#basic trope i know

[failing-to-write-again]

A Rainy Conversation; Shu Sakamaki x Reader

(Below audio is rain noise incase this link doesn't work, just for thematic background vibes)

"What a bother, you'll catch a cold and then that will be my problem"

You didn't hear him open the sliding door to the school's roof. He stood under the metal overhang protecting the welcome mat. You crouched on the lip of the bottom stair leading up to the more open area overlooking the sports courts. Instead holding an umbrella over your shoulder as you stared out to the town surrounding the school. The edges of your skirt damp from the cold, shoes shiny from the smattering of water droplets. You don't turn to him like you normally would.

"Heh, or do you just want the rain to turn guys shirts see through...perv."

He walks over, rain quickly causing his blonde curls to clumps and cling to his face, his blazer protected most of his cardigan from the rain. He sat beside you, most of his broad frame protected by the plastic. You then spoke.

"Why do you hang out with me so much?"

He scoffs at your deadpan comment. His hands remain in his pockets and he stretches one leg out straightening it.

"Why would you ask stupid questions like that? You always do."

"Because for all that talk you keep doing weirdly nice things, things that not a month ago would have you proclaiming how much of a bother they are."

His tongue runs across his teeth, a shallow soothing of his shame.

"You're imagining things."

"You've attended every class we have together, and suddenly I'm getting apologises for rude comments or being left out. My bed is now heated whenever you plan on sleeping there. Whenever I wake feeling anemic there's cranberry juice everywhere! And then this you keep talking all casual to me like we're friends."

Your head turns slightly as you look at him through the corner of your eye. Neither of your voices were very loud, the rain drowning you out what few noises of life remained in such weather. Shu's gaze remained transfixed on the ground, head tilted to the side slightly. His shoulders raised and fell slightly as he shifted.

"You cried all night a while ago."

His tone despondent and distant. As if he was somewhere else. His fingers tapped uncharacteristically against the stone, small droplets being flung as they moved. He let the words linger as he considered his next words.

"After the exams, I found your album with the ballet pictures. Then you just looked so sick compared to them, I went to leave and then I heard sobbing. It was you crying in your sleep about being taken away. That man, the priest, you kept saying his name begging him to let you go home."

You scoff, rolling your eyes and looking at your shoes. He looks to you in response.

"I don't see why that would make you act so weird, you don't care about anyone. 'Too mich effort.' That's your catchphrase right. So what you want to fuck up my life more?"

You stand, increasing the distance between you but still keeping him under the umbrellas protection.

"What's your deal?" You spit.

He shrugged.

"I didn't care. But it felt wrong whenever you looked hurt, I thought I wanted to hurt you, but everytime something did it felt horrible. I don't want to care, whenever I care about something it gets hurt. But then when you would fall asleep after I drank you, you never cried in your sleep."

"Shu this all sounds so round about. Just be brief. I'm sick of this!"

Your knuckles turn white gripping the umbrellas handle. Your chin wobbling slightly as you whispered.

"I don't like being played with, so if this is to get blood easier just say and I'll be easier. Because I'm starting to think you like me, and I'm starting to like you. So call me stupid and disappear."

He slowly pushes himself to stand before you. Now entirely out of the umbrellas reach to look down at you.

"You're an annoying pain but it's more of a pain when you're not around now. What you said when you first met me was right, I run away from people. But you, I can't run from without feeling even worse, especially after seeing everything that gets put on you."

His hands touch your waist, ducking under the umbrella as he slips into your space. His head comes to rest on your shoulder, sopping wet locks soaking through your uniform.

"I don't want to run anymore. You don't cry when you sleep next to me, so I'll stay by your side so you don't cry while awake."

Your shoulders begin to shake as tears begin to roll down your face. Your free hand gripping the soft wool of his cardigan tightly.

"You're an asshole. You're meant to say this before you start acting sweet."

"Cruel woman, a man pours his heart out for you and you insult him."

