#i won't be able to do this with much of it because i've invented so many scenes

[saintsenara]

THE AUDIENCE CLAMOURS FOR YOUR VOLMIONE TAKE!!!!!!!!! In all seriousness the curiously is piqued tenfold by the fact that you go hard to bat for the other two voldemort/golden trio ships

i've definitely been putting this one off, anon, but it's hermione's birthday, and since the requests have kept coming...

maybe i have to grit my teeth and get through it.

i am, like my good pal @yorickofyore, broadly a tomione/volmione disliker - which is a spoiler for what follows. there are - obviously - huge numbers of people who are not, and they may sit happily in their ecosystem while i flop around photosynthesising in mine.

and the reason why i don't like tomione/volmione is right there in the last three screenshots: it relies - like several other hermione pairings, snamione and sirimione chief among them - on a portrayal of hermione's intellectual expression which bears absolutely no relation to how this is written in canon.

across all seven books in the series, hermione's intellect primarily manifests itself in a sincerely impressive ability to retain and repeat information [very usually verbatim from the source she got it from]. she is able to use this ability to retain information to understand the theoretical components of magic in a way neither harry nor ron ever manage, and she is then able to apply this retention - that is, to repeat the information she has acquired - of knowledge to the performance of magic which is [often considerably] ahead of her expected level both in terms of the hogwarts curriculum and in terms of what would be seen as the median ability of an adult witch or wizard.

but hermione is never shown - at any point in canon - to be a particularly radical, creative, or experimental thinker.

she places an enormous amount of intellectual trust in disciplinary authority - not only in the respect she has for following textbooks and teachers to the letter [hence why she won't attempt any of the modifications in the half-blood prince's textbook, she thinks it's offensive that they contradict the "official" peer-reviewed and sanctioned instructions] but also in her agreement with the gatekeeping imposed by the state and/or its authorities on academic inquiry.

[hence her disliking the invented spells in the half-blood prince's textbook because they're not ministry approved, or her easing her discomfort at having read the books from which voldemort learned to make a horcrux by insisting - undoubtedly correctly - that dumbledore wanted her to do it and she therefore has the permission of an intellectual authority].

she's immediately mistrustful of anything she can't find [something she regards as] an empirical source for - which is why harry's mental connection with voldemort frightens her so much, or why she thinks that harry's lost his mind when he begins to insist the deathly hallows are real and important, or, most famously, why she thinks divination is bullshit.

she's never shown to be able to synthesise her knowledge [she never answers questions in class in her own words, she always goes massively over word limits], or to use it in ways which are considerably removed from its typical application.

[the protean charm on the da coins, for example - the magic she's using is sophisticated, and is being applied in a way which wouldn't necessarily be classroom-sanctioned, since she's using it to defy umbridge, but the evidence of canon is that it's not magic which is being used in a way which is removed from the spell's original purpose. terry boot is impressed because he's looking at a flawless execution of newt-level magic by a sixteen-year-old, rather than because hermione is using that magic in an unusual way. the same is true of the polyjuice potion - it's impressive because she brews it flawlessly aged thirteen.]

this is a very logical, rational, and scientific approach to learning - and one which the series, which tends to take a dim view of anything which deviates too far from the status quo, views extremely positively - and it is intelligence. i know some people think that when i say this about hermione i'm saying that she isn't clever - or that i'm saying she's less clever than the characters [all of whom are male] that the series permits to be "brilliant" - but that's not the case. hermione is clearly extremely clever - and her logical, empirical, careful approach comes in clutch for the trio throughout the series, right from philosopher's stone. her intellectual expression just isn't the only way intelligence can manifest itself - and it isn't an intellectual expression which will automatically mesh with another very clever person's approach.

which is to say... lord voldemort, both as a teen and an adult, is - intellectually - the complete opposite of hermione.

he is someone - as he tells us - who thinks of magic as a creative force he has every right to shape as he sees fit, something whose boundaries he has the inherent right to smash through. he rejects disciplinary authority [his loathing of dumbledore - as an adult, at least - is because he thinks that dumbledore is a petty-minded gatekeeper who attempts to repress the dark arts - magic, snape tells us, which is inherently ever-changing, unfixed, mutating - because he's afraid of them and their refusal to be neatly contained in disciplinary boxes; his appeal to slughorn's authority is purely a manipulation technique]. he is an adaptor and inventor, and he uses magic in ways which radically deviate from its intended purpose.

and so the common "teen tom riddle and hermione are at school together" trope that they'd both get off on being academic rivals is, in my view, impossible to justify while keeping either of them remotely canon-coherent. she's going to think he's a cunt. he's going to think she's irrelevant.

indeed, i genuinely think the most likely scenario if the two are at school together is that the teen voldemort wouldn't be able to pick hermione out of a line-up - not least because she has very little to offer him when it comes to his plans for world domination.

when it comes to those he's "nice" to, the teenage tom riddle targets the socially prominent, rich, and influential, whom he can use parasitically to his own ends.

he's happy, undoubtedly, to have minions who are less useful to him from a social-advancement perspective, but who come in handy as pawns in his schemes - as dumbledore puts it, "the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking some shared glory, and the thuggish gravitating toward a leader who could show them more refined forms of cruelty" - but this is the only thing he sees them as. hermione has a capacity for cruelty he would undoubtedly see potential in [even if he would probably be wary of her "run and tell teacher" vibe], but as someone who does his bidding only, rather than anyone for whom he's willing to fake [or, indeed, to actually feel] any degree of mutual affection.

and i do think this - in and of itself - is interesting. hermione is someone - as i've said elsewhere - who has a tendency towards blind loyalty, which often causes her to accept people she likes and/or respects treating her cruelly [something we see in canon particularly in how she reacts to snape's behaviour towards her]. she's also someone who is incredibly deferential to authority, fairly naive, convinced she's always right, convinced she's not irrational, superstitious, or emotionally-driven, and capable of pretty egregious cruelty in pursuit of being rational and correct.

or, in other words, she's very easy for a flesh-and-blood voldemort to manipulate.

[she's not at risk from a horcrux because she's possessed of the empirical fact that they can't hurt you if you don't let them get emotionally close to you, which impacts how she behaves around the locket.]

on the rare occasions when i've enjoyed fics with this pairing, then, they've tended to be ones which actually acknowledge this - and which have hermione completely destroyed by a voldemort [usually in adult form] who has never cared one iota about her, all because she was convinced she'd be far too clever to fall for his tricks.

[my rec: enigma by devdevlin.]

and this is the main way my view of tomione/volmione deviates from my view of tomarrymort or ronmort - i don't think there's any circumstance where it can ever work as something mutual, whereas the entire point of tomarrymort is that the relationship is something voldemort perceives as equal, and ronmort sees the dark lord running headfirst into ron's ability to disarm and confuse him by possessing a crumb of emotional intelligence. i don't think voldemort would hate hermione - or even be particularly irritated by her - but nor do i think he'd find anything about her interesting enough to make him want to keep her around for any longer than she was useful.

but - like so many hermione pairings - the default in tomione/volmione tends to be "omg, hermione is so hot, brilliant, and fascinating that [insert man here] becomes completely obsessed with her". whether the story leads to voldemort becoming a better person or hermione going over to the dark side, the way the pairing is written always assumes that hermione is someone voldemort would consider [often very quickly] important to him [even in circumstances where she is a prisoner]. only very rarely do fics ever explore the much more canon-justifiable - and, in my view, much more interesting - idea that voldemort is somebody hermione could and would consider important, while he wouldn't give a single fuck about her.

[neither of them give a shit about dead rabbits though. it's the only thing they have in common.]

[kemendin]

The Sith lifts his head again, staring up impassively into the face that had, for a brief time, hovered every night in his dreams, before his dreams themselves were stripped away for good.

“You are nearly the Jedi’s finest,” he says calmly, and pauses for a fraction of an instant. “It is not enough to save you.”

[hbbisenieks]

ok, i've gotta branch off the current ai disc horse a little bit because i saw this trash-fire of a comment in the reblogs of that one post that's going around

[reblog by user makiruz (i don't feel bad for putting this asshole on blast) that reads "So here's the thing: every Diane Duane book that I have is stolen, I downloaded it illegally from the Internet; and I am not sorry, I am a thief of books and I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, ideas are not property, they should be free to be used by anyone as they were before the invention of capitalism; for that reason I don't believe it's wrong to use books to train AI models"]

this is asshole behavior. if you do this and if you believe this, you are a Bad Person full stop.

