#cannot point to a Single good thing about my degree

[thelunaticghost]

cant wait to get my degree certificate I'm gonna burn that bitch up

[lxdymoon0357]

Hey I hope you are doing well. Can I ask for a story on yandere Phinéas lapiléon x f reader of the manhwa my in-laws are obbsessed .please

(Oooo, good idea! I like the Lapileon family as well...| Noncon, kidnapping, forced usage of Lapileon blood, drugging, manipulation, usual yandere stuff. )

© Writing belongs to me, Lxdymoon0357. Do not plagiarize, but reblogging, liking and commenting is deeply appreciated.

Yandere! Phineas Lapileon X Reader HCs

⋐ Phineas met you through his doctor degree, you both studied together. You were supposed classmates, he often kept you at arms's length, mainly cause he himself is reserved, but also to kind of protect you from his blood, he had no idea if he had a cut anywhere..He does to everyone he meets..

⋐ You and him slowly became friends and becoming friends with him took some time as the Lapileons are always more than distanced people, they barely make friends due to the fear of their blood going out and being revealed, it would put not only them in danger but a lot of others as well.

⋐ He would try to push you away, but after you showed no sign of wanting to do such a thing, he decided to give it a try, but was EXTREMELY careful around you, he never wanted you to be hurt.

⋐ He seeked you out at times when he felt he wouldn't be good enough. Phineas also began thinking of you as his precious little flower, you're so innocent and kind, not knowing what was concealed behind the Lapileon family's perfect image...

⋐ You didn't need to know that, not now atleast. What if you run away, Phineas can't have that now, can he? He would have you completely dependent on him, until he knows you won't leave him, before he kidnaps you.

⋐ He is gonna make sure to use Gin to his full extent, he's a shitty person hitting his kid, hiding her, abusing her ,using their blood for wrong things. What's one more thing of being shitty? He will make sure you have the completely and most perfect stay in his arms since it's gonna be your home from now.

⋐ Will guilt trip you, Islette and Celphi are close to you, they're kids they will tattle tale to Phineas and adults for anything you do. They love you, you're a family now. Worry not, everyone approves; Gloria, Therdeo, Pereshati and others, so you don't have to think about anything.

⋐ Will constantly check himself and other, other than Pereshati, for any single cut that will allow his blood out, is thinking of having Pereshati share some blood to you so you can be immune to their blood like she is, Pereshati is excited for that, you're her sibling-figure even if you don't accept it!

⋐ He is refusing to let anyone other than family be near you, he's thinking of actually moving in the manor instead of being away since it will help him to make sure the whole family is making sure you're with him

⋐ He is SO SO SO paranoid about you, cannot be away from you for even more than an hour, he has to be in you at this point and not only in the sexual way, but also the literal sense, he does want a kid afterall....bu he'll settle for snuggling inside you shirt.

[roseykat]

TITLE: SKZ members as submissives

WARNING: minors DNI with this post or my blog. I create NSWF SKZ related content and I know I won’t be able to regulate/monitor every single potential interaction with those posts so please do not engage with my work or page whatsoever.

SUMMARY: An OT8 blurb of how each of the members are as subs.

TAGS: sub!skz members, implied dom!reader not necessarily gender specific, mentions of sex, orgasms, humiliation, edging, collars, leashes, spitting, nipple play, implied brat behaviour, praise, choking, gagging.

MASTERLIST

A/N: my next work that will be uploaded after this is Venom Eater! Also trying out a new layout for when I do OT8 blurbs…

This man is 50/50. He can be so good for you by letting you use him in the ways that you want and then be a devious, disobedient little upstart if you look away for one second. If he’s in that type of state, expect him to whine to you about what it is that he wants; ‘make me cum~’, ‘but I need you to use me,’ ‘need to get off on you, please.’

Denying him is always so fun because he gets so teary eyed and agitated. At that point, he’ll cave. He is strong, but when his needs are being compromised, Chan will see your instructions through to the end. Whether it’s to use his mouth for your own pleasure, his cock, fingers, whatever part of his body you see fit to seek an orgasm out of, he will make it happen as reparation.

A sub that can be a full on stubborn brat who won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Trying to get him to listen is like pulling teeth and it can take a lot to strip Minho back into a conforming, incoherent mess. Overstimulation usually does the trick, bc he gets what he wants at first then realises he’s bitten off too much that he can chew and finds himself running into multiple orgasms bc you keep getting him hard enough to make him cum.

You like showing him how much cum he’s dribbled out of his stiff yet sore cock just by lifting up your hand, forcing him to see your palm glisten in white. Seeing it is like a slap of humiliation to him which paints a nice deep red blush across his cheeks.

A very sensitive sub that can only handle being touched so much. Edging works so well that it’s almost always part of the bedroom routine. You try to utilise it in order to see his strong, taut body writhing, and to hear him moan out ‘please, wanna cum so bad. Can’t take it anymore.’ Just hearing him say that invites you to cuff his hands to the bedpost so that he doesn’t try touching himself when you refuse him from orgasming.

The one thing that he absolutely cannot take is watching you get yourself off. Therefore, in the instance where you do attach him to the headboard, you peel yourself right off of his body and get into a position where he can see you make yourself cum. Whether it’s by your fingers, a vibrator, a dildo, whatever it takes to make him see what he’s missing out on, is a form of torture to him.

Obedient when he wants to be, but for the most part, he will let you use him whenever you want because Hyunjin is too in love with you not to. He likes having a collar fixed around his throat with a leash attached while you get him to fuck you in positions where he may appear ‘on top’ but you still have every degree of control over him.

He’s a relatively messy sub as well but adorns it with pride. Sometimes he cries from overstimulation, drools when you gag him with your fingers, chin and nose wet from you using his face, and will leak a decent amount of precum when you edge him. All in all, he’s versatile to use especially when he wants you to.

Is a sub that requires a lot more attention than most. He is very needy and reactive to the things he allows you to do to him. However, Jisung does explore when it comes to new kinks but to him, nothing beats just getting absolutely fucked. That being said, this man is a pillow prince. You have to put in all the effort - which you don’t mind, but there comes a time where you make Jisung work for it.

If that’s the case, he gets all whiny, mopey, and annoyed because he doesn’t want to ride you - he wants you to fuck him. He gets so stubborn that sometimes he’ll prep himself, fingering his hole even though it’s not nearly as satisfying as when you’re involved. In the end, he will end up riding you, but either very lazily or angrily.

Is everyone’s darling, innocent, and placid submissive that they just want to ruin. Whatever it is that you want to try, Felix is for it. He wants to please you and make you happy. He’s a sub who needs a lot of praise and boy does he deserve it because he’ll let you fuck him, let you clamp his nipples, spit in his mouth, edge him, a combination of all if not more of these activities - you name it.

Sometimes you have to remind Felix that he doesn’t have to do the things you suggest to him, that there are alternatives also or that he just doesn’t have to do it at all. But he always, always assures you that he does. He likes to experiment with you in bed but also wants to test his own limits while achieving pleasure.

Seungmin can be a very hard sub to work with at times. He has the ability to use his words as a weapon, yet sadly, it’s a double edged sword because it does come back and bite him in the ass when you clock him for his behaviour. So if he tries to trip you up with his words when you’re in full dom mode, saying things such as, ‘are you sure about that?’ ‘What makes you think I can’t take it?’ etc, you know how to handle him - with a ball gag.

It limits his supply of verbal daggers and plea bargains that you never bother considering bc he stepped on your last nerve. Another way to get him to shut up is if you use his face. But, his reset button - something that forces him to switch up is by telling him that he’s a ‘good boy’. He gets all flustered and embarrassed but he loves hearing that type of praise from you.

Jeongin starts off as a seemingly disobedient sub, almost leaning towards being a brat, then will slot right into his place of being submissive when you ramp things up in bed. Therefore, it’s easy to snap him out of that phase by threatening that he’s not going to get what he wants - no head, you won’t fuck him or you won’t let him fuck you. When those stakes are on the line, he straightens his act out and behaves.

As a sub, Jeongin is into many things but has a particular interest for shibari. He likes the intricacy of the many different ways in which you can bind his body, the tight feeling of the rope around his muscles, and how it shapes his body well. That’s only if he’s behaved himself well.

[pastelpinkkadan]

My most blunt, controversial ACOTAR opinions. Nothing is safe, nothing is sacred. Mind the tags for your own peace of mind please.

P.S.: Absolutely not directed at any other blog/person specifically. Just general fandom/shippers.

Elriel/Gw*nriel:

Gwyn is not that important of a character. She is a secondary character whose main purpose in the story was to be Nesta’s friend. She has no connection to any overarching plot. She could literally never be seen again in the books and all the main plot points would still work.

People have inflated Gwyn’s character and importance solely because they ship her with Azriel. And they ship her with Azriel because 1. She is the only other single female character (besides Elain) that he has interacted with. 2. Gwyn is enough of a blank slate for people to project/self insert themselves into and thereby romance themselves with Azriel 3. Gwyn has only been shown in a positive light, with only positive personality traits (good friend and can wield a sword) so there’s no REAL controversy on her character/personality. Because there’s not enough to actually have any controversy.

If Gwyn was actually that important, Emerie would also be as important, if not more so. But 90% of time Emerie is forgotten by the fandom. Even to the point that the theory of an Illyrian plot is somehow given to Az and Gwyn, rather than Emerie. The two people that, arguably, have the least skin in the game concerning that theory. And the reason Emerie is this pushed out of her own potential story line is because she isn’t shipped with Azriel or another Fae male.

If there was no Bonus Chapter Gw*nriel would not exist. Or at the VERY least, it would be acknowledged as the crackship that it is. Because outside of the BC, there is nothing in the main ACOSF to accurately ship them to the degree that the fandom does. Elriel, however, still has several books where canon scenes have taken place. The BC is absolutely not needed to show that Elriel have feelings for each other, we already knew.

“Well Elain gave by TruthTeller, so Elriel isn’t end game!” Is one of the stupidest reaches I’ve seen. TruthTeller was always, OBVIOUSLY, meant to be something lent to Elain for the war. It wasn’t a permanent gift, and Az didn’t say it was. He said he wouldn’t use it TODAY, implying he would expect to use it again in the future. Imagine -

“Well Gwyn gave back the books Nesta recommended to her, so they obviously aren’t friends.”

