#jeez these scenes contain so many characters

[inkblackorchid]

WIP Snippet 4 (Ch. 3)

Martha’s eyes wandered to the twins first, then. “Since I know you two tend to stick together, I have a room on the first floor for you two. It’s unlikely to be as big as what you’re used to, but I think it should do nicely. But the bathroom is in the hall, there’s only one per floor.”

Though their expressions couldn’t exactly be called excited, the twins nodded to this, clearly not about to complain about the for their standards unusual bathroom setup.

“As for the lot of you,” Martha then said, pointing at the older members of the group, “I was expecting to be able to put you boys all together in one room, and give Aki her own. Now, with two girls around, we’re going to have to change the setup a bit.”

“One room? For all four of us?” Jack asked incredulously, “Martha, you can’t be serious.”

His foster-mother raised an eyebrow at him, and if that wasn’t already enough to make Jack look a little smaller, her next words certainly were. “Oh? Are the rooms here suddenly not good enough for you anymore?”

While Crow unsuccessfully tried to hide an undignified snort, Jack grew ever so slightly flustered—something only Martha could achieve in this short a time—before aggressively pointing to Bruno, saying, “That’s not—Bruno snores. I’ll wake up from the noise! And waking him up is no use, because he’ll go right back to snoring the second he falls asleep again! Meaning either he catches no sleep because I don’t want him snoring, or I catch no sleep because he won’t stop it!”

Putting her hands on her hips, Martha countered, “Last I recall, Crow used to snore, too, back when you were children. Yet, you somehow still managed to catch some sleep.”

“Yes, because the keywords are used to,” Jack immediately defended himself, “I trained him out of it by kicking him out of bed every time he got too loud.”

“Yeah, thanks for that, by the way,” Crow muttered, throwing his older foster-brother a glare.

“Oh, you’re welcome,” Jack grumbled back.

Martha, meanwhile, shook her head at both of them, in a way that made Aki realise Yusei had to have gotten this from her. “Really now… You’ve gotten a bit picky, haven’t you?”

Stepping forward a bit from where he stood in the middle of the group, Yusei spoke up for the first time, saying, “Not to play devil’s advocate here, but I think stuffing all four of us in the same room might really be a bad idea. If Jack wakes up because of Bruno’s snoring and starts trying to wake him up in turn to get him to stop for a little bit, Crow’s also gonna wake up because of the commotion and will most likely start arguing with Jack about the noise. And I’m such a light sleeper at this point that I’ll probably also get woken up by Bruno’s snoring and have to listen to the entire back and forth…” His tone was slightly apologetic.

“Yeah, not to speak of the fact that Jack’s insufferable when he hasn’t gotten his ‘beauty sleep’,” Crow added, making air quotes at “beauty sleep” with an amount of sarcasm that was nothing short of gleeful.

Martha gave her three boys a critical look, but ultimately sighed before turning to Crow, “And do you lose sleep because of your friend’s snoring, too?”

“As if Crow would wake up for anything quieter than air raid sirens,” Jack muttered.

[i-have-41-protons]

Just finished hollowpox. Gonna have to change my whole perception of Ezra Squall, including his POV in the fic. The guy’s an anxious wreck with a porcelain mask of certainty and a god complex, I almost want to hug him

Proof: (spoilers below!!!)

He is totally wearing a mask of an appearance, almost all the time. His movements are precise and practiced, as mentioned in the first book during his first appearance. But underneath it, he has feelings — fear, pride, resignation, spite, etc. I’ve listed only the “negative” ones here because I am not going to do the whole “unraveling of Squall’s character” thing here, especially with so little evidence provided only by Morrigan’s POV.

He absolutely accepted that he might come out the loser in this scene; he is fully willing to let Mog get away, it seems. Of course, she doesn’t, and I love her for that (if it was me I would NEVER refuse an apprenticeship offer from a guy like Ezra Squall. But then again, I’m older than her and don’t have so much trauma), but it still. She could, and Ezra wouldn’t do anything to stop her.

Secondly, he is amazing at keeping his mask up. He barely ever drops the ruse, his face is unreadable most of the times (as described by Morrigan herself), and he thinks before he acts. Here, he gave himself time to think, without giving anything away, and only then voiced his, carefully worded, concern.

The only scene we see him without his mask is this:

I honestly love what follows in this scene. It brings so much of his character out into the light. One of my favorite scenes, really.

This here,

I myself do that. In arguments, I do my best to hold myself together, and when I do start shouting I usually clamp my mouth shut, breath fiercely through the nose and glare, and only then speak in a very barely controlled, growling voice. This was written so well, so realistically. It made me relate to Ezra Squall — do you know how weird it feels to relate to a clearly murderous antagonist with barely any redeeming qualities shown? He is so frustrated here, he is barely containing his frustration from spilling over and ruining everything, he isn’t wearing his mask.

I honestly love Jessica Townsend; she managed to make me laugh out loud so many times while reading her books, her writing is moving, relatable and amazing. She is so good at writing deep, many-faceted characters, I just can’t not love her. She’s amazing. What a woman, honestly.

And here…….. he is so fucking amazingly written. Hateful, spiteful, horrible squexy villain. “My soul if I have one” — jeez dude, I love you so much. Not being sure if you have preserved your humanity, if you have a soul (I’m speaking in terms of morality here — I myself don’t fully believe in existence of souls, but that’s an argument for another time), admitting to your own villainy in such exquisite, delightfully tasty to read way — chefs kiss.

He is such a cool character. What was I on about? I love him so much, this guy. He desperately needs a therapist and some found family tropes: a verdict.

[autumnklare]

thoughts about verity

Hey. Welcome to another session of talking to myself via this application. Do people still use this app? Well, I hope they do because this is the only app that I use where I am free to talk about stuff my friends don't usually care about.

For a second there, I thought I have lost this one because It has been awhile since I opened this app, and the main reason why I remembered that I have one was after I went back to reading.

First of all, I would like to thank the booktok community for always rummaging my tiktok feed and encouraging me to buy books I know I will never read--unless there's a storm and electricity's out and I have nothing else to do but read. But, that is of course a joke because as you all know (you don't), I am a literature major and it is part of my daily life to read (but not my preferred novels anyway!)

NOW, Verity is a book by my favorite author, Ms. Colleen Hoover whom I personally love and adore ever since I started reading her works, she literally was the one who save me from my years of reading slump jeez. The first book that I read from her was All Your Perfects which became my ultimate favorite, no one touch me I'm still crying whenever someone mentions me that book.

However, Verity pulled me from the dead and called me to read her so I did. If you haven't read the book and you're still here reading my random rants please get out because the next parts may contain spoilers!

SPOILERS AHEAD

The book began with Laura (i am not sure anymore?? I am so bad at remembering names) her mother just died from cancer, and she's off to continue her life after nursing her for how many months. Everything feels surreal after her first steps back from the outside world, but, she was offered a job, a proposal, in which she decided to attend to. Upon her way, she met this dashing man who swept her by her feet. (Well, he's handsome and he gave you his shirt) only to find out that the man will be his boss.

She was assigned/ chosen to continue the book of his wife, Verity which is a best-selling author because apparently she mastered the art of story-telling through the lens of the antagonists. Verity was in a car accident in which resulted to becoming her being brain dead, she could no longer finish her book so they had to hire a 'ghost-writer' or co-writer to finish the book. Well, our main character here was convinced upon a few kicks and push as the offer was huge and can help her continue her life.

So, Laura proceeded. She was invited to Verity's house so that she could do her research, read Verity's previous series, and look for footnotes, journals, everything that can help her continue the stories, but upon investigating, a very special manuscript landed her eyes--it was Verity's autobiography.

At first, Low felt that it was too personal to read, but she later on convinced herself that it might help her write, to read what's on Verity's mind, so she did. The manuscript contained everything that she need to completely freak out and question her position in that house. "WHO THE FUCK IS THIS BITCH AND WHY DOES SHE THINK LIKE THIS?" that kind of level.

Bitch when I was reading the book, YOU HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT THE NUMBER OF TIMES I YELLED AT HER TO FUCKING QUIT, because If I was her, the moment that Verity stared at me from a far, from her room through the window, I would have packed my bags immediately and run. I swear.

The manuscript contained how Verity met her husband Jeremy, how their relationship revolved around sex, and how they can't get their hands off each other. She was obsessed. Until she got pregnant and how she did everything to kill those kids because she never wanted them in the first place, she was obsessed to the fact that she was too afraid that her husband's attention will focused on their children (which is the obvious thing to do, duh). But like I've said, the bitch was crazy. She never loved anyone else except her husband.

I think the scene that traumatized me the most was when she tried to kill Harper, one of the twins, how she fucking shoved her fingers inside that baby's mouth--that I'm still fucking picturing up to this day because it literally broke my heart, poor Harper and Chastin.

But, I think I have lost my mind when she finally confessed in her manuscript that she purposely planned to kill Harper at the lake. The way she fucking whispered to Crew to hold his breath as she knew the canoe will turn backward. She left Harper there to die.

You guys have no idea how my mind cried when both of her twins died and all she could fucking think was why her husband's not fucking her anymore, like bitch. You need therapy.

Well, eventually, Jeremy finally found out about the truth and killed her for killing Harper. (I'm not going to lie but I was opposed to that idea, but okay..) anyway, moving on because I am already tired from typing this and I'm doing my best to shortcut the story since it is only I that will be reading this anyway and I'm just looking for excuses to rant my thoughts.

A few months after Verity died, Low found out that she was pregnant with Jeremy, but they had to go back to Verity's house first as Jeremy finally decided to sell the property, and now they are just there to gather up a few more of his remaining things to finally start their new life.

Crew have said something to Low that made her look. Low fiugured that there is a hidden cabinet on the floor where Verity used to hide her knife, and it was a letter-- addressed to Jeremy. In that letter she said that the manuscript is not true, and it was just a exercise that was given to her by her publisher so that she could continue writing her stories on the same perspectives. When Low read that, guilt swallowed her completely as she knew that they killed her. But still, she decided to throw that shit up because she knew it will destroy her growing family.

ALRIGHT ALRIGHT HERE IS MY FINAL RANT.

At first, I don't know which side I should take because that motherfucking manuscript was detailed and shocking. The details the she put in was extraordinary, Verity is really good at painting characters in a bad light, which is perfect for her as like I've said, she writes book in the perspective.

I am mindblown with the idea of how obsessed she is to her husband, how she fucking hated being pregnant, how she tried killing her babies when they were still inside her, and how she tried to kill Harper after having a nightmare.

I am so heartbroken for her twins, when she decided to favor only Chastin and ignored Harper all her life, I am devastated of how she only cares about sex, and to please Jeremy when in fact that wasn't even Jeremy wanted-- her husband wanted to build a connection, a life, a communication, a language in which both of them can only understand, but instead, she was just focused on the idea of giving pleasure-- that's all she knows.

Now, that letter. I know for a fact that she only wrote that letter because first of all, she was not brain dead, she did that because she thought her husband can take care of her after finally losing the twins, she did that because she watched how her husband fell in love with a new woman inside her house, how he fucked her knowing she was upstairs-- she did the letter because it was her only way out.

She knew that Low will be the one to find the letter, because she knew how anxious Low was in the first place, how Low discovered Crew holding that knife in her bed, how she fucking searched that knife but it suddenly disappeared. She knew that Low knows that she's alive and okay.

That was her way of revenge, tormenting, manipulating and guilt-tripping Low even if she's already dead. Because how will that fucking letter defend the fact that Crew was so scared to talk bout Verity in front of Low that he fucking bit the knife which caused for his mouth to bleed, because Crew was too afraid that he'll get punished. And don't get me started to the bruise on Chastin's cheek.

In the end, I am no longer neutral, I am proud that I am team manuscript, good night.

[pyreofsunflowers]

Movie of the Week - Overlord (2018)

This review may contain spoilers

Jeez where do I start with this one. Honestly, I'm really sad that this movie didn't live up to it's hype! I heard so many good things about this one, and the result? Honestly just a really mid tier action movie with hilariously inaccurate history and underwhelming atmosphere. I won't go to much into how this movie was described to me, I'll just skip to why I didn't particularly enjoy it.

The main flaw with this movie is that nothing the characters do really makes sense, for example Wyatt Russell's character is so utterly obessed with only following the mission to a T and not bothering with destroying the lab - despite seeing the zombies in action and going out of his way to meander around the village, making for a very convoluted character. Or how Jovan Adepo's character feels sorry for the Nazi captain being beaten by Russell - that one actually just broke my immersion completely. In fact, the amount of hesitancy Adepo's character has for killing Nazis in general is very odd, considering his race? Maybe I'm just Jewish but I found that puzzling.

Even the action at times makes little sense - throughout the movie (particularly in scenes involving the Nazi Captain) there were numerous scenes where it made absolutely zero sense for the characters not to shoot the villian. Now. I hate horror fans who say "why didn't they just shoot them!!" HOWEVER - this movie I found myself asking that because every character always had a fully loaded gun, at no point in the movie did they run out of ammo or it was established that bullets were ineffective on the zombies. They also seemed to only shoot in ineffective manners at the strangest of times as well.

