#it freaked me out even though its unlikely to ever actually affect me

[monoxidecahedron]

i loooove languages i love learning new alphabets i love the feeling of accomplishment and deep satisfaction of making concrete progress i love puzzles and challenges i love arabic

[sunny-ssunset]

Love LOVED your honest dating and the smoking hc, would you be comfortable doing one of those for Craig's gang??

Honest dating headcanons 💯 🔥

dividers by pinterest

Craig's gang

Masterlist!

♡Course i can lmao I was thinking about doing one with craigs gang lol (GENDER NEUTRAL AGED UP)

♡Idk why but the jimmy one is really sad lmao

Craig

•Bro could not care less about you

•He wont care if you break up

•He wont treat you any differently in or after the relationship

•He'd hang out with you once and then you'd start dating with out you knowing

•It just happens one day lmao

•He just tells everyone your together

•He wont do any sort of physical affection

•He might buy you a gift on your birthday

•Tbh i dont picture him being an overly horrible person i just think he is boring as fuck

•Literally doesnt kiss you or hold your hand

•its just being w friends with more labels

Tweak

•Gets a nosebleed whenever you make eye contact

•SUPER nervous around you

•He cannot even comprehend you liking him let alone being in a relationship with him

•Dating freaks him the fuck out

•After you ask him out (sorry but there is no chance of him doing that)

•And even then theres only a 50 percent chance of him saying yes. Even though he likes you

•Overthinks all the time

•If you leave him on delivered for one second he'll freak out

•He is very anxious with you

•Needs constant reassurance you like him

•He is a bit of a pick me, he sends this emoji 🥺

•He is so clingy

•He'll cry if he sees you talking to anyone but him

•If you ever broke up he would never be able to talk or look at you again

Jimmy

•He asked you out as a dare thinking you would say no and you said yes

•Felt too bad to break up with you

•Has been convincing himself to love you ever since

•He'll try give you the ick or being mean to you to get you to break up with him

•You actually fall more in love with him

•He'll start to fall for you too

•If you laugh at his jokes

•Or make an effort to make him laugh

•But then his dreams get crushed

•Someone told you that he asked you out as a joke

•You genuinely get upset and break up with him

•Leaving him heart broken

•He brings you gifts and he looks at you whenever he makes jokes to see if you laugh

•He hates himself for what he did :(

Tolkien

•Probably the most sane relationship you will have

•He wont admit it

•But he is very very stuck up

•He has a very particular taste, like kyle

•However unlike kyle he is a pretty rizzy rizzler

•He'll take you out on nice dates

•He gets bored pretty easily though

•He'll break up with you in a nice way though

•He'll drop a bunch of flowers or chocolates at your door or locker and write you a note

•Too stuck up to do it in person

•He'll treat you like the relationship never happened when you break up though

•Like everything goes back to normal

Clyde

•He is a pretty well wanted guy in south park high

•He gets a lot of bitches which is very odd because he is one of those guys that really arent anything special but they pull so much

•These people have fueled his ego so much, he thinks he is Ryan gosling

•He'll come up to you like 'sup then ask you know a date

•You'll start dating

•He can be really sweet but he acts all tough because he is the epitome of toxic masculinity

•He got bullied for being a 'crybaby' so i guess he made himself the opposite to fit in

•He gets pissed off when you say he is being flirty with other people

•He cheats on you one night when he is drunk (suprise suprise)

•He cries telling you it was a mistake

•And you dump him in front of everyone

•And he makes you out to be the problem

•Then the whole school hates you

dividers by @k1ssyoursister

[ringdabel]

My thoughts on OP ships except I’m being 100% honest (P.3)

SLIGHT SPOILERS FOR THE HEROINES ONE PIECE NOVEL

*LawBepo

- I don’t know about you but to me I’m neutral about it, if you ship this, good for you! If you don’t then okay!

- I do think it’s a cute ship though with their interactions, relationship between the two, etc..

- And it actually MAKE SENSE

- Like hear me out, Law would actually marry a polar bear because of how much of a freak he is and considering he’s a pirate, he wouldn’t care if other people think it’s weird, at least he has his fluffy boyfriend.

- I draw these two a lot in my sketchbooks, like every single one just HAD to have Law and Bepo together or else those sketchbooks are not mine

- he has a soft spot for Bepo, definitely Bepo. He hates everyone and everyone but his crew, Corazon and BEPO.

-In the SBS, Oda did tell us about how Law met Bepo (with Penguin and Shachi), at that time Law was a kid along with the three others so that means Law and Bepo knew each other since they were children and are super close.

- FUNFACT : You know how Law hates Umeboshi right? Well Bepo likes eating it with onigiri pretty much! I like to imagine that if someone ever gift Law some onigiri with umeboshi inside, he will give them to Bepo.

*Smoshigi

- Small girl with her gigantic DILF (idk what that means but I think it’s fitting).

- it’s the size difference isn’t it?

- I like their chemistry a lot! It’s pretty cute in my opinion.

- for some people, a 10 year age gap is too much (Shigi is 23, Smoky is 36, so that means it’s 13 year age gap then) but they’re both adults so I guess it’s legal? I mean Rayleigh and his wife has a 10 year age gap and they’re old now-

- this might be controversial but… Smoshigi is better than Zoshigi or Lawshigi in my PERSONAL OPINION.

Zoro is confirmed to have no interest in women by Oda and for Law i don’t think he’d date her or even taken interest in her in general.

(I telling all this like a hater I’m so sorry I don’t mean to sound like one DDDX!! If you ship Zoshigi or Lawshigi it’s totally fine and valid! It’s just my opinion!)

*Sanami

- MY FAV SHIP!!!!! I love them so much they’re so cute!!! <3333333333

- Theres this one part of the OP stage actors and actresses like an event or something?? And I saw a video of these two where basically Sanji is being a simp as always, drops on one knee and like hold out his hand to Nami

Nami holds his hand then blows him a kiss!!!!! IT MADE HIM STARTED BREAKDANCING ITS HONESTLY SO CUTE AGSHSVHSHSHSHWHHSHW

- They’re the DEFINITION of GIRLBOSS MALEWIFE FRFR!!! No 🧢!!!!!!

- wait did I already put this ship in part 1 or part 2? Man idc anymore I just genuinely LOVE this ship!! If it becomes canon I will become happy! (Even though it’s highly unlikely it’s fine!)

- I just love their moments together you know? When I was young I always wanted the two of them to kiss a lot, I have never change at all 😈

- Like look at the sad French man! How can you not kiss him!?!?!?! He makes you desserts you really like, compliments and swoons at you everyday, cooks for you, loves you for who you are, patient and will listen to you whenever you have a bad day, shows affection to you, a gentleman, IN A SUIT, ALSO WEARS AN APRON AS WELL, Respects you, etc… etc… he’s the only French I like <333/j

- They’re also both good with kids and have a soft spot for them! Oda stated that if Nami is ever kind to someone it’s women and Children, for Sanji he always has a motherly nature surrounding him, his interactions with the DK crew proves this!!!

- AGH I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!! IM DYING!!!

*KozaVivi

- a HUGGGGEEE fan of childhood friends to lovers trope <3333333333

- I love these two a lot, I ship them a lot TOO! I want them to have more interactions!

- in the Heroines novel, I just love Vivi’s episode with Koza and the love letter (NO CONTEXT HEHEHE 😈) it’s so so so SOOO sweet it’s giving me diabetes

Like it’s so funny, full of sweetness and wholesomeness! I love them!

- I wish these two would be canon… if not it’s fine as well… because I have another ship up my sleeve… *takes out hand*

[eyeballtank]

Should I make a Twitter?

For a lot of reasons, I thought of avoiding Twitter due to thinking the website was always evil even before Elon took over. And I assume some things got worse. But someone once said I should try because it's clear I do want people to know my stuff and even evolve my gamedev stuff. Chances are I could keep the account's use limited: Just post gamedev stuff like updates or "throwbacks" (Like showing off old stuff if it's interesting), retweet stuff from people I know/like/collab with and of course, avoid drama or interactions with people that aren't doing anything in good faith. I could actually block people because even if I think I have a good argument or whatever, I'd be losing time better spent on gamedev. (Besides, depending on how many people genuinely like my stuff or respect me, they could be the ones to tell someone annoying to fuck off. Not saying this as "please white knight me" SPECIALLY if you're also busy making good stuff, just that I don't wanna fall into online "debate" because I fear it'd affect my overall work).

At the same time, I'm someone that uses Tumblr because I didn't mind the overall layout and assumed most of its cancer moved to Twitter though to be honest, I see it a little bit of it at times. (Then again, there's plenty of other sites I use that people would think makes me a freak or whatever: Like most of the internet right now is a bit of a shitstorm, so nobody's that pure anymore; What matters is being aware and not let shit influence you easily). But even on sites like Pixiv and Newgrouds, when I follow people for stuff I like, they are clearly more active on Twitter. If there ever is anyone doing stuff I find interesting and even would like to collab (Not now, obviously), it'd be unlikely to get something out of them if I'm not in whatever site they use.

At least I can say that if I managed to go this far with my game, I could make a Twitter account work, probably.

Like, don't burn bridges and all that stupid shit.

[sillysurrealwriter]

Vivi teaches some jerk, a lesson!

I could not sleep.

I couldn’t sleep for a long while. The heat was rather excessive to say the least, even though the AC was going on full power. It was currently 1 AM and the night was clear. Stars were shining and were rather bright, watching over the small town.

Like the guardians they always were.

It....was rather depressing, though.

See, this town had its best days long behind itself. It was located in the lower part of the country and ever since the main economy collapsed, it affected most of the major regions. Including this small town.

We used to actually have a working industry here.Well, more than one actually. We had a mine deep in the woods, which we used to mine rare goods, you see. And tons of factories, manufacturing all kinds of sweets. Chocolate, gummy bears, licorice, you name it.

But thanks to a strong inflation, the economy suffered under it. It was so hard to buy even a slice of bread. Now, it’s 9 times more expensive and our currency is quite worthless too. What a shame.....

I was one of the many workers, who were let go because we couldn’t get paid. I just dropped out of school too, because I had some trouble with the law here and there. Even though I didn’t get, why people were upset with me selling drugs to kids. It’s a vital business strategy. Pure capitalism, baby.

Because my father was a local judge, I was let off the hook and was forced to work at the factory there, as a way to atone for my non-existent sins. The work was actually fun there, not gonna lie. Manufacturing candy was quite fun and the work atmosphere was relaxing too. I actually felt at ease there, unlike here.

Mother was in the hospital, still in a coma. Doctor said she may not make it. Not that I really care, to be honest. Unlike my dad, my mother was a loser. Seriously. All she did was clean, clean, clean and just clean the house. I had to make money, because that bitch didn’t have a good education. And no, a history degree doesn’t count. Who needs that shit nowadays?

Not me, I’ll tell you that much. Thanks to her being not a good wife, my dad divorced her and fucked a much prettier girl. Big boobs, fat ass...Just thinking about her, gives me a big fat boner.

My father was much better though. He was strong and rich. Because mom wasted all her time at home, I spent most of the time with him. And learned what it’s like, to be a real man.

To be strong. To be successful. And to dominate every bitch, you see.

I still have yet to find a bitch to fuck though. I am 22 and I am still a virgin. Guess those virgins are more into those woke femboy bitches. Eww.

I turned to the side and tried to close my eyes again.

No....damn it, it was so frickin hot.....There’s no way, I’d fall asleep like that...

I got up and checked my social media stuff.

0 followers and an account strike. Just because I pointed out how that one guy was a fat fuck and got no bitches. Is it bad to speak the truth?

I checked YouTube. My favourite pundits did not upload anything yet. I wanted to see them bully naive young college men/women. And only those. Especially those fucking pronoun freaks, who are all extremely fat, have tons of coloured hair and are gay too.

Did Jesus Christ die for this? Really?

Well.....Guess I’ll turn on the TV. Maybe they’ll air that one show, with the sexy woman that looked a bit like a man and had some facial hair. Eh.

I moved myself off my bed and the ground shook, as I placed my feet on it. Grinning, I grabbed another big chocolate bar and pushed it down my throat.

Yum. 10% less sugar too.

I stomped and eventually went downstairs, because the house was just so ridiculously small. Urgh.The upper floor just had two bedrooms. Mine and mom’s. And I am sure she used hers in the past, to fuck with woman while dating dad.

She really deserved all those beatings.

In any case, I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. I changed through the channels, but most channels were shut down on maintenance. And my usual porn channels were having some strange issues, as static was shown there.

Weird.....

After finally scrolling through the program, I stopped bewildered.

Dreamy Eden.

The hell? I never saw that channel before.

And what I saw confused me even more.

A whimsical intro music played, showcasing a small town with all kinds of strange creatures. Furries of all shapes and sizes doing mundane activities like walking, talking, cooking....

Was that a kids show? At 1 AM? Geez, if they wanted to entertain kids they should do it throughout the day. Not at night.

I was about to switch to another channel, when I suddenly saw the title of this show appearing on the front. The animation was quite old and stiff in general, like the first season of the Simpsons.