"Capitalism" as an idea is more recent than commerce, and i am So Goddamn Tired of chuds using the language of leftism to justify their shitty behavior. and that's what this is.

like, we live in a society tm

if you like books but you don't have the means to pay for them, the library exists! libraries support authors! you know what doesn't support authors? stealing their books! because if those books don't sell, then you won't get more books from that author and/or the existing books will go out of print! because we live under capitalism.

and like, even leaving aside the capitalism thing, how much of a fucking piece of literal shit do you have to be to believe that you deserve art, that you deserve someone else's labor, but that they don't deserve to be able to live? to feed and clothe themselves? sure, ok, ideas aren't property, and you can't copyright an idea, but you absolutely can copyright the Specific Execution of an idea.

so makiruz, if you're reading this, or if you think like this user does, i hope you shit yourself during a job interview. like explosively. i hope you step on a lego when you get up to pee in the middle of the night. i hope you never get to read another book in your whole miserable goddamn life until you disabuse yourself of the idea that artists are "idea landlords" or whatever the fuck other cancerous ideas you've convinced yourself are true to justify your abhorrent behavior.

[owlgoddess24]

so, ultrakill's violence layer is unbelievably cool. like, i was not prepared for any level of it. but on top of obscenely awesome gameplay and setpieces, it also delivers some REALLY juicy lore, especially about the war that we've been hearing about for so long.

and it's just occurred to me that one figure of time given in a lore entry has revealed so much more context surrounding it than i could ever dream of.

in a terminal entry that i won't be specific about to avoid spoilers, it's stated that the war lasted roughly 200 years. this would be useless if we didn't know when the war ended...

but we do.

in the opening of the game, we see this.

i've always assumed this was the current date, but i only now realize that it's not. it's the last time V1's firmware got an update, which would have to be during the war, since the V1 project was scrapped when it ended. and since we know V1 was made around the end of the war, we can assume the war ended around 2112. 200 years earlier would be somewhere around the 1910s.

all of this makes it extremely likely that this isn't just some fictional war. it's World War 1. this is a world where WW2 never happened, because WW1 never ended. it kept going and going and building and getting more and more horrific until eventually literally becoming the war to end all wars.

this also recontextualizes machines being fueled by blood, as its now clear that the invention of the machines happened in the middle of the war, and its likely that battle was their sole purpose. it always seemed weird to me before, but i had always assumed that machines existed before the war broke out. if their goal has always been to kill, it seems reasonable that the killing should be able to fuel them. only makes it more horrific, though.

[artemistorm]

Master Sword Pt 2: What half the Chain thinks of the Sword

As I explained in my previous Master Sword post, what Sky thinks of the Master Sword is summed up in this one panel from New Times New Place. But what do the rest of the members of the Chain think of the Master Sword? (FYI, I'm splitting it up and doing Twilight, Legend, and Wild in a separate posts because there's a lot to it.)

Time

In the comic Swords, The Chain is talking about everyone's thoughts on the Master Sword (I'll refer to that comic a lot in this post) and Hyrule, who did not wield it on his adventures, mentions that he is curious about it and Time tells him this:

In Time's case on his adventure he was judged too young too small and the sword changed him to be bigger and older and better able to wield it. Clearly he wasn't a fan of that because in New Time New Place, he says this:

Time recognizes the power and necessity of the Master Sword, but he doesn't agree with it's ways and doesn't want to have anything to do with it anymore because of the trouble its cause him.

Warriors

Maybe I'm missing something, but I've only found one single panel (back in the Swords comic) about Warriors' opinion of the Master Sword when he says this:

Indeed, in his game Hyrule Warriors, that's part of his story arc and the game's plot so I won't say more for game spoiler reasons. But generally, Warriors feels empowered by the sword and there's no indication that he has any negative opinions about it.

Four

In this these panels from Swords...

And these panels from Too Small for the Sword...

We can see that Four has not wielded the Master Sword and does not want to because he knows it is a magical sword and the last magical sword he touched divided him into four pieces in his game, Four Swords Adventures. He doesn't know how the Master Sword would affect him and he doesn't want to know.

Hyrule

Hyrule is another Hero who never wielded the Master Sword because his games predate the Master Sword's invention in A Link to the Past. In Swords, Sky lets him handle the Master Sword and Hyrule is impressed, but he has his own super awesome fire blade and doesn't need the Master Sword.

Wind

There isn't very much about Wind and the Master Sword in LU. He does say this in Swords:

Because in his adventure, when he first drew the Master Sword, it wasn't at full strength and Wind had to find a way to repower it before he could use to fight Ganondorf. Other than that, in Divine Dark Reflections Pt 4, Wind remarks that his primary sword, the Phantom Sword is nothing like the Master Sword, but is useful in it's own way (but he doesn't say whether it's better or worse).

And there you have it folks, half the Chain's opinions in one post. The rest will be coming soon!

[markantonys]

the good thing about the slog is that because such little of true import happens over such a long chunk of the series, the show is quite well-positioned to be able to tell the whole story cohesively in any number of seasons after 4. only 4 seasons would be tricky, but 5 or 6 would be just as doable as 7 or 8. (disclaimer that there has not been any news or speculation about potentially getting less than 8 seasons so don't panic haha it's just a topic i was randomly thinking about today! that being said, i do think 8 seasons is pretty ambitious in today's television landscape, especially if it continues to take 2 years to make each season, so while we're all hoping for the full 8, it's worth imagining how they could do it in fewer.)

i expect s4 to roughly coincide with the end of LOC, so, dumai's wells for rand and being raised amyrlin for egwene. perrin, mat, nynaeve, and elayne have more wiggle room in what they might be getting up to during s4 (it seems possible the ebou dar trip might be absorbed into tanchico in s3, and perrin may have to get an invented plotline or have a later plotline brought forward for s4 since he has so little in TFOH-LOC), so i won't guess at the endpoint for them beyond that it will likely leave them ready to kick into a fresh new storyline for s5. and nynaeve frankly doesn't have a book storyline after ebou dar (she's just supporting rand's & lan's storylines), so i'll ignore her in this post and just focus on the other 5 mains. fingers crossed the show will come up with more for nynaeve to do during this part of the story, but that's a separate topic.

after LOC, as far as i can recall, each of them only has 1-2 main things they strictly Must do before the last battle (obviously i've left out a bunch of stuff, but i'm thinking of just the absolute bare minimum essentials here):

rand: cleanse saidin (only requires 1 episode); reach his lowest point, then pull himself back up again, all the while simultaneously working to get as many nations under his banner as possible

egwene: unite the tower as uncontested amyrlin

perrin: finish wolf training; fold the whitecloaks into his army

mat: rescue moiraine (only requires 1 episode); get himself in charge of the seanchan forces

elayne: become uncontested queen of andor

so if s4 ends where i speculate, they'd all be perfectly positioned to spend 4-6 episodes of s5 doing these things, then the last battle for the remaining 2-4 episodes, and boom, we've fit all the most crucial things into only 5 seasons.

i know the instinct is to gasp and insist that they all have so much else to do, but.........do they really? everybody agrees that egwene & elayne & perrin only have 1 plotline during books 7-11 which is dragged out for more books than is needed to tell it, so mat and rand are really the sticking points. but if you think about it, mat spends this time repeatedly starting one plotline but then getting yanked out of it partway through to start a new one, so he doesn't actually accomplish that much story-wise. rand, meanwhile, is on a bunch of little 1-book quests (taking illian, seanchan campaign, hunting traitor asha'man, trying to meet with DOTNM) that could be cut for time or merged into his Darth Rand emotional arc from TGS. honestly, he's so emotionally stagnant for most of books 7-11 (he's either not present, dicking around doing nothing, or repeating emotional beats he already did in TSR-LOC) that i don't think going from dumai's wells straight to Darth Rand would be a bad idea at all, if the show had to; in fact, dumai's wells is kind of a perfect launchpoint for that arc, emotions-wise, and plot-wise, if they wanted to replace some of the arad doman events with some slog events, but just put the Darth Rand emotional spin on those slog events, they could easily do so (for example, him being reckless/arrogant with callandor against the seanchan and getting his own people killed could sub in for natrin's barrow in showing how ruthlessly Ends Justify Means he's becoming).

but anyway, these are imo the absolute most crucial pre-TLB plot points of the second half of the series (at least for these main characters, i'm not taking ALL characters into account in this post) and they could be fit into only 5 seasons without much trouble. now if you've got 6, 7, or 8 seasons, that gives extra room to expand these plot points and also add in some additional, not-strictly-required-but-nice-to-have plot points like more Little Rand Quests, elayne taking the throne of cairhien, egwene & gawyn hunting assassins in the tower, and the faile kidnapping plotline. (while making this post i actually had a wild thought of the faile kidnapping being perrin's s4 plotline followed by wolves & whitecloak stuff in s5 then into TLB, or alternately the whitecloaks being part of the kidnapping plotline as perrin's unlikely allies rather than the seanchan; could be a great structure for a 5-6 season scenario, but for 7-8 it would cause perrin to run out of content too quickly haha)

[cripplecharacters]

Hi there! I've got a fantasy story I've been working on for ages, and one of the characters has a magical "disability" that I've been having doubts about. (content warning for very minor self-injury.) Sorry in advance cause this is kind of a long ask, but I think it's all important context.

