#i decided to try my hand at anime and i was expecting great things (lesbians) out of yuri on ice.

[cannibalismyuri]

isn't yuri on ice about lesbians. why are there two disturbingly, almost distressingly homosexual men on my screen.

[jenyifer]

Dangerous romance 7/10 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Lists I’d Put It In: So much potential, Sports, Slice of Life

Review: There is a lot of things I like about dangerous romance but the cons makes it so that I’d likely not watch it again.

Pros the actors main and side were fan fucking tastic. Perth can be so intimidating bratty sexy and on the other hand just a sweet little puppy. I love how funny he made Kang just adding flare. Chimon baby of OffGun of course I watched this show mainly for him. Sailom is basically a hop skip and jump away from Wave from the gifted Sassy Smart Secertly extremely caring and gushy. I’m hoping Chimon’s roles always involve sass it’s his signature. GIVE PAPANG AND PEPPER A BIGGER BL ROLE AND VIEWJUNE ALL OF MY MONEY. MarcPawin really surprised me as well I wasn’t expecting much because I just watched my gear your gown. The grandma was precious. Euro and JJ were great comic relief I wish there had been more of them. I wish there was more I made a post before this 12th ep saying how I’d fix the series in detail. So I’m gonna boil it down here. The ships should have been more interlocked with eachother. The editing made the show boring. Why did we have so many flashbacks and lingering shots. I love a pretty scene but they took so long and we needed extra interlocking scenes for all the ships. Ugh I can see how this show would have been great with just a few changes which makes it so frustrating. Anyways more about the ships after the break

First Perth and Chimon are not at fault for this I’m talking about editing and story. I adore KangSailom they had good potential but it felt like it got every trope imaginable enemies to lovers, poor boy rich boy, long standing unexplainable secret crush from childhood, tutor student, redemption arc, misunderstanding. AND YET IT FELT WEAK BECAUSE OF THE EDITING AND LACK OF OTHER CHARACTERS INTERACTION UNTIL THE VERY END.

Meanwhile audiences kept getting tiny precious glimpses of WONDERFUL side ships.

GuyNawa Idiot Sport boy for Idiot Sport boy with injury, enemies to lovers (really fully enemies), long standing crush was so incredibly beautiful and effective. I probably won’t have liked their plot too if it had been drawn out because I would have been missing the other side characters but what we got for them was perfect I’d rewatch their scenes again. I was much more impressed by MarcPawin this time I hope they get another series their kiss was thru the roof. They give me strong Sports Anime vibes made me miss Haikyuu.

Saifah and Name had the most potential to be a 10/10 ship. Papang and Pepper definitely need their flowers because the show didn’t give them a lot to work with. Their characters and storylines should have been worked in from the beginning. I wanted to want to cry for Saifah when he was taken away. I wanted to want Name to stay safe as he tried to protect Sailom and Saifah. But I felt like it was so rushed. We barely got to see what these characters had. But everything we did was leaning towards greatness a big brother who has done wrong in the past to get by trying to do ANYTHING for his brother even tho he’s in over his head and a bit of an idiot and mafia guy who sees his highschool friend again falls in love but is offered shit choices all around to his enviable conclusion and redemption. If only we had gotten them sooner and worked into Sailom’s plot more. I’m telling you it would have been stunning. I can see the vision.

I really love Pimfah. She is… a great female character. I talked about it already but great lesbian energy. I wish I had more. I wish Pimfah could have been worked more smoothly into Kang’s storyline after he decided to go after Sailom. The student teacher was precious. She is going to make a great teacher. I wish we got a spin off of what happens in London. But sadly the ship just didn’t have enough screen time.

I might rewatch the GuyNawa scenes again but the rest is probably a skip.

Bonus: Strangest kiss in the bathroom award goes to….

[teeth-and-tea]

Anime I've Binged: August 2021

I've been crafting a lot recently because I wanna get my yarn work done before it gets cold so LOTS OF ANIME lmao let's gooooo

The Case Study of Vanitas: On god, this anime is gorgeous. Still being upload as it's a new seasonal, but it's a Yen Press distributed work by the same mangaka of Pandora Hearts and Crimson Shell so it's STYLISTICALLY GORGEOUS. The story is interesting and feels new but familiar enough to have guess, people who like men AND women will have something for them, and Noè is my baby boy, my heart, my lovely little lamb, the sweetest green bean on the planet <3. Can't wait for the (eventual, as told on the first episode) death of Vanitas by Noè's hands that will crush me <3. 9/10.

Oddtaxi: I was NOT EXPECTING this anime to be THAT GOOD. Oddakawa is the MVP. You think you're getting a slice of life anime with some furry elements and instead you get Paranoia Agent meets Yakuza and went to school with Beastars. Genuinely one of the best anime of the coming decade. The last 30 seconds of the last episode legitimately left me screaming and my brother had to ask me what was wrong. 11/10.

The Slime Diaries: The offshoot for That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime full of shorts while the second half of the second season was put on hiatus due to covid. Cute, bubbly, but the drawing styles for everyone was a little too off for me to entirely enjoy. However, the extra background and time they gave to all the characters really fleshed them out and gave them more depth so you have more to care about when you're watching the main series again. Not bad, pretty cute, but you won't understand unless you've watched all the way up to the middle of the Second Season. 8.5/10.

The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist: Another Light Novel Slice of Life Isekai given life, I've seen better but this one isn't bad by any means. It gives you exactly what it says on the tin, with NO annoying fan service or gross (bad) harem dynamics. Pretty cute tbh. 8/10.

Mob Psycho 100 S1: The animation is INCREDIBLE. OH MY GOD. Story was solid, depictions of original characters was GREAT and Mob is my beautiful little boy I want to wrap up in a blanket and put to sleep <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 Reigen is a sweaty, sweaty gross goblin I found outside the Denny's dumpster at midnight and decided "ahh, yes, a man who is perfect to destroy and objectify all at once." 11/10.

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S1, S2, and Shorts: I'm gonna be real, I'm a mad lesbian who knew I was gonna be disappointed by what I wanted but knew I wasn't gonna get it. STILL super cute tho. Lucoa and Shota gave me HARD SIDE EYE VIBES THO. Tits. Tits for days. Not my favorite but I've seen worse. 7.5/10.

How to Keep a Mummy: SO CUTE genuinely went online to see if I could buy a plushie before remembering I have crafting power and twelve dollars. Slice of Life featuring an adorable cast of high schoolers and their supernatural pets. 8.5/10. I couldn't stop being delighted by how CUTE everything was <3

Elegant Yokai Apartment Life: A Slice of Life Turned Plot-ish about if Tohru from Fruits Basket was a guy and shoved in an entire apartment complex full of supernatural beings, with less explicit romantic plotlines. It's not bad but the plot is all over the place and nonsensical in the the "why did the writer think this was a good idea" way and not the "lol" way. It was a Light Novel turned published piece tho so that clears up a lot of things. Incredibly small internet presence so if you want the world's tiniest fandom, try here. 8/10.

Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average In the Next Life?!: Another in the long line up of isekais and light novels that have gained an audience, this is honestly one of my favorite of the Isekais I've watched so far. It's fun, humorous, and it's got the decent premise of "oh yeah, I'm average in all my abilities! ... If you compare them from the tiniest bug to the strongest dragon alive." It's busty jokes and certain dried up cliches are abound tho, so some of the humor falls flat. That being said: the magic is run on nanomachines. That alone gives it enough premise for me to watch it. I watched the dub which I'll admit isn't amazing, but worked for me. 8.5/10

Restaurant to Another World: Another Light Novel adaptation but this one was a much earlier one that was published a few years ago, it's so calm that I like watching it to fall asleep to. That being said, don't watch this while hungry! Or watch it while eating leftovers! Because THE FOOD LOOKS SO GOOD I WANT IT D: Lol but serious it's pretty cute, really normal, there's no plot, I almost hesitate to call this anything other than a fantasy slice of life show instead of just a series of shorts strung together to make a show. I want to eat at Restaurant Nekoya TTuTT 8/10

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS:

How NOT To Summon a Demon Lord: I got 6 episodes in before I straight up could NOT take the fan service anymore. Literally, I watched 5 1/2 episodes, paused about 4 months, gave it one last shot and watched the 6th episode, and then called it quits. It's SO GROSS IT MAKES ME NAUSEOUS. Not in a gorey way (which is preferable tbh) but in "all these hyper-sexualized, assaulted, groomed, fan serviced girls are underage or are lolis" way. Ew. Gross. I refuse. I made myself watch PRISON SCHOOL but smth about this show just... made itself unwatchable. Maybe how it's still trying to make the MC seem like a normal dude and in Prison School they were literally all written to be unlikable and everyone knew it was fucked up. Here, it's like... portrayed as normal and positive? I just can't do it fam, I hate this show so goddamn much. I'm going to bed.

[nvrlostword]

cookie run kingdom au bc i’m out of control

ok first of all the kid cookies legally cannot go on missions

chili pepper (though she generally hates rules) established this rule after stage 2-18 when she saw the jelly worm get turned into a dragon and thought maybe this wasn’t the best environment for children

soon after this snow sugar and alchemist run into espresso and are like “wow! a magic cookie! will you come live in our kingdom?!”

espresso agrees because he’s a big softie for kids deep down because he’s been roaming around studying magic for a little while now and it would be nice to have a place to settle down and maybe start up a coffee magic school

of course as soon as they reach the kingdom gate, who else would be there but madeleine cookie

espresso: i need to leave immediately

espresso does consider booking it but alchemist seems so eager to learn magic from him and how could he break his promise to snow sugar to live in her kingdom

meanwhile madeleine, who’s been in the kingdom for a little while now, is surprised to see that one guy from the republic again so he waves cheerfully at espresso and espresso just. walks past him. not even acknowledged

espresso hopes that he won’t have to interact with madeleine much and he can just ignore him. unfortunately, the only house available is the one next to madeleine’s (because madeleine’s house gives off a blinding aura that makes it hard for other cookies to sleep at night, thus no one wants to live next to him except angel cookie, who’s his neighbor on the other side)

regret.png

at DAWN the next day madeleine’s at espresso’s door. espresso (regrettably) answers after like two and a half hours of madeleine standing there at his door, knocking

madeleine asks espresso to join the exploration team and espresso slams the door in his face

madeleine continues to talk to espresso through the door and espresso makes a note to ask the sugar gnomes to install a thicker door

the only reason espresso eventually agrees is because snow sugar asks him to

so when espresso joins, he’s not terribly surprised that the team is a mess (because why else would madeleine, of all people, ask him to join- he must have been desperate), but he didn’t expect it to be... well, as much of a mess as it was. we’ve got madeleine (strong but stupid), avocado (who’s okay at combat but really is a lot better at weaponsmithing), angel (who sometimes does healing magic but more often than not just focuses on making a glowing aura around madeleine), and vampire (does he even do anything???).

madeleine is so happy to have a cookie that’s competent in combat that he gives espresso one of those friendly pats on the back except he’s too overexcited and ends up knocking espresso over

espresso: *long sigh*

so a couple days later espresso is like “why tf is chili pepper cookie not on our combat team???”

turns out chili pepper and madeleine had a disagreement about the morality of stealing and chili pepper refused to do combat for the kingdom ever since

espresso comes in and smooths things over and chili pepper replaces vampire cookie in the exploration team, a change which makes everyone happier

then they meet rye cookie during the chilirye quests

episode 4 and the beginning of episode 5 are kind of rough for our exploration team bc they’re being chased by both licorice and rye cookie

but when they get to pomegranate village and rye hears the whole thing about dark enchantress cookie coming to take over the world, rye begrudgingly agrees to work with the team and avocado goes back to working at the kingdom forge

thus, an epic slow burn chilirye romance begins

the same thing has been happening with espresseleine but like stupidly slow

lore time: ok so in my mind dark magic and black magic are two different things. black magic is like the evil stuff dark enchantress uses, and it’s just one branch of dark magic (coffee magic would be another branch of dark magic), but a lot of cookies get the two confused and so dark mages are looked at as evil

what does this have to do with anything, you ask? well, it just so happens that madeleine and espresso did, in fact, meet once before when they were kids. madeleine was afraid of espresso bc he practiced “black” magic and ran away from him

madeleine doesn’t remember this interaction. espresso does.

it was espresso’s first experience with cookies mistaking him for a black mage, and it wouldn’t be the last, especially from light mages. this is part of why he’s so dedicated to his studies- to prove that not all dark magic is bad

so as the group travels together, they all realize some things. chili pepper and rye realize they’re not so different after all, espresso and madeleine (respectively) realize that dark and light magic (and each other) aren’t so bad, and angel cookie realizes she’s surrounded by gay cookies

everything goes great until 7-25. you remember 7-25 and the nightmare-ridden librarian? i do. i was stuck on that level for WEEKS

anyway. the party gets to the librarian and they are HURTING. chili pepper and rye end up confessing their love to each other- which says a lot about how dire the situation was if you could get two lesbians to confess their love

so madeleine’s at the front and the librarian is about to absolutely murder him when espresso says not today, not my man. espresso steps up and uses all of his remaining energy to send the librarian to a pocket dimension or something, but espresso ends up getting pulled in too and he’s assumed dead

he’s not dead he’s just kinda in suspended animation in the void but the others don’t know that

then the cookies go back to the kingdom bc they need healing, right? wrong. madeleine stays by where espresso disappeared and refuses to move bc what if he comes back, he was injured and when he comes back he’ll need someone there to help him even if he won’t admit it, he’ll be back any minute now

eventually chili pepper has to knock madeleine out just so they can get back to the kingdom

they’re all kinda depresso about losing espresso but none moreso than madeleine. he’s so depressed, in fact, that his light magic actually weakens

he’s still a part of the exploration missions but he’s just. distracted. in a way he wasn’t before. he’s more careless in battle, spends more time alone, and people have actually seen him without his smile

so while our crew is somewhere in episode 8, pomegranate cookie happens to go back to the library and finds the dark magic rift. unlike the cookies on our adventure team, she can actually open it

pomegranate, finding a weakened espresso in the rift: it’s free real estate

pomegranate is really impressed by espresso’s magical talent and takes him back to dark enchantress cookie (who has been summoned at this point and is starting to really cause chaos). dark enchantress wants to recruit espresso but he refuses because of a certain light magic idiot dark enchantress is the one who made people look at dark magic as evil

dark enchantress: ok *casts a mind control spell on espresso*

posesso the espresso

meanwhile, madeleine is doing the talking to himself thing that he does (in the MIDDLE of a battle) and he’s like “why would espresso do that, anyway? he’s never done anything selfless in his life!” and chili pepper just rolls her eyes and as she’s taking out an enemy and says “because he was in love with you”

