#if anyone has input feel free to reply lol

[jade-marie]

Just coming from your READ about Beth's priviledge/desire for power which btw was SPOT ON and it got me thinking....any thoughts on the line Beth delivers on the bench "Wait your turn, he'll share" [directed at her daughter but obviously applies to her situation]. Apologies if this was already discussed. I just began my GG viewing a few weeks ago lol

Hey! I’m probably not the best person to reply to you on this one bc I literally haven’t watched a second of that show since it ended (if anyone has any input, please feel free lmao). P.s. this is probably gonna be a bit word salad-y because my adhd meds are wearing off 🤣

Anyhoo, I haven’t actually been asked about that line before, so it was interesting to think about! I think it was supposed to be a callback to 2x03 when Marcus wants to go on the monkey bars - Rio turns it into a teachable moment, tells him to wait his turn “when that kid’s done, you’ll get your turn”. This is also when he’s decided to teach Beth and the same episode he gives her the keys to the kingdom.

There’s definitely a difference in how Rio and Beth chose to deliver this message to their kids imo. Maybe it’s me but it feels like Beth’s wording (especially in the context of Beth and crime) was more encouraging her daughter to wait at the table for scraps - she’s banking on this other kid sharing, in the same way Beth wasted her entire life on Dean, hoping he’d amount to something. Whereas Rio was telling Marcus to tough it out for a little while, wait til the other kid was done, and then it’ll be his turn.

Beth, in that final scene, is just peak arrogance. She’s so infuriatingly smug, calling herself Rio’s boss. She probably genuinely believes that the message she’s giving her daughter applies to her situation, that she’s earned her current position. It’s a pretty solid example of her entitlement, across the board, because she truly thinks she’s been patient and now she’s reaping the reward.

It’s a good reflection of how she always used Rio as a surrogate for Dean too. She sat around for 20 years, took care of the kids, the house, Dean etc and sacrificed her own ambitions in the process but Dean never rewarded her for that. Dean squandered their finances, cheated on her and then dumped her but rather than hold Dean accountable, she punishes Rio. That stays consistent throughout the show.

Waiting for Dean to share ended up being a waste of her life, but she still doesn’t see it because Rio is once again paying the price for Dean’s ineptitude. She wasn’t given her turn, she stole it. She shot Rio, burned his cash business, screwed him over in every way possible, then declared herself his boss when they finally got rid of Nick.

[ferociousconscience]

Hey there dear Sir!

I've recently felt the urge to get obsessed with yet another thing and have decided that Les Mis does look quite interesting, so I wanted to ask where you would suggest one starts getting into it, there's a bunch of movie adaptations that have released within the past almost century, are there any outliers that are particularly good? Do you have a favorite play of it that you can recommend watching, if it is to be found somewhere in the depths of the Internet? Any input is appreciated really!

A wonderful day to you

a friend, enemy and lover

Good sir!!!! My friend! My enemy! My lover! You want to get into Les Mis!! This is an admirable endeavor and I wish you the best of luck. You have at your feet 161 years of love, fandom, and adaptation to dive into, which in truth is my favorite part of les mis. I will answer this ask in some semblance of order. Have a look under this readmore!! (karate chop motions)

I often think of the question of where would be a good way to start too. I myself got into it in a weird way. I tried to read it when I was young and had energy to devour huge books, but the translation I got was honestly abysmal and hard to read. I put it down pretty quickly. Later, I was part of a theater troupe for a handful of years, and while we never end up doing les mis (our director hated mainstream musicals LOL), I was pretty immersed in the fandom after the 2012 film came out, left the fandom after much lurking, and only rejoined recently after reading the book again. (Different translation this time!) I do think that for the general public, the musical is a great starting point, even if it changes a lot and musicals can be a hard sell for a lot of people. HOWEVER, I do not think the 2012 film is a good adaptation in any sense, and I do not think anyone should start there. This is perhaps a controversial opinion, but I do genuinely believe that one should avoid it at the start for various reasons. In the interest of keeping this reply short I'll save my opinions on the 2012 version for now. If you do want to get into the musical, a 4K re-upscale of the 10th Anniversary Concert is free on youtube (tho it is cut down, an older version of the present day musical which has many revisions, and lacks a lot of staging because it is a concert as opposed to an actual stage production). I think this version has a fantastic cast with talented performers. Also free on youtube is the admittedly kind of silly and yet still very compelling 1978 film, a non-musical cinematic version which is near and dear to my heart,. It also cuts down a looooot, drastically changes the ending, and is more focused on the Valjean and Javert side of things. As for the particularly good ones, I have answered that in a recent ask. Please do take a look there, and I hope it answers your question! Generally the older french adaptations are better and more faithful, lol. If you cannot find a particular adaptation of les mis, feel free to DM me, and I will either send you files, torrents, or I will hunt them down for you myself. As always, feel free to DM me here or on Discord (username is @vondieerde). I can also recommend reading the book once you feel you have a good grip of the story and you want more! So much more!!! Please do, though it is sort of a monolith (we in the fandom call it "The Brick" because you can make a sturdy house with copies of it lol). I will firmly state that I think the Julie Rose translation is the best, and can also really really recommend the Audiobook of it narrated by George Guidall, who has a wonderful voice and is a natural storyteller. If you were to read the book, reading one chapter a day (the chapters are pretty bite-sized), you would be done in exactly a year, 365 days (funny how that works out). I would love to do a book club style discussion of any chapters you read, should you really want to sink your teeth into the story and learn as much as you can. I've spent the last few years studying the heck out of the book and I want to talk to as many people I can about this thing I've fallen in love with again. message me on discord you fool i know who you are

[roylustang]

it's a stupid sentence i just don't trust translate but i do trust you akdbejw "hange zoe supremacy" iahfisjs i just want to use it for my twitter bio ksdbejsb

Lollll I love this!! According to my dictionaries there are a couple different words for supremacy but I would probably go with either ハンジゾエの至上　or ハンジゾエの優位

[eleonorpiteira]

as someone who can't even draw stick figures what do you think is the best way for me to learn how to draw? how did you first start drawing and how did you evolve into the artist you are now?

Hi Anon! Great questions, and I'll try to answer decently (sorry for the delay!).

Annoying as it may be to hear it, the best way to learn how to draw is by...drawing! Which sounds simple and yet where to even start, right? 

My main advice is to draw what you love. Seriously! Draw what you enjoy - your OCs, anime, super-heroes, disney, animals, plants, cars, it doesn't matter! You just really like to draw eyes? Do it! Have fun with it, learn to enjoy the process. Grab some photos, try to draw bits of it. Also, you don’t need to post any of it online, but if you do, and you use other people’s photos or something, ALWAYS credit the artists. Be respectful of other people’s hard work. What you learn when you're drawing these things will be invaluable later on, and you have to start somewhere. Draw them badly, it doesn't matter (as someone once said “We all have 10,000 bad drawings in us. The sooner we get them out the better”), then try again, and as you try again and again, do it with mindfulness - look at it critically, draw a line with purpose instead of mindlessly, draw patiently and take your time with it, then slowly start to add details, add difficulty, and slowly but surely you'll start to see results.

In my humble opinion, it's better to draw 1 hand twice but with intention and care, than to draw 100 hands because 'yes'. Pretty sure that is a great way to get a burnout actually, and burnout can significantly change your relationship with your art, which can be quite dangerous. Though I suppose there's a nuance between a professional artist and an hobbyist, and again - everyone is different. Recognising what works and doesn't work for you is super important - that way you can change how to tackle things in a way that suits you. When I was starting to learn how to paint digitally, I saw a lot of people who did dozens or more studies every day, and great for them, but that approach has never worked for me - and that’s fine. There is no ‘right way’ to go about it. Seriously - every artist you ask will have a different story.

Also, look at what other artists do. I think it’s fundamental to be inspired by your peers :) And be kind to yourself - drawing is hard and frustration happens all the time! As for me, since you asked - I feel like my 'road' wasn't super straightforward (is any though?), which is why I think it took so long for my work to have some decent quality (compared to certain kids out there anyway haha), and it's also why I think that if you study with purpose, you can get farther in a lot less time than me. Again, everyone is different though ;) I started drawing when I was a kid like everyone else. I wasn’t good by any means, I just REALLY wanted to draw Sailor Moon At All Times haha! Then I studied (some) art in high-school and university (NOT illustration or even painting though), but while I drew in some classes, and it was great practice (figure drawing in uni was pretty great), I only started to actually get better at art when I started to realise what I wanted to do (illustration, concept art) and, more importantly, I had time to actually apply myself to it (which make no mistake, is a privilege). Also, I was obsessed with tutorials for a while there, it helped lmao

That said, I highly recommend Ctrl + Paint - it’s full of free tutorials in very short videos (5 min tops!), super well explained, clear and to the point. From traditional drawing to digital, you’ve got everything there. It was a HUGE help for me, and I still go back to it from time to time!

Hope that helps!  ❤️

[ichinoue]

Hello there! In one of your post, you said that the prologue of the latest chapter (about the fish) was confirmed that it was Ukitake's. How do you know that? Did Kubo confirmed it somewhere?

oh I don't know if that was actually confirmed or not, I think people were speculating it was him because the ceremony was about him and I think there was some kind of symbolism between him and the fish, but I'm too lazy to go back and re-read the chapter right now, so if anyone has more input feel free to reply lol

[crescentsteel]

Keeping a Secret - Prologue

plot: ehehe lemme leave this blank for now as this is only a prologue genre: fluff, crack, slow burn, eventual smut, sexual tension, angst at some point wc: 2.7k

[a/n]

I am reeling just from finishing this one because Tsukki is my boy (Kuroo ily too i swear)

Who writes 2.7k words of prologue? lol me

I’ll set up the masterlist when I’m done with the 1st Chapter.

Thank you so much @oii-sugasan​ and @haikyuu-is-for-lovers​ for the betaread! :)

Let me know if you wanna be tagged

Chapter 1 || masterlist

You aren’t just annoying. You’re a fucking menace. Every time he goes to the gym, your presence is like a plague. You're just a manager, but sometimes he thinks that you think you’re the assistant coach. There’s nothing he’d love more than to shower you with the nastiest, most off-handed comments, just to shut you up and wipe the cheery grin that taunts him every time he sees you. 

Seriously, you’re all over the place -- you talk to all members of the team as if you’re a player yourself, you nag everyone to take care of themselves outside training like you’re their older sister, you hand out self-gathered information on upcoming matches as soon as matchups are announced, you scamper around the gym tossing balls, assembling the net, doing whatever the hell you can get your hands on, all the while wearing those stupid shorts that distract the majority of the team, especially the new members. 

As his eyes follow you, you suddenly turn around to face him, breaking him from his reverie. Even when you’re halfway across the gymnasium, he can see the sharp playfulness that you always exude whenever you talk to him. 

