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

[camels-pen]

down and down and down we go

[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.

[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

[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 ???????

[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

[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)

[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?

[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)

[moeblob]

Reverse!Gavin

[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.

[merakiui]

MERA MERA MERA!!! I just had a random thought. Jade who spent 2 years toying with your feelings bc he knew you had a crush on him only for him to go off to his internship and realise that maybe he does like you back but when he comes back from 4th year he sees you happily dating one of the boys in the first year gang. I wanna see his heart drop lmao

- Lily anon

ヾ⁠(˶⁠ ⁠’⁠Ｏ⁠’˶⁠ ⁠)⁠ﾉﾞ‎!!!!!! AND I KNOW JUST THE LOVELYTHEBAND SONG THAT WOULD SUIT THIS CONCEPT: "your whatever." These lyrics: "I'll be your right now. I'll be your forever. Oh, I'll be your last call. I'll be your whatever." and "You're obsessed with the moon and in love with the stars. I'm in love with your soul and everything that you are." AND AND AND AND "You smell like a holiday. I'm still in love with you though. It was spring time, you were still mine. Back when I felt whole." AAAAAAAAAAA JADE LEECH BEING PAINFULLY, WHOLEHEARTEDLY IN LOVE IS TOO GOOD. REALIZING HE WAS IN LOVE A LITTLE TOO LATE OMG............ OTL OTL

Just,,,,,, the way he's so hot and cold while you were in school together, intentionally doing things just to see you fluster or further kindle your affections. He doesn't normally like so much attention, but he admits it feels nice when it's coming from you. He'd play with your feelings like they were a harp, stringing you along just because it was fun and exciting. And then he goes off for his internship/independent study and during that time apart realizes he misses you and your voice and your kind gestures and the little things you'd do. Oh, he's fallen in love with you, hasn't he? He's always felt this way. He just failed to realize it.

Jade hopes to confess when he returns. He hypes himself up for it, cowardly despite his nature to be unabashed in everything else he does. When he gets back to NRC in the winter for the cultural festival and sees you hand in hand with someone from your year, his heart frosts over. He was too late. You've already found someone else who'll love and appreciate you far better than Jade ever could before.

[rainy-matcha]

whenever I see a fic where a character has a panic attack and another character helps them breathe in deeply like "Can you breathe with me?" or something like that it kinda instantly takes me out of it because I've literally never had someone know to do that for me in real life?? Maybe it's just me but idk do most people have enough basic knowledge on panic attacks to do that? And are also calm and collected and together enough in the moment to help someone like that? Idk man just feels unrealistic 🤷

[ender1821]

red pushing down on the green

Posted on ao3: read here!

It was supposed to be a quick, harmless mining trip.

Instead, Pearl walks out a little more changed than expected.