#i know a lot of people dislike the story for being cliche now

[brazilian-whalien52]

Okay, but the reason I do enjoy Claude in who made me a princess when I use don't like the shitty dad redemption is that since the start you could see he in fact had some affection, and what makes him change from the "original" plotline is not that Athanasia becomes someone completely different or that she becomes someone useful. A lot of Manhwas just seem like the dad just see the protagonist when she starts to make money, connections or to have power. It's clear he just likes her for being who she is? The change is that he got to be around her before the spell ruined his mental health more and she was more mature too when they meet. Of course, it sucks that he used that spell instead of being there for his children. But grief is a devastating feeling, that causes people to make wrong choices.

[matt0044]

What we can learn from “The Jaune Arc Discourse” (TM).

Well, to start with, people are really resistant to being corrected on lies at worst or overstatements at best.

Like if nothing else, the Does RWBY Like Women poll was illuminating in how it showed me that a veeeeeery weird myth about Jaune Arc has persisted beyond its true relevancy.

Volume 1 of RWBY features Jaune Arc in the spotlight for… what? Four episodes? The minutes of each adding up to roughly twenty minutes, the length of an average TV episode?

While he was featured in the previous storyline where we are given an eight episode arc introducing us to our eight main protagonists, he was a lot more… ancillary as comic relief. A discount Lavernius Tucker with Felix’s voice if you will.

He's Vomit Boy in episode one. Episode two has him introduced more formally as somebody who helps up Ruby after a bad first impression on Weiss. He later appears more prominently pining over Weiss and catching Pyrrha's attention before falling to bracing himself in being catapulted into the Emerald Forest.

He's bailed out by Pyrrha and it's set up that he's in over his head by not knowing what Aura is or at least wanting to know how it works. An exposition sponge as I heard on fan call it. I could go on but the point is that all signs pointed to a Butt Monkey Ron Stoppable sort who was likely there for cheap laughs.

Amusing enough but I worried if that's all he'd be personally. Lord knows that some movies give the Comic Relief character too much comic relief and, well, not enough character. But after Ruby and Weiss have their leader/lance headbutting, the four episodes that followed reassured me that there'd be more to Jaune than meets the eyes.

But to circle back to the main thesis, it's actually fascinating that the myth of Jaune hijacking the narrative for himself is this pervasive when the offending story in question... is very much a self-contained character piece. It's way less about the wider story involving Ozpin, Roman Torchwick (at the time) and the White Fang.

It has relevance in how Pyrrha starts mentoring Jaune after he deals with Cardin and gets over himself (for now) which trickles down into future stories. Even then, the next story arc right back with Team RWBY with nary a sign of the everyman in question. A story arc that does deal with elements of the main plot, leading directly into Volume 2.

And in Volume 2, Jaune trying to woo Weiss and being ignorant to Pyyrha's advancements was just a subplot scattered in the first half of the story. It very much piggybacks off of Team RWBY's whole deal.

Volume 3 has what I consider to be a reversal of what's been known as Trinity Syndrome.

Namely the sort where a male character goes off the square off with the main villain mano-e-mano after shoving the female character/his love interest away so she won't get hurt. An egrigious example being when the love interest CAN FIGHT and back him up.

However, Pyyrha instead shoves Jaune out of the way after kissing him and goes off to face Cinder in a very fatal battle. It was honestly a brilliant (as much as the term may be disliked these days) subversion of the cliche.

And it’s Ruby who sees her death and gets the trauma induced power up. Jaune only has a scene of angst before that and was the one to call Ruby to have her try and back up the one he just realized he loved.

Jaune from that point on is an Everyman Protagonist who is forced to remember that he’s not THE protagonist. Yet the myth persistently proclaims that he hijacks the narrative from the titular Team RWBY despite only four episodes being wholly dedicated to him and his head space.

How did we get here?

Well… there’s the fact that not everyone finished Volume 1 and that not everybody, well, watched RWBY. And that would be fine on its own. You gave it a shot and it wasn’t your cuppa joe. You saw the trailer but clicked on something else.

I get it. That’s fine. Contrary to popular belief, nobody in the FNDM will really fault you for it. Less fine is when you spread faulty readings of RWBY and from those heavily biased against it no less.

It cannot be emphasized enough that tearing into RWBY is a cottage industry on YouTube. Hbomberguy might have the biggest platform but you’ll find multiple channels with lengthy series on “RWBY bad, here why.” And they are actually amongst the FNDM. They know how the YT Algorithm game is played, how it rewards engagement above all else. And sadly, negativity and rage pay more bills.

It’s why there are few positive videos or at least few that are pushed into the recommendations. Many often borrow the same points from each other born from the V1 days, namely that Jaune is allegedly given favoritism by the writers while we somehow “don’t know who the main girls are.”

From four episodes.

I also think it’s also to do with how it’s not that he actually did steal screentime… so much as many anticipated he would. A lot of shows and movies I grew up with would have strong female characters but any potential they had was hindered by the male lead and his hero’s journey. See the above Trinity Syndrome I referenced.

But Jaune didn’t do that. Even when he was central to an event like his semblance being awakened, it’s a healing/power boost that he gives to others. Weiss getting skewered might’ve brought it out but it lead to her getting back into the fray while he was largely to the sides.

Seems more like he shares screentime if anything.

People cling to these myths despite legit fans actually pointing out, “Hey, that’s not true actually and here’s why,” because that hate being told they are wrong more than being wrong. And because there are many around these who reinforce this “truth,” they feel content with it. No need to challenge it when it “feels” right.

So Jaune Arc stole screentime. Because that’s what “everyone else” is saying. By you need to question popular opinions. You need to realize that sometimes… a fan community is based on lies.

”Trust me, bro” is not the gotcha you think it is.

[peace-coast-island]

Diary of a Junebug

Watching the sunsets while exploring the streets of Stormbreaker Wharf

I know this sounds cliche, but I just really love sunsets. It’s amazing to see the sky turn into all these different colors - reds, oranges, yellows, grays, blues, purples - I just find it breathtaking. Each sunset comes with its own unique palette of colors and I think that’s just neat.

Stormbreaker Wharf is one of those places that comes to life after sunset. Aside from the breathtaking view of the sea and sky, a lot of food stands and shops open up as the harbor becomes bustling with activity. It’s basically a night market, which are fun to explore because the streets hits differently at night.

I don’t know why, being out at night feels a lot more carefree compared to the day. Like in the daytime, you’re usually focusing on getting as much done as you can, while at night, you’re just kinda there leisurely strolling around. There seems to be a lot less pressure to get things done, so you’re more just vibing and chilling, taking in the atmosphere and just going wherever catches your eye. In a night market, there’s a lot of things worth checking out, whether you’re in the mood to check out the shops or unwind by enjoying some drinks and good food.

Over here, the days are short while the nights are long. As a result, most of the residents are night owls, which makes sense because of the harbor being at its busiest around midnight - something about timezones making it work out that way. Most of the boats come a really long way overseas, so I imagine that the people are really jetlagged. Also, stopping at a place that operates at late night hours is really helpful since in most places, everything would be closed, which sucks during a long layover.

Now with the addition of the Thundervalley Bridge up north, the wharf is going to become even more busier. Dixie knows one of the engineers who worked on the bridge and wanted to meet up with him before he moves on to his next big project. In fact, that engineer friend of hers was the one who gave her the cottage and boat in Swan Isle.

Of course, Emilie, Valerie, and Gram are tagging along with Dixie on her travels. It turns out that the engineer, Brennan, was a friend of Gram’s father. They haven’t seen each other since his father’s funeral a few years ago and he was surprised to find out that he’s been living with Ann. He said he met her a few times and in his honest opinion, he preferred her over his friend’s ex-wife. It wasn’t that she was a bad person or anything, it’s mostly the fact that they didn’t have much in common, which happens.

Sometimes you meet someone and they just don’t click with you even when you do get along well. I’ve met people who I wouldn’t mind hanging out with and getting to know more, but at the same time I kinda knew that it would be unlikely that our relationship would go beyond surface level for a variety of reasons - like coming from different circles and have little to nothing that brings some sort of meaningful connection. Sure, things can change in the future, but sometimes you just have to accept that there’s nothing wrong with not wanting to get close with someone that you don’t really vibe with.

Gram’s still trying to work things out with his mother, but his stepfather’s another story. It’s a similar case where he doesn’t exactly dislike him, they just have nothing in common. Since his stepfather travels a lot for work, it wouldn’t have made a difference if he was living with his mother because he was rarely home. His stepfather’s also the kind of person who expects others to just go along with whatever he says or does, though Gram says at least he’s a bit more lenient and understanding compared to his mother, who he describes as difficult to reason with sometimes.

Brennan said it was the same with his ex-wife, she was the kind of person who called the shots and expects everyone to follow her lead. In her case, she happens to be a politician - the kind who’s all talk and ego, according to Dixie. The only reason why they stayed together for so long was for the sake of their daughter Lynnie, who he regretted not spending enough time with. Both their careers took off and make them even more like strangers, especially with him traveling overseas for months at a time while his ex-wife focused on her campaign, leaving their daughter under the care of their housekeeper, who he barely knew.

To make up for his absence, he bought Lynnie a boat since sailing was one of the few things they bonded over. They weren’t really close as he wanted them to be, but they always got along well, and she was always eager for him to spend more time at home. Years later, he’s still beating himself up for not doing so. Eventually, his relationship with his wife was so nonexistent that they were basically strangers. By then, Lynnie was graduating from high school in a few months, and so he felt that it was time to finally divorce. He consulted Lynnie first, and she agreed it was for the best. The only thing she asked of him was if she could move in with him, which he agreed to.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work out for Brennan and Lynnie. Something came up at work, so he was unable to attend her graduation, something he’ll never forgive himself for. And then he was told that she died from an unexpected brief illness, which obviously isn’t really the truth, just something to avoid making her mother the politician look bad. The truth was, as he suspected, that his daughter was going through a rough patch and her mother basically gave her some unhelpful advice that might have made things worse.

Lynnie’s best friend later confided to him that she and the housekeeper suspected that Lynnie might be binging and purging. They tried to talk to her about it, only to be met with denial. Also, with no evidence, they couldn’t prove anything. Brennan later found out that his ex-wife knew but didn’t do a fucking thing about it because she apparently didn’t think it was a huge deal. Sounds like the kind of person who’s like don’t die to someone who’s dying - yeah, huge help you are. Well, it turns out that Lynnie’s destructive habit resulted in a ruptured esophagus, and she bled to death on the bathroom floor.

How awful. I can’t imagine what life was like for Lynnie to grow up with a father who clearly loved her, but maybe not enough to stick around for a long time. Then she has a hot shot politician for a mother, someone who put a lot of pressure on her to succeed because she figured that if she could do it, why can’t her daughter? The mother is likely the reason why Lynnie fell into the vicious cycle of binging and purging, but that’s just my speculation.

Dixie said she met Lynnie a few times and saw her as a bright girl. Her mother, however, is another story. She didn’t go into much detail, but it’s clear what she thought about her. From what I’ve learned about the mother, especially the time she used the press to make a mockery of a drug addict’s death, and now learning more about Lynnie, I can’t say that I have a high opinion of her too. Also, in terms of politics, I find her to be the kind who uses progressive language to sound inclusive and all but what she’s really saying is a bunch of centrist BS that serves to maintain the status quo for people like her - rich white upper class folks.

Since then, Brennan’s completely cut his ties with his ex, who fell out of favor once word came out about what really happened to her daughter. With no one left to come home to, he’s completely focused on work and nothing else. I get what he’s saying because he should be proud of what he’s accomplished, but I also can’t help but feel sorry for him too. Dixie and Gram said that he’s a nice guy, but he was always the workaholic type, which is why he doesn’t have much going for him outside of work.

Emilie’s been there herself and she knows from experience that a lot of workaholics throw themselves into this state is because they don’t want to deal with the outside world for various reasons. One being that they can’t simply turn off their work mode, so they’re constantly running on that to the point where they make their job part of their personality. The last part about making their job their personality, that’s like legit something I absolutely do not want to happen to me. A job’s a job, that’s it, and I want to keep it that way. And there’s some who feel like they have to work in order to feel useful, to prove to themselves and others that they’re worthy and deserving of respect. That’s also not right because your worth shouldn’t be determined based on that.

In short, workaholic = not good. Brennan’s a nice person, but his life does seem kinda empty in the sense that he’s putting everything into his career and nothing else. Sure, it’s one thing to be proud of the work you do and you legitimately enjoy your job, but I don’t think it’s healthy to live life solely like a cog in a machine, if that makes sense.

While it was nice hearing his enthusiasm over the bridge, which sounds like a big deal, we can’t help but feel kinda sorry for him. I don’t know how to explain it other than emptiness. Like, yes, he is and should be proud of being part of something that will change a bunch of people’s lives for the better. I mean, his career as a whole is pretty damn impressive, not gonna lie. It’s just that, again, he seems to be driven by that unhealthy hustle culture mindset where his life seems to only revolve around advancing his career while everything else is just a waste of time.

Emilie’s been down that road before, thinking that nothing else mattered in life other than her career - which she enjoyed and found very fulfilling because she made a difference in people’s lives. But she got too involved and that eventually took a toll on her as she neglected pretty much every other aspect of her life. That’s why she has a complicated relationship with her parents, who were career driven to the point that she wasn’t a priority in their lives. Now they all have regrets for all the times where they put their jobs over their wellbeing and their relationships, something that Emilie’s intent on trying to fix. Unfortunately, not everything can be resolved with time, especially if it ran out a long time ago - like with Brennan and Lynnie.

Time’s one of those things we often take for granted too easily, giving us the illusion that we have plenty of it. But life circumstances can quickly change that, leaving us wondering, “Why didn’t I say or do that when I still had the chance?” You can’t go back, so it’s just something you have to live with, and accept, and just move forward.

Emilie’s able to do that. I hope Brennan eventually figures it out. For now though, he’s focused on his next big project, a bridge in Pine Oak Valley, a large trading center similar to Stormbreaker Wharf. Sounds like a big undertaking, so I wish him luck.

While enjoying cocktails and fried seafood, we ran into Blossom, who also came to check out the night market. To say that she’s been having a rough time since Fern moved back home is an understatement. To be honest, we all think she got off too lightly - I mean, her career in the entertainment industry is pretty much dead, but in terms of legal consequences, she and her accomplices basically got a light slap on the wrist for stealing thousands of dollars, exploiting a disabled person, and harassing people in order to let a sexual predator walk free. I’m sure there’s more to it than that, it’s just that those examples were what people were talking about the most.

