#and i'm gonna straight up admit to you? most of them are appealing to me lmao

[ali3nboyfriend]

i'ma keep it real w y'all. most of the hazbin and helluva boss designs aren't actually that bad. and i think a lot of the ragging on them is just because y'all don't like the source material. and i also think a lot of the nitpicking on them is because in lieu of other shit to pick at tumblr users tend to double down on saying the aesthetics of something are bad and most of the people saying this shit haven't actually watched the shows 🤷‍♂️

[13eyond13]

a friend of mine who isn't into Death Note asked me why people ship Lawlight. I gave her a pretty good answer but I feel that couldn't encapsulate it fully and you are the most articulate/analyzer person I can think of here, can you help me?

omg, I'm flattered you think that, but a bit worried I won't be able to speak for everybody about this! I'll probably just have to mostly say why I like to ship it and hopefully that will suffice...

1) the constant tension and the mind games between them is the heart and soul of the series to me. Light's a complicated character that is both very entertaining to follow and also sort of an infuriating bastard to watch as well, so when L waltzes in being like "HOLD ON A MINUTE HERE I KNOW IT'S YOU AND I'M DEFINITELY GONNA PROVE IT" and Light both seems to get extremely excited about how clever he is and also horrified and determined not to lose, that makes for a very charged dynamic that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Light's curiously positive reactions to L opposing him, as well as the way L intuitively understands him and pushes his buttons so effectively, is definitely one of the funniest and most intriguing things to watch in the entire show.

2) there's a lot going on in the narrative to continuously draw parallels between them and to sort of suggest that they're the true equal and peer that the other one has never actually had their entire lives, the solution to the boredom and loneliness and aloof superiority they've both been feeling due to their above-average intelligence and privileged positions and ambitious competitive stubborn streaks and so on. People love that and also find it super tragic/angsty or fascinatingly ironic and darkly funny that they end up only meeting in an enemies, "you're the closest thing to a real friend I've ever had but one or the other of us will have to die" sort of way

3) This part of their relationship also gets me as well - they probably would not have easily met if Light HADN'T been Kira, because L never has to meet any of the people he works alongside nor any of the criminals he catches in person - Light was just good enough at being a criminal to force L to meet him in person, basically. And there's also no guarantee that if they DID meet in other circumstances that they would have clicked so weirdly well as they do, because their cat and mouse game was probably the best way they could both impress each other the most and prove their own intelligence and entertainingness to each other as well. The immense difficulty of setting up this ship so that it actually works is part of the enduring appeal to me.

4) I think there's just a lot of intrigue to how much is left unsaid between them the entire time. They literally never get to have an actual straightforward heart-to-heart even once in the story, but they're seen obsessively thinking about each other the entire time (and Light continues to do so for years after L's death, even to the point of comparing everyone else who opposes him to L unfavorably after his death and admitting he feels bored again now that L is gone). I think a lot of fans were kind of dying to see them interact in a more straight-forward way

5) the handcuffs are certainly fairly suggestive and kinky hahaha... and the memory loss arc definitely brings up a lot of interesting "what if" type scenarios in every shipper's mind. Not everybody is convinced that they really hate each other, and seeing them work together on the case like that causes a lot of people to think about how they might get along if Light had never picked up the notebook in the first place. The fandom has a lot of people who really like the idea of them together whenever Light isn't Kira, and also a lot of people who think their dynamic is superior and works better when Light IS Kira - and having both of these different dynamics between them presented to us in canon makes for even more interesting possibilities to explore

[sydmarch]

time for round 2 of the disco sexyman bracket!

matchups for round 2:

harry vs dolores

idiot doom spiral vs soona

smoker on the balcony vs ruby

judit vs garte vs tiago

kim vs acele

elizabeth vs novelty dicemaker

joyce vs klassje

titus vs manana

just like last time this post will be the only one to go into any main tags so as not to spam & all of the polls will be tagged just "disco sexyman bracket"

results from round 1 below the cut along w my silly little commentary

it was always gonna end this way, sorry steban

did NOT expect this one to be as hotly debated as it was. cmon roy is like a cool old hippie who gives you free weed & we let a moralist war criminal beat him out? ok :(

i was surprised to see doom spiral get such a lead so fast but once you think about it it just makes sense

sorry egg head but soona has undeniable sex appeal

the BIGGEST sweep out of them all but is anyone surprised?

this one was also obvious. sorry trant but even in universe everyone acknowledges ruby gets mad pussy

THEE most hotly debated and campaigned for of the bunch. even tho garte could technically get the win (and i would love to give it yo my special princess) since they both show as 50% i'm gonna call it a tie both to stay fair and for the drama of it all

#crabsweep was obvious i mean a flexible cryptid man with a sexy accent vs a cop (granted one in a mesh shirt but still)

i'm SORRY lilienne i figured it anyone had a chance against kim it would be a hot milf with a sword. all things considered she didn't lose that badly

even tho i voted for acele i was still kinda shocked by these results

it was never even a question. sorry chester

#NEHASWEEP love that for her

another one that was much more hotly debated than i expected. evrart i'm so sorry you lost. if it's any consolation i'd still rock your shit so hard your lazy eye starts seeing straight.

i'll admit i paired these two up just to cause problems on purpose >:3

THIS WAS ONE OF THE FUNNIEST ONES jean is like, designed in a lab to be a tumblr sexyman and yet he lost on round 1. that is so like him.

this one also shocked me don't get me wrong i'm a huge manana fan too but noid is soooo tumblrina i really thought this one would be closer.

[moongothic]

I LOVE your crocodad theory I'm an obsessed believer but did u ever get romantic vibes from crocodile & robin business relationship? Many people get lover vibes from them & I never understood why. They seem VERY strictly business/stab each other in the back relationship. (Plus crocodile is TERRIFYING).

I think Croco/Robin as a ship exists kind of like... out of circumstance? Kind of?

Quick disclaimer, I only got into OP in like 2008~ish at the age of 13, I can not comment what it as like being in the fandom before that because I wasn't there (and when OP began in 1997 I was like two whole years old). So whatever I say here doesn't come from like, a fandom veteran who knows the entire history of the OP fandom or anything. I'm just attempting to rub my braincells together here

Like in the year of our lord 2023 we have many wonderful Crocodile ships to classify as OTPs and NOTPs etc, but if we go back to like 2006 or so, long before the Summit War Saga was even a thing, try to think about what characters you would have shipped Crocodile with? Because for a long time, the only canon material Crocodile had appeared in was just the Alabasta Saga (+one brief cover story), and we don't really see Crocodile interact with that many characters during the story. Like. Really the only character Crocodile has multiple, extended interactions with aside from Luffy and Vivi is Robin. All the other characters he interacts with maybe once or twice for very brief scenes, so based on canon material alone, there isn't much for fuel for shipping purposes.

It really wasn't until Marineford when we finally started getting other characters to ship with Crocodile, mainly the Ever Loyal Daz who seems to be willing to follow Crocodile anywhere (romantic as fuck) and Doflamingo after he and Croc tried to kill each other twice at Marineford (people seem to love a tsundere Croc) And now with Cross Guild we also have Mihawk (and Buggy) as far as shipping options go. And of course there's MORE than just these ships, there's the more crack-leaning ships (like Dragodile and whatever you'd call the Cobra-ship) and some others (Jinbei, Whitebeard, Ivankov, Galdino, Luffy even) etc etc

The only difference is that Croco/Robin got to kind of be like, "the default Crocodile ship" for like 8 years without major competition. And because the ship has "history", even when new ships pop up the one that has been around the longest will still stick out. Not to mention, although we have options now, even those have very little canon material to actually work with when compared to Croco/Robin. Like Dofuwani exists because the two had like three whole pages worth of interactions, but compare that to the screentime Croc had with Robin? It's not even a competition

Not to mention, Croco/Robin is just. Like it's kind of the mandatory het ship. Like there aren't many straight options with canon material to work with, and there's gonna be people who really want to have a het ship with Crocodile if you know what I mean. But also, let's be real. There's a lot of straight women who're horny for Crocodile. Valid as fuck. And Croco/Robin could have like, a self-insert-y quality to it, like some people might be able to see themselves in Robin? Also valid. And that can apply to some straight men too, like I'm sure there's cishet men who look at Crocodile with that "god I wish that were me" energy, who love seeing Crocodile ship fanart with Robin, as they can project onto Crocodile etc. This is also valid. Point is that the ship appeals to cishets by simply being a het ship, but also it might make for an easy ship for a lot of straight people to project onto for one reason or another.

But to be fair, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I think Croco/Robin has the potential to be a really interesting ship. Like they ARE the Baroque Works Boss Pair, literal partners in crime, the most powerful members of the secret criminal organization who run the whole operation, they worked together by themselves for four whole years, Crocodile protecting Robin by allowing her to hide under his wings. They were together, ready to take over an entire country and obtain a weapon of mass destruction And then Robin betrays him. And Crocodile admits he never trusted her to begin with.

Like on paper alone, this is great material for a juicy romance.

Especially now when we understand why Robin was on the run and why she feared being betrayed, and how looking back at Crocodile's reaction when Robin "reads" the Poneglyph for him, he genuinely seems a little sad about her betraying him (mystery trauma etc). This is a genuinely interesting character dynamic, like even without any romantic context I would love to see Crocodile and Robin meet again in the storyline and like, see what Crocodile thinks of Robin having joined the Strawhats vs what Robin thinks about Cross Guild, how the two might interact etc. They are interesting to me

Like personally, I agree, I don't think the two were actually ever romantically involved with each other (frankly I don't think Crocodile trusts anyone anymore enough to let them get close him like that, dude's been voluntarily celibate for like two decades lmao), their relationship was surely just business-only. And while the ship doesn't personally interest me (just kinda "meh" for me), I do understand why the ship appeals to others and why it's popular to this day

But yeah, I do think a lot of the reasons Croco/Robin is as popular as it is due to circumstance. It's been around the longest, it still arguably has the most canon material to work with, it appeals to lots of people. God knows shippers don't actually need the characters to like each other, otherwise people wouldn't be shipping Croc with Buggy as we speak

[semper-legens]

10. Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon

Owned: No, library Page count: 863 My summary: Claire Randall was not expecting much adventure from her honeymoon to Scotland. It's 1946, and the country is still healing from the trauma of the Second World War - Claire and her husband were looking forward to a quiet time away in the country. But when Claire stumbles into a set of standing stones, she finds herself in far over her head. She's fallen back in time, back to 1743, and her husband's great-great-great grandfather has his eyes on her. But Claire has bigger problems. Will she ever get back to her home time? And, given her growing attachment to the young Jacobite she met in the 18th century, will she want to? My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

Well. This is. Not something I expected to find myself reading, I'm not going to lie. I'm gonna straight-up admit that this is due to prejudice on my part - this series is the kind of thing that I associate with middle-aged women, and I don't generally read middle-aged women fiction. But I gave this a shot. It's a romance, which isn't usually my genre, but it's also historical and political and wider than singly the romance story, which is why I wanted to give it a shot. To be clear, there's nothing wrong with romance inherently, I'm just not into it as a genre, so I'm not necessarily gonna enjoy romance if there's nothing else that's in it for me there. Anyway. All of this to say, I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I was going to, and I'm a little salty about it.

(Warning for talk of rape and sexual assault under the cut.)

