#i could write a fic based on this...

[camels-pen]

down and down and down we go

[peqchessss]

au where they’re like 30 and had a brutal homoerotic fallout in high school and stopped talking to each other and then they meet again and it’s sad and horrible

[kimmie2me]

Level up

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𓂅⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Bakugou Katsuki x AFAB!Reader

.....

You’ve been practically living in TerraSim these past few months, pouring countless late nights and weekends into building up your little virtual world. The game has its claws deep in you, thanks to its blend of addictive life-sim elements—a mix of Sims customization, Animal Crossing terraforming, and Club Penguin socializing that could easily keep anyone hooked. And while your elaborate cityscapes and sprawling islands are a thing of beauty, there's one mission you've latched onto with laser focus: getting your character into "dating status" with Bakugou's avatar.

It was a goal that bordered on ridiculous. Sero had introduced you to the game months back during a casual hangout in the guys' dorm. He’d been casually recreating UA’s Heights Alliance in the game, building out the dormitory floor-by-floor, with every detail painstakingly placed. From the second you saw his screen, your interest piqued—and when you started playing, your obsession was instant. It became routine for you and the BakuSquad to grind away at the game during downtime, each of you building up your worlds, designing houses, and taking over one another’s islands.

The only one who’d abstained was Bakugou. At first, you assumed he had no interest, which made sense—gaming didn’t exactly seem to be his thing, aside from the occasional fighting/shooter games he dominated when dared. But in passing, during one of those late-night hangouts, he’d mentioned he already had TerraSim, that he’d been “roaming around some goddamn desert wasteland for practice.” You immediately begged him to join your world, but he just gave a rough grunt that could’ve meant anything, then dismissed you with a “Maybe, if I feel like it.”

Your goal took shape then and there: to coax him into joining and eventually leveling up your in-game relationship to unlock TerraSim’s latest update—the elusive “dating” feature. It was no small feat. For starters, if you were lucky, Bakugou logged in once every two weeks. On top of that, he seemed impervious to your digital generosity. You’d flood his character with cute, carefully chosen in-game gifts each time he showed up, and each time, he’d react with the same annoyed bark.

“Quit sendin’ me stuff. I’m not broke, dammit,” he’d scoff, his avatar recoiling as if the bonsai trees, vintage armchairs, and rare wallpapers you’d gifted him were beneath him.

Of course, you only saw it as encouragement to keep trying.

You were determined. And as with all the best grind arcs, yours became an elaborate, all-consuming routine. Every chance you had, you logged into TerraSim, meticulously building up your land, ensuring your avatar was stocked with rare, hard-to-find items to impress Bakugou with. You were going through caffeine-fueled all-nighters at this point, with mornings spent half-asleep in class, barely keeping your eyes open. The BakuSquad teased you relentlessly—Mina claiming you were “seriously down bad for a video game character.”

If only they knew.

But as each week passed, Bakugou’s elusive online presence continued to be a thorn in your side. By the time he logged on, your gift vault had practically doubled. You tried it all—stylish furniture, hard-to-find armor, imported rugs for his in-game lair. You even went as far as to max out your crafting skills, just to create exclusive, handmade items with painstaking detail. Each time he logged on and received your gifts, though, his response was the same, and each time he accepted with a sigh, you secretly thrilled. Your relationship points were crawling forward… but slowly. Too slowly.

“Stop givin’ me this crap,” he’d grumble through your headset. “I don’t even want this stuff, ya’know?”

“Oh, sure, sure,” you’d laugh, clicking to send another rare item. “One of these days, you’re going to need these.”

“The hell I will,” he’d mutter, but he never outright rejected your offers.

.....

Weeks bled into months, and you swore you could’ve become an in-game billionaire with the amount of rare loot you farmed for him. But it was all worth it the day you saw your relationship meter finally, finally, hit the dating threshold. You blinked at the notification in stunned disbelief. Was this a fever dream? You hovered over the confirmation message, breath catching. It had taken everything you had—sleepless nights, countless gold coins, and so much shameless digital groveling—but you’d done it.

With hands trembling in a mix of excitement and pure vindication, you clicked “accept,” and the game’s screen flashed with a pop-up: Dating Status Reached With Dynamight! It was all you could do not to scream out loud and wake half the dorm.

But you knew you had to take it a step further. There was one action in particular you’d waited for, that single, pixelated interaction that would bring your late-night conquest full circle. And, so, the next time you found him online, you spammed his messages telling him to join your world. After being left on read for a few minutes, you finally got his invite to join your world.

