#grands involvement in that is just a little stab for the fans who Know but ultimately does not matter

[peacereturnedtothevalley]

[has no right to say this since I went in with full context but I’m going to say it again] I think you can listen to palisade without listening to anything that came before

[folanoflimbo]

The X-Terminators (+ Illyana) playing DnD

(yes i am just cribbing the idea from the new mutants playing dnd post i rb'd, i just couldnt get the thought out of my head.)

Alison is the one who organised the whole thing, since she had been a big roleplaying fan for years before she became a big star and has been desperate to play with the others ever since she impulse bought almost every book currently available. She talked the others into playing, which mostly amounted to plying Jubille and Tabitha with drinks, and offering Laura the chance to stab people. She invited Illyana, but didn’t get a reply until Illyana just sorta… turned up five minutes before the first session. She’s the DM, which means she is constantly in a panic as she tries to tell her gigantic and grand story that she planned out while the others are trying to intentionally or unintentionally drive the whole thing off the rails. She’s happy regardless, but she does scream a little when Illyana kills another NPC.

Jubilee is completely game, if only because she knows if she goes along with it she gets free drinks. She’s playing a Rogue, mostly because the idea of stealing things sounded cool to her. She’s probably the most ‘properly’ into it other than Alison, she’s completely absorbed in every part of the game, the roleplaying, the combat, etc. Will still get completely blasted, but she is the least likely to drag the game into the void on a whim. 

Tabitha is still on the ‘DnD is for nerds’ train, but Alison gave her the puppy dog eyes and how could Tabitha say no? She’s playing a Bard, which actually means she’s actually flirting with every. Single. NPC. Alison had to beg her to not to try and sleep with the main villain of the campaign every time she showed up. Despite how much she doesn’t act like it, she does enjoy goofing around with her friends and she does kind of start to get into it by the end.

Laura has absolutely no idea what DnD is, and also does not care. She still turned up because she doesn’t really have any other friends, but she spends the whole time barely paying any actual attention to anything that doesn’t let her stab things. She’s playing a Warrior, specifically the one that came from the starter kit since she didn’t bother to make her own character and Alison had to improvise. Over time she does slowly get more involved, but she still pretends to be completely disinterested when pressed, only for her to reference a plot point that she was supposedly ignoring, when she does this Alison loses her mind with joy.

Look Illyana is kind of weird. She has a character, a chaotic evil (obviously) Warlock, and she seems to be super into the plot, but she will also randomly murder a NPC ‘because they looked at her funny’. Despite this she is genuinely excited to play, since she hadn’t played since she played with the New Mutants back at Xavier’s and she gets into it. She’ll yell, laugh, the whole nine yards, and then act like she never did any of it when the others point it out. When she gets to be dive deep into the ‘chaotic evil’ part of her character she really lets loose, and it usually ends up the best part of the evening, even if it is usually in service to her murdering an important NPC again. 

[watchyourbluesturngolden]

songs that make me think of vampy and why

this is for drea and leyla ONLY thank u

daylight- taylor swift "i don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you, i don't wanna think of anything else now that i thought of you" bc vampy loves her so much he only wants her 😔 midnight love- girl in red "I know I'm the last one you try to call but I always give in to give you it all" "your silver is my gold" bc miss chiropractor treated him terribly but he loved her with everything and would have gone back to her no matter what watch you sleep- girl in red this one is obvious: bc vampy watches bloodbag sleep :) also "the scar on your spine, you fell off a roof when you were nine" is all appreciating the tiny details about someone and that is definitely something vampy would do :( paper rings: taylor swift "i hate accidents except when we went from friends to this" line without a hook- ricky montgomery "oh baby i am a wreck when i'm without you" bc vampy loves bloodbag so much he just wants to be with her always 😔 dead girl in the pool- girl in red this one is kinda weird but i feel like bloodbag is gonna die at some point and then vampy will just be like "theres a dead girl in the pool (or wherever her corpse is laying slfjskldfjkldsj) i don't know what to do" and then he's gonna make this face

bad habits- ed sheeran bc he was just slutting around before he met bloodbag demons- imagine dragons dont make fun of me for this I KNOW but fr it's vampy renegade- taylor swift "you wouldn't be the first renegade to need somebody" he needs bloodbag 😔 starting line- luke hemmings i can't really explain this one but it's like how you always talk about how his happiness is overshadowed by the fact that he's a monster or whatever million dollar bills - lorde "theres nothing i want but money and time" and vampy has literally all the money and time :) solar power- lorde this is harrys hot girl anthem idk happiness- taylor swift "there'll be happiness after you, but there was happiness because of you" this is him reminiscing on miss chiropractor i wanna get better-bleachers "i didn't know i was lonely til i saw your face" "I didn't know i was broken til i wanted to change" come on 😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔 good 4 u - olivia rodrigo this is his fuck u song for miss chiropractor my tears ricochet- taylor swift "if i'm dead to you why are you at the wake" it's ironic innit 😌 what a feeling- one direction "what a feeling to be right here beside you now, holding you in my arms" please 😔 "everybody needs someone around" 😔😔😔 "but i can't hold you too close now" bc he has severe attachment and commitment issues :) all you had to do was stay- taylor swift "had me in the palm of your hand, then, why'd you have to go and lock me out when i let you in" omg miss chiropractor really hurt him 😔 king of my heart- taylor swift "and all at once you are the one i have been waiting for" bloodbag @ vampy 😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔 cruel summer- taylor swift "I love you ain't that the worst thing you ever heard" bc he knows getting close to bloodbag will ultimately only lead to pain for everyone involved "i don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you" bc he can't tell bloodbag everything about him even tho he probably wants to :( thank u next- arianna grande this is weird BUT if miss chiropractor hadn't fucked him up so much he never would have met bloodbag tear in my heart- 21 pilots again don't make fun of me for this I HAVE AN EXPLANATION "you fell asleep in my car i drove the whole time but that's okay i'll just avoid the holes so you sleep fine" if bloodbag fell asleep in his car he would definitely do this :( shape of you-ed sheeran "now my bedsheets smell like you" his room probably smells like honey and lavender all the time now and he's probably foaming at the mouth constantly cowboy in LA "let's skip the club, lets skip the crowd, i wanna take you on a date" bc they both hate clubs!!!!! "I'll hold your hand I'll hold the door bc that's how i was raised" he's a gentleman 😔😔😔😔 & burn- billie eilish "i'll sit and watch your car burn with the fire that you started in me, but you never came back to ask it out" idk for some reason this has vampy and miss chiropractor vibes take me to church- hozier religious trauma babes 🕺🏼🕺🏼🕺🏼🕺🏼🕺🏼🕺🏼🕺🏼 speechless- dan+shay "i'm speechless, staring at you standing there in that dress" love 😔 yours- russel dickerson "i came to life when i first kissed you, the best me has his arms around you, you make me better than i was before, thank god i'm yours" SCREAMING AND CRYING AND SHAKING tolerate it- taylor swift "i know my love should be celebrated, but you tolerate it" MISS ******** DIDN"T APPRECIATE OR CELEBRATE HIS LOVE MIA- anarbor "thinking about my life and everything i did wrong along the way"😔 lay low- josh turner for when bloodbag and vampy go to a cabin in the woods for a week and just love each other 😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔 who can save me now- anarbor "you stabbed me in the back" this one is pretty literal LSKFJLKSJFLKDSJ "you could have at least been kind enough to let me turn around" ouch 😔 dopamine- anarbor "i'm hooked on your dopamine" vampy and bloodbag ugh lie to me- 5sos this give me vampy and ******** vibes "i wish we never met, cause you're too hard to forget" "while i'm cleaning up your mess i know he's taking

off your dress" bc she probably cheated on him while they were together 😔 and he would have stayed with her if she told him she loved him, even if he knew it was a lie 😔 cotton candy- yungblud it's just a happy song with good vibes like bloodbag and vampy currently have :) small talk- niall horan i don't even have to say anything here pillowtalk- zayn "so we'll piss off the neighbors" chappy 9 vibes dancing with our hands tied- taylor swift "i loved you in spite of deep fears that the world would divide us" vampy rn 😔 once in a lifetime- one direction vampy will live a million lifetimes but he will only ever have one bloodbag 😔 holy ground- taylor swift "tonight i'm gonna dance for all that we've been through but I don't wanna dance if i'm not dancing with you" they've come so far omg 😔 since we're alone- niall horan "you can show me your heart, if you put it all in my hands no i swear no i won't break it apart" crying if i could fly- one direction "for your eyes only i'll show you my heart" rollercoaster- bleachers again i can't explain it but it makes me think of him 😔 so long- niall horan "so if we knew all along why did it take so long" good question bestie current location- LANY "i need your current location to be my current location" they're idiots in love and want to be together all the time 😔 why dont we go there- one direction "hey i don't want you to be the one that got away i wanna get addicted to you you're rushing through my mind i wanna feel the high i wanna be addicted" well hes already addicted to her blood so might as well like you lots- LANY bc they both have issues and can't say love lmao too much to ask- niall horan vampy though wanting love was too much to ask of miss chiropractor 😔 walking in the wind- one direction this one just has his vibes man 😔 heartbeat- carrie underwood "dancing to the rhythm of your heartbeat" bc vampy is obsessed with listening to bloodbag's heart (fan behavior if you ask me) idfc- blackbear this is vampy and ******** bc "tell me that you love me even if it's fake" city of angels- 24kgoldn "i sold my soul to the devil for designer" yes this made me laugh the woods- olivver the kid "waking up in the middle of the woods" "don't you wanna get out of here, out of the woods" flashback to when he was dead in the woods oop "you brought me down to the river, and you pushed me in, hoping that the white rapids would challenge my ability to swim" bc... she's a murderer omg this verse is talking about leaves and i'm freaking out it fits 100% this is crazy "You pick up two handfuls You tell me they're all dried up & dead You know that's nothing like us We'll live forever instead" just a little bit of your heart- ariana grande vampy bc he loves so deeply and completely that he will give all of himself to someone even if they won't do the same my strange addiction- billie eilish bc he is addicted to her blood :) cross your mind- niall horan this is vampy and ******** "love the way you hurt me and it doesn't even cross your mind" "leaving me in pieces (literally lmao) but i swear it's worth it every time" everywhere- niall horan that scene where vampy smelled some perfume or soap or something and it made him think of bloodbag 😔 everything makes him think of her now 😔 "swear it's hard to think it's hard to breathe when you're in the air" put a little love on me- niall horan "you're the only one i need" 😔 bend the rules- niall horan VAMPY AND ******** ALL THE WAY "i'm not saying that you're lying but you're leaving out the truth" heartbreak weather- niall horan "all of my life i've been sleepwalk living, running around the same bars i've been in, it can be so lonely in this city, but it feels different when you're with me" bloodbag and vampy 😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔 mr loverman- ricky montgomery "i miss my lover man" vampy is probably dramatic like this all the time now that they're official 😔 bad blood- taylor swift again, just for the irony 😌 vapor- 5sos "i want to breathe you in like a vapor i want to be the one you remember i want to feel

your love like the weather all over me" they're so in love like this 😔 catch fire- 5sos "all my life i've been waiting for moments to come" he's been waiting for bloodbag his entire life 😔 beside you-5sos "i wish i was beside you" they want to be together all the time 😔 black and white- niall horan "that first night i was standing at your door fumbling for your keys then i kissed you" ARE YOU KIDDING ME not in the same way- 5sos this is vampy and ******** just bc they were so toxic lkfjskldfjsdlkjf lonely heart-5sos "and i haven't slept in days" lmao ghost of you-5sos "my feet dont dance like they did with you" thinking about when vampy danced for bloodbag and what if they break up 👁️👁️ why wont you love me- 5sos vampy at ******** 😔 he just wanted to be loved 😔😔😔😔😔 fool's gold- one direction "i let you use me from the day that we first met" "i know your love's not real, but that's not the way it feels" STOP IM SAD last first kiss- one direction "let me be your last first kiss" i want them to be together forever 😔 truly madly deeply- one direction "foolishly completely falling and somehow you kicked all my walls in" bloodbag really snuck into his heart huh 😔 fireproof -one direction "nobody saves me baby the way you do" ugh 😔 long story short-taylor swift "clung to the nearest lips long story short it was the wrong guy" (or in vampy's case the wrong vampire) gold rush-taylor swift "and the coastal town we run around has never seen a love as pure as it" bloodbag and vampy are all i want 😔 no judgement- niall horan bc vampy would never judge bloodbag 😔 daddy issues- the neighborhood again im not even gonna say anything here new angel- niall horan "the touch of someone else to save me from myself" this is vampy 😔 god is a woman- ariana grande vampy after he brought bloodbag home the first time something like this- the chainsmokers "just something i can turn to, somebody i can kiss" ALL VAMPY WANTS IS LOVE sweater weather- the neighborhood idk this song makes me think of him all of me- john legend "all of me loves all of you all your curves and all your edges all your perfect imperfections" KSFLKSDJFKLDJSFLJSDKLFJDSKL i like me better- lauv "i like me better when i'm with you" she makes him a better person 😔 sex- eden "oh no, i think i'm catching feelings" vampy when bloodbag went on a date with someone else half a heart- one direction bc bloodbag completes him 😔 theyre so disgusting 😔 only angel- harry styles "turns out she's a devil in between the sheets" woman- harry styles vampy when she was on a date with someone else bc hes a jealous moron temporary fix- one direction this has chappy 1-2 vibes a.m.-one direction when they first started falling in love and he wanted to be with her more often 😔 something great- one direction "i want you here with me like how i pictured it so i don't have to keep imagining" through the dark- one direction just all of this song 😔 happily- one direction "you know i wanna be the one who holds you when you sleep i just want it to be you and i forever" 😔 electric love- borns "i can't let you go now that i got it" canyon moon- harry styles they're just happy like this rn 😔 sunflower vol. 6- harry styles "kiss in the kitchen like it's a dancefloor" "mouth full of toothpaste" when they brushed their teeth together 😔 adore you- harry styles obviously

[clairenvk]

r + e fic rec

a collection of 40+ completed reddie fics i’ve read on ao3 and loved; ranging from soft to cute to funny to ridiculous to angsty. you may have read some of this, you may not have, but these are all worth your time. if you read any of these and enjoy them then remember to leave a kudos and a comment for the author to let them know that you liked it!

✨ - Fav 😎 - fun/funny 💕 - Soft 💜 - cute (cute cute!)  🌹 - emotional / atmospheric ⚠️ - angsty ⚔️ - nsfw

💕 up off the floor  - kaspbrak_kid

“In a world where we can kill a fucking clown from space, Eddie Kaspbrak doesn’t get to die from a stab wound."

15.3k words. 6 chapters.

Note - the Most soft. tender. taking care of each other and getting together. this author also has a wip that’s a lot more sad but with as much Yearning as this one so i’d recommend you check their stuff out.

💕 And All The Time He’s Mumbling - monarchyofroses

“It suits you.” Richie frowned. “Huh?” “Being in love,” Ben clarified. “It suits you.” Richie smiled, then, so hard that it made Ben wonder how his face had not splitted in two. “I’m in fucking limerence, man.” 

2.7k words. 1 chapter

Note - ben and richie have a Conversation about the loves of their lives basically. Truly Soft.

💕 What He’s Mumbling? - monarchyofroses

"But. But that's what you do for..." "...A friend," Maggie finished for him, or well, not exactly for him, considering he was about to come out. Richie to God, if you exist and this is your revenge for my atheism, it's not funny. Also, you suck.

3.5k words. 1 chapter.

Note - coming out! i love the toziers. part 2 of the same series the previous fic is from.

💕 💜 No Mistakes - usnavi

When Richie Tozier tells Eddie Kaspbrak he loves him, they're watching Jurassic Park and Eddie's wearing his clothes like it's all meant to be this way. 

1.4k words. 1 chapter.

✨ 💜 Richie Tozier: Come Out and Play - piginawig

Richie Tozier: Come Out & Play, a new Netflix special! Comedian Richie Tozier is back after a very public mental breakdown. And he's ready to (over)share.

5.7k words. 1 chapter.

Note - My personal favorite version of this trope.

😎 Richie Tozier, an Apple Music Listener - plinys

Apple Music ✓ @AppleMusic Thanks for the support @trashmouth! We love to see loyal #AppleMusic fans! Apple Music ✓ @AppleMusic Also, in unrelated news, the #AppleMusic recommended song of the day is “thank u, next” by Ariana Grande.

1.2k words. 1 chapter.

Note - Post Chapter 2. I’m a sucker for fics involving social media. Also, this is funny and lighthearted and i love it.

😎 Retweet. - plinys

richie tozier ✓ @trashmouth what did i miss lol

3k words. 1 chapter.

Note - Post Chapter 2. 

😎 💜 ⚔️ Let’s Hear It For The Boy - sloppybitch

Eddie’s just trying to see if he’s not alone when he downloads Grindr on his phone. It’s by pure, terrifying coincidence that one of the first messages he receives on there is from none other than Richie freaking Tozier. Long story short: trashmouth;) (11:03PM): oh me, oh my. fancy seeing u here Eddie (11:33PM): holy FUCKING SHIT.

9.8k words. 1 chapter.

Note - Part 1 of an ongoing series.

😎 💜 ⚔️ Let’s Give The Boy a Hand - sloppybitch

After finding each other on Grindr and sharing a couple of saucy texts and a phone call that would make a nun faint, Richie and Eddie find each other in the clubhouse, and they... talk. Sure, they talk. Let’s call it talking. Beverly, meanwhile, discovers that none of the Losers have ever gotten drunk, and what’s being a teenager without breaking a few drinking laws? Ben has a free house, and Eddie has never been more afraid of a game of Truth or Dare in his entire fucking life.

24k words. 1 chapter.

Note - Part 2 of the series the previous fic is part of.

✨ 💜 Five Times The Losers Gave Richie Permission - toomuchrootbeer

The Losers keep trying to tell Richie something, but he's never been great at taking a hint. 

10.7k words. 1 chapter.

