#i just watched gen v right after the originals

[medusas-daughter]

i personally think more characters should get to kill their parents on screen i think that would be good for my mental health

[absolutebl]

Pit Babe - it's time for a Trash Watch!

I had to. Well, no I didn't, but COME ON. It's like Thailand is negging me. Let's burn rubber, shall we? Burn rubbers...?

The things I had been told going in about this show:

it's about car racing (this bores me)

it stars Pavel (my BL ult bias, he is my icon for a reason)

it started as an omegaverse y-novel but the A/B/O aspects would be stripped from the BL series

it's high heat

(There some chatter about whether point 3 was a mistranslation of something the author said, but don't bother me with trifles.)

Here's a definition of omegaverse:

Omegaverse, also known as A/B/O (alpha/beta/omega), is a subgenre of speculative erotic fiction, and originally a subgenre of erotic slash fan fiction. Its premise is that a dominance hierarchy exists in humans, which are divided into dominant "alphas", neutral "betas", and submissive "omegas".[1] This hierarchy determines how people interact with one another in romantic, erotic and sexual contexts.[2] (Wikipedia)

In my experience and opinion, omegaverse archetypes and tropes are often used to strip out female characters (and The Feminine) and as a tool to excuse extreme hyper-masculine behaviors without a critical feminist lens (leading to lazy characterization). Just as heat is an excuse to get nkd quickly, A/O/B is often an excuse for taboo and dubious consent actions and behaviors. Do I get why writers/readers enjoy it? Yes I do. Do I personally like it? Not particularly. (Although there are always exceptions.)

Putting all that aside, the above represents my foundational knowledge before Pit Babe started.

Oh and that the familiar BL faces appearing in this show were follows:

Pavel Naret (aka Pavel Phoom) from 2 Moons 2 & Coffee Melody - Pavel is a fluent English speaker, a bit of a drama monger, and a motorcycle rider/car-dude, this role suits him

Nut Supanut from Oxygen & Something in My Room - has an amazing voice, his somewhat wooden acting has improved steadily since Oxygen

Pon Thanapon - one of Star Hunter's stable first seen in the Gen Y series (where he stole the appeal of an intended pair), also v good in Make a Wish, I wish he'd get a lead role as he has a likable screen presence

Pop Pataraphol from La Cuisine - he's playing the Alpha rival and I'm not convinced he's suited to this role

Michael Kiettisak from Love Sick, Oxygen, Call it What You Want, Till the World Ends - playing the comic relief this time rather than his usual tortured stoic... huh

All the rest are either fresh faces or older experienced actors. Interesting mix. They must have some money behind this.

And now, get out your marshmallows! The dumpster is on fire! Let's start the roast.

Episode 1 - Platypus, Pickles, Pavel, & other Smoking Hot Problems

This first segment told with a 4 day retrospect, because I decided to do a trash watch only after @aliceisathome said I should.

My initial reaction:

the sheer audacity of Thailand being like "PitBabe is not omegaverse" and then serving "Alpha" to us on a platter in the first sex scene is

how dare

but also

what the actual fuck is going on? what world are we living in where a/b/o is LIVE ACTION ON OUR SCREENS?

we getting heat, knotting & mpreg next?

apparently this is my reality now

I'm not sure what weird quantum time stream I've jumped into but someone was all,

yes the whole world is hella screwed, but also...

Thailand has decided live action mm fanfic is gonna win it the culture wars

and I'm beginning to think they may be right

BL is now the platypus of the film industry

4 days later:

Considering how much chatter this caused there's a part of me that wondered if it was all intentional and a marketing ploy (to say it wasn't omegaverse when obviously it is). In which case... brilliant Machiavellian tactics, production.

But Thai studios are rarely this calculated in their promo. So I think it's all accidental. But it certainly caused a raucous few days on Tumblr.

On a completely different note, Babe's house looks like it started life as a particularly inventive Olive Garden. Or is that just me?

More random thoughts:

Pavel has had work done, why honey? You were the definition of perfect.

The smell thing is great, I love stuff to do with scent and necks. If omegaverse brings this to the table, fine. But...

Being all Alpha perfect butch manly man = I do not like Babe at all, I kinda want him to be brought down a peg. (Woo... pegging!) I never like narratives that glorify the captain of the football team (side eyes Cdrama CEO romances and Love O2O), Babe better have depth and damage (forget the pegging) of some kind or his behavior will get old FAST, faster than he drives (also, forget the pegging idea)

Nut is ideal in the Beta role. I mean, that's Way's character right? We all can see that. If it's not intentional, it's a miscast. I love how soft he is as as screen presence. He's great in this part.

None of the other characters are sticking out to me yet, but I'm prepared to love the side dishes in this, please make them swoon worthy!

I'm glad they didn't hold the Charlie = trickster reveal off, I like knowing he is a double agent up front.

Finally, with respect to an adequate trash watch, I'm in a pickle.

How am I going to drink for this show when there is so much else airing on Frigay? I can't keep track, if I'm drunk.

I need a strategy for this trash fire if the puns and snark are to spout forth! (HA Fourth!)

Controlled burn?

Anygay, see you all next week.

Episode 2 - Side Dish Addiction + Second Lead Syndrome are both infecting me at once

[FYI I gotta have my backup computer to watch this so that's why Imma sometimes be delayed getting the trash out to the curb.]

3 minutes! 3 minutes in and I needed to pause and wax snarkful. (Ouch, bet that hurts. Is waxing snark similar to a Brazilian but for BL? Is that why they all so hairless in The Sign?... I digress, where was I?)

Okay so the subber said Daddy but I don't think that word means what they think it means. Because Way said simply nong paa.

Usually they'll use the English word Daddy (pronounced Dah-deee) for, ya know, Actual Daddies (tm).

Wait wait:

Calling Daddy Actual

(My dumb sci-fi loving arse will see myself out the back before I start drawing Battlestar Galactica = Pit Babe connections. TOO FAR ABL. Too far.)

Look, I like the tension in this show. It's good to set up an unlikeable Alpha dog and then immediately turn him into an underdog, makes him a bit more likable. I still don't like Babe, but now at least I'm on his side.

Charlie = cute but v sus. Fortunately for him, Babe = cute but v thick.

Everyone calls Charlie Babe's dek. Yes sounds a bit like what you think but also means kid/child and SHOULD be translated as boy in this show. Why doesn't the subber get that? They a sub...ber after all. (I'll see myself out.)

Honestly, the script writers might know what they are doing with abo but our eng sub translator sadly does NOT. I'm so glad this is coming now in my BL watching life. When my ear and knowledge of Thai is so much better than it once was. Others much be SO CONFUSED.

Snicker. They just fucking with us, but it's fun to watch the mpeg speculation abound.

File this one under: Thailand's trouble with ESL plurals and also "you should have Pavel helping with these subs" sweethearts.

Production knows entirely what it's doing with this show and its omegaverse shizz (even if the subber doesn't) and I am very much enjoying the online carnage that results.

This dumpster fire continues off screen into the blogosphere and I continue to roast things over it.

Meanwhile, hi Pon! You so adorable! When you gonna lead out a BL for us?

Is Idol Factory stealing all of Star Hunter's talent? Are they the Red Racers of the BL world? These are the questions I ask myself as I watch this.

Is that AGE GAP I smell before me?

Is the 20 yr old college kid meant for the pit boss? Cause you all know I am a slut for age gaps.

Moment of a/b/o: Jeff's fear of touch/heightened personal space would be a plot marker for "baby doesn't want Alphas close cause he smells like an omega" but of course this show it not omegaverse. Not omegaverse at all.

nuh-uh

Linguistic corner!

Lung (sounds a bit like loo) is uncle(ish) it means basically a male relation older than phi. So Alan is the oldest in the crew.

Alan calls Jeff nu (which the subber translated as boy I would have gone with cutie or little one). Nu is a diminutive affectionate term that's technically gender neutral but is most often used by/on cute girls/women. Jeff did NOT like it. Then Alan sort of dodges through pronouns/particles settling on phi for I, ger for you, and ja for a particle. This is interesting because ger & ja kinda lower his age and status into a casual sphere. Not more intimate more equal to jeff... fascinating.

I love the new "Korean" red racer, he drinks my brand of soy milk. He is now my baby snake in the grass.

Get it? Snake.

He and Babe should end up together.

The fight wasn't bad, do both actors have kickbox training in their backgrounds?

Who am I kidding, I care only about Uncle Alan and Nu Jeff now. All others are irrelevant to me.

Also...

WHERE IS A BOY FOR WAY?!!! Or a Daddy. I do not care. (Methinks nether does he.)

I am now captain of the Way Appreciation Society. Let's all find a way... to get him some dick.

Also the BTS stingers are tons of fun. Looks like the set was a blast.

Finally, and I mean this kindly. Why isn't Noh Phouluang in this? He should have been cast as Winner. Bah. I'm biased.

But one should be with Noh.

Episode 3 - Side Dishes Delux

Gayest bridge n Thailand has made its obligatory appearance.

How much do I love uncle & nu? They are SO damn cute. Also nu flustered is the best kind of nu.

I could not care less about Babe and Charlie. Except I do love the smell thing.

Way will break my heart by getting his broken. He is right tho.

Tra la la. I feel like this is a bit like KP 2.0.

Charlie is a such a princess (and ace manipulator). Good thing Babe clearly likes being buttered up.

Babe's backstory was more interesting than I expected, I didn't think we would go so far into the paranormal side of a/b/o. I like it and I hope they lean into it quite a bit more. Make it part of the plot.

Unlike the kissing thing which seems to have been gotten over rather quickly.

I gotta say I'm enjoying the corporate sponsorship jockeying and tension more than I thought I would. I'm curious as to who Jef and Charlie are working for and what their motivation is. The plot itself is keeping me intrigued and that is rare for me with BL.

So no trash talk this ep, I was largely absorbed and entertained. I didn't event need booze. Shocking behavior on my part.

#giveWayaboy2023

Episode 4 - I (who never ship) am shipping the impossible

Here’s the thing. I just want this to be a better story than it is. Right now it’s kind of like a soap opera. I don’t hate lakorn, I really don't. To Sir With Love is a glorious chewing of the diamanté scenery (completed with death glitter). But...

If this is gonna be a soap opera it needs to lean into the messy side more than the tailored high concept side. Support characters and evil needs more screen time.

Instead, right now, I don’t know where I am with this show because it doesn't know where it wants to be. I’m kind of dangling in the middle of a dirty situation. It’s uncomfortable for me, and the show feels uncomfortable for the performers. 

Also... I have questions.

Yes, of course I want to know what Charlie & Jeff are up to. Why can Jeff see the future?

But more importantly I NEED to know why Babe has a flying saucer bed?

That kind of lighting makes nobody look good, especially not at that angle. It’s very traumatic and I’m not wild about the shag rug either. I have concerns about Babe's taste. I guess is what I am saying. 

On a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT note:

There’s absolutely no chemistry to justify this, but I have decided that I am going to personally advocate for, and ship, Way and the interloping not-really-Korean. They are both sort of own-moral-code types. I have tiny crush on Kim, and Nut is the prettiest, and Way is Best Boy so there it is, I would like them to hook up, please & thank you.

#giveWay2Kim2023

Arrow guy is cute, too. Will we get to see him bone?

Is he going to be another one of the adopted alpha super-kid pets?

What the hell, throw Arrow Boy a bone! All hot boys in BLs deserve bones.

Plot thickens.

Hah.

Thickens.

(I am an immature idiot.)

Episode 5 - wait wait way-t, can arrow boy have Way?

Look, BLabies, I didn’t get any screen caps this episode because frankly there wasn’t anything worth capturing.

I guess Charlie really does love Babe? Very dramatic if idiotic saving from the burning car. But Babe has gone to the broken Alpha place of extremely unlikeablability (frankly he was almost there at the start). If I were Charles B Spectacled I would be OUT by now. 

Is that?

NO.

Don't get the plastic bowl.

No white towel sponge bath. Please kill this trope.  

I mean, it's not as bad as singing, but that's because NOTHING is as bad as singing in a Thai BL.

AND the main boys are back together.

I don’t find their relationship or Babe’s lack of senses a particularly interesting aspect of the plot.

Unless, of course, Babe is pregnant and that's why he lost his Alpha sniffer.

BUT I do love the sides.

Jeff = the introvert precog who can’t/wont do people and Alan = the extrovert people person who WANTS but doesn’t understand him. 

Were Jeff and Charlie ALSO raised by Evil Daddy MacEvilPants? 

I liked the way Arrow CEO & Way looked at each other. Way, hon, give up on Babe (he sucks) and get thyself a billionaire bf with great aim and BDE.

On a completely different note, the best thing about this show is the blooper reel. That thing with the green smoothie going down his pants was hilarious!

In conclusion, this was a green smoothie down the pants episode. I was entertained, and it’s probably gonna be good for the plot in retrospect, but it was kind of squishy and unpleasant at the time.

Episode 6 - Are they actually listening to us now? Is Tumblr bugged?

This was a fun ep full of like actual racing and shizz.

Whatever.

Charlie is on the team now. All the teams, apparently.

Can we talk about Jeff and Alan?

The apology scene! Did you hear that Alan dropped to chan/ger? Eeeee!!! So cute. (He equalized their relationship in a soft way.)

Get it with that language play hottie. Next up: lengua play.

Please & thank you. 

Meanwhile, as all of the Internet knows, they went fully in for omegaverse - no bars.

I have to say, one of the greatest typos (or whatever) in existence is enigma instead of omega.

That's where I personally would rank in the omegaverse.

Hello, my gender is... enigma.

 Apparently it's a/b/o and sometimes e!  Also sometimes switch-ee 

Oh I'm very proud of myself with that one.

Funfunfun

Charlie. Babes. When a man asks to be thrown up against the wall. You throw him against that wall.

OMG is that arrow boy looking at Way in the bar?

3 seconds later.

Noooo.

Wait come back.

Noooooo.

That’s what I actually want to watch! 

OMG. Who said nu was the first step to teelak?

I flipping love Alan. 

Ah the boyfriend ep. Thank you, but I still don't trust Charlie.

Poor Way.

But nice crying jag, and I don’t say that often in Thai BL.

Now let him go, Way.

A boy with his arrows is waiting. 

(source)

Note for the future: tumblr has a bug that stops allowing edits after a certain time/number, thus my full trash often occur in 2 segments as a result. Click on the "abl trash watches bl" tag for the full thing if you're reading this and later episodes are missing.

[devskindawritingblog]

Hand in Hand

cate dunalp x fem/gn reader Click to help Palestine 🇵🇸 🍉

summary: The first time that Cate touches you without her gloves on. Basically pure fluff.

AN: I’ve been wanting to write for Gen V or the boys so this is my first one!! My own idea, it’s not an original idea obviously I’m sure someone else has thought of it but it’s my own words.

word count rounded: 1.9k

Since her first day at God U Cate has tried desperately to fit in. After being locked away from the world for so many years, she was desperate for some time of human interaction beside her parents, not that her parents paid her much attention. She was conditioned into keeping on her gloves at all times. After her brother, Cate was sure that she didn’t even trust herself without them. So she rarely took them off around people she cared about.

After some time, she got used to the idea that the gloves were a part of her now. She had multiple pairs, and she even got a pair as a little Christmas gift. As thoughtful as it was, opening a gift and seeing those gloves was almost upsetting. She tried so hard to gain trust in her friends and peers, and still, she knew better than to try. For the first time in her life, she had friends and people who cared about her.

And then she met you…  

It was her second year in her superhero management class. You weren’t friends per se, but you were friendly. The first day of that class, you arrived late because your roommate had unplugged your alarm clock to charge their laptop. Funnily enough, they were the ones to wake you up by being way too loud. You sprung out of bed and threw on an outfit, barely having enough time to get yourself ready before you ran to class.

 You were only a few minutes late when you swung open the door and awkwardly closed it behind you as the class turned around to look at you. The teacher welcomed you back, ushering you to sit down. The only spot left was next to Cate. You walked over to her, placing your bag down under the table and taking your seat. She glances over at you, giving you a small smile. 

“Hey… You're Cate, right?” You say turning to look at her. She looks back with a look you can’t quite place. "Yeah, you're not new. I’ve seen you in my other classes." She states, quirking her brow. “Oh… yeah.. Sorry. It's my second year; I just don’t do well with starting conversations…. And it would be best if I didn’t call you the wrong name." You say, laughing awkwardly. Luckily, she laughs back, smiling a little as she brings her attention back to the prof.

It might have been short, but that interaction stuck with you for days. You knew her name; everyone knew her name. You just wanted to talk to her, and you weren't always the smoothest at flirting. But that new spot in your class next to the prettiest girl was enough to make you wake up early every other day. Soon your “friendly” awkward interactions in class became group projects together and movie nights in her dorm room. 

The two of you became "close,” almost best friends in a sense. You had countless sleepovers in her dorm. At the start, you were so nervous to sleep in that tiny bed next to her, so you slept on the floor with a few blankets and pillows. After a few uncomfortable nights, Cate invited you onto her bed. You were a little hesitant, but after you got into that small ass bed together and she watched you with those sparkling eyes, you loved it. 

