#just as a character animator I really care about and love small details like this

[trollhunted]

Oh boy, now that I'm done with the rewatch it's time to air out some of the grievances I have with the writing choices made regarding the antagonists...

Starting off a little more positive – Merlin's portrayal worked fairly well overall as this arrogant manipulative old jerk of a wizard, who may have noble goals but achieves them via not so honorable methods in the name of the greater good.

It was a pretty good bait-and-switch with the way the show had built up this image of the mysterious and benevolent mage, but left enough hints to his true character via little details that quickly turn sour in hindsight once you've actually met him. He's not a villain, but they did make him a decent morally gray character in the few episodes he's around.

However, I think he should've been held more accountable for his actions and behavior, especially when his grand plan doesn't work out because he was too wrapped up in his own head to see the truth.

That leads me to Morgana, the big evil "mastermind" of the show. I have to say, I love how utterly unhinged they made her in the first half of season 3, though she loses some of that by the end of it. I don't really have many complaints about her as a villain, but rather like to nitpick aspects surrounding her character and some missed potential.

Design-wise I find her a little lackluster as someone called "the Eldritch Queen" and while it definitely was a fun idea to contrast Merlin's dark armor with all that gold, I believe they missed the mark a little. They should've gone a step further and contrasted the design even more by giving it a creepy and organic direction. Her "armor" could've been more insectoid and reminiscent of bones or dead wood.

Also, a small thing that always bothers me are the green accents on her, when that was being established as Merlin's color. It does connect them visually in a way, but mostly just feels out of place to me. Now, about that missed potential...

As a queen of shadows, I would've liked if they'd played up her insidious nature a little more. As Claire, instead of immediately trying (and badly failing) to kill the Trollhunter, they should've dragged out the possession a little. She could've used this position to destroy the team from within, test their limits, tear them apart to weaken their will, only to have it all backfire with how much they trust and care for each other. It would've paralleled Angor's approach, because considering his background, he must've picked up these methods from someone, no?

Another writing point that bothers me is her imprisonment. No matter how you look at it, sealing an ancient evil sorceress inside (or even near) the heartstone – a MAJOR source of pure energy – just sounds like an all around bad idea. Wouldn't it make sense for her to feed on that energy? And even if not that, shouldn't you be worried about her corrupting it??

I get that from an animation standpoint it's an extremely convenient way to have everything happening in one place, so you don't actually have to set up so many new assets, but man... it's just kind of stupid lol.

Honestly the way I would've rationalized this whole deal is: instead of having her sealed up in Arcadia Oaks, California of all places (why did they even end up there?) she could've been imprisoned within the previous Trollmarket in europe. Her and Gunmar have tried to bring about the Eternal Night before and almost succeeded, which led to the battle of Killahead, where both were sealed away.

Imagine Gunmar and his forces had taken the old Trollmarket and used its heartstone for that spell, draining it in the process. Although they were stopped and defeated, Trollmarket was destroyed and their rock of sustenance dead, which would prompt the trolls to leave and seek a new home across the globe.

Merlin could've trapped Morgana in the empty heartstone as a way to contain her powers, using the last of his magic. Maybe the reason he was so sure she would be weak and easy to vanquish after her imprisonment is because he had intended to slowly syphon her energy to empower himself and never considered that she would figure out how to reverse the spell to drain him instead.

And to add some flavor to this location, Morgana's presence could've twisted the old Trollmarket into something eery and barely recognizable, giving others reason to avoid this place. It could've served to show the heroes what may become of their beloved Trollmarket if Gunmar wins, given them more incentive to fight for what they have.

That's just an idea though.

Angor Rot was always a big pot of missed potential to me and his return in season 3 just ended up feeling, well, hollow lol. He was introduced as a great antagonist but in my honest opinion kinda fell off the moment they destroyed his soul and just turned him into an angry beast. Besides the overall bad taste it leaves behind, we really didn't need a Bular 2. And it's a little annoying they somewhat continued with that direction even when he was revived and supposedly got his soul back.

I like that they cared enough to dig a little into his conflicting emotions given his history & enslavement, but these moments should've been brought up in the climax of the first season. He should've regained his soul back then and suddenly be forced to reconcile with the atrocities committed in the name of his mistress. His revenge on Strickler should've conflicted with his newly regained conscience...

And, oh man, Strickler is a bit of an annoying case. It's kind of absurd to me that they would choose to give this man an easy "redemption" while tossing around Angor's corpse like that.

Angor Rot literally had his soul and autonomy taken from him and while these actions definitely twisted him throughout the ages, at the end of the day it was never his choice. Strickler was in a somewhat similar situation as a changeling made to serve Gunmar, but the major difference is that he did have a choice. Multiple even.

Even in his predicament, Angor chose to offer the Trollhunter a deal to free both of them of Strickler's control. Whether he actually would've honored that deal is hard to say, but I think even if he'd betrayed Jim's trust, it would've made for a good opportunity to speak of who he used to be and what he's become, and have his first real choice in centuries be to spare them.

Strickler on the other hand is far more vile and self-serving at his core. At first you could argue that it's mostly the (very real) threat of Bular breathing down his neck that pushes him to harm Jim despite his soft spot for the kid. But when both Bular and Gunmar are out of the picture, instead of using this freedom constructively, he doubles down on killing the Trollhunter while finding every opportunity to get under his skin.

This man literally chooses to continue beefing with a teenager and don't get me wrong, I love it. Comedy aside, it is genuinely a fun exploration of his character and what makes him work as a complex personal antagonist. But the fun quickly stops when they try to rush him into a lackluster "redemption arc" to get him on the main team.

I'm aware that tons of people love the stricklake pairing and "lady x monster man" is very much a del Toro staple, but I really don't think Strickler should've been "redeemed" given everything he did, there should've been FAR more serious repercussions. It would've made more sense to me to put him in a "reluctant, not entirely trustworthy, sort-of-ally" position than suddenly have him be one of the Good Guys because... romance?

Not to mention the quality of their writing and characterization took quite a dip to mend their relationship and make said last minute romance happen. The drama surrounding it was cheesed up to such a degree it felt like they were putting on a play and didn't tell anyone.

Nomura's turnaround makes perfect sense narratively speaking because she was a straight-forward, impersonal antagonist, who only began to sympathize with the enemy when they were forced into the same position and she had nothing left to lose. She probably gave Jim a few nightmares, but the Lakes don't have anywhere near the number of reasons to hate her as they should with Strickler.

Oh and on the topic of changelings, let's get to the Janus Order. In my honest opinion, I think the Order was an overall waste. What made the changelings fun to me was precisely how they jumped between playing human and the cruel brutality of their monstrous nature. They weren't really a blend of these two worlds, but rather just putting on an act.

That's what made examples like Strickler, Nomura, and NotEnrique emotionally toeing the line of what it means to be human so interesting. Because they aren't human, but have learned to love the world they live in. And it's also what would've made Jim's transformation so strange/special, because he actually would've embodied joining those worlds.

The Janus Order both visually and narratively throws a wrench into that for no reason. (And don't get me started on the whole "evil, politically powerful organization secretly controlling the world" deal..........)

The way I could actually see a point to that direction, is if it had been a relatively inconsequential side-plot where the Janus Order is more like a small-scale cult of humans or even low-grade sorcerers worshipping the Pale Lady. It could've been a one or two episode issue that would've mainly served to build up some lore & foreshadowing surrounding Morgana, before she would've made her big entrance in the third season.

Ah... and even Gunmar could've been handled much better in the later seasons. Bular isn't a perfect character, but he serves his purpose as the introductory villain fairly well and for a kids show like that, it's a sensible execution.

Gunmar's character started out very strong – as the presumed endboss, they combined Bular's intimidation factor and Strickler's conniving nature with him and added some class as a millennia old monster warlord. It works fantastically. While that image falls a little here and there, his portrayal in the Darklands still makes sense as someone who seemingly lost all hope and resigned himself to his eternal prison... and even then he displayed a malicious sort of patience by wanting to break Jim's spirit instead of simply killing him.

So for that to quickly turn into an impatient old man, who just barks out threats and orders and blindly follows whatever anyone tells him the moment he's on the surface... it, well, is pretty disappointing. It's understandable for Bular, the younger and less experienced son, to be rash and impatient, but a warlord? That's a position that requires a ton of patience and tactical prowess.

I really wish they would've kept the way he was presented in the first season and give us this big villain who's not only physically scary, but observational and dedicated enough to send Chompsky back with a message saying he'll kill all those Jim holds dear for killing his son and then listing literally everyone the kid knows.

Plus, his origin as some kind of actual monster born from a corrupted heartstone should've been explored! They could've gone into that endless hunger he apparently displays, that would've made him consume countless living creatures and even drain the magic energy out of crystals...

Instead we ended up with Bular 2 again, but even worse somehow, and it just made Gunmar about as threatening as a parked truck.

[artist-kreating-stuff]

Aw, thanks for the tag!

What’s the origin of your blog name?: It was originally something different, but that name was derived from two specific fandoms. As I started branching out into other fandoms, though, having a very specific name just didn’t seem right, so I changed it to a name that was a little more all-encompassing.

OTP(s) + Shipname: Dang, I have so many. First it was Jaya and Kailor from Ninjago. Then it was Shualt from Beyblade Burst. More recently, I’ve slowly been becoming more and more obsessed with Codywan from Clone Wars. Along with Rexiyo. They’ve kind of been growing on me.

Favorite color: Any shade of blue!

Favorite game: I don’t really play any games, but I do like to watch gameplays. Jacksepticeye and CoryxKenshin are my two current favorite gamers.

Song stuck in your head: Breathe by Olly Alexander.

Weirdest trait/habit: I pick my split ends. I’ve taken to having a pair of scissors next to me when I’m working so that I don’t damage my hair further.

Hobbies: Reading, writing, drawing, and scrolling through social media. Problem is I often can’t decide which one to focus on during my free time, so I more often then not revert to the fourth option.

If you work, what’s your profession?: I’m a kitchen worker. Trust me, it’s a very messy business.

If you could have any job you wish, what would it be?: My dream job is to be a writer/illustrator, who doesn’t necessarily make millions, but certainly makes enough to keep herself comfortable.

Something you’re good at: I’ve been told my drawings and short stories are good.

Something you’re bad at: ANYTHING WITH NUMBERS.

Something you love: My family, hanging out, not a care in the world.

Something you could talk about for hours off the cuff: THE CLONES OF THE REPUBLIC. I WILL SPEAK AT LENGTH ABOUT HOW THEY DESERVED BETTER.

Something you hate: ANYTHING WITH NUMBERS.

Something you collect: I’m kind of embarrassed to say this, but I take screenshots of fanfics that I like so that I don’t have to scroll through dozens of media just to find it again.

Something you forget: A lot of things. So many things that I forgot how long the list is.

What’s your love language?: I don’t have a partner at the moment, but if I had one, I’d say small moments together and small gifts.

Favorite movie/show: Clue. It was the first true mystery classic that my parents introduced me to and still makes me laugh to this day.

Favorite food: Anything with pasta. Love me a bowl of noodles!

Favorite animal: Dogs. They’re too good for us, even though they (mine in particular) drive us crazy.

What were you like as a child?: Very very weird and naive. I said the weirdest things and thought they were the truth. Probably made my parents very concerned a few times.

Favorite subject at school: English or Art. I loved having an excuse to stare at paper for a while.

Least favorite subject: ANYTHING WITH NUMBERS.

What’s your best character trait?: Connect with me on my fixations, and I will be your friend for life.

What’s your worst character trait?: I hate to admit it, but I’m selfish. When I’m put in a situation, I’ll consider the other party, but I’ll also think about how I play into it.

If you could change any detail of your life right now, what would it be?: I’d be less dependent on others and more dependent on myself.

If you could travel in time, who would you like to meet?: Amelia Earhart. I’d like to meet the woman paved the way for women everywhere before she, you know, vanished off the face of the Earth.

Tag as many mutuals as you want! (no pressure): @littledudeholland @pixanefan @give-me-your-heart @mellow-lynx and whoever else wants to join!

Get to know your mutuals!

What's the origin of your blog title? When I was in middle school, someone told me "you dress so goth, but your personality is so happy. You're like a really cheerful grim reaper. A joyful soul collector." And that's been my username for most everything ever since!

OTP(s) + Shipname: Oooh, right now it's Jayvik, and tbh I can't think of another one, this is one of the first ships I've been really really into tbh. Other dynamics focused on my blog have actually been more platonic, like Irondad

Favorite color: Red!

Favorite game: Dungeons and Dragons! Both as a player, and DM!

Song stuck in your head: The Challenge - EPIC

Weirdest habit/trait? I download thousands of still frames of tv shows that I love so I can make memes out of them. But I have to sift through and delete all the pictures that are blurry or unnecessary, which takes hours. I think it's super fun because I'm autistic and really enjoy sorting stuff lol

Hobbies: Writing, playing DnD, making memes, and hanging out with my friends!

If you work, what's your profession? Not so much a profession lol, I work at a toy store. It's a part time job while I'm in college, studying to be a radiologist!

If you could have any job you wish, what would it be? Realistically? Radiologist. But ANY job I wish? Professional DM or Professional DnD player, like the people on Dropout or Critical Role haha

Something you're good at: I'm good at writing stories! I can write them well and write things that make people feel deep emotions, and I like that.

Something you're bad at: Recognizing when someone doesn't want help haha. I tend to try and fix things or help people when they just want to vent, and it ends up frustrating for both of us.

Something you love: I love stories. Any kind, I love so so many

Something you could talk about for hours off the cuff: My favorite shows and stories, my dnd campaigns and characters, my stories and ideas

Something you hate: Fascism. Bigotry. Willful ignorance. Fearmongering. Propaganda.

Something you collect: Dice!! I'm a dice goblin for sure haha

Something you forget: I often forget chores unfortunately

What's your love language? Physical touch and acts of service

Favorite movie/show: Ooh right now it's definitely Arcane haha

Favorite food: Sushi!

Favorite animal: Cats!

What were you like as a child? In a word? Unwell haha. I'm a good bit better now, still struggling with a lot, but better than I used to do

Favorite subject at school? English, I was always good at that class

Least favorite subject: Chemistry. I hate that shit so much lol

What's your best character trait? I think that I'm kind and willing to stand up for others

What's your worst character trait? I can be disrespectful to some types of spirituality unfortunately. It just doesn't make logical sense to me. I have two friends that are fully convinced that a cursed doll gave some youtuber testicular cancer. And I just can't see the logic or critical thought in that

If you could change any detail of your life right now, what would it be? Mmm. All of fascism shit is definitely damaging my calm so I'd love to change that specifically

If you could travel in time, who would you like to meet? Harry Allen. Google him he's a badass transgender cowboy

Tag as as many mutuals as you want!!

