#and if you don't know it's based around bonds you might just think she can portal anywhere whenever she wants

[strqyr]

...wait—

Still, who knows what [Ozpin] may have hidden from us over the years.

in v7, qrow raises the possibility that ozpin may still be hiding something from them ( and that it likely has nothing to do with summer's last mission ).

then, in v8, we get this exchange between salem and oscar:

If I know my Ozma, he has used some means of deception to hide [the Beacon Relic's] location differently than the others. I need to know where it is.

I... That's not something I know about.

Of course. He would keep that one guarded as long as possible.

so, besides knowing ozpin made the relic at beacon "a bit more challenging" to find than at the other schools—and we have some level of comparison to be made here, as the haven vault had extra security in the elevator being only accessible with lionheart's pocket watch, so whatever ozpin did with the beacon vault, it needs to be more challenging than that—he's definitely keeping secrets so important related to it that not even his closest allies know about it.

...whatcha hiding oz? 👀

[beansnsoup]

Out of My League

Summary: Izuku has had a crush on you since your first year at UA together and he's never had the guts to tell you this. But due to your high school years coming to an end he decides he's tired of hiding his feelings.

Relationship: Platonic going on romantic

Character: Izuku Midoriya

Warnings: Fluff, self doubt?, gn reader

Izuku was in his dorm room pacing back and forth, he had been trying to build up the courage to confess to you for years, but now that your years at UA were coming to an end, he decided that now was the time to finally overcome his timidness and tell you how he feels about you.

The two of you quickly grew close when your high school experience had started, sharing many interests, he knew right away you were the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, no matter how short or long the life may be.

He had gone through years of listening to you talk about the dates you had been on, but he had also been with you through the terrible break ups too, and all he could think about while you'd sob into the crook of his neck with his arms wrapped around you was how much of a better boyfriend he would be to you.

Every night, while he'd be attempting to fall asleep, he'd imagine all of the dates he would take you on and the gifts he would spoil you with any time he could, and how he would be there for anything you needed, no matter what he was doing or where he was, he would be at your side in an instant.

Not to mention that his mom absolutely adored you, and she knew who you were the instant she met you due to Izuku going on and on about you when he'd get home from school, she loved seeing him be absolutely smitten over someone.

But even though he had all of this admiration for you he was still scared to admit it to you, he was horrified at the thought of you not returning his feelings and things not being able to be the same as they were.

That's why he swore to never say anything, but now, he was ready.

He didn't know what he would say, or how he would say it, but he just knew that you needed to be aware of his feelings one way or another. The two of you would be graduating soon, and based off of your skills and goals, there would probably no time for you guys to hang out like you do now.

Not unless there was a stronger bond between you both.

Izuku is interrupted by a knock at his door, he nearly ignores it so the person will think he's asleep, then they knock again,

"Izuku? Are you awake?"

It was you, he tenses up, scared to even go near the door,

"Y-yeah..."

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah, it's unlocked..."

You open up the door to his room, walking inside and taking in everything around you, you shut the door behind you and finally lock eyes with Izuku.

"Hi."

"Hey." He replies, 'What is going on?'

"I was going to apologize for waking you up, but it seems you already are. Is everything okay?" You ask, sitting on his bed and taking one of his all might plushies to prop yourself up on.

"Yeah, sorry, I just couldn't sleep, too many things going through my head right now." He sighs, sitting down beside you.

"May I ask what?"

'Shit. I said too much.' He thinks as his face turns a slight shade of red, thank God his room was so dim right now, or else you might've noticed.

"I don't know, it's stupid." Izuku averts his gaze from you, trying hard to not grow even more flustered.

"You've listened to me ramble on and on, it's my turn to listen to you, nothing you say will ever be stupid to me."

'Even if it changes everything?' Is what he wanted to say, but instead he just nods his head, still looking away from you.

"Izuku." You call out in a calming tone, taking his face in one of your hands, guiding his eyes back up to you, "Please?"

"I don't want to say it and you see me differently."

"Nothing you say will make me see you differently, unless you say you're thinking of joining the League of Villains."

He laughs, "Of course not."

Your reassurance is what he needs, your joking around is what he needs, this is why he wants to be yours so badly, you're perfect, in every way shape or form, you're what he needs.

His hand takes yours off of his face, but he doesn't let go.

Grasping your other hand, he continues to look at you, breathing heavily before he can get his words out.

"Y/n, I've been trying so hard to find a way to tell you this, I originally wasn't going to, but something just came over me and I can't go another day without you knowing how I truly feel."

He lets out a big sigh before starting again, you're not saying a word, just looking at him intently while also focusing on the tight grip he has on each of your hands.

"Every time you talk, I'm so dumbfounded, how someone as perfect as you would want to associate with me, especially when we first met at the start of UA, I was nothing to believe in, but you did anyway. You were one of the biggest reasons I kept going, I wanted to be what you already said I was. I hate seeing you mistreated, I want to be what everyone else wasn't for you. I want to hold your hand, take you to the park for picnics, buy you things, bring you flowers every day, tell you how much you mean to me, tell you how breathtaking you are. I want to love you."

"Izuku..."

"It's okay if you don't feel the same way, I know it's a lot to get off my chest and just spring on you but I needed-"

He's interrupted by your lips on his, his eyes go wide before he finally shuts them, his hands leaving yours to hold your face close to his.

You finally pull away, "I've been waiting for you to say that for so long."

"Really?"

"Yes! All those guys I went out with was to get over you because I thought you had a crush on Ochako."

"No way."

"Yes way."

He laughs as he pulls you closer, resting his forehead on yours, "You're amazing, I never want you to leave me."

"Believe me, I'm not going anywhere."

I think we're all needing this after the mha finale today 😔

[dekariosclan]

I've got a hopefully interesting Gale ask! While we all know how our dear wizard fumbled his way into a deep, loving (romantically or platonically) relationship with Tav, we don't see much about how he bonded individually with the other tadfools. He obviously considers them all his true friends (even Minthara), but what was the unique connection he built with each one beyond saving the world together? Like I could see Gale and Wyll becoming fast friends based in mutual respect and a shared love of storytelling, for example, but what about Astarion? Or Shadowheart? What do you think it was that made them curious enough about each other to let down their guards and allow a connection to form in the first place?

Something in me says it takes more than forced proximity, a shared goal, and passive sentiments for Mr. "My Social Circle Is More Of A Dot" Dekarios to call someone a friend.

This is definitely an interesting ask! 💖 Thank you!

I confess that while I did try to make these somewhat accurate and base them around the in-game banter I recall seeing, I mostly went with my gut instinct…hopefully I did everyone justice: Wyll - Romance books. Wyll tends to prefer the trashier ones, Gale tends to prefer classy (think cheap generic paperback bodice-rippers vs Pride & Prejudice) yet they both end up loving the other’s recommendations: “Gale, that book was marvelous! It brought a tear to my eye, truly!” “Wyll, I confess the title you lent me was not one I would normally have taken an interest in, and yet, I found it most…stimulating. Do you have…others in a similar vein that you can recommend?”

Karlach - Favorite ales & favorite taverns, along with more than a few swapped tales of drunken mischief (either being committed by them in their younger days OR witnessed while at a tavern). They both know several popular tavern shanties and on one occasion perform a duet in camp.

Astarion - Colognes/perfumes. The fact that Astarion wears a pleasing scent of bergamot, rosemary, and aged brandy to successfully hide the unpleasant scent of—well, death—would intrigue Gale, especially when Shadowheart mentions that Gale himself tends to smell ‘like a wealthy dowager.’ A wealthy what? He most certainly does not—how ridiculous—still, he would greatly appreciate any recommendations Astarion might have on how to correct that??

Lae’zel - Githyanki culture. Language. Literature…especially porn Studies on Erotic Pleasures in the Astral Plane.

Minsc - Any/all tales of Gale’s wizardly shenanigans and troublemaking. The ones involving fires or explosions are Minsc’s favorites. Boo’s as well.

Shadowheart - Commiserating over the pitfalls of worshipping and serving a Goddess who only sees you as a tool to be used. They have a lot to talk about.

Halsin - Nature spells and animal shapeshifting. A fascinating topic to Gale. Especially regarding…potential applications in the bedroom. That is, if Halsin might have particular knowledge on that subject?

Jaheira - Tales about the Harpers. The more outlandish and the less likely to be found in the history books, the better.

Finally, Minthara.

Minthara is 1000% a cat in Drow form. One who knows she is superior to every other companion, and who will bite (verbally) anyone who tries too hard to befriend her. Every discussion Gale attempts with her is a landmine that usually ends in some sort of devastating roast of Gale and/or wizards in general.

…but Gale is a cat lover, and he’s SURE that if he’s patient just a bit longer—

[shikiii-skadi]

Oooh~ I saw: what they would they act like if they had a crush with some fate characters. Would it be possible to get some ones with Artoria pendragon, Penthesilia, Caenis, and Martha?

includes: artoria pendragon (saber), caenis (lancer), penthesilia (berserker) warnings: none

Artoria Pendragon:

Artoria takes pride in the close bond you and her share as Servant and Master, as she believes that unconditional trust is one of the most important aspects of your relationship.

She wants to protect you and is always ready to sacrifice herself if necessary.

Artoria always respects your wishes and would discuss everything with you beforehand. And she expects that in turn, you would do the same for her.

In the beginning, when her feelings for you develop, she is somewhat oblivious to her own feelings. She would think it's just because of your friendship and master-servant relationship.

The moment she realizes her feelings, it hits her like a truck. It wasn't even that it was anything special that you did or said. It was a simple smile you gave her. Artoria could feel her heart beating faster and the desire inside her to see you smile like that forever.

Artoria felt a little more shy around you after this realization.

She is worried that feelings might interfere with your Servant-Master relationship, but ultimately she knows that you have a strong bond with each other based on mutual trust. Even if she confessed her feelings to you and you didn't feel the same, she was sure that your friendship wouldn't change. So she would take the plunge and confess her love to you.

Penthesilea:

Penthesilea was very conflicted by her arising feelings for you, it would take her a good while to acknowledge them and even longer to accept them.

Penthesilea is a warrior. Her worst trauma was being called beautiful instead of being recognized as a fearsome opponent. The world would have to end five times before she would even think of swooning over you like a pure maiden.

It would take a lot of time and patience from you and a few other more empathetic Servants to make her realize that love doesn't make her soft or “feminized”. She is a berserker, you will have a tough time getting through to her in that regard.

She generally treats you the same way as before, she sees no reason to treat you differently just because she is in love with you.

Despite empathetic words from others or enough time to fully understand and accept her feelings. Penthesilea wouldn't confess her feelings to you first. You could be the most oblivious person in the world or simply not have the courage to confess, she still wouldn't give in and make the first move.

Caenis:

Another one who would not acknowledge or accept that she had caught feelings for you.

To catch her attention, you will need to have a strong character. A strong goal she can resonate with, or the ability to withstand everything that comes your way no matter how dire the situation may look.

Caenis is very blunt and straightforward. If she thinks something you thought of or did was stupid, she will tell you straight away without masking her words, even if it might hurt your feelings.

