#anyway i am okay but shaken up obviously

[peachdoxie]

Guess who had her first car accident!

[just-another-nerd-blog]

Okay, so we all know that Rory Sucks and doesn't actually care about Lydia. So I am going to use his behavior with Lydia to prove just how much Betelgeuse actually cares about and respects her, in comparison. Because he really does love her, and all of his actions in the movie show that.

First, let's talk about kisses. Rory kisses/embraces Lydia on three notable occasions. Betelgeuse kisses her once, and it is perhaps one of the more memorable scenes in the movie for all the Beetlebabes fans. Obviously, one of the big differences between the Rory kisses and the BJ kiss is the fact that Rory's are all on the mouth, while BJ's is to the back of her hand. But another big difference I noticed is the force with which Lydia is kissed.

Analysis with photo evidence under the cut!

The first time we see Rory kiss Lydia is after her anxious break during her show taping. In the moment, she is vulnerable and shaken, but Rory grabs her for a kiss anyway. It's a bit aggressive, he's holding her tightly, and Lydia looks a bit stiff when he pulls her in. It's not a great moment for a kiss like this, and doesn't seem to be the most welcome either.

The second notable time we see Rory kiss Lydia is when he proposes to her and she finally and unenthusiastically agrees. As we can see in the first screencap, he is practically yanking her in. Lydia looks shocked and perhaps a bit afraid or nervous. When Rory finally kisses her, it looks as if her head is somewhat turned away, and her shoulders are even stiffer than the first time. Once again, this seems semi-unwelcome, but mostly it seems needlessly aggressive.

The third Rory kiss/embrace I want to talk about is when Lydia finally gets to the church for their wedding. Once again, her head is turned away, and this time, in addition to looking stiff, she is leaning away, with Rory following her for the embrace. He's holding her tightly, but her hand isn't even fully resting on him, least of all holding or grabbing him. Once again, this is a situation of him seeing her when she's nervous or anxious and using force to pull her into a kiss or embrace. It's a little rough, and doesn't seem entirely pleasant.

Now let's compare those to the one time Betelgeuse kisses her. By the time this scene comes up, he's already gone through pretty much the whole wedding scene with her, not doing much more than just dancing with her and singing to her. And, notably, he kisses her on the back of the hand.

Look how gentle he is with her. He's holding her hand and has an arm around her back, but he isn't gripping her the way we see Rory do. He carefully brings her hand to his mouth to kiss it, and it only lasts for a brief second. Again, compare that to Rory's kisses, which all go on for what seems like a little too long. Lydia's a bit stiff here too, and I can't blame her, but she moves with Betelgeuse's lead much easier than she does with Rory's. She's not trying to get away, she lets him spin her, she lets him kiss her hand. Her expression is also a bit questioning, but not really afraid or even surprised.

Even when you look at the still of this scene, she mostly just looks confused and perhaps a bit curious, as if she's not sure why he's doing this. It's because he's in love with her but I digress. BJ's kiss is slow and deliberate. He gives her a chance to pull her hand away if she were to want to, he kisses her in perhaps the most respectful place he could kiss her without prior consent, and he doesn't draw it out.

Ultimately, Betelgeuse's one kiss to Lydia's hand is worlds more romantic and worlds more respectful than any of Rory's kisses to her mouth. Every time Rory kisses her, it's aggressive and forceful, and he never really takes a chance to see how she feels about it. He just kisses her because he wants to, regardless of Lydia's anxiety or uncertainty. Obviously BJ wanted to kiss her too, but his eyes are watching her the whole time. He's searching her expression and body language to make sure she's okay. He is so beyond gentle and careful with her. He doesn't draw it out.

Rory kisses in a way that makes it seem like he's trying to prove to anyone watching that he loves Lydia. He's putting on a show. But Betelgeuse, ever the showman, is only doing this for Lydia. The rest of the people in the church are frozen in time, no one is watching. Most importantly, the tenderness with which he brings her hand up and kisses her makes it seem like he's only trying to prove himself to her. No one else's thoughts matter, not as long as Lydia knows how he feels, how genuinely and tenderly he actually loves her.

When Rory kisses her, he only thinks about himself. When Betelgeuse kisses her, he's only thinking about Lydia.

[petrichormore]

So about 4halo “dying…”

I’m watching the clip where Forever shows Baghera the book and supposedly “friendzones” Bad because I didn’t actually see the full thing and… why did people think the ship is dead? (I know Forever apparently revived it hours later but bear with me).

Because from where I’m standing, it’s perfectly fine? It’s been more dead in the past. So let’s break the scene down:

(Scene Analysis under cut - I felt like I was watching something straight out of a romcom movie. Also the following is about the CHARACTERS)

So. Forever shows Baghera the book and Baghera asks if he feels the same way. Forever says, “There’s a problem, Baghera - I love him back. (Pause) I love him back, but as a friend.”

Baghera goes “really?” because she’s skeptical and Forever claims that his “heart can��t take it anymore.” (Obviously in reference to Philza breaking it.) He then goes on to say that “After what happened to Philza, I think [thought] I had enough of it.”

I’d like to pause here to point out that at no point in this conversation does Forever sound confident in what he’s saying - he’s uncharacteristically shaken and unsure throughout. He uses phrases like “I thought” and “I’m trying” instead of “I know” and “I am” which imply uncertainty. He phrases his statements like questions, as though he doesn’t know what’s going on in his own mind.

Anyway, Forever says he likes Bad “as a friend” but his reasoning is literally just “I’m not ready for this right now” which… makes no sense to say if the first statement is true. If you aren’t interested in someone, you probably don’t justify by claiming you aren’t ready - because it’s just a fact relating to the other person. Saying “Oh there’s a big problem - I like this person as a friend because my heart can’t take the pain of heartbreak anymore!” Like. That doesn’t really make sense, does it?

He also tries to bring up a conversation dramatrio had a while back about how friendship is better (based, btw) - but to me it honestly just sounds as though he’s trying to convince himself rather than making a statement. Again, he sounds very confused. In response, Baghera points out that “not everyone is happy” with just friendship.

Forever also seems to be just generally confused with Bad’s behavior, as he sees it as uncharacteristic (which it is) and therefore disingenuous. This actually seems to be the main source of distress for him: whether or not Bad actually loves him. He talks to Baghera about how he doesn’t even know if it’s real because it’s so unlike Bad - Baghera agrees that it’s strange coming from Bad, but she believes Richarlyson when he says the book is genuine. Forever doesn’t, and later on in the stream he apparently reveals that he doesn’t understand how Bad could love him in a romantic sense and doesn’t want to be drawn in to something that might not be real? (Maybe???) As Forever is still streaming, I can’t go over it but I will when I can. Either way, this doesn’t seem like the type of worry a person who doesn’t reciprocate any romantic feelings would have? Like cool story bro but this really shouldn’t be relevant if your only feelings are platonic?

And Baghera? Baghera literally notices this! She sees Forever’s indecisiveness and says “Okay, but if you don’t like him like that, well, it’s not a question, you know?” She calls him out on it directly.

And Forever doesn’t acknowledge it at all. He just moves on and says that if Bad had approached him when he first joined, he would’ve been delighted to add another boyfriend in alongside Philza [Specifically, he brings up a song about Snow White and the phrase ‘Why have just one when I could have seven?] This, while funny as hell, has nothing to do with the conversation and it honestly comes across as Forever trying to examine his own feelings and failing miserably.

Baghera asks “So you’re sure you don’t want anything to happen with Bebou?”

Forever responds “yeah” and then immediately follows it up with “The problem is that after what happened, I’m really…” So ‘yeah’ is not an actual answer here, just a transitional word. (And again, notice the strange justification. The problem apparently not a lack of romantic attraction?)

Baghera follows that up by asking if Forever doesn’t want a relationship with Bad because he has been hurt by his previous ‘relationship’, or because he has no romantic interest in Bad specifically. Forever… doesn’t answer. He says, “Yeah, that’s a good question because I don’t even know if he likes me like that, or if he just loves me as a friend.” Once again, ‘yeah’ is not an answer, just a transition. Congratulations, Forever, you specified exactly nothing.

And thennnnn Forever is back to being worried over whether or not Bad likes him or like-likes him (it’s like they’re all gossiping 10 year olds hehe). He’s scared to ask him directly because he doesn’t want to “hurt him” (by ‘him’, I mean BBH) but it really just sounds like he’s a goddamn coward (affectionate) and is using that as an excuse. Especially since he phrases it like a question.

Baghera decides to take pity on him and offers to sneakily question Bad about it and then report back, which Forever immediately agrees to (it’s the most enthusiastic he sounds during the entire conversation). Forever than says that he really wants to “know what is happening” and to “take care of Badboy because he’s really important to me” (?? We all know, Forever, but okay cool I guess?? /j)

He finishes by reasserting (to himself, mostly) that he doesn’t want a relationship specifically because he’s trying to focus on his career, family, and friends (and because Philza broke his heart). He never says that he has no romantic interest in Bad besides the very first “as a friend” comment, and, in fact, somehow avoids saying it even when Baghera asks him directly to his face!

He honestly gives every reason for not wanting to be in a relationship except for “I’m not interested in the other person.” Like that’s the one thing he doesn’t say.

So. Take that however you will.

[guard-1225]

video journal log #184

[watch] ignore

Evbo takes a few steps back after starting the recording.

“Hey everyone, I know it’s been SUCH a long time since I’ve done a video journal update, I was sick and then a lottttt of other stuff happened so I have so much to catch you guys up on.” Evbo says to the camera, taking a moment before continuing. “I’m pretty sure some of you guys follow my boyfriends page hahah, yeah he mostly does this q&a type thing but he started doing videos too lately, but anyways, he’s been posting a lot of updates on what’s going on so if you do follow him you already know what’s up.”

“First of all I knowwww all of you guys must be soo worried about me and why I haven’t been doing journal logs, but don’t worry I’m fine now I just had a cold for a few days. We also went to Christmas dinner at Julie’s place with Raymond and the other diamond swords. Her place was pretty cool too but obviously not as cool as ours, I mean she doesn’t even live in a Pvp mansion.” Evbo chuckles and decides to sit up on the counter next to the pillar, preparing for a pretty long video journal session.

“It was really fun to hang out with the other diamond swords, it’s nice to have actual friends… at least I think they’re my friends—“ Evbo looks away for a moment to think about it, before snapping back to his camera personality. “Anyways! After that was Ray’s birthdayyyy…” He giggles to himself before even saying anything. “Yeah we had a LOT of funnnn hahaha… Read his blog if you want to know more about that.

“I also gave him some new shades for his birthday so he can have a different pair other than the one he spawned in with. I think he looks really cool in them, but honestly I think he looks good in everything, like he’s just really good looking in general I kinda wish it was hotter in here sk maybe he would take off— Hahaha what am I even saying anymore, sorry I got a little off track there.” He laughs to himself awkwardly, trying to hide the blush that crept up on his face while thinking about his boyfriend shirtless. Something resembling a chuckle can be heard from the background, where Raymond is sitting on one of the chairs at the window.

“Anyways the main thing I wanted to tell you about is actually so insane, you guys are not going to believe it… Raymond figured out a way to fix his shield, and it actually works like real durability! He managed to get it back up to full like it’s brand new again, and it only takes off one when I hit him! I think we could fix other weapons too, we haven’t had time to try yet but—

A sudden purple flash of lights can be seen from the left side of the screen where Raymond had been previously sitting on a chair. Evbo whips his head around and quickly jumps down from the counter to sprint over to his boyfriend. The purple particles all dissapear in a few seconds and Raymond is sitting on the chair just like before. He drops the phone from his hand and jumps up to run to the back of the room.

“WHAT THE FUCK.” Raymond can be heard even from how far away he is from the video journal machine. He runs back up to Evbo, who’s been standing in the middle of the room completely dumbfounded. “What do I do?!” Raymond pants frantically, shaken from whatever he just saw.

Evbo stares at him, then lets out a chuckle.

“You’re a dog.” He states, laughing more with confusion.

“Evbo this isn’t funny, what do I do?!” Raymond continues to pace around the room, and it’s clearly visible on the video now that he has a tail. Evbo goes to get his boyfriend’s phone from the ground to look at the message.

“Ray don’t panic, it says here this will only last for a day—“

“A DAY?! That’s so long!” Raymond cries out frustratedly. Evbo sighs and puts a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

“It’ll be okay, you don’t have to go anywhere tomorrow, I can stay here with you too.” Evbo smiles at him genuinely, caressing his arm before suddenly looking down and letting out another chuckle.

