#i have a solid guess on top 3 answers here

[sarenderpity]

Vote your FAVORITE (not necessarily your opinion on most mythologically accurate, though that can and should contribute) pop culture Hermes depiction

You know the drill, RB for wider audience, feel free to add fave Hermes propaganda!

EDIT! BLOOD OF ZEUS! THE NETFLIX SERIES! MY BAD (cannot edit poll block)

[exercise-of-trust]

everyone clap and cheer for my beautiful daughter who has every disease 🥰 her name is þerindë because her wheel is made out of an embroidery hoop; she is entirely handmade and boy howdy does it show

a whole bunch of things have stopped working since i took that video last night and i'm not sure how much more wherewithal i have to keep messing with her, but i did manage to spin about two feet of something before then! so i'm showing her off a bit now, and if i can figure out what-all i fucked up maybe you'll see more of her in the future. some process and progress photos under the cut (not a tutorial. do not do this. i cannot sufficiently stress how bad of an idea this was and is*)

(*if you are going to do this and have questions not answered here i am always happy to answer them, inbox and dms are open etc, but like. i would strongly advise against it)

here's the hoop! it's about a foot across, with a groove carved out with a speedball. this ended up being way too shallow (who'd'a'thunk) so the final version is a lot deeper than what you're seeing here. the paint stirrers are held in with straight pins because i was worried regular nails would just crack the hoop lmao. my girl is so deeply and profoundly scuffed <3

the flyer is made from three cedar shingles glued together because i didn't have a solid piece of wood large enough. astonishingly nothing broke while i was sawing out the rough shape and it whittled down pretty nicely! the hooks are scrap 2mm copper wire, the orfice is a couple inches of plastic drinking straw, and the pulley wheel is also hand-carved, which is why it looks like a fucked-up oreo and has the weird hitch at the top of the spin that you probably saw in the video 🙃 frankly i am astonished it works as well as it does

the wheel frame is. man. the axle supports haven't broken yet but frankly it's a miracle they're still in place with how much strain they're under every time. the original base was that weird little bit of paint stirrer, which (shocker) did not work out in the long run; it's been replaced by an offcut from the frame and is significantly more sturdy now. it's surprisingly level, though, and turns pretty smoothly all things considered!

the frame was a nightmare start to finish; i've never done any serious woodworking before in my life and the whole thing was just kind of slapped together without a plan or any sort of concrete measurement. it wobbles so fucking bad and every few hours i have to push a couple of the parts back together where the nails are sort of drifting out of the wood. you may observe a weird post sticking out the left side of the mother-of-all; that is supposed to be for scotch tensioning. does it actually do that? sort of! the belt is a length of cotton crochet thread that is, after much fiddling, just the right size to not slip out more than once every three minutes.

treadling was another pain to figure out and i think i probably made it way more complicated than it needed to be. it still doesn't work very well and i can't tell if that's something i can fix hardware-wise or if i just have to suck it up and practice a lot more. turns out feet are not as coordinated as hands! i would say "now i know for next time!" but frankly i am never doing this again. you couldn't pay me. speaking of which, i did the math and at my current pre-tax hourly salary i could've bought two brand-new ashford travelers with the number of hours i spent building my awful rickety daughter. at the end of the day, do i love her? immensely. is she "good"? by no stretch of the imagination.

anyway. this was a terrible use of my time <3 but i do finally feel confident enough in all the parts of a spinning wheel and what they're for that i can brave the dangers of facebook marketplace's "spinning wheel" category without getting too badly scammed! which is pretty valuable in its own right, i guess.

[lbibliophile-sw]

Proof of ID

Also on AO3 [710w] @ailesswhumptober - day 20: accidental de-aging, "I'm not qualified for this shit" @corrieweek - day 3: "you shouldn't be here"

Fox lets himself slump as he climbs into the covered Guard speeder, finally escaping the top-priority meeting on… whatever it was. Thorn and Thire were also there – a waste, of resources, honestly, thankfully Stone was able to escape – so they can catch him up on anything actually important. It’s not like the natborns listen to their advice half the time anyway.

“Hey Fox, are you ok? Only, you were quieter than usual in there.”

“’m fine, Thire. Just tired.”

And he is, down to his bones. The sort of tired that comes from a multi-day blackout mission that has him ‘waking up’ only to face the entirety of his usual gruelling double shift ahead of him. He wants nothing more than to collapse on his bunk for a solid six hours, but instead, he has meetings, and datawork backlog, and whatever else comes up… Just the mere thought is enough for him to remove his helmet and rub at his aching eyes.

“Trooper!” Fox stiffens reflexively at Thorn’s Command voice, despite having spent the past two years as the highest-ranked clone on-planet. “Why are you wearing Commander Fox’s armour?”

Fox blinks at him, struggling to push his sluggish brain into gear. Why… is he wearing… his armour? Because it’s his? And he’s on duty?

“Oh! Is Fox alright? I mean, obviously not, since he sent you in his place. But I’m assuming he’s with Zontal? Or wait, is he not all back yet after the blackout? It has been longer than usual so I guess that might be a struggle.”

What?

“I have to say, you did a pretty good job of copying his body language. Until you took the helmet off, I really did think that it was just Fox having an off day; most people wouldn’t have noticed anything at all! How would you feel about being on call for a repeat performance? Anything to get Fox to rest occasionally.”

“Thire!” Thorn finally forces his way through the babbling. “Just, shut up. And you’re going straight to bunk when we get back, your triple-shift is showing. Now, Trooper, sitrep. And your name.”

“Uh, Fox?” It shouldn’t sound like a question – his name is the one answer he does have right now – but shouldn’t they know it too?

“It’s ok, you don’t have to keep pretending here. We sweep the speeders for bugs, and we already know you’re covering for him, besides –”

“Thire, enough. Let the shiny speak.”

“I’m not a shiny.” Thorn snorts.

“Maybe not a shiny, then. But you still can’t be more than, what, eight? Nine at a stretch?”

“I’m thirteen. I’m Fox. And you’re being mean. If this is revenge for saving your shebs when you tried to block that Senator’s access because you thought she was her own daughter…”

“What did you just say? No, seriously, I made Fox swear to never tell anyone about that.”

“I keep telling you I am Fox. Why won’t you believe me?”

“Ok. Ok. So, not body doubles, but Force osik. Maybe.” Thorn rummages in his belt pouches as he mutters to himself, finally pulling out some sort of case with a bright metal finish. “Here. I’m having a hard time believing you, because this is what you look like right now.”

Fox takes the case, holding it up so the smooth surface shows his reflection. He twists it back and forwards just to make sure. He raises his free hand to trace the smooth skin of his forehead, his eyes, his cheeks, watching the movement in the improvised mirror.

“Thorn. Thorn, someone stole my face.”

Thire reaches back to awkwardly pat him on the knee.

“Look on the bright side, at least you still have your helmet. You keep it on most of the time anyway.”

“But it was my face!”

“Alrighty,” Thorn interrupts the impeding meltdown. He is in a speeder with three-quarters of Coruscant Guard Command, he should not be having flashbacks to Kamino and cadet-duty. “I’m driving us back to base. Then you two are going to go to sleep, while I have an adult conversation with Zontal to try and figure this out. Any further discussion can wait until after those steps are completed. Got it?”

“Yes sir.”

“Yes Thorn.”

[storm-and-starlight]

Here, I'm bored, so have my headcanons for how much non-heroes know about the Robin situation

Most people, at this point, are Aware Batman Exists. He's a part of the Justice League, he's talked about in most hero discussions, there's a photo record of him both in Gotham and outside on League business (though the Robins have a much more extensive photo record, especially Tim).

Similarly, most people, even those who don't care about superheroes at all, are vaguely aware that there has to have been more than one Robin

Like, first of all, Robin is famously the og kid sidekick and yet there's been a Robin around for like twenty years, so even if someone has no knowledge whatsoever usually if they get asked they take a moment to think about it and then go "yeah I guess there would have to be more than one by now?"

Also the Tim -> Damian transition 1.) took place post-Batman's cryptid era, 2.) took place in the age of social media and internet communities, and 3.) was really obvious (extremely pale kid in his late teens who mostly worked solo and fought with a bo staff to non-white child who is never seen without Batman and has a sword), so it got passed around the internet for a while that "holy shit there's a new Robin? did the last one, like, die???"

(Tim eventually jumped in to be like "no I'm not dead I'm going by Red Robin now calm tf down")

So anyways the average person is aware that there's been more than one Robin, and that there's probably been like. three? if they think about the timing of it at all.

Also: considering that both Nightwing and Red Robin are established (if not well-known) adult superheroes, as are Spoiler, Orphan, and now the Signal, the general assumption is that Batman is running some kind of hero training academy? and most of the Batfam is Robin "graduates".

People who are genuinely knowledgeable about the superhero community will give you the answer of "we have good evidence that there have been five separate people in the Robin uniform, four of which were Robin for multiple years and then there was also that blonde girl who showed up for a week but no one knows what was going on there."

Robin I was Robin for like a decade-ish? and then after spending more and more time with the Titans stopped being Robin to make room for the new guy? and changed his name to Nightwing? and that's the generally accepted storyline, but there's not a lot of solid evidence because this was very firmly in Batman's Cryptid Era and he was very camera-shy.

Also, while the fact that Robin I became Nightwing isn't, like, common knowledge, that's mostly because it's not something most people think about. It's very easily Googleable.

If you type in "what happened to the first robin" you're gonna get like three different reddit posts asking the same thing and the top answer is usually something like "he probably graduated and started going by Nightwing. Evidence: Robin (black haired, just under six feet, very acrobatic, leader of the Titans) disappeared off the Titans' roster and then a week later Nightwing (black haired, just under six feet, very acrobatic, new leader of the Titans) showed up, he's known to work with the rest of the Bats in Gotham a lot, the uncertainty's just because no one's said "Yes, Nightwing was the first Robin" out loud somewhere it could be recorded"

It is confirmed that Titans Robin is the og Robin -- he's mentioned working with Batman several times in old Titans interviews and things.

The transition from Robin I to Robin II wasn't spectacularly well-known at the time unless you particularly liked Bat-spotting, but these days it's pretty well recognized that ten-ish years after Robin showed up, the old one graduated and the new one showed up much younger and a lot less flippy than the last one. Batman was still in his Cryptid Era, so there's very little photographic evidence, but what there is is is pretty clear on the fact that Robin II is much younger than the Titans Robin.

The transition from Robin II to Robin III was not really known about at all at the time it happened -- this was like... juuuust in the beginning of the social media era? and Tim and Jason look more dissimilar than Dick and Jason but no one was getting a close look at either Robin II or Robin III anyways. Mostly what people knew was that Robin disappeared for a while and Batman went... crazier than usual, and then Robin came back and things started slowly calming down again.

What's known now is that Robin II is "missing, presumed dead".

No one really knows what, exactly, happened, but at some point a post collating all the evidence went mildly viral online in superhero drama communities that Robin II and Robin III are almost definitely not the same guy.

Their accents are different, the costumes are different, Robin II was in the 15-16 range when he disappeared and the Robin that showed back up was definitely in the 11-12 range, Robin II was a lot more willing to just punch people while Robin III is more techy

and also Batman's actions post-Robin II's-disappearance make a whole lotta sense if you look at them from the perspective of "something real bad just happened to his sidekick"

Like. Robin II could have retired. But also no, he couldn't have.

Robin III to Robin IV is, as aforementioned, the most well-known of the transitions, and also the one that solidified the understanding that Robin is a temporary position -- it wasn't super widespread knowledge that there were multiple Robins until all of a sudden Sword Robin showed up, and then all of the obscure forum posts cataloguing the different transitions got spread around a lot and now "there have been five Robins" is general knowledge among people who keep tabs on superheroes.

The four "main" Robins all have rough timelines known and discussed, and then the fifth Robin is Blonde Robin/Girl Robin

People know for a fact she existed -- there's definite evidence in the form of five-ish clear photographs of a girl with long blonde hair in the official Robin suit, two of which have something that is largely agreed to be Batman in them, and a handful of reliable eyewitness accounts, but the most that anyone can say about Blonde Robin is that she existed? and was around for like. two weeks? maybe?

TL;DR average layperson knows that there has to have been like two? three? Robins by now, right? Doesn't the latest one have a sword? Average Gothamite is like "yeah, there've been like four and one of 'em definitely died and then apparently there was a blonde girl for a bit?", someone really into superhero lore could tell you rough (year/month) estimates of when each Robin switched over, how long they held the position, and what happened to them once they graduated.

[4littlefishies]

The Eighth of September - Look at Me

satoru gojo x suguru geto

warnings: smut :3

wc: 11k

previous chapter here!

“Roo, can we go visit the kids at the cafe after our meeting?” Satoru asks from where he lies on the worn leather couch in Suguru’s office. His feet are kicked up as he rests with his head back on one of the throw pillows with a random book about the solar system from Suguru’s shelf in his hands, flipping through the pages and reading chapters that seem interesting to him.

“Baby we’re not going in that direction, we’re going to Setagaya.” Suguru says, not looking up from his computer as he speaks. Although he wants to see Yuji and the rest of them much like Satoru, it’s a bit out of their way to go there.

“I know but it’s not that much further to go, right? Tsumiki said she was going to start making Suika pan this month for summer and I need to try some,” Satoru asks, his brows furrowed together as he looks over at his husband that continues working away, not looking up from his computer once. “Why do you have a book about space in your office?” He asks as he looks back to the book, completely changing the subject without getting a solid answer to his first question. 

“You know you’re not supposed to bother me while you’re here and I’m working, right?” Suguru says, not bothering to answer either of Satoru’s questions as he tries to keep a smirk from appearing on his lips. 

“Yeah but what fun would that be?”

Suguru shakes his head as he lets a faint smile form on his face. He takes a breath in through his nose and turns his chair to face him, clasping his hands together in front of his stomach with his elbows resting on the armrests. “I liked the cover and I thought it would look nice on the shelf… Is it good so far?” 

“It’s alright I guess,” Satoru says, acting nonchalant as he closes the book around his thumb, making sure to mark his place as he looks over at Suguru, their eyes meeting. “So can we go to the cafe?”

Suguru rolls his eyes and shakes his head with a smile on his face. He should have known better than to think Satoru would just drop the question. “If I say yes will you help me organize these papers?” Suguru nods his head toward a pile of papers on the side of his desk that need to get filed away into the binders on the shelf up against the wall. 

Before Satoru even answers, he’s standing up off of the couch to grab the thick stack of papers with a smile, leaving the book sitting on the couch. “Just tell me what needs to go where, my sweet,” he says with a smirk as he looks down at Suguru.

“I need you to organize them by what it says up here, okay?” Suguru starts explaining. He points to the words at the top of the pages that show what each report is. “Yearly reviews go in the ‘Reviews’ binder, expense reports go in the ‘Budgeting’ binder, risk management plans go in the ‘Project Management’ binder, and training and development programs go into the ‘HR’ binder.”

Satoru’s eyes widen as he names all the different binders quickly like it’s nothing. “I’m probably gonna need you to tell me that again after I get these organized,” he says as he sits down in one of the comfortable armchairs that sit on the other side of Suguru’s desk. He starts making piles based on the report names on the top of the pages. Normally, he would have to be begged to actually do some work if it was his job, but when there’s treats on the line and it’s Suguru that’s asking, he has no issue helping out.

“That’s fine. Also if there’s any supplier performance reviews, those need to go to Ryo who’s just next door, so you can set those aside.” 

“I like seeing you like this Sugu,” Satoru says with a slight smirk on his lips as he starts organizing. “It’s hot.”

Suguru lets out a single chuckle and shakes his head as he smiles at his monitor, continuing to work on what he’d been working on all afternoon. “I’m glad you find my stress sexy,” he says with an exhale, pushing his bangs back out of his face. Although he’d been at the job officially now for a year, things didn’t seem to get any less crazy. Once he got into the routine though, the stress was definitely much easier to manage than it was originally. 

“Do you think Kiyo is going to have good news for us today?” Satoru asks, switching his focus to their meeting that they were going to after Suguru was done working. Kiyo was their case worker that was helping them out from the adoption agency. She had helped Suguru’s coworker Akiko when she was going through the same thing, and was making things pretty easy thus far with Satoru and Suguru. “Last time she said we might get to meet the girls soon.” 

They were both hopeful, but Suguru didn’t want to fully get his hopes up just yet. Things were going fairly quickly for them, despite everyone and everything telling them that it would take forever to get anything actually done. Their financial situation and home life definitely didn’t do anything to hinder their chances, but they didn’t expect things to be moving so quickly so soon. Their home visits over the last few months seemed promising, which definitely helped to keep their spirits high. It had only been six months and they already had potential to meet two young girls - a set of twins - that were living in a group home. 