She is in general pretty rude to you. Part because it's just who she is and another part because of her denial of her growing fondness for you.

If Caenis confesses to you, it would be an angry confession, that was not planned at all. For example in the midst of battle, an opponent servant nearly killed you, causing Caenis to fall into a stage of complete fury. First, she would kill the servant, not leaving even the faintest fragment of them intact, while screaming at them how they could dare to hurt you and every known curse word.

After that her fury would be directed at you. Telling you very harshly how stupid you were and that if it wasn't for her, you would be dead by now.

Honestly, you probably don't have either the time nor the state of mind right now to fully process what just happened.

[tmntkiseki]

The post where I discuss my thoughts on the 2003 turtles and romance

Oh boy, this is easily the post I feel the most anxious about throwing into the wild just because I know topics concerning romance and shipping can be, uh, pretty touchy in online fandom spaces. But hey, you can't please everyone and one or two people have expressed curiosity regarding my thoughts on the 2003 turtles and their (entirely hypothetical) love lives, so, you know, here we are! 2003 Turtles and romance post away! Just remember that this is largely opinion-based and that if you do disagree with with me, that's fine; just be polite and respectful about it if you do decide to say something.

So, if at least one of my previous posts is anything to go by, I am of the opinion that the 2003 turtles are pretty heavily ace coded. Are they completely uninterested in romance and/or have no desire or need for a romantic relationship? That is up to personal interpretation; what is true is that Peter Laird himself stated that the 2003 turtles do not experience attraction towards humans, a statement that is supported by a line uttered by Mikey during "More Worlds Than One," the fourth episode of the Ninja Tribunal season.

Mikey is more or less saying that he might find Chikara attractive if she were a turtle, which makes perfect sense to me! This is, after all, an iteration where the turtles' mutation didn't involve any human DNA coming into the mix (it was 100% pure Utrom ooze), so if they are capable of feeling physical attraction, it would most likely be towards other turtles, not humans. As for aliens, other mutants, and what have you, I have a sinking suspicion that if the 2003 turtles don't experience physical attraction towards humans, then they don't experience it towards non-humans as well. (I am thinking specifically of the 2003 version of Jhanna in this regard. The original comic version of "The People's Choice" did seem to imply that Donatello had become smitten with her by the end of the story, but in the Season 4 animated adaptation of the issue, his feelings towards her were deliberately left ambiguous and he just seems understandably bummed that she went home so soon at the end of the episode.)

All that said, there is a distinction to be made between being physically attracted to someone and being emotionally attracted, and that is the thing with the 2003 turtles. While they might not be able to experience physical attraction by virtue of being the only members of their species, I do think that they are capable of feeling attraction on a purely emotional level. It is easy enough to cite a couple of moments where Don becomes noticeably flustered around April (ex: the scene towards the end of "Space Invaders - Part 1" where he visibly blushes when April says she could "just kiss him"), but I would also like to bring up "Beginning of the End." The start of the episode includes a scene where Raph and Joi are talking by themselves at the back of the Tribunal's ship, and Raphael sounds a bit bashful when he asks Joi to come visit if she ever finds herself in New York. While these can be chalked up to the writers successfully sneaking in a couple of ship tease-y moments under Peter Laird's nose, it does show that romantic attraction for the 2003 turtles is possible, but it's always going to be with someone that they've developed a significant emotional bond with, which leads into my next point (as well as the more speculative section of the post.)

Any romance involving one of the 2003 turtles would be the definition of a slow burn. Leo, Raph, Don, Mikey—it doesn't matter which of them gets landed with the romantic subplot. If their love interest is introduced early on in Season 1, they are not going to get together until the beginning of Season 3 at earliest, and that's assuming they get together at all.

The fact that the 2003 turtles only experience attraction on an emotional level does obviously does play a major factor in why a romantic subplot with any of the boys would be so long and drawn out. Attraction, for them, would not be instantaneous--there may be some innocent curiosity towards their potential love interest(s) if they have personality traits/personal skills that they personally find appealing (chemistry is so, so important, I cannot stress this enough), but for romantic feelings to take hold, they really need to know and trust the person that they're being set up with—basically, it's a "friends to lovers" situation for all of them! And how long it would take for those romantic feelings to develop is dependent on both the initial circumstances of their meeting as well as the turtle in question. For instance, Michelangelo is easily the most extroverted of the turtles personality-wise and if he meets his intended love interest under positive circumstances, romantic feelings are likely to develop significantly faster. Contrast with Raphael, who is much more cynical and thus distrustful; if his love interest initially starts out as an enemy of the turtles, they are going to need to overcome a number of hurdles before they even get to the point of being able to exist as friends, much less lovers.

Besides that, though, I would like to bring up one of the key thematic pillars of the entire TMNT franchise; family. These boys value their familial bonds so much that any love interest would need to get along with all four of the turtles, not just the one that they end up actually dating. Like can you imagine Leonardo dating someone who loves him but hates Mikey and is constantly badmouthing both him and Raph? Of course not! Leo probably wouldn't even consider getting together with them because his brothers would take priority over any romantic feelings he may have for someone. If you wanna date someone from Clan Hamato, you have to be considered a part of Clan Hamato and reasonably get along with everyone in it; no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Outside all of what I've said so far, I would say that anything else is entirely up to one's own headcanons and personal preferences for each of the individual 2003 turtles. Is Raphael the most likely turtle to end up in a romantic relationship, or Donatello? Is Leonardo romantically attracted to both men and women, or just men? Would an ideal love interest for Michelangelo be someone who shares a lot of his personality traits, or his complete polar opposite? I could go into detail for each of the 2003 turtles in terms of my own personal preferences for them—stuff like how likely they are to end up in a relationship as well as how it might play out depending on the dynamic, but this post has already gotten a bit too long for my liking and I think it's about time that I stopped.

Thank you for reading this long ramble! I'm off to make some mac n' cheese!

[tojigasm]

I’m crossfaded right now but I need diff Jake x pregnant reader a combination and angst, fluff and smut I literally don’t care what it is please !! It will make the wake and bake hit

I'm so fuckin deranged. In so sorry for this. This is so evil. I went down an angsty route with this one. I wrote this to be a sequel to "Who am I to Love you"

It rots within him. A thorny, prickly weed burrowing itself in the thick of his mind. It pricks and prods at his thoughts, trickling down his spine in a sickly plague.

He bides the long days with time in the ocean. Learning the ways of the metkayina and spending time with his children. He's braiding seagrass when his mind crawls back to the metkayinas soul tree. The tree where he'd seen Neteyam soon after his death.

He wonders if you're there too.

"Daddy, you're not braiding it right." Tuk scolds from beside him, taking over the thick weed and finishing the fishtail with a knot at the end.

"Sorry, Tuk," Jake doesn't go to the tree.

—

"I know you're thinking of her." Neytiri speaks through a sigh, cutting pieces of fruit. She places her knife down to rest a hand on Jake's back.

"Thinking of who?" Jake hardly acknowledges her, finishing a thread of grass, cinching the dried weed into a fold.

"Dont–" Neytiri takes a sharp inhale through her nose. "Don't even."

Jake drops the padded grass to turn to her, "what?" He shrugs, "what do you want me to say?" He stands up to pace around the length of the hammock.

"My Jake," she speaks softly, massaging the skin of her arm in an attempt to comfort herself.

"You want me to go talk to her?" He points outward to the ocean, and Neytiri drops her head in defeat, braids swaying side to side. "You want me to go pour my heart out to my dead mate–

"Our." She chokes under her breath.

It's begin to rain.

"Y-you want me to attach myself to her again? Attach myself to the one thing that I can't come back from? If i go there, i won't leave." He shakes his head solemnly. "God only knows how hard it's been fr'me to not take a knife to my fuckin' throat." Jake's voice croaks and blubbers.

Neytiri looks up at him under her lashes. A deepened blue shadows her features, and her honey eyes run an amber heat to them. She stands up and meets him eye to eye.

Jake's crying.

"She was my mate too, Jake." There's a sickly hiss to the way his name is spit from her tongue. "Not just yours," her ears flatten back and her canines bear, "you suffer in silence, but I will not."

He watches her leave.

—

It's late past eclipse when Neytiri returns home. Wet footsteps make their way into the hammock and a breeze pulls him from his light sleep before she slots herself against his back.

Neytiri presses a kiss to the base of his neck, thumbing his braid gently.

"She misses you."

She knows he's awake. He knows that she knows. Even so, he doesn't say anything.

—

He waits along the surrounding rocks of the tree of souls for hours. Fiddling with sheets of rock and coral that spots the ground as though it were weeds.

He thinks about going back to the clan. Back to his children, back to his mate, and back to his home. And a part of him thinks back to the forest and the years before neytam had been born. He thinks back to you.

It's not a long swim to reach the sprouting limbs of the tree, making the bond with shaky hands.

There's a moment of darkness before the forest surrounds him. He walks through the heavy brush and thick plants, running the tips of his fingers over the small flowers that litter the forest. He remembers the flower crowns you'd made for him. He wishes that the petals would live forever. Instead, they rot away, trapped in a chest hidden within the hammock. They lost their color long ago.

"Jake?" Your voice calls to him near the pond, and he can see you as he rounds a thick tree.

"Hi, honey," he whispers. His voice is quiet and soft. He thinks he might cry.

You're glowing under the rays of sun that glitter along the forest floor. Capturing you in their wake and painting an almost infinite image of you.

You run to him, jumping into his arms so quickly he doesn't have time to react before the both of you fall to the floor. "I missed you!" You squeal through a giggle.

"Woah," Jake chuckles lightly, "missed you too, kid." He kisses your temple, wrapping his arms around you loosely as you laugh into his chest.

Rolling off of him with a giggle, you land on your back beside him, arms and legs outstretched through the thick blades of grass that tickle your thighs.

Jake props himself onto an elbow beside you, tracing over your soft features, taking in the glow of your excitement with a warm smile.

"I never see you anymore." You say, lifting a hand to trace your finger over the outline of a few clouds thay scatter the sky. "Are you mad at me?"

Jake physically recoils at your question, scoffing at the idea that you could ever do anything wrong, let alone lead him to be cross with you.

"No, I'm–I'm not mad at you," he follows it with a laugh, brows furrowing. He watches you roll to your side, meeting his eyes.

"Then why don't you see me?"

"It's not–"

"Neytiri comes to see me all the time. She's made bracelets with me, and she's so excited to have another baby!" You scrunch your nose in glee.

A lump crawls up Jake's throat and plants itself there. He nearly chokes on it.

"M'sure she is–"

"Do you not want another baby?"

The genuine innocence in your voice makes Jake want to scream. He wants to rip his hair out and bite his lips until they bleed and choke on his tongue and sit at the bottom of the shallow water until he just falls asleep there.

You don't know about Neyetam.

"Jake," you stroke the soft of his jaw softly, and his eyes fill with tears. "Are you okay?"

He doesn't even realize he's crying until you're cupping his face in your small hands.

