#cuz this is the boring part and im gonna keep putting it off if i dont have the incentive of getting to bind it after the boring partisdone

[prinzrupprecht]

Them being Jealous HCs

Feature: Indra, Cu Chulainn, Suzaku

IM BACK! Pushing myself to do some one shots again. I was gonna add Wukong but then I realize we know Jack shi about him. Suzaku was added cuz there’s more lore to him now I can go off of.

Warning that these are short parts how jealous they are when I’m relationships.

Indra

He’s the silent type. Normally if he’s feeling a tinge of jealousy, he starts to turn into the passive aggressive type when he’s not sure about something. Also, he’s the observant one.

Even though he trusts you, however, he doesn’t trust others. This is why he prefers if you two lived alone and away from others in solitary. Not that he dislikes his crew, he likes his alone space.

When any of his friends makes suggestive comments about you, he immediately tenses up. It sometimes would grow into tension between him and them. He’d threaten them to back off what is his.

Indra normally keeps his cool, it’s rare to see him jealous or expressive about his emotions.

The other gods normally didn’t want to test Indra by flirting with you. What kind of reaction would they endure? It was a mystery still. He keeps to himself.

Even if you tried to get him jealous of purpose, he normally shrugs at your attempts. He finds it cute that you liked trying to get a reaction out of him. No other god would steal you away from him even if they tried.

Cu Chulainn

He 100% gets fired up when other men flirt with you. He reminds them you’re already with someone and that someone is him. He was also too known to be messed with.

You’d always remind him how no one could steal your attention, but he’d pout and lose his patience at times. Mostly leading him to storm out of the house to be alone.

Sometimes your reassurance isn’t enough. However, he always finds himself returning back to you and acting like nothing is wrong. His mood swings would confuse you sometimes.

However, despite wanting to kill some of them for even trying to, even though it’s flattering how your beauty was captivating. He always knew he has the victory prize– you, while they don’t.

He’d silently smirked as you were always there following him. At least you were his loyal girlfriend.

As the same for you, even though he was quite the captivating soy boy in town, he only had eyes on you. He didn’t care for the other women.

Suzaku

Being a part of the Chinese pantheon and knowing Suzaku, you also were acquainted with his 3 friends, Genbu, Seiryu and Byakko. Though, sometimes Suzaku would feel a smudge jealous of how close you were to them as well. Although, he’d always hide his feelings and not convey his emotions about it.

Suzaku would normally fall silent whenever you talked to the other Chinese gods from the same pantheon. This was a sign he was upset when he played the quiet game.

He’d even question in his head whether you were losing interest in him. Was he boring? Do you like Byakko? Nezha? Why would you like that god-droid? He also liked observing from a distance.

However, you were just an annoying chatterbox that talked to others. Maybe he was overreacting? Which seemed to be that way.

He was always very kind and polite to you even when he showed slight insecurities which is rare. Jealousy was not a good trait for him and it’s rare to tick him off. He had to put more faith in you in the end, but it was rare to disappoint him. You were always returning to him after all.

[my-own-au-my-way]

Nsfw

Some swearing(this is Toji)

Descriptions of possessiveness

Might be tiny bit suggestive(maybe)

Obviously its the holiday time so Im adding Christmas here YOU WELCOME!

❄︎❄︎❄︎❄︎❄︎❄︎❄︎❄︎❄︎❄︎𖠰❄︎❄︎❄︎❄︎❄︎❄︎❄︎❄︎❄︎❄︎

The holidays are here, you watch as the first snow starts falling and feel rather nostalgic. "Christmas is coming soon in just a few days, the snow is late though."

Feeling strong arms wrap around your shoulders from behind, you knew exactly who it was.

"Tsk, stop talking about the snow. I don't care what weather It is, you should be in bed with me."

Your boyfriend for over a year Toji told you begrudgingly.

Hes always been this way ever since you first met, almost clingy yet If other male friends are around...he is so much worse.

Once Yuji was over just to drop off some documents of your work, the moment your fingertips almost touched a great force yanked you backwards. Toji takes the papers calmly, yet there was this aura that made Yuji chuckle sheepishly and run off fast. Sukunas younger brother Yuji, hes too adorable to even consider dating. Many times you had to assure Toji hes not your type, however unless you are practically glued to his hip while other men are around then he ignores your protests.

However the one time he was even worse was once when there was a party you were invited to, the way you dressed in that little black number that  hugged your every curve. The deep neckline was definitely his undoing, shamelessly showing off the valley of your breasts. Yet now he had to watch as you pin your hair up neatly, putting on makeup for other people. The cherry scented lip stick, the perfume you used. The final touch was to put on the black heels that he bought you, the thing is you never saw that party In the end.

Back from your thoughts, you look over your shoulder at your boyfriend whos smiling proudly to himself."What?, you thinking back to how you stopped me going to that one Christmas party just because of a few other male friends of mine meeting up with me that time?."

The way he chuckled, a deep rumble in his chest was felt against your back made you realise something.

There was another christmas party coming up, the thought made you look at him with a raised brow.

"Are you seriously not gonna let me go again asshole?! We.are.dating!."

His hands that had drifted down to your hips, his fingers gripped tighter at that revelation."Not without my leaving a few reminders of who you belong to sweetheart~. No man will think of fucking you once they see the marks I leave for all to see, Im only your asshole no one elses."

The way you snorted from laughter when he told you the last part reminded you why you loved him,"You really don't have to mark me, they all can just stare at me all they want cuz Im only yours in the end."

The look Toji gave you speaks volumes,"If you keep up your little attitude, I may need to teach that sassy mouth a lesson before you understand just who this body belongs to."

The way he pins you to the bed, your wrists held above your head. His intense gaze that seems to bore right into your very soul.

That Christmas eve he made sure to show you precisely how much he loves you, the marks he left behind on your delicate skin and almost sleeping in on Christmas!. Your exhaustion couldn't stop the joy of Christmas and the memories you will be making, It all starts with a demand for coffee and painkillers to be able to move and wake up.

@sukunaslve

#hope you enjoy this

#merry christmas and may Toji never leave you or I will kick his ass!

[jewishpadmenaberrie]

tagged by @jewishcissiekj

get to know 10 people better:

last song: stilletos (pumps) by crime mob (check it out if you like crunk, i generally listen to more crunkcore but obviously i love crunk too)

favorite color: PINK always and forever. baby pink hot pink bubble gum pink fuschia salmon warm pinks cool pinks red pinks blue pinks

last book: almost definitely either a mary downing hahn novel or a goosebumps. i have mixed feelings on my sixth grade reading level but most of those feelings are bad lol

last movie: dans ma peau but i didnt finish it because i had a warm pastrami sandwich during the first part of it and it was quite late at night lol. i have to rewatch it. the pastrami sandwich was a choice though i will ABSOLUTELY be doing that again. talk about a 4d experience they should have served this in theaters, or perhaps steak

last tv show: the simpsons. i always have that show on in the background when im weaving or knitting. its so long i dont get bored of it even when it replays.

last thing googled: more stuff about hermanns tortoises of course

things youre looking forward to: MY NEXT TATTOO final destinations bloodlines (kind of a twofer because theres supposedly a tattoo death scene and if i can watch that every time i go in for a tattoo it will make the whole thing much less boring) and my flash comic volume i got on thriftbooks which is coming in the mail and of course my birthday, which falls on the rapidly approaching Weed Day, which comes with many advantages, including possibly a new pet fingers crossed everyone. i am obsessed with animals. i love each and every one i have, have had, or will have more than i love anything else on this bitch of an earth.

current obsession: well, on one hand look around you *gestures at blog* but ive also been REALLY into dc speedsters and OBSESSED with hermanns tortoises. ive always loved tortoises and wanted one passively but i did not know how... accessible? it would be? but like recently i got REALLY into tortoises and once i started learning about the different types of tortoises i was like ohhhh the beginner ones are actually EASIER than dogs people are just stupid and refuse to open their search engine of choice, much less go to a library or buy a book, and theyre trying to keep tortoises tht dont occur in a similar climate and theyre trying to keep the rare cool ones. not me man i want the the easiest possible tortoise to take care of, the easiest tortoise to get ethically, and FUCK man one thats common enough to not cost a billion dollars. as long as its small. im getting a male hermanns, proooobably eastern but maaaybe dalmation, depends on what the places and breeders i visit have, definitely not westerns as theyre very hard to acquire rthically and prohibitively expensive even if theyre the cutest of the trio, plus if i was going to put in the effort to ethically obtain and purchase a western hermanns tortoise i would have to at least find someone with a female from the same SPECIFIC LOCATION because part of the ethical concern is how theyre mixing up distinct and different localities to produce more, to breed my tortoise with because thats how seriously i take their conservation. im not doing all that lmao im gonna take my cheap tiny common boy and enjoy watching him fuck around in his enclosure and enjoy his company until i die and i hand him off to his already decided next home. gotta have that plan cuz if i dont fuck up bad or get ridiculously unlucky this fucker is outliving me. ive been researching tortoises for so long now it feels, and when i found this species something really clicked and i was like. ok im starting new pain meds im taking physical therapy and if i somehow get worse i have a backup. its tortoise time. learning that if you keep them inside you have to regularly move around and redecorate their consjderably sized homes was like winning the lottery, what do you mean i NEED to regularly shop for cute items for my pet? i get to just redecorate all the time and its GOOD for him? i thought i was lucky to have a dog who likes clothes now i have a materialistic tortoise who neeeeeds me to buy that nice rock? AND the little plants? AND the hides? and then i get to reorganize them and move them around all the time? and he LIKES that instead of being annoyed im fucking with his shit like some other reptiles? ohhh and hes gonna dig around and make little ruts and push things so we'll be decorating together... ugh its so crazy. me and my tortoise designing his habitat together. i get to mimic his natural habitat! i get to enrich his diet with lots of nutrients and fun games! i can even make his enclosure bioactive with soringtails and isopods! it will become a microclimate! fuck yes! i am honestly so ready to have a constant companion through all the lifes and deaths of my many other friends, pet and human alike. im so ready to spend my life making his better. im so ready for hints from anyone whos kept them successfully before even if chances are ive already heard it lol

my boy....

ok now tag time ten people uhhh...

@padmestrilogy @mathildepadme @for-the-sake-of-color @wlwanakin @neo-imperial @galactic-rhea @younglingslayer300 @vosempire and jo if you see this im tagging you too i just dont remember your users oops

9 is pretty close to ten. i wasnt expecting to get that high honestly lol

[red-bat-arse]

Hi OMGG I never thought I'd meet u on Tumblr I read like a good amount of ur crows x worst fanfic on A03 and I have to tell u how much I enjoyed it 😭😭😭😭 there!! Like I read A Strange Connection and I didn't even know the other fandom and it's characters or wtv but the way u portrayed them it was as if I already had met them before and I love the interactions of all the armament members my fav is def them going to support Sakuraba with the banner and all lol also love the way u write Akira cuz HE WOULD DO THAT!!! I feel like in the manga we don't get enough scenes of Shougo being himself cuz like in the fanfic he tries to give pieces to other ppl and with Tesshou gone he has no one who sees that he does this it was just so good that part, the other fanfic I love from u is Of the Skull and the Seashore 1.the name is kickass 2. Tesshou is in it (Alive) and 3. HOW THE HELL DO U WRITE A TWILIGHT CROSSOVER AND IT DOESNT SOUNDS BAD TBH?? It was my first ever fic I read from u and I went in 100% expecting crack and by the middle of the first chapter I knew.. damn im not gonna be able to stop thinking about this ever again am I?.. and I was right ik u probably did it cuz u were bored and stuff but I really do love this story and ik this is long but idc atp I need u to know how much I love them and how much I keep reading them again and again so tysm for publishing ur work I hope maybe one day if u want to u finish Of the Skull and the Seashore and if u don't? I'll still support everything u post since it's all perfection in my eyes, I should be preparing for my exam that's gonna take place in 30 mins but I'll be damned if I didn't tell u how much ur work means to me and how much I enjoy it so ty for letting ppl read it

Anon how would you like to be sworn brothers 😭 Wow those old crows x worst fics I wrote were at such a different time in my life, though I'm still obsessed with the manga and have been for more than a decade! A Strange Connection is literally my baby and I'm so glad you vibed with it.