My story has a very slice-of-life theme in it, that despite all the grand adventure and amazing magical deeds it also focuses a lot on friendship and fighting to preserve peaceful lives, and most forms of magic are very mundane and help out with daily jobs and hobbies.

This character, part of the main cast, is a person with the common ability to grow a pair of wings and minor other body changes that allow her to fly via magic. In a region of her world where magic is taught and cast verbally, she was originally able to cast magic verbally, before she was cursed to be unable to easily use magic. This curse locked off her ability to cast magic in the standard way, and also to freely transform between her human and winged appearances, though she can still fly and use her wings normally with only some discomfort. Since she's in her winged form permanently, she discovered that if she uses her feathers to write out the words of her spells, in the dirt or on her skin or whatever, she can circumvent the curse and cast spells, though it's not comfortable to her since she's still suffering the effects of the curse and it's not a standard or reliable way to use magic. It causes her discomfort and even pain depending on the strength of the spell, and sometimes she has to pull out a feather if she needs to cast a spell right away and doesn't have any harmlessly shed feathers on hand. (like yanking out some hair, hurts but won't really bleed or cause injury unless she pulls out a big flight-devoted feather.)

Originally, her goal in the story was to find a way to break her curse, and regain both her ability to transform freely as well as speak magic in the usual way, because using her feathers in such a way was damaging her ability to cast magic at all and might have really hurt her soul if she didn't find a solution quickly. Though I've been having trouble getting that plot point to work, and I've also been reading on this blog about how perfect magical healing of disabilities is a cop-out. I've come to the conclusion that this character's condition is definitely a disability in the context of the world. Due to my magic system's development and lore, I've set the magical rule that the longer a curse has been carried by the victim, the harder it is to break by magical healing, and this character's curse has been on her long enough that it's pretty much permanent. I've thought that if I remove the "this curse will kill her if she doesn't break it" part of the plot, and simply reduce her curse to something uncomfortable and unorthodox, but manageable and survivable, I can develop her personality and her magic style around this mostly-unique method of casting magic and keep it as part of her character, instead of having to remake it all fresh once the curse is "broken," and also make it a fantasy disability. I've been doing a bit of research on chronic pain disorders and I think that's a good place to start from to make her ways of dealing with her curse believable?

I've been debating whether I want to give her back the ability to change between appearances or not, and I'm pretty sure I want to keep her in one appearance permanently, partially because while every other winged character has the ability to get rid of their wings when they're in the way, she'll have to keep them and I'll be able to use her to develop more of the culture and inventions around winged people. Her wings still function well, but she can't fly as far or as complex as some other members of the cast.

Does this sound like a reasonable path to take? Is this a good place to start developing a magical disability? I don't want to make her a token disabled-adjacent character so I'm working to expand my world and cast enough to show how real-life disability is accommodated via magic and society (don't worry, disabilities can't and won't all be magicked away by lazy worldbuilding), but I've been thinking about it as I write and I think if I commit to this character actually being disabled in her world, it'll be better for me to write her compellingly and add some realistic references and character traits for her.

If this isn't a good path for me to take with my character and story, I would love hearing any other suggestions you may have for me to treat this character and her curse, and if you have suggestions for me to implement other fantasy-adjacent disabilities instead in the small explanation I've given of my world and magic? And of course if there's any horrible glaring ableist problems you see while reading this, please let me know and I'll do even more research and fix them right away. If this isn't enough information, I can provide more, but this ask has gotten really long and I don't wanna talk endlessly.

Thank you for reading, and thank you in advance for answering! I hope you're all having a good day, and a nice holiday season if you're celebrating anything!!

Hello asker,

No horrible glaring issues jumping out!

I find this pretty interesting, and I do agree with you that this character's condition is a disability in the context of her world. It does seem very adjacent to chronic pain; obviously not a 1:1 but it does track. I think it is in fact a good place to start for believability and research!

Now, on to your other questions.

Whether the curse should be lethal:

I think it would be more interesting and even more impactful if the curse wasn't lethal, and instead is something she has to learn to manage. It makes it more akin to chronic pain conditions in real life, and I really like that her unique casting method will always be a part of her. She could, for example, want to break the curse at first, and later figure it's not a necessity. Or perhaps the curse is originally lethal and it only gets partially broken — like it's been in place too long to fully break, but it stops being lethal or something similar. Or maybe she thinks it's lethal, and figures out it isn't.

It's still possible to make the curse lethal and for her to want to break it, because of course no one wants to die, but it could also definitely lead into the magically curing disabilities trope. The cure trope is, as you know, pretty tired already. It would likely be harder, and require a lot of care, and you'd definitely have to make sure there's other characters with disabilities whose main goal is not to cure them. It could also still be lethal, in the way some disabilities are in real life, and she could live out her life the way she would want to and can until she does die. I am not sure if that's what you want for your story, and it's completely fine if it isn't – I just wanted to present various different options.

Whether to give her the ability to switch during forms:

It seems you want to keep her in one form permanently, and I like that. I like that she keeps her wings even if they're in the way, I like that they aren't the same as some other members of the cast, and I like that they help her with her unique magic.

I think this seems like a very reasonable fantasy disability, and if you'd like to check out similar asks we've answered (including for winged characters), we have a fantasy disabilities tag.

Basically, in summary, it would be really impactful for her to learn to live with her disability and for the narrative to treat this positively despite the challenges.

Hope this helps, and if you have any more specific questions, feel free to send another ask.

Side note, me personally I love mundane magic and your system sounds neat. :)

– mod sparrow

[everythingblackblack]

Just remembered that Professor Agasa is Jii's inventor friend who helps with Kid's gadgets so Shinichi and Kaito have another connection. It would be hilarious if Shiho/Ai figured it out first because of this, I think Kaito would get along great with her and the Professor.

I've thought about this before.

Jii is a close friend of Agasa, I don't doubt that maybe Agasa even knows that Jii works for KID but chooses to ignore it.

However, we all know how much he cares about Ai, I imagine that at some point they had a conversation about that along the lines of:

"We've been friends for a long time, I know you're a good person, but I also know that you work for KID."

Jii doesn't look at him, he just takes a sip of his drink. They never talk about it, it's a not-so-secret secret between them, Jii always hinted at it, but Agasa never seemed to care. He doesn't think he's going to turn them in, so he waits for him to continue.

"I have a daughter, not biological obviously, she's suffered a lot, bad, very bad people are after her, I'm afraid I won't be able to protect her."

"Do you want him to investigate them?"

"No, it's very dangerous, and I wouldn't put a friend's family in danger for mine, just… if one day that girl comes here without me, do you think they can hide her? She's my family, and I know she'll be perfectly hidden with someone as skilled with disguises as KID."

"Knowing my master, I don't think he'll reject you, and I won't either, however, I'm sure he'll want to meet her."

"I think it would be good to make proper introductions, I want her to know where to go if she needs it." It makes a lot of sense to me that Agasa would want to hide Ai away if things went too bad, and what better place to hide than with someone he has no "relationship" with?

I can see Jii explaining the situation to Kaito, and being the kind person he is, agreeing to help them out. And he's also thrilled at the idea of ​​meeting the inventor of his gadgets! Kaito has so many questions! He might even ask him for suggestions for his card gun and his opinion on it.

In Ai's case, I feel like Agasa makes her a hot drink and they sit alone talking in the middle of the night when Conan isn't around and the kids are in their own homes.

"Why did you need to talk to me alone?"

"I want to introduce you to my bartender friend and his grandson."

"Just me? Why?"

Agasa takes Ai's hands, more to comfort himself than her.

"I may not say it as often as I should, but you are important to me, we don't know what will happen to the organization in the future, so if things get bad enough that I can't stay by your side, I want you to have somewhere to go, I don't want you to be alone again and I'm worried about your safety."

