessie’s 13th partner. Like in Western culture, 13 is considered an unlucky number in Japan. (Thirteen is also the episode number of this episode in the English dub.) Although there are different ways that this flashback can be interpreted, it seems like Jessie and James recognized each other and that Jessie was upset with James (like if he left her or if they had a fight). I interpret it as him having left her because later on (in the Japanese version) he confesses that he tried to outrun his past and has been running away his whole life. She never asked what he was running from, or about any details of his past (Chronicles 13). He never told her, but she accidentally finds out, about 15 years after meeting him (Kanto 48).

In any case, she quickly warms up to him, giving him her food ration and telling him that she doesn’t open up to other people but that she knows that the three of them are kindred spirits. Subsequently, James tells her that he won’t run away from their Team Rocket responsibilities because if he starts running, then he won’t ever be able to stop running. Jessie is moved to tears.

Sugar & Spice & Everything Nice

Women and girls in Pokémon become more self-sufficient and goal-oriented without becoming less feminine.

Jessie is hyper-feminine, meaning she has traditionally feminine personality traits, a traditionally feminine appearance (ex. wears feminine colors), and traditionally feminine interests. She even has ‘a woman’s intuition,’ which is to say she’s a little bit psychic (DP105, DP134, JN24). Often when hyper-feminine characters go through an empowering character arc (ex. become a kinder person), their traditionally feminine characteristics decrease, because hyper-femininity is treated as an obstacle, instead of an asset. This is not the case with Jessie, who is just as feminine at the beginning of the series as she is at the end.

Hyper-feminine characters are usually pitted against other women, but Pokémon doesn’t do that. Jessie battles women but it’s no different from her battling men. Jessie gets along pretty well with Ash's friends Serena, Shauna, and Dawn, and she roots for Ash's friend Iris at the World Championship, saying that Iris battling Team Rocket is what molded her into a Champion. Jessie was originally pitted against Cassidy, but they become friends, and they somewhat got along when they were in Team Rocket’s training school. Jessie and her co-worker Matori argue and enjoy to backstabbing each other, but sometimes they get along and Matori got Jessie and James promoted (DP191).

Damsel or Fatal

Jessie is both a Damsel in Distress and a Femme Fatale.

Jessie is a very childlike character (she's 25). She, James, and Meowth spend much of their time playing dress-up, rhyming in limericks, and making up silly games. Jessie has a childlike curiosity and awe, and always finds something to laugh about. She is also petulant, however.

She leaves the adulting to James; but she does learn how to bake, in order to do something completely on her own that she could be proud of (DP14, DP106). She keeps practicing and gets quite good at it (XY80, XY101).

Jessie doesn’t take criticism or bad news well and needs it to be sugarcoated, otherwise she denies it or cries. Though she comes across as cocky, she's only cocky in bursts and it's to over-compensate for her lack of self-confidence. Dawn's friend Zoey points this out but Jessie is offended and denies it (DP49).

Jessie considers creepy things to be cute, which is sweet, but she lets her guard down and gets into dangerous situations (XY14, XY60, SM3, etc.).

Since Jessie has depression, she knows what the absence of happiness feels like all too well. Thus, when she's happy, she feels it with every fiber of her being and loves with all her heart. When she can't believe in herself, she believes in James and Meowth's faith in her. She also seems to believe that you won't automatically feel grateful for anything, unless you stop to appreciate what you have.

Jessie has the courage to be sensitive, emotional, imperfect, and vulnerable in a world where people want to step all over you. She believes that being a delicate flower in a harsh world makes you brave, not weak.

Being vulnerable and open is what allows her to connect with others (Chronicles 13), so she holds these traits near and dear to her heart.

Jessie is a Damsel in Distress, meaning that she's in damsel in distress situations a lot (small things like James getting her out of the line of fire, and big things like being alone and under attack from wild Pokémon). Sometimes it's for the comedic relief of Jessie not thinking things through or James clumsily trying to save her. But when it's more serious (4th movie, Chronicles 13, DP73, XY63, SM38, JN95, etc.), then the purpose is that she shows great courage and comes out empowered, knowing that she overcame the scary, stressful situation. She emerges re-energized and having a bit more self-esteem, and sometimes with a better understanding of something. She finds an inner strength to keep going. It’s interesting that she continually has to be in these situations because personal growth isn’t a one-and-done; you have to keep doing it and gradually improve over time.

Simultaneously, Jessie is a femme fatale. Femme Fatales are ‘unconventional’ female love-interests in film noir (as opposed to so-called ‘Good Girls’), and modern characters who are modeled after them. We first see Jessie dress in noir style clothing in the 29th episode of the first season, and she periodically continues to dress that way throughout the series (as do other members of Team Rocket). Some of the instrumental music that plays during Team Rocket’s scenes also have a jazzy noir sound.

Femme Fatales in Noir

A femme fatale’s goal is to capture a man and his money, or together they'll take someone else's money. She usually uses seduction and tough talk to get her way. Often she's cold and aloof. Often she’s running from her past and won't talk about herself, though it's clear that she's either escaping an abusive relationship, escaping a loveless marriage, or she's poor and fed up. Usually she's sick of following the rules in a world designed to benefit only men.

Or, alternately, a femme fatale is sweet but unconventional in some way. She's in love with a gangster. Or she's a sexy singer/showgirl who gets mixed up in something bad. Or she has an unladylike interest in detective novels. And so on.

“When I get excited about something, I give it everything I have.” ---Irene (Lauren Bacall) from Dark Passage (1947)

The femme fatale isn't interested in domestic life, at least not yet. She almost never has kids. She may marry her love-interest, or is having an extramarital affair with him. She may have killed her husband and/or his first wife.

“I want things. A lot of things. Big things. I don't want to be afraid of life or anything else.” ---Annie (Peggy Cummins) from Gun Crazy (1950)

A femme fatale might be a good girl who's become street tough, she might be pure evil, or she might be somewhere in-between. Ultimately, she'll end up married and softened around the edges, or arrested or murdered. Though she is either punished or domesticated, often noir films seem to side with the femme fatale despite her vilification. She must be punished or reformed, but often she’s painted as having a good reason for having become a villain.

For instance, in Gilda (1946), Gilda does a sexy song-and-dance number that would ordinarily drive a man wild, but she does it to rub her beauty in jealous wreck Johnny's face. Thus, he gets no satisfaction out of it and has the bouncer get her off the stage. The song is about men blaming women for things that they didn't do.

Legendary Hispanic actor Rita Hayworth, as Gilda.

Poison Ivy in Batman the Animated Series/Batman Beyond was likely inspired by Gilda.

Cartoon/comic character Jessica Rabbit was likely inspired by Gilda. Though she was already an existing character, for the incarnation of her in the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988), femme fatale actors Rita Hayworth, Veronica Lake, and Lauren Bacall are specifically cited as inspirations for that iteration of Jessica Rabbit. (Photo credit: imnotbad)

In Pokémon, Jessie seems to parody Jessica Rabbit in XY123. Perhaps a nod to her English dub name?

The femme fatale will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Her passion usually brings out desire in a man, but leads to his downfall. She has a passion for other parts of life as well. She likes to dance, go out to cocktail lounges, have drinks with friends, etc.

“I have my own life to lead. Good times, that’s what I want. And laughs with people I like.” ---Alicia (Ingrid Bergman) from Notorious (1946)

The femme fatale is hyper-feminine. They want all the beautiful and flashy things that will make them stand out in a crowd. They want perfume that makes a man have to get close. They want their man to think of them all day, every day. They want their man to want to steal or kill for her. They want pretty things and passionate kisses and dancing and to sink their claws into a man's soul.