@sb-essebi @glitternightingale @blatterpussbunnyfromhell @captainhollowstories @kydrogendragon @misforvendetta @poetryinmotion-author @bocularteletheric @kai-ovillager @thatoneneuvichiliauthor @4amarcanethoughts @alexspearsxoxo @kotonni @buckybucananbarnes @kakesuwolf @martybaker @patheticjayce @sleepycrowhours @aixabi @up-the-bracket @snoopyviktor @emdashflower @humanshapedstress @hellsalore @juuzousmom @softandslow @fangirlshenanigans04 @batmans-attic @lvrstrsh @bluemoyai @tearexxwrites @bodyofvvater @lifeandeathepub @areesespiece @lancesblueazaleas @monaisme @milkywaysipper @carmendyy @tseecka @heazueken @tophat-69 @velocitychroma @prjctdiva @gremlinofchaos @ourvectorviktor @kenjinx @jxmimac @gh0stedvhampir @voxconcordia @arcaneheraldslawyer

ngl I tried to tag ALL my mutuals that I have, but this was how many it allowed me to do before it made me stop lol so here's as many as I could fit!

[snakeeyesdraws]

Overly Analyzing the Super Mario 3D World story intro

So I've been playing Super Mario 3D World a lot, and since I haven't seen many people talk about the opening cutscene, I wanted to do that since it contains a lot of very cute animations!

This will kinda be a scene by scene analysis with me just pointing out things I like, but if you'd like to see the full cutscene in better quality than my screenshots, you can watch it here!

The scene starts off with all of the main playable characters going for a walk under a starry sky filled with fireworks. I know blue/yellow Toads have been staples of Mario games now, since they colour code the main characters and Mario is obviously red, but its does delight me that Blue Toad is just invited on this little walk with them.

(Also if you listen closely, you can hear Mario say "Ah Princess, what a beautiful evening!" and I thought that was cute)

Their walk is interrupted by Toad noticing something offscreen, and they run ahead to see a broken pipe in the middle of the path! Mario and Luigi closely examine it, and then we get...

ACTUAL PLUMBING FROM THE SUPER MARIO BROS!

Real talk, the more the series goes on the less relevant their status as plumbers often becomes, so anything that references it or shows them actually using their plumbing skills makes me so happy. And their tools are colour coordinated!

A bunch of power ups and the green Sprixie Princess pop out, and we get some classic 2d artwork, which I absolutely adore. More of this in every 3d game, please.

The ground and pipe start rumbling, and this is where I really wanna focus on the character animation of the main four here. All four of them start looking around for the source of the tremors, and we see both Peach and Luigi lifting their hands up, Luigi looking more anxious.

Bowser suddenly pops out of the pipe and roars, startling all four main characters. We can see very different reactions from all of them.

Toad and Peach jump before covering their ears, very clearly intimidated by Bowser's roar.

Luigi is the only one to fall over completely from Bowser's appearance. He stays on the ground and holds one hand up in front of his face, flinching when Bowser roars. Dude is clearly terrified by Bowser.

Mario does jump in surprise when Bowser pops up, but he's the only one who doesn't cower when Bowser roars. Instead, he immediately gets into a confrontational pose, with one hand held out protectively towards Peach. This isn't his first time dealing with Bowser, obviously, and his instincts are to prepare for a fight and to protect Peach.

However, Bowser's target this time isn't Peach, but instead the green Sprixie Princess. A lot of people poke fun at the set up for this game - "if Princess Peach isn't in danger, why do any of them care?" - but I always like when Mario & Luigi and the others try to rescue others simply because it's the right thing to do.

Bowser turns to glare at Peach and Mario, taunting them to react. Peach and Mario are both upset by the capture of the Sprixie Princess, but neither react too strongly to Bowser. Both of them have interacted with him enough to know what he's like.

Conversely, both Luigi and Blue Toad react much more when Bowser turns to them. Blue Toad stumbles onto one foot, while Luigi cowers back further, keeping his hand raised defensively, which seems to be a common mannerism of his when he's frightened. Bowser seems to be grinning a bit more in this pose, as if he knows he can get a bigger reaction out of these two.

When Bowser disappears down the pipe, all four of them regain their bearings and jump back up, reaching out for the green Sprixie Princess.

Peach is the first one to rush forward to the pipe. She sort of flounders on the edge of the pipe before she slips down it - yeah, I don't think she had a game plan there outside of trying to rescue the green Sprixie Princess. But proactive Peach being included on the adventure is always a win!

Before Luigi even lands his startled jump, Mario is already rushing forward to follow Peach down the pipe, and Toad is right behind him. I'd say it's out of mostly courage on Mario's end, and mostly out of loyalty to the princess on Toad's.

Then we get to my favourite animation of this scene (can you tell I'm biased?)

While Mario and Toad follow Peach down the pipe, Luigi pulls himself together and slaps his cheeks twice to hype himself up. It's one of my favourite quirks for characters to do, and it's doubly endearing on characters who are timid in nature. Luigi was arguably the most started and scared by Bowser's appearance, but he knows he has to do something! Totally adopting this as a common mannerism of his

Luigi then follows the others down the pipe, and they travel to the first world of the game, bringing the opening cutscene to a close.

Fun fact; since I've only ever played this game solo, and since I main Luigi, I assumed that his animation of landing on his stomach outside of the pipe was unique to him, since he's established as quite clumsy.

But in 4 player mode, you can see all of them coming out of the pipe together, and Mario lands on his stomach too. Just thought that was a cute detail.

So that's the opening cutscene of Super Mario 3D World! It's not terribly complex, but I've always adored it for showcasing a lot of personality with the main characters, and since I didn't really see any discussions on it, I wanted to highlight it!

I do recommend you watch the cutscene since a lot of the nuances and details can't be shown in screenshots - or better yet, play the game yourself! It's a ton of fun ^^

[elmushterri]

I filled an entire page of my sketchbook with Nori!

I love them sm!!! This has to be one of my favorite of your rewrites, I seriously did not think I could actually care abt PJ Masks past the age of 6 but now I'm obsessed 😭

On another note, just a random thing I'm curious about, before breaking off from GunnTech, did the main three basically live at the facility since they were initiated? I guess they do from what I’ve seen, but I was just wondering if they ever had to go to like. School or something, when they're not training. And if they ever got to see their family again (though I doubt both the kids and their family would want to lol)

And one more thing, totally important and necessary to ask, how does Nori acquire the kids? (..that doesnt sound right)

Like does he break in to the facility from time to time or did they just bring them with him when they left GunnTech or does he take them in when he finds them just out and about??

NORI… OUR FAVOURITE PROBLEM! The way you draw eyes scratches my brain /positive.

I think the idea is that everyone does live at GunnTech, they have rooms and go to school. GunnTech also has a prison somewhere (like, sci fi, clean, sterile white prison, a glass front-wall for cells instead of bars, and that’s where everyone gets put in Season 4. But, before that, when the main three villains (or at least, just Luna and Nori) escaped, it wasn’t totally locked down so they had to walk out suspiciously/tell the security guards reasons (you need to give reasons when leaving GunnTech so, “I’m hanging out with a friend” comes with ‘who is the friend + give us contact details’) and then probably remove a tracker (unsure as to whether the wristbands are the trackers or the trackers are put into their chest implants), and try to avoid getting caught for the rest of the time (until season 3-4 ofc). The main story probably begins with the three MCs trying to find them and bring them back. Romeo’s wanted cause he stole tech, though, he’s not a mutant.

Nori risks his life basically (not literally but he risks huge punishment) by constantly breaking into the facility to get out new kids. Kids who haven’t yet been mutated all have one room (several large rooms for many kids’ bunk beds basically, not literally one big room 😭) and he goes in and saves one or two each time. Some kids don’t *want* to come with him, thinking this is a cool superhero opportunity. He has an easier time helping kids who are scared and having second thoughts. He’s very gentle.

Also reminder that Nori had their finger prints burned off yipeeee. He’s not letting that happen to the others. (It doesn’t happen to every kid, but GunnTech probably has categories (like, heroes: animals, space, spies, drivers, healers?) and if you’re in the (name is a work in progress) Spies Category (stealth category?) like Nori, you get your finger prints burned off.

Daisy is canonically one of the only two Ninjalino names we know! I might make her into a small side character so that art isn’t 100% solid but eh!

Also he can’t really just “take them back to their parents”. If you’re a child at GunnTech, your parents either gave you away for money or you’re an orphan.

Nori’s usually a sassy ‘problem’ but they have their really serious and gentle moments.

[nerokoma]

heads up! – chat, am i cooked? (19/30)

1.5k wc

If it weren’t for the intense dryness in his throat that felt like someone was clawing at his insides, Kuroo would be fast asleep. Unfortunately, he found himself wandering the school late at night, the sounds of his footsteps echoing the hallways as he used his phone’s flashlight to guide his way. He could’ve just borrowed one of the others’ water bottles, but on the chance that he was actually sick, he didn’t want to risk passing his germs onto anyone else.

The only water dispenser in the school was located in the cafeteria, though as Kuroo turned down the hallway leading up to it, he immediately caught sight of the light emitting through the gaps in the doorway. Frowning, he slowed his approach to a tiptoe, carefully making his way inch-by-inch while trying to soften the sound of his footsteps as best he could.

He stopped in front of the doorway, peering through the glass. Although foggy, he could barely make out the figure of a person sitting at one of the desks. Curious, Kuroo slowly slid the door open and silently stepped into the cafeteria.

“Y/N?” his voice sounded before he could fully react. You jumped at the sound, immediately whipping your head around with wide eyes.

“Jeez, you scared the shit out of me,” you said, a small laugh escaping your lips as Kuroo approached.

“Could say the same for you.” He drew closer, placing one hand on the desk as he leaned over your shoulder to take a look at what you were working on. Though as he did so, you immediately flipped the paper over, using your arm to shield the contents from his prying eyes.

“Sorry, secret.”

Kuroo raised an eyebrow, letting out a chuckle. “I don’t judge. You could be writing fanfiction about anime characters for all I care.” He glanced over and tilted his head slightly. “You don’t have to tell me what you’re working on. But I would like to know why you’re working on it in the middle of the night.”

You stared down at your concealed papers for a few seconds, eventually letting out a sigh. You moved your arm, allowing Kuroo to see the messy handwriting scribbled across the pages.

“They’re guides for the future,” you said, taking a page and handing it to him. Kuroo looked over the sheet of paper, eyebrows raising as he nodded. “When Yoko and I first became managers, there was no previous manager to train us. It was really hard because we had to figure out everything on our own. We’re trying to prepare Yachi as best we can, but I can’t help but worry about her. I at least had Yoko with me to bear some of the burden, but Yachi’s all on her own.”

“These are really detailed,” Kuroo commented, omitting the fact that he couldn’t decipher some parts of your handwriting. ”But isn’t this something both of you guys should be doing together?”

You pursed your lips. “Yoko’s already doing so much. She’s a lot more organized than I am when it comes to training, so I thought that this would be the best way for me to contribute since I’m not really helping otherwise.” A frown made its way onto Kuroo’s face as he pulled out a chair, taking a seat beside you.

“What are you talking about? You help Karasuno so much.”

You let out a single laugh. “I try, but I’d honestly be a mess without Yoko. She really picks up for me on the parts I’m lacking.”

“I think you’re selling yourself short,” Kuroo said. “Just from what I’ve seen, you’re always there for your team with whatever they need— and I’m not just talking about snacks.” A small smile made its way onto his face. “I’ve witnessed firsthand how much your team loves you, and you’re a big part of why they’re so determined to succeed.”

“I am still so sorry about the quote retweets,” you laughed, making Kuroo chuckle as well.

“I’m serious though. Karasuno wouldn’t have succeeded if they didn’t have such great managers backing them up. And sure, you might not be ‘the perfect manager’ or whatever you say, but you’re a pretty damn good one, and they’re lucky to have you.”

You looked over at the boy, meeting his gaze. After a couple seconds, you let out a chuckle, nodding. “Alright, alright. Thank you for the ego boost.” You glanced over at the countless sheets of paper spread across the desk, letting out a sigh. “I should really finish these—”

“I heard that the managers have to wake up extra early to help with breakfast,” Kuroo said, cutting you off. “Might be a good time to hit the hay, don’t you think?” You narrowed your eyes, staring at the desk for a couple seconds, which prompted Kuroo to speak up again. “I promise the guides will still be there when you get back to them, but I don’t think Yachi would be happy to know you’re neglecting your health for her.”

After a couple more seconds of contemplating, you eventually let out a sigh and nod. As you began compiling all your papers into a somewhat neat pile, Kuroo took the initiative of gathering all your stationery and placing them back into your pencil case. He zipped up the case and placed it in front of you with a smile.

You looked up at him curiously. “So why are you here in the middle of the night?”

“Dehydration.” He held up his water bottle with a chuckle. “Let me go grab water real quick.”

Without waiting for a response, he walked over to the water dispenser and filled his bottle. By the time he was done, you had already packed up all your things and were waiting for him at the entrance of the cafeteria.

You exited the cafeteria first, Kuroo following close behind and closing the door as he stepped out. The two of you began walking the dark hallway together, illuminated by the small light from Kuroo’s phone.

“Do you know what you’re planning on doing after high school?” Kuroo asked, his voice barely above a whisper, though it felt ten times louder in the complete silence of the hallway.

You just shook your head. “I haven’t even thought about it yet, and I honestly don’t really want to.” You glanced over at him, tilting your head slightly. “What about you? Are you going to keep playing volleyball after high school?”

Kuroo shook his head, causing you to raise your eyebrows in surprise. “I’ll definitely play for fun; maybe go to drop-ins at the rec centre if I have time, but I don’t think I’m built for the pro-player life.” He looked over at you, laughing when he saw the look on your face. “I know, I know. I live, eat and breathe volleyball, but I feel like there’s another way for me to pursue my love for it without being on the court.” He shrugged. “I’ll figure that part out eventually.”

You smiled, nodding at the boy as you continued to walk, though Kuroo picked up on the slight strain in your expression. “Everyone else seems to already have their whole lives figured out. Suga’s going to school to be a teacher, Daichi wants to go into law enforcement, and Yoko and Asahi have already picked out the schools they want to attend. It hasn’t fully hit yet that in a couple months, we’ll all be going on our own paths.”

“And you’re afraid of being left behind?” Kuroo asked softly, studying your reaction. You pressed your lips together, giving a small nod. “It’s ok to not have figured out what you want to do yet. I think it’s better to wait and find out what you love doing instead of getting stuck doing something you hate.”