Note - anything that has all of the losers really present in their fics is the loml. some mentions of period typical racism and homophobia but no slurs, mainly mentioned for context of the time.

✨ 💜 Husband and Husband - thatsuperawkwardgirl

Richie gets the idea at the end of kindergarten, when the teacher has everyone do projects on their families. The class talks about how some families have moms and dads who are married, and some don’t. Richie being…well, Richie, he goes straight home and asks his parents why they got married if they didn’t have to. Richie learns about marriage and love, and comes up with an excellent plan.

7.8k words. 1 chapter.

Note - the sweetest, most adorable fic ever. couldn’t stop smiling. Part 1 of an ongoing series.

💜 A Good Husband - thatsuperawkwardgirl

Eddie sits in a chair in front of the principal’s desk, bouncing his leg anxiously--a habit he picked up from Richie, that annoying little twerp. Mrs. Smith is calling his mother for the third time in the last hour, and Eddie knows she won’t be picking up; Wednesday mornings are when she runs her errands and doesn’t return until late afternoon. This is the perfect time to get suspended, Eddie really has to pat himself on the back for that one. Eddie gets in trouble at school for fighting, and Maggie Tozier comes to pick him up.

2.5k words. 1 chapter.

Note - Part 2 of Married Life, the same series the previous fic is a part of. Truly so ridiculously cute it makes me want to scream.

😎 💜 light as a feather (got you and i together) - anniebibananie

RICHIE: why the fuck does eddie look so cute today RICHIE: his sweater sleeves keep falling down over his palms, like how could I see that and not think “I know exactly how to keep those sleeves up, just hold my hand” BEN: richie this is so sweet! BEN: but I feel like you didn’t mean to send this to me? RICHIE: This message will self-destruct in five seconds. [or Richie accidentally texts Ben about his feelings for Eddie and everyone gets involved]

1.6k words. 1 chapter.

Note - could not stop smiling the whole way through.

✨💜 the years go by like days - georgiestauffenberg

It’s Eddie he wants to get a hold of, though, and he does, tucking him under his arm, and ruffling his hair, making him laugh. He’s startled when Eddie looks at him with such happy, shining eyes. And, for a split-second, he’s tempted to kiss him right then, right there in front of everyone. He wants to. Badly. He doesn’t. He leans in, instead, and he smacks a loud, wet kiss to Eddie’s cheek, punctuating it with a “mwah!” He does it again and again. “I’m so proud of my little Eds Spagheds!” “Get off me!” Eddie says, laughing and shoving him away, swatting at his hands. AU. in the 27 years in-between, Richie and Eddie forget a lot, but they don't forget each other.

121.9k words. 4 chapters.

Note - make sure you have the time before starting this because i couldn’t stop once i started. god. really good.

💕 come on, come on - Chokingonholywater

“Yo, Eddie, play some music, will ya?” When Richie asks Eddie to put on some music in the car that day after school, Eddie doesn't think anything of it. It's a familiar request; he knows the passcode to Richie's phone, knows where Spotify is, knows what Richie likes to listen to while he drives. But what Eddie doesn't know is why, exactly, there's suddenly a playlist his name on it - literally.

8.6k words. 1 chapter.

Note - They’re in Love. and they have a playlist to prove it.

💕 sleepover - sleqnir

“You jealous?” Richie tilts his head. “Jennifer is kinda hot.” He’s referring to Ben’s girlfriend. Eddie’s face falls. “Oh. Um… no. I’m happy for him. I just…” “Want it too?” Richie’s jaw clenches. His chest aches in a way all too familiar. “A girlfriend? For yourself?” Eddie’s looking at him nervously. “I want… a relationship. I guess.” Richie looks back up at the ceiling, giving another millionth sigh. “Yeah, well… don’t sweat it so much. You’re not the only one.”“You want a girlfriend?” “I want a... relationship.” He mimics Eddie’s words.

2.5k words. 1 chapter.

🌹 ⚔️ the anatomy of a joke - crescenteluce

He trails off and Bev raises an eyebrow. ‘So, you being in bed together fits in there how exactly?’ ‘No, Jesus, Bev.’ Eddie says and Richie, horrifyingly, feels his cheeks heat under Bev’s suspicious look. Something needs to be done, so he plucks Eddie’s phone from his hands. ‘I am appalled by your implications, Beverly.’ He says sternly, trying to ignore the blood still not quite done rushing to his face. ‘I would have you know that I’d never defile Eddie like that, the poor man’s 40 year old and still a virgin and if I’d have the honor of-’ He’s cut off by Eddie trying to wrestle the phone away from him as Bev cackles delightedly.

11.7k words. 1 chapter.

💜 say what you mean (out loud) - Redburn

Richie can’t help it when something heavy refuses to leave his stomach, something relentless and daunting. He looks at Eddie and can’t help but want, can’t help but need, watching this boy watch the stars and thinking he would be happy to spend the rest of his life just like this, right here standing next to him. Or, Richie realizes he likes Eddie and promptly goes through the five stages of grief. 

7.4k words. 1 chapter.

Note - Good ol’ fluff with slight internalized homophobia and a whole lot of yearning.

💜 across the gap - sondersoflight

“You fucking stupid asshole,” Eddie says but he is smiling when he leans forward, grabbing Richie by the lapels of the ridiculous bright yellow shirt with dancing avocados he is wearing. “I’m the fucking love of your life.” 

6.4k words. 1 chapter.

💕 💜 Five Times Richie Kisses Eddie and One Time He Doesn’t Have To - multifandomtakeover

Eddie Kaspbrak is a little inexperienced in the kissing department and Richie Tozier is more than willing to help him out. 

5.7k words. 1 chapter.

✨ 🌹 💕 ⚠️ No Saints, No Sinners, No Devil As Well - saooharine

Andy Muschietti looked at Eddie Kaspbrak so now I feel obligated to repair the damage and make it gayer.

Following Richie from the sewer showdown and to the hospital with Eddie and the Losers Club by his side.

6.2k words. 1 chapter.

⚔️ In This Cold Heart - pineapplecrushface

The future Richie sees while he's caught in the deadlights gives him a chance to save Eddie. In the year afterward, they both try to follow Stan's advice. 

16.9k words. 1 chapter.

💕 💜 ⚠️ 🌹 Wouldn’t it be nice? - podcastalien

Richie wonders what exactly is supposed to be so great about being a kid as he tries to carve initials into the kissing bridge. 

2.5k words. 1 chapter.

⚔️ Men of Fall - kaboomslang

Do you remember? He watches his own hand slide closer along the armrest. Do memories transfer by touch, in this fucked up magic town? Remember, Richie, please, and tell me I wasn’t imagining things. 

7k words. 1 chapter.

💜 Any Man’s Game - tossertozier

It's two months before graduation, and Richie and Eddie can turn virtually anything into a competition. Even kissing.

10.5k words. 3 chapters.

💜 ⚠️ ⚔️ This safe place - tinyarmedtrex

Eddie asks Richie to pretend to be his boyfriend at his family reunion. What’s the worst that can happen? 

31k words. 14 chapters.

⚠️ ⚔️ Stay for the Storm - inoubliable

Richie and Eddie had become friends almost on sight. Since they met, most of Eddie's time in Los Angeles has involved Richie in some way. It's a little different, now that they're both famous. It's a little different, now that they're sleeping together. Well, to be fair, they've been sleeping together for a long time, but. No one knows, not even their friends. Eddie has been very careful about that. It's just not the sort of publicity he needs. So when Beverly calls him that sunny Thursday morning, the last thing he expects her to say is, "You're fucking Richie?"

20.8k words. 1 chapter.

💜 and this is who we are - sunsetozier

He realizes, suddenly, that being in a position like this meant nothing to him two weeks ago. At the time, it was completely normal, holding no real meaning other than comfort and tradition – after all, him and Eddie have been disgustingly cuddly with one another since they were kids, even though they’d usually bicker while holding each other close, much to the annoyance (and entertainment) of their friends. Now, however, Richie can feel his heart skip a beat in his chest, an undeniable thundering that echoes loudly in his ears. He can picture his younger self, as much of an oblivious idiot as he may have been, soaking in the warmth and the affection of Eddie’s touch when they hugged, shoved, or even just nudged one another. It’s funny, really, how much changes once you’re aware of how you feel. [In which Eddie and Beverly lie to their friends for five years before finally coming out, much to the surprise of one supposedly straight Richie Tozier.]

40.7k words. 8 chapters.

💜 hawaii hottie - sunsetozier

Letting his eyes flutter shut in order to avoid everyone’s gazes, Richie meekly explains, “I got another letter from Eds, okay? And I know he’s on vacation, doing all these cool things, and I know Hawaii is, like, super sunny and everything, but- guys. Guys.” He stops, unable to force out the words he wants to. From somewhere off to his left, he hears Bill say, “Spit it out, man. What’s the big deal?”“ There was a polaroid in this letter,” Richie tells them. He would be embarrassed, but by this point they all know how smitten he is, so there’s no reason to be bashful as he practically whines out, “And he’s getting hotter.” [In which Eddie goes on vacation and Richie can't deal with it.]

4.6k words. 1 chapter.

💜 He Came In Through the Window - mischiefmanager

"It’s finally happened. I cannot fit through this goddamn window. I’m out of ideas." or Eddie enlists the help of two other Losers to help fix his bedroom window, and finally spills the beans about what's going on between him and Richie.

11.3k words. 1 chapter

💜 Home - mischiefmanager

“Tooooozier-Kaspbrak residence,” Richie says cheerfully, holding the phone up to his ear. “May I ask who—oh hello, Mrs. K! How the fuck are you?” Richie and Eddie living together in LA, being in love and dealing with Mrs. K long-distance.

6.9k words. 1 chapter.

✨ ⚠️ hit me baby one more time - theappleppielifestyle

Richie reaches up a shaking hand and puts it on Eddie’s stomach. “Uhhh,” Eddie says. “Is this a bit? Is this a really inopportune bit? ‘Cause I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Richie, but this is kind of an important moment-” “What the fuck,” Richie says, not for the first or last time, and lurches forwards to hug him. (Or, Richie gets stuck in a time loop.)

11.1k words. 1 chapter.

💕 are we living for the feeling? - michelllejones

“You’re such an idiot,” Eddie tells Richie with a frown. He snorts at that. “Says you. Your knees are all bloody. You fall off your bike or something?” He asks, and for a split second Eddie thinks he can hear genuine concern in his voice. He’s probably just imagining it, though, since Richie’s only ever concerned about two things: his dick, and the size of it.“ So what if I did?” Eddie bites back, feeling almost defensive. Richie should be the last person teasing him about falling off of a bike. Especially since Eddie watched him trip over his own foot less than a week ago! or, Eddie takes a tumble and goes to Richie for help.

4.5k words. 1 chapter.

💕 what would they say? - michelllejones

And despite telling Eddie he would, he doesn’t go home—at least not at first. He isn't sure what wills him to do it, but his bike takes him in the other direction, past the Barrens and to the street, right to the Kissing Bridge in all its vandalized glory. Slurs and poorly carved hearts and names he doesn’t recognize stare back at him as he digs into his jeans and pulls out his dad’s old pocketknife.

4.1k words. 1 chapter.

💕 back in the summer - michelllejones

“What?” Eddie snaps, feels immediately defensive. “Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have something on my face?” Self consciously, he buries his nose into his comic book. Glares at Richie over the brim, frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. He waits for Richie to take the bait, provide some half clever quip that will catapult them into some sort of argument, as is customary. But the taunt never comes. Instead, he reaches forward—with a look in his eyes that if Eddie didn’t know any better would let himself think is almost fond—takes a curl in between gentle fingers and says, “your hair’s longer,” in a tone so tender it is almost unrecognizable.

1.6k words. 1 chapter.

💕 ⚠️ savage - inoubliable

Eddie Kaspbrak is twelve years old. He's kissed for the first time. And then kissed again. -- "You're bisexual." Eddie has never said the word out loud before, and it feels a little taboo, but it also feels like a weight off his chest. "You like boys and girls. It isn't weird, and it isn't gross, and you aren't selfish because of it. You aren't dirty or disgusting. You're Richie Tozier, and you're my best friend. I'm Eddie Kaspbrak, and I'm an idiot. I get it."

3.7k words. 1 chapter

💕 💜 Morphine - inoubliable

Eddie Kaspbrak is fourteen years old. He's a lot more honest with himself when he's drugged. -- They all crowd around Eddie's bed, their faces shimmering a little. Eddie has to squint to make out their features, and he laughs once he does. They all look so worried. Eddie feels great. "Oh my God," Stan says, at the same time that Richie says, "He's high."

2k words. 1 chapter.

💕 We Were Here - inoubliable

Eddie Kaspbrak is fifteen years old. It's the first time he kisses Richie Tozier. -- Eddie has a couple of options, here. He can pretend he didn't just realize what Richie has been trying to tell him the whole time. He can pretend like Richie is just being a jerk when he flirts and teases and taunts. He can pretend like they're just friends, and then they can stay just friends, and nothing will change. Or he can kiss Richie. He kisses Richie.

2.3k words. 1 chapter.

💕 ⚔️ The Ever After - websters_lieb

Eddie lives, and life goes on. Or The story of how Richie and Eddie sort out their shit and realize that they've been in love the whole damn time while they work towards their happily ever afters.

20.8k words. 5 chapters.

⚠️ In the Glow of the Vending Machine - sentimentalscribe

“I can’t believe that I’m going to live an eternity in hellfire over a hypochondriac who would probably make sweet love to his inhaler given the chance.” Alternatively: Beverly Knows way before these chucklefucks do. Alternatively: It's the '80s in a small town and having a panicked confession to your best friend is not nearly as fun as it sounds.

3.5k words. 1 chapter.

💜 😎 eddie gets grindr - BookRockShooter

I shouldn’t be doing this, Eddie thinks as he opens his phone. Is this technically illegal? he thinks as he clicks the app store icon. Well, it’s definitely fucking wrong either way, he thinks as he types grindr into the search bar. - Eddie downloads grindr and rediscovers an old friend - and crush - on it.

2.1k words. 1 chapter.

⚠️ confessions in the dark - BookRockShooter

Richie nods to himself. “Okay. Talk. I can do that. Hey, you know a trope in movies I always hated? When, like, the main character’s love interest is fatally wounded and dy–” He trails off, staring at Eddie with a haunted look in his eyes. “Well. You know. And, uh, the main character chooses that exact moment to confess their undying love? Like, shit, they’ve always got the worst timing.” He laughs, short and shaky, and Eddie thinks, Oh my god. “So, what, they wait until the last moment to say something? Isn’t that fucked up? Because, now, they’ll never have time to… to be happy together.” His eyes are shiny and, suddenly, all Eddie wants to do is wipe away his tears. Wants to help him feel better, because Richie Tozier doesn’t deserve to be in so much pain, not on Eddie’s behalf. “Richie,” Eddie murmurs, and he hates himself for what he’s about to say. “Richie, I… I love you.” - *fix it fic for chapter 2 bc fuck canon reddie is real*

2.2k words. 1 chapter.

💜 😎 head lights pointed at the dawn - starkmccall

"You do realise this means people around the world are gonna hear about how much I love your dick, right?" Richie says, tucked behind Eddie in bed late one night.

He can almost see Eddie squint at him. "That's not actually a part of the show, is it?"

Post-Chapter Two. Eddie lives. Richie goes back to comedy.

3.2k words. 1 chapter.

[dingoat]

A Kiss on the Hand

This is probably going to be the most involved of my OC Kiss Week pieces, hah, and comes from another prompt from @kaosstar (seriously thank you for these!!) - ‘A platonic kiss on the hand or cheek from Zim to Ahuska.’ I mulled for a while over how to let this come about, and once Kaos suggested Zim might want to compliment Ahuska’s singing, everything kind of fell into place.

It also gave me a grand opportunity to very gratuitously surround Ahuska with ALL THE LOVELY BOYS. I’ve borrowed @humanrevolt‘s Crow and @askshivanulegacy‘s Blakk for the occassion as well, I hope I’ve done right by everyone, ahhh, and of course this is only as ‘canon’ as everyone/anyone wants it to be.

If you want to read the tale (rated ‘C’ for ‘cheeky’) then carry on below!

---

Mar’an Crow did not understand his wife’s obsession with Pokemon Go.

“You can go catch real… like, real live, actual animals, any time you want! That’s literally what you do! People pay you real credits to do that!���

“Yeah but that’s not the point…”

“I thought that was one hundred per cent the point of the game?”

“I mean yeah, sorta, except it’s just fun like… it’s silly and nonsense, and doesn’t matter at all, and I kind of like that about it? Plus some of them are just stupidly cute…”

Crow did not understand. But considering their home planet was quite literally off the grid, he was willing to indulge Ahuska with a trip to Alderaan to participate in the upcoming Safari Zone Weekend. He trusted her claims that it was a ‘big deal’, that Alderaan was one of the ‘best planets’ to play on, and he trusted her, even if he didn’t trust that blasted Agent she’d be catching up with for a hot minute.

And so, having spent the previous day indulging in one of his favoured activities (white water hoverboarding over the Glarus rapids), a long sleep in and a gourmet breakfast in bed (they put berries on everything!!!) and a leisurely trip to the Alsakan Highland Wildlife Park in the morning (the vorn tigers had a three month old litter of cubs), Crow found himself giving Ahuska a peck on the cheek and wishing her a safe and fruitful ‘fake animal hunt’.

She laughed, kissed him back, and he barely even heard what she said while he took in the way her eyes almost perfectly matched the clear blue sky. “Mmm- what?”

“I said give my regards to Dahlia, you di’kut! And make sure Pexu gets into whatever mischief she wants. Only fair, since she couldn’t come to the park with us this morning. See you in a few hours.”

“Yeah, see you then. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

---

Imperial Cipher Omega Blakk was just Blakk, today, having shed his uniform and his mission objectives to spend some time, in person, with his long term Pokemon Go buddy and fellow Instinct teammate. He still wasn’t quite sure how he managed to let her talk him into it; face to face interaction with somebody on the Empire’s hit list was dicey at the best of times and they were usually far more discrete and brief when chance brought them into the same sector at the same time- usually no more than sharing a quick caf over a trade before being on their separate ways again. He wanted to say she was incessant, that she was insufferable, that she twisted his arm or blackmailed him into it, but the simple truth that he would never admit out loud was that he found her infuriatingly delightful.