“I’ve got you and I’m enjoying it fine, because I’m not yours anymore; you’re mine.” ---Ellen (Veronica Lake) from This Gun for Hire (1942)

One of the themes in film noir is that you shouldn't sleep well at night, thinking nothing bad will happen to you and thinking the world is fine. Even the person closest to you could be working against you. The femme fatale is usually a symbol of how death can strike at any moment. (Recall that Jessie is “The God of Death.”) Men follow her willingly because she gives him a reason to live or a reason to live again. He has nothing left to lose anyway. He's a dead man walking. He's a man with no future and she's a woman with a past. She's beautiful, fascinates him, and excites him. She's usually the catalyst for the bad things that happen. Often she destroys her man from within by awakening something dark in him. Sometimes she hasn't done anything wrong per se, but her refusal to choose a suitor and her enjoyment of her independence drives her suitors to turn against each other.

“Touch me and you won’t live ‘til morning” ---Kitty (Ava Gardner) from The Killers (1946)

By virtue of being a woman, she has to constantly put on a façade. She has to pretend to be happy when she's depressed. She has to pretend to be collected when she's furious. She has to pretend to be tough when she's scared. This molds her into a masterful liar and manipulator.

“Last night, I dreamt I went... [home] again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive; and, for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me. Then, like all dreamers, I was possessed of a sudden with supernatural powers and passed like a spirit through the barrier before me.“ ---Mrs. de Winter (Joan Fontaine) from Rebecca (1940)

Living a Double Life

Jessie struggles to reconcile the part of her that’s sweet with her darker side.

When Jessie joined Team Rocket, she suppressed the sweet part of her, but that made people not want to associate with her and that made her lonely (Chronicles 13). She would never want to go back to suppressing her loving, caring self.

In XY63, she tries suppressing her dark side, but that seems to make her feel disingenuous. On top of that, it doesn’t stop her gangster toughness from coming out whenever she's in potential danger.

James and their Pokémon love how sweet Jessie is, and that encourages her to embrace it and work harder on being kinder as the series goes on.

An example of her showing that she cares is when she takes her Pokémon, Mimikyu, shopping at the mall. She gives Mimikyu a makeover to try to boost its self-esteem and so that it can find a look that suits its personality. Mimikyu is adamant that its old identity (as an undead Pikachu) is who it really is. So Jessie fights off some Pokémon by hand to get its Voodoo doll Pikachu costume back, and sews it up (SM38).

An example of her telling others that she cares is after she loses in the Kalos Masterclass Showcase tournament (similar to Coordinator style battling). Jessie must be absolutely devastated, but she collects herself and tells James and their Pokémon that she only got as far as she did because of their help, and that she’s really grateful for them. They’re moved to tears and James tells her he’ll take her out to dinner (XY113).

James/Kojiro: We’ll follow you anywhere, Musashi-sama! Jessie/Musashi: This [dinner] is going to be YOUR treat, Kojiro! James/Kojiro: I’ll pay! I’ll so pay!

In order to use a special high-powered move called a Z-Move, a Trainer needs to send some of their auric energy to their Pokémon. The move also requires a crystal called a Z-Crystal, and these can only be obtained through tests of character. Jessie’s test reveals that she is willing to help others.

Jessie and James come across a Gengar who is eating the soul of a little girl, who turns out to be the ward of the local Kahuna (Gym Leader, basically). Jessie has her Mimikyu attack Gengar and James grabs his Z-Crystal that Gengar swiped from him. To avoid further attacks, Gengar possesses Meowth. Jessie gets mad and has Mimikyu knock out Meowth to force the Gengar out. Gengar then possesses Jessie. James has his Mareanie gently use a Dark Type move on Jessie since Dark Type moves are Super Effective against Ghost Types. The Kahuna and his ward give Jessie Mimikium-Z, which allows her Mimikyu to use Let’s Snuggle Forever. It’s a Fairy Type Z-Move that suffocates the opponent.

Integrating the Shadow

Jessie and James get an apartment together and fill it with personal effects. They visit other countries, but return to their apartment whenever they’re back in Kanto. No longer lost souls wandering the earth, they finally have a home and someone to come home to. They start a podcast (JN106) and a YouTube channel (JN115) together in their apartment. The Narrator says that they continued being content creators from then on out (JN106). This is a pretty permanent arrangement. But it takes some getting used to. Living with someone was one of James’s biggest fears (AG147) and Jessie doesn’t seem confident that he’ll stick around. That is, she becomes concerned that he might be losing interest in being a gangster, and it seems like she thinks being her Team Rocket partner is the only thing that’s keeping him there. However, he’s been by her side for years and even promised to stay by her side in the afterlife (DP117). He is deeply insulted by her lack of faith in him and doesn't want to be partners anymore.

After their fight, Jessie, James, and Meowth individually go off to do the same villainous scheme, which moves Meowth to tears and makes Jessie and James smile. They realize that the three of them are inextricably linked, and what initially linked them was their love of villainy. Jessie and James can’t part ways like they did as kids, because their souls are bonded. (Literally. Jessie, James, and Meowth can power-up each other’s Z-Moves. Some Trainers do this with a Pokémon, but Jessie and James are the only humans shown to have an energy bond.) With Jessie’s shadow of doubt out of the way, she embraces her dark side and becomes a fully-actualized villain. There’s nothing holding her back anymore, because she realizes that James is every bit as dark as she is, and will always be at her side.

You can check out my James character study here

You can check out my Team Rocket music playlist here

[x-neurotoxin-x]

the way they had the todofam kinda jump him and downplay his trauma too. your brother was the first abused child, almost died and was experimented on while he was unconscious for three years and ran away when he found that his father wasn’t going to change. who knows what else he experimented while being homeless as a teen/young adult. from his clothes and his medical conditions, we can tell that life hasn’t been going great for him. that and he only sees himself as an extension of endeavor—he doesn’t seem himself as a real person with his own identity but just another form of endeavor.

“we need more complex characters!” you can’t even handle dabi who is one of the most complex characters in bnha. it’s the way everyone else gets a pass but dabi? he’s just as much of a victim as shigaraki, toga, twice, the l.o.v as a whole, but he’s the only character i’ve seen who is constantly invalidated because his “responses aren’t the correct ones.”

So sorry this took so long to respond to

Fr though. Mha hasn't done a great job in handling heavier topics like child abuse and whatnot but especially with the todofam and more specifically Touya they really dropped the ball. I've disliked this current arc in the manga for a number of reasons, but the major thing is just how they handled the todofam plot. Why is Touya treated like hes the root of the family's problems? Why does the whole family act like hes a child throwing a fit for no reason? Then the whole thing with him telling Shouto he was basically kidnapped and experimented on while in a coma for three years then came back home to find the family thought he was dead, moved on from him, and nothing changed so he just basically disappeared to be homeless in the streets for like seven years and Shouto basically went "cool story bro but it doesn't mean you can kill people." And didn't react beyond that? Because what the fuck. Shouto might be the only person that can even SEMI understand some of what Touya went through and you'd think he'd be able to understand and relate to what Touya's feeling and be more sympathetic towards him but he's just... Not. Again, the whole family is kinda just acting like Touya's causing problems and being a bother. It's just... Not good writing.

Especially frustrates me bc the other two of the villain trio are met with compassion and understanding, Toga's fight was resolved too quickly and her sacrificing herself was kinda a shitty writing choice and she is understood and accepted by the end of the fight, and gets a sense of closure. Shigaraki is also sympathized with and reached out to by Izuku, and even got closure from Nana with that one scene, snd hes done arguably the worst things in the series but has still been met with compassion and sympathy and is recognized as a victim by both fandom and narrative/character. 90% of the time Touya isn't even recognized as a victim or shown any kind of compassion at all. Even the bare minimum. It's just kinda fucked up especially when looking at the other two because yes imho Touya's a more complex character than both Toga and Shigaraki (don't kill me but it's true) but their characters were both given closure for their arcs and/or understanding and sympathy, and their traumas are validated and handled pretty well so like... Why not Dabi then?