“I guess I just don’t want to make the wrong decision and end up regretting my choices,” you said with a shrug.

“I don’t think there are any wrong decisions,” Kuroo said. “Just learning opportunities. At least after, you’ll know what you don’t want to do, and that’s better than not knowing anything at all.” He suddenly stopped in his tracks, glancing at the door in front of him. “Well, this is your stop, isn’t it?”

You glanced at the door in front of you, not having even realized that he’d walked with you straight to the room that all the managers were staying in. Turning to the boy, heat rose to your face as you smiled at him.

“Thank you, Kuroo,” you said, blinking gratefully. “Not just for walking me back, but for everything else.”

Kuroo smiled back, nodding. “Good night, YN.”

You opened the door to the room, glancing back at the boy and nodding. “Good night, Kuroo.”

Stepping into the room, you closed the door behind you. A quiet sigh left your lips as you listened to the sound of his footsteps growing fainter on the other side of the door.

Well shit.

kuroo’s got his priorities straight: make the battle at the garbage dump happen, win nationals, go to university, and maybe win the heart of the rival team’s cute manager along the way.

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[puranami]

✿ It's The Little Things - 3 ✿

A/N: @leafyturtle come get y'all Franky and Robin fluff! I'm excited for this one, lotsa faves in here >:3c

Summary: Little relationship things with (currently) anime/manga exclusives ✿

Characters: Franky, Robin, Law, Kid, Killer

Content: SFW, G/N reader, language in Kid's (bc it's Kid lol) bottomless fluff ✿

(Part 1 - Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji) (Part 2 - Buggy, Shanks, Mihawk) (Part 4 - Crocodile, Rosinante, Doflamingo)

Franky

✿ Multiply his self-aggrandizing by 100, and that's how he sees you; he is your personal hype man! Every single insecurity, no matter how big or small, will be kissed away, because you are perfect, and you should definitely tell people as such. Wait, you're too shy and don't want to? No worries, Franky's got you, and he'll tell everyone himself. Loudly. No, he won't stop or tone it down; "The world needs to know how super you are!" He loves when you hype him up in turn, and uses it to show you how great self confidence is; and it will rub off on you. He's so proud when you declare how amazing you are, even if it's just to him! "AOW! That's right, babe, you are amazing!" He'll pick you up in those huge, strong arms of his, practically crushing you in a bear hug.

✿ Franky loves to make you any and all gadgets he thinks you'd like, or need. Just as he is constantly upgrading his body, he develops and re-develops things that make your life easier, or that bit cooler! While he likes to surprise you with them, seeing how your eyes light up in wonder as he shows you how it works, he loves it even more when you're involved in the building process; brainstorming ideas, designing, picking out the colour palette, he'll even let you use a blowtorch, just, please be careful, wait what was that twinkle of mischief in your eyes? Okay, no more blowtorch - leave it to the pro! It would kill him if you got hurt on his watch, he's meant to protect you!

✿ He's made up a comfy little alcove in his workshop so you can keep him company while he's working. Soft cushions, blankets, lights so can work on your own hobbies, it's perfect! Even when you were just friends, you were always welcome there, and it's become your little safe space. It's comfy enough to fall asleep there when Franky works late, and he even modified it so that there is room for him to sleep there too. While hanging out, you'll talk about everything, and nothing, what you're both working on, or you'll simply listen to music and enjoy each others presence, and that often leads to loud singing, especially on Franky's part. He'll share his cola with you too, you just bring the snacks - can't work on an empty stomach after all!

Robin

✿ Robin is very calm and reserved, especially compared to the rest of the crew, so her way of showing affection follows the same pattern. She'll put a gentle hand on your arm, and touch your foreheads together, but her favourite thing to do is to grow an arm out of your own, reaching down to hold your hand, all while on the other side of the room, smiling to herself. If your eyes are sharp, you'll catch the delicate blush on her cheeks when you bring your arm up to kiss her hand, or gently hold it to your cheek. She'll also make a pair of arms to wrap around your waist, or shoulders if you're sat down. She'll hold you personally too, but that is saved for your private quarters or the library.

✿ Part of her flirting is making dark comments and jokes; "I know the best way to your heart, dear." - "Through my stomach?" - "Oh no, that's not very efficient! It's anywhere between the 2nd and 4th ribs." She'll say it with such a loving gaze and gentle smile, and if you didn't know Robin better, you'd be worried she was plotting your murder, but that's just how she is, and you love her for it. She will also tell you all the gruesome details she finds in her books and research. Part of you suspects that she's purposefully trying to spook you so she can comfort you, but really she just finds these thing fascinating. Robin will be ecstatic if you can match her gallows humour, or if you have morbid facts of your own you can share with her.

✿ She takes great comfort in the fact that you love her unconditionally, and that you have always accepted her as she is, morbid interests, and former associations included, and she makes sure that you know she loves you all the same, no matter your quirks, flaws, and mistakes, for that is the beauty of love! You are each others port in the unrelenting storm of life.

Law

✿ Law is so used to losing the people he loves most, so for him to open up, it will take a lot of time, patience, and understanding. You can't push him on things, and will have to wait for him to come to you - he needs to feel like he has some control over the situation so he can make better judgement calls, and do something if it all goes wrong. It's nothing personal, he just doesn't want to helplessly watch his world fall apart again; he's older, smarter, and much stronger now, he will keep those he cares about safe. Once he's at that point where he feels like he's ready to be open and honest, he is completely dedicated and doggedly loyal, though he isn't very expressive with it.

✿ He shows his love through acts of service; making sure you are eating and sleeping well, tending any injuries you get in day to day life, moving you if you've fallen asleep in a weird place or position so you don't get any aches and pains, or catch a cold. Law hopes that you can feel the love he has for you in each action. He just wants to know you are healthy and well so he doesn't need to worry about you. Well, he says that, but he still worries, he can't help it. You'll need to use his own tactics against him to make sure he actually sleeps and eats instead of just working. It won't always work, sometimes he's working on things that are far too important, but he will relent otherwise.

✿ PDA is not a thing for him. At all. It's almost like he doesn't want to jinx things with the world seeing he has entrusted his heart with another again. On the Polar Tang, when it's just you and the crew, he'll be a little more open, placing a hand on your head or shoulder, matching your pace as he walks beside you, slightly gentler eyes, and the hint of a smile; so subtle, yet the crew sees right through him, and they like to tease you both. Nothing serious, but it still gets them the worst chores in response. In private, when you are alone is the only time will he allow himself to be vulnerable.

Kid

✿ Given how intense and aggressive he is, you have the patience of a goddamn saint, and guts to back you up. He refuses to lessen himself for anyone; he is who he is, and you can either accept it and embrace him fully, or you can, in his words, "Fuck right off!" It will take a lot to break through the immense barriers he has - he will shout, argue, insult, and to get through, you have to be able to withstand that without crumbling. Shout back! Show him you're not gonna let anyone walk all over you, not even him, earn his respect, then you can build up from there. Once you've wormed your way into that exclusive club of 'We aren't Killer, but Kid still cares about us," he will be ride or die with you, and when he realises he genuinely likes you, or hell, even loves you, he would burn down the world for you if you asked him to.

✿ Out in public, you get no special treatment. It's just safer that way. He can't afford to be looking over his shoulder every other minute to make sure no one is trying to get to him through you. He'll still keep an eye on you of course, but it's indistinguishable from him watching over the rest of the crew. On the Victoria Punk he will be possessive, but not affectionate. Kid will keep you by his side, or drag you onto his lap, just generally manhandling you really, there will be no mistaking who you belong to. Once you're alone he will actually soften up; he knows he's a lot, and he cares deep down, but he's still in charge, he is your captain after all. You should take advantage of this time to get all the affection out of him that you can!

✿ You're one of the few that are actually allowed to hang in his workshop, as long as you don't bother him. He'll entertain some conversation if he's just setting up, or having a break, but once he's in the zone, zip it. He's fine with you watching him work - he's good at what he does and he knows it, but seeing the admiration in your eyes is a nice ego boost. He'll make you things if the mood hits him, particularly bits of jewellery, as it makes it easier to manhandle you from the other side of the room. He's a busy man, he doesn't want to wait for you to look his way and walk over, he wants your attention now!

Killer

✿ Like Kid, Killer has a tendency to manhandle, but it's not nearly as aggressive; he's a big guy with big, strong muscles, and he just enjoys hauling you around like a sack of potatoes. It gives him the opportunity to hold you close, 'accidentally' touch your butt, and your laughter through it all is just so sweet. He greatly enjoys your presence when he's going about his day, and deeply appreciates any assistance you can offer, such as in the kitchen, and certainly when trying to manage his idiot best friend and crew, as he's essentially the de facto caretaker on board. Often you'll end up sat on his shoulders, acting as an extra pair of eyes and hands - no shenanigans go unnoticed!

✿ You have become an expert at reading Killer's moods and expressions through his mask, every slight shift of his body, and the angle of his head has a very specific meaning. It doesn't help that he's a quiet man in general; balancing Kid's incessant ranting and raving with his well thought out, straight to the point statements. He much prefers to listen to you talk, only talking when he has something to add to the mostly one-sided conversation. He loves having these 'chats' with you sat in his lap, head resting against his broad chest. Sometimes his goatee will tickle the top of your head, and he lives for those giggles.

✿ It will take a long time for him to feel comfortable enough to remove his mask, and you can bet he refuses to laugh around you for the longest time. Just be patient with him, and let him do things when he's ready, and don't make a big deal out of it if something slips; he'll be pretty mortified, so just giving him a loving smile and a gentle touch will reassure him that maybe the things he's insecure about, or straight up hates, aren't as big an issue as he believes them to be. Telling him he is perfect is appreciated, but not effective in building him up, since nothing is perfect really, but seeing you love him unconditionally certainly will give him a boost.

[transmascaraa]

Reader being sad cause they can't have an animal they love, and they need comfort cuz big sad awehh :(

(example - reader wants a cat but has cat allergy)

multiple characters headcannons!

not allowed.(not a tv girl reference btw)

characters: lyney, gaming, wanderer x gn!reader

author's note: WOAH I GOT THE MOTIVATION TO WRITE SOMETHING. anyways basically your parents don't allow you to have a pet of your choice blah blah blah yk how it is i hope🤷‍♂️ ENJOYY

๑ Lyney

-he will literally want any animal that you want just because it's you who wants it.

-and after seeing you come to him on a random sunday at 16:07 seemingly sad about something, he immediately welcomes you in his home and lets you get comfortable.

-he doesn't rush you or anything, he'll let you calm down first.

-he's gonna bring you a cup of water, or tea, or coffee, whichever you prefer.

-after you talk vent to him about what's worrying you, he's quick to think of a solution.

-"awh.. your parents really are strict... hmm.... how about.." and then it's almost like a lightbulb appeared above his head.

-"i know! i'll buy you the pet that you want, and it'll stay at my place, how does that sound? your parents don't have to know A SINGLE THING." he really wanted you to feel better.

-"but what about Lynette and Freminet-"

-"they'll get used to it eventually!"

-there's no point in arguing with him, he'll do it anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

✧ Gaming

-now, if you came to him to tell him about your situation, the outcome would be pretty similar.

-he'll welcome you with open arms inside the warmth of his home.

-he will bring you something to drink, something to eat, preferably some small snack or chocolate bar, as he patiently waits for you to calm down.

-as you finally finish and feel calmer, you tell him about your situation and tell him that you're looking for a solution in some way.

-with that, he puts his hand on his chin and thinks thoroughly about the problem.

-once he comes up with an idea, he will explain it to you in great detail.

-"hmm... maybe you could keep the pet at my place? y'know, it would probably get along with man chai, so it wouldn't be lonely! and of course, whenever you wish to visit, know that it'll be well-fed and never be bored!"

-after a bit of thinking, you finally speak.

-"that's... a good idea, gaming. sure! thank you so much! you're a lifesaver!"

-he hugged you softly.

-"of course, [name], as long as you're happy!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♡ Wanderer

-uhhhh idk what to tell you at first

-he's gonna be confused at first as to why you're so sad over to being able to have a random animal as your pet

-more importantly confused as to why you're coming to him out of all people

-but okay.

-he will listen to all of your vents and rants intently, waiting for you to finish.

-"okay. and what am i supposed to do about it?"(he was half-joking)

-"are you gonna help me in any way? can i like- buy the pet and you keep it at your place? you'll have to take care of it but i promise i'll come over as much as i can!"

-"are you insane-"

-"PLEASEEEE-"

-"FINE."

-"oh my archons, thank you so much, wanderer!" as you hugged him tight.

-"well, it's the most i can do i suppose. by the way, what's your parents' address?-"

-"NO."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i really like this one

i hope i'll have more motivation soon lmfao

doesn't matter hopefully y'all liked this lol

| @keeyisbored | @mariaace <3

[bluebasie]

Hashira Character Analysis Sexuality head canons!!

Since the canon sexualities of the Hashiras were never confirmed and will likely never be confirmed, I have taken it upon myself to come up with a sexuality head canon for each of them based on scenes from the anime, manga, and fan books, etc. This is a pretty large task and analyzing every piece of Demon Slayer media is a huge task so please forgive me if I miss a piece of information that could be interpreted as information suggesting a character’s preference for love! Keep in mind that these are just personal head canon that I wanted to share, and I will include some non-canon ships to show cases of interest. Also, disclaimer, I will not be adding a head canon for Muichiro because I genuinely don't know about him, and I don't think there is enough information about his character loving another and I also don't feel comfortable speculating about his sexuality given his age. But anyways, I will be using a series of quotes, scenes, and situations to come up with each potential sexuality for each Hashira and some may be more detailed than others due to a surplus of scenes or personal bias causing me to pay a little more attention to my favorites. Sorry in advance but I'll try and make it not as noticeable!

Starting with the Water Pillar, Tomioka Giyuu!

