#its like a huge comfort or something

[goemon-fan]

This was easily one of the best Lupin episodes

[vagun1ka]

sometimes healing is to crawl back into "would fatness save them" theme of thinking after shitty comments about "this character shouldn't be fat they're sporty!!!"

[suckinitup]

in my brain ashe is trans but in a way that doesnt change his external presentation at all. maybe pronouns when shes feeling fun. literally the “i may be nonbinary but i have an evil book so i dont really care about that rn” but he never ends up really caring about it. puts on lipstick once and feels weird about it but LOVES painting his nails. hates the thought of wearing a dress but is really happy when he gets called ma’am by baristas who think she’s an exhausted college student studying for finals (he was studying his evil book). shaves religiously and never wants to go on estrogen. mark is so awkward about talking about anything but he always calls ashe his Kid instead of son or daughter and if ashe thinks about tbat too much he feels like crying. defaults to androgynous outfits but sometimes he’ll do really subtle shit like curling his hair to make his face a bit more femme or wearing a tshirt with a neckline that comes across a bit more masc. points at ashe winters and queers the fuck outve his gender

[zedif-y]

there are times when you write something and it's not your best , but somewhere out there whether you know it or not you just made someone really happy. so it's worth it i think

[a-dash-in-the-middle]

what if i-

best friend clears her whole schedule before she even reads where

-Love is your second nature, love is your language. Love! or whatever that one uquiz said about me

[thesandisfalling]

my official take on the moon/qibli/winter love triangle is that winterwatcher is a much grander, epic romance, and moonbli is a much more level, sweet-and-simple romance, but ultimately i think it was a better decision to have the latter be the canon romance in a series primarily marketed towards children and teens than fall into the "bad boy" romance trope, and instead romanticize the earnest, genuine, sweet relationship

obviously there's way more nuance to this involving internalized/unconscious bias, and winter doesn't even REALLY fit into the "bad boy" archetype, but purely based on genre conventions, the gruff, rude, brooding, tortured hero VERY often falls into that category, and at the ages of 7-14 most of us were very LIKELY to be romanticizing that archetype, which again is very often treated as interchangeable with the "abusive bad boy" trope, and while i might have a few gripes with the writing of moonbli and i ENJOY winterwatcher a whole lot, i DO appreciate the more gentle, "safe" romance being treated as the ideal, rather than the tense and angst-filled nature of the alternative

[camels-pen]

mmm read a hurt/comfort Zoro fic recently and like. I get it now. That guy DOES hurt so pretty. kinda wanna try my hand at it.

-

A voice disappeared.

Zoro stopped in his tracks, feet rooted to the spot.

Who was it? Where? How-?

Just barely, he managed to block a blade aiming for his neck.

Luffy was ahead of him, laughing his head off. The cook was a bright flaming beacon in the sky.

The rest? C'mon take a count, Zoro. Make sure.

Usopp. Nami. Chopper. Jinbei. Robin. Cook. Luffy.

What? Two? No, where were-

His breath hitched as he blocked another attack.

Calm down. Take a breath. Count again.

Usopp. Nami. Robin. Cook. Luffy.

Fuck. They couldn't-

No, they had to have left the battlefield. These guys were smallfry, even for the so called "weakling trio".

Zoro took a moment to focus on the enemy around him. He let off a tatsumaki before focusing again.

One at a time, Zoro. Come on.

Usopp.

Robin.

Sanji.

Zoro jerked, eyes wide and searching frantically.

"No, no no no no no. He can't have-" Luffy would never leave before the battle was done, not without making some kind of grand exit. He wouldn't leave without telling Zoro- telling anyone- about it.

He wouldn't up and disappear into thin air like that. Not unless-

Zoro shook his head roughly. They were fine, he just couldn't see them. It would be too much of a coincidence for them all to disappear like that. He just needed to count again, then regroup with Usopp, Robin, and the cook, and figure out what was going on.

Stay calm, Zoro. Losing your head won't find your friends.

So, again, Zoro breathed. And Zoro counted.

Usopp.

The only voice left, was Usopp.

Zoro wasted no time.

He sprinted as fast as he could, cutting down anyone in front of him almost as an after thought, as he bulldozed towards Usopp's voice.

He'd nearly made it too, when some dead man kicked his side hard enough to stop him in his tracks.

Zoro turned to him, a snarl on his face. "Get out of my way before I kill you."

"Huh?" The man sneered. "I should be saying the same thing, watch where you swing those swords, asshole."

