#but I really so far have no evidence she is in any danger and yet I’m also like

[bereft-of-frogs]

also if there’s one thing the high republic writers love more than anything it’s sad orphan bb padawans, so, with absolutely no evidence, I am extremely concerned for Zallah’s safety

[daisies-and-domming]

Side Effects (NSFW)

Guys I’m so sorry I know I disappeared forever ago but I am back! I updated my page, and I look forward to writing for all you lovely people again! I’m back on my same old shit (absolutely vile dom!reader smut) so I hope you’re ready >:) This one's a little softer because I think Nanami deserves a bit of a soft!dom...I hope you enjoy! Feeling a little rusty so sorry if this isn't my best work :/

Summary: Your boyfriend has been on edge recently - most likely due to a rapid increase in curses over the last few weeks - so when you get a call from Shoko, you assume the worst. Lucky for you both, he’s not dead. However, she informs you that he’s experiencing some strange side effects, so you find yourself rushing to Jujutsu Tech to deal with a rather unfortunate… problem.

Warnings: swearing, smut, dom!reader, reader has a vagina, p in said v, subby!nanami, sex pollen/sex curse, semi-breeding kink, nanami gets his shit rocked, begging, overstimulation (reader and nanami receiving), unsafe sex (wrap your wee-wee please), a bit praise, nanami calls reader wife once

Let me know if you think I missed anything!!

All characters are over 18 :)

– – – 

Bzzt, Bzzt!

You groan, eyes tearing away from the screen in front of you. Life had been in a bit of a slog recently - with your boyfriend constantly away on missions and you trapped at your boring desk job, a phone call was a welcome reprieve. What was odd was the fact that your phone was ringing at all - the only calls that can get through when your phone is silenced is your parents, Nanami, and -

Shoko.

Bright letters flash at the top of your screen as you scramble away in a hurry, phone in hand. You mumble some half-assed excuse as you fly out the doors of the office, keys already in hand, and shakily answer the call.

“Shoko? Is everything okay?” you force out, nearly slipping as you speed-walk to the car. “Is he okay?”

“It’s Nanami,” she says, panic evident in her voice. “He came back from a mission today, won’t stop asking for you. I can’t quite get a read on what he got hit with yet, and I’ve never seen him like this, is there any chance you-”

“I’m already in the car, I’m on my way,” you confirm. “He’s okay, though? No obvious signs of injury?”

“Nothing physical, no,” she says, and you let out a breath you didn’t know you’d been holding. “But something’s still clearly wrong, and having you here might help me analyse it. Clearly he’s been hit by some effect of the curse, I’ve never seen this man frantic like this in my life.”

“I’ll be there soon as I can. Call me if you have any updates.”

Shoko hums a confirmation and hangs up, leaving you alone with your thoughts. Your grip on the steering wheel tightens, and you take in a shaky breath. What could possibly be wrong? Why did your boyfriend need you, right this instant? At the very least, Shoko didn’t seem to think it was life threatening, but what relief was that? Being a sorcerer was dangerous, hell, that was why you and Nanami had quit in the first place, but you always knew he couldn’t avoid the call of it for long. You prayed that whatever this was would be out of his system in no time.

You take the turn into Jujutsu Tech far faster than you should, haphazardly parking your car. You think you hear the beep! of your car locking, but all you can really hear in your head is the pounding of your heart. Weaving across the grounds, you rush to Shoko’s office, almost barreling into her when you throw the door open.

“Where is he? Is he okay? You didn’t call me again so I assume it’s fine, but-”

“Hey, breath,” she says, oddly calm considering her call earlier. “I figured out the issue.”

“You did?” you exclaim, a little frustrated she didn’t call you. It must not be serious if she didn’t call, but still! She could’ve at least sent a text…

She wiggles her eyebrows at you, a smirk growing on her face. “You guys have to bang.”

“What??” you flush, throwing your arms up. “S-shoko, this isn’t the time for jokes-”

“Not a joke,” she says with a grin, making crude gestures with her hand. “You guys have to bang it out of his system. Fuck. Two-man tango. ‘Make love’, or whatever. Not the worst curse to get hit by, huh?”

“You had me all worried for nothing!” you groaned, dragging a hand down your face. “I thought he was injured, or worse, dying! I could be at work right now, I didn’t even clock out! God, I’m going to be in so much shit when I get back.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No. He needs your help,” she explains with a sigh. “The gas that the curse released from its body works as an aphrodisiac, a deadly one. If he doesn’t, uhm…‘mate’ any time soon it could be lethal.”

You flush deeper, blinking at her owlishly. You waited, hoping she was joking, but she was clearly dead serious. “Where is he?”

“He’s got his own room, all the way down on the left,” she sighed, rubbing her temples. “Don’t ruin my equipment, you hear me?”

You salute, grinning at her, “Aye aye, captain!”

She rolls her eyes, watching you go. It’s going to be a long shift, she thought, rubbing her temples once again. They don’t pay me nearly enough for this.

You make your way down the hall, fluorescent lights flickering above your head. It smelled like chemicals and death down her, a terrible combo. You wrinkle your nose. How does Shoko put up with this all day, every day?

Lost in your thoughts, you don’t even realise that you’re at the end of the hall until you hear it. Frantic, almost manic, heavy breathing from the door on your left. You gulp, rubbing your thighs together. Fuck, in all your time with your boyfriend, you’ve never heard him this desperate before. Like the world was going to end if he didn’t get his dick wet. Lord, you haven’t even seen him yet, and you’re already soaking through your underwear, you can feel it. Tugging on the hem of your sleeve, you nervously raise a hand to knock on the door.

“Kento…?” you startle at the sound he lets out at the sound of your voice. It sounded like…a whine?

“Darling, ooh, darling,” he groans, pitchier than you’ve ever heard him. “You shouldn’t be here, love, get out of here.”

“Ken, honey, I can’t just leave you like this-”

“Please, before I do something I regret, you have to go- hngh!”

There’s a wet splatter on the other side of the door, so quiet you almost didn’t hear it. You freeze momentarily, not wanting to believe it.

“Ken, did you just…?”

“Fuck, darling, you don’t know what you do to me,” he groans out. You can hear it now - how he’s rutting into his hand on the other side of the door. The wet shlick of dick sliding in his hand, the way he didn’t stop, even after he came. And he’s certainly never swore this early on, before he’s had your hands on you.

“You don’t know what you do to me,” you say, fingers finding the buttons of your shirt frantically. You don’t care that you’re in the hallway, you don’t care that Shoko’s just down the hall - there’s nothing in your head but the needy sounds of your boyfriend on the other side of the door.

“Please, you have to leave-”

“Open the door, honey,” you say, voice syrupy and sweet. “Want you to fill me up so good, can you do that? For me?”

You hear a quiet “Fuck!” from behind the door and the door handle rattles as he struggles to open it in his haze. At this point, you’re dripping, and you reach a hand out to help him. Easing the door open, you can feel the heat coming off of Nanami in waves. There’s a heady scent of pure sex in the air, and you don’t get a chance to take him in before he’s closing the door and trapping you against it.

“You shouldn’t be here, love,” he murmurs against your neck, hot breath tickling your ear. “Please, go before I lose control.”

Without hesitating, you pull him back by the hair and smash your lips to his. He’s motionless against you, for a moment, before his lips slot against you frantically. His hands come to grope your sides, mean and careless with his touch. He slots his legs between yours almost absentmindedly, and his hips begin to cant against you.

You separate, panting. “So desperate you’re already humping my leg like a slut?”

He flushes, slowing his hips down. You could feel his cock twitch against you, and you grin up at his dishevelled state. He’s a wreck - his tie pulled loose from his neck, the first few buttons of his shirt undone, his pants not even off, just hanging loosely around his ankles - and you’re grateful, for a moment, for the curse that hit him. 

“S-sorry, love,” he breathes, barely more than a whisper. “Can’t control it, please, need you, need you so bad- mngh, fuck!”

You grin, lazily palming his angry cock. “Oh, honey, I’ll help you out. Think you can get on the bed for me?”

He nods, whining softly when he pulls away from your hand. He stumbles over to the bed, losing his pants along the way. He sits and looks at you expectantly, flushed all the way down his neck. His hands are shaking from how much he’s holding back, and he bites his lip so hard it bleeds as you walk over, stripping as you approach. Ever the gentleman, he doesn’t reach out and touch, though it’s clear that he wants to. But right now, you’re in control, and even with the heat coursing through his veins, he lets you take what you want from him.

“Oh, sweetheart,” you say, voice thick with need. “Gonna let me ride your cock? Let you fill me up, breed me?”

“God, darling,” he says with a groan, a bead of precum running down his angry cock. “Want to fill your pussy up, put my kids in you, make you nice and round- mmph!”

You slam your lips to his, guiding him to lay back on the bed. You throw your legs on either side of his and grind down hard, smiling against his lips at the way his hips twitch up against yours. You reach back, fumbling to grip his cock and guide it to your waiting hole. You’re soaking, and there’s a wet shlick as sink down to the base of his cock.

“Shit, fuck, sorry, honey-” His hands find the plush of your hips, and he holds you down as he cums, hot and warm inside you. Your surprised laugh quickly morphs into a moan as you feel him fill you. It’s neverending - you’re certain he’s never come this much in one go before - and you quickly regain your senses, grinding your hips in slow circles, riding him through his orgasm. His eyes are squeezed shut, and his back is arched as he twitches, but he never softens inside you.

“Already came again?” you mock, looking down at him condescendingly as he blinks back into reality. “Some curse you got hit with, must feel so good to let go, huh, baby?”

“C-couldn’t help it, fuck!” he stammers out, hips bucking into your slow grinding. “Need it, need to cum again, need to feel you cum around me as I fuck you full, please, darling, can I?”

His eyes flick up to yours, desperation evident in his gaze. Your boyfriend, who rarely swears during sex, begging you to cum? You were certainly in no place to say no!

Without warning, you pick up the roll of your hips, holding his hips down so he can’t buck into you. He moans, flush spreading all the way down his chest. His thighs are flexing below yours, aching to buck up into you, but you won’t let him.

“If you want my help, you let me control the pace,” you bluff, trying your best to keep your head with how his tip is brushing against your sweet spot oh so sweetly. “Keep trying to buck up and I’ll leave you here to take care of your little predicament yourself.”

“No!” he pants out, frenzied. “No, please, darling, don’t go, I’ll do anything, I’ll be good for you, please-”

“Yeah?” you say, grin feral as you pick up your pace even more. You’re barely able to get words out anymore, but he’s certainly not faring any better. “G-Gonna be good for me? Gonna- hngh, fuck! - fill up my pretty pussy, give me your- ahn- give me your babies?”

He nods, hand fumbling to rub at your clit. His fingers are mean, out of control, but the rough feel of his fingers against your clit is delicious nonetheless. Your head falls forward, and your hips get frantic, pace inconsistent as heat coils in your belly. 

“Close, ‘m getting close-” you moan out. “Need you to cum with me, make me full, can you do that for me?”

“Mhmm, anything for you, love,” he says, eyes fluttering shut as he loses himself to the feeling of your gummy walls around him. “Love you, love you so much, please, can’t hold on much longer, need to cum- oogh, fuck!”

With a soft ahn, ahn, ahn, you’re cumming around him, grinding your clit down into his hands as he cums, shooting his seed deep into you. You can’t help but keep grinding down, dragging your orgasm out as long as possible. You shakily drag your hips to a stop, head falling forward to knock with his. You let out a soft breathy laugh as you swoop down to kiss him again, his cock finally starting to flag inside you. As you move to get up, he grabs your waist, wincing as he holds you on his cock.

