#is that the most popular ‘pair the spare’ option or is it because they’re the two castle (oblivion) guards

[kayzero]

“Xaldjn’s whole shtick is that he became a Nobody in order to avoid emotions — presumably some sort of heartbreak. Unlike the rest of the Organization, who talk about how much they want a heart, Xaldin actively dismisses having a heart. He hates the concept of love because he was unable to experience it. When he sees a literal Beast — a creepy buffalo monster — experiencing love, the thing he is unable to experience, it bothers him and he becomes obsessed with trying to ruin it.”

—Regular Pat, “Ranking EVERY Day in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days” (https://youtu.be/-dGAOnIcCeg)

i need to remember to do something with this when i have the opportunity, this is an angst GOLDMINE

[litgwritersroom]

Villa Vs. Villa

Part Two of All's Fair in Casa Amor.

read it on AO3 | chapter written by @i-boop-you

Day two of Casa life and it's time to get stuck into it as the Villa's go head to head during Challenge Time. The stakes are high for Astrid as things heat up between her and Bobby and Emily isn't ready to call it quits either.

| Part One |

“I’ve got a text! Islanders, prepare for the competition to heat up as you go head-to-head with the other Villa in a series of mini challenges. The winning Villa will be treated to a cocktail party this evening. Hashtag, turning up the heat, hashtag, all villa no filler, hashtag, villa vs villa.”

That stirred up the competition. Astrid had been chilling on the daybed with Ali and Blake, discussing their game plans. She had just finished filling them in on her night with Bobby, telling them between giggles and hand holding about their legs brushing up against one another, of them stealing closer inch by inch during the night, how she could still smell him, could still feel the warmth of his body during the cool night like he was still right beside her. Okay, she hadn’t said half of that. Mainly because she didn’t want anyone to accuse her of majorly laying it on.

They’re Casa Girls after all, and if there’s one thing about a Casa Islander that everyone thinks, it’s that they’re doing everything they can to stay in the competition.

Considering the position they’re in, who could blame them? And right now, with this particular lot of boys to try and convince, the most desirable option was obviously Bobby.

Besides being the most single boy, failing to spark a romantic connection with a single girl, everyone watching the show knew what a fan favourite he was. He was beloved, the entire nation was rooting for him to find someone, for every girl to turn around and realise he was the love of their life. Everyone wanted Bobby to find the right girl for him, so God forbid if the girl couldn’t match up to him.

What was there not to love about Bobby? He was hands down the funniest Islander, objectively the cutest boy in the Villa, and a categorical catch: he baked, he was hard-working, loyal, devoted, down-to-earth. How those other girls weren’t fighting among themselves for him, Astrid would never know.

Yet, Bobby was such a catch, that’s where the danger really lurked. How could Astrid prove herself among the new girls? How could she show that she wasn’t just using him for his popularity, for his ability to get her into the Villa so she had better footing to pursue who she really wanted?

Because there wasn’t anyone else she wanted. Not really. Bobby was her number one pick. Even before she knew she was going on Love Island, Bobby was the stand out, exactly the type of boy she needed in her life.

And not just because he’d bake her the perfect pastries.

All Astrid had to do was win him over. And his friends. And the nation. Easy fucking peasy.

The other trio of girls came over from where they had been gossiping on the swing, and all six of them cooed and cawed over one another, tripping over who was the most excited.

Astrid caught Emily’s eye and the pair smiled at once another, but there wasn’t anything nice about it. Emily also had her eye on Bobby, and she hadn’t been quiet about it.

From the moment the girls arrived and had their first sit down chit-chat, Emily made it clear to them all that Bobby was hers and she wasn’t about to lose him to anyone. Astrid sat there, smiling and nodding, and sizing up the competition. There was a streak in Emily that Astrid hadn’t liked at all, and if anything, she wanted to spare Bobby from that. If Astrid was the right sort for Bobby, Emily was the wrong sort.

What basis did Astrid have besides they both wanted the same man? Well. It’s a competition, and Bobby can only pick one of them, if he picks either. Emily may not have been used to losing, but neither was Astrid, and her first trick was never to give the game away.

Before Astrid could sit down next to Bobby, Emily planted her bony butt on the sun lounger by his side, somehow taking up all the remaining space that fit a whole adult lying down. Astrid would call her lard arse if there was anything back there at all.

Rolling her eyes behind her sunglasses, Astrid took a seat on the lounger next to them, sitting with a space between herself and Bobby on the same lounger as Henrik. Bobby turned slowly toward her, a grin climbing slowly on his face, something he never showed when Emily sat next to him.

“Fancy seeing you again so soon,” he joked, sitting with his legs open and his elbows resting on his thighs. He was leaning forward, and bowed closer to converse.

Astrid followed his lead, letting her tanned legs spread into the space in front of them, innocently tangling them into his ‘bubble’ thanks to the angled position of her sun lounger. She leant towards him shoulder first to reply, “What can I say? You were such good company last night, I guess I’m just missing you.”

The game was beginning, garnering everyone’s attention. Bobby tore his eyes off of her with a smile on his face. Was it the heat or was Mr McKenzie blushing?

It took a lot for Astrid to glance away, and she only did so after brushing her leg up behind his calves. Bobby adjusted as Lucas introduced the game, letting Astrid slide her leg between his from behind. Flirting with no words, not even looking at one another. Yeah, Astrid was a-winning here.

Just as Lucas wrapped up the rules, Emily pounced on Bobby, clutching his arm, and excitedly getting in his face. “Oh, this is going to be so much fun! Promise to partner up if we need to?”

Astrid couldn’t see his face, but her elation soured as she heard him replying, “Sure.”

Ding.

A text came through on Siobahn’s phone. Half the Islanders were shouting at her to read it before she could even open her phone, acting like that’s not what she was going to do immediately.

“The boy and girl whose names come last alphabetically must snog for fifteen seconds,” she read out, arms flapping before she’d even finished her sentence, like she expected them to already be on their feet…

She was half right, Gary, Shannon, Ali, and Lucas were already up, ready for action.

As a mix of “Go, go, go!” was thrown across the garden, lots of fingers were pointing as they tried to work it out. It was like they were only half in competition with Casa Amor, and half in competition with each other to be the fastest to figure out who the texts were talking about. It was nearly as amusing as it was when they finally figured out it was Siobhan and Noah, and Siobahn went careering across the grass towards Noah.

He looked pretty terrified, truth be told. By the time Siobhan reached him, Noah had one arm out blocking her path to his lips.

“Whoa, whoa, hang on,” he said, granting himself more than a couple bewildered looks from the others. “I don’t know if I want to be kissing anyone else, like … I don’t want to hurt Hope.”

“What do you mean?” Gary barked across at him, standing, holding his arms out like Noah was trying to argue that pineapple went on pizza. “What do you flipping think Hope is doing over at Casa Amor?”

That’s when the next text came through. Already Siobahn’s shoulders were slumping. “Casa Amor won,” she read, eliciting a loud groan from everyone else.

“It’s all right, mate, it’s just a game,” Ibrahim said, reaching over to consoling pat Noah on the arm.

“That would have been Priya, right?” Shannon said, loud and clear, looking around for confirmation for what she already knew. Astrid saw the way Shannon’s gaze landed on a now thoroughly glum looking Ibrahim while she added, “Looks like the other Villa aren’t messing around.”

Ding.

This time it was Gary’s phone that went off. He sped out the words, “One boy and one girl have thirty seconds to act out as many sex positions as they can!” He was practically dancing on the spot, jumping from foot to foot.

Ali was right next to him. Without a thought, Gary threw down his phone, grabbing Ali’s arm instead. He tossed her right onto the grass, getting into position behind her for doggy. As everyone else roared out, “ONE!”, the pair of them rolled into their next position.

Half the Islanders were counting them out as the other shrieked different, easy, positions for them to try out, but thanks to Gary trying to show off his favourite position, several seconds were wasted. The only victory there was that it made Ali cackle and when they were done, they sat budged up so much closer to one another than before.

It was another loss for the group, though.

“Come on, guys, get with it,” Lucas said, spurring them all on. “We’re trying to win this thing.”

“All right then, pretty boy, you do the next one,” Gary said, probably his idea of being snarky.

When the next text came through, Lucas didn’t back down. It wasn’t one that required a whole load of effort though. All he had to do was stand there as a girl doused him in lipstick mark kisses.

Blake was the lucky girl thanks to Ali and Astrid. Ali had a tube of lipstick already on her, and Astrid already had plans of throwing Blake to Lucas the moment Gary piped up with his brilliant suggestion.

Cheekily, Blake kissed all over Lucas’ face and chest, littering him in shades of ‘Come to Bed Red’. She began at the top, as everyone counted each smack of her lips, getting dozens all over his face before moving down, and eventually ended up on her knees, a position she most likely was pretty familiar with. She was running out of room in her current state, and with the seconds whittling down, Blake clasped the lining of Lucas’ trunks and inched them down.

Eyes wide, he looked directly at the boys. He was blushing as they nearly all fell out of their seats at Blake’s gall.

When their win was announced, Astrid couldn’t help but call out, “I think that was a personal win for you both, too, right? Lucas, just you remember how happy Blake made you when she got down on her knees.”

“You pipe down, you cheeky sort,” he threw back at her, giving her a look.

In another life, maybe Lucas would have been Astrid’s target. He was mighty fine looking, rich, and had his life together. Shame there was someone else who managed to put Lucas in the shadows.

Henrik got the next text. “The boy and girl whose name’s start with the same letter must kiss.”

Before most of them could say so much as, “Who -?” Shannon was on her feet, screaming at the top of her lungs, “BOBBY AND BLAKE.”

Bobby and Blake both looked terrified, and still wore those looks of startledom as they ran across the grass to one another. They crashed into one another in a decidedly unromantic fashion. The kiss was purely strategic, that was clear.

With no time frame on the kiss, they broke apart after about five seconds. They went back to their seats without a look at each other, like it was nothing more than business, and business they were rather glad to be done with at that.

It was another victory, making it a tie so far. Everything was still to play for. So when the next text came through, BOOM, the competitive among them really started coming through. Three Islanders had to top and tail in a bed, so Gary, Ibrahim, and Ali leap onto the wall that separated the garden from the daybeds and settled themselves in. Everyone was up on their feet, arms half raised to celebrate already, when a text chimed through telling them they lost.

“What?!” Gary shot up from the daybed. “Impossible, we literally did that in seconds! No way!”

“It took a while for the text to come through, so maybe it wasn’t the daybeds, but the ones inside?” Siobhan suggested.

There was a collective groan at their own stupidity on that one. By the look of it, it made Gary far more determined to win.

The next phone to pop off was Astrid’s. Before she knew what she was doing, the surge of excitement had her on her feet, already screaming the words to everyone, “Kiss the three Islanders you fancy the most!”

Astrid had Bobby, her lips were on his lips before she could even register the shock on his face. She didn’t have time to think about it, to appreciate the electrified drumming of her heart at this. In one moment she was being told to kiss who she fancied most, in the next it was just Bobby, all Bobby, and there was nothing more to it. She grinned stupidly as she pushed away, darting off to the next guy.

Noah was sitting down, so Astrid was on his lap as she kissed him. Just as Noah was sinking into it, taking her by the waist, she was up on her feet again and falling into Lucas, her arms wrapping around his neck to stop herself from falling flat on her back. He held her around the waist as everyone cheered at them completing the dare.

Astrid still had her phone in her hand, the alert coming through, breaking her focus from her kiss. After a quick check, she turned to the group, arms in the air, “The Villa won!”

The win stirs them on even more, and while Emily got the next text (“Three Islanders must jump naked into the pool!”), Astrid plonked back in her seat, only half eyeing Henrik, Gary, and Ali bombing it to the water, already leaving behind discarded items of clothes.

Just as Gary’s hairy ass disappeared with a splash, Astrid said to Bobby, “Sorry, I hope you don’t mind me just grabbing you like that. Time was of the essence, and I assure you that a proper kiss from me is of much higher quality. That’s an Astrid guarantee.”

He grins, clapping along with the others as the three butt naked Islanders splash about in the pool.

“Is that a promise?” Bobby replied.

With a wink, Astrid said, “Sure is. I’m already wishing I had saved the best for last.”

“There’s still time yet, you could have another kiss.”

“Here’s hoping.”

“THE VILLA WINS!” Emily roars, standing on the sun lounger to give herself some much needed height.

Up next the two oldest Islander’s have to kiss, so Lucas and Siobhan come crashing into each other from direct opposite sides of the grass. 

“Another win for the Villa!” Noah tells them.

The next text comes through on Bobby’s phone. “One Islander must give another a piggyback ride around the pool.”

And like that, Emily is on top of Bobby. Literally. Her unexpected and awkward play at him sends them both to the ground in front of Astrid. By the time they get to their feet, Gary has Ali on his back and is already darting off with her, leaving the other’s in the dust.

Bobby laughs it off, helping a blushing Emily back into her seat.

“Sorry guys!” She says, “I guess I was just so excited to get going.”

“Guess I just need to be made of stronger stuff,” Bobby laughs, then blanches, turning to Emily like he’s seen a ghost. “That’s not a comment about you, by the way. I’m just - I'm obviously not as jacked as the other guys.”

“Don’t worry about it, Bobby,” Astrid says. “We all know you weren’t saying that. You just need to look at Emily to know there’s nothing to her.”

When she said it, she locked eyes with Emily from behind Bobby.

“That’s right,” Emily said. “There’s definitely heavier girls here. If I knocked you off your feet, imagine what Astrid would have done to you.”

With a giggle, Astrid took Bobby’s hand, being obviously flirty, and said, “Don’t worry, if I got you on your back, it would be far more graceful, and no one would be apologising about it.”

Bobby grinned back at her while Emily’s already rosy complexion flushed even brighter.

They miss the next text coming through, saying Shannon has to give one of the boys a lap dance. She doesn’t hesitate to stride up to Ibrahim, spinning her voluptuous ass in his face before dipping low to give him an eye-full.

Astrid began a clap, giving Shannon a beat to dance to. It was fair to say that she killed it, and judging from Ibrahim’s lip bite, he was living for it.

Henrik got the next dare, being instructed to make one of the girls blush. He practically sat in Astrid’s lap by the time he made it to her, a saucy look on his face, but -

His face dropped, he looked lost, stunned, at a loss, chin wobbling, he was floundering, floundering -

“HENRIK, COME ON!” Gary roared, on his feet and jumping like he was headering a ball.

“Dahhhhh,” Henrik mused, then locked eyes with Bobby.

Bobby shook his head. “Don’t look at me, mate.”

“Wait, wait!” Ali cheered, jumping up next to Gary and gripping his arm in her excitement. “Look at Astrid! Look at her! She’s blushing! She’s actually blushing!”

“Oh, well,” Astrid mumbled with all eyes on her, “I mean, I’m not flustered, but I guess I’m pretty embarrassed for you, Henrik. Sorry.”

“Ah, no worries, I’m embarrassed for myself…” He replied, already slinking off.

As he turned his back to her, Astrid sucked in her lips to keep herself from laughing, but that resolve fell apart the moment she caught Bobby’s eye. He was the first to break, a horse of a laugh blowing up his cheeks. Astrid had to duck her head down, knocking into Bobby, to hide herself. When they got to gathering themselves back up, somehow, Astrid was inching onto his sun lounger. Their knees were clinking together, legs worked up against one another’s, the heat of their skin burning hot, electric.

In the end, they lost that round, even though Henrik did get Astrid to blush, however unconventionally.

Their fingers were just splaying together, inching into holding hands, when the next text came through.

“The shortest girl and tallest girl must kiss! Go, go, go!”

Blake was screaming Astrid’s name, so Astrid shot up, ready to go. Nothing else registered until Noah was in front of her, clutching her head and stroking her neck as he had his second kiss with her. It was full of drive, but lacked a spark of passion.

Overall, yes, the kiss was good, but Astrid thought it would be a whole lot better if it wasn’t for a timed challenge. When they broke apart, the first thing Astrid saw was Emily, hunkering at her side.

“You idiot, you’re not the shortest!” Emily said.

“Whoa, harsh!” Ali shouted, a crease forming between her brows.

“What? I didn’t mean it like that,” Emily went on, reaching for Astrid’s hand. “We’re friends! It’s all banter! Right, hun?”

“Whatever you say, hunny bun,” Astrid replied, already flouncing off from Emily.

She sat down next to Bobby, budging up close to him, leaning in so much that she knocks into him. Bobby shifts to allow her better access, his hand coming down to rest on the lounger behind her, making them look very, very cosy with one another.

“Islanders,” Lucas reads out. “Everyone must suck another Islanders toe.”

He was on his knees, grabbing a hold of Blake’s foot before most of the others had time to register this new horror.

A giggling Astrid was just reaching for Bobby’s when his other foot was swiped away by Emily. She said to Bobby, “You said we could do the couples one together!”

“Oh … yeah, I did…” He says, throwing a sorry look to Astrid.

Astrid smiled in reply. “No worries.” In the end she ended up with Siobahn’s nicely taken care of foot in her mouth. It was either that or risk a hairy toe of Noah or Henrik’s. One risk she wasn’t going to take was letting Emily walk all over Bobby. Who knew how many dares were left? Astrid wasn’t about to be caught out again.

Wouldn’t you know it, the next dare was Seven Minutes in Heaven. Before the whole text could be read out, Astrid had Bobby’s hand in hers, and was pulling him up, dragging him to the wall behind them. The pair climbed up, giggling like idiots, and ran to the pantry in the kitchen.

Slamming the door shut behind them, they were enclosed in nothing but darkness, but Astrid had everything she needed. She had Bobby exactly where she wanted him.

“So, I think I had a promise I need to deliver on?”

She locked her lips on his, taking her time, they weren’t in as much of a rush, had no one to perform for, no eyes on them. This was just for them, theirs.

It started slow, Astrid could taste a hint of his toothpaste from that morning, and that was before she got her tongue stuck in. She opened up the kiss, taking him deeper, allowing her tongue to find his. They met. They paused, allowing the electricity of the touch to tickle through their bodies.

Her hands were on his hips, her thumbs rubbing into the dips of his abdomen. She fully expected him to be feeling heightened sensations down there, and was fully counting on it. She could feel his lower half twitching, giving him away to her, letting her know her tricks were working.

She let one hand work into his dreads, letting her fingers explore. He moaned into her, and it stirred her for more, her body aching to press harder, for him to touch her in a way that he wouldn’t in front of the other’s.

There was a brisk chap at the door before it was flung open. Gary stood there with the most mischievous grin on his face.

“Well, well, well,” he said cockily, “look what we’ve got here.”

An equally grinning Bobby tugged at Astrid’s hand. “Come on.”

They took their seats like that, holding hands and unable to wipe the smiles from their faces, and remained like that for the rest of the game, right up and through the winning announcement.

Of all the outcomes, no one had expected it to land on a draw. So both Villa’s ended up with the cocktail party, so it was a win-win all around. They were all in high spirits as it came time to get dolled up for the evening’s party.

“So, how are we feeling girls?” Siobhan asked when they were all gathered around doing their make-up. “Who feels like they’re on to a winner?”

Astrid clocks Emily watching her. She was in the midst of applying her lashes so she didn’t bother sparing her more than half a second of a glance back.

“I’ve been getting on really well with Lucas,” Blake announced as she dusted her cheeks with blush. “I’m pretty surprised by him to be honest, but I’ve got no complaints so far.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think Gary would be this open, but he’s really come out of his shell today,” Ali chimed in with a big smile.

“I think all the boys have,” Siobhan remarked. “Maybe not Noah, but he’s just reserved anyway. Wasn’t expecting Rahim to be so into it, though. He’s been all over you Shannon.”

Shannon grinned, but left it at that.