When they had initially talked about it, the possibility of adopting a set of siblings hadn’t even crossed their minds, but once Kiyo had mentioned it, they didn’t think twice. They weren’t even close to sure that they would be placed with them, but as soon as it became a possibility, both Satoru and Suguru started thinking about what they could do for these little girls to make everything as easy as possible for them and give them the lives that they deserved.

“I just don’t want to get my hopes up, baby,” Suguru says, stopping what he’s doing for a moment to look across the desk at his husband. Satoru furrows his brows and the corners of his mouth downturn slightly. 

“But you can’t even be a little bit hopeful?”

“Of course I’m hopeful, Roo, but I just don’t want to get too excited and have them be placed with someone else; it’s only June.” Suguru says, his tone slightly somber. Although it felt like they’d been going through the process for a long time, it really had only been six months, and that was usually on the lower end of timelines families usually see. 

“Well I think Kiyo’s going to have good news for us when we see her,” Satoru says as he continues sorting papers. If Suguru wasn’t going to be as positive as he was, he figured that he had enough to go around for both of them.

Suguru gently nods his head with a soft smile, hoping that Satoru’s right and she will have some good news for them. He continues working while Satoru talks about anything and everything, not leaving a moment of silence between them. 

“What do you think Shi’s doing right now?” Satoru asks, pulling out his phone to check on her.

“I don’t know, baby.” Suguru says, trying his best to focus while Satoru does everything in his power to make that virtually impossible.

“Awe, she’s sleeping on the couch,” Satoru turns around his phone to show Suguru the view of their living room through the camera. She does look pretty cute curled up against the throw pillows in the corner of the couch, waiting for the two of them to return. 

Suguru smiles at the sight and focuses back on his work when there’s a quiet knock at the door that pulls him away once again. “Yes?” Suguru calls out and the door slowly opens. Emi peeks her head inside before opening the door all the way and stepping inside. She wears a black pencil skirt and a white button up while her hair is clipped back and up out of her face.

“Good afternoon, Geto-san,” she says with a soft voice, quickly noticing Satoru as he’s turned around in the chair to see who it is.

“Good afternoon Emi!” Satoru says, his voice overly cheery as he greets her with a smile. Suguru has to hold back a chuckle at his greeting, knowing that he does it because he knows how she treats Suguru when he’s not there. 

“Hello Geto-sama, nice to see you.” Satoru smiles at the honorific she chooses to address him with, despite having met her plenty of times over the past six months while he’s been visiting Suguru at work. “Um- Ryo-san sent me to grab some performance reviews he said you had?” She says, remembering what she’s actually here for. 

“Here’s those for you,” Satoru interjects with the smile still on his lips, handing her the stack of reviews that he’d sorted out from the originally much larger pile. Suguru tries to hide the smirk on his face, trucking his lips between his teeth as he’s watching as Satoru does his best to get her out of his office as quickly as possible. 

“Oh- uh, thank you,” she says, seeming slightly flustered as she grabs the stack from him and hurries back out the door, closing it behind her once again. 

“Satoru, you don’t have to scare away the assistants,” Suguru lightly scolds him, although it’s slightly entertaining to see the way Satoru reacts.

“Sugu. I know that if I wasn’t here, she would’ve been all over you,” Satoru defends himself. “And I was nice, it’s not my fault if it scared her… Maybe she should leave my husband alone,” he continues, leaning his head back over the back of the chair and letting his arms hang open over the sides.

“Satoru, she’s just doing her job.” Suguru chuckles lightly. “You don’t have to be jealous, baby.” Satoru lifts his head up with a quickness that Suguru is sure must have hurt his neck.

“I am not jealous,” he declares, his brows raised and his mouth slightly open as he shoves his tongue into his cheek. “I know you’re all mine.” Satoru says, standing up and going over to the shelf to grab the binders that he needed, somehow remembering which stack of papers goes where. “I have the ring to prove it.” Suguru smirks to himself as he looks down at his keyboard before continuing back on his work while Satoru puts away the papers in the binders. 

“Do you want me to be jealous?” Satoru asks as he sticks the last binder back onto the shelf.

“Not necessarily, but just the fact that you’re bringing it up again makes me think that you definitely are.” Before he realizes it and can stop it from happening, Satoru’s hands are on the back of his chair pulling him out and away from his desk. “Satoru what are you-” he says with furrowed brows as he gets pulled back. 

Satoru turns him, puts his hands on either side of his armrests, and leans down to press a deep kiss to Suguru’s lips. Yeah he’s definitely not jealous, Suguru thinks to himself jokingly as he feels Satoru’s lips against his own. He smiles against his warm lips for a moment before he finally pulls back, but instead of going back to the couch, Satoru kneels down on the floor in front of him. “Satoru, no.” Suguru tries to tell him off, knowing what he’s getting at, but he’s already folding up his long legs to fit underneath the desk. 

“Come on Suguboo,” Satoru coos as he rests his chin on Suguru’s knee and looks up at him with his best puppy dog eyes. “You know you want me toooo,” he draws out as he sticks out his bottom lip to do his best convincing. 

Suguru takes a deep breath in through his nose and looks down at Satoru. He presses his lips together, trying his best to keep a straight face. He thinks about all the possible outcomes in his head, but the sudden warmth building between his legs is starting to take over, and cloud his mind. He doesn’t say anything and Satoru takes that as his sign to keep going, a wide smile on his face as he pulls Suguru’s legs back under the desk. 

“Just be quiet and you’ll be fine,” Satoru teases as he runs his hands slowly up Suguru’s thighs before slowly running his hands over his crotch, earning a soft groan from deep in his chest. 

The only reason he’s not putting an immediate stop to this is because it’s Friday afternoon and everyone is wrapping up for the week and trying to get out the door. Normally, after about 3:00 on Fridays, Suguru doesn’t have anyone coming into his office for anything, so seeing as it’s nearly 4:30, he has less of an issue with it. “If someone comes in-” he starts warning Satoru, but he stops as his belt and pants get undone and pulled open.

“I know, I know. I’m not gonna get you in trouble Sugu,” Satoru waves off his warning, intent on getting him in his mouth as quickly as he can. As he frees Suguru’s mostly hard cock from the confines of his boxers, Satoru holds it in his hand before pressing a slow, warm kiss to the tip, earning a hiss from Suguru.

Trying to hide Satoru as best as he can, he scoots himself closer to his desk, wanting it to be nearly impossible to tell that his husband was underneath with his mouth all over him. He leans back as he feels Satoru pressing tender kisses up the bottom of his length, already starting to feel impatient. “Satoru, now is not the time to be taking it slow,” he slightly scolds him, trying to hurry it along, worried more and more that someone will barge in. “If someone comes in, you’re going to sit there silently and still and not make a sound.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Satoru waves him off as he finally takes the tip into his warm mouth, making Suguru inhale quickly through his nose and lean his head back over the back of his chair. 

Doing his best to continue working, Suguru sits forward again and tries typing on the report that he’s working on, but quickly realizes that he can’t do his work and be sucked off at the same time. He lets out a shaky breath as Satoru slowly bobs his head up and down underneath the desk. Stopping once again, he leans back slightly to look down and watch as Satoru looks up at him with his wide eyes. He bats his white eyelashes as he effortlessly takes most of him into his mouth. 

“Shit, baby,” Suguru hisses out with a whisper as he grabs onto Satoru’s shoulder and gives it a squeeze, his other hand holding onto his armrest. His hips twitch as he sits there, doing his best to keep quiet with the view below him. “Keep going, just like that,” he whispers as he moves his hand from his shoulder to let his fingers rest on the side of his head and into his white hair. 

Although Satoru’s mouth is full, he has no problem looking back up with a smile, his eyes doing plenty to show the way he’s feeling. He sticks his tongue out, letting it drag up and down the bottom of his cock as he continues moving slowly, taking his time because he knows how absolutely crazy it drives Suguru. The way his hand tightens in his hair is enough of an indicator of how well he’s doing. He rests one of his hands on Suguru’s thighs, giving it a squeeze as he looks up through his eyelashes. He can tell that Suguru is putty in his hands, knowing exactly how to get him off quickly.

Suguru’s hips twitch and the feeling deep in his stomach begins to get tighter and tighter when there’s a soft knock on the door. “Oh fuck,” he curses quietly as he pushes Satoru off of him and looks down at him with wide eyes, silently telling him to keep quiet until whoever it is is gone. “Come in,” Suguru says, clearing his throat before he says it. He tries his best not to look like his husband is under the desk on his knees with his dick in his mouth. 

The door opens and it’s Emi once again. This time her hair is down and out of the clip that it was in earlier and Suguru isn’t completely sure, but he’s pretty sure another button is undone on her shirt. If he had the will to, he would’ve rolled his eyes. “Sorry to bother you again Geto-san, but Takeshi-san wanted me to get your signature on a few things,” she explains as she steps inside, closing the door almost all of the way behind her. She almost immediately notices that Satoru isn’t there anymore. 

“Okay, yeah, no problem,” he says, holding out his hand so that she can hand over the thick stack of papers that need his signature on them. He immediately starts on them, signing all the highlighted pages that need his approval.

“Did your husband leave?” She asks to make sure, looking around to see if she just didn’t notice him when she walked in. Her voice sounds sweet, but both Satoru and Suguru know that she’s hoping he’s gone so that she can spend time with him.

Suguru feels Satoru’s warm breath on his still slick cock underneath the desk and knows the exact face that he’s making despite being unable to see him. “No, he just-” Suguru starts, but clears his throat again and takes a second when he feels Satoru moving slightly at his feet. “He just stepped out for a minute to make a phone call.” He flips through the pages, cursing in his mind that there’s so many that he needs to sign. He does his best to get through them as quickly as he can.

“Hm,” she hums shortly at his response, looking down at him from where she stands in front of the desk. As Suguru continues flipping through the pages, she moves slightly to the side, wanting to get a closer look at the painting that hangs above the couch. “I love looking at this every time I come in here; It’s really beautiful,” she says, looking at the picture of their hands that sits on the wall. 

Suguru feels Satoru’s hand squeeze his thigh and knows he’s probably going insane under there not being able to say anything to her. “Thank you,” he says just before he feels Satoru’s other hand wrapping around his cock, slowly moving up and down while squeezing firmly. Suguru tries to push him away without being obvious and giving away his spot, but can’t do it before Emi turns back around to look at him. “Satoru’s a big fan of art, so this is just one of a few things he’s commissioned for me.”

At the mention of Satoru’s name, the smile on Emi’s face fades. “How did you two meet?” She asks, turning back around to walk back towards the chairs that sit in front of Suguru’s desk. She sits down as he signs the many pages and Suguru lets out a silent sigh of relief, glad that she isn’t going to walk behind his desk for some reason and see Satoru kneeling underneath it.

“Uh- we actually worked at the Tokyo branch together,” he starts, a smile on his face as he thinks back to nearly three years ago at this point. “He trained me for the first week and then we sat across from each other with one of our mutual friends in between us.” As he finishes the sentence, he feels Satoru’s lips press a tender kiss to the tip of his cock and he has to cough to hide the surprise on his face, holding his hand in front of his mouth as he does so.

“You okay?” She asks, cocking her brow and sitting forward at his sudden coughing.

Suguru waves it off, feeling Satoru’s lips still on him underneath the desk. He’s quickly able to tell where this is going and tries to speed up the signing, but the pages seem to just keep coming. “Yeah, sorry. Just inhaled wrong,” he brushes it off and shakes his head, clearing his throat once again as his face gets warmer. 

“That’s sweet,” she says and Suguru inhales sharply as he feels Satoru’s lips wrap around the tip once again. He kicks him lightly as if to say “knock it off,” but that does little to actually stop Satoru. He can’t push him away without looking insane, so he just lets him, doing his best to look as normal as possible as Emi sits just across the way from him. “So you started as coworkers and now you’re married,” she continues, just seeming to think out loud as he looks around at the miscellaneous things around his office. 

“Yep,” he clears his throat once again as Satoru painfully slowly moves his mouth up and down once again as if she isn’t there. “Mhm.” He doubles down, his cheeks starting to feel burning hot as he does his best to seem normal to Emi. He only has a couple pages left and they seem to take longer than all the others put together as he’s rushing to try to get through them before Satoru makes him cum with her sitting right in front of him. At this point, he’s gripping the pen so hard he’s surprised it doesn’t snap in half under the pressure. 

“He doesn’t still work at the Tokyo branch?” She tilts her head to the side as she asks. “I mean, he’s in here a couple times a month, so I just assume he doesn’t still work there, right…?” As she finishes her question, he feels Satoru pause for a second before he feels his throat contract around his cock. He flexes every muscle in the lower half of his body to try to not react to the feeling.

Please stop asking questions, Suguru begs silently in his head, hoping that maybe she can somehow hear it and will leave quickly. He doesn’t even try to come up with some sort of explanation for what Satoru does while he’s in the office. “Y-yeah, he just stays at home for now,” Suguru answers shortly, finally scribbling his signature messily over the last page and pushing the stack of papers back across the desk to Emi, hoping that she’ll just take them and leave. 

“He’s not bored all day while you’re here?” She asks and Suguru has to restrain himself from physically groaning, at the feeling of Satoru’s tongue slowly moving over his cock, but also at the fact that she won’t just leave. He continues gripping his pen tightly, trying not to lose his cool yet.

“I’m really sorry Emi-san, but I have a lot to get done before I head home,” he says, hoping that she’ll get the hint that he wants her to leave. He’s not usually one to kick people out of his office, but when his husband is on his knees in front of him with his cock down his throat, he feels a bit differently about doing so.

“Oh, y-yeah,” she stutters as he straightens out the papers and sticks them back into the folder that she had. “I’ll get out of your hair.” She stands up straight and heads to the door, opening it and turning around with a final smile.

“Thank you,” Suguru says before she steps out into the hallway and closes it slowly, leaving just the two of them alone once again. “Satoru, what the fuck?” He asks in a hushed voice, finally looking down at Satoru who pulls his mouth off and looks up at him with an angelic smile, acting like he hadn’t done a thing wrong.

“What’s wrong Sugu?” He asks, his hand continuing to slowly pump up and down on Suguru’s cock. Suguru looks down at him, his hips twitching at the feeling, wanting his mouth around him again.

“You know exactly what’s wrong, you brat,” Suguru spits out, although a playful smirk sits on his face as he says it. A similar smirk plays on Satoru’s lips as he looks up at him before licking a long stripe up the side of his cock and taking him back into his mouth. “Fuck, Toru,” Suguru groans quietly, the familiar warmth of his mouth now engulfing him again. He knows that Satoru enjoys every second of fucking with him like this, so there’s no use in trying to get back at him now. 

Satoru continues looking back up at him with his wide blue eyes, the color practically sparkling like the water in the bay outside the window. He picks up the pace slightly, feeling the way Suguru’s hips twitch and the way he’s twitching in his mouth. He hums around his cock, knowing that the vibrations will drive him crazy and closer to the edge. 

“Shit, baby don’t stop,” Suguru hisses, both of his hands now clenched into the hair on the sides of Satoru’s head, guiding him at the speed that he needs while Satoru just goes along with it, letting him move him however he needs to. He lets his head fall back while his jaw drops open, his eyes starting to roll back into his head as he gets closer and closer to his orgasm. 

Looking up at his face, Satoru can tell that Suguru’s about to cum, feeling the way his cock twitches in his mouth before he finally lets go. He doesn’t stop moving once Suguru’s hands fall away from the sides of his head and grip tightly onto the armrests on the side of his chair. As hot cum spills down his throat, Satoru has no problem swallowing around his cock, making sure to get every drop as to not leave any evidence behind that anything had happened in the office.

Suguru’s breathing heavily as his orgasm rolls through his body, completely forgetting where he is and that anyone could walk into the room at any second. Satoru finally pulls off and looks up at him with a smile before he sticks out his tongue to show an empty mouth. “Fuck,” Suguru whispers out at the sight, pushing his chair back to lean forward. He grabs the bottom of Satoru’s chin and pulls him towards him, connecting their lips fervently. Satoru sits up on his knees to reach as their lips come together, Suguru still able to taste himself on Satoru’s lips. 

“Mmm,” Satoru hums against his lips with a smile, feeling the grip Suguru has on his chin. 

“You’re gonna get it when we get home,” Suguru whispers against his lips before pressing them together once again before sitting back up. 