“Sorry honey, ‘m still sensitive,” he whimpers, twitching out a few more spurts of gooey cum into you. “Can- can you sit here, for a little longer?”

“Of course, Ken,” you say, smile soft as you place a kiss against his temple. “Whatever you need. Are you feeling better?”

“A little sore, for sure,” he notes, eyes roaming up your body. “Though you’re probably hurting too, is there anything I can do for you?”

You bark out a laugh, shaking your head. Really is such a gentleman, you think as you struggle to control your face. After all that, he’s worried about me?

“I’m okay, Ken, I wasn’t the one hit with a curse, after all,” you note, hands absentmindedly running up his sides. He smiles up at you, eyes heavy with exhaustion, and pulls you down into him.

“Hey, we need to clean up-”

“Just a second, darling,” he says, yawning as he speaks. “Just need a second to hold you, that’s all.”

You melt against him, knowing that you weren’t going anywhere any time soon. As his breath steadies and he drifts under you, you trace circles on his chest, letting your heavy eyes fall closed, too. He’s right, just a second…

– – – 

You wake up with a jolt to a banging on the door, a chorus of voices on the other side.

“Nanamin, I heard you got hit by a curse, are you okay??”

“Be quiet, Itadori, he’s probably trying to rest.”

“Shut up, Fushiguro, you don’t know that-”

“Will both of you shut up?? Either way, he’s definitely awake from all the racket you’re causing-”

You groan, tuning them out as you rub the sleep from your eyes. You glance up at your boyfriend, disagreeing with Nobara - Nanami was still asleep, a little bit of drool coming out of his open mouth. You cringe as you sit up, every muscle in your body burning in protest as you disentangle yourself from Nanami. You wince as you slide off his cock, his release trickling down your leg as you make an attempt to gather dress yourself. Nanami finally stirs awake, groaning softly as his bleary eyes peel open. His eyes find yours as your fumble through the clothes on the floor, throwing his pants to him. He rubs his eyes and rolls to sit on the edge of the bed, watching you intently.

“We need to get dressed,” you say, voice scratchy with sleep. “The kids want to see you.”

“Mm, they can’t wait a little longer? I want some alone time with my wife now that I’m feeling better.”

“Your wife?” you say, grinning at him. “I know I gave you a good time, but you gotta put a ring on it first, mister.”

He laughs, pulling you against him and burying his head into your stomach. Your fingers come up to play with his hair, and he breathes you in, for a second.

Soon, he thinks. Soon I’ll put a ring on that finger.

Word Count: 2675

[allfortheslay25]

Hi!!! I love your blog and was wondering if you have any Milo and Warren hcs?

Spoilers for Milo’s Future

The first cordial conversation these two have actually happens at Eden’s (before it is ruined lol)

Like I’ve mentioned before, Milo’s goal while being with the Foxes was to improve their teamwork and help them win a game. One of their team bonding things he suggested was clubbing together so he took them to Eden’s since his family has a history there (and he could house them in the Columbia house which he bought from an old Fox when he was 15)

Wymack allowed the team to go out as long as they stayed in doors and didn’t get into too much trouble. Milo was stuck babysitting the real trouble makers and he unfortunately had a rude awakening that the bartender he met back as a kid (Roland) was not as chill as he thought he was

Warren let the cigarette burn away at the tips of his nails. Christen leaned closer to his knuckles to blow at the cherry end, smirking when he recoiled in disgust.

“You need to smoke it or it’ll die.” Christen said.

Warren stuffed his free hand into the leather confines of his jacket pocket, clenching his fist so hard his scabs split open.

“Disgusting. Let it die.”

Ash stumbled, leaning her weight into Christen as she blew a mouthful of smoke his way. “I’ve been sooooo generous. We’ve been so generous. You don’t want to let your lungs stay a virgin forever, babe, it’s embarrassing.”

The striker had been nothing but a nuisance to Warren since he moved to the states. Intoxicated and naked, she preferred to press his buttons and rob him of his anger management progress. But Ash was scum and Warren found hanging out with someone like her made him feel better about himself, as horrible as it was. He felt indebted to her after knocking her out of last year’s season. Warren looked down at the cigarette between her fingers. It was hard to tell the arm had ever been broken at all.

When her hands reached for his face, he moved his arm up, stopping her in her tracks. Christen pulled them back, far enough that Warren would be forced to take three steps forward if he so much as wished to snap their necks.

“My eyes are up here,” Ash cooed.

Warren glanced away from her long throat and scowled at the two oufs.

“Really, though, how do you expect to manage all that crazy without something to take off the edge? Smoking a cigarette is the least dangerous option we’ve offered you.”

Christen jostled her. “I don’t even know why you bothered asking the retard.”

Warren dug his thumbnail through his pointer finger and clenched his teeth so hard he’d be sure to crack his jaw.

Ash grinned and hip checked Christen. “I like him. Big scary European dog. Woof woof.”

Warren curled his lip. He didn’t know how far intoxicated she was but it couldn’t be as hard as their usual routine. He saw Milo empty their pockets before they left.

Just like that, Warren’s body sagged in content. The image of Milo’s beautiful eyes swirled through his brain like crystal waves at the beach. Sometimes, Warren got jealous of the sun, being that the evidence of its kisses freckled his skin every time he saw him. Warren would not insult God by praying for the man, but he begged his forgiveness every night for he knew who he’d see in his dreams. Such a twisted form of fate to introduce him to someone so addicting. It wasn’t right. Warren was sure you’d have to first taste something for it to control you so, yet here he stood, poisoned with no antidote for heartache. Oh, Warren wanted so deeply it burned. It will burn. The devil smirks at me now.

“Hey!”

Warren startles, his fist coming out of his pocket but then he sees the eye of the sea and stops. Milo was a sight to behold. He’d demanded everyone dress their best for this night out, as if it were a requirement for entry at this so-called ‘Eden’. Warren had allowed Ash to dress him and in turn, he’d lent Christen a few things. But Milo had surely tricked him. The man must be planning Warren’s murder, why else distract him with a flash of his gorgeous and freckled abdomen. So many freckles.

Milo stomped over to the blonde mooncalves. Christen once again pulled them away, far from where the young Minyard-Josten could smell their deceit.

“You two! Get back inside!” He shouted.

Christen and Ash moved faster than Warren thought possible, hiding the cigarette and Ash’s positively large pupils. Milo chased them to the back door of the club, a breathtaking view as the moonlight earned her turn to caress his face in her light. Warren swallowed the lump in his throat or maybe the Lord holds his tongue as punishment for his unfathomable lust.

“Don’t ruin the night for everyone! You both know Coach said to stay indoors!” Milo hisses at their backs.

He huffed, shoulders going down as he muttered something venomous under his breath. Warren’s face flushed at the intrusive idea that Milo ought to shout at him instead. Don’t waste your words on the air or the piss covered concrete. Cuss at me. Spit the poison at me, burn me with your glare. Warren vaguely recognized the heat from the cigarette threatening at the first knuckle of his finger. It wasn’t enough to bring him out of his longing. Milo’s teal coat emphasized the color in his irises, but paled in comparison to the makeup he asked the Captain to frame around his eyes after Barry David called him a slur. Warren had begun to realize Milo lived to spite others. He wore makeup to spite David, sung in the locker rooms to press the men’s buttons, trimmed his hair because Ash said long hair was more attractive on him, and pressed his chest against Warren’s just because he stole the ball from him during scrimmages. And if Warren found more ways to knock over Milo’s stick, just to feel the idea of Milo’s heartbeat against his own—

“Oh, Warren…” Milo noticed him, awkwardly dropping his tensed fists behind him.

Warren was too dumbfounded to speak. He bit his tongue to prevent it from getting him in trouble. Despite what the team thought, he wasn’t slow. English wasn’t easy, he found it hard to form a sentence that wasn’t as vulgar as he learned from the Sharks back in France. They taught him all the bad words first, then worse things so he’d follow along during their threats. But English, Greek, nor French—none of their vocabularies held the words Milo deserved to hear. However, this was his chance was it not? Couldn’t he start fresh? Couldn’t he apologize? He hadn’t ruined it all just yet. Milo isn’t like the rest. He closes the distance with Warren everytime they speak, he stands too close, closer than anyone on the team had the courage to. He could close the distance. He didn’t need Milo to hold him or fall in love with him. Warren was okay watching from the sidelines, listening to his voice was enough. Let me watch as you play exy with the kind of fire that devastates our earth, let me listen to you ramble on about anything. I’ll hang on to every word like clothes on a line or a painting on a wall. Just say yes.

Milo smiled, as if he heard Warren’s thoughts.

“Having fun?” He asked.

Warren bit down harder. He shrugged in lieu of an answer.

Milo glanced down at his cigarette. Warren was about to crush the offending stick until Milo leaned closer, taking a deep breath and giving Warren a soft look. “Sorry,” he said bashfully, “the smell reminds me of simpler times. It’s nice.”

“Do you smoke?” Warren blurted.

Milo paused, maybe not expecting Warren to speak at all.

“No… I can’t. But it’s a nice reminder that things hadn’t always been so bad.” He gives the cigarette one last gentle look before shrugging off the wall. “I’d better go back inside, make sure everyone is safe.”

Warren watched him go, because it’d be cruel to force him to stay. He looked down at the cigarette still holding on between his crooked fingers and brought it to his lips.

This is what the sketches looked like from three years ago lol

I would’ve added the rest of the scene (I wrote it three years ago) but the post was getting too long. Anyways, unfortunately the night ends when Milo is really put off by Roland (who’s been flirting with him since he found out who he was) so he’s trying to get his foxes to leave. Ashely refuses and is just doing drugs and chatting up some dude. Warren, pent up from the anger Chris and Ash stacked on him all night, went to civilly bring her to the cars. Ash badmouths him and comments on his mothers and his hard on for Milo (which is a joke since no one knows he’s crushing) so Warren snaps and breaks her jaw on the counter of the bar. They’re kicked out of Eden’s and Milo has to get them to the ER

Warren ruined his development with Milo who begins to be cautious around him now, keeping Warren at arms length and worst of all, Warren watched Milo’s hands tremble as he dialed coach on the way there.

[juvinadelgreko]

“elation overtook ronan. even before he put a name to the face, he was overwhelmed with a single thought: it was going to be okay.

the second voice belonged to adam parrish.”

—

because let’s be so honest, has anyone else ever taken care of ronan the way adam has? not really. not his own father. not declan. not even gansey. certainly not kavinsky. not bryde. not hennessy.

declan tried and failed because he tried too hard to protect ronan from himself. tried to keep as much of a lid on ronan’s magic as possible, always told him to lay low, go to school, be good. but ronan never, ever wanted that. he’s incompatible with that kind of existence.

gansey never tried to stifle ronan the same way, but he was more focused on keeping ronan alive than he was on helping ronan figure out and channel his power. i don’t blame gansey for this at all, he did watch ronan almost die numerous times as a result of his dreaming. yeah, the dreaming was helpful on the quest for glendower, but that was as far as gansey was interested in pushing it.

adam, however. adam. adam parrish pulled his boots on and literally went into ronan’s head with him to fight his monsters. he sacrificed his autonomy, the most sacred thing in the world to him, to work as an agent for ronan’s dreamt forest. i know we don’t need to revisit the driving-and-scrying scene again. forgetting all of that, when everyone cautioned ronan to steer clear of greenmantle, told him revenge wasn’t worth the danger, adam was the only one to step up and say, hey, want me to help you stick it to this asshole? i will gladly devise some heinous crime story for us to stick on him and i will gladly help you plant the evidence.

that’s the difference.

