#i have lived through the sans fandom i was there

[illdothehotvoice]

I am begging y'all to stop trying to make UT characters interesting by making them remember resets they're already so interesting on their own i-

[tentacletournament]

This is very off topic but- i thought you would appreciate the fact that i'm going to write about the classic to geno to error timeline in my philosophy essay.

IM SCREAMING THEIR TIMELINE IS MY EVERYTHING I HAVE BEEN OBSESSED FOREVER AND EVER IF YOU DONT GET FULL MARKS ILL DIE

[factual-fantasy]

Forgive me but what is your WH au specifically about? And what are the other neighbors like in that AU?

I feel like I'm not the best at explaining things.. but I'll do my best <XD

Now just a heads up, this post is the RAMBLE OF ALL RAMBLES. I go into some detail for all the neighbors backstory and try to explain what my AU is, prepare yourself- <XD.....

You see, whenever I get into any kind of fandom, I kind'a make this "base" au that is basically just the main series but everything is viewed through my interpretations-

Uhhh for example- Octonauts.

My main "octonauts AU" is just the show filtered through all my interpretations and headcannons.

I haven't swapped the characters or anything or changed anyone's back stories really. But in my AU the Octopod is a different size than in canon because of the headcannons I have for it. Peso has pink feet, and orange beak and some blond feathers in my AU because I headcannon him to be a Royal penguin. Calico Jack has a the fur patterns of an actual calico because I headcannon him to be a rare male calico, etc etc,

My Welcome home AU is the same. I took the main Welcome Home series and all I knew about it, dumped all my headcannons and interpretations onto it and the result is my "welcome home AU". I call it an AU because I think its different enough from cannon to be named as such. <:D

hhhhh I hope that made senseee DDDDX>

NOW, what is my AU about? To start, the world that the puppets are in is a very real world to them. It is separate from our world, but its a real place and the neighbors are real living things. There is no welcome home show or website with hidden links and secrets, there's no fourth wall breaking.. their world is real to them. And they all live in it like normal people.

Other than that, the AU is mostly built on the different backstories for the characters. I'll list them all here-

First, Wally's house is a living entity. And he is completely unaware of this- Home's intentions with Wally are unknown.. atm what Home will do is watch Wally while he sleeps. This results in Wally feeling intense anxiety and waking up. Wally goes about his life thinking that he just has weird sleeping problems..

The things I mostly changed about Barnaby was his appearance. I made him look more like a beagle and gave him different fur patterns. He's kind'a like the fanon interpretation of sans. This big fun loving guy that seems to take nothing seriously.. but it turns out that he's really observant and is always looking out for his neighbors. If someone's missing or isn't acting like themselves, Barnaby is the first to notice. He is the main one looking out for Wally and was there to help him when he had his big breakdown..

Now Julie is kind'a wild. She grew up in the woods with her sisters as this big horrible beast that scared away anyone that saw her.. now when she was little, she would creep close to the neighborhood, despite her sisters warnings.. and would just.. watch.. The people she observed at the time were Poppy, Wally and Barnaby mostly. She wasn't sure why, but she just loved everything about these people. The little mermaid style, she loved the way they walked, they way they talked, how they dressed and what they ate, she loved and was fascinated by all of it.

As a rainbow monster, she had the ability to drastically alter her appearance if she tried hard enough. And so using the neighbors as refences, she did just that. She suppressed her multiple eyes and formed just two big eyes. She copied Poppy's eyelashes and grew 6 of her own. She suppressed her claws and made cute little hands like Wally. The only neighbor she ever saw barefoot was Barnaby, so feet paws she created! Her mane was overgrown and wild.. so she took time to alter it to flow straighter and downward.

Some of the last few big transformations she was trying to nail was her legs, tail and horns. She altered her legs to be the same shape as everyone else's, but this meant she needed to practice walking.. She figured that once she had mastered walking she could work on reducing her horns and making her tail shorter.

Unfortunately though.. while she stalking Poppy from the bushes and trying to copy how she walked... she tripped and yelped louder than she meant too.

Poppy heard a child yelp and came looking. Julie panicked, her body wasn't normal enough yet! She still needed to fix her tail and horns! Julie tried to scramble away but she got tangled up in the black berries vines nearby and couldn't escape. With Poppy coming closer and closer, she knew she was doomed. All those months of hard work trying to look like a normal girl was about to go to waste. Poppy would see this ugly monster and scream. Her dreams of being a normal neighbor were crushed.. Julie just curled up in a ball and started to cry...

To her surprise, Poppy didn't scream and run. "Oh dear, oh dear! Are you alright little one? Oh no- here let me help you," Poppy got her untangled and helped her out of the bushes. She brought her home and patched up the poor girls wounds. Also gave her some clean clothes while she was at it..

She still looked like a monster, and Poppy knew she was some kind of beast.. but all Poppy truly saw was a sweet little girl that was all alone and needed a home.. She took Julie under her wing and ended up raising her somewhat, she was probably around.... 14-18-ish?? When Poppy found her? After a few years living with Poppy she ended up moving out into her own home and finally lived out her dream of being a normal neighbor.. yeah.. normal...

Now Frank is kept somewhat the same.. ish- but a big thing I wrote for him is his and Julies friendship. Their friendship started out as a spongebob/squidward sort of deal. XD Frank was more annoyed by her than anything.. But at some point Julie got sick and didn't leave hew house for several days.. Frank would never admit it, but he was worried. The other neighbors respected Julies wishes and stayed away, but Frank was having none of that. He brought soup and medicine to her house and was ready to break the door down if he had to.

..well it turns out he almost kind'a had to- he knocked on the door and called out. He heard a crash from inside and Julie crying.. so Frank got inside and found blood sprinkled on the floor and walls with Julie locked in the backroom crying..

It turns out that when Julie gets sick or weak, she has a really hard time maintaining her "normal" form and reverts back to a monster.. She had been a monster for several days and was kind of having a mental breakdown over it. She desperately wanted to look normal and see her friends again. She thought she could force her way back to looking normal, starting by getting rid of these nasty claws.

She tried to trim her nail with scissors but with her clumsy monster hands she cut too close and cut her finger pretty good. She started to cry out of frustration.. but that's when she heard the knock at the door- now she was crying out of panic and tried to scramble away. But it was too late.

Frank ended up seeing her true monstrous form.. she was afraid that her dream life with her friends was over... but surprisingly enough, Frank accepted her the way she was. He said as far as he's concerned, no matter what she looks like. She is still Julie. And Julie is a beautiful young lady and a wonderful friend. He patched up her hand, cleaned all the blood from the floors and took care of Julie until she had recovered. Frank respected Julie by keeping her true form a secret from the other neighbors, as long as Julie promised that she wouldn't keep the truth from everyone forever..

This whole event has changed their friendship forever. Frank is now a true friend of Julies that she can tell anything to. Because Frank knows the real her and chooses to be her friend anyways. And Frank sees Julie as a true friend of his because now he really understands her more than he ever did..

Eddie's story is a little hard to explain.. he's supposed to be a human from another world. Is it our world? Was Home the one that did this? I haven't figured out all the details yet... but I do know that Eddie is supposed to be very forgetful and clumsy. So its very odd that he always delivers the mail on time 100% of the time and has never forgotten a package before.. its almost like Eddie the mailman and the Eddie off duty are.. different.. somehow.. he doesn't really remember his childhood and has a lot of hallucination and night terror type problems.. Eddie's kind of an odd ball. <:/

Sally is intended to be a real star that crashed down nearby the neighborhood for similar reasons to Julie. She was fascinated by the neighborhood and wanted to be a part of it! She ended up staying with Poppy for a few years before moving out into her own house just like Julie did. Working on her personality has been tough- but I have ideas for her biology though-

She can wear any clothes she wants year round because she isn't effected by the blistering sun or the freezing snow. If she puts on wet clothes they will dry completely within minutes. I haven't decided what happens if she jumps into a pool.. her character still needs a little work <XD

Now Howdy is.. still kind'a blank. I have ideas for his biology and different patterns he has on his skin.. I have ideas that he is super active in the summer and a real husk in the winter.. ideas for his friendships with Barnaby.. but nothing super specific yet.. <:(

Poppy is unfortunately the same. Beyond her motherly relationship with Julie and Sally, I have few ideas in mind.. <:(((

WOW this post was insanely long. I kind'a got lost there <XDD I hope this answers your question though! <:D ...

[jhscdood]

i am not in the Fandom so idk if this has already been established, and it's been a while since i did a reread, but

(and i have a migraine so bear with me)

at the end of Much Ado About Nothing, the Prince still doesn't have a wife, and I think that is his narrative punishment for being a credulous little misogynist.

Benedick talks a big "i hate marriage" game for half the play but when it comes down to the wire, he chooses to believe the women over the accusers Every Time, Immediately. and in the end he gets a wife who is his equal in every way and theyre obvs going to argue their way to enduring happiness all their lives.

(the wife is not his reward in a dehumanizing, objectifying way -- just that he Did The Work to become a better person, whicj make Beatrice reassess him as a potential mate and go "Yeah Ok")

Claudio talks a big "I love marriage and Hero" game but he falls for it every time someone suggests Hero might maybe possibly have looked at another dude for half a second. But when he's proven wrong, he publicly repents and agrees to atone by marrying Leonato's "other niece." So he gets a wife, too, but one who is going to hold this shit over his head for the rest of their lives.

Don John plays all these games just to fuck with them because game playing is the only power he has left. He doesn't get a wife, but he doesn't care, so whatever. not getting something he never wanted is not exactly a huge problem for him.

The prince makes two marriage proposals over the course of the play. To Hero, who he then gives to Claudio. And to Beatrice, who turns him down flat. Like Claudio, he believes the accusations against Hero. Unlike tiny baby Claudio, the prince is a grown ass man who should have the brains and the political skills to see through the whole charade. but he fails to clock the manipulation because he'd rather hop on the opportunity to trash Hero. He eggs on Claudio thru his revenge scheme. When Benedick confronts the prince and Claudio over Hero's "death", tiny baby Claudio is the one who starts to have doubts and guilt whereas the prince doesnt change his attitude until Boraccio is like "Yeah I totally snowed you guys."

Does the prince do any repenting after that. like Claudio? No. Does he offer any atonement to Leonato? No. And so, the prince, who wants a wife, remains sans wife at the end of the play because he hasnt done any of the work to deserve one, and also because out of all the villains in the play, he's the biggest one.

thus ends my very migrainey thinky thoughts about the prince

[hehe-hoho-ohno]

Submas canon vs fanon

The entire time I have been in the Submas fandom I have seen a lot of confusion about what is canonical and what is a wide-spread fanon. Both in the sense of people thinking things were canon when they were not, and (more rarely) people thinking things were fanon when they were not. So I thought it might be useful to put together a little guide.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with using fanon. I use most of these headcannons in my own fics because I like them and canon is dumb anyway. (Note: pokemon is a huge sprawling mass and tends to contradict itself, and there have been changes across the various games/manga/anime)

All quotations are taken from bulbapidia.