She loved to tease him through the game, going out of her way to find Pokestops marked over Anti-Imperial graffiti to send him gifts from, barely restraining her giggles when she showed him one of her pokemon – one that was a literal bag of garbage with a goofy little face – that she’d named ‘The Emperor’. But she also squeaked with delight every single time one of her favourite creatures showed up (a little blue and white animal based off a vulptilla), and actually clapped her hands together with glee when he offered up one of his absurdly exclusive regional legendaries for trade, when she didn’t have anything remotely comparable to offer in return. He couldn’t explain why, exactly, but he was happy to do so.

She actually grabbed his hand at one stage, to haul him onto his feet with a whoop and drag him three blocks over in pursuit of a new rare spawn that showed up on the map. She didn’t hesitate to climb a tree (full of bugs and probably other things) with both of their datapads tucked into her satchel to save them having to enter a gated country club that required guest sign-in for non-members (something neither of them were particularly excited to provide) – to access an uncontested gym. She paused play for twenty minutes to watch an Alderaanian snow squirrel pick its way across a garden lawn. And she teased him relentlessly about the fact that his clothing looked better suited to an evening gala dinner than a day outdoors playing games in the sun.

Maybe it was the fact that she was so bright and free spirited that her constant ribbing didn’t get to him. There was something different about spending time together in person. Or maybe… maybe it was the fact that for once, Blakk had a plan to get her back for months of endless cheek.

---

She wasn’t a Bothawui-born Bothan, that was for certain. It only took a few minutes of watching her for Ziminder to be confident about that.

His line of work brought him into contact with Bothans on a reasonably regular basis, and she had a vibrancy and openness to her that one simply didn’t see amongst those more embedded in the naturally mistrustful, back-stabbing culture of the species, whose economy was based on knowledge, and power was held by those able to seize and protect the most. The young Alderaanian nobleman smiled to himself, as he stood discretely off to one side in the dappled shade of an archway artfully overgrown with flowering vines, slowly nursing a sparkling drink. It had been a surprise, when Blakk had contacted him out of the blue, wondering if he was free to meet up for an afternoon tea with some other new friend of his. A pleasant surprise, but a surprise nonetheless. He had been busy, but he’d never let Blakk know that he’d rearranged his schedule to fit him in. It had been far, far too long, and he had to admit that he was painfully curious to see what sort of friend might actually be capable of dragging the Agent out into the light of day, even for a little while. He had to guess that this Bothan- Ahuska- was a fan of his old acting work, and that Blakk’s invitation toward him was, in part, some sort of surprise favour to her, because he’d been instructed to hang back and wait until Blakk’s cue before meeting them at their table.

He thought that was tremendously cute, and was all too glad to play his part in such a gesture.

And so, he leant back and watched, bringing his tall glass to his lips once more, waiting for Blakk to catch his eye and give him that subtle nod.

---

Ahuska had been having a brilliant day. From the long, lazy morning to an entertaining and fruitful session of monster hunting, everything had just been downright lovely. Crow had treated her like a princess, and even Blakk seemed… somehow brighter than she’d come to expect from him.

She hadn’t really known what to make of his expression when she’d paused at one point to pick some wildflowers, and start weaving the stems of the stunning blue-violet blooms into a crown. Almost like he was jealous, she thought, though he went all odd and stiff when she offered one of the flowers to him. But he had accepted it, and pressed it neatly inside his wallet to stash in his pocket. She finished her crown, but wound up making it long enough to wear around her neck, and she still caught him staring at it a little oddly, from time to time.

She thought Alderaan’s Celebrity Walk was a bit of an unusual choice for them to have their afternoon tea break; granted, the place was littered with cute cafes amid the statues and memorials to famous Alderaanians from all walks of life, from war heroes to nobility to artists and actors and musicians, and she couldn’t deny that the place was an absolute haven for pokestops to keep an eye on while they ate.

It was just one of those spots that felt a little too tourist-catering for her tastes, and she would have assumed Blakk’s as well… until she saw the little commemorative plaque on the pavement beside the table he lead her to, and she had to stifle a giggle.

“Ohhhh, okay, okay, no, this makes sense now. Blakk, honestly, this crush of yours is way too cute.” She had, somewhere down the line, worked out that he was quite familiar with every work featuring the undeniably easy-on-the-eyes Ziminder Antilles, locally born actor who’d covered almost everything from commercials to holoflix series to feature length films. And so the fact that he’d want to sit next to Zim’s plaque was understandable and utterly delightful to her.

It also prompted her to start humming, and eventually singing aloud, the little ditty from one of Zim’s shows that she’d re-worked the lyrics to specifically for Blakk’s benefit (or discomfort, depending on who you were asking). She barely even thought about it as the words tumbled from her lips, while she stared over the menu in the vague hope that this particular café sold fresh donuts. “Toss a coooiiin to Ziminder, you big grumpy agent, you big grumpy agent…”

As she went on, she dared a glance his way, but was disappointed to see he wasn’t quite squirming the way he normally did. As she took a breath, Ahuska decided to up the ante, diving into a brand new verse that pushed just a little further out of the comfort zone than she normally dared to tread.

“At the e-edge of the bed, Face all flushed and red…”

She stood, grinning wickedly, all the better to add a couple of cheeky gestures to go with her words.

“He hammered and he-eld you! Now you’re giving him—" “Ahem,” a polite little cough from behind Ahuska cut her words short, and she froze like a kybuck caught in speeder lights.

Almost comically slow, the Bothan turned with her breath caught in her throat, to see none other than Ziminder gods-damned Antilles himself, standing right there in the flesh. Her song turned into a mortified squeak, and all it took was one horrified glance over to Blakk to catch that proud little cat-smile curling his lips for her to realise just how perfectly she’d been played. The fething Agent had set her up! Her ears hadn’t flushed quite so bright a shade of crimson since the time she’d walked in on  Nines and Lyrisal performing roughly the same act she’d been about to describe in song, and she found herself just as flustered and stuttering as back then.

“I um, ah, oh, uhhhh. Hi I was just um…”

“You must be Blakk’s friend!” The holo-star swept aside her fumbled words and took up one of her trembling hands. He’d heard every word, of course, as Blakk’s timing had been impeccable, and he too recognised the smirk that had graced his old friend’s expression. Quickly re-assessing the situation, Zim had cut in before Ahuska had completely disgraced herself and worked to set her at ease.

Ahuska still felt her ears burning as Zim lifted her hand with practiced grace, landing a delicate kiss on top of it. “I… ahh, yes, uh…”

“Ahuska, is it? He never mentioned what a lovely singing voice you have! It’s my absolute pleasure to meet you. Please, please allow me to buy you a drink…”

---

Crow paused for a moment, looking out across the open air café, bright and bustling in the early afternoon light, watching his wife laugh and tease. That Agent always made him uneasy, despite her constant assurances that he’d never sell them out, despite her unerring trust in him. When they were joined by another fellow, it gave him a bit of a start; wasn’t that that actor? That Antilles lad—wasn’t his House quite firmly allied with the Republic?

He found himself smiling, and more thoughtful than he’d expected to be. There she was, his Ahuska, giggling at a table with an Imperial Agent on one side and a Republic noble on the other. And she, like him, somebody who had rejected both, choosing a life free of the bounds of either of the galaxy’s major governments. And yet… yet… there they were, finding common ground, somewhere, existing together without the bloodshed and the ultimatums that he’d become so accustomed to between the factions. Maybe there was hope for the galaxy yet, even if bonds were built one being at a time.

And then the light caught Ahuska’s ears just so, and Crow realised how flushed she was. He hadn’t seen her turn that shade of red since he’d had a certain (Completely tasteful! Absolutely inoffensive! Very flattering!) painting of himself delivered to her tent at the old Clan headquarters, so many years ago. Whatever had happened just now, she was embarrassed as hell, and Crow took that as his cue to step in and perform his solemn duty of deflecting attention.

“Hey there!” The rough cheeked, scarred Mandalorian swaggered over, one hand forcefully extended in an offer for Zim to shake. “I see you’ve met my wife! Aren’t you the fellow who was in that toilet cleaner commercial when you were twelve…??”

[mamamittens]

In honor of the New Year and as of right now, three people who have voted (3 for Yuki, and 1 for Emi and Joan), I’m letting you guys see character designs more in style for their respective shows with some more information! Remember, questions are encouraged and you can vote multiple people if your interest isn’t cleanly split!

Yuki is actually half Russian on her mother’s side! She’s also completely fluent Japanese, English, and Russian!

Her quirk is called Winter’s Aria, which has a base form of mutation but can branch out into an emitter and transformation type. In short, her internal body is nearly completely frozen, maintaining a temperature range between 27-29 Fahrenheit or -2.7 to -1.6, which is the mutation part. She has a health usage license to maintain her body temperature so long as she does not damage or injure people or property using the emitter properties of her quirk. The emitter part allows her to control the atmosphere and ice in various forms, in action this allows her to create ice and control these elements so long as they maintain a cold temperature. She cannot control water unless it approaches freezing or below. Her control can be strengthened when she sings, which she rarely does with an audience due to social anxiety, but can accomplish great feats. Such as creating a polar vortex, but it would require a great amount of vocal and emotional power to do so. Transformation turns her whole body to ice and lowers the ambient temperature as a matter of course.

Her quirk is a combination of her parents and their grandparents.

Mother: Frozen Heart (nearly identical to Yuki but somewhat weaker and without the musical part). 

Her father: Winter’s Heart (his internal organs are frozen and he exudes a cold temperature uncontrollably but can control and create ice directly from his body) 

Her mother: Seasonal Change (she can control the atmosphere around her in a limited function, usually generating winds or altering the clouds, which allows her to instinctively know the exact atmospheric weathers)

Father: Musicality (The ability to create a musical in his environment through song, often with unintended consequences)

His Mother: Perfect pitch (Exactly as it sounds, she can sing perfectly any note within reasonable human range)

His Father: Musical Theatre (He can compel his environment to become a musically inclined environment, though not always guaranteeing that people sing)

Emi!

This is her first wanted poster for the crime of stealing an emerald from a jeweler’s workshop that was owned by a Celestial Dragon to be set into a new necklace, hence the high price. But she absolutely insists that it wasn’t theft since the emerald wasn’t the Celestial Dragon’s in the first place. And yes, I am avoiding drawing their full bodies for the time being in the One Piece art style until later!

As a fun fact, she doesn’t actually know her name, so she simply shortened her name from “Emerald”. And as a bonus, she can create either two fans or an umbrella for combat and defense. The fans can create blades of energy and the umbrella can fire either a beam or shots of energy. I repeat, this isn’t a crossover with Steven Universe, but it is inspired by the ideas in that story. An astute reader will know why Emi is firm in her belief that she didn’t steal the emerald, but is very insistent on not showing her features unless absolutely necessary. No one knew she was sentient before this point and it’s not due to a devil fruit, either. She’s curious and enjoys fixing things, usually after taking them apart.

Joan!

This is her first bounty poster as well! You’ll notice that this poster has her name wrong! That’s because the marines mistakenly thought her name was ‘John’ and took her height and pre-teen frame as an indication she was male. The ‘Spade’ was added since ‘John’ is a very common name in the hopes of setting her apart from other wanted pirates who happened to be named John. The Spades did not take this well, though Joan thought it was humorous, so they took to loudly calling her ‘Little Queen’ to fit the card theme of the ship and crew. This exact picture was taken when she was pushing a barrel onto the ship. The bounty is exceptionally low for the Grand Line and the Spade crew at the time, because her position on the crew was unknown and she hadn’t been seen fighting in any capacity. Her position in fact being assistant cook where she helped prep and cooked herself from time to time, a necessity for a crew with a prolific eater like Ace on board. She also stuck close to Ace to prevent him from falling overboard or into his food when he has a narcolepsy attack, being one of the few who can manage not to be stabbed when reaching near his food. She does not willingly fight, but she does know some self defense from both her father and official classes at the private school she used to go to.

Her talents lie in the field of cooking and knifework with a soft spot for food sculptures and desserts. She is also quite intelligent and skipped grades in part because of her prolific height (as she otherwise would have stuck out in her classes to the detriment of her social life, which suffered anyway because of her height and appearance). She doesn’t have a devil fruit, but her curse personifies emotion into objects or physical transformations, of which her current one is a combination of hunger and fear.

As a New Years bonus, here’s the pictures I mentioned previously in the style of their respective shows! Mostly, I haven’t gotten one for Calypso yet since she’s not a wanted criminal, if ever. But I will have a fun fact for her at the end!

Originally, Halia was going to be called Joan too! But I decided two characters with the same name was a bit confusing and went with a Hawaiian name meaning “in remembrance of a loved one” after her late father, who died before she was born. Her step-father does not like her mixed heritage and her mother agreed to refer to her as “Hailey” on most cases so she wouldn’t stick out too much as a child in Galar, which only mostly worked.

Isabella looking appropriately classy and, as a fun fact, I didn’t realize how simple Ouran’s style was when I started this picture. Everything looks like it’s cotton and there’s hardly any jewelry to be seen, which is probably as a limitation of the mangaka and also because it’s from the POV of Haruhi, who doesn’t care about such things. So I literally didn’t have any easy to find references for silk, gold, or gemstones. 

And Isabella is actually childhood friends with Haruhi, as her godfather was a work friend with Haruhi’s mother before she passed who kept in contact with Ranka because of Haruhi and Isabella’s friendship. Isabella acts like an annoying older sister to Haruhi who is ready to spoil her, if only Haruhi didn’t object literally every time she tries. This includes wiping away her debt to the host club, which Haruhi feels honor-bound to fulfill despite the dubious circumstances, so yes, the plot will still happen.

And for Calpyso! She actually does have a devil fruit! The Lonely-Lonely devil fruit, which in essence, can make her unnoticeable. It’s considered cursed since most fail to control the fruit and die from natural circumstances, usually starvation or illness from going completely unnoticed by anyone. Like, one got stranded on an island with no food sources and another was accidentally shot and only had their body discovered after the fact. It renders the user a ghost of their world, earning her the name “Ghost of Paradise Lost” on her file in the Marines, and when utilized to the full effect, lets her walk through objects. With careful control and physical contact, she can bring others with her into this state, but they must not draw attention to themselves (talking loudly or touching other people) as the effect is lessened to a sort of mild ‘notice-me-not’ type of deal. But they can’t be taken with her to pass through physical objects or disappear completely like she can herself. She enjoys scaring people with her fruit powers and wears sea stone earrings when needed to ensure she remains mostly noticed in conversations or meetings, particularly if those involved have trigger fingers. She also carries a truly prolific amount of knives. Just in case.

Vote here! 

 https://strawpoll.com/uzvpd982z

[hashtagartistlife]

To take a break from the wdkaly bs (but not from the bl**ch ending salt), I’ve been mulling around-- I wouldn’t even call it a meta, it’s nothing so grand as that-- an idea in my head for a while now, regarding ichigo-masaki, rukia-kaien, and loosely, isshin-masaki, and the point of all three of those relationships with regard to the ichiruki relationship. 

I’ve always thought the ichiruki relationship is a miracle of a balancing act, for the simple fact that it’s clearly mirroring ichigo-masaki and rukia-kaien, and yet it managed to never be dictated by those associations. How many ih’ers have made the claim that ichigo-rukia is a mother-son or a mentor-student relationship? With a literal mother-son and mentor-student relationship being their parallels, you might think this claim has some grounds-- and yet, ichiruki are anything BUT mother-son or mentor-student in their dynamic. Kubo has managed to avoid them falling into this trap so beautifully by virtue of two things: one, Ichigo and Rukia don’t consciously, directly associate Masaki and Kaien with one another, and two: yes, ichigo-masaki and rukia-kaien are parallels to the ichiruki relationship, but the whole point of them coming up as a parallel was that this time, things are different, and therefore better. 

Bear in mind that the ichigo-rukia similarity to ichigo-masaki and rukia-kaien was obvious to us as third-person omniscient readers, but Ichigo and Rukia themselves don’t consciously look at the other person and think ‘ah, mom’ or ‘ah, Kaien-dono’. Let’s start with the Ichigo-Masaki parallel, which is pretty damn clear cut: it’s directly paralleled with Ichiruki in the chapter Broken Coda. HOWEVER, there is not a single instance in which Ichigo puts Rukia up next to his mom and thinks that they are similar. In fact, in-narrative, their symbols are different: Ichigo describes his mom as the sun, and while we’ve never had in-canon material regarding which celestial body Ichigo thinks Rukia is, word-of-god tells us Rukia is his ray of light, which is much more moon connotations (a ray of light offering hope in the darkness) than it is a sun thing. Sure, he does have his mom flashback moment with regard to Rukia in Broken Coda, where he narrates that he wasn’t able to protect... again, indicating he’s equating this failure to his failure to protect his mom. But note, what he’s equating here is the failure; he’s not equating rukia to his mom directly. It’s made abundantly clear throughout the rest of the manga that Rukia’s significance to him is unique and not due to some random similarity with Masaki. When Orihime is asked, what makes this girl so special? she answers not with ‘she’s like the sun; she draws everyone in; she reminds him of his mother’ but with ‘she changed his world’, an answer that clearly sets her apart from anyone else mentioned in the manga for Ichigo.

Now, Rukia-Kaien. The Rukia-Kaien parallel is a little looser, and a little more extended than the Ichigo-Masaki one. The obvious episodic parallel here is Memories in the Rain (and just to reinforce it, Rukia’s flashback chapters involving Kaien are called… you guessed it, Memories in the Rain 2). But here, if Rukia is reminded of anything by Ichigo’s recklessness, it’s not Kaien himself; it’s Kaien’s recklessness, Kaien’s desire for revenge, and her inability to stop him from going to his destruction that she recalls. Just like with Ichigo, she’s not equating Ichigo to Kaien – she’s equating her helplessness in the first situation to her helplessness in the second.