I would be able to forgive a lot of the nonsense the characters decided to do, however, if there was more action! For a wartime action movie there sure wasn't very much action!! We only see three zombie fights in the entire runtime for heaven's sake! And they really don't even show up until 45 minutes into the 2hr runtime!

The tone of this movie completely fell flat as well. The score was practically non existent, and while an attempt at atmospheric lighting was made - in the end it felt extremely generic and not at all scary. The chase scene in the laboratory with Mathilde Ollivier's character was the only mildly frightening scene in the entire film.

I'm not going to grade this movie on historical accuracy - as it was obviously not a goal for the director or writer, but my history buff boyfriend almost had a stroke watching this with all the random, "comical" inaccuracies peppered throughout. (For example, they got the date of the Airbourne drop on D-Day wrong)

This movie also features a lot of German and French dubbed scenes (aprox. 35% of the runtime in my estimation), with no integrated subtitles - so if your going to watch, I would make sure wherever your viewing has subtitles so you won't miss half the dialogue like my dumbass did.

For positives, the gore and world building was out of this world - and despite having very few zombie scenes for a self-proclaimed zombie movie, they stole the show when they were on screen!

Overall, it was a letdown, but far from the worst movie I've ever seen. I personally would just play the COD zombies Finial Reich map and get more enjoyment, but everyone is different and I certainly might have to "lofty" of tastes. 5/10.

[love4buckybarnes]

BEST SLEEP

Summary: You have a not so great past. Being tortured and injected with a special serum created by a mad Scientist, you gained powers. You help Sam and Bucky one day, in return Bucky lets you stay with him. You and Bucky start developing feelings for each other. One night you have a nightmare and Bucky is there to help you.

Bucky Barnes x Ready. No warnings, some fluff. at the end. Told in 2nd POV.

A/N: This is my first story on here so hope you all enjoy. All my stories will be Bucky Barnes only, featuring some other characters. You can request stuff. I write smuts, imagines, etc. Most of my stories will take place after Endgame and TFAWS, but you may request at any point in time after Bucky is introduced.

She jolted awake in a cold sweat, gasping for air. Y/N’s eyelids peeled open to darkness. A faint blue hue gleamed from the window, illuminating the room. She shut her eyes for a second, only to have the nightmare that woke her from her slumber to flash back. Sighing, she tore the sheets from her sticky body. She tried swallowing, to dampen her parched throat only to feel a lump.

The cool water from the bathroom faucet soothed her throat. Y/N’s heart was still racing and she struggled to control her breathing. She gripped the porcelain sink in her hands tightly, her knuckles turning white. An anxious feeling boiled in her stomach. Forgetting her own strength, the sink crumbled into pieces. She cursed in frustration as she punched the wall, leaving a significant dent.

Y/N stood up and let out a surprised loud shriek, whirling around. She had not noticed the dark silhouette she knew as the Winter Soldier was standing behind her.

🔹🔹🔹🔹 backstory blurb 🔹🔹🔹🔹

Y/N has been living with Bucky Barnes for a couple of months. Before she met him, she was sold by her family for money to a scientist who performed experiments on her. He created his own serum to try to create new superheroes. She was one of many of his test subjects. Eventually, she had escaped thanks to her newfound powers. Because she had no one to go to, she was on her own.

One day, she happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson were fighting a group of bad guys. One of the evil men shoved an SUV off the bridge. The poor civilian tried to jump out to avoid from drowning. He held on for dear life to the car. Not being able to stand there watching this man die and do nothing, Y/N jumped into action. Using her super strength, she pulled the automobile from falling along with the man.

It impressed Bucky and Sam. They heard Y/N’s story. In return for her help, Bucky offered her a place to stay in his spare room at his apartment here in Brooklyn, until she could get back on her feet.

Since living together, they grew close and formed a bond, hanging out and talking. They shared similar past. They both secretly had crushes on each other. Y/N couldn’t lie, she found Bucky to be attractive. And he found her attractive as well.

🔹🔹🔹🔹back to present🔹🔹🔹🔹

Concern etched on Bucky’s face as he took in the scene in front of him. “Still having a hard time, huh?” His tone is soft and velvety.

“Yeah,” she replied, not meeting his eyes. She struggled with dealing with her emotions sometimes. They would bottle up inside her and explode. Her nightmares weren’t often. When she had them, she would wake up gasping for air as if she was being choked in her sleep. Him on the other hand, she would hear his blood-curdling screams echo through the apartment. Most nights instead of sleeping, she would find him on the couch watching TV to keep himself awake.

His eyes traveled down to her legs. “You’re bleeding,” he said, a hint of worry lacing his voice. Bucky walked over to her, standing close. She could feel the heat radiating off of him, and she could smell the faint scent of the body wash he uses. His human hand took her wrist and tugged gently to signal to follow.

Bucky hoisted her on to his bathroom counter with ease. He pulled out what he needed from the cabinet. “This is gonna sting. Hold on to me. I really don’t want a broken sink too,” he joked, trying to lighten the mood. Without warning, he pressed a cotton pad soaked with rubbing alcohol on her wounds.

Y/N gritted her teeth, letting out hisses and profanities. She dug her nails into his metal arm. He mumbled apologizes. After he was done, he took a further look at the cuts, making sure she didn’t need stitches and patched them up with bandages.

“Want to tell me what happened?” he asked. His amazing blue eyes that held reassurance met hers.

“I just had a nightmare,” she admitted. “Couldn’t contain my emotions like always.”

If at all possible, his eyes softened even more. Bucky understood. He also had nightmares. He’s pretty sure she had heard him some nights.

Ever since that day they met, he felt drawn to her. A bit cliché, but it was true. He admired how courageous she was, how she’s been through a lot, but still saved the civilian from dying. She showed the world that she was brave and a hero, despite what she had endured.

Truth to be told, he also had a major crush on Y/N. He was completely smitten. Anytime she was around him, he couldn’t stop the giddy feeling. He wanted so badly to do something about it. Even though Bucky had strong feelings for her, he doubted she felt the same way.

“I know how that is. I’m right down the hall, or you can find me in the living room.” He hinted she could come to him whenever.

Y/N nodded and hopped off the counter. “Well, thanks for patching me up. I should try to sleep.” She made it to her room.

Bucky mustered up some courage. Before she could step any further, she felt a cold sensation on her shoulder.

He turned her around with his metal arm. “You can sleep on my bed. Besides, we’ll have to share a bathroom until yours gets fixed.” He guided her back to his room and grabbed a pillow.

“It’s your bed, I’ll take the floor,” she insisted.

Bucky shook his head. “Nope. You’re not sleeping on the floor, love.” The nickname of many, he called her always sends a warm feeling through her.

Y/N decided to be brave, not wanting to miss this opportunity. “Or we could share the bed.” She slides in and beckons him to join her.

He didn’t need to be told twice and followed her. Being the gentleman and didn’t want to intrude, he stayed on his side. “Sleep, doll. I’ll be right here.”

Y/N eventually fell asleep laying on her back, while Bucky laid there awake. Light snores left her mouth. Those lips that Bucky wanted to feel so badly on his own. He turned his head to watch her. Her eyes fluttered in her sleep. She then rolled over to her side suddenly and without realizing it, wrapped her arm around his waist, snuggling in close.

Bucky’s breath hitched and froze in surprise. At first he tensed up. He then relaxed under her touch, wrapping his own around her, bringing her further towards him. Without knowing it, he too was pulled into a deep slumber.

The sun blared through the window. Y/N groaned, covering her eyes. She slowly blinked them open. At first, she was confused about where she was, but heard soft snoring next to her and remembered. She realized that at some point in her sleep, she cuddled up to him. Embarrassed, she tried to sit up only for the surrounding arm to tighten, pulling her back.

She looked up at his face. He stirred in his sleep, blinking his eyes opened. “Mornin’ darling.” His voice was raspy from just waking up. “Any dreams?” He didn’t want to let go, not yet.

“No, not all. How about you?” she asked.

“I didn’t have any either. That was the best sleep I’ve ever had in a long time.” Bucky turned over to look at her. “Maybe this is the cure.” He was enjoying this, being so close to Y/N. He could get used to it. Not only that, but he wanted it to last forever.

Y/N shifted her head to peak at the clock on the nightstand. She jerked straight up, causing Bucky to jump up too. “Jeez Bucky. It’s three in the afternoon.”

“Well, it seems like we both needed the sleep,” he shrugged. “Should have sleep-overs more often.” She hummed in agreement.

“Thanks by the way.” He cocked his head to the side, silently asking why she’s thanking him. “For, you know, helping me last night.”

“No need to thank me, doll. I’m here for you anytime.” Here goes nothing, Bucky thought. “Truth is, I care a lot about you and I like you, like a lot.”

Y/N couldn’t believe her ears as she looked at him in those blue eyes. “I feel the same way, Bucky,” she confessed.

Bucky’s mouth was on hers when the words left her mouth. His lips were just like how she has imagined. Smooth with a bit of roughness. They molded against hers perfectly as she moved hers in sync. He placed his hand on both sides of her face, caressing her skin with the most gentle touch.

He can’t believe it either. Her lips are like pillows, soft and silky. He pulled away, making her whine, resting his forehead against hers. “We should get up. Don’t worry, we can do more of that later.” He looked at her, giving her a wink.

Y/N grinned like a ray of sunshine. “I’d like that.” His own grin matched hers at her words.

[under-the-lake]

You Must Trust Me - Fantastic Beasts, the Third: What We Know (or Don’t) so Far - Part 3: Creatures and Weird Twists

Last but not least, the Creatures! There is not much to say, I am afraid, since it’s a dissection of the trailers, but I’ll give them new creatures a full paper later when they are confirmed. Some are already, you might argue, but I want them all in one thing. This section also contains some questions about weird things happening in the trailers, some hypothesis, and sometimes only the question with the acknowledgment of my ignorance, and the anticipation of the film!

Creatures

The Niffler Has a Name

It’s TEDDY. Not very original, but since it’s about the time when bears were actually starting to get called Teddy (because of Roosevelt), then why not surf on the wave of fashion. Anyway, I’m glad he has a name. It also shows he has got a more substantial part to play in this film than in the previous ones (in the first, he was a mere sidekick and funny character, in the second he retrieves the blood pact in the end). Proof? He’s got his own Character Poster! As does Pickett! And I do love those posters. The Niffler here is so mischievous-looking! Or like Look At Me I'm So Marvellous!

Pickett is Still There - Thank Merlin

AND TA DAAAAA…. He’s joining forces with Teddy the Niffler! They are teaming up! That’s brilliant. No more (or I suppose, less) rivalry between the coat pocket and the case! Jude Law even said ‘They’re kind of saving the day’ and that there are whole scenes that are only about them. And there goes Redmayne: ‘Teddy and Pickett? I’m watching!’ .

What about Fawkes?

We see a Phoenix in the trailers. Mostly with Credence, but in the end of them, it’s looking like it’s going back to Dumbledore… could that be a hint that Credence is not what he seems to be - again? A hint towards an affirmative answer to this is one sentence by Dumbledore: ‘Things are not quite what they appear.’ That resonates with what Bunty says to Newt on the train.

Snallygaster?

At some point in the trailer we see a reptilian-like bird with a bill like a huge duck’s, carrying something in the air. Could it be a Snallygaster? It is but a glimpse we have, but it does fit the description. We’ll see.

Manticore?

Looks like the creature that is hiding in whatever sewers Newt and Theseus and who-knows-whom-else are at some point in the trailer is a manticore. It was definitely mentioned during the World Premiere Press Conference on 29th March by no other than Eddie Redmayne. And I just found out before posting this that David Heyman actually confirmed the creatures were baby manticores (the crab thingy Newt and Theseus dance with), so the big scorpion-tail could belong to the mummy or daddy…

Dancing Crabs?

That dance we see in the trailers. Jeez it made me laugh. And Redmayne said it stems from that Erumpent mating dance from the first Fantastic Beasts film. Each film has some dance or such like. In Crimes of Grindelwald it’s the weird taming of the Zouwu with that little cat-head toy. Apparently they are baby manticores.

Other Weird Twists

'Memory is Everything. Without It We Leave the Fate of Our World to Chance.'

This quote from the Goblet of Fire film, by Dumbledore, starts the trailer alongside the Hedwig theme. Can’t but think that there’s a strong thing about that in the film. Dumbledore is then looking into his Pensieve. We have no idea what memories he is supposed to be looking at, because ‘I sometimes find, and I am sure you know the feeling, that I simply have too many thoughts and memories crammed into my mind.’ [...] ‘At these times, [...] I use the Pensive. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one’s mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one’s leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this form.’ (GoF, chapter Thirty, The Pensieve, pp. 518-519).

The fact that there is obviously a link between this older (and more familiar) Dumbledore and the younger one from the Fantastic Beasts series, shows that there is a link between the two eras, something that happened at the time of the films or before (my guess is ‘before’, like the Blood Pact, or Ariana’s Death), that still nags Dumbledore at the time of the Potter series.