“Tsukishima!” You wave at him with that disgustingly sweet grin. “If you’re done staring at my sexy back, you can start your blocking drills, okay?!” you shout with a voice loud enough for everyone else in the gym to hear.  Tsukishima feels multiple sets of eyes glance towards his direction and he ‘tsks’ in annoyance under his breath.

He immediately walks away. He refuses to hear more of the unnecessary and untrue prattles directed at him by you.  

He hears footsteps follow him. Judging from its pace and heavy strides, he already knows its Kogane without even looking

“Oi, Tsukki. Do you like our manager?”

He doesn’t understand why Kogane is whispering when you’re half a court away from them. More than that, he doesn’t understand why Kogane assumes he likes you. For one, you were wrong: he wasn’t even staring at you. He was staring randomly at nothing while thinking  about how irritating you are and you just happened to be at his line of sight. 

“I don’t see anything to like about her,” he replies passively. 

“What? Why? She’s super helpful -- and pretty too.” Kogane, just like the rest of the team, believes so. Even Kyoutani is fond of you because of that one time you received his spike on full force. You rolled on your back from the sheer power of it but you were able to receive it perfectly, making the whole team go wild when you did, with him as the only exception as he found it inane. 

“If you think so, go confess or something then.” 

“You know we can’t!” Pink stains begin to surface on his teammate’s cheeks, obviously infatuated with you. Then again, this is not new to him. It was a basic reaction from anyone whose dick is more functional than their brain.  Maybe it’s because you’re the only female so close to everyone else. Honestly, he really doesn’t know. But one thing’s for sure. Kogane has 0 chances with you, and neither does every player of Sendai Frogs. 

He remembers the conceitedness you displayed even in your first year as a manager. You two became part of the team almost at the same time. He was two months in when the former manager introduced you to the team. As she finished introducing you, you whispered to her to add something. It went something like ‘oh, umm. y/n-chan also said that no one from the team can’t date her.’ Even the former manager looked at you weirdly but you were just there beaming as you bowed to everybody. 

They thought it was a joke, but when you became a full-pledged manager in less than six months, you announced it yourself. 

‘I know I’m kind of cute, but I won’t ever consider dating anyone from the team. Okay?’

You announce it with a sickening smile every time there are new members, reminding everyone else that you’re untouchable. 

It’s fucking atrocious, to him at least. Unlike the other players from his team, he’s not shallow enough to fancy you just because you’re not disgusting to look at, or that you did your managerial duties so exceedingly well.

He grits his teeth. He hates it. How can someone so chaotic as you be so effective in managing the team. What grinds him even more is that you go to the same university he does, and even there, your presence stinks. He once had a class with you only to find out that you’re not as dumb as you make yourself out to be. 

It’s infuriating. He can’t wait for the day you mess up -- only then would he finally get the chance to diss you. He’ll turn that shit-eating smile of yours upside down. 

--

Man, nothing boosts your mood better than bugging Tsukishima. When you felt his sinister stare boring at your back earlier, you just couldn’t waste the opportunity to say something about it. He just ignored you, but the scowl on his face was enough response to satisfy you. 

The truth is, you have nothing against Tsukishima. Yeah, he has a sharp tongue and a vile attitude, but hey, he’s a good team player. He doesn’t speak much, but he gets shit done in matches. Despite his foul personality, he’s actually manageable: he listens to you and he rarely shows up late. He’s not particularly motivating to look at, but he still does what’s asked of him. For some reason that you don’t know, he still hasn’t spat out his usual, rancid remarks towards you. You know he’s itching to, and honestly, you’re kind of curious of what he’ll throw your way. 

Still, for the last three years he kept his mouth shut even though he looks at you like you’re the most unpleasant being he’s ever laid eyes on. 

“Y/n!”

You jog towards the team coach, Coach Mira. “Yes, Coach?”

“Do you like Tsukishima?” she asks curiously. The question is funny to you but you hold back the laughter and smile instead.

You like Coach Mira a lot. She’s more like an older sister than a coach to you. You’re free to share a few laughs with her, and she values your input to the team. Maybe it’s because you’re both women drowned in a sea of male athletes that you sort of have that innate connection. 

“No, Coach. Why?”

“Cause you pay attention to him the most.”

“I don’t see what’s to like about him,” you veer your gaze towards his direction, watching his scowling face as he walks away, Koganegawa following closely behind him. You can’t hear them, but the sight is already amusing as it is. “I just like putting him in place whenever he’s being extra nasty,” you add. 

“If you say so, y/n. Honestly, I don’t really care if you go out with one of them.” 

You wave your hand back and forth like you’re swatting a fly. “No way, Coach. They’re like little boys I’m taking care of.”

She sweeps her gaze behind you, scanning all the players present in the court. “Can’t say they feel the same way though.” Then she looks at the same person you’re looking at. “Well, maybe except for Tsukishima.”

“That’s why I like messing around with him the most,” you admit with mirth as you watch Tsukishima get away from Kogane.

--

Everyone in the gymnasium is staring as they enter the arena. If there’s one thing opposing teams remember about the Sendai Frogs, it’s their female tandem of a stone-cold coach and a ‘hot,’ bubbly manager who walk side by side in front of the whole team, not the players.

It’s not really an issue for Tsukishima. He doesn’t really care. Shimizu had the same reputation back in high school. But you? You’re not Shimizu. You aren’t even close.

And you, being the chaotic mess that you are, you milked the attention. Whenever someone blatantly gapes at you,  you’d wave at them. You’d even entertain those who openly flirted with you. In retrospect, he should find it despicable. Rather finds it entertaining. So does the rest of the team.

When the Sendai Frogs reach their spot, a guy wearing a Tamaden Elephants jersey approaches you shamelessly. A brave (maybe a little bit foolish) act, considering you’re with the whole team.

“Hi!”

You turn around and greet him just as enthusiastically, maybe even more.

“I just want to say, great game from last season, he says as he scratches the back of his head. 

Liar. 

If the guy really wants to acknowledge the team’s play from last season, he’d approach one of the players. He also wouldn’t have that stupid blush on his awe-struck face. 

“Thank you! Great game indeed,” you return the compliment.

As soon as the guy starts fidgeting, Tsukishima can already guess what comes next: it’s either a date or your number.

“If you don’t mind, can I get your number?”

Tsukishima sneers at how predictable the scene is, and he can’t wait to see what comes next.

You beam at the guy. “Sure! It’s number 1.”

He still smiles even though he’s obviously dumb-founded. “Sorry, what?”

“My number, right? It’s 1. Cause we’re number 1 in the district,” You say with that fake innocence that isn’t really fooling anyone.

“...Uhh.”

“Go Sendai Frogs!” You cheer out of the blue and as if an automated response, the rest of the team, even Tsukishima (though lifelessly), answers.

“Sendai Frogs fight!”

The loud baritone of deep male voices drew the attention of other people in the area, brightening your face up even more as you focus on the guy in front of you again. He looks scandalized by what just happened. 

“How about you? What’s your number?” you ask, pushing the guy to a mental corner as Tsukishima and his team glares at him while waiting for how he’ll answer. An embarrassed blush replaces the previously infatuated one as he realizes that he shouldn’t have made the mistake of hitting on you. 

“I-I’m not really sure,” his voice loses any shred of confidence it once had.

“Oh. That’s too bad,” you feign sympathy. 

“Yeah.” The guy looks down. “Guess I’ll see you around,” he adds before retreating defeatedly.

“Bye! Nice to meet you,” you wave cordially. ‘Whoever you are, newbie elephant,’ you say to yourself as you watch the unfamiliar member of the Elephants go back to his team, a team you wiped the floor with last season.

Until now, you don’t understand why people still even bother. You welcomed the flirtations, but never really went out with anybody. You’re not really opposed to getting in a relationship, but like -- Gooood! They’re all so uninteresting. Rejecting them is more fun than the mere prospect of dating them.

You feel a familiar touch on your shoulder. 

“Good job boosting the team morale,” Coach Mari says in a volume that only you can hear as she pats you.

“Thanks, Coach!” You grin at her praise. 

You turn around to check your players and your eyes instantly land on Tsukishima who had just put on his white headphones and began scrolling at his phone. Around him, everyone else has already started stretching. 

You bounce your way to him, knowing that you’d instantly get his attention even without saying anything. But even with you ogling when you stopped in front of him, he still doesn’t budge.

“Tsukishima.”

No response.

‘Heh,’ you snicker internally. He never fails to amuse you when he tries to ignore you. 

“Tsu~ ki~ shi~ ma~” You bob your head sideways, popping at the opposing sides of his phone so he’ll notice you.

You don’t miss the minute twitch of his eyes as he drags his phone closer to him in an attempt to shut you out. 

Tsk tsk. He should know better by now that you're not the type to back away. 

You go beside him instead, tiptoeing so you can see what he’s so busy looking at. As soon as your arms touch his, he puts down his phone and irritatedly removes his headphones. 

He’s shooting daggers at you, making you giddy with excitement as he looks like he’s about to say something you. You hold his gaze with a raised eyebrow and subtle smirk that you couldn’t suppress. Did he get fed up already? Is he finally going to say something?

‘Do it. Do it. Do it,’ you chant in your head. 

He takes in a painful deep breath instead. “What?” The single word contains so much disdain that you want to cackle so bad. 

“Shouldn’t you be stretching?” you query.

“In a bit.”

You leisurely shake your head with disapproval. “I know you’re a lazy ass fucker sometimes,” you begin. “But you always help us win. You’re our meanest, tallest, best blocker.” Your gaze drops down to his ankles and travels up.

“So,” you continue, dropping your voice amusedly, “stretch those gorgeous, God-given, legs you have.” Your eyes linger on his thighs before landing up to his face to smile sweetly at him. “Will you?”

This is one of the moments you’re pretty sure he won’t dare talk back at you. Why? Because you’re one hundred percent right, and he knows that too. 

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t hate it.

He glares at you for one second and walks towards the rest of the team to join them. 

--

Playing at the professional level, he always considers one match to be a big win already, even if it’s just the first match of the regular rounds. Ever since he became a starter for Sendai Frogs, he was not allowed to slack off even for one rally. He could take the lecture if it’s from Coach, but he couldn’t stomach it if it’s from you. 

Even before the match started, you were already on his grill, pestering him just because he wasn’t warming up yet. He was pissed the whole game and put extra effort than usual to make sure that you won’t have anything to say after. 

“Um, excuse me.” A girl from Red Rabbits blocks him on his way to the restroom. “Tsukishima, right?”

He can tell that she is trying her best to look nonchalant, but the familiar tint on her face is telling.

Tsukishima had never understood girls who approach him for anything remotely romantic. Does he look like he’s interested? It’s not that he’s not open to the idea of dating, but he finds it unpleasant when people go after him because they like how he plays. Worse, for some obtuse reason like him being ‘cute.’

“Yes. Why?”

She smiles at him bashfully with her arms crossed behind her. “I’m also a middle blocker. I was really inspired with how you read block so well. If it’s okay with you, can you teach me how you do it?”