Before that show got ruined later, for being dragged out too long. And for encouraging men to not be men and to kiss other men. Eww.

Just watching that, made my boner perk up in disgust. What else?

But the title.....

“Vivi’s Garden”

“What kind of shitty name is that?”, I asked, as I stared at the colourful title. It was awful, really. I could barely make out the letters of this show. They were too many colours, ranging from rainbow, to....

To......black?

Weird.....

The scenery changed and then I saw some girl on screen. And her appearance was....odd.

Her hair was all orange and long and wavy, reaching down her hips. She was wearing an oversized white coat, depicting smiley faces, flowers and other strange stuff. She was wearing yellow clown shoes and her hands were rather thick too.

But the creepiest part....

Were her eyes...

All of those furry characters had classical cartoon eyes. You know, white circles and black circles inside of them.

But...not with this character....The black circles were much, much larger. Not only that, but there were several white circles inside of them.

What was that thing supposed to represent?

The character waved.

“Howdy, lousy mousies!”, she exclaimed with a shrill and super excited voice, as if someone had taken too much heroine. “I am Vivi Vicky! And welcome to my garden! Isn’t it wonderful? I LOVE GARDENING!”

She jumped up and down at least 90 times a second (Don’t ask me how I counted) and the screen actually shook so much, which caused me some headaches. That...Vivi girl then suddenly ran towards her garden and indeed those flowers looked........colorful.

I’ll be blunt. I have no idea, what those things are. Those were little balls and shapes in all sorts of color. It reminded me more of candy you’d buy from the store and not....flowers.

Vivi did a backflip and giggled.

“ARENT MY FLOWERS BEAUTIFUL!?”, she asked happily. “But I couldn’t do this alone! No, no! My dear mommy made this garden to begin with! Mommies are the best!”

“Bs.”, I muttered annoyed. “Mothers are useless worker bees. Only properties and waste of space.”

“That’s not really nice mister!”

Surprised, I stared at the screen and Vivi was frowning at me, shaking her head.

“Mothers take care of you. Of all of us. Of the kids. They are wonderful.”

“Yeah, but they barely make money.”, I shot back annoyed. That little bitch-

Wait, why the hell was I arguing with my TV? This was stupid!

So I aimed my remote at the TV and switched the TV off....

...to the p*rn channel.

Much better. Staring at those girls making love was so hot. God...my fat pot belly was....

But suddenly, the channel changed back to the stupid kids channel. Vivi pouted annoyed.

“Mister, it’s not nice to leave. We were-”

“Shut up.”, I muttered and changed the channel again. I drooled, as I saw those lesbians have coitus...

And then, the channel switched again. Vivi glared at me even more.

“Hey! Why are you so mean?”

“Shut up, f*ggot.”, I mumbled and changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I said, I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

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...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

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...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

!!!!!!!!!!!

But no matter what I did, it wouldn’t work. The TV wouldn’t turn off. Vivi shook her head angrily.

“No Mister, we’ll talk. Whether you like it or.......”

All of a sudden, she stretched her arms out towards the camera. I laughed at her, finding her too stupid to be terrifying.

And then suddenly, a large pair of hands emerged out of the screen and grabbed me. I tried to free myself, but the grip of those massive hands was too strong. Vivi laughed from the inside.

“Don’t worry, it won’t take long mister bister sister!”, she exclaimed and her laugh distorted, as my ears bled and the hands began to drag me into the TV. I gritted my teeth.

Hell...No!

I bit the giant hand, only to feel all my teeth breaking upon impact. Terrified and bleeding all over the mouth, I was dragged deeper and deeper into the TV...

And then the next moment I awoke. With a smile, I got up and smiled outside. I really needed to see my mother and to make sure that she is all well and good. Maybe she woke up yet?

And I also needed to talk about dad, as to how he treated women. They deserved better. And maybe I should ask that man out that I’ve been crushing on for weeks.

I had so much to do!

So, with a huge smile and all colorful clothes I stepped out into the world, aiming to improve the world.

I may not have any teeth any more...

But who cares, if I can help people and protect women?

Right?

RIGHT?

R I G H T?

RIGHTEOORIJOR§NROHN§O§NF”I=!!”===!=!=§!==!=!=!==!§==§!=!!=!=

:)

[newnitz]

Kevin’s Transformations

I think an analysis of Kevin’s mutations and how it affects his character are in order.

Let’s start by comparing them to Kevin in human/Osmosian(depending on whether you consider the Rooters arc canon or not) form. The baseline, so to speak.

Baseline Kevin

Now, as a kid, he acted like a little sociopath. I admit it. It’s hinted that he’s lonely and bitter due to being treated like a freak, and that it’s the energy absorption and especially the Omnitrix absorption that are driving him mad. @crown-made-of-unicorn-tears made a post explaining Child!Kevin in better detail than I could. In Omniverse, we see signs of Teen Kevin’s redeeming qualities in his preteen self. Befriending the Amalgam children, giving Argit extra rations and considering him his only friend after the mindwipe. Argit even said he escaped the Null Void to find friends.

As a teenager, he seems much better behaved. Now don’t get me wrong, he‘s still a juvenile delinquent, but one that is much more concerned with the rewards and much more averse to wanton destruction. He’s also still a bitter, angry cynic, but throughout UAF he also grows to have a sense of justice and care about innocent lives, though he still won’t shy away from shooting the bad guy, unlike the Tennysons. I think something that isn’t discussed about baseline Kevin is his loyalty: He maintains that Ben gets Max’s holo as early as Kevin’s Big Score, allowing his powers to be abused for Vulkanis’s quick buck, is a devoted boyfriend to Gwen(which he should be, considering what she put up with) and finds taking advantage of people to be a special kind of evil. 

Kevin 11

Now, let’s take a look at Kevin 11. In this form, Kevin’s energy-madness is at its worst: He’s violent, hyper-confrontational, megalomaniacal and vengeful. This is Baseline!Kevin’s worst fear, and it sets the tone to his relationship with his powers. After being imprisoned within the Null Void and realizing this just doesn’t work for him, he gets rescued by a benevolent mentor: 

In many ways, Kevin 11 was the unstable, maladaptive shell of the scared, lost child Kevin was. And with Kwarrel’s guidance, he learns to use his powers to build a healthier shell he can will in and out of - his matter absorption powers. 

And then Servantis got his hands on the boy, and fed him the idea of being a hero, exploited his grudge and used mundane brainwashing tactics when he realized Kevin couldn’t be directly mind-controlled like his teammates were. When sent to carry out their mission, Kevin couldn’t resist absorbing the Omnitrix and mutates for a second time, Kevin 11 vol.2. Kevin 12? Ah, what the Hell.

Kevin 12

This is the craziest Kevin would ever get. He could no longer tell friend from foe, ensnaring Ben and Max, as well as Gwen and his allies the Amalgam kids in his vines, monologuing about being the hero. I personally find this mutation sad and am kind of glad Kevin grew up with it wiped from his mind - it shows how badly he wanted to be the good guy all along. And it puts a different context on his friendship with Argit - the one who subdued him. We actually see him apply Kwarrel’s teachings here - changing back to normal at the sight of Gwen. 

Four years later, two yahoos get the bright idea to hack the Omnitrix, The smart one backs off at Azmuth’s warning, but the stupid one who wears it doesn’t. Which leads to Kevin rushing to try and contain the blast, absorbing the Omnitrix’s power yet again in the process. Now his third mutation might not look like it, but his mind was clearly subtly affected:

Stone Kevin

Having only remembered the first mutation, Kevin is understandably disraught from “[being] a monster again”. That doesn’t explain the sheer glee he has at the prospect of beating Chromastone up, lashing out at Gwen several times unprovoked, the mood swings and road rage, not to mention the Charmcaster episode: Would she have fooled a fully-lucid Kevin, who saw through Michael Morningstar? Thee business with Ragnarok is trickier, since we know for a fact Kevin’s attached to the idea of his father, but there could be an argument for his condition exacerbating his vengefulness. Due to the cause of the mutation - unintentionally absorbing the energy of the overloaded Omnitrix, the only cure was for it to be destroyed. 

And now we get to the most interesting mutation: 

Ultimate Kevin

Honestly, everything that can be said about this has been said in @emperorsfoot​ ‘s in-depth analysis. All I’ll add is note that while he has a LOT more power than the previous transformations(at least, not moderated by matter absorption like Stone Kevin), this is wher he shows signs of retaining fragments of his sanity. I also find it interesting that they utilized Michael Morningstar to reverse his transformation, someone who’s clearly more dangerous than Kevin. Though, granted, they did have failsafes. 

And then we get to the final (confirmed) mutation: 

Weapon XI

I actually liked the Rooters arc, believe it or not, and I think it adds another layer to Kevin’s character. As for this transformation, I don’t buy Kevin’s claims that he’s in full control. I think he’s in much better control than before, even compared to Stone Kevin, but I still see hints of rage and manic laughter. I think he’s using his altered state of mind to his advantage when it comes to tricking Servantis, and while willingly changing back the moment he utilized what he needed out of this form(Feedback’s antennae to free the Amalgam kids), try and tell me that “do you MIND?!” outburst isn’t residual rage. Speaking of residual, Kevin himself offers an even better explanation to his improved control than “headbutting Servantis, the guy who could never literally get into my head, gave me control”. He confirmed the tolerance theory - that ever since the first season of Alien Force, Kevin 11 has been scratching at the back of his mind, but he’s gotten better and better reasons to ignore it, until eventually it was like a second nature to him. 

Until, 25 years later, he didn’t. 

Kevin 11000

Now this mutation is the scariest. He has reportedly absorbed thousands of aliens in the Null Void, and by his looks also the fully unlocked Omnitrix, and can will himself in-between this mutated form and his original one. But this time, he didn’t lose his sanity, but his humanity. No remorse, no love for his son Devlin, nothing matters to him except revenge on Ben. Now I’m still not convinced this is a post-OV future, since it seems to contradict with End of an Era, but if it is, it’s quite sobering to see. Makes it hard to root for his character, knowing the heart Kevin had in his late teens will eventually be snuffed out. In a way, it means the OG monster in the back of his mind will eventually devour the budding hero. And that even if the Tennysons rescue him, he’ll fall again, and again, and again. It’s part of why I cling to the alternate future part of Ken 10, even if Ken himself is confirmed to exist in the prime future. 

[lyrebirdswrites]

Shrödinger’s Nobara

So we got an update on how Nobara is doing. It was not the update I wanted to see.

My first impulse was to consider this a point blank confirmation of her death. I still think there’s a high chance she will not be recovering, and I would advise all Nobara stans to prepare emotionally for the possibility that she really is dead if you have not done so already. However, I also think it’s possible to make a case for her survival based on the information in this scene and the context from previous chapters, and I’m going to do my best to do so. Hopefully I can provide some comfort to anyone who might be freaking out over the implications here like I was at first.

Megumi doesn’t say she’s breathing or we don’t know or even it doesn’t look good - he says nothing at all. That does not fill me with confidence. But he doesn’t directly say she is gone either. This is a good time to remember the cardinal rule of character death; it’s not confirmed until we see the body. I think until we actually have indisputable proof of her death, we should continue operating under the assessment Nitta gave when he halted the damage caused by her wounds - don’t get your hopes up, but it’s not a zero percent chance.

I don’t consider Megumi’s pessimism to be indisputable proof. It’s damning, yes. But he is also highly subjective, inclined to assume the worst, and not an omnipotent force in the narrative. This isn’t me saying that the only reason there’s ambiguity is because she’s definitely still alive—that would be a wrong assumption to make. But if Akutami is still in two minds about what to do about her, or if he knows but doesn’t want to tell us, this scene is a neat way of sidestepping the need for a definitive answer right now. There’s enough plausible deniability in the framing of this exchange for Megumi’s answer to be read as she’s 100% dead, OR as she’s alive but in super fucking bad shape and it doesn’t look good. Whichever result it turns out to be, the scene can work in retrospect either way.

Which brings me to my not-retroactive interpretation of Yuuji’s immediate reaction. I think he would have been way more distressed if he perceived megumi’s silence as confirmation that she was without a doubt dead. He pulls himself together remarkably quickly for someone who full on had a mental breakdown mid fight at the sight of her injury. In the comments section over on readjujutsukaisen (credit where credit is due, not my analysis) commenter Asinine said “I think Megumi's non-response indicated the severity of her condition. I think Yuji's reaction revealed his pain followed by hope (clenched fist) she'll pull through.” That makes more sense to me than Yuuji thinking she’s actually dead and only having I get it!! to say about it before we rush on with the plot.

I’d really like to read the original raw version of this chapter, because it’s worth noting that the unofficial fan translation phrased Yuuji’s question like this: how is Kugisaki’s condition? It matters whether his question is past tense or present tense, because that positions Megumi’s answer as either past tense or present tense too. Megumi could be looking sad because, past tense, what happened to her was bad. Or he could be looking sad because, present tense, her condition is bad. I think the nuance there definitely affects how we as the audience should interpret this exchange and consequently Nobara’s chances. If anyone knows where I can read the raw scans please tell me.