Starting off the bat, I really don't think that Tomioka has an interest in women. Let me explain. A huge example of this can be seen in Tomioka’s attitude towards a relationship between Shinazugawa Sanemi and Kocho Shinobu. From season one we can see Kocho’s attempts and friendship with Tomioka and just how unreceived they are despite Kocho's adamant insistence to the point of annoyance. While one could say that he just doesn't like her, it is mentioned during his soba eating contest with Tanjiro in the anime that he definitely does worry about her. Despite this he treats her like an annoyed older brother with an annoying younger sister who likes to pretend they don't care about each other but actually do. Regardless of this dynamic, Tomioka has made it clear he does not always enjoy her forced company, and he has clearly shown a reluctance to try and form a deeper bond with her. On the other hand, while Tomioka is known for being socially avoidant, he actively tries to befriend Shinazugawa where he genuinely breaks his emotionless mask that he's had on for years at the thought of closeness with Shinazugawa. He is shown to genuinely have a deep fascination with Sanemi as seen in his conversation with Tanjiro in the Light novels where they talk about Sanemi and a situation where he asked Giyuu out to eat and he rejected him because he had just eaten. After understanding why Shinazugawa had gotten angry afterwards, he smiles at the thought of Sanemi wanting to eat with him. There is also the fact that in the fanbook when it shows what each hashira thinks of each other for mitsuri it says that he thinks she shows too much skin implying that he thinks it unsafe for her without regard to the sexual implications of exposing her chest and legs due to the skirt. Also, it is said in an extra chapter looking at what each character was doing after the war, it is said that Giyuu and the Uzui family frequent the hot springs which if you didn't know are common in Japan to soak in without clothes. When in the panel at the hot springs it can be seen that Giyuu sits alone away from all of them. This again shows a small glimpse into his potential disinterest in women. Then there is the entire Sabito situation. While it is not said in Demon slayer that Giyuu and Sabito were romantically involved, it is implied throughout giyuu’s entire character story of the impact that Sabito and his death has had and continued to have on his life for years. Giyuu’s interest and want for closeness for both Sanemi and Sabito throughout the Franchise shows his preference for relationships with men rather than women in general. Because of this I would say that my head canon for Giyuu would be that he is definitely a gay man. I don't really think he’s bi just because of his lack of interest expressed in women at all in the entire franchise so I think he is exclusively attracted to men. However is implied in the final chapter that he had a ‘descendent’ implying that he ended up with a woman, he has other family as seen when we was taken away by extended family after his sister’s death and I frankly don't think it’s in character for Giyuu to find and leave a woman pregnant within the three to four years he has left with the demon mark seeing as he has little to no natural charisma and social skills as well as the fact that it would be terrible to leave a woman alone to raise a baby by herself with no close family in the 1920’s but I digress. Overall, I think that based on character interactions my final head canon for Giyuu is that he is gay.

Now onto my girl the Insect Pillar, Kocho Shinobu.

Throughout the franchise it is seen that Kocho seems to have no romantic attraction to any characters in the entire manga, anime, etc. She also is shown to have no want or need for romantic connection due to her priorities is not only demon slaying but also running a hospital and planning her own death after being blinded by the idea of revenge on the demon who had killed her sister. It is also seen that her character largely revolves around family unlike Giyuu’s character revolving around friendship/love for others. Shinobu’s motives and relationships revolve around her sisters, Kanae and Kanao, as well as Aoi and the butterfly triplets. She also seems to hold a connection with Inosuke as a sort of mother figure. Clearly, we can see that Shinobu places a higher emphasis on family, including found family, which shows her character prioritizing care for platonic relationships. She also seems to not care for romantic relationships for the future because she never planned a future for herself with her plan being to sacrifice herself to kill Douma to avenge Kanae. It is clearly shown that her priorities lay in the family she has collected over the years and creating justice for the family she has lost including her sister and the fact that her reasoning for becoming a demon slayer was the impact of her parents' death. Overall Shinobu does not have any romantic feelings for others being too clouded in her mission to kill the one who had killed her sister, and she never planned to find a partner one day due to the fact that she never planned for another day after the infinity castle. Because of her preference for platonic relationships, lack of interest in romance, and opposition to sexualizing herself as seen when she burns the original female uniform given to her, I think she is aromantic asexual. This head canon is very dear to me despite not actually being aroace myself because of her serious priority to her family that just isn't seen often in shonen media with girls who are never shown to be interested in romantic love and instead have their own story and goal to focus on. If you couldn't tell at this point, I really love Shinobu’s character.

Now I'm moving onto the Sound Pillar, Uzui Tengen.

To start us off with the obvious, Uzui is polygamous. This is cannon and not a head canon so we can add that as a fact so moving on to beyond his polygamous status I guess I am mainly interested in if he is only attracted to women or also men. Right off the bat, purely based on speculation, I would say that he would be open to something like that just due to his openness to ideas that were not common during this time period or in his communities as well as his preference for the extravagant, in his words flashy. This can not only be seen with his polygamous relationship but also with his insistence that his wives put their own lives before others which was practically unheard of in the shinobi communities that they all had grown up in. While this took a long time to adjust to for Suma, Makio, and Hinatsuru, Uzui was open to this new life priority seeing as he was the one who had come up with it. He is also seen to be open to multi-gendered bathing in the hot springs with his wives and Giyuu which could further the point that he has no preference for gender or things like that and that he just wants to have a flashy time. One final thing that could possibly point towards his lack of preference could maybe be the fact that he puts a lot of emphasis on his looks. While during this time period men usually didn't wear makeup, jewels, paint their nails, and wear shiny clothes, Uzui disregards social norms to be the best self that he can so this could possibly point towards his lack of care about love between the same gender because those things just would not matter to him. Because of his supposed ‘lack of care for gender’, I definitely think he likes both genders, but I also do think he has a slight preference for women for whatever reason due to the fact that he has three wives obviously. For Uzui’s final head canon, I would say that he’s bisexual with a slight preference for women.

Now going on to the Flame Pillar, Rengoku Kyojuro.

There also isn't much to see about relationships between Rengoku and other characters but based on his dedication to his family's traditions through Hashira lineage, breathing style, and estate, I do believe that if Rengoku was to stay alive that he would have wanted to find a wife and settle down at some point like his family before him. He is shown to love being around his mother and taking care of his brother so I can definitely see him growing to be a huge family man who just loves his wife a lot. There was a small quip in a fan book where Rengoko refers to Tomioka as handsome, but it honestly just felt like a supportive bro thing where he doesn't feel ashamed to compliment his friends. Rengoku’s relationship with mitsuri could be somewhat evidence that he does not feel much attraction for women but obviously he's not just going to be into every woman he sees, and he clearly views mitsuri as a younger sister. This only proves his family man status even more with his care to those who are younger than him. Due to his constant support of others and traditions of a traditional family I feel confident in saying that Rengoku is the number one Straight ally. He would totally be supportive if any of the Hashira ended up getting together with a person who is the same gender as themselves.

Moving on to the Wind Pillar, Shinazugawa Sanemi.

Shinazugawa is one of the characters who have seemed to show interest, whether romantic or other, but interest nonetheless in both men and women. It is seen in the fan books and the light novels that he was interested in Kocho Kanae when she was alive stating that being with her made him remember his mover and his infatuation with Tomioka over the span of the series with him getting distracted by the sound of his voice, getting visibly worked up over even the smallest of actions that he does, encouraging him in the war, and being seen having a close relationship after the final war arc. Sanemi is shown to be a very expressive individual who feels a lot of feelings towards others and some of those feelings I would say are feelings of attraction, infatuation, and even love. Sanemi is also shown to be very defensive of his feelings as seen when Tanjiro walks in on his and Tomioka’s fight which is seen to be very unguarded and raw with it being a direct expression of everything Sanemi was feeling and everything he wanted to express. However, when Tanjiro views this exchange Sanemi immediately jumps to the conclusion that Tanjiro was ‘spying on them’ as if this fight was meant to be hidden and private not for the eyes or knowledge of anybody besides Tomioka. It seems to me that Shinazugawa clearly knows what he feels about Giyuu and he is scared of it and tries to hide it from others and also himself. He ends up losing this guard after the war though when it is seen that he goes out to eat lunch with Giyuu after sorting out the miscommunication between them over the years. Because of his intense feelings towards people who are both genders, I would say that he is definitely bisexual. I don't know if he has a preference and what preference he would lean towards if he had one but for now I'm just going to say that he is bisexual.

Moving on to the Stone Pillar, Himejima Gyomei.

This one is pretty simple, I think. Gyomei is a Buddhist monk so that means he is celibate. This essentially means that he would not have a romantic partner or have children in an attempt to forward his path to enlightenment. He has never shown romantic interest in anyone throughout the span of the series, so I think it's safe to say that he is Unlabeled? I don't want to say that he is aroace because I don't know if he has romantic feelings but just doesn't act on them or if he doesn't have them at all, but I guess it would make sense if he was on the aroace spectrum. I think either aroace or unlabeled would work here and are headcanons that would make a lot of sense.

Next, we have the Love Pillar, Kanroji Mitsuri.

In connection to her breathing style, Mitsuri is a very expressive and loving person to people of all types. This does also include women as well. In her character introduction in the first season this is explicitly shown where after every character introduction of the other Hashiras Mitsuri would include a small quip about some words of admiration, she has for them including Shinobu. While Kanroji did join the Demon slayers for a husband, I think that she actually does have love for everyone regardless of gender and she just really wants a husband specifically because of social norms and the fact that she wants somebody who is stronger than her and while there are very few men who are stronger than her there are few women who fit that standard as well. Other than that, I don't think that the LOVE Hashira really has a preference for gender, and she just feels a small attraction towards everybody. I think that she could be pansexual or at least under the bisexual umbrella if anybody believes she has a preference towards one gender, but I think she just feels a good amount of love for everybody and everything with a high surplus for Iguro and therefore pansexual!

Finally, we've got the most difficult to understand in my opinion, The Serpent Hashira, Iguro Obanai. 

Iguro has got quite the history with a distaste towards women due to the trauma he had endured during his childhood. His lack of romantic affection had been carried with him for his entire life until meeting Mitsuri when he fell head over heels for her. Iguro’s love for mitsuri has frankly made it pretty difficult to understand or come up with a headcanon due to his disinterest in literally every one besides her. I don't think he would ever love another woman or show affection to another man which makes it difficult to come up with something. I guess I could say that he is unlabeled because he literally does not love anybody and has never loved anybody besides Mitsuri before. I could also say that he is Asexual because as seen in his entrapment, the fascination the snake demon had of him, her watching him at night, and his family overloading him with overwhelming food he did not want. This could all be seen as an allegory for sexual assault and/or grooming as a child and that might have caused him to want to avoid anything sexual and therefore I think it could be very possible that he could at least be under the asexual umbrella. 

That was a lot of writing so thank you if you read this far! Keep in mind that these are head canons and if you disagree on anything please don't start a war in the comments or anything. Please. Anyways I would love to hear your own head canons and what you think of this small character analysis! 

[dilly-dahlia]

The Guard at the Window

pairing: fem!reader x Laurance

content: tangled au, variation of Stockholm syndrome, emotional abuse, kind of slow burn for this being a one shot, they actually don't get together, the world of MCD but not canon compliant, not-so-meet-cute, enemies to lovers (?), vague allusions to a difficult past concerning the mother, use of y/n

summary: Being locked in a tower your whole life can put a damper on your mood. But when your knight in shining armor comes to rescue you, do you really want to go with him?

word count: 5.4k (i'm sorry everyone i got carried away)

masterlist

It was not a pleasant thing to be locked up in your tower.

Yes, you enjoyed the solitude it provided. You had read numerous history books about the horrible things people did beyond the walls, and your mother had told you in great detail the terrible things that had happened to her before she was blessed with you. She wanted to protect you from the troubles she had endured at your age, and you were content with that.

But you had read other stories. The fictional ones your mother brought you as a reward for taking such wonderful care of your tower while she was away were filled with magic. You were transported to another world when you opened the crisp pages, and you could devour those stories in hours.

Those were the stories that told you about love and its different forms. You had read about brave heroines creating everlasting bonds with the people they led or the animals they befriended. You read about relationships of unconditional trust in terrifying situations, and you had read about families that found each other in their darkest times.

But your favorites, as cliche as it may be, were the ones where two people fell in love.

You loved reading about the feelings that developed and the stolen kisses and the romantic outings. They always had you smiling uncontrollably and kicking your feet when you daydreamed about experiencing the same thing later.

You longed to know what it felt like to fall in love the same way the characters in your stories did. You yearned to feel that same flap of butterfly wings in your stomach and have your knees weak at the small action of a kiss. You found yourself fantasizing about it more often than you liked to admit, imagining how it would go.

Perhaps your mother would find a suitor for you. She would bring him up into your tower when she visited and introduce the two of you. She would tell you that he was a lord of high standing and nobility and he would sweep you off your feet.

Or maybe he would find himself at the base of your tower, where the two of you would raise your voices just to communicate with each other. He would catch you when you jumped out to join him and create a life together.

Or, since your birthday was coming up, it might be possible to ask your mother to take you out. You were no longer a little girl or a teenager and you could defend yourself. Surely she would see no problem and allow you to accompany her on her next trip. You would travel to a village that sold the finest silks and paints and meet him on the street corner.

Your mother had other plans.

"Leave the tower?" She didn't even look at you as she cleaned the apples in her basket, rubbing them with a rag until they reflected the candlelight. "And how would we get back up?"

You softly exhaled through your nose, beginning to run your fingers through your hair and ignoring the subtle throbbing in your head. "We can use the same way you used when you originally brought me here."

Your mother scoffed, turning her head to look at you. Her gaze followed your hands for a moment before you got the hint to stop. She didn't like when you played with your hair. She always said it would cause stress and make you lose it.

"Darling," she began, her voice honeyed, "the way I used to get you up here is now so overgrown it's hardly usable anymore. Besides, I don't even remember where the door is."

When she turned her attention back to the apples and began cutting them up, you rolled your eyes. You opened your mouth to say something, but your mother kept talking, drowning the thoughts you were going to voice.

"It's a dangerous world out there, darling. You wouldn't like it. This meadow around the tower is the only safe haven I've found to protect you, and I refuse to put your safety in jeopardy just because you want to see beyond the walls."

This time, you didn't hide your discontent. You groaned and came up behind your mother, wrapping your arms around her body and resting your chin on her shoulder. She was a bit taller than you, so it was uncomfortable and you had to stand on your tiptoes.

"Please, mother. It's for my birthday."

"Yes, yes, darling. Your twenty-fourth, if I recall correctly." It was your twenty-third. "Quite a large number to celebrate. Oh, my baby's getting old."

She hummed as she reached up and pinched your cheek, her focus hardly faltering as she continued to cut up the fruit in her basket. The action left remnants of the sugared juice on your cheek, and you pulled away to wipe it off with the back of your hand.

"Mother, I'm not a little girl anymore. I can protect myself now."

"My answer is no, Y/n," she snapped. She turned her head once again to face you, and her gaze was so burning it made you feel like the small child you had just claimed you weren't. "Why do you want to go outside anyway? Aren't you happy with the luxuries I bring you every year?"

You didn't answer. Of course you were grateful for the gifts she brought you, you just wanted more. You wanted to experience what everyone else did.

"Y/n," your mother said after you had been quiet for a moment too long. "You're a young lady. You have the capability to respond when someone asks you a question."

You only nodded. Your mother let out an exasperated breath at the lack of an answer.

