#in terms of. i genuinely know nothing about the anime and next to nothing about the author himself

[fishparasite]

i know nothing about the anime in question but i think it's insane to have an opinion on an author's works based on the anime boy version of the author

[metalandmagi]

Romance Anime Starter List

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m sick and tired of seeing “Top ___ Best Anime of All Time” lists that are nothing but shounen. So, with "My Happy Marriage" getting a little attention from the anime community, I wanted to put together a list of some romance anime that I consider good “starters” for the genre. Because if I were just now becoming an anime fan, I’d think all there was to offer was shounen action series.

And by “starters” I mean basic stuff that’s not too…out there, and actually involves the characters getting together instead of just harems or using romance as a side plot (sorry Ouran High School Host Club and My Next Life as a Villainess). 

So if you’re new to anime and want stuff that’s not just guys beating the shit out of each other (which is also fun, don’t get me wrong), here are some basics.

Taisho Maiden Fairy Tale- When the pessimistic Tamahiko Shima loses all function in his right arm, his family sends him away to live in the mountains with the cheerful, hard working Yuzuki Tachibana…who was purchased by the Shima family to pay off her family’s debts and basically act as a caretaker/future bride for Tamahiko so they’d never have to deal with him again. It’s a more cheerful version of My Happy Marriage (without the supernatural stuff), except in this one, the guy is the one who has massive self-esteem issues and an abusive family. There are still very serious themes, but ultimately it’s not meant to make you cry every episode. I swear it’s so good, but nobody watched it!

Horimiya- A slice of life in which pretty and popular high school queen bee Hori, finds out her quiet, unassuming classmate Miyamura is hiding piercings and tattoos that could get him expelled. The two gradually find out more about each other and get together in the most realistic way I’ve seen depicted in an anime. It’s also fucking hysterical and genuinely emotional.

Recovery of an MMO Junkie- Another slice of life that focuses on two adults who meet in an MMO game without realizing they also know each other in real life. I don’t want to say much more than that. It’s adorable, and the main character is so relatable it hurts.

Love with Yamada-kun at Level 999- Speaking of MMOs, this is a newer series about Akane Kinoshita, a college first year who’s reeling from a bad break up. In an attempt to get back at her ex, she winds up meeting Akito Yamada, a popular gamer who happens to be in her guild in the MMO they both play at an IRL meetup. The two go from acquaintances to something more as they keep running into each other. Even more relatable main characters and just wholesome relationships all around.

Snow White With The Red Hair- A fantasy in which an apothecary named Shirayuki (meaning, you guessed it, “snow white”) runs away from her home in order to escape becoming the concubine of her town’s prince. While fleeing, she is rescued by Zen, the prince of a neighboring country, and she ends up becoming an herbalist to repay him. It's super cute with some genuinely swoon worthy moments and a couple that just works so well together. I have a habit of comparing this to Akatsuki no Yona, even though the two aren’t really that alike. This is more romance driven while Akatsuki no Yona is more of a serious historical fantasy with romance elements (Yona manga is amazing, but the anime barely scratches the surface, so that’s why I didn’t include it).

Sasaki to Miyano- When the shy, easily flustered Miyano meets Sasaki, a cool “delinquent” upperclassmen, the two end up bonding over manga…specifically BL manga. That’s right, Miyano is a fudanshi, but due to his small stature and somewhat feminine appearance, he’s constantly trying to convince others that he’s not interested in having his own love story where he’d be reduced to a stereotypical doe-eyed uke. But as Sasaki and Miyano spend more time together, they realize that what they have is more than friendship, and they have to come to terms with their own perception of gay relationships. This is my favorite romance of all time. It’s a slow burn, but boy is it worth it. Their relationship is so natural and realistic, just like Horimiya. Just two people hanging out and bonding over things the way people do in real life!

Given: The story of some boys in a band with trauma. Enough said. It's great. Go watch it.

Bloom Into You- Yuu Koito is a high school girl who’s been waiting her whole life for her own perfect romance to start…but when she receives a confession, she realizes she doesn’t know how to respond when she’s just not into the guy. And then she gets another confession…this time from the cool student council president Touko Nanami, who basically jumpstarts her lesbian awakening. Very cute story about how we perceive the concept of love vs actually feeling it. Also has a canonically aro/ace side character, so that’s a win for me. Another show like this is Adachi to Shimamura (but I honestly don’t remember much about it. It just didn’t stick with me as much).

Ore Monogatari- Takeo Gouda is a tall, bulky high school first year with a sensitive heart of gold. He wants nothing more than to find his own true love, but most girls are intimidated by his enormous stature, and they end up falling for his conventionally attractive friend instead. That is, until he meets the tiny, adorable Rinko Yamato. He falls in love instantly, but he’s sure she’s interested in his best friend like everyone else, so he vows to help get them together, even though his heart is breaking. Peak himbo behavior. Pure of heart, dumb of ass.

Yuri on Ice- Yes it’s the gay figure skating anime everyone knows. And yes it’s a fucking romance, okay? I will die on this hill. The romance between Viktor and Yuri is just as important as the plot!

Kaguya-sama Love Is War- Two insanely smart high school students both have a crush on the other, but since they’re…you know…high schoolers, neither of them wants to admit it first. So they come up with increasingly convoluted plans to get the other to confess first. This will go down as one of the best of all time. It’s a hilarious yet poignant modern classic.

Fruits Basket- I’ve talked about it before and I’ll talk about it again. A romance “comedy” that slowly morphs into a drama about a girl named Tohru who finds herself living with the mysterious Sohma family after her mother dies. Little does she know, the Sohmas are the victims of a  (somewhat silly, but ultimately tragic) curse that she must fight to break. Even though I’m more into it for the family drama, the romance is still top tier and plays an important role in the story. This is my second favorite anime of all time, and it’s a classic for a reason. If anyone hasn’t watched it yet, GO WATCH IT! IT WILL RIP YOU TO SHREDS!

Blue Box- A sports romance about an aspiring badminton player named Taiki Inomata who has a massive crush on the girls basketball team's star player Chinatsu Kano. Through a twist of fate, the two end up living together and having to hide it from the rest of their classmates, all while Taiki tries to work up the courage to ask Chinatsu out. It's so sweet and wholesome, and it's a great blend of sports anime and romance that can appeal to anyone who is more hesitant to get into the romance genre. The animation is also so freaking gorgeous!!!!

365 Days To The Wedding- A workplace romance between the two most awkward people you could possibly imagine! The story takes place at a travel company that is about to open a new branch in Alaska, but because our two main characters are...like I said...very awkward, they come up with a plan to avoid being sent to work at the new branch...by telling their boss they're getting married. Because they wouldn't want to split up a married couple by making one move away, right? As ridiculous as the premise sounds, hilarious shenanigans ensue, but there's also a surprising amount of serious discussions about romance and marriage. The main characters also have major autism coding, so if you're looking for a neurodivergent romance, this is it. (There's also an episode that involves a princess wanting to give up the throne to pursue a life with her girlfriend!)

And now for some honorable mentions that didn't quite fit into the regular list:

Ride Your Wave- A movie about a surfer who falls in love with a firefighter……and I’m not going to say any more than that. Go into it blind. If you like stuff like Your Name, this is a good one to watch.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun- A comedy about a high school girl who finds out the upperclassman she has a crush on is actually a shoujo manga artist, and no matter how she tries to confess to him, he just never gets it.

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague- A slow burn slice of life that focuses on a guy with ice powers who has a crush on his coworker. That’s it. That’s the show. When I say slow, I mean SLOW. It’s perfectly cute and fluffy, but my god does it take forever to get anywhere with these two.

Skip to Loafer- A high strung, small town girl decides to go to high school in Tokyo, where she meets a variety of classmates, including the laid back Sousuke Shima. The unlikely pair become friends, and soon enough, she starts to feel something more than friendship. The only reason I didn’t include it in the main list is because they don’t get together by the end of the first season, but it’s still really cute (also canonically trans character for the win!?)

So that’s my starter list. And no, I didn’t include Toradora, even though it’s a classic. I know it’s blasphemous, but I like it more as a comedy than a romance. It kinda lost me with the ending. But anyway, maybe someone will find something they like. Or maybe you'll just want to roast me and my picks 😅

[jarofstyles]

Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy- Patreon

Hello! We’ve been getting asks about what our series are about, and we wanted to show you guys a little piece of what we have on there 🫶 this is a series about rancher and cowboy h, and Y/N is very happy to be getting a job out on the infamous ranch with her passion for the horses and the beauty of the land.

WC- 1.6k

Here is our sneak peek! You can join us on Patreon for multiple exclusive series (100+ pieces) and early access to our writing.

——-

The place was fucking gorgeous… but that didn’t seem to compare to the cowboy showing her around. Jesus Christ, the man was something of a movie star quality man.

He was polite and charming. Holding his hand out to take hers when they’d have to move over a bit of rougher terrain, his calloused fingers gently caressing hers with a sly smile. The hat on his head shaded his eyes so he could look properly, giving her eye contact the entire time. Chillingly hot eye contact that had her feeling a bit weak in the knees. Soft green, greener than the grass in the fields that sprawled the ranch.

“I think you’d like workin’ here. It’s a family for sure.” He hummed, moving his hat off to brush his longer locks out of his face and adjusting the hat back on. He was bronzed and golden skinned from working outside, a light dusting of freckles just barely visible from her distance. Carved cheekbones and sharp jawline but dimples deeper than the valley, he was a god like being standing in front of her with a sweet disposition he probably hid a bit from others.

“I think so, yes. It’s my dream. You know? It’s a bit cheesy to some at the school… everyone’s always dreaming to run off to the city. But I love the place. The animals. The air.” She murmured, looking around the ranch. Y/N was hyper aware of the warm form of the man next to her, and the fact he was looking at her. Never had she experienced such an attentive man in terms of talking to her. No checking of his phone, no looking away.

She also was unaware of how Harry was genuinely a bit in awe of her. The starry eyed cowboy drinking in her essence and watching carefully as she spoke. Observing the details he hadn’t managed before. Beating himself up over not having known her before. Because, how? A girl in their area who wanted to stay? Who genuinely loved his land? That was a rarity. It wasn’t going to take much to have him be taken with her.

“I think that’s Amazin’.” He smiled, placing his hand on the small of her back and leading her towards the barn where their personal horses were kept. “You’re like me then. Content with home. Everyone says… they want wild adventures. Don’t even bother lookin�� in their own backyard. And that’s a damn shame, cause there’s plenty.” He spoke as they walked. Her eyes trailed his petal pink lips, the slight stubble left on the skin on his face, the radiance in his entire being. Harry was truly one of a kind. Even with dirt smudged on his jeans, clunky cowboy boots and the occasional scratch on his hand he managed to be graceful and smooth.

“Exactly.” She chirped, excited that he got it. “To me… there’s nothing like the festivals downtown. Learning to make new things. Finding a new watering hole or mapping out the land. I love the bonfires and cookouts. I don’t know. I find there’s a beauty in simplicity.” She turned to look at him, eyes squinted for a moment before they adjusted to the sun. It was beautiful outside despite the heat. The blue skies elevated her mood, but she did think that it was mostly attributed to the man guiding her around.

Harry felt his heart swell and a round of hopeful caterpillar‘s making their cocoons inside of his stomach. So many times he’s been hoping to find someone of a similar mindset. Someone he could get close to and not worry about them wanting to run off later down the line. It just felt… nice. Comforting. Knowing someone else felt the same as he did.

“You get me, Sweets.” He lightly flexed his hand on her back as his smile widened. Harry was a skeptic romantic. Meaning he held his cards close before he let them show. He’s flirt and tease but playfully. It wasn’t real unless he felt secure. Something he felt more and more of each time this pretty girl opened her mouth. A dangerous combination for him.

His approval made her giddy, having to stop herself from skipping as he opened the barn door up with a creaky slide. “We’re getting new doors on the barn so it doesn’t cause such a ruckus. But this barn is for our personal horses. I’ve got a few, but my soul partner is right over here.” He led her over to a large black stallion. A white star shaped mark right between his eyes. “His name is Perseus. Or Percy, for short.” He grinned widely at the giggle that left her mouth, his hand stroking over his nose with gentle affection.

“Percy, hm?” She looked at Harry for approval before stroking the side of the horse’s strong neck. “What a beautiful big boy.” A gentle coo had the hose sighing. A sign of relaxation, making her beam. “Yes, you are a strong, Handsome one. I can tell.” Her hands worked over the front of the horse with a cooed affection that had Harry- in simpler terms- about to act up.

He was far closer to his horses than people realized. He loved his animals and had a special connection to them, but especially Percy. His best friend. He’d gotten him for his 21st, and ever since they’d been attached at the hip. “Oh, he likes you.” His deep voice rumbled through her stomach and almost made her jump. “He doesn’t usually take to stranger so fast. Got ‘im begging for attention. He will eat it up when he like ‘ya.”

So would Harry. He felt a little pathetic being jealous for wanting the girl to be stroking at his face like that. She had smooth hands.

“Does he get that from his Daddy?”

The giggled tease had Harry caught of guard but sent him into a laugh, head thrown back at the gall. This woman was something else… and it was calling right to him. A bit of banter was sexy. Especially teasing.