Thats what y’all sound like. It’s just purposely misinterpreting things in a scene that obviously aren’t there for the sake of your ship. It’s disingenuous and not at all the win you think it is.

You cannot call Azriel an incel/fuck boy for Elain and then ship him with Gwyn in the same breath. If he’s all those things with Elain, he’ll be the same for Gwyn. She is not magically going to make him “better” or a gentleman. Actually, he’s already a gentleman. He just didn’t have sexual thoughts about Gwyn and y’all can’t stand it.

Same vein, but if Azriel had had those sexual thoughts in the BC about anyone else besides Elain there would have been no issue/debate.

If a Gw*nriel book did somehow happen, it would 1000% be for fan service/peer pressure. No previous books have set it up, even the main story in ACOSF. Elriel has been setting up since book 2. It makes sense. Anyone who says it doesn’t just doesn’t want it to happen, mostly because they don’t like Elain. And that’s also mostly because they can’t see themselves in Elain, so they lash out.

Saying Elriels are delusional is the wildest thing, because Elriels have the most canon scenes spread throughout the books, Elain and Azriel have interacted with each other positively the most and the longest, and they are the only potential couple that actually bluntly like each other. They exist outside of misinterpreted bonus chapters and “what if” theories with no real backing.

Elain:

Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, part of the Elain hate IS misogyny. The amount of hate this character receives, compared to what she has actually done in the series, is entirely undeserving. She has received the same level of hate, if not more, than Tamlin, any of the ACOTAR villains, and Nesta, who is still a very controversial character. And for what? Liking Azriel, and not wielding a sword while doing it, apparently.

Elain liking flowers does not determine who she’ll end up with. For fucks sake we didn’t know Nesta liked to read smut or was great dancer until her book. And neither of those things determined her partner. It’s just what she likes. Same with Elain.

Nessian/ACOSF

The idea that Nesta will leave Cassian and make her own court is stupid.

Being anti-ACOSF but Pro-Nesta is a streeeeeetch, because all of Nesta’s actual good character development came from ACOSF. Like, did you like that she was angry and unhealed before? Because that’s where she would still be without all that happened in ACOSF.

People don’t understand the intervention that HAD to happen with Nesta in ACOSF. And I would even venture to say that most people against it have never HAD to have a real intervention with someone to that level. The level of, go to rehab/therapy or you are not allowed to be in my house/take up my resources. Because you will not get better on your own, you will only hurt yourself or others and I won’t enable you anymore. It’s a difficult decision that but often it is NECESSARY. Speaking as someone with several addict family members.

El*cien/Lucien:

All the theories about an El*cien plot line are completely focused on Lucien, and ignore everything built up with Elain. It’s always about Lucien figuring out his heritage, becoming some High Lord of one of the courts, or something with the Band of Exiles. Elain doesn’t have to be involved for any of that to happen. She’s pushed to the side in her own romantic story line. Nothing about her Seer powers, or the fact that she’s apparently been gaining spy abilities, or her place at the Night Court.

Lucien fans make me hate Lucien more than Lucien ever could.

The poor Lulu mindset can die.

While we’re at it, the theory that Elain likes Lucien so much that she avoids him is also stupid. That makes no sense. She loses her boldness around. She got better WHEN HE LEFT. All of Elain’s most powerful moments are when Lucien isn’t around. And that says something.

People cling to 1st book Lucien so much, but he has not been that way SINCE book 1.

Tamlin:

Tamlin already got a redemption arc when he brought Rhys back to life. He doesn’t need another one, and he certainly doesn’t need a full book.

The Tamlin/Elain ship is stupid and only benefits Tamlin, not Elain. Once again placing Elain to the side of her own romance, much like El*cien.

ACOTAR:

If you hate everyone in the IC, you don’t actually like ACOTAR. They’re the majority of the books, including half of ACOSF. And it’s actually really stupid to hate the IC and still pretend you’re an ACOTAR fan. Because, again, the IC is the MAJORITY of ACOTAR. Please read something you actually like.

If you hate the entire main story and main characters of ACOTAR, but like one or two characters, you don’t like ACOTAR. You see yourself in a character, and want the story to reflect what YOU want to happen to that character (ie, yourself), and can’t handle that it didn’t. You don’t actually like the ACOTAR series. Again, maybe it’s time to read something else.

3 Acherons x 3 Bat Boys isn’t cliche. It’s a pattern. It’s a literary motif. It’s a theme. It is a pattern that SJM has naturally set up, the fact that you can see and assume that Elriel would be apart of that just means you can recognize basic literary devices in a fantasy novel. Which is the POINT.

I have no intention of debating anything. I’m just stating my opinions on my blog, like everyone else gets to do. So take that as you will.

Anyways, thanks for coming to my TedTalk.

[writingquestionsanswered]

How do you stop being insecure about writing and how do you become less sensitive to criticism?

Confidence in Writing, Less Sensitivity to Criticism

While few writers are ever completely secure in their writing ability (confidence can increase or decrease with mood, project difficulty, and other factors), your confidence in your writing will grow naturally as you write more and more. In other words, it's not something that just happens. You have to spend a lot of time writing a lot of things, and your confidence will build as you go.

You can help the process along by:

-- reading a lot -- writing a lot -- honing your craft via learning about writing -- seeking feedback from writing partners/beta readers/editors, etc. -- learning your weaknesses and improving them -- learning your strengths and embracing them

Becoming less sensitive to criticism is a little bit trickier, especially because there can be complicated things that play into it, like past experiences, present mood and mindset, Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, etc.

However, if you're someone who is sensitive to criticism, I cannot stress enough how important it is to simply avoid reading reviews and comments left by readers. If you want feedback you can learn from, seek that out through a qualified writing friend, critique partner, beta reader, editor, etc. and let them know in advance that you're sensitive to criticism so they work with you to give you the feedback you need in the least upsetting way possible. And even with feedback from a qualified person, remember that writing feedback is rarely truly objective. People always bring their personal preferences and own ideas into the feedback they give, so just because a qualified person criticizes something you wrote doesn't mean they're absolutely right or that you're a bad writer. Feedback is there for you to weigh and use only if you agree it will benefit your story.

Something else that helps to remember is that even the best, most critically acclaimed writers in the world have people who hate their writing. Tolstoy, Dickens, Poe, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Austen, Woolf, Christie, Angelou, Atwood, Gaimen, King, Morrison, Allende... every single one of them has thousands of 1-star reviews, critical reviews, and people who just can't stand their writing. Yet, they're all popular writers known the world over, with millions of books sold, and universally loved. All of these names appear on lists of the greatest writers of all time.

And, something else... the degree to which criticism bothers you will decrease as your confidence increases. Not just because confidence naturally thickens your skin, but also because you learn to tell the difference between haters and people with genuinely good points.

I hope that helps!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #69 – Please Undo This Hurt by Seth Dickinson

As a general rule, I feel like including a short story (not even 40 generously spaced pages on the ebook) in the list of what I’ve read this year is kind of cheating. But I got this as a gift and found it affecting enough that I feel like writing out my feelings, and in any case I’ve been reading 10,000+ words of web serial a week all year so I’ve got a bit of ethical room to manner here, I think.

This reads like an old school Idea Story, which I mean in the best possible way – a more grounded than usual Twilight Zone episode, a light dusting of interpersonal drama, uncanniness and sci fi/horror vibes over what’s exploring and wrestling with a single thought – or really, a single temptation.

Does it ever like life is a trap, morally speaking? Like every act you take cannot help but hurt someone, like complicity in more distant atrocities than you can count is a precondition of existence, like even when you try to be helpful or do the right thing it just ends up being a different kind of selfishness? Like, if you were the star of It’s a Wonderful Life, everyone’s life really would have been that much brighter if you had never been in it? Like in the final analysis, when all you have ever done or will ever do is tallied up and your heart is weight against the Feather of Ma’at, it will fall so far that it breaks the scales?

Well, what if there was a way out? Not suicide, but something cleaner – to be undone, to never have been, to never have hurt or been hurt in the first place. Wouldn’t you be tempted? How, in a world where there are maggots gnawing on every root, and every thing you care about is just one more hook to draw you deeper into the mire, could you convince yourself not to take it?

I intensely dislike psychoanalyzing authors based on their work. So I will instead say that this story is a truly masterful and incredibly successful exercise in writing from the perspective of someone grappling with intense depression – a perspective that simply takes for granted that the main objection to suicide is that it is a selfish escape at the expense of the distress inflicted on those around you. Even the finial resolution is less any realization of life’s inherent worth or goodness than an acceptance of the necessity of sacrifice in endless and varying degrees. It drips from every sentence, and cuts enough to hurt.

Dickinson is easily one of my favourite working writers, and finding another piece of theirs I haven’t come across before is always a delight. Their short stories especially are quite often emotionally raw and beautifully written enough to effect me like very little prose does. It’s no surprise that both their non-sequel novels basically take one of the short stories as the emotional core and climax of them (something I’d say Baru Cormorant did more successfully than Exordia, which felt like it flinched, but that’s a tangent). I don’t particularly think this would benefit from being expanded on, but the rawness feels similar.

This is by far the least worldbuilding-heavy story of theirs I think I've read, but there’s enough dreams and uncanny events and just colourful imagery for the prose to still absolutely sing. It’s a short enough story that actually quoting any excerpts feels like it defeats the point, but there are some lines and images I already know will be rattling around my head for some time to come.

[bakerstreethound]

Bakerstreethound Masterlist 2.0

Hello! I'm in the process of cleaning up the disaster that was my old masterlist. Please read the Request Rules ​ for info on what I do/don't write. Please be kind to each other. Any ageless, blank, or bot blogs will be blocked as will those who spam like.

5yr Anniversary Celebration Event

Strawberry Sherlock Masterlist 

Kinktober 2022

Jan Writing Challenge (2020)

Old Masterlist

Last updated: 12/September/2024

BBC Sherlock

Sherlock Holmes

What if Mornings Were Good? - Days pass in a blur, and they've been hard to find joy in, each one passing slowly, yet quickly simultaneously and you want it to slow down. Luckily, Sherlock is there to comfort and support you along the way, though your mind is intent on bullying you and causing you anxiety for the future and everything in between.