Speaking of Nobara’s chances—structurally and narratively there is still more than enough room for her in the plot. When she was first taken out by Mahito, I figured she’d be fine because I thought her frequent references to people ‘messing up her beautiful face’ and her argument with Momo about scars on female jujutsu sorcerers/sexism in the jujutsu world were foreshadowing her having to live with that massive scar and a missing eye. If Akutami wants to continue exploring themes of feminism and sexism, as he has indicated through his characterisation of the broader zenin clan, Nobara now has a unique role to play in that aspect of the story: being treated differently after getting scarred.

Similarly, there are some interesting implications when it comes to her cursed technique and the current arc. Theoretically, she could use resonance on any of the newly awakened sorcerers/vessels and do some serious damage to The Brain, because they’re all strongly linked to him through the powers he gave them. She might provide an avenue to attack him later via that method—or Akutami might be deliberately sidelining her for the duration of this arc with the intent to have her recover later, because he saw this massive plot hole coming and he needs to thin out (cull) the crowd of awakened sorcerers first so she doesn’t have such easy access to a really powerful weakness in a major antagonist.

It’s also possible that he saw the plot hole coming and is killing her to fix it. But if that was the case, he wouldn’t have said in one of his interviews that he hadn’t made up his mind yet whether she was dead or not (?? That’s the translation I saw iirc, but I can’t vouch for its accuracy because I didn’t personally translate or cross check it myself).

Every other character’s death has been clear in a very gut punch kind of way, but ever since Nitta showed up this one has been SO ambiguous the whole way through. In my opinion, this scene does far more to increase the ambiguous tension than release it. It’s too vague. Akutami has been pretty good about giving his characters a fitting send off up to this point. I would be genuinely surprised if he broke the news about one of the main trio officially dying via one page in one chapter which doesn’t even give a status update though words, let alone through an actual drawing of her corpse/grave/ashes/funeral. Which loops me back to the cardinal rule of character death: it’s not confirmed until we see the body.

And let’s face it—if Akutami plans to keep Nobara alive, I am 100% sure he would drag the reveal out as long as possible and make it look as unlikely as possible in order to inflict Pain™ on his audience. Of course, if he plans to kill her off, the situation would look equally grim. But you know he wouldn’t hand us her recovery on a silver platter. Things seem bad (and like I said nobara stans this is your wake up call to start preparing for the worst case scenario now) but that doesn’t automatically mean that they are as bad as they seem.

In summary:

[overwhore-s]

A Freak in a Sheet (Ghost!Bakugou x Reader) part 1

part II

This is 1347 words and I wrote it all in under an hour. I am both proud of myself for writing so fast but also kinda mad ‘cause I know I made some typos ‘n shit but am too lazy to read after myself so aaah...if you find anything PLEASE let me now I will thank you very nicely <3 

Anyways have some ghost Bakugo. Where I am right now, it is the day before Halloween. I’ll try to post the second (smutty) part tomorrow. if you want to, please also support this on AO3. Love you lots, please enjoy <3 

warnings: some swearing. also brief mentions of depression. 

Get lost, motherfucker, reads the lovely message scrawled on your bathroom mirror. Now, you’re no expert on the psychology of writing, but you’re almost certain the author is angry with you. He’s such a big personality too, with those big, bold letters. And he wrote it in…blood? Experimentally, you dip your pinky in the red substance and then put it in your mouth. You grimace.

Chili sauce.

“Listen, friend,” you start, mentally preparing yourself for the oncoming onslaught of ghastly apparitions and cupboards flying open. Ghosts are annoying like that.

“I’m not here to cause you any sort of harm, believe it or not.”

The lightbulb above your head flickers aggressively, as if in disbelief at your words.

“Woah, you doubting me buddy? I’m telling the truth, I swear!” You lay your hand over your heart as you say that, hoping the ghost will see it as a guarantee.

No such luck. The cabinet door suddenly opens, hitting you painfully in the knee. You cry out and start hopping around on your unhurt leg, all the while swearing like a sailor.

“Ow! Fuck this! I’ve just about had it with you! I’m done being nice, you stupid fucking ghost! I’m going all Ghostbusters on your ass!” You threaten, before kicking the cabinet closed and shamefully limping away.

Bakugou materializes leaning against your bathtub, a self-satisfied smirk pulling at his lips. You’ll be out before the week is out, he’s certain of it.

                                            •─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Despite his best efforts, a week passes and you still remain, as stubborn as ever. It’s more than a week now, actually, closer to six months, but time tends to flow funny when you’re a ghost. He’s lost count of how many lightbulbs fell victim to his explosions, how many times you tried to capture him in a ring of salt. You seem to know an awful lot about ghosts – most likely you’ve met others before at some point in your life, considering you’re not even a little scared of him.

If anything, you’re…curious. When you’re not busy shielding yourself from flying objects or relighting the candles he continues to snuff out, you ask him stuff, and it’s annoying, and he hates how he sometimes gets the urge to give an honest answer.

You never ask about traumatic shit like his death or why he chooses to remain on Earth instead of passing to the next world. You want to know about whether he was a college student as well, if so, what was his major, what music he likes, if he’s a dog person or a cat person. When you’re watching TV and something makes you laugh, you point at the screen showing some stupid game show and yell: “Do you see this? What a dumbass!” He can’t help himself but agree, because the guy is indeed a dumbass for answering an easy question like that wrong, and it is pretty fucking funny if he does say so himself.

You talk about yourself too. When you come home from school for example, you tell him about your day. The first few times it happens, he keeps rattling pots and pans to disrupt your speaking, but you barely let it affect you, continuing in a cheerful tone despite the obnoxious noise.

He soon finds he likes the sound of your voice, no matter how hard he tries to deny it. Before you came in it, his life after death was quiet, depressive and mundane. Now it’s hardly peaceful, but you brought change, and light, and laughter…he never realized what he was missing.

Until you happened.

He listens to you even when you’re at your lowest, sharing your insecurities and fears with him like he’s a most trusted friend. He hates how the sight of you, shaking with sobs when the world gets the best of you, makes his chest feel all sorts of tight and his head spin with anger at whoever caused you to be like this.

It’s mostly at times like these that he wants to reveal himself to you, gather you up in his arms and hold you close to his chest. Would you feel it? Would you get grossed out, push him away? There’s too many variables, and he’s still just coming to terms with his affection for you.

So he chickens out.

You have average days as well. When nothing amazing has happened at school or work, or you’re too tired to want to talk about it. You take a long shower, enjoy your meal in silence and head straight to bed.

Bakugou feels weird watching you sleep, so he doesn’t. He hangs around the kitchen instead, cleaning the dishes you were too beat to take care of before sleep. Sometimes he watches TV, the same shows you like, but it’s not half as entertaining when you’re not there to keep him company.

It’s so fucking strange, he thinks, so unlike me.

When exactly did he stop seeing you as an annoyance and started considering you a friend?

                                                 •─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

He doesn’t know how exactly it happened. It’s like his body – his weird, unearthly, ghost body – moved on its own. One moment you’re standing up on a chair in order to reach that bag of chips he purposefully moved out of your reach because he knows how much you like saving them for a show and it doesn’t start for another thirty minutes – the other you’re falling, and he thinks, shit, that’s all my fault, isn’t it?

And so he catches you. His solid arms encircle your waist and your back hits his chest and you’re warm and alive and it feels wonderful.

He hears you gasp, not in fear, just surprise, and he wonders if you knew he was in the kitchen with you the whole time.

“Thanks for that,” you say, knees wobbly as he lets go of you.

“You’re welcome,” he grumbles and the words are out before he can stop them. Yep. He did it. After months of playing the mute, he finally broke his silence.

“I knew you could speak,” you say, triumphantly. You’re still not turning around though, and Bakugou thinks it might be because you’re scared of what he looks like. It’s not that bad. Who’s he kidding, it’s great, actually. He never was one to deny the obvious – unless it hurt his pride too much – and so he can admit to himself that he’s an attractive guy…or at the very least, the people who knew him when he was alive considered him attractive.

“Can I look at you?” You ask suddenly, carefully. Like you’re considering his feelings or some shit. It throws him off balance. Here was he, thinking you were shallow like the rest of them, and all along you’ve just wanted his consent.

When you don’t get an answer out of him right away, you panic. “Like – you don’t have to. I know some deceased don’t like showing their faces. It was nice enough of you to show me your arms though – you have nice arms – but like…I’m going to the living room. You can dematerialize. Let’s watch some TV.”

No. He doesn’t want to do all that…dematerialized, he realizes. “You can look,” he blurts out quickly. If there was any doubt that he liked you before, now there’s none.

“Are you sure?” You ask once again, this time trying his goddamn patience.

“Fuck’s sake.” He grabs you by the arms – how heavenly it is to touch something living for a change – and forcibly turns you around.

You look at him, the first person to see him in…in too many years, and as your eyes fill with amazement and wonder, he knows it was worth it to wait for so long to show himself after all.

“What’s your name?” You ask, softly, and his throat feels tight as he responds.

“Bakugou.” He doesn’t ask for yours. He’s known it for a long time now.

You grab his hand and squeeze, warm, human, alive, perfect. “Very well then. Want to watch a reality show with me, Bakugou?”

[bigskydreaming]

What are some Dick Grayson facts that you wish were talked about more

I don’t know about facts per se, but my biggest thing I wish was talked about more with him was just....flipping the script BACK from how its so often flipped on him.

What I mean by that is, Dick’s kinda unique in that the expectations that are layered on him both by characters and readers alike, means that most of his actions are judged by a standard of not whether they’re ‘good’ but whether they’re ‘good enough.’

Bruce, Jason, Tim, Damian....the stuff they get judged for is stuff they actually do in canon. Dick, the stuff that most commonly gets held against him....the framing of it is SPECIFICALLY that what he did wasn’t AS GOOD as what he COULD have done.

And that’s how we get things like when Jason was Robin, and there’s not really anything specific anyone can point to as proof Dick was a jerk or callously neglectful of him, etc.....so instead the thing that gets most cited about that time is that Dick’s efforts at being a brother weren’t good enough. That he should have done more, made more of an effort, should have tried harder.

Or the thing with Tim and Damian and Robin, even the most vocal critics of Dick’s actions there tend to agree that there wasn’t a real alternative that would have kept Damian from going back to the League of Assassins, so instead the criticism is kept this vague murky thing where how Dick handled it wasn’t good enough, and he should’ve done it better, even though at most the only thing anyone’s ever specified about how he could’ve done it better is saying he should have talked to Tim beforehand, and does that really track? Fans holding a grudge against a character for ten years because he....didn’t have a conversation ahead of time?

Or with Spyral, the takeaway is that even if it wasn’t Dick’s choice to let everyone think he was still dead and he was being unduly pressured by his father to do so, he should have somehow found a way to satisfy all parties, and keep everyone appeased, and failing to do so was him not doing a good enough job at...being Dick Grayson.

See what I mean? Pretty much all the greatest hits levied against Dick Grayson, unlike when other characters are cited as doing specific things they’re criticized for.....in Dick’s case, the criticism is almost always about him not meeting some arbitrary hypothetical BETTER standard.

And as a result....

The REVERSE never gets talked about.

The stuff that Dick actually DID.

And so with Jason as Robin, the focus is entirely on how whatever Dick did do wasn’t good enough....meaning nobody’s ever talking about what Dick DID do says about him....the fact that despite having no obligation to Jason, no responsibility for him, no reason to try and make something of a relationship with him despite Bruce doing nothing to encourage that and placing sizable roadblocks as to why Dick would even want to, Dick DID look past resentments he had about Jason being so easily adopted when he never had been, Bruce giving away the mantle he had no right to give away let alone take from Dick in the first place.....and Dick DID make an effort to bond with and be there for a kid who had everything Dick himself wanted and was being denied by their father, without taking it out on him. I mean, he took Jason skiing. Yeah, all we ever saw of that is a photo referenced in one story years later, but that’s not a small thing. 

Someone in Dick’s position being able to see past all the extremely valid reasons he had to be hurt and bitter right now, to just do right by this kid and take him out of town on a freaking ski trip that had them both smiling and taking photos together....is not a small thing. Its a clear point in Dick’s FAVOR in a situation and time period that has been flipped to be all about how he wasn’t a good enough brother....and this coming up more often in terms of Jason’s demise “I wonder if I had only been a better brother, if Jason would still be alive”....than even writers having Bruce wonder “if I hadn’t come down so hard about Garzonas or had tried harder to hear Jason out, would he have ever run off looking for more family”....even though BRUCE is the one that Jason actually lived with and interacted with and was affected by, day after day.