“Maybe so. But it takes a special woman to get men like us to behave like mere pups.” He hummed, leaning his hip against the stall door.

“Mhm. I bet that’s true.” She looked at him from under her lashes with a coy smile before returning her attention to the stallion.

I’ll be damned. He thought. This was the fastest a woman had managed to tangle Harry up in a lasso, but it seemed like he was pulling it tighter than she had even meant to.

“How many personal horses are then?” Her question snapped him out of his fantasy in his mind. Not an appropriate one to be having about a staff member but Harry knew that in his gut, she would be far more than that.

“I have 3. Percy, here.” He nudged his chin towards him. “Then we’ve got Athena. And Cash.” He pointed towards a paint mare and a chestnut… what seemed to be thoroughbred stallion. “Those are mine. Over there are my fathers two, and my mothers one though she doesn’t ride often. Hers is used more for riding lessons and all that. Sister got some too. So… 8. We got room for two more personal. Staff and ranch hands, if they got ‘Em, keep them in the commercial barns. There’s a lot of ‘em here.” Though she knew that. “I’m assuming you’ll like to spend time with all of them.”

“Well… Percy is a favorite so far.” She grinned towards the horse. “But you’d be right. I adore all animals but horses.. they’re a soft spot for me. I want to have a few of my own one day.” She said it shyly. It was stupid to be shy and Y/N knew that. Harry got it more than anymore but there was still that residual shame she felt from peers when she said she was happy where she was and wanted to keep going. She didn’t have the same wanderlust as everyone else.

“Hey.” He took a risk, gently lifting her chin up with his thumb. “Nothin’ wrong with that. Don’t know why you’re embarrassed when m’the one who just gushed over lovin’ my horses.” He teased lightly, keeping those pretty eyes of hers locked with his. “I’m glad… I’ve met someone who’s like me. Everyone in a rush to leave and fail to see how much fun and how beautiful life can be when you enjoy what you’ve got. The horses, the nature, everything. Everyone at school has those big city dreams. That’s fine n’dandy for them, but you n’me? We get it. We like how we were raised and we are comfortable being here. Don’t let ‘em haunt you. You can be open here. In fact… I’d love to see more of you like that. It’s not every day you come across a pretty little thing with a good head on her shoulders. My momma will eat you up and be happy you’re around. Some sense, she’ll say.” He gently stroked her chin before letting his hand drop. It was pathetic for her to miss the rough pad of the finger on her smooth skin, but she did.

“Yeah?” She asked shyly, looking up at him while shifting back and forth from heel to toe. A childlike comfort that Harry found to be fucking adorable.

“Yeah, Darlin’. Don’t worry about any of ‘em here. You’ve got me… and a whole load of other folks who have pride in loving where they’re from. “ he paused, taking in the sparkly flint in her eyes though she was a bit shy. It made him feel all the more eager to protect her, to make her see she was one of them. “I think you’ll fit in here just fine.”

[wishcamper]

happy @sjmromanceweek!

here is my entry for day three: First "I Love You

Under the Egg Moon

A modern Nessian AU ft archaeologist!Nesta and boat captain!Cassian

Read here or on ao3!

CW: explicit consensual sexual content

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wishcamper lore: when i was a college student (re: lost as fuck, re: no long-term thinking) through a series of random events i ended up on an archaeological dig in Cyprus. much of this fic is inspired by that summer, including a lot of the details of dig life, schedules, antagonistic animals, and how it ping-pongs from utterly boring to genuinely life-changing. and while i was unfortunately too consumed with my shitty boyfriend to hook up with the hot boat captain, fiction has the power to right all wrongs. and now: her.

(See the end of the work for more notes!)

Nesta sends a curse to whatever god made the sun so fucking hot.

She hopes it isn’t the one the ancient peoples of this island once worshiped, because she really needs this dig to be productive. But six weeks in the Cesere summer and all they have to show for it are a few shards of pottery, a blank amulet, and a fuckton of dirt. Not enough to write anything publishable, and nowhere close to what she needs to get funded for another year.

Nesta makes another pass over her three-by-three section, pickax chipping away one centimeter-thick layer of red earth at a time.

The trappings of a productive site are all here—isolated island off the mainland, no way to reach it except by boat. The ruins even abut a protected wildlife area, some ancestral seagull nesting ground, though the birds haven’t gotten the memo about leaving their side of the island alone. Every surreptitious trip into the high grass to use the bathroom becomes a WWII style air raid, feathery Luftwaffe dive-bombing from above.

She sends a curse to them, too.

“Let’s break here,” Nesta pants, and Gwyn nods from where she squints over her theodolite. At least they’ll have a CG map of the building’s visible walls by the end of the summer, if nothing else.

“I can’t tell if my eyes are wobbling or there’s an impeding earthquake.” Gwyn swipes a freckled arm across her forehead.

“It would get us out of explaining this fucking fiasco.”

A sharp pull on the whistle around her neck and a relieved groan echoes across from every corner of the excavation pit. Sweat-soaked students pour the last of their water bottles over their heads before they begin to pack all their equipment into thick black tubs. Nesta makes her way over to their makeshift staging area under a tarp to survey the artifacts from the day: more random shards of pottery, and a rock vaguely shaped like a triangle.

“I thought it looked like an arrowhead,” a sandy-haired boy offers as he hovers behind her. She should really get better with names.

“It’s a rock,” Nesta assures him. “And no one used stone arrows in the era we’re studying, anyway.”

Whatshisname deflates. Then works himself back up again, clearly having practiced whatever speech comes next.

“Dr. Archeron, do you think we could have the day off tomorrow?” he asks.

Nesta feels the expression fall over her face—the one that sends students shuffling from her office mumbling apologies after she makes her stance on grade-grubbing very clear.

“No.”

“It’s just that there’s this concert in Greater Cesere tonight, and we've already figured out the carpool—”

“I don’t care how hungover you are. You’re expected at the dock at 5:45, just like every morning.”

“Yeah. Of course.” His eyes go shifty. “We’ll all be there.”

This is the part of the dig when the less-dedicated get squirrely, when they get tired of instant coffee and dirt in their teeth and lizards in their beds. Nesta knows it’s normal, but she feels the heat rise in her throat, their mission on the edge of a chasm of underfunded failure. It would feel good to tear into him, but there are course evals to think of, after all.

“Go help Dr. Berdara with the surveying equipment,” she grouses instead.

“Yes, Dr. Archeron.”

Whatshisname scurries off. Nesta can’t help but smirking to herself, knowing she’s just given him enough fodder to become the prince of whatever night out they’re about to have, enough sympathy to get laid, even.

As a woman among arrogant Indiana Jones cosplayers, the scary reputation is a necessary evil. As is the horrid plod down the side of the island where their boat awaits, laden with trowels and tarps and empty jugs of water.

The Ceserean Historical Bureau earns the curse for that one.

Everything in, everything out, every day.

What a fucking mess.

But nothing this summer compares to the utter disaster that waves from the bow of the modest motorboat. Every six-foot-four, tanned, tattooed bit of him.

“Find any treasure today?” Cassian asks, as always. Nesta ignores the hand he offers to help her onboard, brushing past to take her usual seat in the back.

She made the mistake the first morning of sitting on the bow of The Windhaven, wanting to be visible among her students, a guidepost. But it put her directly in the line of burning hazel eyes, ones that danced with all of the terrible things Nesta would let him do to her if she gave less of a shit.

She needs to ask Emerie about curse tablets after the next department meeting.

“There’s a legend about this island, you know.” Cassian hops up onto the side of the boat and braces against the center console, students streaming to and fro. “That it used to be the nest of a great bird. One day an egg appeared, only it never hatched. A wave came and swept it into the sky, where it became the moon.”

“Charming. Wish the birds up there now had a bit more reverence.”

“Are you using the trick I taught you?”

She boarded one afternoon with a nick on her ear from not dodging quickly enough. Cassian advised her to hold a metal dustpan over her head. Nesta felt like an idiot the first time, but even she had to admit that it worked.

What didn’t work was how flustered she got when he insisted on cleaning her cut, weathered hands so gentle when they brushed her skin.

“I see.” That idiotic smirk made her cheeks heat. “You are, but you’re mad about it.”

And as the boat bumps through the surf back to shore, Nesta tries to convince herself of anything but that.

After their first week on the dig, she and Gwyn shared a very drunken and giggly night when Nesta confessed her attraction to their roguish captain. It’s been a while since she’s really had her world rocked, and the breakneck pace of the semester left opportunities for dating thin on the ground. Gwyn decided he would manhandle her like the flowing-haired men on the covers of grocery store harlequin romances. They’d laughed and laughed as the bottle of brandy drained, quoting their favorite lines from the days they’d get stoned with Emerie and do dramatic readings to stave off grad school delirium.

His growls of pleasure filled the tent,  drowning out the screams of the wounded and dying.  

“But Cassian would definitely put those big-ass hands to good use,” Gwyn affirmed. “Respectfully. Like pulling up an anchor.”

What a horrible mistake. Now it’s all Nesta can think about as the big-ass hand in question closes around her upper arm once they disembark, once the students are busy grumbling in the apothiki.

“Go out with me tonight.”

Cassian is smiling crookedly, as if ready to protect his face with a dustpan if this doesn’t go well.

“No,” Nesta answers without thinking. It’s not worth the trouble, especially with her own crew on the verge of mutiny. It's not the first time he's asked, and it won't be the last. Cassian’s smile widens, undeterred.

“Stay in with me, then.”

A huff escapes her, and he’s still holding her arm, somehow hotter than the sun that's driving rivulets of sweat down her back.

“Your students will all be gone, I heard them talking about that show in Greater Cesere.”

Nesta swallows.

“No one has to know.” He’s inches from her now, so tall he casts a shadow over her face. “You should see the things we do in my dreams.”

Fantasies flash through her mind, that strong body pressing her back against a door. Cassian’s full lips on her neck, hands roaming lower.

Wanting, wanting so thick and sharp it almost hurts spears its way through her. The desires Nesta pushes away come roaring back, an angry sea kept at bay by the levees she’s built around her heart. The hard outer shell, the layers of dirt under which she’s buried the very idea of wanting.

It’s an escape for her, rifling through the lives of people long-dead. There are parts of the past she’d like to let go of. Childhood shit, disappointing men. Hurts too unwieldy to even think in words. Her sister Feyre says Nesta is an ice queen, but she feels more like a golem, a being of earth and stone piloted only by what’s expected of her.

Nesta doesn’t get to want this. Can’t stand the idea of it being used against her.

“Ignorance is my only refuge, then.”

His eyebrow quirks, and there’s a scar through it, she notices, a tiny slash where the hair no longer grows. Cassian is looking at her like she’s just revealed something, though she can’t imagine what. A lemon-scented wind blows through the docks, setting the boats to rocking. Setting her heart to galloping.

What a mess.

“See you in the morning, Dr. Archeron,” Cassian says before releasing her, sauntering back toward The Windhaven to prep it for the next day.

After clearing the bathroom of its resident lizards, Nesta spends the next hour letting a cool shower hit her in the face, trying to determine what on earth he’s just discovered.

At dawn, the dock at is deserted.

“Of course. Of fucking course!” Nesta grouses as she throws her hands in the air. “I’m failing all those little shits.”

“Cmon Nes,” Gwyn says blearily, rubbing at her eyes. “We’ve been going nonstop for weeks. They deserve to let off a little steam.”

Good professor showing up again to play her part. Gwyn has always been the more forgiving of the two of them. Nesta rips out the rubber band to redo her braid, hair already frizzing in the humid morning air.

“They can do that at the dig wrap party. At this rate there won’t be anything to celebrate.”

“What are we celebrating?”

As if summoned by her ire, Cassian appears then, swinging his boat keys on a long lanyard. Curly black hair flows down to his shoulders, hips loose in the swagger of a man who’s either been up for hours or never went to bed at all.

Gwyn beams. “The dig party next week! You’re invited! Everyone who’s helped out can come, not just us. We couldn’t have done this without you!”

“Which isn’t saying much. Can we get going?” Nesta says impatiently. “I’d like to get this day over with before I want to kill anyone else.”

Cassian grins and fall into step with Nesta as they trudge toward the storehouse, murmuring, “I thought I was the only one you wanted to kill, sweetheart.”

Nesta has to concentrate hard on the rocky path beneath them, to keep from tripping.

It takes a while to shuttle all the equipment from the apothiki with only three of them, and by the time the mainland starts to recede Nesta is sweaty, grouchy, and already plotting the anti-recommendation letters she’ll write when asked.

She doesn’t want to care this much, to be this hurt. Maybe that’s why she accepts Cassian’s offer to help them disembark after only two refusals. It’s definitely not because his biceps look delicious when he hefts a plastic tub full of Gwyn’s surveying equipment over his head, tanned thighs flexing under faded shorts as he climbs the steep slope.

And how is she supposed to refuse his curious questions after that, when he’s looking around the empty dirt pit like he’s never seen something so interesting? When he picks up a chisel and says,��Put me to work, Doc, in that magical, wavy accent, how is she supposed to say no?

Nesta blames her students.

They go to work in the same corner where she was toiling yesterday. Nesta shows him how to read the earth for signs of disturbance, the right pressure to apply to his pickax. He’s a fast learner, thank god, and he tells her about his childhood on the mainland while they sift through layers of nothing, leading to a very unfortunate discovery.