“How’s the Bobby War coming along?” Siobhan went on.

 “War?” Emily blinked, purposefully turning herself to Siobahn in a way that cut Astrid out. “There’s no war with Bobby. He’s mine.”

“I don’t know, Em,” Siobhan replied. “He was pretty cosy with Astrid, and don’t forget that she never revealed who her top three boys were yesterday when we asked.”

“I think the game revealed who they are though,” Shannon said. “She snogged Bobby, then Noah, then Lucas when asked to kiss who she fancied the most. That might not be the order she fancies them most though, she might have just done closest proximity.”

“Bobby’s obvi the number one, though. She practically dragged him into that cupboard.”

“She’s betting on the same horse, Em.”

“You guys realise Astrid is right here?” Ali asked, frowning at the other three.

Emily sighed contentedly, folding her arms over the vanity, getting the small space where no make-up is scattered about. With a condescending smirk, she leant across to Astrid, and said, “Advice from a friend, but I’d back out now.”

“Advice from someone who doesn’t give a fuck,” a grinning Astrid retorted, a cunning look in her eye, “but Bobby’s his own man, and he can make up his own mind. If you’re worried about competition, I don’t think any of us are going after Henrik. He might be your best bet, babes, and what a sweet guy, too. You’ll for sure be safe with him.”

Emily’s eyes went wide, but otherwise she never flinched. The other girls were all silent.

“I’m not scared of competition,” she said.

“That’s another difference between you and me then, babe, because while I’m also not afraid of competition, I fucking welcome it.”

With that, Astrid got to her feet, ready for the night. In her heels, she towered over the sitting girls, all eyes on her. She looked stunning, even if she said so herself (which she did).

“See you girls down there,” Astrid added with a chirply little laugh that was one hundred percent fake. Pinching Emily on the shoulder as she passed, Astrid added, “Good luck, bestie.”

The evening began with a lot of chatter and a load of cocktails flowing. Astrid bigged up Bobby by persuading him to make them his signature Bobbyfish. When they got their first one down them, leading Bobby into making another batch, that was when they finally got the chance to detach from the main group.

Bobby led them to the swing just off from the kitchen. They sat close together, Bobby bringing one arm up along the back of the seat, stretching it out to run behind the back of her neck.

“So that was some challenge today,” he said. His gaze drifted off, his voice losing a lot of the liveliness it held back when they were laughing and joking in the kitchen in front of the others.

“Wasn’t it?” Astried replied. “I really liked that it brought you out of your shell a little bit more. I mean, you’re always up for a laugh, but you seemed a little out of it yesterday. Shock to the system?”

The corners of his mouth inch up. “Something like that. In a way, it does feel like I’m starting over again, that I’m being given another chance to enjoy the Love Island experience. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t expect to come in here and have girls falling at my feet, but I thought by now … there would be someone.”

Astrid nodded. “I’m both relieved and astounded that you’ve not found a connection with anyone yet. You’re such an easy guy to get on with.”

With a chuckle, he said, “That’s my fatal flaw. I’m too easy to get along with, get myself stuck in a friendship before I can even realise if that’s what I want.”

“Oh? Is there … is there someone you have feelings for? One of the girls in Casa Amor?”

For the first time, he holds her gaze. “No. Not in the slightest.” His chest heaved, and he swallowed hard. “I honestly didn’t have high hopes that I’d come out of Casa Amor with anything other than some more friendships. I’m still not so sure…”

“What aren’t you sure about?”

“Heeyyyy.”

Ugh. Emily. She appeared out of thin air, like a poltergeist, ready to wreak havoc.

“Bobby, I couldn’t have a chat with you when you’ve got a second?” She asked, peering over them like she’s nervous.

“Oh yeah sure, I’m chatting to Astrid right now but I’ll give you a shout when we’re finished up,” he replied.

“Oh okay, no rush!”

Astrid smiled as fakely as she could and waved Emily off with a small flap of her fingers. With their conversation now interrupted, Astrid saw it was a golden opportunity to shift closer to him. Bobby mirrored her, shuffling close enough that there was no gap between them.

“So,” Bobby said, averting his gaze from her again, but this time, he didn’t sound so nervous about it, “I think it’s fair to say you’ve got your eye on me, right? Do you mind me asking you how come?”

She grinned like a Cheshire cat. “Are you kidding, Bobby McKenzie? I have never seen a man who’s more of a catch than you are. You are joking, right?” They both bubbled up with laughter. “Name me a man better than you.”

“My dad’s pretty cool, but he’s married, so I’m afraid I’m the closest you’ll get.”

“I’ll take that.”

And Astrid went in for it, slowly closing that last gap, sinking into him again. They kissed right there, no qualms about the others or the cameras, nothing. This was the biggest statement they could make, securing Astrid’s claim to him, and Bobby’s stakes with her.

More importantly, it was the sweetest kiss Astrid had had. The sweetness of the cocktail trickled onto her tongue, her puckered lips were open for all of him, the simpleness of it all making her feel alive at the slightest touch.

For Astrid, it was Bobby McKenzie or nothing.

Part Three.

“Look, Bobby, I like Marisol. I like Hope. I like Lottie. But you’ve got to think of the reality, here. Shannon ran me through the strategy. You’re not going to get a flashing neon sign telling you they’ve moved on. You’re just going to have to–”

Lucas’s phone chimed, and he reached for it as the others looked up at him expectantly. “Oh… it’s a video.”

[synesindri]

Survey Writing Guide: Fandom Edition

Sooo! People are collecting survey data on fandom! Makes sense — fandom is an interesting population to study, and getting data on attitudes/behaviors/etc is a great way to try to find out the truth about popular points of contention about media. To get unbiased, meaningful data, though, you’ll want to make sure your survey is in good shape. This is a guide to try to help you do that.

I am assuming, if you are reading this, that you want your survey to be unbiased and interpretable, sampling from as many viewpoints as possible and getting data on opinions you might agree and disagree with. In other words, I am assuming that you want to do your fandom research in good faith. If that is not why you are making a fandom survey, then you can ignore this whole post. I would ask you to reconsider running a bad-faith fandom survey, but I can’t stop you. But just know that my assumption is that you’re out here in the honest pursuit of truth.

I’m not accusing a survey of being done in bad faith if it doesn’t follow my suggestions. I also realize most people are conducting these surveys in their spare time because they’re passionate & curious, not for the purpose of serious publication or whatever. I’m not telling you that you have to follow all or even any of the advice here. Do what you feel good about doing. Fandom should be fun! 

This guide is only about surveys themselves, and will not help you get a good sample of your fandom. In other words, none of this advice will make sure your survey reaches obscure corners of your fandom, insular communities you aren’t in, or casual fans. A good survey is important, but it’s only one part of getting accurate data, and participation recruitment is a whole other thing. 

This is also only intended to help with survey setup, not analysis or results reporting. You can write a great, unbiased, easy to understand survey, and still present your results in a way that is biased/doesn’t include good information/is hard to understand. Furthermore, once your results are public, they’re out of your hands: you might be well-meaning, but please keep in mind that some people might use your data to make unfair or incorrect assumptions about others, support biased arguments, or generally behave unpleasantly. That’s just part of survey work; don’t let it stop you, but don’t be surprised if/when it happens.

Now, onto the survey tips ~

Think about how to structure your questions

Use multiple choice answers/avoid free response answers as much as possible. This is going to be really helpful for you when it’s time to analyze your data: it’s so much easier to analyze responses that are just clicks of a box than responses that require you to read someone’s long explanation of an opinion and try to figure out what they mean. It also makes answering easier on your participants: clicking a box is a lot easier for them than writing out what they think. Giving an option for them to expand on their answer in a free response text box is great, but try to capture as many possible responses as you can in multiple choice questions.

Consider: should participants be able to give more than one response per question? A good rule of thumb for this is if different responses to a question are mutually exclusive or not: if they are mutually exclusive, only give people the option of clicking one box; if they’re not, let them choose as many as they want. For example, if you want to know somebody’s ONE favorite season of a show, only let them choose one season. If you want to know ALL the seasons they like, give them the option to choose multiple.

Only include one question per question 

A LOT of surveys ask questions that are actually several questions in one, and that makes answering them difficult! For example, you might THINK you’re only asking one thing if you say “Are you introverted or shy?” as a yes/no question, but that is actually two questions: some people are introverted but not shy; some people are shy but not introverted; some people are both introverted and shy, and some people are neither. People who respond “yes” might mean they are one or the other or both, and people who respond “no” might mean they are one or the other or neither — and you’ll have no way of knowing, because your question was too ambiguous.

If you’re asking a question about a nuanced topic, make sure your question and possible responses are nuanced too

People in fandom have a lot of complex views, and giving them only a black-and-white way to tell you about those views means you will miss out on nuance and get inaccurate results. If you are wondering about opinions on a controversial pairing, asking “Do you think it’s okay to ship Reylo?” (for example) and only letting people respond yes or no is not going to capture the range of opinions that exist on Reylo. If you can include multiple answer boxes for people to click, do that! 

Analyzing free response data (where people can write their own answer) is hard on you, as the survey writer, and people might not feel like explaining their opinions. Definitely include a free response box if you want, but also provide a lot of options for responses. 

The more controversial the topic you’re asking about, the more nuance you should let your participants give in their responses. People in fandom often have very strong and very complex opinions about certain issues; you’ll want to make sure not to flatten those opinions too much, while still keeping them simple enough to analyze. Asking “do you enjoy reading fluff?” is (probably) not going to be too complicated, and you’ll likely be fine giving people 2-3 response options (yes/always, sometimes, no/never). But you should give a lot more response options if you’re asking “is it ever acceptable to ship two siblings together?”: some people will be fine with “yes, always” or “no, never,” but a LOT of people are going to want to specify conditions like “only if they are not blood relatives” or “only if it is framed as being bad” or “it’s acceptable sometimes but I personally avoid it,” etc. Make sure people without clear-cut opinions have the ability to give you their opinions too.

Use simple, clear language

Use language that is as simple and precise as possible. Keep questions short when you can. Avoid using a lot of slang and regional idioms: people come from all over the place in fandom, and might not know what you mean. People also have a lot of different reading levels: you want to make sure most of your participants can understand what you’re asking them. 

There are some terms you can assume everyone in your sample will know, and some that you can’t: it’s up to you to figure out which terms are which. For example, most people in tumblr fandom space will understand what a ship is. They might not know what “IC” means though, so you might need to write it out as “in character.” Further, pretty much everyone in the MCU fandom might know what “Stucky” is, but not as many will know what “Coulwhip” is. You can make these kinds of technical terms easier for people to understand by just writing out all abbreviations and writing all pairings in the Name/Name format.

Use neutral language and keep your personal opinions out of it

Avoid inserting your own opinions into your survey, even if you expect that almost everyone participating will agree with you. Even “obvious” jokes won’t read as jokes to everyone; you might upset/offend/put off some group of participants disproportionately such that they won’t complete the survey, and you’ll miss a chunk of data you want. This is a problem, because say, for example, you really want to know if people’s favorite Supernatural ship has any correlation to fans’ personality traits — but if you poked fun at Dean somewhere else in your survey in a way that made Dean fans click off the page, then you’re going to lose a lot of Dean fan data that it would have been really useful for you to have, since Dean is a very popular character to ship with a lot of other characters. 

A good-faith survey is also not the place to moralize. Fandom can be a very polarized place; you are not going to be able to predict which things you ask about are going to be morally objectionable to your participants, and if they’re going to agree with your moral judgments. Your results might surprise you! A survey where you hope to get accurate data is not the place to defend a problematic character you like or to call some group of shippers gross. Your best bet for not causing issues is to include stuff that’s controversial and to be as neutral about it as possible — for example, if you are asking about ships people like, include every reasonably popular ship (potentially excluding rarepairs/extreme rarepairs just because it’s hard to include all of those), even the ones you hate/think are harmful/whatever, and don’t comment on the goodness or badness of any of them. 

Avoid “leading” questions to avoid bias

If you say, “Do you love this awesome TV show?” that’s going to be awkward to respond to for everyone whose answer is anything other than “yes.” Something like “What is your opinion of this TV show?” (with responses like: I love it, I like it, I have mixed feelings about it, I am neutral toward it, I dislike it, and I hate it) will give you a better sense of people’s genuine thoughts.

Select your multiple choice options thoughtfully

Be as egalitarian as possible in the options you provide to your fandom-specific questions that aren’t free response. If you leave out a major character on a list of favorite characters, for example, your participants are going to wonder why you did that — and you might not get data about that character, especially if you don’t include a free response option. 

Avoid bias in your multiple choice answer options

If you ask people for their favorite and least favorite [something], make sure the list of [something] options for both of those questions is identical. For example, if you’re asking about people’s most liked and most disliked ships, make sure the list of ships you include for both questions is the same. Including Sylvie/Loki only on the “ship you most dislike” but not the “ship you most like” list might seem like a reasonable move to you if you don’t know anybody who (openly) likes Sylvie/Loki, but doing that will bias responses and make your data inaccurate. Some people will stop filling out the survey, some people who like Sylkie just won’t want to bother filling in the blank, some people might forget that they like Sylkie unless it’s right in front of their eyes as one of the response options, some people will feel judged and so they won’t answer your survey honestly, etc. 

Follow common best practices advice for demographic information

Collecting information on respondents’ ages, genders, race/ethnicity, employment status, education history, etc is, luckily, very common, so there are a lot of standard questions about those things. I’ll just go ahead and list what I sometimes collect in my own surveys:

Age: for anonymous fandom surveys, I suggest using age groups (under 13, 13-18, 19-25, 26-35, etc) instead of asking people for their precise ages. Just make sure to include all possible age brackets. For example, don’t assume everyone in fandom is under 50.

Gender: unless you want a lot of nuance in your responses, it’s typically enough to include a list like: man/boy or male, woman/girl or female, nonbinary, genderfluid or bigender, and other. If you are interested in trans people specifically, I suggest asking that in a separate question (like: “Do you identify as transgender?”), rather than including binary trans identities in addition to binary cis identities in the same question. The exception to this is if you are including a very long list of gender options.

Race/ethnicity: (disclaimer that most of the data I collect comes from the US, so my best practices are most suited to that population. I welcome any feedback about the best way to ask about this for an international and/or non-US population.) I typically ask something like: “Which category best describes you?” and then give the options: American Indian or Native Alaskan, Asian, Black, Hispanic or Latinx, Middle Eastern or North African, Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian, White, and other. Ideally, this list should allow multiple responses, so that multiracial/multiethnic people can give accurate reports.

Employment status: “What is your employment status?” with responses: employed full time, employed part-time, unemployed and looking for work, unemployed and not looking for work, self-employed, homemaker, student, and retired. If possible, let this be multiple choice, so that, for example, people who are students AND work can select both applicable options.

Education level: “What is your highest level of education?” with responses: some high school, high school diploma or equivalent, some college, college degree, some graduate education, Master’s degree, Doctorate degree, professional degree (e.g. M.D., J.D., M.Div, etc) 

Sexual orientation: like with gender, you probably don’t need to provide a long, comprehensive list unless your survey is about sexual orientation specifically. Something like the following is probably enough to cover most of your respondents: “What is your sexual orientation?” with responses: straight/heterosexual, gay/lesbian/homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, and other. 

Other questions: just try to make sure you are providing response options that will cover the majority of your participants, and include an “other” option if you’re not sure you’ve covered everything. There are a fair number of basic best practices documents for common demographics questions that you can find through Google, so if you’re not sure how to ask something, give it a quick search. You can also ask people you know who might know more about some specific demographic quality than you do to weigh in!

That’s it for now! I hope you find this helpful, either in writing your own surveys, or in evaluating surveys you are participating in!

[deannaroxannewrites]

Tropetember Day 2: Coffee Shop / Tattoo Parlor / Flower Shop / Other Retail AU

Coffee and other ways to heal the soul.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x GN!Reader

Fandom: Criminal Minds

Rating: General Audiences

TW: Valhalla arc (mentioned), coffee, NCIS cameo

AN: Day 2 of @tropetember. I was really struggling with the coffee shop AU but once I got going, really got way too into it and could probably pad this out into a short series. Is that something people would be interested in?

Also, not really sure if I managed to capture Spencer but remember this is an AU and that's my excuse!

Enjoy!

Find this story on Ao3 here.

Word Count: 2.4k

One of the biggest advantages of owning one of the few coffee shops in Quantico that wasn't part of a massive chain, was the constant stream of senior FBI and Navy personnel desperate for high quality, well made coffee. It had become such a lucrative venture in fact that you could afford to hire enough staff to rarely even have to be behind the counter at all.

The surge in popularity has even allowed you to convert one of the spare upstairs rooms into a meeting room. In hindsight, you should have converted more because once your regulars found out about it, there had been outright war between the Navy and FBI to try and get meetings booked in. A couple of your regulars had even managed to get both institutions to hardwire connections so they could host even more briefings and meetings in the friendly, comfortable space.

Today's winners were a Unit from the FBI, who had booked it out for a whole day. Aaron Hotchner, the BAU chief, came in most mornings and was a real sweetheart. You'd been trying to get him to drink something other than his normal americano since his return from Afghanistan a few months ago, but had not been successful so far. You were excited to meet the rest of the legendary team. He always spoke fondly of them when he bought extra coffees to boost morale.

With that in mind, you quickly throw together the pastries and beverages he'd preordered for the start of their session and head in to do a quick check that everything was ready.

Like any meeting room, there was a large table in the center but you'd made sure to surround it with comfy and artfully mismatched chairs. The floor was a deep walnut colour and matched the numerous floating shelves which were covered in plants and books. The place was homey and extended the cosy chic look you had been trying to achieve throughout the shop.

After a little bit of organising, including making sure the FBI cables were accessible and tidying any of the Navy’s equipment, you head downstairs to the main space.

Charlotte and Jessica were behind the tills this morning, making quick work of the line and exuding friendly helpfulness out of every pore. They were both grad students and you were already dreading them graduating. Their natural effervescence would be impossible to replace.

To pass the time until your booking arrives, you catch up with NCIS Agent McGee who is on the coffee run, trying not to hold him up too long in case he ends up getting in more trouble with his big bad boss. Apparently Agent DiNozzo had knocked over Gibbs coffee but McGee had then slipped in it and done some minor damage to some of the equipment. He told you he much preferred coffee run to door knocking duty round a 6 block radius like DiNozzo.

As you wrap it up, a group of people enter the shop, led by a woman in colourful clothes and a sunshine demeanour. It's not until you see Agent Hotchner's suited and booted presence bringing up the rear that you realise this is the infamous BAU.

Donning your friendliest persona, you politely excuse yourself from McGee and head to greet them, calling Aaron's name across the way.

The profilers seem surprised by your use of their bosses name but quickly shake it off as introductions are made. You receive hand shakes off most of them with the exception of Penelope, who gives you a hug because of course she does, and Dr Spencer Reid who gives you a shy wave and looks like he'd rather be anywhere else.

It didn't take a profiler to see the physical distance between the genius and the rest of the group. He was always a step away from the nearest person and automatically avoided any physical contact from them.

How strange.

Brushing it off you lead them upstairs and get them settled, letting them know that they're welcome to come and go in the shop as need and that all their drinks would be added to the discounted tab and left them too it, all the while trying not to puzzle over the handsome loner and his cute sweater vest.

-----

If there was one thing Spencer Reid hated more than anything, it was team building.

Normally, back before everything happened, he would just grit his teeth and bear it. That's been a lot harder after finding out that Emily was alive.

Processing the joy at her being alive and the rage at being led to believe she was dead in the first place, particularly by the people he trusted the most, was not easy. He was trying to forgive them. He was trying to let it go, to accept the damage but move forward.

It was still a work in progress.