“I was counting on it,” Satoru whispers back with a devious smirk on his face, already looking forward to heading home. Suguru shakes his head as he redoes his pants and belt, leaving no trace that anything had happened between the two of them here. “I can’t believe we’ve been together this long and that’s the first time we’ve done anything in the office,” Satoru says as he stands back up and wipes his chin with the back of his hand.

“Well we didn’t exactly have an office at the old place,” Suguru points out, thinking about where they possibly could have done anything while still working at the Tokyo branch.

“Come on,” Satoru starts as he looks down at him with his arms crossed as he leans back against Suguru’s desk for a moment. “If we really wanted to, we could’ve found a spot.”

Suguru shrugs his shoulders in agreement. “Yeah I guess… Don’t get used to this though, it’s too risky to do things here.” Satoru nods his head as he pushes himself off the desk and sits back down on the couch, picking up the book from where he’d left it and opening it back up. “I know what that silence means, Satoru. It’s not happening again,” he doubles down firmly.

Satoru nods silently again, a soft smile on his face as he picks up reading right where he left off earlier. His absence of a response makes Suguru furrow his brows because he knows exactly what’s going on in Satoru’s head. Keep saying it all you want, we both know it’s not the last time. They silently converse through playful eye contact, because as much as Suguru wants it to be the last time, he knows just as well that it was far too exciting for that to be the truth.

It doesn’t take long for Suguru to finish up everything that he had to finish and before they know if they’re in the car heading further into the city to meet with Kiyo. It’s about a 40 minute drive and Satoru is practically vibrating the entire way there. 

“Baby, I think you should try and calm down a little bit,” Suguru says as they approach their destination.

“I am calm,” Satoru assures him. He quickly notices that they aren’t going the way that they should be going and points it out. “I thought you said we were going to Setagaya?”

“Kiyo asked me right before we left if we could change the meeting place so I suggested somewhere that I knew you’d like,” Suguru explains and Satoru immediately catches on, realizing that they’re going to their favorite cafe in the city. “They probably also would’ve closed by the time we were done anyway.”

“This is why I married you, you know?” Satoru says sweetly as he leans over to press a kiss to Suguru’s shoulder.

“I hope you married me for more than just this,” Suguru says with a chuckle as he gets off the expressway and onto the surface streets until they arrive. 

“Okay yeah, you’re pretty hot too,” Satoru says jokingly, pulling a laugh from both of them, knowing that he has plenty more reasons to have married him. 

Once Suguru finds a parking spot, they head on their short walk towards the cafe. Satoru is already thinking about what he’s going to get, almost having forgotten about their whole reason for going there in the first place. As they walk down the final stretch of sidewalk before reaching the cafe, Suguru gives Satoru’s hand a squeeze as he’s slightly nervous about their meeting. Satoru can feel the clamminess of his palms and knows that he’s nervous. “It’s going to be okay, Roo.” He gives his hand a squeeze back, assuring him that everything is going to be okay.

“I’m just a little nervous, that’s all.”

“That’s okay. You’re okay. No matter what happens, it’ll be fine. I’m still here,” Satoru comforts him, giving his hand another squeeze as they make it to the front door that’s propped open. There aren’t very many people in the cafe; their favorite table in the back corner is open and Satoru immediately notices. “How about you go sit and I’ll get your tea, okay?”

Suguru nods his head with a smile, letting go of Satoru’s hand and heading back towards the table in the corner to sit down. He watches as Satoru heads up to the counter and smiles at Yuji’s reaction upon seeing him. When Satoru points back in his direction, he smiles and waves at Yuji who waves back with a beaming smile.

“Hi Geto-san!” Yuji calls out, his loud voice cutting through the quiet cafe atmosphere easily. Suguru chuckles as a couple other customers turn their heads to see who’s shouting and turn back when they realize that it’s the boy working behind the counter. 

After a couple minutes, Satoru comes back to join Suguru at the table. “Yuji said Megumi’s going to university!” He says, sounding excited as he sits down. “He’s only here a couple days a week now.”

“That’s good for him,” Suguru says, happy to hear that he’s doing good. Satoru pulls out a watermelon looking bread from the white paper bag and rips it in half, revealing the vibrant pink inside with chocolate chips that look like seeds.

“Isn’t this beautiful?” Satoru asks, amazed as he bites into one half of the bread and hands the other to Suguru. “And it tastes super good too.”

“It is very pretty,” Suguru says, deciding to humor him despite definitely having seen Suika Pan before. They sit for a couple minutes before Nobara brings their drinks to their table.

“Thank you Kugisaki,” Satoru says with a smile as he takes a sip of his drink. 

“I haven’t seen you two here in a minute, what’s the occasion?” She asks, tucking the tray that she used to transport their drinks under her arm as she stands there.

“We’re actually meeting with our adoption case worker whenever she arrives,” Suguru explains. He has a smile on his face, excited despite how nervous he is inside. 

“What?!” She says excitedly. “You two are gonna have a kid?” She continues, her voice slightly raised as she looks down at them with wide eyes.

Satoru smiles back at her and nods his head swiftly. “Possibly even two if everything goes the way we’re hoping it does.”

“That’s crazy guys. Well I really hope it all works out for you and you bring the little ones in here some day.” She says with a wide smile on her face, genuinely happy for them.

She leaves them alone at their table and just a few minutes later, they spot Kiyo as she walks through the door. Satoru waves at her, getting her attention and letting her know where they’re at. She hurries back towards where they sit, not bothering to head up to the counter.

“Hello Geto-sama,” she says in a huff, greeting them with a wide smile on her face as she sits down at the chair across from where the two of them sit. “Thank you for being flexible and suggesting this place; I was a bit late finishing up my last meeting and this is much closer than Setagaya.” She seems like she ran from wherever she just came from all the way here.

“It’s no problem at all,” Suguru says with a smile. “Did you want to order anything? We have no problem waiting a couple more minutes if you want to.”

“That’s very kind, but I’m okay really, thank you,” she says, sounding slightly out of breath. “This hopefully shouldn’t take too long anyways.” When she says that, Satoru squeezes Suguru’s hand underneath the table, knowing that he’s still nervous about what she’s going to tell them. “I guess I’ll just get right to it.” She pulls out a folder from her bag and sets it on the table before opening it up and pulling out a couple sheets of paper. “The board looked through all of the potential families and narrowed it down to two that get to meet the girls and you two are one of the two that were picked.” 

When she says it, both Suguru and Satoru’s mouths drop at the surprise. Satoru was hopeful for this outcome, but that didn’t make hearing it any less surprising. Suguru finally felt like an elephant was lifted off of his shoulders upon hearing the news. “A-are you serious?” Suguru asks, not fully believing her at first.

Kiyo nods her head with a smile on her face. “I’m 100% serious.” 

Satoru and Suguru look at each other with shock still painted all over their faces. They squeeze each other’s hands hard underneath the table for a moment before turning back to look at Kiyo. “So uh-” Suguru starts, trying to gather his thoughts as quickly as he can despite the disbelief, “where do we go from here?”

“So we’ve got a few options for dates here,” she says, going over the calendar she has in the folder. “Obviously the girls are still in school, so weekends and afternoons are what we’re working with.” She turns around the calendar so that they can look at it more easily. “And it would be similar to this, but since they’re in Kamakura, it would be much closer to your house than up here in the city.”

Both of their minds feel like they’re racing with a million thoughts and questions, but Satoru spits out the first thing that he can think of, trying to keep a level head. “We’d probably prefer a weekend, right?” Satoru asks, looking over at Suguru. 

“A weekend would definitely be better for my schedule, otherwise it would be pretty late in the afternoon.”

“Okay, that’s completely fine. Today’s the-” she looks down at her watch to make sure of the date, “5th, so that leaves open every weekend this month excluding the 20th.” They look over the calendar, looking at all the dates marked in green. 

“Does that mean tomorrow is a possibility?” Satoru asks, not even thinking about it first. 

“Sorry, I should've made that more clear,” she starts and Satoru already feels his heart drop, excited at the prospect of meeting them so soon. “Tomorrow isn’t possible, but Sunday is still an option if that still works for you,” she says, tapping her pen on the 7th on the calendar.

Satoru’s eyes widen and he looks over to Suguru who looks back at him with a similar look. “Do you want to do that?” He asks Suguru in a hushed voice as if Kiyo isn’t sitting less than a meter in front of them at the same table.

“You also don’t have to decide right this second if you want to talk it over.”

“No,” Suguru says, perhaps a bit too eagerly. He shakes his head before continuing. “I’m sorry, no, uh- Sunday is perfect.” 

“Great,” Kiyo says, writing it down on her paper and flashing both of them a smile. “I just need each of your signatures here and then that’s all I need from you.” They each sign the paper on the lines that she points out and slide it back over to her, already used to having to sign off on every meeting at this point. “Perfect! I’ll text or email you at some point tomorrow to give you all the details.”

“Thank you so much Kiyo-san,” Suguru says as she packs the folder back into her bag with a smile. 

“You’re very welcome. I’ll talk to you tomorrow and see you again Sunday,” she says before hurrying back out of the cafe just as quickly as she came.

“Oh my god,” Satoru says with a blank stare on his face, almost unable to comprehend what had just happened. “We’re actually going to meet them.”

Suguru turns to look at him with a smile. “I can’t believe it,” he says, still feeling like he’s in a dream. He leans forward and wraps his arms around Satoru, not really knowing what else to do with the overwhelming happy energy he’s feeling. Satoru squeezes him back and presses a kiss to the side of his head before they both let go and sit back in their chairs.

After he notices that Kiyo’s left, Yuji comes over to their table to say hi to Suguru, not having talked to him yet. “Hi Geto-san,” he says, talking to Suguru despite both of them being Geto now.

“Hi Yuji-kun,” Suguru says looking up at him with a smile despite still being slightly in shock over their exceptionally quick yet eventful meeting, “how are you? Pretty busy?”

“Yeah, pretty good.” He nods his head with a sweet smile. “We’re almost done for the day, but Kugisaki, Tsumiki, and I are meeting Fushiguro for dinner afterwards, so I’m pretty excited about that. What are you guys up to? I know Gojo said you guys had a meeting, but that lady seemed to get out of here pretty quickly.”

Satoru smiles at him still using his previous family name despite having been married to Suguru for nearly a year, but he doesn’t mind. “I don’t know if Kugisaki told you, but that was our adoption case worker.” Yuji nods his head along as he listens to Satoru explain that they’re going to meet the girls that they have a possibility of adopting in less than two days.

“Woah, congrats! That’s so cool!” He says with a wide smile, happy to hear the good news for the two of them. “You guys will be fun parents,” he says with a smile still on his face.

“Thank you Yuji,” Satoru says, returning a similar smile.

“Well, I’ll leave you guys, but congratulations again!” Yuji says with a polite wave as he heads back towards the front counter to start working on what he needs to do to close up. Suguru and Satoru sit for a couple minutes longer, still taking in what just happened before they stand up and leave to head back towards the car, giving a final wave to Yuji as they head out the front door.

“I told you it would be good news, Sugu,” Satoru says, swinging their arms forward and back between them as they walk down the sidewalk. The summer sun still sits fairly high in the sky, the golden rays finding their way through the tall buildings and down onto the sidewalk. Their long shadows move with them as they walk back towards where the car is parked. 

“Yeah but you didn’t know that for sure.” 

“Sure I did! What’s stopping me from telling you that I can tell the future?” Satoru says jokingly, trying to lighten the mood even more.

“How about you tell me if I’m going to smack you on the back of the head or not?” Suguru asks with raised brows, looking over at him as they walk down the sidewalk.

“It’s not 100% accurate all the time, you know - but I’m thinking yes.” Satoru answers, fully expecting a smack now and bracing himself in preparation.

“I guess you’re right about it not always being accurate,” Suguru says with a smile, deciding against it this time. 

Once they get back to the car, the drive back home feels like it takes hours. On the way there, Satoru decides to order them dinner to get delivered so that neither of them have to cook when they get home. They decide on sushi, having found a place just around the corner from the entrance to their neighborhood that they loved. The sun slowly starts setting lower and lower towards the horizon, although by the time they make it home, it still sits just above the hills in the distance.

Satoru hurries ahead of him up the stairs and unlocks the door while Suguru grabs his bag from the car. As Suguru is heading out of the garage, the delivery driver happens to pull up. He waits for a moment while the driver hands him the bag and heads up the stairs behind Satoru with their food.

“Food’s here,” Suguru calls out into the house as he locks the door and slips off his shoes. He sets his bag down and heads up the stairs to drop off their food in the kitchen. Satoru’s already upstairs waiting for him when he enters the kitchen. 

“That’s really good timing,” he points out as he sets down the empty glass of water that he’d finished drinking. “Do you want to get changed first or eat first?” Satoru asks, pretty sure he already knows the answer as he steps around the corner of the island to stand in front of him. Before Suguru can even answer, Satoru’s hand is grabbing his tie and pulling him in for a kiss, holding him there for a moment before he finally lets go.

Suguru smiles as he looks into Satoru’s eyes, feeling the slight tingle of butterflies in his stomach at his gesture, despite being used to it. “I’m starving, let’s eat.” It’s the answer that Satoru was expecting, so he has a smile as he grabs their chopsticks from the drawer and sets them on the dining room table. Suguru opens up the bag and pulls out their food, quickly discerning which tray belongs to which of them.

As they eat their dinner, they’re both still slightly in shock over what had happened just an hour before. “I can’t believe we get to meet them so soon,” Satoru says with a smile as he picks up a sake nigiri.

“It feels a little bit insane.”

“I’m so excited,” Satoru says, unable to keep the smile from his face.

“Me too,” Suguru says with a similar smile on his face. All they’d thought about for the past six months was being parents and this feels like the first step towards it, despite it actually being one of the final steps. 

They find it nearly impossible to talk about anything but their upcoming meeting while they eat. Once they finish their dinner and get cleaned up, they both head downstairs to get out of their day clothes and put on some more comfy clothes to relax in. Satoru pulls on some shorts and a tshirt and sits down and stretches out his limbs in one of the chairs by the window while Suguru does the same. 

As Suguru’s putting away his bag from the office and getting changed, Satoru scrolls through his phone, checking on what he missed in the past couple hours. He decides to open up his email to see if maybe Kiyo had already sent something, despite knowing she probably wouldn’t until sometime tomorrow. Normally it would be full of random junk and nothing important, but this time he sees a name that he only sees very seldomly. His heart feels like it’s about to jump out of his chest as he sees an email from the name Sakura Gojo. 

“Holy shit,” he breathes out quietly as he clicks on it. Suguru is in the bathroom, so he doesn’t hear him as he says it. He opens up the email and sees a wall of text. It feels like all the air in his lungs is immediately expelled upon seeing her name on his screen. 

‘Hi Sato-nii! ^3^ I’m really sorry it’s been so long since I last reached out, but I’ve just been super busy and you know how mom and dad are :/ It’s nearly impossible for me to get away for a chance to email you, but I’m doing this at school before I head home. I’ve been keeping track and writing down everything that I want to talk to you about though so I won’t miss anything. ^.^’

He quickly reads through the rest of the long email from his little sister, catching up on everything that’s happened in her life over the past almost two years. Her emails were never sent on specific dates or on a schedule of any sorts, so they could come at any time. Satoru knew that it had been a long time since the last one, but he still didn’t see this coming whatsoever.

Suguru comes out of the bathroom with his hair all down and brushed out, happy to have it down after having it tied up all day. “Do you want to go look at the stars?” He asks, rubbing his hand over his chest through his tshirt as he leans over to press a kiss to the top of Satoru’s head. Since it was summer, they spent most nights up on the roof looking at the sky rather than at the tv. Satoru doesn’t answer right away, still looking at his phone screen slightly in shock. “Satoru?” He asks, not sure if he heard him the first time.

“Sorry, baby,” Satoru says, shaking his head as he tucks his phone into his pocket and stands up quickly. “Yeah, let’s go.”

“Is everything alright?” Suguru asks, already sensing that something is slightly off with his husband.

“Mhm!” Satoru assures him with a cheery response, but Suguru sees right through it, twisting his lips to the side at his response. They head quickly up the stairs and Satoru stops in the kitchen to grab a cookie from the pantry before they continue up to the roof. Suguru lies down on the daybed first and Satoru climbs in next to him, snuggling up and resting his head on his chest with a silent sigh. Suguru immediately notices that something still seems off and looks down at where Satoru lies on his chest.

“Hey,” he says, getting Satoru’s attention. 