“What—“ Raymond follows Evbo’s gaze down and notices his tail wagging side to side. “OH MY GOD, This is so humiliating!” He whines, covering his face with his hands.

“I think it’s cute…” Evbo tells him, but he still can’t hide his giggles while saying it.

“Oh fuck you�� and stop the recording, oh my god!” Raymond says and scatters to hide from the camera, running to the back of the room to their bed and getting blocked from the video by the pillar. Evbo laughs as he walks up to the video journal machine.

“I’m sorry guys, I have to end this one unfinished too since I think we have a bigger issue right now. I swear I’ll do an actual update once I have the time. Byeeee!” He smiles into the camera before reaching for the button and stopping the recording.

[previous] next

[scarisd3ad]

To the end and back [daryl Dixon x reader]

Chapter seven - the calling

Masterlist

Taglist

Previous >> next

Summary - after the world ended you were sure you’d never find love again but a certain archer catches your eyes and changes the entire trajectory of your life.

Warnings - regular twd warnings

'Bloodletting'

Season 2 ep 2

POW.

We're all looking around, confused. The shot sounded like it came from the direction we were just coming from. It wasn't loud but not quiet enough for it to be inaudible from where we're at. So it had to be close enough to the Church. We had only left the church about 10 minutes ago we couldn't have gotten far, especially at the speed we were going at. We were stopping and going every five minutes and we were walking slow because Rick, Shane, and Carl were supposed to catch up with us. We didn't want to get to far along to the point they couldn't find us just in case. There was no way we had gotten too far. It had to have come from around the church. There must've just been a Walker, that's what we're all telling ourselves but they could've easily used a knife. Rick, and Shane wouldnt risk using a gun. They didn't have to use the gun, it wasn't on purpose. It couldn't have been on purpose.

"Wh-what was that?" Lori stutters out. "Just a gun, they must've came across a Walker" Daryl replies trying to keep us walking along. We keep on going, but still a little shaken from the scare the gun shot gave us. "You think they're okay?" I ask Glenn. He just nods. They said they were just going to do a quick search of the area, they should at least be making there way back now. Right? Maybe I'm just overthinking things, oversimplifing a quick search. They're searching they're obviously going to find walkers they need to kill. But my anxiety always gets the better of me, always it always does. The worst things imaginable will always pop up in my head.

Lori stops and turns around. "You still worrying about it?" Andrea asks as she also stops. "It was a gunshot" Lori says. We're all stopped at this point turned towards Lori. "We all heard it." Daryl says. She turns towards us "why one? Why just one gunshot?" She asks. Daryl shrugs "maybe they took down a Walker."

"Please don't patronize me you know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to pit down one Walker. Or Shane. They'd do it quietly." She's right. They wouldn't use a gun to put down one Walker, they were smarter than that. They wouldn't risk drawing more near by using a gun. "Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" Carol asks meekly. “There's nothing we can do about it anyways. Can't run around these woods chasin’ echoes." Daryl says.

"So what do we do?" Lori asks. "Same as we've been. Beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back to the highway." Daryl replies. I fidget with the pocket knife that sat in my pocket, flipping it around, opening it closing it. "I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the rv."

Lori let's out a sigh before continuing on with us. We stop again turning back to see that Andrea and Carol still hadn't moved. "I'm sorry for what you're going through, I know how you feel." Andrea says as she walks up to Carol. "I suppose you do. Thank you." Carol says with a weak smile. "The thought of her out here by herself...it's the not knowing that's killing me. I just keep hoping and praying she doesn't wind up like Amy." Carol says through tears. Andrea's faint smile fades. Carol realizes what she had just said "oh..oh god. That's the worst thing I ever said" Carol whispers. Andrea shakes her head with a weak smile "we're all hoping and praying with you, for what it's worth." Daryl pushes himself off of the tree he was leaning on and begins to walk towards Carol, and andrea. "I'll tell ya what it's worth, not a damn thing it's a waste of time all this hopin' and prayin' cause we're gonna locate that little girl, she's gonna be just fine." Daryl says "Am I the only one zen around here good lord" he scoffs before turning back around. We all follow after Daryl as he begins to walk. I bet he's fed up with our stoping and going. Every 10 minutes we all stop because someone is upset, or someone is thirsty. I'd be fed up with us too.

We've been walking for about 30 minutes when Lori stops. "We'll lose the light before too long." Daryl says trying to subtly tell Lori we should probably hurry up, and stop, well stopping. We were not only heading back towards the highway but trying to find Sophia. The sun was going down we were going to lose the light if we didn't hurry. "I think we should call it."

"Let's head back." Lori says. Carol furrows her brows and asks "We'll pick it up again tomorrow?" Lori nods "yeah we'll find her tomorrow" Daryl whistle as we all begin to walk back in the direction of the freeway.

We're walking through a patch of very overgrown grass. "How much farther?" Andrea asks. "Not much. Maybe a hundred yards..as the crow flies." Daryl answers. "Too bad we're not crows." I stay near Glenn we're both quietly chatting from time to time. "You got any more of those granola bars you carry around" Glenn asks with a pleading smile. I nod. I always carry around some type of food when I'm outside of camp or wherever we're staying. I stuff my hand into my bag and search around until I found the rectangular granola bar packaging. I hand him it and he smile as he opens it, and stuffs it in his mouth. "Thanks" he says his words muffled by the food. I roll my eyes and laugh "you're disgusting."

"As the crow flies my ass."

The sound of a scream makes us stop our conversation. "Andrea?" We all begin to start running in the direction the screams are in. She's laying on the ground while a Walker is above her trying to bite her. A woman on a horse comes through knocking the Walker away. We’re all in shock at this point, who is this random woman on a horse, and why is she here. "Lori? Lori grimes?" She calls out as were running towards Andrea.

The lady has brown hair that’s cut in a short bob, and a pink tank top on.

"I'm Lori" Lori says raising her hand a bit as she approaches the woman. "Rick sent me you've got to come now." She says. "What?" Lori's brows are furrowed. What happened so badly that Rick had to send some woman on a horse to come get Lori. "There's been an accident. Carls been shot. He's still alive but you've got to come now" that's what that single shot we heard was. That shot was Carl getting shoot. Lori's frozen she doesn't know what to say. "Rick needs you. Just come." Lori immediately takes her back pack off. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa. We don't know this girl!" Shouts Daryl. Lori begins to walk towards the lady, and her horse. "You can't get on that horse!" Daryl says as Lori mounts the horse. "Rick said you had others on the highway that bit traffic snarl?" The lady asks. "Uh-huh" Glenn says with a tiny nod. "Backtrack to Fairborn road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox. The name is Greene. Hyah!" Just as fast as she came she was gone. That's was probably the weirdest experience I've every had during these times. "What the fuck just happened" i mutter. Somehow in the few days since we left for fort-benning we've lost one kid and the other has been shot. We can never win can we.

The Walker that had attacked Andrea sits back up weezing. "Shut up" Daryl mutters before shooting it straight through the head, and walking off.

-

We make it back to the highway without any more walkers or random ladies with horses taking someone.

Glenn explain to Dale what happened he's confused very confused. "Shot? What do you mean shot?" Dale asks as we're climbing back up to the highway. "I don't know, Dale. I wasn't there. All I know is this chick rode out of nowhere like zorro on a horse and took Lori." Glenn says as he climbs over back onto the highway. I climb back over panting. "You let her?" Dale asks Daryl. "Climb down out of my asshole, man. Rick sent her. She knew Lori's name and Carl's." Daryl says as he pushes past Dale. "I heard screams was that you?" Dale asks as Andrea climbs over. She ignores him walking off. I guess she’s annoyed with him right now. "She got attacked by a Walker" I say "it was a close call" Glenn adds. "Andrea, are you alright?" Dale calls out. Andrea turns around annoyed but just shakes her head before opening the door to the rv, and getting in.

We go about doing what we need, loading back up the cars and whatnot. Daryl pulls me aside, far enough away from the others so they couldn't hear us or really see us because we were standing behind a truck. It's not like we were trying to hide whatever was going on between us, it's just for privacy. Something no one gets now. "You alrigh'?" He asks. I let out a breathy laugh, and nod "I'm fine" he nods but continues to look for any cuts, or bites on my body. When he's really sure I'm fine he pulls me into a hug. One of those hugs you just need, just for comfort. His breathing is shaky. "You're gonna find her" I whisper as I rub my hand in small circles on his back. "I-I know I am" he whispers. He's stressed. "I-I-know I am" he repeats just for his own confirmation. He pulls aways before pressing his lips to mine in a kiss. I honsestly don't know what Daryl and I are. I just hope it isn't temporary, because I've really grown to like Daryl a lot. I really hoped he did too.

-

"We're gonna have to go" I whisper. We're all gathered around talking about what we should do. Should we stay here, or go to the farm that lady had talked about. "I won't do it. We can't just leave." Carol says quietly. "Carol, the group is  split. We're scattered and weak" Dale says with a sigh. "What if she comes back and we're not here? It could happen" Argues Carol. I feel for Carol I really do but we can't be scattered around like this. It's not safe, we'll die if we stay like this. "Carol, dales right. It's just not safe to stay scattered like this." I say. "If Sophia found her way back and we were gone, that would be awful." I roll my eyes "I'm not saying it wouldn't I'm just being logical, staying here isn't safe. You saw that big herd that came through, another one could come through and we'd be missing three people. Two of them being our strongest!" I shout with my arms crossed. "It's nothing against you Carol, you know I love you and Sophia to death but we just can't I'm sorry" I say softly.

"Okay." We all look over at Daryl as he begins to speak "We got to plan for this, I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign, leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight, stay with the rv" Daryl says. "If the rv is staying, I am too" Dale states. "Thank you. Thank you both." Carol whispers. Daryl nods, acknowledging carols thanks. "I'm in" Andrea sighs. I let out an annoyed sigh.

"Well, if you're all staying then I'm-" Dale quickly cuts off glenn "no, not you glenn. You're going take-take carols Cherokee." Glenn scoffs he's always the one who's sent to do things first. He's like the crash test dummy. "Me? Why is it always me?"

"I'll go with you glenn." I say, glenn gives me a thankful smile but Daryl scoffs. "No you're not. You're staying here with me" I roll my eyes "no I'm not. You're not in charge of me, and I want to find out if carls okay."

Glenn sighs as he crosses his arms "i still don't understand why I have to go"

"You have to find this farm, reconnect with our people and see what's going on. But most important, you have to get t-dog there. This is not an option." T-dog is leaning against the back of the rv. He's not in good shape either, he's all sweaty and just all together looks Ill" "that cut has gone from bad to worse. He has a very serious blood infection. Get him to that farm. See if they have any antibiotics. Because if not, t-dog will die, no joke." Dale explains as Daryl walks over to some some trash bag he brought. He grabs a rag and then a bag full of orange medication bottles. He walks back over and throws the rag at Dale "keep your oily rags off my brothers motorcycle." Then he places the bag on the hood of a yellow car. "Why'd you wait till now to say anything? Got my brothers stash" he opens the ziplock bag and begins to go through the medication. "Crystal, x. Don't need that. Got some kick ass painkillers" he throws a bottle of painkillers to Glenn, and then begins to go through the bag again. "Oxycycline. Not the generic stuff neither. It's first class." He throws the bottle to Dale. "Merle got the clap on occasion." He says with a shrug before walking back to his bag.

-

Glenn, t-dog, and I are about to leave when Daryl pulls me aside.

“Your stayin’ with me” daryl whispers. We’re stood outside, it’s dark and everyone else is already fast asleep. I roll my eyes I don’t understand why he wants me to stay so much. “I don’t want to” I reply. He sighs as he buries his face into his hands. “I’ll keep you safe. I just don’t want you goin’ off to some strange farm by yourself” I cross my arms as I groan “I’m not going to be by myself, Glenn will be there too.”

“Just stay with me, okay. I don’t-“ he sighs “I don’t want you gettin’ hurt” I’ve never seen Daryl care much about anybody else except for his brother, and now when Sophia went missing. I didn’t expect him to care so much about me

“Fine” I whisper begrudgingly. “Good, C’mere.” I walk a bit closer. he places his hand on my cheek cradling my face like I’m a piece of glass, and if he’s too rough he’ll break me. A month ago I wouldn’t of ever thought of Daryl Dixon as a softy, but he is. Deep down past that rugged, tough exterior is a man who just wants to be loved, a big’ol teddy bear who just wants affection. He caressed my cheek before pressing his lips to mine.

