#is the curse even broken?? for example lol

[herringdoodle]

[visualtaehyun]

I'm not making the same dumb mistake twice in a row so- 'Chop' Anon, please find the long answer to your ask right here! And curse this hellsite for eating asks...

Disclaimer: not a native Thai speaker, still learning 🙏

Anon, my answer is gonna be twofold. The word ชอบ /chaawp/ = 'like' comes up a lot this episode and you can see that it can be used exactly the same as in English, platonically or romantically, it really just depends on context. And as you said, Jane does have the context of catching Ryan staring at him, getting flustered, trying to act nonchalant, talking to himself, zoning out, and generally acting real fucking weird lmao all throughout the episode. It's no wonder that he assumes Ryan's hangry or mad again, even checking for stomach rumbles 😂

The word 'like'

Thai has this fun feature where you don't always need to use pronouns or any other qualifying words to denote who or what you're referring to which can be both a boon cause it simplifies talking by assuming others will know the meaning from a previous or given context (or you intentionally omit that meaning!) and a curse cause it makes translating nuance a bit of a struggle sometimes 🥴

For example, this routinely happens in short question-answer exchanges but I'll let you be the judge:

- Pie: แกชอบป่ะ /gae chaawp bpa/ = You like [it]? - Ryan, only staring at Jane: ชอบ /chaawp/ = [I] like [🤡?]. - Jane, turning around: [🤡?] - Me @ translating stuff like this: 🤡

เขาดูเหมื่อนชอบพี่เจนนะครับ /khao duu meuuan chaawp phi Jane na khrap/ = I'm jealous because Khun Joy keeps hitting on you. lol just kidding subs are right on

- Jane: แบบนี้ ชอบไหมครับ /baaep nee, chaawp mai khrap/ = lit.: Like this/this way, [do you] like [it]? -> this sounds like an odd thing to say to a client in both English and Thai lmao clearly you'd usually ask if it's 'okay' or 'good' or something like that but the script needed to set up Khun Joy's flirty answer - Joy: ชอบตั้งแต่แรกแล้ว /chaawp dtang dtaae raaek laaeo/ = [I've] liked [🤡?] since the beginning.

I'll get back to Ryan's last 'like' at the end~

Jane and pronouns

The second part of my answer is how interesting and, frankly, puzzling I find Jane in how he talks to Ryan. Up until part [2/4] Jane actually completely omits any pronouns with him, as he's done frequently in the past. But when he does use them with Ryan- boy oh boy, he's kinda all over the place this episode! If Ryan wasn't so busy stewing in his confused feelings and jealousy, he might've noticed that Jane keeps flip-flopping between very different choices. Kudos to P'Baimon for catching Jane acting like a lovesick fool too that one time he's smiling at the printer 👀

Here's every single instance of Jane using 1st and 2nd pers. pronouns with Ryan, every other time you read any 1st or 2nd pers. pronouns in the subs in conversation with Ryan, he actually omits them, which is most of the time!

1) When they're unseriously fighting in front of the printer:

เรานี่แหละ ประหลาด /rao nee lae, bpra laat/ เราเป็นเด็กฝึกงานของพี่ /rao bpen dek feuk ngaan khaawng phi/ -> 🫣 that last one got me a bit shy with the ของพี่ /khaawng phi/ (= mine, my [...], lit. phi's [...]) and I think the editor agrees with me there, considering the music cut out lol

2) When Jane discovers the broken bottle debacle and turns to Ryan:

คุณไปรอผมที่ห้อง /khun bpai raaw pom thee haawng/ -> back to formal pronouns again, either because they're not alone or because he's about to scold Ryan or both even

3) When Jane scolds Ryan:

ถ้ามีคนเป็นอะไรขึ้นมา คุณรับผิดชอบไหวหรอ /thaa mee khohn bpen a rai kheun maa, khun rap phit chaawp wai raw/ -> still formal

แล้วมีพี่ให้โทรหาคนเดียวหรอ /laaeo mee phi hai thoh haa khohn diiao raw/ พี่รู้เรื่องนี้คนเดียวหรอ /phi ruu reuuang nee khohn diiao raw/ -> arguably softening his scolding a bit by switching to the more familiar พี่ /phi/ they established at the end of last ep., maybe because of Ryan's voice too which at this point sounds close to tears

And then Ryan is crying 🥺 Oof. Honestly? Jane was actually harsh this time! But rightfully so too, and it's very much in line with his principles and character. And he does immediately apologize for raising his voice and being so harsh, exactly like he told Ryan he would, in ep. 3, if he did wrong by him:

ที่หงุดหงิดเนี่ย เพราะว่าพี่เป็นห่วง /thee ngoot ngit niia, phraw waa phi bpen huuang/ = That [I got so] angry is because I was/am worried. แล้วก็ขอโทษด้วยที่พูดแรง ๆ เมื่อกี้ /laaeo gaaw khaaw thoht duuay thee phuut raaeng raaeng meuua gee/ -> no pronouns here again

This is probably just me being me lol but it's giving Lian harshly scolding Kuea in Cutie Pie when he puts himself in danger mishandling a knife and then immediately softening when Kuea starts crying.

ถ้ามันมีคนได้รับบาดเจ็บ ตัวแกเองนั่นแหละจะเป็นต้นเหตุ /thaa man mee khohn dai rap baat jep, dtuua gae eng nan lae ja bpen dtohn heht/

By this point, I was literally like 'Huh. What even is going on, he's so all over the place in terms of pronoun use, where did this แก come from all of a sudden?' My reading of this is that he's actually just as unsure and confused about Ryan and his feelings for him as Ryan has been all episode.

แก /gae/ is an informal familiar 2nd pers. pronoun that's a little impolite but not nearly as rude as มึง /meung/ and can similarly express closeness with someone you know well, it's used between age mates or for someone younger. In Thai BL, you hear แก /gae/ a lot more from or between girl friends than the rude pronoun of choice between guy friends, มึง /meung/. If you scroll back up, you'll see that Pie called Ryan แก /gae/ as well! The kids are a different story though, they all use a variety of different pronouns amongst each other, depending on context, mood, situation, individual relationship, ... I ain't getting into that lol it would take forever to explain, please no one get any ideas asking me about all of that 🥴

So here we are again with the word 'like'

ผมชอบงานนี้ ชอบที่นี้ /pom chaawp ngaan nee. chaawp thee nee/ แล้วก็ชอบพี่ดว้ย /laaeo gaaw chaawp phi duuay/

Arthur meme meets 😦 emoji

Sometimes Jane looks at Ryan like he's trying to solve a puzzle. It seems like he just realized that they're having two different conversations. But judging from his subtle reactions-- He's not dumb enough to assume that Ryan means it any other way than romantically, considering Ryan's odd behavior all throughout the episode too. Looking at the preview, I think he's gonna refuse to acknowledge Ryan's clearly romantic feelings though, not least of all because HR is already looming in the background, ready to go 🚨!!!

หรือเป็นเพราะผมบอกชอบพี่ไปแล้ว [...] /reuu bpen phraw pom baawk chaawp phi bpai laaeo/ = lit.: Or it's because I've told you I like you [...] -> บอกชอบ /baawk chaawp/ = lit. tell like; tell someone you like them (romantically), confess to liking someone

So! ชอบ /chaawp/ isn't exclusively romantic, same as the English 'like', but there's just no way around how Ryan meant this. And Jane knows it 🌚🌝 Hope my rambles satisfied your curiosity, anon!

[helloalycia]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐕𝐄 [𝐓𝐖𝐎] — 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐄 𝐓𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐎𝐑

one / masterlist / wattpad

summary: when you find yourself in a situation where you want to kiss Jackie, you're not sure you can make the first move. A fact made even harder when Nat is there to tease you about it.

warning/s: none really.

author's note: here's part 2! hope you like it whilst i sort through a ton of wips lol

I nodded along as Taissa was telling me about a colourful bird she'd seen earlier. We were eating some deer stew together outside the cabin, with the other girls settling down for dinner too, and it was basically a five star dinner with what we had out here.

"It was so pretty," Taissa finished. "And I swear it was following me."

I tried not to laugh. "Tai, I think you might have officially just lost it if the highlight of your day was a bird following you."

"Oh, shut up!" she said with a laugh, smacking me on the arm.

"Hey, don't take it out on my dinner!" I said lightheartedly, clutching my bowl of stew tightly with my one good hand.

"Idiot," she mumbled, but was smiling still.

"Hey, guys," Jackie said, joining us. "What did I miss?"

"Tai here was telling me about a pretty bird that wouldn't stop following her," I said with an amused smile, and it wasn't even an attempt at teasing her, but she nudged me again anyway.

"Quit it!" she warned, before giving Jackie a look. "It was so cool, Jackie."

"She's lost her mind," I told Jackie as she sat down opposite us with her dinner.

Jackie chuckled as she let Taissa tell her the story, and I stayed quiet as I heard it again. After Jackie gave her surprisingly positive input that didn't make fun of it, we all finished dinner and were about to get up together when Van called for Taissa, wanting her for something.

"It's okay, you go, I've got it," I told her, holding out my bowl. "Just put yours here."

"Thanks, Y/N," Tai said with a smile before stacking her bowl in mine, then looking to Van. "I'm coming!"

Joining Jackie, the two of us walked to the washing up area together when, suddenly, someone – I think it was Javi – ran past me and made me stumble backwards into Jackie. I bumped my broken arm in the process, making me curse as I inhaled sharply at the shooting pain up my shoulder.

"Watch where you're going!" Jackie yelled after Travis, who was running after his brother for God knew what reason.

"Come here," Jackie said softly, leading me to the steps of the porch of the cabin to sit down.

She took the bowls from my hand and set them to the side before leaning down before me, her hazel eyes searching mine worriedly.

"You okay?" she asked.

I breathed out slowly, trying to imagine the pain leaving my body, but the abruptness of the shove had hurt pretty bad. "Yeah, I think so."

She sighed, shaking her head. "They're jerks."

"It's fine," I said dismissively, knowing it was an accident.

She frowned, eyes flickering between mine, and I was forced to look away because I hated the sudden attention, my cheeks flushing at it. After what felt like forever, she grabbed the bowls from beside me and stacked them in hers.

"I've got this," she said, squeezing my knee comfortingly before standing up.

When she walked away, I let out a quiet breath of relief, not realising how nervous I'd been. So maybe this crush thing wasn't so fun anymore.

—

With crushing on Jackie meant wondering if she even liked me back, a question I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer to. Sometimes I'd feel like she did, whether it be her lingering glances or ability to make me flustered, but then I'd second guess it as her personality and feel stupid for even considering otherwise.

For example, one time I was playing cards with Coach Scott when the blonde found me, asking to join in. So, we let her and played a few rounds of Go Fish before coach's leg was hurting and he left to take a nap.

"You wanna play acorn soccer?" Jackie asked with a playful glint in her eye.

I chuckled at the immediacy of her question. "Sure, why not?"