“you’re always the car crash, ronan.”

yet adam still let him drive, because ronan was one of the only people to ever extend that same courtesy to him. blue obviously had a lot of respect for adam’s independence as well, as the only other person in the friend group that didn’t come from money. but then again, blue had a family that loved her. she could lean on people and know they wouldn’t pull the rug out from under her. ronan’s rug was pulled from him when niall died. adam never had a rug. ronan’s so goddamn traumatized by his own loss, trying desperately to fill a void. declan and gansey, the closest things he has to a father and brother at this point, constantly look at him like he might combust at any moment. of course he can understand why adam doesn’t want to lean on anyone. it isn’t going well for ronan himself.

so he never got on adam about being stubborn about money, always respected his independence. i think ronan probably even envied it a little, deep down. because what mattered to adam was never money: it was always independence, and ronan saw that. and whenever it was threatened, that was when he stepped in. he beat the shit out of adam’s father when he tried to beat adam back down into fear and submission. he paid adam’s rent when the only home he’d ever had truly for himself was threatened, and he was careful to hide his hand in it, because he knew how important it was to adam that no one pulled strings for him.

across all friendships and relationships that adam and ronan have had, they are the only ones that have consistently fought for each other’s right to self-determination. that’s the difference.

so as ronan’s cut off from his own body, bleeding nightwash by the gallon, barely able to remember who he is, of course it’s adam’s voice that fills him with joy. whatever he needs, adam will make sure he gets it. he always has. that’s the difference.

[thousand-winters]

You know what I find really, really funny?

You know how Reigen drops his "oh, I don't think anybody would like me if they saw the real me" on Serizawa (that definitely was not on his job's description)? Obviously there's a whole thing there with how he sees himself but how in the end he stops lying to Mob and confesses the truth to him.

And then... he kinda just stops there.

In the spin-off he doesn't tell the truth to Tome until he thinks he has no other choice because she's putting herself in danger by working under the wrong assumption that he's a psychic, and while doing so, he asks her not to tell Serizawa. He was honest with Mob, but that was with him and only him. His default mode is still lying and hiding.

And the thing is obviously these people he has surrounded himself with, purposefully or accidentally, don't like him because they think he's an esper —at this point I don't think he's fooling even half of them, frankly—, or even because of his whole... energetic, over the top persona. They like him because of the kind of person he is, whether he's keeping his whole salesman attitude or whether he's a bit quieter and less self-assured.

Now, it's kinda easy to see why he would think he has to keep that up, initially he presented himself to Mob as this wise mentor figure, half of the other people he knows are kids for which he feels the responsibility to be a reliable adult figure, and then there are cases like Serizawa and the ex-Scars who do hold him in high regard and see him with a certain degree of admiration, all of that sort of tied with his fake psychic status.

And so it's very amusing to me that the one person who could show him VERY clearly that people care about him regardless of all of that is... Ritsu.

Because here's the thing, he was jealous of Reigen to some degree since he was someone Mob could confide in, unlike Ritsu due to the distance that had formed between them after the incident. And I think part of his irritation with Reigen was definitely that he was so evidently (to him anyway) a fraud, so that put Ritsu pre-awakening of his powers and Reigen at the same level and yet... Mob always went to Reigen for advice and guidance. It's very understandable for him to have been annoyed considering that.

Through the story it's more than evident that Ritsu is very, very aware that Reigen is a fraud, and though he's open with his distaste, at some point it feels a bit more like a normal kind of distaste. Reigen might have his morals and principles as a fraud, but he's one nonetheless, plus his personality doesn't mesh particularly well with Ritsu, and quite honestly? If I were 13yo and had to interact with someone like Reigen, I think I would be feeling a good amount of second hand embarrassment that ends up in annoyance.

But Ritsu doesn't really hate Reigen. He's comically annoyed by him, sure, but it's more than obvious he doesn't hate him.

When push comes to shove, he never wishes any actual ill will toward Reigen, he helps pull him away from Ishiguro in 7th Division Arc, for example, and when he goes to face Toichiro to help Mob, Ritsu is the one showing visible concern for what's going on when they see the explosion and the fire from down below, with his little "Reigen-san..." (as a sidenote, I love how the English dub does this with the "please, be okay").

My favorite example of this by far is Separation Arc, because Ritsu has genuine reasons to be pissed at Reigen this time around, if he sort of gathered that he mistreated Mob, and yet what he does is... he watches the press conference. It isn't even because of Mob, he's not sitting down with him or even watching with his parents or anything, it's just him, he had to have made the active choice to watch. And he could be vindictive and it would be such a reasonable posture to take because, again, Reigen was a goddamn jerk to his brother and the situation snowballed from there, but he isn't, he's visibly concerned for him.

That is NOT a boy who doesn't care, much less one who hates Reigen.

And it's so funny to me that the one person who could show Reigen all of those fears he has about that side of him he hates being a deal breaker for the people around him is also the one who makes faces at the idea of going to stay over at his apartment.

[kingdoms-and-empires]

After Dark Review (Zombies!)

I recently had to go travel and read a few works that I never got around to reading but was interested in.

PLEASE REMEMBER THIS REVIEW IS DONE BY ME AS A READER AND IS MY OWN OPINION.

This means I will review in accordance to my own tastes, how the game caters to me, and what I feel. Do not take my word as gospel, what I may not be interested in or dislike, may be what YOU are interested and love!!!

@dalekowrites

Synopsis:

A few years from now, in Little Peak, Michigan, a teenager is ready to go to sleep.

While the heavy industry is more active than ever, the effects of global warming are evident, with higher temperatures, dying bees, and animals acting weird.

It has simply been another normal Wednesday, but little do people know that it’s the last day of normality Mother Nature has granted them.

After Dark is a scientifically accurate apocalyptic horror. You’re tired of zombies rising from the ground for no reason? You don’t believe in ghosts? Glittering vampires aren’t for you? Then you have to try one of the three different stories that unfold in After Dark.

When a global pandemic starts to transform people into dangerous monsters, which path will you choose? Will you fight for humanity? Will you stay for your family? Or will you run away in search of a better future?

Review:

The Good: Why does every IF Zombie game have the authors kill themselves in the coding department? This is in the good section, so it isnt a bad thing, though sometimes I worry for the sanity of the author lol. Anyways, After Dark is ambitious! Here are some of the things the author implemented:

Three different routes with three completely different stories. (1 is being worked on right now, the other two have not yet been implemented yet as far as I know)

A phone with a social network, gallery for the ROs, a newsletter, and a weather forecast app... of which you need to charge without it being annoying thankfully!

Characters remember what you talk about and will bring it up in future conversations, so you cant be two faced lol

A romance autonomy system that you can switch on that allows ROs to flirt with you!

Random encounters to encourage re-playability.

An inventory system.

A weather system, that can be prepped for using the weather app on your phone.

Hourly progression system, there are only a set amount of hours in a day that you can use to do things without affecting you.

Discoverable side stories.

A private journal that keeps track of stuff for you. Kinda Elder Scrolls coded and i jive with it haha

And crazy enough, there's more. The above sounds complicated and overwhelming, but it isnt for the reader somehow. The author was able to integrate all the above without it feeling intrusive or annoying.

As for the story itself, remember this is currently one route. The writing is well done, it isnt overly flowery or super descriptive to the point of walls of text. Instead it gets to the point effectively and without losing points.

It made me want to read more, and that is exactly what we readers look for as we scour the IF space for more stories.

ABBY

I really like Abby. She's the preggo lady you can find, and I love the humanity she brings to the story. She does some things thatll make you go:

All of the characters feel grounded and not tropey if that makes any sense. And the dynamics of the group can change with the MC's input, or lack of it.

And then food. Holy shit, the need for food actually felt immersive lmao, whenever id find a snack or something id snatch that mfer up

The Bad:

I would like more zombies. The characters, the narrative, and the plot works well. But I'm worried of being presented with more human on human conflict/drama instead of the undead, and to that I recommend the author to introduce more scenes where we can see the horror, eeriness, and sadness that such an apocalypses would induce. Make a scene where the player is being chased by the undead because of a fuck up, it can be MC's or one of the characters to create tension or drama and it can even make an RO moment occur. Or a scene where you can enter a school, or one of the FEMA camps and see the aftermath of an incident where the zombies break in or someone infected got in. Of course, the author is steadily updating, and what I just said may very will be in the cards of a future update! But I do think something involving the zombies should occur sooner than later, as the beginning scene with the parent and the chaos, horror, and tension of the scene still stayed with me, and i was hoping to reach those emotional heights again while playing!

The Ugly:

Other than a few gender variable errors of the ROs and the regular grammar mistakes found in any IF, the biggest issue i had was with presentation. I'd recommend the author to clean up the spacing between paragraphs in the future when they have time alongside the new update.

The Aftermath:

Zombie IFs just don't seem to miss. Almost all are able to land within the "good" category whenever one releases, and this has the potential to land right in the "Chef's Kiss" tier. I'd recommend this game to anyone craving a zombie IF, and im excited to see this develop more in the future! The characters are grounded, flawed but not annoyingly, and capable. The story is plausible, and the narrative makes sense. Honestly? I want more and I want it now!

[effloradox]

A Well Meaning Idiot

pairing: tamaki suoh x reader, host club x tamaki

summary: when ouran's newspaper club take a new interest in the host club's king, it leaves all of you feeling wary. tamaki might trust them blindly, but the rest of you don't. it's not hard to guess there's an ulterior motive in their mind that means you'll have to jump to tamaki's defense.

notes: takes place during 1.14 (covering the famous host club!), it's basically just all the hosts and reader working together to protect their favourite idiot.

word count: 1.1k

The Newspaper Club of Ouran Academy were trouble. It didn’t take an idiot to work that out but, unfortunately for all of you, Tamaki Suoh is an idiot. A well meaning idiot, but an idiot nonetheless. Lucky for Tamaki, the rest of the host club have a bit more sense. The new interest in writing an article about the host club seemed incredibly outlandish to begin with. You’ve heard their justifications but the whole thing seemed suspicious, especially since you know what a gossip rag Ouran’s newspaper is. Their interest in the host club definitely wasn’t born out of good intentions, that much you can gather. Proving that though, that’s going to be difficult.

You decide very early on that you’re not going to question why Kyoya’s family have made first aid kits that have listening devices installed in their base but right now it serves a purpose. Given the state of their club room, you don’t get the impression that they’re big on getting rid of things and hopefully it will get you the proof you need so that the newspaper club stays far away from your friends.

It’s easy enough to distract Tamaki. The moment Haruhi had mentioned some of the commoner games she played as a child, he’d been entranced and desperate to play. It wasn’t hard to notice that Akira was starting to get frustrated and once Tamaki ran into the school’s maze, the plan was set in motion.

It also wasn’t hard to slip away from the group bonding activity, mainly because you know who Akira’s focus is trained on. So much so that, aside from talking to Haruhi, none of the members of the Newspaper Club looked twice at the rest of you. They’re so distracted, in fact, that it’s incredibly easy to sneak into their club room.

“I’m writing the article.” Akira Komatsuzuwa is a man on a mission. His frustration is palpable as he heads towards his club room. Chikage and Tomochika are behind him, trying to keep up, but the pace he’s set is ruthless and both of the younger men are trailing behind him.

“Wait, Mr. President!”

“It’s too dangerous to write gossip about Suoh. You don’t have any evidence, sir.”