[lovelythief]

𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎𝐁𝐄𝐑: 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐇 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐊

𝚜𝚊𝚔𝚊𝚝𝚊 𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘𝚔𝚒 𝚡 𝚏𝚎𝚖!𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚠; 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚐𝚝𝚑/𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚌𝚕𝚎 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚔, 𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚗𝚎𝚕𝚜𝚘𝚗 (𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗), 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢-𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝: 𝟷,𝟻𝟿𝟸

Gintaman stares at his long-lost friend with one stern eye. The other is tightly shut as the blood from his injuries runs down his chiseled face like tears, staining his gray suit jacket with every drop. He heaves with every breath, but stands tall. His once-brother shows no signs of exhaustion—of course not, a climax battle like this would be the biggest disappointment of the series if the positions were reversed.

Gurako and Patsuan stand behind Gintaman with horror on their faces, watching the scene before them unfold in silence as NPCs between the confrontation of the arc’s—the series’—grandest antagonist yet.

Gintaman steps forward, his fists clenched by his sides. “You still haven’t given up on this yet? You were being used.”

“I already know!” he yells with rage, but our hero doesn’t budge, “Still, I went along with it because I didn’t want to lose to you... Gintaman!”

The villain flicks his lighter and sucks in a deep smoky breath. “After the incident ten years ago, I made the choice to sacrifice everything to change the fates.”—

Gintoki’s eyes skim through the rest of the long-winded “this is why I became a villain and why I am going to try to kill you in ten pages” speech, far too engrossed in the active tension than the character dump the (gorilla) author clearly didn’t understand how to resolve after building it up, searching instead for the moment that shirts start flying and fists start connecting.

—“Our struggle has to end.”

“Gintaman!” Patsuan yells, his arm held back by Gurako who shakes her head, letting Gintaman continue his stride forward, who clutches at his suit jacket and rips all of his clothes—except his signature blueberry boxers—off his muscular figure.

His opponent does the same, leaving himself in banana briefs and widening his stance as he prepares to lunge at Gintaman, no more words necessary. It was a duel between hard-boiled men who communicate best with bloody knuckles.

It’s impossible to tell who gets the first hit.

They both rush forward with right hooks aimed at the chin, connecting simultaneously, and staggering each other.

Gintaman steadies himself first, throwing arms up and heaving a loud battle cry, his attack weaved through and leaving him wide open, only for—

 “Gin-to-ki.”

Your exaggerated voice calls out for him again, but he ignores it. He’ll deal with whatever you want later—right now he’s invested. He has to keep going. He struggles to find his panel amidst the action-packed pages, but quickly continues where he left off.

He ignores the shadow over him that blocks the light, dimming his manga. He can still see Gintaman’s fierce eyes.

“Sakata Gintoki.”

Gintoki makes the age-old mistake of lifting his gaze to meet yours, and before he could bark a bitter “what do you want?”, you snatch his precious Jump from his grasp and throw your arm up high, staring him down. Why would you be upset when he was the one being interrupted?!

“You’re supposed to be helping me clean today,” you scold. You keep a broom firmly in your opposite hand, and Gintoki wonders if you’d try to whack him with it if he refuses.

“It’s plenty clean here,” Gin argues, “so just let me read in peace!” Though he reaches for his Jump without moving from his position on the couch, you pull it away further.

You scowl. “It’s your mess, Gintoki. You need to pull your weight too—you can’t rely on me or Shinpachi to clean up after you.”

He’s not even listening to you ramble on about how he should be sweeping or whatever. “Give it.” Gintoki interrupts with a demand.

You move back and raise the broom towards Gintoki like a weapon, pointing the bristles at his chest to keep your distance. He stands up, towering over you even from a distance, and steps forward. You step back.

He lunges.

Weaving under his arm, you smack his back with the broom.

Oh, he’s really pissed, now.

Gintoki grabs the broom and yanks you close, sweeping his feet under yours and knocking you down to the ground so he could take the book. You tucks it close to your chest and rolls as soon as you hit the floor but you aren’t fast enough to stop Gintoki from falling to his knees and grabbing your ankle, pulling you back.

You hold Jump high above your head and kick your foot back to hit Gintoki’s chest, meeting firm muscle and barely budging him. He huffs and glowers at your feeble attempt to push him off. In a contest of strength, it’s obvious who would win. You both knew it.

“You brat,” Gintoki growls, “hand it over!”

“No!” you yelp, squirming in his hold as he firmly grasps both of your calves.

His biceps bulge against his tight shirt as he pulls you, sliding you across the floor on your stomach until he pinned your thighs down with his knees and arched over your back, forcing you still as he pries the book from your shaking hands.

There’s a moment of stillness as he keeps you pinned down, both of you panting softly from their spontaneous wrestling match, hearts racing with sexual tension thick enough to suffocate.

“C-Come on...” you whine softly as Gintoki’s weight begins to retreat from your body. It was a thinly veiled secret that you adored when he displayed his strength⁠—if the way he’s caught you staring at his arms or stomach was anything to go by. “Hurry up and get off of me, Toki...”

Gintoki considers his options; he could continue reading Gintaman and let you go, or...

He tosses Jump across the room and slides his arms under your shoulders, rolling back until he hits the couch and steadies you, confused and disoriented, onto his lap.

“Wha—ah!” you gasp, clutching onto his forearms for security as he presses your back against his broad chest, “Gin!”

“You complain too much,” Gintoki nips the shell of your ear, his frustration rolling off of him in waves. “You distracted me, and I won’t let you get off that easily—not after you made me fucking chase you.”

“But, but you—should’ve helped..!” your voice pitches higher with exasperation as Gintoki mouths at your sweaty neck.

He shamelessly grinds his growing erection against your ass. “Yeah, yeah, isn’t it about time you relaxed anyways?”

Gintoki’s hands slip underneath your clothes and makes quick work of them, tugging cloth aside and exposing your slicked folds to his fingers. Mockingly, he whistled. “Already drenched?”

“I’m not—nnh!”

Two large, calloused fingers slip inside and immediately curl upwards, catching as much of your wetness across his digits as he can. He slips them out and brings them up towards your face, scissoring his fingers and forcing you to watch how it drips down his hand and onto his wrist.

“Right,” he drawls, pretending to be bored.

You press against his arms, trying to pry yourself out of Gintoki’s embrace, but you freeze when his voice drops another octave and feels the gentle smack of his dick against your lower back as he frees it. “You can’t lie to Gin-san. You wanted me to catch you. You wanted me to pin you down.”

“And since I’m so good at making a mess,” his arms come around under your knees, pulling your thighs up close to your chest, lifting you up effortlessly, and wrapping his hands around the back of your neck to secure you in place, “I’ll fuck you on this nice clean floor and ruin all your hard work.”

You shudder and claw at Gintoki’s firm forearms, helplessly watching his cock glide against your folds, threatening to fulfill on his promise⁠—threat?⁠—to make a mess of both you and the floor.

Gintoki flexes his abs and exhales slowly as he lowers you down halfway, meeting resistance as he enters your tight hole. He arches against your back, forcing you to feel every inch of his broad chest and the subtle shifting of his muscles as he plants his feet firmly on the ground and bullies the rest of his length inside.

Your mouth falls open with low whine as his thighs go taut, the outline of his muscle strains against his pants, and he uses his legs to raise his hips and meet yours in sharp thrusts, fully taking advantage of the position he’s caught you in.

Gintoki’s hips stutter as he constantly rocks against your G-spot. His fingers tangle in the base of your hair and keeps your face angled down to watch the slight bulge of your stomach with each smack.

You cry out his name; restraining your with his body alone as he fucks you, you’re forced to confront the buzzing of lust in your head that clenches your pussy when you’re very kindly reminded of how easily Gintoki’s physical strength overwhelms your own.