Why would he do that? He’s already a senior college student who’s also a professional athlete. He has no reason to go out of his way to teach someone read blocking. Especially someone who’s already supposed to know it since (as she claims) she’s also a middle blocker. Judging from where they currently are, someone from Division 1 no less. 

“Sorry. I’m really busy,” he says bluntly. 

“Oh, okay. Sorry for bothering you.” She bows then takes off immediately. 

He watches as the girl from Red Rabbits scampers off as quickly as humanly possible. Did she really think he’d agree to it?

He is too occupied to notice the faint sound of footsteps behind him, and only when you speak does he notice your presence.

“Aww, poor girl going out of her way to ask you out.” 

He groans. Why are you even here? You’re supposed to be checking on the team since their match just ended.

You fall into step beside him as he brushes your comment off and continues heading for the rest rooms.

“I didn’t ask her to,” he calmly responds despite your irksome presence. 

“How are you going to get a girlfriend like that?” you ask exaggeratedly as if not getting in a relationship will lead to his ruin.

“I don’t need one.”

You gasp. “Damn, Tsukishima. Men your age are all about raging hormones. Where do you put all that raging testosterone?”

He purses his lips in a corner, his jaw tensing at your remark. Men his age? You talk as if you’re older when you’re in the same year he is.

Also, what the fuck?

Now you’re nagging about his personal life too? You’re already aggravating as the team manager. Now you’re even sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.

His blatant irritation must have shown in his face because you suddenly let out a giggle. “My bad, my bad. Don’t look so scary. Geez. Where you get action is none of my business. I just followed you to let you know that we’re leaving in twenty minutes.”

You turn around, about to go back but stop before you make the first step. “Oh, and we have a meeting later. I did the stat sheets of the game and gave it to the coach already. Great blocking, Tsukishima!” You pat his shoulder twice with a proud smile, then saunter off back to the arena. 

Damn it. If only you aren’t so good at being a manager, he would actually be able to dislike you to the fullest. Not only that, he wouldn’t feel that silly, tiny contentment he felt upon hearing you.

Chapter 1 || masterlist

Taglist:(those crossed out can’t be tagged)

@ameliaxo @suikrem​​ @akaashisslave @tsumurai​​  @babythotshq​​ 

[theveil-and-thepath]

Hi.

Idk if you are taking asks. If you aren't then feel free to ignore this.

The thing is, I started my Master's course and I suck at everything. Literally everything. Except maybe English as a language.

It's very frustrating. And I don't know if I will be able to do anything. Or build a career. Or earn. Lol.

I'm sorry about the rant. Things have been new and strange and incompetence is not something that I am used to.

@ Anyone who sees this post and has some advice: please rb and add to it, share your experience with the feeling of incompetence in academia. (long reply ahead 2000+ words, the last 4 paragraphs are the reading)

Feedback for this reading

Hi, dear! In undergrad, while other students were struggling to keep their head above water, you were swimming and trying to be the fastest; now, for the first time, you’re afraid you’re going to drown. I’m going to reply with some advice from myself first (tarot below the cut, you can skip and go there) and have in mind that you just started your master’s.

Well, this feeling can come back many times before you earn this degree, so it’s good to learn how to deal with it early on. The first thing is: look for the mental health department of your university and use all of the services they provide. Do it before you freak out. If, during your master’s, you feel you’re just too anxious and can’t deal with it, even with therapy, don’t be hesitant to seek medication. It can be natural things or allopathic medication, together with trying to have the healthiest life you can. Don't hesitate to ask for medication (for real), it can make a huge difference, it can be the difference between lying on the sofa unable to get up for class and being able to at least do the dishes or open your dissertation or being able to open and read your emails. The second thing: make colleagues and ask people more senior than you about professors and supervisors. Don’t go for the super star supervisor who’s in fact an ass**** and will humiliate you or belittle you. It’s rare, but some departments are the home of some really arrogant people who won’t help you at all, so be aware of who these people are, learn the department gossip if you can. The third thing: ask for help. You may feel dumb and less knowledgble than the first year undergrad who just learned a new method or read an author, but if you didn’t and you don’t know what they are talking about, ask for help. Ask for a book to read, google as if you knew nothing, write down and google the concept you didn’t know, ask for how to spell a name (i felt so embarrassed that i barely did that), go around and find out even if this is checking basic maths again. Your undergrad materials are your friends. Go back to your past self because I’m sure they wrote some helpful things in these notebooks. If your master’s is in a different area than your undergrad, go check undergrad textbooks about what you need to learn. In fact, check undergrad textbooks to write your dissertation and make sure you got the basic correct if you want.

Now for the real deal. Not everyone is as smart as they seem. Knowing the right reference, having read the material beforehand, being skilled in speech and writing, all help for someone to seem like the smartest person in the room. You don’t have to be the smartest one in the room. You have to be the one who’s learning the most and making the best use of the input you get and you must be able to do a decent dissertation and graduate. Ultimately, it’s your dissertation and your specific field of study that will get you into a PhD and academic career, if you don’t want an academic career then you should worry even less about any of that stuff, if at all. The day you go teach something you’ll prepare for it, you’ll prepare a class, you won’t know everything. You need to be able to learn and teach in an organised manner, but you won’t know the details beforehand unless you’re teaching your own specific field of study. Students will ask smart questions to which you don’t have the answers, and that improvisation that you once did during an exam with open ended questions you’ll have to do in front of the classroom, and you’ll say what you know, acknowledge what you don’t and come back next week with an answer. Furthermore, not all questions have answers. By now you know that an “answer” can be a long digression of many possible scenarios and approaches from different authors. If you’re in stem, then you’ll do a similar thing, but one thing is common: you need to cover the basics. Now, you may not need to pay attention to every class you’re taking because they may not be useful for your dissertation, but try your best to grasp the basics and learn what you can. You will get used to the classes and learn what you can. Feeling dumb at first (or even in the end if I’m honest) is a sign you found your growth zone. You don’t need to fill it all and be like other people, but expand your knowledge as much as you can without damaging your health. It’s hard because it’s a moment when you feel everyone will point at you and say “oh, but weren’t you a smart ass? ofc you know this! you were the best, if you didn’t learn that then it’s a problem of your university. don’t they teach you this and that? how come you don’t know so and so? how did you get in?oh, don’t worry, you're smart, you’ll learn that with time, just keep working hard.” In a way, it feels like your pride is hurt and the foundation of your being is being destroyed. But you rise up from the ashes, that’s the challenge.

One point I want to make here is that sometimes impostor syndrome has a "real basis". It can happen that when you seek therapy they’ll treat you for this and make you see your potential and skill. But one thing people have failed in my life was recognize that I can be correct when assessing my own limitations and this is not me being a victim of impostor syndrome. Sometimes, you’re EXCELLENT, a GENIUS on your own, but it may still not be enough for what you want to accomplish and you may, in that situation, win as a person and win on the long run, but be defeated in the short run. There’s always a moment of genuine distress when you actually don’t know the thing, you actually don’t think you can do it, or you believe, you study, you manifest, you do your best and it’s not enough. I won’t tell you: work hard and believe in yourself, manifest and it will happen. I won’t fool you, because both of us know that you can do everything right and “fail” nonetheless. Sometimes, you don’t get the funding and you’re just as smart as the one who got it, sometimes you fail even when you do your best. However, sometimes you don’t! If you do nothing you get nothing, if you try your best you’ll get something. You’re into the program already, now you’ll do your best to expand your knowledge and overcome the personal challenge of dealing with growth and challenges and your own weaker spots. This can be painful af, so well I advise you to be close to people who love and support you, even if you don’t believe when they say “the top university will hire you asap” because you know the requirement in terms of publications, you know your limitations, you know you’re not as smart as you look like. BUT YOU’RE SMART AND YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN THIS, YOU CAN OVERCOME YOUR CHALLENGES AND BE PROUD OF IT, YOU ARE CAPABLE OF DOING YOUR BEST.

There may be a moment in which you may question your very own skill of reading and writing (and spreaking), if you can make two words come together at all! The moment you’ll doubt if you know “english as a language”. Well, what you know will have to serve you and you’ll work your way around that somehow. It’s different for everyone. But one thing I’m sure of is you should have as much support as you can get, from family, friends, therapy, sports, religion, fiction, anything. Because on top of feeling incompetent, sometimes people come and challenge our things, you can feel bad because of the critics during a conference, feel awful at the comments from reviwers, there will be moments when this feeling of incompetence is pushed to the limit. This happens if you don’t go for academic career as well, your boss and colleagues, critics and challenges overall (+ some people have no tact and are rude). So the key now is to learn how to deal with this new feeling of incompetence. You are not incompetent, and you wouldn’t be even if you hadn’t got into that master’s!!!

Will you get a career? Will you earn? Will you get tenure? Will you get into a PhD program just as good as your master’s? Will you ever publish at such and such journal? Will your work ever be recognized? Will you want to go through a PhD after struggling with a masters? Honestly, I don’t know, but very likely you will. These will change after every new book you read, every new topic you learn, every new assignment you do, every presentation, every group assignment, after meeting new people, after going to places, after trying and learning, after being rejected by all reviewers, after failing and getting up again. The more you work, the better your chances, and if you don’t get the spot you dream of, I can say we never know where life is leading us, what people we’re meant to meet, what we can experience. The smart person you are still exists and will never die, you’ll learn how to swim in this new sea, and if you don’t like the water there are plenty of water bodies out there to try. I know this is not the most reassuring message, but there’s never the guarantee of success as you see it. And you need to respect your body and your mind, the time you take to breathe because if you hold your breath for too long you won’t be able to swim and die anyway, even if you didn’t drown. You may get messages like there will be struggles but you’ll get it in the end, but remember that sometimes new routes await you and the knowledge you have will serve you perfectly well.

Now, after I vented myself, I’ll ask tarot: how can you overcome this struggle with this feeling of incompetence?

Your best asset, your challenge, the best approach: three of pentacles, the high priestess, strength.

It seems very fitting, your best asset is working and seeking help from people you know. In a master’s it can be the afternoon you spend preparing with a friend for an exam, you turning on the “learning mode” and reading a book with an open heart without the feeling of incompetence get into the learning, it’s open your mind for new knowledge, it’s have 4 books open on the table, 6 pdfs, one document you’re writing and write two sentences a day, it’s solving part of the equation and stopping to have coffee and feel stuck looking for a way out without panicking. I’m sure there was at least one academic challenge you overcame in undergrad, remember that, summon up that learning and fighting mode because it’s what you have to work around your current challenges. Regardless of the results, you can try to get to that mode again.