“Who needs evidence? All I have to do is expose him and everyone will see it! If I set my mind to it, I can imagine any number of articles that would cause a commotion among the idiots at this academy. I’m going to expose Tamaki for the twit he is.” Akira slams the club doors open, blinded by his frustration. Their club room is perpetually dark, so it takes his eyes a moment to adjust to the lighting difference. It surprises him when he sees three figures perched on his desk. “Huh?”

“Hmm. So, we were right all along.”

“You three.” Akira looks unhappy at your intrusion but not entirely surprised. It’s probably a good thing he hasn’t noticed that Kyoya is sitting in the back corner of the room. Next to you, Hikaru shrugs lightly.

“Well, I guess it was pretty obvious.” On your other side, Kaoru nods slightly.

“The boss is the only one who hasn’t caught on yet.”

“Well, we all know Tamaki can be really dense when it pertains to anything about himself.” The twins nod at your comment but all of you are monitoring Akira’s expression. You know you’re not in any real danger, all of this is still being recorded and Mori is right outside the door, but Akira has shown himself to act erratically and you’re not entirely sure how this confrontation will go.

“I should warn you: if you threaten him, there will be consequences.”

“Are you ready to have the Hitachiins and every other club members’ family as your enemy?” Kaoru’s words seem to reignite a spark in Akira’s eyes and rage seems to take hold of him.

“I knew it! You’re nothing but his lackeys! Tamaki’s holding his parents’ power over all of you!” The voice that speaks next comes from outside the club room, and Akira flinches as Honey speaks up, with Mori close behind him.

“That’s not true. We don’t hang out with Tama-chan because of his parents. We love him. We all like being around him, and that’s why we choose to be here.”

“He may be a hopeless idiot, but even so.” It’s easy to spot the fond looks that grow on the host club's faces when they’re reminded of Tamaki. You don’t doubt that there's a similar expression on your own face. Tamaki lived a lonely life before his father moved him to Japan, whilst he can be annoying it’s clear you all think the world of him. In all the time you’ve known him, he’s barely ever mentioned his family around you, let alone used their influence to do anything. You don’t think it’s even occurred to him that he could wilfully do that. Regardless of how Akira Komatsuzawa thinks Tamaki is; you all know the truth.

You watch Akira with a measured expression, waiting to see how he’s reacting. “Well?” The twins are quick to follow up with the question you all want to ask.

“What will you do?”

“Please leave Tama-chan alone, okay?” Honey’s comment seems to break something in Akira as he lets out an infuriated cry.

“I’ll get you all! It’s not just about him anymore! I’ll write an article that’ll ruin all of you!” At Akira’s proclamation, Kyoya smirks and rises to his feet.

“Go ahead, be my guest. Although…” The megane makes his way over the desk you and the twins are sitting on. He retrieves the first aid box, flipping it over and retrieving the memory disk from its base. He lifts it into view and the small fraction of light coming through the half-drawn curtains seems to glint off of it. “What do you think we should do about this little disk? You see, it’s been here since yesterday. And it recorded everything.” At the sight of the disk, the newspaper club members all seemed to blanche, and it’s clear that this conversation will soon be over.

“President!”

“Just give up already!”

It’s Kyoya that makes a closing remark to the newspaper club, saying what most of you are thinking. “Let me explain it to you in terms you can understand. You would do well to remember that the Ootori group and the Hitachiin family alone own enough stock to remove your father from his position as president of the Komatsuzawa Publishing Firm. However, we would never do something like that. We are not like you. What we strive for is fundamentally different.”

With that, all of you make your way back down to the school gardens. You’re quick to find Tamaki and Haruhi in the maze, both of them none the wiser as to what’s just occurred. Probably for the best. You wouldn’t want it to go to Tamaki’s head.

series masterlist

[mllemaenad]

See – this is what I missed from Veilguard. Most of Dragon Age is in a constant conversation about power and leadership. If this is your first playthrough, you won't know any of this is important yet. But the main point of Ostagar, beyond setting up the tragedy, is to give you an opportunity to meet all the major players. Because eventually, you're going to have to solve Ferelden's political crisis.

You can see that Cailan's bonhomie is likely genuine – but it's also a political tactic. His father, Maric, also knew how to bond with his subjects. And a tendency to run back into danger to rescue imperilled footsoldiers, while not perhaps tactically sound, was a solid way to win the love of the people who supported him during the rebellion.

But Cailan is is clearly not taking the darkspawn threat seriously. It doesn't necessarily matter if it's a "true" Blight or not: evidence suggests quite a lot of darkspawn are coming their way, and they need to take steps to deal with that. He's not necessarily stupid, but he has no real head for these kinds of tactics.

Loghain is established as the tactician. Everyone knows he's the brains of this outfit. Thing is, he'll tell you himself he thinks this situation is already well and truly out of control: "Pray that our king proves amenable to wisdom, if you're the praying sort".

It's not even that Loghain is rude, or more remote than Cailan; honestly he's incredibly polite, given that Seanna just summoned him from his tent because she wanted to see what this guy looked like. But Loghain will do what he deems tactically sound. He'll do it even if it means getting people killed who do not deserve to die.

And Alistair, there – well, at least as far as this goes, he's an excellent mix of both. He's clearly got Cailan's good humour (and once you know they share a father, that tracks), but he's also very clearly a thinker. There's plenty he doesn't know about the Grey Wardens because he's new, but he has absolutely done the reading. And he's sceptical where something smells like bullshit, and well aware of the political machinations going on around him.

The problem of Alistair is that if you suggest that he use those talents in order to be in charge of something, he will stick his head in the sand and yell I CAN'T HEAR YOU until you give up and go away.

Anora, of course, needs to wait a bit to make her case ... but we'll get there.

You can absorb all the things these people say and do, so when the moment comes, you can make the choices you believe are right for Ferelden.

And look, yes, I'm still mad about this:

I'm partly mad because, while I recognise that I would have got to participate in this decision if we'd saved Minrathous, that makes no bloody sense.

While I'll be the first to admit I'm not Inquisition's biggest fan either, I will give them this: when they say you can only choose to go to the mages or the templars, it is because you are taking sides in a conflict between those two groups. You can't reasonably rock up to both and say "Hey, want to be allies?" Moreover, it's not simply a matter of losing content from the choice. You get different content as a result of that choice. Samson or Calpernia, depending on where you went.

Minrathous/Treviso is specifically not a choice. You send teams to both. Immediately. Both cities are under threat and you divide the team to deal with it. The game simply makes it so the team containing Rook is successful, and the other team isn't. Absolutely nothing of note happened there.

And, despite some initial griping, we are still definitely working with Ashur and his Shadow Dragons. That relationship still exists. There really isn't any good reason to not have a quest here, except to artificially force re-playability without producing new content.

But honestly ... it's not even that. I'd probably have picked Dorian anyway, so it's not like I'm sour at not getting what I want. It's that ... this is probably the most politically significant decision in the entire game, and that screenshot above is the first I heard of it.

There's a solid argument to be made that, if the south is as badly off as the Inquisitor says, Tevinter is once again the major world power. The capital took a bit of a beating in the endgame, sure, but that was brief and explicitly solved at the end. The rest of Tevinter seems ... pretty much fine? They're no longer at war with Par Vollen, because Par Vollen doesn't have an army anymore. Orlais seems to be down for the count.

Now, there are other potential contenders (Nevarra seems to have weathered the crisis pretty well, and some of the Free Marches still seem to be standing ...), but Veilguard won't talk about politics unless you put a gun to its head, so who knows.

Tevinter is the big political player up for grabs ... its leadership could mould the next age ... but it doesn't come up. Regardless of who makes the decision, it should matter!

If I've got to the end of a Dragon Age game, and I don't know who is running the country I'm currently standing in ... something has gone very wrong.

[tossawary]

Everything surrounding Orihime's kidnapping in the Hueco Mundo arc of "Bleach" feels... weird and underwhelming to me. Like, I'm not fully certain what happened there. Did Ulquiorra hold those two random soul reaper escorts hostage until Orihime returned from saying her invisible goodbye, or was he just threatening her friends generally...?

The invisible goodbye thing has some interesting elements, but... I don't want to call Orihime a pushover for being threatened by genuinely scary people when she's feeling especially isolated, but it does seem to immediately and directly prove Urahara and others right when they said that Orihime is probably unsuited for the battlefield. Even medical / support people have to triage and improvise under fire and work within a greater structure! She (fairly!) does not like weighing lives!

(Though I do think that Urahara and others were very wrong to just tell Orihime to go away. She has no family! All she has left are her friends! And she's too self-sacrificing to ever willingly leave for her own sake! It would have been far better to keep her close and let her train for a medical / support position, so that she wouldn't get kidnapped like this (and would have had the confidence to work out some way to get around Aizen's weird mind games), when Ichigo is fucking notorious now for going apeshit if anything happens to even distant friends.)

When Ulquiorra first appeared in that space between worlds for an ambush, I was like, "OH SHIT, THAT'S COOL." This place is famously dangerous and if she and her escort disappear without a trace here, no one will know what happened. Perhaps Ulquiorra can destabilize whatever safety technology exists here and make it look like some mechanical failure. It's clever! (It also made me imagine Ulquiorra as some kind of deep sea leviathan, cleverly feeding on the plus souls and hollows passing over this trench, where the soul reapers don't think to look. Ulquiorra potentially first meeting Aizen by attempting to ambush him and swallow him whole in this inbetween place would be a great first encounter.)

And then Ulquiorra lets Orihime go to say a weird invisible goodbye? As part of Aizen's mind games to make the Gotei 13 think she left on her own and her feel like this kidnapping was partially her own choice? Unless Ulquiorra was holding those soul reapers hostage at this point in time, I'm really not sure why Orihime went along with this instead of trying to get help (besides her obvious feelings of isolation / depression + plot requires she be the damsel in distress to kick-start the Hueco Mundo arc). (There's REASONING, I'm just not fully persuaded by it.) It feels a little overcomplicated for me on Aizen's end, especially when I haven't yet seen it be paired with any other charisma or compelling persuasion from Aizen, this supposed master manipulator, when Orihime has plenty of buttons to press besides fear.

"Soul Society is broken and doesn't care for the poor people on the outside." "The Gotei 13 are corrupt and will ungratefully turn on people like Ichigo and Rukia as soon as they're no longer useful." "Hollows are people too, aren't they? And the soul reapers don't bother trying to help the people who need them most." "The Soul King is a threat to us all and I'm the only one who can stop him." There are so many lies and half-truths that Aizen could tell! This could be a point in time to showcase how he got so many people to follow him besides spiritual strength, and him being apparently nice to a vulnerable Orihime would be genuinely eerie given what we saw / know happened to Momo.

And this "making the Gotei 13 think that Orihime left of her own choice" story decision could work if Aizen had done more to frame her! But the fact that the Captain Commander immediately makes this assumption with so little evidence makes him look incompetent, when there are so many people who could immediately vouch for her and for the fact that it's way more likely she's been forced into something bad. Of course, maybe the story's point is to make the Captain Commander look bad at reading situations! Rather than simply ruthless for dismissing Orihime as lost and irrelevant. That gets a slight pass, I guess, but it's really such a wild and insulting and unnecessary assumption.

I think what I would have preferred to happen is OPTION 1) Aizen or underling kidnaps Tatsuki first and uses Tatsuki to get to Orihime.

This would bring Tatsuki fully into this arc instead of sidelining her again. It would be a nice culmination to the secrecy straining her friendships with both Ichigo and Orihime, and a nice bop to Ichigo's nose for trying to protect everyone on his own and his utter failure communicating danger to his friends and family. We could have a lot of fun stuff with Orihime and Tatsuki trying to survive together in this place. It would give Orihime some fucking motivation that isn't just "trying to help Ichigo". It would allow Orihime to find her strength by protecting the friend she has always viewed as being tougher and more confident. I need more women in this show who aren't made of relentless boob jokes.

