#i think that moment is when the ep finally completely lost me though. like what the fuck did i just watch

[akechi-stole-my-heart]

ep 7 was certainly Something, that's for sure

[alloftheimagines]

joel miller | don't let me drown

masterlist | taglist | ko-fi

words: 2.4k

warnings: drowning, hurt/comfort, angst, lil bit of nude cuddling for warmth reasons but nothing steamy, strong language, inspired by ep six but i changed it up so the bridge is unsteady for the purposes of *drama*. hint towards age-gap with reader in their thirties. they/them pronouns. no y/n.

synopsis: in which the reader falls into the river of death, and it's joel's job to save you and find shelter. featuring ellie. not requested!

You used to think snow was pretty. Magical, even. Now, you only think it’s a bitch to travel through, especially on foot with the harsh mountain winds blowing off the river.

Of course, you can’t complain because the fourteen-year-old and fifty-six-year-old aren’t, and you’re probably supposed to be fitter than the two of them put together. But inside… fuck. You’re exhausted, freezing, and desperate to get to your next destination so you can sleep on something other than ice and mud. 

When the bridge comes into view, relief washes through you. If you can get away from the open water, maybe the winds won’t be so biting and you’ll finally be able to feel your cheeks again. You puff out a visible breath and glance at Joel, who is both pale and rosy-cheeked from the cold. Ellie follows behind, watchful as ever. You can’t imagine what it must be like for her, trekking so far from where she began. Seeing so much. It’s been rough on all of you, but you’ve made it through together. Whatever comes next should be a breeze. 

“Keep a lookout,” Joel warns, poising his handgun and nodding at you to do the same. You’ve been warned that nothing good can be found by the river, and it’s left an unsettling silence between you since you started your journey. 

You dip your head, preparing your own gun as Ellie does the same. But if anything is here, you don’t see it — not on this side of the bridge or the other. It’s a rickety old thing, but if it gets you across… it’ll do. 

“C’mon,” he grunts. The bridge creaks beneath your feet, and you follow Joel’s footsteps to avoid any weak spots. Until gunshots sound somewhere in the distance. You all jump, but it’s you who loses your footing as a chunk of rotten wood disappears beneath your feet. Before you can find something to grab onto, you’re falling, screaming, clutching thin air. Joel yells your name with a fear you haven’t heard in a while, but his voice is lost as the rushing water swallows you up.

Freezing. So cold it makes you burn. The river turns your world grey and endless, as though you’re floating in a void. You thrash, trying to kick up to the surface, but the shock is jolting through you, making you numb, and you can’t remember how to use your limbs.

You cough and gulp down an unbearable amount of water, and that’s when you know. There’s no air, no way of making your lungs work. They just keep burning, squeezing for something that no longer exists. Your vision goes blurry and then disappears completely. 

***

Joel watches it in slow motion. The splintering bridge. The fall. The ripple in the river as it chews you up and doesn’t spit you out. He doesn’t realise he’s screaming your name, doesn’t realise he’s even running, until he reaches the other side of the bridge. 

“Stay there!” he orders Ellie with a warning finger, fear ricocheting through his voice, through the trees. You’re gone is all he can think. You’re gone, and he can’t fucking do this without you. 

His knees ache as he half-sprints, half-slips down the embankment, kicking snow into the river. After shucking off his shotgun and placing it down, he takes off his jacket in a moment of clarity, knowing you’re going to need something warm. And then he’s plunging into the river, cursing at its low temperature. His teeth chatter as he shouts your name, searching for any sign in the steadily flowing water. But there’s nothing. He dives under when he gets closer to the bridge, skin becoming ice as he searches the murky depths. 

He has to come up for air twice before he finds you sinking to the riverbed. He’s never moved so fast, snatching you up in both arms and pulling you to the surface. You’re deadweight in his arms, and panic lances through him when he finds you’re eyes closed. 

He calls your name again, urgency sharpening his words as he pulls you to the embankment. Despite his orders, Ellie waits there, eyes wide and afraid. He doesn’t have time to scold her. He’s too busy carrying you out, water pooling at his feet as he staggers to solid ground and lays you down. 

“Baby?” He shakes you, droplets falling from his face and onto yours as he kneels over you. “Come on. Come on, baby.” 

He presses an ear to your chest: finds no sign of breathing. 

“Shit.” He begins compressions then, counting to thirty before giving you mouth to mouth. Your lips are ice cold, and so are his, his knuckles reddening as he presses the heel of his hand down again and again and again. “Come on. Come on. Breathe.”

“Joel,” Ellie whispers, terror in her voice. 

He squeezes his eyes closed, unable to face what it means. What might be happening. He isn’t losing you today. Not any day. “Come on. Come back to me. Come back to me, darlin’.”

Your breath gutters, and instinct has him rolling you onto your side as you cough up more water than any person should be able to. 

“Fuck,” he’s saying, rubbing warmth into your shoulders. “Ellie, grab my coat.”

She does, and he wraps it around your quivering body before pulling you close. “I got you,” he’s whispering. “I got you, darlin’. I'm here." 

More coughs leave you, and he brushes your hair off your forehead to look for any sign of injury. Your lips are blue, and it terrifies him. Cold water shock can kill, and the way you went under… Shit, it’s a miracle you’re here, upright. 

You’re shivering so violently that he knows the worst isn’t over. Hypothermia. Pneumonia. Those are just some of the things he’ll have to watch for. He can’t take you anywhere like this, can’t protect Ellie or you, but you can’t stay here either. You need to warm up. You both do. 

“We need to find shelter. Somewhere to light a fire and get warm.” 

“I saw some rock overhangs deeper in the woods,” Ellie said. 

“Can you grab the bags?”

“Yeah.” She slips a backpack on each shoulder and then props Joel’s shotgun under her arm. Not ideal, but he can’t think about that now either. Not when you’re barely opening your eyes. 

He breathes your name and then: “Can you hear me, sweetheart?”

A faint nod. 

“Good. That's good. We're gonna get you warm.” He pulls you into his chest, hooking an arm under your knee and the other around your back. You sink into his warmth, but you’re so limp that it terrifies him as he carries you up the embankment, following Ellie’s lead. 

Sure enough, she guides you both to a deep overhang beneath snow-topped crags, and he dips his head to fit in the low space. He places you against the wall, already unravelling the bed rolls.

“Get a fire going,” he says. He’s certain that he had a few matches left last time he checked, and Ellie rifles through his bag before producing them. With shaky hands, she gathers a pile of sticks and surrounds them by rocks just like he taught her before lighting the match and letting it spread. 

The twigs are damp and produce a lot of smoke, but sure enough, an amber glow lights the dark shelter a moment later.

“That’s it. Good,” he whispers. 

Ellie glances at your hunched form warily. You’re so pale, so cold you’re practically convulsing. “Are they gonna be okay?”

“Have to be,” Joel mutters. He slips off your sopping wet coat and sweater, and Ellie turns away as he gets rid of the rest. 

“You still with me?” he asks you.

You hum in response, folding into yourself in your nudity. 

“Here.” Covering her eyes, Ellie hands him a spare long-sleeved shirt and a pair of sweats from her own pack, luckily from Bill’s stash of adult clothes. 

“Thanks,” he replies, urging your arms up so he can slip on the shirt. It’s an uncomfortable ordeal with your clammy skin, but he needs you warm. Now. Even when you groan, skin no doubt stinging painfully. “I know. I know. I’m sorry.”

He has to pull you up for the sweatpants, and then he’s rolling thick thermal socks onto your feet and tucking you into blankets and bedrolls. “How’s that? Feel warmer?”

You shake your head, and he helps you shuffle closer to the fire. 

“Now?”

A nod that has him relieved. He can’t help but place a kiss on your damp forehead, realising too late that he’s cold and shivering too. He only has another flannel in his backpack, though, and he can survive until he’s at least gotten you warm. Protecting you from his damp clothes using the bedroll, he wraps his arms around you to keep in the heat. 

“Gave me a damn heart attack,” he mumbles into your hair, squeezing his eyes closed to chase away the darkness creeping in. The thought of losing you. All the other scenarios where you didn’t end up here with him after the fall. He should have been smarter. Shouldn’t have taken you across that damn bridge.

The ghost of a smile crosses your flame-lit face. “Sorry." And then: "You’re… cold too,” you rasp between shivers. “Get in here.” 

He glances at Ellie. No way in hell is he going to strip off with her here. As though understanding, she raises her brows and shifts away. “I’m going to go find out if bears really do shit in the woods.”

“Don’t go away,” he orders. “Just… give us a couple minutes.”

“Yes, sir.” She disappears, and her crunching footfalls outside keep his concern at bay. 

His concern for her, at least. Your face still lacks colour, your breaths sounding watery and wrong even now. He grinds his teeth, reluctant to pull away from you for even a minute. But if he dries off, he can give you his body heat, so he quickly tears off his clothes and replaces them with the one dry shirt he owns. He doesn’t bother buttoning it up, instead crawling into the bedroll with you and enveloping you in an unyielding hold. You lean against him, eyelids drooping but shivers finally beginning to ease. 

He begins to warm up after a few minutes and can only hope you are too. When he notices your eyes closed, he stiffens. “You still with me, darlin?”

“Think so,” you murmur, your cool hands travelling across his bare chest. He tries not to flinch as he directs them up to his chest. His mouth. He kisses your knuckles before cupping his own hands around yours and blowing. Then, he rubs, generating friction. 

“Keep talking to me,” he pleads.

“‘Bout what?”

“Anything.” Anything, as long as you don’t leave me. As long as you stay. “What was your favourite book growing up?”

You were barely fifteen when the pandemic hit all those years ago, but you smile as you remember that old bookshelf your dad put together full of worn paperbacks. “You don’t read, Joel. You wouldn’t know even if I told you.”

“So tell me about it.” He’s still using his hands, pushing feeling back into your body bit by bit. 

“I’m okay,” you whisper finally. “I’m okay, Joel. I’m gonna be okay.”

“I know that.” But he won’t stop, won’t give up, even when your cheeks turn pink once more. God, he’s missed the way you glow like that, the way it looks brighter in the snow. 

You take a ragged breath. “I liked Gulliver’s Travels.”

“Yeah? Who’s that by?”

“Joel…” Your eyes flutter shut. “Please. I’m tired. I’m warm. I’m okay.”

But he can’t trust it after he’s just put breath back into your lungs; can’t trust it to stay there. He holds you tighter, placing a gentle, terrified kiss into your hair, even if he’ll never admit that he is terrified. That he can’t breathe if you’re not breathing. He realised that the moment he jumped into the river without caring if it got him killed too. 

You’re all he has to hold onto, and he could never let you drown.

“I just need… I need you to keep talking to me for a little longer, baby. Just until I know you’re okay,” he says.