"See? You can barely answer a simple question. What makes you think you'll be able to survive out there?" She vaguely motioned to the open window before she walked past you, attempting to put an end to the conversation by stepping up the stairs that led to her private bedroom.

But you weren't going to let it stop there. You quickly caught up to her and grabbed her wrist with a gentle hold before she reached the curtain to the room, making her stop in her tracks and turn to you.

"It would just be one day, Mother. I'll stay by you the whole time, I-"

"I said no." Her tone was stern, and when she pulled her hand from your grasp it felt as though an arrow had gone through your heart. "I'm not changing my mind. Now, by the time I come out to make dinner, you attitude will be gone, is that understood?"

"But-"

She raised her brows. Her stare was piercing, searching your eyes for every secret you had.

You pressed your lips together for a moment before nodding.

Your mother didn't say anything else, only pulling the dark curtains to her room back enough for her to walk in. You waited until the thick fabric to stop swaying to lift your hand and push against the curtain, seeing if she would let you in.

Your hand met a barrier. Clearly she didn't want you with her at the moment. You weren't allowed in her room unless she had given you explicit permission.

You sighed, going down the stairs and sitting on your own bed. The wisteria flowers you had placed around the columns had started wilting. Maybe, if she wouldn't let you outside, your mother could at least get you new blooms.

—

Attitude. What attitude was she talking about?

You had laid down in your bed, twisting some of the wisteria leaves from your bed together to form a flower crown while you waited until your mother came back down. When she did, your "attitude" had disappeared, but neither of you spoke. Not even when the two of you sat at the table and ate the potato soup she had made.

Neither of you spoke again until the next morning. You wouldn't have at all if your mother hadn't told you she was leaving again. This time, the trip would be longer and you'd be alone.

You had only nodded in response. You waited by the window, watching as your mother gathered what she would need from the pantries and drawers before tossing your hair out the window. You groaned when she took hold of it, closing your hands around the strands near your scalp in an attempt to lessen the pull.

When she finally gave your hair one last tug, you nearly stumbled. You righted yourself before you fell, though, and stood at the window until your mother disappeared behind the veil of leaves that kept you hidden.

She was gone now, leaving you with absolutely nothing to do for hours on end.

Yes, you enjoyed the solitude your tower provided, but sometimes you wished there was someone to keep you company.

—

You heard the harsh grinding of stone against iron while you were seated at the table, mending a pair of slippers that had recently torn along the seams. The sound made you pause. You waited a moment to make sure you weren't going crazy.

When you heard it again, you immediately dropped the material in your hands and lunged for the cupboard. You grabbed a knife and darted across the room, throwing open the door to your wardrobe and pushing your blouses and skirts aside to hide among them. You spent longer than you wanted trying to stuff your hair in the spaces beside you, and you're sure a small amount of it got stuck beneath the doors. You left it open just a crack so you could see out of it.

He grunted as he lifted himself onto the windowsill, muttering a curse when he kicked his leg over the edge and stumbled into the room without grace. He stood up and looked around, his gaze faltering when he caught sight of the wardrobe. He started at it for a moment—a long moment where you thought he would stride right up to you and open the door, but he didn't.

When he turned his head away, you looked at him. His disheveled hair was light brown, parted down the middle. He was wearing gray pants and a blue overcoat. A leather bag wrapped tightly around his body, and a scabbard was secured around his waist, his hand never leaving the hilt of his sword.

The only thought that crossed your mind was that you would have to be sneaky to gain any kind of advantage over him, and when he took tentative steps past the wardrobe, further into the tower, you slowly pushed open the door and stepped out.

Your footsteps were quiet. You approached him slowly, making sure you didn't make any sound. You held the knife in front of you, both hands on the hilt, and aimed it at him.

Go fast and just get it over with, you told yourself, but something was making you hesitate. This was wrong. This was wrong, but he was trespassing. If something happened to you because you couldn't protect yourself . . . Dear, your mother would be enraged. She would never let you leave.

This was your one chance to prove you could protect yourself.

You stepped closer. Closer and closer until you were in such close proximity that you felt the need to hold your breath.

Just as you reached the point where you could jab out your arm and stab him, you paused. You tried to keep your breaths light and unheard, but your heart was pounding. You could feel it fighting against your rib cage, burning to jump out of your chest.

Your hesitance made you the victim. In one swift move, the man in front of you drew his sword and lunged back. In the same movement, he had successfully disarmed you, your kitchen knife now thrown across the room.

You froze, your hands lifted by your side in what you think is meant to be a defensive pose. Or the beginnings of running away. You aren't sure, since you couldn't think clearly because of the sword pointed at you.

The man looked you up and down, raising his eyebrows when he noticed your bare feet and the bandages wrapped around your fingertips (the result of accidentally stabbing yourself with a needle one too many times). His stance relaxed, but he kept his sword aimed at you.

"Who are you?" he asked. His voice was smooth, and if the circumstances were different you might have swooned from the sound alone.

You were silent, opening and closing your mouth like a fish as you fought to articulate the words you wanted to say. You must have looked like an idiot, wearing an untucked blouse and skirt that had clearly seen better days.

"I- Who are you?" you asked instead. Your voice was quieter than you would have liked. You tried clearing your throat discreetly before saying it louder, but it came out as a cough instead.

You decided not to repeat your question. You didn't want to embarrass yourself more than you already had.

The man was quiet. His gaze traveled over you again, this time lingering on the copious amounts of hair that trailed behind you. His eyes followed it for a moment before snapping back to your face.

He sheathed his sword and stood straighter, though that did nothing to quell your fears of being sliced to pieces.

"My name is Laurance Zvahl." He bowed, which surprised you. You knew that bowing was the typical show of gratitude or courtesy for someone of high standing, but you were just a girl in a tower. "I'm second in command of the guard in Phoenix Drop."

Your brows furrowed as he straightened. Phoenix Drop? It was a town your mother had visited years ago. The only thing she said when she returned from her stay was, "It was nothing special. Just a small, underdeveloped town run by a pacifist."

But . . . Phoenix Drop was so far. What was their second in command doing here?

"May I ask what your name is?" he asked when you had been silent for too long. He crossed your arms, and you figured he must not have pinned you as a threat if he was being this nonchalant about everything.

Which, you weren't a threat, but his comfort in your home unnerved you.

"Y/n," you replied.

Laurance smiled kindly. "A beautiful name for a beautiful woman."

Your eyes slightly widened. You can't say for sure if you blushed, but you knew from the way his smile widened that you weren't doing a very good job of hiding how flustered the single compliment made you.

You cleared your throat again. "Why are you here?"

"Ah." Laurance glanced around as he spoke. "Well, a few guards and I were accompanying our Lord on a trip. Unfortunately, we got separated in the forest and I ended up here. I assumed this tower was vacant since there was so much overgrowth outside, but"—he motions to you—"it clearly wasn't."

You nodded. People got lost in the forest surrounding your tower all the time, but none had ever entered the small circle of rocks that surrounded you. They had tried, but a barrier your mother had set up around it prevented them from getting father.

So how did he get in?

You knew that sometimes your mother's magic faltered, especially if she was far away, but she had redone the spells surrounding you just last week. They should have been stronger, if anything.

Laurance, taking note of your silence, continued talking. "I saw the tip over the rocks and assumed it was hollow. I suppose my guess was rewarded, since I now get to spend a few moments with someone as pretty as you."

He smiled again, and you found yourself relaxing ever so slightly. He hadn't moved to draw his sword again or make any physical advances on you, and you found your mind easing in your presence.

Your mother had always warned you of people like him—of people that seemed easy to trust and talk to. They were the most deceptive. They were the ones that would shatter your entire being with one lie.

You put her warnings in the back of your mind. It couldn't have been possible for someone with such sincere eyes to be a cheat, right?

"There's magicks around this tower," you said. You tried keeping your voice flat. "You shouldn't have been able to see anything, let alone get in."

Laurance's brows furrowed. "Really? Well, it must not be very strong. I didn't pick up on any traces of magic when I came in."

You huffed, any earlier ease you had felt now gone. "There is a barrier surrounding this tower and the rocks around it. My mother is the best witch in Ru'aun. Her magic essence comes from a line of witches so potent and known that armies have fallen at the feeling of it. Her magic doesn't falter for deities, much less a non-magicks user like you."

Your mother had told you stories about your ancestors. She often spoke about how they fought by Lady Irene's side and protected her from Shad the Destroyer. You knew your mother had powerful magicks. She had shown you the extent of her abilities herself.

Laurance's eyebrows raised again. He showed a lot of facial expressions, you noticed.

"Right. Well, I'm here, so maybe your mother's magic just ran out." He shrugged, the charming smile that painted his lips widening.

"Magic doesn't just run out-"

"Then it wore off, or something. Listen, I don't know a lot about magic or witches or . . . anything else like that." Laurance shrugged. You huffed, crossing your arms.

Incompetent little b-

"So, you just stay up here?" Laurance's stare was on your hair again, following the long locks until he reached the pile of hidden strands still in your wardrobe. He walked up to you and you stiffened, but he walked past you to trail your hair instead.

"Obviously," you snapped, as if it were common knowledge that you did. Your mother's words rang in your head. "There would be no way back up if I left."

Laurance hummed. You started running your hands through your hair as he approached the wardrobe, opening the door wider and allowing the pile of hair inside to slide out. "You got a lot of hair," he stated.

You tugged your hair closer to your body, though the action did nothing to move it further from Laurance. "How else is my mother supposed to get up here?"

Laurance lifted his head to face you, his brows raised. "Your mother climbs your hair to get up here?" You nodded. "That doesn't . . . It doesn't hurt?"

"Well, yeah. But I've gotten used to it. It doesn't hurt now as much as it did when I was little."

"People climbing your hair is a regular occurrence?"

You let out an exasperated breath. Who was this guy in thinking he could ask so many questions. "My mother's the only one."

"And you've never left this tower?"

You shook your head.

Laurance let out a low whistle.

You pressed your lips together. You knew he was judging not only your mother, but your lifestyle. Sure, it might not have been the most accepted method of protection, but up until today it had worked. You had been content to be alone in your tower your entire life. You had to be. Who was he to think he could just climb the walls and criticize the way you lived?

Laurance was looking out the window he had come in from. You opened your mouth to snap back, but Laurance started talking before you could.

"Ever consider leaving?"

His question caught you off guard. You started at him gobsmacked for a moment—as if he had just admitted a heinous secret to you—before your mind cleared enough for you to formulate an answer.

"I-I do. Yes." You paused, choosing your words. "But I'm content up here."

Laurance's lips curved into another charming smile. It practically lit up the room, and you found yourself easing once again at the sight of it.

"So you do? Do you even get fresh air up here? Have you ever felt the sun on your skin?"

You huffed. "Of course I have. That window allows me to receive what nature provides."

"But you've never really experienced any of it, have you? You've never laid out in the sun or ran in a field or-or talked to someone that isn't your mother, have you?"

You crossed your arms and looked away. "I'm talking to you right now, aren't I?"

Laurance exhaled. "That's not what I mean. I mean you don't have any friends, or acquaintances, or anyone to talk to at all. You don't get lonely up here?"

You rolled his words over in your head but didn't say anything. You refused to admit he was right. You did get lonely, and you did want to leave your tower even if it was for one day. But your mother wouldn't allow it.

Laurance's expression softened as he realized how sheltered you actually were. He looked around the tower again, taking in the hand painted details and the homemade candles and the stacks of books against the walls. He couldn't imagine living like this—stuck in an inescapable tower with nothing to do for days, years on end. No socialization, no friends, not even an animal of some kind for you to interact with.

"Alright, so clearly your mom's got a little something going on in her head." The words had you snapping your head in his direction as Laurance pointed his finger and moved it in a small circle. Your nose scrunched and you uncrossed your arms, moving to hit him, shove him, something, while you said a few choice words, but Laurance stuck his hand out and held onto your shoulder, keeping you an arm's length away. "But this is genuinely insane." He vaguely motioned to the room. "No one keeps their kid locked in a place like this. Not if they truly love them."

You huffed again, trying to push yourself forward to smack him, but his grip on your shoulder only tightened. It was clear he wasn't going to let you move.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" you yelled. "You don't know what my mother's been through or what she's trying to protect me from."

"Do you even know what she's protecting you from? Because the defenses you claim are surrounding this tower sound like battle tactics. Nothing poses that much of a threat to a place like this."

“People like you do,” you bit back. “My mother’s always warning me about you. The handsome, charming ones that can obviously get girls to smile with every word they say. She says people like you will turn their backs on those they claim to love without a second thought.”

Laurance exhaled. “Okay, so your mother met one bad person that broke her trust and ruined her life. That’s no reason to lock your daughter up forever. Not everyone is like that.”

“Well the good ones are so sparse and hard to find that there isn’t even a point in trying.”

“How would you even know that? You-” Laurance groaned, cutting himself off and taking a moment to gather his thoughts. “Listen, this is insane.” Laurance threw his arms out, motioning to the tower. “No one locks people up like this to protect them. You can’t tell me you seriously want to stay up here for the rest of your life, can you?”

You rolled your eyes and crossed your arms again. “Obviously I don’t, but my mother knows best. If she says that staying up here will keep me safe and away from the people she seems unworthy, then I will stay up here.”

Laurance blew out a breath. He ran a hand through his hair and began pacing for a moment.

“Alright, listen. I know this is crazy, but you clearly don’t. And I now know that you don’t want to stay here forever. So how about this—I get you out of here. You can experience the world for just a little bit, see how people interact, see how life is supposed to be, and then you can decide if your mother truly knows what’s best for you.”

You pursed your lips. His offer was enticing. You had just spoken to your mother about this and refused you. You knew you shouldn’t go with him. Laurance was a stranger you just met. He could be a serial killer for all you knew.

But there was something in his eyes. His gorgeous blue eyes that resembled celestite held something akin to worry. He wanted you to leave, and you realized it wasn’t so he could fulfill whatever sick fantasy he might have had.

He was kind, you could tell that much. He couldn’t seem to handle the thought of anyone stuck in the same situation as you, and he wanted to help you. He needed to help you get out of this tower, even if it was only for a couple days.

You huffed. “How do you propose both of us get out of here?”

Despite himself, a faint smile graced Laurance’s features. “We could get out the way I came in.”

Laurance reached into his bag and pulled out four arrows. You found it odd, since he had no bow on him. He must have found them somewhere.

You looked down at the arrows, your gaze flicking between them and Laurance’s eyes.

“I’m not using those,” you plainly stated.

“Then use your hair. I’m sure you can double it up or something and slide down it. I’ll catch you when you reach the bottom.”

You rolled your eyes, biting your lip to hide a smile.