But MITR alone isn’t the full Rukia-Kaien story parallel; it’s only a parallel to the first part of it, the part where Rukia struggles with her helplessness and indecision. It’s worth noting that Rukia actually does not recall Kaien at all during the first MITR mini-arc; all she flashes back to is Ukitake, giving the speech about fights to protect life and fights to protect pride. The second part of the Kairuki – Ichiruki parallel is the Soul Society arc, where Rukia is fully convinced that Ichigo (Kaien) is about to die (actually died) because of her (because she stabbed him). And yet, note again it’s not Ichigo’s similarity to Kaien that she dwells on, it’s the guilt that she feels for both situations that’s most prominent. And so, Ichigo’s similarity to Kaien, physical or otherwise, is never brought up by her, never even thought of by her, even thought she has obvious reasons to do so. In this way, Kubo cleverly overlays the Kairuki storyline over the Ichiruki storyline but also manages to avoid the major pitfall of Rukia directly equating Ichigo to Kaien: ‘DOES THAT MEAN SHE’S ONLY SEEING ICHIGO AS A REPLACEMENT KAIEN???’ The answer to that is a HELL NO. Rukia has never approached and bonded with Ichigo as anyone BUT pure Ichigo.

The only times Ichigo’s physical resemblance to Kaien has been brought up was through the mouth of other people; Byakuya, Ukitake. And this is yet another clever way Kubo overlaid these parallels; Kairuki doesn’t factor into the purity of the Ichiruki bond, because Rukia hasn’t ever dwelled on it directly, but this is a nudge-nudge wink-wink to the readers. Rukia doesn’t think about the fact that Ichigo looks almost identical to her first love, but we sure as hell do. ‘This is the same situation!’ Kubo says, ‘only this time, he’s not married! How do you think this will pan out, hmm?’ Additionally—this part is a bit of a reach, but whatever, I’m throwing it in—canonically, Ichigo’s never once thought anything about Rukia that seemed even VAGUELY similar to how he thought about his mom. But Rukia has described Kaien as warm—like putting your hand into a sunbeam without realizing it. Oh wow, I wonder who else Kubo has called sun in direct relation to Rukia????

I know this might be a bit confusing, because I just spent two paragraphs explaining how Rukia doesn’t equate Kaien to Ichigo, but now it seems like I’m saying Kubo’s equating Kaien to Ichigo. He’s not. What Kubo IS doing is he’s established a situational parallel in-narrative, in that the characters themselves only ever equate the situations and not the corresponding characters directly—but by fully utilizing his and our awareness as third-person omniscient readers, he’s pointing out additional factors that might be interesting but not necessarily critical for the overall plot. ‘Hey, that Kairuki tragedy sure was a shame. Luckily, we’ve got a similar story setup in which it was resolved happily! Also, Kaien ver 2 happens to be super not married. Super, super not married. Lol not that it means anything. I know everyone keeps pointing out how similar they look but pfft I’m sure nothing’s ever going to happen there.’ Yeah, fucking right. This asshole.

….Anyway, that leads me to the actual point of my post: THE MAIN PURPOSE OF THE KAIRUKI AND ICHIGO-MASAKI PARALLELS WAS NOT ‘OMG LOOK AT HOW SIMILAR THE SITUATION HERE IS, CLEARLY THIS IS THE SAME DYNAMIC IN THE PRESENT DAY’, IT WAS ‘YEAH, OK, THESE SIMILAR THINGS HAPPENED IN THE PAST AND IT SUCKED SHIT FOR BOTH OUR PROTAGONISTS, BUT THIS TIME THINGS ARE DIFFERENT.’

That’s the whole point. The parallels in the past sucked SHIT. They were, respectively, each of our protagonists’ worst trauma and memory. But THIS time, by virtue of the fact that things are DIFFERENT, by virtue of the strong bond they forged between the two of them (WITHOUT ANY SORT OF TAINT OR SHADOW FROM THEIR PREVIOUS COUNTERPARTS), they rewrote that story. They overcame their traumas. This dynamic in the current day is healthier and stronger than their parallels in the past, because DESPITE the parallels it is a different dynamic altogether. 

Now, here comes the Isshin-Masaki parallel. Once again, this isn’t a direct character parallel; this is a situational parallel. But unlike the previous two parallels, this has BLATANTLY romantic overtones-- AND IT’S ALSO THE MOST CLOSELY FITTING, MOST DIRECTLY OBVIOUS PARALLEL IN THE ENTIRE MANGA. It’s almost a rehash, not a parallel. IDENTICAL SITUATIONS, IDENTICAL STORIES, GENDERS REVERSED, AND THIS ONE IS A LOVE STORY.  Once again, this isn’t dwelled on by the characters in the manga themselves, but to us readers, it’s a HUGE wink-wink nudge-nudge. ‘Look, here’s a love story that looks identical to their initial story. Only, oh, wait, it kinda ended in tragedy. We know these two have a tendency of rewriting their old parallels for the better - don’t you wonder what they’ll do with THIS parallel?’ 

(the answer is, rewrite it better together. because that’s what they did with their other parallels. but that’s the furthest thing from we got in the end.) 

And now, given all this so far: consider the endgame ships(ok, ONE endgame ship, only because Renji was so irrelevant to the overarching plot that he never got any meaningful parallel anywhere), which seem determined to mirror all these parallels DIRECTLY, and copy them as much as possible, rather than rewriting them or creating any difference from them. The biggest attempt I noticed to try and ‘justify’ ichigo -> orihime after the ending, by both the fandom and the official franchise, was by playing up orihime=masaki as much as possible. Her appearance, for one; the way yuzu comments that she reminds her of mom and wants to be closer to her for that reason. As the fans like to bring up, their appearance. Their bubbly personality? Her hairstyle in the final chapter, etc, etc. But the whole POINT of ichigo-masaki in relation to ichiruki was RUKIA WAS NOT MASAKI AND THIS WAS GOOD FOR ICHIGO. By trying to play up orihime = masaki, they’re effectively telling ichigo, marry your biggest trauma. stay tied down to it forever. There is nothing different in store for you. You don’t get to override it, to rewrite it. Not a parallel, but a rehash. In a similar vein, Ichigo was given the Isshin haircut, maybe in a weak attempt to justify IH by attaching it to the Isshin-Masaki parallel. Once again: rehash, not parallel. And finally, Rukia is back in the same position as Kairuki regarding Ichigo: married to someone else. Rehash, not parallel. 

The absolute IRONY and TRAGEDY that the whole POINT of all of these intricately built parallels had always been that ichigo and rukia are different to all of these failed parallels in the past, and yet, in the endgame, all they are doing is desperately trying to copy the parallels to a T and attempting to convince everyone that it makes sense because, look, parallel!..... is an insult not only to our intelligence and comprehension as readers but to the narrative itself, since the parallels depended on BOTH to work. There’s several things I’ve mentioned already in Bleach that have, in the endgame, regressed back to or even past their starting point-- the Sokyouku, the Kuchiki Clan, etc. And now, I guess,  we’re adding Ichigo and Rukia to that list - tied down to all their old, doomed parallels, with the emphasis now on how SIMILAR they are to it rather than how DIFFERENT they are to it; and thus with nothing to break them out of the looming tragedy this time. Fuck this ending. 

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**AN/Disclaimer: fdjskdjfh i said this wasn’t a meta and i honestly thought this was gonna be like... 500 words at most. but oops. this is meta. also, this probably isn’t as watertight as i USUALLY like to make my meta, because this whole concept of parallels is something I’m still poking at and refining. So I reserve the right to change my mind about any of my interpretation here. Goodnight. 

[xathia-89]

A Kimono as a work of art

Tagging: @plumpblueberry​ because it’s Yoshimoto. And @thequeenshuntress​ because she proofed for me. NSFW. 

The castle was brimming with life. Maids were everywhere, and merchants had been bringing goods to the kitchens all day as I helped one of the girls to carry a crate of sake out to the hall. Kenshin had declared an enormous banquet to take place, though he refused even to tell Sasuke what the reasoning behind it was. Everyone was getting excited since all of the servants and staff were invited to this one. Some retainers had grumbled initially at the revelation until the sharp end of Kenshin’s sword convinced them otherwise as all of the girls around the kitchens were giggling and gossiping about what to wear. 

“Lady Natsuki!” One of the maids came rushing over with the biggest smile on her face. “Lord Yoshimoto has sent you a present, and it’s waiting in your room. He said you would be needing private use of the baths before tonight and would need assistance to get ready,” the young girl was gushing, clearly enamoured with the beautiful man. She wasn’t even waiting for my response, grabbing me by the hand the second the crate was placed on the floor and dragging me out to the privacy of the bathing area. 

I hadn’t had a chance to stop and think for a few days, not that I had minded very much when it was evident how much the rest of the castle was looking forward to the grandness of tonight. I was shoved into the bathing area without a lot of grace, grinning to myself as I took the opportunity to have a bath without Shingen trying to ‘help’ for once. 

It was peaceful, the faint sounds of the bustling castle in the background as I let my muscles begin to relax under the heated water. I hadn’t realised how much of a sweat I had worked up today, and it was more than a little refreshing to wash the chores away before I decided to clamber out. One of Yoshimoto’s bathing robes had been left out for my use before I recalled the instruction to return to our chambers afterwards. 

What I hadn’t been expecting was the most beautiful kimono that I had ever seen in the middle of our room. It was exquisite, and perfect in every way possible, and there was not any chance in hell that I would do it justice. I was searching through all of our storage areas where my clothing was kept, only to find it all devoid of any other options.

“Lady Natsuki?” One of the maids stuck her head in and had plenty of things with her to deal with my hair as well. “Oh my,” she admired, “Lord Yoshimoto has beautiful taste,” she complimented before turning to me with a smile. “I wondered why all of your kimonos were in the servant’s quarters,” she laughed. 

“I can’t do that kimono justice!” I weakly argued before I found the young woman whistling for the attention of two others who were nearby, and found myself forcibly dressed in the luxurious material. 

My arguing had meant everything was delayed, of course, and the banquet had started without me. The boys were already tucking into sake and platters of food before the maids insisted on making a fuss of me to enter. I was flushing red as the whole hall was gazing at me after the doors were slid open, and noticed that even Yukimura was more than a little slack-jawed to see me in such finery. 

Shingen beat Yoshimoto to greet me, much to the annoyance of the Imagawa Lord. He looked prepared to go to war with his own family as Takeda was ungracefully shoved to the side for him to affectionately kiss the back of my hand in greeting. 

“You look beautiful,” Yoshimoto smiled. 

“You had all of my clothing removed,” I retorted, trying to keep the smile off my face as he was regarding me like a piece of art. I was failing miserably of course as Yoshimoto spun me around for a look. 

“I know you,” he shrugged, before sitting down and patting the seat next to him. 

Everyone was in high spirits, the sake flowing freely, and the food circulating well. The staff were able to taste more than just their own fruits of labour, as Kenshin had made it more than a little apparent that status made no difference at the banquet. For which, he was gathering many female admirers as he would pour for anyone able to stop his blade or convince him with words that there were more dangerous things about. I also didn’t realise how popular Sasuke and Yukimura were, especially when the two of them together it became quite apparent there was little in the way of natural charm and they both needed a female touch to their lives from the way the girls were fawning over them. 

Then I seemed to have Shingen’s attention. 

Yoshimoto had to leave me to assist with surgically removing Kenshin from his sword against his retainer, which the resident flirt took as an opening to chat me up. 

“You are a goddess among men tonight, we are not worthy of your presence,” he smiled as I sipped at my sake, raising an eyebrow in question at the man. Yoshimoto was usually stopping him before there was the slightest of chances, but here I was fending for myself as I decided to see what he would do if I didn’t reply. He inched closer, leaning forward to take advantage of the fact that the room was mostly looking the other way. “An angel that requires the touch to make her sing maybe?” He chuckled. “I’m sure I could make your singing more than a little heavenly,” he offered as I refilled my cup. “Your blushing cheeks say more than your silence, princess,” he shuffled closer. “You make that kimono look like a work of art, but I am willing to bet that you are at your most beautiful without any material.” 

There was no warning. A rib iron fan was stabbed into the mats and physically separating Shingen from me, a heated glare from molten eyes before my wrist was grabbed. I was hauled to my feet; the weapon yanked back before I found myself being escorted out of the hall. 

“I told you to rebuke him,” Yoshimoto was boiling, throwing his arms around my waist before kissing me heatedly. It was easy to forget everything when his lips were involved, including that we weren’t in private yet. His fingers were nearly as magical, already pulling on the collar of my kimono to merely touch me as my knees were already threatening to buckle under me. A moan escaped before I could stop it as his lips were tasting my throat, my body arching into his touches before the warlord abruptly pulled back. “Not here, you deserve to be worshipped in private,” he was telling himself off as he adjusted the fabrics to ensure nothing was showing to anyone who didn’t deserve to look. 

I was struggling to keep my body working. I was sure it wasn’t usually this far to our room from the hall, but then again I had recently taken to sake drinking competitions with Kenshin and would generally be passing out in the lobby before Yoshimoto would carry me back to our room with complications arising commonly. But all I could feel was the heat from the path his lips had been taking over my skin. The fabric had been feeling like silk against my skin until his touch had made everything I was wearing unbearable. The air around us would be too much as we finally came to our room. 

Kenshin had given us quarters far enough away from everyone else, apparently, we were frequently disturbing him when it came to Yoshimoto’s thorough explorations as the door shut behind us. His touch was burning me up; I needed to feel his as Yoshimoto refused to rush anything. He was an expert in undoing clothing, though he always managed to make it look too sexy and beautiful to be anything aside from art as he nipped at my lower lip in reprimand. He knew when I was going to object to his slow pace, my obi sash falling like a waterfall of silks to the floor. It was my main line of defence against him gone before I was already pulling on his clothing to remove the offensive materials between us. 

His slender fingers were cradling the back of my head, keeping me close as I could feel his skin heating against mine. One large hand slowly making its way down my spine. His tongue was making sure I was lost to his touch, playing me like his musical instrument before lowering me onto our shared futon. He refused to allow me any shame, covering up at the moment was a reflex habit of mine, embarrassed to be studied akin to artwork as his fingers glided from my back to my stomach. Any distance between us was too much as he reluctantly pulled back from my lips. 

I was already a hot mess, a whine escaping my throat at the loss of contact before his expression told me to be quiet. He was studying me, admiring me in a way that I could only describe as primal. 

“Such beauty,” he murmured, tracing a finger down my stomach before his glassy gaze locked into my eyes. A crafty smile, lowering his lips to my skin as he traced over my folds with the tips of his fingers. “I will ensure that even that horrendous crude of a flirt knows you are mine with your cries tonight,” he promised before his tongue found one of my nipples. My body was on fire; his other hand was caressing and teasing my breast that wasn’t under attack by his tongue, while his fingers curled in me deeply. Every breath he took was like watching an artist create, his devotion to his movements like a parent teaching a child as I felt my body coiling tighter around his ministrations. 

“Yoshimoto,” I breathed, barely able to do anything except grinding my hips into his hand as his mouth and fingers swapped sides. 

“I want to hear you,” he murmured, rolling my nipple between his teeth as his fingers began to thrust faster into me. “Sing for me, my beautiful bird,” he continued, a heavy-lidded gaze the only thing missing as my first orgasm was already wreaking havoc. 

I didn’t know where the sheets went as the night passed into dawn. I had spotted the texts that Shingen was ‘helpfully’ leaving strewn about, and I knew most of what we had done wasn’t covered in those books. Even after a night of exertion hadn’t put a hair out of place on Yoshimoto, and I wasn’t allowed to leave his arms as I was coming down from my latest high. He had cum in me more than a few times; the man had plenty of stamina as he barely needed any recovery time. His lips were lazily kissing at my bared shoulders and neck, and the only thing I was allowed to wear was him. His arms were firmly around my waist, keeping me where he wanted as the song of the dawn breaking the silence of the outside world. I was pretty sure that there had been a few times when I would have been heard throughout the castle grounds, and even though Yoshimoto was usually not feeling like he should ‘marr my skin’, he had also seen fit to leave some territorial love bites on my neck that would be seen regardless of what kimono I wore. 

“We should sleep,” I couldn’t help but shuffle, turning around in his arms to try and get comfortable for the task. 

“I suppose it would be rude to keep you up after all your hard work,” Yoshimoto smirk was tempting, and irresistible as I kissed him softly. “Stay there, I’m only getting the sheets because your naked body is for my gaze alone,” he frowned, realising the same thing I had. 

He made swans look ungraceful and clumsy as I watched him from our bed. He knew exactly where to look for what he wanted, before returning swiftly to his spot before the futon had time to cool. The clean sheet had been thrown over me, before he pulled it tightly behind him, not giving me a chance to pull away from his body. His arms were snuggly around my waist again, keeping me flush against him before his lips brushed against my forehead. 

“I love you,” my eyes were getting too heavy to fight and keep them open. 

“I love you too,” he nuzzled, sleep pulling us both under. 

[hitchell-mope]

Ok. Listen. This is going to be a rant. So I’m forewarning you. This is gonna get mean and there are going to be opinions in this that the vast majority of descendants fans will not agree with.

I like Mal. She’s my sixth favourite character after Ben Jay Carlos Doug and Gil. But I do not like her actress. So please assume that unless I’m talking explicitly about the movies (IE. Tagging descendants 2 or 3) the the Mal in all my headcanons and chats and au’s is a zendaya. Cause I vastly prefer her. I do not think Mal is perfect. In fact I think she’s as far from perfect as a Disney character can be short of being an out and out villain. That’s why I like her. I’ve been mad at her a grand total of four times throughout the films so far.