As we packed the cards away and left them on the side, I glanced around, noticing a few of the other girls were free.

"Should we ask the others?" I asked Jackie before we headed off.

She pretended to consider it. "We could... or we could save the hassle and just stick to us two?"

"Jackie!" I scolded lightheartedly.

"What?" she played along, flashing me a smile. "Someone's just gonna complain and then they'll spoil the fun. I like when it's just us."

I sighed, but gave her a small smile. "Fine. Let's go."

She grinned and led the way, and I had no choice but to follow her. It warmed my heart to know she enjoyed our time together too, but it was also one of those moments where I couldn't tell if I was seeing more into it than there was.

Luckily for me, I received an unbiased opinion on the matter without even asking for it. After Jackie and I played some acorn soccer together, we returned to the cabin before dinner and Jackie left to go catch up with Shauna. As I hung around to help with the fire, Nat found me.

"Hey," I greeted her with a smile. "You just come back from hunting?"

"Uh-huh," she said, before studying me curiously. "I have a question for you, Y/L/N."

Intrigued, I nodded encouragingly. "Shoot."

She knitted her eyebrows together with curiosity. "Since when did you and Jackie become so friendly?"

I shrugged, tossing some wood into the fire.

"Ever since she's been hanging out with you, she's been... nicer," she decided. "What d'you do?"

I gave her a disapproving look. "She was never mean, Nat, c'mon."

Nat weighed it up. "I guess, but sometimes she could be a real b–"

"Nat!" I smacked her arm gently, making her laugh.

"Look, all I'm saying is that girl is different," she said, motioning to the blonde who was chatting with Shauna, thankfully not in earshot of us. "And she definitely likes something about you."

"What can I say? I'm pretty likeable," I said jokingly.

She smirked knowingly. "Not like that, Y/N."

I lost my smile as she left me to it, wondering if she was right. I'd always thought it, but maybe if Nat was seeing it too then I wasn't going insane?

—

A few days later, I was helping Mari to hang some wet clothes on the washing line we'd strung up when something caught my attention.

"And where've you been?" Van asked someone, and I wouldn't have been intrigued if it weren't for the nonchalant response.

"Nowhere," Jackie replied, clearing her throat.

Curious, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Jackie returning to the cabin from somewhere or the other. The strange bit was seeing her clothes a little dirty, earth staining her denim shorts and white shirt. It was very unlike her to be so unkempt and dishevelled, from the mess of her hair to the mud on her nails. As the only one of us who seemed to actually still care how she looked, this was very out of the ordinary.

"Seriously?" I asked, reading Van's thoughts.

Jackie shrugged, wiping her hands on her shorts before heading around back, no doubt to wash off. I exchanged confused looks with Van before resuming with my job. Weird.

—

Struggling to sleep was something that hadn't really gotten better as time went on. You'd think it would considering it had been a month since we'd crashed here, but it was quite literally a hit and miss to whether I could actually fall asleep or not. And even then, at most, I'd get around five hours.

Tonight wasn't any different, and I was getting tired of the tossing and turning and forcing my eyes closed, so I accepted defeat and got up from my spot to sit in front of the fire. It was getting a little chillier in the air, the nights a little colder, and I feared what would happen when summer was over. But I tried not to overthink it right now, instead watching the wood burn a hot orange, embers crumbling off in the fireplace.

I sat there, hoping I'd succumb to fatigue soon enough, and then ten minutes passed and I heard movement from behind me.

"What are you doing?" It was Jackie, and she was yawning as she took a seat beside me, blanket hugging her.

Feeling bad, I said, "You don't need to–"

"Are you in pain?" she asked, waking up some more as she studied my expression.

"No," I breathed out, to which she relaxed. "Just couldn't sleep. Did I wake you?"

Another yawn, this time she tried to stifle it, and she shook her head. I wasn't stupid though, a frown on my lips.

"You can go back to sleep," I reassured her, in case she felt any moral obligation to be here.

Sly smile on her lips, she tilted her head to look at me. "Eager to get rid of me?"

I rolled my eyes, a smile tugging at my lips, and she chuckled quietly as to not wake anyone.

She nudged me with her shoulder, taking on a serious approach. "What's up?"

I stared back at the fire, finding it easier to tell the truth when I wasn't looking at her. "Just a lot on my mind."

"Like?"

Sighing quietly, I said, "This. My arm. Being rescued. It's been a month, Jackie."

She fell quiet, exhaling softly. "I know."

I wasn't sure why, but hearing the defeat in her voice only confirmed my fears – that we might be stuck here forever. Frowning, I looked down at my arm, remembering the day we crashed. The day everything broke down. The last day of our old life, but the first of our new one. How depressing.

"I had a dream about a cheeseburger last night," Jackie suddenly spoke, surprising me at the randomness of her comment.

"What?"

"Yeah," she continued like it was normal, nodding, "it was fresh from the grill, had cold lettuce, pickles, onions, tomatoes, that really good burger sauce with the bits of pickle in–"

"Jackie," I stopped her.

She looked to me, confused and almost offended that I'd interrupted. "What?"

Bizarre, that's what she was, and it made me laugh. Worried I'd woken up the others, I looked around, thankful that everybody was still fast asleep, and looked back to Jackie with a stifled smile.

"What are you going on about?" I asked her in a low voice.

The fire was casting shadows across her face, making the glimmer of gold in her hazel eyes shimmer as she spoke. "There were fries too. Hot and crispy and perfectly salted."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically, though smiling. "Now you've just made me hungry."

She laughed quietly, looking to the fire with approval. "Better than sad."

My smile didn't disappear as I admired her profile, the curve of her jaw, the soft smile imprinted on her face, her hair that was still messy from being asleep. I could have watched her forever, sat there like that, but then I noticed something stuck in her hair. A remnant of a leaf or something.

"You've got something in your hair," I said in a hushed voice, and she lifted a brow as she glanced at me.

"Huh?"

Figuring it was easier to get it out myself, I leaned forward and used my fingers to gently remove the leaf from behind her ear. She stayed still as I did, then I flicked it in the fire before looking back to her, realising she was watching me closely. It could have been the quiet of the night, the crackling of the fire, the proximity between us, but I was amazed by her beauty, eyes taking in her whole expression.

I was close enough to make out the freckles dusting her nose, her earth-coloured eyes which were focused on mine, even the pinkness of her lips as she licked them subconsciously, making my heart race in my chest. It would have been so easy to lean forward, to close the gap and kiss her, but I was terrified. What if Nat was wrong?

What if she was right?

No, I wasn't bold enough to make the first move. If Jackie wanted this – which, the longer she didn't move away from me made me feel like she did – she'd have to do it. Like the wimp I was, I pulled back, looking away. She sighed as she looked back to the fire, and if I couldn't sleep before, I definitely couldn't now.

"Thanks for staying up with me," I said, "but you should sleep."

"So should you," she retorted.

"I promise, I'll try," I said, before standing up and returning to my bed.

She did the same, the two of us tucking ourselves in a few beds over from one another. My heart was hammering away as I laid down, thoughts of Jackie infiltrating my head.

"Goodnight," she whispered.

I swallowed thickly. "Goodnight."

—

If wanting to kiss Jackie Taylor one time wasn't bad enough, having Nat tease me was even worse. She never outright said anything to me since telling me what she thought that one time, but she was certainly enjoying watching me squirm. Especially one evening, when we were all settled around the campfire.

I had my blanket wrapped around me as I sat close to the fire, appreciating the warmth. It wasn't super cold out tonight, but it was comforting nonetheless. Nat was sat on my right, a space between us, and then Jackie appeared, glancing down at me with a smile.

"This seat taken?" she asked.

Before I could even answer, Nat glanced at me with a stifled smirk, and I knew what she was thinking which made me embarrassed all over again.

Trying to ignore Nat, I answered Jackie, "No, go for it."

She grinned and sat in the space between us, and I gave her the other side of my blanket which she wrapped around her shoulders. It wasn't huge though, and she was forced to sit a little closer, close enough for me to make out the smell of the perfume she still spritzed on every morning for a sense of normalcy. It was distracting, as was the feeling of her arm and leg pressed up to mine, and I willed myself to snap out of it.

Suddenly, some of the girls were cheering on the other side of the fire, and then I tuned in when I realised they'd agreed to play a game of truth or dare. Nothing like a typical dumb party game to get everyone's minds off being stranded in the wilderness, right?

Admittedly, it was a little funny going around the circle and watching the stupid dares involving the girls drinking moonshine and flashing themselves, or listening to the amusing truths about someone stealing money from their parents or lying on school tests. For a moment, it was like we really were just at a dumb party.

Then it was my turn to go and Mari asked me if I wanted to pick truth or dare.

"Hmm," I thought aloud, being sure to choose wisely. "I guess I pick dare. I mean, how bad can it be when I only have one working arm?"

"Wanna bet?" Van threatened playfully, a devilish smile on her face which made all the other girls laugh.

Smiling with amusement, I didn't doubt her ability to make a fool of me, broken arm or not. "Damn, truth it is."

Everybody fell quiet as they thought of something to ask, and I wasn't worried in the slightest until Lottie decided to speak.

"This is such a go-to, I'm surprised it hasn't been asked," she said with a chuckle, before looking at me. "Do you have a crush right now? Maybe a long lost love back home?"

My smile was still on my lips, though wanting to disappear as I blinked and became acutely aware of everyone's eyes on me, especially the blonde beside me who was very much the root of my crush.

"Nope," I said as convincingly as I could, making everyone groan at my boring answer.

I truly believed I'd gotten away with it until I looked to Jackie beside me as she was next, but instead caught sight of Nat's mischievous grin beside her. Swallowing thickly, I pretended she wasn't there and looked back to Jackie who was already considering her answer as Mari asked the question.

"Truth," she chose excitedly.

"Oh, I've got a good one," Van said eagerly, before fixing Jackie with a curious look. "What's the most disgusting thing you've done since being here?"

A few girls snickered, and I hid a smile as I awaited Jackie's answer. Everybody knew Jackie acted like a princess, so this must've been good.

Jackie thought about it for a moment, looking up in consideration, before she scrunched her nose with disgust. "Okay, nobody kill me," she disclaimed, piquing everyone's interest, "but I accidentally used someone else's toothbrush one time."

Almost instantly, everybody began to talk over one another, demanding to know whose toothbrush she'd used, but Jackie wasn't having it.

"I don't know whose brush it was!" she exclaimed, embarrassed and avoiding everyone's eyes. "I answered your truth and there's no follow up questions. Also, you should really keep your things out of the communal areas. Just saying."

I suppressed the urge to laugh as a few girls scoffed with disbelief. Jackie glanced at me, both embarrassed and amused, a smile on her lips.

"Okay, Nat, you're up next," Mari moved on. "Truth or dare?"

Nat leaned back on her hands as she answered nonchalantly. "Truth."

"I've got a good one," Shauna said, entertained smile aimed at Nat. "Who do you think has lied tonight?"