“C’mon sunshine lets go to bed.”

Previous >> next

Taglist

@e1d0lonk3k @soul4death @furiousheartpoetry @silicone-bonez @nezukos-number1fan @your-shifting-gurl @maziejay08

[dalek-ix-writes-stuff]

Red Ruin - INTERVAL 01: INITIATION (Part X)

"Where is she?!"

Weiss fumed. It had been a terrible, terrible idea to follow Ruby Rose's plan, she realized. She'd just traded the imminent deadly danger of being killed by the Giant Nevermore with the inconvenient, possibly-initiation-failing-plan-ruining problem of being lost and separated from Ruby.

"'Don't worry, she'll find you'," Weiss mocked, trudging through the underbrush, "how is she even supposed to find me, you blonde bimbo?" She snapped, "Is your sister a bloodhound?"

The forest didn't answer. Even the usual sounds of animals were absent. Weiss stopped, crossing her arms. She felt the scowl on her face change into something more… pensive. Now that she'd voiced that thought out loud…

No, no. That's ridiculous, she told herself. Ruby Rose wasn't a Faunus. The girl was strange (and, if Weiss was being honest with herself, concerning) on several different levels, but one would think that that would be obvious. Besides, Yang was obviously human.

Yang was also as different from Ruby as day was from night. Weiss wondered how on Remnant that happened. Half-siblings? Was one of them adopted? That would certainly explain it…

Weiss let out a sharp, frustrated exhalation of breath as she derailed her paranoia before it chased that avenue of thought. She was being ridiculous. Even if Ruby was a Faunus, so what? Weiss didn't care.

At all.

She rubbed her temples. Naive little girl…She could almost hear the cruel curve of the lips… So quick to trust and so poor in judgement…

"Stop that."​

The whisper-quiet voice just barely reached Weiss Schnee's ears, and it made her jump about half a meter into the air.

"EEEEEEEEEEEK!"

The heiress whirled around, hand on Myrtenaster's pommel, heart pounding like a snare drum in her chest.

Ruby stared impassively at Weiss. Her hood was up, shadowing her eyes, and her red cloak enveloped her completely, pooling a little on the ground. The white-haired girl felt one eyelid twitch violently.

"You-!" she made some vague, frustrated, strangled sounds, clenching and unclenching her hands. "You-!"

"Me?"

"You nearly gave me a heart attack you massive dolt!" Weiss seethed, "Don't just… sneak up on people like that!"

"Okay."

"I was this close to taking a swing at you!" Weiss continued, holding a thumb and index finger a tiny distance apart.

"You didn't."

"I nearly did!" Weiss snapped, "Just…" She sighed. "Are you even listening to what I'm saying?"

"I nearly gave you a heart attack. You nearly put Myrtensaster through me. I shouldn't sneak up on you. You think I am irresponsible and creepy."

A pause.

"You want me to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Weiss stared at Ruby. Ruby Rose, her pale face impassive, blank and as close to unmoving as one could get without turning to stone, stared back.

"Yes, that's… that's the gist of it," Weiss muttered, more than a little… shaken. "Thank you."

Ruby said nothing. Weiss suppressed a shiver; the look on her face wasn't the raw hatred of before, but that was a small blessing. It was like looking at a doll's face; there was a stillness about it that was only broken when Ruby blinked. And she didn't seem to do so as much as she should've…

What is with this girl…?

"… How did you even find me anyways?" Weiss asked instead, averting her eyes and crossing her arms, "And how on Remnant are we supposed to find your sister?"

"You're loud."

Weiss froze.

"L-loud?" she stammered, "What do… What do you mean I'm loud!?"

"I mean that you're loud." A pause. "Pointy too."

"That doesn't answer- Hey!" How Ruby had managed to get ten paces away from Weiss without so much as a sound was a mystery that, Weiss decided, she'd have to figure out later. "Where are you going?" she called out, running after the other girl.

"Yang."

"How do you know where she is!?"

"She's Yang."

Weiss growled. "That doesn't make any sen- Eep!" She nearly tripped over a root. When she looked up again, Ruby was fifteen paces ahead and the heiress had to jog to catch up. "Could you at least wait a little!?"

"Yes." Ruby stopped, just long enough for Weiss to catch up, and then resumed her implacable march, leaving the heiress right on her heels.

"Thank you," Weiss hissed, injecting as much sarcasm as she possibly could into two words, "Do you even know where you're going?"

"Yes."

Usually, Weiss was an expert in picking people apart. An… inherited skill, so to speak. In this case, she really didn't have much room to work with, as she very quickly found out.

"How do you know? Did your sister and you agree on a meeting place?"

"No."

"Does she have some sort of tracking device that you're somehow following without having to even look at a scroll?"

"No."

Weiss' eyes darted to the top of Ruby's head, and then her lower back, but the only thing the reaper's cloak betrayed was the boxy form of her folded-up combat scythe. "… Are you..?"

"No." A pause. "I don't have the ears." Another pause. "Or the tail."

Weiss felt her face go a little bit pink as her eyes jerked away from the increasingly strange girl. "I wasn't-!" She shook her head. "Ugh! Whatever. So, you have no way of tracking your sister?"

"I do."

Weiss growled. "Which would be… what, then?" she hissed.

Ruby stopped, quickly enough that Weiss nearly bumped into the other girl, and then turned and stared.

Weiss crossed her arms, and was about to launch into… into…

"Don't." The silver eyes bore into Weiss Schnee. They didn't shine, or glow, or do anything that anyone would consider abnormal. They simply made it very, very hard for Weiss to breathe. To move. To feel anything other than an inexplicable terror. Distantly, she heard her heart hammering in her chest… Faintly, she heard a scream…

And then, it was over.​

Weiss found herself with her back pressed against a tree, hand clutching her hammering chest, feeling… numb. She gasped, and her burning lungs filled with a breath she didn't know she needed.

"Wh- What just…" She raised a hand to her face, and it came back wet.

"… I'm sorry."

She was startled by the quiet voice beside her. Ruby Rose, hunched over and turned away so that the hood of her cloak shielded her face.

Weiss blinked once, twice, and then wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. What had she been doing? What had happened? She remembered…

She groaned, and rubbed her temples. This was… This had to be stress. Yes, she was still feeling the airship lag from the trip from Atlas, and that last… conversation with Father hadn't been really conducive to peace of mind… that had to be it.

"… We should go."

Weiss sighed, glancing at the red shape of Ruby Rose beside her. The girl was all wrapped up in that cloak and she could still see her shivering. "Yes," she said at last, clearing her throat, "We should."

Ruby Rose led the way. This time, whenever Weiss thought to ask how the girl knew where to go, she found it inexplicably difficult to get the question past her lips.

[zorabettwo]

okay so I have watched 2x06 uh.........way too many times and obviously Shauna, Sophie Nelisse, everything there is overwhelming. but i am fixated on how it impacts the other girls and especially Misty.

The core truth we know about Misty is that she seeks power and control and she often does this through controlling someone else's suffering. Stopping it in some cases, causing it, or just managing it. We see this with the rat in the pilot, we see it in the nursing home, it underscores so much of her character. If she can control suffering, she has power - to hurt, but also to save and to be loved. 

At the start of the birth scene, she's killed Krystal/Kristen without really meaning to (imo and the actors' anyway) and is shaken up. We don't often see her shaken up, but she lost control there. She caused suffering she didn't mean to AND she hurt herself in the process. So she's coming into it shaken, and then it's a situation she doesn't feel prepared for. 

It's not like Misty is exactly prepared to cut off a leg or any of that other stuff, but Misty is PROACTIVE, she does before thinking and has enough knowledge to make that okay. But birth is the long game, and she has no history with it, and the pressure is on there. No one really expects much of Misty in her life - but here, they are counting on her, everyone is counting on her to do the right thing. There is enough trust in her here that she broke the emergency transmitter over it.

When she comes back to the room, it's because Lottie says she can save their baby. She can do something the whole group wants, needs, and be seen as a hero, and she jumps into that mode. I fully believe she did EVERYTHING she could, wanted the baby to be okay desperately, not for Shauna or the baby but because it made her matter. 

And then....she can't. She fails at it. It's not that she hasn't failed before, but it's bigger to her. It's her spot in the group and her power and one of the times she is desperate to end suffering, she doesn't want it to happen. 

So I do believe some of what she says to Coach when she's trying not to get him to jump. Not the threats, or the words themselves, but the "I can't have another death on my hands"? Absolutely. She can't have that on her hands, or on her reputation. I think there is some genuine emotion there behind the failure, just the rawness of it, but it's also about her status and what she feels slipping away. 

All this to say that I think, of everything that happens out there, this is maybe one of the most scarring things for Misty (and everyone, but that is for another post). It's a forever mark against her, a time she failed and lost a chance. And I think she's vowed from there that she is never going to be caught unprepared again. 

The moral is that if someone needed an emergency c-section on site adult Misty could do it.

[arcplaysgames]

Actually, no. lemme recap now because I bet once I meet the Big Bad and beat them it'll be like 2 hours of cutscenes and dialogue.

Where did I leave off-- REALLY? THAT LONG AGO? FUCK ME.

Okay SOMEONE remind me LATER to sum up Empress, because I completed it. Note to self, it's around 12/2 in your screencaps.

So Shido wins the elections because it turns out that no one saw the Thieves' big calling card for him, and those who did didn't remember it. There is obviously Some Shit going on with people's mass apathy syndrome.

Because Persona only has one theme and it's "people will be too lazy to pay attention to the truth, fucking sheeple," I guess.

/clucks tongue. I'm not really impressed by this turn of the story, I'm kinda Over the slow increase in apathy that winds up being the undoing of the world until we beat up a god and save everyone. This is the third time, I would have shaken shit up by having the Hidden Big Bad send the Thieves a calling card, demanding they come protect their Treasure, and then you meet the Big Bad and just gimme a villain with a motive, goddamn. It's a supernatural story, the sky's the limit!

I shouldn't kvetch too much yet. Anyway, Shido admits to his crimes, but the populace doesn't seem to care and still supports him.

Shido's lackeys basically go "okay Shido had a major meltdown buuuuuut we can still carry his agenda forward bc if we don't, we're all going down with the ship here."

Excellent question. In P4G I had a pretty strong idea what was doing that and here I do not, can y'all drop some hints?

Morgana points out that the general public has a Palace and has a Treasure. It's Mementos. So if the crew wants to force a mass shift in the world's perception, they can do that. But like all other Palaces, when the Treasure is taken, Mementos will collapse, to be replaced with new, corrected cognition.

In the process, the crew will lose their powers. Oh and Morgana is gonna die.

The game hasn't said that part yet but if they didn't kill Ryuji, they're gonna kill Morgana, fucking bet.

I love you, Morgana Notacat.

This was actually where I got my idea of what Morgana is. Morgana's upgraded Persona is Mercurius/Hermes. Yanno, the god of messages, of thieves, of swiftness, and well-known classic psychopomp.

Morgana keeps remembering himself being born in Mementos. He's without a doubt some manifestation of humanity's rebellion against systems, the literally cognitive patron saint of Phantom Thieves. He's a mascot in the most literal sense, an emblem of good luck for the Thieves' work.

Even the fact he's a cat kind of fits in nicely. Cats are free spirits who opt-into being it other people. They are creatures of choice.

I'm gonna be big sad when Morgana fucking dies lemme tell you. I'm pretty sure he's, like, sustained by Mementos and the plan is to collapse it? Yeah, Morgana is fucked.

Goddamn HERMES, that's so cool. Morgana, our psychopomp into the bowels of the collective unconsciousness.

GODDAMIT NOTIGOR WHAT DO YOU WANT, IT IS CHRISTMAS FUCKING EVE, YOU BETTER GIMME PRESENTS.

I know that you know that we all know that this isn't Igor but sometimes it fucking floors me how much he isn't Igor, jesus fucking christ. Who tf is this guy. I hope he's the Big Bad somehow bc there ain't anyone else at this point.

Please don't pull another It Was The Gas Station Attendant, Persona, I'm fucking on my knees begging you.

lmao i love the game poking the player to ensure they noticed Morgana is acting odd

Deep in Mementos is... this..... uh..... thing. A bunch of otherworldly veins flowing down into the core.

/looks nervously around

so uh. is it a hot take to say that, uh, the last segment of this game here, the Mementos Depths, is the ugliest place in the game? Just wondering because wow working through this place, I was struck by how completely aesthetically unappealing all of this is. It should be mysterious and eerie but mostly I am finding it.... blurgh. I thought Kaneshiro's Palace was pretty unappealing too, but this is bad enough I feel the need to remark on it.

