#it's giving the one kid with the big hair from mob psycho

[ladyelainehilfur]

lowkey I'm on the Equalists' sides 😭 it's not like the real world is any better but if there were people with superpowers, I'd wanna knock them down a peg too! "oh no what am without my bending" YOU'RE JUST LIKE THE REST OF US!!

[morsartis]

The Bets Are On

You didn't always get dragged along on tours with Marvus, preferring to stay away from the sheer chaos of the limelight. It wasn't that you hated it but you certainly weren't a big fan of having Marvus within reach and yet still not being able to see him. The packed schedule that came with his tours were a drag and you weren't even bound by them. But Ourani and Revell had both asked you to be there, it was important that Marvus and his band were seen in a positive light while on an Earth bound tour. A surprising side effect of the current alliance between the two was the fact bands were allowed to perform on both planets for the first time. It was an opportunity that no one in the entertainment industry could pass up on- not even Marvus. Which was why you were there- they were trying to involve as many humans as possible as a show of good faith. Revell had been the most excited about it as the band's human sensitivity trainer. The fact he wasn't even human in the first place was both amusing and a glaring sign of Alternia's many problems. It'd be insulting if Revell wasn't so serious about his job, often consulting as many humans as he possibly could over the most minute detail and advocating for an actual human to do the training instead of himself. Unfortunately his hands were tied on that front.

Lost in your own thoughts you nearly fell off the chair you were sitting in when Ourani slammed the door to the break room open looking frazzled. His usually slightly wrinkled but tidy clothes were a wreck- tie askew and shirt buttoned wrong with his hair sticking up at odd angles. He looked like he'd survived a mob. "Thaaaat's it! I caaaan't do this aaaanymore! Maaaarvus is driving me to drink!" He shrieked the second the door swung closed behind him. You winced slightly and gave him a sympathetic smile.

"How I've laaaasted this long is aaaa daaaamn mystery!" He continued tossing his clipboard onto the table. You could only imagine what he'd been having to deal with.

"What did he do this time?"

"Whaaaat did he do this time? This time? Its less whaaaat he’s done aaaand more whaaaat he’s going to do! He purposely faaaailed every single humaaaan sensitivity course he waaaas instructed to taaaake! Do you haaaave aaaany ideaaaa how haaaard it waaaas to even get him to those courses? Its like trying to herd feraaaal purr-beaaaasts!” He all but wailed sinking down into the chair opposite from you. It creaked under his weight- built more for humans than adult trolls- and you feared it might collapse under the poor rust blood. The last thing he needed to happen when he was already this close to a break down.

“I know I talk a lot of shit about Marvus but he can’t be that bad.”

Those were clearly the wrong words to say to Marvus’ top personal assistant as Ourani looked at you with an expression bordering on murderous and manic.

“Oh, you think so huh? You think you caaaan haaaandle being Maaaarvus’ Personaaaal Aaaasistaaaant? You think you can do better thaaaan I caaaan? Fine! Why don’t you do my job todaaaay then? He’s got aaaa full schedule aaaand haaaas aaaalreaaaady shown signs of trying to blow it aaaall off!”

“Uh-,”

“Even better ideaaaa! We’ll maaaake aaaa bet out of it. If you caaaan get Maaaarvus to staaaay on traaaack I’ll paaaay some of thaaaat debt you owe to Gorjek.”

“Wh-,”

“Aaaand if you lose? I’ll finaaaally quit!” He was grinning wildly now, eyes bright with glee at the thought of quitting.

“How about if I win you just schedule Marvus a little down time?” You offered instead. Trying to hopefully keep him from losing it further.

“Fine.” He replied looking slightly less like he might jump over the table and throttle you or the next person to walk into the break room. With a more steadying breath Ourani extended his hand to shake on the bet and you gladly took it. Anything to keep him from going full American Psycho on everyone there. You both nearly lept out of your skins when his phone went off to let him know his short break was over. "How about that bet starts now and you go home to get some actual sleep?" You offered, Ourani nodded vigorously to that already shoving his clipboard into your hands. He couldn't seem to get out of there fast enough it seemed. You hoped he'd get some actual rest, the poor guy was one of the most overworked people on the job. Glancing down at the clipboard you winced. Ourani really wasn’t kidding when he said Marvus had a full schedule, looks like you could kiss any other plans you had today goodbye. Straightening out your clothes you went to go find Marvus- wherever he could have gotten. Most likely he wouldn’t be trying to hide from you. He’d be expecting Ourani to be the one trying to hunt him down.

You’d been wandering for five minutes when you finally found him. He was actually where he was supposed to be- chatting with his bandmates who immediately perked up to see you.

“Oh shit! Look who it is.”

“Hey guys, mind if I steal Marvus away for a second?” You asked cheerfully. His bandmates had a soft spot for you and it was easy to get them to agree. Their soft spot would make this bet a little easier to win, hopefully.

“Whatchu need babes?” Marvus asked once the two of you had gotten far enough away. You smiled up at him warmly. "Well, first off-," You grabbed the sides of his purple jacket to pull him down closer to your height, "I'd like a kiss." "Shit babe, all you had ta do was ask." He grinned leaning into you. His arm carefully wrapped around your waist as he tilted your chin up to get better access. You huffed a small laugh as he gave your lip a small nip before kissing you. Letting your eyes close for a brief moment to fully enjoy the kiss you cupped his jaw with your hands before regretfully having to pull back- Marvus attempting to follow you. "Secondly," You murmured interrupted by another brief kiss, "You have a meeting in two minutes." "What." You grinned at his flat off guard tone. Not being able to help yourself as you giggled. "I have your entire schedule for the day." "No."

"Mm, yes."

"Babe-,"

"You also have a meeting with Revell to talk about those courses you flunked out of."

"How-,"

"Ourani went home for the day, I'm gonna be your PA so he can actually get some sleep."

"Oh?"

"Don't get any ideas." You interrupted already knowing where his mind was going, "I'm going to make sure you get through your entire schedule whether you like it or not."

"C'mon, just give me an hour." "I might consider it-," He grinned, "After we get through your schedule."

Marvus pouted.

“Work Marvus. Focus on work.”

“Aww, but you be lookin’ so cute when you take charge.”

“And you’ll be a lot more appealing when you actually do your job.”

“Damn.” He muttered under his breath already standing back up to his full height. “Alright baby, guess we cans go to this meeting.”

It looked, at least for the moment, you might actually win this bet.

Then again, you had yet to get him to go to his meeting with Revell. For some reason those two couldn’t stand each other- you’d zoned out briefly during one of his rants only catching something vague about their ancestors that only confused you more. Revell was actually a kind troll though his threshold for what he dubbed ‘highblood nonsense’ was practically nonexistent. He seemed rather fascinated by human culture, often asking you questions on things he didn’t quite understand- some of his questions not even you could answer with any degree of accuracy. But, Marvus and him were known for their fights. Not even in the pitch leaning way either. You had yet to witness their fights but Ourani had talked about them looking pale and shaky- considering the fact that he’d been witness to the usual Alternian concert slaughter fests that happened with Marvus you had to admit you were afraid to see what could shake him like that. If Marvus' PR team was surprised to see him actually at the meeting they didn't say, though they seemed happy to see you with him. Taking your seat next to Marvus you glanced down at the schedule again. He had this meeting, his meeting with Revel, an autograph signing, and then a meeting with a lesser known human band you hadn't even heard of. Knowing Marvus all of these would be a few hours each.

“You bein’ awfully quiet over there.” Marvus murmured to you while his PR team bickered. You glanced up from the clipboard you’d been staring a hole through to give him a flat look. Better to not put him on edge.

“Just trying to figure out how to get you from point A to point B.”

“C’mon baby I ain’t that bad.”

“Ourani would beg to differ.”

“Then he can fuckin’ beg.”

You smacked his arm earning a small chuckle as he turned back to the meeting.

This was going to be a very long day.

[thefoxholestuff]

Hey y’all, here’s an expansion of my Neil-is-dangerous-and-Aaron-knows-it post, available here. A long overdue suggestion from @sarcasm-is-my-only-langauge, hope you like it lovely!

·      So all the foxes + Katelyn are hanging out together somewhere on campus (bc I love Katelyn and I said so ok).

·      And they run into the football team, who, in the grand tradition of fictional football teams, are assholes.

·      (to be fair, so are the foxes, but in a different way.)

·      The football team is not co-ed, and not particular fans of the fact that the foxes are. Also, their games tend to be on the same days and they’re a little mad that the foxes keep stealing their crowds.

·      So, predictably, they start giving the team shit.

·      (this got really long so the rest is under the cut)

·      And Matt and Aaron can handle being called junkies, they don’t care (Andrew says it to Neil often enough that the usual connotation barely even registers any more).

·      Nicky grits his teeth through the homophobic slurs and flips them off.

·      Kevin doesn’t give a single flying fuck about being called a reject.

·      The girls can and do defend themselves from the harassment and sexism (Katelyn is used to it, the girl is a cheerleader – they get so much shit just by virtue of their sport).

·      Neil just yawns his way through the ridiculing of his facial scars.

·      Pretty much everyone on the team defends themselves from the onslaught of insults and nastiness. You don’t get to be a fox without learning to hold your own, after all. Everyone fights back, and they don’t do it quietly.

·      Except for Andrew.

·      Now, obviously, Andrew cares even less about what people say about him than the other foxes.

·      Andrew doesn’t fight back, because he doesn’t care enough.

·      But guess what, motherfuckers? Neil sure does.

·      One minute he’s sneering at a guy twice his size, verbally annihilating his entire existence.

·      And the next he’s got the guy’s even bigger friend on the ground, screaming in pain, with an arm twisted behind his back for calling Andrew a soulless psycho.

·      He would have broken the asshole’s arm if Andrew hadn’t made eye contact and shook his head (because when Neil said he might have to fight the next person who called Andrew soulless, he wasn’t fucking kidding).

·      And the foxes just stare.

·      Cause yeah, okay, they knew Neil was dangerous, like objectively knew it – for fuck’s sake he grew up in the mob – but they’ve never seen it in action before. And, hell, it’s so easy to forget. Every time he gives them puppy eyes over a gift, or melts when one of them says he’s their friend, it gets harder and harder to remember where he comes from.

·      But Neil hasn’t forgotten.

·      And neither has one of the other foxes.

·      Dan gapes. She’s… kind of proud? But also no, bad vice captain, you and I are supposed to be the level-headed ones.

·      So does Allison, for a minute, and then she shrugs, walks by, and ruffles Neil’s hair with an “attaboy”.

·      Renee raises an eyebrow and reminds herself not to be fooled by those big blue eyes again.

·      Matt is nearly in tears jfc he’s so fuckin proud of his little bro, defending his bf like that (but also Neil buddy we gotta talk about public violence, someone’s gonna report that eventually).

·      Katelyn’s a little concerned, but like... fuckin foxes man what are you gonna do?

·      Nicky stares and starts rambling, Andrew bops him on the back of the head to get him to shut up.

·      Kevin is… vaguely concerned, actually, because Neil looked a lot like his father for a second there. It takes him a couple of days to look Neil in the eye again, but Andrew sits him down and makes him talk until he can figure things out.

·      Andrew is Looking Respectfully, he promises, but also… goddamn. He’s always pleased to see his people defend themselves, it means less work for him, but seeing someone defend him isn’t something he’s used to (and it’s kinda turning him on not gonna lie).

·      But Aaron? Aaron is not pleased.

·      You may recall that Aaron is not a fan of his brother’s relationship. Aside from the mild-to-moderate homophobia (which I like to think he’s working on at this point), he canonically thinks Neil is taking advantage of his brother, or trying to. He, like the rest of the foxes, is aware that Neil is the son of a mob boss, but unlike the rest of the foxes he’s hyper-aware of it.

·      Because yeah, Neil acts nice (for a fox) most of the time. He’s cute, funny kind of by accident, and a little socially awkward in a way the upperclassmen clearly adore.

·      You know who else seemed nice most of the time?

·      Tilda.

·      The Spears.

·      The Hemmicks.

·      Anyone who’s ever hurt Aaron or Andrew or Nicky, because you see, you don’t typically get close enough to hurt someone without seeming nice at first. Aaron knows for a fucking fact that ‘nice, most of the time’ and ‘willing to resort to violence’ is a bad, bad, bad combination.

·      And he doesn’t get why no one else seems to understand that.

·      Aaron’s not quite sure how Neil Josten has managed to fool his entire team, but he’s going to find out. And he’s going to start by talking to his brother because therapy is awful but he’s learning, dammit.

·      …after Andrew is done dragging his boyfriend off to the dorms, because ew. There are some things Aaron doesn’t need to see, even in the name of protecting his brother.

[giorno-plays-piano]

You were all I wanted Part 3

Pairing: mob!Peter Parker x plus-sized!Reader

Warnings: yandere, obsession, swearing, human trafficking, mentions of non-con, minor character’s death.

Words: 1600.

Summary: You are bought by the head of Stark crime family for a kid he cares about.

Part 1

Part 2

P.S. Peter is an adult!

This chapter turned out to be shorter, but it's still pretty eventful. Hope you're going to like it <3

___________

"But what... what if he won't like me? What if he'll take me away?" You sobbed, panic taking over you as you imagined Tony Stark pressing a gun to your forehead.

"No, he'd never do that." Peter left a little kiss behind your ear. "Mr. Stark doesn't take the gifts he's made back. You don't have to be afraid of that."

You sniffed at his words. That's what you were now. A gift. A possession. A pet whose job was keeping its master happy. You had to be grateful you were given to someone like Peter, at least. You didn't know whether he would always treat you kindly, but as of now he had never threatened to hurt you. You could only pray for him to fancy you so he wouldn't throw you away like some garbage - apparently, Tony Stark treated his women exactly like that.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up in the first place. Of course, you got upset." Peter cuddled with you some more, but you weren't sure whether he was being sincere. Wasn't he sending you a clear message?

Don't go against me or you'll end just like her.

"Oh, I have an idea. Let's go out! Do you wanna see the movie or something?"

You did your best to wipe away your tears and stared at the boy, perplexed. "What?"

"We have a nice little cinema not far from here. We could go right now, just let me check what they've having today."

"But didn't you say I can't leave this place?"

"I meant without me." He showed you the same smug smirk Stark was wearing all the time, and you lowered your gaze to Peter's chest instead. "With me close you can go wherever you want to."

Funny thing to say. In thruth, you could go wherever he wanted to take you.

"Wow, they're having Beyond Darkness in 30 min! We gotta go, you'll loooove this."

"Sure."

In five minutes you were already hurrying after Peter and trying to look nowhere but your shoes. Regardless of what was there in Stark's Tower, you didn't want to see it, not even mentioning all those guys with guns scattered across the building. Peter was saying his hello to each and every one of them as if he were some mafia's social butterfly.

Whatever. You knew Peter was Tony's favorite not because he had a pretty face. You had never particularly asked what his role in all this was, but it was obviously something way bigger than running errands for the gang. Maybe it was better to never figure it out.

"Hey girl, wanna have fun?" Somebody to your left asked you, and you flinched involuntarily, keeping your head low.

Peter stopped in the very same second and sent the stranger a hard look.

"Mike, you offer my girl drugs one more time and I'm gonna shoot your cute little brother in the leg, you hear me?"

You raised your eyes to Peter's smiling face and regretted it immediately. There was something so dark in his gaze you wanted to turn around and run until you were back to your room, hiding somewhere in the corner.

"Shit! Sorry, Spidey!" The guy's high-pitched voice sounded frightened. "Didn't know you got a girl!"

"Yeah, yeah, see you later, we're kind of busy now." Peter grabbed your hand and pulled you away, heading to the exit. "I forgot to mention before that we don't do drugs. At all. They're good for business, but not for us, ok, Baby?"

"Yes, Peter." You answered and kept chewing your lips, thinking of all the things he had just said. You suspected him to be more ruthless when you weren't around, but never to such extent. How damn scary was real Peter Parker?

"And don't worry, I'd never shoot his brother in whatever part of his body." The boy said it like it was something obvious and you didn't even need to pay attention to it.

Why then did that guy look completely horrified?

When you had finally stepped outside and felt the wind playing with your hair you were ready to cry. Just walking out of the Tower was a fucking torture.

It was already dark, and you pulled the zipper on your pretty blue jacket up, going almost shoulder to shoulder with Peter. Normally you'd be at least a little scared to walk the streets of a big city at night, but the guy your mother had warned you about was already holding your hand.

The place the boy brought you to was truly small but cozy with nice vintage red seats, the delicious smell of caramel popcorn spreading everywhere. It turned out that the movie was something in between Star Wars and Star Trek, which wasn't surprising because Peter was a sucker for anything related to sci-fi. Anyway, it wasn't bad and you actually enjoyed watching it. The movie helped you to keep your mind off your earlier encounter with the drug trafficker and the words Peter said.

The only way to live like that and stay sane was to turn a blind eye to anything that happened around, you thought. It was cowardly and revolting, but what could you do against one of the most, if not the most, dangerous gangs in New York? Surely, even if by some miracle you could flee the Tower and go to police, would they really be willing to help you? No, they would return you to Mr. Stark. You were a hundred percent sure he got it covered.

"Are you feeling tired, Baby?"

You snapped out of your thoughts and looked at Peter who smiled at you so lovingly it could make any girl cry.

"Just a little bit."

"Want me to give you a massage when we gonna get home?" His expression quickly turned devious, and he winked at you.

Yeah, great, now you'd have him fucking you before your knees were giving out. The kid had such stamina he could be an Olympic athlete, no less.

"Aw, I love when you blush like that." Chuckling, he put his arm around your shoulders and inched closer to give you a quick peck on the lips. You forced youself to enjoy his little signs of affection and start thinking you ought to be thankful he wasn't into heavy BDSM practices or something like that.

While you two were kissing again, you heard someone's loud footsteps as if this person just jumped out of the corner, and then there was a hateful outburst, "Stay were you are. Your wallets, quick!"

You froze, your hands getting cold as you stared at the face of a guy standing in front of you with a knife in his hands. He was clearly unstable, sick - you could see the dark circles around his eyes, the unhealthy color of his skin, and his greasy hair sticking to his forehead. You didn't know what was wrong with him, but he was twice bigger than Peter. The guy would probably have no problem with slicing both him and you into pieces if you didn't comply.

"I said g-"

"You gotta be fucking kidding me." Peter let out a frustrated sigh before you heard the loud sound of the gun firing.

There was a little black hole in the guy's chest, blood seeping through his dirty white t-shirt and coloring it in a beautiful deep ruby color. You could see the confusion in the eyes of the stranger, his mouth half-open. Slowly, he went down before his legs gave out and he landed at the ground with a loud thud. He didn't move after that.