*madeleine voice* HUH????????

everyone else thought madeleine and espresso were together bc they obviously had a thing for each other and that’s why madeleine was so distraught when espresso “died”

madeleine suddenly realizes he like likes espresso, which is unfortunate bc he’s “dead”

at this exact moment, white lily shows up claiming she was attacked by espresso

madeleine: THAT’S WONDERFUL NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!11!!

some distance away, possessed!espresso facepalms. “why did i just do that,” he wonders

so this is how they learn espresso is alive but possessed by dark enchantress. madeleine, however, only cares about the first part, bc at least there’s hope now that he can bring espresso home

his magic returns, even stronger than before, and the revitalized team plows through the rest of episode 8

so they finally get to dark enchantress and face her. dark choco decides to join the hero team bc pomegranate bullied him

which is really good for the team bc their front, madeleine, runs off to fight possessed!espresso alone at the beginning of the fight

espresso and madeleine would do a lot of sparring and stuff together and they were pretty evenly matched because of their different areas of strength, but this is different bc possessed!espresso is actively trying to kill madeleine and he has a black magic buff

possessed!espresso has the upper hand here, so he gets madeleine cornered and is about to deliver the final blow but he can’t

madeleine sees his hesitation and is like !!!!!! he’s still in there!!!!!!!

he also realizes there’s a pomegranate seed over the eye that espresso covers with his hair and realizes that must be what’s causing the possession spell (like in ovenbreak story run when wind archer gets possessed)

instead of fighting possessed!espresso, madeleine starts talking to him, reminding him of how they started out as kind of enemies, but how they became close friends. madeleine talks about how espresso made him realize that not all dark magic was evil, and there’s beauty in dark magic, too, all while slowly getting closer to possessed!espresso, who’s still poised and ready to deliver the killing blow

finally, madeleine asks possessed!espresso to trust him, and then he reaches out and touches the pomegranate seen over possessed!espresso’s eye. there’s a burst of light magic, the seed falls off, and espresso is back to normal

he and madeleine confess their feelings to each other then go help the others defeat dark enchantress cookie. the kingdom is saved, everyone is happy, and our two couples live in domestic bliss the end

[readbyred]

One very important gesture - Hatcherfield favourites pt.1

This one is very specific because it’s very late when in writing this, or should I say early, and I have this scenario in mind where I take characters I like writing and have their s/o do something for then that they weren't expecting but needed; this work is unedited

Alice

“So the she (the vampire lesbian) just takes-” she passed realizing how a simple ‘how are you?’ just turned into a big monologue about her new project. Great now you’ll think she’s weird! Not giving you time to respond and just rambling like a maniac about undead murder lesbians. And if you found out she actually based the coffee shop owner’s character on you- that whole thing was am embarrassing mistake and she should have learned to shut up by now. If no one’s asking about her play then there’s literally no reason to shove it down people’s throats. That's the most pathetic thing she could do “geez, sorry for the ramble”

“No, no, please continue! I enjoy hearing you talk about things you like” smiling you look at her expectantly to continue her tale adding “i should be thankful America’s next most successful playwright is sharing her ideas with me”

Putting down her phone completely Alice looked at you wide eyed and you half expected to see those anime girl sparkle appear around her irises. She then looked away timidly smiling and putting her soft small hand atop of yours. After the pause ended she continued. Still smiling “so then she grabs the gun and[...]”

Lex

Lex cringed at her reddened face in the mirror, the aftermath of a crying session wrapped in your arm. She was scared, she felt very drained and lonely lately. But no matter what she had to keep her brave facade for Hannah.

“You alright?” you asked from your room seeing how your girlfriend only went to wash her face but was taking a very long time to come put of the bathroom.

“Why does it always go to shit like that?” sighing she fell back down of your bed “I really want her to have a better life but so far I'm doing nothing help”

“No, Lex” she expected to see pity when she turned to look you in the eyes but instead she was met with a sympathetic look “you’re doing enough and I know it's hard but I swear you are not alone in this”

As corny as it sounded it did paint a weak smile on her lips as she wrapped her hands around your torso lightly kissing your cheek

Lucy

The first date was going swell but you could tell the British woman across the table was getting distracted glancing at her phone.

“Is something wrong?” cocking your head you examined your date as her head snapped back up to look at you like a deer in headlights. She must have thought she was being sneaky with looking into her purse but she definitely was not.

“Oh! Sorry for that” avoiding the answer she sent you an apologetic smile.

“I won't press but did something happen?”

“No, not really. But if I told you, you’d just leave me here and call me crazy” she took a sip of her drink but despite her words she continued “Have you heard the ‘legend’ of the Ape Man who lives in the forests nearby?”

“So it is true that you’re looking for him” his could you not have heard the colourful stories about the creature, after all this town was where you grew up in and just like every child you too we're scared into obedience by tales of the beast that could lurk just outside your window. They didn't scare you but many of them stayed in your mind, vivid as ever.

“So you knew before you asked me out?” her eyebrows travelled almost all the way up to her hairline.

“Don’t get me wrong but those rumours were the reason I approached you in the first place...” looking away nervously you did not get the reaction you anticipated.

“Wait, really? I’m flattered, I really am” she smiled at your confusion “would you like to hear me talk about it then? I... I haven't had anyone to share my research with, in a while, and my ex-fiance wasn't very keen on the subject, you could say”

Nodding happily you took a sip of you hot chocolate listening to everything she had to say, seeing your date grow more excited as you followed along and asked questions about what she had to say

Emdroid

Walking over the bridge you stopped noticing that your partner had stopped to look over the railing. Here, some moths ago you helped her dump the bodies of her ‘human prototype’ as you called her and that man, her ex-fiance, who decided to be a bother and call off the wedding upon learning her identity.

She was the mastermind in your duo, way more confident about your crimes than you were. Yet she was still cursed with an awfully human mind and was no stranger to feeling doubt. And so as soon as you noticed her brown and blue eyes gazing into the black unforgiving mass of water underneath you knew what she was thinking.

“You know that we did the right thing, right?” approaching you put down your one hand next to hers on the railing and wrapped the other one around her, giving her sort of a light side-hug “she didn't use her life, you did a lot more than she could ever accomplish. You deserve happiness too”

Squeezing her shoulder lightly you felt her head lean on your (shoulder/head) as her small hand landed atop of yours. It was Sunday evening and it felt eru good news is t to rush and just stand there, with her, thinking.

Bonus for Starr that she gave me the idea for (I literally wrote nothing on my own here so all credit to @stopgettingonmynerves )

Ethan

After sneaking into the drive-in theatre at the outskirts of Hatchetfield, one of your personal favourite places in this small boring town, you took your favourite spot waiting for the film to start. You were really excited when you heard they would be playing “the rope” as you enjoyed revisiting it every chance you got. Sort of a weird comfort movie but your boyfriend didn't seem to mind. You felt a bit guilty actually with how much you mentioned it because ever since them Ethan went beyond himself to get some money and get you there legally. But it didn't work out and he had to resort to your usual plan. He wasn't very wealthy to say the least but it was never something that mattered to you. Yet it clearly embarrassed him, it was clear in the way his expression always changed to shameful when you two did something like that. It seemed that he (falsely of course) believed that if he didn't treat you to all those things you’d think less of him.

Finally, you couldn't bare to look at how he did all this and how he made himself feel about not doing more and when you cuddled into him, still waiting for the movie to start you leaned in and said to him quietly “You really don't gave to do this, you know? I know you don't like to sneak in every time and lie your way out of trouble. So please don't. You are worth much more than what you give and you don't have to ‘buy’ yourself space to exist in this relationship... please”

You weren't met with any verbal response but you felt him grip you tighter and rest his chin on your (head/shoulder).

Henry

“What is it?” you practically forced your way into his house frantically. When in the middle of the night your partner called you that there's been an emergency you rushed to get to him. But there he stood, fine as ever.

“I just had a revelation dear!” he said but it didn't go unnoticed that he had snuck around you and as he took your coat he was most likely trying to lock the door “come in and take a sit next to Alexa! How moronic of me not to think about this solution! So, it's about the ‘workin‘ boys’ I-”

“Henry” you stopped his rambling “is that why you called me to get here?”

To your surprise the man scoffed as if the answer was obvious.

“How else was I supposed to get you to come?” now it was your time to look at him baffled. You were extremely worried that he was hurt and for what?

“You could have just told me you wanted to talk, I would gladly listen to you” you explained making him freeze like a deer in the headlights.

“That's absurd!” the man objected “It never works! If I didn't use half truths i would never get an audience”

“Look, I'm not Emma or Ted” you responded taking a deep sigh “I'm with you now and I’ll gladly listen to what you have to say. Just... No weird lies and schemes from now on, alright?”

A genuine smile stretched his lips as he led you to his cozy kitchen “you certainly are a peculiar companion, I must say. But truly, the best one I could ask for. So! As I was saying [...]”

[silvermoon424]

Recommendation: Sleepless Domain

Read Sleepless Domain HERE

Sleepless Domain is an ongoing webcomic by Mary Cagle that began in 2015. I think TVTropes already wrote a perfect summary of it: 

By day, a nameless, isolated city is safe under the Great Barrier. Every night, however, monsters come in from the surrounding lands and terrorize the city. The first line of defense against these monsters are young magical girls, such as the five teenagers that make up Team Alchemical. Practically celebrities, these girls are regarded as champions, are honored and respected above all else, with all the support that implies, especially if they are registered.

It would be almost perfect... except for the part where they have to risk their lives every night.

One night, that risk becomes tragedy and one of the girls of Team Alchemical, Undine, also known as Alchemical Water, decides to find out why it happened. Even if that means she has to do it alone.

Sleepless Domain is a coming of age story about expectations, loss, friendship through healing and hardship, and the price of magic.

I decided to read this webcomic upon the recommendation of a follower. I thought the premise sounded intriguing (Puella Magi Madoka Magica is one of my all-time favorite anime, and I love dark magical girl shows in general) so I thought I’d give it a shot. I ended up devouring all currently available 15 chapters (as of July 2020) in a matter of hours, only to be struck by the realization that from now on I’ll have to wait for updates. It’s a double-edged sword; I’m addicted to binging media in one go so it sucks having to wait, but on the other hand I’m glad I have something to look forward to getting updated every week.

Anyway, as the summary implies, this is a darker and more mature take on the magical girl genre. Although the girls get to enjoy cute costumes, magical powers, a much elevated status, and the adoration of the public, they must also risk their lives every night against dangerous monsters that are more than capable of hurting or even killing them. They’re essentially child soldiers, albeit glorified ones. Their fame and idolization is also a mixed blessing; while magical girls get to enjoy their boosted status, they’re also put on a pedestal, to the point where people forget they’re still teenage girls who don’t solely exist to fight and die for the public.

Speaking of the public, I absolutely love the setting. I’m really fond of stories where magical girls/superheroes/etc are a known thing and we can see how the rest of the world reacts to them. In the city where Sleepless Domain takes place, magical girls are essentially celebrities. Their fights get followed by camera crews and broadcasted every morning, they have managers, they get interviewed, they have officially licensed merchandise, they’re featured on the front covers of magazines, etc. Many of the magical girls have outright monetized their popularity, doing ad deals and sponsorships. 

Another detail I really like is that almost all magical girls attend Future’s Promise, an exclusive private school where everything from the education to the facilities to the food is high-quality, as a reward for them for protecting the city. The classes even start at 11 AM to give magical girls enough time to sleep after their nightly patrols (the Great Barrier is inactive from 10 PM to 2 AM, which is when magical girls are active). It’s also cool to see a school that’s exclusively for magical girls and we get to see a lot of interaction between various magical girls.

I also really love the design and mechanics behind the magical girls themselves. They each have a unique costume and powers, although some magical girls may be “thematic,” meaning they have teams where the girls' powers, costumes, and symbols match (for example, Team Alchemical, the magical girls featured in the picture, have a team based on the classical Greek elements of water, air, earth, fire, and aether). Members of thematic teams usually know each other before they are granted their powers, although this is not always the case. There are also non-thematic teams, meaning that there is no common element among the girls' powers. In any case, each magical girl has her own unique costume, powers, and sigil/symbol. Their hair and eyes also often undergo a supernatural color change (for example, one character’s hair and eye colors went from brown to pink), which I am an absolute sucker for (PreCure is another series that utilizes that concept a lot, although in Sleepless Domain the eye/hair color change is present even when in civilian form).