Love potion

Snapping st Carlos

Attempted memory erasure

Bal scene in the hideout

Do I like how bal happened. No. Not by a long shot. Do I wish they’d gotten together differently. Yes, in fact I’ve cut out the potion from all my au’s but villain ruled Auradon but that’s only cause I had evil Ben find out in part two. Do I think Mal made up for it. Yes. Do I think she can be a dick. Also yes. As far as I’m concerned descendants 2 was just a giant middle finger thrown up against Mal chucking everything stupid she’s done back in her face. Ben’s not a pushover. He’s sweet. He’s innocent. He can be naive. But he damn well knows where to draw the line. Mal has never forced him to stay with her. She left because she believed she wasn’t good enough. And if you look at her face in the d2 date. She looks horrified at what she almost did. And Ben more then rightfully yelled at her. It all could’ve benn avoided if she had just sat and talked to him or jay. Cause. I’m sorry. But Evie wasn’t much help. Yeah Mal didn’t articulate very well and Evie was most likely stressed with back orders. But they should have at least tried. And with regard to the talk with Carlos that wasn’t. She really should’ve worded it better. And he should’ve put the conversation back on track after lettuce hair interrupted.

I don’t like chad. I don’t like Audrey. I don’t like Harry. And I’ll tell you why. Chad manipulated Evie into doing his homework for him. Then dropped her like a hot potato when Audrey deigned to show interest in him. I’ve never liked these whole rich girl head bitch in charge type character Disney seems intent on putting in their movies. I never liked Tess Tyler. I never liked Sharpay Evans. And I’ve never liked Audrey. I despise the way she talked to Evie when they first met. Yeah she may have been right. But did she seriously have to say that to poor Evie’s face. I don’t like Harry. Because he’s terrifying. There’s just something off about him. I’m not sure if he was written that way or his actor chose to portray him like that. But either way I just hope he’s vastly toned down in the threequel. I will however give him this. I like that he’s very obviously a feminist and a non racist. My gripes against these three characters have nothing to do with my opinions on their actors.

Now on to Ben. Brilliant amazing awesome caring compassionate adorable horribly ignored Ben. He and Mitchell are at this point the only reason I’m watching D3. K-Chen is apparently not in it and she’s the only reason I watched the first one. Ben is the catalyst for everything in the movie. He’s the first person to appear on screen. His proclamation set off the plot. He willingly went to the island when Mal most likely write in her letter to not go after her. He is the freaking male lead. I’m sorry jay. I love you. But it’s the truth. And the franchise has yet to include a duet between the main freaking couple. Which is completely stupid cause Ben is probably who all parents want their boys to be. Chad is who they say to stay away from. Ben Jay and Carlos are the most important male characters in the franchise. With Doug coming up as a very close second

I don’t like malvie. At all. I didn’t mind it to begin with but the more I went on the descendants tag and bal tag and Ben tag I saw posts completely disregarding bal and Ben. And then I saw a post that completely assassinated Ben’s character. I’m not saying what the post said to protect all parties involved. But for me it kinda crossed a line. I love jaylos. It’s the only non canon pairing from the movies that could conceivably happen in canon without the two parties having to make a complete 180 on personality. But I don’t hate janelos. I’d like it to have more screen time in the new movie. I’ve got something I like to call the doctor who rule. You don’t see every single nanosecond of the characters lives. There’s six months between the first two movies. More then enough time for Carlos to develop a crush on Jane. Do I wish jaylos had happened. Yes. Have I accepted that it almost certain won’t because Disney doesn’t wanna end up the same as the muppets 2015? Yes. Will that stop me having jaylos is almost all my au’s. Fuck no. But I’ve resolved to also ship janelos. Cause you can’t deny. They cute together

I am not fussed about hades potentially being Mal’s father. In fact I’m kinda looking forward to it. This is because I used to ship Hades and Maleficent back when house of mouse was on. And yeah I know that in the books it’s said that daddy dearest is a human. But villains lie. And I personally much rather prefer it if hades was her father because if her dad is in this movie and he’s not Hades. Then he’s Facillier. And ABSOLUTELY NOBODY WANTS THAT. On the other hand. I’d love it if Facillier were Uma’s father. It’d be awesome

I’m a multi shipper. For Ben alone I ship him with Mal jay Jane Lonnie and Gil and even with Doug to a much lesser degree. But with Evie. I just can’t ship her with anyone but Doug. I can’t see her with anyone else. Yeah. I know. It’s awful and I’m a terrible person. But I’m so far beyond caring at this point. It’s sort of like romione. They work so well together that you can’t really picture them with anyone else. Which is actually sort of weird because if I were to assign a descendants pairing to Romione it would be jaylos

Audrey hates the villain kids. Uma hates everyone from Auradon. Apart from their justified hatred of Mal. They have got nothing in common. Yeah they might bond a little over their hatred. But one of them would probably ruin it pretty damn soon. Most likely Audrey.

The following paragraphs will most likely anger a lot of you

Oustside of Uma and gil. I really don’t care about Uma’s crew. They’re background character. And they’re far less important then the main five characters (Ben Mal Jay Evie and Carlos). I like Uma cause she’s a badass. I love Gil. He’s adorable. And he’s my fifth favourite character (the first four are Ben Jay Carlos and Doug). I’ve sorted my five favourites into order of appearance. And Gil was last to show up on screen.

I love Doug. He’s the only Auradonian with any semblance of brain cells. Sorry Ben. I love you. But don’t deny that you tend not to think with your brain. The only others that have any common sense are Evie Dizzy Uma and possibly Carlos. And yeah. I know very well that a lot of fans don’t like him. But he makes Evie happy. And that’s all that really matters

They won. Grimhilde, Maleficent, Jafar and Cruella won. Snow was poisoned. Aurora was cursed. Jafar became sultan. The puppies did get kidnapped. They won. Briefly. But they won nevertheless. Conversely. Drizella was little more then her mothers chess piece. Hook was driven off his ship by a pack of preteens led by an immortal twelve year old sociopath in ballet tights. Urula got stabbed by the boyfriend of a hormonal teenage fish. Gaston fell off the roof before he could finish beast off. So it does sorta make sense that Ben chose the rotten four.

I don’t read the books. Never watched the cartoon. Too many continuities to keep track of. So I only pay attention to film canon

[80srockher]

Yuri on Ice Re-Watch and Live Commentary, Episode 12: Final Skate: Gotta Super-Super-Supercharge It!!! Grand Prix Final Free Skate

It.  Is.  FINISHED.

You know that feeling when a fan-nish project is projected to take only a few weeks, during the Summer, mind you, but ends up spanning, oh, about three months?  I do, now.

**Begin rant** 

Me, too, Vitya!  End what, Yuri??

I mean, it's more than a little crazy that he thought this is something Victor would be relieved to here.  It's as if they have been existing on different planes of reality.

Listen. Victor has shed tears a grand total of two times in 12 episodes and both incidents involved Yuri.  Yet Yuri still doesn't think he’s important enough to merit more of his Victor’s time away from skating.  Just.  YURI. AUGH!!!

The actor's decision to read this line as if Yuri's revelation has not stabbed Victor in the heart is masterful.  There's only so much pretending the man is capable of.

This is hella relatable as someone who also doesn't want to be touched when I'm upset by THE VERY PERSON WHO UPSET ME.  Give him a minute to process this, Yuri.

This is just a horrible, horrible cap.  Vitya is thoroughly in kicked-puppy-mode.

Um, did you ignore absolutely everything else that occurred afterwards?  Including when he straight-up said to your face that he wishes you'd never retire?

Don't fire him, Yuri!

Yuri was really out there listenin' to friends instead of Victor.  How many times did Victor ignore the others' entreaties to return to competition to remain his coach?  Don't join that Greek chorus. Yuri.      

I beg to differ.  He's always concerned about your well-being, which is why you gave him an expensive-ass symbol of devotion and put it on his ring finger.  Good God, boy.

This inspiration thing goes both ways, Yuri.  LISTEN TO VICTOR.  He is telling you what HE wants In This Moment.  Not what YOU think is best for HIM.    

Like hell! You two hash this out right now!

**End rant**

Look, a skater who was popular back when I used to watch.  LOL.  Stephane L-l-l-l-lambiel!

So, sports reporter Marooka remarks about how Yuri hasn't been seen practicing in public since the day after the short program, which has worried his fans (see, Yuri, you have FANS.)  You mean to tell me Yuri and Victor have been at odds with each other for two whole days now?!?!

Cartoon!Lambiel picks up on Yuri and Victor's uncharacteristically low energy.

You don't say, Stephane.

Also: Victor knows Stephane, personally.  What a celeb.

At least flag guy has re-energized himself since JJ's short program.

"Don't eff it up."

"Don't eff it up."

"Don't eff it up."

He eff'd it up.

Wow, shades of Yuri from episode one.

Deep, bro.

Aww! The parents in this show are the best cheerleaders.  If only there was time during the season to meet all of them.  I'd def like to see Phichit's parents.

So, JJ's dad is reminiscing on some of his son's past coaches.  Celestino, then played by Peg Bundy, was one of them.

Also…. I'm really curious as to what JJ needed to say yes to.

Damn you, Mickey Lannister Crispino!  Hands off!

Seung Gil! What an awesome cameo.  

I don't know much about scoring in figure skating but this seems a mite high for a program that was mostly jumps.

Yay! No other comment needed.

Phichit's ice-show dreams are as adorable as he is.  Christophe with a hamster cap is utterly, utterly charming.  I would fork over cold, hard blood plasma donation cash to see this in person.

It shouldn't be like this between them; especially not when Yuri plans to end his competitive career, here.

And really, why is Yuri so upset with Victor?  I suspect Yuri's selfishness runs deeper than either of them realize. IMO, he's afraid Victor might come to resent him if he retires from skating to coach him, then regrets it.

But honestly, Yuri should know Victor better than that by now.

Despite everything, Victor is still trying to be the coach Yuri needs.

But… Yuri doesn't want Victor to play coach right now.

So tickle his fancy, Victor.

Um…

Victor has an interesting sense of humor.

Also, he did win the one against the teenagers at the local comp.  Though I have no idea if a qualifier is considered part of the Senior circuit.

Yeah, katsudon's not the only way to celebrate, Yuri.  Victor wants to really give you something worth winning for.

This is just an R&B song waiting to happen.

Hmm… whatever could you mean, Yuri?

I really love how they've cut Yuri's long program with clips of Victor from Yuri's memory.  It's a visual culmination of a journey.

Ahh, that's what he meant about making up his mind about his goal.  And that's why he wanted Victor to stop playing at being coach.  Because he wasn't going to listen to him, anyway.  You know, the usual.

Yuri's internal dialogue during his routine reveals his desire to stay in figure skating with Victor forever and his fear of killing Victor's career if he remains Yuri's coach.  Victor… have you not shared with the man how competition was already slowly killing you? Might wanna do that sometime in the very, very near future.

Yuri… just loves Victor.  He can't always articulate how much, but he can show it.  His program is one big tribute to Victor and Yuri's desire to prove everyone how much Victor means to him as a coach and an inspiration.

And Victor gets the message loud and clear.

Mari+Minako are, yet again, Me.

Something I should've wondered by now is how half-blind Yuri can tell where Victor is standing.

The monkey-on-his-back that is Anxiety.

Seriously, you performed to the absolute best of your ability, Yuri.  Relax.  Relate. Release.  

Wowsa, dude.

Sooooo, Victor has just congratulated Yuri on his record-breaking performance and implies that he might come back to competition in the same breath he confesses his pride in both his pupils.  The possibility of Victor's return delights Yuri to no-end but gives me pause.  A lot of pause.

Victor. My dude.  Are you just trying not to ruin the mood?  Because quite honestly, one of the very valuable lessons you should've learned on this journey is that a little selfishness can be a good thing.  I know you want to make a grand gesture after Yuri's grand gesture but YOU CAN'T BOTH KEEP MAKING GRAND GESTURES.  You'll hurt yourselves trying to show the world your love.  

Moving on... Chris is on the ice, having serious thoughts about how Yuri, who was rumored to retire after the GPF, beat his personal best.  He laments that it won't be as easy for him to win gold as he first thought.

Then he witnesses the happy couple doing their thing.

And gets distracted.  

This is in regards to Victor.  Chris is rethinking his initial calculation of GPF - Victor = gold for him.

Aww, Chris is Phichit's buddy.  Why am I not surprised?

This scene is after Chris decides to change an earlier jump composition to the second half of his program.  Can't say he's not a fighter.

Dawww, Minako.

Really? That's it?!  By my estimation, that program was better than JJ's.  What am I missing?

Boo, this is the last time I'll see my babe, Leo.

But I concur.  Go, Otabek! I'm fond of his music choices, skating, and his costumes.  

So, Victor finds Yakov to tell him he wants to return to competition.  I mean, it couldn’t have waited until after Yurio’s skate, V?

Once upon a time, news of Victor's return may have pleased Yurio.  Now, his first concern is Yuri.  

And Victor is Not.  Happy. About this.  He’s about to cry here, tbqh.

Annnnd he requires immediate comfort.  This is sad. More than sad, when I consider Victor is letting Yuri call the shots, here.  Competing again should be Victor's own decision, as well.

Yeah, that's good advice to pass along, Victor.

I've been debating as to whether or not I should parse out the intricacies of Victor's isolation.  Honestly, I think the writers did a well-enough job of it.  I suppose I still wonder, as many others have, about his family.

I'll go out on a limb and assume he has or had people in his life that taught him to love like he does and to treat other people kindly.  One doesn't learn those sorts of things in a vacuum.  However, I headcanon Victor as having been scouted and, once recruited, moved closer to a training facility, a la these athletes.

So, isolated?  Yes. Friend-less and family-less?  I doubt it, or at least it wasn't always that way.

Meanwhile, Yuri's looking for his man.  Perhaps to tell him that he's already changed his mind about retiring?  In that case, please, look harder Yuri!

Just needed to slide in this cap of Mila getting sprung by Otabek's skating.  Good taste, Mila.

I don't know who JJ has in his pocket on the judging panel, but Otabek just completed a perfect program AND he was ahead of JJ after the short program.  Logic would dictate he'd be ahead of JJ now. But, do as you will, YOI.

This is in regards to Yuri.  In flashbacks during Yurio's routine, we discover that he was actually impressed with Yuri's prior GPF free skate, despite the errors.  It was only after he found Yuri crying in the bathroom stall that he lost respect for him.  Must be Yurio's special brand of encouragement: "Stop crying, get better, or get out of the game!"  Yeah. That must be it.

Anyway, now Yurio has changed his tune and doesn't want Yuri to retire, at all. Cute.

Lilia is so proud of her angry, pseudo- son.

 Yurio completes his most difficult program ever with only one fall.  During his skate, it's revealed that part of his motivation was to become a new goal for Yuri to surpass.  That's nice and all, but not at the expense of your own health, Yurio.

I don't think Yuri would want that for him, either.

Yurio defeats Yuri by a sliver of a margin.  I will admit to initially being surprised by the result before considering (and re-considering, after this re-watch) a few things:

Yurio won because it's entirely possible he may not win again for at least a little while.

His lack of stamina is well-documented, he's in the Senior circuit with grown men who can, and have, beat him already, and he's yet to hit a growth spurt. If the series continues into a second season, then I foresee the writers exploring these very realistic scenarios for Yurio.

This is partially why I don't predict Yurio achieving what Victor has, at least not right away.  There's not enough drama in that narrative to fill up an entire season, IMO.

Or, at the very least, they'll use Yurio to address the conflict over becoming as isolated as Victor has during his struggle to maintain dominance in the sport.

Yurio won because the name of the show is 'Yuri on Ice’.

Also, if the writers decide to have Yuri eventually retire (because he is of that age), then they don't even have to change the show’s title.  How convenient.

Last, and what I think is obviously implied in this episode: Yurio won so that Yuri would change his mind about retiring.

However… Yuri had already changed his mind.  And his biggest motivator in that decision was still Victor, so… kinda wish they hadn't made Yurio go out and suffer like that for no good reason. Honestly, there's little chance of him repeating this performance.

Anyway….

Awww! Yay!

So, Victor's in a teasing mood after Yuri presents him with his well-earned silver medal. Victor insists that he only wants to kiss gold.  So, what do you have that would be a suitable substitute, Yuri?

Eff that medal Yuri just unceremoniously dropped to the ground in preference to hopping in Victor's lap.  Coach me for another year, Victor!

What a lovely step forward for our boy, Yuri.  He didn't win gold but, all joking aside, Victor doesn't care.  Yuri’s next gold medal will be a token to Victor, instead of unnecessary proof that he was worth Victor’s time, all along.

Besides, I think he’s already given Victor the only golden item he truly wants.

But, I mean, only if you WANT to, Victor.  Are you afraid Yuri will change his mind if you change yours?  I hope that's not the case.

 Apparently, this is the only payment Victor will accept for coaching Yuri. Ok, so you're going to compete and hopefully earn some sponsorship money to pay your own bills all while coaching someone else for free?  Do we need to have a 'Victor on Ice,' a show about Victor re-learning the value of doing one thing at a time?

Roll credits!

How sweet!

The serendipity that is cartoon-world.  "I want to coach a skater from another country while also competing for my own country and you can't stop me because I'm animated!"

or

"I want to do a pair skate with my coach for my exhibition.  Know why?  Because the writers say I can!!  Ha!"

Anyway, this is romantic AF.

Cut to this adorbs face...

Running towards this one, here.

And yeah. WE'D BETTER.  Because their story isn’t over!

 The End!

If you managed to get through my all streams of consciousness, full of bad screencaps and even worse grammar, then I humbly and sincerely thank you!  I enjoyed doing it and hope you enjoyed reading it.  

[epickendall]

The Summer of Del'goxoth part 3

It was a Friday afternoon, the last day of school for Danny, Sam, and Tucker. To celebrate the freedom, they all railed at the Nasty Burger to hanging out. Where many of the customers in the fast-food joint took one good look at Danny and jumped the boat to have a chance to talk to him.

"So Sam, what are you doing for this Summer?" Tucker mindless asked if he hadn't even seen the stars coming their way. Finally, their food arrived, something Danny was grateful for.

"I don't really know Tucker, I heard there's going to be a poetry jam at a cafe in the mid-summer," Sam shrugged, a bit annoyed by all the attention.