"M'so scared, baby." Jake's voice shakes under the weight of his fear. It cracks, and it bubbles over.

You aren't quite sure what's happening, settling on pulling yourself closer to your mate, letting him hold you to him.

There's a long while of quiet, only filled by the soft strokes of Jake's hand along your stomach as he presses kisses to the back of your ear.

"Thinking of any names fr'the little squirt?" Jake asks, voice hoarse as he massages his thumb over your belly button.

You shake your head. "I was hoping you and Neytiri could figure something out. Maybe a mix of both of you guys' names?" You pull at your bottom lip.

Jake nods, eyes falling from your own to your lips. He kisses you gently, stroking a hand over your cheek and the other at your hip.

When you pull apart, he holds you in his lap again. "I like that idea," he offers, kissing your shoulder.

You nod, "what did you mean earlier?" You fiddle with your anklet, tracing the engrained 'J'.

"What do you mean?" Jake shrugs through a hum.

"When you said you were scared."

"Oh."

—

Jake tells you about Neteyam. He tells you about the metkayina. He tells you about the forest and the sky people and your ikran that still follows him around like a lost puppy.

He tells you about the ocean and the pretty talkun that come in waves and about Ronal and how the two of you'd be friends.

He tells you about how big Tuk's gotten and how much trouble Loak still causes. He tells you about Kiri and Eywa. He doesn't tell her about how Tuk braids exactly like you do, or how Kiri's picked up on your mannerisms, or the fact that Loak subconsciously still leaves extra pieces of food for you.

Jake sits with you for hours, letting you trickle and trace lines with the tips of your fingers over the stripes that litter his arms and ribs.

He lets you sing to him, and he hunts with you for the night.

And it's only when he's completely certain that you've fallen asleep that he pulls himself from the root of the tree.

He does so with a heaviness as he makes his way back to the clan. Back to the hammock and back to Neytiri and back to the rotted petals and braided flower crowns.

He knows you won't remember when he comes back to visit — if he comes back at all.

[loreartisan]

Okay, I've had some time to let my thoughts settle about the River Cartwright/Louisa Guy snippet we saw in the S5 preview and (while I've kind of begrudgingly accepted it) I've come to a conclusion about why I was opposed to it.

For the most part, I've gotten the impression that River is a very very single guy who doesn't really 'go' for women/romantic situations. And to me, this makes sense. I'll elaborate below, if you're curious to see my thought process. If you're one of the ppl who think he really deserves to be with someone, then... idk this is just my own justification. Get ready, I'm going full analytical essay mode here.

Reason 1: He respects boundaries too much. In season 1, when Sid tries telling him the reason she's at Slough House, he tells her that he doesn't want to know since it's likely for personal reasons which is "none of his business". In season 2, when Lamb says that River should 'get' with Kelly if she offers, River is very opposed to this and finds it (rightfully) unethical. In season 3, River tells Louisa that her private life is not Lamb's business and that he shouldn't bring up her "way of processing her trauma". In season 4, he hesitates to share his personal problems with Louisa, emphasizing that he is considerate of "keeping things work related". There are a lot of instances where River shows how he doesn't want to take things beyond what is needed, which to me translates to: friends are all I need.

Reason 2: It's very anti-Bond of him. James Bond is this slick, suave guy who manages to charm every lady he comes across in literally every iteration he's in. One of Bond's most recognizable aspects is how he is always seducing women to get his job done. River is this awkward guy who bumbles most of his social interactions through misunderstandings and sarcasm. Most of River's characterization is on the basis that he thinks he's Bond, but continually proves in many ways how he is the opposite of him. River's relationships with women is another way to telling the audience that he is very far from being the 'perfect' spy that James Bond is.

Reason 3: He's got too much drama around him that renders romance unnecessary. River is likely one of Slow Horse's most intriguing characters, solely based on his family background. The grandson of a legendary spook, the son of an ex-CIA mercenary, the son of a bitter and neglected daughter, the brother to trained assassins who got in trouble with lots of people... There are so many points of interest around River's family alone that I just don't think a romantic plot would benefit his character. It's nice to have rounded, three-dimensional characters, but if a character has too many conflicts and side plots, it can get difficult to keep up with. If I had to choose between the themes of River coming to terms with his family legacy or allowing him to find romance with someone, I'd pick the first option because it seems far more intriguing and has more setup/depth.

There are more subtle reasons here and there, and I know that the book version of River contradicts some of my points, but these are the major aspects behind my pitch for "River should stay single and not be shipped with anyone." I see why he might be shipped with some ppl, but ultimately that is my stance on River's romantic life. His women friends should just stay friends, and I am glad Spider died because that man was TOXIC and i dont know why ppl ship them.

uhhhhh thanks for reading my essay? Hopefully yall see the way I'm thinking (maybe i convinced you to see my side of things too???). Crazy how i did all this based on 0.5 seconds of footage that is likely (in true River fashion) a misunderstanding. Yay for overthinking!

Let me know if my essay was good (was it engaging? was my writing good? did i bring up some dogwater points?), i spent more time on this than I expected but it feels good to air my thoughts out.

TL;DR I am ✨ delusional ✨

[jadeazora]

A bit of review/overall thoughts for the Teal Mask.

Overall, a much better attempt compared to DLC1 of SwSh. The Isle of Armor was pretty cool, but the storyline was pretty bland overall. I found the story much more engaging here, especially when we get the true story of what happened between the "Loyal" Three and Ogerpon.

Speaking of the new Legendaries, the L3 are interesting with how much intelligence they show (from knowing how valuable the masks are and traveling across regions to get to Kitakami to clearly planning their revenge on Ogerpon right in front of you and Carmine) and how they might have been corrupted by the Toxic Chain. Ogerpon is also really cute with how much personality she shows. I feel SV really did a great job with bonding us with our Legendary partners overall.

Also with the Loyal Three, there's a number of interesting guesses about how they came back to life. My initial assumption was that it was something like them feeding on Kieran's anger and resentment to reawaken themselves, but there's also the theories that he was possessed by the Toxic Chain (we do see a purple glow travel up his arm during the scene if you pay very close attention, so it's possible this is where he would be possessed) and the rumors of the crystals from the Crystal Pool possibly bringing the dead back to life, since Carmine mentions a rumor where people have met those who have passed away there, and Kieran was hanging around with the Mask that had been imbued with those crystals.

(As an aside, SV has very much of a corrupted wishes vibe, from the Professor and their vision of a utopia would cause an ecological disaster to Paldea, to the Loyal Three wishing for beauty/power/intelligence when they made contact with the Toxic Chain at the possible cost of their morality, and how Kieran wishes to become stronger than the player but falls into his obsession at the end.)

Honestly, Kieran's launched himself into being one of my favorite rivals with the game seemingly building him up as a problem for the Indigo Disk storyline, but it's neat how the siblings undergo a complete reversal with how they view the protagonist. He's also a pretty decent challenge, with a fully-evolved team of six in the low-mid Lv70s all packing held items. (If you're doing this after you completed the main story of SV.) He puts up a much better fight than Geeta does, for sure, and I hope he gets to meet your base-game rivals in the next storyline.

Carmine is also really fun, especially when she starts warming up to us, but I do hope she gets called out for her earlier treatment of her brother, and how she started this whole mess by lying to him. Like, I don't think he would have felt left out by us just randomly running into Ogerpon. We thought it was a child until it dropped its mask, we could have just explained that to him. We're the new kid, how would we know any better or what the ogre looks like? I guess she might have been worried that two little kids would just climb up this dangerous mountain at night, but it still lead to more problems.

I loved Perrin's sidequest too, and hope we see her again in the Indigo Disk! Bloodmoon Ursaluna is so cool (already one of my fave Gen9 Pokemon and regional variants), and can actually give you a pretty fierce battle if you go in with a new team.

Kitakami still feels a little empty imo, just like the base game, but there's a good amount of small caves that sometimes have rare Pokemon inside, and places like the Chilling Waterhead that I wouldn't even know was there if not for Fezandipiti. Some other areas are also visually cool, like the Crystal Pool (interesting to see those crystals from Area Zero are showing up in other regions as well) and the Fellhorn Gorge.

I'm really excited for the Indigo Disk now, like full-on brainrot mode rn, and feel the Teal Mask really does a pretty good job of building up the second part of the DLC with all the little teasers we get. (In comparison, SwSh's DLC felt more separate between the two halves.) I feel they haven't shown much of the story aside (from the BB League/battling stuff), so things are probably going to get pretty crazy, especially with certain things the datamine has given us, in Pt2, and I really can't wait to see what happens next!

[journals-of-the-guardian-project]

LORE POST #1

Redesign of my Chat Noir redesign to go together with my rewrite which I will talk a lot about under the cut. I'm pretty set on this design too and will link it at the beginning of the fic when I get ten chapters completed and ready to post :3

What is different from canon, why I am changing some things, etc. Feel free to just read my thoughts around the design if you want to read my fic without any guidelines of what I'm planning so far for him

BUT I won't spoil anything major dw

The design:

I've changed chat noir's design so it would blend in more at night. The preferred the sleek black tones over the glow in the dark green I gave him before. I take a whole lot of inspiration from the PV of miraculous ladybug in these designs so of course his hair is still floofy.

When initially designing Chat noir, the tips of his hair are darker since I really liked that trait some other redesigns gave him so I included it without making his whole head of hair black.

I got the idea to base his design off of rust and RAN with it! He still has some greens in his design but they've shifted closer to yellow green and gold for the color scheme!

I've liked the idea about the clothes in the hero designs looking more cloth like too so I've incorporated that into the design with pockets and a zipper cause I can. Since Adrien has been thinking about being a superhero for a while, his design is more thought out were it could be.

EDIT: Forgot to mention!! Ladybelle has a lil more black in her design and now chat has a little more red! :3 matching

I saw some concept art of Chat Noir with a hat at one point and I loved it so much I wanted to keep it in to a certain extent, SO Marichat moment all the way. I decided to add the bells back into his design (I missed them) and took inspiration from @/callimara's Chat Noir design.

Chat noir will still be very cat like in this and I thought it'd be funky if his feat were like a cat's

Overall it isn't much of a design change for some aspects but I really like how it turned out!

K story stuff now:

I want to get ten chapters done before I post chapters again on the first fic since I don't think I did the best job introducing what I've changed. This isn't talking about adrien agreste's life this is more his role as Chat Noir. I'll get to adrien when I get his redesign sheet finished

(any part of this section might be edited in the future but this is basically part of my ideas)

Honestly a whole lot of the fic(s) is(are)

Fault of canon? -> Solution

I've been developing for two years now and I just gotta write it out... Entirely hinging on my execution sigh

Chat noir's powers are now on a more equal footing with Ladybug's (Ladybelle now) and I'll get more indepth when I post Ladybug's redesign and stuff but basically

The miracle box is a mix mash of several miraculous's from other boxes due to an event Guardian Marianne caused. Supposedly, she unleashed the Rabbit kwami of time on the guardians in an act of defiance. Resulting in rips in time eating away the members present for such an event, burning to death in fire. Marianne managed to run away with the miraculous's she could obtain and do her best to live her life knowing what she's done.