Haibara would stay silent, what Agasa says makes a lot of sense, but she has a lot of thoughts in her head. A part of her feels touched, she never thought she could have a family again, and on the other hand she is worried about the uncertain future that awaits them.

For now, all she can do is give him a hug, he's not a person who usually shows affection, but with the two of them being the only ones there, she gives herself the opportunity to do so.

"Wouldn't it be dangerous for them if that were to happen?"

"My friend's grandson is very good at disguises, I hope that with him they would never be able to find you, and also that almost no one knows my connection with them, it makes it the perfect place to hide."

"You thought a lot about it."

"I want you to be safe."

Kaito immediately recognizes Haibara, and also Agasa, they are friends of Conan.

The first thing Agasa says in this situation is that Ai must not tell Shinichi about this unless this situation becomes too dangerous.

Haibara did not think that the professor's friend would work with KID, nor that the latter would use the professor's inventions, she thinks it is very funny.

While Agasa and Jii talk, Haibara and KID get to know each other.

KID: I'm surprised that you chose to stay, I thought you would leave as soon as you found out who I am.

Haibara: You don't care about my secret, so I don't care about yours.

KID: Don't you think I'm suspicious? That my assistant and I are?

Haibara: You can't expect me to trust you right away, but Professor Agasa does, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but don't expect mercy from me if you end up getting involved in a robbery just because you use his inventions.

KID: Interesting. I like you.

Haibara: I just threatened you, you have weird tastes.

KID: I like people who try to kill me, they make life more fun.

Haibara: You're strange.

KID: Well, trust is something that is built. Here's my number.

Haibara: Is it real?

KID: No, but if we're going to make friends, we need to start somewhere right?

Haibara: I didn't say I wanted to be your friend.

KID: But you said you don't trust me, and from what the brilliant and charming professor said, if you ever find yourself in a situation where you can't go home, you have to find us, so… Why not become friends? I think that way you wouldn't feel awkward and distrustful if that possibility ever came up.

And that's how these two become text friends.

Since Kaito and Haibara have programming skills, I like to think that they design their own app to talk to. I like the headcanon that Kaito has knowledge in chemistry and creates his own smoke bombs, so he asks Haibara for a lot of advice.

She has him listed as "Unpaid Intern" and Kaito as "Labor Slave."

Conan is incredibly curious about her strange online friend, he makes Haibara laugh, she seems happier, he needs to know who can make her laugh out loud with a single message.

However, every time he tries to access the strange app it asks for a password, and he has no idea what it is.

She'd be surprised if she knew it was 1412, and yes, Kaito's is 4869.

Kaito asks her about the antidote, since he's seen Shinichi use it, she tells him that "unlike that reckless fool, he only uses it in serious emergencies", she shyly tells him that she would have liked to go on a date with her, but understands the gravity of her situation, so she apologizes for thinking something stupid.

Haibara tells Kaito about the kids, how dumb Shinichi is, Agasa, the new music she's listening to, the series she watched.

Kaito about his day at school, magic tricks, mentions the Nakamoris, complains about Hakuba and Akako, and asks if it would be too much to use pink glitter for their upcoming heist. I would really like to read a fic (or make it myself, since I'm at it) with their online friends, and if it comes to the point that Ai has to become Shiho once again, Kaito can take her out for a good time for a change.

[purplehalnw]

So, while the Chibnall Era was certainly not as bad as I saw some people saying it was, it was definitely not good. A big problem is that there is just a lot of missed potential. There are lots of elements that the writers didn't take advantage of or expand upon enough which ended up making the story and the characters pretty boring in my opinion. So, a lot of my rewrite ideas will be expansions of those underutilized elements.

Also, let me preface this by saying that I am in no way a professional writer, I am just a teenager with a dream. I've tried to organize my ideas as much as possible by presenting them character by character but it still may be a little messy.

Graham:

-His wife Grace should die helping/saving people after having spent at least half a season with the Doctor (not just one episode)

-The Doctor will feel guilty for having put Grace in danger and not being able to save her. Ryan will blame the Doctor and be angry while Yaz and Graham will be understanding and not blame the Doctor. Graham will reassure Ryan that all of them were aware of the risks that would come with travelling with the Doctor and that Grace died doing what she loved which was helping people.

-Graham's cancer will return and he will die from it. I think it would be interesting to see a companion die from something more normal when other ones have died in the most devastating ways possible. Graham's death can extend over multiple episodes which would show the characters' developing reactions to the fact that Graham is going to die.

-The Doctor will have a crisis in which she tries to make sure that Graham has lived a full life by taking him on as many adventures as possible due to the fact that other companions who died were so young and thus didn't get to experience as much. However, Graham will tell the Doctor that he is content with the mostly quiet life he has lived and that he has accepted the fact that he is going to die because at least he'll be going to the same place where Grace is.

-Also, I posted these ideas on TikTok as well and someone suggested another idea in the comments: The Doctor will obtain a cure for cancer from the future and offer it to Graham. But Graham will reject it for several reasons. One, Graham thinks that he has lived long enough, and he'd rather die this way rather than die suddenly and unexpectedly from something else. Two, the Doctor says she can't give the cure to anyone else before the time it's invented because of you know timeline shenanigans she can't interfere with. So Graham thinks, "why should I get the cure while no one else does? That's unfair". Third, Graham wants to see Grace again.

Ryan:

-Ryan will feel inclined to mend the relationship with his dad because he is the only blood relative he has left since Grace died. However, he won't reconcile with his father in the end. This'll instead be the moment Ryan accepts Graham as a father figure and calls Graham his grandfather.

-His dyspraxia will be touched upon more than just with throwaway lines about how he can't ride a bike and struggles with climbing ladders. There will be moments in which he is underestimated by some of the other characters, maybe Graham, which Ryan will obviously be frustrated by and will serve as a way to show how those with disabilities are often coddled and infantilized. Also, the Doctor will relate to him because of her own neurodivergence (especially since I've seen dyspraxic people point out how the 11th Doctor moves reminds them of themselves) which will strengthen their bond.

-There will be flashbacks that show how Yaz and Ryan were friends when they were in school. The two of them became friends because they both felt like outcasts with Ryan feeling that way due to his dyspraxia and Yaz feeling that way due to her sexuality.

-Ryan's YouTube channel will be a greater part of his character instead of something that never gets brought up again after his first episode. He will constantly record his adventures with the Doctor and upload them to YouTube to honor Grace in a way. When Graham dies of cancer, Ryan will upload a video summarizing who Graham was as a person and all the amazing things he did.

-Graham's death and his thing about being content with the little things in life will make Ryan realize that he hasn't fully explored his planet and seen its full potential and beauty. This epiphany will make him decide to take a break from being with the Doctor to travel around Earth. This'll open up the door for episodes solely focused on Ryan along with a way to introduce us to more Earth adventure episodes with the Doctor. Plus, this situation will allow Yaz and the Doctor's relationship to develop more.

Yaz:

-Her sexuality will not be something that only gets barely acknowledged in her final three episodes.

-Yaz and Ryan will have dated in school but broke up due to Yaz's lack of feelings towards him and her mental health struggles which caused her to push him away which will explain why they grew apart.

-I know we all love Dan but I'm going to have to get rid of him completely. So instead, Ryan will be the one to confront Yaz about her feelings towards the Doctor.

-Yaz's implied internalized homophobia will be further expanded upon. Jack's 51st century values and feelings towards the Doctor along with the Doctor's nonchalantness towards gender will serve as ways for Yaz to accept herself more. A main thing with Doctor Who companions is the Doctor showing them things they didn't even think were possible, the same will be true for Yaz but in a different way.

-The issues surrounding Yaz being a police officer were only barely touched upon in the episode "Rosa" before quickly being brushed off and never brought up again. Her job in general hardly even plays much of a role, like she literally just quits off screen near the end. But now her being a cop will serve as a source of ongoing conflict between the Doctor and Ryan who will be ACAB. The Doctor will challenge Yaz's beliefs regarding the police system, similar to how she challenged Yaz's ideas regarding gender and sexuality.

The Doctor:

-While it is kind of nice that the Doctor's gender identity isn't really questioned and is treated as normal, I think there should be some more exploration of Timelord's concept of sexuality and gender. Are all Timelords fluid in gender and sexuality? Do Timelords ever have gender dysphoria or have gender identities that are different from their current sex? Is sexuality the same throughout every regeneration or does it vary? Not all of them have to be answered or completely answered but I would like them to be addressed.

-More lore will be given regarding who the Doctor thought was their biological family so that the Timeless Child plotline and the fact that the Doctor was lied to will have more impact.