"Come on, attacking a couple of high shoolers? You're such a psycho, man. Who were you gonna go after us? Kids?" Peter rolled his eyes and hid the gun under his bomber, turning away from the man he murdered and shouting to someone behind him. "It's ok, people! It's just me, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man! Calm down, go home, it's late!"

You were still staring at the large pool of blood spreading beneath the body of a stranger - lack of light made it look like it was an odd black liquid. Before you could take your eyes elsewhere, you felt bile quickly going up your throat and vomitted, moving to lean your hand on the wall of a building. He killed him. Peter killed him. You didn't even see him pulling out the gun.

"Oh Baby, I'm so sorry." The boy gently held back your hair when you threw up again, feeling scared, disgusted, feverish and cold at the same time. "That's why I don't like drugs and what they do to people. That shithead lost his mind, you see? No sane guy would ever jump on me or my girl like that."

Despite him being so tender, you couldn't even turn your head to look at him as you started shaking from his touch.

You kept emptying your stomach a few more minutes before Peter softly wiped your mouth with his handkerchief and took your arm, walking you back to the Tower and saying all those unnecessary things about how terrible some people are and how everyone has to take care in the dangerous world they're living in. You didn't hear half of that, but you cared little for his chattering.

Peter had shot the man without showing even the slightest regret. He'd shoot you the same way if you ever turned against him - he was Stark's favourite, after all.

__________

Tags: @finleyjayne @alexakeyloveloki  ​@helenaeisenhower @villanellevi @hurricanerin @void-hoechlin @abyssaint @msruchita @opheliadawnwalker3

[aros001]

Going in blind: Watching season 5 for the first time. Random thoughts.

Episode 1: Well...that dinner got dark. From what other fans have told me apparently Glimmer gets a lot of hate for her decisions during the series and I just find that odd. I was more annoyed with her in the early seasons where her actions were more harmless simply because she had no patience and wouldn't listen because of her immaturity. Season 4 and here though? Even her most reckless and risky actions have at least been fueled by the genuine desire to keep people safe during a very hard situation. Even here, yeah, she tells Prime something it's very bad for him to know but he was going to have Adora and everyone else literally murdered before her eyes if she didn't. I can't really be mad at Glimmer for making a bad choice when it flows logically and fueled by the desire to keep the people she cares about from being slaughtered.

I don't think we've ever seen Catra this completely at the mercy of another person before, save maybe for Shadow Weaver when she was a child. She has nothing to offer that Prime doesn't already possess. Nothing he wants that he can't get for himself. Her relationship with everyone these past few seasons have been either "I'm your commander and you have to do what I say" or "You are my commander and here's the reason you have to keep me around". This time she has nothing to protect herself behind and the only reason she's still around is because Prime might think of a use for her later.

I love having Scorpia on the heroes' side.

Episode 2: That ending though.

I think what helps elevate Entrapta for me and keeps her for being annoying or irritating is that the show really sells that she just genuinely has trouble understanding why she should/shouldn't be doing certain things. It's not stupidity or even pure self-absorption, she just struggles with people and social ques while machines and science is a lot more straightforward. Heck, she was probably able to bond so well with Hordak because work together in the lab was them meeting on a common middle ground she could understand and relax in. The way she's trying to overcome the issue to help save Glimmer reminds me a little of Mob from Mob Psycho 100, feeling a little frustrated in not understanding something that she knows she should be.

Episode 3: Anybody else get a Disney's Hercules vibes at the end there?

Catra: "Besides, O Oneness, you can't beat her! She has no weaknesses! She's gonna kick your...!"

Prime, smiling: "I think she does, little sister." [Strokes Catra's hair] "I truly think...she does."

This episode really sold how completely isolated Catra is. With the sole exception of Glimmer, she's in space, no idea where exactly she is, onboard a ship filled with nothing but Prime and hundreds of cultist clones. Throughout the entire series we've seen Catra push everyone away and now that she's in a situation where she is almost well and truly on her own with no power, freedom, or authority, she seeks out the one other person around to find any sense of comfort in. Despite everything, Catra doesn't like being alone.

Little child Catra lashing out because she didn't want Adora to have any friends other than her kind of reminds me of Glimmer and Bow during the Princess Prom episode. I imagine it's the same mentality. Growing up in isolation, even if in different forms, and finding only that one person they feel thay can really lean on, there is that fear that they'll find someone else they like more and start caring about them less, or even outright stop. The difference is Bow set Glimmer straight, assuring her he'll always be her friend no matter what but he's not going to be just solely dedicated to her. Her fear was understandable but she was not respecting him as a friend either. Adora never really had that with Catra, one because she was much younger and less mature than Bow, and Catra was probably all she had too, to an extent. As we saw season 1, she was always trying to look after her, even when Catra needed to take responsibility for herself. Bow is not Glimmer's keeper, while Adora too often was that for Catra, so Bow and Glimmer have a better foundation of mutual respect while Adora and Catra's dynamic has been really screwed up for a long time.

Kind of tying into that, despite all that's happened between them, the minute Adora hears Catra's in distress she starts panicking and tearing up. The last time they saw each other they were very much enemies and Adora was done reaching her hand out to her. I suppose you could make the argument she's really been hoping all this time that Catra would finally do the right thing for once, just probably didn't expect it to be like this.

Prime better not mind wipe Catra like he did Hordak.

Episode 4: See, calling the heroes the rebellion now makes sense since they are rebelling against the established power, which is Prime.

Love that trick with the reflections, where you can sort of see/sort of can't see She-Ra. A nice little tease for what I imagine will be a big reveal later.

I really like that explanation for what Bow's going through. Last season's finale was the last he'd seen Glimmer and was desperately trying to save her, and he's been consistently worried for her since then. Now that she's safe he's starting to let himself process his other emotions towards her, and I totally get it. It's hard to be mad at someone when you're also terrified over what might be happening to them, even if your anger is justified. While I get why Glimmer last season did what she thought she had to, it was still a big risk that Bow warned her about and she didn't listen, putting them all in danger. This situation and Glimmer's words is a very mature way of handle this topic. He's not wrong for being mad and it's not a contradiction to what we've been seeing from him this season. Humans and emotions are complicated.

Episode 5: SHE HAS PAAAAAAAAANTS!!! (I will miss the cape though)

That almost makes up for them cutting Catra hair. Seriously, that mane was beautiful!

But boy, speaking of Hercules, that return of She-Ra definitely felt like Hercules emerging from the pool of souls to save Meg.

With the one clone being disconnected from the hive mind and having a breakdown over it, that does make me wonder if Hordak has been connected to it. Wasn't he deemed a defect because Prime couldn't connect to his mind? I suppose it's possible that flaw was corrected. Clearly Prime can take over minds other than just his clones, like with Catra. But if he could do that I'm wondering why he just didn't when Hordak was first created and he instead cast him out to Etheria.

Was Catra purring at the end? I swear there was a sound that sounded like purring.

Episode 6: Assimilation is easily one of my biggest fears in fiction, be it zombies, Borgs and Cybermen, Get Out, the freaking Sapphire Dragon from Xiaolin Showdown that scared the hell out of me as a kid! Just the concept of having your free will and autonomy completely ripped away from you, potentially with you still being aware but unable to do anything about it, is horrifying! At least with Prime's chips the process is reversible.

Anyway, in lighter plots, I kind of love Wrong Hordak. He's really funny. I feel bad that he's being deliberately misled, but he really shouldn't be following Prime anyway, so...

I do like that Adora is being a little more tough on Catra. She needs kindness, yes, but she also needs honesty and discipline, the kind that has actual love and care behind it, unlike what she got from Shadow Weaver. Adora is genuinely trying to help so Catra needs to stop acting like a brat and LET HER HELP.

Episode 7: Catra was definitely purring.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume people probably ship Scorpia and Perfuma. Not that I have any problem with that. It's like the Midoriya/Todoroki ship; I don't ship it myself but I totally get why others do. It's a relationship based in mutual respect and one of the characters having a significantly positive effect on the life of the other. As long as the shipper themselves is not horrifically toxic, I don't care.

Also, I don't think I've ever been so intimidated by Mermista before than I was with that one shot of her in silhouette, just before the reveal she was chipped.

Episode 8: Okay, I definitely love Wrong Hordak. Just that realization of his. "Horde Prime...lied to us..." There's just something about it that's so full of character. Obviously he's a brainwashed clone but he was truly devoted to Prime and just to find out that he would keep something so big from them, from the hive mind that's supposed to be so open to him and each other, it destroys everything he ever believed in. It's hilarious to watch him prepare to lead his brothers in a revolt against Prime.

I assume magic is Prime's "weakness" in that he himself cannot control it. Obviously he can control magical beings like Spinnerella and have them use magic but magic itself is too free and too powerful for him to contain and fully fight back against. He's all about order and stillness and magic is basically chaos.

Episode 9: I like to believe the mushroom kingdom they saved is a Mario reference.

Something I like in hero stories is "the power of a name" or "the power of a symbol". Something as simple as Superman's S-shield can have so much weight and meaning behind it just because of the person it's tied to. She-Ra isn't just a powerful warrior to the people of Etheria, she's a hero of legend. We saw it touched on even back in season 1 how much Adora returning She-Ra to the world meant to everyone. She-Ra to them is a symbol of hope. If they have her on their side, then they believe they might be able to win and with that ordinary people can find the strength to fight too. It's something I think the Green Lantern put best with how the Blue Rings of hope supercharge the Green Rings of will but lose a lot of their functions when the greens are not around. Hope is useless if you don't have the will to also act, but in turn hope can give people the will to act. The more hope they have that they can win, the more they will fight to win.

That was the nerdiest comparison I've ever made.

Episode 10: I appreciate a good bad dad joke and that's why I can't approve of "punderstand". It's too much of stretch to flow well. "Ruined" was good though.

I'm less surprised that Scorpia's been chipped and more that she's even alive. She was at the bottom of the ocean when the roof broke and she's a scorpion woman. I don't think water is a very friendly element for her. She's even commented on how good the desert was to her.

I wonder her She-Ra mode is not working for her simply because Adora is exhausted; mentally and physically. I don't think she's ever used the form this continuously before, and she's been doing it without the First Ones' sword that she has experience with. Her new sword and its transformations may be made out of her own energy for all we know. And then there's just the emotional toil of having Catra back in her life while it feels like more and more of the world is being turned against her.

Episode 11: Oh, I'm definitely shipping Hordak and Entrapta.

I think Re:Zero has spoiled me on dark magic. While Micah with his dark magic is a threat, in this show and many others dark magic basically just equates to "spooky, evil, bad stuff" magic that isn't that different from most other kinds of magic other than being either harder to control or more geared towards causing harm. In Re:Zero, dark magic was DARK. It felt unnatural, like a perversion of how their world's magic is supposed to be and that it didn't belong in this reality. Micah's dark magic is basically "I'm attacking you with shadows, oOoOoOo so scary!"

Not really surprised Catra left. She just got Adora back and now she's potentially about to let herself die. Perfuma said it best, letting people in and letting herself be vulnerable is hard. Caring about Adora and watching her die would be a huge blow, so Catra would rather curl back up into her shell and block out Adora again than have to risk taking that hit.

Episode 12: I keep saying it but now having them right next to each other, yeah, Mara's She-Ra outfit is better than Adora's. I don't know, there's just something grander about it. Anyway, on topic, I'm a big fan of superheroes and legacy and all that and I really like Mara's words to Adora. All she did and sacrificed was so that others, especially the next She-Ra, wouldn't have to do the same. It doesn't matter how noble and heroic it is, tragedy is tragedy and anyone who knows that kind of pain doesn't want anyone else to have to go through it.

I'm not surprised by the love confession between Glimmer and Bow. I felt it could go either way with them either hooking up or just staying really good friends, but that in itself is a sign of how good and natural their friendship is. I can easily buy how it would evolve into something more between them. The situation they're in probably helps. When Glimmer was taken they both thought they might never see each other again and that fear and worry probably caused them to reevaluate how they feel about the other. They've been clinging to each other since getting back, as every day could be their last. Something like that is naturally going to push two people together.

Episode 13: So...are there any plans for a season 6? Or a comic continuation like Avatar and Korra got? Because this was a good finale...buuuuuuuuut I feel there are definitely some things that needed a bit more exploration.

This is typically why I like stories with epilogue endings, especially those set some number of years in the future. Little glimpses of what everyone's doing now, allowing the audience to fill in for themselves what happened in-between. There's nothing wrong with this episode but it does just kind of...stop. They beat Prime. Everybody's cheering and happy. Adora suggests they bring magic back to the universe. And...that's it. We don't see anything more. No aftermath, no post-war, nothing. We end on the moment of victory, and while it's not a bad moment it leaves the ending feeling a little incomplete.

It kind of feels like the writers either really had to rush to the ending to make the 13 episode deadline or simply didn't want to address whatever happens with Catra and Hordak now. With the bigger threat of Horde Prime it makes sense why everyone puts aside past issues and works together. But now that the crisis is over, naturally everyone would have to address everything the Horde had done to Etheria for years with Hordak and Catra leading it. Don't get me wrong, I believe that Catra loves Adora, I believe Adora loves her, and I believe Catra wants to be a better person. It's not like I'm saying she needs to be locked up or executed. But she did cause a lot of damage and put Adora especially through hell, and just because Shadow Weaver is the one who screwed her up so bad doesn't mean she doesn't have any responsibility for her own actions. So it just would have been nice to get even a little bit of lip service to show that Catra would be trying to right her wrongs from this point forward, instead of just "Prime's gone, everyone's happy, bye!" At least with Entrapta she seemed to genuinely not understand why what she was doing at the time was wrong and Scorpia, like Adora and Huntara, defected from the Horde to do the right thing despite it being even more part of her upbringing than anyone else. I can't even imagine what happens with Hordak now.

Don't get me wrong, this is far from the worst I've ever seen a redemption handled. I haven't read/watched any of Boruto outside of the movie and Gaiden tie-in but I've read all of Naruto and there is no reason that Orochimaru should just be walking around and casually talking with people after all he's done. Kaiba in the Yu-Gi-Oh manga built an entire theme park to try an murder Yugi and his friends and they bring it up like twice after that arc. Kylo Ren turning back to the light was one of the potential paths for his character, so that made sense in TROS, but they essentially did "He died heroically and therefore totally redeemed himself for every terrible thing he's ever done."; basically a cop-out. Catra's alive and can at least potentially still own up to her actions and work to redeem herself. And I love Steven Universe, but kind of like with Catra nearly killing everyone (including herself) via the unstable portal, fans have naturally pointed out that the Diamonds enslaved and committed genocide on multiple planets and really faced no consequences for that other than "Stop it". Catra's not at the gold standard of redemption stories, which for me is probably Zuko and Endeavor, but she's far from the bottom. I think the best way to describe it is that Catra had as good, if not better, reasons for being so bad and screwed up as Zuko did, just as good step-up for turning good as Zuko did, but she didn't have nearly as much payoff afterwards to make it feel like a full journey like Zuko did.

But enough about all that. Love the basically goddess She-Ra Adora became. Given the emphasis on healing powers with She-Ra we've had, I'm guessing that's essentially how she destroyed Prime. She purified Hordak and Prime was basically an infection within him. I like when heroes snatch victory from the jaws of defeat but I also when there's an implication towards the villain that "Wow. I never stood a chance." She-Ra's power just dwarfs his. Full potential realized by Adora and he was just gone.

Also I don't know how I forgot that Prime could jump into the bodies of his clones but his possession of Hordak got me. I genuinely couldn't think of how he'd survive after Hordak shoved him off the edge (set free by the power of love!).

And even if the ending feels a little incomplete, the episode itself still did well with my emotional investment. I was gripped by during Catra's confession and the tension within the heart.

Season 5 and overall series verdict: I'm very glad I saw this series. Even though its ending falls a little short for me, this was still really good. Seasons 3 was probably my favorite overall but this story had a very good flow to it. It steadily built up bigger each season, with Catra and Hordak being really compelling villains driving the whole thing. Not that Prime was bad. He was a genuine threat and his cult of clones is a good creepy concept. He's just not as good as the other two. I'm sure part of what elevates him up is because I'm thinking of the JL director's cut but Hordak really is just better Steppenwolf. Everything that worked about that character, Hordak is that to an 11.

Given how I've talked about her more than any of the others, Catra is probably my favorite character. Just the damage that girl has been through. I always understood why she was doing what she did, even though there was rarely a moment I'd agree with exactly what she was doing. Again, it's one of the reasons it feels like the series just kind of ended. There's a lot to be seen with Catra's character now, a lot that can be done, and it just feels like a shame to really not show any of it. This isn't a fault of SRPOP itself because so many series, especially animated and anime, are guilty of but it always bugs me when a series ends on two characters hooking. Relationships are interesting, I'd argue more so than the build-up to them, but no writer ever wants to actually explore them after the hook-up. I never cared about Korra and Mako being a couple but I still found their relationship as a couple more interesting and character building than any of the will they/won't they build-up to it. And I actually like the idea of Adora and Catra as a couple. It's a big reason why I'm so happy the Harley Quinn animated series got renewed for a third season, as it otherwise would have just ended on a hook-up between two characters who, like Adora and Catra, love each other but have had a complicated dynamic for a while. I believe Adora and Catra love each other, but they've got a lot of stuff to work out and I want to see that! Catra's got abandonment issues and that in turn caused her to be unhealthily possessive over Adora. Just seeing the two of them try to work through that alone would be fascinating.

Like I suspected early on, Scorpia's my favorite supporting character. Entrapta's a decent 2nd. Took a small dip when it seemed like she was joining the Horde over feeling abandoned by the princesses when they thought she was dead but that picked back up once it was made more clear "Oh, okay, you're not being petty or stupid. You genuinely don't understand." It made her a more interesting character, and I love her and Hordak's relationship.

Least favorite characters...probably Sea Hawk and those three former Horde friends of Adora and Catra. I never hated them but I never cared about what was happening when they were on screen. They fill out the world a bit, they drive the plot, they're not wastes of space, they even get some laughs. There are just so many other characters in the series way more interesting than them.

Biggest surprise for me was definitely Glimmer and Bow. I never thought I'd dislike them but the best friends characters in series like this can kind of go one way or another with how relevant or deep they are. Glimmer especially I was surprised how much I was invested. She really grew a lot as a person throughout the series and I thought the dilemma over the Heart of Etheria was a good one.

Honestly there's a lot more I could talk about but I have only so many words and my thoughts are a jumble right now so I'm going to leave it at that. I will say I really appreciate how supportive you all on this Reddit have been. It's something I hate about some other fandoms I'm in where they basically are so toxic that they make no one else actually want to watch/read the thing they're fans of because they can't help but associate it with them.