Aside from the great and interesting setting, I also really appreciate the tone of Sleepless Domain. It’s mature and thought-provoking without becoming a grimdark edge-fest like a lot of dark magical girl media. Without going into spoilers, the main character, Undine, suffers a major loss towards the beginning of the comic and much of the story is about her trying to heal and connect with other people. Another main character, Tessa, having suffered the same loss, displays classic signs of PTSD and depression and she has a much harder time trying to move on. This is just one example of the realism of Sleepless Domain despite its fantastical setting, where people are actually emotionally and psychologically affected by death and loss and need help getting through it (another detail I really like is how therapy is made readily available for current and former magical girls, although not all of them take it). But despite the mature themes and tone, things never get too dark and there’s always plenty of fluffy interactions between the characters to give you hope.

Oh, and I should mention that the series is very LGBTQ friendly. One of the magical girls is a transgirl, and homosexual relationships seem to be quite accepted amongst magical girls. Again, I won’t go into spoilers but a very popular lesbian ship was just confirmed as well.

Overall, I can’t recommend Sleepless Domain enough. If you’re like me you’ll finish it in one sitting and be left desperate for more. If anything about this recommendation sounds appealing to you, I guarantee you’ll love the series.

[glapplebloom]

BONUS ARTICLE AND SPOILER WARNING!

@RiseFallNickBck

I make it no secret I am a fan of the Powerpuff Girls. I got every original episode on DVD, saw Dance Pantsed and even enjoyed most of the Reboot (yes it has problems but there are things I do enjoy about it). But when I heard about the Live Action Reboot even I think it was a terrible idea and reading the supposed leak proved I was right. If this leaked script was indeed true, it would explain the re-working they’re doing for the pilot. So this post said that it is unsalvagable. I’m willing to give it my best shot. To add to this challenge: I am keeping the cast the same. And I’m not going to just use my own version of the Future PPGs.

First, for this, I would animate most of the opening to be cartoon representatives of the cast. This way, people will know this is a new take on the Powerpuff Girls off the bat. Inspired from the PPG movie, we see the Professor looking at Townsville and wanting to bring something positive in this town. The a recreation of the opening, you know, the Sugar, Spice and everything Nice bit. Then the Narrator talk about how they were successful, showing a montage of them fighting all sorts of villains. Also showing them slowly maturing and changing their costumes to reflect their personalities. Then puberty hits.

Two things I am going to keep from the Pilot script is Blossom doing some serious studying and Buttercup being a cheating lesbian. Like my own future PPGs I do believe Blossom being the serious one and Buttercup being the wild one makes the most sense. But for Bubbles, they want her to be Hollywood yet making her more like Brittany Spheres at her worse. So I’m going to make her more focus on that. She was tired since she was doing numerous interviews with various magazines. So when they confront Mojo Jojo, who is human, they’re not at their best.

Mojo does his thing, but because they were tired they messed up. Instead of tackling Mojo out of the giant machine like always, they tackled below it, With Mojo’s last words, he curses the Powerpuff Girls before dying, either by the machine being destroyed via explosion or the head falling down, crushing him (this will depend on the twist ending). Now with blood on all their hands and not because Mojo tried to be a hero by attacking the girls, they all take this differently. Blossom has PTSD since she feels she’s responsible for it. Buttercup, who you think would be excited about it, is horrified. And Bubbles being so focused on the spotlight ignores it by saying “that’s right villains! If you mess with Townsville ever again expect the same!”

After that statement, there are no more villains in Townsville. They either quit or left Townsville. The Professor, who is not trying cash in on them, sends them to therapy to help them deal with it. Bubbles is in denial, Buttercup is getting better, but Blossom needs more of it. And when they turned 18, they felt it was best to move on. Buttercup is a traveling hero now, saving the day where she can and sleeping around when she can’t. Blossom graduated college, got the job at the Biotech Firm in Boston and has a boyfriend with Clive. She still goes to therapy and she is seemingly better. Bubbles went to Hollywood to cash in on her fame. No blonde drunk here. The Professor? Well, he is dating Sara Bellum after the Mayor lost and she was out of a job. She now works as an office secretary while the Professor is still doing his thing.

Currently being the Mayor is one Jones (played by Jojo’s actor). He is up for re-election and seems to be losing his chance at a second term. So he comes up with an idea: bringing back the Powerpuff Girls to Townsville. Even after the girls left Townsville has been pretty safe (at least to the the public’s knowledge) so he figured them coming back would give his campaign a boost. Around the same time, the Professor began to notice that there is an unusual concentration of high frequency technology happening recently. He fears that Darkness is coming back to Townsville and decided to call the Powerpuff Girls. Buttercup is a little worried but is alright. She promise to call the girl later. Bubbles sees this as an opportunity to get a chance in the spotlight, so she informs the media about a PPG reunion and gets her camera crew and agent. Blossom panic attacks as Clive reminds her of her therapy. Blossom calms down and decides to go see. It can’t be too serious she thinks. 

When Buttercup arrived at Townsville’s Airport, Bubbles is there with her cameraman and manager. They take an uber as they catch up. When they arrive at Townsville, the media is there since Bubbles informed them. Buttercup tries to get pass them but Bubbles embrace them. Especially a little girl who seems to be a fan. While Blossom is her favorite, she is excited to finally see them all in action. She asks for a hug, Bubbles goes in (thinking it’ll be a great camera shot), a caterpillar crawls up from around the girl to Bubbles, Buttercup flicks it, Henrietta said it was her pet and Buttercup rushes Bubbles inside. Blossom was already inside, sneaking in with Super Speed since she doesn’t want to have another panic attack. With the Professor there they he makes a claim. Blossom faints

Meanwhile, we find out that Henrietta was an evil genius. She wanted that caterpillar to crawl into Bubbles’ head to control her. And with all three together, she continues to want that power to herself and makes a move. Sometime later, Blossom recovering from her panic attack. She does not want to return to the Super Hero life and the others are accepting yet still needs her help. They promise she won’t have to fight but they still got to investigate. Drake thinks that if they can find the source he can take care of the rest since technology is his thing. Though they decide to humor him since despite being a scientist he hasn’t have the best track record for detecting things. And it gives the three girls to catch up beyond bitmoji. 

They decided to go to the Cano: the bar that’s located to the old inactive volcano that no one previously used. The owner is Butch who had a thing for Bubbles but she broke it off to presume her acting career, so he has a grudge. He’s cool with the other two. The girls catch up for a bit, Buttercup eyes Macy for a brief moment, they drink. Maybe too much as the three are different levels of dazed. Bubbles is making out with Butch while trying to find the source of an evil lab (at least she thinks she does), Buttercup is okay talking to Macy and Blossom is calling Clive while a little drunk. That’s when this guy who was Henrietta’s neighbor and being a little too aggressive. Buttercup does not take this well. 

After being escorted out of the bar (with the exception of Bubbles because she is trying to milk it for the camera) Blossom was commenting on how the guy had yellow eyes which Buttercup dismisses. With the computer stuff, they wrongfully suspect a charging station to be the culprit. They return back home unbeknown that it was indeed Henrietta’s Evil Laboratory underneath it. She has an army of caterpillars and decided to send them after the girls. If they can’t get them themselves, they’ll get other people. Back at the home, they relay their discovery to the Professor. He could have sworn but eventually settled that “maybe technology is advancing faster than he thought”. He invites them to stay the night but Bubbles and Buttercup got arrangements. Blossom stays, hoping to get some more talking.

With Bubbles, as the Cameraman gets some shots of the city for B-Roll, Bubbles and Ace (her manager) look over the footage. As he praises her, Bubbles notices there was a kid there. Before she can recognize who it was, their van got hit by another car. It was four people with yellow eyes. Bubbles goes in for the attack, taking it easy since she knows she can beat them easy. But as she knocks one out, she notices a small caterpillar coming out of their ear. As soon as it went back inside, that person gets back up. As she sees this, another tries to sneak up on her to place one near her ear. She’s too fast and makes the connection. So one by one she KOs a person and crush a caterpillar. With one remaining, they decided to take their own life by snapping their own neck. Bubbles breaks down. With Mojo, she told herself it was his own fault since he was a bad guy. But this is an innocent person who got killed to get to them. Ace comforts her telling her that it isn’t her fault. He even suggest to forget the filming and go see her sisters: because if this happened to her the others have to be in danger too.

At Macy’s place, the two are making out, not noticing the caterpillar getting closer and closer to them. That’s when Bubbles comes in. Thanks to the Friend Locator she knew Buttercup would be here. Buttercup goes to see Bubbles as Macy gets infected. Bubbles is hysterical trying to tell Buttercup what is happening but Buttercup isn’t understanding. That’s when Macy hits her with a lamp. Bubbles punches Macy and finds the caterpillar and crushes it. Now getting it, the girls go to see Blossom. At the PPG House, Blossom is getting some one on one time asking for relationship advice from Sara Bellum. Unbeknownst to the two of them the Professor walks out the door. Sometime later, Buttercup, Bubbles and Macy arrive to inform them of what’s up. They went to see the Professor but finds out he’s gone. Not suspecting the worst (probably thinking he’s getting dinner), Blossom examines the remains of the caterpillar and realize its a mind control device. And after Bubbles show them the footage of the girl, Buttercup realizes something isn’t up. That’s when Sara calls them to the living room.

The news are reporting that Townsville is having a rampage and the Professor is claiming to be the one behind it. They see the yellow eyes and Blossom makes the connection that he’s under mind control. Bubbles realizing the danger rushes out the door to try to stop it. Blossom is hyperventilating as she can’t get back out there. Buttercup tries to convince her but decides to leave her be since she can’t let Bubbles do it alone. That’s when Sara comes to talk to Blossom some more. Blossom discuss her therapy session and all the issues she had with it. Sara makes a comment that calms Blossom down and makes her realize that she needs to help (basically have Sara be the Young Blossom). Meanwhile, Bubbles figures that since the civilians are standing in water, they can give a small electric shock to stop the threat without killing them. Henrietta then shows up making the threat to kill the Professor if they don’t stop. Bubbles wants to save him but Buttercup can’t keep the telephone pole up without her. The Professor falls. Blossom saves him and knocks the Caterpillar out of him. With no where to turn, Henrietta calls all her Caterpillars to come together to create a giant armor for her and the Powerpuff Girls fight her.

After a lengthy battle, the Citizens cheer for the Powerpuff Girls as Blossom admits that she did miss this. Sometime later, Clive hears Blossom plans and while he hopes she would change her mind he understands. The Mayor Jones arrives to thank the girls and hope they continue to stay. And the Professor thanks them for saving him. But Blossom feels that despite how evil Henrietta was, there was no way for her to have the funds to create such a laboratory and suggest they continue to stay to figure out the true mastermind behind everything. Bubbles and Buttercup accept as the Powerpuff Girls are back together once more.

The episode ends with Jones revealing that his real name is Jojo and he is the one behind everything. This is because Jones is really the Son of Mojo and he wants revenge on the Powerpuff Girls. 

And that’s how I would rewrite that supposed leaked pilot. It may not be huge improvement since I kept certain things similar, but I do hope it shows that it could be better. My goal is to keep the humor parts separate for the serious parts and inject some more action. But if you have any thoughts, feel free to make your own version of the pilot, one that would most likely be better without the limitations made already.

[emblemxeno]

Interesting to see some semblance of Soleil discourse again. I hated her when i played fates, and was genuinly surprised that people really loved her. Do you think a lot of her shittier aspects were from Fates' shoddy translation, or was she always sort of bad?

Sorry for this taking so long! I figured I might as well make this a sort of definitive post about Soleil since I talk about her a lot, so I put some more research and effort into it than I initially planned.

Soleil’s writing does have a lot of differences between the Japanese version and localization, but I have many, many issues with both.

Japanese Soleil

Soleil in the Japanese version of Fates is, to put it simply, a train wreck. As we know, her defining trait is her love of girls. However, with Soleil it goes past attraction and flirting into outright predatory behavior. 

In many of her Japanese supports, Soleil creeps around girls, be it generic girls off-screen, or her female support partners. She hits on her mother in their support, she plans to sneak behind girls and embrace them out of nowhere in her support with Ignatius, and she harasses Ophelia and planned to get a better look at the latter’s figure in the tents when they switched bodies.

But the absolute worst was her Japanese support with Forrest. 

Basically, she’s chasing Forrest around because she’s convinced he’s a girl, despite him telling her over and over that he isn’t. Soleil is extra creepy in this one, saying things like “I can’t hold myself back anymore” and “I won’t do anything bad, so just give in.” Forrest goes so far as to even compare her to a wild animal stalking its prey.

Forrest then tells Soleil once again that he’s a boy, and what does she do? She asks him to prove it by getting naked and bathing with her. Forrest, of course, refuses again. Soleil then finds out from others around camp that Forrest was telling the truth; but she still can’t keep her urges down and keeps making unwanted advances and touches towards him.

That entire support is extreme sexual harassment. It is one of the worst supports I have ever read, especially since it’s played for laughs and it can later advance into an actual relationship between them. Treehouse did realize how bad this support was, and changed it from the ground up into something completely different, which is one of the very few things I will thank them for.

Now, localized Soleil is another beast entirely. Before going into my issues with her localized version, I’ll explain the context behind her trope.