"Said the cruel man with the unbeating heart."

He laughs at that, pulling you closer and taking the umbrella from you. Your hand slips around him in turn. You feel a pressure on your forehead, similar to a kiss.

"It doesn't need to beat to belong to you."

Pulling back he holds your face up wiping some tears away with his thumb.

"Stop crying, it's bothersome"

[lazylittledragon]

so uhhhhhhhh. not to be cryptic and bitchy on main but congratulations to everyone in my messages for like 5 months on being right i guess

[treviso-nights]

everyone say thank you to brianne battye who wrote for both cullen rutherford and neve gallus, two people who would rather fall on a sword than develop crushes but ultimately can't resist the indecipherable yearning of their huge, disgustingly soft hearts

[pyro-madder]

starting to see a personal trend of ot3s being "male protag/canon female lover with nicely developped relationship/male narrative foil with whom sex would be less gay than what they have going on"

[biblicalhorror]

Okayyyyy yeah also let's talk about Tammy. I didn't know how I felt about her for awhile because she did very much feel like the Disposable Black Girlfriend, but I'm seeing people saying she's an "abuser" or God forbid "just as bad as Kevin" and that's just. Not at all true.

Yes, Tammy is controlling. She doesn't seem to really like Patty for who she is, and kind of seems to want to change her into someone else instead. HOWEVER, I think we need to look at the whole character to understand WHY she's like that. I don't think she's controlling Patty for personal gain or for the sake of manipulating her. I think she's lonely and desperate for companionship, which leads to her ignoring/pushing past the obvious incompatibility in her relationship with Patty.

Here's what we know about Tammy:

1. She seems to be the only black person in the Worcester social circle. She also mentions frequently how she's surrounded entirely by white men at work.

2. She is also the only openly lgbt person in the area, other than Patty, who is still not exactly out and proud.

3. She describes her entire job as "making excuses for" and "cleaning up after" the men at her job, particularly her partner (whose name I am unfortunately forgetting, does anyone remember?), who even had her plant evidence for him on at least one occasion.

4. Despite being very competent and good at her job, the white men around her keep failing upwards (she mentions a few times that people beneath her keep getting promoted) while she remains stagnant in her career. There doesn't seem to be any explanation for this other than the fact that she is a black lesbian in an extremely white, conservative community.

Basically, Tammy seems like someone who has been taught (like many black women) that she will have to work much harder than everyone else to get ahead in any capacity. She is also likely very, very lonely. She doesn't seem to have any friends outside of work, which isn't surprising given the above. It seems like she doesn't exactly have a ton of prospects, dating-wise, other than Patty. In my opinion, it's really no wonder that she clung to Patty so desperately and immediately and tried to forcibly mold her into someone who could be compatible. She's tough, smart, organized, direct, manipulative, no-nonsense and controlling because, well, she had to be. And she ends up trying to "rein in" Patty because, in her mind, what's the other option? She ends up alone, surrounded by men who force her to cover for their antics and don't care if she lives or dies.

I'm not saying her behavior is healthy. But it comes from an entirely different place than Kevin's abuse, or Chuck's, or even Neil's. And it's also not uncommon. In real life, I know many queer women (specifically small-town lesbians) who end up in relationship dynamics just like that over and over again because they start dating someone who doesn't quite fit, and they compensate for it by trying to force a connection instead of accepting loneliness and isolation. I have a lot of sympathy for Tammy. And I wish the show had taken more care to establish the abuse she faced from her coworkers off-camera.

[henrysglock]

I do love that TFS Broadway gave us a formal diagnosis for Henry.

His case file included symptoms such as: drastic personality changes, delusions, BOUTS of violence and malignant narcissism, plus hallucinations. The final diagnosis listed was PSYCHOSIS. Psychopathy and sociopathy were never mentioned, not even in passing.

It's exactly like I've been saying since 2022, which no one ever wanted to entertain: everything about his case reeks of psychosis/a psychotic break, not a malignant personality disorder. Henry himself engages in prosocial behavior naturally.