And same thing with Tim and Damian.....at most, its begrudgingly acknowledged that Dick was going through a lot at the time too, but its never actually taken all the way to being flipped to examine what Dick DID do during Battle of the Cowl....as in, he tried to meet every single one of his brothers halfway, and Damian’s the only one who ACTUALLY met him there and gave him a chance. Jason and Tim just rebuffed Dick’s efforts totally, because they weren’t ALL THE WAY in the direction of what THEY wanted and basically Dick just caving so they could have it 100% their way. Dick, despite the fact that being the eldest brother should never have meant having to solely step up into the role of Damian’s father, WE’s CEO, Gotham’s Batman and more, all alongside the abandonment/neglect of everything DICK had ever prioritized for HIMSELF, worked for, made HIS OWN personal mission and priority....Dick still tried to navigate a literally impossible situation and do right by everyone, its just he was mostly told nope, this isn’t good enough, and if its not good enough by my standards its not worth anything to me.

(I’d love for people to talk more about the absolute sucker punch Dick must have felt the way most people write Tim’s ‘side of things’ back then....with it being matter-of-factly stated that Dick took away ‘the one thing Tim had left’ by taking away Robin....as though Tim didn’t still have Dick himself, as his brother, the whole damn time, and Tim and his stans are the only ones who made that meaningless, acting as though Dick being Tim’s brother meant nothing unless Tim was Robin too. “You still have me, aren’t I worth anything to you,” I’d love to see more people write Dick thinking as the brother he’s given so much of himself to over the years, including his own NAME, walks away from him as though Dick means nothing to him unless things aren’t on Tim’s terms, the way Tim wants them).

But you see what I mean? So often, the script is flipped on Dick from the word go, so he’s not even being evaluated in terms of what HAPPENED, but in terms of what DIDN’T happen, and what a fan or writer/reader personally feels SHOULD have happened instead.

Because the reality is, what DID happen....is not grounds for criticizing Dick and rather speaks to how damn much of himself he habitually sacrifices for the sake of others, and that doesn’t work when the narrative people WANT is one that shows how Dick the Golden Boy is less than perfect....when they’re the only ones insisting he be judged and evaluated according to some arbitrary standard of perfection!

So that’s what I’d like to see talked about more with Dick....seeing the script flipped back to allow for discussion of what Dick actually DOES that’s to his credit in all these scenarios and more......instead of the conversation so often being dominated by a need to defend Dick from criticisms that essentially all come back to him not being good enough, or just flat out perfect.

[scoutception]

Yet again ranking the 5 animes I’ve watched most recently

After losing the will to just sit down and watch it for quite a while, I’ve finally gotten through 5 anime series yet again, and, as is tradition for me by now, I’ve decided to just type out my thoughts and rankings of them, with my first two posts of this nature being here and here. As usual, this is just my personal thoughts, and the only other thing worth noting before I start is that, unlike last time, I do think everything listed here is at least decent on its own. With that, I’ll just get to it. 5. Robotics;Notes

Number of episodes: 22. Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming availability: Funimation. Robotics;Notes is an adaptation of a visual novel, which I actually just wrote a review on, which can be found here. Long story short, it’s the third entry in the Science Adventure series, the same series Steins;Gate is part of, unknown to most people, with Robotics;Notes technically being the sequel to it. Originally aired in 2012, the same year as the visual novel was released, and made by Production I.G, Robotics;Notes is in an interesting middle ground between the acclaimed and popular Steins;Gate animes and the downright awful and obscure Chaos;Head and Chaos;Child animes, and until 2020 was the only option those who didn’t speak Japanese had to experience it at all. Since I went into so much detail in said visual novel review, I’m mostly going to focus on how the anime holds up both by itself and as an adaptation. Ever since its creation nearly ten years ago, the dream of the Chuo Tanegashima High Robotics Research Club has been to finish Gunbuild-1, a lifesize recreation of Gunvarrel, the titular mecha of an insanely popular anime that’s credited with starting a “robot boom” within Japan, and the club’s current president, Akiho Senomiya, the little sister of the club’s founder, Misaki Senomiya, is extremely determined to see this dream achieved. Unfortunately for her, the club has fallen on hard times, with its funding being cut, its advisor being completely unreliable, and the few other members it has, namely Kaito Yashio, Subaru Hidaka, Junna Daitoku, and Kona Furugoori, aka Frau Koujiro, being quite difficult in their own ways, and often more than Akiho can handle. While Akiho puts her all into finally bringing the club to greatness, the otherwise apathetic Kaito finds himself involved with a mysterious AI called Airi, who exists within the augmented reality app IRUO. Airi’s creator, the deceased Kou Kimijima, turns out to have also created several AR annotations scattered throughout Tanegashima, titled the Kimijima Reports, which warn of a grand conspiracy that will utterly devastate humanity if unopposed. I’m not the most unbiased viewer, since I had played, and enjoyed, the visual novel months before watching this anime, but generally, it’s actually an enjoyable time. Some of Robotics;Notes’ biggest strengths were always its cast of characters and lighter tone, and for the most part, the anime preserves both well, keeping it mostly silly, but endearing early on. The artstyle actually matches up fairly well with the VN’s CGs, and the dub, which I watched just to spice things up, since I already knew the Japanese voice cast was quite good, is overall solid, with Clifford Chapin as Kaito, Lindsay Seidel as Akiho, and Monica Rial as Junna especially sticking out to me. As an adaptation, on the other hand, it falls short in quite a few places, namely when it comes to characterization. While obviously, no adaptation could feasibly fit in every detail from its source material, the Steins;Gate anime managed to preserve almost all of its cast’s characterization, whereas in Robotics;Notes, several characters lose prominent details to their backstories or personal conflicts, or act differently in scenes unrelated to that, making quite a few of them come off different. While instances of the latter case, such as Junna coming off as less shy and hesitant, don’t necessarily worsen anything for the most part, the former definitely does, as it makes the affected characters much less developed and interesting. Nobody suffers from this worse than Kaito himself, who loses most of his backstory, motivations, and arc, to the point of one of his best moments being changed from something intentional to completely accidental, with the end result making him come off as a completely different character, and an inferior one, at that. Additionally, around episode 16, the anime starts diverging pretty significantly from the VN, and not in ways that are improvements, to the point it even leaves a few otherwise preserved scenes in earlier episodes without context. Overall, I can imagine the Robotics;Notes anime still being a decent, if unremarkable watch on its own, and was certainly an interesting and fun way to reexperience the story, and definitely fares better than many visual novel adaptations, but I can’t quite say I’d recommend it. If Robotics;Notes interests you, the visual novel is very much preferred. 4. Nichijou

Number of episodes: 26. Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming options: Funimation. Here we have one of the most acclaimed anime comedies out there, an adaptation of Keiichi Arawi’s surreal sketch comedy manga series, produced by Kyoto Animation, a name that’ll be showing up here again later. Nichijou mainly focuses on two different trios of characters. There’s the ordinary high school girls Yuuko Aioi, a rather dim and reckless girl with terrible luck, Mio Naganohara, the most relatively normal one of the cast, whenever she’s not having explosive freak outs that involve beating people up, and Mai Minakami, a stoic girl who enjoys messing with people just for their reactions. On the other hand, there’s the far less ordinary Shinonome Laboratories trio of Professor Shinonome, an 8 year old girl who happens to be capable of building incredibly advanced machines, Nano Shinonome, a robot built by the Professor who desperately desires a normal girl more than anything, and Sakamoto, their pet cat who, thanks to a special scarf also made by the Professor, is capable of talking. The series focuses on their would-be ordinary lives, were it not for the seemingly daily chaos they get involved in, from witnessing the school principal wrestle a wild deer, to being trapped in an elevator for hours, to the school science teacher attempting to capture Nano for study. It also follows the antics of several other side characters, such Koujiro Sasahara, the seemingly upper class student who is actually just the son of a family of farmers, to Misato Tachibana, a very typical tsundere towards Sasahara, whose tsun side manifests as assaulting him with military-grade weapons, to little effect, to the equally quirky teachers of their school. Needless to say, it’s a very silly and chaotic series, and that’s exactly what makes it so memorable. The humor is pretty hit and miss in the first half of the series, but from episode 14 onwards, they thoroughly master it, with every episode having at least a few scenes that got me laughing. Beyond the silliness, though, the series actually has a lot of heart to it. There’s a few moments that change up the status quo, or even develop the characters just a bit, and some scenes are surprisingly sweet, if still played for laughs more often than not. There’s also a lot of continuity, which in later episodes often provide the punchlines to some of the best gags, which definitely encourages watching the whole series. The Japanese voice acting is fittingly crazy for each character, and the animation fits perfectly, as while the character designs are quite simple, there’s many would be mundane moments that have contrasting overly impressive and exaggerated animation that makes them very memorable. All in all, Nichijou is a very enjoyable series once it finds its groove, and about the only reason its not higher on my rankings is just because pure comedies aren’t really one of my favorite genres. Still, if you ever want a good laugh, you can’t go wrong with this. 3. Soul Eater

Number of episodes: 51. Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming availability: Netflix, Funimation. Soul Eater is yet another adaptation, this time of a manga by Atsushi Ōkubo, produced by Studio Bones, who also did the Fullmetal Alchemist animes, and is quite similar to the original FMA series in that it outpaced the manga and, rather than simply overloading itself with filler, decided to go in an entirely different direction by the end. The Death Weapon Meister Academy is a school founded by Death himself, dedicated to the training of Meisters, who wield Weapons, humans with the ability to shapeshift into weapons, for the purpose of destroying Kishin Eggs, evil beings who have consumed the souls of others, and pose the risk of transforming into extremely dangerous demons. Any Meister who can collect the souls of these corrupted beings, as well as the soul of a Witch, can transform their Weapon into a Death Scythe, the personal arms of Death. Among the students of the DWMA are seven Meisters and Weapons who stand out in particular: the teams of Maka Albarn, a kind hearted and responsible, though temperamental, girl, her Weapon, Soul “Eater” Evans, a laidback and snarky wannabe “cool” guy, Black Star, a prideful and loudmouthed ninja who’s seemingly always out to make a spectacle of himself, regardless of how it hampers him, his Weapon, Tsubaki, a humble and levelheaded woman, Death the Kid, the son of Death and one of the top students in the cool, held back only by a crippling obsession with symmetry, and his Weapons, Liz and Patty Thompson. While these seven gradually come together as a team, a Witch named Medusa begins to put an ambitious and destructive plan into motion, one involving her “child”, Crona, and the strange, insanity inducing black blood that courses through their veins. Soul Eater has a lot going for it. A likeable and crazy cast of characters, even the side ones, like the maniacal Doctor Stein, or the surprisingly goofy and casual Death, or the tragic Crona, or the hilariously egotistical Excalibur, to a lot of fun action scenes, to its great animation and overall unique visual design, including the sun and moon having giant, creepy laughing faces. It has a lighthearted, comedic tone that doesn’t detract from the serious moments, and the main characters get some pretty good development as the series goes on. The dub is also great, with Laura Bailey as Maka, Micah Solusod as Soul, Brittney Karbowski as Black Star, and Todd Haberkorn as Death the Kid especially sticking out to me. In general, I don’t have a lot of significant criticisms, besides how the story is handled once the villainous organization Arachnophobia is introduced, which is also about where it begins to deviate from the manga. Most of the villains part of it never really feel like a threat, and the story becomes much more simple and typical compared to how the manga went, and when the ending arrives, it just kinda, happens, with several notable subplots just kinda left unfinished. It definitely feels like an underwhelming ending, and is a big reason why I place this lower on the list, but Soul Eater is still a pretty entertaining watch that’s worth a try if you want a decently lengthy, but not horribly long shonen. 2. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Number of episodes: 28. Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming availability: Funimation. Here we have the big one, an extremely memetic and famous series by Kyoto Animation, based on a series of light novels by Nagaru Tanigawa, a series that was finally completed back in November 2020 after its start in 2003. Kyon is a lazy and down to earth high school student who wishes for little more for himself than an uneventful, normal high school life- a hope that’s abruptly shattered when, on a whim, he becomes involved with Haruhi Suzumiya, an eccentric, hyperactive, and thoroughly self centered girl, who claims to have no interest in ordinary humans, and instead wishes to discover things thoroughly unusual, such as aliens, time travelers, or espers, and forces Kyon to form a club, the SOS Brigade, with her to achieve this. Haruhi quickly pulls three other students into the brigade, those being Yuki Nagato, a stoic and quiet bookworm, Mikuru Asahina, a shy and passive girl often subjected to humiliation and abuse by Haruhi, and Itsuki Koizumi, a calm transfer student who acts extremely subservient to Haruhi. While Kyon initially writes off the club as an unreasonable use of his time, his fellow members reveal an unexpected truth to him: the subjects of Haruhi’s fascinations actually do exist. Yuki is an alien, of a sort, created and controlled by an entity known as the Data Overmind, Mikuru is a time traveler from some point in the future, and Itsuki is an esper, and member of an organization of similar people. All three of them have been sent to observe the oblivious Haruhi, who appears to have the unconscious ability to change reality itself according to her desires, and is at threat of remaking the entire world if not placated. With Haruhi apparently having taken a unique interest in Kyon, he finds himself taken along for all sorts of supernatural adventures spawned from Haruhi’s whims. There’s a lot I could go on about regarding Haruhi, but in the interest of not turning this into a full on rant, I’ll keep shortish. It’s more or less an insane mishmash of several different genres, from slice of life, to science fiction, to fantasy, just depending on what each individual story feels like being. The episodes are mostly adapted from the early light novels, mostly the multiple stories from the third and fifth novels, The Boredom and The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya, respectively. It’s not often you’ll have any idea just what to expect from each individual episode, which makes the series very chaotic, but interesting. The characters are likeable and memorable, including the side characters, and the sheer ridiculousness of what goes on makes for many amusing moments. At the same time, the series is surprisingly complex, with many possible interpretations of its characters and the events they go through, furthered by the antics Kyoto Animation pulled when it was originally airing, such as airing the episodes out of chronological order, meaning the plot would often jump from the middle of an arc to something else. The end result is a very unique and enjoyable product, helped by the fantastic dub, with the actors capturing each character perfectly, from Crispin Freeman as the grounded and snarky Kyon, to Wendee Lee as the aggressively energetic Haruhi, to Stephanie Sheh as the gentle, yet secretive Mikuru. That said, there is one pretty disappointing part of it all, and that’s the second season, mostly thanks to the infamous Endless Eight arc, an eight part arc that’s more or less the same things happening over and over, with only the first and last episodes having anything noticeably different. Regardless of its own uniqueness, more than half the season is taken over by this, and something that may have worked if cut down to three or four episodes instead singlehandedly killed off the series’ goodwill. About the only redeeming factor of the second season is the five part adaptation of The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, which has some of the funniest moments in the whole series. Overall, Haruhi is still a very fun series, and I’m really gonna have to watch its movie, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, one of these days. 1. Trigun

