#idk if you guys are interested in my techniques

[burstbubbbles]

SEASON 3

- okay the camping trip + camino arc is like 3 naruto arcs in one (kota hating heroes and getting saved by deku = that kid from the land of the mist hating heroes and getting saved by naruto, a troop of some bad guys taking bakugo, the deuteragonist, because they want him to join their league = orochimaru's lackeys taking sasuke away, the fact that they had a competition and some exams in order to be able to go to the camping trip = the different parts of the chuunin exams).

- here's the thing i've noticed, before anyone says im comparing bnha to naruto too much: i think horikoshi uses a lot of popular shonnen tropes and pays a bunch of homages to other shonnen manga on purpose. what purpose? the subversion of expectations. here's the thing, if you're a new watcher who has already watched a bunch of different shonnen animes (like me with naruto), when you see bakugo being taken by the league, even if you don't immediately think of sasuke, you still might guess that now bakugo is going to turn evil, because that's how the story usually goes. instead, horikoshi reminds us bakugo isn't sasuke or your average shonnen deuteragonist, and reestablishes the core values of this character. the reason i draw so many parallels to naruto is because it's the shonnen anime im most familiar with, but im sure a one-piece/hxh/bleach/dgbz/etc fan could do the exact same thing.

- tl;dr: what im trying to say is that the ways in which horikoshi draws inspiration from other shonnen anime isn't lazy; it's not that he doesn't have ideas so he copies. i think he's actually very clever in the way he handles all those influences. thank you for coming to my ted talk.

- anyway back to plot

- i can't believe deku's mom gets hate for literally being a good parent. of course she's not going to want her son at UA after everything she's seen. not all anime single mothers can be mito-san (hxh), and they don't need to be.

- deku's arms are like. about to die. and im not saying that this is never brought up again, but i feel like in the later seasons he didn't exactly hold back. although he's literally trying to come up with a technique so that he can use them again, so idk. iida's hand injury hasn't really been brought up yet either.

- i forgot to mention this before, but shigaraki uses a lot of videogame analogies (he calls big heroes "final bosses", for example) in the same way that deku uses a lot of comic book analogies (if this was a comic book, he would be the protagonist" said by deku about todoroki).

- but it's interesting because, in shigaraki, i think this is used to showcase his immaturity: we associate videogames to kids, and so by using these sort of analogies the author reinforces the childish characterization of the antagonist.

- deku, on the other hand, uses comic book analogies for the sake of meta jokes with the audience (saying todoroki would be the protagonist when he's actually the protagonist of his comic book), which goes back to all the different homages and references horikoshi does to other shonnen manga and anime. i think bnha doesn't get enough credit for how meta it is.

- i like how you can tell bakugo is changing during the provisional license exam, not just in regards to his relationship with deku but also with other classmates. like when he's about to be turned into a weird meat-like thing (some guy's quirk) he tosses his weapon to kaminari because he's confident that kaminari will know how to use it.

- lmao deku vs. kacchan pt 2 is really bakugo going "hey btw im traumatized due to recent events but mostly i've always been severely insecure and that's why i bullied you so why did you always follow me?" and deku replying "bitch bffr i hate you but you're like the coolest guy i know"

- i know i've said it a lot but i really love the foil-like relationship of bkdk and how it's written.

- something idk if i have mentioned at this point or not is that i love uraraka and tsuyu. they're my favorite classmate-characters. but honestly, i appreciate much more the effort that the author put into writing each individual character and making them consistent in their personalities, at least up until the end of the third season.

things im noticing as i rewatch bnha, an ongoing thread:

SEASON 1

- deku really was such a nerd lmao he's just like me fr (like i KNEW but i didn't remember how much i could relate to it. oops.)

- it's also interesting that he always fights back against bakugo and calls him an idiot a lot. idk why (probably because of fandom characterization) i remembered early-seasons deku as a lot more innocent and scared of bakugo. like, here's the thing, deku is scared of pretty much everything at the start because he's shy/anxious. he gets nervous talking to most of his classmates (especially, but not only, girls) when he first meets them and starts trembling when he gets elected as class president before handing the role to iida. so basically, his anxiety isn't reserved to bakugo like i remembered – if anything, he seems to get over his fear of getting bullied by him pretty quickly once he realizes he can fight back.

- kaminari tried to ask uraraka out in their first or second day of school and she was like "uhhh i like to eat... uhh... WAIT DEKU CAME BACK FROM THE NURSE'S OFFICE" lol i really didn't remember that

- bakugo's insecurity was always there. as you're reading this you might be thinking i first watched mha with my eyes closed or sth, and you're not very far from the truth. here's the thing, i first watched it when i was like 14-15, so all i knew back then was that bakugo was insufferable and i didn't think further than that. of course, he ended up becoming one of my favorite bnha characters after reading all of the manga, but it's cool to realize his character arc was foreshadowed from the beginning and didn't just magically start around season 3.

- but yeah, anyway, bakugo's insecurity and his envy over deku's natural noble nature was always there, since season 1. also, deku's real admiration over bakugo was also there. like, going back to my other point, deku wasn't just Not Overly Scared of bakugo, he actually looked up to him despite knowing he was deeply flawed. tbh they were always a bit crazy about each other.

- uraraka is so funny i love her.

- all of class 1A was so chaotic good coded

- like they collectively made fun of bakugo on the bus to USJ for being rude lol. they really bonded over their shared dislike for the guy.

- bakugo gets fucking HUMBLED all of s1. i would also be irrationally angry ngl.

- the dialogues in the first season sometimes are so unnatural for the sake of exposition, like all might telling recovery girl: "do you mind not talking so loudly ab OFA? only you, a close friend, the principal, and midoriya know about OFA. but most professors and some pro heroes also know about my condition and not being able to fight for more than 3 hours a day" like WHO TALKS LIKE THAT ??!1?1?

- deku had to go to recovery girl's office a total of 4 times (if i counted correctly) for broken limbs of fingers in HIS FIRST WEEK of school. which is funnier considering no one else from class 1A had to go even once.

- damn shigaraki was a skinny legend before he got OP

- aizawa did not react at all when he first saw kurogiri (about the shirakumo thing). that was surprising.

- also. AIZAWA IS SO BADASS?? like yes i knew he was badass from the later seasons, but i genuinely didn't remember his first fighting sequence at USJ where he single-handedly fights like at least 20 villains.

- i had also forgotten that shigaraki calls eraserhead "really cool" so early on in the anime, i thought it was a later-seasons thing.

- this is really obvious but i had forgotten the all might theme's resemblance to superman's theme. it's such a cool little detail tho!

- uraraka and deku definitely were crushing on each other when they first met, but i think it's nice that they ended up developing a really strong friendship instead of getting together after hori didn't consistently develop them romantically. it also makes a lot more sense narratively, like why would we care who deku ends up with at the end of his first year of UA when the story actually ends 8 years after that, and it's very unlikely that you marry the same person you started dating when you were 15. idk, i liked that. i like that you can have two characters who maybe have a crush on each other but can't focus on that due to Circumstances and eventually move on and become good friends. it's a win for the platonic department!

- the animation was kinda bad in the first season 😭 but it's understandable and i had fun watching it regardless.

okay im done with s1 tune in for s2 !!

[myokk]

💘

[ryssbelle]

My cousins made their own troll Ocs and I drew them in my style.

They were very excited about it

[silkscream]

natural devotion

ੈ✩ synopsis: gojo finds you, his ex-wife, in a sketchy dive bar. he almost doesn't recognize you.

ੈ✩ cw: smut (minors dni, ageless + blank blogs will be blocked), previous arranged marriage, ex-husband!gojo, clanleader!gojo, rough bathroom sex, semi-public sex, drunk sex, oral, fingering + penetration, light choking, gojo is.... weird idk how to explain. he's just strange and cold and possessive and so odd

ੈ✩ wc: 3.2k

ੈ✩ a/n: literally nobody asked for this. also it's unedited. sorry

Gojo thinks he sees a ghost when he sees you.

At least, he thinks it’s you.

You don’t see him yet, so he takes the liberty to scan you over more thoroughly. You’re not wearing anything like the simple, modest attire he remembered you donning around his estate. Instead, you’re in a form-fitting crop top and the tiniest mini skirt Gojo has ever seen. He’s not sure if it even classifies as a skirt.

Interesting.

He takes a breath as he sits down next to you, interrupting your conversation with the bartender to offer his card. You turn to look at him and you laugh.

“Put hers on my tab,” Gojo says.

“Always the gentleman.”

“You know I’ll always take care of you. Even if we aren’t married anymore.”

You could scoff at that, but you decide to be polite. He’s as candid as he’s always been. It used to humiliate you, but you aren’t the same docile little wife you used to be. You also realize his gesture could be interpreted as tender, which isn’t something you were ever used to in your marriage.

He was a cold man and it was a marriage of convenience.

Or perhaps he was only cold to you. You would watch how he would interact at social gatherings and clan parties, his charisma infecting entire rooms. Toothy grins that shone as brightly as his hair. Always loud, animated, and magnetic.

To you, he was mostly indifferent.

He was never outwardly mean, but he was constantly occupied with missions. It almost felt as if you weren’t married at all. You enjoyed speaking to him when he was around, though. There were moments when you could almost picture yourself being his friend, but then he would be away and come back cold. 

When you asked for a divorce, he complied without a blink. Even after you were free from becoming an incubator for the Gojo clan’s next heir, something in your chest ached at how easily Gojo signed the papers.

And now, he’s tipsy in a bar with you and more tuned into your presence than ever. When he looks at you, there’s a lingering that you convince yourself you’re hallucinating.

Small talk with him is odd. He’s much more complicated than that, but here you are, discussing trivial things right now. If he’s remarried yet (he hasn’t). If you honed in on your cursed technique (you have).

It’s terribly odd. Like talking to a stranger that you’ve only met in a dream.

“I thought you’d have better taste in bars,” he drawls, sipping a Cosmo. It was annoyingly endearing, the way he wasn’t the kind of man to have a glass of whiskey despite acting like it.

“I could say the same to you.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not a regular. This place is full of perverts.”

“Does that include you?”

Gojo grins. “Not like some of these guys. You would’ve gotten roofied if I didn’t sit down. And your outfit certainly isn’t helping.”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” you scoff.

“It is one. You’re a sight to behold. Never saw you in anything like this when we were married.”

“Your clan would have my head. I assume you would, too,” you mutter. 

His eyes are taking you in, flickering between your face and your body. It would make you uncomfortable if you weren’t already three beers in. 

“I wouldn’t be angry. I just don’t promise that I would’ve kept my hands to myself.”

You stare at him in disbelief.

“I think this is the most forward you’ve ever been to me.”

“You were so timid back then,” he smirks. He places a hand on your knee, his thumb tracing the skin. “Such a nervous little girl. There were times I assumed you were cheating on me, the way you were so rigid with me.”

You remember being obedient and quiet. Perhaps rigid, but you had only followed his lead, pushing yourself away from him just because he was doing it to you first. You know you shouldn’t apologize or feel guilty for your lack of intimacy with him, but the way he teases you makes your face heat up.

“I wouldn’t cheat on you,” you frown.

“Good,” he smiles. It almost seems genuine. “I wouldn’t have let anyone have you, anyway.”

Your eyes widen in slight surprise.

Why did you let me divorce you, then?

His fingers are tracing circles into the skin of your thigh absentmindedly. The flutter in your chest threatens to pull on your lungs when you notice.

“You’re so different now,” he notes.

“Not really.”

“I don’t just mean the way you look, by the way. Your eyes are sharper. Posture better. Not a meek little thing anymore, huh?”

You could flush at how he belittles you, but the praise gets to your head. 

“Huh. You’re the opposite. You look and act the same as when I last saw you.”

He laughs. “I always liked when you talked back, you know. Anyone ever told you can be a bit of a brat?”

You raise a brow. “Yes.”

His breath smells sweet. Tongue like a candy apple from the sugared liquor in his glass, you were sure. You don’t wince when he gets closer to you.