[fizzigigsimmer]

Reality collision where Billy shows up to school one day with a baby. No one knows who the kid is or why Billy showed up with him; but he waits to corner Steve in the parking lot. Shoves the baby into his arms unceremoniously all - "Take your spawn Harrington."

Steve's never seen this baby in his life, and if anything it looks like Billy. Brown hair sure, but the eyes,chin, and those ears are all Hargrove. He's confused even more when Billy starts babbling about holes opening up on the walls and what sounds like demo-dogs, which he shouldn't even know about!

One thing he is sure of, he definitely didn't get attacked by a demo-dog last night or run into Billy's car out near the powerplant. He definitely didn't give Billy this baby and ask him to take care of it, but someone did.

AKA Billy and Steve get stuck temporarily taking care of their alternate reality baby and it brings them together.

[triaelf9]

Dealing with Dragons: Cimorene sketch ^_^

Been re-listening to Dealing with Dragons recently (anyone who knows me knows I will not shut up about how formative this series was for me re: many things but mostly dragons) and so I got the urge to draw Cimorene again (I sketched her like a year or so ago, but can't find it, so I thought a redesign with my new style was perfect!)

Also, my fav book reviewer (I have one of those now?? What??) Just covered the first book of the series, so if you want to check out a great reviewer AND my favorite book of all time, here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMaKkwHQQKM

Not me trying to speak into existence an Enchanted Forest Chronicles graphic novel series that I get to adapt, whatttt noooo... ^_-

[ihaveanaversiontodecisions]

Viktor "I'm a grown man stop infantilizing me" Arcane vs Jayce "IM NOT INFANTILIZING YOU IM BEING CHIVALROUS" Talis

[zukosdualdao]

i'm literally insane about the last agni kai and the lightning scene(s). i swear i've rewatched it 10+ times since my last rewatch of the show (which was my first watch in years) and like. azula sees katara come into view from behind. zuko doesn't. he follows azula's gaze and sees katara and is immediately horrified. he doesn't even think or hesitate because he doesn't have time and for once he doesn't have to look back at azula to figure out what she's doing because he knows what she's doing and he won't let it happen. time dwindling into slow motion as a haunting score plays? and zuko literally yelling out "no!" because that lightning absolutely cannot hit katara. as soon as he sees it there's no chance of that ever happening. and then katara watching in horror as the lightning flashes against features in what is probably one of the most hauntingly beautiful animated moments of the show? zuko hitting the ground still convulsing with lightning and katara crying out "zuko!" and immediately trying to run to him before azula attacks again? and the next scene we cut back to with them, zuko is groaning weakly and trying to lift himself up, and we see katara literally gasp in surprise as she realizes he's still alive (i'm sobbing because i do quite literally think she thought he was dead) and immediately tries to run to him again, nevermind that she knows azula is still there, and the hand katara uses for healing is already doused in water as she reaches for him. but then azula starts attacking again. and zuko, despite literally being in so much pain that he can't stand and can barely even move at all without whimpering, still tries to reach for the spot where he can see azula attacking katara. katara is forced to hide from azula's attacks. and as azula is mocking "zuzu, you don't look so good" down to zuko, the perspective shot is such that you can SEE that katara is also looking at where he lies prone in the distance, surrounded by flame (probably wondering how much time they have before it really is too late) before looking back up at azula and realizing she needs to defeat her as quickly and handily as possible so katara can get to zuko. obviously katara would have done this anyway (the whole reason they were THERE was to halt the continued cycle of the imperialist regime of the fire nation), but the scene is specifically framed as katara trying to figure out how to stop azula so the obstacle to her getting to zuko is no longer in the way. katara's defeat of azula was epic and deserves its own post. but then after making sure azula is securely chained, she runs to zuko, looks at him with such immense sadness and horror and fear as she hears him in so much pain, tenderly turns him over so she can get a good look at the wound. and she cups his head? briefly but so gently? so that he won't hit it as she turns him over? and when she tries to heal him you can tell she is so genuinely unsure if it will even work, and so relieved that she starts crying tears of joy when she sees it has (at least enough to keep him alive and somewhat lessen his pain.) they thank each other (and you can tell it's still really hard for zuko to talk and his eyes are barely open but he thanks her anyways i'm.) and she thanks him back and!!! when he starts to try to sit up she makes a little surprised face and then immediately helps him to do so (and puts a tender hand to his chest while she does!!!) and obviously that last shot of them standing together is also one of emotional support, but katara's hand on his back is also partly because i still think (and certainly katara still thinks) trying to walk/stand on his own would be a bad idea, so it's definitely not happening.