“Okay.” So you tell him about your favourite book, drifting in and out of the conversation. Soon, you stop shivering against him and the bedroll warms with two sets of body heat, just as he’d hoped. The fire keeps up until Ellie finally comes back to refuel it with more sticks, offering Joel a smirk that he returns with a gentle glare. You barely seem to notice, still muttering. 

“Sounds like a great story,” he says finally. “I think Sarah had that one.”

“Yeah.” You smile, cheeks swelling this time as you nestle into his chest. But then you cough, and he frowns. God, is this what it’s gonna be like now? One cough’ll leave him frozen with fear?

“I can read you guys a great book!” Ellie volunteers, and of course pulls out her pages of puns. 

Joel groans. You chuckle, and his heart warms at the sound. 

“Tell me the one with the penguins again,” you ask.

Ellie grins and flips through the pages, and you get a million more cheesy puns that make you laugh until you can no longer hold your head up. You’re certain Joel’s bare chest ripples with stifled amusement at some points. 

“Joel?” you ask as Ellie turns the page. 

“Yeah.”

“I’m so tired.”

Another wave of dread. He masks it clearly, examining your features. You look and feel warm, and you sound like you. If you need the rest, he can’t keep asking you not to take it for his own selfish reasons. For his own pathetic fear.

Finally, he surrenders. “Okay, darlin’. Get some sleep. We all need it.”

“Night,” Ellie says, getting comfortable in her sleeping bag.

Your eyes shut instantly and don’t open again, but your chest rises and falls smoothly against your interlocked hands. He listens to it as the shelter quietens, the fire getting lower. He listens all night just to make sure you’re still breathing. When light returns the next morning, he finds Ellie has done just the same, wide awake and unwilling to tear her gaze away from the two of you. 

“They’re okay, right?” she asks. 

Joel can only hope that it’s the truth when he says, “Yeah. They’re okay.”

“Good.” She nestles into her makeshift pillow — her backpack. “You’re a real grouch when they’re not around.”

He rolls his eyes, tempted to point out that he is always a grouch, though Ellie’s right. He needs you. He will always need you. 

And god, he hopes he never comes close to losing you like that again.

[agathasvidal]

below the cut is a short theory/deep dive into how i believe agatha all along is going to end between agatha and rio. it is inspired by one theory that is doing the rounds, and is the one i originally theorised myself after watching episode six last week, but i wanted to depict the how and the why of why agathario is important to the show, and why i don’t think a ‘final battle’ will be clearly cut between a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ side

like many others, i think it’s reasonable to predict that rio is there to take billy, but she does not actually know who billy is because of the sigil. small things to back this up include:

1. agatha asking rio why she’s there in episode one and rio replying “my job”. agatha is like boom she is here to take someone away, and it can’t be me, and there’s only one new person who’s recently appeared in my life so who the f is this kid why is he important

2. rio saying “did you hide evidence?” to agatha. ironically, someone is being hidden in the closet from her…

3.. rio telling lilia “go on tell them what you saw” in the beginning of episode five. we can infer that rio knows that lilia knows who rio is. perhaps we could go one further, and suggest that rio knows lilia helped hide whoever she is looking for, and is almost taunting lilia in an ‘i really do see it all’ way

3. agatha’s “don’t” to rio in episode four, when teen is injured. it’s obvious, and has been spoken about so much, but i really think this is a moment of confirmation from agatha that rio is there for him, and she needs to beat rio in discovering who he is. it’s confirmation that the two are working against each other, but it is so hidden between their flirtation and tension.

4. there’s been a big debate about why rio would be a witch, whilst she’s also *potentially* death, but i think it was important for the show to portray rio as a witch so the audience know that a sigil would also work on rio, so she cannot discover teen’s identity. why else would they make it such a big deal about sigils only working on witches?

5. the significant of the no. 3 and agatha/rio in the show all hinting at the cycle of life, birth and death: maiden, mother, crone; agatha’s shirt in ep 5; the clocks being on 3.33 when rio arrives in ep 1, the amount of rabbits we’ve seen (3 rabbits/hares represent birth-life-death cycle in christianity and egyptian hieroglyphs)

SO,

to agatha, seeing rio means something is about to be taken away from her. i think that is their entire dynamic within this show, and their entire relationship in general, after the loss of nic. agatha is presented with rio which means she must work out what rio is there to take. that’s why she suspected teen was someone important, because rio was there for either her or teen. teen had to be one of two people. that’s why agatha viscerally protested the idea of coming close to death in the first trial. because she does not want confirmation that rio is there to take this boy from her. she does not even know who he is, but he is important enough for rio to involve herself in agatha’s life once more. he is important enough for rio to go out of her way and resurface old feelings that they both know, the other should not be resurfacing. he is important enough to be seeked out.

by rio taking away billy, she not only repeats her and agatha’s history once more, but she completely takes away the possibility from agatha that she could ever find a way to be reunited with nicky. agatha needs billy, like she needed wanda, to end the quest she’d spent centuries on. rio is not JUST taking another child away from agatha, she is completely breaking the entire, vicious cycle of longing and hope for the son they lost.

i think that rio thinks that is for the best. for her agatha. to stop this endless chase for something rio knows she cannot have. rio is doing it out of love, even though it tears them apart more than anything else ever could. that is the lesson that agatha needs to be taught: the cycle of birth, life and death. (yes i could then start hypothesising about agatha dying, but i think it’s been overdone)

so that is our potential final battle. a battle between death and life. they are made for each other, but that is ultimately what tears them apart. one spends their life bound to defying death, and the other does not get life, but is bound to upholding it.

agatha is Death’s life. but all death can do to life, is take from it. in the end, rio will always be agatha’s death. they have always been doomed.

[myechoecho]

The Double, ep 24 & 25

The confrontation between Li and the Princess was amazing. While the Duke helped with giving her a heads up, and getting her witness there, the rest was all Li. She completely outmaneuvered the Princess. She got Jiang Li's father to confirm that she is the real Li and Yurong to deny that she is his wife. She also got to the Emperor to confine the Princess, though that had almost more to do with the Princess' unhingedness. She really is the lose cannon that will derail the plans of the other king.

I think my favourite scene is the one at the grave. First, I love that Li is so confident with the Duke that she just asks him to move a body. I also appreciate that he was logical and asked who was buried there. And then basically brought her with him.

But mostly, I love how he just listened to her as she got it all out. He knew she had to say goodbye, to her old self and Jiang Li. He had to press a little, but she finally told her story, and Jiang Li's. What's more, she really sees how much she gave up to be with Yurong and he was not worth it. She wants Jiang Li to rest peacefully. The Duke reassures her that she has done everything well, for her and for Jiang Li. It's closure for Li.

The scene the Duke's house was the cutest. Because he is mad and pouting. So she does thank him for all he's done because she really would never had gone this far without him. Li is truly thankful for that. Which placates him for a moment but then she annoys him again because she still has an ulterior motive. She wants his poison doctor to help her father. She does get one last parting shot in telling him he is handsome when he's angry and I can't at Wen Ji's face:

(he also looks like he took one of the Duke's fans)

But ultimately the Duke, knows he cannot say no to Li.

Yurong, is still a fascinating character. He now has the confirmation of Li is Fangfei and he chooses to back her and denies that she is his wife in front of everyone. Weirdly, I think he might feel even more guilty and tortured now. It was one thing for him to have killed her and her be dead. It's another that she survived and knows what he did.

He knows the magnitude of what he lost. They meet on the street and she tells him to his face that he is trash. He knows it's completely over. Especially since I don't think he missed the looks between the Duke and Li when he saved her from the Princess.

What's also interesting to me is if Yurong loved and trusted Li more, she could have come up with a plan and worked with him to outsmart the Princess. Look at what Li and the Duke have accomplished. It's all because of the respect that the Duke has for her intelligence and the trust he has in her. Li has the same for the Duke, and working together they really are a power couple.

If I were the Princess, I'd be terrified for my life. I am convinced that Yurong has snapped enough and just gives enough of a shit that he will be the one to kill her. She won't even see it. He's already "killed" once, and that was someone he supposedly loved. He can kill the Princess and the risk to his life won't even matter because he'll be fine if he dies, just as long as she's dead with him.

[sophaeros]

love your blog, if possible could I get an Albert and Jules lore dump? I read your other post but I am hungry for more context (and sources)

omg hii glad u like it here !! 😋 umm ok i can try to do like a rough little timeline w notable moments maybe? whatever comes to mind lol

in err 1991 i believe when julian was 13 he got sent to that one swiss boarding school to curb his alcoholism (did not work clearly) and two years later when julian was 15, 13 year-old albert also arrived. julian stayed for two years and albert stayed for six months. julian had this to say about their meeting SNIFFLES. theyre never beating the soulmate allegations i fear

How did you become friends at first? Julian: Two of us arrived in a private school in Switzerland. I felt I had nothing in common with the others. They were so different from people I knew in New York, they were obsessed by clothes Haut Couture. I missed New York so much, it’s really a part of my soul. Meeting Albert was a relief. At last, someone with whom I could talk. There was immediately something, a feeling of complementarity. We talked a lot of music, of our band plans. We gave ourselves 2 years to create a band or to bury this dream. After 2 years, we gave ourselves 2 more years, (laugh).

— the strokes for les inrockuptibles, march 2002 (x)

after albert moved back to la he and julian lost touch until 1998 when albert moved to new york at 18 to go to film school and find himself or whatever. and of course they have the most red string of fate ass second meeting oh my god it makes my stomach hurt. I COULD LITERALLY SEE HIM FROM MY WINDOW. why arent they in a stupid hallmark movie romcom COME ON

“When I first came to New York,” marvels Hammond, resplendent in red and black winklepickers, “the way things happened to me, it was like there was someone… doing it. I moved into my apartment, it was directly across the street from where Julian worked. Like, what are the odds? I could literally see him from my window.”