 The small bed was scary at first, but after countless nights, you grew closer and closer. Not even closer as friends, but as the sleepovers became more frequent, you became closer literally. You used to be scared of touching her, even if you weren’t the one with mind control. You both slept on both edges of the bed, shoulder to shoulder. That was until Cate had a pretty shitty day and had invited you over. The both of you watched a movie on the couch together. You knew that there was no way she would touch you first, so you decided to rip off the bandage. 

"Hey, Hey…you okay?"  You ask softly, nudging her out of her trance. Her eyes snap over to you before she awkwardly adjusts herself, scooting further into the soft couch. “ y-yeah….” she says before you raise your eyebrow, reaching over to take her gloved hand in yours. “Okay…… I’m not. I just had a shitty day. Class was slow, and honestly, I really needed this." Cate sighs and smiles. You give her hand a little squeeze, and she is suddenly brought back to her hand. 

She looks down at your hands and back at your face. You had already turned back to the movie, so Cate laced her gloved fingers with yours as you lay your head on her shoulder. She stiffens a little but quickly relaxes as she wraps her arm around you as well. That soon transforms into tangled limbs and lingering touches. Those movie nights turned into make-out sessions after you asked Cate to be your girlfriend. 

You'd come over, and Cate would put on some Vought movie; somehow there was always a new movie to watch. Not that you were complaining; the two of you would only make it through the first 10 minutes before she scooted into your lap. She would always tighten her gloves, ensuring that she wouldn't slip up. You would always notice, but you never really commented on it. You knew it was a touchy subject for her, and you didn’t want to upset her. 

 The two of you have been dating for a few months, and you knew she was always so nervous about letting herself touch you. But after seeing the real Cate, your Cate, the Cate who loved movie nights and order in pizza and you, she knew she could just be herself and trust you; she just wasn’t sure she could trust herself yet. The idea that she would somehow take advantage of you or influence your feelings would cause her mind to race. She hated the possibility that she would hurt you and that you would break up with her and leave her alone. It haunted her nights, and tonight was one of them.

You had come over like usual for “movie night." It had become a weekly thing for you and Cate, almost like a date night type of thing. A night to wind down and forget about all of the assignments the two of you have. You were both lounging on the couch, wrapped up in a cozy blanket. Your fingers carded through her soft hair as you laid her head on your shoulder. You're both scrolling through all the movies you can watch before you hear three knocks at her door. Cate gasps, sitting up quickly off your shoulder, her eyes darting to the door and then back to you. 

“The food’s here!” Cate squeals, kissing you on the cheek before she bounds toward the door. Slowing down to a stop before she swings open the door. She pays the poor driver who had to find his way around the campus. She shuts the door behind her and makes her way back over to the couch as you clear the table. Cate places the warm paper bag on the table, taking out the food as you both ramble on about how hungry you are. 

Cate slips off her gloves and places them next to her on the couch. She took off her gloves sparingly, especially around other people. But she never liked getting her gloves dirty. The two of you ate together, discussing what movie the two of you should "watch." As the two of you finish eating, you clean up the bag and sit down next to Cate for the movie to start. She quickly reaches for her gloves, but you stop her. 

“Cate”. You say softly as you lean over, grabbing her arm, careful not to hurt her. “You don’t need to wear those around me." You say as Cate looks back at you, eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she blinks. “What? But… What if I can’t control it? I..I sent my brother away. What if I hurt you too?”. She says, turning back at you. 

“You won't. Cate, I trust you so much. You're my girlfriend, and I know you don’t like them. I mean, you always complain about your hands being sweaty." You say, sincerely laughing a bit at the end as she rolls her eyes. “I'm being serious though; I trust you more than anything, Cate....and if you want, you never have to wear your gloves around me." You say, making sure she knows that you are being serious.  

Cate sighs “I-I don’t know, babe. I really don’t want to lose you." She says as she looks between her gloves and you. “You won't; I believe it. I really do. But if it's too much, we can take it slow, you know. I'm not saying we have to hold hands skin to skin." You ramble on before she cuts you off. “I-I want to. I want to." She repeats herself more firmly as she sighs, clearly contemplating. “I want to. I want to hold your hand and feel your skin against mine." She says as she puts down her gloves.

 “You sure?” You ask, to make sure that Cate is 100% ready. “I’m sure”. She repeats it back. You smile and reach out your hand, and Cate scoots closer to you, hesitantly taking your hand. You intertwine your fingers with hers, and as you both relax, she starts to smile. “This is nice, and I'm not controlling you…right?" Cate says nervously giggling as you nod .She lets go of your hand, holding it in her other hand as she traces the lines on your palm. You smile back and lean forward to press a kiss to her forehead.

It almost opens a new part of Cate, a part that is vulnerable and not worried about hurting you. She smiles and reaches up both her hands to cup your face before she pulls you into a kiss. You kiss her back as she pushes a strand of hair away from your face. You sigh softly before leaning forward again to give her a kiss on the nose. She smiles back and shifts to sit in your lap. You push back on the couch, opening your arms as she settles onto your thighs. 

“Comfy?” You ask as she settles, and you give her a little pat on her thigh. “Yeah…it's perfect”. She sighs, grabbing your hand again and running her fingers along your palm. “Your skin is soft." Cate comments as she runs her fingers along your arm and then up to cup your jaw. “I put on lotion, I guess." You say, laughing a bit at the weird change of subject. She giggles back as she continues to run her fingers down your arm, tracing random swirls and shapes.

“Can we stay like this... all night?” She asks, tucking her head into your shoulder. “Sure, whatever you want, baby." You smile, turning your head to give her a kiss on the cheek. You grab her hand, and she intertwines her fingers with yours. The two of you relax as the movie continues to play in the background.

[wayward-dreamer]

Some of my thoughts on Gen V that no one asked for but I have to express myself somewhere lol...

I'm really loving the show so far!!!

I had been excited to see what it was going to be leading up to its release, but I will admit I was apprehensive as well. Spin-offs have been subject to a lot of scrutiny of late considering those and reboots are Hollywood’s favorite kind of media to create in recent years, and I was worried that this show would just try to cash into the success of the mothership, The Boys, but I really do think it stands on its own. It feels fresh and has its own social commentary on serious issues that are authentic to this show and don’t just feel like borrowed ideas from The Boys.

We have characters dealing with some pretty heavy stuff (self-harm, eating disorders, gender and identity and A LOT of other things) but I love that even though their powers are physical manifestations of those issues, they still use their powers for good and want to be actual heroes. Which they are. This show, unlike the mothership, is actually a superhero show without feeding into the oversaturation we’re experiencing with all the comic stuff right now.

So why is this show the ‘superhero’ show?

Well, because it’s dealing with a younger cast of characters that want to do good despite the exposure to Vought and its overbearing marketing strategy of The Seven. They all talk about wanting to be apart of The Seven and wanting to be powerful, that they’re “made of steel” and can handle that life, but as they get further into the plot of this show and its mystery, they realize that Godolkin University is not the place they believed it to be. It’s most definitely not a safe space for them to thrive, to borrow a line from the show. These characters might have powers, but they’re nowhere close to being like the supes we know from The Boys. The minute they feel something’s off about the school after Luke dies, they start risking their lives and their futures at God U in order to find out the truth.

What’s something we’ve seen happen time and time again on The Boys? Whenever something happens at Vought tower, The Seven does everything they can to protect that thing from becoming public, they cover things up or go after the person that’s threatening to expose them.

The characters in Gen V do the exact opposite. They’re doing everything they can to find out what’s going on at God U with The Woods, and Sam, and why Luke/Golden Boy did what he did. In many ways, despite their powers, they are ‘the boys’ of this show. They’re basically doing what Butcher, Hughie, MM, Frenchie and Kimiko would do if they found out something was wrong at the university.

The Boys is the authority (Vought and The Seven) looking down, and being able to see what’s going on in the outside world. The supes are selfish and choose to look out for themselves rather than care about the people that adore them (with a few exceptions like Annie and Maeve). Gen V is the youth looking up, completely unaware of what actually goes on in that tower other than the franchising and marketing of the supes, learning to be selfless and wanting to help each other as they form bonds and closer relationships.

And I fucking LOVE that!

It’s two sides of the spectrum, it’s nuanced, it’s so completely original. Yes, there are references to supes like Homelander, Maeve, A-Train and The Deep. We’ve even met a few others like Polarity and Tek Knight (FINALLY!!!). That has to happen in order to build this world out and create a space for Gen V to exist in, but it still feels like even if you didn’t watch The Boys you could easily watch this. It has its own loveable characters, its own intrigue and mystery, and has its own things to say about the world.

I absolutely adore Emma with every inch of my heart. I love Jordan as well, they’re such an amazing character. I’m really loving Cate’s story, and I don’t think she’ll become completely evil. She’s a product of the corrupt system, and she’s being manipulated to do things by Dean Shetty just like Vought has manipulated so many in the past. I really think she’ll come around considering she’s been remorseful about her actions the whole time. I sort of had a feeling that this would happen with her. A character with the power to get people to do whatever she says by her touch? Yeah, she’s definitely going to be used as a pawn. While I did think this would happen early on, it still didn’t feel predictable, and a lot of people were very surprised by her turn, so I’m glad about that.

I do of course love Marie, but she's the main character so we're immediately positioned to like her haha. I think she and Annie have a lot of similarities, especially in the first episodes of each show.

I think the only character I don’t feel a solid connection to yet is Andre. I really want them to do more with him, because he’s damn powerful and capable of a lot more than they’ve given him to do. Hopefully his character picks up in the next 3 episodes.

Dr. Cardosa mentioned he’s perfecting the V to turn it into a control device. Considering everything that’s happened with Homelander, with Annie quitting The Seven, Vought is losing its grip on the supes and they need something like this to keep them in line. So I think that’s what will come into play in season 4 of The Boys.

I’m really excited to see what happens next and how they end this season. I really hope they get confirmed for season 2, because I think the writers’ room was already being hired before the strike. So let’s see what happens with that!

Also quick ship talk! Jordan and Marie supremacy, I love them! I love Sam and Emma as well, they're ridiculously adorable. Not really feeling Cate/Andre but it really is just a coping mechanism for them I believe, I don't see it going anywhere.

P.S. Can we speculate about who Marie's benefactor is?!?!

I think it's Victoria Neuman. We've seen from the og trailers that she's got a cameo, so I'm sticking to that guess.

Fuck I love this universe so much!!

[otnesse]

@pepsi-al Making a separate post regarding your and Mattress's exchange about Pokemon ratings, since I can't reblog the latter directly:

pepsi-al: themattress: Here are the regular ratings averages for the Pokeani shows following the OS (all you need to know about that is that it was perpetual highs in Kanto, Orange Islands and early Johto, and then the biggest rating drop in the franchise happened during the rest of Johto.) AG: 1 - 35 (Series Premiere — May’s First Contest) = 9.0 36 - 80 (Musuem Theft — May’s Fourth Contest) = 8.0 / 7.0 81 - 131 (Resumed Fillers — Hoenn League) = 6.0 132 - 192 (Battle Frontier) = 6.0 / 5.0 DP: 1 - 85 (Series Premiere — Ash vs. Crasher Wake) = 7.0 86 - 141 (Summer School arc — Meeting Palmer) = 6.0 / 5.0 142 - 152 (Evil Togepi — Team Galactic Finale) = 7.0 153 - 170 (Resumed Fillers — Meeting Bertha) = 6.0 171 - 191 (Dawn gets Togekiss — Series Finale) = 5.0 BW: 1 - 60 (Series Premiere — Milos Island) = 6.0 / 5.0 61 - 82 (Ash vs. Clay — Pokewood Studios) = 4.0 83 - 108 (Ash vs. Roxie — Unova League) = 6.0 / 5.0 109 - 122 (Episode N) = 4.0 123 - 142 (Decalore Adventures) = 3.0 XY: 1- 44 (Series Premiere — Ash vs. Korrina) = 5.0 45 - 66 (Serena Gets a Goal — Return to Lumiose City) = 4.0 67 - 122 (Ash vs. Clemont — Ash vs. Wulfric) = 3.0 123 - 141 (Kalos League — Series Finale) = 2.0 Basically, DP and BW were successful, AG and XY less so. Coincidentally (or not), Gens IV and V were more popular than Gens III and VI. Maybe Gen VII’s popularity will reflect on the ratings for the SM anime…but if it’s popular and the show still bombs, that’ll be interesting. And I saw someone on YouTube just now literally try to point this fact out about XYZ specifically. In the replies he got, there was nothing but reality denial and blind accusations of “hatred”. I just can’t with this fandom, sometimes… As I have said before and will say again, ratings doesn’t necessarily reflect quality or opinion, they reflect interest. I found a chart about it and drew lines for the baseline ratings that would be expected for each series (which is basically a million less that the previous series.) For the most part, the Original Series was well above the line, sinking under only toward the end of Johto but rising back up for the Johto League. Like I noted above, AG remained above water for around 80 episodes before sinking, only having a temporary rise to expected numbers during the Hoenn League before promptly dropping when Battle Frontier, viewed as a “filler” arc, started. DP sagged following the Summer School arc, rose back up around the time of HeartGold/SoulSilver’s release, but then fell again around the time of the Grand Festival and never recovered ‘til the end. BW did just fine for all of its 2010 and 2011 run, but then fell in 2012 until the Black 2/White 2-inspired “Season 2″ rebrand brought the numbers up again….until the Unova League, after which there was a freefall. XY held steady for its first half, then dropped like a stone in its second half. SM, as it turns out, is the most stable the anime’s ever been ratings-wise, the numbers rising to the line then back under over and over again like the tides of the ocean (appropriate!), with the main drop happening in the final year with the change in timeslot and the advent of streaming services providing an alternative way of watching the show. While the series known internationally as Journeys…..yeah, let’s just say there’s a pretty good reason we seem to be looking the end in the face right now. But like I said, ratings reflect interest, not quality. I personally found the second half of XY, especially XY&Z, to be drastically better than the first half, but that doesn’t matter since the target audience in Japan got burned out by the first half that their interest in the whole show dropped completely. That SM never had a comparable plummet speaks volumes about which style the kids preferred, so the producers embracing that style for Journeys makes sense.

Looking over those ratings, it's pretty clear that if anything, the biggest and most prolonged drop in ratings actually happened in AG, not Johto (even Johto at least tended to stay above the line even if it's undoubtedly less than Orange Islands or Kanto especially). Really acts as a bit of vindication to me that this proves the audience did NOT like Hidaka's decision to axe Misty, ultimately. Sure, AG started off strong, but it ended up tanking quickly, and not due to the fad dying out either. And it being turned into Contest hour at Ash's expense certainly didn't seem to help either, nor the rather cheap wins against Gym Leaders. DP for all its faults at least found a way to stabilize the ratings somewhat, and BW, even though I personally found Ash's character reduction to being an idiot distasteful, at least did overall well ratings wise until the league (which is obviously due to Ash losing his rank).

So, no, Johto, for all its faults, didn't nearly kill the show, and AG most certainly didn't save the show. Quite the opposite, the mishandling of AG if anything is what helped KILL the show ultimately. Sun and Moon, even though I really disagreed with the decision to go all Emperor's New School on it, at least did better by actually trying to do better quality for the most part, not to mention actually have Ash WIN an in-game league and, heck, even bring back Misty and Brock to fix one of the biggest glaring problems with the show (namely, the mishandling of gym leaders).

The AG-stans really need to look at the ratings better, because this definitely doesn't look at all like AG even saved the show at all and if anything is more likely to have driven the show's audience away in a massive number, ultimately leading to Ash being replaced after one mistake too many. You would think they'd learn their lesson after Orange Islands that replacing one of your leads would not work in the long run, but alas... Sure, maybe keeping Misty wouldn't have guaranteed that the ratings would go back to Kanto or Orange Islands level, but at least it would have had AG having its ratings be above the line rather than consistently below it, barely meeting it at best.

[taeyamayang]

Hey hey hey! Sorry for the late reply but I FINALLY WROTE SOMETHING!! literally when you @‘d me the Ray Bradbury quote I was like “welp that’ll do it” and finished the kuroo Drabble. It’s def not my fav but it’s a start! After I wrote that I wrote a Yams story that was originally gonna be a part of a different series that I scrapped. But I really like the idea so I made it a one-shot. I really like it and am proud of it!! I just hope by the time you read this someone else besides me has read it 😅. I don’t Necessarily want it to blow up or anything but starting out as a fanfic writer is hard. How did you do it?

About the books thing growing up I lived with my grandparents and wasn’t really connected to the internet like kids my age were until like 8 (which is still v young but I grew up kinda fast so 8 was like 13 to me I guess) so I just read a lot cause we didn’t have much to do (and talking to people was hard- so books it was) besides watch the same old movies on VHS and play with Polly pockets. A lot of my toys were my aunts who was like a decade older than me as well. All of that was some of the reasons I identified a lot with the gen before me and I remember talking with my (other) aunt whose like nine years older and her friend reminiscing about when they were kids and I was like “ahh I remember those” and she’s like gIRL HOW U WERE LIKE TWO😭 fanfic has ruined actual books for me. Not saying fanfic is way better, and I still like to read actual books, but why get invested in all these new characters when you can read about the ones you already know and love? And plus it’s more convenient then actually carrying a book around.