What’s worse is that she has never apologized for her actions, the main reason being that refuses to accept that what she did was wrong on so many levels. Blossom said their grandma never figured that Fern would be kind of person who pulls the ladder up from behind after reaching the top. I don’t know what her line of work was in the entertainment industry, but it’s sadly not surprising how an environment like that can change a person. Give them a little power and it all goes to their head, like they think they’re invincible or something.

Blossom’s trip to Stormbreaker was an impromptu one - she just needed to get away from home for a while. She says that Fern’s changed too much in a bad way and she’s worried about her. On one hand, she feels bad because Fern’s at a low point in her life, but that doesn’t give her the excuse to lash out at everyone and play the victim to avoid responsibilities. I agree, it sucks when a family member, someone you care about a lot, hits rock bottom and is struggling to get up in the morning. But I think it’s also important to set boundaries and not let them use you as an emotional punching bag. Obviously, that’s easier said than done, it’s an example of communication has to work both ways in order to move through this rough patch.

However, Fern has gone too far and Blossom’s finally had enough. Ever since moving back home, half their conversations are arguments with Fern making condescending remarks about how Blossom lives her life - petty for the sake of being petty. Blossom suspects it’s not jealousy, it’s more like resentment, saying “You don’t deserve to be happy, I should be the one living the better life because I’m smarter, prettier, more popular…” People with superior complexes really can’t stand to see others succeed, especially those who they consider to be beneath them. To live with that mindset is just sad.

Sure, siblings fight often, but I’m pretty sure most people wouldn’t go so far as to deliberately injure another. Blossom came home super late after adventuring with the Professor, and since she had nothing going on the next day, she decided to sleep in. Apparently, Fern took issue with that, so she took her curling wand, which she turned on to the highest setting, and slapped it on Blossom’s hand to wake her up. Like, what the fuck? Then she insulted Blossom by calling her lazy for sleeping in, all the while she was pinning her down on the bed so she couldn’t get up.

Fern would’ve held her down longer if their grandmother hadn’t walked in and demanded an explanation. Then she had the nerve to insist that it was Blossom’s fault for burning her own hand, which their grandma obviously didn’t buy. Since Fern had held the curling wand against her hand for more than a few seconds, cold water and ointment didn’t do too much to help, so Blossom’s grandma took her to an urgent care. Thankfully the burn wasn’t too deep, or else she’d probably have to go to the emergency room. But since it’s her right hand, Blossom will have to adjust with using her left hand. She’s not too happy about not being able to do a lot of things for the time being since she’s a hands-on person who likes to do arts and crafts, which was probably why Fern did that. Though that’s nothing compared to the pain she’s in, physically and mentally.

Not surprisingly, Fern skipped town afterwards, though Blossom says she tends to do that after fighting with their parents. She spends a couple days at home, gets in some sort of trouble, and then spends the next week or so couch surfing before returning home more bitter and angry. Sounds like someone’s burning bridges. It’s gotten to the point where Blossom dreads coming home because there’s a likely chance Fern will be waiting.

Now she has more reasons to be afraid, which is not acceptable. Their parents are intent on forgiving and forgetting by brushing that whole incident under the rug. However, Blossom and her grandma do not agree because they’re afraid that things might get worse. So do I. Even if the burning incident was a one off thing, which it likely is, it’s still unacceptable. No one should ever feel unsafe around their own family. That shit needs to be addressed before it escalates into something worse.

I think the best thing Blossom can do right now is get away to clear her head. As much as she wants to be there for Fern, she can’t let her get away with playing the victim all the time. Fern’s a grown adult who needs to take responsibility for her actions, something she clearly refuses to accept. Blossom can only do so much to help, but if her safety’s at risk because Fern can’t keep her temper in check, then she has to step away. You can’t help someone who refuses to be helped, nor should you stick around someone who is intent on hurting you.

It’s a tough call, especially when it comes to family, someone you were once close to. I think right now, Blossom needs to distance herself from Fern as much as she can for her own safety and sanity. At least being out here has been helping her a lot in terms of getting her mind off things, and her grandma’s coming to join her tomorrow. She doesn’t have any plans other than enjoying food and drinks at the night market and marveling at the sunsets, which sounds good to me. I’ll drink to that!

Read on AO3

[abuddyforeveryseason]

This is the Buddy for October 13th. It's looking kinda sketchy. It's funny, I've been drawing for a long time, now, and this sketch still looks a lot like the type of drawings I'd make when I was like 12. I remember I had an idea for a comic, something pretty simple, about a girl named Penny who discovered a sort of wainscot society of people living in abandoned subway tunnels. It was one of those things where the story was simple because it was a "classic" and all the style would come from the way the stories were told. I drew the first page and it wasn't too different from this, but I must've destroyed it in a fit of shame a few years later.

Today's Buddy could be conseidered a sequel to the Buddy for May 17th. I know a lot of people dislike sequels in movies and books and stuff, because they think the sequels are proof writers are out of ideas. And it's funny since the writers must also be annoyed that they're stuck writing sequels because that's what people want, when they have a bunch of new ideas they want to try.

Like how Arthur Conan Doyle was sick of writing Sherlock Holmes stories.

I think there's a kernel of truth to both sides of the argument. On one hand, being able to write a good sequel, even (or especially) if there wasn't one planned, is a skill some writers have, and it takes a lot of creativity and intelligence. And it's also a challenge to a writer's limitations. I know some writers are so hacky, they're unable to concieve of a story that isn't supported by a handful of cliches - characters should be young, competitive and have romantic interest punctuated by arguments with other characters. Then, when the story ends, they get married. You ask that guy to write a sequel, he'll be completely lost - how is he supposed to write about a married couple? Once the story's over, the characters don't exist anymore. Can you imagine if Superman was happily married to Lois Lane? Who would he try to hide his secret identity from?

That's why sometimes, a fresh take on a sequel is so interesting. Because it's sailing through uncharted territory. And that's why so many great stories are "sequels", if not to the letter, at least in the way they build from a previous culture of storytelling concepts.

One example I have in mind is the more recent seasons of Stranger Things - that's a show that, for better of for worse, is built upon stangnated tropes of eighties bike-riding childhood adventures and evil corporations' secret experiments. Then came the sequels and the show went off in different directions, it managed to build up drama from new stories, logical consequences of early cliches. And it even let the characters evolved into different iconic elements. By virtue of its success, Stranger Things managed to go from an homage to old movies to an unique universe. And, despite the show's annoying flaws, that's always interesting to see.

On the other hand, that show is in the minority. Most sequels fall between the two flaws of just repeating the original's beats to decreasing results, or moving away from it directionlessly and hope fans are still interested because the characters are recognizable even if the story no longer makes sense. Some writers are good at original stuff and suck at sequels. That doesn't necessarily mean they're bad writers.

[pie-of-flames]

mclennon wip 👀 i am intrigued. feel free to answer as many or as few as you want: 2, 10, 14, 15, 16 (as someone who's also struggling lol), 25, 30

I think I already answered 2 in the process of answering 1 for the previous ask. (I guess a log line is supposed to be shorter than a plot description. Oh well.)

10: Describe the tropes present in this WIP. H/C, sickfic, amnesia, canon divergence, fix it, angst, HEA.

14. Where will the WIP start?

Right now it starts in London at Cavendish sometime in 1971. Ish. John and Yoko are still living at Tittenhurst.

15. What do you like about this WIP?

I always like writing characters with an angsty past filled with regret and longing. Here we have Paul filled with those things and also dealing with Linda leaving him because of his own bad behavior. We also have Paul and John wrestling with the loss of the Beatles and each other and what that means. And of course, I love having the characters find their true path and happiness in each other. Here it's a voyage of rediscovery and reconnection as Paul helps John get back on track and heal. At least that's the idea.

16. What do you find frustrating about this WIP?

Figuring out some actual plot? I'm 10k words into the actual scenario that I initially envisioned but I'm not entirely sure how to navigate through to a HEA. I only have some vague ideas. I'm hoping I'll find my way as I write.

Also Yoko has a significant role and she's kind of inscrutable. I can see why some people just write the wives out at the beginning and don't look back. I don't want to make her into a villain because that's such a cliche. At the same time, she's inevitably an antagonist in the scenario I've set up. I think I'm doing an okay job of showing her anguish and frustration about the situation but also how much she dislikes and resents having to call in Paul and is pissed off about John's rejection, anger and fear of her. I picture her as being practical on some level, somewhat impatient, brusque and very determined.

Also I'm worried about picking a time period that was actually very contentious between John and Paul and ignoring lots of facts. I picked it because I thought it was a plausible time for John to OD and easier to have Paul and John in the same country. OTOH, this is fan fic and my reason for writing this at all is pure wish fulfillment. I can do what I want.

25. Name the three most important things for you to plan.

I'm not a big planner or a writer of long fics. It's really unusual for me to even have an idea that needs to be long, but I think this one does, at least in my head and I've already written 10k - highly unusual. In addition to what I mentioned above, I need to figure out how to get John and Paul away from Yoko and Tittenhurst. I need to figure out their emotional journey. I actually think this is all going to emerge as I write it and see what feels right. I need to think more about emotional beats. I have a tendency to wrap things up too quickly. Also I just remembered Ringo and George. I hadn't even thought about them yet! *sigh* It's not like they have to be in it but...wouldn't they be worried about John?...I need to figure out the Linda and Paul stuff which I've got Paul angsting about. That has to be emotionally resolved somehow.

30. What stories are most similar to yours?

Well, I've seen a couple that sound sort of similar and I've avoided reading these because I don't want to feel bad or feel influenced by them. They might actually not be similar at all! I don't know. In this one Paul helps John recover from years of disordered eating.

In this one John has amnesia.

In this one John survives the shooting and Paul brings an injured John back to England. I really want to read it because this person is a great writer. It's going to have to wait.

Thanks for the questions! Hopefully all this discussion will motivate me to get writing again. I'm hoping I'm finally starting to feel better after being sick for weeks and having no energy.

[atopearth]

White Album 2 Part 1 - Introductory Chapter

I've always liked the White Album 2 anime (I also really enjoy the first White Album despite most people hating it haha) because I remember thinking it was such a good romance drama. So now that I have the chance to play the VN, I am very excited! I think I liked Kazusa the most haha. Omgg when Chikashi spoke, I was like hellloooo Emiya Shirou?!!?! I just finished Fate/hollow ataraxia (EDIT: it’s been months now LOL), so his voice is still fresh in my mind haha, it's so weird! Aww did Setsuna fall in love with Haruki because he helped her out when she wanted to withdraw from the beauty pageant? I honestly completely forgot everything about the anime, so everything is new to me haha. I guess she's interested at least, considering how she's decided to stick with the pageant. HAHAHA OMG, took me a while but I just realised that Takeya is the voice of Avenger from Fate/hollow ataraxia lolll!! It's Fate 2.0🥲🥲 As for Haruki, he sounds a bit familiar, and I think it might be because of his voice being Nagasumi from Seto no Hanayome haha! Otherwise, I probably just feel like it feels familiar because I watched the anime back in the day haha. Honestly, it felt really really nostalgic to hear the White Album song. It really reminds me of Morikawa Yuki haha, the good old days~

Ogiso being worried about her image and even keeping up with it by getting a part-time job to buy clothes and stuff to meet people's expectations of her after getting popular is such a high school thing, it really makes me think, this really is youth haha. I sound so old lmao. It's really cool how much Ogiso loves singing. To think she can sing like 30 songs in 2 hours, that's crazyyy haha. Kazusa and Haruki are like a cute bickering couple lol. Haruki really is an idiot. He nearly killed himself just trying to find out who was the one playing the piano in Music Room 2 haha. I guess the reason why Kazusa has a soft spot for Haruki despite everything is because he never gives up on her no matter what she says. His dedication to his "job" is in a sense comforting because of that I guess haha. It was so cutee how Kazusa gave Haruki pointers on how to play the guitar better. Their relationship is so cute. Ogiso really is nice though, she's obviously interested in Haruki already but I think it's sweet how she's willing to share her secret with someone she barely knows just because it'll help them out. Loll, I actually really like how Ogiso is basically declaring war with Kazusa already because she knows Kazusa likes Haruki as well. She's a tough girl. Ogiso is so sweet and thoughtful to cook dinner for Kazusa and Haruki. It's obviously because she wants to save money, but the fact that she remembered that Kazusa always eats takeout and wants to give her nutritious homemade food at least once is very nice of her. It's interesting how cliche each of their family dynamics are, with Kazusa having the famous absent parents, Haruki with the divorced parent and Ogiso having the happy and wholesome family. It really makes you wonder, when you're like Haruki, are you attracted to the one who is similar to you (broken childhood) or would you be attracted to someone who has a "whole" family that can provide you with something you never had? Either way, Ogiso is someone Kazusa can't win against, so yay to the trio finally starting their journey in practising to perform on stage together. Kazusa is harsh but she's right for everything haha.

Haruki and Kazusa practising at Kazusa's house was so cuteee. I love how much she smiled, she was having so much fun. Kazusa's choice of coffee being cafe au lait with lots of sugar is so cute haha, it suits her so much since she's such a sweet softie at heart. Anyway, hearing White Album and now Sound of Destiny really is so nostalgic. It felt so heartwarming and sweet when Kazusa said Haruki would definitely be able to play the guitar solo. Anyway, I know the first White Album story is quite disliked but I actually really enjoyed how it stepped over so many boundaries in the anime when it came to relationships and I guess I just loved how toxic things were, and how tempting it is to be depressed and just go along with anything and everything that could "make you happy" even if it's only for just a moment. It was a bit of a guilty indulgence that I could never forget about because I enjoyed how "human" it felt to keep jumping around, being indecisive and just trying to live and find what makes you happy even though you're making one bad decision after another haha. 