-Instead of confining the Flux to only six episodes, it will be alluded to at around the same time the Timeless Child will be hinted at.

-The writers said that they intentionally wrote the 13th Doctor as autistic. There are several scenes where they emphasize how socially awkward she is and the Timeless Child plotline is used to explain the autistic behavior of hers which has been present throughout the whole entire series. All of this is nice but again it isn't used to it's full potential. The Doctor should be used to create allegories for neurodivergence. The reveal of the Timeless Child will be equated to say finding out you're autistic. The Doctor will be used as a way to show how autistic men are treated differently than autistic women with her eccentricities being met with more hostility than when she was a man. Ryan will address how the way the Doctor acts aligns with autism which will spark a conversation about the necessity of labels and who can use them.

-The Doctor's refusal to form strong relationships out of fear of them ending tragically will be a more present underlying conflict. The story of the 13th Doctor and her companions will end sadly with her pushing them away and leaving them on Earth long enough that they've gone back to their normal lives and have realized that there's nothing they can do except hope that the Doctor is able to sort her shit out on her own.

I have considered doing a rewrite of these seasons or something but again I'm not an expert writer. The only fic I've ever written is a 2,000 word character study and that one took me a long time to write because of how much a perfectionist I am.

[ninadove]

Nina reads Dracula 🦇

August 1st

Two days of fog, and not a sail sighted. Had hoped when in the English Channel to be able to signal for help or get in somewhere. Not having power to work sails, have to run before wind. Dare not lower, as could not raise them again. We seem to be drifting to some terrible doom.

😬

Mate now more demoralised than either of men. His stronger nature seems to have worked inwardly against himself.

EURYLOCHUS NO!!!!!

Men are beyond fear, working stolidly and patiently, with minds made up to worst. They are Russian, he Roumanian.

YOU’VE DOOMED US AAALL EURYLOCHUUUUUUUUUS!!!!!!!!!!

Ok now back to Mina and Lucy and the old man:

"It be all fool-talk, lock, stock, and barrel; that's what it be, an' nowt else. These bans an' wafts an' boh-ghosts an' barguests an' bogles an' all anent them is only fit to set bairns an' dizzy women a-belderin'. They be nowt but air-blebs. They, an' all grims an' signs an' warnin's, be all invented by parsons an' illsome beuk-bodies an' railway touters to skeer an' scunner hafflin's, an' to get folks to do somethin' that they don't other incline to. It makes me ireful to think o' them. Why, it's them that, not content with printin' lies on paper an' preachin' them out of pulpits, does want to be cuttin' them on the tombstones. Look here all around you in what airt ye will; all them steans, holdin' up their heads as well as they can out of their pride, is acant—simply tumblin' down with the weight o' the lies wrote on them, 'Here lies the body' or 'Sacred to the memory' wrote on all of them, an' yet in nigh half of them there bean't no bodies at all; an' the memories of them bean't cared a pinch of snuff about, much less sacred. Lies all of them, nothin' but lies of one kind or another! My gog, but it'll be a quare scowderment at the Day of Judgment when they come tumblin' up in their death-sarks, all jouped together an' tryin' to drag their tombsteans with them to prove how good they was; some of them trimmlin' and ditherin', with their hands that dozzened an' slippy from lyin' in the sea that they can't even keep their grup o' them."

… Why are you trying so hard to dispel these rumours. What is it to you.

"Sacred to the memory of George Canon, who died, in the hope of a glorious resurrection, on July, 29, 1873, falling from the rocks at Kettleness. This tomb was erected by his sorrowing mother to her dearly beloved son. 'He was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.' Really, Mr. Swales, I don't see anything very funny in that!" She spoke her comment very gravely and somewhat severely.

"Ye don't see aught funny! Ha! ha! But that's because ye don't gawm the sorrowin' mother was a hell-cat that hated him because he was acrewk'd—a regular lamiter he was—an' he hated her so that he committed suicide in order that she mightn't get an insurance she put on his life. He blew nigh the top of his head off with an old musket that they had for scarin' the crows with. 'Twarn't for crows then, for it brought the clegs and the dowps to him. That's the way he fell off the rocks. And, as to hopes of a glorious resurrection, I've often heard him say masel' that he hoped he'd go to hell, for his mother was so pious that she'd be sure to go to heaven, an' he didn't want to addle where she was. Now isn't that stean at any rate"—he hammered it with his stick as he spoke—"a pack of lies? and won't it make Gabriel keckle when Geordie comes pantin' up the grees with the tombstean balanced on his hump, and asks it to be took as evidence!"

… Kids, could you lighten up a little?

I did not know what to say, but Lucy turned the conversation as she said, rising up:—

"Oh, why did you tell us of this? It is my favourite seat, and I cannot leave it; and now I find I must go on sitting over the grave of a suicide."

"That won't harm ye, my pretty; an' it may make poor Geordie gladsome to have so trim a lass sittin' on his lap. That won't hurt ye. Why, I've sat here off an' on for nigh twenty years past, an' it hasn't done me no harm. Don't ye fash about them as lies under ye, or that doesn' lie there either! It'll be time for ye to be getting scart when ye see the tombsteans all run away with, and the place as bare as a stubble-field. There's the clock, an' I must gang. My service to ye, ladies!" And off he hobbled.

Haha… Haaaaaa…

Lucy and I sat awhile, and it was all so beautiful before us that we took hands as we sat; and she told me all over again about Arthur and their coming marriage. That made me just a little heart-sick, for I haven't heard from Jonathan for a whole month.

The same day.I came up here alone, for I am very sad. There was no letter for me. I hope there cannot be anything the matter with Jonathan. The clock has just struck nine. I see the lights scattered all over the town, sometimes in rows where the streets are, and sometimes singly; they run right up the Esk and die away in the curve of the valley. To my left the view is cut off by a black line of roof of the old house next the abbey. The sheep and lambs are bleating in the fields away behind me, and there is a clatter of a donkey's hoofs up the paved road below. The band on the pier is playing a harsh waltz in good time, and further along the quay there is a Salvation Army meeting in a back street. Neither of the bands hears the other, but up here I hear and see them both. I wonder where Jonathan is and if he is thinking of me! I wish he were here.

STOP THIS IS SO SAD FOR SO MANY REASONS AND GOSH THE WAY MINA TRIES TO DISTRACT HERSELF BY DESCRIBING THE LANDSCAPE BUT ONLY SEES OMENS OF DEATH HELP

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[altraviolet]

old fic retrospective

I realized today that the oldest fic I've written that's still available online was posted in 2004. it's 20 years old!!! holy moly!!

(I wrote fic way before then, but those stories are all lost, either to long-dead computers or long-dead websites)

I just finished reading a bunch of my old fics and thought it'd be neat to write out some of my observations :)

also, before anyone asks, I won't be linking to my old work. maybe someday I'll share, but not now.

The Things That I Have Improved On:

-headhopping: the narrative jumps from character to character in a way that I don't write anymore. the jumps are clearly done and don't interfere with the reading experience - I think I did it well - but that type of writing is considered old fashioned now, and a limited third person is more my style. to fix this, I'd use limited third person, as I do now

-scene length: not sure how to explain this one. the stories feel like they drag a little, even though there isn't anything actually extraneous in the text. to fix this, I'd probably try to trim a bit, or make sure the dialog has more action around it

-that's a little too much stylization, babe: I went really hard on the abstract descriptions. this is something I really love to write, but the old fics go a little too far imho. sometimes it gets a bit cringey. even when purposefully done, the 90's style of in your face awesomeness can be a bit much. to fix this, I'd knock it down a little. for reference, The Angel Breaker is this kind of style at the knocked down level, heh

The Things I've Stayed Good At:

(I'm basing this on the comments I got)

-worldbuilding: people complimented me on writing believable sciencey stuff, expanding on canon, and integrating my fanon into the canon seamlessly/filling in plot holes believably. there was a fic where a character talked about mechanical stuff they invented and the compliments were very similar to things I've heard about my TF writing. I'm happy to say that this has always been a strength and something I still enjoy!

-characters in character: people complimented me on writing characters in character, and also on expanding female characters' importance in stories (it was fashionable to hate on the female characters, sadly)

-the story overall: I used to get a ton of comments and I never got a flame, haha. people complimented the stories overall as being very well written and enjoyable, and I'm proud of that, and very glad that it still seems to be the case! one person even suspected I worked "behind the scenes" on creating the canon, which made me smile, because more than once I have been asked if I wrote the TF comics. heh heh.