OPTION 2) I would have preferred it if Aizen had found some way to locate Orihime's brother, Sora, and kidnapped him from Soul Society to use against her.

Aizen is supposedly a genius. It would track with the rest of the story if he could invent this technology. It would make the Gotei 13 look really bad if they have a way of helping families reconnect in the afterlife and just don't bother; and it would look really bad for them if Soul Society had utterly failed to be a safe place for Orihime's loved one. If Aizen is interested in Orihime's powers, he would probably be interested in seeing if her brother has any similar potential.

Option 2a is that Sora could be a regular plus soul and remembers Orihime. Aizen could have been experimenting on him and could be threatening to continue experimenting on Sora. Maybe being a regular plus soul in Hueco Mundo without the protection of a soul reaper's cultivation energy is dangerous. The air is toxic to him. He'll undergo hollowficafion again without special medicine from Aizen / Aizen's experiments keeping him as a normal plus soul, and he's terrified of becoming that monster again. Aizen coaxes Orihime to help him by claiming he's trying to find a way to cure hollowfication forever, so that Sora will be safe.

Option 2b is that Sora has no memories of Orihime or they've been suppressed, and Aizen has turned Sora into an Arrancar. Aizen claims that Sora was left vulnerable and starving on the outskirts of the Soul Society, abandoned to become a hollow again, or attacked by a hollow and transformed. Aizen has now used the Hogyoku to take Sora back to a mostly human state and given him Arrancar powers to "protect himself". Sora is grateful to Aizen for having saved him and as loyal as Ulquiorra. Aizen asks Orihime if she's prepared to fight her own brother. Doesn't she want to help him help Sora?

Honestly, I dig Ulquiorra so far and I'd like to keep him (he and Sora could have a weird not-twins thing going on), but you could totally replace his role in the story with Arrancar Sora and then put Orihime through the ringer torn between Ichigo and Sora. It feels so, SO weird to me that Orihime's dead brother never comes up again in this show about dead people and the story barely treats it as relevant.

OPTION 3) is that you bring both Tatsuki and Sora into it! Why not? Have amnesiac Arrancar Sora kidnap Tatsuki while Ulquiorra ambushes Orihime! Have Aizen threatening to turn both Tatsuki and plus soul Sora into hollows if Orihime doesn't cooperate!

I am feeling desperate for Orihime to have anything in her life again that is not her love for Ichigo. They don't have chemistry! The story is not taking the time to develop chemistry and bonding and partnership between them! Ichigo barely seems to remember she exists half the time.

Side note: I can barely fucking believe that Ichigo went off to train with the Visored without telling his family that he was leaving or where he would be. That's not a great sign for good mental health or healthy relationships! Which is probably (hopefully) the point! He could be dead in any alleyway for all his baby sisters know. That's not good big brother behavior! Ichigo has a real problem with not trusting anyone else to protect everyone (not without reason!), including not trusting his loved ones to protect themselves, and I'm not certain yet whether or not the story actually thinks this is a real problem and intends to have Ichigo fix his communication bullshit.

There is so much good, bloody material here if the story was genuinely willing to dig into the mess and make it hurt good. Instead, I'm watching Nel and her little hollow buddies do their fairly repetitive hijinks and Ichigo fight random nobodies who will not be meaningful to the story later. When Rukia finally ran into Aaroneiro pretending to be Kaien, I was like, "Oh, thank fuck, something with SOME emotional weight and compelling psychological turmoil again."

[ashkhol]

I think it's time that redacted tumblr learns about one of my most insane headcanons

It's regarding vampires, and it kinda has huge implications on the universe, and yet there's no evidence thus far that would disprove it

CW for mild body horror, killing, and fantasy drug use. I really want to go fully indepth here because as of right now I haven't collected all of this information into one place ever. The content warnings make it sound far worse than it actually is, but it can be a lot and I would rather play it safe than sorry, so keep reading at your own discretion.

So I'll start with a little bit of backstory about where this headcanon came from. If you look at the tags, you'll notice that I've listed some very specific characters. Aside from Sam and William, what they all have in common is the fact that they've acted in really strange, often destructive ways. What I find interesting is the ways they've acted are eerily similar to each other. Am I picking at straws to make connections here? Am I matpat from game theory? Possibly, but I love this headcanon way too much.

The things that each of them did were all violent, impulsive, and obsessive. Adam and Quinn are pretty obvious in that regard, but Alexis chose to turn Sam on an impulse, completely disregarding his protests, and Sam does describe the situation rather violently (she literally dug her nails in to snap his eyes open to trance him, etc. etc.).

What I believe is that the similarities aren't a mere coincidence, but are a result of a magical "parasite" that attaches to, and directly attacks the magical core of a person. It spreads through blood, making vampires incredibly susceptible because of their weaker magical cores. Additionally, it has a chance of being dormant, so a maker could pass it to their progeny without knowing it. Once it's been passed on though, it's passed on. Any damage done to the person's magical core still remains though. And because a person's magical core is linked to their emotions, it causes long term psychological harm.

So, William would've had a dormant form of the parasite, which then got passed down to Alexis. It would have a weaker effect on her, partially because it was dormant, and William is old blood, but it would still have enough of an effect on her that she would have outbursts. Then, she would pass it to Sam in 2008, where it mostly appears dormant, but he does legitimately show some signs of being a little bit impulsive and obsessive in canon (I'm not crazy I swear, also yes the year is relevant, you'll find out if you read this whole thing).

That's really the extent of the canon stuff though, so from this point on, I'm delving into OC stuff that I've created around this headcanon.

The parasite was first discovered in 1523, in Vesper, a "state" located in the southwest of England. Vesper is basically the vampire capital at this time, so it's not really all that surprising that there would eventually be disease breaking out. William would've fled to Vesper after being turned in 1519, which is how he would've gotten the parasite. (Just for clarity, the parasite can affect any empowered person, vampires are just the most likely to have it, and also outwardly express it. Non-vampires are far more likely to have a dormant form if it latches to them at all, which is part of why it's so dangerous, since vampires have to feed, but they have no way of knowing if the person they're feeding on is infected or not.)

The whole of Vesper is ruled by a monarch, and it this time, that monarch was the young vampire Vyvian Achlys, who was turned by the previous king in 1501, and then became ruler after that king died from "mysterious circumstances" (if it isn't obvious, Vyvian killed the king).

So, Vyvian was left on his own to figure out a way to deal with the outbreak, and because it wasn't like any other disease, which led him to the conclusion that the only way to deal with it would be to kill those who showed symptoms of being infected. Even after that, it took two years to find someone who was willing to actually do this, because most people considered it to be a death wish to even attempt, and they would just stay isolated and hope the problem would take care of itself.

But after two years (1525), an empowered human, Scarle Rosina was sent by her family, because they needed money and food, and were willing to essentially use her as a sacrifice. Around this same time, William had also left the home where he was staying, as the others living there were showing symptoms. He actually asked if there was other ways that he could help the cause, so he wasn't on the "frontlines", but he was living in cohorts with Scarle.

Scarle's efforts were strong, but two years of her trying to execute those infected, to little relief, proved that her being human meant she wasn't really powerful enough. So she agreed to be turned by Vyvian. She took to her new abilities very well, and by 1530, the parasite, while still being around, was not an immediate threat anymore.

Over time, Vyvian took quite a liking to Scarle, and with Vesper once again prospering, in the 1600s he was able to employ demon forces, which meant that Scarle didn't have to be diligently fighting all the time. She starts helping William with the efforts behind the scenes, doing research and such. The two of them discover that a possible origin for the parasite was a magical plant resembling a mushroom that began growing after the cacophony due to the 'explosion' of magic that occurred. It was a white mushroom, and its main distinguishing factor was the crystal structure underneath its cap, which resembles the crystal structure arcana takes if it's not given any other form to exist in (this is another headcanon of mine, mostly regarding d(a)emons, if you were to break off one of their horns, or somehow rip one of their bones out, it would resemble a geode). People would often take this mushroom and use the crystals to basically get high, because it would affect their magical core, and therefore, their emotions. However, it could easily cause adverse effects if a person didn't take extra care when preparing it. Any part of the mushroom other than the crystals was "alive" with lingering magic, and different magic users had different reactions to the different types of crystals that the plant had, so if you couldn't tell the crystals apart, there was a level of danger there as well.

Further research spanning into the 1800s, after William had left for America, proved that the source of the parasite was definitely the plant, though it wouldn't actually be banned until 1932, where it was uprooted from most of the world, and was only allowed to be grown in Vesper.

Vyvian stepped down from his role as king in 1940, giving the crown to Scarle.

Following WWII, Vesper makes an agreement with the European department in 1948 to become an isolated state in order to further curb the parasite from spreading further as they begin to have less and less control over places outside of their borders. Scarle is the official head of state, and they get imports from (mainly) England, with promises to provide new technology as it's created so that Vesper will be able to stay on track with the current society for when they reopen their borders. Knowledge of the parasite is kept hidden to avoid panic.

In 2001, it's discovered that the roots of the mushroom can be synthesized to make a "cure" that kills the parasite. The first person to be cured is a 3 year old named Cecilia, who was a freelancer born with the parasite, and given up to Scarle and Vyvian to "deal with".

By 2011, the cure is able to be distributed by departments worldwide, and the murican' department decides to distribute it through blood bags, which ends up making a lot of vampires mysteriously sick, because those who didn't have the parasite had adverse reactions to the cure. Additionally, any vampires who were infected were likely hiding in the shadows, and not taking blood bags from the department. The only good part about it was that those who didn't have the parasite were now immune from it, so can't spread to most clan vampires.

The parasite is slowly dying out on its own because of that, if someone's acting crazy they're probably going to get found by the department, or someone else, and get killed, or they can get cured if they're showing signs and get reported.

alright this post is long enough, I will end my yapping here, if you actually made it to the end, I commend you because this took me a good couple hours to write, but I will probably elaborate on other things like this about the extended universe I've basically created, so I made the tag "ashkhols redacted universe" that I'll put on these posts for y'alls reading pleasure

[waxdream]

I'm not a fan of how Arcane handles adopted characters.

The show is excellent, I've been enjoying it so far, however I very much believe that Powder and Vi's adoption by Vander is an underdeveloped plotpoint. The amount of fans calling the sisters, vander and the other kids a 'found family' is evidence enough in my opinion. I have nothing against the found family trope, I really love Dungeon Meshi for example, but Arcane is NOT a found family. They are an adopted family, and there is a big difference between these two things. To put it simply, an adopted family is a different kind of family, whereas a found family is a friendship group with a greater level of support and care. It's frankly insulting to adoptees to conflate the two, because many of us have relinquishment traumas among others and grow up as black sheeps in the family. I don't like the comparison because in my opinion it's like saying my family is the same as you and your bff's relationship. You wouldn't say that to a kept person.

