#but whta else will work for me

[solargeist]

I beg of thee to make a masterlist/post with links to everything kid!xelquancause i just spent so long on the tag trying to soak up everything

-☀️

(New anon here, if sun is claimed for another PLEASE TELL ME I HAVE A THOUSAND OF OTHER NORMAL ONES)

whta would need to be linked ? i have my uh recap [here] for the entire AU beyond kid Xelqua, but the page only works on desktop tumblr haha

but i dont know what else !! for people to understand kid xelqua they'd have to understand evoAU, but its mostly not a big deal, so people can enjoy just dad grian content without knowing the kid is just a clone. ish. Lol

[hrhprincerichard]

Certainly is for me. Work now is it? Whta sort of work are we talking about?

[Attached: Richard looking amused, he now has a shirt on but only a few buttons done up]

You don't! Ha! Doesn't anyone else drink coffee? Are do you just have a queue outside your bedroom for the coffee? I'm glad. Wouldn't mind making it better

That's disappointing. Yes, exactly! Good question. Time is impossible to quantify into an actual numerical debt but 5 minutes of sleep are pretty fucking important. So it's gonna take some work to pay that off.

[Attached: Grant fully sitting up against his pillows, glasses on now, grinning but still looking sleepy because he hasn't had coffee though all these shirtless pics of Richard sure are a jolt to the system]

Ha! Of course I would! Now I just steal the one from the kitchen and keep it in my room whenever I'm working here. Eh, it's not that bad lately.

[realityhelixcreates]

YJ was Split in two? That sounds like a really interesting story! How did that go? From whta Ive seen (I'm slowly working my way and watching all you recommended me) It doesn't seem to me like he feels all that conflicted about his "Evil" and "heroic" side coexisting (tough it's still early for me to say). How different were they? Why did they go back together instead of staying separated?

Gray magic is always temporary, unless something happens to alter the flow of that magic. In Prince's case, he became one of the many hosts to the Anthropomorphic Personification of the Deadly Sin of Pride. In Unswag's case, Helix's magic circle warped him so much that the magic that created him tied into the magic of his world, and made him 'real'.

But none of that happened to anyone else who got split, and so they were all temporary. And a good thing too, in some cases. You'll see.

The conflict wasn't too great a rift in the end. YJ's two sides weren't enemies. They annoyed each other, but they didn't actually fight, and were able to work together. They accepted that the other existed, just like YJ accepts his own duality.

YJ knows he can't really be a hero, because there are lines he is perfectly willing to cross, that a true hero never should. But he also knows that he can't be among the greatest villains either, because there are lines he won't cross, that might be demanded of a true villain.

YJ's inner conflict stems from believing that he is not good enough to fully become either thing, while still not being willing to change himself to fit the expectations of others.

[gregorrae]

WHY TF WON'T TUMBLR.COM LET ME ScROLL ENDLESSLY WHTA HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS?!?!?!

I've gone into settings and endless scrolling is on but it still stops after a while??? Anyone else have this issue???

I only scroll tumblr at work and today is slow i need to feel something

[glorioustidalwavedefendor]

@galaxythreads

even if we don't like Loki from the series, that's how Loki's character is going to be now.

So what?

I have been ignoring the prequels since 1999

I refuse to let go of whta now is dubed legends

And if disney absolutely insists on assasinating Lokis characterisation that was IN THE TEXT

Then I agnowledge that Disney made a desicion ... but since it is a stupid ass desicion I shall elect to ignore it ...

Disney can refuse to give me new content

But I have the books

I have the DVD's

They can't take that

I remember

Did I just... Make something up and then other fans liked that and we all huddled together in a dark corner of the internet as everyone else laughed at us? Like. God I feel absolutely insane right now.

That is called gaslighting

And I know it is beeing used kind of inflationary these days, but in this case it is the correct term

I mean ... do you think agent of asgrda would have existedn without the MCU's portrayal of Loki?

No.

It is not made up that a servant laughs at Loki and he just conjures a few snakes and calls it a day.

It is not made up that he tells Thor, Odin is dead and Thor believs him, doesn't ask for ANY kind of proof, becasue Loki until this moment has never betrayed him, has never lied to him, so why wouldn't he believe him?

It is not made up that Loki didnt even dare to touch Odin wenn he colapsed in the vault, simply becasue he was to scared that he would hurt him (like that was a deliberte acting desicion that was talked about)

It is not made up that Frigga put Lokis arse on the Throne

It is not made up that Loki has no ambitions for the Throne it is LITERALLY text:

This isn't made up

The fact that he was tortured is not made up, they might have toned it down to get that sweet sweet PG 13 rating but this is the original production design from the MCU

Like ... he is oozing ... I just want to ask him if he wants some lysol ... a flame thrower ... something ...

It is in the text that his memories are a bit wonky at best

That is not a writting issue, that is in teh text

It is foreshadowing ...

Same as it is shown to the audience how teh scepter works simply by proximity

Same as we are told how to break the scepters controll ... by hitting someone on the head ... and then Loki gets hit on teh head AFTER THIS FACT WAS ESABLISHED

The fact that Loki is on a very short leash by the Other is in the text

That is not made up

And the reveal at the end of the avengers that the Other still is not the big bad puppeteer but Thanos is

That is in teh text

The fcat that Loki was mindcontrolle is marvel canon, not fanon:

That is teh reason that someone told the lighting department / the effects department /the make up department to make him look like this:

That was deliberate

A lot of people wher einvolved here, Tom didn't just decide to come to work with a massive hangover and skip makeup that day ...

The fact that Loki doesn't even haggle wenn his brother asks for help with basicalyl treason and offers him more solitary confinement as a reward. Not even some token resistance out of principle ...

(That man has no pride left ... )

That isn't made up that is in the text

It isn't made up that he is as good as his word, gets them out of asgard safely and quick

It isn't mad eup that he accepts that Thor doesn't want to morn with him so instead he does the next best thing he tries to have a herat to herat about the fact that Jane is mortal and mortals tend to die ...

It is in the text that Thor trusts him enough to do the double betrayal bait and switch with hsi brother

It is in the text that Thor doesn't once look after Jane during the fight becasue he knows Loki will

It is in the text that Loki does

That he gets her out of the way of those void bombs

It is in the text that Odin has become a liability to the point wher Heimdall betrays him (even if we can talk about Heimdalls judgement ... )

It is in the text that he would rather have Thor killed then let him disobey

It is in the text that wenn Loki pretends to be Odin and has access to teh Tesseract AND the eather

He leafs teh Tesseract in teh vault (dumb idea)

And gives the Aether to teh collector (slightly better idea)

I repeat

HE HAS TWO INFINITY STONES AND JUST IGNORES THEM!!!!

That is in teh text!

It is in teh text that insteda of hunting Thor down for treason (which he very well could) he gives him teh words of encouragement that Odin never gave him and lets him leafe in peace

Sorry to tell you, but you have aterminal case of media literacy ... it's incurable ... sorry ...