“Hm?” Satoru hums in response, not even bothering to lift his head to look at him.

“Baby, look at me,” Suguru says, resting his chin against his chest to look down at Satoru. He lifts his head up and looks at Suguru who looks down at him. Despite the darkness, Satoru can see the warmth in his eyes and immediately feels a little bit better. “What’s wrong?” Suguru’s voice is soft and calming as he says it, wanting him to feel better if something really is wrong.

“Nothing’s wrong, Gugu,” Satoru says, but Suguru knows he’s not telling the whole truth. 

“Satoru I know that’s not true, why are you lying to me?” Suguru says as he rubs his hand over Satoru’s back trying to soothe him and calm him from whatever it is that’s on his mind. “We’ve been out here for an entire minute and you haven’t even told me about what constellations we can see.”

Their house was at the top of a hill, so there was nothing to block their view, making the roof the absolute best spot for stargazing when the sky was clear. Satoru points up at the clear sky above them as he normally would. “They’re the same as last night, Sugu; that’s Ursa Major - The Big Dipper -  right there, and then from there you can find-”

Suguru cuts him off, seeing past the act that he’s putting up. “Satoru, baby. Just tell me what’s wrong.” His voice is full of worry which makes Satoru feel bad about keeping it from him any longer.

Satoru takes a deep breath and lets it out with a sigh. “I got an email from my sister,” he finally says after a long moment of silence.

Suguru doesn’t know how to respond at first. For as long as he’d known Satoru, he’d only talked about his family once or twice. He didn’t even know that he had a sister until after they were married and Shoko had mentioned it. He takes a breath as he tries to think of what to say. He wasn’t really sure what it meant, so he just decides to ask. “Do you want to talk about it?” He lets his hand sneak underneath the fabric of Satoru’s tshirt to rub the warm skin of his back, trying to soothe him in any way he can. He doesn’t hear a response, but instead a slight sniffle from Satoru. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, baby,” Suguru says quietly as he looks down to see Satoru resting with his chin on the back of his hand, looking up at Suguru with tears brimming his eyes and his bottom lip stuck out slightly. 

“It feels stupid that I’m crying,” Satoru says with a chuckle as he sniffles again and wipes the tears from his eyes with the heel of his palm. 

“It’s not stupid, baby,” Suguru tries to comfort him as they both sit up, sitting cross legged on the daybed now facing one another. “Do you want to tell me about her?” Suguru asks, not entirely sure of what to do to help the situation. 

“Well, it’s kind of a lot to explain,” Satoru starts, leaning back on both of his hands to look up at the stars in the night sky as he takes a deep breath and pushes it back out through his lips. He feels Suguru’s hand rest on his knee and it helps to clear his mind slightly. He feels his thumb trace back and forth across the skin and the feeling puts a soft smile on his lips. “I haven’t actually seen her in over a decade, and I’ve talked to her only a handful of times since then, and it’s only ever through email.” It sounds like a lot at first, and it is, but Suguru stays quiet, giving him the opportunity to keep going.

“When I turned 18 my parents wanted me to move out and start living on my own…” Suguru can already tell that it’s hard for Satoru to talk about his family but he pushes on anyway. “That’s not really important, but when that happened-” Satoru pauses and takes a breath, letting it out slowly through his lips as he tries not to cry any more, “that was the last time that I actually saw Sakura in person.” 

Suguru doesn’t speak as he repositions himself to sit behind Satoru, just holding him silently in his arms as they sit there under the night sky. Being an only child, he can’t really imagine what not being able to see your sibling is like, but he can understand how difficult it must be, especially seeing how hard it is for Satoru to talk about it.

Despite saying that it wasn’t important, it feels somewhat therapeutic to finally talk about it, so Satoru decides to go into the details of his difficult family relationship a bit more. “It started before she was even born, really. Just before I turned ten, my grandpa died and I have no idea why, but he left everything in his name to me… I-” he sniffles and wipes his eyes again, “I don’t know if it was to get back at my dad for something- or- or he didn’t like my mom or something else- I still have no idea why he did it,” as he says it he can’t help but let the tears continue to fall from his eyes. Suguru holds him tighter, nuzzling his face into the crook of his neck to try to comfort him more. “All he left for my parents was the family house and after that they just- I don’t know, they just stopped treating me like their son and started treating me like I was just another burden that they had to deal with.” 

Suguru swears that he can feel his heart breaking into a million pieces as Satoru explains the situation. He immediately understands why Satoru doesn’t ever speak about his family. They stopped treating their son like their son over something that he had absolutely zero control over. He didn’t even have access to any of his family’s money until he turned 18, so it’s not like he was maliciously keeping what they felt like was their money from them.  “Shh, baby it’s okay,” Suguru coos in his ear as he squeezes him tight. Satoru turns to wrap his arms around Suguru’s shoulders, letting himself cry into his chest. “You don’t have to say anything else baby, it’s okay.” He quickly starts to feel more angry for Satoru than sadness. 

“No, it’s okay,” Satoru says with a sniffle as he lifts his face from Suguru’s chest and looks up into his eyes, nothing but the moonlight and the dim lighting from the pool softly illuminating their faces. 

“You really don’t have to keep going if you don’t want to, Toru.”

“I’m fine Sugu, I promise. I’ve kept this from you and I want you to know about it. You deserve to know.” Suguru wipes the tears from his husbands cheeks with his fingers and Satoru takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly through his lips. He presses a kiss to his forehead which puts a soft smile on his lips.

Suguru always does his best to make sure that Satoru knows that he can tell him anything he needs to so that he can get it off of his chest and feel better. “Take as long as you need, baby. You don’t have to do it all right now.” 

It’s not that Satoru didn’t want to tell him, it’s just that he didn’t really necessarily feel the need to at any point before this. “I’m okay, really. When Sakura was born they completely changed; it’s like they became entirely different parents to her than they were to me. It’s like I was the trial run and it was okay that they were shitty to me and she was the golden child that could never do anything wrong.” The further Satoru explains, the more Suguru feels the pain in his voice and the angrier he feels for him. “Don’t get me wrong, I love my baby sister more than anything, but it’s like once she was born they just - I don’t know - completely forgot about me.”

“I’m guessing it’s your parents that don’t let you talk to her?” Suguru asks, his voice gentle as he does so. His breath is warm against Satoru’s neck, a nice constant in the cool summer night.

“Bingo,” Satoru says, his voice slightly stuffy as his nose is congested from crying. “They say they’re protecting her. Who knows what from,” he sounds irritated as he says it, “but I only talk to her through email whenever she’s able to reach out.” 

“When was the last time you heard from her?” Suguru asks, still curious and realizing that Satoru seems to be more comfortable when he’s talking just about his sister.

“A little over two years ago,” Satoru says quietly. 

“What kind of things does she say?”

“Well-” Satoru starts. He pulls his phone out of his pocket to open up the email from her, not remembering everything from just having done a quick read through it before Suguru had come out of the bathroom. “She’s turning 18 in September and she invited us to her birthday party…” 

Suguru stops for a moment, thinking about what he’s about to say for a moment before he says it. “We should go…”

“I don’t know about that, Sugu…” Satoru is obviously apprehensive at the thought. He’d love more than anything to be able to see his baby sister again, but that would more than likely require having to see his parents as well. “My parents definitely don’t know she invited me and I doubt they even know that we’re married.”

He would send her the occasional update one or two times a year - despite knowing that he would likely never get an answer - and of course that included sending some of their wedding pictures after getting married the year prior. He was always happy to send her updates on his life knowing that he would eventually get something back, even if it took months on end.

Suguru thinks for a moment before he continues. “Baby, you’re 30 years old and married with your own house and family - your parents can’t keep your sister from you forever.” As soon as he says it he regrets it slightly, not sure if he’s pushing too hard even after Satoru was unsure about it. 

“I hate to admit when you’re right…” Satoru says, half jokingly as he turns to look at Suguru.

“Hey,” Suguru says with a scoff as he smacks him lightly on the shoulder. “And you said she’s turning 18 right?” Satoru nods his head in confirmation. “She can technically make her own decisions, so if she wants you to be there, I think you should be there for her.”

“Yeah, technically, but you don’t know our parents, Sugu,” Satoru says with a sigh. They both lie back down onto their backs and look up at the sky as they continue talking. “They’re stricter than strict. I haven’t talked to them in almost 12 years, but I can guarantee to you that they won’t be happy about her inviting us.”

Suguru wraps his arms around Satoru’s shoulders and pulls him back into his chest before pressing a kiss to the top of his head. He takes a deep breath and lets it out with a sigh. “You don’t even want to see them? What if they’ve changed?”

“They haven’t,” Satoru says bluntly. “If they had, I wouldn’t have to secretly talk to Sakura through email every other year.” He presses his cheek against the soft material of Suguru’s tshirt, secretly hoping that maybe he’s right; that maybe now that it’s been so long that they’ve actually changed and would treat him differently. 

“You don’t think we could go and also somehow avoid your parents? We’re pretty tall but I think we could sneak around decently,” Suguru suggests, trying to lighten the mood. 

“You’re right, I think we would be good at hiding, but I don’t know, Sugu…” Satoru is still obviously apprehensive about the entire situation, but can admit to himself that seeing his sister for her birthday sounds like an absolute dream.

“Can I also selfishly admit that I want to meet your sister to see how similar the two of you are?” Suguru says, the smile apparent in his voice as he talks against Satoru’s hair. 

Satoru lifts his head from where it rests against Suguru’s chest and looks at him with a smile. “I can tell you right now that I’m much more well behaved than her.”

“Oh really?” Suguru asks with a raised brow, obviously choosing not to believe his husband.

“Really!” Satoru responds enthusiastically and Suguru looks at him through narrowed eyes. “Okay, not really, but at least the last time I saw her she was just like me and was the craziest little kid, she could never sit still.”

“Baby, that just sounds like a normal child, you were 18 were you not?” 

Satoru shakes his head, knowing that Suguru sees right through him. “Yeah, yeah, whatever, just believe me, she’s definitely my sister.” 

“Well ultimately it’s your decision, but I think your sister would love to see you and I would love to meet her.” Suguru says, giving Satoru another squeeze into his chest. “Did she say anything else in her email?”

Satoru pulls his phone back out to see what else she had told him about. “Let’s see,” Satoru says as his eyes skim over the wall of text that was her email. “Apparently she has a boyfriend which feels crazy to me considering I haven’t seen her since she was six years old. She’s going to university next year, and she has her final piano recital in January.” 

“She plays piano too?” He imagines that he’s thinking too far ahead, but if everything goes well, maybe they could go watch her final performance together.

Satoru nods his head against Suguru’s chest before lifting it up and looking up at him with a smile now on his face. “She’s really good too. I’ll find one of her videos and show you later.”

“Better than you even?” Suguru asks playfully, pretty sure he knows how Satoru will react.

“Slow down there, Sugu. She might be good, but she’s not that good,” Satoru responds, sounding just as arrogant as ever. “I practically taught her everything she knows.”

There’s my Satoru, Suguru thinks to himself as he looks up at the sky with a smile on his face, happy that he seems to have calmed down a bit and returned back to his normal self. “I’m sure you did,” Suguru says, letting his hand rub up and down the skin of Satoru’s back underneath his tshirt.

“Stop saying that like you don’t believe me. It’s my musical genius that rubbed off on her.”

Suguru nods his head with a smile. “Do the two of you look alike?” He asks curiously and already imagining in his head what she might look like. It only takes a couple seconds for Satoru to pull up a picture of her. Suguru takes a hold of his phone to get a better look. “Aww, you guys have the same eyes,” he says with a smile, immediately noticing her piercing blue eyes. She has the same white hair, although it’s much longer - almost down to her waist. “I didn’t need convincing but this is definitely your sister,” Suguru says with a slight chuckle. They could probably pass as twins if they really wanted to.

“I told you that Roo,” Satoru says as Suguru hands his phone back to him. “She looks just like her big brother.” The two of them smile as he sets his phone back down to the side and turns to look up at Suguru once more. 

Suguru feels his eyes on him and looks down before craning his neck down to press their lips together for a moment, Satoru’s soft lips comforting against his own. He feels Satoru's lips from a smile before he pulls away. “What?” Suguru asks, not sure what he’s up to.

Satoru keeps a wide smile on his face as he looks back up at him. “Did you actually want me to explain the stars to you or were you just saying that?”

“Baby of course I want to listen to you explain the stars to me.”

“Good, because I can’t be out here on a night as clear as tonight and not tell you what we can see up there,” Satoru says as he rolls onto his back to lie next to Suguru, completely forgetting once again about what it was that had turned his night upside down in the first place. 

[roo-bastmoon]

The Long Game

First, let's acknowledge some major mismanagement by BigHit. Then, let's talk about what I think *might possibly* be their long game.

These are just guesses I have right now--I'm not stating facts and my opinions are subject to change as new info becomes available. But come with me for a few minutes...

In early 2022, Jimin's mail was "omitted" four times by BigHit employees, which lead to late insurance premium payments, which led to an on-paper "seizure" of his apartment. The press sat on that news for three months until the day his With You OST dropped and the scandal overshadowed his release. Jimin went to ground, avoided all social media for months. At this time, Jimin's personal information was leaked on the internet, and that was the last time we saw Jikook hang out alone that we know of.

Now in 2023, since Jimin's album FACE dropped, we already know about the sabotaged sales and streams by Hanteo, Billboard, YouTube, and Spotify. There was the issue with his in-ears not working properly during an encore. On top of all that drama, BigHit didn't get all the physicals shipped in time, they didn't playlist his songs for several days, they never sent his songs to radio (that we can see), they made one tweet to acknowledge Jimin's #1 on Hot100 but nothing else--not even a cake like the other solo albums got, they didn't let him film more than two music videos when they did that for their new groups, the press releases about their stocks going up after Hot100 also credited their new groups, and Jimin only had 9 days of uninterrupted promo between other members' works.

Now I am not a conspiracy theorist. I well understand that the military enlistment compressed schedules, and that each member had say in their creative works and promotions. I'm not a manti. But none of the above is a good look. Add up all those fumbles together, and you could make a solid case for mismanagement.

And now today, we see PD Bang on the cover of Billboard (which, OF COURSE, mentioned Blackpink in the same breath).

JUST LOOK AT THE WAY THE STORY IS BEING SHAPED FOR AMERICAN READERS. You see what's happening here? You think SM is gonna get a cover story for their side of the corporate shakedown?

And then there's this little gem:

"If your question is about the possibility of creating an artist like BTS again, the answer is no. However, if you were to ask whether there would be a K-pop artist from HYBE that tops the Billboard Hot 100 chart, my answer would be yes. [Jimin became the first BTS member to achieve this as a solo act on April 3 when his single “Like Crazy” debuted at No. 1.] The experience of managing BTS and operating different labels gave us access to powerful networks, infrastructures and experiences. With these, HYBE can repeat its remarkable results with the help of talented artists.

Okay so before everyone starts rioting online, take a moment, pause, reflect, think about what all might be going on here, behind the scenes, in this very political world of the music business.

Do I think Bang PD screwed Jimin over to score points with Billboard? No, I do not. But neither do I think Jimin's solo effort is anyone's priority but Jimin's.

"HYBE is primarily focusing on leveraging its accumulated expertise in managing and producing acts that consist of multiple members, rather than solo artists or mixed-gender groups in K-pop."

I think no one ever expected Jimin to make it to #1 on Hot100 and industry insiders felt pretty sure the West wouldn't let him stay in the top 10 the next week. Why? Well, partially racism. But mostly it's bad for their bottom line.

If your entire business model is that people pay for radio play and that gets them on your private chart and the private chart leads to more advertisers and awards... and then someone comes along and DOESN'T pay to play and gets to the top of your chart? Nobody needs you. So you HAVE to sabotage them. You absolutely have to change your rules. (I'm just sitting here waiting for Jimin to release his other songs so that Billboard can change their rules to say you can't be on Hot100 if your name starts with J- and ends with -imin.)

Now, it might have been satisfying for us as fans to see BigHit come out swinging and put Billboard on blast for his sake and ours. But they have ZERO. LEGAL. RECOURSE.

Billboard is privately owned and they can make whatever rules they want. They are part of a larger media company that has connections to every media outlet; no one is gonna publish an exposé any time soon, I promise you. We got exactly ONE English-speaking website to write about it and that was it. Everyone in the industry knows what is going on, and no one has the power to do anything much about it.

So what does that mean for the future?

Well... Bang PD just recently paid a HUGE mark up of $26 million to buy Trevor Noah's home out in LA.