OOH REMEMBER WHEN I TOLD YOU HOW I ALWAYS GET HIT WITH BALLS AND YOU WERE LIKE HEY THAT SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD FANFIC IDEA? well that’s not exactly how it happened but guess what! I’m writting it! I have 630 words down so far so I know it’s at least gonna hit the 1000 mark at the rate I’m going. I’m so excited for you to read it!! Also I may take you up on the editing or what’s it called Beta reading? Where people read it over and give the ok to post? I was gonna do that with the Yams one shot but I was too excited! I will absolutely keep u in mind tho, thank you!!!

And for the thing about the schools and the pillows…I CANT BELIEVE I WAS RIGHT WHAT THE FUCK??? that is so wild to me omg. Also American tv is fucking weird when it comes to sex. Like when I was in high school only a few people had sex and it wasn’t a big deal? I mean I was very introverted and wasn’t popular so I might not be the best resource but still. Maybe it’s a newer thing not to care as much about sex with a more body positive gen or wherever but I don’t really think peer pressure or anything was a big deal. Honestly? Peer pressure in general barely exists anymore. Adults were always like “say no to peer pressure” when it was just one guy offering weed or whatever and a person saying nah and that was IT. I think there was more pressure in feeling left out if anything. The media is so weird portraying teens but we gotta remember- these are old people writting and producing these shows. They also get paid to make it dramatic and not realistic.

I hope everything worked out with your ex boyfriend/boyfriend! And I totally don’t think you are ranting and if you are, shot just call me a therapist LMAO. dating is so fucking messy. Everyone expects it to be certain kind of way and they get anxious when it’s not. People gotta learn that relationship differ for everyone and it’s ok to break up and move on when you feel like things aren’t working out! There doesn’t have to be hard feelings or anything either idk why society has to make breaking up so messy- I know it can be and things don’t always end well but they can end normally and you don’t need to feel bad about doing what’s best for both of y’all. Staying in a relationship that doesn’t feel right Is just bad for both parties. Then again, I’ve never really been in a relationship and I’m still a virgin because I’m demisexual and that strong connection is vital and I’m too fucking busy with my own shit to get that. But I think what I said still stands. Bruh I’ve been reading so much fanfic and while reading I’m like “wow this shit would never happen to me and my shy ass” bUT I STILL WANT A MEET CUTE!!! but I have to remember that I’m reading about anime men who are too good to be real LMAO. I have high standards ig. Finding a partner is gonna be fun. Also I know what you mean when you said being Intimate is hard because girls are taught to always say no to sex for multiple reasons. A. Religion and purity for being a female and slut shaming and B. R*pe and sexual assault. Like I listen to too many true crime stories! I know the statistics! And people just hook up with others??? Wtf??? Idk this might just be my demisexual ass but no thank youuuu

BRO I WISH I HAD SMALL FEET! THEY DONT MAKE CUTE SHOES FOR BIG ASS FEET LIKE MINEEEE. When I was a freshman I learned about how having small feet was attractive in china and how they would bind the feet of women to have small cute feet but I never heard of small feet being lucky. I did hear about big feet meaning big- uh I assume you know where I’m going with that.

I don’t read my journal that much cuz ig makes me wanna cry but I do read it when I feel particularly down. I still have contact with Kylie (I think I called her that- since i used fake names for them both) but we don’t talk much. Sadly I don’t have Daias number which makes me so sad cuz I miss her dearly.

Ok so the murder in my town was kinda on brand for it??? OK LEMME EXPLAIN. I live in an upper middle class town with good schools and such so a lot of wealthy families move here. Some areas of this town are more fancy than others (the farther away from downtown you are- i happen to live pretty close to downtown but ANYWAYS) even some big celebrities mentioned wanting to move here. my town has a pretty uppity spoiled reputation because of that. Like most of the crimes around here are from spoiled brats that get bored and do drugs or rob people. The culprit of this case was spoiled by his mother in every degree as a child and refused to be independent and when his mom cut him off he killed both of his parents and his one sister and her husband (bc the sister kept telling him and Their mom that he needs to get a life.) the sister and her husband live in the town over so technically it didn’t just happen in the town i live in (but!!! My old residental school was IN THAT TOWN! not the same area since they lived in the nice mansion part but still.) I also got lunch with my old teacher (the one with the books) and told her about the case and she original thought I was talking aBOUT A DIFFERENT MURDER! THAT HAPPENED EVEN CLOSER TO ME IN MY TOWN. she’s like “oh is it the case where the lady drowned her kids in the bathtub?” LIKE IM SORRY- WHAT??? she like “oh yeah it happened a lil while ago tho. The college bought the house and now they use it for administration or something since no one wanted to move there.” THIS IS THE SAME COLLEGE RIGHT DOWNTOWN!!! I PROBABLY WALKED PAST IT BEFORE WHEN I GOT LOST GETTING CUPCAKES. ok quick side note- my high school was downtown and we had free lunch where we can go off campus for food and I decided I wanted a cupcake from this cupcake place not that far from the school. Since I didn’t wanna be late I pulled up my old friend google maps to take me back the quickest way- THAT WAS A BAD IDEA!!!!! I ended up wayyyyy out of downtown and into this weird residental housing street soooo far away. I ended up calling my mom like “moooommmm…. I think I’m lost.” And she was like ???? “Aren’t u at school???” THEN I HAD TO SEND MY ADRESS AND SHE PICKED ME UP. I WAS SITTING ON THE SIDEWALK ALL ALONE AND SAD. I WAS LIKE 16!!! my mom wasn’t even mad LMAO. She just sighed and told me to get in. It was a good cupcake tho. ANYWAY BACK TO MURDER- apparently one of her students parents got murdered too or something like a decade ago… LET ME JUST RESTATE THAT I LIVE IN THE MOST PICKET FENCE UPPITY TOWN EVER. I know what I’m saying makes it look all shady but the town i live in is one of the safest towns in the country- let alone my state. It just goes to show a lot of shady things happen when you aren’t looking for them. A quick google search goes a looooong way if you know what I mean- hopefully that doesn’t scare you if it did I’m so sorryyyy lol.

I’ve heard a lot about some famous cases from Japan, like the one about the little girl that killed her classmate (THAT SOUNDS SO BAD OUT OF CONTEXT WTF) or the Kyoto Anime massacre and the Junko Furuta case. The last two are very interesting to me in different ways. The first because I’ve never heard of anything like that happening before and the outcome is very unique? If that is the right word and just different from other arson cases when it comes to the motive and even the aftermath is different, like the perpetrator being the first person to receive a full body artificial skin graft. And because Kyoto Animations is a very big anime company which produced movies and shows that I- a person so far away- has watched before. And the Junko Furuta case was one of the few cases that ever made me cry and stuck with me for a while (that makes me seem so cold blooded I just don’t cry often because when I do EVERYTHING comes out) - but it was some of the most gruesome shit I have ever heard. I feel like the way I’m mentioning them is kinda disrespectful but I don’t want to go into detail about them because A. It’s really depressing for a tumblr ask and B. I wouldn’t do the stories justice. You also probably know about them anyway since you also like true crime and live closer geographically but if not I heard both of these cases from the YouTuber I mentioned a few times before Elenor Neale. Junkos case is kind of similar to one that happened here about a girl named Sylvia Likens, just in terms of sheer brutality.

OK THATS ENOUGH MURDER! but I wish I lived closer to Japan, since my mom told me she’d take me there after I graduated at some point- but she needs to get on a smaller plane first since she’s never been on one and the first one she’s going on will not be the 14 hour flight to Japan. So now I’m kinda just waiting and saving up lol.

I believe you did tell me about hearing voices in your house! Very spooky indeed. One time in a different house, a doll appeared on my bed out of nowhere (apparently it was my aunts who gave me to Polly pockets so that part wasn’t that weird) but the doll had a gold necklace with a smiley face pendant with a big round nose. Everyone says they never seen it before and honestly? I believe them. I have no idea where it came from and I held it close to me (bc spooky things are cool) until my little sister got jealous and broke it smh.

OOOH IM SO EXCITED ABOUT YOUR STICKER BUSINESS!!! IT SOUNDS SO COOL! I don’t play Genshin myself but my best friend does so I know some things about it. Her fav character is childe so I know zhongli and how he’s a god of some sort that childe buys everything for. I know there is a best friend duo and one of them hunts ghosts (bc my bestie said they remind her of us) and i know that childe calls everyone comrade and he’s a fatui harbringer with a little brother who thinks he is a toy maker. Oh and pimon (I think is her name) is annoying and Klee is cute and makes bombs. Oh there’s also Ito who’s like an Oni that’s a himbo and Thoma (I like him a lot. He’s cute) with the lil doggo! Your Zhongli sticker is so cute!!!

I’m also glad you take time to chat with me!! It makes me so happy whenever I get these messages. I hope you like my writting! By the time you get this my bokuto fic should be out!!!

And here! Take some cat pics as a treat!

i'm back with a communicable brain. dude, would you believe that i am building a sleigh.. a freaking life sized santa sleigh for christmas?? it's for community competition and i was tasked to build a sleigh and 9 reindeers. ugh, it's fun but very tiring i might be able to show you the sleigh the next time i write to you.

i read feline antics and kuroo in your fic is canon!! omg lol and when you mentioned about yams fic i was like "wait...why is the fic not on my dash (considering that i have few mutuals/following)." then it turns out I DIDN'T FOLLOW YOU?? WHAT THE HECK i swear i thought i did last time i read feline antics but my pea brain forgot or thought i did (i'm very forgetful if you hadn't catch on yet. might as well name myself dori ffs) anyway, so i followed you and saw your yams fic and holy shit??? 6k?? DUDE 6K?? woah, i am so so proud of you because i remember you mentioned to me before that you couldn't write anything/one shots because you always tend to drop them off or left them unfinishes bUT 6K?? DAAAMN. i really like the way you portrayed yamaguchi's anxiety because it's raw, heartfelt in a way that i could feel his worries through your writing. i'm sorry if this entire paragraph is a commentary about your recent works gsmsbsns lol and about beta reading... ARE YOU SURE?? ME?? WHAT AM I?? kidding but i'm always down maybe we can talk over it on discord if you have one (i rarely open my dms here bc opening dms means opening notifications and if im not in the right mood to check notifs i tend to forget to reply to comments, ask games, etc. aghh you know that gsnsbs)

how i started out as a fic writer is not actually a plan lmao after watching haikyuu i reopened my dying tumblr blog bc i know that great artists thrive here so i wanted to check out artworks of haikyuu. then, i saw that a number of blogs writes for haikyuu and i was like "wow fics are still a thing here on tumblr, huh." then i tried writing my own and took my tendency to daydream about my fixations to my advantage. i love thinking about how these set of characters react to a situation (this prolly the reason why i took up psychology as a major lol i love observing people and their personality and behavior) then out of whim i posted. not really thinking of numbers or feedbacks, i posted bc i know that only a few people will get to see it so there are less judgments on me since i'm a beginner writer on this platform. then, as i kept posting more and more people came to my blog. and although now, i still am not a huge blog, it's always good to keep a mindset that you're writing for yourself (tho numbers are rewarding, we get that) and that the people who read your works doesn't know you. you can't be judged based on your writing bc that's just one side of who you are and it also comforts me to think that there people who genuinely enjoy my work. i'll be lying if i say that there are no times where my priorities lean towards writing for my audience. i did at one point but ended on a writer's block lol. if you keep it that way you'll end up burntout (this happened to me too before heh). so, in short, i started writing just because i can and i didn't really thought about the negative things people will think of me, i just did bc i enjoyed it. also, i think consistency plays a huge role in thisㅡnot only to keep people engaged but also to keep writing as a habit. if you make it a habit, your writing gets better and better. that's just based on my experience lol. alsooo tho one year of writing here is still a short-time, i have never encountered anyone calling me a shitty writer and to stop writing because my words are useless and childish LOL what i'm trying to say is worries about people judging you and your work doesn't happen often and if that ever happens, they're the problem, never yours. so yeah i keep that in mind too. AND if that ever happens to you, i'll be on the frontline defending you. leave the roasting to me lol.

about the tv shows and sex (i feel like i have to at least give a topic beforeni start a paragraph bc i reply SO LATE that i feel like you might have forgotten what we were talking about) i agree! it's more of the pressure of being left out. one is pressured to hangout after school because of the fear of not being included in a group. tho i was peer pressure to kiss someone in class for fun but i was like "uhm, nope!" so i made a petty (i think wise *wink*) excuse of going to the comfort room first before doing it but what i did was i went straight home without telling anyone. i am not doing that for their entertainment lol 💀and that's cool kids for you 💀

OH! ex boyfriend... uh.. it's a girlfriend 🤣 everything worked well so thanks! we broke up lmaooooo welp it's for the best. im onto finding a better match i guess lol bruuhh i get the strong connection but besides that i also want someone to balance me out. i'm literally just a speck of dust sometimes, you know floating and minding my own business aka my fixations and hobbies in life. kudos to you tho! you give spot on advice. i mean having zero experience is okay when you give out relationship advices bc to me i think that's a fresh perspective.

yeah, small feet are lucky. small faces are pretty. button noses are pretty. small curvy lips are pretty. everything has to be small to be lucky or pretty but eyes... IT HAS TO HUGE AND DOE-LIKE i swear to fucking god the beauty standard here is ridiculous tho people my age dont usuallu give a fuck about it lol but the older generations OH THEY DO but that doesnt matter we were taught to respect elders and their opinions (as part of our culture) but that doesn't mean we will up to their unrealistic expectations. oh just to mention to you! when i was a kid i was pretty active. i play outside a lot and i love ride my bicycle and do races with my friends. one time my aunt (my father's sister) warned me of not "playing too much" bc my calves will develop man like muscles and it's not a good for a girl to have calf muscles because if i wear a dress and heeled shoes it will show. i was i think 8 or 9 and i was like... sOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT so i went to my mom and told her about it and she was like "what?! she told you that?! that's an exaggeration! just keep cycling or running, don't mind her." (my mom doesnt really care about physical looks whereas my aunts-dad side CARE A LOT) they don't even like women wearing clothes that are too revealing so what i did was i wore a tube on a relative's birthday party. they cant call me out bc they know my dad doesnt care (he even buys me cropped tops) and my mom too. anyway, so yes small ankles and calves are a thing too. IT'S RIDICULOUS I SWEAR.

oh god the murders in your town?? THAT SOUNDS LIKE FROM AMERICAN HORROR STORY OR SMTH. is it not weird that the college bought where the murder took place? like if i were to study there i'll be thinking about it a lot... actually... that sounds a bit like my uni... not exactly my uni but the place where my uni sits. so my country was under a colony before (war times and all that) and the city where my uni is the main city where the locals and foreigners interacted during 1800s and since the woke locals are against the colonization, a lot of them were shot, killed, and thrown to the nearby river. and if you take a few strides from my uni there's like an underground tunnel recently discovered that turned into a tourist spot. it's downright creepy because the way down to the tunnel and the tunnel itself is sketchy tight, the way/tunnel leads to a huge boxed underground like a deadend. my friends and i went afterclass and when we reached the dead end we looked up and see like a railing(?) idk how to describe it but other tourists were shock that people are piling underground and they can see us. apparently, that hole used to be a prison for locals who fought for our freedom (and other criminals too) they were kept and stuck undergound, left them there to die (die of starvation and stuff). it was creepy bc i was literally standing where almost hundreds of people died and i didn't know. we only knew of it when we reached the dead end. as it turns out, there are many other tunnels with the same structure near the place. sooo yeah.

omg speaking of the two japanese murders you mentioned i dont know about them so ill check it out!! and about your cupcake incident OMG THATS SO CUTE WTH IM SORRY FOR LAUGHIN but i just think its adorable that you ended up lost for a good cupcake. cant blame you tho i loveee a good cupcake. where you able to get back in class without an earful?

ahhhh i live near japan but i can't fly there yet bc of school (but since i graduated who knows heh). you know how crazy asian schools are? yes, they're crazy. so my family and i barely have time to travel outside of the country without taking a week off from school. we traveled once before to two countries it was hongkong and vietnam but i had to file a one week leave (it was tedious with all the papers i have to submit and all that ugh) and thank god that one week is just school festival week so i didnt miss anything besides the fun. that was in elementary but came middle school and high school.. heckkk after class study sessions is real like the one in anime especially if you're a senior. i remember my mom's friend being a math teacher so every summer i go to their place to train my skills in math and i'm begging my mom not to drop me off to their place 💀 imagine spending summer solving math problems HA! still, i'm never the best in math lol

thanks for the wishes i hope to launch my sticker shop soon apparently i hae forgotten my skills on photoshop HA HA HA and i'm trying to recall my lessons on it BUT FUCKKK anyway you a lot for someone who doesnt play genshin if you ever plan on playing it soon let me know!! i would love to know (its funny how you mentioned almost all daddies of genshin bc saaaame ughh childe supreme sugardaddy and a meme)

here are some haikyuu stickers i made recently it isnt final yet butttt here have a look!

WHY ARE YOUR CATS SO PHOTOGENIC?? THEYRE ALL SO BEAUTIFUL AND SOOO CALMING TO LOOK AT!! THATS UNFAIR bc momo knows when a cam is pointed at her and she just runs away. and the huge pikachu too!! I WANT THAT AAAHHH

here have momo sitting on the sleigh im working on hehe

sorry for the long wait but i lovee writing to you whenever i receive a message from you i get all excited! you're a good communicator and thanks for waiting for my replies since i take eons to do so. i hope you keep writing!! i'll always be here to support a friend and a fellow writer. cheers!