“Yeah? And how do they deal with it?”

You bite the inside of your cheek before entertaining him.

“Everyone’s a little different,” you mumble.

You miss the flicker of jealousy in his eyes. You’re too distracted by the shape of his mouth.

“What do you think I’d do?” Gojo tilts his head as if he’s taunting you.

“I don’t– what?” you stammer. 

“You’re a smart girl. Use your imagination.”

He grins again. Everything about him is sickeningly sweet. It’s not a side of him you’ve ever seen directed at you. There’s almost a fondness there. You would only see it before in rare moments, usually when Gojo was a little drunk. You suppose he could be drunk now and you’re almost grateful despite yourself. He would always get a little handsy, especially if you were dressed up for his clan events. He’d have his hand only on your leg, crawling up the skirt of your dress. During times like those, he felt like a real husband.

They were always such fleeting moments. Even years after the divorce, certain memories could still make you dizzy. 

Your mouth goes dry. You compose yourself. 

“Sorry. I, uh, have to use the bathroom.”

“Gonna use your imagination in there?” Gojo jokes.

“Something like that,” you mutter back, if only to humor him.

You don’t realize the hole you’ve put yourself in once you utter the words. The invitation you’ve given him. Unfortunately, you’re also still reeling from the conversation, so you forget to lock the door of the handicapped bathroom. 

To be fair, Gojo did try to convince himself not to follow you for the entire three minutes you were gone. But he’s never been that good of a man. It was your fault for being so damn tempting in the first place. But he had tried to be good even in the very beginning – he was polite, kept his hands to himself. Bought you anything you wanted. 

He even let you leave him. After seeing you tonight, he now knows it was a grave mistake.

“Satoru.”

“Hey.” 

He closes the door gently and locks it. Leans against the door with his arms crossed as if waiting for you to do a magic trick from the way he’s looking at you expectantly. 

“Why are you–”

“Don’t pretend you didn’t want me to follow you,” he tuts. 

Okay. Fine. He had a point.

“This must be exciting for you, yeah? Seeing me lose it over you?”

You can’t form words. Despite the fire in your belly, you aren’t completely sure what his angle is here. He steps forward and backs you into the wall. He could pin you to it, easily.

His hands rest on your thighs, riding up the length of the pathetic excuse you call a skirt. 

“You’re trying to kill me with this,” he huffs. “Just making everything so… difficult.”

He almost sounds disappointed in you. There is a rush of desperation flooding your brain like a knee-jerk reaction. You can feel your heart about to burst.

“Sorry,” you mumble. You don’t even know what you’re apologizing for.

“I was really trying to behave, too,” Gojo sighs. “Wouldn’t want to scare my ex-wife away with how much I missed her. Christ.”

“You– what?”

“Yeah, baby. How could I not miss this face?” He strokes your cheek. You’re convinced he’s been possessed by someone else, maybe. Mistaken you for a different stranger.

Your knees are already going weak. He leans in to whisper in your ear. The hand stroking your cheek holds your chin, squishing your face slightly.

“Didn’t you miss me?”

“I… I did,” you whisper.

“Good,” he smiles softly. “I like knowing you still think about me.”

The proximity is driving him insane, but he’s always liked to play with you. Sometimes he would be a little mean on purpose, but never enough to be considered bullying. He just enjoyed watching you squirm back then — it was adorable how dedicated you were to playing the part of a doting wife. He wanted to see you crack, maybe beg for his attention, but you were always too stubborn.

His cock throbs knowing that you’re putty in his hands now. Melting against him, soft and willing like a blooming flower. God, he needs a taste. He nibbles on your earlobe and grins when he feels your breath hitch.

“I kind of wanted to just take you right there on the bar. Let all those creeps see how good I’d fuck you.”

Your eyes flutter rapidly at his words. He has pinned you to the wall now. You’re close enough to feel him press against you, bullet-hard. A little more teasing and he’d pull the trigger. 

He kisses down your neck, mapping it out with his teeth. He’s barely touched you and you feel like an elastic band about to snap.

“S-Satoru–”

“Yeah, sweetheart?”

You pant lightly. You’re preening into his touch. Lightning makes roots down the center of your spine. You forget what you wanted to say.

“What is it? You want me to take care of you?” He pulls back this time to look you directly in the eyes. His expression softens just a second at the lovestruck look in your eyes. Tender and glistening.

You nod slowly.

“I need your words, sweetheart.”

“Yes,” your voice shakes. “I want you to take care of me.”

He hums, pleased. The desire in his face is so new to you despite having been his wife. He’d only fucked you once before, on your anniversary. You were too tempting and he, admittedly, was tired of punishing himself by not allowing himself the pleasure of having you.

He could see you now, sprawled on the tatami mat, how you smelled like cherry blossoms. Flashes of images reeling in his mind, every little sound you made. He’d fucked his fist to the memory of it all too often after you left him. 

He felt honored to have the real thing in his hands right now.

He kisses you like he needs you to breathe. You feel blood rush to your ears, the music from the bar muffled. All you could hear were the sound of his grunts, the slickness of his tongue in between your lips. 

He spins you around abruptly, bending you over the sink. Hand on your throat, teeth in the tendon of your shoulder.

“Look at how pretty you are,” he rasps. 

You whimper, feeling his hard cock rut against the curve of your ass. He laughs when he swipes his hand underneath your skirt, the fabric of your underwear already wet. 

You gasp sharply when he eases a finger in without any resistance. He swallows the sounds you make, craning your neck towards his face with his hand while the other works another finger in. Your stomach flips, all boiling heat when he curves his fingers in just the right spot. As if he’d done it a dozen times.

“Dirty girl,” Gojo mumbles. “Getting off to her ex-husband's fingers all the way up in her cunt. In a fucking dive bar bathroom, too.”

When you whine, he only scissors into you harder and laughs. It kills you how much it turns you on, even while knowing he’s being cruel. You would fantasize about it all the time back then. Needed him to make you a real wife so you could forget yourself. You close your eyes, groaning.

“S-Satoru, I��”

“You’re not gonna cum just from that, are you?” You hear a grin in his voice.

“Fuck, please —”

His fingers leave you, making you whine in protest. The sopping mess of your arousal trickles down your inner thighs. 

“Not yet, baby. Want you to cum in my mouth.”

Gojo drops to his knees and flips up your skirt, pulling your soiled underwear down your legs at the same time. You cover your mouth to keep from moaning when you feel his tongue prodding at your cunt. 

“I always regret not tasting you on our anniversary,” he murmurs, his voice rough. “You’re sweeter than I imagined.”

“Imagined?” you squeak out.

“You thought I stopped wanting you just because I signed a piece of paper?”

“I didn’t – oh, fuck —”

You’re distracted by the plunge of his tongue into cunt. He sucks at the hood of your clit and you feel yourself jerk involuntarily. He’s fond of your sensitivity. He used to want to take advantage of it.

You let a particular loud whine and he hums, lapping up every drop of your arousal. He sucks at your clit in earnest while he brings his fingers back to you, immediately reaching for the spot he knows will make you see stars. 

You cum so hard that you nearly bang your head against the sink faucet. Your head is spinning from the impact of it, dizzied on the high that came from a clan head in your cunt. The alcohol wasn’t helping.

He’s quick to get to his feet and kiss you so you can taste yourself. He tugs your hair and you arch for him like a taut bowstring.

“Feel how much I want you, baby?” You can feel his dick against you, something like shame flooding your system at how much of a mess you were. Getting his nice slacks all damp with your slick.

“Please,” you beg. 

He doesn’t think twice once he hears your plea. He unbuckles his belt quickly and slides down his pants. He collects your wetness in between your folds to stroke his dick. 

It feels like he’s gouging your stomach when he fucks into you. Bigger than any man you’ve had, still. Gojo likes that he was your first and he’s decided now that he will be your last.

“Tight,” Gojo mutters. You know it’s a compliment but your face heats up nonetheless. His hand around your throat is only more confirmation of his want. 

He smacks your ass with his other hand, looking down to admire the reddish mark he left. Brute. He grins when you squeeze him tighter after it. He notices your eyes struggling to stay open and gives a particularly hard thrust just to see your jaw go slack. Eyes in half-moons, boiled by the heat of your thumping heart. Blood pumping to every soft spot in your body, your brain.

“Satoru,” you gasp.

“Yeah, baby?”

“F-Feels so…”

You inhale sharply, eyes widening when his hand snakes down to pinch your clit. Your hair’s wrapped his knuckles now. A ribbon around a wedding gift. He liked when you used to wear ribbons around your neck. Liked imagining you all wrapped up for him. 

Satoru was so beautiful when he did anything, but he was angelic when he was fucking you. Cheeks all carmine, mouth wide open. It was something you wanted to get used to.

“You keep clenching, Jesus,” he grunts. Teeth at your nape, at your shoulder. Blue eyes staring at you in the mirror.

“Satoru, I’m close,” you whine.

“Hold it.”

“I– I don’t know if I can.”

“You can. You’re a good girl, even if you are dressed like a little slut.”

You whimper at that, your cunt pulsating at his words. Muscles strung out like a wet rag. You nearly cry when he pulls out of you, manhandling you to turn. He picks you up to set you down on the cold sink counter, the porcelain soothing the bruising on your ass.

He groans as he pumps himself slowly, admiring the way his tip catches on your entrance. You squirm a little, impatient, and he kisses you. It feels invasive, almost, from how rough he plays with you, sucks on your tongue. He takes the opportunity to ram into you, enjoying the way the pitched whine rolling out of your mouth gets tasted by him.

“Missed my cock, didn’t you?” he smirks. “Still the best you’ve ever had, right?”

“Y-Yes,” you sob.

His gut fucking melts.

Your mascara was getting smudged, not smudgy like he’d see in porn, but blending in the rim of your wet eyes. Dew-drop lashes.

“Feels best like this. Wanna see your face when you cum for me,” he pants. 

Your hands are on his shoulders, clinging onto him. He’s so much bigger than you, especially like this — your legs spread, his big hands gripping your thigh hard enough to hurt a little. You moan. Your voice sounds girlier than usual, wounded. You don’t recognize yourself. 

“Oh, it’s too deep—”

“No such thing,” Satoru snickers. “You’re – hah – so good at this. Good girl.”

“S-Satoru, it’s too–”

“You love it. Tell me.”

“F-fuck — I,” – you struggle mindlessly, voice strained – “I love it…”

“I know, baby,” he coos. Kisses your forehead, which is hilariously domestic and gentle considering the mean pace of his hips. 

He grabs your chin and makes you look up at him. You’re so fucked out. He’d ask you to take a picture if he wasn’t so focused on making you cum.

“You want to cum, don’t you?” he taunts.

“Please, please, please—”

“Okay, honey,” he chuckles. “You can cum now.”

Your moan is louder than expected as your cunt squeezes him impossibly tight. You can feel all the warmth rush out of you. You really are a sight to behold, which is why Satoru cums immediately after you. You feel like you might pass out. 

He kisses you all over your face, mumbling praise as you come back to your body. It’s all most nonsensical, but you swear you hear I love you. Your half-lidded eyes close as he envelops you with his arms, mascara streaking his shoulder.

He opens his mouth to say something but gets interrupted by a succession of loud knocks.

“Other people need to piss!”

Satoru scoffs, pulling away from you to slide his pants back up and buckle them. He mouths something to you that you don’t understand and leans down to grab your underwear to give to you.

“Just a second!” Satoru yells. “My wife is sick, had a bit too much to drink. Almost done.”

“Wife?” you whisper, bewildered.

Satoru eyes soften in amusement. “Sorry. Force of habit.”

[thechekhov]

Since you've covered a pretty big bit of the manga so far, can I ask what are your opinions on it? Deeper than just the quick reactions you've shared with us so far.

What are your opinions about the manga's characters? Its pacing? The mystery element? The magic system? What areas do you think it succeeds, and what areas do you think could be better?

I understand if you're reversing judgment until you finish, but you've also read quite a bit of the story so far. Idk, I'm just curious!