As you can tell from the page count, this book's huge, so I'm not gonna talk about every aspect - just a few that jumped out at me. So let's talk about our main characters! Claire and Jamie, a 1940s nurse and a 1740s Jacobite. They're so endearing. Claire is full of personality - she's hotheaded, she's stubborn, she's got a lot of contradictions and flaws, and she's intensely competent. Despite coming from nearly 200 years in the future, she's never really patronising or demeaning towards the people she finds in the past, which is nice - particularly as the narrative also treats them as full people with intelligence as well. Jamie, on the other hand...damn, this is my sorta character. A big strong long-haired history boy with a tragic backstory? Like, I know that Jamie's characterisation is largely there to be appealing to the presumed-straight-woman reader (he's buff, respects Claire, has a tragic backstory and constantly needs healing, etc) but it also falls into my camp of My Favourite Little Woobie. Helps that he's also funny, sweet, and sensitive when need be. He's got depths beyond his character outline, and I like that.

In a historical novel, I'm always looking for how the narrative relates to historicity, and this holds up pretty well. I don't know much about the Jacobite uprisings, but the events presented here are at least plausible to me. Similarly, I don't know much about the intricacies of Scottish politics and Lairds, but as presented here it seemed fine. There's a witch hunt about 20 years too late, but Gabaldon straight-up admits that in the author's note at the back, so like, I can look past that if it's an active Choice. One thing that impressed me was that the characters had historically-plausible attitudes, like misogyny or thinking that smacking kids is okay, and that's dealt with as a part of the narrative. Claire doesn't agree, and after Jamie hits her for disobeying him, she gives him an ultimatum - don't hit her again, or she walks. And he swears to never hit her again. We also see him explain his history with the concept and his point of view, and while I don't agree with him, I can totally see where he's coming from, particularly in the historical setting where he lives.

And it's subtly pointed out that people in the past weren't idiots. While Claire is bringing 20th century nursing techniques to the table, most of the 18th century characters are shown to have reasonably sensible attitudes to medicine. Sure, Jamie carries around a dried mole's paw in his sporran to ward against rheumatism, but also the healers Claire encounters are using herbs to heal in the same way she is, and know how to dress and treat wounds. There's a lot of violence, but there's a lot of complex politics underlying that violence. Things are complicated, and I very much appreciated that.

The final thing I want to talk about is how this book relates to sexuality. First of all, I genuinely enjoyed how horny Claire was! As someone who's sex repulsed, the sex scenes in this book weren't gonna appeal to me in the way that the author intended, which is fine. But it was pretty cool to see Claire actively enjoying sex, both with Frank and with Jamie, and having an active sexuality. And also, there's a lot of emotions underpinning the sex and sexuality - Claire doesn't choose Jamie because he's hot, she's emotionally attached to him too, which is nice. Similarly, I liked that Jamie is a lot less sexually experienced than Claire, particularly as Claire is a more modern woman. He's not exactly a blushing virgin, but he's inexperienced, and that's interesting to see from such a masculine male character. After all, pop culture will tell us that manly men fuck constantly and often, so it's nice that Jamie is a manly man who hasn't really fucked before.

The secondary element to this, however, is how the book uses rape and sexual assault. Claire is under threat of rape a lot, and some of it felt gratuitous - it seems that men are threatened with death and women are threatened with rape, which is gendered in a way I didn't like so much? On the other hand, there's Jamie. At the end of the book, Jamie is jailed by Randall, and Randall rapes him. Like with his earlier virginity, Jamie isn't treated by the narrative as though he's emasculated by this, his trauma is related to just being a rape (and torture) survivor. On the other hand, it's uncomfortable how the explicitly gay or mlm men in this story are characterised as being rapists and assaulters, particularly of younger men. It would have been a lot harder to be a gay man in this time period, but that doesn't mean that every gay man sexually assaults younger men. I don't think the rape in this book is by necessity inherently badly portrayed, but I didn't particularly like the overabundance of it here.

Next up - we're back to the Andes, for yet another trip into the world of survival cannibalism.

[lexsnotdead]

I absolutely loved BG1 and 2, Neverwinter Nights Hordes of the Underdark and Neverwinter Nights 2 too are among my most favourite RPGs. But Larians writing, particularly in D:OS2 turned me off so much :( How different is BG3?

big wall of text under the cut and before anything else i want to say that criticizing a game does not equal not liking it

i thought a lot about my response to this ask, since i must admit i have never played bg&bg2 and jumped straight into the hype train of bg3. and i'm genuinely curious what exactly about dos2 turned you off that much. here's what i personally think:

i played d:os1 and d:os2 and while i'm a big fan of the latter… dos1 couldn't keep me entertained even when playing with a friend in coop, which shows just how exhaustively boring and unmemorable it was. i really love dos2 and despite what i will say next, nothing is gonna change my love for this game. but. imma be honest, it was 3 and a half characters that kept me playing. i love sebille and lohse, i love malady — the mystery around her has its own appeal, but it's still a huge miss not to expand on such intriguing character as herself. i slightly care about ifan and fane, i couldn't give a lesser fuck about beast, i fucking hate the red prince and his writing is one of most unlikable from any rpg game i ever played (i can elaborate. but that's a post for another time). in short: lack of memorable characters, and those who are there have to make up in quality rather than quantity.

and larian is still... larian. their ambition makes them bite more than they can chew, you don't need to be nitpicking on purpose to notice just now empty act 3 of d:os2 was compared to fort joy or driftwood. in similar-ish way act 3 of bg3 feels less polished in terms of performance and content. like they even had to add an alternative ending to karlach's quest only after the game's release lol. there are quite a lot of bugs and players who are doing an "evil" playthrough like me found themselves deprived of content — sometimes you're just locking yourself out of quests, encounters, characters entirely because of decisions you made, quite literally making the game harder for yourself.

another important thing that i'd point out that dos2 felt kinda lacking in terms of the character creation because ocs always felt less immersive and shallow compared to the playable origins (i had the time of my life playing as lohse, tho). i know people who managed to have fun filling the blank spaces with their imagination, but i'm not one of those people, unfortunately. when i tried creating a drow character in bg3, however, every third npcs made sure to glare at me distrustfully and be fantasy racist towards the drow. like really? thanks for noticing! this might sound weird, but i liked that. it enhanced my feeling of immersion thus making it more satisfying to play. like yeees... yes... i indeed am a drow!

i'd rather stop focusing on its shortcomings because it feels unfair to larian when they are listening to the playerbase and trying their best to deliver patches as quick as possible. after all, what makes a good dnd adventure for me is always the story and characters — banal it may be, as long as it is fun, it is a good dnd game. and bg3 is very fun and addictive. there's this unique feeling when you're planning your next playthrough and considering what you would've done differently when still doing your first. i like it more compared to dos2, because... i'm not sure why myself? interpersonal interactions just feel a bit deeper, and i actually care about almost every companion, even the ones i did not expect to care about (like gale, astarion, shadowheart). and variety of the character creation, of course. and i can bet on bg3 being next the goty haha

to sum this all up:

if you like dos:2, you will like this game

if you like dnd e5, you will also like this game

if you like bg1 and bg2 then i genuinely don't know i'm sorry

[refriedrambles]

Coming back up here cause I wasn't planning on hard gushing about Manhwa when I started writing but I went off. I was planning on just going over some of the plans for the day. You have been forewarned

I'm finding some really good manhwa. like holy shit dude. Maybe I need to look for that side of tumblr

Notable ones: World's Greatest Senior Disciple (great art, story and characters), Infinite Mage (not even through the first chapter but so far great art and introduction execution)

The art in the first one reminds me so much of avatar dude. The fl has Azula's fucking face, but is so expressive, passionate and funny. MC and fl are both really smart, dumb and stupidly stubborn. It's a very tightly laced story. Each thread pulled reveals things that are or will be relevant later. It's a fucking mystery. I didn't realize I was jumping into a mystery last night and I was fucking hooked by the time it clicked. (I do like mysteries I just don't tend to seek them out)

Starts out with this martial clan getting their shit wrecked by loan sharks. MC shows up after being assumed killed in action during the war two years ago right as the sharks are trying to cut the youngest's arm off and destroys them. Something happened in those two years and he got ridiculously strong because of it, but he's pretty tight lipped about it and is far more focus on whatever is going on in the region. The war is over, the demon dead, and yet the land seems lawless upon his return and one of his brothers are missing

MC (or very very likely MC) in the second is incredibly one track minded and very obviously a reincarnator, but isn't introduced in that first person 'oh I died some how and woke up in a baby's body in an other world' bit that starts off most of these stories. (I don't necessarily dislike the bit, but only a few stories handle it well. Mushoku Tensei is probably the best with this. Most of them feel rather clunky, but I'm isekai trash so meh) And that bit very likely happened to our likely MC, but that's not how the story is introduced. Hell MC ain't our intro character. It's his hunter dad. Hears a baby crying in the dead of night, is suspicious cause a baby/ family getting past all the traps he set up on his land isn't possible and grabs an axe to check it out. He makes a comment about him and his wife not being able to have kids and then he immediately finds this baby. No explaination how it got there, why it's alone and he's practically glowing

Think these two might be up there with Trash of the Count's Family for me. They're probably better written, but I'm a simp for Cale and it's still some amazing writing. (It's gotta be for me to binge 610 chapters of a webnovel for a few days straight after reading the first few manhwa chapters.)

Aaannnyway gonna get back to drawing today. I was in a pretty nasty funk yesterday(went away after did some dishes and found a comic to read. It was difficult to find something that piqued my interest since most of what I was finding was stuff I've already read or just didn't appeal to me). I'm doing much better now!

I started little flash cards for the characters in Being Fired yesterday and am thinking maybe I should change how I'm approaching writing it? Switch to a script cause I'm overwhelming tempted to just make this project a comic. (I basically decided to do that when I committed to the group shot and started doing all those warm up, but was afraid to admit that to myself.) I've tried writing scripts before but didn't know what I was doing, but maybe actively drawing shit relating towards it and distancing myself more from describing actions will help? Idk idk, but Imma try. It's the only fic I've gotten fully out lined so far and I think I got a better chance at drawing it rather then writing it

Gonna draw Red more for the warm up probably. Might fuck with the sketches from the last warm up cause his head is just so off and I don't want those in the ref file like that

Then back to the groupshot finish that up and maybe start sketching Zim and the Tallest? Might switch to forcing myself to work on backgrounds for a while instead. Also might need to start blocking out time for stuff since I'm not really hitting shit on my list. Either way I wanna work on writing and drawing on the same days some times instead of focusing fully on one or the other

Gotta keep thing going. There doesn't need to be alot of energy going into things at once as long as it's consistent

[incarnateirony]

Gotta admit, I'm a bit anti Jarpad. Just because he comes off as entitled. BUT given how he and his wife have their hands in the fans pockets EVERY SINGLE DAY, I'd have thought he was far more minted going forward than Jensen. Neither have anything to worry about.

Corollary of that is Jarpad seems to know how to spend, his wife dresses in 10 grand of clothes daily and he wears 200k of watch on his wrist. Investment watches are usually kept pristine, not worn daily. His wife wears a 1.5m engagement ring. They frequently put pictures of the house on her blog and it's stuffed full of expensive crap. I'd feel claustrophobic living there, seriously.

Please correct my points, cos I'm really interested!