— albert hammond jr for q magazine, april 2002 (x)

and so albert becomes the final member of the band, completing the set ❤️ (the talk, 2013)

Albert, did you have to try out to be in The Strokes? Yeah. I remember when I met everyone. I met Julian first, then Nikolai, got really drunk one night, and then I went to go try out, even though Julian told me later that in his mind I was already in the band. How come? I was an okay player, I could play chords and stuff, but I looked awesome. (Laughs) I just looked like there was only one thing I could do: be in a band.

albert and julian lived together for seven years from 1998 to 2005 when julian got married, they had two apartments together and the first one is the most well known, it's the dumbbell shaped one. idk about the layout of the second unforch

ehhh scrubbing ahead a bit. julian wasn't there for albert's intervention in 2009 because he was on his solo tour

but happily in 2013 we get albert releasing his comeback ep through julian's label cult records (and then he leaves cult records in 2015. c'est la vie.) (nme september 2013)

“I’d been talking to Julian about wanting to release something on his label since he started it,” Hammond Jr explains. “He was like, ‘Let’s put out a song’. So I went, ‘Alright, I’ll start working with Gus [Oberg] and maybe after we do a few songs there’ll be one that’s fun in there.’ I sent him the first, ‘Cooker Ship’, and he was floored. I got an email back with a million ‘yes’-es on it!”

speaking of which. i've posted this before but SIGHHHH (the talk 2013) that song is for his fucking then-gf justyna. (well, most likely. i dont think hes ever outright stated who he wrote it for but the mv is pretty domestic (for the most part......) and theres a bit where theyre kinda dancing in the living room which is one of the things albert told an interviewer he and justyna did a lot → vice june 2015 but of course i suppose you never know)

Kind of like The Strokes’ song “You Only Live Once”… Julian wrote that. I’m in the band, but I still take his lyrics like a fan would. You always relate lyrics to yourself, and I even do that with him even though he is one of my friends and we lived together when he was writing it. God knows what they were truly about. But it came full circle when he was over listening to “St. Justice” from my new solo EP. It was really cute, he was like, “Is this lyric about me?” And I was like, “…no, man.” It really wasn’t, but it was a good circle because I’ve felt that way about so many of his lyrics. When we got in the band, Julian had such a vision, he was just a strong writer, so the first three records are all his.

and then there's. whatever the fuck is up with one way trigger. i'll make a post about that swear

ending this post here i think bc otherwise i'm never gonna post this SORRY. i'll try to think of more but the tragedy of julian/albert is that it's actually really hard to find fuel for them. unlike milex where they're apparently physically incapable of not being all over and waxing poetic about each other. but then what you Do get is kinda crazy. such is life

[airenyah]

How BAD BUDDY SERIES | EP.11 [4/4] Tricked the Fandom

Those who were there watching Bad Buddy live will remember the chaos that ensued after episode 11 (my beloved) and with it the episode 12 preview (derogatory) dropped. Watching a happy and hopeful episode, ending in a lovely montage with an even lovelier song, being told things such as "we became two people who can’t be just friends" or "I want you to know that this world can’t change someone like me either", only to be punched in the gut by "Pat and I broke up" in the very next moment. Those of you who were there will remember how – after the fandom had finally picked up its shattered pieces – there was a scramble to figure out what the hell was happening exactly, how the hell we even got to this point.

And you will also remember the fandom deciding on a specific scene being The Breakup Scene. But how can that be? How can a breakup scene even exist when we know (in retrospective) that they never actually broke up? Did the fandom just collectively hallucinate a scene that wasn't there?

Well, no. Of course not. I think the reason why it worked, the reason why this scene managed to trick the fandom into believing that this was actually the breakup talk was because for one terrifying moment Pran himself thinks it's a breakup talk. However, the fandom was so blinded by the ep 12 preview that it completely missed one key factor from that scene which Pran did realize: it's not in fact a breakup, but the exact opposite of it.

So let's get into it, let's take a closer look at Bad Buddy Ep. 11 [4/4] (01:58 - 05:15) and Pran's emotional rollercoaster during this specific scene:

The scene starts out with Pat sitting on the bench, lost in thought. His exact thought process here is for the viewer to decide, but whatever he is reflecting on has to do with him finally accepting the inevitability of having to back home. And considering his upcoming monologue, he's probably also thinking about his love for Pran and Pran's love for him.

His thinking gets interrupted when Pran walks into the scene, dangling the shirts into Pat's face. They have an interaction about the shirts, Pat puts one on while Pran can't keep his hands off of him, they exchange some words and Pran doesn't really notice Pat's pensive mood, when suddenly –

Pat grabs Pran's hand. Pran was not expecting that, and he looks up at Pat in surprise, asking a silent What is it, what's going on? And I think it's only here that Pran really notices the weird mood Pat is in.

Pat says "thank you" and although Pran looks concerned about Pat's sudden mood change, Pat's words also make Pran smile, though he's still very confused, having absolutely no context for Pat's emotional state and thus having no idea where this is suddenly coming from. "Thank you for what?" Pran asks, still with that searching look in his eyes that asks What's gotten into you all of a sudden? Is everything alright?

Pat replies "For trying to make a silly guy like me happy". And Pran's smile falls just a little bit as he realizes that this? really isn't just Pat being his usual sappy self, this right here is a Serious™ conversation indeed:

Finally, Pran too has arrived in serious mode completely. He now shifts his attention fully to Pat, listening intently to Pat's words, staying focused on Pat the entire time.

Pat says "I know that sooner or later we will need to go back." This gets a very subtle smile out of Pran (you can see how the corner of his mouth on the right side of the screen goes up just a tiniest bit):

Pran reacts to those words, because this has been their conflict throughout the entire episode so far: Pran being realistic, having accepted from the start that they would have to return at some point while Pat was so desperately trying to stay in that pretense that they could just make a new life somewhere else and not turn back, refusing to acknowledge that in the long run this just wouldn't work out. But now Pat is finally acknowledging this, letting Pran know that he understands and that they're on the same page about this. "I know too well",* Pat says and Pran looks like he's about to cry from adoration for Pat pls he's so in love takes that acknowledgement in, still with a hint of a smile on his face.

*(Side note: I seem to hear ทำไม​กูจะไม่รู้ว่ะ (tammai-goo-jà-mâi-róo-wâ) and I think the more literal translation of this sentence would actually be something like "Why wouldn't I know?". Though I'd have to ask a Thai native to confirm as I don't trust my own Thai skills yet. Anyway, I just thought the rhetorical question was interesting in regard to Pran reacting to Pat's statement, bc the rhetorical question addresses Pran more directly compared to the declarative sentence from the subtitles. His reaction is kind of like a reply to that rhetorical question.)

But that hint of a smile is wiped right off Pran's face when Pat continues with "But I just want to stay as long as we can."

And this the moment where the thought hits Pran for the first time that Pat's speech might actually lead to a breakup. He is confused (why would they need to break up over this?) and there is now fear and worry in his eyes. He looks a little scared, his mouth twitches a little, accompanied by the tiniest headshake and there are many questions written all over his face: What are you talking about?? Where is this going?? No, it can't be... Are you implying what I think you're implying?? I don't follow...

And Pat just keeps going: "Be with you for at least one more day."

One more day. That very much does sound like a breakup, doesn't it? Especially if you're already half expecting one. This line confirms Pran's fear of Pat actually being in the process of ending their relationship, leaving Pran on the verge of tears.

But Pran is a fighter and he's not giving in that easily. He sniffs away his rising tears and says "What are you talking about? Get dressed. The bar is opening soon."

What are you saying? We're not breaking up. We're staying here, we'll work at the bar and we'll be together. It'll be fine, don't worry.

Now it's Pran's turn to deflect. To indulge in that fantasy of being able to just run away together into the sunset where everything is all sunshine and rainbows. Because Pran would much rather face the hardships that they might run into if they actually stayed at the beach together than go back home to live a life without Pat. I can be anywhere as long as I have you.

If this is Pat letting him go, Pran really doesn't want to hear it:

Unfortunately, the scene cuts to Pat really quickly, but I just need you all to appreciate Pran's pouty puppy eyes at the end there, because they're the saddest thing I've ever seen:

I won't let you do this, his eyes say. Please don't do this to me, his eyes say. Please tell me you're not really doing this, his eyes say, tell me you're coming to work at Uncle Yod's bar with me. We're staying here, together, you hear me?

Except then Pat surprises Pran yet again. And here comes the part that the fandom completely overlooked in the light of the ep 12 preview:

Because then Pat says "Nobody works on their honeymoon."

And it's absolutely hilarious how Pran's brain immediately gets stuck in "error 404 not found" mode. You can literally see the loading circle going round and round in his brain as he tries to comprehend what Pat has just said:

Honeymoon?? Why are you suddenly talking about something that's related to weddings? Weren't we breaking up a second ago? What in the world is going on?

"You never leave me. You fight alongside me. That makes me feel very happy." Pat says and that's when Pran realizes. This conversation was never about a breakup. This is a conversation about commitment. It's an acknowledgment of Pran's love for Pat and the commitment he's shown over the course of their relationship. And it's a promise that Pat appreciates it, has appreciated it in the past and will appreciate it in the future. Pat has more or less just said his wedding vows to Pran.

And that's when Pran can no longer hold back his tears. Partly due to the relief that he won't lose Pat and partly because he's so moved by Pat's speech, by Pat's love.

And then Pat tells Pran that he's finally ready to go home: "I will let Uncle Yod know that we quit. Wait for me here."

And with that Pat brings closure to the conflict of this episode. They are finally going back home, they are finally going to face their parents. But in this scene right here Pat and Pran made it clear to each other that they'll be doing so with full commitment to one other – they will be doing so together, and that's a promise. They really did just essentially get married on their little beach getaway. They got more or less engaged on the staircase in ep 10 and now in ep 11 they are following up on that engagement. This trip really was their little honeymoon. And this calls for a celebration:

"It’s our last night on this honeymoon. I will not just stay in and be lonely. If we aren’t going to work, then let’s get drunk."

You see, for an entire week the fandom was so blinded by the ep 12 preview (derogatory) and the prospect of a looming breakup that unlike Pran it completely missed the part where Pat points out that they're on a honeymoon. And who goes on a honeymoon? People who just got married.

BONUS:

Can we just appreciate Pran's face when Pat says he'll tell Uncle Yod about quitting:

You fucker really had me thinking we were breaking up for a hot moment there when the whole time this was actually a wedding. I was worried and scared for notHING, can you believe this man

[jaskierx]

Honestly, I really admire (and am thankful for) the way you manage and handle those back and forth with some Izzy stans, I don't think I have the mental strength to entertain them myself.

I wasn't part of the fandom after season 1 aired, I watched it without engaging much and then kind of waited for season 2 to come out, so I had no idea such a divide had happened between Izzy stans and the rest of the fandom (glad I was oblivious to it ngl). All I know is that I hated Izzy’s guts and wanted him to get his just desert.

So yeah, I wasn’t a fan and I struggled forgiving him when season 2 started because the show was trying so hard to make him sympathetic (which I honestly couldn’t give two shits about at first, I wanted revenge), plus you’re right, Izzy got way too much screen time (which gave Izzy stans ammunitions to say “SEE!! Main character!!!”), but I did end up warming up to him by the time he died. I can even say I genuinely liked him.

BUT the journey to that point was sooo conflicting because some Izzy stans were also doing the absolute most in the main tag, painting Izzy as this angel who never did anything wrong and was terrorized by the monster Ed, and I was like????? Did season 1 happen??? Did I dream the whole season??? Did I watch a version from an alternate universe??? I was BAFFLED. I don't know who is that Izzy they're talking about, but it's not the one on my screen, that's for sure.