"What about you, Danny? Any grand plans you got for the summer?" Tucker then takes a bite out of an extra-large cheeseburger, not caring if it spilled a bit.

"I'm hoping that I don't have to catch too many ghosts this summer, I just want to relax for three months with no school," said Danny, sighing. He was continuously exhausted from school and the people, not to overload with the ghosts.

"Got any ideas about the increase of ghosts around here, Danny?" Sam is genuinely curious, tilting her head at the question.

"Nope, I haven't had the slightest clue for the increase of ghosts, I search about every part of Amity Park for a portal to the ghost world that letting ghost into our world so far there was none to be found,"

"That sucks Danny, as for my summer plans involves paperwork, cutting a ribbon to a new store in the mall, and other mayor duties luckily. Today is one of my days off," said Tucker finishing up his burger.

"I'm surprised that you didn't quit being mayor after one year, Tucker," Danny teased.

"Yeah, me neither, if I had your powers Danny I would so go invisible every time my secretary got some boring mayor work for me to do," The group of friends laughed.

Then three girls came walking directly to Danny's table. It was Paulina, a pretty redhead girl, and a tall blonde girl. Paulina had been determined to make Danny fall in love with her ever since he and Sam broke up.

"Hey, Danny, how's it going?" Paulina leaned in, giving Danny a flirtatious smile.

Sam frowns; she thought to herself, "Great, what this bitch wants?"

"Oh, hi, Paulina, what do you want?" Danny forced out. He didn't want to spend his energy on this of all things. Why can't he just have a beautiful day?

"Me and my friends here are going to this party at Dash's place, where there's no adults and plenty of beers, what you say, Danny?" She pushed her chest slightly, her eyes roaming his face.

"That sounds fun Paulina, but I- uh, um. . . hero business to do tonight, I'm sorry," Danny was telling half the truth, as he does have ghost patrol for the night he also really doesn't want to go anywhere with Paulina.

"It's fine, Danny, unlike your ex here," Paulina motion her head toward Sam. "I could do anything you want, just say the word, Danny, anyway goodbye ghost boy."

Paulina and two other girls walk out of Nasty burger, but just before Paulina leaves the place, she blows a kiss to Danny she walks out.

"Wow, can you believe Paulina, you guys?" Danny half-joked to his friends.

"I can't believe that bitch really thinks she can have you," said Sam in disbelief.

"How long do you think Paulina is going to keep trying to get into your pants, Danny?" Tucker questioned.

"As long as I'm still single, she'll never stop sending me photos of her in revealing clothing," said Danny, a migraine already throbbing at his side of his head.

"Most ex-girlfriend wouldn't say this to their ex-boyfriend Danny, but I hope you find someone way better than Paulina," said Sam

"Thanks, Sam," said Danny

After hanging out with his friends, Danny ended up signing autographs and taking selfies with his fans as Danny went home. But before he got there, two men and two women, all wearing blue clothing, stopped him, they all had weird grins on their faces.

"Hello are you, Danny Fenton?" said one of the guys in blue

"Who's asking?" said Danny, cautiously taking a step back. He could take them, but that doesn't mean he wants to fight civilians.

"Don't worry about who we are Danny, we just got something extraordinary for you," said one of the girls in blue

"And that is?"

The second man stepped forward and declared, "We have an object that can turn you into a god of this world with all the subjects at your feet!"

"Great, I just walked some into nut jobs," Danny thought, "Yeah, no thanks, I'll stick to be a nongod."

"Child, you can't refuse this offer," The first man insisted.

Danny steps back away from the people in blue, already thinking if escape plans, "Freedom to choose, this is, after all, America!"

The woman who hasn't spoken throughout sighed in disappointment, "Very well then, Seth go get one of the unchosen."

Danny looked to see one of the guys, ran into an alleyway where a white moving truck waited. The guy opens the back of the truck to reveal a ghost fisherman! With its right arm, a mutated lobster arm and the other arm is a sharp hook.

Danny turn into his ghost form quickly, covering his view, he thought, "what the heck, how did they get some pet ghost fisherman?"

The ghost fisherman flies out of the moving truck, as he tackles Danny to the ground, he pins Danny, he tries to stab him with his hook arm. Danny dodges the ghost fisherman attacks, just as Danny blasts the ghost fisherman off of him, trying to regain his balance, the group of people was circling him all pointing their silver guns at him.

"Don't kill him; we need him alive!" The girl hissed at the men beside her.

"Why are they trying to make me into some sort of god? Don't they have better things to do?" Danny thought.

Danny quickly shoots the guns out of people's hands, just in time for the lobster monster to roar in defiance and strike him. Danny, the swings the monster to the side, into a light pole knocking him out. Danny hears the police cars wailing coming closer; he turns to see the people in blue are out of sight, and so is the white moving truck.

"Who were those guys?" Danny thought

Unnoticed by Danny, a camera crew was down on their luck when they were struggling to get a story. But, oh lord, did they have a story.

A cameraman and a news reporter took the whole fight on film.

"This is so going to be top news tomorrow!" The news reporter almost excitedly spun around. No more sleeping on the couch!

The next morning in Gravity falls, Wendy is spending her morning watching the news on a small TV, which she bought from a garage sale in the Mystery Shack. Little to no customers and boredom is causing her to listen to the news talk about a missing actor mindlessly.

"Logan Hall, an actor that is well known for his attitude and wild parties, has been gone missing for the last five days. After getting into a conflict with his director for the upcoming movie Killer snakes, nobody hasn't heard and seen Logan Hall."

Suddenly the little bell on the door rang; it was one of Wendy's friends Tambry comes in the Mystery Shack. All boredom disappears as Wendy smiled at her.

"How's that TV doing for you, Wendy?" Tambry teased her, already hearing the news of her buy.

"Great, best twenty-five bucks I spent," Wendy played along, and the two laughed.

Tambry looked at the news, the news still going on about the actor, "Man, I can't believe no one knows where Logan Hall is."

"Yeah, but that movie he's working sound like it's going to suck."

Suddenly, the news switches from the Logan Hall story to Danny Phantom fighting the ghost fisherman. The story was on a loop, with more information being gathered from eye-witness and police.

"God, I would kill to be with that guy, whatcha think about Danny Phantom?" said Tambry

Wendy paused, looking at the figure fighting off a ghost. Not really the strangest thing she saw.

"I think he's cute."

Wendy is kind of a fan of Danny Phantom for being so cool and brave for fighting ghosts. Not many had the guts to do that, so kudos to the guy for taking a stand on what he believes in.

"Cute? More like hot," Tambry took a look at her phone to see the time, sighing in disappointment, "I gotta go, I have to meet my mom. I'll see you later?" She looked at her with an apology in her eyes.

"It's cool, be safe!"

As she leaves, Wendy keeps on watching Tv, wondering when the fun is going to start.

[sickandtideeeee]

By Bast - Chapter Four (Erik x Reader)

Y’all I got too tired to proofread so if you see crazy things please just correct me and go... but thanks for sticking with the story!!

also maybe a tw: complicated grief?

I am the King.

Those words, so casually said, hung lazily in the air like cheap helium balloons.

Suddenly it all made sense. The dream, the voice, the renaming, the sudden subversion of the royal family courtesy of an extended family member from a distant land, your father dying in a single moment. There was only one explanation.

You were loony as hell.

And just like someone who was loony as hell, you drew in a breath and cackled at the top of your lungs. Loud, maniacally, until your throat hurt, until tears rolled down your cheeks.

Like someone who had to laugh to keep from falling apart.

N’Jadaka, clearly disarmed, shot a furious look at the other woman in the room who seemed to be attempting to compress her already small figure to invisibility, pushing further and further into the corner of the room.

“Fix this. Immediately.” He growled, as he got up and walked promptly out of the room. Through your snickers, you watched him shove his hands down his pockets, his broad back hunched over as he stormed out of sight. You could tell he was so upset that if not for the fact that almost all doors in any large Wakandan establishment were automatic, he would have slammed the one before him hard enough to shatter it. For some reason, this fact alone almost made you double over again with pure hilarity, but when you bent over, a sudden jolt of pain ran through your abdomen right under your bandage, making you inhale sharply.

And then you started to cry.

The lady finally decided it safe enough to approach you, and placed a hand on your back, rubbing it in slow, small circles. You normally were not a fan of contact from strangers, but her gentle touch was oddly comfortable and your body relaxed as you wept silently for what felt like an eternity. When you eventually sobered up and looked up to her with swollen, red-tinged eyes, she smiled softly but wearily.

“Do you know where you are right now?” she asked. You shook your head no, but given the architecture, you guessed you probably were somewhere in the palace. There were so many extra hallways, entire wings tucked away that you could have never had access to, being only an associate of the royal family.

She sat at the foot of your bed and folded her hands in her lap. “You were hurt very badly just this morning, and we brought you here to treat you.” Her words came clearly and well-enunciated, revealing her concern for the integrity of your mental state. But you knew that was silly, because you were perfectly stable. Definitely entirely delusional, but stably so.

You nodded your head, encouraging her to continue.

“Do you remember what happened before you lost consciousness?”

Then you saw your father falling, falling, falling.

“Baba…” Your tears welled up again in your eyes, but you were tired of crying. She placed her hand on yours and squeezed it.

“Yes, and I’m sincerely sorry for your loss. Do you remember anything that happened after that?” You shook your head no.

“You attacked the man who was just here a little while ago.”

“Good.” You responded flatly. If you were going to act on instinct, it was reassuring to know you had good ones. You could see a phantom of a grimace on her face, and you sighed loudly in exasperation.

“What happened to me then? Just give it to me straight.” You didn’t mean to be short, but you were losing patience quickly. Yes, you had just cried, then laughed, then cried again, and were the definition of emotional lability, but you weren’t that unstable. She didn’t have to spoon-feed information to you like a child.

She gave you a wary look, and you gave her an encouraging nod. “I’m fine. In a minute or less, please give me all the details. I’m fairly educated, I’ll understand.”

She hesitated again, closed her eyes briefly as if to reconcile herself to saying what she was about to say, and then pointed to your bandage. “Okay well, here’s the synopsis. You were impaled in the left upper abdomen.” You grimaced, placing your hand on your belly. Now that you had positioned yourself better, you only felt an occasional throb of pain. Oh, how you loved Wakandan medicine.

“Given that it was in the middle of ritual combat, no one was allowed to provide medical services, and you bled pretty significantly. However, you were lucky because the rest of the battle appears to have been,” the woman who was likely your doctor cleared her throat slightly, “short-lived, and… you were spared.”

You scoffed. “I was spared?” But you knew better than anyone that ritual combat was a concede-or-die ordeal for anyone involved, and that those who interfered were punished by death by the Dora. Sometimes even on the spot. A chill ran down your spine, and your doctor knew by your expression that you didn’t need any further explanation on that aspect.

“We repaired lacerations to your stomach, spleen and a portion of your small bowel, which is why you probably still feel some pain if you move too quickly, and you’ll have a touch of nausea likely later tonight. But you will be okay.” She said that last part confidently, squeezing your hand again, and you thanked her politely.

“We’d like you to stay for one night, just so we can watch you. We can provide you a more comfortable bed now that you’re awake, some entertainment and food in a few hours once we’re sure you can handle it. Your pain should be well controlled as long as you don’t-“ She paused again, with a small frown, probably thinking of your wild laughter from before. “Exacerbate it. We also have some medication to keep you settled from those strong emotions… especially since you’ve been through a lot. Unfortunately, we can’t allow you any visitors without approval, since this facility is private.”

Visitors. Your father was dead. You had no other family now. You’d lost two families now. Who would come see you?

Amina, Shuri, T’Challa –

T’Challa. Concede or die was the outcome of ritual combat. And N’Jadaka didn’t seem like the type to take prisoners.

No, no, no. You immediately pushed the thought out of your head and settled on the fact that you were batshit crazy. You were going to wake up and find out all of this was a drawn-out nightmare, maybe a psychotic break, and then you’d be fine again and see your father and keep living the life you’d always been living, before any of this Bast nonsense.

“Let me show you to your room, honey.” The doctor helped you to your feet, and led you out of the procedure suite.

________

It didn’t exactly hurt to walk, but you were markedly unsteady on your feet the entire way to your recovery room - if that’s what one could call it. It was spacious and meticulously sanitized, or maybe it was just the overabundance of cream tones evident in the décor. Either way, the room was bright and immaculate in a way that was almost disconcerting, reminiscent of the padded rooms in old-timey mental hospitals. Your doctor, sensing your distress at a room with no windows, pressed a button by the door and a large section of the wall across from you dematerialized to reveal a windowpane. It was later in the day than you expected - soft rays of light from the Wakandan sunset streamed through, replacing the unnatural, fluorescent light that shone from the high ceilings.

She helped you into a reclining armchair that almost swallowed you whole as you sank into its softness. Across from you, above a large, mahogany desk equipped with a computer and a miniature bookshelf, was a holographic projector almost the size of the entire opposing wall. You would at least be able to entertain yourself for the night.

“Everything, as you probably guessed, is voice-activated. We encourage you to walk as much as possible today, but if you need any help, don’t hesitate to call.”

You nodded your head yes. Although this armchair was comfortable, you just wanted to sink into the four-poster bed in the furthest corner of the room. You quickly dismissed the thought of moving, too physically and emotionally weary to participate in such a grand action.

It was only after the doctor had been gone for almost a half hour that the surrounding silence, normally a friend, began to suffocate you. Too afraid to be alone with your thoughts, you turned on the projector. Maybe watching the news would settle you.

In seconds, N’Jadaka’s smug visage filled the screen, and you yelped, reflexively chucking the controller across the room. So much for being settled. Taking a few short yet deep breaths, you decided the only way to inform yourself would be to listen, no matter how nauseated it made you feel.

Even the newscasters looked a mixture between shock and confusion as they announced the upheaval of the royal family. The Queen Mother and Shuri were now in hiding, a new king sat on the throne since yesterday.

And T’Challa’s body was yet to be found. The voices speaking in Xhosa started to drone on and become more and more muffled - you felt like you were dissociating.

“Turn off.” The projector blinked into a thin line before vanishing, and you sat in silence anew, trying to numb yourself. Ironically, the throb in your belly now seemed louder, and your thoughts unwillingly flitted back to N’Jadaka. You figured he had stabbed you right after stabbing Zuri, but you had been “spared” evidently.

Did he actually regret hurting you? Was calling it a reflex his sorry excuse for an apology?

Before you could scold yourself for ascribing human feelings to that monster of a man, you heard a loud buzz and the doors to your suite buzzed and slid open. Your eyes darted frantically to the entrance, afraid that your thoughts had unwittingly summoned the devil.

But instead of that nightmare, running through the door came Amina, crushing you in an almost desperate embrace. She said nothing, but the warm tears hitting your shoulder made it abundantly clear that she was more than glad you were alive. Your body shook as you tried to hold in your own tears.

“Don’t you ever fucking do that again, no matter what happens.” She croaked, still not letting go.

“You would if it had been you.” You responded. She pulled back and glared at you.

“I’m serious, Nki!”

Okoye loudly cleared her throat from afar, interrupting Amina’s eventual lecture, and Amina straightened up to attention, eyes forward to her. You also looked at her expectantly, confused as to why she had come. Her eyes narrowed as you met them.

“It’s good to see that you are recovering.” She said, coolly. Okoye was naturally sharp-tongued, but the edge in her voice was more vitriol than anything.

“Thank you.” You responded, in the half-questioning tone that revealed your uncertainty with the authenticity of her wish. She smirked, and your stomach turned again. Was she upset she didn’t get the chance to kill you or something?

“Your king has requested that we come check in on you.” She said, now leaning her back against the wall with her arms crossed. Her spear, ever within arm’s reach, also lay perched against the wall, and you eyed it, wondering exactly how long it would take her to lunge across the room to murder you. She seemed to want to.

But you needed to clarify one thing.

��My king?” You repeated, sharply.

Nose flaring, Okoye had crossed the space between the two of you in two seconds, spear gripped tightly and at the ready. You could hear Amina hold her breath, silently cursing your big mouth. You felt the blood rush from your face.

“Whatever silly arrangement you two have, don’t believe for a second that I won’t get to the bottom of it.” She spat, only inches away from your face.

Arrangement?

The confusion in your face must have reassured her because she relaxed into her usual smirk again.

“Either way, you will not be leaving this room any time soon.” She announced. “King’s orders.”

You turned to Amina in panic. Facial expression vacant, she slowly unwrapped a small parcel, and set two warm containers of rice and tomato stew on the ottoman before you. She placed a hand on your shoulder.

“Make sure you eat,” she said, warmly, and gave you a warm hug before she walked to meet Okoye who still wore an acrid look on her face.

The two of them turned to leave, and you sat, stunned at the prospect of this recovery suite turning into a prison. The walls seemed to close in on you the moment they left.

Okoye stopped right before the door, the bitterness in her heart at losing her very own king too much for her to bear alone.

“I hope missing your father’s burial is worth it.” She said, just loud enough for you to hear, as the doors slid shut.

You snapped.

It was enough for you to spend the rest the night screaming and cursing at the overhead to let you out. You may have thrown yourself at the doors once or twice, trying unsuccessfully to break yourself out, bruising a few ribs in the process. You may have thrown Amina’s labor of love at the white walls, hoping someone would be sent in to clean it and you could seize the opportunity to break yourself out. That red-orange stain, now dried and sour-smelling over the hours of the night, seemed to stare into you just as much as you were forced to stare at it. You cursed yourself for being the worst possible person you could imagine.

At least you could find solace in the fact that you would never be as bad as the jackass who had left you here.

Once you realized your attempts were futile, you decided to curl up on the floor of center of the room. Maybe these were simply theatrics, but you couldn’t stand the idea of waking up well-rested in the fancy bed offered by a murderer. Laying there, curled up with all the nervous energy of a stray cat, you didn’t expect to fall asleep. Yet somehow, you drifted off sometime right before dawn.