I guess what I hate most about love triangles is having to see one of the girls get hurt. Well, in this case, both of them are going to get hurt and I guess that's normal, but it's still sad to think about...and to see Ogiso struggle so much with her feelings and want to not like Haruki as much but he keeps doing things that gets her hopes up and makes her like him more, it's honestly relatable haha. When Ogiso started opening up about her feelings to Haruki and said something along the lines of "the closer you are to everyone, the easier it becomes to feel left out", and this is especially apparent when they hide things from you like how Kazusa and Haruki hid from her that Haruki stayed over at Kazusa's place a few times already... anyway, when she said that, it really reminded me of stuff back in school. Maybe it's silly to think about now when I'm so much older already, but I still remember feeling so left out when I found something my friends promised each other in an exchange diary (the good old days lol). We were all exchanging it between each other, and yet even though I thought we were all close to each other and thought of each other as special, in the end, it wasn't like that, it honestly made me feel so dumb. Maybe it was then that I decided to never really give my heart to anyone, but honestly, so many things happened in school, I wish I could forget about them all, because it's funny how no matter how many years pass by, what hurts you, hurts you and that isn't something that you can just get over sadly.

Sometimes I wish I could be like Haruki and can so confidently say something like "I will never leave you", but I know that I could never say something like that because I know it's impossible for me to fulfil and for others to as well. But, it's still nice to hear it. I can't even blame Kazusa for being so soft towards Haruki. I mean, when someone says they're so worried about you that they don't want to let you out of their sight and that they're putting so much effort into cooking for you, it's hard to not feel happy about that. Kazusa is so beautiful. I love her outfit so much more than Setsuna's haha. Setsuna's outfit reminds me of Full Moon wo Sagashite haha, but I guess it's just the typical "pure" outfit. Personally, I think Morikawa Yuki's White Album and Ogata Rina's Sound of Destiny is much better but that's just my opinion haha. Just like with the anime, I honestly can't help but be disappointed in Haruki. Like yeah, Setsuna is great, but I wish he gave more thought into who he liked and who he wanted to be with instead of just going with the flow knowing that it would ruin their friendship forever. It's sad that the three of them will never be able to be as happy and united as they were on that stage, but I guess even if he didn't do this, Setsuna and Kazusa's feelings would eventually cause the three of them to fall apart anyway, it was only a matter of sooner or later. Honestly, even if Kazusa didn't like Haruki, in her perspective, I would have still felt super left out, because right after they promised that the three of them would always be together, Setsuna and Haruki started dating, "leaving her out". Of course feelings can't be helped blah blah, but it just feels so silly, like in the end, love was more important than their friendship after all, so what is there to believe when it comes to their promise? I can understand why Kazusa tries to make it seem as if she's forgotten and doesn't care about the promise they made about the three of them always being together, because that's something I've done before too. By denying the existence of the promise, you hope that it won't hurt you and that it's not important, because if the other party can break it so easily, why should you care about it so much? But regardless of what you try to do, in the end, what hurts still hurts, and thinking and seeing how hurt Kazusa is makes me all teary and I can't help but cry for her.

I like Setsuna...but c'mon? What does she want Kazusa to do? She asks Kazusa whether she's really okay with all this but what can she do or say? It's not like she can throw a fit and tell her to stop dating Haruki or whatever, these are what they've chosen to do. Setsuna knew it would hurt Kazusa and Haruki is too clueless and too much of an idiot to know that he's hurting her and losing his chance with her just because he didn't think that she would reciprocate his feelings. Haruki taking the easy way out always annoys me. I guess what irks me about Setsuna is that yeah she's trying to be "considerate" but that consideration is pointless and hurtful, because in the end it only serves to make herself feel better. She chose to go after Haruki, she chose to make a move on him knowing it would hurt Kazusa, she knew it and chose to do it, so rather than showing her pointless "pity" and care for Kazusa, she should live true to her "love" and keep moving forward knowing it would hurt her but accept that because as long as she wants Haruki, she will hurt Kazusa. It's frustrating that Kazusa has to be the "mature" one and comfort Setsuna and baby her even though they obviously don't share the same amount of consideration for each other. Personally, I still feel that if Haruki and Setsuna really wished for the three of them to always be together like they said they did, then they wouldn't have rushed into a relationship so fast, but that's just my salty opinion.

In a game, it's fine, but in real life, definitely do not imitate Kazusa and drive somewhere on a road trip when you've just gotten your licence! Haruki is right, they could really die. Anyway, since they obviously won't die, these will definitely be nice memories. I still think them chatting away on a train would have been cute but oh well, they get to see snow together. Setsuna is wild, can't believe she really got the three of them to soak in the hot springs together lmao. To say I'm disappointed in Haruki would be an understatement, even though I can see where he's coming from, especially since he's just a teenager, but honestly, everything he does is so disrespectful of Setsuna. When he touched her breasts and kept kissing her to try and force himself to focus on her instead of thinking about Kazusa, I really wanted to punch him. When I first watched the anime, I cried when Kazusa finally confessed her feelings to Haruki. But I think more than that pain now, I'm so mad at Haruki. Mad at how indecisive he is, mad at how he knew where his heart lay but kept making excuses to Setsuna and to himself. Mad at how he thinks physical affection is the best way to show feelings, mad at how he continues to hurt Kazusa and everyone around him. Mad at how disrespectful he is to both girls. And even though Kazusa is "wrong" for having sex with Haruki, I honestly can't blame her at all, because I can't deny that if I was in her position, I would probably do the same thing. Haruki really never lets her retreat, he's so relentless. On the other hand, I really didn't need to see the blood from the penetration!! That looked painful, but probably exactly what your first time would be like, painful but apparently a happy thing. Anyway, although I agree with Takeya and them that he should have really cherished Setsuna, with how he's been treating her, I don't think I can agree because he'll never be 100% devoted to her, and that fact will inevitably break her in the future so I'd rather he let her go now.

I guess Setsuna has been true to herself this whole time, selfish. I don't hate her "selfishness" though, because I can see why, and how understandable it actually is. She was isolated from her friends before, she's always been alone socially. So when she found Haruki and Kazusa, she didn't want to lose her place, she didn't want to be left out, and in order to not be left out, she had to do something that would solidify her place. It hurt Kazusa though, so I'm unhappy with her selfishness regardless, but I can see why. I think if I was younger, I would totally admonish her selfishness, but now that I'm older and can see how precious these things like friendship can be, I really can't blame her, even though I don't think I would do it knowing that it would hurt my friends' feelings. However, it's still so so selfish. So selfish because it just goes to show how much pain she was willing to allow Kazusa to go through just so she can keep playing house and keep the both of them by her side. And although she is probably half saying it so that she can come to accept that Haruki really doesn't like her and that she didn't "lose" but I'm sure she really likes Haruki too. Wow, that was so cruel. Like, I know it might be the last time Haruki would see Kazusa but dang, kissing Kazusa right in front of Setsuna is just so so cruel...Especially after finding out that he basically cheated on her on her birthday celebration. Honestly though, it's crazy how much torture Setsuna is willing to go through just to be with Haruki, especially knowing that he loves Kazusa the most.

Overall, since I already knew the most important plot points of the Introductory Chapter, nothing was really surprising, but I definitely still felt Kazusa's pain the most. I didn't realise until later that after finishing the chapter, you have to go back through it again to see some extra scenes and I definitely recommend them! Now I remember why Io thought Haruki was the one who confessed to Setsuna, it was because Setsuna was okay with the three of them being together forever, never changing, until she saw Kazusa kiss Haruki while he was sleeping, so she knew she had to do something otherwise she'd definitely lose, which I can't blame. Setsuna knew she was on the losing side but she didn't want to give up without a fight, which I admire. The only thing I hate about her is that this basically confirms she totally knew Kazusa's feelings, it wasn't just her "gut", she saw Kazusa kiss him and she still did all that crap on the rooftop asking her if she was okay with it blah blah when obviously she wouldn't have been, so yes, very insensitive, very selfish and I can't help but hate her a bit seeing how much torment Kazusa was going through behind the scenes. Anyway! I went off on a tangent, but yeah, great drama, I couldn't stop reading because I loved how the three of them had such a nice relationship. It was sad that romance had to "ruin" it, but I think they're still very much worth cherishing because it really feels like a nice youth to have had and experienced, and as Setsuna said, regardless of the pain right now, she still would have liked to meet Haruki and Kazusa, and doesn't regret that at all because in the end, these memories and feelings are irreplaceable and I think the Introductory Chapter shows that very well. Even though Haruki annoyed me at times and Setsuna's actions weren't my favourite, I still enjoyed it alot because they felt very human and I could understand why everyone did what they did, and I guess that's the appeal of it all haha. All is fair when it comes to love I guess. Or maybe love is war?

[coraniaid]

6, 10, 19, 15 📚

Book asks

6) What books have you read in the last month?

This has been a pretty good month for me.  I've read six books in the last four weeks:

Furious Heaven by Kate Elliott

This is the second book in what I think is going to be a trilogy; the first book was Unconquerable Sun.  The elevator pitch for the series is "gender-flipped Alexander the Great IN SPACE", which made my eyes roll a little at first, but I think it's a lot more interesting than that premise makes it sound.  (It actually probably helps that I don't really know the historical period it's inspired by very well, so I kept being surprised by plot twists that probably weren't meant to be twists.)

Emperor of Ruin by Django Wexler

To be honest, I didn't enjoy the concluding part of this trilogy quite as much as I did the first two books: it wasn't bad by any means but i think it was just hard to follow up on the first two books without having the ending seem a little bit like an anticlimax.  I really like the two central POV characters though, and their estranged sibling relationship is very well done.

The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk

I know that reading actual proper capital-L Literature and then complaining that the characters are ‘unlikeable’ is a terrible cliche, but … I loathed the narrator of this.  One of the least sympathetic fictional characters I have encountered in years.  I only finished it because I was hoping something horrible would happen to him.  

The publisher’s website describes this as ‘an enchanting tale of romantic obsession’ so presumably you’re not supposed to treat the central character like you would if this were something like A Confederacy Of Dunces. Indeed, none of the people I've seen praising the book have talked about this at all. But while the prose was often very pretty the actual events being depicted were just utterly bleak. 

Autumn by Ali Smith

A friend of mine really likes this book and finally persuaded me to try it.  Honestly I think it would be a lot better without the (slightly shoe-horned in, I think) Brexit angle: the main focus of the novel isn’t really on that at all.  But it’s not bad, even if it feels a little bit slight.

Beyond The Hallowed Sky by Ken MacLeod

The first book of a trilogy with a fairly typical (for MacLeod) set-up so far: near-future SF with AI, space travel largely confined to our solar system and with (deliberately slightly vague) global political realignments having happened at sometime in the background.  Not really sure what to make of the plot until I’ve read the rest of it really.

Gideon the Ninth by Tasmyn Muir

Somehow managed to go into this mostly unspoiled despite ... well, having been active on Tumblr for the last two years. I think I'd absorbed a sense of which characters were going to be important and which weren't by general osmosis, and I recognized a couple of lines of dialogue, but most of the specifics of the plot were still new to me.  Liked it a lot: I’m about a hundred pages into Harrow the Ninth now.

(Trying to be as vague as I can about the actual plot just in case anybody reading this wants to try to stay similarly unspoiled.)

10) Do you have a guilty fav?

Not particularly guilty about it, as such, but I'm at least slightly surprised at how much I like Martha Wells' Murderbot stories, which if I just read a description of sounds like something I wouldn't have any patience for at all.  But for whatever reason I think they work in practice really well.

I used to be really into A Song Of Ice And Fire (which I started reading at ... uh, probably too young); not really guilty about that either but at some point I got tired of explaining that I really hated the TV show so I just stopped mentioning the books at all.  (Also largely given up on the series ever being finished, which makes them harder to recommend.)

19) Most disliked popular books

If I don't like a book I usually stop reading it fairly quickly these days, but that means that although there are popular books I've bounced off, I don't really stick with them long enough to develop any particular strong feelings about them.

Hopepunk as a genre tends to leave me a bit cold, where by ‘hopepunk’ I mean ... well, okay, I just mean Becky Chambers' Wayfarers series, if I’m being honest.  (In the past couple of weeks alone I’ve seen ‘hopepunk’ used as label for works as varied as Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree through to Ursula le Guin’s The Dispossessed or Ada Palmer’s Terra Ignota series, so I’m not sure I believe the genre actually exists beyond that.)

Oh, and I liked Robin Hobb's first two novels (Assassin’s Apprentice and Royal Assassin) quite a lot when I read them years ago but I've been pretty consistently underwhelmed by the rest of her work.  I can tell it's well crafted but it's really not just not for me.

15) Recommend and review a book

OK, I'm going to recommend Vellum by Hal Duncan.

This is a difficult book to describe.  It's the first part of a duology called the Book of All Hours.  It's about an adventure across time and space to recover the titular Book of All Hours, a lost medieval manuscript that some say contains a complete record of every moment of every possible reality.  Except no, the Book is really a map which shows its readers the true nature of the world around them, a world that is impossibly larger and more empty than they could imagine.  And the story is really about a great war fought between angels and demons and their offspring, a war waged across the multiverse with First World War artillery barrages and nanobots and a magical language which can reshape reality. 

Or maybe it's really about how stories and character archetypes recur again and again over different eras and cultures; or maybe it’s actually one of the most simultaneously heartfelt and angry love stories you’re ever going to read; or maybe it’s about a girl traveling across a future cyberpunk America in search of information about her dead brother, juxtaposed with a retelling of the Sumerian myth of Inanna's descent to the Underworld.  Or maybe it's just about how Hal Duncan really likes the work of James Joyce and Michael Moorcock.

Whatever it's about, it is safe to say it’s a somewhat divisive book.  A few sample 1-star reviews from Goodreads:

"One word: drivel" [...] "This book was actually painful to read" [...] "I was so relieved when I was finally able to finish this awful book" [...] "Pretentious and stupid" [...] "The writing was beautiful but it made my head hurt" [...] "This is a novel lacking in the basic principles of a story" [...] "Almost completely unreadable" [...] "Quite possibly the worst book I've ever struggled through" [...] "Telling a dozen stories poorly, chopping them up in a blender, and dropping the fragments without regard is not the same thing as telling one story well" [...] "It goes on like this for 500 pages [...] What the fuck is even happening?"

And yes, it does go on like this for five hundred pages (or 480 pages, anyway, in my paperback copy).  

The narrative is incredibly non-linear, jumping back and forwards and sideways in time repeatedly, sometimes from one paragraph to the next.  There are multiple sections written in the first person – but not always from the perspective of the same first person.  There are a number of unrelated major characters with the same surname, often addressed in the text by that surname.  There is time travel and trips between alternate realities and all sorts of meta-commentary about the text by the characters in it. Key players lose their memories and change allegiances multiple times; or are revealed to be other characters; or die and come back from the dead.  The entire universe is recreated from the atomic level up at least once.  It’s great.