Gentle Love - Sherlock Holmes is not the best at expressing his emotions, let alone how to help you when you are going through a rough day. Years ago, he discovered that washing your hair was one of the ways he liked to show his care and adoration, especially when words fail him, and he cannot fully express his love for you.

Weariness & Passion - Sherlock comforts you after a rough day and you want nothing more than to be near him, holding him close and kissing him.

To Ease Such Panic - Sherlock comforts you after a night of panicking and he helps ease your mind and worries.

Heavy is the Burden - After a long day of errands and classes, you finally return home seeking solace and basking in the warmth of Sherlock.

A Single Touch - A peaceful afternoon in 221B takes a turn when you become insistent on needing Sherlock's attention and he indulges.

To Another Year - When the party for the new year begins at 221B, you reflect upon your year and the many blessings it's given you - that one of a new family, both blood and chosen.

******

Berry Kisses - Sherlock's kisses are one thing you cannot live without anymore. He can't resist you anymore than when he's on the trail of a killer. You live for the quiet moments where you can be at peace with each other, if even for a short while.

Light in the Darkness (Request) - Waking up in Sherlock's arms is one of the highlights of your day, and he shows you how much he adores you; how grateful he is to have you in his life.

Strawberry Delight (Strawberry!Sherlock) - Quiet early mornings on Baker Street are a rarity, especially with Sherlock clinging to you and asking for more than kisses. One thing leads to another and you oblige his wishes.

Anatomy of Boredom (short blurb request) - During a quiet night you ask Sherlock what he's reading, and he begins to read aloud the excerpts of his Anatomy book, but soon enough he gives in to one of your choices.

Blooming Chemistry (University Era Sherlock) - When Sherlock becomes your Chemistry tutor, you form an unlikely friendship, and an undeniable bond unfolds. Do either of you confess your feelings or continue living in denial? Waiting until the week before finals sounds like the perfect time to muse over these feelings, right? 

A New Horizon  - It’s the end of the semester and the night before graduating with your Bachelors Degree and you reflect on your journey. Sherlock, on the other hand, is determined to let you know how proud he is of you and your accomplishments. 

Madness or Madly in Love? (Request) - When Sherlock notices you refusing to give him affection for a couple of hours, he grows worried, knowing it’s because he forgot to let you know of his whereabouts the past week. Now, he has to pay his penance, asking for your forgiveness. 

Give Me One More Chance (Request) - How many chances is enough? For you, you’ve reached your breaking point and break the news to Sherlock after feeling neglected in an on again off again relationship with him, if that’s even what you can call it. (Angst NO Comfort)

Forget Me Not (Request) - Sherlock is worried about you and comes to comfort you.

Hold Me Close (Short Blurb) - Sherlock senses your stress and brings you to bed to help ease your worries as you strokes his curls.

Won’t You Stay? - Starting a new semester always has it downfalls and shortcomings, but Sherlock is there to hold you through the worst of times, especially to help combat your greatest foe - your mind. 

Corrupted Evidence (Request) - You accidentally messed up with some evidence Andersons when Sherlock brings you with him to a crime scene. Sherlock gets mad at Anderson and stands up for you.

Never Idle - Being a workaholic has its downsides and Sherlock, the poor lad, does his best trying to get you to relax, even though he isn’t well versed in healthy ways to cope with day-to-day life and boredom.

Desperation Calls (Short Blurb) - After dragging Sherlock to a night you're receiving an award at work; he whisks away to ravish you.

Birthday Boy - A short blurb involving my beloved detective. This is kinda rushed and scattered since I should've been in bed hours ago but I'll probably do another birthday surprise for him sometime later. Cheers

A Thousand Wishes  - You reminisce over the year with Sherlock after the New Years Eve party at 221B comes to a close.

******

Successful Year (Blurb Request) - Sherlock discovers something and wants to show you immediately.

Patience is a Virtue (Strawberry!Sherlock - Kinktober 2022) - With Sherlock home, you decide to have a little fun and rile him up all while making sure he knows how much you love and adore him. 

Otter Paw Mittens (Strawberry!Sherlock Blurb) - You gift Sherlock a pair of mittens for Christmas.

Cuddles & Unruly Curls (Strawberry!Sherlock Blurb) - Sherlock is grumpy and flops on your lap, demanding attention, which you gladly bestow, that is after you tease him first.

Rest my Darling - I may or may not be freaking out about the end of the semester which lead to me writing this plus I wasn't feeling the greatest either. Is it too much to ask for one extra week of break to rest more?

Adorable Otters (Strawberry!Sherlock) - Sherlock tries to grab your attention to show you some otters.

Hold my Heart for it Bleeds (Request) - Soft Sherlock drags you to his room and curls up with you on his bed after a really bad day. He doesn’t say anything, just clings to you as he silently cries into your neck, not wanting you to see just how horrible he feels but also needing to close to you.

Feeding Sherlock (Blurb) - You use your wiles to convince Sherlock to eat something after days of him forgetting to sustain himself.

Tangled Sheets (Short Blurb) - Being tangled in the sheets with Sherlock, you can't help but give him kisses, and perhaps something more.

Must be the Late Night Talking (Blurb) - Nothing to see here but another blurb. I apologize if it seems scattered, but writing has been keeping me going pretty much for the last couple of days as a form of comfort so...yeah this happened. We’re also going to ignore that this is 1.1k+ words so yes, it’s a blurb. 

For Once (Short Blurb) - Registering for classes is a pain in the ass and I’m stuck in a pickle as I’m trying to graduate soon, so this blurb is a big anger outlet where Sherlock tries to help out.

Forever Yours (Kinktober 2022) - You’ve had a long day at work, Sherlock is out on a long case and yet he comes home early to surprise you and give comfort. 

Fire & Ice (Kinktober 2022) - Sherlock decides to try out a new experiment with you involving some ice. Needless to say, you both enjoy it, finding comfort in each other’s arms not long after.

I’ll Take Care of You (Strawberry!Sherlock - Kinktober 2022) - You grow desperate for Sherlock’s presence and when he’s not in bed with you the early hours of the morning you start to worry, but when you wake the second time, you are pleased to find him safe and sound in your arms. You then decide to take matters into your own hands and show/tell him how much he means to you. 

Strength to Carry On (Short Blurb) - You get overwhelmed and don’t feel like you have the strength to do anything but fall into Sherlock’s arms for comfort. Everything feels like too much. 

After the Storm (Strawberry!Sherlock -request) - Strawberry!Sherlock comforts you after a thunderstorm causes you to panic and you hurt yourself. 

Hair Product (Short Blurb) - A self-indulgent little blurb featuring Sherlock and his messy morning curls.

Simple Evenings (Strawberry!Sherlock) - Sherlock gets clingy and tries to drag you to bed after a long day because he wants to cuddle and adore you. 

Graduation Nights, Old Regrets - You drag Sherlock along to your niece’s high school graduation which you yourself aren’t too keen on attending. Throughout the night, though you look back on regrets of not having or attending your own graduation, but Sherlock ever the charming gentleman he tries to be, eases your worries a little through the strenuous night.  

Flight or Freeze - After a nightmarish weekend, that doesn’t provide any semblance of peace, you try to come to terms with a flashback into your past and Sherlock comes to your aid.

******

A Case of Mistletoe & Presents -  Despite not liking or seeing a point in the holiday season, you show Sherlock with a little bit of mistletoe & presents, the holidays aren’t too much of a bore…at least you’re with him to keep him company. 

Semester’s Dread -In wake of signing up for classes for the coming semester, Sherlock eases you through your stress and worries. 

Atonement of Sins - After your multiple outbursts, sadness, and heartbreak, you and Sherlock come to terms to help mend the rift of your relationship and if it’s worth resolving in order to be in each other’s arms again. 

Chocolate Covered (Strawberry!Sherlock) - It’s Valentine’s Day and you decide to try out a sweet new experiment with Sherlock, which in turn ends in passion play. 

Winter Wonderland - Despite not understanding why decorating 221B for Christmas is entertaining for you and John, Sherlock attempts to join in on the festivities. 

******

Summoning Angels (Victorian Era Holmes) - Four years your husband, Sherlock Holmes has been dead. Four years since you left 221B behind to deal with your grief. Today is just another day suffering the absence of his loss.

Ecstasy - It’s been a long day & you want to help Sherlock de-stress after a hellish couple of weeks.

Sweet Remedy (Strawberry!Sherlock) - It’s the end of a tiring week and you want to spend the evening in Sherlock’s arms

Back in Your Arms - You’re back home at your flat after your first day of University and are exhausted beyond measure and Sherlock comforts you. 

Until the Bell Tolls - You’re about to start another semester of college and Sherlock helps reassure you. 

Home At Last (sequel to Miss Me, Miss You) - Sequel to Miss Me? Miss You. You’re back from your trip with your parents and Sherlock is very…well, Sherlock. 

Take & You Take - You and Sherlock get into an argument after a mission from Mycroft goes awry. 

Miss Me? Miss You - After receiving news that you’re going to your parents place for over a week, Sherlock struggles with the realization you won’t be around and tells you in a very Sherlock like way and you make sure he knows how much you’ll miss him. 

My Bright Place - You and Sherlock have a domestic after a case after you have had enough of Sherlock’s excuses and antics, leading both of you to make up in your own unconventional ways.

Dress Me Up - You wake up Sherlock for a case, but get distracted. 

Save Yourself - You've tried to save Sherlock from himself countless times, but you leave it up to him, reminding him your help only extends so far.

Narrow Way -  You come back to 221B hoping to make resolutions with your ex-husband but not all ends up according to plan.

Fine Tuning - All you want to do at the end of the day is fall into the arms of your husband.

Where Pettiness Lies - Drama always seems to find you at the most inconvenient time. Luckily, Sherlock is there to comfort you.

Late Night Essay Night - Stressed about an upcoming paper, you rant to Sherlock about it.

Truth Be Told (mini-series)

Beautiful Chaos | Fear of Falling Apart | Truth Be Told

******

The Sandman Universe

Morpheus (Dream of the Endless)

Once a Dream, Twice the Nightmare - Going on a date proves to be difficult, especially when it is from a guy at your office who cannot take a hint that you do not like him nor that you don't want to go out with him. Morpheus convinces you not to go and instead enjoy time with him and the two other people who care about you more than anything in the world. Needless to say, you lose yourself to them and indulge in their ministrations.