And now he's on the cover of Billboard. WHY? Neither of these things will result in any immediate payout for him.

It's a long game.

And frankly, a very old and honored way of doing business. It's how they went up against the big three and it's how they are gonna go up against the West, I feel it in my gut.

Bang PD is getting a home on US soil. He will be paying US taxes. He's making in-roads by being nice with Billboard folks. He's making contacts; he's already had phone calls with Pharrell and Bieber and Grande and Laroi. Some of those are already shaping into collabs. We already know Hybe has set up shop in the US with Scooter at the helm.

Meanwhile, BigHit is adjusting in real time to the new rules around the charts (culling is happening to Yoongi too, so they changed up the check-out process of the BTS US Store). Suddenly there's plenty of focus on promoting via TikTok and other viral social media. They are dipping their toe into AI. They are discussing their own in-house ticketing option. This company is looking toward the future and hedging its bets.

Do I know with any certainty what's up their sleeve?

Absolutely not.

Do I trust any corporation very much?

Nope.

Do I have faith in BTS?

Probably more than anything else in my life, at this point.

So while I have no insider info, I just feel like the company is making very intentional and methodic footholds into the West. They are not complaining or screaming or suing or threatening anyone. They are not badmouthing competitors or whining about unfair deals. They are laying ground on complicated, political in-roads, one step at a time.

The Expo is in 2030. I'd wager by that time, BTS will have conquered the West and have some radio play.

And I think the company believes that in order to do that, they have to make their new groups profitable while BTS serves. They have to survive for the next two years.

When BTS is back, and their dues have been paid, I think they will be unstoppable. I hope they get to work on solo projects AND group projects. I think they will take over every corner of the world, if managed properly.

They just need to do it in a way that also assuages the Western music industry. The American Powers That Be have a chokehold on music and they will demand their pound of flesh somehow.

I strongly suspect BTS will never pay to play. But they will build relationships and find a way to become so interwoven in the cultural fabric that to deny them a place in Western spaces is to be left behind. And they will do it politely, and gently, and come out smelling like a rose.

So before you go off on social media and scream the walls down about neglect (and there WAS some, in my opinion) and abuse (we don't really know that), just take a moment to consider--if they had no legal recourse against Billboard, how can they beat them at their own game?

The best way to defeat an enemy is to make them a friend.

I'm just guessing here, but I think if fans stay loyal, BTS just might have the last laugh, here. I think they got radio scared as hell.

It sucks that Jimin didn't get fair treatment at this time. He is my bias and I feel it like a knife to my own heart. But he DID make history with his #1 and they can never take it away.

So I say give it time. All the people sniggering at him and BTS right now are going to sing a different tune in the future.

My best guess is that this is a long game, and it will require sacrifices that are totally unfair, but in the end... well, as long as BTS has ARMY, they cannot be denied.

Apobangpo.

[ask-the-four-lords]

Heisenburg ive got a few questions for one of the hottest men on the planet

Question 1 do u think u could beat magneto in a fight

Question 2 do u like bacon

Question 3 who's your most and least favorite of the 4 lords

Question 4 do u want help with your experiment's I have some really good ideas for some cyborgs

Question 5 which of the lords do u think u could best in a fight and which do u think u would tie with cause even I know u can't lose

Karl Heisenberg, hottest man on the planet, not just one of the hottest:

1: Oh fuck yeah! That guy is a fuckin' idiot! I have an army he has a stupid looking setta tights! He might have a shot in human form but I can become a god damn titan and the moment I do I'll tear him to shreds.

2: Dear god yes, it's easily top three, 'love that shit. Of course one of the few things I can't do is cook so a couple months back I programmed a machine to cook it perfectly, it's been like *mental math for an exact answer* half of my diet since. It's that or canned beans and military rations anyway. (I understand the intention I just wanted to write him ranting about actual bacon)

3. Here's my ranking list; my favorite of the lords is me. 2nd place is Donner, honestly I actually really like her, she's like the uh opposite of me which I guess is what makes 'er interesting. 3rd place is actually bitchius maximus, I absolutely fucking hate her but deep down I at least kinda respect her. My least favorite is Moreau, it's not that I don't like him, I actually, on a logical scale, am alright with him. He's probably the best guy o' the four of us, minus his love for that FUCKING MONSTER CROW HAG! But I just feel bad for him so I can never really manage to interact with him without feeling sick. It's the only thing that gets much emotion out of me these days, poor bastard.

4. It's very unlikely, but who knows, having a test subject or assistant could come in handy.

5. I know for a fact I could beat Donna, it'd be pretty damn easy if I'm being honest. I could definitely pulverize Moreau, he's pretty damn tough when it comes down to it, it's really all he has going for himself. But still he ain't got nothin' on me. Now unfortunately... *mentally prepares for multiple minutes* there's a solid chance I would tie with Lady D-Bag. It's a shame that'd really be impossible to get her in on the revolution hate her or not. Still, in the end I think if it was one of us, it would be me, because I'm Lord motherfucking Heisenberg. Who the hell do they think they are?!

[divineerdrick]

Warhammer 40,000 Balance Update for October 16, 2024 - Munitorum Field Manual and Errata for Xenos Factions

After writing, I decided to split this document up into the super factions for ease of use. I've also changed how I format rules changes. Let me know what you think! Is this more readable, would you prefer a single post, or should I do a post for each faction?

Edit: The color coding for points changes breaks every time I edit it. To fix it, I have to go into the HTML and correct where it's marking things. I just don't have the spoons for manually correcting that much text.

Aeldari

Form their lofty perch, Aeldari have gotten to a point where they could use some love. While their win rate is near spot on, they're having trouble making it to top tables. And the players that are, usually run Ynnari. But will GW give them much of anything or let them ride until their Codex comes out?

Here we run into another issue. The changes are being made directly to the Index. This is good. GW should definitely do this. But do they tell us what's changed anywhere? Answer, they've put it in the document for the Index Cards. It's important they put it somewhere, but I really wish they had it spelled out somewhere where the changes are listed.

So what's changed? The standard Autarch now has the basic Captain ability as detailed in the last Balance Dataslate. That's an important change to have listed finally. For FAQ, we get another common sense answer for Wraith Guard and clarification on how to properly position a jumping Yncarne.

All Corsairs: -2 pts/model Falcon: -10 pts Fire Prism: -10 pts Shining Spears: -10 pts/3 models Warlock Conclave: -5 pts/2 models Warlock Skyrunner Conclave: -5 pts/model Wave Serpent: -10 pts Wraithblades (5 models): -10 pts Wraithguard (5 models): -10 pts Wraithknight: -15 pts

As for the points, it's all good news! GW really is getting much better at understanding what's going on in the game! The important stuff here are the buffs to vehicles and Wraith constructs. I don't know if this brings Wraithknights back to the table, but small groups of Wraithguard might be worth taking again. I'm not sure these changes will convince anyone to bring a Conclave on foot though. All of this is good news for Eldar players!

Drukhari

The article warned that nerfs are incoming. Still I hope they only get a love tap. Their rankings are greatly bolstered by skilled faction specialists. No one is currently running out and buying up Drukhari models because the faction is good. Granted if GW successfully brings down the factions above them, there might be an issue. But I hope they don't go beyond a love tap.

For Errata, the Archon is specified as having its own ability, not Lord of Deceit. I don't think there's anything Drukhari can take to stack with it, so that shouldn't be an issue. My guess is the team is considering changing Lord of Deceit in some way. It is really strong. So this makes sure that change doesn't affect Archons. They also get a couple more clarifications for Pain Parasite, but there's nothing unusual here.

Archon: +10 pts Beastmaster: +15 pts Court of the Archon: +10 pts Drazhar +10 pts Hellions: -2 pts/model Incubi: +2 pts/model Lelith Hesperax: +10 pts Mandrakes (5 models): +5 pts Reavers (3 models): +5 pts

Yeah there's a lot there. I think that's a whole unit gone from many Drukhari lists. We also see that GW is continuing to recognize that some MSU spam is just really good. This really is a good thing, and may be slowly turning me around on purchasing units in bricks. But it sucks when you're already really nerfing an army.

Drukhari could be hurting.

Genestealer Cults

I'm about to say something that might shock some of you. I honestly don't think GSC is doing that badly. They've actually got solid numbers, though this come from the fact they're a niche faction with skilled specialists. But I think that's okay. I think it's okay for some factions to be there for the fans and require a little skill to play. It's very obvious that while GSC can struggle in match ups, you can get results with them. What they mostly need is internal balance, and I think that will come to rules.

For errata and FAQ we get a revision that makes sure you take a GSC model as your Warlord in the Brood Brothers detachment. We get a common play clarification for Tunnel Crawlers, but a very interesting clarification for Brood Brother Kasrkin. Despite not having the Voice of Command Army Rule, Kasrkin can still give themselves orders. That makes them a much more powerful and versatile unit in the Brood Brothers detachment. Still not sure that's enough to make that detachment even close to good, but it's interesting at least.

Abberants (5 models): -15 pts All Acolyte Hybrids: -1 pts/model Acolyte Iconward: -10 pts Atalan Jackals: -2 pts/model Benefictus: -10 pts Jackal Alphus: -5 pts Neophyte Hybrids: -5 pts/10 models Patriarch: -10 pts Primus: -10 pts Outlander Claw: - Serpentine Tactics: -5 pts

Oh boy! Christmas just came early for my cults! Still, I'm actually going to say these aren't the best changes. A lot of these changes benefit Outlander Claw, the Mad Max style detachment. And that is currently the best GSC detachment and my personal favorite. While the other detachments will love these changes too, I'm worried that Outlander is going to become the only way to play GSC. There's already a Wolf Jail like list running around the scene, and no one likes dealing with that list. The only good news is I doubt this is going to bring a huge flood of players to the faction spamming toxic bike lists. So while GSC isn't going to become a problem, it's only going to be a rare problem list that will frustrate players now and then.

Leagues of Votann

The Kin are another force that looks good from win rates but is actually struggling quite a bit. Like Death Guard, the Leagues struggle to secure the points they need at mid boards and up. This will hopefully get better if GW continues to get them new units, as their roster is still quite small. But for now, points aren't really the answer here.

FAQ wise we only get a timing clarification for Grudge tokens. And points don't have much either.

Einhyr Hearthguard (5 models): -10 pts Hernkyn Yaegirs: +10 pts

Okay. Yaegirs probably did need to go up, but I'm not sure this was the time for it. With so many other factions that are performing better getting all buffs, this is bad news for the Kin.

Necrons

After a brief stint as our metal overlords, Necrons have shifted to a pretty good spot. The main thing they need is some internal balance for their Detachments, and I don't think points will do that. Hypercrypt is just such a strong way to play the faction. Nerfing the models in the Hypercrypt builds threatens to drop Necrons too low. I think maybe only the Monolith can take a nerf without too much interference.

For Errata we start out with some Keyword fixes. Obeisance now benefits all Nobles and not just Overlords. And the Silent King is now officially part of the Triarch! However Plasmancers have had their ability to target Lone Operatives removed. So it's not all good news there. The FAQs are just common play clarifications too.

Annihilation Barge: -10 pts Catacomb Command Barge: -10 pts Deathmarks: +1 pts/model Doomsday Arc: -10 pts Lokhust Destroyers (1 model): +5 pts Lokhust Heavy Destroyers: +5 pts/model Monolith: +25 pts Obelisk: -25 pts Tesseract Vault: +25 pts Triarch Praetorians: -4 pts/model Triarch Stalker: -15 pts

That's a lot of shifting things around, and it's going to take me a moment to dissect it. As predicted, they bumped up the Monolith and Tesseract Vault with it, though I don't think many players were taking the latter or that it could be used as substitute. The dropped the cost on the Obelisk, but I don't think anyone's gonna try it out. Points aren't the problem there. My biggest problem here is Destroyers. While Hypercrypt did often take them, so did all the struggling detachments as well. And while faction specialists are going to experiment, I don't think these changes are enough to make Obeisance Phalanx really viable.

Things could be getting bumpy again for the Necrons.

Orks

As was said earlier, Orks are not in a good spot. While the nerfs they took didn't seem all that severe, they turned out to be nerfs to pillars that were holding the faction up. Since then, Orks have fallen hard and are the worst faction that has actual rules or isn't competing for its own players. And they're likely going to need a lot to rise back up.

The first big change is a clarification change to many rules that might help with some timing issues and future proofing. All or most rules active when you call the Waaagh now read they are active while the Waaagh is active for your army. This means if they change the timing on calling the Waaagh, as many Ork players would like, you wouldn't lose these buffs during your opponent's turn if you went second. While this looks like it might be nerf to Bully Boyz, the FAQ specifies that their abilities still work. We also get an FAQ the clarifies that when Snikrot uses Kunnin' Infiltrator, he doesn't count as moving for the purpose of Fire Overwatch. Though, he does still count as being setup on the board when he comes back down for the same stratagem.

Beast Snagga Boyz: -1 pts/model All Big Meks: -10 pts Boyz: -5 pts/10 models Deff Dread: -10 pts Deff Koptas: -10 pts/3 Gorkanaut: -15 pts Hunta Rig: -15 pts Kill Rig: -15 pts Kommandos: -15 pts Meganobz: -5 pts/model Morkanaut: -15 pts Tankbustas: -20 pts

And that is a lot of green, and a lot more green you can put on your table! As expected, Meganobz got some of their nerf rolled back. But a lot of boyz, including the popular Beast Snaggas, got buffs. Also, at some point the Gorkanaut and Morkanaut have to become playable as just a pile of wounds and guns on the table.

This is not going to make Orks into one of the top factions, but it should go a long way to getting them back where they should be.

T'au Empire

Tau are in what I'd call an okay spot. They're not where they need to be, but they're not doing that bad. They're performing just slightly above par, and only one of their detachments is struggling. They're what I would consider a textbook example of an army that shouldn't be receiving any external balance passes, so that they can rise up to where they should be when the meta changes. Internally, Kroot need help. But I'm not sure points can fix that.

The big fix here is to the Puretide Engram, which I think has been broken since the Codex came out? It now does something, letting you get a CP back on 4+ when you target the bearer's unit with a Stratagem. The new FAQs start by clarifiying that Crisis Suits always have a Pivot of 0" regardless of how you model them. Then we get two clarifications that, while they are how the rules work, are doubtless going to feel bad to Kroot players.

Commander Farsight: -10 pts Kroot Carnivores: -1 pts/model All Kroot Shaper: -10 pts/model Kroot Rampagers: -5 pts/model Krootox Rider (1 model): +5 pts Piranhas: +5 pts/model Riptide Battlesuit: +10pts

It looks like they're trying to do some internal balance, and at least help Kroot somewhat. But I don't think this is anything close to enough to make them viable. I don't think the other changes are going to affect Tau much, though we might see Farsight a bit more.

Tyranids

My beloved bugs have really turned it around with the Pariah Nexus changes. Despite losing Spore Mines, the changes to Synapse and Shadow in the Warp means we can actually get some damage now. That means we aren't always on the losing end of trading games. Neurotyrant with Zoanthropes also make for a fun and interesting tech piece. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them take nerfs, as well as the Swarmlord. Unnending Swarm could use some love though.

For errata, Surprise Assault gets some cleanup for timing and targeting. The Swarmlord gets the same treatment as Cypher, the Archon, and Ventris got, meaning it will keep its version of Lord of Deceit. Unseen Lurkers has been updated to the rules changes on Stratagems preventing your units from being targeted. Hunting Grounds, and all rules that trigger when a unit arrives from reserves, are clarified to trigger when a unit didn't go to reserves but was set back up on the battlefield. Rules that say "cannot arrive" on the battlefield during a turn take precedent over units that "must arrive" on that turn. While it doesn't specify, I do believe they can still arrive the next turn under normal Strategic Reserve rules. All the rest I believe are common play, though I was initially confused by the Neurogaunt/Neuroloid answer. But Neurogaunts specifically say that they have to be within range of a friendly model.

Carnifexes: -10 pts/model Lictor: +5 pts Old One Eye: +10 pts Pyrovores (1 model): +5 pts Von Ryan's Leapers: -5 pts/3 models Winged Hive Tyrant: -10 pts

This all seems fair to me. Carnifixes on their own got cheaper while Old One Eye got more expensive. The full unit still dropped in cost though. Pyrovores continues a trend as to how much GW wants you to pay for a single unit. And the Lictor has honestly been under-costed for a while.

I'm happy with this. I think we'll be just fine.