/gestures at screen. What is all this????? oh god it reminds me of the Collector Base in Mass Effect 2. Except that game came out in 2010 for the previous generation console. /winces

Anyway.

The Depths of Mementos is a prison of complacency.

All of the Shadows the Thieves defeated are in the prison cells. They are relieved to be there, where they don't have to think. Everything is taken care of for them.

Man, remember back in Persona 3 when it turned out that defeating all the Full Moon shadows was actually the thing that doomed the world? Wouldn't it be hilarious is the Thieves fucked all this up the whole time? l m a o.

I honestly don't know if that's what's happening here yet, I haven't reached, like, the Explanation, but it does feel a bit like alllllllll the way back at the start of the liveblog when I was contending with the ethics of the entire idea of stealing someone's heart and what it does. The game went out of its way to justify doing it with Shido's attempted suicide, but the bridge to far for me (and thankfully for Ann too) was killing these people.

But now what happens seems to be akin to ego death instead, and.... I dunno, man, is that much different than murder?

SIGHS LOUDLY

okay is that true or is this another fucking situation where Izanami is like "WELL REALLY when you THINK ABOUT IT all I'm doing is giving humanity what they really want soooooooooo it makes you think huh, doesn't it make you think"

MAYBE THE GAME WILL PROVE ME WRONG, I DUNNO YET.

oh my god. oh my god.

IGOR!!!!!!!! IGOR IS IN THERE!!!!

LEMME IN!!!!!! LEMME IIIIIIIIN I NEED TO SEE HIMMMMM I NEED TO TALK TO HIM I MISS HIM sobs

yeah no, bet, it's igor's cell. which means Notigor locked him up? maybe Notigor is the final boss, that'd be great, it'd slot in perfectly with this place being a prison and Reverie having been stuck in the shitty Velvet Prison this whole time.

please igor help me, i'm so tired of the edgelord execution shit.

PSYCHOPOMP MORGANA!!!!!!!!!!

me pressing my face against the bars whispering I'll be back for you igor i love you

lol what if it isn't even igor in there can you imagine

[coredrill]

fans of the SPIRAL POWER SHOW when their movie theater chair starts spinning:

and more moviegoing/dub thoughts below the cut!!

okay. i'm gonna be as organized as possible about this but i am probably gonna be all over the place and add to it later LMAO. BUT.

4dx thoughts first: jesus fuck lmao. i've never actually been to a 4d movie before and i feel like this experience is NOT representative of what a normal movie would be like but they really shook us around huh!!! i think those seats only stopped moving when kamina died, and i say "i think" bc there may have been more times when they stopped but my ass was unawares because i still felt like i was moving anyways LMAO.

they played an interview with imaishi, koyama, and wakabayashi (most likely filmed at anyc) before the showing (they did it before my dub showing too, even tho i just saw that one in a regular theater) and these mfs are so funny i swear lmao. they were like "we wanted to use the effects to their fullest so we added in movement during the emotional scenes too!" and then wakabayashi was like "i fell out of my seat while watching!" and then imaishi was like "my keys fell out of my pocket and i almost left them in the theater because they were between the seats" and then they laughed and THEN wakabayashi was like "oh wait they're watching gurren-hen right? nvm they'll be fine" but like. that shit felt like a ROLLERCOASTER so WTF IS LAGANN-HEN GONNA BE!!!!!!!!!! it made me so curious so now i also plan to see the sub of that one in 4dx LMAO. me when i literally die because the insane ppl at trigger decided to mimic a galaxy being thrown at a giant mecha and wanted me to feel it.

also. they sprayed us with water during the scene where gurren lagann's spiral energy feeds back and simon/lagann throw up. and like. i mean i can't say i ever WANTED to get vomited on by my fav anime boy, but it sure did happen!

okay. friend-who-hasn't-seen-ttgl-before-thoughts next: i was REALLY surprised how much it hooked him considering that i've always viewed the movies as subpar compared to the show but it REALLY sold him on it!!! and i'm so happy cause idk if he ever would've made it through those first 7 episodes of the show without knowing what was to come lmao. unfortunately he can't make it next week so we'll have to watch lagann-hen later on, as well as the show proper, but i'm SO curious to see what he thinks. especially bc the only complaint he rly had (aside from being violently shaken LMAO) was that simon, kamina, and yoko were really the only characters he could keep track of. like even nia didn't show up early enough for him to really track what was going on with her i think!!

when it comes to lagann-hen i am SO curious what he'll think of rossiu. cause rossiu's my other favorite anime boy but DAMN they really give him like two seconds of screen time total in this movie LMFAO. and THEY DON'T EVEN ESTABLISH THAT HE IS FOREHEAD BOY?????? like they play that scene where kamina's like "i wanna give simon and gimmy and darry and forehead boy a good future" and my friend was like "WHO?" lmao. i guess you're just supposed to see the size of his forehead and come to your own conclusions FDLKSJFHSLKJ. and i did tell my friend that rossiu is Important in lagann-hen but i'm so curious as to whether that whole plot point will actually. like. make sense? and if he can track why rossiu is all of a sudden In Charge and Like That? idk but i can't WAIT to see it. similarly though i do wonder what he'll think of kittan's sacrifice cause kittan got a nothingburger this movie too LMAO.

when it comes to the show i am AGAIN curious what he'll think of rossiu, like what he'll think going from a smaller role for him in the film to a larger role in the show. cause obviously i am -_- at the downsizing but rossiu adds SOOOOOOOOO much to the show on the whole that i wonder if having a different first impression will frame him as a character differently??? IDK!!!! and ALSO i am curious what my friend will think WHEN EXTRA BITCHES START DYING AT THE END LMAO. like it's one thing to do from all of dai-gurren dying to them all living, but from them all living to DYING?????? i'm SO CURIOUS. i feel like watching these movies with him has me appreciating them more in the same way that watching eva with friends made me appreciate eva more too. except i like ttgl a whole heck of a lot more to begin with, even the movies, so i think this might just kill me entirely LMAO.

NOW. ONTO THE DUB.

prefacing this section with Holy Fuck I Am So Glad This Exists I've Cried Over It And Could Cry More. the fact that i've wanted this so bad and it HAPPENED. do the impossible i suppose but i can still HARDLY BELIEVE IT'S REAL. and listening to every single second of it was just a complete and total joy and i wouldn't trade it for anything <3

and now that the sappy stuff is outta the way SAM RIEGEL THE VIRAL THAT YOU ARE!!!!!! he did the ABSOLUTE BEST IMO, he still captured the same voice he did in the show dub AND he managed to like, have a coherent new take on some of the scenes? like during his first or second confrontation with kamina he had this more bored tone that worked SO WELL for me because. yeah!!!! viral thinks humans are inferior at that point, so he WOULDN'T be giving this battle 100%!!!! excellent choices all around and whenever they release this on home video i am gonna listen to this performance for like a week straight.

other generally great stand-outs were LORDGENOME ofc and also dayakka was pretty great too!! they didn't have a whole lot of changes but they worked well in the OG so they ofc worked well here too!! oh and kittan and his sisters too!!! they didn't get as much to do but kittan's still got it and if i heard correctly they even got the same VAs for his sisters too? like stephanie sheh kinon doesn't surprise me bc she's still so active in the industry but kiyal especially sounded rly similar in her like. three lines LMAO.

i WAS actually rly curious abt if they would recast leeron into literally anyone other than "steve blum doing a ~gay voice~" and uh. they didn't lmao. but tbh i think it worked for me anyways; the movies cut out so much of the blatant homophobic jokes which is one super nice thing about them, and also they were SO diligent with getting the rest of the cast back that it makes sense he'd come back too? like i didn't expect DAYAKKA to return but it sure sounded like the same guy to me, let alone the bachika sisters and gimmy and darry, so i get why they kept blum too and it was fine in most parts imo

i really liked bridget hoffman nia too!! she didn't sound the same as hynden walch ofc but i think she gave a great performance and i think it'll be really beneficial to have this sort of continuity of voice going between pre- and post-skip nia.

my adai kiddos...........well jyb didn't have a whole lot of lines as rossiu so i don't have much to say other than i think he did fine with what he had LMAO, i'm SOOOOOO excited to hear him in lagann-hen though!!! especially towards the end, where rossiu's belief gives simon et al the strength they need to finish the battle and win, and also the "so many others like us out there" line....... i MAY burst into tears hearing that in a theater LMAO. also it threw me off when they pronounced darry's name as "dairy" SKLDJFH

YURI LOWENTHAL............oh honey you do not sound like a fourteen year old boy anymore LMAO. it really sounded like he was putting in the EFFORT to make his voice as high as preskip simon's is haha. but his performance was still fucking amazing, especially in the hot-blooded parts where it needed to be, and tbh it was kinda sweet that he sounds different now? like, it's a charming reminder that even if it took a while, enough people loved this story hard enough that the dub got made FIFTEEN YEARS LATER, and simply typing that is making me tear up LMAO so yeah i obviously didn't mind. can't fucking wait to hear him as adult simon tho, that may awaken something in me yet again >:)

aaaaaaaand yoko and kamina lmao. obviosuly these are the hardest to judge because they also, alongside simon, have the most lines? so there is more material to compare LMAO. and both of them certainly gave very different performances that i'm not quite sure how to feel about yet. like the acting itself was still amazing, but it was different and not like sam riegel's in a way that was so obviously elevated that i'm having a bit more trouble parsing my thoughts lmao. like my knee-jerk reaction is "different, so not the thing i love, so worse" but that's not true!!! that's not true at all, and i think i may just need to hear it a few more times for the new inflections and what not to gel with me lmao. though i will say, like literally everyone else, that i think michelle ruff was directed differently as yoko - you could tell there was more effort to make her voice more nasally, or to use her head voice in general, or to sound more cutesy/girly. and i PERSONALLY don't think that's the right choice for yoko, as she's got so much more going on with her gender than just being a cute girl, but this is not the place for that discussion LMAO. so they certainly weren't bad by any means, i think they might just need a few more watches to grow on me the same way the show performances have. or just to have more fleshed-out opinions! anyways, 4k uhd english dubbed bluray WHEN aniplex.

overall the differences were SUPER interesting to hear tho!!! like i'm not well-versed enough in dubbing as a product of the late 00's versus now, but i imagine it's partially changed as an art form and that led to some of the performance differences. in general it was really funny when they slightly changed the dialogue and the lip flaps and pauses wound up in different places!!

the imaishi koyama wakabayashi interview mentioned the same thing that they said at anyc, that they were hoping to make a show that could last ten years. and now 15 years later it's STILL loved enough to get a whole ass new dub and theatrical release. and i just. i'm gonna make myself cry again LMAO, i love this story so much and it's been such a great experience <3

[aliteralgarbageheap]

Okay wait a poll I just answered made me remember the time I convinced myself reading was bad for me and just stopped reading books for a few years and I wanna tell the story bc I think it's funny

To paint the scene, high school freshman garbage who has for as long as they can remember just been absolutely smashing through books constantly, weekly library trips with a new huge stack to read every time levels. This was in my running days, it was 100 l degrees outside and my first high school cross country meet was happening!

I fucking blacked out from heat stroke, high school does a 5k which is 3.1 miles and I remember nothing after mile 2, but collapsed like 100m from the finish line because there was a slight uphill and apparently that's the failure point for autopilot body.

Anyways, I am lying on the ground people are like swarming around me because this is obviously not an ideal situation. I start coming to and reach the conclusion in the fuzzy in between that I've been kidnapped by aliens, they're manhandling me to restrain and sell me off but disguised as humans of course. The only safe person is my dad no one could impersonate him, so obviously I start screaming for him. Also of note when people try to touch me I'm thrashing and screaming because they're tying me up!

So at this point everyone is kinda terrified and think I've broken my ankle and don't know what's wrong with me and an ambulance is called. I am the most terrified of all because what the hell is happening there's aliens.

When I finally came all the way back I was extremely shaken up by the like, hallucination I had while half unconscious. At this point I said to myself, well that very vivid situation was obviously because I'm reading so much fiction! Would not like to experience that again no more reading. And then I didn't! For like 3 years!

Anyways that was my traumatic black out hallucination, it's very funny thinking back to it now though lol

[la-lauren]

TT got in a car wreck last night. She is okay, but her car isn’t. Because it is special (her wheelchair can roll straight into the back), we’re thinking repairs are going to be more expensive. I’m just so glad she’s okay, but she’s obviously very shaken up. It’s her first accident ever.