But I digress, I'm here to talk about my dislike of how Arcane handles adoption. I consider it very tropey - orphanhood and adoption as a plot point is used to give the main two characters a 'tragic backstory', and yet the show doesn't even have the dignity to give it some backbone. I don't like little orphan annie, yet she's still an adopted character. With Vi and Powder however, you could remove adoption from the story of Arcane and it would be exactly the same story in my opinion. This is dangerous in storytelling, because it creates alleyways for stereotypes like the 'psychopath adoptee' to come into play, which has haunted media for years. Jinx killing Vander is just a played out trope in my opinion, and it feeds into the very real fears that affect the adoptee community in real life. People think we're broken, that we'll hurt and harm our adoptive family, that we're criminals or bad blood. Putting this trope into your story without the slightest bit of effort to make it seem otherwise is gross. And if you don't believe me, look at the trailer for "adopted" - a film that's coming out this year. It'll show you exactly what I mean when I say that kept people assign adoptees traits such as violent, manipulative and alien with prejudice. https://youtu.be/CILgaro5s5c?si=7fMqXV4cDzA9t43_

Along with this, I dislike how Jinx is handled. I've only seen season 1 so I don't know if this changes, but from what I gather, Silco is meant to be her new father. Her replacement for Vander. And considering how her birth family were fully involved in Silco's/vander's uprising (as shown in the prologue), I can't see Silco as anything other than a stand in for birth family. I can't see this as anything other than an estranged adoptee being led astray by birth family and turned into someone evil, someone they were meant to be because their blood dictated it. This trope is vitriolic, I can't think of any other word to describe it. I see Vi as the good golden child who stands by her adoptive parents and Jinx as the kid who wants to reunite with her birth family. I believe this show was careless with how they handled adoption - this is what comes from non adoptees/kept folk writing adopted characters. Adoptees aren't morally wrong for wanting to know their birth family, we aren't broken or sick. And yet somehow, even when adoption is used as a flippant plot point, the characters manage to fall into the same stereotypes over and over and over again.

I also hate that Vi and Powder have the same birth family. The other kids are treated as a 'boo hoo, more trauma for Powder' plot point, but ultimately discarded because they're not birth family. I know Jinx makes those dolls and hears voices, but you CANNOT tell me that if Vi had died instead of Vander and the kids, that Powder wouldn't have been way worse off. That's how they wrote the characters. To care about each other above all else. This is bioessentialism and that is a messy and more often than not dangerous view to be pushing. If they had been two adopted siblings, or perhaps Vi was Vanders birth child and Powder was adopted, I wouldn't be as mad because at least then it would seem like the writers actually put some effort into portraying adopted families as equal to birth families. As the show is though? Adopted families are treated as inferior.

So yeah. I don't like how Arcane handles adoption. It drags me out of the viewing experience, and makes the entire show seem unrealistic and cliche. Feel free to ask questions but I'm gonna be honest, I'm probably not gonna bother with season two. Which is a shame, I love the gay magic guys.

[strewwwberry]

I'm adding on to - this - thought coz a commenter has made my brain worms activate

Okay so, if binghes biological parents raised him, then the whole birthing process needs to be explained in some way, here's what I've got so far

My idea originates with cang qiong mountain(CQM) and other sects finding huan hua palace's(HHP) quite sudden demand for a heavenly demons persecution to be... At the very least unceremonial

(I like to think that before the issues with TLJ, problems with demons didn't extend past occasional interferences at the borders and when demons and more dangerous/paranormal esc creatures stir issues within mortal grounds, like sower demons skinning mortals, not cool babez find food else where)

In doing so perhaps temporary imprisonment of said heavenly demon is put in order, so an investigation about his possible misdeeds could be opened, in which no transgressions, except for unconventional relations with a cultivating head disciple, could be uncovered and no arguments from HHP could carry any doubt in these insights

So the whole sealing Tianlang Jun(TLJ) is bipassed and he's pretty much told to get his ass back into the demon realm, until further notice, as to not add more fuel to an already blazing fire

During this I can imagine HHP master, Lao Gongzhu, is quite literally pulling his grey hair out and hasn't really had the time to "deal with" su xiyan's(SXY) "issue" (pregnancy), aside from imprisonment, and drugs hidden in food that she knows better then to eat, thus she is starved up until TLJ is kicked back into The demon realm

SXY has now been missing for a few weeks (surviving mainly off of cultivation, and fetus bingbing surviving mainly off of a mixture of SXY's efforts with her cultivation and having demon blood in his veins)

CQM is the first to notice her absence from basically existence due to TLJ's continuous cries over her during his temporary imprisonment

So again they dig deeper as they, and some other sects, having previously already disliked HHP due to their pompous attitude, and now having straight up evidence of questionable decisions/actions, decide that all of these odd happenings gives credence to simply not trust a thing HHP has to say

And what do you know? They find a half starved SXY pregnant in the literal underground water prison infamous for harboring what is supposed to be notorious and dangerous criminals

She Is freed and immediately put under Cian Cao Mountain for urgent care,

In addition a sort of crisis management meeting would be held after further investigation into huan hua palace's connections, motives, and actions, to basically decide if eradicating HHP and not just simply rehabilitating, changing leaders/heads etc, will be a much better idea both for uprooting corrupt yet powerful groups, and also because it takes a lot of time, money, and effort to not just redo mini placement exams to figure out where to move genuinely innocent disciples and cultivators to new sects (if they so desire)

Anywho, that's all ive got so far I'll probs carry this on after over slept lol it's like 1 am and I promised myself id start sleeping earlier 😂, hope use enjoyed this haha

[lazyofficer]

HERE IS WHY SHIRLULU IS A LEGITIMATE SHIP -PART 1

Warning: I'm not a writer and English is not my native language. So kindly bare it or DM me about it. Criticism is welcomed not hate.

I always wanted to post a detailed analysis of  Shirley X Lelouch  relationship and will post in parts due to Tumblr restricted on images. 

Fun fact- I started watching Code Geass with all the spoilers (deaths) and was fully expecting to be part of the Cclulu or Kalulu fanbase (because they are popular), but as I continued watching, I couldn't understand why Shirlulu had a minor fanbase and was ignored when their feelings were so obvious. Needless to say I became a Shirlulu shipper.

Let's start -

Shirley and Lelouch loved each other.

While Shirley's feeling are so obvious.

Lelouch's feelings are hinted throughout the series (both direct and subtle hints), which are often ignored as filler or brushed off as "guilt" for killing her father (which is not the case). 

There are people who dislike Shirley just because she is not "useful" like other girls. Let me tell you it's called a business deal and not love if you are going to choose a person based on their "usefulness." 

Let's start with Direct hints

R1 Stage 14 -

although the whole episode is dedicated to Shirlulu and their relationship. I'm focusing  only on the bits right now.

Lelouch, being dense when it comes to love, didn't realize his feelings until he lost her. Lelouch really cherished her presence in his life.

When I first watched CG , I really didn't expect that Lelouch would say such a romantic line especially for Shirley ( the ship so unpopular) and I repeat NO ONE would say this for a platonic friendship.

I was suspicious of Lelouch's feelings but this episode made it crystal clear that's its mutual , it's just Lelouch didn't realize it before.

Honestly, I would love to see them bicker and laugh it off after patching up

R1 Stage 12 & 14 -

IIrc, Shirley is the only girl whom Lelouch kissed back.

Personally I don't think he kissed her back due to guilt over killing her father but more like doing anything he could to comfort her.

He could have kissed Kallen if guilt was the reason but he only let her kiss him.

R1 Stage 14 -

"Any sin you commit is mine to bear" is the love language of Lelouch. If we consider Lelouch's personality.

He is not type to buy flowers and chocolates and he is the type who would do everything in power to hide the evidence of murder and going far to even take the blame for it.

Ranked as one of the best anime hugs and only hug scene in code geass series. The way Lelouch pulls her into a hug is everything

R2 Stage 12 -

Shirley felt Lelouch was lying about his feelings for her. His immediate response was a hard " No". Once he realized that blurted out his feelings, he tried to cover it up.

The reason was because he wanted to protect her, he did not want her get involved in dangerous stuff ( mao trauma) and he is too busy and cannot afford to be in a relationship. He doesn't want to be neglectful boyfriend to her because she doesn't deserve it.

This alone should be a proof that Shirley's feelings are reciprocated.

R2 Stage 24 -

Lelouch was arguing with Schneizel about how people struggle against sadness yet still seek the future.

The first scene that played was Shirley's death, symbolizing that Lelouch's struggle against sadness was Shirley's death and how he still he continued to seeks a future.

R2 Stage 25 -

Lelouch was dying, the first person that came to his mind was Shirley (it was just chronological order S2-S1 after that), and his last image was his childhood with Suzaku and Nunnally. The Special ones in Lelouch's life

Many people chose to ignore this moment but this one is undeniable proof that Lelouch never moved on from Shirley

[snnrinc]

Codename: ROOK

Now completed on AO3!

Ch. 1 /11- Outside Contractual Obligations [AO3 Portal]

— PAIRING : Dabi/Touya Todoroki x F!Reader x Hawks/Keigo Takami

— WARNINGS : NSFW (Not in this chapter), Noir AU, No Quirk AU, Porn With Plot, Sexual Tension, Threesome - F/M/M, Drugs Blood and Violence, Crime Scenes, Organized Crime, Murder, Eventual Smut, Cunnilingus, Double Penetration, Masturbation, Analingus, Mildly Dub-Con, Not Canon Compliant, AFAB reader, She/her pronouns for reader

— SUMMARY : Being a police officer in a city where crime runs high and respect is non existent has got to be one of the shittiest jobs you've ever had. But it pays the bills. However, once you and detective Keigo Takami are assigned a case that deals with the murder of a prolific law enforcer and the subsequent chain of disappearances happening all over Musutafu, you realise that having your bills up to date is most definitely not worth all the danger you're up against. Especially when that danger is named Dabi, one of the most sought after criminals that you've been trying to catch red handed for years. Nonetheless, this is your only opportunity to make your job finally mean something, so you and Keigo decide to go undercover right in the jaws of peril, its razor sharp teeth waiting to bite into your neck like a guillotine. But you won't back out now, will you, officer? Good luck on the job, codename Rook.

— NOTES : This was supposed to be a smutty one shot I have no idea what the fuck happened. It's been gathering dust in my Docs for over a year and yet this is the only chapter I have 💀 I left notes for myself saying "don't go overboard with the plot because the point is for them to FUCK" and now here we are. It definitely worked. For sure... Still hope you enjoy!

“A big-name agent of ours went missing a few months ago. No trace of his whereabouts until a couple weeks ago, when his body was found in the dumpster behind a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. Well, parts of it anyway.”

The man in front of you took a final puff from his dying cigarette and promptly extinguished it in the ashtray in front of him, right next to a bowl of sweets with generic labels. He exhaled the smoke in billows and it vanished in the air, lingering with a pungent smell of tobacco and an awful chocolate flavouring. Your nose scrunched up slightly and you resisted the urge to cough.

“We have no evidence left at the crime scene and the body being chopped up makes it near impossible to determine the murder weapon,” he continued. “We have some of our best agents dealing with the autopsy and the case as a whole, but no clear suspects so far.”

“This seems like highly classified information. So why are you telling me this?”

You closed the file you were handed and placed it back on the desk, eyes shifting to detective Enji Todoroki sitting across from you, watching the way his eyebrows dropped down just a little in an expression that seemed to almost be judging your intelligence.

Really, you felt like you should be the one judging here.

To say you were confused would be an understatement. When you were called into Enji's office, you had assumed you did something wrong on the job, since most people in your workplace seemed to overlook you even when it came to small tasks. Sometimes you felt that if you wouldn't turn up to work one day, no one would notice. Usually, you didn't mind — being invisible meant you could do your work in peace without being bothered by unnecessary small talk or the occasional office drama that you sometimes overheard in the break room. You were just an officer, one of the lowest ranks in the force, so the only time you expected any attention was when something went wrong.