1. Lol-jackles (who is a bit of an arsehole IMHO) said JP would be getting the same for Walker as for SPN and extra (cut of profits as exec), so that's around $200,000 dollars per episode. The ensemble cast of Walker looks really expensive so that surprised me. Do you think that's true?

2. He shoves his overpriced vitamins #Mantrafamily down his fans throat and they are EXPENSIVE. He's an investor, though he's changed his story on his position several times. How much do you get from them?

3. He apparently owns a lot of property, including student housing in Austin.

4. He is owner or part owner of San Jac and Stereophonic in Austin.

5. His wife shills products daily on her blog

FYI, I HATE the "family" tag. The family is the fans not the stars. My test, I know my family's phone number and they wouldn't get an injunction if I went to anyone of their houses. Apply that test to J2?

Fans are PRODUCT to actors and definitely to Jarpad "I care so much I want you to feel better so buy my yellow vitamin wee"

I mean I never said Jared would end up homeless in a box. You can be blackballed and have money in the bank, these two statements have nothing to do with each other.

I haven't checked the Walker payrole. That statement could be true, but I'd say to take it with a grain of salt until you see a receipt about his paygrade. For example, on SPN last I knew he was making about 125K per episode (Jensen was 175K, Misha was just over 100K).

Jensen's value was higher due to a mix of... well, quality, quality of his representation, and the fact he had a few other skills in his pocket on access like directing.

Jared being a producer on Walker likely is worth a paygrade boost, and he headlines the show, truly. It's a matter of how his agent negotiated his worth.

On the other hand, it would be INCREDIBLY stupid for CBS/CW to accept a pitch that high on Jared on a show that hadn't been tested for its success. If Walker was still running its 0.3X in appropriate follow-up to SPN on the same TV season, sure. I guess. But with its fairly stable 0.15 for the last bazillion episodes that is rounding it up or down to 0.1 or 0.2 depending on its thousandths, that is baaaad. The first season should have been more conservative on its paygrades, but CW isn't known for the wisest business decisions and may have highly overestimated its potential appeal, in which case--LOL.

There is some wiggle room on potential budget because at a base, Walker is not a very expensive show to shoot, as it can just drop a camera in real world locations and roll from there. Very little CGI and the like. Again, I'd have to review what the show budget is to see what's going on.

Now to clear up some other things:

Jared does not actually own Stereotype. His friend owns Stereotype. He supported them early on with a small investment but his respective share is not enough to be a decision maker or an "owner" any more than anybody else that owns some stock in a company does. San Jac he is one of the owners of. One of. He holds far larger investment in it with several friends, so he is one of a few co-owners.

Things Jared owns:

Several empty lots

His fancy ass house everybody knows about worth about 5 million (Gen's been given power of attorney)

The "student housing" is:

a 4 bed, 2.5 bath home also for families, that can be arranged like a multifamily unit if needed. If you saw it from the street, you'd go "awww, that's a cute house." (some dude nobody knows has power of attorney--he owns a building company, not gonna be more specific)

a 3 bed, 2 bath home (power of attorney guy has this too)

A funky little duplex with 4 bedrooms per unit, best I can tell. (power of attorney guy has this too)

A singlefamily 3 bed home (different power of attorney guy)

One random suite in a business building with like 200 suites granted to him by a family member

The three with matching "power of attorney" is basically the three rentable ones so Jared himself doesn't have to be your landlord. In total there's 15 bedrooms between three properties (one truly multifamily, one arrangeable-as). These properties aren't located anywhere near each other. There's another 3 bedroom home in there that may be rentable. And some office space that got passed to him and basic cross searching in the past brought up a billion bankruptcy filings so I'm pretty sure it was "quick, Jared, take this".

jared doesn't own some giant mega campus complex. Jared owns a few homes that in theory could be rented out to students. This isn't unusual nor is this something the Ackles don't have too. Jared is the equivalent of that dude you find that owns a couple of houses and rents them out, but he goes through a property management agency by proxy of a building company that does the renovations that puts it in there for him, on 3/4 homes. He's not a landlord titan. He's a guy with a fraction of side income by the time it gets to him on a few properties.

So let's get that set straight before anybody makes it sound like Jared floats the student housing business in some lucrative scooby doo real estate scheme.

AND THEN THERE'S MANTRA:

Yes, Jared is a co-founder of Mantra. Which is honestly... god, don't get me started on why Jared Padalecki should not be simultaneously broadcasting for mental health and then packing nootropics down people's throats. (x for general nootropics) (x for phenibut in particular, which might explain his outburst on SM)

(That's just the one that jumps out as most problematic but the cocktails involved could really just not go over well with the wrong person, some of these things are like mixing OTC ritalin and SSRIs)

At the end of the day, regardless of the ethicality of mantra, I mean, sure, it's a business decision. It makes money. At the end of the day, though, this is not a career move.

Again, nobody ever said Jared's gonna end up living homeless in a box eating beans out of a can. The discussion is whether or not he has arranged himself a viable career forward in media.

Renting out a couple homes by proxy isn't gonna land him roles.

Selling miracle water that turns people into paranoid messes (but with great memory!!) isn't gonna land him roles.

Owning a bar isn't going to land him roles.

None of this actually adds any content to the discussion of Jared Padalecki's professional media career, which his stans keep trying to enter to the conversation to offset discussion of Ackles' business acumen in the acting field.

These are nonstarters in the conversation, at the end of the day. I just wanted to set straight some general details about them.

Jared has a future with an INCOME, but that doesn't mean he's arranged a future in MEDIA. And leave it from Jarpad stans to try to fuck up that conversation.

News flash: Rich White Man Bought Stuff To Make Money. More at 11.

The inability to see how this isn't the same as like. Owning a production company. And owning a record label. And owning a publisher (mostly for vinyls but other potential). And having establishment across multiple distributors and production hubs (WB, Amazon) as a path forward in media is B A F F L I N G.

[doubleshotofsomething]

To Hell & Back

Part Two: “Lucky for me, your kind of heaven’s been to hell & back”

Summary: You still hate Bucky. But you need him to keep you from going to jail... So, what’s the harm in inviting him over to dinner?

Prompt: “I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.”

Warnings: Angst?? (i think). Probably typos( which will be fixed). Implied violence. 

Pairings: Bucky Barnes x Reader

--

Part one [In case you missed it]

----

It's Saturday.

Your day off. Well, what used to be your day off until it was turned into a family therapy session.

Well... Not an actual therapy session. It is literally just dinner with your family, including your sister's husband - a man you refuse to identify as your brother in law for reasons that will end in you being called the j-word. The husband, because he's the only son-in-law your parents have, has been dubbed the "referee" of the Saturday Sessions.

Each session, since you've been discharged, has made committing murder seem more and more appealing.

So appealing, that you're standing in front of your neighbour's door with a basket of muffins and a please-keep-me-from-committing-felonies smile.

Bucky, because he just spent the afternoon searching for a new bar, is standing on the other side of the door. Both confused and frightened to see you at his door voluntarily.

"Is there a bomb in that basket?" He asks, eyes roaming over you suspiciously. "Believe me, it's not gonna work."

You blink at him, then at the basket. Then back at him. "Why would I put a bomb in a muffin basket and then hold it?"

He raises a sceptical eyebrow at you.

You huff. "Fine, they're poisoned. I accidentally added laxatives while making them-"

"Accidentally?"

"Yes, accidentally-" you glare at him. "-they're not for you. They're from us."

He blinks at you, confused. You haven't spoken to him, actually spoken to him, for a few months. You avoid him like he has a disease and when your paths do cross, you just glare at him like he threw your cat into on coming traffic.

It's been a few days since the coffee machine incident. He has a brand new one - better than the last one - sitting on his kitchen counter, waiting for him to develop the courage to give it to you. It should be easy. He has mastered the art of making amends.

But... He can't, for some reason, bring it to you.

"Wait-" he frowns, your words finally registering in his head, "-did you just say from us?"

You set the basket down. "So, remember when you broke my one shot at happiness?"

"Oh god." He forgot how dramatic you are, as well.

"Yeah, you can fix that little error by being a doll and-" you pause, then frown, struggling to find the right words.

"Muffin poisoned your tongue?"

"I'm trying to ask you to be my plus one for tonight's dinner-" you grit your teeth, your blood beginning to boil. "-at my parents house."

You didn't look him in the eye when you said that. And by the sounds of it, he doubts this is something he should be going to. Or something you should be going to. Not if it brings out this side of you.

"Who are the muffins for?"

They were for your sister. You broke her nose last week, which was never your intention, and the guilt has been eating you up alive since. The punch was meant for her asshole husband.

"You coming or not?"

"Let me grab a wine and the keys."

"We have muffins. No need to waste your good wine on mediocre tastes."

"I'm bringing the wine."

"If you make us stop to pick out flowers, I will watch porn with the volume on full blast every night for a week."

"Why are you always so violent?"

--

"So, how bad is it?" Bucky asks.

You've been in the car for a half an hour, because you chose the busiest route and the most congested during rush hour, and that's the first thing either of you have uttered since you politely dragged him out of his apartment.

You shrug. "Three roads lead to this one, so we'll be here another half hour."

"I mean the situation-" he drums his fingers against the wheel. "-you literally chose to be in a car with me, for the longest time possible. Either you want to get there late or you don't want to get there at all."

"Maybe I just like spending time with you."

Bucky scoffs, but doesn't question you further.

The car is silent, aside from the traffic outside, and you could almost relax. For just a moment, you could close your eyes and imagine you're somewhere else.

But you can't. Because you're not. You're on your way to a dinner that shouldn't be happening and is only happening because you're part of your neighbour's redemption list.

Because he just had to have a conscious.

"I punched my sister last week," you mumble.

Bucky wants to laugh. He wants to laugh so badly. He has met your sister, a handful of times - at the hospital, outside your room and outside your apartment door.

Every time she'd come over, she would knock hard enough to make him think she's part of SWAT team. And each time, he would could hear you scramble to switch off all devices that could alert her of your presence inside.

One time, you'd both arrived a few minutes after each other. His door was closer and already open, so you shoved your grocery in his hand and dived into his apartment to hide from your sister. He had to pretend he hasn't seen you since you left for work , and that the packet of sanitary pads that fell out were for his girlfriend.

He didn't have one.

He wants to laugh, because he doesn't like her at all. But he doesn't, because she's your sister. "What did she do?"

"She married an asshole-" you scoff. "-and decided to get in the way and I tried to punch said asshole."

At this, he grins. "And you need me there because?"

"I need you to keep me from trying to kill him," you begrudgingly admit. "I'm too high maintenance for prison."

"How bad is this guy that you need me to help you not kill him?"

"Bad enough that I'm gonna need you to park a few blocks away from the house," you turn to look at him, his confused eyes meeting yours for a quick second. "I told them we're taking the bus."

"Wow."

"Which means we only get to spend less than two hours there, if you drive a little slow-" you pause when he drives passed a McDonald's. "-hey, can we stop and get milkshake?"

He deadpans. "We have dinner plans with your parents."

"I get that you and them might have gotten along since you decided to be a hero," you glare at him. "But they're not as cool as the hospital visits made them seem."

Your parents have invited him over to dinner a handful of times, and each time he had to decline. You and him weren't on the best of terms, and he didn't want to make things worse by showing up for dinner without your knowledge.