[mishy-mashy]

A bit of a toss to the wind, but what if Shinomori is related to Bruce? Probably not gonna happen but

They have:

Straight nose bridges

Thick necks

Same ears

Spiky yet fluffy hair that's still somewhat cooperative

Both their eyes are flat on top with small/single eyelids, and a bit of a tired or intimidating feel about their eyes

Small pupils (sanpaku eyes)

Mouths that naturally frown the same way

Similar chins and jawlines

Long legs

Both are weirdly, VERY tall, and intimidating on first impressions

Both are cautious individuals that rebel against society in their own way: Bruce by fighting directly, and Shinomori by ducking out

The fact Bruce knew where to find him and gave the Factor to some guy he met in the forest, and being as level-headed as Bruce, there had to be a deeper reason for his choice (unless it's just desperation and Shinomori's the most level-headed existence after Bruce dealt with Kudo's experimenting) beyond simply "Shinomori's a good choice"

Because Bruce was not one of the "as they laid down to die, it was passed to an unfortunate soul" vestiges, he had time and passed it on his own terms. There's also some degree of trust when every user passes on the Factor, and Bruce had space to choose his next person.

Shinomori and Bruce are level-headed and self-sacrificial without thinking. (Technically this applies to a LOT of characters, but-)

Shinomori pushed everyone behind him and got snatched by AFO so no one would be stolen, even though he hid from the guy his whole life. No hesitation at all in this.

Look at how there's multiple "whams", he didn't just push one person. Even Kudo's legs are blurred, his arms are raised, and he looks mid-air, despite being on his feet earlier. Like he was thrown back. Banjo and Nana's mouths are open in shock, and you can tell by their bodies' positions they weren't running (except maybe Bruce).

They all look like they were pushed. En got shoved in the middle of his back, and his blur even lines up with Shinomori's hand, Yoichi got thrown back, and Nana doesn't look like she was running, but that she was being tripped from Shinomori.

Banjo panicked and the first thing he did was yell the news to Midoriya. AFO surprised them, but Shinomori did too.

Like I mentioned in my [Shinomori is cute] post,

"His sense of self-preservation is probably heightened by the nature of his Quirk to keep him out of danger too."

And he still put everyone else before him. Even when he was caught, all he said was along the lines of "I leave the Ninth to you!".

Meanwhile, Bruce was willing to go against AFO in a closed space, back when AFO was at his peak and just killed Yoichi. He wasn't thinking either, he just took a stance. And Fa Jin was not as strong as we see Midoriya use it back then. Meanwhile, this is AFO at his strongest point.

Are both very "Do or Die". And both have died in the Do. (Protecting OFA, when alive and dead; passing it on, cultivating on their turns, giving up their Factors to damage AFO and protect OFA in their own ways [being taken, forceful transfer], etc)

Like Bruce, Shinomori communicates. He's eloquent, and explains a lot for Midoriya to understand about OFA's mechanics.

He explained how OFA couldn't be wielded by naturally Quirked people.

He explained his own life story to elaborate and add reasoning and consequence.

He introduced himself and asked Midoriya questions so he could participate and further his understanding about OFA.

When Midoriya was clearly hurt and tired in his running around alone, Shinomori calls him out with "Ninth, your injuries aren't fully healed yet". He remained and watched him go as Midoriya pushed them all away. And Shinomori could tell their Quirks were only giving Midoriya the power he needs to accomplish his goals. He didn't keep this knowledge from the other users, saying it immediately.

Though he's also a bit roundabout in communication like Bruce

"One For All cannot be wielded by a normal person." meaning normal, Quirked people

"This too, is destiny." *is immediately contrasted by Banjo saying it's timing*

"Do you know how I died?" *knows the answer is no. answers himself* "I died of old age."

"I'll get straight to the point." *has to correct himself before he starts to go on for too long*

Maybe just because they're both tall and have muscles, but. Shoulder blades and biceps. (Oh boy, two things most humans have)

If they're related, it just gives more reason to why Bruce can put up with Kudo; he's dealt with Shinomori and his weirdness

[bokutosbiceps]

Who do you think out of the Kengan cast are girl dads? Give your personal takes😝

okay okay okay okay. here are my personal takes + honestly they’re right so these are, in fact, law. i also included some kengan omega characters 😉

ps. the dudes that i left out, i believe, would not be a good father/i can't see them as a father or they would likely be closer to their son(s). for example, i can't really see gaolang as a father. he's a daddy, sure, + would be a top tier husband, but as a father i think he'd be super traditional + distant from his kids. raian, on the other hand, would likely see his kids only as "weapons" in the sense he wants to make them strong, but he'd also be closer w a son if he had a kid.

tokita ohma is a girl dad. he’d be anything his daughter wants him to be + he loves her to absolute death. he’d kill for her. he’ll raise her to be the biggest girl boss in the world + he’s incredibly proud of her, no matter what she decides to do. he’s not really great at the advice + wisdom part, but he’s very comforting + supportive. 

narushima koga is a girl dad. he’s so afraid, though. he’s so afraid he’ll mess his daughter up or teach her the wrong things but his daughter loooooves him. he seriously can’t get away, not that he would want to though. they’re best friends + he adores her. would kill + die for her. also, her biggest hype man.

hatsumi sen is a girl dad. he knows how bad men can be + is suuuper protective of his little girl. he’s basically like her shadow, but not in a creepy way. if anyone messes with his daughter, they’re fucking dead. he’s also at the mercy of absolutely anything she wants. he spoils the absolute fuck outta her.

himuro ryo is a girl dad. he’s a girl dad in the way that he doesn’t really see the point of separation of the sexes + he believes that anything a guy can do, a girl can do just as well or even better. he will instill this confidence in his daughter + watch her take over the world. he’s her number one fan 🥺

jose kanzaki is a girl dad. kiind of like sekibayashi but to a much less degree. he’s the kinda girl dad that lets his daughter do absolutely whatever she wants + will back her 100%, especially if what she wants to do is in a male dominated field. he’s gonna help her bring down tHE FUCKING PATRIARCHY. 

KANOH AGITO IS A GIRL DAD. YOU CANNOT CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE. ABSOLUTELY WHATEVER HIS DAUGHTER WANTS HIM TO BE HE WILL TO THE ABSOLUTE BEST OF HIS ABILITY. FIND THIS MAN GIVING HIS DAUGHTER PIGGY BACK RIDES, SHOULDER RIDES, ETC ALL DAY EVERY DAY. HE WANTS TO LEARN HOW TO DO HER HAIR SO HE CAN BE USEFUL TO HER. HE WANTS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT SHE LIKES SO THEY CAN TALK EVEN MORE. HE WILL TRY HIS BEST TO GIVE HER ADVICE + HE WANTS TO SEE HER SUCCEED AT ANYTHING SHE PUTS HER MIND TO. ALSO. IF YOU MESS W HER YOU’RE GOING TO BE WIPED FROM EXISTENCE.

lihito is a girl dad. In a similar way to Sen, he knows how men can be + will be super protective of his daughter. BUT he’s kinda awkward around her. he sees are as such a precious little thing + is super scared of fucking it up. he loves her from afar though + is always always always there for her when she needs him.

mokichi robinson is a girl dad. need i say more?

muteba gizenga is a girl dad. he’s his daughter’s best fucking friend. they wreak havoc together. he teaches her everything he knows + is her biggest fucking fan. he’s a Grade A Dad.

SEKIBAYASHI JUN IS A FUCKING GIRL DAD. HE’S OUT HERE BEING THE BEST FRIEND, FATHER, TEACHER, IN THE WORLD. HE IS THE BEST DAD. HE’S SO WISE + SO CARING + SO PROTECTIVE. he’s never done a single thing wrong. i want him to be my father actually.

takayama minoru is a girl dad. he’s the sweetest w his daughter + she prefers him over everyone. so gentle + so kind. wow 🥺

[monosanimegenericzone]

Hunter x Hunter: pain packer pt 5 pt 2

pt 5.5 if you will

i didnt intend to make this immediately but the demons demanded it.

i also give you the thought of feitan studying fashion design for a time to figure out how to conjure his various suits for each form before i completely lose my mind.

Fire: levels 1-5 (correlates to the number of bones broken, scales exponentially)

Wildfire: hot enough to burn skin but relatively low heat

Rising Sun: its a miniature sun! you're cooked

Meteor Shower (specifically multiple ribs shattered): tracking bolts of pure fire, everyone within range gets one to play with

Supernova: starts as a sun, you have about 5 seconds to run away before that thing fucking explodes into a supernova.

Neutron Star: a much smaller star that burns so much hotter and even drags its victims in with an incredibly powerful gravitational pull. if you aren't braced on something that can withstand that gravity then you will be sucked straight into that point of insane heat and immediately incinirated

Water: levels 1-5 (correlates to rate of blood lost volume/time)

Tidal Wave: Creates a tidal wave that hits with enough force to immobilize even the strongest opponent. Not a guaranteed kill

The Great Wave: based on the historic painting and basically tidal wave but with so much extra power behind that force and is capable of breaking bone on impact. Also not a guaranteed kill.

Typhoon: spins the water around in a typhoon centered around himself with winds fast enough to move water fast enough to where it cuts through anything it touches.

Sheer Cold: same as tidal wave but the water is now frigid and the shock alone could kill on the spot regardless of defense. the water is just that cold.

i dont have a good fifth one, suggestions are appreciated, can go in any of the levels

Electricity: levels 1-5 (correlates to what degree the burn is and then how many burns he has) (all attacks hit automatically unless opponent can exceed the speed of light)

Nervous Overload: basically forces a heart attack but the slow kind. snaps the vagus nerve in half and stops the automatic pulse of the heart. Technically not a guaranteed kill but the opponent has to be expecting it

Lightning: Single bolt of lightning, enough to paralyze and maybe kill depending on who it's used on.

Twin Spears: Two bolts of lightning. wow shocking. (please laugh)

Spear of Zeus: super charged bolt of lightning that remains on the target for the duration of the attack.

Solar Storm: believe it or not this is still electricity. instant kill. it doesn't matter who you are or what you do. you cannot stop this unless you have an incredibly powerful magnetic field.