You accepted the invite and seconds later, Bakugou’s in-game avatar appeared in front of you, materializing with a small puff of digital dust. For a few seconds, Bakugou just wandered around, taking in the over-the-top, pretty pink world you’d painstakingly crafted. Everything in sight was cute and whimsical—flowers that seemed to bloom just for him, pastel-colored furniture, and adorable, quirky decorations scattered around, all meticulously placed to make him squirm just a little.

He moved around in silence, his avatar occasionally glancing at an oversized plushie or some tiny, glittering accessory, as though trying to figure out what to do next. His character in front of a giant heart-shaped fountain you’d made in the middle of the town square, looking completely unimpressed.

You couldn’t resist anymore. You sent a game call invitation, knowing full well it was the only way to get his attention.

“Yo,” he grumbled as the call picked up, his voice already thick with annoyance. “What the hell is all this? ”

You smirked, hearing the edge of frustration in his tone as he tried to process the overwhelming cuteness of your world. There was way more stuff than he remembered from the last time he joined, which had been about a week ago.

“Well, don’t just stand there. Check out the new features!” you teased, ready to see how he’d react. His avatar was still stiffly standing by the fountain, looking like he wanted to leave immediately.

"Quit sendin' me invites. I don’t need to see all this stupid stuff," he muttered, but his voice was already a little softer, like he was at least partially curious about whatever you’d done. His avatar shifted toward a pink gazebo with twinkling fairy lights, the atmosphere oddly peaceful in contrast to his usual fiery demeanor.

You grinned. "Just wait. I have something special to show you. C'mere." He loudly sighs, walks his character toward you, and stops in front of you. You clicked the little “kiss on cheek” option, holding your breath as your avatar leaned toward Bakugou’s. His avatar’s cheeks flushed bright red, a little heart animation popping over his head.

A beat later, Bakugou’s voice came through the headset, loud and utterly bewildered. “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!”

Your laugh echoed through the room, so loud it practically rattled your headphones. “Oh my god, calm down. It’s just the new ‘kiss’ action!”

“The what action?” His tone teetered between horror and rage, as if you’d committed a criminal offense against his character’s dignity.

“It’s cute! Look—” You sent another cheek-kiss, chuckling as his avatar’s blush only deepened and two hearts popped this time.

“STOP THAT,” he bellowed. “I didn’t sign up for… for this! What the hell kinda game update even does that?!”

“Maybe if you’d read the patch notes, you’d know,” you teased, sending one last kiss for good measure. Bakugou’s furious grumbling was music to your ears, and his embarrassed fluster was as satisfying as the months of grind it had taken to get here.

“I KNEW this game was weird!” Bakugou snapped, his avatar stomping away dramatically, a small puff of virtual dust swirling around him. “Why the hell do you keep doin’ this?! This isn’t a dating sim, it’s a goddamn build-your-own-world game! What the hell does kissing have to do with anything?!”

You snickered, watching his character angrily pace in circles like a toddler who’d been deprived of their favorite toy. “It’s an update, crybaby,” you said, barely containing your laughter. “They added a bunch of new features. Just because you’re too stubborn to try them doesn’t mean I’m not gonna take advantage of it.”

“I’m not tryin’ that crap! No one even reads the patch notes!” His tone was half defensive, half... well, half like someone who was genuinely confused but also slightly flustered despite himself. “Next thing you know, you’ll have my character doing some stupid dance routine or makin’ it cook me dinner or somethin’!”

“You know what? That sounds like a good idea,” you said, clicking away before he could protest. “Maybe I’ll make him start doing all the work around here in a cute outfit, or better yet, I’ll get him to cook me a five-star meal, or, oh—how about a slow dance with my character? Yeah, I’m definitely making him do that!”

“No, you—stop it right now,” Bakugou growled, as if you’d just threatened to burn down his precious in-game house. “I swear, if you make my character embarrass me like that... I'm gonna make your character regret it.”

You burst out laughing, already picturing Bakugou’s avatar furiously stomping around your island. “Oh please, you’re too late. You already lost the battle when I got that kiss, remember?”

“Shut up,” Bakugou snarled, clearly having no idea how to process what just happened. “This game’s messed up. You’re messed up.”

“I know,” you said smugly, loving every second of his flustered misery. “But hey, you’re the one who’s dating me now, so guess you’ll just have to get used to it.”

You could hear him grumble in frustration, his character awkwardly swiveling around on the screen, refusing to acknowledge your victory. “I’m not dating you. This is stupid. None of this is real,” he muttered, but his voice wavered in a way that said something had shifted. You knew you had him, even if he didn’t want to admit it.

You smirked, leaning back in your chair, letting the silence hang for a beat before responding. “Sure, sure. Keep telling yourself that. I'll took a screenshot of the kiss and I'm sending it to the group chat. Have fun defending yourself in there. And I'm gonna say you told me to do it!”