UHH and speaking of Skull and Seashore, yes I wrote it when I was bored and pissed about Twilight meta but I looked in my harddrive and found an extra chapter I never posted?? Unfortunately I lost a bunch of the ideas I had for making it longer, but I'm going to polish off what I have and add a bit to the end and post it soon! Hopefully you'll like it!

And I'll be putting up some new Crows fics in the coming weeks so if you're inclined, please check them out! Though they'll be much shorter 😁 You really made my day!

[jennrypan]

Rewatching Recreation part 1 and uhm— Adrien was just..alone in this room, having nightmares and Gabriel was smiling about it. Not a worry for his son in sight, and we’re suppose to believe he genuinely cared bout him at all? Marinette wont tell Adrien Gabriels a pos..because…what??

OH I HATE THIS MF- AHHHHHH. Also..so..Plagg COULDVE GOTTEN ADRIEN OUT OF THERE?? EHSDAO Also.. Adrien being angry about this entire thing gets completely forgotten?? Like even IF Gabriel was being controlled somehow..that doesnt excuse him locking Adrien away like this? I— Im still pissed off. “If I ask her for help, I’ll give her information that’ll jeopardize my secret identity.” …GOD. Once again proving that whole secret ID thing was stupid cuz it never helps Adrien to begin with. Like Marinette has like..3 people that know who she is and the kwami but Adrien cant confide in anyone??? Make it make sense.

Plagg is clearly feeling for Adrien and wants to help him and hes bore witness to Gabriel constantly treating Adrien like crap and you expect me to believe he’d be all for hiding this secret from Adrien? To protect GABRIELS image?? NO. He wouldnt even like Natalie fr cuz she actively joined Gabriel until the last minute. He would see no reason to keep this secret from Adrien especially seeing how upset this made him and the fact he couldnt help him cuz of this stupid secret identity nonsense? He’d be PISSED.

ALSO ADRIENS ON A FUCKING ROCK? They couldnt put a damn bed in this room— i— Tomoe and Gabriel got off Scott free despite actively putting their children through hell and seeing no issue with it.. and Tomoe is STILL up to some bullshit? Why? Cuz Marinette agreed to let Kagami watch her criminal mother? Thats going just great huh 😒 like..Chloe got punished more than these two grown ass adults in their sound mind. Gabriel got to disappear with his wife and face zero consequences and Tomoes still walking around free to continue with her bullshit.

I—

“You know using your powers for personal reasons never bought you any luck!” ..Where was that in season 6 Tikki 😶 you. Anyways- Natalies finally realizing her mans fucked up and doesnt actually care about his family, crazy. Also..Marinettes parents are..kinda stupid I— they arent really..idk. “They really form a perfect alliance.” Can you two form any type of unique thought at all— also..Im obsessed with Ninos voice ngl, it grew on me. “I never gave up on you my love.” He literally ONLY loved Emilie, he doesnt care about Adrien, at all. “All these years of working together, do you really think Im a monster?” ..YES?

Also she WAS gonna tell Chat about Hawkmoth but she didnt send it. Interesting

[mindrole]

lately im properly keeping off my wrist, ive never had an injury (at least not from strain, ive hurt it def though, i got launched off a treadmill once when i was a kid) but i fear it, so i'm being vigilant. i'm fine tho. but its really boring cuz i usually doodle to fall asleep...

but i was thinking like, cell series character designs are really great, i think there's a wonderful uniqueness to them in the design philosophy, but

isn't everyone so difficult to draw....?!?!!! usually i feel like... after the first few times i don't need to pull up a reference anymore, but with the characters in this series no matter how many times, i still look up refs, btw did you know shinano has two tone hair? it's not a shadow.

shinano in fact is up there in difficulty... i think balancing his facial proportions is difficult... he should be so cutes and so adorables but he's not like, karen or izu. the hair is also kind of a challenge, namely his hair after he got a haircut.

the character i think is easiest to draw is ryuu. definitely. i've seen people say hatsutori is deceptively difficult to draw. i agree... even though i feel like by some miracle i understood how to draw him much better than others, he's REALLY hard!!!

the funny thing is, recently the last ryuu i draw, i said "i looked at a ref for once"? well its cause i usually ref my own art. usually it's fine. for ryuu who is easy for me to parse it's usually fine, but i realized recently the bangs were wrong the entire time, so i wanted to try being on model at least once (whether or not i apply it correctly next time is a big "maybe"). also i always draw the bunny ears too short, but that's usually something i am very conscious of (because it is a moe point that i hate that i neglect. MOE IS KING)

of course you'd think... well you draw miwa almost every day... you must be proficient in that? the answer is NO. in fact, he's the only character i am pulling up a picture from the actual game to draw almost every time. CONSISTENTLY. dita's look is easy enough to understand i guess, but the usual look, what's with those bangs?!?!?!!! WHY? i draw his bangs too long, but honestly that's not something i'm interested in rectifying. if anything, i've literally never seen anyone draw him 1:1 to the one picture we have, i feel like everyone struggles. genuinely have not seen any two artists draw him the same. so i am not worried about trying to be "on model". it's his fault for having such a weird wig in the first place. i mean, look, im gonna put it under a readmore and i genuinely want to know if you guys think it's fucked or not. i think it is. usually i have like, the one canon picture we have right, and then 3 of my drawings to ref how i did it, it's a struggle every time. but he's too funny. a character who haunts the interlude and doesn't have a single line in it, only ever talked in the one com report. so i keep drawing him because there's so many jokes to make at his expense. it's very cursed. i think having this blog made me a little obsessed.

for the dita look like i said in another post there's a lot of inconsistencies so i just take what i like. though for the most part i follow the design in the interlude. there's not much to comment about, aside from how i'm wondering where his ahoge is actually placed on his head. i just decide on the fly because i can't tell. it's not consistent between appearances. i won't talk about the scarf i'll start foaming at the mouth im not kidding

not even going into the characters i find near impossible like theodore. i'll cry. i'll be here all day. haruki is hard to draw too...

anyway, here's your serving of miwa's fucked up wig that haunt my nightmares every day because i hate drawing this hair so much:

i hope he DIES in com for this, is he stupid?

i hope everyone finds out he's 60+ years old and he has to hold a press conference apologizing for lying about being a recent ex-teenager

[jackass-jones]

Me: well p3 was sure a fun game but it’s very long and tedious to finish, especially with all this other stress in my life! I should only play shorter or more relaxed games for a while now before moving onto something long again!

Me the next day: time to start a new save on p5 royal!

[two-calicos-in-a-trenchcoat]

So im starting a new art project with pieces i plan to sell as prints and maybe also make some designs to sell on society 6 in the same theme

Ive always had a passive interest in the language of flowers (and im a sucker for a good flower shop au). And ive realized I enjoy drawing plants from doing my book project. And after drawing almost 100 different ones I've gotten pretty good at it and somehow am not tired of it yet. So im gonna draw bouquets that communicate different things. Both good and bad cuz both can be fun. And maybe also some patterned pieces but im not sure yet.

[idy-ll-ique]

Paparazzi.

Pairing: Sebastian Stan x F!Reader

Genre: Fluff, Angst

Warnings: TOO META, m*sturbation, mentions of s*x

Requested: nope

Summary: I'm your biggest fan, I'll follow you until you love me... Y/N Y/L/N writes Marvel fanfictions. One day, Sebastian stumbles upon her account and, unable to help himself, reads all the stuff she has written about him. He didn't mean to fall so hard for her but he does. How can he not? She has shown him parts of himself that he never even knew existed.

Author's Note: Hiya peeps! Okay so a few weeks ago I read a similar (but dark) fanfic and I really wanted to write a softer version of it... Enjoy!

---

Same old, boring routine.

Y/N hit post and slumped against the headrest of her bed, sighing. She waited; a minute, then two passed and she noticed that someone had liked her post. She smiled to herself as she kept her phone away. Though boring, she wouldn't trade her life for the world. Y/N… well, she was a university student first and foremost but she was also a writer.

Being a big fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she had started writing fanfictions a few years ago. She posted them on Tumblr, where her blog, though not very well-known, stood out enough for her posts to get around 800-1000 likes per post. She loved it; she loved writing, she loved posting her stories and especially, she loved the feedback.

Sometimes people were rude, but most times, the reviews she got were fantastic. She read each and every one of them, smiling goofily as people freaked out over her fanfictions. It warmed her heart. A smile automatically blooming on her face, Y/N lay down on the bed and decided to go to sleep, it being almost 3 am.

Unbeknownst to her, someone else was up at the same time, tossing and turning in his bed, restless.

Sebastian sighed as he sat up, running a hand through his hair. He drank some water and lay down again, closing his eyes but it was like sleep was mad at him. Refused to be anywhere near him. He groaned to himself and picked up his phone from the nightstand, deciding to go through Instagram, hoping he'd finally fall asleep to the glare of the screen.

As he logged into his account, he skipped the activity page and went straight to the explore page. Bored, he continued scrolling until his eyes landed on a specific photo. And the breath escaped his lungs when he clicked on it; the woman in the picture was absolutely gorgeous. He just couldn't resist going to her page, smiling widely when he read her bio.

It gave him her basic information; her name, her age, the university she attended. But what caught his eye was the link below the bio. My Marvel Fanfictions Master List. Marvel fanfictions? She was a writer? Smirking, he clicked on the link and it took him to Tumblr. Of course, he'd heard of the site, but didn't have an account on there. At 3 am, his mind sure wasn't working right.

A post popped up on the screen, the same master list she had mentioned earlier. And his eyes bulged out of their sockets; damn, those are a lot of fanfictions. He went through the whole thing, smirking again when he noticed that she had written the most fanfictions about him. Not Bucky Barnes, no, Sebastian Stan.

He clicked on the first one. The date of posting was way back, in 2019. He started reading; nothing about it felt weird to him; he was intrigued, if anything. And as he continued reading, he couldn't help but imagine her being in the stead of the female protagonist. Her, the writer. The woman whose picture had made him end up reading in the first place.

When he finished the story, his heart thudded wildly in his chest. Wow, she really has a way with words. And he had also noticed how in the author's note, she used a lot of slang but reading the story had made him realize that she had an amazing, extensive vocabulary. He went back to the master list and clicked on the latest post under his name.

Posted: 15 minutes ago.

His breath hitched in his throat when he read the warnings: there was going to be sexual intercourse in this one. For one moment, he hesitated; did he really want to read this? "Oh fuck it," he huffed and scrolled, starting to read. The more he read, the more his shaft twitched in his pants. He wasn't really like that during… but oh damn, he wasn't complaining.