Cassian is funny. And not like the men in Velaris she’s used to who think they’re funny, who took an improv class once and think that qualifies them to muse about taking up stand-up comedy for the next decade. He’s quick, unruffled by the heat and the boredom, perfectly content to narrate their work from the perspective of the seagulls like the two of them are subject of a nature documentary. Nesta thinks the day would be entirely wasted if not for the laughs he pulls from her creaky lungs, the ones no one outside her close friends have heard in years.

It's dangerous, to get so carried away. The earth blurs before her, panic igniting even as she never wants this to stop.

Until she chips away in one spot, and a pinkish shard of pottery emerges.

The piece is strange, disjointed. A seam runs through the middle as if it’s been repaired, three small holes drilled in a triangular pattern. She picks up another piece and finds the same just as Cassian brushes away at a grooved stone, a pair of praying hands etched into the surface.

“That’s the symbol for the Mother.” Bits of information whiz through her brain, snippets of lectures and articles. She’s seen a piece like this before at the National Museum of Velaris, in their room dedicated to the ancient Cesereans.

“It’s a hearthstone.” The kind that only sat in permanent dwellings, the heart of a house. Nesta can’t hold back the tremble in her voice when her eyes connect with Cassian’s and she says, “We’re in the kitchen.”

Excitement crackles.

As if traveling through time, Nesta sees in her imagination how it must’ve risen around them.

And the pottery shard she’s still holding starts to take shape too, the form of a bowl following the curves, layers of time peeling back. And despite what her undergrad Classics professor said, peering into the past is not at all like looking down into a well.

It’s like a hand reaching out and grabbing hers. Thrilling and terrifying, the long stretch of history condensed to a door that’s just been opened.

“Look at this,” she says, tracing the line as Cassian hovers over her shoulder. “It broke, and someone repaired it. Turned it into a strainer.” No visitor would’ve bothered. “Think about the last person who touched this.”

Nesta pictures a woman washing apricots, like the ones candied in sugar she eats from the fruit stall when they get off the dig site every day. Of the mug Emerie bought her on clearance in an airport that says I’m a pretty big deal in the spearfishing community, the one she glued the handle back onto because it makes her laugh so much. She pictures someone digging that mug from the wreckage of Velaris two thousand years from now, holding that mended handle and laughing, too.

Cassian’s eyes are bright when she steals a glance back at him, emotion shimmering.

“I could be related to them.”

“You could.”

He swipes at his face, arm coming away wet. Clears his throat. “Why would someone come all the way out here?”

“That’s the question. It must’ve been significant.”

Her theory is that some ritual activity occurred here, she tells him. Watches a quiet admiration creep across his face as she details her rationale. Whether he understands a word of it or not, she can feel the pull between their bodies, the dusty air charged between them.

“They had lives and feelings,” Nesta finds herself saying. “They wanted things. I think that deserves to be remembered.”

Cassian keeps staring at her in that sun-bright way, and Nesta doesn’t know what they’re talking about anymore. Doesn’t know what to do when he reaches to take her hand, closing his own around it and the pottery shard she still holds.

“Thank you for this.” Gravel lines his voice, and she wants to run it through a sifter to find all the meaning inside. “I’m glad none of your students showed up today.”

“Why, so you can take credit?”

“No. I don’t want to share this with anyone else.” He’s blocking out the glare now, leaving her cool in his shadow. “You make me feel greedy, Nesta.”

A gull cries far-off, but Nesta can only hear the sound of her own heart racing. Cassian tips his head toward the sun and it shines down on his smiling face, warming down through the stone.

It’s only the beginning, more and more pieces unearthed from the ruins of the kitchen over the rest of the morning, a veritable treasure trove. He helps them load everything into apothiki once ashore, whistling as he carries out Nesta’s militant instructions. With an eye on the door for hungover students, Cassian pulls her in with sea-rough hands and kisses her like he wants to do much more.

His mouth tastes like earth.

Nesta doesn’t sleep that night. Instead she catalogs every piece as a high moon rises, a waxing gibbous near to hatching.

The dig wrap party is euphoric, and not just because everyone’s been over-served. There are bigwigs from the Historical Bureau here to marvel over their finds, a whole kitchen’s worth, and the students can see the dollars raining down like the leaves of the cypress trees strung with lights.

It should feel good. Better than this, anyway, because as Nesta nurses her lone glass of wine, she can’t help wondering why the place inside her that should be swollen with pride is empty.

An old feeling, one she’s never been able to make sense of.

“Is your boyfriend here yet?” Gwyn smirks when Nesta shoves at her friend’s shoulder. They don’t have to wait long before a crowd of students forms around one end of the bar, a familiar curly-haired head poking well above the rest.

“Can I steal you?” Cassian says once he finally makes his way over, after extricating himself from a gaggle of doe-eyed undergrads. Nesta feels like she’s swallowed a huge dirt clod, but Gwyn answers for her.

“Of course you can! Nesta hates these things, don’t you, Nes?”

“I do,” Nesta barely manages before his big-ass hand is closing around her own, pulling her out back of the restaurant they’ve rented to a small goat path that leads toward the sea.

The Windhaven bobs in the current, bumping gently against the dock. After many reassurances, Nesta lets him pilot them to a secluded cove, the hull cutting through the black water like a sharpened blade, the past and present dividing.

“The land speaks to you here,” Cassian says when he tosses down the anchor at last, pulling the extra line taut. “I thought you might like to hear what it has to say.”

“Why?”

The wind tugs at the hem of her sundress.

“It’s probably saying thank you. For not letting those people be forgotten.”

He says it so simply, like it’s nothing. Nesta braces her hands against the bow, trying to find some sense in the spaces between the stars.

It’s completely cloudless, and this far out there’s no light pollution, so she can see meteors cascading across the sky like rain. Cassian comes to stand beside her, shoulders brushing.

“Look look, it’s the space station!” he says after a moment, tracking a finger across the sky before he raises a hand and waves. Nesta snorts.

“You know there’s no way the astronauts can see you.”

“I know,” Cassian says, shrugging, and god she wants to kiss him. “But just in case, I don’t want to leave them hanging.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Nesta asks, more harshly than she means to. His answering smile is nervous, tight.

“Cassian.”

“No, I mean—never mind. It doesn't matter.”

It’s a very early mid-life crisis. It must be. Why else should she be so fixated on the way this weird-ass man’s mind works, how he seems to find wonder in the smallest things? And why is she jealous?

This is a mistake, undoubtedly. Nesta has ground herself down to the bone to get where she is. Fought her way through school, through the sludge of academia, been called difficult and prickly and a bitch in her quest to be taken seriously. Worn every label as a badge of bloody honor. Suffocated the part of her that just wants to let go and say fuck it all, to do something she wants instead of what she has to.

"Doesn't it?"

Cassian is backlit by the half moon glinting off the water, stray curls springing free from the bun atop his head.

And then he’s kissing her, and his mouth tastes like lemon and something else, something addictive. It’s the brandy sours that are as bizarre as they are popular here, that Nesta now doesn’t know how she’s gone so long without. Her fingers skate down skin so warm, like it’s drunk in the sunlight and trapped it inside him.

“Nes,” he breathes once they finally part, and she digs her nails into his shoulders, drawing a sharp inhale.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Yes, Dr. Archeron.”

Exhaustion collides with her better judgment, and Nesta pushes him back to sit on the bow, swings a leg over his hips so she’s straddling his lap. Plunges her hands into all that lush, dark hair, and says, “Fuck it.”

It all flows from somewhere deep within her, the brush of hands against skin, lips against lips. She stays so locked away, never allowed to feel the good things she works so hard to achieve. Locked up, locked out, looking into everything that feels like it should belong to her but she can never reach.

Nesta doesn’t know why this is the moment everything shifts for her, and even when she looks back years later it’ll never quite make sense. The alchemy of the island breeze, the deep black night between the stars, all greater than the sum of its parts.

And she lets herself have it. Each wicked, wild bit of her comes out of their dark corners and she’s laughing, head tipped back in euphoria and who the fuck cares that she has no idea where her bra is, whether or not she’ll get tenure. It doesn’t fucking matter. There’s value in being stupid, she thinks, wondering why she’s tried all this time to be so smart.

“You look like you’re swimming in a sea of stars,” Cassian says, looking up at her. Nesta smiles when he tucks a lock of hair behind her ear, fingers of his other hand tangling with hers.

“I wouldn’t have pegged you as a poet.”

The half moon hangs above them, cracked open.

“Every man can be a poet with the right inspiration.”

His hands are on her breasts then, pinching and squeezing, and she doesn’t have to force the moans that travel up her throat. They sound different like this, when they’re not for show.

It’s a kind of madness, being touched by Cassian. Like he’s weaving some spell through every cell in her body, enchanting them all to crave him, to want more more more even as she can barely take it.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this,” he insists between nips at her throat, the sensitive spot behind her ear.

“No, but I’m feeling good about myself tonight so I’ll guess it was the first time you saw me.”

He laughs against her chest, hands squeezing her hips. “Close. It was the first time I watched you walk away.” Cassian squeezes her hips again for emphasis, roaming down to grab a handful of her ass.

“I should’ve left you on the island.”

“Good. Then you’d have to come back for me.”

Of course he has a condom in the boat’s center console, and he grins when she rolls her eyes.

“Sailors have to be prepared, I suppose?”

“I’m a poet, not a saint, sweetheart.”

The boat rocks them both as she sinks down onto his lap again. All velvety, warm softness in the night air, the breeze dancing, swirling upward, igniting.

They both want to go slow, want to savor it, but their discipline is beginning to tire. Nesta can’t help picking up her pace, fissures of pleasure splitting her apart. She tells herself there will be time to indulge later, hoping it’s not a lie.

It’s not.

Students trickle out over the next few days, flights home or to other far-flung destinations to decompress before fall semester. Nesta pushes her flight back once, and then again. It’s hard to remember why she wants to go back, when everything she’s been looking for is right here.

They swim in grottos, pick lemons from the tree outside his door and spritz them over fresh-caught fish, in the brandy sours she’s finally perfected. One night he licks the juice off her finger before hoisting her onto the counter, going to his knees between her spread thighs a moment later, his favorite place to be.

“I’ll visit you,” Cassian promises against her skin when they’re splayed out in his bed later, her temporary home the last two weeks. “I’ll do whatever it takes so this doesn’t end here.”

I love you, Nesta thinks as they stand outside his car at the Arrivals gate. Doesn’t say it, because this isn’t a fucking Hallmark movie. You haven’t been able to see someone off inside the airport in twenty years. No one is running past families and old ladies and men with briefcases, but they still kiss just as desperately amidst the smell of gasoline from idling cars, the unrelenting eye of the midday sun.

I love you.

She’s not ready to unearth it yet. It sits quietly beneath to soil of her mind, waiting to be dug up.

But the shape of the thought must reach him, for when he pulls back, Cassian smiles like he already knows.

Nesta smiles too, in case whoever’s strainer is packed in her carry-on can feel it travel down her arm through the handle, in case the astronauts are up there somewhere in the blue, smiling back.

Notes:

History fun facts: the amulet mentioned in the beginning is not always what we typically think of as a talisman or protective charm. some amulets during the Ptolemaic period served more like seals or signatures, where a carving would be done in the bottom of a small stone block. The amulet could then be dipped in ink and stamped on contracts, letters, and bills of sale. Many amulets have been found with holes drilled through the top, suggesting they may have been worn on strings around the neck or on a belt. Very helpful for lay people who didn’t know how to write. I also chose Cesere as the fictional location as a nod to the actual dig site I worked on, which was a temple of Apollo commissioned by Cleopatra. She commissioned a number of them across Cyprus to commemorate the birth of her son, Caesarion, whose father of course was Julius Caesar. Historical record tells us these temples were places where young boys (age 3-4) would go for the first time to spend the night away from their mothers. There they would engage in various rituals and ceremonies to symbolize their transition, kind of like Boy Scout camp. During the dig I found a blank amulet, which suggests people could’ve been carving them on the island, perhaps a token of the boys’ entry into the next phase of life. Caesarion himself was named co-ruler of the Egypt by Cleopatra in 44BC, at the age of 3. He unfortunately only lived to the age of 16/17, when he was captured by Julius Caesar’s successor, Octavion, in Alexandria (Caesar had already burned the library by this point). Upon Caesarion’s capture, Octavion is purported to have said “"Too many Caesars is not good”, a play on the famous Homeric idiom “too may rulers is not good”, aka too many cooks in the kitchen. After conquering Alexandria, Octavion likely had Caesarion executed to avoid challenges to his status as emperor, ending the once-powerful Ptolemaic dynasty and officially absorbing Egypt into the Roman Empire. Finally, the mug Nesta mentions is based on a real-life mug I thought of the first time I pulled a piece of Cypriot sigillata out of the ground. Only mine was a 2008 Sarah Palin mug my dad found at the airport in Anchorage. Yes, I still have it.

[strongheartneteyam]

Realize where you belong.