Bakugou’s avatar froze, his pixelated expression twitching in annoyance as though it couldn’t process the level of frustration he was feeling. “Don’t you dare.” His voice was low and gruff, but there was a crack of vulnerability there—just enough to make your grin widen.

“Ah, but you’re my boyfriend now, Katsuki,” you teased, not letting the moment pass without pushing just a little more. “And boyfriends get gifts, don’t they? I'll spoil you and you're cute avatar, don't worry.”

There was a long, tense pause before Bakugou’s character spun around on its heel, stomping off to the far corner of the island as though to flee from the situation. You couldn’t help but laugh at his reaction.

“I’m gonna kill you when I see you,” he spat, though it lacked its usual venom, and you could practically hear the flush in his voice.

You leaned forward, your heart racing with victory. "Yeah, well, that’s what you get for being so stubborn. Consider yourself stuck with me now."

Bakugou’s final response was an explosion of curses—loud, heated, and full of frustration. He abruptly left your world with a furious slam of his controller, then cut off the game call, leaving only his angry muttering on the other end. But even in his rage, there was a hint of something softer—something that told you, despite his protests, he was starting to come to terms with the whole situation.

And in that moment, it was all you needed to hear. You were dating him. Even if it was just in the world of TerraSim, it didn’t matter. You’d made it. You'd won.

[moeblob]

Reverse!Gavin

[erinwantstowrite]

thinking so hard about the very shitty au i wrote when i was on wattpad where Lucy (fairy tail) met the guild as a kid but they had their memories wiped at the end of it and didn't remember her, so when she finally meets natsu again SHE remembers them but they don't remember her. also she was their enemy when they first met and when she ran away from her father it was because he tried to create one of the time travel gates but he had to sacrifice a celestial wizard to even try and get it operating. i think she had two older siblings in this au too? anyway i never posted it but it was so incredibly long and I can't get into my wattpad account anymore so it's gone forever so i can't even reread it and laugh at how badly written it was

[alienglowgarden]

Im bad at writing coherent things but I need to get this concept out of my head so it stops haunting me.

I had this idea for another fic called The Undine Colony.

The setting would be the second colony by the sea- started when Sol is in their forties- the story taking place an unknown time after that.

It starts with the alarm that the original Stratospheric colony has gone silent. Collapsed all its networks, killed every signal, spirited away every colonist. As it still houses much of humanity's most advanced tech, like the servers for their holonet, essential parts of the power grid, this is an issue of extreme urgency.

And who better to turn to in their moment of need than Sol? So here they are suddenly jolted into wakefulness.

Their first thought is that they cannot feel their body. They quickly learn they are not in fact the real Sol, but only an AI copy made of their brain-scan from many decades ago. Though they cannot access the future vision as an ephemeral bit of software, they have superior computing on their side.

The gist of it being that AI Sol is now in charge of the 2nd colony to replace the hole left by Congruence, all while being tasked to figure out whats happening to the og colony & trying to reestablish contact. Aaand trying to piece together their own existence on top of it. Trying to find out what even happened to the original Sol. If they have something to do with this blackout.

So yeah, itd be slowly unfurling that mystery, piecing together the gap in their memory & issues of personhood.

[ominousvibez]

Okay I'm still thinking about the Amity Park in Ohio thing so here's my proposal for this idea:

Reasons That Amity Park Should Be in Ohio (By Someone Who's Lived In Ohio For 2+ Years)

#1 It's Definitely A Great Lake State

Amity Park has never been stated to be officially in one specific state, just vaguely central United States, possibly somewhere around the Great Lakes area. That specific area is often referenced by other characters in the show. Urban Jungle shows Undergrowth's roots stretching out from this general area, and the Lake Eerie mentioned in the show might just literally be Lake Erie.

Of course it's kinda cartoony and I honestly have no idea if those mountains in the bottom right corner are meant to be the Appalachia area or not but it vaugely looks like the Great Lakes area

Because of this screenshot, I think most of the fandom headcanons Amity Park to be somewhere in Illinois, possibly close to Chicago, but we can basically point at any Great Lakes state and say "yeah that fits".

For my non-American friends, it's this general area of America (specifically Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio)

But I'd also like to say that cartoons do have a tendency to fudge some details about geography (or completely change the states a la Steven Universe) so the map might not be 100% accurate. But with the map, it could technically be any Great Lakes State, so why not OHIO?

Which btw I'm going to be counting as a Midwest state for this analysis. Some people can argue it isn't, but from my experience living here in Ohio there are a lot of Midwestern tendencies. It's more like Ohio is the border state between the Eastern states and the Midwest, so it gets a mix of both.