Nothing else was said. You watched as Laurance sauntered back to the window and kicked his legs over the edge. You stayed standing in your spot, wondering if you should really do this.

Your mother would be gone for weeks. You could afford to spend some time out. But what if something happened to you? You could be kidnapped or killed or worse.

When the top of Laurance’s head disappeared, you took that as your sign to stay behind. If he was out of sight then the whole thing was out of mind. You would never have to tell your mother about this, and maybe one day she would take you out herself.

You were just about to turn and continue mending your slipper’s when you heard his voice.

“You comin’?” he called out. You paused again. Against your better judgment, you walked to the window and peered over the edge.

Laurance wasn’t that far down the tower. He was looking down at where he placed his feet so he didn’t slip.

You looked past him, to the grassy field of flowers below him. You watched a rabbit scurry across your line of vision before it disappeared into a hole beneath a tree before taking a deep breath.

Okay, so maybe out of sight out of mind wasn’t going to work for you. That was alright. It would be just fine if you left with this man you just met, right?

Oh Divines.

You took another deep breath before tossing your hair out the window and winding it around the hook. How does this work? Do you just grab it and then scale down the tower? Do you slide down the hair? What if you got stuck?

You reached out and grabbed ahold on your hair. You tugged on it experimentally, knowing it would hurt your head more than usual since you wouldn’t be able to tug it back toward your scalp.

You slowly inhaled and exhaled again before doing the same as Laurance and kicking your feet over the windowsill.

One deep breath at a time, you gathered the courage to let yourself fall ever so slightly, yelping when you moved farther down than you intended. Your heart jumped to your throat, and it took you another moment to gather yourself and continue.

Laurance had already made it to the bottom. He now stared up at you, poised to move if your slipped and fell. He would catch you, you trusted that much.

It didn’t quell your nerves. It took another minute of deep breaths and closing your eyes before you readjusted yourself and your foot met the warm stone of your tower. You slowly moved down, grunting with the effort of quite literally holding yourself up by the head.

Laurance’s voice talked you through it as you reached closer and closer to the bottom. Your arms felt as though they would give out and your head was pounding. You thought you had good footing on the tower, but the stone was loose. It crumbled beneath your foot as you loosened your hold on your hair to move down and you went tumbling with it.

You let out a scream as you fell, though it was short lived. Laurance was beneath you in an instant, catching you in a mess of bundled fabric and tangled hair. The placement of his hands wasn’t the most appropriate, with one hand just a hair away from groping your chest and the other holding a firm grip on your hip, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to chastise him as you took a second to gather yourself again.

You gently pushed him away when your mind cleared. He set you onto your feet without complaint and waited until your breathing evened out to say anything.

When you finally looked up at him, he smiled.

“Look behind you,” he said. You did so, craning your neck up to see the window of your tower left wide open. It was much taller than you expected, and you had to turn your whole body and take a few steps back to take it all in. “You’re free. For a couple days at least.”

You didn’t let thoughts of how your mother would punish you if she found out plague you. Nor did you let yourself think about the impossible task of getting back up into the tower. You refused to fathom every terrible thing that could happen to you because you were free, albeit for a short period of time.

Your face broke into a wide smile. You tore your gaze from your tower and looked around. You had only ever seen the meadow from an aerial view. You never would have thought that it looked so beautiful seeing everything from where you stood now.

You let out a breath of disbelief, laughing as you knelt in the grass and ran your hands through the soft blades.

How did you live your entire life without this?

You didn’t comment at the sound of Laurance’s footsteps behind you. You just relished in the sound his boots made against the gravel and dirt, an odd sound to love but one you never think you’ll tire of hearing.

You look up at him, bright smile and all.

“What?” you asked, noticing his expression. It seemed content. There was the faintest of smiles on his lips and his eyes were sparkling like the water in the creek across the field.

Laurance shook his head. “Nothing. Just glad I could help.”

If it was possible, your smile would have widened. You pushed yourself back to your feet, rubbing your scalp to loosen the tension as you looked around again.

“So where are we going?” you asked.

“Well, I need to find my lord and the other guards I accompanied,” Laurance said. You turned to him, still running your hands through your hair. “You’re free to join me, if you’d like, or we can go our separate ways. The choice is yours, beautiful.”

That time, you allowed yourself to soften your smile as you gazed at him. “I think I will.”

Looking at him now, with the sun shining against his hair and reflecting off his eyes like they were the rarest crystals, you thought he was handsome. Unbearably so. The corners of his eyes turned up and his face looked as though it would fit in your hands perfectly. His nose had a prominent bump on the bridge that he might have been conscious of at one point, but it now suited him.

You shook yourself of those thoughts, but as you trailed behind him, following him out of the solitude you had known your whole life, you couldn’t help but think that this was the start of your love story.

was this accurate to his character? maybe. i’m not sure since i’m still getting back into the fandom but I hope y’all enjoyed 💙

will this have a part 2? maybe. if y’all want one then let me know. either way i’m probably gonna write a part two but for now it will remain a one shot

next part

[creatingblackcharacters]

Hi Ice! This one is maybe a little on the outskirts of 'creating Black characters', but it is related to the introspective questions you posted a little while back, so I thought I'd ask for your opinion. I'm sure this isn't an one-easy-answer thing, so I'd love to hear from any other Black people reading this as well!

I'll try to keep it short.

I'm seven years and 300k+ words deep in a fanfiction about anthropomorphic animal characters, and your introspective questions made me face the fact that I've been the ignorant fandom racist. I wrote my main character as white. Now, 7 years later, I stumble over a post pointing out ... those are locs

I don't know if the authors intended for this character to be Black (nonblack voice actors, supplementary material also clearly doesn't draw him this way, though that stuff was all over the place re: consistency) and I frankly also am not sure if they Should have, given his role in the narrative, but a) that's not really up to me to speak on and b) he's got locs and mostly black fur and was inspired by Anubis. I've been whitewashing, there's no way around it.

I briefly considered going back and just straight up changing the story to make him Black, but I quickly realized that I have been writing him from a white-centered narrative and just slotting a Black character into that would arguably be Worse. Or at least racist in a brand new way. I can change how he takes care of his hair, but not the themes on which the entire narrative is built upon. I've been writing about a white man and I can't just pretend I haven't.

So my question to you is ... what now? How do I best acknowledge this? Do I just quietly come to terms with the fact that this story is racist and do better next time? I would like to acknowledge it in some way, I have a small but loyal audience and if I could use that platform to start a conversation (or just put out a 'hey, don't be like me') that would ... maybe at least be better than nothing? Possibly?

I know there's not a simple solution here that will Fix It, but I thought I'd ask an actual Black person who's open to educating what might be a good next move. Maybe avoid making another, new White Person Blunder. Here's to hoping.

I really appreciate all you do, your blog rocks and so do you.

Is that Shadow?

Okay, so I had to have a conversation with Hot Chocolate on this one because this one's a doozy! I appreciate that you're willing to stop and reflect though. Most people wouldn't be willing to do so this far in!

Admittedly, the fact that you're seven years into this means this will require a lot of effort. And, tbh, I might be confused bc I cannot tell what that character is 😅 So! After some thought, here's what we came up with:

Take a hiatus. Point blank period. Take a BREAK, do not pass go, do not collect $200! Idk what lore you've written, but you've written a lot of it. Take as long as you need to reread your works, and see if at any point you ever made it clear that this was a white person, or anything other than the Black character you now think they should be. If it feels undefined, where you can turn "hair" into "locs" or add in small details, then that could be your smooth way out. It doesn't have to be massive changes, but it could help. It'll take you time, for sure! But you dug seven years in, it's gone take you time to dig out. Maybe if you skim 15k words a week (or ctrl-F it for hair, for examples), that's... 20 weeks? Go at your own pace, faster or slower.

Unfortunately this happens a lot, where influences for characters will be taken from cultures of colors and improperly represented (the "African" god from Genshin). That's just a fact. So I don't necessarily blame you for the confusion, but... Now you know.

If possible, get a sensitivity reader! Preferably a Black one. Ngl, given the massive amount of work, you're likely going to have to pay them. Maybe give them half and you take half. Idk, but let another pair of eyes look at your work. Or maybe there's a Black reader that you could speak to and see how they feel about the potential change.

Should you choose to keep going, just try to be more purposeful and intentional about that character's Blackness. Definitely tell your readers what you figured out, why it's important to you, and then move forward from there.

Now, RECOGNIZE that many of them will NOT be pleased! That's kind of the thing about opening your eyes when it comes to racism in media! A lot of people will NOT be happy that you decided to be more intentional, especially if they've been imagining their favorite white guy for seven years. You're going to have to weigh your integrity and your will to create against that. People might leave, people that you thought were cool AF until it was time to show true colors. Be ready for that.

But that's just what I would do 🤷🏾‍♀️

[utilitycaster]

You have been watching CR so much longer than me, and I'm curious to know your take on TV Show Canon interfering with or replacing Live Play Canon? On the latest 4sd, Sam mentioned that they're sort of in a schrödinger's Canon, where in one instance the show and campaign have two opposing cannons and they get through it by not directly addressing one or the other. The example he gave was Highbearer Vord, who was an old man in campaign 1 and a woman in the show, whom Matt referred to by name or as 'they' in campaign 3.

Personally, I've never been precious about adaptations changing or ommitting things, and I didn't care about the change from the campaign to the show, but for some reason, the show changing the campaign gives me pause. I also personally love the show! Campaign one was my favorite, especially the chroma conclave arc, and I love the tv show just as much, so I don't know why I would be precious about one over the other? I think maybe I'm worried about changes retroactively impacting the campaign because I already saw and loved the campaign as it was and I don't want it to change, whereas the show is currently being created and so any changes or adaptations just feel like their own thing that I get to see unfold.

The change I mentioned is very small and doesn't really impact much, I'm just wondering what your preference would be for this practice in general! I think that the cast mentioned that some changes will be made to the beginning of the Mighty Nein's story for the upcoming show. In a hypithetical future campaign, if someone mentioned the M9, would you prefer it to be in line with the campaign or the tv show, would you prefer if it was vague like Vord, or is it dependent on what the changes are?

For me it would be dependent on the scale of the change and what it is. Honestly, for Vord I don't even find it in conflict in the present campaign (ie, in 843 PD); while obviously Vord's gender is different between the canon of Campaign 1 vs. the Legend of Vox Machina and those are taking place as two versions of the story in the same time, I just assumed that in 843 PD Vord was figuring some shit out re: gender and pronouns. (I'd also add that Vord's description during Campaign 1 itself varied wildly; Matt's changed character pronouns before in the past and I don't know if it's been deliberate or if he forgot but it's not a big deal).

I think if we're talking about scenes that were not visible in the campaign and were expanded upon in TLOVM (eg: getting to see more of the Briarwoods or the Chroma Conclave plotting without Vox Machina present), treating them as canon within Campaign 3 is fine; honestly those probably were canon in Matt's notes anyway, just unseen. Small things that aren't plot critical - changing a character's gender or appearance, for example - are also fine by me.

The issue arises if we get into actual plot conflicts - for example, the party splitting during the Feywild and Westruun arcs in TLOVM vs. Scanlan and Grog being present in the Feywild in canon. In that case, resolving the two is not possible and I don't care for attempts to make it so. I don't generally care for attempts to justify a cast mistake or canon contradiction and make it all lay flat when the answer sometimes is just "this is improv and they forgot", and this feels similar. Like...if Kamaljiori were to show up in Campaign 3, that would be valid, because he doesn't die in Campaign 1 and does in TLOVM, and when we're watching the streaming campaigns we should defer to campaign canon. I don't think it's fair to Campaign 3 to try to play it with an eye to animated adaptation, so any ripples from that can be addressed if an when they come up. But for stuff like Vord's gender, as long as you get the presence and the vibe right, details can be altered. The same, presumably, will be true for mentions of the Mighty Nein if there is an Exandrian-set Campaign 4.

For what it's worth, that is what I expect when the cast mentions changes to the adaptation as well. Like...look, if I'm wrong about this there will be other discussions to be had, but I think the idea that Molly won't die in the Mighty Nein adaptation is a rather desperate and unrealistic one since that sort of derails the entire rest of the campaign both plot-wise and thematically. Fine for AU fanfic, though I'm personally uninterested, but a poor adaptational choice. But changes like splitting the party between the Feywild and Westruun, or Grog becoming weakened, or Vax communing with the Raven Queen a little earlier and at a smaller temple, or Vex facing Saundor alone, all maintain the core vibes and themes while dealing with time constraints and letting Pike be more present. If someone were to ask Vex point-blank "was Scanlan there when you fought the guy who had that cool bow you're carrying" in Campaign 3 I think the answer should be "yes"; but that's not actually important. What's important is that Vex faced a guy who had been consumed by bitterness and grudges for a weapon that she ultimately carved the word for "forgiveness" into as a personal reminder. An adaptation should retain what's actually important to the story, but changing what hangs on the same fundamental fixed skeleton is fine.

[naughtyneganjdm]

The Perfect Costume

Summary: Negan goes to a Halloween store with his family in search of costumes to wear.

Characters: Negan & the reader (OC, second person)

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50991043

Warnings: 18+, Swearing, a little smut (not very detailed), dirty minded Negan, etc

Notes: This is meant to be a sweet little fic with Negan being naughty in the way he talks and the smut is very miniscule and not very detailed. Just a short little Halloween fic. Enjoy!

“Any idea what kind of costume you have in mind kiddo?” Negan questioned following around your five-year-old daughter while she ran down the aisles of the Halloween store you were in. Negan had your eight-month-old son Noah strapped to his chest in a baby carrier while he held onto your hand. “Emma? Baby girl. Are we looking for something that is cute? Scary? Some kind of animal? We’re running on nothing here baby.”

“I don’t know daddy,” Emma exclaimed, stopping in her tracks to look back at Negan with a frown. Tossing her hands up, her dimples sank in looking around the aisle. “There is so much here! When I see it, I just know I’ll know that’s it!”

“Remember we’re looking for all of our costumes baby girl,” you reminded your daughter knowing that she had begged both you and Negan to pick everyone’s costume this year. “So you have four costumes to pick out.”

“I know, I know,” Emma blew off the responsibility of it all causing Negan to snort since she was so lost inside of the store that she really didn’t have a care in the world what either one of you were saying. “Finding a good Halloween costume is…really…really important. It can determine how much candy I get this year. Y’know?”

“Solid point baby girl,” Negan snorted, his fingers tightening around yours while you continued to follow your daughter around the Halloween store. It was like she was lost in a toy store and she was amazed with everything often stopping when she saw something that she thought was cool.

“Daddy!” she seemed in awe of something while she stepped before it. It was a monster mask that when you pushed a button, it looked like it oozed blood. An amused bout of laughter fell from her throat when she threw her head back to look at Negan. “It’s so ugly! I love it!”