Your challenge here is the high priestess. She’s smart, she speaks only when requested, she knows mysteries, she picks her battles. You need to be at peace with yourself alone, master introspection in a way you let emotions flow but don’t let them get the best of you. For me it’s also that moment of deep thought when you stare at a paragraph or an equation, when you look at your code that is not running properly, the spread sheet that has a mistake, and you have to try to stay calm and muster all the knowledge or ask for inspiration on how to crack the mystery, how to get out. This is a specific moment in the learning process, especially important if you need to find a new approach for your dissertation. This is your challenge, learn how to deal with this moment or even get to this moment (when we’re feeling incompetent it’s nearly impossible to even work to the point where you stop and thnk without dispair). Make sure your mental health is in check for this, anxiety won’t help here and this is a serious matter. Learn smart too. If it was a mention of an author or method who made you feel extra dumb, but said author is not very important to you, don’t bother. Go work on what you need to pass and what will help your dissertation and your own particular field. Learn new things obviously, but work as smart as you can because nobody has time to know it all.

The best approach is the strength card. Perseverance. Extra cliché for my liking but true nonetheless. It also speaks about finding balance between mind and heart, your brain taming your emotions, taming your negative thoughts and direct that impulse and strength to what is worth it: learning what you can, one step at a time, and do it smart and pick only what’s most helpful to you. Tame yourself, check your health, practice a sport, go to therapy, read books, keep yourself alive and feeling confident enough to advance. You can’t tame a lion, ever, but you can try to be his friend and let him work with you. Do this with your emotions and it can lead you far in life.

That was it for the reading. I’m sorry if my personal vent was unrequested, but I feel strongly about this topic. I wish you all of the best in this world, that you can feel divine guidance when your life seems lost and find the strength you have within yourself. You need to believe when your friends say good things about you, because you’re much stronger than you think, and life will only make you stronger, dear.

[gettin-bi-bi-bi]

I'm a different anon but I wanted to say the response to your most recent ask (I think it's the most recent) was really helpful to me.

See, I've tried typing out my own ask several times over the past few months or so... lol. And just backed out everytime because it didn't feel worth asking largely because I wasn't even sure what I was asking. It's similar but I guess "reversed" for lack of a better word but the best I can describe it is I'm romantically and sexually attracted to women and sexually attracted to men. It took me.... an embarrassingly long time to understand that lmao.

And its like... I do think I have some shame over that, but it's obvious most of that shame is from outside influences. Before it's been a little tricky to parse out but I think your answer helped me with outlining those issues in my head, so now I might be able to actually work on reframing how I view it.

If I'm being honest I already knew all this, rationally. Which was one of the reasons I never sent my own ask, I kept convincing myself I was being a baby and shouldn't go looking for someone to hold my hand about it. But I guess I did need the reassurance... so thank you, specifically Mod Maddie for that particular answer but really to all the mods (I don't actually know how many there are) for running this blog at all. This isn't the first time someone else's ask and response has helped me. Well anyway <3

That's nice to hear that my long ass reply helped someone 😅 I hope the original anon can also get some peace of mind after they read it.

For you I'd just like to say that asking for help or advice or even just venting some internal insecurities isn't "being a baby". It's perfectly normal for human beings to need outside input or to verbalise their thoughts, if not to ask for an opinion then simply to "get it out of your system". Sometimes we need for someone else to say "dude, don't worry, I feel the same" or "yeah, this totally makes sense, you're not being crazy here". Sometimes, even when we rationally already know something, we have to say it to make it feel real. We need to hear ourselves say it (or read what we've written) in order to get a more nuanced perspective that allows us to grow - instead of the internal voice that blocks us from moving forward out of fear of shame.

I guess you're on a good path, since you're recognising things that need to be reframed and unlearned. Please feel free to ask (us or anyone else that you trust) for guidance, advice or just for an open ear. Problems rarely get solved by keeping them to yourself.

Maddie

[bnhablessings]

Can I request a oneshot/headcanon for Hawks x pregnant fem!reader? I was thinking of Hawks being super cute taking care of her and showing her off proudly to other hero's. this is my first time making a request, so feel free to do with this as you please lolz! also I really want the end to have reader going into labor and giving birth at the end with a very proud Hawks at her side (you get to choose the gender!)💖

It took me so long to get to this omg but I did and I hope you like it, Hon! It is past midnight and I have a weird obsession with tomatoes right now.

Warnings: Pregnancy, just a fluff overload, Profanity, All Might is retired, Dabi and Hawks are good friends AU (we ignore the manga, only happy feelings here lmao)

*I have fixed grammar issues. My brain power was not activated when writing this lol.

Words: 2438

Takami Keigo (Hawks) x Female Reader

“Isn’t she just amazing?” Hawks questions not really speaking to anyone else as he just admires the woman waddling down the hallway.

The other Pro Heroes around him stare at him with confusion. Aizawa, Yamada, Yagi, and Todoroki Enji all take a glance at each other before they wait for the woman to make her way to them. All of them but Hawks are profoundly confused.

“Uh… This was supposed to be a parent-teacher conference so may I ask why Hawks is here as well?” All Might asks.

Hawks ignores them as he watches the woman stopping for a moment to speak to a student. She looks genuinely concerned and it makes his foolish heart swell from how caring she is. Endeavor wants to slap the foolish look off Hawks face but ignores it to answer All Might.

“I apologize. We had lunch together before this meeting. He decided to follow me but I have no idea why.” The tone to Endeavor’s voice shows that he is irritated but curious as to why the number 2 hero seems to be enamored with a simple U.A teacher.

She hasn’t noticed him yet thankfully and he has proudly gotten a video of her waddling. The closer to she gets the more the expression on her face slowly turns into one of realization. The students at U.A respect and care for her so they always make room for her.

“Hey, Honey, what are you doing here?”  You ask softly as you place a hand on your very large bump.

He goes to respond when your colleague Present Mic starts to let out an inhuman sound that turns into a surprised scream. “What?! Honey?! (NAME) YOU’RE MARRIED TO THE HAWKS?!” Present Mic screeches.

You ignore the change in volume and laugh as you nod your head. Aizawa seems to nod as he pieces it together. “Ah… You did mention Tokoyami’s internship being close with your husband.”

“BUT WAIT! You’re married? All my attempts on wooing you have been in vain,” Present Mic mumbles.

Everyone seems to freeze at this but you just laugh more. “Yamada, have you not noticed my ring? I’ve been wearing it every day since working here!” You manage to say after laughing.

He has absolutely no reply but to slowly put his hands up to show surrender from Hawks’ glare on him. Without a care, Hawks pulls you to him so he can hug you with your baby bump blocking it fully. His hands go to rest upon it and he smiles widely.

“See! I told you I have a beautiful family too, Endeavor.”

Endeavor for once has to hide the smile on his face as he looks away. He replies, “Yeah. I thought you were speaking nonsense or showing me pictures of random pregnant women.”

“Nope! I can guess why you would be confused… Since I never showed her face. We have a little chickadee coming on the way!” The excitement is clear in his voice and on his face from the happy lazy grin plastered on it.

He looks at the others and bids them goodbye. “Well, I am going to steal her so she can have her lunch with me. See ya.”

~*~

“Baby, I promise, it is okay! I’ll be fine. I’ll see you later when you get home! I’m just happy you visited for lunch,” You say into the phone. Your other hand goes to your purse to look for your keys.

You hear Hawks mumble and whine on the other side of the phone but you ignore it until you find the keys successfully. “Alright, babe. I’ll be fine. I’ll text you when I reach the house. I love you!”

After hearing his ‘I love you more’ he hangs up and you smile feeling great. This is unusual since the pregnancy hormones have made you feel like shit lately. It’s all going to be worth it though.

“Hey, do you need me to walk you home?” Aizawa questions as he enters the hall.

You think for a few seconds before you ask, “Would you be willing to walk me to the station? I’ll be fine from there since I’m planning on stopping by a store! I don’t want to waste too much of your time!”

He nods and the two of you begin the walk to the station. It starts as a comfortable silence before Aizawa speaks up with a smile on his face. “You know, I had no idea you were married to the Number 2 Pro Hero. It surprised me but at the same, it didn’t. What surprised me though was seeing the way he stared at you. You have a good thing going,” Aizawa states.

It was odd for him to give his input like that but it made you feel happy to know that Hawks’ love for you was just that noticeable. Once at the station, Aizawa gives you a look, something an older brother would a younger sibling or parent would their child before giving a demand.

“Call me if anything happens. I’m on patrol for a while so I’ll be near this area. Be safe going home, (Name).”

Today has been such a heartwarming day and Aizawa’s words only bring you more joy as you bid him a farewell.

It doesn’t take long to reach the store close to your home. You salivate at the thought of getting what you crave most. An odd combination that most people would puke from but what you need to satisfy you and your baby right now, tomatoes and frosting.

You can just imagine Hawks’ disgusted look but it wasn’t the worst thing you’ve had yet. You go to turn when your baby bump hits something off the shelf. Thankfully, it was just another plastic can full of icing so it didn’t break. Now the new problem was picking up the jar.

You know it was a near-impossible feat but you try anyway. You probably look very silly trying to reach and barely scraping the can with your fingernails but you don’t care. You are determined to do it. That is until you hear an obvious cough trying to get your attention.

You give up for now and look at the owner only to smile upon seeing the man you saw earlier. “Hello, Mr. Endeavor! We’ve met officially earlier but not formally. I am Takami (Name). It’s a pleasure to meet you and I apologize if my husband gets a bit too much to handle. He can be very chillaxed but he does take his job seriously,” You ramble.

“Pleasure.”

He merely observes you with serious eyes before he bends down and picks up the icing jar. He hands it to you. “Thank you! I would’ve been in a pickle there if I couldn’t reach it,” You murmur placing it back on the shelf where it belongs.

One of his eyebrows betray his lack of expression to show his slight confusion and you laugh. “I already have my icing in this arm! The baby bump knocked over that one.”

He doesn’t say anything in reply to that. Instead, he seems to contemplate saying something. He just needs a few seconds before he decides to say it against his better judgment.

“Hawks... He’s the Number 2 Pro Hero and extremely famous. How is it I never even heard or seen you? I thought he was fibbing about having a wife since he only produced photos of your bump and not of your actual face,” He didn’t want to ask it but the curiosity got the best of him and it was unusual to him.

The question made you smile but this time with a bit of sadness. You’ve received this question just a few times before but the answer remains the same. “We try to hide our relationship and it is easy when his fans like to think he is single. It doesn’t matter but we have private social medias for our friends. We like to keep my face hidden and such.”

The atmosphere turned a bit tense and for once (actually probably like the fifth time since Hawks had been determined in making him a better Number 1 Hero) he feels guilty. Something strange feels like it’s churning in his chest and he quickly fixes it.

“He does talk an awful lot about you though. It’s clear as day how much he loves you and your baby.” It was a simple two-sentences but it brought comfort to you.

He leaves without any more words and you are brought back to your cheerful self and go to pay for the items. By the time you get home, it is already showing signs of getting dark. You are quick to send a text to Hawks and it distracts you from realizing something odd is wrong with your door. The fact that it is unlocked.