Chapter 9

Pairing: neteyam sully x female!dreamwalker!reader/female!human!reader

CW: wholesome fluff, a good amount of angst, lo'ak being nosy lol jk he's genuinely trying to look after neteyam, descriptions of masturbation, TRIGGER WARNING for mentions of depressive symptoms, reader meeting neteyam in her avatar body, neteyam and reader vent to each other about their struggles, sensitive themes, hurt/comfort, cuddling, sexual tension, kissing, sexual content, mentions of sexual fluids, neteyam slightly begging to mate with reader, foreplay (i don't know if it counts but it definitely is teasing in a sexual way). Tell me if I missed something ♡

Hello, my cute little readers! I got a little better in terms of my fibro flare up and have been feeling a little better emotionally/mentally these days, so, I was able to write again. There's a slight chance that some paragraphs are a bit confusing. I didn't fully proofread it. I'm sorry, my babies, I'm really tired right now, really achy, still. And I'm extremely hungry and there's some delicious homemade orange cake in front of me waiting to be eaten 😍 I've already eaten two pieces of it and drank a full cup of coffee with milk but I NEED to eat more bc I'm still starving and I love cake and coffee 🤤 idk about other countries but it's a tradition that we have here in Brazil to eat cake and drink coffee, together 🤍 anyways I gotta shut up now lol Hope you enjoy this chapter! I'd love to read your lovely comments down below 👉🏻👈🏻 I love y'all SO MUUUCH 😘 

Slightly proofread.

Chapter 8

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

No way out of your quicksand

But I can breathe underneath

Take your love, cover me

Pull me down, pull me down

You are wonderful

You've taken all of my heart

It was so worth the fall

Don't let go

Quicksand (Bridgit Mendler)

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

Today you felt anxious but excited. It was your first day off in a week. You were gonna Dreamwalk in your Avatar today. But you were not gonna be on a solo mission this time. Neteyam would be by your side. You two had planned to meet each other next to the river you always loved to play in. You had always loved running water.

Having Neteyam around felt like a breath of fresh air to you since you never truly felt at home amidst other human beings and, after so many years, it started to feel like a joke to you to insist on trying to fit into a society that seemed to not even want you there, in the first place. Most people behaved towards you like you were weird in some way. Neteyam never made you feel that way. You did not know if it was in view of the fact that he was na'vi or if it was just because he was in love with you.

You had always preferred to live among plants, insects, songs, books, animals… on your own little world, since you were a little girl. Everybody used to call you a daydreamer, saying you had your head on the clouds. When you were a child, you did not let that get under your skin. That's the beauty of childhood wonder, it has a lot of wisdom in it that we seem to forget, once we start growing up. Your little self never cared about those "demonstrations of care and concern" (that were nothing but condescending criticism and you never understood why people tried to conceal that fact if it was so obvious) because you knew you were not crazy or completely oblivious to reality like they used to say. Your fun and whimsical inner world was what felt like home to you, not the everyday mundane routine, the protocols that seemed ridiculously stupid to you, the shallow conversations and gossip… the over-all human society. It fucking sucked, if you were going to be totally honest. 

It's not that you hated your own kind. No. It's just that you hated the way they built their empires, throughout history, the tainted legacy the ancestors left for the ones to come in the future - like a dying Planet, for example -, because of their own stupidity and recklessness.

You knew you were not harming anyone - yourself included - despite always engaging in daydreaming, all alone, with your earbuds on or just staring at a beautiful landscape and your grip on reality was still in check. Your grip on reality was actually so tight, your fingers would get hurt and start to bleed sometimes, because reality is a double bladed sword. It keeps you safe and stable, it is needed for you to not go bonkers, but it also cuts you deep with its sharp edges.

༊⁀➷

Neteyam prepared to go out today to meet you during the day for the first time after the both of you became mates. It was just like Eywa had blessed him as he was able to finish all his duties to the clan and his training a little earlier than the usual today. Or maybe the Great Mother had nothing to do with it and it was all Neteyam making the greatest effort ever just to be able to spend some time with you in the daylight and finally see you in your na'vi body again. He missed seeing you like that. He missed the way your tail would wag softly showing you were feeling happy, he missed looking at your stripes and thinking they were the most beautiful stripes he had ever seen and most of all, he missed admiring the way you loved his planet, the way you respected and appreciated Eywa instead of hurting her.

When Neteyam was taking his bow and arrows and putting them on his back, ready to go into the woods to meet you, Lo'ak approached him, suspicious.

"Where are you going, bro?"

"To the forest. Maybe I can hunt for some food and if I'm lucky I'll bring us some good meat for dinner." Neteyam smiled and gave his younger brother a head pat, rapidly walking out of the Sully's hut door

Lo'ak wanted to yell something to his older brother, something like "I know there's something you're not telling me" but he did not. If Neteyam was hiding something, it would probably not be something that would harm him - Neteyam. Everybody knew how responsible - to the point of being annoying, sometimes - Neteyam was. Lo'ak used to get Neteyam into trouble all the time back when they were just teenagers and he was trying not to do that as much as he used to, even though he was not exactly doing a great job - he was doing a terrible job, actually - but he was still trying. He would still keep an eye on his older brother - "It seems like the tables have turned, huh?" Lo'ak thought - but he would leave him alone to do whatever he was going to do in the forest. He knew Neteyam did not have much free time for himself and he sometimes felt sorry for him, seeing him so tired and even stressed out really often because of his Olo'eyktan to be training and his responsibilities as the older brother. Lo'ak used to hold some grudges on his older brother when he was younger but now he understood that Neteyam actually struggled a lot too.

Neteyam pretended to not notice anything when he was leaving home but he did not fail to see the mistrust on Lo'ak's face. That was something he would have to deal with sooner than he wanted to, he acknowledged. He also thought about how his mother would react when she eventually finds out that her son, the future Olo'eyktan of their tribe, was in a relationship with a human girl. Neteyam did not want to disappoint his mother. He knew how proud she was of him and it hurt to think that she could start to think badly of him. He tried his hardest to whoosh those thoughts away.

༊⁀➷

The Pandoran sun shone bright up in the sky, its rays reflecting on your bioluminescent freckles, making them a little more evident on your skin. The soothing sound of the leaves dancing with the pleasant wind and the water running in the nearby river filled the atmosphere around you. You walked slowly towards Neteyam, adrenaline dancing around in your belly in a bittersweet motion.

When Neteyam looked at you, it was like lightning had struck him. Not a destructive kind of lightning but a good one, sweet in its intensity, falling strongly all over him. Neteyam was seeing you in your Avatar for the first time after you had become his mate.

Your mouth was somewhat open, revealing your upper teeth and your na'vi (Avatar?) fangs. Your gaze revealed how much you had anticipated that moment, how much you stayed up when you should be sleeping, thinking about finally being able to see the look in Neteyam's face when he saw you in your Avatar. You knew he had watched you while you were Dreamwalking too many times before but you never got to see the admiration in his eyes when he did so as he had been stalking you, not letting you know he was around. You had wished to see his beautiful golden eyes captivated by you for so long. You wanted to feel pretty and desired like that. And now you were finally experiencing it as Neteyam looked almost dumb with enchantment while he stared at you. But cute dumb, you know? So damn cute…

You stared back at him as you took the last steps towards the place where he stood, as if he was frozen.

Neteyam felt like he was not able to move as he took in how beautiful you looked. He had never seen your na'vi body so close to his own body and it felt overwhelmingly good to do so. His sweet yawne finally belonged to him and he could now touch you and hold you in the physical form he found you most beautiful in. It's not like he did not think you were madly beautiful and hot in your human body, he always wanted to pin you down and make love to you while he was close to your human form, but nothing compared to seeing you in your na'vi form, the form where you smiled the most, where you seemed so much more alive and full of lust for experiencing the world around you. That made you even prettier. Happiness looked pretty on you.

Neteyam was na'vi and his people did not have as many severe mental struggles like humans did but there were rare cases where some na'vi who went through terrible trauma in their lives did become uninterested in fighting their dark thoughts and they did become extremely depressed, though they could be cured from that illness through rituals that healed the spirit, performed by their clan's Tsahìk.

Neteyam was not blind or oblivious to things that were obvious to the naked eye. He knew that nobody would break down and cry as often as you did, only minutes after waking up in the morning, while getting ready for work etc if this person was not in an enormous amount of pain, the kind of pain that made them wish to disappear and never be found again. Thinking about his mate feeling that kind of sorrow made him feel like his heart was being torn into pieces, blood spilling from it like water spills from a fountain.

The reason why Neteyam was so determined to convince you to transfer your consciousness to your na'vi body forever was not some selfish wish, it was not just because he wanted to take you to his tribe and have you be his mate, be able to bond with you through tsaheylu every night and get to love your body, sharing his affection and sexual pleasure with you as well as feeling your own through the bond - even though that thought did wake up a raw, intense desire and need inside of him and he just could not stop himself from fantasizing about that while stroking his cock when he could be all by himself without any chance of disturbance. Neteyam also wanted to give you the opportunity to live a blissful and fulfilling life, a life where you would laugh way more often than cry. If he knew someone that deserved nothing less than that, that person was you.

If in the worst case scenario, you still felt so bad after you had your consciousness transferred to your na'vi body, Neteyam planned to ask his mother to perform a ritual that heals the spirit on you. Thinking about that, he suddenly felt anxious and he felt his heart tightening inside his chest. Neteyam had been trying not to worry about the fact that it would be extremely hard to convince his mother to accept you as his mate and perform the ritual of transference of consciousness on you but that thought had been eating him alive constantly, ever since he talked to you for the first time, outside of the laboratory’s kitchen window.

"Hi, muntxatan." (male mate) Neteyam's heart started beating quickly and it almost came out of his throat when he heard you calling him your mate in his people's language as you stopped in front of him and smiled widely, your eyes narrowing slightly. Those torturing thoughts about his mother trying to tear the both of you apart quickly were washed away from his mind by your presence. It was hypnotizing to him.

"Yawntu… You're just so beautiful. So insanely beautiful." Neteyam smiled, his eyes shining, still bewitched by you, and pushed you roughly against his body. He hugged you tighter than he ever did before since he knew he wouldn't hurt you by doing so when you're Dreamwalking. The size difference between the both of you was not that substantial anymore. His chin rested on the top of your head as he held you strongly against his body.

His roughness did not hurt you, on the contrary, it made you feel safe and protected to have his big - currently not huge, just big - arms around you, keeping your body close as your head was against his chest, your eyes shut and you could hear his heart beating fast. It made you indescribably happy to know that you were the reason for that quick heartbeat. You curled your lips up, smiling peacefully.

Peace. You spent so much time without feeling that but, after you accepted becoming Neteyam's mate, finally defeating your cruel fears, you started to feel peaceful way more often than you had ever felt in your life, even more often than you did when you were little.

Neteyam distanced your bodies a bit, still putting his hands on the sides of your arms, right below your shoulders and announced:

"Come! There's a place I wanna take you to." He took your hand and started walking in front of you, excitedly leading you somewhere 

"Where are you taking me?" You smiled and chuckled softly, curious

"You'll see." It was all he said

Neteyam made you feel excited about little things, like you were just a child again, a feeling you hadn't felt in so, so long. After Neteyam came to your life, it was like he painted vivid colors on your once all too white and dull canvas. You almost shivered at the reminder that you nearly ruined your chance to have a love so pure and true such as this one because of fear of the unknown and refusal of getting out of your comfort zone.

After walking through the rainforest with you for a little while, Neteyam stopped in front of a tall, large tree and you soon recognized it. Its branches had clusters that were full of some beautiful fruits that reminded you of blueberries that used to exist on Earth, before they went extinct.

"Here. Do you recognize this tree? I've seen you look at it so many times. Were you wondering if the yovo fruits are safe to eat?"

"Yeah." You smiled bashfully "They look delicious."

"And they are. They're safe to eat, yawne. We can eat some now, if you want to." Neteyam smiled kindly at you. The fact that he remembered small details about you made your heart melt. 

"I'd love that, Teyam."

Neteyam smiled, unbelieving.

"What did you call me?"

"Teyam…?" You furrowed your eyebrows "It's just a nickname I came up with for you… Do you hate it?" You contorted your features in a way that showed him you were feeling slightly insecure and embarrassed 

"No! I love it, yawntutsyìp! I love it." He smiled and chuckled "I just wasn't expecting it. I love that my muntxate is calling me by a special nickname. Feels intimate." Neteyam came closer to you and held your face with both his beautiful strong blue hands

You looked up at his face with doe eyes and waited as you knew what was coming. You could feel it. The sneaky butterflies started flying inside your belly again.

Neteyam kissed you slowly, crushing his soft wet lips against yours. He pressed his lips on your mouth again and again for a short amount of time but it was enough to make your legs feel weak.

"Come, oeyä muntxate. I'll help you climb the tree."

Neteyam did as he said and soon enough you both were sitting on the wooden "floor" of the tree, sharing yovo fruits and eating them.

You two started to chill and talk about everyday life. It felt so good. It felt familiar, just like any relationship you had had before with a human guy, but better. So much better. Your alien boyfriend - mate? It felt so weird to say it like that… - made you feel things that none of your ex human boyfriends could ever dream to do. Neteyam made you feel understood. He did not judge you. He made you feel at home. Neteyam was becoming home for you.