Especially seeing as you're a writer yourself, so I imagine you have a different perspective on how the story functions as, well, a story!

Oh, hmmm... that's an interesting question.

As of right now I'm on chapter 35-36 so I'm about a third through the story. The first major arc (find dragon, yoink falin out of its body, etc) has kinda happened, and we're hitting some larger world arcs.

As you mentioned, I DO want to withold judgement but for now... But I will say what I think thus far, with full awareness that my mind might be changed later depending on circumstances.

Comment 1: The manga is finished! Actually, just knowing that makes me feel like it's a more cohesive storyline.

Maybe I'm boring, but I'm not a huge fan of neverending storylines in general. Naruto, Bleach, etc. They have their place in the forever-young-monster-of-the-week genre, and I know why so many manga just keep... on... publishing....... but I feel like there's a lot of merit to being able to just wrap up a story and say 'there, that's how it ends'.

Comment 2: Laios is very well developed, even at this point of the story. Senshi remains a mystery. Marcille... speedran her arc?

I think this is the closest thing I have to a criticism. While I think Laios' character is well-paced in its revelations throughout the series (the slow ramp-up from 'oh this guy is weird' to 'oh, this guy is a freak club card carrying member' to 'oh, this guy is the freak club president' was great!) Marcille is.... a little more of a mystery to me.

Now, perhaps my memory is bad. But I did find her turnaround at the end of the Red Dragon arc a bit... out of the blue?

Don't get me wrong. I think it's entirely believable. But I wish there had been more hints - or rather, more visible progress of her studies of ancient magic. I know it's been mentioned, and there WAS that chapter of her and Falin during their school years... but watching episode 2 of the show on netflix when she goes 'I feel useless, my magic doesn't help anyone :(' and then reading the manga and seeing her straight up go from 0 to 100 as she decides "we're gonna rearrange falin's bones and then I'mma raise her using this ancient technique I've been studying all along that I didn't tell you about because it was sus" is... a little bit of a turn?

Maybe it's on purpose! Maybe, when I read further about her personal journey, the pieces will fall into place more neatly. But compared to the rest of the characters, which seem relatively steady in their reveals (Laios, Chillchuck, Senshi) Marcille took a bit of a turn.

Which, again, isn't bad! It just seems contrasted to the rest of the team.

Comment 3: The magic system is more like a magic ecology.

Actually, in the beginning, I found the magic system Marcille used very vague. It was just a 'do what needs to be done' type of power with very few apparent limits or power balances aside from 'sometimes you run out of mana'. But I think at this point, I'm beginning to assume that the details of the magic are closer to the functions of an ecosystem or an organism, and therefore WHAT the magic does is kind of moot point. Marcille is just a little bacteria inside of the great intestine labyrinth of the dungeon, and she is using its energy to survive, like a sort of microfauna.

Comment 4: Man, the worldbuilding is cool. It's so cool.

I don't think I've seen another story that goes so deeply into dungeon ecosystems before this one. Not only are the people who live there fleshed out in terms of individual cultures and traditions and norms, there are also monsters that serve as a natural fauna that inhabits the halls of what OUGHT to be a mindless 'turn left and fall into a trap' setting!

There's sticking monsters into your world, and then there's 'digging out a trench 1 meter deep, pre-soaking the soil, inserting monster's roots lovingly into the spot, and then covering it with fertilizer and spritzing the leaves'. I don't doubt that there ARE other works that go into this level of detail, but the dedication and the ideas Kui-san has for this very much makes the dungeon a living part of this entire tale. :)

I'll probably have more to say later but for now.. that's about it!

[ungodly-amounts-of-godly-trauma]

wotw round 1

propaganda under the cut!

shen qingqiu:

Okay first a quick intro: Shen Qingqiu / Shen Yuan is the main character of SVSSS, and his deal is that he's a guy from the modern world who wakes up in the novel he read, in the body of one of the characters. Shen Yuan is his name in his original world, while Shen Qingqiu is the name of the character he became - that he uses for himself for most of the novel.

Now, what happened to him… The thing is, at the core of his woobification are his actual canon traits, but some fans really crank them up to the point where it becomes a disservice to the character. So you never know when someone saying "oh Shen Qingqiu is so oblivious" means "due to several intersecting factors Shen Qingqiu has some extremely specific blindspots regarding certain topics" (which is just true) or "haha Shen Qingqiu could get kissed by a man and still not realize that man has romantic feelings for him" (just one variation of the sentiment, but one i find particularly bewildering considering. in canon. a man kissing him was exactly what made Shen Qingqiu realize that man was actually in love with him. like my dudes the bar is low but its there!).

Stumbling into this second version in fic was funny a first few times, but now it's like… I genuinely can't tell whether any particular author is overplaying it for comedy, or genuinely believes the character is That dumb.

Also ppl often severely underestimate his power level. Like idk if that's because they compare him to the characters he often hangs out with, who are those genius top-of-the-world experts (despite him outpacing literally everyone else he ever fought against), or because of how he bungled his first-ever case (like, you know, two weeks after waking up in a whole NEW BODY, in a different world), or because he tends to downplay his own strength and also tries to avoid killing people… but like, this man took a technique that in the original was just "aesthetic and interesting" and developed it into something that could be super deadly within weeks, he's just not using it that way. And he also fixed og Shen Qingqiu's broken cultivation within the first few months of being in that body. So he's actually extremely talented and pretty strong, he just spends most of the book either nerfed by external factors (such as poison that disables his spiritual energy at random times) or surrounded by veritable powerhouses.

And this is for Shen Yuan-as-Shen Qingqiu. But the version that drives me completely up the wall is actually the portrayal of just Shen Yuan - in fanworks where he either never gets transported to the world of the novel, or wakes up as a different character. Because suddenly the traits that already get unduly amplified with Shen Qingqiu version become straight up caricature-like. He's not only oblivious to the extreme, he also gets painted as this completely naive soft babyboi (this is about a guy whose most well-known pre-transmigration canon trait is that he writes famously vitriolic rants about novels on the internet); plus, like, on the physical level, super frail and waifish which uh. wow. nice walking right back into the BL tropes the novel itself avoided?…… So yeah I'm super not keen on this portrayal. I know he doesn't appear as not-Shen Qingqiu version of himself in the novel, if we don't count the rant in the beginning, but like. please extrapolate from the character we actually have instead of writing this mega-woobie who shares nothing with the base version?

Terrible little bastard man who has a sad backstory but is actually genuinely a terrible person. Fans like to act like he is just a soft sad boi deep inside and make him lose all of his edge.

So the thing about Shen Jiu / og!Shen Qingqiu in canon is that we first learn of him as an unquestionably, almost cartoonishly villainous character. As in, he is literally a villain in the book our main character has been reading… before dying and waking up in the world of the book, as that very villain (hence the distinction of Shen Jiu being the "original" Shen Qingqiu, as our main character begins to use the name Shen Qingqiu for himself. Shen Jiu, however, is an old name that only the original has used). The original Shen Qingqiu that our main character knows is a serial child abuser in a teaching position, a murderer (killed his colleague, killed his old fiancee's entire family…), and a lecher (visited brothels and had designs on his female disciple).

Then, over the course of the novel, we learn more about Shen Jiu - in particular, that a number of things our MC "knew" about him were not true. He did not kill his colleague, but rather failed to save him, despite trying to; he killed his "fiancee"'s family because her older brother has abused him for years (and also, Shen Jiu was forced into agreeing to marry her), and also he only actually killed half of them (only men); he visited brothels because he only felt safe in the company of women, and he just went there to get a good night's sleep; and he only ever saw that female disciple he was accused of lusting after as a daughter. And in general, he had a horrible childhood, and was himself a victim of abuse.

However, not everything gets disproved. Shen Jiu still turned from a victim to perpetrator, abusing a child (coincidentally the protagonist of the og book) and trying to set him up to die/be killed several times. Canon is very clear on that point. The situation with Shen Jiu and the og book version of the protagonist is very much an illustration of cycles of abuse.

Also at a certain point, we meet the author of the in-world book, the one our MC was reading - who explains he scrapped Shen Jiu's tragic backstory because it would make him too controversial. Quoting from memory, something like: 'if you said he was a villain, he was also tragic; but if you said he was pitiful, he'd also done terrible things. All in all, a character like this was a hotbed for all kinds of fandom discourse.'

Prophetic fucking words.

Somehow, seeing all that, some 'fans' have decided to jump into a completely opposite direction: making Shen Jiu a poor little misunderstood meow meow who did nothing wrong ever and was a soft princess and totally was never mean to the protagonist ("the protagonist just has inflated sense of ego and misunderstood Shen Jiu's normal teaching as singling him out for abuse" was a take I had to see with my own two eyeballs. Theres btw an extra from Shen Jiu's pov where he laments that the fake manual he gave the kid has failed to horrifically kill him yet).

Which puts the rest of us in an awkward position of having to defend his canon assholery. Like, the whole point of this character is that he's complex! That he's both a villain and a victim! Reducing him to just one is doing him a disservice, and either extreme is equally incorrect! And this is something that happens with many similar characters, I know, but what boggles my mind about Shen Jiu's case in particular is that. it's spelled out. The whole deal with his character is spelled out in canon. And some people still go "oh so Shen Jiu was secretly the most morally pure and good character, got it". Like. how?????????????? ??? ?? ?????

noriaki kakyoin:

Uke-fied to the max so he can be shipped with jotaro lol

Ohmygod where do I even start. Kakyoin's the poster boy for twinkification and woobification of a canonically very capable, interesting (and not twinky at all) character who's so many things at once- a loyal friend, really smart, a bit of a weirdo, infodumping trivia at random times, quick-thinking in dangerous situations, reckless, polite and respectful, vengeful towards enemies but always kind to friends, depressed, determined and motivated in the face of mortal danger despite it all - even when he had the chance to leave the Stradust Crusaders and just come back to his normal life, he decided to stick with them. This decision eventually cost him his life since he got killed by Dio, the main villain. The fandom either calls him a cardboard with no personality (which is not true at ALL, where did that take even come from) or they downplay his canon badassery- Jotaro x Kakyoin shippers are often guilty of this along with twinkifying Kakyoin. The ship is fine, but they're way more interesting if you take into account their canon characterisation as huge weirdos who somehow work pretty well together- they're both different flavors of autistic that sometimes just so happen to align on the same wavelength.

[yourbloodysunrise]

Hi! I saw your blog and I love your writing btw.

Can you do a separate platonic hc of Ninjago ninjas (+Wu and Gaemadon but they're optional) with a male oc who's basically a lot like Sun Wukong from Lego Monkie Kid, but different?

Basically same idea, super powerful immortal dude thought to be gone, that caused havoc with the hierarchy. Unlike Sun Wukong the legends doesn't describe him as a hero, but as a cruel destructive monster, and yes the legends are true. So then dude was sealed away for centuries until villains freed him to help them conquer Ninjago and destroy the ninjas.

But then dude just doesn't, like straight up doesn't want to because he doesn't feel like it, turns out he's very chill and easy-going, also lazy, looks very human and normal but still powerful as hell. And then he just seems to take interest in the character that you're writing the hcs for, acts very mocking and condescending towards them for being 'mortals', likes to scare the shit out of them, will do it more often if they are scared of him, and sometimes show them what is supposed to be forgotten techniques and knowledge out of 'pity'. He actually do care about them but won't show it unless they're in actual real and serious danger. And may tone his annoying habits down with time.

As for Wu and Garmadon same thing he just acts way less condescending and mocking towards them than he does with the ninjas but it's still there.

🌤 — my, that's sound interesting!I'll do all my best to try making this as you expected to see :)

❝ Isn't this guy should be a villain? ❞

— FANDOM: NINJAGO

— PAIRING: MAIN NINJAS(+MASTER WU and MASTER GARMADON) x MALE!OC

— PLATONIC

— HEADCANONS

— TW: BAD GRAMMAR, BAD ENGLISH, OOC, IDK HOW TO CALL OC SO HE MENTIONED AS "you" xd, NINJA'S DON'T REALLY LIKE DUDE AND I CAN'T BLAME THEM, CAN CONTAIN SPOILERS

LLOYD:

☆ ┈ Like almost everyone else, at first he will treat you with distrust.