You lock your front door once inside and go straight to the kitchen to slice the tomatoes and spread icing on them. You waste absolutely no time as you have it all ready on a plate and leave the room to go change into something more comfortable.

Of course, only Hawks’ shirts have been fitting you lately and you prefer them much more than your maternity clothing. So you wear that and a pair of shorts before coming to get your treat and hopefully take a nap. That was the plan before you have a fucking heart attack from seeing a burnt toast eating your food.

“How the fuck do you eat this?” Dabi questions spitting a tomato slice out of his mouth.

Your heart is absolutely broken at the scene. You ignore the bully of a man and stare at the red and white mess on the ground. How dare he do this to you?

“Oh fuck… (Name), please don’t do this. I’m sorry. I’ll go buy you a new fucking tomato if you want. With the fucking confetti icing and shit. Just don’t cry… Or tell Hawks,” Dabi says.

It is too late though. The damage has been done as your hormones go berserk from seeing what you craved on the ground (yes your mind is ignoring the perfectly good slices still on the plate). Tears prick at your eyes and before you can rub them away or cry, Dabi brings you into a hug.

As you cry into his chest he is already on the phone with Hawks but with your uncontrollable sobs, you don’t hear the conversation. After a few painful minutes (for Dabi) he finally pulls away only for your face to be smothered by your loving husband’s chest.

He hushes you gently and rubs soothing circles on your back all while glaring at his best friend.

Dabi raises his hand in defense. “Hey man, I just came here to visit the princess with good intentions. Thanks for bringing the tomato. I owe you one.”

Another minute later Dabi presents to you a brand new plate with a tomato covered in icing. You sniffle lightly and take it before mumbling, “Thanks. Sorry for the way I acted. That was pathetic.”

“Hey no, it wasn’t Doll. I take full blame for eating your weird food. That and it is 100% Hawks’ fault for knocking you up Beautiful. Anyway, I got to bounce but are we good?” Dabi asks opening his arms for another hug.

You smile and give in. “We’re always good. Now get out of here. We’ll invite you over for a chicken wing dinner,” You offer.

He leaves with a stupid smile on his face and Hawks smiles as he can finally full-on cuddle you without interruptions. Of course, after you are done eating. He pulls you to cuddle on the couch with him, his wings stretched out and resting against the couch.

“You good, Babe?”

You nod the exhaustion pouring in on your face, “Yeah. Sorry I ended up making you come home early. I didn’t mean to get like that.”

“It’s all good. I would do anything for you and the baby. No tomato is safe from being devoured by you if that is what you desire.”

You are too tired to even give a response to that. Instead, you try and curl up into him as you make sure your bump is comfortable at the same time. His hands rest on your belly as he hums into your ear.

“What only two months left now?”

Yeah, and they are going to fly right by.

~*~

“You had to come in through the window?” Hawks asks in a hushed voice.

Dabi only smirks before his eyes fall on your resting figure. Hawks is sitting right beside you on the bed. The sweet bundle of joy he came to meet is resting in Hawks’ arms right beside you.

“Can’t impress anyone if I didn’t. All the Heroes come by already?” Dabi asks as he takes slow and steady steps to the three of you.

You smile weakly as you recall your three colleagues coming in to check on you and meet the baby (that Hawks may or may not have shoved in their face from how proud he was). Endeavor came by as well to congratulate you and Hawks.

“Yeah. All there is left now is to meet you,” You murmur as Hawks stands up.

Dabi gets a close look at the baby’s squishy face. He wants to say it’s hideous as a joke (he was planning on how to do joke about it though) but he couldn’t. The baby was actually cute. However, to his absolute horror, Hawks starts to proceed to give the baby to him.

“What the fuck. What if I drop it?”

You answer in a sleepy voice. “Drop her and I will personally send you to hell.”

“Her… What name did you guys come up with?”

Hawks answers without hesitation. “Tomato.”

Dabi physically freezes and looks up before seeing the stupid grin on Hawks’ face. He turns to you and you smile a gentle smile and give up the true answer. “Takara, it means treasure. Takami Takara.”

“I’ll take the chair. I’ll hold her while you guys rest up for a bit.”

You thank him and Hawks silently thanks him before showing off his severely bruised hand that you no doubt, destroyed when pushing during labor.

It is a pain Hawks would gladly go over again and endure for you because you are everything to him. You and your beautiful daughter mean the world to him and he would go through this life a million times if it meant having the two of you again.

[biletdoux]

stages of love | j.jh TEASER

Pairing: jung jaehyun (nct) + female!reader

Rating: G (teaser), M (completed work)

Genre + Tropes: college!au, romance (angst, fluff, smut)

Warnings: none (in the teaser), full warning list will be posted with completed work

Length: 1.7k+ (teaser), TBA (completed work)

Summary: A playlist for the trials and tribulations of a beating heart.

(Or; your relationship with Jung Jaehyun in ten songs.)

Note: I didn’t intend to post a teaser, but maybe it will motivate me to write faster if I at least just put something out?? maybe lol. Story is based on an 8track playlist I found years ago which has been lost over time. I tried writing this story many times, but I finally got to it, so we’ll see how it goes. Let me know what you think ! <333

1. Peach by IU

smitten at first sight.

“How can I explain this feeling?”

“Alright, I think that sums up about everything we need to cover for today’s lecture. Remember, most of this will be in your final exam. Any questions before you’re all dismissed?” 

Your professor looks up from the board, scans the room and all he sees are most of the students waiting with bated breath, itching to leave the class, and half of those students having already packed their belongings in anticipation. He held them back an extra twenty five minutes today, which is notably longer than previous lectures in which he delayed dismissal.

“Okay, you’re free to go. Chapters nineteen and twenty are due the next time we meet.”

You breathe out a sigh of relief, ready to head out with the rest of the class. You like Professor Jang and find that he makes history somewhat digestible, but he had a tendency to lose track of time, which is inconvenient, but more so today since you had agreed to meet up with Yeri. You glance at your phone to see text notifications and curse to yourself. You’re already ten minutes late and Yeri is many things and impatient is one of them. 

You’re one of the first out of the small lecture hall and you shoot her a quick reply before making your way to the oncampus cafe. Through quickened strides and shortcuts engrained from cross-campus treks from class to class, you arrive in record time. You’re slightly out of breath and impressed by your speed, but you stop, frozen in your tracks when you see Yeri’s displeased face. You find her situated in a small, but cozy corner next to the windows, already unpacked with notebooks and papers strewn on the desk ready to review for exams. It's one of the best study spots in the cafe and you immediately know your best friend had to come extra early to nab such a sought after table. 

“About time,” she scowls, “what took you so long?”

You shoot her an apologetic look, “aww, Yeri,” you pout your lips a little too dramatically, “I’m sorry. I just came from history and you know how Professor Jang is.” 

Yeri looks at your jutted lips in disgust, but then her face softens in consideration. “Hm, I do know Jang.” She scrunches up her nose remembering her time in his class last semester. “That old man can talk for days on end and he never lets anyone leave class early. I guess I’ll let you go this time.” 

You beam at her knowing she’s no longer angry for your tardiness. “Great, drinks are on me today. It’s the least I can do for being late.” Yeri forgives as easily and as quickly as she loses her temper. You learned this after a few weeks of being her roommate. 

Yeri says nothing in silent agreement and you place your stuff down across the table next to the chair she reserved for you. You pull out your wallet and weave through the packed cafe to head to the order counter. The line is long and you patiently review the menu. Your roommate has consistent tastes and always orders a vanilla frappuccino regardless of which cafe she goes to, but you base your decision on your mood. You mull over your choices and by the time you reach the barista taking your order, you decide you’re in an ‘iced Americano’ kind of mood today. You have exams on top of exams you need to review for and a stronger caffeine kick is much needed.

After paying, you head back to the table with two drinks in tow. Yeri takes her drink and after you both take a few sips and catch up for the day, you dive straight to work. The two of you decide to review for statistics. 

Between re-summarizing chapters and answering review questions, you muse to yourself about how your college experience thus far hasn't been that much different from your high school life. You didn’t necessarily hate high school, per say, but it was safe to say you didn’t enjoy it. Your heart was in the arts, specifically music, and you had found studying the core subjects to be boring and tedious. You remember being ecstatic to have been accepted and enrolled in a music college, foolishly thinking your days of solving differential equations and memorizing chemical formulas were over. You specifically remember daydreaming of your hours being filled with keyboard practice and composition notes and only such things. Somehow the reality of mandatory general education courses slipped your mind when you constructed such fantasies.

Despite frivolous and preconceived notions of college, you have already survived a semester and you are nearly through your second. 

“Hey, do you remember when this stats assignment is due?” Yeri’s inquiring voice snaps you out of your brief reverie and you search your cluttered brain for a date.

“Uh, I think it’s due, like, a few days before the final, but I’d have to double check.” 

Yeri nods. “Alright, well let’s take a small break. We have some time till then, we don’t have to finish all of it today.” 

You happily agree and set down your pen. Yeri takes a sip of her frappuccino and you lean over the table to get closer to her. “Anyway, did you hear about what happened with Jiwon and Youngjae from the entertainment management department?”

Her eyes glisten with wicked interest. “No. Do tell.”

Break time is always synonymous with gossip hour between you and Yeri. 

You spend the next fifteen minutes dishing what you know and Yeri offers her own input whenever she feels fit. 

“And they think they’re being discreet, but the whole dorm knows they’ve been sneaking around, but guess wha─” Before you can finish your sentence, you were cut off by a loud and energetic voice calling out Yeri’s name.

The two of you look up to see a slim and boyish brunet waving to Yeri and excitedly making his way to your table. He looks vaguely familiar, but you can’t quite place your finger on it, so you let it go.

He smiles happily at Yeri and greets her. “Hey Yeri, how’s it going?” He notices you there and gives you a polite wave, which you return in the same manner.

Yeri replies back breezily, but with her full attention. “Good. Did you need anything, Mark?” 

He flushes just the slightest bit, but it doesn’t escape your eyes. “Erm, nothing I just wanted to remind you that we’re meeting for the music theory project tomorrow at four. I would’ve texted, but I forgot to get your number in class, and I saw you here and thought it was a good opportunity to tell you.” 

Yeri’s eyes widen, “ah right! I completely forgot about it. It’s a good thing you found me here today, huh? Here, I’ll give you my number.”

She reaches her hand out her hand expectantly, and Mark is confused before scrambling to pull out his phone. You can tell Mark looks flustered while Yeri is calmly putting in her contact information. After finishing, she hands his phone back, “okay, all set. Just shoot me a text so I have your number as well. Thanks for reminding me today or I probably would’ve forgotten and not have shown up.” 

Mark smiles again, this time a little more sure than before. “All good. I’ll see you tomorrow, Yeri.” 

They wave goodbye and you watch Mark scamper from the cafe. Your eyes follow him, but Yeri is already focused on you again, paying Mark’s retreating form no mind. 

“So…” you start.

“So?” She returns.

“He’s cute.”