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/PrincessesOfPower/comments/o2p6wq/going_in_blind_watching_season_5_for_the_first/

[mysterioh]

The Ignorant Beauty and The Beast of New York - Chapter 3

PAIRING: MOB!STEVE ROGERS X READER

SYNOPSIS: Y/N is an exhausted bio major. Steve is danger with a capital DANGER. She thinks he’s a sarcastic prick with an impressive knowledge in art history. He thinks she’s cute even if she’s only running on one brain cell. All he wants is a single date, but she’s adamant upon denying.

Masterlist

We Meet Again My Love

It was rush hour on E 52nd. Two lines of steel and tire, each one tailgating the one in front with disgruntled city folk inside waiting for even an inch of movement. At the junctions, cars weaved into the traffic as seamlessly as a shuffled deck of cards only adding to the frustration of those already on the packed street. Especially, the frustration of one mobster.

The rain softly falling from a thick blanket of gray above provides a sort of peace in the middle of such tedious traffic. Steve looks at the raindrops racing down the window of his black Mercedes AMG, his chin propped up on his hand and elbow resting on the side of the door. His patience wearing thin with every motionless minute that passed. At least he kept himself busy with his thoughts wandering off to the mystery girl from the museum.

Secretly, he'd do anything to meet her again. She plagued his every thought, veering him from his work and making him lose all his focus in anything and everything he did. He hated it but never tried to stop it.

He was on the way for a job with Bucky in the driver's seat and Sam in the passenger. There was a sleek Cadillac in front of them and one behind for backup as if he was the damn president.

It was a simple job. Threaten the pastry chef down on 54th for paying up what he borrowed four months ago. Probably break a few things and stick the meatball’s head in a coffee grinder for good measure. A lot easier than most tasks and definitely not needing three luxury cars filled with notorious mobsters to finish, but then again the kingpin was never shy to boast just how powerful he was. Not to mention, he wasn’t much of a fan of doing the dirty work.

“Steve?” Bucky called. Steve hummed a response, turning his towards him. “We’re here,”  he says.

“Took long enough,” Steve clicks his tongue. “You know what to do,” he tells his friend. The man nods with Sam getting out of the car. “Take the guys in the back and make sure to take the kid with you this time. ”

Sam growls quietly. “Is that really necessary?” he questioned with his head ducked into the car. “The kid’s a troublemaker.”

Steve’s eyes flit towards him and Sam was starting to regret what he said. They were friends since high school. Steve saw Sam the same way he saw Bucky; as a brother. And treated him as such. They smoked cigars and drank liquor during Sunday football. They dragged Bucky down to the depths of hell for his lengthy history of psycho girlfriends. But when it came to the matter of the business, Steve wasn’t a friend to him or anyone else. He was his boss and his orders were firm.

"'The kid ain't so bad," Steve said pulling a box of cigarettes out from his coat pocket. "I owe his auntie a favor so do as I say and show the boy what a good Brooklyn beating looks like."

Sam sighs with a nod and closes the door behind him.

“Don't worry," Bucky chimes in. "We'll take the kid," he says, unable to hide his own distaste. "I'll send him to get you when we're done."

Steve lights his cigarette as Bucky gets out of the car. Sam hollers at Clint coming out of the car from behind, telling him to bring the boy with him.

"C'mon, Pete," Clint hissed at the teen. "We don't got all day!"

"Yes, sir!" Peter squeaks getting out of the car and running to catch up with them. He was around the age of nineteen but looked like he belonged in the ninth grade. A bit short and skinny with pale skin - paler than usual today .

Steve watches how the boy follows the rugged men towards the shop. Sticking out like a dandelion in a cluster of weeds. He chuckles at the way Peter frantically nods at what they're telling him. His eyes alert and footsteps light. So light that he ends up tripping over himself and into Bucky.

Bucky smacks him on the back of the head, scolding him for being stupid.

"Quit playing around, kid!" Bucky snaps at him. "The boss is watching ya!"

Peter gulps, bobbing his head up and down while rubbing the back of his head before following them inside. Steve shakes his head while exhaling a puff of smoke. The boy reminded him of himself from a long time ago. The first time his old man took him out on a job. God bless his father's resting soul.

You inhaled the sweet aroma rising from the cup in your hands. Already tasting the saccharine flavor of French Vanilla on your tongue.

The tiny cafe huddled between the high rise buildings on 54th was the best place for some quality coffee and study time. You never understood how the place could be so empty when they had the best service.

It could have been the outward appearance that gave it a bad connotation especially on a droll, rainy winter day like today. Washed out underneath an overcast sky, it hunched in on itself, fighting against the cold rain. Hundreds of people rushed by it, out on the crowded street never giving the poor thing a chance.

If even one ventured to come inside, they would understand just how charming the tiny shop was. Warm and cheery in its aura and its employees with bright lights and colorful walls. Not to mention in its sweet smells of hot coffee and freshly-baked pastries.

Sometimes the best places in the city were the ones no one knew anything about. And you came to the conclusion that it was a good thing. The less people knew of this place the less crowded it would be. The less crowded it was meant that it’d be quieter. The quieter it was made it an even more ideal spot for studying biological mechanisms.

Unfortunately, today was a bad day to study at the cafe on what would have seemed to be an overall good day. Not even a second after you cracked open your notebook, a group of grisly men with guns slammed the door open and walked in, demanding to see the owner of the cafe.

The men were ruthless and destructive, breaking everything that came in their way. Purposefully dropping the cups and plates on the counter to the ground and flipping over tables.

The shop was empty with only you and another customer, an old man reading the newspaper by the window.

You froze in the corner, not knowing what to do. Your heart pounding against your chest and breathing heavy. You could make a run for it but there was a good chance the guy with the long hair would catch you easily.

The men didn't seem to care about the two bystanders, barely even noticing the two of you. Their goal was the head and there was no need for them to drag in the innocent. So you decided to stay put until action was needed.

The owner, Manny, was dragged out of the kitchen by one of the men.

Manny fell at the feet of the brunette who seemed to be the leader. His face twisted in fear and covered in sweat.

"Been a while, Manny, how’s it been?” Bucky asks. “Been missing ya.”

“Please,” Manny begs, his voice strained. “I’ll pay you back just give me some time!”

Bucky clicks his tongue. “You’ve been saying that for four months now, fatass.” He pulls Manny up by the collar. “Ya know how much the boss hates being lied to,” he seethes.

“I know, I know,” Manny nods like a maniac.

“I don’t think you do, buddy,” he shakes his head with a twisted grin, placing his gun underneath his chin. “The big guy is real pissed that you dipped on him and took his money on top of that. So pissed that he decided to come all the way over here to see ya.”

Manny swallows with the color draining from his face.

“Hey kid, go get the boss,” Clint orders Peter.

He nods and dashes out the door to get the boss leaving all of them in horrifying anticipation. He returns in a few minutes opening the door and letting in another man. Taller with broader shoulders and a very familiar face.

Your skin pales at the sight of the freak from the museum.

“You!” you blurt out, pointing at him and making all eyes turn on you.

Steve turns his head and his eyes light up.

Mean Gangster Mode Deactivated

“Rosalind Franklin!” Steve smiles at you, walking past the chaos and towards you in the corner. “How’s it going? How’d your paper go?”

You stare at him confused. “Y-you’re a gangster!” you yelled, pointing at him.

"Gangster's a bit vulgar don't you think?” Steve shrugged.

"You're a fucking criminal!" you emphasized in shock.  

Bucky’s gun drops to his side, but his grip on the pastry chef remains tight. His eyes flit towards Steve then Sam then Clint. The latter two asking the same silent question with their eyes.

"Damn, that hurt me right here,” Steve frowned playfully, pointing to his heart. “After all, I’ve done to help you? This is the thanks I get?”

“I never asked for your help,” you spat at him.

“Right, the whole DNA thing again,” he said. “You know, Rosy, I was really bummed out when you ditched me at the museum that day. Stripped me bare of my words and left me all alone without a goodbye. That’s cold, sweetheart.”

“My name isn’t Rosy,” you snapped at him. “And are you mental or something? Why in the world would I drink coffee with a stranger!”

“Then what’s your real name?” Steve asked, stepping into your space. His head leaning towards you with a loose strand of hair falling in front of his ocean blue eyes. His hand is flat against the wall behind you, caging you in from one side to keep his balance.

You have never been this close to a man before. Especially one so effortlessly handsome and dangerous. He licks his lower lip with a sharp smile and you gulp speechlessly.

He was dressed formally. A three-piece suit that looked very expensive, probably costing more than your scholarship. You can see the way his muscles bulge under his coat. He most definitely did not pad his suits. There’s a strong urge within you, pushing you to place your hand on his chest.

Just for a second. Just to see if a man this perfect actually existed.

You could smell the strong, crisp scent of cologne coming off of him and its intoxicatingly addictive, pulling you closer into his temptation.

“I’d really love to get to know you more,” he crooned.

His voice was so tender and earnest and you didn’t understand why. Neither did he. Sure he’s seen a billion pretty faces in the past, but for some reason, yours won’t leave his head. Yeah, he only met you last week without even a single detail but damn, did he want to learn all the explicit intricacies that created you. Maybe he was going mental.

“I’ve been thinking about you lately,” he confesses. Your cheeks heat up and the tips of your ears light up. “You’re always stuck in my head,” he chuckles, shaking his head. “I don’t know what it is about you, but you got me runnin’ in circles.”

His subordinates looked at him confused as if he wasn’t the mob boss but some lovesick teenager. You tried to speak, but nothing came out.

“You’re nuts!”

Steve laughs heartily while standing straight. “I had the feeling that’s how you’d react.”

“You can’t just say stupid stuff like that!” you scolded him. “You don’t even know me!”

“All the more reason for us to have a coffee together!” Steve suggested. “And how convenient for us to be in a cafe.” He turns around towards Sam still holding the owner of the shop with a gun to his head. “Hey, Manny, can I get a table for two?”

The man nods slowly while in a chokehold.

“Great,” Steve nods and looks around the place. “God, this place is a fucking mess.” He places his hands on his hips and turns towards you. “Tell you what, how about we ditch this joint and go down to this real classy place on Hyde Ave?”

“I’m not going anywhere with an ugly dirty mobster,” you spat at him, pushing past him and grabbing your bag. You strut past the others who were still frozen in confusion and impressed by your boldness.

Steve grins at your insult. “A pretty face and a sharp tongue?” he said, following behind. “You’re a girl after my own heart.”

“I don’t want your heart,” you snapped at him. “Or anything to do with you. Stay the hell away from me and it’ll do you some good!” you threatened before turning on your heel and pushing past the door.

Steve watches your retreating form with an even wider grin and giddy excitement in his chest. Playing hard to get I see. Mark my words, sweetheart, I’ll win this game. My name isn’t Steve Rogers for nothing!

“Uh, boss?” Clint asked from behind. “Who was that?”

Steve turns to look at him with a coy grin and the distant sound of wedding bells ringing in his ears.

"The future Mrs. Rogers."

[keyofjetwolf]

Pitch Me your thing!

HELLO HELLO MY SUNBEAMS. For most every category, there was an impressive turn-out for pitches, so I thought we’d utilize the weirdness of this year’s GIFTENING to give something new a try. The popular vote winner for each category will happen on the first day, but on the second, the winner will be chosen from YOUR PITCHES. Mostly those pitches will be to me. The exception is in Miscellaneous, where you’ll be pitching to my family, because what I want to do and what is most entertaining isn’t necessarily the same thing.

So! How will we do this thing? GLAD YOU ASKED. I’ll link you to a form in a minute with space for one pitch. Once you fill it out, you’ll be asked if you want to do another. There’s no limit to the number of pitches you can send in! But remember that if you submit multiple entries for the same category, you’ll basically be competing against yourself.

NOW WE’VE GOT SOME RULES FOR DOING THIS (which I mostly stole from Holligay, because I have no creativity this year). Please read them carefully! I’ll toss pitches that break any of these, and I’d rather your hard work not go to waste.

Pitch Me is open for your submissions from RIGHT NOW (22 December) through the very last day of this hellyear (31 December) at 11:59pm MT.

The thing you pitch must have come from what was nominated for THE GIFTENING 2020. (Full list of those nominations in every category below the cut on this post.)

Entries must be unsigned! I’m looking to chose based on the pitch alone, regardless of who submitted it.

The pitch itself must be 100 words or less. HAVE PITY ON ME I CAN ONLY CONSUME SO MUCH.

If you’d like to get some help, ideas, feedback, all that good stuff, the Discord is a FANTASTIC resource I encourage you to use.

HERE IS YOUR PITCH SUBMISSION LINK

And, as promised, below the cut you’ll find the list of all the nominees in every category you guys sent in this year. IT’S A LONG LIST HAVE FUN WITH THAT

Anime

A Place Further Than The Universe/Sora Yori mo Toi Basho Ace Attorney (Gyakuten Saiban) Action Heroine Cheer Fruits Aggretsuko Aho Girl Air Master Akuma No Riddle Alien Nine Angel Beats! Angelic Layer Appare-Ranman Aria Aria the Animation Arrietty/ The Secret World of Arrietty (Ghibli film) Ascendance of a Bookworm Azumamga Daioh Baccano! Beastars Black Cat Blood + (the series) Bloom Into You Blue Drop/Tenshitachino Gikyoku Bodacious Space Pirates (starting right where you left off) BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense Boku no hero academia Bubblegum Crisis Card Captor Sakura: Clear Card Cardcaptor Sakura Castlevania the Animated Series Cells at Work Chaos; Head Chihayafuru Code Geass cowboy Bebop Cyborg 009 Death Note Death Parade Deca-Dence Demon Girl Next Door Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) Diebuster: Aim For the Top 2 Dog Days dorohedoro Dot Hack//SIGN Dr. Stone Elfen Lied Erased (Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi) Escaflowne Excel Saga Fantastic Children Fate/Zero Flip Flappers Fresh Precure Fruits Basket 2019 Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Ga rei Zero GaoGaiGar gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex Ghost Stories (dubbed) Girls' Last Tour Great Pretender Hoseki no Kuni/ Land of the Lustrous House of Five Leaves/ Saraiya Goyou Inari konkon koi iroha Interviews with Monster Girls Inuyasha Isekai Izakaya "Nobu" Jellyfish Princess/ Kuragehime JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable Kaguya-sama Love Is War Kaleido Star Kannazuki no Miko Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! Kemono Friends Kiki's Delivery Service Kimi ni Todoke: From Me To You Kino's Journey/Kino no Tabi (2003) Land of the Lustrous (Houseki no Kuni) Little Witch Academia Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files EP0 {"A Grave Keeper") Love is Hard for an Otaku Love Live! Sunshine!! lupin the 3rd part 4 Madoka: The Rebellion Movie Magic knight rayearth Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha March Comes in Like a Lion Mardock Scramble Master of Martial Hearts Mawaru Penguindrum Megalobox Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid Mob Psycho 100 Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) Monster Mushishi My Bride is a Mermaid (Seto No Hanayome) My Love Story!!! My Neighbor Totoro My Next Life As A Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom My Roommate is a Cat NANA Naruto Natsume’s Book of Friends Neon Genesis Evangelion (hateblog) New Cutey Honey Nichijou Ōban Star-Racers One Piece Ouran High school Host club Outlaw Star Paranoia Agent Perfect Blue Please Save My Earth Pop Team Epic Pretty Cure Fresh Princess Jellyfish/ Kuragehime Princess Mononoke Princess Principal Princess Tutu Project A-Ko promised neverland (/yakusoku no neverland) Psycho-Pass Ranma 1/2 Re: Cutie Honey Re:Creators Read or Die (OAV) Red Garden relife Revolutionalry Girl Utena Rose of Versailles Ruroni Kenshin Sailor Moon Sailor Moon (viz dub) Samurai Champloo (english dub) Sarazanmai School Days School-Live! Scum's Wish Senki Zesshou Symphogear (listed as just "Symphogear" on Crunchyroll.) Serei no Moribito (Guardian of the Spirit) Shin Sekai Yori (From The New World) Shirobako Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle Smile Pretty Cure (Japanese original)/ Glitter Force (english adaptation) Snow White with the Red Hair Sound Euphonium Strawberry Panic (yuri) Sweetness and Lightning The Devil is a Part-timer The Devil Lady The disasterous life of saiki k (saiki kusuo no Sai Nan) The End of Evangelion (movie) the Promised Neverland The Twelve Kingdoms Tiger & Bunny Tokimeki Tonight ToraDora Tsubasa Chronicle Umineko When They Cry Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid Vinland Saga Violet Evergarden Whispered Words (Sasameki Koto) With a Dog AND a Cat, Every Day is Fun Yona of the Dawn Yu Yu Hakusho Yugioh Duel Monster Yuki Yuna is a Hero Yuri Kuma Arashi Yuri On Ice!!! Zoids: Chaotic Century Zombie Land Saga

Non-Anime Animated

Adventure Time Amphibia Animainiacs (Original) Animaniacs (Reboot) Archie's Weird Mysteries As Told By Ginger Barbie Life in The Dreamhouse Batman the Animated Series Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot Big Mouth Bob's Burgers Bojack Horseman Bravest Warriors Captain N: the Game Master Carmen Sandiego (1994) Carmen Sandiego (2019) Castlevania (Netflix) Cats Don't Dance Coco Courage the Cowardly Dog Craig of the Creek Cyber Six Daria Darkwing Duck Dragon Booster Dragons: Riders of Berk DuckTales (2017) Exo-Squad Fern Gully Fillmore! Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends Futurama Gargoyles Glitch Techs Godzilla: The Animated Series Green Lantern the Animated Series Hedgehog in the Fog (Ёжик в тумане) Hey Arnold Hilda Infinity Train Iron Giant JEM Kim Possible Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts Legend of Zelda animated series (1989) Legion of Super-Heroes Liberty Kids Magical Girl Friendship Squad Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart The Legend of Korra Moominvalley Motorcity My Little Pony (Classic, NOT FiM) My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks Onyx Equinox Over the Garden Wall Over the Moon (2020 film) Owl House Primal Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure Redwall Rise of the TMNT Roco's Modern Life Rugrats RWBY Samurai Jack Seis Manos She-Ra (1985) She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) Sonic Boom Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse Star vs. the Forces of Evil Strange Magic Super Mario Brothers Super Show Superman: The Animated Series Teen Titans The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo The Animals of Farthing Wood The Dragon Prince The Hollow The Legend of Tarzan (TV series) The Magic School Bus (1994) The Mysterious Cities of Gold The Pirate Fairy (Disney Fairies) The Powerpuff Girls (1998) The Real Ghostbusters Thundercats (1985) Thundercats (2011) Transformers: Prime Tuca and Bertie Twelve Forever Undone Venture Bros Wakko's Wish Wakfu Wander Over Yonder We Bare Bears (TV) Winx Club Wreck-It Ralph (2012) X-Men Evolution X-Men: The Animated Series Xiaolin Showdown