Air: levels 1-3 (correlates to personal assessment and degree of threat to his life)

Ruthless Zephyr: winds that reach speeds up to 200 mph (321km/h)

Empty Space: seals the area of effect and then instantly vacuum seals it, causing the opponent to either suffocate or explode from the lungs. slow death (max 2 minutes)

Venus Sky: dumps the atmospheric pressure of venus onto his opponent. which is about 50-100x(?) the pressure on earth so it would crush the human flat immediately.

honestly i dont think air needs more than this. but if anyone has more suggestions im down to listen. i am just a nerd :D

this is a certified nen nerd post. kinda. more like am overall nerd.

[electricprincess96]

anti Talia rant incoming, specifically about the topic of Talia being a abuser. Very all over the place, ignore if you must.

To reiterate what you've said in your "Talia sexually abused Jason" posts, It's so completely a gender thing. They infantilize Talia to such a degree to minimise her actions (and blame her actions on another characters such as Ra's or Bruce) and act like Jason, a literal teenager (who I always though was younger than 17 when he was resurrected), has the agency of a fully grown adult. This is such a dirty tactic because they're basically erasing Jason's victim status and rewriting Talia to be either a victim or a saviour depending on their mood.

Even if ages weren't a problem (even through they are), Talia was his captor and had been isolating him while purposely lying about/omitting important details (Bruce did try to avenge Jason...promise) that would have lead to Jason making radically different decisions and seeing Talia in a different light. There is no way that anyone can. in good faith, say that Jason was fully capable to firstly consent to sleeping with Talia or secondly was on the same level of power that Talia had in their relationship. (and they wonder why they get called rape apologists)

Jason was a vulnerable child and Talia was an abuser who was in a position of power over him who decided to take advantage of him. End of story. Nothing more.

It reminds me of every single last post where Talia is posited as the victim/passive one of any situation (someone tried to act like Bruce slept with her when she was nineteen or something despite the comic they were referencing wasn't canonical since it was released *wink wink* and her being age being revealed to be 150 during the Lazarus Affair which is also non-canonical now due to the Crisis event) and that Bruce held all the power in their relationship ignoring that fact that she: lied to him on multiple occasions, withheld information, played both sides, ignored/overstepped boundaries etc. Or they act like the reason the relationship fell apart was due to Bruce's wrongdoings. Not that Talia would always side with a terrorist organisation that obviously disagreed with Bruce's morals.

Another thing that pisses me off in relation to Brutalia (I know Jason's your favorite guy, but Bruce's mine so a lot of Bruce from here on out) is just how they have no self awareness when posting "cute" moments about them. No the moment between them in No Man's Land wasn't cute, no that moment wasn't cute either. Like the whole marriage between them was creepy. I'm tried of downplaying it to avoid annoyed fans and I'm tried of them being oblivious to it.

She drugged him, kidnapped him, held him on a boat and married him without his consent (all while ignoring his rebukes when he came to). That is Grade A creep behavior. It wasn't cute, romantic or something people should be posted acting like it's a step closer to Brutalia being canon. Are my modern sensibilities strong, yes, (and I absolutely understand that "innocent" things can age badly) but that doesn't mean it wasn't creepy.

Then the whole Bane debacle *slaps face*. I hate it when someone is like "Well, Talia was abused by Bane, meaning that what happened to Bruce/Jason doesn't matter because she'd never do that in the first place cause she's the only victim". (Never mind she abused Bruce before Bane happened) That isn't a point. Anyone, past victim or past abuser, can be abused. There's no rule book dictating how can or cannot abuse.

Something else which is funny to me is that for no other character, except Poison Ivy and Harley, will stans do Simone Biles mental gymnastics for their character. Like I do remember people saying Doctor Light was character assassinated but no one every accused people that mentioned the fact that he was a serial rapist of ableism or hatred of abused characters or something stupid. I never see Slade stans come out of the woodworks to accuse Tara of seducing him or consenting to her abuse. I never see anyone try to educate fandom on the history of Deathstroke to try and act like it was such a horrible thing they made a mercenary who on multiple occasions tried to kill teenagers, forced Tara to be a double agent, abused his kids and Cass (I'm pretty sure) also be a child molester.

Like did people forget that Talia was a part of a eco terrorist organisation that had multiple plans to cull most of the Earth??? What's not clicking? Why is the idea of sexual abuse soo out there for her, it's not her worst crime by a long-shot. It's that fucking meme. Y'all can excuse genocide but you draw the line at rape???

*sigh* sorry for this long-ass brain vomit.

Please rant away, we've all got to at times.

And yeah, Jason may be my main fav in the BatFam but unlike a lot of Jason fans I love Bruce, I hate the bad writing that's circled both Jason and Bruce basically since UTRH (it set up something fantastic... and then Bruce "died" and we got Ginger Jason which... less said about that the better).

As for Jason's age if memory serves me correctly he was 15 when he was properly resurrected and dug out hus grave but closer to 17 when she throws him in the Lazarus Pit cause he spends a close to a year on Gotham Streets(how'd he survive, don't know, comic logic) and at least a year being cared for by Talia before Ra's tells her to stop playing nursemaid. But I could be wrong, regardless he was definitely under 18 and regardless as you point out the power dynamic makes the ages irrelevant anyway, there's no version of this story where he can reasonably consent because he can't reasonably say no. Coupled with the fact she does in fact fill Jason's mind with all this bullshit about how Bruce didn't seem to care enough to avenge him when Bruce thought the Joker was dead after the UN incident and was basically suicide for months after that until Tim came along (and even then, he was never really the same after Jason's death).

Talia is absolutely just as much an abuser of Bruce as she is Jason, I bring Jason up more because he's my fav and also it is a bit more generally known by fans than ALL the shit she did to Bruce throughout the years so it's easier to point to it when trying to articulate my overall issues with Talia.

Like Talia is an abuser of men, and that predates her supposed "character assassination" and has always been a thinly veiled part of her character. On top of all that she is a literal terrorist, and whether they like it or not the very environment that is fostered at the League would result in her always been at the very best a mediocre mother. Now, yes, Ra's is also an abuser, but being a victim of abuse does not allow someone to then become just as abusive. Ra's is not entirely responsible for Talia's actions. She's a grown woman, in many ways more capable than her father, she can say no. Likewise, the Bane shit, as you say, happened after a lot of her abusive behaviour towards Bruce, and still doesn't justify HER abusive actions. Talia can be both a victim and a victimiser.

And yeah, Deathstroke fans will admit they don't like the Tara stuff, they'll often choose to ignore it, but they won't blame the underage girl for it. I don't mind Slade myself, don't love him, don't hate him. His fans are a lot less obnoxious that some others I've met so they don't make me hate him the way some other fans do with their favs.

It really is simple if Talia was a man and Bruce/Jason were women no one would argue it was abuse. And the single worst thing for me is that fans will depict her as some deep love of Bruce's life when I'd argue a lot of his other love interests, not just Selina, are all much better written with more chemistry with Bruce and he doesn't have to be wildly OOC to justify the relationship. OR they'll depict her as a surrogate mother figure for Jason when she literally raped him. Like Jason absolutely needs a surrogate mother figure, one that doesn't take advantage of him, but like... he could go talk to Diana, or Dinah, or Selina, or almost every other female Bruce has ever spoken to because they are all significantly better options than Talia.

[na-t0]

𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳

Nicholas D. Wolfwood x reader (fem)

nsfw . male masturbation . multiple mentions of religious themes . minors please do not interact

"I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth...shit, what's next?"

Despite of what others think, Nicholas D. Wolfwood has come to the conclusion that he is indeed, the perfect example to belie the thought commonly held by people that him, and all the other children of the Lord who is high in the heavens, are made in his image and likeness. He is just a man, a mere mortal, vulnerable and weak in the face of temptation, son of original sin. Trying to atone for, and amend, the errors that life has brought within his path, and from which he cannot seem to escape.

Same life that unfortunately has also placed him in the way of your so intoxicating self. As if it were an unforgivable and cruel test to endure the strength of his already cracked spirit, a test to prove how much he is capable of resisting when the sharp claws of lust slowly scratch his back when he tries to sleep and the image of your beautiful face invades his mind. He also claims being able to feel them scratching once again when, after what seems like an eternal week of waiting, he manages to spot you sitting among the 47 people that fit in the orphanage’s chapel at the time of the religious ceremony he presents on Sundays at 10 in the morning.

Nicholas talks to himself all the time. He talks about a whole bunch of different things to stay busy and distant from the loneliness that his profession entails. He also writes, on a small black notebook that shamelessly reads Holy Bible on its cover, which he keeps in the inside pocket of his suit all day. It is possible to find random thoughts scrambled between its pages, occasional unfinished sketches of the kids who visit him frequently, prayers and attempts at poetry that, despite the ease he possesses to release a speech towards an audience made up of people full of faith in the word he preaches every weekend, the simple idea that one day you might inadvertently read what lies on those yellowish paper sheets terrifies him to the point where he can feel each and every one of his nerve endings on the surface of his skin, pulsing with the same intensity as the wings of a flying hummingbird.

He writes for you, more specifically. Even though in life, there are weaknesses that sometimes, do not allow the deepest feelings of the heart to flourish freely.

"I am just an object waiting to be ashes, and it is precisely for that reason that I would like my body to burn until it is consumed as one with yours. So at the end, dust will be the only thing that remains of our spirits, mixed together, to be later carried away by the wind of this unforgiving desert we call home."

“I have reached such a degree of insanity that, not even with the help of a thousand divine healing rites, my composure will return. I have even considered exchanging the blood of as many sinners as necessary to the Devil in order to melt into the blazing but purifying fire that surely arises with the single touch of your lips, and if you allow me, to endulge in the perfect contradiction that lies between your legs. A place both sacred and infernal, a place where good and evil converge and is powerful enough to drive even the most righteous and ruthless of religionists to an infinite madness. A place that I can only imagine feels like heaven and hell at the same time, capable to burn but also soothe the wounds in the soul of a disgraceful believer, one such as myself, your humble servant.”

“And I am not ashamed to affirm in front of the cross in which the son of God was punished because of filth like me, that, your mere presence encourages me to violate every order imposed by the invisible power of my belief, all that for what he, the same guy I mentioned earlier, sacrificed himself for in the first place. He sacrificed himself for you and especially for me, and above all, for the atrocities that come with the human race to disappear from the world. Such as the kind of things that flood my mind when my gaze manages to distinguish a little glimpse of your underwear when you put on that pretty dress of yours and you take a seat in the front row. A dress I like to imagine you only use for me.”