The Ladybug and Cat miraculous are a duo pair. Strongest when used in a partnership. Many are tempted to use both at the same time for what the powers merge to become but this isn't the strongest path.

Tikki and Plagg are soulmates you could say. They aren't really romantic but they are bonded for life. Never one without the other.

They are the only miraculous pairing in the new mixmash of the guardian box. Eventually Marianne gives the responsibility to Master Fu, her lover, before the rabbit comes after her as well.

I'll talk more about the changes I've made to Tikki's character in Ladybelle's post but as a part of the Miraculous cure, something all pairing miraculous's have to purify evils and darkness, it requires both parties to be present. Usually some form of touch or communication initiates the Miraculous cure

"Pound it!"

Chat noir can use his power alone to defeat evils but it's like cauterizing a wound. He doesn't figure this out for a bit.

I'll talk more about the miraculous cure in Ladybelle's post

This is still a part of the story I'm working on but:

the miraculous of destruction gets more powerful the longer the user wields it. With techniques and familiarity, Chat noir will be able to make black pockets of nothing just from a touch. Yes I'm including this from the concept art. Though he'll only get this later down the road

Chat noir is still a form of escapism to Adrien and part of his character arc is realizing he can't rely on it like that. A large part of adrien's character I'll talk about in adrien's post ties into Chat Noir too

I'm still figuring out some plot points for him so this is where I'll end this off. But I will say I'm planning on Chat Noir getting more time with the kwamis and more of a role in the Guardian arc and guardian stuff in general

[shinidamachu]

I think you or someone else discussed how Inuyasha is most likely demisexual because of his lack of interest in nudity until he formed an emotional bond. I was just thinking how the anti’s claimed Inuyasha settled for Kagome, but all evidence points to him loving her *despite* her resemblance to Kikyo. Not hating on Kikyo, just pointing out how Inuyasha kept saying it’s his fault she died because he didn’t trust her, even though trust has to go both ways but whatever, so if he was settling then Kagome would be a daily reminder that he failed Kikyo. Which would sound like hell considering his repeated claims of his fault.

But clearly in the past discussion of Inuyasha being demisexual, we all know he isn’t shallow or ”settling”.

I might have mentioned Inuyasha being demisexual once or twice, but I don't remember posting something that specific. Maybe someone else did and I reblogged it?

I'm glad you brought up the "Inuyasha settled for Kagome" terrible take, though, because you make great points and boy do I have something to say about it.

First, I love that you mentioned trust has to go both ways despite Inuyasha blaming Kikyo's death solely on his lack of trust on her. It always bothered me how quickily and sincerely he owned up to the role he played on her fate when there was zero reciprocity from Kikyo.

He went as far as taking responsability for things that have never really happened and that would be completely out of his control if they had, such as Kikyo "dying to follow after him" even though he didn't ask for it and never would.

The irony is that, between the two of them, Kikyo was actually the one more equipped to realize they were being played and yet, not only she falls for the same trap, but never really acknowledges that her lack of trust on Inuyasha was just as detrimental to their downfall.

Naraku's entire plan was based on both of them doubting each other. If either one had been more trusting, it'd have failed. Inuyasha recognizes this and regrets not trusting Kikyo, immediately treating her like the victim that she is and never once blaming her.

But he is a victim himself and she never extends the same courtesy to him, still thinking her actions were justified because he should have trusted her — not the other way around — and so she never bothers easing his guilt. On the contrary, she purposely adds to it.

The thing about the love triangle — for lack of a better term — is that Inuyasha and Kagome are constantly pushing their feelings aside to empathize with each other's and Kikyo's pain, while Kikyo acts like she's the only one who's hurting.

Which is to be expected at first because she is the one who died and was brought back against her will, but as the story progressed, I kept waiting for Kikyo to see a little bit of herself on the ordinary girl who was entrusted the weight of the world upon her shoulders, had her shoes to fill and the mess she left behind to clean up.

I kept waiting for her to show some sympathy for the boy who lost fifty years of his life because she misjudged him and was willing to die for a debt she manipulated and guilt-tripped him into thinking he had, a boy she supposedly loves.

None of it came, at least not in a way that felt organic or satisfying. That's my main issue with how Kikyo was written. You can't paint her as a complex character and then gloss over her flaws. You can't sell her as gray character and then pretend the bad things she did never happened.

Takahashi wanted her to reap all of the rewards that come with a redemption arc without really bothering to make her go through one, because that would mean having Kikyo face her mistakes for what they were — including her distrust on Inuyasha — and then apologizing or making up for it, a feat that rarely happened in canon, if at all.

Instead, she abruptly stops acting as vicious, so everything can be conveniently forgiven and forgotten because "she isn't like that anymore." The lack of explanation about what motivated this change makes harder for the audience to connect with her and results in many plot inconsistencies.

And the lack of accountability regarding Kikyo's actions keeps her from growing and reaching her full potential as a character, indirectly regressing or preventing the development of the characters around her as well, which I believe is a huge part of why the story feels repetitive and stagnant at times.

Now, you're definitely onto something when you argue that all evidence actually points to Inuyasha falling in love with Kagome despite her resemblance to Kikyo. I've actually talked about it here and here.

While it's true that Inuyasha mistook Kagome for Kikyo when they first met, it would've been unreasonable to expect anything different. Their looks and scents are similar, he had just woken up from a fifty years long spell and up until then he had no reason to believe otherwise, but Inuyasha actually caught up in a decent amount of time.

After that, as much as he still refused to call Kagome by name, he was also very aware she wasn't Kikyo, to the point that it took seeing her with complete priestess attire on for him to even make that correlation again.

And yet, Inuyasha still doesn't go back into thinking they're the same person, but rather that Kagome's a girl who resembles Kikyo. Only eventually, even this starts to change the more time they spend together and suddenly, when Inuyasha has a nightmare about Kikyo, is Kagome he sees first.

Mind you, he has only seen Kagome in priestess clothes once. Kikyo wore those her entire life. It'd be understandable for him to confuse Kagome for Kikyo and yet Kagome was his first thought here when, by logic, she shouldn't have been. From them on, he doesn't even see any resemblance between the two girls at all anymore.

Which makes sense, because even if Inuyasha had tried to use Kagome as a replacement — something he never did — he couldn't possibly have succeded, since both girls are polar opposites — a creative choice that was done completely on purpose — and Kagome wasn't slightly interested on being anyone but herself, making her into the worst Kikyo replacement ever.

That's why it got easier for Inuyasha to distinguish one girl from the other with time. Their distinct personalities make up for completely different dynamics and bring completely different feelings out of Inuyasha, because they represent completely different things to him and, again: this is done absolutely on purpose.

In the manga, this is better illustrated by two very specific panels. In the first one, Kikyo is smiling sadly but genuinely at Inuyasha — which we don't see her do often — and he admitted later on that the exchange made him feel guilty, like he had done something wrong, since he had just been rude to her.

In the second one, Kagome is smiling brightly at Inuyasha, which she does constantly, then we immediately see him blush and think to himself how relieved he is to see that smile

Of course those are very different contexts, but they pretty much set the tone for both relationships and if the arrangement of those panels wasn't a conscious choice — which I doubt — then Takahashi is insanely lucky. It's also worth noting that Inuyasha felt relieved to see Kagome smiling because it was further confirmation that even after Kikyo's resurrection, she was still Kagome.

So I think it's safe to say the physical resemblance actually slowed the romantic process down, considering that the staged betrayal made Inuyasha build his walls even taller than they were when he met Kikyo. This becomes even more clear when you compare their respective first "amicable" conversations.

With Kikyo, even though he was reluctant about her approach and suspicious of her intentions, there was still a part of him that obviously wanted it to be true, so he was at least open to what she had to say.

With Kagome, he was visibly more aggressive and closed off because he has been burned before and she was the reincarnation of the woman who did the burning, which makes her managing to get his trust so quickly that much more remarkable, since she apparently did in less time and in worse circumstances, what Kikyo couldn't.

And Kagome did it precisely because she never acted like Kikyo. She actually took the time to know Inuyasha, to give him her trust and to earn his, to build a solid relationship, based on honesty and real acceptance.

I like to think that, while Kikyo found a crack on Inuyasha's defense she could slip in, Kagome slowly smashed his walls to the ground, therefore leaving an ever lasting impact on him that she couldn't have made by being anyone but herself.

When Inuyasha starts to pursue Kagome romantically, he does so after concluding that there's absolutely no resemblance between the two girls at all and after going through an entire arc where Kagome cried for his sake and trusted him blindly, none of which has anything to do with Kikyo.

People argue that Inuyasha was actually trying to kiss Kikyo here, but why would he do that when he still thinks she betrayed him? And if this was really the case, then why has he never willingly kissed or tried to kiss Kikyo until their final goodbye, Sunrise additions excluded?

At this point, it makes more sense to me that he was avoiding to look at Kagome not because she looks like Kikyo — he has been looking at her just fine before —, but because he has started to catch feelings for her despite his efforts not to and doesn't know how to act. In fact, when he had the chance to kiss Kikyo soon after, this is what we got instead:

And then he hugs her — something the anime cut out — but the important thing is that Inuyasha had this and many other opportunities to rekindle his relationship with Kikyo and simply didn't.

In this particular occasion, he even go as far as to ask Kikyo to return the piece of soul that keeps her "alive" to Kagome knowing full well what the consequences were.

Why would Inuyasha settle for a "replacement" when he could have the real thing instead? Even if you believe resurrected Kikyo to be nothing more than a malicious replica of the original, she's still more Kikyo than Kagome could or would ever be.

I dislike this notion because if it's true and there's not an ounce of Kikyo there, why should the audience or the characters care if she "lives" or "dies"? If she gets a redemption arc or not? It feels like a cop out to only consider her the real Kikyo when she does good things.

That being said, save for maybe one scene at the beginning where Inuyasha shoved a bow and some arrows at Kagome because Kikyo was a master archer, he never expected her to behave like Kikyo, never tried to change her so she would and never acted frustrated or disappointed at the fact that she was her own person.

Inuyasha has his flaws — as any good main character should — but he always respected the inviduality of both girls, which is more than I can say about the people who insist on this baseless take.

To wrongly paint Inuyasha as someone who settled for Kagome because she looks like Kikyo gets especially icky when even Naraku, the villain who was obsessed with her, never redirected said obsession to Kagome.

It's such a common trope that I was actually expecting it, but I'm glad it didn't happen because it's a subtle and yet effective way of sedimenting both girls as separate individuals instead of going for the cheapest option.

And ironically, the only character who treated Kagome as if she was Kikyo was Kikyo herself, but even that was very early on and she only seemed to do it as a way of belittling Kagome, because while mentioning her to other people — or by the end of the story — Kikyo had no trouble referring to Kagome as a different being.

Sunrise's adaptation made very questionable choices but something they were pretty consistent on was making clear Kagome and Kikyo aren't the same.