Final Thoughts

And with that, we have our balance changes for October! Space Marine players of all stripes aren't going to be too happy. Even Dark Angels, who initially thought would do well, will hate the base points changes in the Codex. Only Space Wolves . . . you know . . . THE ARMY THAT NEEDED NERFED THE MOST!!! . . . will be fine with these changes. Dedicated Ultramarines players will likely get something to work though, now that their Primarch is back in play. Sisters and Thousand Sons are in for a drop. Sisters probably won't drop too far, but, and I know I said this last time, I'm worried about KSons. Drukhari are really going to be hurting, though I'm sure Archon Skari will still find a way to win. I'm also worried about Leagues of Votann, Necrons, and World Eaters too.

Orks are looking like they'll start to rise again, but I don't think they're a top faction. CSM and GSC might be in a position to fight for the top spot. Wolf Jail is dead! Long live Jackal Jail! I also think Aeldari might have a reversal of fortunes too. The rest of us will only shift by percentage points, which is exactly what you want when the balance is this tight.

[skyward-floored]

“Hero, what ails you?” - Chapter 3

Last chapter! Thanks for reading (or rereading!) my fic :D

First | Previous

————————————————————

Link awoke to the sight of a wooden roof over his head, a throat that felt like he’d gargled rocks, and the distinct and unfortunately familiar feeling of being utterly exhausted.

He laid perfectly still for a few moments while he woke up, listening to the sound of his breath rasping in his chest. Trying to ignore the pounding in his head, he stared blearily at the ceiling, but the sensation was too intense to ignore. Link felt completely drained, and was about to let his eyes slide closed again when he realized he wasn’t quite sure where he was. And that he should probably figure that out to avoid any unpleasant surprises in the near future.

So he blinked his eyes open further with a small groan, looking around where he’d ended up.

Based on the walls and ceiling’s slightly weathered state, it looked like he was in Kakariko, probably the Elde Inn if he’d have to guess. He was lying in a surprisingly comfortable bed in his underclothes, with a sheet on top just thick enough to keep him warm but not so much as to make him overheat. The room seemed familiar to Link as well, in fact... this was where Ralis had stayed when he was injured wasn’t it?

“Ah Link, you’re awake!”

Link turned his head the other way to see Renado standing nearby, looking pleased at the sight of him conscious. He gave Link a warm smile, and set down the book he’d been holding.

“You’ve been out for some time, how are you feeling?” Renado continued as he crossed over to the hero’s bedside.

Link went to answer but broke into a coughing fit instead, the reply catching in his throat and making it ache as his breath rattled painfully in his chest.

“Hm. Still getting there.”

Renado pressed a hand over Link’s chest as he continued to cough, then once he’d finished moved it to his forehead. He hummed in satisfaction, then studied Link’s face.

“Your cough is better, much better,” he said, relief evident in his voice. Link wasn’t so sure about that based on what breathing felt like. “You’re improving very well. When we found you I honestly wasn’t sure you were going to pull through, it took some doing to get you stable.”

Link stared at him, confusion making his head hurt even further.

When they’d found him?

What exactly had he been doing before now? He was sure he hadn’t been in Kakariko the last time he’d been conscious, but... how did he get here? Link tried to think back to what he’d been doing before he was asleep, but his mind came up annoyingly blank, still foggy from just waking up.

“Re...” he began, but his voice died out on him. He cleared his throat and tried again, and was pleased when the words behaved somewhat. “Renado, was there... anyone...” Link trailed off, blinking tiredly. “How’d... I get here? Did someone bring me?”

The healer raised an eyebrow at him as he continued his examination.

“You were alone on my doorstep when we found you, with a nasty fever and one of the worst coughs I’ve personally ever seen. Nobody else was there,” he explained gently, peering at Link’s eyelids.

Link frowned.

The last thing he really remembered was the Shade sending him out of the realm where he taught him the hidden skills, then telling him Kakariko would be the ideal spot for him to go. Everything after that was just a haze of coughing and muggy darkness.

And... arms.

Arms that weren’t warm but were comfortable all the same, that held him the same way Rusl used to when he was small and loved being carried about. Gentle, but solid. Safe.

Fatherly.

Link opened his mouth so Renado could check his throat, but only half-focused on whatever it was he was saying. Someone had carried him here, he was sure of it now.

But who?

Renado helped him sit up a little, handing him a cup and telling him to drink while he continued checking him over.

“I assumed you’d managed to get here yourself. Did someone take you?” the healer asked, checking his nose as he began to drink.

Link sipped the water, giving a small shrug. He wasn’t entirely sure what had happened other then he’d ended up here somehow after being with the Shade. And he couldn’t exactly explain him to Renado.

“Hm.”

Renado finished his examination a few minutes later, and told Link that he should get some more rest. Then he left the room, but not before promising to bring some food up in a bit.

The moment the healer left Link’s shadow wavered, and the familiar form of Midna popped up, a hand resting on her hip. She looked down at him, face unreadable, before she flashed him an uncaring smirk.

“Well well, sleeping beauty awakens. All better wolf boy?”

Link couldn’t help the smile that tugged his cheeks. “Getting there Midna,” he rasped, “I’ll be... good to go within a day or two.”

Renado had said at least a week, but Link had always been a quick healer.

Midna looked him over for a bit then nodded to herself. “Good. Sooner you get your behind out of bed the sooner we can go kick Zant’s sorry carcass into oblivion.”

He laughed at that, though it quickly turned into a coughing fit.

Midna jerked like she was about to go to his side, but stopped herself, instead zipping over to a bookshelf as if that was where she’d been headed the entire time. Link watched her scan the shelves and pick a book as he finished hacking, the imp blowing some dust off the thing and studying the cover boredly before chucking it to the side and reaching for another.

“Hey Midna...” he asked as she rifled through the books on the shelf, “how did I get here?”

The shadowy imp stopped digging and stared at him, an eyebrow raised.

“You don’t remember?”

Link shook his head.

Midna snorted, then burst into laughter, clutching her sides as she floated into the middle of the room. “You don’t? Oh you really don’t remember! Spirits that’s hilarious, he gets dragged halfway across Hyrule and owes his life to the guy, but doesn’t even remember him doing it!”

Link watched her cackle, completely unamused. “I don’t exactly see what’s so funny about that,” he rasped.

Midna wiped a tear out of her eye, still chuckling to herself. “Your sense of humor is terrible then.”

Link huffed. “Okay fine. Would you mind telling me who did bring me here?” he asked, crossing his arms. “I’m sure it wasn’t you with those skinny little legs.”

Midna’s laughter finally stopped. “Watch it wolf boy, or maybe I’ll decide to keep it to myself.”

Link rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything else, raising his eyebrows at her in a pleading sort of way. A sigh came from the bookshelf, and Midna floated back over to his bed, rolling her eyes back at him.

She landed by his feet and crossed her arms behind her head as she looked at him, then examined the sheet underneath her.

“It was your mentor guy. That gold wolf you know?” she explained, “He got all un-skeletony then carried you across most of Hyrule Field. Brought you here then left, though he was acting pretty strange the whole time. Kinda clingy. More... emotional, I guess.”

Link stared at her.

The enigmatic skeleton who taught him songs and long-forgotten sword techniques had carried him all the way to Kakariko? He was the one who’s hold had felt so weirdly familiar?

He cared enough for Link to drag him all the way here?

“He— he did?” Link rasped, though if it was from his cough or the shock he wasn’t sure. “He really did? He got... un-skeletony? Since— since when could he do that—“ his voice cracked on the last word, and he broke into another coughing fit, this one going on much longer than the others had.

Midna watched him cough for a minute before finally breaking down and floating up to his side, hesitantly thumping him on the back as his hacking continued.

“Yeah Link, he did,” she said a little quietly, voice oddly serious. “You were in bad shape, so much that teleporting you wasn’t an option. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone get that sick before, at one point you weren’t—”

She cut off and looked away.

It took a bit for her to speak again, and when she did, her voice was still unusually quiet.

“You know, I think he saved your life.”

Link’s coughs finally waned, and he leaned back on the pillow, staring exhaustedly up at the ceiling.

He hadn’t even considered the Shade had been the one to carry him here. Sure he was the skeleton’s somewhat-accidental student, but taking him all the way to Kakariko?

The Shade seemed to stick solely to certain spots, only choice locations around Hyrule, and in his own strange realm. He’d never said he couldn’t be in other areas but Link always felt like it was implied, like it was physically more difficult for him to be in the waking world so he limited his time here.

He’d gone against that for Link?

The hero rubbed a hand across his eyes, his headache growing worse. There was a piece of information he was missing here, but he was too exhausted to even try and figure out what it was right now.

He held back a yawn, and felt hands push him down the rest of the way until he was fully laying down. Link’s blanket was haphazardly tossed over him, and he felt his eyelids droop.

“Get some more rest wolf, we’ve got places to be,” Midna said lightly, the sass already back in her voice. “We can talk more tomorrow.”

Link didn’t even hear her. He was already back asleep.

(...)

Link spent the next several days recovering in Kakariko under the watchful eye of Renado, and Luda as well. He felt plenty rested by the third day and decided to get a move on, but the healer immediately stopped him and repeated his orders that he wasn’t allowed to leave for at least a week.

“Link, I’ll tell you straight; you nearly died,” he said sternly, “your body needs to recover much more before you even think about continuing on your way.”

Which was ridiculous because Link felt perfectly fine.

All he had was a bit of a lingering cough, and an on and off headache that bothered him occasionally. Maybe he tired a bit more quickly now too, but it would hardly get better if he just sat around and rested.

So despite the warning, Link repeatedly tried to slip out of the village and get a move on.

But Renado knew him well by now, and had enlisted the help of the gorons and Ordon kids in keeping Link confined. He was never able get past all of them without being seen, his body too weak for him to run terribly far if he was spotted. After an attempt when one of the gorons had to actually carry him back after he’d gone into a particularly severe coughing fit, he’d begrudgingly admitted that maybe Renado had a point.

Even Midna mentioned he might want to wait a bit longer before going, stating that if he left as he was “he’d only make a mess of things,” and he was an idiot for pushing himself again.

He ended up spending a further week and a half in Kakariko recovering.

The extended rest gave him plenty of time to mull things over regarding the Shade and what exactly had happened that night he’d seen him, and though Midna continued to be dodgy about the details, he at least managed to pick up that he had stopped breathing at one point.

And apparently the Shade had gotten it going again.

He still couldn’t quite wrap his head around the fact that he’d been the one to bring him to Kakariko. It was as if his brain just refused to believe it. He just couldn’t equate the stern skeleton who taught him deadly sword techniques with the gentle arms he remembered carrying him here.

But he did know he needed to apologize for having to be carried in the first place.

So once he was finally healthy enough to leave and he bid goodbye to the residents of the village, Link already knew exactly where he’d head first.

(...)

Link dismounted Epona and walked into the clearing where he’d met the Shade last, his heart thudding nervously in his chest.

He’d practically been stumbling the last time he’d been here, stubbornly convincing himself he was healthy enough to learn a new skill. Even despite the voice in his head that had sounded suspiciously like Uli’s reminding him not to push himself.

Link sighed. Looking back on it he felt like such an idiot.

He glanced around the clearing, scanning for the familiar wolf form and red eye of his teacher through the dappled sunlight. He wasn’t quite sure the wolf would even be there, but he was pleasantly surprised to see his gold fur shining in the morning sun, ears perked as he came into view.

Link swallowed and came forward, feeling the wolf’s eye follow him as he walked closer. He reached a certain distance away from the wolf, then pulled out his sword and faced him as he usually did.

A few seconds went by without the wolf doing anything and Link started to sweat.

He’d been so foolish, would the Shade even want to teach him more sword techniques? He’d been such a problem last time, he wouldn’t even blame him if he just left Link standing here like an idiot. He’d certainly deserve it.

But then the wolf growled and leapt at his face, and Link’s world went white.

(...)

He came back to himself gradually, the familiar sensation of what felt like a mist clearing from his head greeting him as he awoke.

Link blinked his eyes open and got to his feet, looking for and spotting the wolf who sat patiently a few feet in front of him. The beast stared at Link for a moment, then howled, changing seamlessly from a wolf to a skeleton.

The Shade stood silently in front of him, all six or so feet of large undead skeleton, and Link felt another wave of nervousness hit.

He swallowed and calmed his racing heart, not even letting the Shade start with his usual greeting before he began to talk.

“I... I want to thank you,” he said, and the Shade silently watched him. “For bringing me to Kakariko. And for... for saving my life. I’m sorry you had to drag me around, I’m incredibly grateful.”

He cleared his throat and ignored the faint urge to cough. “I... I hope I can make it up to you. For your trouble. I apologize for insisting I was fine during the last lesson.”

He bowed his head. “I understand if you no longer wish to pass your techniques on to me.”

Silence settled between them, and Link swallowed, continuing to look at his feet. He flicked his eyes up to gauge the Shade’s reaction, and gulped as he saw that he was merely continuing to stare.

Then he stalked forwards towards him, and Link shrank back, expecting a rebuke.

But he was utterly surprised when instead his teacher settled a gloved hand on his shoulder, giving it an oddly gentle squeeze as he looked at Link.

“I’m glad you are all right,” he said softly.

Link fully raised his head and blinked at him in astonishment.

“It does me good to see you on your own two feet again,” the skeleton continued, “and you do not need to repay me, nor apologize for my involvement.”

The Shade closed his good eye. “I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

Link could only gape.

Then his manners kicked in and he gave the Shade a grateful nod.

“It was foolish for you to let yourself deteriorate to the point of sickness, but you’ve certainly learned your lesson,” the skeleton continued with what Link swore was a hint of amusement. “I said I would wait for you, and I have. You are healthy enough now to learn the next skill I presume?”

Link nodded, looking the skeleton steadily in the eye.

There was still an unsolved puzzle about the Shade he had no answer to, something that connected him and Link closer then just the bond of teacher and student. But Link had time to figure it out. His quest was far from over, and the Shade still had several techniques to pass on.

He’d figure it out someday.

“Then, enough time has been wasted. Let us proceed with the lesson,” the Shade proclaimed, drawing his weapon with a hiss of steel. Link drew his own, getting into a ready position as the skeleton drew back.

The Shade turned and raised his sword, his one eye glinting almost fondly at Link.

“You have a kingdom to save.”

And Link smiled, raising the Master Sword in return.

[ciaossu-imagines]

No offence but why should people have to pay for stuff from you when 99% of creators on here would post the same things for free

Well, I really debated just deleting this. I really did. Or plain out blocking this anon. Because I really do try to ignore negativity in the inbox, truly, and normally do delete it. But I'll answer this one, in a mo', after I first say...putting no offense in front of an ask that is meant to be rude, to either hurt my feelings or make me feel bad, doesn't suddenly make it inoffensive. In fact, pretty much guaranteed that if you feel the need stick 'no offense' in front of something, you know it'll be offensive, or at the very least, rude, and you're trying to excuse a dick move. Question too...are you sending this ask to every fanartist accepting commissions too, or just the writers? My guess is a solid no, but hey, maybe you can prove me wrong.

Next point - nobody should be paying me anything right now. My commissions are temporarily closed. I'm not really accepting any at the moment because I'm on day 10 of a stretch of 12 days at work before I have one day off, after which I pull another 12 days before I get 2 whole days off. I'm struggling to find time to finish the two commissions I do have and to write to build up the queue on here again so I can continue to put out things on here again. I'm pulling at least one all-nighter a week just to make progress on those two things.

Again - free stuff. Because I definitely do offer lots of that. Commissions are done on top of me writing plenty for free, not instead of. It's simply not as long, or as detailed, and has rules around what I'll comfortably write.

Now onto actual commissions. All but two of the commissions I've handled have been incredibly personalized, either match ups for the actual person on the other side of the screen or working with people's self-inserts or OCs. The two that weren't were for incredibly rare pairs that don't have a lot of people writing for them (ShouheixYata from K Project and Sherlock Holmes (novel version) x Hiruma Yoichi from Eyeshield 21. Please show me even 5% of tumblr routinely putting out content for those pairings because I would enjoy reading anything from them.

For my match ups, smutty ones are at least 5 pages, while romantic and platonic ones have never gone below 7 pages and have, at times, gone as long as 15 pages and include intensely thought out explanations of why they're compatible with that character, what the relationship would be like, how the commissioner fits into the Canon universe, and at least 3, usually more other characters they could be compatible with, how those characters would know the commissioner and fit into their story and why the relationship might not work. I struggle to find blogs willing to do matchups even half that length and intricacy so please, direct me to the 95% of writers that will do that for free.