Number of episodes: 26. Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming availability: Funimation, Hulu. Finishing off this list is an adaptation of a manga series by Yasuhiro Nightow, produced by Madhouse and another adaptation that overtook its source material. Compared to how Soul Eater handled it, however, Trigun went down much, much better, to the point Nightow himself had nothing but praise for how the anime turned out, and the series is generally considered one of the best animes of the late 90′s. On the harsh desert planet of Gunsmoke lives a wandering gunslinger known as Vash the Stampede, the “Humanoid Typhoon” with a large handgun known to leave tremendous destruction in his wake, who amassed a bounty of $$60,000,000,000 after destroying the city of July, leading to an endless trail of bounty hunters out to collect the price on his head. In the middle of all this, Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, two representatives of an insurance society which is often forced to pay for damages caused by Vash, track him down for the purposes of minimizing the chaos he causes. Upon catching up with him, however, the duo discovers that, contrary to his reputation, Vash is a kindhearted goof, and self proclaimed hunter of love and peace, who absolutely refuses to ever take another person’s life, even at great personal risk to himself. Vash continues his travels carefree, helping out whoever he can, with the occasional assistance of Meryl and Milly, as well as a traveling priest known as Nicholas D. Wolfwood, only to one day have an encounter with a mysterious and cruel man known as Legato Bluesummers. Vash soon learns that Legato has hired a group of assassins known as the Gung-Ho Guns to kill Vash, and leave a trail of bodies wherever they go, seemingly for the sole purpose of tormenting Vash. As Vash hunts down Legato, he is gradually forced to face his past, and consider whether he can truly stay committed to his pacifist ideals. In general, Trigun is just a very, very well made series. It has a likeable and developed cast of characters, with special mention going to Vash, who is a very compelling and sympathetic character, and Wolfwood, who makes a great foil to Vash with very interesting development of his own, with characters outside of the main cast being memorable as well, from Legato himself, to even some of the more minor villains, such as the varied members of the Gung-Ho Guns, or Brilliant Dynamites Neon, who makes an inexplicably strong impression for a one off villain not even important to the overall plot. The space western setting is quite good, and the designs are great, with many villains having distinctive looks that further help them make an impression. The action is great, and the animation is also quite good, and has that 90′s anime charm. The dub, while a bit rough around the edges, is generally solid too. From Lia Sargent as the ditzy but kind Milly, to Dorothy Elias Fahn as the hotheaded Meryl, to Jeff Nimoy as the weary Wolfwood, to Richard Cansino as the calculating and disturbing Legato, with special mention needing to go to Johnny Yong Bosch as Vash. Despite it actually being his first voice acting role ever, he does a great job in portraying the many sides to Vash, and absolutely sells many of the biggest moments in the story. Speaking of which, the series started quite lighthearted and wacky, with the first four episodes actually being filler, but gets gradually darker as it goes on. The earlier episodes are still quite enjoyable on their own, though, and manage to slowly reveal new aspects to Vash in each one, before finally setting his nature in stone in episode 5. What really sells the series and makes it so memorable, however, are the themes it explores, of the practicality of unwavering pacifism, and whether taking a life, whether for heinous crimes committed without remorse, or with the purpose of protecting others, is ever justifiable. While quite a few series have touched dilemmas like this before, what makes Trigun stand out with it is the emphasis placed upon it throughout the whole series, with many episodes touching upon it in some regard. It genuinely fairly looks at the different sides of it all, and the consequences of each, with many emotional moments coming from it as a result. While the manga did ultimately take a very different turn from the anime, the anime actually preserves several of the most important plot moments, and manages to come to a satisfactory conclusion of its own regarding the themes. Ultimately, Trigun makes for a very fun and interesting watch that I highly recommend. And with that, my ranking is complete. With the exception of Robotics;Notes, I can pretty confidently recommend every show on this list. Got some more shows I plan to get through soon, so another ranking like this may be soon in the making. Either way, till next time. -Scout

[c-c-cherry]

Terribly sorry for the wait, but I’m back and I’ve got some Fugo for y’all!! 

To be honest, its not that I don’t like Fugo, I just find his character really hard to nail down and write about which is why I haven’t written much about him in general. @jjadegreen​ helped SOOO much with this because I was so blocked when it came to writing this past week, so thank you!!

//content warning for whump-related shit (sickness, major injury, etc..)

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Pain Tolerance

-Out of everyone in the group, he surprisingly has one of the LOWEST pain tolerances Narancia comes in first though

-We all know he’s riled up pretty easily, so it's his nature to panic over minor injuries

-If there’s blood? You bet he will freak out

-It’s hard to take advantage of him because of how on-guard he is, but if he’s ever kidnapped or drugged, he’s absolutely the kind of person to kick into fight mode more than flight mode

-He tries his best to keep his composure, but if he’s backed into a painful corner and there’s nothing he can do about it, he will be loud

-Unlike Giorno or Mista, who tend to bite their tongue and shut themselves down during intense pain, you’ll know when Fugo is really hurt because of the way he carries himself

-He’s always really ashamed of the way he acts when he’s in pain because he’s supposed to be in Passione and shouldn’t be getting so worked up over minor wounds (or even major wounds at this point) :(

-Bruno always makes sure to remind his team that getting hurt does NOT equal being weak, but there’s always the lingering feeling in the back of his mind that he’s useless and nothing but a burden for the team for reacting the way he does

Injury

-He tries not to get injured, but when he does, it's not good :/

-He’s had his fair share dealing with inner pain or broken bones, but if its bleeding or an actual open wound, that’s when he starts to really freak out

-I headcanon that he has a fixation on being clean so to speak. He doesn’t have a problem if someone else is getting hurt, but he gets this shitshitshitshit reaction the moment he realizes that he has an open wound

-His mind can’t stop thinking that it’ll get dirty and infected

-It leads to him usually overcleaning them if he’s left to his own devices, which ultimately puts him in more pain and more strain on the injury

-If ANYONE tries to help him, he’s all “no no no, I can handle this myself, stop. Stop stop don’t get closer, I'll handle it on my own.”

-During times where he’s hurt pretty bad, he can’t “suck it up” as much as he wants to. He’s panicking because he’s terrified of someone being there and close to him when he’s at his weakest and most vulnerable

-He has no idea where his emotions will go and even more terrified of losing control of his stand

-He doesn’t like being touched without warning and it's even more amplified when he gets hurt

-If it’s “minor” enough to get past the gang without them knowing, he’s tense even after he tries to deal with it himself. No matter what, it just doesn’t feel clean or healed enough (and sometimes it really isn’t)

-Narancia’s usually the first one to notice and ask why he’s so pale, or gripping his side so much, etc,,

-People try to keep things on the downlow when Fugo gets hurt because they don’t want to wind him up, so it usually ends with one of them telling Bruno, who in turn gets Giorno if he needs to

-Bruno’s always been one to calm him down and he’s usually the one to patch him up (or hold him and keep him grounded so Giorno can heal if the injury is bad enough) :’)

-Even so, he’ll try to deny painkillers and insist on changing his own bandages regardless

Sickness

-On the contrary, he actually doesn’t mind being sick when the time comes

-No one likes having a fever, but he can take it. Throwing up or being so tired that you can’t move is an awful feeling, but he can take it

-Between vigorously studying how the human body battles illness thanks to purple haze, he knows the ins and outs of his own body and also knows that getting sick is just a normal human response to bad bacteria

-That, and years of Bruno’s constant reassurance and parental charm have rubbed off on him a bit :)

-Narancia freaks out a bit anytime anyone is ill because of the fate of his mother, which is why Fugo feels a bit of responsibility to act calm and collected when he’s sick so Nara doesn’t feel as intimidated or threatened by it :)

-When he isn’t feeling well, he tells someone. He knows that taking a break is important and when he’s sick, he already knows from the start that he can’t get the work done properly even if he tried

-He doesn’t mind people taking care of him in that sense, but if you try to coddle him, he will choke you

Emotional Stress

-Its not uncommon for anyone in the Bucci gang to suffer from nightmares once in while, but something crucial to know for Fugo is that only Bruno can wake him up

-Out of everyone in the gang, the two of them have the strongest bond (they were the first two in the bucci gang after all) and sometimes when things are too much, Bruno is the only one who’s able to ground him again

-If anyone else tries to shake him awake or try to get him out of his sleep, he’ll panic. He gets scared. When he’s scared, people get hurt

-Sometimes, he has no idea who’s in front of him and won’t hesitate to go for the kill if he thinks he’s in immediate danger

-Narancia tried to wake him up one night and he panicked, stabbing him in the stomach. Narancia could care less because he has another cool scar, but Fugo felt awful about it and wouldn’t sleep or see anyone for days

.

.

-Despite being a bit unstable himself, Fugo has a vast amount of knowledge and knows himself and his needs like the back of his hand

-If he doesn't like something or doesn’t feel comfortable, he’s learned to speak up about it as much as possible

-They all have an unspoken rule with him to ask before they touch him in any scenario. He doesn’t mind physical affection, but permission please :)))

-Also. He is the KING of stress toys. Don’t even tell me that he doesn’t have a giant box of things to do with his hands when he gets overwhelmed (yes Bruno bought them all for him)

-Also weighted blankets? Perfect for someone who wants warmth but sometimes not touch

-I headcanon that in my Storm-verse, he lends things out to Giorno all the time when he needs them

-He’s also the one who explains a lot of terms to Giorno (flashbacks, panic attacks vs anxiety attacks, dissociation, etc,,) and he and Giorno end up bonding a lot because of it

-Fugo isn’t exactly ready to fully confront his past and his traumas, but he knows that he’ll have people there for him when he’s ready :)

And some sad shit to leave y’all with, of course >:(

-Fugo is scared of people, despite his demeanor. People have science, but are overall unpredictable

-He feels the need to always prepare for the worst because people are the one thing he can’t analytically predict

-He trusts Bruno with his life, but sometimes, even he doubts that

-He’s terrified of death, which is partly why he hates getting injured so much. He knows where untreated wounds will get you and it isn’t pretty

-Sometimes the tiniest injuries can ruin you forever. He’s terrified of that happening to him and he takes advantage of that fear because it's something he can control the probability of

-His biggest fear doesn’t have to do with the unknown, though; he’s terrified of being a failure

-His entire life was planned out for him: the best academic scores, the best schooling...now look at him. A gangster. A criminal.

-He hates his past self as much as he hates his current self. The constant pressure in the back of his mind of being so hungry for praise still resides in him today and he hates it

-He knows he can’t disappoint Bruno, and would have to do a lot to disappoint the others but it still never left his head

-He knows he’s with people who love him now, and would treat him right regardless, but part of him doubts that

-How could they love him? What had he done to be worthy of something like that? Half the time, he’s so angry he can barely speak

-And beyond all that, beyond his fear of death, and people, and failure?

-He’s just scared of being alone

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Jade gave me the saddest shit to work with after that last line that involved canon character deaths BUT MY TINY LITTLE HEART CANNOT HANDLE THAT TODAY so I leave you on merely a bittersweet ending instead :3

Got an ask? Hit me up, askbox is open!! <3

[shyrose57]

Brothers anon, I feel really bad about making this so long so there is a split at 7 where its onto another ask. Every answer past 7 is kinda long (especially 8), so im very very sorry. I'll try to not make anything this long again I promise.