You started to tell him how sad and done with everything you sometimes felt. Well, not sometimes… It happened all the time, even though it got better now that Neteyam was in your life. But you did not want to make him worry about you.

"You know, sometimes I feel like that too."

"What do you mean?" You questioned

"Like there's so much chaos inside that I just wanna talk to someone and vent. But I'm always so busy. There never seems to be time to find someone to do that with."

You were slightly surprised. 

"Yeah, me too. Always too busy." You sighed "And exhausted, to be honest. Both physically and mentally."

"Well, I do have way more stamina than humans do" You laughed at Neteyam's teasing "But some nights I come home from training and after taking care of my siblings, really, really tired too. And I don't mean only physically."

"We have some stuff in common, don't we?" You pointed out, smiling

"We certainly do." He smiled back

You felt good knowing that.

Neteyam laid on the floor, right by your side.

"I'm full" He let out a laugh that sounded lovely in your ears while stroking his stomach.

"Me too." You laid on the floor too, just like Neteyam had just done. Your belly felt pleasantly filled up "But these fruits are so good I'd still eat a dozen of them." You playfully said, laughing

"Do you want more? I can get you some more." Neteyam gently offered

"No, it's okay, Teyam. I'm good for now." You smiled at him

Neteyam smiled back, showing no teeth, a soft, enamored look in his feline amber eyes.

You two spent some time together in comfortable silence.

"Oeyä muntxate?"

"Yeah?" You looked at him and let out a relaxed sigh, smiling softly

"Oel ngati kameie." He said, with vulnerable sincerity in his eyes

It seemed like he was gazing inside your very soul. Like his golden eyes could see something in you nobody else could. Like he saw who you truly were. Like Neteyam saw the good and bad and the ugly and the greatness and the doubts and the fears and the uniqueness and the ordinary parts of you, like he saw all of you, and it did not scare him off to see your dark side. You could feel he was staying for both your virtues and your vices. And maybe that's what "Oel ngati kameie" meant, when said to the one you're choosing to be your mate. Means connecting to someone in a raw, deep way, a way that nobody else is able to. A way that allows you to see the other person's flaws but not be afraid of them and try to find a way out. A way that allows you to see the grace in every little detail that that other soul has, to see the beauty in them that they themselves could never see.

"Oel ngati kameie…" You finally said, smiling, still not believing he had said those words to you

Neteyam smiled brightly while gazing into your eyes. He always looked deep inside your eyes… It felt almost too much but it still had just the right amount of intensity for it to be deliciously alluring instead of overwhelming.

Neteyam took your hand and intertwined your fingers on his. You felt the touch of his warm hand burning your skin in a pleasant way. After a few seconds, he kissed the back of your hand tenderly. You kept staring at both your hands glued together for a while.

"I wanna cuddle with you, oeyä muntxate." His voice brought your attention back to his face.

You could hear nervousness and need in his tone.

"Sure, yawne."

You were starting to really like calling Neteyam by na'vi pet names. The na'vi language was incredibly pleasing to the ears, in your opinion.

Neteyam started moving your body carefully, so you could lay on your side and when you obeyed, laying in said position, he himself laid on his side and pulled you in, making your body be as close to his as he could, your ass against his clothed member. 

Your lungs started to do a poor job at helping you breathe now that the both of you were so close. You got nervous as you two had, yes, cuddled before, when you were in your human body, but he was never behind you like that, his body glued to yours. You knew he could feel your ass on his cock. Your heart was beating at the speed of light.

It did not take long for you to start to feel Neteyam was now fully erect, his cock pressed against your ass. You felt the inner walls of your pussy start to twitch and you got all wet, your juices spreading over your panties. Neteyam was so big and thick and your body responded like crazy to him.

It was a violent, invincible desire that made Neteyam cling so much to you, all the time. It would burn his insides, making him yearn for you, for your touch, for your warmth. There was no rational explanation inside his head for it. Neteyam could not understand it, he could only feel it covering all his being, exuding from his eyes whenever he looked at you, touched you, kissed you… He knew you could tell how much he was thirsty for you almost all the time. But Neteyam did not care about being so vulnerable. He wanted you to know what you did to him. Maybe like that you would surrender sooner and give yourself to him completely already. He felt so impatient. Everyday it was getting harder and harder for him to not take you in his arms and mate with you. This wait was killing him, day by day. It was like a slow and agonizing death. And now that he could smell your sweet juices so vividly, he felt like he could no longer hold back.

Neteyam pushed you even closer to him. You whimpered softly, the feeling of his huge, girthy cock pressed against your butt was divine.

Neteyam got you crazily wet just so quickly that it never failed to surprise you. He was like quicksand to you; you could try and run as much as you wanted but you would always end up being swallowed by his love.

"I need you so much, muntxate…" He cried out softly in your ear while rubbing his hard cock on your ass. "You're all wet for me. You smell so good, it's intoxicating." He sniffed the air, savoring your natural scent just like it was the most mouthwatering thing he had ever felt filling his sensitive nostrils "Please, lemme make you mine completely, my sweet yawne. Please…"

༊⁀➷

Taglist:

@kitsunefirewail

@tumblingdevils

@a-blog-name-2003

@xylobee

@nerdybouquetofkittens-blog

@henhouse-horrors

@lala-1516

@xylianasblog

@samistars

@crazy4books1

@explosiongamora

@lik0

@your-girl-mj

@darktyrantwinner

@sereisstuff

@yeosxxx

@die4niyahhh

@iman-lu

@manumanulau

@im-in-a-pansexual-panik

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@thehoneymushroomhealer

@melllinaa

@annaibansworld

@siriuslysmoking

@avatar4eva

@ellabellabus07

@badbishsblog

@neteyamsmate4life

@c-h-i-l

@criticallybella

@celi-xxmoon

[weebsinstash]

Do you think Nolan or Thragg would ever be a GirlDad (TM)? Like, I can imagine Nolan finding out his wife is pregnant with a girl, and he thinks he's going to treat her the same as Mark, but then he holds her in his arms for the 1st time and all of a sudden she's Daddy's Little Princess and he's teaching her how to subjugate her enemies during her "princess tea parties" and they're both wearing tiaras cuz "Please daddy?" with puppy dog eyes.

Hooting hollering howling and slapping my knee because I never finished the goddamn post but if you take a gander over here in my drafts

SAME BRAINCELL WOO WOO

That gif is his response to you asking when you get to date lmaooo

I almost wrote like something short for it, and I kind of am constantly bouncing around between "Do I want this to be short or long or what" but I can just imagine daughter Reader and Nolan going at it "you just don't want me to date because you want me to save myself for a VILTRUMITE man, don't you?! Humans aren't good enough, huh?! I'm 'too good for a human man'?!" And he just loses it and shouts back "you're too good for ANY man, you don't NEED any man, I'M the only man you need, I'M your FATHER!!" Like. Nolan is one of those super dare I use the term emotionally incestuous yandere dads

Like. Ok I guess this is a throwaway spoiler because I would be absolutely fucking shocked if they bothered to animate this, it's such a small deal, but like. Idk. Idk. How do I phrase this. "There's another character in the series who also has to deal with their daughter wanting to have A Ho Phase and Daddy Doesn't Like It" and for the love of fucking god Nolan and Thragg wouldn't let you date for absolute shit. No dating, no fucking, you are, their pure innocent sweet but also savage little fierce warrior princess and you are untouched by no man like the goddess Artemis to them.

God. Having a yelling screaming argument where you're just so upset, "OH YEAH WELL YOU KNOW YOUR CHANCELLORS SON, THE ONE I MET THE OTHER WEEK? YEAH, YEAH, I FUCKED HIM, I FUCKED HIM IN MY BED, IN THE HOUSE YOU PROVIDE FOR ME, HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT, DADDY" and that's like OH MY GOD you've cut them so deep it's like actual fucking sacrilege to them. The EMOTIONAL DAMAGE. Fists are nothing knives are nothing bombs are nothing BUT HEARING THAT THEIR BABY GIRL GOT DEFLOWERED? It's like a fucking DEBUFF. Imagine you scream at Nolan about how you sucked off a Viltrumite HIS AGE and he just PHYSICALLY STUMBLES, HAS TO REGAIN HIS BALANCE, HAND OVER HIS HEART

And Thragg is, obsessively hollering about how you're the Grand Regents daughter and you're of too high status for any of these males, just screaming at you, "WHY DID I CATCH THAT MAN'S TONGUE IN YOUR MOUTH? HE IS BENEATH YOU" and you hit him with "YEAH HE WAS BENEATH ME, AND BEHIND ME, AND ON TOP OF ME--" and Thragg gets so fucking RED, I feel like he's one of those wall punching dads. He won't ever hit you but he might manhandle-grab you and physically intimidate you at times. Thragg can just give you The Look and you INSTANTLY know you're in for a punishment, or that he's absolutely furious, and you're on your knees, "Please Daddy I'm sorry I didn't mean it, I was angry, please don't be upset with me, i-i-i just dont like you being disappointed in me, i love you and i want us to get along 🥺" and like. Obviously it works. But. He's not mad at YOU, he's mad at THE GUY, so, as cute and effective as buttering him up or even just genuinely being afraid and pleading earnestly is, you're not his target. The guy's still getting, tortured and maimed or something. But thanks for telling Father you love him, that'll perk him up during his next planet raid ❤️

BUT NO LITERALLY ACTUALLY Nolan with his knees bent in a little tiny plastic chair nearly on the ground with his little fake cup of tea as he sits there having "tea" with you and your Princess Ladybug doll and he's all, "now sweetheart, what did we learn today?" "That if we defeat our enemies, we should also take out their family and their allies, so they don't come back for vengeance?" "Yes sweetie, that's so good, you're so smart 🥰"

Nolan/Thragg getting in a physical fight and they could be getting maimed and disembowled or taking punches and it's like whatever, they're still chilling, but, do some shit like, knock their treasured keychain out of their pocket that you gave them or an embroidered handkerchief or just a little personal photo of you they keep on them gets ruined in the scuffle, oh, oh, NOW they're fucking pissed, NOW they've got some serious unfinished business in this fight and their opponents get DEMOLISHED and they're sitting there pouting with their broken/ruined thing you gave them because even if they got a new one from you, this one still had memories and sentimental value

I feel like similar to parents keeping baby teeth, Thragg would keep things like, first weapon you ever trained with, memorial photo of your first spar with another child that you won, your first flightsuit, a toddlers toy that was crushed on accident because you suddenly got your powers and had far too much strength than you knew what to do with. And Nolan, if he's raising you on Earth with Debbie, he's at all your school functions, whether it's dancing or sports, and if you aren't in those things, he encourages you HEAVILY (it totally isn't. Training or anything or making sure you're staying fit and active for anything in the future hahaha). He's taking photos and cheering in the crowds. He wants your art in his office. He wants to play games with you once you get your powers. He buys a case for any medals and trophies to proudly display.

Also like do you have any idea how much of an actual phenomenon it is, I've seen videos of it, where dads basically have infinitely more sympathy for their new daughters when they already have sons. I distinctly remember a video where a man was holding his second-born, his first daughter, and he was like weeping because he was feeling intense empathy for his infant daughter because she was crying and looking at him as he held her, and the wife was filming and it was captioned "he never did this with our son" and like. LMAO, THAT'S NOLAN WITH YOU WHEN YOU CRY. THAT'S THRAGG SUDDENLY GIVING A FUCK ABOUT ONLY YOU SPECIFICALLY AFTER LIKE TONS OF KIDS.

Daughter Reader would definitely be their spoiled little princess but you're also their spoiled little princess under very specific terms of CONTAINMENT AND SURVEILLANCE. You've got curfews, they need to know who your friends are, what families do they come from, what do their parents do. They'll treat you like a princess but they'll also socially isolate you from others and. Basically control your life. And if you ever try and pull away from Dear Old Dad, well. Viltrumites can have some pretty extreme reactions. Will Nolan have to disfigure that boy you won't stop talking to? Will Thragg have to build a pretty little cell so that his adult daughter doesn't sneak out to drink and fuck unknown men? That's up to how much of an obedient faithful daughter you want to be. Don't make them do something only you will regret ❤️

Jfjfkfm EDIT; I ALSO TOTALLY MISSES YOU SENT THIS

No but absolutely you're sitting there in your little costume jewelry as you twist a barbie doll and wring her like a towel "for disobeying High Queen Princess Barbie" and here's Thragg, "that's very good. The chain of command should always be respected" and you just happily start chattering away in that "im a small child and I don't know how to keep secrets or lie" kind of way

"Then Teddy Mason from down the street chased me into the woods and I kept telling him to stop but he kept using a stick to pull up my skirt so I grabbed him by the leg and threw him up into the air so he went SPLAT when he came back down!!" And you bang your little hand down on your table and Thragg is nodding in approval and Nolan just comes in looking mortified because he has no idea why Thragg is there until he. Sees that you're putting all kinds of stupid plastic hair clips in the man's hair and even his mustache and giggling and putting stickers on him And Thragg Is Just Totally Letting It Happen. Just totally casual, "Ah Nolan, you're finally here" and stands up to talk to Nolan with you in his arms or on his shoulder or just, hovering around him continuing to play with all the hair clips while your very horrified father is wondering what alternate dimension he just stumbled into to see the Grand Regent so. Calm.