(I have never written for TF canon)

Why Am I Sharing This? Seems A Bit Egotistical

I think it's nice to be able to look back and see strengths and weaknesses and improvements. Also, I know a lot of people enjoy my stuff, and sometimes people leave comments saying they feel like they'll "never be as good as" I am. So I want to share so that you know that the writing you see now is built on a lot of practice. I've been writing for over 20 years. I've improved and you can, too :)

It's much easier to see improvement in art, because two side by side pictures can be evaluated with a glance. But for fic, well, you'd have to read it, and that takes a lot more time. A summary feels like the quicker way to share with others the improvements I've made.

Where To Go From Here?

Well, I would like to write original works. I considered TEG my big practice for that. My brain is not ready, though, so I'm slowly composing a new fic. I do hope that when the season properly changes [I do MUCH better in cold weather, dear god, when will the summer end] my brain will kick back into creative gear. There have been a lot of Stressful Things happening this year. As soon as the last upcoming Big Family Obligation is done, I'll be able to focus a bit more on writing. Oh, also, hah, let's hope for a good outcome in the November election 🤞 Um, ok, try to stay on topic... yeah. Once things calm down, I really wanna hermit up and Fuckin' Write. So yeah. Write!

Any advice?

Write? You gotta keep writing to get better. Just like art. If you don't practice, you don't get better. If you have specific writing advice questions, feel free to hit the ask box.

Thanks for reading :)

[alwayschasingrainbows]

Have you watched any of the adaptations for Anne of Green Gables? If you have, what are your thoughts on them?

Thank you so much for your question! I am extremely sorry it took me ages to answer...

Yes, I have seen four Canadian made-for-television drama movies (by Kevin Sullivan), as well as Anne With An E.

I must say that it has been quite some time since I've seen Sullivan's adaptations - I will definitely need to re-watch the first three. But here are my very vague memories:

I loved the actors. Jonathan Crombie made a perfect Gilbert Blythe; Megan Follows was exactly how I pictured teenage Anne (she might have been a little too pretty for an eleven year old Anne, although if I remember correctly, Anne was thirteen, instead of eleven, at the beginning of this adaptation).

The costumes were from a different time period - Kevin Sullivan prefered a fashion from early 1900s instead of 1870s... I liked the costumes, though. They were very pretty.

The first movie was following the books quite well - or rather, the changes were not very significant.

I disliked some of Gilbert/Anne scenes of the second movie - especially Gilbert slapping Anne's behind. It was so out of character for him. Book Gilbert would never do that... The kiss between Gilbert and Anne was very sweet, though. I liked the scene in which Anne and Diana were chasing the cow, too - simply hillarious.

The third movie was... a little weird. Gilbert fighing in a first world war? Anne being a sort of... almost a spy during war? But I won't deny it, some scenes were pretty - I liked the wedding, and the moment Anne found Gilbert and ran into his arms...

Fourth movie... absolute madness. Anne lying to Marilla about her father being dead while he abandoned her after her mother's death? Gilbert killed during a second world war? Anne wearing pants? And being a famous writer? Are we still talking about Montgomery's books????

Overall; I enjoyed the first two movies very much; I remember them as cozy, family movies, set in the most beautiful scenery of Prince Edward Island. The third movie... wasn't so bad once I was able to forget it is supposed to be Anne's adaptation. The fourth one... I pretend it doesn't exist.

Anne With An E - I enjoyed the series when I managed to forget it was supposed to be an adaptation of Montgomery's books. The scenography was stunning. The actors were well chosen (at least, most of them). Marilla and Matthew were really great. But... there were some scenes that would never happen in the books. The teenagers getting drunk, for example. Anne telling their friends about "petting the mouse". Gilbert being in love with another woman (or fancying to be). Gilbert delivering a breeched baby with no training whatsover. Diana passing the entrance exams without studying...

And while the first few episodes seemed to follow the books quite closely, the rest was simply a creative invention of the script-writers. I loved some scenes and new characters (and "old" ones receiving a personality - Minnie May was absolutely adorable!) and the overall beauty of the adaptation. But I watched it as if it was an adaptation of a fanfic - not the books...

Of course, that doesn't mean that I hated it. And I am very glad it was made - because of AWAE, the books gained new popularity.

Thank you again for your question!

[greatideas-badwriter]

SasuSaku: Sacrificed To The Banished Prince Ch. 8

"Your Highness, you're making our guest uncomfortable," Itachi calmly said.

Akuma was doing all he could not to yank his fiance from the prince's uncle's embrace because he was entirely sure he wouldn't be able to hold himself back from attempting murder. Then, he'd lose control of this body, and his consciousness would disappear forever.

Madara Uchiha was forced to retire when Fugaku Uchiha ascended to the throne. After his and Mikoto's death, he was reinstalled as king and made it clear that he wouldn't give the position up a second time. The older Uchiha man released Sakura, who stumbled away to Akuma's side, obviously shaken by the informal behavior.

'She looks terrified,' he shared a glance with the pink-haired woman, and she covertly nodded to communicate that all was well. He turned his glare onto the prince's older brother and uncle, 'I'll cut off their hands once I've rid this body of that coward prince's soul.' How dare they lay hands so casually on her!

"Fear not, Lady Haruka. We'll be family shortly," Madara said with a charming smile, "Please call me Uncle, and don't hesitate to tell me if you need anything."

Sakura surprised Akuma by politely bowing with all the grace of a well-educated lady of high status. Her usually soft voice was firm and devoid of emotion, "Of course, Uncle. I fear there has been a misunderstanding, as my name is Sakura. I still thank you for your warm greeting. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She then directed her bow to the first prince, "Yours as well, Your Highness."

Akuma's eyes locked onto the prince's brother's, and he recognized the subtle look of confusion. Baron Haruno was a well-known man even in the royal palace. As a result, his children were prime candidates for political marriages, though until recently, only the eldest, a son named Hihara, was of age.

The Haruno name used to be affiliated with hard work and self-made wealth. Sakura's grandfather, Mitsuhide Haruno, built and maintained a small fortune with the invention of healing potions. After his death roughly ten years ago, though, Kizashi Haruno, his only son, took over and slowly began to run the family name into the ground.

The need for healing potions had only increased, yet the flow of products had slowed substantially to the point that rumors were beginning to spread that they were no longer being crafted and would disappear from markets once their surplus ran dry.

"Curse, you're being surprisingly well-behaved. Have you finally surrendered to the second prince?" The king asked almost sarcastically while leading everyone into the palace and through the halls.

Akuma scoffed, "We've a temporary agreement to co-exist. I'll earn my freedom soon." 'If I tell them it's because we both desire this female's affection, they'll try to separate us, and I'll be forced to murder everyone.'

"I see. How unexpected," The king stopped at a tall door on the second floor of the massive castle, opening it and gesturing inside, "So long as you remain docile, I won't enforce nightly subduction." He smiled at Sakura, "Are you confident this demon will bring you no harm? I can prepare a separate room if you so desire, Niece."

'Don't mistake my behavior for weakness, Sacrifice,' Akuma threatened inwardly, shooting a glare at the petite woman in question.

She noticed without even meeting his gaze and nodded, "Of course, Uncle. Thank you again for your hospitality."

The king and prince said their goodnights, and then the pair was alone in the large, extravagant bedroom. Sakura's composure faltered the moment the door closed behind the royals. She brought a trembling hand to her chest and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to apparently calm her shaken nerves.

"The mouse has a talent for keeping up appearances." 'I didn't deem her capable of fooling those idiot royals into seeing her as the average lady.' It impressed Akuma as much as it angered him because he suddenly wondered if anything she'd said or done in his presence had also been fabricated.

He sat on the edge of the bed and began taking off his shoes, red eyes in a glare. Sakura did the same on the opposite side. She didn't comment on his statement.

"Akuma, may I rest?"

She still had her back turned when he sat up and looked her way. He admired her slim figure and tilted his head, "Has traveling exhausted you?"

Sakura angled her body so she could look at the pillow, brushing her long hair behind her ear with low, tired eyes of emerald, "Yes."

He watched the petite woman sluggishly climb under the covers, turn onto her side with her back turned his way, and become still as she appeared to fall asleep. In the short time that they'd been acquainted, it was already noticeable how much easier it was for Sakura to fall asleep or relax in his presence. He found it odd that she could trust a demon because no other human he'd encountered had.

'I want to see the terror in her eyes that I see from everyone else. I want to taste the salt of her tears as she begs me to spare her.'

"...Thank you for not hurting anyone, Akuma. I appreciate you not breaking your promise."

Akuma's eyes widened on her turned back, 'Did she just...thank me? Surely she's aware that I have little choice in the matter.'