Nimbasa Trio - FANON

Elesa has no connection to Ingo and Emmet besides living in the same place. There is one interaction between them in Pokemon Masters, and while they are on friendly terms they don't appear to be particularly close. Similarly, the idea that Ingo likes bad puns/Emmet does not stemmed from their fanon friendship with her.

Uncle Drayden - FANON

The only confirmed family Ingo and Emmet have are each other.

Cilan is a huge fan - CANON

Cilan is a fanboy of both of them in the anime.

Ingo is the older twin - CANON

In the original Japanese Emmet calls Ingo "nii-san" which means older brother.

"Do you have any siblings? I have an older brother, Ingo."

- Emmet, pokemon masters

Emmet's joltik hoard - FANON

Emmet's galvantula knows the move cross poison. This is an "egg move" which can only be learnt through pokemon breeding. Since it would take several tries to get this move it probably would have left Emmet with a lot of Joltik. In theory. We don't see Emmet with joltiks in canon.

Ingo's kitty smile - CANON

He smiles like that in the manga. (Admittedly, it's not as exaggerated as the full on :3 people sometimes draw him with.) He also briefly smiles in PLA, but less cat-like.

Ingo's perpetual frown is unintentional - CANON

"<player>! Someone just told me something that troubled me deeply! They said that compared to Emmet, I'm too stiff! But that's just a misunderstanding! I know I smile when I'm having fun! I'd even say that I'm quite proud of how expressive I am when I speak! What? You say you've never seen me smile? I-is that so..."

- Ingo, Pokemon Masters

They are both autistic - FANON

They are related to the twin heros - FANON

They share similar themes and motifs to the twin heros/Zekrom/Reshiram but that's it. They have no canon relationship.

Both of them are heavily coded as autistic. However, it's never been directly stated in the games that they are autistic and (to my knowledge) nobody at Game Freak/Nintendo has confirmed anything.

Ingo has a receding hairline - (debatably) CANON

He is drawn with one in the art book. Does the art book count as canon? Until something in the main games says otherwise, probably. (Though there is some argument to be had that it might be an unflattering haircut instead.)

Ingo arrived in Hisui via wormhole - FANON

"For my part, I simply found myself one day here in Hisui, a region whose name I'd never heard... All I could remember was my own name. I was still standing there in bafflement when the Pearl Clan came to my aid."

- Ingo, PLA. (However, the art book depicts the pearl clan finding him facedown on the ground, so take his standing claim with a grain of salt)

We still don't know how he got there. Similarly, it is quite common to show Ingo arriving during a blizzard/freezing to death and generally in poor health/injured/unconsciousness. But the way he recounts it sounds much more peaceful.

It'a also common to have Sneasler be the one to find him. The art book (of dubious canon) shows a human pearl clan member finding him, and Ingo's quote seems to confirm that. It's possible Sneasler was involved but she isn't mentioned.

Ingo got amnesia from hitting his head - FANON

We don't know how he got amnesia.

Ingo remembers Emmet as "the man in white" - FANON

"I'm starting to recall a man who looked... like me. We'd battle and discuss Pokémon, I think... The words "I like winning more than anything else" flashed through my mind just now..."

- Ingo, PLA, about Emmet

He makes no mention of remembering Emmet wearing white or smiling.

Ingo calls her "Lady Sneasler" - FANON

Ingo only calls her Sneasler, no Lady. In fact, nobody calls her or any of the ride pokemon Lord or Lady because...

The ride pokemon are noble pokemon - FANON

There are 10 blessed pokemon descended from the heros of old, and these pokemon are revered by the clans and have wardens. The blessed pokemon are divided into two groups, the rides and the nobles.

The ride pokemon are not called noble pokemon, and they do not get titles. Mai talks about "the great Wyrdeer" but does not call him lord or noble.

"This suggests that even Pokémon that are not nobles can become frenzied..."

- Kamado, PLA, about the ride pokemon Ursaluna seemingly becoming frenzied

Ingo lives in Sneasler's cave - FANON

We don't know where he lives.

Ingo became a Warden because Sneasler liked him - FANON

"I showed a natural affinity for taming Pokémon, which is why I eventually became a warden. But still I wonder what my true purpose is here..."

- Ingo, PLA

There is no further information about his wardenship. There is no information on what his relationship with Sneasler was prior to him becoming her warden.

Ingo likes having photos because of the amnesia - CANON

"Ah, photographs. I appreciate having physical keepsakes—less ephemeral than memories. Would you do me the honor of posing for a photo with me, <player>?"

- Ingo, PLA, at the Photography Studio

Ingo has been in Hisui for XX years - CANON

The art book uses the placeholder XX for the amount of time Ingo has been in Hisui. Some have taken the double digits to mean 10+, however the first digit could easily be a 0. So, we still don't know. Net 0 information.

Emmet must be taking Ingo vanishing badly - FANON

We have not heard from Emmet.

***

That's all for now! I'm sure I've missed or forgotten something, feel free to add stuff in the reblogs! I might edit the list later to add more if needed.

[inbarfink]

So when I wrote down that Big Undertale Meta Post about how Sans probably doesn’t remember RESETs at all and why that’s cool - I got a lot of responses to the tune of ‘that’s probably canon but I’m still gonna enjoy Sans Remember fics because of the angst’. And, well... first I want to emphasize that those are very good and correct responses! Like ‘I acknowledge might or might not be in the text but I am also gonna explore alternative ideas Because I Enjoy Them’ is a Good Damn Position to have! Transformative Fandom is Transformative on purpose! Engage with the text and it’s various analyses but don’t let it chain your creativity or fun!

It’s just that… all of the people saying that they prefer Sans Remembering ‘for the Angst’ make me think that maybe folks are kinda ignoring the incredible angst potential of Sans NOT remembering.

My original post focused on how cool it is that Sans manages to be so on-top-of-things even though he doesn’t remember anything - but let’s not ignore the fact that this situation is also grim as shit.

Through some mysterious super-science or whatever, Sans has managed to discover that his timeline is being RESET and altered constantly (before the Player came along, Flowey had already managed to basically 100% the entire Underground) and he has no memory of what's going on and what exactly is being altered. 

He knows he might’ve gone through the same day over and over and over again thousand times but he’s simply not aware of it. It’s all the helplessness and lack of forward momentum of a classic timeloop and none of the benefits of memorizing occurrences or acquiring extra information. That’s exactly the thing that drove him into his depressive spiral.

That line always strikes me. It’s like… Sans suspects that without the meddling of capricious immortal time gods, he’d be a much happier and motivated person. But he doesn’t know for sure, because he can’t remember how he was in some distant ‘original timeline’. He is essentially fighting to avenge a version of himself that might not even be real.

Like, yes, it is very impressive and badass how well Sans trained himself to notice every tiny little hint that might indicate that a RESET happened - but it’s impressive because the deck is stacked so heavily against him. And it is very impressive and badass how Sans managed to turn his weaknesses into strengths during his Boss Battle - but it’s impressive because these are usually huge weaknesses. Trying to work to solve a timeloop that you can only infer is going on through context clues is quite a hopeless and desperate mission!

Another bit in the Sans fight that I often think about is his unique reaction if you kill him and then RESET to Fight him again.

With how skilled he is at reading expressions, Sans probably knows what that ‘weird expression’ means, he knows the Player killed him once before and is here to try again. And yet he still goes along with the same attack plan he has, the one he knows killed him in that previous timeline. Why? Because he doesn’t know where the flaw in his plan was exactly, he can’t even begin to guess. So he has no choice but to go along with the plan he knows did kill him, because that’s the only thing he has. 

You know, the thing about Sans, is that he always plays his cards very close to his chest. It’s very hard to tell what exactly he’s thinking. That’s probably why so many people do believe he remembers RESET. If any non-Flowey character remembered RESETs, only Sans would be remotely able to hide it so well. But for me? It makes me wonder how much of his Troll who Knows Too Much persona is a bit of an act as well. 

You know, Sans’ deduction requires some keen observational skills - does he ever second-guess his conclusions? Living on constant high-alert that something has been reversed or that someone knows something they shouldn’t requires fostering a lot of paranoia, and that can’t be healthy for him. Is he ever overcome with doubt on whatever something was really an indication of a timeline RESET or not? How does he feel when he realizes something horrible happened on a previous timeline (for example, his brother dying) but he doesn’t know about the context to feel sure that he can stop it from happening again? 

I also think about it in terms of his relationship to Papyrus in general. Sans tends to hide so many things from Papyrus, especially in timelines where the Player is particularly kill-happy...

In part it’s about his perception that Papyrus’ kindness and pacifism is born from naïveté and thus the only way to preserve it is to hide the cruelty and harshness of the world from him (Undyne also does that). But also, with the paranoia and helplessness Sans lives in every day - is it any wonder that he might believe that ignorance is bliss?

I do truly think it’s beautiful how fandom can experiment with cool non-canon ideas! There are probably so many great emotional angsty ideas tied up to Sans remembering RESETs! I just feel it’ll be a shame if people ignore just how dire and depressing Sans’ canon situation also is!

[sleepingdeath-light]

comforting his s/o during their period hcs ; haku

requested by ; anonymous (23/02/23)

fandom(s) ; spirited away / studio ghibli films

fandom masterlist(s) ; here

character(s) ; haku

outline ; “hii! im a new blog on tumblr, and i really love studio ghibli! :D this is my first request- and so could i request howl, haku, and san comforting reader who's on her period ! ty <3”

note ; changed this from a fem reader to a gender neutral reader so that anyone who has periods can read this

warning(s) ; none, just fluff!

despite his youthful appearance, haku is an incredibly old spirit who has undoubtedly seen and known plenty of mortals in his time — which, naturally, includes passively gaining a decent understanding of periods, symptoms, and what the humans who lived locally to his river did to soothe those symptoms

all of that to say, he’s more than willing and prepared to help take care of you during the roughest part of your cycle — just say the word and he’ll fetch whatever you need (or, if he’s too busy to skip his duties under yubaba, he’ll ask one of the women he works with to go and look after you on his behalf)

of course he asks you personally what you know helps you cope with your period — he’s not the type of guy who is put off or embarrassed by that sort of thing — but he’ll also ask around the maids and female attendants to figure out what sort of remedies are actually available in the bathhouse and what he can use as a substitute for your usual methods from back in the mortal world

if your blood ends up leaking out and onto your shared bedding, your clothing, or his, he won’t make a big deal out of it: politely and privately pointing it out, sending you off to clean up, and taking the stained items off to be cleaned either by himself or by someone else at the bathhouse if, again, he’s too busy to properly tend to you

and he won’t hear a word about you being embarrassed or apologising to him, instead just giving you that smile of his as he laughs and insists that it really isn’t a bother and you have nothing to worry about — it’s a natural process, after all, and if you have to suffer through all of those symptoms then it’s the least he can do to make everything else easier for you

and on top of that he’s more than happy to offer more direct help with your pain: massaging away any aches or pains, offering reassurances and affection whenever hormone-fuelled doubt slips in, making sure you’re fully stocked with whatever you use to contain your bleeding (e.g. pads, tampons, etc.), bringing you teas and potions to help soothe any pain, cuddling with you until you fall asleep, and fetching you any foods you might be craving

he also leverages his position and reputation at the bathhouse to make sure you’re not being worked too hard or stressed out during your period — he knows you’re more than capable of handling yourself, but he does tend to become something of a ‘mother-hen’ whenever you’re even slightly unwell, and your period and the symptoms surrounding it activate that side of him far more than he would care to admit

[roboj0e]

Wade would bully Peter bc someone said he would and wrote it happening and bc y'all are so boring and annoying. Fanfiction isn't about what's canon or strictly in character thats why they're called transformative works. I think y'alls weird obsession with what's cannon while also trying to heavily police what and how ppl make fiction is honestly been the death of fandom and creativity.