1: He does fall back into that mindset at times. At first the others didn't get it but just let him be him. Not realizing it was a bad thing. Its only after they finally got Ranbob to tell then what lead to him getting so connected to the Dream Presence they realizie its a bad thing. But unlike the Presence which promises to make him perfect, they just constantly re-assure him that he doesn't need to be perfect and even encouraging him to make mistakes. Like if Ranbob makes a mistake and drops a plate, he'll freak out, but Benjamin conforts him. Reassuring him that he's ok and that no one is mad. 

2: I still sadly don't have a backstory for them or have planned who met who first. I have some ideas but so far I haven't choosen to go with any certain one yet. The ages don't really play a huge role in their relationship, but it is agreed that Benjamins a father figure or role model to the rest of the group. Especially Ranbob. Isaac actually takes the lead more often than not! Benjamin just sometimes takes the lead in certain situations and is a follower who has a stronger voice/say in what happens than the rest. 

3: If you ask Ran, he'll say he went along because he saw how happy the idea of the roadtrip made his family, and saw how much it meant to them. But there's also a small part of Ran that he pretends he doesnt know exists, that wants to consider Ranbob his brother again and wants to be as close as they used to be, a part of Ran does severly miss his brother and wants him back. But he's far to scared to get close to him again and let him close to his family after what happened. 

4: Nah Jackie knows those things. He's just messing around with Watson and wanted to see him be uncomfortable.

5: Not as many people forfeit as you would think surprisingly! When people get far enough to face off against the gladiators their usually either to stubborn to forfeit or they falsely believe they can beat them. I like to think that Grievous had a problem with people putting stuff in his food, like maybe his family used to put strength potions (basically drugs in this world) in his soup before any training sessions, making him cheat without knowing, and even putting poison in his food a few times when he confronted them about it or was disobedient. And since it was said Jackie was found off the streets I like to think that his family had abandoned him, and over time he got close to people who said would protect him, only for them to either die or leave him.

6: Ran wins most of the time in the games like Dart Throwing or Spoons. Like Jackie tends to win Gold Fish and Tic Tac Toe. Uh, let's just say Jackie and Ran got very heated during a round of Dart Throwing and a dart was thrown that ended up hitting Ran in the stomach, and a punch followed that to Jackie. Watson had to come and break it up and since then enforced that he had to be present during any game of Dart Throwing. He wasnt present once and while nothing bad happened Watson chastised them about not having him there. Everyone has good poker faces expect Jackie, he just can't keep a straight face which usually ends up in someone else laughing at him and losing their poker face for the rest of the game. Grievous has the best luck in games of chance! He doesn't know how but most of the time he manages to win and is between confused and disbelief. 

7: I am not very good with height. I have no concept of measurement of any kind what so ever. I have it so Ran is 8'6 and Jackie is 5'5 but I have no idea how big that exactly is and if its to big or to small for them. Jackie has two main options for dealing with mean people, 1)Be mean back and hit them where it hurts (physically and mentally if possible) or 2)Act like its all ok then go cry later. He typically picks 2 and goes to anyone from the group for comfort. And im not sure if your talking about the fishermens fighting skills or how they react to the gladiators fighting skills (same for the last question)? The fishermen defiantly aren't the best fighters, but because they live in a area where they do get attacked by mobs or thefts everynow and again they do know how to fight. Their actually surprised how far they got in the Pit. The difference in skill level is enough to be noticed definitely, its big enough that Grievous, Jackie, and Watson offer training and mentorship to them. 

1: Ranbob needs a lot of help and comfort-it’s very lucky the fishermen are willing to give it to him. However, it does sound like it was a bit before such happened. How far along did it get before one of the others noticed, or he told them about Dream?

2: So Isaac takes the lead? Interesting. Why is that exactly? What does he have/do that makes him a good leader?

3: Ran’s going through some stuff, huh? But hey, a start’s a start. Hopefully it goes somewhere better than it was. I look forward to seeing the healing journey.

4: I’m not surprised in the slightest, but I am vaguely amused. 

5: Well, I’m sure some quickly come to regret their decisions. Also, ouch. Everyone’s really going through the ringer here. Did those potions have any lasting affects? Do the others’ know of their friends’ tragic backstories? If so, how do they feel about that, and how did they find out?

6: Y’know, I never would have imagined dart throwing could escalate like that, but then again, considering the group, I’m not as surprised as I should be. Was that dart an accident or? And how far does Grievous’ luck extend? Could he win the lottery, or is it more just for small games?

7: I believe there are height charts, if you want help with that, where you can type in the height. But I may be wrong, I’ve only seen them in passing. Ran sounds like an absolute tree, and Jackie’s taller than me, so at the very least, he can probably reach the top cabinets, if that’s any help. I’m not much good with height either though, so possibly wrong. How mean can Jackie get by the way? And how do the others react to both scenerios?

[tyunniverse]

FRIENDS FOR A DAY (2)

pair: yeonjun x reader

genre: fluff

word count: 2654

parts: 1 | 2

· · ───────────── ·.☆.· ───────────── · ·

It had been a long time since Yeonjun felt like this. Sometimes life in general had become too much to bear and the things that used to make him happy weren't working for him anymore. Times spent alone slowly became more frequent for him than times he'd spent with his friends.

He'd skipped the first day, not wanting to go back to that routine life just yet. And towards the start of the day, he would never have imagined meeting you and getting to spend the day doing things that strayed far from any of the schedules he'd previously planned. A breath of fresh air was what he liked to call it, and he had you to thank for that.

Unlike him, everything was new to you; a new city, a new school, new people, and a whole new life ahead. Yeonjun felt a little envious after realizing it when you'd talked more about yourselves during lunch, but after seeing how you seemed to enjoy every single second of your little sight seeing endeavor, he thought that maybe he could also be a part of something new in your life.

Best friends.

You had agreed to be his best friend from today onwards; the pendant around your neck serving as proof. Yeonjun finds his hand wandering over to his pocket, holding on to his old necklace.

Half of a star. He'd bought it a few years back. The necklace had a similar purpose with the one he was wearing now— meant to be worn separately by two different people. In his case, he had bought it as a whole and had decided to keep one half of it still in its case, stashed inside his closet. His reasons for purchasing it never really felt clear even to him but he also wouldn't call it an impulsive decision. Yeonjun liked to think that he'd be able to find a use for it in the future.

"Yeonjun." You call for his attention, pointing at the posters plastered on a random shop's wall. "It says that the annual carnival will be opening tonight. Wanna go?"

Yeonjun grins. Opportunities somehow kept showing up right in front of his doorstep. "Yeah, only if you want to though. Afterall, I'm only the tour guide for today."

"Shut up." You hold back a smile. "Have you been there before?"

Yeonjun repeats the question in his mind. As someone one would consider pretty popular, you'd expect him to be no stranger in hanging out at fun places like an annual carnival, but that's just it. Yeonjun had never visited that Carnival once ever since it opened. His friends had asked him to tag along but something about it just never seemed to make him want to.

"No." Yeonjun answers, scratching the back of his head. "If we end up going then this would be my first time too." The first time he'd actually wanted to go.

"I guess we're going then." You grin and Yeonjun finds himself smiling back. "It says here that the Carnival's just around the corner so it'd probably be okay if we just walked there."

"Yeah."

The two of you make your way to the Carnival. You still had a good amount of time left before it opened so a few quick stops at some stalls along the way didn't do any harm.

· · ───────────── ·.☆.· ───────────── · ·

In all honesty, Yeonjun didn't even know when and how he'd ended up holding your hand, laughing his heart off by the time you arrived at the entrance but it all just happened somehow. Was it the when your ice cream cone almost landed straight on his shoe earlier? Or when his hand nearly hit you square in the face when he noticed a bug flying towards you? It could've even been when a group of old ladies started hitting on him at the handbag boutique and all you did was stand there shaking, wanting to laugh your ass off.

No matter what the reason was, he liked this. Somehow, it just felt right.

The two of you pay for the tickets before heading inside. The place was larger than any of you had ever expected, cleaner too. People of all ages were enjoying their carnival experience to the fullest. Children were running around with their guardians following closely behind, couples and groups of friends chatting along and taking pictures— Yeonjun could swear he saw two old men arguing over who gets to take a picture with the mascot first.

"So, which ride do you wanna go on first?" You ask, turning to him.

"Well, how about that one." Yeonjun points at the viking and you feel yourself getting more and more excited.

"NICE—" Before Yeonjun knew it, you were dragging him around to every single ride at the carnival.

You liked to keep count of everytime Yeonjun freaked out while you went on the rides, and Yeonjun liked to do the same. Despite the thrill of being at a carnival keeping you hyped up, there were a few times when you had overestimated your tolerance with being thrown around. Yeonjun nearly puked twice: once at the twister, and a second time on the rollercoaster. Even you were almost a victim by the rollercoaster's loops.

Yeonjun had claimed he was an expert at navigating haunted house attractions, stating, "I've been watching horror movies all my life. Nothing scares me at this point, tbh." True enough, nothing scared Yeonjun except every single ominous decoration and jump scares the haunted house threw at him. You weren't too fond of horror yourself, but you ended up trying to be the brave one after Yeonjun basically clung to you half of the time. It didn't help whenever you freaked out since you ended up losing Yeonjun after he not so subtly abandons you at the slightest suspicious sound. It was a miracle you made it out in one piece.

"Yeah, so, uh, sorry about that." Yeonjun laughs it off the moment you two got out.

"Sure but you should know that I'm never gonna let you live it down." You tell him, smiling widely as you hold up the photos you received from one of the staff. "I got evidence."

Yeonjun snatches the photos from your hands. "Bold of you to assume these'll affect me— oh." It definitely did.

You watch as he slips the photos inside his jacket as if it wasn't obvious enough that he was trying to hide it from you. "Nice try but," You take out another batch of photos and wave it around. "Boom. Two copies."

"Wow, okay."

The two of you ended up laughing at each other before you suggest in trying out the stalls. They say time flies by fast when you're having fun and they couldn't be more right. There had been an unspoken competition between you and Yeonjun of who can win the most prizes and let's just say you weren't about to let yourself lose. By the time you got tired, you had a total of three plushies and a bunch of candy bars stuffed in your pockets and well, Yeonjun had the exact amount of prizes you had.

"Fine. It's a draw for now but only because I'm tired." Yeonjun holds the plushies tighter. "We should really get a bag for this. I wonder if we can get a huge plastic bag somewhere."

"Nah, we can just put em in here." You take off your back pack, opening it wide. "I'm sure it can fit all six of them. They're small enough." You were lucky that they did, finally leaving your hands free.

"Wait." Yeonjun pauses after putting the last of his plushies inside. "How can I be sure you won't just take my plushies for yourself after we leave? I'm pretty easy to distract so—"

"If you forget to get them back then I'll just hand them to you tomorrow at school. You go to HSU too, right?" You tell him.

"Yeah, but how will you contact me?"

"Obviously, we exchange numbers."

Yeonjun blinks. Of course that'd be the simplest solution but still. He'd been talking about staying as friends even after all this but the thought of exchanging numbers hadn't really crossed his mind. He takes out his phone and the two of you quickly added each other as contacts, somehow feeling a bit closer after the exchange.

"While we're at it—" Yeonjun pulls you in closer as he bends down. Only now that you've felt Yeonjun's warmth close to you have you noticed how cold it actually was outside . It takes you a few seconds to register that he wants to take a few selfies.

You bust out a smile and tried to go along with whatever weird faces and poses he did. "Send them to me later." You say after examining the photos. There's one where Yeonjun mimicked a kissing motion near your cheek, making you smile. Who would've expected you two were total strangers up until a few hours ago.

"Got room for one last ride?" Yeonjun asks as you return his phone.

"Yeah, sure. Which one?"

"Don't ask as if you don't know. I'm pretty sure you left this one out on purpose."

Perhaps unconsciously, you did. In every single movie that involved the two characters going to a carnival, for some reason, they always left the Ferris Wheel for last. It's not like you wanted something grand to happen when you ride it, but more like you just wanted to get a good view of the entire carnival before leaving. It seemed like the perfect final attraction.

Yeonjun notices how you've gone quiet and decided to hold your hand, pulling you along. "Let's go before the place closes."

"Okay." You look up at him, nodding.

· · ───────────── ·.☆.· ───────────── · ·

The Ferris Wheel ride wasn't all you had expected it to be. It looked pretty slow in the movies but right now? You were about to puke.

"Yeonjun, wait." You hold on to Yeonjun who was sitting opposite to you.

The Ferris Wheel was going too fast to your liking and you started feeling dizzy. Getting a good view of the carnival seemed impossible at this point and looking at your partner made you even more miserable.

Yeonjun was having the time of his life. He loved the feeling in his stomach whenever the ride went down, and the fact that you were lowkey suffering right in front of him made him laugh even harder.

The speed went on for a few more rounds until it finally slows down. Your heart and probably everything else stilled once the ride came to a complete stop just as your car reached the top. "Thank God. I felt like I was going to die."

"Well, you're safe for now." Yeonjun grins, leaning back in his heat. "You wanted to enjoy the view, right? We'll be stuck here for probably about a minute or two so enjoy it while it lasts."

"Yeah." You smile back, looking outside the window.