When Sunday comes, the ceremony starts and it's your turn at the moment of communion. It all happens in a matter of minutes every single time, a fleeting contact that is difficult to remove from his system. The host is delicately held by Wolfwood's hands as he stares at you, the abyss of his obsidian orbs capturing your attention to ask for your permission. You nod and look back at him too, subtly batting your eyelashes and slowly sticking out your tongue in an inviting way, that more than innocent, seemed diabolical, as if you knew which cards to move to obtain an absolute victory. And he feels it, he feels something struck his chest. Like a pair of magnets who can't fight the silent attraction that tries to unite them. You glance at the thick fingers infront of you for an instant, and then once again, you lift your stare towards him to take the host. His breathing stopped the moment he felt the back of his fingers get in contact with the wetness of your tongue while accommodating the wafer on it, and he almost, just almost, stutters in his words, but he doesn't, it takes all of his will not to. He blinks and his hand moves away from your lips to continue with the the other presents. You turn around and go back to your place without looking back. Luckily for him, the robe that covers his body does not allow to reveal any trace of what could give away his growing hunger for you.

Reminiscing something that he himself already wrote once in his notebook.

“It’s a disgusting sight, truly. How you take the sacramental bread from the hands of a sinful bastard, how you try to be purified by the same hands that are permanently stained with the obscene thought of consuming your body, your entire being. But you don’t have an idea of how much I love it, how much I want you to be mine.”

The lecture finished at 10:57 a.m. Nicholas remembers glancing at the watch on his wrist to regain the track of time he lost when you got close to his body. Seeing that people were starting to get up, he decided to clean his instruments to leave everything in order, and at the same time, bring some peace to his mind. He didn't have long arranging his space when Wolfwood felt a sudden and intense urge to look back, and when he did, you were the first thing that he focused on, stumbling upon the surprise of your eyes already searching for his while walking to the exit, wearing the most precious smile he’s ever seen on your face. A smile just for him.

By 11:23 a.m. the chapel was completely empty and Wolfwood walked with an unbearable weight on his feet towards the confined space of the confessional, along with a box of matches in hand that he took from an old cabinet. He closed the door, took a seat and leaned his head against the wall, which protested with a slight screech, as if it knew what was going through the troubled man's mind. Of course you appeared immediately, the images of every time you two have exchanged greetings in the streets, in the market, or even at the events to raise funds for the orphanage.

First came the color of your eyes, which seemed to dominate and illuminate the darkness of the small space he was in, then your eyebrows and the expressions that characterize your words while speaking. Thirdly, your mouth, the Eden he dreams of so much, reflected in the shine that your lips acquire when you bite and wet them with saliva. Imagining how they move to the compass of your voice, if they are rounded, if you smile or if you stay quiet. Nicholas raised his right hand and gently touched his own mouth to try to calm the urgency of joining it with yours. He closed his eyes and remembered the slight meeting he had with it an hour ago. The warmth of your breath on his knuckles and the softness he touched with the pads of his mistreated fingers. How easy would it be to draw a whimper out of you, the sweetest sound he can think of. His pants began to feel more and more uncomfortable with every passing minute, the pressure exerted by the growing erection in his groin started to become unbearable. Will he be able to obtain salvation if he confesses everything, here and now?

"God...please" And just as he often does, he began to talk. "I want her more than...a-anything in this world...can't I have her either?" The hand that previously touched your lips, traveled up to his crotch and gave a first cautious squeeze, allowing himself to be carried away by the venom of the serpent that condemned us all as sinners centuries ago, which little by little contaminated his veins and blinded his sight. Now not only did he imagine the Eden in your beauty, he was about to enter that precious place, only to break the rules. "I haven't been...a g-good man, but..." His breathing began to falter, with great gulps of air, his chest rose and fell, trying to oxygenate his racing heart. "I swear I...I can treat her right." The restraint of the stiff bottoms was starting to be painful for Nicholas, so he reached for the button, hastily undoing it to reach into his underwear. The burning heat of desire greeting him. And as he could, he pulled out his member from the base without removing his pants. The cold edge of the zipper brushed against the prominent veins of his rigid sex while his hand tried to conciliate the relief he so desperately needed. He kept traveling with his mind through your neck, your chest, your waist and your navel, the unknown nudity that he longes for unfolding before him in an imaginary scenario within the four small walls of the confessional. His breathing became more and more disturbed and growls began to sprout from the depths of his being.

"I'm sorry, God...I'm so s-sorry" He started to apologize because he knows exactly what is next. He enjoys being rough with his wicked self, he is violent. Pulling his own hair with one hand while the other strokes himself harshly. He spits on the tip, and watches how saliva slowly rolls to the base. He grunts, an animalistic type of sound that reveals the wildest part of his existence, his human predatory instinct, the part that he tries to repress with calling himself a preacher of the Lord’s word. He likes to tighten the grip in his member to the point where the veins on his forehead begin to become visible and the color of his shaft changes entirely with the accelerated flow of blood. Suffocating in his own body, a prisoner of his dark desires.

"Our Father, who...a-art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is...i-in heaven." It was in that moment when he began to pray. And the drops of fluid that came out of his slit with anticipation gave his hand more access to stroke with a quicker pace. From outside the confessional, it was possible to hear the faint slippery sound of friction from skin to skin and the murmured pleas of a man sunk in perdition.

"Give us this day our daily bread, a-and forgive us our trespasses...as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temp-temptation...but deliver us from...evil."

Would God be able to truly forgive such an act?

"A-Amen."

And it's just when he finishes his pleas that he finds himself betrayed by his own mind, letting your name slip from his lips, over and over again, like a renovated prayer, but profane and corrupted. The peculiar burning sensation in the lower part of his abdomen starts to approach. He bites the collar of his white camisole and drool escapes from the sides of his mouth in the delirium of a near orgasm. Squeezing his eyes shut he imagined your breasts swaying in front of his face as you grind on top, your angelic face contorted with the ecstasy of a fictional encounter, and your core eagerly receiving each of his thrust. The sweet aroma that your sweat must have and all the possible ways you could moan his name.

"Ni..cholas, ah...Nicholas...Nic..."

The entirety of his skin crawls to the thought. And his hips begin to move with an unbridled, involuntary frenzy, consequence of the carnal instinct that species keep hidden in their bodies.

"Oh...God..please, please...ple-please." He calls uselessly for the only one who could redeem him, the only one who could accept a sin like this. Finally, he rapidly drags his hand a couple of last times and the orgasm begins to hit his senses. A last growl comes out of his chest before his teeth unconsciously loosen the fabric of the shirt to let out a deafened cry. With some last thrusts, his hips rise in a lost rhythm from the bench on which he is sitting as his seed spills violently into his right hand, staining some of the fabric of his black pants along the way.

The warm sensation of contact with his own release brings him back to himself, and he can only at this point, contemplate more clearly the mistake he has made.

“Divine forgiveness, what a bunch of shit.”

He drops the other hand that was tugging at his brunette locks in the heat of the momentum inside his pocket, pulls out a cigarette, places it in his mouth and proceeds to wipe the remains of cum on his right palm with a handkerchief, so he can pick up the matches he had brought with him, light the stick, and take a hit, trying to quell with smoke the latent nectar of lonely intimacy impregnated in the air. He takes a few moments to let the haze of the moment pass completely as he watches the mess in his lap and his now softened member.

The cigarette is half finished, he is a fast smoker.

He inhales and exhales once more, and then, there’s a subtle, almost silent, knock on the door, followed by what he recognizes is your voice coming from the rusty confession room's grate.

“F-Father Nicholas...?”

[fullmetal-scar-simping]

You know this isn't even going to be a deep and thoughtful ask like all the previous asks, but I just need to chime in and say that every time I think about mangahood Ishval, I just know that shortly after the end of the manga there will be an Ishvalan War of Independence type event.

Like to me that was the only I could reconcile the ending of the manga/09 anime; and while fmab is the Elric Brothers' story (well really it's actually Ed's story and Al is also there because we all saw 03 and know what the real Elric Brothers' story looks like), my mind keeps straying towards Ishval and I just have this gut feeling that there will be another war because I cannot see a future where Ishval will ever be fully incorporated into Amestris without More Violence. They really are so ethnically, religiously, and surely even linguistically different + the painful history between them that a true union will never be possible

And Miles/Scar shippers this is when we rise up and pray that Mr Copaganda's third eye opens🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Also I'm SO sorry because I know you're an 03 enjoyer and consequently think less about the political landscape in 09's Amestris (good for you btw; I am not happy being stuck here and honestly desperately need to rewatch 03), but it genuinely baffles me how people fail to make a connection with Amestris' fifty billion border conflicts + Ishval = Amestris' is the local Imperialist

Speaking as a Briggs enjoyer, I just have to sit there and shut my eyes when they talk about how it's sooo important to stand strong against Drachma because every evidence points to Amestris being the instigator fhsjhdjd

Add to that Amestris' border wars with Aerugo (who supplies Ishval with weapons for seven years as a means of conducting a proxy war) and their skirmishes with Creta and the outright genocide they committed in Ishval and the only conclusion I can draw from this is that Amestris is at fault every single time, which makes it very difficult to sympathise with sad war criminals when they serve a country that's harassing no less than four nations😭😭😭

I love Scar's brother, I do, but his whack optimism in the face of annexation and imperialism is exactly why you can't just study STEM without at least taking a few classes in world history and ethics dhsndhns

Scar meanwhile was the star student in AP Religious Studies, and one can only assume history as well based on clergymen's traditional role as record-keepers, and that's why he was able to correctly assess his people's situation and went after state alchemists - Amestris may have denied him the chance to get a Master's degree in theology, but they'll never take away his critical thinking skills and Bachelor's in History😤

(They didn't have to because Arakawa did that for them😭😭😭 I literally just ignore the second half of his arc in mangahood and just world-building Ishval in my head as a form of copium because nobody else in this fandom will provide😔 I've actually seen more people draw half-Ishvalan Elric Brothers to avoid handling full Ishvalan Scar the way he is presented at the start of the series😑)

Anyway, I do apologise for rambling!!!! And thank you again for all your thoughtful responses to my asks🙏🏻

Ramble away my friend! I'm no better at restraining myself lol. Sorry for the wait in replying to yet another excellent ask tho. 🙇‍♂️

The political landscape in mangahood is a major reason why I don't fuck with this side of the series. (Not the only reason, but a damn big one.) That being said, it's fun to actually dissect it and mull things over with folks who can actually look at mangahood with a truly critical eye. So no worries, no worries, I'm enjoying this ask!