When Enji personally came to look for you before you went on patrol for your shift you felt your stomach drop. Yes, the job sucked a good majority of the time, since you noticed you were often not taken seriously by your colleagues, sometimes probably even considered a liability when dealing with more violent cases. But like any other person roaming the earth, you still had rent to pay and food to buy if you wanted to continue existing, and working for the Public Safety Commission ensured you did just that and still had some money left for your more frivolous wants. Straightening your back, you followed Enji to his office, every bad scenario playing in your mind only getting worse when, as soon as you sat down, he dropped a file containing the case details on the desk in front of you, pushing it forward in a silent prompt for you to read it.

And now here you were, bombarded with information about a murder you were pretty sure you were not qualified to deal with, at least judging by your contractual obligations. You had half a mind to ask if you'd be getting paid more if you worked on the case, but you bit your tongue from the overwhelming feeling of uneasiness creeping up your spine.

“Of course, I don't expect you to understand things so quickly.” You resisted the urge to roll your eyes at his comment. “But surely you've gathered by now that you have been assigned as an assistant to this case.”

“That much is obvious,” you couldn't help but retort. “The question is still why?”

“I was meant to be assigned to this case, but the crime rate has spiked in recent months. I have bigger issues to deal with, so the Commission decided that we need someone that can slip under the radar.”

Ah, so they just needed some cannon fodder. Part of you thought you should've expected as much from the Commission.

“I still think I'm terribly underqualified to be working on this case.”

Enji leaned back into his chair, tapping one of his armrests with his index finger. “So do I, but you'll be working under detective Takami.” He heaved a sigh and allowed a sarcastic undertone to lace his voice, “Who should've been here to give you a quick overview of the case progression so far, but who are we to count on his punctuality?”

Wait a second, working under who?

You blinked and did a double take at him, replaying his words in your mind as if trying to dissect their meaning. This was fantastic in the worst possible way. Not only did you practically have a murder case of a prominent agent dropped into your inexperienced and unsuspecting arms, you were now the right hand of the second best detective of the Commission, Keigo Takami.

If only you had these kinds of odds bestowed upon you if you played the lottery, surely you'd have won enough to ditch this job.

You thought back to what Enji had just revealed to you and couldn't shake the feeling that there was a different reason why they would ask an officer to help with this case, other than just “slipping under the radar”. With one of the best detectives taking over, you figured the Commission wouldn't be stupid enough to allow someone like you to get in the way of the investigation.

As the questions multiplied in your mind, your tongue was tied, unable to figure out a way to put your doubts into words, especially since you knew Enji would do nothing to soothe them.

There was a knock on the door breaking your train of thought, before it opened to reveal detective Takami, an easygoing smile etched on his lips, his gloved hands buried inside the pockets of his shearling jacket, with only one coming up to push his aviator sunglasses that were resting on the bridge of his nose to the top of his head.

“Sorry I missed the introductions,” he said, “but I'm sure we weren't called here just to chat.”

“At last you grace us with your presence, detective. A little while longer and our officer here would've taken over the case in your stead.”

You whipped your head towards Enji, almost ready to ask him if he was serious, before you looked back at Keigo to see him meet your gaze.

“I'm Keigo Takami, it's a pleasure to meet you.” He gave you a charming smile and extended his hand for you to shake. You grasped it firmly and introduced yourself. “So, were you one of the first responders at the scene?”

“Actually,” Enji interjected, “the officer is unfamiliar with the case at the moment, save for the basic details.”

“Oh?” Keigo frowned in confusion.

“As of today, this is your new assistant in this case.”

Keigo blinked a few times, then shook his head and huffed a laugh. “I'm sorry. What? An officer? Not that I mean to doubt your judgement or anything, but isn't this case a little too sensitive for an officer to deal with?” He turned towards you. “No offence.”

“None taken, I'm a little confused myself.”

Enji sighed and massaged his temple with one hand before he leaned forward. “You see, your role in this case will be a little more... 'hands-on' than usual. I mentioned we don't have any concrete suspects, but we do have an idea of the organisation that might be responsible for the murder, which is why we need to employ your help for the investigation.”

“I don't see how this is anything new,” Keigo said. “We've been investigating the League for a while, they operate in this area. Tying them to this murder would be the most obvious first step.”

“The League?” you interfered.

Enji raised an eyebrow at you. “Are you familiar with them?”

“Uh, yeah.” Your eyes shifted between the two men watching you. “They've made a name for themselves amongst the police officers. We've been trying to catch a few of them in the act but they always slip away.”

“Unsurprising for the police force,“ Enji scoffed and you frowned. “Let's hope we won't have the same disappointing results in this case. We have no time to waste on pathetic failures.”

Keigo looked at you from the corner of his eye and noticed the way your shoulders tensed up. He leaned over and dug his hand into the bowl of sweets on the desk, effectively catching both of your attentions. With a fistful of candy, he resumed his questions for Enji who was dishing out your responsibilities.

“So is this about the NOMU Program?”

Enji's eyes narrowed. “How do you know about that program? It's classified information, even for you.”

Keigo shrugged and shoved some more candy into his mouth. “If it is about that, I'd argue that's even more reason why we shouldn't drag an officer into this.”

“Sorry,” you interjected. “What is the NOMU Program?”

“Don't concern yourself with things outside of your duties,” Enji snapped.

“Come now, let's be courteous with our colleague,” Keigo said with a light-hearted tone before turning to you. “It's a codename used by the League. We figured it stands for Network of Metahumanoid Units. A fancy name that's probably got to do with their attempts at reanimating corpses.”

Fuck, so now you were dealing with zombies? Sure, technology as a whole was impressive, but it was nowhere near sophisticated enough to bring someone back from the dead. As far as you knew, every attempt to reverse death was futile. So then why would someone bother?

Enji noticed the confusion in your eyes and spoke before you could ask any questions. "They're planning to use them as weapons. Keigo called them corpses because essentially that's what they are: on the brink of brain death.”

“The only reason why they don't collapse is because the League is pumping them full of a drug called Trigger that boosts their baser powers,” Keigo continued, earning an annoyed glare from Enji at how readily he presented the classified information to you. “We've only had a few attacks reported so far, and we weren't sure what exactly we were dealing with, so we had our top agents deployed to deal with them. Which is why the police weren't mobilised.”

“Sounds like a pretty important omission to me,” you countered with a frown. “So is this what we're dealing with here? Drugged up zombies?”

“We're still unsure,” Keigo answered. “If this victim was supposed to be part of the NOMU Program, then we wouldn't have a body cut up into pieces on our hands. Maybe they're trying to send a message.”

“That's where you two come in," Enji announced. "This time, you will not be dealing with any forensic analysis, suspect interrogation or evidence collection. Instead, you two will act as our eyes and ears and infiltrate the League.”

An insurmountable amount of pressure crashed over you and clenched your muscles in a vice grip, to the point where you almost felt as if it would crack your bones at any moment. You tried to control your expression in an attempt to stop your shock from washing over your face, but surely the vein that started throbbing painfully in your temple was enough proof.

“Hold on.” You raised your hand again to signal for Enji to slow down. “You mean to tell me you called me here to act as your spy?”

Enji scowled. “I don't like it either. They shouldn't send a rookie in for such a big case. I should've been the lead, but it wasn't my decision to make, so I suggest you suck it up and do your job.”

Your voice was exasperated, “There are so many ways that this could go wrong if you send me out there! I'd just hold detective Takami back!”

“I have to agree,” Keigo said. “It's best if I work on my own as usual.”

“Well you see, Takami, things are not so easy in this line of work,” Enji snarled, then produced two folders from his briefcase and stood up, handing them to you and Keigo. “Commission's orders and instructions. Read them thoroughly. Good luck with the mission detective, officer.”

And with that, he stepped out of the room and you felt as if all oxygen made an exit along with him, your heart pounding in your chest so hard you could almost hear it through the grave silence that fell over the room as you read the instructions:

“Officer,

As of today you will refer to yourself as Rook and to your mission partner as Hawks. Forget your real name. Return your weapons, badge, uniform and any other equipment that may be in your possession at the reception of the PCS HQ.

While infiltrated do not contact anyone outside including family members, friends, acquaintances and other PSC employees except for your partner.

You will not have any accolades attached to your name. Your achievements will not be disclosed by the PSC if you succeed. You will receive no posthumous awards if you die. This is your duty to fight for the people. Failure to comply could result in dismissal, sanctions and/or prosecution.

Destroy this document after reading.”

This job was so not worth it.

You watched the grainy screen of the tube TV perched in a corner of the office intently, listening to the news broadcasted somberly by the anchor along with your colleagues. Keigo was by your side, expertly twirling a pen in his fingers, but his focus was zeroed in on the screen, his nose and mouth buried in the raised collar of his jacket.

After the discovery of the body of the Commission's agent, the disappearances around Musutafu increased by a concerning margin. What was worse was that not all of them were agents, some were simply civilians that seemingly had powerful or useful builts and abilities, like the person whose face was now on the screen, their name, last known location and clothes they were last seen wearing listed underneath the picture.

You crossed your arms over your chest and frowned. If this was what you were dealing with, even with your training and experience you were unsure how you'd survive as a double agent. You had no special skill, no upper-hand tactic and you couldn't rely on Keigo—Hawks—for fear that you'd hold him back and compromise the mission.

With how they had you bring back anything that would suggest you'd ever had any contact with the Commission, it really seemed as if they were trying to erase any trace of your existence. This job was all you had, all you ever worked for since you were just a bright-eyed trainee at the police academy, ready to take on any danger coming your way if it meant you could save someone else from it.

How naïve.

Maybe you should've just given up when you were still a child, still able to choose a path that would fit you and your capabilities more. The society in which you lived was unforgiving to weak people, so you had to adapt. But women were not always respected in the police force, and those who were got there because of their network rather than their own abilities more often than not. Not to mention that a police officer's chances of advancing without having someone behind them were close to none.

In other words, there was no way out for you. But at least you weren't exactly the perfect catch for whatever the League was planning, by the looks of things.

From the fog of your worries, you felt Hawks tap your shoulder to catch your attention. His collar was now pushed down neatly and you could see the serious way in which his lips were pursed. He gestured with his head for you to follow him and you complied with a nod.

You reached his office, after stopping by your desk to collect the last bits and pieces you had left laying around, and sat down in front of his desk, one hand worriedly rubbing your chin as you looked out the window. His eyes never left you as he sat down and leaned back in his chair, the pen he was playing with earlier still in his hands. He watched carefully as your brows turned downward in a frown that casted a shadow of concern over your eyes, before he put the pen down on the desk, the sound making you turn to look at him.

“I know you're worried,” he started, “but I want you to know I won't let anything happen to you.”

You let your hands fall into your lap. “Please, don't worry about me. I don't want to be a drawback in this mission.”

“You won't be,” he said, but noticed you were unconvinced when the corner of your lip lifted in what was supposed to be a polite smile, but didn't quite reach your eyes. “You graduated as the top eighth trainee in the police academy, surpassing like, what, 22 of your classmates? That's pretty impressive.” You stared at him in a mix of confusion and surprise and he shrugged nonchalantly. “I've read your file. You've got a lot of potential, officer.”

You smiled and nodded as thanks. In the past, this kind of compliment would've left you feeling all warm and fuzzy on the inside, feeding into your pride and fuelling your determination to get even better. But now, the comment felt like tossing a coin down an endless pit, nowhere near enough to fill the hollow space in your chest and, despite its value, ultimately useless. When did your outlook on your job get so sour?