Besides, something fundamentally wrong with this argument is that Inuyasha comes off as shallow and Kikyo as disposeable. Shallow because it suggests physical appearance is all that matters — which goes against everything his character stands for in canon — and the soul is just a seal of approval.

Disposeable because it hints Kikyo's personality is so forgettable and unimportant that it played absolutely no part on sparkling Inuyasha's interest. She's so easily replaceable that even someone who had opposite world views, thoughts, feelings, temperament and mannerisms could do the trick. The memories they made are so generic that it wouldn't have make a difference if any other character was in her place.

Why do people even like those characters, why do they even ship them together if they truly believe that? That's why I don't buy that they actually do.

You see, considering how huge Kagome's soul is, Kikyo technically has got to be someone else's reincarnation too, but I've never seen anyone making the case that she is anyone but herself or that her predecessor is also the love of Inuyasha's life.

The reason they try to do this with Kagome is so that they can pretend Inuyasha and Kikyo somehow ended up together to cope with the fact that they didn't. And that's the exact same reason they pretend he setled for Kagome as well.

Which is funny because what exactly was Inuyasha settling for? Like, in the great scheem of things, what was Kikyo able to give him that he couldn't get a thousand times better from Kagome with no strings attached and just had to make his peace with it?

It seems to me like it was the other way around: Kagome managed to accomplish everything Kikyo failed to do, so if anything Inuyasha was settling, it was for Kikyo, resigned to spend the rest of his life as human — something he hated to be — just to get "accepted" or to die for something he didn't do just to appease her.

Finally, to say inuyasha settled implies he had no other choice but to marry Kagome. He had: staying single, because now that he has friends and wasn't alone anymore, he doesn't need a lover to fill that empty space in his life if he doesn't want one.

Plus, Kagome wasn't entitled to his love. She jumped trought that well knowing that three years is a long time, that people and feelings change and that what waited for her on the other side was a mystery, but she did it anyway because all she ever wanted from him was to stay by his side and for him to be honest with her.

Kagome would've been fine with a platonic relationship because even though she obviously wanted more, she was ready to accept whatever Inuyasha was willing to give her, but he wanted her to return so he could give her everything, which he couldn't before because he felt in debt with Kikyo. That's the whole point.

Inuyasha was the one who iniciated every romantic moment they had early on: the first hug, both almost kisses, etc. And it was clear that the things Kagome made him feel, such as that sense of peace, of belonging, of unadultered happiness, were very new to him, so the idea that Inuyasha was settling for her is laughable when this is the character in question:

I know a lot of those scenes were deleted or changed by Sunrise but I watched the anime without reading the manga beforehand and reached the exact same conclusions, so I'm still of the opinion that the people who convinced themselves Kagome was a consolation prize either didn't pay attention or have an agenda of their own to push, that won't change by reading the original material.

TLDR; one does not simply "settle" for their soulmate. They come home to them.

[scrapyardboyfriends]

I feel like I'm good at mostly ignoring this story until I catch up on the show and then I have to rant about it so....

the rant...

Obviously the premise of this story was already bad from the conception of John as a character. It was already kind of lazy and one single character was not going to rebuild the Sugden family anyway.

But every decision they've made since that character conception has been more baffling than the next really.

Because they could have just told a straightforward story about Vic finding a long lost Sugden brother and him coming to the village and getting to know Vic and Harry and Sarah and meeting Aaron and them trauma bonding over his army past and them getting together after that even though the Robert of it all is weird and maybe causes some surface level angst because god forbid they actually do anything with that.

And like...that would have been pretty dull and boring but it would have been a vaguely functional story.

Instead, they've been promoting this story like it's this big A story with Aaron sleeping with his ex husband's brother and being seduced by the Sugden charm and having sizzling passion overtake them all the time etc etc. And then on screen they're always like the D story and half the time you wouldn't even know what the scenes are trying to get across if you hadn't read the spoilers.

And then they keep missing out on actual story by going surface level with any of the Robert mentions, by not giving anyone any kind of motivations realistic or otherwise and constantly undercutting any potential drama before it even happens.

They've paralleled a bunch of random Robron affair scenes for no apparent reason other than to vaguely remind the viewers of Robert and Robron cause they want it to be dramatic but then it's not in the actual story and because they think that's all it takes to sell a romance story for Aaron? Unclear.

They've really done very little with the Robert mentions other than get them in there so they can put his name in magazines. But Aaron seems to have gotten over it all very quickly around the time John "kissaulted" him in the barn.

Their entire relationship thus far is based on sex. They've never even tried to have a conversation about anything else. Certainly not on screen. Aaron appears to have feelings according to the spoilers but we've seen very little evidence of it on screen and they haven't given any reason why he might like John. John is just blank. And I don't even feel the sexual attraction or sexual chemistry between them in any way because they have to sell it by John constantly telling him "I know what you want" etc. So I just have no clue why they're even doing this.

Then you have Vic who's stalking him because she's desperate for family, which I get but also he's kind of mostly been an asshole to her but that doesn't matter cause he's family and she must have it.

Then you have Mack who they created this animosity between him and John out of thin air for no apparent reason to the point that Lawrence doesn't even know why his character hates John.

And then they have Vic catch them in the barn and then tell everyone so you can have Mack be all weirdly jealous and tell Aaron he deserves better and have Aaron lie to him about still seeing John and lie to Vic because she doesn't want them to date so they won't break up and John won't leave.

And like fine I guess.

But then you do this fire story and have John be the big hero and now Chas is fawning all over him when before she had some minor reservations and you have Mack thanking him for saving his life.

So is Mack still going to be that upset when he finds out Aaron and John are still loosely a thing? I feel like they totally undercut that bit of future drama. I guess he can be upset Aaron lied to him but he's gonna be mad for like one scene and then everyone will move on.

And then is it going to be that dramatic when Vic finds out and has...*checks notes* the exact same reaction as before most likely?

Where is the story?

There isn't one.

And it's not like when Robert and Aaron's affair was discovered and Robert's whole marriage imploded and then eventually he worked his way back to Aaron and they got together properly.

Aaron and John are already basically together?? I guess?? Like there's nothing stopping them. It's not like there's any story in them getting together properly after they're discovered again and everyone has their very tepid reactions?

Sigh.

And then there's the Aiden Moore mystery they threw in there, which everyone has mostly guessed will be someone he lost in the army.

And is that supposed to explain his whole character and why he pushes everyone away? Cause he lost one person in the army?

Stacked up next to the trauma porn king, Aaron Dingle?

John tells Aaron about losing Aiden and Aaron's like "Yeah I can relate" and John's like, "Really, you lost someone too?"

And Aaron's like "Yeah take your pick. You want the boyfriend who got hit by a train and was paralyzed who then made me help him die and then I was on trial for his murder and started self harming? You want the boyfriend who was killed by the local serial killer and then my sister was arrested for it cause she was drinking so much at the time she couldn't remember if she'd killed him? You want that same sister who was then killed in a storm by a falling caravan that I probably could have stopped if I'd told people about my mom having an affair? And that's not even getting into the Robert of it all and what losing him did to me. Or there's you know my whole childhood wrecked by my father abusing me or my traumatic coming out and suicide attempt."

And John's just gonna be there all...

Just...like...I'm sorry...his little traumatic army past is not going to hold a candle to Aaron's litany of traumas or explain enough why he is the way he is.

And then what...they trauma bond. People find out they're still sleeping together and are vaguely bothered about it for one scene and then they're just...together?

Just what is the point of it all?

Why create all of these obstacles to them being together to then not actually really use any of them?

And then is Oliver going to want to leave in a year and then it's all for nothing anyway?

Sigh....sigh...sigh...

[demonslayedher]

The Taisho Secret canon content regarding The Legend of Zenitsu has unfortunately made me have to give up beloved concepts in this future!Zennezu headcanon post. Most specifically, Old Man Zenitsu's with a mustache, because Word of Gotouge says he never grews facial hair. Zenitsu is probably far more disappointed than I am about this.

But also, it has all given me a much deeper headcanon about "The Legend of Zenitsu" being a bonding experience in their marriage, for Nezuko is a big fan, like so, what with Nezuko being a willing model for Zenitsu's praise-worthy paintings.

And is my brain spinning headcanons again? Yeah.

--

Zenitsu wished he could rub it in Tanjiro's face that he got a book deal. Not on everything, just on "The Demon Slaying Arc ~Fated Encounters~," "The Heavenly Maiden Arc ~I Am Willing To Die For You~," and "The Life of the Man Who Loved The Spirit of the Plum Tree Arc." No one else deserved to know "The Tastiness of Nezuko-chan's Cooking" anyway, for Zenitsu had described it too well and it would be like sharing his wife with a bunch of slimy readers. Bad enough that he still had to share with Inosuke all the time.

But Tanjiro didn't rub it in. He smiled and made as kind a sound as even, and congratulated him.

Maybe Tanjiro had grown too mild to say or feel anything more than that.

Because Zenitsu had a publisher and small fan base, he got paid a small advance to keep writing. Not even to stop going to an office job in town, if he wanted to to keep spoiling Nezuko with nice things. The stroke to eager made him write "The Beautiful Swordswoman Nezuko Arc" in one night, but "The Golden Dragon Wandering Alone Arc ~Go And Rescue Nezuko!~" was one he slogged through. It was getting to be a handful, going to work and raising a kid living up to expectations now that people had them of him. It felt good at first, but it made the writing less fun.

His heart was hardly in it when he wrote the "Botamochi from Zenitsu Arc." The sales tanked, and Zenitsu's publisher didn't bother him when he said aside his pen for a while. It was a long while, and there were other things going on anyway.

Not long after Tanjiro died, Nezuko caught a flu that was going around. It honestly made Zenitsu a little glad to have an excuse to leave his kid with Aoi for a while so that he could have Nezuko to himself while she was contagious. He didn't need anyone's help to take care of him, because every cell down to his soul cared only about how he might pamper and comfort her.

"Nezuko-chan, come on and drink a little. It'll make your throat feel better."

"I can't. I don't want to," she moaned. Tears escaped her hopeless eyes. She still must have felt so gutted, and Zenitsu knew he could do little to fill her for the time being. Some of that hopeless look must had been from thinking she'd never be free of the headache, but at least that much he might be able to soothe.

"Why don't you rest your head on my lap for a change? Here, I'll stroke your forehead for you."

"You should sleep."

"I can do it in my sleep," he smiled to her. "Actually, did you know that the legendary hero Agatsuma Zenitsu can be even more powerful when he sleeps?"

At this, she gave him a weak smile. The first he'd seen lately. "Yes."

"It's true! It's because he can hear the sound of his wife at his side. It powers him up like lightning coming right out of his empty eye-sockets! Actually, there was one time when he blinded his enemy before the roaring sound of his power knocked him over."

"Or the sound of his snoring."

"No, no, it's thunder like it shoots right out of him! You see, it all started one night in a terrible, creepy forest, when he saw a helpless man swooped backwards into the tree tops..."