And last but not least ... just becasue certain "fans" decided that Lady Loki doen't exist doesn't mean that reality wil suddenyl change to accomodate theyir shity takes on teh matter ...

I'm really starting to worry if my corner of the Loki fandom (og 2011-2013) are actually just insane. Are we like Destiel from SPN, insisting something is there that was never written into the text only hinted at, but we wanted it there anyway so we put it there? Like even if we don't like Loki from the series, that's how Loki's character is going to be now. We adapt or we die. We don't get to be mad about something we made up, right?

Like I genuinely just. I don't know. As I've released my anti Loki series video essay to YT more and more people have told me I've made up his og character and Im mad about something that never existed in the first place. Did I just... Make something up and then other fans liked that and we all huddled together in a dark corner of the internet as everyone else laughed at us? Like. God I feel absolutely insane right now.

Like I love the version of Loki that my corner of the fandom talks about. But did he actually exist in canon to begin with?

[nuvomica]

Twilight guy as the new Batman? Yay or nay?

TWILIGHT GUY i--

and yeah i fucking loved it. loved him as batman. he played such a good early years bruce wayne i could rant and gush about it forever. important to my health. big yay, maybe even..... my favourite live action yay to date?

[sadisticwoof-dcmk]

Snippet:

Aizawa: nah but Kaito-san is highly likely to be an undercover police officer

Sera: THAT'S the conclusion you came to??

Aizawa: what else would explain the props from the bag to disguise me ? ?

Nakamichi: Clown-For-Hire

Sonoko: AKJSDHGKAJHD I FULLY BELIEVE SHINICHI WOULD BEFRIEND A CLOWN

Kaito: My secret identity has been found out 😩im the secret FBI agent who has been looking out for you

Nakamichi: i had no idea you knew a real FBI agent!

Shinichi: he whta? huh???? am i having a nightmare

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

"Tom Riddle effectively destroys the country from the inside out, which I believe was his true goal the entire time" (c) wait a second, so you think that he wasn't going to really take over or anything, just destroy the fuck out of w britain?

I have avoided this ask long enough.

I’ll start by saying that asking me about Tom Riddle is like staring down into a bottomless rabbit hole. We could travel down that path, but it is a dark and perilous journey, and by the end of it I will come out looking like the Mad Hatter.

It also requires a few prerequisites that you’re just going to accept as true (or else got off the crazy train here).

We know very little about Tom Riddle or Voldemort

What we do know of Tom Riddle comes to us from suspect sources

I’m just going to go out there and start with the basis that Tom is not crazy

Elaborating a little on number 1. We never actually see much of Tom Riddle or Voldemort directly. He’s a bit like Thanos in the MCU, or Palpatine in the first two movies of the Original Trilogy, he’s this looming threat that we pass by and glimpse every once in a while but never really get quality time with.

Generally, Voldemort makes an appearance in a moment of crisis.

He and Harry fight over the philosopher’s stone for Tom’s very survival. He and Harry fight over the diary for Tom’s very survival. He resurrects himself with Harry as a witness. We get those very strange dreams from Voldemort’s perspective (half of which we later learn are fabricated).

None of these really lend to our, or Harry’s for that matter, understanding of Tom Riddle. There’s too much going on, it usually happens far too fast, and there’s usually something Tom Riddle desperately wants or needs that eclipses all other concerns or else he has an audience.

This is part of the reason we get those Halfblood Prince pensieve lessons: Harry knows nothing of Tom Riddle and doesn’t understand him at all.

Which leads us, of course, to number 2, most of what we know about Tom Riddle comes from Dumbledore. I’ve talked about this before, so I won’t spend much time on it, but Dumbledore has a very clear agenda in relaying these memories to Harry. Dumbledore already has strong suspicions of what objects are horcruxes and where they’re located, he already has Snape as a very reliable agent to continue work when he’s gone, his job here is to convince Harry there is no path but suicide. And that involves portraying Tom Riddle as the most evil man who ever eviled, was born eviler than the antichrist, and will die eviler than the antichrist. 

Now, does this make Tom necessarily good or bad? No.

However, it does mean when Dumbledore tells us things like, “See, Harry, an impoverished child was upset when I lit all his belongings on fire! What a monster!” (especially given that, in a similar situation, Harry thought it was hilarious when Hagrid gave Dudley a permanent physical deformity and Harry was told he was an angel child) we should take it with a very large grain of salt.

Right, so, with all that backdrop what I’m getting at is that a) we can’t take Dumbledore at his word b) even if we could he could be wrong c) Harry doesn’t have the introspection to be able to figure himself when a or b is happening. I won’t elaborate on this last much, suffice to say that Harry’s world is very black and white, divided into the camps of those who personally like him and those who don’t.

So, why do I think Tom’s goal was not to rule the wizarding world but instead to destroy it?

A few things.

First, there are so many easier ways he could have ended up ruling the wizarding world. More, even when he effectively does rule the wizarding world in book seven, he takes very strange actions so that he’s never directly in power.

Second, I never really bought Tom’s racism. It’s too convenient and too contradictory with his backstory.

The second first, because we’re going out of order today. I’ve gone over this before, but I don’t believe Tom had minions early and I think he was effectively treated as a muggleborn (see here and here) until he took on the Voldemort persona many decades later. I’m hard pressed to believe someone as intelligent, angry, and proud as Tom Riddle would willingly believe and accept he was inferior to the likes of Abraxas Malfoy. More, even if he wished he was a halfblood, I think the evidence of him being muggleborn would be stacked too high against him to deny even to himself (and when he finds out it’s not true, he has maybe a month or so before he realized that he’s the bastard son of a squib). 

And it’s just so convenient. All the people with the power, with the money, who are itching for a cause against a threat that doesn’t really exist believe in blood purity. Ergo, Voldemort shows up suddenly espousing over the top blood purity rhetoric (rhetoric that directly clashes with his “there is only power” philosophy at that). 

In other words, I think Tom Riddle gave himself a line that he knew would get him places very quickly.

And now for the first. For a guy who has had the entire country in the palm of his hands twice, one time taking it over in a bloodless coup, he’s really big on causing collateral damage and really small on actually doing the ruling thing.

The first wizarding war, Tom Riddle as Voldemort has the backing of the heirs of the most prestigious and wealthy noble houses save a select few. These are people with seats in the Wizengamot, which has a frightening control over the government itself (including the minister of magic). I imagine, in 1980 had Tom Riddle wanted to be elected as Minister of Magic, he would have been elected as Minister of Magic. If he wanted a friendly face in office then he probably could have made that happen to.

More than even this though, by this point, Tom had already won. By having control over the majority of the Wizengamot he owns the government. He’s done, it’s over, it’s finished, and many of the characters admit as much which is why Harry Potter was such a miracle. So why all the seemingly random, exceptionally pointless, terrorism? 

One answer is that Voldemort is crazy bananas. And sure, I guess we can go with that, except for someone insane he’s oddly effective and very consistent. 