The winds were colder up there, reminding you of how warm it felt when you stood close to Yeonjun earlier. Yeonjun catches you warming yourself up with your hands and chuckles. He takes off his jacket and hands it over to you. "Here, put this on."

"Thanks." You quickly put his jacket on. Usually you'd go for the polite route and turn him down but if you were going to continue this friendship business then you weren't about to suffer in the cold when the dude's practically handing you a solution.

Yeonjun gives you a little smile before you continue to admire the view. Down there, the lights almost looked like a sea of stars. The music around the place didn't really help set the mood but somehow, the mixture of it along with the laughter and delightful screams of the other visitors made it feel right. After everything that happened today, you felt like it was the right decision to end the day with this breathtaking sight.

And Yeonjun couldn't agree more. The lights below reflected in your eyes in a way that made the atmosphere lighter. He could tell you were happy and right now, that seemed to be enough for him.

The Ferris Wheel began moving. Yeonjun snickers as he felt you grab for his hand, worried that the ride might throw you off once more, but it didn't. The way down was slow, allowing you to enjoy the ride in peace. Your pendant started to shine, reflecting the lights. It reminded him of everything that happened, from the moment you two met and agreed on a friendship that would last for only a day, up until now where he held your hand on the Ferris Wheel after deciding to be friends for real this time. The pendant became the sole proof of that friendship and Yeonjun couldn't help but wonder if the ones he bought a few years back would truly be of any use in the future. But what would it symbolize for? Who knows, he might just give you the other half.

Your car comes to a stop and the doors open. The realization that the day has officially come to an end left you feeling disappointed. Yeonjun squeezes your hand, bringing your attention to him. He gestures for the two of you to get up and you do, finally stepping back on the ground.

Both you and Yeonjun felt that the way back to the entrance was too fast. It really did seem like the two of you wouldn't see each other again despite the fact you went to the same university. The thought felt silly but that's just how the carnival experience gets to you.

"I guess this is it." Yeonjun speaks up first. "You live pretty far from here, right? I can take you home if you want."

"It's okay. My cousin lives nearby and I texted her earlier that I'd be staying over." You tell him, not wanting him to worry. "How about you? Will you be alright on your own?"

"Yeah, definitely." Yeonjun reassures, holding up his hands. "Oh, and by the way. Is it okay if I leave the plushies on your bag for now? I can't exactly carry them on the way back. If it's ok with you."

"Don't worry. You can just take them back tomorrow." You grin and Yeonjun smiles back. "Also, I'm keeping your jacket for now. I'll return it after I clean it up."

"I can work with that." He shouldn't feel this happy but he did. In a way, he was able to find an excuse to meet up with you tomorrow without things getting awkward. Maybe this friendship could work out afterall.

"Thanks for today. Honestly, this was the most fun I've had ever since I got here." You say, taking one last look at him.

I should be the one to thank you. "You know, I have a lot of things I wanna say to you right now but I think I'm gonna wait until I feel like it."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. I'll text you later." Yeonjun gives you a quick pat on the shoulder before running off to the opposite direction. "See you at school! And don't forget to bring the kids!"

You raise a brow. Did he just refer to the plushies as his kids?

He felt dumb, running away from you. The longer he stayed, the more he had trouble leaving, which was new for him. It's been a while since he actually found someone he'd like to hang out with and he was having trouble controlling his excitement. Soon, you'd be able to visit each other's houses, hang out more freely, talk about your days as if it were nothing, and get to know each other more. Honestly speaking, Yeonjun couldn't wait for that day to come but I guess he'll just have to start with tomorrow.

[askkrenko]

Krenko’s Guide to Pokemon: Eevee Line

Part 1. Because seriously.

DESIGN:

Eevee was intentionally designed to be some sort of generic wild critter that could exist but doesn’t. Given traits of all sorts of small, furry things, the purpose of Eevee is to be cute, lovable, and evoke the feeling of ‘some animal.’ It is simultaneously known to everyone and completely unknown. Everyone recognizes Eevee but nobody actually knows what it is.  Eevee is, above all else, THE ‘normal’ Pokemon.

And honestly, it’s totally freaking adorable. Eevee is the best rabbit dog fox kitty thing that ever was, and nobody doesn’t love Eevee. Its design basically couldn’t be better. There’s a reason this fuzzlewuzzle regularly competes with Pikachu for being the face of Pokemon. Sure, it can’t quite win, but it’s up there.

But the concept of Eevee is really the interesting one. Eevee was the first Pokemon with branching evolutions, and while other Pokemon have gotten such since then, Eevee has always had the most. Starting with three in Generation 1, there are currently eight possible evolutions of Eevee, and there could easily be more on the way. This puts the Eevee line in a really notable position. I always love when a Pokemon has a unique gimmick, and while in combat each Eeveelution might just be another, having an Eevee with so many options to choose from makes it an interesting Pokemon to obtain.

But before we discuss the designs of any evolutions, let’s talk about the non-evolved alternate form: Gigantamax. Like Pikachu and Meowth, GIgantamax Eevee is just a gimmick. The Pokemon’s not strong enough to be used, and Gigantamax Eevee can’t actually evolve, so it’s just there to be big and fluffy and cute… and it just fails at that. It’s not that Gigantamax Eevee isn’t cute- of course it is- but it’s not cuter than Eevee is normally, and the big bushy collar isn’t nearly as fun of a unique touch as Meowth being memes or Pikachu going back to its fat gen 1 design. Sadly, Gigantamax Eevee is a waste of everyone’s time.

And now onto the actual evolutions.

VAPOREON: 

Vaporeon is an interesting and unique creature, with large fins on its head and small ones down its back and tail giving it the appearance of a fish, but still with a clearly mammalian mouth and legs. Vaporeon is clearly aquatic and clearly related to Eevee, but other than that it simply doesn’t look like anything. And yet Vaporeon still has a clear design and aesthetic, as something that could maybe possibly be something between a dog, a seal and a dolphin. It’s an elegant, clean design that looks fantastic without looking absurd. 

JOLTEON:

Jolteon’s just yellow with spikes. It’s simple, but it works. There’s nothing weird about Jolteon’s design in the least, though admittedly that means there’s nothing overly special about it. Jolteon is just what happens when you take Eevee and make it cool, and other than the bright coloration there’s nothing particularly odd about it. One of the more subdued Eeveelutions, I like it, it’s cool, but I don’t exactly have specific praise for it.

FLAREON:

Flareon looks even more realistic than Jolteon. The red coloration’s a bit bright, but other than that it’s just a big ol’ floofy floof. The shape and color of its fur suggest fire, but unlike many fire types it doesn’t feel the need to actually be on fire.  Like Jolteon, Flareon is a good, clean design.

It’s also noteworthy here that the first three Eeveelutions have big collars, like Eevee does. The rest do not. Honestly, I really like this part of the design, but I understand why not all would have it.

ESPEON:

The psychic evolution, Espeon’s purple colors are a bit more out there than the previous three,  and my first instinct when looking at it is that it’s supposed to be hairless like a Sphynx Cat, but then it has those huge tufts on the side of its face that are clearly hair despite it not having tufts or even signs of fur anywhere else. They’re too high to be whiskers, too, so they just come across as weird. In fact, everything about Espeon is weird, and not always for the better. The split tail is a cool design, but I don’t understand what it’s going for. The jewel on the forehead I DO understand as a psychic focus, but it’s so obviously artificial compared to the previous Eeveelutions that it feels out of place. In fact, the core concept of Espeon feels a bit out of place. Most of the Eeveelutions are the result of stone or location radiation, and Umbreon happens at night. Espeon levels up in the day time with affection, and somehow becomes a psychic type. A psychic type whose pokedex entry calls the Sun Pokemon. 

Eevee’s whole gimmick is that when exposed to weird stuff it transforms, so I have a hard time understanding why a happy Eevee turns into a psychic type during the day. If it was just about the strong bond with its trainer, why does the sun matter? And if the sun does matter, what’s going on with its everything?

Espeon ultimately just doesn’t work for me. It reads wrong as a creature and I don’t understand how it fits in with other Eevee lore.

UMBREON:

Okay, what’s up with those circles? Black fur I get. Gold stripes I get. Floofy tail, red eyes, sleek body, sure sure sure. I am totally on board with that. But those clean, obvious golden rings absolutely take me out of this design. I get that they’re supposed to be moonlight rings or something, but I’d have been much happier if this thing had golden spots instead of such clean shapes, to make it look more like a realistic animal. 

As far as actually fitting though, it makes sense as a Night-based Pokemon, but the Moon thing is a bit more of a stretch. It’s not nearly as bad as Espeon and the Sun, but Eevee plus Moonlight should result in a brighter, glowing Eevee, not a darker, more sinister Eevee.  Umbreon also has a serious issue of its abilities not being what it says they are. For example, the Pokedex says it’s got poison; Umbreon has never naturally learned a poison type attack. Its rings glowing is supposed to be one of its key features, but none of its abilities reflect that.

This isn’t to say that I dislike Umbreon or Espeon overall. Some of my favorite Pokemon have been Umbreons and Espeons. Their designs just really don’t sell the story that they’re trying to.

LEAFEON:

So, now this is more like what I’m talking about. Eevee + Moss Rock/Leaf Stone = Eevee that’s turning into a plant. It’s still an animal, but with its ears and tail and some of its fur turning into leaves so it can now photosynthesize. Also the leaf is a sword because that’s bitchin’.

Now, while I am totally on board with Leafeon’s concept, I do think the design could’ve used a bit of tweaking. The head and tail are great, but the little leaf things coming off the body look a bit odd, and I’m not really sold on the mostly tan color scheme. I think it’d have looked better with more browns and greens. Specifically, brown legs and belly, green back and neck. Maybe a leafy collar like the original Eeveelutions all had collars. Still, I like it overall.

GLACEON:

I don’t particularly like Glaceon. While it reads as an Ice Eevee it doesn’t read as an Eevee infused with Ice or adapted to Ice so much as it reads as an Eevee with design elements that look ice-like. The sharp diamond shapes over it don’t actually have anything to do with ice the way Jolteon’s spikes are the result of electric charge or Flareon’s floof looks like fire. Further, the addition of what is clearly a hairdo is just sort of weird. It’s too sharp to look like it comes naturally and while it makes for an interesting visual element it doesn’t mean anything or serve any purpose in the Glaceon itself. At least Espeon’s split tail was supposed to be for sensing things. Glaceon just has huge flaps that are definitely a disadvantage in a fight and don’t seem to serve any purpose other than possibly attracting a mate. 

Glaceon is a solid design for a creature but not for ‘this is an Eevee mutated by the ice element.’

SYLVEON:

OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL IS THIS ABOMINATION!?!?

Oh, it’s a cute fairy Eevee that’s pink and blue with ribbons and bows? You’d think so, and I don’t mind the color scheme for a fairy type but THOSE ARE NOT RIBBONS AND BOWS. Those are ‘feelers.’ Those are FLESH. Fur-covered, wriggly, boneless flesh. 

This is bad. This is wrong. This is not okay.

This is not a fairy. This is an eldritch horror. Foxes should not have tentacles, and tentacles should not have fur. 

And that’s not even getting into how much I hate Sylveon’s evolution method. Eevee evolves into Sylveon when it has affection and knows a fairy type move… but Eevee can just learn Baby-Doll Eyes on its own at level 15, so this isn’t a feat or anything special, it’s just a normal part of raising an Eevee. The worst part is that this is some weird new and special method to explain why you couldn’t have done it before, but the only actual change here is that Eevee didn’t learn Baby-Doll Eyes naturally before, so instead of something being discovered the world has just been rewritten to allow Sylveon to exist.

Because Sylveon is a monster from outside reality that has forced its way in here.

I hate Sylveon. I hate Sylveon so much. And to truly understand how much I hate Sylveon you need to understand that I love Eevee. I have two Eevee on my nightstand- named Artemis and Apollo after my Espeon and Umbreon from Gold and Silver. I make it a point to use Eeveelutions in every game, because I love them so much. One of my oldest RP characters was a Jolteon named Flash. On Halloween, I had one of my video game characters dress up as an Eevee to go to a costume party in an MMO. Which obviously didn’t have an Eevee costume so I had to assemble it. So my hate for Sylveon isn’t just ‘oh, this is an icky Pokemon,’ but I take its existence as an insult to Eevee, who I love so much.

You came to the wrong Eeveehood by Dakunart

TYPING:

What type do you want? Eeveelutions come in eight different types, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. But that’s Pokemon for you. And in the future we’ll probably get even more types. I just hope they have good designs and aren’t disgusting abominations.

STATS OVERVIEW:

We’ll talk about stats of Eeveelutions individually, but for now let’s note what they all have in common: numbers. Every evolved form of Eevee has a 130, a 110, a 95, two 65s, and a 60, for a total of 525 base stats, making for Pokemon that are highly specialized in some areas and very weak in others. This results in all of them having at least a decent stat array, except for Flareon, though whether their array is offensive, defensive, or more balanced varies.