Unrelated, but this also happened yesterday — she bought us matching Tiffany initial letter necklaces. I wear her initial, she wears the L, just how Taylor Swift would want for us. Not because she owns me, but because she really knows me. (After two weeks. No, but actually. I think she does know me better than most people in my life. The exceptions being whoever reads this mess of a blog.)

I am so excited to wear this necklace. No partner has ever bought me jewelry. To be fair, I normally don’t like jewelry anyway, so that makes sense… but Taylor adjacent and flaunting my love? I’ll wear it so proudly.

If we do end up getting married, I’m fucked though. The ring she wants is $25k minimum. She was like, “I know it’s just a dream, but it is the one I want.” My baby deserves the best, but she chose a pauper 😭

[himbodiaz]

Don’t be shy, bestie. You know we always want to hear your BT rants 👀

okay. just like. fair warning i am not nice to taylor in this at all (although, i never am, so is anyone surprised?)

i said in the other ask, but the way her and buck got together makes me actually angry. like, first off, she told him she could use a friend, and so buck stops pursuing her because she let him down and told him that a relationship wasn't something she wanted (so like, go off for establishing boundaries, i guess).

but then. in the aftermath of buck watching his best friend get shot, taylor is the only one that we see on screen who gets his immediate reaction (outside of some side-characters like captain mehta and the 133). like, she sees him shaking, she can tell just how panicked and devastated that he is. she sees the blood on his clothes. and you know what? in the moments before that, buck didn't trust her to be there as his friend, as someone who cared about him, he thought she was there for her job. he thought she had come to the hospital, not to support him, but to get information from him. and like, how do you not take that, not internalize it? not realize that this person (who she's apparently romantically interested in) does not trust her?

so then, after the crane incident, we're in buck's loft. and they're talking about what happened. obviously taylor is concerned, because anyone who cares about buck would be. but then, she gets so caught up in her own emotions, that she kisses him. buck is home to grab clothes, he is literally packing his bag so that he can go and look after his best friend's son, and she kisses him. and then, instead of staying to talk about it like he asks her to, she runs away. she knew how shaken up from the shooting he was, and she doesn't have enough control over herself to not kiss him?

she runs away. and he gets a call that eddie's awake, so he goes to see his best friend who got shot in front of him. but then, we get to the end of the episode, and she comes back. and she's like "why didn't you chase after me :(((" like. i cannot get over that part. she saw how much eddie getting shot affected him, knew he was looking after christopher, and still whined that he didn't chase her. god, just the utter selfishness of it makes me so mad. like, i honestly don't think she was concerned for buck, for buck, at any point, i think her concern was rooted in her own feelings and how buck getting hurt would affect her. and her actions since have only proven to me her selfishness and inability to see anything divorced from what it means for her personally.

buck is so emotionally vulnerable then. his heart was flayed open. and instead of being a friend to him (like taylor had asked him previously to be to her), she pursued him. i'll give her the benefit of the doubt on intentionality, but my god it's still so manipulative.

anyway. i hate how they got together and march 20th im making a trip to the liquor store to pick up a bottle of champagne to have on hand so i can pop it during whichever episode they finally breakup

[birdmitosis]

Hello hello I can see all of these but I would also like to propaganda Cold and Paranoid, which somehow became my OTP for this game for real!

They are very different (Cold "doesn't feel" but Paranoid has never not felt anything in his life) but also surprisingly similar; IMO Cold is just as group-oriented as some of the others, it's just not as easy to immediately notice but he keeps trying to advise the others on how not to feel (and therefore not be hurt). (I also feel like Cold definitely either wants to feel on some level or feels more than he lets on/maybe even recognizes...) They can both get oddly intense. Their routes are connected on the Stranger staircase, and both Spectre and Nightmare lead into Wraith (potentially) with each other, which fascinates me. That "do we need to explain to you why pain is bad?" "you need to explain to yourself why it isn't" exchange in Wraith lives in my head rent-free for some reason.

I like that in Nightmare Paranoid pulls hard for slaying the Princess and that's how you get Cold; I admit I also enjoy the "oh, you could do better than us" line when you're stuck in the void. And I also find it interesting that you get Cold when you're stuck in a void and slay yourself to get out of it (well, okay, you can get him by starving to death in the Nightmare's basement, but roll with me here) and Paranoid argues for doing so despite his, well, paranoia and fear of death (straight-up "I don't want to die again"!). I like that Cold is implied to work with the others to help Paranoid with his plan if you do choose to fling yourself along with Wraith into the bottomless pit.

Overall, though, those are just a lot of little details I enjoy. What I think really gets me about them is a mix of the intensity and their... surprising elements. I think Paranoid would notice a lot about the others because Paying Attention To Things and might see interesting depths to Cold and prod at them because understanding feels safer. And I think Cold might notice and maybe be interested in how much grit Paranoid actually has compared to the first impressions he gives off -- not to mention his self-awareness and capacity for growth/change (I am in love with that "sorry, I had a bit of a panic response and it wasn't helpful" line in the Razor route...). I feel like the minute they catch each others' attention there's real potential for a strong dynamic.

(I also love Contrarian and Hero -- secondary OTP! -- specifically after Contrarian's character development, either via the Stranger version of the ending or some other way... I can imagine him getting there eventually anyway, since if you go Wounded Wild with him he seems to be shaken too -- just not as much/as deeply. After he's matured some Hero seems to be legitimately fond/impressed. I love that.)

Other fun potential dynamics you didn't name that I would like to submit for your consideration (under a cut bcs there's like nine of them):

Broken/Hunted. The idea basically: With them in different bodies Hunted tends to want to care for the others as flock and also quickly starts parsing Broken as sick/injured in a way; Hunted ends up being affectionate and taking care of Broken a lot and Broken enjoys someone actually caring about him and being nice to him. Broken might also encourage Hunted to rest and try to worry less, in his way.

Cheated/Hero. I just really love their dynamic in the Razor route, where they're mostly in agreement (besides Cheated obviously finding Hero gullible in Chapter II, but being pretty patient with that!) and I really like how Hero agrees with and encourages Cheated's whole thing trying to stack the voices. I feel like Cheated is one of the voices Hero has the strongest positive interpersonal dynamic with.

Cheated/Skeptic. Their similarities are pretty low-key but also surprisingly strong? They both tend towards parsing the not-entirely-malicious Princesses as victims of the situation and being on their side (Skeptic obviously with Prisoner but also Cheated with Witch/Thorn and Wounded Wild), and they like to explore situations and figure out the correct answer to puzzles (especially unfair ones), and also don't have any trust in the Narrator or patience for his shit.

Cold/Contrarian. I've said it before and I'll say it again, they actually have a surprising amount in common for acting in such different ways! They are both actually very impulsive, both hate boredom immensely, and both prod at the others (Cold is more subtle with it but it's definitely there!) and also immediately set themselves hardcore against the Narrator. I feel like they'd egg each other on into some wild shit just for kicks.

Cold/Skeptic. I don't have quite as much to say about them but their dynamic especially in the beginning of the Drowned Grey route is... well, it's VERY different from Cold/Smitten in the Burned Grey route but still very compelling to me! When they meet they seem to both immediately be like 🤝 don't get too caught up in emotion it'll be way more useful to approach this scientifically! (ETA: Also something something something their two routes are the only two where the Narrator tries to shove you into the Good Ending and you Nope out--)

Contrarian/Opportunist. I just feel like Contrarian would find Opportunist entertaining and Opportunist would appreciate being valued even if it's in kind of a... backhanded way, and would play along with Contrarian's shit at least some of the time which would entertain Contrarian further. Contrarian might also push Opportunist's buttons for fun and to try to see more Real Things from him.

Hunted/Opportunist. Someone else brought this ship onto my radar and I got really !! about it the moment I considered it! They're sort of parallels/opposites (and kinda presented as such on the Stranger's stairs), their routes are similar (cat girl that can lead into the Wild), and I really like that they're both focused primarily on survival above all else -- above other things they really want, like rest or being liked -- it's just that Hunted is survival against threats in physical ways (highly alert senses, instincts, quick movements) and Opportunist is survival against threats in more social ways (figure out how to be, if not the one on top, then important to the one on top!). I feel like once they Get each other they could click.

Hunted/Stubborn. You can get them in four separate routes together, which is like twice as many as any other voice combo. I just really like how that could imply they work really well together/click very easily. They also balance each others' weak points out but I feel could appreciate what the other brings to the table; I especially see this in Eye of the Needle if you lure her outside to fight, but I also love Stubborn being kind to Hunted in his way at the beginning of the Den's chapter (talking against bullies and assuring Hunted that they don't actually know how big she is).

Opportunist/Smitten. I submit this mostly because Opportunist is really similar to Witch imo, albeit not identical, and obviously Smitten is (one way) how you get Witch to Thorn. I also love how easily Smitten accepts and wholeheartedly welcomes Opportunist back on-side once you free Thorn.

Which voices do you ship with eachother? I mean, I've already seen Opportunist/Skeptic (which I haven't seen much of in the fandom and I really like your take on them btw ^^) and Smitten/Cold come by, but are there other pairings or dynamics you haven't got to draw yet, but would like to?

Haven’t been too big on the Voice shipping scene aside from jokes but sure, fuck it, let them by gay.

The Opportunist Skeptic comic was meant to be interpreted however people liked, but I think Skeptic’s inquisitive nature and somewhat reassuring presence by sounding like he knows what he’s doing, and Opportunist’s need for validation and to be wanted go pretty well together.

Contrarian and Hero sound fun, because of the Stranger route it’s almost like they know each other the best, except Contrarian is still a little shit, but Hero has a relatively high tolerance given what he puts up with, so they’d have fun banter probably.

I think Cheated with anyone would be funny, particularly Stubborn, they’re like drinking friends that had a little side thing that went a little two far and now they hold hands and they both love hate it.

Smitten and Cold is like a crack ship to me, if you lot are more invested in it y’all can try to change my mind on that one, it’s not like I’m deep set on that opinion.

Paranoid’s a really fun character, I guess he’d get along well with Hunted, they’re both so afraid of everything, might as well be afraid together. Or get kidnapped in winter, that works too I suppose.

Hero and Paranoid too btw, their dialogue when you choose to go upstairs with the Nightmare is fantastic, their tense yet silly quarrel and back and forth with the Narrator was amazing and part of it was even one of the first things I drew for stp. Them arguing was also my first impression of the game, so yeah, they can be gay too.

Idk what else at the moment, these are just the thoughts I had at the moment. I try to go in depth with my responses because if I like to read that kind of ramble shit, I know others might too.

[scarlettriot]

Along for the Ride PT 1

Pairing: KirishimaxF!Reader

Summary: A drunken mistake had you marking the little Plus One box to your snobby cousin's wedding. Kirishima told you not to worry, if you couldn't find a date, he'd go with you. When the wedding gets moved up, there's absolutely no time to find a date and you're now about to be traveling to America with Kirishima on a private jet no less, dreading having him meet your rude and impossibly arrogant family.

Contains: Kirishima and Reader both come from very well-off families. Plus-Sized Reader. Fluff. Hurt/Comfort.

Warnings: Kinda smutty for a minute. Minors DNI. Drunken Sex. TW: Manipulative Family Relationships. TW: Body Image Issues

A/N: This story has been rolling around in my head for a while now. I might rewrite this and repost. Or I might just post the whole thing soon. I dunno yet. It does get smuttier.

Word Count: 4,974

"What's up with Y/N?"

Eijiro stepped out of the locker room with a towel slung over his shoulder and made his way into the kitchenette where Mina was chugging a bottle of water before getting back to her patrol. His eyes were trained on their mutual friend out on the patio, pacing.

You had your phone pressed to your ear, the high neck of your hero costume unzipped to your collarbone and he noticed your gloves discarded on a chair.

"No clue." Mina shrugged. "She got back from patrol and she noticed a bunch of missed calls from her mom. She's been out there, flailing on the phone for the last fifteen minutes now."

The three of you had met in your second year at UA when you transferred into their class and were quickly accepted by their little squad of friends. You were a bit quiet at first but quickly found comfort in the group. Eijiro had grown especially close to you when you both interned with Fat Gum.

Late nights traveling on the train back to school, a few close calls while helping patrol, and days spent playing cards while you both healed up in the hospital left plenty of time for Eijiro to get to know you better than most. It was how he knew you had a pretty bad relationship with your family, why you hated returning home for the holidays almost as much as you hated any and all forms of tomatoes.