☆ ┈ It's like, "you're that dude from the legends, right?Shouldn't you be, well, evil?"

☆ ┈ Most likely, you are interested in him because of his status. The same green ninja who defeated the Overlord himself in the battle against good and evil, but is still a teenager?

☆ ┈ How intriguing.

☆ ┈ He is usually annoyed by your taunts and responds to them with sarcasm.

☆ ┈ You can't blame him, imagine that some guy from the legends is awakened by villains, but instead of fighting you, he starts just walking next to you and mocking you, and you can't even do anything about it.

☆ ┈ At first, he will be scared if you start scaring him, but over time he will get used to it and stop paying attention.

☆ ┈ He's really trying to treat you better, but your taunts in his direction put him off.

☆ ┈ Now, let's talk about what can fix the situation.

☆ ┈ For example, if you show him some kind of combat technique that is considered forgotten.This..Flatters him. No, really, he's pleased.

☆ ┈ Perhaps at some point you will offer him additional training to develop his potential, because "as a green ninja you could do better."

☆ ┈ I had the idea that you would literally be Lloyd's bodyguard at the time when the Sons of Garmadon took over the city.

☆ ┈ You is like: this girl Harumi hunting this green whiner? Pfft, tough shit. *secretly running away to kick her ass*

☆ ┈ Soon you will become something like..Friends, almost.

☆ ┈ Lloyd starts to like your company, but with time, and you stopped mocking him(not quiet, but in the most part)

☆ ┈ Others ninja's honest reaction when you two suddenly began to get along: 😶

— "I feel like I can be myself around you!"

— "..You're weird and lazy around me."

— "Think about it."

NYA:

☆ ┈ Her reaction to you would be "I won't hesitate, bitch." AND IT'S TRUE.

☆ ┈ Nya been hostile to you for a long time, mostly because she doesn't fully understand you.

☆ ┈ Wow, a dangerous dude who could destroy you turns out to be lazy and calm guy, and also constantly hangs out around you and laughs at you?

☆ ┈ Cool, yeeeaah…

☆ ┈ And why?

☆ ┈ You are definitely interested in her personality.  Independent, brave, but at the same time sensitive and also diffident. What a cocktail of feelings!

☆ ┈ You won't be able to scare or offend her, she'll get kind of angry, but she'll just try not to think about it.

☆ ┈ Due to the fact that Nya usually does not pay attention to you, some people from the outside see you as something like friends. It annoys, but it amuses you.

☆ ┈ After that, you will purposely call her like "bud", "darling", "Lily pad"..Just to see her reaction.

☆ ┈ Your relationship can definitely be called complicated.

☆ ┈ If the villains freed you during/before season 5, you will be the one who will help you train. Nya doesn't seem to mind, but she doesn't understand why you're helping her despite her hostility.

☆ ┈ I think she's just closed to you, but there will be times when she'll soften up. For example, if she is in danger and you help her.

☆ ┈ Over time, Nya may become more in contact with you, because in her eyes you cease to be an enemy. She is not ready to see you as an ally, because she still doubts you, but certainly does not consider you an enemy.

☆ ┈ It seems to me that Jay might be jealous, but not as much as he is of Cole. If your presence touches the love triangle of Jay, Nya and Cole, then you would be the one who pushed Nya to talk to them about it.

☆ ┈ Of course, it would sound something like "Come on, I just started to like you, pull yourself together and deal with them, don't make me change my mind!"

☆ ┈ But hey, you at least tried, right?

☆ ┈ In general, you have a dynamic of dangerous creature that for some reason simply refuses to destroy, and a person tired of it who cannot get rid of the creature.

— "What's up with you?"

— "Mm, what do you mean?"

— "You've been nice and helpful all day. What's your game?.."

JAY:

☆ ┈ Guy is completely confused and does not understand why you paid attention to him.

☆ ┈ Come on, man, there are so many people here!Just go away, okay?

☆ ┈ When you try to treat him condescendingly, Jay just either jokes or interrupts you and leaves.

☆ ┈ He actually feels uncomfortable about it. Like, is he worse than others, since you are bothering him or what?

☆ ┈ Jay could be really scared if you start scaring him, and if you continue to do this, he may start to get hysterical about it and try to get into a fight with you.

☆ ┈ He is stopped in time, but he will still feel hostility towards you for a long time. It seems to me that he is the most vindictive towards you of all.

☆ ┈ You will have a hard time if you try to establish a relationship with him. Yes, you care about Jay, but at the same time you treat him mockingly, so it definitely makes him angry.

☆ ┈ He, like Nya, will not quite appreciate your gesture if you reveal to him some forgotten knowledge. As it were, he would rather be confused and try to figure out why you did it.

☆ ┈ In order for you to somehow fix the relationship, you will most likely have to not scare him at all and turn ridicule into jokes. Only then will he think that you are not so bad.

☆ ┈ Jay will definitely start liking you more if you help him with Nya. No kidding, if you "out of pity" give him some advice without ridicule, he will be very grateful to you.

☆ ┈ In general, there are four phases in your communication with Jay: Denial, Anger, Confusion, Acceptance.

☆ ┈ I recently reviewed Skybound, and if I may mention it here:

☆ ┈ If you were freed after the events of Skybound, then he can mention you about it after the Acceptance stage, when he will already trust you at least a little, but not fully;

☆ ┈ If you were freed before/during the events of Skybound, I am sure that you will be the one who will actively protect Jay, so that you will instantly move to the stage above Acceptance, but I do not know exactly what the outcome of events will be, so be content with what you have :p

☆ ┈ It seems to me that you would have the dynamics of a more sensitive MK and Macaque, if compared with LMK.

*Jay and Nya look into each other's eyes*

*You open a can of soda*

— "Hey, can you keep it down?!We're having a romantic moment here!"

— "And I have soda."

KAI:

☆ ┈ Unlike others, he perceives you as a kind of rival.

☆ ┈ Kai is not mind a good opponent in the form of you. He is overconfident in this..However, this has always been his problem.

☆ ┈ Maybe you decide to feed his competitive spirit simply because it amuses you?

☆ ┈ Kai can't fight you seriously, considering that it's not in his best interests, but when it comes to something not deadly, he doesn't mind taking the initiative.

☆ ┈ For example, if you live with a ninja (no matter how much times they try to kick you out), he feels that he has to compete with you.

☆ ┈ You, finding an opportunity to have fun in his fiery mood to fight with you, play along with him.

☆ ┈ Because of this, you two really can't called enemies. You treat each other almost the same, make fun of each other or just joke, sometimes it feels like Kai doesn't even know how powerful you are. (most likely, he does not know, and he will find out later, but it is too late and he does not change his attitude towards you)

☆ ┈ This is probably a rare case where a ninja doesn't hate you right away. I would say that Kai finds you a rival, not a villain, especially considering the fact that you refused to destroy the ninja, even if you did it just because you didn't want to.

☆ ┈ He will often ask you to fight, of course you don't fight at full strength, so as not to flatten him against the wall, but enough to knock the spirit out of him.

☆ ┈ Kai is definitely the one who will train with you. At first it's just your usual duels, but with your advice, and later he can easily use your techniques. At some point, he may even actually fight you.

☆ ┈ The main thing: not overdo it!Other ninjas didn't like when you accidentally knocked Kai into the wall last time..

☆ ┈ If you were freed before/during season 4, expect a lot of work. In the end, what can you do if your favorite ninja is trying to fight an snake army of crazy noodle man, a fire snake squeezes all the strength out of him, some ghost inhabits his friend and also many bullshit?..A lot of work!

☆ ┈ P.s. When you scared him, he tried to scare you for 2 more weeks in retaliation.

— "Nice scar, hot head, but hair? Gosh, what you was thinking about, bud?"

— "Ha, you're the one who telling me that? You should see your hair after being sealed away for damn centuries!"

ZANE:

☆ ┈ He is..not sure how to react to you.

☆ ┈ Thanks for not helping the villains and all that, but is it necessary to mock him?..

☆ ┈ By the way, whether you will mock at him or not is a big question. Let's take a look at the possible options.

☆ ┈ If you were freed during/after 4 season, then you will most likely laugh at Zane for being a robot and easily incapacitated.

☆ ┈ If you still caught a moment when he looked like a human, then everything will be the same, BUT after he sacrifices himself and restores himself as a robot, your honest reaction will be this: 😳

☆ ┈ You can say that in the second option you leave Zane alone, because you most likely have already become attached to him and are just glad that he is here again.

☆ ┈ In general, it will probably be difficult for you to tease or scare him simply because he either does not understand most of your taunts or does not react in any way. Often both. And it doesn't work to scare him at all, he just passes by.

☆ ┈ He's strangely polite to you, and that puzzles you. Soon, if you stop mocking him, he may begin to see you as something of an ally.

☆ ┈ Zane will be grateful if you share with him something that is considered to be forgotten. Most likely, it will become publicly available later, so don't be surprised.

☆ ┈ P.I.X.A.L. DOESN'T like you, she constantly warns Zane that you are still a dangerous villain who brings destruction. In order for her to start trusting you, you'll probably have to save Zane from some bullshit.

☆ ┈ I thought back to season 11, and I had the idea that maybe Zane as the Ice Emperor could remotely remember something about you. (yeah, this is exaggerated, but listen-)

☆ ┈ Of course, he doesn't remember you fully, but he remembers that you were connected to him. Perhaps he has a silhouette of you or something in his memory, so his minions are strictly forbidden to attack you.

☆ ┈ All in all, to sum up, the two of you have a dynamic of "I can fix him." and "Haha, funny robot, lol."

— "You should stop acting ridicilous."

— "Well, someone's gotta be jester for the court, after all."

COLE:

☆ ┈ Okay, let's start with the fact that he doesn't understand you.

☆ ┈ Yes, exactly doesn't understand. Cole can't understand why you refuse to fight the ninja, why do you hang around him so often?

☆ ┈ He would be flattered by your attention if you didn't behave so condescendingly towards him.

☆ ┈ Cole finds you..Annoying, but at the same time, he's not against you. He wouldn't want you to help the villains who freed you capture Ninjago instead.

☆ ┈ Sometimes you can have fight, and, well, it's unpleasant for both of you..

☆ ┈ Cole is physically strong even without his elemental power, although it reinforces this, you are just as damn strong, but not completely physically. Because of this, you both get hurt in your fights, and your relationship noticeably hinders your ability to get closer.

☆ ┈ Soon, when he starts to get used to you, the fights will stop, but quarrels are still possible. Most often they happen if you make fun of him or try to scare him.

☆ ┈ Despite your quarrels, you and Cole are a great duo!In fights, the opponent should pray that you are not alone, otherwise nothing good will obviously happen.

☆ ┈ Both of you will soon relent. There are fewer quarrels, you become less condescending towards Cole, and he in turn becomes more relaxed with you.

☆ ┈ Show him an old, forgotten dance!No ancient knowledge or techniques can arouse his interest as much as dancing.

☆ ┈ If Cole has free time and Jay is busy, he prefers to spend it with you. Yes, you are not the best choice..But he likes you, so you have a pass!

☆ ┈ He most likely prefers to train with you, or, what else is better in his opinion, just be lazy with you. He even tried to teach you how to play his favorite video games.

☆ ┈ Your complicated relationship, even after a long time, will become something like a friendly one. Cole likes your presence, you like his personality.

☆ ┈ You form a strange but successful collaboration. Other ninjas don't say anything about it, because they see that you care about Cole, even in your own way.

— "I want a cake.."

— "Me too."

— "Let's steal it from that fiery guy!"

— "..."

— "Well, why not-"

MASTER WU & MASTER GARMADON:

☆ ┈ First, let me explain why they both in one headcanons, when others separate.