[ants-personal]

randy the type to constantly worry about if hes enough if hes even a person he barely has a personality and one day its slow at work benson randy and donnie all hanging behind the counter when donnie suggest 20 questions but dont worry hes not tryig to get in eithers pants 😉 and well it goes as well as you expect benson gives vague answers or none at all and randy answers with uncertainty or shrugs donnie calls them weird what kinda of questions will thwy answer then huh your favorite color 🙄 and donnies like its no fun cause he already knows bensons its yellow obvs his own is green .. he actually doesnt know randys and randy dowsnt know never thought never been asked and how sad is that ever basic person has a color at least and before he hes eaten fully by anxiety benson stubs out his cig and informs donnie randys color is blue before walking away to wherever donnie pokin fun that benson knows that and he knows why and randy is never sure if blue was his favorite before but it is now

[katyspersonal]

me before SoTE: Gehrman 🤝 Miquella on being seen as creeps and awful people by fandom over misinterpreting some bits!

me after SoTE: Gehrman 🤝 Miquella on not being able to accept the drastic change (mostly to the worse) of a person they held dear and latching onto their former, "nicer" version, attempting to resurrect that version even although the result is a bit of just a husk (.....AND being seen as creeps and awful people by fandom over misinterpreting some bits lololol)

_________

I guess they're doomed to be friends no matter what gfjhjgv At least with Gehrman's crafting skills, he can make him many pretty dresses

[hanzajesthanza]

the training montage in crossroads re-ignited a headcanon i had of geralt waking up and doing gymnastics, performing kickflips and mid-air spins around on a fencepost outside an hour before sunrise to ‘limber up,’ and bleary-eyed dandelion wrapping himself up in a blanket to be like "heyyy... what the hell are you doing 💖"

[chirpsythismorning]

Ya'll catch the final rose ceremony at the end of s4?!

[marlenacantswim]

guy very into musical theatre who mistakingly thinks they're connecting with me over a shared interest: yeah, weber is foundational and all, but i've always felt more of a connection with what starkid's got going on, y'know?

me, who's only ever listened to tracks from the musical episode of Psych: uhhhhhhhhh... hello my name is shawn spencer? this is my partner, lil' wayne? the evidence is underwhelming? but my intuition is insane?

[moeblob]

I'm so tired today. Take the Ringleaders of the group.

So I mentioned that I was a little nervous about talking about the plot and it still stands but uh. Basically, the friends all live in reality. And their "reality" is like our reality (obviously with exceptions that I make to the current time line) but some people can create portals. The portals lead to other dimensions. Some are alternate dimensions similar to reality. Some are dimensions to peaceful lands. Some are dimensions to magical lands.

This dimension maker can lead his friends to an alternate dimension in hostile lands with violent monsters but. The thing is. When they die in the other dimension, they just get booted back to their reality. So the Ringleader (Real) recruits his friend group to go die for fun, like a very mentally stable young adult would do.

Also, this is not the same in every dimension. It's simply the same dimension destination every time, so Ringleader (Real) isn't about to generate a portal to some Other Dimension where death could be permanent. He's content just traveling to the one violent dimension.