I believe Tom was systematically destroying the very foundations of the country through its core aristocratic families. Within a few short years Tom decimates the Black family, it goes from having five heirs to none, and while some of this isn’t Tom’s fault he does take care of quite a few of them. He brands Lucius for life, while Lucius rises high in politics he never escapes the stigma of being a known Death Eater and in the end cannot escape the consequences for his actions. The Malfoy family is very nearly destroyed by the end of the series, had Draco died in the Fiendfyre. The LeStrange family, presumably decimated as well.

More, this is mostly me headcanoning, but I imagine Tom fuels an extremism that the Wizarding World had never contemplated. I imagine, previously, anti-muggleborn sentiment was probably fairly rampant among purebloods. Oh, some were very pro-muggleborn I’m sure, but I think most were fairly “eh” on the people and felt they were a drain on society (such as requiring constant funding for the obliviation department).

However, when Diagon Alley starts getting blown up every other week, when muggleborns start being tortured and murdered, when purebloods who aren’t anti-muggleborn enough are being tortured and murdered, this starts wigging people out in a way they’ve never wigged out before.

By the time we get to Harry Potter’s canon, it is now only a minority that are anti-muggleborn, and they’re perceived as raving lunatics. Nobody wants to be grouped with these people. Which, just goes to show, how much Voldemort rattles the wizarding world in a very small amount of time.

Then there’s Deathly Hallows, rather than become minister himself Voldemort installs a puppet minister. He shows no signs of wishing to change this and instead does things like destroy the sorting hat (which again shakes the very foundations of the wizarding world as whta will we do if we don’t know who’s a Gryffindor anymore?!)

So, where is this ramble going?

Given the results we see, that more than any others it seems to be the purebloods and often Tom’s own followers that suffer colossal losses, I think Tom’s actions are, in part, a means of vengeance against the entire damn wizarding world (but especially the purebloods).

He makes fools of these people, brands them as his slaves, and has them participate in the most over the top ridiculous rituals (the cloaks, the masks, the entire theatrics of it feels like Tom got drunk one night and planned this whole thing out). He destroys them entirely, and better, enables them to completely destroy themselves and the country they believe they’re trying to save.

Basically, I think by the time the series begins Tom is fueled by a nihilist rage that knows no bounds. But dammit all, the wizarding world is going to burn.

[jadeyarts]

hey so in one post you mentioned that Danny *Fenton* is not technically the twins' bio dad, but Misty still has ghost powers. Is that because Sam was only interested in him as phantom, or because she just straight-up cheated on him with a ghost?

uhhh... yeah, danny phantom is the father, technically. so like. my thoughts on this are really scattered but:

i noticed that the twins - as conceptualized by elmer earl hartman, i didn't create them - are described as having developed their ghost powers at the age of ten, but also that they don't actually have ghost forms... which means that they don't technically have human forms either, because their somewhat ghostly appearances are their singular, true forms. jackson's features are largely derived from sam, a completely normal human, but misty naturally has phantom's green eyes. so since danny's "molecules got all rearranged" (ie the ghost portal straight up changed his dna) thennnn that means... if jackson came out looking like sam but misty looks like phantom rather than fenton, then it looks to me like it's very likely danny has different genetics to pass on depending on which form hes in. when. um. (coughs) you know? so.

that suggests if they take after phantom, and not fenton, that technically danny fenton isn't the biological father of his own children. but he also is, because he's also danny phantom. i mean, luckily he'd be legally recognized as their father either way so it's literally a non-concern, but its just something that is just surreal enough as a concept that i find it funny. it's something that can only happen to him, because of course it is!

and since based on elmer's description of the circumstances of the birth of the twins they're born only a couple months after danny and sam got married i assume that means that... they're an accident, danny and sam had a shotgun wedding because of an unplanned pregnancy - which meant they wouldn't have had the most stable foundation for a long-term committed romantic relationship because they would have been young, unprepared, and everyone knows feeling obligated to be together (rather than simply Wanting To Be) only hurts everyone involved so. yeah. divorce. yayyyy.

as to whether "sam was only interested in phantom" uh... well. that's something you can decide for yourself, based on the source material and how it handled their relationship. you can easily make the argument that it's literally just a coincidence that phantom's the father and not fenton if that's your preferred interpretation, or she really was more interested in phantom than fenton - and that would be a contributing factor to the concept of the two getting a divorce, or it was literally just being young unprepared parents feeling obligated to be together for the sake of unplanned kids. i kinda felt the scenario (read as: divorce) would work no matter whta interpretation you'd have of their transition from platonic to romantic, so it's not something i really feel like exploring in depth because... (carl athf voice) it don't mattah. none of dis mattahs

i don't think sam would ever really cheat - or at the very least not physically in a way that could result in children, i could see her having an emotional affair and not even realizing it, and i can see her impulsively kissing someone else and immediately recognizing it as a mistake, but not any more than that - though i do think her romantic interest in danny was largely conditional, with that condition being phantom. but that's just like... how i personally interpreted the source material? i'm not about to insist its the one true way to read their romantic subplot or anything, lmao

[stellarune]

ayup, time for a dadwin bullet fic

it's late at night, and keefe can't stay there anymore. he's tried, he's tried *so fucking hard* to deal with this, he's tried so fucking hard to ignore his dad and the things he did, but he can't anymore. he just can't. he needs to get out and do something else or he feels like something will have to give, and he doesn't want that thing to be him.

he considers his options. Grady and edlaine, they would take him in if he asked, but it'd be easy enough to find him there. Alden was out of the question. juline and kesler would never tell him not to come, but they had so much on their hands already, he couldnt put that burden on them. he didn't know tiergan well enough to ask.

elwin had told him once "if you need anything, just hail me, doesnt have to be health related", and keefe didnt know how much he believed that, but he crossed his fingers and hoped elwin had meant it, because he was in the foxfire infirmary and hed sleep there if he needed to, but it was far from ideal.

elwin doesnt pick up the first time, and really, keefe shouldnt be surprised. its the middle of the night, and elwin must have been asleep. what *does* surprise him, is that his ahiler starts riging just a few minutes later, as he was starting to doze off.

"hello ?" "hey kid whtas up ?"

keefe almost gives up then and there. he almost hangs up.

"are you busy ? did i, did i wake you up ?" "humhum, thanks for that, i was at my desk and would have had ahorrible crick in my neck tomorrow morning." he takes a deep breath and asks. "can you pick me up ? im at, im at the infirmary." "ill be right there."

only a few seconds later, elwin appears besides him. he openes his arms and keefe all but falls into him, holding on for dear life. theyre not close. he needs the comfort anyways.

elwin doesnt ask, only tells him theyd talk in the morning. keefe all but collapses on the bed, and as unfamliar and cold as it is, he still finds sleep not too long after.

morning is quiet, for a while. keefe woke up early, despite how late hed gone to sleep, and he doesnt dare wake up elwin yet. not when he offered a place to stay with no questions. not when he let him into his home like that. keefe isnt going to give him any reason to send him back. eventually, elwin knocks on his door, and keefe jumps.

elwin makes them breakfast, and keefe is getting antisier by the minute, waiting for the other shoe to drop. elwin clears his throat.