There hasn't been a large scale cross over in fandom in years that either wasn't completely ironic or torn down by bullies that it fizzled out bc y'all don't know how to have fun. Even that recent debate over how sans would react to his brother death is further proof of y'all's lack of understanding of interpretation and fan works. Fanwork are supposed to exist in the reality of the fiction of the person who wrote it. NOT what IS the right interpretation bc there are NO right interpretation except for what is made canon which can be anything bc WE aren't the creators.

Who cares what happens in the comics. The comic themselves don't care what happens in other comic runs unless it's specifically meant to be a spin off/continuation.

Wade is SUPPOSED to be a morally ambiguous character. I know y'all have washed him of all the ambiguity bc ppl have told you that how ur supposed to approach fiction and y'all can not perceive a protag who might not be the best person who ur also NOT supposed to hate (god forbid a protag not have Jesus adjacent morality) but thats what he is. He'll do whatever anyone wrote him doing bc he's not real and also anything thats morally ambiguous or toxic bc that's one of his character traits and what was supposed to set him apparent from other heros he's not even a hero he's an antihero. I can not believe y'all are moralizing something as tame as bullying. Bullies making up with their victims happens in DISNEY movies now y'all tryna make that into some problematic take. OMG. And this is from someone who WAS bullied briefly until I learned how to fight and stand up for myself.

Thinking that someone who romanticizes something morally wrong couldn't have possibly been through that experience is the direct antithesis of fiction. It also makes no sense. Plenty of ppl write from experience but also sometimes turning it into a story in which they control how they interact with a bully does A LOT FOR REGAIN CONTROL OF THOSE NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES. STOP TRYING TO SUS OUT WHO HAS TRAUMA OR NOT. also STOP thinking that you are an authority of certain traumatic experiences you aren't every experiences are very VERY personal and the portrayal of those experiences should have NOTHING to do with yours bc there is NO way to encapsulate all lived experiences. And even if someone hasn't been bullied who cares again decenter yourself from a fictional scenario that should in now way be a representation of you bc u are not the center of the universe.

(THIS SECTION UNDERNEATH IS MY HEAD CANON U DONT HAVE TO TELL ME U DONT LIKE AGE GAPS IDC)

Secondly wade only wouldnt bully Peter TO ME bc I'm not a teenager in highschool like some of y'all and highschool fics don't interest me and wade to me shouldne even be in highschool and always be the much older one in the dynamic. They shouldnt even be near the same age for me. But whatever floats ur boat. You can do whatever you wan't but when y'all make these long posts telling OTHER ppl what they can and can't do OR how you think YOUR interpretation of the character is the most right your crossing a line frl.

Edit: I read both Deadpool and spiderman comics btw plus the very wonderful spiderman/Deadpool run. GASP I know someone who likes the source material but doesn't adhere strictly to it bc I actually have an imagination and like to have fun instead of kissing marvels feet and remaining in a narrow interpretation of a character. A rare breed I guess.

Edit edit: I also think alot of y'all have a very romcom take on spideypool. And thats definitely fine love my fair share of fluff. But I have a much more complicated take on them. Again I think an age gap compliments these complications. It adds to an imbalanced perspective of both of them towards each other. I'm also very uninterested in a spideypool that grow healthy together or peter "fixing" wade. I want them to overcomplicate their relationship but for it to also be a healthy balance of comedic and fun and hot monkey sex that keeps them interested in a less than perfect relationship. A sorta push and pull from both sides.

[ladybyakuya]

| SWOON + NATSUKI SEBA .

+cw.—f!reader, canon-typical elements and themes, borderline yan themes, explic!t smūt, s/d dynamics + s/m themes, voice k!nk, strength k!nk, edging, use of sex toy ( vibrator ), orgasm denial,dubcon, begging, sub!space + sub!drop, praising, dacryphillia, aftercare

+wc.—2.6k

+syn.—Natsuki wanted to do something for you but that did not include hurting you; then, why are you crying ?

+notes. —This has been in my drafts for a few months when i made my debut post to the fandom but it's finally out. ngl the borderline yan behavior was a little hard for me to write given his character profile but i couldn't get that particular scene from my head. you'll see which scene I'm talking about when you get there and if you ended up spotting it please yell in tags / comments.this is also cross posted to ao3 & biker!gaku is my next post tho. | redirect to blog navigation.

Your relationship with Natsuki is ambiguous at best. You are an assassin. He is a weapon engineer. That is how things started between you two. You still remember the first time he asked you to volunteer for a test run for a particular weapon he made all by himself. He was so nonchalant as well as so tactless that it made you dismiss it. But you caved in eventually because he constantly kept nagging. He had the privilege to do so since you practically lived under the same roof as him, and ran into each other so many times throughout the whole day, making it impossible for you to avoid him.

“This is not going to be a habit,” you mentioned when you first volunteered and he just nodded. You swear you saw him laugh when he turned while nodding or could it be your imagination? 

Somehow this thin layer between being a test subject for his newly invented devices and batchmate diluted to the point that now he is testing you, your patience, and your sanity without using any of his newfound devices. You can not pinpoint when it all started, the dilution of such a boundary. A boundary that you dared not to cross with him. A boundary that you drew with the sole purpose of ceasing all sorts of expansion of his relationship with you. It was for him: to keep him out, not for you, and it failed to keep you safe yet it managed to shock you  whereas the mere existence of such a boundary tempted Natsuki enough to explore it, blur it, erase it, little by little until there was no trace of it.

Now, you are sitting on his lap legs sprawled apart to be as close to him as you can afford. He has both of your arms held under a tight grip keeping them at the valley of your waist. 

“Comfortable?” he asks, his lips grazing underneath your ear over your cheek ever so slightly as he inclines to check his grip on you. You give him a hum as a response. With his free hand, he pushes a hard bulb inside your pussy. You know what it is, a pleasuring toy, a vibrator but with your knowledge you considered it quite small. 

Seba-san said he wanted to surprise you with something. You have been so good to him, so helpful with his work, and needless to say so patient with him that he wants to do something for you; something that will make you content and happy, maybe wanting more of his surprises and thereby be dedicated to continue working with him on a pro-bono basis. 

What could be more rewarding for you than making you cum? That too for the first time? He heard you once. Talking about it to Shin, saying how you always had to take care of yourself. How nobody bothered enough to make you cum! Always busy with just getting themselves off first. Natsuki practically felt his body shiver. You have never orgasmed before? That's hard to believe. How could such no one make you cum with a face like that? So pretty, so expressive. Moreover, he knows— he is aware of it that he can achieve this feat, oh dear the range of pleasure he could provide you— makes it hard for him to think it through.

Natsuki turns on the vibrator and the intensity has already swept away all your attention from the surroundings channeling it all onto him. “Is that the highest bar?” One of his eyebrows stretches upwards. So, you want more. . .? Is this too little for you, dear? Natsuki does not give you an answer but increases the intensity just one more bar making your lips curl inwards. You tip your head down, let your eyelids fall and your vision goes dark for a second. The sound of vibration reaches your ear. He increases one more bar and it just threatens you to hold on to something, anything. 

Looking up you let out a wry awkward chuckle followed by a heavy gasp you ask, “Are there more?” Natsuki’s eyebrows pinch a little and then go back to normal.

“Yes.” His voice is low, raspy, and impatient. You try to loosen his grip but he is strong. You feel his grip on your wrist tightens further. “Three more buttons.” By now your legs have encapsulated his torso yet the urge to move your hips against his lower half does not go away. You do not want this sensation to stop either, just a little toned down but saying that might not give you the result you want.

Natsuki is not doing any better though. The choice of your clothing is bothering him, hindering him from studying you properly. He should have thought of that, perhaps buying you an outfit that would not expose your excited state too ludicrously. Honestly, he is holding back the urge to put his mouth on one of your nipples and suckle on it over the cloth. He can see it properly, your buttoned nipples. Do they match the color of your lips? 

You have started to whimper, just a little though like a wounded cat but that is not the sound he wanted to hear. He increases the intensity by another progression and your forehead rests on his shoulder sniveling. You are in desperate need of distraction. You just can not let him see you like this, crumble like a house of cards. You refuse to give him a glimpse of such an intimate moment. Not to mention it will be your first time too.

“You are so impressive.” Natsuki opined, placing a chaste kiss on your cheek. “I would not have lasted this long.” He lies. He lies because he knows he will win if you two make a bet to see who lasts longer. Maybe Natsuki should save it for the next session. Turning your head, you glance at him, gasping with your mouth open as he intently watches your eyes glisten with water. “Just one more left. You can do this. I think—he pauses to glance at your lips for a second. “I believe you really can if you try,” he soaks his lips by running the tip of his tongue in a quick swipe.

It's obviously tempting. You lean for a kiss but he sways his upper body away. Ah! The hurt in your eyes. The shock. The frustration. The anger. This is what he wanted to witness: the downfall of your tranquil demeanor that you always carry with you in each step. He increases the intensity to the fullest making you close your eyes. The way you are whimpering and breathing could easily be mistaken as the sound of a dying creature. His is hard but that does not bother him as much if he can see the tears rolling down your cheeks as you arch your body. There are beads of perspiration over your forehead, and chest a little bit on your face and hands.

“Stop.” you welp. “Make it stop.” Natsuki keeps the remote aside on the table, running the tip of his index finger over his bottom lip rashly.

“Why do you want to stop? You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” He brushes his fingers against your cunt over the cloth making you jump releasing a hiss of pleasure. “Look. You are so wet.” Even after touching you through the cloth, his fingers are so sticky. He stretches his fingers revealing the strings of your arousal and glances at you. You can barely hold back your tears. You can not figure out if those are tears of pleasure or the embarrassment seeping into you as he licks his slick fingers staring right into your eyes.

“Then, at least leave my hands.” You say huffing it out with a pained sob then, start to cry making him go silent for a few seconds. He probably forgets to breathe until your whimpers start to get elongated, louder and finally turn into lewd cries of pleasure. This is a pleasure, yeah! It definitely is. He does not know what pleasure would look like on your face. So, he assumes it; even fantasizes about it a couple of times.