A History Lesson

Soleil’s character at its core is based on the Class S trope. Class S is a Japanese term describing romantic friendships between girls. It’s origin and popularity is owed to things like western women’s literature (such as Little Women) being translated for Japanese audiences back in the early 20th century and the all-women Takarazuka Revue theater being established; these helped cultivate feelings of sisterhood and a sense of romance for young female audiences, especially since most schools at the time in Japane kept boys and girls separate. While there was a decline in the Class S genre after Japanese schools became more co-ed, it has made a resurgence in popularity ever since the late 90′s with light novels like Maria-sama ga Miteru.

Class S had a rather big impact on Japanese society, where it was actually expected to happen and treated as something wonderful for these kinds of close friendships to develop between young girls.

However. These aren’t treated as real romantic relationships. They’re seen as nothing more than a phase. After adolescence, girls are expected to ‘mature’ or ‘graduate’ in a sense, into a real relationship with a man. To still have Class S relationships with other girls when you’re supposed to be in a “real” relationship is seen as a sign of immaturity.

Soleil Herself

So what does this mean with Soleil? Lots of her supports in Japanese have other characters being bewildered or even annoyed by her continued love for girls, because “she’s technically an adult now, shouldn’t she have grown out of that phase?” 

Shigure gets surprised that she’s trying to learn how to sing to impress girls. F!Corrin wonders why she won’t give up her mindset already. Soleil gets jealous of Asugi’s popularity with girls and childishly tries to imitate him. Sophie says she doesn’t have time for Soleil’s antics because the former is trying to be a mature, devoted knight. Ophelia is frustrated that they can’t be “normal” friends instead of Soleil chasing her around and proclaiming her love.

They treat her obsession/love for girls as something childish for an adult woman like her to still have, much like Japanese society does. Soleil is Class S.

Soleil does actually get a chance to technically grow out of this phase, much like adult women are expected to. She ‘graduates’ into adulthood once she becomes romantically involved with her male romance options in the Japanese version; a “real” relationship.

As a gay man, you can probably guess how I feel about this trope. While it has had impact on helping Japan ease up on its more conservative beliefs and lots of Class S media has been created by actual queer women (like Nobuko Yoshiya), it’s still not a great feeling when same sex relationships are basically treated as not real or just a phase in someone’s life. It sucks, especially when I think the Japanese Rhajat/F!Corrin support is one of best in Fates. But enough about me, what does this have to do with localized Soleil?

Where The Localization Fumbled

Since she was already getting her fair share of controversy thanks to the many incorrect reports of conversion therapy during her support with M!Corrin, Treehouse decided to go the whole mile and rewrite some aspects of her character. This included removing the Class S aspect of her, and adding in a line from Laslow (as well as her roster description) that basically confirms she’s bisexual.

Except... they messed it up. They made her apparently bisexual, but they removed the romantic aspect of almost all of her S supports, all of which are dudes. Instead, most of her S supports result in promises of friendship or partnership of some kind. The only romantic S supports she has in the localization are with M!Corrin because Avatar privilege, and Forrest, which can still kind of be taken as platonic.

This doesn’t make sense. Why go out of your way to make Soleil bisexual, but remove her romantic supports with dudes? Her wlw side isn’t suddenly erased if she were to marry a dude, what’s the deal here? Did two different people have a hand in this and just didn’t communicate? Did one intend to make her a lesbian and the other wanted her to be bi? 

This is a huge inconsistency and fumble on Treehouse’s part, one of their biggest. Hell, besides that, they didn’t even remove all of her creepy aspects either; she still creeps on girls in her Ignatius support (she now plans to pinch them instead of embrace them from behind), and while her support with Ophelia was toned down, it still isn’t great. Why go so halfway on this, especially since she’s the most controversial character in the game?

Conclusion & Overview

So yeah, those are my thoughts about Soleil. Her Japanese characterization is a predatory mess and based on a trope which I am not fond of whatsoever, while her localized characterization is only somewhat better as a person and is plagued by a whole slew of new writing problems because her bisexuality just wasn’t done correctly by Treehouse.

Which honestly? It makes me kind of sad. Soleil has a lot of good things about her. I like her shamelessness, her confidence. Her shyness is basically an inverse of Olivia’s, where the latter is shy all the time except when dancing whereas Soleil is only shy and insecure when dancing; it’s a neat full circle for the entire family line. She has a couple of great supports too, like with Laslow and Kiragi. Her design is adorable, she’s a good unit, female mercenaries are always a plus, and her new voice actress in Heroes is one of my favorites. 

It’s just everything else is... bleh. 

I don’t dislike her as much as I did a few months ago, because looking over her supports again endeared her to me a little, but unfortunately she still has too many things about her that I hate for me to say anything better than that.

[marvels-writings]

Hi! Would you write a Cap Marvel x Reader in which Carol struggles with her sexual orientation after she meets r/continues running into r and just feels really nervous but is interested in getting to know r, smiles when something reminds her of r, daydreams on occasion, possible stuttering, scared of what others will think but when she's with r that fear just melts away, truly comfortable/feels at home with r. r is supportive, redirects Carol's attention from rude bystanders when together etc

A/N: This is gonna be long, I’m trying to include word counts

Word Count: 1658

Dreams are often confused with reality, especially vivid dreams. Similar to the one Carol was having, she was dreaming she was sitting on the couch, watching a movie with you. You were sitting in Carol’s lap comfortably, but Carol could tell you were getting bored so she poked you and asked you about it. You turned around with a smirk, moving quickly to straddle her before meeting your lips to hers.

It felt real, Carol could feel the fabric of your leggings under her hands, she could feel your lips moving over hers as you pushed her against the back of the couch, it felt too real to be a dream. 

Carol woke up from the dream with a soft smile on her face, convinced it was a reality until she noticed she was only lying down in her bed wearing sweats with sunlight streaming through the windows. After realizing it was a dream, she sat up quickly, moving short hair out of her face in shock. 

She couldn’t have feelings for you, you were her best friend. Carol had just come out as queer a few weeks back, but this was more confusing than anything. You can’t be attracted to your best friend, right?

Carol pushed the thoughts out of her head and got up and went to the kitchen to find you making eggs. You wore a simple tank top and black sweatpants, you turned around and grinned at her, gesturing for her to sit down on one of the barstools in front of the counter. 

“Good morning.” You greeted casually, flipping the egg over to cook it from both sides, walking to the fridge to take some bread out as Carol stared at you dreamily.

“Earth to Stargirl,” You joked, waving your hand in front of her face, effectively snapping her out of her daze. 

“Hi, uh hey,” Carol stuttered, sliding to sit on one of the barstools, fidgeting with her hands on the counter. 

You frowned at how nervous she was but decided not to ask questions, she looked confused enough as it is. You put the bread in the toaster and lowered the temperature on the stove.

“Are you feeling okay?” You asked, leaning back against the counter. 

The blonde looked up at you and nodded before getting up to make coffee. You shrugged and turned around when the toaster was done. After putting the toast on a plate and almost burning your hands in the process, you put the egg on top of it and handed it to Carol who took it with a bit of surprise. 

“Thanks,” Carol smiled, putting the plate in front of one of the seats before resuming to make the coffee.

“So, do you want to get lunch with me today?” You asked, bumping your hips with Carol’s lightly to hog more space, you didn’t expect her to fluster at the simple action. 

“Sure, where, where are you planning to go?” Carol asked hesitantly, getting her coffee from the pot.

Neither of you noticed Tony come into the kitchen after staying in the lab for over a day and steal the breakfast you’d made for Carol. You noticed first.

“Tony! That was for Carol.” You whined, flipping the egg and turning around to see Tony looking like a guilty child, he smirked and quickly ran off before you could take the toast back.

Carol laughed at the interaction, taking the toast out of the toaster and putting the egg you had been making on the toast, taking it instead. You laughed at her, making yourself another plate of eggs while she headed over to the counter to eat. 

“Oh and I was planning that burger place you like that’s nearby since I have training with Natasha and honestly I could use the calories.” You answered, making yourself a scrambled egg after it broke apart when you tried to flip it. 

“What time?” Carol asked you shrugged, taking the last piece of the toast and putting it on your plate, putting the scrambled eggs on top of it after.

“1ish?” You asked, sitting down next to Carol, your knee brushing hers slightly. You saw the action fluster her and you backed off without needing her to say anything.

“Sounds great, wanna watch a movie?” Carol asked, getting up and putting her empty plate in the dishwasher before resting her elbows on the counter, leaning forwards to face you.

“Sounds great Stargirl.” You grinned, wolfing down the eggs and walking over to the couch, flopping down.

The next half an hour or so passed quickly as you argued with Carol on what to watch. You wanted to watch a Star Wars movie, Carol wanted to watch Sherlock. Eventually, you settled on one episode of Sherlock then a Star Wars movie till lunch. Carol grinned smugly while putting on the movie, she hadn’t bothered telling you the episodes were almost an hour long.

Her dream was still in the back of her head whenever you moved to sit closer to her. You eventually ended up laying your head on her shoulder, bored already. Carol blushed as memories from the dream rushed to her. 

“How long is this?” You whined half-way through the episode, Carol laughed and instantly moved the remote out of your reach. 

You pouted, trying to get your way but Carol only laughed harder. Frustrated, you moved to try to get the remote from Carol’s grasp, eventually moving onto her lap to try to get it out of her reach. Carol still held her arm at full length to keep it from you, grip faltering when she realized you were practically straddling her to try and get the remote. 

You took the opportunity and took the remote, grinning down at Carol with the remote in your hand before you noticed the awkward position you were in. Carol was blushing furiously, her hands rested at her sides awkwardly, your eyes widened and you quickly slid off of her, putting Rogue One once you were comfortably settled on the seat next to Carol.

The rest of the movie went by quietly until both of you were starving, you switched off the movie and went to change to go outside as did Carol. Both of you met outside the compound after changing. You wore a fav/color top with ripped black jeans, black Adidas sneakers and a smoke grey denim jacket slung over your shoulder. Carol had worn acid-washed blue jeans, a plain white t-shirt, and her signature brown leather jacket. 

“Let’s go.” You grinned, slipping on your jacket and leading Carol out, noticing how she was hesitant to follow you.

“Is everything okay? You’ve been acting weird recently.” You asked, walking back to where Carol was, she looked up at you nervously and started walking, you followed her. 

“I just, I don’t know,” Carol muttered, you frowned, it wasn’t like her to be this nervous, especially around you. 

“Chances are, I would try me.” You suggested, smiling when Carol chuckled at your attempt at a joke. 

“C’mon, try me.” You repeated, bumping your shoulder with Carol’s lightly as you walked to the burger joint.

“We’re best friends, and I don’t know but I think I feel more for you than just a friend,” Carol confessed, running a hand through her short hair while avoiding eye contact with you.

“And I don’t know what everyone else would think about it because I don’t know how I feel. You’re beautiful and you could date anyone you want to, so I don’t want you to wait for me.”

Carol felt amazing to get it off her chest, the feeling was quickly replaced with anxiety when she turned to you. She expected you to be furious with her, it didn’t make sense for her to be confused and you didn’t want to wait for someone. But she didn’t see any of that, she saw your eyes soft as you looked at her, heart-melting at your smile.

“I’m flattered,” You stated with a grin before continuing, “I don’t mind waiting, you’re my best friend too, and I’d love to be your girlfriend if you’re ready for that.”

Carol had stolen your heart the second she met you, everyone had told you she was straight so you pushed down your feelings. But after she told you this, you had a hope, even if it was only a little, it was more than what you had before.

“Let’s go eat then,” Carol changed the topic, you laughed at how nervous she still was before walking with her to the restaurant. 

When you were about to cross the road, you weren’t paying attention while telling a story to Carol and making animated hand gestures. Carol saw the car heading right to where you were walking and grabbed your hand, pulling you back. Your eyes widened when you saw what she had saved you from, you thanked her but didn’t let go of her hand the entire time, continuing the story anyway. 

A few people stared at both of you holding hands while walking through the streets, you noticed Carol get more nervous and squeezed her hand reassuringly and directed her into the restaurant. Lunch went as it always did, you joked about random things that happened to you, Carol laughed and told some stories of her own, laughing the entire time. 

Carol could barely pay attention to any of the stories or the animated hand gestures while you talked. She was too busy treasuring the feeling of being truly comfortable around someone. Nobody could make her feel like she was at home, she had been through too much for that, but you made it all go away and made her feel normal. 

When she was around you, she felt more like herself, not Captain Marvel or any other names, she was just Carol Danvers. She was home with you, she wanted the feeling for the rest of her life. 

Tag List: @capcarolsdanver, @versdan, @lesbian-girls-wayhaught, @lovebotlarson, @dhengkt, @5aftermidnight, @hstoria, @natasha-danvers, @veryfunnyal, @xxxtwilightaxelxxx , @ophelias-heart  , @never-didbefore , @justarandomhumanhere, @the-most-unicorn-of-them-all , @thatssocamryn , @lesbian-x-blackwidow , @marvelbbyx , @wlw-imaginesss let me know if you’d like to be in any of my tag lists!

A/N: Thoughts? (feel free to drop something in my inbox)

[haro-whumps]

Sleep Deprivation

CW: slave whump, lady whump, sleep deprivation, hallucinations, bucket of cold water, electrocution but ~*magic*~, evil lesbians

Tag list: @killtheprotagonist @appy-polly-loggies

@whumptober2020 day 23, a continuation of this piece 

Characters: Allura, Zethrid, Ezor, Acxa

Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Ezor and Zethrid decide to play a game. It’s called “how long can we keep Allura awake”

--

Allura was not fond of solitary confinement, not by any stretch of the imagination, but she did prefer it to the presence of Ezor and Zethrid. She’d been forced to stew, alone, in the state of her new existence for quintents, water and the blandest paste she’d ever eaten delivered by a single, off-model sentry. Well, not exactly off-model. Perhaps just outdated. Allura had had plenty of time to contemplate the mark on the back of her unblemished neck, what it meant for her, what exactly she’d be going up against now, with a layer of free will stripped utterly from her.