Then, Izzy died and the hardcore stans lost their shit (you know what I'm talking about) and they have seriously soured me to Izzy again. I want to like the character we had on screen, and I want to like his redemption arc. He was a great antagonist even if I hated him, and we owed him so much for all the shit he pulled in season 1, but the OTT takes and behaviors from stans I’ve seen have made me give up on him, which sucks. Maybe I’ll feel better about him in a few months, but right now, I can’t stand him, and I’ve blocked his tag everywhere (ao3 included, because, truly, fuck fanon Izzy, fuck him).

Hope it’s not too draining for you though, just writing this felt like screaming into the void, so I can’t imagine dealing with this on the daily. Take care!

hi anon i'm so glad you sent this bc i felt very similarly about izzy in s2. i didn't find him sympathetic at all. i didn't give a single shit that he was suffering from ed being in his kraken era bc he's the entire reason ed ended up like that in the first place. izzy was reaping what he sowed. seeing ed feeling so miserable broke my fucking heart and i can't stand any bullshit takes about 'izzy was protecting the crew from ed's abuse' or 'edizzy invented love confirmed' or whatever other nonsense his stans chose to take away from episodes 1-3.

i truly do not see izzy as a victim. i truly do not see ed as an abuser. sometimes i will start reading a post in the ofmd tag that refers to an 'abuser' and a 'victim' and i get halfway through the post and realise that the op has a completely opposite view of who is who than i do.

and as s2 progressed i just felt worse and worse about it like he was getting so much screentime and popping up all over the place and he'd absorbed a load of traits (from other characters that i'd have rather seen more of) bc the writers had to speedrun making him semi-likeable. i still haven't done a proper rewatch since the finale aired and i'm pretty sure i'll feel different watching it knowing he dies in ep8, but when eps 6-7 dropped i fucking hated every scene he was in and felt like he ruined some otherwise really lovely ed/stede moments like their breakfast in bed. izzy being cheered on for wearing drag and singing - the exact acts that caused him to threaten ed - feels exactly like the very common queer experience of seeing the homophobic kid who bullied you for being queer getting loads of support when they come out themselves.

and the takes that were coming out of the canyon at this time were absolutely wild, especially in relation to ed. people absolutely baying for blood, wanting to see him suffer, wanting his relationship with stede to suffer, wanting him to have to crawl across broken glass to repair his relationship with the crew, all while treating izzy as a protagonist who never did anything wrong.

so ngl i was delighted when he died. but mostly i was relieved that it was going to be over. i walked out of my circus tent with my clown makeup on believing that the canyon would yell for a bit and then slowly quiet down as people who claimed they'd be leaving the fandom if izzy died made good on their promise and fucked off.

and if anything they've got louder and more unhinged and are out here reinventing tjlc and harassing the writers and churning out the most rancid racist posts and writing obituaries that caused multiple people on twt to mistakenly think Actual Human Person con o'neill had died.

and on one hand i'm kind of glad that more people know what they're like now but god i really do feel for any izzy fans who have had their enjoyment of him ruined by the canyon. i really do think it's not the character that's polarising, it's the fandom response, in that most people who come in liking izzy end up either aligning with the canyon or getting so fucking fed up of the canyon that they don't like him anymore. and both of those are a shame tbh because he is very well acted and well written, especially in s1, and i wish i could've enjoyed his scenes and felt the emotional payoff of his death

anyway. sorry for writing you 1 billion words. ily ❤️

[himebushou]

HI – I am finally watching Shaman King 2021!

The 2001 anime consumed my head and my heart (many a Maths lesson was spent discussing what had happened in Last Night’s Episode), so I’m happy to be diving in at last!

I’m grouping my rambles for convenience.  Here are some squiggly thoughts on Episodes 1-9!

Episode 1

Ep 1 of Shaman King and I'm getting emotional – the way Anna and Yoh go up against Hao in the opening sent a chill down my spine!  And wow, they didn't waste any time establishing the twin connection, huh?

There's definitely a lot packed into Episode 1, which means that it goes super fast but hey, that's fine!

It will take me a while to get used to the voices because I love and adore the 4 Kids dub – but I'm watching this subbed and having fun so far!

Episode 2

AMIDAMARU IS ADORABLE.

SHAMAN KING is one massive eco message and I loooove iiiiiit!  Having Ren spend all that time staring up at the stars rambling on about air pollution… you tell ’em!

Episode 3

Phew, the bit in the Lee Pyron episode where he starts crying... that takes me back…  (Though I think they missed a trick here by sticking with ‘Lee Pyron’ in the dub; ‘Lee Pai-Long’ made a lot more sense to me, back in the day.)

Anna literally slapping sense into everyone, including Jun fhdjdn

AND WATCHING HER USE THE BEADS GAVE ME CHILLS YAHHH!!

Episode 4

Episode 4 is my favourite so far – the introduction of Tokageroh!  There was a proper laugh-out-loud moment as well as plenty of action... though I have to ask how in the world baby!Mosuke was making swords, lol.  Him and what resources?  The knife from his father? Gosh.

Tokageroh’s backstory was delivered pretty quickly… I also appreciated Ren in this episode.

I wish that the English dub had stuck with 4Kids’ term ‘sacred hang’ – that had so much flavour.  Ryu talking about a ‘happy place’ doesn’t really have the same pizazz.

However!  Amidamaru referring to Yoh as ‘Lord Yoh’?  Amazing.  Splendid.  Beautiful.  I believe it was ‘Master Yoh’ back in the 2001 days.

Episode 5

SCREAMS

THIS

THIS IS MY FAVOURITE ONE

First of all, starting off with Ryu was cute!  Though I don’t understand how Anna summoned Mosuke to fix Harusame considering that he's dead dead (having passed on at all), but hey, I think we'll have to let it slide…

SILVA IS HERE!  I had to skip back and watch most of the episode in English because hi, DAN GREEN, HI.  He was so great and I just felt so happy hearing his voice again after all this time~ it helps that Silva is an AMAZING character and so much fun!

I cracked when Yoh lobbed Amidamaru like a baseball and tfjfj the bit where Amidamaru's spirit nearly ascends is so good –

I actually squealed when Over Soul started playing, sheesh.  Oh well.  It wasn’t too late, so I’m sure my neighbours were fine.

And man, Ren is such a lil creep at this point... The Tao family give off serious Zoldyck vibes, tbh.

(Shaman King 2021 is still super fast and I think it’s okay for people who’ve got 2001 or the manga as a baseline, but if I were completely new to the IP, I would be LOST.)

Episode 6

Horohoro is so cute.

That’s pretty much all I have to say!

Episode 7

Faust the VIII is a FREAK what the hell!

At this point, I’m flip-flopping between the sub and the dub based on whether it’s a Silva screen or not dndjkd but Faust sharing a seiyuu with Saurtobi Sasuke (from Sengoku BASARA!!) is making that complicated!

THIS EP IS FULL OF TWISTS AND TURNS

YOH LOSING

REN COMING TO THE RESCUE WITH "I DRINK THREE GLASSES OF MILK A DAY"?

SILVA'S COOL SPEECHES

AMIDAMARU INSPIRING YOH AND ANNA GETTING JELLY –

Also, the soundtrack is perfeeect for Shaman King I loooove it

Episode 8

Manta comes from money?? I don’t remember all of that stuff with his family from 2001 at ALL.

Also, the funny thought of Ryu going to America to train as a sushi chef like... surely it would be more prudent to stay in Japan?  lol

I'm pretty sure Amidamaru uses "de gozaru" when he speaks, which is super cute

This episode introduces Tamao!  I think she might be a little younger than Yoh and Anna (11?). Ponchi and Conchi were absolutely vile which was definitely, definitely left out of the dub.

I feel like we could have had more of Yoh's struggle in Yomi Cave, for sure, but that’s 2021's breakneck pacing again!  Also, I really have to question the tournament format considering that something like 10 days have passed since Yoh's loss to Faust – there wasn’t any mention of how long the qualifiers would last.  I love tournaments in anime, but they MUST be well structured!!  Or I get mad!!

Bason is adorable...... Also, I completely forgot that Ren disdains the Tao family?  What a dweeby child.  I love him.

How is it that Tamao has an Over Soul but Yoh didn't even know what it was called nfjfjd Just HOW slack was Yoh in his training??

Episode 9

YOH'S REMATCH AGAINST REEEN

THE HORSES ARE COOL

I love how much this episode focused on Yoh saying things like, “I'm not going to force myself" djdj I wish he was the shounen protag whose example I'd followed… Yoh says such important things about not working to death that many of his peers could listen to!  And me too sigh sighs

Once again, the timeline is whack – the preliminaries are over but Ren’s only had two battles?  Huh??

[llycaons]

ep16 (part 2):

oh cinematically tragic lost handhold....

I've seen so many gifsets of wwx in this scene and that's because as terrible as everything is he has genuinely never looked better. very handsome. sorry about the tragedies

aw man there's jyl OH SHE HAS PEARLS SEWN INTO HER ROBE I wonder if the jiangs trade with sects that live along the ocean. do they have ocean access? I can't remember. maybe they're freshwater pearls

when jyl asks what happened and all wwx can do is stand there crying. and jc is also crying. oof

why did she tell wwx to do this...did she think jc couldn't?

a triangle of misery...

there's a really long meta post about the cinematography for this and I don't remember all of it but it's like. jyl and jc are in the foreground so their grief is being paid attention to, but wwx is in the back and you can't even see his face. his grief is ignored, even though he's the central figure. he's also taking on the task of a servant and neither jyl nor jc stop him

this is def a most extreme case (jc and jyl are SUPER traumatized and I'm not even blaming them for this), and it's not representative of all their interactions with wwx, but it gets me thinking. wwx talks about lwj being his equal bc he's good at things in the way that wwx is, but you can also view it like, with lwj wwx is completely free of the tangle of debts and obligations he has with the jiangs, and they look after each other , purely because they care about each other rather, than that onus always being on wwx. jyl does take care of him, and jc does too sometimes, but wwx must do the same for the other two and cannot truly fight back in a meaningful way if he's being mistreated.

obviously this setup above would never happen with lwj bc lwj doesn't see wwx as a servant or someone bound to him at all. he may see other people as servants, but he's always insistent that wwx is taken care of and he wouldn't accept wwx acting this way to him. which is really good! like I feel that ppl who are ride-or-die for yunmeng sibs and ignore lwj don't appreciate how freeing being with lwj is for wwx and how happy he is to have a relationship that's his own and on his own terms. ah, I miss him

jyl getting ill so easily, I think she has an autoimmune disorder. I've seen her hced as having celiac's and having chronic joint pain, and I think either an autoimmune disease or chronic fatigue makes mot sense. and for some conditions, both of those symptoms are seen so it's not a stretch. fibromyalgia, for one

uh oh. last look before the end.