That's why, when Hotch announced a team building/meeting day, he had momentarily considered resigning. Though there was no longer outright hostility between himself and Jennifer, things weren’t exactly comfortable between himself and half of the team. The only bright side to this whole endeavour was the location. No coffee shop lasted long in Quantico unless the coffee was actually good. It was a small mercy.

He followed the rest of the team into the coffee shop, eyeing the surroundings and taking note of the other visitors. As the rest of the team joked about, he stayed back, simply waving at the nice owner of the shop when Hotch introduced them.

They appeared to be about his age which was very impressive considering the success of the café. And there were a couple of sci-fi references hidden in the décor that he would have loved to ask about, but he doubted they’d appreciate him going off about Star Trek this early in the morning. Instead he just gave a tight-lipped smile and followed the team upstairs.

Spencer tried his best to concentrate throughout the morning but to say he was relieved when they were left to their own devices for lunch would be an understatement.

-----

After a productive morning in the office, you wander back out to the main part of the shop to check on things. The lunch rush can be unforgiving but the girls seem to have it in hand. Nothing out of the ordinary for a Tuesday lunchtime.

What you didn’t expect to see was Spencer Reid hidden away at one of the back tables with a ginormous book in front of him, a small scowl on his face and the rest of his team nowhere in sight.

You agonise silently with yourself for a few moments before you decide to head over. You figure if he doesn’t want company he’ll let you know but you feel drawn to him. It was strange. Maybe it was just your instinctive need to collect strays.

You smile gently at him when you reach his table, indicating the seat opposite him in question. He gives a quick nod but doesn’t fully look at you.

“Everything ok?” you ask.

He takes a moment and seems to be considering his options. He looks at you with a little tilt of his head, likely questioning your motives.

Finally, he seems to decide you have no sinister intention and quietly replies “I just wish things could go back to how they were”.

You had heard about the events involving the BAU in the last year or so. It had been a hot topic of gossip in the shop numerous times. Aaron also occasionally talked about his guilt at what he put his team through when he stopped by, needing a friend to talk to. It’s the first time, however, that you think in depth about how faking a close friend's death likely affected the team members who were unaware.

This isn’t to say you didn’t care or didn’t think that it must have been terrible for them. You did, but had agreed with the justification that it was for Agent Prentiss’ safety, that finding out she was alive would make up for it. It’s apparent in the sadness of Dr Reid’s expression that that isn’t the case.

“Can I touch you?”

His eyes shoot up in surprise and he hesitantly nods. You gently grasp his hands, wrapping your fingers around his.

“I can’t even imagine,” you begin slowly, “how difficult this must be. But if you ever need to talk to someone, you’re always welcome here”

He gives a short, sharp nod and squeezes your fingers which you take to mean thank you.

“Also, this is totally not my place but, a therapist, one outside the Bureau? Might not be such a bad idea?” You give a sardonic grin and admit ” It worked for me”

After you give his hands another quick squeeze, you leave him to ponder your statement and head back to your office. Paperwork doesn’t do it self after all.

You hope Spencer manages to find some support though and decide that if he wants it, you’d be more than willing to help him.

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

It was a few weeks before Spencer Reid showed up in the coffee shop again.

It was early evening and you only had a few people in. You’d opted to close up tonight to ensure Jessica, who had been on the afternoon shift, had time to work on her assignment for class. She’d been complaining about it for the last few days.

The sound of the front door opening distracts you from your thoughts and you glance up to see who has entered. When you realise who it is you can’t help but smile.

“Fancy seeing you here Dr Reid” you say in greeting. He gives you a small smile in return.

“Well, it’s good coffee and, erm, the company’s good?”

You understand the question implicit in that comment and glance around at the few remaining patrons. They all have a beverage and it’s a quiet night so you can afford to take a step out behind the counter between orders.

“Sure, let me make us both a drink and then I’m all yours.”

You take his order (how much sugar?!?!) and get you both sorted out and settled into a small booth. You look at him, taking in the nervous expression on his face and let him settle in and start the conversation.

“I, erm, I took your advice”.

“That’s good. Are you finding it’s helping? Having someone outside of work to talk things through with?”

He nods his head.

“One of the things she pointed out was that so much of my life is wrapped up in work, that when things go wrong I don't have an external support system. Not that I didn't know that already but, someone else pointing it out made me realise how much if an impact it has.”

You bob your head thoughtfully, acknowledging his comment but not forcing him to say more.

“She suggested I try to find people outside of work to talk to. I was... I was wondering if you could be one?”

His nerves seem to have failed him slightly as he can’t look you in the eye, but you give him a big grin. Of course you want to spend time with this lovely man.

“I’d love to” you say, which gets him to look up and give you a smile in response.

You spend nearly an hour, with occasional breaks to serve customers, chatting to him before it becomes necessary to close up. He starts gathering his things but you’ve been enjoying his company so much you can’t bear to let him go. Instead, you check if he’s in a rush and, after confirming he has nothing else planned, invite him to hang around and grab something to eat from the diner down the street.

By the end of the night, you’re glad the diner is 24hr. You completely lose track of time, fascinated by the sheer amount of information he can provide and the passion with which he infodumps. It’s extremely endearing.

“I had a lovely time tonight” you tell him as you walk towards your apartment. You don’t live too far from the coffee shop and he had very gallantly offered to walk you home. “I’d love to do it again some time?”

He smiles and nods in agreement before asking for your phone number.

“I don't really like technology that much so I don’t have a smartphone and I don’t really check it that much and prefer speaking to texting…”

“Spence” you say, a little laugh in your voice as you interrupt. “Whatever works best for you. I’m not going to suddenly vanish on you, promise.”

You seem to have hit his worries a little too closely as he sways a little awkwardly, gaze wandering down to his feet.

“Can I hug you?” you check. His answer is to wrap his arms around you and you gently sway the both of you side to side.

He lets go and turns to head back out into the night as you call out “If you’re ever missing me, I know a place you can get great coffee. I can get you a good discount.” A laugh stutters from his lips and he wishes you a good night.

Leaning against your door you sigh happily to yourself. It’s always a good feeling making a new friend.

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

It had been over a year since the last time the BAU had booked (and managed to attend the booking). In that time, you’d converted another room upstairs into a meeting room, as well as setting up a shared work/study space in a room out the back.

You grin as you see them all enter, fascinated by the way this family of agents interact with each other. There’s even a tall, handsome genius who stands within the group, laughing and joking along with the rest.

Spencer greets you with a gentle kiss to your lips and it causes uproar from his colleagues. You don’t react much, you just turn to them and shrug.

“Do you know how many germs are passed in a handshake? It’s much safer to kiss.”

Your genius just laughs and wraps an arm around you, guiding the whole group upstairs, his friends playfully demanding details the whole way.

[hijitae]

HijiTae Poll #2 Results

Thank you to all those who voted in the second HijiTae Blog Poll! This poll closed on January 31. Here are the results:

I expected the majority of votes to go to “Thought about them and their moments while reading/watching Gintama” because that’s how it usually happens. And, wow, did Sorachi ever surprise and bless us!

“Read fan fic about them” and “Through meta posts” were the next couple of reasons to gain the most votes. Fan fic for rare pairs is a blessing; not every rare pair is lucky to have even one. There have been a few meta posts over the years, sometimes found as brief comments in old forum topics in places like Yorozuya Soul, Crunchyroll, and others. I’ve written a fair amount myself, and I’m glad they have helped to bring in new fans.

Next were the reasons: “Discovered fan art featuring them”, “I love shipping rare pairs”, and “Through fandom edits”. Luckily, HijiTae fan art has existed since forever, basically, though quite a bit has been lost over the years as old fan sites went offline. Some artists have re-uploaded to Pixiv now, some to DeviantArt. I’ve commissioned two HijiTae art pieces among the latest batch of new art. Hope we get more fan art soon!

I completely relate to those who voted for “I love shipping rare pairs,” because so do I. I have plenty of other faves in different fandoms. I love going against the norm, going with my instincts on possibilities, and thinking outside the box. Sometimes, it’s just more fun to go that route.

Fandom edits, like gifs, fan vids, and more -- here I want to give a special shout-out here to @arirna​, who has contributed much to the HijiTae fandom with gifs. Thank you so much! I’ve no doubt that those gifs of yours and other fandom edits have brought in more HijiTae fans.

“Other reasons” also had the same number of votes. No one came forward to share what other reasons got them into HijiTae. I think I covered all the major reasons – although I did forget to include old HijiTae fan listing site as an option. It lasted from 2007 to 2009, if I recall correctly. It was started by an old friend of mine, and I have her to thank for being the first to provide a place for HijiTae fans to gather in the international fandom.

“Through the HijiTae Tumblr blog” (yay!) and “A friend got me into them” were the last reasons to receive votes. I’m glad my side blog has introduced someone to HijiTae, because that’s one of the reasons I created it.

“Through general fandom discussion” didn’t receive any votes, but I’m not surprised – you mostly see the same crop of ships pop up in general discussions and rarely anything that deviates from the norm. HijiTae doesn’t even qualify as a “Pair the Spares” kind of thing since they’re both tied to more popular ships. Fewer people will object to spare, “leftover” characters being paired together since the new ships won’t interfere with the popular ships of majority preference. Unfortunately, not everyone is open to different or unpopular ships, so I don’t blame people for not bringing their rare pairs up in general discussions. I know from experience.

Well, that was a fun poll and useful for determining how people find their way to HijiTae. Thanks again for voting! Please feel free to make new content for this tiny fandom – art, fic, edits, etc.

[rachelbethhines]

Digimon Adventure Shipping Masterpost - Part 4

Hey, it’s been awhile, hasn’t? 

I haven’t forgotten this series, I’ve just been busy. 

here’s the past parts 

Part 1 Part 2  Part 3

T.K. x Kari ( Takari )

Pros: They’re almost cannon. It’s never confirmed but it’s very obvious through out season two that T.K. at least is in love with Kari. Nothing ever comes from it, but it’s there.  If you like slow burn childhood friends become lovers then this has got you covered. They’re also very protective of one another, and being both the youngest and the longest running digidestined they have a unique shared experience that brings them closer. It’s also fairly drama free.  They’re also the second most popular ship next to Taisora, followed close behind by Taito. They’re also easily the most popular 02 ship, so you’re never lacking for content. 

Cons: They’re kind of boring. Yeah, they’re both generically nice and care about one another but what else? How do they help each other grow and change? Where’s the story?  T.K. and Kari are far more interesting characters when you pair them with anyone but each other, because with other characters there’s more push and pull. Even as friends who tease each other, like in Tri, they’re more interesting when pair platonically as well. 

Personal Ranking (4/10) Yeah, count me as one of the ones who finds this ship dull. I kind of understand where people are coming from when they do ship them, but I also don’t. Other then being ‘cute’, what else is there to them? But I suppose with shipping you don't need to be more than just ‘cute’.  

T.K. x Davis ( Daikeru )

Pros: Rivals to lovers lite. As in they’re technically rivals, but they’re also so laid back and quick to move on that they lack the usual tension and aggression that classic rivals to lovers exhibit. That actually makes them kind of unique and interesting, and helps them to stand out from Taito. 

Cons: If you’re looking for that tension and pining that comes from the standard rivals to lovers trope than this ship isn’t for you. In fact T.K. can’t seemed to bothered with Davis one way or the other most of the time. They mostly hang out together because they have to work together to save the world and have mutual friends, and that’s like it. 

Personal Ranking (5/10) I like it better than Takari but that’s mostly on the strength of Davis being my fav 02 character. Davis can make anything entertaining, but there’s better ships for both of them. 

T.K. x Yolei ( Miyakeru )

Pros It’s the chill dude with the hyperactive assertive girl friend trope. They’re good friends and close in age and get along well with each other. It’s also a cute pairing of the spares route if you prefer Daikari, Kenkari, or even Daiken.

Cons They don’t really show much interest in one another, as they both have canon love interests already, and they’re never shown just hanging out one on one.

Personal Ranking (5/10) You know what, I can kind of see it. It’s not the most interesting ship for these two but there’s room there to explore. 

T.K. x Cody ( Takori )

Pros They are best friends. No, I mean it. They don’t start out that way, but over the course of the show, after the ‘partners arc’ they do become besties. It’s kind of a shame that the series doesn’t explore their friendship more because they have a pretty unique relationship dynamic that no other duo in the show has. So of course if you like best friends to lovers slow burn then this can be a gay option for those of you who aren’t Takari fans.

Cons It’s that lack of exploration that can kill this ship. They don’t hang out one on one enough and the ‘partners arc’ comes a little too late in the season to make as much of an impact as it should. 

Personal Ranking (4/10) This is one of the better Cody ships. Not only is there more interaction between the two characters but they’re also much closer in age, with only like a two to three years difference. (Guys, Cody only skipped one grade, he’s not that young. Please stop babifying him just because he’s short) That said, I do think that their friendship is more interesting than a same old, same old romantic pairing.  

T.K. x Ken ( Kenkeru )

Pros Ok, now this is a classic enemies to lovers trope if you’re into that. Best of all, they’re on equal footing through out their rivalry, so it doesn’t have the more toxic undertones that the trope can fall into on occasion.   

Cons They don’t get a whole lot of one on one interaction. I mean it’s there, they certainly have their moments, but after Ken’s redemption it’s like they never hang out just as buddies. 

Personal Ranking (6/10) I’m normally not a fan of enemies to lovers, but I can get down with this ship because there’s a more healthy level of respect. For once it’s not the hero who is an insecure doormat and the villain isn’t coddled by them. 

T.K. x Willis ( Taklace )

Pros Uh... T.K. met Willis first... I guess? They also share some parallels having both ‘lost’ their digimon, and T.K. was the one to cheer Willis up when Kokomon ‘dies’. So there’s that. 

Cons They barely have any scenes together. Also Willis is kind of a bland character, not going to lie. 

Personal Ranking (3/10) Umm... well, I don’t hate it. It’s just there. It’s a thing that exists. 

T.K. x  Catherine ( Catkeru )

Pros T.K. does openly flirt with her and even gives her a kiss on the cheek. 

Cons Just like with Taicat, there’s really nothing much to Catherine’s character. She’s just there to be flirted at and fought over by the boys. 

Personal Ranking (3/10) Eh...it’s pretty much the same level as Taklace. Willis may have more personality than Catherine, but she and T.K. share more screen time so it’s one to one really. 

T.K. x Jun ( Takjun ) 

Pros This ship is freaken’ hilarious and more people need to realize it’s exitance. The basic premise is that T.K. realizes that his brother is a moron for dumping such a hot babe and basically steals Matt’s ex right out from under his nose. Everyone proceeds to freak the fuck out from there.  What I love so much about it, is that it’s 100% in character; especially after Tri. T.K. is a flirt and a serial ladies man post 02. He’s also the type of guy who loves to stir shit up and then sit back and watch the chaos unfold around him with an innocent smile. Meanwhile Jun herself is chaos incarnate, so they’re perfect for each other really . 

Cons While they do know each other and have certainty met more than once, they don't really share any conversations on screen; which is more the pity. (Jun really, really should have been a digidested, guys.) 

Personal Ranking (7/10) This probably my fav T.K. ship just for the above premise. It’s gloriously hammy and pure fun. 

T.K. x Meiko ( Meikeru )

Pros T.K., being the huge flirt that he is, expresses attraction to Meiko several times through out Tri. So there is a basis for which a more serious ship can grow. Meiko is also the only ‘shy’ girl in the whole series so she fulfills a dynamic here that you couldn’t get from any other het ship in the show. 

Cons If you don’t like Meiko then this won’t appeal to you. It also feels like Takari lite at times, even if Kari herself is more assertive then Meiko.

Personal Ranking (6/10) Out of all the het ships with Meiko, I might like this one the most. There’s a tiny bit of wish fulfilment when the super confident ladies’ man goes after the geeky wallflower. It also helps that T.K. doesn’t coddle her like everyone else at times. 

Kari x Davis ( Daikari ) 

Pros Davis really, really likes her. Also, Kari never outrights dismisses his affections, and if she is uncomfortable with something, she tells him so. It’s a cute ‘friend tries hard to get other friend to notice that they like them’ trope, while still keeping up healthy boundaries.  But more importantly it’s the one Kari ship that actually encourages Kari to grow as a character. When she’s paired with Davis in the series she’s allowed to be something other then just ‘little miss perfect’ or ‘damsel in distress’. She can be annoyed, snarky, even petty at times. She comfortable enough around Davis to express herself even if her emotions aren’t always pleasant, and it’s so refreshing to watch. 

Cons I mean if you hate the ‘guy hopelessly chases after girl’ trope then yeah, you won't like this. Kari never rejects him to his face, but she also doesn’t ever return his feelings either. She’s pretty neutral through out, either remaining oblivious most of the time or just choosing not to react at all to Davis’s more overt advances. 

Personal Ranking (9/10) This is my second favorite ship in the series right behind Jyoumi. Davis is my fav character in 02 and so I do root for him to get the girl. But I also just really like it when Kari is humanized by the narrative and not made into a digital Jesus. It’s when she’s with Davis that she finally feels like a real person and not an aloof, all-knowing goddess.

Kari x Yolei ( Miyakari )

Pros This is the only potential lesbian ship in 02 that gets any real screen time. They’re also best friends and ‘opposites attract’ topes if you like those. 

Cons They’re also the only strong female friendship in 02 as well, especially since Mimi was shipped off to New York during this season. (Seriously, who’s stupid idea was that?) I totally get it if you prefer to keep them as friends and go with one of the less obvious femslash pairings instead. 

Personal Ranking (5/10) It’s not bad, but there’s better ships out there for them. 

Kari x Cody ( Kariori ) 

Pros If you like ‘birds of a feather’ tropes then this is your bag. Both Kari and Cody are very similar archetypes; introverted, serious, the voices of reason, and probably suffer from PSTD given all the shit they’ve both been through.  

Cons They might be too much alike, honestly. There’s no contrast for them to really bounce off of, which is why they rarely hang out together outside of group scenes. 

Personal Ranking (3/10) In terms of age gaps it’s no different then Takori, but there’s less of an on screen connection between them. 

Kari x Ken ( Kenkari ) 

Pros There’s a lot of interesting parallels between them. Ken pretty much functions as a darker version of Kari’s story. As such, they do hold a special connection and Kari can reach out to Ken in a way that no one else is able to.  There’s also the ever present ‘enemies to lovers’ trope if you want to go that route. 

Cons The series never fully explores the parallels that it sets up. Outside of an episode or two, Ken and Kari rarely interact. As such the pairing can come across as very flat. 

Personal Ranking (5/10) Eh, I can take it or leave it. It has potential but it’s very undercooked, IMO.  

Kari x Willis ( Wakari ) 

Pros Willis kisses her once.... that’s pretty much it. 

Cons Willis kisses her once.... and that’s pretty much it. 

Personal Ranking (2/10) What else is there to say? Willis himself is boring and he barely interacts with Kari. Him kissing her was more about making Davis and T.K. jealous anyways. 

Kari x Jun ( Junkari ) 

Pros This here because Takjun made it onto the list and it’s only fair to have the gay equivalent. There’s also a lot of freedom to explore given that their canon dynamic is left open ended. All we know is that Kari sticks up for Jun when Davis talks about her behind her back, but Jun is not around to see it so... 

Cons There’s no canon interaction. We only know that they know each other because of Davis. 

Personal Ranking (4/10) It lacks the comedic potential of other Jun ships and can come across as Miyakari lite. Still, I can see how they could work as supportive girlfriends. 

Kari x Meiko ( MeiKari )

Pros They get some cute scenes together in Tri, they’re both the introverts of the group, and it’s more queer rep. It’s also a bit of a role reversal for Kari to be protective of someone else instead of being ‘the moe’ herself. 