"Oh, Seb…"

His hand slid down and he rubbed himself through his boxers, unable to take his eyes off the text in front of him. His strokes got harder and faster as the sex got steamier. "Ungh, I'm gonna cum—" And he suddenly came in his boxers, groaning. Slumping down on the bed, he quickly finished reading the rest of it, going back to the master list.

He took a screenshot with the account's name in it and then went back to her Instagram account to take another screenshot. Keeping his phone away, he slipped out of his boxers, cleaned himself and pulled the covers on top of him, finally feeling tired enough to fall asleep.

---

Y/N was walking across the campus of her university, going to the cafeteria when her phone buzzed in her pocket. Taking it out, she opened Tumblr to read the message someone had sent her just then.

his-username: Hi there! I was binging your account last night, you write really well

your-username: Omg thank you!!!! I really appreciate it, I love getting feedback! 🥺❤

his-username: You're welcome! Especially your latest post, that was really good ;)

your-username: hehe 😈 glad you liked it!

Smiling widely, she kept her phone away and continued walking, not knowing that the person who had texted her was the same man she had written about. Sebastian smiled to himself when he read her text. After getting up in the morning, the first thing he had done was install Tumblr on his phone. Then he made an account for himself.

Figuring out the app was easy; he found out that there was an option to keep your liked posts and the accounts you followed hidden, and selected it immediately. No one needed to know what he did on the app. Then he went back to her account, pressed the follow button and started binge-reading her fanfictions again. Last night had he read only two, and that had left him wanting more.

Funny how much things can change in a night. He liked and reblogged all her posts without a second thought; he even read all her Bucky Barnes posts. She understood his character so well, put him on what he thought was an undeserved pedestal while writing about him. Some of the stories were AUs, which he found out stood for Alternate Universes. Mostly mobster or mafia stuff.

He had the day off, and he spent the entire time cooped up in his apartment, on his bed, reading. The more he read, the more he started fawning over her, over the version of him that she put out to the world. Dominating, suave and just perfect. He loved it. At the end of the day, he decided to text her again, hoping she wouldn't think he was weird or find out the truth.

his-username: do you wanna be friends, maybe? I'm new to the app, don't really have any friends here ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That was a lie, he knew Mark Ruffalo had an active Tumblr account. But it's not like he could tell him.

your-username: Yes sure!!!! I was also thinking of making some friends on this app lol

his-username: You don't have any on here? But you've been here for years, haven't you?

your-username: haha yeah, but I don't really reach out to people much. Sometimes people leave their feedbacks on my posts, text me but that's that

his-username: Ohhh

his-username: well, let's start with names. Mine's Sebastian

your-username: Really?????? omg that's so cool lmaooooooo (didn't think you were a boy but 😳👀)

his-username: Not a boy, I'm a man 😤😂

your-username: 🤣 im y/n, btw

his-username: Y/N, that's a nice name

your-username: thank you!!!! So, what do you do?

his-username: nothing really that interesting, I'm in theatre

your-username: theatre is nice! I'm studying at [university] in New York lmao

his-username: Wait you're in New York? So am I!

your-username: ASDFHKSHKGF that's awesome!!! also I noticed that you've been going through my account the whole day 😏 notifications upon notifications keeping my phone busy

his-username: Oopsie?

your-username: 😂😂 I really don't mind, it was great! Despite the amount of likes on my posts, I only have a few loyal followers lmao gaining one more felt nice

your-username: You a big fan of Sebastian Stan? Cuz I noticed that you were only reading his and Bucky's fics 👀

Sebastian's face heated up.

his-username: kinda yeah 🤷🏻‍♂️😁

your-username: Cool cool cool, I'm a big fan of his too!!!! also got a crush on him but whatever 😳

Sebastian smirked at his phone. A crush on him, huh? That… was acceptable. He suddenly felt his cocky side coming out; the one she described in nearly all her fanfictions.

his-username: wouldn't blame ya, I mean, look at him. You have also written the most fics about him and Bucky

your-username: right????? damn that man has raised my standards. Anyway, I gtg now, I have to finish a paper before midnight. ttyl!

his-username: Bye! 👋🏻

He kept his phone away and took in a deep breath. This was the most fun he had had in years, and he was not letting her go so easy. He realized he was quickly falling for her; rather unhealthy, but he couldn't help it. Look at her. She looks like a goddamn angel, writes like one, makes him feel like one, do you really expect him not to fall for her? That's insane.

---

Months passed by like a breeze. Y/N and Sebastian had become very good friends, and he knew his way around words just enough to keep her from finding out his identity while not lying to her. Y/N also appreciated his friendship, because he was the one to whom she could rant about her most favorite man in the world— Sebastian Stan.

Sometimes, she thought about how weird of a coincidence it was that her new friend and the actor shared the same names, but then she used to brush it off; that was a common name, right? They talked for hours on end; Sebastian (her friend, not the actor) was extremely witty, smart and fun to talk to, she had to admit. Sebastian felt the same way.

His feelings had worsened. Y/N entirely owned his heart now. Somedays, he'd just go on Instagram, go to her account— her username memorized by him— and stare at her photos until he grew tired; he'd never get tired of looking at her beautiful face but his stiff body afterwards begged to differ. She was just so Elysian. He longed for the moment when he could meet her in real life.

His personality had also changed majorly, and people had caught on. Especially his Marvel co-stars, who knew him to be introverted, shy and, in Anthony Mackie's words, "boring". They were surprised at his sudden change in attitude; he knew his worth and Y/N had helped tremendously in finding it. Now, all those adjectives that she used in her fanfictions fit him perfectly.

Sebastian was never tempted to read fanfictions about himself from authors other than Y/N. No, he only loved her work. He was sure no one else could write as beautifully as she did, he was her #1 fan. Y/N even sent him funny Marvel memes she found on the app and he used to enjoy them heartily; God, the others have no idea what they're missing out on. Our fans are awesome.

Everything was going well.

Until one day.

Sebastian was getting bored at home, so he decided to go to the nearby library to clear his mind. He had read not one book in the past few months, hung up on Y/N's fanfictions. At this point, he was obsessed with her and he knew it. It was nothing dark, per se, it was— it was similar to how Y/N was attracted to Sebastian. How she was a fan of his work.

Just the same. He was a fan of her work in the same way. Just how she was attracted to him, he was attracted to her. Walking into the library that he visited often, he gave the librarian a smile and ventured further into the dark place. He checked his watch; the library closed at 12 am, it was currently 9:30 pm.

Not many people were around, heck, nobody was around. He thought himself to be all alone until he heard it. A sigh, coming from a few aisles away. He walked in that direction and peeked around the corner, freezing when he saw the other person. Y/N? Her books were strewn all across the table as she sat alone at the booth, rubbing her temples.

"You okay?"

She looked up and her breath caught in her throat. I'm dreaming. This is not real. Now I know for a fact that Sebastian Stan is not standing in front of me, asking me if I'm— "Hello?" He snapped his fingers in front of her face, pulling her out of her thoughts. "I, uh— I'm— h-hi," she stammered and he almost chuckled. "Hi." She gulped visibly and blinked at the table, not meeting his eyes.

"Can I have a seat?" He wants to sit with me?! "Y-Yes, sure, sir," she blurted out and he easily slid into the booth next to her. "Hey, please, call me Sebastian. What's your name?" He gave her a friendly smile, even though all he wanted to do was push her back into the booth and kiss her wildly. His shaft twitched just by thinking about it; Y/N was a thousand times more beautiful in person.

"I'm Y/N, it's very nice to meet you, I'm… I'm a fan," she admitted, playing with the ring she wore on her left thumb. I'm your fan too, sweetheart, the biggest one. "Y/N, nice name. You come here often? I haven't really seen you around." She shook her head. "Oh no no, I moved to this part of the city just a week ago, this is my first time here. The library is cozy," she shrugged, easing out of her tense position.

Sebastian nodded. "Yes, I know, this place is awesome. Got all my favorite books here," he chuckled and she smiled at him. "What's all this?" A groan left her lips. "Ugh, stupid university work. I have to write a book report but I don't even know what to write about." He smiled gently. "Well, I have a few favorite books, would you like some suggestions?"

"Oh, please! Tell me!"

He started listing some of his favorite works and Y/N noted the names down until he said the last name. At that, she froze. That's the name of my latest— She looked up but he had a smile on his face. "Oh, and the last one is by my favorite author." He took a pause. "Y/N Y/L/N." She froze completely, staring at the man with her jaw dropped.

Sebastian grinned. "We finally meet, Y/N, I've been waiting for months." Her mouth opened and closed several times as she recalled every interaction she had had with her online best friend— scratch that— her celebrity crush. All the times she had confessed her love for Sebastian Stan, all the dirty and inappropriate memes that she'd sent him…

Embarrassment flooded her entire body as she exhaled shakily. "It was you," she croaked out, "On Tumblr, the account— I'm so sorry—" Sebastian frowned in confusion when she blinked back sudden tears, a few still rolling down her cheeks as shame replaced embarrassment. "Y/N, please don't cry…" She looked up at him, his figure blurry due to her tears.

"You've read everything, haven't you? I just— I'm sorry, I don't want to make you uncomfortable—" He pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. Y/N couldn't hug back, though she appreciated the hug especially since it came from him. "You don't know how much you mean to me, doll," he mumbled into her shoulder, using the nickname she often used in the stories she wrote about him. He grew accustomed to it easily.

"Huh?"

He pulled away to wipe her tears. "It was an accident," he admitted, "But I stumbled onto your Instagram account from my explore page. Then I clicked on your account, saw that you wrote Marvel fanfictions and I just couldn't resist the urge to read what you had written. Blame it on 3 am me, to be honest. You're a great writer, and I was immediately drawn to your works. They're awesome.

"They've helped me so much in the past few months. You see this changed attitude that everyone's been talking about lately? All because of you, sweetheart. I'm sorry for keeping my identity secret, but after reading your works, I knew I had to get closer to you. I made the Tumblr account just for you, just so I could talk to you. I'm sorry for lying, but thank you."

Y/N dumbfoundedly stared at him for a few moments, her heart beat getting steady with each thump. Here was a man she admired, loved more than anyone else in the world, telling her that he harbored the same feelings for her. How crazy was that?! Not trusting her words, she simply pulled him into another hug. Sebastian wrapped his arms tight around her, pulling her flush against him.

"Can I kiss you, doll?"

She slowly pulled away from him and nodded, shyly biting her lip. Grinning at the endearing gesture, Sebastian cupped her face and leaned in, gently pressing his lips to hers. The kiss grew hungry in a matter of seconds, and Y/N responded just as eagerly. His hands slid down to her waist and tugged on it, pulling her on his lap. She straddled his thighs as they continued kissing.

"Fuck," he groaned when they finally pulled away from each other, out of breath and panting. "You see what you do to me, doll?" Sebastian spoke huskily as he took her hand, placing it right on top of the tent that was forming in his pants. "Oh," Y/N whimpered when she felt him, the sound going straight to his shaft. "How about I take you home and we recreate some of the scenes from your stories, hm?"

"O-Okay."

"Good girl."

---

A/N: What a meta experience 🤡 Leave a like if you enjoyed, thanks for reading!