Grindelwald Removes a Memory from Yussuf

We see him do that. No problem there. Now the question is which memory? And why is it important to Grindelwald? Many assumptions converge and say it’s probably the memory of the baby swap told by Leta in the Lestrange Vault at the end of Crimes of Grindelwald. Grindelwald cannot possibly know about it, and the only ones left with the knowledge are the people who were in the vault. That is Newt, Tina, Jacob, Credence, and Yusuf. All the others who knew are dead. Now knowing that, for Grindelwald, would mean having to acknowledge that his theory of Credence being a Dumbledore is wrong, and that the real Aurelius (if there ever was one) drowned. If so, then Credence might as well be Corvus Lestrange. Did Credence tell Grindelwald? I’m doubtful. He’s being accepted by someone probably for the first time in his life, and doesn’t want to jeopardise that. Later in the trailer, we see Grindelwald attacking Credence. Maybe he just got told the truth?

Anyway. As said somewhere above, that might also drive Yusuf to swap sides. Maybe Grindelwald not only removed memories from Yusuf, but also planted some others instead? At any rate, Yusuf is seen in the trailer standing behind Grindelwald with the rest of the Alliance.

Then, when talking about memories, we see Grindelwald standing in some sort of pool at one point. Is that some makeshift Pensieve in Nurmengard in which he could see the memories he’s extracted from others, or his own? Does he see Yusuf’s memory in there, and the result of this perusal makes him angry enough to attack Credence? We’ll see.

That Message on the Mirror in the Hog’s Head

Do you know where it is kept? Where WHAT is kept? The blood pact? Or something else? What is the role of mirrors in this whole film? We know there are two-way mirrors in the Wizarding World, but… this one in the Hog’s Head? The Hog’s Head is, after all, a strange place, serving as a hiding place, an outsiders’ watering hole, a link between Hogsmeade and the Room of Requirements…

The Bloody Blood Pact

I’m more and more confident that a theory I put into writing in one of my older pieces, namely that Grindelwald only came to Godric’s Hollow because he Saw Ariana as an Obscurial, and didn’t give a damn about Dumbledore himself apart from using him as a screen and way of getting close to Ariana, is getting nearer to being right than ever. And, besides, I’m not the only one to hypothesize this, I am glad to say.

Grindelwald kept the Blood Pact after it was made because it was the only way for him to save it from an awakening of Dumbledore’s. I guess it was made more to protect Grindelwald from Dumbledore than anything else, because, I guess, Dumbledore is the only wizard [insert name of villain] was ever afraid of. So one more trick played on someone in love. Not the last time Dumbledore will be fooled by it; though, unless we learn more of his life and lies, never will it be to that extent. I mean this resulted in Ariana dying, and Dumbledore never really recovered, did he. However, if Grindelwald didn’t care two straws for Dumbledore, which I believe is the truth, then Grindelwald wouldn’t be protected by it, would it, as an object. So the only protection doesn’t lie in the object itself, but in the fact that Dumbledore does genuinely love Grindelwald, and therefore holds the blood pact as true. Deception, deception…

A blood pact, as I’ve said in another paper (21st September 2019), is basically a contract of non aggression and undying loyalty between people, peoples, or people(s) and an institution. As such, it sort of parallels the Unbreakable Vow in the Wizarding World. Even the way it is shown bound around Dumbledore’s right forearm and the way the Unbreakable Vow is pictured (with lace-like strings of light around people’s wrists) points towards a similarity. If you break the Unbreakable Vow, you die. What about that bloody blood pact? We don’t exactly know, but what we do know is that Dumbledore feels like he cannot engage against Grindelwald because of it, at least not in direct confrontation.

As David Heyman put it during the Press Conference on 28th March, ultimately, for Dumbledore, it’s a journey towards choosing between the love he had, or maybe still has, and doing the right thing. The Bloody Blood Pact stands in there…

Grindelwald and Dumbledore Face to Face Before 1945?

According to canon, those two don’t see each other after Godric’s Hollow until the final duel in 1945. So what happened? What is this confrontation? Is it happening in that mirrorverse thingy? Did it really happen? Did Dumbledore lie to Harry at King’s Cross? Do Chocolate Frog Cards tell lies?

There are some clues that it’s a pretty weird thing. The restaurant is catching fire? Like WHUT? Is that something that actually allows them to meet without actually meeting? Some sort of spell that wouldn’t undo the Blood Pact? BUT. Because there’s a HUGE BUT. We see those two fighting each other later in the trailer, which seems not really possible without meeting, right? Plus they are touching and holding each other’s clothes. I’m nonplussed. Is that happening in that mirroverse thingy? Or is it something unreal again? Clues are pointing that way: for instance, the background is sort of frozen and weirdly glowing. Might also be a bit of Seeing by Grindelwald. Who knows. I reckon we’ll have to wait and see.

Yeh I know the film is called The Secrets of Dumbledore so it’s bound to happen that we learn new stuff, and there’s no denying the man himself is a mystery. But still, twist canon. Meh.

Credence v Dumbledore, the Weird Deluminator and the Change of the Phoenix

We see Credence and Dumbledore in some sort of fight, and Dumbledore Disapparating at some point. We also see a Phoenix (in a pretty bad state, probably close to a Burning Day) fly towards Dumbledore. So do Credence and Dumbledore finally meet? Looks like it. And Dumbeldore is seen standing behind Credence, pointing his wand at Credence’s throat from behind, and saying ‘Do you really intend to turn your back on your own kind?’. There are many possible interpretations of this sentence, but one that springs to mind from the start is a Draco-like ultimatum. It looks, from the trailer, that Dumbledore somehow brings Credence back from the mirrorverse thingy after bringing him down.

Is the Deluminator used to return back to the real world? How come it acts like a sort of source of light not just glowing like any light you’d take away from a bulb or fire, but emanating from the Put-Outer in weird jellyfish-like tentacles? I’m close to hoping that I’m mistaken and that it is NOT the Deluminator and that if it is, it is NOT used to turn the world upside down.

Now is Credence in a position to take over Dumbledore? No. Not from what we see in the trailers. Dumbledore seems to be in complete control. He waves the blasted building away with a wave of his wand, and stops the fire coming from Credence with his hand. Is Credence really willing to fight Dumbledore? Is he only in a rage because he lost his identity yet again (in the case that the theory according to which Grindelwald manipulated Credence into a new identity is true)? We don’t know.

What is Quidditch Doing There

Like WHUT? Yeh. There’s a Gryffindor Quidditch player flying over the castle at some point. I suppose it’s just to make the castle alive. I cannot see Quidditch fit in the plot in any way. It’s way too serious on a global political scale to have something as mundane as Quidditch featured.

BUT. Because there’s a BUT, again. Snitches have uses in the Wizarding World, and are important artefacts because they have flesh-memories. Moreover, it appears that they can carry messages, as we see Dumbledore catching one that seems to come straight to him as he’s walking.

You Must Trust Me - Again: Dumbledore’s Motto, along with ‘It Has to Be You’?

When… When are we going to see Dumbledore actually acting instead of pulling the strings?

What about Voldemort?

If my calculations are correct, and he was born in 1926 (provided Rowling has not changed that as well), then Tom Riddle Jr. would have attended Hogwarts from 1937 on. By 1945 he would have met Hagrid and Aragog, unlocked the Chamber of Secrets, killed a few people, grown that group of ‘friends’ he called Death Eaters, and started planning his way to immortality. Are we going to get a glimpse of Tom Riddle in the coming films (plural intentional)?

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Beasts:_The_Secrets_of_Dumbledore

https://www.wizardingworld.com/features/the-mysterious-life-and-death-of-ariana-dumbledore (published 1st December 2016)

Videos by SuperCarlinBrothers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH9ONoy5BBM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40vX8D28WLQ (Five Questions about Secrets of Dumbledore)

About the characters, by the actors and director:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vRWKbIFLDc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfiyni1hLzA (interviewed by Tom Felton at the WB Studios Leavesden)

https://www.facebook.com/wizardingworld/videos/470636091475502 (Jude Law and Mads Mikkelsen about the Dumbledores)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu78_OLf7e0 (Official Press Conference, 28th March 2022)

https://www.wizardingworld.com/news/your-roundup-of-the-fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-premiere

Louhi about the Blood Pact:

https://under-the-lake.tumblr.com/post/187862129606/crimes-of-grindelwald-the-phoenix-the-blood

Books by J.K. Rowling:

Rowling, J. K. (2000). Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Bloomsbury, London.

Rowling, J. K. (2003). Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Bloomsbury, London.

Rowling, J. K. (2007). Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Bloomsbury, London.

Rowling, J. K. (2007). The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Bloomsbury, London.

Rowling, J. K. (2016). Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - The Original Screenplay. Little Brown, London, UK.

Rowling, J.K. (2018). Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay. Little Brown, London, UK.

Scamander, N. (1927; 2001; 2018; [J.K. Rowling]). Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Bloomsbury, London, in association with Obscurus Books, 18a Diagon Alley, London.

[to00ch]

I love what you write! If not, can I please ask HC for Heartslabyul, Leona and Malleus with a "madly" eccentric and cheerful reader like the Mad Hatter who can become more frightening and violent when someone hurts or speaks ill of the reader's loved ones? (on the same level as Floyd when he is in a bad mood lmao).

I feel like most of them turned out rather platonic aaaa I am not sure if I correctly potrayed ‘reader’ as a madly eccentric character, I just wrote them based on my interpretation on how I viewed the mad hatter hahaha

I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless <3

Tags: hinted romance, platonic love, mad hatter!reader

Characters: Heartsabyul babies, Leona Kingscholar & Malleus Draconia

Riddle Rosehearts

he’d be having plenty headaches from you

sometimes he’d use his magic on you cause he’s so tired of you breaking the rules, but that’s only if your actions are too much for him to handle

you have a lot of fun teasing him honestly, cause he’s super cute when he’s mad!! whenever he’d use his unique magic on you, you would bug him more, so in the end he’d undo his magic and let you go

“Riddle~ please let me go hehe, I’ll behave? I think?” you’d repeat a number of times

You’re really protective of him, since you’re very fond of him. When you hear someone trash talking him, you won’t hesitate to throw them in a bin

“Oh my god, (y/n) how many times do I have to tell you to stop doing that?” he’d scold you as he rubs his temples “But Riddle, they were speaking ill of you! How dare they! Talking trash about my favourite person, so I decided that it’ll be good if I dumped them in an actual trash can!” you huffed. 

Moments like this though, made him soften up a little for you, he didn’t show it though, cause if you knew that that made him happy, you would actually be more encouraged to do those things again. “Seriously, what am I to do with you,” he’d sigh and shake his head

Trey Clover

Trey is very good at handling you, it’s like handling a child

He really didn’t mind it, it amused him

Sometimes he’d get overwhelmed from it though, so he’d gently tell you to calm down a little

He always made you your favourite dessert, served with his special tea blend! He loved making you happy! But you felt like he always made you happy regardless

Trey always called you a good girl/boy if you calmed a little, and give you head pats

He gets really worried if you started acting brashly when you’re angry, so what he’d do is give you a butterfly hug (a method used to calm a person down) and made sure you breathed properly

“Sorry Trey, but they were bad mouthing you, I couldn’t let it go! I wish you didn’t do that to me so I can teach them a lesson,” you pouted. That made him chuckle a bit. “You see, (y/n), being violent could lead to something worse, and I don’t want anything bad happening to you,” he said gently as he rubbed your arm “You should really count to three before you act okay?” 

Cater Diamond

Dear lord, sometimes it could get tiring with you around so sometimes he would leave it to his clones

He’d try his best to avoid you, cause you knew which is the real Cater. How exactly? Well, you just knew

Oh but when you dress up eccentrically he’d take a picture and upload it on Magicam! And somehow it got pretty trendy, he knew what he was doing

Sometimes though he actually enjoyed hanging out with you, cause you were super eccentric, so he never got bored regarding the topics you talked about

During tea parties, he would sit with you! And you guys would gossip a lot, sometimes it got rlly funny and you couldn’t contain your laughter, so you laughed really loud and he’d close your mouth when people looked at the both of you

Cater didn’t mind people talking bad about him, well, atleast, he pretended to not care; which made you pissed when people were just being as*holes to him, purposely or not, and you just gave them a punch in the guts without any regrets. 