[tonymacaroni5678]

Making a Monotype Spikemuth Cup Team Every day until S/V drop part 1: Ghost

Let me preface this by saying I am not good, nor do I claim to be. I want to improve my teambuilding and play prior to S/V dropping so that maybe someday I can be a true pokemon master. I've been working on some monotype teams for fun to use on the Spikemuth cup ladder on Showdown, and I thought it might be helpful for me to write out my process here so I can see where best to improve. The idea is to post the original team, and some thoughts about why I made it the way I did, post a few replays where things work out or don't, analyze the replays, then revisit the team and update it with the insight from the replays.

Obviously I had to do ghost today for spooky reasons. Just went with my gut on the six that I chose, I'll be honest, ghost type is not the best for this challenge. Dragapult is an excellent mon, and Shedinja is good for endgame plays. Choice Scarf Blacephalon and Chandelure is cheesy (maybe cheesier than shedinja), and unfortunately Blacephalon even with scarf still gets outsped by Eleki. Mimikyu is an excellent TR setter, and I thought Jellicent might be a good Incineroar counter and perform well in trick room. Honorable mentions would include Dusclops, Dusknoir (which never gets the respect it deserves), Alolan Marowak, Gengar, Spectrier, Sableye, and Drifblim. These mons will all be considered later in the post when I update the team after a few battles.

For the EV spreads, most are min/max, Mimikyu was shamelessly grabbed from Pikalytics Series 9 data, looks like it outspeeds a common G-Moltres set from that point in time, and is generally decent in bulk. Just at a glance, we may invest more or less in speed depending on how often TR gets set up. Like I said earlier, scarf Blacephalon even at max investment doesn't outspeed Regieleki which is unfortunate, but at 124 EV it hits 143 Speed, which scarf boosts to 214, outspeeding opposing max speed dragapult, and investing the rest in HP to increase bulk (maybe? guess we'll find out). Jellicent can live a grassy glide from grassy seed, adamant, 252+ Rillaboom. Hopefully this calc won't be used, the idea being to use Chandelure and Blacephalon to deal with Rillaboom prior to Jellicent entering the field. Chandelure outspeeds Tsareena with a positive nature, which might be relevant. At this point I was considering min speed Chandelure instead, which will "outspeed" Indeedee-F under trick room, so we'll see if that's something we want to go with later.

As far as strategy, my leads are usually pretty reactive, so a lot depends on what my opponent brings. I think my most obvious lead would be something like Dragapult/Blacephalon with Chandelure in the back if it looks like Mind Blown is going to pop off. Mimikyu/Chandelure bluffs double TR, and Shedinja in the back is often a good option if it looks like the opponent won't have an answer for it in the endgame.

Alrighty here goes game 1

Lead: Up against a pretty TR focused team with Indeedee-F, Hatterene, Stakataka, Torkoal, Rillaboom (so versatile honestly, functions great in and out of TR) and the wild card Landorus-I for outside of TR. So turn one I pulled it off lol, I didn't see any huge resists for Mind Blown besides Torkoal, and figured they wouldn't lead that. I thought ideally knock out either Hatterene or Stakataka and prevent TR from going up.

Turn 1: They lead Stakataka and Rillaboom, just asking for a Mind Blown. My lead is good. I think my Dragapult can survive Mind Blown, but I'm not exactly sure how much damage it will do. The juicy flash fire play is right there, and I'm too weak to resist it. Mind Blown OHKOs the Rillaboom (which didn't go for grassy glide), triggers flash fire, and does a tremendous amount of damage to stakataka, definitely 2HKO range. Staka is able to get the trick room off, and I don't know it yet but my fate has been sealed. Changes I would make: Just use dragon darts man, don't go for the switch, and guarantee the KO on Stakataka to prevent TR from getting up.

Turn 2: TR is up, Torkoal comes in. Blacephalon is choice-locked onto Mind Blown, probably won't survive to use it though. I switch in Jellicent in that spot to take whatever Torkoal is going for better. For chandelure, I click Shadow Ball onto Staka, trying to net a KO and covering a wide guard play from them. Staka goes for Gyro Ball, dealing a little less than half health to Chandelure, and Torkoal goes for Earth Power on Jellicent, rewarding my switch handily and dealing only 21% damage. Changes I would make: I still think Shadow Ball is a safer play than Heat Wave, though in retrospect, Heat Wave could have ended up winning me the game, getting some amount of damage on Torkoal and still netting the KO on Stakataka; the caveat here being that it doesn't miss lol. The switch was good, and although I'm on my back foot at this point, my opponent is not running away with this game.

Turn 3: Landorus has entered the chat. Under TR, it is basically guaranteed to go last unless my opponent has done some deranged EVs. I'm wondering if this Torkoal has solar beam; but that's a moot point since this Jellicent set doesn't have protect. Despite sun being up, Water Spout is likely my best play with Jellicent, and now I can safely click heat wave with my boosted up Chandelure, likely going before Landorus. Torkoal could click earth power into Chandelure at this point, my goal on this turn is to damage, hopefully KO this Landorus, then I can stall out the remaining 2 turns of trick room and deal with Torkoal. Torkoal ends up going for eruption, which I think is a misplay on my opponent's part, and this does little damage to Jellicent and none to Chandelure. Jellicent's water spout also does very little damage, thanks to the sun and the chip damage it has taken so far. Heat wave misses Landorus, which matters a great deal. It does 58% to Torkoal, which is more than I expected, and I was able to run the calc for if it had hit Landorus; guaranteed OHKO without investment 252 SpA Chandelure Heat Wave vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Landorus in Sun: 175-207 (106.7 - 126.2%) (Please note that this calc takes Flash Fire into account)After deftly avoiding my heat wave, the Landorus fires off an Earth Power into Chandelure, KOing it. Changes I would make: This situation begs a moveset change on the Jellicent I think to include Protect, which would have covered for solar beam from Torkoal, or to add a different water stab that could have either done more damage (Hydro Pump) or at least given my Chandelure a shot at surviving the turn (Muddy Water possibly reducing Lando's accuracy).

Turn 4: I'm salty, but I'm still up 3-2 and definitely have a shot here. I bring Dragapult in, hoping to get a Dragon Darts off, then protect next turn to stall out trick room. I'm thinking unless the opposing Landorus has Grass Knot, Jellicent's recover can outpace the damage done to it this turn. Torkoal's Heat Wave crits Jellicent for 32% damage, nice, but Lando's Earth Power OHKOs my Dragapult before it can move. Is that a guaranteed OHKO? 252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Earth Power vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Dragapult: 152-179 (92.6 - 109.1%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO No it is not, but it would have happened more times than not; Life Orb recoil would have certainly led to a KO. Changes I would make: Maybe this is my delusion, but I think I made the right moves. Perhaps a protect here from Dragapult would have been better, but then I would have been in basically the same position with it next turn.

Turn 5: In comes Blacephalon, it's now 2-2. My Jellicent is close to full health and will be dealing close to maximum damage with Water Spout at this point, barring another Heat Wave crit, so I choose that, and my Blacephalon is scarfed, so I click Shadow Ball onto Landorus. Torkoal KOs Blacephalon with Earth Power before it can move. Water Spout does respectable damage on both mons, KOing the opposing Torkoal and hitting Lando for 37%. Earth Power does an alarming 61% to Jellicent, and Trick Room runs out. Changes I would make: Clicking Protect on Choice Scarf Blacephalon is VALID thank you, it would have bluffed a non-choice set (I never officially revealed to my opponent that it was faster than my Dragapult), and forced a choice of who to KO with Landorus the following turn. Ultimately, I'm pretty sure my goose was cooked before this turn, but that would have been a better play in my opinion.

Turn 6: Landorus KOs Jellicent with Earth Power.

Analysis after one battle: Okay, so turns 1 and 3 are where I identify some misplays, and the Jellicent and Blacephalon sets are a little sus. Running protect on a choice scarf mon? Bogus; however it might have actually helped me in the endgame if I had the guts to click it. I'm comfortable with the 4 I brought, I don't think I would change that.

I did say I would take a couple battles to change the sets/mons/spreads, so I'll go into battle #2 without any changes, aside from replacing Protect on Blacephalon with Trick.

Okay, battle number 2. Up against Eleki, Dragonite, Heatran, Rillaboom, Urshifu, and Cresselia. Looks like hyper offense with a Creasselia stuck on there to reverse trick room. I'm seeing an opportunity for a possible TR setup here, so I lead Mimikyu and Dragapult, with Jellicent and Shedinja in the back. It's my guess that the Urshifu is Rapid Strike, so I need to deal with Dragonite and Heatran before Shedinja can run wild. Mimikyu and Dragapult can handle Dragonite for sure, and Jellicent was brought for the Heatran, and that's basically exactly how the battle played out.

Turn 1: They lead Watershifu (as predicted) and Dragonite. I'm hoping Dragon Darts is smart enough to net the KO on Dragonite after popping Multiscale, and I click play rough on the opposing Urshifu. Urshifu moves first (definitely scarfed), and Dragapult handles Surging Strikes very well. To my surprise, Dragon Darts does a massive amount of damage on Dragonite, making me think that it must be Inner Focus for some reason. Dragonite uses Ice Punch on my Dragapult, netting the KO, and then Mimikyu cleans up the Urshifu with Play Rough. Changes I would make: Eh, none really, although protect on Dragapult looks pretty nice in retrospect. If this were a Bo3, I would definitely note the scarf Urshifu, and the apparent lack of Multiscale on Dragonite.

Turn 2: I'm thinking Heatran is going to come in, so I bring in my Jellicent. I am correct. Dual Wingbeat from Dragonite goes first, and after busting my disguise deals a fair amount of damage to my mimikyu. Heatran's Flash Cannon finishes it off. I think they were trying to prevent Trick Room, which is what I had clicked with Mimikyu, but it wasn't necessary for the win. Jellicent cleans up the little HP Dragonite has left and does 60% to Heatran, setting me up for a 2HKO. Changes I would make: Shadow sneak would have gotten me more damage output from Mimikyu if I thought it was going down this turn.

Turn 3: Shedinja comes in, a little early for comfort. It's down to 2-2. Predicting a grassy glide from Rillaboom into Jellicent, I use Ally Switch with Shedinja and Water Spout with Jellicent. I predict correctly. Heatran's Heat Wave connects with Shedinja and brings me down to sash. Water Spout KOs Heatran and does 18% to Rillaboom. Changes I would make: None, I played real good here.

Turn 4: Jellicent can go down, and Shedinja can take this as long as Rillaboom doesn't have Knock Off. I Water Spout for maximum damage and Poltergeist. As predicted, Grassy Glide hits and KOs Jellicent (the calc from the beginning makes this basically all but assured, it can live one but not with the chip damage it has gotten to this point). Poltergeist does 52%. Even with grassy terrain recovery, Next turn should net me the win. Changes I would make: The Jellicent moveset is again begging for a change, Protect would have been nice here, or some other damaging move maybe. This matchup is always going to be rough for Jellicent though, and the EV spread is as good as it can get.

Turn 5: Poltergeist misses and my opponent disconnects lol, they used High Horsepower, indicating to me that they didn't have Knock Off and basically guaranteeing that I would have eventually won.

Analysis after two battles: I trusted Dragapult more this time to be a damage dealer, and I feel that it paid off. Shedinja shenanigans won the day, feels like in a Bo3 my opponent would work harder to preserve Dragonite or Heatran or both for the endgame, I doubt this strategy would win me a game 2.

Battle 3

Okay, this one's on me for bringing Shedinja to a sand matchup lol. Up against Tyranitar, clearly Sand Rush Dracovish, Kartana, Incineroar, Tapu Lele, and Urshifu. I didn't even get to see which Urshifu it was, although I would guess that it's Dark type.

Turn 1: I lead Mimikyu and Dragapult, trying to get off a Trick Room, with Shedinja (bad choice) and Jellicent in the back. They lead Kartana and Tyranitar, setting up sand and making me immediately regret bringing Shedinja. I'm thinking "I can totally get Trick Room up here" Dragon Darts deals a pitiful amount of damage to both opposing mons, Kartana breaks disguise with Smart Strike, and then Tyranitar hits Rock Slide.... and gets the flinch on Mimikyu. Changes I would make: I think the optimal play is probably to use Will-o-Wisp with Dragapult on the opposing Tyranitar, thinking ahead to bringing in Jellicent under Trick Room. Obviously, if I could get the TR off, the rest of the game goes differently, but Shedinja remains dead weight and I don't think Jellicent can carry this against Kartana.

Turn 2: Yeah it's downhill from here. I use Shadow Sneak to try to get off a little damage with Mimikyu before it gets KOed. I use Will-o-Wisp with Dragapult on Kartana, wishing I had both of these mons burned before I'm forced to bring in Jellicent. Smart Strike KOs Mimikyu and Crunch from Tyranitar KOs Dragapult. Changes I would make: Honestly this turn was pretty optimal from my end, all things considered. Changes I wish I could make? Bring a different team lol.

Turn 3: Shedinja has to come out now, and Kartana has Aerial Ace, so it's triple dead. Crunch does a huge amount of damage to Jellicent, crippling my Water Spout. I'm almost able to KO Kartana with Poltergeist, and Water Spout is able to finish it off but only hits Tyranitar for 14%. This is screaming AV to me, which in a Bo3 would be valuable information. Changes I would make: This once again begs a change in the Jellicent moveset. Something like Hydro Pump or Muddy Water would be great here, not reliant on HP and me getting TR up. Otherwise, I think the plays were correct.

Turn 4: Out comes Dracovish, and KOs my Jellicent with Crunch.

Analysis after 3 battles: This one was lost at team preview, I think. Like I said earlier, it plays out better for me if I end up getting the Trick Room off, but Jellicent cannot carry this team. I ended up bringing Jellicent to all three battles, which I did not expect but seemed okay at the time. Mimikyu never got to Trick Room. Chandelure performed super well in the battle it got brought to, so that was exciting. I think updating the Jellicent set to have another water STAB and giving it protect will improve the team greatly. I didn't find any reason to use Breaking Swipe on Dragapult, although in that last game it may have helped more than trying to Will-o-Wisp twice, so I switched that for Phantom Force. I don't see any reason to change the Mimikyu set or spread, I'm curious if I did ever get TR off if I would be able to use Swords Dance or not. Blacephalon and Chandelure only came to one battle and did what they needed to, so I wouldn't change those either, although if I were going to change moves the last one on both of them are just improved coverage options that especially on Blacephalon might be superfluous. Here's the updated team paste

I'll probably try it out on the ladder a few more times today, if you try it or if you have suggestions, let me know! In any case, thanks for reading my ramblings, this is really about me making myself a better player but who knows it might help someone else too

[shinsouskitten]

Hola mis amiga (I’m a French student what am I doing) I saw that your ass class requests were non existant so I’m here with a request. Can u do karma and Nagisa with a blind s/o who’s a pro assassin at 15 (is that how old they are??) and also v smart and they were sent by the government to 3-e to help with the Assassination? Bonus points if they’re low key a reaper level assassin like they have a good chance of winning if they went against the reaper 1 on 1. It’s chill if u don’t get to this 💖

Yo! I am no language student cause I can’t even english correctly half the time

Also this is what happens when I finally get requests for a character I love… I go a little ott

Warnings: reference to violence and assassination (uhh… yk, it’s called assassination classroom for a reason), Karma

---

Important info: 

💬 To have the reader be a pro assassin at 15, my friend (@grapefantaenby the beautiful Sammy whom I love dearly but is also a bitch sometimes) and I decided it might be a good idea for them to be basically the next gen Irina - not as a femme fatale, but just the next gen of pro trained assassins

💬 So for this request I am writing the reader as if they were chosen to be trained (possibly by Irina herself) and sent to e-class after Irina’s original attempt failed. Only Irina and Karasuma knows the reader is an assassin

💬 If you wish to read it from another perspective that’s fine too, but that was the idea I was writing from, so I hope that’s okay

---

Karma Akabane:

🔫😈 When he first meets you Karma barely bats an eye. You’re just another kid stuck in e-class for some reason or another. Midterms are coming up, he has a weird yellow octopus to kill, a new student doesn’t really matter to him

🔫😈 It’s only when you all get your tests results that he first notices you. You didn’t take the tests with them, instead in a lone room with braille substituted for the usual test papers, and a scribe to write down your answers, but it was the results that Karma noticed. You scored as high as him, though perhaps in different areas. None of your scores were below 95%, but you weren’t nearly as showy as he was. If he hadn’t heard Korosensei praising you he wouldn’t have even realized

🔫😈 You didn’t travel on the school trip with them, which kind of disappointed Karma (not that he’d admit it). He wanted to find out more about you, but even so, he wasn’t too bothered. He’s Karma after all

🔫😈 As mean as it sounds, he highly doubts your ability to be an assassin - at least, when he first meets you. Sight is one of the most important senses, and if you’re trying to kill an inhuman yellow… thing, you’re going to need everything you have

🔫😈 The first occasion is in science class, where you trip seemingly on nothing while making your way to your desk. Karma moves to catch you, surprising himself for a moment, but Korosensei is there first. The second he offers a tentacle to help you up, it explodes. Your hand had been covered in antisensei pellets you’d powdered so that they were invisible if someone wasn’t paying enough attention. In his surprise he doesn’t move fast enough as you fling your other arm out, catching the edge of another tentacle and slicing through it halfway. You’re unable to make another attack, as this time Korosensei moves too far away, but for a moment the whole class is silent

🔫😈 You’d gotten further than anyone, destroyed 1 (and a half) tentacles and no one had even suspected it was an attempt. Korosensei is surprised, while Irina watches her protege from the sidelines, secretly incredibly proud of your attempt

🔫😈 And Karma… Karma doesn’t know what to think. Your first trick was similar to his original attempt on Korosensei; a hand covered in antisensei material and a seemingly innocent gesture of assistance/goodwill. Did you know he’d attempted something similar? Of course not. You weren’t even there when he arrived, and besides, it’s not like you could’ve seen what he did (okay is this mean I have rlly bad social cues)

🔫😈 He doesn’t know what to think. Had he really doubted you that much?