LIFE-ALTERING MOMENT. this scene is so well done. the dread I feel every single time. it's incredible.

literally who is that

flashforward to the scene in 18(?) where jc makes the same promise to jyl about wwx. I feel ill

something really messed up is how often one of the kids will be like 'we'll go together, right"? this past few episodes. they really are clinging to each other like buoys in a storm

this happened when wwx was running out of BM after waking up from wen qing's needle. he runs and falls over :(

oh jeez I bet they're all dead by the end of this huh

MEAN TO WEN NING. he lied kind of awkwardly but it WAS effective. a nice thing about being known for being weak and socially awkward is that nobody suspects you when you're being suspicious

I wonder what happened to those women too. I assume they're wens, unless they were hired by wens. the clan is fucking huge idk

HE KNEW. and he knew it could have been lethal, I assume, unless he detected the exact poison used. and he somehow knew it was for the bodies of the jiang parents, huh

next episode will also be pretty rough but sunshot/postsunshot are among my favorite arcs so I am HYPED

also we'll finally see lwj again next ep. I think. I miss him. I wonder how many eps jc is missing from. surely several in a row, esp postres. yi city for sure. he's been in every one so far. now I'm curious

[elven-child]

loose thoughts about gomens season 2

first of all, let's get the more negative ones out of the way

I'm kind of struggling to understand the hype because in my opinion this season was noticeably worse than season 1

I missed the Signature Good Omens things like god's narration and Queen songs, I think there were only two?

the humor was worse in my opinion. there were many jokes, especially in the minisodes, that felt completely out of pocket

I didn't like the minisodes tbh. they felt chaotic and lacked the structure that made the flashbacks in ep 3 of season 1 make so much sense. they didn't bring as much into their relationship as the season one flashbacks, even though they took much more time - they just felt emptier. I didn't find them funny either

I felt like some parts of the relationship between aziraphale and crowley got totally undermined - their first meeting, aziraphale shielding crowley with his wing - and I don't like it

their dynamic was a LOT different. it's hard to put my finger on why that is so soon after finishing the season, but they feel... more out of sync with each other? I think that's mostly it

I feel this season tried to pretend aziraphale and crowley aren't already together in their own unique way. they are! they don't need to tell that to each other - the finale of season one was them cementing their relationship, and meeting in the middle. I like seeing aziraphale healing from heaven in a realistic way, with setbacks and crises, but I don't like that it's shown as being in the way of them getting "fully" together when broadly speaking they already are together

it feels like something was lost in making their relationship explicitly romantic. and if you follow me, you know I'm an absolute sucker for a good romantic relationship, but I just don't think it fits this particular pairing. they had something different, just as valid and established, and it worked for them and the show and the audience

if season 1 was chaotic (affectionate), this season isn't, it's just chaotic. there were quite a few things that felt jarring - again, mostly the minisodes

I feel like there was a narrower amount of colorful, weird and ridiculous (affectionate) characters like sergeant shadwell, madame tracy, anathema, newt, the satanic nuns...

however!

everything about aziraphale and the bentley was pure gold, I love that it listens to him too

gabriel and beelzebub are simultaneously really sweet and also hysterically funny to me, this is the funniest move Neil could have possibly made. and I love that it's very much an exploration of their EXCELLENT dynamic from season 1

jon hamm is a delight, I loved him especially in episodes 1 and 2, he always pulls the funniest facial expressions. and the way gabriel hugged aziraphale while naked, ass cheeks wiggling as he squeezed him, with aziraphale literally making the "😟😟😟" face, was just. hysterical 10/10

I loved anna maxwell martin as beelzebub but shelley conn is just as great

maggie and nina! I wish we got more of them, but what we got was still very good, and they were still full characters despite the limited screen time. I REALLY hope we see them making things work in season 3, even if it's just glimpses and cameos

crowley taking care of the bookshop like the loving husband he is but not being able to resist throwing around some books was hilarious

aziraphale's halo :)))))

good omens the book existing in good omens the show

gabriel trying to put the books in alphabetical order by first sentences but every book beginning with words like "it" or "in"

the small and soft moments between aziraphale and crowley, more explicit than their signs of affection in season 1 but still gentle and quiet (like crowley saying he's not leaving aziraphale alone). the whole season should have had this mood I think and it would have been perfect

second coming of jesus in s3 let's goooooooo

[1000sunnygo]

Ooo stories! 🍿Let me open my history book lol

IIRC, tpn replaced Bleach and the then-popular scan site Mangastream was promoting a new series. The image was the good old first chapter color cover (Emma sitting on a cliff), the editorial texts gave away something eerie going on. I read the first chapter the exact day it came out on mangastream pre-official release (back then, manga+ app didn't exist and we only had the fan scans).

I wasn't blown away but that Cony panel left an unsettling feeling, so I kept coming back to read its updates every week.

It was... mostly text-heavy and boring, almost all chapters felt the same. But I wanted to know how they escape. The moment I really got hooked was Norman's shipment announcement, and the remaining chapters of escape arc were all extremely good. I wasn't convinced by Norman's 'death' at all but Ray's suicide as a cliffhanger got me good 😅 I thought the arc's ending was amazing.

The came the Forest arc, I wasn't sure what exactly should I look forward to. Yugo annoyed me (he was like that in early chapters), GP chapters weren't extraordinary, Norman's Lambda update didn't excite me much either (because ofc he was alive. Why did anyone ever doubt?) Some time after following the series, I eventually dropped it.

Me in the Haikyuu server lmao I used to get mad at tpn chapters always coming out before Haikyuu (back when KnY was far less popular than tpn and used to release last hahah)

Fast forward to inevitable anime announcement, I checked the PV (because I still loved the escape arc conclusion) and was thrown off by adult female seiyuus voicing the boys..

the funniest thing is that I ended up never watching the Dr. stone anime.

Early 2019, TPN was on my watchlist but I didn't immediately start it. I tuned in to watch the clip of Norman catching Ray in ep. 4 when it came out (one of the few moments I remembered), and I do think I watched episode 1 pretty early. Then finally decided to binge it along with Dororo around episode 6/7 release week.

One thing the anime made me realize that I didn't until then: Norman was so. Freaking.

CUTE.

He'd always been my favorite of the three but I never particularly cared him until then. Anime Norman completely rearranged my brain program. Look at that ball of marshmallow, how can you not.

I checked out the latest manga chapter (ch. 119). I didn't know TPN had a timeskip so, for some reason, Emma's tall legs in the hugging panel caught my attention more than Norman's growth spurt lol. I kept peeping the spoilers on and off without properly catching up.

That's also when Norman's sudden reappearance bummed out some fans are the controversies started brewing. I was immediately on defensive mode lol.

even though I wasn't sure about his developments myself..

But thanks to the anime my protective instincts were all time high... and Shirai did the Cruelest thing Possible - releasing Norman and Emma's 'argument' chapter the same week Norman's shipment episode aired. I remember sitting with my lunch box when some spoiler panels came out, I was so sad I completely lost my apatite...

Alright I'll cut the topic there and move to my, uh, "rise in the fandom"... *coughs*

Long series like OP and Naruto were rich in background information, and Haikyuu had an outdated but an excellent masterlist. Luckily, TPN wikia's interview page was a good collection of links. I started reading them even before I caught up on Goldy Pond, and made a Google doc to store the important links myself.

I found that novel 1 of TPN hadn't been translated and heard rumors that it had some noremma scenes. I browsed Eastern sites and finally found some untranslated pages. I could read some Japanese but didn't consider myself reliable, so I made a Twitter account and replied to the most popular translator to catch her attention. Luckily I did, and she then bought and translated the entire novel. So it was partly my contribution that novel 1 story 3 got translated during a bad noremma weather kk

I joined TPN's reddit server, and sometimes translated fanarts on twitter. Around this time, the "TPN telephoneland" event was released, where you could call a number and hear recorded speeches of the main characters. I understood most of the Japanese audio but others were struggling with it, so I decided to translate them myself, those were the official TPN content I translated. If the server hadn't been so supportive, I probably wouldn't have taken the risk.

I posted the translation on twitter too, and found the courage to pick up TPN's drama CDs for translation. The Spanish-speaking Norman fans found my Twitter account and were mostly responsible for spreading my posts, so I was slowly becoming more active on twitter.

Early 2020, I watched the YouTube video "Five Norman facts you didn't know" (?) and cringed at how basic it was. I wrote some lesser known Norman facts on the comment section, but decided to delete the comment and make a Twitter thread instead. The post popped off, people loved it a lot haha.

One of the @tpnmanga translators were on the reddit server and talked about me with the account owner YAG. He DM'd me and invited me to the mod team. I contemplated but eventually joined so I could spread the drama CD translations I still think my arrival was a factor behind that translator slowly leaving tpn fandom she felt she was being replaced ;-; oh well

Later, some of us from reddit server made our own niche server. We began circulating and sharing information among ourselves. I could bridge the connections between server fans, TPNManga team and Twitter's fans, which greatly helped in gathering source materials and (later) translating the extra chapter (Dreams come True).

All the books I translated had been gifted to me. I had always been moderately active in fandoms but TPN fans really helped me to step up properly. I'll forever be grateful that they'd been so so supportive even though I'm clumsy as hell and my posts are full of silly mistakes 😭

Then TPN season 2 happened, idk how (probably thanks to YAG) my twt followers increased threefold and I started feeling uncomfortable by the over-exposure, so I hid behind a private account lol.

When and how did you get into TPN? For me I discovered TPN in 2021 through the Fandom page where I spoiled myself about Conny and some other stuff which I forgot and in 2023 I purchased the first two volumes of the manga and I fell in love. And the rest is ancient history!

Sorry about my little history lesson!

You're good! (If anyone else wants to share how they got into the series on this post I'd been down for that too)

My sister and a friend recommended the anime to me at some point (I want to say after it was on US Netflix) as something I might like. I did not pay any attention to this at all lol. They did lord this over me when it became one of my favorite series. But I managed to avoid all spoilers for it other than the orphanage being a farm, which wasn't a big deal to me since it happens so early on.

Fast forward to March 2021, within the ballpark of a day or two of the season 2 finale airing in Japan. I finished watching another series on Netflix, and it recommended TPN to me. I thought, I vaguely recognize this title, the description sounds interesting, and the thumbnail looks cute, so why not check out the first episode.