The book and its sequel Ink came out almost two decades ago now and sadly -- apart from some poetry collections and novellas, and a collection of short stories called Errata set in the same universe –  I don’t think Duncan has published much else since. But on the other hand, Vellum feels like a book packed with a lifetime’s worth of ideas, so maybe that was always inevitable.

More people should read this weird book.

[whomst-art-thou-whomst-whomst]

Okay so I’ve become a Seonrok stan and this parallel may have done 80% of the work.

Because yes, Hwi and Seonho have known each other since childhood (insert drama cliche) and they are always going to be each other’s dear person and my precious muffins together—BUT. I can’t discount how Hwi changed his mind real fast and decided Seonho was his enemy based on things other people said and what was a lie from Seonho about his sister’s death (side note: sweetie, you’ve known Seonho since you were seven and you still can’t tell when he’s really badly lying? Your pure puppyness is working against you). Now, if someone I thought of as a brother told me that my sister died as an indirect result of their actions, I would have a really hard time trying to think clearly about it, and I get that we the audience understand Seonho’s actions and decision to send him to the army to protect him from certain death only because we the audience have access to knowledge that Hwi doesn’t have yet.

And his emotional response, the all-or-nothingness, is part of what makes Hwi a hero: his inability to separate from his emotions makes him sympathetic to the suffering of others, but here it’s what prevents him from pausing enough to consider alternatives to the narrative being constructed for him. It’s also part of his flaw: his sense of righteousness that at its worst can become self-righteousness. As time goes on, he does improve at this, and I do give him credit—Hwi was coming from an emotional place and not doing a whole lot of critical thinking about what may have caused all of his anguish, and still his instinct is generally to protect or at least look out for Seonho except for the time right before this gif where he tried to stab him to death and that time where he hides the prince’s armory which could have led to Seonho’s execution, and that’s a testament to his goodness and his memories of when they were young and innocent and loved each other more than almost anything.

And that’s the same reason I stan SeonRok. Because he met Seonho at his worst and lowest moment, in a burning house, and saw something in this wounded boy (emotionally due to Hwi, physically due to Sungrok himself lol) that made him decide to follow him. He sees over and over that Seonho pushes people away and makes bad choices based on emotion himself, and he stays with Seonho. Fights for him. Critiques him while staying respectful, which no one else does. Sasses him like the BAMF he is. We love to see their dynamic and Sungrok’s complete lack of fucks to give.

Moreover, it’s what Seonho needs in this harsh world he inhabits: a no-bullshit, unconditionally supportive presence who doesn’t judge him and doesn’t fall for his dramatic nonsense. Hwi is capable of snekness the same way Seonho is, but he somehow balks at seeing it (perhaps because this is his childhood friend). Tbh my favorite moment in their bond comes when Hwi later acknowledges (in a really powerful scene that shows why we love this puppy) that he has been too blinded by his own emotions to understand Seonho’s. Sungrok’s emotions are a “still waters” situation—probably only Seonho can read him, and we know so little of his story. We do know that he cares less about allegiance to a country or commander than he does about a cause that he considers worthy. He sees Seonho’s darkest, loneliest moment and considers him worthy.

Look. I just. Could we not have had a soft epilogue for them? They could travel, Seonho would love that and Sungrok would be content to be with him. Hwi and Seonho could still meet up, they can still be close, but Seonho needs someone good in his life who isn’t so tightly bound to a shared traumatic history, someone who gives him the kind of pushback he needs. Sungrok calls him master when explaining why he won’t leave in this gif, but we know that line blurred and fizzled out years ago.

(Side note: I fully LOVE how much Sungrok dislikes Hwi. And I love Hwi—everyone does, even 90% of his enemies. It’s just hilarious and almost right somehow that there is this one (1) person in the world who adores Seonho and just regards Hwi with disdain and maybe a little jealousy).

You better survive. Stop whining.

[fizziepopangel]

Wrong Turn (2021, Horror)

While I wasn't aware that there was another Wrong Turn installment, I believe this is a was a kind of continuation of the Wrong Turn series. For anyone who isn't familiar with the Wrong Turn movies, the movies all six movies are based around a family of inbred cannibals. In this case, I don't believe there's much evidence of cannibals outside of a single scene set very, very late in the movie, so I'm not quite sure if this really has much to do with the original series... Either way, I watched it and now I wanna talk about it, so let's get into it.

I want to start off by saying that the movie had a solid plot in my opinion. I mean, was a bit cliched in the sense that the story centers around three couples hiking in the Appalachian Mountains and despite seemingly harmless idea of their hike, they are warned by locals in the town they're staying in while hiking that they need to stay on the marked trail because there are dangers within the forest.... And of course, being young and dumb, the group chalks these warnings up to ramblings from a town of hillbillies, and they do end up straying from the path. Anyone who has seen a horror movie and has even a quarter of a braincell could've told you that they wouldn't stay on the path, so it wasn't all that original in that sense of things, just like anyone who has seen the original Wrong Turn series could tell you that there would be a lot of traps set for the purpose of hunting, and that a lot of those traps would involve some very pointy spikes. While I appreciated the gore that came from both of these decisions, I saw them coming based on my knowledge of the common sense of most people in horror movies and my prior knowledge of the series I believe this to be a part of. The real thing that was interesting to me was the hunters.

Now, as I previously mentioned, the original Wrong Turn series featured a family of inbred cannibals. For anyone who doesn't know how inbreeding happens, the technical meaning of it is when breeding happens between 2 closely related people or animals.... It tends to be what people call it when incest occurs over generations. On top of being plain icky, inbreeding can cause a whole host of issues in a person's genetic make-up because it increases the chances of the next generation to inherit genetic disorders. After generations of this, the people who are products of this can have physical deformities and mental disorders that drastically effect their quality of life. In the original series, the cannibals in question had been the product of generations of inbreeding that resulted in a host of issues ranging from things that seemed to effect their physical appearances to things that effected their communication abilities, leaving them to communicate in mainly animalistic grunts....

The 2021 take doesn't seem to have any of that. The hunters in this movie are actually villagers from a town called The Foundation that formed in 1859 before the war and the village inhabitants have no outright signs of inbreeding. Though they speak a different language and honestly appear to have a very cult-ish look, members of the village seem to be well spoken and don't seem to have any deformities or disabilities; when spoken to, the leader of the village even goes as far as telling the group of hikers that they have no cancer due to their way of life within the mountains. And despite the cannibalistic nature of those in the original movies, the villagers within this take hunt for game within the forest and burn the bodies of the dead rather than eating them. The village even has its own justice system that comes complete with a sort of prison where people are put for trespassing or stealing from the village community, and though we only get a glimpse of it, it seems to be filled with the outsiders who wandered into the forest and never wandered back out. I'm not gonna say that I disliked this change, but I did feel kinda cheated out of the classic cannibal aspect of the series.

Ok, so plot changes aside, I want to talk about the level of gore. I am a strong believer that there's never such a thing as too much gore as long as it's well done and doesn't subtract from the plot of the story being told. Gore is actually the biggest reason I enjoyed the original Wrong Turn movies, and honestly tends to play a big role in most of the horror movies I enjoy, but I will admit that I wasn't as focused on the bloody part of the 2021 take on Wrong Turn as I was on the plot and the changes I mentioned before, but there were still a few gorier scenes that definitely deserve some props for the makeup, prosthetics, and use of fake blood. It was extremely well done and started early enough to keep me entertained since we got to see the aftermath of an incident withing the first 20 minutes of the movie!

In all honesty, the biggest issue I had with this instalment was actually that I wished it ended more like my favorite instalment of the series, Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings.... If you know you know. Aside from that little note on the beginning, I actually quite liked the movie as a whole and would absolutely recommend this to someone looking for something good to watch, especially since the movie is different enough that it can be watched as a complete stand alone for anyone who isn't interested in the inbred cannibal bit of the series. It's a shoe in for my official recommendation list when it comes to horror movies and eared itself a solid 8/10

[sailforvalinor]

You know, I’ve said for a really long time that I dislike enemies-to-lovers, but I’ve realized this isn’t actually the case—I just dislike badly executed enemies-to-lovers. And, because this is possibly the most popular romance trope in YA (and most other literature, if we’re being honest), we’re seeing a lot of bad enemies-to-lovers right now.

I think what really irritates me about it most of the time is that authors want the "enemies-to-lovers" dynamic but don't really want to put in the work involved to make it convincing. Characters have to have some reason to hate each other to this degree, have to have some foundation for their relationship to stand on, but sometimes authors just want to skip to the witty banter in the ballroom or the intense rapier duel on the roof with underlying romantic tension without justifying to me why all this drama is happening in the first place.

Also, a lot of authors, especially in the YA fantasy genre, seem to default to "we are on opposite sides of a political conflict" or "you said something rude to me the first day we met" as a format to copy-and-paste their protagonists into and then leave it at that. And to be clear, there isn't anything wrong with these formats--plenty of good stories exist with these used as their basic structure! But it becomes a problem when you plug in a trope like this and assume it will do all the heavy lifting for you. It can easily come across as boring or lazy writing, just like with any poorly-employed cliche or trope.

However, cliches and tropes are not bad! The reason that an idea becomes a cliche or a trope is because it is so generally well-liked that authors are motivated to use it over and over again. These ideas naturally become cliches when they are used so much that the audience gets worn out on them, or it is used as a shortcut by less experienced authors to hide poor writing. But this does not mean you have to avoid any and all cliches at all times. One of the best skills to build as a writer is recognizing when you are using a cliche, and how you can best work that cliche to your advantage—giving the cliche a fun twist, adding layers and details (and-then-isms), subverting the cliche entirely, or just committing to the bit and writing the cliche straight as best as you possibly can.

All of this to say, here are a few variants, subversions, and fun employments of the enemies-to-lovers trope that I just personally think work really well:

Both people strongly and vocally dislike each other, but there deliberately doesn’t seem to be any logical reason as to why, at least to the audience—and it doesn’t really matter (Benedick and Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing. Also I realize that there is a line that suggests that they may have possibly been engaged at some point before the play, but I would argue that since we never find out why they fell out, and this is never brought up as a major plot point, it doesn’t really matter.)

Person A is a part of a group or regime that actively harmed Person B or someone close to them, but Person A was not actually directly involved—however, Person B still holds Person A responsible (Zutara, I still think Kataang is superior, but I won’t deny that this ship works. This one can be a bit cringy if played up too much or if it goes on for too long, but it works as a short-term stint)

Both people make snap judgements on the other’s character upon their first meeting—judgements that are incorrect—and go on to wrongly villainize each other’s character (Lizzie and Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, of course)

Person A did some grievous wrong to Person B in a past life, but one or neither of them remembers until they’re already in love (Reaper and Sunny from Goblin, I realize this is a little specific but my gosh does it slap and people should do it more often)

Similarly, Person A and Person B communicate via indirect means under aliases (i.e. letters, emails, chat rooms) and are falling in love, but hate each other in real life (You’ve Got Mail/She Loves Me)

Person A is sent to assassinate or otherwise harm Person B by the organization that they work for, but when Person B kills them with kindness it makes them spiral into a huge identity crisis (Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade from Star Wars Legends. I really need to do a complete breakdown of this ship sometime because it goes so much deeper than this, but there is way too much to talk about with them on this post—suffice it to say that they are very underrated and absolutely fantastic)

Classic enemies-to-lovers except it’s only one-sided—Person A hates Person B but Person B is absolutely clueless. I can’t think of a good example of this right now but I know I love it when I see it

Neither of them really actively dislikes each other, but they’ve gained such a reputation for their bickering that to admit that they might like each other would be too embarrassing and a blow to their public image (again, can’t think of an example but I know I’ve seen it done...I guess the latter half of Much Ado counts)

Classic enemies-to-lovers but instead of transitioning directly to lovers they become friends, leading into a enemies-to-friends-to-lovers pipeline—the best of both worlds! (Again, Luke and Mara. Also dare I say Raven and Beast Boy in Teen Titans kinda-sorta?)

[kiisaes]

thoughts about bkdk being canon?

i sorta answered this already (here if u're curious) but i suppose i can answer again, this time more in depth and specific to bkdk :')

this turned out WAY longer than i thought so erm. more under the cut LOL

personally i don't think bkdk will be canon. before bkdks throw tomatoes at me, it's not because i dislike them as a ship — rather, canonizing them would be canonizing a main boy x boy relationship in an extremely popular shounen series. i've expressed my pessimism way more times than i should LOL but i truly don't think shounen jump would be willing to take this risk. let it be known that shounen jump has allowed canon lgbt ships and characters in their IPs — blue flag is perhaps the most well-known example of a main relationship being between two guys — but blue flag is not nearly as internationally famous as mha. the more eyes on an IP, the more cautious its choices have to be. it's why the most popular shounens tend to be "stereotypical", "cliche" and "cheesy"; this is what works with its main demographic (teenage/young adult males, to be exact), and if a series gets as big as the likes of mha, it's only smart to keep following that trend.

now, horikoshi does have a tendency to subvert expectations, even within his incredibly cliche hero school story.

bakugou is a subversion of the morally dangerous, edgy rival character by being one of the most heroic, straight-laced teens in the series (as well as genuinely apologizing for his faults that he recognizes are his own). even though he looks and acts like that, his motivations and aspirations are always admirable, even pure and childlike at times. unsurprisingly, people hate him for not being either fully evil or fully good, despite how horikoshi specifically wrote him to be a healthy balance between both his failures and his accomplishments.

deku is a subversion of the stereotypically boyish, emotionally stunted, shounen main character by being unashamedly emotional, awkward and sensitive regarding feelings other than anger or happiness. aka he cries a lot, so much so that average shounen dudebros genuinely hated him for being "soft" and "a baby", but praised him during his vigilante arc where he was ... well, for lack of better phrasing, far more similar to existing shounen protags for being less openly empathetic and more badass. you could honestly argue that deku's entire character isn't meant to be typically badass, flashy, or otherwise appealing to the standard shounen audience. his character arc literally deals with being the hero no one thanks or acknowledges, but he continues to selflessly help others despite the lack of appreciation.