🔫😈 With AIFA’s introduction some of the attention is steered away from you, which Karma takes as an opportunity to steal you away for a moment. It’s during gym class, he slips away easily, leading you by the elbow until you’re out of sight of the others (sneaky boi)

🔫😈 He asks question after question, at one point even joking that the two of you together would be an unstoppable force. Of course, he doesn’t mean dating, but it slowly starts to become less and less of a joke the more time you spend together. Plotting assassination slowly turns into study dates, then just regular dates

🔫😈 It’s only when some jerkwads from another class try picking on you that you and Karma are forced to decide; is it something more? I say that, because when he sees this amateur bullying attempt, he quickly slides up next to you, curling an arm around your waist and warning the kids to stay away from his s/o. It leads to one of the worst questions a person can hear… “what are we?”

🔫😈 It all works out happily though, and when he finds out about your profession he’s only intrigued (I was gonna say he’d kill to be a pro assassin then I realized the irony of my sentence)

🔫😈 He was right, the two of you do make a great team, and although you’re unable to kill Korosensei, you’re grateful for him allowing you to meet the one and only Karma Akabane

---

Nagisa Shiota:

🐍🔪 Nagisa notices you almost instantly, a complete reversal of Karma’s first reaction. He’s attentive, and so he realises there’s something different about you (not the blind things tho, I mean the assassin thing), even if he can’t quite put his finger on it

🐍🔪 He’s amazed when you score as high as Karma in the midterms, but doesn’t bring it up to you immediately. He doesn’t want you to feel singled out, so instead he waits until the day is over. It’s the first time he gets to talk to you, and even though the conversation flows smoothly, there’s still something in the back of his mind that he can’t quite place

🐍🔪 Much like Karma he’s disappointed that you don’t join them for the school trip, but he can’t really blame you. You’ve only just joined e-class, you likely don’t feel comfortable trusting them to lead you around an unfamiliar city

🐍🔪 When he returns, Nagisa can tell you’re planning something, though for the life of him he couldn’t figure out what it is. Eventually your plan reveals itself to him. You’d changed your walking stick, something no one else had really noticed. It was the same colour, in fact it was almost exactly the same, save for the slight sheen of plastic

🐍🔪 It happens the next day, just before the bell rings when you’re sitting on the steps to your class building. You frown as your hands trace across the floor, unable to reach the stick a few feet from you. Korosensei sees, and ever the helpful teacher, speeds over to hand it to you, not realising until it’s too late the new material covering the surface. And just like that two tentacles are destroyed. You attempt to finish the job with a knife, jumping towards where you heard Korosensei’s surprised gasp, but he dodges quickly

🐍🔪 You smile, murmerming out loud that it was a good plan. Korosensei agrees, after the initial shock wears off, but notes that you should’ve made your final attack just slightly quicker. If he hadn’t recovered so fast, you likely would've had him

🐍🔪 Against his better judgement, Nagisa decides to ask you where you learnt to do that. You brush him off easily at first, but it quickly becomes clear he doesn’t believe you, so eventually you give in and tell him the truth

🐍🔪 He’s surprised, but also, he’s not. Okay that sounds confusing. He could tell something was different about you, the way you act seemed too mature for a 15 year old at the bottom of the school. But at the same time he almost expected it. I mean, you had no disciplinaries and your grades were superb. Why else would you be in e-class? Karasuma, Irina, you, AIFA, all of you were there for another reason. It wasn’t to teach, or to learn, it was to kill

🐍🔪 There’s a lot of things that draw Nagisa to you, and it’s only a matter of time before he realises he’s big fat crushing on you. Karma noticed Nagia’s crush before the boy did himself, and you can imagine the teasing that took place

🐍🔪 I was gonna say you couldn’t see him to think he’s a girl which gave you bonus points but I feel like it might be in bad taste

🐍🔪 He studies you almost obsessively, attempting to learn some of your professional tricks as a way to boost e-class’s assassination attempts. It’s not creepy, he’s just genuinely amazed by your abilities, and well… you

🐍🔪 No matter what you do Nagisa is always in awe of it (simp), and your relationship (hard as it is to get Nagisa to finally admit to you) is a good one

[atc74]

Ready For Love

Warnings: Bad sexual pun (but it’s not, it’s f-ing hilarious), Impala!Sex - I think that says it all right there

Summary: Once Jensen’s parting gift form set arrives in Austin, he plans a night 

Pairing: Jensen x Reader

Word Count: 1305

Written for: @emoryhemsworth​ and this request I took from her: Picture this: Jensen knows the reader *loved* Dean and Anna’s love scene in the Impala, so he surprises her and they recreate it... for real this time. 😉   No, my requests are not open, please do not ask.

Beta’d by: @winchest09​ who thinks I’m funny ;) - dividers by @writeyourmindaway​ - thank you!

Like Jensen’s scent? Buy it here from @scentsfromthebunker!

As a reminder, this is a work of fiction and should be regarded as such. No harm is intended toward the actor(s) or their families.

“She’s here! She’s here!��� Emmaleigh, their excited four year old, jumped up and down at the front window. 

“Calm down, baby girl,” Jensen laughed as he entered the front room, their two year old son, Tristan, settled on his hip. 

“What is all the commotion about?” Y/N asked slowly descending the staircase. 

“She’s here, Mama! Baby is here!” Emmaleigh squealed. 

“I know you’re excited, Emma, but we need to wait, okay?” Y/N explained to the child, before turning to her husband. “Let me take this one, and you can head out. We’ll be out as soon as she is settled.” 

“I’m so stoked!” Jensen pumped his fist as he passed their son over to her and rushed out the front door. 

Y/N laughed, shaking her head and talking to their children. “I don’t know who is more excited, Emma or Daddy.” 

“Daddy!” Tristan shrieked, squirming in her hold. 

It took several, long minutes before the delivery company had the pristine 1967 black Chevrolet Impala parked in their driveway, giving their neighbors plenty of time to congregate outside with their morning coffee and watch as the beauty was dropped off. As soon as the truck cleared their property, Emmaleigh was out the front door, jumping into Jensen’s arms as he walked around the seventeen foot length of the ebony beast. 

Y/N could hear Jensen talking to their daughter. “She has a 502 big block V-8 engine, powered by 550 horses…” 

“Daddy, where are the horses?” Emma looked up Jensen with matching green eyes filled with curiosity and confusion. 

“Oh baby girl, they aren’t real horses,” Jensen laughed. “It’s about power, little one. I’ll teach you all about it when you’re older.”

“Can we go for a car ride, Daddy?” Emma asked, quickly forgetting the things that no longer interest her.  

“Not yet, Emma. Baby doesn’t have the right seatbelts in the backseat for you and your brother, but soon, okay? I promise it will be soon,” Jensen set her back on the ground as Y/N joined him at the front of the car. 

“So, they really let you have her, huh?” Y/N whispered, in awe that “Baby” was sitting in their driveway.

“Yeah, it was part of my release contract. You know I didn’t ask for much, but I wasn’t leaving this show after fifteen years without bringing Baby home to my baby,” Jensen pulled her into him, caging her body between his legs. 

“No, Daddy!” Tristan pushed both his hands into Jensen’s face. 

“Yeah, okay, little man,” Jensen tugged the toddler from his wife’s arms, setting him down to play with his sister and the drawing chalk. Y/N turned to head back inside, when a strong grip on her wrist stopped her, pulling her back into her husband. “But you and me? We got a date tomorrow night, Mama.” 

“Oh, we do, do we?” Y/N grinned ear to ear, throwing her arms loosely around Jensen’s neck. “Maybe I have plans.” 

“Or maybe, I made better plans. And got a sitter,” Jensen whispered, pulling her a little closer, so as not to be overheard by little ears. “You up for a little game of hide the angel grace?”

Y/N felt her skin flush as her body heated from the inside out. Jensen Ackles was the hottest thing she had ever laid eyes upon and he knew her deepest fantasy. The one that didn’t involve her husband, but the fictional character he played for fifteen years, and a red-haired angel in the back on the very 1967 Chevy Impala they were leaning against now. 

“Don’t tease me, Ackles. Payback's a bitch, buddy,” Y/N pulled back, looking deep into her husband’s forest green orbs. 

“Oh, I ain’t teasing, Baby. I am one hundred and ten percent serious. Drop the kids off at the Pads, do a little hill country driving, just you and me? What’dya say?” Jensen dropped his voice, looking into her eyes. 

“Oh my God, you are serious,” Y/N gasped as she took in Jensen’s expression. “Oh hell yes!” 

Jensen packed the children and their bags in the overly safe family vehicle and drove them over to Jared and Gen’s to spend the night. He started planning this night for her, for them, since he got the delivery confirmation that the Impala had started her trek from Vancouver. He even went back and did some research, rummaging through his wardrobe in an attempt to get everything perfect for her. Down to the last detail. 

With dinner and refreshments packed, he waited nervously for Y/N to come down the stairs. He wasn’t nervous being with her. No, intimacy had also come easy for them, but planning this night, wanting it to live up to her expectations, that is what had him on pins and needles. He turned, hearing the soft click on her boots on the hardwoods, and couldn’t believe his eyes. The woman that approached him was his wife, but could have been a stand in for ‘Anna’ from the outfit, to her naturally red hair. 

“Wow, you look…” Jensen gasped as she reached him. 

“We’ve never done any role playing before, so I thought this would be fun. Too much?” Y/N asked, her eyes searching his, looking for any indication that she had gone too far. 

“Hmm, no, you look the part, but even more beautiful,” he assured her. “Ready?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” she agreed. 

“Oh, I think I’ve got a pretty damn good idea,” Jensen mumbled. 

“This isn’t as spacious as it looks on television,” Y/N admitted, trying to get comfortable in the backseat. “Is this...pleather?”

“No, it is not pleather; it’s the factory original vinyl,” Jensen laughed, sitting back on his heels, his head slightly bent. “Here, try laying back on the blankets.”

“Ever the gentleman,” Y/N giggled, as she scooched down, her head resting on the nest of blankets Jensen had packed. 

“Well, it’s what Dean did, and he had way more experience with this than I’ve had in my life, so I figured…” he revealed, blushing slightly. “Oh, shit! I almost forgot!” 

Jensen pulled his phone from the front pocket of his jeans, pressing a few buttons until the car was filled with the sounds of Bad Company’s ‘Ready for Love.’ He placed the phone in the back window. “There, that’s better.” 

“Come here, baby,” Y/N whispered, pulling him down to her, their lips meeting in the dark. 

Jensen slotted his body between her legs, their hips colliding, grinding together as they sought friction from the other. He pulled back, admiring the beautiful woman beneath him. Unbuttoning her blouse, her eyes met his in a silent plea. He removed his shirts, anticipating the feel of her skin on his.

He slid his hands up, popping the button on her jeans, and peeling them from her legs, all the while keeping his eyes locked on hers. A smile slid across her features as she sat up, switching spots with her husband. She slowly removed his jeans, feeling him hard and bare beneath her. It was a powerful feeling, having him at her mercy in this cramped space. She used that power within her, to roll her hips over his, his stiff length pressing against her deliciously. 

Lowering her head, she captured his lips once more as she tilted forward, allowing him to slip inside her. She held him there, stretching her open as she panted his name until it became a moan from her lips. “Jensen. Jensen. Jensen.”

“Baby, I love you so much,” Jensen groaned as he slipped further into her, joining them together wholly. The windows were misty from their efforts, shielding them from view, but they only existed in this space, with one another. They only existed because of the other. 

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[sage-nebula]

the pokemon company be like *thinly-veiled misogyny*

To be honest, the sexism isn’t even really thinly-veiled if you think about it. Like off the top of my head:

— Professor Juniper was our first female professor, and it took until Gen V to get her. But whereas all the other professors got to stand on their own without needing anyone else, Professor Juniper had to have her father come in to provide answers to various plot occurrences that she didn’t know. IIRC, she also inherited her practice from him, which was also something that the male professors before and after didn’t have to contend with. It’s a miracle that this was averted with Professors Magnolia and Sonia in Gen VIII, both of whom are women.

— Speaking of female professors being screwed over, in Gen VII we’re introduced to Professor Burnet, whose practice specifically focuses on ultra wormholes and disturbances in space-time (which makes sense since she was previously working on the Dream Radar). Given how much of the plot concerns ultra wormholes, you would think that she would be the main professor of the story, or at least play a big part. But you’re wrong! Instead she’s only in one mandatory scene, and then is basically never heard from again. Meanwhile, Kukui shows up all the goddamn time even though his goal (to create a League) is literally meaningless in the scope of the overall plot. (And even that could have been cool if it had delved into the socio-political ramifications of what overthrowing Alola’s current system of government for another one would mean, but now is not the time to get into the failings of Gen VII’s plot. I’ve gone through that enough times.)

— Back to Gen V for a second, we’re also given two rivals in the first of the Unova games: Bianca and Cheren. While Cheren, the male rival, is taken seriously and has it talked up over and over how great of a battler he is, Bianca has her Munna stolen from her halfway through the story and spends the rest of the game talking down on herself and ultimately deciding that her father was right and she really is not cut out to be a Pokémon Trainer. Keep in mind that Bianca was the first mandatory female rival in the games, because while May could be a rival in Gen III if you played as Brendan, if you chose to play as her, both rivals (Brendan and Wally) were male. So on that note, our rivals so far look like:

Gen I: Blue Oak (male)

Gen II: Silver (male)

Gen III: Wally (male), optional May (female), optional Brendan (male)

Gen IV: Barry (male) 

Gen V: Cheren (male), Bianca (female), Hugh (male)

Gen VI: Shauna (female), Tierno (male), Trevor (male), optional Serena (female), optional Calem (male)

Gen VII: Hau (male), Gladion (male)

Gen: Hop (male), Bede (male), Marnie (female)

So, let’s see. We only have two mandatory female rivals (Bianca and Marnie), as well as two optional female rivals (May and Serena). Meanwhile, we have twelve mandatory male rivals, as well as two optional male rivals (Brendan and Calem). To cap this off, while the mandatory male rivals (outside of the useless Kalos ones) are always treated as strong, competent battlers who have important roles in the story, our two mandatory female rivals, well . . .

Bianca: See above

Marnie: Gets battled a whole grand total of two times and has basically zero impact on the plot despite the fact that her brother is the only Gym Leader who didn’t give into Rose’s vision for how Galar should operate and use Dynamax evolution

And even when it comes to the optional ones, since Brendan is treated as the default MC by TPCi, that means May is the one who gives up training to go be a professor like her dad. (Which is the exact thing they basically did to Bianca in Gen V, except she studies under Juniper instead.) Serena at least keeps battling if she’s the rival, but jeez.

So to say there’s definite gender inequality where the rivals are concerned is a bit of an understatement.

— Moving away from the rivals, let’s talk about villains! We didn’t get a female villain until Gen VII with Lusamine, and even then she wasn’t allowed to stay a villain because I guess Game Freak doesn’t want to accept the fact that women can be evil, too. Moreover, all of Lusamine’s achievements come from the men in her life, and all of her motivations revolve around her husband. To spell it out:

- She inherited the Aether Foundation from her grandfather / father, without having founded it herself like we’re at first led to believe.

- Her husband Mohn was the one who discovered how the ultra wormholes work, not her. IIRC, he was also the primary researcher behind Type: Null’s creation.

- The reason why she does what she does is because she’s looking for her missing husband Mohn, with an added dash of “women just go crazy (and abuse their children) without their husbands!!1!!!” thrown in for flavor. 

Compare this to Giovanni, Maxie, Archie, Cyrus, Ghetsis, Colress, Lysandre, and now Chairman Rose, all of whom formed their own organizations (Giovanni inheriting his from his mother is anime only and does not pertain to the games at all) and had their own goals and desires, versus relying on someone else for those goals and desires. And as if Lusamine not being allowed to form her own organization and have her own goals for her own sake wasn’t bad enough, they then had to go and make it even worse in USUM by turning her into a damsel in distress in the Rainbow Rocket plot, depicting her as not only less capable as the male villains, but also less capable than her male subordinate. Gag me.

— On that note, Oleana is sorely underappreciated by basically everyone except the Twilight Wings writers considering she’s the only reason anything Rose did got done, yet got none of the credit for herself. Damn shame.

— Stepping away from the games for a moment, Generations was a hot mess in terms of sexism. First of all, they only ever used the male MCs, pretending that the female ones didn’t exist at all, even in cases where the female MCs are vastly more popular (e.g. May, Dawn, Hilda). Second, most of the episodes focused on male characters from the series, and the ones that didn’t were either there so they could disrespect the best character in the series by not giving her the episode she deserved (Zinnia), or were told from the point of view of a male character despite that it was supposed to be a female character’s story (Emma). And lastly, there was whatever the fuck that mess with Cheryl was. It was animated in a way that made it look like an anime not suitable for anyone under the age of eighteen. Like honestly, what the hell.