(dmotta3's blind reaction lives rent free in my head and inspired this post)

I got to the end of episode 6 and realized that my idea to just check out one episode at 1am was terrible because it was now 4am. But I had the day off from work, so after going to bed and doing everything else I needed to do that day I wrapped up the rest of season 1 because was hooked. I had to know what the fuck is up with these little babies with the mental fortitude and emotional maturity to handle this fantastical dystopia they found themselves in so well. And the final six episodes delivered and then some for me.

Me within watching the first ten minutes of S1e01: oh this kid with the black emo hair is going to be my favorite :)

Me upon watching S1e11: LKJFSDLKFLKDFJL OMFG?? OM?FG?? 🥴🙃🥴 THERAPY! THERAPY FOR A THOUSAND YEARS FOR YOU!!!

I noticed the second season wasn't on Netflix, so while avoiding as many spoilers as I could I took a peek around and discovered that a lot of people were unhappy with season 2. I asked some friends who had watched it if they liked it, and they said it was all right, but not as good as season 1. So what I ended up doing was figuring out where the first season left off in the manga, and then read a few chapters before watching the corresponding parts in the anime to see where it really diverged. By the time I got to the bunker in the anime and saw there was no dad to go in it, I dropped it entirely to focus on reading the manga. It took roughly four days from me putting on the anime on a whim to me reading the bonus chapters and epilogue, and I was initially kind of bummed about it for reasons I've discussed here.

(Chart I made to explain to a friend group my personal enjoyment of the series by arc because it's one of the silly things we do with each other, while avoiding some spoilers by removing the names of the last few arcs. I'd rank Cuvitidala and the human world arc a bit higher now and Return to Grace Field arc lower, but the rest is still largely the same.)

But even with my gripes with the series, it had nestled itself inside my heart and mind, and I was endeared to it enough to buy the blu-ray of season 1 and import the soundtrack.

Another crucial aspect for me was that @1000sunnygo was translating the mystic code book around this time as well as a plethora of other content that wasn't receiving official English releases. This kept me engaged with this silly little shounen that had endeared me so deeply, as I had new official content and information to look forward every now and then in addition to latching on to some fanfics that proved to be foundational for my personal interpretation/enjoyment of the series. It also helped explain some of the issues I had with it, one of them being the pacing toward the end due to Shirai trying to salvage his health after being in serialized publishing for almost four years while still maintaining his sense of artistic integrity by ending the series on his own terms. I don't think this frees said choices from critique, but it helped me personally accept them more.

And then after almost ten months after first watching season 1 on a whim, I made this blog, though I didn't really start using it until February 2022. It was a first for me since I usually just keep everything on main in a random hodgepodge, but the brainrot wasn't going away, and I couldn't put my mutuals through another major interest, so here we are roughly 2.5 years later.

[beyourownanchor6]

the one where he didn't even have a couch

here’s my short drabble from tonight’s ep that i just whipped up on my phone <3

rated: g | words: 2k | read on ao3

With the bread in the oven, the lasagna almost ready, Buck began to mix the salad, busying himself while Chris and Eddie played another round of boggle.

He went on with their conversation, the one he couldn’t seem to get out of his head.

“So it doesn’t bother you that Bobby didn’t even consider one of us for interim captain?

Eddie shrugged his shoulders, not looking up from the game. “Not really. Just got back to the 118.”

Yea, Buck knew; not having Eddie by his side out on the field had been some of the most difficult months of his life.

Eddie looked up to him then, pointing then pen in his hand out toward him.

“Clearly it bothers you though.”

Well yea, it did. He just wasn’t quite sure why.

“Listen, Lucy is—whatever.” Buck didn’t really think much of anything of her to be completely honest; she hadn’t been around enough for him to get to know her.

“Look, the point is,” Buck paused again, getting distracted as Eddie smiled fondly down to Christopher. Those two could really melt his heart sometimes. Ok, it was all of the time, but Buck didn’t have time to dive into that at the moment.

“The point is, is that she’s gone, and it’s weird that Caps struggling to pick a replacement when he has so many other excellent options right under his nose.”

“Like you?” Eddie asked with a pointed look Bucks’ direction.

“It’s like he’s choosing not to see them, and everything they have to offer,” Buck said, adding some seasoning to the salad.

As Eddie and Chris finished their game, Eddie called time, telling Christopher that maybe he’d win next time. Giving Buck his full attention then, Eddie asked, “what’re you offering?”

Buck refrained from telling Eddie anything he wanted, placing his attention on their dinner instead of actually answering the man.

“Uh right now? Bobby’s famous lasagna with six layers of cheese, cooked to perfection.”

Grabbing the hot pads, Buck got the lasagna out and brought it to the table, two eager faces looking up to him. It was nights like these that were his favorites. He could pretend like the three of them were a family—a real one.

“It does look really good,” Eddie said, Chris adding, “smells really good too!”

“And it only took me three tries to get it right!”

He was proud of himself, ok?

“Not sure you get three tries on the job.”

At Eddie’s words, Buck paused. If that were the case, he would’ve lost his job altogether long ago.

“I just—I wanna know what these other candidates have that I apparently don’t.”

“Buck, you don’t even have a couch!” Chris hollered out, Eddie chuckling, the two of them fist bumping for it.

Buck’s eyes wandered over to the blank space of his living room where the couch used to be, the one he still hadn’t been able to replace.

“So, so what uh, what does that have to do with being fire captain?”

“It’s weird,” Chris said, Eddie sniggering once again.

Buck sighed, though he had to let out a chuckle himself. God did that kid get his sass from his dad.

“Well, my last two couches came with girlfriends.”

“I think you mean, your last two girlfriends came with couches”, Eddie noted a little smugly.

Buck squinted over to Eddie, though he couldn’t deny it, his best friend trying to level with him still.

“Taylor moved out, what, four months ago Buck? You could’ve replaced it by now.”

Four months, one week, and three days—not that he was counting. He just hated being alone…didn’t know how to be.

“Well maybe I-maybe I don’t wanna pick the wrong couch again.”

Eddie placed his hand out between them, studying Buck over for a moment.

“Buck, there’s plenty of couches to pick from.”

“Well what if, what if the couch I want is already taken, or-or doesn’t want me, you know um…doesn’t suit me?”

Eddie leveled with him. “Well maybe you’ve been looking for couches in the wrong places.”

They stared each other down then, brown holding blue, Christopher finally bringing them back.

“Dad, you should help Buck shop for a couch since he loves ours so much!”

“Uh—” Buck gave a nervous laugh, Eddie looking between the two of them.

“Yea, maybe I should. Whata you say Buckley?”

There weren’t any coherent words Buck could form, so instead, he shoved a large bite of lasagna into his mouth, nodding his head in answer. Eddie gave him that fond yet exasperated look, Buck grinning with his mouth closed.

It was because of this that Buck found himself with Eddie at the furniture stores a few days later, the two of them already on store number five.

“C’mon Buck, there’s gotta be at least one you’ve liked by now.”

There was; he just couldn’t have it.

“I dunno Eds, maybe this was a bad idea.”

He slumped onto one of the display couches, Eddie moving to sit next to him, angling his body so he was facing Buck, their knees brushing together.

“You wanna tell me what’s really going on in that big head of yours?”

Buck huffed out a laugh, though he couldn’t quite meet Eddie’s gaze.

“Remember when I first got my place, and then I had to lay on that damn couch for months?”

“Yea Buck, I remember.”

It had been a difficult time for the both of them, Buck only grateful that it had brought them closer in the end.

Eddie sighed as he turned more toward Buck, reaching a hand out before seeming to think better of it, dropping it into his own lap.

“Listen, no matter what couch you decide, I’ll still be your best friend. And besides, if it doesn’t work out, you can always get a new one.”

“What if I want my next couch to be my last?”

He watched as Eddie pulled in his lower lip, their phones going off signaling it was time for them to start their shift.

Buck was tired of couches coming and going. He wanted one that would stay, one that could become a permanent fixture in his life. He wanted a couch that would choose him, forever.

~

Instead of focusing on his couch—but not really his couch—issues, Buck put all of his efforts into showing Bobby he was worthy of being intern captain, trying to take the lead on scenes, as well as checking their stocks and supplies at work—it didn’t go over very well.

He found himself in the bay re-organizing the truck after Hen had rudely taken away his trusty clipboard when Bobby approached him.

“Uh hey Cap! S-sorry this is still such a mess. I’ll have it polished and reorganized within the hour.”

“I think it all looks great. I see you’ve been going the extra mile lately and I appreciate it.”

Buck tried not to preen under the praise. “Just uh, trying to show you what I got.”

“I already know what you’ve got Buck, but I’m not naming you interim captain.”

Oh.

“Hen has agreed to take on that role, ok?”

“Um no, yea, it’s Hen, she’ll make a great Captain.”

“And so will you, someday.”

It hurt that Bobby didn’t think he was ready, but it helped that Bobby believed he would be one day.

Bobby told Buck how he needed more life experience, and that he was already great at what he did.

Buck sighed, holding up his hand.

“Is this because I don’t have a couch?”

Bobby eyed him keenly. “Why don’t you have a couch?”

Another weighted sigh fell from Bucks lips as he moved to sit, looking up to Bobby.

“I-I—don’t know. I guess I’ve been having trouble picking one out. I think I’m afraid of making a mistake again.”

And he was. Every decision he seemed to make as of late always came back to smack him in the face. There were days he felt he couldn’t do anything right, that he really was just defective parts.

“Buck, is this really all about your couch?”

No? Yes? He was so confused.

“Listen,” Bobby started. “I’ve seen you make plenty of dumb decisions, but I’ve also seen you make some pretty smart ones, ones that even saved lives.”

Bobby was always the father Buck wished he could’ve had, the man not afraid to call him on his shit, but always there to love and support him even still.

Bobby placed his hand to Bucks shoulder, squeezing reassuringly. “Whatever couch you pick, just make sure it’s for you. The rest will follow.”

With another squeeze, Bobby left him to it, Buck getting back to work. Bobby’s words didn’t leave him through the rest of the shift, Buck going home to his empty and couch-less loft.

It was several hours later that he found himself outside of a door he’d become all to used too, Buck never knocking these days.

Eddie answered the door with a yawn, looking all too adorable in his sweats and old rumpled t-shirt, Buck just knowing he’d been having one of his ‘old-man’ naps on the couch.

“Buck? You lose your key or something?”

“My chair looked lonely and stupid in front of the tv,” Buck blurred out, Eddie raising a brow in question.

“I’m not following Buck, what does your chair have to do with anything?”

Buck shook his head, trying to gain some clarity.

“It’s-it’s my couch. I don’t wanna buy a new one Eds, not—not when I already have the best one in my life.”

Eddie turned to look at his couch, then back to Buck.

“So, you’re here to—sleep on my couch?”

What?

Buck sighed with frustration. “No, I’m here for you dumbass. You’re my couch!”