Everybody began to 'ooh' at her question, knowing it would be the start of some drama which we had so little of out here. I didn't consider it much, until Nat answered without missing a beat.

"Y/N."

I widened my eyes at her response, looking past Jackie and to a smirking Nat. Everybody was watching the two of us like a tennis match.

"What? Why?" I asked Nat calmly, not wanting to betray anything.

Nat only shrugged indifferently. "Dunno. It just can't be true that you don't have a crush."

I kept my cool as I said, "Well, it is."

"Maybe," Nat said, "but I don't believe it."

"Well, you're wrong," I said a little too quickly.

She laughed, unbothered by my defensiveness. "Okay. It's just my opinion."

My cheeks were flaming as I looked to the fire with embarrassment.

"Doesn't matter anyway," Nat added as an afterthought, enjoying tormenting me. "There'd be no way of you letting your crush know. It's not like they're here, right?"

I hoped Jackie couldn't feel the heat exuding from my skin as I sat there silently, distracting myself with my bottle of water and unable to respond to Nat's teasing. Thankfully, the subject was changed with the next person's turn, and I reminded myself to kill Nat later. She was enjoying this a little too much.

Once we'd gone around the circle once, it was getting late and a little nippy outside, so a few girls began to leave. Nat was one of them, winking at me playfully as she walked past, and just as I rolled my eyes, Jackie looked to me with confusion.

"What was that about?"

"Just Nat being Nat," I mumbled.

Unconvinced, she continued to stare at me with furrowed brows. "What was she doing earlier? Why did she say you were lying?"

"What?" I said, hoping to buy some time as I thought of a reason, because I definitely didn't expect her to say anything about it. "Oh, nothing. She was just trying to be funny."

Jackie licked her lips before pursing them. I thought she'd drop it, but then she narrowed her eyes at me suspiciously.

"Is it Nat? Your supposed crush?"

I almost choked on my spit. "What?"

Her expression softened. "Is that why she was teasing you? Because you like her?"

Shaking my head instantly, I said, "No, no. That's literally not it at all. If anything, Nat is a pain in my arse."

Jackie hummed quietly, looking back at the fire which was on its way to burning out. I exhaled with relief, finding it ironic that she thought it was Nat who I liked. Oh, how wrong she was.

"So, whose toothbrush was it?" I asked, changing the subject, knowing she was lying earlier.

She paused. "Misty's."

I snorted with amusement. "Yeah, she would've killed you if she found out."

Jackie smiled in agreement, hiding her laugh. I couldn't seem to look away, lost in her stunning profile, lit up by the fire. It was deja vu. Her blonde hair appeared golden, her eyes a kaleidoscope of green and brown, and her lips... they were pink and soft and I wanted to kiss her again, just like last time.

She suddenly turned to look at me, soft smile gracing her lips, and I was too warm in this blanket, our bodies so close that I wouldn't be surprised if she could feel the heat from my skin, a consequence of how nervous she was making me with a simple glance. All I had to do was lean in, but I couldn't.

"I think you're lying too," she muttered with amusement.

Dumbfounded, I asked, "What?"

She clarified, "About not having a crush."

I raised my eyebrows, making her chuckle quietly before patting my leg.

"C'mon, it's cold," she said, before standing up and leaving me with me the blanket, probably assuming I would follow her.

But I was too surprised at what she'd said. That was a hint, right? She knew? She knew I liked her?

Should I have kissed her?

—

I wet some scrap material in the lake, my only source for something cold in the wilderness, and carefully wrapped my broken but healing arm in it. It acted as a terrible ice pack, but I sighed with relief at the cool feeling.

It had been a month and a half since we'd been stranded, a month and a half since my arm broke. I couldn't be sure it was healing correctly, since it still hurt when I moved it and looked a little weird, but the swelling was gone and I didn't need to rely so much on the limited medication we had.

Still, I couldn't do everything I wanted to and I really missed having two working arms. Even now, as I looked out at the lake and saw some of the others swimming in the water, I was jealous. God, I was so bored. Even a swim would be nice, but I physically couldn't.

Instead, I took a spot by the shore and laid on my back, using my arm to shield the sun from my eyes and have a little nap. I didn't completely doze off, just enough to tune out my surroundings for a little while, but then I felt a shoe gently kick at my leg.

"Huh? What?" I asked tiredly, lowering my arm.

Jackie was stood above me, eager smile on her face. I hated the way the butterflies began to swirl in my stomach, all because the sun crafted her silhouette so perfectly. Stupid. Crush.

"I've got a surprise for you," she said.

I sat upright, rubbing my eye. "What does that even mean?"

"Come find out," she exclaimed, before grabbing my hand without warning and pulling me up.

"Jackie–"

"Close your eyes," she instructed with a suppressed grin.

I gave her a disapproving look. "Seriously?"

She shook my arm encouragingly. "C'mon! You're gonna love it. I hope."

Very curious and also still a little out of it from my nap, I decided to entertain her and closed my eyes. She didn't let go of my hand as she dragged me somewhere carefully. I wasn't sure where at first, but then the ground was full of grass and sticks, and leaves were skimming my bare arms the further she led me, and I guessed we were back in the woods.

"Okay, we're here," she said suddenly, stopping abruptly. "Open."

I sighed, opening my eyes and blinking a few times. We were at the usual spot we played acorn soccer in, and I didn't know what the surprise was, but then I saw it. It was some sort of goal or net made of sticks twisted together in an awkwardly shaped dome, about the height of my knee and the width of my outstretched arms.

"What is this?" I asked with an amazed smile, running forward to study it closely.

"You gotta have a target, right?"

I laughed. "This is sick, Jackie!"

She chuckled from behind me. "I'm glad you like it."

"Wait," I realised, turning around to look at her. "Is this what you've been doing?"

It explained why she would sometimes return to the cabin looking a little messy, but I never expected her to be building this. DIY wasn't really her thing.

"Why? You been keeping tabs?" she teased, crossing her arms.

I sighed softly, thinking back to the first time I'd said that to her. Funnily enough, in this very spot.

"You're such an idiot," I said, rolling my eyes playfully, before moving forward to hug her.

She returned it before asking, "Wanna test it out?"

I stared at her with an obvious look. "Duh!"

She grinned and we returned to our usual positions for acorn soccer, though this time we had an actual 'net' and it raised the stakes in the best way possible. I still couldn't believe she'd done this for me.

As I dribbled the acorn 'ball', throwing in some fancy footwork just to annoy Jackie, she put her foot out and I tripped over it, hitting the ground instantly. It didn't hurt, though was definitely surprising, but I thought it would be funny to make Jackie feel bad anyway.

"Ow!" I shouted, rolling onto my back and pretending to clutch my broken arm.

Her expression transformed into one of concern as she gasped. "Oh, shit, are you okay?! I didn't mean to–"

I pushed my foot out slightly before she could finish, easily knocking her forward onto the ground, landing right next to me with a thud. Laughter spilled from my mouth almost instantly, only increasing when she lifted her head to playfully glare at me, a dirt mark on her cheek.

"You asked for it," I said knowingly, before sitting upright.

I offered her my hand as she sat up too, legs intertwined with mine as she wiped her hands onto her shorts.

"Did I actually hurt you?" she asked, tilting her head towards me with a smile.

"You did not," I assured her with amusement, making her sigh with defeat.

"Not funny," she pointed out, which was hard to believe when her eyes were sparkling with anything but seriousness.

I snickered, before my eyes fell to the dirt mark on her cheek. "You've got a little something..."

Motioning to my cheek, she furrowed her brows and lifted her hand to her own to try and get it, but she missed.

"What?"

"Just right–"

"Here?"

I scoffed lightheartedly before using my thumb to get rid of it for her, wiping it away in a few swipes. I had to cup her jaw as I did, not even realising what I was doing until she exhaled softly and her breath dusted my lips. I paused, eyes flickering to hers, and that feeling came back, along with the nerves that always accompanied them. She looked between my eyes before hers fell to my lips, and mine did the same. I wanted to lean in, so so badly, but as usual, my body became paralysed with fear. Why was this so hard?

Like the wimp I was, I was about to let go of her jaw and pull away, ready to pretend this never happened. But she surprised me when she spoke up.

"Just do it."

I blinked, surprised, briefly meeting her half-lidded gaze, and that was all the confirmation I needed. Pushing away my fears, I finally leaned in, kissing her. She sighed into my mouth, moving her hand to the back of my neck to pull me even closer, and I had goosebumps all over at the feeling of her lips on mine. It was slow, long-awaited and wonderful, and I regretted not making a move sooner.

When we pulled apart, my heart was racing and I opened my eyes, only to be submerged in pools of hazel.

"Getting a kiss from you is like pulling teeth, I swear," she murmured, lips curving into a satisfied smile.

Flushing with embarrassment, I cleared my throat and let go of her. "Nothing stopped you from making the first move, y'know."

"And do all the work?" she asked rhetorically. "I left so many hints. I thought you would've taken them."

"I wasn't sure," I admitted, lips still tingling. She rolled her eyes teasingly, but I continued, "I couldn't be sure. Not with you. Not for me."

"You still sound doubtful," she noticed, smile fading a little.

I wasn't sure what to say because a small part of me still was. Accepting that Jackie Taylor had wanted me to kiss her was something I wasn't sure I'd ever get used to.

Suddenly, she kissed me again, brief but enough to have me second guessing my own name. When she pulled away, a knowing smile was on her lips.

"How about now?" she asked, and all I could do was swallow hard with warm cheeks.

She laughed before helping me up off the ground. We dusted ourselves off and then she held out her hand towards me.

"Let's head back," she said, and I smiled as I accepted her hand.

We walked back to the cabin, me personally feeling like I was on cloud nine because the girl I liked actually liked me back.

"So, the thing with Nat," Jackie brought up as we headed back. "The crush and the lying thing. That was about me?"

Oh, God, why was everything so embarrassing?

"Yes," I admitted reluctantly. "She was teasing me because she knew I wouldn't make a move."

This made Jackie chuckle. "She wasn't wrong."

I shot her a sideways glance. "Thanks for the reminder."

"Oh, c'mon," she said between laughter, "don't pout."

I rolled my eyes lightheartedly. "It's fine, don't worry. Let's just all laugh at Y/N because she couldn't kiss the girl, ha, ha, ha."

Jackie kept laughing, though I knew it wasn't out of spite. Besides, at least I'd finally made a move. That was all that mattered.

At least, it did for the next two minutes until we reached the cabin and I saw Nat sat on the steps, taking note of the two of us holding hands.

"And here we go," I whined to myself.

Jackie's smile, still on her face from the amusement of my inability to make the first move, faded as she glanced between Nat and I.

"Hey, Nat!" she called to the blonde, confusing me and earning her attention.

As soon as Nat looked our way properly, Jackie let go of my hand and kissed me, cupping my face between her hands  and taking her time. I was so surprised when she pulled away, as was Nat, not expecting her to be so outright with it.