An unfamiliar warmth met his chest. His body moved on its own. With a furrowed brow, Akuma climbed under the covers behind her, loosely holding thick strands of her hair in his hand. "Don't misunderstand. I may be your master, but I'm not doing any of this for your sake." No response came.

At some point in the early morning, Sasuke's eyes crept open to land on Sakura's back. Soft pink hair remained loosely between his fingers. Akuma had fallen asleep shortly after lying down, which was rare. The prince studied his fiance's hair, shoulders, and back without moving a muscle.

'This woman is unlike any other I've encountered. I want to know everything she's experienced to become this way.'

One of the main reasons that Sasuke avoided meeting his fiances, other than preventing The Curse from memorizing their faces, was so they wouldn't approach him casually. He was more than traditionally handsome and wasn't ignorant of that fact. The few women he did properly court during their engagements were smitten with him and often tried to tempt him into their beds. This sleeping young lady, however, had done no such thing.

No, Sakura had only asked questions about his curse and himself as though they were to become friends rather than lovers. She offered no information about herself unless first asked and seemed to hang onto his every word as though it was knowledge to be treasured. Somehow she did all of this without coming off as obsessive or uncomfortably eager. Instead, Sasuke almost felt flattered that she deemed him worthy of studying.

Most women see him as either a murderer or a pretty face with money to be taken advantage of. Sakura seemed to see him as a human being, something he'd rarely encountered since the age of twelve.

The prince found himself bringing his handful of her hair to his lips and closed his eyes as he took in the sweet scent.

For the past few days, he'd distanced himself from her because he felt himself growing too attached too quickly to Sakura. Not only that, but he was able to listen to her conversation with The Curse when he forced her to assist him in bathing. The young woman was either playing ignorant about sexual things or truly wasn't taught of them.

It scared Sasuke because The Curse was undoubtedly aware of it, too. Other than murdering the poor girl, there was one thing that the monster could do to harm her from which she'd likely never recover. What was worse was that there was little Sasuke could do to prevent it. All he could think of was to offer to make Sakura's first time a positive experience, but he felt they weren't nearly close enough for such a thing.

So, he was stuck between gathering the courage to talk to his fiance about it or trusting that The Curse wouldn't break their deal and rape her. It'd rid of the demon once all was said and done, but leaving a young lady so broken may be a fate worse than death. He had no idea what to do, and he was hesitant to ask anyone for advice because there was no one he completely trusted with something so sensitive.

"Little brother, I'm relieved to see you in such a state." Sasuke's eyes shot open, and he carefully pulled away from Sakura to sit up and see Itachi sitting at the tea table nearby with a sad smile, a teacup in hand.

The second prince glanced at the still-sleeping woman before climbing out of bed and whispering as his elder brother had to not rouse her, "Don't misunderstand, Brother. The nature of our relationship is not what you assume."

Itachi's smile spread into a soft, mildly amused one, "What is the nature of the relationship with your fiance if not affectionate?"

Sasuke's glare hardened as he crossed the room to open the wardrobe and fetch out clothing for the day, "I believe this is a conversation to be held with Lady Sakura and Uncle, not just us."

Itachi chuckled quietly while getting to his feet, "Be sure to wake Lady Sakura soon so she may prepare for breakfast, little brother."

Once the first prince was out of the room, Sasuke glared at the closed door that he'd disappeared through, 'We haven't seen one another in person in years, yet he only came here to tease me about Sakura. There wasn't anything else he wished to speak about?'

He'd never admit it aloud, but he'd missed Itachi greatly. They'd been attached at the hip as children. Itachi had been the best brother anyone could hope for and treated Sasuke as an equal despite their six-year age difference. He even visited the banished Sasuke a few times during his exile to the winter lands, but that all stopped when the first engagement notification arrived via post. It'd been almost five years since their last face-to-face encounter. There was no reason given, not even a letter responding to the few that a confused Sasuke had sent after being completely abandoned.

After freshening up and dressing, Sasuke hesitantly approached his sleeping fiance. He knelt beside the bed and lifted a hand to her shoulder, only to pause before it could touch. His head tilted unconsciously as he studied her vulnerable face, 'If only I could allow her to rest longer. She looks so peaceful.'

Sighing, Sasuke's fingers curled into a fist, and he returned his hand to his side, speaking to wake Sakura rather than touch her, "Lady Sakura, it's time to get dressed."

Her emerald-colored gaze opened slowly, not seeing anything. Her voice came quietly, "...that man had yellow eyes...."

The prince's mouth clamped shut in shock, 'Yellow eyes?' His own dark ones widened as he recalled the one time in his life that he'd witnessed such a color. Then, he temporarily forgot his caution and touched her shoulder, "Sakura, who is it?"

She seemed to snap out of her tired stupor and sat up, looking around before resting her gaze on him with a reddening face, "L-Lord Sasuke, good morning!"

"What man are you talking about, Sakura? The one with yellow eyes."

Sakura's face paled, "How do you know about that?"

Sasuke shook his head, rising to his feet as she climbed out of bed and soothed her clothing and hair, "You spoke in your sleep just now. You said there's a man with yellow eyes. I need you to tell me who he is."

"Hello. My name is Konan. I'll be tending to Lady Haruno during your stay," the door to the room opened to reveal a tall, straight-faced woman with bluish-purple hair and bright orange eyes.

'I can't talk to her about this with others around.' The prince bowed quickly to the maid and then to his fiance, mumbling so only she could hear, "We'll speak later."

He left the room so she could get dressed for the day, leaning against the wall near the dining room downstairs to take a calming breath and gather his thoughts, 'Is there a chance she met the wizard Orochimaru before he died? If so, maybe she knows of his colleagues. They might be able to offer insight about different options of ridding my body of The Curse.' 

[sueske]

How much do you think Sasuke cares about Sakura? It’s obvious he doesn’t love her back, called her annoying couple times, and never visited her for years, but he’s still a kind person and cares about his teammates. Maybe it’s a bit of pity?

putting under read more cuz this is a very anti-ss post in case there are people who would rather not see/read it.

I think you might be new to my blog, I've talked about it a bit before:

sasuke and team 7

sasuke’s feelings for sakura 

sasuke taking on his family's wishes as his own

In part 1 sasuke viewed sakura as a teammate who he protected and didn’t want to worry. but he was able to break his ‘teammate bond’ with her that night when he left.

in part 2 he doesn’t even view her as that. during the reunion scene sasuke told the new team 7 he was able to cut off the bonds he had with konoha. however, we know it's only the bond with naruto he had failed to break. I've talked about sasuke's on a whim before too. and then throughout shippuden sasuke explicitly states naruto's importance to him and how he still needs to cut off their bond. sasuke doesn't mention anyone else, because like he said prior, he was already able to cut off all other bonds.

I see ss shippers say ‘sasuke always acknowledged sakura first and she’s the only one he apologised too’ as a means for them to show that sasuke still had a bond with her in part 2, like during the reunion and war arc. despite the fact that after acknowledging her presence (wow #hecaressomuch. guess sasuke cares for kakashi a lot too since sasuke also spoke his name despite kakashi not even being present during the reunion) his attention shifts to naruto and then just ignores sakura for the most part. I won't even bother putting in all the manga panels where sns stare each other down cuz this post would get too long lol. revisit the reunion scene. look at the kage summit arc scene. look at the war arc. they all follow the same pattern. In the war arc sakura herself acknowledges that sasuke doesn’t care lol. I don’t know how much clearer it can get - sasuke says the only one standing between him and complete loneliness is naruto. naruto is his one and only… friend, the one person he needs to cut down. where’s sakura, where's anyone else in this equation?

also sasuke apologised to karin before joining the war arc too. he also apologised to kakashi. sakura isn't special in that regard, and sasuke was only going to take juugo (because of his natural energy) and naruto away from what was surely going to be a killing blow during the war. everyone else sasuke was willing to let die, karin and sakura and kakashi who he apologised to including. sasuke saying "oops sorry" to someone does not equate something extraordinary in relation to bonds. this is what happens when kishimoto stresses how important naruto is to sasuke vs everyone else. people take these panels and blow them out of proportion when in the grand scheme of things don't matter, as shown by sasuke again and again.