The two men go into the other room "to have a grownup talk" and are they talking about the invasion? About Viltrum? No, Thragg is demanding to see all your baby photos as Nolan starts pulling out all his photo albums with absolute glee

[elixirfromthestars]

Lucky Day

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader (College AU)

Summary: Bucky, your childhood best friend, takes you to a baseball game to thank you for helping him with his chemistry class. However, between bets and kiss cams, luck seems to be the real game being played. 

Word Count: ~800

Warning(s): nothing really it’s just a whole lot of fluff 

a/n: Here is a little fluffy drabble I’ve had in my drafts for quite some time. ❤️ Likes, comments, and reblogs are appreciated!! 💖 

✧༺♡༻∞　　∞༺♡༻✧

      “ Y/n, I caught it!” Bucky yelled grinning from ear to ear. Cheers erupted from the seats around you as he waved the baseball he caught in the air. “ There’s no way,” you grumbled staring at the baseball Bucky was twirling around in his hands. You placed a bet with Bucky earlier on whether or not he would catch one of the stray baseballs from the game. He would routinely complain about coming here and never catching one, so you thought this would be a good opportunity to make a few extra dollars. Unfortunately, for your bank account, luck was on his side today. 

     You reached into your wallet and took out a twenty, handing it to him annoyed at your loss, “Here.” Bucky was grinning smugly as he took the money from your hand, a twinkle of satisfaction in his eyes, “ Maybe you're my good luck charm, Y/n. You should come to these games more often with me.” You glared at him playfully,” And have to do more of your chemistry homework? No thanks.” He laughed at that, stealing a cheesy nacho from the container on your lap.

     “ Not chemistry. Next time it’ll be algebra.” 

     “ In your dreams, Barnes.” 

     “ Oh, so we're on last-name terms now? Well, L/n, to cheer you up I’ll buy you some of that cotton candy you wanted. Although, technically, you'll be buying it,” he cheekily remarked calling over one of the snack vendors and buying a pink fluff of candy floss with the twenty you just gave him. He handed it to you and you gladly took it,” Whatever, Barnes,” you replied holding back a grin. It was nice to see how excited Bucky was to have finally caught a baseball from his favorite team. You knew he wanted one for a long time, and no doubt would stay after just to try and get it signed by his favorite players.

     Even though you lost the bet, you were glad you came to the game with him. You usually don’t come to outings like these as you’re usually busy with coursework and Bucky tends to invite Steve or Sam to these kinds of things. However, when he was falling behind in chemistry, you helped him complete some assignments and study for an exam he ended up acing thanks to your tutoring. Tutoring is not your specialty, but when the request came from your childhood best friend, there was no way you could say no. You can’t remember the last time you genuinely said no to Bucky.   

     The people in the seats surrounding you suddenly started to get rowdy breaking you from your thoughts. You scanned the stadium confused as to what everyone was getting animated over. You knew there was a current break in the game, so it couldn’t be that. Hearing the romantic music being played over the speakers brought your attention to the giant screen in the stadium. Your heart skipped a beat as soon as you saw who was on it. 

     It was you and Bucky. 

     There the two of you were on the jumbotron with the words ‘KISS CAM’ plastered on the screen surrounded by a scatter of red hearts. You froze in your seat never been put in a position like this. You felt the heat rise to your cheeks as the people around you encouraged the two of you to kiss—including the announcer. You weren’t a stranger to any sort of public displays of affection, but this was something else in its entirety. 

     “ Y/n, you know we don’t have to do this. They’ll just switch to another couple. Relax,” Bucky spoke up from beside you, his voice gentle and kind. He must have noticed how nervous you had gotten as soon as you two showed up on that screen. You turned to him, the word couple bouncing around your mind with mixed emotions. However, as soon as you locked eyes with him the emotions were no longer mixed. 

     You wanted to kiss him.

     This came as no surprise to you, and most likely no surprise on his part either. There was a constant flirtatious dynamic between you and almost everybody you knew assumed you were a couple. It's not like they would be wrong to assume that since there were a few times you almost crossed the line between friend and lover, however, neither of you ever took the step to fully cross it. Stolen glances, lingering hugs, and near kisses were no strangers in your friendship.

     “ But I want to,” your voice came out quieter than you expected, and yet Bucky had heard you. His demeanor changed from earlier, a hopeful yet almost shy look overtook his face. A sheepish grin replaced the confident one from earlier as the reality of what could and would most likely happen, set in.

      “ You sure?” He asked coming in closer, his right hand taking your left in his as a comforting gesture. You were so entranced by the moment you only managed to nod your head before he leaned over and kissed you. You kissed back, your right hand dropping the cotton candy and instinctively holding onto his cheek. As the stadium erupted with cheers, he used the hand that was holding yours to pull you in closer by the waist.

     Today turned out to be a lucky day for both of you. 

[weirdthinkingdragon]

Yandere Druid

I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to druids (or anything really DnD yet), so if it's wrong or not possible I'm sorry.

yandere druid x gn reader

warnings: threats, party deaths, a bit darker than I usually go with yanderes

not proofread

Thinking about a yandere druid who uses their ability to shift into animals to stay on you so you can't ever leave them.

He just kinda clung onto your party when you and your party were resting at a tavern for a while. None of you really thought anything about it, and were fine with it from a druid possibly being useful.

Gradually however, you and your party start to notice how... unnerving he tends to be. Of course with him being a druid he could just be talking to bugs or something. You and your party know next to nothing about them so that's the best guess. But the whisperings and mumblings at night kept especially you up a lot. Mostly from always ending up stuck closest to him. You could never sneak up and try to hear what he was talking with the possible bugs or something about. He always seemed to know and stop mumbling by the time you got close enough.

Eventually it came that the party wanted him out of the group. They couldn't stand it any longer. He was creepy, but that seemed a bit far. But you really can't go against a group of people, and have a priority of them from being the leader.

Just to be decent though, you tell them one final night, and drop him off at the nearest tavern in the morning. They begrudgingly accepted your term.

---------------

In the morning it was quiet. Too quiet. Usually the rattling of armor could be heard as two of them always get up insanely early to do practice exercises.

You sit up and look around. They're all still sleeping. A stinging pain is on your right leg. Removing your blanket shows what seems to be a bite wound with two prominent holes. Shit, isn't that a venomous snake bite???

The sound of coming footsteps made you look to see the druid running back towards your camp. A pouch is in his hand. He pulls out one with a deep purple liquid and passes it to you.

"It's a vial to make you immune to the venom until it gets through your system! Now hurry, drink it!" He seems out of breath, but how did he get the potions so soon? With how manic he was there was a feeling you shouldn't drink it. You look doubtfully at the vial while he opens the mouth of one of the other party members and pours a different colored one into their mouth.

He looks back at you with a glare.

"drink it!!" His sound of urgency makes you comply without another second thought about it.

It takes only a few moments for the pain to reside. You also suddenly feel really... refreshed? What all else was in there? That wasn't just to help the venom, you're sure of it. A bad feeling sinks deep in your body.

The giant smile that quickly grew on his face made it all the worse.

"What was in that??"

He walks right up to you and keeps a hand on your right shoulder, as if fearing you'd run. "Well, it can't be undone now, so I'll tell you! I basically just gave you the lives of the other party members. They didn't deserve it anyways~"

He what!?

"Why!?"

"They were so annoying, trying to push me away from you. Have you noticed they've been trying to get me out of here from the start?"

A bit, but you genuinely thought they just needed to warm up to him.

He yanks your body close to his. "Your lifespan will be so much longer now too!"

You try to squirm away and run for it. His strength is surprisingly strong as he tightens his grip like a constrictor.

"Ah, ah, ah! don't try to get away now~ I finally have you all alone. And I'm not letting this sweet victory go so soon." He leans to be right by your ear. "And if you even dare trying to leave me, I've got many ways to make sure you'd never be able to even walk again."

That was a threat that you could tell he'd really act up on.

He claps his hands together. "Oh! also you can leave this stuff behind. I already got better stuff waiting at the inn I signed us up in for a couple days, and got us better equipment! That way you can be more comfortable as we get to finally have time to get to know each other more without pests in the way."

You're still thinking of ways to get out of this and run from him.

"oh, and one more thing. Just so you don't dare get any ideas of leaving me, I'm going to be on you and guide you the way there."

You don't like snakes anymore.

Before you can wrap your head around that, he shifts into a medium-sized venomous snake and coils up from your feet to be around your neck, wrapping loosely around it. It's the same venomous snake you said was gorgeous before and asked him to turn into before so you could safely feel the scales of it and see the colors very up close.

He tightens when you go to grab him. Not enough to strangle you, but the threat is there loud and clear.

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

in jadeite do the characters still have the same eyes? like hutao with her flowery eyes and zhongli with his....serpent-like? ones

genuinely good question, i haven't really stopped to think about it? because in genshin as far as i know, the only eyes that really matter in terms of- what they look like? are the khaenri'ah star eyes. so like- we have people with wild-ass eyes but they never seem to factor in to the overarching lore of the game. with the exception of childe i guess? but his' are more like- they matter because he's an outlier (doesn't have the little anime shine), not because he has a particular shape in them.

also ngl i think you might be missremembering zhongli's eyes thanks in no small part i assume to fanon, bc i would not describe that man's eyes as serpent-like. neuvillette's? i can get behind. baizhu's and chongyun's? even more than neuvillette's. maybe even shinobu's but given her mask i guess hers are supposed to be more cat-like. but zhongli's...? like yes they're among the more non-normal eyes of the cast, but like- these:

next to these:

you see what i mean?

like not to get tinfoil hat on you but if i had to pick another character with eyes like zhongli's i would not pick the serpent men, but rather

you know? like they're the same shape, the colors are just inverted in the sense that her eyes are lighter with darker marks while zhongli's are darker with lighter marks, but other than that: rhombus in the middle with a ring around it. not sure there's any other character with eyes like those. xiao's look the most similar but on closer inspection he just has a semi-circle, not a full ring. so uh 🤷‍♂️

anyway- sorry about the tangent. i guess my answer to the actual question would be- maybe? i guess we can keep the eyes as they are, but just treat them the same way genshin seems to treat them. as in- most eye shapes are nothing more than a nod to the character's unique quirks rather than teyvat lore-relevant. again, teyvat lore-relevant i think is only the khaenri'ah star, maybe childe's eyes, and i guess baizhu's technically? and maybe neuvillette's. oh and arlecchino's of course. and i guess alhaitham can sit on the ?????? corner. but other than that hu tao having flowers isn't because of some long lost bloodline, but because she has plum (?) flower motifs. i think (inb4 it is about some long-lost bloodline lmao). you get what i mean? same goes for other characters with unique eyes. nahida has the four-leaf sigil bc she's connected to sumeru and the akasha and all that. kokomi has weird eyes because she's a fish. dori has an X in her eyes because money shines. like their eyes are unique but they don't have worldwide lore connotations the way the others seem to do. faruzan maybe has her eyes like that because she was stuck in some ruins for 100 years. i haven't read candace's lore but her golden eye can see stuff?? maybe she's lore-relevant too idk

so i guess bottom line is the people in this reality just have wild-ass eyes sometimes and it's no different than finding someone with albinism 🤷‍♂️ like you just go huh. neat. you're a genetic minority. anyway, and move on.

TL;DR: yeah the eyes are the same bc the only wacky eye-shapes that seem to REALLY matter in genshin's overarching lore are the khaenri'ah star ones, so i'm just not gonna bother w it.

if that bothers you we can also just say that they all have normal human-shaped eyes and keep the same color. like i guess what i'm trying to say is that only the khaenri'ah star will matter in the fic? and even then i'm unsure if it will matter all that much. so really whether hu tao has flowers in her eyes or not is irrelevant (using her as an example, but this applies to the others)

[masterjedilenawrites]

I feel like I’m a bit late on submitting one of these Valentine’s Day things, so I apologize for that. Quite honestly, I’ve been trying to think about what would make me interesting to other people and potential matches, and I’m still... pretty stumped but God dammit I’m gonna try.

character/gender: the clones, obviously. But also... all the Star Wars women are just so fine that I wouldn’t mind being picked up by any of them either.

I am visually impaired, and have a guide dog, and if I’m not good at asking for the attention that I want, my guide dog certainly doesn’t have the same reservations. She knows what she wants, which is belly rubs, all the time, from anyone, and she isn’t afraid to demand it. I tend to be a lot more reserved, and even if I crave affection just as much, I’m not very good at asking for it. So ideally I’d have a partner who can just as easily recognize what I’m not saying, and my nonverbal tells, because I am often used to struggling through situations that are hard for me so as not to inconvenience the sighted people around me. So someone who I can be super real with, who doesn’t make me feel awkward about communicating my needs, would be crucial.

In terms of more trivial things, I’m 4 feet 11, so super short in comparison to most people, which I actually don’t mind at all cause I kind a like feeling small tbh. I like reading books and going to yoga and doing ballet classes. I’m a bit of a girly girl. I love going to the spa and getting myself little sweet treats and shopping for cute outfits with my friends. Cute things in general just make me happy. I still love Disney movies and I still have a collection of stuffed animals that no one will ever make me feel ashamed of.

yikes, that was longer than anticipated. Sorry about that 🙈 happy Valentine’s Day, Lena💞

Happy Valentine's! I hope you enjoy the dates I picked out...