[actualbird]

hi zak i just wanna i looove your fics ur marius hcs are so canon to me and if u don’t mind me asking how do u usually outline ur fics?

hi anon!! thank u so much :DDD

and sure thing! i remember i answered this question once or twice in the past but i cant find it again in my archive ahjfkjhsfkjahs so i'll just go thru it all again (and for good reason cuz i think i my answer last time made it look like things were organized. it's not. it's Not Organized)

anyhoo, short overview answer is: craft big idea -> rough outline (summaries/short bullet points) -> detailed outline (connecting all the dots)

long detailed answer follows under the cut (wow, me using a readmore HAHAJKHSVKFJ well, my writing process is boring i dont wanna stretch dashes with this, i'll save being a nuisance for my silly little headcanons)

all screenshots will be coming from my outline for my most recent fic "standard operating procedure (x4 speedrun)" cuz it's freshest in my memory and also planning took a LOT of time here

-

step 1: craft big idea

the first thing i actually do on outline doc is make the summary that i forsee it'll have on ao3. this is cuz my summary format on ao3 is [excerpt of scene] + [a few lines explaining the fic overall], and thinking of what to put here first helps me get a good grasp on what i want the fic to be in the Big Picture sense: what the mood/tone will be, whos POV it's in, what the inciting event that kicks it all off is, etc etc

the big idea, along with all the other steps in my process, are subject to change as the process goes on. for example, for the shovel talk fic, heres the first ao3 summary i made for it (version from april 3, thank u google docs version history HAHA)

this was back when i envisioned the fic as a long-ish oneshot that was mostly comedy. but as i continued thru the other steps of outlining (and realized that the comedy is more of the hook and seasoning and the real core is gonna be the feels later on that i didnt wanna spoil upfront in the summary), the ao3 summary changed to whats on the fic now

still, no matter how the ao3 summary changes, it's a great starting point for my brain to get into the rest of the fic cuz ive already got a bunch of the core stuffs for the story

-

step 2: rough outline

this step is me getting into the overview of each part/chapter of the fic, the big idea but for specific chunk of story. these come either in the form of short bullet points or short short summaries of the events, and thats rlly all that is in here: events. all the details is for step 3

heres the rough outline portion for chapter 5 of standard operating procedure (x4 speedrun)

absolute barebones, but each chapter has got something along these lines going on for them (i just shared this one cuz it's the least messy to look at AJHVKJZHFVAKJHS) which keeps me on track irt what needs to be Happening.

-

step 3: detailed outline. the longest and most stupidly meticulous part of my process

this step is what it says on the tin. with the smaller bigger picture of the chapter (huh, actually, im realizing that my process basically hinges on taking in the big picture and then slowly zooming in bit by bit) i then start putting down the exact things i wanna write: everything from dialog to descriptions to etc etc. and all of it is absolute wordbarf and the fact it is wordbard is Important

heres an excerpt from the detailed outline portion of chapter 2 of the fic

i put in A BUNCH. and this is important to me cuz it's at this stage i can start filling in the blanks, irt the events i put down in step 2

like in this chapter, i had 2 events to link: vyn making dumb sex innuendos -> vyn making his grand and genuine love declaration about marius. how to get from point A to point B is something i cant leave for the actual writing portion because my tendency is to blank for days, trying to find the perfect way to word it or execute it.

but in this outlining portion ive got the freedom to try out a bunch of methods in a wordbarf format that gets my thoughts in order. it doesnt have to be good or make sense just yet, as long as it connects the two events, i can refine it during actual writing

and more often than not, changes Do happen in the actual writing portion, since once that bit is going on ive got a clearer idea on how the scene is flowing and all that jazz. still, those changes are hinged upon the fact that ive got a skeleton prior, or else i'd have a really hard time trying to figure out whats not working because i hadnt put a Thing thats Not doing the job yet. i guess my penchant for doing this step that i know many people see as insane is that it's easier for me to work on something imperfect that already exists than to make something do what it needs to do on the first try

heres another portion i still consider as part of step 3: me trying to figure out how marius and giann have their argument in chapter 5

and then i basically transplanted these into the chronological outline portion so i could see how it works in the actual scene

so my full outline for this fic is a grand total of 6.7k words cuz i do the detailed outline for every single scene HAHA

-

aaaaand thats how i outline, anon! i hope this sates ur curiosity :DDD

[callemreine]

Brave face, talk so lightly(hide the truth)

'All my life, I've just wanted to make things easier for them.'

Au August

Day/Prompt: Day 26 - Soulmate

Ship: Prinxiety, brief logicality, creativitwins

Word count: 3k (I'm so sorry I got carried away)

Cw: swearing / brief murder mention / implied death / crying / nightmares(?) / anxiety mention / caps / claustrophobia(?)

A/N: the prompt is your dreams are your soulmate's memories. The title is from the song "Sick of losing soulmates" by dodie. I wrote the first 1/4 of this a few days ago and the rest in one sitting and I couldn't care less about proofreading it so Im so sorry if there are any mistakes ;-;

@tsshipmonth2020

I see a girl in the distance. She has her back turned. Long chocolate-colored hair tied in a low messy bun. My hand is reaching out to her. I feel this sudden longing to be held by this woman. Craving her caring and loving words. Telling me that everything is going to be alright.

Wait. Why is she getting farther away?

She looks back at me with a sad smile. Everything gets dark. I let my eyes stray from her to look around. When was I in a hospital corridor?

"I'm sorry, Pumpkin. You're gonna have to continue our adventure without me. But, fear not, Little one. I'll always be there by you. You just gotta learn to know where I am,"

She caresses my cheek, giving me the warmest smile I have ever received.

She's gone, suddenly. I touch my cheek, still feeling the ghost of her warm touch. Along with… something wet? Am- Am I crying?

"Roman!"

I don't move. I feel stuck. But, also free, somehow. Just unsure of what to do, I guess?

"Roman! Wake up. You idiot!

"Roman!

"Oh, thank all things unholy! I thought someone was in our room, trying to murder us! You were crying, and- and whispering stuff! And it's creeping me the fuck out! And I'm not easily creeped out, you know that" Remus exclaimed as he sat on Roman's chest, grabbing his twin’s shoulders.

"Man, you're soulmate must have some twisted memories," He continued, getting off of Roman and returning to his own bed across the room.

'Yeah. Twisted…' Roman thought.

~*~*~

"You okay there, Sweetie?" Roman heard from where his head was buried on the kitchen counter. "Yeah... Just thinking about my soulmate again," he admitted.

"Another bad dream?" His mom inquired as she sat next to Roman, patting his back. "It's not just that. It's about the move. Like, we're never really sure which of our memories they see, right? But, they've seen all my memories from this place. Like, they know where I've been my entire life…" he trailed off.

"I'm just not sure how they would feel seeing a whole new different place… They don't seem to be in a place to experience a big change right now. All my life, I've just wanted to make things easier for them. And, yeah, my dreams don't really change that much. But, I make an effort, y'know?" Roman looked up at his mom to seek at least some kind of reassurance.

"I understand what you mean, and I think that what you're doing is great. And I know that you're gonna be the bestest thing that's ever gonna happen to them. But, I'm really sorry. We don't really have any choice with this move. I know your soulmate is in a dark place right now, but you can't always do everything for them. You're also your own person," His mom hugged him.

Roman felt like he was hopeless in this situation. And, he was always hoping for the best. For his soulmate or otherwise. Maybe his mom was right about putting himself first sometimes.

~*~*~

Virgil was in his first period when someone he didn't expect to walk into his classroom… walks into his classroom… They were wearing an army green shirt, a denim jacket with neon green highlights and spikes at the bottom, ripped jeans, and platform boots with more spikes and vulgar words written on them. To say that this man was familiar was an understatement. He KNEW this man's entire life THROUGH his dreams.

Virgil felt like he was trespassing someone's life. Like, he wasn't supposed to know the man. And that, they shouldn't be in any way related. Especially to their sibling.

He wasn't really ecstatic about meeting his soulmate. IN SCHOOL NO LESS. It wasn't really an ideal 'meet-your-soulmate' place for someone like Virgil.

"Alright, students, I'm sure you've all noticed that we have a new student right here. Now, why don't you go and introduce yourself, Mister," their teacher said to the denim jacket guy.

"Umm. Sup? I'm Remus Duke Kingsley. Nice to meet you all. And, if you see a guy that looks like me but without the mustache and wears red all the time, he’s always loud, you can’t miss him. That's my twin brother, Roman. The boring one," Remus says, yawning by the end of his introduction.

'HOLY FUCK, TWINS?!' Virgil thought. Fortunately(or unfortunately, depending on which part of Virgil's brain you're asking), Remus already gave him a vague description of who to look out for.

~*~*~

Virgil continues his day and falls into his daily routine, which mostly includes attempting to avoid being perceived by anyone. It usually succeeds if you exclude his friend, Patton, from ‘anyone.’ He only hopes that his soulmate also sees Patton in their dreams cuz, to be honest, Patton is the ray of sunshine everyone needs. Yeah, he was also friends with Logan, but he’s more like a moon if you ask him.

Virgil goes into the cafeteria and sits at their usual table, his back facing the entire cafeteria. He takes out a paper bag from his bag and grabs the sandwich he bought earlier, not waiting for his friends.

A few moments pass before Logan and Patton reach his table. “Hey, kiddo! You alright?” Patton says as he sits down. Virgil just gives them a nod and continues to eat. “I heard this morning that there were new students,” Logan inquires before Patton interrupts “Oh yeah! They’re twins! I have first period with one of them. He’s really nice. Oh! Hey! Roman! Over here!” Patton shouts and waves his arm toward a student that just entered the cafeteria. “Hope you guys don’t mind that I invited him over to sit with us,” He continues and flashes both Virgil and Logan a smile no one could say no to.

“Hey, Patton.” The guy says to Patton. “Hope you guys don’t mind me crashing your table. I’m Roman by the way,” Roman says to the other two. “Pleasure to meet you, Roman. I’m Logan. And, no, we wouldn’t mind at all,” Logan answered him back. Roman looked over to Virgil who just nodded and said his name. Roman then proceeded to sit next to Virgil but not paying him any mind.

And, though Virgil seemed to be calm about the situation, his mind is currently in flames having his anxiety and his gay panic fight over each other. Virgil is currently waiting for who would win, that's why he seems so calm on the outside. After finishing his sandwich, he was trying to think of something he could do to keep himself from leaving and be noticed. He looked over to Logan, attentively listening to Patton talking about the dog he saw this morning. Roman was silently eating his lunch, also listening to Patton, but looking around the cafeteria every once in a while.

It seems that Virgil’s anxiety won the fight because he decided that he doesn’t want to stick around with his friends and his apparent soulmate without doing anything. So, he stands up and excuses himself from the group. "Hey! Wait!" Roman calls after him. Virgil stops a few feet from the table to look back at Roman who was already jogging towards him.

"Virgil, right?" He assures.

Virgil nods. "Ok, there’s just something I wanna ask you. Are those two soulmates?" Roman throws his thumb back, pointing at the two left at the table. "Cuz, as much as how adorable they look together, I kinda don't want to be stuck as a third wheel," he continues.

"Oh. Yeah, those two are soulmates. Sometimes, I wonder if they ever do notice me every time I leave the table," Virgil elaborates, looking back at his friends with a slight smile.