An uphill battle, she knew it would be. To keep a hold of herself, to not lose her will or her spite. She would need to be careful to keep herself sharp, resilient, tougher than Galran claws. She was not too proud to admit that that would be easier done with the presence of her friends nearby, but she would only admit such to herself. As far as the pair of hooligans who’d just walked through the door were concerned, Allura was untouched and unmoved by any loneliness.

“I suppose you’re here for more fun?” she asked the grinning jackals, displaying no dismay at the fact that they were very obviously not there to reunite her with her companions.

“Aww,” Ezor crooned, eyes going half lidded in her toothy grin, “You know us so well already.”

“More that I know your type.”

“So fiery,” Zethrid chuckled. “Kneel, slave.”

Allura refused. The brand lit up in blinding pain, jolting through her whole body worse than the time she’d been electrocuted as an overzealous teen. It stopped the moment she moved to fall to her knees, rewarding her intent and punishing her disobedience.

She snarled, but did not rise. 

“Ohhhh we’re having fun alright,” Zethrid said, voice pitched low and a fist raised in front of her to crack the knuckles. 

Allura rocked back, rising to sit on her heels and stare trepidatiously at the towering woman.

“Return me to my companions,” she demanded, trying to sound commanding despite how scared she felt. “If we’re all marked, there is no reason to keep us apart any longer.”

“Sure there is,” Zethrid said easily, sinisterly.

Pain, of the regular sort, took Allura by surprise as she was yanked sideways by her hair. She lashed out at the source, only for her slave brand to light up in agony. She cried out, body jerking and spasming uncontrollably, and caught herself on her hands when it stopped, breathing hard.

They were laughing.

Ezor slipped back into the visible spectrum, Allura chagrined to realize she hadn’t even noticed Ezor leave her field of vision in the first place, too focused on Zethrid’s intimidating frame. Ezor bounced down to sit on her haunches, tail flicking for balance, and propped her chin in her palm.

“I wouldn’t do that~” she sing-songed, “Trying to hit one of your new owners is a big no-no little princess.”

Allura spat on the floor at her feet, instinctively twitching as Zethrid closed in.

“And you’re not seeing your friends for a while yet, little girlie,” Zethrid informed in her gravelly voice, a note of displeasure raising animal fear in Allura. “Turns out they’re almost as much of a power suck as you are.”

“Lots of magic all stored up in their cute human bodies, no way for them to voluntarily access it.” As though to brag, Ezor punctuated her statement by turning invisible again. 

Zethrid’s massive hand closed around Allura’s upper arm and she moved to slap it off, only to writhe in pain as the curse seared through her again.

“You know, I don’t think she’s actually all that clever,” Zethrid remarked, Allura dangling from her grip like she weighed nothing. She swallowed hard and got her feet under her, Zethrid’s right hand coming to grip her right arm, the hands a heavy presence even through her armor.

“Yeah,” Ezor agreed in her mockingly “contemplative” tone, “You’d think someone smart would know better than to do the same stupid thing over and over.” Allura jerked back as Ezor became visible again, her face right there close to Allura’s. Only barely did she manage to tamp down on the urge to take a swing.

She growled instead, baring her blunt teeth, her hair straggling across her face. It burned that they were right. She either let them get a rise out of her and suffered the mark’s pain, or she played along and gave them what they wanted. Ezor pouted at Allura’s lack of outburst, but her smile came back quickly.

“Aww, tired already princess?” Ezor cooed, caressing Allura’s face with just the pointed tip of a claw, then tucking a lock of hair behind Allura’s ear. She shook her head, but since no harm was intended against Ezor, her brand stayed idle.

Behind her Zethrid rumbled. It was not a good sound. “Betcha the two of us could give you something to be tired about.”

Ezor’s ears twitched, bright eyes flicking up to her (friend? Lover? Mate? Allura didn’t know) companion with devious glee. 

“Allura,” Ezor said, “we order you not to fall asleep.”

Allura’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “That’s an impossible demand!”

“But you’ll do it~”

“You don’t have any choice,” Zethrid purred in her ear. “You have to do what we tell you.”

“Perks of owning you.” Ezor gave Allura’s cheek a little pinch and shook it slightly. “You obey or it’ll hurt.” Allura resisted the urge to bite.

Allura saw a lightbulb go off in Ezor’s head. She did not want to see a lightbulb go off in Ezor’s head. They’d had plenty enough ideas wi--

“I order you to punch me in the shoulder.”

Oh fuck her!

If Allura was going to get tormented by her slave brand either way, she’d do it swinging. But when Zethrid released her arm and she took the punch, no pain lit up anywhere except her knuckles when they made contact.

Rather than getting upset about this, the sadistic monsters shared a delighted look.

“Oh, we’re gonna use her to fuck around with Acxa so bad,” Zethrid said, sounding like a kid who’d just been given a hammer they absolutely should not have.

“Wait wait wait, okay, now you order her to punch me.”

“No, you got punched last time.”

“Okay, Allura, punch Zethrid in the abs.”

Allura was not a doll dancing for their enjoyment! But her hesitation earned her nothing more than a surge of agony, so she curled a fist and punched as hard as she could. That definitely hurt her knuckles.

“One, I barely felt that, two:” Zethrid and Ezor clapped hands and chorused, “HELL yeah!”

Allura tried to take another swing, this time at Zethrid’s eye, but the pain lit up and she collapsed from it, gasping as laughter erupted over her.

“Ohhhhh, have fun pretty princess!”

“We’ll see you next time we’re bored.”

“No, please! I need to sleep eventually!” Allura gasped, ashamed of her desperation but they couldn’t do this to her!

“Sure you do~” Ezor agreed, the two of them moving towards the door and Ezor casting a look over her shoulder.

“Eventually,” Zethrid agreed, and left.

-

At first, it wasn’t all that bad. She was tired, but she’d had worse.

-

Then she got really tired.

-

It was impossible to judge time here. The sentries that brought her food seemed to follow a schedule, but she was fairly certain that sometimes, one of them would go missing, leaving an elongated gap.

She blamed those sadists.

-

She was just resting her eyes. She was laying down because her body felt like lead, and her eyes were closed because she was exhausted, but she wasn’t going to fall asleep, she wasn’t, she--

“AAA!” she cried, jolted back awake by the brand. She gasped, breathing, and tried to lift herself up, upright would help her stay awake, but she was too tired, she couldn’t. She laid back down, determined and resolute.

-

She lost count of how many times she’d been reawoken in agony around seven. It had to be at least double that though. Maybe triple. When did hallucinations set in again? Three days?

-

Her mother was in the room with her. She was petting Allura’s hair, singing the old lullaby she always sang when it was storming outside and Allura was frightened by the noise. She left every time the brand activated, but she always came back, always petting, always singing.

-

Allura didn’t hear the door open, but she did feel the ice water splash over her, jolting her back awake so sharp and sudden for a second, she mistook it for the now-familiar brand. She gasped, water trickling over her mouth and nose, and tried to lift herself up on her elbows.

“Rise and shine pretty princess!” And oh, how she loathed Ezor’s voice.

“You’re not looking too great,” Zethrid remarked, smug, bastard. “You don’t smell too good either.”

“Yeah, she really should bathe more often,” Ezor agreed, lifting a bucket of her own and upending the contents over Allura, little pebbles of ice still floating about in her water. Allura flinched, a gasp catching in her throat.

“Please,” she rasped, her pride having left her many, many torrents of pain ago. 

“Awwww, aren’t you cuuuute,” Ezor giggled, settling down on her haunches and dragging her claws through Allura’s hair. “You should keep--”

“What are you two doing in here?”

In a moment, Ezor had springed back up to her feet, and Zethrid’s ears were flared towards the door.

“Having some good old-fashioned fun,” Zethrid answered confidently, grinning at the figure in the doorway. “What are you doing in here?”

“A sentry reported seeing the two of you heading towards the holding cells carrying buckets. I think that should be obvious.”

“No fun!” Ezor complained, “Fun sucker!”

“Leave her alone! You know we’re not allowed to hurt any of them!” Allura flinched as the woman rapidly approached her, stalking directly between the two sadists. She almost expected one of them to lash out and take the woman’s head off as she passed, but they seemed to hold some small level of respect for the half-galra who now knelt in front of Allura, tilting her head towards the light gently. Acxa. Allura didn’t see her in the field much, only the once, but she recognized Lotor’s fourth general.

“And we haven’t! No bruises or cuts or poisoned guts anywhere on her.”

“So why does she look like this?” Acxa accused, Allura’s mind going a little wonky as her face was cradled by someone who was actively vouching for her safety and well-being. Acxa was nice. Safe. So much better than those two. She would let Allura sleep. 

“Sleep,” Allura gasped, trying to lift a hand to Acxa’s wrist.

“Oh for fuck’s sake you two!”

Ezor and Zethrid did not seem even remotely cowed, grinning their jackal grins and shrugging carelessly.

“You have to admit, she looks good like this,” Zethrid commented, hungry eyes roaming over Allura’s feeble body. “Vulnerable. Lamb for the slaughter.”

“She does not and don’t say that. Both of you, get out.”

“Make us,” Ezor said, pouting out her lips and looking at Acxa with a lid-eyed challenge. 

“No, no, Acxa’s a good girl remember?” Zethrid said, placing a massive hand on Ezor’s shoulder, covering it fully. “She’s a little fucking nark. We should do what she says.”

Ezor laughed, Zethrid joining in, but blessedly, blissfully, they did leave the room. Acxa waited for the door to close, then turned back to Allura. 

“I’m so sorry for them, they weren’t supposed to do this. They weren’t supposed to talk to you until Narti finished branding all of you. This wasn’t meant to happen--you can sleep.”

“Thank you,” Allura gasped, and when her eyes slipped closed that time, her mark stayed dormant.

[sardonicnihilism]

A Biography of the Woman Who Never Was

Part 3 The Young Adult

Chapter 32

Shannon looked over her list of damnable tomes. *The Liba Lnteus*, *The Beale Ciphers*, *The Voynich Manuscript*, *Magic of Abramelin the Image*, *The Codex Gigas*, *The Book of Soyga*, *The Rohonc Codex*, *The Great Omar Book*, *The Ripley Scroll Book*; each one of these horrid abominations was said to bring death and madness to all those who sought them out. These were grimoires of the most blasphemous and dangerous depths. Yet, none of these were what she was looking for.

Shannon lifted her head, staring off into space, tapping her pencil off the library table she was seated at. She was trying to clear her mind, think of new avenues to approach. The continuing elusivness of the book made her feel uneasy. Certainly there had to be some mention of it somewhere.

She looked over to her right and saw a typical, pink eraser. She stared at it for a few moments and opened up her left hand. The eraser wiggled a bit, and then jumped into her hand. Shannon smiled as she ran it between her fingers.

She then noticed a strand of her hair, resting on the book she had been reading. She put her hand about one foot over top of it. The hair began to move like a snake. It reared up, standing straighter and straighter, until it left the page and floated in the air.

Shannon moved her hand to and fro, the hair following suit. Her hand and the hair danced in the air. She stood up and began to actually dance - swaying, gliding, bending, and reaching. The hair began to glow and catch on fire. It elongated and started to spin around her. The two dance partners floated up into the sky.

They were suddenly no longer in the library. She doubted if they were even still on Earth. It was night here. They were in a forest with trees and vegetation that had no root in Terran soil with the cries of animals that had never trod the world of man.

Shannon's clothes had now been burned away, but she didn't care. All there was, was the dance. The string of fire encircled her even more closely. Eventually it touched her and she burst into flame, but she felt not one ounce of pain. Indeed she was in a state of euphoric rapture.

She and the flame were now one. She flew across the night sky, leaving streaks of light behind her, creating complex, geometric patterns. In her mind she heard a young boy ask what was that; to which the voice of an old woman responded, "That is the Sky Dancer of Chaos and Eternal Night". She then exploded across the sky. Shannon was then back in the library; same position, mindlessly drumming away.

Shannon took her glasses off, laid them on the book, and slouched back into her chair. She was unnerved at her apparent day dream. She was even more upset at her lack of progress.

"Hey stranger," Sam's voice called out.

Shannon looked over in the direction it had come. "Hey. What are you doing here?" She was legitimately curious. She had come to Chambersburg Public Library because her college library had failed to yield any results in her search, but it was more than sufficient for the tasks of any college assignment.

"Looking for you. I haven't seen on campus for a while. I called to see if you were ok, and your mum said you were here. I found a ride in and decided to see if you were ok."

"I am. Just - looking."

Sam pulled out the chair next to her and sat down. "That bloody book again?" he asked both concerned and annoyed.

"I still hear things, see things, sometimes even feel them. Prayers and church haven't worked. Maybe if I find something, anything, it'll help."

Sam put his arm around her shoulders. It was striking how large and muscular she was. She felt more of stone than flesh. Yet her face was scared, sad, and tired.

"Listen," he said softly, "you said yourself, they gave you a strange liquid to drink, yeah? I'm guessing that it was some sort of hallucinogenic and it's messing with brain up there," he gently tapped on the side of her head which made her smile. "Instead of looking for some book which may not even be real; maybe you should go to the doctor's instead?"