Your first date is...

Wrecker!

Oh Wrecker is pumped about this event. He loves meeting new people, but he's also a romantic at heart who just wants to find his special someone. He's very open to it being you, so he'll do whatever he can to put you at ease and get to know you. Jokes to lighten the mood, compliments to show you he's paying attention, fun questions he had Tech look up for him to get you guys talking about more than the typical date stuff. He's very emotionally aware and picks up on any cues you give about your comfort/discomfort. He's also excited to meet your guide dog and won't stop giving her belly rubs until you ask him to.

The time goes by way too fast, though Wrecker is confident there was a nice connection between you as he says goodbye - to you and your dog.  

Next up is...

Bo-Katan!

Bo-Katan may only be here because she had nothing better to do (or so she says), but that doesn't mean she isn't interested. She treats you like she would anyone else, with honesty and respect, and she is mindful of your visual impairment, asking for clarification on anything she's unsure about. She just wants you to be comfortable around her. She's tired of people holding her at arm's length and really hopes you find her company tolerable, if not enjoyable. Even though you may not have a lot in common, she finds your interests endearing. She's never had a spa day before, or gone shopping with friends. How intriguing.

When it's time to swap dates, she thanks you for your time and hopes you can tell how genuine she is by it.

Your last date of the evening is...

Tup!

Tup has been a basket of nerves all evening, though he's managing it a bit better by the time he reaches your table. He's curious about your guide dog and how you go about your life with impaired vision, though he's also scared he's prying too much so he ends up apologizing for each and every question he asks. With your permission, he'll give your dog some love and that will help calm him enough to think of other things to talk to you about. He's particularly interested in your yoga and ballet. He enjoys all physical activities and he really admires the amount of grace and strength it takes to master those two specifically. It takes a lot of willpower for him to not curse at the timer when it cuts off your conversation.

The event winds down by allowing everyone to socialize away from the tables, providing an opportunity to arrange an official date with anyone that may have caught your attention. All three of your dates will make an effort to find you again and ask you out, wherever you want to go, whatever you want to do, they'll just be happy to spend more time with you, if that's what you want too.

💝 Valentine's / Blog-versary Speed Dating Event details

👋 Request

👑 Master Lists

[beevean]

The way Lenore was written between the two season mystifies me, because I genuinely cannot tell if it was meant to be character development but written awfully, if she was conveniently warped to please her stans, or if she was actually re-railed from her original concept.

The other sisters keep insisting on Lenore being a stupid little girl, a romantic with her head in the clouds, with Carmilla here even recognizing that it's a façade of hers. That Lenore is secretly a selfish cunning being is true, of course, but I'm not sure where the impression of her pretending to be childish comes from.

In S3, there is literally one frame where she acts childish:

Carmilla mocks her for caring about animals, and Lenore just pouts at her like a kid who got offended by her older sis but doesn't know how to respond.

And then she spends the rest of her screentime with Hector, where she acts nothing like this. With him, she's nothing but a suave mommy dommy barely different from Carmilla, always smooth and in control and highly sexual. Can you tell this is the same character?

I think it would have been much more impactful if we could see more of her around the sisters, where she keeps acting like a little kid, her voice unheard because haha silly Lenore, our little girl who thinks she can solve problems with peace and love, and then go back to her gaslighting Hector where she enjoys having utter power. It could make the viewer wonder: which one is her real personality? Is she pretending to be more mature with Hector so that he, at least, can take her seriously, or is she pretending to be a little girl with the sisters to make them comfortable around her, because as I said she is all about comfort and never rocking the boat? Or maybe neither? I like the idea of Lenore being a consummate liar, impossible to trust because she always wears a different mask.

Or even better, she could keep the act with Hector too, to make herself look more trustworthy and totally not like mean #girlboss Carmilla! Laughing and playing around and pouting at Hector's provocations (assuming he still has a personality), looking innocent and almost out of place. So that it would have been much creepier to see that this "sweet little girl" is capable of planning rape and betrayal in advance. This would explain how Carmilla pegs Lenore's façade for what it is: it's how she tricks people, and she has seen it a million times, and maybe she finds it demeaning but hey it gets the job done. Griffith from Berserk was roughly described in the same way, someone who could swing from looking like a goofy kid to a hawk targeting his next prey, someone who could play naked waterfights with someone after dislocating his arm in a fight.

But that's not what we got. Lenore in S3 keeps being a dommy mommy even when she humiliates Hector in front of her sisters, dictating her terms and being very pleased with her work, like someone who is happy to gloat that she is not stupid and she's very much not a kid since she used sex to accomplish her plan and is not afraid of telling everyone, thank you very much. That small introduction ends up being irrelevant.

And then in S4 she swerves into being, effectively, a whiny brat, spending her entire screentime complaining and moping, pestering her pet with dick jokes because "she's bored" and wants to be entertained, complaining some more, crying that Carmilla lied to her which is a very childish conclusion to reach, making a show of how smol and sad she is by hugging her knees and 🥺ing, clinging onto Hector for emotional support, you get the drill. Now she really is a little girl, although I'm not sure I'd call her sweet.

^ this inspired this whole rant lol. can't say i don't understand her tho

(even if you think this is a lie and she was genuinely curious about Hector's work but didn't want to be honest about it: it would still be immature behavior, and another sign of her pride. Much like her snapping at being reminded of the time she resorted to rape and enslavement!)

Of course, by this point, the idea is that this is not Lenore putting a façade of innocence to hide her cunning. She is being fully sincere in her immaturity, because something something she has come to trust the man she raped into slavery and she's no longer playing with his heart although she still pouts when reminded of what she did isn't this the purest love ever <3

So, as I said, it's possible that Lenore in S4 was "re-railed" to what her concept was meant to be. A diplomat who genuinely wants nothing but peace and rejects war and violence, a lonely misunderstood young woman (she was called "princess in mourning" in her concept art), a vampire who combines childishness and intelligence: on paper, she is fascinating. But with how everything was laid out previously, this feels less like re-railing, and more of that convenient woobiefication I keep pointing out. Now Lenore has lost all of her bite, she is literally wasting time doing nothing which aids the perception that she's the "kindest", least evil vampire, she goes to whine to Hector instead of taking advantage of him, and aww isn't she the cutest thing. How can you hate her! She's just a widdle girl who wants to be loved 🥺 isn't she cute when she makes dick jokes and bothers Hector because she misses him 🥺 even though, when you bother to read her lines, it becomes blatant that she did not grow in the slightest, she only became more ineffectual.

Not only Carmilla's comment comes off as one of the infinite instances of "tell don't show", because it's easy to just tell us that Lenore pretends to be innocent and then write her as fetish material for the horny audiences, but it's also one of the infinite instances of S4's cowardice. An abuser acting like a young girl taking advantage of her cutesy looks and demeanor would be a great character, but of course, we have a ship to promote, so Lenore becoming an immature brat out of nowhere is what passes as a heel-face turn here.

I also can't help but think of how Hector too has been similarly miswritten as a "manchild". Hector has childish tendencies too: he sees nothing wrong in resurrecting dead animals to keep as company (which implies all sorts of things about how he sees death and love), and his need for approval and safety overrides his logic. In S2, he is competent, even intelligent to some degree, but naive. But the story eventually flattens him into a genuine spineless idiot who can't see the blatant lies in front of his face, with his intelligence being brought back in one episode only and once again to make the disgruntled fans happy. The story also makes clear that what makes him "a child in a man's body" is, overall, his gentle traits like his love for animals, which is... cynical, at best.

I know there is supposed to be a parallel between Hector and Lenore, as the two black sheeps of their group being looked down on for their "kindness" while they're much more dangerous than assumed. But with how spitefully Hector was written and how sanitized Lenore eventually became, the story is so wildly inconsistent I have to assume the writers don't even know what being childish (or kind for that matter) even means. funnily enough manga hector is a better example of a grown man with childish naiveté :P

anyway they deserved a better writer who doesn't think sexual abuse is the hottest thing actually

[ecargmura]

A Condition Called Love Episode 1 Review - The Girl Who Doesn't Know Love And The Boy Who Loves Too Much

A Condition Called Love gets the platinum trophy for achieving the confession-to-dating transition in world record speed in shoujo manga land. They managed to beat My Love Story!! in terms of confession-to-dating speed. I’m amazed. The first episode is just confession and dating from beginning to end. That means the rest of the story is just them trying to gather genuine feelings for love as they date, even if it’s just trial.

The story is about Hotaru Hinase, an ordinary high school girl who has never experienced love, witnessing the popular boy from the class next door, Hananoi, getting rejected by his girlfriend. After giving him her umbrella to shield him from the snow one day, Hananoi believes she is fated for him and confesses to her. While Hotaru isn’t too keen on how fast he’s going in terms of confessing, as she spends some time with him, she starts getting curious about him. After seeing how much he dedicates himself to someone he likes, she decides to try dating him to see if she will develop feelings for him.

Hotaru as a character is quite a relatable one. She has no interest in love and never fell in love. Instead, she loves food more than the idea of love. However, seeing the kind of person Hananoi is around her gives her a lot of emotions she never expected to have. She got angry when he looked for her hairpin in the snow as he could’ve gotten frostbite. She feels like an aromantic person, but that doesn’t mean aromantic people can’t fall in love; she wants to know what it feels like too. I do like that while she is curious about Hananoi, she does call him out on his rather pushy behavior, from cutting his hair, losing his earring to searching for her hairpin in the snow. I do hope that Hotaru continues to be able to step her foot out when it’s necessary.

People say that Hananoi feels like a red flag. Like, I can see it from how unnecessarily devoted he is to Hotaru after she helped him out. He can be a bit pushy too. From how I see it, he has his issues. I’m surprised that while a lot is given out for him, there’s still a lot not known about him. I’m predicting that his odd way of loving someone stems from trauma from his younger days or the lack of affection from his family. Right now, I’m going to be neutral on Hananoi’s character as it is the first episode and I don’t want to rush on waving a flag this early. Also, I’ve seen people saying that Hananoi looks better with long hair, but I honestly have no inherent attachment to the long hair because it has less screen time than Hotaru’s hairpin and the pork bun combined. To me, he’s just Hananoi with or without long hair.

The animation is rather nice. It’s a shoujo manga anime adaptation, so the colors are pretty. I do like how everything and everyone moves. Nothing feels too choppy or stiff. East Fish Studio was the animation studio that was animating the Ten Count anime before it got cancelled. I honestly never seen their stuff until now, but it’s not bad.

The opening song is a rather bizarre choice for a shoujo manga song. I didn’t expect them to go all J-pop boy band with this shoujo love story. It’s not a bad song, but I need to get some time to get used to it. The opening song is sung by Sexy Zone. The ending song was very jazzy and I loved it! It’s sung by Mina Okabe. I love her vocal tone! It’s husky, but trendy too!

The voice acting is really good, though. Kana Hanazawa voices the protagonist Hotaru Hinase! A rather unusual choice given that shoujo manga prefers rising stars, but it’s HanaKana. She does an amazing job whatever she does! The last time I heard her in a shoujo anime was in Orange where she voiced Naho. I think Hanazawa does a great job showing off Hinase’s kindness but also her nonchalance when it comes to the topic of love. Chiaki Kobayashi voices Hananoi. Given that I’ve heard him in three different animes last season, hearing him as a rather obsessive love-stuck boy is rather new on my part, but given that he is talented, I think he can do well. Two voice actors shocked me in this episode. First is Maaya Sakamoto voicing a side character in Hotaru’s friend Shibamu. I didn’t expect to hear Maaya Sakamoto as a gal pal as she normally voices hot older women, tomboyish girls, complex women or young boys, but I don’t mind because it’s Maaya Sakamoto. The second voice actor that shocked me is Mikako Komatsu voicing Hotaru’s mom? Sister? That’s a rather crazy choice given the already stacked voice actor list. I didn’t expect to see her name on the credits list at all. Dang.

There are two paths this story can take and I just hope it doesn’t crash and burn in whatever route it takes. If you have read the manga of this, please let me know if there is anything I need to keep an eye out without spoiling too much. If you have watched this episode or are a fan of the manga, please let me know your thoughts!

[fanficapologist]

I have so many thoughts!! But the first surprise was that we have another chapter!!!

That interaction between Maera, Aemond, and Aemara. I hope that’s not the last time they’ll get to have as a happy family. Please, god no. And i’m sensing girl dad vibes from Aemond. Also, I wonder whether Aemond would feel guilty after knowing what happened to Maera? I mean it was on his suggestion that she patrol on Ebrion. And on the other hand, I can imagine him being worried - at the thought that Maera got hurt and livid at the fact that she spared Baela.