"so. not that i dont like having you, but do you mind telling me whats going on ? you dont have to tell me everything, just, the basics please ?" and so keefe tells him the basics. he tells him he just cant deal with the cold shoulder anymore, that he cant deal with the guilt tripping or just how alone he was in that twoer. and elwin listens, and when hes done, give him a little nod and squeezes his shoulder.

"youre welcome to stay as long as you like, alright ?"

so keefe stays. and things happen, and nothing is perfect, but he feels warmer than he ever had in candleshade.

he breaks a bowl, and he feels his heart drop. this is what makes elwin send him back. this is the one mistake too many. but elwin just asks him if hes hurt anywhere, and gathers the pieces, and everythings alright.

elwin takes him shopping for little trinkets to put in his room. keefe spends a little too long looking at a sketchbook and colored pencils, and elwin throws them in the cart without second thoughts.

keefe brings back a 88% in elvin history. hes anxious all day about it, and he almost invents some excuse to stay out, knowing that elwin will know by now. he comes home and his report card is hung on the fridge, elvin history included.

once, keefe leaves his sktchbook out in the living room. he realises it in the midle of class and almost light leaps right then and there. all day he cant think about anything but the time his parents had torn his drwings up, tossed them in the trash. he rushes home, and he cant find his sketchbook in the living room. he rushes to his room, so he can properly freak out, and its set on his bedside table, as good as new.

elwin isnt always there, soemtimes he works late, but he always makes it a point to at least eat together once everyday, be it breakfast lunch or dinner. sometimes they borrow julines tv and watch a movie.

and if keefe happens to introduce him as his dad that one time, thast nobodys business but his.

[magnetothehedgehog]

Shadow IDW:Another Maria.

By now, its pretty much agreed a lot of people dislike Shadow's characterization in the Idw comics, even more so with the big need for him to be Sonic's "Bitter Rival." Character mandate.

But let's take a moment and just appreciate?

Despite this restriction, the Idw Team has not only made him have relevant goal making his appearances in the comics have PURPOSE, despite Shadow's lack of telling anyone what that seemingly random puprose is. But also they have, Evan in particular from what i can tell, have painted this beautiful picture of the inner person shadow is despite his outward exterior.

Let me explain a bit. And Imma cry a little with this.

Shadows Goal: to protect the planet from threats, but specifically, to protect the planet to keep a promise to the one person he loved the most.

That's right.

Maria. Thats why he showed up to fight mettalix. What other reason would he have to? To prove he was the strongest? No, that wouldn't be true even if he told you that was what it was. He's shown he doesn't "seem" to care about others, so whats the matter if mettalix destroys some stuff here or there.

Yet how come shadow shows up whenever there is a major threat or seemingly new rising up danger similar to eggman? Why did he try to take out Mr.Tinker?

Shadow was tasked with protecting the planet, but thats a big ask, and something he doesn't quite know how to do. He himself was created for more than being a weapon, but since his release in sa2 it was all he came to know.

In shadow the hedgehog he had to annihilate the whole black arms species because they wanted to consume the planet. And while they where trying to eat the planet and the people in it, having to obliterate them, especially knowing one them is technically your dad, probably lingers in his mind a bit. He probably thinks about it. Maybe it bothers him.

To Shadow, the only way to deal with a threat is to take it out- merely avoiding thee problem leads to nothing but more trouble, and more heartache.

Which leads me to number 2 😢😢😢😭:

He doesn't want another Maria. For him, letting a threat go on to threaten someone else or something he holds dear is the worst crime. Think back. He tried running away from the Gun soldiers with Maria. In all the sequences he was running away with her, not fighting. In the hero story of Shadow the hedgehog on the ark, Maria asks you to save the scientists, which leads me to believe that canonically, shadow didn't actually fight on the ark, just evaded. But look what happened. His best friend got shot and died, because he ran away. Because he let the threat live. He probably wonders if its because he didn't fight.

Take the latest issue. He goes straight for Starline instead of outright releasing tails or rouge (who has already practically released herself mind you). This previous experience comes back into play, maybe even doubling because of how tinker turning back to eggman unleashed the virus which shadow couldn't stop. If you look closely, hes almost losing himself when Starline gets away.

Only Rouge's words of wisdom pull him out of his rage filled trance. Perhaps she knows that all that killing would weigh on him even more. Yeah, even if he did take out one person, to take out another? And another? All that guilt piling up on his conscience.

But yeah I think they did a nice job on how he's constantly battling with whta he thinks his promise means and what he should do so he can still sleep at night and have a healthy life going forward.

Obviously this could be different from how they may see it or be writing it towards, but this is kinda how I perceive it/like to think they are keeping in mind.

(Edit: I made this a little while back and forgot to post it/work on it so I kinda forgot anything else I was gonna write)

Anyways, these are my thoughts :)

[sailorvinus]

What are your thoughts on people who goes all out on the aesthetic for their blogs? Do you think they’re have the right to express their creativity however they want? && Other than roleplaying, what’s your favorite hobby?

✨ @deductry. meme. still accepting!

17. What are your thoughts on people who goes all out on the aesthetic for their blogs? Do you think they’re have the right to express their creativity however they want?

i think its fine as long as aesthetic doesnt hinder the ability to make a reply i can read. some people really do be out here triple spacing their words, adding bold, italics, upside down letters, strikethroughs, underline, and everything else and for what???? for a reply that the kids i used to teach could write. and they were like 4 years old. lol. thats sad....... that’s when i know someone’s not confident in themselves

dont rly understand why ppl trend chase. ive noticed ppl putting dividers in their replies now and im just??? mystified???? what is this... what does it add to the reply.... which if ppl wanna do it then fine but please consider this: my blog is pretty and its bad enough ugly icons that dont match them are ruinin the vibe now mfs wanna add a border that is totally irrelevant to the actual reply???? i.......... im gonna get a divider / border like these 2001 old web ones and then force everyone to look at it on their blog then the concept becomes goofy

i think id be fine with aesthetics if they didnt involve those chunky dunky ass container themes with super busy backgrounds + 50 textures, the crispiest color psds, promos that all look Exactly alike, navigation that u cant see, 20 x 20 icons the size of a cheerio, 4px text, the shittiest formatting on this side of lady gaga's america, and actually gave some sort of idk. pizzazz to the muse.

like if the aesthetics are important then at least let them tell a story too. and authentic. not something thats bein done cuz everyone else is doin it. id like to think i go balls to the walls with my blog too but you walk into my blog and you know it’s a myspace era throwback because that’s what my muse is supposed to be.

everyone can do whta they want! but if its uglee imma call it dat so......