B*tch H*rtman (as much as we don't like to talk about him) was also born in Michigan, which is a state in the Midwest, so some of Amity Park could be based (consciously or not) on the towns he grew up in there. But because of him I'm ruling out Michigan the state as a whole and Wisconsin for states Amity Park could be in.

#2 It Takes Four Days To Get To Wisconsin, Apparently?

In Season 1, Episode 7, when they travel to Vlad's mansion in Wisconsin, Jazz says it will take "four days" to get from Amity Park to Vlad's Mansion (Somewhere in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin, basically). The geography is a little off for every midwestern/Great Lakes state except maybe New York if you're gonna count that but Amity Park does not feel like it'd be in New York state.

Ohio is the furthest Midwest Great Lakes state from Wisconsin. Case closed there. Of course, it doesn't take four days to get from Ohio to Wisconsin. It can roughly vary from 10 to 15 hours, depending on route options (such as avoiding highways and stuff), but still.

It's a road trip, so it makes more sense that they'd take longer to get there-- plus realistically people don't tend to drive 10 hours on a road trip, they probably stopped through the trip and spent the night in their RV.

#3 They Got Beaches?

Amity Park does exist near a body of water. It isn't clear if it's a lake, river, or ocean in the show. It could be a lake. There's also the area in Frightmare, where Nocturne literally takes up space in some sort of port building/factory that gives the audience the assumption that it's on a pier/port. So they're really next to a body of water.

There is also the summer camp that Danny and his friends attend in Claw of the Wild which is said to be on Lake "Eerie". Which could easily just be Lake Erie, the lake that Ohio is on.

Also Camp Skull and Crossbones?? What an iconic camp name. You could say the name is pretty,,,,,, camp (ba dum tss).

#4 Ohio's Just Like... Very Haunted

Ohio has kinda become a meme recently. Not just one specific part of Ohio, but the entire state. The memes are mostly good fun-- like how the state is mostly just corn -- but I think some of the ~vibes~ of Ohio just fit right.

Like, there's no definite way to say which U.S. State is the most haunted (I think either the New England area or maybe Louisiana could take the #1 spot) but Ohio is definitely something else. Of course, we have the baby bridges and the haunted penitentiaries like Ohio State Penitentiary, but there are some interesting places that could be played with, too.

For one, there's an entire abandoned town called Helltown, Ohio, where rumors are cultists perform Satantic rituals, mutant creatures roaming the city created by an oil spill, and even a giant snake? There's also a place literally called the Gateway to Hell, too, which is right behind a Tim Horton's (oddly fitting).

Bobby Mackey's is also in Ohio! If you've ever seen Buzzfeed Unsolved, you know what I'm talking about.

There are also less hell-related spooky things in Ohio. Like, Lake Erie has its own Monster! We call her Bessie. Danny could definitely befriend Bessie!!!

#5 It'd Be Funny

It'd be funny for Amity Park to be in Ohio. The Most Haunted Place in America to be in Ohio is just kinda funny. With how "cursed" of a reputation Ohio seems to have in a larger cultural context, doesn't it kinda just fit?

TLDR:

Ohio is a very cursed state, has a lot of supernatural lore to it, and I think Amity Park would fit in both thematically and almost geographically. Of course, other Midwestern States like Illinois do fit the bill, too, in this argument. But I am a firm "Amity Park is in Ohio" supporter.

[insomnya777]

hiiiii guys !!!!!!!! so me and @toximblee were cooking up some ideas ..... basically to all my author moots would u perhaps be down to do a little secret santa fic exchange 😄 super casual kinda thing we can make a little discord server have some fun with it ...... maybe ????? reply if ur interested ???????

[mamawasatesttube]

the thing about kon's relationships is that, despite how much posturing he does about being a flirt and a ladies' man, he has only ever had three (3) relationships, two of which were with adult women who groomed and preyed on him, and the third was with a closeted lesbian who mistook her gender envy as attraction to him.