Cons They might be too similar. Kari isn’t shy like Meiko is, but she is pretty quite and soft spoken most of the time. 

Personal Rankings (4/10) Just like with Takari, it’s ‘cute’, but what else is there? 

That’s part 4 done. Only two more to go. 

[facets-and-rainbows]

Blue Exorcist 10th anniversary book Q&A session

The 10th anniversary book has a section where Katoh answers 100 questions submitted by fans on Twitter, so here they are translated/paraphrased! May contain manga spoilers up to the recent flashback arc, so be warned.

(Note that I’m playing it very fast and loose here because there are A HUNDRED OF THEM, so not exact wordings, but it should capture the gist. Lemme know if there are any you want elaborated on)

1. Katoh likes the feel of traditional drawing more than digital but is impressed with how far digital has come

2. Meph THOROUGHLY ABUSES spacetime to watch all his shows and ensure that he gets all the merch he wants

3. Did the girls take all of Yukio’s school uniform buttons in middle school? Yes, they did (apparently it’s like A Thing for girls to ask for a button from their crush at middle school graduation, based on some sad movie from the 60s where a guy who got drafted as a kamikaze pilot gave a girl one of his uniform buttons to remember him by)

4. Rin's tail is about a meter long

5. There are tons of servants working at Mephisto's mansion. Belial is in charge of them

6. Katoh borrows from all sorts of neat real locations when making settings

7. Katoh identifies with pretty much all the characters the most! Except Lucifer.

8. Demon designs she's proud of include the impure king and hachirou, pretty much anything that was the main one in an arc

9. Katoh lists a bunch of her favorite musical artists/music she’s listening to recently: King Gnu, Official Hige Dandism, Kenshi Yonezu, BAD HOP, Sakanaction, Keyakizaka 46, Hypnosis Mic, Aimer, B’Z, Queen Bee.

10. Awww the rabbit manga that characters are often reading isn't just Robo to Usakichi, it's an even older one that she drew as a little kid

11. She likes industrial style interior designs

12. Rin and Yukio alternated who got the top bunk growing up, because they couldn't agree on it lol

13. Katoh cares a whole lot about panel layouts and speech bubble positions, might even be her favorite part of the process (it shows!)

4. Katoh does NOT have a mashou, lol

15. Rin has probably been practicing in secret so he can learn to carry stuff with his tail

16. Izumo probably got into shojo manga around 1st grade, her mom had some around the house

17. Specialty dishes: Rin - lots of stuff but especially nabe Yuri - stuff you can throw together quickly Shiro - stuff he learned from Yuri and/or cookbooks, alongside teaching Rin Yukio - Does. Not. Cook.

18. Can't pick a favorite place she's been on research, but there's no place like Japan

19. Kinzou's band isn't currently meeting because demons, but he's probably still thinking of new songs

20. Hardest characters to draw: anyone with detailed flowing hair. Hardest to write for: Lightning and Gedouin. She had to go read books about serial killers specifically for material for Gedouin, lol 

21. Suguro actually gets a dorm room to himself, though allegedly Yukio is technically assigned as his roommate, lol. Didn't end up that way what with Yukio being a teacher and also Rin’s whole...situation

22. Shiemi makes some of her own hair accessories! Cute

23. Katoh doesn't mind if you include stuff with fan letters but check with the editor first

24. Time for making each chapter: Planning/storyboarding: 1-5 days. Sketching: 3-5 days. Drawing/inking: the rest. Just...the rest of the time

25. Neither Suguro nor Izumo have dated before and neither is currently dating. But that's probably just because things were hectic for them! It could happen

26. Yukio breaks 5 or 6 pairs of glasses a year, someone get this kid a strap or something

27. How many spare glasses does Yukio have? Check the fanbook lol it's in there (dang it Katoh)

28. The demon she wants us to pay the most attention to is Lucifer. Because plot.

29. What's under the Order's big meeting table? It's a BOTTOMLESS PIT and if you fall in it you DIE that's what makes it COOL (laughs)

30. What are the job requirements for the angelic legion? Literally just Arthur liking you and inviting you to join

31. She WANTS to do more character profiles but just hasn't gotten to it

32. Rin's tail feels like a cat tail, texture wise

33. The "red Assiah fire" is literally just actual fire nothing special

34. Rin's current hair color is light blue fading to white at the ends

35. Thoughts on Rin's growth: she likes that he stays positive in awful situations and she also thinks it's very main character of him to face the past instead of avoiding it

36. Mephisto didn't purposely surround Rin with stuffed animals when he woke up after going crispy. Mephisto's bed is just Like That

37. Kurikara was based on a cool sword she found in a sword book, but that one was technically just a ceremonial sword. The symbol on it us a Sanskrit letter kaan (sp?) associated with Fudou Myouou

38. Kuro can communicate with normal cats and hangs out with them often

39. Sometimes Shiemi's skirt is extra fancy around the hem what's up with that? Apparently it's an optional accessory that comes with the skirts help I haven't noticed this and don't know any fashion terms in any language

40. When coloring, Katoh always tries to have an overall theme in mind ("emphasis on blue" etc) so it comes together in the end

41. Yes the twins are genetically related to Shiro because of Goro (she says they're like his nephews but I say GENETICALLY at least they'd be indistinguishable from his children)

42. Strongest mom of all the strong moms around here? Yuri! Did you SEE her give birth??

43. Are you careful about your own health Katoh-sensei? Not particularly! Her mom has had to bring her food at work sometimes! Don't do this at home kids

44. At the dating events Shura goes to, does she drink cocktails in moderation? Yeah, she probably downplays her normal drinking habits at these things. But normally she's down for just about any kind of drink

45. Lucifer just really likes oysters okay

46. How many pages of manga does Katoh draw in a day? If she's being good about self-care: three. Maximum number ever: TEN

47. Mephisto is one of those folks who can eat like a garbage compactor and never gain weight. Possibly because his body resists that sort of change the same way it resists aging etc

48. First food Rin cooked: fish burger type patty. Yukio's favorite things Rin cooks: fish simmered in soy sauce, yellowtail with daikon radish. It's fish all the way down

49: Did Rin ever get more monthly allowance from Mephisto? It doubled! He gets TWO 2000 yen bills now (rip) [T/N: That's uh, that's USD $37.26 a month or 33.10 euro]

50. Why isn't Rin more popular with the girls? He gets nervous talking to them, plus he's too oblivious to notice even if he DID have some fans

51. Why change Suguro's hair? She gets bored with keeping everything the same, and she wanted a visual representation that he was getting serious and going into kind of a training arc

52. Things Katoh pays extra attention to when drawing: trying to capture the feel of whatever she's drawing (like "that looks warm and soft" or "I bet that guy stinks" cough Lightning cough)

53: Does Rin take after Yuri more? (He's got her eyes!) Katoh tried to draw Yuri so she looks like both twins. Personality, too - Yukio has her smarts and Rin has her optimism

54: Do you ever wanna be like Mephisto? Well she'd like to be able to get away with just ANYTHING EVER, but no, let's not be like Mephisto

55. Konekomaru not only carries around a cat toy in case he meets any cats, he MAKES cat toys to carry around based on what he thinks the cats would like

56. How'd you come up with Shima? Go read the fan book!

57. Do the kids have Twitter/Instagram accounts? Rin - probably not. Konekomaru might be on some social media. Paku and Izumo are totally on instagram

58. Is there something Rin makes that you wish you could try? All of it! That's the whole idea! He's good at cooking!

59. Will we ever have a (G-rated) reveal of what ALL of Mamushi and her family's tattoos look like? Maybe! She'll think about it

60. Does Arthur have a repertoire of different hairstyles? Not really, he just puts some of it up on the top. Heck he might even have people to do that for him

61. If you wrote a shojo manga what would it be about? She'd have to do a lot of research before even coming up with a story, since there are so many style differences between the genres aside from just the subject

62. The other two of Mephisto's top 3 favorite foods: Cup ramen and....f-fried bubblegum?? Is that a THING???

63. Where do you start when drawing a character? Usually the outline of their face but if it's a complex pose/composition she'll start with whatever's in the foreground (like hands)

64. If Katoh could have a familiar, what demon would she choose? Mephisto. As the all-powerful author, she might actually be able to command him as a familiar!

66. If you swapped Yukio and Rin's relationship around what would change? not much, you'd pretty much have Rin going to the Illuminati and Yukio going to the past

67. Top 3 foods/souvenirs to try in Kyushu? Well she doesn't know what’s good CURRENTLY but when she was there she always used to like burdock tempura udon, hakata torimon (a kind of manju with white bean paste inside), and Chikae style cod roe. today I learned Katoh went to high school in Kyushu

68. Katoh listens to music a lot while she's storyboarding, then when she and the assistants are all drawing and inking they put various videos/movies and stuff on in the background

69. For all his hitting on girls, is Shima actually popular with the ladies at all? He's got enough girls in his life that he probably COULD find a girlfriend if he really wanted, but the double agent thing tends to get in the way. He still wouldn't be as popular as Yukio though (side thought/translator’s note: Shima would be proud of being number 69.)

70. Katoh has the ending planned out in a big-picture way, but there are still a few details here and there that she's fretting over

71. It's cute when the boys put their ties over their shoulders when they're working on something! Where'd that come from? She just figured a tie might get in the way and that seemed like a realistic way to get it out of the way

72. Looks like Yukio is getting some facial hair! What about Rin? They're both about the age for it, but maybe Rin can't grow a beard yet. Maybe a little peach fuzz here and there

73. Katoh's favorite blue exorcist merch? There were some exorcist licenses a while back, and the exorcist pins. Basically it's really cool that these little accessories she drew ACTUALLY EXIST NOW, LIKE YOU CAN HOLD THEM IN YOUR HANDS

74. Okay realtalk how long do we have left, I don't want the series to end yet? We're solidly in the second half by now but it's not, like, ABOUT to end yet

75. Katoh would be a Knight meister, based on what characters she likes to play in games and such

76. How many people in the whole exorcism cram school? More than you think! She doesn't give a number but apparently licensed exorcists also attend classes for new meisters, etc, so there's a wide age range attending

77. How's Arthur feel about, like, studying Taming on the way to becoming Paladin? He's at least mostly accepted that you have to use demons to fight demons effectively

78. Konekomaru started wearing glasses in his first year of middle school, so like 7th grade (more recent than I thought!) He has one spare pair, in contrast to Yukio lol

79. Katoh's current obsessions? Ghost/scary stories! She's even been going to live readings of them recently

80. Media Katoh consumes for inspiration? A wide range of foreign teen drama, horror/suspense, shojo manga, light novels, anime, etc. Special focus on things where two boys are in conflict or there are brothers involved

81. If they weren't exorcists what jobs would they have? Rin - chef. Yukio - doctor. Shiemi - uh, florist?

82. Inspiration for the design of True Cross Town? Katoh and her assistants gathered up a bunch of references, picked out stuff they felt matched the tone, and mashed them all up together

83. Did you use any references etc for the school/exorcist uniforms? She says she probably should have but she just kind of made them up before publication

84. Favorite part of drawing? For color pages, picking out a color scheme. For black and white, drawing in all the little details (though she doesn't always get time to lately)

85. Once again confirms the demon kings' weird hair is a representation of their horns. ADDS THAT PEOPLE WHO CAN'T SEE DEMONS CAN'T SEE THE WEIRD HAIR

86. Now that Yukio's at the Illuminati, where's he gonna get his Jump SQ and spare glasses? Well he probably never planned to stay for long, but hey it's a big ship and they might have an optometrist and/or newsstand there

87. Do you base the demon characters on any references etc? Not really, she just gets a general idea of popular demon designs and then makes up her own in her own style

88. Merchandise Katoh personally wants to have made: stuff that an adult could just use in their day to day life. Also, it's not gonna happen, but if her favorite figure brand made AoEx figures she could die happy

89. If Beelzebub's host body was a beautiful woman, how would Shima react? Would the womanizing win out over the bug phobia? Katoh replies that Shima would probably just faint from being near a girl that pretty, before the bugs even got involved

90. Will the twins ever get to smile and eat dinner together again?? We'll just have to wait and see!

91. What do you check at a "scenario check"? what's a scenario check man I dunno They check for people being out of character or the setting feeling off. They had a lot of these checks for the anime, but they also do them for the drama CD, games, and all that other stuff where multiple authors are involved

92. Why does Shura use baldy as an insult for people who are clearly not bald? She feels like they have some kind of metaphorical, mental kind of "baldness" and she's calling them out on it. Whatever that means

93. After Blue Exorcist ends, what do you want to draw next? She has SO MANY IDEAS, SO MANY

94. Did Katoh make up the Shinto chants that, for example, Izumo used against Gedouin? They're assembled from bits of actual Shinto prayers according to what feels right in the scene

95. Yukio reads the Jump SQ, right, and, just hear me out here, he likes gag manga, right? Does this mean he reads Salaryman Yukio? It's something he would read, but let's say that in the AoEx universe there's just a very similar manga that he finds oddly relatable

96. What do Yukio and Shima do in their free time on the Dominus Liminus? oh my god you guys this ship has so many amenities.  Yukio probably spends time reading in the library, which they totally have. There's also, like, a gym, and a movie theater, and a THEATER theater, all of which are free. Shima probably hangs out at the pool (!) and goes to the movies, and hits on illuminati girls, lol

97. Easiest character to draw? The ones with boring simple hair, lol. Lightning gets an honorable mention for ALSO not having eyes in most shots, but Rin wins--he was specifically designed to be easy for Katoh to draw because that's what you want in your main character

98. How do demons understand gender? They just possess whatever feels like the best match to how they feel in Gehenna, whether that's a man, or a woman, or a rat, or whatever

99. Where do you start when you're coming up with a story? She starts with character design and how the characters relate to each other. Currently she's just continuing an existing story, so she works on splitting up the overall plot into episodes and fleshing it out with scenes and information about characters

100. When do you feel most happy? She honestly feels like she lives a very happy life overall. Mentions noticing a lot of little things, like how nice her cats' heads smell when she cuddles them or taking a nice cold refreshing drink of water. There's happiness in everything. aww.

[hiccanna-tidbits]

New anon here. Are there CGI crossover ships you like other than the ones you talked about before; like not so popular ships? Also beside kris/anna, are there more canon ships that you consider NOTPS?

Sure, I’ve got a handful of other ships!!!

I really love Felix x Calhoun from Wreck It Ralph--Hero’s Cuties I think is the ship name??? Was bummed we didn’t get to see more of them in the sequel :( And I also think Fred x Honey Lemon and Wasabi x Gogo from Big Hero Six are pretty adorable, but I like TadaHoney and HoneyGogo a lot too. Honey Lemon is just supper shippable I guess??? OH and it’s not Disney/Dreamworks BUT I also ship Coraline x Wybie from Coraline and Norman x Neil from Paranorman. AND this is kind of a random one but I would kinda dig Moana x Te Fiti if not for the awkward size diff??? Like Moana straight did a power walk to this woman everyone else just saw as a lava monster singing a soothing song and being like “I know you’re not a monster, this isn’t who you really are babe <3″ and did the FOREHEAD TOUCH while Te Fiti was still a lava monster??? To get through to her??? Dare I say SAPPHIC VIBES lowkey???

Fun fact: Once I thought up this whole long fanfic idea where Te Fiti started out as a girl in Mo’s village who was her best friend before ascending to become a nature goddess and later getting corrupted into a lava goddess. And then later on Mo largely goes on the journey to restore the heart of Te Fiti to save her girlfriend from being a lava monster and it’s </3 ANYWAYS I never followed through with that idea and I don’t have anywhere near the drive to actually write that story but I planned it in excrutiating detail anyways XD

In terms of other crossover ships, I can kind of see Tadelsa or Relsa...which is ironic, given how overshipped I think Elsa is in general and how picky I think she would be with men XD But for whatever reason Tadashi and Ralph seem like guys she might vibe with??? Definitely platonically, even if it never developed into a romantic thing.

AlsO I’ve found that in certain contexts, Flynn x Astrid or Flynn x Tooth can actually work...oddly well as “Pair the Spares” types of ships??? Like they’re not my go-tos and I wouldn’t really give them much thought otherwise, but if their dynamic is written a certain way in fanfics or fanvids, it’s like...kinda cute??? Still would rather Felsa and Sweet Tooth if given the choice, but if that ain’t an option, these aren’t bad alternatives.

And there’s some ships that I’m kinda like “Oh!!!! That’d be cute!!!” but I can’t really get into it too much because I already OTP one or both of them with someone else, you know? Like that’s kind of how I am with Mavis x Rapunzel and Anna x Cassandra (saw a moodboard for this one and honestly loved the idea--Anna is 1000% Cass’s type!). But I’m always Team Jackunzel and Team Hiccanna at the end of the day, so...*shrugs*

As for canon NoTPs...the only one I can immediately think of would be like...H/anna (Hans & Anna), I guess??? I mean, he exploited her naivite, used her to try and get power, and then tried to murder her sister, so that’s a no from me, dawg XD But that barely counts as a canon ship, I guess. STILL a more interesting relationship than Krist/anna though lmao--if I had to read a fanfic of one, H/anna definitely makes for a more complex and interesting story, even if the ship itself is toxic af lol. Other than that I don’t really NoTP any other canon ships--I’m pretty all right with most of them, or just kinda indifferent at worst.

Thank you for the ask!!!

[elenyafinwe]

How do you deal with tobi and izuna feeling more like an afterthought? especially with hashimada or hashimadamito, I feel like a lot of works relegate them to the obvious leftovers, underdeveloped or one dimensional asshole little brothers. ik Tobirama-centric Ao3 works have a huge ooc impact that counteracts this but i dont read a lot of that tbh

Well, I obviously have some texts where they're the main focus (mainly Butterfly Effect, but also the second half of Krigsgaldr), so wouldn't say they're only an afterthought in my work. As for other works, I'm probably quite good at filtering stuff I don't wanna read. Some texts have more of an focus on the one pair or the other and that's OK. Most texts are simply not long enough to give more space for both.

I have more of an problem with the fact that if I search for HashiMito (because yes, I also enjoy the canon pair) the second pairing is almost every time M*daT*bi and I really don't like that. I absolutely don't see it in canon and in any AU we have Izuna available. Ship whatever you want, but I usualy avoid this content (with one exception) and don’t want to consume any of it, no matter how good the premise sounds.

HashiMada is by far the more popular pair with currently 1629 works on ao3 vs. TobiIzu with 635. This is about right, because Madara is the main antagonist in Naruto and we get told the HashiMada arc through the POV of Hashirama, so he’s the main character in this part of the story. Whereas Tobirama is only a side character (with the very important job to roast Naruto and Minato) and Izuna is not even that. He’s simply there for the tragic backstory(TM) and is nothing more than a cardboard standup. Only logical that more people are drawn to HashiMada because they’re on the front of the story and not all look beyond that. I mean, I got attached to that corner of the fandom thanks to Hashirama as well and Madara was a very enjoyable antagonist (though not as hateable as Joffrey, damn, I wanted to punch that dude soooo hard xP)

While we’re at it, HashimadaMito has 32 texts, the latest ones are all mine, ahem :D (I’m suffering T.T) and M*daT*bi has 2094. I’m always surprised that it has more than HashiMada, because well, I though, that would be more of a first shipping choice. Guess, it’s the enemie to lovers thing? Spicy hate sex??? Who knows. Really, I want to know, but the last time I asked people where not really happy .......

Lol. I have a userscript installed that helps me filtering stuff I don’t wanna see and the search for that pair looks like this :D Would say, filtering works.