He considered going out there just to see if there was anything he could do but before he had the chance, you were sliding the glass door open. "Oh, good, you're back." He offered you a bottle of water for your throat that he assumed was sore after that argument. "I- um- can I borrow you for a second? Alone?"

Mina snorted a laugh. "If you guys wanna bang it out on the counter you can just say so. I gotta go to work anyways."

Eijiro threw the towel at her as she left the room leaving you two alone. "What's goin' on?"

You hoisted yourself up on the countertop while he leaned against the fridge. "You remember my cousin's wedding that's happening this winter?"

He nodded. He vividly remembered the both of you getting waste a few weeks ago when you were filling out the RSVP and accidentally marking 'plus one'. Then you ran around trying to find White Out but he'd told you if you didn't find a date or have a significant other by the time of the wedding, he'd just go with you.

You argued that your family was bat shit crazy, had more money than they could spend in their lifetime and because of that, they were among some of the rudest people you knew, and you didn't want Eijiro or anyone else around that.

The thing was, Eijiro already knew that and was still okay with going. He came from money too. A lot of it. His family was just more welcoming than yours, the wealth never really going to their heads. But, he reminded you that he'd ran into enough people like those in your family that he knew how to handle them. You finally agreed to let him accompany you, leaving the plus one box checked but the name line blank.

"Well, my cousin just found out that surprise, she's pregnant! And, obviously, she can't have a wedding while seven months along so they've decided to move the wedding up to this weekend."

He nearly choked on his own spit. "This weekend? As in four days from now?"

"Yup! Saturday at 4 in the evening. Oh! No one's supposed to know she's pregnant either. So, I'm just supposed to compliment her on how flattering her dress looks, how thin she is," Your hands strangled the water bottle between them, "And I have to find something flattering to my figure because my mother has seen me in my hero outfit and she's so glad I wear a mask because if anyone knew her daughter ran around looking like I do, well, it'd ruin her!"

You massaged your temples circling back to the actual point, "Anyways, I just wanted to bitch for a sec and let you know you're off the hook since four days is just a little short notice and I told her my plus one wouldn't be able to get the time off that fast."

He pushed off the fridge. "Well, wait, hang on! I'm not letting you go in alone to deal with them! Hell no! You need backup!" You looked almost taken aback by his abruptness, "Yeah. I can work this out. Is the wedding at the same place it was supposed to be or has it moved?"

"No, it's still that fancy lodge in California. I was planning on leaving Friday morning and then coming back either Sunday night or Monday morning since my mother insists I go to their brunch the following day. But, Eijiro, I already have this weekend off..."

"Denki owes me a favor or twelve. He's supposed to be off this weekend too, I'll just see if he can cover me."

"And if he can't?"

"Then..." He pressed the back of his hand to his forehead, "Y/N, am I feeling warm to you? I think I might be starting a fever!"

You folded your arms, shaking your head, "Thought you said lying isn't manly."

"Technically, correct. But, what would be real unmanly is for me to let you deal with your family's bullshit all alone." You watched him closely, "To be honest, I'm sure we could just explain you had a family thing come up and asked me to come along for moral support. I don't really think anyone would think twice about it. Hell, you took a few days off to console me when my turtle died suddenly!"

"Eiji, you refused to eat."

"And you brought me my favorite dumplings! Same thing!"

You might have shaken your head at him but your arms opened wide. The telltale sign you wanted affection. He walked forward, consuming you in a tight hug. Your arms latched around his neck, face buried in the hollow of his throat. "You're the best."

"I just do what I can."

>>><<<

You should have canceled. Instead of Eijiro faking sick to get out of work, you should have faked it with your mother so you didn't have to go in the first place. You crumpled to the floor of your bedroom in pure frustration amidst the twenty or so outfits and dozen pairs of shoes you'd thrown out of your closet trying to find something that your mother would deem appropriate.

It wasn't your fault you had a fuller figure. You worked out, ate right, not to mention your job kept you very active, and yet your, hips, ass, and breasts were by no means subtle.

Your mother had also insisted on the dress being floor-length and modern, "Do try not wearing all black. It's a wedding, not a funeral. And, get your hair looking natural, please." And, just like that, 70% of your wardrobe was out the window!

"It's open!" You called from the floor when the doorbell rang.

"You really should lock this." Mina tutted, walking through the door with a bag full of takeout.

"I do. At night."

"Honey, it's 9 PM."

"Night like bedtime."

Mina just rolled her eyes and walked into your tiny kitchen. "I see the dress hunt is going well."

"I actually figured it out!" You got off the floor, careful not to step on a heel as you made your way to the pink haired woman, "I'm just gonna go in my birthday suit. I figured, my mother made my body technically therefore she can't disapprove of it. Because, you know, she's never done anything wrong in her life!"

Your best friend snorted out a laugh and passed you the take-out container stuffed full of stir fry. "you're a wonderful person, you know that?" You loved the fact Mina didn't even have to ask what you wanted.

"If you'd just move closer to work then you could pick it up yourself and I wouldn't have to bring it to you."

"Too expensive." You declared after a mouthful. "You pay almost twice as much as I do per month and I just don't see the point. I have damn near the same amount of space you do for half the cost!"

You adored your small one-bedroom apartment. It was perfect. Right above a bakery that you visited each morning after your run and a little balcony that provided you with the most stunning view of the sunset.

"You and Kiri, I swear." Mina just shook her head and curled up with her food on the loveseat. "I thought he'd end up with the biggest house out of us all the moment we started making that real Pro money. You've seen his parent's house. It's massive! You could get lost in that place!"

Eijiro's place was barely bigger than your own. He lived in the same condo he had since you'd graduated UA, claiming it was perfect for him in each and every way. But, you knew that he donated a sizable amount of his paycheck every month to charities, the same as you. With savings to spare, neither of you saw the point in hoarding it and therefore the small condo was all he could afford with what he actually kept.

"Just don't understand how a guy that big can live in such a tiny little space. At least with you, it's you know, physically feasible."

Eijiro's bedroom was barely large enough to fit the king-sized bed the man needed to sleep comfortably and even then, his feet were dangerously close to dangling off the bed. And, as if the man's ears were burning, your cell phone went off under a pile of discarded shoes.

Shark-E: Figured out your dress situation? If not, I'm just gonna pack like ten different ties and hope for the best.

You: Yeah! I totally did! I'm just gonna wear this birthday suit I got and call it a night.

You chuckled at your own joke all over again. Watching the grey ellipses appear and then vanish, appear and vanish again. After a third time, you took pity on the man.

You: Joking, Ei. I still don't have it figured out but Mina's over so, hopefully, she can help.

Shark-E: Gonna give me a damn heart attack! Seriously, I wouldn't put it past you just to see the look on your mom's face. Tell Mina hi and good luck to you. I vote the dress from the Hero Gala two years ago.

You: Hi from Mina. Can't. Too much boobs.

Shark-E: You take that back right now! There is NEVER such a thing as too much boobs!

You chuckled to yourself, putting your phone down, and then finished off the last of your delicious dinner, thinking about the dress Eijiro mentioned.

You wondered if maybe there was a way you could make the thing work but it was so very low cut. So much tape had been used to make sure no slips happened but damn was it worth it! The beaded bodice with the sparkling long sleeves, gods, how you loved that dress.

"I'm inclined to agree with our shark boy. You're busty, who gives a damn. You looked hot as hell in that dress."

"My mother, that's who. As much as I'd like to not give a flying fuck what she thinks, for some dumb reason, I do. On top of her telling me that the amount of cleavage I would show would be vastly inappropriate for a wedding, she'd also say the way it hugs my hips makes them look too fat."

Mina rolled her eyes. "She's such a piece of work." Pushing herself up, she held her arms out to you, wiggling little pink fingers for you to take. "Come on then. Let's get you sorted."

"What about that one you wore to the charity art thingy with Kyoka last winter? The one with the silver top."

"Silver is too close to white." You called out from within your closet.

"What! Not true!"

"You know that. I know that. Every person with two brain cells knows that, which is why most of my family does not know that."

"Fine..." She whined and started sifting through the opposite end of your closet. "Oh, what about this?" Mina waved about the blue and green plaid skirt that made up your uniform from your middle school days when you lived in America. "Please try this on. I'm begging!"

You were pretty sure it wouldn't even go over your thighs anymore.

"It's got a better chance of fitting you!"

Mina threw it at you anyway. Slipping off the sweats you wore, somehow, someway, you were able to tug it on AND get it zipped, barely. It no longer covered your ass but you still enjoyed the way it swished around when you wiggled your hips.

"You could be fulfilling so many people's fantasies right now." Mina mused.

You pulled the skirt off and sweats back on, throwing the former back at her. "Yeah, you can take it and go fulfill Hanta's fantasies if you like. Not like I've got anyone to impress." You pulled down a dress you bought on sale a year ago but Mina was quick to dismiss it.

Too puffy, she said and then held up one that was from Momo. "I needed to get it shortened and I don't have time for that now."

"Wait..." She hummed and dropped the Momo dress. "I know what it should be!"

Mina hurried through the closet, grumbling about not finding it. "Just tell me which dress and I can tell you where it's at."

"It's that one you got for grad night and then you got sick and couldn't go!"

"Mina, Mina I can't wear that! That's actual vintage, not like, made-to-look-vintage!"

"But it's so elegant and has that off-the-shoulder sleeve thing. The wedding is at a damn sky lodge! It'll look so pretty in the snow! Ah! Found it!"

She yanked up the long, elegant gown from the garment bag you'd never removed it from. There wasn't a single wrinkle in the burgundy fabric. It looked just as beautiful as the day you found it in that second-hand store, on a mannequin with gaudy stage jewels that you just had to buy so the look was complete.

You ran the back of your hand over the velvety fabric, soft to the touch. "It'll be too tight now. If I was the same size I was at graduation-"

"Bullshit!" Mina cut you off with a dismissive hand, "You've got hips now. We aren't 18 anymore! It's not like it's some clubbing dress. And I bet no one would say a damn thing about your figure if they knew how easily you could crush them with those thighs!"

A smirk tugged at the corner of your lips. Without quirks, you gave every single one of your classmates a run for their money in hand to hand. Most were fairly easy to beat. You could usually take down Eijiro in about five or six minutes and Katsuki in half the time. Funny enough, it was Ochaco that gave you the hardest time.

"I'll consider it. But help me find something else just in case."

>>><<<

It was another two hours before you finally agreed on an a-line, empire waist green and gold number that had been the bridesmaid's dresses for Tetsutetsu's wedding. Mina thought they were a crime the first time they had to wear them, she had no idea what you were thinking.

That's why the moment you were preoccupied with trying to find yet another dress for the Sunday brunch, Mina pulled out her phone.

You: DO NOT, under any circumstances, allow Y/N to wear the green dress. She's bringing two because she can't decide. Red is the winner!

Jaws: Aw, come on. If she likes it, let her wear whatever she's comfortable in. She'll be under enough stress already.

You: Kirishima, it's the dress from Tetsu's wedding. The one that looks sparkly baby food.

It took him a second to respond.

Jaws: Alright. Understood. I thought you guys looked good but damn, she hated that dress.

You: We all did.

Mina looked at the message chain again and couldn't help but asked, "Are we just gonna ignore the fact that you and Eiji are flying all the way to America, last minute, to attend a wedding together, even though you're not together?"

"We've flown to the states before."

"For work!" She sat up eagerly. "This is different, Y/N! This is a date and not just a, like, casual date but a wedding date!"

You poked your head out of the closet. "No, it isn't. This is a friend helping another friend who stupidly mismarked an RSVP." You corrected very plainly but Mina wasn't one to give up so easily.

She whined, dragging out your name, "You guys have been doing this thing for ages. Why do you have to be so stubborn about it all!"

"What's that supposed to mean!"

Mina started ticking off points on her fingers. "He was the first person you opened up to at UA. You saved his life when he was busy saving Katsuki's life second year. You spent all that time interning together, became sidekicks together. Went to America together for three whole months, ALONE, and you honestly expect me to think there's nothing between the two of you!"

The truth of it all was simple really; 17 year old you had a massive crush on Eijiro Kirishima. He was sweet, always listening to you, providing comfort when you needed it, and always encouraging you to push your limits. He was bright and honest, a little slow in the head from time to time but that made him all the more endearing.

He was also head over heels in love with Katsuki Bakugo.

It was why you never made a move. Never spoke a word of the feelings you harbored. You didn't dare to cross that line with him because you couldn't ever hold a candle to the explosive man.