(to cassie, kon is literally the boy from the posters on her bedroom wall. she sets up that crush before she ever meets him, and by the time the two of them get together, he's already got the idea that relationships = a woman gives him a box to fit into and he does his very best to stay in it so he can prove he's good enough for her. this isn't cassie's fault by any means, but like, it's no wonder they break up and both immediately seem relieved about it, yknow?)

even when other people flirt with him, like when serling tries to ask him out, he turns her down because he's not in a space where he feels like he can be in a relationship. he's not actually the horndog and total flirt he pretends he is. i would posit that he just learned "this is how teenage boys are supposed to act" from all the media and pop culture downloaded into his head. that was the only standard or cultural context he had. it's how he tried to socialize in hawaii when he went to high school, too. he didn't know how to act beyond being a tv personality.

anyways, what i'm getting at is that i will never be convinced this guy has ever actually experienced attraction to a woman. it's posturing and comp het all the way down, babey. kon-el is a demisexual gay man, and in this essay i will

[eastbluecrewed]

things you can't get back

aka i've been waiting so patiently to see kidd get his ass beat by shanks (affectionate)

[drop-dead-dropout]

posting a kimharry oneshot here bc i'm too lazy to format it on ao3 rn but I'll reblog with the ao3 link later if I get around to it

so basically I was thinking about how kim is very my partner coded and I had this galaxy brain idea to write a fic where kim is asexual or uhhh. would grayace be the term? sorry idk but it's based on my partner I love him <3. also blink and you'll miss it trans harry but it's important to me that you know they're t4t in this lol. cw for suggestive (non-graphic discussions of sexuality and also it takes place Directly after them fucking), 1.3k words. (please be nice to me I've never posted fic on tumblr lol)

YOU — The air in your apartment is musty with the smell of sweat and sex. Your chest heaves with slightly strangled breaths, face burning with humiliation. You've always been a little (a lot) loose-lipped during orgasm—

ELECTROCHEMISTRY — Especially an orgasm like that, holy shit, Kim—

YOU — But you've never, in living memory, said anything quite as ridiculously and unashamedly needy as the complete word-vomit that just exited your mouth a few seconds ago.

REACTION SPEED [Easy: Failure] — Honestly, you were a little out of it and the exact phrasing is already slipping your mind, but it was something along the lines of... What was it again?

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Medium: Success] — Oh my fucking Dei don't stop, Kim please I need you so bad, god I'm so desperate, shit, you drive me fucking crazy, pleasepleaseplease—

SAVOIR FAIRE — Yeah, no, I'm cutting you off right there. He's already about to spontaneously combust, you don't need to embarrass him even more.

ENCYCLOPEDIA — He asked. Besides, I'm not the one who dropped the ball there.

COMPOSURE — Sorry for that, Harry.

KIM KITSURAGI — Kim's hands rest on your chest, tracing circles just below your twin scars with his nimble fingers. "Is that... Really how it feels, to you?"

EMPATHY — It's a genuine question, and he's smiling with an infectious fondness. He's not upset, just curious. Your eagerness is fascinating to him. And cute.

HALF-LIGHT — What does he mean by that, though? Are we too needy? Is it not good for him? Does he hate us and want us to die forever—

VOLITION — No. Shut up. We already agreed you're not allowed to talk when Harry's alone with Kim, don't you remember?

HALF-LIGHT — But! Danger!

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Trivial: Success] — It's Kim. There is no danger here.

YOU — At a loss for anything else to say, you just nod, a bit dumbly. "I mean... Yeah. Is it, uh, not like that for you?"

COMPOSURE [Formidable: Failure] — You try to play the question off as a nonchalant, but you're not even close to being a good enough liar to hide the mild undercurrent of fear in your voice. Especially not from him. (Khm. Sorry again.)

KIM KITSURAGI — "No, not really. It's not you," he quickly adds, seeing the obvious and barely-held back self-loathing in your expression. "It's just the way I am, I suppose. I'm too old to question it now."

DRAMA [Heroic: Success] — He's not lying to spare your feelings, sire. This is truly just a facet of himself that's always been there.

RHETORIC [Challenging: Failure] — By the way, you distinctly recall hearing him talk about having had sex before. Quite a bit, in fact.

YOU — "But wait, I thought—"

KIM KITSURAGI — Already having anticipated this line of questioning, Kim laughs a bit under his breath. "It wasn't a lie; I never said I don't. Actually, sometimes that made it better— without all the messy urgency, I guess I seemed 'cool', to borrow your phrasing. And it's not like I didn't enjoy it, either." He shrugs. "It was just... Something to do. I never really understood the intensity."

SHIVERS [Legendary: Success] — A dozen miles and many years ago, two young men make out in a musty old apartment. "How are you always so— so unaffected," one says to the other with a breathy laugh. In a few months he will repeat these words with a much uglier tone, and they will be the last ones Kim ever hears from him.

EMPATHY [Heroic: Success] — For the record, he was not, in fact, "unaffected" by that particular heartbreak. Don't ever hurt him like that.

YOU — Before you can think better of it, you find yourself saying, "Is that bad?"

KIM KITSURAGI — A twitch in the corner of his mouth interrupts his relaxed grin for a moment. You almost want to mourn the loss. "I don't know, Harry, is it? Why do you think it would be?"