Eeveelutions by Endivinity

MOVES OVERVIEW:

As with stats, we’ll discuss them for individual evolutions, but as they’re all evolved from Eevee they do share a large amount of their move pool. Eevee is notorious for learning Baton Pass naturally, a move so powerful and useful it’s been banned in many formats, and though it requires chain breeding, Eevee’s one of a relatively small number of Pokemon that can learn Wish.

Yawn, Substitute, Protect, and Rest all offer strategic options, and though not available in the current generation, Eevee could previously learn Toxic. 

Actual attack forms for Eevee to learn pre-evolution are pretty limited, but an Eevee can learn Shadow Ball and Iron Tail, both of which have their uses.

Eevee does have a number of unique attacks, primarily from Let’s Go Eevee but also the Z-Move Extreme Evoboost. While all of these are viciously powerful to the point of being outright broken, Eevee’s evolved forms can’t learn them, and thus they’re not relevant in most competitive play. 

Next time, we’ll start going down the list of forms and discussing them in the specifics. This one’s a doozy.

Eeveelutions by Lushies-Art

[wordstrings]

I CANNOT believe I didn't think of that???? But I DID IT

Also, the reasons you didn't ask for:

Jack: Lawful Lee- hes so innocent and pure and still has the mind of a child. He doesn't understand the embarrassment that might come of just asking Cas, or Dean, to just wreck him cause he had a bad day. He has no reason to go it via retaliation (like some people *cough* Dean *cough* he just asks for it

Kevin: Neutral Lee- Kevin is the MOST embarrassed about being tickled, and will NEVER make a move to try to be on the receiving end. But when hes had a rough day with the tablets, or starts complaining a little too much, the brother feel they gotta take his mind off it. What better way than pinning him down and tickling the snot out of him. Kevin of course doesn't actually mind, and the boys know that, from the little to no heat his threats give off. But he'll never give them true verbal or physical verification.

Meg:chaotic Lee- ESPECIALLY in her later seasons when she decides to help the boys. A quick quip here, a jab at their egos there? A well placed death threat? And the boys and Cas are taking her down, just like she planned. (This ones a little shotty, I didn't really know who else would fit here, if you got ideas, lay em down!)

Cas:Lawful switch- I mean. Does this one really need an explanation? Yes? Well okay- much like his surrogate son, he's not overly shy about asking his boyfriend to be taken down. He does seek retaliation from Dean sometimes, but thats really just because he knows Dean likes that kind of play, and he's more than happy to endulge him. His ler side, is often kept for Dean (he will take down Sam or Charlie or Kevin when necessary, but only when necessary or asked). He's grown to learn Deans ticks and signs that he wants to be tickled. But being the good wholesome boyfriend that he is, always waits for those signs to show up cause he doesn't want Dean to ever be uncomfortable (although, he's kidding himself if he thinks Dean isn't always craving it, but thats beside the point)

Charlie: Neutral switch- Her ler side is more so quick jabs to sides, flutters of fingers up ribs, or spidering up spines. Enough to get a squirm and a gasp or giggle out of her assailant, but nothing more, unless of course the entirety of the bunkers residents are ganging up on Dean- then she'll join the antics, but otherwise likes to stay on the outskirts, and just tease everyone (shes a big reason why Dean gets into Lee moods a lot. You can't just give him a quick squeeze and move on! Thats like letting him have one bite of his burger and then taking it away!!). Her Lee side is also relatively secluded. When she's in a Lee mood, she focuses on one single assailant (usually Sam) to prod poke and flutter. They eventually get annoyed enough that they take her down, and reducer her to giggling mush. Her Lee moods are few and far between, so it took everyone in the bunker a while to figure it out

Dean: chaotic switch: the chaotic switch to rule all chaotic switches. When hes in a Lee mood, you'd better believe no one wants to be in the same room with him (and all have Cas on speed dial for this reason. Oh you thought it was cause he's an angel of the lord that could help with monsters? No, its to deal with a problematic Dean Winchester). He becomes /unbearably/ annoying until someone decides to FINALLY take him down. If he's been annoying enough, to enough people he'll earn himself a swarm of angry friends picking certain body parts to destroy, and it becomes a family affair. If Dean is in a ler mood, forget about not being in the same room. You should be in a different country yesterday. He is relentless, taking down anyone in arms reach. Even running after them down the hall, "you gotta keep your endurance up, what if I was a vampire Kevin, huh? You'd be DEAD". Cas is also usually called to clean up this mess. Although, if Cas in unavailable, a well placed threat about calling Gabriel usually gets him to mellow out until Cas can be his guinea pig (shameless throw out: petition for the boys to FINALLY get Cas a pet God damnit).

Sam: lawful ler- due to the years of torment he was subject to by his brother, he's not big on being on the receiving end, but that doesn't mean he's not afraid to dole it out. His "traumatic" memories leaves him being more empathetic to his victims, and only taking them down necessarily, or when they outright as for it, some actually asking, some... more around the bush (*cough* DEAN *cough*). He takes immense joy in tickling Charlie, because he knows he's the main person she goes to when she actually wants to be tickled. And he's always willing to lend that hand... or fingers.

Benny: neutal ler- you CANNOT tell me he did not take Dean down in purgatory at least once. And when he joins the family of the misfits, his first reaction is "why does everyone tickle eachother do damn much??" He finally realizes that its because their lives are so full of sorrow, death, destruction and overall sadness, its their way of brightening everyone's spirits when needed. Hes also realized its a common form of affection throughout the bunker. His first experience with it was Charlie goosing his side. He wasn't overly fond of the feeling, but was content with watching everyone take eachother down for a long time. It wasn't until a few months into living with everyone that Dean kept /pestering/ him nonstop for three days. It was Cas who eventually told him that Dean was trying to get him to tickle him. He obliged, somewhat hesitantly. He confront Dean about it afterwards, and Dean just blushed, and told him he wanted him to be part of the family, more than just a shadow around the bunker. After that, Benny started settling in a little better, and even joined in tickling others when he had the chance. The only one he allows to actually tickle him now is Charlie, anyone else will be tickled to hysterics immediately.

Gabriel: chaotic ler- Gabriel isn't around the bunker often. He'll show up for holidays, select birthdays, and hunts he's needed on. Otherwise hes pretty scarce, doing whatever gabriel/loki/trickster/whatever he is this Tuesday. Every once in a while he'll pop up on days other than those listed above. On the days he is around, everyone is always on high alert. Gabriel LOVES to mess with his new family, and his older brother complex trumps even Deans. And unlike Dean, no one sees Gabriel coming. He is not afraid to use his grace from the other side of the bunker, or pop up behind his unexpected victims to tickle them with his fingers and wings the old fashioned way. However... Gabriel is the most dangerous when summoned. Can you guess who's in the most danger? I'll give you a minute. Thats right, Dean freaking Winchester. And Gabriel does not like being prayed to on days he isn't planning on joining those in the bunker, and will surely dole out whats coming to to culprit of those forced to bring in backup (although, who is Gabriel kidding. If it got to the point they had to pray for him, he's really just feeding Dean what he wants)

Cliff notes: Dean is just a mess but everyone loves him

First of all, when did Tumblr let asks get this long? Not complaining – I just pride myself on keeping up on all the quirks here and this completely skipped my radar. It’s glorious.

I agree with so much of this, so hard, but I must acknowledge that the switch row is true Perfection. I’m with you on the chaotic lee conundrum, though - and the closest feasible replacement I can come up with is Garth. (Ideally, I’d still probably put him in neutral instead of chaotic, but whaddayagonnado.)

[mistymorningwritings]

Sink or Swim (Chapter 30)

So this is the final chapter of my fanfic Sink or Swim.

You can read it in its entirety under the cut or on ff.net.

Whatever you you prefer, I hope you still head over there to leave a review.

Have fun reading!

A couple of days later Alex picked Jo up from Dr. Wyatt's office on the fourth floor.

Jo was happy about the pleasant surprise. "Well, if that isn't my boyfriend picking me up from the shrink?" she said as she gave him a little kiss.

"Boyfriend? Excuse me?" Alex inquired a little offended as he drew back.

"Oh right, we get to use the fancy French words now. My fiancé is picking me up from the shrink," she corrected herself. "And this time we're both in on the engagement. That's progress." She laughed, remembering the proposal at Kepner's wedding.

Alex rolled his eyes. "Very funny."

On their way through the hospital hallways to the elevator, Jo noticed that the hospital seemed particularly quiet that evening. The corridors were only dimly lit. A nurse was sitting at the station, typing something into a computer. An elderly patient was going for a little walk, propped on a crutch. Other than that they didn't meet anyone else. In between medical emergencies and occasional crazy catastrophes even Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital could get a bit of rest sometimes.

"This place is weird when it's that quiet," Alex remarked. "It's like you can't trust it. Reminds me of a freaking haunted house."

Jo pushed the button to call the elevator. "Nah, you need to just embrace the fact that we got to finish on time today and that we were spared of any disasters."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Alex looped his arm around her shoulder and hugged her to him.

"Fffiiiaaannncccééé." Once they'd stepped into the elevator and the doors started closing behind them, Jo tried the word again, drawing out every single letter. Alex shot her a weird glance, which she ignored. "I think I like the sound of it," she announced. She reached for Alex's hand - the one that was dangling over her shoulder - and laced her fingers through his. "Fiancé, fiance, fiancé."

With a quiet chuckle Alex shook his head at her.

Jo was in a good mood today. That was not always the case after therapy. Counseling sessions could be pretty draining and sometimes Jo found herself bristling against physical contact afterwards, even from Alex. On those days she was taciturn and withdrawn and wanted nothing more than to be left alone. Alex had learned to deal with that, which Jo appreciated.

Then there were days when she was feeling exactly the opposite. Then she was desperately craving physical affection and touch. This often happened when she spoke with Dr. Wyatt about how lonely and abandoned she had felt for most of her life. Only Alex's solid arms enveloping her into a tight embrace could chase that nasty feeling away and make her feel loved and safe again.

But today was neither one of those days. Jo was not angry, not sad, not drained. She actually felt pretty lighthearted as they left the building through the main entrance, arm in arm, their fingers still entwined.

This was still who she was. She could still be silly and carefree and happy. And she could still get excited about fixing bones or pulling unlikely objects out of people's bodys. She could even have a fun night out drinking beer and playing baseball with the attendings. She'd thought that that would all go away as soon as she really started to face her trauma. She'd thought she'd lose herself to all the sadness and the pain. But her fear had not come true. She was still the same person as before, only now she'd started to actually heal.

And, she thought, flashing a mischievous grin at Alex, she was still the girl who was bringing her boyfriend - fiancé - a fruit present, when he didn't take care proper of himself. Today she'd seen him eat a chocolate muffin for breakfast. So it was time to feed him some vitamins.

"By the way, I got something for you," she said as soon as they'd reached Alex's car.

Alex regarded her with a curious frown as she searched her baggy satchel. "Here you go." She pulled out a crunchy red apple and a medium-sized banana.

"For me?" At first Alex didn't get it. Then it dawned on him. "Oh come on! This is because of the muffin?"

"Yeah. It's time you start taking better care of yourself. You're not that young, you know." With her arms on her hips and a stern look she scolded him. Her tone was oozing of fake exasperation, though.

Still Alex played along, grimacing like he'd stepped on lego. "Ouch. That's rude."

Jo tried to maintain a serious expression, but ultimately neither of them was able to contain their laughter.

"Well, if that means there are actually powdered sugar donuts waiting for me at home, then I'll gladly take 'em." He started peeling the banana and took a bite. Then he wrapped it up again. "Satisfied? Now, let's go home."

But Jo didn't move. A word he'd just used so casually was echoing in her mind. Home. She understood it now. As a foster child she had lived in half a dozen different places. She had lived in houses, apartments, trailers, and a literal car. She had lived in cities, suburbs and small towns. But not a single one of those places had ever felt like home to her. She realized now that a home wasn't made of four walls and a roof. It was about the people. And the people who were supposed to take care of her and love her - the foster parents and families she had been placed with - none of them had bothered to stick with her in the end, not even the ones who treated her decently. But Alex had. He was still here. He knew her darkest secret, the thing she was most ashamed of and he still stuck around. More than that, he had stopped her when she had wanted to run from everything.

He had fought for her like no one else had before. And for the first time she felt perfectly safe. But it wasn't because she knew he would defend her to the death, it was because Jo knew when something bad happened, she didn't have to bear it alone anymore. Now she had someone she could count on, a shoulder to lean on, someone who was willing to carry some of her weight.

She looked at him as he unwrapped the banana with a sigh and ate it all up this time. "So can we go home now?" he asked, a little irritated. But Jo still didn't react. She just looked at him and looked at him and looked at him. Even in his annoyance she loved him completely.

"Hey. Jo." Alex snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Did you fall asleep with your eyes open or something? I said, let's go home."

A tender smile blossomed across Jo's face as she finally pulled herself out of her epiphany or whatever it was, she'd just had. She brought her hand to his face and stroked his cheek, feeling the familiar prickle of his stubble on her palm.

"You know," she said, gazing into his eyes, "I think I already am."