"Umm. Class doesn't start for a few more minutes. I was wondering if I could join you for a while? Wherever you were going…" Roman trailed off, realizing he didn't know where the shorter male was headed.

"Uhh. Yeah, sure. I was just headed to the courtyard to pass the time,"

'Shit. Virgil, why are you doing this?! Why did you agree?! You have anxiety!' Virgil mentally scolded himself.

"Ok. Cool. I'll just go get my stuff," Roman flashed Virgil a smile before heading back to the table.

'Fuck. I am so screwed,' Virgil thought.

~*~*~

"So, what's the deal with those two? I mean, how did they deal with the soulmates thing?" Roman finally spoke a few moments after they found a bench to settle on. "Uhh, well. Logan is my childhood friend and the first day we started high school here, they both had a dream of roll call the other had that day, I guess? They both heard each other's name and boom. You got your glasses gays," Virgil discussed, reminiscing the events that happened that day.

Roman let out a chuckle at Virgil's last words, causing the other's heart to skip a beat. They remain silent for a while, watching the other students passing by.

"What about you?" Roman spoke up.

"What about me?" Virgil glances back.

"I mean, what about you? Have you met your soulmate? Do you know who they are? You just seem like an interesting individual to me, having to stick around knowing you're third-wheeling all the time yet valuing your time with them and your time with yourself all the same. Well, either that or I'm just embarrassed that I think you're uncomfortable with me here…" Roman rambled, rubbing the back of his neck, embarrassed.

Virgil chuckled, "Nah. I just get anxious when meeting new people. Plus, I think you're a pretty nice guy." They smiled at each other, Virgil feeling his face heat up, and looks away immediately. "And, about the soulmate thing. I think I have a clue of who they might be, I just…" he trailed off.

"What's holding you back?" Roman muttered, lowering his head, attempting to catch the other's eye. "I… I just think that my memories aren't that… for them. They're just this amazing and joyful person… I just don't think they deserve to see my bland memories every night,"

The pair fell silent, Roman feeling sympathy for the other. Virgil felt Roman shift in his seat before speaking up, "I don't think anyone's memories are ever bland."

Virgil looks up at Roman who has a far-off look with a slight smile on his lips. "I think that our dreams are what shows us what we're missing in life. What our soulmate has that we need and what we have that they need. You know, what makes you both feel complete when you're with each other," Roman smiled.

Virgil pondered on the other's statement for a while. "Is that... Is that how you feel when you're with your soulmate?" He said, being careful with his words. Roman sighed but remained smiling, "I haven't met them yet. But, what you said earlier reminded me of them. I always think they're a little different. My moms said that dreams are supposed to show my soulmate's memories. But, no one is ever sure which ones we see. Well, my dreams always have one thing in common… There's darkness every time…" Roman trailed off, looking more sad as he continued.

"Sometimes, they walk out of their house and, suddenly, everything goes dark and I see pairs of eyes staring at me as I walk. Or sometimes, they lie in bed and, suddenly, it's dark again and I'm stuck inside a box too small for me. But, there’s always this one dream that always repeats itself. Though, I'm not sure my soulmate's gonna be comfortable with me sharing," Roman finally snaps out of his trance and looks up at Virgil, looking embarrassed.

At this point, Virgil is now entirely sure that the person in front of him is his soulmate. He feels tears cloud his eyes so he looks away to play off wiping them away before looking back at Roman with pity in his expression. This is exactly what Virgil was afraid of, having his soulmate also experience the darkness that clouds him every day he wakes up.

"Wow… They- I- I don't know what to say… What are you gonna do when you meet them?" Virgil glances at Roman, pity still in his eyes. Roman let out a sigh but smiled, "I'm gonna give them the biggest hug they've ever received and reassure them that I'm always gonna be with them and that they'll never have to feel alone all the time ever again." Roman looked at Virgil with a smile. But, before he could notice the tear that fell from the other's eye, a loud shrill of their school bell rang throughout the courtyard, signaling the start of their next class.

"Talk about first impressions," Roman said with a chuckle, standing up. "Well, see you around, Virgil. I got a few more 'Hi, I'm Roman' to do," he continued, leaving Virgil on the bench.

~*~*~

I hear my converse squeak as I walk through the hallway. There are people around me, but they're all just silhouettes of the same familiar darkness. I'm walking to what seems to be the cafeteria. I sit down and grab my lunch from my bag. A few minutes pass, two figures sit in front of me. There's something familiar about them despite being two black silhouettes.

"Hey, kiddo! You alright?"

Patton?

"I heard there were new students," Logan?

Wait. Am I…

"Oh yeah! They're twins!"

Oh.

"I have first period with one of them. He's really nice. Oh! Hey! Roman! Over here!"

Before I could look over to… me…

Darkness. Again.

I hear muffled voices. Too muffled to be recognized.

I stay in darkness for what felt like hours before I get surrounded by light.

Too bright.

There's a silhouette in front of me. It doesn't have any facial features but I can feel it stare at me. Slowly, the light around me doesn't feel too bright anymore. It feels… warm and comforting. Similar to the feeling I have in my chest, along with a squeezing feeling. I feel tears cloud my eyes, but I feel happy, somehow?

I feel someone embrace me. I look up to see the silhouette. Its arms around me, like it's protecting me. I feel secure. I feel loved.

I hug back, breaking down in its arms.

"You don't have to be alone anymore"

I hear my own voice. I break down sobbing, seeking more of the silhouette's warmth.

I stopped sobbing after a while but remained in the silhouette's arms for what felt like hours.

"You gotta wake him up!" I heard a distant voice say in a hushed tone.

"No, he hasn't slept like this since who knows when… Something must've happened yesterday..."

I feel myself slowly drifting from where I was standing.

"We can just tell the school he's sick"

"On the second day?"

I feel someone caress my cheek.

"You can stay too if you want"

"Hey, sweetie," Roman opens his eyes to his mom in front of him.

"What's going on? Why are you all in our room?" Roman asks as he sits up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He eyes Remus standing in front of their mama. Their mom is sitting on the edge of Roman's bed, facing him.

"Well, sweetie. You see, you just had a full night's sleep," their mom explained.

"You looked so peaceful too," their mama added with a smile. Roman stopped to let the events of his dream last night come back to him.

"Roman, is everything ok?" Their mama walked over to him, tucking a few strands of his hair behind his ear. "Yeah… Yeah, I'm okay!" He flashed a smile to his moms, meaning what he said.

~*~*~

Roman hadn't been able to sit still ever since he got to school. 'Late', he should add. Apparently, he overslept while Remus and their moms decide whether to wake him up or not.

When they got to school in the middle of first period, they were excused because their moms were there to explain. With a slightly bent truth, of course.

Roman had to wait three(and a half) classes to talk to Virgil. They didn't have any classes together, to which Roman was bummed to find out. When the bell rang, signaling their lunch break, Roman hurriedly headed to the cafeteria. When he got there, he spotted Virgil just about to sit down at their usual table.

"Uhh. Virgil? Can I talk to you for a sec?" Roman felt awkward, to say the least.

"Uhm. Sure," Virgil replied, standing up. Roman led them under a tree in the courtyard, away from other students. They stayed silent for a while before Virgil spoke up, "So… what'd you wanted to talk about?"

Roman just stared at Virgil for a few moments, examining him, before enveloping him in a tight hug. Virgil stood frozen for a while, surprised at the gesture. He slowly placed his hands on Roman's back, still confused at the sudden affection.

"You're not alone anymore, Pumpkin," Roman said in a gentle voice, cradling the other's head. Virgil froze when he heard the nickname. His expression then softens and hugs Roman tighter, burying his face on the taller male’s shoulder.

"How did you find out?" Roman heard, slightly muffled by his jacket. "Had a dream about yesterday," Roman simply stated, not elaborating more. "What about you? You said you had a clue. Oh! That rhymed,"

They both laughed.

"I have first period with Remus and I recognized him right away," Virgil replied, his face still buried on Roman's shoulder. "Oh, I'm so sorry you have to deal with him," Roman chuckled.

"No, I'm sorry you had to deal with him your entire life,"

"Well, we're not alone anymore now, are we? Roman asked with a serious tone. Virgil parted a few inches from Roman, still holding on to him. He smiled as he looked up at Roman, "No, we're not."

This might be the last one I'll do for AU august but I'm also deciding if I should go back to the prompts I missed when I was sick hmm

I wish I included Remus more in this but it was already 3k words and thats the longest I've ever written so maybe its for the best XD

[ramudamemura]

Alright guys I’m rating the new hypmic outfits please don’t get mad at me and here’s an image for reference

ichiro— not digging the oversized thing for some reason even tho I normally do? Nothing glaringly wrong with it tho like it’s not that bad. I’m glad his pants are black/gray (?) tho because idk I think it would’ve looked cluttered with any other colors

i will say (and this is probably only valid for me but) black and red are my schools colors and I’m having flashbacks to spirit wear days which is slightly upsetting JCJSJDNSNNSHS Ichiro would never go to my school if he were real tho he’s too good for a place like this 💔

jiro— his shirt is so plain couldn’t he have used a more interesting font 😭 spice it up a bit,,,,BUT it’s not that bad either I actually really like him with glasses so that’s good! hmm I don’t really like the hat tho. Overall it’s ok

saburo— at least his hair doesn’t look like it did with that one other outfit 😭 you know the one . I can’t tell if his pants are jeans or sweatpants tho. Also like I said before idk why but I’m not loving Ichiros oversized shirt but I DO like the fit of saburos

actually I checked again right before I posted this and I’m pretty sure they’re jeans

**hey just realized buster bros are all wearing the same shoes in different colors so good for them ig**

samatoki— well 😭 his outfit kinda gives off art h*e vibes which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I feel like HE would view it as bad and wouldnt like that. Also so much of it is unbuttoned and I can’t stop laughing. I kinda wish there wasn’t so much white in the outfit tho I mean what do I know I’m no designer but! Idk

jyuto— idk. idk WHAT to say. I am really not a fan of this sorry jyuto I just. What were you trying to accomplish here 😭 why are the sleeves of his jacket so long what’s going on. Where am I what is this

rio— I mean. It’s just an oversized green t shirt and baggy green sweatpants 😭 neither of them have any design on it so it’s kinda boring? green is my favorite color tho so I can’t be too harsh on him also I like the shoes but not necessarily with this outfit. But like I don’t understand like why is his outfit just. A t shirt and sweatpants with literally like nothing else 😭 is it supposed to be a minimalist thing??? Because I mean. Listen. LISTEN. This is not the way to go about it

ramuda— ok so I kinda like the general style like I like the shirt and shorts a bit but not the colors 💔 but it’s not that I don’t like that it’s colorful it’s just I don’t like the.colors they used ig 😭 idk but it’s kinda cool to see him with a middle part ig although I do like his normal hair better I think. Either way I expected better from him he’s supposed to be a designer like come on dude

gentaro— actually I like his a lot! It’s not too flashy and it looks nice and elegant and it fits his usual style!! Also it shows his arms and I cannot remember ever seeing them before so that’s interesting! I also like his hair but again I like his regular hair much better

dice— BRAID BRAID BRAID BRAID!!!! If I try hard enough I can pretend it’s not a mullet underneath the braid so that’s nice!! As for the outfit it’s meh idk. The print is too in your face in my opinion and idk I don’t really like it like idk what it is about it but I find it kinda :/ yknow and I also feel like it doesn’t really suit him like it doesn’t scream “dice”