Maybe it was when you were put up for disciplinary action after attempting to stop one of your fellow officers from brutalising a murder suspect. Or maybe when you had one case shut down because the culprit was the daughter of an acclaimed attorney that somehow found the perfect team of lawyers to render the evidence null. Or maybe it was simply after you had graduated from the academy and were thrown out into the real world. Any way, perhaps this was the universe's way of making up for all the times it fucked up. By giving you a new opportunity.

You picked up the pen from Hawks's desk and fiddled with it. “Officer, huh? I thought my new name was Rook.”

Hawks chuckled. “They're really terrible at picking codenames, huh? Sounds like we're just two bird enthusiasts with no imagination.”

You chuckled at his comment and after a moment you bent down to rummage through the box in which you had collected your remaining possessions from your desk, pulling out a document. You opened it, quickly finding the file in which you and Hawks took notes about your action plan.

“So,” you started, scrolling through the notes, “you were saying you already have a way to get inside the League?”

Hawks leaned forward on his elbows to get a better look at the notes. “Well, yes and no. Enji didn't tell you this, but remember how I said we've been investigating the League for a while? Well, I've been in contact with one of the members. I managed to get close enough for him to think I'll soon defect and join them.”

“So you've been planning to go undercover for a while now?”

“It's the only way I could squeeze any information out of them. They seem pretty loyal to their cause, so getting one of them to become an informant for the PSC was highly unlikely.”

You nodded in thought. “So who's your contact?”

“A guy named Dabi.”

Your blood ran cold and your eyes shot up to Hawks. You knew that name too well. Not only was he notoriously known among the law enforcement as one of the most dangerous members of the League, but he was the person responsible for numerous counts of arson in your area, courtesy of his pyromaniacal tendencies. You'd been trying to find a way to get closer to catching him for years. Each time, he slipped out of your hands, your attempts always too late or too little.

You knew what Dabi was capable of, and without the comfort of a self defence weapon and protective equipment by your side, you feared you'd be turned to ash before you even tried to get any information out of the League.

You stared through Hawks for a few seconds. His eyes searched your expression as he frowned in confusion at your sudden change. You noticed that and blinked a few times, clearing your throat.

“So this contact is our ticket inside, but how do I get him to trust me? I think I'd be found out before I even get to talk to him.”

“No need to worry, I'll send him your way somehow. You then offer to be their informant. We'll have to act separately to avoid raising suspicion, so if we cross paths, try acting like you don't know me personally.”

You nodded in acknowledgement then remained quiet for a second before frowning in thought.

“I don't understand. If you already have an in, then why would the Commission send me to help?”

Hawks sighed. “You heard what the Commission said, you'll be the bait.” He leaned back in his chair. “The League is reluctant to let me join because I'm a well-known detective. They know who I am and what I do, but they don't know you. If you manage to convince them you're also just a crooked law enforcer, that would be the last step we need to finally get inside.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

Hawks regarded you thoughtfully, tilting his head and looking you up and down. His scrutinising eyes seemed to glow as the final rays of dusk poured through the blinds of his office window. Before he even spoke, you knew that his idea would not be to your liking.

“Say, how comfortable are you with flirting?”

[ssukidesu]

theory about nina the starry bride

includes manga spoilers

(been thinking about making a youtube video essay on this, so this is essentially my draft and first thoughts. feel free to reply with evidence that supports or contradicts what i’m proposing)

I’ve seen someone say on reddit recently that they have a theory that Neena—who always seems oddly human-like not only because of her ability to talk but also because of her inexplicable knowledge about events, such as when Nina is in danger—is possibly carrying the consciousness of Sett’s late mother, who was also a priestess. I want to start by thanking this person, because even though I don’t agree with their thesis, it was reading that post that got me thinking about it in the first place.

But here's my theory:

What if Neena is actually hosting (either all of or a fraction of) Nina from the future’s consciousness? A few reasons for this:

1. Sett says that he “found” Neena in a way similar to how he and Nina found the tiger Mevaria—which I take to mean, in the wild, which is not usually the place to find a snow-white parrot. Most likely, he means that Neena "came to" or found him (something that Nina herself does more than once and is considered thematically essential to the nature of their relationship).

2. “Neena” is probably her name because that is what she calls herself upon first encountering Sett (whenever that was). Perhaps she meant to pronounce her name slightly differently to distinguish herself, or perhaps she was still getting used to speaking as a bird and had trouble communicating. Whichever.

3. Neena’s eyes are the same shade of blue that Nina’s are.

4. Nina is repeatedly shown as having the ability to go into the consciousnesses or impact the behavior of birds (more than any other animal)—except Neena, who always seems strangely immune.

5. Neena always seems aware of when Nina is in trouble and where to guide Sett (or where to guide anyone when someone else is in trouble). Examples:

First instance, after the carriage accident:

And later, when Sett has been poisoned and needs help:

Most directly, Neena literally saves Nina from getting shot by Sett during his mental crisis:

And, of course, when Nina has been banished by Az:

Most suspiciously, she even wakes Nina up the night of the fire and then immediately pretends to be asleep:

6. Neena often parrots what Nina says more than what anyone else says.

Now, there are also thematic reasons why I think this would make sense. The main two are:

1. This would be a way for Nina to “be with” and look after Sett even if she can’t be with him in the present herself (for whatever reason).

2. This would align with the common theme of Nina being the one to ultimately look after herself and be the agent of her own fate/destiny.

As a side note, at the very least no one can claim this theory is far-fetched, as it is literally what happens to Bran in Game of Thrones. In other words, it wouldn’t even be the first time something similar was done in a fantasy series. Considering the story is arguably one similar to Game of Thrones because of its emphasis on political conflicts, it isn’t a stretch to say that the mangaka might be a fan.

Anyways, if this is true, it gets really interesting to analyze the implications and questions that arise.

Is the future Nina alright? Is she unconscious, perhaps comatose, or has she gained the ability to fracture her consciousness to be in control of both a bird and herself? How was she able to go into the past? Was this something she chose to do so that she could be with Sett during his most lonely and vulnerable time (*sniff*), or is there another reason why she needs to be inside Neena that we don’t know yet?

There are also interpretations relating to the love triangle, especially considering this scene:

If-Az-is-endgame interpretation:

Neena stops Sett from kissing Nina before returning to Galgada because she knows she’ll choose Az in the future.

Nina chose to become Neena so that she could always be with Sett in some way, despite choosing Az as her actual partner for her human self.

If-Sett-is-endgame interpretation:

Neena stops Sett from kissing Nina before returning to Galgada because she knows her current self is not ready yet.

Future Nina does love Sett romantically, and that is why Neena is shown as extremely affectionate toward Sett, being drawn with hearts, and often times expresses a desire for their past selves to get closer. Apart from stopping the latest attempt at a kiss, she does not stop them any other time, and she often even seems to make herself scarce when they are experiencing an intimate moment.

When Nina and Sett are about to share a bed, Neena seems "happy" and even seems to blush about it. When that arrangement ends she also echoes Nina's annoyance:

Later, after Nina tells Sett that she isn't ready for a kiss and would prefer a hug, Neena looks supportive of their closeness:

With the introduction of Himea, Neena even expresses jealousy and hatred toward the girl every time she shows affection for Sett:

Some more random evidence of Neena just seeming supportive:

Finally, Neena's violent behavior toward Nina upon her first meeting Sett can be understood better. Since she’s obviously not regretting Nina’s coming there and meeting him, I think it makes more sense that she is angry at her past self’s motivation and deception of him that characterizes her early behavior. (I would add screenshots, but I don't have room for more.)

All this being said, I have no idea how long and complex this story is going to end up being, but there's just no way that there's nothing going on with Neena.

Thoughts?

[doc42]

"It is more than a story."

Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow in GRRM's very first novel Dying of the Light.

"In the holdfasts of the Ironjade Gathering, for example, boys were taught that the universe has only thirty stars, and High Kavalaan is its center. Mankind originated there, when Kay Iron-Smith and his teyn Roland Wolf-Jade were born of a mating between a volcano and a thunderstorm. They walked steaming from the lips of the volcano into a world full of demons and monsters, and for many years they wandered far and near, having various adventures. At last they came across a deep cave beneath a mountain, and inside they found a dozen women, the first women in the world. The women were afraid of the demons and would not come out. So Kay and Roland stayed, seizing the women roughly and making them eyn-kethi. The cave became their holdfast, the women birthed them many sons, and thus began Kavalar civilization."

"Most Kavalars think of the banshee only as a plague and a menace," Jaan Vikary explained. "In its natural habitat it is a frequent man-killer, and the hunters of Braith and Redsteel and the Shanagate Holding think of banshee as the ultimate game, with a single exception. Ironjade has always been different. There is an ancient myth, of the time Kay Iron-Smith and his teyn Roland Wolf-Jade were fighting alone against an army of demons in the Lameraan Hills. Kay had fallen, and Roland, standing over him, was weakening by the moment, when from over the hills the banshees came, many of them flying together, black and thick enough to block out the sun. They fell hungrily onto the demon army and consumed them, one and all, leaving Kay and Roland alive. Later, when that teyn-and-teyn found their cave of women and established the first Ironjade holdfast, the banshee became their brother-beast and sigil. No Ironjade has ever killed a banshee, and legend says that whenever a man of Ironjade is in danger of his life, a banshee will appear to guide and protect him." "A pretty story," Dirk said. "It is more than a story," Janacek said. "There is a bond between Ironjade and banshee, t'Larien. Perhaps it is psionic, perhaps the things are sentient, perhaps it is all instinct. I do not pretend to know. Yet the bond exists." "Superstition," Gwen said. "You really must not think too badly of Garse. It's not his fault that he never got much of an education."

And the dragonlore.

We shall not pretend to any understanding of the bond between dragon and dragonrider; wiser heads have pondered that mystery for centuries. We do know, however, that dragons are not horses, to be ridden by any man who throws a saddle on their back.

Who can know the heart of a dragon? Was it simple bloodlust that drove the Blue Queen to attack? Did the she-dragon come to help one of the combatants? If so, which? Some will claim that the bond between a dragon and dragonrider runs so deep that the beast shares his master’s loves and hates. But who was the ally here, and who the enemy? Does a riderless dragon know friend from foe?

These were the likely events, Vikary argued, self-evident truths that produced modern Kavalar society. Jamis-Lion Taal, wandering the face of the world many generations later, had been so much a child of his culture that he was unable to conceive of a world in which women held any status other than what he saw; and when he was forced to think otherwise by the folklore he collected, he thought the idea intolerably wicked. Thus he rewrote all the oral literature as he cast his Demonsong cycle. He transformed Kay Iron-Smith into a thundering giant of a man, made the Sorrowing Plague a ballad of eyn-kethi wickedness, and generally created the Impression that the world had always been the way he found it. Later poets built on the foundations he had laid.

On Braavos, it had seemed possible that Aemon might recover. Xhondo's talk of dragons had almost seemed to restore the old man to himself. That night he ate every bite Sam put before him. "No one ever looked for a girl," he said. "It was a prince that was promised, not a princess. Rhaegar, I thought . . . the smoke was from the fire that devoured Summerhall on the day of his birth, the salt from the tears shed for those who died. He shared my belief when he was young, but later he became persuaded that it was his own son who fulfilled the prophecy, for a comet had been seen above King's Landing on the night Aegon was conceived, and Rhaegar was certain the bleeding star had to be a comet. What fools we were, who thought ourselves so wise! The error crept in from the translation. Dragons are neither male nor female, Barth saw the truth of that, but now one and now the other, as changeable as flame. The language misled us all for a thousand years. Daenerys is the one, born amidst salt and smoke. The dragons prove it." Just talking of her seemed to make him stronger. "I must go to her. I must. Would that I was even ten years younger."