He knows, first hand, that a few interactions aren't enough to give the full depth of a person. But he saw how devastated they were, how heartbroken they were, at the sight of tubes and needles sticking out of you.

He doesn't believe, he can't believe, for a second that they're as bad as you say they are.

But he won't argue with you. Not about this. "We'll get milkshake after."

"Hey, remember that coffee machine you br-"

"Oh, fuck you!"

***

You're not a fan of wine. At least, not the wine Bucky brought to the dinner.

An hour into the dinner and you've already had enough glasses to have Bucky worried. The wine is halfway to empty by the time dessert rolls in, and when your sister's husband clears his throat, you abandon the glass and drink straight from the bottle.

The second hour into the dinner is where things got interested. Interesting enough for Bucky to take the bottle from you before you could throw it at someone's head. Mainly because he wanted to throw it at someone's head. Your sister's husband's head to be specific.

Just as your mother gets up to start making tea for the muffins you brought, Bucky is the first on his feet and the first to use the 'we have to get going before we miss the bus' excuse.

You grin at him, vision slightly hazy from the wine you drank on an empty stomach.

"Mhmm," you hum as you cling into him to get to your feet, "the bus. We gotta- the bus. Bah-yeee."

"I'll make sure she gets home safe," he promises to your parents and they believe him.

Hell, you believe him. If there's one thing you can trust your neighbour to do, it's to save your life. But not your coffee machine.

He guides back to the car, which is parked exactly where you told him to, and he's never been happier to have listened to you. You sing all the way back, some ridiculous song about when you're fat and old, and you're the most content he's ever seen you.

Drunk off wine, eyes glassy and smile wide, as you try to mimic his steps. You sigh when you get into your seat, even though you fight him on opening your own door, and fumble lazily with your seat belt until he helps you clip it in.

Your struggle to find a comfortable position, but forget all about that when he parks the car outside your favourite coffee shop. You're out before he can even unclip his seatbelt and you're inside before he makes it to the door.

"Hi," you whisper-yell as you lean against the counter. "Pssst. Hi. Hello."

The barista blinks at you. Bucky cuts in before he can get a word out. "We'll take coffee. Filter. And anything that's bread-"

"-don't listen to him, he breaks hearts for a living. Sometimes he rips them out." I jab your pointer finger against the countertop. "I will take the strongest coffee you've got. I'm in the mood for bad decisions and-"

"We'll be at the booth, in the back." Bucky gently pries you from the counter. "One coffee and two bottles of water-"

You try to smack his hands away. "Why must you be so- Barnes, I swear to god, I will take your parking space."

He shoves you into the booth, then takes a seat opposite you. You attempt to make a break for the counter, but the glare he fixes you with is enough to keep you in your place.

It should scare you. The look he gives you. You know what he is capable of, without mad scientists to control him, you know the damage he's done. It takes a special kind of strength to face people like the flag smashers, and a special kind of crazy to go after them.

Bucky is both. And yet, his glare doesn't scare you. So much so, that you return it.

"I hate your brother-in-law-"

"Sister's husband," you cut in to correct him. "I refuse to recognise him as my anything."

He nods. "Right. So, let me get this straight-"

Bucky pauses as the barista sets down the coffee, the water, two croissants, some breadsticks and a garlic roll. When he's satisfied that there's nothing else, he leaves you alone with Bucky and the breads.

"You got work tomorrow-" he puts sugar into your coffee and stirs, before handing it to you. "-so you're gonna need to eat as much, so that it absorbs all that wine."

You glare at him but still do as he says. He's right and you'd rather sulk than admit it.

"So," he clears his throat to get your attention. "Your sister is an asshole, that married an asshole. And your parents are enablers of all that bullshit?"

You nod, practically shoving the garlic bread into your mouth. You didn't touch the food your mother cooked and, other than that milkshake Bucky bought you, you haven't had anything to eat all day.

"Instead of just sending you to therapy-" he scrunches his face in disgust at the thought. "-I can't fucking believe I'm advocating for that, but instead of paying for therapy. They do that? Host a dinner, sit a circle and kumbaya the problems away?"

Taking a sip from your coffee, you continue to nod. "Is it helping?"

He frowns, meeting your eyes. "What?"

"The mandated sessions-"you swallow. "-I heard you and Wings talking about it."

Thin walls. Shared balconies. Despite not being in each other's life, both of you know more than enough because of your apartments.

Your balcony and his are separated by a small barrier, but you can still hear his conversations - and visa versa- if you leave your glass door open enough when he's out there.

The wall that separates your apartment is thin enough for him to pick up on your habits. You don't think you're a creature of habit, but he would disagree.

He can tell, just from your foot steps, what you're going to watch or do in the living room. From the little sounds you make, he can tell which series you're binge watching for the umpteenth time and which one is on just for background noise.

If you weren't a creature of habit, he wouldn't have found you in time. You wouldn't be sitting in front of him, asking about his wellbeing, instead of dealing with yours.

"Wings is Captain now," he corrects, and you accept the deflection.

You would never overstep, or push. Not with him. Never with him.

"If Captain, why Wings?"

Narrowing his eyes, he pushes the bread sticks closer to you. "Fine, Captain Wings."

Again, you obey the silent instruction.

"Where were we-"

"We were plotting an asshole's abduction," you tell him, "and then dropping him off at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean. If that's not available, then maybe near Dyer Island."

He raises an eyebrow at you. “Why would we drop your sister’s husband on an Island?”

"It's a place, with a shitload of great white sharks."

"And you know this because?"

"I like to always be prepared."

"For what?" His brows furrow. "Do you just know random places to dump people that–"

You cut in. "–will lead to an inevitable death by natural causes? Yes."

He stares at you. Actually stares. Openly, at you. He can't remember the last time he did that, looked at you, for no other reason than to just look.

You didn't always hate him. When he first moved into your apartment building, and the landlord introduced you too, you were indifferent. He didn't think you knew who he was, most people don't at first glance, so he was relieved. Indifference was definitely better than everything else.

That was until you walked passed him and Sam in the lobby of the building, a week after he moved in.

"Sarge–" you nodded at him, as you checked your mail. Then nodded at Sam as you made your way out of the building. "–Wings."

You knew, you always knew who he was, and just didn't care. That was refreshing, to say the least.

The hate only came that night, or the following morning, he wasn't sure. All Bucky knows is, he meddled, and now you hate him for it. For saving you.

He's tried to talk to you about it. Countless of times, he's tried, and each time you hate him a little bit more. Or so it seems.

He wants to talk about it now. It's obvious in the way he's looking at you, like he can't believe you're here, in front of him. You can't either, but you won't ever admit that to him.

Hell would sooner freeze over before you actually admitted that maybe, just maybe, he should have meddled sooner.

You won't. So, instead, you put down the bread stick and sit back. "I know a really cool coffee place... If you still need a new place to hang."

It's an olive branch. You don't ever say what you really mean, he knows that, and he smiles at that little fact. That he knows that, he knows you.

"Is the barista as dramatic as I hear?"

"Only to strangers that break down her doors," you shrug. "Oh, and guys who break her coffee machine–"

"You're never gonna let that go, are you?"

You grin. Because you're just as petty as he is.

---

Tags: @sunflowerxbarnes , @ginger-swag-rapunzel​ , @arctic-duchess​

[athena-is-a-chaotic-lil-shit]

Of Ice and Blood

Part 3

Hey there! Thank you for taking the time to read this

There are so many left out details here that I did on purpose for future explanation within the fic for the element of mystery I'm trying to brew . Hope you don't mind! Enjoy reading❤

Part 1

Part 2

Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

1.7k words.

Pairing: Tai'chi Kashharzol (Orc) x Pearl Blackbell (Human OC/Reader)

Warnings: cursing, violence, injury and fighting.

*

Without thinking, I drove my fist towards the voice, regretting it the instant I recognized who it was.

Tai'chi.

I shouldn’t have been surprised when I found my fist encased in his hand. He seems unfazed by my reaction, seemingly expecting it.

“Oh shi— I’m so sorry!”

How the hell did he sneak up on me without making a sound??

“Feisty- I mean, I should be the one sorry, for startling you...And for following you. I just wanted to, make sure you were alright.”

I blinked. He was concerned?

He spoke up when I didn’t respond.

“So, are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah. I’m fine. Just, disappointed.” I breathed in and sighed as he gently let go of my fist.

Oh, and his scent helps right now. He smells so...wonderful I don’t know why. It’s not like I’ve been surrounded by disgusting odors my entire life. I swear I’ve inhaled appealing scents like lilac, sandalwood, cinnamon, even rain has its particular smell! But Tai'chi, he—he’s something else entirely.

“Shouldn’t you be somewhere else like, I don’t know, maybe getting lunch with some of your friends or in a classroom?” I asked. I wonder why he would even bother to be in my presence. Anyone should be creeped out by the way I spoke up earlier. I mean, who does that? Plus, I did throw a stranger down to the floor. But part of me knows he deserved that.

Definitely.

“Want to talk about it?” He ignored my question. Tai'chi was now sitting cross-legged beside me, the oak’s root in between us. His deep azure eyes studying, watching me carefully.

“What?”

“What you did back there, wasn’t something a plain, timid college girl would do.”

Wait. He knew I was pretending to be one?

“Yes, I knew.”

“You can read minds?!” I stammered out. He can read my mind this whole time?! Shit.

He held up for a second before a boisterous laugh broke out of him and echoed through the circling trees, scaring away some birds perched above. I don’t know if I should be offended or flustered by his guffaw. It was so, so deep and rich and —

What the hell Pearl? What if he's reading your mind??

Tai'chi faced me again, sighing once he calmed down.

“To answer your question, no, I can’t read minds. But like I stated before, your face gives it away. Or your brows since you’re wearing a mask, but I can imagine your expression.”

I let out an incomprehensible noise.

“How did you find out I was pretending to be…you know,” waving my hands around.

“The moment we made eye contact this morning when you entered. And the way you shifted your body at the last second to prevent yourself from plunging into the trash bin, I knew you were something more. Your eyes and your actions show your experience in combat. A skilled warrior would notice these little things right away.”

My jaw fell open, and I’m sure he knows. He left me speechless.

Should I tell him I am a trained martial artist and a weapon wielder?

But we just met like 5 hours ago!

He seems trustworthy. And he’s an orc, didn’t they have a code of honor or something?

My thoughts ran wild I swear Tai'chi could hear my mind, screaming.

“Hey, it’s okay if you don’t wish to. And I must’ve sounded, creepy when I admitted I’ve been observing you. But before anything else, will you allow me to introduce myself, for real this time?”

“You mean your name isn’t Tai'chi?”

Letting out a chuckle, he replied, “I swear to you, my name is Tai'chi. What I mean is, I want you to know my full name. Do you understand what this implies, Pearl?”

I racked my brain for a moment, trying to recall what my parents said about orc traditions when my uncle, papa’s brother, married the orcess he fell in love with. Something about an orc’s real name being reserved only to those they’re close to?

“I guess so? But what exactly?”

“I want to become your friend.”

I couldn’t help the slight warmth creeping into my cheeks behind my mask. He can’t see it, can he? A friend, he says. A friend!

“Oh,” was all that came out. A pause and;

“Uh, I mean, I’d love to be your friend! I never had an actual friend before. I mean, have cousins, but we aren’t acquainted enough to consider myself their friend— I mean— uh, what should I do?” I blurted out a little rapidly.