“Um, I guess I should say thank you? Oh but we totally gotta take a pic together, I won’t upload it though, its just a small memento,” and the both of you would casually take a selfie with the guys who messed around earlier on the ground, looking very much in pain

Ace Trappola

Phew, you guys would bicker everyday it gets worse when Grim is involved

Oh I think you guys would be the biggest headache combined, if you both weren’t fighting, you guys would sometimes gang up on teasing others

When you made stupid remarks he’d say “bro,,,,what IS going on in your head. I think about that every day,” you would look at him and giggle before pinching his nose “The fact that you’re thinking about me makes me kinda flattered,” and he’d pretend like he’s gagging

He won’t ever admit it but he really enjoys your company, if you weren’t there he’d ask your whereabouts

When he’s down, you’d always brighten up his moods by giving some random ass brain fart you thought of that day. It always worked, “you’re so weird, I’m getting worried,” he’d say but with a smile

Once he was picked on by a senior when you were there with him. Cause yknow he ‘bumped’ against that senior, and well the senior was like those typical “oH yoU bUmpEd me so aPologIse,” and obviously ace, being ace, was defending himself, which made that guy almost punch him but you just grabbed that dude’s arm and gave it a twist and threw him on the ground which came with a loud thud 

Ace smirked and gave you a high five and the both of you just left to wherever you guys were about to go and you guys kept on reenacting the scene otw

Deuce Spade

Deuce is very awkward around you, he didn’t know how to respond to your energy at first

But well people in NRC are all weird so this isn’t new, but he thinks the way you dress eccentrically is pretty cool

“Oh wow, where’d you get that fit? That’s pretty cool I’d be happy to wear something like that,”

Sometimes he unintentionally joins in your antics, then he suddenly realises that he has to act like an honour student

“Hey! We should probably start behaving. Jeez....I could’ve ruined my chance on being an honour student,” he’d clear his throat and return to his goody boy side “Aw c’mon Deuce, you’re no fun,” you’d tease him 

When he calls his mom you would always interfere him and embarrass himb

Ngl tho if the both of you were involved in a fight you’d partner up instead and scare those people away before they can even do stuff to the both of you 

Leona Kingscholar

He does not have the time and energy to deal with you honestly

Locks his room door before you can barge in

“Leona!!” *bangs door* “Open up, pretty please~” then you’d cackle

Groans all day long every time you bother him

But because he’s so used to you bothering him it’d be pretty weird if you didn’t show up sometimes, but he’d also be like “Good Lord, finally some silence,”

He was thankful though, there was this one time where you lost your sh*t when someone was insulting him for how he won’t ever be crown prince and you gave em a good whack plus a bunch of insults to feed em up

He started seeing you as a likeable person but definitely won’t admit it at all. He’s a tad bit tsundere but he got protective of you too and you’d tease him a lot regarding that

Malleus Draconia

He was kinda shocked at first how you easily just approached him, and you were very cheerful about it too!

Yours and his dynamic is the reserved one and the wild one, it was always a weird sight for people to see the both of you together

Oh people do be avoiding the both of you btw

Sebek would often scold you for acting such way towards Malleus and you would always just get on his nerves and the only way for the both of you to settle that is by Malleus’ words

“Well, I don’t really mind (y/n)’s company,” he’d say and you would stick your tongue out to Sebek who would mutter under his breath

You would always play tamagotchi with him together and compare each other’s, it would honestly go on for some time

There was a time when he saw you being violent and he’d be very shocked about it, so he used his magic to restrict you for a bit to calm you down, it was too strong for you so you ended up falling asleep from fatigue. He was very worried about you, so he took care of you the whole time you were asleep

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Just One Scene, That’s All I ask

AU: Actors Au

Words: 1899

Rating: General

Pairings: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka

Warnings: None

Summary: It’s a routine at this point. To check their scripts, hoping for a hint of a scene with the other man. Even the smallest one. Yet, no matter how many times they look they can never seem to find one. So they decide to take matters into their own hands.

Flipping through the pages of his script was a normal occurrence for Kakashi. He wanted to know the scenes that he had, who he had them with, and if he could memorize the lines easily or if it would take a bit more work.

Getting ready for the more emotional scenes was important too. If need be he could make himself cry, of course, but the more warning he got before acting out those types of scenes the better.

Today, though, he was looking for a particular type of scene.

Something that he would be sharing with a cute brunette. Maybe a scene at Ichiraku Ramen with the two of them laughing over something stupid Naruto said.

Or a more touching scene where they reminisce about how Naruto used to be.

He didn’t dare get his hopes up for anything significant. The build-up in their characters’ relationship still had to happen, and oh how desperate he was for it to actually happen.

Him sweeping Iruka off of his feet. Saving him from the big bad of the day and then taking him out for dinner after everything was said and done.

Perhaps even making Iruka dinner.

Something.

Anything.

Slamming his script shut, he sighed.

No matter how many times he looked it over, or how hard he wished for something to change. For a hidden scene to just pop out at him and surprise him, it didn’t.

There was nothing. As usual.

“Is it so much to ask?” He spoke to the empty changing room, leaning back in his chair to stare up at the white ceiling. “Just one scene. Even a crumb would be better than this.”

Why were the writers so determined to keep Iruka and him apart? Did they know the chemistry would be too much?

We’re they afraid that the two of them would be a more popular pairing than Naruto and Hinata? It wasn’t their fault that Naruto couldn’t make up his mind about who he wanted to have the most chemistry on screen with. They needed to talk to him about that problem, not punish Iruka and Kakashi.

“Maybe I just need to show them,” he grumbled to himself, his brain already working on a plan. “They just need to see that Iruka and I would make a good on-screen couple. That we need more scenes together. Naruto’s dad and weird uncle. They can’t say no to that.”

With that decided, Kakashi sat up in his seat and sprang to his feet, determined to get to the writer’s room before they left for the day.

They’d see reason, they had to.

If they didn’t, Kakashi would have to resort to drastic measures

A fight scene between Naruto and Sasuke, a scene with Sakura and Ino mending their friendship, and a scene at Ichiraku Ramen with Team seven.

That was it.

There was absolutely nothing of interest.

Throwing his script down on the table, Iruka slapped his hands over his eyes and groaned.

“Every time,” he grumbled under his breath, wondering if the writers would ever take pity on him and give him the scenes that he wanted. “Why are they like this?”

“No scenes with Kakashi again?” Spreading his fingers open, he glared at Anko between the small spaces. “I don’t see why you’re complaining. We’re secondary characters if that. We’re lucky if we get screen time at all.”

That was true, and it wasn’t like he didn’t have other work to focus on. It was just that he had been looking forward to having a scene with Kakashi ever since the pre-chunin exam arc scene where his character scolded Kakashi for putting his students into the exams.

They could get a heated emotional scene that pitted them against each other, but not something more relaxed? With less on the line?

He wasn’t asking for that much, was he? Just a chance to show them the chemistry that Kakashi and he had. Prove to everyone that the two of them deserved more scenes together. That Naruto’s ‘Dads’ should become an official couple in the show.

“Jeez,” Leaning back in her seat, Anko sighed. “If you’re so pressed about it why don’t you go talk to the writers?”

Talk to the writers.

That was a genius plan!

“Oh, no. Iruka, I was joking.” Anko protested, but it was too late. Before she could even hope to stop him, Iruka was on his feet and headed towards the door.

The writers were going to get a talking to, and they were going to give him and Kakashi a scene together.

No matter how long he had to keep them back to get it, he wouldn’t leave until he had secured one scene.

It didn’t have to be the biggest scene, just something.

Anything.

Storming towards the writer’s room, Iruka reached out to grab the metal knob and swing the door open. A grand entrance before he laid his argument out for them. They wouldn’t be able to ignore that.

They’d have to give him what he wanted.

Except, before he could open the door he heard a familiar voice.

A voice that sent shivers down his spine.

Hatake Kakashi.

“One scene, that’s really not asking for so much,” Iruka couldn’t move. Refused to interrupt whatever it was Kakashi was trying to do, hoping against all odds that maybe Kakashi was there for the same thing he had come for. That he wasn’t alone in wanting more scenes with the other man. “It doesn’t even have to be a big scene. I’m not asking to take over the show. I just want one scene with him where we get to just be relaxed.”

“We’ve already planned out the next few episodes,” one of the writers spoke, her voice calm and friendly. “We don’t really have an opportunity to slap the two of you together randomly for a scene. It doesn’t work with the story progression.”

“But the story changes,” Kakashi continued. “There will be a chance where there’s an opening. A scene where maybe you could just...slip the two of us into the same room together. Let our characters talk.”

“That’s a long-winded way of saying ‘I want to date him but I’m too chicken shit to ask him out myself’” Mizuki’s voice was unmistakable. The playful taunting dripping in his words, begging to be punched in the face even if Iruka would regret it later when his friend bugged him about ‘over reacting’. “You want us to write you a scene with Iruka so you can flirt. Why don’t you just ask him out to coffee instead?”

“I-shut it!” Iruka could almost imagine the look on the other man’s face. A bright red blush creeping up his face and narrow dangerous eyes glaring daggers into Mizuki. “I’m just asking for one scene. Certainly, it can’t be that hard for you to write.”

Mizuki’s laughter filled the air.

“We’ll see what we can do, Kakashi-san,” Rin offered, a soft smile no doubt on her face as she tried to de-escalate the situation before Kakashi leaped over the table to attack Mizuki. “It might not be for a while though.”

“I’ll contain my disappointment,” the doorknob started to turn suddenly, but no matter how much Iruka wanted to make a run for it, he couldn’t. His feet were cemented in place, refusing to move an inch as the door opened in front of him. “Just try not to ruin it with another argument, please. We have enough of...oh!”

Standing there in front of him, with a surprised look on his face, was Hatake Kakashi.

Man of his dreams. The person he hadn’t been able to get his mind off of since their first scene together, and apparently the one who shared all of those feelings. Who wanted to have a scene with Iruka, just as badly as Iruka wanted a scene with him.

“Uh, hi,” Mizuki’s laughter echoed from the room behind Kakashi. “I was just…”

He had no excuse for being there. Nothing to say that would explain his presence and not embarrass him in the same breath.

“Coffee?” Kakashi blurted out, his face turning a deep red when he realized what he had said. “I mean…if you want. I could use some coffee, we could practice scenes together.”

The sound of a chair toppling over, followed by the hard thud of a body hitting the floor, told Iruka that Mizuki found this whole situation all too entertaining.

He wasn’t going to hear the end of it for weeks from his friend, and somehow he was alright with that.

“Coffee sounds great,” he smiled, leaning a little to the left and smiling towards all of the writers now staring at him and Kakashi. “Don’t think this gets you off of the hook though. He made a good point, and if you can write a cute scene with Asuma and Kurenai you can do the same for us.”

It’s what they deserved.

“So,” turning his attention back to Kakashi, his smile grew when he see the silver-haired hottie staring back at him with bright eyes. “Let’s get some coffee. My treat.”

It was the least he could do after Kakashi had argued so valiantly for them to have a cute scene together.

Coffee had gone well. So we’ll that Kakashi had mustered up the courage to ask Iruka out on a proper date. This time to dinner.

Then another date, to the movie theater where Iruka cuddled up against Kakashi’s shoulder halfway through the cheesiest romantic comedy Kakashi could have possibly chosen.

Then there was the water park, where Kakashi spent half the time goofing around and splashing Iruka.

More dinner dates, and a few relaxing nights at home.

Really, the last few months had been amazing. Kakashi had gotten a fantastic, handsome boyfriend and he had been enjoying himself so much that he had forgotten about that cute scene he so desperately wanted with Iruka before.

Until…

“A wedding!?” Iruka jumped up in his seat suddenly, the new script open in his hands and an excited look on his face. “Kakashi! Kakashi look!”

Having the script shoved into his face, Kakashi set his cup of coffee down and carefully took it from Iruka. Whatever the writers had come up with they certainly had done a number on Iruka.

Kakashi’s pretty sure he has never seen him this excited.

“Alright, let’s see.” reading the page that Iruka had open, Kakashi felt a smile pulling at his lips slowly as the words sank in. “Oh?”

A wedding. Naruto and Hinata’s wedding to be exact, but that’s not the scene that had gotten Iruka so excited.

It was the father’s speech. When Iruka’s character was set to stand up and talk about Naruto and all the ways he had grown over the years.

With Kakashi’s character there by his side, an arm wrapped around his waist.

“About damn time,” he whispered, lowering the script to smile back at Iruka. “It only took them two years.”

Rushing around the table, Iruka wrapped his arms around Kakashi’s neck and kissed him. Hard and passionate, and absolutely perfect.

Not even the sound of his dogs barking in the background, begging him to let them outside, could interrupt this moment for Kakashi.

He was in paradise, with Iruka here in his arms kissing him, and he was going to enjoy it.

[frickfracktictack]

Final thoughts on Death Note (THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!)

• I wanted him to get caught the entire time and thank god he did

• do I feel any sympathy for Light? I can’t lie the final scene of him basically being as desperate as possible I felt a bit bad but he also murdered who knows how many people

• how DARE he use Misa like that

• I mean sure she wasn’t sane either but she loved him in her own way and he took advantage of that

• not that that was unexpected tbh

• I feel so bad for Light’s parents like his dad died and his sister was traumatized

• L deserved better

• N wasn’t as good of a character than L but he was smart as heck

• I think Mello didn’t get enough of a backstory

• Matsuda is a wonderful person and I love him

• Back to Light he was literally psychotic I mean “I will become the god of the new world” what is that

• I know that’s his whole character arc but jeez dude get a grip

• Ryuk might’ve been my favorite character honestly

• if you like a good mystery (just in this you’ll know most of it as it goes along but there are plans that don’t get explained at first) and you’re okay with quite a bit of death and discussing death (less gore overall though) you should definitely watch it

Overall I give this an 8/10

[nellie-elizabeth]

Doctor Who: The Vanquishers (13x06)

I will say, this episode managed to make me feel the epicness in a way I wasn't expecting!

Cons:

But I will also say... nothing about this season was what I wanted it to be. It's a bummer, but there you have it. In some ways, it almost felt like the whole thing was a big-budget, convoluted, messy, unclear prologue to the kind of story I actually tune in to Doctor Who to watch. At the very end, we get this scene of Dan being invited to join the Doctor and Yaz on the TARDIS, going on fresh adventures. That's the show I wanted to watch. Instead, we'll get a couple of holiday specials with this gang, and then it's goodbye to our current regeneration and onto something new. I can't help but feel a bit disappointed.