30. Other than roleplaying, what’s your favorite hobby?

im a musician before im anything else so im probably in my daw fucking around. producing something. ive recently gotten into ambient electronica / ambient techno production so im finding joy in stringing together a bunch of synths til i hit the 6 minute mark, adding random bitcrush effects, some percussion just so it looks like i actually did some work, maybe a vocal sample of someone whispering.......... and then i delete it gfkldjgslf. im actually working on a beat tape tho. its been a work in progress for the longest time. but if i actually managed to find my voice as an electronic music producer then i guess i could get somewhere. using a daw is new to me. im more of an instrumentalist. drummer and flutist, primarily. but i dont have any drums and my flute is at my grandmas so there's that..............

i also like to read!!! i buy like 3 - 4 books a month. havent bought any since like november. i only bought two i think. but its fine because ill always revisit my recent favorites. ummmmm... video games. i rly like those old school ass niche ps2 era games like mr. mosquito, space channel 5, kinetica, etc.

wow do i luv internet drama. so im probably reading up on someone’s dumb bullshit on reddit or something!! or youtube. i love internet drama, its my favorite thing on the internet. i live for watching people be the very worst!!! other than that??? i like to collect and try out different skincare and research ingredients cuz its just fun. might go to school to be an esthetician when this whole covid19 panera bread is over.

i love collecting obscure jazz records from taiwan.

[losers-yurio]

saw you were taking requests for the monkees ! can i request something fluffy with mike ? 👉👈 maybe like a lil sleepover, watching movies, cuddling , that sort of thing ?

Mike Nesmith x reader fluff

The heater in your apartment broke so you spend the night with mike

YES YOU MAY

It had been working kinda iffy the past few days

but of course, it would break down completely on the coldest day of the year 

thank god you knew exactly who to go to for help 

the door open a crack

"what do you want" "you" "too bad I'm not home" 

"Nesmith get your ass out here" he seemed to be taken aback, which was evident through a small silence 

"y/n?" "who else would come knocking at nine in the evening" 

"I suppose you're right, come on in" 

he walked you to the couch and you took a seat 

"I don't mind the company but what's with the drop by?" "heater finally gave out" "ah quite dramatic of it to quit on a super cold day"

"that's what I said!" "ill tell you what you can stay over tonight and we can go check it out in the morning" "sounds good to me"

he walked into the kitchen emerging moments later with two mugs and handed you one of them 

it was warm and filled with what you assumed was tea 

IT WASNT 

"WHTA THE HELL IS THAT" "what do you mean?" the man looked genuinely confused 

"the tea mike what kind is it, it tastes like it's a decade-old" "that would be because it's coffee, not tea"

??????

"Mike why the hell did you give me a coffee so late at night" "you don't drink coffee after dark?"

"Is there anyone that does?" "I do" "that's because you're abnormal"

he lets out a small huff before replying "then what the fuck do y'all do up here" "hot cocoa" "after dark??" "oh for the love of God"

"We do because it's not fucking coffee" "next your gonna tell me you've never been to a rodeo" "I've got some bad news pal" 

by this point, he had retaken his seat beside you 

"y/n I swear to god what did you do for fun??" ""normal shit like going to the mall or a concert"

"Lucky, all I had were tailgate parties" "those are real??"

he let out an exasperated sigh 

"what if we just stop," he said pinching the brim of his nose "why? I'm having a blast" 

he gave you a stern look and got up to look through his record box

"you good with Bobby Darin?" "yep" he walked back over after putting on the record

"so we've got all night now, how do you wanna spend the time?" "do you have any games?" "what are you a child" 

"no, but I guess you're against having a good time" "oh I can show you a good time" "Woah there cowboy not the time" but the smile on your face said you weren't upset 

"I do have a couple I think, in the hall closet" before you could respond he was up again 

when he came back he was holding a deck of cards that read 'uno' 

"oh hell yeah I love that game!" "you've heard of it?" "Yeah, I used to play backstage with the guys a lot" 

"what was I doing?" "pretty sure it was your hair" he let out another huff "let's get on with it then"

"Uno" the two of you were currently on your fifth game all of which he had won 

"I thought you said you played a lot with the guys" "I did, but they aren't cheaters" "oh cool it I'm not a cheater your just mad I'm winning" "fine let's go another round then" "if you say so" 

he played down his last card within no time 

"oh bless your heart darling, you just gotta accept that I'm better" "fuck off" you tried to reach over and hit him but he dodged 

"ill get you" "id like to see you try"

Taglist:@makemeyourwife-loveofmylife @thespookycaper

[incorrect-dying-light-quotes]

Pls tell us about Karim getting stepped on

TW for general violence

Ok so basically (sorry if this is incoherent I do all of my infodumps in greentext format so I’m trying to summarize it from that bear with me)

Karim is a whore wbk, and he’d let anyone tap, but he’s got a bit of a thing for Crane ya feel? When he first shows up at the garrison Karim is like so you’re a dumb bitch... and I’M a dumb bitch... and spends the whole time flirting with him pretty much. Ofc Crane only comes into the garrison a few times to argue with Rais and then leaves, but they keep talking over the radio. Rais overhears at some point and Beats The Shit Out Of Him and Karim is just like. damn. that shit sucks but am I gonna learn my lesson? NO lmao. Eventually he and Crane start meeting up in private and hee hoo forbidden romance except it’s not all that serious, they’re really just hanging out and occasionally they k*ss or.... or h*ld h*nds and they only really fuck once.

 Eventually someone from the garrison catches them and snitches to Rais for some good boy points, and as Karim’s heading back after a Session (tm) he sees Rais standing at the gate looking considerably more menacing than he usually does and Karim’s like ah. shit. He hops over the fence and Rais immediately starts lecturing him more frantically and angrily than usual and drags him into the courtyard by the hair like an angry grandma. 

Rais gets mad at Karim regularly and usually will give just a light punishment, and Karim’s been in the pit a few times but because Rais and everyone else actually like him they go easy on him and he always comes out fine but this time Rais is understandably fucking pissed. Rais and Tahir take him down to the pit and Karim’s just like ah this is fine. Small price to pay for america dick. 

So they get to the pit and the three of them r standing on The Platform and Karim’s surveying the pit to see how much he’ll have to try, there’s an extra container meaning more biters but they’re just biters so it’s fine right. But no it’s not fine because Rais shoves Karim in without lowering the platform first and Karim breaks his right ankle upon hitting the ground and is like AH DAMN!!!! WHTA THE FUCK !! !! !

Rais fires his gun to agitate the infected who proceed to break out of the containers, and Karim is just like ieaoefejsjkhfkehrse. He hops over on one foot to the nearest container and climbs on top of it for brief safety and is like fuck man fuck. 

Some Virals come at him first which is fine, he takes care of them all just fine by either bonking them on the head hard enough that they just cease to exist or by pushing them off the container onto the spike traps below, but the last one takes a few hits and gives Karim a bit of a hard time and scratches him up a bit but overall he comes out fine. 

Karim does the ol throw some firecrackers and light a propane tank and just blo them all up strat, which works for most of the biters and that’s great because my guy can’t fucking walk. So most of the biters die on impact, the ones who did live can’t get up and are therefore not a threat. probably. 

He gets down off of the container assuming all of the infected are dead and he gets to go back inside now but apparently not. There’s two more Virals which he takes care of, though with some difficulty cuz he’s on the ground now. 