— Leaf has been consistently and constantly disrespected all over the franchise. Despite there allegedly being four trainers who left from Pallet Town (counting Ash) in the anime, Leaf has never been seen or mentioned even once throughout the two decades that anime has been running. They had an opportunity to show her in at least a cameo form in the 20th anniversary movie, but they chose not to do that either, adding yet another disappointment from that movie to the list. She had no appearances in Origins, no appearances in Generations, they didn’t do what they should have done in HGSS by making her the rival atop Mt Silver if you chose to play as Lyra, she wasn’t a skin for Pokémon Trainer in Super Smash Bros. until Ultimate, I’m pretty sure they never made an Amiibo for her either, they replaced her with her Special counterpart in LGPE and her characterization absolutely bonkers to boot, and back to Masters, SS Leaf doesn’t have the Main Character designation for the theme skills that SS Red has, and is also routinely left out of any story bits that feature Red or Blue. It’s a miracle she was even included in the Battling Legends event or whatever it was. As far as TPCi seems to be considered, Kanto only has one main character and that’s Red.

— Oh and speaking of Iris, they gave her the Gym Leader theme designation instead of the Champion designation, instead choosing to act like Alder is Unova’s only Champion when he, no offense, didn’t really fucking do anything in Gen V. :’) We hate to see it.

— In the current run of the anime, the two boys (Ash and Gou) have gotten to go around and have adventures for ~50 episodes while the girl (Koharu) has had to stay home and go to school. You can argue, “She wanted that!” all you want, but you have to remember that she only wants what the writers tell her to want, and the writers said the boys get to have adventures while the girls stay home. She finally has an Eevee and will presumably go on adventures now, but we’ll have to wait and see. And don’t get me wrong, I like Journeys and I love Gou as a character, but it is absolutely a Choice to not have a female lead present in the adventures at all and it’s one that the writers deliberately made for whatever reason.

— On that note, let’s look at Ash’s female companions, shall we? 

Misty: A Gym Leader who has a vague goal (water pokémon master) and is largely out of focus during her run as a primary companion. She had no rivals or in-series (as in, concrete ones she could accomplish before leaving the main cast) goals of her own.

May: A coordinator. Does have rivals and has a story, which is nice, but battling isn’t her focus.

Dawn: Another coordinator. Even more focus than May (she was written as a deuteragonist), but also not primarily focused on battling.

Iris: A battler (her Gym Leader / Champion Status is written out) who actually does get decent focus and a cool arc surrounding her connection to dragons. 

Serena: A performer, which is a girls-only career path that doesn’t have battling in it at all, unlike contests. Does have a goal, but much of her character is written around her crush for Ash and at the end of the series she says that he is her goal.

Lillie, Lana, Mallow: Honestly I didn’t watch enough of SM to have an opinion on how these three were handled outside of hating how Lusamine didn’t get to be a villain in the anime either.

Koharu: See above, she’s only just now getting to be involved with things.

Now, don’t get me wrong: There’s nothing wrong with being a coordinator (and we do see male coordinators too, such as Drew and Harley), and I think that both May and Dawn are wonderful characters. But it does make me feel some kind of way that the female characters were often given the “girly” sidequest while the male main character got to go for the Gym badges, especially since AG and DP went on for a good chunk of years. None of the ladies so far have been treated as badly as Serena was (that performer stuff is just nasty, I’m not sorry), but again, it’s a deliberate choice and something to think about, especially since I feel the only reason they didn’t go that route with Iris is because of her Gym Leader / Champion status in the games. 

I could probably think of more examples of the casual sexism in the series if I thought about it, but this is just from the top of my head. As you can see, there is a lot. All of this being said, and I’m putting major emphasis on this since I don’t want anyone to get it twisted—

I love Pokémon with my entire heart, flaws and all. It has been my hyperfixation for 22 years and that is not going to change any time soon. So DO NOT even dare suggest that I hate Pokémon, or shouldn’t play it, or anything like that. I will be playing Pokémon on my deathbed and nothing and no one will stop me.

But that being said, I criticize because I care. Because I wish it would do better. Pokémon is for everyone. It’s for boys, girls, nonbinary folks, and people all over the gender spectrum. But the treatment of its female characters and the abundance of favoritism shown toward the male characters leaves a lot to be desired (though at least girls are at the table, whereas trans folk are relegated to background NPCs and nonbinary folk are nowhere to be seen :/). I think Pokémon can get better—Magnolia and Sonia felt like a proper apology for how Juniper in particular was shafted, not to mention Burnet—but it’s got a long way to go.

(And also, yes, you’ve understood this right. Twilight Wings is the only anime series to not fuck up at all when it comes to sexism. You go, Twilight Wings. Four for you, Twilight Wings.)

[ao3feed-geralt-jaskier]

by Anonymous

in the second month of the year 20xx, im merely testing the limits of ao3s inaction

Words: 40, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: 전지적 독자 시점 - 싱숑 | Omniscient Reader - Sing-Shong, Marvel Cinematic Universe, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS, 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game), Real Person Fiction, Original Work, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed, Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga), 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 天官赐福 - 墨香铜臭 | Tiān Guān Cì Fú - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, Naruto, 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Manga), 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Sherlock (TV), Teen Wolf (TV), Voltron: Legendary Defender, Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain America (Movies), One Direction (Band), Star Wars - All Media Types, Doctor Who, Haikyuu!!, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Hetalia: Axis Powers, Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime), Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball, Free!, Miraculous Ladybug, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia, One Piece, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Hobbit - All Media Types, Shadowhunters (TV), James Bond (Craig movies), Homestuck, Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Men's Hockey RPF, Glee, Merlin (TV), Once Upon a Time (TV), Hamilton - Miranda, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil, Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Final Fantasy, Overwatch (Video Game), Undertale (Video Game), Mass Effect Trilogy, Fire Emblem Series, Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga), Death Note (Anime & Manga)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other

Characters: Kim Dokja, Yoo Joonghyuk, Han Sooyoung, Yoo Sangah, Jung Heewon, lee hyungsung, Lee Jihye, Lee Seolhwa, Jang Hayoung, Kim Namwoon, Biyoo, Bihyung, Uriel, Prisoner of the Golden Headband | Sun Wukong, Secretive Plotter (Omniscient Reader)

Relationships: Kim Dokja/Yoo Joonghyuk, Han Sooyoung/Kim Dokja, Han Sooyoung/Kim Dokja/Yoo Joonghyuk, Han Sooyoung/Yoo Sangah, Han Sooyoung/Jung Heewon, Anna Croft/Han Sooyoung, Kim Dokja/Sung Jin-Woo, Kim Dokja/Yoo Sangah, Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijirou, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Jeon Jungkook/Kim Taehyung | V, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Dazai Osamu/Nakahara Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs)

Additional Tags: im trying to prove a point, There are three ways to survive in a ruined world., now, I have forgotten a few, but one thing is certain., The fact that you who are reading this now will survive., -Three ways to survive in a ruined world, Prologue – There are three ways to survive in a ruined world., Episode 1 – Starting the Paid Service (1), “I’m Dokja.”, (translater note: Dokja can me only son or reader)., I usually introduced myself to people like this, then the following misunderstanding would occur., Chapter 2: Episode 1 – Starting the Paid Service (2), Dokkaebi., The first time he appeared, someone said so., Chapter 3: Episode 1 - Starting the Paid Service (3), People reacted differently after the dokkaebi disappeared., Some people tried to get out of the train while others called the police., Chapter 4: Episode 1 - Starting the Paid Service (4), Laughter emerged., I had to clear my eyes and look again to see if it was a lie., The file extension was TXT., Then this person…, The gift they sent me was a copy of their novel?, Chapter 5: Episode 1 - Starting the Paid Service (5), People panicked as they saw the insects running around the carriage., Chapter 6: Episode 2 – Protagonist (1), The subway stopped around halfway past Dongho Bridge., Chaptr 7: Episode 2 – Protagonist (2), [Sponsor Selection has ended.], Chapter 8: Episode 2 – Protagonist (3), I stared straight into Lee Hyunsung and Han Myungoh’s eyes and said., “Do you want to die from that guy beyond the iron door, or do you want to try your luck outside the train?, Which one will you choose?”, Episode 2 – Protagonist (4), at this moment, Yoo Sangah shouted., “Dokja-ssi! Behind you!”, Episode 2 – Protagonist (5), It would be quite a ludicrous sight if anyone else saw it., A large adult man was being grabbed by the neck and hanging like a monkey., Episode 3 – Contract (1), My body suddenly became heavy as I felt water entering my lungs., Then I was sucked in somewhere., I wasn’t torn apart because I fell with perfect timing., however, I couldn’t lose consciousness here., Episode 3 – Contract (2), Star Stream system., The star stream broadcasting was designed to relay its contents to the entire universe., Episode 3 – Contract (3), Looking at the situation, I got a sense of what happened., Episode 3 – Contract (4), I didn’t know how much time passed., My breathing was often interrupted, and all my muscles were so stiff, that I could barely move them., Episode 4 – Line of Hypocrisy (1), A meteor shower was pouring down in the starry sky., It was a sight that anyone would admire, but not Yoo Joonghyuk., Episode 4 – Line of Hypocrisy (2), I often thought about it., Episode 4 – Line of Hypocrisy (3), Despite the interference of Cheon Inho, the constellations didn’t ask for a bounty scenario., in other words, it wasn’t the best time to deal with him., Episode 4 – Line of Hypocrisy (4), the next morning, I was almost out of supplies., Jung Heewon stared at the convenience store bags, as if she couldn’t believe it., Episode 5 – Shadow Keeper (1), [T-Then I will let everyone take care of it! Yihihihit!], The dokkaebi said these words and disappeared., Episode 5 – Shadow Keeper (2), The party fought well., It was actually a little bit surprising., in particular, Lee Hyunsung and Jung Heewon, who stepped forward with me were very influential., Episode 5 – Shadow Keeper (3), “Hyung! This…”, Right after Lee Gilyoung discovered the treasure box, I blocked his little mouth., “Shh, wait.”, Episode 5 – Shadow Keeper (4), Maybe we would’ve fought for a long time., [The exclusive skill ‘Bookmark’ can now be activated.], [The number two bookmark has been activated.], [The level of the Bookmark skill is low, shortening the activation time.], [Activation Time: One minute.], Episode 6 – Judgment Time (1), The limited random items box., According to the setting of Ways of Survival, this was a coin item that was sold as a limited edition in a past ‘scenario.’, Episode 6 – Judgment Time (2), Just as I was about to open my mouth, I heard Cheon Inho’s voice., “Oh, Dokja-ssi! You came just in time.”, Episode 6 – Judgment Time (3), The following morning, there were a few changes to Gumho Station., first of all, Han Myungoh had disappeared., Episode 6 – Judgment Time (4), A few minutes later, I once again entered Dongdae Station, and ate a ground rat., It was in order to heal, the skin contaminated by the poisonous fog., Episode 7 – Landlord (1), We followed Lee Jihye and entered Chungmuro., Yoo Sangah saw the shattered screen door of the platform and said., “…It is a chaotic atmosphere.”, Episode 7 – Landlord (2), The 10 Evils., The list and rankings were often changed, according to Yoo Joonghyuk’s regression cycle, but they were the 10 people in charge of being the main villains, in this world of Ways of Survival, Episode 7 – Landlord (3), Yoo Joonghyuk was looking at everyone except for Lee Hyunsung., The three remaining people were standing together, and I couldn’t figure out exactly who Yoo Joonghyuk was looking at, 「…How is this possible? 」, Episode 7 – Landlord (4), After the dokkaebi disappeared ×dozens of casualties appeared on the platform of line 3., Episode 7 – Landlord (5), As I watched the surging wave of monsters, I gave strength to my thighs., The level 15 strength condensed at once, and my feet developed a strong propulsion force., Episode 8 – Emergency Defense (1), 「 Lee Hyunsung was dozing like an officer on duty, 」 - Freeform, Episode 8 – Emergency Defense (2), It was finally the promised time., I gathered on the line 3 platform with the party., Every member was checking their weapons., Lee Hyunsung seemed to have handled it properly., Episode 8 – Emergency Defense (3), I couldn’t kill Gong Pildu because he was useful in future scenarios, but I needed Gong Pildu to leave his land., Episode 8 – Emergency Defense (4), One hour after the battle began, Gong Pildu fought and fought., The number of monsters had barely decreased but it was still great., Gong Pildu was considered to have the strongest defense among the 10 Evils for a reason., Episode 9 – Omniscient Sunfish (1), After a while, we moved towards the entrance, of the ‘hidden dungeon’ on the first underground floor., I walked behind Lee Jihye, Lee Gilyoung and Jung Heewon while looking at my smartphone., Episode 9 – Omniscient Sunfish (2), The moment the yellow eyes looked at us, a deafening roar echoed in our ears., Episode 9 – Omniscient Sunfish (3), [The constellation Secretive Plotter is curious about your scam.], [The constellations have sponsored you 200 coins.], Episode 9 – Omniscient Sunfish (4), unfortunately, Yoo Joonghyuk wasn’t on the sixth floor., Episode 9 – Omniscient Sunfish (5), The cold sensation numbed my fingers., dammit, I really wanted to beat this guy up., but..., There was something strange., Episode 9 – Omniscient Sunfish (6), “What?”, 「 What are you…? 」, Episode 10 – Future War (1), [Main Scenario #3 – Emergency Defense has ended.], [You have obtained 1, 000 coins as compensation.], Episode 10 – Future War (2), As soon as my hand wrapped around the flag, I felt a strong energy rising in my body., originally, this was something the third turn Yoo Jonghyuk should have but…, it didn’t matter., Episode 10 – Future War (3), …It hadn’t been long since the scenario began and already?, Episode 10 – Future War (4), “Push through to the flag holder!”, Episode 10 – Future War (5), After coming down from the theater, I headed straight to Myeongdong Station with Lee Hyunsung and Yoo Sangah., Dongmyo Station was important but there was something to be done first., Episode 10 – Future War (6), It wasn’t an illusion., The guy’s eyes instantly widened when he heard my name., Episode 10 – Future War (7), the internet - Freeform, it wasn’t possible., Episode 11 – Night of the Prophets (4), “The 9th person to get off.., it is the first time I’ve heard of this attribute.”, Episode 11 – Night of the Prophets (2), “A prophet like us?”

[dreaming-gamer]

DMC week Day 1: Weapon – V & Nico

Gen, no shipping.

Warning: Angst towards the end.

V had never expected such an atmosphere, but there was something tranquil about being able to sit on the couch in Nico’s RV, just quietly reading the pages of his beloved anthology for perhaps the hundredth time. A soft purr rumbled against his sandal-clad feet. It was usually harder to tell his feline companion’s feelings, compared to Griffon, but at the moment, Shadow seemed perfectly content with a nap, as well as keeping V off his feet for a bit.

The summoner couldn’t deny the recent days of fighting was starting to leave an aching strain in his muscles. This moment of rest might be short, there were still many demons about after all but until Nero returned, they could only wait in this safe spot that Nico had parked in.

Speaking of the self-proclaimed Queen of machines, she was currently happily tinkering away at the latest piece of demon parts V had salvaged for her and V could admit it was a relaxing sound to hear in the background. Gears being twisted, her small exclamations of discovery, the clink of tools and metal meeting. Her work left a smell of oil in the air, but it was not unpleasant compared to the stench of demon blood and guts he had gotten so utterly used to by now.

“Oh-hee! I am a genius!”

The sudden shout was louder than most of her exclamations during the last hour and made Shadow lift her head. V kept his gaze on the book, just as fast footsteps thundered his way.

Making a mental note of which page he was on, V raised his gaze but had no time to ask what she had now figured out before she let out a huff.

“What, Nero’s not back yet?” Nico’s hand went for her tool belt, found the package and pulled out a cigarette for herself.

“It would appear not.” V agreed matter-of-factly, softly closing his book. “Did you need him for something?”

The grin that grew on Nico’s face matched a cat that just got a bowl of cream, she grinned all around the cigarette as she took a drag.

“That thing ya brought back resulted in something real special. Wanna have a peek? Free of charge!”

V felt a smirk tug at his lips.

“Well, if you are being so generous…”

Shadow moved just enough for her master to get up properly, using his cane for a bit of support to rise. Making his way through the small space of the RV, the sight that greeted him at the artisan’s workbench was certainly… odd. The design was quite unlike any of the earlier Devil Bringers she had made and V had found the Pasta Breaker an interesting enough design choice. This Devil Bringer didn’t look like a hand even.

This object was blue, didn’t resemble an arm at all really, though V could see where it was supposed to attach.

“I call it the Mega Buster!” Nico proudly declared, just as the soft ruffle of wings left V’s tattoos.

“Oh yeah, what does it even do? I don’t know if you noticed but it’s not even a hand!” Griffon snickered, setting himself down on one of the cupboards.

“That’s because this one shoots. Maybe ya wanna be target practice, little chickee?” The artisan replied, lowering her voice.