“Yeah, maybe,” she shrugs. “I barely know him though. We have music theory together, but this is the first time we’ve talked all semester and we’re only talking because we got paired up for a project.”

Yeri seems apathetic and you study her closely. You notice she’s acting a little too stiffly carefree to be truly indifferent to the situation. You can’t help, but to tease her a bit. “Well, make the most out of this project then.”

Yeri gives you a hard look and you decide to let it go despite finding your best friend’s situation to be amusing. 

“Anyway, keep telling me about Jiwon and Youngjae. You never finished.” Yeri changes the topic, knowing that you might decide to pester her again if she doesn’t.

“As I was saying,” you started up again. A figure outside catches your attention and you peer outside through the window past Yeri’s shoulders. You realize it’s Mark and you watch with interest as he gestures excitedly, pointing to something in his hand, you assume his phone, to some of his friends. From there your eyes wander absentmindedly from one person to the next, and it’s when you see him. 

The reaction is almost instantaneous. 

“Like you were saying?” Yeri urges, but her words fall on deaf ears, for all your attention is captured by the boy next to Mark with heart-shaped lips.

When you see said boy laugh, you notice he has moon for eyes and you unconsciously suck in a sharp breath. You must have been staring too intently without noticing because he turns his head in your direction and you two hold direct eye contact. Like a deer caught in headlights, you freeze and lose all rational thought. Your head is completely blank. You have never seen someone so beautiful and your mind does not know how to process any sensory information at the moment.

Someone calls the boy away and the entire group of friends leave. It’s only then do you find yourself releasing a breath you didn’t know you had been holding onto so tightly. Your heart is pounding and you feel as though blood is rushing through your ears. 

“Hello?” Yeri sounds annoyed, but you struggle to find the words to answer her. 

You feel a sudden heat rush to color your cheeks a vibrant red and a feeling surges through you that leaves you out of breath and weak at the knees. A steady warmth washes over you quietly and you feel it deep within yourself and you can’t help but let out a small laugh.

How silly, you muse. Not to be dramatic, but you think you’re in love.

[bean-there]

Izuku has a wasp quirk

Okay, so, this started out as an idea for a random quirk, but I loved it so much that I ended up making scenarios for this quirk with Izuku. I got the information about the poisons and antidotes here.  This can be a prompt or not, idk. If someone wants to use this as a prompt, feel free to alter things. It was just the concept of Izuku having a wasp quirk that got me excited

Quirk Information:

Izuku’s quirk is called ‘Wasp’, and it’s a transformation type quirk. He has stingers that can he can sheath and unsheath at the base of his wrists (basically where Spider-Man’s webs come out), as well as four (4) wings and antenna that pop up when he calls for them. He usually keeps his antenna out though, as they warn him about danger and he can smell/taste better with them. Izuku discovers that his left stinger holds a type of poison (Aqua Tofana), and his right stinger holds the cure.

A few hours after Izuku’s quirk came in he gained black markings all over his body, but mostly on his torso and arms. They faded out the farther down you got on his arms and legs. He has some markings on his cheeks, temple and the back of his neck.

Because of his quirk, Izuku essentially works on a different channel that everybody else. He still sees and feels everything the same way we do, but he receives the information a bit differently than we do. He receives information (taste, communication, smell, touch (though not very often), danger, etc.) through his antenna. They’re constantly moving, and if Izuku chooses, he can put them away (literally letting them melt into the skin of his forehead), but it generally makes him feel uncomfortable of flighty because his senses are half of what they were. They get dialed down to what the average person feels, but because he’s used to having superior senses, Izuku feels handicapped or ’blind’.

Because of his insect based quirk, Izuku does have a sort of untraditional A/B/O dynamics (lol, watch me use ao3 tags). He senses potential mates through his antenna, even though most people in the BnHA society don’t have very potent pheromones (unless you get up close and personal). When Izuku gets close enough to new people, or if they prove they aren’t faking affection/friendship, he usually asks is he can scent them; basically letting his antenna touch their necks, behind their ears or someplace that gets slightly sweaty. That way their scent is ingrained into his brain and he can feel comfortable with them. He’s done this with the Bakugo’s and his mom. He end up doing this almost everyone in 1-A (including Aizawa) after they’ve proven themselves to him

Izuku doesn’t start noticing people’s pheromones until after he hits puberty, though. Even then, he doesn’t really pay attention to the information his antenna pick up when scenting someone’s pheromones. 

Storyline/other:

Izuku discovers his quirk by accidentally sliding his wrist stingers into Katsuki when he’s picking on him. He poisons Katsuki and discovers that his left stinger holds a type of poison (Aqua Tofana), and his right stinger holds the cure.

After he poisons Katsuki, he panics and slides his right stinger in Katsuki’s veins and administers the antidote

After the incident with Katsuki, Izuku and him become close friends over time (read: years). Kacchan eventually offers to be Izuku’s test subject and Izuku refuses for months. That is, until the Sludge Villain incident, when Izuku realizes he needs to know everything about his quirk if he wants to keep those he loves safe and unharmed.

The two always have a vial of Izuku’s antidote on hand after they learned how to extract his medicine. They don’t want to have any accidental incidents. When he gets to UA, he makes sure everyone in 1-A all have a small vial, and that Recovery Girl always has two vials on standby. 

When 1-A trains, the class always notices that it’s when Izuku has the most energy and seems the most relaxed. Some (mostly BakuSquad and the DekuSquad) start to pester him to tell them why he’s like that, but Izuku always to refuse to tell them

Eventually the class rounds on Bakugou, and in his annoyance, Bakugou caves. He tells them that it’s when everyone’s pheromones are most noticeable, and so Izuku can sense everyone's intent and emotions. Izuku most likely feels like he doesn’t have to check behind his back. Izuku overhears Bakugou telling them and decides to input his own opinion. He states, “You guys also usually release pleased or positive pheromones, and because many of you are releasing it at once, it affects me. After training, I try and stay with the side of the class that was happy with how training went, rather than the half that was unsatisfied. Otherwise I’ll become cranky or something, and nobody wants that.”

Bakugou’s scent and pheromones have always been stronger than anyone else Izuku knows because his quirk is literally having him sweat in order to create explosions. Because of this, Izuku tends to have Bakugou massage the base of his wings or simply sit next to him when he’s stressed/worried/tense. Having strong pheromones surrounding him tends to help Izuku relax.

When Izuku is making sure everyone in 1-A is authentic, Bakugou knows what he’s doing and will laugh occasionally when Izuku suddenly springs a random question on someone. People will ask Bakugou why he’s laughing and all Katsuki does is smirk and say “you extras better be good enough” and leave a confused hero class behind

One day, 1-A is forcing Izuku to tell them what they all smell like to him (in regards to scent and pheromones, not if they stink) and the strength of their scent. Everyone is surprised to learnt that Todoroki has the second strongest scent in the class after Bakugou. Izuku confesses that Todoroki’s scent is a bit odd, because one side of him naturally runs a bit warmer than the average person, but his right side was cooler so it emitted les pheromones than usual, even when he was all sweaty. But when Todoroki uses his fire it’s usually like a punch to Izuku’s gut because Todoroki’s pheromones go from being a background notation to flooding his senses, everything clamoring “look here notice the scent it’s strong pay attention”. After this confession, Todoroki tries to warn Izuku before he uses his fire

The antidote is injected into the bloodstream, it acts as a poison as well, but this time there is no antidote. Izuku experiments with his quirk (with small animals, replies and the like) and lies to the quirk analyst when they ask him about the poison and antidote. He says that ‘he just knows’ and that it’s a ‘gut instinct’. He has his own analysis notebook on his quirk.

The poison and antidote only work unless directly administered to the bloodstream. So, if someone manages to extract Izuku’s poison but only throws it on someone, nothing will happen. They might feel slightly warmer on that patch on skin (where the poison landed on them), but nothing else. His poison isn’t acid, it doesn’t eat away at things.His antidote is a form of mithridatum, but a type of antidote that cures only the poison he has administered or produced.

[accio-victuuri]

Sorry to bother you. I was wondering if there is something special about the TMagazine thing that Yibo has done, since I'm not familiar with that publication at all.

Is it normal for there to be a limited number of copies for sale?

Also, is it strictly a photoshoot or will there be an interview/article about him in it as well?

Hello Anon! 💛 All I know is that it’s a Winter entertainment special. Not familiar with it too. but this is on their PR.

Is it Normal? No. I looked a bit on their wb and there was no limited number for other covers. you can backtrack here. I have no time to look further lol. Web also had a cover with them April 2020 and that was not a limited copies type of thing.

No interview.

Hope this helps!! If anyone has more input on this then feel free to reply. 🙏🏻

[yourcoffindoor]

A Spike in My Heart: Part 2

Pairing: Vampire!Gerard Way x Reader

Prompt: Request from Anons- “ Hey sweetie I love your work so much ❤️ Can you please write pt 2 of vampire Gerard? Something where reader wakes up, angst and fluff? “  and “ VAMPIRE GERARD PART 2 WOULD BE SO NEAT AAAAAA “ (lol <3)

AN: As always, hope my story does the job. Enjoy!

Everything was black. Voices washed over you like gentle waves in a calm ocean, and among them was a familiar male voice that you couldn't yet identify, but somehow understood he was speaking to you. 

Don't leave me, it said. Don't leave me, over and over, and you cut through the darkness looking for the source of the voice so you could tell him you never would. You're right here, why can't he find you and take you where there's light?

You weren't sure now if you were asleep or dead, dreaming or in purgatory. At times you could feel icy hands on your forehead or resting for a moment on your cheek. You seemed to drift in and out of consciousness, sometimes hearing those around you, before falling back into nothingness.

If this was sleep, you often dreamed of Gerard. The setting was always the same-- You were attending some sort of formal function, both of you dressed to the nines. You always were taken aback by how handsome he was in his suit, and you told him so, certain he would blush if it were possible for a vampire to do so.

He would pull out a slim box and offer it to you. 

"A present." he informed you shyly. Inside was a stunning garnet necklace far more extravagant than anything you had ever owned before. The crimson gems were cut in a teardrop shape and gleamed as they caught the light from seemingly every angle.

He offered to put it on for you, and you eagerly agreed. His hands moved slow as they brushed the hair from the back of your neck as if savoring the sensation. It took a moment to secure the clasp, and you thanked him when he had accomplished his mission before asking how it looked on you.

The dream always ended the same. Gerard stepped in front to get a look at you, and his expression quickly changed from admiration to horror, tears welling in his hazel eyes.

"What is it?"

"I'm so sorry!" he would say repeatedly. "Y/N, please, I'm so sorry!"

Confused, you looked down and saw a trickle of familiar deep red run down your chest. You turned to find a mirror and screamed as you saw your reflection. They necklace was gone, replaced by a ring of bite marks and steady streams of blood.

It was from this dream that you finally jolted awake, finding yourself tucked neatly in your bed. You looked around to find no one, but noticed a chair had been brought to the side of the bed, a sign that someone had been caring for you.