“Oohh”, Eddie said with a nod of his head. “So you want to sleep on me? Got it. Just needed to make sure we were talking about the same couch.”

Buck stood there with wide eyes, Eddie looking at him all too fondly.

“See, I knew my couch wasn’t that comfortable. Guess it was me you were always coming back for.”

“We’ll mostly Chris, but yea.”

Eddie shook his head with a roll of his eyes. “Would you get in here already?”

Buck didn’t need to be told twice, following his best friend in and to the couch, the two of them sitting right next to each other, pressed together from shoulder to thigh.

“You know, I’m really glad you didn’t buy a new couch, Buck.”

“Yea?” Buck asked with a raise of his eyebrow. “Why’s that?”

“Because,” Eddie said, leaning in close, brushing his thumb ever so softly across Bucks birthmark. “Then you’d just have to get rid of it when I ask you to move in.”

Buck watched as Eddie’s eyes looked over his lips, Buck sure he was doing the same to Eddie in turn. Their lips met in the middle, brushing together before they kissed tenderly, Eddie’s hand cupping Bucks face while Buck placed his around Eddie’s waist, tugging them closer together.

Unlike all of Bucks other couches, he knew this one like the back of his hand, Eddie slotting perfectly together with him. Eddie was worn and soft in all the right places, while being sturdy and supportive in others. He was the perfect couch, the last one Buck ever wanted in his life.

Eddie brought his lips up to Bucks ear, whispering softly. “You’re my couch too.”

Buck smiled right into Eddie, burying his face in the crook of Eddie’s neck. “You’re my favorite couch.”

Eddie snorted. “You’re ridiculous.”

If they made out and fell asleep on the couch after, well, that was just fine with Buck, Christopher too. And when they eventually had to get a new couch, the three of them picked it out together, Buck reminding himself that it really was just a couch after all, and even if it wasn’t, he already had the best one, one that would never need to be replaced again. As far as couches went, Eddie made a pretty damn good one.

-tagging squad below, lmk if you wanna be added or removed <3-

tags: @buddiextarlos @fearlessdiaz @mansikkaomenabanaani @confetti-cupcake @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @swiftiebuckleyhan @loveyourownsmiilee @justsmilestuffhappens @prettyboyandthekid @honestlydarkprincess @corgiqueen14 @zainclaw @madneyandbuddie @djdangerlove @bifirefighters @mr-and-mr-diaz @blaidddrwg1982 @buddierights @crazyfangirlallert @imsupposedtobewritting @dickley-buddie @panicatthediaz @princessbb @jacksadventuresinwriting @prettyboybuckley @rogerzsteven @eddiediazisascorpio @daughterofbuddie @gayhoediaz

[gateau-chocolat]

somebody (2022) grievances

This show looks gorgeous and it’s exciting to see a kdrama with an unique vibe, a comparatively diverse cast, explicit content, etc. but the writing was soooooo weird. 😭

- Going into this drama I was kinda like hmm idk if I want to see a show about a stereotypical emotionless sociopath serial killer and a stereotypical emotionless autistic genius, and like...unfortunately, those stereotypes are indeed EXACTLY what the main characters are like. Nothing more and nothing less lol.

- Oh wait, I guess there is the additional detail where it’s seemingly implied that since the main character is autistic, she has no meaningful concept of why killing or harming other humans is bad, and she has been like that since childhood??? Edit: I guess maybe this is kind of subverted by Sum’s final actions...maybe??? I had NO idea what we were supposed to make of Sum for the entire show orz;;;

- Tbh, i think there actually is potential for a “torn between the knowledge that the guy I just met is probably a murderer vs my love for him and my relief at getting to know a fellow loner/outsider” storyline that could be....maybe not “”“good”““ (b/c it would still be very much resting on those cliche character types), but at least kinda compelling? We’re not getting that, though!

- I basically stuck with this story for Mok-won and Gi-eun, but even they feel a little off, tbh? First off, the circumstances surrounding Gi-eun’s first encounter with Yoon-o feel so unrealistic and contrived (ah yes, I love to meet guys from online in the middle of the woods, sight unseen!), but even though there were some nice moments of familiarity between all of the women, they also feel oddly....distant?

- Like, I know Sum wasn’t super helpful to Gi-eun the first time she asked for help, but it makes no sense that she didn’t make more of an attempt to continue to engage Sum in tracking down her guy over the app that Sum made? For that matter, when Sum also gets attacked by someone on the app, why didn’t Gi-eun go “hey, maybe that’s the same guy I met”? Sum was telling Mok-won about meeting someone but being afraid she’ll kill him, and Mok-won seemingly just went “huh, ok lol” instead of like....having a conversation with Sum about what was going on with all that?

- I was sort of anticipating a plotline where the women would work together to investigate Yoon-o, but at many points it felt like the complete opposite - it feels like the show was going out of its way to avoid very natural conversations and interactions between these characters.

- Btw, Sum killed a guy, this fact is known to police(???), and it’s seemingly caused NO disruption to her life whatsoever beyond the immediate aftermath of the incident? I know it was in self-defense and I know Sum wasn’t bothered by it(???), but surely, like....police would be continuing to want to  interview her here and there, or SOMETHING?

- Why does Yoon-o do such a shit job of killing Gi-eun not once, but twice? If he doesn’t intend to kill her, why not?? And if he doesn’t intend to kill her, why is he being so casual about showing his face in front of her? Why does he threaten both her and Mok-won later in the series?? He’s acting like a Marvel villain whose identity can’t be traced, but he’s fully just a regular guy lol???

- This is a tiny detail, but something that's been haunting me today is in ep 6 or 7 when the ear is discovered....what was with the decision to have text on the screen identifying it? The guy getting attacked was shown onscreen, the fact that he lost an ear was explicitly referenced later, iirc there's even a scene of Yoon-o talking about the ear or something...? The ear was like one of the only plot points that actually had been thoroughly set up in previous scenes, and it's not even something that's hugely consequential to the overall story - why did they think THAT, of all things, was something viewers needed to have very explicitly spelled out???

- What’s with the flashback at the end of ep 7? If it’s supposed to be Yoon-o’s serial killer origin story (the first person he hooked up with via the app was a woman who wanted to be choked and that, like, awakened something within him or whatever) a) that’s dumb and b) there’s also a kind of weird misogynistic undertone of like....blaming that woman for enticing him to murder or something??

- This is (maybe??) a story where a special dating app is a major part of the plot, but almost nobody uses the dating app in a way that makes sense and the story has nothing interesting to say about the impact of apps on how people interact with each other or form relationships or anything. Also the app is literally just Tinder lol. 🤷‍♀️

[goldentsum]

━ submissives and overstimulation

CHARACTERS: bakugou katsuki, todoroki shouto, midoriya izuku, and kirishima eijirou

GENRE: smut

TAGS: overstimulation (male receiving), slight bdsm, oral, penetration, pegging, submissive males 

AUTHOR’S NOTE: my first bnha fic please-! i missed bnha so i rewatched a couple of eps of s4 and i got an idea-- a sinful one anyway-

━ bakugou ♡

surprisingly submissive. you both know he can throw you off him if he wants to but bakugou lives for the dominance that oozes out of you. 

a kinky piece of shit 

in the moment, he has absolutely no filter and is a fucking brat about it, hips jerking and moans loud as fuck that after you two finish, his voice is all scratchy and raw. 

but when you two are finished, he will get all embarrassed and angry if you comment about it like he wasn’t the one humping you like a dog. 

overstimulating katsuki is always so fun! 

bakugou growls whenever you two do something sexual but after a bit, it slowly turns into broken whimpers and you take pride on that.

his voice is just so fucking heavenly, his dick heavy in your mouth, and he taste absolutely delicious. 

one of the reasons you love giving him head is his cum. his cum just taste so amazing. there’s a hint of sweetness to it that gets you hooked and keeps you wanting more. 

so when it’s the 3rd time he came in your mouth, his voice is all raspy and raw and his body jerking nonstop but did you stop? nope. 

he’s too fun to tease to stop~ 

“f-fuck, (y/n)! don’t... s-stop--!” bakugou gasping through his 3rd orgasm for the night, body all sweaty and sensitive, as he felt you swirling your tongue around his dick’s sensitive head. 

you let of his cock for a moment, a lewd pop echoing in the room along with bakugou’s heavy pants. you smirked up at him, your hand encasing around his spent cock and rubbed him softly. it gained you a broken groan and a full on shudder, hips not knowing whether to lean away from your touch or thrust into your hand. 

“do you really want to stop, katsuki?” you asked, taking the reddening head of his dick into your mouth and licking around it gently but even that was too much for bakugou

“j-just-- let me breathe a second... geez, woman--” he groaned out and sighed in relief when he felt you stop though you didn’t remove him from your mouth. bakugou closed his eyes, breathing heavily and trying to calm his rapid heart. but then he felt a harsh suck making his eyes snap open in surprise and sensitivity and looked down at you with wide blown red eyes. 

“s-shit” his eyes rolled back to his head when you started taking more of him, your pace getting faster with each moment.

guess he just has to cum again, not that he’s really complaining. 

━ todoroki ♡

todoroki is a brat. thank you for coming to my tedtalk. but seriously though, he really is. he likes getting on your nerves and testing you and your patience as he tries out different things to get you to punish him. oomf--

he likes seeing you angry and getting punishments. his favorite is over-stimulation and orgasm denial, either is fine but over-stimulation has a special place in his heart~ 

he is a masochist. periodt. 

you don’t really like hurting him or call him degrading names cus you just wanna love him and kiss every inch of his body but shouto has different plans from you. 

and as time pass, you kinda got used to it but never really full on be dominant and sadistic on him.

so when you snapped one day, it lowkey scared him but damn, the punishment was amazing. 100000/10 todoroki will repeat again.

ngl though, shouto loves your aftercare more than any kinky shit you two tried. even if his masochistic side just wants you to leave him aching and covered with cum and sweat as he feels so worthless like a used sex doll, your aftercare was everything. 

it grew on you too, seeing him all bruised up and messy with cum and all sort of fluids raised a sick obsession in you. 

just imagining the big powerful pro-hero tied up in your bed and letting you do anything to him was making you horny. 

bratty masochist! todoroki is one hell of a ride. literally. 

ragged breaths escaped you as you stared down at the male beneath you. todoroki moaning at the pleasure, his hips trying to match yours but it was a little difficult with all the restrains you have on him. the burning ache on his wrists and arms being tied to the bedpost for who knows how long as the build up for his 4th orgasm made him dizzy. 

you bounced on his lap, feeling his large cock twitching inside you as it threatened to fill you up once again with his thick cum. over the haze of pleasure, you continued to watch your boyfriend get lost in the pleasure with his mouth open as a thin line of spit trailed down to his chin. 

growling when you felt him cum again as you ride him through his 4th orgasm, letting your hands fall down to his bruised chest and scratched him, leaving angry red lines on his marked up torso. 

todoroki groaned at the pain, hips frantically thrusting up to you and letting the overwhelming pleasure flood his entire body. broken moans and curses escaped the man when your thrust didn’t faltered even after his orgasm. 