Back to topic. My approach to fandom is a give and take policy. You probably have seen, that I advocate for that from time to time and always ask to share my stuff to get it out of my bubble of like 5 people. Fandom is not an empty space where you throw your stuff in and it will magically be picked up. If you really wanna reach people with your stuff, it’s work. You want certain content in a fandom? There are several options for that:

Make sure to tell your content contributors that you like that kind of content so that they know, there are people interested in it. That’s why I try to leave comments every time I’m able to do that. I’m honest, I don’t comment on any text I read. Sometimes I don’t have to say more than a simple “nice” or emoji and well, I want more substance than that for the comments I write (if you write me such short messages, that’s fine tho!), sometimes I have more critique than nice stuff to say, and nowaday I prefer to critique only when I’m asked for (the German fanfic corner has still a different mindset regarding that topic, but I like how the international ao3 community approaches this).

Commission stuff. Many artists offer commissions, some even make a living with that. The bare minimum I can do is to share their posts, to get them out of their bubbles (really, you can’t believe, how much of an impact that has, do it!). Not everyone has the spare money to commission works, but pressing the share button cost you nothing. Beyond that many offer to do prompts, I do it myself. (I also offer commissions for knitted and crocheted stuff, but tha’s another story :D)

Did I mentioned to share stuff? Share stuff.

If there’s not the content you crave for, make it yourself. HashiMadaMito is such an underdog in the shipping sea, so I write it myself. Alternatively you can commission the stuff you like to see.

Contribute to fandom events and/or make your own event. That’s why @tobiizuweek exists and also why I made @ao3feed-hashimito and @ao3feed-tobiizu (tho I made the feeds purely for me tbh :D Works like an rss feed, and they’re basically rss feed). Events encourage people to create certain content and it also helps to boost the contributors.

Oh, and don’t forget to share stuff. Really.

So, yeah. Fandom is work. Of course you can throw it out in the void and someone will certainly find it. But you reach fare more people with your own stuff, if you also interact with the stuff of other people. Obviously it has no guarantee that it works and I still feel like talking to myself here most of the time. But it’s at least something and maybe I make other people happy from time to time either with my work or my comments.

(The irony, that everyone says tumblr is dead, but this is the place where I can interact with fandom far better than on twitter.)

TL;DR I saw that there’s not enough reading material for me, therefore I was selfish, created a fandom event and now hope for cool stuff you all throw at me :) That’s how I deal with the topic.

I hope that answeres your ask?

[threeletterslife]

04 | Redefining Destiny

→ previous | next

→ summary: You were convinced you were in love with him. A former member of the mafia in the states, that is. It was true love. Destiny. Until one day you wake up with a memory lapse; then that love is replaced with hatred. The thought of marriage is substituted with revenge. If your love with Jeon Jungkook really was destiny, you’d fall head over heels in love again. But if only he weren’t such a hot, goading asshole.

→ pairing/rating: jungkook x reader | PG-13

→ genre: 70% fluff, 25% crack, 5% angst | e2l!au & soulmate!au

→ warnings: profanity

→ wordcount: 2.8k

Maybe you should really get your stomach checked out because you've been waking up in the middle of the night or early dawn for three consecutive days now. Mornings aren't looking so pretty (though they never really have been for you). But still.

You obviously weren't in pain. You hadn't changed any part of your lifestyle. You were healthy—the last time you checked. So why on Earth have you been waking up arbitrarily when you were supposed to get your rest?? Your little night-owl phase is literally making you late everywhere.

This is actually the fourth time you've been late to your ethics class—the other three times had been because 1) you'd lost your way in the campus 2) you were charging your dead laptop 3) you were late from a last-minute coffee run.

You quickly slip into the lecture room an embarrassing eighteen minutes late, praying to the Heavens that your professor wouldn't mind too much. But once your eyes scan across the room, you realize you have other problems than your professor scolding you for being tardy; the class seems absolutely filled.

You'd be lucky to sit on the floor at this point!

Sighing, you awkwardly fidget in the back of the room, squinting your eyes to find any empty seats. Usually, you'd take a seat in the front somewhere, but the front row is completely filled, which leaves you to reside in other options. Your heart leaps with joy when you finally catch sight of an empty seat near the back corner of the room. Without a second thought, you make a beeline towards it, pushing the chair out and nearly collapsing into it. Yes! you think, I've claimed it!

But your victory is short-lived. The moment you turn around, you see what you don't want to see only seven minutes after waking up: Jeon Jungkook. Why him?? Why on Earth is it always him??? Your face scrunches habitually and you let out a small, "Ugh."

"Ugh, to you too," Jungkook whispers. "Another rough night?"

"Whatever Mr. Dark Circles," you retort. You're not even going to bother mentioning to Jungkook about your crazy sleep cycle at this point—he wouldn't care either. "Um, did I miss anything?" you ask awkwardly, slipping your laptop out of your backpack and opening the screen. 78%. Thank goodness. Other than the fact you were late to lecture this morning and you were sitting next to your nemesis, this morning seems to be kind to you.

"Of course you missed a lot," Jungkook whispers. "Shut up. I'm trying to listen." He stares straight ahead, ignoring your presence as he pretends to pay attention to your professor who's been oblivious to your and Jungkook's everyday morning banter as usual.

"Fine," you mutter. Don't know what I expected from him. "Rude."

You can get the notes from another person in your study group, you suppose. So you try to shift comfortably in your seat, opening up your document of accumulated lecture notes as you begin to type away on your laptop.

But the next thing you know, someone's tapping on your shoulder and you jump awake. "Huh?" you cry, rubbing your eyes and looking around the lecture room. Oh, shoot. Students are beginning to file out of the heavy double doors, which makes you gasp. You'd fallen asleep during the lecture. That's literally unheard of. The few minutes of missed sleep must be getting to you.

You turn appreciatively to the person who'd woken you up and spared you the embarrassment of your professor, for goodness sake, shaking you awake from the back of his classroom. But you frown when you realize that person is Jungkook.

"You shouldn't even have come to class if you were just gonna snore," he tells you rudely, swinging his own, sleek black backpack over his shoulder.

"I do not snore!" you retort though you do actually have a serious habit of snoring when you're just the slightest bit fatigued. "You know what Jeon? You can go screw yourself if you're just gonna be so mean."

"Huh," Jungkook says, cocking his head so that a bit of his soft, wavy hair falls over his eyes. "I was going to give you the notes, but now I guess I'll have to go fuck myself."

Your eyes turn wide as you stand up from your chair. "Wait—"

"Bye, Y/N!" Jungkook grins as he leaves you stranded and ultimately note-less.

"Fine!" you yell after him. "I don't need your notes anyway!"

It was insane how much he managed to get on your nerves. No matter how many sleepless nights you prayed to God to show you just a sliver of forgiveness for Jeon Jungkook, that boy would just waltz into your life again and mess up everything. It was no use. You'll always dislike Jeon Jungkook for being a complete and utter jerk.

"Maybe it's God's way of guiding me to forgive him?" you say, running a hand through your messy, unbrushed hair. "I mean, there's no other reason we're always, somehow always meeting!"

"Or fate really fucking hates you," Yoojung laughs.

"Or it's just rotten luck, Y/N," Chayoung says.

"Just when I thought he was a changed man, you know, offering me the notes that I missed, he literally said sike and left me stranded," you groan.

"He's an asshole," Chayoung says. "Don't associate yourself with him because it's giving you stress. Honey, you have dark circles under your eyes!"

"I haven't been getting a goodnight's rest," you sigh. "It's not even insomnia, though! I just wake up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, but if I wait it out, I fall asleep again."

"Maybe you're nervous about something," Chayoung says. "Maybe your body's telling you that you're too tense."

"Or you're dying and you need to get this condition checked out," Yoojung says.

You laugh. "That's most definitely not it, Yoojung. Ugh, whatever," you sigh, shaking your head as your roommates look sympathetically at you. "We're still down for the flower festival, right?"

"We wouldn't miss it for the world!" Chayoung yells. "Did you know they're gonna bring Kevin Kang?? He's gonna sing! And dance!!!"

"God, I'm exploding just thinking about him!" Yoojung squeals.

"We're going for the flowers, not the celebrity," you giggle.

"WAIT," Yoojung gasps. "Maybe you're subconsciously excited about the flower festival!"

"And that's why you're waking up during the night!" Chayoung exclaims.

You hum, thinking to yourself. There was really no other reason to blame your hideous sleep schedule on. So you shrug. "There's only one way to find out," you say with a grin.

The flower festival has always been one of your favorite parts of studying at your university. Annually, the flower vendors all around the country come to show off their beautiful creations, showcasing them in bouquets, wreaths and flower crowns.

But you like flowers the best when they're in their natural state. Either when they're sprouting from the ground with their roots strongly planted in the soil or when you receive just one flower—just a single stem will do. You love the flower festival because it happens in the best sunflower blossoming season, and the sunflowers were exactly why you were nearly obsessed with attending the festival.

You put on a bit more makeup on your face to hide your ugly dark circles and picked out your favorite summery dress, pairing it with Sunny, your most esteemed purse. Getting into the flowery feeling of the festival almost felt obligatory at this point.

Usually, you go to the festival with your roommates—or anyone's who's willing to stare at flowers for a whole day—but ever since they added celebrities into the mix, the place has been crowded. Consequently, the flower booths are nearly empty as everyone flocks around the stage. But you don't mind. More room for you, who's actually here to admire the flowers.

You've lost your friends hours ago, but you know they're somewhere in the sea of fangirls, screaming over Kevin Kang—someone you acknowledge is talented, but just doesn't pique your interest. Now you're helplessly alone at the bright flower festival, all dressed up in a pretty dress but with no one to keep you company. You suppose you don't mind that much. But it is a bit strange. You're usually always surrounded by people. But a little solitude doesn't hurt, I guess.

Once again, you've subconsciously gravitated towards the sunflower booth. You let out a little squeal of glee inside your head when you realize you're totally matching with the vibrant yellow petals of your favorite flower.

Sunflowers don't have a special smell that permeates the air like other, more popular, flowers do, but they do have a distinct, earthy aroma that surrounds them. You're a total sucker for that. So you bend down, sniffing the pretty flowers and sighing out as the familiar, terrene fragrance fills your head. Beautiful.

Maybe you've never been a total nature freak, but you're a freak for sunflowers, that's for sure. You smile, taking a small step back to turn and check out some other sunflower booths. But you bump into someone, nearly stepping on their toes, which makes you stumble back and land butt-first on the dirty ground.

"Oh gosh!" you exclaim, trying to get up from your quite embarrassing fall but having no apparent success. "I'm so sorry!"

"I'm sorry," the man laughs good-naturedly in a light, silvery voice. "I made you fall!" He reaches out a hand to help you up, and you almost take it. Until you recognize his voice. When your head jerks up, you gasp.

"You!" you yell viciously, scrambling up from the dirt and dusting the back of your dress off. You glare daggers into your enemy's eyes.

"Aw, shit," Jungkook sighs. "I didn't know that was you. But now I'm kinda glad you fell," he laughs. "Quite the drama queen. And it looks like the ever-so-popular girl is here alone. Hilarious."

You frown, straightening your dress as you cross your arms over your chest. "Shut up. I was just going to call my friends," you lie. "I just lost them. And besides, you're here alone, so should you really be saying all that?" you huff. "Why are you even here?"

"What? I can't enjoy looking at the sunflowers?" Jungkook retorts.

"That's your favorite flower too?" you ask incredulously. "Say sike right now."

"What's the opposite of sike?" Jungkook snorts. "That is my favorite flower. Got any problem with it?"

"Yes," you say. "Why sunflowers? Why? And Why here?"

Jungkook rolls his eyes. "I woke up one day and I liked sunflowers. I heard there was a flower festival here, and the next thing I know, I'm here. Are you done interrogating me?"

"You can't just wake up one day and like sunflowers," you say. "You're lying."

"Fine. Don't believe me then," Jungkook says. "You never believe me, anyways."

"What's that supposed to mean?" you say.

Jungkook stays silent. After a moment's more of hesitation he sighs. "Whatever. I'm going to the sunflower patch."

"Wait!" you say before he begins to walk away. "I'm going there too." He gives you a weird look. "No, I'm not suggesting we go together, but they have really good honey sunflower ice cream there," you quickly add.

"Honey sunflower ice cream, huh?" Jungkook says. "Never tried it."

You gasp, stepping back and placing a hand on your heart. "You... what?"

"Never tried it," Jungkook repeats.

"No way. You've never lived until you've tried the honey sunflower ice cream, Jeon!" you exclaim. "Now I'm obligated to take you there. Ice cream's on me. I hate you, but there's no one I hate enough not to introduce the best flavor in the world to them."

Jungkook cocks his head, staring at your excited self with curiosity. "You sure?"

You scoff. "Yes. Hurry up before I change my mind."

"Okay then. I'm trying the ice cream and then I'm leaving," he tells you.

"Whatever," you say right back.

And that is exactly how two enemies decided to share a day in civilized harmony together. Even after Jungkook got his precious honey sunflower ice cream, the two of you decided not to separate—for reasons of convenience—nothing else. But hanging out with Jungkook wasn't as bad as you thought.

Though 80% of the time was the two of you bickering about the littlest things, it was also quite refreshing to talk to the man you deemed as your nemesis. He didn't seem so evil upfront. Jungkook seemed more than a human with a sharp tongue and bad intentions. He's actually pretty funny—much more than he lets on—and is an excellent listener to your never-ending anecdotes.

At this point, Jungkook's on his third honey sunflower ice cream, and you're on your fourth sunflower lollipop as you walk through the sunflower field. You're so close to him that your arms touch every time you step forward. You don't really mind and neither does he. If anyone didn't know any better, they'd think you two are friends.

"Hey," Jungkook suddenly says.

"Yeah?" you answer.

"I got you something," he says.

"Wait—"

Jungkook suddenly stops walking and so do you as you watch him pull something out of his pocket. It's a packet of—

"Sunflower seeds?" you say. "When did you get that?" You give him a funny face.

Jungkook huffs. "If you didn't want it you could've just said..." He looks a bit saddened as he shrugs. "I thought since you loved sunflowers so much, you could plant some." He quickly shakes his head. "Not that I'm trying to be nice. This is just because you got me ice cream."

"I-I..." you stutter, massaging your head as you step back. Your mind reels and you blink rapidly. "Wow," you breath. "No, um, thank you, Jungkook... I love it. I just... wow. I'm getting major déjà vu."

It's Jungkook's turn to give you a funny look. "Déjà vu of the flower festival?"

"No..." you say, frowning as you take the packet of seeds that he hands out to you. "Weirdly, it's déjà vu of you giving me these sunflower seeds."

Jungkook snorts. "Did you fall down a bit too hard?"

"Hmph," you huff. "I've been running on coffee these days. I guess you can't really trust my thinking at this point."

"No wonder you have dark circles under your eyes," Jungkook says. "Getting ready for that internship abroad is tiring, huh?"

"How do you know about?" you ask.

"Everyone knows about it," Jungkook says. "You're a law prodigy. We all know."

You laugh. "That's flattering. But I dunno. I'm waking up at weird hours of the night."

"Me too," Jungkook says before he can stop himself.

"Wow, we actually have something in common," you giggle. "That's the first."

Jungkook laughs. "Is it really, though? Don't we have a mutual hatred for each other?"

"That doesn't count, Jeon."

"I think it does."

"No, it doesn't."

"Yes, it does."

"Oh my gosh, no, it doesn't."

"YES IT GODDAMN DOES."

"NO, IT FREAKING DOESN'T."

"YOU KNOW WHAT, Y/N—"

The rather immature banter is interrupted by the ringtone of your phone playing some Christian music that Jungkook swears he's heard somewhere, but he can't remember where. It's strange because he doesn't exactly listen to Christian music, yet he's able to recognize this song straight away.

You roll your eyes at him, quickly picking up your phone from your purse and accepting the call.

"Hello?" you say. "Yeah. I'm at the sunflower patch. Yeah. No... Of course, I'm alone. Who do you think I'd be with? I'll come to you guys. Yeah. Okay, bye." You slip your phone back in your purse, sighing as you turn to Jungkook. "I have to go."

Jungkook huffs. "Whatever. Go, then."

You frown. "Fine." You give him a look before you begin to stomp off.

"AND JUST SO YOU KNOW," Jungkook yells at your back. "I'M NOT SOME NOBODY."

"AND JUST SO YOU KNOW," you say without turning your head to look at the man. "THIS NEVER HAPPENED!"

Jungkook sees you clutch the packet of sunflowers seeds he'd gifted you as you quickly walk away. He frowns at your figure, growing smaller the further you are.

He'll admit that the time he spent with you today wasn't too bad. But somehow, the two of you always left on a bad note. Oh well. Jungkook sighs as he finishes the rest of his honey sunflower ice cream. At least I got free dessert.

—previous | next

—masterpost

[loveau]

college!au seulgi

request: elli!! can u please do a college gf au with seulgi? i think we could all use that cute fluffiness right now 🤧 p.s. thank u for sharing ur wonderful writing ilu 💕

major: business w/ a concentration in human resources management

minor: dance

club: prob vp of the school’s women in business club!!! she joined in the middle of her sophomore year and became vp in junior!

she’s most likely been an RA in her sophomore or junior for the upperclassmen

she was in it for the door decs before realizing she actually liked it lOL

originally was a bio major and was stressed about it, but switched to business after being an RA because she thought it was her calling???

it just fit a lot better and she didn’t have to stand there hunched over her lab work and worry about accidentally breathing in pathogens

she had declared a bio major because the plan was to go to med school if all else fails and she didn’t really know what else to do, so that was a safe option right?

never before had she been so relieved to find out that she actually really liked spending time in her business and management classes and leading her volunteer group and being an RA

she also now has an excuse to dress up super nicely for interviews and such because she had so many outfits in her closet but never got a chance to wear them out

she became so much more at ease and bubbly about it too

no more sitting in lecture halls having to recite the functions of B-cells or whatnot

it also helped to have sat down with her ARD irene who told her she might like business

it was a long process of convincing because most of it was spent trying not to keep gossiping about the other RAs on campus alfsdlknfmsdlgkn

afterwards she quits reslife so she can focus on other stuff and lives in an apartment near campus her senior year

she becomes pretty popular around campus for her happy personality and her calm energy to match, making it so easy to start a conversation with her or just hang out

seulgi will be studying somewhere in a common student area and previous residents or club mates or classmates will wave to her or stop by for a quick chat

she’s also normally p busy tho being the vp of the wib club and also making sure she’s updating her resume and leaving time on the weekends to volunteer at the animal shelter like she loves

and also making sure she isn’t spending too much on online shopping for clothes and oOPS HER FINGER SLIPPED AND NOW SHE HAS LIKE TWO TOPS AND A PAIR OF OVERALLS ON THE WAY 

but she often doesn’t have a lot of time to spend with her friends unless they plan it like a MONTH beforehand since she’s been applying and interviewing for countless internships

she was just so excited to find something that she’s super passionate about instead of biology and she kind of overloads herself on that energy akfsldgnskjgn

so of course when her friends invite her to parties or kickbacks she has to decline because she has to make the next powerpoint presentation for the club meeting and also make sure the club’s end of semester dinner is being all squared away

seulgi’s a busybody and enjoys what she does, so much that she doesn’t realize that she keeps overloading her schedule and not giving a lot of time for just herself

which usually means she also spends a lot of time cramming everything at once and might end up passing out at a friend’s place during a study session, in the middle of club meetings, or even in the library late at night

that’s just how she spent her thursday night 

she had been setting up a speech for her recruitment and selection class and had been so tired from her club meeting a couple hours before that she ended up falling asleep in the library

it was kind of cute since she had hairs slipping from her bun, some coffee stains on her sweater, ink all over her hand from notes, candy wrappers spread around her area, and her head was tipped back and her mouth wide open as she slept

okay............ not that cute

she was a mess

but it was enough for her to get startled awake by a longboard rolling across the room and hitting her chair leg quite hard

she didn’t know what happened at first and checked around only to find a somewhat empty library save the couple of students also diligently working

her laptop she left open was dead and she cursed because she didn’t save her speech and her phone was below 10%, but it was enough to tell her that it was like 3am in the morning

seulgi only noticed the skateboard because she was going to go to the bathroom to freshen up and almost slipped on it when her foot landed on the top

she caught herself and saw that there was a bottle of water and a granola bar and a note on it

‘hey, you look like you need a little refresher. i also had a spare charger in case you needed it, your laptop has been open the past hour’

sure enough there was a charger but it had been knocked to the floor after she slipped on the longboard

silently, seulgi placed the items on the table with the rest of her stuff and looked around for anyone who would have given her the stuff

except nobody was popping their head up and were all busy

plus they all had chargers with them so she didn’t know who would have given her the treats

nonetheless she opened the water bottle and felt replenished when the water hit her throat

she was so confused????? still?????

she decided to take her trip to the bathroom like she wanted to and maybe she could scope out whoever decided to give her the food and drink while she was at it

subtlety wasn’t exactly her forte either since she was craning her neck around every table and making the other students confused

eventually seulgi makes it to the bathroom and cleans herself up and when she comes back the longboard is gone and her laptop was charged for her and a new note lays on top of it?????

who???????