 You heard movement just outside your bedroom door and listened as a muffled argument carried on. 

"You should have never starved yourself to that point." an unknown male voice hissed. "It's fucking dangerous, Gerard."

"I realize that," he lamented bitterly, and you longed to reach for him and to tell him it was ok.

"You need to come to terms with what you are. It's not going to change." 

Gerard's voice was low, defeated. "And how do you suggest I do that Frank? I feel like a parasite."

"Y/N doesn't think so."

"And look what I did to her!" His voice rose, filled with anger instead of self pity. "Look what happens to people I love when I'm honest about what I am!"

Frank was silent for a moment. "You love her? Have you told her?"

"No," Gerard replied, voice grim, "and now I might not get the chance."

You felt a warm flush bloom on your pallid cheeks upon hearing Gerard confess his feelings. You noticed that there was a glass of water left on your bedside table by your caretaker, and you reached for it in hopes of calming yourself down. Instead your shaky hand sent the glass tumbling to the floor, silencing the discussion outside your door with a loud splash and shatter.

The bedroom door opened immediately and Gerard rushed in, planting himself by your side. He reached  his hand towards you instinctively, but quickly drew it back, as though he was afraid he would do more harm than good.

"Y/N," his eyes were filled with relief, "I'm...I'm so glad you're awake."

You instead reached towards him, clasping his hand in yours. "Thanks for looking after me. How long has it been?"

"Almost two days," came a voice from the doorway. You looked over to find a man leaning against the door frame, arms folded. "See, I told you Y/N would be fine." He gloated to Gerard before turning his attention back to you.  "I could hear your heartbeat from the front door. Kept telling Gee you weren't a goner."

Gerard looked mortified, much to your amusement.

"Thanks for your input, uh... sorry who are you?"

"Name's Frank. Gerard's band-mate, fellow bloodsucker. Hope you don't mind my being here. Gerard called me over for help."

You smiled softly. "Not at all." 

Gerard cleared his throat, glaring at Frank who stood smirking in the doorway.

"Guess I should give you guys some privacy," he said, turning to leave, but quickly stopped in his tracks. "Oh yeah, are you gonna tell her what you told me?"

"Jesus Frank, she just woke up!"

Frank shrugged. "You're right. Give her a good five minutes to breathe before you tell her you're in love with her."

"Frank!"

Frank laughed to himself, closing the door behind him.

It was quiet for a moment, but the silence was heavy with words that were aching to be said. Gerard fidgeted with his fingers, trying to prevent them from reaching for you again. 

After a moment, he suddenly stood up. "I should get you a new glass of water, you must be thirsty."

"That can wait," you insisted, grabbing the edge of his shirt before he could disappear, "Stay with me."

Slowly he returned to his watch post beside the bed. You decided to break the ice.

"I'm not mad. I'm not scared. And I'm feeling better by the second. You don't need to be worried."

"Easier said than done I'm afraid," he forced a soft laugh, his crooked smile expressing more sadness than he intended.

"Were you sitting there this whole time?"

"How could I be anywhere else? I had to make sure you were going to be ok. You seemed to be having some intense dreams, you were tossing and turning."

You decided against burdening him with the details of your nightmare. "Doesn't matter now that I'm awake. Besides, I don't even remember what they were about."

Gerard tucked a strand of unkempt black hair behind his ear. "Well, anyway, at one point I felt your forehead and it seemed warm--well warmer than usual to me--and I was worried you were getting a fever, so I called Frank over here for help. He's good in situations like these. I mean, not that I've been in this situation before...I was so worried, Y/N. But he kept telling me you were fine, that I definitely did overdo it but you also probably just had a bad reaction--"

You cut off Gerard’s awkward rambling with a tight embrace, catching him off guard. His body was tense, but soon melted into your touch.

"Thank you," you murmured, your head on his shoulder.

"I don't know if thanks are necessary...since I caused the problem." he mused softly. "Y/N, you don't deserve to be dragged into a life like this."

"Gerard, is it true? What Frank said?"

His eyes widened. "Huh?"

"He said you're in love with me. In fact, I may have heard you say it myself just outside the door there."

Gerard nervously tousled his hair with one hand, as if he were hoping to find the right answer within it.

"Its true. I know its a lot to process and...we only just went over the whole vampire thing...you don't need to feel obligated or anything. But Y/N, I've never felt they way I feel about you before. Not for anyone or anything. I thought I couldn't have normal things like a relationship...but being with you makes me feel like there's a chance for happiness."

He had looked away in the course of stumbling through his off-the-cuff confession, gazing instead at the floor. His nervous, awkward affection only served to endear him to you further.

"Then listen. I told you before, I don't care what you are. I love you. I know you didn't mean to hurt me. I want you to know that I'm in this with you now. And if you let me in, we can figure it all out. Together."

He turned to look at you, eyes warm with affection. "I'll never let it get out of hand again. I promise. There'll be no repeat of this."

"There is one part I'd like a repeat of."

"Oh?"

You hoisted yourself up on the bed and leaned in towards Gerard, gently planting your lips on his, wrapping your arms around his shoulders. You lingered there for a moment, savoring the kiss and the rush of endorphins that came with it.

"Feel free to let that get out of hand as often as possible."

Gerard grinned, and lay down next to you in the bed. You spent the next moments holding each other in silence, knowing that you had eternity to figure out whatever came next.

taglist: @honimello​

[wastelandlovingscenarios]

unanswered asks!~

this post is solely focused on asks [that are not requests/reacts] i haven't been able to answer lately due to me being busy working on requests or just my personal life in general. if you know you sent me an ask, my reply to you will be under the cut! i didn't want to leave anyone's ask unanswered and if you don't see yours under the cut, please resend them! i’d love to see what you have to say to me. i will also be updating tonight or anywhere soon, thank you guys for continuing to support me. i love you guys very much! <3

1. Here is an anon from a request for lindy hop dance - thank youuu! ♥ I knew you would write something wonderful, but you still surprised me. You made the day a little better, thank you for that. You hit 100% of my wagering about companions (btw, boys in a slightly unbuttoned, loose collared shirt ?! Mmmm... ♥) Remember that you are our treasure!

- thank you so much! im glad to know i met your expectations, that makes me very happy. im currently working on the second part of your request (along with like 6 other different requests LOL) but yesss, omg like when i used to dance ballroom, i used to see a lot of outfits similar to the one explained in the ask and brooo i would faint if any of the companions wore that in front of me. you are my treasure too, along with my other followers! <3

2. Funny thing. I read your post about scars and realized that Nick is a 2nd generation model, so any wounds will not heal on him. Instead, there will be dents, gaps and holes. We know from Far Harbor that Nick escaped with Dima from the Institute a good 100 years ago. For a century in the wasteland, Nick had to get a whole collection of holes and dents. Does that explain why you can dress ANY companion in ANY clothes you want during the game, but Nick never takes off his coat? NEVER!

- omg i never really thought of that, thats really interesting. i was always kinda bummed i couldnt dress nick up like i did with other companions [and believe me, id collect outfits JUST to put them on my companions], but that thought never really crossed my mind. i feel like nick is very insecure about his damages and is very, very discreet and private about it hence why you cannot dress him up. that or he could be concerned about the possibility of damaging it more by exposing it to things that could potentially harm him by leaving his body exposed. thank you for your input, anon! that has definitely opened my mind up more.

3. Your stories make my day. Keep up the great work ❤️

- thank you so much! you guys motivate me to write more and i will continue doing so. i hope i continue to produce great content that you guys will enjoy! <3

4. Hi!! hope you are doing well and i cant wait for you to come back with requests!

- thank you for checking up on me, anon! <3 i hope you are doing fantastic too! things are rough on my side right now but i know it will get better eventually. and yes, i will be posting shortly, so no worries! i try to keep my updates as constant as possible.

5. You are such a kind soul... providing us these reacts FOR FREE. I would literally pay for your writing, its amazing.

- omgggg, thank you so much, haha! i never thought my writing was good enough to be paid for, so thats new. i dont plan on putting a fee on my writing anytime soon unless its a commission. <3

[crippleprophet]

do u or any of ur followers know if it would be safe to skateboard with a cane? i'm looking into different mobility options on the cheap lol

if you mean skateboarding while using a cane (or holding a non-collapsable one), my gut instinct as a cane user is a definite no because, aside from probable logistical issues, if the person doing that were to fall there’s a big risk of getting badly injured by the cane

if you mean like, skateboarding while taking a cane with you to use when not skateboarding, a foldable cane should be great in my opinion. i have two foldable ones and they were like $14 and $20 respectively

feel free to reply if anyone has input!

[sworntoprotect]

THE MEGA RP PLOTTING SHEET / MEME.

First and foremost, recall that no one is perfect, we all had witnessed some plotting once which did not went too well, be it because of us or our partner. So here have this, which may help for future plotting. It’s a lot! Yes, but perhaps give your partners some insight? Anyway BOLD what fully applies, italicize if only somewhat. Long post!

MUN NAME: Pie     AGE: +25       CONTACT: IM, Ask, Discord (mutuals only, by request)

CHARACTER(S): Cullen

CURRENT FANDOM(S): Dragon Age

FANDOM(S) YOU HAVE AN AU FOR:  I have a modern verse for everything not Dragon Age, but I might add some actual alt verses for other fandoms

MY LANGUAGE(S): English (native), Spanish (intermediate), Korean (baby lol beginner), bits and bobs of other languages (namely French and French Patois)

THEMES I’M INTERESTED IN FOR RP: FANTASY / SCIENCE FICTION / HORROR / WESTERN / ROMANCE / THRILLER / MYSTERY / DYSTOPIA / ADVENTURE / MODERN / EROTIC / CRIME / MYTHOLOGY / CLASSIC / HISTORY / RENAISSANCE / MEDIEVAL / ANCIENT / WAR / FAMILY / POLITICS / RELIGION / SCHOOL / ADULTHOOD / CHILDHOOD / APOCALYPTIC / GODS / SPORT / MUSIC / SCIENCE / FIGHTS / ANGST / SMUT / DRAMA / ETC. (I started this and realised I’d be bolding almost everything, so: EVERYTHING)

PREFERRED THREAD LENGTH: ONE-LINER / 1 PARA / 2 PARA / 3+ PARA / NOVELLA. / ALL

ASKS CAN BE SEND BY: MUTUALS / NON-MUTUALS / PERSONALS / ANONS.

CAN ASKS BE CONTINUED?: YES / NO / OCCASIONALLY   - only by Mutuals?:  YES / NO

PREFERRED THREAD TYPE: CRACK / CASUAL / SERIOUS / DEEP AS HECK. / ALL

IS REALISM / RESEARCH IMPORTANT FOR YOU IN CERTAIN THEMES?:   YES / NO.