jakurai— :////// Jakurai what the heck 💔 what is this I don’t like it at all like wh. That’s all im gonna say I think cuz I don’t wanna be mean since technically someone put a lot of work into these

hifumi— he kinda looks like a tourist idk man I feel like if I went to the beach I’d see someone with that exact outfit 😭 but I mean he pulls it off decently! I don’t think he should’ve worn dress shoes or whatever you call those tho I think he could’ve done better with a pair of sneakers but NOT like big clunky sneakers just regular ones

actually idk why but I have this really specific floral design in mind that wouldve kept the colors of his current jacket including being mostly black in the background that I think wouldve looked nicer but I can’t draw rn so

doppo— well I like this color!!! So that’s good!!!!! Not really sure what’s going on here tho I feel like they should’ve done a little to break up the shirt from the pants 😭

kuko— again I do like green a lot so he gets points for that!! But idk i actually don’t have much of a problem with this I just don’t know if green is his color but I like the pants! So! like they’re a good length idk I actually do like his I think

jyushi— I really like the like laced up bits by the shoulder!!! Also it’s super cool to see his hair in a ponytail or whatever that is!! If I close my eyes I can pretend he doesn’t have a mullet 💚

hitoya— idk what it is about this outfit but I keep laughing at him 😭 sorry hitoya

sasara— clown clown clown clown clown

anyway I know the colors are SUPPOSED to clash a bit but it still bothers me JDJSJDJJSS other than that tho the outfits ok but I do wish the pants were higher waisted!!! His shirt looks like umm the uniform for this one restaurant I’ve been to so that’s fun

rosho— I miss his glasses put them back please please they look good! I guess we got to see Jiro with them at the expense of Rosho???? Also I’m gonna assume he’s wearing contacts cuz. Anyways the outfit is? Idk? I’m not sure what’s going on here I don’t really know like I’m a little confused but at least it has a fairly simple color palette (and not TOO simple like Rio)

rei— now what the heck is this outfit what is going on here I don’t know what to think. I don’t. If he was gonna wear a cowboy hat why didn’t he make the rest of his outfit fit that? Why did he then decide to dress vaguely like a librarian and then unbutton his shirt??

**DISCLAIMER: any time I said “it’s not THAT bad ig” or anything along the lines of that it probably means I don’t actually like the outfit but I’m trying not to be offensive

[missanabanana]

If anyone ever sees this it'll probably get alot of hate, and tbh im not really looking for a discussion just trying to get this off my chest, but I don't hate the John Walker character from FATWS.

And it just doesn't make sense, up until he straight up murdered that guy I had nothing against him.

He got put in a strange new role that no one could guide him and no one knew the rules to it, and Sam being mad at him was petty, like you gave it up man, and yeah you thought no one was going to use it, so it sucks the military lied to him, but then he should have been mad at the military and brought it up with them not doing everything to undermine John walker

Which is another thing that is against him, not only is he in a role that he didn't choose, didn't sign up for, was picked for and as a good military person said yes and did his duty, but the only two who properly worked the first Captain America, and most likely have a lot of respect in the military treat him like garbage.

They are facing a threat that is international so technically avengers level, and John now has that clearance with the shield, and they are giving him nothing, and he is doing everything by the books and trying to be respectful but they keep treating him like crap.

So yeah he starts to crack, you see home become ruder and more curt to them, like damn I would too

Then he gets his *** handed to him, and the not even soldiers line makes me feel bad, like given this impossible role, and he doesn't feel like he lives up to it already, but then when facing threats he should be able to take down, like regular people, he still fails and that, that just sucked

And up till then i really had no issue with him, even the wanting the serum part, like duh, he's facing insane threats and insane expectations, like it makes sense, likes Sam you fly, and have an ai robot, ofc you don't want nor need the serum( love Sam tho don't get me wrong) and he has a Frisbee

So right up till then no issues, but he's murdered someone, and honestly haven't even finished 6 cuz im really mad at how they treat him, but yeah what he did was awful, but the way Carly murdered his friend( and also burned that whole building of people, that sicko) and looked like a scared baby (which they did for a reason) and then he gets upset by his friends murder and they decided to villianise him sucks

Im losing my train of thought, anyways, John suck but only and only because of the murder, and its not because he murdered a man but the how, it wasn't in the heat of battle, but he chased him down just to get revenge (and yeah his best friend died) and it was also a really cruel way to die

But other than that he was wasn't awful, and then on top of that how Sam and James took back the shield was disgusting and just brings back the feeling bad for him, like he knew what he did was wrong , they should've gone back to the us and let them deal with it, he probably would have, but they only thought of the shield and broke his arm

And yes he was dangerous at that point, and should disarm him, but still they did it awfully

Also if it was Steve, like still alive and someone had just killed bucky like that and he went off to finish the job aint nobody was gonna be this pressed, which I totally get, we know Steve so people like Steve, but i find people refused to give walker a chance from the get go and looking for every chance to villianize him and that sucks

It also sucks that this is how they are trying to make Sam captain, like firstly i think its useless because he is falcon and i think he is great at that and shield doesn't go with the look, but like they are obviously tearing this character down just to build his and that's jut lame writing, Sam coming into on his own would have made for a much better story, or even the guy being great at his job but realising he didn't really earn this shield and having Sam take it back would have been great

Anyways i don't love John walker, i think hes kinda a goody two shoes character, and those have never been my fave, but i think he was well written and could make for a great bad guy later in if this is how they want it, and i know that sounds contradictory, but i don't need to love a character not to hate him, he was kinda boring, so it was neutral at the beginning, and while i think he leans more in the good guy lane, a lot of great villians come from good guys, so while villianising from the get go is stupid imo because he really wasn't, but since the show so obviously wanted him to be a bad guy to make Sam look better (which is so lame- also again i like Sam) then they did it poorly, that part where he's talking to Lamar about their badges and he knows while he did it for his country it was still awful actions, was a great insight and could have definitely be used later on, especially after Lamar's death, like he's done all these 'good things' and at what cost, his conscience, his friend's life? And then he goes bad, that would have been so much more interesting to see

Anyways he's obviously now the villain and from now out i don't think there any redeeming, but from the get go? Yall was wrong to hate, or at least i don't think he deserved all of that hate.

Also side note to that Carly remark its sucks they villainies John instead of the real villain, and are trying to make us sympathetic to her, but again they want to make John the ultimate baddie in this, so they can't have any other really bad villains, which is in an interesting way to go, but again it sucks because this is how they are building up Sam to be captain America and again I find that weak.

Like i said I haven't even finished 6 so who knows how worse he gets, also this is my opinion regarding the show, not anything to do with how he is in the comics, idc if he blows up the moon in the comics and is the ultimate villain, in this show, he had real potential to be a boring good guy character

If anyone sees this please don't give me hate this is my opinion on a poorly written character arc, for a character that i think doesn't deserve half the hate he gets, i really don't want to discuss this but if anyone does, give me some constructive criticism not blataint you're wrong, also don't come for my spelling or grammar, i didn't care that much

[brishtii]

shims’ ASTRO - All Yours album review

Dear my universe 

very sweet sounding 🥺

jinwoo sing-song rap :D 

i can see it as a song i’d skip a lot but i still like it so im keeping it 

Butterfly Effect

kinda generic

wasnt a huge fan of the drop (?) would’ve liked the song better if it didn’t have that

not bad but just boring in my opinion

ONE

honestly love this song sm it’s so well done!!!

the ‘hah hah’ breath thing PHEWWW

super catchy and the like electric sounds/repetition arent abused which is my FAVOURITE because groups tend to overuse these types of sounds in their songs and they balanced it so well !!!

tbh i dont think jinwoo’s and rocky’s raps in here are my faves but rocky’s voice sounded hot so 😳. might need time to warm up to it

the dance looks SUPER cool and catchy

the MV was so good all of the looks were great, the purple ones are my least favourite but minhyuk looks SO good in that one. the rest of the fits thooo all of them look amazing!!! 

sanha’s leather jacket and chains look w the nose ring was so good uhhhhhh *blanks out* 

jinwoo’s cropped jacket *screams endlessly into an abyss*

overall VERY solid and catchy i loved it with all my heart

Someone Else

boppy !

LOVE the prechorus

love the bridge too omg !!

i liked some parts better than others, overall not bad but probably wont be listening to it a whole lot

SNS

omg so cuteee

vibey

MINHYUK SING-SONG RAP!! i honestly love his part here

did i mention vibey im vibing

All Good

THE WHISTLINGGG omg this song had me by the intro already

i love it so much you dont understand 

it made me feel happy :(

this has a very astro sound. idk how to explain it but this is a very astro song and i feel nostalgic listening to it

the bridge is so pretty aahhh

ik if im sad and i listen to this i’ll feel a bit better so it’s going in my feel good playlist <3

All Stars

okay big fan of this song

also has a very astro sound!!!! the magical sparkly sound again idk how to explain it

i love jinwoo’s part !!!

this applies to more than just this song but i love how they use adlibs in their songs it just adds ✨seasoning✨

omg the harmonizing highnote thing yesss!!!

Our Spring

AGAIN! VERY ASTRO SOUND

ahhh this is so pretty

i just feel so nostalgic listening to it

i would listen to this w my earbuds on a long roadtrip and just stare out the window

i love this song :(

broooo the vocals then rap bridge followed by vocals again AHHH jinwoo sounds soooo <3 and minhyuk too the buildup was beautiful the ‘annyeong’ then the highnote by mj yessss ugh love

Stardust

oh this is so pretty....

i love the ‘ohohohoOHoh’

they all sound so nice and relaxing :(

idk who did the little falsetto thing at 2:44 but omg. that was so pretty wtf

this is a very lullaby song. the lack of buildup would usually bother me but this is so nicely done

probably wont listen to it a lot Because of the lack of buildup (i usually need songs w buildup to enjoy listening to them regularly) but it’s still very nice i love it

gemini

im curious why this is called gemini so im gonna look at the lyrics later

also a very pretty song. im starting to think they put the slower songs at the end of the album cuz i went from feeling vibey and boppy to mellow like wtf is this. glad i listened to it in order LMAO

this is a lot like bloom !!!!! magical sounding but in a sad way...

mj sounds soooo good omggg

i love the piano bgm thing

the rap parts are done very well omg the emotions going into this song

did a gemini hurt yall 

the bridge is soooo nice omg :(( then the buildup into the end UGHHH yes so good so good theyre so good at bridges then fading off at the end it’s insane

OVERALL THOUGHTS: i think i’ve liked some of their other albums more than this one but it’s still very solid!!! i love how they’re experimenting with their sound but still staying true to their original style at the same time, it makes for interesting product AND less disappointment (i say this from experience unfortunately...), and astro just always makes me feel nostalgic w their music i dont know why. i may be biased because this group is v special to me but 🤷‍♂️ these reviews were given on my second listen so maybe my opinions will change over time but yeah. they just never miss!

[meldy-writes]

Luckiest Girl in the World (Daryl Dixon X Wife! Reader)

Context:So I have an alt AO3 because for some reason I didn’t think a walking dead fic fit with the fanfictions I had under my Pen Name’s account, but at this point, I don’t think it really matters. Anyway, there’s this Daryl X Reader fic I’m writing on this alt account and I’m at the point where I’m writing two ways the story could branch, and there’s this little scene from the path I didn’t take that could work as a drabble. If you like this, or if you want to read the fic for context, it’s here. Be warned, it’s pretty long.