☆ ┈ Considering that Wu and Garmadon have lived for about a millennium, you are most likely familiar with them. Perhaps were even friends until you began to destroy, and Garmadon succumbed to evil? Who knows..

☆ ┈ I prefer to stick to that version that, and therefore it will be more convenient for me to write about them together.

☆ ┈ In this, you are interested in Wu and Garmadon rather because you are curious about what happened to them while you were sealed. After all, so many years have passed, you'd like to know how they went!

☆ ┈ If so, this explains why you mitigate your annoying habits with them. It's rude to mock old acquaintances, isn't it? This is definitely not the way to greet your friend!

☆ ┈ While you are trying to restore your friendly relations with Wu and Garmadon, despite everything you have done, Wu treats you neutrally, and Garmadon is more lenient.

☆ ┈ God, please don't mention that you and Garmadon are similar in that you both tried to destroy Ninjago, it will infuriate the hell out of him because unlike you, he was literally forced to become evil. (cough Overlord. cough)

☆ ┈ You're just trying to get your friendship back, which you're having a hard time doing. Garmadon is disappointed in you because of your actions, and Wu does not want to stir up the past because he already has a lot of problems related to it.

☆ ┈ Mocking or trying to scare one of them will most often end up with you being hit on the forehead with a staff. Because you've been sealed for centuries, you don't look very old, but they already look old, so you look like a naughty child and his guardians.

☆ ┈ For some reason, I have a feeling that you can make friends with Lloyd in this. In the plan, you probably won't be condescending to him just because he's Garmadon's son, and he'll be friendly with you.

☆ ┈ If you were freed before season 5, then rest your soul, because Morro can't stand you. If you have not yet been sealed at the moment when he was still a student of Wu, then he remembers you perfectly well, and this is BAD, because no matter how he resents Wu, he knows about your former friendship, and believes that you betrayed his Master, and for him this is unforgivable.

☆ ┈ At some point, they will most likely start to get used to you, which means they will stop being wary of you. You wouldn't put up with it for so long just to get back at them in the end.

☆ ┈ The dynamic of former friends, one of whom tries to restore friendship, and the other two ignores him, but eventually accept him, I think.

— "Heeyy!It was long time ago, friends!"

— "We're not your friends."

— "How do you even get in Monastery?"

— "..Okay, you two didn't miss me, I got it."

..:*･ﾟ☆.｡.:*･ﾟﾞ｡.:*･ﾟ☆.｡.:*･ﾟ🌤

🌤 — ah, I've finally finished writing this!sorry for the long wait, I had no motivation for some time, but here we are!

🌤 — I decided to do Wu and Garmadon because I long to write for characters that are important in the plot, but for some reason no one asks for them :/

🌤 — but here we are!hope you like it, come back soon!☆ <3

[victim-of-subtraction]

guys a blue lock x jjk au came to me in a dream do we fw it? (it’s not fully fleshed out yet, but this is what I have so far)

there are KIND OF. some jjk spoilers (I make references to certain events/ characters, so be warned)

so, there’s the Kyoto and Tokyo branches, and each would have maybe 5 students, here’s what I have so far+ explanations

TOKYO -

Nagi

2nd year (17)

cursed speech user, semi first grade

orphan (deceased sorcerer parents) + abandoned by relatives bc of his ct

has been a sorcerer for less than a year, reo found him during a mission 1st year

alright this one kinda just made sense in my head, cause he’s already pretty quiet + has trouble communicating (reo is the only one who can usually understand what he’s thinking, without him saying it..)

Reo

2nd year (17)

Heir to the mikage clan (one of big 3)

copy technique, 2nd grade awaiting promotion

has limited cursed

do I really need to explain this one? (reo’s already an heir + his chameleon/copying bit)

Isagi

2nd year (17)

sukuna’s vessel, special grade

main character whos strangely overpowered, but really has no idea what he’s doing

Chigiri

2nd year (16)

sorry guys I genuinely could not assign a canon ct to him, might have to make one up later, I will take suggestions tho

was scouted to jujustu tech after being involved in some kind of incident involving cursed spirits

Comes from a non-sorcerer family

Kunigami

2nd year (17)

deadly sentencing (domain expansion) + judgeman (shikigami)

grade 3

wanted to become a sorcerer to protect/pay for his family

older sister is a sorcerer as well

His whole ‘hero’ shtick, plus his righteousness was what made me pick these for him, and I know he’s not a seasoned lawyer like higuruma, but his morals are still pretty strong I’d say

KYOTO -

Karasu

3rd year (18)

black bird manipulation, 1st grade

usually watches fights from afar, uses his birds to help with recon or intel-gathering (but he can fight if he needs to)

comes from non-sorcerer family

Again, idk if I really have to explain this one (karasu’s known for being extremely analytical + ‘karasu’ means crow)

Otoya

2nd year (17)

blood manipulation, semi first grade

probably just became a sorcerer because he had nothing better to do

sorcerer family

This one was kinda like nagi, it makes sense in my head. I don’t really have a solid explanation, but it’s just the vibes I get from him

Yukimiya

3rd year (18)

2nd grade

extremely proficient at hand-to-hand combat/handling weapons

alright now, I had two possible ideas for him, but I haven’t fully decided yet, so I will update if I do figure it out

Alright, so you can skip this if you wanna, but these are the two options + explanations for yukki: 1) grade 2 sorcerer, completely blind, uses cursed energy to sense sorcerers/spirits around him (there was a whole bit about isagi comparing him to toph, but him not knowing who that is) 2) grade 4 sorcerer, has perfect vision, but cannot see cursed spirits without the help of special glasses, and has no cursed energy (like maki) < this one might not work, because he’s not a twin, but ocs exist for a reason yk!!!

Hiori

2nd year (16)

Heir to the hiori clan (one of big 3)

ten shadows technique + chimera shadow garden (domain)

2nd grade

inherited technique

faces heavy pressure/abuse from his clan to become the next head

has no interest in being a sorcerer

I think I kinda explained it in the 2nd to last bullet, but hiori already faces pressure from his parents to be the best, so making him a clan heir seemed reasonable in my head

Nanase

1st year (16)

straw doll technique, 3rd grade

non-sorcerer family

Again, like Otoya this is purely from vibes. I guess I was kind of influenced by nobara and Nanase both being from the country

———

alright that’s it for students ☝️ I’m considering adding some more, but we’ll see later.

now the teachers are:

Anri

Tokyo branch

powerful reversed cursed technique

grade 1

Vibes. She’d definitely be leagues cheerier than shoko though

Ego

Tokyo branch

creates cursed corpses

grade 1

The cursed corpses are like the blue lock men (if you don’t remember, they were the ai goalkeeper things)

———

now, before we get into the antagonists, I did plan one extra character:

Sae

Current head of the Itoshi clan (one of big 3)

limitless technique + possesses the six eyes

special grade

I knew sae had to be powerful, so I gave him the technique.

———

antagonist time 😈

Rin

Curse user, special grade

cursed spirit manipulation

non-inherited technique

sick of never being taken seriously for having a non-inherited technique, so he defected from his clan just as he was about to join jujustu tech

started a group of cursed users

:3 sibling fights! (Sae doesn’t gaf)

Shoei Barou

Curse user, grade 1

part of rin itoshi’s group

disaster flames

doesn’t get along with any of the other members, but sticks around to have powerful allies

barou was like. THE first one I chose to be a villain. He fr says it himself, if he can’t be the main character, he’s gonna become the villain.

Bachira

curse user, special grade

part of rin’s group

yorozu’s vessel

Guys. You gotta hear me out, but the whole yorozu sukuna thing.. rn it only makes sense to me but I’ll explain more in a bit i would like to note that Bachira can still control his body, it’s more like an itadori vessel type thing than how it actually was with tsumiki

Shidou

No cursed energy at all

uses cursed tools

known as the ‘sorcerer killer’

basically a hitman for hire

not technically part of rin’s group, but used to hover around them since rin gave him good assignments and paid him well

again, the second I started making this I knew 100% Shidou would be an antagonist. The only part that idk ab is the fact he’d willingly work with rin..

———

now, I don’t have a full plot in my head yet, but these are some pretty important facts that happen in this au (not in chronological order):

The Kyoto and Tokyo schools have an exchange event where the Kyoto students attempt to murder isagi, and the event is later crashed by curse users (rin’s group)

Shidou kills Kunigami (I’m sorry I’m sorry I love him but I had to)

Nanase is outed as a traitor/spy for rin (bros motto was ‘if you cant beat them, join them’)

with karasu’s help, hiori figures out how to do a domain expansion

Bachira (who has previously been fully devoted to rin, since he owed his life to him) meets isagi, and feels an instant bond with him, partially due to yorozu (who took the place of his ‘monster’ in this au) seeking out sukuna

isagi later convinced Bachira that he could reform, and join jujustu tech to live a happier life with him, and just as he’s about to accept, he’s killed by rin itoshi for betraying him. (Again, I’m sorry, but I had to. Think junpei itadori relationship. That’s what they are)

hiori (again, with karasu’s help) breaks away from his clan

————

some notes:

I didnt wanna add any nel players bcuz then it’d get too complicated (otherwise Lorenzo would’ve been the perfect sorcerer killer, bc ‘ace eater’ and everything..)

but I do not have any teachers for the Kyoto branch bc of this, and I’m contemplating changing the story a lil bit to have the Kyoto students possibly join the Tokyo school because of their teachers dying or smth?? I’m honestly not sure. there are a couple things I wanna add, but haven’t figured out yet, like nagi betraying (but not really betraying) reo somehow, chigiri witnessing kunigami’s death and fighting Shidou, and Shidou somehow meeting sae (im a ryusae kinda guy at heart)

I was planning to try to draw smth from this au, but I’ve had absolutely 0 motivation to do art lately if I missed smth important or if you have any questions or recommendations plsplspls lmk 🙏🙏

[nananarc]

Would you guys be interested if I make some painting tutorials? Honestly idk if my techniques and process would help cos I'm messy af but it could be fun to do anyway 👀

[khaire-traveler]

Idk if this sounds really weird but I'm getting a bit tired of greek myth retellings for books bc like, yeah some are pretty good and others get really creative, but they all do the whole "the gods are kind of assholes" thing that the original myths do and it really pisses me off after a while. I keep seeing people try to tell the stories in modern prose but they don't modernize the Theoi while they're at it. In the myths, they're just characters to do plot stuff so the myth can tell the story its trying to tell. But how they did characters back then is different than now. Maybe it's just because I know the gods aren't actually like that, and its the helpol in me speaking, but I just wish they put more nuance to the gods in these books like they do for whoever the (usually mortal) protagonist is. It makes me really wanna write my own modern greek myth inspired story, change this pattern up a bit.

Also part of me kind of wishes that more people would write their own myths bc thats such an interesting way to tell a story, but tbh I don't think I'd trust anyone who just has a casual knowledge of the theoi and such to do it just bc misconceptions are so prevalent, yknow?

THIS. Nonny, you have put into words a feeling I've had for a long ass time. They always talk about modernizing Greek myths, yet they forget to modernize the gods, instead just opting to villainize them because it's "more interesting" (forget the fact it's been done a thousand times by now and is no longer an interesting twist, really). It's so incredibly frustrating to come across these uninspired stories where the gods are just another Big Bad Evil Guy™. GIVE ME SOMETHING WITH SUBSTANCE, COWARDS!!! MAKE THE GODS REDEEMABLE IF YOU'RE GOING TO VILLAINIZE THEM!!!! GIVE THEM THE ABILITY TO LEARN FROM THEIR MISTAKES AND CHANGE AS CHARACTERS!!!