Shannon leaned over and put her head on his shoulder. "And say what? I might have had some bad acid? Besides, everyone had masks on. I have no idea who all was there. Hell, my doctor could have been one of them for all I know. Shit, you could be one," she turned her head and looked him in the eyes.

"Nah, ain't me mate. I don't believe in any of that mumbo-jumbo. Strict atheist here. Of course, you could think I'm just lying to you. Not like I can prove my innocence."

"Honestly, at this point, I really don't give a shit if you're legitimate or a spy. You're the best friend I've ever had. So if this is a performance, all I ask is that you keep it up."

"Will do," Sam answered back cheerfully.

Shannon looked at her list again. She tore the paper from the notebook and crumpled it up. Real or not, she was done searching.

Suddenly something came to her, something Jen had said. She had called Lovecraft a seer. She also said that his works were based on the coven's text. Finally her last thought sprung up in her mind again, *real or not*.

She ran up to the librarians desk and asked to sign into a computer. The librarian told her what number to go to, and she ran over and started typing.

Sam was extremely confused and worried. He ran over to her and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Checking out a thought," she said, super focused on the screen.

"Alright, and how's that?"

"I found this new website called Amazon. They're an online bookstore. Fairly large selection too," she said excitedly. "Hopefully they don't try to start selling other things as well and just stick to books."

As soon as the page loaded, she typed "Lovecraftian horror" in the search bar. Once the search was done, she began to scroll through the selections. Her brow furrowed with frustration, not seeing what she had hoped for. Then a look of absolute joy came across her face as she said, "There!" Shannon pointed to a listing and Sam started to read it aloud.

"*Behind the Bleeding Veil* by Shawn Baxter, 1934. *Behind the Bleeding Veil* is the first book in the Goddess Saga. This book of Lovecraft inspired horror revolves around a sheltered young girl, her mysterious past, and her bizarre college roommate. Originally banned due to its graphic depiction of lesbian sex and gore, it was later reprinted in 1967. Includes the standard cosmic horror troupes such as cults, horrifying, unknowable gods, and cursed books ( *The Book of Forgotten Nightmares *)." Sam stopped and looked at Shannon who was smiling ear to ear.

"I don't get it," he said confused.

"It was all made up. Whoever started that coven, must have read this book and thought it was real. Just like the publishing companies made a *Necronomicon*, they must have made a version of *Nightmares*. It's nothing more than a story someone took seriously." Relief washed over Shannon in tidal waves, washing her clean.

"Pretty much how all religions get started." Sam added jovially.

"Unfortunately, that means you were right and I am having a prolonged, psychotic reaction to a hallucinogenic compound."

Sam turned to Shannon and asked, "Hospital?"

"Hospital," Shannon agreed.

As they were leaving, Shannon turned around and saw a massive black shadow, bubbling with white, distorted, grotesque faces. She raised her hand and the mass was blown away in an explosion of fire.

"I am the Sky Dancer of Chaos and Eternal Night," she whispered underneath her breath and walked out.

***************************************

"Can we talk?" Shannon asked, in a low, shy, almost mournful voice.

Chris wiped the sweat from his brow and gave her a suspicious look. "I got some time between sets. Never was a fan of deadlifts anyway. So, what is it?"

Shannon handed him a piece of paper. "It's for your friend. It's the name of the toxin that was used and the drug that's used to treat it."

Chris took it and looked it over.

Shannon hung her head and looked at the floor as she continued to talk. "Given how long it's been, the damage might be permanent. The doctor said that I might have some continuing effects given it's been almost two years. Still, it should help him a little."

She then lifted her head and looked Chris straight in the eyes. "I'm so sorry. I should have listened. You tried to be a friend and I was a bitch. I hope you forgive me, but I don't expect it, and that's more than fair."

Chris handed the paper back to Shannon. "He committed suicide last year." He paused for a beat, then added, "But thank you anyways. I, I know you must have been going through some stuff, and I'm guessing still are. I understand. I might have reacted the same way if the roles were reversed. Understanding doesn't equal forgiveness though. And forgiveness doesn't mean things will go back to the way they were. It's been a while, both temporarily and emotionally."

"I know," Shannon said as she took the paper back.

Chris stuck out his hand. Shannon took it, shook it, turned around and walked away.

Shannon got to her car where Sam was waiting for her.

"Well, how'd it go," he asked sympathetically.

"About as well as I had any right for it to go," she answered back, putting her sunglasses on.

"You going to be ok?"

"Eventually," she said flatly, and got in her car.

Sam got in the passenger side. "You know, you've missed most of this semester. You got a lot of work to make. You think you can do it? Maybe you can take a leave of absence, all things considered?"

Shannon buckled up, turned the car on, and put it in drive. "I'm not going back," she simply said.

[ranma-rewatch]

Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

AAAAAhhhhh! After 10,000 years, I’m free! Time to watch more Ranma 1/2! We’re getting ready for the middle part of what I guess you could call the Kodachi introduction arc, and like I intimated last time, she’s not exactly my favorite character. That said, I am interested to see how this can play out over the course of two episodes, so next paragraph I’ll have watched the episode.

Uh, so, I don’t think an episode has surprised me by being this much better than I was expecting so far in this rewatch. Like I said before, low expectations, but I really enjoyed this one. The episode starts with Akane and Ranma heading to school on the day before the marital arts match, only for Kodachi to show up and attack Akane.

This has nothing to do with the match, though. She literally just came by to see Ranma, who she has fallen completely in love with, but decided to attack Akane on-sight because why not. After Akane literally throws her at Ranma, he is suddenly confronted by our old friend Tatewaki Kuno, who is surprised to hear of Kodachi’s affection for this rapscallion. After a few seconds of thought, he makes it clear Ranma has his permission to date her, but when Ranma snaps about now being asked about this, Kodachi gets sad, feeling like maybe Ranma hates her.

Trying to avoid her wrath, Ranma runs and hides behind Akane, pointing out that he is her fiance, which would put a hamper on dating. When Akane confirms this, new stakes are given to their upcoming fight: if Kodachi wins, she gets Ranma. Kuno is totally down with that, since with Ranma out of the way, he sees himself easily winning Akane’s (and Ranma’s) affection.

It’s as Kodachi runs off, laughing, that Kuno finally reveals why he jumped into this conversation in the first place: Kodachi is his little sister. He’s aware that she has quite a few terrible qualities, and so warns Akane that she is likely to cheat quite a bit before and during their fight. As he walks away, Ranma and Akane reel from this family revelation, and Ranma notes that he can actually see the resemblance now.

From there, we cut to Akane practicing that night in the dojo with Ranma. She’s clearly gotten a lot better, though makes it clear the new stakes have nothing to do with why she wants to win so badly. Just as Akane notes that she hasn’t had Ryoga’s assistance in training for the last few days, or seen P-chan, the piglet runs into the room, carrying evidence that he’d been in Hiroshima and Kyoto. (Fun fact: my best friend went to Hiroshima while she was studying abroad there!)

There’s some banter over Ryoga’s reappearance, but then Akane trips on a tool, injuring her ankle in the process. It’s bad enough that Kasumi makes clear there’s no way she can play in the match, which means they need a substitute to avoid giving up. They consider that they’d need to find someone with great marital arts skills, who is really acrobatic, and looks like a girl. All eyes go to Ranma just as Ryoga enters the room, having once again used Soun Tendo’s hot bath to change back to human, and throws cold water on Ranma.

He offers to train Ranma through the night, though it’s clear quickly that Ranma’s general skills do transfer pretty well. The only big hurdle is that in Rhythmic Gymnastics Martial Arts, the fighters aren’t allowed to deal direct blows, only use their themed weapons to fight. Akane observes at first, but they both tell her to go and get some sleep, which she ends up agreeing to. Once she’s gone, Ryoga gets serious in fighting, and reveals why he’s really doing this: he wants Ranma to lose. If he does, Ranma has to date Kodachi, which leaves Akane open to date him. He’s not trying to spar with Ranma, he’s trying to injure him bad enough that he can’t fight.

Akane wakes up the next morning and quickly hears the fight is still going on, heading into the dojo to find they’re going at it, though they’re both clearly exhausted. Oh, and the dojo is wrecked. Ranma is delirious from lack of sleep, and almost falls for a thumb tack in the hand trap from Kodachi when they go to the match at her school. Meanwhile, Ryoga is amazed to find that he’s managed to get from Akane’s house to the school without getting lost, and chalks the miracle up to the power of love. There’s another trick from Kodachi in the dressing room, and Ryoga is hit by random cold water while trying to get to the gymnasium, leading to Kodachi kidnapping him for some scheme.

Soon, it’s time for the match to begin, and Kuno is watching in the stands, ready to root for his sister for what he admits is the first time ever. Kodachi descends from the ceiling in a wedding dress while having rockets fired at her new opponent, all very on-brand for her. Ranma is asked what his name is, and he just gives them his real name, to Akane’s confusion. The Kuno’s both just take this as Ranma somehow having the exact same name as, well, Ranma, and some of their classmates in the crowd notice that they do look alike, pondering on how they’re connected.

The fight goes to start, but Kodachi begins by dazing Ranma with a twirly ribbon and an onslaught of black roses, then uses that opening to attach a chain to Ranma’s wrist. On the other end of that chain is P-chan, which Kodachi thinks will ensure she ends the match. But we don’t get to see that yet, because that’s for next episode!

So, a lot of thoughts, actually. First things first, I feel like this is the first episode of the series so far that’s really gone whole-hog into what a lot of people think of as the series’ main premise. For this whole set-up, Kodachi loves uncursed Ranma but hates Akane and cursed Ranma, Kuno loves cursed Ranma and Akane but hates uncursed Ranma, and Ryoga loves Akane and hates Ranma whether he’s cursed or not. This creates a network of alliances that all work against Ranma and Akane’s wishes. He doesn’t want to date Kodachi and Akane wants to get a victory for her school after Kodachi unfairly beat up the actual gymnastics team.

It all feels very farcical, in a good way. Throughout this rewatch, there have been times when the humor doesn’t really land for me, usually because it just gets too silly for me, if that makes any sense. But this worked perfectly, it was all very character driven while also being deeply ridiculous. Things like Kuno having the sense of mind to see that his sister is a weird one while not being cognizant of his own strangeness kind of brought it to earth in a way, and it was all just a good time.

I also quite enjoyed a lot of the animation, the changes to character designs, and the general dynamics on display. There was something weirdly smooth to how Ryoga entered Akane’s room and put his arm around Ranma’s shoulder that just felt cool to watch. The facial expressions in that scene, and throughout, were also in top form. The way he goes from clearly coming in with an ulterior motive, to revealing what he’s really up to, it all felt a little more devious than we get from Ryoga, but in a good way.

I’m not usually a big fan of leotards, but, uh, Ranma and Akane can both really rock them. (I’d also love to see uncursed Ranma in one, I’m sure his butt would look just as good.) Akane showed up to the match dressed like a ringside coach, and it just radiates powerful butch lesbian energy. The referee to the match is also dressed in a pretty masculine way, and similarly gives off wonderful vibes. Just a really aesthetically pleasing episode for me.

The pacing was also really tight. A lot of stuff got packed into the episode’s runtime, and I’d love to compare it to this section of the manga to see if that’s because it’s a particularly dense storyline or because they made the decision to just stuff the episode with as much manga as they could. We’ll get to my rating after the Character Spotlight, but this is just a treat of an episode, and one I have to say again that I wasn’t anticipating in the slightest. Major kudos to everyone who worked on this episode.

Okay, so, now let’s do a Spotlight on Kodachi. The big reason I held off on doing one last week is that her last name hadn’t been revealed, and her Kuno-ness is kind of a big part of who she is, I didn’t want to wait for the next time I decided to give her a Spotlight to cover that part of her.

Alright, so, as usual, let’s start with voice actors. In English, she actually had three different VA’s over the course of the series run. I’ve actually decided that, going forward, with cases like these I’m just going to focus on who the current voice actors are, and talk about the new ones when they appear. Her first actress in my native tongue is Teryl Rothery, who is actually more well known for her live-action work. She appears to play a main character in Stargate SG-1, which I have never seen, and has filled the role of Jean Loring in Arrow. (Which I have seen, but never noticed that Ray Palmer’s ex-wife was in the show in the seasons I saw of it.) In Japanese, she’s portrayed by Saeko Shimazu, who has actually played a role in every Rumiko Takahasi anime adaptation from that era, so that’s neat.

They definitely play the character a little differently. Shimazu is genuinely fantastic at playing Kodachi as the well known anime archetype of the Ojou. The way she does Kodachi’s laugh might be the best Ojou laugh I’ve ever heard, and she’s generally good playing the character oddly seriously. Like, if you didn’t know Kodachi was a dangerously violent person, her voice acting would just make you think she’s a soft spoken, very feminine girl. It fits her whole aesthetic really well, honestly. Rothery went in a very different direction. I feel like it’s hard to think of Kodachi as anything other than a villain in her voice, she’s more clearly malevolent, like a Sailor Moon villainess. Her version of the laugh is a lot more unhinged sounding, for lack of a more appropriate word.

That kind of leads into one thing I was kind of surprised to notice. It feels as though the Dub and Sub versions of this character differ quite a bit. In the English Dub, they frequently use words like ‘crazy’, ‘unstable’, and ‘mad’ to describe Kodachi, and in a way it kind of dominates her characterization. I’ll talk more about that in a minute, but I’ll say for now I had to sigh at those bits. But imagine my surprise to see the Sub instead talk about her being ill-mannered, stubborn, tenacious. As far as I can recall, they didn’t use any mental health-related words, instead just focusing on the idea that she will do anything to get what she wants.