Live Action

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 28 Days Later 3rd Rock from the Sun A Series of Unfortunate Events American Horror Story: Asylum Babysitter's Club (2020) Batman (the old Adam West version) Better Call Saul Black Mirror Blackbeard's Ghost (Peter Ustinov) Boston Legal Boy Meets World Boys Over Flowers Bromance (Taiwanese tv series) Brooklyn 99 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Cadfael Cagney and Lacey Charmed (2018) Chopped Cleopatra 2525 Cloak and Dagger Clue (1985) Community Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Dead Like Me Dead To Me Deadwood Death Note (Netflix) Derry Girls Dimension 20 - The Unsleeping City Doctor Who (New) Doom Patrol Dracula's Daughter (1936) Escape to the Chateau Farscape Fingersmith Galavant Godzilla (2014) Gokushufudo (2020 Japanese TV drama) Golden Girls Good Omens H20: Just Add Water (somewhere in seasons 1-2) Happy New Year Harley Quinn movie Hateblog a REALLY STRAIGHT soap opera. Haunting of Bly Manor His Dark Materials (HBO series) Holes Hot Fuzz House Inception Inside No. 9 Iron Chef America Joan of Arcadia Julie and the Phantoms Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Kamen Rider Build Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Kamen Rider Fourze Killing Eve Knives Out Letterkenny Leverage Little Women (2019) Lucifer Matlock Majisuka Gakuen MASH Merlin Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol Money Talks (1997 film) Motherland: Fort Salem Murder She Wrote Mythbusters Nailed It! Never Have I Ever Once Upon a Time Orphan Black Pen 15 PGSM Pi (1998) Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018) Pride and Prejudice: A New Musical Puppy Bowl Pushing Daisies Rome (hateblog) Russian Doll Sabrina Sense8 Sera Myu: Un Nouveau Voyage Shameless Sierra Burgess Smallville So Weird Star Trek: TOS (or their films) Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Star Trek: Voyager Stargate Atlantis Suckerpunch Supernatural (out of context speedrun the last three episodes) Sweetheart Switched at Birth Tall Girl Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles The Addams Family (1964) The Big Flower Fight The Booth at the End The Bride With White Hair The Crown The Fresh Prince of Bel Air The Good Place The Kissing Booth The L Word The Librarians The Magicians The Muppet Show The Pregnancy Pact The Room The Steve Harvey Show The Stranded The Untamed The Witcher The Wolfman (1941) Torchwood Twilight Zone (original) Twin Peaks Ultraman Nexus Umbrella Academy Van Helsing Warehouse 13 Warrior Nun What We Do In The Shadows (tv show) Will & Grace Wynonna Earp X-Men 2: X-Men United Xena: Warrior Princess

Miscellaneous

Alpha Flight #41-62 Anime music dance party, the logistics of which are to be determined! Ask Hot Pocket and/or Mina-pup AskSharknado: Giftening Edition Attempt to make French macaroons Commentary on old Goggles Critical Role Crowdsourced: A Black Mirror-style day where Jetty has to ask what her choices are of the audience for everything! I give you a menu, you decide what she has for dinner? What does she wear? Does she walk on the track or do the eliptical? Does she go to a movie with Doc or play a video game with Mike? Can be done alongside other stuff. Doodle Day Dramatic readings of fan fiction! Drunk History (or whatever your favorite subject would be) with Jet Wolf! Drunk Sailor Moon Exorcising Closet Ghost Fic Prompts Day Figuarts Day! (Not specifically freeing anyone, just various fun poses and such) Guess the plot of a show based on its opening Her Shim-Cheong (manhwa) House of X/Powers of X Hubby's Choice IDW Jem comics liveblog Intros Only (watch show openings, give commentary, guess what show is about, etc.) Jackbox Games Jet Wolf paints along with Bob Ross Jet and Doc go to Heaven/Hell, respectively: Jet gets to write reams of words about the awesomeness of Rei Hino and Doc has to read all of them and say ONLY NICE THINGS. Jet does Tiktok dances Jet Liveblogs Holligay: A Nature Documentary Jet Ranks Sailor Moon Image Songs Jet Reads Goosebumps Jet Reads Legion of Super-Heroes Jet redesigns the Wolf and Gay offices! Jet shows off her knitting Jet Wolf attempts to recreate scenes from Sailor Moon with Mina and Hot Pocket and/or whatever is in the house Jet Wolf reacts to Sailor Moon tiktoks (in blog form) Jet Wolf reads Love and Rockets. Jet Wolf reads the Jem comics by IDW Jet Wolf reviews her old top 100 Sailor Moon moments list Jet Wolf talks about Archie Comics Jet Wolf talks about each cel she owns and why they are so awesome. Jet Wolf writes Poetry Jet Wolf's Top 5's Jet, Hubby and/or family play board games Jetty Rants and Raves Jet Wolf tries to crack the Gravity Falls Codes Kiwi Blitz on Hiveworks Let's Play on Webtoon Liveblog: Favorite X-Men comic book arcs Livestream Pathfinder one-shot LOONA (Collection of music videos with an ongoing story/universe about GIRLS who are FRIENDS and SAVE THE UNIVERSE) Lore Olympus on Webtoon Mike regales us with "the story of your love" while you get increasingly embarrassed Mina and Hot Pocket day - liveblog like a nature documentary Mister Tsukino Does His Taxes and the Household Budget (Sailor Moon fan comic by Shadowjack) Nancy Drew: Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake Not So Shoujo Love Story on Webtoon Pitch Mishaps for Untitled Senshi Game (it is a lovely day in Juuban, and you are a Horrible Minako.) Pitching hubby's favorite media at (readers/holligay/jill/momigay) Playing with dolls (because how could 3 women not have any dolls between them) Re-Take By Studio Kimigabuchi (All Ages Version) Real or Fake Anime (people submit descriptions of anime you guess if it is an anime that actually exists or not) Reviewing succulents Scavenger hunt! Not entirely sure how it would work, maybe folks could send in asks for you to show things like your favorite Rei Hino object, or the thing that's been with you the longest, etc. sewing/knitting/baking tutorial Share or rant about a Roman history topic Sleepless Domain on Hiveworks Talking to Docholligay 2: Doc Harder (basically you talking to Doc's future womb evictee while still in there and telling them stuff like say the greatness of Rei Hino) The Monster Duchess and Contract Princess (manhwa) The Polar Bear Plunge--I take Jetty to our finest Lake Elmo in January, and she jumps in! Note: THIS IS NOT DANGEROUS, WORRYWARTS. I'll bring a life preserver, I've done it before, and I would do it with her if I weren't pregnant. The Senshi Helpline--The Senshi, taking your advice questions, here and now! The World of Moral Reversal Virtual knitting/crafting circle! Let us craft and chat with you! What-If #24 Gwen Stacy Lived Worm the web serial Write an explanation for a drawing we send you! Yuri Hell's Kitchen

[katyatalks]

Mob Psycho 100 II - Kameda Yoshimichi’s Character Design Notes

With each blu-ray/DVD volume of MP100 II Character Designer Kameda Yoshimichi gives some notes regarding his process designing each character. Here are all his notes for S2 in the order they are presented, regarding; Shinra Banshoumaru, Emi, Mogami Keiji, Joudou Kirin, Asagiri Minori, The Urban Legends, Shimazaki Ryou, Hatori Nozomu, Minegishi Toshiki, Shibata Hiroshi, Suzuki Touichirou & Serizawa Katsuya.

SHINRA BANSHOUMARU

My highly recommended character from season 2, Shinrin Maruo! … that’s not his name, it’s Shinra Banshoumaru!! I super, super love Shinra to the point where it’s unbearable, and I even put him into season 1!!! Do you know where, though? These lovable, chubby characters - they’re lacking in recent anime, but I figured I’m in the position to change that!! I made him bigger than he is in the manga and upon drawing his rough design, Director Tachikawa told me I was going too far and had me draw a retake. I was like a bulldozer - ‘That’s so stupid!’ - so I managed to save his nice body (laughs).

After episode 2 he doesn’t appear at all, but please be sure to love Shinrin!!! How about a spin-off!? “Shinrin Psycho 100”, how’s that!?!?!? Ah, Shinra, actually. Sorry.

EMI

The amount of people who wanted to see this story animated!!!! Since it usually ranks either first or second place in polls that assess the most popular story in the Mob Psycho 100 manga, we figured we’d have season 2 start with it, and since it’s such a popular part, there was an agreement that I’d be animation director for it! Which I was enthusiastic about, until - huh? Episode 2 has Shinra Banshoumaru? Then, I’ll do episode 2! And with that, I left episode 1 in the hands of Yoshida-san! It’s a story with drama at its heart, and that’s what Yoshida-san specialises in, so I was happy with that!!! I’m pleased with Emi-chan’s hair colour. I made it a caramel-pink. My type 100%.

MOGAMI KEIJI

Truth is, work on Mob Psycho 100 II began from Episode 5. Because of that, the first of the fresh new characters to be drawn was Mogami. Just before getting to work on Mob Psycho 100 II I’d been working on something else where the proportions are quite short, so I kept in mind that I had to make sure that didn’t affect my designs here - as a result, for the first rough draft for Mogami, I had him with full on shoulder pads so he’d look taller, in a Saeba Ryou kinda vibe (laughs). Well, maybe not as far as Saeba Ryou. As expected, following a check with the director I was told the balance of his body isn’t Mob Psycho-ish!  And now his design is as it is. And yet… maybe it would’ve been nice to have his shoulders be raised, just a little?? In the manga he’s quite a handsome man, but my Mogami isn’t that handsome… that’s regrettable.

JOUDOU KIRIN

I have Joudou-sensei wear a kesa [Buddhist priest’s robe] in the anime - it’s pretty cute, isn’t it? Something I paid attention to was the lines from where his kesa ends to his tip toes! He appears in episodes 4-7 and more so than Mogami does, but he’s fun to draw. His deformation in episode 4 was super funny, so we included more of those (laughs). However, the wrinkles on his forehead and his hair barcode are a bit of trouble, and he’s got three rosaries on, and vertical stripes on his kesa… a lot of lines, and animating all those lines is a delicate matter. Also, he has huge eyes. They must get dry easily, I’m sure that’s tough for him.

ASAGIRI MINORI

We get three design variations for Minori - the one in the bed, the one that’s possessed by Mogami, and the one wearing Salt Middle School’s sailor uniform. Her chipped nails while she’s lying in the bed are an anime original. I wanted something in her design that’d counter her cute face. Above everything, what stands out in her design is her hair colour!!!! Her final design has her with purple hair, but at first I imagined her with a cute pink, like Minky Momo-chan. However, the pink hair didn’t really match with her skin colour and overall ghastliness when she’s possessed by Mogami, so after a revision, I went for purple. The way she is now… well, she’s cute, but I think pink hair would’ve been reeeeeeally cute! There’s not many illustrations in the manga where the characters are given colour, so it was very fun getting to choose colours for the anime!

URBAN LEGENDS

With the characters that appear in the Urban Legend Arc, it was super fun to envision how they might move around, and what details to add and/or remove!! Regarding Wriggle Wriggle from episode 1, in order to give a sense of scale in comparing its height with Mob’s, on its character sheet I drew it with an extreme use of perspective. An angle similar to that image gets used in the anime.

In episode 2, Red Raincoat is as he is in the manga, but The Dragger dragging her dolls behind her is an original design. I gave the three dolls she drags a sense of individuality & a ghastly feel, then thought about wetting her clothes and skirt with mud and rain, deciding to make her simple. The dragger has very long hair, which appeals to my 80s-anime-loving taste. I guess when it comes to original designs I always drag out something that I’ve been stocking in my own drawers (laughs).

On the other hand, with Dash Granny all we see of her is her running blurry form, so even on her character sheet her references are all smeared - kinda like me declaring, ‘right, I’m the animation director for episode 2, so let me handle drawing the granny.’ (Laughs).

Season 2 is filled with a lot of deep stories, so if we get to continue the Mob Psycho 100 anime, I’d like for us to do more light-hearted stories where cases related to urban legends are solved like this!!

SHIMAZAKI RYOU

The member of the Ultimate Five who gets the most time in the spotlight, Shimazaki - easy to draw, isn’t he?? His eyes are lines, the corners of his mouth are a little lifted - just draw that and there you go! Shimazaki! He fights with Teru-kun twice -  episodes 9 and 11 - but I’ve been told that the jersey Teru-kun wears from episode 10 onwards is quite perplexing (laughs). In the manga it’s a black jersey… of course I know that. It’s just… he fights Shimazaki, who has a black colour scheme, and then Mob and Sakurai also have black colour schemes… Suzuki is more or less the same, as is Koyama, so to say. Way too many characters with a black colour scheme. Having all these characters with black colour schemes in one scene? That’s a No, Thanks from me. With all that blackness, you wouldn’t be able to understand who’s who!!!!!! Huh? You’d understand because Teru is blonde? W-well...

HATORI NOZOMU

You noticed, right? Hatori’s very cute pigeon [hato] crest!! A crest I highly recommend! … and yet, Hatori doesn’t appear much, does he… plus, the pigeon really didn’t stand out at all either (laughs). As much as I could, I’d leave the style of clothing that each character wears in the manga more or less the same for their anime design, then apply colour, then add a design that matches the character - designing their clothes was fun! Teru-kun’s jersey has a seagull, and Koyama’s hoodie has a spiral-like design - I think it’d be fun to search for these designs!! Actually, why does Teru-kun’s jersey have a seagull on it, you might ask?? Well, flip the seagull upside down… and you get someone standing… pigeon toed!

MINEGISHI TOSHIKI

I felt like the kinds of plants Minegishi manipulates would be of a carnivorous nature, so I ended up learning a lot of stuff when I was doing research! When thinking of carnivorous plants, what immediately springs to mind is Rafflesia! Even when reading illustrated encyclopaedias as a kid, I thought Rafflesia plants looked pretty scary. I’d read something about ‘man-eating plants’ and thought to myself, man, I want that to be about Rafflesia - I looked it up and it was! It stinks, so it’s as if it eats both humans and insects! I feel sorry for it - it’s just a stinky flower. Also, I made a big discovery!! Seems like you can drink the digestive fluids of pitcher plants!!! *gags*. Apparently you can only drink it before they catch insects, but it’s close to being germ-free, so please, drink without worry! Also, in Malaysia or somewhere like that, it seems they put rice inside the mouth of a pitcher plant, then steam and eat it, like bamboo chimaki [Rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves]. ...In a pitcher plant… really…? *gags* *gags again*. With venus flytraps, too, people put minced meat in their mouths and grill them or something… those of you who own carnivorous plants; please, give it a go!! But the result is your own responsibility!!!

SHIBATA HIROSHI

He brings the pressure in episode 10 - when I read the manga, I felt this incomparable atmosphere when Shibata transforms and roars noisily around. I think the anime was amazing in amping that up! Looking at the manga, when Shibata’s on his rampage, he takes on more of a swarthy tone. So when I came to choose his colours for the anime, I first had his skin tone be pretty dark, but I felt like that didn’t give the same impact as it did in the manga, so I proposed giving him a scarlet tone as if he came from the Asura realm! And I’m glad I had the sense to! Actually, speaking on this now, he’s kinda like The Hulk (laughs). I guess it would’ve been funny if I made his skin green.

SUZUKI TOUICHIROU

Truth is, I’d finalised Suzuki’s design during season 1. Only because he appears for a split second during the final episode, though (laughs). But, while working on the main story, something I noticed with my design that troubled me was that alongside being slender and baby-faced, his height left something to be desired… so he didn’t look like a boss character in the slightest. After I finished work on the final episode, I thought it’d be good to make his face a little longer, ie. more mature. To make him appear more aggressive, I tried to make his eyes smaller, but then his design strayed too far from his manga self. Of all the things that caused me grief, the worst one of them all was his hair - does he have a jagged hairline because he’s brushed his hair back, or is the jaggedness there a very short fringe due to him having short hair? After I finished work on the final episode, I unexpectedly had the chance to see ONE-sensei, live, drawing Suzuki - from there, my problem was solved!!! Jagged hair (laughs). (It’s due to him having short hair, right?) I apologise for never grasping the true form of his hair, right up to the end.

SERIZAWA KATSUYA

Translated previously here.

--

Twitter crosspost here.

Season 1 notes here.

[bluinary]

gag anime that you need to watch maybe

 hi hello my name is juli and i will now gently guide ur attention to some top-notch shows, please pay attanetion

(this list is for people who don’t watch much anime or who are new to it. if ur a fucken weeb youve probably seen it all. dont @ me i want to help the kids)

ONE PUNCH MAN (the obvious 1st choice lol)

Genre: Action/ Shounen

Expectation: OP protagonist with riveting backstory fights to become the strongest hero, makes many friends along the way who recognize his talents and pure heart, big bad scary villains make him stronger

Reality: OP protagonist is already the strongest hero. His backstory? After fighting a lobster-man with nipples drawn on him with a Sharpie, Saitama decides to do a workout routine every day, and somehow ends up becoming the most powerful known being in the universe. His main issue is that now, he literally can take down any villain with a single punch, and he’s very bored of it.

Best Qualities: Animation is bomb, music is dope, humor is funnie, and Best Boy is a man whose superpower is riding a bicycle. Also Saitama egg head

If you were in a coma for all of 2015, this is the main thing u missed. Moving on.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun (Monthly Girls’ Nozaki)

Genre: Romance/ Comedy/ Slice of Life

Expectation: Smol shoujo protag girl grows closer to her oblivious crush through a fated, if awkward, incident which reveals an embarrassing secret that has to be kept at all costs. Through one another they gain more quirky friends, help each other grow, and, eventually, the male lead realizes that what he needs has been beside him all along.

Reality: The crush writes romance manga, and that is literally all the man cares about. It’s not a secret, but when he told people they didn’t believe him. Nozaki and Sakura grow closer, but only because he confuses her confession with a request to be his Beta. They gain quirky friends through one another, but there is zero character development throughout the entire fucking cast. Every episode is run by Idiot Plot. All the characters share a singular brain cell. There’s a tall butch lady turning every girl in the school gay. Please watch

Best Quali-teas: Everyone is baby, lots of gay shenanigans, and toxic masculinity does not exist, the OP is pretty nice, too

I literally heard about this damn show, like, two months ago. This shit was released circa 2015. Pleeze watch

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. / Saiki Kusuo no Psi Nan

Genre: Shounen/ Supernatural/ Fucking Everything tbh

Expectation: Slice-of-life supernatural where protag has psychic powers, albeit limited ones, and has to keep them a secret at all costs for fear of his safety. He has a few friends he loves and cherishes, and at least two girls who are in love with him that he has to choose between-- all of which are people he wants to protect from his double-life.