I'll talk about the good parts of this chaos in a moment, but must first lodge my repeated complaint that this whole six-episode story has just been too crowded for me. I was happy for Vinder and Bel that they reunited, sure, but we spent quite a lot of time on these two characters, only for them to add very little in the end. We had every Doctor Who villain imaginable make a cameo, with the Sontarans and the Weeping Angels making up the biggest chunk of screen time, but then we also added in all this "end of time" nonsense, these baddies who want revenge on the Doctor for stuff she can't even remember... like I said, messy. Hard to know which pieces to focus on.

There's a Sontaran addicted to chocolate, and that's the weakness that gets a couple of the Doctor's friends into the spacecraft? Jeez. That was pretty weak. There were a few more goofy moments in this episode that work just fine in theory for a family show like Doctor Who is supposed to be, but decidedly don't match the tone of everything else going on.

Once again, I must say I don't approve of the epic-i-fication of the Doctor's backstory, as represented by all this stuff she can't remember, and how she's this legend that ties everything together and motivates the baddies to such acts of mass destruction. It's too much; I want things to be simple and more contained, but that's just not the direction of the show anymore, is it?

Pros:

Yaz and the Doctor remain a real highlight for me. Their hug was filled with so much warmth and relief, I really believed in the yearning, in how bad Yaz had been missing the Doctor. I definitely get the sense that they're in love, which I would absolutely adore to see play out, but probably won't. I also liked that the Doctor admitted she had been wrong to keep things from Yaz, and that she wanted to tell her everything. That was a nice culmination, and I do hope we get to see a bit of their repairing bond in our last few adventures with these two together.

While I might question the whole idea of the Doctor's big mysterious secret past, I will admit that scene at the end, where the Doctor consigns the secrets of her origins into the TARDIS, but then leaves the door open that she might ask to learn more later, was pretty amazing. Also, the heartbreak of the Doctor talking to someone who had once been her companion, but who she now cannot remember having had that close relationship with... oof. Ouch. That's kind of the good stuff, isn't it?

The whole opening section of this episode, bleeding through the majority of the runtime, of the Doctor being split in multiple places, was actually very effective. I love the way it was shot and paced. I keep saying I wish this had been a smaller, more intimate story, but it's not, and if I accept this for what is clearly is, I have to give props where they are due for the frenetic and intense way the scenes shifted around, the Doctor trying to deal with so many different inputs all at once. I loved the scene where she showed up to rescue herself, and then paused to do a bit of flirting with her own alternate self. Super cute and unique.

As I said before, I am happy for Bel and Vinder, and I do wonder if we'll be seeing them again/if Bel really is pregnant with the Doctor right now... that's a popular theory and I can see why. Mostly I just want to praise the actors, who did such a wonderful job with the joy of their reunion!

That's where I'll stop for now. I have reasonable hopes that these last few specials with Whittaker will be a good time. I hope we get some nice smaller moments in the TARDIS with Yaz and Dan and the Doctor, before things get shaken up once again...

7.5/10

[not-from-the-absence-of-violence]

You'd break your heart to make it bigger, so why not crack your skull when the mind swells

“Something's not right about what I'm doing but I'm still doing it-- living in the worst parts, ruining myself. My inner life is a sheet of black glass.” ~Richard Siken

Moments in Leenik Geelo's life after losing his brother.

a/n: love that my first campaign star wars fic is just pure leenik geelo angst, i dedicate this one to @leenik-matagot thank u and also ur welcome <3 >:) 

content warnings for: canon typical character death and violence, suicidal thoughts, refrences to self harm, ptsd, trauma and just general grief and depression.

It’s the emptiness he doesn’t expect. When they were running out of the planet the numb shock passing into the unrelenting reality of the loss he had just suffered.

There is that night where neither him or Chartreuse say anything and it felt like his chest was going to collapse into itself. It wasn’t real, not quite yet but the grief that threatens to consume him whole had already set in. it was like a gaping open wound in his chest. Like shards of glass. Like he was dying, following Tony into an early grave.

Those days blur together but he remembers eventually when the pain wouldn’t stop, he remembers cristal clear the quiet desperate prayer he sent out to the stars he and his brother had once travelled together.

Make it stop. He begged. I will do anything to stop feeling like this someone, anyone, please make it stop, make it stop, make it-

Be careful what you wish for, they say, because eventually it did, and it left the broken being that had once been Nicky Geelo.

There was nothing, he hadn’t thought it possible before to feel nothing but it was there. He was but an empty black hole. What was he now, without his grief and pain.

Nothing matters then, when the world stops being something you experience, he stared blankly at the wall. A million thoughts hung around his head.

It was your fault. It should have been you. You have always been this useless. What are you now? What have you ever been?-

They droned on, it was like listening to static, they were there, they were his thoughts and he believed them, but there was no emotion tied to it. He wants it back, the overwhelming despair, the anger burning in his veins, the quiet background sorrow that settles into your bones.

The first time Leenik Geelo gets captured on purpose he doesn’t plan on coming out of it.

He had picked up doing jobs again because he had to, life didn’t stop even if it felt like it should, the loss of Venton was nothing on the greater galaxy, even if to Leenik it felt like the stars weren’t allowed to shine without him.

It isn’t quite like he consciously plans on getting shot, it’s just that he goes in with a half-baked plan, no plan B, no weapons and not really sure when the last time he ate was.

And sure maybe when they are marching him to the brig, blasters trained on him part of him wonders why it would be bad if they just fired.

It’s not quite wanting to die, as much as it is not seeing the point in living. As much as that the moment they truly are about to shoot him his fear finally kicks in and he feels awake for the first time in months.

How he gets out of that one he doesn’t know, it's like all the luck in the galaxy follows him when he doesn’t want it.

He stands there and picks at his suction cups absentmindedly until one starts to bleed, he stares at the blood dripping from his finger like it contains the answers to everything.

-

He isn’t prepared for the wrath that comes next, the vast nothing in his chest comes and goes but the only other thing he is made of these days seems anger.

It is directed at everything and nothing, his brother's killer, Traxx, the ceiling fan that is too loud, himself.He who couldn't help, he had insisted to take on a job they shouldn't have, he should have been the one to fall in Ventons place.

The first time he stuns himself he can almost convince himself it's an accident. He is in fact, shooting at the fan, but who is to say whether he knew that the laser would bounce of it and hit him in the chest.

There is a flash of blinding agony and then a final blissful nothing. He wakes up very soon after, with a pounding headache, dizzy and miserable.

He knows very well he should not do that again, he stares at his blaster and feels some sickening kind of fear of himself. He tries to avoid using a blaster for a while but it doesn't last long.

It's always an accident though, and usually when it happens people laugh at the guy who just got himself stunned.

That's good he thinks making people laugh.

-

Leenik Geelo doesn't know the name of the first truly innocent person that he kills.

Usually there is some sort of justification for it, in his mind at least.

At some point he is at a shoot out and he very well knows he could aim away from the civilians that have nothing to do with it.

He doesn't.

There he is met with sickening guilt, and an even worse sense of perverted glee.

He sees the disappointed face of his brother every time he closes his eyes.

The moment he is alone that afternoon he breaks down crying, falling to the floor of some ship.

What have you become Nicky?

He doesn't know. He doesn't know.  

-

It's Venton who should have lived, and so he starts dressing the part. it's easy to pass off the wig and the eye patch as simple eccentricities, people find it odd, people laugh.

Good. He thinks, it's almost better to not be taken seriously, no one seeing under the surface.

So easy some days to almost believe it's Tony who is staring back at him in the mirror. That he’s here with him at least. He doesn't know how to be himself anymore.

One day he simply forgets the eyepatch, he catches a glimpse in the mirror and panics. True awful panic, the one that causes you to stop breathing, your chest to hurt, your mind to start racing.

"I need to go get it," he chokes out.

"Jeez man, we have a job to do."

He is already running back already, his hands in fists shaking as he tries not to break into sobs in the middle of the busy street.

-

It is odd in many ways how much Venton had been to him. His brother, his work partner, his only connection to his home he had left behind.

Leenik isn’t good at planning, he isn’t very strong or agile or-

Together they were invincible and alone he’s just...him.

He isn’t sure whether he misses Rodea or his brother sometimes, tangled up together in a web of nostalgia.

There is so little that is left from the person he used to be now.

-

What exactly makes memories flood him like rivers is truly awful arbitrary, he hates it.

And like anything he hates inside himself, he fights it like a caged animal. He is holding onto the shards of himself so tightly, cutting his fingers with it, he is walking on his own broken glass.

It’s a perfectly unremarkable day on the Mynock, he struggles to open a container.

"You should work out more, Leenik."

He stares at a fixed point on the wall, he feels it, the helplessness, his brothers hand in his, he feels the way he can't pull them up because he isn't strong enough, good enough, such a failure-

"Leenik? You okay there buddy?"

Leenik snaps out of it, clearly looking at his surroundings.

"I am just self conscious about my strength alright," he says as he bats away Bacta's hand " Don't bring it up again."

Bacta looks vaguely worried but drops it, used to his odd outburst by now. Leenik goes to look outside at the stars that were supposed to be theirs.

-

Sleep and Leenik are at war. Every night is a battle.

The weeks, months even after he couldn't sleep. He couldn't without waking up to nightmares of every kind and every night he saw his brother die because of him in seemingly increasingly gruesome ways.

Not sleeping made being awake worse, made the colours sharper and the noise louder, made his already weak grasp on reality weaker. He heard Venton everywhere, knowing it wasn't him, his own head driving him mad.

The only sleep he knew was collapsing from exhaustion.

Eventually time passed and no matter how much Leenik picked at it the wound healed somewhat and sometimes he slept.

Nightmares were still common enough for him to be anxious every time bed time approached. So he read, indulged in the calming familiar anxiety repetitive formulaic fiction brought.

Sometimes he had good dreams about Venton, of beautiful summers in Rodea, about the best bounties they had brought in, soft quiet scenes of love they deserved to have.

He woke up feeling the emptiness worse those days, not being able to even look at himself in the mirror.

-

There is something so comfortable in not being him. Leenik picks up a million hobbies and drops them just as soon but dressing up he might just keep.

He’s good at it, it’s fun, most importantly for the rest of the crew, it's useful.

And if it also means that he gets to look into the mirror without having to bear his own face looking back at him, even better.

-

He falls into the same patterns over and over and over again. He can’t stop, like a derailed train, and it’s always him left to pick up the pieces of his mess.

Like pushing boulders uphill it soon starts to feel tedious, pointless, if you have to do it again every time.

He doesn’t know who he is without anymore, doesn’t know how to be whole, he doesn’t want to know.

It feels like he is a spectator in his own life as he sees himself grimly fall back into ruining his life in both small and big ways.

It’s too hard to mend it, he doesn’t know how to sow.

-

He had never thought of having children really, every day he didn't quite believe he was going to survive the week, much less enough to form a family.

The vornskr gets attached to him so quickly, it needs him, like Leenik once needed his brother.

So he names him Tony, the name feels like rubbing salt in the wound, something that is almost like comfort for him now.

I'll protect you he thinks,  even if I couldn't protect him.

-

He stares at the place where his arm used to be.

He can see it so vividly in front of him, Tony's arm a bloody mess dangling making it unable for him to pull himself up. He sees his own hand, the one he doesn't have anymore, not strong enough to pull him up either.

He stares at his arm and sits on the floor crying. The noise of the battle fading away to the background

Maybe I deserve this one.

-

Leenik Geelo has a family now, crammed into a small spaceship, full of unspoken issues and painful tension.

He holds on to it lightly, or pretends to.

The only way Leenik knows how to hold on is so tight it's suffocating, so loud it hurts, so pleading it is pathetic. He overcompensates in the other direction constantly, to the point where neither he nor the people he now loves know whether he cares about them or not.

He looks onto Tamlin who lost his mother, so small, so fragile. Now his responsibility too. Maybe he doesn't know quite yet what's to come for him, all the small ways loss cracks you. He is afraid of Tamlin in the same way he is afraid of his own true reflection. And as afraid as anyone is of his own children.

"What's the name of the kid again?" he asks and he can almost convince himself he doesn't know.

So many masks to Leenik Geelo, his name has lost meaning.

-

Everyone has a breaking point and eventually Leenik reaches his. As he falls to the floor crying, there are people there this time. To listen, to hug him, to comfort him. To share in his pain and not flinch as they see the worst parts of him. To hold his hand and pull him up as he starts the arduous climb from rock bottom.

He isn’t alone amongst the vast expanse of space anymore.

-

Time passes and loss never truly gets easier, but eventually one has to heal. Eventually he grows up and knows his brother wouldn't want this for him. More importantly he doesn't want this, not anymore.

Rebuilding yourself is a never ending process that often leads to hallways you had forgotten about, it's painful and thankless and while in it it never feels worth it. But it is, oh it is, when he is able to talk about Tony again and it doesn't feel like his throat is full of glass. When people can call him Nicky and it brings only the slightest twinge of melancholy, like pressure on a sore bruise. When he can go to Rodea again, a planet he had once thought he would never be able to bear to return.

Sometimes he still gets cut on his own shards, but this time he lets someone help mend it.