“No, that I can’t do.” He whispers but a mumble reaches to your ears. “But I can do this,” He states, taking his free hand behind you and interlacing his fingers with yours. It relaxes your strained muscles. He still kept his grip tightened while filling the gaps of your fingers with his not giving you even a bleak chance to free your hand. 

Now his face is closer to yours but you know better than to pursue the desire of putting your lips on his. He rests his chin just at the advent of your cleavage on your chest watching you as you start to twist and turn your body, buck your hips. Your feet stretch out as farther it can as the wave finally stops hitting the shore. The way you inhaled through your mouth and then exhaled it felt like you were about to puke. Natsuki was the first to question, “What just happened? I didn't…

“Why did you stop?” 

“I didn’t.”  Is he lying? Is this fun to him? Tormenting you to the point of ruin. Natsuki can see your lips droop like the wilting petals of a flower, eyebrows growing closer to each other. You roll your bottom lip inside your mouth unable to take it anymore, feeling a wave of sorrow building inside your ribs. But you do not feel Natsuki’s hand anymore. So, without wasting any further seconds to got out of his clutches and ran towards the bathroom. Natsuki follows without thinking anything only to be met with the chocolate of the wood. 

As soon as you bolt the door of the bathroom it all comes crashing down— flashes of his face when he was touching you, looking too fondly than he should, pushing your limits, and making you cum. You could not help but feel the guilt of it all since it was truly your fault all along. You could have said no and he would have listened. He is not that cruel. No. Never that cruel to you but you gave in because you were curious too. You were eager to know how it would feel to orgasm, to be touched so fondly and full of desire. And, you saw that desire in his eyes: that greedy lustful desire but you were wrong to think that you could contain it all in. Now it is oozing out of you, out of him. This realization that came so suddenly and so strongly which has been dormant for years, perhaps when you started frequenting his room often after being his mock-up weapon tester lets another wave of misery wash over you. Does he like you back the way you like him?

“I’m sorry.” You hear Natsuki’s voice. It is faded but you hear it, his breathing too. “I’m sorry.” Then again, “I’m sorry. . .I’m sorry. I— I will never do this again.”

“You don’t know that.”  You shout from the inside of the bathroom, your voice hitting the walls howls back at you, and then you gasp before finally breaking into a sob. It hurts. It pains. It aches. It agonizes you to think of anything or even touch yourself to release that piled up pressure in you. You feel as if there was no spark fiery enough to create wildfire in your body. All those hook-ups and bad dates that ended up with you being used as a thing to get off . . . they are all coming back to you now . . .maybe it's you. . .maybe it's you who can’t cum and that is why they did what they craved: took care of themselves with your help.

Natsuki can hear you; your faint sob coming through the locked thick wooden door as he stands leaning his head on it. He knows saying sorry no matter how many times would be useless now but he still wanted to say it because it was never his intention to hurt you like this. He just wanted to see your pleasure and push you to the high end of your limits, show you something so strong, so impactful that every time you would touch yourself you would think of him, so every time you ever think of going out with another guy you would think of him. As Natsuki’s head rests on the wooden door he draws lazy patterns on the doors while waiting for you to come out. 

It has been over half an hour. Natsuki does not mind standing even though you have not replied. But one thing has changed you have stopped crying. He can not hear your sobs anymore. He finally sits on the ground hearing something from the other side, his face still facing the door. He is waiting for you to come out, and see your face.

“Natsu, are you still there?” Your voice is murky. It wobbles as you speak more.

“Yes. yes. Of course. Am still here. Still here.” Natuski hears the lock of the door open with a click but you wait before pulling the door inside the bathroom to open it. You see Natsuki flopped on the floor, legs one of the other loosely placed with his headphones still as it was.

“Congrats. You broke the vibrator.” That was the first thing he could say when he saw you, your red swollen eyes. You are drenched from head to toe, water dripping on the floor as Natuski is forced to remember certain days when you would come home like this. Is this your coping mechanism?

“What?”

“Well. It was my fault too . . .” his eyes pull away from you as he confesses. He can’t think of anything other than being near you. He does not want you to watch you fall apart. If you do, he will be there to pick up the pieces and build Rome again. He knows it’ll be different Rome, he knows that but still worth a try. “Shall we go eat something? You must be hungry.” 

“Nah!” you walk past him, fully drenched looking for a towel. You appreciate his sentiment, you really do but right now you do not want those pair of eyes to look at you. Natsuki gets up and walks up to you holding you by your upper arm and jerking you towards himself. You do not protest much. You are tough. You can handle it when he is rough with you but lust and desire are oozing out of you. It’s hard to just watch and not do anything about it, about the spill. 

Natsuki cups one of your breasts and you cling to his touch like a branch of a tree reaching out for sunlight. He wets his bottom lip before pressing his thumb over your nipple. It does not take for him to wipe the boundary off that you had put up to keep him away. His lips on yours cascading like waterfall from a mountain,hand tending to your breast while your hands find a way to clamp around his shoulders pulling him into the kiss, dampening his clothes more and more till he squeezes your breasts a little too hard making you come back to reality, pushing him away to breath again. Your shoulders are against his chest now. His grip over your upper arm is still intact. He won’t let you go. He won’t let you go. He won’t.

“If you don’t take care of yourself then I'll be forced to do so.”  Your eyes are so sharp as you swat your head to look at him. 

“Yes.” You murmur and glance at his lips. “Yes. Yes. ‘course.” You lean towards him a little saying, “I’m hungry, very much hungry.” as your lips clash against his again.

[the-ace-with-spades]

There's one fic idea from another fandom that I never wrote and would like to adapt to the TGM fandom, which is tattoo artist/florist but more like they're both tattoo artists but one of them doesn't know that (have I mentioned this before? i feel like I did)

tw: mentions of addiction and ODing

I'm thinking this happens in San Fran/Portland/Settle/Washington DC

Bradley had his papers pulled and accidentally started working part-time in a tattoo shop (just cleaning) and absolutely fell in love with tattoo art and switched majors from engineering to art history/etc. in his second semester. Not long after he started an apprenticeship at the same tattoo shop, his thesis was about tattoo art history and he became a well-known academic in the field and a popular tattoo artist.

Carole used to love flowers and had a very varied garden at their house and flower illustrations everywhere - Bradley used to draw flowers on every card for her - so flowers became his specialty

He now runs a tattoo shop (The Bloom) with Natasha, who he met at a tattoo competition TV show (because I'm a sucker for reality shows rn...) and flies as a side gig, but he also has part-time gigs at different colleges.

He is tattooed all over, but only on the parts of his body he can cover in some ways - it's really funny when he lectures because he looks like a stereotypical professor, cardigans, collared shirts, khakis and all, but sometimes when it's hot, he rolls up his sleeves and people can see his full-sleeve tattoos.

Now, Jake had a completely different route to the place he is at now. He got mixed with the wrong crowd and got kicked out of the Naval Academy first year, he got mixed with an even worse crowd when his family didn't take him back when he returned and he was an addict for some time. He had one of those born-again christian turn arounds - not in a super fanatic way, just woke up one day in a hospital after a close call with his (religious) crying mom praying with a rosary over him and realized he needed to change something about his life or he's going to destroy everyone around him. He starts going to church with his ma and gets a little involved in the local Christian charity, etc etc.

One of the therapies he attended was art therapy and at first, he thought it was bullshit but then he actually liked it and even designed some of his own tattoo cover-ups at the sessions (he had shitty tattoos he had done when he was high or drunk that reminded him about worse times). The tattoo artist who did his coverups was actually impressed and offered him training, which he took up.

Most of his shittiest tattoos are covered now, but he still has not very thought-through tattoos on his face, some of which are too big to ever do much about them, and some blackout tattoos, so he looks very 'stereotypically'.

Due to his background, cover-ups, black only, and trad/neo-trad tatttos are his specialty. He is also really good at pigmentation and tattoo restoration/longevity.

Now, Jake moves out of Texas with his mom after his dad (who has been completely unsupportive of him since he got kicked out of USNA) passed away, to be closer to his sister and her kids who lived on the other side of the states. He filters around, taking part-time gigs at other studios and gigs he gets from social media.

Eventually, he opens a tattoo shop with Javy, on the other side of the street as The Bloom is. Due to the amount of flowers and the name of the studio, he assumes it's a flower shop.

He and Bradley run into each other in a local coffee shop (run by Reuben and Mickey) and Jake, seeing Bradley's getup, is still under the impression Bradley is a florist.

Bradley spills Jake's coffee and asks him on a date when he pays back for his coffee a few days later

(Bob, working a street away, is the actual local florist)

[n3ptoonz]

'Permission'

Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw/F!Reader

Fandom: Top Gun: Maverick

Warnings/tags: Smut; Explicit, reader is a captain, from virginia, and an admiral's daughter, power dynamic, use of ma'am/captain, rough sx, reader's call sign is "raptor", dialogue heavy, thigh fucking, alternating between names and call signs on purpose

Word count: 3.2k+

Two months ago you were going through a long transfer process. It only took forever for you to finally get the call to be set at one specific station. One would think that being the kid of an admiral would make the process quicker but they're wrong. Apparently the scheduling kept moving around and there was some big mission going on overseas on the west coast, you were supposed to be Captain of that mission but they had to quickly call in someone far more experienced than you. Must have been dire, you think to yourself.

In retrospect, it was worth it because now you were being introduced to the Dagger squad by the very man your dad constantly droned on about even though they didn't even work for the same station. It's pretty funny to you that word travels fast even if it is coast to coast. You loved Virginia, but damn you could use some new scenery.

Let's back up a little bit, this isn't really your first introduction to the Dagger squad. When you first arrived to San Diego a few days prior you had heard about a bar that the aviators go to hang out and relax before missions. Though you didn't anticipate this beaming heat, already forgetting where you were; feeling a little overdressed in your leather jacket and jeans, the heat in the bar didn't make it any better. At least you had on a plain white tee underneath.

"You're new." you hear a man say behind you at the bar. You placed your beer down and swiveled the stool you were sitting on to face him in curiosity. He was already smiling at you with some unbelievably white teeth. From his face alone he looked like a cocky guy that thinks he could get any woman to swoon over that grin.

You almost did. Almost

"You're observant." you reply, sounding a little drier than you intended. You reached out your hand to shake his and said your name to clear the air a bit. He chuckles to himself and introduces himself too with a firm handshake. Jake Seresin.

"I meant more to this city. You don't look like a Cali native. I get that feeling since I'm also not. Let me guess..." he squints at you before huffing and folding his arms dramatically, bringing a finger up to his chin. "East coast."

"Impressive." you nodded, "What gave it away?"

"Well, It's 5 in the afternoon on the hottest day of the week and you're wearing a leather jacket with jeans." he said, taking a swig. "When you live here long enough you track things like this to avoid the inevitable heatstroke."

"Inevitable?" you inquired.

"Yeah, I mean it just gets so hot that ya just wanna take your clothes off. Not my rules." he puts his hands up on feigned defense, and in your peripheral vision you spot another guy walking up behind him as he peers over his should.