“I had enough of those damn blasts fighting the thing! You could thank me!” Griffon exclaimed, his feathers ruffled so he took to disappearing into his host but V couldn’t help smirking a bit at the exchange. He knew his familiar had not forgotten the threat of the steel pot. As for the battle itself, V did not miss those energy blasts either, the lower hem of his leather coat was singed off. If Nero could harness that power, well, wouldn’t that be useful? The showing of her recent creation sparked a question he had been wanting to ask for a while.

“If you do not mind me asking…” V started as Nico took another drag of her cigarette. “...how did you come up with the idea for these Devil Bringers?” V was genuinely curious, Nero’s case was certainly special, considering how one of his arms had been lost. But V had never heard of a prosthetic limb being built with such potential for combat. Boisterous she might be, but Nico did have quite a knack for the mechanical, that he could not deny.

Nico snorted, letting out a laugh.

“Yeah, that’s a fun story alright. So Nero came wobblin’ back to Fortuna right, demanded I’d fix an arm for him. Sure, I was onboard, but then the psycho dropped a one-month deadline! Hell, he didn’t get that something like that would take half a year at least!”

V nodded, letting her continue while swatting away the cloud of smoke she blew out in his direction. Either she didn’t think about diverting the smoke, or she just did not care. The RV was her castle, after all.

“So we stood there arguing about it, when there was this guy who barged in and told Nero there was demon trouble! I told the jackass to get in, ya could tell from his face he wasn’t skipping that fight.” Nico grinned, exhaling a small cloud through her nostrils. “Damn, never seen a fight like that up close. The demon was called a Blitz or whatever. That didn’t matter though. What mattered was the way its remains were all sparky after Nero turned it to shish kebab. And that’s when yours truly got the idea for the Overture.” She stated, a proud glint evident in her brown eyes, smoke dancing around her grin.

“An impressive feat, for such a short amount of time.” V nodded as her story appeared finished.

“I know, right? So, you want me to have a lookie at what ya got? Maybe I can give ya an upgrade since Nero’s new toy’s all done.”

Before V had time to consider her offer, the mechanic snatched the cane from his light grip. V let her even though the gesture was quite rude, he felt a bit of… curiosity. Along with no small amount of doubt, considering the cane’s origins as well as well as other factors. Yet a bit of curiosity if her self-proclaimed, and quite proven genius, could find out anything about the cane that he had missed. He stayed silent as she examined his cane, just curiously watching while leaning lightly against the counter while she tapped the cane with a tool. Turned it over from every angle and checked it, even brought it close to some slivers of demonic remains to check for a reaction. There was a tiny spark as she brought the cane down on it and then, the small piece of demon flesh disintegrated.

“Metal seems good for conducting demonic energy. But is that all it does?” She sounded a bit disappointed at the lack of findings.

“It lets me finish off demons, as long as they’re weakened. I believe that will have to do.” V didn’t really have any other expectations of it, at this point.

“Oh, wait, maybe I can make some kinda coating on it? Let’s ya cut through demons more easily.” V could almost see the gears in her head starting to work, the spark of inspiration coming to life.

Admittedly, it didn’t sound like an impossible idea. But…

“I thought you used up today’s materials.” V stated, his gaze falling on the slivers of demonic remains that now looked like nothing but grains of what had once been.

“So what if I did? There’s still demons roaming about out there. Oh-hee, Nero might even bring something back!” Excitement was alight in her eyes as she took out her cigarette, put out what was left of it against an ashtray on the counter before handing back V’s aid.

V took the cane, leaned on it slightly, finding the inspiration that seemed to hit her at the mere thought of more work to be quite interesting. She clearly lived for this, just as she had claimed she wanted to be legendary like her grandmother.

“You just might become that…” He said in thought, slightly to himself.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, pardon me.” V smirked and she just raised an eyebrow before grabbing for another cigarette.

”Just ya wait, I can equip ya with something better for kicking demon ass. Or maybe ya want a nice frying pan, for when the lil’ chickee gets too much?” Nico snickered, her grin almost sympathetic. V smirked, maybe she could come up with something brilliant for him as well. But for now, it was much better if she concentrated those efforts on Nero.

”I appreciate the offer. But I believe I’m properly equipped, for now.” V knew his reality did not include running around with a sword on his back, swinging it around was not in his cards. A gun might be another thing but he felt no need to start wielding one now. He had to resort to other means, his familiars. Shadow materialized herself, as if on cue and put her large head against his leg, pushing softly.

Ah, he had not noticed how he was starting to lean just a bit more heavily on the cane, an ache returning to his knee, making the nerves tremble.

“If you excuse me, I have some reading to do.” He said, warmed by his familiar’s silent insistence. If he had an opportunity to rest, he should make use of it. Nico didn’t seem to notice his trembling, nor his familiar’s… caring behavior.

“Pff, sure. But the offer stands, ya hear? How about a cane that suits yer height?” Nico joked, walking past him as V sat down on the couch again.

“It’s not necessary.” A joke it might be, but V nevertheless felt a warm feeling in his chest over her insistence to try. Along with a slight… ache, wrapping around his heart and squeezing.

An ache that persisted when Nico suddenly dropped a blanket in his lap.

V looked up, letting just a bit of his confusion show on his face.

“What? Ya looked chilled, trembling like that.” Nico said with a shrug. “Ya gotta speak up sometime, I can’t read minds. Well, yet.”

How utterly terrifying it would be if you could. V thought.

“Thank you.” He said. “For the… insight of your genius, as well.” Nico grinned at him, obviously pleased.

“Ya might gonna have to pay for it next time!”

“Perhaps…” She made it sound so very… certain, it was tempting to get swept up in the enthusiasm. V’s smirk fell as she continued on to the dashboard, her back to him.

“Is that jackass gonna take forever?! I wanna see him put this to use! And give me the cash.” The last bit was barely audible as Nico grabbed for the phone to dial.

V smirked to himself. Yes, Nero would be able to put Nico’s latest, as well as future weapons to good use. The summoner gently scratched behind Shadow’s ear as the panther settled over his feet again. Slowly, he pulled the blanket around his shoulders and bare arms, his trembling might not be because of a chill, but Nico’s gesture still made him feel warm, more so than the soft fabric that smelled lightly of detergent. And with it, that ache inside just seemed to grow, to squeeze tighter but he tried to shove it aside. Nico’s energetic speech as she chewed out Nero on the phone made that feeling of tranquility settle over him again along with a will to just enjoy these moments, while they lasted. So V opened up his book again, to the same page he had left earlier, while she chatted away.

Just under the leather bands on his left wrist, a tiny crack in his skin peeked through.

[purplehairedwonder]

Inside a Broken Dream Chapter 3

Fandom: One Piece Rating: PG-13 Pairings: Gen, briefest hint of Lawlu that you can ignore Words: 3325 Characters: Trafalgar Law, Penguin, Jean Bart, Donquixote Doflamingo, Smoker, Tashigi Note: Story title comes from the Vertical Horizon song “Shackled.” Character and relationship tags reflect the current chapter. Obviously this is canon-divergent ;)

Summary: Two years after Wano, peace on the Grand Line is fragile. Trafalgar Law and the Heart Pirates are doing their best to help maintain the peace, but the return of a figure from Law’s past might shatter the balance of power entirely.

Previous chapters: 1 | 2

Read also at AO3 / FF.N

“White Chase-ya?”

Smoker’s eyes flicked in Law’s direction, and his lips thinned into a line. “Law.”

Law frowned. “What are you doing here?”

Smoker grimaced and leaned back against the wall of his cell. The Seastone shackles around his wrists clanked with his movements. “Somehow, I keep getting caught up in your shit with Joker.”

Law snorted despite himself. He supposed it was a bit of déjà vu, calling back to being locked up on Punk Hazard. Too bad Law was restrained with actual Seastone this time.

Penguin was looking between Law and Smoker, confused, but he clearly knew he wouldn’t get an explanation so instead asked, “Did Akainu really let Doflamingo out of Impel Down and give him a ship to go after Captain?”

Smoker grunted. “Is that what he said?”

Jean Bart nodded. “He also said he wasn’t interested in running errands for Akainu.”

“That much is true, anyway,” Smoker replied. His tone made it eminently clear that he was unhappy to be having this conversation with three pirates—but he answered anyway.

“What do you mean?”

“Sakazuki did want to go after Law,” he said, nodding in Law’s direction. “And after Dressrosa, he thought he could use Doflamingo to do it.”

Had Law had the energy, he would have straightened at that. As it was, he narrowed his eyes. “What does he know about Dressrosa?”

Law knew Penguin and Jean Bart were watching him—he’d been intentionally vague about what had gone on there and why, though Penguin knew far more than most of the Heart Pirates about Law’s history with the former Warlord, and he’d rarely mentioned it since. At the moment, he couldn’t bring himself to care. The last thing he wanted was his history with Doflamingo to become common knowledge. Sengoku knew because of his connection to Cora-san, but Law got the impression the man was content in his retirement to let things lie in his adopted son’s memory. Akainu, though… The less that son of a bitch knew about Law, the better.

Smoker appraised him from his cell before speaking. “Whatever Fujitora reported, I assume.”

Of course. Though he wouldn’t know the details of the backstory, Fujitora had witnessed enough to know there was a history there—one that was intensely personal on both sides. That could have been enough for Akainu.

Law let out a breath. “Right.”

“Captain?” Penguin asked quietly, but Law shook his head. Penguin frowned but nodded.

“Why the sudden interest in the Captain?” Jean Bart asked. “He’s been an Emperor for two years now.”

Smoker shifted, seemingly looking for a more comfortable position. “It’s not sudden. Sakazuki’s had it in for you since you saved Straw Hat Luffy at Marineford,” he replied, addressing Law directly. “He took that as a personal insult. And then you pulled that stunt to become a Warlord and made an alliance with the rubber idiot before proceeding to completely upend the status quo on the Grand Line.” He raised an eyebrow. “Need I go on?”

“I broke the gears,” Law had said when he’d destroyed the SAD production on Punk Hazard. And the effects had certainly avalanched after that, though Law hadn’t necessarily expected to see it.

“I’m sure he’s thrilled the alliance hasn’t ended either,” Law muttered.

Law had known that he was in this alliance for the long haul the morning after Doflamingo’s fall. Law had been sitting, his body broken and spirit afloat, among the drooping sunflowers as the sun rose over the toy soldier’s cabin. Luffy, who Law thought had been sleeping off his injuries, had sat down next to him with a murmured “Torao” and had gently entwined their fingers. Law had leaned into him in silent response. Thank you. Why am I alive? What do I do now? all running through his mind. Luffy had tightened his grip on Law’s hand, anchoring him.

“He knew targeting you would draw Straw Hat’s attention,” Smoker confirmed. “He was counting on it.”

“Is he trying to start a war?” Penguin demanded, aghast.

“The closer Straw Hat comes to finding Laugh Tale, the more anxious he gets. He’ll take any chance to stop that from happening.” Smoker shrugged. “Though it’s moot now; Doflamingo screwed Sakazuki over.”

“Which brings us back to the Captain’s original question: How do you figure into this, Smoker?” Jean Bart asked, crossing his arms. Law belatedly noticed that Jean Bart had shackles around his wrists as well, though they were of the regular sort since he wasn’t a Fruit user. A quick glance confirmed Penguin did too.

“I was assigned to lead the mission. Doflamingo was chained with so much Seastone I could barely get near him, and he was guarded by multiple soldiers at all times. He was supposed to be an asset, nothing more.”

Law raised an eyebrow, lips twitching. “You were coming to take me on, White Chase-ya?” Their last fight hadn’t gone particularly well for Smoker, though he had saved Law’s life by recovering his heart from Vergo. Law would always hate the Marines after what had happened to Flevance, but Smoker was one he grudgingly respected. Still. “Should I be offended that I didn’t even warrant an admiral’s attention?”

Smoker replied with an unimpressed look. “The admirals have been spread thin over the last two years, and you know it.” It was true; since Doflamingo’s fall and the end of his underworld empire, the dissolution of the Warlords, and Kaido’s defeat, the admirals had had their work cut out for them keeping the peace.

“Even so, attacking an Emperor without an admiral—” Jean Bart began.

“And with a former Warlord on board,” Penguin added helpfully.

“—seems like a mission that should be led by an admiral,” Jean Bart finished.

Law found himself wondering if Akainu sent Smoker because he had history with Law… and Straw Hat-ya.

Smoker sighed. “Like I said, its moot now anyway.”

“Because Doflamingo escaped,” Law supplied.

“Once we approached your territory, he was released from the strongest Seastone restraints with the understanding he’d be shot on the spot with a Seastone bullet if he pulled anything.”

Law grimaced. Idiots.

“Oh, so it’s your fault Captain got shot,” Penguin snapped. “Always so competent, you Marines.”

Smoker startled, turning to examine Law. Law gestured weakly at his wound, his shackles clinking. “Seastone bullet lodged in my shoulder.” His lips curled. “Thanks for that.”

“That explains a lot,” Smoker mumbled before raising his voice. “You’re right.” He said it as if it took a great amount of effort to make the concession. It probably did. “He took control of the ship almost immediately. He overwhelmed us, and he forced my men to cuff me, knowing I wouldn’t fight them.” His voice tightened as he spoke, barely containing his fury at the memory.

Something was still bothering Law. “Where’s your number two? The swordswoman.”

Smoker’s expression darkened. “He’s got her on guard duty. She was watching me when he attacked you.”

That explained why Law hadn’t seen either of them earlier; Doflamingo likely hadn’t wanted to risk losing any measure of control of the situation by putting familiar faces in the battle.

“Has Doflamingo said what he wants?” Jean Bart asked after a quiet moment, eyes flicking to Law before returning to Smoker.

Smoker shook his head before landing his stare flatly on Law. “He just called it Family business.”

-----

Law jerked into full consciousness, hissing as his shoulder flared and blinking as the brig door opened and light once more flooded the dim room. After the conversation with Smoker, the four men had fallen into an uncomfortable silence. Law had felt drained—and by more than just the excessive amounts of Seastone he was being exposed to.

At some point, night had fallen—the Heart Pirates’ confrontation with Doflamingo had happened near dusk, and Law had apparently been out for several hours after that—though the darkened brig gave little indication of the time of day. Law had slumped back against the wall in the least painful position he could manage and had drifted in and out of wakefulness, familiar dreams of gunshots, black feathers, blood, and laughter never far from the back of his eyelids.

Two Marines entered the brig and stopped in front of Law’s cell. Law watched as they opened the door and stepped inside toward him. Despite the movements Doflamingo’s strings were forcing them to make, they looked back toward Smoker.

“V-vice Admiral,” the second Marine muttered. “We can’t—”

“I know,” Smoker gritted out. “Don’t blame yourselves. Focus on staying alive now to fight back later.”

“Yessir,” both men agreed before returning their attention to Law.

Law inhaled sharply and his vision spun as the Marines hauled him to his feet.

“Captain!” Penguin called as the Marines pushed Law out of his cell and toward the door. Law didn’t resist; he didn’t have the strength to with the Seastone still in his shoulder. “Where are you taking him?”

They all knew the answer to that question. “Doflamingo wants to see him,” the first Marine said in unneeded confirmation.

“It’s fine, Penguin,” Law said over his shoulder. “He wants me alive.” For how long, Law didn’t know. But he could use this chance to do some reconnaissance—anything was better than just sitting in that cell helplessly.

“But—”

“Penguin.” That was Jean Bart. Law was, not for the first time since Sabaody, thankful for the former captain’s calm and presence of mind; it had made him an instantly popular presence on the Polar Tang, and Law had always taken his counsel, when offered, seriously. “He knows.”

As the brig door swung shut, Law caught a glimpse of Penguin’s worried look and Jean Bart’s level, if somber, stare.

Law was surprised when the Marines steered him up some stairs then into a bathroom. “He told us to tell you to clean yourself up,” the second Marine said, nodding to the small bathroom. The Marines left Law alone in the bathroom, waiting outside.

For a moment, irritation at being underestimated flooded through Law’s veins, but it quickly diminished as he realized there wasn’t much he could do from here—the Seastone was suppressing his powers and draining his strength, and the small window wasn’t big enough for Law to fit through; and even if he could have fit through the window, where would he go? They were on a ship in the middle of the ocean, and Law was an anchor. Not to mention, two of Law’s men were still prisoners in the brig, and he wouldn’t leave without them.

Law took the opportunity to relieve himself then checked his pockets—an awkward task with his restraints. He sighed in relief when he found his surgical kit; the Marines must not have gone through his pockets once he was taken captive—or Doflamingo hadn’t made them do so. His mistake. With this, Law could remove the Seastone bullet from his shoulder and alleviate its worst effects. Or Penguin could. He hoped.

Returning the kit to his pocket, Law turned on the faucet and splashed some water in his face. He dared a glance into the mirror and winced. His features were (unsurprisingly) more drawn than usual, and though his navy shirt was dark enough to disguise much of the blood, there was still an obvious dark stain on the shoulder. He wet one of the towels then gently pulled the cloth of his shirt away from the skin, wincing when the dried blood caused it to stick. Once he’d separated the fabric from his skin, he took the damp towel and gently cleaned off as much of the blood as he could. It was awkward with his restricted wrists, but he managed as best he could. As the blood came away, the purpling of the skin became obvious around the bullet wound. He prodded around the wound with his fingers, grimacing at its tenderness.