ochako is a subversion of the one-note, intentionally-less-interesting-than-the-mc love interest character — it may not look like it at first glance, but ochako has her own arc that is both connected to deku, yet simultaneously not dependent on him that's been festering in the background since she developed her childish crush on him. the more i read this series, the more i'm convinced that she was never meant to end up with deku. she was only meant to play that role before she comes into her own skin and uses her attraction to deku as a way to be her own kind of hero. or horikoshi is going to shove them together last minute, in which, well, fuck me i guess.

all might is a subversion of the gary-stu archetype, because instead of being the perfect human specimen the way he always presents himself to the public, he's constantly physically deteriorating. not to mention he's a subversion of the know-all mentor character, because he honestly kind of sucks as a mentor. this comes from his own faults as a selfless hero, unable to properly learn from his own mistakes until it was too late. also because he's never taught anyone before so like duh. love him though. i am a toshinori supporter first, everything else second

there's other characters that have been subverted too but you get the idea. horikoshi is very good at writing characters, and to an extent, character relationships. that might be his biggest strength outside of, obviously, his art. and clearly he likes subverting our expectations, otherwise he wouldn't write his main characters like this. he knows what's the norm, uses those tropes as a baseline, only to go out of his way to overthrow those norms the further he develops each given character.

however! i don't think horikoshi will go so far as to subvert the stereotypical main ship (izuocha) and instead pick the relationship between the main two characters (bakudeku). rival relationships in shounen are pretty popular anyway, and mha is not the first shounen to have a deeply meaningful relationship between the male main character and the male main rival/deuteragonist. naruto and haikyuu both have oddly homoerotic friendships between the main two rivals and neither of these relationships are romantically canon.

the reasons why they aren't isn't ever explained why, but i sincerely think at least a sliver of the reason is because both characters are of the same gender. case in point: haikyuu only has a handful of canon boy x girl relationships by the time the series ended. so little that you could literally count the number on one hand, despite the amount of characters in the full cast. and yeah a vast majority of those characters were guys, but those guys were left presumably single, or at least their relationship statuses weren't disclosed. haikyuu did what naruto didn't, which was consciously understand that the most impactful relationships within the entire series were always between two men. for example, hinata and yachi are canonically close friends, and furudate could just pair them up without much thought. but they didn't, instead opting to keep hinata single and keeping his most important relationship with kageyama. likely somewhere there, no matter how faint, furudate didn't canonize kagehina due to fear of backlash, even though it'd make sense chemistry-wise.

bakudeku is in the same boat, where deku could be paired up with ochako if horikoshi just stopped giving fucks — they have a good friendship, with ochako having a crush, or at least a strong admiration, on deku — but he is decidedly not. at least not yet, but it'd be weird to canonize them after taking deku's long platonic feelings for her into account. deku has been entirely single this whole time with nothing aggressively romantic happening between him and ochako (except for the blackwhip situaiton, which ochako's VA herself mentioned as not inherently romantic, but as a chance for ochako to showcase her heroism). i'm inclined to believe this is part of horikoshi's subversions: specifically keeping deku and ochako away from heartfelt, desperate moments where their connection can be brought to the forefront. this makes it even stranger that horikoshi gives bakugou a lot of the standard damsel-in-distress roles, such as being taken hostage by the sludge villain, being kidnapped by the league of villains, and even being carried by deku during their fight with all might. granted he was carried over the shoulder, but he was specifically carried, lol. compared to ochako, bakugou is put in much more danger, consequently "depending" on deku to save him, as much as he hates that.

narratively, this makes bakudeku the most purposeful relationship, from their connection since childhood and having it develop slowly but surely during their adolescence.

their relationship is significantly meant to represent change and equality, as their relationship arc is parallel with many of mha's core themes. canonically they are the two students that inspire the rest of their class to be better heroes. the character deku interacts with most is arguably bakugou, if we put their history into account. even though bakugou was his bully for most of their lives, deku still unconditionally cares about him, even without bakugou asking him to. most times, it's actually against what bakugou wants, which is for deku to leave him alone. he also has the most emotional investment in bakugou, since he canonically sees bakugou as his image of victory, as well as someone who instantly triggers his emotional response as opposed to his logical response. literally like 80% of deku's "outbursts" where he acts utterly irrationally (and not always in a heroic way) are related to bakugou. see: sludge villian,

bakugou's kidnapping (in the original japanese version, i believe he says "give him back" in a distinctly possessive way, as if bakugou is genuinely his. but i could be wrong, idk how to read japanese),

deku vs kacchan 2 (instead of trying to talk down bakugou, he ends up fighting him even though it's against the rules, just because he can't exactly say no to bakugou's unconventional way of dealing with his feelings),

blackwhip's awakening (there is murder in his eyes. monoma insulted bakugou and deku was ready to kill him),

danger sense's awakening (same as blackwhip's awakening, but amplified to 100 given how bakugou was straight up stabbed in front of his eyes),

and bakugou's apology. (this one isn't deku being impulsive, more that bakugou appealed to his emotions and it worked way better than any of their classmates' attempts lol)

through a few of these given pieces of evidence, it's also evident that bakugou cares a hefty amount for deku, just in a more lowkey, less obvious way. this feeling gets distinctly more desperate when deku runs away, so much so that bakugou bluntly tells everyone that he knows deku best (something he probably would have never verbalized earlier in the series), mobilizes his class to chase him down, and eventually talks deku into coming back. so it's also canon that bakugou cannot stand the thought of deku not being near him — "it makes me wanna keep him at arm's length" and whatever.

in literally every story-related way imaginable, it makes sense for bakudeku to be canon. in terms of relationships, they have the most developed, dynamic, and interesting one. they get the most screen time. the proof is quite literally in the story. everything bkdks look at for bkdk proof is canon, a somewhat rare situation shipping-wise, where two characters that aren't together in canon already feel like they are together in canon. at this point, all they'd have to say to make it canon is "i like you". so why the hell am i such a fucking cynic about them?

i've already mentioned up there that it's already pretty damn hard for a shounen jump to canonize a gay ship. it doesn't matter how popular the ship is in the fandom; if the mangaka and/or the manga distributor doesn't want them to be canon, then they won't be canon. it's made even worse that deku and bakugou are the main characters; if they were background characters, they honestly might've had a better chance in my eyes.

because here's the thing: canonizing bakudeku means that mha (and to an extent, shounen jump) is now officially supporting the lgbt community. which it already techncially is with its side characters like toga (either bi or pan), magne (trans) and tiger (trans), but they're side characters. purposefully not as important as deku and bakugou, who are the poster characters for merch, advertising, and spin-off material such as movies and games. regarding the lgbt community, japan is more conservative than the US — they haven't legalized gay marriage, and the overall understanding and acceptance of it is lower than the western world. all of this combined makes it very hard for any canon lgbt content to be big, mainstream and serialized. this isn't to say that japan doesn't allow any shows involving gay characters, but those shows are considerably more niche, many of them falling under bl/gl instead of any other broad genre. even yuri on ice, which was a big hit for what it was worth, only got one season and a movie that is seemingly never coming out.

mha is, in every sense of the word, not a niche series. horikoshi would be risking a lot making his male main characters romantically involved with each other, because mha is not a series that can fly under the radar and be solely picked up by smaller groups that are more accepting of queer people and relationships. it'd be like making luffy from one piece canonically gay. and i have never read one piece but i'm pretty sure all the dudebros in both the west and in asia would flip their fucking shits. it doesn't matter how close deku and bakugou are. as long as both of them are guys, their canonization will be inherently "political". at best, people would complain about why romance should be in a story like this in the first place (a common homophobic argument against lgbt relationships, since they have nothing against the male mc dating the main girl). at worst, people would be outright homophobic, aggressive towards the direction the manga is moving, and horikoshi could face serious repercussions regarding funding and advertising.

shows in the west get screwed over constantly for including lgbt relationships. steven universe had to fight tooth and nail to include ruby and sapphire's romance, and even harder for their wedding. the owl house's lumity faced something much similar, and the show even got "cancelled" — i know it's a glass half-empty idea, but i think they got cut short partly because of lumity. kids cartoons always try sneaking in lgbt content, but either they get cut, hidden, or relegated to background characters where you'll blink and you'll miss it. we're getting better i guess, but the undeniable truth is that if even the US is this finicky about lgbt representation, then there's no way japan will fold so easily.

if bakugou were a girl, then bakudeku would be canon by now. if deku were a girl, then bakudeku would be canon by now. it's the same shit every time; shounen series write the most groundbreaking, mindblowing relationships between two dudes, only to never make them official due to their genders. instead, they're stuck with having the most important dynamic within the entire narrative, but it's strictly platonic. i don't think it's because shounen mangakas are inherently homophobic. i don't think horikoshi is homophobic at all. i simply think that they'd rather play it safe, knowing their main audience. shounen is not written for any fandom demographics. we're big, but ultimately we hold no power over the story.

when i say i don't think horikoshi is homophobic at all, i truly mean that, because — i think if he had it his way, he would've made bakudeku canon by now.

there's already so much shit. a baffling amount of shit to prove their loyalty to each other, how they affect each other and their arcs, how they're save to win, win to save. how bakugou is a key component of deku's character, and how deku is probably the most important character to bakugou's entire development. horikoshi is deliberate in how he writes them. he's deliberate in how he framed bakugou as "the girl" that "the hero" needs to save. he's deliberate in their complimentary personalities and values. he's very fucking deliberate in how he specifically makes their relationship the most changing, beneficial, and understanding. if horikoshi didn't care about these two and their connection, he wouldn't have done all this. he would've latched deku and bakugou onto other characters, or had them be standalone individuals. but no; their entire existence is about dependence. about finding that middle ground and growing together, intertwined.

he's also not afraid of adding lgbt characters into his series, as long as those characters don't get a large amount of screen time. like previously mentioned, toga is canonically not straight, having interest in both deku and ochako. and she's written pretty damn well too, with her attraction to deku and ochako playing a huge role in her characterization. like i said before, horikoshi is good at writing characters and relationships. i don't doubt that he's capable of writing lgbt relationships too, if given the opportunity. i'd actually shit bricks if horikoshi made togachako canon. somehow i find that more likely than bakudeku. sick and twisted.

he also made magne and tiger, who are both wholly unimportant characters and one of them fucking dies. but the point is, i believe that horikoshi would want to make more characters lgbt, he just very possibly cannot right now. there's too much at stake; he's a popular mangaka writing a hugely successful series, with an insanely wide outreach. there will obviously be a sized portion of his reader base that just absolutely hates the gays. i'm pretty sure he's aware of this.

all this said, i find it hard to believe that horikoshi doesn't like bakudeku as a canon duo. not a romantic relationship exactly, but at least as an official partner duo. they're constantly paired up promotionally anyway. it would take horikoshi zero effort to make them future pro hero partners. it would probably take him more effort to justify why they aren't. what i'm trying to say here is this: horikoshi is possibly trying, in the most subtle ways possible, to allude to their relationship deepening in the coming years. just, well, not strictly romantically. in the same way his fellow shounen mangakas either stuck to heterosexual romances or no romances at all, he will likely settle for a simple platonic relationship between bakudeku. but he won't confirm nor deny that bakudeku are more, the same way furudate didn't say shit about kagehina. it's up to your interpretation. they could be just friends or dating or married; just know that the mangaka himself likes the idea that his main two guy characters are this close with each other.

ANYWAY. THE POINT IS. i do not think bakudeku will be canon. i refuse to get my hopes up, and i will continue to be a pessimistic little bitch until i'm proven wrong. i hope i am proven wrong. i hope horikoshi decides to make them canon, i really hope he does. but i'm just not sure if he'll be allowed that chance, or if he'll want to do it in the first place. in the meantime, i am fully prepared to see bakudeku as yet another failed mlm relationship in mainstream shounen, one that could have been genuinely revolutionary. oh well. at least we still have fan content.

[afriendlyblackhottie]

Alone Together

Summary: After an awful breakup you were expecting to spend Christmas alone. You and Steve end up spending it together.

Pairings: tattoo artist!Steve Rogers x Sam Wilson sister!reader. Abusive ex boyfriend!Brock Rumlow x reader

Warning: mentions of abusive relationship, smut, swearing, daddy kink, squirting, creampie, unprotected sex

Tagging: @titty-teetee @blackmissfrizzle @olyvoyl @liquorlaughslove @harrysthiccthighss @mariahthelioness29 @whiskey-cokenfanfic @olyvoyl @hqneyyincc @queenoftheworldisdead @iam-laiya @donutloverxo @slytherinandoutasgard @zaddychris @brattycherubwrites @love-more122

(A/N: yay I made it! Merry Christmas guys! Reblog always 💜 ✌🏾)

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Okay yeah so it was stupid. You should have known better when you’d done it. Well, you did you just... well you don’t really know what you were thinking.

Red flags just look like flags when you’re wearing rose colored glasses, yeah fuck off you stole that from Bojack. So when you were with your ex and doing all this dumb just you thought would make him happy it ended up being kind of awful in the end.

When they finally came off you noticed the things you dealt with. Scared to piss him off so you started treating okay times like they were really good. All the stupid things he had you do to prove yourself.

You were paying for this one right now. Right in another parlor. Covering up that mistake with something you actually liked. Not that most people could see it because it was on your underboob. Said he wanted it to be this hidden thing all for him that no one else was allowed to see.

The first time he asked you’d laughed and said no thinking it was a joke. The second time you it happened you tried to be a little more firm. Except that just meant you couldn’t prove your love for him. That you were devoted. That he’d get a tattoo for you on his arm that he never had time to get for some reason.

It was so fucking dumb you know. The cursive Brock tattooed right under your boob. You could see it every time you took your shirt off and it really bothered you. It always had, but you were trying to convince yourself that you loved him before. Now you looked at it and saw the new of a person you wished you’d never even met.

Steve was your older brother’s best friend. He ran this super popular tattoo shop. They’d met in the military and the friendship just stuck. It’s kind of why you ended up moving to New York. You were kind of the outcast of the family, but Sam never treated you any different. You were his baby sister.

So after a few weeks you asked him if he could cover it up. Except his only available day was Christmas Eve. You didn’t go home anyway and Sam was going to meet his girlfriend’s parents this year. Not that you weren’t invited, but you just wanted this thing covered up. Maybe that would make you forget.

You winced as the needle dug into your skin. Not like it wasn’t worth the pain. “Hey, relax, okay,” he said, softly rubbing your arm. He’d been so much help since the breakup. It was funny. Brock hated him. Was always ranting about what an asshole he is. You could tell he didn’t like your brother either. You really didn’t know what but you knew it was something over their friend Bucky or whatever.