“You like it when you can’t move an inch, huh?” Gintoki taunts, reading your body language—how you’re practically groping his arms—too well, “You get excited knowing that I could hurt you?” He feels your walls flutter and scoffs, a dangerous smile teasing his lips. “You’re an even bigger masochist than I thought.”

“Too much,” you choke around the breathy moans that each thrust coaxes out, “’s too much, Toki, I can’t!”

“Cum as many times as you want, but it’ll take more than that to satisfy me.” He cuts you off, his thrusts more powerful the longer he keeps you fucked out of your mind. “Did you forget that Gin-san has both strength and stamina?”

[cfr749]

What do you think of Chenford breakup reasons? Just to add drama and indicate the honeymoon phase of their relationship ended. I felt they've been building to it since the season started. Or It's season 6, and some contract are up, and they want to have options if necessary. I mean, look at other characters' arcs, too.

Hi anon,

Thanks for the ask!

I know there are a lot of theories on this, but, from my perspective, I think it was 100% a creative storytelling decision, and though I wasn't expecting a breakup, it also didn't feel like it came from out of nowhere for me.

We saw cracks in their relationship very early on with how they both approached resolving the chain of command issues and then obviously began to move into the UC conflict. I do think there was a clear through line in terms of building up to this since the beginning of the season, though of course it could have been clearer.

This is pure speculation, but for me this season so far has stylistically felt very much like Alexi taking back the reins after stepping away to work on other projects the last few seasons. These versions of Tim and Lucy feel very much like who the characters were in Seasons 1-2.

And, IMO, the emotional intensity this season is very reflective of the types of things we've seen for storylines he was more heavily involved with previously (Tim & Isabel, John's S1 shooting, DOD, Tim's dad SL, etc.).

I know people also have mixed feelings about Tim's backstory, but for me this also felt like a character-driven storytelling decision vs. something that was inserted solely to break Chenford up (though of course that was also a major driver).

Learning why Tim felt so much guilt and shame over what happened in Mosul made his backstory click into place for me. I imagine that Tim found his place in the army -- he found something he was good at, that he was valued and appreciated for. He was promoted quickly up the ranks, and for someone with his background, it must have felt like all of the validation and affirmation he was desperate for, but never received as a child. And when Ray going rogue threatened that-- the one thing in the world he had that finally made him feel worthy -- I can absolutely understand the desperation and panic Tim must have felt to prevent having that ripped away from him.

We know that Tim is a good person. I have zero doubt that making the decision that led to his two squad mates died destroyed him and all of the beliefs he had about who he was. I have zero doubt that it took everything he had to crawl out of that pit of despair and try to keep going. He shoved it into a box because he had to in order to survive. And then suddenly, years later, with no warning, he was forced to confront the one thing he's never been able to face about himself.

I have always said all I've ever wanted for Chenford (and Lucy and Tim as individuals) was a good character-driven story, told with intention, so even though I'm actually incredibly sad over the breakup, I'll be okay if that is what we get moving forward.

[vindextra]

My Agents

So, like a lot of splatoon people, I've got my own takes on the Agents. They started out as just a few additional character traits on top of the canon agents, but quickly spiraled out into a lot more fully formed characters.

These characters are presented as they are in the middle arc of my story Breakpoints [insert link]. The first arc retells the stories of Splat 1, 2, and OE, if you want to know how they got to where they are, check out the story!

Agent 3: Quinn

(unfortunately Quinn does not have a ref yet, though one is currently being produced!)

Quinn moved to Inkopolis to get a new start as a new squid. It admittedly wasn't going so well until he followed a weird old man through the sewers and became Agent 3 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. (Earning himself a surrogate grandpa, and later two surrogate sisters in the process.)

Quinn is light hearted, but direct. He intends to meet problems head on, and is willing to plant his feet and be stubborn when he needs to.

Unfortunately, as a result of the partial sanitization in the metro, the connection between his brain and the muscles in his face were severely damaged, leaving him unable to emote or talk without explicit and deliberate effort.

Quinn remains doggedly committed to the NSS, staying as the only 24/7/365 active member, a trait that doesn't go unnoticed by Captain Cuttlefish.

He/Him

22 years old

Arrow Squid

Can win a blindfolded 4v1 turf fight with just a splattershot

Agency Member

1 vs Many combat specialist, Survival specialist

Known for defying odds for fun

Agent 4: Nora Sheller

Art by Nalina-nw!

Nora left her home of 5 siblings to try and make a name for herself. As a result of co-parenting her 4 younger brothers, Nora is compassionate to a fault, a trait that actually doesn't backfire when she chases a strange woman through a sewer grate. From there, she settled into a comfortable routine with this apparently famous woman, trying to save her cousin.

Nora's emotionally intelligent, save for her own emotions, which she's almost completely blind too. She's lighthearted and quick to joke around, she easily becomes best friends with Callie after she's saved. An accident on a mission leaves her leg permanently injured, which ends up causing an entire torrent of quiet self-worth issues in the background.

She/Her

24 years old

Hooked Squid

Dualies Master

Agency Member (benched due to leg)

Infiltration Expert

Known for her 'guns blazing' style

Agent 8: Clover

Art by Scratch-o!

Arai, as was her name in the domes, was a brutal, no-nonsense soldier, who just wanted to push through and get done with her service. Repeated instances of her faith being shaken in octavian society around her, as well as a particularly biting betrayal from one of her squadmates leaves her utterly disillusioned with the military.

When she falls into the metro, she loses her memory, but those negative emotions still linger. Now dubbed Agent 8, she resolved to complete the tests so that Craig can make it to the surface, but ultimately she doesn't see any worth in her own freedom. During the fight with sanitized Agent 3, nearly being perma-killed inspires a desperate need to live, which now fuels her every step on the surface.

She takes the name Clover when she reaches the surface. (Mostly) gone now is the brutal, no fun attitude from before, now Clover basks in life and all the small joys it can bring.

She/Her

24 years old

Mimic Octoling

No Weapon Preference

Agency Member

1 on 1 combat specialist

Happy-go-lucky, until it's mission time

Agent 9!?: Mavi

(Pictured here without her glasses) Art by Antsyandpantsy!

Mavi's life fell apart when her dad died. She spent several years in a mental fog until her home situation got so bad she was broken out of by sheer necessity. She still has a stutter as a result of that time, which coupled with her already timid nature paints a rather unassuming figure.

Her friends, both in and out of her turf team, helped her get her feet back under her. She lived rather passively for a while, working as a cashier at the official Squid Sister's merch store, until her close friend Nora needed her help. The world of the New Squidbeak Splatoon is revealed to her, and Mavi is left to make a choice.

She chooses to take some hold over her life, joining the Splatoon to enthusiasm all around! Now she has to learn how to catch up with the other agents, and hopefully before the octavians try to pull a new stunt...

She/Her

22 years old

Arrow Squid

Brella Master

Stand-in Agency member

New to non-turf combat

Timid and stuttering, until her temper flares

[chemdisaster]

in my lonely arc 💔

Chem has seen this happen before. For three previous games, they sat back and Watched as an entirely different set of players fought against the binding rules of the game. Alliances were made and broken, lives were won and lost, and through it all Chem Watched, and remembered, and eventually started to learn.

Knowing how these things tend to go, they quickly figured out that their best bet was to gather as many resources as possible while they still could. And they made good on that resolve, spending the entire week filling their inventory with anything that could potentially be useful, redstone and iron and the enchanter a comforting weight on the back of their mind.

Now though, as the haze of preparation falls off, they find themselves sitting alone in their Pits, the enchanter warm against their side, wondering if maybe in their will to survive they may have missed something that most people would find crucial.

The Pits, for all their beauty, are a quiet place.

No one really comes down here, other than to grab some glow berries. And Chem doesn’t mind, really! Let them have their glow berries. Having killed every pig they’ve come across, Chem finds that glow berries really aren’t of any importance to them. If their fellow players want to eat a fruit that makes them even more hungry, they can (literally) be their guest.