He’s then like okay NOW I’m done right? And goes over to where Rais is standing expecting him to let him go now, but he doesn’t lower the platform at all and Karim’s like. bruh. And Rais lectures him about being a whore and betraying him one time too many yadda yadda nothing he hasn’t heard before. And then he sees someone manning the crane (heh) and drops the Demolisher Container down there and Karim is like. oh god. fuck. And picks up a shitty machete off the ground and tries to figure out what to do

The Demolisher charges out of the container and at him and he jumps out of the way, landing on his bad foot on accident and being liek OIUEAUFEHJ. He ducks behind a container because PAIN and also still trying to figure out what to do. Demolisher throws a slab of concrete at the container and Karim’s just like oaebkaebk. eoabejkab. ekabekjb. And figures he just has to be careful and take his time. So he gets up to Face It Like A Man

He fights the Demolisher as you’re supposed to, waiting for him to charge and jumping out of the way, only attacking him when he’s tired. He does fairly well, manages to break his helmet off in a few tries and only lands on his bad foot once. He backs away in preparation for the next charge, getting ready to hit him as hard as he can, but one of the biters he didn’t kill grabs his leg and pulls him to the ground.

Karim is like oh god oh fuck and tries to kick the biter away and get back up but it’s really going ham and isn’t letting go. The Demolisher charges again and Karim is like. change da world. my final message. goodb y e. And the Demolisher just steps right on him. There’s an ungodly fucking cracking sound and Karim is just UEAAEEAEAEAE. Audience is yelling. but Luckily for him the Biter let go and the Demolisher is out of breath, so Karim manages to pull himself off the ground and stumble into a nearby container while the Demolisher isn’t looking so he’s in a good hiding place for now. 

He proceeds to throw up a shit ton of blood. Like a lot. A very bad amount. And thinks he’s dying and he’s never been in this much pain in his life. He starts to panic a bit as he hears the Demolisher pacing around the pit looking for him. He somehow manages to stand up, and holy shit his fucking bones dude. ow. god damn. He throws up a bit more and then leans against the side of the container, trying to figure out what to do. The Demolisher only needed one or two good hits to the head and he’d be gone but Karim obviously was in no shape to do that. 

Karim’s like fuck it. Propane tank thing again. Because he doesn’t really have anything to do and at this point for him it’s do or die. And he sure is dying. Problem is he’s gonna have to manage to hit it hard enough and also throw it far enough which he probably can’t do. But luckily for him there’s a bundle of firecrackers right there next to him. So he figures his best bet is to lure the Demolisher behind the container, hit the tank, and roll it as hard as he can and take cover in the container, and there’s like a 30% chance the Demolisher will die instead of him. Which is better than 0%. So he’s like alright I got this. 

He lights the firecrackers and throws them a good ways away, and the Demolisher gets agitated by the sound and charges towards it. Karim picks up a pipe and uses the last ounce of his strength to hit the nozzle of the propane tank and rolls it over to him as hard as he can before ducking back inside. He lays down and covers his ears and hopes he doesn’t die. Shit goes explodey and after a few seconds he opens his eyes and is like. I’m not dead. Unless this is hell. but then he realizes it’s very quiet and he pokes his head out and sees that it’s fucking dead babey!!!!!!! he did it!!!!!!!!!! fuck yeah!!!!!!!!

So he pulls himself up and hobbles over to Rais and Tahir who are now lowering the platform. Tahir looks hella relieved that you’re even alive and Rais looks just as pissed as before with a hint of disappointment. Karim collapses in front of them and throws up some more, Rais says something he doesn’t hear bc his ears are ringing loud as hell. Probably something about how he’s disappointed you’re still alive but he’s not unfair so since you lived you’re allowed to walk out. Tahir carefully picks him up and he proceeds to pass out in his arms. 

He wakes up a few minutes later as he’s still being carried and then he realizes how cold he is and wakes up and he’s like oh. outside. boy it sure is dark out here haha what are you guys doing? Tahir gently sets him down on the grass outside the fence and Karim’s like wht. And Rais explains that if he can survive a night with the Volatiles in his current state then he’s welcome back to the Garrison, but otherwise he can get fucked. 

Karim is like god dammit as the two of them walk away and he just lays in the grass. He’s like hm . wet grass. nice feeling :^)). a bitch delirious rn. Eventually he pulls himself up and drags himself over to the front gate and talks to the guards and tries to get them to help him. He’s like I’ll suck your dick if you let me use your radio. the guard is like hell yeah and lets him use it. So he manages to contact the tower and say that he needs H E L P . 

Crane comes, guards don’t shoot him because Karim said so. Crane picks him up and carries him to the nearest secure building, not a safe house becaues the nearest one is way too far away. Crane sits down with him and tends to the few wounds he can help with and says that if he’s still alive in the morning he’ll bring his doctor over. Karim’s like ight lit. nice cock by the way and passes out again

Then the next morning Crane brings Lena over and also Karim’s ex gf Eliza who is a nurse in the Garrison shows up to help and they fix him up as much as they can and Crane ends up taking him to the tower so he can recover. the end

[skythedark]

Finally it was break, and Terasaka came up to me and pulled me out of the class, we leave the room and he pinned me to the wall.

“If you wanted to get my attention, you just had to ask. You don’t have to get so close so fast.” I said smirking, but i saw on his face that he meant business

"You think your so special, just because your some trained assassin. Well your not, your nobody. Anyone in this class could take you down even me.”

“Really?! You?!!? You want to fight ... me?!? Dam you really are stupid.”

“What? Did you hear a word i just said? Your worthless! A weapon that as soon as they are done with will just throw away, nothing more than a toy for the government. I doubt you beloved twin sister loves you enough to save you from me, she would be t.tt..tto tt...ttt...terrified.” He said taunting me, and it worked.

“Don’t you dare bring Kana into this!”

I just looked at him and let my emotions flow. It reminded me of being back in fairy tail, and i survived it once i can do it again. I winced as he punched me in the gut, pushing me back a bit. I fell to the ground, and made him think he was hurting me, just a little. But as he came over to get another blow in i grabbed his hand and threw him on the ground. I stood over his body and gave a small chuckle before glaring at his friends, who were all in shock, staring at me like idiots. I reached down towards his body and gripped his throat tightening it slowly, giving him less and less air, pulling him off the ground so he was hovering about an inch of the ground.

“This is how you and me are different.” I start “i have been trained my entire life to kill, before that i survived countless torments and bullying for being “weak” and “worthless” and you” i put his feet on the ground and push him against the wall, still holding onto his neck “ you are just a jealous asshole who is to weak to accept his own insecurities so he has to take it out on others! Am i right?” I turn to his friends “did i get it right?”

he tried to push me off but his strength was weak compared to mine, the doors bursted open and karma looked worried for once, Nagisa ran to the teachers lounge to get Karasuma ,

“ there’s no point in running to the teachers for this one!” I say almost out of my mind, “the only person who can stop me now is kana of someone else from my family.”Karasuma ran down the hall and did his best to get me off Terasaka but in the end only bought him a few minutes to run away. I took off my ring with no regrets and let the power flow back into me it felt amazing, i hadn’t had this much power since the start of school, i gave a test run by making all the lights flicker in the building, and then flooding them with electricity making them glow brightly until they shattered! That made kana rush to the door and stare in disbelief in what she saw, I was trying ti think clearly focus my thoughts on what i wanted to do, but It was like my thoughts didn’t matter anymore only impulses, only killing. I can heard kana trying to call after me, but it was to late. I dropped my ring next to kana and ran off, chasing Terasaka, i wanted to hunt him, i wanted to hurt him, i wanted to kill him, and it felt wonderful.