Yeah it was a whole thing. Not that you really knew the details.

Normally you’d spend the holidays with his family. Though a little uncomfortable it was nice being with him. So this was your first year in three that you were alone. Hanging with Steve was nice.

“I’m fine,” you were trying to keep a brave face.

He was almost done. Just had to finish up the shading. Honestly you’d been expecting him being that close to you to feel weird, but it was actually nice. It’d just be nice if you didn’t date another tattoo artist.

Yeah Brock also tattooed. He’d met Steve because they’d worked at the same shop once. You remember how Brock was seething when he found out that Steve had opened his own.

You wish you could go back in time and tell Leila to never go into that damn shop. To never ask you to go with her because she was nervous for her first tattoo. Somehow it ended up with Brock promising you a discount if you let him tattoo you if you gave him your number. Being a cliche you got a butterfly on your shoulder.

Somehow it didn’t bother you as much. Maybe because it didn’t look like anything resembling him.

“You sure? We can take a break,” he offered.

You shook your head. “No. I’m okay.” You chuckled with a smile.

He chuckled before clicking his tongue. “Alright. Tell me if you want me to stop.”

“How’s your mom’s trip?” You asked. His mother had decided to vacation to Hawaii with his step-dad. Which is also why he was here. Not that he couldn’t have went with Nat and Bucky to his parent’s house. Except last time he’d done that, he ended up having to sleep next to Bucky’s incredibly touchy aunt. He was better off spending it alone.

“She’s great. Talked to her this morning.” He chuckled, “apparently she’s bringing me back a Hawaiian shirt.”

“You could pull it off.” You replied trying not to laugh too much.

“You think so?” He asked.

“Yeah just keep it unbuttoned and don’t wear a shirt under.”

He stopped to laugh. “What’s that supposed to mean.”

“I dunno. Just doing a service for the girls,” you said. “Don’t act like you don’t know that you’re cute.”

He licked his lips, narrowing his eyes. “Why Miss. Wilson, you’re not flirting with me are you?”

You laughed and shook your head. “No. Just... stop. You know you’re hot.”

His jaw dropped as he grin. “Now you think I’m hot?”

You sighed dramatically. “Look, Steve. I’m just joking.”

He went back to work with this kind of goofy look on his face. You couldn’t deny it. Steve is hot. Anyone with eyes could see that. Your eyes traced along his tattooed forearms. The sleeves of his flannel pushed up to elbows. Until you were distracted by his broad shoulders.

Your mind finally started to relax. Kind of enjoying the buzzing of the gun. You kind of missed that sound you loved going to the shop with a Brock while he worked.

Your only days off were weekends and since he usually had shit to do on those days, you’d be there while he worked. Sometimes even helping out when their secretary was out.

“And, done,” he said taking a deep breath and smiling down at his work before turning off the machine. “How you feelin?’” He grabbed your hand to help you to your feet.

“Well, a little sore, but good.”

You turned to look at it. Smiling at the flowers that were there now. “It’s beautiful,” you said, looking at Steve before throwing your arms around his neck. “Thank you so much.”

“Hey,” he pulled away to rub your arms, “I got you.”

He was so close, eyes trained on your lips. So you started wondering maybe this was why Brock hated Steve. Saw how magnetic he was that he could definitely pull you in.

That couldn’t have been it, though. Brock never saw you with him alone. His dislike went much deeper than you. Today had kind of added insult to injury. Not only did you cover up that thing, but he was the one to do it. It’d be a slap in the face.

Maybe that’s why you did it. Except you’d always liked Steve’s work. You’d seen so many pieces he did or sketches he made and had wanted him to work on you for the longest. Maybe next time it would be something you didn’t need to cover up.

Your phone went off and you groaned softly pulling away. “Hey, Sam,” you greeted your brother. Of course it had to be him of all people.

Looking back over at his best friend who was cleaning up the station now. It was probably a good thing because your heart had started to thump in your chest. You didn’t need that.

You raised your shirt up so you could see it finally. “Just calling to check up on you. Steve’s lazy ass taking a break? I don’t hear buzzing in the back.”

“We just finished actually.” You laughed.

“How’d it come out?”

“Good,” you answered. “Tell Maya I said hi.”

You finished talking to Sam before finally hanging up. When you finally looked at your new tattoo, a smile grew on your face. It looked so much better than before. “Like it?” Steve asked.

“I love it,” you replied. You grabbed your bag so you could pay him.

“Um, excuse me, Miss,” he said. “Your money is no good here.”

“What? I’m not going to have you do all this work and not pay you, Stevie.”

He sighed. “Think of it as a Christmas present.”

You rolled your eyes still taking your money out. “I can’t-“

“I’m not taking it,” he pressed.

“Fine at least let me give you a tip.”

“I’m not taking that either.” He smirked.

You rolled your eyes. For such a nice boy he was always so stubborn. “Fine. Then... dinner. I’ll make dinner. If we’re spending Christmas alone then it might be fun to spend it together.”

He smiled softly. “Yeah... that sounds nice.”

“Great.” You looked into his eyes again. They were like the prettiest blue ever. Especially with those little specks of green.

After a trip to the store, he escorted you back to the apartment you shared with your brother. You could have moved out, but you were kind of afraid to live alone. That’s why Sam had been a little surprised that you’d declined the invitation to go with him. It was nice to have Steve there.

You’d decorated the apartment even though you hadn’t planned to do anything. You still wanted to be a little festive. Maybe it would pull you into a better mood. It worked a little.

You quickly started on dinner. Steve helped by cutting up vegetables. He’d taken off his sweater letting his incredibly muscular tattooed arms taunt you. Okay so yeah you had a little bit of a crush on him. Like a lot of other women, you just liked to look.

“Thanks for dinner,” Steve said, taking a sip of his wine. “I don’t get home cooked meals a lot.”

“Can’t cook?” You asked with a smirk.

“Yeah I’m pretty hopeless at it.” He shrugged.

“So do you want to watch Christmas movies after this?” You asked.

He laughed. “Yeah that’d be nice.”

The night was going by kind of quick as you settled down to watch A Christmas Story. You were a little tipsy honestly, but you and Steve were sharing a fluffy blanket. Which meant he was close.

You’d carefully showered so you didn’t get your tattoo wet and changed into a sweater shirt and s pair of matching shorts. Getting all bundled up so you could curl up beside him. “You look so warm.” He chuckled as he got a little closer.

“Do you need an extra blanket?” You asked.

“No I’m okay,” he replied.

“Can I ask you something?” You asked because the thought had crossed your mind again. This time you’d finally worked up the nerve to ask.

“Why don’t you and Brock like each other?” You asked.

He sighed. “You’re not the first person I’ve had to save from him. He and Bucky used to be close and I noticed him kind of spiraling. Rumlow was pumping him full of all of these drugs and I dunno I didn’t want to lose my friend.”

Your stomach started to turn. This was the first time you’d ever heard of any of this. “Why didn’t any of you tell me?”

“I wanted to, but Sam said we needed to let you make your own mistakes. To not push you away. There were so many times that I thought about... look I just know that I’m never letting him hurt you again. Okay?”

You nodded, biting your lip. This glazed over look in your eyes. Steve noticed and pulled you closer pretty much placing you in his lap.

“Hey, it’s okay, Honey.” He rubbed your back. Trying to at least comfort you a little.

“No I’m fine,” you replied leaning into him. The soft fabric of his jeans rubbed against your bare legs. It was nice to have him comfort you like this. “You know I think the worst thing to me is that and I’m sorry if this is too much information, but he’d use Sam against me. Say that if I didn’t do what he wanted he’d tell Sam about the things we did in bed.”

Steve sighed. “You know he wouldn’t have cared.”

“I know, but it still felt embarrassing. He knew how secretive I was about it. None of my friends even know the kind of things I’m into.” You took a deep breath, trying to relax because you felt way more tense than you wanted to.

He chuckled. Trying to lighten the mood. “I get it. I used to be the same way until my last girlfriend put it all out there when we broke up.”

You laughed. “Oh yeah I remember that.”

“Yeah. She was something else.” He tossed his head back as he laughed. “One night she came to the shop, talking about how she’d let me tie her up one more time.”

“Brock used to say stuff like ‘come on, Babygirl, do what Daddy says or else I’ll tell your brother what you’re up to.’ It used to grate on my nerves.”

“God. What a fucking asshole,” he said, hoping you didn’t notice when he felt himself get suddenly hard at hearing you say that.

“Yeah, but I’m so glad this thing is covered.”

“Yeah. Glad I could help,” he said with smile. “Shit do you mind actually if I take a picture of it? For Instagram.”

You nodded. “Yeah that’s fine.”

He took his phone out of his pocket while you laid down across his lap, rolling your sweatshirt up so that it was exposed. “Perfect,” he said as he snapped the picture the flash making you close your eyes all tight, making you move your hand so you could rub your eye.

Making your entire breast become exposed. “Shit,” you said, pushing it back down as you sat back up. Your eyes connected to his again and that’s when he kissed you.

You didn’t hesitate to do it back. Your mouth moving against his ever so softly. Like the two of you were afraid to really do what you want, but also didn’t want to pull away. Until he finally started to deepen it.

You stroked his beard as he held onto you tightly. You came to straddle his lap as he cupped your ass. He started to lay you back.

Your phone interrupted you, making you jump away. You scrambled to pick it up. “Hello?”

“Hey. Just checking on you,” Sam’s voice came through.

“Oh. I’m fine, Sam.” You took looked over at Steve who closed his eyes and stood up.

“Is Steve with you?”

“Yeah he walked me home,” you said. “Actually I have to go I’m going to shower.”

“Okay. Text me before bed.”

“Okay.”

Steve was gathering up his things to leave by the time you got off your phone. You watched him move around. He shrugged his coat on. “I’m just gonna head out.”

“Yeah...” you pursed your lips.

He licked his lips. “I, um, I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me... I-“

“No. It’s okay,” you replied taking a deep breath. “I’ll walk you out.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

You watched as he walked away heading towards the elevator. You still couldn’t believe that happened. Lips tingling from the way he kissed you. Apart of you was cursing Sam from ruining your moment.

Another part of you was kind of happy that he did because as much as you hated it, Brock still had this hold over you. It wasn’t that you felt guilty. It was more like you were afraid of what would happen if he found out.

God, you wish he didn’t have this hold on you. You were starting to close the door when Steve came back. This time he didn’t stop himself as he kissed you. Or picked you up, kicking the door shut behind him. Didn’t stop himself as he carried you to your room.

He laid you down on your bed, getting on top of you. You wrapped your legs around his waist. Trying to be as close to him as possible. Fuck he felt so good on top of you.

Scratching at his muscular shoulders. He pulled your top off first. Exposing your tits. His mouth went to them as he tried to avoid your tattoo. He swirled his tongue around your nipple.

You whimpered, biting your lip as you looked down at him. He’d switched to the other one to give it the same treatment. “So fucking beautiful.” He started kissing down your body so he could take off your shorts and panties. He kissed along your thighs, still looking into your eyes as he parted them.

Before he could put his mouth on your pussy, he went back up. Kissing you again. “Is this okay?” He asked resting his forehead to yours.

You nodded, reaching out so you could start undoing the buttons of his flannel. He helped you, pressing his lips to yours again. This time he put his tongue in your mouth.

Kissing him was different than Brock. Steve’s lips seemed to mold with yours better. There was this feeling in the pit of your stomach that felt like it was about to burst, but like you wanted it to. You really shouldn’t be comparing them, but Steve was making you feel so good and you were kicking yourself from having missed out on this as you wasted your time.

He pushed his shirt off his body then undid his pants. Sliding them down his legs along with his underwear. He got back on top for you, kissing your neck. Leaving little nibbles and sucking on your skin like he knew your body already. “Daddy,” you cried out, then sat up when you realized what you said opening your mouth to apologize.

“Oh yeah, Baby. You want me to be your daddy?” He asked, going back between your legs. “Want to be a dirty girl for me only?”

You nodded suddenly feeling drunk off of his words. Never did you think in a million years that Steve would be talking to you like this. He was getting you so wet just from that. He started licking your clit first.

Your eyes rolled to the back of your head as he feasted on you. Pussy juices making a mess on his beard. “Yes,” you gasped out as he started to finger you at the same time.

That same bursting feeling in your stomach was getting intense. You cried out for him as you felt yourself reach your peek. You grabbed his hair, grinding your pussy against his face.

You took a deep breath as you tried to sit up, but he put a hand on your stomach to hold you still. “I’m not done.” He growled. “Hold still while Daddy makes you cum, Honey.”

You nodded bracing yourself as he went back to eating you out. It didn’t take long for him to bring you to another orgasm or another one after that. When he was done he kissed you, making you taste your juices on him.

As you made out again he went back to rubbing your cunt. “I’m gonna make you feel so good,” he said. “Gonna make you cum over and over again. Gonna take care of you.”

“Oh god yes,” you whimpered.

“Fuck I don’t have any condom,” he said, as he’d started to line himself up with your entrance.

“It’s okay,” you said. “I’m on birth control.”

He licked his lips. “Yeah?”

You nodded. “Yeah. I want you so bad, Daddy.”

He grinned as he kissed you softly. “I want to know your safe word first, Honey. Just in case.”

“Strawberry.”

He kissed your forehead, then your nose, and then your lips. He pushed into you as your tongues came into contact. Your tongues carassing against each other.

You stretched around him and you started to understand why he’d spent so much time eating you out. Fuck he was thick. You stretched around him looking into his eyes. “It’s okay,” he whispered into your lips. “I’ve got you.”

“It’s too much!” You cried.

“You can take it, Honey,” he kissed you again. “Be a good girl and take Daddy’s dick.”

He started fucking into you a little harder. You could feel yourself leaking around his dick. He’d really worked you up first even if he was still too damn thick for your pussy.

You scratched his back, biting his shoulder. He was thrusting so deep. You don’t think you’d ever been fucked this deep before. You’d definetly never been stretched open like this.

“Right there! Don’t stop!” You begged as he started fucking into your spot. “I’m fucking cumming!”

“That’s it, Honey. Cum for me.” He groaned because your pussy was so tight. Especially as you came. You were tightening around him and if he wasn’t so determined to give you a few more he would have let go inside of you.

“Oh, fuck, Daddy!” You cried. He didn’t let up. Fucking you through it.

“Nasty girl, squirting for me,” he said getting on his knees so he could watch you.