When Nezuko recovered, Zenitsu picked up his pen again, and published "Rumble of the Knock-Out Secret Swordsmanship of Zenitsu Arc ~The Legendary Man’s Eyes Shine With Light~" not long afterward. It sold decently, and it was nice to hear that he had some fans who were excited about it.

Life fell back into a new busy normal, and Zenitsu's muse was fickle. "The Potato Feudal Lord Arc" was just a passing thing for fun, not something he'd ever tell his publisher about. It was more fun for a while to try out other things, like painting. As long as Nezuko was his model, Zenitsu found he had a knack for it. He ran into Yushiro one time though, who told him he was a hack, and they got into a big argument that ended with Zenitsu throwing all his brushes and unused canvases at him and daring him to do better. Those had all cost a lot of money, so Nezuko was not happy about that. Likewise, she wasn't happy when Zenitsu refused to sell a painting of her and tore his pants while throwing a fit.

By the looks of Nezuko's ledgers, it looked like Zenitsu was stuck at that desk job, selling electricity around the little mountain foothill town. He had been there so long that he got promoted for being good at sitting in the same chair for years, and that meant moving closer to a bigger town, closer to the growing metropolis, where Zenitsu felt right at home and Nezuko assured him she would adjust.

What would Tanjiro think, now that nobody bought charcoal anymore?

The world that once had demons seemed further and further away and the droll of adulthood stretched on, and powers he couldn't behead with a swift Thunderclap and Flash fought amongst themselves. More and more, there were expectations of Zenitsu, and people depending on him. He had to assure people they would still have light and heat even as Tokyo burned, and the sound of planes rattled his ears almost daily. He was a man of his community now, and the only one his family could depend on. At Nezuko's insistence, they collected nearly-blind Kanao and his nephews and niece, and he tried to insist to Inosuke to stay with them in town where there were bomb shelters, but Inosuke, just as responsible for his own family, felt he kept them safest going deeper and deeper in to the mountains.

Nezuko knew nothing but worries. Sometimes, he almost wished she could be back to a childlike state of mind, protected from all the pain and horrors she so unfairly had to endure. In the darkness of a bomb shelter, he hugged her close as she trembled. "Say, Nezuko-chan. Do you remember that time..."

"What?"

"...that time the great hero Agatsuma Zenitsu was a teeny-tiny, but very, very strong mouse?"

He could hear her worries lift, however slightly. Maybe that was all a mouse could do.

"Actually, it was when he was a little boy. You'd never guess it, but he was very cowardly. That was a terrible warlock with a fancy red mark around his eye painted him with a magic white makeup that turned him into a mouse!"

She stifled a snort against his chest. "Uzui-san..."

"Yeah, that was the warlock's name! Did I already tell you this story before?"

"A mouse?" his son clung tighter to him, sometime he hadn't done in years. Even when he was little he always clung to Nezuko instead anyway. Zenitsu could tell by the tone of his son's voice that he was already teary-eyed and sniffly.

"Yeah. A little mouse who thought he had no power at all. That the world was too big for him. But as it turns out..."

What really hurt was Nezuko's reaction. She sighed with disappointment, and lamented that this was why he spent so many long hours away from home.

That was a story Zenitsu recorded later, as a memory of those times. It stayed on his bookcase at home next to the Potato Lord story, now that the world was quiet again.

Business picked up really well. The world got brighter, and so did the indoor lighting. As a general sense of optimism filled the world again, the small but dedicated base of "Legend of Zenitsu" fans called for a new installment. He responded well to praise, and soon gave them "The Dragon Palace Arc ~Eternal Nezuko~," but being so busy as a highly promoted seat-warmer at the office meant he had things he had to do while sitting in that seat. He put on weight again, and spent a lot of sad, long evenings stuffing cookies in his face while streaming with tears that he couldn't be eating one of Nezuko's homecooked meals instead. "Sitting In A Happy Circle and Boiling Tea in Our Bellybuttons Arc" was something he secretly wrote at his desk as a form of silent protest. His publisher rejected that one after reading only one page.

Of course! He had to be at home to write his best work! He had to be in the same space as his muse, Nezuko! Another quickly written revenge work of his, "The Future Holds Zenitsu Arc," was considered one of his better ones.

After that, he was satisfied with writing for a while, and he muse pushed him to start playing (perfectly) the piano. Nezuko was not thrilled about the piano he bought.

If only he had taught it to Nezuko, then. Her joints all bothered her, but she kept sewing out of willpower.

This new hobby inspired another novel, and Nezuko inspired another novel after that of course, and the stress of their son getting married and wanting a lavish wedding inspired another novel and another novel after that was a desperate attempt to strike it big and get out of the debt that wedding cost them. After all, Zenitsu's daughter-in-law was a cutie and he wanted to spoil her. It made Zenitsu remember how cute Nezuko was when they were newlyweds, and before that too, of course, and now too, and before he knew it he had written yet another novel, despite his dwindling fan base. Nezuko sure liked that one, though, and that was all that mattered.

The years went by. Zenitsu felt he lost his mind over how his granddaughter got cuter every time he saw her, and he eventually reached some arbitrary age when his company could only promote him to retired. Aside from the aches in his legs, he felt as young as he always did, though. Kanao said it was probably the effects of Breath technique. It sustained them without reaching a threshold at which it would be dangerous to them.

Zenitsu still wrote sometimes. He stayed busier when his busy-body grandson read the old unpublished "The Birth of Zenitsu Arc" and insisted on learning Thunder Breath. That was like a new job Zenitsu never asked for, especially since he still only knew one of the original six forms, but Kiriya sent him a letter askeing him to give it a shot, for who knew what the future held. Certainly not demons, Zenitsu was assured of that much. If Yushiro gave his novels a bad review one more time, he'd make sure of there were no more demons left in the world.

He got back in touch with Inosuke. He thought it might never happen after he abandoned the old house and charcoal mill, but the whole time, Inosuke had been on the mountain next to it, where he had always been King of the Mountain. He still took care of the house, he said. But a King still had to be King. They weren't the only people on the mountain, though. Aoi paid house calls. Still, Zenitsu gave Inosuke a stern lecture about making Nezuko (as well as Kanao) worry, so Aoi made sure to drag Inosuke into the bigger and bigger city sometimes.

Zenitsu's newest hobby to drop money on was photography, but now that he was a pensioner, Nezuko did not mind so much. She even agreed to let him fulfill his dream of taking her to Paris. He was glad he had that camera, to prove how the city could not outshine her.

He was glad he took her when he did. Her joints made it harder and harder for her to get around, even though she always smiled and insisted Zenitsu's legs must hurt more. He didn't like it when she laughed and joked around about chopping her legs off to grow new ones.

"Grandpa," his youngest granddaughter looked to him with a tearful face, "Grandma was saying something about being a demon again. I wish she'd stop that."

"I know, right!? She's a princess, and the very spirit of a plum blossom tree! A shrine maiden too!"

"There's no way someone like Grandma would ever go to hell."

He paused, and his stomach sank.

Nezuko gave up her sewing. She spent more and more time in bed, but with no desk job to sit at and a grandson taught enough that he could be told to go off and practice on his own, Zenitsu spent his days writing again. He took a long time on that novel he wrote for her, putting in all the sorts of parts he knew she liked. Sometimes he couldn't help himself and reads parts aloud to her without telling her everything else that already happened in the story. She smiled and enjoyed each fragment anyway.

"I've finally got the title for this one!" he announced. "It's called, 'I Will Be In Love With You A Thousand Years Arc.' Perfect, huh? Well, maybe it's still missing something. A million years, maybe?"

"Zenitsu-san... tell me a story..."

"I am! I'm telling you the greatest story yet! It's about this immortal princess who..."

"Tell me a real story..."

He paused and listened to her heartbeat as she took a breath--a simple, unpracticed breath in tired human lungs. Nezuko still made the same warm sound that she always did. It had a different resonance when she was a demon, and when he carried another life inside her, but it was always uniquely her.

"I want to hear... about the time you spent with my brother."

"Tanjiro? Yeah, he... hasn't been in these for a long time. Maybe I'll bring him back."

"You cared so much about him," she smiled from her futon. "That was why you protected my box, before you even met me."

"He... yeah."

"I'm glad you were such good friends... I want to hear about all those good things that happened to you. About your Ojiisan, and your little bird..."

"Yeah," he grimaced to a smile, and the inside of his nose zapped like a storm was brewing. "I had a lot of good things happen to me. A lot of bad things too."

"It's up to you to decide if you're happy or not. I hope... you'll decide you were happy."

"Yeah," he said, the snot already flowing. "The happiest. I'll tell you all about it. I'll make it my best story ever."

"You promise...?"

He kissed her forehead. "I'd never be able to come up with anything better than the truth."

[praisephantom]

Literally me trying to figure out when exactly Lawlight started sleeping with each other 😭 I'm 100% sure that by the time the Yotsuba Arc "Don't be so shy, Light-kun" panel shows up, they already were, (I'm a queer man who's had his fair share of situationships so source: trust me bro) - so possibly they started hooking up sometime after Light's amnesia? There are certaintly some points that make it sound semi plausible, a) being that L might have less trouble being intimate with who he assumes Kira to have been at some point becaus he is now innocent and doesn't remember killing. (He couldn't confirm Light to be Kira, so technically he's not quite sleeping with a mass murderer. Even though he knows, deep down, that this is bullshit, desire makes us pliable and behave illogically. And isn't this the actual base concept of Lawlight; the development of desire building on top of lacking logic and the very first time both L and Light experience the feeling of their power slipping out their palms multiple times throughout their friendship? So it doesn't seem too unreasonable to me.) and b) being that desire transcends even through Amnesia, and this might sound like just a silly dreamy thought but it's quite literally confirmed by Misa still having feelings for Light after she forgot about him being Kira. Which means, just because Light forgot playing Cat and Mouse with L, doesn't mean his body also forgot. Aside from the fact that he has a whole new bond to explore with L which means being able to get to know him all over again while being forced to spend every waking second chained up with him, if you feel some type of desire for someone I don't think Amnesia can get this out of your system. So, this is how I'm assuming it went; Option #1: Light is aware he wants L, but is confused about the source of his want. Being the mastermind he is, he figures it out pretty quickly though (we see him thinking of how he would act and do things if he was Kira/how he did things while he was Kira during Yotsuba arc pretty often) and while not having the memories of experiencing it, his body guides him to the conclusion, and sooner or later to L as well simply because of the mere concept of having played Cat and Mouse with L paired with their current dynamic and everything Light learned about L after his amnesia. He's such a hothead, unlike L im assuming he doesn't need to convince himself much. Option #2: Light is not aware he wants L (or perhaps just in denial about it) and for this one there would be a lot less thinking. Since here, it's mainly his body reacting to L's preserence, Light could easily play it off with mundane things/reasons for it, and rather spontaneously end up in an intimate situation with L (mouth faster than brain type) and then possibly figure out his source of attraction and that it must have developed during his time as Kira IF he was Kira at some point. Another thing is, it would have been way easier for Light to sleep with L /after/ losing his memory because he wouldn't be so tense around him anymore. Obviously, being a suspect would make anyone nervous, but surely it's no match to how it was before. Yotsuba Arc Light was drastically more relaxed around L, that's a fact to me, just think back of the time Light told Misa how hard it is for him to act casual and non suspicious in front of L before he lost his memories. Of course it's still possible they started hooking up before Light's amnesia, but that would take an insane amount of control in order to not let anything suspicious slip out during intimacy, and I doubt Light would take that risk. After all, resorting to an intimate situation in the first place would prove the lack of control, with both men being each other's nemesis.