It made both of you laugh, but her awe didn’t last long before she was running off to go look at something else that caught her eyes, “The interest lasted ten seconds before she’s off.”

“She is my daughter. She can’t focus on just one thing,” Negan snickered at the thought trying to keep up with Emma while she looked over everything. “I will take credit for all this pent-up energy. I have a hard time focusing too.”

“You? No,” you teased Negan, hitting him on his shoulder playfully. “You aren’t like that at all.”

“I notice the sarcasm in your tone,” Negan chuckled, his head lowering down with his lips hovering in over yours. Bringing your lips together in a lingering kiss, you heard the disgusted breath falling from your daughter. Pulling away slightly, you saw her staring up at the two of you with her hands on her hips. It made Negan let out a big belly laugh, his nose nuzzling in against the side of your neck with the anger that she was sharing for the two of you kissing. “I feel like a young boy getting scolded by my parents.”

“What did I tell the two of you about kissing?” Emma folded her arms out in front of her chest in attempts to lecture you. “Dial it back on the kissing. It’s gross.”

“It’s my way of telling your mother that I love her kiddo,” Negan pressed a faint kiss over the side of your cheek before kneeling down, hooking his arm around Noah who let out a small squeal when they were eye level with Emma. “Kisses aren’t a bad thing.”

“The last time the two of you got super kissy, I ended up with a little brother,” Emma blurt out causing Negan to choke and then laugh. Looking up at you with his big hazel eyes, Negan couldn’t help but smile and nod his head. “And while I love Noah, we don’t need another baby in the family. Not now at least. He cries a lot during the middle of the night.”

“That’s because he’s a baby sweetheart,” you reminded your daughter, stepping forward to place your hand in over your daughter’s shoulder in a tender squeeze. “Babies do that.”

“Imagine two babies doing that,” Emma circled her finger around Noah and his big eyes followed the movements of his sister’s finger from where he was strapped to Negan’s chest. “Noah is cute. And I like how he smiles, but the crying? No thank you!”

“You know, you used to cry too sweet pea,” Negan reached out to pull Emma in closer to him, careful enough to keep Noah safe while he peppered kisses over your daughter’s face. At first, she tried to hold it in, but the more Negan kissed at her face she couldn’t help but giggle. Her small hands placed in over the sides of Negan’s face and he laughed along with her.

“Your beard is itchy,” she tipped up on her toes to press a kiss over the side of Negan’s cheek. “I love you daddy, it’s just embarrassing how much you and mommy kiss. At home, okay. But in public, you need to cool it.”

“Got it,” Negan’s nose wrinkled and he gazed up at you again from where you were standing beside them. “We’ll work on it.”

“No you won’t,” Emma sighed gazing between both of you. Throwing her hands up in the air, she dramatically shook her head and shrugged. “I’m just gonna have to get used to babies. So many babies.”

“Emma,” you laughed watching your daughter turn on her heel after she gave Noah a quick kiss on his head.

“I’m okay with lots of babies,” Negan pointed out, letting out a grunt when he got up from his knees. Glancing back at him, you heard Negan laugh and shrug his shoulders. “I like being a dad. And I like what we have to do in order to make babies.”

“What does that mean?” Emma stopped in her tracks making your face flush over with a warmth when you reached for Emma’s hand.

“Nothing,” you immediately answered for Negan hearing his amused chuckle from behind you. “Now let’s find us some good costumes here.”

“Yeah. Maybe we should talk about what we are going to want for daddy’s costume. Maybe a vampire. I’ve got the looks and the charm for a vampire,” Negan suggested trying to keep up with the two of you while you looked through the aisles again. “Or maybe I can be like a zombie baseball player. Or like a wizard or something.”

“A wizard?” Emma stopped walking to look back at Negan. “What’s cool about a wizard?”

“I don’t know, they do magic and what not,” Negan looked to some of the costumes that were hanging.

“You’re not magical,” Emma heard Negan snort and he turned to look back at his daughter. “You’ve never been interested in magic tricks.”

“That’s not true,” Negan held his finger up in the air, his dimples sinking in when he let out a long exhale. “You should see the magic trick I can do when it comes to your mother’s pants.”

“Knock it off,” you groaned out, rolling your eyes noticing the mischievous sound that followed.

“What does he mean?” Emma looked up at you with big eyes and you shook your head. “Mom?”

“He’s just being silly,” you responded to your daughter who turned away and you let out a yelp when Negan moved in behind you to pinch your bottom. Emma stopped, giving you a strange expression with the sound you made. “Sorry honey.”

“I think it’s pretty magical how fast I can get your pants off,” Negan whispered in your ear and you rolled your eyes, pushing your hand into Negan’s shoulder to put some distance between the two of you. “I could be a killer clown. I think I’m pretty funny.”

“No,” Emma slurred out her words causing Negan to huff out loud. Emma was denying all the suggestions that Negan was throwing out for his personal costume and you found it amusing how she was ignoring her father’s ideas.

“How about this one for you mama?” Negan called out pulling a costume out that was very skimpy with devil horns on it. “Or, if you don’t like that one…”

Negan pulled out something similar and held it up to show that it was an angel costume, “This one is just as nice and we can use it after the kids go to sleep.”

“That looks cold,” Emma noted after you gave your husband a glare. “It’s going to be cold at night daddy. She doesn’t want something like that.”

“I was just thinking for after we go trick or treating,” Negan gazed between the two before setting the angel costume down and grabbing the devil one. “I think I’ll get this. Just in case.”

“You’re weird,” Emma commented, squeezing her fingers tighter around yours and it made you snicker. “Why would you want to wear a costume when you’re not trick or treating?”

“He’s just being goofy like daddy often is,” you gave Negan a glance and he tipped his head to the side. “Has anything caught your eye yet honey?”

“So many things! That’s the problem,” Emma exclaimed gazing around at everything in frustration. “I love it all.”

“Well you are going to have multiple Halloweens after this honey,” you suggested hearing Noah coo out and you looked back to see that he was curling his fingers around Negan’s index finger holding tightly to it. “I think your little brother is hungry.”

“He will eat soon, we just have to figure this out,” Emma insisted tugging firmly on your hand to pull you toward a section of the store where she had seemed to have the most interest.

“I found two things that I think you should get for me,” Negan’s voice drew your attention when he returned with trophies in his hands. Holding them out to you, you accepted one to see that it said biggest cock on the block and then reached for the other to see that it said pussy eating champion on it. You choked back on your laughter trying not to draw attention to the items that he had grabbed. You were thankful your kids were too small to understand these things at this point. “They fit, right?”

“Did you go out in search of the naughty section of the store?” you shook your head in disbelief hearing his amused laughter follow. “You need to chill.”

“I don’t understand, why would you want to eat cats?” Emma��s voice beckoned the both of you and you saw that she was standing up on her toes to read the trophies that Negan had grabbed. “Daddy, you’re allergic to cats. Your eyes would puff up and that’s just gross. Who eats cats?”

The immediate laughter that followed from Negan when you noticed two other parents staring out at you in disbelief made your face hot with embarrassment but you couldn’t help but laugh too at the situation. Both from your daughter’s innocence and the situations Negan always put you in.

“You’re a dick,” you breathed out under your breath knowing that by the wickedness of Negan’s laughter that he was proud of himself.

“Why is no one answering me?” Emma seemed frustrated, but Negan walked off to go return the trophies. “Why would he want to eat cats?”

“He doesn’t want to eat cats baby,” you assured your daughter with a sigh noticing that Negan was in quite a spunky mood today. “Let’s find those costumes.”

“You both are weird today,” Emma noted and you didn’t disagree with her there. When Emma found something, you saw her eyes light up at the sight of it. “Mommy! I’ve got it! This can be daddy’s costume!”

When Negan returned, he was singing one of the Halloween songs to Noah that was clearly on his mind.

“Your daughter found you something,” you pointed to the outfit that Emma had found for Negan and he looked up letting out a long, lingering groan. “This is yours.”

“Oh come on,” Negan grumbled seeing Emma look back at him at excitement.

“Isn’t it great daddy?” Emma held the costume out and Negan looked to you, his dimples sucking in when he breathed loudly.

“Yeah, honey, it’s just great,” Negan sighed, feigning a smile knowing that he would do anything for his daughter. “I can’t wait to try it on.”

---

“Daddy this is so freaking cool!” Emma boasted running down the driveway from the home she had just trick or treated at with you. The ears from her Tigger costume bounced when she went to give Negan a hug, slamming into him with excitement. “I told you the right costume would get me all the best candy. That woman gave me full sized candy bars,” she pulled back to reveal the candy that was in her bag. “You should go up with me next time so maybe we can get more.”

“I’m super happy for you kiddo,” Negan reached down to pick up Emma while you carried Noah. “You know, I get why you made your little brother Piglet, but is there a reason you let your mama be a pretty witch and I had to be Winnie the Pooh?”

Involuntarily a laugh fell from your throat when you looked to Negan and the costume he was wearing. It was an oversized the Winnie the Pooh costume and you could see his face flushing over with red when a few kids from the school he worked at walked by.

“You always call mommy honey, so I just thought it fit daddy!” Emma exclaimed, clinging tightly to Negan while he made it to the next house. “You tell me I’m bouncing off the walls all the time. So I make the best Tigger. Noah is always hungry and he’s small. So Piglet makes sense y’know?”

“And mama gets to be a pretty witch? Why wasn’t she Eeyore instead?” Negan wondered looking to you knowing that you found amusement in all of this.

“Because mommy isn’t sad like that. She’s pretty and I think witches are cool!” Emma explained with a tiny laugh when she wiggled out of Negan’s arms to reach for his hand to eagerly lead him up toward the door and you followed not far behind with Noah. Once you finished up at that house, when you got to the bottom of the driveway Emma hugged Negan again causing another groan to fall from his throat. “Come on guys.”

“You know, I love her hugs,” Negan began as you followed Emma on the sidewalk as she continued to skip to the next house, “but I can’t wait until she gets a little bit taller. Every single time she runs and hugs me, she headbutts me right in the nuts.”

“Negan,” you couldn’t help but laughed watching him reach down with his big Winnie the Pooh paw to try to adjust himself in a way that wouldn’t draw attention to it, but it looked pretty ridiculous.

“I’m not kidding. I’ve been headbutted in the nuts about fifty times today alone,” Negan informed you with a tiny rumble of a laugh. “And that shit hurts. Even being in a padded chubby bear costume.”

“Come on daddy!” Emma called out reaching for Negan who eagerly stumbled up the driveway with his daughter. Emma was so excited and Noah was really just enjoying the lights and all the costumes, letting out small laughs from where he was strapped to your chest in his baby carrier.

Negan urged Emma to keep going until the very end of trick or treating and by the time you had gotten home, Negan had grabbed Noah and went to the kitchen table to help sort through the candy that they had gotten. You couldn’t help but be in awe of your husband seeing him sitting at the kitchen table with both your son and daughter sitting on his lap still dressed in his Winnie the Pooh costume. The amount of pictures you took tonight were ridiculous, but you couldn’t help how cute you found everything.

At the end of the night, Negan had fallen asleep on the couch still in his costume with both Emma and Noah on his chest after watching movies together. You had taken your costume off and you were cleaning up things, but you couldn’t help but be in awe of the way your husband was with your children. As silly or ridiculous as he was, Negan always showed up when it came to being a dad. He made things fun for your children and he showed them endless amounts of love.

The sound of movement drew your attention seeing the way that Negan carefully moved off the couch to carry both a sleeping Emma over his shoulder and Noah in his other arm, “You need some help there Pooh?”

“I’ve got this,” Negan assured you and you followed him up the stairs of your home to the second floor. Watching Negan put your children to bed helped you to realize how much you truly loved your husband. He was a great father and there was no question that was the sexiest thing about him. After he peppered Emma with kisses, Negan followed you back out into the hallway and threw his hands up in the air. “I need to get this costume off.”

“Let me help you,” you reached for his hand, laughing when the paw accepted your grasp. Leading him to the bedroom, you closed the door and moved around Negan to undo the zipper at the back of the costume. Negan pushed down the head of the costume and grunted when he tugged his arms out of the material. “You know, I thought you were pretty hot when I first met you. Wearing that leather jacket looking like a bad ass.”

“Yeah?” Negan’s eyebrow arched in curiosity, sitting down on the edge of the bed. His hair was wet from being sweaty while he worked to get the legs of the costume off. When he was done, he tossed the costume aside and was sitting before you in a white t-shirt and black athletic pants that he had worn underneath the costume.

“But nothing tops how sexy I found you tonight,” you informed him, moving forward to curl your finger in underneath his chin to get him to look up at you. There was an amused expression over his features while you caressed over his face. “Dressed in a costume you hated, making our children happy being the sweetest father.”

“Ah,” Negan snickered, turning his head to the side to place a kiss over the center of your palm. “You have a Winnie the Pooh kink, huh?”

“Oh stop,” you rolled your eyes hearing his laughter follow and he tugged you down to fall in over his lap. Hooking his arms around you, Negan started to tease you with the idea of kissing you, but it was just a faint brush of his lips over yours. “I just love you. So much.”

“I love you more,” Negan hummed, finally claiming your lips in a kiss. Your kisses grew in strength and before you knew it, you found yourself at the center of your bed with Negan crawling in over you after he managed to strip off the remainder of his clothes. “It’s been a while since we’ve gotten to be with one another like this. We usually have one of the kids with us at all times.”

“Then we better take advantage,” you suggested, brushing your fingers through his wet hair drawing him to your lips again letting out a soft moan when he entered you. The rolling of his hips was slow over you while he took time to pamper you. “Negan.”

“We should have grabbed that devil costume before we did this,” Negan hummed against the side of your neck making you both laugh. Dropping his forehead against yours, Negan’s winces grew louder with every thrust he made over you. “Fuck.”

“Yes,” you purred in his ear, curling your fingers into the curls at the back of his neck.

“Yeah?” Negan breathed out, his hazel eyes locked on yours when every move he made grew in strength. The sound of crying filled the air over the baby monitor and Negan let out an overwhelmed sound, his head burying against the side of your neck. “No, no. Fucking, shit.”

Amusement flooded your veins when you stroked your fingers through Negan’s wet hair realizing that you weren’t going to be able to finish with Noah crying, “I can get him.”

“No,” Negan groaned out, pulling his hips back and away from you with a wince. Reaching for his athletic pants, he pulled them up and over his hips adjusting himself when they were on. “I’ve got this.”

“Maybe Emma was right. We should stop at two,” you teased watching Negan swiftly crawling back in over the bed to pepper kisses over your lips.