"Is this man bothering you, ma'am?" he says with a stern look but it was quite obvious he's hiding a smile--if you didn't blink, you could see his mustache twitch. You lightly chuckle at Jake's expression dropping at the guy's presence before waving it off dismissively.

"We were just having a chat."

"Yeah, Bradshaw. Why don't you go over there and feel like you can win at something for once?" Jake says turning to him and pointing at the pool table, flashing a very fake flashy smile at him. When you looked over you saw a lot more people over there joking around and getting frustrated over pool.

Bradshaw, huh.

The man poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue at Jake before visibly looking like he's decided against getting into it with him. You had a feeling it was because you were watching. He turned to you and pushed past Jake to do a playful bow, his forearm meeting his torso before lowering his head.

"Bradley Bradshaw at your service." he chimes and looks up at you with a cheeky smile before standing to his full height. You were about to say something when the nice bartender lady, Penny, leaned on the bar counter next to you and told them to scram. Both looking like scolded kids, they went to head off when Bradley looked over his shoulder to wink with a smile and walking off. You swiveled your stool back towards her with a smile in acknowledgment.

"Aviators." she mused before sighing and patting your hand twice, heading back over to the waiting customers.

-

"This is your Captain for this mission. She is an esteemed officer with a hell of a reputation to uphold and credentials to showcase. She is the perfect fit for this mission since she specializes in communications from the ground, as this mission has much to do with which 4 pilots can stop these three underground plants from exploding. Her call sign is 'Raptor.'" Pete says with a faint smile, almost like a proud dad before stepping back and offering you the podium to give more details.

As you stepped up you got a good view of everyone's expression looking vastly different for different reasons. Hangman pinched his nose before sighing and looking up at you, he couldn't believe he didn't ask who you were that day...which was literally yesterday. Rooster tried to keep that same serious expression again, but damn it he couldn't be anymore obvious he wanted to laugh. The others shared glances with each other and back at the two. They must've caught hell on the way back to pool.

"Thank you, Maverick." you nodded towards him. "I have heard a lot about you guys, but we are going to need just four people in the air; two planes." you stated and turned to pull up a map on the screen behind you. "As mentioned before there are three plants close to this city, but not so close that flying over it would disturb it. The only thing that would, would be the actual explosion. From the collected data, it has a radius of 4 klicks in every direction."

"Captain?"

You turned your head to see Rooster with his index finger up after stating your title.

"Lieutenant." you ackowledged him and gestured for him to continue. After reading their files you know already know all there is to know, including call signs. But he didn't call you Raptor.

"How will you determine who goes in the air? Since this requires four pilots at most-"

"I was getting to that." you said. Your expression couldn't get any more flat if you wanted to. It wasn't on purpose, you just do hate being interrupted. Especially during a debriefing.

"Apologies, Captain." he cleared his throat and adjusted in his seat.

You gave a small nod before going over the rest in complete detail so there was no confusion. You did accept a few more questions, but once that was over they were dismissed and headed towards the planes. Fixing your stack of papers you just caught Rooster looking at you again at the very last second over his shoulder. Although you did want to see what this was about before anything else continued without knowing what was going on.

"Rooster." you called out to him before he left out the door. Stopping in his tracks he shamelessly watched you walk over to him. The closer you got he tensed up and stood there at attention.

"Am I going to be a distraction to you?"

"...Permission to speak freely?" he asked with a hint of mischief in his voice. So much for stern expressions.

"Granted."

"Absolutely." he stated. He took a pause and saw you didn't find that very funny, blank stare and all. "Um, no. No distractions here, ma'am. Uh, Captain...Raptor, ma'am." he cleared his throat and sniffed, still looking away from you.

"Are you sure? Because if you're not fit for this mission-"

"No distractions here, ma'am."

You nodded and patted his shoulder. "Good." you say and walk past him. "As you were." you called out, hearing him sigh from inside the room.

-

Two, long hours of frustration, bickering between the pilots, and losing count of whoever got how many push ups later, you came outside to hand out waters. Even if you were slightly annoyed you still had to build trust with this new squad you've been assigned to. It was Hangman, Bob, Coyote, and Rooster doing their last 35 push ups as the others drearily went back inside for some cold air and to feel their limbs again.

"15 more to go, boys." you said cradling the i've cold water bottles in your arms. In all honesty they wanted to collapse when it was over, but now that a woman has arrived that was out of the question. They all just slowly stood up in collective pained grunts and took the water, Bob being the only one that said thanks before downing it.

You had to admit... watching Rooster's fitted black shirt stretch against his tanned, sweat-glistened biceps during and after those push ups played in loop at the forefront of your brain from the time you came out here to now. The sheer determination on his face to get that shit over with...hm.

Were you really going to risk your career for a tall, hot, sun kissed man that could probably be wanting to sleep with you so he can get an advantage? Absolutely no-

"Do you like pizza?" Rooster's voice--though a bit out of breath--cut through your thoughts like a freshly sharpened knife.

"From time to time. Why?"

He shifts his movements before glancing at the entrance, seeing the other pilots mocking him in the door.

"Perhaps when this week is over-"

"Are you about to ask me out on a date?"

He nods slightly, "Maybe I am."

"Lieutenant."

He took a pause and quirked his head with a small smile. "Yes, I am."

"Bold." you said. "Real bold." you crossed your arms and turned to the door, seeing the others scrambling to get back inside. Heading towards the door you could almost feel him about to say something,

"My office. Two hours."

"You have an office?" he asked with that same damn cheeky smile present in his words, you didn't even need to turn around.

"Three hours."

"Okay, okay, I'm so-" he groaned in frustration. Bad and good. You used your title to your advantage and he just found that so-

-

"Hot." he muttered under his breath.

"I'm sorry?" you leaned forward in your chair onto your file-cluttered desk.

He opened and closed his mouth trying to recollect the conversation. "Sorry, what was the question?"

"I asked you, besides yourself, who you think could be fit for this mission." you cocked your head in confusion. "Are you distracted, Rooster?"

"No, ma'am."

"Then answer the question."

"Can't really say. It's a good amount of us who have exceptional abilities. And Hangman." he said. One of the few times he sounded dead ass serious.

"But if you had to pick..." you pressed. You were going to take his words with a grain of salt. This was a test. Over the last three hours you did the same thing with everybody else and ordered them not to tell anybody.

"If I had to pick," he mused, "Besides me, Phoenix, Bob, Payback, Fanboy."

"Hm, okay, thank you." you immediately started filling in notes again.

"Um," he muttered, "You never gave me an answer earlier," you looked up at him, "ma'am."

You placed your pen down, standing up from your chair and rounding the desk until you were standing in front of him.

"I have been here for all about a week and you are already trying to make moves on me. I could write you up."

"Will you," he says now looking at you. "Captain?"

The sound of his voice uttering your rank at such a register with intent and a taste of rasp made your jaw clench.

"Should I?" you dared.

"I think you would've already." he challenged.

You hum at that sentiment and head back to your chair. "Yes." you say while writing notes again.

"Sorry?"

"I like pizza and I will go on a date with you." you said as you kept writing. "Do not think this gives you any advantages over anyone else. Because it surely will not."

"If you have a bad time." he says, but his smirk quickly falling upon seeing your unamused expression once again.

"No adavantages, noted."

-

The date went well. It was a nice, fun evening of drinking, eating, dancing, flirting, Bradley occastionally saying "Ma'am" just to get your reaction. The way you kept playfully scolding him when he would act all proper around you ran circles around his mind. Your pencil khaki skirt that was just above the knees bunching up around your thighs with every movement. He wanted to get you out of here as quick as possible.

But at the end of the day, he is still a gentleman. Even if he is strong enough to pick you up against the closest wall and have his way with you.

He offered to take you home since he picked you up from the base. The ride back was relatively quiet but no signs of awkwardness. Just soft jazz buzzing quietly on the radio.

Upon arrival he decided against walking you to your door just in case and not cross any boundaries. You were still his superior, and who was he to think he could sleep with you? He presumes you had a good time but that is it. These things take time.

You thanked him for a nice outing and taking you home. Approaching your door you looked over your shoulder as you unlocked it, turning to face forward before slowly walking in and leaving the door open.

Bradley felt his heart leap out of his chest. Is this really happening? You're...letting him in?

In such a short span of time you could hear him parking and nearly teleport to your door. And as soon as you heard it close, he could not get one word in once your lips locked with his. His hands fell right to your hips to pull you closer. Half of him was completely caught off guard, but the other was making that blood flow right to his pants.

Panting softly as he backed away, he glided his hands down your hips and stopped right at the small of your back.

"Permission to speak freely." he said breathlessly. You'd think he ran a mile.

"Denied." you said in a sing-songy, whispery tone against his lips. His lips pulled into a smirk as he did that tongue-in-cheek gesture again.

"Permission to act freely?" his fingers wandered to the hem of your skirt. Your eyes darted to from his lips to his eyes the second you felt his fingers brushing against your bare thigh.

"...Granted." was the only word he needed to hear to pin you to the closest wall, and slide it up just under your ass. You were facing the wall with your hands planted to keep balance. The warmth of his breath and palms gripping and groping you freely made your knees slightly buckle.

"I won't utter a word until you give me the say-so." he whispered against your ear. You could hear his zipper coming undone and shuffling sounds until feeling his warm, throbbing dick in between your thighs. You both inhaled sharply at this. He pulled at the flesh of your upper thighs for easier access and start thrusting himself against your already soaked underwear.

There was something about not fully seeing your naked body but the lewd image of him sliding between your thighs that could make a grown man cry. It didn't help that your shaky sighs and very slight rocking of your hips were becoming more obvious by the second.

His hands went from your hips to his arms wrapping around your waist, back flush to his chest. He was right, he has not uttered a single word this whole time. Which was only like seven minutes but felt like thirty. He only grunted and sighed as he couldn't take his hands off of you, but he needed more. There was a part of you that did want to see if he could cum like this though. The friction was coated in your own fluids of arousal, and you wondered what his cum would look like on your thighs.

You swear for a split second you could hear him whine against your neck. He held you tighter and moments later you felt a warm liquid trickling down your thighs when his hips met yours. His breathed hitched the second he pulled back. Now it was your turn to be cut off by a kiss. He lightly tapped under your thigh so you could straddle him. Once you were hoisted up into his arms your brain was void of all that superior crap, you just needed him to be inside of you within the next five seconds.

"You can speak freely now," your voice just above a whisper and cupping his jaw, "Lieutenant."

"Wall or chair?" he asked, his tone much more cocky now since you used his rank.

"I gave you permission to act freely, didn't I?"

As if you hadn't said anything but a word, your back met the comfort of the soft living chair next to the couch. After swiftly sliding your underwear off he wasted no time slamming into you and bottoming out, eleciting a choked out and surprised gasp from you.

Both your legs were slung over his shoulder as he went to town and his arms caged you in when his hands gripped both arm chairs. He huffed with every stroke and tried to keep his composure, but you were so wet and nearly slippery he could die smiling.