Just a little paragraph from a short book im writing, the paragraph is a rewrite and i feel its much better, but there is always room for improvement. Maybe i’ll even add the whole story on here? Maybe.

But thanks if you read this and if you could give me some feedback on whta could make it better, that would be much appreciate!

[itshyejung]

Slam Dunk - Cai Xukun

Type: Scenario

(Not gonna do genres bc tbh idk how to categorize my scenarios? I guess they’re fluff I mean they’re not rly angsty and def not smut so... just cute? Who even knows lmao)

Characters: Nine Percent Cai Xukun x you

(Pics are edited by me so pls give credit. Scenarios are not requested, I came up with all these a long time ago but never really shared them publicly, so hope you guys enjoy! I tried to be creative with each scenario and not do super cliche or boring ones but I think all of them are still kinda cliche lmao...)

You didn’t know what it was that the coaches always saw in you, but you seemed to be some sort of prodigy in their eyes. You played basketball freely, not to impress anyone or be the best. You just wanted to be yourself and basketball made you feel this way. The coaches called it potential. You argued there were better players on the team, but in reality you were like a teacher to them. Each day your teammate friends would ask you to teach them how to shoot like you did. You’d just roll your eyes at them and smile. “As long as you can shoot your own way, you’re fine,” you joked.

However, you decided basketball was especially important to you. It could help you consider scholarships and even score them. It could help you with hand-eye coordination, and planning and organization, teamwork, agility, stamina, strength, and much, much more. Basketball gave you your personality: tough but clean, just like a slam dunk that passed through the hoop with nothing but net, not even brushing the rim. And you were especially good at those.

It was no surprise to you that you had made the tryouts for the girls’ high school varsity basketball team. However, you never imagined you’d be captain. You were only a sophomore, and by the school’s sports team rules, only seniors could be captain. But no one else objected. You wondered to yourself how you could possibly play better than one of those intimidating seniors. Scary.

Coach Liu started practice right away. You quickly kept up with the drills the seniors and juniors were participating in. You had thought the varsity team would have much more difficult challenges, but you felt familiarity and at home even on a new court. You felt excited to play your first game in the upcoming preliminaries, even if it was sort of far way. It was the perfect time to improve your skills.

After a few weeks of practice, you realized that you collaborated well with the juniors and seniors and they often passed you the ball to slam dunk. You often took free throws and arched the ball beautifully towards the basket from the three-point line. Honestly, you could play just about any position. And you had fun with your teammates.

At the end of practice one day, Coach Liu called you over to her office, so you suspected something was wrong. However, what she had to say surprised you.

You pushed open the door to her office quietly, not wanting to draw a lot of attention in case your teammates might overhear the conversation, and sat in front of her desk voluntarily, waiting for her to finish upon a phone call. You couldn’t help but stare at the many championship awards that filled her walls and siplay case. Her very first had been when she was only four years old, which shocked you. You hadn’t thought of playing basketball until you were maybe seven or eight years old, and here was a child basketball prodigy. No wonder she was the coach of a team like this. You saw that she had wirtten “Goal: three-timing girls’ high school champ” on her yellow notepad and instantly worries began filling your head. You had heard that this school’s team was insanely good, so you wanted to help Coach keep that reputation. Maybe she wanted to move you to junior varsity after all…

“Thanks for waiting,” Coach Liu clicked the phone into place and turned in her chair to face you. “I’ve rarely met with any of the varsity teammates individually before, so I hope you’re prepared for the important news I’m going to share with you.”

You nodded. “Of course.”

“I see youv’e noticed my goals sheet.” Coach Liu pointed to the yellow notepad you were staring at earlier. You gulped, hoping it was inaudible. You had just started on the team and now was going to get bumped down. “I’ve only written one for girls, as you can tell.”

Wait, what was she suggesting?

“You see, even with larger amounts of practice, the boys’ varsity team cannot withstand a good enough reputation. Some people wonder just what is going on at our school, although they respect our girls’ varsity team a lot. And through all my years of coaching, I don’t think I’ve seen one person as dedicated to basketball individually as you. So I decided to offer you the job of being the manager of the boys’ varsity team this year. Would you like to?”

Wait, what was she suggesting?

Your mind went blank for a moment. You, a sophomre who just got on the varsity team, now becoming the manager of the boys’ varsity team? Wasn’t this a bit too much? You were dumbfounded by her question for quite a while. But you thought about it a lot. You thought about what the upsides and downsides were. Downsides: not enough time to practice for your own team, not enough experience to lead them well, distracting, etc. Upsides: well, you thought maybe you could learn a few things from their mistakes and methods. Perhaps they had trouble with things that you didn’t, so you could challenge yourself into helping them on different measures.

Coach Liu’s voice cleared your thoughts for you as she patiently asked again, “Have you decided?”

You rotated your thumbs in your lap for a bit before answering uncertainly, “Yeah, I’ll take the job.”

Coach Liu clapped her hands together. “Great! I’ll let their coach know.”

You left her office in confusion. What had you just agreed to? Well, there was no turning back. You headed towards the gymnasium to begin your job. The boys team practiced right after the girls team, and today was tryouts day. You couldn’t miss the very first day as manager.

“The manager is here, boys.” The coach’s voice was different from what you thought. The attitude was also different. It didn’t feel like basketball. It felt like boot camp. The boys looked like zombies. Well, except for this one boy… who was he? He had an aura completely different from the other guys on the court. HIs attitude towards basketball impressed you, and considering how others thought of you on the court, it was a rare feeling you got. It seemed like he was also one who worried about his own improvements and not what anyone else did. The more you watched him behind your clipboard, the more you thought he was just like you.

After Coach Han introduced you to the team, there were many surprised faces. Of course, they thought “How could a girl be the manager of our team?” Some faces looked embarrassed that they needed a girl to manage them; they knew they sucked like crap. Some looked like they didn’t care at all. You stepped up confidently.

“Well, sorry you guys have to do this after practice, but we’ll begin tryouts right away,” you said clearly and loudly, scanning the line of boys standing in front of you uncertainly. “First, we’ll begin with a simple lay-up line. I’m sure you’re all educated enough to know whta a lay-up is, right? Let’s start.”

The boys swiftly went through a lay-up line, but it still looked awkward. You jotted down some quick notes that came into your mind while Coach Han barked at them. You drew diagrams of their body structures as they ran through the other drills and analzyed the levels of their strength and stamina. Some were fit for basketball and some needed more work. You also drew a game plan and a line-up for starters, which Coach Han approved of. He wrote down who had qualified for first, second, and third lines. At the end of practice, you read them aloud.