“Oh god!” You didn’t stop. Your pussy gushing around him. He bent your legs back with his hands on the back of your thighs. Watching his cock all slick anytime he’d pull out only to push back into you.

He chuckled as it happened again. Your eyes all clouded over as you came again just like that last time. More juices squirting out of you.

“Please,” you said, but didn’t know why.

“What do you want me to do, Baby?” He asked.

You couldn’t say anything back because you were to far gone. Thoughts had officially left your head. All you knew was him and the he was fucking you so damn good. Still pressing into your spot.

“Fuck you’re gonna make me cum,” he hissed, getting back on top of you with his bicep wrapped around your thigh so he could keep you spread open. He kissed you again this time deeper. Fucking your mouth with his tongue.

You moaned into him and thrusts became to falter as he started to pump you full of his cum. He thrusted into you deep as he gave you every bit of it. Wanting to completely fill you up with him.

He laid on top of you trying to catch his breath. You were panting underneath him. Not even wanting him to move because he was so warm. You buried your head into his neck.

It took you a minute to come down from your highs. He smiled down at you, kissing you softly. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

“You okay? I didn’t hurt you did I?”

You shook your head, already closing your eyes because you were so comfortable like this. “I’m great.”

He chuckled. “That’s what I like to hear.”

You smiled lazily as he finally rolled off of you. He brought you close to him, kissing your nose again. “Stay with me.”

“There’s literally no other place I’d rather be,” he said.

You’d spent all night messing around. Taking little cat naps in between. Right now he had you on your stomach as he fucked you from behind. You never expected to spend your holiday with him, but now you couldn’t picture spending it with anyone else.

You hadn’t even thought about your ex and the meltdown he’d have if he knew about this. It was nice feeling so free. Especially as Steve’s tattooed arms wrapped around you from behind.

Hints of daylight had started to break through the slits of your curtain. He chuckled. “Merry Christmas,” he whispered into your ear as he didn’t even let up the way he was fucking into you.

“Merry Christmas, Daddy,” you whimpered.

He kissed the back of your shoulder. “Gonna spend Christmas letting me make you my girl?”

You nodded trying to peek up at him over your shoulder with a smile. “Your girl?”

“After this I’m not letting you go,” he said, kissing your cheek from behind. “We might need to make this a tradition.”

“I like the sound of that.”

[pair-annoyed]

Anime I Watched This Summer

Summer 2020 has officially come to a close. It’s fall in Animal Crossing and the trees are beginning to turn. Much like quarantine, I spent a lot of my free time watching anime when I wasn’t stressing over starting college. Now that the school year has begun, I thought it would be nice to reflect on everything I’ve watched! 

These Anime were seen between 6/14 - 8/31 (my Birthday!) and are listed in chronological order.

They will be rated on a 1-10 scale; 1 meaning complete garbage, 10 meaning masterpiece. I will offer my thoughts on what I did/didn't like about each show!

1. Bakemono no Ko - 8/10

This was such a great way to start out the summer! I love the dynamic between Kumatetsu and Ren. Overall its a little cliche, but it’s also very wholesome. It’s by the same studio that made Wolf Children (which I loved!). so I knew it was going to be good. My favorite aspect of this movie was its backgrounds and world building! 

2. Wan Sheng Jie - 9/10

Oh my gosh! I know that this is technically a donghua, but its on MAL, so it counts. This show quickly became my favorite slice of life of all time. I adore the art style and all of the characters. The comedy, plot, and design blends so well together. Everything in Wan Sheng Jie feels warm and comfy. It’s also confirmed for a second season! After seeing its cliff hanger ending, I’m so anxious for what comes next! 

3. Dororo - 7/10

I’ll be honest, I’m a sucker for studio MAPPA. I really liked the historical aspects of Dororo. From the outfits to the ways characters behave, its grounded in the constraints of feudal Japan. I would have given this show a higher score if it was a little more grounded in science. I feel like more time should’ve been given to the demons and antagonists of the show. Our MC was so over powered, which made the final fights of the series more lack-luster. I think its less of the anime’s fault and more because the original source material is from the 60s. That being said, I loved this show! It was cute and action packed. Though it isn’t perfect, it holds its own.

4. Bungou Stray Dogs - 5/10

The concepts and action are misconstrued in Bungou Stary Dogs. This is one of those shows that I chose to watch because it was all over Tumblr. The powers themselves are cool, but I can’t understand why this series is so praised. At it’s core its predictable and basic. The fights seemed low stakes and low energy. None of the humor really felt like it belonged. It tried too hard to be something it isn’t. I don’t think I’ll watch beyond this first season. 

5. Kami no Tou - 4.5/10

First off, fuck Rachel, me and my homies hate Rachel. I really really had high hopes for Tower of God. It paves the way for Webtoon adaptations in the future. Its such a shame that this adaptation SUCKED. I have not read the source material, I’m going solely based on the anime. It wasn’t good? It was horrible. I hate Bam, I hate Rachel. I think all the characters expect Rak were awful. Please don’t make a season 2. Please. If you’re interesting in Tower of God, just read the webtoon. 

6. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun - 7/10

Shoujo anime is my guilty pleasure. I especially liked the way Gekkan Shoujo tackled Sakura and Nozaki’s relationship. Besides just the main characters, even the side characters were enjoyable! It was a fun and creative show. My only complaint is how dense Nozaki is, but I also absolutely love that part of him.

7. Jojo no Kimyou no Bouken (Parts 1-2) - 6.5/10

Jojo is not the saving grace of shounen anime. It isn’t something super revolutionary and it certainly will never be a 10/10. Part 1 was so slow and boring. Jonathan was just mediocre at best. I definitely liked Joseph a LOT more than Jonathan. Part 2 overall was much easier to watch than part 1. The fights are good, but there’s just something about Jojo that I can’t get behind. Although I’m completely bashing this series, I’m going to keep watching it. At this point, I wanna know what a stand is. 

8. Clannad - 5.5/10

I was expecting Clannad to be sad, but instead I got a cute, slice of life, romance. It wasn’t unenjoyable, but it was also a pretty slow-burning show. I loved watching Nagisa and Okazaki slowly fall in love with each other. It was funny at times and sad at other points. I am currently watching Clannad: After Story (which I’ve heard is heartbreaking), so I’m hoping to get some catharsis out of that. 

9. Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai...  - 6/10

This show is only 12 episodes, and yet it still has filler episodes for some reason? I’m a person who doesn’t typically watch isekai because the genre is so over done. However, when it’s done in a very specific way it’s really fun to watch! This show was definitely a lot of fun, it’s also cute and has so many interesting character-character interactions. The ending is painfully cliche, but I think it adds to this shows charm. 

10. Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen  - 8/10

I loved Love is War so much! I love their weird romantic dynamic. I love the characters, and I love the animation. It’s over the top and executes it humor masterfully. The entire show fills you with anticipation for the two main characters. Kaguya is my favorite character. Although I haven’t seen season two yet, I most certainly will! I’m so upset I hadn’t seen this show sooner.

11. Great Pretender - 8.5/10

This show is so colorful and bubbly. The animation is so smooth and they are able to tackle so many different kinds of things given its plot. The whole show itself just feels like summertime. It came out not to long ago, so some people may not be familiar with it. On top of the show itself, the music is great, with a Jazzy OP and and ED that features Freddie Mercury

12. Steins;Gate 0 - 8/10

 I loved the original Stein;Gate so much! So it’s no surprise how much I liked the second season. It builds significantly off the first season in a sort of “off shot” OVA kind of way. The events of Steins;Gate 0 don’t actually happen, but that doesn’t stop it from being meaningful. The big “twist” was predictable and a bit of a let down, but I still enjoyed this. Granted, I’m bias. 

13. Seishun Buta Yarou wa Yumemiru Shoujo no Yume wo Minai - 9.5/10

I sobbed. So much. This movie was phenomenal, it was such a trip. Having watched the original series, this tore my heart apart. It gets a high score for being able to take the characters I love and creating a wonderfully emotional experience. If you haven’t seen Bunny Girl Senpai, please watch it, and then watch this movie. You won’t regret it! 

14. Hotaru no Haka - 6/10

Grave of the Fireflies made me stop watching anime for a while. Studio Ghibli created something grim, something that leaves the viewers feeling hollow. Its a movie about WWII from Japan’s perspective. As an American, all I could feel while watching this was immense guilt. I will say though, that some of the movies main plot could have easily been prevented if the main character had swallowed his pride. His younger sister was also my least favorite character. I get that she’s a kid and that kids are fussy, but you would think that during wartime, she’d be more understanding and at least try to eat the things she dislikes. 

15. Yagate Kimi ni Naru - 9/10

This was a great way to end the summer. This is more that just GL romance, its a love story. Its about growing up and learning to understand your feelings. I related to Yuu so much, which made this more emotional than I expected. It’s really unlike another romance anime I’ve seen. I hope it gets confirmed for a second season. If not, I’ll be reading the manga. 

Seasonal Shows: (Things that are still airing as of 9/5/2020)

1. The God of High School  7.5/10

Another thing done by studio MAPPA. Are you surprised? I absolutely love the action in GoH. The plot however, is all over the place. The story seems fragmented and hard to follow. Like Tower of God, it was poorly adapted. I’m giving it such a high score, because it’s SO much more enjoyable then Tower of God. 

2. Enen no Shouboutai: Ni no Shou - 4/10

My thoughts on season 2 are about the same as my thoughts on season 1. The only difference is that this season has more Jojo references. I’ve rated it lower because its so repetitive. I’m so sick of watching it, but I’ve got to see it through the bitter end.   

3. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season - 8.5/10 

All I’m going to say about Re:Zero is that I love it. I can’t give an accurate review of it because I’ve been hyping this season since it was announced. If you’re into non-typical isekai, watch Re:Zero, its so enjoyable!

[shotofire]

hello ! hru ? plz if you dont mind, levi ackerman x reader (modern) doing to him "wipe away kisses prank", they're watching tv, his girlfriend kiss his lips then wipe it away acting like nothing happend xd thank you take care of yourself 🖤🖤

Hi!!! I’m great! Awe this is such a cute idea! and i’ve been wanting to write a modern fic. thank you so much for requesting my sweet! <3 you take care of yourself as well :p I sorta changed up the prank part a bit but it’s the same concept, I hope you enjoy.

•MODERN!LEVI x F!READER

•Warnings: cursing here and there, very very very slight mentions of smut

•Season: Not set within the show

-

Levi Ackerman wasn’t big on affection. So when he starting dating (y/n) it was a huge surprise for everyone. She had to be the most touchy person on the face of the Earth. Hugging people was a hobby of hers, and she liked to poke peoples sides for the fun of it.

The first time he’d met her was at a gathering Hanji had dragged him to with a few friends. The last thing he wanted to have to do was make small talk with some people he worked with. He was taken aback when a girl he’d never seen before was coming up to him with a sweet smile and arms open wide.

It was obvious that Levi acted different around her. Someone would do something little as put their arm around his shoulder and he’d flinch away. Then someone like her wrapped their arms around his middle and Hanji literally gasped out loud when he hugged (y/n) back.

After months went by of him seeing her at friend events, he asked her out on a proper date. The man hasn’t dated since he was in his early twenties so this was a game changer for him. No one saw the pair getting together, they were polar opposite.

That’s why Levi took such a liking to the women. She was nothing like him and it kept him interested. Everything she did was out of the kindness of her heart, and she was very into speaking her mind. Levi usually just said a simple sentence that was somewhat insulting and went about his day.

(y/n) on the other gave entire speeches of exactly what she was thinking, and wasn’t scared to call somebody out. He admired how big she was on helping anyone that she could. He didn’t even have to worry if the kindness was an anterior motive, he knew she didn’t like seeing people down.

“Are you judging me?” She had asked one day at a table full of their closest friends.

His eyes had narrowed at her question. They hadn’t talked very much at this point, but it was the moment that really drew Levi in. He looked around at everyone else at the table and they were already snickering under their breaths. The whole group thought he found her annoying but it was the complete opposite.

Everything she did had him in a trance. She kept him entertained with everything she said, but it’s understandable why she felt he had a disliking for her. The man never talked unless spoke too, but that was just how he worked. Though (y/n) took it rather personally because she found herself easy to talk to, and she’d never met someone so observant and quiet.

“No, if I did i’d make it obvious,” he had answered with his arms crossed.

She smiled at his words. In a way she found them sweet instead of rude. She was one of the few people who could understand his real meaning behind his words.

“Good,” she said proudly, “cause I would hate for a cutie like you to find me annoying.”

Levi’s mouth had fallen open at her words. Never in his life had someone called him a cutie, maybe when he was a child but not anytime in his adult life. The way her eyes sparkled as she watched his flustered reaction made him realize he liked this girl a lot. That was the night he’d first asked her on a date, and things escalated from there.

(y/n) was different and he liked it. Most people didn’t say straightforward things to him because they were scared for his reaction. But she wasn’t in anyway frightened by him. She actually found it kind of funny that the group find him so scary at times. Sure she could admit his gaze would be rather intimidating at times but that’s the worst it got to her.

He first took her out to eat at a sushi place and she literally squealed when they walked in the door. He couldn’t even hold back the laughter at her excitement, and that was the fist time she had heard his sweet laugh. She’d seen him smile plenty of time, but the fact she got him to go further than that only boosted her confidence.

They had sat there for hours talking about the most random things. (y/n) had never heard Levi spill so much information at once and she was absolutely living for it. She still couldn’t believe the quiet mystery guy of her friend group found interest in her.

“Did you know your quietness makes you more intriguing to me,” she had said with a blush on her cheeks, “It makes me want to get to know you more than anyone i’ve ever met.”

He nervously chuckled at her words and took another bite of sushi. That was the first time in the night he had kinda gone quiet. She began to worry she’d embarrassed him somehow and started to think too much. He noticed her manner change pretty quickly.

“I’m glad i’m interesting to you, no ones ever been interested in me,” he had said with a quiet voice. 

She smiled softly, “You’re too pretty to not be interested in.”

That was the first day she had seen Levi blush so hard. She was also the first person to call him pretty. He had nervously ran his fingers through his hair with a slight chuckle. This women truly was something else and he found peace in her mannerism. He liked the way he felt when he was with her, and he had no plan on letting her go.

“You’re gorgeous,” he’d said on their next date which was a picnic.