He can lay amongst the trees and for the first time lay his brother to rest in his mind.

"Goodbye Tony," he says, looking onto the millions of planets and galaxies above him, in wonder of how small he is compared to it all.

"I miss you." he says because it's true, he will never stop missing who had once felt like an infinite constant in his life.

"I hope you are well amongst the stars."

[tippitv]

RECAP: Supernatural 15.03 “The Rupture”

Watching episode three and I finally understand the warding logistics better now. Note that just because I understand it better doesn’t mean I think it makes any kind of sense.

So it seems the “mile wide salt circle” encompasses both the town and the cemetery. Like the entire town and entire cemetery and the space in between them is somehow less than a mile wide as seen in the shitty map I made in MS paint last week.  

This is poppycock of course. It’s also bizarre that somehow all these demons and ghosts didn’t manage to spread any further out than that in the hours in took the Winchesters et al to evacuate the town and for Belphegor to perform the spell.

I’m so distracted by this that it’s hard for me to suspend my disbelief.

Rowena tries to reinforce the warding but there are too many ghosts attacking it. More ghosts keep spewing out of the ground. I think it’s weird that Hell is an actual physical place somewhere under the Earth’s crust while Heaven seems to be some kind of otherworldly dimension that looks like an Apple store.

Rowena’s feeling very defeated. Ruth Connell is doing a much better job than the crummy ghosts we've seen so far would seem to warrant. Her acting makes them seem scary and the situation desperate, whereas the writing for the actual ghost characters is...meh. Dean wants to go fight the ghosts but like… there’s really nothing to be done. Shooting them with iron or rock salt only works for a few minutes at most. To make any dent, you'd need all the salt in the Hannibal fandom after NBC canceled it. Shout out to my Fannibals!

I still think somebody needs to be thinking about contacting Billie. Reapers take souls to their great reward or their eternal punishment, I feel like they’d have some useful input. Plus I just want to see Billie again because Lisa Berry is dreamy.

Also Belphegor is such a weaselly jerk about the whole thing. I won't miss that guy. He's the Martin Shkrelli of demons. Shout out to everyone who hates jacked up pharmaceutical prices!

Sam says they're out of ideas. That's because y'all haven't sat around reading books out loud to each other for half an episode! 

Jack mentions something called "Lilith's Crook." Ah, Martin Shkrelli again. He has to explain it's that curved stick thing shepherds use while everyone is being ignorant. "Thing's actually more of a horn," he says. She designed it to control demons on Earth while she was in Hell. You'd think that kind of thing would've come up when Lilith was topside but no! Also there really should've been a call back to that. "You know Lilith... you killed her to let Lucifer out?" That kind of thing.

They work out a plan for Belph to summon the demons and ghosts back to Hell and the Rowena can heal the big spewing fistula in the earth. She wants Sam to assist her, which makes me

Dean coolly volunteers Castiel to accompany Belph. "You've been to Hell before." Cas should've been like, "Yeah to grip your ass tight and raise it from Perdition!" Also how's he supposed to get out again?

Aw jeez here's Ketch in his hospital room. I hope the only reason he's in this episode is to die. The nurse doesn't want to clear him for discharge so a pretty doctor walks in and kills her with a telekinetic neck snap. And that's why we have a nursing shortage in this country! Oh the doctor is Ardat, the demon who hired Ketch to kill Belph.

Fisticuffs ensue even though she could just pin him in place with demonic power. When he refuses to give up the Winchesters, she rips out his heart and shows it to him. He Pikachu faces at her.

I mean, did she really need to ask him? Wouldn't the most likely place be the mile-wide anti-ghost dome? She texts Dean pretending to be Ketch.

Belphegor goads Castiel about his friends sacrificing him, so Cas pushes him down into the ghost fistula. Lol. It doesn't shut him up for long, though. As they wander around Hell, Belph continues to sow the seeds of doubt. Anyway, opening the chest that contains the Doohickey of the Week requires Castiel to sing an Enochian song of praise, but we cut away on the third note. BOO.

Also, having now met Lucifer the whiny petulant manbaby, it's really hard to understand why Lilith or anyone would be so devout for so long. Maybe it's because he was locked in the cage so they didn't actually experience a lot of his pouting. It's all I can think of.

Before Castiel can hand over the Doohickey, Ardat knocks him out of the way. She looks like Joanna Gaines. Maybe she IS Joanna Gaines!

Castiel and Ardat fight. She tries to warn him about Belphegor, but he pops up behind her and kills her with Cas's fallen angel blade. Now we'll never know what she was gonna say! I bet he ends up just blabbing it out himself in the time-honored tradition of villains talking too much.

Indeed, he goes on about how the crook/horn is actually a leash/siphon. This thing is the Swiss Army knife of Doohickeys. He's going to blow the horn and suck all the demons and ghosts into himself to gain their powers. "I'll be a god!"

So while Belph is blowing and sucking, Sam and Rowena and Dean are dirtside working the spell. Ghosts are zooming back down the hole like the Indiana Jones Ark of the Covenant scene in reverse. Castiel tackles Belph and punches him in the face a lot which seems like the equivalent of flicking a dandelion at a law mower to stop it.

Improbably, it hurts jazzed-up Belphegor enough that he pretends to be Jack again to get Cas to stop beating him. Castiel screws up all his angel power and somehow kills him even though there's a buttload of evil spirits in him. Jack's empty body burns like a Thanksgiving turkey left on broil all day.

The ground starts sealing up but something's wrong. Rowena uses a knife to gouge out a "resurrection sachet" she's been keeping buried under her skin. It's why she came back after Lucifer killed her, if you'll recall. It takes Sam a minute to catch on that she intends to sacrifice herself in one final spell. He has to be the one to kill her because prophecy and she can't bring herself to to it for a lot of good reasons.

Now, I don't understand here. She says she's going to absorb all the demons and ghosts, throw herself into Hell, and they'll be trapped. But... didn't Belphegor absorb them? Or a lot of them? I hate that Ruth is doing such a great job and this just feels like forced drama.

Speaking of forced drama. Castiel returns to the surface and tells Dean he killed Belphegor. This could be cleared up with a five second explanation but he makes a lot of pained faces while Dean berates him for ruining their one chance. Forced drama.

Sam reluctantly stabs her in the lower belly... you know, in the uterus area... and she becomes a vessel... with her uterus absorbing all the evil...

"Goodbye boys," she says as she Last of the Mohicans throws herself into the abyss.

Well, it's better than Charlie's death but I still don't like it.

All the surviving team members return to the bunker for the denouement. Sam is taking things pretty hard, which is to be expected, so Dean goes to check on him. "God threw one last apocalypse at us and we beat it," he says to baby bro. Oh honey.

Anyway we're all pretty sure Rowena's going to be running Hell now, right? RIGHT??

Now we come to the part where Dean and Castiel act out a bad soap opera scene. It's just a thin reason to get them to break up for a while. Maybe in the final season they couldn't work Misha into the budget for every episode or maybe the writers couldn't think of more for Castiel to do. So he's gotta go off and it couldn't just be because "you know my surrogate son just died and I need time." 

No it's gotta be all "you always screw up our plans!" and "you don't trust me!" and "are you hearing that romantically sad cello music or is it just me?" and "it's not just you but now I must leave GOOD BYE!"

Onward and upward, readers! Stay tuned for the next recap.

In the meantime, please reblog if you enjoyed this recap and drop by my Ko-Fi tip Jar if you're able. Henry Hound and I are perpetually trying to make ends meet and appreciate your help!

https://ko-fi.com/A4017DA

[four-swords-green]

“Summer”

Summerswap gift for @keanearts for the Summerswap 2019 hosted by @imaginefourswords Thank you so much for hosting this I loved writing this! Dante I you like this! I am not an artist but I enjoy my fair share of writing! Please tell me if you liked it or not ^^  It’s been years since I wrote for this fandom and it felt like such a breath of fresh air! I hope you all enjoy! Rated T for some foul language and a nice scene at the end ;) nothing graphic of course!! It was written on a half broken laptop which only had a Dutch dictionary so there may be some spelling errors, apologies in advance!  

Summer. The time of year with nice hot weather, late nights at the campfire and just having a chill day with your friends. Some might even go to the beach. Our 5 heroes thought the same as well but it seems they were not alone. Not only was the beach at Lake Hylia packed with people but it seems some pirates wanted to join in on the fun and cause some trouble as well. Vio sighed as he rolled his eyes, looking over to his friends who were atleast just as annoyed. Blue was angry, to say the least. Redgave a small pout but was ready to help the people. Green was allready listening to the people who complained to hima bout the messy loud pirates. Vio’s eyes switched over to Shadow who was looking on with raised eyebrows. “Don’t pirates get to have a summer break too?” He asked himself quietly. Vio felt compelled to respond with a small but sad grin.  He too wanted to have a nice day off and just spend it with his new boyfriend. Just when he opened his mouth, Green found it a good time to return from the masses.  

“A break is fine, but they are bothering the other people with the mess they are making...” He nodded towards the empty bottles which only the Goddesses knew what they contained. “THey are being so loud too...” Red pouted again again while he dropped of the bags at their sunbathing location and grabbed his ice rod for some chill in this heat.   “I’ll make them pay for their mess!” Blue gave a small growl as he went to the bags to grab his sword. Vio gave a silent chuckle. Remembering this morning where he advised everyone to bring their weapons just in case some monsters show up. Everyone, except Shadow of course, gave a form of protest. Blue with his big mouth; Green with his form of reason and Red with a sad face. Shadow of course followed him in his opinion. He once told Vio that the dark world was filled with monsters and bad people to the brim. Even going on a leisury trip was considered almost as dangerous as visiting the dark lord himself. Shadow also told him he never went to a beach before for relaxation and Vio right then and there promised himself he would have a fun day with him just to make up for all the lost times. “Are you ready, Vio?” Vio looked up to see Shadow look at him with his all knowing grin which he had come to love. “You are quiet, even for you...” “Hm.” Vio grunted as he went to grab his bow. “Let’s see if they can be reasoned with before we start fighting, after all, it’s a hot day and it’s not like they are plundering everyone.” Vio walked back to stand next to Shadow again and nodded to Green. “Agreed?” Before Green could even respond Blue was allready stomping towards the pirates in a fit of rage because who the heck dared to bother him and the people on his day off. Green dramatically rolled his eyes as they heard Red calling out to Blue to aclm own and wait up for them. “Jeez, that guy needs a leash sometimes.” Vio heard Shadow mumble next to him. Red began running towards Blue trying to achieve some damage control. Green ran after him, ready to be the mediator again. Vio felt Shadow’s hand on his shoulder. “What do you say, shall we join them?” Vio gave Shadow one of his small smiles reserved especially for Shadow and nodded at him.

--^^--  

As if right on time the others arrived to see Blue and the pirate leader have a discussion. “Kid, what the fuck! We were just chillin’ you wanna fight us?” Okay, maybe discussion is not the right the word for it. The pirate leader and Blue were almost at each other’s troaths but fortuantely the others showed up try to calm things down. Keyword being the key word of course. “Please stop fighting everyone!”  Red tried to get between them but was quickly pulled back by Green. Green smiled at Red; giving a knowing smile as he patted his shoulder. “I’ll take it from here, Red.” Vio and Shadow looked on from the back knowing that it would only get worse if they mixed in. Once the fighting startsthen their time came.  

“Please, we did not come here to fight-” Green said this sentence with a sharp glance to Blue who mumbled in distaste. “We came here to settle on an agreement. We’ve had complaints coming from the other beach guests and we want to settle this.” “Peacefully.” Vio added at the end but without glancing a glare towards Blue. “Tsk. Why ain’t doing nothin’. Just chillin’.” The pirate leader folded his arms in front of his chest while the band of merry pirates in the back affirmed their leaders cries with shouts of themselves.  

“I don’t have time for this crap”  Shadow mumbled as he walked next to Green, moving in front of the pirate and then shoving a finger to his chest. “Listen. You guys are being loud and obnoxious. The area around ya’ll is a mess. Clean it up, be silent and then we’ll leave you to your ‘chillin’’. The pirate leader’s brows rised up in suprise and glanced around him. His friends looked at him with variying looks of surprise. Vio bit his lip because he didn’t want to start laughing during this moment.   After a few seconds the pirate leader relented. “Yeah, yeah, I get what ya sayin’.” He turned around and ordered his merry bunch to start cleaning up. “We’ll be nice, We just wanted to relax, it’s fucking hot.” “I’m glad you took the right decision.” Shadow wrapped his own arms in front of his chest. “See ya.” He turned around and walked back to their stuff, but nog before mentioning to vio to follow him. Vio shook his head in amusement. While the pirates started to clean up and then continue their day off the other heroes looked on their friends. That was way easier than they expected.  