PAIN THRESHOLD — You've hurt him, idiot. We just told you not to do that.

YOU — "I-I mean— it's just—" Your teeth click audibly with how quickly you shut your own mouth. You really, really don't want to fuck this up.

HALF-LIGHT — Too late.

VOLITION [Challenging: Success] — HEY. Back in the corner, you.

YOU — Guys, please help me. I don't know anything about… Well, anything, really, but especially not this. How do I fix it? What do I say to make him feel better?

INLAND EMPIRE — You could start by actually answering his question, instead of rushing to apologize. Why do you think it would be bad? What about the concept is uncomfortable to you?

SUGGESTION [Medium: Success] — Kim feels safe with you, in the same way that you do with him. Be honest. He knows you didn't mean anything by it— the only way you could fuck this up is by not talking to him.

YOU — After a moment of pondering, you find the right words. Or maybe not the right words, but the ones that feel the most true: "I don't know. But I know I would be unhappy, if I was... Different to how I am now."

EMPATHY — Kim's eyes flash with a bit of surprise. But good surprise, like an old friend dropping by unexpectedly. The smile returns (yay!)— smaller, but softer, and almost giddy. It's not one you see on him often, a bit too unguarded and juvenile for his tastes. It's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen.

KIM KITSURAGI — "So would I," he says simply.

DRAMA [Challenging: Success] — He means it.

YOU — "Oh." You blink two or three times. "Oh. Well that's good, then, right? That you're happy?"

PERCEPTION (HEARING) — Something about the almost childish sincerity in your voice must be funny to him, because he keeps doing that thing where he chuckles under his breath, and coughs to try to cover it.

PAIN THRESHOLD [Formidable: Failure] — He's laughing at you.

AUTHORITY [Trivial: Failure] — Exactly. He's mocking you, Harry, he thinks you're an idiot. Make him respect you—

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] — He's in love, you moron.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY — As if on cue (or maybe your internal dialogue is just more easily observable from the outside than you thought), Kim leans forward and kisses you. For the first time, you notice how effective he is at responding to your reactions, like he's trying to find and wring out every last happy sigh and spark of oxytocin he could possibly give you.

INTERFACING [Medium: Success] — Because he likes this. He likes pressing all your buttons and seeing what they do, which ones work the best. (Almost all of them work, when it's him. Maybe a little too well.)

ENDURANCE — Hey, don't look at me like that! It's not my fault he doesn't play fair.

SAVOIR FAIRE — Exactly. How are we supposed to be cool in front of Kim? He's like, the coolest.

KIM KITSURAGI — "I love you," Kim whispers, his lips tickling against your collarbone.

SAVOIR FAIRE — See?! He even makes THAT sound cool, a thousand times cooler than when we say it, which is, like, every five seconds!!

EMPATHY — It's true that you're usually the one to say it first. For a time, he hardly said it at all— you learned not to take it personally. You certainly have your own baggage. But lately, it's been nice to watch as he gets a bit more comfortable.

EMPATHY [Formidable: Success] — The cuddling usually seems to help, in moments like this.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Godly: Success] — After all, what is a hug but a way to hide your face?

YOU — You wind your arms tighter around him. "I love you, too, Kim." And you swear he must be able to feel the way your lungs glow.

EMPATHY — He does. Of course he does.

INLAND EMPIRE — For a moment, you think you can feel his, too.

SHIVERS [Legendary: Success] — SLEEP WELL, MY DARLINGS.

[mono-socke]

are you ready for some squip angst ??

imagine the squip turning human after the events of the play and getting assigned to stay with jeremy and go with him to school and everything. yeah? but the thing is, whoever made them human expects them to actually become social and make new friends and go out with others and stuff, but the squip literally knows no one but jeremy properly. and turns out, they're actually not social at all ! so they basically just follow jeremy around everywhere, only occasionally even talking to other people if they approach them first (which rarely anyone even does because,, why is that stranger here out of a sudden? and why are they following jeremy constantly? weird)

like, the squip is basically super dependent on jeremy, but he eventually gets sick of them. he endorces it for the first weeks or so, willing to play the role of a guide for them while they adapt to being a human, but eventually he is just getting annoyed by having someone follow/cling to him constantly. he just doesn't get why on earth the squip wouldn't leave him alone

jeremy also still doesn't fully trust them after the events of the play, and maybe he suspects them to plot another evil plan of some kind ? anyway, he ends up snapping, telling them to back the fuck off and leave him alone ('for someone who used to be obsessed with making me social, you sure are incompetent at it yourself. find yourself friends that AREN'T ME')

and like,, the squip just doesn't know what to do afterwards. jeremy was the only person they knew, they NEEDED him to exist properly (when they were a squip, they LITERALLY needed him to exist and have an objective and all that, and thus overtime they've grown really dependent on him, leading to the point it's an issue) but now jeremy won't even talk to them ?? they can barely funtion at all as a human, how are they supposed to do it without help ?!