One glance at your pleasure-contorted face made his movements stutter. You bit your fist to stop yourself from letting the entire neighborhood know what was going on at exactly midnight.

"You close?" his hoarse voice woke you from whatever haze you were falling under. You nodded lazily and whined, now gripping the pillow behind you.

"Are you?" you asked and moved one of your legs to his other shoulder so he could come closer to you.

"Not without your permission." he whispered against your lips, stilling his movements just enough to kiss your g spot. You cursed at the feeling and caressed his cheekbone.

"We will cum together." you said with a kiss, quickly broken when he somehow fucked into you deeper than before. Not even five pumps in you both reached climax. Bradley pulled out just time and made sure to lift your shirt and make a mess on your stomach. You on the other hand were trembling for a few moments before you felt your muscles relax finally.

He carefully peeled himself off of you and helped you stand up, holding your hips for support.

"You sure I won't get an advantages after all this?" he playfully asked. Almost instant teasing regret hits him the second the question comes out his mouth.

"...Denied."

[notfreetoday]

My Personal Weatherman Ep 1 Subtitle Corrections

So I've been analysing the way MPW uses language to showcase the dynamic between Segasaki and Yoh - something that I suspect is not quite coming through with the English subs - and decided to watch Ep 1-3 again, with Eng subs this time. I am now going to complain about some of the subtitle and translation choices and edit them way too literally because I'm nerdy like that.

Disclaimer: Everyone translates differently for different audiences. This is not meant to disrespect the official translation team in any way because they are subbing for a more general audience and have different pressures, so don't come at me or them for our different priorities. I'm talking to the particular group of viewers who like this show and/or like Japanese and want to go a step further in interacting with the characters. That said, I'm happy to discuss MY translation choices so please feel free to drop in about any line.

Under cut because this GOT REALLY LONG.

I'm translating directly from the Jp, so sometimes my subs differ only slightly - I will lean towards a more literal translation here because that will allow me to explain my language analysis better in a follow up post so some phrasing may be awkward. Big changes/missing info have been italicised and bolded. Explanations of nuances/connotations have been added where I feel they add to the understanding of the character/scene, and the relevant phrase is marked with * in my translation and the Jp.

Ep 1

[S: だから、漫画つずけりゃいいじゃんって　衣食住の金は保証してやるから　おれんとこに来い。んで、その代わり　*俺の言うこと全部聞け]

Original: I said, just keep drawing manga. I’ll take care of your food and lodging *expenses, so come to my place. And in return, you’ll do everything I say.

Mine: I said, *it's fine (for you) to continue (being a) manga (artist). I'll take care of the expenses for your *food, clothing and lodging so, come (live) at my place. And, in exchange for that, (you must) *listen to everything I say.

*This whole paragraph is extremely blunt and direct. Every sentence is worded as an order, and this last line especially - the word "listen" is used here to mean "obey" - so this line really translates to, "in exchange for that, (I want you) to obey my every word". The reason it's not been translated this way is that it sounds so strong it borders on corny in English. In Jp though, the connotation of "obey" comes across not in the words but in the extremely strong/direct delivery of the line (contrasted with the extremely nonchalent tone), so it sounds more shocking/overbearing than it does corny. The original translation here works very well actually.

Technically Segasaki introduces himself here as 気象解説員 (weather forecaster) as opposed to 気象予報士 (meteorologist), but in the show's character bios, and when Man-san talks about him later, he's called a meteorologist anyway, so this difference is of absolutely no importance (I'm just anal like that). FYI, in Japan, all qualified meteorologists (who must pass a national exam) can be forecasters, but not all forecasters have this qualification.

[Y: 明日も雨…か*] Original: More rain tomorrow Mine: There'll be rain again tomorrow, huh? *Said with a falling tone, the "huh" here hints that Yoh is likely a little down/disappointed about the rain continuing, and lays the ground for his reaction later about the rainy season.

[M: 人を沼に召喚しといて　何なの？その態度 S: いや　むしろ　万さんがかなり能動的に突っ込んできた印象しかないんだけど M: ごちゃごちゃうるさい　ややこしいオタクめ S: ごめん　ややこしくて]

Original: M: Why summon someone into your otaku pit and act like that? Y: No, it’s more like you actively intrude into my life M: You’re being noisy and complicated, you complicated otaku Y: Sorry for being complicated…

Mine: M: (You’re the one who) dragged me into this fandom, (so) what’s with that attitude? Y: No, on the contrary, I have the distinct impression that it was you, Man-san, who pretty much jumped right in of your own volition M: (You’re) babbling nonsense (you) troublesome otaku Y: Sorry for being troublesome

[S: めし　なに？ Y: あ、しょーしょうがやき]

Original: S: What do you want for dinner? Y: Stir-fried ginger

Mine: S: What's for dinner? Y: Sho-shogayaki

Shogayaki is a style of cooking meat, usually pork, where you stir fry the meat with ginger. Unless the type of meat is specified, it refers to Pork Stir Fried with Ginger, or Ginger Pork Stir Fry. Very common home cooked dish.

[S: あ、そ] (A, so?) S: Oh, is that so?

"I see" is a totally ok translation too. "A, so" can mean "Oh I see" or "Oh is that right" or "Oh is that so" etcetc but it has the air of a really bored "Oh, really?/Sure/If you say so" This is why Yoh's reaction after this is "if you aren't interested then don't ask!". This is the first of many times that Segasaki will use this phrase, as we will see in the following episodes, so I'm highlighting it here for now.

No translation issues here - but I just want to point out that it's reeaaally difficult to make tasteless shogayaki hahaha If you've had ginger stir fried in anything you'll know - it's not a meek herb at all. Canonically, Yoh is apparently a really bad cook. This will be pointed out again later, when he makes curry, because again, it's gotta be some kind of talent to make bland japanese curry; it's r*eeeeaally *easy. Anyway, the sauce that Segasaki asks for here is Soy Sauce, which is different from the sauce that he asks for later! Seems like a few people think they're the same thing (also pay attention to the sauce rack position here - Yoh'll will move it closer to himself by their next dinner hahaha)

[Y: ちかいんだよ、いちいち*] Y: He (leans in) so close, every (damn) time*!

*Not sure if this comes across, but the word for "every time" here is usually associated with slight annoyance, but the way "close" is said here implies Yoh's a little bashful about it.

[Y: 雨、多いな*] (ame, ooi *na...) Y: Rain...so much of it*

*This has the same feel as the "there'll be rain again tomorrow...huh" that we first saw earlier this episode. The ending particle "~na" bakes in a sigh and a sense of disappointment here (if you didn't notice the utter depression on Yoh's face lol)

[S: めし、まだ？] S: Food's not ready yet?

See, you don't notice it with the Eng translations because even the most basic Eng grammar will form a complete sentence. In Jp though, Segasaki is once again taking "man of a few words" to the extreme. He has taken out every single part of the sentence he possibly can whilst still keeping it grammatically complete. So this line is literally just "Food, not yet?". He's done this throughout the episode btw - it's why he comes across as so cold/distant.

[Y: やっぱ　わかんねえよな] Mine: As I thought, he doesn't understand...

[Y: 結局　従ってしまう自分の従順さが憎い*] Original: I hate my obedience, always giving in Mine: In the end, the obedient part of me that always ends up following his orders - I hate* it

*the word used for "hate" here is "nikui" which is different from the word Yoh uses when he says he "hates (dai kirai)" Segasaki. "dai kirai" is simply the opposite of "dai suki" - to really like, so is more accurately "really dislike" than it is "hate" (even though it is frequently translated as such). "Nikui", which is much stronger word, bringing to mind the idea of a "strong rejection of/detest/disgust for" something.

If you didn't already know, the word "embrace" aka "抱く" here is a euphemism for "to sleep with (somebody).

Shoyu = Soy Sauce. Sauce = worcestershire sauce, unless you're in a tonkatsu shop. Then sauce = tonkatsu sauce (which is a slightly different variation). Don't look at me, I don't make the rules.

(This is very long but I'm going to write the whole monologue here)

[Y: 晴れ予報の度に抱かれて 晴れ　なんて単語は　暗いなかで湿っぽく行われる　それとは　ちぐはぐなイメージなのに。。。 まるでやらしい言葉みたいに　頭に刷り込まれていって わかってんのか？　あんたの口から　予報をきいて　どんな気持ちになるか わかんないんだろうな　一生考えもしないだろうな だってあんたは　恋人でもない俺に　平気でこんなことができる]

Original: Every time there’s a sunny forecast, he does it with me The word sunny feels out of place for such activity in a dark and damp room It’s as if it’s such a lewd word being forced into my mind Do you understand, how I feel when I hear that word from your mouth? You probably won’t understand or even think about it for your entire life You have no problem sleeping with someone you’re not even going out with

Mine: (He) embraces (me) every time the forecast is sunny A word like “sunny” … (brings up) a completely different image from that damp, humid activity taking place in the dark And yet (to me) it seems like a lewd, obscene word, searing (the image of) itself into my brain Do you understand? How exactly I feel when I hear the forecast from your mouth? You probably don't understand, do you? Probably won't ever think about it your entire life, right? Because you're able to do this with me, (someone)who isn't even your lover, without any issues at all

This line was ad-libbed btw, if you didn't already know (link leads to Kouhei's 16th Aug IG livestream, and his explanation starts around 07:20 mark) They've talked about this a few times on both their IG lives, and Kouhei seems to get prouder about it each time hahaha. In the linked IG, Kouhei said:

(reading a fan comment) "More" was an ad-lib?? I'm gonna die

Kouhei: Yea it was…ah that was…um, Mashiko-kun… Acchan (his nickname for Atsuki) gave me a really good expression so…somehow, (by the time) I realised (what I had done), yes, (by the time) I realised it,I had said it. Well probably saying "by the time I realised it" is weird but… yes. By the time I realised it... "even more"…(I'd wanted him) to open his mouth more so. Yes. That's all.

[S: そこそこ高給取りになる予定*だから] Original: I'm planning to *become a high earner Mine: It's likely* that I'm gonna be drawing a pretty decent salary so...

*The exact wording here is actually "(it has been) planned that (I will) become (someone) drawing a pretty decent salary so" - the way this is phrased indicates that this conversation probably happened in Segasaki's last year of university, probably right before he graduated when he already had a job lined up for himself. In Japan, your final year of university is spent interning at companies and if they like you, you'll stay on as a salaried worker, so most graduates will have something lined up before they officially leave university.

[Y: 流されるな] Y: Don't get swept away (by this) This phrase is usually used to warn people not to let themselves be swept away/caught up by the latest trends/public perception/societal expectations/their own emotions/panic etc Here, together with his insistence that he's just Segasaki's slave and so obeying him is a natural consequence, and so is sleeping with him (as opposed to Yoh doing it because he likes/wants to) - Yoh is basically telling himself "don't get swept away" by the situation/his feelings because their relationship doesn't mean anything.