It was much like that strange, too realistic yet otherworldly dream, many months ago. But this time, you were walking side by side with your father in the garden, just like you had the last time you argued.

“I’m sorry, Baba. For everything.”

You stared into your shaking hands. “I couldn’t stop it… and I couldn’t even make it to your passage- “ You choked up, for the millionth time. All you did was cry these days.

“You are forgiven, my child. Don’t fret.” Zuri said, his hands gently patting the top of your head. His smile was warmer than it had ever been since. It was heart-wrenching.

“I will make sure he pays for what he did,” you resolved. Zuri let out a burdensome sigh and shook his head.

“Penance for one’s sins is a complicated affair, my dear.”

You woke up abruptly, and found yourself tucked warmly into bed. The room revealed no recollection of your inner turmoil – all books were neatly tucked into place, furniture was in its original position, and the food stain had been scrubbed so cleanly off the wall, you could have sworn it was actually whiter than it had started off. You must have been out like a light.

Penance for one’s sins is a complicated affair.

You were strangely calm this morning, not the eerie calm of a person who was plotting murder and revolution, but one of someone who had transcended hurt and sorrow. This was Bast’s peace setting in again. You didn’t deserve this kind of peace. You took some time to pray, hoping to invoke her voice, but received nothing.

In just a few moments, the doctor’s voice sounded overhead.

“I hope you are well-rested. The king requests your presence in one hour. Stand by and shortly we will have you prepared accordingly.”

Tagging:  @syndrlla97 @iwantsomethingeternal@1killmonger@chasingsunlight @hoopshoney @destinio1 @wakanda-inspired @thadelightfulone @lalasparkles @pessimisfit @youreadthatright  @stark-red19, @ruruly20, @bossyboyd03, @autumn242 @heybriheyyy@ thelovelyliterary

[Prologue][Chapter One][Chapter Two][Chapter Three][Chapter Five][Chapter Six][Chapter Seven][Chapter Eight]

[bizarre-dollhouse]

Animation Direction and Aesthetic Appeal: Why I Didn’t Like Book of the Atlantic

For the record, if you really loved Book of the Atlantic and thought it looked great and/or are sick of people bitching about it, you probably won’t want to read this post.

If you didn’t like the movie, thought the movie looked terrible, are curious about how and why people don’t like it, or, most importantly, want to read about aesthetic techniques and how they relate to anime in general, please continue.

I want to really talk about animation, visual direction, and adaption techniques, and I want to use Kuroshitsuji: Book of the Atlantic as a negative example, because I soooo wanted to love this movie and ended up really disliking it.

For the most part, this post is just me getting something off of my chest, because I feel like there’s this grand misunderstanding held by people who didn’t like the movie about why the movie looked bad.

I just disagree with the consensus so strongly that I...I have to make a post about it. Because every review I’ve seen of this movie mentions how just the cgi is bad, or it just looks like they didn’t have enough money amiright? 

I just think it is so much more interesting complicated than that.

Lots of text under the cut.

I’ll just get the basics out of the way: the cgi does not look well integrated and some of the background faces are derpy.

Moving on.

Part 1: Something to keep in mind:

Anime movies tend to look better than weekly anime tv shows because they are given both more time and a higher budget. This is why so many people thought it was unfair that A Silent Voice was up for Best Animation in the Crunchy Roll awards.

This is kind of unimportant but I would like you to keep it in mind while reading the rest of this post.

Part 2: What does good animation even mean?

I’ve heard a defence for the movie’s lacklustre animation is that it looks like all of the money went towards the fight scenes, or that the fight scenes make up for everything.

I’ve seen the fight scene between Sebastian, the reapers, and Undertaker a few times and I’ll admit, there are a few nice cuts early on with some very dynamic dodges and attacks, but after that it’s a lot of easier techniques, like held poses, slow motion falls, cut aways, frame movement, etc. The fight scene as a whole I would (personally) consider to be pretty “meh.”

This might sound kind of harsh, but even if you totally disagree with me and think the fight scene looked great, that just means it looks nice.

That fight scene is not especially well animated. 

What takes up the most time and money in animation is the amount and detail of movement (key animation). Look at any important fight scene from FMAB, or BNHA, or the early episodes of Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress. Those big fight scenes have a lot of key frames and details, and they all have wwwaaaay more key animation than the big fight in BotA despite being weekly tv shows.

One Punch Man is a great example because the animation in that show is fucking stellar and the director straight up said that the budget for One Punch Man is not much higher than a typical tv anime budget. Time and skill are the more important factors.

So, not speaking from the perspective of visual appeal, but from the perspective of animation quality, the big reaper fight scene in BotA isn’t that good.

Even the scene everyone raves about, where Lizzy fight all of the zombies: there’s a nice cut of her steps and a cool shot where she stabs one of the zombies in the head from above, but her sword then turns into a flash and we don’t see many details involving aim or choreography. Her stabbing them through the hallway also doesn’t have any real choreography other than her running and spinning once. After she stops to talk to Ciel, the scene gets a little more dynamic with more complicated moves, but it’s shot from far away and still has few key frames. I’ll admit I think it still looks kind of cool and maybe better than how it looked in the manga, but I don’t even think it’s close to the level of quality that’s in a lot of Bones shows.

Anyways, even if you’re in the majority camp and think these scenes look good, compare them to any of the shows mentioned above and you’ll see that even if they look good, they wouldn’t be especially difficult or expensive to animate, and aren’t impressive from a technical standpoint. 

Part 3: Make a collage with those cut corners

Shifting focus a little bit, let’s talk about Higurashi.

Higurashi is one of my top 10 favourite shows (I highly recommend it if you’re not too squeamish). This show also looks awful. Like, really awful. There’s barely any movement, the characters are off model almost 100% of the time, and it has a very simplistic art style.

Despite being outright ugly, Higurashi still visually impresses me more than BotA because of one very simple, yet very very important fact:

The director and animators are trying their best. 

Check out the scene in this gif set (gore warning). There’s a shadow silhouette, repetitive movement, and not much detail in the eyes, so it’s not technically impressive in terms of animation, but the way that the screen shakes when the bat lands, the lower angle used to put Keiichi in a dominating position of the frame, and the colour blur expressing the fact that this is both very emotionally intense and set at a different time make my brain say “ah yes, thought was put into making this scene look good with limited resources.”

Simpler yet is this scene, where it’s just two characters standing and talking while being atrociously off model. But the way they’re placed on the screen (ie parallel but opposing) is both cool visually and thematically relevant. It’s got a nice colour pallet, too.

Higurashi likes to play around with visual perspectives. This scene (violence warning) has no animation in the first gif and repetitive, fast movements in the second, but it takes the perspective of a man about to be beat to death with a baseball bat, which still makes it feel tense.

There’s another top fucking notch scene where someone is digging their own throat out with their finger nails, and instead of showing what would be a difficult scene to animate, they have a zoom in on the character’s back from the perspective of an impending threat that may or may not exist closing in on him and it’s terrifying despite the fact that nothing is animated.

Directing choices like these are extremely common in Higurashi.

Another slightly less obvious example would be Princess Tutu (which is one of my top 5 favourite shows that I recommend to everyone). Princess Tutu has very very few moments of sakuga and lots of repeated animation and kind of inconsistent movement in some scenes. 

It looks cheaply made and is not well animated, but literally no one gives a fuck because that show has beautiful character designs, beautiful colour design, and interesting/creative set pieces.

The point is it’s 100% possible to make a cheap as fuck, poorly animated show and not have it look terrible. 

I guess this is just my opinion, but when I compare the visual direction in Higurashi and the art of Princess Tutu to the flat, poorly blocked, and underwhelming visuals that make up a lot of BotA, I grow significantly less impressed with it.

The production team stuck pretty damn close to the manga, but the manga looks good because the panels are highly detailed illustrations that are specifically designed to look good when they are standing still and in black and white. They are also placed on a page which controls the visual pacing and lets you fill in movement with your imagination.

Translating this directly into animation but taking out the detail and shading in the illustrations and having the movements look worse than they did in my imagination does...not...look as good.

Part 4: Adapt

Let’s say, hypothetically, that BotA had fewer resources than most anime movies for some reason (money, time, staff, etc.). Sure, I don’t know the behind the scenes details. I doubt this was the case, but it very well might be.

.......Then why did they adapt the source material the way they did?

The manga for Kuroshitusji is fucking gorgeous and has some really iconic panels. For example, check out this post comparing a beautiful panel with the same scene from BotA.

...Why? Why would you make it that way?

Is it because you think it’ll please the fans to keep it the same? Because you wanted to cut a corner and use the manga as a storyboard?

Because it sure as fuck wasn’t because it would look good in the anime adaptation.

If the director and/or animators wanted to do the same scene but with limited resources, they could have maybe cropped it so it focused just on the undertaker’s face and the girl’s face, and then focus on making that look pretty and/or detailed. They wouldn’t have to put extra time and effort into drawing a nice full body shot, but they could still have it look good.

I came up with that time and money saving idea in less than 10 seconds and I’m not even a god damned animation director.

This goes back to my previous point, where it can be possible to make a passible looking show with limited resources, but this movie opted for sticking to the source material even though they really couldn’t do it justice.

Which is fine!!!! Embrace stylism!!! Kill la Kill has some goofy looking fight scenes with cut outs and cheeky techniques, but it does it in a way that builds the environment of the show and works within that universe because it’s clearly a part of the style. 

Heck, studio Shaft practically gets away with murder by embracing weird styles with some of their older, cheaper shows.

Those particular styles almost definitely wouldn’t work with BotA, but find your own! Adapting the source material means exactly that: adapt it. Change it in a way that makes it just as good, if not better, than the original product in this new format.

In fact, I remember 2 scenes I thought looked pretty cool in this movie: one where it’s showing how the bizarre dolls work and the animation goes all Madoka Magica, and one where it shows this shadowy version of Sebastian before he makes his contract.

Both of those scenes have a style that is unique to animation and were not in the original manga.

I mean I guess it’s somewhat admirable that they were trying to stick to the source material, but they just...didn’t do it well.

Part 5: Does anyone here know CPR?! Because we need to breathe some life into this movie!

LITERALLY ALL OF MY PROBLEMS WITH BOOK OF THE ATLANTIC CAN BE EXPLAINED IN ONE SCENE.

IT’S KIND OF INCREDIBLE HOW MUCH THIS SUMS IT UP.

So there’s this scene in the manga where Ciel thinks he’s about to watch Lizzy get eaten by zombies and is, understandably, pretty torn up about it, as seen here:

This is a really great panel: Ciel’s face is expressive, the sea water makes it ambiguous whether or not he’s crying or sweating, and it’s from a unique angle that ensures his face and desperately reaching arm are both in the foreground.

Here’s the same scene in the movie:

Ciel’s face is less expressive, the angle is a lot simpler, and minute visual details are straight up omitted. 

It’s like “yeah, we’re practically using the manga as storyboards*”

*unless the panel is like, hard to draw or expressive to the point where it might look off model.

I feel like the studio was deeply afraid of using animation that was too off model for reasons I don’t understand. Maybe it’s because they were afraid that the characters would look too unattractive but like...

it’s okay to have a character look a little fucked up if they feel a little fucked up.

Returning to Higurashi: that horror series has become famous for its highly emotive facial expressions.

Check out Rena’s furious face in the fourth gif of this set.

Or Rika’s super fucked up expression when suffering intense harm.

Or the sheer intense terror in Keiichi’s eyes in this gif and this gif set.

Like sure, the show looks like garbage and has lots of other derpy, off model faces, but they clearly had an idea of what they were going for and how to use animation as acting.

I feel that maaaybe the production team for BotA confused looking ugly (having faces distorted by emotion) for looking bad, but that’s 100% speculation.

Part of my reasoning for that speculation is in the following scene: 

So, in the manga/BotA, Sebastian and Ciel run into Druitt, and the scene plays out like a well timed joke when Druitt asks them how they know him and they go like this

and it’s funny.

The exact same punchline is in the movie but it looks like this

like, the idea of the joke still comes across, but the expressions aren’t as humorously exaggerated and the joke isn’t as funny as a result.

This is also a scene where I don’t want to hear any “this scene looks bad because of money” arguments because drawing the simplistic expression from the manga would have been easier and less time consuming. 

Again, let’s look at the comedic scenes from Higurashi:

This particular style probably wouldn’t look good in a Kuro adaption but the idea is that you can deform facial expressions for the sake of joke and sometimes it will make the joke funnier.

The point is also that Higurashi is a really well directed show despite being poorly animated. Can you tell I’m pushing Higurashi?

Please do not misunderstand this point: BotA for the most part has fine facial expressions that communicate the desired emotion. It’s fine. My point is that they probably should have been more daring with their creative choices to make certain scenes more emotionally/comedically effective.

In fact, part of the appeal of animation as a medium is the ability to play with reality through drawings.

Or just, you know, just draw a kid looking sad from a nice angle.

Conclusions:

Kuroshitsuji: Book of the Atlantic is obviously not the worst movie ever. In fact, there are quite a few scenes with good animation, good framing and competent direction. 

(Ooh, I should have mentioned this earlier, but there is a legitimately good cut where Sebastian and Ciel are reaching for each other and it shows blood appearing before you see Seb get stabbed. This was a good choice and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it was not in the manga.)

I can totally see someone saying this movie looks good, and that’s a perfectly justified opinion, I just strongly disagree when looking at the overall product and how it compares to the manga and pretty much every other decently made show/movie.

I’m just upset because this arc in the manga is amazing and the most cinematic, and it clearly was not adapted to its full potential. And now it probably never will be.

Please let the impossible happen and let Bones or Madhouse get the rights for the Green Witch arc and make an amazing adaption. Pleeeaaaassseee.

When I die I want A-1 Pictures to lower me into my grave so they can let me down one last time.

That being said, if you have not seen this movie and (for whatever reason) are dead set against ever reading the manga; give this movie a watch. The story’s utterly fantastic and it’s a...watchable...movie.

But here’s the moral of this whole post:

Book of the Atlantic does not look bad just because it looks cheap. .

Book of the Atlantic looks bad because it looks bad.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Tal-- *passes out*

[zonamievents]

ZoNami Analysis: The Orange Island Arc and First Impressions!

Hello everyone! Welcome to my new series of posts, where I discuss every Zoro and Nami moment to have ever occurred in the entire series of One Piece. Any scene can merely be friendly, but perhaps we can uncover a hint of something more between them as we go through it all? Let’s find out on this journey together!

Also, I am aware that koukihime has done a similar series on her website, zoroxnami.weebly.com. However, I wanted to perform my own analysis of Zoro and Nami’s relationship, so please bear with me if there are any accidental similarities. Thanks!

Today’s topic is how this ENTIRE arc solidifies Zoro and Nami’s relationship moving forward. First impressions are important, and though Oda-sensei likes to play with how we preceive someone vs how they really impact the story in later arcs, the simplicity of the beginning of the series tells us a lot about how these two are meant to be critical players in the Mugiwara crew, and in each other’s lives.

Picking up from where we left off, Zoro has just stepped in to save Nami’s life from Buggy’s crew! Nami is in great disbelief to find that an infamous pirate hunter like Roronoa Zoro is actually the other half of Luffy’s pirate crew.

As she stands there mistified, Buggy questions if Zoro has suddenly appeared to take his head. Though Zoro tells him that isn’t the case, Buggy instigates a fight and in a matter of seconds, it seems as though the pirate captain was taken down instantaneously. Disappointed and confused, Luffy, Zoro and Nami can’t understand why his crew starts laughing after their boss’ defeat, only for Zoro to learn that not only did he underestimate Buggy, but…

Buggy also has a Devil’s Fruit that allows his body to separate at will.

Luffy, Zoro and Nami know they need to escape, but the situation looks rather grim. However, leave it to Zoro - who now has a stab wound in his left side - to flip an entire canon over and aim it at the Buggy pirates!

After the canon shoots, it is Zoro AGAIN with his inhuman strength lifting the cage that Luffy’s stuck in and trying to carry him down off of a rooftop and onto the ground! Nami is just in awe as she follows them, and though she apparently knows the name ‘Zoro’, it seems she is unaware of just how powerful he truly is.

Nami starts to lose her wonderment when Luffy later picks a fight with ShuShu the dog. But she still brings Luffy the key to the cage so he can get himself free. Defeated for the moment, Zoro sleeps off his injury while Luffy gets himself into even more trouble! Zoro is woken up when Buggy fires another one of his Buggy Balls at the building, and somehow survives the impact so he can join the fight once again!

As the story progresses and the two crews face off - with Nami finally agreeing to ‘cooperate’ with the Straw Hats - Buggy faces off against Luffy, and Cabaji challenges Zoro. At one point in their battle, Cabaji intentionally aims for Zoro’s wound from earlier, and Nami calls him out for such a cheap trick.

And she calls him out on it again, but the third time Cabaji tries to attack his wound, Zoro not only blocks him, he decides to make that particular injury seem a little less interesting…

...by cutting himself! It disturbs even Luffy that he does this, but the tactic works and Cabaji is now focused on the overall fight rather than targeting Zoro’s obvious weakness. Of course, this only makes Nami worry about him more.

Nami leaves the scene shortly after that to go and get the map of the Grand Line that was most likely lost in the explosion. She sneaks off and promises to join up with Luffy and Zoro again if they manage to survive. However, the fight ends up being so engaging that she watches it from the distance before achieving her goal!

After avoiding an enraged Buggy when she steals his treasure - and after Luffy’s inevitable victory against Buggy - Nami groups up with Luffy and the sleeping Zoro and as he wakes up, Zoro says he doesn’t think he can walk. To which Nami replies…

And that’s the major highlight, or theme, of this arc: Luffy and Zoro are meant to show off how powerful they are together, and just how otherworldly their strength can be. Even though this is a Zoro and Nami-centric post, I just want to point out that everything mentioned above happens in order and nothing plot-centric is skipped over. A great deal of Nami’s impression of this crew revolves around her reactions to Zoro’s heroism and just how brutal he can.

But what does this mean for ZoNa?

Why summarize this entire arc and say that it’s worthy of more love from the ZoNa community?