Reality: Kusuo is very aware that he is the protagonist of an anime, and he does not want to be. Born with pink hair? He rewrites the human genome to make colored hair normal. End of the world looming? He just keeps rewinding time so he doesn’t have to deal with it. Harem situation? He actively uses his powers to avoid all love interests at all times (see the above). The plot of each episode is him trying to stop the plot as quickly as possible without killing anyone. The main issue is that everyone around him is either dumb or just generally attractive to plot-driving circumstances, and they all, for some reason, want him to be in on their adventures.

Best Qualities: Heavy “me and the boys” energy, plenty of Idiot Plot, so funny that my 47yo mom who hates anime admitted that it’s funny, meta as fuck, occasionally sweet scenes, equally good dub and sub, Saiki is babie

The fandom for this shit is like. Nonexistent. Apparently it came out the same season as Mob Psycho 100, so that might be why. I almost didn’t watch it, but I got bored and it turned out to be a serious gem. Go watch if ur having a bad day, it will make u cry laughing

Sakamoto Desu Ga/ Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto

Genre: Slice of life/ Comedy

Expectation: God I don’t even know. I’d say a typical slice of life where the quiet kid is bullied but makes friends, there’s a love triangle as they grow up together through high school, yadda yadda, but look at this dude. I can’t imagine him being anything other than what he is-- a legend.

Reality: The entire show is just a question of how extra one man can be, and how well he can pull it off. Sakamoto is an “average” high school senior (in the sense that he has no supernatural abilities), but he’s....far more than that. He’s Sebastian Michaelis if he’d never been a demon. Everything always works out for him in the most ridiculous of ways-- he’s just that good. He makes a McDonald’s uniform look like Prada. He’s so smooth his bully ends up having a crush on him (and yes, it is a gay crush. no heteros in this show). 

Best Qualities: lots of homo content. the side characters, inspired by Sakamoto’s grace, all become better people, and you root for them. The circumstances are always average, but the presentation is fucking riveting. Watch to send ur depression into remission.

Another one no one talks about????? U all were so busy with ur broku no hero macadamias and ur Nartoes that you slept on this. Now’s the time to take back what was lost. Love yourself and binge this shit. 

Nichijou/ My Ordinary Life

Genre: Slice of Life/ Comedy

Expectation: Cute girls do cute, girly things and have fun with Their Close Good Friends (TM).

Reality: Cute girls get into very bizarre situations with extremely manic energies. Sometimes, the situations are normal, but the girls react in a bizarre, manic fashion. It will make you alarm-laugh.

Best Qualities: Adorable art style, little continuity, relatable as fuck

A nice little watch if you’re bored. I think the eps are on YouTube.

Pop Team Epic/ Poputepepiku

Genre: Only God Knows

Expectation: Probably a cutesy 4koma-type thing with 2 schoolgirls having shenanigans.

Reality: A regular acid trip with lesbian icons Popuko and Pipimi who are not schoolgirls, but gods. Like if Eric Andre and Hannibal Buress were turned into omnipotent anime icons. Watch at your own risk.

Best Qualities: Lots of unexpected parodies and references amongst a shitpost of a show. The OP is a bop. Popuko terrifies me, but also empowers me as a young woman because she will not hesitate to kill a bitch. She and Pipimi love each other a whole lot, so it is LGBTQ content, which is always a plus. 

I’m sure you’ve seen this one floating around. It will make you feel fear, and then laugh. Now, finally...

Ouran Highschool Host Club

Genre: Romance/ Comedy

Expectation: The protagonist is a girl who is mistaken for a boy and must be the servant of six rich, handsome young men, all of which are in love with her, and her secret must be kept at all costs. A reverse harem anime with plenty of fanservice.

Reality: Haruhi is a genderfluid queen who doesn’t give a fuck what others think she is. Because she broke a Conveniently-Placed Vase and is relatably poor, she has to pay off her debt by being a host herself-- which means male-presenting when flirting with her female classmates to make her dough. The six rich, handsome young men all share three brain cells, and most of those cells go to the character who has one line per episode (usually, it’s “Yeah”. I hope that VA got paid well). The only love interest-- the “leader” and most popular of the six men-- is so dead-set on their club being his Found Family, he confuses his romantic feelings for Haruhi with paternal ones. This is obvious to everyone but him. He never gets the brain cells. 

Best Qualities: Trans characters!! Lesbians!! Extreme “me and the boys” energy, except they’re all rich, so shenanigans skyrocket. Many 4th wall breaks. The most powerful Host looks like he’s 5. Any “fanservice” is never played straight. Takes the Found Family trope to a whole new level. Nice Parks & Rec-quality balance between hysterical and sweet. Everyone is in drag at some point.

I know all of us senior citizens grew up on this shit, but you younguns need to watch the classics to appreciate the newfangled stuff. I recommend watching when you’re in a cheesy rom-com mood. 

Honorable Mentions:

I can’t count these as gag anime, but they’re still ridiculously funny.

Mob Psycho 100

Scissor Seven

Kill la Kill

Cells at Work!

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure 

Ones I haven’t seen but have heard a lot about

Osomatsu-san

Himouto! Umaru-chan

Azumanga Daioh

Gin Tama

Sgt. Frog

Okay that is all just limke put this in ur feel-good tag because these shows will make you happy and donut for get to like and describe to my channel, where I post literally nothing at all ever good night.

[brightlightsfanfiction-blog]

The Article | Joker Leto x Reader Pt 1.

Request:  Oo what about the reader is in college but works at her school's newspaper but the Gotham paper is doing a contest and she wants to win so she tries to interview Mr. J. (Harley is out of the picture). And he ends up kidnapping her for a week yet allowing her to write about him, and possibly some smexi smut. If you're into it -- @ladylucksposts

Notes: This was way longer than expected, with the backstory, and setting everything up. I decided to make the executive decision to split this into two parts. They should be out back-to-back. The kidnapping isn’t the traditional idea of it, given the way I set it up, but I hope it still satisifes the desire.  Warnings: Kidnapping (kinda?), dark topics, swearing. 

Part 2.

You stood outside of Alibi, one of the busiest clubs in Gotham. It was also the most dangerous. Almost every person inside would be guaranteed to be armed, or accompanied by someone who was.  Mob bosses, serial killers, pimps, and hookers all frequented the club. It was a pretty poorly kept secret if a little girl in college knew about it all... The GCPD probably knew about it as well, but if you had to guess, they and all the heroes of the city stayed far away. Going in there and causing trouble was suicide. GCPD would lose a lot of their officers, and vigilantes would get the brave, innocent (and stupid) bystanders killed, as well as others.

You supposed you couldn’t call the club goers who dared to go for a good time stupid... they were just surrounding themselves with some of the most dangerous people in Gotham, but most of the time, so long as everyone behaved and kept their nose out of private business, it was just a night of adrenaline. Sure, every now and then a shooting would happen there, a deal gone wrong, a misunderstanding, a psycho having an episode...  You, on the other hand, were poking your nose where it didn’t belong. You were there to see the owner and the most dangerous man in Gotham. The Joker. 

The Gotham Gazette was holding a contest for people who wanted to work at the paper, and they were offering a big sum of money for the winner to buy the best story. You were studying journalism, and it was your dream job. Working at the Gotham Gazette was the best job journalism job you could get in Gotham, and then maybe you could get out of the shithole town and do something even bigger. There were a lot of talented writers, and you were sure there would be some pretty amazing entries. The only way to win was to do something daring, and a little -- okay, incredibly stupid. 

The Joker was a household name and struck fear in every Gotham citizen. He was also someone people knew the last amount about... Two-Face was previously Harvey Dent who’d gotten injured and lost his mind, Harley Quinn was formerly a psychiatrist who fell for her patient and then was driven insane.. and a variety of other people with known pasts. The Joker was the biggest mystery, to the point, no one knew his name. All official papers had his real name listed as “unknown” and his alias as the Joker. If you could get anything, and make it available to the public, you’d win for sure. If you survived to tell the tale, though.

You stepped into the club, taking a deep breath. It looked like a pretty normal club inside... music played, people danced and drank, there were cages for people to dance in, and a roped off VIP section. But the energy was different and uneasy. The VIP section was where you’d have to go, and where you saw a bit of green hair poking through the beads. A part of you had considered going undercover, trying to get a story in secret, but that was dangerous from start to end... Lying, sneaking around, and then later publishing a story. If you survived enough to get your name out there, you’d be dead before you could ever enjoy your prize. No, you had to be direct, and hope that bravery (and stupidity) would get you somewhere, and that the somewhere wouldn't be a body bag.

You got a shot, downing the liquid and letting it burn your throat, hoping it would give you some courage. It helped a little bit, and you considered doing another, but knew you had to keep a level enough head. If you tried to approach the Clown Prince of Crime while intoxicated, he wouldn’t take you seriously and may kill you just for being annoying. So with the one shot buzzing through you, you walked straight over to the VIP section. Two bouncers stood by, and you were sure there were more inside. The Joker was insane, but he was also insanely protected. 

“VIP only, miss,” one guard said as you approached. This wasn’t a VIP section where they asked your name and checked a list. The list was exclusive, and they’d know if someone was to be expected. 

“I know,” you assured them, squaring your shoulders. “I was hoping to have a few minutes to talk to your boss. I have a business proposition for him, and this is the only way I know how to contact him,” you said. A business proposition sounded way more official and legit than “I want to interview your boss for a newspaper contest.” 

“Is anyone expecting you here?” the same security guard asked, sizing you up. You were in clubwear, something low cut and short in hopes to up your chances of getting your foot in the door. You weren’t the hottest girl in the club but hoped it was enough. 

You shook your head. “No, like I said, he’s a hard man to contact. I assure you, it will only take a few minutes. If he can’t meet now, if someone could give me information to contact someone, I can do it another time.” You hoped being as diplomatic as possible would help. You could still see the neon green hair behind them, but not much beyond that. You had no idea if he was already in a meeting or not. 

The bouncers exchanged a look, before the one who had been addressing you turned into the section behind him. “Hey, Frost. Got a girl here who wants to talk to the boss,” they said. 

A third man came over, tall, not bad looking, full beard. He looked you over, trying to figure out who you were and why you were here. “You want to talk to the boss?” he asked, skeptical, confused, and trying to decide what he should do. 

“I do, yes. Just a few minutes, whenever he has some free time,” you answered, looking him in the eyes. 

He glanced between the two bouncers, before back at you. He almost looked amused. “You got guts, kid. Most people are afraid to get anywhere near the Boss,” he acknowledged. “Alright, I’ll give you a few minutes. If we’re honest, it’s only because I’m curious how this’ll go down, and because he’d be more willing to meet with a hot chick than any other random stranger,” he said. So the tiny dress had been to your advantage. 

The bouncers separated, and you followed Frost into the VIP section. Your nerves were going wild, and you felt like you may vomit or pass out. You got the meeting, but that meant you were getting ready to meet the Joker. Face to face. In his own club. No one was here to protect you, and you were on his turf. If you said the wrong thing or caught him in the wrong mood, you’d be dead in two seconds. Frost stopped in front of you and turned to face you, holding up a hand to have you stop as well. You stopped obediently, looking at him but didn’t speak. You’d speak when spoken to, and try to be on your very best behavior. 

“You mind if I give you a pat down? I don’t think there are many places you can keep anything in that tiny dress, but better to be safe,” he requested. With the way he was eying you, you were pretty sure half of it was his own personal desire. Still, you nodded and shifted so that he could do as much. At first, it was a simple official patdown, your sides, back, stomach... then he felt around your breasts, ass, and even between your legs. You were extremely uncomfortable, but it was over quickly. There wasn’t much fabric, so there wasn’t much room to search. “All clear,” he said, giving you a playful wink, before guiding you through the beads. You almost wondered if he had agreed to let you come back here in hopes the Joker would let him have you before killing you. Frost wasn’t a bad looking guy, but it still skeeved you out. 

As soon as he stepped out of the way, you saw the Joker sitting on a white couch, eyes focused on his phone. He almost looked harmless as he sat there, reading through something with slightly burrowed brows (or rather brow bone since there was no hair except for on his head.) You knew better though, and your blood ran cold. There was no turning back now.

“Hey, Boss. This girl wanted to talk to you about something,” Frost said, almost seeming easy around the King of Gotham. It seemed like he was high up in the ranks so it would make sense. But how could anyone get comfortable around a volatile homicidal maniac? 

The Joker’s eyes moved up slowly, flicking to Frost, before at you. Once he took in your appearance, his phone was set aside, forgotten, and you had his full attention. He eyed you, and you saw a bit of his tongue come out to lick his lips.

“Sit,” Frost told you, motioning to the couch opposite his boss. You complied, holding your hands in your lap, and he sat toward the end of the same couch. “Thought if she was insane enough to come to see you, it may be worth hearing her out. Or at least something pretty to look at,” he commented.

The Joker gave Frost a look of mild amusement, a smile coming over his bright red lips, before turning back to you. “What brings you here, Kitten?” he purred, curiosity evident in his grey eyes. 

The nickname made you further uneasy, but this was your one opportunity. You swallowed down your nerves, your mouth feeling bone dry now. There was no going back though. “I don’t want to waste any of your time, so I’ll cut right to the chase. I go to Gotham University, and the Gazette is doing a contest with the school for journalists. Winner gets a job once they graduate, which is my dream job. I thought a good choice of topic would be you,” you said, trying to get it all out without seeming too rushed.

You could see Frost quirk a brow in your peripheral, but your main focus stayed on The Joker. His head cocked to the side as he stared at you, listening and processing to what you’d said. “On me?” he said simply.

“Yes, sir. You’re one of the most well-known people of Gotham City, but very little is known about you. I thought you may have an interest in controlling the narrative and telling your side. Many people talk about you, and write about you, without ever having even seen you in person. This is my attempt to change that,” you explained. Showing a bit of sympathy, as well as what he’d gain from agreeing seemed like the best way to go about doing it. You had to sell this to him and sell it well. 

“So you’re to play Devil’s Advocate, are you now?” he asked. It was hard to read his expression. He had a great poker face. 

You glanced at Frost as if he would provide any answers, but he wasn’t any more helpful, and you turned back to the clown. “If that’s how you want to look at it, I suppose it’s not far off. You certainly have your ways of sending messages to the media and citizens of this city, but this gives you a more drawn out platform. I already have some questions in mind, but we don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to, and if there’s something you want to focus on, then I’m more than happy to let you... steer the bus, shall we say?” 

He kept watching of you, and you could see a million thoughts racing around in his head. His henchman was even watching, curious to see what his boss would do. You couldn’t tell if the thoughts were good or bad, blank face still up. Shortly after, a smile lit up his face, and a little laugh came out that sent shivers down your spine. “You certainly have a lot of... guts,” he said, glancing at your torso as if he was imagining tearing you open to see them. “I’ll agree to it. On one teeny tiny little condition,” he practically purred.

You perked, not believing that this was happening. “Anything,” you said, a little too quickly. Perhaps offering to anything for a man like the Joker wasn’t the smartest move, but had you really been smart these past few hours? 

“You will stay here, with me, for the next seven days. You will not leave. If you have work or class, call it off. You do whatever I say, and I decide when we do work. You can ask your questions, but I’m under no obligation to answer any. Your final draft will be finished and submitted before you leave. No recordings, drafts, photographs, videos, anything of the sort will leave with you. I’m not going to make contingencies for what would happen if you were to not win, because I’m confident what you leave here will be a masterpiece,” he was grinning wider now. “That’s my deal. Take it or leave it,” he said. Something about the look in his eye told you that you didn’t have a choice. If you said no thank you, he’d kill you. But saying yes... saying yes meant agreeing to spend an entire week with The Joker, doing everything he said. You had a feeling there would be things to push you, and he’d try to break you. He did it to Harley and a lot of other people. 

“I don’t have any of my things with me, I even left my phone in my car,” you started, wondering how this would go if you only had one dress and that was it. You weren’t planning on this turning into a long, sinister slumber party. 

“You’ll give Frost your keys and address. He’ll pick up clothes, your computer, and anything else you request of him... within reason,” he stated. 

You looked at Frost at the mention of him, and he gave a small shrug. Taking a breath, you made the decision you’d likely regret for years to come. but at least then you’d have years to come. “Okay. Let’s do it.” 

To be continued...

[physical-manifestation-of-spite]

Hi! I was wondering if you suggest reading ‘A Breach Of Trust’? I’ve seen both positive and negative reviews of it and idk if I should continue with reading it (I’ve already read a few chapters). It seems like an interesting plot but from what I’ve read and the conversation around it I’m worried it might just be a fic that has angst just for the sake of angst.

Real short answer: YES! Always give the fanfiction a chance before you make any assumptions. That’s always been my big rule. Don’t let anyone else tell you how to feel about anything if you have not even read it. 

Longer answer: Okay, I’m notorious for long-winded answers, so here we go.

 I actually learned about Mob Psycho 100 FROM fanart made for A Breach of Trust. It was made by sanddraws–an artist I would die for, bye–and it was their big ol comic for the 9th chapter. I was super curious about it, but also super confused because Mob had long hair so I thought he was a girl and I thought it’d become some weird romance, so I figured, “eh, I don’t dig it, I’ve seen this a thousand times” I watched MP100 afterward, then liked the series so much that I began to seek out fanfiction. I saw ABoT, saw the tags, and was like, “oh that looks like shit, looks like every other fanfiction out there,” and then I moved on. Then I started to look up just regular fan art and I saw fanart for ABoT AGAIN and I was like, “Okay. What the fuck is up with this fanfiction?” It looked like shit to me. The tags were “kidnapping” and the moment I saw that, I was like, this is gonna be the same shit like everything else. Exactly your worry–angst for the sake of being angst. 

But I was like, what the hell, people keep screaming about this, fine, I’ll read it. I clicked on it. I opened it.

I stayed up until 2 am reading it. 

I can’t speak for everyone else, but just… think of every fanfiction you’ve read. All of the drudge. All of the bullshit. People getting hit by angst for no reason and you immediately exiting out of the story going, “Okay, fuck that, that just pisses me off.” Like, you know how no one acts like normal human beings? How they just STAY in the angsty situation and you’re basically pulling your skin off your face?

This is everything NOT like that. The characters actually feel real. The side characters are comprehensive, small, but so important. You know side characters that you could just not give a shit about? These are not them. Like wow, I actually like the side characters a lot.

The twists. Holy shit the twists. The writer knows how to use prose, they know how to bring something back from old chapters into new and you’re like, ‘OH SHIT, THAT HAPPENED LAST CHAPTER, THAT’S SO FUCKING COOL,” and then you’re left on the edge of your seat.