This creates two fairly radically different versions of the character, at least for me. And I actually greatly prefer what I’m finding in the Sub. Kodachi there is played much more as a dark mirror to her brother. Ranma might say they’re the same, but they clearly aren’t. Kuno is a jerk, and doesn’t seem to take the objects of his affection’s input. But he also, at the very least, sees himself as honorable, a man of culture, and doesn’t seem like the type to cheat in a competition.

Kodachi has no such scruples. She is utterly ruthless, while also sadistically delighting in causing pain to other people. She is, in a way, defined by the fact that she is constantly trying to cheat, to get any victory she can, even while acting as though there’s nothing wrong with what she does, that’s she’s just a beautiful girl doing what she has to. The way they each fall in love with a different form of Ranma, while hating the other, is also a nice touch.

That was all a lot of nice stuff I said, but sadly it’s alls I gots for ya. Going back to the whole ‘crazy’ thing, that’s definitely the thing that, at least growing up, dominates her character. As far as I can recall, the fandom generally thinks of her as the ‘craziest’ of all the main cast, and that’s...not very good? I feel like, at least among some sectors of culture, we’re trying to be more aware of other people and trying to take in feedback, and ableism feels like one of the last big areas where a lot of people, even those who are otherwise far left, struggle to get past their prejudices. I’m including myself in there, I screw up all the time. But yeah, I think we need to kind of think a lot more about the ‘crazy’ tropes in media, especially the ones that associate with violence and evil characters. So far at least, I don’t really have a lot to dig into with Kodachi especially, but it’s something I’ll have in mind going forward.

The other area I feel like I have to rain on this Spotlight a little is just what Kodachi brings to the dynamic of the show. Which is mostly...not a lot. Of all the main characters who are a part of the primary love dodecahedron, she is the one who feels like could generally just not exist without impacting anything. She basically just does what Kuno does, but in the opposite direction. Ranma is going to end up with a lot of suitors, and someone else generally fills the role of ‘violent and amoral’ much better than Kodachi, plus she’ll be appearing pretty soon from where we are now. At least as of now, Kodachi is a character I find doesn’t hurt the show at all, but also doesn’t particularly make it better.

If it wasn’t clear from all the gushing before, I really liked this episode. But how much? Where does it fall among the ranks of all the episodes I’ve seen thus far? After some careful consideration, I think I’m actually going to put this at the number two spot. It really was that good, I have very little bad to say. The only reason it didn’t take the top spot is that I just love episode 7 too much. That makes the current standings:

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 11: Ranma Meets Love Head-On! Enter the Delinquent Juvenile Gymnast!

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

Episode 10: P-P-P-Chan! He's Good For Nothin'

This has been a really fun one! Next time, we’ll be covering lucky episode number 13, “A Tear in a Girl-Delinquent's Eye? The End of the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!”, which will also be the ending to this little arc. I’m excited to join you then, and see if that episode fulfilled the promise in this episode’s set-up! See you all then!

[cesabutterflywrites]

The Duke of the Bay: Part 2

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First Part, Ao3 Link, Next Part

Warnings: Guns, threats, alcohol, homosexual slang used pejoratively and positively, internalized homophobia ask me to add any if need be

Chapter Word Count: 2875

Summary: Patton O’Hearty was a great detective. Most people didn’t take him for one at first glance, especially when he dressed casual. He was abnormally chipper; he thought everything was the cat’s pajamas. He had a smile for everyone he met. He was always tipping his hat at the dames and gents when he walked the streets of the Bay Area.

The only person he could never catch was the leader of the planted mob in Emeryville, nicknamed The Duke. The Duke was good at hiding his dealings and joints well, and he rarely had a snitch in his ranks. The few who tried, well, somehow they disappeared before they could give the police any substantial information. He was well hidden, but popular among the residents of the town. People talked boldly of his rambunctious parties, never revealing the locations though. He was hard to catch, to say the least.

So what happens, when instead, the detective is the one that’s caught?

-

Logan closed his eyes in frustration. “Damn it.” 

“That’s no way to talk in the presence of young ladies,” Lola purred next to them. 

Logan jumped, and glared at the girls. “I don’t think someone who goes to places like this and dances as  provocatively as you counts as a lady.” 

Patton shot Logan a warning glance. He didn’t need more enemies in the room. Logan’s face quickly fell in shame. “I’m sorry, Lola. That was unkind of me.” 

Lola threw her head back and laughed. “Please, sugar, that’s the manliest you’ve acted all night. For a moment I thought you were a fairy,” she leaned in with a wink, “You know...a pansy.” 

Logan’s face flushed red. He sputtered like a broken faucet, unable to form a coherent response. “N-no! I’m not!” He vehemently denied. 

“Hey, don’t sweat it if you are, honey,” Alice tried to soothe, “We’re not exactly straight, ourselves.” 

Logan looked at them curiously, “You mean…?” 

Lola smirked, “If anyone asks, we’re cousins.” 

“Then why- then how come-what?” Logan’s brow was furrowed, trying to understand what they were trying to get up to. The girls just smiled at him. He looked desperately at Patton.  “Do you know what they’re saying?” 

“I think they’re trying to say that they're lesbians; kissing pals,” he winked at their blushing faces. “Though, I still think you’re a bit too young to know for sure, Alice.” 

Alice jutted her pointed chin in defiance, “I’m sixteen,” 

Logan choked on nothing, starting to cough in disbelief. Patton reached an arm out to steady him, but he was denied. Logan seemed to be having a rough time adjusting to the swinger’s life for the night. 

Patton ignored him, turning back to the girls. “Why were you dancing with us, then?” he asked for his speechless friend. 

Lola looked at Alice and shrugged, “I still like men, but Alice makes me feel things no man has been able to.” 

Alice smiled fondly and nuzzled into her partner’s cheek. “Same here, Lola. There’s something soft about a woman’s touch that a man can’t remake.” 

Patton watched them carefully. “Aren’t you asking for trouble, flaunting that around?” 

“I’m surprised you haven’t noticed sooner, considering you’re one of the Duke’s friends,” Lola remarked, “Look around the room. There’s a reason this place is so well guarded.” 

Logan put his fist in his mouth, trying to keep up. “So you mean the Duke…?” 

“Doesn’t mind dropping the pins and letting his hair down,” Lola filled in. “So, neither of you are…?” 

It was Patton’s turn to blush, aware of no longer being an outsider watching a circus performance. 

He never gave it much thought. All he wanted was to make the world a better place. He never imagined how he’d settle down, or who with. He just expected it to happen one day. 

“I suppose I never gave it much thought,” Patton muttered. He looked at Logan who was staring intently at the floor. “But I know I don’t mind folks who are. My parents raised me to be a loving man, which includes men who love men.” 

Logan looked up at him, eyes conveying a secret bit of gratefulness. Patton just smiled encouragingly. He had his suspicions, but he knew Logan was a good detective no matter what. That was all that mattered, and in that moment there was an even bigger matter that was more important than discussing various sexualities. 

“Say, girls, what did you mean when you asked about us being the Duke’s friends and being...queer?” The word felt weird to say out loud, especially in reference to himself. It wasn’t bad. Just a little bit different. 

Lola giggled as Alice blushed then said, “We just thought, well, usually he only has special guests when they’re his arm pieces. We’re sorry for assuming.”

Patton took his fake glasses off to wipe the sweat off of his face. He felt the urge to get another gin, but he knew he needed his senses sharp so he could be prepared for talking to the Duke. He also felt a bit hungry.

“No worries, ladies. I think Mr. James and I need to go get something to eat, I’m famished.” He dipped his head as they smiled politely. 

He and Logan made their way to the table next to the bar, and grabbed some plates of food. They made their way to the dining tables in the room next door. There were a few couples in the room, and the music was less loud in there. Patton was keenly aware of Mr. Doris who entered the room behind them. He felt those intense eyes staring straight through his skull. 

He tried to ignore it while he ate with his companion. “So, what’s the attack plan?” 

Logan thought as he chewed. “Maybe we just go along, and if our lives get in danger we use our guns. They haven’t confiscated them from us yet.” 

“What if that was part of the trap?” Patton asked. “And further, why would the Duke lure us in? Why not have us kidnapped like he’s done with others?” 

Logan shuddered, “I don’t know, Pat, and I don’t want to consider that at this moment. We’ll save the why’s for later. We need to focus on gathering enough evidence, and getting out of here alive.” 

Patton just nodded. “So where do we go from here?” 

“I don’t know,” Logan muttered, tossing his fork down when he finished his meal, “There are a lot more questions than answers. Frankly, my mind is still spinning from that drink.” 

“It was barely half a glass of gin, Logan,” Patton snickered, “I’ve had worse.” 

Logan raised his eyebrow. “When?” 

“Before the prohibition,” he waved dismissively, “My pops used to let me have a bit of whiskey every Saturday night.” 

Logan tutted, “No wonder you’re so cheerful. There’s silly juice in your blood.” 

Patton laughed, “Yeah, well, I am Irish.” 

The moment of brevity disappeared as a shadow loomed over them. Mr. Doris, their guardian of the evening, loomed over them. “The Duke will see you now.” 

-----

Logan was put into a separate waiting room upstairs as Patton was led to an office down the hall.

He gasped as he entered the room. The office was full of oddities. The shelves had bizarre jars full of mysterious colored horrors. There were stuffed animal mounts hanging on the wall, along with a few posters with graphic depictions of murders and scantily clad people of both sexes. 

“How professional, “ he remarked in a high pitch as he walked in. 

The Duke smiled behind his desk, “Thank you. I like to keep my office cozy.” He looked at his henchman, “Go wait by the door, Mr. Doris. I’ll call if he pulls a gun on me,” he winked at Patton. 

The scarred man just nodded, glaring at Patton as he left to guard the door. Patton gulped nervously. 

“Come in, detective, sit. Make yourself comfortable.” The Duke gestured to the chairs in front of his desk. 

Patton considered briefly before deciding to sit. The chair was surprisingly comfortable, but he didn’t let himself relax fully. He stared at the most dangerous criminal in the Bay. He was on guard, suspicious that the Duke would order him to be killed at any moment. 

“Why did you bring us here, Duke?” he asked with narrowed eyes. 

The man behind the desk snickered, “Oh, detective, please tell me you’re more creative than that? Try a different question. Something more...interesting.” 

Patton tilted his head in confusion. What was this man’s deal? “Uh...okay,” he spoke hesitantly, “Rumor has it you drop pins…?” 

The Duke guffawed, “Oh, there’s one I haven’t heard! Thank you!” He kept giggling as he spoke, “I’m sorry, it’s just, the usual gets so boring sometimes. ‘Why am I here?’ ‘What do you want from me?’ ‘Are you gonna kill me?’” Remus rolled his eyes, “But to answer your question, yes, I let my hair down.” 

He raised a brow at Patton seductively, “Does that bother you, good detective?” 

“No, Duke,” he said honestly, “That’s not why I’m on your tail.” 

“Oh, I wish you were on my tail,” the man sighed with a dreamy smile, “I bet you’d be a good one.” 

Patton blushed, “Just get to the point.” 

“Right,” The Duke slammed the desk. “I want you, your partner, and your other copper friends to lay off my people. Just turn a blind eye, and in reward we’ll take care of you.” 

“What if I refuse?” Patton asked warily. 

“Well, I guess I’ll have to run and hide deeper in the shadows,” the villain smirked. “If you want me, come and get me. Have fun trying, at least.” He spread his arms out. 

“You won’t kill us?” the detective asked in disbelief. “You won’t make us disappear?” 

“No,” the Duke truthfully told with his eyes wide, “I guess I won’t…” but he leaned forward with a wicked grin. “But you’ll never be able to lay a hand on me as I take over the town.” 

Patton stayed silent, considering his options. He could pretend to agree to the demands, and warn the captain in his next report. However, the Duke seemed smart. He’d probably have eyes and ears out anyways to know if any funny business was going on. Patton was starting to believe that Logan was right after all. Someone on the force was bought off already, just to get the Duke close enough to the lead detectives on his case.

The Duke stood up from behind the desk to lean over Patton, who blushed at the proximity. There was no denying the villain was handsome, and there was something seductive about the way he looked at Patton. Like a hungry wolf who cornered his prey. Patton shivered in dangerous delight. He tried to shake the lustful feelings coming over his body. His conversation with the young girls downstairs was playing through his mind. 

‘I never gave it much thought’, he had said then. Well, suddenly, he was giving it a lot of thought at that moment. The Duke must be a magician of some sorts, or that gin was stronger than he initially thought.

The man was staring at him, waiting for an answer. He looked like the devil before he was cast down to earth. He was beautiful, especially since Patton could look at him up close. His face was sculpted perfectly, and his grin was a mockery of purity. He was well kept, but looked like he could go feral at any moment. That only increased the seductive, dark aura he radiated. 

Patton shifted uncomfortably under the gaze. He didn’t really enjoy the way he was being looked at, mainly because it made him want to gaze back as intensely and succumb to his proposal…

He chose to focus on the case at hand. “You said you’d take care of us?” You’d take care of me?

The Duke tapped his chin in thought, “I didn’t expect you to cave in so quickly, Detective O’Hearty. I thought you were selfless. At least that’s the word on the street.” 

“Maybe I’m tired of being a slave to unreturned good deeds,” Patton lied. He had a plan forming, and it required getting the man’s guard down.

“Well, you’ll still be a slave if you work for me,” the Duke smirked, “But a willing one after time.