“Nah. I want a fucking baseball team,” Negan slurred against your lips and it made you chuckle against his flesh. “I got this, but when I’m done with the little dude, I’m coming back in here and we’re finishing this up.”

“Sure we are,” you mused knowing that it would probably take a while to get Noah settled again. Negan held his finger out and pointed at you which made you laugh. Even if you didn’t get as much romantic time as you may have wanted with Negan, it was all worth it to you. Because living your life with Negan was better than anything you could have hoped for.

----

Tags: @slutlanna976 @fuckthis-and-fuckthat @jennydehavilland @de-gabyconamor​ @ibelongtonegan @smallsadjellyfish @labyrinthofheartagrams  @msjamesmarch @thebeautysurrounds @hotfornegan​ @redmercysugar @caprithebunny​ @tuttifuckinfruitty @emoryhemsworth​ @a-girl-interupted @akumune​ @stoneyggirl2 @xsarcasticwriterx​  @insertneganhere​ @haleygreen23​ @xhannahbananax03​ @sanctuaryforthelost​ @burningredaffair @killaweiser @dead-of-niight  @ayumi-wolf @hollyismentallyillhelp @promiscuousbarnes​ @tone-stark @lanadelnegan

[yuenthevoices]

Okay so I haven't seen Transformers One yet (just had midterms) but honestly from the bits i've seen of it - from movie clips on tiktok to some of the hilarious promo stuff they have Bee do - i'm ABSOLUTELY in love with it. some of my favorite stuff i've seen are the little, more niche details i don't see enough of that really show how much care has actually been put into the movie. don't worry, no spoilers for the actual movie - mostly about official promo clips and such.

for example, i saw a bit of an interview where it's said the animation team all grew up with transformers, and were even fighting to animate their favs. there was also another interview i saw where someone - i believe a story boarder/director - seemed genuinely pretty sad that they couldn't do the Megatron gladiator and Orion Pax archivist backstories because it would make the movie too long. like, there is just so much genuine love for the franchise that makes the movie so good and so interesting its crazy like ahduaogeuaisahe

alright alright so enough of my rant i know some of y'all are here for the x reader stuff soooo here's some TF One headcanons! also do keep in mind that this is from my very limited knowledge of the movie characters so prob oc? if they were to somehow meet humans

B-127 (Badassatron)

first off, he's such a silly guy and so adhd coded

but honestly, as a human, be just a bit careful around him, seeing as he accidentally knife-handed quite a few people, and some on purpose

he'd either be as clumsy as he is with his friends that he built, or would literally be too scared to get within touching distance of a human

if you want to get closer to him, honestly just listen to him - with some small input here and there to show you're listening - and he'd want to hang around you a lot more

really, just be nice, don't baby him, and let him yap as much as he wants - bonus points if you sometimes yap to him as well, i'm sure he'd be a great listening, with a lot of input from him, of course

Elita One

honestly, i wish i knew or could tell more about her, but any clips or trailers i've seen her in are pretty limited glimpses into her character

the trait i see the most from these glimpses however, is how she's ambitious and diligent

she'd probably respect you a great deal if you're as ambitious and diligent as she is, and would probably be a bit proud if you compliment her work ethic as well

i think she'd like someone who matches her, aiming for higher goals with the work and strength to prove it - especially since you're a human

bonus points if you can kick ass as well

D-16

similar case to Elita, except i think i have a bit more to go off of, considering how much he shows up in promo trailers and stuff

honestly, kinda hard for me to say?

again, i think he'd appreciate someone similar to him, considering how much time he spends with orion, it'd be a nice change of pace

someone who won't take bs, maybe a teeny bit of malicious compliance, and someone who doesn't try to hide their opinions

considering how mush shit miners seem to take from those who can transform, seeing someone else - especially some smaller, squisher being - being proactive and not taking shit, he'd probably be interested

Orion Pax

ok so only doing orion pax and not optimus prime because in total i've only seen like 3 clips of him as optimus soooo yea

i could see him with a jokester kind of person, but also with a more calm caretaker kind of person as well

being a jokester with him would be fun, and he'd probably have no problem with carrying you around to places for plans

being a calm caretaker would possibly be a little more stressful, but still fun with him nonetheless

either way, he'd still be somewhat careful, keeping in mind that he is much larger and sturdier than humans are

just don't play dead on him please, he'd genuinely freak out and run you over to D-16 and ask him what's wrong (D-16 probably won't find it nearly as funny lol)

[mrsshabana]

random question to my queen because it's dawn and my brain is decomposing 💜💫;

If we were a boy, would Gyutaro mind if we were a guy bigger than him? something like a jojo character, but we liked to do his whims (how would he feel if we were a shorter boy too, I love details)

I tried to interpret this ask in a way that made sense to me, so I'm sorry if I interpreted it wrong. But I have been wanting to write Gyutaro x Male!reader, so I'll start with a few height difference headcanons. ♡

𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭!𝐆𝐲𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐨 𝐱 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐥!𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐞!𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

Gyutaro is a tiny little thing compared to you. Not only is he pretty short but he's also very skinny. And he absolutely hates it.

He'll go on and on about how he wishes he was tall like you and how he wishes he wasn't so damn skinny. The only way to shut him up is by grabbing him and giving him a kiss.

Don't let his size fool you though, he's feisty. Always trying to pick fights with you even though it never works. Honestly, he just wants your attention but he'd never admit that.

Gyutaro gets so flustered when you do things for him. Like getting things from high places he can't reach or carrying heavy things for him. He'll insist he can do it on his own and he doesn't need your help, but at the same time he doesn't try to stop you either.

No one has taken care of Gyutaro like you do. He feels like a prince when he's around you and he's addicted to that feeling.

Sometimes people will make comments about his small stature and it makes him feel really insecure about himself. But you never let things like this slide, always stepping in and putting bullies into their place. You're a pretty intimidating guy so people usually back off when you stand up for your boyfriend.

He pretends to get angry when he's the little spoon, but secretly he loves it and he wishes you could stay wrapped around him forever. Nothing brings him as much comfort.

𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐥!𝐆𝐲𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐨 𝐱 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭!𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐞!𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

Gyutaro is the most intimidating guy you've ever met. Not only is he really tall but he's also pretty muscular. But honestly it's mostly his personality that makes him intimidating.

You never would have imagined he'd take interest in you. But he thought you were too cute, he just couldn't help himself.

He'll often tease you for your height. His favorite thing to do is to take something you're using and hold it above your head. Grinning devilishly as he watches you jump and try to reach it - only for him to bend down and catch your lips in a kiss.

No one else dares to mess with you though. Only Gyutaro has that privilege. And if anyone else tries then he'll teach them a lesson real quick.

Gyutaro loves having you sit on his lap. At the movie theaters, on a picnic, and even at the beach. Even when you're sitting at home binging anime with him he has you sitting on his lap.

Of course Gyutaro loves to be the big spoon, having his short boyfriend lay in his arms is the best feeling ever. After a stressful day at work or school it just hits the spot.

[pinkyplushiemaker]

New 2025 Commission Information

Commission Information and Terms of Service

Information on Artist.

I started my plush work in 2013. I have worked hard on developing my style and process over the years. I create my embroidery and patterns from scratch, so everything I make is one of a kind. I do not sell my patterns because they are not normal and only I can understand how they come together. I live in West Virginia, USA. I can ship all over the country and internationally. I live in a dog, bird, and reptile friendly home. I love anime/manga, superhero movies/tv/comics, horror movies, animals, art, and making plushies.

My Plush Work

I work with minky fabric since it’s the highest quality I can use to make my work the best quality possible. I can also use faux furs, long pile minky, mochi fabric, fleece, and cotton if needed (or requested). I use upholstery thread when sewing my plush together. The thread is incredibly strong and the chances of pieces coming apart are very low. If they do come apart (very uncommon), just message me and I will fix and reinforce the piece.

My work is considered “art”, not factory produced for the general public. This means that they are unique and special, but it also means they are not really meant to be handled roughly, crushed, and/or given to very small children. They are pretty durable since they are plush, but any material can wear over time when they are over “loved” (lol). Taking them on adventures, and carrying them around is totally welcomed, just please go easy on the tug and pull <3

Ordering a Plush

Please feel free to reach out to me through Twitter (X), Tumblr, Instagram, or Facebook. I do my best to answer as soon as possible, but you are welcome to message again in case I have not replied after a few days. (I can get busy with the Plush Business, my full-time job, and taking care of my pets.)

Let me know what you are looking to have made. (I can make humans, animals, creatures, cars, robots etc.) Let me know what size and style you are thinking of and if there is a certain time you would like to have it made by. (It normally takes about 2-4 weeks, it depends on if I need to order anything specific.) Please provide images if possible (if you want something unique and only have a description, I can do a rough concept of the character for you, or if you would like to commission me to do art of the character, please feel free to request it). Once I have this information, I will give you a price quote. The quote will only be for the plush, this will not include the shipping or taxes. If you agree to the price, I will request an email from you and will send an invoice. It will list all the details for the transaction, including shipping and tax. The invoice is through PayPal Goods and Services, so we are both protected.

Once the payment is made, you are added to the queue. Before I start on the plush, I will create a concept for it. In this stage (and only in this stage) you are welcome to make any updates to the design. (For example: preferring a different color, wanting the eyes to be bigger, not wanting a certain part included etc.) I will do my best to get as close to the concept as possible. It will never be exact, but I do normally get really close. After the concept is finished, I will share fabric colors to ensure they are right.

Once everything is approved, I will create the pattern and embroidery files. Next, I will embroider the fabric and cut out the pattern. Finally, I will sew the plush together and share the final plush in our communication. I will need you to share the preferred name and address for the shipment. Once this information is provided, I will pack up the plush and send it out. I will provide the tracking when it is on its way.

Shipping the Plush

My standard shipping is first-class and using a waterproof bubble mailer envelope. This keeps the shipping as low as possible. ($7 within the US, $25 International)

For 2025, I am offering priority and over-night shipping (overnight only available in US). I am also offering the option to ship within a box instead of a bubble mailer. These options will be much higher prices and can be discussed while setting up the commission.

Please note, once I ship a plush and provide a tracking number. It is out of my hands.

Canceling a Commission

You have 1 week after ordering to cancel a commission. If I ordered materials for the project, it will be deducted from the total.

If a plush is not correct (and it is due to my mistake), I can grant a full refund. Unless I am able to fix the issue. The mistake would be due to me not using the correct color fabric, missing an important detail from the concept etc. Just not liking a plush or deciding you don’t want to pay for a plush once it is made are not valid reasons. I have various examples of my work and before commissioning me, please review my pages to make sure you like my style and quality.

Final Note

I am more than happy to work with someone to make a plush they can afford and love. Since all of my plush are custom and I make all the patterns and embroidery, I can make adjustments easily. For example, I can make the plush smaller and contain less details. I will be happy to explain what parts are causing the higher price and we can work out other options. I believe PayPal has options to make multiple payments too, so I can still get full payment and you wont need to pay in full right away.

Thank you for reading!! I hope I can bring your favorite characters to life 😊

[ranhaitanisgf]

Hello, can we get cuddling and just sweet head canons with Souya? 🥹

a sweet day in!!

synopsis: how does souya like to cuddle with his s/o?

☆ a/n ˎˊ˗ hello anon thank you for requesting !! this is pretty short but sweet, so i dont have much to add ! hope you all enjoy and have an amazing day !! xoxo

☆ characters ˎˊ˗ souya [angry] kawata x g/n!reader

☆ wc ˎˊ˗ 700+

masterlist

❥ souya is 100% the little spoon most of the time, and this is not arguable!! he loves to be held in your arms, (although he’s very shy about admitting it) and he finds having your presence right behind him to be very comforting. this position sometimes changes when he turns around, in which he’ll wrap his arms around your waist and have his head tucked underneath your head, (his hair gets in your face, but you will never ever admit that to him). 

❥ he tends to slowly trace different shapes and words on your back, which can sometimes lead to impromptu naps when you really aren’t supposed to be napping, (usually leads to the two of you waking up in a panic when nahoya bangs on the door asking why you still haven’t gone home yet). 

❥ definitely mumbles random things in his sleep, which can be quite amusing to listen to. 

“...th..ramen…(y/n)...”  “huh? souya?”  “...no, the…pepper…”  “oh, okay.”

❥ absolutely adores whenever you play with his hair! he doesn’t care what you do with it whether you braid it, brush it, or just mess with it in general, he never wants you to stop. if you do stop, he won’t say anything, but he’ll have a bit of a frown and will put your hand back on his head in hopes that you’ll continue. 

❥ on the same note, he also likes to play with your hair as well! he’s extremely gentle with it because he doesn’t want there to be any chance of hurting you, so he’s either smoothing his hand over your hair or lightly massaging your scalp, (he doesn’t have a reason behind this aside from the fact that you seem to enjoy it). 

❥ it is a common occurrence for the two of you to be playing video games while cuddling! he’s specifically set up his ps2, gamecube and television in front of his bed, which makes for a perfect cuddling / gaming session! contrasting his usual little spoon position, he will actually sit you right between his legs and will tuck your head under his chin while the two of you play. 

❥ your go-to games are mario party, mario kart, and animal crossing, (for when the two of you are tired and want to play a relaxing game). surprisingly, you guys never really use the ps2, most of the games you two play being nintendo! 

❥ souya is very sweet, so the the most he will do when he is losing in a game is grumble under his breath and hold you a little bit tighter. he still enjoys every second of it though!

❥ in relation to this, the two of you will cuddle while doing almost any hobby such as this! it usually depends on your mood, but it can range from anything; gaming, reading manga, or eating snacks and watching a show. 

❥ he makes sure to be stocking up on all your favorite snacks because of this! 

❥ when the two of you are reading manga together, you usually have to read a little bit slower because souya likes to soak in all the little details and moments that happen. it ends up being useful whenever you get confused about what’s happening since he’s able to explain it to you perfectly! 

❥ he’s a bit shy about it, but he’ll plant small kisses on your face from time to time when you’re asleep, (he thinks your face is so kissable, but he gets embarrassed when he kisses you and you’re watching him). 

❥ when you’re asleep, he does his best to not move around and not make any sound. he knows that life and school can be stressful, so he feels grateful that you trust him so much to fall asleep around him. because of this, he will genuinely not move a muscle; he would rather he has numb limbs than have you wake up. 

❥ adding on to this, the only thing he will move for will be so he can very slowly grab his phone and text nahoya to shut up. 

ssouyaa.12: shh murdersmile: dont tell me 2 sh ssouyaa.12: (y/n) is sleeping murdersmile: smh

❥ nahoya thinks you two are cute, but gross at the same time, (he will protect you two with his life but also wants to punt you both like a kickball).