What does the Orange Town story really highlight for us ZoNa fans!?

It shows us that this is where Nami realizes how integral Zoro is to not only the crew, but her survival too. It isn’t meant to impress us as the reader because we’ve already met Zoro - this entire meeting is meant to wow Nami into feeling safe with them.

Before she became a Straw Hat, Nami traveled the seas alone. Why bother getting any sort of outsider involved in her village’s problems? Her willingness to join the crew wasn’t simply because of her dream, but it was because she knew that she needed them to stay alive if it meant she ever encountered someone like Buggy again. Remember, Nami explicitly states in this arc that she thought Devil’s Fruits were nothing more than a myth that pirates tell themselves. For her to see both Buggy and Luffy in action in the East Blue - which she knows is statistically the weakest of all four - means that Nami needs some strong partners in crime if she plans to finish her mission of saving Cocoyashi.

Given her methodical nature, it’s only logical to tag along with such irrefutably strong men to guarantee success. And that’s the perfect way to highlight yet another ‘opposites attract’ aspect of the ZoNa relationship!

The Left Brain vs The Right Brain.

It’s a concept most of us are familiar with: each half of your brain specializes in a specific area of your personality. If you’re more instinctive than strategic, you’re Right Brain is probably your dominate half. If you prefer to plan out your day rather than letting events unfold as they will, than you’re a Left Brain thinker. At first glance, some would call Nami emotional and spastic, but us fans of the character can agree that she is one of the most intelligent and well thought out members of the Straw Hat crew.

Zoro, on the other hand, is a reactionary character. Where Nami would try to concoct a solution, Zoro would prefer to make his own based off of what he feels is best. Though a stone-cold type of character, even his choices in battle come from training that taught him how to hone his instincts in order to guide his body to dodge attacks and execute strikes successfully.

Now, why does this matter?

Because neither one of them is solidly using only one side of their brain.

Together, Zoro and Nami create a proper middle ground - known as the Wise Mind in the example image above - that create a viability for each other. Where one lacks, the other exceeds expectations. Both are impressive characters, but what we get from this arc is the root of Zoro and Nami that truly show the significance they bring out in one another based off of their mere functionality.

In the very first post of this series, I talked about how Nami was the navigator and Zoro works as a protector; this first introduction they have clearly provides the foundation for Nami’s perception of Zoro as the person she ends up relying on the most from here on out. Essentially, their relationship works itself into a very popular theme: the Beauty and the Beast.

If you look at Belle from the Disney version of the tale, she is smart, well-read and cunning. She knows when it’s time to run away and when she needs to step up to the plate, to risk her life for either her father or for the Beast himself. She yearns to have more than the life she leads and it causes her to seek adventures beyond herself. Though her wits can get her into trouble sometimes - and even put her at odds with the Beast - she manages to to prove herself as a worthy partner to stand next to the Beast.

On the other hand, we can look at the Beast himself. He’s very stern, off-putting at times, despite the kind-hearted individual inside. Though others may comment on his brash personality, the Beast stays true to himself but starts to warm up to the idea of having Belle around. The Beast even saves Belle more than once and her respect for him grows when she sees how selfless he can truly be. He isn’t the easiest characters to love in his own story, despite being a clear protagonist. He always has his own goal in the back of his mind and thinks about how it involves the lives of those around him. He’s also the first to tell you he isn’t ‘a fool’.

There is a fantastic, oldie but goodie fanfic written by SF Kitty called “Beauty and the Beast: One Piece Style” from 2006 that shows how fans of ZoNa have picked up on the notion that there are evident ties to this Disney couple, and for good reason! It’s a popular concept that has worked out for many other fictional couples, because each couple acts as the other half to their partner - like the Left Brain meeting the Right Brain to make a Wise Minded couple! And though this arc is summarized simply in this post, I believe that the intention of this story allowed for Zoro to show off his beastly attributes to a rather shell-shocked Nami, just like the Beast does when he saves Belle from the wolves in the Disney adaption of the tale.

Mind you, Nami isn’t as smooth as Belle when she comes back to help Zoro and Luffy, but the similarity exists and that’s good enough for me! 

[knightofbalance-13]

Test Failed.

http://saltwukong.tumblr.com/post/176933090316/jaune-a-canon-sue-more-likely-than-you-think

Let’s go through the list.

The central sue defeats the villain over the heads of the main characters or occupies more of their attention than they really warrant.

Plot threads and character arcs all lead back to the central sue even if they shouldn’t.

The central sue is praised for qualities that are a) not unique to them or b) not really displayed by them.

The central sue may have a smaller, lesser character become involved mainly for the purpose of antagonizing and then being triumphed over by the central sue (scary sue).

The central sue may act in a manner befitting someone much more flawed than they supposedly are, yet they are never punished or called out for it.

Hold on, let just compare this to the article found detailing the qualifications of a Mary Sue:

1) A character who is based, at least partly, on the author. 2) A character whom has no significant flaws (except possibly ones the other characters find cute). 3) A character to whom everyone within the story reacts as if they were beautiful and wonderful except characters who are clearly evil and/or motivated by jealousy. 4) A character with whom, during the course of the story, every available character of the opposite (and occasionally the same) sex will fall in love given any contact whatsoever. 5) A character who undergoes no significant growth, change, or development throughout the story.

Gee, your qualifications seem a lot more....specific than that of many people’s. is it because if we follow the logic of this line, Jaune only fulfills one, maybe two points?

Let’s go ahead and make these qualifications a bit more general:

The mary sue defeats the villain over the heads of the main protagonist

Plot threads and character arcs all revolve around the mary sue

The  mary sue is praised for qualities that are unrealistic

The  mary sue will have a character act out of character just to dislike them while being defended by the majority of the cast

The mary sue will either have no flaws, superficial flaws or flaws that no one seems to notice

I also took out that central sue bullshit because we all know you mean “Mary Sue” and “Central Sue” isn’t even a recognized term, it’s just a pseudo category made so you can fix the rules against Jaune.

Now let’s see how Jaune stacks up to the qualifications of a Mary Sue everyone agrees on.

While Jaune does not defeat Cinder, he does fight her and occupy her attention for far longer than he should over the head of Ruby Rose, who Cinder has personal beef with. When Ruby’s silver eyes activate, she is knocked out before they can fully annihilate Cinder both to keep Ruby from swiping a win out from under Jaune and to keep her from claiming more attention than him.

Jaune also draws attention from Tyrian in Volume 4 despite Tyrian being there for the explicit purpose of capturing Ruby and Jaune having displayed no special qualities Tyrian might find worthy of a second look.

I’m sorry but considering Jaune loses the fight, Cinder wasn’t being serious and the fight concludes with a loss towards Jaune, he does not fulfill any categories here. (same with Tyrian).

In fact, by your logic, Nora actually fulfills your qualification against Hazel because the same things happened with her and Hazel: She occupies his time almost as much as Ozpin and she does more against Hazel than Ozpin.

So unless you start calling Nora a Mary Sue, I’m afraid you’ve failed.

Jaune gets to angst over Pyrrha for the majority of Volumes 4 and 5 while Ruby’s own suffering is largely ignored, and when it is finally addressed, it is so Jaune can use it to say that her unwritten “silent” angsting inspires him.

i’m afraid that this doesn’t qualify Jaune for any categories either because the focus is still on Ruby.

In fact, going by your definition, Ruby is more of a Mary Sue because Yang’s issues with her mom, Oscar’s fear issues and even jaune’s angst all circle back to her whereas Jaune barely gets focus on one scene.

Once again, gonna need to label Ruby a Mary Sue before you can label him.

Jaune is largely praised as a strategist, but has displayed little to no ability to direct other people; this facet of him is displayed 3 times–once in a series of blows against the Deathstalker already in progress, once in a team match that simply showed how he can’t direct his team since they didn’t get it and he was largely ripping off Ruby, and once in a manner that causes even Ren to mock him for its obviousness, “hit it harder”. He displays no real combat intuition, while fellows like Pyrrha Nikos and Weiss Schnee display subtle cunning and resource management that he does not.

I’m afraid that is not a unique trait as you have shown and those characters do get praised for their abilities as well (even more son than Jaune) so that doesn’t work.

Conversely, that means Ruby and Pyrrha are more like Mary Sues than Jaune. Damn the list of characters who embody this these traits more than Jaune is getting pretty long. Almost like you ignore your own rules just to get at Jaune.

Scary Sue? Cardin Winchester says hello.

A. NDoesn’t work with the general guidelines.

B. That also applies to Pyrrha. Not to mention Nevermore and Torchwick for Ruby.

The grand prize among Jaune criticisms, he repeatedly fucks up or does something dickish and fails to be reprimanded for it. Cheating his way into Beacon, being a dick to Pyrrha, harassing Weiss, and starting the fight with Cinder’s faction being good examples. These very real flaws and mistakes are never treated as though they’re that serious or warrant correction.

A. Jaune criticizes HIMSELF and his team shuns him when he’s being a jerk, Weiss hates him for it and Yang criticized hum and Wiess being stabbed. So not only does this not fit the last category you had, it doesn’t even fit YOUR category.

B. Pyrrha’s obsession with Jaune never gets called out either.

Now before we leave, I’d like to keep Salt-Wukong here for a moment.

You’re a fan of SSSN, which means by extension, Neptune.

Let’s go through both our lists then.

1A. No

1B. No

2A. yep, Jaune and Weiss

2B. Yep, prom arc.

3A. Yep. Sun is also handsome but Neptune gets the glory.

3B. Yep. Unreasonably attractive.

4A. Yep. Jaune and team INDGO

4B. Yep, INDGO.

5A. Yep. his fear of water.

5B. Fear of Water and Can’t Dance so yep.

So we have a character that is actually closer to what you complain about Jaune being than Jaune himself and yet you actively SUPPORT them and demand they get more screentime, which is something that defines a Mary Sue.

So question:

Why is Neptune getting away with it and yet you need rigged rules and rigged results to bitch about Jaune?

You know, other than a blatant bias and an agenda of ‘let me abuse people.‘

[applegelstore]

Orchestra AU thoughts in three charming parts

A few people voiced their interest, so I figured I could explain what’s actually behind the orchestra AU idea, since this one isn’t exactly a crossover with some other franchise, and therefore you can’t guess any context from what you know about the other part of the crossover :,D Feel free to skip, it’s just text, but if you wanna talk orchestra AU with me, please go ahead! Warning, way too long post ahead (why did I spend an entire afternoon on this?):

PART 1 (basics)

The AU as such is the one where nothing hurts and everything is musical jokes (or musical sex jokes in Zaveid’s case) and shameless geeking. And it’s actually supposed to be a cross-Tales thing. With Rollo probably following Ludger wherever he goes like a dog, and nobody ever minds. And Phi probably following Velvet around, and nobody minds that, either.

So far I’ve deduced the ensemble from official material as follows:

Jr. Conductor: Cress

Jr. Jr. Conductor: Phi (in training, probably. THEN AGAIN CRESS SHOULD STILL BE IN TRAINING, TOO, HE’S 17, LIKE 90% OF ALL JRPG PROTAGONISTS EVER)

Solo Soprano: Tear, Lailah (not official, but try to fight me on these ladies)

Solo Bass: Zaveid (come on, he’s bass)

Solo Piano: Mikleo (this isn’t official either, but you can try to pry the “Mikleo plays piano” headcanon from my cold, dead hands)

Violin: Mint, Ludger, Sorey


Viola: Alisha (I guess it’s supposed to be another violin, BUT IT LOOKS SO BIG)

Cello: Velvet

Double bass: Richard

Flute: Milla, Mikleo

Clarinet: Rose (and probably abusing it to stab people)

Trumpet: Jude, Elize, Dezel

Trombone: Eleanor

Percussion: Rokurou, Luke, Edna

As you can see, we don’t have a FULL orchestra yet, but we also have a fuckton of games left.

PART 2
 (what most of you are here for. The Sormik spinoff)

…Everything was plot- and painless, until my unhelpful brain decided that we need some Sormik spinoff, some sort of plot, and also some fantasy/dark fairytale shit because I always fall for that. Also there’s the thing that we never learn in the game who the heck Mikleo’s father is, so there was room to fill with AU material. So, some of you may know that I’m a huuuuuge Seventh Wonder fan. If you didn’t, now you know. Seventh Wonder are super duper fucking amazing, and Tommy Karevik is a god. …Ah pretty ripped hipster teddybear god. Okay, back to topic. So there’s this song, King of Whitewater, which is about a water spirit luring in children (…and their relatives) with beautiful violin melodies. From this general theme, my unhelpful brain deduced the following, dark fairytale-ish concept:

When she’s still young and naive, Muse meets the very lonely water spirit. Eventually, she feels pity for him and falls in love with him. But sooner or later she misses a normal human’s life in a normal human town, and when he doesn’t let her get away and turns violent, she runs away, highly pregnant. She refuses to tell anyone who’s the father; the only one he trusts is Michael, who agrees to help her raise the child, too. They hope everything will be well. Yeah, you all know who that child is. Anyway, the water spirit is pretty heartbroken, and that makes him even more violent, and also feel betrayed for that yet unborn child. And from that day on, starts luring in little children who never see the light of day again.

Muse doesn’t know about this. And leads a normal life, believing she escaped.

All is fine until someday during a scouting trip in the woods between Camlann and Elysia, little Sorey and Mikleo get lost in the woods and accidentally find a mysterious (TM) lake. It’s surrounded by mist so thick they can hardly see anything, but all the time, soothing, beautiful violin music plays. Because that’s how the spirit lures in children. Because he wants his child back.

To which little Sorey of course violently disagrees, but it’s not like two little children had much of a chance to escape, so Mikleo talks the spirit into a compromise: stealing children isn’t okay, no matter the circumstances. At least wait til I’m of age. And please stop killing other children in the meantime. The spirit agrees and lets them go. Sorey is of course a crying mess. Somehow through his tears and apologies he manages to promise Mikleo that the spirit won’t get him. And Mikleo trusts him. Problem is that the spirit isn’t exactly stupid either, so he enchants the children so they forget everything that happened instead of like, running for help. Oh, except the song (which is the violin solo in King of Whitewater btw). They never forget the song. They just forget how and where they learned it, and ever since that scout trip it’s their personal thing that they often play for fun, believing it to be some kind of nursery rhyme. And nobody ever suspects a thing.

Everything is perfect. Everything is beautiful. They grow up to be smart kids and with wonderful grades in school. They become marvelous musicians. They meet wonderful friends in high school. Of course they eventually start dating.

But then Mikleo’s 18th birthday draws near and for a couple of weeks, things get weird. He gets nightmares in which he drowns or gets lost in the mist, nightmares in which Sorey dies or simply gets missing, nightmares that he can’t make sense of. He hears the song all the time in his head, failing to remember where he’d learned it. The morning after his 18th birthday party, he wakes up in Sorey’s arms and everything ought to be great and perfect, but somehow it isn’t. He asks Sorey whether he remembers the song they learned as kids. Or how they learned it. What’s it called, even. He doesn’t know, but he remembers the song and plays it for Mikleo. And suddenly, bit by bit, Mikleo remembers. So does Sorey, but much slower.

Sorey leaves for college and Muse and Michael are already gone for work, but Mikleo stays in bed because he’s tired. Sorey has a bad feeling about this (TM) but leaves him be. Mistake. When he gets back home, Mikleo is nowhere to be found.

AND HERE’S THE PROBLEM. I’m stuck here. I have not the slightest idea how to fix this and stop Mikleo from getting lost in a lake in the woods for the rest of his life. Sure, okay, Muse and Sorey violently disagree, BUT WHAT ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO DO ABOUT IT. Violent violin battles are some of the less ridiculous “solutions” that have come to my mind so far.

If anybody knows how to give this thing a happy ending that doesn’t involve any deus ex machina moves from any end, I’d be grateful.

The worst thing about this is that experience tells me that I’d have zero trouble to actually leave Mikleo lost in the forest for the rest of his life if this was one of my original stories. Most of them are made of pain and suffering, seasoned with cute animals and super-natural shit for balance.

PART 3 (random Sormik related tidbits)

-Camlann is a tiny, mountaineous town which they love very dearly -they have to travel quite a bit each morning for high school and college (the former where they meet the rest of the squad) and later on to study some music or history related, they still visit their families often because they like it so much -I kinda want Selene to retain her maiden’s name and make it Shepherd for the sole purpose that Zaveid can then continue calling Sorey Sheps -also I came up with this bit about their living situation -shortly before Sorey and Mikleo start dating, they borrow the keys to a concert rehearsal room at some point, so they can practice their grand piano/violin duet a bit (Mikleo only has a piano at home, not a grand piano). It’s gonna be part of a huge concert thing, so it’s only one part of the show with an entire orchestra and occasionally other solos or duets -a hurricane cuts off all public transport for the evening and the entire night, and it’s also goddamn dangerous not to have a roof over your head for the time being -so they’re trapped in the rehearsal room until morning when the storm has subsided and public transport is also working again -once they’re too tired to actually practice once the evening gets late (like. very late. more like middle of the night/morning), they abide their time watching the storm through the rehearsal room’s hugeass windows -at some point, sleepy hormone rushes favor the confession and kissing bit -they have fond memories of thunderstorms afterwards -when she eventually hears about the thing, Rose is hollering with laughter because she probably had bets going that it would take them getting locked up in a room to finally confess and make out after years of mutual oblivious pining. She wasn’t entirely wrong, and probably made lots of bucks with her bet -anyway, when they finally perform their duet weeks later, the entire audience agrees that their duet was one of the evening’s highlights, and Sorey probably spends all evening smiling like an idiot and happily holding Mikleo’s hand -considering that the whole thing could be shamelessly crossover-y, I might get flutist!Milla giving flutist!Mikleo kindly big sister advise feelings (no, not relationship advise, because she’s the worst at that. Hey, not everything has to be Sormik-related) -not sure whether she’s still a vessel for Maxwell, but if lake spirits are a thing, why shouldn’t Maxwell be a thing -fun fact: I hate suits.