“Back to the subject of your benefits. Your precinct will be receiving an anonymous donation of 5% of our profits. My guys won’t interfere with any investigation outside of our operation, and maybe we can help you out but turning in some of our criminal rivals. Every now and then we might need your help, and you, along with your partner, will be at my personal disposal” 

Patton deflated. Those conditions were really good. Was this how cops turned? The mobsters sent in gifts and seducers to prey on the weakness of men. He  could end up doing a lot of good if they worked together, and really, they weren’t doing much harm to anyone except with their own criminals in their world. 

No. No, it was wrong. He pledged to uphold the law, to enforce a certain code of morals that kept the public safe. The man standing in front of him was a murderer, he was a psycho. He was clearly deranged. He was charming, and used his charm to nearly get Patton to budge. 

He needed to get out of there, but safely. The Duke made it clear that he may not be leaving alive, but he needed some time to think. An idea formed in his head. He was slightly disgusted with himself, but it had a larger chance of working than any other option. 

He stood up and took off his fake spectacles. He leaned in the Duke’s personal space to set them on the dark mahogany desk. He then stayed to look down at the grinning man. Two could play a Devil’s game. 

He played with the black tie that was set against the light green dress shirt. He heard the shorter man’s breath hitch. He leaned in a bit closer, setting his thigh discreetly between the shorter man’s legs. He lowered his voice to an unnatural pitch. 

“Tell, me, Duke,” he leaned in to whisper in the man’s ear, “Did you really suspect that I’d be squeaky clean?” 

Putting on the act was easier than it should have been, and a part of Patton panicked. He kept his cool, giving just a bit into his own budding desires to keep it all seeming authentic. 

He let go of the tie, choosing to use that hand to lean on the desk, subtly trapping the breathless man beneath him. He hesitantly bent in to stroke his nose along the soft neck of the criminal. 

“I think a part of you suspected who I really am,” he pressed his body further, completely molding him against the shorter man. He smiled in triumph as he heard a tantalizing moan slip from the mustached mouth. 

“Part of you knew my own sinful desires, didn’t you? You didn’t call me here for business,” he swallowed his nerves to kiss the soft skin below the earlobe he was speaking half-truths into. 

“No, I didn’t,” the Duke squirmed. 

Patton was intrigued.  He hadn’t expected such a powerful man to become so easily undone. He pulled away from his assault on the man’s neck to look into the man’s eyes, to see the truth. 

The truth in the crazy eyes he had made him momentarily forget all he ever learned in Sunday School. The nearly black eyes burned with heated desire. Patton felt some fear, with all that chaos was focused on him, he would surely break. He felt strange, completely out of his body. What was he doing?

The criminal pulled Patton in by his tie and they were kissing. Patton knew he let the scenario go too far by then. It felt so good, though. There was something more grizzly about kissing another man, and frankly the tickle of the mustache added to the appeal of the moment. He kissed back, shouting to himself that it was just to keep up appearances.

He needed to leave, before he tossed all his morals out the window. 

He pulled away, “Give me some time to think about your offer? As appealing as it is, I need to keep up appearances.” 

The Duke smiled maniacally, “My dear detective, but of course!” 

Patton tried to pull himself off of the other quickly, however the Duke gripped his hip and held him in place. Patton gasped as the man’s hand wandered across his waist. Then, he realized too late, that his gun had been pulled on him. 

He looked down in betrayal and shock, he had thought he was succeeding in getting underneath the man’s skin. 

“Don’t look so surprised, my dear detective, I didn’t get up to the top by my pretty looks. I do have some bit of intelligence,” he gestured to have Patton sit back onto the chair. “Though, let me tell you, with that little show you put on, I nearly did lose my marbles.” 

The Duke licked his lips and moaned rather loudly, “You’re a good actor. That surely will haunt my dreams tonight,” he looked to the door and called his henchman back in. 

Mr. Doris came back in, the permanent scowl on his face made him look like a sort of reptile to Patton. He walked to stand guard behind Patton, placing a yellow gloved hand firmly on the detective’s shoulder. Patton flinched at the touch, chastising himself for what he had sacrificed...only to fail.

Shortly after another younger, smaller guard brought Logan in. Logan was resisting, though it was futile. The kid had a good grip, and shoved the other detective into the seat beside Patton. He has unruly black hair, darker skin, and a hateful look in his eyes. He mimicked the other guard’s grip by having his own hand on Logan’s collarbone.

The Duke moved back behind his desk, grinning like the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. “Well, gentlemen, let’s talk business.” 

-

-

-

-

TAGLIST: @littlestr

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[imaginesmai]

Your daughter’s first boyfriend

Bjorn

-          Understanding dad.

-          Actually, his daughter’s boyfriend is a her. Her girlfriend.

-          For Bjorn, sex is something normal, and a lot of times he has talked with his daughter about past experiences.

-          More. Asks her at least twice a week if she’s still a virgin.

-          Your daughter tells you before him, because she’s afraid of what he might think about it. In your time, it’s something taboo and forbidden. Even if her grandmother has a girlfriend, she’s still shy.

-          Kind of afraid of disappointing her forever cool dad. For her, Bjorn’s her hero. Her role model. Someone who she can talk about anything. And she doesn’t want to disappoint him.

-          His reaction is…weird. Or good. You can’t tell. You’re eating in the great hall, just the three of you, when she tells him.

-          “So, princess, any boy there I should know about? Someone’s been in your bed already?” “Dad…I don’t like boys. I’m lesbian” After a silence of staring at her, he says “So, do you have sex or not?”

-          When your daughter starts crying out of happiness, he looks at you for help; but you get up and leave.

-          Daddy-baby girl moment.

-          He can’t understand why she thought he wouldn’t accept her. As long as she’s his daughter, he will always be proud of her.

-          Bear hug and Bjorn shares a few hidden tears when your daughter tells him how much she loves him.

-          Meeting the girlfriend is cool, and your daughter has to literally drag her away from her father as they get along pretty well.

-          Your daughter has a body guard now when it comes to her relationship and sexuality.

-          Bjorn’s brothers better accepts her if they want to keep their balls.

-          “A woman said our relationship is unnatural” “Well, now her guts are hanging from her stomach; that’s unnatural, isn’t it”; “That boy told me that I’ve yet to taste a good dick to know it’s better” “Give me two days and he will be the one tasting his own dick”

-          King of aggressive but just protective. 

-          We all know Bjorn, he’s a little gore.

Ubbe

-          Old-lady dad

-          Since he met the boy, there’s this little shake in his eyes every once in a while.

-          Your daughter appeared with him in the monthly sacrifice to the Gods, and Ubbe kept asking too personal questions.

-          “Where do you live?” “Who are your parents?” “Do you always wear underwear?”

-          He keeps going until you have enough when he asks about his preferences in bed. You have to drag your prince away as he, too enthusiastically, says goodbye to the boy.

-          At night, he keeps pacing up and down your room, talking about all the things that could go wrong in your daughter’s date. You have to remind him that you both used to go together to sacrifices too, and you survived.

-          “But she’s too young, Y/N!” She could be forty, he would worry anyway.

-          Eventually, you fall asleep while he keeps walking through the house too fast. Until there is a noise; and he becomes an old and nosy mother who spies his daughter behind the window.

-          Ubbe crouches down, and it’s kind of absurd. Big, dangerous, powerful prince of Kattegat trying to fit his wide body under the window so he can spy on his daughter.

-          Boy has manners; he has to give him that. Kiss your daughter’s cheek, walks her to the door and smiles shyly before going away.

-          Can’t help the little giggle leaving his mouth, but quickly covers it before he gets caught.

-          “Dad, I know you were watching us” “I was not” “You’re like a bear behind a small rock, dad”

-          You smile when you wake up in the middle of the night, finding your husband with your not so little girl tucked under his big arms. She’s sleeping and he’s smiling like the first time he held her as a baby.

-          With care and after bumping her head with a wall, he takes her to bed and goes to sleep with you.

-          Ubbe tells you how your daughter has told him everything about her date, and wonders when he can meet the boy who makes his girl so happy.

-          Don’t get him wrong; he keeps asking about weird things when he’s around. But that’s good for his daughter when she wants to make him some present.

-          Probably once the relationship is official will steal her boyfriend to spend time with him

-          “Your dad’s so cool” “I want my boyfriend back”

Hvitserk

-          Cool dad/Makes-him-feel-old dad

-          His daughter boyfriend came up to his house with a bouquet of flowers; and Hvitserk was the one who opened the door.

-          At first, thinking they were for him even if it was a little strange. She appeared behind him and took the bouquet.

-          “Daddy, this is my boyfriend”

-          He was okay with it. Really. Talked to you about the relationship, advised her daughter into taking precautions. Watched with a smile their love interactions. It was cute.

-          Until one night when he’s drinking with his brothers.

-          “Is your daughter still dating that boy” “They’re good. Young love, and the boy is respectful and kind. Also, they remind me to Y/N and me.” “In no time you’ll be a grandad, I see”

-          Not ready for that, he’s too young. Besides, his daughter isn’t like this. Most likely isn’t like this. Or is she?

-          For the next days, he keeps interrupting them when they’re on it.

-          If you’re downstairs cooking together and he hears the door closing, he rushes up the stairs and opens it with a loud thud; suddenly, he’s kind of afraid of closed doors.

-          If your daughter is staying the night in her boyfriend’s house, he uses his best puppy eyes and asks her for a daddy-baby girl night.

-          You suffer the consequences of him feeling old too; Hvitserk wants to go running through the woods, go have a bath in the middle of night, and he even wants a new baby.

-          One day, you talk to your daughter and decide to prank him a little. With the help of his brothers, she puts a fake stomach (a little one) and arrives home.

-          It was supposed to be something funny, but as soon as you saw Hvitserk’s face you knew you took it too far. 

-          You talk with him and he tells you that he doesn’t want her to be pregnant so soon, and that he feels old.

-          Two things happen.

-          Hvitserk and you break the bed that night while you show him that he’s not old.

-          Ivar, who was the one telling him that, apologise to him after getting a beating (verbal and physical) from you and your daughter.

-          She takes his father to the woods for two days, and when he’s back he’s as jovial as ever.

-          Still, checks every once in a while, her stomach and monthly bleeding. Just in case.

-          And you do in fact have another child. 

Sigurd

-          Try-to-be-cool-but-its-embarrassing dad.

-          Sigurd has known your daughter’s boyfriend forever. And he’s a little surprised when he sees them kissing on the barn.

-          Panicking because he thought one of them is unconscious and the other is making the mouth-to-mouth breathing.

-          After he calms down, they explain it to him.

-          “Dad, we were kissing” “You wanted to practice for your first kiss? That’s cute sweetie!” “Wh-no! Dad, this is my boyfriend of two months.”

-          That’s cool. Yeah, he’s a cool dad, he can do that.

-          He invites his family over to meet each other properly. Although you literally have a key to their house.

-          Makes everything perfect. Gets the best food. The best wine. Pays the best musicians. Has someone to make some magic.

-          Too perfect maybe. Sigurd makes all of his brothers to dress up decently, and physically fights with Ivar when he doesn’t want to wear the blue and orange cape he made him.

-          During the night, he makes a fool of himself a few times. He gets a whole deer for you and doesn’t remember that the boy’s mother doesn’t eat meat. Also, expect bad dad-jokes.

-          “Hey, tie your shoes sweetie! We don’t want you falling for anyone else” “Did I tell you the time I fell in love during a backflip? I was heels overhead.”

-          When I was your age dad.

-          Asking about anything, much like Ubbe. About their first date, their first kiss. Their first time.

-          You have to stick the fork in his mouth because he can’t shut up.

-          When you’re finished, you apologise to the boy’s parents for his behaviour as the brother’s laugh at Sigurd.

-          Him shaking the boy’s hand and hugging him, and then trying to seem cool by talking to his daughter about how to take precautions.

-          In bed, you hug him tightly when he asks you how has he done it; Sigurd just wants the best for his daughter, and to be as close as he can with her.

-          A little too close definitely.

Ivar

-          Angry dad.

-          When he finds out, he’s silent. Your daughter is like him; so, she doesn’t back down from his stare. Anyone would, as his eyes are screaming what his mouth is failing to say.

-          This goes for a few minutes, a stare competition between father and daughter, until you get tired and ask her about him.

-          As she talks, you swear Ivar’s head keeps getting redder.

-          He gets up suddenly and leaves your house to go to one of his brother’s, probably Ubbe’s one. Ivar knows that you take no shit from him, so he prefers to throw his tantrum anywhere apart from your home.

-          Then. Screams.-

          Ivar keeps shouting threats for a good hour before Ubbe can really understand what’s going on. 

-          “I’m going to kick his teeth so far down his throat he’s going to have to brush them in his ass”

-          “I’m going to strike him with my crutch so hard that it’s going to be his third leg”

-          “Let me just get him; I’m going to piss on his ashes”

-          Ubbe has to hold him down so he stops breaking things at his house, and gets a black eye when he suggests Ivar should let it go.

-          After a while, he comes back home to find his daughter’s boyfriend sitting at HIS chair eating HIS food with HIS family. Boy tries to be funny and friendly with him; you have to stop your husband from stabbing him with a fork.

-          Dinner is awkward, and when the boy leaves, Ivar wants to follow him and bury him somewhere. 

-          He calms down after you two have rough sex and you make him see it’s normal and that the guy is a good kid. 

-          But the boy finds next morning a beheaded animal on his door. With his initials grabbed on it.

-          Just to make sure he gets the message.