ARE YOU ATM OPEN FOR NEW PLOTS?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS. (after my paper is submitted, yeah sure)

DO YOU HANDLE YOUR DRAFT / ASK - COUNT WELL?:  YES / NO / SOMEWHAT. (irl makes coping difficult sometimes)

HOW LONG DO YOU USUALLY TAKE TO REPLY?: 24H / 1 WEEK / 2 WEEKS / 3+ WEEKS / MONTHS / YEARS. / DEPENDS ON MOOD AND INSPIRATION, AND IF I’M BUSY 

I’M OKAY INTERACTING WITH: ORIGINAL CHARACTERS / A RELATIVE OF MY CHARACTER (AN OC) / DUPLICATES / CROSSOVERS / MULTI-MUSES / SELF-INSERTS / PEOPLE WITH NO AU VERSE FOR MY FANDOM / CANON-DIVERGENT PORTRAYALS / AU-VERSIONS.

DO YOU POST MORE IC OR OOC?: IC / OOC. (I strive for more IC over OOC, but my queue does a lot of work too)

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WITH FOLLOWING OTHERS?: YES / NO / DEPENDS.  

BEST WAYS TO APPROACH YOU FOR RP/PLOTTING:  Talk with me over IM, asks, or Disco. I’m down for almost anything as long as I see it’s feasible.

WHAT EXPECTATIONS DO YOU HOLD TOWARDS YOUR PLOTTING PARTNER:  Transparency. If you have an idea, let me know! If you’re stuck, let me know! If you want to start something new or scrap something or whatever...LET ME KNOW! I promise I don’t bite and I understand.

WHEN YOU NOTICE THE PLOTTING IS RATHER ONE-SIDED, WHAT DO YOU DO?:  I’m not very good with coming up with plots myself, so I’m typically the weak link when it comes to that. Sorry! But you bet I’ll pull up a plot generator and start throwing things down to see what sticks haha.

HOW DO YOU USUALLY PLOT WITH OTHERS, DO YOU GIVE INPUT OR LEAVE MOST WORK TOWARDS YOUR PARTNER?:  I’m all about equal opportunity, so I try not to leave the plotting work to my partner. Let’s negotiate and find something that makes both of us happy. That’s the point after all.

WHEN A PARTNER DROPS THE THREAD, DO YOU WISH TO KNOW?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS. - AND WHY?: If you want to drop a thread, I’m completely fine with it. I want to know so that I don’t end up replying to something you have no interest in anymore. Saves both of us the time.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY LEAD YOU TO DROP A THREAD?:  If drafts eat it (as they are wont to do these days) or if I feel it has reached a natural conclusion. I rarely, if ever, drop a thread in the middle. I’ll just let you know I’m going to finish it on my side and allow you a chance to finish on yours if you’d like.

WILL YOU TELL YOUR PARTNER?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS.

IS COMMUNICATION IN THE RPC IMPORTANT TO YOU? YES / NO. - AND WHY?: You don’t need to chat with me every minute of every day, but I like knowing the people I’m writing with. Discerning your personality and your approach to your muse gives me a much stronger understanding of how to write with you, and what vibes between us. Plus, it’s easier to remember different people’s boundaries if I talk with them a lot, too.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH ABSOLUTE HONESTY, EVEN IF IT MAY MEANS HEARING SOMETHING NEGATIVE ABOUT YOU AND/OR PORTRAYAL?: I am all for constructive criticism. Even if you think it’s nitpicky, it’s going to be a great help. Good crit allows us grow as writers and as people in general. However, I am not for baseless accusations, childish name-calling, or outright insults under the name of “constructive crit”. Remember the “constructive” part: we need to build each other up. 

DO YOU THINK YOU CAN HANDLE SUCH SITUATION IN A MATURE WAY? YES / NO.

WHY DO YOU RP AGAIN, IS THERE A GOAL?: I love a good story. While I don’t agree with everything Cullen does (and no one should, for anyone real or imagined), his story is intriguing. He’s a deeply flawed, deeply broken man. I love to take on a character, toss them in every situation I can think of, and watch them evolve and grow.

WISHLIST, BE IT PLOTS OR SCENARIOS:  A real redemption arc, for one. A realistic struggle with substance abuse and recovery. A future of happiness.

THEMES I WON’T EVER RP / EXPLORE:   Rape or sexual assault, unless being spoken about as a past event (as I truly believe that Cullen was sexually assaulted at Kinloch along with the other psychological and physical torture he endured). In-game racism is baked in, unfortunately, but it’s not something I seek out to roleplay as a PoC myself. Finally, while I play Cullen as canon-straight, I will not play out homophobia and most definitely not transphobia. If he rejects your muse for hitting on him, it’s not because he’s being homophobic: he’s just not interested. That also doesn’t mean he’ll never be interested; people can and do change, and I ship chemistry overall. He doesn’t hate your muse for their gender, orientation, or sexual preferences. I feel like I really have to spell this out for people who don’t understand. If you feel personally insulted by this somehow, feel free to address me directly, off anon. It’s probably an issue of fuzzy wording that I’m 500% willing to fix and talk about.

WHAT TYPE OF STARTERS DO YOU PREFER / DISLIKE, CAN’T WORK WITH?: I love starters that set the scene and provide plenty to work with, be it in terms of interacting with the environment or with the other person. If your muse shows immediate disinterest in communicating (and I don’t mean argumentative, which is perfectly fine), I am not going to respond. I might politely ask for more if I feel like it’s a salvageable interaction.

WHAT TYPE OF CHARACTERS CATCH YOUR INTEREST THE MOST?:  Stoic soldier types, bubbly short girls, and semi-mad scientists.

WHAT TYPE OF CHARACTERS CATCH YOUR INTEREST THE LEAST?:  Characters that come across as Mary-Sue / Gary-Stu types. No flaws and barely any room to grow. 

WHAT ARE YOUR STRONG ASPECTS AS RP PARTNER?: I'm very easy-going and I have an unearthly level of tolerance for almost everything. I try to provide partners with as much to work with as possible IC, and will pretty much support your very existence OOC. I believe in open communication so you’ll know what’s going on with me and/or our threads. Also, I typically reply within a week or two. Currently I’m tethered to finishing a big paper so I’m not a good example of that right now.

WHAT ARE YOUR WEAK ASPECTS AS RP PARTNER?: I can get overwhelmed by too much which slows my pace down considerably. I’m also a bit distant and do shut down on occasion; that’s usually no fault of my partners, though. Just my brain being a dick.

DO YOU RP SMUT?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS. (the closer we are OOC, the easier getting here will be)

DO YOU PREFER TO GO INTO DETAIL?: YES / NO / DEPENDS. (it’s not going to be XXX but it will be descriptive)

ARE YOU OKAY WITH BLACK CURTAIN, FADE TO BLACK?: YES / NO.

WHEN DO YOU RP SMUT? MORE OUT OF FUN OR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT?: I prefer to write smut for character development and to mark a progression in a relationship. Plus Cullen is not a “one and done” guy so getting to the smut stage will take a bit of build-up.

ANYTHING YOU WOULD NOT WANT TO RP THERE?:  Hmmm things that he personally wouldn’t go for I guess? Honestly I don’t know. And obviously, no rape/animal abuse/predator nonsense.

ARE SHIPS IMPORTANT TO YOU?:   YES / NO Ships are a great way to further explore a character and their motivations. People do not exist in pure isolation, so I don’t believe characters should, either.

WOULD YOU SAY YOUR BLOG IS SHIP-FOCUSED?: YES / NO. I bolded both because the focus of the blog isn’t ships, but this thirst trap guy is really easy to ship with other people I tell ya hwat. I am severely picky with romantic ships for Reasons, but I don’t eschew any other types of ships. I encourage them!

DO YOU USE READ MORE?:  YES / NO / SOMETIMES WHEN I WRITE LONG STUFF.

ARE YOU:  MULTI-SHIP / SINGLE-SHIP / DUAL-SHIP  —  MULTIVERSE / SINGLEVERSE.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE TO EXPLORE THE MOST IN YOUR SHIPS?: Characters who challenge Cullen into revising his point of view and force him to be a better person. Also, characters who understand his past and they are in no ways obligated to forgive it, but do recognise that he’s struggling very hard to mend whatever mistakes he can and is willing to pay the price for his decisions.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH PRE-ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIPS?: YES / NO / DEPENDS.  - Be a good salesperson and I might buy it.

► SECTION ABOUT YOUR MUSE.

- WHAT COULD POSSIBLY MAKE YOUR MUSE INTERESTING TOWARDS OTHERS, WHY SHOULD THEY RP WITH THIS PARTICULAR CHARACTER OF YOURS NOW, WHAT POSSIBLE PLOTS DO THEY OFFER?: Cullen is a massive stick in the mud, which means it’s incredibly easy to taunt him and get him flustered all at the same time. He’s loyal, he’s intelligent, and he’s largely self-aware. He likes swords and using them. Anything your character hates about him, he most likely hates about himself 100 times more.

WITH WHAT TYPE OF MUSES DO YOU USUALLY STRUGGLE TO RP WITH?:  Those from the start that show absolutely no interest in speaking with/interacting with him. Mun and muse are going to struggle to stick around. I’m not going to fight for attention and neither is he.

WHAT DO THEY DESIRE, WHAT IS THEIR GOAL?:  Redemption. He wants to be a better person and make up for the past as much as he can.

WHAT CATCHES THEIR INTEREST FIRST WHEN MEETING SOMEONE NEW?:  He can sniff out a fellow Templar a mile away (or several miles, in the case of Samson). 

WHAT DO THEY VALUE IN A PERSON?:  Honesty, a strong will, devotion (not necessarily to the Maker or the Chantry, but to a just cause that focuses on protecting others).

WHAT THEMES DO THEY LIKE TALKING ABOUT?:  War stuff, chess, books, trebuchets, dogs.

WHICH THEMES BORE THEM?:  Lectures about anything. He did his time in Azkaban in the Circles. No more. Please no more.

DID THEY EVER WENT THROUGH SOMETHING TRAUMATIC?:  His parents died trying to escape the Blight, he was tortured for weeks/months on end by blood mages, almost all of his friends died because of it, he was manipulated and brainwashed by his superior, he was forced into a near-debilitating substance addiction by his workplace... yeah just a few things.

WHAT COULD LEAD TO AN INSTANT KILL?:  Darkspawn and abominations. 

IS THERE SOMEONE /-THING THEY HATE?:  Darkspawn and abominations. Blood mages on principle. Regular mages (but he’s working hard to remedy this extremely bad and prejudiced thinking). Himself.

IS YOUR MUSE EASY TO APPROACH?: YES / NO.    - BEST WAY TO APPROACH THEM?:  Just be polite and he won’t turn you away. He’s guarded, yes, but not impossible to talk to.

SOMETHING YOU MAY STILL WANT TO POINT OUT ABOUT YOUR MUSE?: You’ll find out by writing together! ;D

CONGRATS!!! You managed it, now tag your mutuals! ♥

tagged by: pirated tagging: anyone who actually read this