For my stories, the shortest I've done was 10 pages where I made a whole $1 per page. The longest has been 65 pages where I made $50. They all also come with a music mix and a storyboard with alternate ways the story could have gone and at least 5 new headcanons about the OC and the ship. Please, again, direct me to the 95% of tumblr writers willing to do that for someone else's self-insert ship or OC ship for free, of that length, with the extras. Most writers I know might occasionally write a friend's OC but not just anyone's and usually not 30-60 pages for them.

Long story short, I don't force anyone to commission me. If you don't want to and just want to enjoy the free stuff, that's perfectly cool with me! If you don't like that I take commissions, block me. If you feel everything I write is so generic and boring that 95% of other writers have wrote the exact same thing, my blog isn't for you, block me.

[animehouse-moe]

Welcome To Demon School! Iruma-Kun Volume 1: The Misfits

It's been several years at this point since I stumbled across Iruma-Kun as an anime. Three seasons deep with all sorts of content and arcs, and a mountain of manga chapters and volumes I never thought I'd get in English. But it's here. Somehow, it's made it here and I'm endlessly excited about that. How does it measure up to the anime? How does the source material differ? What's the art style like? Is there any dropped content? How does the pacing compare? So, so many questions that I can finally answer.

The short of it though? People should absolutely be picking up this manga. It's friendly and welcoming for all ages without feeling too childish or mature, Kodansha's giving it a nice and quick release schedule, it's got 3 Seasons of anime to watch to see if you'll like it, and there's plenty of spinoffs that have a chance to make it over here if this release does well!

⚠️Warning: Spoilers Ahead⚠️

I think the most noticeable difference is in the art. To summarize it, Nishi's style in the manga is rather different to the anime. It's what you might call malleable. The proportions, lighting, even aspects of the core character design ebb and flow depending on the scene they're in. Line thickness and texture moves around, shading and color differs from character to character, and even chibi designs have wiggle room in how they're shown.

It's really interesting, because through these 4 panels, there's not really a stellar amount of visual similarity in how things are drawn. The shading on Iruma's (top left) clothes vs Kalego's (bottom right) is different, and Kalego's hair has shading and texture while Iruma's doesn't. Azz-Kun (bottom left) has heavy line weight while Sullivan (top right) is a far lighter line weight. It's incredibly curious, because I wouldn't say any of these pages bear much resemblance to one another in how they're drawn, but they're undeniably all from the same artist. It's a really great feat to provide so much consistent variance in art style for the series.

Alongside that, I must say I'm impressed with the paneling as well. You can get a really solid grasp of it from Iruma and Azz-Kun's pages above. There's a lot of variance and different approaches to similar content.

There's different perspectives, angles, and everything keep it all fresh and interesting, and the shapes of the panels are really commendable. It constantly refuses to use clear cut rectangles and squares, and tries its damnedest to put a creative spin on it. Even in pages like this one, all of the panels have an irregular side. At least one line in the rectangle is angled or cut off. It's such a simple thing, but it makes it such a more interesting read as you're not constantly looking at a bunch of plain squares.

Though, I guess I should take a break from the visual stuff, and talk about story, yeah?

I'm pretty surprised, there's a lot of great moments from the anime that were extrapolated from very minimal context or interaction, and even some that don't appear in the manga. Inconsequential pieces in terms of story, but really great work to expand on the nature and feel of the manga.

Saying that though, there's just as many moments that go shot for shot between the two, like Iruma and Azz-Kun's fight.

Or Iruma's entrance into the Misfit's classroom.

In addition to that, it's really cool to see how well planned this story is. Being a manga you get to soak up those pieces a lot better, and notice background details and things like that. Just take a look at this panel. Yes, Clara's in it, but there's somebody on the left side as well. Jazz makes an appearance here, and for good reason! Such a fun little detail, and just one example of many that exist within the manga that either didn't make it to the anime, or that I didn't notice in the anime.

Now, the elephant in the room: Lied. His early design is certainly something. I wouldn't say I hate it, but I also wouldn't deny that I vastly prefer his newer/current design a hundred times over. Basically the only design that sees noticeable change through the story, and for good reason. Also, Kerori in the background.

Also, I really just have to give it up for Nishi's art. You get a taste of it in the anime, but it feels so much stronger throughout this first volume of the manga. They like their perspective pieces, and they really like playing with heaver line weight to create tension and energy, and I'm all for it. It's a really fluid experience overall, and is great at selling readers on a more dynamic feel to the art and characters.

Pieces like this where the lines of the panels begin to warp and change, just such cool details that really show how pervasive Nishi's style is to the overall work, how when the style shifts, the whole perception of the sequence does.

I also feel like this spread is a really great example of why I like Nishi's character designs. They're all incredibly unique, and share very little to tie them to one another. All different outfits, proportions, and features. Clara's got a completely different style to Iruma, who's got a completely different style to Azz-Kun. It's a world of characters in a single story, and really never gets old.

And lastly, here's one of those perspective pieces I was talking about earlier. Nishi doesn't blindly use it to make for cool and more 3 dimensional panels or pages, but to convey something. A stretched out panel of Iruma fretting over being a human at a demon school, or in this case, a skewed perspective to sell the scale and grandeur of the Demon King. We're only at his feet, out of the entirety of his presence, Nishi is showing us where we're at in the story currently. It's a really great idea that just blends implicitly with "big Demon King is cool as hell".

So, at the end of this first volume, I'm thoroughly impressed with both the anime and the manga. The anime really grasps the material well and finds a way to heighten a lot of it, while the manga loses very little expression despite its relative handicap to the anime. Both are undeniably great, and both are certainly worth experiencing.

The energy remains apparent, the story is untouched and in its purest form, the art is all over the place in the best way, and the feel of Iruma-Kun is still so wonderfully strong. The silly nature that will have you breaking out in a laugh at the smallest things remains, and that warm feeling you get from the cuter moments is still there. It's still the same Iruma-Kun I know and love from the anime, and still places at the top of shounen manga that everybody should give a chance.

[muchanmocha]

Hello!! I’m here to give u an alnst character!!! Please do Ivan 🙏🙏😮‍💨😮‍💨

Thanks for sending this in anon! It's really nice to have a chance to unpack some of my thoughts on him

1. Why I like them

Man where do I even begin to start?

Relatibility isn't something that typically factors into how much I like a character—rarely so actually. But the more I saw of him the more I felt a kinship in how a large chunk of his life is defined by "observing" and the fascination he has with figuring something (someone) out.

Then there's the fact that he himself is the puzzle, and if it isn't already apparent by my entire blog, I adore puzzles. I'll never tire of trying to figure him out. Yet strangely enough, I'm also okay with never figuring him out because that would be just like him to have depths so deep I won't ever be able to conceive him fully.

Even if it's a mask, one constructed through a lot of painful effort on his part, I love his smile. But further than that, I love the moments his bright sunny mask contrasts with the deep darkness he shelters — the same one he shares with Sua. The duality,,,, honestly peak.

Ivan is complex and self-contradictory, controversial and even problematic by a lot of standards, and I love him all the more for it.

2. Why I don't

Ok ngl I spent a solid hour doing laundry trying to come up with something I don't like about Ivan. I flat-out failed if you haven't guessed.

I think the only real answer I can point to is... Ivan is such a compelling character he ended up having an undeniably significant impact in shaping the fandom landscape.

To the extent that I've noticed if you don't actively love Ivan (/Ivantill), the Alnst fandom space can be... difficult to be in in certain ways.

There's not much that can be done about it precisely because it's not a situation brought about intentionally by anyone nor is it anyone's fault. When the problem is a character is too well done, is it really a problem? On a personal level, as someone who values quality in characters and writing above all, no, executing a character or story too well is never wrong in my books.

The phenomenon isn't even specific to Ivan; in the end it's just an unfortunate something that comes with the territory of being overwhelmingly popular in a fandom.

3. Favorite lyrics

'Even if your cold words'

'Carve scars beneath my eye'

'May they linger on your tongue'

'You can break me apart'

4. Favorite frame/screenshot

I think part of the reason why it tops my charts rn is the fact that it's new and still fresh off the press (powered by our pain)

But send Ivan for the ask game again and I'll give you a different answer

5. Favorite outfit

R3 ofc!!!! Long coat?????? Turtleneck????? Black boots??? Gloved hands????? Are you kidding me??????

6. Favorite official art

Seeing this one is actually how I got into Alnst and it hasn't lost its potency since (I love it even more now that I have context) it truly has a special place with me

7. Favorite canon fact

R6 commentary stated that what went on in Ivan's head during those last moments isn't supposed to be clear and fully understandable. "After all, he's the only one who will ever know how he truly feels."

I love that. So much.

Wdym this character is so unfathomable, that moment so complex you can watch it dozens of times and still find new things to notice and yet be no closer to the answer that isn't meant for us—

8. Favorite straight-up-not-canon headcanon

My Mizi Ivan besties delulus

Bc despite the canonical friendship they did share, I don't think they were best friends per se.

To me, best friends implies someone you mutually connect with and... that person doesn't seem to exist for Ivan.

He spends his entire life trying to speak everyone else's language — What's strange? What's normal? How should he act to be accepted? He builds the perfect mask, which in turn reflects the way he cannot truly connect with others.

Sua is the closest thing he has to a person he thought he understood and who understood him. But the key word in that "best friend" definition is "mutually." Sua doesn't feel the same and actively rejects his presence.

Till isn't his best friend either. Till is the object of his fascination, his obsession, his emotions. One of the core aspects of his relationship with Till is their inability to understand each other. They were never on the same page, never tuned to the same wavelength.

Sua is someone Ivan wants to connect with while Till is someone who brings out the rawest aspects of him. With both, Ivan has shown to have let down his mask just a little bit on certain occasions.

But Mizi? Mizi is just Mizi. And honestly that's the best part imo. She's simultaneously the #1 person he has no real reason to let his mask down around, and the #1 person with whom whether it was down or not doesn't matter and I think there can be a sort of comfort that comes with that.

I'll always feed my headcanons of Mizi being a friend Ivan can feel comfy with mask or no mask ♡

9. Favorite song/cover

Black Sorrow

I've woken up in the morning with it playing in my head on repeat more times than I can count

10. Song I want them to cover

Forever mourning ROMH Ivan

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Sorry pls ignore my last ask BPP. Your point about Seven being the 'Dynamite' equivalent in solo era is a good one and explains the treatment it got. After the BB article I also now understand why BH dropped LC. If BB believed the LC record was 'tainted' with Chinese cash and BH never had that 'Dynamite' promotion plan for it, everything that's happened makes sense. But it still leaves a nasty taste in my mouth. I can't wash it out. Are we now at the mercy of BB's whims? Also don't you find the support for Seven excessive? Is the elimination of direct to consumer sales enough to explain that kind of support to keep it number 1? I'm just trying to understand how the company is thinking about things without victimizing the members. They all seem to be still working with purpose so I feel they don't feel shortchanged, but from the outside looking inside it doesn't feel fair.

*

Ask 2:

Hi BPP,

Re: bb article

1. Do you think there will be additional changes coming, making sales even less relevant for bb charts?

2. I absolutely hate that it is again Jimin that takes the brunt of all this bulshit, I really do. He doesnt deserve this at all. But he is strong, he will be OK. That being said, its making me really upset IRL, so I will have to do some me time.

3. I would be interested to know your outlook on BB as a whole when it comes to BTS and their future in US market (if you have talked about this pls refer me to the post)

My opinion is, that while BB is paramount when it comes to big awards season, eventually BB and the awards themselves serve as a kind of promotion, to validate the artist to their (potential) fanbase, keep them invested etc. BTS guys do all of that on their own, with their music, personalities and lyrics. So going forward, if they dont chart as much, dont win as much... It will not matter in the long run. Their fan base is so solid that I trully believe they will have no problem selling multiple stadium stops 25 years from now. Easily.

There will be a significant fandom fall off, when all the people who are here for bragging rights lose their interest. And that is a good thing... But the people who will stay, who love the guys for who they are and for their art, those whose love does not depend on how many grammy noms or BB H100 they recieve... These people will stay and buy the tickets. And their numbers will still be enourmous. Enviable. More than the majority of the western industry plants can only dream of.

Rant over. Have a good weekend

*

Ask 3:

The latest Billboard discussion is disheartening, but the NYT article description of U.S. conservatives aping the tactics of Swifties and BTS fans to get their nefarious messaging across is even more so. Have we opened the gate for the Trumpsters of the world?

I was struck by this partvof the original question to you"

'... figure out a way to truly determine which songs are most popular (whatever that even means anymore)....'

So, how can we ever know what is truly popular? Are fervent fans willing to devote time and resources to get their fave to the top really the best arbiters? Even if they number in the millions, we are still looking at support that is far deeper than it is wide.

I mean, better than the suits deciding, I guess? Or is it just another group--this one outside of the target country--imposing their agenda on the population? One has the goal of making money; the other of winning a fan war.

So, how do we ascertain what is truly popular with the much-vaunted GP? Or doesn't it matter?

***

I've said many times on this blog that I'm not a writer, and that English isn't my first language, so I suppose it's unsurprising that despite my efforts putting my thoughts to paper/Tumblr, I'm still unable to fully communicate it in a way people understand right away, to eliminate/answer a lot of questions that I believe should be clear to infer from what I've written before. So rather than write a massive post like before where my key points could get lost, I'll pick out key questions from your asks and give fairly brief answers to each one. I'll work my way from the top, down.

Hi Anon(s),

Select answers below:

"Also don't you find the support for Seven excessive? Is the elimination of direct to consumer sales enough to explain that kind of support to keep it number 1?"

I think the results speak for itself. Dynamite and the PET got what is easily the biggest support any BTS release had gotten to date at the time - all of it tailored to mirror how American labels promoted their tracks, *and* the fandom had D2C sales buttressing it as the primary support mechanism. Like, please read that sentence again and think about what it means. Sales are the easiest and most transparent way for the fandom to influence charts, and so was always preferred for ARMY. Even if you weren't in the fandom then, understand it's impossible to overstate how much D2C sales mattered. With that now out of the question, everything we're seeing for Seven for me feels like a given, especially after the Billboard article.

"Do you think there will be additional changes coming, making sales even less relevant for bb charts?"

Yes. But not 'less relevant' in a sense, more like differentiated and treated as its own thing, perhaps in a separate chart.

"I would be interested to know your outlook on BB as a whole when it comes to BTS and their future in US market (if you have talked about this pls refer me to the post)"

This probably requires its own post but the long-short of it is: just like Ticketmaster, Billboard is only one arm of one of the largest private monopolies in the US entertainment market - PMC, and as such they serve as gatekeepers of sorts. Their interest in BTS (and k-pop by extension) lies primarily in how they can profit off the group/fandom, which so far BigHit and ARMY have created very limited avenues for. BigHit's strategy until now has been to expand BTS's reach without relying on the PMC apparatus, using it only for select releases that are explicitly tailored for it e.g. Seven and PET. While I don't think this strategy will change dramatically, every change from BB is to force more compliance with their apparatus. BTS will continue facing handicaps from PMC so long as BigHit continues limiting how PMC can profit from BTS for each release. (This sentence makes sense in my head but if it's not clear, please let me know.)

*

"Have we opened the gate for the Trumpsters of the world?"

Well, yeah. But ARMYs can't take all the credit. After all, ARMYs are only doing what the Bey Hive and Swifties have been doing for almost a decade with none of the scrutiny. BTS, more than any other group, actually has the absolute numbers in demand and grassroots support to justify it as they're comparable to the afore-mentioned artists, proven by their concert showings not just in the US but worldwide, as far back as 2018. People only started paying attention to ARMYs' movements because BTS didn't look like the sorts of people they expected to see at the top of the charts. Everybody took notice, including a political faction in the US that in recent years has moved more aggressively into the entertainment sphere to influence culture, such as Ben Shapiro's entertainment empire, movies like Sound of Freedom topping box office charts, and conservative country singers pushing Reagan-esque talking points to the top of music charts. So it's basically the result of timing and opportunity.

"So, how can we ever know what is truly popular? Are fervent fans willing to devote time and resources to get their fave to the top really the best arbiters? ... how do we ascertain what is truly popular with the much-vaunted GP?"

I've talked about this before I think. You can find my views on it in my Masterlist, and I've linked the post here.

*

People sent in more asks on BB but I've since lost interest in this topic and will post my responses when I feel like it, much later, using the same format I've used to answer the asks above. The truth is that while I understand why many people feel like everything that's happened so far with Seven and Jimin is unfair, I think a lot of the discourse is awfully reductive, actually does a disservice to Jimin and BTS, and that there's a much bigger picture here that's more consistent with how BTS has operated for the last 10 years.