(rambling over)

[tomurakii]

My last post about bloodweave was pretty negative (though necessarily so imo) so I wanted to talk about the little things about the bloodweave dynamic that I DO like and want to see more of in fic (under the cut).

- the orb means Astarion can't start their relationship transactionally. Gale can't give Astarion blood, and also can't have sex with him (and presumably would refuse casual sex anyway). How would the relationship develop without Astarion being able to rely on the give-and-take, forced instead to just trust Gale will watch his back? Astarion isn't a plans guy, I imagine having to come up with something on the spot (considering none of the other companions are reeaaaally an option either) would lead to a lot more emotional vulnerability as he tries to take a route he has much less experience with. Not to mention that the flirty and standoffish front isn't exactly going to endear him to Gale, who approves of the capable, loyal, and righteous. How long can Astarion pretend to be invested in Gale's wellbeing before it becomes true?

- they both have bad ascension endings, but different natural outcomes. Gale is considered the more morally upstanding one, but in their solo states (without the player's influence) Gale will go through with ascension and Astarion won't. Would they goad each other on? Gale disapproves of Astarion's ascension, using arguments that could apply to himself about the personal sacrifice and loss of the soul. Would Astarion flip them around, become defensive? Their dynamic could mean the power hungry character ending up discouraging the pursuit of godhood, or the two of them hurtling over the edge together. Or, maybe, Astarion encouraging Gale to ascend and having to trust him to return.

- they're the party members with the most life experience, and they're also both pretty well-educated (even if Astarion's law qualifications may well have expired by the events of the game). He spent his time under Cazador sewing (like Gale in his Baldur's Gate epilogue) and learning languages (of which Gale knows four). They have enduring common interests beyond their circumstances. Gale can help Astarion rediscover the latent nerd potential he lost when he died, and lord knows he would love to pick his brain for a first hand account of the mid-to-late 12th century.

- Astarion recently regained hope for his future when the tadpole freed him, Gale recently lost all of it. While act 1 is a continuous series of positive discoveries for Astarion (tadpole frees him from cazador -> ceremorphosis is held off by the dream visitor -> tadpole can be controlled), Gale's life gets worse with time as his treatment stops working. It's a dynamic that could give Gale hope, force Astarion to practise empathy, or put them completely at odds.

- Astarion's all-encompassing desire to reclaim his life could be inspiring to Gale. Moreover, I imagine seeing just how passive Gale is about his death would infuriate him. To have so little regard for his real, mortal, free life? It's a great source of angst, and also a great starting point for Gale to start wanting to live again. Because after learning about Astarion's past he would agree, he'd recognise how much value a mortal life was supposed to have. He'd think himself ungrateful or impolite for entertaining the idea of throwing it away when Astarion would give anything to have what he had. This would lead to guilt, and potentially self-loathing, unless someone was there to help pick up the pieces.

- If Astarion meets Oblodra before Gale's act 2 romance scene, (or for a fanfic plot, just before Gale is confident enough to confess) they most likely won't have sex until the graveyard scene in late act 3 (or the post-ascension equivalent). It means that rather than the fuckfest we so often see from bloodweave fics, the relationship is almost entirely a slow-burning, emotionally intimate affair. I'd really love to see that play out, the progression from semi-horny yearning on both parts as the orb keeps them apart, to two love confessions that are followed by the both of them experiencing non-sexual intimacy for the first time in years. I doubt Mystra was one to hug her chosen, after all, or hold their hands.

I just love a bg3 ship that forces the characters to take different actions than they do in canon. It makes me feel like I'm developing a broader understanding of the characters, you know?

[science-lings]

I have very specific thoughts about Bruce's 'childhood' and how he tried to do things differently with Dick than what happened with him because of how badly it affected him. He knows what it's like to have everything change so fast and to be so angry but too young to actually do anything about it.

I can see him making sure Dick doesn't get too close of a look at his parents because Bruce remembers being stuck with his parent's corpses until the police got there, all alone with no other way to call for help than screaming. I can see him hiding Dick from the flashing cameras and hiding any newspapers about the 'story' so that Dick doesn't have to see how the press spins everything. Bruce has that picture of himself sitting shellshocked from the ambulance on the front page and he knows how violating that felt, how publicized his trauma was, even if he can't completely prevent it for Dick he can do his best to make it hurt less.