I demand more interesting content about the gods than, "Ooooo, wouldn't it be sooooo cool if the gods were actually the bad guys??? Wouldn't that be sooooo original?" No, it wouldn't; kiss my ass (clarifying that's not aimed at you, Nonny lol). You wanna be original in this day and age? Make the gods cool, modern, and intriguing. Give them actual purpose outside of "being immoral and evil and corrupt", as if all they are are wealthy billionaires who don't give a shit about the fact that they have world-ending abilities. THEY CONTROL THE ENTIRE PLANET, BRO; MAKE IT INTERESTING!!! Hephaestus leading the world in amazing technological and industry advancements with cool futuristic shit that would blow your mind. Athena providing counsel to political leaders to steer them on a path AWAY from corruption and TOWARDS improvement. Apollo cultivating new healthcare techniques that eradicate certain illnesses entirely and even inspiring humanity to blossom creatively through means of divine inspiration. Hermes doing quite literally anything other than mail services would just be fun to see, tbh; have him domesticate wild beasts and terrifying monsters - he's so much cooler than Mail Man™. It took me a few minutes to come up with that; it's seriously not that hard to come up with literally anything besides "tehe, gods are evil". For the love of all that is creative and fun, do something FUN with Greek gods instead of just making them immediately antagonistic. Lame. Boring. Unoriginal. Be daring, and strut your creative muscles. Show me what you're made of, authors.

[diorvexyy]

OKAY I NEED HELP, LIKE REALLY.

I suddenly remembered this author who wrote a knyxreader fic, but when I opened their acc link on my notes it won't open anymore (I dont have tumblr that time when I was accessing their fics)

All I know is that the name of their tumblr is hanakages tumblr? YEAH THAT and they had Kyojuro's mother as their pfp if I'm not mistaken.

I know that the last time I've read their fics is in 2021 but, if you can, can you pls help this dear reader to find that user? I really want to check out if that fic of theirs is still up and ongoing or if their acc is still active cause I want to follow them+their works(I think they have an alt acc if I'm not mistaken, but idk what's the name) T-T

THANK YOU GUYS!!! LOTS OF LOVE 🩵🩵🩵🩵🩷🩷🩷🩷

P.s

Sadly, I can't remember its title since the last time I read their fic is in 2021 :(( but I could describe it. The reader is Tanjiro's big sister in the fic and uses a breathing technique that is kinda similar to Zenitsu's (I think it's thunder if I'm not mistaken)

P.s.s

If some of you are also trying to find this fic (along with its author), the updates are in the comments/notes :)) 🩵

P.s.s.s

The author has an ao3 acc, you guys can check it on the comments if you're interested 🩵

[otomes-and-tears]

hii 😭 idk if youre still around to talk about shiloh but i am digging around for scraps and am very interested in any other thoughts you have about him?! like the shiloh-nate similarities you mentioned or anything thank you and/or sorry 😭🙏

Oh, dearest anon, I am ALWAYS HERE TO TALK ABOUT SHILOH! I always welcome opportunities to talk about my boys, so don’t feel shy— send as many questions as you want 💕

Ahem, when I was writing one of my huge Shiloh analysis posts, one of the conclusions I came to is that one of possible interpretations of Shiloh’s… Shiloh-ness, is that his manipulative tendencies stem from a need for control.

He’s good at reading people and understanding what they need: he has specific manipulation tactics that he tweaks to fit a specific group’s needs and carefully, painfully, adheres to them. I’d say that makes them somewhat predictable— once he finds out that JB responds well to flattery, he lavishes her with endless praise. Once he figures out she prefers problematic men, he lets her in on some of his techniques so she feels like they are closer. He makes himself someone people need, even if they don’t want him.

It’s a way for him to control the narrative. It’s his way to have power, since he’s never the leader.

And well, Nate is canonically a control freak. He just expresses it differently.

He doesn’t really trust other people to do things right, because in his mind they’re all incompetent anyway, so he constantly overwhelms himself with responsibility. That also stems for a need for control— Nate can’t control his own feelings (hence him being prone to bursts of anger and tears) so he controls everything else, to the point there she keeps a tight leash on even those close to him (ie. Everett and JB).

He’s a natural-born leader and people kind of gravitate towards him— even if he tries to push them away.

Nate is the most popular guy in school, after all, even if his reputation isn’t the best.

So at least in my mind that makes them equals and opposites: Both need control. Both thrive in having a firm grasp over their lives— they just express it differently:

Nate doesn’t have control over his emotions and Shiloh doesn’t know how to be genuine, Nate pushes others away while Shiloh needs them close.

[mynahx3]

I Tried, I Really Did

Okiii Big warning yall!! This is JJK x reader but no love interest, just talks of their highschool time (Might expand more into this AU) Kinda hinted at with Geto x reader and Gojo x reader but nothing concrete This is a very DARK story with no comfort. Reader gets into a really bad headspace so if this is triggering for you I don't recommend you read it. Ending is kinda up to interpretation but still. It gets dark. Just wanted to write this idea out and it spiraled, might write an epilogue to it but idk. Gonna mainly focus on my other fics after this.

The cold winter air bites at your face, causing a prickling sensation on your skin as you walk down the street. Street lights adorned for the upcoming holidays illuminate the stores. Happy families and couples are walking down the street, eager to escape the cold.  

The last few years have been rough on you due to the overwhelming stress of being a sorcerer. As a young sorcerer, you face the daily burden of curses and loneliness, yet your future is full of possibilities. Still… You couldn’t help but feel tired, burdened by the daily challenges of curses and loneliness. A loud laugh grabs your attention, making you up, you see a group of teenagers. They laughed together without a care in the world, enjoying their time together. Surely thinking they were going to be together forever. At this sight, your mind began to wander to simpler times with people you thought would be by your side forever, the bracelet on your wrist was a reminder. 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

“Suguru! Satoru! Shoko and I got ice cream!”  

The four of you had just met earlier that year but were thick as thieves since you were the only first years. You guys were always together on missions and hanging out. Getting into trouble with the teachers and running pranks on them. Each of you were strong in your own right, with the future of becoming strong sorcerers ahead of you. You were especially grateful for your new friends who made the transition to Jujutsu Tech easier. You discovered your cursed technique later in life, considered a late bloomer, and were fortunate to be found by a sorcerer visiting your country. Quickly, you were brought to Jujutsu Tech, a school specializing in curses, to learn more about the world of curses. Seeing your grocery bags, the boys run over to you, smiling and nudging each other roughly. Arguing already on which one they called dibs on. 

“Fine Satoru.” The black haired teen sighed, plopping next to you. Satoru eagerly took the bag to look through it. You each took your own seat against a wall nearby. Suguru looked over at yours, raising his eyebrow at the sight of your new bracelet. 

“That new?” He asked, twirling some of his longer hair around a finger in thought. The teen had started growing it out just before starting high school, so it just reached his shoulders. 

It was a cute beaded bracelet, a simple thing. The color really complimented your skin tone, in his opinion. 

“Yup! Shoko remembered what my favorite color was and bought it for me.” You confirmed, smiling brightly.

“It’s nothing much.” She shrugs, tossing her stick into the bag, going into it to grab the cigarettes she stole, much to your chagrin. You had begged her not to start smoking, having heard how bad it is for people. 

“It’s cheap.” Satoru chimes, earning a smack on the shoulder from you. 

"Well, I love it.” Poking your tongue out at him playfully while he rubbed the sore spot. 

The beginning of school with them was like a dream filled with adventures. Each day you cherish them, growing closer to them. 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Your days were bland now. A cycle of the same old thing. Get up, eat, exorcize curses, eat, sleep, and repeat. Nothing was new. Nothing. The only company you had was the occasional visit of your two closest friends, Shoko and Satoru, but those were rare. The two of them also had a busy schedule, as is usual for a sorcerer. Nothing reminded you more of your loneliness than the holidays, seeing people with their loved ones while yours were miles away. You had the financial resources to fly over and visit your family, but your packed schedule filled with missions and training left you with no time to make the trip. Your interactions with your family now solely revolve around phone calls, filled with updates on your life, nostalgic anecdotes, and the occasional words of encouragement that echo through the receiver. As you walked through the streets of Tokyo it began to snow. Raising your hand up you admired the snowflakes falling onto your palm. Mind wandering still, thinking of when it all began to go downhill. 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

“You want to stay weak? You're not going to get any better like this.” Satoru looks down at you, sucking onto a lollipop that he had for the entire fight. Still looking as perfect as ever, not having broken a sweat. 

You lay on the floor, tears brimming your eyes from frustration and your face red from the sparring session you had with him. Shoko and Suguru sat in the grass nearby, watching the two of you go at it for the last couple hours. Each round ended the same as the last. 

“Take it easy on her!” Shoko yelled, frowning at the white haired teen smiling away. 

“She shouldn’t have asked to train if she couldn’t keep up!” He yelled back, walking towards her and beginning to bicker with her. Satoru left you in the grass, as usual. Seeing this, Suguru got up, offering you a hand to get up with a soft smile on his face.

""You did well; don't let him bother you," Suguru said reassuringly as he helped you up. Shoko and Satoru continued their argument in the background, but you were grateful for Suguru's support at that moment. "Satoru is just an idiot; you're decent for your level."

"Gee, thanks." You laughed, sarcasm dripping from your tone, brushing the dirt off your uniform. A frown was etched on your face while you rubbed your shoulder, sore from being thrown to the floor countless times.

This was usually how training with Suguru or Satoru went, with one of them always throwing you to the floor. Wiping your tears from your eyes, you let out a huff, silent as everyone talked to each other, returning to sit back on the grass for a break. The three of them laughed about something you didn’t catch, too busy being frustrated and embarrassed by yet another loss against him. 

Lately, you have been training your butt off, only to have the same results. Your cursed technique, illusion creation, was not improving much; despite hours of practice, you still struggled to maintain the illusions for more than a few seconds. Granted, you were already a grade 2, which is higher than the average student could say while in their second year. But being in a class with the three of them, anyone would feel subpar. Two of the strongest sorcerers of this generation, one hailing from a great clan, along with a sorcerer with a rare healing technique. While you were just an exchange student who was thrown into a different country, relearning everything they thought they knew about the world. While you did find solace in your classmates; the four of you became close over the last couple of years together. Still, you couldn't help but feel like you were a random puzzle piece, constantly trying to fit into a picture where the other pieces seemed to align effortlessly. Zoning out, you didn't hear your name being called out—a hand waving in your face.

"Hello!" Shoko laughed, nudging your shoulder. "Welcome back to reality."

You look up and see the three of them looking at you, smiles on their faces. Shaking your head, you laughed with them.

"Sorry, just out of it today." You say this, rubbing your neck and looking back at the sky. "What were you saying?"

"Just thinking we should hit up the arcade; it's been awhile since we all went." She said, All three of them looked you expectantly.

"I'm good, guys." You shrugged your shoulders, sloping as you weakly smiled at them. "Maybe next time."

The group departs after finishing up the training session, with the three of them heading to the arcade. Going back to your room, you tiredly take a shower and change into your clothes. Feeling dejected as you go lay down. Your emotions were taking hold as you looked up at the ceiling. You couldn't shake the feeling of isolation that had been creeping in lately. It was hard to explain, but you just needed some time alone to recharge.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

You don’t know when you got home. The apartment was clean, almost barren, and the fridge was empty from not being refilled recently. Only a carton of milk and leftover takeout from the previous night inside it. You drop your snow covered coat onto the hanger with your scarf, leaving your shoes on the rack. Slipping your slippers on, you go into the kitchen to eat. With no other option, you reheat the takeout. While that was in the microwave, you got a call. Fishing your phone out of your pocket, you saw your parents calling, sighing, and you answered it. 

“Hey mom.” You said, picking up the milk carton, looking at it not even halfway full. 

“Honey! How’s my sweet girl doing?” She asked, kindness in her tone. Your family is loud in the background, as usual. 

“I’m okay,” you replied, pouring the milk down the drain. Your appetite is gone as you toss the leftover food out. 

"Well, that’s good. We miss you, dear; we really wish you’d come over instead of working so much.” She says, “Don’t be getting fat now! You know how you are with food.”

“I know, mom.” You sigh, rubbing your temple. “Tell everyone I love them. I gotta head to bed. Long day.” 

“Well, get some rest; your father says hello! Love you, dear!”