[Y: じゃあ、しばらく…ないのか。*slaps face* しばらくしなくていいんだ！]

Original: So, it won't be happening, for a while huh? *slaps face* I'm fine without it for a while, right?

Mine: So then... there won't be... for a while, huh... *slaps face* (It should be) "I don't have to do it for a while!"

Again, you can see, Yoh's literally spent this entire episode trying to convince himself that he's not actually in love with Segasaki, and everything he does for Segasaki, be it listening to him, or sleeping with him etc, he does simply because he is fulfilling his end of the bargain as "a slave".

OMFG I FINISHED THAT WAS TOO DAMN LONG.

I will finish Ep 2 & 3 before I do the language analysis post. But first... I need a break....

[cassafrassie]

I joined this fandom 10 years too late and there's rarely new fics being posted so I guess it's up to me now!

Dipper makes a little oopsie when texing Pacifica late at night.

Also available on AO3.

---

Read Receipts word count: 2,613 rating: T (language)

He could blame it on the fact that it’s after 2 A.M. and he was up at 5 A.M. for Varsity Swim practice this morning. He could just say it was an accident, pure and simple, like when little kids call their teachers “mom.” He could say he meant to text it to his cousin in Phoenix (he doesn’t have one, but she doesn’t know that). He could claim that Mabel must have been messing with the auto-correct features on his phone again; some sort of mean prank. Hell, he could say it was Mabel who had typed it out in the first place.

None of these thoughts occur to Dipper Pines in this moment. In this moment, the only thought repeating through his head is:

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

He sits and stares at the offending text. The bright blue bubble surrounding it confirms that yes, he actually sent those words.

Goodnight, love you. 

He watches in frozen horror as the “delivered” text below it transforms into “Read: 2:23 AM.”

Fuuuuuuuuck.

Snapping out of it in an instant, his thumbs feverishly begin tapping out an apology. He stops, erases what he wrote. This isn’t really something you apologize for, right? Would that be weirder than leaving it be? She’s his best friend. She knows he loves her, at least she knows he loves her platonically , and calling it out might draw more unnecessary attention. 

But then, he’s definitely never said those words before. 

Yeah, this is new. It’s weird. He needs to say something.

He starts again, tapping in some bogus message about how life is short and tomorrow is never promised, and hey why not tell your friends you love them? This line of thought is pretty out of character for him, so he blames it on some sappy coming-of-age movie that Mabel was watching the other night. And hey maybe it was kind of saccharine but there’s some truth in all art, right? 

She will totally call bullshit. He erases this too. 

He starts tapping out a simple “ I didn’t mean to send that ” but that’s no good either because he doesn’t want her to think he doesn’t care for her. He just doesn’t want her to know that he’s desperately in love with her, that he thinks about her every night before bed, about how he turns bright red any time his mom innocently asks how she is, or that he printed out that photo of them at the lake last summer and has it taped in his locker at school. 

(“Who is THAT?” his lab partner Tyler once asked, and he just smiled in response. Nothing wrong with letting people think he has a super hot out-of-town girlfriend; he can’t help it if rumors circulate. 

They don’t, but it was worth a shot.)

He’s broken out of his reverie by the appearance of three little blinking dots appearing on his screen. He swallows. 

Pacifica: You know I can see each time you start your message over again, right? 

Dipper feels his cheeks warm. He braces himself and slowly taps out an answer.

Dipper: Yeah, sorry. Overthinking I guess.

Pacifica: You? Never.

Relief floods him. She’s teasing him, this is normal.

Dipper: I know, right? Better call the feds and alert the media.

Pacifica: I’ll start working on the press release.

Dipper: Maybe I can give Toby an exclusive interview. 

This is good, he thinks. They can just banter a bit, and he’ll guide the conversation to another topic and then they can say goodnight again ( sans accidental love confession ) and he’ll push this little slip to the recesses of his brain where he stores every other embarrassing memory. It will live blissfully ignored next to memories of the lamby lamby dance and the time Mabel accidentally uploaded an episode of Dipper’s Guide to the Unexplained to the school server instead of her AV assignment.

Pacifica: So…

Well, shit . Nevermind . 

Dipper: So…

Pacifica: What exactly were you overthinking just now?

Dipper: I mean, I think you know. 

Pacifica: I’d like to know we’re on the same page though. 

Dipper snorts. They haven’t been on the same page about this particular topic since the night he realized just how delectable the smell of champagne and flowers could be, or since the afternoon she entrusted him with her deepest insecurities, and he realized she was one of the most courageous girls he knew.

He smiles grimly as he types his response. Be brave, man. 

Dipper: I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to type that. I know that’s not something we say… not in the way that Mabel and I do, or even Mabel and you do. Sorry if I made you feel weird.

Brave-ish, anyway. 

Pacifica: So it was an accident then?

He frowns. Was he not clear?

Dipper: Well, I mean yeah. 

Her response takes a long time to come in, and he wonders momentarily if she’s fallen asleep. 

Pacifica: Okay, I understand. 

Wait, what?  Is she… disappointed? No, no that doesn’t make sense. She must just be offended, she thinks he doesn’t care about her at all. 

Dipper: No I mean, I do feel like that. Like obviously you mean a lot to me, and that is a real feeling I have. But I just didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable. Since you know, I’m a guy and normally when a guy says that to a girl it means something else. 

That’s better, he thinks, satisfied with himself. Why didn’t he just say this in the first place?

Pacifica: I get it, Dipper.

What the…?

His blood pressure is rising and he feels a jumpy anxiety course through him. Fix it, fix it now his brain screams. 

His finger is tapping the tiny photo of her at the top of their thread and jabbing call before his brain manages to catch up.

She picks up on the first ring. 

“Hello?” answers a small, sniffly voice. 

“Paz? What’s wrong? I’m sorry. What did I do?” 

He hears a quiet chuckle muffled by another sniffle.

“You’re apologizing without even knowing what you did?” she teases lightly, voice still shaky.

“Yes,” Dipper responds without hesitation, not seeing her point.

“You don’t need to apologize, Dip. You didn’t do anything wrong,” she sighs.

“I don’t understand, Paz. Why are you crying?” 

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“Paz, I’m going to worry. You’re upset and it’s my fault.”

“It’s not your fault. It’s mine,” she says quietly, so unlike herself. 

Dipper’s head is still swimming, looking for answers. The emotional whiplash he’s gone through in the last ten minutes isn’t helping. 

“Can we talk about it?” he ventures, keeping his voice low. In his urgency to call her he forgot that everyone else in his house is asleep. The last thing he needs is his dad walking in on this conversation and ushering him to bed.

Pacifica is quiet for a few long seconds, but eventually he hears a soft “okay.”

He stays quiet, giving her space to pull together her thoughts.

“I… liked what you said earlier. When you said goodnight. It felt nice. And I guess it made me sad to find out you didn’t mean to say it.” 

Well now you’ve gone and done it. Idiot , he thinks at himself. 

He takes a deep breath, decides to edge a little closer to honesty. 

“I’m… really glad it made you happy. It’s… true. I do…feel that,” he says carefully, not having the courage to repeat the forbidden L-word . “You mean the world to me,” he adds, hoping it will be a bit of a balm to his earlier fumble. 

She sniffles again, but it’s not quite as wet as her earlier sniffs.

He continues, slowly, deciding to edge one more toe a bit closer to the truth. Under no circumstances is he about to confess his undying and likely unrequited romantic love, but he can make her feel better.

“I don’t think you know how much you mean to me,” he adds.

“That’s probably true…”

He puzzles at her response, chewing on his bottom lip. Before he can reply, she continues. 

“That’s why I’m sad. I don’t… know, really , how much I mean to you. In…” there’s a long pause. “In what way.” 

His heart leaps into his throat, hopefully. Could she…? No…

“Oh,” is all he manages to say.

“I wish I did,” she says bluntly.

There’s no avoiding what she’s hinting at. Hell, she’s not even really hinting. He’s so close to telling her, telling her all of it, but there’s that one small, mean voice in his head telling him that she could never return his feelings, that she just wants to clear the air because it’s become so obvious that he’s crazy about her, and she wants to let him down easy so they can go on being friends…

But she keeps talking, interrupting the small, mean voice.

“I want you to know how I feel, too,” she says, a bit more of her usual confidence finding its way back into her tone. Dipper senses that she’s made up her mind about something.  

The only thought present in his mind now is that he’s about to either be the happiest he’s ever been, or have his heart shattered into a million pieces. 

“But can we talk about it in person?” she asks. 

He chokes.

“Yeah, yeah of course, that’s fine,” he lies. 

It absolutely is not fine , his heart wails. He won’t be in Gravity Falls for another two months. How on earth is he going to wait two months to hear the answer to the question that’s been on his mind for the last four years? 

“Can you… ugh this is embarrassing–” she starts.

“What?” He interjects. “Whatever you want, it’s done.”

He winces. Ugh, he’s such a goner.

But he thinks he can hear a smile in her response, which calms him a little. “Could you tell me some things you like about me, in the meantime?” she asks. “I’m… uh… feeling a little vulnerable right now.”

“Oh… yeah, yeah of course.”

He thinks for a beat, cataloging the thousands of images, feelings, and memories currently flooding his mind. 

“Well just to get it out of the way first because it’s incredibly obvious, you’re gorgeous. But you don’t need to hear that from me.”

“But I like hearing it from you. I like hearing… you say that,” she repeats, with emphasis.

He’d have to be pretty thick to not catch her meaning there, and Dipper may be many things but he’s not a complete idiot. 

Emboldened, he goes on.

“Alright, well, you’re stunning. Like, the way your eyes match the sky, and when the sunlight hits your hair and it just kind of shimmers.” He makes a waving motion with his fingers even though she can’t see it. “And when you smile, I swear it makes everything brighter. Whenever one of my friends down here sees your photo…” He almost tells her about the locker photo, but decides against it. No need to out himself as a total creep just yet. “They’re always just like, shocked, that I even know someone like you.” 

Pacifica giggles. “Okay, okay, I get it. You think I’m pretty.”

“It’s not just that though,” he adds quickly. “The way you stand up to your parents– and I know you can’t go full-on rebel-mode– but you do it in your own subtle ways, and I just want you to know that I see that, and I think it’s amazing. You’re brave; you always have my back when we’re exploring. You’re hilarious, even if half of your jokes are at my expense… I don’t mind it. Because they’re usually true. And I like that you’re paying attention to me. I like being seen by you, too.” He swallows. “I’m happy when I’m around you. Even if you’re driving me up a wall. It… it feels good.”  

His honesty, rather than feeding his insecurities, has him feeling bold.

“I like it when we’re together. I think we’re good together,” he finishes. 

And it sort of feels like he just took a flying leap off a cliff. 

“I think we’re good together too,” she says. 

And it’s also like landing in a soft, warm, solid bed. 

“Okay,” she starts. “Okay, I feel better. Thank you, Dipper.” He hears her sigh contentedly. “I can let you go now; I know you’ve had a long day.”

But he’s still feeling brave. And he’s not really used to the feeling when it comes to this, so he doesn’t want to let it go to waste.