Bruce suffered being helpless for years, being so angry at Gotham and the world and not having a good outlet for it, he had no control over anything that was happening with him, so with DIck he knows how important being Robin became because he knows how becoming Batman felt for him. Bruce got into fights because he couldn't hold his anger in and had to turn that anger inward in fear that Alfred would get sick of him and leave too. Robin was a productive outlet, even if it was a dangerous one, but who knows what would've happened to him if he didn't have it? He already got that taste of freedom and feeling like his intervention could actually make a difference that Bruce took years and years of stewing in trauma to find.

The most important thing to Bruce is that Dick doesn't become another Batman.

[necrotic-nephilim]

in lieu of having posted any writing/headcanons/asks in the past few days because i have been *so* busy and unable to do anything fandom-related which is terrible and evil, i have a poll out of morbid curiosity and self-indulgence. i've been meaning to ramble here about how i feel about DC's lack fo Deaf representation and which Batfam members i would personally make Deaf, but i am mildly curious about the larger opinion and now i will subject you all to the question, i would love to hear thoughts/opinions/headcanons on any specific choices. (would love d/Deaf/HoH opinions esp but i'm mostly expecting this to reach the hearing crowd, so opinions from hearing ppl are ones i'm very curious about. if you've never given it thought before you are going to now or else /lh)

[perpetuallyfive]

did you think act 2 had a dip in quality when in comes to writing? i've seen so many people complaining and i can't, for the life of me, understand why, apart from people having these really personal expectations that weren't met (vi's pitfighter era being just the montage, caitlyn not spelling out her inner turmoils, isha's entire existence, jinx being family oriented instead of a freedom fighter, sky is also pissing people off lol), and I'm just so confused bc idk if I'm just easier to please, or if my lack of expectations just allowed me to enjoy the story plain and simple

I think there's a fair chance that many of the people complaining didn't watch season 1 until all three acts were released and aren't used to watching Arcane as a week to week experience; a huge percentage of the people in this fandom only joined it around the time they saw an "oil and water" gif set. No shade, of course. I can understand why people weren't jumping to watch women written by Riot, but that does color how you're going to view the pacing of a season.

This very well might be the first time a lot of those complaining built up expectations of where the story would head next, how they'd watch the struggle play out between Zaun and Piltover, only to see things they wanted to watch in depth get covered in a montage.

The fact that a single montage tells us everything we need to know about where Vi is at and what she's been up to is actually good, economical storytelling, but that's not the kind of thing people are used to in most shows. If you go back and watch the pilot of Arcane, so many things happen in that one episode. You get almost a full season of TV in a single 42 minutes of Arcane. A lot of other shows are just filling time, running in place until one of the two or three big moments for the whole season can happen a few episodes later.

That's not how Arcane works now or ever.

I imagine if some people had watched season 1 week to week — with lots of time to imagine what came next while at the edge of their seat — they would have been upset that we never saw the three youngest girls growing up. Act 1 ends with this huge cliffhanger and then we jump an unspecified amount of time into the future. We don't spend time with Vi in jail, we don't actually see any of the trauma alluded to. We don't see the tension in Caitlyn's relationship with her mom and how that plays out over time, which is a pretty huge part of season 2. We don't see Jinx's transformation into the damaged girl she becomes. All of that happens off screen and is only implied.

The techniques people are complaining about this season are exactly the same as last time, when they loved the show. But if you watched everything all at once before — no time to build up an imagined result that didn't pan out — and were reassured by how much you liked the payoff, then maybe you didn't even notice these things that you can hyper analyze while you wait 7 days for the next drop.

Hell, I saw multiple people surprised that introducing tension into Vi and Caitlyn's relationship has already paid off so well because it led to, you know... tension. Some people are so used to shows not doing anything that they are surprised when actually doing things can turn out to be interesting.

I think a lot of the things you say people are complaining about are probably going to be covered in act 3. Jinx has always been family oriented. She only cared for the found family she had with Vander, and then Silco took that place. She didn't give a shit about anyone else working with him, and actively made their lives harder just for fun. It's going to take some effort and time to move her from that pretty self-interested place she's always occupied to being some kind of freedom fighter risking herself for strangers, and Isha was a vital part of getting her there.

I also think there's a really strong chance that isn't even Sky, but rather a manifestation of her created by the Hextech/Void/Whatever that consumed her using her as a puppet to manipulate Viktor into spreading its influence further and faster. But who knows! There's an entire three episodes left and, again, a single episode of Arcane covers so much and always has. None of us can actually know where the stories will be one episode later, let alone three.

Look, for all I know, this might not pan out. We never know if a show is going to stick the landing one season to the next. But they're not really doing anything differently from last time, so I don't see a reason to panic or complain yet.