It’s just...the quiet gets overwhelming.

Sitting alone in their cave, watching messages slowly tick by on their comm—something within Chem aches to hear a voice other than the ones in their own head.

It’s not even that it’s anything new. But walking up the mountain, only to immediately turn back when they heard the sounds of people talking—

It’s like something clicked in their brain.

Oh. They have friends.

Chem doesn’t know why they expected anything different. Not everyone is like them. Not everyone sees making human connections as something secondary compared to preparing for the upcoming bloodshed. Not everyone would spend a week mining, hoping that someone would wait for them, only to surface with the realisation that everyone else has moved on.

(Not everyone prioritises surviving over living.)

Ah well. It’s too late now. They missed their chance.

Exhaling heavily, Chem curls up against the stone wall and hugs the enchanter closer to their body, letting its steady warmth chase away the coldness inside.

They may not have friends, but they have resources. And that’s all they need. The enchanter will do more for them in the long run than any fragile alliance ever could. They don’t need friends.

Friends won’t save their life, after all.

However lonely a life it may be.

[fallensnowfan]

Chapter 1107 nicely narrowed down what is left to focus on, on the island during this part of the arc.

The Giants invading the island is really really fun, I'm happy for Usopp, and I like how quickly the Blackbeard stuff was resolved this chapter. Caribou's request and Catarina's action could lead to something big later. Much of what most everyone else is doing currently though is starting to feel that we're stuck in a loop of trying to make progress towards escaping Egghead, though getting nowhere. The satellites(sans York,) in particular do little but cause chapters to drag when they are focused on, being some of the shallowest gimmicky characters to have been introduced in the series.

Luffy being called Nika by Bonney makes sense for her character… but I don't like it. Feels similar to Yama trying to use Luffy as a replacement for Ace. Luffy doesn't need to be called Nika by anyone. Enough talking about things I'm not a fan of though, don't like dwelling on that stuff. On the plus side of things, it's good to see Bonney has her priorities straight and agrees to head to the shore, without getting caught up on seeing "Nika" or insisting on trying to fight Saturn. Her ability to focus when and on what she wants to, while keeping in mind what the best course of action is, in spite of how much she's been through in the past day, is praise worthy.

Luffy is mainly a distraction to her right now, though also does help bring her story to a nice natural stopping point. She's accomplished/moved on from everything she set out to sea to do. Met with her dad, found "Nika," and moved away from seeking vengeance. Great character progression.

Now there are a few things I'm left wondering about after 1107 - Robonosuke, what are you going to do??? What happened during the night in the lab? Where is Stussy? What is going to happen with York?

Wrapping up by drawing attention to one thing I am fairly sure of, with how long we've been waiting and anticipating Robonosuke doing something, I get the feeling whatever he does is going to be big. I'm excited to find out!

[epicspheal]

Cactusverse Timeline: Legends Arceus

So I thought it’d be a good idea to talk about the happenings for cactusverse during the Hisui era. Like much of cactusverse, it’s very gameverse compliant as far as how the plot unravels with a bit of Pokespe and Anipoke influence weaved in (and that’s moreso in regards to worldbuilding rather than narrative beats). There are some parts of cactusverse that I mishmash things together (Hoenn and Alola Events) or significantly alter (Kanto Let’s Go), but again mostly compliant. So starting from the beginning we have the Hisuian era and there’s really two main major differences from the established canon. The first is that our protagonist Akari is actually not isekai’d into Hisui. Akari is actually one of the last members of the Celestica people who pretty much exist on the fringes Hisuian society much like Cogita. After seeing Hisuian Snow, I realized that the MC didn’t really need to be from another timeline to show that humans and Pokemon can work together. Akari actually lived in Jubilife village is somewhat aware of her Celestica heritage from her parents, but with an intense desire to join the survey corps to learn more about Pokemon. The night before she runs into Laventon she does have a dream-vision from Arceus and wakes up with the Arc Phone and a message to seek out all Pokemon. She ends up running into Laventon and catching the three starters with ease which impresses him enough to vouch for her to Cyllene. There’s less mistrust of Akari compared to the game canon because she was from that time (and didn’t fall from the sky) but the mistrust is still there. Akari is a little bit too honest and mentioned the strange visions she got from Arceus and of course showing off this Arc-Phone definitely catches the eye of Kamado and he starts having Beni tail her and her family. Her mom however, was not at all pleased with her going out and joining the Survey Corps. Her mom has had previous nasty run ins with wild Pokemon and has a intense fear and distrust of them and doesn’t want her child to get hurt. Overall things progress through the plot with the Diamond and Pearl clans beef and the worry over the frenzied nobles. One big this is that for Akari, the Old Verse that she finds with Ursaluna is of great importance again because of her heritage. She’s well aware that her heritage is being lost and her mom in particular wants to learn more about their heritage but is unwilling to go out into the Hisuian Wilds again because of the aforementioned fear. As Akari quickly moves up the ranks and helps to quell the Frenzy Nobles she becomes the star of Galaxy Team Kamado grows even more suspicious of her especially as she continue to display such prolific talents and speaks about her visions. Both Irida and Adaman are very fond of Akari however, with Akari and Irida becoming especially close.

Eventually she learns of Ingo, the man who fell from the sky in the Pearl clan but also of three others who were said to have fallen from the sky. People from the Galaxy team, as well as the Diamond and Pearl clans all report of three individuals around the three great lakes of Hisui. Like Ingo they seem to have fallen through time and possess terrifingly proficiency at wielding Pokemon calming the Alpha Nobles that guard “whatever is in those caves”. They speak of a lady of Lake Verity who could wrestle with the likes of Ursaluna but also calm the raging Gyarados that dwells within the lake. She commands a strange Pokemon...large and green monster with a flower on its back

They speak of a man at Lake Acuity who complains a lot about the cold but is as agile as the wind when wielding a sword and holds vasts amount of knowledge. He too wields a strange Pokemon...a large blue turtle with what resembles pirate ship canons protruding from its shell.

They speak of another man who dwells at Lake Valor. Silent but with fierce resolve, commanding Pokemon with just a single look. He wields yet another strange Pokemon...a large red winged draconic creature with fire emitting from it’s tail.

All is going well with Akari until the rift over Mt. Coronet expands and Kamado already thoroughly paranoid, decides to banish Akari and her mom. Her mom is of course absolutely terrified to be out in the wilderness with the Pokemon but Akari is determined to clear their names. Her mom’s attitude does begin to change when she sees the little Shinx try to cheer Akari up. Volo eventually finds the two and takes them to retreat with Cogita and they learn of their mutual shared heritage of being Celestic people. Akari ends up going out do the trials of the lakes, choosing to partner with Irida. She first decides to go to lake Verity where she meets the Lady of Lake. She says her name is Leaf and she tests Akari with the Alpha Hisuian Goodra she wields along with the strange Pokemon she calls Venusaur. Akari wins and receives Mesprit’s Plume. Leaf tells her of a time “where humans and Pokemon stand side by side in friendly combat” and disappears in a flash of light Irida suggests going up north to Lake Acuity next so that’s where they go next. Akari then meets the man of Lake Acuity who says his name is Blue. Once again another battle ensues with Blue commanding the Alpha Hisuian Zoroark and the strange Pokemon he calls Blastoise. Akari wins and receives Uxie’s Claw. Blue speaks of how vast the world is and how it’s many mysteries can be solved when humans and Pokemon put their trust in one another and he too, disappears in a flash of light Finally Akari and Irida go to Lake Valor and they meet the man of Lake Valor. No words are spoken and a battle immediately ensues with the man wielding Overqwil and the strange fire lizard. Akari also wins this battle and receives Azelf’s fang. Akari questions the man and he speaks, telling her name is Red. He speaks the name of the fire lizard, calling it Charizard...and then he too vanishes Akari, Irida eventually head back to the Ancient Retreat and to her surprise her mom after having long convos with Cogita seems to be less weary of Pokemon. Seeing this as progress Akari has Cyllene’s Abra teleport one of the Pokemon she caught from the ranch, the Shiny Ponyta she caught before working to create the Red Chain, catching Dialga and Palkia and closing the rift for good. Kamado, seeing how utterly wrong he was does profusely apologize. Akari and her mom both forgive but Akari and her mom decide to stay at the Ancient Retreat wanting to learn more about the Celestica Heritage and still hurt by Kamado’s actions. Kamado understands that but still reinstates Akari as a member of the Survey Corps, a compromise Akari is willing to accept. Relationships between people and Pokemon rapidly begin to improve after the rift is sealed.