Despite Maera’s impatience, I too wondered whether Rhaenyra would reply or leave it to be some last minute thing? Because, okay, despite wanting to avoid more losses, we can’t all just wait and have two monarchs. Unless…

Finally!! I’m also ecstatic that Maera got to see some action. This was the highlight of the chapter for me. Like I am full on grinning that I almost let it slip I was reading fan fiction. I was cheering her on because that was so badass, I mean, obvious war aside. And this isn’t to belitte her efforts but besides taking Ebrion on patrol or for a ride; she hasn’t had much combat experience. I remember watching Rook’s Rest and reading reddit comments about how you could tell Sunfyre/Aegon was an inexperienced fighter mainly because he relied on dragonfire unlike Meleys/Rhaenys who was more strategic and used claws to scratch Sunfyre’s belly, the teeth, etc. Additionally, I didn’t really expect anything less of Baela, being Daemon’s daughter but I must say I was impressed at Maera’s quick thinking and natural skill as a dragonrider. Though Moondancer was agile, like Sunfyre, she also relied on deagonfire unlike Ebrion who also used his jaws to tear at Moondancer’s wings.

And, for a moment, I genuinely thought the dragon that appeared was Syrax and Rhaenyra came out to meet her. Like this was her answer to Maera’s raven.

I also feel like it was hypocritical of Baela to say Maera also excels in slaying her own kin like her husband, when she was the one who struck first? And where was the honor in shooting a crossbow at her when Maera wasn’t clearly posing a threat? But I hope the decision to spare Baela doesn’t bite her in the ass. I guess we will find out! And it appears Maera has some explaining to do to Aemond and the Small Council when she gets back 😬

I do have some questions!!

How big is Ebrion compared to the other dragons? Is he bigger than Vermithor for instance? I think I remember I read in a previous chapter that Aemond said Vhagar and Ebrion are the largest dragons?

And this is more into the lore but do the dragons decide when they’re attacking whether they’ll use dragonfire or their teeth and claws?

In a dragon fight, how much is dependent on the dragon or the rider’s skill?

Lastly, random note but I feel like I’m expecting a comment from Grand Maester Vaegon about Maera’s dragon riding skills hahahaha

Ok so…

Maera usually patrolled anyway but no doubt he’ll still feel bad cos his wifey got hurt 🖤

I reckon Rhaenyra will drag it out to be petty (I support that) 🤣

Baela bitter but I don’t blame her and I she took a cheap shot. Her dragon was dead, why the fuck not she had nothing to lose 🙈

And finally the answers to your questions:

Ēbrion is between the size of Vhagar and Vermithor 💙

In terms of dragon battles, I’ve honestly got no idea 🤷🏻‍♀️ they’re animals so I assume they’ll do what’s best to defend themselves and their rider and/or the most strategic attack. I imagine some dragons are better at things than others e.g. some have the speed, larger claws, can shoot fire a further distance etc. And I think dragon and rider work together, ultimately the dragon will do what it wants as an animal rather than a strategic war machine, but I guess that’s what a riders for. (These are just my personal opinions though)

We will get Vaegon and Maera next chapter! 🖤

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

I would really like to know if you did any kind of character study for Makima when writing your two-part fics. I'm sure others have said this to you, but you do a really good job of writing Makima. Her interactions with others (specifically reader) are never out-of-character in terms of tone and diction. Was there any aspect of her personality/character that was difficult for you to flesh out in writing? What did you enjoy the most when characterizing her? Thank you so much for your time!

TAT thanks so much, the amount of love the duology has received since I've written it makes it really happy! And I love being asked about the technical side of things I've written so thanks for asking!

I have done a couple of partially in-depth character studies in Makima, some of which I've subjected anyone in the tags to reading and subjected my friends to reading as well.

If you ever want to read those posts separately, you can check that out here.

But to summarize, after a thorough read of CSM I came to the conclusion that what got in the way of Makima's dream wasn't her nature as the Control Devil, but herself. She enjoys being in control, she enjoys tormenting people. Part if it is nature, yes. Controlling people comes to Makima as easily as Power desires blood as the Blood Fiend. But some of it's nurture. We aren't entirely sure how she was brought up but it clearly created a terrible, terrible person. A person who enjoyed fucking with people.

And by the time chapter 1 has rolled around, Makima is too far gone to ever get the sort of relationship she wants even if she had won.

So going with that analysis in mind, I wanted to craft a story with a Makima not quite at her breaking point.

I thought going in Makima would be difficult to write but it came surprisingly easy to me! I'm not sure if that's because I was up in CSM hell dissecting her character because it didn't feel like I was when I read things initially. I was mostly going "Someone PLEASE take all of Denji's suffering and give it to Makima" lmao, she grew on me after my reading part 1 of the manga.

She was even fun to write, in my opinion. It's her condescending way of talking to others, her surprisingly gentle voice that lacks any true warmth.

But I think the thing I enjoyed most of all as far as the Makima duology was writing Makima's displays of affections while still maintaining her possessive nature. Using her abilities to take control of the senses of animals to check when Reader gets home, eavesdropping, half-jokingly talking about how she can make people come to her wedding with the reader, using absolute control to force the Bureau to accept her resignation because all she desires at this point is living peacefully with her beloved. And especially her ambiguous wording of the contract in Man is the Breast, Heaven is the Playground.

As she maintains in her contract with the reader, she doesn't use her abilities on you and you'll stay with her forever. But I chose to have word choice be ambiguous because for Makima, a future where she can't guarantee she'll be loved the way she is in the present by the reader is one she doesn't desire. She won't allow it. She won't let herself be anyone else's so by extension, she doesn't want anyone else to have you.

It's a twisted selfishness blossomed from genuine love and affection, a feeling only you've given her.

She wants you forever. In this life and the next and the next and the next. Something you agree to without realizing the full implications of what she meant, not that you really care. You want to be with her forever too even if your belief was that it would be contained to a single life.

So in the sequel A Blazing Star Sought Refuge in My Chest, I really loved writing the scene where the reincarnated Reader meets Nayuta.

「You glared at the girl, ready for a fight. “Hey get off of m-,” You. Your words halted as soon as you saw her wide-eyed stare and tears. There was nothing familiar about this girl, you had never seen her before in your life. There was nothing familiar about her black hair, nor the mole under her left eye. You were sure you couldn’t say you’d ever met anyone with golden eyes with red rings in them either. There was no reason to feel like your senses had been set ablaze and the universe shifted.

You didn’t know this girl.

This girl was a stranger.

You knew this and yet you still fell to your knees as warm tears flooded your eyes without your permission. Your mind had gone blank, unable to conjure a single thought and even if you could, you doubted you would be able to voice them. So you followed instinct as it screamed at you to hold this stranger in your arms, welcomed the way she threw her arms over your shoulders in return.

An indeterminable amount of time passed while you cried in the arms of a stranger before you stood up again. 」

I wanted that scene to be purely instinctual with their souls recognizing one another. And with Reincarnated Reader's earlier mention that she felt like there was something in her life she needed to do, for the both of them it was like an awakening. A single moment of seeing each other was the birth of a universe. That's blazing star has found refuge in both of their chests in that moment.

The reason I chose to make them both children during this section of the fic was because of the inherent innocence they would have. An adult would have this experience and more than likely be skeptical and less receptive to such an experience. They'd be too cynical.

But for two kids alone in the world and instinct telling them they're meant to be together, that the other person is what they've been looking for this whole time, it makes perfect sense not to question it and live the rest of their lives together.

And as far as my completely separate Makima oneshot when it all comes Crashing Down (the title was a stylistic choice), I used Makima having a sweet tooth and the reader disliking things being too saccharine to reflect Makima's desire to clutch onto any traces their dying friendship and the Reader's dying affections towards her and yet still remaining by her side despite knowing their friendship is pretty much dead. I had a lot of fun with that!

[jeanjwould]

𝐨𝐜 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 : 𝐫𝐣 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧

i'll be the first to confess that rj is underappreciated. by me, specifically. which is probably why you guys haven't heard as much about him. that's my bad. but it's his time to shine now! and he's gonna be crazy entertaining to write, guaranteed, so that definitely makes up for the lack of attention i've given him. here's all about rj, folks!

on top of being the most cryptic member of overconsumption to the eye of the general public, rj has a penchant for stirring up conflict within the band. call it a hangover from an uneasy childhood. he loves getting under peoples' skin, but, by now, the band has just accepted it as one of his quirks. one quirk of quite a few, including a strong appreciation for any substance that can make life more interesting. one might say another hangover.

but don't be mistaken: behind the continuous mischief-making and frequent benders is a more well-intentioned soul than most give him credit for. misguided, yes, but well-intentioned. it's a part of him that is seldom acknowledged by others in favor of his junkie image—actually, he's seldom acknowledged at all in discussions of overconsumption's success.

no worries. who needs acknowledgment when you're in a world all your own?

𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ⋆｡°✩

full name: roger jesse patterson

age: 23 (1985)–tbd

birthday: march 26

pronouns: he/him

sexuality: pansexual (so closeted even he doesn't know)

ethnicity: scottish-american

occupation: rhythm guitarist for overconsumption

love interest(s): none

likes: causing problems, speedballing, fantasy books/movies, arguing, animals, jeans with giant holes in the knees, being high

dislikes: his friends being genuinely upset about something, working out, getting haircuts, parties, horror movies, boats

height: 5'6

build: small, thin

hair: wavy, red mullet

skin: pale

eyes: grey-blue

𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 ⋆｡°✩

⋆ nothing to lose - l.a. guns

⋆ all hell's breakin' loose - kiss

⋆ mr. brownstone - guns n' roses

⋆ smokin' in the boys room - mötley crüe

⋆ nightrain - guns n' roses

⋆ locomotive (complicity) - guns n' roses

⋆ dirty deeds done dirt cheap - ac/dc

⋆ welcome to the jungle - guns n' roses

⋆ dancing on glass - mötley crüe

⋆ right next door to hell - guns n' roses

⋆ no mercy - l.a. guns

⋆ out ta get me - guns n' roses

⋆ coma - guns n' roses

⋆ kickstart my heart - mötley crüe

𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 ⋆｡°✩

he's, surprisingly, the first friend may makes within the overconsumption group

he can only fall asleep if he's laying on his stomach, but him falling asleep is rare because he isn't a fan of sleeping in general

he named the title track of overconsumption's debut album, all it takes

he's the ex-boyfriend of one of duke's older sisters, liv, whom he still remains on good terms with even after the breakup—duke has a bit (aka a lot) of a grudge against him for it, but he's subtle enough about it that rj doesn't really care

he's lactose intolerant

he's gonna make me really sad

i posted this intro to my instagram like 2 days ago, then forgot to put it here, so WHOOPS!! but it's here now, so all is forgiven :) and that's it for all the main/supporting character intros! the next intros i post will probably be some combined intro posts for some of the side characters like amelie, tigerlily, may's abuelo, those folks! but it might be a little while before then, we'll just see how much energy i have in the near future!

[yurisorcerer]

This has become something of an unexpected seasonal highlight for me.

I liked the first episode but episodes 2 and 3 didn't quite hit me the same way, but idk, after these last couple I think the show is really doing something here, and I'm happy about it. If I would compare Demon Lord 2099 to anything it would be the slightly older school of light novel anime, before that was a mostly-derisive term, that treated the medium's capacity for genre-bending and recombination of cliches as an opportunity to make classic story formats feel fresh.

Because 2099 isn't doing anything crazy new here, right? The rightful king returns, that's kind of the whole plot, and his being a stock demon lord character would not help with that initial impression, but I don't know, something about Veltol's genuine, actual charisma as a character combined with how the show welds the cliches of the isekai genre to him as a person makes both of them feel genuinely cool in a way they haven't to me for a very long time. (Not to mention unexpected highlights like the genuine 2D mecha battle in episode 4? Why does THIS show have one of the best-looking mecha fights of the year?) If this show makes me think of any other anime it's not anything from this year, it's like, Asura Cryin' or something.

Some stray observations:

-I appreciate the diagetic and "in-universe" explanations for even the things that seem very video-gamey.

-As mentioned, I think there is something genuinely kind of clever in this show about how it primarily ascribes isekai cliches to Veltol, as though they are "old things." Because, you know, they kind of are. In doing so, it manages to weld them to Veltol's personal charisma and manage the incredibly difficult task of making them feel interesting again.

-I'm not without my nitpicks. I think most of this show's humor is a little forced and it probably flows a bit better in a format like the original novels where it doesn't have to worry about sharing episode-space with much more serious moments. Also the translation on some of the dialogue feels a little wonky, or maybe it's just written that way in the original. Definitionally it's a little hard to tell. It's nothing major and it's nothing I'm not used to from this format but it is noteworthy.

-Immortal souls are fossil fuels, you see. Do you get it? Because fossil fuels are terrible and the people who make us reliant on them are monsters. This is one of the show's core metaphors and it is VERY insistent on this point. They're also kind of worse than fossil fuels because the fossil fuels are also actively-living people. Who are immortal. The finer points of the oppression metaphor break down here and I think they're probably the diciest part of the show's "serious" writing, but it doesn't dwell on the topic which makes me think either the original writer or the person(s) in charge of adapting the story for TV were aware of that and chose to lean into other aspects of the series instead.

Good show all around. I think at this point my rankings for the 3 action anime I'm following this season---to the extent that that's something that matters at all, which is minimally so---have gotten completely scrambled. I'd put Dandadan at #1, this at #2, and Mecha-Ude at an admittedly close #3. I think perhaps I just vibe with the slightly more general nature of what 2099 is doing more than Mecha-Ude's TRIGGER pastiche, but honestly any or all of these could be in different positions as soon as next week. It's turned out to be a surprisingly good season for punchy shows.