"What–"

"Anything to add?" Jackie cut me off, instead looking to Nat with a quirked brow that dared her to tease me.

Nat shook her head. "Not at all. Huh."

Satisfied, Jackie smiled sweetly and I was sure my face was hot with embarrassment. I probably should've seen that coming, but also, how could I have?

"Good job," Nat said to me as she walked past us, impressed smile on her lips.

I blinked, before looking to Jackie. "Erm, thanks?"

"Hey, she may have been right, but only I get to tease you about it," she said in a way that sounded like she was joking but I knew she wasn't.

I breathed out, small smile on my face. I may have been the shy one, but at least I had Jackie to rely on. It's not like I'd ever have to make the first move again anyway. The hard part was over.

[wolke17]

I like the hidden inventory arc because it’s the only arc where horrible atrocities happen but they’re all caused by humans instead of curses.

the time vessel organization, the jujutsu higher ups, toji, the villagers who torture little children, the 3 big jujutsu families, tengen and everyone who operates in their behalf (yes, this even includes yaga) - they’re all complicit in the atrocities that geto says “everyone knows about and that are nothing out of the ordinary”.

but most sorcerers dont question these atrocities, they’re trained to focus on curses as the single source of all evil after all. and yuuji is a prime example for that (even though he is one of my faves).

he saves people indiscriminately, it doesn’t matter if said person has done horrible things to other people. he wants to save them on the single basis of them being human. but he fights mercilessly against curses, even against those who have human sentiment and feel love or comradeship for their companions.

in a world where young people are indoctrinated to fight curses as the sole source of evil, geto is the first one to halt and question “whom do I do all that for?”. he spirals, radicalizes, leaves to change the broken system from outside - but fails miserably.

however by doing so, he inspires his best friend to change the system from within - his friend who’s been so strong all his life, he didn’t see much value in the weak and relied on geto as his conscience until he saw what the system did to his precious friend.

again it’s unfortunate that the only thing this arc is popular for is the KFC breakup but whatever lol.

[dawnbreakerluna]

I really like this theory! Because I was thinking the same during the last few chapters when we finally get a glimpse of Sylus and MCs memories. This is the link - https://x.com/millecreupe/status/1813809147508613476?t=2YsqG032kliHKY18Z4QKZg&s=19

The way I'm so dedicated to this cause that I ended up making a Twitter account just to view this.

Let me preface that I am a bit freaked out right now because everything OP wrote about in this thread is pretty much accurately aligned with every specific detail I've predicted/theorized about Sylus and his purpose of changing fate/breaking cycles/etc. I've delayed making any posts about lore because I genuinely don't want to go back into the story chapters to take screenshots and shit, it's very tedious to me LOL 😭😭😭😭😭 I promise I remember what I can, even if it's not miniscule details, I just take away the important things!

(Side note: I've previously predicted/prophesized things before that have come true & I'm a little spooked by it. I don't like to put things out there unless I'm super passionate about a subject LMFAO)

[Warning: VERY LONG info dump/theory post ahead!]

Often when it comes to unveiling or creating monsters, there is always a price to pay. That's the common formula for any story involving someone who has an alternate form or is on the verge of becoming something non-human. It takes a special kind of trigger - often, it's intense emotional states - to unleash a creature or be granted a uniquely regal power. (ex. Eren from AoT, Nero in DMC5, Ignis in Final Fantasy 15)

I'm going to follow the evidence listed in OP's thread for my references + additional responses to the thread that are relevant, which I will link here for easy clickback! (Thank you so much again anon!)

I want to dive into one of the examples I listed first before I proceed. (Light spoilers ahead, and iffy details since it's been so long since I played the game.) While Ignis doesn't have an alternate form whatsoever, there's a DLC in FF15 where you have the opportunity to play as him during the climatic event of main story. Essentially, this would involve Ignis changing the planned fate of the protagonist where he would end up sacrificing himself in the very end to save his world and his people. Ignis pretty much defies that fate, going against godly forces and sacrificing a part of himself that ends up changing the canon ending. In short: Ignis saves the protagonist, everybody else, and everything's great. Yay!

I'm a broken record at this point by saying Sylus' involvement is going to defy fate and interrupt the timelines. TLDR; He's going to ultimately save MC from her curse and break the cycles, no matter the cost.

First, let's discuss Sylus' Evol (power). Energy manipulation can mean a lot of things, though as far as the story has shown us, this means he can bend anything/anyone at will through energetic binds. Also, he can know someone's deepest desires, which is activated when his right eye glows.

At a certain point in Chapter 9 (or 2.1), Sylus mentions something about the MC's Evol being weaker/not as strong as before. While we know Energy Resonance is the MC's power, there seems to be something more at play when it comes to it. It's a likely possibility that the MC herself is more powerful beyond resonating with others, perhaps to the point of causing re/destruction.

I like what OP says in part 3 of the thread: "I assumed MC didn't kill him but instead resonated with Sylus, making his self healing ability double in power, AND at the same time directly **pouring the energy of her aether core into the core the he would be implanted, forcibly reshaping a "heart" in his body."

[Previous quote was in alignment to: "Sylus turned into a wanderer. And if mc died and didn't kill him there, he might completely turn into a wanderer..."]

It's hard to deter me from the belief that in the flashback we saw towards the end of 9.2 that Sylus was literally in a Wanderer form. The arm that moves and reaches out to MC is a lot bigger than her own and when looked at closer, you can make out a textured hand with claws. You can see his palm held out faced upwards, and a weapon floating(?) just atop the center of it.

[10/25 UPDATE: The last time I touched this post was back in July, LMAO. This has been sitting in my drafts for months, but now with the Sylus Translation Project, I'm happy to add it to this mini dissertation.]

Here are some points from the Reddit post that struck my interest the most:

[Changed Facts] Changes how Sylus's powers work: specifically, there are invisible shackles inside of his body that prevent him from absorbing even more power. There is not a tether that prevents him from "tapping into" more power. This is a fundamental power difference and has created a complete misunderstanding about how his powers truly work amongst English-only speakers in the global community.

[Missing Fact] Sylus's Aether Core works by him invading and taking over consciousness; he does not merely perform basic mind control, it's actually far more insidious and terrifying.

[Power Nerf] Sylus's powers are actually described as "all-powerful and all-encompassing" but this was somehow reduced into merely blocking exits.

I encourage you to read the entire post in full, for it shifts so much about Sylus' character. Though for me personally, it only justifies all my speculations and conclusions about his character even beyond mistranslation. I will repeat myself over and over and OVER again: Sylus is beyond powerful, way more than we even know and I'm honestly just waiting for Infold to do something to show this grand transformation or show of power.

With these fixed translation points, it makes sense why he's so desperate to resonate with MC. A few comments on the Reddit post have the same speculation I did that it's possible him and MC have the same Aether Cores in their bodies. [OP responded to a comment with: "MC hears things like "Devour," "He's yours," "It belongs to you," I almost wonder if it's actually because they share two halves of a single Aether Core…"] [[THIS I AGREE WITH HEAVILY.]] If this is the case, I don't doubt that Sylus knows this, but he would rather MC find this out on her own due to some morale of integrity, building her inner strength, etc.

TLDR; Her resonating with him would unleash those shackles. I also don't think it's amiss that MC also has some kind of shackles, but that's just me thinking of other possible scenarios. Everything is so vague with this story because we've only been fed so much tidbits.

But one thing's for sure... I really, really think these two are the true fated pair, to a certain degree. And why it's difficult for them to resonate is due to the fact that they both wield a power that can shift the world, the universe... everything altogether.

[akiizayoi4869]

I just read the newest chapter and it was perfect! I know I’m probably sounding like a broken record but I love the Ursa and Azula moments so much. I don’t know what exactly your plan is for Ursa following Ba Sing Se as to whether she’ll stay with the group or travel alone or be kidnapped but I hope she stays with them. And Sokka and Azula are reunited!! Awww!!

Because I haven’t been giving as many headcanons as I should here are some Ursa and Azula themed ones

1. Ursa shares old stories about Azula and Azula hates it but she’s also impressed that her mom remembered so much

2. On that note, Ursa remembers a lot from when Azula was a child. She’ll prepare fruit a certain way or get a certain kind of food that she knows Azula liked when she was this age the first time.

3. If Azula does have a childish moment around Ursa, Azula practically clings to the woman showing her genuine love and caring for her.

4. Going off of your fic, Ursa continues to snap at Azula whenever she curses and it drives Azula insane especially when Sokka starts piggy backing off of it.

Glad that you liked it, anon! Happy to hear that you liked the Azula and Ursa moments too. Things aren't perfect between them obviously, but there will definitely be plenty of more moments between the two of them. Oh she's staying with them😂. After everything they just went through, they probably won't want Ursa to be left alone. Plus, Azula doesn't want that either, even if she'll never say it out loud. She finally has a chance to talk with Ursa about everything that happened before she vanished, she's not about to let this opportunity go to waste. Besides, the Gaang can use some adult supervision lmao. Especially with a 6 year old with them. Yep, she's finally been saved! Although Sokka won't really be fine for a while after this.

Azula finds it embarrassing but at the same time she secretly likes it because it proves that Ursa really does love her and never saw her as a monster if she remembered all of these old memories with fondness in her voice as she tells the others about them.

She makes Azula's favorite foods whenever she's in one of her moods or throwing a tantrum.

Yep, and it's a feeling that she's not really used to at all, meanwhile Ursa cherishes each and every one of those moments.

Yes, yes she does lol. Ursa is her mother after all, and as such she would definitely not be ok with her child cursing, especially when the child in question looks like a six year old🤣. Honestly, even if Azula was her actual age Ursa still probably wouldn't be ok with it lol. And yep, Sokka follows Ursa's example, much to Azula's annoyance😂.

[ouatsnark]

hi i'm back again! just saw some more bs lol. someone said hook's sacrifice in 5A wasn't heroic and he still cursed emma's family to die and even though he died it's didn't make him less verbally abusive or cruel (?) and it was parallelling regina in season 2 when she had to clean up her own mess and it was a step in the right direction and she was cleaning up her mess (she only did that because henry was gonna die she not care about everyone else) but yet hook cleaning up his mess isn't

Well, first of all I would ask them “how is this Hook’s mess?”

Killian didn’t ask for the darkness. He didn’t want it. He was afraid he’d be corrupted by it too easily considering his past. He knew he would have rather died than do what he did as the dark one.

And Killian Jones didn’t create the darkness or the dark ones either. Killian Jones didn’t want the dark ones to walk the earth again: the dark ones wanted that! So it was the dark ones manipulating, using and bending Killian to get what they wanted.

I'm going to cut her down with Excalibur's enchanted blade, and the darkness will be vanquished forever. - Emma 5x08

Even if you consider the curse as Killian’s mess… Killian sacrificing himself wasn’t only to stop the curse but it was to eradicate the darkness/dark ones forever. So therefore I completely reject the idea that Killian was cleaning up his own mess. He died so they would be free of the dark ones.