Akari hangs out with Rei, Cyllene and Laventon on a regular basis but begins to spend more time with the Diamond and Pearl Clan especially. She begins to get close to Ingo who is slowly regaining more of his memories. He eventually speaks of the Wielders from the Lake from what he remembers of them, mentioning they were all “Champions” at one point in a far off land. More importantly he begins to remember his old team and his twin Emmet. Akari still gets visions from Arceus and begins to seek out the rest of the Pokemon in Hisui as well as the plates with the help of Volo until he betrays her and tries to have Giratina destroy her and her team. She manages to defeat him and he disappears but not before vowing to complete his goals no matter how many centuries it takes. Eventually Akari manages to catch all of the Pokemon and upon playing the Azure flute meets Arceus. An epic final test of strength ensues and Akari emerges victorious. Arceus is pleased of her strength and was glad of its choice to choose her to help mend the relations between people and Pokemon in Hisui. Akari mentions Ingo to Arceus and asks for a favor since she won: to have him sent back home to his own time. Arceus obliges and Ingo is returned to the modern day.

[therubyreader]

My Review of Foul Heart Huntsman by Chloe Gong

See a full list of my book reviews here

*Disclaimer: there will be spoilers later on in the review*

Review Word Count, non-spoiler: 697 Review Word Count Total: 1,480

After a year of waiting, we finally got the sequel to Foul Lady Fortune, and of course I need to scream about it in a long form way even though I’ve been screaming about it all week through various posts. I preordered the book on Apple Books (not sponsored), so I got it at exactly 12:00 a.m. EDT and I read it in a little over day because I have no self-control. Did it cause me to get behind in work? Yes, but that’s neither here nor there. 

Moving on! Foul Heart Huntsman picks back up after the plot twisty events of Foul Lady Fortune with Rosalind dealing with not only her identity as the nationalist spy Fortune being exposed and Orion’s absence after he was captured by his mother and his memories wiped. She grapples with how to get him back after her identity is exposed, a task that is near impossible, but under the guise of a national tour meant to inspire unity in the countryside, she manages to make it out of Shanghai to try and find Orion. But when the tour goes wrong, she must rely on old adversaries to save Orion and all of China from his mother’s chemical invention and potential foreign invasion. 

I will admit I am a little (or maybe a lot) biased since the entire Secret Shanghai series has become one of my favorites in this last year, especially the Foul Lady Fortune duology, so my thoughts on this book are mostly positive. I love Chloe Gong’s writing style so much so that I, someone that doesn’t highlight or annotate books, started highlighting my favorite quotes. There were tons of truly poetic lines in the book as well as its fair share of humor and just strong emotions in general. I was honestly amazed as to how one person could capture so many distinct genres in one book so beautifully and also tell such a compelling story at the same time.  

One of my favorite parts of this book was that despite Rosalind being the main character we get to see story arcs for pretty much every other relevant character, they all change in different ways during the events of the book which was super entertaining to read. Without spoiling anything I will say Pheobe’s arcs was one of my favorites as she grows up quite a bit throughout the course of the book and it probably near the top of the list when it comes to trauma and internal issues resolved.  

My main complaint with this book is just how quickly we jump from one plot point to another. I understand it was something that had to happen as there was a lot to cover but not enough material for a third book, which I’m grateful that isn’t the direction that Chloe took us, but it still was a bit intense. There were multiple times I had to just put down the book since I got overwhelmed with the sheer number of things happening at once, but I would rather have this than a drawn-out book just to create a third one. Because of this there were multiple points in the book where things were too coincidental, and I get that this has to happen to a certain extent in fiction, but it did feel like it was happening a lot just to advance the plot quicker.  

Despite that I had a great time reading the book and it was a beautiful conclusion to one of my favorite series of all time. I will let you all know that we had the happy ending we were promised, and it was honestly much better than I could’ve ever imagined, which I will scream about in the spoiler section. I really couldn’t have asked for a better conclusion to this series, I was screaming and crying for various reasons throughout my entire read through and was very emotional about the whole thing for at least two days afterwards. I’d give this book an “I cried about it for days but in a good way” out of ten and really recommend you all go read it if you haven’t already. 

Spoilers Below!!

As per usual I have a lot of thoughts, but because I have been very emotional about this book over the course of the past week (please scroll through my Foul Heart Huntsman tag if you want to see more nonsense) so I’m going to try and talk about new and cool things.  

First I just want to expand a little on the whole “things were too coincidental” point I made earlier. The one thing I have more of a gripe about, the rest I’ll excuse since they can be played off, but when Orion was dying, and Rosalind just so happened to take him to Lourens’ lab, and he just was there. I mean I guess you can say he wanted to see his lab one last time or whatever which is why he left Roma and Juliette’s house, but it just felt a little too plot convenient for me. I mean, I’m glad everything worked out for them, but the everything surrounding it just rubbed me the wrong way. Just a minor complaint but I’ll get over it.  

I already had my cry about Roma and Juliette being reunited with Alisa and Rosalind, which was a great moment for me, but seeing the whole gang back together (including Celia, Marshall, and Benedikt) plus Orion was one of my favorite parts of the whole series, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Another thing that made me feel all warm and fuzzy was just all the couples. We finally saw Oliver and Celia get together, Rosalind and Orion reunion, Pheobe and Silas! I think I was most emotional about Pheobe and Silas’ kiss scene; it tore me apart just as much as Celia and Oliver’s first kiss but for some reason Pheobe and Silas hit.  

Another thing that really tore me up was how much Rosalind and Orion love each other. Despite the fact that Orion lost his memories he still loved Rosalind and while she had a bit of a struggle since he wasn’t her Orion, she still loved him a lot. They have one of my favorite couple dynamics, I love how Orion is just a giant sap and Rosalind isn’t having any of it but is secretly loving it. Also, just how they gave up their abilities and became normal people for each other was so touching. Rosalind had accepted her fate that she was going to live like that for the rest of her life, and then eventually die from it after Lourens told her that the serum he used was unstable, but the way Orion was literally dying and chose to save her. Like Rosalind said, she had wanted someone to choose her, and Orion did, he was willing to die for her and I’m getting emotional typing this.  Maybe I cried when he proposed in the epilogue, who knows.  

I also need to talk about the exclusive Barnes and Noble epilogue (there are links to read it in the notes of this post I made if you haven’t read it already). I need to scream about Roma and Juliette having a whole entire child, I cried a little when Rosalind showed Orion the little card in the first epilogue and cried even more when we were introduced to Katherina. Another thing that made me cry was just how Pheobe and Silas were together and in love and happy and when she asked him for a kiss, tears. Of course, Oliver and Celia being married made me so beyond happy, I love that for them so much. The whole wedding also made me cry because Rosalind and Orion are in love and of course there was an incident at their wedding because that’s the kind of people they are and the daffodils and the amount of love they have for each other. The whole thing was so sweet I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better ending for the series and if I think about it too hard, I’ll cry again.  

I’m going to keep this ending in my brain and not think about how like four years later China gets invaded by Japan and all of World War II, Chloe mentioned this in her authors note and now I won’t stop thinking about it. Everyone survives the war and they’re all happy, that’s cannon, I said it, I make the rules. Anyways I was, and will continue to be, super emotional about this book until the end of time. I encourage you all to please come into my inbox to scream about literally anything in this book, I love talking about it and will continue to talk about it forever so please join me!  