‘i had to go for the night, sorry about that! don’t worry about the charger, i have another one and i’ll just collect this one when i bump into you again :)’

and just like that seulgi was completely and utterly confused

she stays like that for the next two weeks or so, seeing no sign of anyone with the same longboard and she tries not to pounce at every person she sees riding one to class

it gets so bad that the prez asked if she was okay and getting enough sleep since she was so distracted during her meetings and if she called the caterer for the dinner yet asgGNSGDN

her friends sooyoung and yerim were also trying to use this as an advantage for her to get invited out to “clear her mind” as they say since she’s been so out of it lately

and they’re absolutely elated when seulgi agrees and decides to go because why not?? she’s been so stressed about finding this mystery person because she wanted to properly thank them... but also to get the laptop charger with hello kitty stickers all over it back to its owner

and also did they see she had drool running down her chin bc that was really embarrassing and she just wants to make sure if anyone saw that before she promptly packs her bags a moves to another country

she’s blushing at that don’t point it out or else it’ll get worse amsdlknsg

once they’re actually inside, she can’t help but look for any longboards by the door even though most of the people at the party came by on foot or by someone’s car since the house was relatively close to campus

sooyoung and yerim are basically pushing her further into the house as they chatter excitedly and they’re happy it isn’t a byob type of party

seulgi is basically saying she won’t drink that much because she’ll look after the two and let them go ham... for a bit..

but they’re basically like

“seulgi it’s fridaaaaay it’s fine”

“yeah! besides we know the house owner and can call joohyun if we anything”

and they’re both going “pleeeeeeeeaaaaase” and doing their best to yell it over the loud music

and before seulgi can deny any longer she’s turned to the kitchen that’s been blocked by a foldable table and there’s cup lining it and drinks all over on the counters

but she’s not distracted by the abundance of drinks and people surrounding it.........

she finds you smiling cheekily at her

“what can i get you?”

and seulgi starts sputtering over her words and she REALLY cannot get a single word out because oh my gosh who are you and are you single because UHHHHHHH her brain is going overload

and both sooyoung and yerim are already cackling at seulgi’s stunned silence and giving each other mischievous looks behind seulgi while she malfunctions

meanwhile you’re just drinking it all up with an amused smile and gleam in your eyes and oh god do you HAVE to lean against the counter like that?

seulgi can barely get a word out before you’re laughing a little and turning around to prepare three red solo cups

you pass the cups to sooyoung and yerim and they basically BOLT away to leave seulgi all alone and more importantly alone wITH YOU SOMEONE SAVE HER

you laugh at her red cheeks that shine from the kitchen lights behind you and seulgi is absolutely enamored by you at this moment

“don’t worry, i gave them more fruit juice than i did alcohol. they’ll be fine”

seulgi barely registers this and gapes like a fish to where her friends are dancing and drinking from whatever you prepared them

had she been paying proper attention like she normally does, she’s notice that yes you basically watered down the alcohol with some lemonade

“i know how crazy those two can get after a couple parties with them, so i’m making sure they don’t go overboard”

seulgi only watches as you take her cup and put it under the sink to give her water

she takes it an tries not to get giddy when your fingers brush

inner seulgi facepalms because she’s acting like she has a crush in high school

but she’s never felt this way since she switched majors???

and omg that feeling was so addicting exhibit a when seulgi overloads her schedule and now??? she just met you and can’t get enough already

“thank you” she practically inwardly screams when she realizes how meek she is but you only give her a friendly smile

“yeah! thought you could use a little refresher. i didn’t know if you wanted anything so i didn’t want to give you anything you wouldn’t feel pressured to drink. let me know if you need anything else!”

all seulgi does for the rest of the night is basically hang around the room and watch everyone get kind of crazy and make sure sooyoung and yerim are staying on their feet, but with a second set of eyes she actually feels like she has more freedom

especially since you stopped giving them alcohol and basically have been serving them just juice after they started getting past the bit of tipsiness

eventually seulgi has enough of just standing around and has had enough cups of water (she had maybe 3) to finally talk to you

before she’d been working up the courage to talk to you and had come back with a refilled cup of water but noW???

NOW???

she’s ready

at least she hopes

seulgi’s marching up to you and then sooyoung is at her arm whining and sort of falling over

seulgi manages to catch her and is p disoriented by everything like what is happening is she okay??

and sooyoung is just like

“seulgiiiiiiiii i wanna go hoooome, can we get burgers?”

and before she can ask where yerim went, she suddenly pops up and joins in

“burgers? i heard burgers can we go, i was foooood”

before she knows it she’s dragged out of the house by the two and basically walking them home a couple blocks away

and now seulgi’s bummed that she didn’t get to finally talk to you like she wanted

she doesn’t even know when she’ll be able to see you again since she didn’t get your name at all and she’d be mortified by all the teasing the younger two would give her since they knew how choked up she was if she asks them who you were

she’s even kind of sulking about it and she’s so caught up in it she gets a notification from her phone that she needs to finalize things with the caterer and reserve one of the areas on campus for the club’s dinner and that reminds her she needs to shop

but as she’s on her phone she nearly swerves into somebody and it shocks her enough to bring her back to reality and she moves to apologize to the person and all of a sudden

“oh hey! you again, fancy seeing you!”

and she’s now forgotten everything since she sees you smiling at her

this time she forces herself to find her voice and not embarrass herself and it’s like her interview persona comes in and she’s got that natural confidence oozing in and she beams that pretty smile of hers right back at you

“and you too! i never thought i’d run into you again”

you laugh and all of a sudden you’re like an inch shorter and seulgi looks down and spots that you’d been riding a longboard before almost crashing into her

and she recognizes that longboard with all of the sanrio stickers on it and is that a sicker of your face with some filter on the corner of it???

but she recognizes the longboard since it’s been engraved in her mind and it just clicks for her and suddenly seulgi is scrambling to pull her backpack from behind and you just watch on like

uh r u okay? are you good? pls don’t take out some random textbook and smack me over the head with it

the hello kitty covered charger she’s been saving in her backpack is suddenly thrust into her hands and you think she’s about to stumble her words again like in those anime love confession scenes but she’s almost aggressive with it????

“i’ve been keeping this in my backpack for a few weeks! i didn’t even know what you looked like so i had no clue how to find you, do you know how stressed out you made me? you’ve been on my mind for almost a month!”

she doesn’t even realize how her words sound until you’re responding back in kind with another one of those easy smiles of yours

“sorry, i’ve been meaning to catch you sooner but i’ve so many labs back to back” you look at your phone and bite your lip nervously, something seulgi is a little too focused on “i actually have one in like five minutes, that’s why i almost crashed into you...”

seulgi finally realizes you’re wearing a white lab coat, something you’d worn in preparation since you were already rushing to be on time

your phone is thrust into her hands with the empty contact already loaded up 

seulgi quickly types in her number and even snaps a cute profile photo of her and it’s your turn to be stunned by her because wow that was an impromptu photo and hOW DID SHE MAKE IT SO GOOD????

and then seulgi is ushering you off because you have like thREE MINUTES BEFORE LAB and you’re like OH YEAH UH BYE!!!! I’LL CALL YOU????

and she shouts back with a “YOU BETTER!!”

and suddenly seulgi gets a phone call and when she picks up she can hear the wind rushing past the speaker and you’re kind of breathy since you’re reaLLY using those leg muscles to PUSH to that lab

“yEaH so UH i wanted to tell you but i didn’t get the chance since i don’t want to have to do a makeup lab??? bUT UH, i saw one of your dance performances last year and thought you were really cute!!”

seulgi vaguely remembers that because she had done a solo dance for a showcase in the performing arts department and it was basically for the students to show off what they were working on and to her it was just a homework assignment on top of like four labs and a research paper

“oh yeah! i remember that... well not really, i’d been so busy that it all just flew by”

“yeah! that was around the time you were a bio major, right? i’d been meaning to talk to you then, but i wasn’t able to since you switch majors afterwards!”

“ah, bio as well?”

she hears your voice echo and she knows you’ve entered the building by now

relief floods her system that she didn’t keep you too long 

“nah, i’m a chem major. it translates pretty well to mixing drinks, huh?”

instead of getting embarrassed and recounting that previous experience at the party, seulgi’s business confidence is suRGING and i mean IT IS LARGO and she’s like

“i can’t really say. you’ve only made me water, so i’ll have to see another time?”

at this point you’re absolutely vibrating with excitement at the proposal of a date and you quickly accept

and that’S WHAT HAPPENED BUT YOU SPENT IT OVER A HOMEMADE DINNER WITH WINE AND SEULGI COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE IMPRESSED?!?!?!?!?

you’d cooked it all and brought it to her apartment since you said your housemates were hosting some study session so you just offered to bring it all over

she’s also shocked you managed to find time to do all of this given the busy stem major life and how she was struggling before

but she’s also mentioning that giving her one cup of wine doesn’t mean that’s mixing up a drink so you’ll have to do this again

and it happens aGAIN when you’re at a restaurant this time and it’s a pretty nice one near campus and y’all are just chatting away about seulgi’s women in business club dinner and she invites you to be her plus one aSDFKNSLF sHE MAY HAVE BEEN TOO SHY TO SAY DATE BUT YOU GOT THE MESSAGE

bUT AT THE SAME TIME the restaurant is the one making the drinks, so you’ll have to have her over again and mix something up

and sooyoung and yerim and just so distraught lIKE GO OUT ALREADY

and seulgi’s like we are?????? WE ARE????? WE ARE GOING ON DATES AND STUFF

but they just groan out and are about to storm up to in the middle of a lab and just hand seulgi over like

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE JUST CALL HER YOUR GIRLFRIEND ALREADY

when you finally do it’s funny because it’s at another party that sooyoung and yerim invite her to and you’re there mixing it up again but she didn’t realize that the first party where she met you was your house????

she’s hanging out with you in the kitchen and you’ve made her a cup of something sweet and seulgi has to admit that it is pretty good

and you just wink at her saying that your chemistry skills are actually pretty good

BUT THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THE TWO OF YOU IS EVEN BETTER HEHEHE

and you’re totally not just hanging out in the kitchen away from the sweaty dancing crowd and sticky floor you’re having your housemates clean up since you’re the drink master

and yOU ARE ABSOLUTELY NOT STEALING KISSES FROM EACH OTHER WHILE SEULGI’S SITTING ON THE COUNTER AND YOU’RE PRETENDING TO REACH AROUND HER FOR A BOTTLE BUT NO INSTEAD YOU’RE REACHING FOR HER WAIST AND HOLDING HER CLOSE AS YOU KISS HER AND NOW YOU’RE SMILING AGAINST EACH OTHER’S LIPS

you spend late nights in the library together now and you’re also most of seulgi’s impulse control when it comes to making plans and doing stuff

mainly because you’re telling her that no-no do not force yourself to go to that resume workshop you’ve been to them enough times to LEAD those

and then she gets all excited like REALLY DO YOU THINK THEY’D LET ME?!?!?!

and you’re like no stOP WE’RE STAYING IN FOR A MOVIE NIGHT AND WATCHING CARS 2

but it’s also funny to see seulgi falling asleep against your shoulder and her mouth is hanging wide open and you’ve set so many pictures of her like that as your homescreen and been yelled at too many times to change it

and when you do change it, it’s just a different picture of her in that position from a different day

she likes to run through her speeches and presentations with you and you find it so cool that she’s so poised when doing that BUt she gets so shy when she wants a kiss but doesn’t want to say so and SHE KNOWS you know she wants a kiss

you’re constantly doing her buns for her since you’ve had some practice keeping your own hair out of your face for labs but also getting tips from other girls in your labs and lectures and when they find out the reason why they’re just like pLS YOU TWO GET MARRIED

but the closest they can see the two of you dress up together is when seulgi decides to wear her business clothes out on a date and you’ve gotten stuff to match her and now you’re basically a ceo power couple walking around campus to go return some books to the library

you sitting in on her meetings and watching with lovestruck eyes as she basically spends the good half of it also staring right back at you and when they’re in discussion or activities she just clings to your side and cuddles you

you teach her how to longboard and she’s still a little wobbly but it’s SO CUTE when she’s fearfully holding onto your hands and staring down at her feet and shouting at you to NOT LET GO AT ANY COST

eventually she gives up on that and buys a pair of rollerblades instead so you can just pull her around while she hangs onto your backpack strings while you move on the longboard

BUT WHAT MAKES EVERYONE JEALOUS???

you hold her hand instead :)

she’s just laughing and giggling and being all around smiley when your hands are linked and you’re rolling around campus with her in tow

you even go to all of her dance events as well!!!

she’s been able to put a lot more effort into them since switching majors, but especially since you manage to keep her rooted and not going off doing so many things at once

she also wants to make sure she looks good for you

when does she not though??

y’all are literally tooth rotting sweet for each other

it’s the absolute cutest thing and you totally didn’t put a sticker of her sleeping face with her mouth open on your longboard........ and on your charger...... and the laptop........ and hers.... -q- zzZZZ

[thepartyresponsible]

here’s a short, relatively fluffy fic about what happens when jason todd and clint barton, a pair of career criminals and expert thieves, steal the winter soldier.

and to the anon who asked for a fluffy fic featuring hot chocolate, blankets, and warm feels shared by clint, jason, and tony....um. i’m really sorry. i’ve had a lot of cold medication. my reading comprehension is compromised.

Popular opinion would no doubt suggest that stealing the Winter Soldier is the ballsiest heist Jason and Clint have ever pulled. Jason’s not sure he’d rank it that high. After all, their Batcave stunt was pretty egregiously ill-advised, and then there was the time they stole fifty grand worth of Kryptonite with the use of a clipboard and some fake EPA inspector badges they printed out at a public library.

But keeping the Winter Soldier. Yeah. Sure. That’s pretty ballsy.

No real other options, though. At least none that either of them could live with.

Jason knows they’re doomed the moment he hears the quiet horror in Clint’s voice, the way his words catch, just a little, when he says, “Um. Jay? I think it’s a person.”

Because stealing a serial killer robot from HYDRA and then handing it off to the League of Assassins for “decommissioning” is one thing, but turning over a living, breathing human being is another. He and Clint walk all kinds of fuzzy ethical lines. God knows even Selina gets shrill about their activities sometimes. But they don’t deal in people. Not ever.

“Okay,” Jason says, nudging Clint gently out of the way. “Go steal us something fast. I’ll handle this.”

Because, between the two of them, Clint’s got the softer heart. He doesn’t get fussy about what happens in an honest fight, but he can get downright melancholy about the necessities of after-battle cleanup, and Jason’s happy to spare him from it, when he can.  

So Clint goes to get them a car that’ll get them out of the country before Ra’s realizes he’s been screwed around, and Jason goes to hover over the Winter Soldier, freshly defrosted, still barely twitching his way back to consciousness.

And Jason’s not an asshole. Whatever this guy’s done, he hasn’t done it to Jason or anyone who belongs to him, so none of this is personal. It’s gonna be fast and easy, just a bullet between the eyebrows, but the Winter Soldier blinks his pretty eyes open, looks up the barrel of the gun, and stares right into Jason’s face.

“я готов отвечать,” he says.

Ready to comply, Jason thinks.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Jason says.

And so, after that, Jason doesn’t have the heart to kill him, either.

  There’s a lot of yelling in the days that follow. From all conceivable sides. Ra’s al Ghul threatens every kind of unpleasant thing, and HYDRA hounds after them like they’re supposed to be scared of a group of megalomaniacal old cult assholes too creepy to get invited to the local Free Masons, and Selina calls Jason every day for a week to shriek at him about how she didn’t save him from the streets of Gotham so he could get murdered for stealing the world’s most brutal assassin.

“Selina, c’mon,” Jason says, muttering into the phone. Winter’s asleep in the backseat, shackled up like Houdini before a trick, and they’ve had a couple exciting moments, but he’s mostly just been quiet and kinda eerily empty-eyed. He keeps asking Jason about the mission. “He’s fine. I mean, he’s a little rough around the edges, sure. But I found Clint in a dumpster.”

“Hey,” Clint says, whisper-hissing at him from the passenger seat.

“And he looked great,” Jason tacks on quickly, with a wink he hopes will smooth things over. “Amazing. That dumpster didn’t know how lucky it had it.”

“You need to be careful,” Selina says. She put down two HYDRA goons this morning. They barged in on her in her pajamas, and she’s probably more pissed about getting caught with bed hair than having to dump two bodies before noon.

Although, she never was much of a morning person.

“We’re being careful,” Clint promises, leaning over to talk into the phone. “We couldn’t leave him, Selina. You didn’t see him. It was--- it was really bad.”

Selina’s quiet for a moment. “He’s an international criminal,” she says. And then, probably after she remembers that every single person in this conversation has their own personal INTERPOL file, she adds: “He’s an assassin.”

“I think he’s nice,” Clint says, stubborn and loyal. As always.

He only thinks that because Winter keeps trying to palm him extra food. Jason has to make a big show out of giving Clint food at the same time as he unlocks Winter for meals, or Winter will only eat half his food and then stash the rest so he can sneak it to Clint later.

Jason does not consider this behavior an endorsement of HYDRA’s caretaking expertise.

“He’d better be worth all the trouble,” Selina says. But she doesn’t mean it. Selina’s a thief and a liar and sometimes a killer, but she’s just like Clint, really. Softhearted for lost causes, both of them.

Jason can’t complain. It’s that shared weakness that brought both of them to him.

“Well,” Jason says, “if he’s not, we’ll just drop him with whatever country’s offering the biggest bounty.”

“That’s my boy,” Selina says. “But remember to start a bidding war first.”

  The thing about Winter is that he’s actually James Buchannan Barnes, Captain America’s best friend. He’s a Goddamn war hero, and HYDRA took him, tortured him, blended his brain, and made him kill people.

Jason grew up in Gotham, spent his formative years playing sidekick to Catwoman, so he’s seen some fucked-up situations. But it makes him sick, watching Winter work it out. Catching those sporadic flashes of Bucky Barnes, the miserable, devastated way he closes his eyes when the memories come, like it was better, somehow, when all he knew how to say was Yes, No, and Ready to comply.

And Clint was right. He is nice. He’s painfully sweet, really, in the way he frets over Clint until he figures out that Jason doesn’t actually run things, doesn’t own Clint, and sure as hell would never hurt him. And then he frets over both of them. Stoic and steely-eyed and stone-jawed, fretting like a Goddamn mother hen.

HYDRA wants him back, and Ra’s wants him dead, and Jason and Clint, as insistently and dramatically as they can, invite both of them to fuck right off.