He smiled. He actually smiled! Oh, damn, it was adorable!

Tai'chi was about to say something, but he snapped his mouth shut and grimaced. I was confused by his sudden change of mood, along with his scent.

Then it struck me.

The two of us shot up when multiple smells filled the air, making my stomach clench.

We were followed, not just one but six individuals. One of them was the pretentious human from earlier.

My day can’t get any better. And is that a baseball bat? Great. Fucking great.

I swear. I’m cursed to find trouble anywhere I go.

“Hello, freaks.” The guy in the middle began. “Whatcha doin’ out here in the forest?”

The others began spreading out and surrounded us.

“Planning something nasty I bet.” A human to my right spat.

“You will pay for what you did to me, you bitch. Just so you know, my father is the dean of this university. No one will ever hear a word of what I did here and what we will do to you.

'Dean’s son, David Silverstone, assaulted by an insane student in the woods within campus grounds. His friends graciously helping him fight off the lunatic until she passed out and was carried to an isolation chamber for monitoring, later finding out about her severe psychological disorder.’ Now wouldn’t that be a hit in the papers!” The bastard and his companions cackled and snickered, some of them stealing glances between my legs and I felt my skin crawl.

Tai'chi growled lowly, silencing them for a brief moment. He was getting mad but held his ground.

“And you,” the human pointed, “you beast. It won’t be hard antagonizing you, people will no doubt believe you were the one who violated the schoolgirl and left her in the woods to die.”

This fucking—

I felt a hand on my shoulder just as I was about to start, gently gripping, in hopes of trying to calm me down. He knows they were baiting us on making the first move. He shook his head, and an idea popped up.

Taking a deep breath, I attempted to make my voice as girly as possible, sounding so hilarious, like those overdressed, flashy high school girls with flowery perfume so strong I wrenched every time I get a whiff of it.

Provoking them would do.

“Oh, I’m so scared! Should I get on my knees and beg for mercy? Oh please, great and noble one, have mercy on my poor soul.” My voice laced with mockery and sadness, with my legs fake trembling and my arms flailing.

And did Tai'chi just snort?

“If you beg nicely, I will perhaps give you a chance to— ”

My sudden wheezing interrupted him and I laughed. Hard. I can’t believe he bought my terrible acting! I expected him to straight-up be offended rather than actually bite the false bait. He is dumber than I thought.

I was holding my middle by the time I was done. Tai'chi’s shoulders were moving slightly, probably chuckling and trying to hold back his amusement.

“Did you honestly take it seriously??? I can't— oh my God!” I choked out once more before I went on.

“There’s no chance in hell I’m gonna bow to you, not even one degree of an angle, you foolish, idiotic, spoiled, bastardized son of a bitch.”

His face was turning red out of rage and oh! Wasn’t that a sight to behold?

“You brat!” Turning his head to the others, he yelled, “What are guys standing there for?! Get them!”

Good.

Perhaps they didn’t catch my hands slipping on my beloved crimson knuckle dusters out of the bag when I was laughing then, tugging down my hoodie’s sleeve to hide it.

“Don’t move.” I told the orc, whose eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“But—”

“Just don’t.” I said with my voice firm. I will take them on my own. I can’t have him getting in trouble and people blaming him for being an orc. Imagine that. The ones who attacked him will be viewed as victims because they were up against him, an orc. Numerous humans will jump at the chance to throw dirt at their race, a single act of self-defense treated as a one-sided assault to humans, the thought of it being enough to somehow remove all of them from the city, but everyone knows it's not that simple. Dimwits.

I strode forward without earning his response, waiting for the first person to come at me.

I took my stance, although it was more of preparing half of my body since I was still hiding both of my hands.

They all seemed confused and hesitant, which was what I was going for. To me, and those with experience in hand-to-hand combat, this is one of the most basic stances, but fundamental, nonetheless. A simple form that can determine the outcome of a fight. With my right foot forward, left foot back, both firmly planted to the ground, and my dominant hand wearing my dusters. In their eyes, it was…wrong, foreign. Some may even say it’s an open vulnerability, showing how inexperienced the opponent is, but oh, it is the exact opposite.

I didn’t see Tai'chi’s expression, though. I was on alert and getting into my zone to peer at him, one motion that can put me in a compromising position. Did he notice my brass knuckles? Likely.

“Scared to hurt a little girl like me?” I enticed.

Finally, the one beside their alleged leader charged at me.

A typical amateur approach.

The guy, about two inches taller than me, threw a right punch, which was a huge mistake.

Predictable.

I smirked under my mask and dodged it not a second before it connected. Making him falter as I grabbed his arm and brought it down to my knee, dislodging his joints.

A high-pitched scream of pain broke out of him as he dropped down on the forest ground, gripping his bent-off arm, cursing, but refused to rise and fight me again.

I gave him one last glance before I looked back at the others.

“Who’s next?”

****************************************

Those human shits just can't leave them alone! Interrupting their supposed-to-be official introduction! There's more to the orc that meets the eye *wink* Who is he exactly? Why was he so... observant?

Part 4 is actually on its third revising— and I'm still trying to come up on HOW to phrase my next words to lead to part 5. I let me brain take a break from spewing senseless words for now so I'll probably post the next part of this later or tomorrow

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! And I'd appreciate it if you have some advice for me, or just point out some mistakes I made! Thank you

Ps. This is really not perfect formal writing if you're wondering. I just type away whatever comes into my mind, and then proofread it to the best I can. And I hope you don't mind me using a lot of spaces. It... sort of makes my mind clear and continue moving forward, and it helps me when I'm reading it again, mentally taking note that with every line between spaces there's a slight pause and again, read it clearly like you were the one thinking it. I don't know how to explain how my own brain works but I guess that's that?

Tags: @kokokatsworld @crackinanutshell

[husbandograveyard]

Hello lovely! Congrats on 300 well deserved followers, I'm happy to be one of them! You know me by now, I'm gonna ask for Ace haha with 34 maybe? big hugs

Thank you love! Our favorite pouty boi in literally my favorite trope when I wrote fanfiction over 7 years ago. Enjoy some bottle-ordered kisses from the cutest flaming freckles of the seas!  ( ´ ▽ ` ).｡ｏ♡

Glad you’re not that drunk - Ace x Reader 

Cliche with bae event - Prompt #34: Spin the bottle 

Character: Portgas D. Ace - Word count: 1.5k

Mentions of drunkness and alcohol. No other warnings. 

Party nights on the Moby Dick weren’t that frequent. Mostly because it was a big crew, and a lot of alcohol needed to be stocked for such a night, and with copious amounts of alcohol, came copious amounts of bad decisions and stupid adventures and actions that were better left in the dark, but there’s always that one person who is not drunk enough, will not forget what happens and will rub everyone’s embarrassing moments right into everyone’s hungover faces the next day.

You were one of those people. You drank along, for fun, but saw no appeal in actually getting completely wasted. It only gave you headaches, and as one of the few ladies on the ship, you just wanted to be a little careful. After all most of the crew could be complete idiots especially when they drunk one too many, and you didn’t want to get into any shenanigans you’d regret the next morning. Pleasantly buzzed was the farthest you would go.

And that was what you were at right now. It was already getting pretty late, and some of the men had started some drinking games, to add fuel to the fire you guessed, asking you to be the judge so you could at least join in on the fun. You had to admit, you were being a terrible judge. Not that anyone had actually asked you for game-deciding decisions, it was more a symbolic role so you wouldn’t have to be sitting to the side, but well, you were mostly focussed on one of your crewmates instead of the games.

The crewmate in question was laughing, and the sight in itself made your stomach flip. Portgas D. Ace, the most popular subject of your dreams and daydreams, but you figured he was many a lady’s dream. You were not sure how one person could be so beautiful, so strong, so funny and so humble. If only you could tell him that, cause every time you interacted you were reduced to the most embarrassing version of yourself, saying the most stupid things, and giggling as if you were a twelve-year-old schoolgirl and not a full-grown woman. It frustrated you to no end, and you had tried so many times to look tough and confident, but the moment he smiled in your direction, you’d melt and become a stuttering, blushing mess. Not a good look for a pirate.

You were drinking a little more, just to try and fit in, just to keep your mind from wandering towards the freckled pirate, but to little avail. You wished it was late enough to excuse yourself, but if you retreated to your hammock now, there surely would be some questions and you had no intention of dealing with that either.

“So y/n, are you in?” You blinked a couple of times. Lost in thoughts way too deep, you had no longer been paying attention to their game, nor their conversation. Assuming they wanted you to play judge on yet another silly drinking game, you mindlessly nodded but got suspicious when the whole circle started cheering, and you could’ve sworn some turned a little red. You blamed it on the alcohol but felt your stomach fill up with dread when everyone filled a circle, and Tatch finished his bottle only to place it in the middle of the circle.

“Wait… what are you guys playing now?” You frowned, your brain had already made the connection, but you were in denying. Surely a bunch of pirates would not be playing a drunken, hormonal teenager kind of game?

“Spin the bottle y/n! You agreed like five seconds ago! Are you having too much sake?”

You laughed in response, denying that you had too much alcohol and firing the accusation of drinking too much right back at all the surrounding pirates that could only laugh in response as well, but you felt some panic rising up as well. The men may be more than drunk enough to participate in such a game, but at this point your decision to stay pretty sober felt like a dumb one because you could definitely use some liquid encouragement to kiss any of them.

Okay, it was only a kiss, but depending on who the bottle landed on, it could lead to some relentless teasing the coming days if someone remembered, and things like this definitely get remembered. Or it could land on Ace, and even though the chance was minimal, you didn’t know what you would do in that case. You’d kill for an opportunity to kiss him, but this was not the way you had intended it to go and if the bottle happened to land on him, his reaction could possibly break your heart, and you were sure you were not ready for that.

Your hand trembled as you leaned forward to spin the bottle reluctantly, the pirates surrounding you in the rest of the circle laughing loudly, blaming too much sake for your shaking hands. You grinned at them just as nervously, letting them think that was so much easier and so much better than letting them know you were scared shitless of the bottle actually landing on...

…. Ace. The bottle landed on Ace and there were loud cheers from the rest of the crew as the two of you locked eyes. Your heart was beating so fast you were pretty sure it was ready to jump out of your chest and jump overboard, and honestly, you were ready to follow suit. Ace seemed to need a moment to register what was happening, looking at the bottle and you a couple of times, his mouth slightly open, and his freckled cheeks turning redder every time his eyes met yours in this little back and forth.

Then he was pushed forward by one of the crewmates sitting next to him, and simultaneously you felt some strong hands pushing you towards the center of the circle as well, you stumbled forward, surprised by the sudden movement, nearly tripped over the bottle in the middle of the circle and then landed right in front of Ace. He was standing up straight, offering you a hand to get up, which you took, not realizing just how close he’d be standing to you the moment you straightened up.

Your ears and cheeks burned up immediately, trying to step back, nearly tripping over that stupid bottle again. The thing that kept you from falling was Ace quickly wrapping an arm around you, supporting your back so you didn’t hit the hardwood of the deck. The crew was enthusiastically wolf-whistling, urging the two of you to kiss, but as your eyes locked, none of that yelling and laughing seemed to matter anymore, your surroundings becoming almost eerily quiet as you were searching for the right thing to say.