And this absolutely does not parallel Regina in Season 2 for three reasons:

Regina wasn’t cursed with darkness, she chose this path of her own free will. Killian was cursed with darkness and he was being controlled.

Regina didn’t go through with it because she’d have lost Henry. If her plans hadn’t been thwarted then everyone would be dead right now. She just wanted what she wanted at everyone’s expense including Henry’s. S5 was NOT what Killian Jones wanted and NOT something he would have ever done (it was the darkness).

Regina didn’t die. She didn’t submit herself to torture and believe that her suffering was justified. It was actually the opposite. She pitied herself. Killian sacrificed himself for everyone including his enemy and then went on to be tortured to protect them and believed he deserved everything he got because of his weakness at not being able to, at first, reject the dark ones control.

The ONLY moment this comes anywhere near paralleling with Regina in S2 was Killian’s “LET ME DIE A HERO! THAT'S THE MAN I WANT YOU TO REMEMBER, PLEASE!" line. And since the show considers Regina redeemed, guess what losers (the RAs), this is the show redeeming Killian. Only this time they did it right.

I know this is a broken record but I’m gonna say it again: This is just another example of how hypocritical the Regina Apologists are because if what Killian said or did while cursed with literal darkness is unforgivable and doesn’t absolve him of any of it… then how is Regina absolved of all the crimes she committed against the Charmings and Emma and Henry when she goes on to be verbally and physically abusive, even after her so called redemption, and she wasn’t even cursed?

[asteriass]

Swallow Knights Tales

Elsewhere, I was originally making a post that was going to say something along the lines of:

“Sometimes what tempts me to pick up an action manhwa is simply cuz the characters are goodlooking, for example Swallow Knights Tales” 

But as I was taking the pictures of said good looking characters to put in the post, I noticed the series had a romance tag on certain sites. Curious, I looked it up on MU to confirm it and then I just fell down the rabbit hole of Swallow Knights Tales’s NUMEROUS adaptations 💀

Like, the series seems to be based on a popular novel series from the early 2000s (which has a currently ongoing sequel novel series too) and it has seen republications and multiple discontinued adaptations throughout the years 😭😭

- From what I could gather the first Manhwa adaptation of the franchise, called SKT +, published in 2007, got discontinued after 10 volumes cause it was apparently not made from the author’s permission? Not sure about the details, since that is as far as what the fandom wiki mentions [I’ve read that in terms of writing the adaptation was nice, however, apparently certain parts of the fan base didn’t find the art appealing (Oof… ☠️)]

- Later on, in 2010, it got an audio drama, SKT Audio Drama [The only thing I could find out about it was the music was too loud apparently & you couldn’t hear the actors properly so fans were unhappy about that part. Once again, don’t know much else]

- And then it got a manwha again in 2011, under the title Swallow Knights Tales Official Comics. But that got discontinued too cause while apparently the art was nice, it wasn’t well written/it didn’t actually follow the novel properly (seems you can still find reminants of discourse around it on twitter lol?)

- And finally, in 2023, it finally got adapted again, under the title Swallow Knights Tales, and it is currently ongoing on NAVER webtoon (& this is the adaptation I was personally familiar with)

I’m happy to see that atleast the adaptation curse(?) has been broken from the looks of it lmao 🤒

ANYWAYS, in the end, I never even managed to find out whether this actually had romance or not…. ☠️ I’m gonna guess, no…?? (Though, do correct me if I’m wrong!)

However, y’know, atleast I did succeed in my INITIAL goal a bit. As I got to view MC’s beauty in (almost?) every adaptation/work in the franchise. He’s beautiful ❤️🤧

[yanderefan-kimi]

Going to keep this going with vampires now. What got you so interested in vampires in the first place? What are some of your favorite vampire tropes? And your least liked tropes? And what are some of your favorite vampire media/characters? And your least liked vampire media/characters?

Oh gee, I just ranted so much over yanderes the other day, time to rant about another one of my special interests! Just keep in mind that I'm not as informed about this trope (...species?) as I am about yandere characters, so I'll just be talking about my subjective interests!

Again, this will probably get pretty long so the rest will be under the cut!

What got you so interested in vampires in the first place?

...Would you believe me if I said I got into vampires out of spite...?

Once upon a time, I consumed uhh copious amounts of indie chicklit stories on sites like Wattpad and Inkitt. There are some tropes more popular than others on those sites, and one of the most popular was werewolves/omegaverse. One or two stories was fine, but I wasn't a huge fan so I struggled to find things I was interested in. So then I got to thinking... where are the vampire stories?

It reminded me of when Twilight was popular and so many people had those vampire vs. werewolves fan wars. I never got into Twilight (only ever watched the first movie) but in case you couldn't tell, I like vampires more lol

I just think that sucking blood from someone is rather intimate and awesome. And the angst potential of not wanting to be a monster, but having to search out blood to survive, of not wanting to be feared or hunted, but knowing they'll never belong anywhere is unmatched. Wolves travel in packs, but vampires are often lonely people - many of which don't remember what it's like to be human anymore and I am eating it up.

Oh, to be an innocent human maiden who wanders into the decrepit mansion of a lonely vampire lord... sighs dreamily.

So yeah... I got into vampires thru chicklits!

What are some of your favorite vampire tropes?

I want my vampires like I want my yanderes... full of misery and contradictions. I love it when vampires can't easily go out into the sun (yet yearn for the light), I love it when vampires don't want to drink blood (but they can't help themselves), I love it when vampires stay trapped in the past (because both their minds and body cannot age anymore.)

To give some specific examples from media...

In the Once Upon a Broken Heart trilogy (also know as the Magnificent North trilogy) vampires are former humans who have been Turned after getting healed by a vampire bite. Vampires have two different kinds of bites - one that is for feeding and one that is for Turning. If a human who is Turning feeds soon enough, then they'll Turn into a vampire, but if not - while their wounds will be completely healed - they'll end up falling into a deep sleep for a while. Vampires in this series are creatures that act on their impulses, and with stronger speed and strength, it's not hard for them to do so. The only problem is that they cannot go out in the sun, and... they spend all their time chasing the things they cared about when they were human, because their minds are in perpetual stasis. There is no maturing to be done when you cannot grow anymore. Plus, for a fun twist, the legends behind vampires are cursed, so that no matter how horrific they should be, humans are always more intrigued by vampires than terrified. Which is... pretty accurate to how I feel about them lol

I also really like the vampires in The Vampire Diaries (series, I guess?) What I like most is that because the series is so long, the supernatural creatures in this world are given a lot of depth. Vampires are quite selfish creatures by nature, and usually only care for their own survival. Their faces change to more resemble a monster when they're feeling bloodthirsty - and for some, if they start feeding, they can't stop. Additionally, drinking vampire blood can heal a human from even the worst injuries, but if they die with vampire blood in them, then they'll Turn into one. Vampires in this series can show up in photographs and mirrors, they're fine with garlic and crosses, but they do have plenty of weaknesses. A wooden stake through the heart (or simply removing it altogether) will kill one. They will burn in sunlight unless they have something like a ring enchanted with witch magic with them. Werewolf bites are toxic to them. They cannot enter a building without being invited inside (as a side note, I love how in-depth the series gets with this restriction. Like public buildings are okay, but for private property, only the one whose name is on the deed or their dependents can invite vampires in. Once they get an invitation, it cannot be revoked until the deed changes hands. I love little details like this.) An herb called vervain weakens them, and any blood from a human who has ingested vervain does as well (and also makes them immune to compulsion until it wears off.) Of course, vampires as blessed (or perhaps cursed) with super strength, speed, reflexes, compulsion (simple mind control), and are ruthless by nature, but when humans know how to deal with them, they are rather low on the proverbial food-chain... which means that staying hidden is important. Of course, the Originals (or "purebloods," so to say) play by different rules, but the point is that there is a lot more to vampires in this series than just creature that sucks blood and can be killed with a stake. And I'm a sucker for little details like that!

Unrelated to any media, but after watching The Vampire Diaries, I couldn't help but want a buddy cop series with a vampire (specifically one with the same strengths and weakness from TVD) in it. Like, what's the name for those cop shows where there's a straight-laced detective who ends up having to team up with an eccentric consultant who's weirdly good at getting answers but pretty bad at dealing with people? That's my favorite flavor. Can you imagine that, but with a vampire who can use compulsion to grab answers, struggles to be at a crime scene cuz of all the blood, is speedy and has great reflexes, but also has to deal with vampire hunters? And the detective could maybe be someone who is committed to justice but doesn't quite know how to deal with their supernatural partner. I dunno, I've never gotten very far with this idea but I would love to see it.

Wow, I feel like I got carried away with that question uhhh onto the next one!

What are your least liked vampire tropes?

This doesn't just apply to vampires, but I'm not a big fan of soulmates or mates. (Probably why I don't really like werewolves all that much.) I prefer when couples are given a choice if they want to be together, instead of being a predestined thing. So something like a vampire being able to only drink one person's blood doesn't really appeal to me.

That being said...

チョコレートヴァンパイア (or Chocolate Vampire) is a good exception.

In this series, there are blood contracts that humans and vampires can form. This makes it so that the vampire can only drink that human's blood and no other vampire can drink their blood. This is a contract usually formed due to mutual love, but there are cases of vampires abusing these contracts to control humans (which is one of the conflicts in the series.) I find this series very interesting, because it has the appeal of mates, but also includes choice. (Also it's just a really great series, I highly recommend.)

Okie, next question!

What are some of your favorite vampire media/characters?

Oh boy. I'm not sure if any specific vampire characters jump out to me, but here are some vampire media series I love! Some that you may not have heard of before too!

The Vampire Diaries. I already talked a lot about this one so I'm not going to add more. Just, I know it's long. I know the fandom can be pretty toxic. I know some seasons are just pretty awful (god, I do not like the last season.) I know all the characters are just kinda horrible in their own ways. I know some parts just haven't really aged well. But it's interesting, the drama is fun, and it's got plenty of spicy moments. Recommended if you like TV shows and are looking for something to binge!

The Honey-Blood Beauty & Her Vampire (available in English!) is a fairly short series (only four volumes iirc) about a girl with honey blood (blood that is irresistible to vampires) and her vampire bodyguard. It's a fun, somewhat spicy read, with a bit of revenge thrown into the mix. Recommended for those who want a short, fun read - though I feel like this series ends too soon.

For a darker recommendation, I would suggest 私とこわれた吸血鬼 (Me and the Broken Vampire) After their parents' deaths, Itsuki has been desperately working several jobs to support her younger siblings, but they won't give in the light of day. In her despair, she reunites with her childhood friend, "Yoh-chan", and learns that he's not the prince she always thought he was - but instead a vampire who cannot control himself when it comes to her. When I say it's dark, I mean, it can get pretty bad (still thinking about that bathtub scene...) - and the characters are all separate shades of awfulness and questionable decision-making. Still, it's a compelling read and I recommend it to anyone who is okay with the subject matter!