“First liners, also starters for line up.” You announced the names one by one. “Cai Xukun,” you concluded. It was that new boy you had spotted earlier, the male version of you. You were a little surprised, but you half smiled in his direction. He returne d it with a full smile, and bright, sparkling eyes. You looked away and said, “Now for second line.”

Cai Xukun. He was definitely a player who was going to be hard to forget.

_______________________________________________________________________

You didn’t know exactly what being manager of a basketball team meant, but it sure took up a lot of your time, especially since now you kind of had to work harder towards your own team. You felt your skills slowly dying, you felt the joy and freedom of playing basketball slipping away. You didn’t know what had gone wrong the past few days, but it didn’t seem right.

Dejected, you stayed on the court after practice on day trying to land your three-pointers. A square basket of balls sat next to you, and you grabbed them hurriedly, aching to shoot a perfect three-pointer. None of the balls you shot touched net, only rim. You were shocked. Where had your ability to play basketball gone? You had never lost it, always practicing with your father, the coach of the state boys’ basketball team, and your brother, who was part of the state team. What had happened?

Confused, you picked up allt he balls on the floor, but there were just too many to hold in your arms. All the sad-looking balls on the floor represented all of your failures, it seemed, even the failure to pick them all up. A few dropped from your arms, reminding you of how your heart and mood had dropped recently. You tossed the balls back into the basket that held them and decided to start again. After all, you weren’t the type to give up before at least a good couple baskets were made.

As you shot over and over again, another shadow was watching you from outside, leaning neatly against the frame of the gym doors, with a slight smile playing on the lips, watching you carefully with pretty eyes.

One of the balls that bounced off the rim threatened to roll out the gym doors, but was stopped by a rather large foot. Surprised that there was someone else in the gym at this hour, you looked up in confusion only to find Cai Xukun of the boys’ varsity team staring back at you with tthat same smile.

“Hey there, Ms. Manager,” he grinned. “I’m Xukun.”

You sighed a little and smiled back, worries running through your head. Had he seen you practice? Had he seen your terrible shots? “Of course I know you, Mr. First Liner. You did awesome at tryouts.” 

“Thanks,” he nodded. “Stuck?”

You sucked in your breath. You hated admitting failure, but nevertheless you had to be honest. “Yeah, a bit. But it’s probably just a phase. It’ll pass before the International Cup quarterfinals.”

“Oh, you guys qualified? That’s great.”

“Thanks. I better brush up on my skills by then.”

“Don’t worry, you will.” Pause. He shook some of his white-blonde hair out of his eyes. “I could practice with you.”

You hesitated. Someone like him, with someone like you? Well, in a sense, it worked extremely well. Besdies, wasn’t his style of basketball just like yours? What was there to worry about, really?

“Umm, that would be really helpful, thank you.”

His eyes crinkled cutely as he grinned, and he walked over to the basket of balls with a super subtle bounce in his step. He carefully chose a ball and turned it over in his hands a couple of times, as if seeing it for the first time. After a lot of blinking, he turned to you and tossed it in a perfect arc. You caught it easily, but was surprised at how much better you felt already, and how much more of your confidence had come back. 

“Try shooting your three-pointers again, only this time, shape your fingers a little more in the direction of the ball, and have more bounce in your motions. Also, turn your head slightly towards the left a bit,” Xukun instructed you, becoming serious. You had never tried anything new before, besides your own style of basketball, but this wasn’t the time to argue. 

You stepped up to the three-point line once again, feeling weird. It was like you had a new attitude towards basketball: to be successful together with your team. Of course you knew teamwork was important, but you had never thought of it much more than a methodology of passing the ball around. You made most of the shots yourself. But now, you wanted to change that. You wore your confidence once again and took a shot.

_______________________________________________________________________

Quarterfinals went by fast, as did semifinals. You were surprised by the level of basketball the high schoolers at first, but soon it was the day for finals, which went more or less like this: 

Secretly nervous, you jumped for the tip-off as the game started. Arching your fingers a bit more just like how Xukun taught you, they grazed the ball just barely ahead of the opposing team, and you were able to obtain it. Looking around quickly, you bounce-passed it to your teammate and ran ahead towards your basket, weaving easily through the maze of defenders that stood before you. Doing your best to dodge the defender that was tight against you, your eyes watched the ball travel back and forth like a hawk until it landed in your hands again.

You tossed the ball over your head up towards the basket. Easy two-pointer.

The game progressed quickly but also with a high level of difficulty. The team had also been a hard rival of your school last year, so you weren’t about to let them get away with their revenge plot. 

At the end of the fourt quarter, the score became 141 to 98. You had crushed them.

After being engulfed by your teammates and coming close to suffocating in them, but somewhat still giddy with joy, you heard a roar of shouting coming towards you and turned around in shock, meeting the eyes of the boys’ varsity team. You didn’t know they’d come in quietly and sat in the middle of the bleachers to get a good view of the game.

“Well, what’d I tell you? Wasn’t this a good experience after all?” Coach Liu asked, putting a hand on your shoulder.

“Yeah, I really have to thank you. You helped me change my perspective on basketball to something more positive.” 

“I’m glad! Keep it up. I think some guys want to talk to you,” she winked. I groaned as she walked away.

You were surprised by how many compliments you recieved from the boys’ team. In fact, they went further into the fact that they really enjoyed having you as a manager because you really improved the team, and they had reached semifinals in the International Cup, which was far, far ahead from where they ended up last year. And the entire time, your smile did not diminish.

Especially when it met one just like it, belonging to Cai Xukun. It was beautiful. You thought back to all those months you had practiced with him, hung out with not only at classes in school but also out in town, walking your dogs to the park, or playing basketball with your father and brother. And you realized that Xukun was actually an important part of your basketball career.

“Hey, I realized something, Ms. Manager. When it comes to basketball, you really are at the center of my heart,” he said to you, trying to ignore the whoops of his teammates behind him.

You laughed nervously, groaning internally at the pun but responding with one of your own. “Well, I guess I’ll have to manage as best as I can with that.”

You both laughed, his tinkling pretty, yours sounding more like hiccups. Yikes.

“Your laugh is cute,” he said, not even blushing. “Ever since you’ve been our basketball manager, I’ve been watching you, because you seemed different from the other girls. I was right; your style of basketball is similar to mine: free.”

“It’s funny,” you said, your smile getting bigger. “I was actually doing the same thing.”

“Guess that means we were meant for each other,” he said nonchalantly. “So, will I see you at our final game?” He held out his hand as if wanting to shake on it.

“Yeah. Definitely.” You laughed and nodded, grabbing his hand in a handshake but feeling your heartbeat skip for a second as he had other thoughts, intertwining his fingers with yours and pulling you closer to him.

It was interesting; the both of you, who had never really held anything other than a bumpy, rock-hard basketball, felt the rough calluses on your palms but also a deeper, softer feeling. Basketball never felt so good.