In the three years Eijiro and Katsuki spent together, your brain finally started registering Eijiro as just a friend, nothing more, and certainly nothing less. You thought your heart had followed suit but it was becoming more and more apparent that wasn't the case. Because the night he showed up at your door, tears in his ruby eyes, every lock you put on your heart broke open.

The same way you couldn't hold a candle to Katsuki, Eijiro couldn't hold one to Izuku. You knew exactly what he was feeling even if you never intended to tell him. Too overcome with fear. If Katsuki came back... that'd be it. Eijiro would go back and you wouldn't even blame him!

Still, the redhead consumed a decent chunk of your heart though, you couldn't deny that after the three months you spent together in America, gathering intel on a smuggling ring, living in the same apartment. The groggy, 'good mornings' when his voice was still scratchy with sleep, hair falling in his eyes. The late nights bandaging wounds and killing cheap bottles of wine while watching terrible American reality shows.

It was those bottles of wine that did you in on your second to last night in America. Supplying you with courage and draining your sense of reason, allowing you to crawl onto his lap, into his arms. You could still remember the pressure of his lips on yours, those sharp teeth gently dragging along your lower lip.

Scared hands tracing the curve of your ass before taking handfuls to squeeze. The laugh that came from you was unlike anything you heard before, something so genuine that you couldn't reproduce.

How it felt when he lifted you up and took you to his bed, laying you down taking his time removing your clothes, and watching with awe as you pulled away his own. The way he looked over top of you, his hair a curtain of red around you just before you closed your eyes, gasping while he filled you.

You also remembered the guilt that crept into your head during the wee hours of the morning, the doubt that was louder than the snores coming from behind you.

It made you slip from under his massive arm, gather up your clothes from his floor, you tucked the blanket around him, and pressed a kiss to his temple before padding out of the room.

You told yourself you'd talk to him about it if he brought it up, but he never did. Not the next morning, or night, not on the plane ride back home, nor anytime since. It was a memory you'd hold close to your heart, one you wouldn't let slip away or share.

"There's nothing there, Mina. We're just good friends is all." You lied with a smile on your face, something that had become surprisingly easy to do.

If only you knew that Mina saw right through it. That Mina already knew the truth of it all.

>>><<<

It was nearly one in the morning when your phone rang. The goofy picture of Eijiro with face half painted at a festival a few years back never failed to make you grin.

"It's a little late." You answered by way of greeting.

"Don't pretend like you were anywhere close to sleeping, you little night owl."

Chuckling at the nickname that had followed you since high school, "What's up, Eiji?"

"I was going over flights. You said in the office that you wanted to leave on Friday?"

"Yeah. I have patrol tomorrow and I didn't find any flights after 6 PM so, Friday is the earliest."

He was quiet on the other line for a moment. "Yeah, you don't have patrol tomorrow, or work at all for that matter."

You sat up a bit straighter in bed. "Um, yes I do."

"No, you don't. I called Mina, asked her if you'd mind taking that shift for you and, since she knows what's happening, she agreed the extra day for travel would do you some good. So, she's covering you tomorrow then you're off work until next Wednesday. As for me, thanks to all that overtime I put in when Denki, Kyoka, and Hitoshi got married, the three of them are splitting up my days so I have until Wednesday too."

Eijiro sounded impossibly proud on the other line, you could almost see the smirk on his face. "You've got this all planned out, don't you?"

"And a bag nearly packed. Just need you to tell me what ties to bring."

"Gold, burgundy, and black."

"Thought your mom said no black for you?"

"She said no black for the wedding. She said nothing about black at the brunch!"

You couldn't wait to put on the tea-length dress that had been a favorite for years. Satin with a lacy top and, best of all, pockets.

He let out a rumbling laugh that fell off into comfortable silence as you laid back in your bed, lights still on, the room still a mess. You tapped the speaker icon and laid the phone on the pillow right beside your head, listing to the various sounds of Eijiro moving around.

A door creaking open, a hanger clattering against another, and a zipper. "And just like that, I'm all set."

"Don't forget your passport or hero license."

"I have one in my wallet and the other in my backpack."

You swiped up on your iPad, off Netflix, and going to google, lazily searching through flights. "So, did you find any good flights since you've clearly been looking?"

Another chuckle, "Eijiro, why are you laughing?" More stifled giggles had you sitting up in bed again. "Just tell me a site you were on. They're just flights, what's so funny?"

"There isn't a site."

"You said you were checking flights."

"And I was... on my family's jet."

"Eiji! No! No, no, no! That is supposed to be for their business or hero things! My stupid cousin's wedding is neither of those things!"

"Relax, Y/N. My family has multiple and they don't have any business trips planned right now anyways. I already cleared it with my mom. Seriously, I just mention your name and she's likely to let me have it for a whole year at least. Plus Todoroki's is back up in working order so the agency is covered too."

Damn, why'd he have to be so good at planning from time to time! You'd completely forgotten about the second jet his family had. Always opting for the larger one since the few missions they needed it for required them to bring fifty or so heroes along.

"Besides, if we fly private, we can land at an airstrip closer to the venue and won't need to drive four hours on top of a ten-hour flight."

"Alright, okay, thank you but, let me take care of the rental car, please. It's the least you can let me do."

"Deal. I just have one more question for ya."

"What's that?"

"Wanna leave tonight?"

You nearly dropped your damn iPad in shock. "Eijiro! What the fuck has gotten into you! It's the middle of the night!"

"I'm excited!" He boomed, "I haven't had a vacation in months!"

"I hate to break this to you, buddy, but this isn't going to be a vacation. You really shouldn't get your hopes up. This isn't going to be a good time with laughs and fun memories... my family, they just, they aren't those kinds of people."

"But we are." He stated matter-of-factly. "If they want to have sticks up their asses then let them! We'll have a good time on our own, laugh and make fun memories! So, what do you say, Y/N? I can be at your place in fifteen. I just gotta put shoes on and grab my keys..."

"Wait, hang on. Are you forgetting that we need someone to, oh, I dunno, FLY THE PLANE! Actually, we need two someone's, can't forget about a co-pilot!"

He hummed happily and you rubbed your temples. "You, you have a pilot and a co, don't you, Eiji?"

"Mhm! There is a company we use. Two can be at the hanger in an hour and every hour after that. I just have to make the call and get the flight plan approved which will be done before I even get to your house."

There was literally no reason to say no. You had mostly everything packed, nothing you needed to get from the store, all you had to do was put on pants and pack up your hygiene bag and you were ready too. Maybe getting there quicker and getting the whole thing over with would be better than staying home dwelling on everything.

"Better put your shoes on."

The glee in his voice, that was enough to make this whole thing worth it, "I'll see you soon."

>>><<<

Eijiro reached into the backseat and plopped a bag down on your lap the very moment you were buckled in. "Had to make a pit stop." He explained.

"It's after two in the morning, where'd you have to..."

"Just open the bag and don't complain."

You found it filled to the brim with all your favorite snacks.

"I'm sure the plane will have a bunch of snacks we can raid but I know for a fact they don't have these." He held up a pack of cookies and creme flavored pocky that had been his favorite for as long as you'd known him, quickly followed by your favorite flavor too. You also found a massive bag of gummy worms and jolly ranchers.

"So, what you're telling me is our teeth are going to rot by the time we land? Not that I'm complaining."

You ripped open the bag of ranchers knowing that was what he'd go for first and sure enough his hand dove inside just as he pulled away from the curb. You could hear his dangerously sharp teeth biting through the rock candy like it was nothing while you still rolled one around your mouth.

Eijiro asked you about the resort you'd be going to, wondering if you'd been there before or what other stuff you guys could do when you weren't dealing with your family. "I figured we could fly back Monday night or Tuesday morning, you know, just play it by ear in case there was anything else we wanted to do."

More than anything, you wished you could just leech a little bit of that excitement from him. The glimpses of his smile you caught as you drove under the street lights made your heart ache.

"What?" He asked with that wide smile of his. You'd been caught staring, red-handed.

"I, uh, I just don't know what to tell you."

You could see the subtle change of his grin, watch as it softened and his hand came to rest on your thigh. "Hey, it's gonna be fine! And if we run into them while out doing stuff, you can just avoid them or hide behind me!" At least hiding behind Eijiro is an easy thing to do, damn mountain of a man.

His thumb slowly brushed back and forth. "'S gonna be okay. I'll beat 'em up if they're assholes!"

You snickered at his Katsuki impression and let the drone of the radio fill the air around you both. Enjoying the silence the rest of the way to the hanger with Eijiro's hand atop your leg.

[lupically]

#F40B32 | RYOMEN SUKUNA.

genre | light fluff, light angst, very faint romance undertone 

word count | 2616

warning | mention of death, mention of injury, mention of killing, decapitation 

note | i just wanted to try my hand at writing for a villain that is obviously irredeemable in a semi-realistic way.

what happens when you are irredeemable? you will fall in love anyway.

but ryomen sukuna wasn't in love with you. after all, he had killed you one too few times to claim that he was in love with you.

the first time he killed you was out of instinct. you were an intruder touching his soul the way mahito did, except you barged in without any malicious intention. he had gazed over your fallen body with mild interest then; a mere mortal, yet you emerged from thin air into his locked tight domain without dying?

the second time he killed you was a choice. he gave you not a minute to explain yourself, even though you had wasted the minute asking questions about his identity and the skull-filled area instead of giving him any valuable information about yourself. he had been fed up, he was never a man of patience, so he killed you with a wave of his hand and returned to his dull life alone on his throne.

the third time he killed you—he did not kill you. there was no third time; people liked to say the third time's charm but sukuna believed no such superstition. he killed you twice already and each time, you came back unscathed, both your body and your memories. whether he liked it or not, killing you for the third time would do neither you nor him any benefit, so he kept you alive.

you were afraid of him. he could tell, and he meant for things to be that way until he realized it served as a misfortune on his part. in order to understand this mystery—your sudden appearance into his domain, as well as your inability to leave it and his inability to kick you out—he has to gain some piece of information about you, but you were too shaken up from being murdered to talk to him at all.

sukuna's patience was reaching a breaking point and he thought about torturing it out of you, but he understood that humans are fragile, way more fragile than your typical jujutsu sorcerer. he could accidentally kill you and you would return with no scars and more unwilling to converse with him than before. then it was the waiting game all over again.

he wasn't planning on going through such a dull ordeal again, so he left you be and waited for you to calm yourself down.

the first time you talked to him, you asked him a question.

"are you going to kill me?" you asked him.

sukuna peered down at you from his throne. small, frightened, curled into a ball with no desire to touch the skeletons at his feet, but you looked up at him out of politeness.

he scoffed, displeased. "no, but i always can."

the second time you talked to him, it was to exchange a brief introduction.

"ryomen sukuna," he hummed curtly then he nudged his chin toward you. "your turn."

you shuffled up to your knees and sat down on your heels. your fingers fidgetted at your lap as you timidly peered up at his tattooed, disinterested expression.

"[full name]," you said with a nod, unable to meet his eyes. "nice–nice to meet you, sukuna-san..."

the third time you talked to him, you flinched.

"ma–may i ask you two questions... if i can...?" you asked, for the first time standing up to face him directly.

sukuna leaned away from his propped-up arm. after taking a better look at you, accessing your figure analytically despite having seen you move around slowly for days already, he shoved his hands into the sleeves of his robe and he suddenly jumped down from his throne to stand before you.

you pursed your lips nervously over his looming figure, face heating up with terrible anxiety while your eyes darted down to the watery ground. oh, his presence has been so overwhelmingly deadly that you forgot your white tennis shoes were stained red and your pastel ankle socks remained wet. you did not dare to complain, not even in your head.

"i'll allow it," he said.

"where am i?" you quickly asked.

"an innate domain," he replied.

you have questions, but you decided not to ask. you only nodded after breathing out a soft sigh to calm your nerves. this man constantly sounded condescending, he was kicking open your comfort zone without actively doing anything that would make you uncomfortable.

"okay..." you said, "thank you."

"aren't you going to ask me another question?" he stated with a raise of his brow. "you wanted to ask me two questions."

you gulped, blinking hopelessly at the air as a grimace appeared on your face. "the first question was if i can ask you two questions, and the second one is about where i am... so that makes two."

oh, a meticulously cautious one, and somewhat humorous too he would give you that. sukuna scoffed loudly, but it was less out of annoyance and more out of disbelief of your incredible dullness. however, as plain as you were, he has grown accustomed to your presence; the scent of fear that bounced off of you and the fact that he cannot kill you at will.