[bibibbon]

Hi, so about my besties au...thanks to many excellents metas, I will try to change some chapters bc I think the pussycats are problematics or something closer. Pixieboob was weird with Izu, while you could chuckle as "lol she is an old woman who thinks she is still young" is creepy how we do have a second time a female hero is being creepy with a teen

(in besties au she will not be a girl's girls and see Izumi as competition)

But here my question: what the pussycats were meant to teach the students?

I know Mr. Sexyman ruined the program but...what was the program? Bc send kids to the camp was a bad call even if Mr. SEXYMAN didn't want to recruit BK. (Shiga attacked UA and it was thanks to a miracle, Izu and AM that nothing worse happened...I could give credit to Aizawa but he should have died or face worse)

And then we can add further....what the pussycats do as heroes? Someone said unsure if is canon or not ...how they are rescue heroes (the split of heroes makes no sense to me bc heroes would all try to save and rescue others) and what is the difference?

What the pussycats can teach that requires everyone to go to a camp? UA is a big place that has fake cities.

Someone (thr0) gave the idea how the pussycats were being accommodated towards Kota as he is not happy about heroes...if it's true, it's commendable they aren't forcing him to go but ...well, why insist in calling them?

Yes in Japan, idols are a big thing.

MHA is set in japan

But aside that...what are the pussycats?

Also, to finish: remember that line when one of the pussycats said "we have an even number of students, someone will be alone" and Izu, ofc, is alone. (Not blaming them for this that's on A1 being shitty) But ...it strikes as odd as defeats the purpose of teaching and let the kids bond (if that was the idea)

Say in A1 has 41 students (I don't even know how many kids there and I don't care) and the pussycats were expecting just 40. Well, make 2 groups where group A has 20, group B has 21. Everyone is included.

Again, what the fuck they were supposed to learn?

Hi @mikeellee 👋

It's definitely a great idea to play around with your characterisation of the pussycats especially because there is so little to them and they could be used to further improve the world building of mha.

The pussycats being problematic could be a great plot point having them be another example of the deep flaws of hero society. The pussycats are a hero group but they are also entertainers. They are entertainers first and heroes second and in my opinion that's evident in the way they present themselves with costumes that seem to be for show and nor suitable for fighting.

However, that doesn't mean that the pussycats can't fight or don't have valuable quirks like Tomoko's quirk search which was so conventional and valuable that all for one had to get his hands on it. The pussycats must of also been powerful to have held a title and job as heroes for a good number of years but maybe this is might be based on their public relations then their actual hero work.

That's to say the pussycats are problematic whether that be one of the members acting weird towards the boys in 1A but reducing it all to a mere gag.

While I do understand that this just like midnight's behaviour is all apart of their hero image and and act its worse that heroes who are in the 18+ category or well near that category would still do and say things like this to minors.

You also have mandalay and her questionable guardianship of kota. It's nothing like the others but I don't think that mandalay gave kota the support he needed and if that it due to her job ad a hero that further emphasises the point of the tough conditions there is to being a hero and the toxic standards.

Ultimately, making the pussycats have problematic elements that are highlighted within their character is a great idea.

Moving on to your second enquiry the ua training camp arc was supposed to do exactly that train the hero students by having them figure out their own weaknesses and letting them figure out what they want to focus on. While there are skills where everyone can develop like agility and strength which have been tested and were tested the moment they arrived.

The other days were spent on quirk strength and each individual stretching themselves to develop a better stamina.

Now you might say but why were the wild wild pussycats the ones to help them with this? And all I have to say is that I think that they are the ones in charge of the forest and they were probably the most available heroes at the moment to take care of the students.

I still think that It would of been better if each individual student got to try and get work experience in a hero agency through the summer and those that couldn't would be able to attend the summer camp. However, that wouldn't work or help the plot so it's understandable that this route wasn't taken.

1A has 20 students and 1B has around the same number. The mha summer camp could of been great to show the classes bonding and having 1b maybe understand what 1A went through and that they aren't stuck up at all. I think even if izuku was left alone it would of been nice to pair him up with someone from 1B like yangi who thinks he is creepy and cool and we could have them interact or just have izuku bond with 1B. That's not meaning that he isn't bonding with 1A but we need more 1B content in my opinion.

[lukkabloom]

Fun Facts abt the residents according to Ikevamp Radio (ヴァンなま) Part 1

Found a playlist of Ikevamp Radio that occurred multiple years ago so I decided to collect my findings about the residents in a list. I haven't seen anyone translate it or talk abt it so I decided to do it for a bit of fun. Anyways, here are episodes 1-3!!

Some quick things to note before:

Vincent/Aramaki Yoshihiko (Makki) is the MC, Sebas/Morishima Shuta (Morishi) is a guest (but he’s in every episode he might as well be the 2nd MC). They also have other people as guests in some episodes (other ikevamp VAs or others related to the game itself)

Episodes 1 & 2 occur before Ikevamp’s release

most of my findings are from a segment from the livestream where the residents (mainly Vincent and Sebas) talk to each other & ask each other questions about the lives while they spend some bonding time in the thermae. The segment's called "I love yu" which is a pun on "I love you" and yu (湯) which means "hot water" or "bath"

There are also other segments where the VAs draw based on a designated theme & the viewers vote on the best art (van Gogh's drawing section), and another one where the VAs read the summary of the game in their in-character voices (but the VAs interrupt and make it funnier & less romantic) called "Ikemen Vampire, a guidance for you" (I won't talk abt these sections much tho)

ALSO!! This is not a translation of the whole livestream, just bits and pieces of it. I don't have the time and energy to do that

Episode 1: feat. Leonardo's VA Tsuda Kenjiro

Question: Which historical figure/genius do you respect the most?

Napoleon: Oda Nobunaga

Mozart: Johann Sebastian Bach

Leonardo: Michelangelo (which I thought was interesting since real-life Leo and Michelangelo had some beef w each other)

Morishima (Sebas’s VA): Newton (bc of the apple & theory of universal gravitation), Edison

Tsuda (Leonardo’s VA): van Gogh

Aramaki (Vincent’s VA): Liu Bei, Zhao Yun (I think that's who he was talking abt? I'm not familiar much w/Chinese figures' names in jp---they're read differently in Eng)

The other VAs joke that Aramaki’s similar to Napo in the sense that they both admire soldiers/military commanders

Question: Favorite part of a woman’s body? (This sounds so wrong in both jp & eng)

Napoleon: from the neck to the shoulder, he's prob talking abt the shoulders to the neckline or vice versa（首から肩まで）

Mozart: voice (so he can understand what his partner’s thinking & feeling)

Leonardo: thighs (bc it’s soft & he likes lap pillows)

Tsuda said Leo’s a bit of a pampered/attention-seeking child (甘えん坊), and not an ore-sama (which he thought Leo would be), an unexpectedly cute reason considering how reliable Leo looks

Vincent gets a bit sad when he’s bathing alone

Leo can sing a song that he’s only heard once (as expected of a genius)

Sebas can be seen hanging the sheets outside from Vincent’s room

Leo’s unsatisfied that there’s only men in the mansion (this was before MC stumbled to the mansion)

Vincent doesn’t want women in the mansion bc he wouldn’t know how to act in front of them

Sebas thinks Leo is an expert in handling women, Leo is confused when he became one

Leo’s weak against Vincent’s pleas/suggestions (honestly who isn’t??)

Sebas thinks it’s impossible for a woman to stumble upon the mansion (foreshadowing)

Leo thinks that fate will play a trick on them, his mumbling confuses Vincent and Sebas (more foreshadowing)

Episode 2: feat. Jun, singer of Ikevamp theme song "Rouge"

Jun is a repairman who fixes things around the mansion… HE'S ALIVE IN THAT ERA???? (Idk if its canon)

He also sings “Rouge” while he works which means the song exists in the 20th century (again idk how much of this is canon)

Jun also sells milk in the mansion, acting as a different person as the repairman, although Sebas & Vincent are suspicious of him (he literally just enters the bath to sell milk to Vincent and Sebas lol)

Vincent and Sebas talk about MC, she has arrived @ the mansion

Vincent worries abt her since she is surrounded by vampires in an unfamiliar environment, but to Sebas, it looks like MC enjoys her life and is headstrong (aka Vincent is just nice to others, nothing new)

Vincent believes that Sebas is cool and can do anything, to which Sebas indirectly disagrees (he coughs)

Sebas is weak to Vincent’s innocent eyes (just like Leo from the previous episode, again, who isn't?)

Sebas breaks the 4th wall talking abt a popular romance game where you can fall in love w/vampire-turned historical figures

This is literally the beginning of how Sebas goes ooc (becomes weirder) throughout the series (is it even ooc if it’s basically approved by official??)

Sebas says that Theo is overprotective of Vincent, Vincent comments that he’s supposed to be the older one

they also introduce my fav segment (Can you tell me... your name?) where they have listeners vote on quotes they want the VAs to say, and they will say the line w/the listener’s names so it sounds like the VAs are speaking to them. Vincent's & the guest (if there is one) will have legit cool lines (like “(y/n), Don’t let go of me” or “(y/n), you’re the only one in my eyes”) but Sebas always has one funny line as one of his options (ex. “Hey, do you wanna have a takoyaki party?” or “Do you want to fry one more sanma?”) and every single time the weird line gets voted and ITS FUNNY AS HECK

Also in the same segment the viewers will sometimes submit funny names for the VAs (especially Sebas) to say & it adds to the laughs

Ex. for Sebas’s “Hey, do you wanna have a takoyaki party?” some viewers gave names of Anpanman characters (a children’s anime in Japan) so Sebas will literally say things like “Jam-ojisan, hey, do you wanna have a takoyaki party?”

There was also one whose name was Tako (octopus in japanese) so Sebas would say “Tako, do you wanna have a takoyaki party?” so he’s asking the octopus to have a takoyaki party where the octopus will be eaten (the irony as well as the dark underlying meaning behind it is very funny)

Also the way the other people are laughing while Sebas’s VA is trying to keep his cool is so hilarious

It’s predetermined and agreed upon the Ikevamp staff that Sebas (or Morishi) is willing to do/say weird things for the audience

This whole segment is a whole ride in and out of itself

Episode 3: feat. Leonardo’s VA Tsuda Kenjiro once again

Sebas once again breaks the 4th wall by referencing episode 1 of the show

Sebas teaches Leo the basics of manzai (a type of japanese comedy)

Leo says “Vannama” (the name of ikevamp radio) and “tendon” (the food and a manzai phrase)  in a weird accent further proving that he doesn’t understand Japanese (or maybe it's bc the two phrases are too specific idk)

Sebas tells Leo to ignore what he’s saying as he is saying metafictional expressions (メタ発言) basically how he is breaking the 4th wall, and Leo just accepts that as another one of Sebas’s quirks

Vincent comments that Leo’s very manly, Sebas further compliments him saying that Leo is a man amongst men

This episode has one of the funniest (imo) “Can you tell me… your name?” segments ever. Vincent and Leo’s VAs had amazing lines, but Sebas… oh gosh where do I even start. (ok Leo’s VA did say “Ushi (cow), wait for me by the bed,” and “Namamono (raw food), wait for me by the bed” & that was funny too but…)

One of the options for Sebas’s lines (and the one that was ultimately chosen to be said) was “Do you want to fry one more sanma (a type of seasonal fish eaten in fall)?” and the viewers got crazy with this one.