They don’t really mean to keep him. Not forever. Just until people stop trying to murder him. Just until they can stash him in some nice town, where no one knows who he is, where he can go back to being Bucky Barnes full time and forget all about everything HYDRA made him into.

But people don’t stop. The whole world keeps coming after them. And Bucky, for his part, doesn’t want to leave them.

Six months in, Clint catches a bullet, and Bucky gets stolen, and Jason has to choose to leave Clint so he can go grab Bucky before they wipe him clean out of his own head. And Clint’s going to be fine, knows how to look after himself, didn’t get shot anywhere vital. But Jason crashes into that transport van with Clint’s blood on his hands, and it makes him crazy, a little. It makes him a nightmare.

So, afterwards, Selina brokers a meeting with Batman, and Jason goes, because Batman’s owed him a favor ever since that years-long game of tag he used to play with Nightwing resulted in him accidentally stumbling into a situation where he saved Nightwing’s life.

He doesn’t bring Clint, and he doesn’t bring Bucky, because he figures Batman’s not going to kill him, but he might throw him in prison. If he does, Selina will bust him out on principle, and she’d almost certainly do the same for Clint, but Bucky’s so new and so much trouble that she might just leave him where he’s less likely to get Jason killed.

“Look, Bats,” Jason says, when they’re finally standing uncomfortably on the same rooftop. “We don’t like each other. You’re the delusional iron fist of the bourgeoisie acting out your punishment kink on the unsuspecting poor, and I’m just a guy trying to make a living. But we gotta work together on this, okay? Or I’m gonna leak the porn I found on the Batcave computers.”

Batman takes a long breath in through his nose. He seems to visibly weigh out which issue to raise first. “You planted those files on the Batcave computers.”

And he hadn’t, actually. Clint did that. He’d spent the whole night before the job downloading Superman-themed porn, and he’d filled Jason’s laptop with so much malware that Jason eventually just burned the thing in a purifying pyre. But Jason had to admit that running those videos on every screen in the Batcave had resulted in a truly awe-inspiring, immersive experience.

“We were just trying to be supportive,” Jason says. “Anyway. Look. You owe me a favor.”

There’s a lot of back-and-forth after that, consisting mainly of Batman holding forth about how saving a life is its own reward and he doesn’t owe Jason a favor and Jason really needs to reconsider his life choices while he still has the opportunity to do so. But he seems to listen when Jason tells him what he knows about HYDRA, about how deep its infiltration of SHIELD and various world governments goes. He’s quiet when Jason talks about Bucky. And, when Jason hands over all their intel, he takes the flash drive readily enough.

“If this is more porn,” he says, holding up the flash drive, “I’m throwing all of you in Blackgate.”

“Jesus, Bats,” Jason says, not even trying to bite back a laugh. “If it had that much of an impact on you, you should do some solitary self-reflection about it. Maybe some of those documentaries we left for you could help.”

  Jason leaves Gotham and drives through the morning and afternoon and early evening, doubling and then tripling back on his route, making sure he’s not being followed. When he finally makes it to the safehouse, he’s shivery cold and dead tired. Bucky goes over his bike, checking for any trackers Jason might have missed, and Clint bullies him right into the shower.

Afterwards, Jason faceplants on the couch, and Clint hauls him up a few minutes later so he can press a mug of hot chocolate into his hands. “Drink this,” he says.

“Coffee,” Jason groans.

“No,” Clint says, as he settles next to him. “You’ve gotta sleep, you asshole. You’ve been up for three days straight.”

“Whiskey,” Jason tries, a little less plaintive and a little more mutinous.

Clint sighs. “I already put bourbon in there.”

Jason hums, appeased, and leans over to press a smacking kiss to Clint’s cheek. “You’re a fucking saint,” he says.

“Oh, a fucking saint,” Clint mutters, rolling his eyes. There’s a pleased blush settling along the lines of his cheekbones. “Didn’t know they made those.”

“The patron saint of fucking,” Jason declares, sipping at his hot chocolate. “Endowed with the power of---”

“This should be good,” Bucky mumbles, from across the room.

“Oh shit,” Jason says, and nearly sloshes the hot chocolate on himself. He tries not to talk about sex too much in front of Bucky. He tries not to think about sex too much in front of Bucky. He’s helplessly in love with Clint, and has been since he hauled him out of that dumpster in Gotham, but, as Winter fades and Bucky manifests more confidently in this new century, there’s been a growing tension between the three of them that Jason, frankly, has no idea what to do with.

“No, go on,” Bucky says, like this is the conversation he wants to have. Like he’s not the slightest bit curious about the mission Jason just ran, the one that’s supposed to clear his name, open a path that allows them to work with SHIELD to burn HYDRA to the ground. “He’s the patron saint of what, again?”

“Yeah,” Clint says, blinking at him with his innocent face in place. “What were you saying?”

Jason rolls his eyes and takes a pointed drink of his hot chocolate. It’s nice, he decides. That everyone’s comfortable enough to shit-talk him these days. Real refreshing. A Goddamn triumph of the resiliency of the human spirit.

“It went alright?” Bucky says, because he’s almost always the merciful one. Maybe he enjoys the novelty of it.

When he wanders over, he snags a blanket off the nearby chair, and he curls up on the end of the couch beside Clint, tossing the blanket over the three of them. He holds his hands out toward Jason, and Jason, without even thinking, passes his hot chocolate over. Bucky’s fingers brush Jason’s, and linger.

Jason isn’t making this shit up. He knows he isn’t.

First of all, he spends half his life watching people hit on Clint. He knows the signs.

Second of all, people get hot chocolate on their lips every day, but nobody licks it off like that unless they’re trying to plant ideas in people’s heads about what else those lips and tongue could do.

“Um,” Jason says, when he realizes they’re both staring at him. “Yeah. I mean. He didn’t throw me off a roof or put me in prison, so. I think he’s gonna help.”

Clint and Bucky exchange a look and then shrug. By their standards, that’s the start of a highly promising business relationship.

“Well,” Clint says, as he sprawls out, tucked in tight against Jason’s side, with a casual ankle hooked around one of Bucky’s. “You guys wanna watch Dog Cops?”

Jason figures, between the bourbon, and the blanket, and the warm weight of Clint’s body, he’s gonna be asleep in fifteen minutes. But he’d give Clint anything he asked for. “Sure,” he says, eyes already drifting closed. “Sounds great.”

  Two days later, they meet with a reserved, competent, endlessly unamused man named Phil Coulson. He doesn’t smile or laugh or seem to like them even a little bit. But he doesn’t try to kill them, either.

Four years later, they’re Strike Team Delta, and they’ve acquired Natasha Romanoff and a hell of a reputation. Coulson smiles more and yells more, and still hasn’t tried to kill them. Not once. Not even after Budapest.

HYDRA is ashes, and Bucky is theirs.

So what the hell. Maybe stealing the Winter Soldier wasn’t their ballsiest heist. But it was definitely their best.

[janiedean]

Well congratulations. Your fandom has successfully erased the woman of color main character and love interest and replaced her with a white dude. So much for Yen mattering. You won.

… listen, I don’t know what lann/incest shipper are you out of the usual bunch of extremely sad people who are trying to make sure I end up arguing with either yen fans or yen/geralt shippers when I have absolutely no bone to pick with any of them, I make sure I don’t tag anything but the ship in my witcher posts, I have written 10k of threesome with all three of them on top of that and I absolutely don’t want drama for this fandom ffs but honestly, you’re ridiculous.

one: idk what this is about but if it’s that post I reblogged this morning about joey b/atey being billed like a main in articles about characters returning to the show in S2 when he’s the first billed of the not-mains you honestly need to fucking chill because wow, a fan favorite character is mentioned in an article written to inform fans of who’s coming back next season? AFTER, in order, henry anya and freya? like. fucking chill.

two: as much as you presume I don’t know that, do you realize that saying ‘my fandom’ erased successfully a female character who is second-billed in the show, definitely co-main in the books from what I’ve read so far, the canonical love interest of the MAIN CHARACTER that she’s obviously BOUND to CANONICALLY (I’ve read the last wish, did you?) and who is most likely fucking going nowhere in the show? like pal until netflix comes out with a statement saying ‘according to fan reception we decided to fire anya and make geralt and jaskier stick their tongues in each others’s throat in the first five minutes of 2x01 you’re welcome’, which is obviously never going to happen because that’s not the plot and we all know that, no one has fucking erased anyone from the narration or from the show, like wow what power would I have if just by being in a fandom with a lot of people in it I could wish things out of existence! then 8x05 of GOT wouldn’t have happened and I’d have been spared dnd’s boner for c/ersei lannister ruining the entire damned series, but that didn’t happen now, did it? *shrug* and guess what I’m here writing fic and waiting for grrm, not up in your fucking blogs trying to make me stir drama with a fandom I’m not even in 100% of the time and where I just want to have fun with my ONE goddamned ship I like and without getting into shipwars idc for. so like, you have eight books of canon material plus you’ll have the show canon material, and we ‘erase’ her?

newsflash, my genius anon, indulging you even if I know it’ll be useless: it’s the way of most major fandoms that the largest ship is usually m/m and if it’s people who are friends in canon that’s usually also a thing, and I’ve been in very few fandoms where the majority of shippers were m/f, which is another discourse we could get in but I absolutely have no patience for it and we all know how it is. most of the fandom content being m/m is about typical for 95% of the fandoms in existence and that does not negate canon nor does it mean that most people into m/m actually are batting for it to be canon or want the female characters to bite the dust for the m/m ship and the fact that a few idiots do in these tiring times where your shipping preferences apparently = your morality doesn’t mean that the majority agrees or expects the female character to drop dead. good fucking grief. people will ship geralt and jaskier in fandom until their fingers fall off while geralt and yen have their canon romance that no one is gonna protest because it’s canon and if you can’t handle even that basic thing then it’s 100% obvious you’re from jc fandom and never shipped a popular m/m pairing in your damned life, because most of us who do know they’re never going to be canon.

also, fyi, yen is nonwhite in the show but she’s white in both books and game so you can take that ridiculous racism nonsense out of the window because it’s not a case of ‘we’d ship it if they both were white but the moment she’s poc we don’t anymore’. also ‘not mattering’ pal some of us like yen and have absolutely nothing against her but also, consider it, a tiny bit, just like, as an option, some of us like jaskier as a character more than yen or find him more relatable than yen regardless of whether he’s white or a dude or not, which happens because we all relate to/like characters for our own goddamned reasons and if I, a woman, have more fun writing jaskier pov than I’d have writing yen’s pov and I find geralt/jaskier a dynamic I’m way more interested exploring/writing than yen/geralt because of reasons I don’t owe you (and also because geralt and jaskier is the first fucking time my ideal m/m dynamic almost to a T is to be found in a popular ship differently from the other ship I have with that dynamic that’s stuck at nineteen fics on ao3 so excuse me if I’m a bit starved for content), then it’s my fucking business because the only people who could successfully erase yen from anything witcher-related are a) andrzej sapkwoski, b) the netflix showrunners, c) the videogame devs and guess fucking what, neither me nor anyone in this fandom is, WOW, either sapkowski or the netflix team nor works for the videogame company, so excuse me if no one is erasing fucking shit.

if you really are this invested into the character - which again I doubt because I know y’all are jc people and I have plenty of proof of that so you can go tell that story to someone else - you can do an interesting thing named write your fucking own fanfic, which btw you didn’t do even in jc fandom and it shows because you wouldn’t bother other people if you were busy creating your own content, and fyi I think yen would really fucking hate the guts of your favorite leading lady considering how she treats her goddamned children but I guess that’s beyond the point.

tldr: stop trying to make me argue with people in a fandom you’re not in, stop with this nonsense and stop being this pathetic because honestly it’s been a year and a half by now and you’re here stirring drama over a show that’s not even your main fandom? please get some help already.

[littlepanduh-writes-365]

Day 44

Title: “Paradigm Shift”

Description: During a gaming session, Sooyoung gives some exciting news that makes Hyejoo think about her life.

Features: Sooyoung X Hyunjin X Olivia Hye, slight Hyewon(Loona)

Word Count: 2,325

Tags: Fluff | College AU

(image from Pinterest)

“Yo, Hyejoo. Wanna join for some Mario Kart tonight?”

“Sorry, Hyun. I’m kinda busy tonight. Maybe another time?”

“Gang Beasts tonight? Sooyoung’s joining, too.”

“I’m not in the mood. Sorry. Maybe another time?”

“Hyejoo. Come join us for some Rainbow Six.”

For once, Hyejoo is interested, but there’s a blank document in front of her and its paired midnight deadline convinced her not to play.

“Sorry, Soo. I have a paper due at midnight. Next time?” The college student genuinely wishes she didn’t procrastinate this bad. 

I know it looks this way, but the three sisters aren’t that distant with each other. After Sooyoung and Hyunjin left for university, they didn’t see each other as often, but still bonded through online gaming.

It all started when they were younger. Sooyoung had granted Hyunjin the responsibility of taking care of her Nintendogs when she went to a summer camp. Usually Hyejoo, too young to play, would sit next to her and sometimes they switched off taking care of the Sharpei they virtually adopted. 

As they grew up, their tastes for video games changed as well. Sooyoung mostly grew out of them, having to take care of her younger siblings and started pursuing dancing. Of course, during college, she wouldn’t hesitate to join in party games, like Just Dance and trivia games. Hyunjin became a sports star, but still played video games. She enjoyed low-stress, life simulation games, but also occasionally played FIFA with her teammates. 

Hyejoo had a funny relationship with extracurricular activities. Growing up, she was always dragged into watching her sisters’ dance recitals or soccer games, so she tended to have low energy. She tried dance and soccer and actually showed potential in both hobbies, but had no interest or motivation in either. By the time she was in high school, she only continued what she enjoyed, which was just playing video games. She specifically enjoyed shooting and battle royale games, but she could play anything. 

As both Sooyoung and Hyunjin transitioned into university and adult life, they tried their best keeping in touch with their youngest sister. When video calls became awkward, Hyunjin brought up the idea of playing Mario Kart online together and talking through Discord. Sooyoung had to go buy herself a Switch and Hyejoo didn’t like the idea of spending more than 30 minutes talking to her sisters, but the experience was a pleasant surprise. The two older siblings couldn’t help enjoying the serotonin boost they would get when hearing competitive Hyejoo screaming and threatening them with embarrassing secrets from the past when Hyunjin threw a Blue Shell or Sooyoung Bullet Bill-ed past her. An hour passed and Hyunjin was ready to log out, but couldn’t resist it when Hyejoo asked, “One more round?” 

The gaming continued when Hyejoo went to university. Even though it wasn’t their style, the three of them would play whatever was popular and multiplayer, whether it be PUBG or Smash. 

Eventually, scheduling time to play with Hyejoo was a little unsuccessful. In her last year of university, she became busy with school and actually became more social. You could catch her playing intramural soccer or at the dance studio. She was even dating someone and worked at a nearby bakery. Hyejoo could’ve made time for her siblings, but replaying the same courses and campaigns for hours wasn’t stimulating enough for her. 

Tonight’s a little different. It’d been nearly 2 months since she spoke to her sisters and Gowon was scolding her to spend time with them. Even though her computer was starting to run slow, she downloaded the new zombie game Sooyoung mentioned and logged onto her Discord account.

“Nice of you to finally join us, Hyejoo.” Sooyoung naturally scolds her first. 

“I know. I thought you were going to abandon us.” Hyunjin spoke in a higher tone and it made Hyejoo cringe. 

“Stop being fucking dramatic, Soo. I’m busy with school.”

Hyunjin scoffs. “You’re busy dating your Minecraft girlfriend. I see you online.”

Hyejoo scowls. She turns around, making sure said girlfriend wasn’t in the room. “She’s my real girlfriend, too, you know?”

Sooyoung just chuckles. “I’ll see it when I believe it. When are you introducing her to mom and dad?”

“I don’t know. Maybe during the next holiday?”

“Can you bring some snacks from your work?” Hyunjin shoves herself in front of the camera, as if trying to corner her little sister. 

“Hyun, that’s not important.”

“What's more important than bread?”

“Kim Jiwoo. That’s what’s more important than bread.”

Hyejoo pinches the bridge of her nose. This was why she didn’t like talking to her sisters for more than 30 minutes. 

“As if, Sooyoung. Jeon Heejin is more superior than Jiwoo, but bread is always on top.”

“You say that now, once you get married, you’re going to change your minds.”

There are two gunshots. 

“Hye! Why’d you shoot us?! We’re on the same team?”

“Can you two simps shut up? I just sacrificed 6 gigabytes of space to play this game with you two.”

To Hyejoo’s surprise, Hyunjin’s avatar punches her character and Sooyoung takes her out with a headshot. Hyejoo’s about to seek revenge until Sooyoung starts talking again. 

“Yah. I’ve seen your Instagram story posts. Once you two get together, you’re gonna be whipped for her, too. It’s in the Ha genetics.”

“For fucks sake, I am dating Gowon! And why would anyone be proud of being whipped?” Hyejoo starts shooting at her sisters but they run away from the lobby before starting a campaign. 

It always starts with small talk. It usually consists of their jobs, what they’re doing on the weekends, and each other’s girlfriends. Hyejoo liked hearing from her sisters, but she couldn’t help but feel a little pathetic hearing about their numerous plans while she just wanted to get through school. Conversations like this is where they found out that Sooyoung became a manager at a well known dance school. The last time they talked, Hyunjin was talking about taking Heejin to Disneyland. Hyejoo was slightly jealous because she wants to spoil Gowon, too, but with the minimum wage she’s earning, she can only afford the new gaming mouse Gowon wanted. 

Like always, she’ll just listen. Listen and shoot. Maybe she’ll learn a new lesson from the mistakes her sisters laugh about, but she’s too busying carrying the team for the most part. 

The three have just finished a round when Hyunjin asks for a break so she can eat. Hyejoo checks her phone to see a few texts from Gowon. 

Sooyoung opens a conversation. “Hey guys, I need to tell you something.” 

“Go right ahead,” Hyejoo says before chugging some water. Hyunjin just hums before biting into some pasta that Heejin brought in about 15 minutes ago. 

“I haven’t told mom and dad, yet because we’re still thinking about it,” Sooyoung takes a deep breath, “Jiwoo and I want to try for a kid.”

Hyejoo stops looking at her phone. She stares at Sooyoung through the screen. “Oh damn. Really?”

Sooyoung offers a smile. Hyejoo can’t help but soften up at the honey dripping out of her sister’s eyes. “Yeah. She keeps talking about how cute her students are so I brought up the conversation. We’re gonna start going to fertilization clinics and adoption centers to see our options. I don’t think anything’s going to happen in the coming year or two, but I just wanted to let you guys know.” She sighs. “I’m kinda excited actually.”

“Congrats, unnie!” Hyunjin lets out a chuckle. “The idea of a little Jiwoo running around and doing taekwondo flips sounds adorable.”

Sooyoung whines. “What about a little Th-ooyoungie dancing in the living room?”

“Don’t ever use that fucking voice again.” Hyejoo grimaces in disgust. 

Hyunjin didn’t spare a pause for disagreement. “I second that.” Sooyoung never used aegyo so it was slightly unbearable hearing that. 

“Whatever.” Sooyoung sighs. “It’s just— it’s kinda surreal thinking about having a kid.”

Hyejoo also agrees. Maybe it’s because she’s looking forward to building her career or the fact that she doesn’t know where to begin in taking care of a kid that the idea of her own children seems foreign. She’s thought about adopting a dog, but a human being?

Hyunjin asks Sooyoung about the logistics, like the future of their current jobs and who would carry the child if they decided to not adopt. 