“ehm.. Ace, I”

“If you don’t want to do this, that’s fine, we’ll just run off,” he grinned, noticing your flustered state and mistaking it for comfort. You were a little too quick to respond.

“NO! I mean… I…. I guess I wouldn’t mind kissing you? I’d love to actually”

Now it was his time to be at a loss for words, grinning nervously before eventually deciding not to answer at all and just pressing his lips to yours. They were a little dry, probably a side effect from the constant heat this man was in but felt amazing still. His other arm wrapped around your waist to rest on the small of your back as well, and you grabbed his shoulders instinctively, wanting to tangle your hands in his hair, but knowing better than to knock off the hat off his head. He tasted sweet and like the alcohol you’d been drinking before, but way less than expected, and to your surprise, you concluded that he had probably not been drinking as much as you thought he’d be, which meant he was not doing this in some drunken stupor.

He pulled you close, and you were just about to open your mouth slightly to deepen the kiss when the cheering became painfully obvious again, and you pulled back in embarrassment, not wanting to leave Ace’s embrace, but not wanting to attract any more attention from the crew. Ace looked almost hurt for a moment as if you couldn’t get away too fast before he realized just why you were reacting that way. A bright grin spread across his face as he used the pressure he still had on your lower back to lift you up easily bridal style. You yelped out in surprise.

“Sorry men, I think the party is over for y/n and me, we have some private discussing to do.”

You could only bury your tomato-colored head in his chest as he stepped out of the circle, you still in his arms.

“Of course, that is if you’re okay with continuing somewhere more quiet with less of an audience?”

[chronicallylatetotheparty]

Two Gods, One Braincell Ch.3 Heavenly Bonds

Summary:

Bold of you to assume my friends and I won't smite you.

---------------

Kagami blasted another group of demons with a bolt of lightning. Zooming higher into the air she saw Adrien's wall of green flames blocking off the exit into the lower valley. Where the mortals' village lay exposed.

Adrien himself was a speck in the distance. Only her dragon eyes could pick him out. With a sweep of her tail she sent a gust of wind towards two demon archers. Making them tumble off the cliff they aimed from.

A growl escaped Kagami's throat. Where were the protectors? Surely a horde of this size would warrant-

Suddenly, a glowing green hexagon appeared directly in Kagami's path. Forcing her to turn sharply. In the next instant a red fireball crashed against the other side of it.

"Hey there, goddess! Long time no see!"

Blinking in surprise, Kagami saw a god standing on a smaller hexagon than the one that had protected her. He wore green, shell-like armor and carried a shield. Short, dark brown hair contrasted the golden glow of his eyes.

"You're late," Kagami scolded Nino.

"I got held up!"

Setting a stance like a javelin thrower Nino formed another hexagon and launched it into the trees below. There was a demonic yelp and then a new tree popped out of the canopy.

"Well, that takes care of that fire-breathing jerk." Nino dusted his hands. "So ungodly."

"There are significant enemy forces," Kagami pointed out. "I suggest you summon backup."

A teasing smile spread across Nino's face. "Oh? The great Kagami calling for reinforcements?"

Not for the first time Kagami was grateful dragons couldn't blush. She was nine tenths sure he was thinking about all the times she rushed in without a plan. "We could always let Adrien handle it."

A dreamy look clouded Nino's features. "Mm, I haven't seen my god let loose since he punched that demon king in the face last millennium..." Shaking his head, Nino slapped both cheeks lightly. "N-nope! This mountain range is supposed to stay a mountain range for the next hundred thousand years. There is no crater scheduled anytime soon!"

"Then you better hurry up!" Kagami called over her shoulder as she zeroed in on another batch of demons.

"Goddess is still so impatient." Nino shook his head fondly as he pulled out a bright red strand of hair. "Monkey King, I summon you. Lend me your aid!"

Nino blew it in Kagami's direction, glowing as it went.

Deciding that she didn't want to start a forest fire with her lightning -she didn't have control over flames like Adrien did- Kagami shifted. Instead of her usual kimono she wore armor of a different style than that of Marinette and Nino.

Concentrating, Kagami pulled out her sword. A tsurugi forged from her mother's own fang, instilled with Tomoe's unyielding nature. With a single swing there was nothing left of her target but ash and the smell of lightning.

"You get to be a monkey! And you get to be a monkey!"

The god jumped from one opponent's head to another. Whacking them with his ruyi jingu bang, which was indeed turning them into monkeys. He wore only pants and a golden circlet as a crown. Brown fur accented his muscular body in contrast to the fiery hair atop his head.

"Kagami!" Kim exclaimed, just noticing she was there. His tail wrapped around the sword arm of his current mount and made it punch its owner repeatedly in the face. "Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself! Heard you got in trouble with the council! Ha ha! Nice!"

"Kim," she greeted. Kagami didn't know if he was praising or teasing her, likely both. Such was the friendship of a trickster deity. "Didn't you mess with one of Alix's prophecies again?"

"Yeah! It was great!" Kim leapt straight into the air just as his mount's allies reached him. Weapons clashing in the space he just vacated. Swinging his staff in a circle as he fell Kim turned all of them into monkeys at once. "She was so mad!"

Flipping through the air, Kim got a gleam in his eye. "Say. How 'bout we pick up where we left off?"

Casually dusting the demon sneaking up behind her Kagami felt a grin forming. "Whoever gets the most enemies wins?"

"You know it!"

Quickly dispatching the remaining demons in their immediate area they split up. Kim calling a cloud to carry him and Kagami shifting back into her dragon form.

Scanning for more enemies, Kagami did a double take as she saw a fire-breathing dragon with leathery wings chasing a horde of demons. Her ears twitched as they detected the faint tones of a flute. So, it's her is it?

Locating the source of the music was child's play. Kagami silently shifted behind the goddess as she was preoccupied with her illusion.

Nine tails denoted the fox's age. She wore an orange coat of fur which Kagami knew was actually the goddess's own fur. Dark hair flowed down her back, the ends fading to the same shade as her tails. A flute half as tall as its owner shaped her spell.

"Really, Alya?" Kagami demanded. "A western dragon?"

Alya jerked in surprise. "My gods, Kagami! Don't scare me like that! Oh, hells." She hurriedly played a tune so her illusory dragon wouldn't disappear.

"You could've chosen anything else but no. You had to choose a western dragon." The nerve, the betrayal!

"Aw, c'mon goddess. Y'know dragons are terrifying!"

"Flattery will not appease the storm of my anger!"

Rolling her eyes Alya placed her arm on Kagami's shoulders. "Listen, I know you don't like the drakes-"

"Selfish, smug little horders think their nonsense riddles are so clever. Most of them cannot even speak!" Like her mother always said: An eastern dragon's wisdom was divine! You'd be lucky if a western dragon didn't eat you after waking up from a centuries long food coma.

"Right, right. But in my defense they're perfect for instilling panic into large groups." Alya waved at the fleeing demons to illustrate her point.

"... Your technique does appear to be effective," Kagami admitted reluctantly.

Sensing an opening Alya pounced on it. "Besides, you're always saying how we should never give less than our best. I'm just using my talents to their fullest."

Kagami knew Alya was appealing to her sense of pride. As a fox, Alya knew how to be sneaky. In more ways than one. Still... "I suppose I cannot fault you for that."

Nine tails twitching in excitement ruined Alya's air of nonchalance. "Goddess, I knew you'd see it my way!"

"No doubt." Kagami pointed toward an outcrop of stone. "Direct the enemy there."

Alya grinned. "You got it, goddess."

Working together they cleared the area and joined the others. Kagami was only mildly surprised to see Nino had summoned Marinette. She was, after all, a fellow war goddess.

"No fair!" Kim cried out, absently bashing his opponent. "You had help!"

"There's plenty for everyone, Kim!" Marinette's yo-yo cut like a razor. Demons bursting into pink sparkles whenever they got too close.

"You go, goddess!" Alya struck enemies with her flute, turning them into foxtails.

Nino mostly sent shields to block fireballs and arrows. Expertly directing his hexagons. But he was also distracted by a certain god.

Adrien moved with feline grace. A longsword wreathed in shadows cutting down every demon in his path. Instead of his usual robes he wore black armor with glowing green designs on it. Two cat-like eyes stared from his breastplate in imitation of the ones in his head. A sharp toothed grin spread across his face.

In short he was gorgeous. And she wasn't the only one to think so.

"Stupid deity of destruction," Nino muttered. "Why's the god gotta be so beautiful?"

Kagami nodded appreciatively. "Half the time he's using that innocent face to get what he wants. The other half he doesn't even realize how attractive he is."

"I know!"

"You think that's bad?" Alya shoved a demon onto Kagami's sword. "My goddess has literally weaponized cuteness!"

Pausing, both Kagami and Nino looked at each other. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility for a creation goddess.

Placing a circular barrier around them, Nino voiced their thoughts. "Uh, babe? She hasn't actually-"

"No, I was exaggerating!" Alya played a short tune that blinded their opponents with bright light. "But Marinette keeps her hair down all the time now!"

There was a collective chorus of sympathy.

"It suits her."

"I noticed, yeah."

"Was thinking about it this morning."

The other three stared at Kim.

"What? Marinette gives the best hair advice." Kim ran a hand through his fiery red hair. "This doesn't just happen."

"He's right you know." Adrien spun his weapon in a circle, clearing the ground around him, before tossing his hair. Golden locks falling perfectly back in place. He grinned and Kagami was sure his face glowed like a sun god. "Marinette does give the best hair advice."

Then he charged back into the fray. Green flames spread from his feet, burning nothing but the demons and their weapons. The unrestrained joy of a destroyer performing his sacred duty radiated from Adrien in waves.

"... I'm gonna kill him," Nino declared.

"Babe, no."

"My best friend is trying to kill me, Alya! Ever since I admitted he was aesthetically appealing! It only makes sense that I get to him before he finishes me off!"

Alya placed both hands on Nino's shoulders. "First of all? That's an exaggeration. Second, you know he just wants to be appreciated. Destroyers get the short straw when it comes to the mortals' worship."

Nino sighed. "I know, I know."

"Plus, like, if he wanted you dead not even Marinette would be able to stop him," Kim pointed out.

Again, the other three stared at him.

"What!? What'd I say!?"

"Let's just get back to the battle," Alya suggested, ignoring Kim.

"What? Oh, yeah, nope. Battle's over," Marinette informed them, suddenly appearing in their path.

"Come again?" Kagami scanned the valley and sure enough there wasn't a demon in sight.

"Aw, it's over already?" Kim slumped his shoulders before straightening suddenly. A grin forming. "Guess that means I won."

"Don't be absurd. I obviously got more than you," Kagami corrected.

"Yeah, god," Nino agreed, serving as unofficial referee like he usually did. "Kagami totally trounced you."

"Pfft, okay, sure. But I'll get the next one!" With that eloquent rebuttal Kim cupped his hands next to his mouth and hollered. "Alright, you wannabes! Where you at! It's time to go!"

A monkey screeched what Kagami assumed to be obscenities from the safety of the forest.

"Do you wanna be weeds? 'Cause you can definitely still be weeds!" Kim strode purposefully to collect his new subjects.

"Foxtail is not a weed!" Alya yelled after him

Leaning in, Kagami whispered. "Isn't it a weed, though?"

Mimicking her stance, Nino answered. "I think that's besides the point."

"What're we whispering about?" Adrien asked.