--

An Ishval War of Independence is damn near inevitable, agreed. The ending for Ishval is just straight-up terrible, but like so many aspects of mangahood's epilogue it's sold as if it's a satisfying conclusion to such a weighty issue. The Amestrian military being fully invested in rebuilding Ishval should have sent alarm bells off in everyone's heads, but no no, the military is its own protagonist and we ought to see this as a character making reparations. It's totally not a soft-takeover of Ishval and total colonization if the heads of this project are a pair of Ishvalans, right? /s

There's no way that the state overreach, the acquisition of wealth generated in the rebuild that siphons to the military itself (let alone investments made on a burgeoning economy they're set to rig), and the establishment of the rule of law that will certainly carry Amestrian standards and codes won't tip off returning Ishvalans that this is just another form of occupation. If autonomous Ishvalan councils or looser associations of Ishvalans outright reject the military's aid or presence, what do we realistically think will happen from there? Having a pair of tokenized countrymen doesn't smooth over tensions as well as imperial-colonial forces often think it does. And there's no way Amestris just up and leaves on command of the people it's imposing itself onto.

Ishval should have been released from Amestris' grasp entirely. Funds and resources could have been sent in as part of a reconciliatory effort sans military/state presence, so that the Ishvalans have what they need to rebuild at their own behest. Amestris should have no say or active participation whatsoever.

And it will never not be completely out of character for Scar to agree to act as a liaison between the Amestrian military and the Ishvalans. That shit makes no damn sense. He already did too much for Amestris, all so that the same core (human) imperial governance can remain. (Amestris certainly wasn't ending any other occupations or breaking apart as an entity to allow autonomy of the lands it coalesced into one over its ~400 years of development.)

I like to think that it would take one moment for Scar to snap out of his bootlicker phase, and it would be finally witnessing a fully sighted-Mustang. He would just have to ask Marcoh, whom I have no doubt would stupidly and callously reveal how the future leader was healed. And he'd go rogue once more, though I would imagine with greater tact and in coalition with a rising Ishvalan liberation front. He could feign his continued obeisance to Amestris, act as diplomat, and feed that intelligence back to Ishvalan networks.

Something will break the faux peace eventually, such as actions that are seemingly sporadic rising in frequency against the state. Miles would either catch on by his own observations or be given the opportunity to finally align with his people. As much as I see him attempting to report back to the Armstrongs (since he's much too loyal to them, plus they're definitely a benefactor of this military rebuild; their lineage's wealth derives from a military nobility and philanthropy is no less colonial and financially sound). But I leave it to you Miles/Scar shippers to sort that man out how y'all see fit. 🫡 May the power of back blowouts cleanse the nationalism from his heart

"[B]ut it genuinely baffles me how people fail to make a connection with Amestris' fifty billion border conflicts + Ishval = Amestris is the local imperialist," it's incredible, isn't it? We're even discouraged from making the extremely obvious connection in canon. The show will literally reveal the creation of Amestris from a tiny central point that slowly radiated outwards into its present circular formation and no one sits there thinking "Hold up. How did we accrue all of this land? Who were the people living here before becoming amalgamated into the burgeoning quadrants of this nation? How many Ishvals did it take to make our 'glorious' country?" The characters don't think it and neither do the fans lol. I recall Ed early on musing how bloody conflicts have been consistent since Bradley came into power and like. I can see a lull in war campaigns and skirmishes while the state and Father were grooming new viable candidates for the Wrath stone, but really Ed? Do you think this is a disturbing new phenomenon in Amestris' sordid history? Really?

Amestris' major neighbours do make me wonder though. Given their geographic sizes, I have my doubts that they aren't any less imperialist. (Given how this region of the world is broadly Europe-inspired, and much of Europe is a collection of colonial-imperial forces.) Drachma especially, given its enormity. Which isn't to say that Amestris would be any less antagonistic towards them and wouldn't expand its borders into Drachma territory if Father et al thought it useful. Of course expansionism would need to be roughly radial as its always been, so that necessitates further incursions into Aerugo, Creta, and the seeming no man's land that is the entire desert to the East. (Would Xing see such a land grab as a power play in their direction? Perhaps.)

Even without attempting to swallow hunks of land and people from Drachma, Creta, and Aerugo, continually agitating them for those blood seals is part of the game. So yeah, Amestris is the core instigator in so much bloodshed that leaving it mostly intact and with a change in military governance doesn't bode well for anyone. Let alone feeling any sympathy for soldiers and war criminals in the Amestrian military for willingly getting involved. Again, the Ishvalans and all other occupied peoples will quickly catch-on to this false start to a "better, reformed" nation.

People can say what they will about the Sacred Star of Milos, but I did like its portrayal of both Amestris and Creta vying for Milosian land, and how both imperial powers shunt the Indigenous peoples into the bottom of the canyons that make up the land. It hints that no, imperialism does not stem from homunculi usurping the rule of a nation (can't usurp what a homunculus created to begin with, but mangahood seems to forget this key fact). Human beings create societal systems that are the bedrock for empire building. Creta, Aerugo, Drachma, hell Xing aren't massive nations run by homunculi who want to become gods. They're governed by people who wish to maintain and expand their own power. Aerugo waging proxy wars with Amestris by supplying the Ishvalans with weaponry while denying Ishvalans escaping the massacre refuge shows that Amestris isn't the only bastard empire who use entire peoples like disposable pawns.

But I digress. Certainly hearing Olivier bloviate about the significance of Briggs to protect Amestris is yawn-inducing. Just a nationalist from a wealthy military family who sees Amestrian power and aggression as a proud way of life. No doubt the Briggs platoon sees Drachma as an evil invader without any self-awareness. Even if it's imperial nation vs imperial nation, I'm not shedding tears for the Amestrian side lol (and both can burn lolol)

Oh Scar Bro, why did they make you a bastion of bizarrely positive vibes while gunfire, fire, and bombs rained down on your long occupied people? "Whack positivity" lmfao real, real. I get different people handle atrocities in their own ways, but ???? Guess having cracked the code on why Amestris is arranged the way it was, and having developed the insignias for wielding alchemy that is in-tune with the planet's energy made him extra jazzed that everyone could be free.

Still comes across as a metatextual rebuttal to Scar's pain and fury.

(I like Scar Bro too, rest assured.)

That's a good point regarding Scar's academic/clergical background. He would no doubt be an excellent student/bearer of knowledge, likely learned in numerous subjects given his years of monkhood. When not training his fighting skills or body, he had to have been studying not only Ishvalan theology but the culture, its history, politics, and the natural sciences. His background in the clergy would make him quite the asset for restoring lost documents, life ways, knowledge, and passing down these lessons to future generations. He'd absolutely lend himself to the more back-breaking labour too, because this man would work himself to the bone for others.

Amestris may have denied him the chance to get a Master's degree in theology, but they'll never take away his critical thinking skills and Bachelor's in History😤

(They didn't have to because Arakawa did that for them😭😭😭

hsgvskehdhxbdndkslmfaooooo 💀💀💀 Yeah, I uh. I too wanna ignore what Arakawa and friends do with mangahood Scar's arc because that shit suckssssssssss. Our babygirl is too smart to cowtow to so much pro-Amestris nonsense. Love your tactic of focusing instead on world building Ishval, especially without centering the goddamned Elrics in all of it. I really find that drive to side-step the racism and racial privilege they have in canon by making them mixed Ishvalan just so distasteful. They won't address especially Ed's canon racism but they'll pretend like he too suffers like the Ishvalans in their fanworks. Making some Ishvalan ocs would be preferable, if focusing on Scar and other canon Ishvalans is apparently too high an ask for these fans. 🙄

(Have you seen some folks theorize Riza to have some distant Ishvalan heritage, just because her eyes are a bit ruddy in colour? Sounds like another attempt at imbuing the pain of an ethnic minority into the racial majority characters without actually engaging with these topics whatsoever. Also reeks of "How juicy would it be if the genocider was genociding their own people," which is 😒)

Anyway, Scar would absolutely turncoat on Amestris and aid in Ishvalan liberation, but this time fully embraced by his people and without having to be the sole bearer of direct violence too.

[rageprufrock]

Hi Pru, this is a career question... I am in my mid-twenties, female, not quite the most junior employee at my organization but treated often as one. The workplace is highly male-dominated, competitive, the older supervisors sometimes hilariously old-boys'-club, and the younger men (my age) mean well (feminist, etc.) but have their own territories to defend. For complicated reasons I cannot leave. I knew some of this coming in but am ashamed to say that

You’ll love this: my response is so late because I too girlbossed too close to the sun and have accidentally reached mid-senior leadership status at my organization and the past month has been the most hilarious cluster of fucks. Insert clown emoji herey.

ANYWAY.

I have a few thoughts on this one, and hopefully one, or some, of these are helpful as you're navigating your early career.

To address your most immediate question: is it meant to be this hard? I think "is it meant" or "is it always" are two different questions, and each with branching answers completely dependent on your field and profession. Some are notorious for early career hazing--banking, medicine, etc--and then the answers are that the suffering is a feature, not a bug, for these industries (this can be debated ad nauseum but you know what I mean), and then for many, many other professions, the answer is that while it's not meant to be this difficult, it still is, and that it's all we can do to survive it.

But setting aside the macro issues, of whether the role itself is objectively hard or if the environment you're in is objectively sub-optimal, the more nebulous and inescapable thing is that each one of us, individually, in our early career are undergoing one of many puberties and all its attendant implied indignities. I find it weird that culturally we don't talk about this much--at least not in Western or the Eastern cultures with which I'm most conversational--but think about it: in the first five to ten years of your working life, you're often simultaneously navigating a staggering number of life-changing systemic shifts that have a tectonic impact on your lived experience. I

For a lot of us, beginning your life as a working adult means you're likely moving out of your parents' home, which adds a huge amount to your mental load and financial burden.