(The Once Upon a Broken Hearts trilogy gets a special mention since I love the series and the vampires in it, but the story doesn't center around those vampires, hence why I'm not going to write a section about it lol...)

Alright, onto the last question!

What are your least liked vampire media/characters?

I don't know... Twilight, maybe?

I'm just kidding! Like I mentioned before, I've only ever watched the first movie so I don't really know enough about the series to judge it one way or another.

I don't really have any specific series or characters to name, just... I like well-thought-out lore, lots of small details, and high stakes. If a series has vampires but none of those, I probably won't enjoy it. But honestly, vampires in media has been weirdly rare lately, so I'll probably take anything that I can get lol

So yeah, to sum it up: I like vampires a lot cuz they're hot and sad, and I really want vampires to be more popular again! Maybe next year fae will lose popularity and vampires will finally be the talk of the town again. A girl can dream. Thanks for the ask and I hope I answered your questions!

[we-pay-for-everything]

Hello! I was going through your anti-spike tag (lol) and I just wanted to add to the SA discussion (et it's kinda old). The SA was definitely IC for Spike because it was just more of the same. It was about him forcing his feelings on Buffy and forcing her to admit that she does love him (at least in his delusions), just like when he chained her up in his basement. Just like him telling her "she belongs in the dark with him" was more of the Buffy-bot, him trying to mould her into his liking.

I understand what you mean, and I don't disagree, but I think the AR was more done for shock value than to portray that facet of Spike's character. The fact that they used the AR as an excuse to get Spike a soul, and make Spuffy a thing, tells you everything you need to know. They also unnecessarily victimized and abused Buffy.

Imo, at that point in the story, Spike had "evolved" somewhat, in the sense that he was trying to befriend Buffy. And this is where it gets tricky. Spike was soulless so the logical interpretation is that he was trying to get in Buffy's good graces and when that didn't work, he lost his patience and tried to force himself on her. This is all good and makes perfect sense, except Spike was not being portrayed as a normal soulless vampire, but rather as someone with the ability to empathize and tell right from wrong, to a certain degree. The writers wanted Spike to be a real character and a real love interest to Buffy, so they continuously blurred the lines between soulless and ensouled resulting in a debate that continues to this day (re: Spike being better than Angel because even without a soul he loved Buffy, and because he chose to get a soul while Angel had to be cursed with one). This is identical to the Willow debate: gay or bi? The writers wanted her to be lesbian, but she was canonically in love with at least one man.

Imo, at that point in season 6, Spike trying to rape Buffy came out of left field and his confusion and apparent remorse after being rejected by Buffy furthers my point. If Spike simply wanted to own Buffy, he should've become frustrated or angry after getting rejected. Looking confused and lost was too human. I can interpret his confusion as him being lost over what to do, because nothing he tried worked the way he wanted it to, but the way James played it and the intimate way it was shot, felt like the writers were trying to frame the AR as a turning point for Spike's character - as a moment of growth - which made it all the more disgusting. Hence, to me, it was OOC because at that point Spike was essentially half-ensouled already and it seemed like an unofficial line had been drawn in the sand regarding what he could and couldn't do - because he was meant to be a legitimate love interest to Buffy, which is why he never crossed the line with Dawn or Joyce, for example. Yet in the AR scene, Buffy was easily physically overpowered by Spike, which wasn't realistic but the writers clearly wanted her to be like any other woman, and Spike was just a man driven crazy by a woman who didn't love him back but he realized he was the problem and went to get a soul. Your interpretation of what happened is logical, but the way the scene was executed and the way Spuffy had been written since late season 6 makes the whole thing OOC to me. They wrote it for shock value and because they got a kick out of seeing Buffy broken and like any other woman at the mercy of a man. Mostly, they wrote it to make Spike into a real boy. Thus they regressed his character to further his development.

I don't know if this made sense? I can understand why you think the AR wasn't OOC, and I can't disagree, but considering the progression of Spike and Spuffy it just didn't feel in character to me.

Thanks for the ask!

[the-bloody-sadist]

Repressed anon from before! I was wondering, what specifically do you mean by the horror of love? The inherent vulnerability of it, the fact that someone has to die first, something else?

Dissecting complicated emotions and concepts is a passion of mine too, but I can’t do it through art very well yet so I have to do it with words haha

My family was pretty much polar opposite, but with a similar effect somehow. Instead of sterile, my family was nothing but dysfunction and mental illness incarnate. The only person to provide any semblance of normalcy was my super religious grandma lol.

Your art is like. Super aesthetically pleasing exposure therapy for me right now. Trying to get over my squeamishness one beautifully horrifying picture and fic at a time.

Also, as for the terror and regret that comes with opening up about yourself and your experiences— vulnerability is pure courage. Your art is deeply personal and anything that you choose to share about the creation and meaning of it is an honor to learn. Which sounds sappy as hell but it’s fuckin true!! It’s so easy to tear other people down, but it’s so hard to put yourself out there. Also, salient fact here: it’s your blog. If someone doesn’t like what you say on your own personal platform, then they can leave. This is your slice of the void to yell into. Let the zestyness flow through you 😈

And since we’re identifying ourselves using emojis,

- 🦡 anon

Yay, hello again, sweet! I'm loving the names for anons, really helps me keep conversations straight and organized! Welcome to the family, badger anon 🦡 !

And now, oh shit, you've asked me to explain the horror of love comment. It encompasses my life experiences, so it's very personal to me, and the reason why all my romance stories will probably be thrillers and psychological horror. So see I was like...trying to put the horror genre with the love category, and that's when I started using that phrase to describe my work.

Let me mention some factors of my childhood that give light to this phrase, since you shared about your family, too (and thank you for sharing!).

I grew up with a narcissist and an enabler for parents, parading around as the perfect couple. First horror of love: if you're in someone's care, you're also at their mercy.

Hopefully you see my trajectory with this beginning lol.

The love you grow up with is the one you learn to accept as the definition of love. You seek it out unconsciously for the rest of your miserable life. This isn't the case for everyone, of course, as some can break free of it, but it's been my own curse, thus far. I've only broken free for now because I'm staying away from anything deeper than casual dates.

I've talked about it in other asks before, but to me, love is terrifying. Not because of the vulnerability that comes with it or the chance that a partner might die before you, but because the only experiences I've had with that came from those whose true colors were mortifying. And all because parental love became my example. Love meant being ignored, being lonely, playing pretend. Love meant never having boundaries but respecting others' at all costs. Love meant doing everything in my power to please, or impress, or elicit positive emotions, only to learn that, in the end, nothing would ever be enough. No matter what I did or how I acted, there was always something to be fixed, and if my parents' stellar reputation wasn't polished to its finest, I was a sinner, somehow, and something had to be done.

So I basically grew up with zero personality, mirroring everyone else, to be frank. I had access to two whole emotions: fear and happiness. If me or any of my siblings felt anything else, it was "snap out of it" from the parents, no matter the circumstance. Pet dog died? That's okay, try to move on. Cry for one day and you're probably fine. God forbid you speculate that it's because your father abused it, even if it died because it got left too long on a yard chain. A chain it strangled itself in because it was wildly unsafe. Mother miscarried a child? Let's give the baby a funny name and make jokes about it hanging out in heaven on the same day we announce its death to the family.

And me, when I returned from the worst trauma of my life? Well, eventually I became part of the jokes, too, after telling them what I went through. My siblings even repeated a line my abuser said to me as the punchline, sometimes.

All this is to explain that I grew up numb. I was an artist, expressing myself was the biggest personality trait I had. But that passion was stepped on and boxed away, because I had to dress the way they said, draw the things they approved of. "Be yourself" was literally a phrase that they made fun of and said was bad, so I had no self that I knew of. I was them, or whoever I was supposed to become to make them stop hurting me. I was not capable of playing the same game that they did, however, in terms of religion and being affected by nothing. Eventually I imagined I'd lost the ability to feel at all, because I hid anything that did come out, and behind the scenes was in shock. Nothing affected me outwardly except the power of fear. I was never happy, but my family chronically and toxically was, so I had to mirror it to survive in that environment. Otherwise I became the joke, I was seen as moping, or I was told I was uncooperative.

This environment created a sort of trauma-bonded codependency on my siblings. We didn't realize it at the time, but we were cowering under a tyrant and his wife whom everyone told us were the greatest parents in the world. If they made us feel awful about ourselves or isolated us from interactions outside of their watchful eyes, it was just because that's how families worked, and the families who didn't were wrong. Sinful, even.

No public school, no sleepovers, no TV, no 'secular' media. No sex ed, no outside opinions, no movies with language, no looking at other peoples' phones. No books that weren't garbage christian authors who didn't know a thing about writing.

Everything was barbed wire, everything was rules.

So you can imagine how such a view of loving parents was only horror, and how that transferred right over into my first romantic partner. I ran away with that partner to escape that house, and lived in another house that was exactly the same, except without the play pretend, the bumper rails, or the emotional capacity needed to survive.

I won't go into that part, because a stupid story I wrote covers that bit just fine, lol. Sinner, my silly little fanfic about FyoZai. Sorry for the ad break, but that story is my life. If you'd like to learn about my feelings and certain complexities of how I see love, that's where it is in a better form than I could ever explain it, here.

I don't think you should've encouraged me to let the zestyness flow through. I unleashed the trauma dump, and I'm still holding back so much detail. 😂 I shouldn't be such an open book but hey, who reads Tumblr asks anyway except the asker? Maybe like ten out of the thousands that follow me. Although the rest just read Sinner, which is my professional trauma dump LMAO.

Anyway after all that, I had my villain arc and now I'm the one in charge. Mwahahah. I tried lots of stuff after that first relationship, made things worse, discovered new things, realized that I was a sadist, and that being a sadist didn't mean I had some demonic force to get rid of like my mother had thought when I told her as a kid.

A lot of people have "loved" me along the way. The way I felt about that love ranged from disgusted to afraid. For now, asexuality is the place where I'm safe, so that's where I stay, and I blue-ball anyone who asks for anything else. 😇 BDSM is a nice outlet for that bit, though, so I've had my fun with those who wanted me to do pain play on them, without the sexual aspect involved. I think it would be nice to have a dedicated partner someday who was an asexual masochist or something. LMAO.

IN CONCLUSION! Thanks for your beautiful descriptions of my artwork, and for praising my vulnerability on main! I hope I explained the little deal with the horror of love. I hope through my art and my fiction (if you get into that side of my work) will help you dissect all the things you feel, too.

Much love, my sweet! And sorry to anyone whose dashboard got bombarded with my little tragic drama tale.