I’ll admit, it starts really slow. But it gets more and more intense and so… just so cool, man. 

Okay, in terms of the actual angst, it’s really not that bad. Like, have you ever seen slightly more fucked up anime shows were a kid’s hand gets… I don’t know, stabbed, and like, ooh, maybe a crow dies? Like, that’s it. As someone who has been exposed to so much more in canon anime (and even fanfiction for other anime), ABoT’s angst seems… super tame to me. And it’s quick, you’re given A LOT of breathing room in between. The writer knows how to balance the angst with the humor, so I liked it a lot. I… question how many critics have actually read the fanfiction because they claim that the angst lasts for the entire fanfiction, which it doesn’t even last for a third of it, and the rest of it is just feel-good, “let’s put Mob together” and let him drink milk and be happy.

It’s really nice, man. I actually genuinely like it. It has it’s flaws, sure, and if you want to see my opinion, I left a big ass review on the very last chapter. My name’s DashOfPeppers on there, and I’m a bowl of ramen. I wrote an essay for a response.

Anyways… sorry this is so long. But yes! I genuinely liked it. You might like it too, or you might hate it. But please read it just a little more if you want to get a good opinion of it. It gets really neat by like the 4th or 5th chapter! And let me know how you felt about it afterwards! I’d love to hear!

[v01d-ch1ld]

Diary of a Psycho Clown Girl pt. 1

When you live by yourself things are lonely. You have no one to talk to at all. You can depend on no one because there never is anyone else home. Given some time I guess one gets used to it but at first no one is ever excited to live alone beyond the first few nights. Even as a kid one learns that independent is just adult code for lonely as hell. But I have been alone for years and I seem to get on just fucking fine if you ask me. Well, I am not alone anymore anyway. Not since I somehow managed to pass a test and win a scholarship to Gotham Academy, and definitely not after I met Dick Greyson. That boy was such a pest when I first met him. I came in looking threadbare in comparison to those who were supposed to be my future classmates, and I was instantly rejected. But I didn’t care because I had been rejected for a very long time and this was high school for me. I went to class and sat in the back and that’s when a silly boy with black hair and sky-blue eyes sat next to me. I ignored the fact that he existed for a long time. Every day he would try to pass notes or snacks and stuff to me but I just ignored him. Eventually he stopped but then one day I was stupid and I lost my sketchbook in chemistry. I was devastated because I was poor and the book was terribly expensive and I worked hard and long scamming to get that money. It was the only luxury I had other than my set of colored pencils. Gone. I was very sullen for a while but then it reappeared on my chair two days later. There was a note and it was from the black-haired boy. I decided to corner him. On the way to lunch I got ahead of him and scooped him out of his cloud of friends. I asked him what he thought he was doing trying to do me favors and give me food. I exploded on about how I was not a charity case just because I was there on scholarship and that just because he was rich it didn’t mean he had any right to feel sorry for me. Then he was hugging me and drying tears that I didn’t even know I was crying.

               “I wasn’t trying to do charity I was trying to be nice. Most of the kids here aren’t very nice and I’m on student council and so I volunteered to help you out your first few days. I wanted to be your friend.” Dick said.

               “You,” I poke him in the chest with my dirty broken fingernails, “are the adopted son of Bruce Wayne the billionaire. You could buy and sell me more times than there are graves in the world! You don’t want to tarnish your father’s reputation by associating with someone who lives in Crime Alley.” I reason with him. He has got to get it through his head that I am not a person he needs to talk to.

               “Who cares where you live as long as you are a good person! I like that you are different, everyone here is so boring. I wasn’t always rich you know. It is sometimes nice to talk to someone who is normal and didn’t grow up with a diamond pacifier.” Dick scoffs. Oh. I had never thought of it like that before. Then again, I knew that his parents died because of that mob guy. So maybe not that big of a stretch. I am such an idiot.

               “Okay, okay, okay I’m sorry for mistaking your sickeningly pure intentions for pettiness and ill will.” I hyperbole. I hope he takes it right. Easiest way to test new friends and their tolerance for sarcasm. I’m in luck! He laughs!

               “You remind me of my younger brother.” He smiles softly. I smirk.

               “Let’s double the trouble and you introduce me to him?”

               “Not on your life.”

 And that’s how I met the best friend in the world.

I stopped being alone after that.

[bibliophilea]

The Case of Salt and Pepper Hills

This was made as a part of the Mob Psycho 100 Gift Exchange collection on ao3 (MP100_NewYears_GiftExchange) organized by @mp100ficrec! For @koshidraws, who requested sweaty Mob and Reigen, probably on a mission or something.

Cross-posted on ao3 (17248679), ffn (13165518), and dA (The-Case-of-Salt-and-Pepper-Hills-779125996)

I would have provided links, but I think tumbl’s still on it’s bullshit with them. I decided to provide the identifiers used to differentiate between works when inserted into the correct formats for the URLs.

Any and all feedback is appreciated! If you have questions regarding accessing this story and art on the sites above, or questions in general, feel free to ask!

Reigen had taken the job because he thought it'd be a nice change of pace from the stifling confines of the office. The AC had broken down a few days prior, and his only weapons against the heat were a fan spinning idly to create the illusion of coolness, and an open window to catch a nonexistent breeze. Mob never complained, but Reigen could see the sweat coating his student's face, and the way his eyes unfocused more than usual when trying to do his math homework. So when the backpackers stopped by to ask for psychic protection on their hike up Pepper Hill, Reigen jumped at the chance to leave the office with Mob in tow.

The bus ride was mercifully cool - at least until it broke down a kilometer from the hiking grounds. It would take a mechanic another half hour to get there, and then who knew how long to fix the overheated engine, so Reigen decided they'd walk the rest of the way. It wasn't a bad walk - there was shade from the trees on the side of the road, and the wildflowers were beautiful this time of year. Nonetheless, their shirts were starting to stick to them by the time they reached Paprika River, a wide, rushing thing carving a path between Salt and Pepper Hills.

They stopped to rest in the shade of a large oak tree marking the beginning of the path up Pepper Hill, taking in the view of the river and Salt Hill on the other side of it, vibrant greens reaching up towards a clear blue sky. The rush of the water was soothing, complementing the chirps and tweets of birds calling out to each other in the trees above.

"Beautiful, isn't it, Mob?" Reigen said, pulling out his phone to snap a couple of pictures. Mob only nodded. Reigen checked the time, and then almost swore - crap, they were late!

"Well, sightseeing's over, let's go, Mob!"

Reigen grabbed Mob's arm and pulled him around, up the winding path that would eventually lead to the campsite, and their clients.

He had known it would be hot. He had expected it to be humid. What he hadn't prepared for were the bugs.

They assaulted his face, flying at his eyes, landing in his hair and clothes before taking off again. He had walked through more than one swarm of gnats, and he was certain he'd have mosquito bites on his neck later.

He supposed he shouldn't be surprised by how much the bugs liked him - his face and brow were coated with moisture, sweat dripping down his brow and into his eyes, down his face and flicking off his chin. His shirt was soaked, as were his pants, which were chafing his thighs with every step. He'd taken off his jacket and loosened his tie, but it only helped a little as he trekked uphill, his breathing harsh. Harsher still were Mob's breaths, though, as he stumbled to keep up with Reigen, tripping over roots and plants that had grown into the path. Not a well-maintained path, Reigen thought with a frown, before turning to inspect a tree trunk, keeping an eye on Mob in his periphery. It was an interesting tree trunk, he decided, with moss growing on the side facing the river, and with whorls and lumps that looked like a craggy yet smiling face. As Mob caught up, Reigen turned back to the path, keeping a slower pace so as not to lose his student. He had only taken a few steps before stumbling over a hardened root. Which wouldn't have posed much of a problem for anything but his image if his shoe weren't hanging half a meter above Mob's head instead of on his foot.

"Shishou, are you okay?" Mob asked as Reigen hopped on his other foot, clutching his toes.

"Yes Mob, I'm fine," Reigen hissed in pain, rubbing his big toe. The pain was receding, and he didn't think his toe was broken...

"I can give you back your shoe, if you want," Mob said, lowering the shoe within Reigens reach.

"No Mob, that's fine. This is for your practice, remember?" Reigen waved it away, gingerly putting his foot on the ground. His toe still ached, but he could walk on it. And he could use the pity of arriving with only one shoe on, and the intrigue of the other shoe floating behind him.

"Let's keep going."

Another fifteen minutes passed before Mob stopped walking. Reigen was surprised at the boy's stamina - in this heat and humidity, the walk was hard, even at their slowed pace, and Mob didn't have the best stamina for hiking most days. But they were only five minutes away from the campsite, and they were already an hour late. So when Mob called out to him, Reigen kept walking.

"Shishou-"

"Come on, Mob, we can't stop now! We're nearly there!"

"Shishou, there's-"

"And besides," Reigen added, slapping the side of his neck with a grimace, "The longer we stand still, the more mosquitos we'll have to deal with. Let's keep moving-"

"Shishou, look!"

Reigen turned to look at Mob, taken aback at the sharpness of his tone. But Mob wasn't looking at him. The boy was looking to the left, out past the trees and the river, to the hill on the other side. They had stopped in a clearing, and it was a gorgeous view from here. Sunlight glistened on the water below, water which was hedged by lush green forest giving way to beautiful patches of lighter green clearings peppering the hill across from them. The campsite on the other hill was visible from here, like a terrace cut into a part of the hillside, sandstone and dirt contrasting with the greens. He could hear laughter filtering over the river rushing by, could just hear the rustle of leaves as trees on the far hill moved with the wind-

Wait.

There was no wind.

Reigen took another look at where Mob was pointing, paying closer attention to detail. Trees were moving, yes, but only small clusters of them, and only near that campsite, or at the base of the hill. And there was something else, something off about the way the river sounded, or maybe it was the clustered rustling of leaves, or perhaps the wildlife-

The birds. They had stopped chirping.

A scream echoed across the river.

Reigen's blood ran cold, and he shivered despite the heat. They were on the wrong hill.

Shit, shit, shit.

Shouts and cries emanated from the campsite on the other hill, and Reigen could see the beginnings of chaos: some small figures running, some frozen in place and pointing at the sky, a tent crumpling as if stepped on by a giant foot.

Shit!

He couldn't swim or wade across the river - it was too wide, to deep, too fast for him to make it safely, let alone Mob. He scoured the river for a bridge, or a boat, or maybe a log - something to get them from one hill to the other. The main roads were too far away from the hills to consider; the pedestrian bridges were nearer, but even if they booked it, by the time they reached the other campsite they'd probably be too late. There had to be something closer, though, something that didn't involve Mob levitating them both across-

Aha! It was small, and he nearly missed it, but there was a boat on the bank of the river, bobbing in and out of view behind the trees. It was a little out of the way, and no doubt someone else was using it, but it was much closer by than the pedestrian bridges. It would have to do. Now he just needed to pick a route that optimized his time-

Another scream, louder this time, more shrill. Reigen looked up to see something - no, someone - floating above the campsite, about a hundred feet or so, dangling upside down by their foot and jerking as if to try and get away from something only they could see.

Fuck it, Reigen thought with a grimace, eyes wide, and took a step towards the river. He just needed to get down the hill - the forest posed a problem but as long as he was going downhill he'd make it to the river, and then he could follow it to the boat-

A blast of warm wind as unnatural as the trees rustling on the other hillside took him off guard, nearly sent him tumbling off the path. Reigen turned to see Mob, wind blowing his hair from his face, a look of deep concentration as he held the shoe aloft with one pointed finger, his other hand outstretched towards the campsite across the river. Leaves and grass and dirt whipped past his student, leaving the boy untouched but flying at Reigen's suit and face and hair; so he turned again and saw the detritus that didn't buffet him fly down the hill and across the river, picking up spray from the water and plant matter from the other hillside as it rose to the campsite. Reigen could only watch as people were bowled over, as screams were drowned out by the snapping of ropes and the flapping of tents as they came apart under the onslaught, wrenched from the ground to join the debris climbing with the wind. He couldn't look away as the wind and water and debris rose to take the form of something huge, something monstrous, something that ballooned and expanded as the wind rose and the screams grew more shrill and-

And suddenly, it was gone. Just a light breeze remained, connecting one hill to another. The debris and the floating person seemed to pause for a moment, suspended in the air.

And then they began to fall.

Reigen reached out. He nearly took a step. He froze. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't get there in time - who was he kidding, he was never going to get there in time! He had taken Mob to the wrong hill, and now they were going to watch someone die because of it. His throat tightened. His hand trembled. But he couldn't lower it, couldn't stop searching for a way to - maybe - but what if-

But they were falling.

And there was nothing he could do.

They were falling.

They were falling.

...

Why hadn't they hit the ground yet?

Shattered on impact?

For that matter, why hadn't the debris rained down on his clients yet, showering them with injuries, perhaps even more death?

They were falling.

But they were falling... more slowly?

Reigen's hand was outstretched, but it no longer trembled. He measured the distance between the falling person and his thumb, kept track of the debris between his fingertips. Their descent had slowed, Reigen confirmed, was slowing, and now they were - floating? Yes, floating to the ground. On it's own, Reigen's hand lowered with them, swaying by his side. He watched as the plant matter formed itself into a neat pile in the corner of the terrace; as the tents reformed themselves and tethered themselves to the ground; as the floating person gently landed on their feet, before collapsing to their knees. Reigen locked his own knees to keep from doing the same.

The warm breeze stopped. The silence was deafening.

Then the birds began to chirp again.

The campers on the far hill began to rise, to come back to the campsite, to huddle close and hug each other, to survey the scene where nothing but a pile of branches and leaves and dirt remained to show the ordeal they'd gone through.

Reigen wrenched his gaze away from them, turning to look at Mob.

Had Mob done this?

Mob's hand was down. He was sweating, but no more than he had been before. His other hand was still in the air, still pointing at the shoe hovering above his head. As far as Reigen could tell, the shoe hadn't moved an inch from where he'd last seen it.

Mob's gaze was directed at the sky above the hill, but it turned to Reigen as he continued to stare, flabbergasted at the psychic power within such a small body. A child. His student was a child.

A child who didn't need a fully grown adult gaping at him.

Reigen schooled his expression into one of disinterest, looking above Mob's head.

Mob turned his head to gaze up again at the sky.

"Do you still want me to carry your shoe?"

Reigen started, then looked up at the shoe, which Mob had moved to within Reigen's reach.

"... No, you can give it back."

Reigen grabbed his shoe from the air, then turned his back to his student as he put it back on. He had come here expecting a hike, not... whatever the hell that was. What was that thing? He wasn't able to see it, but he could see how huge it was when Mob had used his powers, could see its shape in the blast of wind and debris Mob had created in stopping it. He could still see that person falling from the air, could still hear their screams in his head. That had been too close. Far too close. And Mob, from this far away, had taken care of the problem without breaking (more of) a sweat. Reigen was glad Mob had taken the initiative, proud even - he himself had been useless, unable to do anything to help because he'd led them up the wrong hill, led them away from his clients-

Shit.

They were still on the wrong hill.

His clients had no clue that he had been there, that they had fulfilled their job as psychic protectors, if not psychic escorts.

Reigen couldn't, wouldn't, let that stand.

Reigen grabbed Mob's hand, wrenching his student's attention away from the sky.

"Come on Mob, we're on the wrong hill! We have to catch that boat!"

He dragged the boy off the path, into the forest. It was still the quickest way to the boat, which hadn't moved despite the wind and the screams on the other hill. If he was lucky, he could catch his clients before they left, tell them what they had done to melt the evil spirit before things could get too too hairy. If he could do that, maybe he wouldn't have to worry as much about this month's rent. Maybe he would get paid.

Reigen did not get paid.

[mimikyufriend-moved]

Title: Still Developing

Fandom: Mob Psycho 100

Pairing: serirei

Words: 2618

After a year and a half, I finally went and wrote a fic to go with this post.

I’m not very experienced with creative writing but I had fun with this! I hope you guys like it and any constructive criticism would be appreciated :]

To clear up any confusion, Keiko is a character that shows up in the Reigen manga and Amane is just someone I made up.

“You have to see my kids!” Reigen exclaimed as he fwipped out a chain of photos from his wallet.

All the photos were clearly taken with a disposable camera: Mob wincing from the flash… Ritsu scowling and covering his face… Teru with a serious case of red-eye… an extremely blurry Shou… somehow the quality kept getting worse.

“Oh they’re all yours?” the client said, more exclamation than question. About ten middle schoolers, understandably, seemed like a lot.

“Well I just mentor some of them, although I do consider them all part of the family.” Reigen folded photos back into his wallet as he asked, “So now, which course are you interested in?”

The client took a moment to think, “I guess I’ll take the all-out course.”

“Ah, good choice!” Reigen smiled as he took the 12,000 yen. The client had indeed chosen the most expensive course, all according to plan.

 “Are you still telling clients we’re your kids?” Tome strode into the room, placing her school bag down on one of the sofas in the office, “That lady I just passed by seemed a little overly friendly.”

“Well I-”

“You know someone’s going to see right through you one day. They’ll wonder why a 29-year-old single man has adopted so many middle schoolers and you won’t have anything to say. You won’t be able to get out of that one. You’ll be revealed as some weirdo who hangs out with a bunch of teenagers.” She walked up to Reigen’s desk, placing her hands on top of it and stooping down to eye level. “And that’s why you should pretend to be married to Serizawa, it would clear up a lot of questions.”

Reigen stared, eyebrows raised, as Tome stood and put her hands on her hips, looking satisfied with herself. Ever since she’d started officially working at spirits and such, she’d been trying to make little “improvements” wherever she could. Tome also just liked to mess with Reigen. Waving his hand dismissively Reigen said, “That’s not necessary. And I’m pretty sure that would raise a lot more questions.”

Tome narrowed her eyes at him, still looking smug, “Uh huh, sure. Well you should at least use a better picture of me! I’m only half in frame in that one. If you're going to use me for profit, I should at least get a say in how."

“I’ll think about it if you- “

Creeeak, the door opened and in walked Serizawa. “Hey everyone,” he said with a warm smile. Suddenly Reigen’s heart was caught in his throat.

Tome smirked at Reigen as he gave her a look that said don’t you dare.

“H-hey Serizawa, it’s been a slow day so there’s not much to do. I think Tome needs help with her homework, though.” Reigen was hoping to distract her, but on second thought maybe it was risky to put the two of them together.

“Sure! I need to study for a quiz today, so we can help each other.”

“Only if Reigen helps me with my salt aim later!” Tome yelled as she and Serizawa found a space to sit and work.

Crisis averted? Reigen turned back to his laptop and continued “working” (browsing twitter). He started tapping his foot subconsciously as he kept glancing toward Serizawa and Tome every few minutes. At some point, Serizawa’s eyes met his and he smiled awkwardly as he started tapping his foot faster. Oh, that’s definitely audible. Serizawa didn’t seem to notice, though, and smiled back before continuing some math explanation he was giving Tome.