Zoro was about to retort when he noticed Usopp's voice moving away from him. He didn't have time for this.

Without warning, Zoro moved to slice through his opponent and, to his surprise, the man blocked it with ease.

"You wanna go? Here and now?" the man growled. "I'll kick your fucking ass."

This man- Zoro has never met him before, but nonetheless felt he would need to pay him his full attention to have a chance at winning.

But Usopp was getting farther and farther-

Oh, Zoro could hit himself.

"USOPP!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, startling the man. "STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE, I'LL BE THERE SOON!"

Usopp didn't respond, but he stopped moving, and that was good enough for now.

"Hey!" The man yelled, pressing down on Zoro's swords. "Whatever you need him for can wait until after our battle's over. He's got his own problems to deal with."

Zoro didn't bother wasting his breath. He cut and slashed, throwing attack after attack without abandon. It didn't matter if he was wasting his energy, he needed to get to Usopp before- before-

The man, infuriatingly, blocked almost every blow, and got a few hits in on Zoro himself.

Zoro would get to Usopp, even if it killed-!

Suddenly, there was a crackle in the air and all at once, Zoro's nerves lit up with pure unfiltered pain.

He dropped to his knees, blurry vision wavering on black shoes. He couldn't feel his arms. Or his face. And his head was getting lighter and lighter.

Zoro's fading thoughts were prayers, to a god he didn't believe in, to keep his friend safe.

-

"GYAHHH, ZORO'S GONNA KILL ME!"

"Nami-swan, a little help please?" Sanji said, voice uncharacteristically strained.

"If you're asking, how can I say no?" Nami said, smirking. "Get out of the way... now!" The moment Sanji pushed off Zoro's swords to hop away, she brought down her Thunderbolt Tempo on top of Zoro. He fell to his knees before crumbling to the ground, twitching.

"You could've knocked him out on your own though, why ask for my help?" Nami asked.

"Ah well, it seemed he had a couple screws loose and I didn't want to kill what little braincells were remaining." Nami nodded in understanding.

The two of them turned to Usopp as he inched his way closer. He carefully prodded Zoro's thigh with his boot. "He's really unconscious, right? Not gonna get up anytime soon?"

Nami shrugged. "It's always hard to tell with him. But don't worry," -she stood tall, holding out her Climatact- "I'll shock him as many times as necessary."

"That means I get to live another day, so you have the Usopp deal of approval." Usopp gave her a thumbs up.

"What'd you even do to get him so pissed at you, Usopp?" Nami asked.

"Nothing!" He paused and looked away. "Well, nothing recently."

"He wasn't just mad," Sanji said. "He looked..." Scared, Sanji wanted to say. But the word was so... simple. Too simple. And it didn't explain the desperation in his eye. The wet sheen. The way he hardly blinked.

The way he kept himself facing the direction Usopp was in, revealing his constant use of Haki.

This wasn't just Zoro scared. This was Zoro terrified.

And Sanji had never seen him terrified before.

"...off," Sanji settled on, furrowing his brow. "He looked off."

Nami and Usopp hummed in thought.

The three of them stared down at Zoro's prone body. An ominous dark puddle started growing under him.

The three of them sighed.

"I'll call Chopper-" Usopp felt a tug on his ankle. He looked down. Zoro's hand was holding his boot. "I thought you said he was unconscious!" he yelled, trying to break his grip unsuccessfully.

Sanji poked Zoro with his shoe. Zoro didn't move. "He's still unconscious, so you're gonna have to be his teddy bear."

"What?! No!" He gripped onto Sanji's shirt. "Sanji-kun pleaaaaase free me before my ankle's crushed in his sleep!"

Sanji rolled an eye. "You'll be fine."

"Then can you go get Chopper? Zoro's losing a lot of blood."

"The mosshead'll be fine too. Also," -Sanji pointed to Luffy and Chopper doing some kind of strange combo attack, with Chopper in Heavy Point using Luffy as a whip- "I don't wanna break up their fun."

"Sanji-kun," Nami piped up. "Go get Chopper, please."

"Of course, Nami-swan!" Sanji immediately ran off.

-

The two of them quietly watched him go.

"Did you see what caused this?" Usopp asked.

Nami shook her head. "I know about as much as you do: Zoro suddenly taking out a big group at once and then charging towards you." She bit her lip. "I don't think he recognized Sanji."

Usopp sighed, squatting down to pull the bandana from green hair. He stared at the slackened face of his friend, hands tightening in dark fabric.