in 699 sakura got the brotherly forehead poke which symbolises distance. idc ss shippers can do all the mental gymnastics they want, but that's what the poke symbolises. it's not that sasuke re-invented the meaning behind the poke - itachi used it to keep sasuke away from him, creating distance between them (something sasuke also confronted itachi with) - and that's what sasuke ends up doing to sakura too. which is why before edo-tensei itachi died he brought his forehead to sasuke's, to finally bridge that distance! it's like the simplest things are so hard to understand for ss shippers. they take panels of sasuke when he was happy he got the poke when he was a kid to 'prove' that the poke is a good thing completely ignoring the fact that sasuke didn't know anything about anything at the time. and even as a kid sasuke expressed his displeasure at receiving the poke. and in the end, that's what sasuke does - keeps sakura at a distance. she even ended up chasing him down yikes. how is this lost on people... and then sasuke kept creating even more distance from her. for over a decade. all the while he was meeting up with his bestie too. seems to me like sasuke is using the poke just like itachi originally intended... listen, if u care about someone u take the time to communicate with them, to see them. that's just common sense lol.

in gaiden sasuke does go to help save sakura and he does take those rod things out so he doesn't want her to die lol. but beyond that? he doesn't see his 'wife' for 12 years and the first thing he says is 'why are you here?'; the famous: 'because we have you sarada' line; how miserable he looks during their first family dinner (sakura doesn't look all that happy either really). so he cares to not want her to die but beyond that? what bond do they even have? what meaningful conversations and interactions did they have? girl doesn't even know if her precious sasuke-kun wears glasses cuz they didn't see each other for over 10 years lol. probably the feelings and bond he had towards her in part 1 reformed after part 2 to the uhm interesting bond those 10 chapters that is gaiden showed us.

sakura does try and make herself pitiful around him, she tried to invoke those feelings in her confessions. I think a wife who was implied twice to never have been kissed even though she desperately wants to be kissed is quite pitiful indeed lol.

[howtofightwrite]

I've been mulling over how to give mermaids guns. Underwater combat is three dimensional and the water pressure around you is different from air pressure. There are modern guns that people claim can be fired under water, and with the supernatural elements of the setting i can very much invent a reason for why these guns are fine in water. The one thing im troubled with is what guns would be practical, and how they would be used in combat. Do you guys have any ideas?

So, Glock liked to advertise that you could fire their handguns underwater. That's technically true, but it's more of a marketing thing than a practical option. The “real,” danger that they were discussing was if a barrel is partially obstructed by water. For example, if you need to use your handgun, and have been running around in the rain, or worse, if you've accidentally dropped your gun in the mud and retrieved it. They were saying was that the gun would still operate safely under those conditions. You could have rainwater in the barrel and still shoot someone without a catastrophic failure.

So, this a major problem for most guns? Well, no. Or at least, not normally. Back in the 80s, polymer frame handguns were new and not widely understood. The Glock was characterized as a, “plastic gun.” You can even see this in contemporary media portraying the Glock as being able to pass through metal detectors because, “it's plastic.” (In reality, over 80% of the weight of an unloaded Glock 17 is steel.)

Now, the firearms market (and this applies to civilian, military, and law enforcement purchasers) tends to be extremely technologically conservative. Reliability is paramount, and any design innovation that could be perceived as a reliability issue (at least without offering something extremely enticing as a trade-off) will struggle to find buyers. While I've never heard an official statement on the subject, I suspect that Glock's advertising of the pistol's durability had more to with overcoming it's reputation as, “a plastic gun.” Even with that campaign, it still took them 15-20 years, with wide-scale law enforcement and military contracts, to fully shake that reputation.

The problem with firing a gun underwater isn't that it won't work; it's that the bullet's not going to go very far. Usually less than 2 meters. Even CAV-X rounds, which are designed to operate underwater tend to have an effective range of around 60m. Water creates an immense amount of friction on the bullet, and unless you're basically using the gun as a melee weapon (or using some very cutting edge rounds), the projectile isn't going to reach its target.

So, what are the options?

I don't know where you're going with Mermaids, but if you're digging into Atlantis myth, then there's always orichalcum, the mythical mountain gold from which the island derived its wealth. Often times orichalcum is described as possessing magical properties. (As far as I can remember, it was just a mundane, if rare, ore in Plato's original description. It's elevation to a magical material came later. So there's no consistency on what this could allow. But, magically hydrophobic bullets that have an orichalcum tip, are not any more fantastical than mermaids.)

Of course, if you're running with, Atlantis, Lemuria, or any other lost continent myth, then already have a justification for technology that is literally thousands of years more advanced than what you'll find on the surface. So, some kind of high energy, light based, weapon wouldn't be off the table. You might even be able to use something like a focused sonic shock gun, to use the water density itself to remotely deliver a kinetic impact on the target.

As for how you would use guns in a three dimensional space, you'd need to remember that up and down exist. Some concepts like cover and concealment would remain unaltered. But, engagements in open water could be extremely dangerous, as there may not be anything to protect you for, literally, miles in any direction. Once you get past that point, it starts to spiral out into full world building. Asking questions like what does warfare look like, when the most direct route between two points may be a vast void of nothingness, with no place to hide? Conversely, if they tend to stick close to the sea bed, then it's not going to be that different from conventional warfare, except for the part where they can freely move up and down to make use of available terrain and structures with combat, potentially, taking place across any surface.

There's a lot of potential, but most of it will be in creating a new world, and deciding the kinds of characters which inhabit it.

-Starke

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[thedawningofthehour]

I love this book! if donnie/galois died would barry kill cass too?

That's really an interesting question, because Cass is probably the only person who could get through to Draxum in that state and steer his mind a bit. Not change it-Draxum couldn't be persuaded away from what he plans to do if Galois is killed, but she's the only person who could sway him at that point.

(Just a warning, I talk about mercy killing and suicide quite a bit here)

Murder her like he threatens to do to Raph, no. Draxum's relationship with Cass is different from the one he has with Galois because he won't admit to seeing her as his daughter, but he does love her like one. (and technically speaking, she was the first child he acquired) Draxum's threat to Raph is less about punishing him if he fails and more about ensuring Raph won't hesitate to put his life on the line for Gale, because he knows he'll die anyway if Gale does. Which-yeah, we know Raph would absolutely die for his brothers, but Draxum just wants to be sure. Draxum is very paranoid when it comes to Galois and no measure is too much to keep him safe. This doesn't apply to Cass because-well, one, he already knows she'd die for Gale, but also Cass has worth to him outside of Galois's meatshield. Not that he doesn't care about Raph, but he's forcing himself to view Raph in a very objectifying, degrading way as a cope. Cass is his murder daughter in all but name.

But then there's the question of what happens after Galois dies. This whole mutant revolution thing, it can't survive without Galois. Not at this point. Maybe in a few years, when they have a good chunk of the world conquered and other brains loyal to the cause, yeah then they might be able to coast along with what Galois left behind long enough to finish the job and pick up the pieces. But now? Draxum would have a few months before the US military or some foreign government got the upper hand. Plus his side would absolutely fall apart if they knew Galois was dead and they could no longer rely on his inventions. Draxum knew when he started this that if he failed, the kids would almost certainly be executed along with him. Whether by the human or Yokai government or by an angry mob. And he does not intend for his kids to die like that. If he did intentionally kill Cass, it would be to spare her the public humiliation, possible torture, and very undignified death that would await her otherwise.

As for Draxum's contingency plan if Galois were to die-I've mentioned this before, but Draxum is not planning to outlive his son for long. Even if he was in a position where he could still complete his takeover, he has no desire to do it without Galois. Depending on how Galois died and what Draxum's mental state is like at the time, he might stick a bit around to finish some stuff up and get his affairs in order so others could pick up his torch, or he might stay alive just long enough to make a plan to take as many people with him as possible. Or he might take the first exit he sees so he doesn't have to live with it a minute longer. With Draxum, it's always a toss-up what you're going to get.

The reason why I mention how Cass could change things-Cass is not the only person he'd still care about in this scenario, but she's the only person he would still listen to. He loves Bella and Pax, but they would both tell him to stop. Tigerclaw would tell him he's taking things too far. Cass would not try to change his mind. She would be just as murderous as Draxum, and she would support whatever he planned to take out whoever it was who killed her baby brother. She wouldn't want Draxum to die doing it, but she'd understand. She wouldn't stop him.

I can see Cass convincing him to hone his plan of attack. Instead of just like...nuking all of NYC, he portals himself to EPF HQ and blows them up, leaving Cass with the tools to wipe out the rest of them. Reduce civilian casualties while devastating the people responsible even further. Even if they still lose the war-but it's not about that anymore. It's about hurting their enemies. And Cass would be entirely on board with "do whatever you need to do, just make those fuckers who killed Gale pay."

All theoretical, of course. Gale doesn't die in any timeline except the Krang invasion one, and that timeline was averted completely.