Serizawa was always willing to help wherever he could, it was… admirable. He said that Tome and he helped each other equally and that explaining concepts to each other helped them both. You could tell that he really cared about her and that he wanted to see her succeed.

It went on like this for a few hours until Tome suddenly got up and said, “Oh it’s almost time for my date with Keiko.”

“You ready for your first date?” Serizawa asked.

“I think so…” Tome wrung her hangs together.

“You’ll do great! I’m sure you and Keiko will have a good time together.” 

Reigen gave a thumbs up as he said, “How could you go wrong with my signature romance tips?”

“You just read a trashy magazine article to me.”

 “It’s the thought that counts, right?”

  “Alright, I’m gonna head out. See you guys tomorrow.”

“Wait, before you go,” Reigen got up and crossed over to Tome, placing his hands on her shoulders, “About the photos… you know I actually do care about you and everyone else right? I told that woman that I consider you all part of the family and I meant it. I know I’m not the most open person, but I just want you to know that I care about you and want the best for you.”

Tome rolled her eyes and brushed him off.  “Yeah okay dad,” she said sarcastically as she reached for the door.

She paused a moment, then turned around to envelope both Reigen and Serizawa in a hug. “Yeah I care about you guys too.”

Serizawa patted her head, “Good luck on your date, make sure to let us know how it goes.”

“Okay, I will.” She smiled and left.

Serizawa turned to Reigen, “Well that was sweet.”

“She’s certainly full of surprises.”

“Seems you’re full of surprises too.” Serizawa said, catching Reigen from the corner of his eye.

“Don’t give me that look,” Reigen chuckled, “It’s just that… I’ve messed up before with Mob and I… I want to be a better friend and mentor and… all that. You know?”

“I can understand that.”

“Yeah so… anyway, you have to go to class soon don’t you? How much more time you got?”

“You think you can get rid of me that easily? Well… you can actually, it is time for me to go.”

“Well dang. Good luck with that quiz today, I know you’ve got it.”

“Thanks.” Serizawa reached out to touch Reigen’s shoulder. Reigen instinctively went in for a handshake. Serizawa redirected his hand and they shook hands. “Okay, well… see you in a few hours.”

“See you!” Why did I go in for a handshake? What even was that?

 Serizawa stepped out into the day, taking in the fresh air and sunshine. It had been spring for a few weeks now, but it still felt so good to be done with winter. The world was in bloom again, and he felt like he was finally blooming with it.

He had grown a lot thanks to support from his new friends. Just a little over a year ago, this level of independence wouldn’t have felt remotely possible to him. He finally felt like he could be proud of the person he was becoming.

Serizawa started to hum, tapping his fingers on his bag as he walked. The tune wasn’t really based on anything, but it felt nice to make a pleasant sound. He was honestly feeling pretty nervous about the math quiz he’d have to take in class. Humming helped distract him from the urge to pull out his hair.

Lost in thought, mentally going over what he remembered from his notes, Serizawa made it to the train station before he knew it. He took a seat on his train and pulled out a chain of photos, similar to the one Reigen showed to clients.

Even if I don’t don’t do well, I can always do better next time. There are still people who love and support me. The photos we a nice reminder of what was real and important to him when he was feeling overwhelmed. It would’ve been easier to just keep pictures on his phone, but he found that keeping a tangible item was more helpful for him.

Feeling reassured, Serizawa put the photos away and pulled out his notes to go over again.

 Meanwhile, back at the office, Reigen paced around the room. Occasionally he would absentmindedly push a book into place, straighten out a picture on the wall. The place was already clean, but he needed something to do with his hands.

Eventually he plopped back down at his desk with a sigh. He ran his hands through his hair and took a deep breath before reaching into the bottom left drawer and pulling out a manila envelope. Inside were several smaller envelopes containing various pictures: some trips he'd been on, documentation of his transition, more pictures of the esper kids and Tome. He opened the last envelope.

Reigen actually really enjoyed photography, he just didn’t have a nice camera. He also thought it was a good idea to show clients the pictures with more "character." He thought he’d gotten pretty good at framing the shot just right and with his editing skills he could come up with some nice results if he wanted to.

Inside the envelope, among the Kageyama brothers, awakening lab kids, and everyone else were a few pictures of Serizawa. They were mostly candid shots: him studying, laughing at some joke, dozing off after a long day. There were also some pictures of him posing with the kids. He really did look like a dad, maybe Tome was onto something...

Reigen gently touched Serizawa's smile in the photo. Oh I'm really in it, huh. Tome can tell... Serizawa probably knows too. Maybe he just doesn't know how to let me down easy.

 "Hey that wasn't so hard, was it?" Amane, a friend of Serizawa's, asked him. Class had just ended.

"Guess I was nervous for nothing." The quiz had been much easier than expected.

"It may have been easy, but that's still a win in my book!" Amane said with a big smile and a thumbs up. Serizawa smiled back, then gathered up his stuff and joined her in walking to the train station. They walked in silence for a while, just enjoying each other’s company. Eventually Amane broke the silence. "You seem a lot less anxious this semester, what's your secret?"

"Well, uh, therapy. Also - this is going to sound silly but... I keep a bunch of pictures on me to... y'know... remind me of what's really important. It reminds me that the things that worry me are only temporary."

"That's great! Is that why you’re always taking pictures with your phone?"

"Yeah, I've really gotten into photography lately. I don't know if I'm any good, but I like to take pictures of my friends and birds and flowers and all kinds of stuff.”

At this point they had made it to the station and checked in before finding a place to wait for their train.

"I think having fun with it is the most important thing. Do you mind if I look?"

“That’s fine.” Serizawa said, pulling out his stack of pictures and handing them to Amane.

She looked them over while Serizawa watched nervously. “These are wonderful Serizawa!”

“You think so?”

“Definitely, and I see that picture of me turned out great,” she said, using her free hand to frame her face as if she were posing for a photo. This elicited a chuckle out of Serizawa. “Who are some of these other people? Who’s this kid with the bowl cut.”

“Oh that’s Shigeo, we call him Mob, though. He’s a good kid, we use to work together. He was one of my first real friends if you can believe it.”

“He sounds sweet. What about this sweaty guy?”

“Haha, that’s Reigen. He’s my friend but I also kind of work with him? He’s done a lot for me... I wouldn't even be here without him,” Serizawa absentmindedly touched his face. “He's a good man. He doesn't believe it sometimes, and he definitely isn't perfect, but he is - he is a good man."

"You really care about him, huh?"

"Of course! He's my friend, I just wish he could see the him that I see."

"I feel the same about my wife. The people we love never seem to see themselves the way we see them."

"Oh," Serizawa whispered to the ground, a slight bit of color tinging his cheeks. "Oh..."

 Hearing sounds near the door, Reigen quickly put away his pictures. He went to go open the door, but Serizawa came in before he could reach it.

“Hey,” Serizawa said, a nervous energy affecting his tone.”

“Hey! How’d that quiz go?”

“Oh, it was easy. I’m glad I put in extra time to study but I didn’t really need to.”

Something else is on his mind?

Bzzt Reigen’s phone buzzed in his pocket. “Tome texted in the groups chat.”

“I forgot to charge my phone, mind if I look?” Serizawa said as he came up behind Reigen’s shoulder.

“S-sure” Reigen said, repositioning his phone so they could both read off of it.

Tome: date went great :D I just walked Keiko home and I’ll tell you guys all about it tomorrow

Tome:ty for the advice! even if Reigen’s was bad :p

Reigen started typing.

Reigen: hey at least you knew what not to do from me

Reigen: glad it went well! can’t wait to hear about it

Reigen handed his phone over to Serizawa

Reigen: hey it’s seri :) I’m so happy for you! I knew you could do it d(OuO)b

“She’s growing up so fast, isn’t she?” Serizawa said as he handed Reigen’s phone back.

“She sure is.” Reigen turned and their eyes met, their faces mere inches apart. With a slight gasp he said “I think I’m in love with you.” The words had escaped his lips before he could think.

“What?”

“Nothing! What? I didn’t say anything.” Reigen looked away and tried to cover his face as if that would help. Oh god what have I gotten myself into?

Suddenly he felt a hand cup his chin as Serizawa turned Reigen’s face to look at him. Serizawa’s hands were so warm and soft and gentle. It took everything Reigen had to not melt into a puddle right there on the floor.

"You really feel that way?” Part of Reigen thought he heard a bit of hopefulness in Serizawa’s tone, but maybe that was just wishful thinking.

Reigen could barely hear over the pounding of his heart as he stammered out “Maybe? Well… yeah. B-but it’s ok if you don’t feel the same! I-”

“Oh,” Serizawa said quietly, “W-well I do feel the same. I, uh, kind of just realized I did in the last hour. I don’t really know how this is supposed to go… would it be ok if I…” and suddenly his face was very close Reigen’s.

Reigen had been staring in shock, scarcely breathing through this. Without thinking, he leaned in so hard he almost broke both of their noses.

“Aw jeez sorry ah… sh-shit.” Reigen tried to regain his composure. “I don’t really know how this goes either, but could we try that again?” He tried to smile confidently but the pain in his nose was making his eye twitch.

Serizawa smiled playfully as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Okay, but if this keeps up you might have to start paying my medical bills.” And he leaned in close again, a bit slower this time.

When their lips touched it felt like the world had stopped around them. Reigen felt Serizawa’s thumb rub against his cheek as he ran his hands through Serizawas hair. It felt so good, so right, so ethereal, so- and suddenly it was over.

“Wait, are you okay? Sorry I didn’t even a-”

Reigen laughed as he threw his arms around Serizawa’s neck. “I’m just fine,” he said as he pulled Serizawa close again.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Morose Mononokean II 1 | Mob Psycho 100 II 1 | Meiji Tokyo Renka 1 | My Roommate is a Cat 1 | Promised Neverland 1

I think I’ve got too many cute fluffy creatures this season...

Mononokean II 1

For some reason, before I started watching this I kept reminding myself of Tomodachi Metre and fearing the new OP (because there’s almost always a new OP when dealing with a second season) would be faster-paced…the song is faster-paced, but not in the way I thought it would be (I thought it was going to be hard rock kind of pace, but it’s at least a tad slower than that).

Utakuni is such a fluffy kitty!

Ah, Moja Moja is best moja, indeed. Gossamers from As Miss Beelzebub Likes just don’t compare, y’know?

The Legislator is practically the king of “You mad, bro?”. (LOL)

Okay-dokay, lemme explain. There are 3 arms of government (known as the separation of powers, in order to have a series of checks and balances) – the Legislative, Executive and the Judiciary, meaning we’re missing that final one at the moment…

I never knew Morose Mononokean was so obsessed with comedy…or maybe I’m just noticing it now that I have experience with comedy I get bored at…

Abeno’s face of disgust really sold that moment with Moja, LOL.

Well, by virtue of being a sequel to something I watched previously, it’s more likely to get coverage, but you can never say for certain until the first episodes are over and done. On to the next thing – Mob Psycho!

Mob Psycho 100 II 1

Alright, all these “II 1”s are going to make me confused someday, aren’t they…?

I think the dude’s Suisho simply means “water crystal”. But I’m only guessing as to what kanji are being used here, so I could be wrong.

The pixel art bit was good. More like that, please!

“Your life is your own” – is that Mob Psycho’s slogan, in the same way Symphogear has that thing about “holding courage to fist” and whatnot?

Unlike Mononokean, which you only need to know the very basics (which are in turn explained in the episode itself), it seems Mob Psycho is playing hardball in that department – if you don’t remember that time Kamuro started kicking his lackeys around, you’re going to have to watch it again. (Either that, or you watch the Reigen recap.)

Hmm…”[something to help Mob] grow” sounds a bit odd, but that’s a correct translation. That’s what seichou suru means.

Oh great…you know how I said I was cleaning out the house lately? Someone found an old copy of this book called Inventing Elliot, which I despised studying about (because it got me some of the lowest grades in my school life, aside from outright failures and close scrapes with failure). The problem is, I’m getting Inventing Elliot vibes from this particular plotline…and since that’s Mean Girls in a boys’ private school + Mob Psycho is all about the abuse of power, that’s completely a storyline the show would go with. *gulp*

Hey, they have actual eyecatches now! Hooray!

A certain kanji for “Emi” (with a mi in hiragana, IIRC) is “smile” in English, so I find it interesting they paired Mob up with a girl like her. (Then again, if it were a hiragana/kanji mix, that’s not a name.)

Oh yeah, the hitode (starfish) shirt.

Rinshi! Ekoda-chan 1

Why am I covering an R18+ series? It’s a long story…

The jokes are, as of this segment with the old lady, only about 50% hits. That seems to be a pretty bad track record. The thing about Ekoda being identified as 3 years older than what she really is is also relatable, since I don’t think I’ve grown much past a certain age.

Note there’s a Japanese store called JUSCO. There was one in Hong Kong, which was full of cool stationery.

Wait…that’s it? So why’s it 26 minutes??? Documentary…okay, I’m getting the heck out of here.

Meiji Tokyo Renka 1

I heard Ume was here…? More bishies and more Ume for me!

What’s up with the Haikara-san ga Tooru outfit, anyway?

Who dis boy? He kinda looks like Mikoshiba from Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun…Update: That’s Ougai.

At least the jazz music is cool. Also, the episode title should be “Suddenly, under a Strawberry Moon…” or something, since it went totsuzen ni.

*Mei checks her phone* - This is why you don’t text and walk across the road, kids!

Ougai…y’mean, Mori Ougai? The loli dude from Bungou Stray Dogs is this redhead?! EHHHHHHHHHHHH?

Oh great. Amnesia plotline…

Hishida Shunso…a painter.

Okay…that’s a really obvious point where you’d be able to insert your own name if you were a gal (or if you wante to play as a gal).

The age of the Rokumeikan seems to pin the timeline down to “after 1883”. For some reason, it sounded familiar, but I wasn’t familiar with why - so maybe I’ll learn about it someday.

“Little Squirrel”?(!) (lowkey laughs for all the wrong reasons) And here I thought “Little Flower” (from Magic-kyun’s Louis and Dame x Pri’s Vino) was awkward-sounding but still endearing.

Okay, second redhead. When I saw him in the OP, I swore he was Ancient Magus’ Bride’s Chise…

So the germophobe redhead is Izumi Kyoka…but I’m not sure who this Kawakami is…

I don’t know how anyone could make a germophobe endearing, much less make him romanceable…

Otojiro Kawakami. Comedian and actor.

Lafcadio…wuh? Update: (Patrick) Lafcadio Hearn, Greek dude with a Japanese penname. He seems to have written stuff on Japan as well as other places.

“…that collection of ghost stories…”

Everyone seems to have forgotten about the roast beef but the animators…LOL…oh, spoke too soon. Kawakami just walked it back to the table.

Wowwwwwwwwwwww, Mei is so easily distracted by roast beef and pretty boys who, to be honest, aren’t that pretty…I’m just waiting for the long-haired dude and/or Ume and I’ll kick my butt out of here.

I thought Fujita was voiced by a familiar voice and turns out I was right – it’s Fukuyama Jun.

Well, that was mildly unsatisfying. I think I spent more time watching Mei getting blushy at dudes and not feeling an attraction myself. Fujita was the only one I wanted and he didn’t even do much but swing a sword. Seriously, though, what the heck was Charlie doing turning off the lights all of a sudden?

My Roommate is a Cat 1

Well, it’s either that title or Dokyounin wa Hiza, Tokidoki Atame no Ue. …which is a lot to write in one shot.

Why’s the cat on Subaru’s…junk?

The cat appears to be typing out the Dancing Men from Sherlock Holmes…except they’re cats. The Dancing Men are basically what made me think I had a career in computer security in the first place, come to think of it…but I’ve abandoned that kind of thinking now. Modulos are way too hard for me.

Them spoilers! I know that feel.

Koguma = small bear, in a story about a small cat. LOL.

Hiroto…I thought about this during the funeral scene, but…why does he look like Suzaku from Code Geass???

Hmm, yeah. I can see why Hiroto isn’t all that convinced – I’m a similar kind of person, with only a small pool of pursuits that keep me going for a long, long time. *looks at rabbit outside and remembers when I saw it in the darkness about 3 years ago*

Oh, so Subaru was so absorbed in his manuscript he forgot to eat, huh?

Kitty show too cute! Ehehehee… <- (ecstatic about having a new weekly dose of cuteness)

Promised Neverland 1

I’ve read the first volume of this. I’m not 100% in love with it, but if I can have bragging rights over finding the next big hit, why not?

Noitamina…now that’s a name I haven’t seen in a few years…*grumbles at Amazon*

For some reason Norman (white-haired boy) has this “betrayer” vibe written all over him. It’s because I know in BnHA and Ao no Exorcist, there are betrayals by certain people.

The aesthetic of this thing is like a fairytale and not like a typical anime. That’s probably one thing that convinced people to give it a shot.

LOL, there’s a Detective Conan door..well, it kind of looks like one.

The word for “tag” in Japanese is onigokko and “It” is an oni. That gives a whole new meaning to “playing tag with monsters”, doesn’t it?

Update: I can sort of feel my “this is popular, so I won’t like it” radar going off...so I’ll put it on hold until I get over that feeling.

[kee-writestrashh]

Guns for Hire

Ramsay Bolton x Reader

ao3

Summary:  You are the wife to the Heir of the Red Kings, Ramsay Bolton. living the undercover life of a mob wife has its perks, and you love your husband. But you find out something that seems to unfold a series of unwanted events…

Chapter 34: Married to the Noise

You said nothing as you took a seat on the couch in Ben's living room. Kaden hugged you tight and Liz sat next to you, running her hand over you back.

"Are you okay?" She asked quietly.

You opened you mouth but no words came out. You rested your head on her shoulder and sniffed the tears back.

"My dogs, Liz. Why? What did they achieve by killing my girls?" You finally got out, bottom lip trembling.

"I know, hon. We will find them. Ramsay won't rest until he finds whoever did this." Liz said softly, running her hand harder over your back, in a very motherly fashion.

"Aunt (y/n)? What happened to your cheek?" Kaden asked quietly, cramming himself between you and the arm of the couch.

You brought your hand to your cheek, trying to come up with a lie. But nothing seemed good enough.

"A bad man." You said finally, with a deep sigh.

"Did he go to jail?" Kaden asked.

Liz hissed at Kaden in her native tongue and Kaden dropped his head.

"Yes, mama." He said, staring at his lap.

You slumped your shoulders and hugged Kaden, "don't worry about me. Uncle Ramsay kept me safe, and the bad man will be... in jail soon."