With that, the call ends, and the silence in your apartment deafens. Finding nothing else to do, you walk around, cleaning up the already cleaned apartment. While doing so, you come across an old picture on your desk. Six teens were all smiling together at a carnival in the summer before things went to shit. 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

One fateful mission, involving a powerful foe, altered the dynamics of your group forever, leaving behind a trail of uncertainty. 

The once tight group is more spread out now. Everyone felt different now, especially after losing the Star Platinum Vessel. Satoru and Suguru returned from the mission differently. No one was as close; the four of you rarely saw each other. Shoko was always on campus; the higher ups didn't want to risk losing her, while everyone else was sent on solo missions due to the high abundance of curses now. This pressure was felt not only by you but also by Suguru, the two of you looking worse for wear. On a rare day, you happened to see him, taking the chance to check on him. 

“Sugu! How are you doing?” You asked, walking with him in the dorm hallways. He barely acknowledged you, smiling weakly your way. His long hair was down with a tired look on his face, not that you looked any better. 

“I’m fine. What about you? You look tired.” 

You wave off his worry with a hand, dismissing his question with a laugh. 

“Nothing I can’t handle; I gotta suck it up.” You laugh, not noticing the worried look in his eyes for you, too busy noticing the time on your watch. “Take care of yourself, you look like shit man. I’ll catch you later. I've got to go on this mission with Haibara, but I've got to look over the paperwork. We should try to hang out soon, dude; it's been too long.” 

You two never got to hang out, sadly. The mission ended with Haibara passing, something you and your underclassman, Nanami, carried with guilt. The unrelenting stream of missions, coupled with the lack of respite, weighed heavily on your shoulders, eroding your spirit and straining your bonds with those around you. The mounting pressure and constant demands pushed Suguru to his limits, until one day, the weight of it all became too much to bear, and he reached his breaking point, shattering the facade of composure he had struggled to maintain. 

Satoru was the one to break the news to you, waking you up in the middle of the day. Disbelief at his words, anger at yourself for not questioning him more, not checking in on him like you should. Too absorbed in your own missions and feelings. Tears ran down your face as Satoru took you into his arms. The two of you were mourning someone who was very much alive.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

You reminisce about the time when you and Satoru would spend hours training together, sharing stories under the starlit sky, forging a bond that felt unbreakable. The two of you comforted each other greatly after Suguru defected. For a while, you found happiness in your bond with him and Shoko. Sitting outside on your balcony with a cigarette between your lips. The city lights shining below with the snowfall.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

One day, on your first mission as a first grade, you messed up. Your illusions broke, letting a curse run rampant in a town near the forest it was in. With your cursed weapons you tried to defeat it while also helping the civilians nearby go to safety. A child fell in the middle of it, giving the curse a moment to strike. Without a moments doubt you ran them, your instinct screaming to protect the child, causing the curse injured you badly. Satoru had made it in time, killing the curse like nothing and getting you to Shoko in time. The injury plunged you into a deep coma for two weeks, where vivid dreams and fleeting memories danced at the edge of your consciousness, leaving Satoru and Shoko in a constant state of worry and vigil by your bedside. When you finally did wake up, they rushed to your room. 

“A weakling like you needs to stop acting like a hero.” Satoru harshly says this, sitting on the chair next to your bed. He was tired of the circumstances and did not express his worry for you in the best way. Shoko frowned at his harsh words while she rewrapped the bandages on your forehead, checking over your injuries. 

“You just think I’m useless, huh?” You asked, your tone equally harsh at him. “At least I’m trying, not everyone is born perfect.”

He scoffed at that; even with his bandages over his eyes you could tell he rolled them. His irritation with you is clear. Shoko sighed as she wrapped your head gently, sensing the tension between the two of you.

"Enough," she said firmly, trying to diffuse the situation before it escalated further. After a brief glance at her, Satoru turned back to you, his expression softening slightly. Your eyes harden instead, and you look away from him with pursed lips. Shoko finished up changing your bandages, standing before you still with her hands on her hips. Staying stubborn, you didn't talk to either of them, pouting your lip out like a kid.

"Look. All I'm trying to say is you need to be careful." He clarified, choosing his words more thoughtfully this time. Shoko exchanged a knowing look with Satoru before turning back to you.

"We care about you, that's all," she added gently, hoping to break through your stubborn facade.

"Well, I'm fine." You curtly responded, frustrated at the outcomes of the mission and how weak you felt. “Still alive, didn’t die.”

Shoko sighed, patting your shoulder, and turned to leave. Knowing you needed a little space and she needed a smoke break.

"I… I didn't mean to be so harsh. I just got worried." Satoru said quietly, reaching his hand out to take yours, the two of you alone. You hesitated for a moment before squeezing his hand in reassurance, appreciating the genuine concern in his eyes.

"I know, I'm sorry too," you replied softly, feeling a weight lift off your shoulders as you finally let your guard down. "Just tired, Toru."

"Well, what did you always use to say? Suck it up? You'll be fine." Satoru attempted to lighten the mood with that. This only made your mood dampen; not that he noticed, rubbing your hands thoughtfully, he stood up.

"Try to get some rest. The higher ups will throw us back into the fire before you know it. You’ll do better, I'm sure."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

The next time you saw him was a couple of months later, over drinks after work. Shoko managed to convince him to come with another friend of ours, Utahime. While those two caught up, you and Satoru talked a bit. You both sat at the bar, drinks in hand. Satoru sipped his virgin drink, eyeing you next to him.

"You’ve been doing good." He smiled, nudging you with his elbow. "That last mission was butter for you, I hear; you're getting stronger."

You nodded numbly, sipping on your own drink, the alcohol buzzing on your tongue. The mood was darker than usual as you thought about the risks and sacrifices that came with each successful mission. While Satoru's praise was appreciated, it also reminded you of the toll this line of work was taking on your mental and emotional well-being.

"Not like it means shit." You muttered, not looking at him. "Curses sprout like weeds, and sorcerers die like flies. It's a never-ending cycle."

His smile faltered as he glanced at you with concern, his blue eyes peering over his sunglasses. You could see the worry etched in his expression, a stark contrast to his usual confident demeanor. Saying nothing more, you took out a cigarette, lit it, and puffed out some smoke. You could feel his gaze linger on you, silently pleading for you to open up about the toll the job was taking on you. But you remained silent, lost in your own thoughts, as you took another drag from your cigarette.

"Thought you hated those?" He broke the silence, swiping the cigarette from your lips and putting it out on the ashtray next to you. Turning to him, your eyes glare at him. Now he could see the bags under your eyes and the dullness of your once bright eyes.

"Sometimes it's the only thing that helps me relax," you muttered, avoiding his concerned gaze. "I just can't seem to shake this feeling of exhaustion lately." He reached out and gently squeezed your hand, offering silent support as you finally opened up about the toll the job was taking on you.

"Do you ever… feel overwhelmed all the time?" You ask, hand shaking a bit. Tears well up in your eyes at your confession. After years of bottling up your feelings, they are coming out. "Our comrades die every day with people in charge who don’t risk a thing. Replacing us is so easy, like defective machines."

"What we do is hard." He agreed, thinking over his words. "It's not for everyone, that's for sure. Maybe you should rethink your priorities and consider if this is still the right path for you." The weight of his words hangs heavy in the air, causing you to pause and reflect on your next steps.

"You think I'm weak." You say with a frown, tapping the counter at the bartender and asking for another. Satoru winces at that, his brows furrowed. He shakes his head.

"No, not weak. Just maybe not cut out for this kind of life."

You take a deep breath, feeling the weight of his words sink in as you contemplate your future. The bartender slides you your next drink, and you quickly knock it back, the alcohol burning down your throat. The burn feels like a release, numbing the doubts and fears that swirl in your mind for a moment. Satoru watches you closely, his expression softening with understanding.

"I'll catch you later, Satoru. I should head home. Happy holidays."

Satoru nods, a small smile playing on his lips. "Take care of yourself," he says softly before you turn to leave, the sound of his voice lingering in your mind as you step out into the cold winter night to begin the walk home.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Now in bed, you lay in thought, tired but unable to sleep. Mind racing with thoughts—ones that give you no comfort in the night. The whirl of the wind is shaking your windows. The pleasant snow from earlier picked up a bit, causing snow to pile up now. Sitting up, you decide there is no better time than now, an eerie calmness over you.

As you move around your apartment, you double-check that everything is in order. Most of your belongings are still packed away. You leave your clean and empty apartment with a note for each of your loved ones, your beloved bracelet left next to it.

Going into the snow you venture to a bridge nearby with a raging river below. It was one you always walked to when you needed to think. A safe space where few ventured. Standing at the railing you lean against it, the wind is bellowing around you. Snow falls gently from the sky for a moment, creating a serene atmosphere. Taking a deep breath, you close your eyes and finally let yourself feel the weight of everything that has happened. Thinking of the loneliness and pain, the last few years have given you despite doing your best each day. You step onto the railing, balancing on the edge as you feel at peace. The sound of the rushing water below is calming, almost hypnotic. Opening your eyes you see snow around you, your breath fanning out in a white fog. As you close your eyes again and take one last deep breath, you feel the decision has been made.

YIKES Yeahhh like I said,,,,,Got dark homies.

[weirdmageddon]

any dave music hcs? :) my playlist for him mostly consists of relatively popular rock music. besides wacky but awesome garageband beats, i personally think he’d be a rocknroll radio hits kinda guy, at least for pre-sburb dave, i don’t think he’d have as much freedom to really explore music the way he wants before then. some of my favorites for him are all mixed up (311), superman’s dead (our lady six), bound for the floor (local H), everything to everyone (everclear), inside out (eve 6) and birds (butthole surfers). i also think he’d like metal too! particularly nu metal. even if mixing music and rapping is an outlet for him, i see him relating to these types of songs a lot and maybe at the time when his #ironiccoolguy persona is most prevalent + affecting his interests/personality heavily, he’s embarrassed about admitting his popular favorites b/c it’s not cool to him to like what’s mainstream. but you know character arc! and besides when the earth explodes no music is really popular anymore LOL. btw i liked your davejade music posts ^_^ so i’m very curious if you have any thoughts for dave music on his own!

one of the first things we know about dave is “You like to rave about BANDS NO ONE'S EVER HEARD OF BUT YOU” but its never brought up again. so i can see him having a bit of a punky existence. but its pretty impossible to list bands that people havent heard about but him. it doesnt mean he can’t like known acts. pink floyd are one of the most well known music artists of all time but i think he would like it for instance

but of those known acts i know his ass does not listen to fallout boy or whatever

idk dave he strikes me as someone who listens to both brian eno and death grips but at the same time theres a lot of stuff i CANT see him listening to

i think he probably likes beastie boys. paul’s boutique (1989) is probably one of his top albums. deltron 3030 (2000) too. both experimental hiphop, paul’s boutique utilizing plunderphonics while deltron 3030 is a bit more epic and psychedelic.

i think both wouldve changed his life. paul’s boutique for for his pragmatic bent (sampling)

and deltron 3030 on the psychological / reflection / journey / listen and close your eyes rock opera side (“It is a rap opera concept album set in a dystopian year 3030. The album's story casts Del in the role of Deltron Zero, a disillusioned mech soldier and interplanetary computer prodigy rebelling against a 31st-century New World Order. In a world where evil oligarchs suppress both human rights and hip-hop, Del fights rap battles against a series of foes, becoming Galactic Rhyme Federation Champion. Del the Funky Homosapien's lyrics veer from serious social commentary to humor to epic sci-fi battles, while producer Dan the Automator creates an eerie and dense atmosphere.”)

come on man

nmesh dream sequins is another album i can see him listen to, the cream of the crop for experimental vaporwave (the type of slowing samples in vaporwave was a technique pioneered by dj screw who i think dave would also dig, as it essentially manipulates time and thats Cool). probably likes oneohtrix point never too, an experimental electronic artist who also took inspiration from screw

maybe a bit of biting tongues, one of my favorites. he couldve been led to it going down the eno hole. probably his favorite album being recharge (1989)

as for rock i’m pretty sure dave strikes me as a psychedelic / experimental rock type of dude. so yeah pink floyd is still on the table especially early with syd barrett (the piper at the gates of dawn (1967) and a saucer full of secrets (1968)). but i think he can like later after that (of COURSE he feels drawn to the song ‘time’ lol i bet he’d want to replicate the atmosphere of the song’s beginning in his own stuff). he likes this kinda sound. he i can definitely see him being a ween fan for sure, especially quebec (2003) or their satire art/prog rock album the mollusk (1997) —the latter of which i could see him bonding with jade over DEFINITELY just listen to the titular song — but really the whole discography. or a zappa fan. maybe a dip into metal if its experimental or funky like primus or zillatron (bootsy collins alias)

i have to mention that these are all bands i like to some degree because to know what they sound like and if they fit dave ive had to listen to them lol. but yeah so that could put some bias into it and theres surely more stuff he would listen to i dont know but heres a portion of what i see from where i am

the common denominator between all the music i talked about was that theyre experimental

[writingonesdreams]

Avatar 2 first impressions

Spoilers ahead

A visually stunning movie with three main parts. The longest middle part focused primarily on the world of the sea, the breathing (reminded me of Wimhoff breathing techniques that got so trendy during the pandemic), the environment and sea life. Enchanting water scenes, I loved it.