There was a knock at the door. “All right, Trafalgar. Let’s go.”

With a weary sigh, Law splashed another handful of water in his face then dried off with a clean towel. He opened the door and allowed the Marines to push him forward down the hall again. He knew when to pick his battles, and this was not one of those times. Law did his best to make a mental map of the ship and number of Marines he saw, though his foggy mind wasn’t making that an easy task.

Eventually, Law was directed onto the ship’s deck. Law squinted at the morning sunlight, which was a stark contrast to the dim brig. He stumbled slightly, and the Marines shoved him forward. Law pressed his lips into a thin line but said nothing. Once his eyes adjusted, he saw he was been directed toward a small table with two chairs—one predictably occupied by Doflamingo. He was eating breakfast as Smoker’s number two was forced to stand behind him as a bodyguard. Law could practically feel the anger radiating off her, which he knew Doflamingo was basking in.

As Law approached, Doflamingo looked up and smirked. He gestured toward the empty chair across from him, and, when Law was too slow in taking it, twitched his fingers so Law’s Marine escorts pushed him down by the shoulders. Law ground his teeth against the jolt of fresh pain that radiated down his arm and through his chest but refused to give the other man the satisfaction of making a sound. Doflamingo’s smirk widened anyway. After dismissing the Marines with the wave of a hand, Doflamingo turned his full attention to Law.

“You know Captain Tashigi, don’t you, Law?” he said, nodding to the woman behind him. Her eyes flicked to Law and softened slightly before hardening again.

“We’ve met.”

“Hm. On Punk Hazard, wasn’t it?”

Doflamingo knew full well that was the case, so Law didn’t dignify the question with a response.

“Still delightful company, I see,” Doflamingo said, raising an eyebrow. “Some things never change, eh, Law?”

“My apologies,” Law drawled. “The Seastone bullet in my shoulder seems to be suppressing my manners as well as my Fruit.”

Doflamingo’s lips turned upward, apparently pleased at the response. “Fufufu. You must be hungry. Eat,” he directed, nodding toward the food on the table. No bread, Law noted idly.

Law didn’t move. Doflamingo sighed dramatically. “If I were going to kill you, Law, I wouldn’t have only shot you in the shoulder yesterday.” A twitch of the lips. “Besides, is poison really my style?”

Fine.

Still, Law raised his shackled wrists wordlessly, indicating how awkward it would be to eat with the restraints on.

Amused, Doflamingo twitched his fingers, and one of the Marine guards from earlier came forward. He brandished a key and unlocked the shackle on Law’s right wrist. Law let out a relieved breath before he could stop himself, but the relief was short-lived as he realized the Marine was locking the free shackle to the chair; Law’s left arm—the unwounded one—was essentially useless. If he was going to eat, he’d have to use his wounded arm.

Law clenched his jaw, biting down on the words he’d like to spit at the other man, as Doflamingo chuckled. “Fufufu. You knew it wasn’t going to be that easy, Law. Now eat.”

Doing his best to ignore the intent gaze of the other man, Law resorted to serving himself from the dishes closest to him so he wouldn’t need to move his arm too much. He ended up with some eggs and fruit. He blinked in surprise when another Marine poured coffee into the mug in front of him. Doing his best to control the trembling in his arm, he gripped the mug and took a tentative sip to test the heat of the drink. It was tolerable, so he took a larger sip. Blessed caffeine. It helped clear the fog in his mind the tiniest bit.

Law picked, one-handed, at the food on his plate and took sips of coffee as he waited for Doflamingo to get to whatever it was that he wanted. He’d just popped a strawberry in his mouth when the other man finally spoke.

“I told you once that I would have been happy to settle things between us over drinks,” Doflamingo said. “Do you remember?”

Law paused, then swallowed the food. He looked up at Doflamingo, who had steepled his fingers and was staring at Law over them. Despite everything that had happened—despite how much stronger Law was now—that gaze still made Law feel ten years old.

“As I recall,” Law replied coolly, “Fujitora was holding me down with his gravity force after you’d shot me with your bullet strings.” He inclined his head. “But yes, I do remember.”

“I meant it, you know. You’re Family. We all were waiting for you to return to your rightful place.”

Law snorted derisively, memories of waking up chained to the Heart Throne after being shot with lead bullets bouncing around the back of his mind. “Is that what we’re doing here? Making up for lost time?” His eyes narrowed. “It’s hard to take you seriously when—” Law found himself suddenly without words as he thought about the previous day—about finding the smoldering wreck of Shachi’s ship and fighting to stop Shachi’s internal bleeding as he operated on his friend, about that damn gun—so just gestured at his shoulder with his free hand. He could feel sharp, fiery anger coursing under his skin, but the numbing effect of the Seastone doused it almost as quickly as it came on, leaving Law feeling cold and hollow.

“You know what kind of Family we are.”

Law distantly noted the use of the present tense but didn’t dwell on it. “And that’s why I never came back.”

Doflamingo was uncharacteristically silent for several moments before he finally spoke. “There’s been something I’ve been wondering since you came to Dressrosa, Law.”

Law inclined his head, waited.

“Where were you that night? Coraz- Rosinante said you were out of the Birdcage. But you weren’t, were you?”

Law blinked, startled by the question—and by Doflamingo’s use of his brother’s name. Whatever he’d been expecting the other man to say, that wasn’t it. He couldn’t read the look on Doflamingo’s face either. Law took a breath, collecting himself—what did it matter if he told him now?

“No, I wasn’t.” He could still feel snowflakes on his eyelashes and the walls of the treasure chest pressing in on him… “Cora-san put me in one of the treasure chests.” His lips twisted into an expression he knew was ugly. “I heard everything.”

Including Doflamingo declaring Law would be taught to die for him. It had haunted Law for years that, had he not heard those words and had the Family recovered him, he probably would have died for Doflamingo. Happily. For all the hatred Law carried for the man in front of him, he’d loved him once, too. The Family had called him a traitor when he put his vengeance plan into motion, but Law had been the one betrayed on Minion Island. He still woke up shaking and nauseated from nightmares in which he performed the Eternal Youth Operation, dying with a smile on his face for the man who’d murdered his savior.

Doflamingo stared at him for a long, tense moment as though placing Law into his memories of that night. It was… disconcerting. Then he nodded. “We never checked the chests.”

“No,” Law agreed.

Silence fell once more. Doflamingo continued to study Law across the table while Law tried not to think about getting out of the chest and walking away from the Family, sobbing soundlessly until he wasn’t.

Finally, Doflamingo seemed to shake himself out of whatever he was thinking and turned back to his involuntary bodyguard. “Take him back to the brig, would you, Captain Tashigi?”

[krokonoko]

asdf thank you so much! You’ve come to the right place my friend, until very recently I knew every Lacho fic in the tag, so yes, of course I got fic recs! 🤩 I’m gonna list these in chronological order (and credit everyone by their AO3 nick)

(fyi, almost all of these are rated explicit or mature.)

Trust Me by Straponselina

Fight or flight, that’s all Nacho can think about lately, especially when it comes to Lalo. He’s tried the latter, but now that he gets cornered, Nacho decides it’s time for the former.

All of Straponselina’s Lacho fics are awesome, but this one’s my favorite. Lacho and substance abuse get on like a house on fire, and this fic takes complete advantage of that. It’s an intense ride fueled by anxiety, drugs and craving. The buildup is absolutely perfect, and it all explodes in some of the hottest goddamn smut I’ve ever read. I remember being unable to even properly comment on this one cause it blew my mind so hard.

-

ayotochtli by moonrocks

When a deal with a rival drug gang goes south and adrenaline and fear mix with something else, Nacho finds himself in the ironic position of being the only thing standing between Lalo Salamanca and certain death.

moonrocks has given us many amazing Lacho fics and I love every single one of them, but I got a particularly soft spot for this one. It’s got everything you could ask for: Power dynamic shifts, vulnerable Lalo, Nacho being confused about his feelings, intimacy merging with violence into one inextricable mess, and of course moonrock’s v own specialty, which is incredibly vibrant and atmospheric environmental descriptions! This one’s almost gen and more along the lines of a character study (my personal favorite type of fic ❤️).

-

By a Thread by Pandir

Lalo experiences every second of his life in full color, indulgences, impending doom and all. He’s trying to teach Nacho to do the same. Unfortunately, all Nacho has to indulge in is crippling existential panic.

In a flurry of intense sensory impressions and drug induced highs, Lalo’s mere existence confronts Nacho with his worst coping mechanisms. Everything Pandir’s ever written is amazing, and this fic’s no exception. They have a knack for unsettling imagery and themes, and their stories have the ability to make you feel like you yourself are joining the characters in their downward spiral into their own messy minds. Psychedelic, stream of consciousness, unexpected, just all around really, really good!

-

Burmese Boxing by keuppia

Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi, that’s what Nacho learned the hard way while working for the Salamancas. But everyone bruises when headbutted in the jaw, even Lalo, and that’s a strangely comforting thought.

An excellent exploration of cartel hierarchy, a fantastic character study, and Lacho interactions so full of tension and uncertainty it murders me just to think about the sheer suspense of it all. As I said before, I’m a big fan of the concept of intimacy being mingled with violence, and the other way around, and keuppia turns this into an art form. You just want the fic to go on forever, but the fact that it doesn’t, that it ends exactly where it’s supposed to, is what made this one leave such an impact on me. I could write an entire essay about why I love this fic but I’m just gonna leave it at that.

-

Unspoken by bisexualjesse

There are no locks that could protect Nacho’s privacy from Lalo. But maybe this time, that’s not such a bad thing. And besides, what’s the harm in looking?

Short and sweet, quick to the point, just all around great smut. It’s got Nacho completely at the mercy of not one but two people, also some very subtle and nice intimacy between Nacho and Lalo that’s to die for! What more could you want?

-

Only You by Seraphtrevs

Nacho’s entire world is turned upside down when he ends up in the claws of the beast that is Lalo Salamanca. It feels like he has to navigate an entirely new, dangerous world with very strict rules to survive. But Nacho is anything if not a quick learner, and it’s only a question of time until he finds out that he has some claws of his own.

Of course no Lacho rec list would be complete without Sera’s Only You. The first part will always be my personal favorite, but the entire series is very dear to my heart. It helped us all through the rough times of the great Lacho withdrawal between episodes 3 and 9 and gave us some much needed escapism after the finale. Also Sera’s an actual angel so there’s that. It’s gonna be sad to watch this fic come to an end, but it was a wild ride, and I enjoyed every second of it!

(sorry for publishing ur ask like this anon, I managed to somehow make your original ask bug out? with some HTML shenanigans? Idk. anyway here’s your answer asdfghj)

[skamamoroma]

🙌🏼 You’re watchinggg druck! Yeahhh. I’d love to hear more of your thoughts on the season so far I have missed your posts

I WAS AS SURPRISED AS ANYONE TO LOVE THIS SEASON. You’re v sweet and thanks for being so welcoming, been away for a wee while!

I watched all of the original generation and there’s a lot I loved (some clips were absolutely wonderful) but I didn’t connect as much to them as I did other casts and takes on the seasons. I think it was just personal preference, I guess!

But I caught the first clip of the new gen and saw Nora and my first thought was “OH HELLO VILDE SEASON WE WERE CRUELLY DENIED”. It has that feel to it and I know I have gone on and on about how much I wished we’d got that back in the day.

But they may have taken the theme to an extent, they’ve also given Nora her own character and world. She’s a little old school bohemian, kinda soft 70s vibe to her. She seems gentle and introverted and very creative but also secretive and insular and a pro at hiding her feelings. She is strong and I think probably damaged by her experiences so she has a spikey side too. She’s lonely and she’s a juggler in life. I see a LOT of my younger self in her and her experiences the same way I did Vilde in terms of her home life so I feel so protective over her. The way she has the world on her shoulders, plasters a smile on her face easily through the hurt she feels and she seems to see the world in the most beautiful way DESPITE the difficulties she has. She finds moments where she’s able to recognise the beauty of the world. That’s a really lovely thing. That looking for the vodka bottle though... god that got to me. Been there, girl.

Also, it has SUCH proper Skam vibes to it. So many of the remakes lost that. Druck always stayed pretty faithful to the Skam vibe and I’m not a purist or anything... I just know why I love the show in the first place and if I get that “oh hi I feel connected to you” then that’s the POINT and it makes the show a total joy to watch... and experience. I felt that with lil Nora even after a few clips. We’ve had so much light but also so many difficult moments already so soon and that mix is perfect Skam. It should never be completely one or the other. The same way a Skam main should be layered and Nora is beautifully complex already! Not ready to see her cry...

I love that they’ve also done what Skam did originally when they were building up the world and characters. Skam was of a time and the intro was so fitting to the time it came out as it should be... and Nora’s is too. That post-COVID world, how it must feel for people her age right now (for us all!), that apocalyptic feel but the fight to recognise the beauty in the world still... I really really loved that atmosphere they’ve created and then gradually introduced people slowly. We don’t know who will be important from those people we’ve seen around and we have some characters that Nora knows and that link to the originals too... it has been done so well!

Not to mention these 2 elusive characters... football girl Mailin and parkour boy! They both have been introduced by literally crashing into Nora... and Mailin is SO intriguing and she seems awesome. Not to mention if Josh is parkour boy because they both seem so lovely and would make an amazing start to a new gen group along with Fatou. The others are... interesting but kinda unlikeable at the moment and I like that, it’s interesting. Nearly choked on a drink earlier when I saw someone call Constantine “Costco” and decided thats 100% what I’m calling him. He’s just such a baby. Wildly annoying!

I also LOVE the quirkinesses and kinda whimsical feel to parkour boy’s messages and the unique way this little storyline has been set up. It’s gorgeous

I really am looking forward to the rest of the season. I understand how Nora feels about her home life and I can’t bear her loneliness and the way she lives inside herself... I love that she will hopefully find connection and be seen and appreciated. I hope she can find someone to be honest with and that she finds a group of people who love and appreciate her outside of her sisters, somewhere to escape to.

So yeah. I was so surprised but we’ve hardly had anything yet and I’m so impressed and fully invested!!!

[ladala99]

Reactions to Today’s Pokemon Presents

I went in with low expectations and ended genuinely happy with what I had seen. Which is very nice since I haven’t felt 100% positively about a Pokemon presentation in quite a while. (Dexit just left a really bad taste in my mouth for Sword and Shield)

That isn’t to say I’m completely onboard with these games, but I like what I saw.

New Pokemon Snap

I really don’t have much to say about this, as I’ve already reacted to it the last time it showed up. I’m happy with a quality Switch cartridge-released spinoff. The new info was cool, but it didn’t change my opinion on it too much.

I will mention that it seems making Pokemon mad by throwing a smoke ball at them seems to have been replaced by making them glow. Which isn’t as funny, but it’s not Pokemon cruelty, at least.

Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

Man, these names are going to be hard to remember. Apparently it makes more sense in Japanese, where Lucas’s name is really similar to their word for Brilliant and Dawn’s means something similar to Shining.

Anyway, I love the chibi style that persisted through Gen VI, and I love it no less here. Especially seeing the direct comparisons to the originals and how accurate it is. It’s cute!

I am nervous about what might not be present, though. A big part of the appeal of remakes, to me, is using Pokemon I couldn’t in the originals. Let’s Go, Pikachu and Eevee fell flat in that regard (although Alola formes soften the blow a little). Will it be the same here? Will the game even have 493 Pokemon programmed in? Like, if there isn’t a good number of Pokemon from Gen V and over, I don’t see much point in me getting the game. I might as well just play the originals.

So far we’ve also only seen standard battles and overworld. Are Contests in? What about the Battle Frontier? Can we still make Poffin and go mining in the Underground? (We’ve seen the Underground itself, but just running in it)

What about HOME compatibility? Can these games withdraw Pokemon from other games?

I just have too many questions to properly hype. I don’t even know if I’ll have a real reason to get them. Sinnoh is one of my least-favorite regions, after all.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus

Now this is exciting.

GameFreak isn’t doing the remakes. GameFreak is doing this. And everything in the trailer points to them taking heavy inspiration from Breath of the Wild.

I hope they get it right.

What they have to show isn’t too promising as far as execution goes, at least if sneaking around and throwing balls at Pokemon is a large part of the game. When playing Breath of the Wild, I can just look around an enjoy the environment because it is beautiful. Here, it’s not. The lighting looks off, the Pokemon look lifeless, and it overall just seems unfinished. I mean, it is unfinished. It says so right in the small print on the trailer.

The concept is super interesting, though. Exploring around a vast region with the sole purpose of discovering new Pokemon. Few (if any) trainers, no organized League, just a vast wilderness and the looming Spear Pillar.

I’m not going to make predictions or assumptions because I don’t want to get myself excited only to be wrong. I’ll just say it has potential, I loved the open-endedness of Breath of the Wild and I enjoy running around and grabbing stuff in the Wild Area+DLC areas. I can’t see myself not enjoying this unless GameFreak mess up royally.

I like Arceus a lot and I’m excited to see what the story is with it. They’re purposely being mysterious about it, so obviously Arceus is secretly the leader of Team Plasma it might be part of the story to find out what Arceus’s deal is. I hope it stays mysterious in preview material. I’m sold but not too sold so I don’t think I’ll avoid preview material for it.

Conclusion

Great presentation! I’m watching these new releases very closely, in hopes that they’ll exceed my expectations.