"Adrien!" Nino glomped him. Prompting the pair of them to fall over.

A laugh escaping with Adrien's breath. "Nino!"

"Are you trying to murder me? Because it feels like you're trying to murder me!"

Adrien patted his best friend's head. "There, there."

They continued in that vein a while longer. Kagami wasn't sure friendship was a strong enough word for what Adrien felt for Nino. Then again, the others insisted there was nothing more important to Adrien than his friends. Hmm.

Once the gods stood back up, letting Adrien greet Alya properly. (Why platonic kisses? Just why?) Kagami guided Nino a little ways from everyone else.

"What did I do? I swear it was an accident!"

"What? Nino, I am not mad!"

"Oh, thank creation!" Nino placed a hand on his chest as he let out the breath he'd been holding.

Kagami raised an eyebrow. "Did you really think I was upset?"

"Well, geez, what's a god to think when you put on your None-Shall-Stand-Before-Me face?"

"There's a face?"

"Yes, there's a face!" Nino squeaked in disbelief. "It shows up whenever you get an idea and won't let anyone talk you out of it!"

Kagami pressed her lips together in an effort to mask her amusement.

From Nino's deadpan look she wasn't very successful. "Out with it then, goddess. I get enough embarrassment from Adrien and Alya."

Right! "I was wondering if the relationship between you and Adrien is in any way romantically inclined."

Nino coughed. "What now?"

"I want to confess my love to Adrien," Kagami simplified, giving Nino an annoyed look. "Do you have dibs?"

Blinking several times as his mind shifted gears a grin started forming on Nino's face. "Oh, yes!"

"You have romantic feelings for him?"

"I mean no! I mean-" Nino took a deep breath. "Adrien is just the platonic love of my life- Wait, no, that's not it. There are no coupley feelings between Adrien and me!"

Kagami's lips quirked upwards. "I can see why Alya enjoys your company."

"You can keep teasing me or you can go confess to Adrien!"

"An excellent point." Turning on her heel Kagami strode toward the gaggle of gods. Eyes set on a certain destructive cat.

---------------

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! @kagamiappreciationweek2020

... I feel like I should point out that I never promised a "Plot" or anything. I promised shenanigans and shenanigans only. Any "Plot" that manages to sneak in is purely coincidental.

Tumblr: Making your own slang in fantasy settings has to be done well, otherwise it comes across weird.

Me: You make a good point! *proceeds to do it anyway*

[urlocalfrogmammy]

i like this boy, and he likes someone else—donald malarkey

inspired by

donald malarkey was the love of your life. but he belonged to someone else. the nights in the pubs of aldbourne become less and less appealing, and skip muck decided enough was enough.

i’m soft as heck for my little ginger baby. warnings: major feels. proceed with caution. word count 1.6k.

the first time you realised you were in love with donald malarkey was in toccoa. when sobel wasn't watching, he'd hauled you over the wall when he could see you were struggling during the obstacle course. his smile had been soft and warm and it made you feel like you were floating on cloud nine. the second time you realised you were in love with donald malarkey was at fort benning. you'd hurt yourself on a practice jump, and the concern in his eyes was genuine as he helped you up, and even offered to carry you when he notice you wince. you failed to mention your legs were like jelly because of him. the third time you realised you were in love with donald malarkey was boxing day 1942. you'd all received your jump wings, and to celebrate the PX tent was full. the party was in full swing, but you found yourself gravitating towards the quiet corners of the room. don insisted you dance, despite your constant reminders you had two left feet. he left you blushing profusely after you'd trodden on his feet one too many times.

you finally admitted you were in love with donald malarkey when you were on your way to england. the feeling of don's hands around your arms, gently steering you forward from behind, made you feel safe. but what really caught you off guard was the way he'd punched that dog company soldier when he'd grasped you tightly and refused to let you go. malarkey gave him one look before hitting him straight in the eye. your stomach was doing cartwheels, and you declared then and there you would never find a man like him. of course, as with most things, there was a catch. donald malarkey belonged to someone else. a broad waiting back in oregon for him. how you were jealous of her. you would spend each night, eyes closed, dreaming of her place being taken by you. dreaming. it would never be more than a dream. you learned to accept that early on, though it pained your heart to think of him writing to her, telling her how he was feeling. you wanted that more than all the money in the world. aldbourne had only complicated matters. the horrible feeling of being surrounded by beautiful women made you feel extremely self conscious of your appearance. admitting there was no use in clinging onto hope, you slowly began to back away from malarkey. there was no use hurting yourself more than you needed to.

you sat in the dimly lit pub alone, enjoying your own company. the bitter beer was hard enough to stomach, but much to the men's horror it was served warm. "hey kiddo, mind if we sit?" it was bill guarnere, followed by toye.

"no, no of course." they both shuffled into the booth and you took a sip of your beer. joe must have seen your pained expression because he laughed to himself. "what?"

"still not used to beer, y/n?"

"never will be." you said it with a half smile. the two men were soon joined by george luz, then perco, then penkala, then skip, then finally donald malarkey. you found yourself a tad bit squashed between bill and george, and you tried to smile through it politely. much to your disappointment, don noticed this and said: "you need some help y/n? you're looking a little squashed there." you smiled in a helpless way and shrugged to motion you had no idea how to get out. "come on fellas, move, let her out." one by one, half the booth stood up until you were free to leave it. you could finally breathe clearly again, without the scent of heavy testosterone fanning your nose. "better?"

"much. thank you." you the addressed the table. "i'm gonna call it a night." all the men frowned and begged you to stay, and insisting you really were tired, they let you go. "i'll walk you back."

"don, you don't have to—"

"i want to, y/n."

"thank you." you smiled softly.

you both walked silently though the streets of aldbourne. watching don look up into the sky, you smiled as he smiled, and he declared that the sky was too cloudy for stars. you looked up too, and he was right. a thick layer of clouds shrouded you from above. two girls in dresses and kitten heels, linked at the arms, were staring at you and whispering to each other. after they giggled, you felt an arm wrap around your shoulder, don whispering: "don't take any notice of them."

"i can't help it."

"they're not a patch on you." you're not a patch on his broad. that's what you had to keep telling yourself, though tonight you would make an exception, allowing his arm around your shoulder. even after the girls had walked past, he didn't slip it away, instead he started to rub it slowly. the barn you all shared came too quickly. you sighed as he stopped, pulling his arm away and smiling at you, hands in pockets. "be safe. i don't think the fellas are in there, and i don't think they'll be back for a while."

"i'll be fine. thank you don."

"you're welcome y/n. don't be a stranger."

you hadn't been to that pub since. two weeks later, you instead opted to have an early night in the barn rather than go drinking with the guys. it would only break your heart, make you want him more, when he wasn't yours to have. the men begged, luz even getting down on his knees at one point, for you to come with them, but time after time you told them no. after all the men had cleared out, you lay down on your cot and sighed. "y/n? please come?" skip had come back to plead with you. turning to face the wall of the barn, you told him no. "oh, y/n. come on! come to the pub."

"i don't want to skip."

"you've not been yourself the past few weeks." skip nudged you. "it might cheer you up." you didn't reply. rolling over to face him, you sighed heavily and sat up.

"what's the matter with you? really y/n, we're all worried about you."

"i like this boy..."

"yeah?"

"and he likes someone else." you thudded back down into the flimsy cot.

"it's not the end of the world—"

"that's easy for you to say. you have sweet faye tanner waiting at home for you, and he has someone waiting back home for him—"

"don and his broad aren't a thing no more." there was a silent minute. your heart was thudding and your hands were shaking. "how did you know?"

"it's obvious. the way you look at don... it's the way all fellas wanna be looked at." you scratched the back of your neck. "does... everyone know?" skip laughed and nodded. "oh god. i'm a mess skip i can't impress anyone in this state." you attempted to run a hand through your hair in order to demonstrate your point.

"give me a comb, huh?" skip said softly, "i'll fix you up real nice."

skip really did fix you up. your hair was down and (due to a lack of rouge) you'd pinched your cheeks as hard as you could to mimic a blush. guarnere smiled this great big grin and nodded with approval. "you don't scrub up so bad, y/n."

"thanks bill." he lazily slung an arm around your shoulders, and offered to buy you a drink. "i don't like the beer."

"then let's drink something else, huh?" three vodka shots in and you were both sloppily dancing around the pub. the men and women taking their dancing seriously didn't approve of you and the philly spinning round at a hundred miles per hour, him giddily lifting you up and swinging you around. after you were both out of breath, you allowed yourself the luxury of settling back onto a seat, panting and smiling madly. donald malarkey sat facing you, and you grinned at him. "you having a nice time, doll?"

"yeah... do you want to..." you motioned to the dance floor.

"sure. anything for the lady."

don knew you weren't a good dancer, but as he watched you spinning wildly, he couldn't help feel a warmth rising in his chest. god you're beautiful. reaching your hands out for him to join you, he grasped them and pulled you into his chest. the benny goodman was soon changed to a vera lynn song. swaying gently together, don leaned down. "you look lovely tonight."

"so do you! not that you... don't look good all the time... i was..." he watched you trailing off, eyes locked with yours. you were giving him the biggest puppy dog eyes he'd ever seen, smiling lazily but contentedly. for a moment, he thought you were about to kiss him, but you leaned your head into his shoulder. he shook his head as skip gave him two thumbs up, penk mouthing go get em.

“y/n?”

“yeah?”

“i’m in love with you.”

the words that left don’s mouth made you feel as though you’d just been given a congressional medal of honour. “i’m in love with you too.” you didn’t give him time to reply, leaning in and pressing your lips against his. the men cheered and whooped, but you barely heard it. the world seemed to have slowed in the most wonderful of ways. as you both pulled apart, don instantly grabbed your hand and made his way out of the pub. the cheering intensified, and you just grinned and waved at them before slipping out the door, feeling like the luckiest girl in the world.

[mawritesbnha]

Thank you so much!! :D And I'm really sorry about that anon... I hope it won't happen again! Sooo most to least likely to: ask you to marry them! I don't know if you have a character limit? You can put as many as you want or just your faves! Anything's fine for me really!

Sorry I know I said I wanted to try most to least likely… but I kept changing the order and was overall unhappy with it… So this became a Likely vs Unlikely or a Would vs Would not kinda thing… Also I tried to put as many characters as I could, but please my darlings it’s better when you tell me who you’d like, otherwise I’m lost. I didn’t go into too much details but if you’d like to know more as to why a character is in a certain category feel free to send in a specific hc ask!

That was still a lot of fun, I really like this concept so if you’ve got more like this my pretties send them in!

Smoochies from Ma!

Would they ask you to marry them?