The tukun whale like hunt was chilling to the core. You get these majestic intelligent creatures being killed for fun, sport and an anti age serum and it was heartbreaking. Like Seaspiracy. Impressive way to remind you what's happening to our seas.

I was missing Jake and Neytiri a lot. I loved them in the first movie and I loved all their scenes, but the focus decidedly shifted from them to their kids, which was...intentional on Cameron's part I guess, but I didn't like it. I'm too old to resonate with teenage narratives and their whining of "it's so hard to be special!" and "they just seem me as an outcast cause of my fingers" was annoying as hell. Like Jake was a Sky person, a human in artificially made avatar body - that's hostility and change your ways difficulty on another level. And he still made it as a warrior, chief and a legend. I guess it's unfair that they were born with these prejudice by no fault of their own...but damn, you would think they would be more secure in their idenity and who their dad is and what he achieved. Torukmakto for hell's sake! (The scene with Neytiri roasting Ronal for speaking disrespectfully to her husband was badass. Go Neytiri. You chose a pretty cool guy.) Human legacy is a shameful thing here with all the terrible destructive stuff they do, but Jake did what he did as a human, he was chosen as a human and for me that sends the message that there is still something good in humans/humanity, with individuals like Grace and Norm and those who fight for Pandora and nature. Like, get over yourselves having 5 fingers or cool powers no one else has.

Spider being a human boy so deeply entangled with the Na'vi culture also seems to make a point about this. Yes, humans are the main antagonists in Avatar, and they do horrible things, but Spider shows it isn't being human that makes you bad - it's what you are taught and what you ultimately choose to do with it. Being a Na'vi didn't make Quaritch a better person after all, even when he was learning a bit more about them.

Idk all these teenage idenity angst was just incredibly childish. Maybe it's justifiable for them being teens and all but seriously, why are you complaining you are special? I will admit they did adapt pretty well to the new sea world. They do take after their dad ;).

Jake has a very interesting conflict going on as a father. On one hand he is the legendary warrior, prone to life threatening downright suicidal stunts to do the right thing or fight to save the day. And his sons are very eager to follow his footsteps and "live up" to him. And Jake is understandably...not okay with this. He is scared. He wants to keep them away from the main action as scouts. Reviewers have been complaining Jake is a bad parent, that he had too much of a military approach and was hard on them, but wasn't Jake making the best of the situation? Invaded and in a secret attacks war on humans, trying to keep them all alive?

His distance and conflict to L'oak especially is reflecting this. Jake is teaching Neteyam right now, having him on flights and leading scounting missions from time to time. He is not ready to let either of them fight on their own, he is making baby steps of teaching the oldest, when L'oak comes with his reckless missions to prove himself. Jake just wanted to protect them longer. They were going at a different pace.

The refugee storyline is interesting and parallels the first movie. Coming to a new place, having to learn new ways and rules, adapting.

Jake didn't bring the distaster on the Metkayina from what I can see. Their tukuns were already hunted for the anti-age serum. They were coming either way, that's why that showed that scene and explicitly said the whole current invasion was financed by it. Jake and his family brought Quaritch after them, but a confrontation would have come because of the tukuns regardless. I don't know why so many are blaming Jake for all of that, he was just trying to protect the Omaticaya tribe and his family, by hiding them away.

Quaritch had an interesting arc. It was cool seeing Spider and the Na'vi way and nature having an effect on him - like Quaritch not killing any of the villagers on the Islands, with his personality and temper? Because Spider asked him? That was wild. And them giving up Kiri as his only advantage over the Sullys in the final to save Spider's life? I wonder if there is any chance of Quaritch ending up helping Pandora or Jake in the future. He didn't mind killing any of the wildlife/tukuns though...

That scene with Quaritch finding his dead original's body was chilling. That final there was epic.

The ending battle was way smaller in scale and too focused on the kids and their inability to save each other. Big applaud for Jake and Neytiri managing to save them so many times though. When it came to facing humans and Quaritch, they both lived up to their legendary warriors reputations from the first movie. Loved to see Neytiri going feral over her kids.

The last one on one fight with Quaritch was awesome. Close quarters hateful intimacy. The way Quaritch was making promises to hunt his whole family down and Jake who was on the leave, saying, damn it let's go now then, was pure moment of awesome.

I love love love that the final final scene wasn't any epic fight or whale attack or a big explosion. It was a eerie sad scene of the family divided into pairs trapped under the ship (Titanic vibes), with the children saving their parents. Jake being calmed and taught how to hold his breath by L'oak, Kiri using her connection with Eywa/nature to find and guide Neytiri out...and Spider saving Quaritch.

Idk it felt right and wrong for him to do it. On one hand Quaritch is too great an enemy to pass up of for sequels. And I understand and sympathize with Spider becoming kinda attached to him too and saving him in naive compassionate human stupidity. On the other I was really hoping for him to die and Spider's move felt like a betrayal to the Sully family he belongs to.

Anyway the kids showing that they are not completely useless and actually saving their protective badass warrior parents was great. I love when the caretaker role gets switched around a little.

Jake kinda balancing between being true to his risk loving fun sarcastic nature and a diplomatic proper Na'vi parent was part of his distance to L'oak. L'oak didn't see Jake asking Neteyam, if the bullies were worse off than his kids and that playful proud smile of his. He just saw Jake scolding him and trying to make it good as an unproblematic refugee to the local leader their staying depended on.

I didn't really understand or emphasize with L'oak feeling like an outsider although that was obviously the parallel that connected him to Panayacan. So he has 5 fingers, cool strict dad leading rebellions and armies left and right who would like him to stay safe as long as possible in a very unsafe world. People say Jake focused on Neteyam too much to see L'oak, but I honestly believe Jake was having a hard time allowing Nateyam to tag along in the first place. He couldn't take L'oak at risk too.

Then again I was really expecting Neteyam to die by the final fight. There was no tragic death in sight to mirror the first movie's structure, the danger was prevalent enough, the kids were being reckless enough...and I don't think it was avoidable no matter how much Jake tried. In war conditions like these, there was no way for everyone of his family to survive. Maybe if he accepted that fact sooner, he wouldn't be so strict with his kids and they wouldn't want to rebel and prove themselves so much. But then again, hard to accept a fact like that. At least they can all meat again in Eywa.

I liked Kiri. Total Jesus/Anakin Eywa made miracle child. She had that special connection with nature, just a shame they didn't figure it out sooner or that she didn't use it more. I was so happy about her controlling the corals to protect her siblings. Go Kiri! Her solitary thoughtful little meditations and connection to nature were beautifully made. Also Jake talking to his daughters was so doting and cute.

Why did they take Tuk to every possible risky place they could find? Did they just want screen time for her? Seriously. "We are going on a forbidden mission to warn an outcast tunkun. Let's take the youngest, most vulnerable and most likely to get captured or killed sibling with us." Pfff.

To sum up, it's an interesting movie with surprising emotional weight for it's simple plot, with breathtaking aesthetics and water shots that made you wanna protect and respect nature so much. Too much focus on the kids/new generation for my tastes, would have likes to see more of Jake and Neytiri, but they had a good conflict going on with their children, the right time to fight and to run and with protectiveness vs cause. It's not as good as Avatar 1, but I have some favourite scenes to rewatch anyway.

[lancer-the-blue]

And oooon we go!

Dawww the hope and relief in Arin when he sees Lloyd (kinda low key he was a tad more excited but that's a nitpick and I'm used to ninjago characters under reacting to situations)

Damnnn Lloyd thinking there was another ninja doing Spinjitzu, idk but the way he said it was interesting, def gonna overthink it

Awwwww no Arin downplaying himself nooo

"I kinda get your ninja fandom now" nooooo Sora calling us out! Also it just hit me Arin's the stand in perspective for returning fans and Sora is the fresh perspective of new people coming in that's genius!

Haha love that Lloyd caught onto their plan of them hacking onto that guy to chop their handcuffs the attention to detail is immaculate so far

"You can wash them?" Lolz mood

Also not Lloyd letting Arin keep his old mask boooo

Master Lloyd! Damn that's giving me whiplash as an Og fan from 2011

Oooh Rapton that's his name, also loving him so far again

Lolz Lloyd low key not believing Arin that he was the one who did Spinjitzu until he did

"Spinjitzu is the single most important ninja technique it took me years to learn to learn it with an incredible tracher" my dude the og ninja learned in a matter of weeks/months at most it's not that big of a deal

Wwwoooh! My girl Sora showing off! Hardcore Nya energy from her

Jeez Lloyd is being a real ass ngl

*New opening rocks but they cut it short nooooo*

Love Lloyd being protective of the kiddos and the dragons tho

Oooh Sora's metal arm might be a reference to Jay ZXs armour!

Nawwww Riyu best boy!

Yes! Sora being sassy with her powers to Lloyd!

"Hey Lloyd! I think I made a bomb!" That got me ngl

"It was a weird version but still" jeeez when did Lloyd get so judgy

"Maybe tech power?" Little on the nose again for me

OMG RAZ IS A TIGER CHIMA CONNECTION CONFIRMED?

Damnnn the Monastery looks so snazy with this new animation

New Destiny's Bounty let's go!

Lolz writers calling out how inconsistent the elemental powers are

Love Sora being Nya 2.0 ngl

Whoop Lloyd and Arin bonding

"Keeping the world from destorying itself" lolz really funny ngl

Ooh I love the detail of Sensei Wu having the symbols from all the ninja on his back *I think*

IT'S CANNON, WU IS A 1000 YEARS, YES WE HAVE A CONICAL TIMELINE YES

Wish we had a tad more pre merge post crystalized ninja dialogue ngl

Oh gods other dragons, again! Low key made me groan *just use the ones we have already damn it*

"What the heck Lloyd!" Low key made me cackle

Nawww sibling hug

Also you can tell the main ninja are aging and it really moves me honestly

Merge quakes are really interesting and cool ngl

Should of said this sooner this season's ost slaps

Awwww I love Arin and Lloyd talk so much, big siblings vibe

"You need Wu but he's gone" low key slashes into me ngl

Omg so cute Riyu playing with a set of Jay's nunckes I presume

"And I do not mind fixing it again" lolz I relate Sora, damn she's so cool!

Idk how I feel about the dragon not believing them feels a tad cliche and unnecessary

Rapton being the goat as always

How fucking strong are those wires to keep a source dragon down wtf

Whow super syan Lloyd! Plus reference to Tornado of creation I think

Oof the animation on the Spinjitzu is a tad low res tho

Damn Lord Raz be cold

Gods Lloyd's speeches are always so ironically cheesy

Kinda funny how ninjago's doing dragons better than WoW did dragons in it's last expansion lolz

That episode slapped another 8/10