It was (y/n)’s idea of course, she wanted to do something different. She told him she already had an idea for another date if he was interested, and of course he was. She smiled brightly at his words, even though she had just taken a bite of her sandwich. The sweet moment made her wonder what their friend group would say about this alternative Levi they had yet to meet.

After a few more weeks he’d invited her to his apartment. There was no alternate motive behind the invite, he just wanted to cook for her. She had told him many times she was a ‘slut for spaghetti,’ which made him laugh harder than he had in years. When he told her he wanted to make her food she absolutely insisted that she get the pleasure of watching.

He didn’t expect her to ask something like that but she was persistent with the question so he allowed it. She’d asked about a million questions as he made it, and everyone who knew him would be surprised to know he found joy in her constant talking. He was so used to silence, but her sweet voice always filled the air and made him feel whole.

When (y/n) had literally moaned as she took a bite of the spaghetti his stomach did a flip. The sound was beautiful and he thought about the day he’d get to hear it over and over again. Though, Levi was in no rush whatsoever. He was an extremely patient man and valued taking things slow. The two had been seeing one another for almost three months now and the most that had happened is hand holding and cuddling.

After dinner (y/n) suggested a movie. Of course she insisted on something romantic, she valued the cliche of it. Levi agreed but wasn’t as excited as she was. But seeing her eyes light up as he said yes was way better than any movie they could watch.

Now Levi sat on the couch with (y/n)’s arms wrapped around his waist and head on his lap. The sight was very heartwarming and he wanted to take a picture of how beautiful she looked, but he decided not too. Sure she had taken many pictures of him and with him but he was still scared she’d find it weird.

She felt his eyes on her and moved her hands from around him so she could lay flat on her back. She raised an eyebrow at him and smirked.

“Do you find me better to watch than the movie?”

A shock ran through him at your straightforward question. She always did things like this to him on purpose. Making his stern self flustered had to be one of her greatest powers. She reaches up to touch his soft hair and he shivers slightly from her cold hand.

The room fell silent and the air began to change. (y/n) gulped at the the feeling and turned her attention back to the movie, acting as if nothing had just happened. He frowned when she did this. Did she not want to kiss him?

That wasn’t the case, though. She wanted to kiss him more than anything. Hell, she wanted to do a lot of things with him. One would think she was straight forward in every department, but not when it comes to kissing. The last time she kissed someone her tooth went into their lip on accident and embarrassed the hell out of her.

She felt Levi’s body become sluggish when she turned away. In that moment (y/n) decided to get over her fear. After all he was different, they had a whole different story line. Her last failed hookup wasn’t anything compared to the bond her and Levi had created.

(y/n) sat up quickly and Levi almost jumped at her sudden action. He turned his head to look at her, and was about to ask what the matter was, but her lips were already being pressed against his. Warmness filled both of their bodies and the softness of her lips were addicting. But as soon as it started, it ended.

He almost whined when she pulled away, then her hand dragged across his lips, and he was beyond confused. Her attention was turned back to the television as if nothing had happened. As if they didn’t just kiss for the first time and she hadn’t just tried to wipe it away.

“Why did you just do that?” he asked confused, but he couldn’t help but smile a bit at her. She was hard to figure out and understand sometimes, but this was different. Was she embarrassed?

“Do what? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said without even looking at him.

The man had never seen her act this way. He found it funny honestly. (y/n) had never been afraid or reluctant to do something. He guessed he had found her weak spot.

“Oh yes you do,” he said with a laugh, “you think wiping away the kiss is gonna change something? Cause I still want to kiss you again.”

She gulped at his words, “really?”

Levi had never seen her so flustered and red faced. She was an absolute mess of nerves right now and he loved it. He had no idea he could have this type of effect on her. She did everything with confidence and zero fear yet a simple kiss had her second guessing everything.

“Really,” he whispers, and this time she’s the one who’s stomach flips.

His lips reattached to hers and she melts at his touch. Lips move against one another softly and slowly, enough to make her head spin. Delicate fingers squeeze at her waist and she makes a slight noise at the feeling.

That’s when Levi grabs her hips and pulls her on top of him, and the once sweet kiss begins to intensify.

Kissing Levi was already becoming one of her favorite things to do, and they were just getting started.

[chicoriii]

Season 4, Episode 17 - Larme Ultime (Rocketear)

So this is a DjiWifi episode from which comes a screenshot I've seen over a month ago (I think). It's good they got it, before season 4 started I really wanted it to happen and to see a kiss between Nino and Alya in it (but that didn't happen and I don't get why, only the main pairing is allowed to kiss in this show or what?), but now I could not be excited about it anymore, because I'm sick of Alya and I'm not able to hide it. Yes, I'm biased, but I'm just a normal viewer and I have right to dislike her favouritism.

My the biggest thought after watching this is that it looks like since Optigami, Alya is not only a deuteragonist, like I said in my post about Sentibubbler, she's actually more like a co-protagonist now. That was an extremely Alya-centric episode (even more than Lie was was about Adrien, as it was mostly Ladybug who saved the world like almost always, also because Chat sacrificed himself again), while in Optigami and this one she has screentime comparable to Marinette. I'm still trying to avoid spoilers (so please, don't tell what's going to happen in the next episodes, I don't want to know), but I'm sure that either 15 or 16 is also highly about her, because we've seen the new Rena's suit in this episode and it looked like it wasn't the first episode with it. But really, I won't be surprised if Alya has lots of screentime in both episodes and all others to the end of the show as well. I don't think Adrien is ever going to get as much special treatment like Alya. :/ The creators have never been as nice to him.

Didn't the writes have enough ideas for another story arcs? And thanks to it they were able to save money, because then creators could just reuse old models of villains more than before. Have anyone noticed that S4 has even fewer number of completely new characters than previous seasons? The scientist seen at the start of the episode has detailed model, so she had to be akumatised in any of the previous unreleased episodes (or one of the next ones). And why she looks a lot like Alya, is she her relative? If yes, you know what that means? Another excuse to make an episode full of the fox wielder, because, you know, it’s not like she already got enough occasions to shine in S4. 

Speaking of Rena Rouge's new suit. What a waste, it would be great for a potential chameleon Miraculous, so it seems it won't be ever created for canon. So bad, I think it's one of the coolest animal, so a Miraculous based on it would be awesome. It could one from an African Miracle Box which should appear, since they are planning making an African special. The suit is good and all, but I still feel disappointed that it's not the superpower of a chameleon Miraculous. :(

Why is Nino acting over the top out of nowhere? I like film noir atmosphere, fedoras and especially jazz music full of saxophones (my favourite music genre and instrument), but it looks totally ridiculous when he's like that. I thought it's Marinette's speciality, and he beat her in that category. I'm not trying to say it's a a bad thing, it just feels weird seeing Nino like that. And since I love jazz, I would like to listen to that film noir-esque music more once I got 5.1 audio, since it was hardly heard in the episode. It didn't sound much interesting, but it's too early to judge it seriously.

Too bad they had written the main conflict in the episode using one of the biggest romantic cliche - misunderstanding in which one character see and\or hear something, but not the whole thing, so said character interprets it wrong. Motifs like that are rather annoying, so it's good something similar haven't happened in the Love Square's arc (yet at least). Though I have a big issue with how they write it this season and I'm going to make a post about it (is anyone interested?).

The akuma is one the ugliest and has one of the most laziest power ever. Really? He shoots using tear bullets and does nothing more? I know many people hate Bubbler's design, but no matter how silly it looks, it was much more creative than this.

And of course the whole thing with Alya remembering the whole conversation with Chat Noir was extremely far-fetched. The could think about something more believable, but I'm not surprised it happened, since I think this season is generally more lazy written than previous ones.

On the other hand, I'm surprised that Marinette is actually aware that Shadow Moth should not know that Alya is still Rena Rouge. It seems that the whole episode 15 (or 16) is about they trying to figure out what to do with that problem.  I won't be surprised if Alya would do it all by herself like it happened with protecting charms in Mr Pigeon 72, because it's completely normal that a random person who has never met Fu is better at decrypting the grimoire than someone who has been trained to be a guardian to some extend :/ Still I think they should not be sure that camouflage mode would solve the problem completely. From what I understand the new suit doesn’t make her completely invisible to others. Rena could be seen by anyone who takes a photo of her and then post in on the internet (it won't be believable that she's the only one crazy about superheroes in Paris). But at least they tried to do something and Marinette sees the danger to some extend. It’s something new.

It's not like Alya is careful, she's completely reckless (and they think she's a good reporter material? Don't make me laugh) and she still thinks more about her own fun in being the superheroine than safety of herself or the world. But of course, it's not gonna happen, because plot armor is very strong in this show. I really had a feeling that she acted like a little child in the first minutes of the episode. She's unable to see that her situation is not a joke. She should be all happy that Marinette still lets her to keep the fox Miraculous. She really lacks humility and I see it clearly since Optigami at least. Besides, Marinette ignores another red flags, that Alya is taking pictures of herself in the new suit no one is supposed to see and thinking about posting them on Ladyblog (was Bunnix right that Alya is able to reveal Miraculous secrets on her blog because of her overenthusiasm and lack of ability of seeing consequences of her actions?).

By the way, now I think, if Alya can't keep in secret that she's still Rena Rouge from Nino (which happens because it's needed for the plot), so how could she be all fine with keeping in secret other facts like that Ladybug gave her the fox permanently and she knows her identity (which isn't happening because the plot doesn't require it)? She still has to lie on Nino because of these secrets.

They are making Marinette a big hypocrite this season. Since she revealed herself to Alya, it's been shown that secret identities rule was bullshit from the start, but Marinette is still saying that heroes can't reveal their identities to anyone. What? What has she done before like not revealing herself to someone, so how she dares keep saying about how crucial is keeping secrets from everyone? Sorry writers, I can't take that rule seriously anymore since Alya knows and no one should. Because Marinette told Alya, she could tell it to other persons she trust as well. What's the difference between her best friend and the rest of the people in the world? Is Alya the only person she trusts? In fact, revealing herself to Sabine, for example, would be much better choice. She's actually wise and mature unlike Alya and her secrets would be much more safe with her mother.

I've seen Chat Blanc again on TV recently and I remembered one thing Ladybug told to Bunnix there: "The best-kept secrets are the ones you never share." (Google Translate says that the line is exactly the same in the French original). Some episodes later, she isn't thinking twice if she should tell all the guardian secrets to Alya. Okay, she revealed her identity because of being too emotional in that exact moment, but then when she calmed down, she should be able to think if telling all the Miraculous secrets is a good idea. The other hypocritical thing is telling Chloé "you can't be Queen Bee anymore, because Hawk Moth knows your identity" but still calling the other heroes whose identities have been exposed.

So I can't even blame Alya for telling Nino the truth if the guardian herself is not following her own rules. Not to mention, Marinette doesn't address wrong things Alya is doing at all, so no wonder she feels she could do anything, she won't get punished, no matter what. After all, it's not the first moment in which she does something her best friend forbid her.

And we can say the show has been confirmed that Nino is even worse at keeping secrets, especially in crisis situations, so why people wanted to see Adrien revealing himself to Nino? It's obvious that he would tell Adrien's secret to Alya and maybe some other people as well.

I thought that since S3 finale Adrien is supposed to know identities of every backup hero from seasons 2 and 3 and I was ready to be salty about that as well. But yes, actually after purification of Miracle Queen's akuma, brainwashed heroes didn't detransform. They were forgotten completely and we don't even know what happened with them exactly. I suppose Ladybug took their Miraculous when Chat Noir wasn't there anymore.

Adrien has every right to be angry at Ladybug, she treats him so badly, since Alya knows her own secrets and she doesn't even have the guts to admit that. But I'm going to say about my the biggest issue in the Chat Noir and Ladybug's situation in another post, I hope I would write before the next episode airs.

[xxxdoppel]

SPOILERS

There were several things I enjoyed about this season:

One of them was Kuroe dying.

You know what? I should not try to make death jokes right now because it is inappropriate with my resent loss, so let me take it back for a bit and we will come back to it sometime in the future. Now, let's be serious:

1. Ui, Touka and Nemu's hospital life:

This whole first episode was my favorite thing about the season. It was relatively different from the game's story, and it felt more dynamic and fun to watch. The lack of Touka secretly reading her uncle's book about magical girls is probably the biggest confirmation that we are NOT getting arc 2 animated, for the greater good. Still, all those shots of the three of them researching and coming up with the right questions for Kyubey was a nice thing to see. Even Ui felt less useless here because the game story was all about making her a brainless girl who was just here to keep the other two in check. She finally had her moment to bring ideas to the table.

The birth of Embryo Eve was poorly put together, though, and don't even get me started with Nemu actually remembering everything.

2. Mifuyu's redemption arc:

I fucking loved it. I've never been a fan of this character because all the victimization and manipulation sits very wrong with me due to bad personal experiences with people like that, but I will remember her for this. The whole thing was so cliched, but it worked really well to crank up those feels for what was coming.

3. Megucas unite!

I never thought we were going to see all these group shots with all the girls working together. One of my favorites and most emotive moments in the game was all these small interactions between all the side characters and, even though most of them didn't have any lines, them not being forgotten by SHAFT and actually given a spotlight was something that I needed to see.

4. Kanagi:

It is a known fact Kanagi owns my whole ass. She was such a relevant part of the second half of arc 1 that it was very sad when she was given the cold shoulder on the anime. She got her moment here and it was well deserved.

5. Kuroe's past:

Can I just say: Kuroe died due to overthinking and I relate to that so much. Your head is your worst enemy and people like us could turn a very simple thing into a catastrophic situation. I can't blame her for anything. I mean, all this build up for something so cliche and predictable was not worth a whole season, but we got no other option but to live with it.

6. Bittersweetness:

Look, I understand that a lot of people may be in disagreement with how sad the season turned out to be, but I want to remind you this is still a Madoka Magica story. This was never the kind of show for a happy ending and, even though it hurt me to see characters like Nemu and Momoko dying, their parting still felt correct. Some of the deaths were actually meaningful. It was kind of like a reality check, you know? This isn't Disney. These anime characters were given choices that felt more realistic and important for themselves and the people they wanted to protect.

7. Iroha has changed:

Some people dislike Iroha and I see where you're coming from. However, I do like how this finale seems to have turned Iroha into a stronger woman. I just feel like she's on her way of thickening her skin like Homura has done.

There's a couple more things, but I can't fully recall what exactly is that I liked. I have to sit down later and rewatch it to remember.