--^^--

After a few hours it was clear Shadow had been promoted from the shady friend from their heroes to the next celebrity. The pirates were decent and not as loud anymore and the other beach guests were immensily grateful. Everyone saw Shadow’s performance and were ready to shower him with thanks. They gave him gifts, made sure he had enough to drink or eat and was showed with praise. While he liked the praise and gifts at first he made sure his friends and especially Vio were also spoiled. What he didn;t share was that he was uite uncomfortable with all the attention he recieved troughout the day. Vio felt a bitter taste when he saw another woman swoon to meet the hero fo the day. Not only did he feel bad because he knew Shadow’s feelings on the matter but also because of something else. Far more selfish than he would ever admit. He was desperate for some alone time with Shadow. He wanted to do stuff that as totally out of character for him but he didn’t care. He wanted a nice day at the beach. Spending time in the lake. Maybe build a sandcastle. (Shadow’s interest awoken when he heard Red and Green talk about building one together). Vio was alone in his own world, reading his book which he brought with him in case Shadow felt like hanging out with someone else but her barely read one line. He has been reading that same line for over 50 times now, allready. “I’m beat!” Shadow lied down next to him, hoping to hide away from all the attention he got. “What’s up?” Shadow leaned over Vio’s shoulder to look at the book he was readin, nuzzling his neck in the meantime. Vio laughed inwardly, Shadow sure loved to cuddle, who would have thought.   “Just some reading material about a war between three factions which took place on a different continent.”   “Hmm..." Shadow hummed as he molded more against Vio’s side. Vio turned to him and noticed Shadow was thinking deepl, his eyes unfocused.   “Are you tired?” Vio asked and gave him a soft kiss on his head, hoping to ease him. “Hmm, kinda but...” He looked towards to other happy people. Blue sunbathing on a neat beach towel. Green and Red playing in the lake, splashing each other. “Ah nevermind...” Shadow looked away with a blush. Vio grinned, knowing he would never admit it out loud that he wanted to do stuff like that as well. He put away his book and poked SHadow’s forehead with his finger.   “I am actually in the mood to build a sandcastle. Want to join me?” Vio stood up and moved towards their bag where Red had graciously added a small sandbucket for this purpose. Vio could see in the corner of his eye that Shadow was blushing furiously but he was also contemplating Vio‘s proposal. Maybe he needed a small nudge before actually doing it.   “I can’t do it alone after all, and I might need some help with finding sea shells.” Vio have a sly wink towards Shadow who‘s cheeks turned into a red blush even more. He saw Shadow’s eyes light up. He knew Shadow always liked collecting stuff, be it rocks or seashells. “Allright fine, if you can‘t do it alone then I will help.“ Shadow stood up and joined Vio for a stroll on the beach. Vio smiled at him and grabbed his hand. He never cared for the people who watched and he could see in the corner of his eyes that Blue was giving him the thumbs up. Vio paid him no attention as he walked with Shadow to a more secluded area on the beach.

--^^--

“Hey Vio, if I lie down will you cover me with sand and try to bury me? Red said that is supposed to fun.” Shadow asked after they finished a small sandcastle. Unfortunatey there were not many seashells but that did not put a downer on the fun they had. They played a little in the water and had a splash battle which Shadow obviously won. Or; Vio let him win. Who knows? They decided to dry up on the beach by continueing with the original sandcastle plan.   “Sure, I’ll bury you nice and deep.” Vio grinned as he pushed down on SHadow‘s chest and climbing on his lap. One hand holding Shadow down and the other trying to bury Shadow‘s chest and arms. Shadow laughed loudly finding the soft sand ticklish and feeling a little warm from the handsome man on his lap. “Vio that is cheating!”   “It‘s not cheating if I win” Vio winked and then moved from Shadow‘s lap towards his legs and covering them with sand as well. It was sloppy and quick but it got the job done. “You are my prisoner now...“ Vio whispered as he grabbed the sandbucket to cover Shadow more with sand. Shadow grinned. Vio being forward like that was not something wich happened on a daily basis but he noticed that it happened more often lately since they became official. Vio’s smiles were rare but they radiated the light Shadow used to be so afraid of. Shadow’s smile grew softer while Vio’s face turned to him. “I believe you are adequately buried now.“ Vio leaned towards Shadow’s face. “Can you move?” In all honesty, if he tried he could jump out of the burial site in a second but he liked toying with Vio more. He sighed dramatically. “Alas, here I am, but a prisoner of the hero of the four sword.”Vio rolled his eyes at that statement and moved to lie down next to Shadow.   “Well then, now that you are my prisoner, do you admit defeat?” Shadow chuckled and winked at Vio. “Perhaps, kiss me and then I‘ll decide.” Vio blushed and turned away from Shadow. “I don’t think prisoners get a saying like that.“ This was Shadow’s moment to strike. With a grunt he moved up from his buried position and rolled over and lied down on Vio’s body.  

“You are my prisoner now.” Shadow returned Vio’s earlier saying. Vio was completely paralyzed. He never expected that Shadow would be so forward. Shadow laughed gleefully. “Now that you are adequately buried beneath me. How about that kiss?” Shadow winkednat the last word. Vio suddenly woke up from his stupor and rolled his eyes. “Well, I like action more than words.” Shadow grinned as he leaned down towards Vio’s lips. Vio met him halfway and gave Shadow a nice but warm kiss. Not too warm of course but this was just the right amount of warmth that they both needed. Shadow moved his legs so he was straddling Vio’s hips and used one hand to stroke his cheek. Vio on the other hand moved his hands into Shadow’s still wet hair. To Shadow’s suprise he felt that Vio was softly biting Shadow’s lips as if asking permission, which Shadow obviously granted. When their tongues touched the felt fireworks troughout their bodies. Feeling and sensations never experienced coming trough. Shadow pulled back after a few seconds to catch his breath. He panted and leaned his forehead against Vio’s

“I care alot about you, you know that..?” Shadow gave Vio another small peck on his lips. Vio felt the tips of his ears redden at Shadow’s sweet confession. “I am glad. I care alot about you too…” Vio returned once again towards Shadow’s sweet and soft lips which were allready starting to get a little bruised after their small makeout session. They were so into each other that they didn’t hear Red calling them for the watermelons he brought with them. Red and the other could wait, they wanted to spend this summer day together.    

[onepunchmiss]

OPM s2e7 Live blog

“The S Class Heroes”

IM SCREAMING ALREADY I ONLY READ THE EPISODE TITLE ALRIGHT OK SO IT BEGINS TODAY, MY DEATH guys I am so pumped for the S Class focus thats about to begin with this episode like from here on out they become main players in the series and asfdbfhirksvfjkevfsnjkvfnjek how is it legal for ONE SERIES to contain SO MANY FAVES. Anywayyy Before I get started I’m actually wondering- this is the 7th episode of the second season… do we know how many episodes the season is supposed to run for? S1 only had 12 i think. I’m… I’m not even close to ready for it ending. Now that they’ve introduced Orochi, I’m not even sure where a good break in the plot would be?? Random concerns aside, lets get to the episode. As always, I’m watching this as someone who has read the manga and web comic to date

OROCHI IS PINK HE IS HOT PINK THATS ALL I HAVE TO SAY BEFORE THE TITLE SEQUENCE HITS ME LIKE A GUT PUNCH EVERY SINGLE TIME AND I STILL PAUSE IT AT ZOMBIEMAN OK off to a great start woo

Oh thank god we’re starting with the tournament I can stop quite literally holding my breath. Alright its Choze time. I’m actually excited for him to do things, his face has been nothing but terrifying thus far and hes one of those characters that are just fun to hate unapologetically. I love over-the-top Nazi stand-ins for that reason tbh

OH FUCK OH GOD I LOVE HIM also GAROU hiya welcome back I know it’s only been 2 weeks but i missed you so much thank you for gracing my screen for 5 seconds OH HECK the dramatic music and beginning of the internal monologue just being blatantly REJECTED caught me off guard I cackled AH WAIT WAIT

EYESIGHT DOGMAN ASDFGHK MY BABY IS COMING IM DEAD IM FUKKIN DEAD ALREADY I MISSED HIS CUTE VOICE hey no wait that was very quick?? I must withhold my bias, we’re at the point now where I have SCRUTINIZED every single panel of the manga over and over because of all of my faves, so even the smallest differences will be glaring to me. As much as I want all the action to be drawn out as it is in the manga, I know that’s never been how the anime has rolled. I must bite my tongue.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THE ONLY TIME WE’LL EVER SEE HIM AND YET!!! oof i had to pause for 2 minutes to chill out and actually type. I. I just. juST. BOI ARE YOU OK WHERE ARE YOU ARE YOU WELL AND WHY DO YOU LOOK LIKE G4 tell me your secrets

WAIT COME BACK i dont give 2 SHITS about sweet mast HECKK

speaking of whom get off my screen u creep I have a personal bone to pick with u disrespecting the bae as you will

[SCREAMING]

Oh god this whole scene is so EXCITING and TERRIFYING child emperor’s face as Pig God just eats her, speaking of which -QUIT CUTTING BACK TO THAT TERRIFYING IMAGERY ASDFGHJ  

YES THEY KEPT IT YES YES YES YESYEYSYEYS YOU DONT UNDERSTAND how much Ive been looking FORWARD to that little scene??? im crying how is it possible to work myself up so much of this please help

ok ok back to the tournament give my heart a break phew Hey Choze if you’re genes are so superior then where are your eyebrows????? You dont pull it off HALF as well as Z does. Jeez everything about this guy is so absurd I can’t help but laugh irl the damn DNA helix rolling across the screen dude just stop you’re embarrassing yourself

although you DO know how to strike a pose. change ur name to Poze. Wait no. Your name is now GMO Corn I lied.

AGAIN GETTIN ME WITH THE WEIRD COLORS Hundred Eyes Octopuss is red and blue OK SURE

DEATH GATLING DEATH GATLING ASDFGHJKL guys I cant look at Narcisstoic oh no “no you’ll do no good”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I WASNT EXPECTING THIS THIS EPISODE BUT I SHOULD HAVE I WASNT PREPARED I paused it I’m afraid to push play he’s not on the screen yet i can still turn back and make it out alive -

                    Behold.                                     the moment   I          died        

I actually have this thing with eye gore and seeing it in motion fucked me up I had to skip 10 seconds but anyway FUCK he’s so SPARKLY and PRETTY

Noting also the music there totally gave me flashbacks to the Darkmatter Thieves invasion for a split second and that sequence in general was really well done I like how they emphasized the suckers sticking to the concrete and everything- it have the monster a lot of weight imo. Of course the studio would be fools to not give Tatsumaki the the utmost respect like that sooo

SPARKLY and PRETTY and TEMPTING FATE YOU FOOL yo I was so excited to this scene but I feel like they didn’t make his response angry enough it’s funnier when it so uncharacteristically mad I might do a redraw with the face he makes in the manga………….. FUKKIN was smiley face man just yelling noises to cover flashy’s voice???? FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

OH MY FUCK WE’RE GETTING MONSTER CELLS THIS EPISODE. OH MY HECK WE’RE COVERING MUCH MORE GROUND THAN I THOUGHT WE’RE ONLY HALF WAY THROUGH THE EP

plot progression plot progression plo t p r ogr e ss i on hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Kamikaze being the badass that he is i lov

SPEAKING OF LOVES LOOKY LOOK God i love those three Okamaitachi is a WIFE and IAI is a BAE HEY WAIT let them speak come back they said words i want voices!!!!!!!  this is going so fast??? Oh my god I was absolutely not expecting to get the Suiryu fight this episode holy crap holy crap?? Ok but I’m getting pumped the music is hype “trying to hide his nervousness by looking like a doofus” “this is how I always look” Oh saitama why do they do this to you. Jeez as much as I love everyone else I forget how much I miss him. 

Oh and he’s getting his hopes up again sweetheart no

This is so good I’m hardly pausing to type my thoughts I’m too invested AND NOW ALSO IM DIGGING THIS MUSIC this is good v good yes and there goes Saitama being a genuinely good person offended by this jackass Saitama is too good for this world

His voice… I love him sm. aaaaaaaaaaaaaand its over. hmmmmmmmmmmmm so I have a guess as to what the post credits scene will be but let’s just see

YUP I KNEW IT cause we skipped it last week and now that we’ve introduced the monster cells it was only logical Genos no bby stop getting completely obliterated mannnnnnnnn

In all, no real complaints??? My children?? Have began to appear finally??? I just wish they literally went word for word shot for d\shot with Drive Knight if only because I’m STARVED for DK content in general. But based on the pacing of this week’s episode, will definitely cover a lot of ground and be pretty intense. I should be less, uh, screaming? Next week too. I’m exhausted from spazzing every 10 seconds hah. Well, I just skimmed the manga again and there might be some but yeah I think I can calm down for maybe 2 weeks. maybe. take a wild guess who should show up right around that time. ANYWAY Thanks for reading see yall next weeeeekkkkk

[thespooniewrites]

Hello! I’ve been reading some of your posts and they’ve got me hooked. You seem to have the answer to all my questions but I need tips on characterisation? What is the best way to develop my characters? I want to flesh them out but I’m finding it’s hindering my writing

Hi there! Oh jeez thank you! and thank you for thinking me worthy of giving that advice. I’ll try my best! I work best by giving examples, so I’ll probably give examples a lot using one of my own characters.

I’m sure you’ve already got the basics down. Their name, their general vibe, maybe a hobby or two, a few personality traits. That’s how I start, with the basics, and then I let it spread. I know a lot of people don’t care to think of the little things that won’t be at all relevant to plot but I think, if you’re struggling to flesh out a character with only plot-relevant details and those character check lists aren’t helping, then it’s okay to really push way past that relevance and start picturing them day-to-day, even walking alongside you as you go about your tasks.