For a lot of us, these early professional jobs are also the first time we're operating in a performance-reward system for which there is no clear rubric or understandable progression monitoring--there aren't any grades, and I can't tell you the number of people who I've spoken to in my career who have been shocked when they're told they're being put on performance improvement plans even though they thought they were doing fine.

It's like being sent to college with no class list, textbooks hidden in eight different departments run by varyingly helpful people, while trapped in an inescapable group project run by someone who seems just as frazzled as you are, and told "okay well you should need to bring me your completed degree by EOD Thursday." This doesn't even take into account your genetic assignment to play this entire game on hard mode by failing to be a cisgendered man in the dominant cultural demographic.

People who've had multiple jobs and career changes can attest, every new job, no matter how seasoned you are, is fucking exhausting. It's almost a joke among my friends at this point how often I change jobs, and every single time I do, there's at least a six month run where at the end of every day, I'm fucking spent. I couldn't calculate 1+3 if my life depended on it, because I've spent my working day so furiously trying to read the professional tea leaves and figuring out what the actual fuck I'm supposed to be doing--which, funnily enough, is never as clear as you would think! Even if you are at increasingly senior levels of responsibility! It's really fun and good! Your boss's boss's leadership team meetings? Surprisingly similar to when I used go get coffee during my break working at an ice cream shop to complain about our customers and equipment and boss! It's amazing how no matter how much changes, everything stays the same!

So I think in the end, my answer to your question is this:

Is it meant to be this hard? Depending on what you do, maybe.

But should it be this hard? Of course not. Life is short and lush and wonderful, but already so filled with challenges, and it's a shame that being rooted in capitalism, we're all forced to participate in a system that's so unbending and unforgiving.

But does that mean it's going to be forever? Or that you can't survive and thrive and have fun in the process? Absolutely not.

However awful you feel, however bad the job is, it doesn't have to be forever. This role you're in now may be just what you need to find your next, better, better paid opportunity. And maybe that one won't be the ideal for more than a year, maybe two, but that's why you keep an eye out and a keen focus on what you want, and what's most important, and like a shark, you continue to move and grow as you get clearer on where you want to move and how you want to grow. The person I was at 24 could not have imagined the person I am at 38, and I'm guessing that the woman I am today can't fathom who I'll be in another 10 years. Whoever she is, I hope she's still choosing to do hard things and--to the very best of her ability--having a good time in the process.

It's okay to cry about work. It's okay to cry at work, even though I strongly recommend that you do this huddled in a restroom in privacy because otherwise it gets messy--fairly or otherwise. It's okay and normal to do these things. It's okay and normal to feel like a fucking disaster, to feel--or to in actuality!--be categorically failing. It is okay and normal to hate and love your job, and to love money and hate the work. There is no right way to do this, and the only wrong way is to give up on yourself, or to create a situation where you cannot have the freedom of your choices or your future.

It's also going to get easier with time. Even if you don't feel it, every day you're getting more experienced, more confident, more discerning. Those microscopic, atomic changes in you accrue, and I'm sure if you're honest with yourself you can already identify how even today, you are a stronger, more capable person in your professional context than you may have been just a year or two ago. Even if you don't mean to do it, just the experience, the bruises, the callouses from throwing yourself at the brick wall over time will rewrite the person you are--if you do this with your eyes open and intentionally, all the better.

Five years from now, ten years from now, you might still find yourself crying about work. But hopefully you'll share the good fortune I have been privileged enough to have, and find yourself the type of good friends who say, "don't care during work hours, it's beneath you to give them the satisfaction--cry later," and actually have the wherewithal to follow that extremely correct guidance.

So anyway, it shouldn't be this hard, but it is. The good thing is, you're better and stronger than it is, and you can look forward to the day you get to look over the shoulder at all the worlds you've conquered as you get ready to do it all over again.

💖

[gabrielsbubblegumbitch]

I just wanted to say that I am really envious of the way you write the Vees. As someone who struggles with making characters woobiefying and with characterization in general, I appreciate how you can write these characters perfectly that the show didn’t have time to portray. I didn’t have a specific request, but now I was wondering if you could give me some advice on how to analyze and write a character, even if you have a personal bias towards them?

Awww thank you so much ❤️ I don't have like any degree in literature or anything that would give me credibility in giving writing advice, usually I just go with the flow. But I'll do my best!

Imo the most fundamental thing is the way you think about characters. In fandom spaces, we very often see them as "people we like" - hence all the discourses like in Valentino's case "if you like him it means you are a bad person". I think that woobification is influenced by this cognitive dissonance caused by liking characters that should be unlikeable. For me the way out of it was giving up "characters as people" mindset and changing it for "characters as tools". Bacause that's what they are - tools you use to build your narrative. When I say I love Valentino I don't mean I would shake his hand - I mean he's my favourite toy I can do multiple things with. And it's his flaws that make him so much fun. Because outside of the comedy genre, narrative cannot exist without conflict. The more flaws a character has, the more conflict it causes. That's why villains are such a powerful driving force for stories (here are some great essays about it: 1, 2). Put any character in the room with Val and you have an interesting bit not only because of the usual character differences that could happen between eg. Vaggie and Husk but also because stakes suddenly become high. What will he do? Will he hurt them? We saw what he's capable of. Will he be nice? Man, that's even worse because it means he has his own motive to be nice. What might it be? That's what keeps the audience engaged with your writing. Extra points if you give him some human weaknesses or conflicting desires. When it comes to characterization, nuance is the key. That's why I love VoxVal so much - two characters that are absolutely awful but they are fiercely in love. How could Valentino be capable of simply caring about someone but himself? What kind of human is buried underneath all this evil? So much to unpack here. Nothing I'd like to experience but everything I'd like to see from a safe distance. Consider: would you even like the Vees so much in the beginning if they were just other guests at the hotel? In the show, neither of them has a single redeemable quality. And yet, here we are.

When it comes to writing characteristics it's also important to watch characters from different perspectives - that helps with giving them nuance. Let's take Vox. People seem to like and respect him, he's obviously an influential figure (he has a lot of social power). But from Alastor's perspective, he's just a pathetic little attention-seeking looser (he has a fragile ego and lowe self-esteem). Yet his assistant seemed to be scared shitless while talking to him (he had done things that made people from his closer look aware that he's dangerous). Angel knows he watches his abuse and hangs out with Valentino (at best he's indifferent to other's suffering, at worst he enjoys it). Carmilla doesn't respect him but they are on terms good enough, Vox wants to do business with her (he's a competent business partner). For the rest of Vees he's smart enough to listen to him but at the same time he's their cringefail naurospicy bestie. Add all of those perspectives together and you have yourself a multidimensional character that can interact with other elements of the narrative in vastly different ways. Also, from that point you can build up, asking yourself other questions "What would they think/do/say?".

Also, the last thing: every character needs a clear goal that influences all their decision. Choose it and always keep it in mind. Bonus points: a character has two main goals that are contradictory. When I write Vox he has two goal: power and adoration. He always has to choose which one is more important to him because while he has measures to achieve great power, some things that he would want to do are socially undesirable. In Valentino's case: hedonistic pleasure and immediate gratification vs love for Vox that demands sacrifices and compromises.

So anyway I hope that will be helpful to you <3 And don't be too hard on yourself when it comes to writing, not everything must be Game of Thrones. Especially in fandom spaces, sometimes we all want to indulge in some simple fluff or crack.

[queer-omens-in-the-archives]

I'm very curious what do you think about these for Meronia:

1. How did they meet and what were their first impressions of each other?

28. What's a conversation they'd get overly invested in that nobody else would care about?

30. What's something one thinks the other should improve upon?

Hiii thank you for the questions!!!! :3

1- How did they meet and what were their first impressions of each other? In my mind Mello was already at Wammy's House when Near got there around age like… 7-8? Idk if the Wammy's staff would have formally introduced new children to their peers or just been like, "yo dropping this kid into their new enclosure, whatever bye", but either way:

Mello's first impression of Near was basically "huh, weird kid! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" and then forgot all about him... until Near started outdoing him in every single subject ever except sports.

Near's first impression of Mello I could see go two ways: "who is this insanely charismatic sun-haired angel, I am having my first ever crush" OR "who is this loud agitated bastard, can't he be quiet and still, I'm sad about my family and trying to think". Either works for me dhgdsf.

28- What's a conversation they'd get overly invested in that nobody else would care about?

In the post-canon "Mello lives and they work together as L" AU that my brain seems bent on conjuring today: one time during a particularly slow/unbusy few weeks, they get really into figuring out the perfect font, kerning, line spacing, etc for optimised legibility of work documents. It gets to the point they're like, essentially collaborating on this, but ALSO having heated disagreements, printing out a bunch of test sheets for comparison, etc, culminating in one time when they take it to their staff... who are all like "uhhhh, who cares as long as we can read the stuff, what are you two getting so worked up about ?_?" and they are both so mad that nobody else cares. (They are just not getting enough enrichment in their enclosure, doctor idleness will KILL the patients they need fresh interesting thinking material to live)

In actual canon, I think that's more likely to happen at Wammy's House, due to the degree of focus the Kira case required from both of them + the fact they didn't really have any kind of regular contact after Mello left the orphanage. Probably some obscure area of science both of them happened to get really into at the same time, and couldn't find anybody else on their level to discuss with (I am unfortunately not enough of a science/maths person to have any idea what the exact topic could be lol)

30- What's something one thinks the other should improve upon? This one is really hard for me because in my mind they accept each other fully as they are and would not change anything about the other, even if/when it pisses them off <3 but trying to actually answer the question,

Mello prooobably thinks Near's emotional regulation skills could use some improvement? This is brought to you by a post I saw recently (unfortunately cannot find the post nor remember who made it) about how Mello is used to living life at an emotional intensity level of 85, so he's good at handling his emotions in general despite the occasional impulsive behaviour; whereas Near very infrequently going from his average of 0.3 emotional intensity to 60 is Much Harder for Near to cope with. And I think in the context of a romantic relationship between them, that skill imbalance could cause some friction / Mello definitely would want Near to get Better at it dfsfd

The other way around... welp. I have been rotating this in my mind for a literal ten minutes and cannot envision a single thing that Near would seriously believe (as opposed to off-handedly think and forget about 10 seconds later) Mello should do better. He thinks Mello is great exactly the way he is. Because who is Near if not the original Mello stan and apologist <3

[character relationship headcanons ask game]