Ben handed you a bottle of water as he, Alyn, Damon, and Matt all took seats and opened beers.

"Did... did Ramsay go alone?" You asked.

Ben nodded, "yup. Figured he'd get in and out quicker if it was just him.'

You frowned, "Who was supposed to be watching the house tonight?"

Damon shrugged, "none of the Boys. It was a  Kings man I believe. Ramsay gives us all a break every once in awhile, and fills in spots with his father's men."

"Can you find out who?" You asked, trying to make sense of it.

Damon shrugged again as a knock came on the door, "I'm sure I can."

Ben answered the door, it was Charlotte.

"Has anyone gotten ahold of my husband yet?"

"Not yet. But be prepared for the explosion when he gets my messages." Alyn sighed, downing his beer.

"What I don't get is why they went through the trouble of destroying the place and writing a message on the wall if they was just gunna blow it up?" Matt spoke as Liz led Kaden from the room to get him ready for bed. Ben followed her, trying to take over, as she wasn't really supposed to be exerting herself while going through cancer treatment.

"Because it was just a threat. A show of power." You said slowly, standing up to pace. "Damon, how long have you and Ramsay known each other?"

"Twenty-two years." Damon said, handing Charlotte a beer.

"So you would know about Ramsay and Roose?"

Damon shifted uncomfortably and nodded, "yes. I know a few things. Things I will take to the grave."

You grinned at his dedication, or fear; whatever, "I'm not asking you to tell me anything. But you can confirm they hate each other?"

"I don't know if I would call it hate. I mean regardless, they are father and son. They loath each other, for sure, but what you're getting at... that's basically treason." He said quickly.

Hm. He wasn't as stupid as you thought.

"Look around Damon! It's not treason if it's true!" You said, recounting the last month of trouble.

"Discuss it with Ramsay then, see what he thinks. Let me know how that goes."

You gave him a sour look and heaved an irritable sigh, throwing yourself back into the couch.

What would Ramsay say? Would he be on the same page with you? Would he dismiss what you said? Was it even Roose who destroyed your house? You'd have to find out more and have a solid foundation before you spoke to your husband.

Liz brought you a blanket as you curled up on the couch, waiting to hear from Ramsay. You were starting to get worried. Why had he not gotten in touch with anyone?

"Want something to eat or drink?" Liz asked, with a yawn.

You shook your head, "No. I'm okay. Go on to bed. You have a doctor's appointment in the morning."

Liz gave a sigh but didn't argue as she nodded and turned to leave. She broke into what sounded like a very painful coughing fit as she made her way down the hall.

Ben watched his wife disappear down the hall with much sadness, "she's been battling that cough for a week and it only seems to be getting worse."

You laid there, staring blankly at the TV as the Boys exchanged bullshit conversations and you silently panicked because you still hadn't heard from Ramsay.

That wasn't like him. Not at all.

You worried yourself into an uneasy sleep on the couch. You almost screamed when someone sat down beside you, heavily, the cold of the night pouring off them.

Ramsay.

He gave you a quick look over and then looked between Alyn and Damon.

"Well?" Ramsay said, setting his helmet on the floor and shedding his cold jacket.

"No idea, boss. I had been to your house three times today. Early this morning to let the dogs out and feed them, then again around one, and finally about four to pick up the Jeep. Nothing was out of place. I checked everything. But, there was no forced entry. Not at the front or back doors. It's got to be someone who knows you and your habits." Alyn said, running his hand over his chin, thinking.

"All of you are to be on high alert. One of you will be next. Give me two days and I will have us a safe house set up that no one but the people in this room will know about. For tonight... I'll just rent a room at the Hilton on the river or something. Matt, you'll stay next door. Once I get the wife settled, Damon, Alyn, you two are coming with me to see what we can see." Ramsay said, leaning back into the couch and running his hand along your leg under the cover.

×××

"Please don't be long. I've already silently cried over you like three times." You said as Ramsay handed you the hotel key card.

He leaned forward and kissed your forehead, "I'll be back as quick as I can. You won't have to bury me."

"Promise? You said, grabbing at his hand as he turned to leave.

He pulled his hand back, gave you a wink, and left.

You sunk down on the edge of the bed and tried to hold back the tears. This had to be the worst 24 hours ever. You'd been kidnapped, tied to a chair and threatened, passed out because you couldn't watch your husband be the psycho he truly was, get bossed around and told to be home by your cranky ass father in law, and then come home to find your house destroyed and dogs gutted. And Ramsay was acting way too damn calm.

You decided to take a long, hot shower. Maybe it would help ease the tension in your mind.

You wrapped the towel around you tightly and returned to the bed, where you sat on top of the blankets, heater blasting in the corner, and flipped through the TV channels. You heard your phone buzz across the room.

[Rams: tell the kid what you want to eat and I'll have him go get it real quick.]

[You: I'm really not hungry baby.]

[Rams: you will eat. I will know. Behave baby girl. I'll be there soon. I love you.]

[You: fine. I love you too.]

You picked up the hotel phone and called Matt's room. He answered rather awkwardly.

"Hey, it's only eleven fifteen and the pizza shop on the corner doesn't close 'til midnight. What kind of pizza do you want? They deliver so you don't have to worry about trying to get food and the impossible mission of keeping tabs on me, that I'm sure my husband set you up with."

"Whatever you want to order is fine. As long as it doesn't involve pineapples."

"Oh come on, pineapples can go on pizza, boy!"

Matt gave a laugh, "I'm sure. I just can't indulge on the pineapple band wagon. I'm allergic."

"Hm. But anyways, pizza. Big N O on pineapples. Gotcha." You said hanging up and dialing the pizza parlor from your cellphone.

"Do you have like an obsession with pizza?" Ramsay asked, dropping a bag at the foot of the bed with a sigh and grabbing a slice of pizza from the box.

"Well, I do really like pizza. But they delivered and were the only close place open so late on a weeknight." You shrugged, sipping your soda through your straw. As if he had room to talk about obsessive behaviors. Fucking freak.

"You have clothes in the bag. I'm going to take a shower. I'm freezing." Ramsay said, dropping his pizza crust in the box and walking into the bathroom.

You pulled a pair of flannel pants and a tank from the bag, and slid under the covers, missing your bed so very much. You had been so close.

You said a silent prayer and felt warm sleepiness engulf you, only half aware of what was going on.

You felt Ramsay climb into bed, and relaxed into him as he pulled you into him.

"I'm sorry about all this baby." You whispered in a sleepy voice.

He inhaled your damp hair, pulling you closer. "It's not your fault baby girl. With you being pregnant I should of known it would make us bigger targets than usual."

"Any ideas?" You asked, kissing lightly across his breast.

He gave an irritable growl, "too many. It will be sorted out though. Goodnight, baby girl. I love you."

"Goodnight, my darling. I love you too." You said with a yawn.

×××

You laid there, curled up in the covers watching your husband dress and curse to himself.

"When did you become so cranky in the mornings?" You asked, watching him aggressively button his shirt.

"I'm not cranky." He said, rolling his eyes.

You frowned, sitting up. "Take the day off. Take your shirt off. Take your pants off. Get back in this bed, and sleep. You're exhausted baby. Always going. You aren't eighteen anymore. Or even twenty-three. It's okay to be tired. Whatever you had planned for today... it will still all be there tomorrow. I'm tired of you being a grouch."

He turned to you completely, annoyance clearly written on his face. But no matter what he said, there was no hiding the fatigue. His usual, chaotic, happy air was dampened and murky. His eyes were dull. He was even paler than usual.

"Please? Just one day. It won't hurt. You need it. You'll feel better. Come on. Come lay down." You said, pulling the blankets back.

"Can't. Too much shit to do, and not enough people worth trusting. Or time." He said, turning his back to you.

You clenched your jaw and narrowed your eyes. Drastic times called for drastic measures, right?

You slid from the bed, crossed the room, grabbed Ramsay's phone from the table, and rummaged in your purse.

"What are you doing?" Ramsay asked, crossing his arms.

You pulled your gun from your purse and held it, steadily (much to your relief), pointed at him, and scrolling through his phone with your other hand.

"You will get back in bed, and you will take a fucking nap, and you will get the fuck over it. I will shoot you." You said, hitting call.

Ramsay narrowed his eyes at you as you held both gun and phone, the ringing on the other end almost deafening loud as the silence grew.

"You can't kill me like that. Hold it tighter. All the way into the palm. I'd predict that if you pulled the trigger you'd miss me by about a foot and the force of the kick would make you drop the gun." He whispered wickedly, stepping over to his left by about a foot.

"Sup boss?"

"Damon, the boss is incapacitated today. Whatever needs to be done can be done tomorrow." You glanced up at Ramsay, "go on baby, tell him."

An evil smirk began to twitch the corner of his mouth, "Right. I guess we are taking a day off. Set up tighter security and I will see you later."

"uh, right. Anything else?"

"No. Nothing at all." Ramsay said, stepping into you, taking both phone and gun, hitting end on the phone screen. "You are a very foolish woman." He whispered.

"Is it foolish or is it dangerous? I've learned from the master of both. You are the most foolish man I have ever seen. But you play the bluff so well and have built such a murderous reputation that nobody questions who you are, Ramsay Bolton." You whispered back, jabbing your finger in his chest.

"Who am I then, baby girl?" He asked, pushing his chest further into your finger.

You looked up at him, opened your mouth, but closed it again. It was as if all words had left you. The smirk on his face grew and it annoyed you.

"That's what I thought. Now, if I'm supposed to take a fucking nap, close the curtain and turn off the heater. It's way too fucking hot." He said, stepping away from you to return weapon and phone to the table and take his shirt off.

"Its never dark enough." He sighed, burying his head under the pillow, and laying on his stomach.

You threw your leg around his, and gently ran your nails along his back, until you were sure he was asleep.

You laid there in the dim silence for awhile before rolling over and getting comfortable.

What was it about him that made you feel so bold and yet so... weak? The words you had wanted to say had been at the tip of your tongue, but one look from him sent the words back down. Why? He wasn't really that scary, was he?

At least, not to you. More like he was an insecure guy, who wanted nothing more than for his father to approve of him. To love him.

The thought always made you sad whenever it crossed you. Ramsay would never get that from Roose, no matter how badly he wanted it.

Roose Bolton didn't love anyone or anything. You weren't even sure he had loved Dom. If only there had been no Dom, only Ramsay, how different would it have been?

You hoped Ramsay's hatred for his father would make him a good father. Maybe he loved a little differently, but at least he had emotions. Maybe having a child would change him for the better. Make him more stable. Less likely to engage in psychotic shit. You heaved a deep sigh and held back a laugh. Who were you kidding? Having this child only made Ramsay even more wound and psycho. Oh sure, he cared. Deeply. But, it was obsessive. Just like his love for you. While you were sure it was there, the true love, it was masked by the obsession.

An uneasy sleep washed over you and again your dreamed of graveyards, fire, and screaming.

You awoke with a jerk, sitting up quickly. You looked around to find yourself alone. You scowled.

You looked around for your phone. Gone

You dressed quickly and crossed the hall to bang on Matt's door. No answer.

You took a deep breath, smashing the down button on the elevator pad. It seemed to take forever as you waited on the doors to open. You furiously hit the bottom floor button.

You stormed past the front desk, passing the lobby. You back tracked to find Ramsay and Matt sitting at a table in the corner, playing chess.

You stomped over to the table and opened your mouth but Ramsay held up a finger, never looking at you as he examined the board in front of him. Finally he made his move and looked up at you.

"Yes, baby doll?" He said, rather politely.

"What are you doing?" You asked, watching Matt.

"Playing a game." Ramsay said, reaching over for a chair and pulling it up next to him.

You sat, glaring at your husband. "You were supposed to be taking a nap."

"I did." He shrugged, gazing at Matt and clearing his throat.

"Quit rushing me man. I've almost got you cornered." Matt muttered, after changing his mind for the third time.

You heaved an irritable sigh, taking Matt's tower and sliding it across the board. "Check."

Both men glanced up at you. You pulled a face and shrugged.

"Bold move." Ramsay chuckled, reaching for a piece.

"One that will kill you if you make that move." You said, glancing around the empty room.

"Olyvar needs to meet with you at the bar. Or are we still avoiding the real world today?" Ramsay said, handing you your phone.

You narrowed your eyes at him.

"And what are you wanting to do?" You asked, taking your phone.

"Well, I have to find out who fucked my house. The trail grows colder every second. So now I have to get the police involved, so they can pick up the trail for me."

"Are we staying here again?"

"No. Can't afford to stay in the same place for too long."

"Then where will we go?"

"Working on it. I will drop you off at the bar and then get with you when I have an all clear."

"I'm not riding on that. It's the middle of winter, and I'm pregnant." You said, as Ramsay handed you his helmet.

He fixed you with a look, "You can walk."

You bit your tongue, snatching the helmet and putting it on. He gave you his gloves and climbed on the bike.

You sighed, climbing on behind him and wrapping your arms tightly around his middle.

Even with gloves your hands were painfully numb and your legs felt frozen when Ramsay helped you remove the helmet.

"How are you so calm?" You asked, looking him over.

"Why does it bother you? I promise you don't want to see me lose my shit." He shrugged, leaning in to kiss you as Olyvar pulled into the parking lot.

You kissed his cold lips and handed him his gloves.

"Take her to lunch. It's on me." Ramsay said to Olyvar when he joined you.

Olyvar nodded, glancing at your bruised cheek.

You watched Ramsay leave before turning to Olyvar.

"What the hell has been going on?" He asked, pulling your chin up to look at him full in the face.

"It wasn't Ramsay. If that's what you're thinking. You know he'd never lay a hand on me. But, don't worry about it. The man responsible will be deader than dead soon. Now, what's up?" You said, glancing at the construction. It seemed to be going along smoothly. Foundation laid, beams being put up.

It rekindled a fire in your chest.

Fire.

"Oly, before you answer my other question, tell me... do we know any pyromaniacs?"

"No? I don't think so. Other than your husband, maybe." Olyvar said, following your gaze to the construction going on. "Anyways, we just had to meet here to sign papers with the contractor."

You nodded, following Olyvar to the contract manger's trailer office. You blindly signed papers, still going over faces, names, and offenses in your mind.

"(Y/n), are you okay?" Olyvar asked after the waiter left with your lunch order.

"Fire." You said, thinking you would ask Ramsay to pull profiles later.

"What of it?" Olyvar asked, leaning forward slightly.

"Well. It seems to be... a theme? The bar burns. I keep having nightmares about fire and graveyards. I leave home for like three days and come back to my dogs killed and everything drenched in gasoline." You said, picking at your napkin. It was nice to be able to tell someone. You trusted Olyvar the most. Maybe you should make him your advisor. He always gave sound advice.

"You should go talk to a psychic." Olyvar suggested.

You scoffed, but saw that he was serious. You rolled your eyes.

"May as well sell my soul to the devil."

"Hmmm. Kind of assumed you did when you said 'I do.' Ramsay is no saint." Olyvar shrugged, sipping his drink.

Why was everyone so intent on reminding you that your husband was a "bad" guy?

"Have you worked over Loras and Renly yet?" You asked, picking at your food as the waiter refilled your glass.

"Mm! Interesting story. Renly has gone into hiding. Deep underground. Kind of left Loras high and dry. Poor dear. Anyways, Stannis plans on making a move against the Lannister's before the Baratheon Tyrell wedding." Olyvar said.

"I wonder if Rams knows?" You asked, more to yourself than Olyvar. "Anything else?"

Olyvar shook his head.

You both finished your meal in silence.

"So sorry about your dogs by the way." Olyvar said kindly, as he set his fork down.

You sighed and looked up from your plate, heart stopping.

A young woman was walking across the floor from the bathroom. Her hair had been dyed dark but there was no mistaking her.

You snatched your phone up and snapped several pictures before calling your husband.

"Yes, baby girl?" Ramsay panted on the other end, screaming and begging in the background.

"Rams. I have eyes on Sansa Stark. With... that jumped up Baelish pedophile." You said quietly, watching Sansa resume her seat at a table at the back of the restaurant. Baelish wrapping his arm around her shoulder and talking animatedly to a group around him.

"Meet me at the garage. You need the jeep anyways."

You set your phone back on the table, "give me a ride to the shop." You said, pulling cash from your wallet.

Olyvar nodded, showing you out.

"Where's Ramsay?"

"It would probably be best if you just waited for him in his office." Damon said, throwing a pile of clothes in an empty, metal 50 gallon barrel, and striking a match.

"Where is he?" You asked, crossing your arms.

Damon didn't need to answer as the sounds of breaking glass and wood on metal filled the air.

You opened the door to the garage, crossing the bay to the back door. You stood there in the doorway, watching Ramsay destroy the Nova with a baseball bat.

Like your living room wall it was painted with the word BASTARD. The body full of bullet holes and the seats torn to shreds.

Watching Ramsay be so destructive made your blood run cold. He didn't stop until he had efficiently damaged every part beyond salvage. You didn't assume him to ever notice you standing there watching him in his fit of rage.

Finally he dropped the bat, sighed deeply, removed his headphones, lit a cigarette, and finally turned to face you.

You had expected him to look like a maniac. But he just looked tired, as he blinked slowly, pulling his phone from his pocket and pausing his music.

"You okay?" You asked, stepping into him and hugging him tight.

"Always." He chuckled, taking a drag and wrapping his arms around you.

"Liar." You whispered.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" He laughed.

"Why? You could of redid her. You built it from nothing." You said, peering around him at the destroyed car.

"I ran out of bodies." He replied simply.

Despite yourself you laughed, stepping back. He raised a brow, letting a grin form as he snorted in amusement.

"You're fucking wild." You said, kissing his cheek.

"Something is different about you." He said, grabbing your face, and kissing you roughly.

"Maybe I'm just tired of pretending like I give a shit about people and their lives." You said, kissing him back.

"No. That's not it. Because that's a lie. You care too much. That makes you foolish, and so very dangerous." He said, dropping his hands to your waist.

You looked up at him, his manic glint back in his eyes.

"Let's kill tonight." He said, grabbing your hand and leading you inside.

"Who and why?" You asked, very taken aback.

"You tell me. It's more fun when it's a surprise. I have a fun game for that." He said, snapping his fingers at Damon as he walked past.

The Boys all followed, to the conference room.

You stood beside your husband as he leaned against the polished table.

"Alright Boys. Get me all the messages in and out of all my father's shit. Everything. Also, get the word out to Robb Stark that I have his sister. And someone find me a fucking Greyjoy!" Ramsay said, glancing at Damon, Alyn, and Matt.

Matt stared at his feet. You noted how much Ramsay was including him on big things. You wondered why?

The three men turned to leave but Ramsay stopped them.

"Meet me at the shit hole, seven. It's been awhile."