(Inevitable long post, so here’s a cut)

How do they behave in the grocery store you just walked into? Where do they go first? What are they looking for? Do they have a plan or are they winging it? How do they behave towards the person who just bumped your cart? How do they greet the cashier? Sure, a medieval fantasy character isn’t going to know what the hell a grocery store is, nor will they ever encounter one in the plot, but you’ll learn a bit about them if you imagine they go straight for the candy aisle, or if they yell at the person who hit you, or if they talk to the cashier and ask how their day is going.

If I were to walk through the grocery store “with” my characters June and Phoenix- 

We’d enter, and Phoenix would gun ahead and grab several containers of berries. Sure it tells me he likes berries, but it also tells me he thinks ahead, he already knew what he wanted before we walked in the door, and I know he intends to make pies and jams out of them. Though that is a tiny bit plot relevant for me, even if it weren’t, it’d tell me he’s a creator and he likes to share and he doesn’t mind taking his time on things. June, on the other hand would linger back, check every price and only purchase things on sale, most of them ready-made or low-prep. It tells me she’s careful with her money and may be overwhelmed by too many choices or the idea of spending cash, likely due to growing up in poverty, and that she doesn’t enjoy spending time on creating (at least, not in the kitchen).

I think, if you go about your day like that, imagining them with you and thinking “knowing what I already know about them, what would they do? What do these extra things tell me that I didn’t know before, or I knew but didn’t quite realize?” you’re going to find them turning into People instead of just Characters. Sometimes you might not know right away, or sometimes you’ll get an answer you weren’t expecting. Sometimes you just have to throw an answer at them and make them take it. Hey June, what’s your favourite fruit? You don’t know? Green apple! Why? You don’t know? Because they’re sour and crisp and you like that, and your dad used to bring you a green apple on your birthday and it makes you think of that one time you went to the orchard as a kid. And now, suddenly, green apples are her favourite and they make her happy and now I know she’ll enjoy most things that taste crisp and tart and they make her think of her dad who she loves and misses dearly.

Another thing I like to do is playlists. Not a playlist that’s full of lyrics that I think reflect the character, but what they would listen to. What does it tell me about them? When do I picture them listening to it? Maybe it tells me they like dancing, or maybe it tells me they like the feeling of drums in their chest and the sensation of power, or maybe the lyrics tell me they’ve got a bit of simmering anger underneath.

What about their nighttime routine? Do they even have one? Do they sleep where they drop - comfortable anywhere and a little unorganized- , or do they need their own bed and blankets and the bathroom routine they do every night and they need to fall asleep to the sounds of the street outside that they’re used to - maybe anxious, afraid of change, maybe they wake up several times during the night which could mean they’re regularly sleep deprived leading to a caffeine reliance or short temper or something as simple as a constant case of dark circles under their eyes.

What about their morning?

Every morning my character Gabriel gets up, goes for a run quick run, takes a shower, spends 20-30 minutes in the mirror, has a breakfast high in protein and healthy fats, reads the news paper, gets into his suit (Indochino for an office day, Brioni or Burberry or Saint Laurent for a court date or a meeting), gets in his car (Aston Martin, his pride and joy), turns on music (bass-heavy, hypes him up and makes him feel powerful), and goes to work (defense attorney).

Something as simple as his morning routine tells me he’s a little vain, focused on his health, likes to be informed, is very comfortable financially, is superficial with his buying into high-price brands, is terribly organized with his time, and probably has to be pretty damn smart to be a lawyer.

Another way to get to know them outside of plot-relevance is write drabbles. Write fluffy scenes with them at a campfire with their friends, write scenes where something bad has happened and they’re hurting and nobody’s around to help, write scenes where they’re put in an uncomfortable situation, figure them out in ways that every-day people figure themselves out.

Also be sure to look at things that may have made them a part of a marginalized community, this could sway their personality or their view of the world or the way they treat others or even themselves. Ex. a person who grew up poor vs a person who grew up spoiled rotten and wanting for nothing. They may both be generous, but their generosity might look different.

And then, of course, there’s always the little check-boxes. What scares them superficially (spiders), what scares them deep down (being forgotten by everyone they love)? What makes them angry, and how do they act on it? What fuels them with so much rage they’d throw a punch in the middle of a dinner party? Would they ever throw a punch? Do they have trauma? What makes them embarrassed? What makes them insecure? What do they see as an irreparable betrayal of trust? How do they feel about death? Do they feel differently about their own death vs. the death of loved ones vs. the death of enemies? How do they handle loss? How do they handle substantial gain? How would they handle a hit to their health? How do they cope with sadness or tragedy? What brings them peace? What brings them insurmountable joy? Are they a cat or dog person - why? How do they view violence? How do they view compassion? Do they plan long term or assume every day might be their last and forget to plan five minutes ahead? Do they like being on their own or with a group? Do they like strangers? Do they respect authority - if yes, what does the authority they respect look like? Are they patient? Does their patience have limits or areas that it doesn’t extend to? Are they generous? Is their generosity limited to their time, but not their money, or vice versa? What are they guilty of? What’s something they would keep secret even from their best friend? What’s their vice? What positive personality trait becomes a negative one when pushed too far? Do they believe in the goodness of man, or do they believe there is no goodness left, or do they believe there is the potential but goodness is a choice? What about sex? Love? Forever love or is love temporary? Friendships? Work ethic? What’s their view of family - blood related only or can it be created? How’s their time management? What’s a weird skill? How do they view the arts? How do they view hobbies - something beautiful to be embraced and celebrated or a waste of time and money? What do they think is beautiful? What makes them cry - from hurt or from joy? Are they impulsive? Are they confident - in their looks or their intelligence or their personality? Do they like being touched and touching people - are strangers different from friends? Do they speak with full words, contractions, fancy synonyms - do they do it on purpose to give off a certain image or is it how they were raised? What image to they hope to give? What do they hope people think of them?

If you want deep and full characters, their personalities can’t be limited to the plot. They need to be whole entire people and even if 80% of these facts you know about them don’t make it on the page, they’ll influence the details that do make it on the page and make their personality so much richer.

[pokeshippingflashfic]

Maybe Pocky Game?

“Okay, so what snacks do we have?” Tracey asked as Ash turned the plastic bag in his possession over and all the contents spilled onto the living room floor.

“I didn’t know what everyone was in the mood for so I got some chips and dip, crackers, cookies, and a couple different kinds of pocky.”

“I can’t believe you guys turned down my offer to cater just so you can waste money on delivery and junk food…” Brock moped momentarily from his seat on the couch, leaning forward and sussing the many different boxes and bags around. “That being said, I call first dibs on the chips!”

“Jeez, you all are like animals!” Misty whined with a scoff. “By the way Ash, how come you didn’t grab us any ice cream?”

“Uuh, I didn’t think…” the youngest of their group began sheepishly, “I mean, it’s not great sleepover food anyway, right? We’re not supposed ta be worried about portion control and with ice cream you either gotta, y’know, portion some into a bowl or eat straight from the container, then rush the rest to the freezer when you’re done with it!”

The four of them scrambled to each of their sleeping bags on the Ketchum living room floor, Ash in the center, Misty to his right, and Brock and Tracey squished on his left while Pikachu hopped haphazardly around them all.

“This doesn’t seem like it was the most well thought out idea…” the redhead mumbled as she accidentally nudged Ash with her foot while tucking into a cross-legged position.

“This get-together sleepover was the best idea!” Ash responded stubbornly. “Since none of us get to travel together anymore, this is a great way for us all to spend some time together!”

“Well why don’t we spend it sleeping under the stars in your backyard?” Brock asked. “Misty’s right. This is kinda cramped for all four of us, isn’t it?”

“I guess it’s just a good thing your mom’s not home and forced to jump over all of us to get into the kitchen,” Tracey noted as he snatched one of the two boxes of crackers and proceeded to open them.

“Yeah, she’ll be back tomorrow. Anyway, I’m in the mood to watch television! I spend most of the year sleeping out in the grass! I got nothin’ against it but I’m craving central air and electricity tonight!” Ash responded.

Misty pursed her lips but made no further comment beyond an unintelligible grunt.

“So let’s see what’s on!” Brock went on, wrenching backwards to retrieve the remote from its place wedged between two couch cushions and tossing it to their host.

“I ordered the pizza about twenty minutes ago so it should be here in less than an hour,” their artist friend informed them, turning to rest on his stomach so he was more comfortable.

The next half-an-hour or so went by rather smoothly, beginning with Ash flipping through channels before landing on a televised recasting of the latest Johto coordinating festival championships. By the time it was over, a third of the snack food had been consumed and the pizza had just arrived to sate the remnants of their unspoiled appetites.

The minutes wore quickly into an hour, then two, each of them taking turns controlling the remote. Misty was last in control and had stumbled upon a cliche romantic drama that was currently in the middle of hitting its climactic moment.

“Ugh, c’mon, Misty,” Ash groaned, holding Pikachu to him and scratching the Pokemon behind the ears. “There’s gotta be somethin’ else! Anything else!”

The redhead didn’t respond, engrossed completely in the sappy dialogue and pink pop background aesthetic.

Tracey and Brock, who’d been slightly more mature about the viewing content, whispered back and forth to each other for a minute or two in between moments of flashy dialogue exchanges on-screen.

“What’re you two talkin’ about?” their young friend asked, grateful at the prospect of some other form of entertainment.

“Oh, we were just… thinking of a game,” the future breeder introduced with a brief knowing glance shared between himself and Tracey.

“A game, huh? What kinda game?”

“Well, it’s sort of a small, two player game. We figured since we have the pocky it might be nice to play it.”

“It’s a game that involves food?!” Ash yelped excitedly in response. “Sign me up! Anything to get away from that,” he finished lamely with a strained nod towards the television.

“Well we were thinking you could play with Misty, ya know?” Tracey explained now. “It would help her distance herself from her whatever drama show. Maybe by the time you’re done it’ll be your turn to have the remote again.”

“Ooh, good point! Okay, so how do we play?”

Time continued to slither by as Misty longingly watched the main character confess her love to her male costar and the two shared a tender embrace followed by a passionate kiss. She was so sure that they wouldn’t be able to work things out after the rumors had spread around their peers and caused a divergence in their previous relationship… but they had! Now there were only one or two closing scenes left until the end credits…

“Heya, Misty!” Ash exclaimed, popping obnoxiously into her line of sight and quickly spoiling her view and her mood.

“Mr. Pokemon Master,” she acknowledged stiffly, craning her neck to try and see around him, a much more polite response than her initial instinct had attempted to pave for her.

Ash mirrored her movements, overtaking her view of the screen behind him, before thrusting a small box in her face.

“Ya wanna play a game with me?” he asked as she quirked a brow at the green tea flavored pocky he was holding.

“A… game? What game?”

“It’s called the Pocky Game!”

Whatever the redheaded gym trainer had been expecting, it wasn’t that. There was no way… Since when did Ash know anything about that?! And since when had he been brave or aware enough to request her compliance with such a thing?!

Somewhat delayed, she turned a wary and suspicious gaze on Brock and Tracey, who’d become mysteriously immersed in a conversation she couldn’t make out. Neither of them were looking at her… but she couldn’t tell if both of them were going out of their way to not look at her.

“Misty…?” Ash began awkwardly, and aforementioned teenage girl moved from her prone position so that she was sitting upright instead.

“Do you know what the Pocky Game is, Ash?” she had to ask, staring fervently at him as if daring him to lie.

“A - ah, yeah, o - o’course I do!” was his egoistic response as he stuck his nose high in the air, a slight blush clashing against his naturally dark complexion.

She’d had to double check. She’d had to be absolutely certain, of course… but hearing her best friend’s confirmation, she felt a soft, lofty flutter of hope drift through her as she raised her head so that they were staring evenly at each other.

Was it finally happening…?

Ash took her continued intense gaze as agreement to play the game, ripping the box of pocky open and removing the little foil wrapper inside, pulling it apart and extracting a single biscuit stick coated in mellow green and placing one end between his lips, inching forward so that she could take the other end into her own mouth.

Well… there was absolutely no misinterpreting this, was there?

The two of them began to nibble on their sides of the pocky biscuit, making minuscule advancement towards the center as seconds wore on. Misty was surprised to see Ash’s face contort in extreme focus as much as hers, impressed by his patience and fortitude. Sure, victory was one thing but she wasn’t willing to give up either and… if they both held on just a split second longer…

There was an unfamiliar brush against her lips. She blinked rapidly in panic, freckled skin draining of color and contrasting harshly with the rampant flush that infected her face as her lips fully met Ash’s before her eyes fluttered closed and she internally rejoiced.

Her quiet, intramural celebration was cut short when, after a respectable amount of time holding her position, she eased her eyes open… and was immediately caught off guard by Ash staring wildly back at her.

A resounding thought crashed down on her as they slowly drew apart from each other, breath so shallow she wasn’t sure it was enough to sustain consciousness much longer.

“You… didn’t know, did you?”

(Oh, look, another fic I’m gonna have to write a sequel for! Feel free to send in requests for it! I’m gonna try and knock out another one already in my inbox before the end of the night!)