Summary: The Reader has been with the group since the CDC, and along the way, she fell in love and married Daryl Dixon. Now they’re in Alexandria and Aiden, one of Deanna’s sons has begun to harbor a crush. He doesn’t seem to realize that she’s taken. (Daryl’s not really mentioned until the last couple of paragraphs, but I thought those paragraphs were cute enough to warrant this being tagged as an x reader fic.)

Aiden sat at the top of the fence with her, casually leaning back in his seat. The front legs of the plastic chair were off the ground, his feet planted as he rocked back and forth.

“You’re gonna to fall backwards, you know.” (y/n) stated.

“You worried I’m going to get hurt?” he teased, leaning even farther back.

“No. In fact, I think it’d be funny. I just don’t want your mommy to yell at me.”

He let out a snort and put his arms behind his head as he began to rock back and forth. She rolled her eyes, amusement dancing on her features as she eyed the back legs of the chair in anticipation. As she predicted, they eventually snapped, and Aiden promptly fell backwards just as she’d cautioned.

She let out a barking laugh, and a few people passing by stopped to look up at her as the flushing boy tried to shake off the embarrassment.

“All right, all right, it’s not that funny.”

“Oh, I beg to differ, that was the most entertainin’ thing I’ve seen all week,” she argued, wiping a tear from her eye.

“Then your life must be very boring.” He countered bitterly, his pride hurt just a tad from how demeaning her tone was and how promptly she’d always shut him down.

“Oh, no. it’s not borin’, it’s just not fun, either.”

He finally recovered from his little mishap, tossing the broken chair down into the grass below to be fixed later, and choosing instead to sit against the wall. (y/n) kept to her perch, eyeing the expanse of pavement in front of the fence gate.

“You know, if you can’t find fun, you can always make it. There’s a game a lot of us play when we’re on watch to pass the time, want to play?”

She rolled her eyes. “I gotta keep my eyes on the gate”

“It’s a talking game. You can still keep watch. It’s called The Worst. We each share the worst experience we’ve ever had with something, and the one that’s the most terrible wins the round.” He continued, eyeing her with a charming smirk that, despite his best efforts, she hadn’t registered as flirty, yet.

He was an attractive guy, and after she’d saved his life on that run, and yelled at him, they’d bonded. He’d even swallowed his pride and let her train him. They’d gotten close, and they were both attractive, sarcastic, and confident people, so he couldn’t understand how they weren’t together yet. No matter what he did, she always shut down any plans he tried to make to hang out alone outside of the occasional look-out duty, and she always spoke to him like she was talking to a child. A very stupid child.

He didn’t let it deter him, though. No matter how much it hurt his pride. She’d eventually come around.

She turned her nose up at his suggestion, looking at him like he just told her the sky was green, and she was about to gently tell him he was a dumbass.

“That sounds like a game you don’t wanna play with me.”

He asked her why she felt like that.

“Because you’d always lose.” She stated simply, turning back to the scene past the gate.

“Okay, you don’t always have to play the jaded soldier. This world is shit, it’s fucked us all over one time or another, quit acting like you’re the saddest sack in the world.” He scoffed, smacking her shin with the back of his hand playfully.

She sighed, shrugging her shoulders.

“Alright, then. But if this ends up bummin’ you out, you can’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Internally, he celebrated. This was the first time he’d ever gotten her to agree to something she initially said ‘no’ to. Slowly but surely, he was winning her over, he was sure.

“Alright, easy. Worst night of your life. Mine was that time I left that supply run group behind. Usually, we’d go into detail, explaining what happened, but, you already know about that night ‘cuz I told you about it.” He stated sadly. She’d talked a big game, so he was pulling out the big guns. “What about you?”

Let’s see you top that, Debbie Downer.

She smirked, sensing the challenge in his voice.

“A long time before we all came here, we were stayin’ on Maggie’s dad’s farm. One night, it got overrun by a horde, an’ everyone got separated. I was with Carol, an’ a walker fell on top of me, tryin’ to bite into my shoulder. She thought I was bit, so she left me behind, but I was wearin’ a real thick jacket. I was fine, but I had to cut it open and drench myself in its blood so the herd wouldn’t sniff me out and tear me to shreds. I had to slice my way through a sea of those suckers, an’ then stumble through the woods covered in gunk for a whole day and a half ‘fore I found my people again. That was the first walker I ever killed on my own. Damn terrifyin’.”

He was quiet after that, face white as a sheet as he shuttered and coughed awkwardly.

“Y-your turn to come up with a topic.” He finally uttered.

“Worst walker encounter you ever had. Mine was this time at a mechanic shop out in… It had to be North Carolina. A guy tried to--well, it’s not important what his intentions were, the point was that he had me handcuffed to one of those automatic levers they use in autobody shops to lift cars, an’ I was hoisted off the ground. He had the keys in his front pocket, an’ I’d managed to get his head ‘tween my thighs to snap his neck. I was tryin’ to reach for the keys with my feet when he re-animated. I was strugglin’, I couldn’t go anywhere, I couldn’t use my arms, the only reason I got out of it was ‘cuz he accidentally bumped up against the control for the lift, and his head ended up crushed under the mechanism. I’ve had a lot of close calls, but I think that was the only time I ever truly felt like I was gonna die.”

Aiden let out a low whistle, letting her words settle. Maybe she’d been right after all. Still, depending on how she saw things, his might still be worse.

“Mine was right at the beginning. My girlfriend was with us while we were traveling for Mom’s campaign. I left for twenty minutes to grab some lunch, and when I got back to our hotel room, she was a walker. I don’t know if she was bitten, or if she had an accident, or if someone… I don’t know. All I know is that I had to kill her with my bare hands just to stay alive. I... dropped the hotel room tv on her head.”

He shuttered at the memory, and to his surprise, he felt (y/n) place her hand on his shoulder and squeeze comfortingly. He grabbed for it, but she pulled away before he could.

“Let’s uh, choose a more up-beat topic,” he continued weakly, “Worst date you ever went on. Mine was this girl Cierra Mauldry in sixth grade. I kissed her goodnight on her porch, and our braces stuck together.”

She laughed at first, but a long-suppressed memory resurfaced at the mention of dates, and instantly she was somber again.

“A guy I worked with at the CDC,” she started softly.

“He’d had a crush on me for a while, an’ I’d just learned that my dad died, so I was in kind of a vulnerable spot. I said yes to grabbin’ dinner together, an’ takin a walk ‘round the facility. When we got back to his room, he wanted to sleep with me, but I didn’t. I didn’t really like him that way, an’ I didn’t think it was fair to him to string him along, so I told him ‘no’, an’ that we should just remain professional from now on. Next day, he didn’t show up in the lab, an’ my boss sent me to go get ‘im. I found him as a walker hangin’ from his closet.” She took a hiccupping breath, reliving the memory in her mind, and scrunching her eyes shut. “Worst part is I cannot, for the life of me, remember his name.”

They were both quiet after that, and soon, they heard Spencer calling up to relieve (y/n) from her shift. She grinned sympathetically down and Aiden, and gave him the goodbye of:

“Told you it was a bad game to play with me.”

Still, when she got up, he scrambled to his feet as well grabbing her arm to stop her before she made her way down the ladder.

“Well, hey, I still had fun. I got to know you a bit better. I’d like to continue doing that, maybe you could come over for dinner and eat with my family tonight.”

She smiled the smile she usually did; like she was talking to a slow, and simple child.

“I’m sorry, Aiden, but tonight’s not great. Daryl’s gotten kind of close with his recruitn’ buddy, and his husband wants us to come to dinner tonight so he can finally properly meet me.”

Aiden scrunched up his eyes in confusion.

“What? What does Daryl getting close with them have to do with you? If they wanted to get to know you, couldn’t they just approach you without having to go through him?”

She smiled wider like he’d said something adorably stupid, as she clarified:

“I didn’t explain it very well, It’s more like a couple’s dinner party sort-of thing.”

Aiden blinked. What? What the fuck? Was she insinuating that she and Daryl were… she couldn’t be, right?

“You and Daryl are together?”

She nodded as if his statement was beyond obvious, “we’re married,” she corrected.

He squeezed his eyes closed, trying to picture the violent, mean, constantly dirty guy with the long, long hair together with the clever, beautiful, and secretly caring woman he’d been trying to flirt with for the past week and a half, but he just couldn’t picture it.

“How?” he blurted out.

“How do people get married?” she teased flatly.

“No, how did you two end up together? You’re so different!”

She smiled softly, looking down at her fingers as she began to twiddle them. This smile was different than any of the ones he’d reluctantly wrangled out of her. This one was genuine, and bashful, and affectionate, and dazzling. Aiden knew it wasn’t for him, and it almost felt like he was intruding on something he shouldn’t be just by looking at her.

“He an’ I are a lot more alike than people realize. We’re more alike than even he realizes, I think. That doesn’t matter though. These days, it’s not about whether you’re similar, or if you’ve known each other for a long time, it’s all about who you can trust and depend on. It’s about who you’d die for, and who’d die for you. We might not have ended up together in the old world, but in this one, we’ve got somethin’ strong. Somethin’ special.”

She grinned brightly, practically knocking the breath out of her companion as she looked him in the eyes and said, “I’m the luckiest girl in the world.”

With that, his grip on her arm retracted, and she finally made her way down the ladder. He watched her walk down the street and run into the man they’d just been discussing. He watched as she strode over to him, and gripped his leather vest, trying to pull him down for a kiss.

He noticed how Daryl grinned fondly and put his hands on her waist, placing a quick peck on the tip of her nose. He noticed how she leaned into him with her whole body. He noticed how the sun reflected off the ring on her finger, the ring he had not gathered was supposed to be a wedding ring until that moment. He noticed how soft Daryl was for her when no one else was around.

Or maybe, he was always like this around her, and Aiden had just been too absorbed in himself to realize.

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Comparing RWBY and YGO DM: The Handling and Evolution of Themes

Hey! Its been a hot minute since I last posted anything RWBY-related but Im laying in my bed right now and Im sick and bored so I guess we're doing this. Today I will do my best to analyze what I percieve to be the main themes and messages of both of these shows, or more specifically, how theyre handled narratively. Im mostly focusing on that part because, while these series do have similar themes and messaging, they are still a few things in which they are wildly different. And with that, lets start with this essay-post-thing!

1. Theres something we need to adress first

Okay so, before we can really talk about this, theres something I feel the need to clarify here: Neither of these stories was "planned from the beginning".

Now, I dont think a story being planned from the beginning or not nesscessarily makes the story any better or worse by default, however, it is still important to acknowledge because the way the story is planned is going to affect every facet of it. Things are not going to be foreshadowed properly, things are gonna be set up only for nothing to come of it, the story might drastically change directions, characters might act differently, etc, etc.

And, this is bit off-topic but, it's much better to just admit that the story was not planned than trying to pretend that it was. Like, there are a lot of reasons why I tend to be so forgiving towards YGO even though its not very good, but one of them is definitely the fact that, as far as Im aware atleast, the guy who wrote it isnt pretending to have had this big master plan all along and neither is the fandom. With RWBY on the other hand... yeaaaah, its kinda the opposite. From what Ive seen of RWBYs fandom, there seems to be this pretty popular narrative that everything was planned even though it clearly wasnt. Thats pretty bad and honestly lowers my opinion of the writers so much more than if they would just admit to not having a proper plan.