"What happened to you, Zoro?"

[bunnyb34r]

I wanna go outside :( I wanna go sit in the garden and look at the plants :(( but it's the hottest it's been all week today :((( auuuuugh

[cyanidas]

somewhere in there, he’s still grieving

[troublcmakcrs]

//saw an absolutely ice cold take that tweek shouldn't have a coffeeshop of his own when he gets older bc his parents & their coffee is what caused most of his problems, and i'm like... it's about retribution, it's about allowing him to run their business better than they did, to become more successful than they did without using underhanded methods and hurting people, it's about the despite, it's about letting him thrive despite, despite, despite

[mysteriouslybluepirate]

Double Edged Dagger of Beauty

Dear fics that explore how Edward grew up always being hot shit (either physically being an attractive person, mentally with how good of a pirate he was, or having achieved so much at a certain age), and how insecure he is as he ages and loses what makes him 'special', I love you.

I think this is due to being raised as a woman, but so much of my life has been waiting to be enough. Hot enough for a partner, smart enough to be respected or strong enough to be worthy of someone's time. To not being seen as weak... But it's years later that I'm just starting to realize that I will never be enough if I keep waiting on someone to tell me I'm enough, you know?

Usually, these themes are explored in a mid-life crisis way, but I recently read a fic where Ed contemplates if he only earned respect/love from his crew/Izzy thanks to being an attractive person. That his worth is only tied to what he is as a shell. On the outside. Tying it back to canon by pointing out how as soon as Edward stopped being Blackbeard, he was alone, and Stede had to be the friendly face in his life, not his first mate or old crew.

Then he contemplates what his life would be like if he was nothing special, would he even still be alive? Would he have lasted 20+ years? This is all during a mental spiral, where he feels unconnected to his body. I don't know, but it hit really close to home.

I'd love to hear y'alls thoughts on this, start a whole conversation...Especially those who spend more time in Ed spaces than I do.

[kaeyachi]

the more someone tries to shove a ship to my face (even one that i really like) the more my insides want to create a rarepair instead

anyway have i told yall the idea of WandererxTighnari I've got going on in my brain or would y'all like to take a moment for my HaiKaeNo agenda

[computerpeople]

playing josh as someone whos attempting to be overtly nice is really interesting. i don't think he was like that before all of the events of my rp josh, but i do think josh has this constant back and forth issue of overly chillax/people pleasing behavior because he doesnt have the energy or tollerance to fight with people ,and being the most bitchy catty snarky piece of shit ever.

[riptidethepen]

In my memory, his funny moments early on were him being the straight-man in the comedy. He made deprecating remarks both about himself and others. The funniness was from the set up and cartoonish physical comedy.

Sokka in the later half of the show still has some of those characteristics. He's still suspicious of things to a funny degree but it's no longer deprecating in the same way. He still has some straight-man moments but more often he tries to be intentionally funny.

The interesting thing about Sokka and Katara's sibling dynamic was how they traded off who was serious and who was goofy. The levelheadedness was passed back and forth. Early on, Katara got to be the fun and approachable one, and Sokka filled in the role of suspicious and trying to be The Man. Then later on Katara has some more serious moments and Sokka kinda feels the pressure and does his best to alleviate with jokes or reassurance.

I saw someone post about how they hope the writers got rid of Sokkas “stupid humor” for the live action show and like damn I don’t think someone had fundamentally misunderstood a character more.

Sokkas humor is a huge part of his character and shows a major aspect of his growth. At the beginning of the show Sokka is NOT the funny guy. In fact, he’s the most serious dude in his village. In the pilot, Aang and Katara are off playing with penguins while Sokka is literally putting on war paint and preparing to defend the rest of the village from a Fire Nation war ship. He has been the only man in his village for like four years. And he’s only fourteen. Sokka doesn’t make jokes at first, and when he does they’re usually sexist because his whole thing is about how much of a man he is. Sokka developing humor signifies his growth is a thousand ways. How he learns to respect others. How he starts to make friends. And more importantly, how he turns from a man back into a boy.

[smol-bean-of-the-smols]

sometimes i think about how whatever my brain does makes me unable/unwilling to return to old media that used to affect me because of the likelihood of it affecting me again

[termagax]

usually what i do is i have him have his long hair before the omnium goes and then shaves it all off when things get really really bad and then it grows back out to where it is now. i think i have a specific read on him where it would be something more important to him than canonically indicated so i think about it a loooooot.