[taiblogcomics]

Bubble Bubble, Toil and Troubleshooting

Hey there, punch crabs. Welp, we're on our finale for our third Goosebumps story arc in a row. Not much to say about that, I guess! Let's just get into it and see how it ends~

Here's the cover:

Well, this is a nice, threatening cover! Not the scariest, but who doesn't love some good old-fashioned child endangerment? And hey, soup's on! Won't you three stay for a spell~? Smoke rising in the shape of a skull is always a favourite of mine, too. Getting mixed messages about them being tied with rope, but lowered by a chain, though. Like, can't you pick one? Or none, since you have magic powers? Anyways, we almost got away from the pink sunset skies this cover, but those candles are putting out a pretty rosy glow~

So, after defeating their sentimental keepsakes, the trio (seen above) is ambushed by a gargoyle atop the town hall. And all because a witch moved into a house previously unsold since the '70s. But if you're expecting a cool continuation from that cliffhanger, prepare to be disappointed! This issue picks up with our trio of heroes being unceremoniously dumped in Veruca's living room. No gargoyle fight here! This is basically as close as one of those anti-climax chapter endings that the regular Goosebumps books like to do~

Veruca enters the room, backed by her gargoyle bodyguard--her bodygarg, if you will--and offers the kids an extended hand of friendship, and also some freshly brewed green tea. They take neither, because kids today are just plain rude. Veruca goes into a full-on "tech demo reveal" to explain her backstory and motivations. And here is the main connection to any other Goosebumps story: Veruca here is the granddaughter of Sarabeth, the witch from the original “Monster Blood” book. See, Download and Die? That's all you need! Not four different convoluted references that go nowhere~

So, as you might guess from her whole deal, Veruca is taking a leaf from Professor Croix's spellbook and combining magic with modern technology. Her grimoire is a tablet computer, yadda yadda. Her big plan is to use the Whaley House as an amplifier antenna to mind-control the whole rest of the town. And if things go well, perhaps... the entire world?? Muhuahaha? Bit ambitious, aren’t we? That's what the renovations to her house have been about. But of course, one person can't run the whole world. And that's why she's making the "we can rule together" speech to a bunch of tweens. Wouldn't be my first choice, but get 'em while they're young, I guess~

None of the kids go for it, which is surprising in itself. Like, not even the least bit tempted? Nope, they just barrel past Veruca in an almost rehearsed move, pushing her grimoire out of her hands, so she has to take a moment to not drop it and thus can't retaliate. Becca winds a nearby curtain around the bodygarg's eyes, and they slip past it as well. They bolt from the house, and head out for help. I'd like to know what authority they're hoping to go for to help with a mind-controlling witch, and Veruca doesn't seem too bothered either.

The kids actually return to the town hall they were initially meeting at. Ah, kids, too innocent to have a cynicism about their local government yet. They burst in on the mayor and begin babbling their story. Don't worry, though, kids! The mayor absolutely believes your accusations--and, in fact, he thinks you ought to take Veruca's deal. Yeah, unsurprisingly, they're already all under mind control. In fact, as the kids run out again, so are most of the adults in the town. They quickly whip themselves into a torch-carrying mob.

Well, with a whole dang town of adults after them now, the trio resolves to go back to the Witch's House and confront the Horrors therein directly. They go in through the window, and the bodygarg is on them almost immediately. Becca grabs a nearby hammer and leaps on him. This gives the other two the chance to slip by and into the basement. Clearly not a follow-up to "Stay Out of The Basement". Veruca is here, and she's lording over her knowledge of modern technology over the other witches on her friendlist. The way she's cackling over "They can't even use smartphones" feels like an apology for the "okay boomber" way smartphones were treated in the last story~

However, as soon as they get close, Carlos decides to take Veruca's deal. She's not surprised, Carlos' fashion-forward senses make him an obvious target for not living in the past and lording his success over others. But before you think this is a betrayal, it's actually just a distraction so Rosie can snatch the tablet again. Carlos trips Veruca, giving Rosie time to run up the stairs. Becca then runs to a nearby bucket of water and dumps the tablet in it, shorting it out. Why do witches always have those lying around their lair~?

Veruca's pretty salty now. And just to show this is exactly as stupid and contrived as in Wizard of Oz, when she rushes over to retrieve the tablet, they trip her again, spilling the bucket of water onto her. And this does indeed cause her to melt into a puddle of goo, rather graphically too. So much for her being modern!

But the twist is: The kids all go home, the spell now broken on the town. Back at each of their respective houses, they pick up from their attacks. Becca cleans up her trophies, Carlos starts re-stitching his sock monkey... And Rosie? Rosie starts charging her tablet. The one she picked up from the witch's house. The one now emitting some menacing laughter...

Questionable Parenting: Rosie’s parents note that their daughter is a friendless nerd right in front of her, and also permit her to go to a public event unsupervised late at night. Minority Alert: Becca and Carlos are both darker-skinned than Rosie, but oddly there are no apparent LGBT+ characters in this storyline. R.L. Stine Shows He’s Down With The Kids: This is two stories in a row where modern tablet computers and smartphones drive the plot, though in this case, it’s in the hands of the villains. Kind of puts a negative view on it either way, doesn’t it~? Rosie also watches anime and owns a Funko Pop, which makes her the perfect vessel to inherit the evils in the ending.

Honestly? Of the three we did so far, this one might be the best. It’s very focused on a single idea--a witch has moved into town, what do?--and only has very passing references to previous Goosebumps stories. The idea of witches using modern tech to bolster their spellcasting abilities is nothing particularly novel, but it’s a solid concept nonetheless. The ending, on the other hand, is really kind of lame and contrived, but that’s Goosebumps for you~

Next week: one final Goosebumps arc, and it’s a longer one than previously, so settle at least through the new year~

[dont-f-with-moogles]

The No No List

The No No List Characters: L x Light, Matsuda Words: 895 (AU Yotsuba Arc)

This is a scene that I planned out but didn't end up including in And Yet Another Note.

“We can resolve this!” Matsuda tried with strained joviality, “now, I want you to both name five things that annoy you about each other. Yeah! We can put them on a No No List and then you both need to be mindful of these bad habits in future! How does that sound?” Matsuda stood tall, hands on his hips.

L and Light shared a look of utter contempt.

“And Ryuzaki, why don’t you go first?” Matsuda turned to the detective, smiling.

“Why does he get to go first?” Light interrupted. “I’ve got plenty of things that can go on a list. I doubt we’ll even have time for him.” Matsuda laughed nervously, his hand moving to the back of his head.

“By all means,” L spoke blandly. Light’s eyes narrowed.

“Okay well...let’s start with the fact that he is always insinuating that I am Kira, whether it's through snide comments, jokes or outright accusations! Number two would be chewing with his mouth open. Honestly, it makes me want to puke. Three would be his weird feet. Four would cover just about all the disturbing things he does when he thinks I’m asleep. Pretty much every morning I’ve been woken up by a flashlight, a tape recorder or whatever weird contraption he’s decided to use. Who knows what he’s doing, I mean he claims he’s investigating me....” Light took a long pause and a breath. “And, finally, whatever we’re talking about he always, always has to get the last word in.”

L surveyed him coldly.

“Can I speak now? Or would that be misconstrued as my having to get the last word in?”

“Go on!” Matsuda called, “it’s your turn, Ryuzaki!”

“Very well. Number one, the way you take such offense to blatant truths, such as being reminded that you are Kira.”

Light glared at the detective.

“Number two,” Ryuzaki continued, holding up two outstretched fingers as he counted each item off. “The way you claim to admire my work and wish to collaborate with me, and then attempt to argue with every instruction I give you. If you actually want to be a detective, perhaps listen to someone who has a one hundred percent success rate and fourteen years more experience than you?”