(P.s. the TLDR for anyone who knows Sinner is that once upon a time I used to be Dazai and now I'm Fyodor [but the reformed Fyodor, without all the evil villain kidnapper rapist stuff LMAO])

[vore-scientist]

What are some of your thoughts on these darker/crueler subcategories of vore:

- Punishment vore

- Revenge vore

- Torture (both physical & psychological) vore

- Long-term belly imprisonment

- Fatal vore

Obviously you’re not expected to talk about any of these that make you uncomfortable

I've written and RP'd all of these anon XD i really like all kinds of vore (as longs as its GT and oral).

Let me first rank these (A-F like a grade?) and then I'll site specific moments from stories i've written and RP'd.

- Punishment vore. Good shit. B+ i say, its cathartic.

- Revenge vore. This can pair with punishment. A+, revenge is a dish best served tasty.

- Torture (both physical & psychological) vore. Yonah literally does this??? A+. Traumatize the prey thanks.

- Long-term belly imprisonment. Im saying B. Its not my favorite but damn its fucking crazy i do love just extreme nature of it.

- Fatal vore. Yeah??? I used to be averse to fatal, it squicked me out. now im like "KILL THE BITCH" though I'm still gonna rank it A an not A+ because sometimes it still bothers me depending on the situation.

Now for Story/RP highlights!!!

Punishment Vore: to be fair this can range from safe to fatal. Yonah used to punish Sophia by eating her but over time this uhhhh no longer worked unless there was an intense reason sophia didnt want to be stuck inside Yonah's stomach. Usually bc there was something she wanted to do or see but nope, time out.

Revenge Vore: I see this as fatal, i dont really see how revenge vore could be dark/cruel without it. Otherwise it's just friendly getting back at someone. Anyways See Return of the Dragon King Part 1: Prison Break. Yonah chows down on the guards that tortured him. good revenge that. If I eventually get to it, yonah will get to eat Tobi's dad (who was the second in command of the facility).

Torture: In my RP sessions Yonah is often the body guard to a powerful politician and will torture prisoners/assassins/spies with her. Eating spies whole and not giving them safety charms but spitting them up partially digested but not dead. rinse and repeat. Biting off limbs, stuff like that.

Long Term Belly Imprisonment. Now that's an interesting one. Haven't played around with it much because I havent designed preds which that's really... possible. Though you could argue Yonah keeping someone overnight is "long term" ish. but i suspect you mean longer. I have done this in RP.

In one RP we had the characters kinda stuck in a limbo on a ship in the ocean and Sophia and the King of the Giants had to hunt down an assassin as everyone on the ship slept due to Yonah activating a sleeping beauty curse. Except the King of Giants was in a pocket of subspace (put there to avoid the curse). Sophia found the assassin and shoves them into the pocket dimension and The King ate them. The curse lasted THIRTY DAYS (i suggested 30 years LOL). Even after the curse was broken the assassin stayed in the King's belly as they sailed back to shore and was released a few days after arriving back in the Giant Kingdom. (this also counts as revenge/punishment to if you didnt notice)

I absolutely loved this entire little shenanigan and I want to write it really badly.

Fatal: So ive not posted many fatal stories, but oh boy, have I RP'd a lot of it. It's made me more comfortable with it in fact. pre-2020 me was still not super comfy with it but now im like fuck yeah!!! My RPs often revolve around fatal revenge/punishment set ups. taking down character's parents who want to train them as super soldiers, eating a circus ringmaster who used yonah as a side show monster (who was fed audience members. yup. fatally). These stories often have a healthy dose of Safe as well, fatal for revenge and punishment, safe for comfort and cuddling. Or protection! Even in the stories where the fatal was central to plot moreso than the safe. Example with the circus one is that after freeing all the other side-show monsters they all travel to a safe haven. but one of the monsters is a Naga who cannot handle the cold nights and has to be eaten by Yonah to stay warm :D

Thanks for this amazing Ask Anon!! <3

[erigold13261]

Swap!Momo sounds like such an evil witch already!!! I’m loving that concept for her!!! She could totally be an even more of a witch curse user who hunts down people with tools to “curse” them! Juzo Kumiya and her might be a good match since he makes/maintains cursed tools. Hell, Momo could be one of the sorcerers to raid in the Exchange Event arc along with maybe swapped curse user!Kusakabe, for example? (Who swaps with Juzo)

I do really like that idea that swap Momo is the one to attack the school. I was thinking it will be with curse Megumi, but it might also be with curse Junpei since they would be the weakest but most physically sturdy to take hits for stalling (similar to Hanami).

The other human I was thinking of having go to the school was Miwa (with Mechamaru being the other one who goes to help), but having Momo and Kusakabe could be interesting!

Perhaps it is all four! Kusakabe is the first to run after the barrier is broken (like how Haruta did), Miwa and Momo get away leaving behind one of the Mechamaru puppets as a distraction which gets taken into custody of the school (but leaves Mechamaru save as he is still physically elsewhere).

Ooooooh! Mechamaru could STILL be the mole but in reverse! Especially if he can make some sort of deal with the school that grants him and Miwa protection (and perhaps he could see the potential of Mahito's cursed sight ability and the possibility that Mahito could help him change his body like in canon).

Yea, I like that. (If you couldn't tell, I am less likely to kill off or decommission a character like Kusakabe in my swap AU compared to the OG because I want to play with these characters more lol).

[rebo-chan]

LMAO, MY APOLOGIES. I need to be using full titles, completely my bad. Glad you figured it out tho. 

AND OOF, YEAH I WENT AHEAD AND READ THE LINK YOU POSTED. That’s a really interesting interaction between Mukuro and Reborn, they’re definitely two different brands of “monsters” on their own. You gotta also think about from Mukuros perspective, you don’t become an Arcobaleno unless you’re the strongest at what you do. (Like even if he doesn’t have all the information we do for Rainbow arc) All you gotta know is that these babies were cursed, and were the strongest at what they did prior. Knowing Reborn is the best hitman, yeah, I mean in Mukuro’s eyes, this IS a Monster. Who knows what he’s done to get that title? Meanwhile for Reborn, you’ve got someone who has broken Mafia law as well as did something so unnatural to human life itself. Go through Hell six separate times. They definitely have their reasons for being disgusted with each other and it has to do with the way their own moral codes work. With Reborn being so loyalty-based and Mukuro being so anti-mafia. Very cool, good choice in a Reborn specific scene.

As for the Daemon fight, YESS I LOVE THAT INTERACTION TO DEATH HOPE. HE CARES SO HARD.I saw a post from a blog (yarrayora, in case you wanted to see, I wont tag them in case they don’t want to be involved in this convo) talk about how Reborn is ALLERGIC to being sincere, and it makes me think that all his “care” moments are always in his actions, since he’s not a verbally affectionate guy. (When Tsuna wanted to cry seeing him again in Future arc, so Reborn made it into a joke or when Tsuna was telling him he was gonna save him so he pretended to be asleep). Mans truly allergic to hearing words of love and especially saying them. I think the closest we get is when he says, “There’s no point if you die.” in reference to Tsuna fighting Jaeger. BUT, that means his actions speak for him, and the Daemon fight is such a good example of that. He was absolutely FUMING when Vindice stopped him from helping. Of course we also get the scene where I believe it was Lal (?) might be wrong there, but tell us that Reborn isn’t doing the representative battle for himself but rather as an opportunity for Tsuna. HES SO.... HES SO...AGHHHHHH??? AMFKSGNSK THIS WHOLE TANGENT TO SAY, one scene I think really parallels his frustration in the Daemon fight is in the scene where Bermuda and Jaeger are having “negotiations” with Tsuna and Reborn, and Reborn is listening, he’s so down to die destroying Checker face. And Tsuna is arguing against that??? and it isn’t until Jaeger gets frustrated and attacks Tsuna, to which Reborn for the fiRST TIME in the whole series, raises his gun and attacks Jaeger to get him off Tsuna. (Bermuda even makes a comment about this saying, “I didn’t think you were so crazy for Tsunayoshi, Reborn-kun.” which???? AH????????) And Reborn is so upset that Tsuna was attacked that he calls off the negotiations It makes me SO UNWELL HOPE... ANYWAY, YEAH I REALLY THINK THAT SCENE PARALLELS THE DAEMON SCENE WELL. 

AS FOR YOUR ACTUAL CHOICES FOR CHAPTERS, YESSS Uni’s death is definitely one of the highlights in the series (LOL SAID THAT WRONG BUT YOU GET IT) As Sky Arcobaleno enjoyers, we get it. Its such a fitting way after the series spent so long talking to us about how short sky Arco lives are, and so into Uni’s character. I particularly love how they made her willing to do it, but also so so terrified of death? It was a really heartbreaking way to humanize her and the fact that Gamma jumps in and dies with her so she’s not alone?? Bro, every watch of Reborn I have with a new person I’m showing, I start bracing for episode 201-202, since like episode 5. Like it just hits THAT hard bro. But also, sitting around watching daily life arc knowing such a heartbreaking arc like Future is coming one episode at a time. Absolute fucking HORROR I tell you. Speaking of Uni’s character and what she represents, I think it’s really fitting that before that sacrifice, Byakuran points out that in every timeline, every parallel world he’s visited, Yuni has taken her life to save others. Like CMON that HURTS. Can she NOT gET A BREAK..??? LET MY GIRL LIVE SHES THE LAST SKY ARCO..

OMG THAT QUOTE ABOUT VONGOLA DECIMO LIVES IN MY MIND RENT FREE, THATS SUCH A GOOD CHOICE. It sounds like too that while Yuni is looking at the current Tsuna and saying that, she is also speaking of the TYL Tsuna, or the legends/stories said about him. It sounds like that, doesn’t it? Sounds like something someone legendary would get said about them. Which is really nice that the dislike for fighting and the quiet prayer that his enemies find peace part of Tsuna never really goes away. (Except for Byakuran, bro apparently didn’t deserve it in present day or TYL tsuna’s brain. LOL that’s what happens when you kill Yamamoto’s Dad and Reborn tho so....) 

Chapter 219 or Episode 136.... BRO... IT HITS SO HARD, like Future arc was already so good, but the absolute LAYERS that that episode added to the story. It was INSANE writing from Amano. She really popped off. I have a really funny story regarding that episode. Like an insane person, I have a lot of Reborn’s amazing episodes like..ingrained into my brain, and I remember when I was about 13? (Yes, I have been a Reborn fan for two decades at this point, that’s on me for being insane) One of my school friends started watching Reborn, and she was rambling about it to me. Tho, she said she was gonna take a short break bc she’s been binging. So I asked for what episode she was on, and she said something like 133-134. And KNOWING 136 was coming up, I was like, “Hold out for 3 more episodes and then take your break alright? Something really good is coming up.” THE NEXT MORNING, I’M GETTING OFF THE SCHOOL BUS AND SHE FUCKIN ATTACKS ME AT 6AM. LIKE FULL ON SWINGS HER BACKPACK AT ME SDGSDGDSG and I ask why and she basically said she was up all night after episode 136, binging the show, and only got like an hour of sleep. So she had to hit the one person that did this to her. SSDGNSS SO THATS JUST A TESTAMENT TO HOW GOOD THE EPISODE/CHAPTER WAS.