Yes

- Izuku: he’s so focused on hero work it’s gonna take him a while to realise he wants to do it, but he will eventually, a lot of rambling will be involved

- Shoto: again that poor boy didn’t have a great example growing up… but after years of being in a relationship with you, he finally trusts himself enough, he’s confident that you can build something even more beautiful together, gives you a little speech before asking, and if you say yes he’d love for you to come with him to tell his mother the news

- Hanta: you’ve talked about it before, but he wants to keep it a surprise so he’ll ask when you’ve forgotten about it, really sweet and romantic

- Denki: you can see it coming from a mile away, might have actually seen the ring already cause he’s terrible at hiding things from you and in general, adorable but a nervous wreck

- Eijiro: it’s the manly thing to do! actually he might have gotten the idea from someone else cause sharky bb is a bit of an airhead at times, but he’s really excited about it

- Mashirao: you had a feeling he wanted to ask you something important, but not that important, goes about it in a very traditional and romantic way, probably over diner

- Tenya: even more traditional, asks your parents for their blessing first, I’m not sure if he’d ask in public, I think he’d keep it private, his proposal sounds like a business deal offer… but if you say yes all that robot front is gonna melt away and this dork might laugh out of sheer happinness and spin you around

- Fumikage: reaallyy self-conscious… many times he backpedals at the last moment… until Dark Shadow lends an unexpected hand

- Ochaco: look it took her a while to admit she had a crush on you but ever since you’ve gotten together she’s been really forward, that girl ain’t wasting anymore time, she knows what she wants

- Yuga: prepare for a very pompous, public proposal with the shiniest diamond ever… or none at all cause nothing shines brighter than your future groom and his love for you

- Momo: she mulls it over for a while and when she asks she doesn’t really, it’s more like she brings up the idea of marriage to see your reaction and then timidly wonder if you’d want her as your wife

- Tsuyu: she wants a family with you, that’s the next step in her book, a bit shy about it though but straight to the point as always

- Mina: she was actually waiting for you to do it but grew too impatient and ended up blurting out her proposal at the oddest of time and sounding vaguely annoyed/offended she had to do it herself before getting really flustered

- Rikido: hides the ring in the cake he baked for you, has a hard time explaining why he looks so horrified when you finish it all up without noticing anything

- Koji: you might despair and ask yourself first cause it’s gonna take him the longest time to feel confident enough to ask you, but he’d come up with something so precious involving your favourite animals you’d do well to wait

- Itsuka: she doesn’t need it, but she likes the idea so if she feels like you both might be on the same page she’d bring it up but more like in a conversation rather than just popping the question

- Neito: is he serious? haha who knows! come on yes he is and he’s waiting for an answer, he loves you so much he wants to make it official and be able to brag about it, wants to do a public proposal and tries to act confident but he’s terrified you’ll reject him

- Mirio: if someone pointed out that you already look and act like a married couple he’d get really excited and probably turn to you all smile “let’s get married Y/N!”, but depending on your reaction then he might apologise later on and propose in a more serious way

- Neijire: doesn’t realise it’s that big of a deal and doesn’t exactly asks too, you were probably just watching some wedding show and she mused “we should do it too” or when walking in front of a wedding dress shop “oohh that’s the one I want”… like if you ask her if she seriously wants to get married she’ll go “eehh? we’re not???”

- Tamaki: oh boy… swears he’s gonna ask you and look you in the eyes while doing so even if it kills him but that might actually happen… he’s gotten really comfortable around you over the years but some things are still… too much

- Yo: if you’ve gotten to the point where he wants to marry you… you’ve gotten through a lot, and this boy must have been a huge pain… actually you might have been fed up with him one day and threaten to end things, expecting him to close himself off as usual and wish you farewell then… but no, he proposes. yeah, not a great timing

- Natsuo: such a good boy, so sweet, promises to always provide and care for you, and vows to himself to not be like his dad (as if you could ever be sweetie)

- Himiko: asks soon after you’ve gotten together, thinks about becoming your knife wife almost as much as drinking your blood

- Hizashi: he won’t yell his proposal… but he sure as hell is gonna scream his happiness if you say yes (everyone’s ears are not thanking you)

- Nemuri: thought she’d never settle down? wrong! if you can see past her sexual appeal while still appreciating it she ain’t letting you off the hook

- Jin: surprised? I don’t think he’d consider it if you weren’t part of the league or if the boss was against it for whatever reason though, but it’d make him very happy to marry you

No

- Hitoshi: he doesn’t really care for marriage, but depending on how you present the idea to him he’d agree to it and might even look forward to it

- Katsuki: doesn’t see the point, you’re already partners for life, what’s the big fuss about? he’d be hard to convince, but the more territorial side of him might be swayed, he wouldn’t want any “mushy stuff” though

- Dabi: too bad his very good friend Toya would’ve asked! marriage doesn’t sound good to him for many reasons, you can’t sway him

- Tomura: finds the idea a bit… odd? that kind of “like most people” stuff isn’t for him honestly… but you’re his player 2, that’s better, right?

- Hawks: I don’t think that’s what he’s looking for

- Kyoka: she wants to, but can’t work up the courage

- Mezo: he never gave marriage much thought so you’d have to bring it up, he wants to make you happy and if that’s what you want he’ll ask, but yeah not spontaneously

- Toru: she’s waiting for you to ask her

- Ibara: same I don’t see her being too forward in a relationship, but might prefer it if you actually just talk about it together instead of a big proposal

- Tetsutetsu: he… didn’t… think about it… and if someone else brings it up he’s gonna be mad at himself for not coming up with that one on his own and won’t ask cause he’s too busy pouting

- Fuyumi: sadly I hc her to think that’s not really her choice to make

- Shota: he’s a bit whatever about it, as long as you too are together he doesn’t care about formalities, he’d enjoy a sober wedding if you want one, and please don’t let Hizashi make a speech he’s begging you

- Toshinori: that poor man is dying to marry you, but it’d be like putting a target on your back and his biggest fear is losing you or seeing you hurt… keeping it a secret might be an option but I’m not sure he’d take that risk

[bisluthq]

I think that most of the anons who say that Taylor is not hot or attractive is because Taylor does not exploit her sensuality or sexappeal like most pop stars (I'm not saying that's bad, everyone has their style before they attack me on the neck lol) i think if taylor dressed as rihanna, doja, dua or ariana etc. They would think differently, I think they would say that she is super hot, but since Taylor does not dress like that or make music videos in the style of most pop stars, they think that Taylor is not attractive to any man.

I mean it’s just the most straight girl/never met a man argument I’ve ever encountered tbh. It is on a par with “HAHAHA MALCOLM IS SHAKING AND CRYING AND THROWING UP WHEN CARA IS WITH ANYA!!!”

Taylor courts the Madonna/whore thing which invites obsession because she dresses very slutty and has a great body and amazing face - don’t tell “me X wears less!” like sure but irl most women wear more and don’t do shoots like the British Vogue one so a lady in her undies is like dressed slutty and a lady lying on a bed with her legs up is inviting sexual fantasy - but she’s a “good girl” that you can fantasize about like marrying or dating.

A lot of pop stars don’t invite like marriage/dating fantasies because there’s no Madonna aspect to the whore like they just look like… whores… which obviously is very sexy and like fabulous and I’m all for people doing that and feeling comfortable and it DOESN’T make them less deserving of respect or marriage or whatever but it’s not gonna invite that same level of obsession.

Taylor actively does invite like a marriage fantasy lmfao like obviously men are gonna be obsessed.

I’ve compared her to Emma Watson in terms of who she appeals to but Emma is less embarrassing to admit to liking and is now very reclusive.

JLaw pre leak and stuff was also in their group chat.

Beyoncé is very much in that group chat.

[invinciblerodent]

Tbh I'm reaching a point where I'm like, fuck the bioware fandom. They adore characters like Solas and Jaal but treat Liam and Vivienne like shit. Cora also gets a bunch of needless hate. They call Blackwall a rapist, which (as an assault victim) I find trivializing. Treat Sebastian Vale like a religious fanatic who wants to burn Hawke at the stake for being a mage. It's like they can't view anything in layers and if they don't like a character they will invent reasons to hate them.

Well, I’m not so sure about speaking in such general terms, but without a doubt, it is a difficult line on which most BioWare characters are dancing. 

If you’ll excuse me for a second, I’m going to get real preachy with you for a second. Please, just bear with me on this one. I’m not going to promise that there is gonna be a point, but if you don’t mind, I’m going to rant at you for a minute. :)

When one is creating any sort of media product intended for large audiences (such as a big budget, AAA video game such as Andromeda or Inquisition), simplicity and complexity are... pretty heavily weighed against each other.

I’m gonna try to explain that.

Since there is the obvious analogy about a proverbial chain being only as strong as its weakest link, most things designed for wide appeal tend to be simple, they tend to stick to convention, they tend to make use of one’s confirmation bias, and not require one to put their aforementioned English Major/English Class hats on, or stepping outside of one’s comfort zone.

And many studios and developers still think of their audience, of that “one”, as a homogeneous mass of 13-25 year old, straight, white guys. This sounds a bit like the anti-millenial bullshit old journalists tend to spew in their impotent hatred towards anyone younger than them, but.... as much as this hurts to admit, there is a kernel of truth in that contemporary media, especially video games, are still very often treated as frivolous, simple entertainment, even by their own audience. (Hence, “it’s just a game” arguments.)

On the other hand, we on tumblr -myself included- tend to have a real boner for analyzing every single line, every syllable of every word uttered in our entertainment. Not only do we have our English Major hats, but also Social- and Media Studies hats, we become a bunch of part-time literary analysts (which I think is SO COOL), and try to look into the media we consume.... potentially (or most likely) deeper than many developers and studios intend.

The thing about BioWare is that... there are very few people who bother to think about the games they produce and consume both as products of contemporary entertainment media, and art. As a piece of literature. As something to analyze and criticize without denying its merits completely.

There are few who stop to think about Blackwall’s obvious 10+ year struggle with immense guilt, self-loathing, and obvious depression which made him believe himself unworthy of friendly- or romantic affection. (Btw, I’m so sorry you were made to feel that way. You definitely did not deserve any of that, and frankly, I don’t even understand where that claim came from? This is a digression, but seriously, someone please point me to an instance in which Blackwall doesn’t ask, and then wait diligently for explicit permission, initiation for, or enthusiastic participation in any physical contact. I’ll wait.)

There are few who stop to consider that when he makes the Big Controversial Claim, Sebastian’s home of god knows how long had just gone up in flames in front of his very eyes, consuming the woman who was a mother in place of his own in a flame of -in his eyes- self-righteous fury.

There are few who stop to think about Vivienne long enough to see just how gentle and caring a soul she is, if only you bother to show her that you are deserving of her kindness, and that you aren’t holding a dagger behind your back, just waiting for her to turn around and let her guard down.

These characters are very nuanced, they are written with so much care by people who Know Their Shit, and I feel even their hearts must bleed when they see what oversimplified, generalized opinions make of their darlings.

Because it is human nature for us to seek what is simple and convenient, especially in our entertainment. It is human to seek what is black and white, and for us to look at shades of grey, and push it one way or the other depending on our preconceived notions. It’s just how our brains look to eliminate uncertainty.

Which is, of course, an explanation, and not an excuse.

I know it’s disheartening. I definitely understand that, and I know it is so much easier to just not bother to write thinkpieces, to think deeply about stories, and just in general participate. I wouldn’t want anyone to do anything in their free time that they find exhausting or annoying. I get it. But I implore you, and everyone reading this, to not give up.

How else am I supposed to rain my long and ranty pieces on just how amazingly strong and sweet Sera is and how hard she is trying to understand things that had been denied her, is or just how much I appreciated that Liam was allowed to be angry without him devolving into a gross stereotype.

And for real fuck Solas tho. Jaal is a sweetheart and I don’t want to drag him into this because he is a character with his own merits, wouldn’t even mention him on the same day as Solas if I could help it because I think they have absolutely zero things in common, but, y’know, fuck Solas.