“Hey, not so fast, missy,” he says, keeping his voice playful. “I can’t let you go to bed hearing all those sweet nothings without getting some for myself.”

She giggles, and his heart soars.

“Okay, mister,” she teases back. “Fair is fair.”

“Feel free to start with my devastatingly handsome features, too. Rogue-ish good looks. All that.”

She giggles again and ugh he’s going to get addicted to the oxytocin that floods his brain at the sound. Oh, who the hell is he kidding? He has been for a long time. 

“Okay well, yes, you do have a certain inherent charm that is somewhat related to your cute, cocky smile, I suppose…” Dipper feels himself grin involuntarily. “But what I like most about you, devastatingly roguish features aside, is your character. How you care about right and wrong. How you challenge me to be better, but never make me feel judged. How curious you are about the world around us, and how you help me learn new things, too. How you love your family, and stop at nothing to protect them… and me. You make me feel safe. And I just… I admire you.”

“Paz, I don’t want to wait until June for–” He almost says “for this” but realizes they haven’t exactly called a spade a spade yet, and he wants to keep up the charade they both know they are playing until they are face-to-face. “--to talk about this.”

“...what are you doing Saturday?”

“This Saturday?” he asks, surprised. 

She hums in confirmation. 

“Uh… well, nothing. Some people were going to the movies, but that– that’s so not important.”

“Well, there’s… this little city off the five, near Mount Shasta, it'd be about a three hour drive for each of us. We could both leave early… have a late breakfast together… it looks like there’s this arboretum that could be cool, or maybe just walk along the river…”

“Wow, you know a lot about this particular town, Paz,” Dipper teases.

“I’ve never been, but… I might’ve done some research into the area…” she admits, and he thinks he can hear a shy smile breaking through in her voice. 

“Sounds like a date.” And he grins at his own cleverness, at the double meaning. 

“Yeah,” she laughs. “I guess it is.”

“I’ll see you Saturday, then,” he says, and the butterflies in his stomach somersault happily. 

“See you then,” she replies, and he knows he can hear her own grin now. “Goodnight, Dipper.”

“Goodnight, Pacifica.” He pauses. Fuck it. “Love you.” 

“I love you too.”

Dipper lets the phone drop on his chest as he falls backwards onto his bed, dopey smile plastered to his face and pleasant warmth coursing through his body. 

He starts thinking of all the ways he can tell and show her just what she means to him– just as soon as she’s in his arms. And as these pleasant thoughts slowly shift into dreams, he gives in to sleep with an unburdened mind and full heart.

[fairy-writes]

Hello! Can I ask for Vanitas and 12) “Chivalry is dead, and you’re the one killing it.” for the 900 followers event?

CHIVALRY IS DEAD

Reblogs and Comments are greatly appreciated!!

__________________________________________________________________________

Fandom(s): The Case Study of Vanitas

Pairing(s): Vanitas x Gender Neutral!Reader

Prompt: “Chivalry is dead, and you’re the one killing it.” (Dialogue Prompt #12)

Notes: Vanitas is such a brat lmao

Also, lowkey inspired by that one scene in Elf with Will Ferrell

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The old shower turns on with a squeal of the bronze knob and a rumble of the pipes, and steam erupts into the air. You quickly strip out of your clothes and step behind the shower curtain into the borderline boiling water. Your skin tingles as it adjusts to the temperature, and you shudder with delight. 

After a long day of Noé’s and Vanitas’s shenanigans, a long, hot shower was just what you needed. 

Plucking your shampoo, you lather some in the palms of your hands before massaging it into your scalp. The suds run down your neck and onto your back as you turn to face away from the shower head and start scrubbing the soap from your skin and skull. 

You begin to hum, the song being one you heard on a violin in a plaza earlier in the day as you moved on to the conditioner. While you let that sit in your hair, you scrub a bar of soap all over your body to clean off the grime and dirt from earlier. 

It was then that you heard something. 

More humming? 

Dangerously off-key, but there nonetheless. 

You peek through the shower curtain, and there he is. 

Vanitas. Sans his cloak and sits on the bathroom counter, humming as if he wasn’t in the room when you were showering. 

You shriek. 

This causes Vanitas to jump and slip off the counter, banging his head on the way down. He curls into a ball, holding his head and letting out a pained whine. 

“Are you okay—wait, no—what are you doing in here?! When did you even get in here?!” You demand, and he just lets out another pained noise as he sits up, his right hand still massaging the back of his head where a bump is already starting to form. 

If he hadn’t just snuck into the bathroom, you would’ve felt bad for him. 

But he snuck into the bathroom. So you didn’t feel bad. 

At least you didn’t until you got out of the shower, wrapped in a towel, and saw his hand come away bloody. 

So you quickly dry off and get dressed in clean clothes that had been folded neatly (under Vanitas’s cloak) on the toilet seat. Had he been attempting to join you for a shower? 

Creepy. You may have been dating him, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still slightly unnerving. 

You help your lover onto the bed in the adjacent bedroom and go back to the bathroom for medical supplies. Then, grabbing some gauze and antiseptic, you return to Vantias’s side, where he declines any help.

“I can do it myself.” He says quickly, and you roll your eyes.

“Let me help. Plus, you owe me, scaring the living daylights out of me like that.” You mutter, and he relents, hissing as you dab a rag with the medicine onto the bump. 

It’s silent for a minute before you speak.

“What were you going to do in there?” You ask seriously, and he shrugs,

“Was trying to be chivalrous and was going to wash your hair for you.” He said, and you huff,

“Chivalry is dead, and you’re the one killing it.” You reply dryly, and he lets out a haughty laugh before wincing at the volume and holding his head again.

He recovers quickly and turns to face you with a mischievous smile,

“I am the epitome of chivalrous, and you know it.” He teases, and you raise your eyebrows,

“Name one time.” You say, and he falters for a moment.

“Um… I held the door open for you?”

“That’s common decency, Vanitas.” You retort, and he deflates.

You snip the gauze with a pair of scissors and secure it so the blood doesn’t drip down his neck. Then, you hold an ice pack to his injury and press a kiss on his forehead. 

He blushes a bright red but smiles sheepishly as you press another to his nose.

“All better.” You say, and he hums,

“Do you think I could join you for your next shower?” He asks hopefully,

“Absolutely not.” You deadpan, and he just whines.

[pynkhues]

I read somewhere that Rolin specifically wanted Louis to be a brothel owner because he thought it was important for his character that he have the same casual view on the exploitation of people’s bodies as book slave-owner Louis. These are important aspects of his character that I feel the show handles with more nuance and care than the books. Louis should get to have his negative qualities!

(x)

Yeah, I think I read that too, anon, and honestly, I think it really makes a lot of sense for his character, and also is a part of what makes him really interesting? This is a bit of a tangent, and I've got a half-drafted longer reply to someone else's ask about this that I'll post eventually, haha, but there's so much stress on Louis as the most 'human' vampire in fandom, when I think that's both true and untrue? I think Louis feels very connected to human expression (most clearly seen through his love of art and literature), while having detachment at best and derision at worst for the humans who create it (best seen through his cruelty around the artist in Paris, but also his gentrification of San Francisco in the 70s and abandonment of the people in 2.01).

In a lot of ways, even that in itself feels like the embodiment of capitalism, and like - - it's been fascinating to see this embrace in fandom of Louis as a capitalist and yet this sort of denial of the reality that successful capitalism relies on the exploitation and abuse of people for the sake of profit. That exploitation and abuse almost always involves intersections of racism, misogyny and classism, which Louis has absolutely been shown to participate in.

Like, God, in the first episode alone, the Alderman Fenwick tries to anally rape Bricktop, and someone (well, Lestat) murders Miss Lily, and Louis doesn't even bat an eye. Maybe you could make an argument that he had commercial interests at risk with Bricktop, and was distracted by his brother's death and Lestat's Whole Deal by the time Miss Lily was killed, but I think to deny that his flippancy towards both crimes isn't inherently steeped in misogyny and a devaluation of women's bodies and lives, is pretty naive.

I think people tend to think misogyny is just about hating women, and it's not. It's about upholding patriarchal structures and values that oppress and objectify them, and having ingrained prejudice against them. Louis absolutely uses women as a pimp, and I think even at home upholds patriarchal family dynamics with both Grace and Claudia. I've touched on that before, and linked to those posts there, so won't get into it here, but yeah! Louis' relationship with women is complicated and usually paternalistic, dismissive and - ultimately - about him, even with the women he - genuinely! - loves.

And when I say that, I mean it as literally the opposite of a criticism. Like you said, he should be allowed to have negative qualities! Those negative qualities give him texture and humanity and make him real, and are one of the reasons the show's version of him is so, so compelling.

[dingodad]

what made you choose denizens as your main inspo for your fantroll names? is there more lore/characterization for them based on the denizens whose names they match? easter eggs?

(scrolled your whole fantroll tag to make sure i wasn’t crazy and that a yaldabaoth (yiaweh) and a typheus (typhon) existed)

braxas and co were born out of a kind of homestuck AU bubble that formed when guidestuck was really popular. this kind of thing was everywhere in ask blogs and fanadventures that obviously did not have enough substance to last any longer than a hundred pages... what if the consorts were humans who played sburb, what if the LANDS were humans who played sburb, what if sprites like tavris and fefeta were humans and played sburb, what if the guardians were young and played sburb, what if the lusii were trolls AND genderbent... i wanted to get in on the action and i guess it seemed like the denizens were kind of what was left.

at that time it was pretty standard to have fantrolls that were ""based on"" something so i ended up roleplaying as braxas a bunch and he developed so much as a character that he ended up sticking around. the rest of them never really got the same level of care but basically came along with him as accessories. i guess in this way braxas is kind of like my own personal version of sans underfell???????!!!!!!!!!

(ok i googled this and it turns out the sans i was thinking of with all the error stuff wasn't even sans underfell but in fact a completely different popular AU version of sans. so for all the people too young to know what the fuck was happening in the homestuck fandom 10 years ago, that should give you a pretty good point of comparison for the level of swap AU saturation we were at.)

a lot of their characterisation largely still draws from their origins with a little bit of their mythological namesakes mixed in (though their ancestors play out the original myths a lot more faithfully). braxas is probably the least explored denizen in the comic so most of his deal is inspired by the philosophy of abraxas as a concept, and his anguipede lusus is directly based on classical depictions of abraxas. most of their designs can in some way be traced back to their designs in homestuck too, though braxas has probably been through more iterations than anyone else.

i imagine you can also see how i got hemera and nix' horns from their associated denizens' "tails".

their whole sburb story that i don't really talk about because i still have it in my head that it will appear one day fully-formed on the internet as a fanadventure is largely an elaboration on themes of like, becoming a myth and apotheosis and such so the fact that these are trolls who for some strange reason also happen to look and talk exactly like the mysterious gods of sburb has definitely been incorporated into their reason for existing. but like for instance the fact that they all live on their own different conquered alien planets which vaguely look like the kind of planet you might find those denizens on is all part of it