Hyejoo listens, but her mind gets clouded thinking about a little Sooyoung or Jiwoo running around and giggling and maybe even playing with a little controller. Hyunjin will compete to be the favorite aunt, but she’ll share with Heejin. She knows Gowon will be a better aunt than her, but she still wants to be a part of that kid’s life. Even though she wasn’t the most active, she wants to take that future kid to the park and kick a ball around and teach them pranks. 

The idea warmed Hyejoo’s heart. 

For a second, Hyejoo zones back into the conversation. Sooyoung eggs Hyunjin about finishing dental school so she can start her own family, too. 

Then it hits Hyejoo. 

It’ll still be in the far future, but maybe she needs to grow up a little more. There’s going to be little Sooyoung and soon enough there will be a little Hyunjin. 

Hyejoo needs to stop cursing. Maybe she needs to go home more and keep her parents company. She’ll learn how to cook something besides instant ramen and fried rice. 

Things are going to be different. They’re all growing up. Sooyoung’s moving up positions. Hyunjin is going to finish dental school. Hyejoo was going to graduate soon. 

Hyejoo was more than used to being away from her family during the school year, but then it hits her. 

The two neighboring rooms back home were going to be empty. Her two sisters are eventually going to stop coming home for holidays. 

The three of them are not going to play video games.

It’ll no longer be just the three of them. 

Hyejoo let’s that sink in a little. The days of shooting zombies and racing around Nintendo tracks and visiting each other’s islands will significantly lesson.

The maknae suddenly feels guilty of declining all those game requests. Although all reasons were valid, she feels like she should’ve made more time for her sisters.

She hears Hyunjin whining at something Sooyoung said. Hyejoo flinches a smile, remembering how fifteen years ago, they were bullying each other at the playground.

Some things didn’t change. 

And maybe some things still won’t change.

The future is uncertain and maybe she shouldn’t think too much about it.  

At least she has the present. She can still play with her sisters now. She can play with them next week, next month. 

“Hye? Are you okay? You’ve been pretty quiet.” 

Hyejoo tried to think of a snarky comeback, but couldn't think of anything. Surprisingly, her ego doesn’t get to her and just comes clean. “Yeah. I’m just thinking about a little Sooyoung. It’s kinda cute actually. Congrats, Soo.”

Her two older sisters just stare at her through the camera. “Wow. It must be late. Hyejoo’s being nice. Let’s just do one more round and call it a night.”

Hyejoo scoffs. She wants to curse, but holds herself back. 

-

“You guys down for a few rounds of Smash?”

“Sounds good. Is Hye joining?”

Hyejoo puts down her phone. “Gowonnie.” She nudges the girl next to her. They were watching a variety show together while snuggling. 

Gowon just hums, a little engrossed in the show. 

“I’m gonna go play with my sisters. Is that okay?”

Her girlfriend just smiles and rolls her eyes. “Why do you even ask? You know I’m going to say yes.”

Hyejoo doesn’t want to admit that she just wants to be chummy. “If you had plans in mind, I was just going to reschedule.” 

Gowon just shrugs. “I mean I’m craving fried chicken, but that’s not worth rescheduling.” She then shoves Hyejoo off of her. “Go.”

The younger one grumbles, but makes her way to their gaming room. 

As she turns on the light, she admires the room they have created. On one side, her girlfriend has a pastel setup. It contrasts her black black setup. 

An idea finally sparks in her head. She walks back outside and peaks back into their small living room. 

“Gowonnie, do you want to join us?”

--

“Are you really her girlfriend?”

“Of course she’s my girlfriend. She wouldn’t have been playing with us for the past hour if we’re not dating.” Hyejoo puts her head on Gowon’s shoulder. Hyunjin and Sooyoung are entertained by their little sister’s webcam showing an abandoned chair while Gowon’s webcam showed Hyejoo being soft and protective of a bright and rather crunchy lady.

“She’s not paying you with credits or diamonds or something?”

Gowon giggles. “That sounds like a better bargain.” She turns to her girlfriend and pats her head. “I’m tired of carrying you. Starting next month, I’m expecting 2,000 Battle Points or I’m going to stop doing your laundry.”

Hyunjin chokes on her water. Sooyoung’s jaw dropped. 

Hyejoo pouts. “Park Chaewon.”

“Wow. I like her already. I think mom will like her, too.”

“How did you meet such a nice person, Hye? She’s pretty, too. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Gowon smiles. “Thank you. It’s nice to know Hyejoo’s siblings are nice.” She turns to Hyejoo. “You should learn something from your sisters. Forget it. I’m upping the payment to 4,000 Battle Points.”

Hyejoo pouts and gives a quick peck on Gowon’s cheek. “Can I pay you with love instead?”

Hyunjin gags. “I don’t know if I’ll get used to this.”

“She got that from you, Hyun. Don’t deny it.” Sooyoung scolds her younger sister.

“You’ve been dating, Jiwoo-unnie longer! She got that from you!”

Gowon giggles. Hyejoo can’t help, but admire her girlfriend. She pleased how well things were coming along. 

--

Socials: Twitter | Curious Cat

[nasa]

10 Things: CubeSats — Going Farther

Now that the MarCOs — a pair of briefcase-sized interplanetary CubeSats — seem to have reached their limit far beyond Mars, we’re looking forward to an expanding era of small, versatile and powerful space-based science machines.

Here are ten ways we’re pushing the limits of miniaturized technology to see  just how far it can take us.

1. MarCO: The Farthest (So Far)

MarCO, short for Mars Cube One, was the first interplanetary mission to use a class of mini-spacecraft called CubeSats.

The MarCOs — nicknamed EVE and WALL-E, after characters from a Pixar film — served as communications relays during InSight's November 2018 Mars landing, beaming back data at each stage of its descent to the Martian surface in near-real time, along with InSight's first image.

WALL-E sent back stunning images of Mars as well, while EVE performed some simple radio science.

All of this was achieved with experimental technology that cost a fraction of what most space missions do: $18.5 million provided by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, which built the CubeSats.

WALL-E was last heard from on Dec. 29; EVE, on Jan. 4. Based on trajectory calculations, WALL-E is currently more than 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) past Mars; EVE is farther, almost 2 million miles (3.2 million kilometers) past Mars.

MarCO-B took these images as it approached Mars in November 2018. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

2. What Are CubeSats?

CubeSats were pioneered by California Polytechnic State University in 1999 and quickly became popular tools for students seeking to learn all aspects of spacecraft design and development.

Today, they are opening up space research to public and private entities like never before. With off-the-shelf parts and a compact size that allows them to hitch a ride with other missions — they can, for example, be ejected from the International Space Station, up to six at a time — CubeSats have slashed the cost of satellite development, opening up doors to test new instruments as well as to create constellations of satellites working together.

CubeSats can be flown in swarms, capturing simultaneous, multipoint measurements with identical instruments across a large area. Sampling entire physical systems in this way would drive forward our ability to understand the space environment around us, in the same way multiple weather sensors help us understand global weather systems.

Ready to get started? Check out NASA’s CubeSats 101 Guide.

Engineer Joel Steinkraus uses sunlight to test the solar arrays on one of the Mars Cube One (MarCO) spacecraft at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

3. Measuring Up

The size and cost of spacecraft vary depending on the application; some are the size of a pint of ice cream while others, like the Hubble Space Telescope, are as big as a school bus.

Small spacecraft (SmallSats) generally have a mass less than 400 pounds (180 kilograms) and are about the size of a large kitchen fridge.

CubeSats are a class of nanosatellites that use a standard size and form factor.  The standard CubeSat size uses a "one unit" or "1U" measuring 10x10x10 centimeters (or about 4x4x4 inches) and is extendable to larger sizes: 1.5, 2, 3, 6, and even 12U.

The Sojourner rover (seen here on Mars in 1997) is an example of small technology that pioneered bigger things. Generations of larger rovers are being built on its success.

4. A Legacy of Small Pathfinders

Not unlike a CubeSat, NASA’s first spacecraft — Explorer 1 — was a small, rudimentary machine. It launched in 1958 and made the first discovery in outer space, the Van Allen radiation belts that surround Earth. It was the birth of the U.S. space program.

In 1997, a mini-rover named Sojourner rolled onto Mars, a trial run for more advanced rovers such as NASA's Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity.

Innovation often begins with pathfinder technology, said Jakob Van Zyl, director of the Solar System Exploration Directorate at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Once engineers prove something can be done, science missions follow.

5. Testing in Space

NASA is continually developing new technologies — technologies that are smaller than ever before, components that could improve our measurements, on-board data processing systems that streamline data retrievals, or new methods for gathering observations. Each new technology is thoroughly tested in a lab, sometimes on aircraft, or even at remote sites across the world. But the space environment is different than Earth. To know how something is going to operate in space, testing in space is the best option.

Sending something unproven to orbit has traditionally been a risky endeavor, but CubeSats have helped to change that. The diminutive satellites typically take less than two years to build. CubeSats are often a secondary payload on many rocket launches, greatly reducing cost. These hitchhikers can be deployed from a rocket or sent to the International Space Station and deployed from orbit.

Because of their quick development time and easy access to space, CubeSats have become the perfect platform for demonstrating how a new technological advancement will perform in orbit.

RainCube is a mini weather satellite, no bigger than a shoebox, that will measure storms. It’s part of several new NASA experiments to track storms from space with many small satellites, instead of individual, large ones. Credit: UCAR

6. At Work in Earth Orbit

A few recent examples from our home world:

RainCube, a satellite no bigger than a suitcase, is a prototype for a possible fleet of similar CubeSats  that could one day help monitor severe storms, lead to improving the accuracy of weather forecasts and track climate change over time.

IceCube tested instruments for their ability to make space-based measurements of the small, frozen crystals that make up ice clouds. Like other clouds, ice clouds affect Earth’s energy budget by either reflecting or absorbing the Sun’s energy and by affecting the emission of heat from Earth into space. Thus, ice clouds are key variables in weather and climate models.

Rocket Lab's Electron rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 1 for the NASA ELaNa19 mission. Credit: Trevor Mahlmann/Rocket Lab

7. First Dedicated CubeSat Launch

A series of new CubeSats is now in space, conducting a variety of scientific investigations and technology demonstrations following a Dec. 17, 2018 launch from New Zealand — the first time CubeSats have launched for NASA on a rocket designed specifically for small payloads.

This mission included 10 Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa)-19 payloads, selected by NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative:

CubeSat Compact Radiation Belt Explorer (CeREs) — High energy particle measurement in Earth’s radiation belt

Simulation-to-Flight 1 (STF-1) — Software condensing to support CubeSat implementations

Advanced Electrical Bus (ALBus) — Advances in solar arrays and high capacity batteries

CubeSat Handling Of Multisystem Precision Time Transfer (CHOMPTT) — Navigation plans for exo-planetary implementation

CubeSail — Deployment and control of a solar sail blade

NMTSat — Magnetic field, high altitude plasma density

Rsat — Manipulation of robotic arms

Ionospheric Scintillation Explorer (ISX) — Plasma fluctuations in the upper atmosphere

Shields-1 — Radiation shielding

DaVinci — High School to Grade School STEM education

8. The Little CubeSat That Could

CubeSat technology is still in its infancy, with mission success rates hovering near 50 percent. So, a team of scientists and engineers set out on a quest. Their goal? To build a more resilient CubeSat — one that could handle the inevitable mishaps that bedevil any spacecraft, without going kaput.

They wanted a little CubeSat that could.

They got to work in 2014 and, after three years of development, Dellingr was ready to take flight.

Read the Full Story: Dellingr: The Little CubeSat That Could

Artist's concept of Lunar Flashlight. Credit: NASA

9. Going Farther

There are a handful of proposed NASA missions could take CubeSat technology farther:

CUVE would travel to Venus to investigate a longstanding mystery about the planet’s atmosphere using ultraviolet-sensitive instruments and a novel, carbon-nanotube light-gathering mirror.

Lunar Flashlight would use a laser to search for water ice in permanently shadowed craters on the south pole of Earth’s Moon.

Near-Earth Asteroid Scout, a SmallSat, would use a solar sail to propel it to do science on asteroids that pass close to Earth.

All three spacecraft would hitch rides to space with other missions, a key advantage of these compact science machines.

Expedition 56 Flight Engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor installs the NanoRacks Cubesat Deployer-14 (NRCSD-14) on the Multipurpose Experiment Platform inside the Japanese Kibo laboratory module. The NRCSD-14 was then placed in the Kibo airlock and moved outside of the space station to deploy a variety of CubeSats into Earth orbit. Credit: NASA

10. And We’re Just Getting Started

Even if they're never revived, the team considers MarCO a spectacular success.

A number of the critical spare parts for each MarCO will be used in other CubeSat missions. That includes their experimental radios, antennas and propulsion systems. Several of these systems were provided by commercial vendors, making it easier for other CubeSats to use them as well.

More small spacecraft are on the way. NASA is set to launch a variety of new CubeSats in coming years.

"There's big potential in these small packages," said John Baker, the MarCO program manager at JPL. "CubeSats — part of a larger group of spacecraft called SmallSats — are a new platform for space exploration affordable to more than just government agencies."

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

[lovelyirony]

54. “Come closer.” for IronWidow!

Fury’s Academy was considered a wonderful place for those of the world that were magical, mystic, or just described by most of the outside world as “weird.” Mermaids, vampires, werewolves, zombies, mummies, and any other creature attended and interacted with others. 

But there was one that stood out especially, mainly because he was really the only one of his kind in a long time. 

Tony Stark, resident man-made creature. Frankenstein’s monster, essentially. People weren’t exactly...made anymore. Tell that to his father, who had wanted a super-genius as a son and stitched him up and animated him and decided that he didn’t look human enough and ditched him. 

Apparently, he also was strange enough that most of the monsters chose not to interact with him. They usually talked about him, looking at his bolts and stitches and different eyes. 

Tony usually asked if they had a problem, flipped them off, or kept to himself. All he had to do was get out of this school, take an online university course or find somewhere that didn’t look at him as weird, and he’d be fine. 

School wasn’t too bad. As long as he didn’t really make much attention for himself, the worst he got was a stare or two. And none of the really popular kids really gave him shit. 

In fact, he kind of...liked one of them. Natasha, a fairy. She was someone that everyone wanted to be with, know, but she was also not trusted worth a damn. He couldn’t see why. The only time she would ever actively trick or deceive someone is if they were being an asshole first. 

She also didn’t look at him like he was a freak. Just like he was another person in her world. 

So yeah. She was also incredibly beautiful and had funny comments. 

And then they have a group project. Tony hates group projects. Usually people ask if they can have his school email. He gives it to them, they email him about the project, and that way they don’t have to go to a coffee shop with someone as obvious as him. It’s fine. 

The teacher assigns Tony to Natasha, Bucky, and Sam’s group. He looks up in surprise. He knows one eye goes wider than the other, and he sees Bucky’s gaze avert. Great. 

Tony moves over to their space, taking a spare desk. 

“So, uh, what do we wanna do?” Sam asks. His gaze is down. 

“We’ll meet for coffee at Fae’s,” Natasha says. Her eye contact doesn’t break. “I can cover Napoleon in the early years, but I’ll need help setting up the presentation. Tony, wanna help me pick out the design?” 

Tony starts. 

“Uh, yeah,” Tony says. He doesn’t meet her eyes. “I can get there.” 

“Great,” she responds with. “Bucky, Sam, please don’t be late or order a just-black coffee.” 

“Okay prissy,” Sam says, rolling his eyes. “Not my fault that you can’t handle plain black.” 

“It’s called having taste,” Natasha says. Tony smiles a bit. It’s just natural dialogue, something he’s never experienced. “Tony, what kind of coffee do you like?” 

Tony freezes. No one’s really asked him a question like that before. 

“Oh, um, I usually make my own,” he says. “But if I’m getting fancy coffee it’s usually something minty.” 

“Good choice,” Bucky offers. 

It’s a start, Tony realizes. They’re being nice to him. 

He smiles as he exits the classroom. Even if the younger kids don’t look at him, at least some people were nice to him. 

Natasha personally get why people treat Tony like he’s some sort of freak. He’s just like the rest of them, really. Has cool eyes, the kind that she wants. 

“Are you sure about Tony?” Bucky asks. 

“Yes,” Natasha says. “I think he’s nice and he needs some friends. We can be friends.” 

“Okay,” Bucky says. “But if this backfires...” 

“It won’t,” she says. “I know it won’t.” 

Tony calls Sharon about this. She goes to a different school, but only because Peggy offered to take her. Tony isn’t really immediate family, even though he goes to all the holidays. At least the Carters don’t really treat him differently. 

“They could be friendly,” Sharon says. “I know Natasha. She’s not mean on purpose at any time.” 

“That’s good to hear,” Tony says, tinkering with a robot. “How are classes?” 

“Good, except for my magical history class. We’re reading about some stupid bullshit human tale and assessing it. I’m currently on my seventh page of ranting.” 

“Academic ranting?” 

“Mostly. I think one or two curse words fell in. How are your classes going?” 

“Eh, alright. People still don’t think that I’m just studying and working harder in engineering classes, but that’s to be expected when your brain technically isn’t all-the-way-your-own.” 

“Fuck them dude,” Sharon says. “I know that you’re gonna kill the game.” 

“Thanks Shar,” Tony responds, smiling. “I gotta go, we’re getting coffee pretty soon. Thanks for talking with me.” 

“Any time, you know that. Love you!” 

“Love you too.” 

He breathes deeply, looking at his options. He chooses red plaid, a long jacket, and gloves. He can hide some of his changes, and that’s what he’s looking to do. Getting on his glasses and ear buds, he walks to the shop. 

Natasha has already commandeered the best table in the shop. She waves to him and he waves back. 

The barista is nice. Her name is Jane, and she tells him that his earrings (small skeletons) are very cute and she wishes she had a pair like that. 

“I found them at the craft store,” Tony admits. 

His drink is four dollars, but he tips her five. She grins and waves bye at him. 

He sits with Natasha, who says that she ordered a caramel frozen drink.

“It’s already cold outside,” Tony teases. 

“Worth it,” Natasha says, sipping some more. “How’s the mint?” 

He’s surprised that she remembers. But he says it’s fine and he even manages to wave at Sam, who smiles and waves back. 

He sets his stuff down. “What should I order? I’m thinking the blueberry or the pumpkin.” 

“Blueberry,” Tony answers. “This shop always goes heavy on the flavoring for pumpkin and it tastes bad sometimes.” 

“You sound like you’re a regular,” Sam says. 

“My cousin Sharon and I used to come here all the time before she went to study abroad,” Tony says. 

“Sharon Carter?” Sam asks, eyes wide. “Holy shit, you have the coolest cousin in the world!” 

“Sam has a bit of a crush on her,” Natasha adds helpfully. Sam flips her off and goes to order his coffee. 

Bucky comes in, holding treats. 

“From Ma,” he adds. “Tony, you like peanut butter?” 

“I can’t say I’ve tried the cookie form of it,” Tony says, taking one. 

It’s...normal. They don’t ask him questions about his stitching or his eyeballs or anything else. They ask him about his favorite colors and least favorite songs, and Natasha actually shares his same sense of humor. 

He finds out that she lives kind of by him. Two blocks down. She knows Ana and Jarvis because they walk their dog in the morning before school and say hi to her when she’s out walking her cat. 

“Your cat is Cinnamon?” Tony blurts. “Oh my god, you’re the reason why Ana wants to get a cat!” 

“Yeah, I guess so,” Natasha responds. “But hey, if you ever wanna come closer to see Cinnamon, feel free.” 

“Same goes for seeing our dog,” Tony says. Friday loves the attention of basically anyone, and Natasha smiles. 

“Definitely. See you on Monday?” 

“I’ll see you on Monday.” 

Tony grins to himself as he gets to his house. He thinks that this is finally a good start.