This is probably not the best analogy, but one way I think of BTS is like a Swiss army knife, with each member being a separate tool. And that at different points, in various markets, BigHit and BTS are testing various approaches to expand their reach while aiming to maintain the market share they've gotten so far. The group has always had projects they release that have more artistic merit and cache, versus projects made by all appearances to be purely for commercial purposes to expand the reach of the group. For example, consider how BigHit promoted Butter/Permission to Dance, compared to the BE album, or how Seven was created and promoted relative to Indigo. To go back in even further in previous years, I remember how BTS appeared to center Jimin in Blood, Sweat & Tears era to build out his and their presence in Korea, and Taehyung in DNA era where his and BTS's presence in China ballooned in 2017.

While in the solo era some people feel like every accomplishment remains solely with individual members, I feel everything serves only one purpose: to further establish the group. Because by BTS's own words, they all have their individual ambitions, they've always had that and each member is aggressively competitive on that note, but they've each all said that their priority remains the group. Not everybody likes that, not everybody believes them when they say it, but the good thing with BTS is that they plan in multi-year stints and time always reveals what the facts of the matter are. We're only one year into Chapter 2, and while certain parts of the fandom are treating their solo debut albums as the be all and end all, I don't think there's anything to suggest this perspective lines up with the reality of how BTS has behaved for the last 10 years. I could be wrong, but either way we're just going to have to wait and see. In the meantime, I believe there's significant artistic merit in what the guys are putting out in Chapter 2, that I hope isn't lost in the noise. The fandom should do a better job of bringing the attention back to this, rather than a tunnel-vision on performance metrics that only tell half of the story.

[bromcommie]

MAXX! :))) hope you are well.

for the emoji fanfic ask game ;)

👀🎶🎢❌🤲✅

Sorry for so many haha, you don't need to answer them all, but I'm very curious!

Hiii thank you for the abundant ask<3

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

This might not be a particularly interesting answer but the only thing that I’ve really been trying to work on has been the structure and pacing of the next few chapters of orpheus, since I have them all mostly written but can’t get to a place where I’m really happy with them. I might be overthinking it. Unfortunately I also just haven’t had the time + energy to sit myself down and really figure it out. :( Ergo all the snippets, which is the only way I can get something out at least.

In slightly better news: I kind of have the next two installments in the I clawed my way into the light series finished?? Sam and Steve and their collective and individual issues are finally getting their moment in the strange, poetry-question-mark spotlight!

However I’ve got some intense life stuff coming up so it might be a month or so until I post any of the aforementioned in full 😭

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

I usually do, and I have unhealthily elaborate playlists for all the characters + some fic-specific ones, but recently I’ve found listening to anything with distinct words in it messes with my concentration. But in terms of what’s being playing on loop: Dorma and to a lesser extent Marionette by Keaton Henson (all of his instrumentals are *chefs kiss* but in general I’ve just been having a Keaton renaissance when it comes to stevebucky. Welcome back 2016 I guess)

❌ What's a trope you will never write?

I’m a “never say never” kind of person, but… Hydra Trash Party. Which, I know, is ironic considering one of the very few fics I have up right now features Steve/Rumlow, but that one while still meant to be kinda fucked up is very much purposefully neither here nor there (and non-explicit). I just personally don’t enjoy reading HTP and it’d probably mess me up way more than I’d like to try and write. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

✅ What's something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don't mean to?

Answered this guy here!

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

This is…not even a snippet, tbh, but also I don’t know when I’ll actually have the time to rework/finish this, so. Just for you, a very long Natasha-focused (plus) wip half-scene under the cut:

“Most other animals only smile when they mean to attack. Did you know that? You should never hold your hand out to a dog whose gums you can see,” Ivan’d said, dabbing at the bloody bite on her chin with a towel that smelled like a distillery, impish twist to his thick mustache. “Or a man who smiles too much, for that matter.”

Natasha only saw the dog once after that. A month later Ivan hadn’t come back to the house for a week and she went out looking the next day, winding her way out of the dead-end street and all the way up Nevsky Prospekt, looping past the crowds gathering water out of shelling holes and the hospital that was now blackened by fresh, smoldering ruins. She walked until the light on the horizon had grown tired and purple, until her legs had almost given out and she had to sit down on the icy pavement. The body of a frail old man lay face down on the ground by the side of the road across from her, his cap thrown back a few meters away and the bald top of his head unnaturally caved in, matching the bruised coloring of the sunset.

It took her a long moment to notice the dog, its bent form and the crumpled body forming a singular silhouette.

The memory is transmuted, stretched thin and faded in places – from time, for a change, she thinks, instead of just manipulation. But she still remembers her hand closed around a solid weight in her pocket, a comfort against the deafening pounding of her heart. She remembers the dog with its lifted head, its snout soaked red and sickly gums anything but bloodless for the first time. Remembers that split second of hurling the brick at it with all the might her thin body could manage.

It wasn’t a thought-out act or even self-preservation, really. The dog had been far away and otherwise preoccupied. It wouldn’t have bothered her. The reasoning was bone-deep and nauseating: she hadn’t eaten in two days, the only person who had cared for her was gone, and the sight of the blood had made her stomach growl. That brick was her only defense against a world tilted entirely off its axis.

It was a while before she fully understood what Ivan had meant by that joking addendum to an otherwise plain instruction, too cryptic for her mind to decipher at that age. It took one too many broken bones and one too many greedy hands on her body and one too many lifetimes lived unwillingly for it to fully translate.

Now, looking at Rumlow grinning that familiar killer smile and thinking he’s hit gold, it’s crystal fucking clear.

It isn’t new, really. She’s met many men like him, often enough that the novelty of exposing them has worn off: ordinary men, utterly predictable in their enjoyment of violence and small in the way of not being able to shape their fear into something more useful. Men who thought their want for power made them anything other than a soft target. Men who thought that, when the time came, they'd be above begging for their life.

It gets boring, after a while, how quickly they all learn. She should know. It’s what gave her her name, back before she decided to hang up that particular title, trade it in for an upgraded version, a cleaner image. Black Widow, Avenger! has a far better ring to it than Black Widow, assassin.

Just because you stop calling a thing something doesn’t mean it stops being it, of course. It might forget, for a while, become domesticated; but the nature is still there.

The children of the Red Room all understood that from the time they could walk. The Soldier understood that, or at least well enough that they had to keep burning it out of him.

“Shit. Is that what this is, then? Really?" Rumlow is saying, still derisive through cracked teeth, still playing a game he thinks he knows the rules to. "You got yourself a spot on the five o’clock news under Captain fucking America and suddenly you think that makes you the guy with the bigger stick? That that changes fuck all for you?”

“Oh, no. Believe you me, I tried being that guy. It didn’t end well for me. Or anyone else, really.” She inches the chair forward, the scrape of the metal loud in the empty apartment, and makes her voice drop to a conspiratorial tone. “But you wanna know what I realized? There are always going to be little men with big sticks, and most of us will never get to be them. And it turns out it doesn’t matter all that much in the end.”

“Big or little, every stick has its breaking point. Every weapon has its expiration date. You live through a regime or two, and you start to catch onto that real quick.” She cocks her head at him with a pensive expression, fingers running absent over that same old thin line under her chin by habit.

In retrospect, the dog she came to understand much quicker than the advice. Natasha had been hungry and afraid most of her life, too.

It’s not the only scar she has by far, but it carries the most straightforward memory. For years it served as a reminder, as banal as it was, of what trust was worth; of what you could do when you got your grubby little hands on it.

“I suppose they wouldn't teach you this since the shelf life of your usefulness was never meant to be all that long, but let me tell you a secret, Brock,” she continues, flipping the knife back the right way around and leaning in. Sunny side up, Yelena used to call it, wry. Drive it in far back enough, right past the optic nerve, and everything spills right out. She doesn’t miss the way Rumlow’s eyes track the motion, the whites showing just enough; the first crack in the facade. "You don't beat the guy with a big stick by getting a bigger one. You do it by making him think he's got you under his boot, you understand? That he’s got you all figured out. You beat him by making your spine less breakable than the stick.”

Here’s the other thing about trust: if you keep yourself in the business of lying to earn it, that’s all people start to expect from you. Your loyalty is immediately suspect. So is your anger. You keep yourself leashed for long enough, everything becomes a dishonest front, even to yourself.

Like anything else in life, it becomes a habit. A very useful, easy one, at that. Or at least until one day you wake up and you realize that the parts of you you were working to protect are dying out; withering. They’re forgetting their own name.

The attempt at a headbutt is predictable at best. She backhands him for it, follows up with the handle of the knife on the second strike for good measure.

“Now that wasn’t very smart, was it?” She says, admonishing. “And to think we were getting somewhere.”

“Was that sermon meant to get me to talk?” Rumlow manages after a heaving moment. There’s a long gash down his cheek that’s deepened, bleeding steadily onto his front. It paints less than a pretty picture with the swelling that’s already pinkening up, bringing the angry criss-cross of scarring over the rest of his pale face into sharp relief, but it feels strangely at home. Not that artistic vision’s ever been her strong suit. “Because if you think getting smacked around some really counts for anything other than good foreplay, you’ve really lost your touch.” He looks back up to grin at her, a useless show of fearlessness. “Hell, ask Rogers. I’m sure that’ll be an interesting conversation.”

But fuck, it’s hard work, breaking a habit. Even harder work: honesty. Graceless and inarticulate and inefficient, like the feeling boiling back up in her now as she looks at Rumlow, the bloody flash of his canines in the dark, and thinks of that paralyzing feeling on the wrong side of an OR window, the shameful horror of letting the world be spun on its axis and pulled from under her again. Thinks of Rogers with his broad shoulders curling in and in and in, the whole of him turned inside out in a deserted parking lot. Trust given and earned.

The next blow has Rumlow spitting teeth.

"Nah. Just thinking out loud." The knife stops half an inch under his eye, makes a home in the oasis of bruised yet unmarred skin.

Rumlow doesn’t flinch. For all of his talk, he still knows better. But she can see how his whole body freezes up, an uninterrupted taut line; the exact moment it registers for him, just how much of the picture he’s missing.

Volchonok, Ivan had called her for a while, in those early days. It’d never stuck like Black Widow did, never had the same marketing potential, but it’d never really stopped applying, either. Hungry and afraid and alone and willing to kill for the things that made her less so.

The name might’ve changed, the circumstances. The nature didn’t.

Natasha smiles; too many teeth, bloodless. "How much can your spine handle, do you think?"

It’s all too easy, in the end, to let the leash go.

(I’m sorry??)

[theclearblue]

Ok, ship ask but this time shoujo/josei edition... (just saw your top fav manga list, love them 🥰). What do you think of these ships :

Fruits Basket :

- Yuki / Kakeru (sorry I don't really ship him with Maki)

- Hanajima / Uotani (kinda dislike end pairing for Arisa, she deserve better)

Yona of the Dawn (don't get me wrong, I love Yona/Hak but I like these ships too) :

- Suwon/Hak & Yona/ Lili

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

- Kikuhiku/ Sukeroku (one of my fav ship, tragic yaoi, I really dislike 'that woman' that ruin everything for my ship)

Sorry if my ask got too long, you can pick whichever ship that you want....

Hello again anon!! Love to see you pop up in here and I'm happy to answer all of these lol 🫡

Yuki/Kakeru

Ship it

1. Not sure if there was one specific moment for me, but I think just seeing their friendship develop over time to the point where Yuki is able to really open up to a friend for the first time is a really compelling journey for Yuki!

2. I think it's funny how Kakeru is able to just piss off Yuki with his antics lmao, but it's also kind of a big moment for Yuki where he isn't pretending to play this "prince" character, Kakeru is able to draw the real Yuki out.

3. Hmm I do probably ship Yuki with both Kakeru and Maki, I like both pairings in different ways

Hanajima/Uotani

Ship it

1. Ahhh I don't think there's ever just a moment but these are the most obvious lesbians of all time ajaksldlvl. Love their opposite vibes but they way they both scare everyone around them and are #1 Toohru protectors is soooo funny and also iconic.

2. I suppose I answered it in the previous section lmao but I think there's such a pure love between them and the love that they share for Toohru they just look out for each other so well and their opposite vibes are so cool, especially because it's like no big deal at all to them.

3. Anon you're so right WHY DID UOTANI END UP WITH A MAAAAAANNNN. Technically not sbout the ship I guess but yeah I really wasn't a big fan of Kureno and her ending up together, felt homophobic 💀

Suwon/Hak

Ship It (Lightly)

1. This is like on the border because even though I'm usually a big multishipper, Yona/Hak are really It for me ya know. I also hc Suwon as aro/ace, but there is some real good potential with Suwon/Hak, and I'm sure this will come as a surprise (after saying it for 500th time ajslslf) but I'm a big angst enjoyer. I probably did ship this more than Yona/Hak at the beginning lmao, and then them reuniting and Hak still feels so hurt? Not just for Yona and her father bur also himself? Wowowowow yeah this ship is pretty good.

2. The angst potentiaaaaallll childhood best friends with maybe a little crush to enemies to !?!?@(#$)#)@*$*@! Goooood they're so messed up Hak is so hurt from everything but he also understands where Suwon is coming from and Suwon giving up that relationship with Hak in order to help the country?? How do you recover from all of these different feelings?? Very good food

3. As much as I like their ship potential it really is Yonahak today, Yonahak tomorrow, Yonahak forever

I'm going to kinda skip Yona/Lili cause I need to reread/catch up on Yona and I don't think I could give a solid answer on Lili rn 🤧 Do trust though I believe in bi4bi Yonahak 🫡

Kikuhiko/Sukeroku

Ship It

1. Everythinggggggg. From the start from the beginning they were IT. I don't even have like, a SUPER good memory since it's been so long since I've watched Rakugo, but god they really are the definition of soulmates (even if sukeroku doesn't realize it...)

2. I think just their journey together is so compelling, they complete each other and bring out their best but also their worst. Kikuhiko is too in his head at all times, Sukeroku is too impulsive, but the way that they balance each other personality wise and also in their rakugo is so enticing to watch, you can't look away from them. They walked so that other disaster gays could run lmao.

3. Yeah ok let's get into the ending lmao. I will always choose to interpret that Shinnosuke is the spiritual successor to Kikuhiko's and Sukeroku's rakugo not...blood related successor of Kikuhiko lmao. I think that fits the story and the themes and the characters waaaay better than Kikuhiko having Shinnosuke as his biological grandchild 💀 It's nature vs nurture in my eyes! He has the nature of Sukeroku because that's his biological grandfather, but Kikuhiko raised him, it's the nurture side! Why it was left open ended...hmm I think it's supposed to be a stylistic choice to reflect how one unravels a rakugo story? But yeah I refuse the other option for my own sanity lmao. Also also people always ignore/forget about Kikuhiko's struggles with gender expression and I'm sad about that :( so important to his character and his relationships throughout the story.

[gentlenotes-moved]

Hey, how have you been? Is your health better?

hey! i've been alright lately. as with my whole gut thing, it fluctuates a lot. there'll be days where it's either bad to the point where i have to eat in small amounts infrequently, or i'll have no problems at all! there's no way of guessing, either; i just wake up and kinda have to deal with how my digestive system is fixing to act that day lol

but! our doctor FINALLY called back after just under two months of waiting with the results of the pH tester i had in my stomach for a couple days. basically the files and info about it didn't get send to him on time lol. so as i said in the last update, the endoscopy turned out normal. but now the biopsies came out normal, however with the pH tester, they got an answer from it!

i wasn't there for the call; my mom answered it. and they have an actual and definite answer now for what's going on: my brain and nerves are kinda sorta fucked up and they're absolutely losing their shit. about what? no clue! so, they want to do some tests (i think my mom forgot what tests tho lol) and they want to give me a small dosage of depressant medications (again, don't know what) to chill my brain and nerves tf out. we're also supposed to get smth in the mail that explains all this and we don't know when we're gonna get those either. just a lot of questions all around lol.

so yeah! i'm honestly over the moon that i have a solid answer about what's going on! but i still wanna know WHY my brain and nerves are losing their shit. all of this has pretty severely impacted my period as well. so. i'm beginning to think my mental health might have something to with it, tbh. idk. we'll figure out.

also! i'm so so sorry for coming here like once every few weeks, with a combination of mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion + school in general, it hasn't been the TOP priority, but i'll change that! there's a hell of a lot of personal stuff goin on right now, forgive me <3