"you must be dying to know what this place is, are you not, you brat?" sukuna asked.

when he saw the flashes in your eyes, he knew he had you down through and through. all you were was but someone who was too afraid to say what they want, which was just as he expected from you. you wouldn't cause him trouble, you never could.

reaching his hand out of his sleeve, he stayed silent despite seeing the way you flinched with your eyes shut at his raised hand. his movement had been slow, but that was an involuntary response, an instinct that he didn't craft into you. he wondered what it was.

"you can ask me three more questions," he said as he pushed the heel of his palm against the curve of your head. he was gentle at first, then he clamped his hand down on your head as he bent his waist to meet your eyes. he laughed. "i'll allow it."

he could keep you here. he has no choice but to keep you here, and he would kill you once he realized he has the ability to. but for now, perhaps he could act a little civil, something like a human being but one that people would hate to the core.

except he was met with a little obstacle in the way, which was that you were no bad company.

the first time sukuna gained a liking toward you was when you asked him a peculiar question.

"sukuna-san," you called one time when there was only silence within the innate domain.

you sat on a bed of skulls, one that you tentatively asked the king of curses to make you so you wouldn't have to lean on the rib-cage structure and sit in water for slumber.

he denied it at first. calling you names and threatening you about ever requesting something from him—a bed in his domain? fucking atrocious. but your insomnia was killing you; you hated the blood water and your neck burned whenever you wake up having it arched at the worst angle possible.

he did not grow soft. he just made one so he didn't have to watch you sleep in his peripheral vision.

"hmm."

"why do you think curses exist?"

he raised a brow at you. "did i not teach you that before?"

"you did, sorry," you nodded, "then do you believe in god?"

"where the fuck is this coming from, you brat?"

"from where i came, god is good. but from what i am seeing, whether from where i came from or here, everything goes against that value," you muttered loudly as you pulled at your fingers. "cursed spirits harm people. if i can argue that way, i think cursed spirits are harmful within themselves."

"if god is good, and god is real, why would this happen," you said. "why should we feel negative emotions? why do we have the ability to create cursed spirits? why do curses like you exist?"

he furrowed his brows in irritation. have you reduced him to mere curses? have you reduced him to nothing but a brainless being that only takes joy in the suffering of others? no matter how he approached your words, he felt infuriated that you could minimize his importance to simply being a bad person.

he was much more than a bad person, much more than just a pain! he has ideals, he has goals and ambitions, he has wit and strength! he has anger and malevolence and power beyond which your soul could ever contain and endure! he was ryomen sukuna, the strongest curse in a thousand years and more!

he will fucking kill you.

"i'm really glad you're here, though," you finished off softly, an unknowing smile on your face as you rubbed your thumbs weakly together.

he will kill you.

"for a long time, i was told my anger and hatred aren't real. that they don't and should not exist, and i learned to bury them to the ground so they never appear on the surface again," you said, your innocent smile audible to his ears and making his chest twitch with guilt.

"cursed spirits' existence is proof that my negative emotions are real. they may be a problem, but i am not crazy for having them because they're here. they became something, they're here and alive."

he will... he will kill you.

"i just think it's unfair to put the blame on cursed spirits and cursed energy alone when the society's standard guarantees the manifestation of them," you said. "if my anger got out to the world in the form of a monster and it hurt someone, i'll forgive it. i will forgive myself."

he...

"you don't need to hear this, i wish i had your confidence, but i have to say it," you looked up and smiled at him, "i'm a little glad you're here, sukuna-san."

he will kill–he will ki–

the second time, he went stoic.

mahito was too smart for his own good. the first thing he noticed when he entered the soul within yuji's body was the way sukuna has the collar of your shirt clutched in his hand and your body pulled close to his side. it was a glance, he had one small glimpse of you both before he was kicked out of the domain.

your face was riddled with tears—crying, disappointed, and frustrated, but why? for the transfigured human whose name mahito almost forgot, or because sukuna just had one of the most sadistic outbursts you have ever witnessed.

and sukuna, the king, the lord, the almighty—didn't he look annoyed. well, not annoyed, per se. angry, mad, overwhelmed, knowing, protective. very, very, very protective; glowing eyes that glared at mahito's patched up face, fingers that gripped at your shirt so tightly he could rip the fabric apart, an aura that was ready to spit any moment if mahito so much as reach a finger toward your direction.

you meant something to ryomen sukuna. mahito realized that, so the second time he entered the innate domain, he killed you.

right before his eyes, with a cunning and triumphant smile, your neck cracked and your skin broke, and mahito tore your head off just before he was once again beat out of the domain.

sukuna tried to heal you. he tried to seal your head back to your lifeless body, time and time again pushing your decapitated head against your haphazardly cut neck. but his reverse curse technique wasn't healing you. your skin refused to piece itself back together, you refused to come back to him. time passed and he was getting mad, he was going batshit crazy trying to force himself out of this body.

bastard! bastard! bastard! he was supposed to kill you! he was supposed to be the one to kill you! he would murder that patch-faced piece of shit! he would kill mahito! and he would destroy the whole world, light it on fire and kill all that wasn't worthy of his time! he would jump universes, light-years, the bloodstream of the galaxy to find you and bring you back to him. he would—

"sukuna-san, i'm sorry i took a while! i thought you were fighting–holy shit, is that me?"

the third time, sukuna admitted to himself.

"what kind of flowers do you like, sukuna-san?" you asked, voice drowsy and your legs dangling after you climbed on one of the bones of the rib-cage structure.

"why does it matter?" he asked from his throne, eyeing you carefully.

your were a clumsy idiot. you could fall anytime.

"it doesn't, but it's flowers," you mumbled with your chin leaning against the bone, eyes threatening to close. "sukuna... sukuna..."

"what?" he snapped.

"i like lilies, the red ones," you said with a silly grin. "will you visit me when i die? sukuna... will you bring... mmm... bring red lilies..."

he looked ahead. your death; your grave, decorated with red lilies, protected and preserved with his curses. your death—he gritted his teeth. he refused to think about it. it was a waste of time.

or maybe he simply hated the idea of your death.

sukuna has not gone soft. he was irredeemable; a killer, a curse, a tragedy to descend upon mankind. he was not good and he never would be, nor did he ever have the intention to be good.

still, from you, there was proof that he could be more. what was left of his being; his anger and his torture, what was left within the gaps of his hell, the rare softness that once was there, belonged to you now.

you were the vessel that pocketed all that he could potentially become if he wasn't born to be ryomen sukuna, a version of him that you have witnessed. within you, there was proof that he did not only exist to hurt people, but also to validate madness and pain, to acknowledge passion in its murderous wakefulness. within you, there was proof that within himself, there are pieces of what it means to be human and alive.

hearing your soft breath, sukuna looked up to find you asleep with your head against the bone. your arms barely supported your weight and you were threatening to fall off as you dozed with faint snores. he stared at you, his fingers twitching, then he finally waved his hand so he could bring you away from the ribcage and to where he sat.

he paid no mind to subtlety when he set you on his lap. his hand supported your back while he kept your head pressed against his shoulder. his other arm went around your body, preventing you from falling off the throne made only for him to sit on. when he was done adjusting to the new sitting position, he relaxed.

brushing the hair away from your face, he stared down at you with disinterest, but his heart pumped and pumped for you to be warm and well, his arms tightened for you to sleep soundly.

"i will bring you all the red lilies you want," he whispered, the back of his finger gliding past your soft cheek. you did not smell like fear when you fall asleep, you did not smell like fear now even when you looked at him. "i will allow myself that."

after all, ryomen sukuna was only fond of you. very, very fond of you. 

[lu-morningstar]

Slipped to my heart - Tom Holland [Oneshot]

pairing: tom holland x evans!actress!reader ft. uncle!chris evans

a/n: this was requested so please enjoy 1034 words of fluff and bad awkward flirting <3

When you decided to pursue an acting career, your uncle Chris —yes, the Chris Evans—, backed you up and supported you. You did a few commercials until you got cast as the daughter of a popular character on a 2000s show, gaining you your popularity as a child actor. Then a kids and teens tv chain company cast you in a show -that has now become a classic for that generation-. It gave you all the success and recognition that as an actress you aspired to one day achieve. Obviously, uncle Chris was there to give you advice, help you practice lines, and give you the encouragement sometimes you didn’t have.

Plus, visiting the set of the movies he filmed and attending premieres was a good plus, especially if it was Marvel. You couldn’t really go too much to the set, they were super paranoid about people leaking photos or videos of the filming or behind the scenes, but you attended a few red carpets and after-parties.

Also, that’s how you met your boyfriend. One day you arrived at the set of the latest Avengers' movie —the name still a secret—, one hand holding your to-go tea and your script in the other. You were joining the fourth season of a Netflix show in a few days that was filming closely, so you had a chance to visit your uncle in his work.

Since he was busy filming, an assistant took you to a catering table that was close to the set where he was working. You made your way to where the cookies were to grab one when someone bumped into you, making you drop your script and tea, the liquid spilling and falling on the confidential papers. Luckily, you didn't end up on the ground with your things.

"I'm so SORRY." a high-pitched boy's voice in a red and blue costume said. You gawked briefly at his brown eyes with messy eyebrows framing them, a bit of panic and concern on his face as he fully realized what he had done. You didn't look upset or angry at him, more like agitated by the situation.

"Are-are you okay?" he asked, wanting to grab your arm, but going against his thought, thinking it might be too much for you right now.

"Yeah, a bit shaken. I just dont like it when people invade my space like that."

"Sorry, it was my fault. I'm so tired I didn't realize I walked into a lovely girl." You felt your cheeks heating up. Of course, you have to blush at some nice words, y/n. At least you weren't anxious anymore.

"Let me help you," he said, crunching down to pick your things, that were still laying on the floor. He handed them to you but not without picking, catching the name of a show he was watching on Netflix. He thought he should ask what you were doing with that here since he never saw you on the set before today, but with care, he didn't want you to think you were doing something wrong or that he didn't like your presence. He liked your presence, and it's been what, a minute or so since he saw —bumped into— you.

"You have a Dynasty script? Are you part of the cast?"

"What do you think?" you answered with a question, wanting —desiring— to know if he knew you or not, a smirk on your face.

"I haven't finished season 3, so I honestly don't know. I hope you are so I can watch you on my Netflix."

Am I blushing, again?

"You can watch me on the next season then." you added a wink, catching a slight blush creep on his pale skin. Two can play this game, Spiderman.

"I'll be looking forward then." He said with a grin, crossing his arms on his chest, showing off his muscles on his tight spandex suit. Well, it worked.

"I'm Tom... Holland, by the way." He said sticking his hand towards you after realizing he didn't know your name. He didn't want to say his last name, but it was pretty obvious, so he decided to do it anyway.

"Yeah, the infamous Spiderman. Y/N Evans." you shook his suit-clad hand.

"Oh, like Chris." he mentioned before feeling a hand grabbing his shoulder, he turned his face and found the mentioned one in his Captain America suit.

"Yeah, he is my uncle." Tom's eyes opened to his maximum at your words. He began to notice some alike characteristics in common.

"No flirting with my niece, Holland." Chris said, squeezing Tom's shoulder. He visibly gulped with worried eyes. "We need to film our scene, come on." Your uncle said, pushing Tom's back so he can walk to the set.

"We should grab some tea together, sometime." he said as Chris dragged him to the set. You chuckled as your uncle said, "Not even in your dreams, Holland".

Chris made sure to give Tom some crap while filming. You were his niece, his only niece, who he loved like you were his daughter. He wasn’t gonna let a guy, even if said guy was Tom Holland, take you to a date.

After that encounter, Tom thought 'Fuck it, I can deal with Chris', so after wrapping his scene he went looking for you —you were sitting on your uncle's chair, it said Evans after all, reading your tea-tainted script— and invited you to go out with him.

You said yes, and now you are here. A bit over six months, laughing with your lover on the couch, watching the first episode of the new season of Dynasty. Tom's arm is around your shoulders, and his opposite free arm is extended on your lap, holding your hand and rubbing circles with his thumb.

"I'm so glad I can watch you on my Netflix and have you with me at the same time." he pressed a kiss on your temple, reminiscing his first conversation with you.

"I'm so glad you bumped into me and spilled my tea." you said, pressing your lips against his. If it wasn't for his slip that day, you wouldn't be here, being happy and in love with Tom.

My masterlist

Wanna be part of the taglist? Drop me an ask here!

taglist: @marajillana ✧ @sunwardsss ✧ @itstaskeen ✧ @judeduarteripoff ✧@stillmanicc​ ✧ @bageracat​ ✧