“if you think we’re finish here then you’re absolutely wrong, you fucking whore. we’re only gonna stop if you make me cum, got that. you’re nothing more than a useless fuck toy.” you spat out, gripping his chin to make him look at you. todoroki’s half-lidded and fucked out eyes stared at you, letting out moans in between words. 

“yes-... u-use me more, m-mistress--” 

━ midoriya ♡

this boy is one whiny mofo-- goodluck 

midoriya may seem innocent but do not be fooled, he’s a sinful one. he may act all cute and stuff like that but when you two are alone, he will jump your bones like it’s no one’s business. 

he completely trusts you so you two try all sorts of kinks even if the other is unsure. it’s not gonna hurt to try. 

one kink he never knew he’ll have is pegging and you’re damn good at it. midoriya just can’t believe how well you just swirl your hips around making the dildo hit every spot in his walls that makes him see stars.

he’s really not afraid to be vocal and try all sort of things so sex is verryyy interesting. 

everytime you fuck midoriya into oblivion with a strap on, expect him to cum multiple times until he can’t anymore. he’s super sensitive too so yeah. 

midoriya cries when he’s sensitive but goddamn he looks so pretty like that. 

tears spilling down his freckled cheeks, his lips swollen, and his muscles contracting from the immense pleasure you keep giving him. 

he’s a greedy man though, even if he came multiple times he still gets soooo needy. loving the pain over-stimulation comes with. 

you love seeing the number one hero putty in your hands~ 

sounds of skin slapping and midoriya’s loud moans filled the room, your tiring hips started to get slower making the man beneath you whine at the decreasing pleasure. you clicked your tongue at that, stopping completely and leaned closer to midoriya, your chest pressed against his strong back while he heave heavy breaths. 

“s-sweets.. please m-move” he whined, grinding his ass to your strap-on and arched his back as he tried to get you to continue while he leaned against the pillow next to his head. his cock hanging between his thick thighs, cum spilling down his skin and to the blankets beneath him. he was still hard like he just didn’t cum 3 times already. 

you bit the broken skin on his neck as midoriya moaned at your sharp teeth sinking into his skin and arched his back even more, grasping the blankets. 

“good boys should take what they are given. no asking for more or less.” you said, hands moving to his chest as you thumb his nipples making him jerk his hips back and a hoarse moan escaping him. 

you started to move your hips again while one of your hands went to his thick cock, pumping him with the same pace as your thrusts, and midoriya’s eyes rolled back to his head, loud broken moans escaping him. 

you leaned away and pushed his head against the pillows, muffling his screams as you quicken your thrust. the strap-on hitting his prostate head on. 

“let’s see how many times you can cum before you pass out, izu~” 

━ kirishima ♡

red riot is a switch but leaning more into the dom side but this sweet boy loves getting praises and lives to please you. he will do everything in his power to make you satisfied and know that you are contented.

even when subbing, there’s still a hint of dominance to him. but! if you overstimulate him, his mind just melts and all thoughts and rationality flies out the window. 

his reactions are also so fucking yummy~ teeth gritting together, sharp inhales, eyebrows furrowed in concentration and pleasure, eyes rolling to the back of his head, and hands gripping the covers of your bed as his quirk threatening to activate and just tear through the cloth.

i said it once and i’ll say it again, kirishima lives for praises. 

so please praise him. 

he’s also soooo sensitive. because when he was a teenage, he barely touched himself with how hectic UA was but when he finally had time and you came along, his libido just skyrocketed! 

at first, he cums way to early but do not fret, kiri will never never leave you unsatisfied. 

his oral techniques are top tier. you can’t change my mind. 

kirishima also is pretty quiet with just loud grunts and groans but when he already came multiple times, he really goes feral. 

he keeps on chasing the pleasure even though it probably hurts with all the sensitivity he’s feeling. 

his moans are broken and it only gets louder at that point. 

“baby girl, ahh- fuck--! you feel so good-” kirishima groans out, mouth open and showing those sharp teeth of his that you oddly had some weird fixation with. you looked at his lips, it was red and tender, as his teeth peaked out. you rolled your hips when you heard his small whine as your hand went to his mouth. shoving two fingers in his mouth, playing with his tongue that eagerly met your fingers. 

feeling his cock twitch inside you, you smirked down at the fucked out expression the man was giving you. you pressed down to his throat making him gag but his thrust never faltered and only quicken at your action.

“you look so fucking amazing, eijirou~” 

at your praise, his hips jerked and a loud moan followed it, a bit muffled by your fingers. riding him, you moaned at the pleasure he gave you as kirishima’s thick cock nudged your g-spot. 

the red-haired male groaned loudly around your fingers when he felt you clench around him, your velvety walls tight and warm as you rip an unexpected orgasm from him. 

hips jerking wildly when he suddenly came, pleasure coursing through his veins. a pathetic whimper escaping him when you continued to ride him. the sensitivity brought tears to his eyes but he didn’t stop you, body jerking when pain and pleasure hit him. 

“i wanna see you cum again, ei~” 

[betweensunflowersanddaffodils]

So, This Is Us will come to an end tonight and I am sad. I am sad because instead of feeling this way because a show I loved for years is ending, I am actually feeling incredibly relieved.

I didn't enjoy this last season at all. While I imagine that, Kevin's """love life""" aside, the show is wrapping up in an emotional way, I can't believe that in a show who had the story planned all along, for 11 episodes of its FINAL SEASON almost nothing happened and the plot barley moved on, while the rest of the final episodes were full of rushed storylines.

They developed Kevin and Madison for 11 episodes only to end their story with a montage and destroy everything they built for them until that moment. They pretended that it wasn't like Kevin was about to realise his feelings for Madison just one episode before and then they magically put Kevin and his ex wife together (a basic character we know nothing about, with zero depth and not enough screen time throughout the years) completely out of the blue, even if it didn't make sense anymore for where the characters were at that moment of their life/growth.

Like, if someone had told me that, after all the hype, I should have waited for SIX SEASONS just to see Kevin end up with the same woman he had a relationship with when he was young (and it didn't work) and then AGAIN when he was 36 years old (and it didn't work 2.0), I'd would have laughed at them!

Oh, and a reminder: this is a show that it was supposed to be realistic and the writers have always been proud of that! Like, if you indeed read the interviews post ep 6x02, you'll even read that they didn't make Nicky end up with Sally because..... It would have been unrealistic!!!

And what about Kevin's character development? What about his journey in the previous seasons and him letting go of the idea of a Hollywood type of story? What about the love of my life will be my child(ren) when the twins have been basically an accessory to his storyline? What about his career? Justin was so excited talking about his S6 storyline and nothing of what he said happened because they changed everything.

Kevin's centric episode ended with him finally finding the foundation, deciding to live a fearless life and then, a couple of episodes later, we see him going back to his S1 era and dating women after women because he lost Madison (let's be honest) and only in the end he ends up with the woman (after Cassidy declined his proposal) that was conveniently available.

I won't talk about how and the stupid reasons why they ended up together because other people already discussed this enough.

Even reading the interviews after 6x14 where they were saying that their story has already been told and that there's no time to show more of that is a real joke if you think that they had 3 YEARS in advance to think about Kevin's endgame (no but seriously, imagine to not have enough time to show your main character's love story after SIX SEASONS OF HYPE!!!), but well, it's what they deserve and I really wouldn't care about it anyway.

Isn't it funny though, that despite the show is trying to imply that "it has always been Sophie", Justin actually said that he doesn't think that it had always been her and that it would have been interesting to see Kevin end up with Madison or Cassidy? Yeah Justin, we know that!

There are many more things about our beloved Pearsons that they could have shown us (slowly and more) and yet they didn't because they wasted precious time, but this is a blog about Kevin and Madison, so I will stop here.

Anyway, @ this is us writers, thanks for making the goodbye much easier.

[homunculusalphonse]

"But today I can finally close my eyes to the living nightmare, and lay down knowing that I won't wake again..."

// TRIGGER WARNINGS - discussions of racism and genocide, death and suicidal ideation.

I am in a complete FMA 03 mood these days, so here's another analysis because I'm very much emo over this anime. Goddammit.

Anyway, I really, really love the parallels between Scar and Alphonse in this adaptation. Two little brothers who lost everything - their older brothers specifically - because of alchemy. Al himself said he would most likely end up like Scar if anything happened to Ed, which is pretty much what happens in the end: Al is overcome with grief and sacrifices his own life for his brother.

But one thing I find very interesting is that Al's sin in this series is Wrath: "uncontrolled feelings of anger, rage and hatred". Over the course of the series, Al becomes visibily angrier, to the point of almost ripping the limbs off a child, and constantly fighting with Ed. Meanwhile, Scar is a character defined by his anger and grief, and also resentment towards his older brother.

Their anger, however, is directed at different things. Scar's anger is at the alchemists, the military, for using this power to kill and oppress innocent people (of color, may I emphasize). Al's anger is against himself, for not being able to feel or remember things, for letting himself be naive and ultimately leading his loved ones and friends to die /because/ of him. Though I suppose Scar might also loathe himself, given that he's rejected by his own people and claims he has betrayed God.

Despite all the differences, Scar and Alphonse are very... lonely characters. Only they know what they've gone through. Scar is berated for killing soldiers and state alchemists. He's constantly judged for his actions - "those who inflict pain cannot rest". And no one knows how Al feels either, and those who might (Barry the Chopper) manipulate him. Al has a severe existential crisis to the point of asking Scar, the man who would've killed his brother, if he's human at all. To make it worse, countless people die in front of Al - Scar, Martel, Sloth, Ed -, and he's unable to do anything.

Finally, Scar and Al end their own lives. In a way, I think they both wished to end their suffering. The title of this post was quoted from Scar's last moments (ep. 42). It differs a little from the subbed version, but to me, it's reasonable to associate the quote with Al's sacrifice as well. Al ended up in such a self-loathing state that he died not only to save Ed, but to die and never come back ("There are so many moments where I should've died. Time, after time, after time. I survived, and for what? Why do I deserve to live when so many others have died?").

The soundtrack that plays in both moments is epic, heroic. They're such misunderstood characters whose paths cross multiple times. They find allies in one another. They die for the greater good, and for their own peace, too.*

*this is not to romanticize suicide/self-sacrifice by the way, I wrote this based on what was shown to the audience. Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) is essentially a tragedy and does not romanticize any of its aspects. Scar's and Al's deaths were painful; but it's what they chose.