There were some legit names but most were for jokes, choosing names going along with the theme of fall foods and creatures (tuna, matsutake, karaage, grasshoppers, etc.)

There was “Akashiya, sanma mouipikki yaku?”(Akashiya, do you want to fry one more sanma?) which was the funniest one. Akashiya Sanma is a very famous Japanese comedian and it’s very genius of the viewer to connect the person with the food. I laughed straight for like 10 min when I first listened to this (I still laugh just remembering it. The double-entendre!!!)

Literally any episode with Tsuda is chaotic (this isn’t the last time where he shows up)

At the end of the episode, Vincent’s VA couldn’t stop laughing and messed up his lines multiple times (I don’t blame him everything is just so funny)

[mischievouslittlecreature]

Part 9: Bound in Blood

Fandom: Peaky Blinders

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x OC

Summary: To some, the blood bond is as sacred as marriage.

Word Count: 1,979

Notes: Today (April 29) is Lucy's birthday! This might be the sappiest thing I've ever written. Also, I couldn't find much concrete information on blood bonds, so apologies if I got some of the details wrong or had to fudge any of the real-life aspects of these bonds to accomplish what I intended in this fic. Don't try this at home, kids; blood-born illnesses are a thing. Warnings for depictions of blood, self-inflicted injuries, and smut.

Previous Part • Series • Next Part

The knife stung as it bit into the flesh of her left palm. Blood, like red pearls, beaded at the first prick, then rushed from the wound in a small gush as she increased pressure on the blade and it sliced deeper into her flesh. She dragged it across nearly the full length of her palm, leaving a diagonal, bleeding line from the base of her index finger to the heel of her palm opposite the side of her thumb in its wake. 

When Tommy had asked her what she thought about marriage, she had been honest with him. Her feelings were conflicted. All her life, marriage had seemed to be akin to a cage. She’d watched women–not just her mother, though she was certainly the most potent example–have their entire beings almost entirely stripped away, until nothing, not even their name, remained. Nothing but a maid, housekeeper, nanny, and whore all rolled into one.  

Perhaps she was being a bit harsh, but that was the example of marriage she had been exposed to for almost her entire life.

And it did not ultimately matter what Tommy wanted, either. She knew it was never his desire to cage or chain her. But it would not be up to him. Society had a very particular expectation for women who were married. And if he wanted to stand even a miniscule of a chance of being accepted into the circles he longed to be a part of, he could not have an unconventional wife. At least not now. 

Perhaps someday, with the changing times and more modern outlooks…if equal rights for women ever truly properly took off, then maybe. But not right now. 

And she would be a rubbish wife. Bored out of her mind. She detested cleaning, was an absolute disaster when it came to knitting and sewing, and she was certain that sitting at home with the knowledge that her husband and his boys were out enjoying all the action and thrills of the life without her, would eat away at her. 

She never had handled the feeling of being left out very well. 

She’d grow to resent it. Resent her life. Maybe even resent him. And that was not something she was willing to risk. 

He had been startlingly understanding, all things considered, when she explained her feelings to him. He knew her so well, he probably had half been expecting it. He’d just stroked her hair, kissing the top of her head. 

“I don’t need a ring and a certificate to know that I’m going to love you forever,” he’d told her. She’d locked her arms around his neck, stretching up on her toes to touch her forehead to his. 

“I plan to love you forever too,” she’d affirmed. And she meant it. Just because she could not say yes to being his wife, did not mean that they didn’t intend to be together for the rest of their lives.  

“But the door is always open. If you ever decide someday that you do want it,” Tommy had promised. Her brows raised, she’d looked at him with eyes that were only half joking. 

“Really? What if you end up marrying someone else?”

He’d scoffed at the mere suggestion, but must have caught the seriousness behind the teasing tone in her voice, because he’d pulled her closer, fondly kissing her nose. “Doesn’t matter. The promise still stands,”  he’d shrugged as if it were no big deal. “You decide you want me to marry you, and I’m already married, I’ll just get divorced.”

Laughing, she’d shook her head. “I don’t think you can ‘just get divorced,’ love. It would fuck your reputation.”

He shrugged again. “Would be worth it,” her laughter faded at the dead seriousness she saw in his eyes as he tucked a stray curl behind her ear. “I’d do anything for you.”

There was something about the way he’d said it, the complete and total certainty, that made her nearly want to cry. No one had ever loved her like this before. 

Completely. Passionately. Unconditionally. 

“There’s something else we could do. In the place of an official, legal marriage. If you’re interested,” he’d suggested, voice but a tempting purr in her ear. And when she looked at him, brow raised with intrigue, he smirked devilishly. 

And so here they were, kneeling in front of each other on the rug in the bedroom of her flat, each of them clutching a dagger in one hand, drawing it across their palms. Lucy watched the blood ooze from her cut, slightly flexing her fingers. She set the knife aside, looking from the warm, red gush to see Tommy doing the same, the dark red of his blood striking against the pale white of his skin.

He looked up, sky blue eyes glimmering in the low light of the candles they’d lit. Her eyes traced over the sharp lines of his jaw and cheeks, softened slightly by the freckles dotting his skin. Those eyes that could be as cold as ice or as warm as a sunny sky boring into her. Dark fringe falling over his forehead. When it was less styled, like it was now, he could have almost been described as a little boyish.  

The blood pooling in both of their palms dripped between their fingers. Sticky and warm.

Slowly, being careful so as to not jostle the cuts too much, they pressed their palms flush against each, then, just as slowly, interlaced their fingers.

Lucy gasped quietly at the feeling of his cut kissing hers. Their blood mixing together. Pouring into each other. Running through the other’s veins. 

If they had not already been one being simply split in two before, they certainly were now. Lucy shuddered, Tommy’s free hand going around her waist and pulling her a little closer, keeping their bleeding palms clasped tightly together. She tilted her head up, nose brushing along his neck and jaw as she did. He dipped his head to kiss her, deeply and open mouthed, the slow stroke of his tongue against hers making her moan softly against his plush lips. 

To some, the blood bond was as sacred as marriage. An unbreakable intermixing of the two bloods. The closest thing one could get to entwining their soul with another. Not only was it a symbol of the deepest possible love and trust, but also a silent promise of eternal devotion. A bond that would last as long as the scars remained present on their skin. A permanent mark tying them together for as long as they both lived. 

Of all the scars marking her flesh, faded but never truly to disappear, this was the only one she would ever truly be happy to have.     

His blood ran in her veins, now. He was a part of her. Forever.  ��

She’d have wanted it no other way.  

She kissed him back hard, the hand not clasped in his landing on his chest, feeling the steady rise of his breathing and the thump of his heart. Their palms squeezed impossibly tighter against each other, the blood coating them slick, smearing all across their palms, impossible to tell which belonged to whom. 

When they finally parted for air, foreheads resting against each other, they looked down together at their still clasped, bloody hands. 

It was done. 

Tommy’s arm around her waist tightened, somehow pulling her even closer to him, his lips on her forehead. Lucy closed her eyes. He was so impossibly warm, body large and strong and safe around her. She could have stayed like that forever. 

“I love you more than anything,” he said, and the words left tears brimming in her eyes. The weight of those words was not lost on her. 

“I love you too,” she said, angling her face up to his. “More than anything.” 

He smiled at her softly, head dipping to kiss her one last time before they parted, and his fingers flexed a little around hers. Their mixed blood was starting to run down both of their wrists. 

“We should get bandaged up. Before we both bleed everywhere,” he mumbled. 

“Mm,” she nuzzled at his chest. “Yeah.”

He reached for the gauze and bandages they’d set to the side in preparation. Some of the blood had congealed, half sticking their palms together, and it took a little bit of gentle fidgeting to pull them apart. Lucy hissed as Tommy poured a helping of alcohol over her cut, leaning into the kiss he brushed against her temple in apology. They cleaned and bandaged each other’s cuts with quick, practiced movements, examining their handiwork critically to ensure it was satisfactory and wouldn’t leave the other open to any complications or difficulty in healing.

Once that was done, Tommy was gathering her back up into his arms again, kissing her everywhere he would possibly reach. She giggled, overjoyed at the blatant display of affection, returning it as eagerly as she knew how. Strong arms scooping her up by the back of her thighs, he lifted her up onto his hips, standing in one fluid motion and carrying her towards the bed.  

Still kissing, they collapsed in an entanglement of limbs onto the mattress. Clothes were shed hastily, and then there was just the sounds of pleasure and utterances of love filling the room. Her fingers clenching in his hair as he kissed his way down her body, lips, tongue, and fingers working together once he’d reached his destination to make her cry out, back arching off the bed. 

And then he was over her again, wiping his mouth and looking far too pleased with himself. He grinned when she needily dragged his mouth back to hers, legs wrapping around his waist, eager. They both cried out when he sank into her in one deep thrust, the penetration serving as the second unioning of their bodies that evening. 

The bedframe creaked with the pace of their love making; thrusts steady, slow, and deep. Lucy clutched to him as tightly as she could, never wanting to let him go. Never wanting to have to spend another moment of her life without him. 

She’d given him her soul. And in exchange he’d gifted her his heart. And now, with their blood running through each other’s veins, it was as if the merging of their beings had finally completed. They were one now. No one and nothing could ever tear them apart. 

She cried out his name when his cock hit the spot inside her that made her see stars, his thumb rubbing circles into her clit. Her head tipped back against the pillows, babbling nonsense about how good he always was to her. How he always took care of her. How he knew her more deeply and intimately than anyone else ever could. 

When her walls squeezed around him, Tommy moaned her name like it was a prayer. Like it was the most precious thing in the entire world. And then his lips were at her ear, whispering over and over again how much he loved her. That she felt so good. That he promised to love her for as long as he breathed. Maybe even after that. 

She came with a sob of his name against his lips as he kissed her, felt it as he came with her at the exact same moment, filling her with a groan, hips rolling to a stop to rest inside of her as he emptied while she tightened around him like a vice. For hours, or maybe only minutes, neither of them moved, just laying there, holding each other as tight as they could. 

Later, Tommy laid reclined against the pillows, with Lucy cuddled securely in her spot on his chest. And there, in the dark and quiet of night, they traced each other’s bandaged cuts, and whispered promises of eternal love.

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