Like, I initially consumed YGO like this: Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, Yu-Gi-Oh (aka Season 0), like, a quarter of the Yu-Gi-Oh manga (I still havent finished it)

In all three of these we have the character of Yami Yuugi, or just Yami. Broadly speaking, he is an ancient egyptian gamer spirit who lives in a magical puzzle that has not been solved for 3000 years until this highschooler named Yuugi Mutou comes along and solves it, thus setting him free and allowing him to possess Yuugi and have access to the vague magical powers of the puzzle.

In Duel Monsters he's perfectly fine most of time, morally speaking. There is an instance of him almost murdering a guy and its a bit unclear what exactly happens to those he mindcrushes but overall he's very much a pretty good guy. In Season 0 most of what he does is set up these games for bad people, where they will go insane no matter what they do. From how I understand this whole Shadow Game, Penalty Game stuff, if you lose a Shadow Game, you get violent and intense hallucinations and you will always cuz yknow, gamer spirit. But if you try to cheat, which most of the bad people do in this show, you get violent and intense hallucinations as a punishment.

Since the two anime are generally considered two different continuities, its perfectly fine that Yamis characterization is wildly different in both of them. But in the manga both of these characterizations appear, basically one after the other with no real arc or consequences, for that matter. Why is that? Simply put, someone thought it was a good idea to try to turn an episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror manga into a more traditional, more plot-driven battle shounen. From what Ive heard, it was apparently largely because of network interference or something, but the point is, it changed directions incredibly drastically with little planning and everyone knows this and I can understand that for the most part.

In RWBY we have the character of Blake Belladonna, who, in the first 3 volumes/seasons atleast, was this aloof, more toned down loner-type character with a pretty strong sense of justice. She's an in-universe marginilized racial minority and she clearly cares about racial injustice. The way its initially framed makes it seem like she had a very hard life and no stable support system, which is what eventually pushed her to join a Civil Rights group/Terrorist organization (good god, the Faunus subplot is so awful, I could write a whole essay about it but Im already de-railing rn so I'll just save that for later).

Then, in volumes 4-5 it turns out her father is actually like, the mayor or chief of this island-place called Menagerie and she grew up in this big mansion with multiple guards/servants. Oh and also, apparently "space is a commodity" on there, so theres that. She still retains large parts of her personality but she's kinda like, worse somehow I think. I cant really describe it in a meaningful way but I hope you get what Im saying anyway. Then in Volume 6 she confronted her emotional abuser Adam (sorry for not mentioning him sooner but yeah, he was like, her abusive boyfriend, which is something that a lot of people disagree with but I wont really say anything about it either way because I dont really feel any specific way) with her friend, Yang, and ended up killing him.

After all that, she pretty much lost the rest of her personality, as well as her arc about all the Faunus stuff. She just kinda became the meek, generically nice, recovering abuse victim. Why? Well, the actual reason is that they didnt plan out shit and are just kinda flying by the seat of their oversized clown-pants and if they and the fandom just admitted it, I would have less of an issue. I still wouldnt be as forgiving towards RWBY as I am towards YGO because the crux of the issue, for me, is just that I dont particulary like RWBY but also like. Do you really expect me to take MKEK seriously as writers after admitting to not have a timeline because iT wOuLd CaUsE pLoThOlEs?

However, since they want us to believe that everything was planned out from the beginning, the explaination would be.... Idk, they deliberately butchered one of their main characters?? Because.. they hate her?? Maybe????

So yeah, that was quite a detour however, I would like you to keep this mind going forward.

2. Themes of the Early Series'

First, what do mean by 'Early Series' for both of these shows respectively? Well, for YGO that would have to be Season 0 or if youre reading the manga, everything pre-Duelist Kingdom. Basically, the part of the series thats a episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror series.

For RWBY that would be the first three Volumes, also known as the Poser-Era. Back then it was just kinda an action series that took place at Anime Warrior Academy (also known as Beacon) with some pretty bare minimum worldbuilding, character-driven plots and developments but now its more of an epic high-fantasy story with more of an emphasis on plot as opposed to just action.

The themes and messages in Early YGO are kinda vague, very confusing to me and if you were to follow any of it literally that would be pretty bad. For now Im just gonna say the main themes are Friendship and Identity and mostly focus on the Identity aspect.

Now, it took me a little while to figure out RWBYs deal but I think the main themes for Volumes 1-3 are also Friendship and Heroism. Once again, I'll mostly focus on Heroism and touch on Friendship more briefly later.

I dont have much more to add to YGOs themes right now, so I'll briefly go over Heroism in RWBY.

In RWBYs setting there are these man-eating monsters called Grimm that have basically infected the planet. In order to deal with that, they have people called huntsmen and huntresses that kill them and protect people. Theyre trained at special academies like Beacon and go on missions there and stuff like that. Our four main characters, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, are training to become huntresses and one day they go on this mission to clean up a grimm infested city block with one of their teachers. Obviously, that takes a long time so they have to camp out in one of the empty houses. Weiss, Blake and Yang cant sleep because theyve been thinking about this question that their teacher asked them when they were fighting grimm: "Why do you want to become a huntress?"

They have a heart to heart and we find out about their motivations; Weiss wants to bring honour back to her family, Blake want to distance herself from the White Fang (that terrorist organization I mentioned earlier) and as an extension from Adam, Yang wants to have a life of adventure. They also talk about why Ruby wants to be a huntress and it turns out that she judt wants to help people. Unlike the others, she has no motivation besides that. We're meant to listen to that and look at her as a sort-of personification of Heroism: kind, but not naive, strong and most of all, selfless. The others on her team are not portayed as bad for not being like Ruby by any means but we are clearly meant to admire her the most out of all of them.

Okay, now comes the part Ive been looking forward to the most:

3. How did these themes evolve in the Modern Series'?

Alright, before we can really delve into the way they evolved in YGO I'll have to give you a brief summary of the character progression. At the start of DM, during the Duelist Kingdom arc, Yami Yuugi is just that; A darker Yuugi. Hes more confident, bolder, his voice is deeper, hes somehow taller, more ruthless, all that good stuff. Notably, he doesnt actually seem more skilled than Yuugi even at the start of this story, but he's still dependent on Yami. Yami on the other hand, has no identity of his own or even hints at one at this point. He's just The Other Yuugi.

Then during the Battle City arc, they find out that Yami was actually a pharao prior to being sealed in the puzzle, he just didnt know because of amnesia, I guess. So now they need to find out his real name and then send him to the afterlife because hes meant to be dead, but not before saving the world from being swallowed by darkness, which is also a thing they have to do now.

Then we finally get to the Memory World arc, where Yami, Yuugi and the rest of the gang astralproject to ancient egypt via puzzle magic. Yami is trying to figure out what the hell is going on and who all these familiar people are, while Yuugi & Co are trying their best to help him. Then some weird shit happens and it turns out that all of that is not just Yamis sealed away memories, but also a giant D&D Shadow Game that will destroy the world if Yami loses. So now theres Pharao!Yami who is still clueless on the metaphorical and literal playing field and Player!Yami, who is kinda controlling himself now? I guess?? Yamis opponent, The Spirit of The Ring, has something similar to that going on where hes both controlling and properly participating in the game. So Player!Yami is now fighting against Player!TSoTR, Pharao!Yami is now fighting against Thief King Bakura (who is like, the human, ancient egyptian version of the Ring Spirit) and Yuugi is now fighting against Yami Bakura (who is like, the human, modern japanese version of the Ring Spirit). Yuugi gets Yamis real name, he and the gang go over to Pharao!Yami and tell him his name, meanwhile Player!Yami is also somehow helping as well and they defeat the Ring Spirit, thus saving the world. Then they travel to modern Egypt, the Ceremonial Duel happens and Yuugi wins, sending Yami to the Afterlife where he can finally rest and that was the series!

I originally wanted to recount the stuff that was going on with the Ring Spirit and his host as well because they parallel eachother, but this summary is already far too long and I think youll get the point without me needing to explain any more.

My point here is, that the story went from being vaguely about Identity, maybe? to being very clearly about Self-Discovery and Learning to Be Independent. I think this is a very good way to evolve the messaging of your story. How does RWBY track on that?

Well, uh... its not great. I will acknowledge that they have tried to introduce new themes and ideas since, even though I wont really be talking about them in this post. But yeah, the whole Heroism thing really regressed.

Like, I didnt explicitly say it when I was explaining grimm earlier, but theyre not going away. The grimm have always been there and people who sign up to become huntsmen and huntresses are effectively signing up for a job that will never truly be done, no matter what they do. Characters like Ruby and even more minor ones like Phyrrah have shown us that that doesnt matter when youre a hero. No life isnt worth saving, no grimm isnt worth killing, no criminal isnt worth arresting. Then, in volume 6 they find out about Salem. Salem is the Big Bad of the show, shes immortal, controls the grimm and is supposed to be very powerful.

What do our heroes do? They give up. Sike! They were just mindcontrolled by monsters or some shit, of course they didnt give up their mission (which is to bring an Important Macguffin to a city called Atlas, sorry I didnt mention it)!

But then they arrive in Atlas (which is llike, a city thats floating over another city called Mantle) and yknow, they do some plot stuff thats not really important right now until the city gets invaded by Salem and this big grimm army she has.

What do our heroes do? Well, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and some side characters are chilling, drinking tea in a mansion and Yang and the B Team were actually trying to do something, but even those efforts seem incredibly minimal.

Oh wait, I also forgot to mention that Ironwood (a fairly minor, vaguely antagonistic character up until now) wanted to lift Atlas even higher to save Atleasian civilians from danger while leaving Mantle vulnerable to Salems invasion.

What would be the most heroic thing to do?

A) Let Ironwood lift Atlas, get as much support as they can down to Mantle and save as many Mantle civilians as they can from the invasion

B) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas but then split up in order to protect both Atlas and Mantle civilians

C) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas and then dont do anything else

Congrats! If you choose C, you think exactly like the writers!

And I just

This is so mindboggling to me, I feel like I shouldnt even have explain how this is bad. And like, it wouldve been so easy to actually make them seem herokc through their actions, to make it seem like they did try but no.

I have never seen a central theme be this botched, how in the world did they do that? Why did they think it was a good idea for Ruby "The Embodiment of Heroism" Rose to sit in a mansion doing nothing, no planning, no organizing just ..... God, how are they this bad? Like, this doesnt even have anything to do with it being planned in any way, this is just straight up incompetence

4. Very briefly touching on friendship

The friendship is awful and its not solely because they all have the same opinions. They barely interact with eachother outside their designated pairs which leads to it all feeling incredibly hollow. Theyre also practically indistingushable from one another now, which is a shame because it wasnt always like that. Like, I dont think the characters were that well-developed in earlier volumes but they were very well-characterized. But now we've gotten to a point where you can literally copy and paste one characters dialogue onto another and literally nothing changes, it really sucks.

5. Some closing words

Damn, this took way longer than I thought it would and now Im pretty exhausted. I have no idea how yall always write these but props to you! I feel like this ended up a bit rambly but overall, Im pretty proud.

Please let me know what you think of the points I brought up! Id also really appreciate some tips on how to get better at these longer posts because I am planning on writing more in the future (not the near future, probably but yknow).

Thats all I have to say for now, thanks for reading!