Light looked away uncomfortably.

“Number three, your laugh. It makes my skin crawl. Number four, this angelic schoolboy act where you ‘can’t bear to see one more person killed,’ even though it would help to provide evidence for the case. Or where you refuse to touch a gun, even though we’re heading into certain danger.”

L, too, heaved a sigh.

“And, finally, number five… how long it takes you to do your hair in the mornings. All we do is sit in front of computers all day. I’ve never seen anything so needless. Who exactly are you trying to impress?”

“There…” Matsuda attempted, spreading his arms wide between them, “as long as we write those down and keep a record, then that should keep all annoying habits to a minimum! Right?”

L and Light were still glowering at each other.

“Or…” Matsuda frowned in thought, his hand clenched beneath his chin. “Maybe we should make positive lists too! Let’s try with things you like about each other.”

“Wh-hat?” Light stammered. “I can’t even name one thing I like about Ryuzaki!”

“I’ll go first,” L began placidly. “Friends or not, I can at least accept we have a few things in common which make us well-suited.”

“Number one, how smart you are. Even I’m astounded by how quickly you think and how precise you are with your deductions. Number two, your determination. We don’t always agree but I can see how driven you are, even to the point where you motivated me to continue with this case. Number three, the way you challenge me and keep me on my toes. You’re not like anyone else I’ve ever met and, in many ways, it’s been fun. Whether it’s our heated tennis games, or trying to outmaneuver each other. I’ve felt alive for the first time in several years of relative boredom and isolation. Number four might surprise you, but I think you make me better at what I do. Possibly by disagreeing with me or just by getting me to think in different ways. And, number five… I know that this isn’t achieved effortlessly, but you’re not bad to look at.”

Light looked away uncomfortably, as though some violation of some invisible boundary had been crossed.

“Okay, well… thanks for saying such kind things about me. Here’s your five then Ryuzaki.”

“Number one is how smart you are too. Your intelligence actually intimidates me and I find myself wanting to compete with you to prove myself. Number two, I know you can be kind and I’ve seen you be more forgiving than I could be… like when you started working with Aiber and Wedy, despite their past exploits. Number three, even though you have a fortune, you’re still humble. Number four, the way you can dress like that, not even brush your hair and you still don’t care what other people think. I envy how confident you must be to do that… I still care too much about what other people think of me. And, number five, you always know how to make me laugh.”

“There,” Matsuda spoke reassuringly, “doesn’t everyone feel better?

[ehlane]

crossover + alternate verses.

below are generic starting points for au’s for elain, with featured genres like some animanga, other literature, and fantasy video games. please know that i’m more than happy to write in these, even if you portray a character from the same canon as elain.

tip: "ctrl" + "f" to quickly search for a fandom.

a song of ice & fire + fire & blood. malleable to fit into either timeline, the three archeron sisters — daughters of a wealthy merchant — are left with a fortune after the death of their father. (mother long since dead, taken by illness.) they are taken is as wards of the tyrell family. elain is considered the most peculiar, regarded as a seer, or just simply mad.

attack on titan.   the archeron’s were once wealthy merchants who were cast to a settlement out in wall maria once losing their fortune. as a result, feyre became a cadet to provide for her family; she made her way to the military police ranks but was caught attempting to steal more rations for her family, who had become refugees after the initial attack on the wall. as punishment, her sisters were forced to enlist, and this is how elain finds herself a member of the scouts regiment.

arcane. [ league of legends ] to be written, but elain is a catlike vastayan from a wealthy family of merchants who have the means to travel all around runeterra.

baldur’s gate 3. elain is a human wild magic sorcerer and recruitable companion, since she is a victim of the mindflayers attack too. she’s found either unconscious on the beach or awake and having found sanctuary in the druids grove, as tense as it is. she’s desperate to find her way back to baldur’s gate to see if her sisters still live.

bridgerton. originally members of the ton, the archeron’s fell to scandal when the patriarch lost their fortune. a few summers later, elain is sponsored by a family that still holds them in esteem — or perhaps just pities them.

chronicles of narnia. taking it upon herself to journey to the dusk court and discover what magic and history is there, elain ends up accidentally opening up a portal to narnia; it draws her in against her will, and there she stays, with no knowledge of how to get home.

crescent city. ⚠️ not canon-crossover based! ⚠️ elain is of half-fae heritage, living a privileged life until her mothers death and fathers business misfortune. inspired by her sisters resolve, the middle archeron eventually moves into her own flat after securing freelance gardening jobs, and then eventually more steady work at a florist. she’s treated as more human than fae, which has larger repercussions with the growing unrest in the city against their asteri leaders. she also possesses powers like that of a mystic after she goes through the drop. * (built on the au i came up with for feyre originally.)

critical role. [ dungeons & dragons ] the archeron’s are a human family from wildemount. residents of the dwendalian empire, her father made profits trading within and across border lines, and he aspired for even greater heights by attempting to build connections in tal’dorei. instead, his fleet was attacked by the revelry, and the archeron family lost all of their fortune after losing their matriach, too. still residing in rexxentrum, the once noble family now live in poverty, relying on feyre’s journeys into the pearlbow wilderness to bring back food and other things that can be sold for profit. elain becomes involved in her sisters adventurers which have lead to the feywild, and through the arc is remade as a high elf, picking up sorcery to learn the new powers she has developed. * (built on the au i came up with for feyre originally.)

dragon age. to be written.

final fantasy. to be written. will likely be xiv based.

fourth wing. originally enlisted as a scribe, with her elder sister in infantry, elain had a moment of fear-fuelled bravery at the news her younger sister had enlisted in the dragon rider’s squadrant. out of worry for feyre’s safety, elain requests a transfer; although she is older than all the other first years, she still progresses the same, and ends up bonding a green daggertail named (tbd) who gifts her the rare power of precognition.

hazbin hotel + helluva boss. [ hellverse ] when in the living world, elain sold her soul to an overlord when in desperate need for money after her family lost their fortune. after dying in an accident, she now works in hell for the overlord that owns her soul.

jujutsu kaisen. elain first discovers curses in her late teenage years, swiftly transferring to jujutsu high to learn about this part of life she hadn’t before. it is also discovered that she has the gift of foresight, making her a valuable asset when it comes to scouting and eradicating curses. she’s now a sorcerery teacher but often helps in the field, when she can. her domain is called blooming spring.

modern. elain, after moving out from her family’s home, now lives in a small flat above a bakery which she works part time; unbeknownst to all in her life, elain also runs a secret o/nlyfans account to help pay her way through college while she tries to figure out her goals and aspirations. * (if the o.f. aspect makes you uncomfortable, please let me know as i am more than happy to change it to a secondary income as a florist.)

popstar alternative, where the archeron sisters were once a famous girlband as teenagers but have since gone solo. elain’s sound is a mixture of g/racie abrams and s/abrina carpenter, with the latter being an image inspo too. cowgirl alternative, where elain moves in with her aunt in a midwestern town after the archerons lose their fortune. that’s it, that’s the vibe and vision!

shadow & bone. to be written.

throne of glass. ⚠️ not canon-crossover based! ⚠️   a, a human blessed with foresight, elain was taken from her home as a child by maeve, raised in the lands of doranelle in secret. she was kept sheltered from most outside of court life and used her gifts to aid maeve, unaware of the dark queens secret. slowly learning that life is not what she believed it to be, elain works towards her freedom, eventually gaining sanctuary with aelin’s court when aelin herself is freed from maeve’s camp. * (affiliated with @firehcart, so i will not be writing with another aelin in this specific verse.) b, erilea and prythian are continents in the same world. in a time of peace for both terrasen and the fae courts, elain is sent as emissary to begin building friendships with fae kingdom’s across the sea.

twilight. to be written properly, but she is a volturi.