MAKSJEGNESJKG NSORRY FOR THE ABSOLUTE BLOCK OF TEXT IM SENDING YOUR WAY, TALKING TO YOU MAKES ME FUCKING RAMBLE. I ENJOYED HEARING ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE STUFF FROM THE SERIES THO. THANK YOU HOPE

Possible discussion we can have as a fandom, but do you guys have favorite Reborn episodes and/or favorite Manga chapters?

I think it's difficult for me to choose a favorite anime episode I'm too in love with the anime for that LOL, but my favorite Manga chapter is Chapter 390, Failure as a Home tutor, and if you've had any discussion with me every about reborn and Tsunas relationship, you know why. 😭 I love this chapter to death, I can reference it like the back of my hand..for those of you that are normal and don't have KHR sewn into your brain like I do, this is the chapter where Tsuna stands up to Reborn and actively goes against what Reborn wants because he is going to save this dying man who has already given up. It's the culmination of Tsunas growth represented into one chapter as well as Reborn as his most vulnerable, and how these two work through it together. It's such a beautiful chapter and I could talk for hours about it.

But in the meantime, what are YOUR guys favorite chapters/episodes? I'd love to hear it

[sweetpandorabox]

What these HP boys would be like as a dad. (Gender Neutral)

⋆ ˚｡ ⋆୨sweetpandorabox୧⋆ ˚｡ ⋆

⋘ 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎... ⋙

A/N : Hey sexy it's Angel, I have just got a small little quick blurb here of what these HP boys would be like as a dad, let me know if you end up enjoying this blurb and I might make more, I take requests as well okay enjoy. <33 (Also I know that some of them have kids and might treat them a bit differently than the way I'm interpreting them in this, but... ngl I don't like the Cursed Child book so I'm not including Harry as a shitty dad lol)

Warnings⚠️: None what's so ever it's pure fluff

Word Count: 994

List of Characters :

Harry Potter

Ron Weasley

Neville Longbottom

Draco Malfoy

Cedric Diggory

Oliver Wood

Fred Weasley

George Weasley

Blaise Zabini

𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠. . .

Harry Potter :

A really proud dad, no matter what his kids achieve even the smallest of things he's incredibly proud of them.

A very encouraging dad, he'll push his kids to do the things/fight for what they love and are passionate about.

He makes other Dads pale in comparison. 

He's very humble despite all his achievements and uses them to inspire his kids to be good wizards/witches.

He's a very present dad, he makes sure he's there for his kids every step of the way.

Often tells stories about his Hogwarts days and all the times he defeated Lord Voldemort because his kids begged him to.

He protects his family even if it means torture and death.

Ron Weasley :

He likes to eat - EVERYTHING. But makes sure to save his kids some and usually buys the best snacks.

He lets his kids win every time during board games or bets and even a round of quidditch.

Takes care of his kids when they're sick and lets them have some junk food, even if their other parent doesn't let them.

Takes out his kids for a dad and kid day out once in a while approximately every fortnight.

Takes a lot for him to get mad, and when he is mad it's just the silent treatment for a full day then back to normal tomorrow.

Get his kids their first pet when they're 11 years old and are all ready to go to Hogwarts as a present.

He has integrity.

Neville Longbottom :

He is a good listener.  He will listen and let his kids speak and give the best advice.

He is reliable.  You can count on him for anything and everything.

He loves gardening and tends your huge garden and probably has a greenhouse too.

Helps his kids with school work especially Herbology.

He reads story books to his kids during bedtime.

He is generous. Too generous. Many people can attest to this.

He's probably very affectionate toward his kids like hugs and pats on the back.

Draco Malfoy :

Probably spoil his kids and buys them anything they want no matter the price.

Become a better dad than his dad, because he wants his kids to feel loved and appreciated.

He tries to be as honest as he can toward his kids no matter what.

One of those dads that are fun to shop with because he has style and is actually helpful at giving fashion tips.

The type to enjoy a glass of wine for dinner.

Strict, but in the best way because he wants what's best for his kids.

Talks about his kids constantly at work, at dinners with friends or colleagues, and to anyone he can talk about this too.

Enjoys taking his family on expensive and lavish vacations.

Cedric Diggory :

He constantly checks up on his kids and asks how everything is going for them.

He's an amazing dad to his kids, but he has a soft spot for his grandkids.

He can fix anything that's broken like furniture, his kid's broken hearts during their first break up, and many more.

The type of dad that shows his partner (his kid's other parents) so much love and respect to give an example of what a good partner and a healthy relationship looks like.

The type of dad that adores and loves all animals.

Stuck up for his kids when they're in trouble with his partner.

A literal saint, because he's so kind and nice and just the best dad.

Oliver Wood :

He teaches his kids how to play quidditch and bond with them through it.

He is always willing to try new things with his kids to show examples of curiosity.

He never loses his temper in front of his kids, always keeping a calm face in front of them no matter how angry he is.

He's the type to carry his kids to their room after they'd fallen asleep on the couch.

He sacrificed a lot to give his family a comfortable life.

He gives his kids a chance to put forth their views and opinions no matter how much he disagrees with them.

He never hesitates to admit his mistakes and apologies to his kids not believing the stereotypes that parents/adults are always right.

Fred Weasley :

He is a good dancer.  He can cut a rug and you don't have to ask him twice to dance.

The type of dad that makes a cool handshake with his kids and shows it off as much as he can.

He teaches his kids how to Apparate carefully so they can pass their Apparating test.

A really brave dad.

He loves adventures and is a thrill seeker and brought up his kids to be the same.

A bit of an immature dad but is serious when people need him to be.

He makes funny faces to make his kids laugh until their stomach hurts.

George Weasley :

He tells funny jokes. Inappropriate jokes.  Silly jokes. Lots and lots of jokes.

Probably good at building things like cabinets, tables, chairs, and other things.

He's not just a dad he's also his kid's best friend.

Enjoys cold beer on occasion, especially watching a quidditch match.

He's extremely supportive of his kids no matter what they do and chooses in life.

Makes fun of his kids about crushes and early relationships that they had.

He is grateful for what he has in his life.

Blaise Zabini :

Reads the daily prophet like every morning with a cup of hot black coffee in hand.

Probably the most patient dad out of all the boys in here.

He probably cries at his kid's wedding, like an ugly cry out of happiness.

He's the type to like singing/karaoke.

He is not a quitter and he won't let you quit either.

He sends letters quite frequently to his kids while they're away in Hogwarts to keep in touch with them.

He's probably the type to be a good cook and knows what his kids love to eat.

He forgives easily and never holds grudges.

A/N: Hey sexy hope you enjoy that little blurb let me know which one was your favorite in the comments, love you all, and have a great rest of your day xx.

[the-crow-binary]

If anyone's interested, i'm going to talk about Dracula and the Belmonts' duality because i think a lot about them lol

So it all started with Mathias and Leon, of course. the dark boy and the sunshine boy Though we didn't have the chance to actually see how deep their relationship was, we know it was something really special (quote: "They trusted each other completely, and they were bound by an old friendship"), and not knowing much about their past actually allows us to imagine whatever we want. I like that, tbh.

Mathias and Leon were already opposites. One favoured intelligence and knowledge, while the other favoured combat abilities and courage. And they were the best at their respective fields. It was a perfect combination. Coupling to their strong relationship, and you had an unbeatable pair.

And then the betrayal happened. The friendship got broken into million pieces by Mathias. They lost the kind of bound they had, only to be replaced by another when Leon promised that he and his family would hunt the night and kill him one day. At that moment, Leon basically cursed himself and his family. He condamned them to lives of hunting, choosing their fate before they were even born. And the worst part is... it was the best decision to make, for no one else would've been able to stop Dracula in the future. (If it wasn't for Trevor's involvement, Dracula would have won back in 1476)

And it become even more interesting when you realize that Dracula created the Belmonts as we know them. Hadn't he betrayed Leon in such a way, he would have never become a hunter. He would have had children with Sara, leading to a whole different lineage, or maybe died in battle, we don't know. Everything Mathias did led to the birth of his biggest ennemies. This is the bound beetween Leon and him that lasted for almost a thousand years, this is the legacy they created together. Dracula and the Belmont family became two faces of the same coin, unable to exist without the other. Even worst, existing because of each other.

Look at Richter, he understood that. He knew, deep down, that all his family existed for, was killing Dracula. As a direct Belmont, it was the only way for him to live. What else was he good for ? And what else was he going to do after he defeated him, too ? And Juste. Juste also must have realised that, especially with what happened with Maxim. Both of them knew this legacy was a curse... but it was a necessary one, unfortunately.

Though the Belmonts hunted more than just Dracula, he's still the reason why they did so. He's the reason why they exist, their main prey, their other half. Without Dracula, there is no Belmont. And without Belmont, there is no Dracula. Mathias couldn't have become a vampire if he hadn't met Leon... And as far as we know, Julius, the last known direct descendant of the Belmont family, the one who "killed Dracula for good", doesn't have children. Why would he need to ? Dracula is no more, he destroyed the curse that bound him and his family together for centuries, there's no more need for their bloodline. Finally, after hunting for so long, they can rest.

When you think about it, the phrase "you complete me" totally fits them (though not in a romantic way unless...). Both sides are the consequences of the other and need each other to thrive. You know what they say, "there is no light without darkness". "There is no good without evil". It's cliché, but true.

We know a bit of Mathias' humanity still resides in Dracula, we saw it in his interactions with Alucard, and because of his love for Lisa. But I like to think that the Belmont family also greatly helped in keeping this little bit of humanity alive (the philosophical conversation he had with Richter might be an example of that). They are Leon's family after all. And though Leon have shown anger and hatred for him after what he did (Quote: "You have become a cursed being, and I will NEVER forgive you."), Mathias, on the other hand, have shown nothing more than melancholy and sadness before he depart ("Death, he's all yours." is an interesting choice of words actually, since he could've directly ask for Leon to be executed. But didn't. Hinting that Leon's death wasn't his true wish, while he probably realised he was the last thing tying him to humanity. And he had to get rid of that humanity... unsuccessfully, at the end). He did display hate and anger before that, but towards God only, and had even proposed eternity by his side to Leon. So it's likely that he still holds some sort of affection for him... enough that even his descendants would have some kind of effect on him. Ain't no way he's fighting his oldest friend's own blood and don't feel anything about it, nor have a single thought for said friend.

Anyway.

Dracula's story started with a Belmont, and though he had some other unrelated (or only partially related) ennemies along the way, it still ended with a Belmont. The other way around is also true, as the Belmont family's story started with Dracula, and ended with him. One shared curse, two complete opposites, always and forever the two faces of the same coin. No matter what happens, Dracula and the Belmont bloodline will always meet again... until the day one of them disappear for good, making the other fade away as well. After all...

What needs for the shepherd when the wolves have all gone ?